Pisa

10-11th January 2013
Pisa! The country that I was most excited to visit was Italy. I think I have mentioned it in a post previously, but in primary school from Year 2 to Year 5, I used to have Italian classes. It was a combination of learning the language as well as the culture of the country. The flight from London to Pisa was so incredibly short; it was still hard to wrap my head around the fact that all the countries in Europe are geographically so close together.

Quick review of my hostel, Walking Street Hostel. It was so dodgy; when I arrived the guy at reception told me that my bed wasn't ready but it would be after an inspection (I am guessing that there was probably some sort of law regulating the number of people in the room) and I had to leave my bag right next to the front door. Hmm. The people who worked at the hostel slept in the living room. Hmm. Ah well, it was relatively cheap and I was only there for one night so it didn't bother me too much.








First stop: the Leaning Tower of Pisa! It was incredible and I didn't actually imagine it to be that tall or impressive. When I was in NYC, my issue with the places that I visited was that I was underwhelmed, but seeing the Tower and the piazza, I was just overwhelmed.





At the base of the tower I met a gentleman. Cue story. He offered to take my photo with the tower and I handed over my camera. After the photo, he introduced himself (can't remember his name anymore) and offered to give me a quick tour which I accepted. He started talking about the history of the piazza and the city/ town and finally offered to take my around the city. Apparently there was a 'beautiful' garden that many tourists didn't visit and off we went! It was €5 ($7ish AUD) entrance fee which the guy paid (and the woman at the desk looked at my oddly). The garden was beautiful. Not. I don't know why it didn't occur to him that we were in the middle of winter therefore there wouldn't be anything growning. It was actually really hilarious.


The fabulous garden.

We then went to another piazza and truth be told, not entirely sure where we went, but the town really isn't that big so I roughly knew where I was. Unlike the Irish guy in London, this guy was borderline creepy. I was wearing my thick woollen coat and I wasn't entirely sure if he was brushing or touching my chest/ arm/ side of body area. I just wasn't sure if it was intentional or accidental since it wasn't a clear deliberate action. I don't know. After a while, it became a little creepy so we parted. Right before we did though, he gave me a hug and then what I thought was going to be a kiss on my cheeks. Rather to my surprise, he (and this is why I just don't know if he was a perv or not) kissed 1/3 of my lips. So it wasn't on my lips completely but definitely not normal either.

My Overall Thoughts
Pisa was very interesting. It was the first country I visited where English was not the first language and combined with the guy that I met and the incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was a memorable day.

Would I re-visit?
Nope. The only thing to see (in terms of tourist attractions) is the Piazza del Duomo and as gorgeous as it is, it doesn't really justify a day trip.

London Pt 3

9th January 2013
Despite missing my free tour of Greenwich, I decided to explore the area by myself. But first, I made my way down to Hyde Park.






Hyde Park was enormous and I got really bored walking through it after a while. I was contemplating renting the city bicycles however it started to drizzle and considering I hadn't ridden a bike in over 3 years, I decided that it probably wasn't a good idea.

I caught the Tube to Canada Water. I had some issues with the Tube, the main one being that I consistently got motion sickness. I wasn't sure if it was because I was sitting sideways or if it was the smell of the cleaning products or the speed, I just felt nauseous 99% of the time. London was also the first 'big' city feel in terms of public transport. Perhaps I just missed out on the rush hour crowd in NYC, but it always felt quite relaxing. But being crammed into the carriage was another experience in itself. I also loved how there were repeated announcements over the PA at the escalators which reminded people to stand on the left hand side. Now, that is something which bugs me in Sydney. Far too many people don't abide by this rule and it frustrates me when people don't walk on the right side of the footpath. I digress.







Finally the skies cleared up and the first blue sky since I landed in London! From the station, it was a 40 minute walk to my final destination of Greenwich Park and it was quite lovely walking through a residential area of London. It reminded me a lot of my feelings when I was in the US; continually I would think to myself, 'wow this looks just like it does in the movies/ on tv'.











Greenwich is famous for the Royal Observatory, or more specifically the prime meridian line.


The walk back to Canada Water was equally lovely, especially with the setting sun. This was my last day in London.

My Overall Thoughts
London was amazing and has such a big-city feel. In some respects, even moreso than NYC. It is so cosmopolitan and just incredible. It has such a lovely vibe and it is a place that I could see myself living in (like so many other Australians). Oddly enough, it felt a lot like home, but not quite. I am not entirely sure where the sense of familiarity comes from considering physically, it is quite unlike Sydney and yet there is something there that I can't place my finger on.

Would I re-visit?
Definitely. I definitely didn't see enough of the city. That being said, I am not sure if it will be on my list of destinations for my next visit to Europe since there are so many cities that I would love to visit.

Oxford

8th January 2013
My trip in Europe was planned predominately by Sunbear, especially for the last leg of it. He originally had plans for me to spend somewhere in the vicinity of 5 months in the UK because he had listed so many cities and towns to visit. In the end, I settled on visiting Oxford since it was relatively close to London. The bus departed from London Victoria station which is a central station and completely hectic as it was during rush hour. I had to cut across from one end to the other, and it was so difficult.


