Around the World – Page 4

July 5, 2016July 3, 2016

It’s Voting Day

Arriving into London was amazing, mainly because it felt a lot like home. We woke up early because we only had one day there and had a lot of things to do. First thing was to catch up with an old colleague of Marks who is now living in London. Although I was just meeting her for the first time I know Mark really enjoyed being able to talk to someone about the difference he felt in himself after leaving work. She also told us about how she had just voted in Brexit because she was an Australian citizen living in London. From our point of view that seemed odd. She has only been living there for less than a year but had a right to vote in one of the UK’s most life-changing referendums. Lunch was really nice but by the end we had spent our entire days budget on one meal and it was then that we realised just how expensive London could be if we didn’t watch what we were spending our money on. London’s gift to us was making sure we experienced London as it is for the locals – rainy.

DSC07442_Fotor — Before it started pouring rain and we stopped by Buckingham Palace

It rained for the rest of the day and we were soaked by the time we made it to the Australian High Commission so we could vote in the Australian Election. The High Commission is a beautiful building in the heart of London. As soon as I saw the building I got a little bit excited and blurted “Do you think they will have a sausage sizzle like they do back home?” Mark rolled his eyes at me as we walked closer but I think he was secretly hoping there was one too. It was so weird stepping into a building and hearing so many Australian accents. We were greeted by a man who said we were a very “colourful looking couple” and I took that as a compliment as I assumed he was talking about my yellow rain jacket, not us being weird. He directed us over to the VIC line where we were marked off and given our voting papers. The process was so quick that we thought it would be quicker to fly to London and vote in future elections instead of waiting in line at home. The only downside of course is the lack of sausage sizzles in London. Feeling very proud of ourselves we went to the British Library simply because I love libraries and could spend hours in them just looking at books. The British Library is spectacular. To access what they call ‘reading rooms’ which is where most of the books are kept, you need to register and show documentation of a local address so we were unable to go and actually read the books but they have collections throughout the library that you can go and see. We spent most of our time looking at the amazing historical collection containing all different types of documents, from all different parts of the world, from all different periods in history. It would take an entire day, if not longer to look at each item and understand the enormity a lot of the items had on history. There were spiritual documents, original Beatles lyrics, scientific documents, literature and writings from artists. It was an amazing room that wowed me at every turn. The first thing I would do if I ever lived in London would be to go to the library and register.

After being in the library we headed out to dinner to catch up with another friend from home and we caught up on her time living in London and the differences she has found between London and Melbourne and had generally a really good night that felt really normal which was just what we needed after quite a few days of travelling.

We are at the airport now though taking in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. When we went to bed last night the news was saying that the UK was to remain in the EU, however when we checked XE this morning for exchange rates the site crashed which prompted us to check the news and what do you know? the UK has voted out of the EU. I won’t bore you readers with my detailed view on why I thought the result was a good one but simply say that travelling around a lot of Europe recently has shown me that change in the region was needed and the UK has just began this change. A defining moment in history and I hope only positive things come from the Brexit vote. We have friends and family all over the UK and Europe and even though I imagine things may become difficult for a short time I hope in the end the UK and eventually Europe are better off.

July 3, 2016

On the move

We’ve spent the last 12 days travelling through 4 towns in 3 different countries. It’s been pretty laid back and we’ve taken most days as they come.

Our first stop was Warsaw in Poland and there wasn’t a whole lot for us to do there which was okay because we only had one full day there. We had booked train tickets online and the Polish Railway Company sent our tickets to our hotel. I felt really organised as all the tickets matched what we bought and the train stations were all close to our hotels so we could easily catch buses or trams to our hotels and save money. After our day in Warsaw we packed our bags and I worked out how to get to the train station – everything was fitting in well; check out was at 11am and our train was at 12.06pm so if we left straight after check out we would have plenty of time. We did that and were so relaxed once we got to Warsaw train station, why wouldn’t we be? we had half an hour before our train was due to depart. We put all of our bags down and I took our tickets over to the departures board to work out what platform we were on. I was staring at the board and found our train but the time was showing as 12.15pm so I figured that it was delayed slightly. Just to check it was ours I looked at our tickets… Turns out it wasn’t our train. Our train didn’t depart at 12.06pm like I thought, it departed at 10.30am ON the 12th June (12.06). Yep, we missed our train. Turns out I wasn’t as organised as I thought. Mark just laughed the entire time so while he stood with our bags laughing I was lining up to buy new tickets which cost close to 3x the original ones and we had to wait over an hour. We had no real option though, we needed to get to Krakow so we waited at the train station and had a sneaky cheeseburger from McDonalds.

The train to Krakow was really straight forward and as soon as we arrived in Krakow we immediately liked it so much better than Warsaw. It was a lot prettier and everything seemed to have so much more character to it. Our main reason for being in Krakow was to travel out to Auschwitz I & Auschwitz II Birkenau Concentration Camps which we did on our third day there (we lost a whole day after our train error in Warsaw). We didn’t book a guided tour out there and just booked entry tickets for the afternoon. Before we left we caught up with some friends from back home and it was so nice to talk to friends about what was news with them back in Melbourne and also to have honest conversations about our travels and theirs. There was no need for small talk and we could just hang out. After catching up with them for lunch we caught a bus out to Auschwitz I. The camp has been turned into a museum using the old buildings and structures and contains exhibits displaying the daily struggles and atrocities that took place there. Because we weren’t part of a guided tour we did a bit of research before we went so that we knew what we would encounter. I think for this reason we weren’t as shocked as a lot of people say they are when they visit but of course there were a few things that shook me. There were rooms filled with possessions that were taken from people when they arrived at the camp, there were barracks set up with the beds that the prisoners were forced to sleep in (often 3 to a bed), there were photos of the starvation that occurred but the one display that got me was the window full of human hair that was cut and shaved off bodies after being murdered in the gas chambers. The amount of hair that still remains is just unbelievable and to make things even more unbelievable there are mats in the same room that are created from human hair. Often, the hair that was cut off was later sold for a small price and was made into fabrics. After seeing this nothing shocked me and we left soon after to go to the Auschwitz II – Birkenau camp which is about 2km away and was built after the first and held and murdered more people. Not many of the buildings and structures still remain here but because we arrived at Auschwitz I later in the day it meant that by the time we got to Auschwitz II – Birkenau, the last of the daily guided tours were finishing up and there were only a hand full of people at the camp. We waited until the last shuttle bus back and it wasn’t until we were walking out of the camp that we realised we were the only people there besides the security guards. It was eerily quiet and we just stood for a moment looking down the train tracks and thought of the terrible things that happened there.

