Monday, July 24, 2006 

Toga Time


Back in London and straight into a department store to purchase a bed sheet! Yep... got an invite to a TOGA PARTY at Kate's place. After a few oil can's of Fosters and some trendy girl-guide-knot-tying by Kate (oh and a few branches from a tree) I was looking very Roman!

So theres not much to discuss here. Drunk a few beers... Anka rocked up and somehow managed to fit all his body hair into his Australian flag toga... drunk a few more beers... did a few shots of tequila, gin, whatever was liquid enough to fit in a shot glass! .. and basically had a bunch of fun! Somehow during the night I ended up with some pretty funky earring's in my ears (I didn't know my earring holes were still open!) and bright pink toenails (with purple smiley faces! - which became a bit of an issue over the next week as I didn't know any girls with nail polish remover!) and my only footwear was thongs!


So after a very messy evening I crashed on Kate's floor-of-mattresses and woke up to feel extremely seedy.. after a quick clean up, it was off to Bob's-world-of-grease (not its real name) for a pick-me-up breakfast. A big breakkie of eggs, beans, muchrooms, toast and about a gallon of oil I think we were feeling a little worse than before...... solution..... Magner's!! Kate had a great idea of grabbing a bottle of Magner's to cure the hangover.... so off to the off-license to pick a couple of bottles up. The store had a special... 6 bottles for 10 quid so we picked 6 bottles and a bag of ice up and went home to watch Anchorman and try recover from the hangover.

For some reason we all decided to head to the pub for some evening drinks. Stupid idea! I was definately not functioning correctly. I think at one stage I was told not to try to speak for at least 5 minutes - to which I replied.. thats okay.. I have four other senses that can cover for speech. (Paul.. Speech is not a sense!!)

Anyway... big big weekend for my last weekend in London!

Friday, July 21, 2006 

That *is* how you make porridge!


I think my last post mentioned I was going to jump on a little pub crawl then get up nice and early for a day tour. Well, thats half right. I jumped on a pub crawl, get back to the hostel after all the pubs closed (around 3am), then got back to the hostel and ended up in the kitchen with the rest of my room drinking wine til 6am.... when I had to wake up to go on my day tour to loch ness!!


So crawling out of the hostel I made a bee-line to Starbucks, one grande latte later and I was raring to go! The tour left Edinburgh and headed up past Hamish the highland cow, through Glencoe past the three sisters and up to Loch Ness where we had a nice stroll around Castle Urquhart, keeping an eye on the loch at all times in case Nessie popped up. This was followed by a nice cruise up the loch to Inverness - it was a perfect sunny day for the cruise. Unfortunately, no Nessie.


Back on the bus and round the corner and there she was.... in front of a BP service station... NESSIE!!! Well, a fibreglass model of her. Good enough! So a long drive back to Edinburgh and into my bunk for an early night.

Yesterday I had to complete a childhood quest, to see if there really was a Perth, Scotland. So down to the train station and off to Perth! Off the train, not a soul in sight... around the corner, no traffic - an uncanny resemblence to Perth, Australia! So I spent a few hours in sleepy Perth before returning to Edinburgh for a ghost tour that night. So with an hour or so to kill before the ghost tour we attached ourselves to the pub crawl and crawled our way up to Mercat Cross for our tour.

Under the streets of Edinburgh and into the graveyards we strolled, entertained by our leader Black Agnes. A good tour that included a few frights in the darkness under the city and Black Agnes demostrating "Burking" on me... then giving me a lift by saying that I would have fetched about 12 pounds at the medical college for my corpse! "Aye, yooo arrr a fayne specimen!"

So up this morning for a big scottish breakkie and a stroll around the city before I jump onto a train back to London. My "restful" weekend in Scotland was heaps of fun, it is a really fun country - could have done with a little more sleep, but the "live when you're alive and sleep when you're dead!" line keeps coming up! I am only a little disappointed I didn't come a few weeks later when the Edinburgh festival is on. Or at least stay one more night to see Westlife!

Wednesday, July 19, 2006 

Scotland


After a hectic week in London - pretty much parties, beers and Magners' all round all day and night, I've decided to have a little break up in Scotland. Edinburgh to be exact. I jumped on the train Monday morning only to have it blow up around York... a minor delay before boarding another train up to the Scottish capital. Worked out pretty well because due to the overcrowding I got to have a little nanna nap in the luggage coach.

