Europe-a-licious

Sunday, 18 May 2008

Location: Zurich and Engelburg, Switzerland

Well my minions, it's been a while but I finally ventured out of london again. And this time it was for the wonderful city of Zurich.

I could start by telling you about our first night out, but to be completely honest, the adventure started way before that. In fact, it started before we even landed. Being the extremely clever person that I am, I was playing with the swizzle stick from my cup-a-soup and trying to snap it inside the cup... it didn't snap. Instead it went ricocheting around the plane and landed in some guy's hair. The lady sitting behind me was sprayed with soup and I can almost guarantee that the majority of passengers on that plane HATED me (and my cup-a-soup).

Moving on... Mal and I arrived in Zurich at about 9pm, so we decided it would probably be best to just have a quite couple of drinks and have a full day in town the next day. As most of you know, I am completely incapable of this, and a couple of drinks turned into a 3am return to the hotel after an entire evening on the vodka with a couple of Swiss boys we met in a bar. Hmmm, how does she do it?

The next day in Zurich was awesome - minus the hangovers of course. Mal and I took a lovely stroll along the main road in town and then across to the lake where we enjoyed a rather tasty bowl of Movenpick and soaked up some sun. All in all it was a pretty laxed day and there isn't a lot to report unfortunately.

Saturday is a different story altogether! Mal and I wanted to see a real-life Swiss village, complete with mountains and snow and cattle and everything. So we headed off to Engelberg for the day. We arrived in Engelberg at midday and had 3 hours to look around before we had to return to the bus. 3 hours people! Do you know what's in Engelberg? Sweet f**k all!! However... we did manage to entertain ourselves quite well. The town is based mainly around the monestary and it's cheese factory, so we had a nice lunch consisting mainly of cheese... and then went and visited the monestary - I know, we're so damn unpredictable! On the way back we visited Luzern for an hour and then headed back to Zurich.

And last but not least there was the zoo! We had a bit of trouble getting there, on a count of Mallory remembering zero German and no-one at the train station speaking English, but we managed it eventually. The animals were just your average every-day zoo animals, except for the Marabou Stalk. I read a book last month called 'the Marabou Stalk Nightmares' and I thought the way they described the stalk was horrible... until I saw the real thing. I don't know if any of you ever saw that movie about the cormorant, but this was even more evil. I've put a picture up so you can all have some nightmares of your own. Gee I'm so kind.

And that pretty much sums up Switzerland my dears. There were other bits and bobs along the way but I don't want to bore you with all the little details.

I hope you're all having an amazing time at home or where ever you are in the world. I miss you all like crazy and can't wait to see you all.

Carolyn
xx

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Location: Bristol, UK

Hey peeps,
So I had a day free last weekend... something that doesn't often happen... and decided to treck it up to Bristol.
I wasn't there for very long so not a lot happened, but I can tell you that within the first 30 minutes of arriving I managed to bail down some stairs, stain my teeth on a blueberry smoothy and get absolutely saturated in a down-pour that lasted for well over an hour. After all that, Jody and I went to see the suspension bridge at the end of town. It's really cool and is built over a massive gorge with a river running through the middle. At the beginning of the bridge there are signs for all the people planning on jumping... strange I know, but I have devised a plan to stop the insanity. All they need to do is electrify the wires running through the railing and all would be sweet!
So, after drying off and having a lovely roast chicken with Jody and her boyfriend, we headed into town and had a few beers. Didn't have a massive night but it was good one none the less.

And the next day I came back to London. The end.

Hope everything is super at home
Love you all millions
xxx

Wednesday, 27 February 2008

Location: Edinburgh and Killin, Scotland

Hey peeps! I've been to Scotland.

After 4 months of London life, with little more than a random trip out to Leighton Buzzard and a day in Oxford, I finally decided to make the treck up to Scotland to see my cousin Dennis and his wife Kat. Being a McNabb and all you can probably understand that I was super excited to see where my clan had come from and couldn't wait to get there. So, on Saturday, we all got up and made our way to Killin for the day. Being Scotland it rained for most of the morning, but we had a pretty sweet drive there anyway. I'm going to skip the part about the hotel and the drive and just go straight to the part where the MacNabs wiped out an entire clan (I think it's a bit juicier that way).