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After visiting Auschwitz we were ready to leave Krakow and did so on a train to Prague. I celebrated my 24^th birthday in Prague and did so by nearly getting a fine at the metro station, walking 10kms because we didn’t know if we should attempt to use the metro again and then avoiding all train stations because of an ‘incident’ at the main terminal. By late afternoon I wanted the day to be over so that I could try to ignore all the signs that showed just how terrible turning 24 was. I will admit it wasn’t all that terrible though. My beautiful younger brother created a slide show for me with messages from my whole family and some family and friends sent me video messages saying Happy Birthday. My family did also sing Happy Birthday to me over FaceTime, we had a cake and all – I just had to pretend to blow out the candles while someone else did it for me and they all got to eat cake while Mark and I watched. Months ago Mark and I had talked about how it looked like we wouldn’t be able to afford to go to New York for New Years Eve and I was pretty devastated but did look at the bigger picture, for my birthday though Mark decided that it was possible after all and bought us tickets to New York. And because Mark felt bad that my birthday wasn’t as spectacular as his birthday he bought me banana cake in bed for breakfast the next day and downloaded a birthday cake app so I could blow out candles after he sang Happy Birthday to me, he also let me spend the day booking accommodation for New Years and looking at all the things we could do there without complaining once. I then spent the afternoon at the hairdressers cutting off half of my hair. Okay, not half but a lot of it! We left Prague the next day for Budapest.

IMG_6119[1] — 24 years old means short hair.

When we arrived in Budapest the city was a complete mess. Hungary had just drawn the night before in the Euro against Iceland so we could definitely tell the whole city had been celebrating. There were bottles, broken and whole, everywhere, along with piles of rubbish so we spent most of our first day in Budapest inside avoiding the remaining dirt and drunks. This probably wasn’t a good idea because we starting watching Orange is the New Black S4. By the end of our time in Budapest we had watched the complete 4^th season which had me heart broken at the end but also hoping that the inmates at Litchfield would rally together. It is prison though so I guess they can’t all trust each other, they are criminals after all. It is also a TV show so I can’t go around pretending it’s real…

Getting to the airport in Budapest was just a normal occasion until we went to check in and apparently our reservation number didn’t match our e-ticket number. Now because all of this information was in the airline’s system you could just assume that it was their problem and fault and not ours, but unfortunately the staff at the airport kept saying we had changed it. The whole problem just seemed crazy to us because the website would let us check in online when we tried but their system wouldn’t allow us to print baggage tags nor register that we should have been on the flight. Of course all of this could be fixed if we just paid the airport staff to change it in their system. Mark did not like this answer but because we had no other choice we paid up just so we could get to London and I am writing this as we sit at the airport waiting for our slightly delayed flight. Ahhh the joys of budget travel.

June 11, 2016

White Nights of St Petersburg

There are some things you should know about me.

1. My favourite book is The Bronze Horseman.
2. Subsequently my favourite author is Paullina Simons.
3. I automatically love anyone who loves The Bronze Horseman as much as me.
4. Our first trip to St Petersburg a couple of years ago was because I wanted to see the city she writes about.
5. Our trip to St Petersburg this time was because we loved it the first time.
6. St Petersburg is now one of our favourite cities in the World. I may be slightly blinded by my love for the book but I don’t care.

Arriving in St Petersburg in the afternoon was a bit exciting for us. It was the first time we had ever re-visited a city in Europe. We got to our room which was really bright and clean and because it was a part of a huge apartment it felt like it could easily be home for a while. For this reason we decided to go grocery shopping so that we could cook for a change, instead of eating out constantly. We bought enough food for breakfast everyday and some dinners. By the end of the day we felt like we had accomplished a lot – checked into our room, went grocery shopping, put on a load of washing and went out for a walk.

The first time we visited Russia was during winter so it was very cold and dark, this time however it is summer which means White Nights in St Petersburg. Because of St Petersburg’s geographical location, during summer the sun never really drops below the horizon which means that although the sun has ‘set’ it’s still light outside. There are always people out on the streets during summer and at 2am, although it’s quiet it’s not deserted by any means. It was nice knowing we had been to St Petersburg before because it meant we could spend more of our time outside, instead of inside museums and cathedrals. We checked out some of our favourites of course, but only from the outside. The Hermitage & the Winter Palace which never disappoint as well as The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood and St Isaac’s Cathedral. We spent most of our time though walking around the Summer Garden, checking out the Bronze Horseman and pushing through crowds on Nevsky Prospect.

IMG_9377_Fotor — Forcing Mark to take a tourist photo with The Bronze Horseman

During this visit we did 2 things we didn’t do on our previous trip. The first was going to the Ballet. I’d always wanted to go to see the Russian Ballet in Russia but last time we just didn’t have the time, this time around, thinking we could book last minute tickets to the famous Bolshoi in Moscow we were told that everything was sold out! So we thought “not to worry we will just go here in St Petersburg”. “Sorry, everything is also sold out for the time you’re here” WHAT?! Turns out that wasn’t the case, it was just that new shows were opening a couple of days after we left and these were sold out. After being sent on a mission around St Petersburg we finally found one of the authorised sellers we were after and it was meant to be! There were 2 tickets left on the day we wanted, but for a different, smaller theatre. We bought them because there was no way I was going to Russia twice and not seeing the Ballet. The ballet culture in Russia is huge! Everyone gets dressed up, arrives early for drinks and canapés and then heads out for dinner after the show.

