Saturday 3rd– 7th October, London, UK

We arrive in London and have enough time to drop off our bags before we head out again with Grant and Maria to a Gastro pub for a sensational meal before going to Trader Vics, a bar at the Hilton with a Polynesian theme. It serves up an assortment of rum based cocktails and my flaming concoction is served from a Skull mug and takes a lot of courage to drink.
We head home after a very funny night but the boys wake up in a few hours time (a little rusty) to go to the pub at 6.30am to see the Eels play in the grand final. I’m certain that if Parra had won, there’d be a lot of celebratory drinks but the consumption of beer increased exponentially when the poor Eels were “robbed” – or so I’m told.
After so many drinks, there’s only one way to recover. YUM CHA. It’s my favourite and my cousins Trent and Courtnay join us to consume what can only be described as a disgusting amount of food... after 40 dishes, we’re still ordering!
The rest of our time in London is spent catching up with friends and preparing for the next part of our trip in North, Central and South America. It’s the end of our time in Europe and we say goodbye after having an incredible 4 months....

Thursday 1st – 2nd October, Brussels and Bruges, Belgium

We get into Brussels later than planned... but we’re still up for a night on the town. We head past the main square into a street lined with bars packed full of locals swinging back their Belgium beers. The area is buzzing and after our first drink we find an amazing restaurant packed full of locals consuming “frites” and local delicacies... it’s so popular that the restaurant doesn’t have a name or a business card! The wait is more than worth the while and we leave very satisfied. We take a detour on the way home when we pass a bar blaring out live music with a chorus of people singing along. We pop in and find one of the funniest music acts... two guys wearing reggae wigs with a tambourine singing “I believe I can fly” (you had to be there). We settle in and sing along until our voices are hoarse and stomaches sore from laughing.
The next day we visit Bruges which we’ve heard is very pretty. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we spend much of the day at a restaurant enjoying a degustation of beers to match our lunch...DEVINE. We take a stroll and through the town we pass beautiful canals, quaint architecture, laces stores and about 1000 Belgium chocolate shops. Is it possible that I am in heaven?
The following morning we realise that although we’ve been in Belgium for 48 hours we haven’t had mussels, waffles or chocolate! We have several hours to complete this challenge and we leave on the Eurostar in the afternoon several kilos heavier...

Monday 28th – Wed 30th September, Amsterdam, Nertherlands

Arriving in Amsterdam gave us a rare chance to hoist the backpacks and catch the tram in true backpacker style. There’s where the “roughing it” ended as we soon arrived at the beautiful, 3 storey home of our good friends Gatty and Cassandra in one of the more exclusive Amsterdam suburbs. Their company and hospitality makes for a relaxing and fun stay.
Our 3 days are spent eating, drinking and wandering through the village like atmosphere of Amsterdam. Tuesday morning is a late start after a lot of beers with Gatty at the local pub and then we’re off to explore the city on a bike tour which, despite the light drizzle, takes us all over the city. At night and we’re off to a great Argentinean steak house and more beers. Another late start on Wednesday (I feel a moment of pity for Gatty who has to go to an early morning meeting .... but it passes) and we head off to the wonderful Van Gogh museum, just a short stroll down the road. The museum is a revelation of Van Gogh’s work and life and soon becomes one of my favourite in Europe. On Walshie’s suggestion we head to Balthazar’s, a small, atmospheric restaurant with a set menu of modern dutch cuisine which we match with some local beer and French wine. Very good! We finish the night by heading over to the red light district for the mandatory, eye-opening experience of window shopping Dutch style.

Friday 25th – Sunday 27th September, Berlin, Germany

Travelling for a year is an absolute luxury, but catching a flight at midnight from the middle of nowhere and arriving in Berlin at 3.30am brings it all back to earth! Sometimes it just isn’t glamorous.
Nevertheless, we make the most of being in Berlin by sleeping till midday and finding Starbucks for a bad coffee and free WIFI so that Richard can listen to the semi final of Parra vs the Bulldogs. It must be love. In fact, I’m sure it is, as I endure an hour and a half of Ray Hadley recounting the game and Richard punching his fists in the air, biting his nails and yelling out in the middle of the lounge area “YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS”. This was not what I had in mind.
Parra make the finals and we leave Starbucks with a big smile and coffee high. We hire some bikes from our hotel to explore the city. With no guide book and no directions, we wander aimlessly trying to get a feel for the place. In the evening we head out to the canals where we’re told there are some groovy bars and restaurants. We arrive at a bar which can best be described as Nimbin meets Venice. The owners haven’t invested too much in the decor (you don’t need a fireplace, when you can do the same thing in a disused oil drum!) but it still manages to have a cool feel and an eclectic mix of visitors.
We’ve heard amazing things about Berlin, but we find it difficult to get to know. Perhaps we were ill prepared (?), so we sign up for a free walking tour of the city. After two hours of poor story-telling and bad historical descriptions we decide that though it was free, this tour was way too expensive. In the evening we meet a Canadian couple - Monica and Stu who are in Berlin for the weekend. They’re great company and we enjoy a fun night out with too many beers and pork knuckle!
The next day we head an hour out of Berlin to Potsdam which is the German answer to the Loire Valley. Built by the Prussians, this small area has a high concentration in beautiful palaces and we spend the day walking the grounds and taking in the majesty. Our evening is spent in complete contrast, walking around raw studios of modern, grunge art (while sipping our travellers).There’s no rest for the wicked... so at midnight we hop on an overnight train heading to Amsterdam.

Tuesday 22nd – Thursday 24th September, Istanbul, Turkey

Travelling with Ness and Lou, gave us the chance to see the city again from the perspective of fresh eyes which made our third visit very memorable. We kicked off our first day with a visit to the magnificent Ayasophia followed by a sensational meal at Doi Doi’s, a restaurant overlooking the Blue Mosque whilst listening to “the call to prayer” over Sultanmeht.
The next day we spent the morning visiting the Royal Palace. In comparison to Versailles, this was quite a modest Palace, but it managed to take my breath away when I set my eyes on some of the most amazing jewellery I’ve ever seen and the largest diamond I’ll probably every see in my life.... so many carats!!!
Over the next few days we made a visit to the Grand Bazarre (and contributed to the local economy), explored the other side of the Bosporus River in Asia, and spent an evening, mixing with the locals in a grungey alley bar in Taxim. The live music and singing crowd were only topped off by a delicious meal at 360 - a restaurant which looks over Istanbul. Ching ching!