Taking on the world!

Hola from Barcelona

sare — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:54:00 GMT

so yes... Im in Barcelona!!!! Today is the 22nd i think... and bec and i have been here for 2 nights... and are leaving tomorrow for Valencia.

barcelona is really cool!! i love it here.. although its not allllll too dissimilar from home in terms of atmosphere and a bit looks wise too.. however many would disagree with me.

yesterday we went and saw La Sagrada Familie...a cathedral that began construction in 1882... and .. IS STILL BEING BUILT! And the thing is... its been under construction constantly! none of this stop for 50 years and start again stuff.. and to add to that, it doesnt look like its going to be done for a very long time yet! it still has no roof, the inside is filled with scaffolding and construction workers, as is the outside. Infact, it still doesnt have a roof yet! Talk about taking your sweet time!

After that i caught up with liam and his friends for lunch. was really good to catch up and really random that we ended up in the same place at the same time.

This morning bec and i headed off to see the gothic quarter. We found Santa Maria del Mar (dont know what the spelling is like there) and found another beautiful cathedral that i really should know what its called but cant remember. it has a really cool courtyard inside its grounds comlete with ponds, fountains, fish and geese. it really is a cool place!

After that we headed up to Park Guall. (also not sure about that spelling). It is a park designed by the famous architect Gaudi and was aparently origionally designed as a commune/self sufficient community. In the end it ended up as a park but has a very famous mosaic bench that snakes its way around a courtyard bit. Doesnt look too comfy but actually is! We sat there in the sun .. yes SUN! i couldnt believe it.. today was about 17 degrees C and just beautiful sitting there with a guy playing random songs on a trumpet in the background.

Headed back to the hostel where i am now and will probably go in seach of a good seafood paella for dinner tonight.

Nice and Monaco

sare — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 05:12:00 GMT

So tonight is the second night that we're spending in an awesome hostel in Nice, France. Been here before so havnt really checked out taht much of the town - was more because we needed a stop over between Verona and Barcelona! However, the town does seem to have improved... much nicer now and the French people... shockingly, seem much nicer and much more willing to speak english! But there are always exceptions to the rule :s

Took a day trip out to Monte Carlo today - the home of the rich and famous... and while its small, you can just smell the money there! There are beautiful cars EVERYWHERE!! theor taxis a beautiful shiny mercs and everyone is so well dressed! Not much to see there as i think its only about 2km in radius.. but im glad that i am able to say that ive been there!

heading off to barcelona on a very early train in the morning! looking forward to barcelona.. just not so much the early morning :s

xoxoxo

Venice and Verona

sare — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 05:03:00 GMT

spent 2 nights in Verona (16th and 17th)and took a day trip into Venice.

First of the 2 days was Venice... it was raining but Venice is such a beautiful, incredible city that it didnt really seem to matter! Caught up with jess which was great and spent out time just walking around the little backstreets and alleys of Venice!

Before long it was time to get back to Verona :(

The next day we went exploring Verona... not alllll that much to explore but we managed to find Juliet's (as in Romeo and) window and brass statue which was really cool. After that we found the arena in the center of town which basically just looks like a smaller version of the coloseum in rome ... just a little less ... falling down. Other than that ... theres not all that much to Verona. Its a beautiful city but i wouldnt have wanted to spend alll that much more time there!

Munich

sare — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:49:00 GMT

So, second day in Munich... Bec and i decided to do the free walking tour so got to sleep in :D

Our guide Matt was brilliant, he was American but studied history at uni and just knew everything there was to know about German history! we went on a tour and he told us all abuot the new and old Rathaus (town hall), Krystal Nacht, and then started talking about Hitler. It was so interesting - having studied German i was still blown away by the things he was telling us! I never knew that the Hoefbrauhau - the biggest beer hall in the world, was used as practically a Nazi headquarters and used for meetings and speeches from Hitler to his 'people'. Still today, if you know to look you can see swasticas in the tiles on the floor the entire way through the beer hall and only very recently have the swasticas on the roof been replaced with bavarian flags! I also had no idea that the Gastapo (Hitlers soldiers) were originally dressed by Hugo Boss!!!!!