We got to the theatre super early and had some drinks and food while we waited, just before going into the show our waiter asked if we would like to pre-order some drinks for the intermission “Of course we would – 2 of the same please”. We walked into the theatre to look for our seats and were told we were at the end, so we walk all the way to the end until we can’t go any further and there is no entrance which is when we were given our our swipe card to a private room. Crazy I know. So we go through one door, into a small waiting room with private bathrooms, through another door into a private sitting room and then finally through another door onto a private balcony. We were shocked. And then, to top it all off, it looked like we had gate-crashed a small party, because the other 6 people all knew each other and had booked the entire balcony, or so they thought. We then discussed that they probably assumed no-one would buy 2 tickets, one in front of the other, but they didn’t count on us doing just that! They were lovely people who made us feel really welcome and I get the impression they were regulars at the ballet. So there we are in our fancy seats watching the ballet and then at intermission we walk out and think “Hmmm how do we get our drinks we ordered, we didn’t get a ticket or receipt” we didn’t even have to worry because as soon as we walked out, our waiter found us and took us over to our old table which was now reserved for us. Our entire experience of the ballet was a positive one, maybe because of our seats, maybe because of our reserved table, but mainly it was because of the formality and tradition behind the way everyone acted and the respect everyone had towards the art of ballet. We can’t wait to go again, although next time we will book well in advance so that we can go to the Bolshoi in Moscow!

The other thing we did this time was visit Peterhof which is the Summer Palace of Peter the Great. This place was ridiculous. It is called by some as the Fountain Capital of the World and once you’re there you can understand why. Everywhere you turn there is a fountain, either big or small, real or trick. The real fountains are quite obvious but the trick ones can get you, however you can usually spot them from a far by the crowds of kids running and squealing. The trick fountains just mean that the can shoot out water at anytime, and some that are hidden in the ground can catch you off guard completely. It was nice watching families running around these areas just enjoying the time outside. Sometimes we forget how much joy can arise from a water fountain or sprinkler. Besides the thousands of fountains at Peterhof, the gardens are simply breathtaking. My brother is a landscape gardener so pretty much the entire time we were walking around we kept saying “Chris would love this place” “Imagine what Chris would say if he was here” “We should take a photo and send it to Chris” “We should tell Chris to come here”.
We had been told to pack a lunch so we sat by the waters edge, looked out towards Kotlin Island, St Petersburg, ate chicken salad rolls and watched a newly married couple celebrate with what we imagine were 8 of their closest friends. It really was a nice way to end our time in St Petersburg.

DSC06297_Fotor — Peterhof Palace / Summer Palace. Amazing weather and sites for our last day!

June 4, 2016

A smiling face is half the meal

A smiling face is half the meal – Latvian Proverb.

I normally try to write each post when we are leaving a city or country as it kills time while we wait around but I wasn’t able to write about Riga when we were leaving Latvia, not because we didn’t have time but because I didn’t know what to write. When we first arrived we were so impressed. The airport was so clean and new, our bags were waiting for us when we walked through to the baggage point and getting a taxi was super easy. We met our host from Airbnb about 30 minutes later and walked up 6 flights of stairs to their apartment. They were such a lovely couple with a small 3 year old daughter who reminded us of our friends back home and that made me miss home. Because we had arrived at about 10pm she had stayed awake and didn’t want to go to sleep until she could see us. We stayed up quite late that night talking and speaking about life in Australia compared to life in Latvia. Surprisingly there were actually quite a few similarities although Australia just doesn’t have the same history as any country in Europe.

The best way to describe Riga is like a capital city with a country lifestyle. Everything is so clean and relatively quite. People spend a lot of time outside when the sun is out just walking around or sitting in the parks. We did this on both of our days in Riga, and on the second day, after going to the biggest market in Europe we sat in the park and made our own lunch with the food we had just bought. It was so calming just sitting on the grass. It doesn’t get dark in Riga until about 10.30pm so we always made sure we stayed out until the sun had gone down.

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Music and busking is really popular in Riga. There was always someone playing an instrument or singing on every street in the Old Town but the songs always had a melancholy feel to them. On our walk back to our apartment one night we walked past a young band playing. They had a relatively large crowd – mostly people the same age – watching them so we kept walking up to an older man playing a small instrument. There was no one standing by watching him so we stood for a while and listened. After a little bit, Mark walked up and put some money in his hat and the smile on the mans face almost broke my heart. When Mark turned around to walk back to me the man wipe a tear from his eye and started playing a new song for us. That was it for me and Mark knew it. I couldn’t speak the entire walk back. The next night he was there again and at first I don’t think he recognised us but we went and spoke to him this time hoping that he spoke English. He did of course (everyone in Europe seems to speak English) and he told us the instrument he was playing was a banjolele and he was Latvian and 76 years old. Quick maths in my head told me that he would have been born during WWII and subsequently lived through the occupation of Latvia. Not wanting to make him uncomfortable and disturb him any long we stood back and listened to him play another song before going back to our apartment for our last night in Riga.

When I think of Latvia and our few days there I picture an old quiet town and an old man with white hair and a sad smile playing a banjolele. Whether his life has been difficult or not, I don’t know, but I do know a lot of people have had difficult lives in Latvia so for whatever reason it is I want to smile and cry at the same time and hope that I’ll be back there one day to watch more of the buskers, singing happier songs.

