Mistaken identity and a chat with a fireman

Saturday 31st July

Yesterday we woke up to bright sunshine and the bells of the nearby clock tower - which chime every fifteen minutes between about 7am and 9pm.  After breakfast we went to Centraal Station and bought 48 hour tram passes.  This involved another ticket and waiting (thankfully only about ten minutes) for our number.  Armed with our passes and a rough idea of the tram system we got on one to the Vondelpark.  Claire was eager to show me this place, as she had been before.  After getting a tram partway there we were walking along when we came to a fire station with an engine and some firemen sat outside.  A woman and child were up the extendable ladder with one of the men, looking at the view of Amsterdam.  We didn't know if it was something anyone could do, but asked and were told we could go up next.  From the top we could see for miles and make out where out hotel was.  The ladder was slightly shaky but fun all the same, and the fireman told us a bit of fire info about Amsterdam - for example they average a fire a week.  It was a pleasantly random detour in our day.

We carried on to the Vondelpark, found the big I amsterdam sculpture and joined people taking pictures of it, in it and on it.  A group of guys were stood looking moody, like they were having their photo taken for a CD cover or something similar.  The park was fairly small with stalls and a cafe around a play area and a lage sortof pool of water that people were sat around. 

I had seen a film museum in the Vondelpark on the map and wanted to find it.  After pondering the map as we sat in the sun, we came to the realisation that we were infact not even in the Vondelpark.  We were in a small park next to it.  Claire's world was shattered at this realisation; I found it quite funny.  We walked across to the actual Vondelpark and it was like a smaller Central Park.  Lots of paths, grassy areas and statues.  We found the film museum and were tempted to go and see 'Casablanca' in Dutch but decided against it in favour of the sun and the Rijkmuseum.

At the Rijkmuesum we saw a lot of Rembrants, including his 'The Night Watch', which usefully came with sheets of information about who everybody in it was.  After walking around we left to get some food and found a little Italian-looking place across the road.  Pizza and spaghetti bolognese were ordered and we wolfed them down.  We got a tram to Dam Square where we got some chocolates and then walked back to the hotel through the Red Light District.  However it was still early evening so not much was going on.  We got changed and went out again a bit later.  This time we saw some women and were much more impressed with the atmosphere.  We walked through to Newmarkt where we ended the evening with a couple of glasses of lovely rose wine.

Today wasn't particularly sunny - more blustery and misty - but we headed out nonetheless.  We walked down to the 'Blumenmarkt' (flower market) and were able to see it in the morning before the tourists all descended.  Along the market was a shop which cheerfully proclaimed that it is only 147 days until Christmas.

It was very tempting to buy a load of flowers as they all looked so colourful and pretty, but we carried on past to get a traim to Westerkerk and Anne Frank's house.  With time to kill we went for some yummy bagels and then went on up the tower at Westerkerk with a guide who told us about the history of the area, and that students get free public transport for ten years!  Definitely an idea to propose in England!
The view from the top was amazing, albeit slightly misty, and we spent a while there taking photos and looking out over the city.  It had started to drizzle again when we had descended, so we took cover in a nearby bar and waited to go into Anne Frank's house.  it was a good job we had booked tickets online a few weeks ago because people were queueing down the road and around the corner.

It's getting too dark to see to write now in our room, as we have no light, so more tomorrow.

Stride like the rooster!

Canals, bikes and scaffolding

Friday 30th July

We arrived into Amsterdam Centraal station yesterday at quarter to three on a sunny afternoon.  We went to the international ticket poart of the station to ask whether we needed any reservations to go to Oldenburg.  We took a ticket and waited for our number to be called, much like in a shoe-shop or Argos.  There were lots of people sat around with rucksacks waiting and watching on woman in particular who apparently needed a 15 minute break for every 15 minutes she worked.  After an hour of waiting we got to a desk and the woman told us to take a different route out of Amsterdam - it turned out the train we wanted wasn't running on Sunday.  We then headed out to find the hotel.  Leaving the station we immediately saw a multi-storey car park - for bikes.  Hundreds and hundreds of bikes were parked everywhere!  We managed to avoid being hit by trams, bikes, cars and buses and got to the hotel.  We got our key to room 19 on the fifth floor and decided that we should be on the first floor by Rome.

