Ohhh yeah....

So I suppose I should make a bit of a post about London.

I got back from Germany to Heathrow, and had booked in at The Holiday Inn Heathrow T5 again, which had a bus shuttle service to it, so it was nice to just get to the hotel and chill, have a shower and go to bed!

The next day (Monday), I packed up all my stuff and left the hotel at about 11. I had to head back to Heathrow to catch the expensive Heathrow Express to Paddington Station. Paddington Station was fun! I got a taxi from there to my hotel, stored my luggage and went exploring around the area. Found a Caffe Nerro which is always a good lunch option! Eventually, once I was allowed in my room, I unpacked and moved in a bit, cos I was gonna be there for a week! Then went exploring again. Found a shopping centre and the main street, so meandered around there for a bit before settling for Maccas for tea and heading to bed, cos I knew the next day was going to be a big one!

It was surprisingly warm

Hotel

 

The next day, Tuesday, I got up super early and headed to the Victoria Coach Station (via the underground, go me!) to catch a bus to Southampton to visit Katie! Katie was my co counsellor in cabin 6 at camp. It was a 2 hour bus trip, but we passed things like Harrods and Twickenham so it got kinda exciting. But then I pretty much slept haha. It was so cool to see Katie again! We went to Portsmouth and there was a cool outlet area, where I could have spent way more money had I the baggage allowance! We went up the really tall tower, which I can't remember the name of, and I got suitably dizzy haha. Then we headed back to Southampton and meandered around the streets there, before I had to catch my bus back to London. It was a fun day, and I probably spent more than I should have haha, but oh well.

The tall spikey tower thing

Katie and I

Charlie got dizzy

The thing that protects Southampton from invaders. True story. 

Wednesday, I slept in a bit haha. Then I headed into the city! It was amazeballs. I had ordered this London Pass thing online, which was such a great thing. You pay a certain amount and get a buttload of attractions for free! I got a 6 day one, when in hindsight, I should have got a 4 day one, but oh well! I ended up going to Les Mis on Wednesday, cos I could get tickets for half the price of a night show in the afternoon. WOWZA, it was so cool! The theatre was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but it didn't make the performances any less powerful! We had the lady who was Christine in the 25th Phantom (At the Royal Albert Hall) as Fantine (Sierra Bogess) which was fun! I had booked in with a friend from home to go see Phantom that night too haha. So didn't really get much else done that day, but still managed a little wander around Trafalgar Square. Phantom was also amaziiiing. The singing was incredible and the sets were breathtaking. So glad I got to see both those shows as they are the main ones I wanted to see in London, so yay!

Dadaaaaa

I didn't want to proceed much further alone

All by myself

Kate and Wills went through here on their wedding day

Cptn Cook!

Phantom Theatre, gorgeous!

Our epic ticket

Thats all I'm gonna update for now, only a few more days worth of updates! Saaad

Gerrrmany

Finally, an update!

So, after I left Ness at the Copenhagen Station, I was on a train for like 5 hours to get to Bremen, Germany. I ended up sitting next to this really nice lady who spoke to me in English and she got the two guys that were at our table to lift my super heavy suitcase onto the shelf above heads, cos there wasn't any other room for it! Half way through the journey, we had to hop on a boat to cross the sea between Denmark and Germany. It was just like the interislander ferries, except there was a giant duty free shop on board haha. Once we got to the Hamburg station, the lady showed me where I needed to go to catch my train to Bremen.

Upon arriving in Bremen, I saw a very excited Nina running along beside the train trying to spot me, lucky she did! It was so cool to see her again, I hadn't seen her since she left us in 2008! Anyway, we managed to cram my suitcase into her tiny car and head to her place. It was so cool to meet her family and chat to them. They cooked me up some soup and a salad and we all sat down and I ate and we chatted. I was totally exhausted though, so we went to bed pretty soon after that!

The next day was epic! We had a nice breakfast with Nina, Marie (her sister) and her dad, before Nina and I headed out into the city. We did a lot of the touristy things, looked around the main old parts of town, super skinny streets, poked around some tourist shops etc. It was fun.We had a Bratwurst for lunch while standing at a random table (apparently the German thing to do) and then continued around the city. There was a big football game on that day between Bremen and one of the teams from Munich, so we ended up walking all the way down to the stadium. Of course, we couldn't get in, but by walking down there it gave us an oppourtunity to look at some other parts of town and I got a really sweet ring from one of Nina's favourite jewellery stores, so that is pretty special.

Here, have some photos!

The tram that stopped for Nina to take photos of

Me, at the Bremen Football Stadium

German Houses

Generically Awesome photo

Charlette and Nina!

Touching the leg of the Donkey - which is good luck

Ohhh, shiny!

