Sunday 30 Sept we hopped on a bus from London to Paris... we weren't looking forward to the long, uncomfortable trip but it didn't end up being too bad as we got on the ferry at Dover so made things a little more interesting and we obviously got to wander around etc. We stayed one night in Paris and the next morning met up with the Busabout bus which was to be our second home for the next 4-5 weeks.
First stop was Bruges, Belgium. We stayed for 2 nights. Not a lot to see really but we did the touristy stuff like visiting churches, towers, chocolate museum, brewery and did a wee canal cruise, it's quite a pretty town with bridges, canals, old buildings and windmills. (It's in the flemish part of Belgium which is a lot like The Netherlands). Basically the Belgians are famous for their food, so of course we tried it all: waffles, chocolate, hot chips with mayonaise and a large variety of beers. Our small hostel bar alone stocked 20 different varieties! I even found a cherry one which was quite tasty.
After Bruges we headed to Amsterdam. We had decided to stay 5 nights there as we had a certain amount of nights in total we could use for our trip so that we could catch the last Busabout bus back to Paris on 30 October. Turns out it was a great decision as we LOVED it there... what kind of people does that make us (red light district and coffee shops!) haha no we of course saw all of that which was eye opening to say the least but there was so much more to Amsterdam than that. As many of you know I had been to Amsterdam before as a child (didn't go to the red light back then though! good parenting skills Mum!), so it was pretty cool for me to be back in The Netherlands to try my dutch language skills!! I'm not fluent anymore but a lot of words came back to me in that short time...not that I needed it at all, nearly everyone speaks english and we came across so many friendly people. Loved it!
We went to the Anne Frank House, which was so amazing and heartbreaking. It was a place I still remember quite vividly visiting as a child. We did the Heineken Brewery Experience (who would've guessed... I am travelling with Niki!). We did a Bike Tour which was one of our highlights of the whole trip, the american guy that took it was so good. We went out to a clog and cheese factory and saw lots of the city. I would fully recommed that to anyone (Mike's Bike Tours). For the benefit of my family I will document all the yummy stuff we ate there...I'm sure it will ring some bells! frikendel, croketten, frites met mayonaise, stroop waffels...etc etc. unfortunately didn't have any poffertjes (although u can buy them in Sydney ay Pam!).
Next stop was Berlin where we stayed for 3 nights. Berlin was also amazing... be in my top 3 places of this trip for sure. Went on a 'free' walking tour (New Europe Tours operate in a few major cities in Eu) these are awesome, they work on a tips-only basis, as well as doing other specialsed tours which you pay a set price for. The girl we had was Australian and she was so passionate and knowledgeable about Berlin and a really good speaker. Looking back we should've tipped her more compared to some other walking tours!!! anyway! We saw alot of WWII stuff: the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, Charlie's Checkpoint, site of Hitler's bunker, Typography of Terror, Reichstag (we went up at 10.30pm and had amazing views of city), Brandenberg Gate (complete with WWII patched up bullet holes) and more. We also saw and learnt about the Berlin Wall which was so eye opening. I really didn't know much about it and for that type of thing to be happening in my lifetime is just unbelievable.
It wasn't all serious doom and gloom though! We went out on a pub crawl which was a lot of fun, was a good chance to get chatting to a few fellow busabouters as we hadn't really met many before that as you don't really see people apart from on the bus at some places. It was a classy pub crawl...pouring jagermeister down your throats in between pubs down an alleyway! nice! I didn't drink much at all as still fresh in my mind was my 'Hayley Special' all day hangover after our London farewell party...which I haven't blogged about separately...was a great night, let's leave it at that!!
Dreasden, Germany was the next stop... where? yeah we didn't know either but it was a place the bus went and we had decided to stop off everywhere as we had the time! only 2 other girls got off with us there. We ended up having such a fun time though, saw the town with all it's glorious historic buildings, museums, palace, churches (blah blah i'm soo over it!) in an afternoon and the next day hopped on a train for an hour to the Saxon Switzerland (named that as it looks like Switzerland landscape) with Claire and Ed (bus girls). Was gorgeous although a bit over cast, we did a bit of a 'tramp' even... haha whatever there was a path the whole way! Awesome views. Was cool to meet and spend time with 'the girls' (as i so fondly call them since they are only 18 & 19! cute!) we became good friends for the rest of the trip.
Anyway will post this now and hopefully add some pics that go with this soon... We are in Edinburgh at the mo, unemployed at present! But Niki just got a job in a bar after doing a trial today (YAY) so he can bring in the moolah! Have an agency interview Monday and registered with another last week so I'm sure it'll be sweet (cos I rock!). Pay is less here (apparently accom is too though)... but it sounds like lots of fun so I think it'll be great. Have met quite a few people in the hostels who have lived in London and much prefer Scotland. Already noticed everyone is WAY friendlier here! We'll just have to do another working stint at London at some stage to save some pingers to take home perhaps...
