Well my trip is almost over! Seems like only last week I was boarding a plane to London and now I'm getting ready to board one to come back.
The trip has been simply outstanding and I've been to 16 different countries, and stayed in 40 different cities. To sum up....I started in London, then went to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Rome, Seville, Granada, San Sebastian (via Madrid, but that doesn't really count), Bordeaux, Marsielle, Nice (and, while I was there, Monaco, Cannes, VilleFranche). Then onwards to Milan, Venice, Florence, Bologna, Bern, Geneva, Interlaken, Basel, Munich, Salzberg, Vienna, Nuremberg, Berlin, Budapest, Frankfurt, Brussells, Bruges (and Ypres), Amsterdam then Hamburg (for a night each on my way to Copenhagen - I didn't fancy a 16 hour train ride all in one go...), then Varberg (or rather, just south of Varberg), Stockholm, Belfast, Dublin, Lisbon, Porto, Paris, London, Bath and I'm currently in Oxford.
Phew!
As a "last post", I thought it would be fun to share some observations I've made about my time in Europe in list form. These lists are in no particular order. Enjoy:
My Favourite Places in Europe:
1. Paris. What's not to love?
2. Berlin. Great history, and a really fun city to boot. Plus, because we won, you walk around feeling a bit superior...gotta love this place.
3. Budapest. Had a great time there. A very beautiful place that was cheap and a bit dodgy at night. Strangely that added to the experience.
4. San Sebastian. Terrific food, great beaches. When the weather is good this place is amazing. A great place to relax and just enjoy life. Dave and Billie have picked one hell of a place to live.
5. Nice. I loved it last time and I loved it again. The only thing that wasn't so great is the pebble beaches, they look like fun but they have "broken ankle" written all over them...
My Least Favourite Places in Europe:
1. Bologna. Don't ever go there. EVER. Its supposed to be the foodie capital of Italy but lets be honest: the food in Italy is amazing EVERYWHERE. Its not THAT much better in Bologna. Plus you have an unispiring city, that is not tourist friendly and every building you see that looks mildly interesting is either closed to the public or in reality a very un-exciting place (like a library).
2. Bruges. I had high hopes for Bruges, I'd heard it was supposed to be like a fairytail. In many ways it is, but the place is ridiculously small, incredibly overpriced, filled with tourists, and a tad fake. Good for a day trip but no longer.
Best Nights Out I've Had in Europe:
1. An all you can drink canal cruise in Amsterdam with the Contiki Tour. Epic.
2. Paleo Music Festival in Nyon (just outside of Geneva). Mel and Guilia were great company - we were practically at the front in the concert and had a great time. Funny stories both getting there and afterwards (see my earlier post if you've forgotten what stories these are).
3. Delirium Bar in Brussells. This bar had over 2004 beers to choose from and in my company that night (from the hostel) I had, a French DJ (who was apparently a semi celebrity in France, even though I'd never heard of him), about 8 of his French friends, a well spoken but hilarious Englishman, and a dating coach. Chaos ensued and fun times were had by all.
4. Berlin with the Contiki Tour. A history lesson about the Cold War and the Berlin Wall, then a "Stazi, Cold War" themed pub-crawl across Berlin (where you had to de-cypher clues to find out where the next bar is) then a trip to the Matrix bar, a world famous club. Awesome....
5. Sziget in Budapest. Muse and Kasabian in the biggest open air festival in Europe. Biblical.
Things that Europe Does Better than New Zealand (not an exhaustive list):
1. Public transport. Every city I went to had either an underground, or trams, or an effective bus network. Every country I went to had a domestic (and, most of the time, international) rail service. It makes a huge difference. New Zealand must follow suit (and in particular Auckland). Sorry to get all political but how is New Zealand ever going to become a truly global city, and compete with the rest of the world, if we have a third world public transport system? The answer is it won't. I also don't want anyone to read this and say something like: yeah but Auckland has a low population density, but a high area, so therefore a metro (or Trams or whatever) won't work. It WILL work if its done properly. The same goes for the rail networks throughout a country. It is so much more convenient than flying! Again, NZ must follow suit. We don't have to do it all at once, but we need to start doing it NOW. The need is only going to get greater and the cost more...
