European Adventure | Lake Maggiore & Milan.

 Onto the next stop in the (now 2 years old) European Adventure. This is Lake Maggiore. It's pretty neat. Half of it is technically a part of Italy, and the other half is technically a part of Switzerland. 

 A little square near the Lake. I just really loved the look of it. It was so quiet and wonderful.

 We are now in Milan! Another big cathedral. Unfortunately, the name escapes me right now. What I do remember is a lot of people standing around it selling bags of crumbs to feed the pigeons. There was a lot of pigeons. Also, there was a McDonald's opposite it. The gifts you learn when your brother doesn't aspire to be worldly and learn about other cultures.

 The aftermath of the terrible fall I had in Edinburgh. It was about a week old by this point? I still couldn't walk huge distances, I don't think. Lesson of the story: Don't jump around when it's been raining and hailing and snowing, kids. You'll fall and hurt yourself. I'm looking at you, fellow Australians.

On the way to our next city, we got to stop in at an Italian monastery. It was gorgeous. Just wow.

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Guess what guys? We're actually getting closer to the end of this. Only three stops left before we end the never-ending photo album. What sort of miracle is this?

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles | Rome | Florence & Pisa | Lake Maggiore & Milan

European Adventure | Florence & Pisa

A quick picture gallery moment. Florence and Pisa. Florence was actually my favourite city in Italy.

 A big cathedral that's way pretty. I don't know if you can see, but if you look closely the statue to the left of the cathedral is of Dante Alighieri. You know, that dude who wrote Inferno. Prettyyyyy cool.

 Another way big cathedral. I think the tour guide told us that you could take a bunch of stairs to get to the very top, but it was a tight fit. So, obviously I didn't do that.

 Inside the above cathedral.

The trio of touristy things in Pisa. Believe it of not there is a Macca's a couple hundred metres before these.

And the Leaning Tower of Pisa allll by itself. I think I was trying to be funny in this picture and make it look like it wasn't leaning? Still. Really cool.

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So, that's Florence and Pisa. I feel like I should've added more in, but it was at this leg of the journey that I was getting sick of having to take all the pictures. You can only lug a heavy camera around for so long before you get annoyed.

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles | Rome | Florence & Pisa

European Adventure | Rome.

Now, we begin the final run of my Europe pictures from nearly two years ago. Let's not talk about that. I decided, given the enormity in the size of my pictures from Italy, I'd just separate them into city/ies. First stop? Rome.

I'd just like to preface this by saying that to get to Italy, the Family and I went on an overnight train. While I'd recommend this for experience sake, I would not recommend as a thing you do often. It was a little uncomfortable and more than cramped. 

Because of this, I was tired, a little cranky, and a little anxious (school results were going to be released/I was going to find out if I would be accepted into my uni course of preference. Spoiler Alert: I was).

 This is in the Vatican City. It's not the Sistine Chapel (obviously. Taking photos is a no-no there), but I want to say it was St. Peter's? Honestly, I went into so many cathedrals and chapels in Italy, I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this one. Way pretty though.

 Inside the Colosseum. It was raining pretty consistently at this point. So, like I mentioned above *cranky.*

  My distress was doubled of course, when I found out that the Lizzie McGuire Movie had lied to me. Award shows cannot actually take place in there.

 Holla at my old glasses

 The ruins! Loved it! Ancient history and stuff and it was just basically the coolest.

The Trevi Fountain during the day. The Brother hadn't come the first night, so we had to go back so he'd experience the lush. Thankfully, no lip-syncing scoundrels approached me either time.

I'm not saying that the Lizzie McGuire Movie raised my expectations of Rome, but it kind of did. I re-watched the movie recently, and was like 'I've been there! And there!' and basically it was memory lane for me. 

Except of course, there was no romance or pop-star-sensation. Instead, I got some fellow Australians and a particularly special brand of American tourist. (It was a tour-bus-sort-of-schtick).

Versailles

 Can you understand why the French people revolted? I can understand.

 This was someone's bedroom. I want to say Marie Antoinette's but I'm pretty sure her's had a green wallpaper.

 The Hall of Mirrors. Gorgeous.

 Was this the marriage bed? I wanna say this was the marriage bed. Don't take my word for it though.

 The outside of Versailles

The gorgeous gardens which we (we being the Mother and I) didn't explore because the sun was going to set soon and I was paranoid. Next time. Definitely next time.

Only one more stop to go! Italy! (Which I might break up a bit because there were quite a few photos)

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles

Paris

Following on from my post on Edinburgh, I figured now would be a good time to post Paris. I think I'm going to divide Paris into Paris and Versailles. Versailles was hands-down my absolute favourite part of Paris.

I didn't adore Paris as much as I adored other places, but Versailles was just. Omg. I can't even talk about it. It's stunning. If you go anywhere in Paris, go to Versailles. But this post isn't about that! It's about Paris!

Like I mentioned above, I didn't like Paris as much. It's probably, in hindsight, largely because of an incident that happened in the first ten minutes on my being there (read: mugging). It left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. The smell also really bothered me though? I don't know.

It was still gorgeous though. Pictures!

 The Australian Promenade! We saw this on our first say of adventuring and promptly made it our mission to walk across it/through it every single day. (Which we did. Quite successfully). 

 This collection wouldn't be complete without Mona Lisa. I didn't have a  huge time to admire it. It was basically *picture* then get outta there. Thus, the off-kilter perspective.

 Both of the above two are outside the Louvre/opposite the Louvre. Much pretty. You see The Brother there, in all his grumpy finery. Yes, this is the locket bridge. Yes, it's gorgeous in real life. 

