Europe 2012

Contiki tour through Europe with my cousin Emma, as well as some sightseeing and catching up with family in London

A summary of Percy’s adventures

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Mel

Just for you Anna! And all the other Percy lovers out there 🙂 Percy had a great trip but is glad to be home and back with all his friends.

Percy having a beer at Perth airport before the flight

How exciting, first time on a plane!

Woohoo 7am and we are on the contiki bus for day 1!

All tucked up in bed while we get ready to hit Amsterdam the first night

The Heineken brewery experience in Amsterdam

Anne Frank Huis

Now on to BERLIN! Where Percy was almost lost forever in a stairwell (someone rescued him though)

The Jewish memorial in Berlin

Mmm snickers mcflurry!

Percy did visit the Berlin Wall and all the other locations in Berlin with us but I think the photos are on my camera sorry…

Percy’s adventures in Prague. Percy and I really liked Prague 🙂 we want to go back again soon!

Percy loved the view off Charles bridge

Percy had a great time discovering public transport – NOT!! We got so lost lol.

Ah Percy, you’re a drunk

Percy and I on a river cruise in Prague

Just dive right in to that CRAZILY CHEAP VODKA in Prague little buddy

Now it was Oktoberfest time in Munich.

Percy got a Percy sized stein….

Mmmmm beer he says!

Just dive right in….

Platypus mother Mel drank a lot of beer which may explain the photo before his one…

Long day for Percy. Hat thief!

Onwards to Venice. Not many photos of Percy in Venice as it isn’t really a safe place to be constantly opening and closing your handbag. He was there though!

Venice was very pretty

Percy went on a gondola ride and snuggled on the love seat with emma and Amelia

Mmmm street pizza

Austria on the way to Venice – beautiful

Now Rome! My 2nd favourite place after Prague…

We visited the Pantheon, trevi fountain and Spanish steps that first night…

Percy thought this castle was amazing

The colosseum!

Mmmm gelato

Yay Florence! Not many photos here…mother Mel and auntie emma…drank a lot and ummmm….yeah.

Looking all pretty before heading out for dinner. Sorry I came home really drunk at 1:30am Percy! Errrr and then left for Switzerland at 6am still really drunk hahaha

The bed in our hotel room…. for midgets obviously

Mmmm cocktails….messy

Yay, view from the bell tower. Which almost killed me to climb

There are no Percy pics at Pisa. I’m amazed there’s actually one of me. So hungover on the way to Switzerland!

Percy in Switzerland (where he was very upset not to climb mt Pilatus on the cool train. Rah)

Percy was sad cos Mel was homesick and missing her beautiful nephew 😦

The boat cruise and ferris wheel ride on lake Lucerne helped everyone cheer up though

Chapel bridge in Lucerne, where the famous water tower is

Mmmm macaroon

PARIS!!!!! Hooooooraaaaay. Last contiki stop and almost the end of our adventure.

Up the Eiffel Tower! 2nd floor cos you couldn’t see anything but fog at the top (we still went up though)

We saw the Mona Lisa at the louvre

We climbed the Arc de Triomphe

Moulin rouge was amazing. Percy stayed home for that one though

He was sad to say goodbye to the bus mascot, a British bulldog!

Percy and the rest of contiki were lucky enough to see the Eiffel Tower light up at night

At the end of contiki we spent a few days in London! Not many photos of Percy here as I explored on my own a bit and he had to stay in the hotel room one day because I ran out of handbag space. He was there in spirit though!

He rode the tube a lot. Terrifying at first but I had it nailed by the end!

He got a new buddy at the natural history and science museum! Baby T-Rex.

Big Ben

London bridge

SQUIRRELS IN THE PARK!!!!

Last night in London, he stayed in and we went to Hard Rock Cafe

Important life lesson for all – don’t eat at heathrow airport….you will get food poisoning and suffer miserably for the entire flight!

Thanks for following Percy’s adventures folks! 🙂

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: Europe, Percy | 2 Comments

…and home!

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Mel

Well I am finally home and happy in my own bed!

We checked out of the hotel yesterday morning and headed straight out to heathrow. I had some drama with my carry on bag breaking (stupid zip) but after sitting on my suitcase I managed to get all my crap into it.

