Straight home, little sleep and back out the door again. YEAAAAAAH BOI! (<--insert appropriate gun finger-scooping out a wasp from your strongbow-in the air-actions, for the WHOLE weekend)
We now hate OASIS. They clearly never intended to play Chelmsford. arrghhhh bastards. The only big decent band there. great.
Noisettes - amazing. Want her body and clothes. Okay, good.
Dizzy Rascal - drunken essex crowd alla chavy old school classics, cant be beaten.
Killers - Bringing it back to the Opium days. I'm Mr Brightside.
Sneaky Soundsystem, The Specials, Lily Allen, Paolo Nutini, James Morrison, Keane, MGMT all good. Katy Perry, shite.
Dominos pizza goooood.
BEANS AND MASH from 'I love Sausage' another highlight.
K Cider. Very alcoholic and appropriately tent warmed. mmmmm.
Cold beans, double chocolate spread and bread...yeah boi!
Bottle throwing frenzy.
You snooze, you get abused with a fat permanent marker. standard.
V Festival, the most posy 'i need to look alla Kate Moss' festival in the world. If Liquid and 131 made festivals, this is it.
Time with the rest of the girls though, Priceless. Loving the tent action and Nic's bright blue stained toes.
Great weekend and sunshine. yes yes.
Next year, Creamfields and SW4. Lets get some good music on the go people.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Thursday, 20 August 2009
MADRID
And onto our LAST stop (insert crying face here!)
It is SWELTERING HOT in Madrid, like 36 degrees! (and that's at about 7pm!)
We left Busabout for the last time, swapped numbers with the Aussie girls and planned to meet up that evening. We found our 'Hostel Castro' (on Calle De Leon) really quickly, buzzed up and had a reply of a stern Spanish 'SI'?!) And so begins the epic and slightly disturbing tale of the check in...We went upstairs and I tried to explain that we had booked a room, the woman rambled back in complete Spanish and then phoned someone on her mobile, then passed it to ME?! I tried my best understand the man on the other end, passed it back to her and she told us we had to go to 'The Office' to pay the 'BOSS'. We blindly followed for 10 minutes not knowing where we were going (and still with our big backpacks and other crap!!! in the major heat) until we eventually reached a officey type place and were lead into a basement where we got a seriously dodgy old lift up the 6th floor. The woman knocked on a big wooden door and we were 'greeted' by a small Spanish guy with a BIG beard and sunglasses (which he didn't remove the whole time). He was proper Spainsh Mafia esk and he told us the 'rules' and said he'd give us his number is we needed it. Erm no thanks. We paid in cash (only) then followed the woman back (uphill - naturally) to the hostel. We were told the toliet didnt work so had to poor a bucket of water down to flush it. great. We would eventually find out though that we were in the BEST location, so that made up for things.
That evening we met up with the girls at Palacio Real and walked all across the city, which was beautiful all lit up. We followd my Rough Guides suggestions for somewhere for tapas, but one place was closed and the other was full of hundreds of hams hanging from the celling - very cool, but not so appealing for veggie Scarlett! We found a great place on Carrera De San Jeronimo though and ordered lots of lovely Tapas (calamari, chilli prawns, patatas fittas with cajan sauce, goats cheese with cranberry and nuts...) and washed down with plenty of Sangria of course to wash it down. Next stop was to find flamenco, which didnt happen, but we spent the rest of the night in two great bar/clubs (mainly based on Calle De Echegaray - the BEST road ever ever in Madrid! and 2 mins from the hostel). After a great night, we said our goodbyes to the girls (they were heading off to San Sebastian in the morning).
Day 2 and we had a proper explore and of course in true 'us' style it rained a bit. Spent some time in Parque del buen Retiro (like Hyde Park ish) and sat in the shade with 'Summer Red Wine'. Hostel dinner = packet soup, bread and cheese, little late siesta and then we went to see FLAMENCO! IT WAS AMMMMMMMAZING. We got seated front row in the centre, a metre from the stage, in a little place called Cardamomo and all of the music was live and loud and the dancers got so into it and sweated buckets and the singers done that shouty-singing and the guitarists were insanely talented! The best thing we paid for the whole trip for sure! Was the best place to see it, real, completely non-touristy, proper flamenco.
We also hit the Reina Sofia gallery, which I can safely say is probably the best in the world. Seriously, I dare anyone to go there and not be amazed. Better than the Tate, better than the Louve, massive collections of Picasso, Miro, Dali, Kandinsky, Sutherland, Rothko, Twombly, the list goes on and on...and they had a brilliant Retrospective of Juan Munoz (all the Chinese small men/women sculptures). It was art geek heaven.
After being all gallery-ed out, we went in search of Churros (donuts and hot chocolate) only to be told it was only a breakfast thing. gutting. Instead we lunched on Paella. That evening, we packed our backpacks for the LAST time, got changed and went for our final meal. We treated ourselves to a nice restaurant (La Finca de Susana on c/Ariban 4 - DEFINITE SUGGESTION FOR ANY MADRID VISITORS!) where we had gorgeous starters and Salmon and wine....mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. A pikey McFlurry for desert and then Metro to the aeropuerto :( We slept on the rock hard floor (or rather not slept) and then got our easyjet flight this morning. Now were back. NOOOOOOOO.