2. Drinking culture. Okay, excuse the UK and Ireland from this, both of these places have a far worse drinking culture than NZ and Australia. But most other places I've been to people have a few drinks but don't get drunk. Its a cultural thing but it would be great to see a similar culture in New Zealand.
Things New Zealand Does Much Better Than Europe (again, not an exhaustive list):
1. We don't have a smoking culture and we have smoke free bars. This makes a huge difference! Much more pleasent to go out and not come home smelling like you've smoked a 12 pack... A lot of places in Europe have smoke free bars as well but its really noticeable how much more people smoke around here.
2. The Europeans have an obsession with sparkling water. Why?!?!?!?! Many times I've asked for a bottle of water only to be given a bottle of sparkling water. It tastes horrific.
3. People, as a general rule, see more laid back in New Zealand. I like that.
Stupid Things People Have Said on This Trip (nationality is in brackets):
1. "I Like your accent. I wish I had an accent" (heard this about 10 times, all from Americans...).
2. "When its winter in America - I know its warm in New Zealand - but do you still call it winter in New Zealand?" (American)
3. "What are they made out of?" (a question to our tour guide after she explained that the sculptures to our left were sand sculptures...) (American)
I'm forgetting a few here...I'll add to this post once I remember... And PS, yes everyone on the list happens to be American, but don't think I hate Americans or anything. Most of them are GREAT. Its just one or two that let the side down...
Things I Want To Do Next Time:
1. Oktoberfest. I had no idea getting accommodation was so hard! I've heared its incredible and I'm gutted I didn't get to go.
2. The running with the bulls. A really stupid idea, I know, But would be a lot of fun... I've heard it is a festival atmosphere all week and it sounds amazing.
3. Cork, Ireland. I didn't spend enough time in Ireland but I absolutely loved it. I've heard Cork is beautiful and I'd love to check it out.
4. Turkey. I made the conscious decision not to go to Turkey this trip but I'd love to go there again. Instanbul and Galipolli are at the top of my to do list there.
4. Croatia. Again a conscious decision not to go but I want to go there before it becomes a tourist mecca.
Anyway I've spent waay too long on this post already (and I could go on all day if I don't stop myself). So I'll leave it there for now.
See you all soon.
Anthony
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Portugal
After Ireland I decided that I needed a bit of time in the sun, so I headed down to Portugal. I was pretty tired by the time I got there (the Irish certainly know how to party!) so I figured a few days lazing around working on my non existent suntan should do me good.
To tell you the truth my first experience down there wasn't good. I had to fly from Dublin to London and from London to Lisbon and the guy checking my passport in Lisbon gave me a hard time about not having a "leaving the UK" stamp on my passport. I tried to explain that I was only in transit in London, and as Ireland is also part of the EU I didnt need a stamp, but he was having none of it. After getting quite aggressive he eventually backed off completely and let me through.
I hoped it wasn't setting the tone of things to come.
Fortunately it wasn't.
The hostel I was staying in was fantastic and even had an outside bar (which gives you an idea of how often it rains there: practically never). Everything was cheap and the people seemed friendly and all spoke English. Already the trip was turning out to be a good idea.
The first night we went out an experienced the street side drinking culture of the Portugese. Basically, in Lisbon you only go into bars to buy drinks, then you wander outside into the streets to mingle. It works quite well considering its so hot. Fortunately drinking on the streets in Portugal is legal, as it is pretty much everywhere in Europe, and it was a great time. The only downer is that you're constantly being approached by street vendors trying to sell you crappy hats, "genuine" Ray Ban sunglasses, and, occasionally, cocaine. I couldn'd believe how open they were with trying to sell you drugs in this place (until I heard from someone at the hostel that they weren't actually offering you drugs at all, just condensed sugar...hence why the police didn't care).
