Munich!

Highlight of my trip so far has got to be Oktoberfest. Why? 1 litre beers, dancing on the benches, men in lederhosen, roasted half chickens, fried apples, bratwurst...ok maybe not the bratwurst. My first night in Munich I was "taken under the wings" (as they put it) of a group of Aussies. Lets just say that keeping up with Aussies is a challenge but a hilariously good time.

Second day was even more ridiculous. Same Aussies but now with Irish and a few americans in the mix. It wasn't an earlier night by any means, just back to the hostel bar for free shots!

I did manage to see a bit of the city not just the festival grounds. I walked around of the old town and checked out the buildings there, like the glockenspiel!

Next morning I woke up with a killer sore throat and a fever. Payment for having too much fun and zero sleep for 3 days I figure. This made for one of the worst travel days so far.

Step one: I missed my bus to Frankfurt. So I decided to train to Nuremberg and spend the afternoon there. By the time I got there, my fever was really high but this was on my "must see" list because of all the history from WWII and being the headquarters for Nazi propaganda then where the war crimes trails were held after the war. Needless to say, I hardly managed to walk my butt to the castle to snap some (awesome) pictures let alone even go near the museum and trial courts. Bit of a major disappointment but I guess this means I will one day have to come back :)

Step two: miss two trains to Berlin. My inability to read train schedules and understand announcements in German lead to this one. Understandable I think. Anyhow, a train for Berlin eventually arrived and I did get on it.

Step three: fever + a/c on the train = freezing cold and chills. Speaks for itself.

Step four: its dark out now try and find hostel muahaha. Made it. Slept for 12 hours then took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. Bought some fisherman's friend and lemon green tea.

I am going to likely spend a week in Berlin to hopefully recover from this cold and have time to see all the sights. Again there are a couple of big time museums that are on my must see list here (Germans also liked to steal shiny things from poor countries) plus all the history of the city (Berlin wall anyone?).

I am excited for the next week and all the activites I get to do!

K

Glasgow for the day!

I am having a lovely time in Scotland, it will be sad to leave on Monday! Today I took the train ~50mins west to Glasgow for the day. Picked up a map from the information center and went on my way to explore the city! It is very different than Edinburgh... well the parts I saw anyways. It is known to have quite the night life but I wasn't able to stick around and confirm this :(

It is also known as THE place to shop in Scotland. I saw every brand from Prada to Nike to H&M to Hollister. There is a Starbucks every couple of blocks just like North America. I prefer to pop into the small cafes for my cuppa. Starbucks doesn't make flat whites, which are my favorite as of NZ 2011.

The following are some pictures I snapped while in Glasgow for the day:

 Police in Scotland.

Yes, I was being that creepy person sitting on a park bench that takes pictures of people. More to come... muahahaha!

 I was thinking the other day that I haven't seen too many fat people in the UK yet. Terrible to say... but not really. When every second person in Canada is over weight, its something I noticed right away here. With all the walking people do in the UK, its almost impossible to be fat! This guy is either not from the UK or likes his beer. Seeing him isn't why I took this picture though. These two were making out on a park bench just seconds before (note the smirk on his face).

 Panorama from the bench I was sitting on. The old man on the left was getting mad at people for scaring the pigeons.

This is me in space. Didn't you know Edinburgh is actually in space? Well, it isn't actually. This is in the National Museum in Edinburgh when I went the other day with Vanessa. 

Walking tour of Edinburgh. I don't know what this was all about because I was too busy taking this awesome picture. Sorry, Mark-the-tour-guide-from-northern-England-which-is-why-he-sounds-Scottish.... (I listened the rest of the time).

Grassmarket where "they" sold things (including grass) in the olden days. Human bodies were also bought here by the hospital for research and anatomy classes for the medical school. A couple of guys (Burke and Hare) caught on and figured it was an easy way to make money (selling bodies, not becoming a doctor) so they started murdering people and selling the bodies to the doctors. Their method for killing is what the word "burking" is derived from. 

 Random street. Love the architecture!

Skyline from the roof top terrace of the National Museum.

Cafe I wish I could afford to dine at. Alas, not in my backpacking budget. Pub it is!

Edinburgh Castle looking out over the city. 

The closest thing to cake I have had while in Scotland. Its chocolate, so almost as good ;) 

K.

Edinburgh- Linlithgow Palace

 After an 8 hour bus ride north through the winding roads of Britain and Southern Scotland, I arrived in Edinburgh to the smiling face of Vanessa. We left the bus station and headed up the street to a cafe for a classic Scottish breakfast of bacon and eggs roll. It's a bunch of bacon and an egg on a baguette roll. Pretty tasty but the bun to meat ratio was too high for me.

We caught up on our walk back to Vanessa's flat she is renting with 2 other girls. It is huge compared to what I was expecting. We headed out to the train station for the short ride to Linlithgow to see the palace where Mary Queen of Scots lived... along with the rest of her family before her. It was built in the 1400s but had a re-model in the 1600s which is mostly what can be seen today. Of course there was a fire so all the wood floors and roof is missing. The church on the palace grounds has been there since the 1200s which is even more amazing. They celebrated their 750 anniversary a while back with a new stained glass window installed... no pictures but it was stunning.

Vanessa at the fountain.

Me at the fountain.

Guards' lookout at the main entrance.

Well in the kitchen. Vanessa falling in the well. 

Great Hall. If you click on the picture you will see what the hall looked like back in the 14-1600s with the King and Queen sitting at the head table at the far end in front of the big fire place. One feast was recorded as serving over 48 gallons of ale and along with a load of other food, 5 3/4 sheep. Not sure where the 1/4 was missing from... the next morning, a "meat breakfast" was then served along with 28 more gallons of ale.

