Today we planned to go to that beach Nicko, the Italian was telling us about lastnite. We asked the lady at reception how to get there and she said it would take 2 hours but we could go by bus from a main street in the city. She marked the street on the map for us and said to look out for the bus with Sounion on it. Sounds easy enough!
We got to the street she had marked and realised quickly that there was lots of different bus stops, hundreds of buses, we had no idea what side of the road we even had to be on. No one at the information desks could speak English, what a big help! The bus drivers that could still didn't know exactly where the bus was going to leave from nor what time they where leaving and after an hour i was getting really past the whole idea. However, the clouds opened up and out of no where a greek man only a little older then us, came to the rescue by asking us if we needed help! He spoke to a few different people in ghreek and really went out of his way to help us find where we had to go. Turns out we where on the wrong street! Ryan and I have know both sworn that if we ever see anyone in Adeliade with a map in there hand that look like they are trying to find something then we wil go out of our way, even cross the street to try and help them!
Once we found the right bus stop we had to wait another half an hour for it to come. We couldn't give up now though, even though it was past lunchtime! The bus trip took us right along the coast and it was a beautiful trip. 2 hours later and at 2.30pm we arrived at Cape Sounion. All that was there, was anancient greek ruin, The Pantheon, a restuarant and a gift shop. It was very beautiful though, as far as you could see out to the horizon was all the Greek Islands. We had a traditional Greek lunch at the restaurant amd after we where full to the brim, we caught the next bus back to Athens. Sleeping the whole trip back! It was areally nice day in the end.... Lucikly!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday 28th October in Athens
It is a massive public holiday in Athens today, sort of like Independance day in America. This means all of the ancient sites are free to visit, which is great timing for us! You can see the acropolis hills from our hotel room so after breakfast we head in that direction, stopping at a few other ancient greek ruins along the way. I think it would've been good to go on a walking tour of Athens as you don't really get that much information just from the boards along the way. The walking tour we have used in a few of the other countries, don't operate in Athens which is pretty crappy! We found a flea market on the way back from the Acropolis hills to have a look around and we had a yiros for 1 euro 80 for lunch! What a bargain!
We spent the night at the rooftop bar on top of our hostel chatting with the bar guy from Lithuania, looking over the acroplois all lit up at night! We also met an Italian guy who suggested a day trip for us to do tommorow to Cape Souniuon.
We spent the night at the rooftop bar on top of our hostel chatting with the bar guy from Lithuania, looking over the acroplois all lit up at night! We also met an Italian guy who suggested a day trip for us to do tommorow to Cape Souniuon.
Staying with Martha in Landgraff 22nd - 27th
22nd October
We arrived in Landgraff at 2.30pm. Martha had a buffet lunch awaiting us and we where so grateful as the train trip was 3 and a half hours long with know time to stop for food! After getting settled in and having a nap Martha cooked us a traditional dutch meal! It was dutch sausage with a mashed potato with spinach in it. Im not a fan of spinach, but i would never have told her that! It was just nice to be in a home for a change, with a clean shower and nice big bed! Marthas daughter Unky and her husband picked us up at 7.45 to go see an Australian Movie in a dutch Cinema! The movie was called Sansom and Delilah and it won an award this year at the Adelaide Film Festival. It was about two aboriginal kids that lived out in the bush of Australia in an aboriginal community! It was very confronting and very sad.It was good though for Ryan to be able to explain to them what was happening throughout the movie! We went back to Unkys house and met her daughter Esther. She was 9 when Jasmyn went to Holland and I believe they spent alot of time together!
23rd October
A Lazy day today. We slept in until 1pm, went to the supermarket to buy food for the next couple of days and we cooked dinner for Martha this night so she could relax after being with Jan for the afternoon!
24th October
Today bought us a as a day of adventure. Unky had given me the names of places to go and the times the trains came to each of these places and Ryan and I set out early Sunday morning for our adventure. First stop was Mastrischt, a fairly large size town a half hour from Landgraff, but still in The Netherlands. Everything was closed as it was a Sunday but we made the decision we would had bacxk there another day.