We also saw monuments dedicated to germans that rebelled against the Nazi's by spreading the word to not support them - the leaders of the revolution. half of the momuments to these people are unlabelled and many of the residents of Munich are unable to tell you what they are. Things liek a gold line down an alley way... no signs - but this alley was used by people who refused to salute a plaque to hitler. people who used this alley 'too much' according to the gastapo were either arrested, beaten or sent to concentration camps.

There is also a momument outside the university which is probably my favourite. its for the 6 people that tried to start a revolution (the white rose movement) agains Hitler and the Nazi's by spreading leaflets throughout the uni encouraging people to join with them and fight back. They did this in secret until one day 2 of them, brother and sister Sophie (the only girl to take part in this revolution) and Hans Scholl. They were tortured and Hans gave up the names of the others involved. They wre all publically beheaded and today there are pieces of white stone scattered around the uni fountain made to look like the leaflets they delivered. its really cool!

So after a long day of an incredible history lesson i caught up with Lucy, Kayley and Anna for a quick drink and a bit of a goodbye becauase i dont travel with them from here on out :(

next bit

sare — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 03:40:00 GMT

hey,

so i finished contiki and loved it!

we started out in berlin, saw some sights... froze our butts off and went on a brilliant pub crawl! berlin is fantastic... first day there they took us to see the berlin wall.. and it started snwoing! was so cool! went and checked out the history museum which was really cool! but i do love berlin - its so full of history and culture - we were planning to do a walking tour but it was just tooo cold! so still a bit sad about missing that! but oh well. pub crawl that night was cool. we had a guide called Asta who took us to 4 different places ending up at a club.. noooo idea what time we got home but it was awesome fun!

Bus trip then took us to prague via dresden - dresden was pretty much wiped out in the second world war i think but is still a really cool town with beatiful buildings - we were only there for 2 hours.

only got to spend 2 days there in berlin, sadly then off to prague! prague is beautiful but apparently really really dodgey so i couldnt really enjoy myself because i was too paranoid about being ripped off/mugged! even so we had a great time there and again were not there nearly long enough. only really had 2 days there too, would liked to have seen more but given that the sun goes down so early the days are cut really short. but oh well - i loved it... but still dont think i would go back.

so got back on the bus and went to vienna via Kuotna Hora (no idea how to spell it) and a bones museum (ossowary) that waws brilliant but a little freaky as they really just have human bones as decorations, like, there is a chandelier made entirely of human bones!

Then to Vienna, its a beautiful city and really didnt feel like we had enough time there! it was only about a day and a half. Went to the Schnapps museum, that was cool! did a bit of a walking tour around the city... ate a Massive schnitzel and went out on our last two nights and had a brilliant time dancing!

all up contiki was fantastic, we met some really lovely people and saw some beautiful cities!

Am in munich now with my sister! also caught up with my german host sister maria today which was so great! Im so glad that she came to catch up!

hope everything is good back at home and im sorry ive been so slack!

love sare xoxox

london dungeon plus the last few days

sare — Thu, 3 Jan 2008 23:08:00 GMT

i cant remember if i mentioned this or not.. and cant really be bothered going back to look..

we went to the london dungeons!!! For those that dont know.. its kind of like a themed underground walk thing with actors/staff dressed up as old time londoners with the plague etc! you go through mirrored mazes with people jumping out at you.. go into sweeny tods barber shop and there are speakers in the back of the chair so it sounds like hes right behind you.. in the pitch black it scared the CRAP out of me!!

It also goes through stuff about jack the ripper .. the london fire, a boat ride in the dark! basically.. kayley and i walked around the entire time practically as siamese twins! i think we both ended up with bruised hands because we both wanted to be as far away from the edge of the path as possible. problem was path had 2 sides that people could jump from... therefore squishing together was inevitable!

