Prague

Yet another place where we struggled to find the hostel. The blumming thing was a right hideaway, we walked around the whole block to find that it was right where we started. Grr. Anyway, we found it, right next to ‘Erotic City’ shop. Oioi.

We headed out to grab some food when we got there, but after I suggested we just go and buy a pizza from a supermarket and cook it back at the hostel, we went and did that instead. We were very mistaken into thinking there was an oven in the hostel, so I produced a fiiiiine microwaved calzone ;) Tasted good anyway, oven baked or not. More of a student life than I had when I was actually a student.

The next day we actually wandered further than the Starbucks down the road and headed to the old town square to watch the nooooon show of the astronomical clock. It was terrible. We waited over half an hour for that atrocity. Laughable though. Especially as as soon as the ‘show’ finished everybody cheered and in all of their different languages clearly went ‘well that was a load of ****!’

We spent our day wandering around Prague. I really liked it – much much more than Berlin. We headed up to the castle via Charles bridge, which was actually a really nice bridge (Nanny, you would have loved it!). The whole way across it were biblical statues, and there was a bit of gold on one of them that everybody was touching and getting photos with it, so we assumed that it was for good luck, and so we made sure we touched it too. Lucky, lucky, lucky now!

After a bit of a wander, we got faced with loooads of steps, grooooan.
But the view at the top was definitely worth it!

For some reason, the castle was covered in blue stuff that covers scaffolding, so we just went straight through to the cathedral which was a far sight more impressive than Lincoln. It's sooo pretty.

Nothing else much happened here really that I can think of writing about right now. Apart from the discovery of McCafés. Mate. England is missing a trick over there, McCafé’s are great. They’re separate to McDonalds, and are actual cafés. So great and so cheap.

And that’s pretty much that. Toodaloo!

P.s. I have not yet mentioned how upset that Alice was when she realised that she left her spoon in the Amsterdam hotel. Close to tears, so funny. “My spooooooon, I left my spoooooon”

Berlin

Berlin is… merh. Pretty much a building site with a few odd pretty buildings dotted around.
I kind of expected not to like it, really. Thought it might impress me a little bit, but as Alice said ‘Me and Berlin are not meant to be. We are not two peas in a pod’. The best thing about it is the train station – it’s huge! Four floors! And has dunkin’ donuts, yummmmmm.

We attempted to sight see, but we were pretty shoddy at it. We thought everything would be in walking distance, but it 100% was not. Plus we forked out 6 euro 90 for a day tram ticket, and it never even bloody got checked – annoying!!
The Berlin wall was pretty cool, some of the art on it was amazing, but annoying people had scribbled stupid things like ‘interrailing 2k14’ on it which completely ruined it. No need.

The weather has been amazing too. I got sunburnt a little on my shoulders which is annoying, but no Kavos!! We also stumbled across the champion’s league festival. It was madness, but it was kinda cool to be part of it at least a little bit, seen as I only found out about it on the way here, haha! Stole something little for Evan too, thought he might appreciate it. Well, he should! (Unless Wayne steals it, then we’ll pretend it never existed to Evan – shh. Although it’s really not that exciting.)

We’re staying in our first hostel, which means we’re sharing. Because it’s football-y, we’re sharing with all boys which is really weird. It was so awkward at first, but they’re actually really nice. One of them is my age and has travelled Europe twice, Africa, Asia and America (sob), which makes me feel like I have done way too little in terms of travelling. Pffff. They’re from Denmark, but their English is really good, so it’s nice to have a bit of communication.

We’ve decided not to stay for the time we were supposed to be staying tomorrow. It’s going to be 32 degrees which is insane, but we’ve opted to head to Prague early, because hopefully we’re going to be more peas-y in pods-y there. Plus we have a kettle – finally!

So, yeah, that’s it really. Berlin is not my thing.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a really strange place.