We walked to Dam Square and saw the impressive Royal Palace completely covered in scaffolding.  There were, however, lots of people around and a 5-a-side football pitch set up for a Homeless Cup.  We wandered around and had some pizza before heading back to our hotel.

Stride like the rooster!

Fancy travelling and an encounter with a pirate

Thursday 29th July

Sat on the comfiest train in the world - the Thalys from Paris to Amsterdam Centraal.  We were the first people in our carriage and our first thoughts were 'This is it, we've made it, we're famous!'  and then 'If this is 2nd class, what's 1st class like??!'  The seats are huge, red and all cushioned.  We just passed into Belgium, with everyone getting texts at the same time from their phone companies.  Another two and a bit hours and then the Amsterdam adventure starts!

But back to yesterday and the surreal land of Disney.

We were on a train there at 8am, in the ticket queue by 9am and waiting for the park to open at 10am.  We started off on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, then went round the rest of the park, including a terrifying experience on the Thunder Mountain rollercoaster.  We met Pluto walking around and then stood in shock at the huge queues to meet the princesses Belle and Cinderella.  We left at 5:30pm after meeting Jack Sparrow - a fitting end to a brilliant but surreal day!

We packed all our stuff back into our rucksacks and found the train to get on this morning without too much trouble.  Bring on Amsterdam!

Stride like the rooster!

Seeing the sights and a surprise in a metro station

Tuesday 27th July

Today we managed to see pretty much all of this beautiful city - everywhere we wanted to anyway.  We allowed ourselves a lie in until 9am and then got up and made our way down the road to the metro station.  We metroed to the Bastille, where Claire was my history guide and told me all about everything that happened to cause the storming of the Bastille, the event itself and the consequences and aftermath.

We then strolled down to the Notre Dame, marveled at the huge queues of people to go in and took photos of the amazing architecture.  I wanted to go to the Shakespeare and Co bookshop so we got directed there by an informative French guide.  Full of old books and little bookshelves everywhere, the shop even had a wooden shelf ladder that was 'not to be removed from the French literature section'.

Luxembourg Palace and Gardens were next - Claire's choice.  It was a pleasant surprise but the gravelly paths gave us a not quite pleasant foot exfoliation.

We then metroed to le Tour Eiffel.  Claire thought we had arrived directly underneath it, until she realised it was just the underside of a bridge.  We walked around a corner, past lots of men selling miniature Eiffel towers '5 for €1', and saw it, rising above the trees.  The queues were huge so we sat on the grass infront of it for a while.  As we sat, several girls came over and asked if we'd take photos of them and then another girl asked if we could tell her how to get to the Champs Elysees.  We decided we either looked nice and helpful or very touristy and English.

Walking around the streets to get to the Arc de Triomphe ourselves was fun, as we got some free cherries from a French man who sold us some fruit from his 'fruits et legumes' stall.  With cherry stained hands we stood slightly nervously at the edge of the massive roundabout and watched as thousands of cars all swerved around each other.

We set off down the Champs Elysees, aiming to walk all the way down to the Louvre.  We popped into Louis Vuitton and had a gander at all the tourists, and the few people actually buying things.  Carrying on down the Champs Elysees, we seemed to be on the restaurant and hotel side.  This was good as we weren't tempted by shops, but we did want to eat everything we saw or smelt.  As time was getting on, we jumped on a metro to take us to the Louvre from halfway down the Champs Elysees. 

It was still fairly busy but we managed to act out the end of 'The Da Vinci Code' and Tom Hanks' deep thoughts at the pyramid.  A brilliant part of the day was when we got off the metro at the Louvre station and there was a little orchestra playing jolly music.  People were watching and clapping, and one old lady was actually stood conducting them.  She clearly wasn't part of the group, as they carried on without her onto the next song.

An early night was needed, as Claire's plans for us the next day involved an early morning, lots of sugary sweet brightness and thousands of children.  We were going to Disneyland.