Next stop was Leige in Belgium. Anoither half hour away. Leige was a very pretty town and we spent the afternoon walking the markets and a fair they had on. I got to buy some Belgium Chocolates... yummy! So i was a happy girl!
After Leige we went to Aachen which is in Germany. it was 5pm when we got here and the city was closed aswell, however we went for a walk to see all the old buildings, the church and the town halls. Then we headed back to Landgraff.
25th October
Martha took us to Kerkrada today to show us the house where dad was born. We also went to the town centre for a walk and for Lunch. After lunch we went to visit Jan in his home. All i can say is i think it is amazing that Martha goes and sees him everyday from 2pm til 6 or 8pm. It was very sad seeing him that way but you can tell he is not unhappy and that is what helps Martha manage I think. We stayed with him until 5.30pm and then ordered dinner in tonight.
26th October
Our last day in Country Holland. We woke up early and caught the train back to Mastricht. We spent quite a bit of time wondering the streets and had our picnic lunch in the town square. On the way back to Landgraff we stopped of in a town called Valkunberg. A very very touristy town! I bought myself some wooden clogs and a few other goodies for the house, which are on there way home! We cooked dinner for Martha again tonight and Unky and her husband (cant spell his name) came over after dinner, we shared our bottle of wine from Italy with everyone and stayed up talking until late with them.
27th October
It was sad to say goodbye thos morning and as Martha said her holiday is now over too! Unky took us to the train station and off to the Airport we went. 3hours and a change of trains and we where there. Going through Amsterdam Security was not nice. I got patted down quite vigourously from a lesbian security guard because i beeped going through the metal detector. Im not joking either, she was a lesbian and she felt my boobs to see if i was hiding anything in my bra, and pulled the underwire away from my skin to see if anything fell out. Ryan had a joke with her saying... "shes hot isnt she, grab her bumb, her bumb is awesome, grab it i dare you" The security guys had a good laugh about it and they are lucky i didn't really mind to much, most people would feel a little violated after that. She fall on gropped me! yuck!
Anyway we arrived in Athens at 6.30pm. It was 25 degrees which was a nice chamge from the top of 17 degrees in The Netherlands but boy was it raining. It rained and rained and rained and rained for atleast 2hours, the streets where flooded and it was absolutly pelting down, we got saturated!
We arrived in Landgraff at 2.30pm. Martha had a buffet lunch awaiting us and we where so grateful as the train trip was 3 and a half hours long with know time to stop for food! After getting settled in and having a nap Martha cooked us a traditional dutch meal! It was dutch sausage with a mashed potato with spinach in it. Im not a fan of spinach, but i would never have told her that! It was just nice to be in a home for a change, with a clean shower and nice big bed! Marthas daughter Unky and her husband picked us up at 7.45 to go see an Australian Movie in a dutch Cinema! The movie was called Sansom and Delilah and it won an award this year at the Adelaide Film Festival. It was about two aboriginal kids that lived out in the bush of Australia in an aboriginal community! It was very confronting and very sad.It was good though for Ryan to be able to explain to them what was happening throughout the movie! We went back to Unkys house and met her daughter Esther. She was 9 when Jasmyn went to Holland and I believe they spent alot of time together!
23rd October
A Lazy day today. We slept in until 1pm, went to the supermarket to buy food for the next couple of days and we cooked dinner for Martha this night so she could relax after being with Jan for the afternoon!
24th October
Today bought us a as a day of adventure. Unky had given me the names of places to go and the times the trains came to each of these places and Ryan and I set out early Sunday morning for our adventure. First stop was Mastrischt, a fairly large size town a half hour from Landgraff, but still in The Netherlands. Everything was closed as it was a Sunday but we made the decision we would had bacxk there another day.
Next stop was Leige in Belgium. Anoither half hour away. Leige was a very pretty town and we spent the afternoon walking the markets and a fair they had on. I got to buy some Belgium Chocolates... yummy! So i was a happy girl!
After Leige we went to Aachen which is in Germany. it was 5pm when we got here and the city was closed aswell, however we went for a walk to see all the old buildings, the church and the town halls. Then we headed back to Landgraff.
