Germany- Oktoberfest!!!!!

Friday we made our way to Munich for a big weekend at the world famous Oktoberfest!!!! We are with Top Deck tour group at a campsite, so they have tents set up (hundreds- no room for grass to even grow!), have buses to the beer halls and cook hot brekkies, there are mostly auzzies and kiwis but also some ppl from UK.
Friday evening we went in...there are heaps of humungous beer halls set up for different sorts of beer then there are beer gardens around them, and all stores and theme park rides around, pretty massive. And yes, everyone is very drunk and rowdy. With so many ppl it very hard to get into a hall but with huge luck em n I scammed our way into a good one, u have to be seated to be served beer but everyone is friendly so we easily moved around tables, we ate pretzels, wore stupid hats and had quite the few stiens... the band kept playing classic American songs... YMCA, Guns and Roses, Bryan Adams, Grease... it so weird because people here dont really know what the songs are saying but hum along to the tune and love them, Em n i were carving it up dancing on the tables... very fun night!
Yesterday (saturday) we went back in early but at 930am the halls were already all full, again we were lucky to sit with some Germans in a beer garden, we sat there for ages and they taught us German beer songs and drinking games, when we say we from Australia everyones first response is 'kangaroo'... yes kangaroo. We were drunk bw 11am but slogged throught till about 4pm, I went to sleep but Em got up to keep drinking at campsite later last night. Today we having morning off so hopefully I can last into the night, haha. We may stay here a bit longer than planned, very very fun!

Switzerland

We finished our last night in Barelona, because it had been raining and we'd hung our clothes over the tent we came home to a pool of water inside our tent, we had to wipe it up with tiolet paper and forego my wet sleeping bag for the night, n pretty cold next to beach, oh well, woke very early Wednesday for long trip to Geneve in Switzerland.
Switzerland is a very clean and well organised country and the people here are so friendly and helpful (unlike the Spanish). We didnt realise how cold it would be! We set up our tent again in the rain, had chocolate for dinner and had to put on all our clothes and cocoon oursleves in our (now dry) sleeping bags, bbbrrr!
On Thursday we went back down to France for a scenic trip through the French and Swiss Alps... the most amazing sights I have ever seen. Went from Chamonix to Martigney in a small slow train that wound through the hugest mountains covered in alpines with snow on their peaks and tiny villages down below, we went through tunnels, along creeks (with greeny milky water) and past sheer drops that got a bit scary... its hard to describe how stunning it was and how small it made me feel, ive only ever seen little snow in Armidale so was just blown away. We also did trip from Interlaken to Luzern, also beautiful, mountain meets lake, wow! We may come back for some more time in Switzerland later, it is so pretty.

Barcelona Spain

Barcelona has been great. We arrived here on Friday to find it a long weekend and huge party for something not sure what! That Friday we checked into a youth hostel on La Rambla which is the main party street, and had a very big night, there were big concert stages set up with bands and everyone was dancing and all talking, think Sydney NYE but bigger! It also handy for us cos there were so many foreigners who spoke English! Anyway, we stayed out late and enjoyed just crashing in our hostel close by.
Although we enjoyed the bed and pillow we dont really like the hostels, they pack so many ppl into tiny rooms, we are paranoid our belongings will get stolen, the bathrooms are gross and they are still quite expensive, so we decided to find campsite next day. Found the best canpsite yet and have now stayed there 4 nights tonight.
On Sunday we came in to do some sightseeing, we climbed the stairs to the Museu Nacional which was a huge building with the most stunning views of Barcelona city and came to some markets on La Rambla but it was too hot so we bailed for the pool at our campsite. We had meet a load of aussies at our campsite so that night we drank and hung out with them, the contiki bus also pulled into our campsite so it was a pretty big night.
Yesterday (monday) we layed on the beach ALL day, it was best weather, very perfect day!! Today it is overcast so we have done more sightseeing...La Pedrera, some other buildings and the FAMOUS Sagrada Fanilia, took forever for us to find it, and to be honest what a let down! It is under construction and nothing like all the postcards and images ive seen! Oh well, least ive seen it now!
Tonight we are going to see a flamenco dancing show, which we are very excited about! Then we leave early tomorrow to Switzerland, heading towards Munuch for beefest this weekend... time is going too fast!!!!
Thats all, hope everyone at home is well!!! xoxo

Update

Well looks like Valencia is quite the party town. On Wednesday we woke to rain again so after a full day in our tent going quite crazy we decided to go into town, we went to an irish bar which was great to talk to other English speakers, and ended up having a great night when we had a group english/spaniards show us around (wed is foreign student night). We spent yesterday recovering on the beach.
Today we jumped on the train to Barceloña for the weekend... to our suprise it is a long weekend here and HUGE fiesta all weekend that ppl worlwide travel to, we are staying in a youth hostel to make it easier and are excited about another good night out tonight. GOOD LUCK to Mel and (if dad got through semis) soccer grand finals- am thinking of you both!!!