Stride like the rooster!

Lots of steps and brightly coloured trousers

Monday 26th July

After arriving into the Gare du Nord on the Eurostar we headed out to find out hotel.  We soon came to Gare L'est and realised we had walked the wrong way down the main road, the Boulevard de Magenta'.  We turned around and headed back and finally found the hotel, after a fair amount of stopping and checking the map.  We checked in and got the key to our room - 605 - on the sixth floor.  After huffing and puffing up the stairs we dumped our bags, made friends with the maid and went to explore the surrounding roads.  We stopped off at a little bar cafe for deux coca cola lights, s'il vous plait and sat in the window deciding what to do. 

It turned out that the Sacre Couer was just around the corner and up the road from us, so we decided to chill there for the afternoon.  Climbing more steps we reached the top, stood in awe and took awed photos.  We did a quick once-round the inside and then walked down the hill to find lunch in the shape of hots dogs with cheese.  We ate them sitting on the hill with the Sacre Couer above us and the rest of Paris below us. 

It was quite busy with tourists which made for great people watching; we saw an alarming amount of different coloured trousers walking around.  We had a quick walk down one of the roads selling all sorts of souvenirs and resisted filling our bags with postcards and drawings.  We stopped off at a very french supermarket for croissants before going back to the hotel for an early night.

Stride like the rooster!

A bit of an anti climax

Monday 26th July


Today we got up and had early breakfast before making our way to St Pancras and check in for the Eurostar.  The train was 18 carriages long, grey and a bit old-looking, but the seats are big and comfy.
We're in France now - we had no announcement of being in the Channel Tunnel so we only knew we were in France when we got texts from our network providers telling us how much it would cost to use our mobile phones.  We're travelling through through the French countryside at the moment, should be in Paris in about an hour.  The weather is looking decidedly grey and damp from the train window.  Hopefully we'll find the hotel okay and then have a wander around Montmatre this afternoon.

Stride like the rooster!

Train misfortune and a theatre trip

Saturday 24th July

Setting off from Stockport station on the train down to London was a slow and slightly disconcerting journey. Soon after we'd pulled out of Stockport we stopped on the tracks and an announcement came on saying there were some problems with the train and that engineers were coming to have a look. It clearly wasn't good because after resetting the train, and turning the lights on and off a few times, we were told we would have to get off at Crewe and get another train. After doing so, and getting to London an hour late, we hot-footed it to the hotel. We checked in, changed and went out to dinner and the theatre. Our waitress commented that we ate very fast - I almost told her that the portions, although delicious, were hardly huge.

We walked down the road to the Queen's Theatre, where we had tickets for 'Les Miserables'. As we arrived we saw a sign which informed us that Nick Jonas' run as 'Marius' had been extended for two weeks and so this night was his last. This news was met with squeals of excitement from every girl under fifteen and Claire, and looks of confusion from everyone else. I won't go into detail about the play because you need to go and see it if you haven't, but I will say that it was rather depressing and I left with tears streaming down my face. However it doesn't take much for this to happen and so most people would be fine, if slightly saddened. (There was also a very empowering moment when I nearly stood and started marching and singing along) All in all I would highly recommend it - it's pretty amazing.

The next day was sunny and warm, and we began early with a quick walk across to St. Pancras and Kings Cross train stations. At Kings Cross we made our way (very excitedly in my case) to platforms 9 and 10, only to find we needed a ticket to cross the barrier. After explaining to the ticket man that we were looking for platform 9 3/4 he told us to go round the corner to where 'the Harry Potter bit' was. Eventually we found the wall with a 'Platform 9 3/4' sign on it and part of a luggage trolley sticking out of it as if magically going through the barrier. This immediately called for photos to be taken. Once I had finished retelling all the scenes which took places on the train platform we caught the tube to Camden.