In the end a big night was had by all considering that the drinks were sooo cheap. For example for €4.00 you get HALF A LITRE of Mojito...
The architecture in Portugal was pretty interesting. Similar styles to in Spain and they had tiles on the outside of the buildings. Very cool.
I decided to just relax for my time in Lisbon so I didn't do as much sightseeing as I should have. It was still a great place though.
After Lisbon I went to Porto to catch up with Mark Russell. It was great to see a familiar face and, as Mark had been staying in Porto for the last week, he took me round the city. Mark was in good spirits and was sporting a beard that looked like it had taken about 2 months to grow. A very impressive piece I must say (and incredibly gross, he was constantly getting bits of food stuck in his moustache...). He also showed me his photos that he'd taken (or, more accurately, a selection of the photos that he'd taken) and I was pretty blown away. Its clear he could be a professional photographer, and I made a mental note to upgrade my camera at the first chance I can get!
Mark has been travelling through Europe (predominantly) by using Couchsurfing which is a website where people offer the spare room in their house for travellors to use. I know what you're thinking: sounds kinda dangerous. I thought so too, but after you've stayed with someone you give them a review which stays on their profile permanently (much the same as Trip Advisor). So everyone has an incentive to be on their best behaviour. If you stay with people who have a lot of good reviews you can't go wrong - its when you try and stay with someone with hardly any reviews that you can run into issues...
The great advantage of Couchsurfing is that you get to live like a local in the cities you stay in. That afternoon/night we met up with Mark's Couchsurfing hosts in Porto and had a night out with the locals. We started by having a few beers (at €1.20 each) and things progressed from there. They have a street drinking culture in Porto too and it was similar to Lisbon (except, incredibly, even more laid back and cheaper). We took things to a square where all the locals go on a Wednesday night and eventually ended up at a reggae dance party in what looked to be a converted flat. It was a pretty massive night and we didn't get back to the hostel until about 4.30am.
The next day, not surprisingly, we were feeling a bit jaded so ended up just cruising round the city...but I did manage to have a glass of Port (which, for those of you who don't know, originates from Porto).
Unfortunately my plans for Oktoberfest fell through, as did my other plans for Wasenfest (but not before I'd booked non refundable tickets to Paris, with the intention of training down to Stuttgart). Instead I decided to fly back to Paris for a few nights. Again this place has blown me away. Its horrendously expensive next to Portugal, and there are tourists everywhere but I don't care. Its my favourite European city.
After Paris it'll be back to London, and maybe a very quick tour around the south of England, before flying home.
Talk soon
Anthony
PS. Surprise surprise the computer here isn't letting me upload photos. A recurring theme this trip. Once again I'll put them up as soon as I have the chance...
To tell you the truth my first experience down there wasn't good. I had to fly from Dublin to London and from London to Lisbon and the guy checking my passport in Lisbon gave me a hard time about not having a "leaving the UK" stamp on my passport. I tried to explain that I was only in transit in London, and as Ireland is also part of the EU I didnt need a stamp, but he was having none of it. After getting quite aggressive he eventually backed off completely and let me through.
I hoped it wasn't setting the tone of things to come.
Fortunately it wasn't.
The hostel I was staying in was fantastic and even had an outside bar (which gives you an idea of how often it rains there: practically never). Everything was cheap and the people seemed friendly and all spoke English. Already the trip was turning out to be a good idea.
