wheresrina

[wheresrina]

[wheresrina]

london

oh hello, it’s been like a month and a bit since we have returned home and found this blog, i didn’t write about london! ah!

so here’s the london spiel. so weird because i remember writing about Amsterdam in our hostel the night before we left and thinking about that is kinda surreal.

18th of July

We travelled on the bus from Amsterdam to London, half of our topdeck group didn’t continue on with us but continued their travels from Amsterdam and even though we’d only been with them for 5 days, it feels strange leaving them. 

We navigated from the hostel in London they dropped us off to St Pancras train station at around 5pm. So in the middle of rush hour with our massive bags, it was pretty chaotic! We jumped on the Piccadilly line, en route to Bob and Soo’s place. Bob is Mum’s cousin on Grandma’s side of the family, we know them pretty well as they have visited us in Melbourne numerous times over the years!

Jumping off at Southgate we met up with Bob and Soo,  Soo greeted us with her gorgeous smile and we were so happy to see familiar faces! 

19th of July

We spent the morning doing all of our washing and little chores that Boo and Soo helped us navigate, Sam got a haircut in town and nearly ended up with a “Manchester cut” after the barber found out where his parents were from, very funny he was.

Went into London around midday, checked out the National History Museum and it was so packed full of families but it was so amazing. I swear, you could spend days in there! because it was so busy and you kinda had to shuffle through the exhibitions, we picked our battles and just checked out the stuff we wanted to see.

Next stop was Harrods, I’d heard a lot of cool things about Harrods from people I know that had been there. It was pretty cool but not as rad as i thought it would be? It was essentially an English, spruced up version of David Janes/Myer. Dunno, the way people spoke about it: it sounded pretty magical.

Ah well, definitely was worth going for the souvenirs and whatnot.

Decided to check out Hyde Park afterwards, saw more squirrels and i will not lie: I still get a little excited about seeing squirrels!

Caught the train and got off at Oakwood i think, met up with Lisa and Geoff for dinner. Lisa is Bob’s daughter and I remember meeting her when she visited us in Melbourne years ago. So it was nice seeing her again!

20th of July

Alright, leaving Southgate today. Boo and Soo offered to drive us to Bermondsey, where Linda’s apartment is. Which was wicked kind of them, we drove through Edmonton and Boo pointed Grandma’s high school; Laytmer School and where she used to live and some of her old haunts, we passed by the Tottenham Hotspurs new massive stadium as well. 

There was a nice Italian restaurant across the street from Linda’s place, so we treated Bob and Soo to lunch as our way of saying thank you. Thank you for looking after us and helping us out in any way possible, our gratitude is immense.

We had a very chill afternoon, Sam was coughing a lot and sounded pretty damn sick, Soo really helped in looking after him. We thought it was just fem on his chest, but apparently, it was bronchitis (learnt that when we got home in Aus). So we just chilled and chilled our last two days in London.

21st of July

Tower of London today! Was so awesome, perfect weather for it too. We rolled up and had a wander around, then realised that the beefeater tours were free, so waited a few minutes for that. the beefeater tour was incredible and so so invaluable, the guy taking it was really funny and very knowledgable. learnt all about the tower of london’s past but also it’s present. like all the beefeaters have had at least 20 years of military experience; either in the navy, airforce, seals or army in general. and they all live onsite, pretty damn cool.

we checked out the crown jewels, pretty amazing history and all the other exhibits about the grounds, pretty awesome start to the day and we love a good museum!

did buckingham palace, i mean the outside it pretty amazing to look at but idk, we were towards the end of the trip and there wasn’t too much going on, so we moved on pretty quick.

had dinner and then hit up the london dungeons, it was an amazing experience. it was like a performance going through all the rooms and it gave you a rough history of london but it was very entertaining. definitely not for the faint hearted, as there were rides and a lot of spooks during the performances from room to room. 