Valencia Spain

Yes we are happily back on the coast. There is no camping in Valencia so we are staying a bit further south in a very Spanish little town called Mareny. Although it is a small town we love just hanging around watching the locals, the buildings are all white or colourful with big archways and vines and window shutters, it is very hot here so has a misty and sandy feel too. Our camping site is right near the beach so we spent all day yesterday sunbaking n swimming in the Mediterranean (some jelly monster scared me off a bit but). All the shops close for siesta, such different lifesytle- last night went for dinner at 7pm but restuarants dont even open until 9.30pm. Nonone speaks any English and everyone STARES at us, although we try to fit in we must look foreign!
Today we spent day in Valencia looking around, just had a HUGE meal; seafood paella (apperenly entree but so filling) n something else i randomly pointed to on the menu- was steak n chips- damn- now we feel like a siesta too.
We are going to stay here until Friday, the relaxing by the sea is too good to leave too soon. Also being hot we can lay on our sleeping bags with just sheets so have had the most comfortable sleeps yet! Love you all!
p.s. have eaten the yummiest stone fruits- so many orchards

Madrid

I knew San Sebastion was too perfect to be true!!! That night we slept very happy with ourselves and excited about our week of sunbaking on the beach...BUT woke up to rain which is not fun while u r camping and the weather forecast- 3 days of rain! So we decided to move onto Madrid on our way south.
We set off and arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning. By midday it boiling hot, too hot to go into town (which we had decided was a dump the night before) so were excited about the huge resort style pool at the campsite. BUT to our disgust the pool is only opened in summer so even though it is sweltering hot and we paying high season prices it is the "Spanish Law" to not open pools after september, so we layed our towels in the dirt outside the pool gate and baked- not exactly dream Spain. The campsite was like a trailer park, really noisy but also very expensive (only good thing was the ground fairly soft on our backs). This morning we eargerly set off to coast with evil thoughts of the hellhole Madrid, when i went to pay for my ticket out i realised some seedy spanish has stolen my wallet out of my bag on the metro!! So i called home to get help cancelling my cards n luckily keep everything seperate from wallet so everything safe except missin bit of cash n now dont have any bank access- i knew i was with Em for a reason! Anyway, hopefully we find a nice campsite here in Valencia on the Medditterean where we will stay for a good week rain hail or shine!! xo

San Sebastion Spain

We have hit Spain and we are loving it!!!!! Yesterday we left La Rochelle (after having an great night out going to a Jazz bar- but again waking up NOT feeling like travelling)n arrived in Irun last night, this was a hole so we came a bit further West to San Sebastion...and dont want to leave! We have spent all day laying on the beach and now intend to do it for a while. The beach is so different to oz, it more of a big bay and at low tide it is HUGE with lots and lots of people, the sun is also very different, we stayed in it all day and are not lobsters, so we planning on a gradual golden tan, haha. Our campsite is a bit out of town, the bus drives along tiny roads along the coastline but it is so cliffy and green, ill have to get some pics, very stunning. Well we are going to stay here for a few more days, tomorrow meant to be very hot, loving life, adios!!

La Rochelle

Yesterday we packed up our tent and made our way to the Westcoast town of La Rochelle, because we didnt reserve seats on the train we were put on kiddy seats between carriages- very uncomfortable; but we munched on camembert n bagettes to keep us happy- by high speed they really mean high speed trains too!! We set up our tent and had a little bake. The town is really nice, basically ports for the yachts (rich French) u can see in pics. Today has been very relaxing, strolling the town and more baking... everyone here is so golden brown we are obviously tourists!! There isnt a great deal more to do here so tomorrow we are off to Spain!! Will be 8hr train to the north border city of Irun; then hopefully to Madrid asap depending on trains. So we are saying goodbye to France for a while and moving on to a whole new experience... xoxo

