Hey all!
Im in Sweden and its all go.. hopefully ill have some spare time and a computer and can start getting back up to date.. but anyways.. until then.. im still alive, and swedens going pretty well!
peace out!
Rich

Day 57!!

Well after writing the blog yesterday I went back to the hostel for a while. By the way.. the hostel is great ay! If you are ever in London or Berlin then stay at 'the generator'!! Its fantastic! Really nice and modern, cool design and interior, great services and all around big thumbs up! First up I decided id go to the bar and try this Berlin speciality called 'Berlin Weisse' its a beer that originated when French came to Berlin and didnt like the beer because it was too bitter so they added syrup to it. You can get it in green or red, and I hear the green is nasty.. so I triend the red and it was pretty good ay! Very sweet and hardly like drinking beer at all.. but was quite different and cool.

After that I tried ringing home and about a grand total of 1 minute talking time cost me 9$NZ.. grrr!! But ahh well.. I then retired to my room where I noticed two other lockers were being used (room of 6 beds) so I figured I would have 2 roommates for this night. I decided to go back down to the communal area, and veged out for a little watching some TV and drinking lotsa free mineral water, and then went back up to my room.. got readyish for bed and started moving my stuff around, and then I heard the keycard in the door.

You can imagine my suprise when two girls entered!! They were both medical students from the UK (studying in Newcastle) and were having a trip around Europe in their holidays. Their names are Anna and Jessica, and we had a big long chat about all kinda of things from travel, to study, to getting lost, to tips of what to do and not do and all kinda of stuff, it was cool. Later on we set the alarms for 7.15 (they wanted to make the most of their next day in Berlin. good stuff!) and after brushing teeth and hopping into bed and stuff said goodnight. It was kinda strange saying goodnight to a girl (s) that were sleeping in the same room as I was. Musta been like 15ish years since I did it last and that was when I shared my room with my sister so quite different!!

In the morning we got up and the girls had a shower, and I laxed around for a bit and chatted whoever wasnt in the little toilet/shower room, and then we went down to breakfast. Again it was a great feed compared to what ive had in other places especially Italy.. so I tanked up, made 3 rolls for lunch, and we all went back up to our room to pack up and then said our goodbyes. I then had a shower, backed up my bag, checked out and went off on my way. I took the S Bahn to the main trainstation (scenic route to chew up some time), and then got on to my train to Hamburg. Before I knew it I was there and it was raining..

Anyhow, I rang Arianes friends friend Christian who had my suitcaes and arranged to pick it up. I caught the U bahn out to the relevant stop, and after meeting Christian and having a chat in German hopped back onto a train into the centre city. Christian joined me for one stop, then we said goodbye. I then found my hostel which is basically an apartmnent with a few rooms they rent out for backpackers :D. It has insence smell and a Bhudda statue out front too. I repacked my suitcase (gonna be heavy!) and then went back into town.

First I went ot the waterfront and triend to get a ticket to The Lion King, but it was solidly booked and horrificly priced.. which was a shame! I tried a fish bun thing (Hamburgs very big on the seafood which is just fine by me!) anfd then went to the City hall. The city hall here is a super impressive building, and in an inner courtyard is an equally cool fountain. I relax and hid from the rain for a while, and then checked out the market infront of the city hall for a while.

If you remember I went with Björn to the Fischmarkt in Stuttgart.. welöl that was from Hamburg, and in return Stuttgart sends a markt to Hamburg too.. I think this must have been that exact markt, because there was Maultaschen for sale.. and a few places with Stuttgart in the name. It was a really nice set up and I wandered around, had a Rote Wurst, and then started wandering in the rain.

I passed a really nice old cathedral spire, with no attached church, and then went to Saint Catherines church, where I took some time out for a good half hour, and then braved the now torrential rain back to a U Bahn stop. Trying any more sightseeing was gonna be stupid as I was already half soaked.. so after training home, and spending 15 minutes trying to get into the accomodation (stupid keys dont work!!) I finally made it. I hung up my jacket, then just bummed round for a bit. I then went out, forgetting my wallet, but being unable to get back in.. So I walked up and down the street the hostels on for a bit, checked out the places to eat and stuff.. and now Im back again after another good 20 minute struggle with the keys and its 7.30ish. Its seems whenever I predict what im gonna do for the evening im wrong or something more exciting happens.. but im pretty sure this time ill just sit in my room a while.. maybe go out and get an icecream or something.. then have a read an an early night hoping tomorrow is finer! (also I may not get much sleep tomorrow night as I have no accomodation in Sweden for that night ha ha! gonna rough it in a trainstation or something I think).

Anyhow.. Catcha later huh!

Day 56!

Today I got up around 9 as I had the room to myself (sweet! my own shower and everything!), and after loading up on a very generous brekky of many cereals, yoghurt, bread rolls, cheese and delicious ham (I made 2 rolls for lunch :D) I filled up on free mineral water and headed off. First I explored around some of West Berlin. First I got out at the Brandenburger Tor and had a better look at the very impressive Bundestag building.. from here I wandered across to the offices of the Bundeskanzler(in :D), and along the Spree a bit (which looked just like an olympic set up.. probably where they held some water events).

After this I checked out the big monument on the 17th of June Street.. forgotten what its called. But its really cool, has a big golden victory statue ontop, and the pillar has cannons from defeated countries on it :D love it! From the top was a great view of the city too. I stayed there quite a while, and then walked through a nice park with some lakes with INCREDIBLE reflections, and walked past the zoo (which if I had one more day I would SO visit! i think Berlin zoo is a good one too!). Soon I was at the Karl Wilhelm Gedaenknis Kirche which was fantastic!! The other two buildings they have erected next to it are pretty ugly really.. But the church itself is great!!

Outside the church I watch some street performers breakdancing, and a guy doing paintings entirely with spraypaint (very impressive.. might be the same guy Arnulf got a painting from.) After this I wandered for a bit and went to some random Rathaus that sucked, so I went to the Schloss Hottenburg. This had a few nice statues inside.. but was no big deal.. But walking around and catching the trains was all good fun!

It was now around 3 something, so I caught a train to East Berlin, and had another look at some of the amazing squares and buildings I had seen yesterday. I wanted to go and see that great memorial to the Jews again.. but didnt know exactly where it was unfortunately. After this I had a bite to eat, listened to some singers nearby, had a lax in the Lustgarten, tried to stop a few people getting robbed blind by the sneaky Russian people and being threatened for it, and then went to a couple of big museums for free! (go late Thursdays!!) both were great! But my highlights from each were 1.) A massive gate leading into the old Babylon (a wonder of the world!!! awesome!), and in the other an amazingly kept clay mask of an Egyptian queen.. it was truely amazing!

At 8 or so I cought a train back home, and saw an amazing sunset. Once at my stop I got off and went to the internet cafe, and when I get back to the hostel I think ill have some water, have a relax, and have a quiet one I think.. should be nice!!

Bye! :D

After this (around 8)

Day 55! (16th August)

Well today was a loooooong day!! Im back on German keyboards so forgive me if i get my y and zs muddled up a bit and a few other minor mistakes :S.

Anyway, after the last blog entry which I made lateish last night I just kinda hung out in the lounge with Kate, Brandon, and one of their flatties Andy for a while too. Andy headed off, and by about 11.30 or so I guess Brandon did too. I had to be at the liverpool street station by three which ment leaving the house at like 2.. so I figured there wasnt much point having a sleep by then. But Kate stayed up the whole time and had a chat with me which was really nice of her! In the background was also a dreepy real life CSI show. Finally 2 rolled around and I said goodbye, which was weird after only really saying hello.. but I was really glad I stayed there!

I got to Liverpool Street with heapsa time to spare.. but when the bus turned up it was already almost full! I guess people wanted to get in early cozza all the delays etc! I was stressing a little but not too bad.. and actually managed to get a seat! But then the bus just sat there for 30 minutes so I was starting to get a bit stretched for time. I was already dog tired.. and kinda felt like collapsing.. but the bus seat was way too uncomfy and small to sleep and I had so much more to do.

At the terminal I lined up for like an hour and then for some weird reason they said I had to check my baggage into oversized.. (crazy!!). I was poushed for time and having to join an additional 30 minute line for oversized baggage before the big security check was not what I needed. With about 25 minutes before my flight left (It said to report to the gate 30 min before or the plane would go without you..) I started the line for security which I only got to the end of with 2 minutes to spare.. I sprinted around.. then had to wait for a transfer train thing.. then busted it up to the gate and they let me in (a few secs to spare..) PHEW!! Although they did wait around a bit longer after I got on for a few others.. but still!! Man Im glad I dont have many more Ryanair flights (especially outta London!!).

I woulda loved to sleep on the plane.. but it didnt happen which was dumb.. but anyway.. around 9.20 I arrived in Berlin. It was kinda weird, coz I knew the language so Its quite different than being in France or Italy! I caught a train then another train, then another (coz I got on in the wrong direction) and then finally got to my hostel which is a REALLY nice place, great location, and cheaper than most the places ive been staying in too.

It was great becuase they let me check in.. and so I went up to my room and had a shower (ahhh!), altho in the process realised I ledt my ipod charger and converter (which I need for camera charger too) at Kates which was stupid of me!!! Anyhow.. I was out on my feet, but thought id go into Berlin anyway and catch a free 4 hopur walking tour. Everytime I sat down my eyes would uncontrollably close and Id kinda start swaying.. it was really freaky!! Dunno why I was so tired! But I seemed to finally perk up later.

The tour was great, the guide was interesting and friendly, and we went around alot of big sites in Berlin. Berlins a really interesting and constantly evolving city.. It was a great tour! There are some incredible buildings around! And it looks like alot of fantastic museums and churches too. Ontop of this was rich history of the Nazi regeime and the communist occupation (east and west Berlin and Germany) which was all really fascinating and cool!! One of my novel favourites was this incredible chocolate shop. The stuff they sold was divine!! And in the windows they had chocolate sculptures of the Brandenburger Tor, Titanic, A famous church here in Berlin, and one other thing.. Amazing!!

