To Amsterdam And Beyond!

Holla!

so as you can probably tell, i have been on the Greek islands :P , my goodness, its just Be-E-AY UUUUUUtiful, its beyond what any photo could really tell you, the waters are clear and there is always a fresh breeze to keep you cool, but if you stay in the sun its just so warm , although it can burn if your not careful, you can tell the tourists from the locals, as the locals are all dark as hell, while the tourists are bright red! :P

Yesterday i went to the center of town, its just a dream, all the streets, are not really streets, its more like a maze of paved trails, its like a snail went in and just went nuts and designed the little town. Its easy to lose where the hell you are, playing marco polo would be so much fun, not fun though if you lose someone :S but i was on my own, so i was happy to get lost! , tried to get a sim card, but i forgot my passport, its not like holland where you can just get the sim card, no ID or anything, lame! also found a place to do my washing, which will be handy as at the moment i have a lot of dirty clothes, mostly from holland, peee-ewwww

the main port has two docks that you can walk out onto the ocean and admire the amazing view, mykonos town looks amazing with all the white, also you can see a few of the other islands. I went also to see the windmills that are here, i'm not sure if they still work or anything , but they are quite pretty, not to worry i took photos!
tried to take a panoramic photo as well , ill see if that will work out!

Other than that, i found this amazing store with things that were completely made from olive wood trees, i wanted to buy everything from that store! but most of it is too heavy to carry , and also i would probably lose it at the airport.

other than that, we then had a nice lunch by the beach, overlooking the water, all the restaurants here are on the beach, its fantastic, also all the beach chairs have waiters and you get drinks delivered to your beach chair/umbrella.
then was a nap by the pool, and then a late lunch, seafood basket, YUM, the seafood here is fantastic, also after every meal they bring you this shot of alcohol, which, im still not sure what it is, its different at every restaurant, but the one last night was my favorite, was sweet tasted almost like honey, like a soft honey and had lime and crushed ice to keep it cold, YUM!

other than that, the evening was spent looking at the view in the twilight and having a cocktail, too good!!!

Well today is beach day! and tomorrow is santorini!! - then i come home!!! YAY! :D

Hullo!

So i will have to admit, there is really not that much to say, we left Den Haag at about 9o'clock and arrived WAY to early for our 1:45 flight, so we just had breakfast and chilled before we were able to check in, after that we still had time to kill so i bought chocolate from that awesome chocolate store, this place just places blocks of chocolate in a pile and lets you pick how much you want.... y.u.m.
the flight was fine, i slept most of the way because of the early start, the problem with holland for me was that , coming from australia, i'm not use to going to sleep while its still daylight! so i would always go to bed after 1130, which was never a problem if your waking up late.... which we weren't because of the flight.

So, once we reached athens we had to wait about 2 hours for the flight to mykonos, i didn't really like athens as an airport, seemed disorganized and i had to show my boarding pass every 5 parsec's.

the plane to mykonos was TINIIII TINY, and the flight was SO quick, about 20 min! :O

so once we landed in mykonos (with a red sunset over the water! ) we went to line up to get the taxi, (ps: the airport is like the coffs harbor airport....well old school) there was a massive line and we thought we were going to have to wait ages, but then a taxi driver showed up , and was asking people something, we thought it was the name of a hotel, haha, - there was a group of girls...who looked like a combination oh barbie.....and an umpa lumpa.... orange as all hell! , and she walks up to the taxi driver an he shoos her away, then she pushes out her lips in a "pout" and goes " oh pleasssse" HAHAHAHAHA - i was laughing for about 5min of the taxi ride mostly because she still got rejected. fail.

once we got to the hotel, it was just basically just straight to bed, i was so tried from hauling my luggage everywhere and moving from one airport to another that i just pass out after a small dinner.

SOOO Mykonos....
so far i have only seen the view from my room...and from the pool deck...
B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. - its just amazing, words cannot explain, so i did take photos! - so today was gym, then relaxing in the sun... jumping in the pool, then sun....then reading in the sun...then sleeping in the sun.... a whole lot of sun... yes, i got a little burnt, so at around 1 i escaped inside and just hung out out of the sun , so as not to get TOO burnt, i'm very happy now i brought the aloe vera! :D

dinner was at a seafood restaurant , just lovely, had swordfish and a fantastic salad that had, lettuce, apple, orange, avocado, and sesame seeds nom nom nom nom nom , with a little white wine, and then 2 bailey's and milk after a walk on the beach.

i love how the beaches here have all the beach chairs and umbrellas...BUT australian beaches are still much much better, the water is just too flat! but it is relaxing

Today is the town center! going to get a new sim card and a SHITLOAD of sunscreen! - they have 50+ here!!!!

