We took the ferry over from Den Helder...after I manage to almost not get there. If you ever hear there...don´t get off at ´Den Helder Zuid´, it just means the Den Helder South train station, and it utterly useless unless you like looking at paddocks. Lucky Tom and I are both paddock enthusiasts. Lucky.

We stayed in the village of Oudeschild, in a family owned inn which was lovely. Some fantastic home cooked food, and tried some of the locally made brew.

We generally just chilled and enjoyed the outdoors in Texel, walking along the Dykes, and over to the next village. Such a beautiful place, it was lovely just to meander about the town.

written by  no_fosters_thanks on February 13, 2008 from Oudeschild, Netherlands
from the travel blog: Aye, a new adventure
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So spur of the moment, we ended up IN THE WORST HOSTEL I´VE EVER BEEN TO! Avoid this ´meninger hostel´place...granted, they do a damn fine breakfast...and it was very clean, but that´s about it. A double room...equipped with one single duvet and one pillow. The noisiest hallways...and worst of all...huge school groups. French school kids. Now, don´t get me wrong, I´m the first to admit I should have realised what it for what it was before I booked it. But...ugh. Plague.

Aside from the icky hostel, we had a really good walk about Munich, saw the beer halls, and lots of the usual sights...old buildings etc. But, my favourite thing about Munich was the Deutsches Museum. It focused on the technical aspects of things...and it was worth it just for the aeronautics. A helicopter...inside a museum, and other planes, a cross section of a 707...it was a brilliant museum. The photography exhibition was great....could have spent days in there. But, (this is a little lame of me), the thing I got most excited about, was an interactive panel of glass thingy...it just blew my mind. I want one. Don´t know what I could use it for....but I want one.

written by  no_fosters_thanks on February 2, 2008 from Munich, Germany
from the travel blog: Aye, a new adventure
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Berlin is a really interesting city - and one of my favourites so far, which I wasn't expecting. But then again, if I had a euro for everytime I said 'I could live in this city' then I'd be having more euros than I do right now. Which is none. Tom and I have decided it's good fiscal policy for me to never see any money. I spend less that way. It's actually turning out surprisingly well. Surprising for me - not to anyone else I suspect.

We stayed in a houseboat, which was pretty cool to begin with, but it was moored by the longest surviving part of the Berlin wall, which is now known as the eastside gallery. The wall has been used by graffiti artists as an open air gallery which is really interesting. Sadly, lots of people have done lame graffiti over the artwork.

We walked along where the berlin wall used to stand, from our hostel to the checkpoint charlie location, and also where the museum is. Quite facinating the escape attempts that people made.

While I remember, we bought some cheese, based on the pure fact it had "extra dick". Not bad cheese either. Now thats advertising!

I found it surprising how much of the city was destroyed in WW2, and has still not been rebuilt. In the city centre there are so many vacant lots, esp in the east side.

We ventured out on a walking tour one morning, recommended by a friend, and it was brilliant! (we tried another in Munich and it was shit....make sure in berlin you go on Brewers walking tour - not the other one advertised in hostels). Our guide was piss funny, and had been living in Berlin for the last 9 years and being a tiny group, really showed us the city, with depth. I can't describe the difference, but this tour was brill:)

What else....we hit up two of the museums on museumisle, which were good, but smaller than I expected. The germans did manage to bring over ancient market gates from egypt - which are great to see.

written by  no_fosters_thanks on February 1, 2008 from Berlin, Germany
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Cesky Krumlov was a stunning city, and incidentally used for the filming of 'hostel', when they are walking around the city in Slovakia. Yet again, a castle overlooked the city, and didn't fail to amaze. We really should get onto this castle business in Australia. Now.

The view of the city from the castle

So we wandered the castle, and hiked up past the castle gardens to some old ruins which was good - hard to get photos as it was so dark however. We did some more hiking around, actually I think we walked the whole expanse of the city and the surrouding hills a few times over. Was good for the appetite....

We ended up at what the hostel referred to as 'the meaty place' for meals twice. My god. They call it the meaty place, as you pretty much just get massive slabs of meat cooked in the local style - cooked in an open fire/grill thing. By the way mum, I might be a little chubbier when I get back......but it was worth it. Aside from the overkeenes of potatoes - czechs do gooood stodgy food.

