TravelStream™ news feed for member kimba on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kimba en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Wed, 18 Jan 2006 02:19:14 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kimba/europe-2005/1133596620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kimba/europe-2005/1133596620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kimba/europe-2005/1133596620/tpod.html Wed, 18 Jan 2006 02:19:14 -0500 And off she goes into the wild blue yonder...

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Phuket, Thailand

So after a few days to say goodbye to everyone in London (and an extra day because i missed my flight, yikes!) I headed to thailand to meet Johnny and relax on the beach for 2 weeks. We meet in Phuket and spent 3 nights there. Lots of shopping, too many dvd's and some nice rides in the country side. Then we headed to Ko Pha nagn for 8 nights, it was a rough start, taking buses and ferrys and more buses, but it was a beautiful resort and the weather was great. We drank buckets (messy) and ate and swam and slept. It was such a beautiful Island and so relaxing. I learned to ride a moped, a big achievment after not driving for 7 months. Then we head back to Phuket for a few more nights before heading back to Oz. The crazy thing was on the 2nd last night i ran into my cousin while we were walking along the beach front! So after a great end to a fantastic trip it was back off to australia to start work again and see all my family and friends. It was an amazing experience, i have met fantastic people that will be lifelong frinds and some crazy characters that will always be in my thoughts. I dont really know what the rest of my life hold for me, but i am so blessed to have had these experiences and hopefully ill get to see some of these places again. Regardless of what happens, it has been amazing and will never forget it...
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Edinburgh, United Kingdom

So it was off to Scotland for my last adventure before i head off from the UK. I had such an amazing time in Scotland, the people were amazing, friendly and steeped in tradition. The landscape is mesmerizing, from beautiful Edinburgh, funky Glasgow, the gorgeous highlands and the amazing lochs. I spent 2 days in Edinburgh, exploring the castle, Calton hill, tea shops and pubs on the royal Mile. i spend 6 days traveling central and west Scotland and the isle of skye with haggis (one of the best experiences of my life) and I spent a 2 days exploring the bars, west end and the city in Glasgow with Imogen (shashamona!;o). I fell in love with Scotland and was sad to return to London, but hopefully that wont be the last i see of it, it has very quickly taken the place as the best county i have visited on this trip, I even enjoyed hiking trough the hills in rain and snow. Scotland has definitely put a spell on me...
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Dublin, Ireland

So after running around the UK for a few weeks, i head over to Ireland for 10 days. I liked Dublin as soon as i arrived. I stayed in the funky, but expansive Temple Bar area. I set off around the south of Ireland on a 3 day Paddywagon tour and saw Galway, the Cliffs of Moher, Blairney Castle, Killarney and heaps of amazing little towns and country side. Our guide was very jolly and filled us in on heaps of history about the land and the politics of Ireland. When I got back to Dublin i set about chasing up some of my family history. It was a big task and i didn't get much done in the time i had, but it was great to see some of my ancestors history recorded. I went down to the county of Wiklow for the day and saw some amazing scenery. I also saw Dublin Castle, the Natural History Museum and St Patrick's Cathedral. I spent the weekend with a friend who is living in Dublin, which involved lots of drinking and shopping. Then I made my way back to London...
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Leeds, United Kingdom

After a bit of exploring around London i headed up to Leeds to visit some friends and some towns further North in England. I spent the week end partying with friends and then got a nasty cold that saw me resting for the beginning of the week. On the Wednesdays i head to Harrogate with 2 friends. we had lunch and some tea and cake at Betty's tea show. it was all very proper and delicious. It was a beautiful town and the surrounding country side was gorgeous. The next day we went to Liverpool and did the Magical Mystery Beatles Tour. Penny lane and Strawberry Fields were the Highlights. There was some amazing old buildings around the town as well. On the Friday I head off to near by York for the day. it is a magnificent walled city and the Minster and Cliffords Tower show the amazing history of the town. The views from the walls alone made the trip worth it. We went out in Leeds again that weekend to celebrate and friends birthday and it really is quite a party town with all the Uni students around. All round a very fun place.
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London, United Kingdom

So back to London again and staying in Bayswater with Emma and Loz and some other girls. I've spent the week day tripping to Cambridge and Brighton and to Greenwich and the Royal Observatory. Greenwhich was really nice, Em and I hit the markets and had tea and scones. The we went up to the Observatory which was set in beautiful gardens and luckily the weather was great. We saw the Meridian Line which was really cool and there was an amazing pinhole camera set up that looked over the gardens, but everything was moving, it was amazing.
I went to Cambridge to check out the schools and the architecture. The College's were so grand and had so much history. I looked at markets and wandered through all the little streets and gardens.
Brighton was a cool little town. em, Jackie and i headed down to the beach and walked along the pebbles. Then we went out on the peer and saw all the rides and the headed past the Royal Pervillion, a Asian inspired palace that really stands out. We walked through 'the lanes' and popped into a local for a few beers. then we headed to another pub for dinner and got inside just as it started thundering down with rain. after we were full and jolly, we caught the train back to London and called it a night.
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Amsterdam, Netherlands