22nd of July

last day of our trip and in london :( (that’s a sad face), wicked sad but we made the most of the day, we trained it to Camden Town! if you know me, you know i LOVE a market and had heard about Camden market and just knew i’d love it, and i damn well did.

i loved camden market so damn much. i bought a few gifts for poeple back home and tried to find ange a 21st present but couldn’t find anything of really good value to warrant a 21st birthday present, you know?

anyway, loved that and had lunch there. we then followed the canal around, the sun was shining and i loved seeing the boats go past and all the every day life going on around us in paddington’s basin. We eventually found out way to regents park and damn, i remember being really hot and trying jump from shadow to shadow. Regents Park is so beautiful, like ugh, so beautiful because it’s huge and the grass goes for miles and there were so many dogs running around, we missed Tilly and Keji quite a fair bit at this stage as we’d beena way for more than a month at this point. 

We ended up at a tennis club, unsure how or why we ended up there but it was lovely. Got ice creams and just chilled,  just lounging around in total holiday mode. Decided on riding bikes to the Victoria and Albert Museum, So we rode from Regents Park to Hyde Park and riding, as we’ve learnt on this trip, is the best way to get around. No joke, that’s one of the biggest things i’ve taken from this trip: best way to travel around.

Walked into the Victoria and Albert Museum and I wasn't vibing it, you also had to pay to get it which I found weird as all museums in London had been free up until this point. Ah well. We headed home to Bermondsey, dropped by a Sainsbury’s (so British damn) for dinner and had a chill night of Netflix, packing suitcases and checking into flights. 

23rd of July

I was determined to have our last meal in London be at the Borough Market, so walked there in the morning and bought Linda some hand creams and whatnot from Aesop (appropriate as it’s from Melbourne, Aus heyo), right next to the Borough market, so that worked out big time. Had some brunch at the market and then walked home, the was really full-on at that time of day and won’t lie, we weren’t really handling it all that well.

Headed back to the apartment and took off to the airport, on the train of course. Because London is a great city and has a train to the airport, Melbourne should really start taking notes honestly. How on earth did Melbourne do the Commonwealth Games in 2016, no train from airport to city: ridiculous. 

Anyway, we got there fine and we were pretty much airport experts at this point of the trip. All over it. So many people on our flight were going back home, to Melbourne. So weird hearing an Aussie accent, hadn’t heard it for a while. 

Landed safely, in the very early morning of the 25th of July.  Got home at about 6am, just in time for Dad to be getting up for work and Mum had woken up as Dad did. Really missed them, after all that time. 

8th of September

I was pulling together the video for our trip and remembered about this blog and thought i’d update it!

It’s really crazy to think about all the things that have changed since I started planning this trip. I started planning about two years ago and I had a few things in place: see the people you want to see and the places they live in, that was about it. So my trip would’ve been: London, Denmark and Geneva really.

The whole “go overseas, to find yourself” worked out for me, it’s a strange feeling but I’ve come to terms with my place in this world and I know more about who I am now. It’s a bit strange that a month of holiday and life experiences. Even though I did a lot of self-discovery of sorts, I’m glad I had Sam with me. We learnt more about each other and vibed each other's boundaries because being together 24/7 was a thing we’d never really done before. With him joining me, it went from “my trip” to “our trip” and I’m so thankful for that. All the amazing people I met and all the amazing places I saw, wouldn’t have happened without Sam, he expanded the trip and we supported each other along the way. So I guess this trip brought us closer together, we have so many memories and now that I reflect, I couldn’t have imagined this trip alone, let alone without Sam.

My family here have had these amazing experiences as well, going to see Ged in Balgo and visited El Questro and a few other places.

I am forever grateful and so so lucky for this trip, all the opportunities I was able to experience. 

If you asked me: would you do it again?

Yes, in a heartbeat.

[wheresrina]

• Amsterdam •

As soon as we rolled into Amsterdam, the coach pulled up at a cheese and clogs experience.

Learn how they made traditional clogs and a bit of the history, was really cool all the different kinds of cheeses they could make! The most surprising thing was after the cheese was done curdling, they just throw whatever ingredients they want to flavour it with in. Didn’t think it was that damn simple! It was a tourist dream really because of all the unique souvenirs, they must get a lot of us tours!