I caught the bus to Oxford and, as I was one of the first to board the bus, I managed to get the very front seat on the second level. Now, I was never allowed to sit there as a child on the Hong Kong buses since my mother always feared that if there was an accident, I would be the first to die. I have to say that she would have been right after seeing photos like this and this, and oh look, this too! That being said, it gave me good view and hey, some lovely photos.










Oxford!








Oxford was pretty and charming. However, it eventually got a little less charming after a while. Sandstone building here, sandstone building there.

Super blurry :(

It was really awkward when people tried to tell me to try British food because I can eat is so easily back at Sydney. For lunch I went to a small cafe and had fish and chips since I had my fair share of hamburgers. I am not a fan of fish generally (excluding salmon) and especially not fried fish. The last time I had fried fish was back in 2008 (I believe) and 4 years later, I am still not a fan. I'm not entirely sure why I don't like it, but I just don't.

My Overall Thoughts
Whilst it was nice to leave London for the day, I was a little disappointed with Oxford. But, all in all, it was still a nice day.

Would I re-visit?
Nope.

London Pt 2

7th January 2013
As mentioned in my previous post, I woke up at 8am which meant that I was late for my free Greeter Tour of Greenwich since I was meeting at 8am. It would have taken me 40 minutes to get there so I sent an email apologising. I really did feel bad since someone had gone to the office to meet me except I didn't turn up.

A little backtrack first, when I flew from Canada back to the US, one of my first thoughts was, "wow it is absurdly warm! I am finally in the positive degrees!" (It was 2 degress). Throughout my stay in London, it was on average, 13 degrees which was glorious.

Back to my second day in London, I first walked down to Regent's Park, Camden Markets, Thames River, St Paul's Cathedral, Millennium Bridge and Tower Bridge. Largely picture based post. 









One of the things that struck me was how green England is. I haven't seen this green in Australia (excluding Tasmania possibly). At least in NSW, it's more of a yellow-green, if not just plain yellow.





My lunch! I am obsessed with salami and I found it dreadfully expensive in US but it was cheap in England (and actually rest of Europe).



HOW ADORABLE IS THIS PINT OF MILK. 

11km walk!

London Pt 1

6th January 2013
I had a lovely conversation with the man at Virgin Atlantic desk who seemed in awe of the fact that I travelled from Australia to USA and then to London to commence my travels in Europe. Actually, I had that comment from a lot of people. My logic is: heck, I am already on that side of the world, I may as well continue since a plane ticket in the future isn't exactly cheap.

I boarded the flight and was stuck in the middle seat on the window side. D'oh. Wedged in between two 18/19 year old girls. What I gathered was that a bunch of them were from a community college in Connecticut and were studying abroad at their school's London campus. Or 'campus'. Studying abroad is a really big thing in the US and there are so many programs, some quite legitimate (i.e exchange) and others ... well they seem somewhat flimsy.

The flight to London from JFK was a 6 hour flight and I did not sleep a wink. It was actually terrible since I dreadfully wanted to sleep but I was just in the limbo stage, but closer to the 'conscious' side of the spectrum. I landed and raced to pick up my checked luggage with the intention of beating the lines at immigration. No such luck. My bag was one of the last to arrive. At immigration, the woman was so cold. Actually, she asked me so many questions in addition to the usual ones: how much money do you have, do you have a return ticket, why are you here, do you have family here, why did you come alone, are you travelling with anyone, why are you travelling alone. Finally, I passed immigration (actually the stamp from Customs is barely there. Seriously, if you squint you can see a faint trace of the stamp).

By this stage, I was exhausted. I had been awake for around 26hours and when I landed in London, it was 8am which the travel agent had specifically selected since it would give me a whole day in London. Good idea, if I actually slept on the plane. I caught the Tube to my hostel at Palmer's Lodge Swiss Cottage which was AMAZING. The dorm was a 20-something or 30-something shared dorm. BUT the room was ginormous and not only that, each bunk bed was super sturdy and constructed so that each bed was a cubby, with a curtain and everything.

I left my hostel and headed to the centre of London to see the typical highlights: Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace etc. The weather was so dreary. It was foggy or raining, I was not entirely sure. Or misting might have been the correct term. It didn't seem to be raining, but I felt water on my face every step I walked which was bizarre.












Buckingham Palace

As previously mentioned, I was terribly terribly tired. So tired that I felt as though I was sleepwalking if that makes sense. An Irish guy stopped me when I was on some random street and asked me, "did you get that scratch from rock climbing?'. The skin on my face had largely healed (thank goodness) but I still had one scab/healing part on my left cheek. I told him no and then he asked where I was from and I answered and then I said, "what do you recommend seeing in London" and he told me to follow him and his friend from Perth (allegedly). So I followed. I actually had no idea where he was going to take my, but I didn't particularly care. We ended up at Trafalgar Square (which I had just been to). 

The strangest conversation. We somehow got onto the topic of new years resolutions and also, "this may seem like a random question, but do girls know when they are about to get their period?". Weird and random question, but I answered it nonetheless!

We then parted (perhaps I was too boring) and by this stage it was 4pm so I decided to head back to the hostel. I ended up sleeping at 6pm and slept until 8am the next day. Whoops.