May 29, 2016

The word on the street is: Awkward

It should have taken us 2 hours to get from Barcelona to Munich. Instead, thanks to all of the delays it took us 8 hours. The hotel we were staying at in Munich was a relatively big family-run hotel. When we arrived and went to check in the family were sitting in the breakfast room which at night is closed to guests. We of course didn’t know this as we had just arrived so we followed the husband from outside into the breakfast room while he looked for our booking. We walked further into the room only to be told by an older lady that the room was out of bounds and we had to stand by the door. We apologised and went to stand awkwardly by the door (but still in the room) to wait. After we had moved, there was this awkwardness that descended over everyone there. It was like those times in movies when something awkward happens and people try to find things to pre-occupy themselves with. I wanted to laugh because it didn’t bother us at all where we were allowed or not allowed to be but it seemed to make some of the workers/family members awkward.

As I think about our days in Germany I wish we had filmed our time there. If I had to find one word to describe our time there it would be awkward. Awkward situations don’t actually really bother me most of the time and I find them more awkward for other people, watching how they react to the ‘awkwadrness’ – I myself generally find them amusing. On our second day in Munich when we were walking around the city we noticed groups of people all by the side of the park eating, drinking and playing bocci. Mark walked off to watch some of the games close up and I walked a bit further on and was just observing the entire area when I noticed a rather tall blonde guy walking towards me. At first I thought he was walking to someone behind me so I thought”woah better move out of the way otherwise he’s going to walk straight into me” this was quickly followed by “oh no, I think he is actually walking towards me” and then it was at this point when he was mere steps in front of me rapidly speaking in German that I just stood there, laughed and said “sorry English only” to which his reply was “Oh no problem. I was just saying that I thought you looked cute and that I should come over to introduce myself”. I hadn’t expected him to be able to speak such good English so this is where I got awkward and ungracefully pointed to Mark and said “I’m here with my partner”. After a bit of small talk I realised he thought I said parents and had pointed to an older couple standing near Mark. While trying to be polite I just couldn’t help but think about how ridiculous I must have looked and sounded the entire time, especially when I was talking about “our round the world trip” and he was thinking I was travelling with my parents. When Mark finally sauntered over the conversation ended pretty quickly but was followed by Mark’s questions and mocking. He found the entire scenario hilarious and then at the end of the day decided to tell me that he had been wondering what I was doing and had a photo…

Munich was a beautiful city, extremely clean and really quite so we were looking forward to seeing what Berlin had to offer. We got to Berlin early in the morning and couldn’t get access to our room at the hostel (yes, we stayed at a hostel again) until 4pm so we thought we would be productive and put on some loads of washing to kill some time. After our washing was done we sat outside with another Aussie and talked complete crap for an hour or so while we people watched. Our hostel was down the road from arguably the most famous club in Berlin, The Berhain. The club is infamous for its strict door policy, or lack thereof, which, according to numerous posts online, says that you can wait in line for 4 hours to be rejected simply because you didn’t fit their type. Well what is their type you ask? People speculate that it is a variety of different things but in the end I don’t think anyone but Sven, the main bouncer knows. So while watching people walk up the street towards The Berhain we would guess on who we thought would get in and who wouldn’t. So many people didn’t get in that we eventually stopped guessing because we just knew they wouldn’t be getting in.

Berlin is so full of history that when it wasn’t raining, we spent our time outside checking out the Wall, monuments to those that died or other historical landmarks. Berlin is so free from what most people would call ‘they normal way of life’ that it can be a bit of a shock. We definitely didn’t blend in with those in East Berlin – neither of us had enough piercings, tattoos or colours in our hair to be able to fit in, although my usual all black attire worked just fine. Apart from the huge variety of people in Berlin I don’t know if I can describe the general atmosphere there. My mind is all over the place when I try to think of a way to explain it so I think I’ll just leave you with a few contradictory words that could be used to describe Berlin all at once. Mournful, sunny, cheerful, dark, bright and grim. Also, I can’t forget to mention the vast amounts of graffiti that covers everything from buildings to rubbish bins, park benches and the ground.

DSC05903_Fotor — East Side Gallery, Berlin

I think we will definitely come back to Germany, although next time we want to explore the countryside as I think it would be so picturesque and authentic there. I’m not sure when we will be back though so I’ll have to start writing a bucket list so I don’t forget about it. We fly to Latvia tomorrow afternoon. I have no idea what is to be expected there and that makes me excited.

May 23, 2016

Hola!

A couple of days in Madrid was enough for us especially because the weather wasn’t the best. We stayed on a street equivalent to that of Bourke Street in Melbourne which meant when we walked out of our apartment the first thing we saw were shops, shops and more shops. I don’t think we could of left without buying something, so Mark bought new shoes to replace the old pair he was wearing. Apart from buying new shoes we spent our time in Madrid wandering around like we do. After 2 days there we got an early morning train to Seville. Just before leaving we were trying to remember why we were going to Seville as there didn’t seem like there was a whole lot to do compared to other parts of Spain. After spending a couple hundred dollars on train tickets though there was no way we were changing anything so we got on the train and figured we would use the time to relax if there was nothing else to do.

I’ve realised Mark just loves European life – especially those that encourage a siesta. Seville was great. Everyday we would get up and go out for a walk before deciding what we would actually do with our day. To decide what we would do we would have to go and buy some croissants or donuts for breakfast and then walk over to a local cafe so Mark could have his morning coffee. It was at this cafe that we decided to do our usual – Walk around. So after walking around for a bit we would stop by a small bar that was across the road from our apartment. We would buy 1 Euro beers and possibly get a pork and prosciutto toasted roll, possibly when translations didn’t work we would get a prosciutto and blue cheese – we did prefer the pork and prosciutto over the blue cheese. We would then walk across the road with the intention of writing/reading/emailing but just fall asleep like the rest of the town and wake up after our siesta feeling like we really did what we had secretly planned to do all along. After our siesta we would walk back across the road, drink more beers, eat more rolls and often get a plate of olives and some roasted chicken. As uneventful as all of that may sound we really enjoyed our time in Seville. We stayed out of the main city so we were away from all of the tourist sites which meant we could live just like the locals.

