I was only in San Sebastian for one night but what a night it was.

I though I would try get an early night to regenerate for France but it turned out quite the opposite.
Firstly I Was woken up every hour by the church bells out side my room, until about 1am. The about 1.30 2 ish a large protest came tooting shouting belling etc down the street I was on.
And finally after getting to sleep at around 4am when still noone else in my room was back from Partying I was woke by a strange shout of someone rummaging around in the corner of the room.
I didnt think much of it so kept sleeping but eventually I woke and got up to go to the toilet noticing someone pulling up his trousers or something. Oh just another stupid partier coming in drunk I thought to myself as I said hi and headed off to the toilet. When I was back he was gone and I noticed a hole in the wall with a light coming through.
Strange I though, I dont remember there being a window to the other room. But that was all I really though about that issue as I crawled back into bed hoping to get a few hours sleep before I had to get up for the 7.30am bus.

Then finally sleep....

But not for long, 5.30am a bunch of Australian girls were swearing from the room next door, saying things like how could someone do this, I don't believe it" etc.

Next I knew they came into my room was looking around and then asking me, did you see who did this.

Huh?

I climbed out of bed and saw that what I though was a window was actually a vent in the wall and was ripped off by an intruder who had broken into the office through the room I was sleeping in. And all the time I was sleeping while he was in my room breaking into the room next to mine.
Oh well part of the fun of travelling.

One of my favorite photographs

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I climbed up one of the great hills in San Sebastian this photo above and the next few are from the top.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arty wall, no far from my hostel

I love to see kids playing football on the streets of Europe.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And then in the evening I had a stroll and sit along the water front. Amazing Sky.

Amazing Sky one evening I sat on the wall overlooking the ocean. Incredible.

~ San Sebastian ~ Spain remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The two lovely photos above are from the bonus stop we had between Valencia and Madrid. I forget the name of the town but it was very cute pictuesque place and the church we visited was absolutly amazing.

And there is a amazing thing in there. Im not sure excatly what to call it but there is a statue of Jesus in there and apparently it is growing real hair?? Im not sure if its true or a myth but it certainly gave me the eeby jeebies.

Then onto Madrid. Madrid didnt really impress me much. Our hostel was on the main prostitute drag and these girls really didnt seem very friendly and I've even heard sometimes they gang up and mug the odd passer by. So in general Madrid was the only city on my travels that I didnt really feel confortable in.

The up side tho was that I went to a couple of amazing art galleries while I was here and they are very big and famous.

Me In Madrid

Velazquez CU

Grass Wall

Another thing I enjoyed was I got to have a free Flamenco lesson at the hostel. It was soooo difficul but alot of fun. And then the next night the same lady who taught me was back with her band and they did a preformance for us. It was really neat, but to my unexpected horror she pulled me up onto the dance floor at the end of the preformance to join in!!! eeek I was totally un prepared, plus I looked so shabby, I was waring a daggy Tshirt and my flip flop sandles and then had to try and remember anything from the night before which was freaky. I remembered one or two moves and did my best. There was heaps of people
I was very nervous but it was still fun. And got some positive feedback from my mates so that good. Even if I did look silly.

Next Stop San Sebastian..

~ MADRID + Bonus stop ~ remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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• Valencia*

Valencia was my next stop after Barcelona and it was a real nice chillout place.
When I arrived I went to the beach with two guys from my hostel and that was cool.

The hostel I was at, Home Youth Hostel was a really great hostel. Its not for nothing that they call them selves Home. It had a really homely feel about the place and I felt like I could have stayed longer.

This photo is of a building that was infront of my hostel.

The First afternoon I was there I went to the beach with a couple of guys from my Hostel. It was nice.

This photo above is of the bullring and the train station to the right of screen.

And also less than 100 meters away from my hostel was also this amazing building which now houses the Valencia market which was incredible. So many fruits and vegies. Fish, meats etc. Nuts and beans etc. Mainly food products. I bought a big mellon which was yummy.

Valencia market

Some of the art around Valencia was really nice too. Especially the street art such as this one below. I think they are from an original building that was build 100's of years ago.

Stamps on the wall

The second day I was in Valencia I was feeling a little tired. So wasnt so motivated. I ended up walking around a fair bit visiting the outdoor markets.

Me on Valencia Turistic Bus

But the turn around point for me was when I decided to jump on the touristic bus tour.
The bus itself was pretty rough. There was a mess everywhere. The windows were rusty and not clear. You get these little red earphones, each person their own new pair (for hygyne purposes). And so you plug into the system and try find the right language chanel.
The commentary is controlled by the driver and it was quite amusing as it seemed always to be before the monument it was talking about or after so it was like. Oh which building to our left??

But it was fun. The highlight of the tour and I would have completely missed it if I hadnt taken the tour was the "Valencia Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències" (City of Arts and Science) which is basically a huge complex of these different buildings:
* El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía — Opera house and performing arts centre
* L'Hemisfèric — Imax Cinema, Planetarium and Laserium
* L'Umbracle — Walkway / Garden
* El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe — Science museum
* L'Oceanogràfic — Open-air oceanographic park

Valencia Arts Dome

The Architecture is absolutly amazing, Started in 1996 by Santiago Calatrava a Valencia Architec.

I went to the Imax Cinema which was totally amazing. I had never been to an imax before and I wont give away too much because my not know anything about it made it even more exciting but basically the image is not only infront of you but right around the sides of you too. You really feel it. And the technology of that super wide film format is incredible!

After taking a bunch of photos of the complex after the film I was able to jump back on the bus and make my way back to the hostel.
Overall it turned out to be a great day and I really enjoyed myself.

Next Stop.. Madrid..

~ VALENCIA ~ 21st - 23rd Oct remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Me in Dali Museum

The photo above is of Me in the Dali Musuem. There is a bit of a small story behind this as it was my silliest event on my trip.
It could have all been avoided, if I asked a few questions.

Sp anyway..
The Dali musuem is in a small town about 2 hours outside of Barcelona. I really wanted to see it so I didnt think 2 hours was too much for a nice say trip across the Spanish country.

It ended up taking me 5 hours just trying to get there.

First I had to wait about 35mins for the train and then stupidly I jumped on the wrong train. After some moments in the train I asked someone next to me where this train was going and learnt to my horror it wasn't even going anywhere near where I needed to be.

I should have jumped on the next train leaving from the same platform only 3mins later.

So I thought I better get off before I really end up somewhere strange. It turned out I was almost off my map and also very LOST!

Thank goodness I found someone in this little deserted station, in the middle of no where, who could speak a little English and he wrote on the back of my ticket which train I needed.

So I had a wait of 45mins where I ate my lunch and looked around the derserted trainstation in the middle of what felt like nowhere. Especially coming from the busy Barcelona.

I finally got on the right train after trying to ask a few people who couldnt speak any English anyway.

And then after 2 or so hours I arrived in Figueres.

Some freaky guy on the train asked me for my phone number and then tried to sell me Illegal DVD's but it was ok he didnt bother me too much.

It took me quite a while to actually find the Musuem in this town as i didnt have a map.

Finally I found it and was very very relieved. Had I been half an hour-an hour later the musuem would have been closed.

The moral of the story, A. It's not for nothing that almost all the tourist who venture out to the Dali Musueum do it with a guided tour. All inclusive.

B. Ask, ask, ask people before jumping onto a train which you think may be going in the direction you want cause if you're 3mins too early you will end up 3 hours late. :-)

This is one of my favourite Dali works

Its so cleaver.

~ FIGUERES ~ 19th Oct remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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• New feature!!

The Map! You can zoom in and out on this map too and move from left to right etc.
ENJOY! Gives a more visual picture to my travels.

Here are a couple more days worth of Barcelona for you to enjoy.

Firstly here are a couple of photos of the fomous tourist street Las Ramblas. It was really interesting I wish I had more time to take photos there and a better camera but here is a couple of examples of the street performers. There were heaps of them.

Bicilettos

Las Ramblas Prince

The Angel of Las Ramblas

~~~

Dali's Bike

I think you need to know Dali's work to appreciate this photo. If you like check out this link to Gaudi on WikiPedia

These next two photos I really like.

Barcelona Graffiti

Tourist Season?

This Tourist Season house I found on my way up through Park Guell. But I was walking up the wrong side of Park Guell but Im glad I did cause this was a pretty striking sight. On the sign you can't really see very well it says
"They call it Tourist Season so why can't we shoot them?"

~~~

But once I found the touristy part of Park Guell...

