5 countries in 2 weeks

Venice - Nice - Amsterdam - Guthenburg

We were planning to only stay in Venice for 1 night but ended up staying for almost a week.. We were both really looking forward to Venice and really excited about it. But once we got there the place was full of tourists and most of the boats on the canal were motorised. The gondolas were only used for tourists.

It was a bit dissapointing at first until we were lead to a place called Padova, which is about 10 minutes by train away from Venice. We discovered that this is where Venice has gone to. Padova was definitely a characteristic place and that was definitely where 'city of love' was.

At the camp we were staying at, we met a couple of Indonesian girls, beautiful and down to earth Putri and gorgeous and brilliant Siska. We didn't spend much time with them as they were staying only for one night, but it was really nice and Mats got to practice his bahasa indonesian a bit.

Venice and Padova pictures (photos taken by Mats)

After spending our last day visiting Leonardo Da Vinci museum, we started heading off to Nice where we planned to stay with our beloved extremely generous, wise and knowledgable brother, Greg. We had a really nice time spending our days and nights with Greg, beautiful Candice and extremely adorable Stellan. (Hearing a two year old speaking French is the cutest thing ever)

During our stay, we had the chance to visit Monaco for a day. Monaco is definitely something else.

After saying our farewells to Candice and Stellan, Greg took us to the train station for us to start heading off to Amsterdam.  Thank you so very much Greg for everything. <3

Nice and Monaco (photos taken by Mats)

2,5 hours of train ride and 23 hours of bus ride from Nice to Amsterdam. Mats' comment on that was "I've never lied for such an extended amount of time in the fetal position since I came out of the womb"

Amsterdam o Amsterdam, home we were to meet again with our beautiful sister Silvana and the cutest dog ever, Bodi. We only stayed for a couple of nights, but it was another great stay. Thank you again o so very much Silvana, we love you.. <3

After 2 nights, we took the night train heading to Copenhagen, Denmark that took 16 hours in total and we had 3 hours time to spend there so we headed off to a place called Christiania which is a hippy town in Copenhagen. It was the best place to hang out after a long train ride.

Then we got on the bus to head for Guthenburg, Sweden where we were picked up Mats' beautiful and loving mom, Helena, Mats' modest yet intellegent brother, Patrick at the station. Welcome home my love

Teaching English in Italy

Lapedona - Florence - Venice

Mats and I have been staying at Lapedona for the past two weeks where I have been teaching English to Italian children. It was an extraordinary experience where regardless of the communication problem, the children and I were able to bond. It was beautiful. There were 4 other teachers who were teaching as well, they were from the US. From the two weeks of spending time with the teachers, I have found my sisters from the US, Carrie (an absolutely gorgeous, beautiful hearted, fun and crazy girl) and Alex (a beautiful hearted, lovely, hillarious and gorgeous girl) who I had so much fun with during teaching.

Mats and I stayed at Gina and Tim's place with their beautiful triplets, Hamish, George and Stedely. They were absolutely wonderful.

From left to right : Me teaching my beautiful kiddies (they are absolutely gorgeous children); Winning the sandman making with Hamish and the kids. Hamish, one of the triplets, is my helper; Making sandcastle; Me and the kids having lunch together; Building the great barrier reef sand with the kids; Alex, me and Carrie; Another picture of us infront of our rhino sandman; Playing with the sand.
The pictures were taken by Gina Wills.

From left to right : Alex and George at the sunflower field; Dom and Tom; Me and kids singing the Kookaburra song for our performance; Me and Tim doing the Wombat Stew for the performance (Tim's the dingo by the way); Me and all the kids singing Kookaburra; Me at the sunflower field; Me and one of the kids, Beatrice doing the Miss Universe play for the performance; Treated at one of the local restaurants after our hard work performing, it's a battered pasta, it's super delicious; Me and Carrie playing red rover with the kids on the beach.
The pictures were taken by Gina Wills.