We explored the red Light District the first night (last night), week and prostitution is completely legal in Amsterdam so I found all of that a little confronting at first. Weird thing, during the day they place to get weed is called a “coffee shop”, legit just a place that sells coffee but also sells weed too, completely legal as long as you smoke it near the premises where you bought it. The weed laws a little confusing to be honest!

• Full Day in Amsterdam •

The morning started off with a bike tour around the streets of Amsterdam, we had this super eccentric guide. Kinda loved her tbh, she was really kickass with her leather jacket and a little kooky, but she knew the history of all the places we visiting and she really loved getting to know us all.

Leaving the group, we wandered around time for a bit and decided we needed to do something! We got tickets for the Heineken Experince because we figured why not.

It turned out to be an awesome experience! Multiple guides took us through each step of the process and all of the history of Heineken. Then we had an interactive activity, standing in a room and the rooms walls were made from screens. The screens depicted that us standing there were the beer and we were created and then bottled in the factory. Really hard to explain but it was really cool.

We got two free beers at the end, Sam went into a competition of who could pour the beer the best and he won (I’m not surprised), was up against four other guys.

Was a really amazing experience that we didn’t expect to love, as much as we did.

Our last night in Amsterdam and with the Topdeck crew was spent having dinner on a long canal boat, it was an Indonesian meal (there was some significance there but I can’t remember why) and lots of drinks. I enjoyed the Topdeck, it was nice to meet lots of people.

We’ve loved Amsterdam, more than we anticipated. Looking forward to the next London chapter! Even though the drive will be about 7 hours tomorrow. Killer!

[wheresrina]

• Berlin •

Well Dresden first! En route from Prague to Berlin, we bypassed Dresden and jumped out for a quick tour. Didn’t know much about Dresden, other than it was bombed during WW2.

Our Topdeck guide showed us around a few key sites, from the Soviet times and that majority (good 80% perhaps more) was bombed by the British in WW2. I didn’t quite get why the British would bomb innocent civilians, like what was the pint really- turns out it was to break German morale and it’s quite evident that it must have. So many buildings still have the dark soot - for lack of better word- around the bottom of them and then they rebuilt the top with new bricks.

Despite the tragedy, Dresden rebuilt is a very beautiful city and I know it’s a good 7 decades on- but the spirit and charm is there and I love the warm ness of the people we met during small interactions. Those small details mean a fair bit to me I guess.

We tried currywurst! You could get different levels of spice, from 1 (like none virtually) to 7. Keeping in the mind that 7 is double a 6, so the jump is huge.

Sam and I got a 2, because well we enjoy living comfortably. The highest a guy got was 5 and his nose and eyes were running. Poor bugger.

That night we rolled up in Berlin, after sitting on the motorway for an hour because of a car accident. All the German people around us seemed pretty chill about the hold up, the guy in front of us was towing a beaten up car and just continued to repair it whilst we waited! Unreal

All went to the rooftop bar at the hostel, had a few drinks then decided to go out for the night. Like to a club. If you know me, you might know that clubs aren’t exactly my scene. But I went anyway because why not and I’d heard German clubs are quite exclusive and pretty sweet.

We rolled up and got in, think it was mkre because it was a Sunday night. Like our attire would not have satisfied the entry requirements on a busy night, let’s put it that way.

Pretty weird, that’s all I’m going to say. Simply to protect people’s privacy but let’s just say it was a cultural experience and I’m sort of glad I went, even just for the hour.

Next day! Well, today! We had a full day in Berlin, didn’t really plan much so today was a bit everywhere to be honest.

We went on a guided tour around a few key sites in Berlin, get this: our guide was an Aussie from Melbourne! Kinda funny that.

We did the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag building (parliament), Nazy Aviation building that wasn’t bombed because the US used it as a marker for when they were bombing Berlin. Jewish Memorial, which technically had the longer name of Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The memorial consisted of different concrete slabs, we were told that they were nothing numerically significant about the slabs/blocks because it was more about the emotional experience when you walked through and around the memorial. Despite it being such an awful tragedy (understatement) I do acknowledge the clever nature of the memorial and the feelings it evoked within me as I walked through, also that every person had a different experience.

