My travelling adventures...

Howdy! Well I am in Iceland!!!!! How exciting is that! It is a nice 16 degrees (so not too cold!) and the landscape just here is amazing - and haven´t even been outside of the city! Met a Perth guy - we managed to miss our bus stop so had a nice long walk to the hostel - which looked absolutely awful from the outside. We were both tempted to turn around... but on the inside it is really nice and clean - hopefully the brekkie is good too!  have a tour booked to the middle tomorrow -11hr day - should be fun!
Yesterday had a brilliant time in London - walked across the London Bridge (thought that was pretty spiffy! ;) ) and went to the Globe and saw the Comedy of Errrors! - which was great... - had a bit of audience participation as well which put the actors on the spot!
Anyway as you have no doubt heard - Iceland is pricey - including the internet - so off I go!!!
Later!

Well mum and I managed to get cheap tickets to Mary Poppins (yipppeeeee!) - altho mum wasn't overly keen on going to see it - I think she got tired on her 423rd viewing of it with me when I was little :)  I had a seat that didn't exist (on the seating plan anyway). The seats we got were OK - we were the last row in the 'dress circle' (the first teir), but you could see everything on stage.  Anyway mum and I were both really impressed.  It was based more around the books rather than the movie so had a few different songs.  The theatre was packed - only a couple of spare seats - which always makes it a good atmosphere.  The only fault was the heat - no a/c and it was 27degrees in London (hardly any shops have it - I don't suppose they usually need it, as like with everywhere where I am, they are having 'unusual weather' at the moment...).  But in any case Mary Poppins was fantastic!!
We then had our 2.5hr bus ride to Cheltenham which went OK... and we checked out the sales in Cheltenham today and are about to head out for an Indian. We are in Cheltenham til Sunday, then back to my Auntie Christine's to pack for Iceland! Later!

Well have had a true Devonshire tea, had a splash at the seaside (in 14degree water! brrrr!) - both at a pebby and at a sandy beach, and climbed a tor on the moor! Today we had a walk across ''the water' to Burgh Island - saw the hotel where Agatha Christie based a couple of her novels.  While in Devon we stayed at this lovely country manor type place - half board - was really yummy but oh my gosh, i am going to full for days!!! We are off to London tomorrow hopefully to get cheap theatre tickets for a matinee (hoping for Mary Poppins!) - and then onto my Uncle's in Cheltenham for the weekend.  - And then next week is Iceland - woohoo!  Temperatures here are in the 30s!!! so Iceland will be a good excape.
Have sorted most of my Germany stuff - going to Thuringa (meant to be Germany's green heart), a bit along the 'fairytale route' - and then for a little cruise along the Rhine and into the Moselle Valley! - should be good!
Anyway better be off!

Well we are back from Portugal/Spain...!
Mum ended up organising to get an emergency british passport as well as an Australian one in Lisbon... - they don't have passport checks or anything when driving from Spain into Portugal...  On the websites it seemed way easier to get a british passport after you have had one lost/stolen than australian, plus we couldn't get hold of the australian embassy - which was why we went for the british one first... but then eventually got hold of the australian one and their emergency passport lasts 7 months, whereas the UK one only lasts 4 days (enough to get you back into the UK)... - so now mum can get back to Oz ok so she is happy it is all sorted...
But back to the actual holiday... went thru Porto on our drive from Valladolid to Lisbon. Porto was nice (when we actually found our way into the city - driving into and out of major ciites is not fun!!) - all steep little alleyways and nice old houses. And Lisbon was pretty good for a capital aswell - nice old part as well, big castle on the hill, weird elevator things in the middle of the streets.  We went to Belem where we had the best custard tarts in Portugal (so says the Lonely Planet) - and just to make sure we did keep sampling - and we unanimously agree! :) Belem had a beautifully carved monestry and the Torre de Belem:

The following day we did a drive to Luso - a little country spa town which was very nice, where we went onto the Bucaco Forest.  The Forest wasn't huge but was definitely worth a visit - had a gorgeous palace.  We went home via Tomar - which was the headquarters of the knights templar and has the Convento de Cristo - which was actually closed when we got there but I had a walk around the building, and once again it was on the top of the hill overlooking the town so had brilliant views...  Making our way there made me appreciate the fact that we were driving, rather than me making my way thru public transport etc - cos there weren't too many buses or anything that way! - Plus the fact went out to nice restaurants each night etc, not skimping on much at all! and it was good to share it all with someone...  mum and I had some good bedtime chats etc.
On our 3rd day in Lisbon we did a drive to Sintra towards the coast - it was nice and green and had some really good castle ruins... From there we attempted to make our way to Cabo da Roca - mainland europe's westerly most point - stopped and asked directions a couple of times as they were tiny little narrow winding roads that we were following (that were meant to be main roads!!) - on our second stop I asked this grandpa who was with his grandson.  The grandfather came from Lisbon but spoke pretty good english, and the grandson (about 10?) spoke perfect english as he had been to school over in America. We followed them to a beach near to Cabo da Roca where he recommended the fish restaurant (the fish was very fresh - caught that morning, which they bring out for you to see + agree to).  Uncle Guy was told to put his lights on by him and not to drink wine at lunchtime, and when we got to Cabo da Roca we had to follow him round the hill top in single file so we didn't go close to the edge, and when we wanted to get closer we had to hold his hand!!! Hilarious!
Portugal definitely seemed a friendlier place than Spain - the people were smilier and more helpful... The weather: the temperatures - phoa! We ended up having long 2pm lunches to get out of the heat! always in the 30s. Altho on one of our drives the temperature dropped from near 40 to 24 in 10mintues! (but quickly climbed back up again) - but there was always blue skies which is good...
So now at my Auntie Christine and Uncle Greg's for a couple of days before we all leave together for a short break to Devon! 
Time is absolutely flying by - have booked to go back to Germany (yep - did like the place) between Iceland (only 2 weeks away) and going to Greece! I'll be home before I know it!

howdy! hmmm where to start - at the beginning i suppose ... We (my uncle, aunt, mum and I) had a cheap flight to barcelona - into Reus airport which turned out to be about 2hr bus ride from the actual city... - not too bad tho but I don´t think Auntie Lynne and Uncle Guy could believe they were catching the metro to the hotel, but that turned out ok too - the metro stn was literally across the road from the hotel... altho the hotel didnt have the a/c working the first night- and the temps have stayed in the 30s throughout the day, so it wasn´t terribly pleasant the 1st night but the breakfast was good!!
Neither mum or I were terribly impressed with barcelona - if it hadnt been for Gaudi we would´ve been pretty disappointed - he designed some amazing apartments & houses (with fantastic chimneys), the famous church and Park Guell - brilliant man!
Mum was really impressed with Valencia - it did have a nice feel to the place - and we have never seen so many nuns and priests - all getting ready for the pope´s arrival the next day - flowers were everywhere, roads getting cordoned off etc... we also managed to squeeze in a visit to the beach there as well...
Been great staying at hotels - all their little packets of shampoos, fancy dinners etc Best hotel so far was where mum and I stayed in Cuenca it was an old schoolhouse for choir boys built in the 17th century - had lots of little passeways etc right on the edge of one of the 2 gorges that the town was built upon - it had brilliant views! Cuenca is a little spanish town where apparently only 13% of the visitors are non-spanish - so of course not a lot of english was spoken (or understood) - but it was really pretty and the old town was brilliant.  Lot sof the spanish houses are just those old cement pastel-coloured buildings with pretty doors and fancy balconies... and the bull rings we have seen (from the outside) look like mini-coloseums...
Today we made our way to madrid - and while i went to find where we could leave our luggage for our few hours before we went onto Valladolid where we were meeting my uncle and aunt - mum had her handbag stolen!!! - she had it resting on our other 2 overnight bags as she was giving her shoulder a rest and voompa off it went complete with passports (both UK and Oz), digital camera, purse etc etc... have reported it to the police but have to organise the replacement passport somehow now.
But anyway - Madrid wasnt too bad for a capital city - nice old buildings and we had a quick walk in Madrid´s park and saw the first ever statue built of the fallen angel/the devil. The temperature got up to 40 (luckily we were on our way to Valladolid in an a/c train) ... And that is about all the news for now ;)

hey! have gotten all my greece and turkey trip sorted - I am staying at the fairy chimneys in Goreme/Cappadocia - can't wait! and staying right in the acropolis too - all the hostels haven't got a/c so it might be a bit uncomfortable - all part of the adventure i suppose.... here's the fairy chimneys!!!

anyway last night was great! Did a family lunch, which was really nice, at a local pub; then lounged in the shade of the garden for a while (it was hot - about 30degrees!), had a game of badmington (I am absolutely hopeless)... then a few neighbours came round and we had a game of rounders (like softball) and then some nibblies and then an absolutely brilliant fireworks display - the finale one was just like a professional one - it had 49 shots and it lit up the sky - it was amazing!
Taking it easy today... then Spain in 2 days!!! 
Later!