 On top of the Notre Dame. Such pretty, much view. A+

Shakespeare & Company! My one goal in the trip to Paris, was to get there. I got there. Was very happy. Got a few bookmarks. Not so much an actual book. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. Understandably, as it was so cluttered and busy. Gorgeous little shop though. :)

So there's a very brief trip to Paris for you! The next post will definitely be Versailles and then, Italy! The final leg of the European Adventure. It's been a long time coming, I tell ya.

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris

Edinburgh

I thought I should probably try and get as much of the European Adventure out of the way. It's been going on for far too long. I can't believe it's still going. I promised myself I wasn't going to be one of those people who took forever. Yet, here we are.

This'll be the last stop on the U.K. side of the trip. Unfortunately, there aren't as many pictures here because guess who managed to nearly break her foot on the first night of arriving?

Here's a tip: Don't jump up and down on a road when the weather has been kind of pathetic the whole day (i.e. snow, and hail, and rain). Despite your enthusiasm, it won't end well.

Anywho, the plan for these final legs of the European Adventure 2012, is that I'll clump all of Paris together (was not a fan of Paris, unfortunately), except for maybe Versailles, because that was easily my favourite place. And I'll clump most of Italy together (probably).

Anywho, all aboard the Edinburgh Train!

Food from the cafe outside Holyrood Palace. The hot chocolate was A+. The cupcake not so much. (I might have gotten it not realising there were sultana's or raisins in it. I mean, it was dry as well, but that's not the point here)

Holyrood Palace. Sooo prettay

Chapel ruins right next door to Holyrood Palace

Edinburgh Castle

That place J.K. Rowling wrote some of Harry Potter in. (It's A+ just generally, but that little fact made it ten times cooler)

Mary Queen of Scots Tomb! For all you Reign fans out there, here's the real Mary. (even if she's mighty more desecrated or whatever)

The Christmas German Markets. So pretty!

So, that's the highlights of Edinburgh. It was easily one of my favourite places of the trip. Even if I wasn't able to do/see as much as I'd wanted.

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):
London | Bath (& Stonehenge) | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh

In A Land of Hobbits and Sheep

I thought it was about time I made a blog about New Zealand. In late-January, early-February Best Friend Rachael and I went over to the North Island. We were there for a week and a half. It was a bit of a rocky start, to say the least. Initially, we'd booked with a hop-on hop-off tour bus that went all around New Zealand. We hadn't realised that we'd had to tell the people who worked there that we wanted to be dropped off on specific days, and when we wanted to move on. That was how we spent most of our first day of Auckland. An interesting start, to say the least.

Then we were off!

Our first stop? Hot Water Beach/Cathedral Cove. Yes. Cathedral Cove. That place where Narnia was filmed. I know. I know. You really have to work to get there (let's not talk about the hike, k?), but it was absolutely stunning. Definitely one of the highlights. Can you feel my excitement buzzing through the screen?

Next stop was Waitomo. There wasn't a whole lot there, and wasn't a huge town. Glow worm caves are what it's best known for. So, of course, that's where we went. I unfortunately, didn't get any pictures. Not allowed. I can't tell you that it was fascinating and words escape me when I think about it.

The next day, we were off for the spectacle of all spectacles. Hobbiton. Gee whizz. That was easily my favourite part of the whole trip. Best Friend Rachael was a little underwhelmed, but I just loved it. It was like there was brown everywhere, and then suddenly green. I'm just going to stop talking about it now, before I start geeing out. Basically, gO SEE IT. You can walk into the hobbit holes. If that isn't incentive, I don't know what is. (admittedly, there isn't anything inside the hobbit holes, but still. pretty cool)

Quick tip though: At the end of the tour, you get a free drink at The Green Dragon. There's ginger ale, cider, and another one that's skipped my memory. So, prepare yourself for that. Best Friend Rachael wasn't.

If you're a fan of stink and mud baths, Rotorua is the place for you. It's the geo-thermal hotspot of New Zealand, and it doesn't ever stop smelling. I wish I could tell you that the smell went away after a while, but it didn't. I'm shivering thinking about it. 

We spent two days in Rotorua. The first night, we went to Tamaki Maori Village. I definitely recommend you go, if you ever get the chance. You spend a whole night learning about the traditional Maori culture, and end it with a traditional haangi feast. Yumyumyum.

We also went and saw thermal things. This is the Lady Knox Geyser. It squirted on me, and I didn't appreciate it at all.

The famous Champagne Pools. I don't recommend you touch the orange part - it's arsenic. Don't touch the water just generally, actually. You'll burn your hand off.

That water is naturally that colour. Not even joking. It made me nervous.

After a couple of nights in Rotorua, we headed on down to Taupo. This was an extra trip we hadn't originally planned on. Taupo is the 'Adventure Capital of New Zealand,' but I can assure you that no adventuring was done there by either of us. 

Taupo really gave off that vibe of sea-side town. It was truly lovely. We had the loveliest people where we stayed too. They offered to drive us around and show us some places. It was wonderful. The picture above was a shot of a river we passed on our way to more natural hot springs. (Best Friend Rachael loves water. I do not.)

After Taupo, we sped back and spent the last few days in Auckland. By that point, we were pretty run down, so we didn't do a whole lot.

We went to Auckland Zoo though. It was ok. Originally, both of us were not entirely convinced about going. But we went, and I don't know about Best Friend Rachael, but I sorta regretted it. I don't know. There's just something so sad about seeing animals stuck in a place. I couldn't help but think that a lot were lonely.

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Then we made our way home to Australia and spent the remaining weeks of holidays left working extra shifts so we could not feel entirely broke. And here we are now, with me writing this blog post. The North Island of New Zealand is truly magnificent. I definitely recommend you go once in your life.

Now, let's ignore the fact that I still haven't managed to put up all my photos from Europe that was over a year ago and marvel about how I did it in such a just time with New Zealand.