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Wednesday March 28th - Arrival in london
So i left australia by myself on tuesday March 27 and flew to heathrow with a stopover in malaysia for a few hours. Once i arrived i had a full day to see the sights of london before josh arrived the following morning. So off i went armed with a map i took from the tour company by feinging interest for a while...hehe. Firstly i went and saw St James Palace which is where Prince Charles is said to live. However he lives in clarence house nearby. As i was cruising past I saw a group of young adults going in for a Duke of Edinburgh ceremony...with the real duke...I was pretty excited because i would have loved to have mine presented by the big man himself. From there i cruised up to Buckingham palace which was amazing. There was no changning of the guards ceremony today but it was pretty special. Heavily guarded by police with machine guns (seems like alot of london is guarded in such a way!!). The palace itself is pretty special but it was the gates surrounding the palace itself were best. Beautiful gold (painted???) and ornate. Then i went alog whitehall where all the government buildings are including the turn off the tony blair's hideout. Then all the way up to Trafalgar square, which has nelsons column sticking up through the middle of it. Saw they were filming a police show on the forecourt and I thought it may have been "The Bill" so i tried to get my ugly mug in the shot just in case my bill loving parents would get to see me on camera...als it turns out they were filming some police comedy...unlucky!!! From there I went into the National Gallery and saw some very famous paintings including Von Gogh's Sunflowers. And then to the National portrait gallery. It was cool but I lack the true appreciation of art....and jet lag was setting in. So i begun my walk in the homeward direction but still had lots to see. I came across the houses of parliament and the clocktower that is a part of them...big ben. I decided i would go in a see a sitting of parliament...it was alright..but no tony blair. By now it was about 4 and I was getting very tired. I had panned to go to Westminster Abbey for an evening song service but there a big queue and I wasn't up to it. Pretty amazing place though london. All the buildings are so old and have such histroy...nothing like australia really. The metro train system is easy to undertand and even after one day I felt fairly comfortable using it. I was pretty amazed by central london...cobbled one-way streets seemed to be everywhere...and the traffic didn't seem too bad. But i suppose when i get to the really business districts of london Ill get the real idea of just how london is a megacity.
Thursday March 29th - Josh's first day
Josh arrived and we headed out to London. I already had some insight into the ways of london and the tube so i led josh around for the rest of the day. Ive found that central london isn't like central sydney. In sydney you get George street and alot of parralel streets whereas in london you get lots of intertwining one way streets. It it pretty amazing. When i get there, im sure the business metropolis will be amazing. In central london josh and i kept walking on these one way cobbled streets without realising thats cars would zoom down them at us at at any. Did same sort of thing as i did yesterday but more aimlessly wandering which took us past SOHO (ritzy shopping district), Leceister square and Piccadilly circus (with the massive coke tv billboard...apparatnly it's famous but i had never heard of it). We also went along oxford street, Regent street, Covent gardens (lots of markets). We also went to the west end...and I found out the best news ever...I can go and see Les Miserables at Queens Theatre for as little as?$40 (as long as I go an hour early on a monday night and hope there are still tickets left...hehe). Mum you'll be hell excited and everyone else...I know what your thinking..."geez this guy is a pansy....well yes....i am!". But seriously Les Mis is the best musical ever and you should definitely invest in the soundtrack.
Friday March 30th - Topdeck Day 1 To France
We hopped on the bus that would take us to the white cliffs of Dover this morning at 6:30. It was the first day of the tour. We spent the next couple of hours pretty much talking to the people nearby just testing out the waters. I thought the ferry that would take us across to France would be just like ferries that carry cars back home. Nope...these ferries and the whole ferry port were huge, situated with a backdropof the white clifs of dover. Winston CHurchill once hid in tcabves in the cliff. We crossed the english channel no problem. Josh and I hung out with a girl called bec...would it turns out is also heading out to kent to play cricket when she finishes her tour (her's is 7 weeks). She became josh and my's best mate on tour pretty much along with a funny Kiwi called Emma (also pronounced Imma). We then met up with our driver and cook and linked up with our bus. Our tour leaders name was sarah, cook was rahcel then danni (danni had chicken pox at this stage so Rachel cooked for first few week), and our driver was a red head called nev...naturally I befriended him just like I do all readheads ( love you Ann and Budge). MOstly the group were australains and kiwis but we had individuals from brazil, South African, American, Canada and a few from South Korea. However throughout the trip we developed a core group of about 8. Ill name them here. We affectionally were called team ANZAC. Me , Josh, Imma, Bec, Mark, Michael, Ryan and Elise (from your home town cookie). Great bunch. That might Slept in the tiniest cabins ever with 4 to the cabin. Islept on the couch in living room (that was one of the legitimate beds). However that night we went to a real cabaret show. It was an experience. The singer that performed before the show was great at exciting the audience and the presenter was fantastic at switching between languages but the show itself wasn't that great. I would have thought for professionals they could have done a better job...but it was still a great experience! However all the dancers wore pretty much were g-strings so...boobies galore!!