At the end of the tour I saw some russian people (well foreign and russian sounding) doing that ball under a cup thing where there are 3 cups and they mix them all up and you have to say which one the balls under.. but it was obvious was totally rigged and you couldnt win, and they would take you for 50 EUROS A POP!!! They always had 3 or 4 others standing around who were obviously in cahoots who would always play and loose then win and scold the other when they chose wrong.. They were vultures ay! They would try suck someone in, and one they played one would get in their ear and stuff, and they would hold you there and block your path if you tried to leave!! People would loose their 50 and be peeved, and wanna leave, but the frustration of loosing the 50 and waning to win it back was all they needed to work on and man it was terrible. I felt sick watching them rob naive touristrs blind.. Oh well...

After this I got an icecream and a delicious Johannesberry slice, then wandered around a little before going to the main train station to book my train to Hamburg. This cost 47 Euro which was quite alot!! But arr well.. After that I headed back to the hostel and got in around 7ish. Unfortunately nowhere nearby had money exchanges so I went on a 2 hour mission to exchange some money into euros. More than once today I got on the right train in the wrong direction. the labelling here in Berlin is really terrible!! But id always just ask someone. Just before I asked a girl who was in the 12th class who was really friendly. We had a cool chat in german about all kindsa stuff and i fully missed my stop ha ha shame.. But now Im here in the nearby cyber cafe (near the hostel are 3 good eating places - reasonable ones too, a big pool, a gym, a bank, a laundrette, a iunternet cafe, two supermarkets and a train station!) and its quarter past nine, and ive been awake for like 36 hours.. Im sure im gonna start going crazy soon so even tho I got half an hour of internet time left I might just call it a day ay! Im shattered, but looking forward to seeing some more Berlin sights tomorrow!!

Its weird being back at germany, I feel so at home, yet im doing the big city touristy thing like I have been in all the other places and it feels kinda odd.. hard to explain! I havent used any english yet tho which has been fun yet challenging at points :). man beds gonna be nice tonight!!

Nunnite!

Day 54!!

The rest of yesterday was kinda interesting. I walked around a bit.. decided Id go and see a few more buildings, so I walked along to St Pauls but it was closed. I hubng out in the gardens outside for a while tho which was really nice. The roses especially smelt incredible!! Soon I made friends with this incredibly cute squirrel. It was the cutest little dude out ay!! Reminded me heaps of my girls at home actually. We went for a walk, and he came up and sniffed and put his paws on my hands a few times, and he did some acrobatics and stuff for me.. and in return I found a few nuts for him.. It was so much fun, and he was soooo cute!! I got a few pictures which is sweet, so hopefully in sweden I can start uploading some (got alot of catching up to do!!).

After this I went to the guild hall which was a nice old building.. and then I went to the Bank of England which was a cool big old historic building. This place is like the Reserve Bank here in NZ. While walking along one side of the building I noticed something ontop of a bus shelter kinda obscured from view.. I thought it was a little strange.. maybe a kids toy.. but I decided to clamber some stuff and have a look. It was a weird thing that I couldnt figure out so I took a picture of it. After checking out the photo I noticed that it was a little suspicious.. A ball with spikes coming out of it to keep it where it was laying, and lots of matches pertruding out of it too. The ball was made of two putty type materials, an two orange semi-spheres separated by some green stuff. I thought this could be quite dodgy.. some random putty thing with matches in it outside the Bank of England on a bus shelter.. So I looked around for a cop. Couldnt find one so I went into the bank and told the security and showed them the picture. They thanked me and congratulated me and stuff and notified the police and got their cameras on it and stuff. :) was quite cool!! And little old me found it! If it was something serious I coulda stopped something that probably woulda made international news if it had gone off (especially seeing as theres just been this terror stuff here). So yeah! Cool!

After that I headed off coz I didnt wanna get caught up with police reports and jumped on the tube, after which I called home before calling my cousin Kate who lived super close to my hostel actually :). She walked down to the station where I was waiting and we wandered back to her and Brandons flat. It was quite funny, when I talked to her on the phone she had quite a strong british accent, but talking with me and stuff it dissapeared quite soon. Altho I suppose thats to be expected tho :). Anyway.. Their flat is really nice!! Its near a park and a pool, and near the Thames. Its just a few minutes from a tube station too! They flat with 3 others, Zoe, Nicola I think (shes not here) and Andy. They are nice too!

Once I was there Kate gave me the grand tour, and we sat in the lounge and chatted for a while. It was really nice catching up with them. I have never spent much time with Brandon before, and spent the most time with Kate when I was younger so we both are alot different and stuff too. It was great ay, Brandons a cool as guy, hes really quality, and Kates awesome too. Both really friendly and accomadating, its been great! Later on we hung out in their room for a while, and I got to admire some great shots Kate had made that were up on their wall, and also had a flick through a big photo album of some of their travels through Europe which was cool as too!!

Around 12 I went back down to the lounge where my bed was and went to sleep.

In the morning I got up around 8.30 and kinda milled and did nothing for a few minutes. After this I got all my stuff together, and started a load of washing. I forgot my towel and shorts which was a shame.. but its all good! I had a shower and some toast (finished off my peanut butter), and then after having a small chat to Zoe I unloaded the washing and put it in a drying room, packed up my gears and walked to the Tube station around 11.

I went to Saint Pauls and had a look inside which was SUPER impressive! Its the second biggest church in the world behind Saint Peters in the Vatican.. and it was equally nice inside. Not quite so many sculptures, but it was lighter, and the ceiling and decorations and stuff were really nice. I couldnt see it all coz I didnt wanna pay.. but thats sweet. After this I walked over to the Tate Modern Musuem and had about an hour there. Some of it was rubbish, like a blue canvas or something like that.. But there was alot of really cool stuff too! I really liked the 'beyond poetry and surreal' room, it was great!! And some of the physical pieces of art were really good too!

I only had an hour there, and wanted more.. but It was time to go to the Globe! I got there nice and early, and therefore I got the most PRIMO spot!! I was right at the front and had the best view of the whole stage. I actually got to lean on the front of the stage :D!! It was such that I didnt get a weird perspective like sometimes happens with front seats.. It was just perfect!! I got to see the actors really close (see the bits of spit coming out) AMAZING!!

The play itself (A comdey of errors) was GREAT! I hadnt read or seen it before and I loved it. A very entertaining comedy! And the actors did a great job. Especially one. Ha ha the best part tho was in the scene when Dromio (one of the servants) is describing to his master (the Antipholus from Syracuse) describing the massive fat lady who was pursueing him in order to take him. The script goes on as he describes her size, then he calls her spherical, and compares her to the world and says you could find countries on her. To this Antipholus replies 'where was Ireland' and Dromio says, then he asks where Scotland was, and France, then England. After this he asks where America was.. The way he had planned to do it was 'where (bemused silence) was america' but straight after he said 'where' someone in the audience shouted out 'SPAIN!' ha ha ha!! This isnt in the script and everyone cracked up. The poor actor kinda paused and looked down with a big grin and kind cracked a little, then recovered, then cracked a little again.. all the time everyones cracking up. Finally he turned to Dromio and sheepishly said 'and Spain?'. It was so hilarious! And Dromio adlibbed a great answer that brought them back to the script :D.

At half time I met a lady from America called Elizabeth which was nice (and got reminded that unless i say Richarrrrrrrrd when I say my name they think I say Richie :D). The second half was great too, and it was all finished at 4.30 or so> I so wanted to book a ticket for the 7.30 show of Anthony and Cleopatra because I enjoyed it so much, and it woulda been great to see a different genre there.. But I wanted to do other stuff, and thought I should get home at a reasonable hour so I didnt. From here I tubed to the Victoria and Albert Museum (poked my head in the Natural History Museum on the way which looked great too). This place was great!! I only had an hour and I looked at as much as I could, but oh man it was great!! Up there with the lourve, but lots of casts of original sculptures instead of originals and stuff.. but there were great exhibits. I especially loved the Japanese sectiuon!! I have to go there some time soon!

Man.. Ive never been a super cultral kinda guy.. I like music but thats about it.. but the more art and theater and museums I see the more I totally love it.. There are so many places I want to spend days in now here in London and other places but I have no time :( Its such a shame.. And I mean Wellington has reasonable culture.. but its not even a scratch on these European cities.. :S ah well.

After closing time at V&A I wandered past Harrods just to see it (and saw a HOT Astin Martin, then an equally cool Lamborghini on the way!). From here I tubed home and got there about 7. Soon after Kate got home and we had a talk for a while, and then Brandon came down from his room and we talked and watched news and stuff. They are really great and Im glad I could visit them!
Kate made some delicious burritos for dinner, and after that I started trying to check my flight (cant coz I dont have my credit card number.. grr) and writing this blog. I gotta catch a bus at like 1 am, to get to a bus at 3 am to be at the airport in time for my 6.25 flight (lets hope it flies!).
Dunno when im gonna get any sleep in there :S.. but we will see!

Till next time :D!

Day 53!

Yesterday I just caught the tube back home after writing the blog and stuff. On the way to the tube I heard a young busker who had the most angelic voice! It was totally breathtaking, so I put a few p in her jar and sat to listen for a while. It was truely great!! Anyhow, after that I rocked on up to the hostel and was feeling like a blob out so went to the Tv room (coz id actually understand it! A rare chance for me..). First on was Big Brother which was relatively rubbish.. and after than Bulletproof monk was on.. Now I know you could probably read the name and tell how awful it was gonna be.. but I watched it anyway. Decidedly average... But oh well it was a nice relax anyways. Jessica Chloe and Katie-Lee were down there watching too, and the young brazillian guy from my room was hardout trying to put the moves on them. :) was quite funny! But meh.. Anyway thats about it really.

I got up earlier this morning (around 7.30) and had a shower before heading down to brekky. I had a nice relaxed breakfast and chatted to Mandy and Katie-Lee for a while, and then went back to my room for a while. I then came back down and said bye coz their flight back to Scotland was departing this afternoon, and they needed to get to the airport early cozza all the disruptions and all.