The first night we went out an experienced the street side drinking culture of the Portugese. Basically, in Lisbon you only go into bars to buy drinks, then you wander outside into the streets to mingle. It works quite well considering its so hot. Fortunately drinking on the streets in Portugal is legal, as it is pretty much everywhere in Europe, and it was a great time. The only downer is that you're constantly being approached by street vendors trying to sell you crappy hats, "genuine" Ray Ban sunglasses, and, occasionally, cocaine. I couldn'd believe how open they were with trying to sell you drugs in this place (until I heard from someone at the hostel that they weren't actually offering you drugs at all, just condensed sugar...hence why the police didn't care).
In the end a big night was had by all considering that the drinks were sooo cheap. For example for €4.00 you get HALF A LITRE of Mojito...
The architecture in Portugal was pretty interesting. Similar styles to in Spain and they had tiles on the outside of the buildings. Very cool.
I decided to just relax for my time in Lisbon so I didn't do as much sightseeing as I should have. It was still a great place though.
After Lisbon I went to Porto to catch up with Mark Russell. It was great to see a familiar face and, as Mark had been staying in Porto for the last week, he took me round the city. Mark was in good spirits and was sporting a beard that looked like it had taken about 2 months to grow. A very impressive piece I must say (and incredibly gross, he was constantly getting bits of food stuck in his moustache...). He also showed me his photos that he'd taken (or, more accurately, a selection of the photos that he'd taken) and I was pretty blown away. Its clear he could be a professional photographer, and I made a mental note to upgrade my camera at the first chance I can get!
Mark has been travelling through Europe (predominantly) by using Couchsurfing which is a website where people offer the spare room in their house for travellors to use. I know what you're thinking: sounds kinda dangerous. I thought so too, but after you've stayed with someone you give them a review which stays on their profile permanently (much the same as Trip Advisor). So everyone has an incentive to be on their best behaviour. If you stay with people who have a lot of good reviews you can't go wrong - its when you try and stay with someone with hardly any reviews that you can run into issues...
The great advantage of Couchsurfing is that you get to live like a local in the cities you stay in. That afternoon/night we met up with Mark's Couchsurfing hosts in Porto and had a night out with the locals. We started by having a few beers (at €1.20 each) and things progressed from there. They have a street drinking culture in Porto too and it was similar to Lisbon (except, incredibly, even more laid back and cheaper). We took things to a square where all the locals go on a Wednesday night and eventually ended up at a reggae dance party in what looked to be a converted flat. It was a pretty massive night and we didn't get back to the hostel until about 4.30am.
The next day, not surprisingly, we were feeling a bit jaded so ended up just cruising round the city...but I did manage to have a glass of Port (which, for those of you who don't know, originates from Porto).
Unfortunately my plans for Oktoberfest fell through, as did my other plans for Wasenfest (but not before I'd booked non refundable tickets to Paris, with the intention of training down to Stuttgart). Instead I decided to fly back to Paris for a few nights. Again this place has blown me away. Its horrendously expensive next to Portugal, and there are tourists everywhere but I don't care. Its my favourite European city.
After Paris it'll be back to London, and maybe a very quick tour around the south of England, before flying home.
Talk soon
Anthony
PS. Surprise surprise the computer here isn't letting me upload photos. A recurring theme this trip. Once again I'll put them up as soon as I have the chance...
Friday, September 10, 2010
Fiddle de de! Potatoes!
So I'm really enjoying Ireland. The weather sucks here but apart from that its a great place. They drink like crazy here, they speak English (well, sort of, everyone sounds like the Pikey from the movie Snatch) and they even drive on the left hand side of the road. Whats not to love?
I spent the first two nights in Belfast as I wanted to check out Northern Ireland. Lonely Planet assured me it was very safe as the Troubles are over. Typically (it turns out) it was raining when I got there but I was told that apparently last week it was in the mid 20's and sunny, but there was also a bomb threat. The person also told me, with a smile, that she believed the bit about the bomb threat but not about the 20 degrees!
Maybe Lonely Planet was wrong...
