28 July 06 - 00:53Dont mind a bit of rain...
In Florence at the moment. Stayed the night last night and have another one tonight. The city is amazing so full of artistic history. I am still unsure wether I am willing to pay $25 to see the real david though... I saw the fake one which is a full copy and have photos of that so I am not sure if its worth it.
Went to Pisa today. Met some random Australia bloke on the train so walked around with him and took photos for one another. Got some nice pics. Unfortunately cant get them up on my site though as the net connection at this place is not too great.
Tomorrow I have a night train back to Austria. Then a night in Bad Gastein. Then on to Budapest.
(It rained a couple hours ago was a nice cool down)
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26 July 06 - 18:41Vienna and Venice
Vienna was nice. It kind of reminded me of Berlin and I do like Berlin. Not only was it because everyone was speaking German but the streets and the U-bahn/S-bahn all seemed to have the same feel. Saw the sights took some photos. Was onlny there for the one night and one full day but still saw enough to get the feel of the place.
Venice is quite nice too. When you come into the place it doesnt look that nice but once you start walking around the streets and getting lost amongst the narrow streets and canals it all comes together nicely. The big San Marco square is amazing to see and well worth the trip to Venice. Two nights here is enough though and I am ready to move on.
In just under an hour I catch a train to Florence. Two nights there. I will day trip to Pisa while I am in the area too.
Then back to Austria to meet up with Elaina and onto Hungary.
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21 July 06 - 21:36Nice, Milan, Interlaken and St Johann
Wow what a big week it has been.
Almost missed the train to Nice the morning of my last post. Literally I was the last person on the train. Elaina was already on the train and wondering if I was going to make it. I would have been fine if the damn metro didnt fail the stop before I needed. Had to run with all my gear on. I dont want to go through that again.
Anyway we eventually made it to Nice. Great Hostel! We stayed two nights. Did a day trip to Monacco. Walked around and took some pictures. Walked the whole F1 track and took photos of all the corners and generally the whole track :) Was a nice little highlight for me.
After Nice we took a train to Milan, Italy. Spent the night there. Did see the Duomo but otherwise didn`t get up to much else.
The next day, 17th, we got to Switzerland - Interlaken. Spent Two nights there aswell. Day tripped to Bern and Zurich. The hostel there was interesting to say the least. The rooms were set up in an old barn... so we were quite literally sleeping in the old horse stalls. The place is a party hostel though where you are meant to do things like paragliding and canyoning during the day and party all night. If only I had the money I guess.
Arrived in Austria the day before yesterday, the 19th, had a day off walking around St Johann in Tirol. St. Johann is a small town pretty much in the middle of no where. Skiing town during the winter and cheap acommodation during the summer.
The first night we were there the town was having a bit of a festival in the main square. It seemed to be mainly for little kids with kiddy rides set up but they also had live music. We got to hear an Austrian 3 Piece, complete with accordian, play a whole bunch of, what seemed to be, traditional Austrian music.
Today we are in Liechtenstein and found free internet. Which we are currently abusing :) ... ah well no one else was using it or looks to be wanting to. Now back to St. Johann in Tirol and tomorrow is off to Vienna. One night in Vienna then off to Venice. Hopefully find some cheap internet inbetween somewhere.
*Free internet here in Vienna. Hence adding to this post with more info*
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14 July 06 - 06:28Almost out of Spain!
Oh Spain how I am beginning to loath thee.
Lisbon was great. Hot but not as hot as Madrid but still very sweaty. The city is quite nice. Very interesting layout really built on a bunch of small hills on the edge of the river. The roads are all twisty and turn at odd corners to negotiate the hills. Walking around is not hard but navigating the place is. Lots of steps and steep roads. Still it was a lot more interesting than Madrid. The added bonus of having someone to travel with (Elaina) made it heaps better too.
Travel.... My Gosh... Nightmare past 24hrs. 20 of them were spent in Transit. Finally arriving here in Barcelona, just for the night, 8 hours late. The night train from Lisbon to Madrid stopped for 2 hours (approx.), i guess about 200kms away from Madrid, at some small town train station. We just sat there from about 5am to 7am no idea what was going on. Eventually they told us to get off and get on to buses as a fire on the track up head meant they had no idea when they would be moving. We were in the last section of the train and when we got off we noticed all the other sections were already emtpy. We guess they told everyone slowly to get off and on to buses. Real useful when you have a connection in Madrid. Arrived in Madrid 3.5hours late. Our train to Barcelona was 2 hours after we were meant to arrive... very much already on its way... Found a service lady that gave us a free transfer to the other train station, where the Barcelona trains leave from. Spoke to customer service at that station and then onto the tickets queue. Finally managed to get a connection via Valencia that was leaving at 15:20 (our first train was at 10am). We had to pay another booking fee we were using two trains instead of one but we made it here eventaully. Total waste of the day but at least tonight there is a bed involved.