Little fun fact: the Reichstag building where the parliament currently presides, Is about 100 years old. And in the 100 years it has been standing, only 30 years housed a democratic parliament. Crazy.

We ended the tour at the Topography of Terror, a part of the Berlin Wall and a Holocaust museum, which detailed every aspect of the Holohaust and afterwards, how Germany evolved again.

Saw Checkloint Charkie with some friends, we all tried the electric scooters but we lost them unfortunately so did the rest of the day on our own.

admired the artwork that is displayed on the Berlin Wall, the section we saw called the East Side gallery and was pretty amazing how talented people are really.

We had dinner at a burger place that was once originally a public bathroom, had the best burgers ever and then walked even further to the DDR museum, walked through the East Germany life. Great place, very interactive.

We are off to Amsterdam tomorrow! Woo

[wheresrina]

• Day 3 in Prague •

This day was a very chill day, we hiked across Prague from our Airbnb to the Hostel, as our TopDeck tour was to start that night (Friday the 12th)

It was a bit of a filler day really, we got our stuff together and checked out of the Airbnb around midday, got to the hostel by 1 then realised we didn’t exactly have anything planned for the day. Whoops!

Dropped our bags off at the Airbnb and wandered the local area, got an icy pole and caught up on tv shows in the hostel lounge, waiting for the tour. Turns out the bus was super late getting in because the bus’ e-tag wasn’t working so they were pulled over by Czech police and fined.

We met and had dinner with our new Topdeck mates, they are now 34 of us and the size of the group is a little chaotic. Dinner was full on, lots of people we didn’t know and met but I mean, we went from going solo to heaps of people, still adjusting to the change (good change) and I’m writing this post at the end of day 4!

After dinner, went on a walking tour of Prague with the whole group! Story of the first photo: the grave on the left is of Jan Palach, during the late communist years of Czechslovakia he set himself on fire in protest against the communist regime. The second grave of Jan Zalic, he wanted to the make the statement as Palach but Zalic decided to run to the square where Palach has previously die via burning, but he never made it to the square, the fire destroyed his body before he could make it. Really sad story as they were both young uni students at the time.

Secondly, we did the John Lennon Wall. During the communist days, people just needed hope and the messages of light, love and peace reflect in John Lennon’s lyrics. This is only wall in Prague where you can legally graffiti, like the laneways in Melbourne!

We did a lot of place on the walking tour that we’d done on our own, but we had our Topdeck guide Kate that talked through a lot of the monuments which is was fantastic.

• Day 4 in Prague •

We hit up the Lennon Wall again and it is even more beautiful in the day, we got to write on the wall and all our pics are really cool because of the colours!

We ventured across town to the Manifesto Market, this really cool market that all the stalls dealt out of shipping containers. Kind of like the market in Christchurch but just food! It was really cool, the vibes were popping and it’s activities like these we really enjoy: lots of locals and good vibes.

At night, we had the option of going along to a Czech cabaret of sorts. Dining was in a large dungeon-like space and the theme was vikings/medieval ages. Sam absolutely loved the dinner, it was right down his alley!

They had a band of bagpipes, drums and guitars that were always playing and two actors in medieval style attire entertained us during courses, playing games and sowed fighting with one another. Belly dancing would go up and down the aisle, hips moving to the music of the bagpipes really. The dancers were insane, snakes slithered across this chests as they dance; they performed with fire and the ladies were just straight up beautiful.

Like every other place, we are sad to leave Prague. But we are off to Dresden for a walking tour there and then Berlin for the next two nights!

Want to do a quick (but big) thank you to you guys for reading this blog! So thank you!

Love, Rina

[wheresrina]

• Prague •

We have tomorrow in Prague too with the TopDeck tour but I have no idea if our WiFi will be any good so here is the Prague post early as!

Our first day (Weds) was a half day as we touched down around 3pm, figures we’d go for a wander!