After farewells I went and called home for a while. Kristin was visitng (an good american friend of our church from LA for those who dunno her) for dinner so I had a little chat to her aswell which was nice seeing as I am missing her visit. It started raining while I was talking on the phone... So much for a heatwave!! But after checking out and depositing my bag I went off to the tube and took it to Saint James Park and lined outside Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. It was raining and I had no umbrella.. So it wasnt the most comfortable.. And it took like forever for the new guards to arrive. It was good to say ive watched it.. but nothing special really!! Ill have to go to some big tattoo sometime or something to get some serious funny-dressed guard performances :).

After this I walked for quite a while. I visited Picadilly Circus then down along to trafalgar square. I then wandered down and looked at Downing street and then wandered some more streets. It was really cool seeing so many street names Id heard of.. like from monopoly. Pall Mall, Regent Street, The Strand.. all that :) I walked along alot of them :D. I also walked up Wellington street ha ha :) represent!! Oh that reminds me :D!!!

I was wandering aimlessly (dont use my map much here.. dunno why.. its quite big so I cant be stuffed). And I started walking up Drury Lane :D!! ha ha ha ha, so I started walking next to this young guy in a suit and he said hi, so I thought ahh what the heck.. and I asked him 'so do YOU know the muffin man?'. Lol! He kinda looked at me funny, so I said 'yeah, I hear he lives somewhere around here' and then i think he clicked where we were and kinda grimaced.. But hey, It was some fun randomness and im never gonna see him again! :D.

After this I stuffed around for ages with an annoying Western Union lady and got another shipment of cash that should last me till Sweden now, and then had a look around some shops. i bought some new iPod headphones as the right headphone on my original pair had seen better days.. It was In three parts :). I then went to Pizza hut because I thought I missed fast food... Well 10 minutes and 11 slices and 2 bowls of pasta later I realised I really dont miss it at all.. I had a few bowls of icecream just coz id paid 1.50 pound for it.. and left feeling awful, and my stomach feeling like it was gonna explode at any time. Even as I write this I feel rotten.. Nasty nasty pizza... Uggh.. Well im not gonna have anything else to eat today, I feel disgusting.. Dunno how I managed so many that time with Bernie at Hells ha ha! Although this time I had some serious pace going on so that probably didnt help. Maybe this is my first ever case of indigestion!! I bet it is because ive been eating alot differently since travelling, and my body has probably lost some of its old food-vaccuuming skills :D. I think thats probably a good thing tho!!

Anyhow, after checking out Regent Street for a while and looking at the BBC building I found this internet cafe for 2 pound an hour (not super cheap but cant complain really) so thats me up to now (5pm). I dont think Ill get up to much more today. Tonight and Tomorrow night im staying with Kate and Brandon, so thatll be fun! Londons pretty nice, wouldnt wanna live here tho.. I like alot more of the other cities ive seen more really.. but its still nice!!! Shame I havent had great weather.. but it hasnt stopped me doing anything yet so thats cool.

Only 1 and a half more days of english signs, english speakers and english Tv/Radio and then its all over for a good 6 months :S.. scary. Oh well!

Talk to ya again soon!

Day 52!

Today I got up at 8ish and had a shower before heading down to my nice brekky. I had a good feed, and met a couple of German guys from Bayern, and then after clearing up I met the girls and Mandy, and after a while hanging out we left and headed off to the El-Shaddai Internation Christian Center. This was a large church with alot of dark skinned people. We arrived and the worship was in full swing. I LOVED IT!! It was probably my favourite worship session ever. there was a big choir, an awesome worship leader, and everyone was just having a great time and dancing and singing. It sounded incredible, the atmosphere was great, and I got so into it. Near the end I just like cried and cried as I sang.. I wasnt sad.. it was just awesome!

After this we sat down and the guest speaker was from the states. Its quite classic.. this place was like the stereotypical black churches you hear of, where the prechers allways getting you to say stuff to your neighbour, is always working up the crowd, and the crowds allways feedbacking with AMENs and stuff :). the sermon was ok.. but I disagreed with a few points.. like christians will get money and riches if they understand.. and that enjoying life involves looking good, buying fast cars, and spending heaps on possessions and stuff.. he also implied that Satan had power over God and that God wasnt Sovereign and that we decided when we would die and he had no power over that.. just our salvation.. and that 'understanding' is the main aim of the christian..
I dunno.. I just think if this were true when Jesus was asked what was the most important commandment he would have said it was understanding, and not love, which I believe is the be all and end all. And Theres so many verses about riches, worldly possessions and stuff that I couldnt take the stuff he said about that.. But some of what he said was great.. Its weird he would say some stuff.. then read out something that in principal contradicted it.. kinda jumped around the bible.. dunno, just found his doctrine a bit wishy washy and wondered how sound it was.. But the wroship was incredible and I was glad I went!!

After this I said bye, and went to the Camden Markets which Jacob the british guy had recommended.. It was raining but it was still cool.. tho I see why Abimbola and Laura were a bit hesitant when I said I was gonna go there.. there was alot of 'alternative' stuff around.. But it was cool to have a look around, enjoy some good food, and do some shopping. There was so much here.. but it was quite crowded so I couldnt shop much.. but thats cool.

After this I went into more central london and walked around some streets and shops for a while. I bought some jeans and just checked out some of the place. Around 6ish I went to the big 'we will rock you' stageshow theater.. Dominion Theater where Laura and Abimbola had told me a Hillsong church met at 6.30. I walked in and the service was already underway (musta started early). It was crazy going to church in a theater, with a huge big band and stage and stuff.. but It was great! The singing was awesome, and the message about testimonies and stuff was really good too. I hope Martha and the girls found it and got to the service as I had told them about it and they were keen to go.. but I didnt see them.

Anyway.. the service was incredible, and I enjoyed it heaps. I loved having so much church today. id do it more often if I could. After this at about 7ish I saw that subway had a internet cafe in it (the smell an computers so reminded me of the place in Johnsonville.. I miss that!). And here I am.. I bought 2 hours and now im fully up to date :D! Its quarter to nine and soon Ill tube back to the hostel, probably rinf home and then get some drink, do some reading and go to sleep. The next two nights ill be staying with my cousin Katie and her Husband Brandon so that'll be great!!

Ill letcha know if anything specialy or apart from what I have predicted here happens tonight in the next post.. Man theres quite alot to read for you guys in the last few days posts ive put up.. I dont think ive forgotten too much, so thats cool!

Im so thirsty :S lol

Buh Bye!! :D!

Day 51!

Well today I got up at 8 dog tired and talked to the stressed out Hostel guy who sold me a tourist map, gave me some breakfast tickets and let my put my bags in a group baggage room temporarily. I then had breakfast which was GREAT! Finally a half decent breakfast!! You had a choise of cereal (cornflakes, cocopopo, rice bubbles, weetbix, whatever) a choise of sausage rolls, hot pastries, hot buns and toast, as well as fruit salad, cheese, jam, and cold meat. THATS MORE LIKE IT!!

I had a good feed then I hung out in the foyer for a bit and read my bible. A bit later when I was checking out some of the noticeboards which had stuff to do on them I noticed some girls kinda pointing at me, and the lady with them said something that I didnt hear so I came over and said beg your pardon. It turns out they were a group of christians (shes a youth worker with YMCA, and they are some girls shes associated with), and the girls had seen me reading my bible and my armband and figured I was christian too. She asked if I would like to go to church with them tomorrow morning. Ive been craving some church like crazy.. so of course I said yeah!! They said sweet as and they would find the place and sort it out tomorrow. Shortly after I wandered down to the tube station and took Laura and Abimbola's advice and bought an Oyster card for 3 euros which pretty much makes all trips half price.

I then caught the tube to Victoria street station. I walked down the road and went into Westminster CATHEDRAL for a while which was a really nice church. It had some big plaques up around the place with the 12 or 13 stages of Jesus's crucifixion which I thinks a catholic thing. it was great tobe in a church an to be able to read something on the walls :D!! It was cold, windy and mainly rainy which was kinda dumb.. but I carried on and walked to Westminster Abbey. This place was very impressive to behole and looked quite similar to the Notre Dame.. Ha ha you can just see the competition there was between France and Britain to be the centre of Europe :) quite funny! Anyway I didnt go inside coz it was 10 pounds for an adult (no student card :( ), and I figured itd be nice inside but not worth 30 bucks.. So thats cool.

Right nextdoor is Big Ben and the big houses of Parliment which were really impressive to behold!! I took some photos and stuff and then went into a games arcade for a while and spent a couple of quid just having a bit of fun and unwinding (and avoiding a heavy shower that came through to disrupt the constant drizzle). After doing that for a while, and winning a really good whinny the pooh toy and giving it to this cute little 3 year old I decided id go to the Imperial War Museum. This had free entrance but was really impressive. Im not a huge war museum person, but this was great! Heaps of things to see and read about, and some cool 'experiences' like the trench experience and blitzkrieg experience. You could see how awful war was.. and could learn heaps aswell and seeing a ton of important wartime artifacts. The first and second world war were covered really well. and there was also a great section on SAS and Secret agencies and agents like MI5 and 6 and stuff. I spent quite a while here, and then thought I might aswell walk home. I had had some little bits of food here and there so I was all good.

I walked up a big long street and soon found myself back at the Thames and started walking along and low and behold I bumped into the globe theater!!! I wanted to go in and check it out but you arent allowed in.. BUT I booked a ticket to go and watch a comedy of errors on tuesday! So thats gonna be amazing! Seeing a Shakespeare in the actual globe theater!! Only 5 quid too! Couldnt believe it!

nearby was this place called the Vinopolis that looked like a great place to go before a show with a date or something. It was a place where you paid entry and then there were a bunch of rooms and galleries and stuff and you can sample cusine and wine from around the world in different simulated settings aswell as enjoy some art and stuff.. looked amazing! I then walked along the Thames and saw a cool poem on some big concrete slabs about when the Thames froze over in a pedestrian tunnel, and the a old sailing ship parked permanently, with some choir singing their 'bumbleeeee bumble beeee bumble BEEEEEEE's which was kinda funny :).