Saturday 31st March - Topdeck day 2 Day in France
What a day. Today was a free day in Paris...We started with grand plans...not all accomplished but a sweet day nonetheless. Started with driving tour of paris including Eiffel tower, NOtre Dame Cathedral, Champs Elysees, Arc De Triumphe.. Them about 12 of us went on the best thing i did on the tour. It was a Fat tyre Bike tour (riding californian beach cruisers) arond Paris. An american run company which took us around the sites gave us the history of Paris. The two main periods of time that were relevent to most of the buildings was the French Revolution (1789-1793) and the Nazi occupation of Paris (1939-1943). I learnt heaps about those places. Including eiffel tower, the Military academy (where Napoleaon trained) and it's forcourt (massive bloody war grounds). It was pretty surreal standing on the site of massive bloodbaths. Learnt the closest Hitler or any allied soldier ever came to eachother was in the Dome church where a secret allied soldiers hospital had been set up in the space between 2 identical murels on the roof of the church. Hitler, who admired Napoleon (who built the church), went to look at one stge. Neither knew about it until years later. We built a human pyrimid outside the Lourve. It was such and amazing tour. Really insightful. Ater tour waited to go up eiffel tower but one of our 6 fainted so I didn't get right to the top but got some sweet photos from the second viewing level. There is one skyscaraper in central Paris. But there was so much uproar after it was built that they havn't built any more. It sticks out like a sore thumb....it has affectionally been called that. To get to the Paris skyscrapers, you have to go past the Arc di triumphe to that part of the city down the Champs de Elysees. Around the Arc Di Triumphe (built by Napolean to commemorate his soldiers return from battle's won), is the worlds most dangerous roundabout. 12 roads lead onto it...it is Chaotic...one accident every 8 minutes...no insurance company in the world will insure you to drive on it. About five of us went there the that (a little tipsy) to try to see an accident...alas...no luck. That night we had a Champagne picnic infront of the eiffel tower in the Champs des Mars (a park right near the tower). It was really nice.
Sunday 1st April - Topdeck Day 3 Drive to Switzerland
Woke up late. almost missed breakfast. We then went on our 9 hour drive to Switzerland. The area where were headed had just been dumped by snow so we were expecting wild and cold weather. Our drive into Switzerland was awesome and so is Switzerland as a nation. Not sure if you are all aware but it is a country that is completely neutral. During the past 500 years it has not been at war and has never taken sides. Therefore its economy has been able to prosper to the extent that 1 in 7 residents are millionairres. Forget when but at some point in their history out of 7 million they ony had 92 people unemployed. If they were ever to go to war they are protected by the smelly french. We got there and it was perfect weather not even cold. Bec and I went for a walk and saw this amazing natural snow fed waterfall (the same one that is displayed on my blog front), called Staubach Falls. We would look in the distance and see amazing snow capped mountians. Pretty amazing. We went to a little village called Lauterbrunnen and which stood within view of the Jungfrau mountain. That night we got absolutely hammered at the little campsite bar playing a sweet game called nails. You get a log and stand it on it's end then about 10 people stand around it each with a nail tapped in a tiny bit. The aim is to hit your nail in the quickest with hammer.however the had about a 5mm think head. Best game ever really. Eventually stumbled off to bed.
