Monday, February 19, 2007

Europe wrap up...

Well I thought I had better make a post that finished of the Europe trip so I could try and get this blog up to date... Otherwise I'll always be behind ...

So, Tim and Amber arrived in Barcelona and we stayed at this great apartment which over looked la Rambla. The apartment had cooking facilities, nice shower, was clean and the closest thing to a home that I had been in for nearly a month.

The four of us (Tim, Amber, Wayne and I) hung out in Barcelona, checking out the sites, shopping, eating and drinking.

Things to do:
  • Check out all the Goudy stuff you can
  • Hire push bikes and ride around the maze of the Barri Gotic and La Ribera
  • Eat as much tapas as you can
  • Drink as much wine as you can
  • Deffinitely check out the hunks on the beach :)

If you look around there are some great places to eat. I had the best meals on my holiday in Barcelona.

La Rambla was always alive with people, during the day it's full of con-artists and buskers, or busking con-artists... It's supposed to be a place where you have to look after you wallet, but I never lost mine. During the night la Rambla is full of prostitutes... As I was walking along that would come out grab my arm and try and drag me aside to sell me their wares... After a while I started telling them I was gay and that just encited them to start grabbing my butt and have a feel... Can't win...

We were out walking one night, trying to find a bar we had heard about that sold Absinthe. We knew it was in the El Raval area (dodgy and to the west of La Rambla), so we were walking around and turned down this street... there were no lights and as we started down the street very scary looking people started to step out of the shadows and onto the street... we very quickly turned around and took off... The next day when we were out on the push bikes exploring some how I ended up leading us through this building site and onto the dodgy street. If we had gone down the street in the dark there would have been no way out... Stay away from dark places and keep your eyes open!

Anyway we had a great time in Barcelona and were sad to leave.

I then headed back to London with Tim and Amber, I broke my suit case on the way by using the extendable handle to lift it... a big no no for the suitcases with wheels... d'oh.

London

Back in London I got to go out and do a bit of exploring by myself... When you are out there walking around chosing your own direction you really get a better sense of where things are. I ended up jumping on the underground and getting off at random stations and then walking around. I love Soho, but that's no surprise as it's the city's gay precinct :)

Some of the highlights were:

  • The london eye - I went on this with Tim and Ange, Ange who hates heights will never forgive us for talking her into going on it :)
  • Heaven night club - after going out for dinner we went bar hopping and ended up at Heaven night club, we got searched and put through metal detectors to get in which had happened everywhere so it just gave you more of a sense of saftey. I loved Heaven... I'll definitely go there next time I go back to London and make a night of it.
  • Oxo tower - we had dinner at the Oxo tower bistro, very nice. It was a great meal, but you would want to be earning the pound if you eat there.
  • Buckingham Castle - I went on a tour of Buckingham castle, I've become fascinated with the english Royal family... the histroy, the power and more recently the loss of power.
  • Cathcing up with Mark, a friend from NZ that I hadn't seen in ages...

Hasta la vista Europe

So I left for the airport and thought I had given myself lots of spare time but I arrived with not much time to spare and at what felt like the end of the queue for my flight. I would have to say that Heathrow Airport would have to be the worst airport I had been through, small cramped, crowded and slow... You would think for the worlds busiest Airport they would have facilities to cope... I guess the whole security thing made it all a lot worse...

I got on the plane and was sitting next to this cool chick who seemed to like drinking as much as I did... So I had the Stewardess's make up for the rude behaviour of the Stewardess I had on the way over.

I got to Singaport Airport and hunted for showers that I had heard of, I was feeling crappy as London had been hot and muggy, a shower would have been great, but I ran out of time. So by the time I got back on the plane I was well and truely ready to get home...

Anyway I arrived home and then went out clubbing... christ what was I thinking?

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