Lincoln, Kellie's old haunt!

We woke up in my old home town today, well it was home 12 years ago for 9 months however it has changed a fair bit since then but it was good to be there anyway.

We began the day with a walk up steep hill - aptly named I might add, as the hill requires a rest mid way as it is so steep! We had a rest but only for a minute then headed up to the top.

It's funny, but 12 years ago I never saw half the things I saw today and I was here for a long time, but never fully appreciated it when I was only 20.

We mooched in the little nick nack shops and looked at the roman ruins - which I didn't even know we're there - and had tea and scones in a little tea place up near the cathedral. The scones were huge and had clotted cream and jam. I have now decided that clotted cream is the only way to indulge proper, otherwise it's just cream! Clotted cream rocks!

We saw inside the cathedral which is stunning and matches many of them in Europe. They truly are amazing to see, being religious or not they are still a sight to behold.

We met so many people today, as they hear your accent and want to know where you are from, where you are headed, where you have seen so far, etc. Its nice to talk to the locals as their accent is so strong and it's a game to try and understand them and connect the dots in the conversation!

Mum and I went and had a drink in the pub I used to work in - The Still - but thee are new owners there so I couldn't properly reminisce. The place looks exactly the same tho so it was nice to be there again.

Mum got her hair cut in the Arvo, as she was almost ready to shave it off it was getting so long for her. We were going to see a movie but there was bugger all on so went to have mexican for dinner and early bed. Mum got an episode of coronation street and Britons got talent in first before hitting the hay... Lol!

The next day we spent the morning in the markets and walked down to my old halls of residence in the uni. It was strange but good memories all the same. We then headed for the Lake District for some R&R.

What a beginning to a great journey!

Mum and I headed off for our adventure on our own just after a nice big English brekkie. We were bound for Lincoln today with a stop off in Nottingham and had a 3.5hr drive ahead of us so we needed the fuel.

We hired a car - it's called a vauxhall Astra which is really a Holden Astra and its quite a nice car to drive. We got to Nottingham easily and parked the car in a park and ride area. They have these over here where you park your car in a big car park and then catch the bus into the city centre so you don't have to find car parks and drive on the busy parts, you let the bus do the hard work for you.

So we got onto one of those and headed into Nottingham, home of the Robin Hood tale. We saw the Nottingham castle and cathedral and the oldest inn/pub in England. We mooched in the shops and had a nice walk and got back to the car. This is when our traumatic afternoon began!

We were driving and driving for what seemed like hours - in reality it ended up being 2 hours - and could not get out of the city. No matter which way we turned or where we went we never got to the road we needed. And my iPad/GPS didn't want to pick I my exact location - and I had no idea where we were - so we were lost in a city we didn't want to stay in. Mum and I didn't cope too well, but eventually found our way out. Not before a prickly incident tho!

I needed a wee badly, so I stopped the car and tried to squat behind it. I failed to looked before I squat and put my bum and bits straight into some stinging nettle. Ouch! I was stinging for hours whilst driving. It was funny for some but not so much for me funnily enough!

We eventually made it to Lincoln for a 2 night stay. We had a walk around the shops and had dinner in Nandos. Their menu is different so I enjoyed trying different stuff. They have a mango and lime basting spice which was spicy but awesome!

Tomorrow we explore Lincoln and my old haunts!

Back in the UK for a week

The tour of Europe finally ended and we headed back to see the relos and spend some quality time exploring England. I know we were here 12 years ago, but sometimes you feel you have unfinished business, so we decided to finish what we didn't all those years ago.

We began our time in surrey with mums cousin and her kids and their partners. I went with the young ones to Brighton which is a sea side resort style place, full of beach cages, pubs, antique jewelry shops and amusements. They played them, I decided to save my money. We took a train ride that lasted 6mins which we could have walked but it wouldn't have been half as fun and we went to play bowls but actually couldn't as it was too busy. So we took silly pictures instead and had laughs for the day.

While I was there, mum sent the day with her cousin and her hubby doing the nice scenic quiet drives. Much warmer and quieter than Brighton I imagine!

We decided to head to Bath for the next day and had a great day. There is so much to see in Bath but as I drove there in our hire car - and I drive a tad slower than the locals in the UK - we only really had half a day to explore this beautiful place.

We saw the baths that the Romans built and used all those centuries ago, but we didn't go in or taste the water. We didn't even know you could taste the water, but we're told it tasted like rotten eggs so declined this offer. Honestly, who takes this offer up anyway?

We also saw the royal crescent where there were some lovely buildings. Some are businesses, some are houses and there is a magnificent hotel in there too. They can't put signs up but you know when looking in the door what you are looking at. We strolled through the gardens of the hotel and pretended we were staying there, if only just for one day...

We also walked up a street called gay street, so Glynn, being the feminine man he is, posed for us on gay street. Funny tho, just behind him was a Jane Austin museum so there was a guy dressed in the garb of the era behind him which was kinda gay too. Too funny!

