a blog by hayden

Although we were apart from our family and friends, Christmas in London is a lot more…authentic. It’s actually cold, roast turkey makes the menu and the city erupts into pockets of tinsel and twinkling light displays. It’s also complete chaos. We’re ready for 2012 now please…

We set off for Brussels with only a few, very simple activities on our “to do” list: eat waffles, eat mussels, eat chocolate and drink beer. Luckily, in Brussels there’s barely a street without a chocolate shop and a pub. Oh, and there’s some other stuff too…

London has really come into its own now that we’ve got a bit more disposable income and can afford the odd long weekend away. Two hours on a train and voila, you’re in Paris? We’ll take that.

Having finally settled down to full-time jobs, permanent flat-shares and a little bit of money (or at least, a little less debt), it was time to start sightseeing again. Cue the south-west towns of Bath and Beer, and the continued explorations of larger-than-life London…

A collection of the sights we’ve seen, the friends we’ve met and the beverages we’ve enjoyed throughout England over the past couple of months.

Even though it rained almost non-stop for the three days we were there, we loved Berlin. It’s a city that actually seems to have been planned and built with the needs of the people in mind. What a novel idea.

During WWII, Dresden was bombed to bits by the Brits. Many of the buildings have been re-built, but it’s easy to see where old meets new. And that sums up Dresden: a bit of old, a bit of new and a whole lot of rain.

Nuremberg is your ultimate stereotypical European town with its cobbled stone streets, picturesque river and hilltop castle. Over three days we clocked the sights and soaked up the culture in some of the best weather we’ve had since Italy. And ate tiny sausages.

A couple of days after we left Munich we met a backpacker who was on his way there. He asked us what he should do while he’s in town. This is the answer: drink beer, eat meat… and drink beer.

If you’re into the outdoors and adventure sports, Interlaken is a dream stop. We spent three days hiking, hang gliding and admiring the most incredible views yet. Just make sure you’ve got plenty of cash, coz pretty doesn’t come cheap.