I carried on wandering and poked my head into an old church that had foundations excavated with roman roads and stuff from the first century and old stuff from the 12th and all this.. I was then near the Tower Bridge so took some photos and carried on. Oh! The architecture here is awesome ay! Not only the old stuff, but the modern architecture is totally awesome too! I really like it!! Best ive seen yet. Anyway.. I then kinda aimed in the general direction of the hostel and saw an internet cafe for only 1.50 pound an hour so bought an hour of the owner who was from Jamaca and was IMPOSSIBLE to understand.. their creole is mental man!!! Anyways I wrote one days blog an a group email and then made my way back to the hostel.

On the way I met a German Girl called Katrin from Allgaeu (In Baden Wuettemburg, very near the Neuschwannstein.. awesome!!!). She was really nice and we chatted for a while and walked all the way to the hostel. Here I got my room key finally, had a shower and then went downstairs and met Mandy (the lady I met in the morning). I also met Jessica and Chloe and Katie-Lee and we chatted for ages.. no idea how long. We talked about the Lord and what was important, and what he had taught us, and about our lives so far and it was all really cool!! We chatted until like 10.30 or something. At which Point I went ot my room, said hi to a couple of guys who were there and then headed off to sleep and set my alarm for the next morning.

Nice day but MAN am I tired! I only had 3 and a half hours sleep last night!

Till next time! (almost up to date again :D)

Day 50!

Woah! Ive been away for 50 days.. I guess it seems like it.. but at the same time it doesnt really.. I think of all the stuff Ive seen and done.. but then again It seems like yesterday I was at home too.

Anyhow today Katie and Pete had to get up earlyish to catch their train, so I got up too to have brekky with them and say goodbye. we swapped email addresses and stuff, and then said our farewells. I then went upstairs and had a shower, and packed up and checked out.

I caught a bus over to the train station, and after wandering around for a while trying to find a place to deposit my big bag.. and after shelling out 3.80 euro.. (ouch) I went back to St Marks square hoping to get into the church.. but the line was a few hours long already so I just had another look around. In the square there were some live chamber music groups playing so I sat down for a while and enjoyed the great music.. and then went on a shopping mission and picked up a few things here and there. I wanted to find the 3 wise men in Murano glass for mum and dad, but I spent hours and couldnt find anything which I was a bit gutted about. Oh! Next time I am here, Lord willing, I am so also going to the Island Murano, which is in the boat-bus routes. There you can do factory tours and go to big shops and stuff.. itd be amazing!

Anyhow after all the shopping and stuff I decided I would just wander a bit, and I saw lots more beautiful little streets, cools canals everywhere and some great convoys of gondolas with a guy playing accordian, and the gondola drivers all singing (well known songs like Volare and stuff)> This was really nice! I went into a church and read for a while and after grabbing some lunch and lots of gelato I walked my way all the way back to the train station. Here I picked up my bag and then having a few hours spare just went down to the water edge (which is like a few centimeters under the pavement really) and took off my shoes and just walked and paddled around for a good hour or so. It was great to just totally chill out on the grand canal and watch the ships and people passing by, andalso enjoy the nice music playing. After this I put on my shoes and searched for an internet cafe for the last little bit of time, but they were all stupidly expensive (12 euro an hour!!!!!) so I just explored a part of venice I hadnt been through then went back to the station. I was busting to go to the toilet but I wasnt gonna pay 1 euro in Venice to use the public toilets.. nor 70m cents at the station (im not paying 1.40 NZ-2 NZ just to go toilet!!!! Its the principle of it). So what I did was pull a snaeky and jump onto a train in the yards and use the toilet onboard. I should have looked at when it was departing though because just as I was washing my hands it started pulling off!!! ha ha ha ha! Well I dashed to the door, prised it open, gently threw my bags down and then did a jump to comando roll kinda thing off the train which thankfully worked well and I didnt get hurt (eat your heart out McGuiver ha ha). that was a bit of drama :) but soon my actual train was there and I was on my way to Milan again.

On the trip I listened to some sermons, read a bit, met an aussie girl (they are EVERYWHERE!) and chatted for a bit, and then arrived soon in Milan. I didnt know what to expect cozza all this terrorist stuff really.. and I had to dash around all over the place just to get a ticket to the airport. But finally I got one and set off on my way. I queued up for about an hour then finally got my stuff checked in (not allowed liquid in carry on luggage). I went and had a little dessert (one of those awesome icecream ball things.. tarufco maybe?) and watched some of a Juventus vs Intermilan game, which Juventus was winning (Kouji will be happy). The flight was delayed, and I got bag checked a few times, but at last we got on the plane and on oyur way to London.

I started off just listening to a sermon, and got out my bible to read it a bit. One of the two girls next to me asked if she could borrow it, so I was like yeah of course.. and a few minutes later my iPod died, so I just chatted to them for the rest of the flight really. They were both christians and really lovely. One was called Abimbola who was originally from Nigeria (oh man.. I hope I got that right.. what a shocker!) and she was studying pharmocology. The other was called Laura and she was studying Medicine. The day after Laura got back she was heading off to help lead a camp for a week :) hardcore!! Oh ha ha and they both loved food :) which if you know me you know I really appreciate it when a girl likes her food! :D

they gave me a bunch of useful tips about what to do see and eat in London and a few tips on how to save some money which was really great and useful. One we landed I walked with them for a bit, and once at customs said goodbye and lined up. To get my passport checked took like 1 hour.. And the customs lady was nasty as.. asked me a bunch of weird irrelevant questions and almost denied me entry coz I didnt have proof of a flight out (never needed anything like that before). She let me in tho, and after wandering around wondering where my luggage was I finally found it on some random belt with another flight displayed.. weird!

I had missed the last bus of the company I had already bought a ticket for (grrr), so I had to wander around and finally found some random bus stop and asked how I could get to where my hostel was. They put me on a bus to trafalger square, and then I had to walk a while and catch another bus.. then walk to the hostel.

While waiting for the first bus I met another kiwi who had just arrived and was trying to get to her brothers. She had started work as a solicitor and was checking out London coz she might move here to work a while (70 grand salary!! NICE!!). We cahtted for ages, and for the whole hour long bus trip into London and talked about all sorts of things.. and then she got off and I sat for a while before reaching Trafalgar Square. This was absolutely jumping! It was like 3 in the morning but people were EVERYWHERE! I had to shell out even more money and wait another 30 minutes but finally my bus came. I knew what stop I needed but no idea where it was. thankfully I met some semi drunk guy whith a super thick accent who was getting off at the same stop so I just followed him. I walked towards the hostel with him for a while having a chat, and then around 4ish I arrived at the hostel (5am Italy time...). Inside looked like a bomb had gone off.. glass everywhere.. stuff thrown onto the floor and a couple of chairs and tables and stuff suspended in a safety glass door. Dunno what happened but it was a shambles! I got my key and found someone in my bed.. so I went back down and they gave me a new room. I got up there, dropped my stuff and got into bed finally around 4.30 :S. I had to be up about 8 too as breakfast finished at 9 and I needed to finalise all the check in stuff too.. :S Oh well.. At least im in a country where they arent all nasty and I can speak their language!!

What a day!!
Cya :)

Day 49! (10th August)

Well today I got up at 8 as I planned and had a shower before meeting Katie and Pete downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast here was as shocking as normal.. A piddly little (squeaky???) bun, a jam and some cheap coffee or chocolate drink. But better than nothing I suppose!!

Afterwards Pete went upstairs a bit to pack up and then we walked along the island a bit first to get to an ATM for Pete and katie, and also to buy our day pass for the boat-bus and buy lunch at the supermarket. After achieving all this we caught a bus over to Saint Marks square and were kinda blown away. There is a gorgeous church there, which also unfortunately had an unthinkably long line outside. We still had a good look around though! We saw the bridge of sighs which was no big shakes, and while in the square we saw the clock tower ringing, which invloved some big metal figures ontop of the tower rotating to strike the bell which was quite sweet! There were also pigeons everywhere getting fed and flying perilously close to people and stuff.. They were bold as, and if you wanted to you coulda fully booted one to the other side of the square for a bit of sport :). Aparently they carlly lots of disease and stuff.. so arent the most desirable little things.

We then caught a bus over to the main trainstation and booked our trains out for the next day (they were going to Slovenia.. and I to Milan in order to fly to London). We were pretty starving so we sat down near the grand canal and had lunch in the shade next to a nice fountain?statue, with some crazy north indian music wafting over from some nearby buskers. We had a big long bagette type bread and some sliced ham and cheese aswell as bananas and a few cereal bars. This all tasted delicious!

After this we walked around the city for a while and looked in a few shops... OK Venice is totally gorgeous but the shops are something else!! The masks and Murano glass especially. Im not kidding when I say I coulda spent weeks there just going from shop to shop window shopping.. the masks and associated things (puppets, costumes etc) are all so amazing and there are so many varieties and types.. you can spend hours in one shop! The craftsmanship is INCREDIBLE too!! And the Murano glass... Its stunning!! There is so much variety, and everything is amazingly gorgeous. There were so many things I woulda gladly bought if money wasnt an issue, and transporting them wasnt either. But oh man.. you could go to venice and buy gifts that could last you the rest of yoyur life.. totally awesome!!! We saw the theater, and a bunch of other buildings, but just walking through the streets was totally magical. I love this city!

Anyhow we looked around for a while and chatted and stuff all the time as we went. It was great to look around a city with someone.. Ive decided that travelling with someone is definately cool, and although alone has some bonusses, with someones so much better. But I already though that before I left.. Anyway I was so thankful to have Katie and Peter, and they were both such nice people! We then had a look around for a while for a gift for a frind of pete and katies that they stayed with, and we finally found a suitable one in a cute as shop with tons of masks and puppets. Got to meet the person who made it and all, and the sales lady was this sweet little lady.. :) It was cool!

