Italia!

So, after our disaster with the south of France, we headed to Italy. En route to Pisa we had a couple of hours in Ventimiglia, a beautiful quiet town on the seafront where we watched surfers and explored the market. 

Leaning Tower of Pisa

We arrived in Pisa at night, and Joe was the first to spot the Tower - it was surreal seeing it with your own eyes! Our hostel was right by the tower which was incredible, although the lack of a kitchen proved difficult. We shared a room with four other people - two of which were very grumpy and only cheered up after having sex - unfortunately for us we walked into the room as they were under the duvet, and it was pretty obvious what they'd been doing. Joe couldn't sleep due to 'snorey girl' - she was SO LOUD. 



During our day in Pisa we just wandered the streets, followed the river, and had a picnic lunch in our hostel. We also did our first hand-wash which was.. interesting. It took about 40 minutes, and nothing smelled particularly clean afterwards. After collecting some free tickets to explore the cathedral, we split up to have a photo competition - whoever could get the most 'leaning tourist' photos in ten minutes won.

Picnic Lunch in Pisa

When packing up to leave the hostel, my bag felt curiously light - and then Joe realised he'd left half my clothes outside drying still! We grabbed them and then got on the train to Rome.

Colosseum

Rome was.. Rome. It was much more 'London-y' than anywhere we'd been so far - a huge city with so many tourists. We stayed in one of the only hostels left and it was rather awful. The beds gave us bites, and it was like sleeping in a hospital ward. Also, there was no kitchen, so we had to eat a lot of microwaved rice. Yet again we had a rubbish experience with Mr & Mrs Faustus in our dorm, who hogged the one bathroom constantly. I must admit that I did get Rage.
We walked to the Spanish Steps where we met Immy & Ryan (two friends from college) who happened to be in Rome at the same time as us! We bought Colosseum passes cheaply and quickly at Palatino Hill, and then explored the Roman ruins. The colosseum was so impressive, and much more intact than I had thought it would be. We sneakily tagged onto a guided tour led by a man who reminded me of Spencer from Criminal Minds. Joe bought tea bags and I bought iced tea to cheer us up for the next two nights at the horrible hostel. 

Inside St Peters Basilica

The next day we got the metro to the Vatican and tried to get in. Unfortunately, the Pope gives his address on Wednesdays, so the place was a crammed madness. After at least two hours, we sardined our way through security and got in. It was worth the wait! Not only did we see the Pope himself (and the Popemobile), the St Peters Basilica was incredible. The Sistine Chapel etc cost 18 euros each to get into, so, being the poor people we are, we didn't do that. 

We wandered more streets, exploring Rome on foot, and then visited the Trevi Fountain, which is beautiful. It's a tradition to throw a coin in over your shoulder, and Joe and I did so, albeit with a 1cent coin each! 

Throwing a coin into Trevi Fountain

Naples was our next stop! In the Lonely Planet guidebook, Naples is described as 'raucous, hell-broth, dirty, loud, anarchic.." And all those things are true. People say you either love or hate Naples - also true. We both agreed that the only reason we'd really go back would be for the pizza. However, by the end of our stay there we had sort of grown attached to the place. There is nowhere quite like it - walking out in front of cars and expecting them to stop, clinging onto your bag because there literally are pickpockets everywhere. We even haggled the price of a bag down without meaning to. And the pizza. Oh, man. So cheap, and so good. We went to a place that had featured on Heston Blumenthal's programme, and it was delicious, and only cost about 15 euros! We also visited Egg Castle, which was really cool! I felt like I was in Fort Boyard.

Mount Vesuvius

We spent a day visiting Pompeii. No one tells you just how much there is to see there! Nothing is very well sign-posted, and there are loads of stray dogs - I really wanted to bring one home with me.

Caught in the rain!

VENICE was next. We stayed in Venice Mestre - outside the main part people think of as 'Venice' in a hotel (!) but still in a dorm- a three-bed dorm?! The best part about being in a hotel was that our beds were made for us, AND the free massive breakfast! Also, it was only a quick and cheap bus journey to get in and out of Venice itself! In Venice, we spent the day wandering the streets, eating ice cream and pizza, and taking lots of photos of canals and bridges. It is a lovely, serene place that you can get utterly lost in.