Tomorrow morning is an early train to France, Montpellier. Then onto Nice. Should get there around 8pm....
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12 July 06 - 03:30Out of Madrid - Into Lisbon
Spent the last few days in Madrid. Can't say that it's the most amazing place that I have visited...
The night life is great and it was great to catch the last two world cup games there but other then a couple art museums there is not much to do there. I over heard another Aussie say something about Madrid is like Canberra. Rather boring :P
On the last night in Madrid Elaina caught up with me and we are now heading around for a few weeks. Tomorrow night is another night train back to Spain. Night in Barcelona again then on to Nice for a couple days. Plan to hit Monaco too. After that its on to Switzerland and Austria.
I was sent a photo from the Running of the Nudes team and have uploaded it into the gallery. Its a rather good one too! I am still planning to get my own photos up soon. Will have to see though.
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08 July 06 - 16:00Pamplona and the Nudes
Well then seems I managed some half decent sleep so lets see whats happened since my last major update.
Monday the 3rd we checked out Gaudi´s Parc Guëll. Very crazy man he is but a rather impressive park. Took a few neat pics and then head back to the hostel. Did the old cheap pasta meal with a couple brews. Went for a late night walk onlong the shore and checked out the really bad monday night life. Made it an early night as had to get up for the bus to pamps in the morning.
Tuesday morning. Up early and on the Metro to meet up with a bunch of people headed to pamps. 90% were Spanish but there were a few others including a couple american, an aussie and a brazillian girl that spoke english. Got to the camp ground and helped out a bit setting up food for the 800+ people that were there. Then handed out white undies for those that needed them... was an experience handeling all them thongs and ugly man pants :P
Wednesday morning. On the buses to pamps and down to where the bull runs start. Everyone stripped off to their tighty whities some further than others (oh dear). Was a great laugh and good fun. Walking through the streets surrounded by half naked cheering shouting poeple. Just found that I appear in the background of one of the pics on the website http://runningofthenudes.com/photos.asp#2006 the last pic in the 2006 series I am just under the guys elbow with my hat on :)
Wednesday arvo was wondering Pamplona. Wednesday was a big after party at the camp pub. I purchased a cheap bottle of red and knocked that back add a bit of sangria and I was well drunk (once again). The night turned out to be a very interesting one and I got very little sleep. The sleep that I did get was uncomfortable but still it was good fun.
Thursday was recovery day. Slept most of it until the evening when had a little bit of fun at the bar and down in the tents.
Friday was the interesting bus ride to Madrid. New bunch of people to meet on the bus. They were all nice people and a couple spoke english. Went to a vegan restaurant when we got dropped off. The bus ride was rather interesting the driver appeared to be very hung over and was late picking us up. His bag went out the window and we stopped suddenly to see him running back down the road to get it. When we hit town we were reversing back down streets and all sorts as the driver had no idea where to find the place to drop us off. Eventually got here to the hostel where I met a bloke I met in Copenhagen. Headed out to a couple bars but I was really tired so I came back here and wrote that little update below.
I have updated my Barcelona post to include info I forgot to add and next I am off to find a USB internet cafe.
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08 July 06 - 08:07Made it to Madrid
Wow what a crazy few days in the camp ground near Pamplona.
Madness I tell you. Almost naked running through streets and great after party back at the camp. I am seriously lacking sleep though and will make a proper post, when I get the chance, after some sleep.
I am still yet to find a decent connection with good USB access. I have so many photos I need to sort out it´s not funny. Hopefully tomorrow.
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03 July 06 - 08:15Barcelona! Barcelona da di da da da di da da....
YAY!
2am in the morning... hmm what is it... umm Monday morning the 3rd of July! Lets see what happened in the past couple days here...
Booked my night in Lisbon on the 11th. Worked out I need to stay back here on the 13th. Booked the 14th (thats bastille day) and 15th in Nice. Have no idea where I am staying on the 16th but well meh I´ll work something out.
Last night was a very strange but fun night out with Craig (From paris hostel) and a couple American girls (from paris). We spent the arvo down the beach... I swam in the Mediterannean. Lots of women with their breasts out at these beaches. Rather interesting as the nude beach was about 700m to the right. After the beach it was walk up the street to the worst Irish Pub in history for a few pints of ·cough· fosters (first time in my life) and the Enlgand Portugal game. What a very exciting but poor outcome game!. After the game we walked Ramblas more then a couple times. Craig was rather drunk and upset about England losing so was rather entertaining to see him giving Portugal fans some shit. We also found ourselves smack in the middle of a gay parade. Under a massive gay flag for about 10minutes... random random thing but was rather funny to say the least.
