Kiss Van Tour

Ok where do I start to tell you of my adventures in my(our) KISS Wicked Vannnnn
woooooo!!! We visited/ drove through 16 European countries in 3 months!!! Eeek!
Well first stop was France, Der… We caught the ferry from Dover in the UK to Calais,
once we hit the shore, I was like oh crap… they speak French, don’t have such
‘normal food’, and I’m stuck on this continent for 3 months! But it was ok, the wine
was beautiful, the scenery even more beautiful, and oh my the delicious ham &
cheese bagoo’s (baguette) and raspberry and cheese tarts! Mmmm delicious! We
only spent two nights in France, one in Bordeaux in the very middle of the St Emillion
Vine yard-in some car park  which was pretty surreal! The other night was spent at a
truck stop! The tolls in France were a real killer! We spent about 60!s in those two
days!!


Next stop was the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona in Spain. I love Spain, I
love the culture, I love that there are families walking around at 11pm at night, I love
the vibe, the tapas bars are the best invention, and Jamon (cured ham) is ok too…
We purchased 8 beers, and it was only 15!, and got 5 plates of FREE tapas! Hello!
We didn’t even need to eat dinner! It was AMAZING! But not the sardines you get for
free tapas-I did try one, I may have even eaten its head!


Running of the bulls was crazy, I got way too drunk the night before the opening
ceremony which was a big mistake(thanks Stoke), but lots of fun as I bumped into
two friends from Business College who were camping at the same campsite.
The opening ceremony was crazy! EVERYONE in this town was dressed in red &
white, and sangria was being poured down everyone’s throats from big 20 litre
containers, it was lots of fun(even hungover)! Crazy Spaniards were ripping off
peoples T-shirts, and you were being literally lifted off your feet because of the
immense crowns packed into that tiny square where the mayor opens the ceremony.
Scott ran on the first run with all the professionals, I was eagerly waiting on a
concrete seat in the toro stadium and it was like spotting ‘where’s wally’ when all the
men came running in the single gate into the stadium as they were all wearing the
same colours! We spent two nights at Pamplona, and set off west along the northern
Spanish coast!


San Sebastian beach is a pretty cool place, we spent about 3-4 nights here, and
Scott got to meet up with an old friend of his, it was nice to hang out with other
people for a day on the beach, Scott hired a surf board and caught a few waves… I
wanted him to teach me but after he came back with his stomach in pain from
rubbing on the waxy board I thought id pass! We drove along the north coast to the
very west tip where lots of pilgrims head to this nice church in Santiago De
Compostella.  Along the way somewhere we just decided to get off the main road
and find a lunch spot by the water, we came across this hidden pebble beach in a
cove, with crystal clear water called Playa De Silencio, Playa means beach. It was
magical, it was a favourite beach until we found the waters of Portugal amazing, and
even more amazing was Croatia months later!


Next destination was Portugal, we went to Porto, Lisbon(Capital City) and
Lagos(Algarve). The water is so clear & so blue, and the rocky coast line is definitely
a must see, although quite touristy but cheaper than Spain! I didn’t like Lisbon too
much, it was quite a weird place where we didn’t find much to do we just walked
around, and got lost and observed, and ate really dry over priced Portuguese
chicken! ! But on the other hand we had amazing Portuguese tarts at ‘Patis de
Belem’ a short bus ride out of the main city, this place had a massive line out the
front, they sprinkle icing sugar and cinnamon on top of these warm freshly cooked
tarts and they are just divine, so divine I bought some to take home (to our camp
site).  Ooopsie!


In Portugal we met up with some friends that we had made in Egypt a few months
earlier so we partied with them in Lagos, enjoyed BBQs and lots of beers and
peanuts. We all went kayaking in the Atlantic on a 3 hour tour through the
grottos(caves) which as you can imagine six 21+ to 27 year olds in a group in kayaks
was pretty fun! And alas, we found an amazing chicken place, !5 for " chicken &
chips & coke at Lagos! A Portuguese dream!  We then followed our friends to Seville
in southern Spain, which hit temps of 48 degrees!!!! Seville was really pretty and was
different to northern Spain, it obviously had some influence from Portugal as the
Portuguese tiles were everywhere on various buildings, the drivers are crazy in
Portugal & southern Spain!