Madrid is so cool. Really authentic Spain (more so than Barcelona). Definate top 3 I think.
Best 5 weeks EVER. Loved every second.
OVER AND OUT.
It is SWELTERING HOT in Madrid, like 36 degrees! (and that's at about 7pm!)
We left Busabout for the last time, swapped numbers with the Aussie girls and planned to meet up that evening. We found our 'Hostel Castro' (on Calle De Leon) really quickly, buzzed up and had a reply of a stern Spanish 'SI'?!) And so begins the epic and slightly disturbing tale of the check in...We went upstairs and I tried to explain that we had booked a room, the woman rambled back in complete Spanish and then phoned someone on her mobile, then passed it to ME?! I tried my best understand the man on the other end, passed it back to her and she told us we had to go to 'The Office' to pay the 'BOSS'. We blindly followed for 10 minutes not knowing where we were going (and still with our big backpacks and other crap!!! in the major heat) until we eventually reached a officey type place and were lead into a basement where we got a seriously dodgy old lift up the 6th floor. The woman knocked on a big wooden door and we were 'greeted' by a small Spanish guy with a BIG beard and sunglasses (which he didn't remove the whole time). He was proper Spainsh Mafia esk and he told us the 'rules' and said he'd give us his number is we needed it. Erm no thanks. We paid in cash (only) then followed the woman back (uphill - naturally) to the hostel. We were told the toliet didnt work so had to poor a bucket of water down to flush it. great. We would eventually find out though that we were in the BEST location, so that made up for things.
That evening we met up with the girls at Palacio Real and walked all across the city, which was beautiful all lit up. We followd my Rough Guides suggestions for somewhere for tapas, but one place was closed and the other was full of hundreds of hams hanging from the celling - very cool, but not so appealing for veggie Scarlett! We found a great place on Carrera De San Jeronimo though and ordered lots of lovely Tapas (calamari, chilli prawns, patatas fittas with cajan sauce, goats cheese with cranberry and nuts...) and washed down with plenty of Sangria of course to wash it down. Next stop was to find flamenco, which didnt happen, but we spent the rest of the night in two great bar/clubs (mainly based on Calle De Echegaray - the BEST road ever ever in Madrid! and 2 mins from the hostel). After a great night, we said our goodbyes to the girls (they were heading off to San Sebastian in the morning).
Day 2 and we had a proper explore and of course in true 'us' style it rained a bit. Spent some time in Parque del buen Retiro (like Hyde Park ish) and sat in the shade with 'Summer Red Wine'. Hostel dinner = packet soup, bread and cheese, little late siesta and then we went to see FLAMENCO! IT WAS AMMMMMMMAZING. We got seated front row in the centre, a metre from the stage, in a little place called Cardamomo and all of the music was live and loud and the dancers got so into it and sweated buckets and the singers done that shouty-singing and the guitarists were insanely talented! The best thing we paid for the whole trip for sure! Was the best place to see it, real, completely non-touristy, proper flamenco.
We also hit the Reina Sofia gallery, which I can safely say is probably the best in the world. Seriously, I dare anyone to go there and not be amazed. Better than the Tate, better than the Louve, massive collections of Picasso, Miro, Dali, Kandinsky, Sutherland, Rothko, Twombly, the list goes on and on...and they had a brilliant Retrospective of Juan Munoz (all the Chinese small men/women sculptures). It was art geek heaven.
After being all gallery-ed out, we went in search of Churros (donuts and hot chocolate) only to be told it was only a breakfast thing. gutting. Instead we lunched on Paella. That evening, we packed our backpacks for the LAST time, got changed and went for our final meal. We treated ourselves to a nice restaurant (La Finca de Susana on c/Ariban 4 - DEFINITE SUGGESTION FOR ANY MADRID VISITORS!) where we had gorgeous starters and Salmon and wine....mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. A pikey McFlurry for desert and then Metro to the aeropuerto :( We slept on the rock hard floor (or rather not slept) and then got our easyjet flight this morning. Now were back. NOOOOOOOO.
Madrid is so cool. Really authentic Spain (more so than Barcelona). Definate top 3 I think.
Best 5 weeks EVER. Loved every second.
OVER AND OUT.
Monday, 17 August 2009
VALENCIA
Valencia is so so much fun! It´s the most ´Spanish´ place we´ve visited definatley, as in all of the people speak their language and not much English etc. We arrived on a National Holiday, so it was like a complete ghost town, especially during Siesta time! We are however getting used to this chill-out-in-the-day laziness though and enjoyed people watching and chatting under some shade with a token Coca Cola Light.