Until next time! :D

Beach day!!!
So the beach lifestyle here i think is soooooo much better than that of Sydney, for one, they build food shops, clubs, restaurants on the beach, overnight, and then for the winter they just get rid of them, they are just movables! its fantastic to be able to lie on a cough on the beach, in the sun, order drinks then walk 10 meters and have a swim, be it that the water is a murkey brown.. its actually the cleanest in Europe!
They have a large pier, that does not have the wood nailed down well (yes it did end up in my tripping over myself!) and you can bungy jump from the end too!
We setup camp along the waters edge and i was told that the water was "freezing" hahahah but it was perfect temperature - didnt even need time to get use to the temp, the only problem with the coast along holland is the sound of the ocean, its so quiet because there are no waves, so instead they just have thumping music from the beach bars :P

we unfortunately could not stay too long at the beach because we had to go get ready for the q-dance Feestfabriek!
My goodness what a night! - it was really what i had been looking forward to the entire trip, we unfortunately got there a little late, because we missed the first train from den haag that would get us there when the doors opened, it also happened to be the express train, so instead we asked someone who we saw wearing orange and they said they were happy for us to just tag along with them, as they knew where they were going. we had to catch one train and then catch another train to get there. It felt like FOREVER, and on the way it was also storming like crazy, however, when we finally got there, everyone was sooo excited, i think holland being in the final for the world cup also helped - they were all singing and chanting together, and as they were in orange (the national color - because of the general Williem oranje (he got rid of all the spanish from holland)) it helped a lot for the atmosphere.

so we got in, and there was thudding music people, it was a fantastic production, the only way to explain it is by photo
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjowie/4786637279/in/set-72157624353925231/) this is not mine but its a great photo, much better than what i could take with my camera! - just amazing, the defqon ferris wheel was there, the qlimax set up, and the middle was the sensation pyramid, but a little shorter as the DJs went onto the decks via a bridge.
so we get in, first things first, merch, there was no way i was leaving without a reminder that i was there to celebrate the 10 years of qdance, i got a shirt. then we went up onto the VIP deck, and i dont think we moved from there the entire night! - it was gabber gabber gabber till our little hearts couldnt take it, .... then dance some more!!!
i dont think i stopped till at least 5am, ahaha one of the dutchie boys there was saying how crazy all the aussies are, because we get so into it, i really did agree, a lot of the crowd were not getting as into it as i thought they would, i was very proud to be there!
there is really not much else to say there on the matter, as not much happened, nor did we move! , although i do have to say that it was a lot hotter there then it was at sensation, because it was raining, the moisture in the air was a lot worse and there was drips coming down from the roof...i wish to say that it was rain, but it was in fact a mixture of all the sweat from everyone and also the rain....yuk!
although we really didnt care, it was all about the music, and it was just good song after good song! the top 25 had to be the highlight of the night for me! goodness gracious - just fantastic!

Nat and mark left early, as mark got sick, too much to drink, then chris wanted to leave at around 520, so we caught a taxi back, and then had a small breakfast, then straight up to bed, although i did not get to sleep till 10 am, was still too excited from the night, i didnt want to leave!

anyway, yesterday was grand final day!
the poor dutchies! - we went out to amsterdam and went to see it with the MASSIVE crowd that was out in the square, but it was too packed, we could not see the screen, it also smelt like piss combined with sweat from the hot day and also pot, not the greatest of combination's! - so we just stayed a little while, just to witness all the dutchies singing constantly "VIVA HOLLANDA" is pretty much what i learnt! - and then we decided that we should just find a bar to watch the game at, i was so thirsty that i had to buy a $6 bottle of water (o wait, 2 of them). And there didnt seem to be any bars in sight! - then we missed about 5 min, when i saw a little restaurant, italian, that had the game on the TV, i called over the rest of the gang and asked for a table for 4, they let us sit, and we were able to eat AMAZING italian food while watching the game. it was lucky that we left early as a lot of other people tried to go inside, but it was full.

when the game finished, we were walking through the streets and it was dead, jsut disappointment from everyone, i wish i had been able to celebrate.... as i was going for spain, but if i had i would have ended up just like a small group of spanyards we saw, nearly get attacked by the orange crowd! - i wish i had been in spain for the win, it would have been an amazing once in a lifetime experience, but o well.

then it was off back to the hotel, which we did not get back till about 1am, i was falling asleep on the trian, then in the taxi.
slept like a baby!