Park Guell Lizard

Guell Bench

The Mosaics here are amazing. And this bench stretched right round a huge area about 50-70 meters squared.

~~~

FAT TIRE BIKE TOUR

18th October, Day 12 of my travels.
I did a bike tour round Barcelona today.

The weather was a little iffy looking in the morning but only one or twice did I have to take out my rain coat.

FAT TIRE bike tours is a company run by a group of Americans.
The Tour guide, Ivan, was really cool. Very friendly, informative etc.
A neat free living sort of guy. The real traveling sort. Down to earth.

It was a neat tour we got to hear all sorts of strange information about certain buildings such as the executions etc that occurred in or around the churches etc. This church behind is Saint Agatha, and she was executed, believe it or not by being tied to a post in the centre of this square I am standing in and then having her breasts cut off.
Apparently there's a portrait in the church which is of her holding a platter of a pair of jelly type deserts. You guessed it they are not actually jelly but really symbolizing her breasts.

And other such gruesome stories.

Church named after my Mum... Although my mum didnt have her breasts cut off, like this Saint Agatha did.

We headed through the park to a fountain that Gaudi designed in University which saved his career, as he was failing in his grades and was on the brink of being expelled. And rode past the Arc Du Triomph of Barcelona. (see photo)

[/i]Fat Tire Group infront of Bareclona's Arc Du Triomph

And also....

The mighty tower of Agbar, hehehehe

This is one of the best buildings of my trip. Can you imagine the meeting of the town planners when they proposed to build this building and then how they actually got away with building it?

It looks super pretty at night when its all lit up. Hehehehe.

And of course...

[i]The Sagrada Familia

This is actually one of the most famous of Gaudi's works. It was the last building he was working on before his death.
And its totally not finished and will not be finished for ages.
I didn't find it as exciting as Cassa Batllo, but it is pretty impressive. I guess.
What I found most interesting is that the back side of it is architected in a completely different style. Have a look at the next photos, And look at the very distinct cubist style to the sculptures.

Our last stop was a little cafe on the boulevard of the Barcelona Beach. Which is actually man made.

Man Made Beach of Barcelona

~~~

On the evening after the bike tour I wondered around the streets a little and found this amazing musician in the street. (see photo below)
He was playing something which looked like a round, metal stone but had a beautiful sound.

