London, Enger-land

Staying with friends in London for a couple of days and then down to my Auntie and Uncles place in Bogner. Then we fly from Gatwick to Toronto on Tuesday to begin the second half of our trip. This includes North America for a couple of weeks and then onto Honkers and south east asia...

Today we're just trying to get rid of all the books we have collected along the way.

The end of Europe..for Nick and Tham

Finally tomorrow is our last day in Europe which we will spend getting out of our dodgy hotel as early as possible (Tham's travel tip (which now shall be referred to as TTT) - TTT #1 - don't stay at the Quentin Arrive Hotel) and locking our luggage at the train station before we head to my old mate Van Gogh's Museum.

As Nick has hinted I'm looking forward to getting out of Europe however much I've enjoyed it. As we are pressured to visit half the world before getting home for Christmas (and Pete's wedding which we can't wait for!) we didn't get to visit Egypt or Jordan - maybe next time.

Amsterdam is great if you like sex and drugs but for nice girls like me, I'd prefer to visit the museums and get the hell out. Today we visited the Anne Frank House which although were crowded with German 16 year olds on a school trip who were only interested in the secret staircases, it was still a pretty moving experience especially where Anne pasted clippings of images she had that made her happy e.g. movie stars, babies etc. Then we whisked through the red light districts and then had dinner. Sheesh if I was a guy I wouldn't be tempted as well.

So from Turkey to Greece, Italy to Switzerland, France to Spain to France, Belgium to Amsterdam and then to London tomorrow evening. Hopefully we'll have energy to see the Swans beat the Eagles at 5am on Sat morning. We'll be off to Toronto after a few days and new adventures await.

By the way I have been practising being assertive by telling off every Italian, Spanish and French who have tried to cut in front of me in queues (cos they love queueing in Europe). It has worked wonders and will put me in good shape when I meet the Soup Nazi in NY.

Oh and congrats to Paul and Toby who are engaged. That's two Bacchuses weddings in one year(the other is Kate's) - who would've thought!

See you in Toronto.

Day 92 Brugge

Because of the spam in the comments, i have decided to only allow people who have registered to post comments. Sorry Anonymous, but links to real estate in Arizona where just too annoying.

We're in Brugge (Belgium) at the moment. Just ate some mussels for dinner with a couple of Hoegaardens to wash em down. Why do they eat mussels in Belgium so much? Answers on a postcard please.

Chatting with a local butcher, we discovered that most Belgians can speak at least 3 languages (flemmish, french english), and some can speak up to 7! Some people ask me, Nick, how do you cope with all the languages around Europe. I simply reply that i'm a cunning linguist. Boom boom.

Off to Amsterdam tomorrow and then to London on Friday. That will be the end of the Europe leg of this journey! Next stop Toronto, New York and Las Vegas...

Mussels in Brussels

Clever.

We haven't had any mussels, but we've had some very nice Belgium beer. Apart from that, Brussels is fairly ordinary, with its only claim to fame being that it's the HQ of the EU...

We're off to Brugge in the afternoon, which will almost definately be more interesting.

Back in Paris

We left Paris a couple of days ago for a quick jaunt around Normandy. We actually stayed in the town of Caen, and did a tour of the D Day landings yesterday followed, and the Memorial Musee this morning. Lots of stuff about the landings and how America, with the help of Jon Claude Van Damm (aka the muscles from Brussels), won the war single handed...ok maybe it wasn't like that, but the musee was totally awesome..

As a seasoned driver around Europe i must say that on the whole, French drivers are alright, but i haven't been tailgated more than in France. They especially love to do it on the motorways at 130km +, even when you're in the right hand lane. It might be a shock to some but the best drivers are the spanish. This is just my opinion, and if you have a different one then tell it to your momma, or something.

We get a bus to Brussels tomorrow because trains are so expensive here. Haven't got the camera so can't put up any pics. Back in London on Friday, and i must say that i have had my fill of Europe. Tham i think feels the same...maybe

Paris still

Yesterday we went to the Louvre. Its full of pictures and that. Done in 4 hours, confirmed in the guiness book of records as fastest viewing... Saw Mona Lisa, and Venus de Milo and lots of other rubbish not worth mentioning unlike the d'Orsay, like...


Ye olde porn...oooooooooh



This is Tham waiting for the Camper shop to open in Barcelona...if you look on the writing on the door, it says it will open in 2 days time...clever

This is a famous self portrait of Van Gogh, presumably before he cut his ear off...or maybe it was his right ear...or maybe not (Musee d`Orsay)

Have to goto the movies now

Gay Parie is also for straight people

Ok so we caught a plane from Barcelona airport and guess who i saw? Chief Obrien from Star Trek Next Generation ( and then moved to Deep Space 9, but that info probably not necessary...). Tham was standing right next to him but didn't have clue!

This is a Gaudi building in Barcelona

So went to the Musee d'Orsay today, here is something that was there

more later

Barcelona again

We´re getting to be deadset locals in Barcelona, with this being my 4th visit and Tham´s 3rd.

We got rid of the car yesterday, so we are again free and easy! I´m not sure if you heard but here were some tornados, yes real tornados, where we were camping a few days ago in San Sebastian. So far the tally is: 2 bombs missed (London and Kusadasi), 1 tornado just missed.

Anyway last night we went to the touristic Flamenco dance night, featuring much dancing and the like. If you´ve seen the movie Strictly Ballroom, where the wise old spanish guy teaches Paul Mecurio a few of lifes harsh lessons through dance, then you know what i mean.

We also had paella and champagne sangria by the beach as we did 2 years ago with a couple of our friends...thats all.

The jetsetters that we are, we are flying to Paris tonight...the fact is its cheaper to fly in Europe than to take a train!

