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  • Rachel Britton

2015

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Paris

    2015年5月25日, フランス ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Well I arrived in Paris yesterday afternoon to start my final week of trip 1. I'm staying in an area called Beville, apparently it's the upcoming place to be. It is a bit edgy, I'll admit, but cool at the same time.

    I went for a little wander last night looking for a few cafes and restaurants the hotel guide book recommended. It was busy but nice.

    Today, I have been out living dreams. I went for a run this morning and took in the Eiffel Tower when I reached the top. After a breakfast on croissants I departed my hostel and made my way into the city. Using my trusty old school map I walked down the main street stopping in at the little shops and cafes along the way.

    My first stop this morning was to find a famous bakery that was near my hostel Du Pain et des Idees, which would be a 20 minute walk away, near Saint Martin's canal, which was a beautiful area.

    I found it tucked away down a long street, with a queue out the door. I stood in line for a bit, until I realised that I had almost no cash on me, everyone else was buying more then one item and the first item I saw, an apple tartine cost €4.90!

    So I walked away with a photo and continued to find my way into town. Eventually my desire for French pastries got the better of me and I stopped to have a sandwich, tea and apple tartine at another cafe further along. I sat in the window watching the world go by. It reminded me of when mum and I used to sit in cafe windows dreaming about doing it in Melbourne or London.

    After lunch, I continued walking through the streets of Paris heading towards Hotel de Ville. On my way I passed the Pompidou Centre and lots of lovely dress shops. I was working my way towards find a jazz bar known as Cave du, it was near the Hotel de Ville. Tonight they had live music on, so today I wanted to find it in the day light.

    As I approached Hotel de Ville I saw the wonders of summer time or spring time in Paris. Children were scattered everywhere over the square as a new movie had an activation playing out on the ground. There we deck chairs laid out and people enjoying the sun.

    I wandered around here for a bit, through the Hotel's garden and down to find my cafe. It was at this point I decided it was time to live out my dream of riding a bicycle in Paris. The song 'Bicycle' by Queen played in my head as I worked out the renting system.

    I rode around on the quiet streets for a bit whilst I built up my courage and then the roads were open for all! I rode all the way down to the Champs-Élysées. I rode along the river, past the Notre dam, the lock bridge and Saint-Germain.

    I rode in bike lanes that were shared with the public transport buses, pulled my bike up stairs when I'd take a wrong turn riding along the river, tried not to fall in to the Seine whilst over taking prams. I rode right up to the Place de la Concorde, crossed the street and found my self riding up the Champs-Élysées!

    Deciding that it was best to walk the Champs-Élysées and not take on the traffic on the Place Charles de Gaulle – round about at the Arc de Triophe, I stationed my bike in the nearest rack and then walked up, passing Lauder on my way.

    At this point I was tired and warm, so I jumped on the metro back to my hostel for a rest and some dinner before getting dressed for the jazz bar.

    Having not had enough bicycle fun yet I peddled to Cave du 38. It was cooler and much less traffic, which meant for much lower blood pressure I'm sure!

    Cave du 38 is around 3 floors underground, hence Le Cave. I descended down the stair case and found myself face a small cave like room. Chairs were scattered everywhere and several big instruments filled in the small room.

    A grand piano, drum kit, and a double bass were set up ready to go. There was a small bar to the left and when there was a break in the music I headed down to secure my 'free aka pre-paid for’ drink.

    I found myself a chair and settled in for the evening. As time went on different more and more musicians stood up and joined the band, there were different guitarists, a saxophone, clarinet and singers. They lead musician would speak in French to the adoring room and I watched their facial expressions to try and understand what he was talking about.

    There was a small screen on one side of the room that was linked to a camera that was watching a woman draw pictures throughout the evening. Sometimes it was of the musicians, other times it was the audience.

    I applauded the final song and then quietly made my way back up the 3 flights of stairs, on to the metro and home once more.

    Day 1 in Paris = awesomeness!!!

    Du Pain et des Idees
    http://dupainetdesidees.com/en/

    Saint Martin's canals
    http://www.timeout.com/paris/en/things-to-do/ca…

    Belleville
    http://www.timeout.com/paris/en/things-to-do/be…

    38 Riv (jazz bar)
    http://www.38riv.com/    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Paris - day 2

    2015年5月26日, フランス ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Today I made the most wonderful discovery!

    I found the Champ de Mars! I never even knew its name, I only ever saw it on the TV where know one discussed it's name. But first let me take you back to the start ....

    Today I planned on travelling around on my bike once more, visiting Pere Lachaise Cemtery - where Oscar Wilde is buried and the Le Invalides and the Musee Rodin. All the while in search of the green grass area in front of the Eiffel Tower, name still unknown to me. However, the day did not quite go according to plan.

    After having breakfast I headed to the main street in Belleville where I found a heaving market running up the street. There was everything from fruit & veg, meats, olives, nuts, to clothes, nic nacs and so on. I picked a few pieces of fruit before getting on my bike and peddling towards the Eiffel tower in search of the green grassed area.

    Having decided I could navigate there using an old school map I got so lost! I rode on the wrong side of the road, went left when I should've gone right, rode up hills and then back down, circled around a bit and then pulled up stumps wondering why I was on my bike haha.

    I eventually I gave in, I put my bike on the nearest rack and went in search of the metro. I had a lovely wander through an organic grocery store, before taking the metro out to the Tower and jumping off at the station I thought would lead me to Le Invalides.

    I didn't find Le Invalides, but what I did find turned my entire day around.. I found the grassed area! Otherwise known as Champs de Mars! It was amazing! I gave it a quick whirl before walking back to the main street to find a grocery store and buy a picnic for lunch.

    Then I walked down hoping to discover the perfect spot for lunch. What I discovered was even more amazing. A Roland Garros pop up right in front of the Eiffel tower!!! The main attraction was the big screen set up playing today's matches with the Eiffel tower in the background. It felt like the greatest discovery haha.

    I sat down and ate my picnic lunch of bread, pesto, mozzarella and tomatoes, and then had a little nap haha. The warm sun, full belly and soft grass was just too much.

    When I woke, I moved closer to the screen, right in the middle of the space. Aside from the screen there was a big tennis court set up that you could play on, sponsor stands and a merchandise shop. I caved and paid €3.50 for one scoop of ice cream (!) and enjoyed the view. It was spectacular.

    After the final match I headed back to my hostel, feeling like I had, had a truely accomplished day. For dinner I ventured to a restaurant near my hostel called Les Quilles. It was recommended in the hostel guidebook. Although certainly more expensive then the previous guest had indicated, it was well worth it.

    I was enjoying truely great French food and it was nice to splurge a little. I had a beautiful piece of pork cooked to perfection served with asparagus and gravy, red wine from the French Riviera and a chocolate cake with a gooey middle. Yummy!

    Bonne nuit, or goodnight.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Roland Garros - outside courts

    2015年5月27日, フランス ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Today is my first day at Roland Garros!! My 3rd grand slam! I am very excited and am up early and out the door, RG is one hour away by metro from my hostel.

    There are signs everywhere as you ascend the underground pointing you in the direction of the entrance. The process is quiet smooth. We go through security, then tickets, then ID checks, then we're in.

