At least I think that's where I am up to. Sorry for he delay but I keep getting distracted and the like. I am currently in the middle of my rail trip to Berlin so now is a good time to talk more on what I have done.
I think I left off in Paris so let's carry on from the UK. So I mostly stayed in London for this part of the trip and I have to say it was quite fun and enjoyable with friendly people and plenty to do. A couple of disappointments but overall a good experience.
One of the funny things was that the two times I was staying in London, both hostels were down the road from each other which makes little sense to me although one company has 3 next to each other pretty much. Also I personally didn't think the UK was as expensive as everyone makes it out to be. Sure some things are like travel and getting a beer in some places but otherwise pretty normal prices.
Speaking of beer I accidentally got blackout drunk one night and yet somehow managed to get back to my hostel without losing anything or spending any money. I remember leaving the pub and then I woke up with two pictures of my tattoo and possibly the fact I banged on the door when I got back although that is not necessarily linked to me
So in addition to London I also visited York, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bath, Bristol, Stonehenge and Cardiff. They were all nice although I didn't get to do much in Liverpool as my train from cardiff broke down and everyone had to cram onto another train. I also had to go to the town you go to to get to stonehenge twice because the first time I got there the last bus had left so had to wait another day. I liked Cardiff and even made a couple of friends and stayed out all night partying and singing 500 miles.
Then after all that I went to Belgium and that is where things get expensive. I didn't spend too much but again managed to get into a bad situation.
So this time I was at the belgium beer festival and someone decided to have me hauled off on sexual assault charges. Of course they didn't press charges since nothing happened but was evicted from the festival slightly earlier (I actually had just used my last beer tokens and was going to go anyway) and told to keep away by the police after an hour in the police station.
I did also go to ghent and bruges whilst in Brussels (sorry forgot to mention I was in Brussels first). Ghent is nice although everything is far from the station and I didn't find an info booth near the station so had to look at a map and find the one road that would take me to the town centre.
Bruges is beautiful but it doesn't look much like the movie. I did climb the tower though and the view is marvelous.
Oh I forgot to mention waterloo. Disappointing. No sign of a battle or a museum to it in that suburb. Just a small neighbourhood.
Next I went to antwerp and I quite enjoyed it although I recall very little now. This part of the trip is a bit of a haze since I don't remember what I did and where but I do recall my hotel being next to the station and surrounded by diamond jewellers. That and a zoo with animals that looked rather depressed I felt.
Then I went to the Hague and had another police encounter. Apparently they are worried about someone blowing up the Turkish embassy and one day I was waiting for the museum to open ( people in the Hague are lazy and museums open at 11am) so I walked up and down the street before stopping at a memorial which was in front of the Turkish embassy. Now I had seen the police stations set up but with all the cameras thought they were speed traps. So a 5 minute chat with an officer later I went and just waited outside the museum.
Incidentally after that museum I went to the escher museum around the corner and I would recommend it highly. They even have some interactive parts on the top floor.
Whilst staying in the Hague I also went to rotterdam and gouda. In rotterdam I ran into another tourist who wanted to read all day in the library but didn't know where it was. I think she was disappointed I was unable to help. My whole visit to rotterdam sort of went a bit like that, giving directions and disappointing people possibly.
Gouda was fun as I got to post photos on fb full of cheesey puns. And it also has a leaning tower although it isn't mentioned in the tourist info guide for some reason and I ran out of time to go up so I will possibly never know. The tower apparently sells handmade poke balls though or something along those lines.
Amsterdam was next. Much drinking and site seeing was done although I didn't bother with the cafes. I have always found marijuana to be quite boring and ineffective. Did dabble in some other carnal pleasures though
One thing I found a bit disappointing was the van gough museum. From what I can tell you are not allowed to photograph his works anywhere since his worms are displayed elsewhere or maybe it is just in the netherlands. Either way it almost never stops me taking the odd sneaky pic. I did enjoy the Anne Frank house even though again no pictures can be taken (and again took some).
Then it is onto cologne. My train had to be diverted and then terminated at cologne because of numerous faults with firstly the route we should of taken and then with the train itself. Then I got lost for awhile until I found out I was only a couple of blocks off from where I needed to go.
At thus point I have to say Germany has some really nice churches. I have visited a lot of them already even though I am not religious but I appreciate art in all its forms and stain glass windows are really nice.
It also has some really interesting museums. One in particular is the ludwig museum which seems to be all about various art forms which stray away from th traditional types such as pop art, dadaism and nouveau. It was really weird because I went downstairs first and it was all just absurd and I didn't get it until I hit the pop art section and was like OK this is what I should expect as normal here.
I went to dusseldorf too but that was pretty much the same as was frankfurt so I won't bore you with the details of those places
Instead let's talk of munich. I stayed in a campsite so I was pretty cold most of the time and it didn't help that it rained for most of the first 3 days although it held off while I went to oktoberfest. As many people I have over heard say it really is something you should do once but never again. I enjoyed it but it is over priced especially food but it does have quality antics like guys drinking beer from his shoe or having some guy prattle at you in german about the big breastfed girl behind you or the American group you meet on the train a few days later with the guys going on about wearing lederhosen on their return flight home and sticking some metal down their crotch just to get a pat down and all the while their significant others just embarrassed by it all (I by the way encouraged it).
I also went to the castle that supposedly inspired the Disney castle. Again no picture taking inside which was a bummer because it did have some beautiful artwork even if this castle looks nothing like the Disney castle . Also saw the lake that supposedly inspired tchaikovsky to write swan lake.
Thankfully nymphenburg palace does allow picture taking and it too has some wonderful art and you aren't rushed through it and it is cheaper to go to even if you get the combo ticket to enter all the other buildings they allow.
That's pretty much it from me. I will try and do one more post before I fly out and then I will do pictures of the entire trip when I return. While I am still enjoying the trip I am also looking forward to going home. My pack is getting heavy and since I am travelling ever north it is also getting colder