So I arrived in Edinburgh, checked in to the backpackers and went out to see the sights. It is *another* gorgeous city. The Edinburgh castle overlooks everything and it is quite stunning seeing the old town reaching out of the rest of the city. I walked the Royal Mile, then around the corner to climb Calton Hill which gives a magnificent view of the city and of the loch. Got up there near to sundown (10pm) so I got to see the sun set over the castle.

Then absolutely wrecked after the weekend I decided to have a quiet night in... early sleep and up bright and early for the day today. After opening the door, saying hi to my roomies (7 of them) and jumping on to my bunk, the girls said, "Want a glass of wine......." so several glasses of wine and a bit of accent piss-taking I finally got to sleep. Not the early night I planned on.

Up this morning for a walking tour of the city, a glorious day for it... around 30C and a fun stroll around the highlights of the city, ending at a local pub where I had the most delicious Haggis for lunch!!! Yum! (I'm being serious... it actually was YUM!!). So a quiet arvo, then out for the pub-crawl tonight.... should be interesting! Then up bright and early tomorrow for a bus tour up to Loch Ness, and possibly a night ghost tour afterwards.


Hope you are all good... I am walking around with a bit of a big head at the moment cos one of the girls at lunch said I looked like Matthew McConoughey (sp??) - Thats 4 times this trip someone has said that.... and the first time since I shaved my beard off!!! Awesome! :)

Thursday, July 13, 2006 

Back in London


So I'm back in London after a marathon bus trip through France.. over the English channel to the white cliffs of Dover... then on a very boring M8994 ride into Stamford Brook. From beautiful 30+ weather in Spain... to 17-odd grey sky/pathetic excuse for rain London. After not sleeping I wasn't looking forward to busying myself until Chris returned home. A few hours at the Internet cafe... a few more at the Laundromat... then a quiet knock on the door to a very welcoming Tobe at Chris' place!

I was a little zonked after sleeping about 2 hours in the last 5 days and going out that night to the Slug and Lettuce (Slut and Legless as I was told) didn't really help.... So it was no real surprise that I hit the bed that night... and woke up around 5pm the next day (17hours!!!)!! Luckily my laptop arrived from Perth and I spent the evening organising my photos and watching Big Brother UK style!!


Today I did a bit of sight-seeing... after checking out the Apple store on Regent street (very schmick!) to buy a laptop sleeve, I flicked my brand-new Oyster card down to Waterloo and checked out the London Eye, Big Ben, Globe Theatre, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Monument, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Hyde Park etc in a whirlwind circuit.... maybe stopping in on a pub or two along the way! :)


It was such a nice day that we made our way down to the Thames and got stuck in to a few bottles of Magners....... Jeeze I hope Gus isn't reading this!! :)

So I will be updating the previous posts to chuck a few photos in... Check back regularly... Who's that with Paul in the Wimbledon entry??? How hot does Paul look nude in the 2-0 entry?? :) More to come!

PS - Mum - Chris is looking really good over here.... has a wonderful home with really nice and fun house mates. Is looking after himself.... except when he takes his top off at work parties!!! :)

Monday, July 10, 2006 

Pamps!




Talk about the craziest, stupidest, most completely insane thing on earth!! San Fermin was all that and more!! After arriving *finally* (7:30pm) to the hotel in Lekumberri (a tiny little village about 25mins from Pamplona) I checked in... and found the closest pub! (Because I had arrived late, most of the crew were in Pamps getting a tour and tips about how to survive the run - not the best chat to miss). The others (including Jas, Dean and Hux arrived back around 10 and the first of many late nights was had down at Bar Izar).

The next morning we were up and on the bus around 10am for the "opening ceremony" - our only tip... wear closed shoes and take some spare clothes... luckily we had the full white and red get-up which will now become the greatest test of Napisan ever!! The opening ceremony consists of squeezing thousands and thousands of people into a tiny town square, spraying champagne, beer, sangreas into the air and each other... throwing eggs and flour and mustard and curry and pretty much anything you could get your hands on at everyone! At 12noon fireworks were launched from the town hall, the scarves came out and more drink was thrown about!

