What´s happened since Contiki

Well here we are in barcelona again.... but i´m geting ahead of myself....

If you hadn´t guessed we haven´t had time to keep uptodate with this thing, so we thought we´d just put up a quick post about where we are at now.

Contiki finished about 2 weeks ago, we´ve had our extra week in Germany, and our extra week in Spain is about to end. Tomorrow we start our flights to Egypt. First we go barcalona to london, then its out to Cario, can´t wait.

Contiki finished, it was a shame to see the of contiki in some ways, but it was also good to get out on our own again. Had some great times and meet some awesome people. Some of the highlights where the swiss alps, with there amazing natural beauty, Vienna, the city as beautiful as (i think more than) Paris, and absoluty spotless as well (even the horse´s pulling tourist carrages have little poo catchers) and full of really nice people, Munich and the Octoberfest, great beers, great food, and then an awesome Roller coaster ride ;), Debrovnic, Prage, and Corfu where all awesome as well, Troy, the legend that tuned out to be more than a legand, and they still don´t know exactly what went on there, and Galipoli was an amazing place to see with your own eyes, its easy to see why it went so wrong and when you look at the surronding area you have to think ¨Why didn´t they just land 1Km further down where the flat land is¨

Then it was out on our own again. We got our flight out to Salzburg, got a train up to Berchtesgaden, and jump on a tour upto Hitlers Eagles nest or Kehlsteinhaus as the locals call it. Unfortionatly the weather wasn´t the best so we had no view of the mountains from up there, but its an amazing place, not just the Kehlsteinhaus but the entire area, theirs bunkers to be seen as well as a cool museum full of stuff about the area during the Nazi era. We also had a local Austrain/German meal while we where there, Porknuckle with dumblings and sour kraut, washed down with a stein (1 Litre of course) of beer (Megan had a Raddler which is like a shandy), all for bout 35 Euro for both of us.

After Salzburg it was onto a train to Berlin. One thing about the trains is they are really easy to get on and off, and they always drop you off at a major underground termainl, and the under grounds are easy as to use too....

Berlin was amazing, had abit of a problem, the hostel we origanlly booked ¨had a gas leek¨ so we coldn´t stay there (i think the gay owner was just afraid of having a Hetro married couple staying there) so we ended up booking into a place called ¨3 little pigs¨at the last moment and with out doing alot of research, The place turned out to be awesome, realy helpful staff, clean, tidy, in the middle of town and had German contantal breakfasts (breads, cheese, salami, ham, cerial, salami, coffee... did i mention the SALAMI´S?) for 4.50. he hostel was about 500m as the crow flys to ¨check-point charly¨. While in Berlin we did a walking tour of ¨Red Berlin¨which covered what went on in berlin post WWII, and tended to concertrate more on East than west, and we went on a tour of sachsenhausen concertration camp. Both where very interseting. The red berlin tour was very informative, and the tour guide was great. At the end of the tour he summed up by pointing out that as bad as its made out that red berlin was, since the wall came down, unemplyoment and crime have risen, and the only people that can say for sure which was better was the people that lived through it and are living in the fall out today.

After Germany it was onto Spain, and our Easyjet experience. Not only did we have to wait at every single point from checkin to boarding for between 30min to 2 hours, but the plane landed about an hour late and you where stuffed in so tight it made a herc look like luxury. For what it would have cost extra to fly british airways or one of the other local operators it´s well worth it for the sake of comfort, but we got there in the end.

In madrid it was a new underground to learn, and a new hostel to find, again it was in the middle of town which was great, it was clean and tidy, the staff where helpful when we where able to get past the laungage thing, and we had our own bathroom, but the place had no sound proofing at all, which is a problem when your on one of the main streets of Madrid. But we got over it. Madrid isn´t as nice as Berlin, and after the organised effiency of Germany, Spain time and spain things took abit of getting used to.

We took a tour out to Toledo, and the valley of the fallen, which was awesome, and toured the city of madrid on foot as well, and after Berlin, it was very disappointing. There was a Military parade while we where there, which was cool to watch. Then it was off to the train station for another ride, this time to Granada. At the train station we decided to ring ahead and let the Hotel know we where going to be late getting in, only to find out that the travel agent had booked us in for the wrong day, and the hotel was full... the manager said to give him a call once we got there and he would see what he could sort out for us. Luck was on our side and he had a late no show, so we where able to get a room. Which was lucky cause when we arrived so did an electrical storm and it was pissing down by the time we got to the hotel.

Didn´t get much sleep that night, seems to be the way it is at the moment, got up relatively early and got onto the hop on hop off bus, toured around the city, past the Ahlumbra Palace, Megan wanted to sort out the train tickets and we thought we would come back to the Palace. We got to the train station and very easily got upgraded to first class, so I don´t know why the NZ company couldn´t do that for us. We got lunch and then got back on the bus and went up to the Palace. Unfortunately for us when we got there, the tickets into the Palace were sold out. This was a bit disappointing as it was the whole reason for going to Granada. But we walked around the gardens, into one of the empty palaces, a bath house and looked at the palace from the outside. These things happen. I´ll just have to ask John to so me the pictures he took.

That night it was onto the overnight train and up to Barcelona. Thank goodness we did have a sleeper cos it was a long trip. And we ended up being an hour late. We did have a very nice dinner, it felt very posh eating dinner in the dining carriage, while cattle class were all sitting in their seats.

Barcelona became a time to relax and wind down a bit. We´ve been here before and our hostel is location in an area we have previously been too, so there was some comfort in this. The hostel let us check in early, which was great. We later headed out to Sangrada Familia, the unfinished Spanish church that had Gaudi as the architect, I believe a kiwi is currently the architect. It still unfinished, and I think its somewhere around 2040. Row and I had differing opinions on the church, he didn´t like it and I did. I believed I was standing in the middle of history being built, which I´m sure he did as well, but it was definitely different inside. I hope they finish it in my lifetime as I would like to come back and see it finished. Second day in Barcelona we went out to Montserrat on another tour. This one wasn´t so good, it was just basically an expensive bus ride out to the Church and Monastery. The guide was crap, but at least the views were pretty awesome. Still good to get out of the city. We mucked about for the rest of the afternoon.

Tomorrow we get on a plane back to London and then onto Egypt, this is the part I´m really looking forward too. Hope everyone is well, sorry the updates haven´t really been as often as they could be... wait till you see the photos and here the stories... you´ll laugh...

Hugs & kisses and lots of love Rowan and Megan xxxx