First stop was Bruges, Belgium. We stayed for 2 nights. Not a lot to see really but we did the touristy stuff like visiting churches, towers, chocolate museum, brewery and did a wee canal cruise, it's quite a pretty town with bridges, canals, old buildings and windmills. (It's in the flemish part of Belgium which is a lot like The Netherlands). Basically the Belgians are famous for their food, so of course we tried it all: waffles, chocolate, hot chips with mayonaise and a large variety of beers. Our small hostel bar alone stocked 20 different varieties! I even found a cherry one which was quite tasty.
After Bruges we headed to Amsterdam. We had decided to stay 5 nights there as we had a certain amount of nights in total we could use for our trip so that we could catch the last Busabout bus back to Paris on 30 October. Turns out it was a great decision as we LOVED it there... what kind of people does that make us (red light district and coffee shops!) haha no we of course saw all of that which was eye opening to say the least but there was so much more to Amsterdam than that. As many of you know I had been to Amsterdam before as a child (didn't go to the red light back then though! good parenting skills Mum!), so it was pretty cool for me to be back in The Netherlands to try my dutch language skills!! I'm not fluent anymore but a lot of words came back to me in that short time...not that I needed it at all, nearly everyone speaks english and we came across so many friendly people. Loved it!
We went to the Anne Frank House, which was so amazing and heartbreaking. It was a place I still remember quite vividly visiting as a child. We did the Heineken Brewery Experience (who would've guessed... I am travelling with Niki!). We did a Bike Tour which was one of our highlights of the whole trip, the american guy that took it was so good. We went out to a clog and cheese factory and saw lots of the city. I would fully recommed that to anyone (Mike's Bike Tours). For the benefit of my family I will document all the yummy stuff we ate there...I'm sure it will ring some bells! frikendel, croketten, frites met mayonaise, stroop waffels...etc etc. unfortunately didn't have any poffertjes (although u can buy them in Sydney ay Pam!).
Next stop was Berlin where we stayed for 3 nights. Berlin was also amazing... be in my top 3 places of this trip for sure. Went on a 'free' walking tour (New Europe Tours operate in a few major cities in Eu) these are awesome, they work on a tips-only basis, as well as doing other specialsed tours which you pay a set price for. The girl we had was Australian and she was so passionate and knowledgeable about Berlin and a really good speaker. Looking back we should've tipped her more compared to some other walking tours!!! anyway! We saw alot of WWII stuff: the Memorial to the Murdered Jews, Charlie's Checkpoint, site of Hitler's bunker, Typography of Terror, Reichstag (we went up at 10.30pm and had amazing views of city), Brandenberg Gate (complete with WWII patched up bullet holes) and more. We also saw and learnt about the Berlin Wall which was so eye opening. I really didn't know much about it and for that type of thing to be happening in my lifetime is just unbelievable.
It wasn't all serious doom and gloom though! We went out on a pub crawl which was a lot of fun, was a good chance to get chatting to a few fellow busabouters as we hadn't really met many before that as you don't really see people apart from on the bus at some places. It was a classy pub crawl...pouring jagermeister down your throats in between pubs down an alleyway! nice! I didn't drink much at all as still fresh in my mind was my 'Hayley Special' all day hangover after our London farewell party...which I haven't blogged about separately...was a great night, let's leave it at that!!
Dreasden, Germany was the next stop... where? yeah we didn't know either but it was a place the bus went and we had decided to stop off everywhere as we had the time! only 2 other girls got off with us there. We ended up having such a fun time though, saw the town with all it's glorious historic buildings, museums, palace, churches (blah blah i'm soo over it!) in an afternoon and the next day hopped on a train for an hour to the Saxon Switzerland (named that as it looks like Switzerland landscape) with Claire and Ed (bus girls). Was gorgeous although a bit over cast, we did a bit of a 'tramp' even... haha whatever there was a path the whole way! Awesome views. Was cool to meet and spend time with 'the girls' (as i so fondly call them since they are only 18 & 19! cute!) we became good friends for the rest of the trip.
Anyway will post this now and hopefully add some pics that go with this soon... We are in Edinburgh at the mo, unemployed at present! But Niki just got a job in a bar after doing a trial today (YAY) so he can bring in the moolah! Have an agency interview Monday and registered with another last week so I'm sure it'll be sweet (cos I rock!). Pay is less here (apparently accom is too though)... but it sounds like lots of fun so I think it'll be great. Have met quite a few people in the hostels who have lived in London and much prefer Scotland. Already noticed everyone is WAY friendlier here! We'll just have to do another working stint at London at some stage to save some pingers to take home perhaps...
1 comment:
Hi there guys,
Just to let you know that we have put a link to your blog from our website. Hope that is ok! If you don't want us to then let me know and I will take it down.
Kind regards,
Graeme
Marketing Manager
Busabout
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