Beautiful Venice

On our last morning in Venice, we packed up ready to leave, then went down for breakfast. It got to the time when we needed to leave to catch our train, but we were both still munching away. Obviously given the choice between catching our train and eating more food.. we stayed to eat. Luckily we actually made the train anyway!

Things we learnt:
1. People have sex in dorm rooms, even if other people are in said dorm room.
2. If your bag feels unusually light, you've probably forgotten something.
3. Get Colosseum tickets at Palatino Hill to avoid the queues, and bring your passport if you're an EU resident to get a discount.
4. Don't visit the Vatican on a Wednesday.
5. Always take full advantage of the free breakfast.

That concludes Italy - the land of surprisingly polite people, cheap pizza, and an easy train reservation system. In my next post, I'll update on Slovenia and Croatia!

Europe!

Hello! 

I haven't updated this for a while, because things have been pretty busy! I am currently in Bled, Slovenia, and don't want to make this a hugely long post and hog the hostel's computer, but I do want to give a quick update as to my time in Europe so far.


Joe and I set out for our Interrail trip on the 19th of May from East Midlands airport. The Ryanair flight was an experience - they try to sell you things every ten seconds of flight time. We landed in Barcelona and set off finding our hostel! Barcelona was pretty good - we had three days there which was definitely enough time there, but we were sad to leave our hostel - HelloBCN was brilliant, central, cheap, clean, secure and friendly. Man, it was kind of bad to start off our trip with such a great hostel because in comparison everywhere else had a lot to live up to! In Barcelona we visited La Sagrada Familia -  a huge cathedral that's been under construction for like 200 years or something and isn't due to be finished until 2080, we ate chorizo, drank San Miguel, walked along the beach, and climbed up a huge hill to a fort.

Leaving Barcelona we had our first Interrail experience with our very first train trips. We stopped en route to the station to buy fartons - these delicious doughnut-y pastry things - and therefore missed our train to Montpellier. We were stuck with no more train times, and when we looked at later trains they were all booked up or we had to pay a huge reservation fee. After having a bit of a panic, we asked at the information desk and spoke to a very helpful man who even printed out the next train times for us and told us that we wouldn't need to pay a fee. We hung around the station, bought a huge bottle of water that we christened 'the whopper', and then got on our first interrail train!

Our hostel in Montpellier was pretty disappointing compared to HelloBCN. We stayed in the HI hostel, the only one in Montpellier, which meant I had to buy a HI card to be able to stay there. For only €11 it's worth it, because I've used it a couple of times since in places that you can only stay in if you have one. Despite booking a dorm room, we were given our own room with two beds in, which was brilliant because we could just dump all our stuff on the floor without worrying about being messy and getting in other people's way. We spent that afternoon/evening exploring Montpellier - the sun was glorious and the buildings there are beautiful. Unfortunately, the hostel only had a microwave so we were a bit stuck for food to do - ended up having lasagne that was horrible. 


We then moved onto Nimes, which we loved! The hostel we stayed in was another HI one, and we decided to camp, as they had a facility where they provided a tent and blankets etc and you could camp in the little wooded area by the hostel. It was a fair trek from the station/town to the hostel, and involved a lot of hills (I don't like hills, especially not with a big backpack), but it was  a lovely little place. I used my French with the hostel lady which was good, and we dumped our stuff and then explored Nimes. It's just so beautiful. We sat down on a quiet little street at a cafe and had drinks - the atmosphere was lovely. That night, however, was not. We were SO COLD. Literally freezing. Neither of us got very much sleep, and we kept falling down 'the abyss'  - the cold gap between our air beds.

There was no check out time for campers at the hostel, so we decided to make the most of that by visiting Pont du Gard that morning. We got on a bus there, and paid to get in, which wasn't too expensive. Unfrotunately we were both in pretty bad moods due to the horrible night before, and also only had just over an hour there before the bus back to Nimes. You didn't really need much longer there, it's not like there's tons to do. We got off the bus and then raced up the hills to our hostel, grabbed our bags and raced back down to the train station. The train we got was supposed to get us in at 11pm, which was pretty awful. Still, we had booked a night at Nice, so we knew we had somewhere to stay. Unfortunately, our train was held up while we were on it. We didn't arrive in Nice until about 1.30am, and then had to phone the hostel for directions. Joe tried, because I was in a terrible mood and had slept for most of the delayed part if the train journey, but the man only spoke French so I had a go. We eventually found our hostel and checked in - I managed to communicate fine with the man which was a good feeling to end the pants day! We crashed into bed at about 3am, and decided we'd just ask in the morning about booking an extra night or two so that we could actually see Nice/Monaco/Cannes. Why had we ever thought just one night there would be enough? In the morning though, things got even more pants. Our hostel (which seemed lovely, even at 3am) and all hostels in the surrounding area were completely booked up. Why? The Monaco Grand Prix, happening that weekend. Woops, we missed that one!

