Friday, June 17, 2011
Wow, I've been really slack with blogs hey? If you didn't read my Cannes series shame on you. To recap everything else around Europe and surrounds...
After Turkey, the Royal Wedding was amazing. Stood for 12 hours straight outside W. Abbey with a family I'd latched onto... saw Kate and Wills both go in. It was mental. Second camp-out in a week was okay. Not sleeping for 40 hours... not so much by the time I got on the plane to Cairo. Speaking of which, Egypt was loads of fun. Extremely hot even for early May, got to 52 degrees one day! Nuts. Sights were more and more impressive, two days on a felucca (boat) were incredibly relaxing besides the mozzie (and we think spider) bites I suffered. Only downside was the constant hassling from local men. I was glad to leave after the 9 days.
Salzburg's stunning (Sound of Music tour so fun), as is Munich... glad I saw Dusseldorf for Eurovision (which was INCREDIBLY AWESOME) but wouldn't go back. Just not much to do. Cologne was on a Sunday and raining but still looked impressive. Choc museum was the highlight.
So to the after-Cannes. Spain. Interesting two weeks... rollercoaster. Had my Cannes media stuff stolen on entering Barcelona, baffled as to how they lifted a breaking 10-15kg bag so swiftly when I had it in eyesight. Oh well... if you go to Spain it's for their cathedrals. Amazing with each place I went to. The south (Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba) all have their own Moorish-influenced monuments that are worth the visit. But communication issues meant I struggled and the majority of the time I faced a bit of attitude which I didn't appreciate. As I did in the French Riviera, I made some great friends in Madrid, all three of whom had things stolen while there. Shocking. But on learning they have 21% unemployment it shouldn't have been a surprise. As with Cannes, these girls made my experience all the richer for the capital.
The UK is where I am now - London and Birmingham were ANZAC/Topdeck catchups (in London, a trip to Platform 9 3/4 failed because they're doing renovations in the area and I don't think you can see it. Devs), then in Leeds with Meg and Emma (Unley represeeeent). I really enjoyed my day-trips from there to York and hippie town Hebden Bridge. For me they were what England should look like outside of London. Oh I did Bath too for a day.
So I'm in Edinburgh atm, and I love it. I could actually live here. Felt a real pull to it immediately. Perhaps because I discovered it had such a rich history, or the charm of the Old Town, I don't know. But two days here now and it's still holding up from the first impression. And their film festival's just started, so seeing a movie tonight! How could I not? Oh yeah, I climbed 250.5m up Arthur's Seat, the city's highest point. A bloody effort. But then I had some haggis for dinner... and it was actually good!
Doing the Highlands tomorrow on a day-trip - will I see Nessie in Loch Ness? Haha then Glasgow and over to Ireland. Can't believe I'm at the halfway mark, it's nuts. It's at the point now where things are blurring slightly, and not having kept up with the diary too well means a constant catch-up. But the memories are what count. As do photos. Think I'm up to about 15GB worth of photos/video. Snap happy, that's for sure.
Having a great time at the moment, looking forward to what's to come. Hope that wasn't too much of an overload for you!
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