Snotty in Scotland

Last week I spent a few days in Scotland (for the first time!) to visit all the lovelies that I met in Paris and Berlin.

My journey began from London King's Cross on Wednesday morning, where I completely forgot that Harry Potter had been there and accidentally found Platform 9 and 3 quarters! I couldn't really get near it as there was a biq queue for photos but it was still pretty awesome to see it.

The train ride up was lovely! The scenery really was something- from rolling dales with sheep to cliff faces and sparkling sea!

Hilary and Sophie surprised me (more like gave me a heart attack) at the train station, and we walked back to Sophie's house which would be my crash pad for the next few days. We went out for dinner that night at Tuk Tuk which did authentic Indian street food. It was so yummy, After that, Sophie and Hilary went to help at their Buddies (for the incoming international students and of which Blythe is the president) meet and greet. Naturally, I decided to help out too since I was there, but in reality all I really did was hold some papers and tell people to move on... We took Sophie's buddies to Revs but after a pint they decided to go clubbing and we went to the pub. I also tried chips and gravy for the first time that night and I have to say that it wasn't as terrible as I imagined although I am still very much a salt n vinegar kinda gal.

The next day was sightseeing time! Sophie took me to the top of the David Hume Tower at the uni, a tower which I have heard many tales about from Joe and Niamh, so it was a must-see. The view of the city was pretty decent up there too, apart from the mistiness.

Misty view of the castle

After that we met up with Hilary and had lunch at The Elephant House, where J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter! The toilets were covered in quotes from the books, and someone had written 'THIS WAY TO THE MINISTRY' above the toilet. I had an excellent lamb pie there, followed by a peppermint caramel (!) shortbread.

The sightseeing continued and we walked down the Royal Mile, stopping at St. Giles cathedral and an incredible fudge shop. 

St. Giles Cathedral

I'm still chuckling

We walked to the end of the Royal Mile, where we went inside the Scottish Parliament building. It was quite something to be there amidst all the referendum talk. People from the BBC were interviewing people outside and they came over to us too, but we didn't speak to them. The atmosphere in Edinburgh was pretty intense, with Yes supporters on the Meadows everyday and stickers or posters in nearly every window we went past.

The Scottish Parliament and the crags in the back

The Debate Room

Holyrood - where the Queen stays

We still had some time to kill before dinner so we walked up Calton Hill. It was actually really warm and sunny, but still the view was obscured by the weather! I also got very grumpy when I realised I couldn't climb up on the monument because I was wearing a skirt. Grumpy indeed.

Eerie

Dinner was at Hilary and Blythe's place, where we all made pizza. It turned out more like bread with a LOT of cheese on, but was still bloody good. Sophie, Hilary and I then got changed and headed out with her Snowsports Society group. The room they had set aside for Snow Soc was horrendously hot and sticky and just awful, so we escaped outside. Joe made an appearance then with a couple of his friends from home (one of them I had already briefly met in Paris). We spent the rest of the night playing drinking games and, after being told to go inside, ridiculous dancing and Sophie playing DJ...

I met Joe and his friends for a full English in the morning which hit the spot wonderfully, to sort ourselves out for the day, and Sophie joined us afterwards. We went up to the roof of the National Museum of Scotland for some air and pictures.

Museum roof

Excellent advertising

Joe went to a meeting so Sophie and I went for a wander in the Grassmarket, stopping for coffee and cake at Hula, where Hilary met us. I bought a new purple shirt in Armstrongs (biggest vintage shop in Britain or something) and then dragged them into Mr. Wood's Fossils where, as they put it, I bought some 'rocks'. We walked around the Greyfriars graveyard (here I go again). Greyfriars is quite legendary as back in the 19th Century, a man was buried here and his faithful dog Bobby guarded his grave for the next 14 years until he died himself. Bobby has a little statue outside the pub, named Greyfriars Bobby, and is buried at the entrance of the graveyard.

Grassmarket

Bobby!