Barri Gothic

The Incredible musician of Barri Gothic

The Dutch singers in Barcelona

There's a bit of a story behind this photo. I did a tour of the Barcelona Opera House, which is absolutly stunning, amazing, beautiful and very cleaverly designed.
Amazingly I was with a big group of dutchies. They were a musical group and as we were about to move onto the next stage of the tour they broke out in song. It was nice. They secretely recorded it too, which is totally something the dutchies would do. You know going against the rules. :-) It was awesome. This photo is of them singing outside after the tour also.

~~~

This next photo is the details on the side of a building I walked past. There are so many beautiful buildings here in Barcelona and Europa.

And The tribute to Gaudi. Because Gaudi is so famous here there are many tributes to him and his work, I wish I had my camera with me when I was in Mc Donald's because there was a great advertisement with his mosaic style used. And this photo below is another example.

Gauidi styled Ice Block Stand

Coming Next...

19th October
DALI MUSEUM AND GETTING LOST..

~ BARCELONA ~ 17th - 18th & 20th Oct remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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On our way to barcelona we stoped for half an hour at Avignon.
Its a beautiful fortified town. The whole main city is completely surrounded by a huge wall. The bridge that now only goes part the way across the water is well known and you can read more about it if you're interested at WikiPedia - Pont d Avignon

....

BARCELONA

Barcelona is an amazing city. Its so rich in history, culture and arts. Especially The ARTS! The most incredible architect of all times was based here in Barcelona and he is known as GAUDI.

I could go on and on about Gaudi but I think its probably best to let my few photos I have from some of his works speak for them selves. Also if you're iterested you can check out this webpage with info about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudi

And for a bonus treat this photo below is 'clickable I've put it in as a large format so you can see closer up the brilliance of Gaudi..

And here is me listening to the audio commentary inside Casa Batllo looking out the window.

Casa Batllo rooftop

And now for some of my favourite photos of my whole trip. Being inside this building was unlike anything I've ever seen before. Plus it is practical and people actually lived in here!

Detail in Gaudi Celing

Gaudi Staircase

It really was incredible. I took a bunch more photos but I can't put them all up cause they would take too much space. But Believe me it was beautiful, awesome, amazing, incredible. Actaully really there aren't enough words to describe its wonder.

The building on the right is next Casa Batllo its by another architect nb, you can not see Casa Batllo on this photo.

Comming next.....

Park Guell

Another GAUDI WONDER!! So stay tuned.

BARCELONA Day 10 and 11 16th/17th October remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Day 9 - 15th October

Monaco is the most densely populated country in the world and the world's second-smallest independent country, with a population of just 32,410 and an area of 1.95 square kilometers (481.9 acres). It has more millionaires per capita than any other country in the world

Monaco is a Constitutional Monarchy, which is

a form of monarchical government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges an elected or hereditary monarch as head of state.

Just a bit of interesting information above.

But now about me...

Is started off my day in Monaco in bit of a pickle.
I desperatly needed batteries for my camera and it was Sunday, and so everything was closed.

I spent probably almost a whole hour wondering around the deserted streets of Monaco looking for somewhere which sold batteries. Tried the local Tabac, (Tobacco Store) but had no luck there. I finally found a little Indian Grocery shop and they were more than happy to speak English and help me out. I ended up buying a French Stick for lunch and some fruit.

I felt Joyous and triumphant, thrilled I persevered where many would have perished.

Front of Monte Carlo

I headed down to Monte Carlo, the beautiful and very posh casino. I stood for a while just watching the very expensive cars rolling in and the valets reversing them into their parking spots. There were a dozen Ferrari and Mercedes etc. It was neat.

Monaco harbour

Next I wondered down toward the port and there was a kart racing event going on around the grand prix track. It was pretty choice. Looked like fun.

Kart Race

Infact Ferrari are so loved by the locals they even include them in their Merry-Go-Rounds with the traditional horses.

After trying to take a bunch of photos of the speeding little karts I kept walking along the harbour to try and find the Palace.

I found the walkway up the hill.. Its great that many of these beautiful building such as the Palace of Monaco and the Chateaux I walked upto in Cannes yesterday, are often on top of hills.
They always have a fantastic view and you feel so triumpant when you make it to the top. Which usually involves climbing many steps. A very common feature you get use to in Europe. Steps.

The Palace is Awesome.

Palace of Monaco

Entrance to the Palace

I quite like this photo above. I enjoy watching people whenever I am out somewhere and I thought this was an interesting scene and notice the kid in the background too?

Cannons at Palace

The Cannons here were pretty neat. Obviously not working anymore but they look great and add a nice feature to the place.

After photographing the cannons i headed back toward the main entrance and saw the gaurd marching back and forth very seriously.

It was quiet interesting to watch.

The Gaurd on Patrol

I was feeling a little nervous taking pictures and then suddenly I had a thought, we just assume that these people are not going to blow our heads off with their super big guns.

I dont know. But its an intersting thought I was pondering.

After draggin my self away from the marching gaurd, I could have stood there for ages if I had the chance.
I headed around to the chapel further down some streets at the top of this hill and saw Princess Grace Kelly's Tomb stone.

