Aug 2006

After waking up slightly late, I took a taxi to Glasgow Central station and boarded my early morning train to Warrington to revisit my Mum's relatives and see a Liverpool FC match.

During the ride to the station, the taxi driver and I discussed the unique position of Renfrew as a small town that just happens to be near a large one (Glasgow). Considering if Renfrew was in Australia, it would just be another suburb of Sydney, it is odd to feel that it has such an independent identity. But it does, and I love it for it.

The train journey was fairly uneventful, and gave me a fantastic opportunity to sort through my photos (which had amassed to an impressive 4gb over the 2 months!).

On arrival at Warrington station, Andrea drove us straight to the football match. I can't believe we were lucky enough to get tickets - Liverpool FC tickets are as rare as hen's teeth and relatively expensive too! For a season ticket you're looking at hundreds and hundreds of pounds! Ouch!. It was a great game, although for me the most important aspect was the atmosphere and all the singing and verbal jousting between the two sides. Obviously it helped that Liverpool won 2-1. To top it off it was the 100th anniversary of the Kop Stand, which made for some amazing banners and the like at the start of the game.

After the game, we all went back to Helen's house and I got a chance to see the kids (Hannah, Jamie and Lauren) as well as Mark and Karen (and obviously Helen!). It was great to catch up and share stories of all our travels around Europe. In the time that I'd been away Mark and family had been to Cyprus and got to drive through where Mum grew up in the RAF base, but unforunately they couldn't take any photos as it's still a restricted zone.

Our evening was spent in one of their local pubs laughing at the absurdity of the gypsy wedding taking place nearby and the clearly-on-drugs karaoke singer who spent half the night rollerblading through the pub!

Ah England!

Hiya again,

Today was AWESOME!! I can't believe we did so much and the weather held off I am a lucky one!

I woke this morning at 9 after an excellent sleep - so great to have a proper bed again! Headed straight for Edinburgh and met up with Mark - a mate of mine from Singapore. He's quite the international guy - being born in Singapore, raised in Indonesia, Norway and England, living (and now working) in Aberdeen and studying in Durham. Makes my travels look decidedly boring!

Anyways, it was fantastic to meet up again after so long - especially as we used to live in the same corridor at PGP in Singapore, so we were the closest PGP had to 'roommates'.

We headed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (a huge spinoff of the more high-brow Edinburgh International Festival) info tent and picked a show to see based on the reviews it was getting. It was always going to be a gamble, but it actually turned out to be quite good, and appropriately about travel. I won't go into rating it here, as that was partly what the show was mocking, but its called Lick and Chew: The World is Just Enough. Only about 15 people were there, and there were only 2 actors in the 1hr show, but the theatre was compact enough (likened in the show to a portaloo, but not that bad!) that it didn't feel empty.

I had so much fun just wandering around, chatting to Mark and soaking up the festival atmosphere. For people living in Edinburgh it must get frustrating having so many tourists visiting, but the Royal Mile (the main road linking the Castle with Holyrood House) was abuzz with activity. Loads of people were handing out flyers or performing skits from their show, and the atmosphere was just so pleasant. No one was angry or abrupt - everyone seemed to just be relaxed and having fun.

All too soon it was time to say bye to Mark and head off with my Auntie Evelyn to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. I succumbed to the power of eBay and bought tickets a few weeks back for a 100% markup, but it was REALLY worth it. I didn't really know what to expect, having not really ever watched it on TV before, but it definitely surpassed what limited thoughts I had of it. The highlights were the New Zealand Band (who just took the piss and started playing ballet music complete with dancing among other things) and the Top Secret Swiss Drummers who were just unbelievable. The precision and speed with which they played was breathtaking. You felt everyone in the stadium 'ooh' and 'aah' with them - it really was grand.

Tomorrow I'm heading down to Warrington to see a Liverpool FC match with my cousin Andrea, which should be AWESOME, so I'm going to head off to bed now. It's 1:30am so I guess that's acceptable, huh?!

Ciao,

Tris

Hiya,

After 5 weeks meandering (at quite a fast pace) I'm back in sunny (!) Scotland. It's really strange, this actually feels like home - truly! I guess that's because I'm no longer carrying a backpack around everywhere, and I have access to everything (incl my trusty laptop). It's equally strange visiting somewhere where everyone speaks English (and predominantly ONLY English). I almost miss having to resort to ESL and hand signals!!

My final hours in Praha were, to say the least, interesting. Max, my roommate, and I talked for ages about Italy, Australia, religion and *ahem* erotic clubs. After such an enlightening conversation, I went to sleep and he went out to said club. I woke at 6:30 to find him sprawled across his bed wearing nothing but a towel. Not a pretty sight!! Ah well, nothing surprises me here at Centrum!

After a fairly uneventful flight (with very fast security checks), I took a 5min taxi and was back in Renfrew. I immediately set to work emptying all my luggage etc. and found that I had LOADS of washing to do - sorry Evelyn for dumping 3 full loads of washing on you! Then I had a long relaxing shower and spent the rest of the day chilling.

Time flies though when you're having fun, so I'm off to bed.

Ciao,

Tris.

And so I'm in Prague for another day. Prague is amazing during the week - it's busy, with much nicer tourists, and the weather is grand. No dodgy hens/bucks parties! It's so much easier to appreciate the architecture and history of a place when people aren't stumbling around drunk or offering you strippers.

News at Hostel Centrum:

• I have my old bed back.

• No more dodgy shower curtain - now none at all, and no light! THAT was an interesting experience this morning. Try telling someone who doesn't speak ANY English that the shower light is broken and you want the key to another room with a shower that works. In the end I had to bring him up and demonstrate one light working and the other one not. He was very helpful though - I had a shower with a light, and a bench! Luxury! No curtain though - that would just be too much to ask.

• 4 German girls locked themselves IN their room this morning

• I'm sharing the room with yet another Italian. Not so much Valentino (Nicky's friend from last time), more 'me scusi' from Eurotrip! Max isn't that bad, I shouldn't be mean to him - his English is just limited so its a struggle.

• Once again I've been ripped off buying a 2nd night. 400Kc. It's actually cheaper to pay in Euros (€10) than Czech Kc!

And so I now have another day in Praha to do all the things I wanted to do over the weekend but ran out of time.

My first stop was the City of Prague Museum, housed in this 18th-century building next to a motorway overpass. It's FASCINATING (Bec & Nicky: you would've loved it), and went through all the archeological explorations that have taken place in Praha and the effect of various religions and rulers on the city. The model of the city that is housed there, made of paper in the late 1800s, is unbelievable!

Then I headed on a tram to have lunch at the famous Bohemia Bagels, and it did not disappoint. Such good value (120Kc incl beer), and a great atmosphere. (Take Tram 9 towards the castle and get off near the furnicular railway to get there). On the way I also got to ride on the longest escalator I've ever been on - something like 350 steps. I was on it for over a minute! Not that special, but definitely scary.

I spent the afternoon wandering around the Prague Castle Lower Gardens and exploring the various frescos that seemed to pop up in strange locations (just randomly on walls). The highlight was seeing the Italian-stlye grotto (fake limestone wall) inside the grounds of the building opposite the castle. So random and really worth the trek.

I also got to explore the hidden courtyard garden that we were told about in our walking tour a few days ago. Nothing special but nice nonetheless.

For dinner I had traditional Czech pork at Restaurant Muskettr near the National Museum. Good value for money, but not as good as the other places we've dined at.

And now I'm spending my last few hours blogging and checking emails. This time tomorrow I will be in Glasgow!

Tchuss, Ciao, Au revoir Europe!

PS: For photos of Praha, click here.