Sophie and I went to the chippy for dinner, and then we all went out to a bar for one of their friend's birthdays. That was a good laugh and after that we went to a place called Cav, which, quite frankly, made me feel fucking ancient. It was full of freshers. Joe then dragged us to the dreaded Hive, which I have heard too many stories about. It was absolutely rank. I mean, one of the rooms literally smelt of semen. I rest my case.

Saturday was a little more leisurely. I met up with Niamh for an hour which was lovely! We had coffee and croissants on the Links and had a good old natter. I've missed Niamh and hopefully I'll back in Edinburgh for a few days at Christmas. It was so good to see everyone again.

Ma Berlin gals

Not long after noodles with Hilary and Sophie, they were getting me on my train and saying goodbye! It went far too fast, as these trips always do and as a lovely memento of the trip, I have caught some flu thing. I'm blaming Hive.

Peace
xxx

Is there any wool?

I'm currently on my last bus journey of my little adventure, heading back to Berlin. It feels weird to be going back as it already feels like I've left. Tomorrow will consist of packing, last minute souvenir shopping (how many Ritter Sports can I squeeze in my suitcase?), going to the bank and having a wander around soaking up the city. I'm definitely going to cry!

Anyway, Sia and I made it to Vienna and headed straight to the McDonalds near her flat. We just chilled out and watched tv, as we suddenly realised that Croatia had been quite stressful.

Wednesday was really relaxed. We stopped by the art school that Hitler was rejected from, twice. It was just so odd to stand there and think, wow, even mentalists like him had dreams once.

Then we went to the Haus der Musik, which was entertaining and interesting, albeit quite bizarre. We composed a song by throwing dice (for which I bought the certificate because it was a real achievement) and learnt some very interesting facts about Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (he lived in 68 flats in Vienna because he was an awful tenant and also wrote one of the most well-known love letters?) and Schubert (who died at 32 from typhus).


For lunch, we went to Naschmarkt which didn't feel like Vienna at all!

Look at the size of em!

We had a Chinese there and then headed to the Hofburg Palace again to find the Papyrus Museum. We found it on our second attempt - we were actually in the right building the first time, we just didn't realise it was there... Anyway, that was really interesting and, as usual, I yabbered on about Ancient Egypt for about an hour. The ticket we bought was also for the Globe Museum and the Esperanto Museum... obviously we went. We have now got some very obscure facts under our belt for future quizzes. Do you know what graticules are? Do you know who the most prominent globe maker in the 16th century was? No? Should have gone to the globe museum.

The Esperanto museum was really small but I loved it. I didn't really know anything about it but I'm basically fluent now. Vi telefonas?

Dinner was at Vapiano, followed by coffee and cake at Cafe Central. I've just realised I didn't eat a single Sachertorte this time!

Today, we headed straight to the Spanish Riding School where we had a ticket to watch the morning exercises. Those horses are beautiful, and we were lucky enough to see one horse do a 'levade', where the horse rests on just its hind legs for 5 seconds. It can only be seen with the Lippizaners in Vienna, and I saw it even though I didn't go to a performance! You can't take pictures of any of it when the horses are around, because obviously it upsets them. Sad, but I have some lovely postcards. We watched for a couple of hours, then headed to lunch at one of the most famous restaurants in Vienna. After that we paid a visit to the old library in the palace.

My camera really didn't do this place justice, as usual

I want it!

I spent most of it whining about how unfair it was that I didn't have one. It was unreal. Beauty, eat your heart out.

Then it was back to the Spanish Riding School for our guided tour. It was excellent, and we got to go in the stables, inches away from these incredible horses! A question for all the horse riders out there: Is wool usually used in the soil stuff in a training centre? A woman was surprised that there was none there?

The indoor riding area, with the royal box

Our next stop was the Imperial Crypt, of course, where we saw the tombs of Franz Josef, Sisi and Rudolf. I may elaborate on this at some point but I'm tired and well aware that my Blackberry keyboard is horrendously loud so I need to end soon...

We had more coffee and cake at Demal, which is another famous cafe, stopped at Spar to buy Mozartkuegeln (amazing dark chocolate marzipan and pistachio balls) for my mum and then chilled at home until it was time to drop me off.

I'm glad I came back to Vienna again, and I reckon it's not the last time. As Billy Joel once said "Vienna waits for you."