About half an hour away from Killin (Loch Tay) is Lock Earn. Back in the 1600s the MacNabs and the MacNeishes were at war. As it happened, the MacNabs absolutely destroyed the MacNeishes, forcing them to retreit to a small island (we're talking the size of a small house here) on Lock Earn, now known as Neish Island. The MacNeishes managed to commendeer all the boats on Loch Earn and would pillage all the surrounding clans, stealing their supplies and retreating back to their little island where they would be safe from all harm. One day in 1612 (around Christmas) the MacNeishes managed to ambush supplies heading for the MacNab castle back in Killin. The servant escaped and ran back to tell the MacNab chief about "those bastards" the MacNeishes. The MacNab chief was FURIOUS, especially seeing as he now had no whisky (and McNabbs don't usually have Christmas without alcohol) and called for his sons. Smooth John was the eldest (I think he was called 'smooth' because he was a quick executioner, either that or because he was hairy - the stories differ a bit) and the leader of the gang. The chief looked John hard in the face and said "The night is the night, if the lads were the lads." The boys, not wanting to disappoint their father, set out in the freezing snow (apparently there was a blizzard that night too) and, carrying a boat all the way from Loch Tay, headed for Neish Island. When they got to Loch Earn, they rowed across to the island and sunk all the MacNeish's boats. They then headed for MacNeish castle and banged on the door. All fell silent inside until the MacNeish chief yelled out for the boys to address themselves. Smooth John just yelled back "who would you least like it to be?" and then they broke the door down and proceeded to execute every member of the MacNeish clan (except for a little boy and a little girl who ran away and swam to shore). As the MacNab boys returned to Loch Tay and the MacNab castle, Smooth John yelled to his father "let fear be far from all (dread naught)". The chief came to the door and looked at John, who swiftly told him, "The night was the night, and the lads were the lads." When the chief asked to see what was in the sack that John had been carrying, john pulled the sac from his shoulder and let 7 heads fall from it, replying "balls for the bairns."

And so the story goes, that any MacNeish that lives today is decended from the small boy that escaped the wrath of the MacNabs. Cool story aye?

Anyway... after we went and visited Neish Island, we made our way to Killin and to the island where all the MacNab chiefs are buried. We also went and found where our castle used to be and then went and had haggis at a restaurant right next to the island. I know... I had haggis! It was actually just like eating black pudding, only that it had barley in it (so mum I guess you wouldn't like it). I thought it was pretty nice, but I've had a really sore stomach ever since so maybe it's not that great after all.

Saturday night was as interesting as they come. I can't really describe how funny it was, but we went to a Scottish dance thing and there was this long greasy-haired Polish guy in a quilt and sneakers who was just takng the whole thing WAY too seriously. Kat and I spent the whole night laughing at him as he tried to lock eyes with every girl as he turned them way too fast and they lost their balance. We eventually figured out that if we went the same direction as him we never had to dance with him, so we did actually end up doing a few of the dances after all. A midnight trip to the supermarket on a hunt for doughnuts and we were off to bed, ready for another exciting day in Scotland.

Sunday, I felt like crap! Not surprising considering how much I drank, but still.... We spent most of the morning getting over whatever ailments we had acquired from the night before and then headed up to Arthur's seat at the top of the hill in Edinburgh. It's so cool up there, kinda like Mount Eden, only in Scotland. After being blown away by gale-force winds we headed back down to the city and went up to the castle and the royal mile. We couldn't decide what to do with the last couple of hours before my train left, so we ended up going to the 'Camera Obscura' at the top of the mile. It's a sort of illusion gallery, where there are holographs and mirrors and all sorts of great stuff that make you forget about how much your head is hurting. I've put some sweet pics up so you can see a couple of the things in there (I'm sure you'll be super jealous).