Me infront of Church where Grace Kelly's tomb is

The Cathedreal its self is quite nice.

The whole area on the top of the hill by the palace was quite nice. Like a little village almost. And walked along this awesome street with all these pretty coloured houses. See the photo below.

Really these type of buildings were one of my highlights of the French Riviera region.

Colourful Monaco Buildings

I look forward to going back to the Palace one day and hopefully it will still be open to the public when Im next in Nice.

That was my last night in Nice sadly. I had a fun time trying to find the bus stop in the morning with my heavy bags, before 8am. I think I got off the wrong stop for the bus and then managed to walk too far and in the wrong direction.
Finally after trying to ask a few people where to go, I managed to get roughly pointed in the right direction and then I was asked a young man who was walking infront of me if he spoke English and luckily he did and pointed me in the right direction. Its quite interesting getting someones attention as they are walking in front of you on their way somewhere looking busy. Especially since I was asking in a forign country.

I made it to the bus with a few minutes to spare and was pretty exhausted, hot and sweating from rushing through the streets with my heavy bags.

All part of the fun and challenges of backpacking. :-)

MONACO - Day 9 - 15th October remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I jumped on a fairly confusing train with my two new Italiano mates, Stefano and Adolfo and the unusual Ausie guy Lockie. It took us a fair while to actually get our tickets as the train system in Nice seemed a little confusing and French but we figured it out.

Lockie, Stefano, Me and Adolfo

The train trip there was nice, traveling along the coast past Antibes, (which Im looking forward to going to when i am back in that area) and past an unusual appartment block which was sort of shapped like a wave going up and down and back up again.

On The Beach in Cannes

We arrived in Cannes around lunch and then headed to the beach and chilled out. It was lovely. Sunny summer weather. Went swimming!! I love swimming. I could have stayed in the water for ages. It was not cold and the out look was lovely. Big sailing ships. Little french children playing in the little waves. A great funny dog who was scared of the water and was trying to grab a ball that was washing back and forward with the waves. I found it really amusing to watch.

After enjoying the beach for a few hours or so we went for a walk right down the beach past all the flash private beach sections with all the posh people being served champagne on their deck chairs on the beach with their yellow stripped beach umbrellas.

And then we walked back up along the Boulevard through the area where the do the Red Carpet Walk for the Film festival.

Me on the Red Carpet in Cannes

Golden Cameraman

Even Got to see a couple of street preformers/statues.

and The Cactus Man

We Made it to the base of the hill which we were planing to climb to reach the Chateaux and Church at the top.

Mural In Cannes

Cannes Prison On the way up to the Chateaux.

It was beuatiful up there. The Chateaux was awesome, even though we did only see it from a distance. The Church was really nice. And the VIEW was AMAZING!! I LOVED IT!
So many old French rooftops even found one that was colapsing in on itself.

There was even a Giant of Cannes. He seemed very friendly. :-)

[i]The Giant of Cannes

It was lovely evening lighting as well, Im gutted my camera was low on battery, but I was able to really enjoy the moment. Up there with my new mates, in the warm French sun, overlooking thosands of rooftops and narrow streets that could be thousands of years old.

Chateaux in Cannes at top of Hill

It was a lovely day, lovely evening and then to top it off,
The Guys COOKED ME DINNER!! And we all enjoyed the night, in my favourite hostel of my trip, drinking red wine and chilling out.

It was Fabulous!!

~ CANNES ~ remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I didn't realise it was the 4th largest city in France. And I never would have expected it to be as busy as what it was. Oh my goodness I would absolutly hate to have to try paralelle park in the center of Nice. Honestly, and I am not joking or exaggerating,

The cars are parked with only about 15cms between eachother. Literally and 15cm may even be a generous estimate. I actually had to think for a long time about how it could be possible. I asked a friend who had been in Nice for longer and she told me to look at the bumpers of the cars. I noiced very many scratches, obvious seeing how close they park to the cars behind and infront and then my friend told me that they literallly bump into the cars infront and behind untill they are free! Wow.

Another highlight of Nice is the dog poo and pee everywhere. Something you get used to very fast in Europe. There's alot of dogs and people just let them go anywhere, everywhere. Its quite a funny sight seeing a little old French lady with her doggy peeing and pooing right over a wall or between a couple of parked cars.

A lot of people just let them go right in the middle of the Pavement. Fun to try navigate.

But yes. Nice really is a very nice city.

There are so many neat buildings. Really heaps of those stereotypical french coast tall, narrow, old buildings painted red, yellow, terracotta, orange and all the hues inbetween and then the lovely flaking paint shutters which I really couldn't get enough of. And the srtreets them selves especially in the old part of town, Veux Nice, are fantastic.

Really narrow often car barely fit one car down yet alone two, but also many are only for pedestrians. And its neat because these streets and houses are so alive. The buildings them selves but also the people in them. I love to see a local sitting on there tiny balcony or an old lady waving out of her window even just seeing a rack of clothes hanging out of the window I found exciting.

Just make you appreciate that you are looking at someones house where people actually live in they are not just museums or tourist traps but they are real live houses! You got to be there.

Grafitti

Another thing I enjoy finding is grafitti. I would like to do a project just photographing street art.