25th October
Martha took us to Kerkrada today to show us the house where dad was born. We also went to the town centre for a walk and for Lunch. After lunch we went to visit Jan in his home. All i can say is i think it is amazing that Martha goes and sees him everyday from 2pm til 6 or 8pm. It was very sad seeing him that way but you can tell he is not unhappy and that is what helps Martha manage I think. We stayed with him until 5.30pm and then ordered dinner in tonight.
26th October
Our last day in Country Holland. We woke up early and caught the train back to Mastricht. We spent quite a bit of time wondering the streets and had our picnic lunch in the town square. On the way back to Landgraff we stopped of in a town called Valkunberg. A very very touristy town! I bought myself some wooden clogs and a few other goodies for the house, which are on there way home! We cooked dinner for Martha again tonight and Unky and her husband (cant spell his name) came over after dinner, we shared our bottle of wine from Italy with everyone and stayed up talking until late with them.
27th October
It was sad to say goodbye thos morning and as Martha said her holiday is now over too! Unky took us to the train station and off to the Airport we went. 3hours and a change of trains and we where there. Going through Amsterdam Security was not nice. I got patted down quite vigourously from a lesbian security guard because i beeped going through the metal detector. Im not joking either, she was a lesbian and she felt my boobs to see if i was hiding anything in my bra, and pulled the underwire away from my skin to see if anything fell out. Ryan had a joke with her saying... "shes hot isnt she, grab her bumb, her bumb is awesome, grab it i dare you" The security guys had a good laugh about it and they are lucky i didn't really mind to much, most people would feel a little violated after that. She fall on gropped me! yuck!
Anyway we arrived in Athens at 6.30pm. It was 25 degrees which was a nice chamge from the top of 17 degrees in The Netherlands but boy was it raining. It rained and rained and rained and rained for atleast 2hours, the streets where flooded and it was absolutly pelting down, we got saturated!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Thursday October 21st
It was our last day in Amsterdam, We went on another one of those tip based walking tours with the same company that we did in Munich and Berlin. It wasn't the best one we have been on, our guide was pretty funny which helped alot, however we didn't really learn that much about Amsterdams history! We did learn that selling and smoking marijuana is actuall illegal in Amsterdam. However the police started focusing years ago on cutting out the hard drugs and so decided to turn a blind eye to dope, supposedly a softer drug. The coffee shops (weed shops) not cafes, are not allowed to advertise or have on display the marijuana. if you go into a shop you have to ask for the menu and then they will show it to you, if you don't ask they can not sell it to you. They also are not allowed to have more then 30grams on there premises at one time, so if the police do decide to search the premises and they have more then this, they will shut them down. No more coffee shops are ever allowed to open either, so if any shut down, they shut down for good!
Tonight we are going to see Fedde Le Grand at a club just out of the city called Panama. We catch a train to Landgraff tomorrow to stay with Martha for a few days.
Tonight we are going to see Fedde Le Grand at a club just out of the city called Panama. We catch a train to Landgraff tomorrow to stay with Martha for a few days.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
A day in rainy Amsterdam.
It is still raining, and Ryan is still not well, we make a trip to the Doctor to get him some more antibiotics, however this doctor confirms that it is the mumps and that the antibiotics wont work. he just has to ride it out. he isn't a very happy boy! He just has to keep his scarfe around his neck until the swelling goes down!
Today we went to another street market and went to the Heineken brewery. We had alot of fun at the Brewery.
Tonight we were going to head out to see one of the local djs for The Amsterdam Dance Event 2010, but it was too cold and we got a bit lazy so we headed to a coffee shop in the city instead! Our plan was to try some marjuana, we are in Amsterdam of course it has to be done! Like amatuers, we walked into one of the coffee shops and not knowing what to do, we just took the easy way out and bought 2 joints! We started out with 1 joint, between us, which was really silly because I have been so careful not to get Ryans germs and we completly forgot about it when sharing the joint. By the way, it was disgusting, we mustn't have done it properly because after one joint we both felt no different and we decided to leave without having the other one. It tasted disgusting, the smell of the place was so gross and the smoke was suffocating! Tried it once, don't need to try that again! Hope i don't get sick!