We walked around to get our barings (it´s much bigger than I had expected) and it´s just so so nice. Lovely buildings and little shops and cafes and so chilled out everywhere. Quite a bit different from bustling Barcellona. That completely changed when night fell though! We got changed and poppped to the off licence to get some red wine and Fanta lemon (mixed as they do in Madrid) and sat and drank and chatted in a massive group with all of other Busabout people and some others that were staying in the hostel. By 12ish we left to find our first bar (we decided we´d do our own, save the pennies! We found some really cool places and drank Água de Valencia´(Valencian orange juice with Cava), after dancing across the town with the locals, 5 of us jumped on the bus and headed down to the beach where we paddled and played on the sand. All along the promenade were so so many locals all sitting there drinking. We had a littel walk to see what the clubs were like and found a couple of nice ones, both however that were charging 13 euro entry (and it was already gone 3am) so we decided to be cheap and just head back to the beach, which was when we beacame lucky and manage to get FREE passes to one the clubs! absolute result! We popped into a REALLY smoky Spainsh place first where everyone was slasa dancing which was amazing.
After clubbing (and enhaling about 3 packets of cigarettes, arggghh) we sat on the roof terrace which was so nice (the place was very Opium-esk, with all the Bhuddas and insence etc). We then layed at the beach till sunrise (waring it gets COLD) and we made it!! By 7am we decided to call it a night (baring in mind we´d been up since 5am travelling from Barcalona too) BUT the bus wasn´t due to arrive till 8am! so Scarlett and I decided we´d walk it. It took an hour and a half. oh god. By about 9.15am we reached a little place and had breakfast and then headed back to the hostel (to see people waking up) and we had a little nap (IMPOSSIBLE in the heat)
I had to get back up, so went to the IVAM Gallery of Modern art down the road which was incredible, really really good! and it made a nice change to all of the old historic stuff weve been seeing for so much of the trip. Scarlett then joined me and we walked around town and had some lunch (and a McFlurry, WHICH is much more expenive than in England, so count yoursleves lucky) and walked up to the Gardens and watched all of the local football temas playing their Sunday Leagues.
We met our Aussie girl friends back at the Hosted an all went on the Walking Tour where we learnt all about Valencia and its history etc for a couple of hours. Tapas followed which was goooood. We got back, got changed and found a little place that supposidly had Flemenco dancing (but we were way too late and it had finished which was a shame) but had some sangria and moved on to another really Spanishy place with great music. After a while the smoke and loudness coupled with 43 hours of being awake hit us a bit and we decided to call it a night.
Im now downstairs all packed and ready for our LAST bus to Madrid. Luckily this one doesnt leave till 1ish, so we´re all going to the ´Central Mercat´in a minute which sounds great, with 980 stalls of all sorts of stuff. Ive really enjoyed Valencia and would (as always) recommend it, as you get much more of a traditional Spanishy experience without as many tourists or touristy places. We´ve had such a nice time with the Aussie girls too, it´s a shame we only had one more day with them ;(
We walked around to get our barings (it´s much bigger than I had expected) and it´s just so so nice. Lovely buildings and little shops and cafes and so chilled out everywhere. Quite a bit different from bustling Barcellona. That completely changed when night fell though! We got changed and poppped to the off licence to get some red wine and Fanta lemon (mixed as they do in Madrid) and sat and drank and chatted in a massive group with all of other Busabout people and some others that were staying in the hostel. By 12ish we left to find our first bar (we decided we´d do our own, save the pennies! We found some really cool places and drank Água de Valencia´(Valencian orange juice with Cava), after dancing across the town with the locals, 5 of us jumped on the bus and headed down to the beach where we paddled and played on the sand. All along the promenade were so so many locals all sitting there drinking. We had a littel walk to see what the clubs were like and found a couple of nice ones, both however that were charging 13 euro entry (and it was already gone 3am) so we decided to be cheap and just head back to the beach, which was when we beacame lucky and manage to get FREE passes to one the clubs! absolute result! We popped into a REALLY smoky Spainsh place first where everyone was slasa dancing which was amazing.
After clubbing (and enhaling about 3 packets of cigarettes, arggghh) we sat on the roof terrace which was so nice (the place was very Opium-esk, with all the Bhuddas and insence etc). We then layed at the beach till sunrise (waring it gets COLD) and we made it!! By 7am we decided to call it a night (baring in mind we´d been up since 5am travelling from Barcalona too) BUT the bus wasn´t due to arrive till 8am! so Scarlett and I decided we´d walk it. It took an hour and a half. oh god. By about 9.15am we reached a little place and had breakfast and then headed back to the hostel (to see people waking up) and we had a little nap (IMPOSSIBLE in the heat)
I had to get back up, so went to the IVAM Gallery of Modern art down the road which was incredible, really really good! and it made a nice change to all of the old historic stuff weve been seeing for so much of the trip. Scarlett then joined me and we walked around town and had some lunch (and a McFlurry, WHICH is much more expenive than in England, so count yoursleves lucky) and walked up to the Gardens and watched all of the local football temas playing their Sunday Leagues.