The flight left heathrow for Doha an hour late (no surprise) but it meant when we got to Doha we literally had to run from the plane to the bus then to the terminal and then to our gate! As we were boarding in Doha I started to feel really gross – not just sleep deprived but dizzy and hot. On the plane the flight attendant gave me lots of water but it got worse and worse. By the time we took off (an hour late again) I was in tears.

Hello food poisoning!

Worst 13ish hours on a plane EVER. Stuck in a middle seat throwing up and suffering severe stomach pain. I
wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

I was so glad to get off the damn plane tonight and SUPER glad that Sarah came to pick me up complete with fizzy drink and a bucket to spew in. Now I am home in bed relaxing (before exam
marking begins) and the holiday is all over 😦

I give Qatar airlines 3.5 out of 5 for really good onboard service but their planes all ran late and their airport is CRAP!

Contiki gets 3 out of 5…I enjoyed the experience but the fact we couldn’t plan anything as we didn’t know what was happening until the night before was infuriating. Not to mention the number of “buy stuff here” things we had to do. It was very good value for money though.

Tune hotel in Westminster gets 4 out of 5. Tiny, tiny little rooms but the location and the price were absolutely worth it.

Europe as a whole gets 5 out of 5 because I loved it! I particularly want to go back and explore Prague, Paris and Rome. Not to mention Greece and Eastern Europe and, and, and…

Thanks to all my lovely blog readers and followers! You guys are the best xo

Now to decide where the next trip is going to be….

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: food, Plane, Qatar | 8 Comments

Day 23 – London (ow my feet hurt)

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Mel

Another long but productive day! It’s 11:30pm here and I’m 5 cocktails down so I preemptively apologise for my spelling….

Today was a very long day as it was our last full day here. We got up early and headed off to Waterloo station which was…terrifying…so many people and trains and lines and signs and, and, and PEOPLE! We sussed it in the end and after a line swap hopped off at the London Bridge stop near the London Dungeon. Arriving 15 mins before it opened still left us waiting in line for half an hour but once we got in it was great. The tour goes for 90mins and I highly recommend it, I screamed a lot and emma got burnt at the stake muahahaha must have been all the blaspheming you did in the churches young lady!

After the dungeon we walked up to the Tower Bridge and took lots of photos before walking across to the tower of London. As it was almost 1pm we decided not to go into the tower and leave it for the next time we are here so we headed on towards the London monument. My dad suggested this as a must see and it was great although I had about 3 asthma attacks on the way up the 311 bloody stairs. I know it was 311. They gave me a certificate which says so! I tried to pay the entry with all my useless copper coins and got kindly told to “fuck off” so that plan failed. I ended up giving them all to a guitar player in a subway.

The monument was awesome, it was very cold and windy at the top but the views of the London skyline were amazing and I highly recommend it.

After climbing the monument, we caught the tube to a stop near Trafalgar Square and wandered around there for a bit, then through the marble arch and back down to the palace for emma to take touristy photos. We then walked along the side of St James’s Park I went to yesterday with all the squirrels and another one jumped on me! This time on my leg! Emma got a photo, I was so excited haha. She ran through the park trying to make the squirrels her friend but they wouldn’t have a bar of it. They were definitely anti-emma squirrels!

We walked up to Big Ben and then caught the train to Oxford Circus for some last minute shopping (hooray for pretty dresses) before dinner. We trekked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe at about 5pm. You can’t book there so we just had to show up, the guy on the phone said before 7pm was a pretty short waiting times. Lies! We got there at 6:40pm and were seated just before 8:40pm by which time I’d had a loooooot to drink. They were damn good drinks! The food was amazing and I rocked out to all the music playing. The service was awesome too and they were very apologetic about our long wait.

We had to walk for ages to find a cab after dinner and I recruited help from friendly casino bouncers but we made it back in the end (£20 later).

Now to get up early tomorrow and pack. Ergh. Then we leave tomorrow afternoon for a 5pm arrival in Perth on Thursday 😦 no more holiday fun time….

For now!

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: cab, hard rock cafe, london, monument, shopping, squirrels, tower, tower bridge | 3 Comments

Day 22 – London baby! Yeah, yeah

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Mel

Woohoo what a great day.

We met for breakfast at 8:30am at the coffee shop under the hotel as it is cheap and easy. After a toasted sandwich we caught the tube from here to Baker Street and walked up to Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. We got there as it opened and the line was massive already…note to self: go early for the london dungeon tomorrow.