And that pretty much sums up Scotland... Sorry I don't have more but it was only 2 days. Makes me tired just thinking about it really. Hopefully I'll get my arse into gear and go on another trip really soon (maybe St Patricks day?) so I can give you some more updates. Until then though, take care my pretties and don't forget to leave some messages.

Love you, love your work
Carolyn
xxxx

Saturday, 06 October 2007

Location: Ios, Greece

It's nearly home time people! Nearly the end of my journey, and nearly time to put some hard core warm clothes on. 'Cos I know it's gonna be bloody freezing in London!
In the mean time though, here's what I've been up to.
Gemma and I arrived in Athens after a 12 hour day of travelling. Something that no amount of travel will ever make ok. Unfortunately we didn't enjoy Athens all that much. Mostly due to the fact that we were staying in the dodgiest part of town, with all the prostitutes and strippers, couldn't find accommodation for our second night, and stayed with the most annoying (and maybe dumbest) Americans I've ever met. Oh, and the laundry lady tried to steal half our clothes too.
But all that is now insignificant, because the Greek Islands are WICKED.
We arrived in Mykanos on the first day of our 'tour' and spent most of the rest of the day chilling on the beach, getting a rad as tan. Yes that's right my friends, I do in fact have a tan. A real one too, complete with tog lines and a darker tone of foundation. YUSSSSSSSS!
Anyway, we went out that night to dinner and went drinking in some of the bars that are still open. Greece is pretty dead at the moment, so there are only about 3 bars open on every island. That's reduced from the 100 or so bars that are normally open during the summer. On each island.
The next day Gemma and I spent the day making some friends and went into town to have a cutesy wee romantic dinner, just the two of us. Due to the fact that we are completely reversed in our drinking habits to the rest of the group, we chose this night to stay up till all hours drinking with the random people we met at the bar. Always a good way to get in the 'in crowd' with the tour group.
The next morning brought a new island, by the name of Paros. Paros was pretty coo. We went on a really awesome boat trip on the second day. Complete with a barbeque on the beach and a sweet as skipper, who was more wasted that most of the passengers on the way back to port. I told you the europeans love their water safety. I got sick somehow (completely unrelated to alcohol) and spent that night curled up in a ball in bed. It sucked. Big time. But luckily I felt marginally better by the morning, deciding to nominate the next couple of days as "alcohol-free days".
Alcohol-free days meant one thing and one thing only. The next time I drank, it got WAY out of hand...
Once again out of sync with the rest of the group, Gemma and I decided to go to the BOX bar in Santorini with our tour guide, Laura. Laura went off to put her bag in her room and never returned. Deciding that we had to take matters into our own hands, Gemma and I ordered enough alcohol to inebriate a small army and continued to drink until we had made friends with most people in the bar. After befriending the owner's wife and her two sisters, buying the bouncers jagerbombs and dancing on the bar, we arrived home and somehow I slept on top of the entire contents of my backpack.
I haven't had a drop of alcohol since and don't intend to drink for a few more weeks!
The trip to Ios the next morning was Hell on Earth. If only the boat had been silent I may have had a shred of peace. But, alas, that was not the case. We arrived on Ios at about 1pm and by the time I felt ok to join the group again it was 6pm. No people, I am not proud of the way I acted!
Ios was amazing. It had the best beaches, the best nightlife (though I enjoyed this sober) and the best people of all the islands. We were the last group through and so all the staff were partying just as hard as everyone else. It was awesome!
We didn't really accomplish a whole lot on the islands. Just chilled out and had a good time really. I'm quite looking forward to going back to London to start living normally again. Never thought I'd say that, but 2 and a half months of travelling can really take it out of you.
Don't think this website is getting any less action though, cos I'm gonna be writing about all the random stuff I get up to when I'm there.
Well that's it for now. Next week all my photos should be up to date, so keep an eye out.
Peace out minions
Love!