Long Time, No Blog...

Tower Bridge outside the Tower of London

london eye and parliament and big ben in the background...standing on charingcross bridge

me outside buckingham palace gates

pretty skyline

typical london pic!

Captains Log: It is Currently 11:15PM and I am relaxing in the Library alone. Its finals week and some people went to Newcastle tonight for some relief.

A lot has happend and and many things have been experienced since the last entry. We had our week long trip in London, I went to Italy, and this past weekend a group of us went on a Paddywaggon Tour in Ireland!
London:

Sunday: London was amazing. I had a very good time and enjoyed it. It was pretty much everything I expected it to be. A litle dissapointed at how not elegant it was. But a city is a city...

We started out our trip right away after we got into our hotel (St. Giles in Soho). We took a walking tour around the city to get our bearings. We traveled through Leicester Squar up to Trafalgar Square, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace and walked around Parliament and Big Ben and then finally our excursion onto the London Eye. (I was expecting the Eye to be a lot bigger, but it was still impressive). That night we went to Bar Soho, where drinks were really expensive...so we only had one, and walked around Soho a bit.

Monday: We started our day out early wit ha tour of Parliament which was actually really interesting. (Im also counting it as a Professional Event for DSP). We went to the Tower of London and saw the Crown Jewels, which were spectacular, and the scaffold site of many historically famous beheadings. We crossed Tower bridge ( the one that everyone confuses with London Bridge...London Bridge is nothing special). And we ended at teh Britain at War Museum. That night we went to the theater and saw Avenue Q. Avenue Q was hillarious and we ended up getting good seats for cheap with a student discount. It was basically Sesame St. but with aduly humor. After that everyone kinda split up we ended up just hangin out jammin to music in one room.

Tuesday: On Tuesday we walked around the financial district in London...which was something different than we all thought it was going to be. We just walked around buildings outside. We walked past Lloyd's which was the coolest office building Ive ever seen. We all thought we were going to tour the Bank of England, but we just went into the museum...Later that day we had lunch in what part of Diagon Alley (Harry Potter) was filmed in and then a small group went to St. Pauls Cathedral. 540 steps later we were at the observation deck taking in teh skyline of London. Afterwards I went to the Tate Modern with Wade and Laura....wish I would have had more time there, but I didnt want to keep people waiting. I also went to a concert at a small venue with Becky and Laura for only 6 pounds. It was so good. We then went to a place that Erica (sister) had told me about, the Sports Cafe. It happened to be student night there so drinks were cheap.

Wednesday: We started out our long day of Henry VIII by visiting Hampton Court ( one of his favorite palaces). After Hampton Court we went to Kew Gardens and I was let down. I was expecting there to be loads of flowerbeds everywhere but it was just open field grassy stuff. The water lily place was cool, and I was able to take some cool photos. We went to the Globe Theater that night and saw Shakespear's King Henry VII....it was dry and dull, but cool to see a Shakespearean play in the Globe. I was pleasantly able to meet up with a girl who I had met in Prague on a pub crawl that night. She was ending her europe trip in london and it was our last night there and we went out to a club where it was again student night so I was able todrink for cheap again!! which is rare to find in London.

Thursday: We went to Canary Wharf (the second financial district sort of) and we toured Waitrose...its a company similar to our Woodmans, but on a much much MUCH larger scale. After our tour we had a little bit for lunch, and then I was on the metro again on my way to London Gatwick Airport to catch my flight to Venice!

London Bound

Captains Log: It is currently 5:14AM and I have not yet gone to bed.

Today (Sunday July 4th) at 6:00AM we are departing for London. We will be there for 5 days and then on Thursday evening I am heading to Venice, Italy and the surrounding areas. I am going to meet up with a guy I met when I was in Mykonos who is backpacking through Europe for 4 months. I have been bit by the travel bug and cannot wait to see more of the world. I will be traveling to Venice alone...but am more comfortable now because I have done it once already...and I am going to be meeting up and staying with someone I know.

I am excited for London. I plan on visiting the zoo and attending a live music concert for only £6 in our evening times we have for free time. I am also excited to walk throught the financial district and have a couple business tours. I will have my laptop in London with me, but am having someone take my small suitcase and send it back to the castle with a couple girls who are coming back right after our trip to London. I will be an actuall backpacker (as I am only taking a backpack with me to Italy) and am stoked for a new adventure and some great pictures and memories.

Ill keep posted every couple days whilst in London.

Pics from Prague and Greece

sunset in Mykonos through the windmills

sunset on the beach

Paradise Beach

Group of Aussies I met and watched the football game with

entrance to Paradise Beach

Dance Club we ended the first pub crawl i went on in

small canal through Prague

Me and one of the girls from the family I met from Utah at the Peace Wall

Me looking down on the town from the Castles edge

Prague Castle from Charles Bridge

What a week...4 countries in 9 days!

Captains Log: It is currently 11:00AM and I am sitting in classroom B "watching a film for class"

My week journey of self discovery started last Saturday morning when I flew out of Newcastle to London Heathrow. Two girls from our group who were going to catch a cruise in Rome were on that flight with me. We parted ways at Heathrow and before I knew it I was off to Prague.

Prague was beautiful. Such a Bohemic city. The castle was much like anything else we have seen so far on any of our field trips. It was very gothic style architecture. The whole city was dotted by red rooftops and perched atop a hill was the massive castle (one of the top 10 biggest in the world)! The first night I was there, I did the Prague Pub Crawl. It was relatively cheap and I got a shirt along with it. We started off with an hour of unlimited Beer, Vodka shots (watered down...yet still strong), and absinth shots (phew...it was rough). We then got free welcome shots at the following bars we went to. We ended up in one of central Europe's best dance clubs. It was 5 stories tall and the dance floor was all LED lights and were sound enhanced.