    Music greets us as we enter the grounds, a 4 piece playing all sorts of music in a jazz style. I wandered around for a bit taking in the sites and seeing what was around. Each day a RG newspaper is released with the day's schedule of play, plus articles which was mainly all in French aside from 4 pages, about yesterday's and today's matches. I highlighted all the games I wanted to see and settled in on court 6 to watch, what would become, a 3 hour 5 setter match between vedaseco and Becker, becker won.

    From my seat I could see a big screen which showed both Sam & Federer's matches. Both Federer and Sam go through.

    Roland Garros doesn't really have any good seating areas to sit and watch the big screens so you can watch the matches, and definitely no grassy areas. But the cool things they do have include:
    - stands to charge your phone
    - crepes
    - you can't buy tickets at the gates & no upgrades on the day (that was sucky)
    - when leaving the main courts you get a pass out
    - daily RG newspaper

    After the Vedaseco match I wandered around the courts and saw the following matches:
    - Sam Stousr play doubles
    - a young female Australian play German Angelique Kerber
    - Andy Murray's brother Jamie, play doubles with an Australian, John Peers

    Day 1 of Roland Garrros was awesome.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Roland Garros - Philippe Chatrier

    2015年5月28日, フランス ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today I'm in the main stadium, Philippe Chatrierr and I am lining up to see the master of clay, Raphael Nadal!

    The day begins once more by entering through the magical gates whilst being encouraged inside with the musical melodies of the jazz band. I pick up my daily Roland Garros newspaper and quickly log on to the wifi before it get bogged down by the public.

    I wanderer into the main stadium to check out my seats and take the obligatory photos. I feel like I have made a huge error in clothing choice today where it was overcast, but then warm yesterday, it is overcast and windy today. I've left some key warm clothing at and sense I’ll struggle today … oh no!

    Anyhoo, today’s timetable in the main stadium is as follows Caroline Wozniak, Raphael Nadal and Andy Murray. On the outside courts brewed the potential for a particularly good game between two Aussie young guns Bernard Tomic and Thomas Kokkinakis. With second round matches on the big courts not usually very exciting, I planned to visit the outside courts today too.

    Caroline hit off and I watched her first set before heading over to get a great seat for the Tomic and Kokkinakis game. Even Nicky Kyrgios popped in to watch the boys play. I watched the first 2 sets here and with Tomic leading quite convincingly in both seats I gave my good possie and headed back over to the main court as Nadal was due to start. I had, after all, wanted to see the King of Clay on Clay, so I best take in the moment.

    Nadal took the first set easily and was looked up to see the scores around the grounds I saw that Tomic and Kokkinakis were on for the match of the day with them firing up in the fourth set looking likely to head to a fifth. I waved goodbye to Rafa and fought my way into the outside court, which was now overflowing with people and a considerable sized queue on the outside trying to get in.

    Eventually I made it and saw Kokkinakis take victory in the fifth set. I felt sorry for Tomic, the crowd were against him and clearly for Kokkinakis, but he took it all in his stride, not betraying any emotion on his face and clapping to the crowd on his way out. Kokkinakis was in victory.

    Ball girl outfits. In Australia the ball kids all wear the same outfits, shorts, long sleeved shirt and a good hat. In Roland Garros the girls wear what reminded me of a netball skirt I wore when I was 10, single top and not hat. I was not impressed at all. They are running around, bending over, throwing balls down the court, skirts are not the appropriate attire, personally I feel.

    Around the grounds Ronald Garros looks like an unfinished, concrete city. There is beautiful greenery mixed in between, but it has this feeling like we’ve interrupted them through construction. I later confirmed with Marion that she felt the same way.

    At the conclusion of Andy Murray’s game I’d had enough of the weather and decided to pack up and head back to Paris. Random note, I tried to get a glass of red wine only to be told that they don’t serve red wine at the grounds, weird!

    On my way back to the station I saw that the botanical gardens were open and popped in for a quick look. They were beautiful, all manicured nicely with lots of variety. My favourite part was spotting the rabbits roaming around.

    This evening I stopped to have dinner at a restaurant near my hostel, in the cool vibey aread. Sucked in once more with them advertising daily menu specials only to be told once I’d sat down that they only applied at lunch, grr. I enjoyed a meal, glass of wine and ice-cream filled profiteroles for dessert.

    Day 2 at Roland Garros, done and dusted.    もっと詳しく

    翻訳をご覧ください
  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Final day in Paris

    2015年5月29日, フランス ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Today is my final day in Paris before I head back to London for a month. After deciding that I'd rather spend the day in Paris then a day out at Versailles, I make a list of the things I’d like to see before I go …
    - Taverne Henry > one of the oldest wine bar in Paris
    - Shakespeare & co’s bookshop
    - Laperouse > one of the oldest restaurants in Paris

    I got on my bike and peddled into the city – seriously this make me so happy cycling around Paris! It's always an adventure trying to find a place with no wifi. After much walking in circles I find Taverne Henry. It didn’t go inside as the menu seemed more like a fast food shop then old wine bar. Side note, it is on the same island as the Norte Dame.

    After here I headed up stream to find the Shakespare & Company bookstore. On my way I passed Laperouse one of the oldest restaurants in Paris. I had seen it pinterest once. It would’ve been great to dined in, but I definitely wasn’t wearing appropriate attire and I’m sure my bank balance appreciated me moving on haha.

    I wandered around for what seemed like ages trying to find the book shop. I walked down lots of alley ways with school children roaming around in classes, walked past beautiful smelling cafes all presenting mouth watering lunch menus and past people lounging in green gardens. Just when I was about to give up I saw it up head. I’m sure I probably walked past it more then once, but let’s not think too much about that.

    The Shakespare & Company bookstore was cool. It was small and cramped and had books piled high everywhere. I was surprised how many were in English and all of the English headings, but I supposed they know their market. I recall their being lots of rules, but none that I clearly bothered to note seriously. I don’t think you were allowed to take pictures inside, which is why I have none.

    By this point my belly was grumbling loudly, it was well past lunch and I hadn’t had anything since breakfast! Well unlike me. So I succumbed and got on the metro and headed towards my now favourite place in Paris, the Roland Garros pop up at Champ de Mars watching the tennis with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

    But I have always loved this spot. Whenever I saw views of the Eiffel tower on the TV it was at the Champ de Mars that I enjoyed the most and I have spent a great deal of time here this week.

    I sat down and watched some tennis before heading down some side streets to try and find a grocery store to buy lunch. I picked up a sweet little salad that contained pasta, tomatos and little pancakes. Along with a delicious chocolate éclair to enjoy for dessert.

    Once the final match of the day had played I packed up and headed back towards the metro and off to my hostel, where I packed up my belongings in preparation for tomorrow.

    This evening I had dinner in my hostel before taking one last long walk around Belleville. I stopped in at a cool bar for a final dessert, the every classic French dish crème brulee, before calling time in the French capital.

    Paris, it's been wonderful xx

    Poem. In the images is a poem I found whilst in Paris. The past year has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions and adventures, and at times I found myself wondering too much if I’d made the right choice.
    When I decided to leave London and go on this summer trip, I had no intentions of returning and often felt like I had lost myself. This poem was my... mantra may be too strong, but it definitely spoke to me on what I hoped to achieve on my summer adventure. No pressure, no expectations, just seeing, believing and being put back together.