We spent the day learning the course, drinking sangreas and just basking in the craziness that is San Fermin! After that, back to the pub for some more beer and merriment - but a relatively early night, for tomorrow is...........

The run! The most scary, fun, thrilling, stupid, tiring, idiotic, deadly, insane way to start your day!! A very quiet bus ride into Pamplona, then an equally quiet walk to the town hall and entry to the course. The town by this time was FILTHY!! 122 tonnes of rubbish was collected the first day.... but by the look of the streets that was only half of it!

7:00am - made it into the town hall square into the mass of people, standing shoulder to shoulder - the place reeks of alcohol, vomit and more prominent.. FEAR!

7:30am - pretty much the same as 7:00am, except the guy next to me is on his haunches puking his guts out!

7:50am - the cops start opening the street and the crowd instantly thins out. We walk a few metres down.

7:58am - we realise that we are still about 75m from "dead man's corner" so we walk down a little more.

8:00am - BANG! Firework goes off indicating that the have about 20 seconds before massive angry bulls get released from their holding pen.

8:00:20am - BANG! Even more panic... starting to jog a little now... round "dead man's corner" where we will hear later that a kiwi and a yank got gored.

8:01am - Still jogging, panic everywhere... then the sound of thunder and the words "TORO! TORO!". Looking both forward and back, I can't see anything except runners, until about 2m away from me they come into view... these MASSIVE horns on these MASSIVE bulls! I decide to move a little closer to the wall!! I am probably running with them next to me for 2 or 3 seconds before they zoom off ahead... My heartrate is about 390, my legs are aching cos all the blood and lactic acid has frozen in fear!

8:02am - Jogging along behind them we get to the last corner before the arena, then a big congestion... looking up an old lady on the balcony is telling the crowd to stop... "loco toro!" - One of the bulls got a little lost and had started running the wrong way. The mass of people surged backwards, then started forwards again...

8:03am - Into the arena! We made it! Unbelievable! The biggest rush of our lives! Everyone is looking like they've just climbed mount everest... then that word "toro!" again... and everyone instantly looked like they shat themselves! Everyone bolts to the sides of the arena and the last bull and heffer saunter through into their pen.

8:04am - The bullring! Awesome... survived... how cool was that... Then some cheers... turn around and they have let loose a little bull into the arena... This guy is going crazy stomping and charging people. The crowd that has filled the arena are screaming and chanting! Everytime the bulls hit someone they cheered and roared... Everytime a stupid tourist touched the bulls horns they jeered and booed and yelled "blah blah blah Puta!!". Then a second bull was sent out to collect the black one and bring him back.... This continued on for six "quarters" I guess! (except us humans were obviously the away team judging by the crowd response!) Everytime they let the bulls out into the ring, people were sitting in front of the gate, crouching down... then the herders would open the gates and the bull will come thundering out.. and JUMP THE PEOPLE CROUCHING!!! IN-FRIGGING-SANE!!! (although not always clearing them completely!)

Finally they opened the human gates and everyone poured out of the stadium... a quick check of all body parts and back to the bus for breakkie! In sadder news, one bloke had his spinal cord broken in the arena and is now a paraplegic with no use of his legs and "some" use of his arms. Reading the Spanish papers, there were 4 gorings, 8 people hospitalised and 40 people in total received medical attention! The kinda of thing that turns the biggest rush in your life into that "yeah... once in a lifetime mate... just the once!!"

So back to the hotel... breakkie... a little nanna nap... a lot of beer... a lot of laughs... then back into Pamps for partying... then back to the bar down the street for partying...

I could go on for ever about how insane this festival is, you would not believe it until you saw and experienced it! I'm glad I went down with a tour mob, we had such a great group of people and was one of the funniest weekends ever! So back in London now after a 22 hour bus trip back... and with absolutely no plans whatsoever!! Except to hit the town tonight for Jas and Hux' last night in London.

Oh and apologies to everyone!!! I ran the bull run... got my phone to send texts that I was safe and alive... then I ran out of credit!!! So sorry to those who think i'm dead!! I'm not.... really... :)

Thursday, July 06, 2006 

Wimbledon


Chris and I spent the day yesterday at the tennis champs in Wimbledon. It was so weird to actually be there and see the purple and green, the tennis courts everywhere, the Pims, the strawberries and cream. Naturally we had to sample it all - after a lunch of Fish & Chips and Pims (eaten on Henmann Hill) we strolled around the park watching a few games here and there... munching on strawberries and cream and listening to little Russian girls miss easy shots and yell "Nyien!"!! So funny!!