The wax museum was awesome. I took heaps of dorky photos like me with wolverine (mmmm Hugh Jackman) and me with Captain Picard…I mean Patrick Stewart….

Oh and of course one with Shrek 🙂 all my girlfriends will like that one!

After the wax museum we headed our separate ways for the day as Emma really wanted to shop and I really didn’t. She hopped off the tube at Oxford Street and I headed off to the science museum. It was AWESOME!! The natural history museum was pretty cool as well, especially the dinosaur section which had a life size moving T-Rex.

After T-Rex love, I did a little bit of shopping at Zara’s (yay, pretty birthday dress) and bought some souvenirs. I walked all the way from the museums down to Buckingham Palace and took some photos. It started to rain at that point but the walk through St James’s Park was still beautiful and I saw lots of squirrels. THEN ONE CAME AND SAT ON MY FOOT! I squealed like a little kid, Japanese tourists took heaps of photos of me. I didn’t get one of him on my foot but I did get one of him sitting next to me eating a nut. I love squirrels.
.

I walked through the park and down towards the house of parliament and Big Ben. I also walked through Westminster Abbey which was beautiful.

After Westminster Abbey I walked across the Westminster Bridge and back to the hotel. All in all, I walked about 12kms today and I am exhausted! Tomorrow we are planning to go to the London Dungeon, Tower of London and the London Bridge so HOORAY more walking. The day after that we leave to come home *sad face*

Percy did come out with me today but because it was raining a lot and I was on my own, it’s hard to take pics! He will have to live vicariously through me 🙂

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: adventures alone, big Ben, buckingham palace, london, Madame tussauds, parliament, tube, wax museum | 2 Comments

Day 21 – Potters Bar to London

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Mel

After waking up with a bit of a sore head this morning we said our goodbyes to family (they were yelled up the stairs to the twins as 17yr old girls don’t get up for anything at 10am on a sunday) and headed back to London.

The highlight of the morning was our uncle throwing some nuts out onto the lawn so the squirrels would come out for us! They thought it was hilarious how much we squealed and giggled. I don’t care, I still think squirrels are cute.

Our aunt was kind enough to drive us into the tube station at cockfosters rather than drop us at the local station as it is a Sunday so national line service are limited. We had to do a line change to get out to Lambeth North and then discovered to our joy the tube station is LITERALLY ten meters from the hotel. Awesome! We dropped off out bags and hopped back on the tube out to Camden Markets.

I really enjoyed the markets and bought some shirts, a bag and some tourist crap. Emma got similar things and I also very nearly bought some amazing leggings (similar to Black Milk) but the woman was such a cow to me I couldn’t bring myself to buy them from her. Yeesh.

We hopped on the tube again and headed to the embankment then walked across the Hungerford Bridge. My dad had said there would be lots of performers and card trick people along there but we didn’t see any 😦 there were some cool shows on the south bank though including one guy who did some crazy limbo moves!

We lined up for 40mins and went on the London eye. The other tourists in our capsule were a bit rude and didn’t move for other people so that was a bit of a downer but by eventually being rude back, we got some magnificent photos. One of mine in particular was taken as the sun came out and everything looks golden. I’m slightly in love with it to be honest.

We wandered back up to our hotel (the Tune Hotel in Westminster) and finally checked in. For £40 a night it is great but gee am I glad we went for separate rooms as they are tiny. I will enjoy my double bed tonight, that’s for sure.

The view from my room has a billboard in it but is still pretty cool, I like the building opposite (see the last photo).

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: Camden markets, eye, family, london, porters bar, south bank, squirrel | 2 Comments

Day 20 – London to potters bar

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Mel

After a delicious lie in (9am out of bed) we had breakfast across the road from the terrifying royal national hotel and then checked out at 11am. We walked to Russell Square tube station and caught it to Finsbury Park where we had to change to a national train line…which had no signs and lots of stairs!

We were lucky, the first train we got on happened to be right. Plus a very weird but helpful drunk soccer fan helped us out. Ahh the English.

In total it took us an hour and a bit and £10 each to get there which wasn’t bad considering our noob status on the tube. Our lovely aunt came to pick us up and we had lunch with her (Jane), Nick, Sarah and Rebecca. We then attempted to go and play golf as an afternoon activity but the wait was 2hrs long so we ended up at a massive shopping centre instead. Emma and twin #1 Sarah went off to shop and myself and twin #2 Rebecca went to play in the apple store and be dorks.