    Links
    Cool article by Pedestrian on places to visit when in Paris: https://www.pedestrian.tv/travel/home-feature/r…

    Shakespeare & co bookshop www.shakespeareandcompany.com/

    Laperouse http://www.laperouse.com/    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    A Theft

    2015年5月30日, フランス ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    After spending the week feeling quite smug with myself that I had been travelling almost 18 months now and a part from the odd sock and beanie I hadn't lost anything. I'd especially had nothing stolen, something I was quite proud of.

    Well the universe must've heard me and decided to fix it with an item to make up for 18 months of good luck .... My iPhone.

    I was taking the Eurostar out of Paris, my very first experience. You have to go through a customs and security check similar to what you'd find at the airport, except this was much more disorganised. The queue for people to go through ticket check (then on to boarder control, bag searches and security scans) was snaking around the platform and doubling in itself. It was very busy and crazy.

    As when I fly into England I had to fill in a landing card, staying my creds, where I was staying g, what I work as etc. beside the winding queue was a very long table with these cards spread about. I stood there to put fill in the card putting my phone, hat, ticket on the table beside me.

    I ducked down into my backpack to get my passport, finished filling in the document and when to stand in the line. It was only at this point when I went looking did my phone, as the ticket was on here, that I realised my phone was gone. Those few seconds I was looking in my bag and so wine took it. I suspect it was another passenger.

    After putting my train ticket on hold I went to the police station and sat there for 1.5 hours while they filled out a report.

    I boarded the next train and headed back to London.

    Never before have I had something stolen or had to deal with the police. The sheer invasion of privacy, knowing some random had my personal photos and emails was a very uncomfortable feeling.

    UPDATE:
    My travel insurance, CoverMore, have advised (with a this email is to cover our arses and not help you at all email) that they don't cover mobile phones. Thanks flight centre for pointing that out when you sold them to me as the best option. Clearly not.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Wil Anderson - Free Wil

    2015年6月2日, イングランド ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    One thing I wanted to do while in London was support an Australian comedian overseas. That opportunity came in the form of one Wil Anderson, performing at the Soho comedy club.

    As per usual he was just fantastic and very funny. He did say he was very jet lagged and he was a little scattered at times, but overall awesome.

    Georgie came with me so we could exchange my bag and catch up.

    Bucket list item = achieved!

    http://www.sohotheatre.com/whats-on/wil-anderso…    もっと詳しく

    翻訳をご覧ください
  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Wildlife Festival

    2015年6月7日, イングランド ⋅ 17 °C

    After booking my ticket way back in January, my first festival of the summer has finally arrived! It's Wildlife weekend in Brighton!

    I think Brighton is probably one of my favourite towns in England. I like the vibe down here, the coastline, the food, live music and the typical English seaside town feel it has.

    This is the inaugural Wildlife festival, co-curated by Rudimental and Disclosure. I feel proud and inspired by these two bands. Putting on their first festival. It’s really cool.

    I arrive to Brighton on Friday lunchtime and cruise around the to find my hostel, some lunch and a pub to watch the tennis in. My hostel is right on the beachfront and near the pier. I have 2 groups of people in my dorm, 4 lads from Birmingham and 3 people from Belgium. The lads are coming to Wildlife as well, but the group from Belgium and going to a Skinhead reunion… I still have no idea what they were doing that weekend.

    As the festival didn’t begin until 2pm both days, I had the mornings to explore Brighton and take a walk along the beach front, before catching the festival bus to Brighton Airport – where Wildlife is taking place. They’ve actually shut the airport for the weekend.

    Bands on Sat
    Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk
    George Erza – Budapest
    Rudimental – see soundtrack

    Bands on Sun
    Years and years – King
    Disclosure – I have no idea

    NB: there were a lot more bands then this, but this is who I wanted to see

    I was going mainly for Rudimental, so everyone else was a bonus really. Wildlife was pretty awesome. It was really colourful, there were huge tents set up for different acts, then the main stage, a nightclub style area (a dance floor that played music you’d hear in a nightclub), a rides area, loads of food stalls, drink stalls, merchandise, and lots of toilets.

    Food stalls
    I couldn’t get over how good the food was here; even the typical burgers and pizzas were of good quality. There was Indian, Italian, a bacon, stand, Mexican, Chinese, stir-fry, doughnuts, toasties, a cake stall (!!!!), fish and chips, and so on. Both days I had chicken pad-Thai from the same stand. It was just so good. I also had a little afternoon tea one day and enjoyed a slice of cake chocolate cake and cuppa.

    On the Sunday I met Yolanda and her house and walked down to the festival with her friends. I also met up with someone from TMP who joined us, sitting in front of the stage with the music.

    The Sunday crowd were a lot more chilled out and relaxed and opposed to the Saturday crowd. It was also extremely windy and cold on the Saturday.

    The only thing that really annoyed me was that you had to buy the _7 programme to find out who was playing when. There wasn’t any other way. It just seemed like a rip off. Otherwise, Wildlife was fabulous! And I highly recommend it to anyone


    #Wildlife15 : done and dusted    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    HelpX : Chagford

    2015年6月16日, イングランド ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today is my last day in the little town of Chagford, Devon, Dartmoor National Park. I've spent a great week here HelpX-ing a lady called Lucy. Lucy owns a shop called the Devonshire Dairy. She sells milk, cheese, bread, brownies, honey, jams and makes her own ice cream.

    Chagford is a small town about 1 hour’s bus drive away from Exeter. It has beautiful countryside, 3 pubs, an old church and the small village feel. There are also apparently a number of 'famous’ type people who live here. British famous of course. Plus the artist who did the concept art for Lord of the Rings lives here.

    Lucy has a lovely, recently renovated apartment, over the shop, where the HelpXers usual stay. We eat and cook all of our meals here. There are two Americans here already, and they stay until I leave. As I’m here to help Lucy move house, I’m staying with Lucy, first in her old house and then into the new house. It’s a 5 mins walk away from the shop.

    The Americans helped Lucy run the shop. They baked the brownies and bread in the morning, made the ice cream and frozen yoghurt and handled deliveries etc. I spent a lot of my time setting up the shop in the morning and then packing up boxes / helping Lucy throw things away, which is always interesting haha. I then helped set up the new house too.

    In my spare time I dutifully tried all of the ice creams and as many of the cheeses as possible. One particular day I recall cleaning up the icecream machine wiht my spoon and tastebuds haha. It was a beautiful strawberry ice-cream and it tasted like you were eating fresh strawberries and cream. It was amazing! One of the Helpxers made it. On the cheese front blue cheese is definitely my favourite.

    I also lived out a dream of enjoying a number of Devonshire cream teas, in Devon! Can you imagine?! The first time I was joined with the Americans, the second I enjoyed it by myself. I visited the same place twice, it has won many awards for their creamteas and boy do they deserve it. The hospitality from the owner is second to none.

    We receive giant pots of tea brewed with tea leaves and on beautiful trays arrive these gorgeous, freshly baked scones, with clotted cream and local jam. As you pull the scone a part it's aromas engulf you. It is just beautiful. Hence why I returned a second time haha. When in Rome hey.