Monday 2nd April - Topdeck Day 4 Free day in Lauterbrunnen
Today was one of the best days on tour. Up early and onto a train called the Jungfraujoch (pronounced Yung-frow-yok). It took us up past a couple of villages including Kainer Schledigg (a very popular skiing destination). The train then kept going up the Jungfrau mountain (about 4100m above sea level) to the Jungfrau station (highest staion in europe at 3600m asl). The alps were just amazing. When we got up there, Josh, Kobi and myself decied to go on a walk on the snow. I don't know how we lucked out so well but we had the best weather you could have hoped for on the top. No wind and lots of sun...should have brought my sunnies. couldn't see anythng for about 5 minutes. We thought we were headed for a glacier but it turns out we weren't but we walked for about an hour to this second little station. It wasn't hard but becasue of the thin air we were finding it alot harder to breath. We rested at the top for about 45 minutes and then headed back down. There was also an observation deck from which you just saw miles and miles of mountains. We were at some points above the clouds...pretty amazing. There was also an ice palace. It was ok but we did get some coool video footage of sliding into view from one of the ice corridors. Ill see if i can upload that onto the blog. By that stage we were knackered so we went back down to Kainer Schledigg to a pub where they were showing the cricket and watched a cheeky hour of NZ vs bangladesh. I think now might be the best time to tell you of the best fashion in europe...mullets...they are absolutely everywhere...we couldn't believe it. Ill put a separate section on the photo board for our mullet watch...and it wasn't just men...women...teenagers...they were certainly the in thing...we felt veryleft out...i know what ill be getting when we head back into europe for the winter! That night we had a traditional Swiss dinner consisting of Bratwurst sausage(any fella who has ever been a boy has surely made a penis joke comparing their lettle fella to a massive Bratwurst...I know I certainly have!!!...sorry mum!). It also had rosti, a traditional dish of potato, onion and egg. The dinner was great. That night we spent more time doing nails and then playing uno in our cabins. A much earlier night was had by myself while the others raged. The snow in switzerlland is like none ive ever seen (way better than the sick slopes of perisher for sure man). It is perfect. Tiny little soft snow flakes. Josh and i even ate some...refreshing.
Tuesday 3rd April - Topdeck Day 5 Drive to Avignon.
Drove thorugh Geneva today but I did not see James moffat. oh well it turns out i got to see him in london before he when back to rainy old australia. Arrived in Avignon around 4:30 today. There are two things in Avignon...1. The Palais des Popes and 2. the unfinished bridge. We went on a walking tour...In the 14th centruy the Catholic church moved their headquarters to Avignon for about 70 years. The Palais des Popes (Palace of Popes) was built with heavy ramparts (defensive walls)around it. There was another set of ramparts built around the city proper back in that time again. It is still there today covering the centre of Avignon. The river Avignon is situated on...the Rhone river is fed directly from the swiss alps and every spring there are massive floods casued by the melting of the winter snow. The campsite we were at often becomes flooded. In the 1800's there was a nassive 2.5m flood. You can stilll see the mark on the ramparts surrounding the old city. There is also a bridge there that was once finished however has been partly destroyed during the floods but not rebuilt so it stretches half way across the river then stops. Pretty cool. That night was lots of rain and howling wind...our tent held up perfectly. awesome.
