Well
it's been a couple of weeks since I've last written a blog post - I meant to
sit down earlier to do this, but I've not been able to find the time. So, now,
as I'm sitting on the Eurostar to Paris from London, I'm writing my second post
for my six-week European adventure.
It's
tough to remember what I did a couple weeks ago, as when you're travelling time
seems to go twice as fast, and yet when you look back, two weeks ago seems like
a month ago.
I
arrived in York after leaving Oxford. The sun was shining and it was lovely and
warm. I was already liking York. I made my way to the Premier Inn struggling
with my suitcase as usual (shut up Dad, don't say anything). After staying in
the hostel in Oxford, the Premier Inn (a budget hotel, I should add) felt like
a luxury, five-star hotel. I didn't do much else on my first day in York other
than bask in the luxury of queen sized, and take a short walk around the city
centre.
On
my first proper day in the city, I visited York Castle Museum and then the Jorvik
Viking Centre (I can't remember the exact name of the place right now). The
York Castle Museum was very cool, and took you through different stages in York
(and Britain's) history. It had a very interesting replica of a Victorian
street, with shops, which you could visit. Then I visited the Viking Centre.
The place had a very weird smell about it. It took you on a 'ride' through a
Viking village. Apparently this is why the place smelled - it was meant to
recreate the smell of the time. They didn't need to make the whole building
smell though. Perhaps they weren't sure how to contain the smell to just one
area. It was quite interesting, if a bit short for how much you pay to visit.
Although
visiting museums is a good experience, I think my favourite thing about York is
just walking around the streets. It's such a pretty city to look at, with
winding, cobbled streets, and (seemingly) medieval store fronts. York Minster
is a very impressive building as well. It was so big it was pretty much
impossible to get a decent photo of the place, because you couldn't fit it all
into one shot.
The
next day I visited the Yorkshire Museum. It was good, but nothing to rave about
(luckily I got in very cheaply due to visiting the York Castle Museum the day
before). Outside the museum were the ruins of a Medieval Church, which had been
destroyed by Henry VIII during the Reformation. That was quite cool to see!
The
following day it was time to say goodbye to York, and say hello Edinburgh. I
was very excited to visit Edinburgh as I'd never been to Scotland before, and
never been that north in the world ever (that's weird to think about). My first
impression of Edinburgh was how hilly it was (this meant that I quickly
abandoned by idea of walking to my hostel, and instead took a taxi. Google Maps
was telling me to go up a flight of about 50 steps. Ha! With my suitcase that
was never going to happen). I was instantly impressed with the location of the
hotel, as Edinburgh Castle could be seen from the front door (and was only
about a two minute walk away).
On
my first full day in Edinburgh I visited the National Museum of Scotland,
followed by a bus tour of the city and a visit to the National Gallery of
Scotland. The Museum was great. It had a section full of stuffed animals, which
was kind of weird, but cool as well. And it wasn't just cats and dogs that had
been stuffed - I'm talking polar bears, giraffes and African elephants. Even
some kangaroos and koalas made the cut. I then decided to rest my feet for a bit, so
got on a Hop-On Hop-Off tour of the city. It was great. Edinburgh really is
very picturesque, and is such a contrast to London. Whilst London's streets are
lined with white stone buildings, Edinburgh has dark, sooty brick buildings.
Living up to its stereotype, Edinburgh is also full of tartan, whisky,
shortbread and bagpipers.
The
next day I went on a 12-hour day tour of the Highlands. The Highlands were
definitely something special. I made some friends along the way too, which was
nice. Funnily enough (well perhaps not considering half the bus was
Australian), I sat next to someone who lives in Perth. We made our way from
Edinburgh along the Eastern Highlands, through Inverness (what a shithole,
thankfully we didn't stop there), towards Loch Ness. We took a tour of Loch
Ness, which was very nice, despite the rain. Unfortunately there were no Nessie
sightings. What a shame. Then it was
onto the Western Highlands. This side of the Highlands was much more beautiful
than the Eastern side (although that was nice too). Glen Coe in particular was
quite spectacular. I'd probably say it's must-see. You should all go there at
least once in your life (I realise that's not really possible).
My
final day in Edinburgh saw a visit to the castle. The castle is perched atop a
billion (I can't remember the exact number, but it was in this region) year old
volcanic rock. Edinburgh Castle was home to the Scottish Monarchy, including
Mary Queen of Scots, and was a very interesting place to visit. It also had a
chapel, which was built around the year 1100. Insane.
The
following day was a sort of in-between day where all I did was take the train
from Edinburgh to London.
Now
it was onto Berlin. I was super excited to go to Berlin as I'd never been there
before, or to Germany at all. My initial excitement at arriving in Berlin was
quashed by the fact that a computer fault at Heathrow Terminal 5 meant that the
majority of the suitcases for my flight had been left in London (this continued
for the next four days, which meant I wasn't reunited with my bag until seven
days later. Now that I have my bag back, I shan't dwell too much). So my first
couple hours in Berlin were spent in the airport waiting in line to make a
claim for my bag. I was next to Angela Bishop from Channel 10 News, which was
quite funny. She gave me a mint. There was much anger about the situation. What
a day.
Laura
met me at the hotel, after coming from Italy. Yay. Unsurprisingly, our first
mission was to get something to eat, and in particular, something German. We
went to a pub near Alexanderplatz called The Pub. This was really a silly name
for such a place, because there were pictures of pugs all over - the walls, the
menus. It should obviously have been called The Pug. The Pug pub was super
German, with beer taps in the middle of each table. We ate Currywurst
obviously. It was delicious.
Our
first full day in Berlin saw us being typical tourists, visiting the
Brandenburg Gate and the Natural History Museum. We also saw the Holocaust
Memorial, which was quite interesting, and um, atypical. We did about 10km of walking. I'll just
mention briefly what we did, because this could easily turn into a thesis. The
next day we went to the DDR Museum (East Germany Museum), which was very
interactive and quite cool. We really struggled with writing our names in
Russian, and Laura drove an East German car. You couldn't drive off the road
though, you could only abide by the road rules - so German. Then it was onto
the History Museum,
which covered thousands of years of German history. For lunch I ate a Wiener
Schnitzel (it was my goal t
Then
it was back to London for some slow days spending time with Australian friends,
and moseying around, strolling through Regent's Park. I saw Kate from uni, and her
boyfriend, Scott. We ended up watching a lot of Wimbledon. We also took a visit to Madame Tussaud's in Marylebone (see the photos below). Then Rosie arrived,
we also watched some Wimbledon, drank Pimms, and did some shopping on Oxford
Street. I also got my bag back finally! I managed to get the BA people to let
me pick it up from Heathrow. It was kind of cool actually. I got to go through
the staff security entrance, and into the baggage collection area. Finally my
baby and I were reunited!
And that's all up until today where I'm on
the Eurostar, about to begin the second half of my journey!
Until next time.