Rebecca was horrified to find out I was 26. That’s so old! I suppose it is to a 17 yr old.

After shopping we went out to a local Indian place for dinner (minus the girls who have social lives) and then to the pub. There was a huge bar fight at the pub and my uncle watched on gleefully, he used to be a detective so thought it was amazing to watch the lead up, punching and then after effects of it all! As we were leaving he realised the cops had left the cop car running with the keys in the ignition and suggested stealing it to teach him a lesson…

We all walked home (too much beer and cider) and ate drunken toasted cheese sandwiches. Then bed.

I quite like my English family, they promised to take us to play gold next time we are here hahahaha. Back into London today to explore for a few days 🙂

Head cold and asthma seem to be improving, I think being away from all the cigarette smoke indoors throughout Europe is definitely helping.

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: cider, family, london, Potters bar, tube | Leave a comment

Day 18 (Paris) and Day 19 (London)

Posted on October 13, 2012 by Mel

Well, where to begin!? Last nights post had all my daytime Paris photos, there were quite a few as we crammed A LOT into one day.

We woke up very early and instead of waiting for the coach, caught the RER (local train) into the city. We went to the Louvre first and were there at 8am to take some lovely morning photos and be first in like at the carousel entrance! Woo! We wandered through part of it and saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and a few other famous pieces. I spent quite awhile in the Botticelli wing. We then figured there was plenty of time to have a quick breakfast before catching the RER to meet the tour group at 11am to go up the Eiffel tower.

Ba-bow. Wrong!

Apparently the French definition of “quick cafe service” is “I will make all your food individually, one at a time and chortle quietly to myself whilst you wait”. Forty minutes later…we were running through the streets trying to make the Eiffel tower meet up! We were 8 minutes late but the tour manager waited for us 🙂 lucky!

We went up to the 2nd floor and the views were amazing. We also went up to the top but you couldn’t see anything due to the fog. I don’t care, I can still say I went to the top of the Eiffel tower! Errr I can also say I stuck my head out through the wire because emma is a terrible influence on me….all the other tourists up there thought we were hilarious.

We took a bunch of photos up, down and all around the tower then walked back up towards the Arc de Triomphe and stopped at a delicious little French bistro for lunch. We all climbed the arc (284 steps, with really bad asthma, possibly not my best idea) and the view was great. The history was amazing as well. Although still foggy we could take photos which actually had the Eiffel tower IN them. We used the rest of our day to walk down Avenue Des Champs Élysées and check out the majorly expensive shops I felt hideously uncomfortable even looking at, let alone walking into.

I had a nutella crepe omnomnom.

The tour bus picked us up at 4pm for a quick change of clothes before dinner and a show at Moulin Rouge. It was amazing. A woman jumped into a tank with no clothes on and a bunch of giant snakes! You can’t take photos inside but can outside so that was the best I could do. I was surprised there were so many male dancers. Afterwards, a lot of the bus went out to get drunk but I felt crummy and very tired so didn’t go, I have recaught the death cold going around! It was 1am by the time we got in from Moulin Rouge and we were up at 6am.

This morning it was time for contiki family goodbyes as lots of our bus stayed in Paris and then on to London. That was sad as I have made some really good friends but Facebook and mobile numbers mean we will be able to keep in touch. 9 hours later we arrived in London. The ferry trip was very rough but at least I got some amazing pics of the white cliffs of Dover, grandma will be happy.

We are staying at the royal national hotel again tonight before heading out to do one night with family in Potters Bar tomorrow…then back for 3 nights in London.

Tonight we went for a walk up and down Oxford street and ate £60 worth of amazing Indian food and delicious cocktails. Such an improvement over service station food and mass prepared meals! It is 10:30pm now and time for bed as we are both very fluey and my asthma is making me very tired. Damn contiki cough.

The blog shall continue until i leave London because although the contiki part is over, I’m still on holiday and having a grand adventure with lots of pictures for you guys at home 🙂

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: Eiffel tower, london, love, moulin rouge, Paris, weather | 4 Comments

Day 18 – Paris! Lots of pics

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Mel

Too tired to write much but have tons of awesome photos from today…so I’ll put all of them up now while I have wifi and then blog tomorrow 🙂

Today was an AMAZING day!

