Croatia photos

Okay I got around to uploading some more photos:

Dubrovnik
Hvar & Split

The rest of my trip was great - I loved Rome and Venice and Milan were also pretty great. Paris was stunning too - I can't wait to get back, but I definitely need more language practice!

Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is everything I thought it would be, incredibly beautiful, hot, and beachy. The beaches are all pebbles, but I have heard that some of the nearby islands have sandy beaches so I am going on a 3 island cruise tomorrow. The water here is phenomenal, there is no surf so its clear and calm, and you can see your feet, and little fish darting about.

Today I walked the city walls which was a hard slog because of the heat (about 32) and loads of stairs, but I was rewarded with the most amazing views I have ever seen. Here are some pics to give you an idea (not mine, stolen from the internet):







































Anyway, am having dinner with 3 lovely scottish girls I met at the hostel, and it is time to go so will blog more later.

Catch up

Okay so I've been pretty rubbish at keeping my blog updated - too busy having fun!

Here's some photo albums of the last few weeks:

Amsterdam
Edinburgh
Dublin

Hopefully I will have some time in the next week to write about all the things I've been doing!

Haggis supper missus?

Flew into Edinburgh yesterday afternoon and already I love the place. It is just stunning. The whole place is like a fairytale - cobbled streets, gorgeous old buildings and the castle perched up on a rock, and wedged in between is great shopping making it very difficult to wait until London to start shopping!! It's cold though - this is mid-summer and it's about as cold as it was when I left Brisbane! It's rained every day of my trip so far - I think it might be a bit of a recurring theme. But it's lovely and sunny out now (but still need a cardi).

I really love the food here too - I needed some comfort food after Amsterdam and the horrible plane food! Going to our first festival shows tonight which should be heaps of fun. We were going to do a walking tour today but my back is hurting in ways it's never hurt before so I am taking some time out to give it a rest today. It's so annoying flying around to the other side of the world and having my back stop me from doing things... if only I could have brought my bed along with me.

I had my hair done at Toni and Guy on George st today (thanks for the tip Jen!) so I am more willing to pose in photos now. I still haven't found anywhere where I can get on to upload photos so I am afraid it's going to have to wait, which is a shame cause I have some great photos from a day trip we took yesterday to Zaanse Schans (about 20 mins away from Amsterdam). Zaanse Schans is a weird little tourist town with old windmills, a cheese factory and a clog factory. It had a really strange smell of burning chocolate (like when you bake chocolate criossants) which we never found the source of but after an hour it was sickening! The whole place had a weird feeling of being in one of those historical villages where it's all been shipped in, but the windmills had been there since the 1700s. We also saw some farm animals and I got hassled by an evil goose who wanted my hot chocolate.

I really love all the wildlife here, it's funny cause I'm not big on nature usually, but have been bird watching like a crazy person and I get really excited to see any animal really - as I mentioned before I've seen loads of awesome dogs (including 2 beagles!).

The first song

I made it! The flight over was pretty gruelling - 3 stops (singapore, Abu Dhabi and Munich) , but I survived. It was very emotional leaving, and for most of the flight I was second guessing myself, but once the plane was flying into germany and I saw the beautiful rolling misty hills I was reminded of how amazing this is going to be!

I got a fair bit of sleep on the way over and haven't had much jetlag which is brilliant. The first day I was a bit dazed and I absolutely hated Amsterdam at first. The first bit of the city you see as you come off the train is like venice meets the gold coast - tacky and full of idiot tourists! But I saw it in a new light yesterday after exploring the other areas.There are so many awesome shops and it's so pretty outside of the tourist bits. There's also dogs and cats everywhere.. In shops, on trains, at the airport... I love it!

I am going to go to the Van Gogh museum, Vondelpark and the Heineken experience today which should be fun. Hopefully going on a day trip to Zaanse Schace (??) to see cheese, clogs and windmills tomorrow.

All my friends are leaving Brisbane

My Itinerary

Aug 16, 2008 - Brisbane

                            - Amsterdam (via Abu Dhabi and Munich) 

Aug 17, 2008 - Amsterdam

                             Greenhouse Effect - Warmoestraat 55  

                             Ph:+310206244974
Aug 20, 2008 - Edinburgh
                              St Christophers - 9-13 Market St 

                              Ph: +442074071856
Aug 24, 2008 - Dublin
                              Kinlay House - 2-12 Lord Edward St 

                              Ph: +353016796644
Aug 27, 2008 - London
                           James and Laura's House, Holloway
Sep 7, 2008 -  Dubrovnik
                           Dubrovnik Backpackers Club - Morstaka 3d, Babin Krk 

                           Ph:+385989096087
Sep 11, 2008 - Stari Grad, Hvar
                           7pm -Hvar Town, Hvar
                           Luka's Lodge, Lueica, Hvar Town 

                           Ph: +385 2174 2118
Sep 13, 2008 - Split
                           Overnight ferry - Jadrolinija Ferries
Sep 14, 2008 - Ancona
                           12pm - Rome
                            Wow Roma - Via Merulana 117 Rome

                            Ph: +393299033863
Sep 16, 2008 - Venice
                             Ca' Furlan all Croce di Malta

                             - Castello 3257 - Corte San Giovanni di Malta
                             Ph: +390412410338
Sep 17, 2008 - Milan
                             Pophouse Milano - Via Menabrea 13 Milano 

                             Ph: +393350856883
Sep 19, 2008 - Paris
                             St Christopher's Paris -195 Rue de Crimee Paris 

                             Ph: +442074071846
Sep 22, 2008 - London
                          James and Laura's House - Holloway