Another long weekend :)

Well, I am exhausted after another long weekend! But I love them anyway. If only life were a weekend!

On Friday after school I was planning on having a quiet one, but Paula invited me out to one of her friends so I thought 'why not, I can sleep later' - little did I know then later was 7 am on Saturday, later - so I went out with Paula. It was a fairly normal little hang, there was one girl there from Latin America so she had the music pumping and was dancing salsa! When at last they got bored of hanging around in that house we went out to a club. But by this time it was already about 5 am. And even though I am a night person by this time I was extremely tired!

So in the end I came and Paula, definitely the partier in the family, went out once more!

On Saturday night I went out with Cathy and her friends to what was called the metro parade. I had assumed it would be, literally, a metro parade! Turned out to be a birthday party in which all the people were dressed up at some metro station in Madrid. I was rather shocked when I found out! But it was fun, really really really different than what I am used to in a party, but fun never the less!

Anyway. In confession it is now January and I honestly don't remember what else I did. I just found this draft on the blog so I thought I should post it!

Segovia & La Granja

The Royal Palace of La Granja

I don't have much to show for this day trip as my camera, which I love and am very thankful for, decided to run out of battery in La Granja, so I have a total of eighteen photos of the whole day!

Not a happy chappy.

But I am sure Google can help me out with memories...

So last weekend I went with my host parents to the countryside, felt I needed to get in contact with nature a little, being a country girl and all....well somewhere deep inside my heart anyway. It was beautiful, the trees all had their autumn leaves and the air was fresh! On Saturday we arrived quite late in the afternoon, Merche (host mother) and I lay out in the sun and got a bit of tanning done. How I had missed sunbaking! And it is even better here because I don't need to worry so much about the whole hole in the ozone layer problem...well so much anyway!

Then for the night they went out to meet some of their friends so I went to bed early, honestly my imagination got the best of me and I could no longer sit alone in the living room! Dexter is not good for girls who stay alone in houses....

Then on Sunday, Raul (host father) and I went on a little outing together to Segovia and La Granja, we drove over the mountains and into the valley. The palace at La Granja is stunning! Well I didn't actually go inside but the gardens were nice!

Then we drove to Segovia, which has a few more things to see...we had lunch first in a cute little tapas bar and went sightseeing.

Now I have cheated and used google as my resource for photos to put here, I know I know, and I am sure this is copyright...but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

First we went to the famous Aqueduct which was built in Roman times and still in use now, it is amazing how they managed to build so well such a thing so long ago.

Then we went to the famous gothic cathedral which was also really beautiful, churches always amaze me. How people put so much effort into every detail. And I am also curious as to how they always have paintings on the roofs!

And lastly to the castle which is now a museum, with lots of old knights clothing, swords, cannons, and normal everyday things they used.

All these things are very interesting for me - and I am sure most Australians - as it is so different to be in a country with so much historic things. All the amazing architecture here really leaves me speechless! I love Australia, but we are only famous for the Oprah House!

Segovia...

The Aqueduct

Gothic Cathedral

Anddddd....the palace!

That's all there is, there isn't anymore.

Germany and beyond!

Me in three countries, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium!

Lotta!

It is a shame I can never seem to write about my holiday whilst still in the country I am talking about!

I am back in Spain now again and am rather exhausted! I have been back for a week and a bit now actually. Enrolled in evening Spanish classes twice a week right in the center of Madrid which is exciting and hopefully can give me more confidence with my Spanish!

Ok, well...Germany was amazing! I went for one week and it was full of exciting things! Breakfasts consisted of many different cheeses on fresh bread with tomato and cucumber, served with coffee! Yummm.

The train ride there was however quite stressful, after finally getting on the last (or so I thought) train of day I settled down and went to sleep. When I woke up again the train was stopped so I assumed it was my stop. I grabbed my suitcase and jumped off just as the doors were closing, it was freezing outside! Then I realised that no one was there to pick me up and it was one hour earlier than I was supposed to arrive, of course this had to be the day I ended up in the middle of nowhere. After mine and Storms traumatic walk to the train station, which left my hands shaking and heart beating a hundred miles per hour, and our sad goodbye it just really wasn't what I needed! But being a mature young adult I sorted out a train and let everyone know I was going to be late BEFORE I broke down in a corner on the phone to my dad.

So I got a different train, which was somewhat less comfortable than the first, for the rest of the way. Although not before they had to call an ambulance and delay the journey a while longer because some guy on the train didn't want to wake up! I tried writing in my journal on the train but because I was so tired tired it is barely readable and there are little entries where I have dozed off, woken up again and kept on writing about my dreams - I wasn't aware this was happening at the time!

When I arrived in Germany Lotta and her friend Carla were there to pick me up from the train station, for that day I just slept until about four. We drove to the Netherlands (about 5 minutes away) and I stood in three countries at once, then in the night we went out to a restaurant for some drinks. In Germany because the 'no smoking inside' policy has been enforced all the restaurants have now made cute little outdoor areas, with blankets and heaters so it is rather enjoyable!

For the first few days we stayed in Aachen at Lottas parents house, I bought some 'Printen' which is a biscuit thing only made in Aachen, quite yummy too. And we went to the Aachen 'kaiserdom', or if you like cathedral. Which is the oldest cathedral in northern Europe. And did a little shopping!