Wednesday 4th April - Topdeck day 6 Drive to Barcelona
In the wind the next morning my blue jacket and gortex kept me feeling toasty...thankyou mum! arn't mums just the best ever. Arriving in barcelona at 2ish we went straight into the driving tour. Alot of things were built for the 1992 olympics (not sure if you remember them ann...probably a bit before your time...hehe...love you). There is also Las Ramblas (the main shopping street of Barcelona and also the place where Mark and I were propositioned by prostitutes that following evening at about 4 in the morning and where Josh and Bec almost got mugged). However by far and away the most amazing and beautiful monument in Barcelona is the La Sagrada Familia. It is a cathedral that is still being built. It was first built by the heavily devout Gaudi, an impresionist artist well known for doing weird artwork. No stress if you haven't heard of much that ive been talking about for the past few days...I had no idea about about anything before I came on the trip...it is amazing how much you learn about a place when you're actuallt there looking at it's history. Anyway this was Gaudi's masterpiece. They hope to have it completed but 2026 (marking the centenary of Gaudi's death. he was walking back to admire his mastertpiece and got hit by a tram!). But that is an optimistic aim I think. When completed it will have eigtheen towers...12 for the 12 apostles (98m tall), 4 for the evengelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and john), one for the virgin mary (130m tall) and one for Jesus christ standing 170m tall. It is the other picture at the front page of the blog. Imagine the tower for jesus will eventually stand another 70 metres above those ones. I can't even begin to describe how intricate Gaudi was. He used to sleep in the cathedral. Every little details is amazing with both sides representing two different aspects of the Story of Christ...his birth and his death...with two vastly different style of statues. The saying is true though...you really have to see it to get a true understanding of just how amazing it is. Anyway that night we got on the Sangria's (traditional spanish drink - fruity red wine) and got well smashed (don't worry college crew there was no occurrence of a certain incident that happened in vaucluse hallway after a night on the wine...hehe). Managed to come home with Kobi and Imma (we had lost josh and bec straight after dinner) so Josh wasn't too happy when I stumbled home with a key i thought didn't work (turns out it blatantly did) and woke him up to let me in (we were staying in a hostel) at 4:00am. Awesome night though. Best night of drinking and dancing so far on tour.
Thursday 5th April - Topdeck Day 7 Day in Barcelona
I was feeling decidedly worse for wear but I was up and took a group of ten of us to do the Fat tyre bike tour around Barcelona. It was no where near as good as Paris (not as many sites) but it was still great to see development of spain as an country and also of Catalunya as a region. Barcelona is the capital of the Catalunya region and they are fierce about it. They hate being called spanish and think they are their own nation. That afternoon saw another of the highlight's of the tour for us. Josh, Bec and myself hopped on the tube and went out to Camp Nou ("New"), the home stadium of the Barcelona Football (now that we are poms) Club. We went on a self guided tour of the ground. It was something special. The changrooms (5 star +), the walk onto the ground, the pitch itself, the press box, the lounges, the stands and even a little chapel for a last minute prayer before going out and being Rhonaldinho (who looks like a horse and probably runs like our resident horse runner...mat phillips too...remember year 5 mat!). The stadium is amazing because even though it can hold 130,000, even in the furtherst bleaches you feel close to the action because the seats are so steep. We just sat in the stands for about 20 minutes imagining being out there infront of that many people. There was also a photo museum of soccer and a museum tracing the history of the Barcelona Football club or Barca FC. That night we went on a pub crawl that included an hour of all you can drink sangria and a free shot at the remaining three pubs. Another late one with Marky and myslef being propositioned by prostitutes along Las Ramblas. mark replied in a duly drunken tone "I just want McDonalds!" it was hilarious. We manged to make it home at 4:45 having to be up again at 6:15...awesome night.
Friday 6th April (Good Friday)- Topdeck Day 8 Drive to French Riviera (Nice)
Felt great (ha) in the morning but headed back into France along the coast towards Nice (like the biscuit) and Antibes (On-teebes), home of the rich and famous. It is famous for it's beautiful beaches on the meditterenean (in fact they are rocky beaches with no waves...but beautiful nonetheless, the rocks are perfectly round and the water is the blue-est blue imaginable). I took a sweet photo that ill attach. We stayed at Antibes. Played some spoons (a card game) and then went to bed.