Last stop on the Topdeck Tour was Amsterdam, and they did save the best till last. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, full of canals and lots of bike riders. We set off to the red light district for our first night. Most of the group went off to a sex show, but some of us had a bit of a look in the 'window shopping' area and then settled down in a 'coffee shop' for the evening. We eventually made our way back to the hostel and Mel and I sat up chatting in the hallway. The next day Claire, Mel, Dan and I set off to Anne Franks House. It was amazing to be able to go through the bookcase and see the small place that 8 people were living in for 2 years. that had a lot of information there about the people living there and the conditions they were living in. It would have been so scary for a 15 year girl to be stuck inside and with the fear of capture. We did some souvenir shopping in the afternoon and then got dolled up for the last topdeck night out. We went to a Chinese restaurant on the river for dinner and then boarded a boat for a canal cruise. We spent the next 1 1/2 hours cruising around the Amsterdam canals, dancing and drinking and generally having a good time. We headed for a local bar once the cruise was over and everyone danced and played pool and listened to the amazing jazz/blues band that were playing. The next day we packed up for the last time and headed off to Calis in France (via Belgium) to catch the ferry back to the UK. I had such a great time on the tour and saw so many things that I had been dreaming of seeing since i was a kid. The group was great and i have definitely made some life long friends...
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Berlin, Germany

We arrived in Berlin late afternoon and did a driving tour. My first impression was how i could feel the history everywhere in the city, especially the recent history with the Berlin Wall. We stopped off at the East Side Gallery which is a length of the wall that is covered with paintings. They were amazing and it was so weird to be walking alongside the wall and seeing all this celebratory art on it. There is a line of double bricks all around the city now, marking where the wall used to stand. We stayed in a hostel in town and headed out for dinner and cheap cocktails down the road. We made our way back to camp, serenading locals on the way and getting lots of laughs and surprised looks. The next day we went on a walking tour that showed us important places from when the third Reich was in place and the history of the wall. We saw the new holocaust memorial and the place where Hitler's bunker was (now a unmarked car park) and we finished up a checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point for big wigs when the wall was up. The CC museum showed us all the ways people had snuck out of East Berlin and those that had been unsuccessful. We then wandered down the main shopping strip and had some lunch. We made our way back around to the Holocaust memorial and wandered around it for a while. We walked past all the museums and saw the spot where the nazis had once burned books (i think i had seen this recreated in a Indiana Jones movie). We headed back to camp and prepared for another big travel day to Amsterdam...
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Warsaw, Poland

Today we headed for Warsaw, on the was we stopped at Alcherwitz Memorial to pay our respects and educate ourselves on what had happened in Europe during WW2. it was nothing short of devastating, seeing where people had been kept, tortured and killed because of the Nazi parties and Europes policies. The memorial is doing an amazing job of raising peoples awareness of what happened so that it does not happen again.
After 2 hours at the Memorial, we headed into Warsaw where we set up camp and reflected on the day. The next day we went for a tour of the City, seeing the Choppin statue, A prison that has been used to detain people and ship them to concentration camps during the war and a Jewish uprising memorial. We then stopped off in the old town square. In the afternoon we headed back to camp but then headed back into the old square as a group for dinner. It was beautifully lit up and had street performers and people having wedding photos everywhere. There was a great atmosphere and all the buildings were really beautiful, considering most of the city had to be rebuilt after the war.
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Krakow, Poland

We arrived in Krakow in the late afternoon and set up camp. There was a big shopping center over the highway from our camp, so some of us head over there before dinner. We stocked up on Wodka (Claire and I got apple flavor) and checked out what English speaking movies the cinema was showing. We had a big dinner and a birthday cake for Cat and sat around camp chatting and drinking. The next day we head into town on the tram and after our orientation, Claire and I head off to yet another palace and chapel! There were some really pretty gardens in the Palace and we pottered about and then head back to met Mel and Dan for lunch. We all went off to the Jewish quarter after lunch and had a look in the bookshops, trying to prepare ourselves for our visit to Alcherwitz death camp memorial tomorrow. We spent the afternoon trying to communicate what coffee and cake we wanted from a waitress at a cafe. We headed back to camp and grabbed dinner in the shopping center and then went to see a movie in English which was a real treat after no telly for the last month. We headed back to our funky little cabins at Camp Krakowianka and called it a night.
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Prauge, Czech Republic

We left Munich feeling very sorry for ourselves and headed for the Czech Republic. we dumped our things at camp and headed into town on public transport. we did a brief tour, looking at the old town hall, the main square, Charles bridge and the Palace from across the river. From their we headed to a restaurant in below a art gallery and had an amazing meal and some drinks. A few of us decided to head to a local bar to try out the local beer Pilsner (we had stopped off in Pilsner earlier in the day for lunch). Unfortunetly, it was not a very good beer, so we headed back to camp before PT stopped for the night. The next day we headed into town and Claire, Dan, Mel and I headed for the palace grounds to have a look around. We went down the Golden lane, a beautiful street with small houses in it selling wooden kids toys and jewelry. The we checked out the cathedral and the view and headed back down to the Charles bridge to walk across and look at the B&W photos everyone was selling. I got a picture of the bridge, on the bridge. We did some window shopping and i headed back to camp to chill out for the evening. Claire, Mel and Dan came back for dinner and we headed to the camp restaurant which was dirt cheap and delicious. We filled ourselves up, Mel and I went for a walk around camp an then relaxed for evening, getting ready to head for Poland in the morning...
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