    In my spare time I went on walks with the others to walk the giant dog, visited the pubs, explored the town, stopped by the local church and cemetery and attended a couple of the town socials.

    Lucy’s two friends, Sam, who works in the shop and Neville, who helps Lucy with her horses, would often joins us for a drink or take us out somewhere. On the Thursday night we had a memorable evening in at Sam's house, this is Lucy's friend and employee. We drank lots, enjoyed yummy snacks and ended up at one of the local pubs for a night cap.

    On Saturday, Neville showed us the hounds he was looking after for the local hunting club. There were 60 of them in 3 kennels and as we drove in they all popped their heads up over the cement barrier to see who was visiting. It was very interesting. It reminded me of the hounds I met in the Irish streets when I stayed with Catherine.

    Quite randomly there was this little lamb who's play area was right beside the hounds. She was very excited to see us. All the other sheep were in a field across the road. Neville also took us on a tour of the area, up to historic castles and hotels, we visited a yoga studio with a view over the valley, and went out to the moor and past some really fancy gardens.

    The best garden was a secluded garden. In what looked like a mansion at the front, they had this never ending garden out the back and at one area there were all these cricket statues set up around the place making it look like an actual game of cricket was taking place. There were umpires, spectators, a bowler in mid pace. It was amazing!!! and the coolest thing I have ever seen.

    On Sunday, the 6 of us went out to visit an old pub for a drink, before heading to a little pub, Fingle Creek, for lunch. We had a roast lunch, and then enjoyed a nice walk into the forest. Sam brought her little dog, which reminds me of Wally, along. I love an English roast lunch, especially in a beautiful pub. The English countryside is amazing.

    Tomorrow, Tuesday, Chris will pick me up and I'll spend a few days with his family before heading back to the big smoke of London.

    I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Chagford. It has been great living in a small English village, exploring the little shops, breathing in the country fresh air. A wonderful experience.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Visiting Chris and his family

    2015年6月18日, イングランド ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    I've spent the past two days Ruth Chris and his family to Tracey Bouvey in dartmoor national park. Chris was my boss / mentor at the London youth games.

    He and his kids, twins Martha and Freddy, picked me up on Tuesday from the start shop. We drive to a small village on the way to their house, where Chris and I got a takeaway cream tea and the kids played in the park.

    We went back to their house where we enjoyed lunch in the garden. It was a combination of the cheeses I had bought from the shop, fruit, bread and biscuits. It was so lovely to be sitting outside in the garden. The kids played with their many toys, they had a cool summer house (stylish shed with summer seats) and lots of veggies growing.

    In the afternoon we headed to Newtown Abby to play on the beach, a beach with actual sand and have dinner at the pizza parlour.

    On Wednesday i had the morning to explore the local town of Tracey Bouvey. I walked up and down the street, visited the heritage museum, a factory that made statues for mini golf courses and enjoyed a chicken pie for lunch. I picked up a great book at a local op shop called 'the monuments men' and sat in the park reading. It was fab!

    This afternoon we headed out for a drive around the local villages, we went over the Moore and visited a local church before settling on a hotel that was on a hill for a drink.

    It had a fantastic view over the countryside and a great grassed area out the front. We had cider and played croquet, a truly English afternoon.

    Tomorrow I had back to London for a very busy weekend. But first stop is to the docs to see if he can stop these migraines.

    Places near Chris
    Faulty towers
    Agatha Christie's home    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Royal Ascot Races

    2015年6月20日, イングランド ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Today I'm marking off a bucket list item - attend the Royal Ascot Races. I'm excited for many reasons. One - it's the races, Two - we get to take picnics and Three - we get to bring in our own alcohol to a licenced event AND it's encouraged by Ascot themselves! Something you'd never see in Oz. I'm marking this occasion with Marian, Britt and Niki and a bunch of Britt's friends.

    But, in true English fashion, the weather is not playing ball. It's overcast, cold and predicted to rain, but off we go! With our picnic baskets brimming with cheese, jams, biscuits and fruit, our champagne cold and umbrellas at the ready.

    To get to Ascot I arrange to meet Marian at Waterloo station and catch the train out to Ascot. Whilst walking in I'm about to text Britt, only to hear a familiar voice and I look up to find her leaning on a fencing spinning a yarn to an eager onlooker haha. Perfect!

    From here it's a little walk around a giant park area, across a bridge and into the gates. We head towards the area signposted as 'Silver Circle' and find ourselves an appropriate patch of grass to lay our picnic blankets out on. We are barely seated when the heavens open and everyone scrambles to find some space under a brolly.

    Accepting our fate we dig into the bubbles and picnic baskets. The whole thing feels incredibly British haha. All we can do is laugh.

    When the rain clears Marian and I go for a walk around the grounds. We take the best pictures, put out on some bets, listen to a band and watch the royal parade. My third royal outing, mind you.

    There are 8 races today and we stay for six of them. It rains periodically throughout the day, usually just after you've finally dried out from the last downpour. We eat and drink, and put up umbrellas every now and then and chat away.

    My fav part of the day was when one of the follys escaped! And rans around the track repeatedly until she finally slowed down and was captured. It was quite funny, there was a 4WD in pursuit and everytime she rounded our corner four guys (workers) scrambled to slow her down, and then went back to leaning on the fence after she'd past. Needless to say, she didn't run the big race, but it was probably the best one of the day!

    A day at the English races - a bucket list item completed!    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Nike Women's 10k

    2015年6月21日, イングランド ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Today I worked for Nike as staff for their 10k Nike women's run held at Victoria park in East London.

    I stated at a hostel last night near Greenwich as I had a 630am start! As I arrived onsite I walked through the course and past the start/finish board on my way to the check in point.

    On check in I was given a Nike shirt to wear and badge saying 'Nike staff'. Breakfast was a hot bun and tea.

    My role was village directional and support staff. Basically, I directed runners to their holding bays and wandered around the village. I also got an additional job of handing out gift bags to the runners as they returned to the village.

    The Nike 10k women's run was really cool. Each rubber had a event shirt on, there was a warm up at the start of each race and Ellie Goulding was in attendance to cut the ribbon. There was a drums band and jazz band located around the track and the women's received a specially designed necklace instead of a medal.

    The village was full of sponsor stands giving away free gifts or services. You could have your hair braided, make your own .... Box, there was protein ice cream samples, a silent disco and much more.

    A great photo point was this pedal with board which had every runners name on it, all 10 000 of them.

    It was a great event and I was a bit jealous not to be one of the runners. Ah well, until next time!    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Poland

    2015年7月1日, ポーランド ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today marks exactly 2 month since I finished work at TMP and went back packing. It's been an awesome 2 months in between France, Italy and England. And today, I mark the occasion, by saying goodbye to London once more and heading out to Poland, for the start of a 2-3 month adventure.

    My first stop in Gdynia, Poland, where I'm staying on a boat and attending the four day Open'er festival. The weather looks superb and summer appears to have arrived.

    My journey today is as follows:
    5am wake up
    545am catch bus to DLR Stratford
    630am catch bus to airport
    715am check in at airport (I was early)
    1045am depart London
    155pm arrive in Gdnask (apparently Drake's sound engineers were on our flight... Ryanair for everyone haha)

    I took a bus to Gdynia and then walked to my hostel. Day was epic! So tonight I enjoyed a lovely meal of dumplings and chicken, with polish vodka on the side.