Saturday 7th April - Topdeck Day 9 Day in Nice and our trip to Monaco
We had about 6 hours in Nice today. Bec, Josh and I went looking around town then spent ages in internet cafe catching up with events. We wanted to go to the markets to get lunch but they had shut by the time we got there. There were awesome though. Earlier Josh and I had bought two of the biggest Pink lady apples we had had ever seen. We treid to find a cheap second hand clothing place to buy cheap suits for our trip to monaco tonight but couldn't find any. We sat on the beach for lunch. It was a nice day of about 17 degrees. We were umming and rrrring as to whether we would take off our jackets but these europeans didn't need to be asked twice. It was shirts off central. Old saggy women were topless sunbaking (I couldn't believe there were no youngings). It was sweet though. Ipaddled my feet in the Meditteranean. Even though there were thousands on the beach I was only one of two people gaming the water. I went up to the lookout and had a look along the beach and the esplanade. It was great. At 3 we headed back to camp to get dolled up as we were going to hit Principality of Monte Carlo (the 2nd smallest country in the world). We arrived at monaco at about 8. I now have a new found respect for F1 drivers. I saw just how thin the streets of Monaco were and was dumbfounded how they could zoom aroung here at 200km per hour. I saw the place where schumacher apparantly crashed a few years ago. Monte Carlo is so exclusive with 2/3 millionaires. You need to pay rent just to live here. Elton john has been knocked back trying to apply to live here. Lucky for us we came on Easter Saturday so there was a bit of a festival on in the main part of the town with music, lights and street performers. If your not too sure what Monte Carlo is all about it is about rich people, fast cars and casino's. We saw all of them. Abbey you'll love to hear that i saw and took photo of a Maserati but we saw heaps of Ferrari's, Bentley's and the new Maclaren's Merecedes (apparantly not yet even released to general public). However you can drive in through the main roundabout so if i ever come back with a car I will cruise around the roundabout looking like stupid with the windows down. Then we headed into he casino's where I promptly lost $60 (30 euro) at Blackjack. That was about it. We didn't get to stay very long. But ladies there were some very eligibale young bachelors you should try to bag.
Sunday 8th April (Easter Sunday) - Topdeck Day 10 Drive to Venice, Italy stopping at fair Verona.
We spent much of the first few hours driving through tunnels drilled into mountains. We arrived in Verona about 2:30. Verona is where Romeo and Juliet is set and we went to the balcony where romeo woos juliet. It was cool. There is this wall where people can write messages to loved ones. It is absolutely covered but i still managed to twist my arm through and wrote Ann a love msg on the wall and have taken a photo of it so now ive got a permanent record. That was about it in Verona. Being our first day in italy it began our groups facination with Gelato. Italy has many illegal merchants that hang around trying to sell you dodgy stuff like bags, watches and wallets. You can be fined up to 3000 eoru ($6000) if you get caught buying from them. I hate to say it but about 99% are of african descent and its sad becasue they probably come over here and this is pretty much the only thing they can do to survive...it may well be what josh and i are going to have to do just to stay afloat over here in london...we still cant find a job even! There is a statue of juliet under Juliet's balcony that has one copper breast. If you touch it you get lucky in love. It was really busy but i managed a cheeky squeeze. Then we headed into Venice. Tommorrow was our day in Venice proper. We stayed outside at a campsite. There are no cars allowed on the island of Venice. You can drive to the entrance and park but no cars. 3/4 live out of Venice and head in to work. Venice is on about 200 tiny little islands surrounded by about 120 canals and heaps of bridges.The Grand canal is the big one that separated Venice ito two parts. It has three bridges across it. It is slowly sinking and will be uninhabitable in about 100 years. It's pretty amazing though..even if it is a bit smelly. It is the home of lace-making and glass-blowing. It was founded by pidgeons (people noiticed pidgeons hanging around the islands) and is home of the famous Gondala rides.
Monday 9th April - Topdeck Day 11 Day in Venice.
We went on a confusing (so many criss-scrossing streets) walking tour this morning passing by St Marks Basilica and the old Palace and Piazza de Si Marco (St Marks square - lowest point in Venice and always floods...they have permanantly accessible scaffolding fo when it floods). What ive learnt is that everything in western europe was either built for religion or a world fair and everwhere floods...there you go thats western europe in a nutshell. St Marks Basilica (to be a basilica/cathedral a part of a saint must be buried there. There can be only one cathedral in a city) has St Mark, the evangelist, buried there even though they have lost him twice in the walls when massive flooding occurred and rubuilding took place. After we went to a lace making demonstration.mum...you would have loved it. It is so intricate and time consuming. A 50cm x 50cm piece of traditional venetian lace could take 6 workers about 4 months to do. Luckily now that have government subsidies or else the art of lace making would long be dead. After that it was time for a gondala ride in the dirty dirty water (everything goes in there). It was great though. Seeing houses begin from the water up. Then Bec, Josh and I took a ride along the grand canal in the ferry and headed home early to have a nap. Alas, josh and i put our heads down for about 30 seconds then decided b***** this playing soccer on the mini soccer court (smaller than our indoor one boys) was a much better idea. Then we played table tennis. It was so much fun. When some of the others turned up we had a sweet game of 4 on 4 which my team ended up losing to a golden goal from Josh. That night we had a toga party (I had bought some interesting statue of david boxers...see the photos)and had a traditional italian meal of pasta and pizza. It was then off to the bar for more drinking. After pretty much everyone had left and it was only Mark and myself left, we were chatting to these girls. Mark had his eye on one (it should be said that Im pretty sure he had his eyes on any of them it was just a matter of who looked back). Anyone paul, you'll be proud of me I was a wingman for him and took the other four girls out of the equation for him, wooing them with my manly charms (don't worry ann...you're way hotter than any of them...hehe). Success for Marky!