After finishing up with the required shopping we went off towards a musuem. On the way we passed a free exhibition on Violins and especially Vivaldi. Aparently violins and stuff have deep history in Venice and Vivaldi too, and earlier Venice was a very important musical centre. This was really cool! And after that we wound our way over to the Academia Museum and paid to get in (had to pay a bit more not having a student card.. but ahh well). In here were a bunch of mainly religious paintings, and by and large it was good ay. I loved some of the ones depiciting famous scenes from the bible, not sure why exactly, but it was cool to look at peoples interpretations of them.

After this we went to the Rialto bridge which was quite alot more impressive, and had alot of stalls and stuff all over the place to buy things. A good tip if you are ever in Venice is that if you wanna buy some stuff like masks or small glass things go to the Rialto Bridge.. They have the exact same stuff (well the masks are a little lower quality) but for significantly cheaper.

I cant remember for sure, but I think we just walked around some more, caught a bus through the grand canal to check it out from the sea, and then went on the hunt for a place to eat dinner. After alot of consideration and noone wanting to say we should eat at a certain place (we all didnt really mind where we ate :D) we sat down at a nice restaurant in a big open square and had pasta and pizza, which didnt quite fill me up, but was good enough.

After this we walked around a bit more, enjoying the marvellous sights, and chatting away, and then got a boat back to the hostel around 7.30 (was about a 45 min ride). Once back we sat down at our table and I got some pasta, and we played some cards. We played rummy, and then I taught them Scum (Presidents.. Asshole.. whatever u wanna call it..) and Uca (Uker? dunno how to spell it!) and by then it was around 11 something and we all headed off to bed.

It was a great day and I wanna spend so much time here and go to some concerts and performances.. aswell as some serious shopping. And go for a nice gondola ride and all that.. but I think thatll be for another time.

Catcha all later!

Day 48

Well after that post my day turned to crap...

I hopped on a crowded train to go and see some sights before going into Rome later at the night, and had to stand in the doorway as it was so crowded. I was feeling a little conscious, so put my hands in my pockets over my wallet. At the big central station people streamed out of the train on both sides of me and one dude hit my arm and shunted it out of my pocket. Instantly another guy grabbed my wallet and was gone... SO lame! I had my last money (not too much), my student card, my drivers liscence, my train ticket, and my credit card in there so basically I had no money, no means of getting money and no way to get back to the hostel..

I ran around like a madman for about 30 mins trying to find the police to report it and finally got that outta the way, and after trying to scrounge some money to get home I gave up and ran all the way back to the hostel. My card doesnt work over here (I had memorised the number) so I couldnt even call home or anything, and it was all pretty awful. Its quite funny because in the previous days I had been reading the beginning of James where it says to consider it pure joy when trials come your way :). Gods pretty awesome. Anyway, i didnt let myself get to stressed out, and some really nice british guy lent me 5 euros to buy a card that i could call home with, which I proceeded to do and mum and dad stopped my card for me. I couldnt get into my locker as I had no key anymore for my locker, so just had to go to bed.

In the morning I rang home and got the details of the western union money transfer I got mum and dad to make for me, and got some bolt cutters and opened my locker and all that. I had my crappy little breakfast :). I checked out and decided I might aswell try see some more of Rome before I left even with my big bulky bag, so lugged it and my other backpack around with me and visited some sights. First I went to the spanish steps which werent anything too special.. but were quite nice, and there was a nice fountain out front, and another one nearby. From here I wandered down and got to the (toreli?) fountain which was really stunning!!! Its this huge fountain on the siude of a building with neptune and his sea-horse chariot and stuff like that.. was really fantastic!!

From here I walked to the Pantheon which was pretty nice, and really old! It had a hole in the ceiling (intentional one) so when it rains it rains inside and drains through special holes in the floor. After this I went to the train station, had some time to kill so went to a re3staurant and had some reasonably average spinnach and ricotta canneloni.

After this It was time for my train trip to Venice. his was another amazingly beautiful and scenic trainride that I thoroughly enjoyed, and got to listen to a couple of sermons on aswell. At the end the two Italian guys I was with truck up a conversation with me. They spoke like no english and it was HILARIOUS! They were high on something and offered me some but I declined. But they would just yabber away in Italian dropping in an occasional english word.. and id just shrug and nod and smile and stuff.. It was quite a performance!! They finally got it that I wasnt from america and I was from New Zealand, and we talked about the All lacks and the haka (everyone seems to love that here) and then eventually I got to my stop.

I had to catch another short train into Venice and soon I was there.. WOW!!! I LOVE VENICE!!!! As soon as I got out of the trainstation my jaw hit the ground and it didnt come back up until I left really. Its gorgeous!!! And the streets being rivers and all the awesome boats and stuff.. There are beautiful buildings too.. and its all around fantastic. I took a little walk, then hoppen on my bus (A Boat!) and took the 40 minute (long way) ride over to the island my hostel was on. (waterside hostel.. wow!). I walked in and as I was waiting to check in a girl leaned over and asked in I was from New Zealand (had glanced at my passport), I said yeah, and she introduced herself as Katie from England and she was travelling with a uni friend Peter from Ireland, we talked a bit and then I checked in. I got a pizza from the bar, and came over and we 3 had a talk for a while and I let pete finish off my Pizza, and it was great! They are both super people and were great to talk to! Having someone to talk to in English was great! Around 11 we called it a night and decided we would travel around together tomorrow and set a time to meet for brekky.

I went up to my room, deposited my stuff and got into bed. One cool thing thats happening over here with no TV and limited music is that my brain is making up for it in dreams. I convert snoring into awesome beats in my almost-asleep state.. Its awesome! And often my dreams are these awesome stories with great plots and twists at the end that I arent a part of.. just a passive observer just like watching TV.. Its quite cool!!

Anyway, I set the alarm for 8 and was soon off to sleep.

Till tomorrow!

Day 47!

Today I got up a little later, and after having my crust and jam for breakfast I had a shower, moved rooms, said goodbye to the british guy wheo was getting a migraine (I hope it didnt develop.. he seemed to think it might not) and then I walked down the road about 2.5 km to the Vatican city. First up I went to St Peters (Peter the Apostle's bones are supposed to be buried beneath which is pretty cool), and after lining up for ages in the crazy heat I got through security and then saw an american dude who was giving a free english tour.. so I thought 'cher!' and joined the group who shortly headed into the church.

Aparently this is the biggest church in the world, and man it was pretty impressive!! It was totally gigantic, and had so many awesome sculptures in it (including that very famous one by Michaelangelo) and many by famous artists such as Rapheal and Michalangelo and stuff. The dude who did all the work in the big massive courtyard outside the church also made the massive copper sculpture in the middle, which is the biggest copper sculpture in the world, and weighs 90 tonnes!! Also.. Although it certianly looked like it, there were no paintings in the church and therefore you could take flash photos. All the things that looked like paintings were actually mosaics when you looked closely.. The skills in making them was incredible!!! Same goes for everything inside really!!

The tourguide was really good, and after about 45 minutes we were done, and he said he would be taking a paid tour (he was from a company) of the museum and cistene chapel later on. It was 20 Euros.. but I thought maybe I would, but first I went back into St Peters for a while and then got some lasagne for lunch (small and cheap but still delicious!)

I made it back to take the tour, but decided Id save myself the money and just do it myself. I kinda wish I hada taken the tour now, as the guide was really fantastic, and although the museum and stuff was great, I really didnt know alot about anything there, so could appreciate it.. I wished I had have taken it.. But it was still fine! There were rooms of tappestries, sculptures, maps and all sorts.. Also painted rooms that were great (especially the ones Rapheal did.. they were totally great!!). Soon after I was in the Sistene Chapel. This thing was smaller and less grandeous than I had imagined, only because its so romantasised I think.. But that said It was great! And seeing it all with my own eyes was great! So many people were ignoring the rules and taking photos which I thought was pretty irresponsible.. But I didnt do it anyway. In a few small sections they left a little section in its uncleaned state (the chapel was restored/cleaned a few years back) and the difference was quite dramatic!! Anyhow I spent quite a while in here looking at the famous ceiling, and I also really enjoyed the big painting on the wall as you entered called 'The Final Judgement'. Aparently Michaelagelo didnt like to paint.. :) but he did a pretty good job!

After the Chapel I went through the last parts of the museum, had some weird pasta dish id never seen before (it wasnt greta but I thought id try it) and then walked out of the Vatican and had a Gelato (gotta stop eating these.. Ima get even fatter!!). I then wandered around for a little and found this internet cafe so I could finally catch up on the blog and send a couple of emails.. And now its around 6.30 and Im not sure what Ill do yet. I have until 3 tomorrow, but I might go and see a couple of places now, and maybe visit some things at night too.. We will see.

Anyway.. Im up to date again which is cool!!! Unfortunately ive got alot fio catching up to do with flickr! (got all France, but no Italy yet), so dunno when Ill get a chance to do that yet..
Anyways, ill letcha know what I got up to the rest of the day in the next blog.

Laters

Day 46

I got up around 8 today and went down to my free 'continental breakfast'.. I think every hostel gets worse and worse! Here all you got was one butter, one jam, a small cup of bad orange juice, a weak coffee and a bun that looked large, but was completely hollow, so was just some crusts... No Milk too!! :( lol. If you wanted anything else you had to buy it..

Well I bought a yoghurt, and then made do with what I had. After this I went back to my room.. had a shower, and then headed off into the main city. First stop for me was the Colloseum. This thing was awesome!! Around it was some cool ruins, and a nice archway. I joined the big queue, but halfway through realised that If I took a reasonably cheap tour I could go straight to the front of the line, so I did just that. The inside was a little smaller than I had imagined.. But then again it is only the skeleton of the original building really. The tour was great, and the Colloseum itself was fantastic, I loved looking around and seeing all the cool things that I had seen photos of before.. but was now before my very eyes. It was already stupidly hot tho..