    No Wimbledon for me this year, more stories to create instead. Today I realised I won't be seeing anyone I know for over two months. That feels so very exciting!    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Day trip to Gdansk

    2015年7月3日, ポーランド ⋅ 26 °C

    Today I took a trip to Gdansk. It's part of the tri-cities and where I flew into. It's also where WWII started and the communist riots / strikes of 1980.

    I had planned to do the free walking tour, put on by the same company as the ones we did in Kraków, however I was able to follow they're too a properly and ended up being 30mins late. I did wander around trying to find them, and gave up.

    I used the tourist map I was given, the wifi located in most parts of the old town and longitude planet's '24 hours in Gdansk' to plan my own walking tour.

    Starting at at Mary's church, I walked up streets a and b through the -- gate, past the river and down -/- street. Apparently this was where the royal processions used to walk. I saw Neptune's statue, golden gate and Amber museum, amongst all of the old buildings of course. These were all beautifully designed and all very individual.

    I had lunch at bar ... Neptune, it was an old milk bar built in the communist era. I was disappointed in it, but it did the trick. When we water in Kraków we ate repeatedly at a lovely milk bar, maybe it was too new.

    After lunch I walked all the way down the Marina, taking in the tall ships. There was a four day celebration taking place called the tall ships festival. There were lots of little markets, kids activities and a stage set up, for what I assumed was entertainment for later on.

    My walk took me further in the loop and back towards the train station. I took a left and ventured towards the shipping yard headed for the European solidarity museum and shipping worker monument.

    The ESM tells the story of the workers strike at the shipping yard in 1980 and Poland's rise out of communist rule and into freedom. Laid out across seven rooms, the story is visually told through artefacts, videos, sets and so on.

    I'd like to learn more about why the communist regime was allowed to last so long, who paid for the rebuilding of the cities and more about the strikes.

    After the museum I took the train back to Gdynia to attend day 3 of Open'er!    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Gdynia and Open'er Festival

    2015年7月5日, ポーランド ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Well today is my last day in Gdynia, Poland. And it been great! I stayed on a boat, the weather is warm, the people friendly and Open'er has been fab.

    Gdynia is located on the coast and is part of the Tricity area, which includes Sopot and Gdnask. Gdynia was formed during the 1919 treaty of Versailles. At one stage, between WWI and WWII it was freely governed in its own, free from both Germany and Russia.

    Today is a beautiful modern, beach side city.

    I'm in Gdynia to attend the four day Open'er festival. I chose Open'er as it had the most amount of acts I wanted to see - Chet faker, hozier, Mumford and sons, plus additional ones like flume, Tom Odell, disclosure and so on.

    It has been a wonderful few days of music, heat, sun, beach, dumplings, vodka and shopping.

    On the final night of the festival I pulled an all nighter and made it to sunrise. This wasn't too hard as the sun set at 10pm and started getting light again at 3:30am. There was also an awesome line up that kept me entertained.

    Open'er had everything, fashion shows, queue-less toilets, an art space with movies, comedians and authors, great food and wifi! The transport worked so well, I didn't wait longer then 5 minutes if that at any point.

    I've loved staying on the boat. I had my own room which looked over the water. At times it felt like I was the only person there. There are two decks and a big lounge room, which is styled like the 1950s, with old style radios and phones to boot.

    Tomorrow I'm off to Warsaw. I'm really looking forward to Warsaw and learning about its history and stories.

    Where I stayed
    Pepperland Hostel - ul. Hryniewickiego 6, Gdynia, Poland

    Fantastic place to stay! I had a private room over looking the water. There are two decks you can sit on and enjoy the view. There is a living room area styled old school. The staff ae really friendly, I think they are like a family or something. It was clean. You are right in the centre of town. And it's just well cool to be staying on a boat!    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Warsaw : a history lesson

    2015年7月10日, ポーランド ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Ever since I saw The Pianist I have wanted to come to Warsaw. The music, the history, the re-building. It seemed like such a cool place to visit and I wasn't wrong. I felt automatically at home when I arrived in the central train station and began my 15 min walk to my hostel.

    My hostel is located just off a main street and a 20 min walk from Old Town. It’s a vibrant area with lots of restaurants, bars and cafes. Food of any kind is at your fingers tips and history is just around the corner. Best of all the hostel serves home made waffles every morning for breakfast!

    I’ve spent 4 nights here, made friends with the American and 4 English chaps in my room and been on 3 walking tours. The first walking tour was fab and ironically called 'the Old Town’ tour, even though Old Town is probably only 60 years old.

    Warsaw was decimated during WWII. After an uprising from the Poles, an angry Hitler order for the destruction of the city and to kill anyone they found still alive. The pictures afterwards are unreal. On the Jewish Quarter Tour the guide told us that the reason Warsaw has hills is because they couldn’t remove all the rubble from the town, as it would’ve cost too much, so they turned them into hills around the city to build houses on. Otherwise Warsaw is traditional a very flat town.

    Over two days I completed the Old Town, WWII and Jewish Quarter walking tours. I love walking tours, it’s a great way to get your bearings for the new city your in. The Old Town tour ended with us participating in a traditional Polish activity, the act of drinking vodka. We were told that you always eat something afterwards either, a piece of bread with lard, a pickle or salted herring. We were lucky enough to receive lard on bread with a slice of pickle. Yum yum haha.

    We walked past the museum for Marie Curie, the first person and only woman who has ever received 2 Noble Prizes and for two different fields and learnt about this awesome woman and her awesome family. Her husband and daughter are also Noble Prize winners and her other daughter, or refers to herself as the black sheep of the family, is an accomplished musician who has received equal awards in her own field.

    Things I learnt on the tour: old town and new town, the area of Praga, WWII and the Warsaw uprising, Jewish culture and history and how they came to live in Warsaw. We walked through the Jewish Ghetto and saw bullet holes in walls. There are signs all around the city that state how many people were killed by Nazis and on what date as a sign of remembrance.

    We walked past statues and monuments for Jan Karski – he presented the first reports on the Holocaust, but the Allies couldn’t believe what he was telling them, the train station where the Jews were boarded, and different war memorials.

    We learnt about L. L. Zamenhof who felt that with an international auxiliary language we could achieve a world without war, presumably so we couldn’t get lost in translation. As such he created his own language, Esperanto, apparently up to 2 million fluently speak it worldwide.

    The walking tours were extremely informative. It would appear that it has been a very, very long time since Poland was it’s own country, which is sad.

    The other great thing walking tours do is tell you about great places to eat and foods to try. Some of the foods I sampled included: dumplings, honey mead, local cheese with jam, a cheesecake type dessert, z thing and various vodkas. I’m sure there was more, but I’ve forgotten.

    I went out a couple of nights with my new American and English friends, trying various Polish vodkas – as was of course expected! And watched a concert of famous Polish pianists music played on the organ in an old church. It wasn’t very good and I wished I’d gone to the Chopin concert instead.

    I also visited the National Museum hoping to see any paintings as mentioned in the Monuments Man book I did not.

    All in all, Warsaw has been just as amazing as I wanted it to be. It was fantastic and I recommend visiting it any day!