We jumped on the tram, we hit up Prague Castle first and what a cool cultural experience, there was a little summer fair at the back of the castle so we got to check out all of the typical Prague food, didn’t buy any because they were starting to close around 5pm. But we managed to get a few drinks and to try the traditional dessert called Trdelník, which is a dough that is spiralled into a cylinder. You can have chocolate or ice cream in the hole, or many different varieties as we found out on our second day.

Loved the summer fair, so many cool Knick knacks and the castle’s architecture was incredible.

We had dinner at the oldest vineyard in Prague, overlooking the city and was along the vines, their white wine was fruity and very nice (coming from a girl isn’t really into wine)

Hustled along to the Alchemy museum, we were met with lots of wax figures and a very nutty guide. His facts were very off and his English was decent until we asked him a hard question, then it’s like he couldn’t understand at all. A lot of facts were wrong, was a little racist, bit homophobic and was quite the history buff but I don’t remember learning much about alchemy itself?

An Irish couple were the same tour as ya, and we bonded over the weird as hell experience afterwards over beers afterwards.

Hiked back home for the night.

Second day in Prague was a nice little tourist day. Did the National Museum which was pretty cool, the building was more impressive that the exhibits though. We found our way to the Old Town, checked out the astronomical clock and we decided to jump on some paddle boats. The city was all the more beautiful from the water and was very enjoyable with all the ducks around.

We didn’t know much about Prague before visiting and we love it very much. Whoever said that it was the most beautiful city in Europe, nailed it but they should’ve mentioned that is also the hilliest city in Europe too!

[wheresrina]

Alright we are leaving Geneva today and we are pretty sad about it. Leaving Elyse and Alex (my cousin and her fiancé) was a massive bummer but at the same time, I’m excited about the next chapter.

Our first day with Elyse and Alex, it was a Sunday so we wanted to spend the day with them because they had to go to work during the week unfortunately. So we all travelled across the border to France and visited Mont Blanc and Chamonix. I’m still getting used to the fact that you can drive to a different country and it’s way too damn easy.

Chamonix was a cool place, all the wood lodged made it really easy to imagine the whole place blanketed in snow. We took the cable car to the top of Mont Blanc, changing into jeans as the temperature went from 30 to 4 degrees celcius. It took us a few minutes to adjust to the altitude, a lot of people were quite sick because they had moved too fast I guess.

The day was pretty cloudy but if we figured out if you stay in the one spot, then the cloud would move for a few minutes so we could see the view. And the view was definitely worth waiting for!

We dropped by a waterfall called Cascade Du Dard, it was wicked beautiful and the spray was quite nice on that really hot day.

• Second Day •

We took the bus to the UN in the morning, I got my own pass. The photo is terrible but slightly better than my driver licence, so small graces.

Really loved the tour around the UN, I loved all the meaning that artists put into creating all the different conference rooms. For example, the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilisation Chamber is amazing. The ceiling used approx 100 tonnes of paint pigments, hard to explain but the paint would drip from the ceiling and had a floral and celestial/galaxy kind of vibe to it. Anyway, the point was no matter where you stood in the room you would gain a different peresptive of the beautiful ceiling and the same reflect to all those who work at the UN, all come from different places and all have different perspectives.

In the afternoon, we went for a walk along the River Rhone to the tall bridge that goes over the river, we wanted to get a good picture of where the two rivers meet- River Rhône and River Arve. The amazing photo is the Arve a more milky colour and the Rhône not.

• Last Day •

We set off in the morning to the Reformation Wall, a long and really tall commutative wall that featured the five founders of Geneva. Next was the Geneva History Museum, we did as much as we could because a lot was in French we observed the artefacts and did all the interactive exhibits that had an English option. We were really bummed about it but we both like history and wanted to know more about it, but the language barrier prevented us from doing so. That said, we still admired everything with curiosity.

We had a really fancy lunch at a nearby cafe, also happened to be the oldest cafe in Geneva and Bill and Hillary Clinton had eaten there in 1994. They had a plaque erected near the entrance that was the letter Bill wrote to the cafe, thanking them for a photo book and the meal. Really milking it, the cafe was really.