After finishing at the colossuem I went into the roman forum, which is a big area next to the Colloseum that is full of old ruins of buildings and pillars and arches and stuff. there are a few buildings here and there aswell. I had a little look around and then went back to the hostel to try and book another night. After waiting 30 minutes I finally got to talk to the guy who booked me another night, but said he couldnt cancel the first night in Venice for me coz he wasnt the manager or something.. I triend to ring Venice but they were engaged, so after a while I went back into town. First I went to the train station and booked me a train to Venice on the right day, and after trying and failing again to ring Venice I had some pasta from a nice little cafe and went to the Circus Maximus stop. The Circus maximus was a bit of a let down because I had imagined some of the old structure was there.. but apart from a few small brick structures (brick is everywhere in italy) at one end, it was just a grassy area with banks on each side.

next to the Circus maximus is the Palatino though (English?? dunno? the palace maybe?) And this was great. it is up above the forum, and is very similar in that its a bunch of old brick and pillar ruins. I walked around here for quite a while enjoying the cool atmosphere and beautiful ruins, including a really great open basin type place with some pillars and stuff layed out in some organised pattern on the ground. the heat was off the chart (hottest ive had yet I reckon.. It was over 40 in the forum) so I spent a little while in this little chapel reading and stuff (I always carry my little metal cased bible around with me) and this was really nice and refreshing.

After sepnding another good 30 mins walking around the Palatino I went back down to the forum and walked aroud some more and admired the amazing site. I walked down to the other end and saw this MASSIVE white building with some cool statues ontop and some great sculptures and fountains next to it, and then after buying a tshirt for 5 euros just kinda wandered the streets for a while without using my map. This was quite fun and I saw alot of nice little shops and also another small area of ruins. I ended up by the river and a little island in the middle of it, and after buying a gelato (mmmmm) walked around this for a while. there were a few small dam things that water was rushing over and there were seriously like 20 soccer and basketballs in there getting churned around and around.. It was quite funny watching them get sucked under, then pop back out and sucked under again.

After a while I oriented myself using the map and walked back to the Circus Maximus. It was around 7 and not quite so stupidly hot anymore.. and so I put on my iPod to some chariots of fire type music, and ran a lap of the circus maximus :D!! Noone else was really walking around it.. And a few probably wondered what the heck I was doing clutching my camera, new tshirt, and with my backpack clunking away as i ran around the big track.. but it was cool, and now I can say that I have run a lap of the Circus Maximus.. So thats cool!!

I passed up an internet cafe coz i figured the internet at the hostel would be fixed by now.. but when i got back it wasnt.. *groan*, so for the rest of the night I read for a bit, had a good yarn with the british guy I met yesterday, and then listened to another sermon, before having a shave, ringing home, and getting to bed around 11.

Today wasnt too bad really :) Rome is a great city!! And there werent as many people targtting tourists to rip off and I didnt have to deal with too many rude Italians (met a few nice ones!) Tomorrow ima go to the Vatican.

C u!!

Day 45!

Sorry this has been so long coming.. has been a mission to find internet and time (internet was down at both Milan and Rome hostels...

After the last blog I went across the road to a cool little Pizzeria and watched them making pizzas in a real wood over for a while.. was pretty straight forward, but very cool! Anyway, I ordered some Ravoili takeaway and then went back to my hostel to eat it. I rang home a little bit, and then sat down to eat my ravoili, which was actually tortellini (but tasted great anyway!!): Unfortuanelty I didnt have any utensils.. but thats never stopped me before ;). After packing up I listened to a sermon and then did some reading for a while before going to bed.

In the morning I got up at about 8 and had brekky. I discovered they DO have milk!! So I got my two little buns and drink and used my peanut butter and it wasnt too bad (altho the peanut butters almost empty already... I polished that up, had a shower and then checked out. I decided I didnt really wanna cart my big pack around, so I used a safety deposit locker and then went into Milan again. Today I enjoyed Milan alot more.. I think yesterday I just got unlucky and walked around a bunch of bad streets.. and even though I saw alot of cool places i didnt like it that much. Today was cool tho!

First i went to the castle which was totally great. Really big and had a large grounds aswell. The castle itself had big walls with little holes in a uniform pattern in it, and inside lived a bunch of cats :). I had squatted down to photograph this hilarious cat with its tongue perpetually out.. and then this ragged old cat with one eye like jumped up in a pillar right by my and started staring me out.. it was funny as. there were a few dead pigeons here and there, and one cat had somehow squeezed into one of the small holes, turned around, and was now peering out of it :). The cats had their hangouts, and there seemed to be a couple of groups.. kinda like prides sorta i guess. I then left the castle and bought a belt for a bit more than I could have got it (Always need small notes and change when you deal with these sneaky street sellers.. and then i walked though the castle gardens which were gorgeous. there werent many people around and it had a really nice relaxed feel, I loved it! I then walked back through the castle, watched the cats for a while again (some people came and fed them for a bit) and then got some awesome gelato (man they have a million flavours here! and wandered around the city a bit.

At 2 oclock or so I went to a nice looking restaurant and decided id sit inside seeing as yesterday i got charged 2 Euros for sitting in the canopied section outside. The pizzas from this place looked great so I ordered a 'Bizmark' pizza and a large mineral water. Ok this pizza was HUGE!!! They all were.. and man was it ever delicious!! Im so going abck there if I can in Milan! It was seriously like almost the diameter of the 2 person table I was sitting at by myself.. It had tomato, ham, egg, and something else.. It was devine!! :D.

After this delicious meal I payed up, got charged 2 Euros for sitting inside (grrrr... restaurants...) and then went to pick up my bag and to the impressive Milan train station. After a bit of searching I found my train and hopped on for the 4.5 hour ride. This was really beautiful! Around Milan are so many small beautiful townships. Some I saw photos of in the hostel , and some I passed in the train. One of my favourites was up on this hill, with vertical cliffs all around.. it was really dramatic and beautiful. Looked like a bigger version of a place James told me about (that im gutted I cant go to).. Anyway, this train ride inspired me to come back to Italy again, but to have a bike or car so I could travel around and see these many beautiful small townships.

Once I got in at Rome I got off the train and walked around the trainstation trying to find a tourist information.. but gave up and decided to catch the Metro out to my hostel. Grr!!! All the Metro machines were broken, and there were tons of people! By the time I had finally got on the train it was dark, and I might as well have caught a later train from Milan.. Oh well. I got off at my stop and then had to catch a bus.. OK.. the Hostels instructions were to catch the 32 bus and get off at the 6th stop.. WHAT KINDA INSTRUCTIONS ARE THOSE FOR A BUS AT NIGHT!! Busses dont stop at every stop like trains, and it was too dark and foreign to see exactly if we were passing a busstop or not.. I got off after I tought I must be nearby and low and behold I was right next to a big stadium and a Madonna concert was about to begin!! There were people everywhere, and traffic going crazy.. people trying to sell me tickets.. and I had no map and no idea where I was. I knew I couldnt be too far off as I had caught the last bus.. but if it wasnt for that fact I woulda been really lost, coz my phone card doesnt work here either so I couldnt contact the hostel easily. I would my way around asking people if they knew where the street my hostel is on was.. Most ignored me or shrugged, and finally I got some rough instructions from a police officer and arrived at the hostel.

The receptionist there was totally rude too. He treated me like crap, told me nothing, and then just went onto the next person.. just wanted to get rid of me.. I think he has lost my hostel card too, which will be a right pain in the bum.. :) anyway.. Im not too annoyed or anything, I know it sounds like it.. Its not all bad. A shame Italys been not the smoothest for me tho, and the Italians ive met have been so rude.. Oh well.

I got to my room and met a really nice British guy who told me a bit about how the hostel worked and stuff which was good. Then after spending about an hour, and loosing about 5 euros in stupid machines, and getting told to go away and buy something from the restaurant when I asked the receptionist for change I got some laundry tokens, bought a lock that I needed, and did some laundry. While waiting the 1 and a half hours for the laundry I read for a while, listened to a sermon, and relaxed a little after the madness or the last few hours. I hope I dont have another fiasco when I get to Venice!! Altho seeing as the streets are water, and I have to catch a bus to some indeterminite stop on some island and then find the hostel.. I might be wishing for too much :S..

Oh, and the thing I bought from the Restaurant was this delicious icecream ball thing with some kinda stuff on the outside with vanilla icecream, with light coffee flavoured icecream in the middle, and a soft cakey base.. mmm!!

Around midnight I was finally done and crawled into bed.

Day 44 (August 5th)

Wellll... last night I headed to the place I was supposed to be 3 hours before my flight.. but as always (in my experience so far) the directions were too general (language barrier doesnt help that!!) and I ended up missing the bus... GREAT!!! So I was basically running around like a headless chicken for an hour or so then finally realised I had to catch a cab 80km to the stupid airport (OUCH!!!!!) Luckily I met a &%€$ing Irish guy who also missed his !£&%ing flight and was %$/& &/$£ /"%&%ed off about it :) ha ha ha. So we shared a cab which ended up costing 130 Euros ($260 NZ!!!! ahhhhhh!!). I only had 70 cash and had to sprint as soon as we got to thr airport (it was touch and go if I would get there in time to check in before it closed 45 min before the flight) so I gave the Irish guy 70 and JUST made it to check in.

The flight itself was nice, I had a window seat with lotsa leg room (same deal with no set seats, just grab what you can) and around midnight I arrived in Milan. Unfortunately the next bus into the city (stupid Ryanair and its airports out in the whops..) so I sat down, had a panini, listened to a sermon and waited. OK... Italians must not have very strict sexual harrasment laws or something.. There was a guy and a lady in the ticketing booth where I got my bus ticket, and he was like all over her!! She was all giggly and stuff, and he was hand everywhere!! He even got behing her and started thrusting at one point.. I shudder to think what would happen if an employee did that in another country! Ha ha classic.

The bus got in and I realised the disadvantage of late flights is no ore public transport running (gonna happen to me when I get to London too... grrr...) so I had to catch a cab to the youth hostel. Once I got off the bus a guy came up and asked if I needed a cab and I said yeah, and after some pointing, and me hoping 'hotel de juu-(something)' meant youth hostel ( I guessed it did cozza my german. Once in the car I realised there was no meter, no taxi sign and no anything.. he was obviously just a random guy!! I was a little worried a few times when he started rumaging around with one hand in his baggy jacket pocket.. He coulda taken me anywhere, and I didnt know if he was gonna mug me or what. Altho he was reasonably old and I think if it came to it (and guns werent involved) I coulda overpowered him. That wouldnt have solved my lost in the middle of nowhere and only knowing how to say yes and italian..