Belfast is not surprisingly not a a very touristy place, but I really enjoyed it. You can tell the tensions still run deep though so I was very careful not to make any Irish/British/Catholic jokes when I was there! Apparently with the Good Friday Agreement (the agreement that more or less ended the Troubles) a lot of the militants got released and some even run the "Black Cab" tours, which take tourists to some of the Troubles hotspots. This to me was an unnerving thought but I was told that it was perfectly safe. In fact, some of the militants from both sides actually work together on some projects for the benefit of all of Belfast and it seems to occur without incident.
[pic: Belfast]
I did hear that random violence still occurs occasionally. Apparently car theives are not well liked by the IRA or the RUF (I think that's the Protestant equivalent but to be honest there are so many splinter groups its like that scene off the Life of Brian where they sit around and talk about the Peoples Front of Judea, the Popular Front of Judea, The Popular Peoples Front etc...). If a known car theif is caught he would get knee capped, by taking him to an alley and shooting him through the back of the knee. Apparently he would walk again, but never truly recover...
Nasty.
In saying all of this I really did find the place fascinating.
After Belfast I headed to Dublin. Dublin is quite a pretty place and I absolutely adore it. Yesterday I went to the Guinness Brewery and after the tour had a pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar (a glass dome that over looks the entire city). The Guinness tastes different here than in New Zealand. In New Zealand it tastes like...well...crap. Here its surprisingly drinkable (although I suspect I may be getting seduced by it simply because I'm in Irelenad!).
[pic: me enjoying a Guinness in the Gravity Bar]
[pic: the view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar]
Last night I went to Jimmy Carr. A two and a half hour show that was full of all of his new material. Needless to say I was in stiches the entire night - he is really hilarious! Although I heard probably 200 hundred jokes its surprisingly difficult to remember them the next day, but here are a few of the ones I do remember (and thought were quite funny):
"Why do so many people die in schools in America?...because you're not allowed to run in the halls"
"Where would we be without our sense of humour?....Germany"
"Have you ever heard the saying: "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen!"? If that's true, shouldn't the Jews love the Germans?"
"I had a traumatic childhood. Our family Priest....was cheating on me."
"I had a threesome last night, it was amazing....had a couple of no shows...but I had a great time."
"I asked my girlfriend whether she wanted to do some role playing where I pretended I was a stranger trying to rape her. She said "no". I said "that's the spirit""
I could go on....
Later I went on a pub crawl where chaos ensued. Naturally it was a great night and just as naturally I've once again dispelled the myth that you can't get hungover whilst travelling....
[pic: the last stop on the pub crawl]
Off to Portugal tomorrow so I will be in touch soon.
Anthony
I spent the first two nights in Belfast as I wanted to check out Northern Ireland. Lonely Planet assured me it was very safe as the Troubles are over. Typically (it turns out) it was raining when I got there but I was told that apparently last week it was in the mid 20's and sunny, but there was also a bomb threat. The person also told me, with a smile, that she believed the bit about the bomb threat but not about the 20 degrees!
Maybe Lonely Planet was wrong...
Belfast is not surprisingly not a a very touristy place, but I really enjoyed it. You can tell the tensions still run deep though so I was very careful not to make any Irish/British/Catholic jokes when I was there! Apparently with the Good Friday Agreement (the agreement that more or less ended the Troubles) a lot of the militants got released and some even run the "Black Cab" tours, which take tourists to some of the Troubles hotspots. This to me was an unnerving thought but I was told that it was perfectly safe. In fact, some of the militants from both sides actually work together on some projects for the benefit of all of Belfast and it seems to occur without incident.
[pic: Belfast]
I did hear that random violence still occurs occasionally. Apparently car theives are not well liked by the IRA or the RUF (I think that's the Protestant equivalent but to be honest there are so many splinter groups its like that scene off the Life of Brian where they sit around and talk about the Peoples Front of Judea, the Popular Front of Judea, The Popular Peoples Front etc...). If a known car theif is caught he would get knee capped, by taking him to an alley and shooting him through the back of the knee. Apparently he would walk again, but never truly recover...