Tuesday 10th April - Topdeck Day 12 To Florence visa Pisa.
We arrived a Pisa around lunchtime and left in little groups to have a look at the leaning tower. I didn't know this before but the leaning tower of Pisa is a bell tower. So on the site is also the church and baptistry of Pisa (all of those old chruches have a) the main church, b) a baptistry and c) a bell tower). It is pretty cool. It is on a 10 degrees lean. They have it stable at the moment but expect it to fall some time in the next 100 years...at 55m tall it's gonna kill some people. It sinks 1.2mm a year. Once they tried to stabilise it by putting concrete underneath but it sunk a whopping 5mm in just 2 hours which doesn't sound much but is actually incrediable. Of course we took photos of us pushing it up and of course photos of the tower as our penis...well we are boys...pretty much all the young males did! We hung around camp till after dinner then went to a karaoke bar, where we continued to drink and sing. The tour leader and I did a karaoke rendition of Land Down Under till I got a little excited and accidently jumped on the sound equipment, quickly bringing the song to a halt...I left the stage with my tail between my legs. We continued to drink Long Island Iced teas. Im not sure what happened but I walked home getting completely lost for a good hour trying to flag down cars to ask where I was...no one stopped. Luckily i kept on what I thought was the general right direction and I eventually found the campsite...phew!!! good night though.
Wednesday 11th April - Topdeck Day 13 Day in Florence.
Florence is home to the Renaissance, which is a period of time not unlike the Romantic age where architecture and art took on a very beautiful feel (I sound like a bit of a dag don't I...Oh well). It was home to the most Famous sculptor ever...Michelangelo (and also his statue of David), Scienctist, Galileo Galili, and Machiavelli (my social psych buddies know what im talking about). Our walkng tour took in the Uffizi Gallery (old offices now a famous art gallery), to the first bridge built across the River Arno (which separates two bits of Florence). We also went to the world's 4th largest cathedral, the Duomo. It took 150 years to build and has a giant dome on top. It was breath-taking. However before completion the dome was not there and the cathedral was roofless becasue no one could work out how to build it...fianlly Brunelleschi worked it out (in 1420) and the dome is actually two domes self supported. The roof took 7 years to paint. It is amazing. It looks like it is a flat piece of artwork even though it is a dome. About 100 years later, Michelangelo used that as his model for the Cistine Chapel. After, Bec and I went to go to a church whose floor consisted of 272 tombs. Michelangelo is buried there. We decided in the end not to go in though. It was then time to line up to see the statue of David in the Gallerie de Accademia. It was a long 2 hour wait in the hot sun bit it was totally worth it. Only five of the group toughed it out. Amazing though. Michelangelo used to peform illegal autopsy's on bodies to examine human biology. David, depicting the victory of David over goliath that would become a symbol of Italian pride, is anatomically correct except for one muscle in his right arm. I know you are probably saying how can a statue be anatomically correct...i was saying the same thing. But the detail of the sculpture was amazing. It is a 15 foot sculture, the ripples of his body created it's own shadows...thats the best way I can really describe it. The wait is definitely worth it. We aslo saw a leather making demonstration but it was too expensive to buy a leather wallet. We had a charge party that night (where evryone sits around this toilet block charging their camera's etc). ?
Thursday 12th April - Topdeck Day 14 To Rome via Orvietto.