I walked all over Prague. I liked traveling alone because I could cover a lot more ground in a shorter amount of time. I didnt have to wait for anyone, or try to accomodate to anyones likes/dislikes...I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I ventured through some back alley ways and side streets and finally found the John Lennon Wall (which really has nothing to do with John Lennon). It was really cool to see. It was a large wall that has been repeaditly graffittied over and over again. Almost everything had the basic "peace" message. There were quotes, and inspirational sayings and really cool pictures. I happened to meet a lot of Americans at the wall too. A couple studying abroad in London, a man from North Carolina, and a family from Utah....and an asian photographer from Hong Kong who kept telling us to get space inbetween all of us and then he wanted a jumping photo. It was great fun.

Shopping in Prague was cool. They have major stores like anywhere else, but it was overall pretty cheap. They had signs on lamp posts in the streets that had a big M for McDonalds and an arrow telling you how far away it was from you (such as 50M ahead). The World Cup was going on then and they had a large screen set up in the Old Town Square and a bunch of food stands and a couple beer tents (kind of like a Riverfest set up). Beer was only 40 CZKs...which was like $1.70USD. and their Budweisser was the best ever. I am not sure why, but it is better than the stuff in the states.

My journey came to an end in Prague after three nights. I was sad to leave because I didnt get to venture into the newer/more modern Prague or the business district. But I was excited for the sunny shores of Mykonos at Paradise Beach. Granted I had to make my way to two different airports in Swizterland before I ended up in Greece.

As we landed in Mykonos...I saw the baron countryside and was thinking...what did I get myself into? There is nothing here! We got to my resort and my opinion quickly changed. It was so nice to just sit on the beach for 4 days and not have a care in the world besides seeing old naked people or getting sunburnt. I managed to make friends with several people here. A group from South Africa, and an Aussie from Perth. Walking around in the town of Mykonos, was crazy. Literally every building was white, with similar colored decks/porches. It was pretty, but I felt I was in a labrynth and managed to turn myself around several times. The alleys were filled with shops and cool places to grab some food and such. I watched the sunset in the harbour/port area and managed to capture a few stunning pictures.

Overall I had an absolutely fabulous time traveling. Even though I was alone, it forced me to meet people and that is what I wanted to do the most was meet people from all over and establish a connection with them (in hopes that I could go visit them someday). It was scary at first traveling alone, but I got over that and went into it with a clear head and was ready for anything. I have nothing but good stories and memories to take away from this experience, and I would undoubtably travel alone again someday, but its always nice to have a travel buddie...It was nice to finally see people I knew again when I got back to the castle.

Next post...various pictures from my trip!

Oh...Hey Switzerland.

Captains Log: It is currently 3:05 PM and I am in my third country in 5 days waiting in the Geneva, Switzerland Airport.

Prague was spectacular! I would love to go back already. A chicken skewer in a bagguette and a beer (best Budweisser EVER!) for only 140 CZK...which is roughly $6.50, all while people watching in the square watching a little World Cup Action.

Last night I met 6 guys who were in Med School, and the day after they took their boards they started their two week travel throughout Europe. We went to "Prague's Only Australian Pub"...not sure what makes an australian pub australian or an irish pub irish, but it was pretty laid back. I met a guy from Melbourne (go figure that I would meet an Aussie in the Australian Bar; and a girl from chicago, and other guy from England.

Overall, Prague is very fun, and there are a ton of little shops along most streets. My travels have been exciting, and I have not run into any troubles at all. The only down side to traveling alone is when you are eating alone, and I am starting to forget what i sound like: until someone says something to me in whatever language they speak, and i respond in english and then they either walk away for keep talking to me in that language like i understand. or they start english.

Just killing time now. Up next is a quick flight across the Alps to Zurich, and then around 6:20 AM tomorrow my time, I will be off to Sunny Paradise Beach!

a view from one side of Charles Bridge

the magnificent Castle

me at the wall

an evening on the street

me up by the castle looking down onto the city

Czech'n out Prague!

Captains Log: It is currently 4:00PM here in Prague, and Im sitting in the lobby of my hostel trying to upload some pics after a long day of getting lost in the city.

Prague is amazing. It is very bohemian and gothic (style). The castle is completely different than the castles I am used to seeing in England...and its nice to not here every little bit of history about every little monument or building or clump of rocks for once.

My flight into Prague was about a half hour late from london, but I arrived safely and in one piece! I set up camp in my room, took a shower and walked around a bit. I then went on one of the biggest Pub Crawls EVER! It was soo much fun, but Absinth = NOT GOOD. It was free absinth shots and vodka shots and crappy beer for the first hour. Then we went to about 4 other places and got welcome shots there. We then ended in one of Europes biggest dance club. (It was 5 stories, but I only remember seeing 3....)

I started my expedition this morning by heading out towards the castle, over Charles bridge. I think hiked for what seemed forever until i reached the castle. When I got there, they were in the process of their changing of the guards so that was cool to see.

Then I had a traditional Czech meal...goulash. it was basically beef stew in a bread bowl. It was realy good.

I ventured on somemore and finally stumbled upon the John Lennon Wall. I thought it was really neat. Its obviously changed a lot over years because people keep adding onto things and going over others, but I had a good time. I met a photographer from Hong Kong, a family from Ohio, and a couple from Australia. Came back to upload some pics and let everyone know what I have been up to. Gotta find something to eat again in a bit I suppose and then seeing what the night has in store for me!