Nasty.
In saying all of this I really did find the place fascinating.
After Belfast I headed to Dublin. Dublin is quite a pretty place and I absolutely adore it. Yesterday I went to the Guinness Brewery and after the tour had a pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar (a glass dome that over looks the entire city). The Guinness tastes different here than in New Zealand. In New Zealand it tastes like...well...crap. Here its surprisingly drinkable (although I suspect I may be getting seduced by it simply because I'm in Irelenad!).
[pic: me enjoying a Guinness in the Gravity Bar]
[pic: the view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar]
Last night I went to Jimmy Carr. A two and a half hour show that was full of all of his new material. Needless to say I was in stiches the entire night - he is really hilarious! Although I heard probably 200 hundred jokes its surprisingly difficult to remember them the next day, but here are a few of the ones I do remember (and thought were quite funny):
"Why do so many people die in schools in America?...because you're not allowed to run in the halls"
"Where would we be without our sense of humour?....Germany"
"Have you ever heard the saying: "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen!"? If that's true, shouldn't the Jews love the Germans?"
"I had a traumatic childhood. Our family Priest....was cheating on me."
"I had a threesome last night, it was amazing....had a couple of no shows...but I had a great time."
"I asked my girlfriend whether she wanted to do some role playing where I pretended I was a stranger trying to rape her. She said "no". I said "that's the spirit""
I could go on....
Later I went on a pub crawl where chaos ensued. Naturally it was a great night and just as naturally I've once again dispelled the myth that you can't get hungover whilst travelling....
[pic: the last stop on the pub crawl]
Off to Portugal tomorrow so I will be in touch soon.
Anthony
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Bruges and beyond
Before this trip started I had marked Bruges as a potential highlight. Admittedly, I had only heard of the place - and wanted to go there - because of the movie In Bruges. To quote from the movie: "it looked like a fairytail".
When I got there I was pretty impressed. The movie was filmed on location and everywhere you went you could see familiar sights. It was a pretty place. However, a couple of things didn´t come across when you watched the movie:
1) The sheer volume of tourists that were there. This brought with it its own issues such as crowds everytwhere and overpriced food/drinks everywhere.
2) How little Bruges is.
You could walk around the entire town in about an hour. Its great for a day trip, but after a few hours you´d seen everything. As time went on I could empathise more and more with Colin Farrell´s character in the movie (which, for those of you that haven´t seen it, HATED the place) and always refers to it as a "shithole". His best line was: "I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. Maybe if I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn´t, so it doesn´t."
Certainly by the end of my forth night I was ready to move on. Probably the highlight wasn´t Bruges itself but Ypres. I went there on a battlefield tour to check out Flanders fields.
The first thing that struck me was just how flat it was. The "high ground" that literally tens of thousands pf soldiers died trying to take was nothing more than a very gentle incline on a hill. The New Zealander´s were well represented there - especially on the Passchendale Ridge - with numerous monuments, and of course, a large number of graves.
We were also shown a number of photographs of the area during the First World War. It looked like a picture of the moon with craters everywhere, as well as mud. It must have been obvious that ordering attacks in such conditions was suicide. In fact, we were told that during the Third Battle of Ypres (when the New Zealand battalion took heavy losses at Passchendaele) its estimated that a third of all the deaths were due to drowning in the mud.
We also leared that an average of three artillary shells landed per meter of land in Flanders. Also, 1 in every 3 shells didn´t go off. So, statistically speaking, everywhere we went we were standing on live ammunition. This explained why when we were on Hill 60 (called Hill 60 because it was 60 meters above sea level) our tour guide got us to go first...
Walking amongst the graves of the soldiers that were killed its hard not to think that it was such a futile waste of life, with so little gained. It worked out that the Allies gained about 5cm of ground for every soldier killed. Maybe the line in Blackadder Goes Forth, that General Haig wants his drinks trolley 18 inches closer to Berlin, has a ring of truth to it.