See ya in Berlin
Xxx

Zany Zagreb

Onto today! This morning, we went down for breakfast to find out that the woman at the desk had no idea we had ordered one, and offered to go to the shop! We told her not to worry, and went to a cafe she recommended for breakfast. Stuffed on chocolate and strawberry pancakes, we walked to the Kaptol to catch the tourist bus, but the next one was at 12, so we went into the cathedral and explored more of the old town.

The main square

We also went to the Museum of Broken Relationships, which Sia had read about but had no idea it was in Zagreb! It was actually a really interesting concept; people donate items from a finished relationship along with their story to the museum, for closure and release. Some of it was quite funny, and others quite sad. What I liked the most is that it didn't just focus on romantic relationships, rather on friendship and family too. One of my favourite ones was a burger dog toy with the caption "His dog left more traces behind than he did."

I'm still chuckling

We went back to the bus stop to find there were no seats left, so walked through the market to buy souvenirs and then stumbled on a lovely art stall, but Sia had to pay for her poster inside. Then I decided to buy 4 rhino pictures (they were really cute okay, and I became an art expert in Potsdam, remember?). We were there for some time, as the adorable old man wrapped up our pictures and then took us to the office, where Sia had to work the pin machine for him!

We are both now proud owners of naive art.

Lunch was at the same chain that we'd been to for breakfast, before we walked back to the hostel to get our bags. We had to wait for like 15 minutes for the tram and were getting a bit worried about time, but we made it to the bus station fine. We thought we had to check in so went up to the counter with our tickets, but the man said to just go straight to the bus, so we did. However, it was never going to be easy because that's our life, and the driver told us to get off and wait to see if there were spaces available! As you can imagine, I was not a happy bunny and prepared for war, but luck was on our side and we managed to get seats... We're sitting apart but we are on the bus to Vienna and currently sitting at the border of Slovenia, waiting to be checked.

Lunch, but what am I doing with my hands?

It's been a brilliant few days, but I'm looking forward to a MacDonalds and crashing in Sia's room.
Next update when I'm on my way back to Berlin, can't believe how fast it's all gone!

Laters
Xxxx

Polarised in Plitvice

So the last couple of days have been quite something! We arrived in Zagreb on Sunday evening and went straight to our hostel, after successfully navigating the trams, dumped our stuff and headed out to a brewery for dinner. A litre of beer worked out to be about 3 euros which, when considering it's 10 at Oktoberfest, is pretty impressive. The food was also good and we went home with full tummies and excited for our Plitvice tour in the morning...

Tired but, beer!

Though when we got to the hostel, the man informed us that the trip wasn't happening because there weren't enough people going. Sia had booked that hostel specifically because it offered this tour, and she had even requested it when she booked, so we thought this was a bit off but we decided to get up early, skip breakfast and head straight to the bus station to see what we could get.

This actually worked out fine, and we got tickets for a return journey to the national park! We were quite proud of ourselves and were on our way at 8.15. We got off at Entrance 1, after being told that the bus would pick us up at 4.15 at Entrance 2.

We had to queue a while but we got in to the park, and the first thing we saw was the huge waterfall! We walked all around it, posed for pictures on rocks (obviously), climbed up into a cave, and followed the path around the incredible lakes, which were blue-green and crystal clear. It really was stunning scenery, but quite surreal!

Sia's photo: me and the big 'slap'

Is this real life or is this just fantasyyyyyy

We emerged onto the Great Lake (even though the last one had been pretty big) and stopped for lunch and souvenir shopping. We then decided to take the ferry across the lake to where we thought we could walk round to Entrance 2.

It wasn't until we'd walked up a hill bit and seen another little waterfall (that's the last photo above) that I realised we were going the wrong way so we walked back to the boat and walked up through a huge long queue and started walking again... but that was also the wrong way! I was now starting to panic, but Sia kept her head and rang the park reception. A really nice guy called Nicola (I don't know) told us to go back down to the smaller boat to where we could follow the signs to Parking 2 and get out. So we had to now walk back down the huge long queue... I was starting to panic again as I could hear people tutting and swearing and shouting 'Hey, they're pushing in!', I was doing my best to just keep walking and follow Sia, when a woman grabbed her! Sia shook her off, so then the woman grabbed hold of my arms instead. In any normal scenario, I would have reacted with anger, but this time I just broke into a panic attack and stood there with my hands over my face. I could hear that vile woman laughing.