We even went horse-riding, but our horses were less enthusiastic about the ride than we were, but it was nice to walk through the forest, in the hills over the town. To top off our great days, we usually ended up playing big card games (and twice monopoly) which sometimes got a little competitive - but overall hillarious. It has been conclusively proven that I suck at monopoly.

written by  no_fosters_thanks on January 29, 2008 from Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
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Damn those Czech beers....so irresistable

Tried to go up the black tower (which was closed) - which is reputed to be good for lovelorn people to jump off. Hence, the black tower. Slightly unusual tourist attraction, but interesting all the same.

written by  no_fosters_thanks on January 26, 2008 from Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
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Everyone knows this one....

The next morning was a fantastic day - one of the sunniest we've seen so far. Still bloody cold mind you, but at least good for photos! We hiked up the hill to the castle, and had a good sticky beak, and into the cathedral there.

inside the cathedral

Staropramen Brewery

Prague has many marionette makers, and one shop as we were walking along had a store person making pinocchio dance to Butterfly - by crazy town. Hillarious!

written by  no_fosters_thanks on January 24, 2008 from Praha, Czech Republic
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We nearly got off to a shaky start, after arriving at Edinburgh Airport and discovering I had left my handbag at Bec's house...complete with purse, phone, ipod and camera. Luckily we had it sent over to the airport in a taxi - but Tom was ready to murder me. And very understandably.

We generally pottered around the main square, which was pretty spectacular, but it was quite noticable that you were never more than a few hundred metres from the nearest church. For a place with 50p beers....not quite what I expected.

Cloth Market

Also wandered about the Jewish section of the city, which used to have near 70,000 strong living there, which is now down to only approximately 200, as after WW2 who was remaining tended to immigrate.

Salt mines

Dr Who was in Glasgow...

Whilst our main intentions in Glasgow were to go and see Damien Rice in concert, we manage to see some sights while we were there...

Firstly headed for a wander around the streets to get a bit of orientation, swung past George Square which was rather impressive. Then up to the Cathedral, which was simply stunning. Not the biggest, or the most opulent church, but it was built in the 13th century, and is a multi-level place that is incredibly interesting.

Right after visiting the Cathedral, we needed a quick bathroom stop, which was impeded by the fact the public bathrooms were locked....so what do we think, 'hey, there's a free museum right there...we'll just duck in....' Which went well until we walked in the door and was greeted by a sweet little old lady, who told us ALL about the museum and it's exhibitions, and we felt so guilty we walked around the whole place until we thought it wouldn't be rude to use the bathrooms. It was a rather interesting accidental trip to 'St Mungos Museum of Religous Art'. Places I never thought I would see Tom.

After that we toddled up to the Glasgow Necropolis, which was basically an old and interesting cemetary (still in use too), which also has great views over the city.

Necropolis

All and all, a rather strange day for sightseeing.... Then seeking to quench our thirst, trying to find a pub that was not either the bloody ritz of pubs, or the scariest dirty old man pub, we dismally failed, but headed off to the SECC for a few pre-show pints and people watching, which was rather good fun.

As for the concert, good fun. Definately a good day out, topped off with managing to make the last bus to Edinburgh, home safe and sound by 2am.

written by  no_fosters_thanks on October 5, 2007 from Glasgow, United Kingdom
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This Thursday we're heading over to Glasgow to go and see Damien Rice which we've been looking forward to for awhile. We'll only be over there for a day, but it will be a packed one! There's a few exhibitions we're going to try and make as well.

At the moment we're trying to plan a trip over to the Netherlands for Toms birthday in November.

In other news, we're still just hobnobbing around Edinburgh, checking out the local sights.

written by  no_fosters_thanks on September 30, 2007 from Edinburgh, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Aye, a new adventure
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Edinburgh Castle

I’ve been in Edinburgh for about a week and a half, and absolutely love the place, weather and all. (for those still in Aus, it’s about the same weather here as you have at the moment). The city has the gorgeous houses, massive castle in the middle, cobbled streets, pubs on every second corner…who wouldn’t love it here?

When I first arrived, I stayed at a hostel for a few days, then crashed with Emr and Malte’s fantastic friend David. There was much Booze and sightseeing which was really fun. We headed to the Scotland Museum of Art (I think, it was an art museum in Edinburgh of some name), and it was so much better than I expected. It was a relatively small building, but had some amazing paintings. Absolute favourite was a Rembrant self portrait at 51. If you ever have the chance to see it, it’s great. David was a bit appalled when I walked straight past the Monet’s and the like, but you know, if it doesn’t tickle your fancy…

Gosh this city is just too beautiful

Tom has an interview at a nice pub around the corner this afternoon, and Harry Potter comes out, so it’s going to be a busy day for all!

written by  no_fosters_thanks on July 11, 2007 from Edinburgh, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Aye, a new adventure
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