A quick dinner at a Walkabout pub, then the Italy vs Germany game.... bummer about the result... it's up to France now!! Then off to bed for an early morning..... 4am!!

Up I got at 4am and made my way to the Bus.... then the train.... then a plane.... then Bilbao airport, waiting for my luggage... and waiting... and waiting... and... huh? Why are you turning the conveyor belt off?? uh-oh!! Apparantly my luggage missed its flight.

So after filling in all the details and expecting to be running the bulls in thongs, I jumped onto the 30 minute non-stop bus to Bilbao for a bus to Pamplona.... then a phone call... "We found your bag... it fell off the truck and was sitting on the tarmac!". So another 30 minute non-stop bus to the airport, a tearful reunion with my backpack, then back on the bus again... I made it to San Sebastien, then discovered the next bus to Lucemberri leaves at 6pm!! Which was an issue cos I arrived at 2:30pm and was supposed to be at the hotel at 4pm!

Oh well... one of the interesting bits of travel I guess! I've just had a bit of a stroll around San Sebastien (looks just like it did last year!) and I'm about to grab a sanga and beer to while away the final hour of waiting!!

San Fermin festival starts tomorrow... I'm excited! And don't worry Mum... I'll be fine... a bull will hurt less than getting a tomato in the head!!!

Tuesday, July 04, 2006 

Eng-a-land

Okay... the worst flight ever! I got to Copenhagen airport and was welcomed by 15,000,000 ex-Roskilde fans. Then to the gentle voice of "Copenhagen airport apologises for the delay's in checking in... the baggage system is currently unavailable". So... 30 minutes later I was checked in to seat 2F on my flight! Yay... good seat... and I only have 45 minutes to kill before boarding....

... through security and to the massive screen alerting me that my plane was expected to leave at 19:30... not 18:00... 20:30 and we were finally starting to board.

Eventually I made it to English soil and after a grilling at the passport check (obviously still a little peeved that one of my ancentors stole a loaf of bread from her ancenstors!) found my luggage and my brother who was lumped with a massive 8 pounds 20 in parking fees!!

We made it back to Chris' place and a nice english cup of tea! Had a quick chat to mum and as soon as I hit the next full stop, bed.

(Okay I lie... I fly down to Pamplona on the 5th to go running with the bulls in the San Fermin festival. I may not update this as much over the next few days, so despite all the tips i've been given by everyone and all the training i've put in... If there is no update in a week... picture me lying in a hospital with half a bull stuck up my bum!!!)

Monday, July 03, 2006 

Copenhagen


After the quick zip through Sweden, we have made a quick detour down to Copenhagen, Denmark to say g'day to Mary and check the place out. After the 5 hour train trip (including about 15minutes over a massive bridge between Sweden and Denmark) we arrived in Stockholm and were welcomed by, once again, beautiful 25C weather.


We did a bit of touristy stuff, took a boat tour.. saw the sights.. saw Mary's apartment (except she is living up north somewhere while her apartment is being renovated).. saw the smallest castle on earth with the most hardcore of guards (Automatic rifles, hardcore army get-up and funky marching manouvres). Nothing much out of the ordinary except that Anka and I almost got locked in the museum for the night.

Highlights included eggs, bacon, hash browns and baked beans for breakkie.... hotel right next door to an Aussie pub, Brazil got spanked out of the world cup.... England got spanked out of the world cup!!!

Sunday, July 02, 2006 

Sweden


So there you go... a very quick barnstorm through the city of Stockholm. Probably one of the prettiest cities on earth! Heaps of greenery... nice waterways... pretty and fun people. A very nice place to be, although, word on the street is that it gets cold in winter!


We took the train to Copenhagen this morning and are currently experiencing all that Denmark has to offer. I'm doing my best to conserve some energy for the impending Pampalona adventure but thats not working too well..... in Sweden.. the sun RISES at about 2am!!!

Sorry about the short one today... I'll make it up to ya I promise!