Anyway he took me to the youth hostel thankfully and then said 30 Euros (6.5km trip!) I told him he was crazy and he said 'ahhh OK, a, twenty-a', which i reluctantly agreed to, and then proceeded to probably pay him more like 25 coz I was so tired and counting wasnt a happening thing.. I climbed into my little bunk bed and finall got to sleep maybe at 2-2:30.

In the morning I got up at 8 and had breakfast (worse than in France.. just one bread roll and spread, and only juice to drink - oh no! no milk!!) after that I had a shower, packed up and hopped on the Metro into the main city. Milan isnt really that big, and I dont rate it that much. Didnt go into any museums or stuff yet (dunno if Ill have time), but on just the streets, and all that it wasnt that great: There was this one extreme shopping mall that was super grandeous and had all the big Italian labels, each shop with like 10 staff all dressed like models :). The one cool thing though is all the buildings are quite pretty: Just regular apartments have big elaborate balconies with pilars and carvings and stuff.. Its nice!

I went to te main trainstation, and after getting stuffed around by unhelpful 'information' people finally got some information on getting to Rome, booked the train trip (50 euro), and went into the main square with the huge cathedral in it. GUTTED!! Its got a massive scaffold up covering the bulk of the front facade!! Its a totally stunning building, and you could look at it from other sides, but didnt make for the best photographing unfortunately and I didnt get to see what it really looks like from the front :(. But its gorgeous ay! The roof especially!! Its got TONS of little steeples with statues (probably of saints) on the top of each, and heaps of carvings and stuff.. quite breaktaking. I walked around the square a bit and saw some people feeding pigeons, and before i new it some guy had grabbed my hand, dumped some feed in it and was taking photos of me.. he later demanded 5 euro which was stupid, but I gae him 2.. and then a guy gave me a 'free' braclet thing, and then had a conversation and asked for a donation and ot really ratty so I gave him a bit or money too (not the 5 euro he asked for tho): Im gonna have to just say no to alot of people here i think.. I havent had good eperience ith the Italians yet. Ive met a few people who have been ok and a little helpful, but also met alot who have been quite rude, or just want to get rid you off.. Hopefully its better in different cities!

I had a look around in the massive chapel, which had the remains of a saint down in the crypt along with a tabernacle kinda thing. It was really nice inside too! but the outside was the best really!! After this I walked around for a while looking at a few buildings and small fountains and stuff, and around 1 went to a pizzeria and had a calzone out in some covered seats: It was really nice! and the atmosphere was cool too :). I LOVE food as you probably know, and i LOVE italian food as you most probably also know.. so even if I dont enjoy the country as much as others (altho i think Rome and Venice are gonna be great) at least I can enjoy some great food :)!!

I then set off and did a wider loop checking out old historical churches, including one that had this super old room with these ancient mosaic pieces in it, it was really impressive!! also had the remains of some dude dressed up all priesty in a glass coffin too. I found out that to see the original Last Supper by Da Vinci that they found in a church here in Milan you had to book 1 month in advance.. but I still went to the church, and there was pleanty else to see!!! I then bought a Gelato icecream.. *DROOL!!!* the are even better over here in Italy!! And after a little more sightseeing caught the Metro back to the hostel then wandered down here to this little internet cafe. Its now 7pm and Ill probably go get some pasta or pizza for dinner then maybe do a load of washing at the laundry the have at the hostel (no powder though, so maybe not) and then ima take it easy and relax as I am totally wasted, my feet ache and I have a mean knot in my left shoulder :).

Will write about this evenings experiences tomorrow as usual. Catcha later!!

Day 43

Well, last night I finished at the internet cafe after 4 hours at around 10 and started to walk around Paris at night. This was gorgeous ay!! And I have to say.. apart from the Luxembourg palace I hadnt found France or the sights super romantic etc as Paris is made out to be.. but walking around at night had some serious romantic vibes ay.. It was so beautiful.. Anyhow, first stop, the Eiffel tower which was totally great!! All lit up in yellowy lights and a light tower type thing porjecting from the top. I took a few photos, ( Im SO buying a tripod asap!!) then started walking off when it started glittering with all these tiny lights. So I joined a few other people in a run back to a good vantage point. I actually ended up right under the tower which was cool. After some more photos I walked off to the nearest train station (passing a group of automatic machine gun guards on the way ha ha).

I caught a trai to the Arc du Triomphe and spent a while there admiring and photgrphing too. And then I considered going to the Moulin Rouge.. but decided against it as I didnt know if I wanted to be in that neighbourhood at that kinda time!! So I trained out to concord and took a few (blurry... grrr.. no tripod..) photos, then started heading to the Louvre, however it was getting late (midnight) and I didnt know when the metro stopped running. and with no metro I was a pretty lost hope. So I decided to head back home, and finally got to my room about 1 where I met the American and Brazilian roommates that were already there.

In the moring the American had already left and caught a train, and the Brazillian was still asleep so I snuck out to brekky where I saw the two aussies I met on the first night. We had a good yarn for around half an hour, and then finally left and they headed off and I went back to my room to pack up. The Braziallian guy had now woken up and we had a cool chat for a while before he went to breakfast and I had a shower. After this I finished packing up while chatting to him then left to go catch a train to finish off the sights I hadnt seen (or hadnt seen the outside of at least). On the train I met the aussies again and then we said our farewells and I went to the Pompidou. This was OK, and was pretty cool to look at for a while.. but after a couple of photos and looking at a strange nearby fountain I pushed on and came to a church that I think is called Les Halles. This was huge and also very cool, up there with my favourites so far anyway!

After this I called home and had a chat and found out some info before moving on, passing the Bourse which was average, and went through the Place Vendrome which was a big square with a large pillar and statue in the middle. I dunno what it was for but it was cool anyway. i then hit the Opera House.. which I thought was stunning from the outside.. but was then blown away by the inside. Unfortunately the photos are darker than I thought.. But take my word for it.. amaying!! Like a luxurious royal castle or something!!

I started walking to the next place and saw this girl around my age with her dog who was playing with this teddy bear. It was so cute ay!! he was licking it, and playing with it.. gorgepus! I whipped out my camera and as soon as the dog saw it he dropped the teddy and posed hardout at the camera and wouldnt take his eyes off it!! It was so funny!! Eventually the girl got a little of his interest back on the teddy and I took a picture and said thanks.

I then had a Doner Sandwich before going into another unknown church (stupid map!!) I think it was the Trinity church or something.. Anyway in here it was pretty as usual. and I met a friendly as guy who showed me around in French (I understood some too!! like when he said the brochures were free and stuff). I then walked pâst a main trainstation and to Saint Augustine Chutch, which wasnt too bad, but nothing super special compared to the other churches around, just similar really.

From here I caught the metro up (how do you spell it...) monte marc? Anyway.. Up there is the red light zone (Moulin Rouge) and the Sacré Ceur. I first went to the Loulin Rouge and boy was I glad I didnt go last night!! It was sleezy as ay!! Broad daylight and I got approached 3 times by very attractive women who were 'secretatire' at a nearby sex place and wanted to take me in and show me around for 1 minute for free.. I dunno their tactis, but I spose during that minute you meet a prostitute who trys their best to get your money.. Well I pulled a Proverbs 5:8 pretty promptly, and starting winding my way up some gorgeous narrow streets towards the Sacré Ceur.

While waiting outside I saw someones phone ring and the caller ID was 'ma Chérie'. Ha ha I thought it was cool that people in France actually used that.. not just the overblown stereotypes on TV ;). Inside the Sacre Cuer was so majestic.. but no photography allowed, so I cant prove it, but if you have been there you will know what I mean. From here I looked out over Paris for a while then walked around in the awesome narrow streets again for a while back to a metro station. On the way I passed a painter in the streets painting with watercolours. I watched her paint for a bit, took a photo then got to the metro and headed to Notre Dame.

Outside the Notre Dame is 'point zero' where all distances in France are measured to. Its really easy to miss.. and if I didnt already know about it and ring home and ask mum and dad to find out where it was I woulda never seen it.. But I did so that was cool!! I then started walking towards the Pantheon which was open.. but I looked inside and the little bit I saw was kinda average.. so I didnt pay to go in.

I then tried to find a big double steepled church that was on the map and id seen before.. but when I got to where it was on the map it was nowhere to be seen!! That kinda sucked. And all buildings everywhere in paris are like a minumum of 7-8 stories high; so you cant really look out for landmarks easily. I have seen heapsa churches though so I wasnt too upset, and I headed in the direction of the old observatory where the'rose line' from the Da Vinci Code is. But a security guard told me once I got into the grounds that public arent allowed in.. LAME!!

I had now seen all that was starred on my map (beside an arch in La Defense and a couple of high buildings) and walked back up through the gorgeous Luxembourg Palace gardens. I was a little peckish so lined up for a Crépe.. but it was taking forever so I went over the road to maccas and had another of those DELICIOUS peach and nectarine crumble sundays.. Was served by a really cute employee who I asked if she spoke french, and she said 'a little' like everyone does.. but she was so shy and had the cutest little voice :). Anyway, I enjoyed ly sundae and then came here to the Internet café. Ive got fickr fully up to date, and from here im off to pick up my bag then go to the airport (80km outa Paris!!! stupid Ryanair... germanwings rules!) and then getting into Milan around midnight. I hope it doesnt take too long to find my hostel this time!!!!
Oh, and if you have been to France.. dont you think french people park so crazy.. just do it any old place, and double park.. often ill cross a crossing and think a cars about to head over it.. but no.. its just parked there :).

Anyways, Paris was totally amazing and Im already looking forward to my next visit (maybe with someone next time tho!). I couldnt go to the Louvre again coz I gotta leave so muvh earlier than I first thought cozza the dumb 'Paris' Airport 80km away.. :) but its not gonna run away.. so thats cool.

C ya all later!!!