Then Susi, Lotta and I drove to Holland to meet up with Lottas family who were staying in a house near the beach. We stayed there for two nights, during which we went to the beach, obviously, played 'midget golf', bike rode, ate traditional Holland chips which come with mayonnaise, onion and another sauce, I saw a tiny house and taught them all how to play racing demonds! And Lotta, Susi and I drove to a little village with some really old houses and found to best soap on the planet!

Then it was back to Aachen for a night and from there on to Bonn, where Lotta lives. Where we stayed for the last two days. We went to the Kölner Dom, which was somewhat more impressive than the one in Aachen and climbed to the top, which is about 500 steps or so and worth it for the view! On my last night we went to the concert of a famous German reggae, pop, hip hop, singer called Jan Delay. It was a really fun concert and he was great at entertaining - even though I didn't understand him! And a good way to end my trip.

Although when I look back on it that week passed so quickly!

Now here I am back in Madrid, this weekend is yet another long weekend! It surprises me how many we have. It is highly likely I have had more long weekend here in one and a half months than we do in Australia in a year!

At the beach!

From the left: Me, Lotta, Moni, Susi, Helena, Chico and Crazy Pat!

Jan Delay concert!

Some cool people

Kölner Dom

Chico

Hobbit house!

Susi, me and Lotta

Aachen 'kaiserdom'

At the Kölner Dom in Cologne.

Jan Delay concert!

Paris from Germany

21.10

Well right now I am sitting in Lottas car on the way to her parents holiday house in the Netherlands...it is quarter to eleven. Don’t get too excited I don’t actually have internet here but I haven’t updated my blog in so long I was beginning to feel really guilty! Not that

I should be surprised, I have never succeeded in keeping a journal for longer than two months. In reflection what a waste of paper!

We are listening to a German singer called Jan Delay who is quite famous apparently and I like his music. On Sunday we will go see his concert which is exciting!

Well I guess I should continue from where I left off in Paris and tell you the rest of my weekend...

So on Saturday we woke up quite early and lazed around for quite a while...whilst getting ready to go into Paris. Storm cut my hair which took up a few hours and then of course being girls we had to get dressed and ended up going into Paris at around 3.30. Well it would have been quicker but we had to walk to the train station so that occupied another half an hour. It was ok going in late and we just went to the Eiffel Tower straight away. Oh but I can’t forget to mention our little hiccup on the train.

So me not being experienced in the way of public transport in Paris I was just following Storms lead. Like the day before and I thought what was normal in Paris we jumped the metro as opposed to paying 2 euros for a ticket. Of course this just happened to be the day when traffic control were out asking everyone for their tickets. Storm tried to tell the lady we thought you had to buy tickets at the end of the journey and that we were going to buy them now....when that failed we tried the ‘the ticket machine was broken’ trick but she wasn’t fazed! Luckily she took pity on two young Australians and instead of charging us 40 euros each she charged us 20. Still rather annoying but I guess it is another of those things that has to happen to you at least once...right?! So after that some budgeting was needed but we still splashed out and bought tickets to climb the Eiffel Tower...well it ended up being cheap having our students cards with us which is geerrrrreaaaaat!!!! In the end we decided against the stairs and took the elevator up, which was enjoyable! We didn’t stop at the first level because we figured it wasn’t high enough for us and continued onto the second. Still wasn’t thhaaat high but the vies were beautiful from there. The two disadvantages were that one; my camera decided to run out of battery so all the photos are of bad mobile quality, and two; we failed to bring the appropriate jumpers and although we enjoyed the views our coldness was a definite downside to the second level!

When I felt the first drops of rain we lined up to get to the top level rather quickly. I am not scared of heights but after a while in the elevator it felt like we would never stop and I began to voice my worries! But it was worth it, because even though from the second level the views were pretty from the third it was indescribable! Also whoever designed to tourist side of things was kind enough to build an indoor viewing platform so we didn’t have to worry to much about the cold. By then it was dark which is better for me because it is my opinion that cities look better at night!

Storm and I both texted our families letting them know that whilst they were in the Shire we were at the top of the Eiffel Tower!

Whoever designed it also put up little notes saying how far away different countries and cities were. However he/she kindly forgot to factor Australia into that chart which was very disappointing for us. Just because we are far away doesn’t mean we don’t exist!

When we left and went down again it was about time to head home. So after buying a crepe we walked to the metro and after purchasing our tickets we got on the metro and headed home. I think this was the night that Storms family were very generous and picked us up from the station. Which was good because after a few conversations with some local boys we didn’t feel like walking, especially after informing them that ‘no we didn’t speak in French in fact we were Chinese!’

On Sunday we decided that being tourists was rather enjoyable and went on a river cruise down the Seine which stopped at the most famous places in Paris. It was a beautiful day for a river cruise and seeing them was great. At the Notre Dame there was some kind of fair on and outside was a little gospel choir performing and they were really good! For dinner we went and bought a fresh baguette and some different toppings and ate on the boat in an attempt to be even more touristy than before! I think we succeeded :)
When the tour was over the boat stopped at the Eiffel Tower and I said goodbye and we went home once more to the little flat in Croissy.

But not to bed, because by the time we got there it was quite late and after being informed that the next day we would be walking to the train station we decided the safest bet would be just to stay up all night as it was at 4.00 in the morning we would leave.

Now the journey to the train station is one which can be told tomorrow as it is now 3.40 am and my body clock is telling me sleep is long overdue!