[wheresrina]

We touched down in Geneva yesterday at 10pm, we spent about 10 hours in airports and on planes, which was fun.

And the whole time we were pretty sad and a tiny bit sulky about leaving Denmark. Well leaving Signe and Carsten especially, that was a big bummer really.

For all those that don’t know the story of Signe and I: it starts in a Darwin caravan park and her little brother Søren having a ripstick (like a skateboard), not knowing any English him and my two little brothers hung out and played together a lot and well Signe and I buddied up too. The next month was spent travelling down the West Coast of Aus, either meeting at the same caravan park or not, we explored so many new places together that very wet Australian June.

Despite my age, around 11 and Signe 12 we kept in contact and Skyping a lot in the beginning as we were two kids but as time went on, we resulted in just texting.

So I guess even though 10 years had gone by, I still had this gut feeling that everything was going to work out. And yeah, we were pretty much strangers but it didn’t really matter. I find friendships like these so special, as we knew very little about each other but so excited about the prospect of getting to know each other regardless.

I had this romanticised expectation of Denmark, as I had aimed to travel there one day and I was endlessly fascinated by this place, Signe as the connection to spur this fascination on. I was interested in learning Danish, on and off for about three years and I would always nail general trivia questions about the country I was so intrigued by.

Denmark and more importantly Signe, hold a special place in my heart and I know that this is just a beginning.

[wheresrina]

• Copenhagen to Møns •

Travelled from Copenhagen to Møns today, stopping along the way to find the Forgotten Giants. They are these large giant figures made out of wood, scattered throughout the Copenhagen area. We had a lot of fun finding them as each giant was at very different places, like one was on a farm with goats and cows and windmills, kinda loved adventuring through the shrubbery to find the giants!

Arrived at the beautiful Møns Klint (Cliffs) around 2pm, the amazing cliffs were made of chalk and we wrote our names on some stones to leave there. Went for a wade in the water as it was so clear, bit different from an Aussie beach with the stones though!

Our little cabin in Møns was the cutest place ever, it had those gorgeous flowers along the side of it and was along a marina, with about 20/30 boats moored. Perfect seaside location really, we had this really yum dinner that Signe made. It was baked salmon with a chive and spring onion cream cheese sauce, we had the fish with rice (very salty rice but weirdly yum?) and we made a Greek salad on side in case were more hungry! It was so good.

Leaving Møns tomorrow for Viborg

[wheresrina]

Last day in Copenhagen (well on our own!)

We rose last after the graduation party above us last night ran late, got out and into the sun but not the heat thank god!

Walked about 5 mins to the nearby Frederiksberg Gardens which were totally serene and chilled, something we loved and needed a little.

Realised that the Gardens hadn’t taken up much time at all so wandered up the road to the Frederiksberg Palace which turned out to be military building. We tried to get back quickly realised with the solider at the entrance that it just have been a cadet training facility.

Returned to the apartment for a quick lunch and then hit up the nearby strip of Falconer Alle (Rd), had Danish coffee and cake.

We wanted to explore more so walked up the road 10-15 mins to Nørrebroparken, which was quite an insight into how the locals live. There was school kids playing their weekly soccer matches and all ages of local people and some uni students (looked about the age?) playing some Danish music from Marshall speakers. Pretty cool really.

Headed back around 6pm, going to post this entry and then we need to clean up and get ready to leave the apartment tomorrow!

[wheresrina]

• Day Three •

Up and rolling, we caught the metro to the Rotal Botanic Gardens which was gorgeous! It was a mega hot day today at 28 degrees, more that it is super balmy and humid in the city. Like damn.

We then walked a few hot (literal) minutes to Roseberg Castle, used as a royal residency for 100 years 1600-1800 roughly during times of emergency. The first being when Christiansborg Palace was burnt down and then the second being when the British attacked in 1801.

We saw the crown Jewell and there was military presence around because of them, weirdly enough they were in the basement of the Castle?