We spent the next day with our relos in a small country town called Shere. It is a quaint little village and we had a mooch around and bought some small things cos we can. Our fave thing is to mooch in shops and buy something small wherever we go. There was a stream there and all the kids, and Glynn the big kid, had stick races along the stream. They have a particular name for it here, but I can't remember it. Serious business this stick racing must be tho if there's a special name for it!

There was also an old prison there which is now converted into a house. How cool would that be to live there with all that history and stories! Later that day, cousin Emma and I had a scrabble-off. Emma won and me being the sore loser I am, made her feel really bad when we went ten pin bowling later that day and she came last... It was lots of fun.

Then later again we went to the pub for a pub quiz. We came 2nd but there were only 2 points in it so we were pleased we nearly won. We did won a bottle of wine tho, so the kids can drink this and think of us when they do.

Germany and Amsterdam - lands of beer steins and wooden shoes!

The last 2 days of our tour included stays in Germany and Amsterdam. These days went by so quickly as we were doing a lot of traveling by bus and small village stops that unfortunately there is not much to write about but I'll do my best.

We drove to Germany and were introduced to the country with a Rhine river cruise. It was very peaceful and just a little nippy but good all the same. There is some beautiful countryside to see in Germany so we are glad we got to see a small portion of it. During our drive we saw a sign for a town calls worms lol!

We stayed in a hotel called the bellevue which has a very apt name as we could see the bell tower from our room, but we didn't realize until we went to bed that we could also hear the bells, every 30 mins and every hour they chimed 10 times! It was so loud that we were awake pretty much the whole night and needed intensive therapy to get over the ringing of the bells in our ears!

The hotel was really nice tho, and apart from the bells it was great.

The next day we headed to Amsterdam and began the day with a canal cruise in a glass topped boat.. The canals are beautiful but apparently we had arrived just after the queens birthday celebrations in Amsterdam so there was a fair bit of rubbish around, but we could look past that to enjoy the city.

We spent some time in souvenir shops and we both bought some wooden shoes and postcards. They were everywhere but it the traditional tourist thing to do. We walked past a few coffee shops during our time there, and they smelt funny! We didn't go in tho, but some people on our tour had cookies with their coffee and they were very loud and happy for the rest of the night.

Our tour director took us through the red light district of Amsterdam and it was an interesting view of the city and the way people live there. It seemed to be very much tourist driven though and we felt sorry for the girls but what can you do? We couldn't take photos though as security guards come after you so no pics for the blog here... Sorry!

We had dinner in a nice place and as it was my birthday, there were celebrations, and it was also our last night together on your as the tour ended the next day so we were all celebrating the end of the tour and reminiscing about the good times we all had.

The next day we had a very long bus drive through Holland, Belgium and France to Calais where we boarded the ferry again to get to the UK and head for our hotel.

We will be visiting relatives and driving our hire car around the UK for 12 days and we are so looking forward to it, but I think a good nights rest is in order!

Seeing the world from a great height - Mt Pilatus

Today we woke up to a lovely view of lake Lucerne in Switzerland, and our first point of call of the day was to venture up the mountains for a horse and buggy ride and a mountain cable car excursion.

We drove half way up mount titlus - lol - and stopped off at a local farm. This was a dairy farm and they had Swiss brown cows - like the mushroom but a lot smellier lol. They made their own cheese and we got to try some that was freshly made, and some that was 3 years old. The older cheese was sweeter and very nice. They also made cake and coffee and wine so we had some of that for morning tea.

We then got in a horse buggy and went for a mountain ride. This was so relaxing and a great start to the day. I picked up a sugar daddy on my trip too - Bill is a guy we have met on our tour and his wife Angela was fine with him kissing me on my cheek. Bill says this picture is for you Steve xx

After our horsey ride, we headed further up the mountain to Mt Pilatus where we caught cable cars which took us up to the summit of a 7500 foot mountain covered in snow! Mum didn't do so well but she did it and that's the main thing. The view was stunning and something we were glad we got to see.

We went up one cable car which was small and only for 4 people into it; mum closed her eyes the whole time and the people we were sharing the car with weren't extremely helpful in staying still whilst the cable car was going, so it was a bit of a hellish ride in the small car.

We then moved into a bigger cable car where there were around 40 people in it, and the squealing and carry on that went on in that bus wasn't helpful either! We eventually got to the summit and mum had made it without vomiting or fainting so all was positive. Coming down the mountain was easier she says, she managed to open her eyes and say a few words so that's improvement!

Later that afternoon we had free time in the city of Lucerne, so we mooched around the shops and the chocolate shops got a bit of a workout. Mum and I decided to do a bit of shopping separately and said we would meet up at 6pm at the gelati shop. Little did we know we were both talking about different gelati shops so we waited for each other in separate places in the cold wind for almost an hour. When we eventually met up afterwards we approached each other yelling at each other about where we each were. It's funny to look back on now but at the time we were really peeved!