From Seville we made our way up to Madrid where we met up with some friends of
our friends, who showed us the best tapas bars, monuments, shops, parks, and
explained the buildings history which made Madrid for me. We also got to sleep in
BEDS!! Some tapas we tried in Spain included: Potato salad on French baguette,
Spanish sausage(Chorizo), Potatoes with yummy sauce on them and Spanish
omelette on French baguette… mmmmm we had a few beers, and every time we got
so much food, we had to start saying no to the food as were so full! Spain is great!!


From Madrid we left our friends, and our new friends to head towards Switzerland
where Scott was booked into climb the Matterhorn in Zermatt for the 5th August.  On
our way we went to Mont Blanc, we got up extra early & caught a cable car up Au
Midi, 3882 metres high (which was scary!!) up to the mountain beside Mont Blanc –it
was so cold up there!!! Next we went to Geneva, we saw a Ghandi statue, we went to
the Red Cross museum and saw the first draft of the Geneva Convention, took a tour
of the UN (United Nations) We were pretty shocked at the cost of living in
Switzerland!! We then headed to Zermatt…


Zermatt has not allowed petrol cars into the town since the 40’s so we had to park
our car at Tasch station and catch a train into the town which gave us our first
glimpse of the Matterhorn.  We rented a studio which was the top floor of a chateau
with our own kitchen etc which was nice for a change from cooking on a single gas
cooker at the back of the van.  We lived in Zermatt for one week as Scott needed to
‘acclimatise’ and also had to do two climbs: Briethorn & Reiffelhorn before being
permitted to climb the Matterhorn. He climbed all 3 mountains successfully and in
good time.  One step closer to Everest! On our last day we caught the cable car &
train up the top of a mountain and went for a hike, poor Scott was very sore, but I
hadn’t been out of the town and needed some fresh air, the view was spectacular!


From Zermatt we took a different road, we went to Zurich to meet our friends again
and drank from 10am and went to a street party in Zurich on the 8th August!
DEFINATELY do this!!  (As you can see our schedule at times was tight!) It was a
very fun day/night/morning, although I had a really, really bad hangover the next day I
couldn’t move an inch!


Slovenia! We were just passing through Slovenia to get to Croatia, but on the way we
slept in some random field, and also went to the biggest underground canyon in the
world. This canyon/cave was a crazy 6km long underground, and its deepest point
was 150 metres underground!


Croatia!! Croatia was totally different to the rest  of !urope! When we crossed the
boarder, the scenery totally changed! There were white lumpy hills by the pristine
blue sea side which the road followed alongside, winding in and out of the sparkling
blue bays. This has to be the best drive in Europe! We drove the whole length from
the boarder to Dubrovnik. Our first island, was Krk which we had muscles and beer!
Mmmm Then we drove down to Split where we caught a ferry to Brac island where
we slept on the beach all together under the stars – I woke up during the night & was
wondering where I was under these stars-very weird feeling! We then headed down
to Dubrovnik where we spent a few nights. Croatia’s beached are pebble beaches
which makes the water so, so clear you can swim out & out & out and still see the
bottom! We took some goggles out and I saw lots of sea cucumbers! It was magical
to just stop for lunch in the bay by the water, and eat, then swim! Ahhhh lovely
Croatia!


From Croatia we were sad to leave as it would be our last beach experience before
heading north through Eastern !urope. Our next destination was Bosnia. When we
got to the Bosnian border it was quite funny/scary as the man was trying to tell us we
needed a green card. Initially he told us to go back to where we came from, we
weren’t allowed in, then after some pursuing him and trying to break down the
language barrier we found out that we could by a green card from these random
demountable offices about 50meters away. Me & Dave the driver from our friends car
headed to the offices and had to wait for someone to arrive. He arrived with long
greasy hair, and smelt of cigarettes, he opened up this little demountable office & we
started to try to give him details of our cars etc & handed over 30!s each car/trailer
and finally we were allowed into Bosnia & got pretty stamps in our passports! 
Bosnia is still very scarred from the war which occurred in 1992-1995 where
Serbia(Yugoslavia)  tried to take over Bosnia by surrounding its capital Sarajevo. Half
of the buildings still have bullet holes in them. We went to the tunnel which was dug
in order to obtain supplies and also where 100’s of people were able to escape the
city. 


We also saw the bridge where Franz Ferdinand was killed which basically started
WW1. Bosnia was a cool place to see although scary if you wanted to head off the
beaten track they still have many land mines which is quite sad. Food, we tried this
pastry stuff called Burek, which was really cheap & yummy, various fillings like
Cheese, Cheese & Spinach & Meat-which was like a big sausage roll! From Bosnia
we headed to Serbia, but it was too expensive to enter this country at 105! per car,
and our friends had a trailer which was another 105!s, so was passed on Serbia
unfortunately.


