We're back!

In London that is. Our whirlwind trip around Europe has come to a close but we visited alot of awesome places along the way. Just to give you an idea, here was our itinerary.

London - Brugges (Belgium)
Brugges - Reims (France)
Reims - Lucerne (Switzerland)
Lucerne - Heidelberg (Germany)
Heidelberg - Cologne (Germany)
Cologne - Maastricht (Netherlands)
Maastricht - Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Amsterdam - Brussells (Belgium)
Brussells - London

And by the way we drove the whole thing. Hired a car (Vauxhall Insignia) which was brand new, and just drove from place to place as we went. Nice to be able to travel whenever we wanted for sure.

Anyway the trip to Brugges was one of the longest. We had to drive to Dover and catch the car ferry from there. Hardly a car ferry though, more like a cruise ship. We got ferried across to France and vaguely saw the white cliffs on the way out, but by the time we were on the ferry (8pm) it was pretty foggy outside and we couldn't see much at all. From Calais (France) where the ferry docked, we drove to Brugges and then had a fun time trying to track down the hostel at 1am in the morning. After stopping and asking a cop for directions we didn't understand, we found the street and drove the wrong way down it (it was one way) and naturally, of all the people to run in to going the wrong way down a one way street, we were stopped by the cops again ;) So we had to show all our passports and basically act like the tourists we were. Where we got stopped, we could see the hostel about 100 mtrs away! Regardless we were let go and tracked our way around the city to come in from the other end. Eventually we made it to the hostel and just crashed. It was 2am and we were all pretty knackered.

Next day we got up early and had breakfast downstairs then went for a big walk around the city of Brugges. Very cool city. All cobblestoned streets in the center with no car access. Alot of horse and carts driving through the streets and alot of people on pushbikes. All the buildings look pretty old, but it definitely suits the city. Nice place. We left Brugges just after lunch as we had another 3.5 hr drive to France and we didn't fancy looking for the next place in the dark.

Reims (France). We Stayed in a motel this time and we were here for 2 days so had a chance to relax a little more. I found the people in France a little rude. Most dont speak any english and those that do, refuse to do so. They dont like us english speaking folk much. But we made it through ok. The next morning we drove to a place called Champagne which is about 30 mins from where were were. Its basically where all the Champagne houses are in France. Some of these houses are absolutely massive but most were closed due to it being Sunday. The one we wanted to visit wasn't though so we were to the Moet and Chandon house for a little tour through their cellars where they keep and make all of their champagne. Apparently there are 27 square kms of caves underneather the house. It really is huge. There seems to be millions of bottles down there, including special grand vintage bottles worth over 25000 pounds! Who buys that?! Very cool tour anyway. After that we relaxed a bit and checked out some bars etc. Expensive here though =)

Next morning we drove to Lucerne early. It was a 5.5hr drive but definitely well worth it. Lucerne is amazingly beautiful. Awesome looking city right on the edge of a massive lake (Lake Luzern) and all the swiss alps in the background. We were here for another 2 days and stayed in an old converted Jail! Very unique and pretty cool. Bars on all the windows, things written on the walls and door that looked like they kept people in pretty well.

This city was rediculously expensive. Still it was well worth the visit. During the next day we took a tour up one of the big mountains in the swiss alps. We caught the ferry to the mountain and took a train that goes all the way up to the top. About 6300 feet i think. The top of this was amazing. We had a perfect day in regards to weather (actually the whole trips weather was perfect) so the views from the top were amazing. The top half of the mountain was still covered in snow so it was a big nippy, but still not overly cold. The kind of views you cant buy up here though, and definitely a highlight of the trip. Once we were done we caught the gondola down which was pretty neat. Very packed though. We also went and saw the dying lion. It's sculpture basically carved into the rockface of a hill as a memorial to the soldiers that died during the revolution. Pretty neat to see.

Next it was onto Heidleberg and Cologne in Germany. Now driving over her in europe is pretty cool. The speedlimit on all the motorways is 130. But where you get to one called the Autobahn in Germany, which we did, there is NO speed limit. We cruised along pretty quick, maybe 150 in some parts, and still you get cars flying past you in the outside lane. It's pretty weird I tell ya. Despite that, I didn't really see any super flash cars, thought I might have at least seen a lambourgini or a nice ferrari or something, but nope.

Anyway Germany was a very neat place too. Cheap beer which was a welcome change after the last couple of places. We toured around the city's ourselves and saw some of the sites which you will see when I get a chance to put more of the photos up. Some rediculously massive cathedrals. I went out and experienced some of the night life with my brother Matt as well. Went to a few bars and clubs in Cologne which were all packed through the early hours of the morning. Didn't get a chance to go to any beer halls but we did visit a couple of the breweries here and tasted some of the local beer from each. Definitely a country that revolves around its drinking.

Next it was onto Maastitcht to visit Uncle Dennis. Another very nice and organized city. Was cool to see Uncle D as well. I hope he enjoyed having 5 of his family visiting him from so far around the world. We went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner and drinks and then back to his house for a few night caps. It was also nice to have somewhere to relax a little more with no real times to stick to. There are alot of bike riders in the city. There is actually not much traffic at all on the roads, but definitely 1000's of bikes. You really have to be careful when walking around the city, coz if you get hit by someone on a bike, its your fault =)

From Dennis's we drove to Amsterdam only to find they had overbooked the hotel we were supposed to be staying at and they had rebooked us into another hotel, a 4 star one! We found the new one which was a Dutch Design hotel and full of modern art and design. A very very comfortable hotel which was nice, and about 15 mins from the actual city of Amsterdam so it was nice and quiet. We were here for 2 nights.

Amsterdam was an extremely busy city. It was easter weekend too which no doubt made it busier. We spent alot of time walking around the city and visiting the sites that it had. There was also a huge easter faire in the center of the city which had some wicked rides that would put any ride in new zealand to shame really. Nice place but soooooo busy. As a result the city looked a bit of a mess, with rubbish everywhere. We took a canal cruise while were there and saw alot of the old architechture and history of the city. There really are alot of canals through Amsterdam and the cruise was a good idea. And yes we even checked out the imfamous "red light district". Interesting to say the least. The hookers all have there little windows which they parade themselves in front of trying to entice people in. None of them are naked, they're all usually wearing skimpy swimsuits. We tried to find retirement alley to have a laugh but couldn't find it.

Next it was onto Brussells for the last leg of the trip. This was similar to Brugges without the horse and carts. Cobblestoned streets with lots of restaurants and bars. We even had mussells from brussells for dinner. Tried a few beers here too as they make literally 100's of different ones. Alot of strong ones too, every some upwards of 10% alchohol. Very nice place as you will see from the photos. We had 4 different cameras the whole trip so there are plenty of photos. I plan to put em all together and post some of em soon.

So now we are back in London and relaxing here a bit. Tomorrow we are going to four things in the city. The london eye, london dungeons, madam tusads wax museum, and under the london bridge I think. Should be fun. We fly to ireland in a week for the weekend so that should be good. Mum and I are also planning a trip to Paris next week and another one to stonehenge. Then there is Scotland too which we are still deciding when exactly to go.

Sorry for the lack of posts during the europe visit. The only real chance I had was at Uncle Dennis's and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to login to this blog and edit it. It's hard when everything defaults to Dutch!

So the trip is going really well and we are having much fun. I'm sick at the moment with a cold, but hopefully that will pass soon. Will write again soon. Hope everyone back home is well!

*hugs* from London