We met our Aussie girl friends back at the Hosted an all went on the Walking Tour where we learnt all about Valencia and its history etc for a couple of hours. Tapas followed which was goooood. We got back, got changed and found a little place that supposidly had Flemenco dancing (but we were way too late and it had finished which was a shame) but had some sangria and moved on to another really Spanishy place with great music. After a while the smoke and loudness coupled with 43 hours of being awake hit us a bit and we decided to call it a night.
Im now downstairs all packed and ready for our LAST bus to Madrid. Luckily this one doesnt leave till 1ish, so we´re all going to the ´Central Mercat´in a minute which sounds great, with 980 stalls of all sorts of stuff. Ive really enjoyed Valencia and would (as always) recommend it, as you get much more of a traditional Spanishy experience without as many tourists or touristy places. We´ve had such a nice time with the Aussie girls too, it´s a shame we only had one more day with them ;(
Saturday, 15 August 2009
BARCELONA
Hola España!
Had such a great time in Barcelona - 2ish days was definately NOT long enough! It´s such a great city, very London-esk (with better weather). Horçtel was in ´San Just´ a little way out, but it was worth it for a nice comfy bed and decent bathroom...
The trams and metro are great, which meant we could get round to seeing loads of the sights without the mammoth trek on top. Park Guell was really cool (the one all Mosaicy designed by Gaudi) and the view was absolutely stunning, looking out over the whole intire city right down to the port. We then went to Sgrada Familia (the big unfinished gothic church) but ended up saving our entrance fee for a McFlurry and looked at it from the shade (apparently though there´s not too much to see inside and the extirior is the best)
Mooching (word of the holiday) along Avinguda Diagonal and Gran Via de las Corts Catalanes were so nice, like oxford street length but lined either side with big trees and monuments.
La Rambla was fantastic! (the long street leading down to the water) with loads of REALLY good human statues and people selling everything from PIGIONS?! to tortoices, flowers and artwork. Just on the left was MERCAT de la Boqueria (yes market = mercat, so i compared a few.com whilst I was there!) where we picked up fresh fruit and sandwiches for next to nothing.
We booked an evening Spanish Cooking Class and met at the Travel Shack where we joined some others from Busabout (including 3 Aussie girls weve made friends with). The woman showed us how to make the perfect Sangria (which I am now God at! I cant tell you the secret or I will have to kill you - BUUUUT a tip is muchos Brandy...) and we made Tapas and learnt and ATE loads of seafood Paella. YUM.
Second day saw ua down at Port Vell which had a massive shopping centre and Imax and resturants. We carried on walking all the way down to Parc De la Ciutadella, which was so nice with all the green areas and lakes and fountains. Nice people watching and chilling on a bench for a while, oh and a photo with a big elephant/mammoth thing - as you do obviously...
We checked out MACBA, CCCB (both arty places over by the University)and stopped off at a great shop called 'Holala Plaza' where I fed my addiction of arty magazines and big glossy books for a while and then browsed the Vintage clothes and house stuff - heaven.
Ii could easy live in Barcelona. Cool places to eat, drink shop, everything. Didnt get a chance to even hit any clubs (gutted) so that will be a must next time round. Long weekend (when i have the pennies) here I come!
Had such a great time in Barcelona - 2ish days was definately NOT long enough! It´s such a great city, very London-esk (with better weather). Horçtel was in ´San Just´ a little way out, but it was worth it for a nice comfy bed and decent bathroom...
The trams and metro are great, which meant we could get round to seeing loads of the sights without the mammoth trek on top. Park Guell was really cool (the one all Mosaicy designed by Gaudi) and the view was absolutely stunning, looking out over the whole intire city right down to the port. We then went to Sgrada Familia (the big unfinished gothic church) but ended up saving our entrance fee for a McFlurry and looked at it from the shade (apparently though there´s not too much to see inside and the extirior is the best)
Mooching (word of the holiday) along Avinguda Diagonal and Gran Via de las Corts Catalanes were so nice, like oxford street length but lined either side with big trees and monuments.
La Rambla was fantastic! (the long street leading down to the water) with loads of REALLY good human statues and people selling everything from PIGIONS?! to tortoices, flowers and artwork. Just on the left was MERCAT de la Boqueria (yes market = mercat, so i compared a few.com whilst I was there!) where we picked up fresh fruit and sandwiches for next to nothing.
We booked an evening Spanish Cooking Class and met at the Travel Shack where we joined some others from Busabout (including 3 Aussie girls weve made friends with). The woman showed us how to make the perfect Sangria (which I am now God at! I cant tell you the secret or I will have to kill you - BUUUUT a tip is muchos Brandy...) and we made Tapas and learnt and ATE loads of seafood Paella. YUM.
Second day saw ua down at Port Vell which had a massive shopping centre and Imax and resturants. We carried on walking all the way down to Parc De la Ciutadella, which was so nice with all the green areas and lakes and fountains. Nice people watching and chilling on a bench for a while, oh and a photo with a big elephant/mammoth thing - as you do obviously...