Today was a very very relaxed day, it was raining and 19 degrees so i just packing and had a little bit of a walk around, i wish i had known more of den haag, the city is actually very pretty, but its a place where its important to know someone that is familiar with the town, as unlike in amsterdam, its more of a maze. next time!

well tommorrow its off to Grecia! - so hopefully i will be doing nothing but swimming and relaxing!!!

Well, it was Adios to spain .... and hallo Den haag!

but before we left, we had to find a place to see the state of origin for chris, i googled that shit and found an Irish sports bar that was playing it - after that we did a bit of shopping, i love stradivarious, and i bought a few bits and pieces there, could not resist! also got a few souvenirs, it was SO hot that day, it was a max of 40!!!! so walking around was getting a bit much, however, i had the strangest ice cream thing.... i went to the ice cream store, and saw that "ice milk" was on offer...so i asked what it was, got a strange reply, but got it anyway, in a massive cup it was milk....in ice cream form sort of, with cinamon on top, and in the middle....YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....i would have gotten more, but we had tapas again that night.
Because it was so hot, we decided to have an ice bath, we bought ice and brought it back to the room, then we filled the bath with water, and all dipped out feet in it, was soooooo nice, drinking grey goose with don simon orange juice, living the life i must say. after we had finished the grey goose, time to hit the sun, so rooftop for about half an hour, which i think anymore time and we all would have gotten burnt, it was THAT hot! in fact i felt asleep on the lounge chairs....was so nice.
we had tapas, and we got a paella, yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum i'm going to miss the food in spain, they really know how to do food, and the sangria was fantastic as well, the guys didnt like it that much, so it was mostly me drinking it all :P
i found out that sangria also has other ingredients, like vodka, and contreau :S - taste great!
once dinner was finshed, it was time to get serious , GAME TIME
we watched the game in the hotel again, tiny screen, but it didnt matter, great game! and i was sooo happy to see spain win! because afterwards it was time to go out! - they spanish were going NUTS! - jumping in the fountains, and running amuck around the streets, the police had closed off quite a few of the streets so that people were able to just run around and celebrate! :D
I then was able to see a little bit more of Madrid, but only from the outside, as everything was closed :S - the national library, the national palace, and a tomb that was a gift from the Egyptians to the Spanish , stone by stone was brought from Egypt!
pretty cool stuff, also found out what part of the Spanish flag means, the four different pictures within the crest are the original states of Spain, underneath the monarchy (crown).

Next day was a little bit full of bad omens! - the weather had cooled down , it was overcast (haha it seems everytime we leave a country that its overcast and cold!)
there was a massive fire next to our hotel pretty much! still trying to figure out what it was from, so we had breakfast at macca's , and oh my goodness, maccas has their hotcakes....with chocolate sauce AND they serve breakfast til noon! W.I.N.
so after breakfast we went straight to the airport, and checked in, the ride to Amsterdam started with a massive amount of turbulence, i'll admit i was a little freaked out, but there was a storm coming in so im just happy we made it through! - the poor girl next to me looked like she was going to puke :S

Once we arrived in amsterdam, we caught the train to Den haag awesome train ride, guys from the company came onto the train and asked where we were from and when they found out it was just jokes and jokes about koalas, jack, skippy etc... one of the guys spoke spanish as well! - thats one thing i love about Europe, everyone speaks 4 languages! im very very jealous of that , they were so lovely they even allowed us to take a photo in the drivers cabin! :D (ill upload it now)
we then had to catch the tram to our hotel, which was quite hard to find :S mostly coz we didnt look, i went into a police station and asked and got laughed at because it was across the road, we just didnt see it! - whoops.

so then it was mostly just getting settled, had something to eat (it was already 8 - 9pm) and then to bed, we were all pretty tired from all the traveling.

