My new blog's ready (finally!!)

Hello everyone!

OK, so I may have mentioned to a few of you that I was working on a blog to post my pics from some of the trips I've been doing since I landed in the UK back in April. Well, I started the blog in September, but I have been a bit slack in getting it going, but now it's finished (and only three days before I leave the UK for another adventure!).

If you want to read it in order, start right at the bottom and work your way up.

Hope you enjoy it, and it gives you a taste of what I've been up to over here!

Now it's on to Canada for me, then India/Nepal and a quick stay in Thailand, and then I'll be back in Oz... so see you all soon!

Dan.

Morocco (December 2006)

OK, so not actually Europe, but it is still only a few hours flight from London, so my Morocco trip earns a spot on my Europe blog!

This was probably one of the best trips I've done - I spent a few days in Marrakech (a full-on crazy market city) and then a week in Agadir on the Atlantic Coast surfing! The trip was with a company called Access Adventures, and it was unbelievable! Everything was taken care of - pick-ups from the bus station (or plane if you flew in), amazing accommodation (I was in a villa apartment overlooking miles and miles of coastline... and all I was expecting was a run-down little dorm room near the beach!) and every meal is taken care of, prepared by their own cook! And as the purpose of the trip is surf coaching, we had an instructor, Karim, who is not only an awesome surfer and a great coach, he's a top guy and a bit of a celebrity about town, so we were shown a good time between surfing!

Definitely check out the company if you're interested in any sort of adventure/sports holiday - they cater for lots of different sports in some pretty cool locations around the world: www.accesstrips.com.

I took quite a few photos, and rather than post them all here, I've put them in some online albums instead.

This is the link: www.picasaweb.google.com/razza009. There's an album for Marrakech, and another one for Agadir (the Agadir one also includes a few pics from a drive we took up the coast to a port town called Essouria).

Enjoy!

Budapest, Hungary (November 2006)

And the final city I visited for this trip was Budapest. I loved this city so much - it reminded me of Prague only much bigger and much less touristy, and quite a bit cheaper too. The people are so friendly, and (as was par for the course with this trip) the food was fantastic! Meat, meat and more meat, really!

I stayed in a great little hostel here - very cosy with really friendly staff that were always there to give you tips on what to do, where to eat etc., or just to have a nice old chat! It was actually good to be in a place like this - in Copenhagen and Berlin I went for quite polished and organised hostels, and while they were clean and nice etc. they just felt so cold and clinical - this place made you feel right at home!

Anyway, enough of that. Here are some photos:

The awesome Royal Palace on Castle Hill. It's impressive during the day, but at night it looks amazing!

The Szechyeni Chain Bridge across the Danube River:

The view across the river from Castle Hill:

In one of the courtyards of the Royal Palace:

Heroes Square and the Milenary Monument:

A castle in the City Park:

The Szechenyi Thermal Baths (which I visited later that day for a soak - very relaxing indeed!)

The front of the palace with incredible views across the whole city:

Andrassy Avenue a long tree-lined streets with lots of historic buildings, and it's also a World Heritage listed site:

The 'Shoes on the Danube' - these are actually cast iron sculptures of shoes, and this piece of art is said to commemorate the Hungarian victims of the holocaust:

Another view of the Buda Palace:

St Stephen's Basilica, the largest cathedral in the city:

Tram lines along the river:

Again, the palace!

The Budapest market hall:

The Metro underground train - this was actually the first underground train service in Continental Europe (but it's so small - a bit like an underground tram!). And the sounds it makes when doors open and close or when there's an announcement have been taken straight from a pokies machine! Felt like I'd won a prize at every stop!

Berlin, Germany (November 2006)

Berlin was the second stop of this little adventure. Berlin is absolutely massive, and so interesting. I only had two days here, but you easily spend a whole week and still not scratch the surface! It really has everything - very modern funky buildings, some of the best nightlife you'll come across, an interesting mix of people, great food, and of course such an interesting and important (recent) history.

The main highlight was a full-day walking tour I did of the city, starting in the East and working its way through to the West - it pretty much covered everything (at a somewhat crazy pace!) and gave you a lot of information about the history and significance of everything along the way. Definitely the best way to see the city if you've got very limited time.

This cathedral (with the TV tower in the background) was right near my hostel in East Berlin:

The Brandenburg Gate at night:

Pillars of a building riddled with bullet holes from when the Russians took over the city and went to town on everything:

The same cathedral as before:

The Opera House:

Checkpoint Charlie - the previous military controlled border between East and West Germany:

A section of the Berlin Wall that still stands today:

A memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust - hundreds of concrete blocks laid out in a grid:

This is the exclusive Albion Hotel, most famous for being the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his kid over the balcony!

The Brandenburg Gate again:

The Reichstag - official home of German parliament:

The streets of Berlin at night (near Zoo Station):

The massive Sony Centre, with a roof that constantly changed colour:

Copenhagen, Denmark (November 2006)

At the start of November I took off on a mini-European adventure which I strung together based on the cheapest EasyJet flights I could find! I wasn't terribly fussy about where I ended up - just keen to see some European cities while I was right on the doorstep!

So it was 5 days, 3 cities. So very whirlwind, but it was definitely enough for at least a taste of Denmark, Berlin and Budapest.

First stop: Copenhagen. First impressions? Bloody freezing! But I expected it so that was fine! It's a beautiful, clean and compact city, with some quite funky architecture mixed in with some classic old palaces and cathedrals. It's definitely a walkable city, and I think I covered most of it in the two days I was there.

Some photos...

This is the start of the longest pedestrian shopping strip in Continental Europe (but apart from the fact its long, there's basically just more of the same shops you see in every UK and European city!).

This is Newhavn, a pretty little district with lots of restaurants and cafes lining the canals

Something weird in a park. Too bad if actual people wanted to sit there...

The Little Mermaid - tiny sculpture out on a rock on the outskirts of Copenhagen that is the unofficial emblem of the city.

Copenhagen at night:

And at sunrise (the view from my hostel room):

Palace in the botanic gardens:

Oh yeah, we Rasmussens are all over this place! You know how annoyed people were getting when they found out my surname, and then discovered I couldn't speak Danish??? They were mortified!

Lots of yachts moored in the canals:

One of the entrances to Chritianhavn, which is this community that by law is actually separate to the city of Copenhagen - they have their own laws and are completely self-sufficient and independent (the community make their money through restaurants, shops etc.) - basically just a bunch of hippies though. Pretty cool little place though, if not a bit weird:

And just some more pics around the city: