Paris to Florence

Rather than farting around uploading pictures to this stupid blog (it's a real pain in the ass), I'm just going to link you to my photobucket pages.

First stop on my 18 day tour was Paris. I had no expectations of Paris and didn't think I'd be overly impressed by the Eifel Tower. Admittedly, during the day I wasn't... but at night time it's stunning. Paris is definitely a city that's at its most beautiful at night.

The photos of the tower that you can see were taken from the very spot that Hitler stood and admired the tower when he invaded Paris. The skulls and bones you're looking at are in the Parisian Catacombs. These catacombs stretch on for kilometres under Paris and were a place to intern the dead during plague and influenza years. There are possibly millions of skeletons down there. Of course, I had to see Notre Dame - what a stunning building.

Our last night in Paris, we went to dinner and then to a cabaret where we watched gorgeous girls theatrically get their boobs out and got sloshed on red wine (hence the beautiful wine stained smiles on everybody). Afterwards, we got shitfaced on the bus and in the lobby of the place we were staying. This was the first night of what became an 18 day bender. I got caught stealing beer at 4am by the ninja receptionist. I thought he'd gone to bed. He hadn't. He wasn't happy haha. An incident which coined a phrase that became very popular on tour; "That'll be 8 euro."

Next stop was Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. This place was breath taking. I've seen the Canadian Rockies and didn't think I'd be overly awed by the Swiss Alps... but this town was magnificent. It's situated in a valley with 800m cliffs on either side. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Our first night in Lauterbrunnen ended up in people dancing on tables, hooking up and someone fucking in my bed. It was probably the biggest night of the tour and ended with Ben, Rueben and I walking down a pitch black road, passing around a bottle of wine, falling over fences, standing in the middle of a field taking swigs of gin from the bottle then chasing them with fists full of snow. We talked crap for ages before one of us looked up and noticed the moon had come out and we could see the cliffs. The three of us just kind of stared at them for the next half an hour and didn't say much. We didn't need to.

After a quick stop in Pisa (forgot to upload photos) Florence was our third destination. Though it was later trumped, up until this point Florence was the most fun I'd ever had in one day. Four of us started the day by just walking around. We saw the statue of David and then climbed the bell tower of the Duomo cathedral. I was quite hungover so the 480-something steps to the top nearly killed me. It was worth it.

We walked a little further before discovering something that made our day and changed our lives; Segways for hire. We hired some and just before tearing away I was heard to utter the immortal quote, "Lets go Segway the fuck out of Florence". We did just that.

From then on we "segged" around town on our "seggys" (I named mine The Segasm), defying death on huge roundabouts and seeing all that Florence had to offer. Although I was nearly killed in traffic, I can't begin to explain how much fun it was to segway around Florence. We went to the Ponte Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy - the world's oldest (and still operating) pharmacy/apothecary, street art, Piazzale Michelangelo and just about everything inbetween.

When we finally had to give the segways back, it was Ben who pretty much summed up how we all felt when he said, "Walking is for chumps," and then later, "Fuck legs. Are you listening God? You've been trumped."

What a day.

Next blog will be Rome onwards.

The tour ends.

I'm scattered after the 18 day tour. I've lost touch with the world and the people in it that I care about. This upsets me a little but I can say, without a doubt, I've never had so much fun and done so many new things in my life. I've met people who I hope I stay in contact with for a long time. I miss a few of them already. I'm also missing some specific people back home.

I'm back to Edinburgh tomorrow to start looking for work and meet up with Michelle. I'm going to give it a month and if I dont find anything decent then I'll go elsewhere. I hope I can stay there.

I'll update properly when life settles down again and I have time to pick and upload the best of my pictures.

It's about to begin

Don't really have time for a proper update with photos. I'm paying by the minute right now.

I'm so hungover it's not funny. Couple of mates I went to school with are in Edinburgh so I went on a wee bender with them for a couple nights. Slipped on my ass on some stairs and have a big bruise and a sore wrist to show for it. Got that out of my system so I have no plans to drink myself stupid... for the first part of my tour anyway.

I'm in London now though... finally. These Brits freak out over a little snow so my flight was cancelled this morning and then the one they put me on was delayed. I was beginning to think I wasn't going to make it here on time. I'm only here for a night and then leave at 6a.m (eww) on this tour. Looking forward to it!

Hogmanay

2nd January, 2010 - Aberdeen, Scotland.

There wasn't much to do here for New Year's Eve, not even fireworks to watch. Apparently they have a street party here every year but they had to cancel it this year because their local government has run out of money. Seems rather strange given that Aberdeen is the "Oil Capital of Europe".

We started with a few drinks at Craig's (Linds' boyfriend) place then went to The Mooring's Bar where we saw in the New Year and then a place called Koruva

It wasn't an overly exciting night - no different to a normal night out except busier. The company was good though, so that's the main thing. Still, I'd have rather been in Edinburgh like I'd planned.


- Suicide fences are erected on all bridges in town. Apparently there's a few attempts every year.




- Rachael does her best Blue Steel impression


- Anyone would think Linds was excited.










- Midnight kiss


- The snow started almost on the stroke of midnight.










- Dodgiest kabab I've ever had. I never thought I'd miss aussie kababs.




- The aftermath the next morning, waking up on the couch.

Getting here and then some!

28th December, 2009 - Incheon, South Korea.

I had an overnight stop over and they put me up in a 5 star hotel. Sadly I only got about 4 hours of sleep.






(Turns out that a warm stream of water up your butt hole when you're drunk at 4:30am is quite pleasant)









This guy I met on the plane (also a teacher from Brisbane) and I went out that night. We were looking for a titty bar but couldn't find one. We ended up in two different brothels by accident. Eventually found this awesome place called The Flare Bar and drink with a bunch of crazy Koreans. Got absolutely hammered. They loved us and were shouting us drinks. One girl, who I nicknamed Cookie and who worked there, stayed and drank with us after she finished her shift and wanted me to stay and be her boyfriend. We got home at 4:30am.








(Not a titty bar)


(Also not a titty bar)


(Cookie and I)


(Liam and I and the crazy Koreans)

I did NOT want to wake up at 8am to check out. Feeling very sorry for myself but so worth it. This place is nuts.

28-29th December, 2009 - Edinburgh, Scotland.

Edinburgh is an amazing city. I'm in love with it already and I've only spent one night. You can't turn your head without missing something beautiful. So much history here. The oldest city I've ever been in; the newest buildings look about a hundred years old. There's little houses that look older than white Australia.













29th December, 2009 - Aberdeen, Scotland.

Took a bus to Aberdeen to meet up with Linds, who I'll be staying with for a few days and partying with for New Years. Shame I look like shit and smell like a bag of smashed assholes. She took me for a guided tour around the city. It's nice and has some beautiful spots but it's not Edinburgh. Still... pretty cool to be here.