    Next stop: Greece

    Where I stayed
    New World St. Hostel - ul. Nowy Swiat 27, Warsaw, Poland

    Great place to stay. Beds are comfy and there is lots of space between the top and bottom bunks. Really, really friendly staff. Washing machine, a dishwasher, great kitchen, really well located. They make homemade waffles for breakfats. However! There are 84 steps to climb to get there. Great cardio haha.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Greek island day 1: Agistri

    2015年7月11日, ギリシャ ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    All aboard the yacht week express, also known as Medsailors Greek Sailing Week

    Today I begin a week long sailing your around 6 of the Greek Islands. I arrived into Athens late last night and enjoyed a wonderful meal of Greek salad (which are enormous portions here) and calamari under the Acropolis. After frantically running around Athens this morning, fixing up life before the Internet becomes non-existent for a week, I arrived at the pier for check-in.

    My boat is called … , the skipper's name is Alex, we have 7 girls on board and 1 guy and 5 Australians, 2 New Zealanders and 1 South African make up our crew. We are one of 14 boats headed out for the week, it’s apparently their second biggest week of the season.

    I'm bunking with the lovely South African, Whitney, our room is the size of Harry Potter’s bedroom under the stairs, and my bed only twice the size of me. I can’t sit up in bed and I have to crouch and crawl to get into it - definitely not one for one with claustrophobia.

    We have two bathrooms and showers on board, a kitchen and small eating area, although we do all of our eating on the deck. At 3pm, with our drinks and snacks safely in the cooler box we head out to our first island, Agistri, it's a three-hour sail.

    The water is rather smooth, although probably not smooth enough for day 1 of sailing haha.

    Alex tells us that Agistri is famous for pistachios, so of course that’s the first thing I buy when we arrive. They were not as salty as the ones at home and I paid around 2-3 euros for a decent sized packet.

    Our first action of the day, once we'd docked, was a swim. Alex pointed out an area where we would avoid poo from docked boats – always a winner – and off we went. The water was so salty! I don’t think it’s that salt at home, but it felt like you were left with a layer of salt in your mouth if you swallowed any.

    We were having a great time lounging in the beautiful salty seawater, until we saw a violent murder take place! The local family who were swimming near us had decided to catch dinner I think. With about 15 of us bobbing in the water we watched as the mother emerged from the sea with an octopus wrapped around her hand.

    As she tried to pull it off, the octopus latched on as hard and fast as it could, leaving big red welts in its path. When she finally managed to pull off the sea creature she grabbed it by it’s head and stacked violently throwing it into the concrete. Again and again and again!

    Cries of shock and horror were coming uncontrollably from our group, wading in the water, unable to look away. After what felt like an eternity the grandma picked it up and washed it in the ocean before pulling apart its head and washing the ink and internal organs in the ocean. We made a quick exit at this point!

    Needless to say we were all put off octopus for the rest of our trip haha.

    Afterwards I went for a walk around the island. Alex had pointed out some old German bunkers as we sailed in, so I went to explore those and see the area. The environment reminds me of Pallarenda in a way. It’s bush like, but the ocean is right there.

    I wandered around for a bit before returning in time for dinner. Tonight we are having a group dinner of sorts, and it’s tapas style. Lots of different plates of local cuisine comes out at us at a rapid pace. We head cheeses, vegetables, seafood (but no octopus), meats and so on. Dessert was fruit.

    Tonight we party in an open-air nightclub. I try ouzo for the first time and decide it’s not for me. Right now life feels amazing. It feels like everything that went wrong last year is currently being made up for on my Greek sailing tour! Roll on tomorrow.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Greek Islands Day 2: Ermioni

    2015年7月12日, ギリシャ ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    With several people waking with sore heads this morning, we coffee and head out at around 9am headed for island number 2 – Ermioni. Or as Alex says, it's like Hermione from Harry Potter but without the H.

    We are one of the first boats to head out and get to the rock area for the first swim of the day. Our token male, Paul, is really keen on rock jumping, and is first in the water to try it out.

    Once they are all back in we sail more towards an enclosed area for more swimming and lunch. Breakfast and lunch are provided each day. Break is cereal, breads, jams and eggs. Lunch varies between different salads, tuna and pasta dishes.

    You can see the bottom of the ocean in this area, the water is that clear. We swim around for a bit before enjoying our first lunch. This is our biggest day of sailing with almost 4-5 hours I think. We pack up and head for Ermioni, we have another 3 hours to go.

    Ermioni was responsible for creating the red dye in Alexander the Great’s capes. It was also used for anyone in parliament or a high-ranking official I think.

    We dock at 3:30pm, right in the middle of siesta time, so the town is really quiet. We walk through the village to the other port and check out the area there. On our way back Whitney and I discover that one of the bars / cafes is playing Wimbledon’s men singles finals. So we settle in for an afternoon of tennis and Greek beer.

    Tonight, after enjoying punch up on a hill, we fest on delicious E1.50 gyros, they are amazing! And turn out to be the best that I’ll have in Greece. As everyone else heads off to party I head to the other side of the island and try one of the restaurants out. They are serving rice pudding on their menu. It is too sweet for me, but still good. Gran, yours is still the best!    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Spetses, Saronic Gulf Islands, Greece

    2015年7月13日, ギリシャ ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Greek Islands day 3: Spetses

    Today we spent most of our time on land!!

    We were out of the bay early today at 7:30am, although I'm sure some people on our boat had only just dropped into bed. We stopped for breakfast out on the water, before continuing on and pulling into dock just before 11am. Spetses is our island today and quad bikes are its game.

    We partnered up and headed to the rental shops. Whitney and I put petrol in our bike and then headed off around the island. It took us about an hour to circle the island, with lots of little stops on the way. It was just beautiful.
    Not a cloud in sight and endless views of sea and sky combining forever.

    A highlight was stopping to look over someone's little village of a home. There were two houses, a helicopter pad, with helicopter, golf carters to get around the place, a pool area and access to the ocean. Plus what looked like a very well kept garden. Amazing!

    We had lunch on a rooftop restaurant before cruising along the coast for a swim in the ocean. We also went down to a small spot, which was alive with locals, and sat for a drink just watching the tide. It was just lovely. What a way to start a Monday!

    Tonight we were conned into having dinner with the other boats at an italian restaurant. It was a poor choice and one that everyone on our boat regretted. It was definitely no!
    It was not one of the better places Medsailors recommended.

    After dinner most people headed to an Irish pub for dancing and drinking. I took a wander around the island before heading back to the boat to call it a night.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Greek Islands Day 4: Hydra

    2015年7月14日, ギリシャ

    Today we were in no rush to reach Hydra, so we had breakfast while docked in ____ before meeting up with the other boats at the rock jumping lunch location.

    There is an area on the way to Hydra, where all the Medsailors boats pull up for lunch. You can go swimming, paddle boarding and there is a 10m high rock face to jump off. Not one to risk life injuries I stayed safely in the water and paddled around while watching the others face the big challenge. Some jumped right off with no concerns. Others needed much coaxing to let go of the safety barrier. (Note a metaophrre here, there was no such thing as as safety barrier haha)

    It was a beatiful day as per usual and lunch was a pasta dish. After several swims and jumps we headed back on board the boat and towards Hyrda. Being so small and expensive we are unable to pull up in the marina. Instead we dock around the side in a small cove and have to either swim to shore, take our little blow up dingy or pay for the water taxi.