We left Lapedona yesterday (Sunday) and stopped by Florence to see Richard and Sandra again which was really nice. We left for Venice in the afternoon having gone through a slight problem with the bus not leaving from the bus station, instead it was leaving from the highway, which is absolutely ridiculous. So we ended up missing our bus but then we get to go on the fast train which I've always wanted to do, so that's good. Basically though, I am now SOOOOO over Italy!!!! Time to move on!!!!!

Poco Loco Italiano

Italy: Naples - Rome - Florence - Lapedona

The past two weeks has been a crazy, overwhelming and exciting days. After our trip through old town Bari, we went through the beautiful Amalfi Coast and settled ourselves down for a couple of days in Naples, where we enjoyed the ruins in Pompeii and the amazing vast Vesuvius.

We had a magical experience in Pompeii, where we entered an area that was somehow blocked, and parked infront of the Order of Malta building. We were able to park there for free and was welcomed to have our lunch at their dining area where we were given water and also asked to sign in their guest book where we also saw the Pope sign in their book previous days. After lunch, one of the guards gave us a little tour to the top of the tower where we could see beautiful view of Pompeii and Vesuvius. We were definitely overwhelmed by the generousity. It was a pretty amazing experience.

As we hit Rome, we parked at the public parking area to do some errands and came back with the car window broken in to and all of our bags missing. It was rather devastating having the feeling of losing our one and only home, but immediately the night the incident happened, we experienced one of the most magical nights of our lives. The universe was kind and generous enough to give us the luxury of having the perfect camp fire, eating fantastic food, spectacular view, nice calm night, amazing stones and entertained by the dance of fire flies. We were absolutely blessed.

After fixing what needed to be fixed, we headed towards Florence and met the wonderful Richard and Sandra. It's always been great to see them especially after what had happened, it was really comforting to see them.

After Florence, we headed to Lapedona, where we are now. We're volunteering at a house for 3 weeks, where I am also teaching English at a children's camp which so far has been fun and interesting.

Pompeii (the first picture was with one of the guards of Order of the Malta who gave us a little tour to the tope of the bell tower to see Pompeii view.

Vesuvius and a little bit of Florence (unfortunately I couldn't take plenty of pictures of Florence because my camera charger was one of the stolen items. So I can't take lots of pictures yet. :-(

This photo was taken by Richard and Sandra in Florence. Thank you guys. Love you both so much.

Lapedona (view of the place we are staying at the moment)

Road Trippin Italy

Amsterdam - London - Sicily - Reggio Calabria - Heel of Italy - Amalfi Coast - Naples

From left to right: Barbecue at Sil's place; On the moped with Sil and Bodi; Flight from London to Sicily; Mats under water in Mascali, north of Catania; Me and Mats on Santa Ana beach, Sicily; On the way to Mascali train station; Valley of Temples, Agrigento; One of the ruins at the Valley of Temples; Me, posing away; Mats on one of the ruins; Mats in front of the temples; Falling Angel; Ruins of temples; temple ruins, Agrigento; Leaving Sicily towards main land

From left to right: Mats posing away in Pizzo; Pizzo beach where we stayed for 2 nights; Pizzo, where it's famous for its gelato; Pizzo; I found a huge blow plant thing that I don't know the name of which I tried to blow the first time as seen on picture and failed; We rented a car in Lamezea Terme and started our road trip and this is our first home for the night; Watchin the sunset on our first night road trip; Then we headed to the end of the heel of the boot and this is far south; Italy town; Coast drive on the east coast Italy; This is the end of the heel; One of a villa on the east coast of Italy; Drive on the east coast of Italy; Our next home on one of the cliffs on the east coast; Our home for the night; Our beautiful view; Watchin the sunrise from home