We checked out MACBA, CCCB (both arty places over by the University)and stopped off at a great shop called 'Holala Plaza' where I fed my addiction of arty magazines and big glossy books for a while and then browsed the Vintage clothes and house stuff - heaven.
Ii could easy live in Barcelona. Cool places to eat, drink shop, everything. Didnt get a chance to even hit any clubs (gutted) so that will be a must next time round. Long weekend (when i have the pennies) here I come!
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
NICE & MONACO
Le French Riviera...ahhh qui qui! The drive all along the coast from Italy was lovely and it was great to finally get to the beach!
Our hostel (Hotel Pastoral) is in a great location, right off the top of the main street that leads down to the beach. It was so nice to get up, have breakfast, wack on the suncream and just lay sunbathing (on the very uncomfortable pebbles!) and cool off in the sea - like we were actually on HOLIDAY rather than constantly sightseeing! and then....IT RAINED! The big fat rain that just creeps up on you and with that, everyone ran to find shelter - we found ours (convienently) in a nice place and ate Nutella Crepes to compensate!
The evening dried up and we dolled ourselves up a bit and headed down to the port for a lovely meal alla Salad Niçouis (naturally, when in Nice eh) followed by Muscles for Scal and a lovely piece of salmon for me (obviously with wine and ice cream to wash it all down!) Nice is so clean and well...nice! and we decided that we would also catch a train to Monaco whilst were staying so close by.
So today that's what we did. And oh my god it was STUNNING. I now have a massive dilema though...Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills or a big place in Kensington??? mmmmmm...
Seriously, i really really didnt want to leave, i could have sat people watching for days and days. We saw it all - Monte Carlo, Larvoto and Monaco-Ville. The ports were bursting full of immense boats and mega yachts and litterally every other car was a shiny lamborghini, Rolls Royce or Red Ferrari. It's like a rule. Even the taxi's are Mercedes. Standard really.
We went in the Casino, window-shopped Chanel, Valentino, Dior, Gucci, picked out a nice Lanvin bag, chose a few diamond sets at Van Cleef et Arpels - the list goes on. It was crazy. Then Scarlett spotted Danni Monogue and because she's cool, she walked away without a fuss, I however had to go and stand and look at the hairbrushes she was buying, basically completely circle her and pretend I was just browsing as per usual...(FYI she looked crap - no make up, rubbish clothes but really skinny, I recon theyve done the first round of auditions and now theyre at the judges houses for X Factor because she lives down the road in St Tropez)
We even just wandered into Le Mèridien Beach Plazza Hotel and mooched about like we owned the place. Much fun all round. I really really want to back - maybe for the Grand Prix one year (when im rich and can afford to buy an ice cream even!!) It seriously was the nicest, cleanest, most beautiful place I've been to in ages (like Cannes but friendlier and more liveable - well they have a Zara and a huge supermarket eh!) And it's not all shops, the Palace and the beautiful gardens and all of the nice views and outdoor cinemas...
So my new life plan:
- Earn LOTS of money
- Fill my wardrobe with Chanel (and plenty of Chloè, which makes sense really, like at school - basically it will have my name pre-sewed in incase I loose it)
- Get myself a nice boat (including a couple of Jet Skis on the back)
- Have a nice Ferrari (or appropriate equivalent, im not too fussed)
- Afford to eat out and sit and have drinks with friends in the cool little port-side bars
Forget about being a celebrity or being famous - being RICH is the way forward!
I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE :(
BUT roll on BARCELLONA! Adieu Francais!
Our hostel (Hotel Pastoral) is in a great location, right off the top of the main street that leads down to the beach. It was so nice to get up, have breakfast, wack on the suncream and just lay sunbathing (on the very uncomfortable pebbles!) and cool off in the sea - like we were actually on HOLIDAY rather than constantly sightseeing! and then....IT RAINED! The big fat rain that just creeps up on you and with that, everyone ran to find shelter - we found ours (convienently) in a nice place and ate Nutella Crepes to compensate!
The evening dried up and we dolled ourselves up a bit and headed down to the port for a lovely meal alla Salad Niçouis (naturally, when in Nice eh) followed by Muscles for Scal and a lovely piece of salmon for me (obviously with wine and ice cream to wash it all down!) Nice is so clean and well...nice! and we decided that we would also catch a train to Monaco whilst were staying so close by.
So today that's what we did. And oh my god it was STUNNING. I now have a massive dilema though...Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills or a big place in Kensington??? mmmmmm...
Seriously, i really really didnt want to leave, i could have sat people watching for days and days. We saw it all - Monte Carlo, Larvoto and Monaco-Ville. The ports were bursting full of immense boats and mega yachts and litterally every other car was a shiny lamborghini, Rolls Royce or Red Ferrari. It's like a rule. Even the taxi's are Mercedes. Standard really.