After the smoking experience we decided to go through the red light district and check out a live sex show. The bus tour that we wet on were also going to Amsterdam and it was something they were going to do as a group so i figured we should do it too. We walked in to some old man dressed up as the captain of a ship feeling up this young, unattractive, chubby young lady! Then they started doing all sorts or x rated things. It was pretty gross actually. They had another 4 or 5 shows which where just strip shows. Thoses girls where not very atractive either. It is funny, i thought that you would have to be attractive to get a job like that on stage, but apparently not. You just have to want to do it!
Today we went to another street market and went to the Heineken brewery. We had alot of fun at the Brewery.
Tonight we were going to head out to see one of the local djs for The Amsterdam Dance Event 2010, but it was too cold and we got a bit lazy so we headed to a coffee shop in the city instead! Our plan was to try some marjuana, we are in Amsterdam of course it has to be done! Like amatuers, we walked into one of the coffee shops and not knowing what to do, we just took the easy way out and bought 2 joints! We started out with 1 joint, between us, which was really silly because I have been so careful not to get Ryans germs and we completly forgot about it when sharing the joint. By the way, it was disgusting, we mustn't have done it properly because after one joint we both felt no different and we decided to leave without having the other one. It tasted disgusting, the smell of the place was so gross and the smoke was suffocating! Tried it once, don't need to try that again! Hope i don't get sick!
After the smoking experience we decided to go through the red light district and check out a live sex show. The bus tour that we wet on were also going to Amsterdam and it was something they were going to do as a group so i figured we should do it too. We walked in to some old man dressed up as the captain of a ship feeling up this young, unattractive, chubby young lady! Then they started doing all sorts or x rated things. It was pretty gross actually. They had another 4 or 5 shows which where just strip shows. Thoses girls where not very atractive either. It is funny, i thought that you would have to be attractive to get a job like that on stage, but apparently not. You just have to want to do it!
We arrive in Amterdam! 19th October
We arrived in Amsterdam at 11am. We where on a sleeper train in a 6 birth cabin. So three bunks on top of each other. Two bunks to the one room! It stank like shoes when we got in there, the train had come from prague so there where alreday people asleep. We had no choice but to jump straight in our beds and sleep! Ryan conked out straight away but it took me a good couple of hours to ghet used to all the noise!
We checked straight into our hotel and Ryan had another snooze, still no improvements. We just wondered the city this afternoon. go to the flower markets... Where they sell cannabis seeds!!! Walk into a coffee shop (Where you can buy a joint and smoke it in there) We walked straight back out again the smell was disgusting. We also wondered down to the Red Light District to check out the girls in the Windows! (It has to be seen) I can saftely say most of them are pigs, I think we have seen 2 out of 100 so far that are good looking! It was raining the whole night which made it very cold but we soldiered on back to our Hotel for a relatively early night!
We checked straight into our hotel and Ryan had another snooze, still no improvements. We just wondered the city this afternoon. go to the flower markets... Where they sell cannabis seeds!!! Walk into a coffee shop (Where you can buy a joint and smoke it in there) We walked straight back out again the smell was disgusting. We also wondered down to the Red Light District to check out the girls in the Windows! (It has to be seen) I can saftely say most of them are pigs, I think we have seen 2 out of 100 so far that are good looking! It was raining the whole night which made it very cold but we soldiered on back to our Hotel for a relatively early night!
Monday, October 18, 2010
18th October Ryans still sick in Berlin
It is our last day in Berlin today and Ryan still has shown no improvement. He still looks like Eddie Murphy, but he doesnt think its funny anymore. He stayed in most the day and i went gallivanting around the place by myself! We are off to Amsterdam tonight. Well tomorrow morning if I am exact 00.30am. I booked us a private room in a hostel with just a shared bathroom so if Ryan has to spend the next couple of days in he can atleast be in peace! Looks like he might miss out on the Red Light District!!! I doubt he is that sick!
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