From left to right: Us in our home driving away in Italy; The church at Alberobello; Trulli style building in Alberobello; Beautiful Trulli style houses in Alberobello; Our next home for the night on the beach on the east coast; Amazing super old looking olive trees on the east coast; One of the olive tree growing in to the retaining wall; Church in old town Bari where the old houses are still occupied by the locals, it's really a nice walk there with clothes hanging and smell of tomato paste in every part of town that makes your stomach rumble; San Nicola church in Bari; Same; Mats and I infront of one of the houses in old town Bari; Me posing away infront of the Roman ruins; Ghost town Candela where we tried to find food but everything was shut and no one was there to ask; Old town Bari; Almafi coast drive

Amsterdam oh Amsterdam

London - Amsterdam

After our short stay in London, we hopped on the bus that took 12 hours altogether to get us to Amsterdam.  We got to Amsterdam early in the morning and went straight to our beautiful and lovely friend, Silvana who lives at the North side of Amsterdam. Silvana lives in an apartment block that has the best views of Amsterdam where you can see the sunset each evening and sunrise each morning.

We stayed for 2 weeks with Silvana and Bodi, her super smart, full of character Amercian Bulldog. The first few days, Amsterdam was covered in rain then after that the weather has been really nice and sunny. As it has now been the third time I visited Amsterdam, we didn't do much cruising around.

It has been the most relaxing time this last couple of weeks, as Silvana has made us feel so much at home and feel so comfortable. Thank you our beautiful, charismatic, and sweet Silvana for sharing your beautiful home with us.

Thanks also to my awesome mate, Manuela for the great company and delicious lunches we've been having. Good luck on your travels and I'm so so so so happy for you.

From Left to Right: Last day in London; On the bus to Amsterdam; At the park having lunch with pigeons; Amsterdam!! One of the bridges that we walked through when Manuela took us for a walk; Having a little walk with Sylvana and Bodi; Bodi, the super cute snazzy dog

From left to right: Sylvana and Bodi; Me, Syl, Mats and Bodi (love this pic); A DJ live concert we saw from Syl's balcony, the stage was awesome with fireworks and everything; Night view to city centre from the apartment; Day view to the city centre; Some random pavement art I happen to saw at the red light district.

Addendum Heather

My travel lately has been really intense and I have managed to fit in some time to write my blog yesterday but realiseed that I should've taken more time to write it as I realised that I haven't written about the most important person of my UK trip.

Heather, this blog is especially for you.

From the first day I arrived in England, through you, I was saved by your mom from getting stuck in a town I was not familiar about at all in the middle of the night.

As I finally saw you for the first time after a few years, I couldn't help my tears running down my cheek. You radiate so much energy of love that  it just made my heart melt.

You took me in as part of your family for Christmas and I experienced one of the best Christmas celebration in my life. The love your family have given me made it so perfect and it was very special.

We went to Edinburgh together and had the best and craziest time celebrating Hogmanay with our friends and people we met there and especially with our cheeky monkey, Vince. Our New Years Celebration was definitely my best New Years ever, especially when we braved ourselves and made the effort to do the Looney Dook together. It made everything become even more perfect and the best.

Bristol has been my home for times and I want to really thank you for giving me and Mats shelter and such comfortable bed and for sharing your food with us.

Heather, my beautiful sister, one of the purest soul I've ever met, a strong minded and big hearted young woman with beautiful dreams that will change the world and the most fun, loving and caring person I have come accross with. Thank you so much for being you and for being there for me. I wish I could express my love and appreciation more, but I know you feel it.

I hope I'll see you again soon. I love you so so so very much.

Kicked out of Stonehenge

Cirencester - Glastonbury - Bristol - Salisbury - London

After working with Sue on her garden at Cirencester, we decided that it's time for a break from working. So, we headed off to Glastonbury to go up to the Tor and feel the energy from one of the earth's chakra.

Glastonbury is such an interesting town. It's like a constant festival, where people can just dress how every they like. Everyone were individuals and depending how they perceive your energy, they would smile at you or try to avoid you.