Next on the agenda was a place called The Castle or Kastellet in Copenhagen, which was a fort that the Danish Defence owns. Military training also occurs in the barracks there, we only wandered around the entrance as the whole place was quite Barron and not much was happening. It was just barracks really.

Today was a really warm day, so we kinda just strolled around and chilled at the parks we walked by to escape the heat.

Tomorrow is our last day in Copenhagen, on our own, which is super sad to think we’ll be leaving soon because I’ve grown to really love this place.

As it is graduation time of year, we have a massive party in the apartment above us. Making a lot of noise but got a feeling that the neighbours dobbed them in and the party dispersed around 9pm which is is pretty lame for them.

[wheresrina]

Copenhagen!

• Day One •

We got into Copenhagen Airpirt at about 10am, checked into our Air Bnb at midday and we had rented bikes and walking down the avenue at Nyhavn about an hour later.

We loved Nyhavn but realised very quickly how expensive everything in Copenhagen is compared to Manchester and London, almost back to Melbourne prices! We got lunchtime nearby and then jumped on a canal tour that went for an hour around the nearby canals and harbour.

Copenhagens harbours contains so many canals, that sprawl across the city and we passed the Little Mermaid! No joke, she is the size of a five year old girl, so tiny!

We saw the big cruise ships, where they dock in Copenhagen’s harbour and the Royal Opera theatres, the entrance is on the harbour! We even saw a royal on the little ferry boat to the big royal ship that was docked, unsure who it was but she had an entourage and lots of sailors to escort her. The royal ship was yellow, there was a treason for that colouring but I can’t quite remember that details!

• Day Two •

Today we went to Tivoli Gardens! This was Hugh in the list, as it is one of the best places in Copenhagen. The best way to describe it is “Danish Disneyland”, full of rides, shops and stalls and I swear, you could spend days exploring the many arcades and rides!

I wanted to ride a rollercoaster, as it was on my bucket list, so we went on a ride called The Mine. Wasn’t as scary as I thought, the adrenaline rush was intense as and I’m glad I did it.

The girl with the hat: we have been seeing so many people with these hats on! Why? Graduation! The Danish University students have a week of exams, then they receive their diplomas and then they get drunk and party for a week, all the while wearing these hats! Pretty cool story tbh haha

We visited the National Museum, getting our Viking and Danish Royalty fix. I loved the Royalty rooms and Sam loved the Vikings exhibitions so we nailed that.

Later in the afternoon, we found a nice bar along one of the canal and indulged in some Austrian rosé, just breathing in Copenhagen and appreciating this beautiful place we are in.

Day Three on a another post! Don’t go no where!

[wheresrina]

Manchester // 21th of June

Have learnt that maybe one post per place is a bit easier! Haha I’m writing in my diary everything and posting here too, full on after big days out.

Anyway, Manchester!

We took the train from Euston station to Stockport station in Manchester and hit the ground running, met up with Sam’s family the Turners and took off.

First visit was Hazel’s Dad Joe in Abney Hall, was so lovely to finally meet him! We showed him some photos of our trip and we all went for a walk around the nearby lake, saw the third squirrel 🐿 I’d ever seen in my life. Exciting as, no joke.

For lunch, we met up with Nicola and Shirley Turner, good family of the Turners and had an awesome Italian lunch and I had a little cuddle with Nicola’s daughter Imogen. She was so gorgeous, had a cheeky little smile and those eyes, so beautiful!

We then visited Nick’s Mum (Sam’s gma) in hospital, it was great to meet her after hearing so many good things about her. She spoke to me for a good few sentences, her eyes shone a little at my new face so that was really heartwarming to see.

Met Nick’s brother Steven and his family that night, his wife Nicola and their boys, Luca and Charlie. They were so welcoming, and the boys are so talented and intelligent for their age. Musically talented and very socially aware for their ages of 13 and 9.

• Day Two •

Abi, Ben, Sam and I headed into Manchester City today and hit up a place called Afflecks Palace, which was a converted office building that is now five storeys of market stalls.

I bought a new denim jacket, a pre loved Levi jacket and some badges to go on it, got a british flag badge and a bumblebee badge which is Manchester’s emblem.