Living like locals also meant we had to do our own washing.

Mark was a bit sad to leave Seville. He absolutely loved the bar we went to everyday and he loved the entire vibe Seville had but we had already paid for our train so we left one afternoon to go to Barcelona. Barcelona was probably just as we had imagined. It didn’t move us the way Seville did as everything seemed more forced upon you. In Barcelona things felt forced whereas it didn’t feel like that in Seville, nonetheless we were in Barcelona so we had to make the most of it. We spent our first full day getting to know the city and checking out a few things before heading back to our apartment. We weren’t happy with our accommodation so that afternoon we packed up our things, wrote a note to our host and left. Our new room at a hostel in the Gothic District of Barcelona was so nice we were disappointed we didn’t get to spend our first night there as well! We ate at a new Spanish burger house down the road, downed some beers and sangria and woke up early the next day for our visit to Casa Batllo and Sagrada Familia. Both sites were amazing and were unlike anything we had ever seen before but if I had to pick between them I wouldn’t even need to think about it. Sagrada Familia was so amazing that when we went to leave the lady at the gate reminded us that once we left we couldn’t come back for the day so we turned around and ran back inside just to make sure we had had our Sagrada fix! Antoni Gaudi thought in a way that I would never even contemplate and everything he did in the cathedral, no matter how different just worked perfectly.

DSC05710_Fotor — Have you ever seen a ceiling like this? I hadn’t until I stepped into Sagrada Familia.

Barcelona is known to the yachting world for it’s huge port and boating lifestyle. We walked along the port throughout the day to look at all of the multi-million dollar boats and along one part of the walk I actually started to get really angry. In the water there were so many boats all worth a ridiculous amount of money, then there was a path running along the waters edge, along that path there was a wire fence (I assume to stop people from just walking straight onto the boats) and then on our side of the fence there were groups of people set up selling souvenirs, gadgets and fake shoes and handbags. The stark contrast between wealth was overwhelming and quite sad. Something that did cheer me up was seeing a rooftop garden on a building (I’m obsessed with them at the moment) – It was a proper roof top garden with grass and all, not just a roof with some pot plants! – and I know that Mark was secretly laughing at me getting so excited that while yelling “rooftop garden” and pointing hysterically, I tripped over while trying to run to get a better look. (My father-in-law would say that’s another reason why I shouldn’t attempt to run)

That night we met up with a friend who lives in Barcelona and funnily enough works on the huge boats that dock there. What was meant to be quite dinner and drinks turned into a very late night with us missing our flight this morning. Because we missed our flight we had to book one the of cheapest flights available and now for that reason we are sitting on a plane that took off and then turned back around because the landing gear didn’t go up which could apparently cause problems throughout the flight. Luckily, they have found us another plane that isn’t currently being used so once we are able to board that one they will be moving us from one plane to the other, or so they say. At this stage I don’t really mind because there is no-one seated next to me so I’m going to lay down and try to sleep so I can function slightly better when we get to Germany.

Adios Amigos!

May 14, 2016May 14, 2016

The Hostel life just isn’t for me

After spending a couple of hours in no-mans land between Jordan and Israel, we arrived in Israel and made our way by bus to Jerusalem on Friday morning.

I pictured Jerusalem to be this city that was so full of magic and history that it would be like stepping back in time. My first impression was that it was quite modern and clean but then I thought to myself “it won’t be like this in the old city”. After arriving at our hotel we thought we should go change our money and get some food. We were told we should go “quickly as it’s Sabbath and everything will be closed soon”. I thought this would be one of those times when ‘everything’ actually just means the shopping centres and restaurants, cafes and supermarkets would still be opened. Turns out that isn’t the case in Jerusalem. They take the Sabbath very seriously and before we knew it everything around us was closed and I still hadn’t had lunch. Mark had eaten a kabab but after weeks in Turkey and then Jordan I just couldn’t stomach more BBQ meat. On the way back to our hotel we stopped by a supermarket that remains open during Sabbath and bought some food thinking we would go out and eat dinner later at one of the few restaurants that don’t close. I don’t know what happened but we laid down while we waited for a movie to download and BAM! 4 hours later I woke up to a half downloaded movie and a rumbling stomach. Mark woke up shortly after me and being half asleep suggested that we eat the 2 minute noodles we bought as a snack for dinner. I quickly agreed and while waiting for the water to boil, I reflected on how quickly our circumstances can change on the road. One minute we are tanning by the pool at our resort on the Dead Sea and the next minute we are eating 2 minute noodles for dinner in a hotel in Jerusalem during Sabbath.

“The Sabbath is commanded by God. Every week religious Jews observe theSabbath, the Jewish holy day, and keep its laws and customs. The Sabbath begins at nightfall on Friday and lasts until nightfall on Saturday.” – Wikipedia.
The Old Town in Jerusalem still opens on Saturday’s so we wandered down there the on Saturday morning and it was here that I expected to see an old city swathed in history and religion. I saw more of a restored city filled with cheap market stalls and tour groups. Our whole experience in the Old Town was completely underwhelming. Nothing seemed sacred and the large masses of people pushing everyone else out of their way just ruined any sacred atmosphere that may have been present. We left after a few hours of walking around really disappointed in what had become of one of the most sacred places in the world for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
One good thing that did come from our day in the Old Town was that while we were out our movie finally finished downloading so we watched that after yet another dinner of 2 minute noodles. It was a really interesting movie and would highly recommend it to those who don’t mind reading subtitles in a film. It’s called Dheepan and is about a soldier leaving Sri Lanka for France with a random woman and child to try to start a new life there.