    Hydra usess donkeys are their only mode of transport on the island. Very few areas of the island are developed and most is natural landscape. Tonight we take the water taxi and head into the small town. The highlight of being here is watching the sunset over the islands and sea.

    Our first stop is the recommended restaurant for more giros. I opt for a cheese pie or saganki, which doesn't come with spinach, this time around. As we walk through the town and the shops towards the sunset bar. I notice one cafe offering freshly cooked loukamades!!! I make the group wait while I order some and then join them before eating my first batch for the trip - I hope. I ordered mine with honey and walnuts. Although, it was quite delicious, I felt they were too crunchy and did not match Gran's, but still worth it.

    We find seats at the sunset bar and watch as another day closes on our Greek Island adventure. This evening's activities are drinks on board and card games.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Greek Islands Day 5: Poros

    2015年7月15日, ギリシャ ⋅ 29 °C

    Today has been one of the best days. We arrived on an island that I have really enjoyed and we had a sailing race!!!

    This was probably the highlight to be honest. All 14 boats raced around and island today on our way to Poros. As there are big boats and little boats and we are the smallest, we all had staggered starts to try and even it out. So, how it went.

    Each boat had to be manned only by the crew / drunk & hangover guests / wannabe sailors, not the skipper. The skippers were only allowed to give advice. We had one person manning (steering), two people on either side to pull the sail around and one person pulling the middle sail if need by. Our only guy on board was hung over and sick so he slept and the girls powered on haha.

    It was so much fun! My arms hurt for days after as it was my job to tighten something with a spanner thing. I'll have to ask dad for the actual words. We came 6th of our 14 boats, which was pretty awesome! The boat that did win was an all female boat! Which was awesome.

    After all the excitement our reward was to pull up on side 1 of Poros where we would do water sports activities and have lunch. After lunch we decided that we'd go with the boat to dock and then walk back. On our way to walking to the water sports, say 10 mins in, we meet a couple coming back who looked dehydrated and desperately asking where they close to the boats.

    We said of course. Alex had said it was a 20 min walk, if that. These poor souls, as did everyone else who got off at the water sports area, had to work around 40 mins during the hottest part of the day!! We decided to heed the warning and headed back to a local bar now our boat instead and chill out for the afternoon.

    Once it had cooled down I walked around the island for a bit and came across a sign that said there would be live music at 7:30pm. So at 8pm Whitney and I found ourselves sitting in bar watching live music in the courtyard, whilst watching the sunset.

    Dinner tonight is in a Greek restaurant. I order moussaka and finally a decent red wine. We are also granted with lemoncello for dessert. It's quite interesting how the Italian, Mediterranean, and Turkish foods cross over quite a bit.

    Tonight’s activities are dancing and drinking at a local nightclub. A quick story. While we were docked in Spetses we were in awe of the flash yachts with wait staff docked near us. When we were in Hydra, watching the sunset, we recognised a couple that were on one of the boats and one of the girls on my boat started up a conversation with them.

    We learnt that they were from America, he owes a Botox surgery and they sail Greece ever summer. They were having great laughs and stories. When we learnt that they were also travelling to Poros, we said we’d see them there. When Bethany saw them today she said they should come to the club with us tonight, and that’s exactly what happened.

    Well at least the old bloke did, he wife stayed on the yacht. He did however bright a staff member and a friend who apparently owns the yacht. So all-night he bought rounds of shots for whomever was in the vicinity. Needless to say he had loads of friends tonight haha.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Greek Islands Day 6: Agistri

    2015年7月16日, ギリシャ ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    So, today is our last day technically. It's our last island and tomorrow we head back to Athens. The water isn't as nice as usual today and the wind has picked up a bit.

    We head to the island early as there is a pool we can use and some of the girls want to book massages. It's nice to swim in a pool, which is also salt water, but it's not as fun or less constricting then swimming in the ocean.

    It's a bit of wasted day I felt. We just had lunch then I went back up to the pool to read and have a drink while the others slept off last night's hangover. In the afternoon I walked down to the small town, which was about 20 mins walk away from us. I stopped in at a small shop and bought some olives, honey, fruit and a drink, before finding a spot on the beach and eating my olives.

    Tonight is toga night, so we grab our bed sheets and find some twigs alongside the road to dress us as our best Greek Goddesses. We have dinner up at the pool restaurant, which is another great evening of greek tapas, although not as good as our first night. The owners try to encourage us into a spot of Greek dancing, before we head up to a bar that over looks the island for some nightclub dancing.    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Greek Islands Day 7: Athens

    2015年7月17日, ギリシャ ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We are heading back to Athens today. Alex leaves early as the
    wind has whipped up over night and it's not going to be that much fun on the
    water.. and it isn't. We lose a pillow in the process of heading back to the
    capital haha.

    The waves splash on board soaking us all in the
    process. We end up putting in the sails up and sailing in the hopes of riding
    the waves better, I think. By the end of it we are all soaked through, Alex
    especially. He has a salty beard, once the water had dried haha. The last I
    checked the wind has reached 26 knots, although I'm sure it went higher.

    As we drew closer to Athens we could see a huge smoke fire rising in the
    distance. Alex assumes it could be one of too things, a bush fire - although
    it's very close to the city, a protest, or an insurance job. I wondered what
    the world economy has been up to in our absence. I guess we're about to find
    out.

    Sailing the Greek Islands has been an amazing
    week. Medsailors are a fantastic group of people to go with and run a really
    good week. I definitley recommend them. I did get a little bored, haha not
    going to lie. But it was fun. Until next time ...

    Medsailors
    https://www.medsailors.com/sail-greece/mso-bidi… New Roman"">    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Athens

    2015年7月19日, ギリシャ ⋅ 33 °C

    This is my second weekend in Athens this month, and I still have one more to go before I depart this great country. Athens has been my base really between arriving and departing the sailing tour and Kefalloina.

    We arrive back Friday lunchtime and I head straight to the hostel. I have a shower, grab all of my clothes and head down to the Laundromat. In the meantime I try the fish and chips next door, which is really good, especially their chips. In England, they make crappy chips. The chips are soggy as if they have been lying around for days. These chips are hot, crisp and fresh – yummy! I duck next door to check out the sports bar before taking my laundry back to the hostel to hang out over the balcony. It's so hot and windy that it dries in no time.

    I’ve also noticed that my hair dries unbelievably fast here as well. Almost too fast that it becomes straw like. After visiting a supermarket near the hostel I come across this funky restaurant / café. I sit down and enjoy a meal of Greek salad, sausages and a dessert. I order a wine as I’m in the spirit, but it’s so hot and quite disgusting. I’m not a fan of Greek wine I don think.

    I leave here feeling really good about that food, but slightly ripped off that the staff just helped themselves to a tip from my 20 note. And being I didn’t bother asking for it, which was disappointing, because I really liked it up to this point.

    Saturday
    Today I am out on the 2-hour walking tour organised by the hostel. We walk past all of the old relics, hear stories from years gone by and visit the different market places and stalls around the local area. We take pictures in front of parliament house and go past the square where the Greeks had lots of riots in 2007 / 2010. And we end through the royal gardens and down at Zeus’s statues.