We went in the Casino, window-shopped Chanel, Valentino, Dior, Gucci, picked out a nice Lanvin bag, chose a few diamond sets at Van Cleef et Arpels - the list goes on. It was crazy. Then Scarlett spotted Danni Monogue and because she's cool, she walked away without a fuss, I however had to go and stand and look at the hairbrushes she was buying, basically completely circle her and pretend I was just browsing as per usual...(FYI she looked crap - no make up, rubbish clothes but really skinny, I recon theyve done the first round of auditions and now theyre at the judges houses for X Factor because she lives down the road in St Tropez)
We even just wandered into Le Mèridien Beach Plazza Hotel and mooched about like we owned the place. Much fun all round. I really really want to back - maybe for the Grand Prix one year (when im rich and can afford to buy an ice cream even!!) It seriously was the nicest, cleanest, most beautiful place I've been to in ages (like Cannes but friendlier and more liveable - well they have a Zara and a huge supermarket eh!) And it's not all shops, the Palace and the beautiful gardens and all of the nice views and outdoor cinemas...
So my new life plan:
- Earn LOTS of money
- Fill my wardrobe with Chanel (and plenty of Chloè, which makes sense really, like at school - basically it will have my name pre-sewed in incase I loose it)
- Get myself a nice boat (including a couple of Jet Skis on the back)
- Have a nice Ferrari (or appropriate equivalent, im not too fussed)
- Afford to eat out and sit and have drinks with friends in the cool little port-side bars
Forget about being a celebrity or being famous - being RICH is the way forward!
I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE :(
BUT roll on BARCELLONA! Adieu Francais!
Monday, 10 August 2009
FLORENCE & PISA
(Before I start, the tiny laptop im on in France has the wierdest worst keyboard EVER and all of the letters and punctuation are in different places to normal, so if theres wierd looking words, thats why. I'm not drunk.)
So Florence is really close so didnt take anytime at all to get to. The campsite was in a great location, right next to 'Piazzale Michaelangelo' (with a beautiful panaramic view of the entire city from the terrace bar area) and a 15 minute walk to the centre of town.
We walked over Ponte Vecchio (the famous bridge) which is covered both sides with little jewellery shops, where Scal and I litterally fell in love with the most amazing engagement ring known to mankind...and only about a million pounds. Bargain.
The city is a great mix of the things that weve like about the other places that we've visited, with a nice bit of architecture, history, shops and people watching, a bigger scale Siena, with more to see and do.
Had the BEST lunch ever (on both days in the end) from a little Italian place just past the 'Duomo' - massive Calzone pizzas so stuffed with cheeses etc. I got heartburn. Great.
I haggled with the street art guys and got a few posters and then we queued for 2 HOURS to get into the Uffizi Gallery. Up close Bottochelli etc was brilliant, but after seeing so much great art already, it got a bit samey (BUT we had the nost amusing American family in front of us - mum with too much plastic surgery and the kid with purple hair and illuminous green skiny jeans that jumped up and started singing 'The Hair Song' which she made up herself. Enough said)
Window shopping Chanel and Cartier was nice as was just general wandering little markets and meeting loads of travellers back at the campsite. MASSIVE STORM on the last night though which kept us up all night (even when you shut your eyes the lightning was so bright!)and the nearby club didnt help playing music till gone 3am!
BIG PLUS THOUGH WAS A BONUS STOP AT PISA! saw the leaning tower and the town. Good times. Sorry must rush this one. Arrivè Dèrche Italia!
So Florence is really close so didnt take anytime at all to get to. The campsite was in a great location, right next to 'Piazzale Michaelangelo' (with a beautiful panaramic view of the entire city from the terrace bar area) and a 15 minute walk to the centre of town.
We walked over Ponte Vecchio (the famous bridge) which is covered both sides with little jewellery shops, where Scal and I litterally fell in love with the most amazing engagement ring known to mankind...and only about a million pounds. Bargain.
The city is a great mix of the things that weve like about the other places that we've visited, with a nice bit of architecture, history, shops and people watching, a bigger scale Siena, with more to see and do.
Had the BEST lunch ever (on both days in the end) from a little Italian place just past the 'Duomo' - massive Calzone pizzas so stuffed with cheeses etc. I got heartburn. Great.
I haggled with the street art guys and got a few posters and then we queued for 2 HOURS to get into the Uffizi Gallery. Up close Bottochelli etc was brilliant, but after seeing so much great art already, it got a bit samey (BUT we had the nost amusing American family in front of us - mum with too much plastic surgery and the kid with purple hair and illuminous green skiny jeans that jumped up and started singing 'The Hair Song' which she made up herself. Enough said)
Window shopping Chanel and Cartier was nice as was just general wandering little markets and meeting loads of travellers back at the campsite. MASSIVE STORM on the last night though which kept us up all night (even when you shut your eyes the lightning was so bright!)and the nearby club didnt help playing music till gone 3am!
BIG PLUS THOUGH WAS A BONUS STOP AT PISA! saw the leaning tower and the town. Good times. Sorry must rush this one. Arrivè Dèrche Italia!
Saturday, 8 August 2009
SIENA
ahhhhhh Siena...after the manic few days in Rome it was so nice to just chill out for a little while!
We even had a little bonus stop on the way in a little Tuscan village, where we sat for a while drinking coffee and eating pizza things (for Brunch I may add) to help restore health from drinking the cheap cartons of wine the night before. arrgh.
I'd managed to find us a great deal on lastminute.com before we left, so we found our 4* hotel (yeaaaah baby and for the same price as the hostel!) and were able to have PROPER SHOWERS AND BATHS! (and using their clean towels! - luxury!) After exploring the little streets of nice bag and shoe shops, we ended up just monging out in the lovely room watching dubbed 'Clueless' and random crap on MTV and got oursleves the most comfy best nights sleep in ages!
Siena's not massive and with our trained mega-sightseeing-pace we'd pretty much seen everything in half a day, but it was so nice and we found the BEST BEST BEST ice cream shop in the whole world (and it was pretty cheap!) so we ended up going there a few times during our stay! (mmmmmm....hazelnut was the winner)
That evening we even went back and got showered and dressed and even treated oursleves to some make up...wwooowwww! and then found a great little resturant on Il Campo (the main square) and had such a nice meal with pleny of Chianti (the local red wine) and chatted the night away. We made friends with the waiters and ended up getting another litre of wine for free! There were loads of first year uni students cellebrating the end of the year too - so there was loads of singing and dancing and music, an amazing vibe!
We even had a little bonus stop on the way in a little Tuscan village, where we sat for a while drinking coffee and eating pizza things (for Brunch I may add) to help restore health from drinking the cheap cartons of wine the night before. arrgh.
I'd managed to find us a great deal on lastminute.com before we left, so we found our 4* hotel (yeaaaah baby and for the same price as the hostel!) and were able to have PROPER SHOWERS AND BATHS! (and using their clean towels! - luxury!) After exploring the little streets of nice bag and shoe shops, we ended up just monging out in the lovely room watching dubbed 'Clueless' and random crap on MTV and got oursleves the most comfy best nights sleep in ages!
Siena's not massive and with our trained mega-sightseeing-pace we'd pretty much seen everything in half a day, but it was so nice and we found the BEST BEST BEST ice cream shop in the whole world (and it was pretty cheap!) so we ended up going there a few times during our stay! (mmmmmm....hazelnut was the winner)
That evening we even went back and got showered and dressed and even treated oursleves to some make up...wwooowwww! and then found a great little resturant on Il Campo (the main square) and had such a nice meal with pleny of Chianti (the local red wine) and chatted the night away. We made friends with the waiters and ended up getting another litre of wine for free! There were loads of first year uni students cellebrating the end of the year too - so there was loads of singing and dancing and music, an amazing vibe!
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
ROME
The journey to Rome from Venice was reeeeeallly long and with bad traffic it didnt helpat all (but with the complete first series of both The O.C. and Greys Anatomy, we eventually reached the campsite, which IS THE BEST ONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD! seriously, so cool with the best facilites! (called Camping Roma - would def recommend!)
Again though, Mozzie HEAVEN.
"They can have my body, but the face is MINE!"
ROME IS THE BEST CITY EVER.
I know i say it in pretty much every post, but I LOVE IT.
I have to return again (after throwing a coin over your left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain) and that's fine by me!
We started at Vatican City, which was amazing. Watched the Pope on the screen and drank some holy water and watched real life Nuns just wander around on holiday!
We walked EVERYWHERE and made sure we saw everything worth seeing! Outside the Pantheon was funny having photos with some guys dressed in Roman costumes, which obviously wanted money for it and they weren't too impressed when we just walked off after! well we ARE poor!
Seeing the Colluseum in real life, up close is crazy.
The Crypt of the Capuchins was a wierd highlight - a church decorated entirely of human bones, sculls and all! Scarlett was massively creeped out! hahaa
The evenings were just as fun, met some great people (some girls from Canada and boys from Aukland). Drank too many cartons of CHEAP wine and ate ice cream and played games.
ROME IS BRILLIANT:
- Great great campsite (much better than any of the others)
- Loads of Vespas and traffic
- So many historic sights to visit
- Amazing (and so so many churches)
- Random Nuns EVERYWHERE!
- Fantastic vibe and people
- Dirty, but in a cool historic way!
I'll be back!
Again though, Mozzie HEAVEN.
"They can have my body, but the face is MINE!"
ROME IS THE BEST CITY EVER.
I know i say it in pretty much every post, but I LOVE IT.
I have to return again (after throwing a coin over your left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain) and that's fine by me!
We started at Vatican City, which was amazing. Watched the Pope on the screen and drank some holy water and watched real life Nuns just wander around on holiday!
We walked EVERYWHERE and made sure we saw everything worth seeing! Outside the Pantheon was funny having photos with some guys dressed in Roman costumes, which obviously wanted money for it and they weren't too impressed when we just walked off after! well we ARE poor!