Rugby World Cup Fever

The city of Paris (and our campsite) has Rugby World Cup fever; even the Eiffel Tower has a huge tacky blow up ball in its centre... They have big TVs in parks set up and the pubs are covered in flags. On friday we wanted to get involved but bailed for the free Louvre (which is an amazing building and we got to see the famous Mona Lisa), so yesterday afternoon (saturday) we found an Oz pub to watch the Auzzies smash Japan- bit pathetic really! But Em n i had a blast- we made most of happy hour and ended up in the busy nightlife of Champs Elyeese. The French are all suddenly so friendly when they realise we are auzzies and not Americans (or English); but some dont believe us because we are so blanc (white)! The weather is really warm here which makes camping nice and it hasnt rained yet- touch wood. Tomorrow we are heading to La Rochelle which is a tres beau town on West coast; after this we will head down to Madrid in Spain then further south along Spanish coast, so looking forward to some lazy days on the beaches. I forgot my camera cord today but will post some Paris photos when I can. Thats all for now, love you all!!!!

I love Paris

Well we have settled in to Paris, it is such a beautiful city, everyone is so well dressed and actually friendly (unlike what i have heard), the city has so many trees and gardens (so pretty) it is arranged in circular blocks which is weird and i do not understand traffic system but beside that i love it here. On Tuesday we took train from Calais to Paris where we found a hostel in Bastille; well it was more of a cleaning closet that we paid loads for, it was full of dirty sheets & a cook burst in at 9am for butter from the huge fridge in room (ew); anyway Wed night we had some wine and went to Oberkamp which was apparently party town but beside meeting heaps of 'unique' people we never actually found anywhere good so went back to hostel to wake with shocking headaches and having to lug our 20kg bags through metro to camping ground.
Yesterday we bought a tent and set up camp; we went to La Defence to do this and saw the biggest shopping centre. Today we woke up sore not sure if from lugging our backpacks or sleeping on rock hard floor! We have spent day exploring Paris saw Arc de Triomphe in Champs de Ellyese, Eiffel Tower and are now just up the road from Moulin Rouge. Soon we going to Notre Dame and Friday nights is free at the Louve so we heading there too. I cannot get over how EVERYONE here is either eating a bagette or carrying a bagette; i have never eaten so many breads and pastries in my life! And Mel there are heaps of dogs they are allowed in shopping centres and on trains and buses- you would love it. I was so nervous about talking French at start but have picked up enough for polite conversation. Anyway will put up pics soon; the time about to run out on computer, so au reviour!!!!! xo

From France...

We made it to Calais in one peice, i hqve never been so overwhelmed; they dont speqk my lqnuqge or have our currency... i dont know how we will handle europe even this keyboqrd is screwed; well we qre going to paris todqy by trqin and think we will camp for few nights; MUM qnd DAD; i have been sending emails to Jos address but i ^must be junk mailed= so look!!!! Well love u all; oh dear; wish us luck in this crazy city hopefully us "crazy girls" will make it to paris where hopefully someone speaks english xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Farewell England, Bonjour Francais- Monday 3rd

Well, our Eurail tickets came through this morning so we have decided to head to France tomorrow. We have just booked a bus down to Dover, so I will be able to see some English countryside and then get a ferry across English channel to Calais. We have no other plans but have decided to take a tent with us so will probably camp in Calais (French coast)tomorrow night.. then who knows! The Eurail covers pretty much all of Europe, if we dont check out Belgium we may head into Paris then to Spain and back through France to Italy and Greece then up to Germany for Beerfest. Today we had our last day in London, saw the British Museum (lots of mummies, Greek/ Roman sculptures), the National Gallery with so many famous artworks (Nicki I was thinking what i would bid on in "Masterpiece"; and Dad/ Mum-saw the original Van Gogh sunflowers i have been looking at forever in dining room), and we went to Covent Garden markets- but spent zero waiting for cheap Asian markets! So have had a great time here, have seen so much of London, we thought we had the whole train system worked out, but today some lines were on strike so spent hours on random buses (at one stage pulled into bus depot- didnt realise we were only ppl left on bus -oops and driver was angry!). Oh, I finally saw squirrels today, very cute. I am not sure when I will be able to write next, maybe in a camping ground in next couple of days or when in Paris, so dont worry if a while. SO exctied now!!!! Lots of hugs and kisses