We were pretty fed up that we weren't going to get to see Nice at all, or Cannes or Monaco - which would have been even more awesome to see while the Grand Prix was on - but we regrouped and decided to leave France behind and go to Italy instead. The beauty of a flexible interrail pass, hey?! We booked for two nights at Pisa to recover and chill out for a little bit, also realising that we needed to slow down our pace a bit, and then we set off that day, having spent a grand total of just three nights in France.

Things we learnt:

1. Always have directions from the station to your hostel.
2. Use the Deutsche bahn website. It is all you will ever need.
3. Get the next train's times, just in case you miss yours.
4. Book hostels with kitchens - it's harder than it sounds to do without.
5. If you want a day somewhere, you need to book two nights there.

I will continue with our adventures in Italy in the next post!

P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, SYDNEY!

Opera House & Harbour Bridge

Home in three weeks now! Crazy eh?

Christine (France), Selina (Germany), me (UK). We like to joke about what people back in 1914 would have thought of this friendship...

I said goodbye to Selina the sea cucumber just before I went to Sydney, which was sad! She plans on heading home to Berlin a little earlier than planned so she’s there when me and Joe pass through on our interrail trip in June though, so it won’t be long until I see her! We spent our last day together taking a TON of photos on the beach with Christine, and then went to the cinema to see The Host. She was worried she might not be able to follow all the English, but I only had to explain a couple of things – ‘interrogate’ and ‘pity’ are two words she didn’t know.

I went on a road trip the day before flying – we drove for over six hours to the outback which was crazy – seeing these ‘towns’ in the middle of nowhere with just two houses and a church. Saw a road train, and stopped off at a salt lake, which is essentially just thick white salt where all the water has evaporated in the heat and lack of rain. They’re pretty beautiful.

Walking across a salt lake

My flight out to Sydney was delayed, and my one back was too – I’m thinking there’s something with me and flights! In the airport I left my travel folder in a shop, containing tickets, hostel info, and passport. I went back and thankfully it was still there! Going to excuse myself as it was 11pm, but I’m sure mum is regretting letting me come out here alone! (haven’t told her I did that yet, so sorry mum! Haha)

Sunset on the Opera House

I stayed in a hostel for the first three nights, and then went to stay with Eliza, my penpal (I talked about this in an earlier post, so read back!) The hostel was in Kings Cross, which is summed up in the guidebooks as being “only a ten-minute walk from the city, with its own train station and is always lively. In recent years, it has shakedn the worst of its renowned red-light and drug-abuse sleaze and is once again popular with backpackers.” It wasn’t that bad!

Me with Harbour Bridge

I headed straight out to the harbour to see the bridge and the Opera House. Seeing that sight with your own eyes is just… captivating. I spent so long just taking it in. I visited Customs House, which had a scale model of Sydney underneath a glass floor that you could walk across, the State Library, which was a really old-school kind of library, Hyde Park Convict Barracks Museum, which was a really old building with a fascinating history, and St Mary’s Cathedral. I also went around the NSW Parliament building by accident! I was looking for a post office and was told the nearest one was inside there, so I went through the security and posted my letters, and was then asked if I fancied seeing the upper house chamber! Of course I did! The security there was much less strict than in the UK – I was just left alone in the chamber to do what I wanted. I saw fireworks over the harbour, as well as my first koala in the entrance to a Wildlife Park! I walked across Harbour Bridge and then got a ferry back across the harbour. I went shopping in Darling Harbour (woops – going to struggle so much getting everything back home), and made new friends in the hostel. Eliza and I got on well, and her family are some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. I spent Friday night at Hillsong Sydney’s youth group (about 500 youth!) where Eliza is a youth leader, and then the whole of Sunday at Hillsong Church. It was pretty awesome being at the ‘original’ Hillsong!

