Santorini.. First Day in Photographs

The French Riviera!

I'm fully aware that it's slightly cruel posting photos of beautiful beaches and blue ocean and sunshine when people are taking exams. I apologise for this.. but, on the other hand, it might be a nice distraction! It's been occurring to me more and more lately that when I get home I have to look for a job. Sigh! So I suppose I should be doing everything I can to make the most of my last few weeks here! In fact, I'm home in 12 days. Yikes. I am looking forward to it though.

Luzern isn't really worth writing about, because I hurt my back there and was a pretty unhappy chappy for the 2 nights I spent there, so I'll just tell you about Nice! That's where I've been for 2 nights, and spending one more. Yesterday I went down to the beach and swam, and lay in the sun for a bit. The water is absolutely gorgeous.. bright blue and not warm, but not cold. A beautiful piece of God's amazing creation. It was gorgeous weather too, yesterday.. sunny and hot. But the beach just doesn't compare to Tassie's east coast, I'm afraid. The beach here in Nice is all rocks and pebbles. Pretty uncomfortable! And it's incredibly crowded with sunbathers. I didn't take any daytime photos, so what you see here is either morning or night-time, when the beach is far less crowded and the whole scene is much calmer.

Today I'm going to try to train to Monaco and maybe Cannes, depending on the train schedules. They're striking at the moment, so I'll have to see. Tomorrow I'm catching the train to Milan in Italy, and staying there one night, then flying to Santorini, one of the Greek islands. Then I'll spend a week there, and then fly home. Nearly there! I'm actually quite looking forward to going home, cos not only must all good things come to an end (most, not all!), but I also love home. And I miss my friends and my family and Hobart and even Henrietta, strangely enough. See you all soon! I'm praying for you people taking exams, and I'll be back to celebrate with you when you're done!!

I made two Nice albums.. Nice by Morning and Nice by Night. Enjoy! xx

Back in Berlin, then southward to Luzern and Nice!

My favourite place in Europe. I love it! And I ended Busabout back there. I spent another 3 nights, so all up I have now spent 9 there! I got to hang out with some girls from Busabout a bit more, and we went on the pub crawl, which was fun, but we had the sneaking suspicion that they just took us to the cheapest bars! But I love Berlin.. I can't explain why. It just has such a good vibe. My favourite parts are Unter den Linden, the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate area, Alexander Platz and Hackescher Markt. In other words, the main touristy places. But I love it! And it was sunny and beautiful on my last days there. Sigh, sad to leave.. it really was! Photos coming soon.. Since then, I've been to Luzern in Switzerland, and then yesterday I caught the train through Milan and onto Nice, where I am now. The train ride was absolutely stunning.. wow. Photos of that coming soon too! And now I'm in the French Riviera! It's incredibly beautiful. The sea is so blue and flat.. but of course the beach is nothing like ours at home. They have pebble beaches here. I mean, that is not a real beach. I'm going for a swim later today, and to Monaco tomorrow. I've been thinking of all these things I really wanna write about on here, but cheap internet is soo hard to find, and when I finally do make it to a computer, I've forgotten.. so I'll write some good reflective posts when I get home! For now I'm just spilling everything I can remember.. well, stay tuned for awesome photos.

Red Lights.. Amsterdam

Ok so this was the first place I went to on Busabout where I decided not to stay in the hostel they recommended, cos it was too far out of the city. So I went with a Christian hostel in the middle of the Red Light District.. mmhmm. I caught the tram from the Busabout hostel into the city and then set out with my map to find my hostel. I knew it was in the Red Light District, but my mental picture of the Red Light District was all wrong! I thought it'd be more about open spaces, and that you'd sort of walk down the street and see prostitutes in windows from a bit more of a distance.. but here I was walking down this narrow alley packed with people and I saw a red light to my left and thought "oh that's funny, I must be there now" and then about half a metre from me was a woman in a window and aaaahh it scared me! Then there was a whole row of windows.. and my hostel was a few doors down, on the same street.

So the hostel was really good, and I met some really cool people, especially these three girls who work for Invisible Children, which I'd never heard of til then.. and it was interesting being a Christian hostel. They had a bible study each night and a 2am curfew (mostly cos it was in the red light district, which is dangerous at night..) And, I was talking to the staff, and turns out they avoid walking through the main part of the red light, and instead walk around it.. cos they're in Amsterdam for awhile, and want to fill their minds and the hostel with good things, and not see too much of that crap..

So what did I do here.. I went to Anne Frank House, which I'd been waiting for for years. It was so sad.. and Anne's room was tiny. At the end, after you come back out of the Secret Annexe, you see a video of Anne's father talking, and saying how he never really knew his daughter. And another of Anne's friend speaking, saying how if Anne had known her father had survived Auschwitz, maybe she would've had hope to keep living.. cos she died a few weeks before the camp was liberated. I also went to the Van Gogh museum and did a canal cruise.. yep that's all I think! Oh, did you know that the canal houses in Amsterdam are so high, and so narrow, because people were taxed on the width of their house, not the height? Yep.

Belgium, Land of Chocolate Things

It's actually a while ago now it seems! I haven't been able to get to any cheap internet for ages. But after Paris, I went to Bruges in Belgium. I spent 4 nights there. Quite awhile really. It was a beautiful town but pretty cold when I was there.. I mostly browsed (and bought).. in the chocolate shops, of which there were heaps! Every second shop in some streets was a chocolate shop! On the first day in Bruges I went on the hostel's free walking tour, and that was good. It was led by a local girl who talked about some of the legends in the town (probably made up for tourists??) Belgium is interesting though.. they speak Flemish and German and French. How confusing for the poor kids who have to learn all of those, plus English, in primary school. After traveling over here, I've come to really wish Australian schools taught more languages! I desperately want to learn French and Spanish now. Anyways, here are some photos.