The end of the walk was one of those giant drop rides. Mind you - the `GIANT` part was only like 2 stories but still! for someone that findes the tea cup ride at the show scary.. this was freaking me out big time! anyway.. apparently it was freaking lucy out more .. because half way down they take a photo of you! lucy looks like shes being murdered!! kayleys hair is flying everywhere.. and im smiling? wtf? apparently i enjoy those rides more than i thought! but we got a copy of the photo at the end so that should be on my facebook soon.. lucys face alone is worth the look!

Not really much else has happened since.. kayley and i went back to marks place for a few nights to make a little more room at jess', get a good nights sleep and just rest up for the next leg of the trip. Didnt count on getting completely addicted to a tv series that Mark has on DVD called Life on Mars. Its about a cop that gets hit by a car and goes into a coma - wakes up in 1973 as a cop and well.. its just brilliant! i know it doesnt sound it.. but go watch it and youll love it!! :D

Today we're doing part of a monopoly pub crawl... goes through kings cross, marylbone etc etc.. kayley and i are thinking we'll do 3 or 4 pubs and then head home.. cant really be bothered/ cant really afford to pull another big night!

heading off to berlin on saturday morning .. early.. so may not have internet access for a while! but yay.. i get to speak german again.. should be interesting to see how much i actually remember!

love sare xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

updates

sare — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:40:00 GMT

so heres another probably well over due update.

starting back at christmas... cant remember if i actually wrote about this or not! xmas was at kayleys grandparents place and it was great! they were so sweet and although it didnt feel exactly like a normal christmas, we still had heaps of fun!

a few days later we (lucy and i) went into Bath for the day. got there at about 10:15 to find that a free walking tour of the town started at 10:30! perfect timing. That went for 2 hours but it was really great and we saw and found out much more than we would have if we had just been walking around by ourselves. We went to the abbey, the crescent, and the Baths. Was a fairly long day and before we knew it it was dark... although over here that doesnt mean all that much as its dark by about 3:45 these days.

Next day we got the bus back to London and moved back into Jess'.

Yesterday was Sunday. We decided to go to church... but not the ordinary kind. Church is a club here that goes from 12 until 3:30 on a sunday! it was sooooo much fun and the music was brilliant - all my favourite stuff packed into 3 and a half hours!! :D At 3:30 the church closes but its like the unwritten rule that everyone moves from there to a pub called the Walkabout in Shephards bush. Even the bouncers were there for a drink! We drank and danced from 12 midday until 12;30 midnight and now i am soooooooo sore!!

oh - and the realy strange thing! Kayleys friend who is working/living in London at the moment came with us to church ... turns out.. i went to primary school AND high school with her but she was 3 years above me... really odd and very small world!

Today is new years day so we are going out again tonight.. not really looking forward to it as i am completely buggered!!!! We'll see how we go!

miss you xoxoxoxox

and the story continues

sare — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 08:26:00 GMT

hey guys!

right now its xmas eve and for a quick update on whats been happening...

we moved from the outskirts of town into the centre of town to stay with jess for two nights... went out the first night and came home a little worse for wear... most of all kayley :P

next day i went down to covent garden to do some xmas shopping.. and the bus i was on .. went down oxford st, onto regent st, possibly pall mall but i could be making that up.. and then down the strand... i felt like i was playing monopoly.. it was totally cool! that night was jess' bday and her mum took us all out for a beautiful dinner.. but we were all too tired to go out.. we're the worst excuses for 20 year olds ever!

caught a bus down to bath yesterday and have been and will be staying with her grandparents in Westbury.. a town just out of Bath for xmas and then going back on i think the 27th or 28th!

other than that not much has reallllly happened...

wishing you all a very very very merry xmas and a happy new year and ill be in touch again soon!

love sare xox

London!!! woooooo

sare — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:28:00 GMT

hey guys!!

well im FINALLY here!!!! Have been in london since sunday morning melbourne time and i love it! Its cold but soooo amazing!