Next destination: Hungary. Once again in Hungary we met up with a friend of a friend
who showed us around Budapest.  Our first day we went to the man made island in
the middle of the Danube river and hired a 6 person bike and rode around like
maniacs for 30 mins - it nearly killed us-the exercise that is! Then in the evening we
met up with our new friend for a few drinks and a miniature tour of the City. At night
we went up to the castle and looked down over the river at the city and it was
beautiful, had to be the most beautiful night view I saw the whole three months!
Budapest was lots of fun, all in all a pretty cool place! We were invited to her family
xmas for a white xmas, but as you know ill be home in hot ol’ Sydney!


From Hungary to Austria to Vienna, Hitlers favourite, yet most hated city, and a
beautiful one at that. Picturesque old buildings in every direction you looked.  We had
a beer here (a very expensive beer) in the Australian Bar there. (4! for a bottle of
Coopers Pale Ale ($8)) OUCH!! We also went to a gallery to see Gustav Kilmt’s
famous ‘The Kiss’ painting which was great to see, I learnt about it in Art in High
School so that was pretty cool! (forget the name of the gallery (Oopsie) -but the rest
of the gallery was great too).


From Vienna we headed to Poland! We stayed in Krakow in Poland, where again we
met some friends of our friends and we went to some cool bars with them. Krakow
had a pretty cool vibe, and I loved eating perogi again!! Mmmm dumplings with
various fillings…(cheese & potato, meat, fruit-strawberries, blue berries-SO GOOD!)
We also camped alongside some friends I made at Pamplona, a kiwi couple I sat with
in the Toro stadium as I was alone as Scott was running with the bulls, was nice to
bump into them again! We drank polish vodka & apple juice which is a really nice
drink, its not your typical vodka, it has wheat grass in it!
We visited the salt mine, went 100’s of metres underground where the walls are
white and black with salt with statues made out of salt, where they take you on a
journey and tell you tales of the old days.  There is even a cathedral inside! Crazy
stuff.


The main reason we went to Poland, was of course Auschwitz Birkenau.  We did a
tour of this camp(s) and I never knew the full extent of how horrific it was. Me & Scott
bought two books written by survivors and it was just awful, but I’m glad I now know
someone’s personal story & experiences regarding this horrible time because it
makes it feel more real.  They still had 100’s of pairs of shoes left from this camp,
100’s of pairs of glasses, clothes, suitcases, human hair…… the electric fences still
up, the watch towers still up, even the bunkers in the Birkenau camp are still
standing.  And of course a gas chamber.  It is something that should never be forgotten, but quite possibly it could happen again.


From Poland we made our way down to Prague in the Czech Republic which we
found such a pretty & fascinating place, we stayed for 4 nights and I met up with a
good friend of mine Mike and we partied in a new club there which was funny
because hardly anyone was in the club so we took control over the dance floor-you
can imagine how uncoordinated and silly we(I ) looked! "


We did a free walking tour in Prague, with a very funny small Mexican man which
was really cool! He showed us this church where the legend goes this man went to
steal the jewels inside the church and Mother Mary grabbed his arm & wouldn’t let
him go until he promised that he wouldn’t do it again, and he promised, but she
needed proof that he wouldn’t break his promise so he allowed her to have his arm..
What the… So there is this black arm from fingers to funny bone hanging in this
church. I myself don’t believe this ‘legend’ and wonder who the hell’s arm it is, and
why is it hanging in a church… Very weird! And of course a famous European bridge
‘Charles Bridge’… And the clock in the main square was stunning, so stunning a
bought a tacky replica clock for myself… We went to the crazy & cool Salvador Dali exhibition which was very interesting & fun!


Prague - Berlin: Berlin is my favourite city in Europe. The people are so lovely,
although as you can imagine there are a few crazies! There is such a rich history,
although it is not a visually pretty city, its quite concrete & still very communist looking
its people and the underground arts scene makes up for the aesthetics. We went on
another free walking tour (its not really free, your meant to tip them – about 5-10!)
which was really good, it went for over 3 hours and it covered such interesting
monuments/buildings/areas of interest, ie: Bramburg gate, Parliament building(really
cool & interesting architecture), holocaust memorial-really fascinating, Hitler’s
supposed place of death-now a car park, a Jewish book burning memorial-an
underground room filled with bookshelves in the place where the nazi’s burned
20,000 Jewish books, the room & shelves should hold 20,000 books, see parts of the
remaining Berlin Wall and various stories… Areas where rallies were held… etc!
We also went on a ‘free’ alternative walking tour where we were shown all the local
street art, and told stories about them, sticker museum, squat houses, areas which
were really bad which now have nice peaceful murals painted all over the walls They
have these ‘beach bars’ where there is sand & these cool chilled out bars with lots of
Rastafarians sitting around. We partied (accidentally) at an art shop in one of the
squat houses, we were drinking in the beach bars, then went upstairs to have a look,
and ended up meeting this cool English guy, and watched his friend play his guitar in
an old jazz style, they also had a market up there with lots of jewellery & even a band
playing. The building used to be a massive Jewish shopping centre which was half
blown up, in about two years the building will be pulled down and turned into tourist
shops. Yuk.


