Han's Big Trip

Florence

hanw — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:55:00 GMT

Aiva’s party was loads of fun. We went up to the roof top bar and had some drinks while playing some drinking games then went down to the main part to dance. There was a bar down there with music and colourful lights so it was like our own little club. There was no DJ so we got to choose songs off the computer. DJ Ian took over after a while and rocked it. He had all the guys, even randoms, take off their shirts and had us chanting “Top” “Deck”. It was good fun.

I know I'm way behind in updating but I'm working on it! I have lots of gaps so I'll fill them in and update soon!

xox

The big update: Barcelona, Nice, Venice, Pisa and Florence

hanw — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:42:00 GMT

I’m not sure where I finished last, I’m writing this without internet so I can’t see what I last wrote. I’ll just wing it.

Avignon was lovely. We went to the old town for a bit of a wonder. It’s lovely there. It reminded me a lot of Mallorca, Spain. We saw where the Pope lived back in the day and had a walk around the park. The walls of the old town where only 4km around but 100,000 people lived inside them. It didn’t seem like that many people could live there. We went to dinner with Bree, Sarah and Kat at a restaurant just inside the front gates. The girls ordered a pina colada and the lady didn’t even know how to make it! She came and asked us if we knew so we just changed the order. We were a little worried as she was the only one working bar and witnessing. We saw the chef walk in from sitting in the restaurant next door. But it was all fine in the end. The food was lovely. I had a steak and the girls had pizza. After dinner we went and sat on the grass with Alan and waited for everyone else to meet us. We had an early-ish night that night as we had another early morning the next day.

Day 7 we made our way to Barcelona. We stopped off at Pont du Gard and took some photos. Some of the guys and grils climbed up and planked on thee top level. Crazy people!

Once in Barcelona we had a driving tour of the city before checking into the hostel. We saw the AMAZING Sagrada Familia the cathedral by Antoni Gaudi. It’s absolutely incredible! Like nothing I’ve ever seen! He started it over 120 years ago and it’s still not finished. They were working on it when we were there. Aapparently it’s being built by donation. The first side we saw was the back, the oldest side built when Gaudi was alive. The entrance in build in a newer, modern architectural design. It’s just as amazing but very different. I love the driving tours because we get to see things we might not go back to the next day and it gives us an idea of how big the city is. Once we checked in we got dressed up and went for dinner at a restaurant. Most of the girls were in heals so we all got sore feet from the long walk! After dinner we went to a bar while we waited for the flamenco show to begin. The show was fantastic! The music was great and the dancers were so talented! Very passionate. We went to another bar across the square after the show and had a little dance. At 12.30am we went back to the flamenco place where the club had opened downstairs and had a little boogie. The music was better in the first bar but it was still goof fun. After a while a few of us went up stairs where they were playing 80’s music. A group of us walked home at 2am. I walked barefoot because my feet were so sore!

We slept in the next morning and missed breakfast and a walking tour. Kat and I got up at about 11am and had maccas for lunch, healthy I know. Kat got some retail therapy at H&M before we caught the bus up to Parc Guell. It was amazing! It was designed by Gaudi. We were there for hours looking around. There was so much to see! I was thinking about Mum and Dad a lot as I think they would have loved it there. We took so many photos! I’ll put them up soon. After we thought we’d seen as much as we could we got an ice cream and headed back on the bus. We then caught the metro to the beach. It was lovely to walk along but the weather had turned by that stage so we didn’t go in the water. We came across a few people from our tour so we sat with them while they ate an early dinner. We all caught the mreto back together. That night Kat, Sarah, Bree, Cheryl and I went for tapas at a restaurant across from our hostel. Our waitress was the rudest person I’ve ever beeen served by. She was horrible! We all wanted to punch her in the face! She had such an attitude! The food was ok but overall it was a pretty bad experience.

Day 8 we headed for the French Riviera. We stopped for a tour of a perfumery on the way. It was nice but very expensive even though it was at factory prices. That night we went for dinner then to a bar. It was pretty cool in the bar. There was a band on and we got the dance in thhe tables. Lots of fun! It got so hot in there and very busy! We left at about 12.30am.