It was a great day and we head to Germany tomorrow for bratwurst and beer steins and sauerkraut!

Switzerland, land of snow capped peaks and corny music.

Today we left Munich after a good nights sleep. We arrived in Munich on Saturday night and we had the option to do some city sight seeing, we decided not to partake however; we have been so tired as the tour nears it's end so we decided to go back to the hotel instead.

The hotel room we had was nice, it was in the Hilton so we knew it would be a bit fancy. We had a room overlooking a stream/river and it was so hot that day - 32degrees that the balcony we had was radiating the heat and it was too hot to sit outside. Mum went to bed early afternoon and I joined her straight after dinner. We only have 4 days to go on our Europe tour so to miss Munich and be rested for Switzerland the next day was a good choice.

On the way to Switzerland, we stopped at a little Austrian village - i can't remember the name of it but will get back to you - where there were so many shops with CAKE! Cake was almost coming out of our ears! So I guess you know what we had to do - we had to have cake. It was good!

We then made another stop at lunch time in liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is a country all on its own but it's so small they call it a principality instead. It was so expensive there that we actually didn't do much, just bought some lunch which cost the equivalent of $15 for chips and a coke. Scandalous!

We arrived in Lucerne Switzerland later that day and our first look at this beautiful place was on a cruise boat cruising down lake Lucerne. This cruise was so peaceful and it was a hot day that I actually got sunburnt! Those who know me know I can get sunburnt indoors on a cloudy day so it's not unusual, but I did not expect to get sunburnt in Germany or Switzerland!

After our cruise we went for a quick city drive and saw the famous lion monument. This monument was made in honor of soldiers and it is a stunning sight to see.

That night we headed to a traditional Swiss restaurant where we dined on salads, Swiss cheese fondue with crusty bread, Rosti and veal with mushroom, and Swiss flag shaped ice cream. We were entertained by Swiss music and yodeling, horn blowing, flag throwing, you name it it was being done at this restaurant. There was even a conga line and mum joined in the fun and had a great time. A great day and a fantastic night to cap it all off.

Tomorrow we are to climb Mt pilatus by cable car and hit the shops. Can't wait! Well I can't, mum on the other hand is not feeling too good about the cable cars!

The hills are alive... With the sound of Salzburg

I have a confession to make, and I fear I'm gonna make any musical movie tragic very upset... I had never seen The Sound of Music... Never... That was until today. I have finally been subjected to this film and I have to say it wasn't complete torture like I thought it would be.

Anyone who knows mum and I knows that mum loves music and musicals, anything to do with music... I do also but my appreciation for movies which are musicals does not stretch to any level which would surpass mums love for them.

The only musicals I have seen are the Rocky Horror Show, Mary Poppins and the Lion King, so my musical repertoire is a little lackluster I must admit. Never the less I saw the movie, I knew all the songs and it wasn't bad at all. I'm sure some of my friends are thoroughly enjoying reading this as they knew there was a musical tragic hidden under this tough exterior somewhere...

The reason you had to read all that crap about musicals is because we arrived in Salzburg today, home of the Sound of Music movie and the Von Trapp family.

We are by no means travel experts but there is not much else to Salzburg other than this movie for most people, however mum and I found this little city to be quite enchanting and just lovely to be in. The people are relaxed and the atmosphere is calm, compared to say Rome or Paris anyway!

We saw lots of people with little clothing on today, as Europe is having quite a heat wave... We actually got sunburnt in Germany-Austria as it was 32degrees today! I saw snow on the mountain peaks, and i still get burnt - go figure!

There was a market on today and we saw lots of street stalls and people dressed in traditional garb. It seemed to us tho that they wore what they did because they wanted to, not for work, but for fun. Weird Germans lol. We saw Mozart's birthplace too which was very busy; people taking pics left, right and centre! We also saw a busker who looked as if they we're perched in mid air and it was great. I won't tell you how they do it, you can figure it our for yourselves!

We walked over a bridge which had lots of padlocks on it and it was strange but weirdly funky at the same time. We found out that lovers take their padlocks to this bridge and place it locked on the bridge together and then throw the keys into the river as a promise that their love will remain strong like the padlock for all time and can never be broken as the river has the keys now. How lovely!

We only spent a couple of hours at Salzburg tho as we were headed for Munich today. We arrived in Munich around 5:00pm, but as mum and I saw a little too much sun today, we decided to stay in the room of the hotel- the Hilton Munich hotel I might add (fancy!) - and sleep the afternoon/night away.

We are headed to lichtenstein and Switzerland tomorrow so we will need our rest.

P.S. check out the road sign , ausfahrt (yes a word that sounds like fart amuses us, but we're simple people lol) apparently means way out or exit out, we thought it was hilarious and hope to see more weird signs in Germany as we have heard there are some way worse than this one. Apparently goodfahrt means "good journey" so do what you wish with that one xxx