Cathedral in city

Inside Cathedral

PIRATE SHIP

Lol surveyors

 

Bremen, by the river

Bremen Train Station

Once we got back to Nina's, we pretty much all collapsed on the couch for an hour or so before I was treated to a traditional German dinner. It was meat, potatoes and some red cabbage salad, but all cooked awesomely German! Yum! We had a good old natter at the dinner table before retiring to the couch and skyping Mum and Dad which was fun. Mum totes cried when she saw Nina again! We were planning on going out for the night, but we were so exhausted that we just went to bed again haha. 

The next morning, we had another epic breakfast with Nina, her mum and sister outside. It was a really nice and sunny morning. But I had to packup all my stuff and get on the train to Hamburg so I could fly back to London. 

I got to Hamburg station all good, and found the S Bahn train to the airport, which thankfully was still inside the main station! But I was really nervous on that train, cos halfway through the journey, it split and the front half went to the airport and the backhalf went off somewhere else. THANKFULLY I was on the front half and made it to the airport. Phew!!

Made my flights all good, which was nice, and stayed at the Holiday Inn Heathrow again before trekking into London the next day. But I'll save that story for another day!

Home now!

I know I need to update on Germany and London, and I will do so, I'm exhausted now though so probs tomorrow!

Scandinavia time!

Here I am again, on another flight. I'm flying back to Heathrow now. I spent Monday (24th) to Friday (26th) in Copenhagen with my friend Vanessa from home. She has just recently moved there to be with her boyfriend, Andreas. We did a lot of exploring and had a great time!

The Monday when I arrived, well I arrived quite late in the day so she took me straight on the train back to her flat. Ness made an epic salad before we lounged around on their brand new bed and caught up on everything thats gone down recently!

The Tuesday rolled around and we went into Copenhagen. First up, was a canal tour so I could see all the sights from the river. We saw the Opera House, the best restaurant in the world and of course, the Little Mermaid. So that was fun. Then we went for a walk along the longest walking streetin Europe, for a spot of shopping. I didn't even buy anything! Proud? We had the traditional kebabs for lunch (lol not rally, kebabs are just really popular there at the moment). We ended up at the palace where the Danish Royal Family live, so that was cool. Its a nice area of town, thats for sure! We also went inside the epic church thats there. Biggest dome in Scandinavia apparently! After way too much walking, we headed back to the flat via an interesting grocery store trip lol. Both Ness and Andy went out Tuesday night, so I was left home in their small flat, booking wrong flights etc. Hahaha.

Wednesday was Ness's birthday! We got up early to have breakfast before she had to leave and get to work, after which I went back to bed and slept for a while, which I sure needed! Once Ness got home, we headed out to this epic cake place she had been told about to have some epic birthday cake! We weren't out for too long though cos we had to get back to the flat to prepare dinner for Andy's family who were coming over for dinner. It was a yummy,meal of NZ lamb (either from my uncles farm, or Ness's uncles farm we figured). There were some interesting Danish twists on the meal including once Ness had cut her birthday cake Andy asked her if she wanted 22 long hurrahs or 22 shorts ones. Long ones it was and it was very entertaining. It was cool to see some Danish birthday traditions thats for sure!

Thursday I spent the morning in the flat again, but I had to catch a train about half an hour north to go to Fredriskborg Castle. Ness had seen its epic gardens online and we wanted to go see them. We missed it around the city until we found it (I managed to follow the signs in Danish!). What a gorgeous castle it was! The inside is all set out like a museum with old furniture and paintings everywhere. And lots of stairs. We had good look around the castle, finding all the little hidey holes and looking round. Sadly though, by the time we got outside to look at the gardens it began to rain. Managed to get a few good pictures though, the rain probably adds to the atmosphere a bit. We went into central Copenhagen for dinner at an Australian restaurant, which turned out to be a brilliant idea as we were able to get a Lemon, Lime and Bitters to drink. The Aussie waiter said he can a.ways tell when Kiwis and Aussies are in the place, cos they are the only people that order them haha. It was mu s shout for Vanessa's birthday, so thanks mum! We then went to this kiwi/aussie bar, and were about to leave, cos it looked a little scody, but some Danes invited us to join their pub quiz team, which we decided to, but then decided it was a bad idea, so literally ran out hahahaha.
Friday was my last day in the city, we went out in the morning and went tourist shopping. Then went to another castle, cant remember the name of it right now, but it had the Danish Crown Jewels. They were so sparkly! We had lunch and then I went on my merry way, on a 5 hour train trip, to Germany!
Ill update about that bit later and post photos as soon as I can!

PHOTO UPDATE!!

Vanessa and I on a Canal Tour around Copenhagen

I think this had something to do with Parliament

Coloured houses on the Canal

The Little Mermaid

We climbed a big tower, and this is the view!

Outside the Danish Royal Palace

A gorgeous church. One of the biggest domes in Scandinavia