Being a lady waiting for a dance from a prince. I did eventually get asked to dance, but it was not by a prince... Vanessa and I danced in the Great Hall.

Looking out over the loch in the back of the palace. 

Climbed up the spiral staircase of one of the towers. This is looking out along a wall to the other tower. 

Courtyard with the fountain below. Also see the town of Linlithgow in the background. 

Palace from the back. The right corner on the second floor is where the Queen's apartments are. The floor below are the King's.

Looking through the main gates back into Linlithgow.

These pictures are already on facebook so no new ones if you've seen them already there. This post was done on Vanessa's laptop... yeah for normal blog formatting!

K

Last day in London.

Spent the day wandering around the famus Camden Market. There was so much to see and being a Sunday, it was busy!

So many people and a complete maze of shops all through what looked to be an old warehouse and down the narrow streets and ally ways. Clothing, bags, jewlery, vintage shops, cheap chinese "i <3 london" bits, food stalls etc for kms! It was over whelming but neat to see. I can see how people can spend a whole afternoon there.

Hopped on a bus headed north to Edinburgh to see Vanessa. She is letting me stay with her for a few nights before I am off to Munich where she will meet up with me.

K

A day in London.

Despite still feeling really ill, I woke up early to start exploring London. I managed to sleep on and off for 12 hours so I hope that helped. Breakfast was the standard hostel breakfast of toast, pastery, cereal, coffee, tea, and juice while watching the BBC morning news. The hostel I am at is quite huge so everyone I saw at breakfast was no one I'd met the night before....not that I had time to sit and chat this morning!

Took the tube to the parlament buildings and emerged from the underground literally right beside Big Ben. It was only 9am so the morning sun (and lack of crowds) made for some great pictures. The one I am posting here was snapped at the end of the river walk so later in the morning. I took a few group shots for people with BB in the background.

My walk took me across Westminster Bridge with a great view down the Thames and of the London Eye. There were still very few tourists but lots of people out running along the pathway. I was jelous. I want to run in London!

My plan was to walk down to St Paul's as its pretty famous for avoiding mass distruction from the wars. However, there was so much construction of sidewalks and pathways, I couldn't figure out how to to get to it. I could see the dome and was maybe 2 blocks away but just couldn't get there. I have all day tomorrow to explore so will try again.

My walk continued along the opposite side of the Thames now past more churches, war monuments, and an obelisk from Egypt that was stolen and erected in London. More on stolen things later...

Back to BB where there were now more tourists. I shuffled passed them as by this point I wanted to try and make it to have tea with Liz at the palace aka see the changing of the guard. I was walking along the sidewalk and looked to my left and thought "my thats a lovely chruch" not knowing at the time that it was actually Westminster Abby. Way to go Kyile.

At the palace there were loads of people pressed up against the gates. How was Liz going to spot me in the crowd! This was my only chance to make a good impression on her so she can recommend me to Harry! "Auntie Kylie" to the coming twins...how fun.

Alas, no changing of the guard today. It is scheduled for every other day now that its not summer. I googled it instead and watched it on my phone outside the palace, just as good right?

My walk took me up along Piccadilly to Green Park where I ate a picnic lunch. More people running in the park :(

Back on the tube and off to the British Museum! Having worked at a museum for 2 years, I am a total nerd for them. And the British Museum...ultamate! What a massive building. It really makes an impression even from the outside. Speaking of stealing, it was amazing but quite heart breaking to see all the sculptures, artifacts, and mummies that were on display. Taken from the country they were made or traded in and collected in a museum in London. I get that they are preserved well etc etc but its a little odd to see display after display of Greek vases from one period in time let alone an entire exhibit hall of just Egyptian statues. No need to see Egypt anymore, all the statues from the buildings are in the museum. Same for all the metopes from the south side of the Parthanon which are all in London. Enough with that. It was amazing to see it all and after having taken Greek and Roman history in uni, pretty spectacular to see the pieces in person.

Pictures: One of the mummies is Cleopatra (the bigger one) and I cant remember who the other one is. There were so many mummies! When I die, dont wrap me in cloth and put me on display please.

Its raining in London this evening (surprise?). Ill likely check out the hostel pub tonight if Im not too tired. Tomorrow I have no clue what i'll end up doing. My bus to Edinburgh leaves at 11pm and I check out of here at 11am. I'll store my bag then do more exploring. Still so much of London I can see.

I still cant figure out how to rotate photos for the blog. Sorry, you'll have to turn your screen I guess.

K

Hello london

Arrival

Flight out of Calgary was delayed about an hour. No big deal to me. The flight is full so can be pretty stuffy at times. I am a little claustro so this is fun. I am typing this while over Greenland and will upload it when we land and I find wifi.

Silly 70's plane only has a double hole for headphones so am I stuck watching movies without sound or only in one ear!

The dinner they served wasn't the worst. Tiny bit of chicken, potato, veggies....pretty standard.

Nothing too exciting yet...hence the description of airplane dinner.

The people a few rows infront of me were basically yelling at the lady infront of me because they both had those mini rolling suitcases and wanted them in the overhead bin and her purse up there was in the way and she didnt want to move it. The young men started swearing and she was all like "watch your mouth young man!". Haha kids these days, eh?

My plan is to take the train into the city then switch trains to get to my hostel, check in, then depending how I feel,  get a SIM card so my phone will work over there, then possibly venture down to the Thames!

You can always fb, email, Whatsapp message me or skype too (all of which are free)!

Now I am actually getting excited...it still hasnt completely set in yet that I am actually doing this. Dream is coming true :)

K