We spent several hours happily wandering around the world famous market and soon realised that most dress, poster and jewellery stall sold the same dresses, posters and jewellery as the next. A second important thing to note is that you can get a free lunch by hovering around the many food stands, looking as though you're tempted but can't quite decide what to have. This will inevitably make the people selling the food offer you 'Free tasters?' and this if how you get lunch. It is mostly different varieties of spiced chicken nugget, but by walking back and forth you can get a few pieces. There are about twenty stalls selling different world cuisines, and I wanted every single one.

Picadilly Circus was next, so we hopped on a tube to Leicester Square and walked down to Picadilly, after I had re-lived meeting Mr Depp outside the Odeon, much to the confusion and probably fears of nearby people. The walk to Picadilly Circus was a bit odd in that we didn't realise we were there until we were in the middle of it all. After some more photos we walked to Trafalgar Square and had a snack by the Thames and Big Ben. The evening was spent repacking and checking everything was sorted for Paris.

Stride like the rooster!

Plans, plans, plans

Having been back from our European adventure for just under a week now, I have decided it is time to tell everybody all about it. I kept a diary throughout the trip and will be typing it up on here, so the stories will come as they happened.

For starters, before we went I emailed Claire (sister and fellow interrailer) about what I wanted to do in each city. It went something like this...

Paris: Wander around looking fashionable and saying 'ooh la la' a lot. Not necessarily go into all the touristy things, ie the Louvre, up le Tour Eiffel as we have already done this, but go and look for free instead. Also climb all the steps up to the Sacre Couer and back down again and go on the carousel. Admire lots of views along the River Seine. Spend time in Montmatre as in 'Moulin Rouge' and go to little cafes. Act out parts of 'The Da Vinci Code' and walk around the Louvre pyramid in awe like Tom Hanks in his moment of realisation. Eat LOTS of pastries.

Amsterdam: More wandering, this time perhaps get on a canal boat and cruise for a while too. have lots of photos on the amsterdam sculpture. Go to Anne Frank's house and the Van Gogh museum. Avoid being run over by a bicycle.

Oldenburg: Enjoy a non-touristy town, have an evening in a German pub and, you guessed it, more wandering. Go to the museum, the palace and the river. The main square looks quaint so we can be old-school German here. Jah jah jahwohl.

Berlin: Ah, the home of beerhalls, lederhosen and the Wall. See the Brandenburg Gate. Go to the top of the Reichstag and look at the (apparently free) view. Hang out at Checkpoint Charlie, talk to guards there. There's an outdoor monument memorial for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust that sounds interesting and is also free.

Prague: Andy has given me lots of tips for this one, we should get a ticket for the castle and museums so it's cheaper. Walk over Charles Bridge, looking at all the stalls on it. See the astronomical clock. Go to back streets to eat - it's less expensive. Be amazed by the amazing architecture. Enjoy cheap trams.

Salzburg: The hillls are aliiive, with the sound of musiiiic! They are indeed and we can go and walk along the hills and sing and twirl a la Maria von Trapp. I would like to be cheesy and go to the places from 'The Sound of Music'. The Residentzplatz has a horse fountain which I'm fairly sure is in the classic film. Generally wander around, maybe wearing fetching dungaree dresses made from curtains and bursting into song. Maybe not.

Roma: Eat lots of fantastic Italian food - pizza, pasta, bruschetta, spaghetti, gelati. Make a wish at the Trevi Fountains. Not get hit by vespas. Go to the colosseum and imagine the gladiators and, of course, Hilary Duff there. Visit the dawn of western civilisation (as my book says) and go to the Roman Forum. I'm putting Vatican City in here, go and be respectful. Maybe act out parts of 'Angels and Demons'. The Pantheon looks pretty cool. Piazza Navona seems like the place to go to see artists, tourists and pick-pockets. Avoid being mugged. Sit and people-watch on the Spanish Steps.

So that was our plan, as well as generally not getting lost and ending up on the wrong train somewhere.
We bought our interrail passes, booked our hostels and a night train (for added excitement) and began to think about packing.

The rest of this blog will come from my diary, in the order I wrote it. I'll put the date and where I was when I wrote each part at the top of each post.

Let us stride like the rooster! (As a t-shirt we saw in Amsterdam said, and our trip motto from then on)