Today was doing a self walking tour with the englishman from Paris (Craig) in the Barri Gotic area of town. Was quite good actually. Found a lot of stuff, by following the book, that we would not have other wise. Also went to check out Gaudi´s still unfinished Cathedral the Sagrada Familia. Its huge and they are still building it and hope to be finished in 2020. In the arvo we came back to the hostel and knocked back a couple litres of Sangria between us. Good Stuff that! Come 10:30 we met up with another couple english lads down Las Ramblas. Scamed our way into their hostel for some cheap beers.
It seems they "acquired" a Pizza Hut delivery jacket while in Madrid. The last part of the night turned into a random turn of events of getting random sheilas to let us take their photo with the Pizza Hut Jacket on. Very Sexy. Even got a Subway bird to pose for us ;) Tomorrow night will be another effort of finding many more shielas to take photos with the jacket on.
YAY Barcelona!
Turns out I will be meeting up with my Paris/Brugge friend early. In Madrid on the 7th. Should be great. Madrid, Lisbon, Nice, Interlaken, Vienna and Venice. Much Much Fun their.
I am hoping I get on a USB internet access soon as I have soooo many photos. Anyway. Till Next Time. Thats All Folks!
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01 July 06 - 16:31Paris and now Barcelona!Ohh yeahh
Well then its been a while and boy has it been a good week so far. Last night in Brugge was a nice quite one just walking the night away around the city. Had some nice company for the walk so it was nice to just walk and talk.
Monday was the train trip to Paris. Uneventful. Arrived in Paris and jumped on the Metro using the tickets I was given way back in April. Found the hostel without a problem. Interesting hostel really. Very open and all the people were on the same wave length. First night a whole bunch were headed down to Champ de Mars with more then a couple bottles of cheap wine. Sat infront of the Tower until after midnight. Its really amazing down there at night when the lights come on and every hour the tower puts on a bit of a sparkling light show.
Tuesday was my first full day in Paris and I walked a long way. Didn´t do any of the pay for entry tourist traps just walked around and saw the sights. Went to Jim Morrisons grave aswell as Oscar Wildes. Oscars is a bit disturbing as it is covered in lipstick marks of people kissing him... Yes well then... Met up with a couple of English guys (Ben and Dave) I met in Brugge, they happened to be staying in the same hostel, made some cheap pasta for dinner and knocked back a few bottles of wine. That night France beat Spain and the streets were going crazy. We headed out to Bastille and people were all over the monument dancing and going stupid. Nuts really seeming they now play Brazil :) Danced a bit in a very expensive drinks club and then decided it was crap and went back home.
Wednesday was a very surprisingly good night. Had a meeting under the Eiffel Tower with another person (Elaina) I met in Brugge on the last night. Spent the afternoon walking around the city once again. Made some cheap rather bad dinner and then off down to the tower to waste the night away with some more cheap French wine. Was a great night... didn´t even finish the wine though it was kind of forgotten for most of the night.
Thursday was my last night in Paris. Went to the Louvre and borked at the entry fee as Im not really a massive art fan. I just wanted to see the upside down pyramid (As I read the Da Vinci Code in Finland). Turned out you dont need to pay for that. So I was happy to just get a picture in front of that. Spent the rest of the day walking around and sitting in parks and just enjoying "being there". Night Train to Barcelona was another night of very little sleep.
Friday was a 8am change of trains at the France/Spain border. The Mountains of Andorra on the Horizon. Then the slowest train ever down to Barcelona. Arrived at about midday and sitting in the check-in area is another American girl (Sara) I met in Paris just days before. She was sleeping and woke up laughing to see I was there. She promised me a good night when we met in Paris and I said I was headed for Barcelona the same night as her. Checked in and as I was checking in met another english bloke I met in Paris two days ago aswell. So last night I went out with Sara´s family for dinner and walked around with them for a bit of the night. Came back to the hostel for a couple cheap beers before dropping her off at the hotel with her family. It was a great night and completely unexpected. I may be back in Barcelona for one night on the way back from Portugal and Sara will be here once again.
At the moment I need to work out how to and if I can get to Lisbon and back without it taking up a huge amount of time. There seems to be only one train to Lisbon from Madrid and its a night train. Same back to Madrid from Lisbon. The hostels seems to have a 3 night minimum too which just won´t work. I need to work out if I can work Portugal into my trip because it seems like a massive amount of trouble to get there and back.
I stay in Barcelona until Tuesday Morning. I then have 3 nights in Pamplona and then 3 nights in Madrid. That takes me to the Monday morning after the WC Final, the 10th. I need to be in Interlaken on the 17th as thats already booked. My planning skills will be tested.
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