So i arrived in London on Saturday night my time and was exhausted by the time we arrived home (Marks place - family friend of Kayleys who is lovely and so kind to let us stay but lives at the end of the train line :S so travelling is a bit of a bitch) as id been on a 12 ish hour flight and had barely any sleep - but did manage to watch about 8 ugly betty episodes in a row.. very entertaining. Got home to an awesome dinner of spag bog, garlic bread, diet coke and chocolate cake and then bed!

Sunday morning was just a wandering around the city day! We went and saw buckingham palace.. no queen this time.. bit dissappointing really but hte palace was cool.

We hung around the city a bit and went and checked out the London Eye at night... was beatiful seeing the city all lit up but sadly the photos really dont do it justice!

Monday

Took myself off to oxford st today as K and lucy wanted to go to madame tussauds and i didnt. Was an awesome day.. got a new jumper :P - Also there was a steel drum band playing in the street, really upbeat christmas music.. was brilliant! and THEN ... i think was in regent st at this point.. but i swear it started to snow .. just a few tiny little flakes but it was awesome!

Tuesday

Today i started a bus tour! One of those hop on hop off type ones that took me all around to all of the bit tourist sites in london.. was cool to see them all again! Ended up getting off at hyde park corner... theres an outdoor iceskating ring there at the moment.. its cool as.. then walked into knightsbridge where harrods is. Met up with lucy and jess in harrods to warm up and then went back to see jess' english place.. cutest apartment ever! im really quite jealous! Then out for a few glasses of wine - was an awesome day!

Wednesday

Still had my bus ticket so went off in the kensigton direction today... jumped off at kensington palace and was really quite dissappointed. It just looks like a big brick house in the middle of the gardens. Was expecting a bit more. oh well.. didnt go inside ... £9 - come on, like im paying that :p

So walked from there through kensington gardens (so beautiful!) to the Albert memorial (queen victoria's husband) and it is HUGE! like...insane - will have to try and put photos up at some point. Then walked on.. through to hyde park.. equally beautiful! until i reached the Princess Di memorial fountain... quite nice but its crap to take photos of.. its quite random really and hard to explain. basically... its kinda odd. Anyway.. bumped into lucy at the fountain... we then went to find the peter pan statue together .. got loserish photos of us jumping in front of it.. and then i jumped back on a bus to see a few more sites.

Met up again with lucy and K at a pub called the shakespere and bob franklin walked in! (anna... thats mainly for you cos i dont think anyone else will care :P) anyway.. then we headed off to do a jack the ripper tour! It started right near the tower of london and headed around a few of the streets where the murders happened. The guide was fantastic and told us about the main suspects, the theories, the victims and a bit of general stuff about London back then. Was really good... and 'atmospheric'. basically it was bloody FREEZING!

Thursday

So finally up to today. Having a quiet day today, catching up on emails and this blog thingy. wil head back into town tomorrow to look for xmas presents for K, jess and lucy.

Missing everyone lots and lots and will try and be back on internet again soon.. although more likely that the next time ill just include about a weeks worth - like this one!

hope everyone is well.. and send me emails and stuff. i want to know whats going on at home!

S xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

still not there yet!

sare — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:28:00 GMT

So my Europe trip hasnt started yet... im in KL.. but the pre trip stuff (seeing family and a few days in a malaysian beach resort) has been really good... but i cant wait til tomorrow morning when i get on the plane for LONDON!! yes.. LONDON!!! about time too :P

Like i said.. ill try and keep it up to date even if no one gives and crap enough to read it :P

so anyway.. nothing to say really .. except that the next time i write.. ill FINNNAAALLLYYYY be in london!!! :D

s xox

Pre-trip

sare — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:38:00 GMT

So .. the first addition to my travel blog and i havnt left the country! This may just turn out to be one of those "it seemed like a good idea at the time" things .. but Im going to really try to keep this up to date (mainly for you mum :P)

keep me posted on things going on in melbourne and ill try to check this, facebook and my email (sarahyong30@gmail.com) as regularly as i can!

gonna miss you all

xox