We eventually got to the bottom of the queue where a really lovely man helped me up onto the deck, and the boat controller man got us onto the boat. On the other side, it was my turn to take the lead as Sia had begun to suffer from her poorly chest infection and was starting to lose her cool, so I marched onwards and I've never been so happy to see a bus stop (after about 100 stone steps and a bridge)... Nightmare.
But we made it back to Zagreb and were very happy to get back to the hostel. We ended up going to the same place for dinner because it was so good, cheap and we were very hungry. I can completely recommend Croatian pasta as I ate 2 nights in a row and loved it both times! It's called Trganci (I think).

Next post, our day in Zagreb
Xx

For one night only

I ended up taking an earlier and more direct train from Grenoble to Bellegarde, getting the coach service to Geneva, arriving about half 5. I headed straight to the UN and a nice Chinese lady took my picture by the sign.

With this obligatory and absolutely necessary task completed, I went and found the hostel, which is very nice actually. Though this time, I've landed a top bunk which horrifies me for many reasons but I can deal.

Then it was a mad dash to see what I could see! The lake was first with the water jet thing, followed by magnet buying, a stroll around the old town and then taking the tram all the way to CERN! That was really exciting, not to sound like a lame-o, but it was pretty cool. We all just got off the tram with our cameras out, then walked to the other platform and went straight back.

Cern

By the time I got back into the centre, it was nearly 10pm and I was starving. So I located a Chinese restaurant, which was gorgeous inside and very tasty.

I'm in Croatia now, and have successfully met up with Sia!





Beautiful so far!
Laters
Xxxx

She'll be coming down the mountain (in inappropriate shoes as usual)

Grenoble has been excellent! Apart from arguing with tram ticket machines (I mean, why invent ones that don't take notes), and waiting for a bus in the middle of nowhere, I'm pleased I spent so long here.

Hiding from the rain

It was pissing down with rain on my first night, and that's when I realised I didn't have any trousers with me! It was a miserable evening so I went back to the hostel fairly early, and met a German who lives near where I worked in Berlin and a nice Norwegian girl, who turned out to be one of my roommates.

?

The next day I went to the Grenoble museum, which was good, though there was a lot of questionable art...

I loved this!

Then I took the little cable cars up onto the Bastille and had a coffee overlooking the city and the mountains, which was lovely.

I decided not to eat there as I figured it would be expensive, so off I wandered a little further up and found another restaurant, which turned out to be like, seriously gourmet so I ended up having a 3 course meal... I didn't even realise I liked tuna confit. Still not entirely sure what it was.

Pork with loads of tasty stuff and a whole bowl of gratin

Next up was the Museum of Alpine Troops which was superbly done - the audio guide was automatic and synced with holograms and videos. I've never learnt anything about mountain soldiers and it was very interesting! After that, I walked back down the mountain, exploring caves and parts of the old fort as I went. It took a while...

Coming down the mountain

Do I get a prize for this photo?

I did also attempt to visit a cemetary, obviously, but it was closed. Shame.
Yesterday, I ventured to the Funicular at Montfort by bus. It was well worth it- 718m high at the top, the views were stunning, and I attempted selfies with Mont Blanc.

Going up! 

Dinner last night was at a fantastic Italian, where I consumed a huge calzone (and even some olives, I know right!) and had to stagger home. There was no one else in my dorm last night so I took advantage of this sudden privacy and walked around in my pants. You just gotta.

Today I went to the Museum of Resistance and Deportation, which was free and also very good. Though there were some very shocking images of extermination camps, of course, the whole thing is shocking, but it was very graphic.

I've just fed myself and am now off to the train station to head to Geneva for the night, then tomorrow at 1, I'll be flying to Split in Croatia to meet Sia! It's all going so quickly.

Au revoir Grenoble! And laters to you lot.
Xxxx