After a rather underwhelming time in Jerusalem we were hoping Tel Aviv would cheer us up – after all it’s right by the beach! Getting to our hostel there was a fairly simple experience with just a bus and taxi from Jerusalem. Once inside the hostel we met a few of the workers there and a whole bunch of volunteers. At first I thought they were volunteering in Israel and were just staying at the hostel for a few days but I quickly learnt I was wrong. They were volunteers at the hostel, which meant they worked there and in return got a free bed. After a couple of hours observing these ‘volunteers’ I realised that they didn’t actually do much work and I could quite easily assume that the cleanliness of the bathrooms were thanks to them. I’ve never seen so much grime and soap scum on a set of taps before in my life – they really needed to invest in some Jiff or maybe methylated spirits would help. You must be thinking “ohh but Bianca why would you shower somewhere that was so dirty, that’s just gross”. Well my loyal readers, please don’t judge me when I tell you this but I did not shower there for the 2 days that we stayed and I still felt I was better off than simply being in those bathrooms, let alone showering in them. Hostels are very interesting places. I’ve stayed in a couple of good ones before but generally they really push me to my limits. I just can’t find it in myself to be interested in everyone’s story on how they “are trying to find themselves”.

We spent as much time as we could away from the hostel and walked around Tel Aviv and spent time at the beach. It was too cold and windy to be in the water but it was nice to be outside catching the sun at times when the clouds weren’t too strong. After 2 days we were leaving the hostel to spend a day/night at a really nice hotel. The first thing I did when I got there was shower, then second thing was to go spend the entire day by the pool. It was a really nice way to end our time in Israel especially because our last day was also Memorial Day and at 8pm a loud siren went off for 1 minute to remind everyone to stop and remember all of those who had lost their lives for Israel.

Before arriving in Israel we had been told that we would get questioned crossing the border and the process could take hours. This didn’t happen to us on the way in as we had been told but it did happen on the way out. The process to leave Israel was so ridiculous that by the end we really couldn’t see the benefit of it whatsoever. Firstly, when we arrived at the airport and walked over to our check in desk there was a line and security a few meters in front. After waiting in this line for over half an hour we get to security where they advise us they need to ask us a few questions. Obviously we said “sure, no worries”. I’ll add a few of the questions we got asked by one security team officer and then again by a superior officer.

Q: “Where are you going?”
A: “Athens and then onto Madrid”
Q: “How long are you in Athens for?”
A: “We aren’t staying there, it’s for transit”
Q: “How long are you in Spain for?”
A: “ummm 8 days.” Neither of us could remember at this stage so I didn’t take time to pretend to count the days on my hand.
Q: “When do you go back to Australia?”
A: “Not sure, we are travelling for 12 months”
Q: “How do you know each other?” I was a bit shocked at this question
A: “He’s my boyfriend”
Q: “How long have you been dating for?” Now at this question I simply wanted to walk straight onto the plane and leave Israel and all of it’s ridiculous security questions behind but I thought to leave I would need to answer
A: “6 and a half years”
This was the end of the questioning by the first officer. He then took our passports and gave them to his superior who held onto them while she questioned the man next to us.
While we waited I tried to listen in to what she was asking him so I could be prepared for when she was ready to speak to us. In the end she asked us pretty much the same questions we had already been asked along with questions on where we had been prior and what we did in Israel. I’m glad we weren’t the man next to us though. He was asked what time he got to the airport and what he had been doing in the 45 minutes since he arrived. He had to calmly tell her that he had been waiting in line to be questioned. The look on her face gave the impression that she didn’t even believe him.

I was simply dumbfounded by the entire process on leaving Israel. We learnt quite a bit while in Israel though but I’m glad we are no longer there and made it to Spain. Bring on Europe!

May 7, 2016

This is the Middle East

Leaving Turkey was hard. We both loved being there so much but we thought Jordan would surprise us just as much as Turkey did.

When we arrived in Amman we thought we were super prepared. I had the cash on me that we were to exchange for Jordanian Dinar and Mark was going to investigate the Visa situation. The exchange rates at the airport were terrible. We were going to lose so much money by exchanging it there so we went to the ATM to withdraw as much cash as we could. This worked out better for us and we were a bit annoyed that we couldn’t exchange our cash but it all worked out – we would just exchange the cash once we got into the city. Just before we had left for Jordan we had read about a Jordan Pass which got us entry into the country and entry into tourists sites but Mark couldn’t see any mention of it at the airport so we paid the equivalent of $80 each for a visa and about half an hour later were finally getting our bags and searching for a bus to take us to town. We flew Royal Jordanian Airlines who have a shuttle bus for passengers which takes them from the airport to 7th Circle in the city. We couldn’t find their bus so jumped on another airport link bus and told them to take us to 7th Circle. An hour later we were being kicked off the bus right on a main road and were being told to get a taxi. We tried to explain to the driver that we were at the wrong spot and wanted to go further into the city. At this point he didn’t speak English which was odd considering he could tell us in very good English that we had to get off the bus and get a taxi from there to our hotel. A lady who spoke Arabic & English eventually helped us get a taxi but by this stage we were just doing what we were told.

The next 2 days we spent in Amman walking the city, seeing some of the cites and relaxing in our room which was quite big compared to some places we had stayed in. We were also hanging out with a guy from Yemen who was in Amman trying to get a study visa for Canada. We invited him to join us on our road trip to Petra. He accepted and we drove later one afternoon to Petra. It was an interesting experience having an Arabic person with us. For one, he helped us save money by always getting Arabic prices for us. He was charged JOD0.85 for a bottle of water and 2 cokes whereas we were charged JOD3. He kindly asked us to stop going into stores with him and just telling him what we wanted as he said that as soon as the shopkeepers saw that we were with him they bumped up the Arabic prices. At one point he told us we would have paid 10x what he had paid simply because we were foreigners and the shopkeeper tried to get more money out of everyone. It’s simple things like this that can make travelling difficult, especially when we don’t speak the language.