Seeing the Colluseum in real life, up close is crazy.
The Crypt of the Capuchins was a wierd highlight - a church decorated entirely of human bones, sculls and all! Scarlett was massively creeped out! hahaa
The evenings were just as fun, met some great people (some girls from Canada and boys from Aukland). Drank too many cartons of CHEAP wine and ate ice cream and played games.
ROME IS BRILLIANT:
- Great great campsite (much better than any of the others)
- Loads of Vespas and traffic
- So many historic sights to visit
- Amazing (and so so many churches)
- Random Nuns EVERYWHERE!
- Fantastic vibe and people
- Dirty, but in a cool historic way!
I'll be back!
VENICE
I'd heard such great things about Venice, I really hoped that it would live up to my expectations...and it definately did.
On the coach in we watched The Italian Job (the new one with Charlize Theron) and we were like little kids all excited!
The capsite was really cool and we were even upgraded into a little cabin rather than tramp tent (for free!) so it was a good start. After getting off of the shuttle bus, we got completely lost trying to find our way to St Marks Square and it took us ages to even find the Grande Canal! but getting lost is the absolute BEST thing to do in Venice. There's no point in even pretending to be able to follow a map - the tiny streets, dead ends and bridges over the water. We did however manage to jump on a 'Vaperetto' (water bus) for free as we could find where to buy tickets! and eventually found our way to Castello (an area we only later realised was the main point for the La Venice Biennale.
More getting lost, people watching and eating lots of 'Gelato' (ice cream) was basically what we spent our days doing (note - to tell if its real fresh homemade ice cream the banana flavour should be GREY! so i tried it, of course, and its ammmmmmmazing!)
St Marks Square and the Bastilica were just stunning. After waiting in the queue and covering our shoulders and knees we got inside to see if the interior was as beautiful as it was from outside - it really was. So intricate and gold with frescos and marble and stained glass...ahhhhh and the atmosphere was so strange, almost haunting, but so peaceful.
Walking around the Piazza, we picked out our million pound yellow diamond rings, listened to a live orchestra and watched the pigions fly by. absolute heaven.
In the evening we decided to toacst out first night in Italy with pizzas and Vino and we chated and watched to world go by. We even managed to miss our shuttle back, but in doing so met an American girl (also staying at our campsite) who is now living in Madrid and she gave us loads of tips of things we can do/see/eat/drink there!
WE LOVE VENICE.
ButI got EATEN ALIVE!! mosquito heaven, even after treating myself to rediculously overpriced repelant, they came to me like a was a never ending happy hour of free blood - arrrghhhhh.
There's not much to write, you really can't explain it very well unless you see the city for yourself. The gondalas and the many many Venician mask shops and lace shops and pizza resturants...
I want to go back in the winter now, get all wrapped up warm with my massive red scarf and watch it snow ;)
On the coach in we watched The Italian Job (the new one with Charlize Theron) and we were like little kids all excited!
The capsite was really cool and we were even upgraded into a little cabin rather than tramp tent (for free!) so it was a good start. After getting off of the shuttle bus, we got completely lost trying to find our way to St Marks Square and it took us ages to even find the Grande Canal! but getting lost is the absolute BEST thing to do in Venice. There's no point in even pretending to be able to follow a map - the tiny streets, dead ends and bridges over the water. We did however manage to jump on a 'Vaperetto' (water bus) for free as we could find where to buy tickets! and eventually found our way to Castello (an area we only later realised was the main point for the La Venice Biennale.
More getting lost, people watching and eating lots of 'Gelato' (ice cream) was basically what we spent our days doing (note - to tell if its real fresh homemade ice cream the banana flavour should be GREY! so i tried it, of course, and its ammmmmmmazing!)
St Marks Square and the Bastilica were just stunning. After waiting in the queue and covering our shoulders and knees we got inside to see if the interior was as beautiful as it was from outside - it really was. So intricate and gold with frescos and marble and stained glass...ahhhhh and the atmosphere was so strange, almost haunting, but so peaceful.
Walking around the Piazza, we picked out our million pound yellow diamond rings, listened to a live orchestra and watched the pigions fly by. absolute heaven.
In the evening we decided to toacst out first night in Italy with pizzas and Vino and we chated and watched to world go by. We even managed to miss our shuttle back, but in doing so met an American girl (also staying at our campsite) who is now living in Madrid and she gave us loads of tips of things we can do/see/eat/drink there!
WE LOVE VENICE.
ButI got EATEN ALIVE!! mosquito heaven, even after treating myself to rediculously overpriced repelant, they came to me like a was a never ending happy hour of free blood - arrrghhhhh.
There's not much to write, you really can't explain it very well unless you see the city for yourself. The gondalas and the many many Venician mask shops and lace shops and pizza resturants...
I want to go back in the winter now, get all wrapped up warm with my massive red scarf and watch it snow ;)
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