Blue Mountains

I spent a day exploring the Blue Mountains. This is such a beautiful area, where I saw waterfalls, the Three Sisters, and climbed up the Giant’s Staircase (over 900 steps!)

A full day hiking through the Blue Mountains

On my last day I’d wanted to go to Bondi Beach, but Sydney’s unpredictable weather decided to pour with rain, so instead I just stayed in the city. I actually spent the morning drinking coffee with Hugo and his girlfriend Honor – mine and Hugo’s families were really close when we were younger and then he moved away. We haven’t actually seen each other in about 5 years, but were in Sydney at the same time, so hey, why not? It was great catching up, if a little surreal!

When saying goodbye to Eliza’s family, her mum gave me some necklaces from the Philippines (where she’s from) so that I “remember them when I wear them”. Like I said, they’re the sweetest family. I had about an hours sleep, and then got up to leave the house at 3am! Sitting in a station in Sydney for an hour at 4 in the morning was an interesting experience…

Half Way!

So now I’m back in Bunbury! I got home to a letter from Joe (finally! :P), a postcard from Emma in Switzerland, a card from Harry in Rwanda (which he’d posted three months ago – the African postal system is unique…), a bracelet and card from Joe’s family, and an Easter parcel from mum. Unfortunately the parcel was full of chocolate, which had all melted. An hour in the freezer and it’s (nearly) as good as new though!

Easter parcel chocolate carnage

Australia Week Two

I cannot believe that I have been here for two weeks already! Only 12 more to go now!

On Friday, I went to the beach with Rebecca and four of her friends, which was so good – they’re all really lovely and we got on well. We stayed in the sea until Bronte felt a jellyfish, and then we went and got lunch at a café, where I had an iced tea – I have been missing those! On Saturday I went into town in the morning and bought a rug – I know, why did I do that? – but it is so beautiful! And the best part is, it was only $2.99?! I nearly bought a coat yesterday from a charity shop – at this rate I’m going to have to invest in another suitcase to come home! Mandy and I drove to Donnybrook in the afternoon for the Food and Wine festival there. She tried to educate me on wine, as when asked what I usually drank in England, I said “Whatever’s cheapest”, which is apparently not the right answer. I tried Port, too, which was disgusting. I’ve been teaching Rebecca and Andrew some card games (they said it sounded awesome at my college, which is where I picked a lot of them up), but I did refuse to teach them any drinking games, despite their persistent begging! I went back to the same church on Sunday morning, and spoke to a lot of people there. Their youth group works very differently to Fusion, in that they have people from the ages of 12 up to 25. I suppose with a smaller church, they don’t have enough youth to support two groups. I cycled back from church and had a horrible experience where I nearly passed out – I’m guessing from the heat. I just collapsed underneath this tree and my ears had this really heavy pressure on them, and my vision was all blurry. After a while I felt okay again, but it wasn’t very fun!

I headed to the beach on Tuesday, and felt like I was breaking every rule I’ve ever been taught about swimming in the sea. I was on my own, there was nobody around – I could have been swept out or eaten by a shark and nobody would ever know! The waves here are crazy – it’s less swimming, more just trying to stay afloat. When I got out of the sea, a woman had appeared on the beach, so I said Hi, and she replied with “Je ne parle pas Anglais!” I was like, “Je parle un peu de francais!” – and it went from there! Turns out she can’t speak any English at all, which meant all the pressure was on me to keep up my French so we could have a conversation! I explained that I hadn’t used my French since college, but she said it was really good, and it did all come flooding back. We spoke for a few hours – it was such a bizarre experience – fancy my A-Level French coming in useful in Australia!

Beach with Bec's friends

Yesterday I walked into town (around an hour and a half’s walk) and exploited Rebecca’s library card. When I got home I had letters from my parents and Josh, and I skyped Dad, too. Also, I booked my flights to Sydney tonight! I’m flying overnight on the 31^st March, and am going to be there until the 10^th of April – I’m so excited! At the moment it looks like I’m going to be hostel-ing it, although you never know…

Spending the day today replying to letters, and filling out my application to start volunteering at the Dolphin Discovery Centre here in Bunbury.

Thanks for reading! Love, Beth