The next day we got up early and went t breakfast before catching the train to Cannes for the film festival. It was so lovely there. Very posh. We walked along the marina and dreamed about being rich and famous one day. The boats were amazing! Most were bigger than houses and all had staff working on them! Sooo nice. We had a walk along the beach and I put my feet in. it was nice to have sand between my toes again! It had been too long. After lunch we walked up to the castle but it was closed for the festival. We took some photos of the view before heading back and walking down the high street. It was all very posh but it was great to see. It was such a nice day too. We got back around 3ish and got dressed up to go to Monaco. On the way we drove past some of the most amazing views so we stopped for a photo op. in Monaco we saw where they’re setting up for the Grand Prix and drove along some of the track. We went into the casino and some people had a little gamble. It was so lush inside! Very quiet though surprisingly. Everyone was on their best behaviour. It cost 10 euro to get in which wasn’t really worth it but it was good to see. Now I can say I went into the casino in Monte Carlo. We took some photos with the shiny cars parked out the front and dreamed of own one of those one day too. Some people just have too much money. You have to apply to the head of Monaco to be able to live there as it’s tax free. It’s really hard to get the green light and costs an absolute fortune to live there. They are very picky of who they let in, even Michal Jackson got denied.

We went to another casino after the grand casino and watched a few people play crabs. I didn’t get any of the games so we just watched.

Day 10 we make our way to Venice stopping off in Verona for a rub of a booby. We walked through the streets to Juliet’s balcony and took a photo of us rubbing Juliet’s right breast for luck in love. That night we stayed in cabins at a campsite. They are the best stops because we have a on site chef who cooks us amazing home cooked meals. We had an anti pasto platter with a tomato and mozzarella salad for starters and pasta for mains. They even had gluten free pasta for me! It was delicious! Oh and wine with it too! Two bottles of white and one red were on the tables too. We had a few more drinks after dinner before they kicked us out then we went to get ready for the toga party! We all got a white sheet each and made them into togas before hitting the bar for some more drinking and dancing. It was a great night. Its amazing how one sheet can look so different on everyone. There were lots off different designs and some even came off! One of the guys, Drew, got so drunk and was dared 20 euro to take his off and run around the tables outside the bar where a group of us were sitting. It was hilarious! You couldn’t help but look. Only a quick glance though, there wasn’t much to see. Hehe The night went on from there. One of the girls stuck herself to Alan all night. She was so drunk but it was so embarrassing to watch. She literaly did not leave his side. It was strange. He kept running away but she was always there two seconds later. It was a fun night and everyone felt quite ‘tired’the next day. Most people went to bed early but Kat and I and a few others were up till 3.30am and some were up even later! I didn’t want to go to bed but we were getting up early the next morning so we needed to sleep.