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: moulin rouge, Paris, sleepy | 2 Comments

Day 17 (real entry) – Switzerland to Paris as exploring Paris by night!

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Mel

Ahhhh finally in Paris! It was a loooong drive. We left Lucerne at 8am (after a ten minute run in the rain with our luggage as the police yelled at our poor coach driver and he couldn’t park anywhere near the hotel). It was a bad night with a bunch of people on the tour getting written off and running up and down the hallway screaming from midnight to 2am. Get drunk by all means but have the decency to pass out when you do! I am now infamous as the person who called them all assholes haha.

The bus trip here was 9 hours (including stops) and was unremarkable. I slept a bit and coughed a lot (yay asthma) and we played I spy for awhile. As we drove into Paris we could see the Eiffel tower off in the distance but the weather is really bad and it was quite fogged in. Our hotel here is finally a decent one with a bit of space, wifi and a decent bed!

We decided a few days ago to pay some extra money and not share a room for our last three nights in London, just so we can have a little bit of space before the looooong trip home. I have to admit I’m looking forward to not having to time showers or bathroom share.

Tonight we went on a night time tour of Paris and saw some of the sights. It is still foggy but that didn’t make it any less awesome! Paris is very pretty even in a cloud of fog. We got to see the Eiffel tower at night and watch it sparkle! Tomorrow it is an early start to the louvre (we are catching the RER instead of waiting for the coach lift in), followed by going up the Eiffel tower, then the arc de triumphe, notre dame cathedral and SHOPPING! No catacombs as they are closed 😦 but it means I’ll have an excuse to come back to Paris.

Tomorrow night we are going to dinner and a show at moulin rouge! Hopefully my pretty dress still fits my fat ass haha definitely put on a few kgs eating all the delicious European food.

Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: Eiffel tower, Paris, Switzerland | 3 Comments

Day 16 – Switzerland

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Mel

Today we spent our full day in Lucerne, Switzerland. Unfortunately for us the beautiful weather of the previous day turned to crap and ruined most of our plans.

Oh before I keep going – our hotel here is ridiculous! It is a former jail. Literally…a jail. We are in a tiny room (cell) with a bunk bed and a single bed. We can’t both get out of bed at the same time or we head butt. There’s also no lift and we are on the 3rd floor. It is meant to be a “feature hotel” but at this point all I want is a room with a decent bed, enough space to move around in and some damn wifi! Lol.

This morning we were meant to go up Mt Pilatus on the cable cars but it was too windy. Then it was meant to be the train up to the top of the mountain but the tour guide said the view was terrible today so we weren’t going to bother. I’ll be honest, I was pissed off. Even with a crap view from fog and rain the train would have been awesome. We suggested to her later we wanted to risk it and we’re prepared to lose our money to fog but she said nope and that we wouldn’t have enough time.

Instead we went swiss watch shopping (I bought a really nice one) and wandering. Lucerne is tiny, there isn’t much to see. We looked at the lion monument, the water tower and the chapel bridge.

We went to lunch at a “genuine Swiss restaurant” where they played weird traditional instruments, dressed up like cows (yes…cows) and fed us very odd food. It was expensive. Everything here is! After this was more wandering and then we had a happy meal at maccas (which cost the equivalent to $10 AUD) and went on a cruise around Lake Lucerne. Even with the rain and fog the mountains looked awesome from the boat.

Feeling a little let down by Switzerland we ended the night with dinner at an English pub and a few drinks at an Irish pub.

I came back to the room to discover my travel adaptor had fused and wasn’t working, my roaming sim had buggered up AGAIN and with a 12hr bus trip looming the next day when we head to Paris. All in all, it wasn’t the best day of the trip but I guess days like that make the other days even better.

Categories: Europe 2012 | 6 Comments

Europe 2012

A summary of Percy’s adventures

…and home!

Day 23 – London (ow my feet hurt)

Day 22 – London baby! Yeah, yeah

Day 21 – Potters Bar to London

Day 20 – London to potters bar

Day 18 (Paris) and Day 19 (London)

Day 18 – Paris! Lots of pics

Day 17 (real entry) – Switzerland to Paris as exploring Paris by night!

Day 16 – Switzerland

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