We walked through the John Ryland Library, an amazing place his wife creates in his memory that was opened in 1900 and now a part of the Manchester University.

We met up with Abi’s childhood friend Lauren at a cool pace called Mackie Mayor, an old convertered warehouse that is now a food hall, full of brick ovens. Was so damn trendy, it would fit right in, in Melbourne.

As our last night as a big crew, (Abi, Ben and Hazel leavings for Aus tomorrow) we went out for Italian at Piccolinos near Davenport, Manchester.

• Day Three •

Said goodbye to the rest of the Turner crew, and took the bus in Manchester Piccadilly, visited the Industry and Science Museum which was great.

By coincidence, we were in the textiles exhibition and there was a demonstration of the cotton mills which was amazing. I didn’t think that would be a thing I’d be interested in but it went through the process of it going from plant to thread. The girl that spoke through the whole process was so detailed and she got people involved, it was a really well presented demonstration of all the old machines.

Bussed back to Nick’s Mum’s house where we are staying and has fish and chips- Manchester style which was curry sauce and gravy, really yum.

• Day Four •

Today was a chill day of visiting Liz, Nick’s Mum and then seeing Steven and his family, walking his big two Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs and having dinner with the whole family that night. Had a Yorkshire pudding for the first time and it was so yum.

Really sad to leave Manchester but also very excited for Copenhagen!

[wheresrina]

• London Day Two •

We started the day by hitting up the Musuem of London, catching the bus to Liverpool St Station to get there!

It was quite enjoyable and an awesome thing about the museums in Britain is that they are all free! They all operate on donations, looking back on the history was a great way to spend the morning. I loved the Victorian fashion, we eavesdropped on a tour guide and she spoke through all the layers they had to wear, which was nuts tbh.

Next up was Sir John Soanes house, he was the architect of the early Bank of England buildings in the 1800’s. We owned three townhouses on the same small street and whilst he sold two in his lifetime, he lived in the 13th and his house doubled up as his gallery of sorts. It was amazing, he has coffins from Egypt and oil paintings by the hundreds, it was essentially an art museum and a home in one. The thing I loved the most was the architecture, he used mirrors in clever ways to make the illusion of the rooms being bigger.

Next stop was lunch, a pub at the end of a lane called Lamb and Flag. Known was one of the oldest pubs in the world, apparently it use to host fist fights back in the day?

Lunch was a good old English lunch of pie, sausage and mash. Yummo, good in the cold weather.

Next up was Convent Garden, the Apple Market wasn’t a fruit and veg market like I thought but a design market, not complaining!

We wrapped up our day at St Paul’s Cathedral, that’s the pic of me on the stairs! We got our pics of the telephone boxes here too.

Weird thing I’ve noticed about England is that the water is different, like it tastes weird as but the effect it has had on my hair is even weirder.

[wheresrina]

day one • London Got into Heathrow about 6am, a long 24 hours on planes had has tired and a little restless. But as soon as we left the airport and caught a bus to Victoria station, we hit the ground running and didn’t waste any time exploring! Staying near the Tower Bridge, we ventured out around midday to explore the city. Hit up the Borough Market for lunch (amazing cheeses and tea, so many options of cuisine!) then strolled along the Thames, copping rain every now and then. Went past Tate Modern Museum, Science Museum and Fashion and Textiles Museum, added them to the to do list! We jumped in the line for the London Eye and it didn’t take long to get on because we bought fast tracked tickets! It was amazing seeing the whole city up that high because it was then that it finally sunk in that I’m finally in London! Ahh!! Started to pour big time when we realised that we needed to set off back towards the apartment where we were staying, passed Waterloo station and Southwhark stations on way home and tried to avoid as many puddles as we could! We have another big day in London tomorrow, might be a day of museums if the weather is poorly, Convent garden and a little bit of shopping will be on the agenda I reckon.

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[wheresrina]

prologue

hi, so i’m rina 

and this is a website/blog that will entail all my adventures in june/july2019!

so thanks for joining me on this journey and i hope every now and then you’ll wonder where i am :)