AFter that sobering experience I made my way to Copenhagen. Copenhagen was nice. On my last night I went to Tivoli which was the worlds first theme park. It was every 14 year olds dream: a theme park that you felt was all to yourself. I didnt que for anything and the rides were really really good. As an example I went on a rollercoaster, didn´t que - just jumped on - and at the end we asked the conducter if we could go again. He shrugged and said sure.
Also went on an aeroplane ride that you controlled yourself. Some of the time I was the only person on the ride. It was really amazing. I also did a bit of shooting and it turns out I´m a bit of a sharp shooter. Won a few things which was fun.
I´m currently in Sweden catching up with Martin and Johanna. Its great to see a few familiar faces! Sweden is terrific even though its very cold (5 degrees last night!).
Next stop is Stockholm where I´ll be heading in a few days.
Talk soon
Anthony
When I got there I was pretty impressed. The movie was filmed on location and everywhere you went you could see familiar sights. It was a pretty place. However, a couple of things didn´t come across when you watched the movie:
1) The sheer volume of tourists that were there. This brought with it its own issues such as crowds everytwhere and overpriced food/drinks everywhere.
2) How little Bruges is.
You could walk around the entire town in about an hour. Its great for a day trip, but after a few hours you´d seen everything. As time went on I could empathise more and more with Colin Farrell´s character in the movie (which, for those of you that haven´t seen it, HATED the place) and always refers to it as a "shithole". His best line was: "I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. Maybe if I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn´t, so it doesn´t."
Certainly by the end of my forth night I was ready to move on. Probably the highlight wasn´t Bruges itself but Ypres. I went there on a battlefield tour to check out Flanders fields.
The first thing that struck me was just how flat it was. The "high ground" that literally tens of thousands pf soldiers died trying to take was nothing more than a very gentle incline on a hill. The New Zealander´s were well represented there - especially on the Passchendale Ridge - with numerous monuments, and of course, a large number of graves.
We were also shown a number of photographs of the area during the First World War. It looked like a picture of the moon with craters everywhere, as well as mud. It must have been obvious that ordering attacks in such conditions was suicide. In fact, we were told that during the Third Battle of Ypres (when the New Zealand battalion took heavy losses at Passchendaele) its estimated that a third of all the deaths were due to drowning in the mud.
We also leared that an average of three artillary shells landed per meter of land in Flanders. Also, 1 in every 3 shells didn´t go off. So, statistically speaking, everywhere we went we were standing on live ammunition. This explained why when we were on Hill 60 (called Hill 60 because it was 60 meters above sea level) our tour guide got us to go first...
Walking amongst the graves of the soldiers that were killed its hard not to think that it was such a futile waste of life, with so little gained. It worked out that the Allies gained about 5cm of ground for every soldier killed. Maybe the line in Blackadder Goes Forth, that General Haig wants his drinks trolley 18 inches closer to Berlin, has a ring of truth to it.
AFter that sobering experience I made my way to Copenhagen. Copenhagen was nice. On my last night I went to Tivoli which was the worlds first theme park. It was every 14 year olds dream: a theme park that you felt was all to yourself. I didnt que for anything and the rides were really really good. As an example I went on a rollercoaster, didn´t que - just jumped on - and at the end we asked the conducter if we could go again. He shrugged and said sure.
Also went on an aeroplane ride that you controlled yourself. Some of the time I was the only person on the ride. It was really amazing. I also did a bit of shooting and it turns out I´m a bit of a sharp shooter. Won a few things which was fun.
I´m currently in Sweden catching up with Martin and Johanna. Its great to see a few familiar faces! Sweden is terrific even though its very cold (5 degrees last night!).
Next stop is Stockholm where I´ll be heading in a few days.
Talk soon
Anthony
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