When we arrived it was pissing it down and it made the whole place looked kind of average. I didn't understand the appeal. But when the sun came out the next day it looked so, so much prettier.
We decided to just have a walk around when the rain settled down, and came across a million and one food places that we wanted to go to. Eventually we just settled with a supermarket pasta salad. Exotic.
The highlight of that night was when I saw a woman on the bridge that people had decided is Amsterdam’s love lock bridge doing what I thought was ‘holding padlocks in the air trying to sell them and looking really happy about it’ – she was actually taking a selfie. Alice found it way too funny, but it definitely looked like what she was doing.

Our hotel was right next to Museumplein, and attached to the concert hall. Museumplein is where the huge ‘I amsterdam’ sign is, just to put that in more English words for you (Mum). Despite the horrible reviews and the being scared for potential bedbugs, the hotel was actually alright. The shower was a bit grotty, but hey ho, no bed bugs.

Wednesday was lovely and sunny. We went to Pancakes! For breakfast, and I had traditional Dutch pancakes made with apple and raisins, with a topping of raspberry jam. Alice had a pancake with chocolate sauce…. Boooring. To be fair to her, she did try to be adventurous, but they didn’t have the ingredients in. We then spent the day wandering around Amsterdam. I’d like to say it was a relaxing walk, but when you’re constantly aware of being potentially knocked down by bikes, it’s definitely an on-your-toes walk. They are lethal! We really wanted to hire a bike out on the last day, but they didn’t accept debit card as a form of ID, so we couldn’t :( Ah well, I want to go back anyway to visit the Ann Frank Museum.
We had to take a wander to the red light district. We didn’t quite realise we were there until we were down an alley way and I turned to look in the window and there was a girl staring straight back at me. Some of them were beautiful, they looked like Barbie dolls. Others, erm, more honey boo boo than Malibu Barbie. And I’m pretty sure one part should have been labelled ‘big black and beautiful’ – half of them looked like they couldn’t be arsed though, which is bad considering they pay about 150 euros for 8 hours rent of the windows. So, I know that because we went to the museum of prostitution, not because I had a chat with them (even though I reaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy wanted to). The museum looked terrifying to go into, but luckily some people went in just before us and so we clinged onto them and ran in after them. It was really, really interesting. But don’t worry, I’m not contemplating changing any future aspirations just yet.

After that experience and half (including a trip to a condom museum – yes, really), we carried on wandering. We went into a “coffee shop” which was just a bit strange, and spent a bit of time in the Dam, which is the main square bit. I decided to go and see the famous flower market, because it said famous, and flowers are pretty. It was terrible. The only flowers there were wooden, and the whole market was just flower bulbs and seeds. It wasn’t entirely a waste of time though, we did get some frites (chips) which are apparently famous in the Netherlands – they were pretty good. Still not as good as those ones we had in Devon though Mum, so don’t feel as if you’re missing out.

I had to have a photo with the Amsterdam sign, so we wandered back, but there were still loads of people on it (pssh, tourists), so we sat and watched for a while, before heading back to the hotel for some chocolate and a bit of down time, and returned to the sign as it got quieter. Getting a photo with it by myself was a mission and a half. I decide dto give up and head back to the hotel when all of a sudden it became free.

WE DID IT! Our last day just consisted of sitting in Vondelpark, after our failure of bike hiring. Now we’re on a train to Berlin with a stack of sweets, cat shaped pom bears which aren’t actually pom bears, because they’re cats, and my trusty notebook (Wayne!!). Only five hours to go, woo!.......

Amsterdam verdict? Little bit strange. Bikes are lethal. It’s ridiculously expensive. I want to go back and visit the Ann Frank Museum. Stroopwafels are the bomb. They have burger vending machines. BURGER VENDING MACHINES. There are urinals on some streets.

P.s. I’m really sorry Nessa, I forgot to get you a postcard. I failed on my second place. I suck, I know. Sigh.
P.p.s. Nanny, I didn’t go to the Van Gogh museum, I wasn’t prepared to spend 17 euros to see paintings I used to see in your bathroom
P.p.p.s. Tell Evan not to worry about food, there are Mcdonalds, KFCs and Burger Kings everywhere.