Day 42

Last night after the cyber cafe I walked back over to the hostel where I saw one of the Aussie guys who was in my room last night having a feed outside, so I walked up to him and we had a chat for a while, and about our days and stuff. I was gutted to find out the next room on pretty ,uch from where I turned around and called it a day in the lourve was his highlight, the Napoleon Apartments.. That was a bummer; but I think I may go back on Friday and finish off the stuff I didnt see and revisit my favourites too.

I asked him where he got his dinner coz it looked good and i was craving some COOKED meat, then headed off to get some. It was a doner kebab shop, but all the kebab shops here also sell chips, and sandwich style things (what the aussie guy was eating) I gestured my way to one of those with chips and tomato sauce and mayonaise, and then took it back to the hostel to eat it. YUM!!! it was soooo tasty ay!! And heapsa meat, ahh it was great! and only 4.50 euro which isnt too bad for paris too.. The only other thing that happened was I met a girl from Sweden which was cool, she was staying on the same floor as me and I met her in the lift. After all that I holed up in my room, and feel asleep during a sermon.. and it was a really good one too!! I felt pretty stink, but ill listen to it again tomorrow. I was totally wasted, so it was my fault for trying to listen to it in a state where I wasnt gonna take it in properly. Oh and I had the room to myself which was nice!!

Today I got up a bit later and had the normal brekky, took the normal rolls for lunch (altho I ended up giving them away) and had a shower before heading off again. First off I went to the Arc de Triomphe. This thing was bigger than I had visioned, and was really nice!! I didnt bother going up, but I spent some good time underneath it and looking at the madness of the traffic around it (there are no markings, about 6ish lanes though, and incoming vehicles have right of way!! MADNESS!! lots of horns blazing too ha ha. Qfter this I took a liesurely walk down to the Palais de Challiot that stands before the Eiffel tower.. Stopping on the way in a nice bakery for a snack. The Palais de Challiot wasnt any big shakes.. and a cool looking long water feature out front was empty being cleaned too.. but thats cool. i got offered some tacky souvineers about a million times, took photos, then walked down to the tower. This thing was pretty big too!! There were militqry dressed guys walking around with full automatics in groups of three which I found a little creepy, but I took a bunch more photos and called home for a bit. I got approached by like ( diffentent people wanting money who would use the sneaky line ' do you speak english' and when you thought, hey! i can actually help someone out in france with language, they give you the exact same note saying dear ladies and gentlemen, im from bosnia and blah di blah. I gave 2 or 3 euros to the first one, but after seeing it repeated over and over I wonder how authentic they were..

I was unsure whether I should pay 11 euro instead of 3 so I could go to the top.. although in the end this problem was solved for me by the huge lines to get to the top, and the fact that after being there about an hour the top was still closed because of overcrowding. The stairs up to the 1st and 2nd levels werent too bad, and you got some great views of Paris, especially from the 2nd. I dunno what to say.. it was the eiffel tower.. it was cool!! :).

After the tower I walked in the gardens infront of it; and then walked over to the big Hotel on the other side of that bridge I saw. it is called the Hotel des Invalides, and it ,ust have been a palace earlier as its surrounded by a moat, has connons on display, and is really ornate, with gold and a cool design. To the side of this Hotel is a little park and ?useum you can pay to get into with works by Rodin in it, of most note, 'The Thinker'. I went in here and it was really pleasant, hardly anyone there (nice to escape the tourist hoardes), and the park layout was really nice. I bought a ridiculously priced créme brullé icecream; then lay down for a while on some wooden lounging chqirs that were here and there.

After resting up a bit I carried on walking and went past the Assemblee Nationale Palais Bourbon, which looked pretty cool, big old building that looked like a town hall. From here I walked down along the river past the Museé D'Orsay which was a huge very impressive building with some huge clocks and massive sculptures on the outside. I kept walking along the river and got to the Institut de France which was also a cool building, I dunno what to say ha ha. I then turned in and walked past some classy as shops with ornaments, furniture and clothes; none of which had price tags, which is always a good sign ha ha! I then got to the St. Germain des prés church. This was ok, but I didnt find it anyhting special, and I knew nothing much about it so yeah.. it must be pretty old though.

But then I got to the St. Sulpice church which was a stunner! Up there with Notre Dame! Unfortunately one of the big turrets at the front was covered with scaffolds, but even so it was amazing to behold, and it had a great fountain outside too! Inside was even better!! The ceiling especially was great! And the church was laid out in the shape of a big cross, with heapsa art and stuff all over the place. It also had this astrological monument thingy that had something to do with the Da Vinci code, but I forgot what. Anyway.. I spent quite a while in here as it was totally great! And after that I headed out and to the Palais du Luxembourg.

I coulda spent ages here and itd be a fantastic picnic spot! There are some beautiful as flowers and gardens, a few cool fountains and water features including a big fountain in the middle, and of course i pretty impressive building. there is heaps of space to sit and enjoy the surroundings, and you can hire these cool sailing boats for the big fountain which is mainly flat with a squirter in the middle. they somehow recogine the little stick with tape at the end that are supplied with the ships, and you can therefore direct them around the place. very cool. I didnt do it though.

After this I walked over to the Pantheon which I had seen, but it was closed :(, i guess that makes sence as it was now past 5 oclock. I decided I would therefore come back tomorrow (gonna have alot to do!) and saw a kebqb shop and got me another one of those legendry sandwich type things for dinner (oops.. forgot to have lunch!), and then had this divine Nectarine and Peach crumble sundae from maccas.. Man was it good! The best takeaways dessert ive ever had by a long shot!! I wanted to go get another lol!

After that I saw this good looking intyernet cafe so decided id give it a shot, and it uploads my photos in a flash! Its 3 euros an hour, and ive had 3 hours so far.. but hopefully I wont need a 4th.. But I think Ill be able to get up all my photos (well.. There are tons, so a selection of my photos..) today. After Im done I plan to go around Paris at night a bit to see whats lit up and how it looks etc, then off for my last night at the hostel.

Again, Ill write about the experiences tonight in tomorrows blog ay?

Sweet, catcha later!!

Day 41 (2nd August)

I forgot that yesterday I also went to 'bastille'; where there was a big tower with a statue ontop, and a stylin opera house.. dunno the details, but it must be to do with the french revoultion somehow (seeing as its called bastille and all haha!).

Last night I watched the guys who hangout outside the hostel play around, hit on hostellers, and all of that.. The big black security dude told two or three girls that 'we dont need the, around here'. They always went for ones you could tell were a little self conscious or something.. It was crazy. Anyway, I had a soup, called home, and then went to my room where I listened to a sermon for a while and then went to sleep. Just before I got to sleep my new roommates arrived (they are from aussie). I said hi and stuff then after a bit rolled over and back to sleep. Ive met aussies everywhere ay, its crazy!! pretty much more than any other country. You can tell their economy is cranking huh! Lotsa travel for the aussies :)

I got up a bit earlier this morning and had a shower and the same breakfast ( but I bought some peanut butter for the bread :D!!!). I took some rools again and headed off to the city by metro again. I had a short wander around concorde and stuff again, then went into the Lourve around 9. Ok... seriously.. I cant explain this place, and I saw so much stuff I wont remeber any where near it all, and itd take pages of writing. There was a temporary exhibition called 'Le Trésor du monde' which probably means the treasures of the something, moon maybe? or world?? Anyhow it was a bunch of awesome jewels, weapons and artifacts mainly from india and surroundings. I then started on the main permanent parts of the lourve. Man everything was great!! I coulda stayed there days, altho I regret not buying an audio guide as I couldnt read any of the french :(. I could scan for names and stuff, but I find its nice to have an explanation especially for artifacts and stuff.. But ahhh well! It was still fantastic!

I took a 45 min break for lunch and decided id go to a cafe\restaurant and get a decent meal as I was ravished. I went into one place and chose the Beef Tartar (was gonna go steak and chips, but beef tartar sounded pretty good, and more frenchy.. and tartare sauce usually goes on fish? but it ,ight be a good mix??). Anyway.. In a few ,inutes I was presented with my meal and it turns out 'tartar' means minced, raw, and mixed up with sauce and gherkin thingies... great!! ha ha I had mr bean skits running through my head for a while :). anyways.. I love meat and i was hungry.. and for a guy who's not much of a gherkin fan it tasted alright ay!! I quite enjoyed it. Crazy french..

After this I sat in a bit courtyard of I think a palace just opposite the lourve and ate a roll and gave the birds a bit. This confirmed my observation yesterday that french birds are snobs!! ha ha ha they dont eat crusts!! they will peck the fluffy white stuff outta something you throw them then leave the rest! If you throw them just a crust it gets ignored!! classic! In NZ anything that could possibly be food gets gobbled immediately :).

After this I went back into the lourve and saw some big famousies like Venus de (du) Milo and Mona Lisa, and all of that.. was kida cool standing right infront of the real mona lisa, seeing your reflection against the painting :) very cool. There was a big room of large scale paintings which I really enjoy as they are huge, but dont get out of proportion or anything like that. Anyhow there were tons of great paintings, but I have to say the sculptures were probably my favourite. I loved the paintings, really loved them (some more than others of course.. but there were tons that made me wanna stop and stare). And the artifacts and stuff were all amazing and I wanted to stay forever.. but the sculptures were just awesome! probably because i havent seen thaaat many really good ones before. The workmanship is incredible!!! I took photos of a few (among other things).

Around 7pm my will pozer ran out and I couldnt appreciate any more stuff so I gave up (had been there 10 hours minus my 45 min lunch break). I hadnt seen one section of artifacts, and the top floor (all paintings) and I so wanted to look at them; and revisit some other places.. but it just wasnt gonna happen. The lourve isnt gonna run away though huh :) I can come back some other day!

I got on the metro and then came to the internet cafe. Im totally and utterly wiped out, so I think from now (8.30ish) its gonna be relaxing in my room, some ipod, and sleep!! I'll write anything I forgot or that I do later up in the next blog too. Tomorrow I think Ill do another day of lotsa walking around famous cites in Paris. Should be great! Lets hope the weathers ok, and that my foot holds up!

Cya!!