Basque country

Still in San Sebastian. It was pissing down today so we went over to Bilbao for a day trip, and to the Guggenheim Museum (contrary to what i told Anonymous in the comments about not going to Bilbao). Anyway it has heaps of modern art (eg Warhol etc) and stuff from the Aztecs. I don´t know much about art but i do know that the bigger you make something the more ´Arty´ it is (reference Richard Serra...ahem, just do a search). For example, take anything common place like a little dog (ahhhh) or a chair or something and make it absolutely huge. Thats art.

Anyway, here are some pictures...

This the beach at San Sebastian...approximately 1 million surfers surfing

This is a cup of chocolate, and Tham dipping a churros into it

This is THE Guggenheim in Bilbao...notice the cute puppy, its huge, therefore its Art. (reference Jeff Koons)

Tham next to a bridge. Spain has them. She wanted me to tell you that she is wearing new sunnies...Zzzzz

Crazy antics outside the Palacio de Real (Madrid)...funny

Showing the locals how its done in Sagres, Portugal

Who is that hippy!?¿ This is what happens when all your clothes are dirty....

Alhabram in Granada, Spain... Built by the Muslims when they kicked Spains arse in 15th century

More Alhabram...

Cabo de Gata...according to Tham this is very ´Spagetti western´...except its in Spain

Castle in Lisbon...more crazy antics from the master of mayhem himself

Mmm custard tarts in Lisboa...all for me

Torre de Belem, Lisboa...didn´t go in, fell asleep just looking at it from the outside

The Portugese love all things Brazilians like thongs and g strings...Anyway they also love Jesus so much so that they also have a majestic statue of him like in Rio. This one is huge too and you can see it whilst you drive into the bridge entering the city that is if you don´t stack into the car in front of you cos you´re too in awe of the majesty of the statue...whatever...

After all that surfing, I was so hyped up that I had energy to catch fresh mackerel from the ocean itself. Luckily they were in abundance and we had a couple for dins dins bbqed on a bbq we found on our camp spot in Sagres. If you look closely you might be able to see my canine marks on the said fish. Impressive huh??

(Tham actually wrote the comments for the last 2 picture, so she can take credit for them)

Anyway, we´re off back to Barcelona tomorrow

San Sebastian

We are currently in San Sabastion which is right at the top of Spain near the border with France. It looks nothing like the rest of spain (ie very dry and flat), it looks more like France and switzerland...i.e green and mountainous. The beaches are quite good but you´ll have to fight for a wave with the 1000 other surfers trying for the same wave.

We just ate some tapas (surprise!) for lunch, it was mainly seafood, as opposed to the tapas inland (eg Madrid) which is mainly pork and beef.

Last night was quite cold and the people next to us were quite noisy. As can be expected, Tham was in a bad mood, got up at 1am and called them all fuckers...quite lucky that they didn´t know what ´fuckers´ meant...

We´ll probably stay here for a few days before we return the car to Barcelona on Friday.

Madrid, Spain land

Well, after a 6 hour drive from Lisbon we arrived in Madrid. For those people who complain about the huge tolls on the roads around Sydney, just thank your lucky stars you don´t have to pay the 13 Euro (18AUD or 10GBP) toll on one of the roads in Portugal...!

Having no idea where we were going to stay that night in Madrid, we proceeded to drive around for a hour or 2 without a map. Just think of trying to drive around London without an AtoZ and you have an idea. We found a cheap-ish place but ended up paying 27 euro for parking. The next day, with help thanks to the internet, we moved to a cheaper place out of town a bit, and use public transport (Metro and bus) which is cheap.

Yesterday we went to the Renia Sofia modern art gallery (like Tate Mordern in London) to get some culture. Done. Then off to Palacio Real...the royal palace. Finished with the culture we went to see Sin City at the movies. If you like cannibalism you'll like this movie. I liked the movie so by this reckoning i like cannibalism.

Went to the Prado (Art Gallery) today, saw some pictures that are good. Went to internet cafe and wrote these words.

Going to San Sabastion tomorrow...another 6 hour drive...

Lisboa, Portugal

When last we heard, the intrepid adventurers were in Cabo De Gato in Spain...majestic wild majesty has been used to describe this area, not by me though, but by someone good in book-learnin'. Basically its a beach surrounded by a desert and rocks and stuff and looks like its out of a spagetti western (Thams words not mine). I pointed out that we were in fact in Spain and not Italy. We left this area and continued over to Southern Portugal and the surfing town of Sagres.

Three nights here in a very cheap camping ground, and days on the beach not doing much. I hired a bodyboard on one day, and showed the locals how its done.

We drove the few hours up to Lisbon and to the camping ground which is right in the centre of town. If you can get used to the freeway noise coming from 3 directions ifs not too bad. Yesterday we drove down to Belem to check out the famous custard tart place. They sell custard tarts.

Anyway before we went there, we went to visit some monument dedicated to some dude, its not important to this story. We pulled in to park and there was this guy, who we will call Portugeezer from now on, and who looked for intents and purposes a derro (homeless ruffian) who was pointing to the car space i was headed for. We got out and he proceeded to demand 'coins'. Tham says 'Do you work here?', Portugeezer acts like we're stupid or something and then rattles his little coin purse. I say 'So, you want money for pointing do you?' and he goes 'yeah'. At this point Tham and i looked at each other and said lets go. Portugeezer was slightly peeved and proceeded to helpfully draw a picture of a pig in the dirt of the back window. This is apparently the worst possible thing you can draw on the back window of a car. Well, welcome to the 21st century you Sherlock Holmes inspired street urchin! Dirt pig was no match Nissan technology i.e washer and wiper!

On the way out i ran Portugeezer over and have improved the gene-pool asa consequence...

Oh, we're still in Lisboa, probably off to Madrid in the next day or 2.