Bruges

01:12 - So, we're currently on a ferry. We didn't know this was going to happen, but here we are. Our journey started off with us very nearly missing our bus to Paris, hahaha. It got to 21:24 (we were supposed to be leaving at 21:30) and I popped up with "are we definitely at the right stop?". We weren't. Thank god I said something!!
We got on the bus and there were no two seats together left, so we had to sit apart, which included Alice having to sit next to a man that had me crying laughing. Not with him, but at him. I have never seen a man so happy to have a girl sat next to him - he was full blown smiling at us both, and then proceeded to take a selfie with Alice without her even knowing till she looked up. He then facetimed a friend and made sure she was shown on the screen. I'm laughing at it now, it was so funny. I then got my lunchables out which I didn't realise quite smelt so bad till the waft hit the bus. Ooooops.
So anyway, yeah, we're on a ferry. Alice is doing a crossword in a puzzle book, and I have a cup of tea from Starbucks. Quite the old couple, eh? We have about an hour left on here till we get the coach. Crosswords, ahoy!

19:54 - We're both already in bed, shattered.

02-06-15

I fell asleep.

Bruges was really pretty. Really pretty but not much else. Apart from the waffles were REALLY good. We decided to have them for breakfast this morning rather than dessert last night because we were just so tired, we just wanted to get back to the hotel and sleep. So, we ended up coming to Amsterdam earlier than we were going to originally.

It's not what I expected here. Well, to be honest I didn't know what to expect, but with all the huge hype around it, I guess I was expecting more. Probably didn't help that we were wandering around a huge park for about half an hour in the pouring rain trying to find our hotel, which was actually ridiculously easy to find - trust us. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be much nicer and it'll be nicer to explore :)

P.s. Wayne - I bought you a present today, hope you're excited (yes, it's a form of chocolate, how did you guess?)
P.p.s. I wanted to upload more photos but the wifi can't handle the image sizes, so I'll have to show you more at home xxx The ducklings were really important to put in. LOOK at them <3

Only a couple of train reservations left to book and we are good to go!

The whole booking process has been so long and stressful. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly until we hit Italy - ughmygod.

Alice is leaving me after Venice (boooo!), but my bubbas Nessa and Ryan are joining us at Venice and completing the last leg of my travels with me (and the most expensive, woops), and Mikki is even coming for Rome and Paris!!!!!

Anyway, Rome and Paris were the hardest bloody things to book. The prices for EVERYTHING were fluctuating all over the place. We decided to fly from Rome to Paris as it takes considerably less time, and the cost of a flight is pretty much equal to a train reservation. (Oooh, plane!). We also decided to fly from Paris back to the UK, as I'd have to pay to get home via any form of transport, so the money was flying anyway. I was about to confirm my booking today, along with Nessa, when it randomly decided to refresh on Nessa's ipad and UP THE PRICE. So, there I was with my cheap flight, and I had to give it up because of them- pffffff, other humans. The whole thing was so funny though, I had the giggles for a good ten minutes with the cheap flight up on my ipad, whining about having to close the tab. So, we've ended up booking the eurostar home. We were all a bit 'huff' about it at first as it was a bit more expensive than flying, but PROS GUYS!! I can buy a BALLOON FROM DISNEYLAND!!!

Yes, we are going to Disneyland. I. Cannot. Wait.

This whole trip is going to be insane, and I'm topping it off with my favourite place in the world! (so far).

So, yep. Once I complete a full kick-ass schedule, I'll put it on here! I am so excited to complete all the planning - it's tooooo much now. Four and a half weeks of planning around Europe? Not recommended.

1 month today!

London - Bruges - Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague - Wroclaw - Krakow - Budapest - Vienna - Zagreb - Split - Venice - Rome - Paris - London