There was definitely a lot more foreigners in Wadi Musa, the town Petra is in but we didn’t have time to socialise. We got in late, were tired, hungry and had to get up early in the morning. We were completely unprepared for what Petra had to offer. Of course we did our research like we normally do but we usually find that people suggest we allow a lot more time than we actually need to visit any type of monument/attraction so when people online said you need days we thought “narh, we’ll get it done in a couple of hours”. Mark was so happy he put on his Nikes instead of Vans because 7 hours later we were completely exhausted. The monuments there were incredible and we were so glad we took the hardest routes through the site – they offered us some amazing views – but it was hard work. We had a bit of a joke going on which helped us (me) get through some of the hardest parts. Mark would ask “How you going?” in an extremely cheerful voice and I would simply look at him with the most exhausted face I could manage and then we would laugh and move on. It probably doesn’t sound funny to anyone reading this but it worked, surprisingly. It’s now something Mark continues to do when he thinks I’m tired.

DSC04657_Fotor

Petra was unlike anything we had ever seen before but we were really looking forward to going so that we could get to the Dead Sea to relax and sit by the pool. Mark and I are both beach people and as amazing as Petra was, for me it was trumped by the Dead Sea. When we first arrived our hotel upgraded us to a suite room where we had a view of the water. The water was so still and looking at it calmed me immediately. I don’t know if I am able to put into words what it looked like… I’ll try though. The Dead Sea isn’t actually a sea but a huge lake, half in Israel and half in Jordan. The water is this cloudy blue-white colour that at some points blends so well with the sky that you can’t see where the water ends and the sky begins. It was surreal for us standing on one side of the lake in Jordan and looking across to see all of the lights on at night in Israel.

Besides being famous for all of the minerals in the water and surrounding ground, the Dead Sea is of course famous for being so salty that you can float without doing anything. The water has what I can only describe as a thicker feeling than normal water and it makes your skin feel slimy while in the water. Being so salty means that the water searches and very quickly finds every tiny little cut or scratch you have on your body. I think I must have looked like a kid in the water. Mark went in before me and was just there floating that I couldn’t stop smiling. Once I got in there I just couldn’t stop giggling (I’m not usually a giggling type of girl). It was so weird being in the water and just floating on our backs. Floating on your stomach is a lot harder as your constantly trying to keep your head out of the water. I had read that you shouldn’t put your face under the water because when the water gets in your eyes it will feel like someone is scratching them out. We didn’t stay in for very long as everything starts to sting after a while. It’s as if tiny little cuts that didn’t hurt at first start to eventually let the salt in and start to sting. We couldn’t help ourselves though. We had to go back in the next day. I’m so glad we did because we also covered ourselves in the mud of the Dead Sea which is said to be full of minerals. We sat in a mud bath and covered ourselves as best we could. A local told us we should we 30 minutes before going to wash it off. We couldn’t wait that long – the mud started to seep into our skin and burn and sting just like the water. Ohh what we do for beauty. Washing the mud off in the salty water was a lot harder than putting it on. Mark got the tiniest bit of water in his eyes and said it was like “someone stabbing [his] eyes”. I could imagine what he meant because while I was washing the mud off my face I got the water on my lips and it made them so dry and then made them burn. It also tasted foul.

On our last day at the Dead Sea we thought we would try the resort spa, after all it was one of the largest spa in the Middle East. You would think being a part of a huge resort that there would be at least a few people in there. Nope, we were the only ones, so we swam around in the pool like 2 kids being told by their mum that we had 30 minutes before we had to leave. Being the only people in the spa though meant that the lifeguard followed us around and he did catch me splashing water into Mark’s face just as he was coming up out of the water – got a few laughs from the lifeguard.

The most amazing sunset from our last night on the Dead Sea

Driving through Jordan was a good opportunity for us to see a lot of the country. At some points we would look around and say “Yep, this is definitely the Middle East”. But Mark simply described Jordan as one big $2 store. Everywhere we went people would try to sell us things for “1 Dinar only” which is $2 for us so we started calling it the $2 store of the Middle East.

I’m writing this post as we sit on a bus in the middle on no-mans land between Jordan and Israel. The next time you hear from us will be, hopefully, from Israel!

May 1, 2016

G’day mate

Being in Turkey for ANZAC Day meant that we were going to the Dawn Service in Gallipoli. We had read before going to the Dawn Service that we needed to be a part of an organised tour so we booked ours with Intrepid. It was here that we met our amazing guides, an Aussie – Jen, and a Turk – Suleyman. With Mark’s birthday on the 24th April it meant he spent his 27th birthday on a 4 hour bus ride to Eceabat, Turkey. That may sound pretty bad but it wasn’t a completely terrible birthday. We made friends with the other Aussies on our bus and he was able to have a BBQ and drinks at a bar called Boomerang. We stayed there for a few hours before we were told we had to get back on the bus at about 11pm for the drive to ANZAC Cove. The drive wasn’t very long and we were at ANZAC Cove and through security before we knew it. Mark had had a bit to drink at the bar so on our walk from the carpark to our spot on the grass he kept us all entertained. But what tends to happy when you’ve had a bit to drink is that you repeat yourself. While walking Mark asked where his “Uber was at” we all laughed at this and thought he was funny. It was only funny the first time though and the other 7 times it was just repetitive. Once we reached the ceremony grounds we found a spot on the grass, set up our sleeping bags and tried to get some sleep.