Tunnel from Vieux Nice to the Beach

Nice Coast from top road

Police by the Beach

After relaxing on the stoney beach for a while in the evening, I headed up to some Chateuax ruines at the top of a hill. The view from up there was pretty Amazing.

Not so easy to photograph but on my way back down I got this lovely photo you see below. I love it!

For tomorrows entry see ~ CANNES ~ and my Italliano Guys! ~

~ NICE ~ 13th October ~ WITH PHOTOS remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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ENJOY!!

These are my Ausie Mates and I in Interlaken which was a town not far from where we were staying in Switzerland.

Me On the train on the way to the Top of Europe. The highest point in Europe.

Some very hungry birds in the mountains! They even were sitting on my foot.

Beautiful, Incredible, Amazing!!

ENJOY! Hopefully more photos coming soon. Next to be seen in Nice! as in Nice the town in France.

SWITZERLAND PHOTOS!! remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Thursday ~ 12th October ~ Monaco to Cap D' Ail

On Thursday I met two women, Morine and Karren (2 Lovely Canadians) down in the lobby area and was thinking about where I wanted to go for the day. They mentioned what they were doing and so i asked if I could join them.

We took the bus to Monaco Port and then searched for the beginning to a pathway. Once we finally found it, (wasn't too difficult because Morine can speak French) It was totally amazing.

The water was so blue and its just fabulous around there. We probably followed this pathway round for about 1 or 2 hours. (I cant remeber, time doesn't seem so relevant at the moment)
The walk was lovely I took heaps and heaps of photos just like you see in the travel books.

We arrived at our destination which was an absolutly wonderful secluded little beach in a cove. Called Cap d' Ai. We went for a swim and it was really really beautiful. The water is quite salty, perhaps thats why its so clear? But It was lovely. Its easier to float and I just had a fabulous time.

Behind me is the cove where I swam, but its not such a clear photo.

After the beach we cause the bus back to Nice and I went shopping and for an ice cream in Veux (old) Nice. Old Nice is really amazing!! And the Ice cream stands have so so many flavours. I had marsipan, cassis (which I think is cherries) and Violet. Don't ask me how they make it taste like violet but it was really interesting.
It was just a wonderful day all around. Lovely weather too.

~ THE FRENCH RIVIERA ~ With PHOTOS! remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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This is the first time I have been able to sit down at the internet without stressing about my time running out or costing 5Euros per minute.

I arrived in Nice, on the French Rivera today but I'll talk about Switzerland now.
I hope to upload my photo ssoon too but am not having much luck. So if you're reading this now and you can see no photos it may be better if you just subscribe to this blog and you'll get an email saying I've updated. See my intro blog for infoon how if you're having trouble.

SWITZERLAND 8th Oct - 11th.

On the 7th I arrived in Paris where I stayed just for one night, (See Paris1 Entry.. Comingsoon.)

On Sunday 8th, 8am I jumped on my wonderful, BusAbout Bus and headed down and across France.

It was a lovely journey. The sky was beautiful and the landscape was great. I could hardly take my eyes away from the outside view.

Crossing the French/Swiss border was an interesting experience, they seem pretty strict there and even came on the bus and had to see everyones passports. They looked very serious. I kind of felt like i was back in the war and we were sneaking intothe country.

We pulled into our hostal Camping Jungfrau (click for the link to the website) around 6pm ish.

Its such a beautiful location! We lookover the Swiss Alps, a lovely waterfall and some incredible rocky cliffs. Nice and cold 3 degrees only. The Ausies I was with found it really tough.

I made some travelling buddies who were on my bus and 6 of us went our for a Swiss dinner at a local restaraunt. There isn't very many in Lauterbrunnen, its quite a small village, but I was really nice. I had the typical Swiss meal Rosti which is a potato dish. I had it with curry which is great! And a swiss drink that was unusuall. I decided atthe end it kind of tasted like cheese, sort of.

On Monday 9th, I took a day trip into a slighly larger village reached via train, called Interlaken which is between 2 lakes. It was a lovely day just walking round and shopping a bit.

The Next Day Tuesday was totally amazing!!!

I went to the TOP OF EUROPE which is 3000 something meters up in the swiss alps!
It really was absolutly breathtaking! I caught the early train up at 7am it was still dark and as we were travelling up the sun was rising over the snowy peaks.

Then at the top. WOOOOOOOWWWW!
The snow as soft and delicious as powdered sugar, the sky the bluesest of blues, and the endless mountain peaks. [i] WOW![/i]

Really words simply can't do it justice!
Have a little look at the photos. Tho they don't even come close to being there.

I caught the train back down part the way and then hiked 2 hours through the alps. That was great. My legs are a little sore today but it was totally worth it! Plus it saved me about 7 Euro.

It was a totally stunning day, so warm, sunny. I mean I was walking through the alps in a T-shirt how choice is that.

Ok Thats me for today.
I'm sure I'll have more to say soon about Nice. (Tomorrow maybe)

Aufwiedisen. xxxxx

SWITZERLAND!! - 8th - 11th Oct remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Only 2 sleeps from this moment.

I'm all set sort of.

This blog is kind of like a group email but with a little more effort involved maily on you're side. Also a way of letting you decide whether you are actually interested or not.

Oh Also if I get really cleaver, or a little bored I'll endevour to translate some of my entries into dutch.

• Keep in Touch!!

• I hope to have my first real entry soon!

• And PHOTOS!!
  

Welcome to Natassia's Travel Blog remains copyright of the author Natassia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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