So yes, I had a ball in Berlin! Its very cultural, full of history & very nice people!
Hamburg: Did another ‘free’ walking tour in Hamburg, this one was less interesting,
most of the town burnt down. An interesting fact about Hamburg is that they have a
lot of swans, and these swans are protected by the government, and they have
various rules, for example: they are not allowed to be sworn at!


Hamburg-Munich: Oktoberfest!!! My friend Hayley came from Amsterdam to hang out
with me as I hadn’t seen her since I departed London on 2 June.  On our first day in
Munich we got really, really drunk & caused lots of trouble & fun! We had so much
fun that the next day we were so sick we had to miss the opening ceremony of
Oktoberfest! Silly me! We also watched 100 club on our silly day- I can explain it to
you if you would like, but 1. it puts a shameful name to Aussies/ kiwis, 2. you need to
have not eaten for at least 2 hours, and not planning on eating for another 2 after
hearing the stories/ seeing my photos/videos of this monstrosity called ‘100 club’.
The beer that we eventually drank at Oktoberfest, the ‘steins’- pretty nice beer, crazy
atmosphere, hard-arse beer wenches.-lots & lots of Aussies-probably due to our love
for beer? We did get to see a snippit of Munich on our final day.


From Munich we head straight to Amsterdam where we hung out with my best friend
from high school Hayley. I was very well behaved, and again we went on a free
walking tour, we had some really cheap beers at a tacky English pub, had a picnic in
the park, tried to hire bicycles but the people at the shop have anal rules and
wouldn’t accept our debit cards over credit cards. Huff! Amsterdam is full of history
also, a very pretty city! We visited the Ann Frank house which was very interesting,
but by this time I could not afford to do anything else: Van Gogh museum/other
museums/ Heineken brewery etc, but ill be back for you before I leave!!


From Amsterdam we headed 1 hour south to Brussels in Belgium. Mmmmm Belgium
beer! Cherry beer! Fruit beer! 8-12% beer! Chocolate! Do I need to go on?
I quite liked Brussels, as after we headed to Brugge which was more pretentious,
more touristy and didn’t have much to do there.  Although in Brugge we did visit a
few places of interest, and we went to another creepy church which claim they have
some of Christ’s coagulated blood behind the tabernacle.?!


We left Europe on the night of the 27th at 10pm on a ferry, we were so tired we did a
very naughty thing & just slept in the back of our van, pulled the curtains shut so we
wouldn’t be found out, as you have to go upstairs-which if fair enough in the name of
safety! So the doors of the car section locked & we slept for two hours, then arriving
at Dover, so tired we drove to Wimbledon where my kiwi cousin Karma lives and we
parked out the front of her house (1.30am) and slept until early morning.  The next
day was good, we used the car to move into our new ‘room’-with NO windows, but its
£50 cheaper than our last place, and the house is nicer, minus the no windows in our
asylum.. I mean room..  On the 30th September I started working for the same
hospital I worked for previously (they took me back!) and now things are normal.. I
forgot how manic London was.. and how grey & depressing the skies are here…

WELCOME HOME!

I hope you enjoyed my random recount of my 3 month European holiday/Journey "

Hot tips by Row boat for your wicked trip:

1 Its good to have dates and places to be at particular times, as it keeps you on
track!
2 Buy lots of butane cans from wicked, they are cheap & hard to find in Europe if you
run out… it gets cold quickly as summer wears off and it was a rude shock not being
able to cook our own hot food when this cold weather so suddenly hit us.
3 Buy your groceries from LIDL supermarkets –amazingly cheap, don’t settle for any
other supermarket!!
4 Don’t, not take your sleeping bag because you think its summer & its going to be
hot… you’ll be surprised! "

Love Row Boat & Nitzel.