A couple of hours before the sun came up everyone started to slowly pack up their things in preparation for the Dawn Service. Just before the official ceremony commenced they played a short film called The Telegram Man, which really got the waterworks going. The service itself was quite moving and it was amazing to be in Gallipoli for ANZAC Day. I know it sounds cliche but there was something really special being there with other Aussies and Kiwis remembering those who gave their lives for us 101 years ago. After the service we walked for about 4 and a half hours up to Chunuk Bair for the Kiwi memorial. We stopped along the way to look at major landmarks of the battles that happened there and spent quite a bit of time at Lone Pine which is the Australian memorial site. There was no actual memorial service this year for Aussies so we all went to the Kiwi one. At Chunuk Bair they could only allow a certain number of people up to the site for the service, the rest of us had to watch the service on a big screen. It was quite amazing though because as the site started to fill up and they began turning people away all of the Aussies remaining had the same idea – we wouldn’t go to the site just in case there were a few Kiwis that showed up at the last minute. After all it was their memorial service, not ours. After the service at Chunuk Bair finished we waited for our bus to arrive so we could head back to Istanbul. It was a very quite bus ride. The experience as a whole was quite amazing and definitely once in a lifetime type experience. What made it even more amazing was hearing the history of the ANZAC’s from a Turk. Back home we learn about the war from Australians and we learn about it from our Australian point of view and hearing about it from a Turk’s point of view seems to sum up everything we have learnt and shows us how terrible it was for everyone involved, even if, ultimately the Turks won the battles in Gallipoli.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest We Forget.

The next few days we spent in Istanbul and Suleyman was nice enough to meet us on his day off to show us around. Istanbul is unbelievable. We absolutely loved going to the market and buying Turkish Delight, nuts, fruits and spices. None of it is like what we get back home. There is so much to see in Istanbul and we spent hours each day walking around. Everywhere we turned there was something to look at or new food to eat. It wasn’t just the sites and food that made our time in Istanbul great but the people as well. Everywhere we went people were always more than happy to help us – a guy stopped us in the street and asked us if we needed help getting to where we were going (we must have looked super lost). Even when people stopped us in the street to try to sell us something and we said no, they always just asked to talk to us. It may have been their way of building rapport so we did eventually buy something but it never felt like that. To top it all off every time we said we were from Australia, no matter where we were they always replied “G’day mate”.

I’m glad we ended our time in Turkey in Istanbul. It is such an amazing city and I can’t wait to go back. It was also really fitting that we reached the 100 day mark in Istanbul.

I’m really sad thinking about leaving here but we are off to Jordan and I have no idea what it will be like there. Hopefully just as amazing as Turkey has been to us.

April 23, 2016April 26, 2016

Destination: Antalya

Göreme at night is just as beautiful as during the day. Lights are turned on throughout the town and hillside that it looks like fairies are covering the entire town. I simply loved it there. I was sad to leave after 2 days but was looking forward to seeing the famous thermal waters in Pamukkale which was a 7 hour drive away. On the way we stopped at Lake Beysehir which is simply breathtaking. The mountain behind it was enormous and the water was so still. The lake itself was surrounded by parkland which had public ovens that people could use to cook food for a picnic and I could just picture how busy it would be there in summer.

DSC04191_Fotor — I would picnic here constantly if I could

Up to this point I had been surprised with everything Turkey had to offer so when we got to Pamukkale I was super excited to be able to see the thermal waters there. When you go somewhere and the main feature is the water it’s hard to not be disappointed when you get there and there isn’t any water. Apparently they are working on some repairs there so have stopped the water flowing onto the terraces. It was still a pretty amazing thing to see although we didn’t hang around long and left for our drive to Bodrum.

Bodrum is a beachside town with the nicest people. Everyone there was always willing to help us and we spent our 2 days there wandering around and relaxing. It was nice to be near the beach again and I’m really looking forward to summer now and spending days by the beach. It was here in Bodrum that Mark booked in a game of golf in Antalya for his birthday so I know he was looking forward to the next couple of days going by relatively quickly.

Our next stop after Bodrum was Olympos where we stayed in a treehouse which was pretty cool. The guesthouse itself is quite big and they included breakfast and dinner in our room price. Breakfast is often included in room prices but dinner was a first for us. Eating there felt like we were on school camp, lining up to scoop food onto our plates, secretly wanting to be first so you didn’t miss out on anything. On our second night as I was making up a plate for myself and Mark another couple were in line behind me and I was wondering if they would think I was being greedy by taking so much and I wanted to turn around to ensure them that I was getting food for myself and Mark but I thought was overthinking it. I quietly laughed to myself though as I reached the rice dish and saw there wasn’t much left as they saw it as well and the girl said, much louder than she had been talking, to her partner “ohh there isn’t much rice left, I hope we get some”. This may sound bad but I did scoop an extra spoonful on my plate because of this, after all they hadn’t seen the chef in the kitchen holding a new tray of rice so I knew they would be getting more than they thought.

After a couple of days we left Olympos nice and early so we could reach Lykia Golf Course in time for Mark’s 11:10am tee off. My present to him was not the golf game itself but me walking the entire 18 holes with him. I think he played well. I’m not very good at knowing, especially considering I was often looking at the wrong flag on each hole, wondering why he was hitting it in the completely wrong direction. I always find it funny watching people take golf so seriously, especially all of the etiquette and rules. Sometimes, when it’s really quiet, I just want to say to others there, lighten up a bit, a bit of noise isn’t going to hurt. I don’t think Mark would appreciate me doing that in his presence. I don’t think I’m cut out for golf.

We are at Antalya airport as I write this with an absolutely ridiculous sunglasses tan from walking around all day. I’m so glad we drove through Turkey as we saw so much of the country that we wouldn’t have been able to if we had flown everywhere. We also were able to listen to hours of songs from our iPods – songs we hadn’t listened to in years. It was roughly about 21 hours of music, over 1700kms. I’m looking forward to what Istanbul has to offer and of course being at Gallipoli for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service. It will be a once in a lifetime-type of experience.