Day 11 we reluctantly got up and we at breakfast early! Could have had another 20 mins sleep but oh well. We had a bus take us into Venice where Alan took us to the Rialto Bridge and St Mark’s square. We went to a local glass factory where we saw a man ‘blow a horse’ as Alan put it. It was amazing! He took a glowing red ball of glass out of an oven and started shaping it into a horse. It was incredible. Once he was done he set it on the table and it looked like the Ferrari horse. Then the man who was telling us about it took a piece of paper and put it against the horse and it lit on fire. It was still so hot even though it looks almost clear. It was done in about 2 mins. We had a look around the shop and some people brought some crystal necelaces and earrings. I was tempted because it was beautiful and sparkling but I resisted. Some of the glass things on sale were so ridiculously expensive. I never knew glass could sot so much! A lot of it was stunning though. Once we were done there we all hopped on gondolas and had a ride around the canals. Venice is so beautiful! We tried to get our gondolier to sing for us but he wouldn’t. I had Kat, PJ, Ryan, Mike and Glev in my gondola. It was great to see the canals like that. We even went out into the Grand Canal and saw a fire boat go passed. It was strange to see but that’s how they’d do it. Theres not cars allowed in that centre of Venice so if there’s an emergency or you want to get somewhere without walking you have to go on the water. After the gondola ride a group of us went to lunch at a local restaurant. Everyone had pizza except me. There was nothing I could eat that wasn’t about 15 euros or more so I had a bowl of chips which were 6.50. They were like maccas fries. Pretty disappointing. One of the girls, Christina, is also gluten intolerant but she only just found out so she still eats it sometimes. She gave me the rest of her toppings when she was done and I got some off one the others pizzas too. So I didn’t miss out totally. Most of the group went home after that but Kat, PJ, Ryan and I stayed together and ‘got lost’ in the streets. We went up the bell tower and took some photos of the view. It was lovely to see the rest of Venice like that. It’s so beautiful and like no where else I’ve seen. We had some gelato while we were walking the streets looking at masks. I was looking at a basket of them and one dropped on the ground, not even out of my hand and they picked it up and made me may for it. I was like whatever I don’t care, it wasn’t very expensive. I brought a few anyway but now I don’t know how I’m going to get them home without breaking them. I’ll find a way I’m sure. As we were starting to make our way to catch the water taxi back to meet our transfer bus we came across a pub so we had a sit in there and used the wifi. Then we tried to navigate our way back through the streets to get to the grand canal. It proved to be a tad difficult and we were stressing because we only had an our to make the transfer bus. We finally found our way and got on the vaparato to take us back to the car park. However we were running out of time quickly and it was going to take us 40 mins to get back when we only had 20. So we decided to get off half way and walk back. We thought there was one straight road pretty much all the way from the stop to the car park but we were very wrong, well the map was anyway. The street are everything but direct so the amazing race was on. We started running the moment we got off the boat and kept an eye out for the signs because the map wasn’t helping at all. We had 10 mins to get from the boat to the bus and we made it with 2 to spare! We were all so tired and sweaty by the time we got back. But we made it so that was the main thing. When we got back we showered and had another amazing dinner cooked by our onsite chefs. Then we were meant to go and learn to line dance but hardly anyone came so there was just 6 of us in the end. It was fun though. We went to bed by 11ish because we had to get up early to go to Pisa and Florence.

We saw the leaning tower of Pisa and look lots of cheesy photos of course! It was so surreal being there! At one stage I looked up and I thought, wow I'm actually standing at the bottom of the tower! It was a pretty cool moment. I never knew there was a cathedral next to it though. Most people didn't but it makes sense seeing it's actually a bell tower so of course there would be a cathedral next to it. Once we'd taken our photos we headed back to the car park and had a nice picnic lunch prepared by our chef in Venice. It was a cold pasta salad with fonzies, an apple and a juice box. (btw fonzies are like twisties but not as good).

It was such a lovely day too, the sun was shinning and there was hardly any wind. Bad for sunburn but it is good to see the sun out!

Now we are in Florence. When we got here our rooms weren't ready so we went on a walking tour first. The Italian maffia don't international tour guide so we had a local lady take us through the town. She was lovely and pretty funny too. Once the tour was over we went to a local leather shop where we were taught how to tell the difference between real and fake leather. There are so many tricks that shop keeper use but apparently even pretending to light with flame is nonsense because leather will burn if you hold it there.

We're back at the hostel now and I'm about to have a shower to freshen up before dinner. It's Aiva the drivers birthday today so we're having a party for him. Alan printed off an A4 size photo of Aiva for us so we have to wear it to dinner. I made mine into a mask. Aiva doesn't know so it will be pretty funny.

So glad I'm up to date now. Hopefully there's not too many mistakes as again I have't proof read. Sorry! Not enough time for that!