Orvietto is a hilltop town (so they could see incoming invaders) that sits on the border of 3 regions of Italy about 1 hour out from Rome. It has a sweet cathedral that is painted black and white (i.e.collingwood colours). Just standing in there was surreal (maybe because they had a cd of gregorian chanting on very softly...very good marketing ploy from the cathedral marketing department...hehe). In some places in Europe they have these 24 hour clocks. Im not exactly sure if they measure the actually time or the amount of hours from sunset. Onto Rome. We were dropped on the Northern outskirts then made our way in by metro rail. We had a big talking to about being careful and wary of pickpockets in Rome. We listened but didn't really realise the magnitude of it until one of our guys almost got his stolen only to have the guy get off and sneer at us. Then Josh almost got pickpocketed...for the second time! surreal. It was time for our massive walking tour through Rome. Ill try to keep it short with place and brief description...Piazza del Popolo (held big events including killings and races), Spanish Steps (built with Frrench money but named after nearby Spanish embassy, leads up to holy trinity church), Pantheon (built in 27AD. Still to this day architects don't know how they built the dome on top, diameter = height (43m), Gelato (Topdeck special 5 scoops...awesome), Trevi Fountain (built by taxing roads...public not happy...throw coins in there for a wish, a safe return to rome and marriage...depicts Neptune and the moods of the sea), Vittorio Emmanuelle Building (He was the guy who pieced iItaly together mid 1800's, site of the biggest horse statue in europe, stands infront of the biggest roundabout in Italy, which you must be forceful to cross), Roman Forum (some of the oldest parts of Rome, ancient business district of Rome, can see Palatine hill), Colesseum (home of Gladiator fighting, Earthquake and pillaging has destroyed some of it but it's amazing). That was about it.It was our last night of the tour.
Friday 13th April - Last day of tour...flight back to London & Saturday 14th April.
We said goodbye in the morning then Josh and I went back to sleep for a few hours. We had every intention to go into Rome but time got away organising some accommodation in Greenwich and ringing home. We decided not to risk missing our shuttle to airport. We went to Airport for our 10 pm flight on the most uncomfortable airline Ive ever been on...but it was cheap. We arrived at Stanstead airport at 1:30 am London Time and slept on the airport terminal floor till 6:00am. We then caught many trains to get to Greenwich (lots of trackwork) but we made it and we put our stuff into the Hostel. Before we could check in we went for an exploratory walk to Blackheath through Greenwich park (shirts off everywhere...poms loving getting their kit off even at the slightest hint of warmth...and ill tell ya what part of the stereotype is correct...pale, cubby, shaved head is not a good look for shirt off...sounds a bit like me...rest assured there will be no shirtless sunbaking in the chilly 17 degrees sun). Managed to eventually find the ground that will be our home ground, the Rectory Field. That was cool.
Before I continue I suppose id better give topdeck a bit of a plug. The tour Iwent on was absoutely great. The idea is to show you around and then give you free time to explore. The coach is great, the tents are sweet (even though we got upgraded alot on this early season trip), the leaders are really knowledgable and the cooking is sensational. The group of people I went with were sensational. I had a core group of about 10 who were just the best. Go on one. Better than Contiki...I know it might not sound like it but less booze oriented (still drink heaps though) and more experience oriented. Since we got to Greenwich we've been trying really hard to get job and place to live. Met cricket guy and had training. Hoping playing standard is better than traininng standard but still excited. Will be playing two games this weekend. This weekend London Marathon will start 5 minutes from where we are living. Survivng here is going to be tough. We had to fork out $450 each to stay 10 nights in hostel but have since managed (after countless hours trying) to secure a place for at least a month. Josh and I are sharing a room where one sleeps on the floor one night and on the bed the other. The house has a kitchen and thats it.Four others live there. No tv or anything. It is right near the Rectory oval though. Im hell excitied. I had a job interview to be a teacher's aid but hve to wait at least a 2 months until i get a criminal history check done from back in Australia. We are also leaving our options open if the cricket is crap. There are a few live in pub jobs out in the country that we might apply for just in case. I'll post again sometime in the near future.?Hope all is well at home with everyone. Tim
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