We walked up to the Tor, but not to forget to stop for some water from Chalice Well, then climbed up the steps towards Tor. On the way, we met Rick O'Shea, who is a native Irishman and have travelled the world following his heart where he has been adopted by his ancesters in South America. He was a very interesting man. We continued on walking up to the Tor and heard some drummings and followed the sound.

As we got there, we saw a few people drumming and chanting, so we looked for a spot where we could meditate and Mats lead our meditation synchronized with the music playing. It was beautiful and the energy was really strong.

On the way back, we met Rick O'Shea again and talked to him for a longer time before we said goodbye.

From left to right : Mats working on the garden; The chicken house we built; Sue's beautiful garden view from our bedroom; Mats watering the garden; Glastonbury Tor; Steps to Glastonbury Tor; The viw from the Tor; White Dove in front of a house; Chalice Well; A monument in front of our hostel; The Tor; Mats on top of the wall to the Abbey

Glastonbury felt like home. My visit there was too short, but I as I followed my heart, I found the answers and things that I needed to find there. But I will definitely come back one day.

We then continued on travelling to Bristol to say goodbye to Heather, as we won't be around the area for a while now once we hit London. We had a really nice time in Bristol and luckily it was Heather's day off the next day so we stayed up almost all night.

The next day, we left for Salisbury where I have booked a place to stay which is a Midieval town house. This is probably the oldest house I've stayed in my life. It was built around the 1400s.

At Salisbury, we met Mark and his family.  Mats met Mark a few months ago on his first visit to Salisbury. Mark, Kate and Harry picked us up and we went off to Stonehenge together. Stonehenge was full of regulations where people were herded like sheep everywhere. 'You must go here, you can't go there, Walk in a line, Bla bla bla' I found it really ridiculous, especially that this world heritage belongs to everyone in this world built by our ancestors.

Anyway, as we walked closer and closer to the stones, the energy became stronger and stronger. Everyone had to walk around the stone and could not pass the line to walk to the stones. The lines were only open during winter and summer solstice, only 2 days in a year that the 'government' allows people to touch the stone.

I thought that I won't be here during the summer solstice nor the winter solstice and I had a great urge to feel the stone. I had to give some of my energy to the stone and I needed to accept some as well. So without thinking twice, I jumped over, actually, more like tripping over, the line and ran to the stone and felt it. It was one of the most overwhelming feeling I ever had, it was definitely a mix of adrenaline rush and the energy from the stone.

One of the guards then came after me and we had a chat. I expressed my feelings and thoughts and he still told me off and we had to leave the premises. That's when Mats said "Yes, the cattle must be herded" and that really shut the guard up. Becausae he knows for sure that it's true and it is ridiculous as he claims to be pagan but treats humanity as sheep.

Anyway, so, we left and went back to Mark's place where we spend the whole day chatting and playing with the kids.

I felt really proud of myself for having done what I did. I would have regreted it if I didn't touch the stone.

From left to right: The midieval town house we stayed at; Perdy the cute friendly dog from the house; Inside our room; Mats in the room; The house from the backyard; The massive church at Salisbury; Same church; same church; The oldest clock located in the church; Me touching the stone; The guard chasing after me

The next day, we headed off to London where I booked a place in Roehampton. From a luxurious classic midieval town house, came to a dodgy mangky apartment. But it turns out we were brought to Roehampton for a reason where we met a really interesting guy in the morning on our way to the city.

We went to the Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and also saw the Eye. Then I thought that would be enough touristy things for me. So we headed off to China Town to get some dinner.

Our next trip after London is Amsterdam!!!!! Yaaaaaaaay!!!!

From left to Right: Princess Diana's memorial; Big Ben; Buckingham Palace; Squirrel's everywhere; A tower alongside a river; A church; Fountain infront of the Buckingham; Crossing the river; Us under the Big Ben; An interesting church as we were cruising around the city.