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30th June 2008
I am in Budapest for two days after coming from Malta via Bremen. I went for a cruise on the Danube today and took some photos.
I return to Bremen tomorrow for two days before going back to Malta.
I have officially changed my travel plans for later this year. I will update here when I get back to Malta.
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25th June 2008
Back in Malta feeling a bit tired. Went for my first swim, since arriving in Malta, today. Summer has arrived the forecast for this week is clear skies 31C max/21C min the sea is warming up and is now 23C. The beer is still 3C so everything is just about perfect.
I am going back to Bremen an then onto Budapest (Hungary) this weekend. I am starting to feel "Europed Out" and the cities are starting to all look the same. After this trip I am going to Pisa (Italy) and Prague (Czech Republic) in mid July then I am done travelling (I may go to Sicily on the ferry for a day trip) until I leave Malta in early October.
When I leave Malta I go to London, Dublin, Miami and then San Jose (Costa Rica). I am about to change my original plan and will probably stay in Costa Rica for two months instead of one. I will then go on to Phoenix and Honolulu (couple of days each) before returning to Australia in early December.
I have arranged to rent an apartment in Jomtien Beach (near Pattaya Beach) Thailand for twelve months starting 22nd January 2009.
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23rd June 2008
Now in Bremen. Spent most of yesterday walking around and taking photos of Bremen.
My Bremen hotel "Hanse Komfort Hotel" is a bit out of the city but is much better than the Stockholm experience. My Hotel Room is enormous.
When I visited Bremen last month I thought it was expensive but after Stockholm it seems cheap.
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20th June 2008
I have just spent the first of two days in Stockholm (Sweden). My first impression (on the bus from the airport) was that it was drab and boring with lots of apartment blocks like boxes (Think "Public Housing" apartment blocks) - reminded me of Glasgow (Scotland)
After walking around a lot the next morning and then taking a "Hop On Hop Off" Harbour cruise I changed my mind and it started to grow on me.
Stockholm is built on 14 islands connected by 50 bridges so it is quite spread out. The "Old City" is on an island and obviously Stockholm outgrew this small island.
I had complained about the cost of entry to public toilets in Bremen but Stockholm is much more expensive. The toilet at the main station cost 10 sek ($1.80) the same price as a coffee, but I only had Euro so the guy charged me 1 Euro (about $1.60) - Even in McDonalds it costs 5 sek (about 90cents) .
It appear that you cannot but full strength "take away" beer in Sweden, only low/mid strength (16sek per beer). The full strength beer in bars/restaurants costs more than three times the price of low/mid beer (50-60sek per beer - more than $10).
My "hotel" is pretty bad - the information on it when I booked was that it was a Hotel & Hostel in fact it is just a hostel. In fact it is a fairly run down old hostel. It is a collection of "Huts" with about ten "Basic" rooms in each with shared facilities.
The information on how to get there was misleading at best. It said it was a ten minute walk from the station (fare to station was about $7 each way) "Just follow the signs" the only signs were the international hostel sign which luckily I knew (no mention of the hotel name). I followed the signs and ended up back at the station. I asked a bus driver and he told me which bus to catch etc ("get of at this stop and then turn right and go "Through The Forest"). I eventually found the place but it was quite an adventure. They should offer a 50% discount just for finding the place. If you knew the way and walked quickly it would take at least twenty minutes to get there.
Tonight I planned to have dinner in the hotel's restaurant but I was told it was closed because only me and two other people were there. I asked to use the internet but was told it was broken.
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14th June 2008
I am now back in Malta after a three day trip to Paris via Gerona (Spain). I had also planned to visit Barcelona (about 100 klm from Gerona) but the plane was late and it was raining heavily so I had an early night.
Paris was good (I had visited before in 1992) and strangely the traffic appeared lighter than my last visit. I did a lot of walking and got quite tired. I think I may also be allergic to Paris as I got a coughing attack and my eyes went very red.
Cost of living is higher than I could happily live with (at least double Malta) and in my opinion Paris is "Just a City". Sure they have their museums and history etc. but the city appears to be a bit stagnant.
There is an area called Les Halles (close to the hotel I stayed in) that is possibly the ugliest development I have ever seen. It looks like someone had a grand plan (probably in the 1970's) that included extravagant architecture and a large underground shopping area. All I can say is the grand plan failed.
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8th June 2008
Caught the bus to Ghadira Bay to check out the beach there. I heard about it from a German guy who was staying there. The beach is quite large but the bus trip was too long for my liking so I don't think it will become my favourite beach.
When I returned to St. Julians I went for a walk around the coast and checked out the marina area which also includes the Hilton Hotel and several other resorts. I came across "Cat Village" - very strange.
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5th June 2008
My new camera finally arrived - it had been addressed wrongly with the country as "Morocco" instead of Malta.
I went out this morning and took a few sample photos
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