6 Months later, many friends gained, one girlfriend lost, 10 countries visited (and one more to go), and not enough greek-language study done!
It has been a pretty awesome six months. I have really enjoyed myself here in Edinburgh & everywhere I have been in Scotland & Europe. I fly out to London & then on to Bangkok this evening. I met an Aussie guy in a pub the other night & he offered to take me with him to Phuket for a week to help rebuild a mates house, but I just don’t think I will have the time, even if QANTAS would change over my ticket, so it looks like I will be home by Friday morning.
So much I could say & so many pictures to post that I don’t think I will even start. It’s been a pleasure.
I hope to have internet access in Thailand, otherwise, I will catch you people this Friday!

OK, my question for the day is whether or not people actually care if I write a small explanation underneath my photos. I read a lot of photo blogs & I appear to be one of the few who actuallly explians what he is posting. Mystery, or History? You decide!

Chillin’ in a Ping-Pong club. Berlin

Carlton Hill, Edinburgh.

The North Bridge, Edinburgh.

Caroline & I @ Arthurs Seat

The remains of a church overlooking Edinburgh

Our train arrives in Prague. A free print for the first person who can find out the name of the station…

Firstly, I am sick of my five photo format. I figure that most of the people who are really interested are going to get to see my slide show of my trip, so I think I am going to go the ‘random photo’ option & just put stuff up higgledy-piggledy. If nothing else, it will mean that I get to publish some Christmas/New Years stuff without having to get through Berlin, Budapest, Krakow, and Prague first.
Secondly, this gives me the time to tell of two crazy little occurrences in the last couple of days. Two days ago, I was looking through one of the touristy shops on the Royal Mile, looking for some souvenirs that I could bring home, when, like the “Sword of Damocles” a heavy iron sword dropped from on high, past my face & hitting my arm!
Thank God that it didn’t hit higher on my arm and break it, or even land on my head, where, at 5 or more kilos, I am sure it would have at least knocked me out. As it happened, all I got was a little scratch on my hand. The positive side of things is that I had the confirmation that my reflexes aren’t too bad after all, as I actually manage to flip my hand around & catch the sword before it hit the ground.
I think the owners of the shop were happy that I laughed it off before leaving, rather than making an issue of the potentially deadly decoration…
Last night I went out to see “House of Flying Daggers”, which to be honest, I don’t really recommend. Afterwards I headed out to a pub with Caroline & Chris (a Swede & a Liverpuddlian, then met up with Wes (a South African) before heading to another Pub. When the pub we were at closed at 3, I felt like doing something else, and somehow, half an hour later, Wes, Caroline & I were climbing up the Salisbury Crags in the pitch dark & screaming wind.
Edinburgh is lovely in the day & absolutely beautiful at night!
OK, well I didn’t get to bed till about 5 something, so I am a little tired now. I think it is time to retire back to bed.
Oh, and if anyone gets a chance, or if it is even still out in Australia, go and see “I Heart Huckabees”, which hast to be the best movie I have seen in a year!
On to the photos.

Caroline & my gingerbread house.

The Castle at Christmas time.

New Years Eve fireworks.

There appears to be something wrong with my comments. I will have to look into that. In the mean time, here is a little bit of Geneva…


Calvin beer! Oh yeah!!!!

Ferris Wheel

Lighting up the city.

Too late for the kids…

Three peoples images “burned” into the phospherescent wall with light, then coloured in with blacklight!

How does one entertain one’s self on a train to Geneva?
Self-take photos in the bathroom of course!

After Venice, I travelled on an overnight train to Nice, where I stayed for a couple of days, including a day-trip to Monaco. Here are a couple of pics. As usual, click to enlarge!

Matisse

Sailing in Nice

“Jardin Exotique”, which is literally “The Exotic Garden”.

Bees are still busy in December.

Cheers to beers in Monaco!

So this boy is back in town!
Gosh, I don’t know where to start over the last week. How about the shorts.
* The overnight train from Krakow is supposed to be THE place to be robbed. To add to it, I was sharing a cabin with an Aussie girl called Monique who has a really bad cough. Well, not only did we have the nicest & most helpful of train guards, but even though Monique was coughing a lot, for some reason I had the best sleep I have had on a train so far!
* Prague: I was worried about finding my hostel (had to catch a Metro train & a tram) but it was nice & easy & the hostel was lots of fun, that is, once I worked past the couple in my dorm who like to have sex when other people are trying to sleep…
THe city itself was awesome, but one of the highlights for me was actually playing “Taboo” and then a drinking game called “Yehaa” for almost a whole night! (Have no fear, I was actually good at “Yehaa” so I managed to nurse one stein throughout it all).
* Heading to London: I got to Prague airport OK, but then things just became annoying. A long needless line to get my ticket, a delayed flight, another delay getting to our disembarking thing in London, then a stressful struggle to finally find Georgie meant that I was a little frazzled.
Of course, that dissipated very quickly. Georgie is a great host & her flatmates are awesome too!
* Christmas: Spent at Caius & Tara’s house, I had a really AWESOME time! Caius, Tara & their friend Durban are all really cool & we had an amazing lunch, followed by good chats, watching episodes of “the Office” and then watching a favourite movie of mine “The Royal Tennenbaums”.
* Back in Edinburgh: I got back at 9ish last night. I spent the mornign with Craig & Jonenne Petty in London, then headed out to Luton airport, before flyign back to Edinburgh, again with a late flight. Great to unpack the bags & to get settled. today I got a small shock though, cause my fave cafe appears to be closed till new years, so I am stuck visiting an internet cafe, instead of going for my usual broadband access with my laptop. DOn’t worry though, I brought a flash card with some pics.
Pictures: I will be showing them for a while. I decided to start with a couple of Venetian ones for you all.
Enjoy…

Enjoying the flight over…

The early art I saw was not in a gallery.

The little “Rios”running through the city were both beautiful & frustrating.

One of about 5 birds in the whole of Venice which isn’t an annoying Pigeon.

The sunsets (when you could see the sun) were lovely!

Nathan’s Villa Hostel didn’t have the most comfortable beds, nor did it have all of the best facilities, but that didn’t bother me a bit.
I never made it to the Jewish quarter & I just couldn’t be bothered going actually into the different parts of Wawel Castle, but it certainly didn’t spoil my fun.
What is it that makes a good time in a new city.
I am convinced that it can be something as simple as meeting a couple of nice people!
The staff at Nathan’s were awesome. When I pulled in at 7am, rather than telling me that I couldn’t check in till 2pm, they sent me straight to bed. When I had to try and make a phone call, but the directions were in Polish, they came and translated for me. Their attitude toward stuff made me feel happy & it seemed to have the same effect on everyone else there too.
Krakow is possibly my fave stop now. Auschwitz is amazing and the salt mines were cool. I did a little bit of shopping in the markets & Polish food rocks my socks (vegetables? What are vegetables?, the city itself is beautiful too, but I probably saw the least of this city that I have of any that I’ve visited so far.
Krakow is now behind me though. I got the overnight train with an Aussie called Monique. She has a really bad cough and I don’t sleep well on trains, so I was expecting a bad time, but the 8 hour journey rocked! I dozed or slept through basically all of it! It appears that the trick to my sleeping well anywhere in Europe is to have the least comfortable conditions! Works like a charm.
So I’ve made it to prague safely, I am in my hostel & trying to decide whether or not to top up my sleep till midday, or just go hit the town? Sleep is looking good.
Only one more stop in london till I get home till Edinburgh!
Only two more weeks in Edinburgh till I am back home!!!