Next day, was just shopping to try to find orange things for 10 years of qdance! i hate that i want ot buy almost everything here in europe, the clothes, the shoes, oh my goodness the maxies..... i would buy a suitcase full if i could!
i also found this awesome shop full of geeky toys, little star wars things etc...

so then went back to the room, chilled out for a while, then dinner, and then to the beach! :D
i also found out that den haaaaaaaag is an actual city! :O i thought it was a suburb....but no its huge! 800.000 people live here ! goodness, and the beachfront is beautiful, we were sitting at a bar and drinking in the summer heat, just fantastic, one of the guys there also was studying audio engineering, so it was great to chat about audio with someone on the otherside of the world!
finally at 2am however it was time for bed, as tomorrow we were coming back to the beach to actually swim, and also do our laundry, woop woop!

next installment.....10 YEARS OF QDANCE!!!!!!

Hasta pronto!

Alrighty!!!!
so yesterday was a great day! :D - far out i love spain. so in the morning, we had breakfast, then i went on a walk to the plaza mayor, which use to be the main plaza in every city built in spain. its very pretty! still have to visit it however and take photos ! went to the tourist office and got a map and the guy at the office was very helpful to tell me where to visit and where to see the match!

so then, i looked at a few of the shops there, and found this amazing store that makes a poster of your last name, and the story of it, im very very interested in getting one!

then back to the hotel to get everyone out of bed, and then we went to the stadium where the bull runs are, we took the metro, which i was very impressed with, 1 euro to go as far as you want, a train leaves every 5 min, and its very very quick! we were at the stadium within 5 min.

So we got out and my goodness it was BOILING, the stadium is huuuuuge, 60 meters in diameter to be exact, its also the biggest in the world. we entered through what is like royal gate for bull fighters, as the tour guide said, its like winning an Oscar for an actor. going inside was very interesting, there is a culture to bull fighting that i had no idea existed, the tour guide was explaining that the bull fight lasts for 20 min, thats how long the torrero has, to kill the bull, but its in 2 parts, the first is for show, where the torrero has a wooden knife and "dances" with the bull, then the next 10 min he is handed a real knife and thats when they have to try to kill the bull. The bulls actually have a very small heart, well the ones that are bred for bull fighting. The bull fighter is judged by both the audience and also the president of the stadium, how they show this is with colored flags, there are many but the 2 most important are the white, which signals important events, say to start the fight, and if the audience liked the torrero, they put up a white flag, and also the organize flag, which is to save the bull. at this stadium it has only been shown ONCE because the president was saying that the bull was fighting like a real person, so it was sparred. Now i thought, what the hell do they do with these bulls? - they eat them! so once the bull is dead they make a traditional dish, which im kind of dying to try, but i dont think we have time! .
so other than that, i also found out bulls can jump into the audience! the tour guide was saying that they can almost fly, because they jump off the side barriers, that are very very heavy , made from olive tree's .

so once this tour was over, we went back to the hotel and then i went for a walk to find food, ended up finding, a great Argentinian parillada, had a MASSIVE milanesa sandwich, nom nom nom, then i went for a walk with nat to the huge park here, on the way we went to a free exibition oh photography, and saw and amazing series of photos that were of the rooms of people who had committed suicide, very heavy to take in.

then later we went back to the hotel and got ready for the Uruguay match! - how sad that they lost but there were three spanyards there watching the match too, and i ended up eating tapas just across the road with them, chatting and laughing which it was still 27 degrees at 2am! it was great to eat jamon serrano again, also had tuna, bread with tomato smooshed on the top, spanish omlette, cheese, it was all just loverly! - and then to finish off we had what was like aguaardiente, but with herbs that help the stomach digest, i was told that it was usually something made at home in the country, as it helps "warm the heart" - tasted like a bad version of vodka to me! :O
i also have a few facts for everyone!

1. its called tapas because during the 17th century (or sometime around that time lol) a king use to love going out to have wine, and at this particular place they would place a piece of ham ontop of the glass to stop flies going into the cup, but then one day they forgot, and the king said "oye?! donde esta la tapa?" "hey! where is the lid?"

2. why do you have a lemon with a corona? because its hot in mexico, where corona is from, and there are many flies! - so to stop flies sitting on where you drink the beer from, they put a lemon there as flies dont like lemon

3. Spain is the only place in the world a corona is called a "coronita" because in spain there is a wine called "corona, de Aragon"

alrighty, so today we are shopping and doing some more sight seeing, so for now, i shall say
Hasta Luego - y
VAMOS ESPAÑA -