    The best story the guide told us was that when the Nazi’s first took over Greece they demanded that all Greek flags be replaced with the Nazi flag. The solider who’s job it was to replace the flag at the Acropolis couldn’t do it, so he wrapped himself in the flag and jumped over the side of the building.

    A year later, almost to the date, two young teenagers climbed the Acropolis and replaced the Nazi flag with the Greek flag. One of these teenagers is currently finishing their final term in the European Parliament and the tender age of 92! That is just fantastic. Very shortly we won’t have such stories, as all the people from that era will be gone…

    In the afternoon I wander back through the market places looking for some cream. The shops are crammed in together, almost bulging out at you. Everything you can imagine is sold around this area.

    Tonight I am meeting some people from the sail on a rooftop bar overlooking the Acropolis and then I’m going to a play called, Socrates Now. The play is located in the garden of the oldest university in Greece. As you enter you walk underneath grapevines growing above you, conveniently the free wine is located here haha.

    We sit with the Acropolis in the background to the stage. Tonight it is a one-man show, Socrates is on trial for his life, and he was witnessing his speech for his freedom and response to the guilty and consequent sentence of death.

    At the end the actor has a discussion with the audience about Socrates’s message in his speech and how it could relate to do. Do we have a Socrates of the 21st century? How would he view the current economic crisis?

    I found it really interesting, but frustrated that I didn’t know more about Socrates and what he was trying to get across. I must’ve zoned out at one point :/ All in all I feel like I achieved the greatest Greek thing tonight. It wasn’t 100% a Greek play, but it’s close enough for me.

    It’s nearing on 11pm now so I head back to the hostel and stop off for a quick bite to eat on the way. Although I was most disappointed in the meal, the highlight was received this chocolate slice with my bill. It was amazing! And I’ve been on the hunt for more of it since.

    Sunday
    Tonight I am spending my first night at an airport as I have a 5am flight to Kefallonia. I am a little bit excited because I have never done this before and it seems quite fun.

    I pack up everything and put my bags in storage before heading out for the morning. I’m heading towards a shopping centre to buy some moisture but am stopped as some protestors have locked down the building, trapping shoppers and staff on the inside. They are protesting about Sunday trading.

    After getting quite annoyed at their arrogance I left, muttering a few choice words under my breath. I walk further north looking for Loukamades. The Internet tells me there is a shop up that sells them. Unfortunately when I arrived all I find is this random puff pastry cream thing, which my guidebook tells me is something else I should try. I do, but it’s not the best.

    I head back through the market places towards my hostel, only to find a loukameades shops. I decide to wait until Kefallonia.

    Tonight I head up to the rooftop bar for one last drink and watch as the sunsets on the Acropolis. I have some conversations with a few Americans and then head into the airport. I’m here just before midnight and have around 3 hours sleep before going to check my luggage in and go to the gate.

    Visiting Kefallonia has always been somewhere I’ve wanted to visit. To see where my great gran came from. The time has almost come!

    Where I stayed
    Athens Backpackers - 12 Makri (Makrigianni), Athens, Greece

    Good location, rooms are big, beds comfy, lots of cafes / restaurants around, rooftop bar to see Acropolis. Breakfast is only eggs, bathrooms are always wet, wifi didn't work that well    もっと詳しく

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  • Rachel Britton2015旅行者

    Kefalonia Week

    2015年7月24日, ギリシャ ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    This week concluded my four-piece heritage puzzle. I have now been to every country, and where possible the town / met family from each of my great grandparents.

    In order of appearance:

    Gran's dad – Vienna, Austria, I met Elisabeth
    Grandad Mullins family - Ireland, met family that everyone else has met haha

    Grandad Britton's family – Cork, met lots of family, stayed on the farm where my great grandad grew up on

    Gran’s mum – Kefallonia, Greece

    I didn’t get to meet anyone from Gran’s mum’s family. Apparently, those that are left don’t speak English and live on the main land more. There are some American relatives Uncle John tells me, but they only visit in August. So I spent a great 5 days just leaving the Greek life, like my yai yai might’ve.

    I flew into Kefallonia from Athens at 6:30am on Monday. We landed just as the sun was rising and I had a beautiful drive to my hotel with dawn breaking over a new day. As the hotel was all asleep I sat on the front porch watching the sunrise over the ocean. Lucky for me the son of the owner came out earlier and let me into my room. A quick shower and I was into bed, fast asleep.

    My hotel is massive and run by a mother and son. They staff are so welcoming and kind; nothing is a problem for them. On Tuesday they had a pool party to celebrate their 3rd birthday, of being open I assume. I think everyone they knew attended haha. It was great.

    After making up on lost sleep I took a walk to the nearest and biggest town on the island Argostoli. It was a beautiful walk along the coast. The landscape reminds me a little of home; it’s bush, and dry, but green in places and then the sea is right there. The water is a beautiful clear and blue colour. Along the way I past the local lighthouse, a famous water mill station, various restaurants and lots of walking tracks.

    I walk through the town, through the square where 5000 Italian soldiers where killed by the Nazi’s in WWII, I visited the little shops and walked past the marina. I had dinner, consisting of haloumi and then roast lamb, before heading back to the hotel.

    My days consisted of mostly sleeping in, going for swims and hangign out at the hotel until it was cool enough in the afternoon, around 6pm, to walk to Argostoli. It was usually around a 20minute walk and I often found myself stuck in the town as it got dark quite quickly once the sunset. So I walked fast haha.

    One day the staff ordered me loukoumades. They smelt so good that the staff then ordered themselves some. They were amazing! Still I like Gran’s haha, but these were the best so far.

    On Friday I booked into a tour of Kefalonia. We visited the old castle, stopped in at the castle café for a cold drink, went to Myrtle beach to take pictures – so badly wanted to swim here, had lunch at Sami beach, stopped into melissani lake and drogarati cave before visiting an Orthodox Greek church where those of faith could kiss the saints feet and the robola winery.

    It was a really great tour, although I do wish we could’ve stopped at Myrtle beach for a swim. The most disappointing parts were the Melissani lake and Drogarati cave. I was really looking forward to visiting the lake, the pictures online looked amazing. But it’s now nothing more then a tourist trap. We lined up to get on the boats. The fit 10 of you on and then as quickly as possible whip around the lake and cave area and then back to shore. Only half of our boat got a photo with the good light – thankfully that was us, and then they asked for tips. One boat even pushed us out of the way so he could get to the next group faster.

    The Drogarati caves weren’t that exciting. I don’t think I’m a cave person haha. But overall it was great. I was pleased to visit the robola winery to confirm my thoughts that Greek wine is not good. I tried everything, a wine, red, rosa and nothing took my fancy.

    However, I did learn about why they Greeks have wine in plastic bottles. The wine in plastic bottles has next to no preservatives and is very fresh. The wine in the glass bottles has some preservatives and lasts a bit longer. But I’m sure she said that the plastic bottle wine would only last 14 days at best.

    In what was a _____ fashion, I arrived into Kefalonia on sunrise, I departed at sunset. We flew out over the island, giving me one last few of Yai Yai’s home before heading to Athens. What a beautiful week it has been. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to visit, to eat, and to learn.    もっと詳しく

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