Lots of love xox

Avignon, France

hanw — Tue, 17 May 2011 06:56:00 GMT

Hey guys,

We travelled from Switzerland to Avignon today. Left at 8am and got here at 4pm-ish. Once we checked in and used the free wifi for about half an hour, we got back on the bus and had a little bus ride around the town. Alan took us to the main square and let us do our own thing. Bri, Sarah, Kat and I had a look around the church and the park. it was beautiful. It was right next to the building the Pope lived in for a few years back in the day. It was pretty amazing, like all the places we've seen so far. It reminded me a lot of Mallorca in Spain. It had lovely little cobble streets and lots of restaurants. The walls around the 'town' were only 4.5km long but 100,000 people live within them! it's pretty crazy and hard to believe. we had a nice dinner at a restaurant near the entrance to the town. The service was pretty crap but the food was nice. The waitress didn't even know how to make a pina colada! Anyway the food was good so it was ok. After dinner we went and sat on the grass by the river and the rest of the group eventually joined us. It was really windy so we were very happy to see Edwina and Iva. Tonight we've just come back to the room and uploaded photos and got ready for yet another early morning and a massive day of driving. Barcelona tomorrow.

Lots of love xox

Paris and Switzerland

hanw — Mon, 16 May 2011 02:08:00 GMT

Hey guys!

I’m now on the bus travelling from France to Switzerland. We spent an amazing two nights and one day in Paris!

I packed everything up and said my sad “cya laters” to my gorgeous friends at the pub. Ali and I stayed at a hostel in Kings Cross so I was nice and close to the hotel I had to be at at 6am the next morning. We had a lovely dinner at Wagamamas and had dessert in the hostel. Rolo yogurt. Yum! In the morning said goodbye to Ali We left London at 6.45am Wednesday 12th May and headed to Dover to get on the ferry to Calis in France. We then met Iva the driver and Edwina the bus who will be driving us around Europe for the next 21 days. It took about 4 hours to get to our hotel. On the way we played speed dating where we moved around the bus and met a few people. We didn’t get to speak to everyone but it was good to meet some people. We were all sooo tired so I didn’t remember most peoples names but we’re slowing starting to get to know each other. Alan, our tour guide, spoke to us heaps and gave us loads of info but we were so tired it was hard to stay awake to listen. When we got to the hotel we checked in, had a lil rest after a massive day and went to dinner across the road. Not the best meal every but it filled a big hole in the stomach. It was cold tomato with shaved egg and a mustard dressing for starter and chicken with chips and some lettuce for main. After dinner we hopped back on the bus to go and see Paris at night. We got off the bus and had a little walk around a cathedral modelled on St. Pauls cathedral. It was pretty cool. It was nice and white and apparently that’s because it has a cleaning agent in it so when it rains it cleans itself. Cleaver. There was a beautiful view of Paris from the front of the cathedral but unfortunately there were trees blocking the view to the Eiffel Tower. We hopped back on the bus and went passed the Moulin Rouge. It was a quick passing but it was cool to see. We went passed the Lourve and the last hotel Princess Diana ever stayed in. We saw the tunnel she was killed in, hitting the 13th pillar and her memorial rose garden. We went down the shopping street which was amazing. There was a massive Louis Vitton store there as well as all the high street shops. It’s something like a few million to have a store there. We went passed the Arc de Triomphe and saw the Eiffel Tower sparking in the distance. The lights sparkle every hour at night. It looked amazing. We got to get off the bus at the Eiffel Tower and take photos which was amazing! It was so surreal being there! Its been my dream since I can remember to go to Paris and see the Tower so it was extra special for me. Once we’d taken some photos we hoped back on the bus and headed back to the hotel for the most amazing sleep! It wasn’t long enough but it was great regardless.

The next day (day 2) we got dropped off at the Lourve and started exploring Paris. We went into the Lourve and saw the Mona Lisa which was amazing but it was crazy busy so it wasn’t as special. It is so big you cant see everything but it was amazing seeing what we saw. We went into Napoleons Apartments which were sooo extravagant. The were so many chandeliers! It was beautiful. I could imagine the dinner parties they had at the tables. After the Lourve we went to the Notre Dame and had a look around. Then we walked for ages trying to find the metro to get us to the Arc du Triomphe. The round about at the Arc was sooo crazy. They don’t have lines on the road so cars were just driving where ever they want. One of the guys ended up running across the round about and getting into trouble with the police at the other side. After the Arc we walked to the Eiffel tower and Kat and I went up to the 2nd level. The top was closed which was pretty disappointing but it was till amazing up there. The lift was pretty scary as it felt like you could fall at any moment. Once we got down we met up with some others and had ice cream sitting on the grass under the tower. It was pretty amazing.

There were a lot of African people selling key rings under the tower and every so often police would come and they would all run off. It was pretty amusing to watch.

At 7pm we had a picnic with the rest of our group before getting changed on the bus and going to a Cabaret show. The show was incredible. The dancers were so talented! It was mostly topless too so the boys loved it. The men in the show weren’t too shabby either but you could tell they were enjoying it a lil too much. We got half a bottle of wine each so most of us were a lil tipsy by the end and in the mood to party so the bus ride back to the hotel was pretty funny. There was a lil mini club going on at the back of the bus and loads of people in the isle. Back at the hotel there was a party in room 219 which we went to for a bit but ended up sneaking out because we were too tired.

The next day (day 3) we drove to Switzerland. It is so amazing here! It had been beautiful weather in Paris, so much so that most of us got sunburnt. But it wasn’t the best weather the next day so when we arrived at the camp site it was raining, as it is again now, so we couldn’t see the tops of the mountains. We had a delicious cooked meal for dinner and yummy dessert. We were having a PJ party after dinner but our cabin came back to the warmth and had girly chats and decided it was too cold and wet to bother going to the bar so we went to bed instead.

This morning (day 4) we got up, had breakfast and came back to bed for a lil snooze. Once we were up and showered we had a walk into town and had a look around. it’s a tiny little town and most places were closed as it’s Sunday. We’re staying in Lauterbrunnen which in a gorgeous valley surrounded by the most beautiful mountains. We caught a cable car up to a place called Grutschalp then caught a train to Murren where there is another small town with lots of hotels so I assume its mostly used in winter. After being at the top for about 10 mins it started to snow a little bit but then it really came down and you couldn’t see anything anymore. It was really strange considering we were still sunburnt from Paris the day before and now we were in Switzerland in the snow! It was gorgeous to see it snow but it was a shame as we went up there for a view of the other mountains and the valley but he snow was so bad we couldn’t see them. We came back down and met up with some others from our tour who were planning on going sky diving so we waited with them for a bit. While we were waiting we saw the helicopter go up and two people jumped! It was incredible to see and I was very nervous for them! Unfortunately they were the only two that got to go out of the 2 tours staying here because the weather suddenly got so bad.

So, it has been an amazing trip so far! I’ve taken sooo many photos that I will upload as soon as I get somewhere where its free to use the internet. It’s costing me 3 swiss franc to use this wi fi for half an hour. It’s worth it though so I can send this and tell you all I miss you and cant wait to see you and bore you with all my photos and travel stories.

We’re going back to France tomorrow to Avignon. I cant wait for some more sunshine. Its cold here!

Hope all is well back home.

Lots of love to you all

Love Hannah xox

PS i havent proof read so sorry if it doesnt make sense!

Getting ready to leave

hanw — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:40:00 GMT

Only 24 days to go! I can't believe it's almost time to leave this amazing place I've called home for the past 15 months! I don't know how I'm going to be able to say goodbye to everyone! I can't think about it too much because it's just too upsetting. When I left Aus it was hard but I always knew I was coming back. I'm sure I will come back to London one day but I don't know when. It's really hard to think that I may never see some of these people again.

I have had the most amazing experience living and working here. I am so lucky to have had Claire and Tim to support me in my first few months and to have found such an amazing place to work with such wonderful people. I will never forget all the awesome times we had together. After all I do have about a million photos! :)

I'm just slowly starting to pack up, get rid of a lot of stuff and prepare myself for all the exiting adventures I'm going to have. I bought my Interrail ticket the other day! Exciting! Now I just have to pack my UK life into 2 small boxes and a backpack and I'm ready to go. If only it was that easy!

I have such mixed emotions! I'm sad to leave here, excited to see all the amazing countries and my family and friends back home, and a little nervous too. It's all happening so fast! Time is zooming by! I've got so much to do before the 12th May!

On that note I'll sign off here. I really hope I keep this up.

H x