Summer.

Dear G,

I miss summer.

OK bye.

This is how I usually spend summer in Australia: by swimming and snorkeling at the beach and eating chicken burgers; by making sangria and having a girls night; by running around in the warm breeze and complaining about my freckles; by eating prawns with friends and ice cream followed by a walk around the shops; by having salty hair and eating mangoes and strawberries; by taking my dog for a walk and then a swim and lying by the pool; by turning my pillow over at night to the cold side and having Sunday afternoon drinks at the pub in the sun and enjoying day light savings; by dreading the on set of winter and wishing that summer would last forever.

RAOK'd

Dear G,

People here are nice.

OK Bye,

Sitting in a bar surrounded by men, sport and beer is not an ideal way for me to spend a Saturday night. Also, the man I sat next to growled at me. Who does that? It is not very welcoming, but I am a tourist so maybe that is his game plan? Growl at the tourists and they will disappear?

Despite the growl, striking up a conversation with him seemed more interesting than soccer, not to mention his friend had a puppy!

Of course we talked about food. What else is there to talk about? I asked him questions like, where is your favourite place to eat? Where can I get a BBQ chicken? Where shouldn’t I eat? You know, just the usual stuff. His advice was to cook it myself and with that he left.

“Here you go, I bought you a chicken.”

Music to my ears!

He had returned with a BBQ chicken for me, on the condition that I didn’t share it with anyone.

I agreed and placed my chicken securely in my bag for later. There is truly nothing better than the gift of a BBQ chicken while having a few drinks.

This RAOK (Random act of kindness) made me laugh.

Wake up Sydney is an organisation dedicated to the kindness revolution. Turning RAOK's into a simple game of pay-it-forward. They suggest you could start by paying for coffee of the person in line behind you at the cafe and in turn hopefully that person will pay-it-forward.

"The feeling is magical!"

If you want to take things further you can order your free 'kindness cards' to indicate a ROAKing to the RAOK'd and encourage them to do the same.

I am pretty sure this man didn't mean to RAOK me, but buying a stranger a chicken ticks all the boxes.

I like magic, so I will see what I can come up with.

(pic we heart it.)

Poco Loco..

Dear G,

Eat your heart out.

OK bye.

It is about time a decent burger joint took some initiative and saved me the hassle (because it is such a hassle) of adding the most important ingredient to my burger – HOT CHIPS! Aka French fries, frites or whatever else … Mmmm.

Easily one of the best burgers I have eaten in awhile.

Poco Loco

47 rue Docteur PaccardChamonix Centre 74400

fat crap.

Dear G,

Fatty.

OK Bye.

It is supposed to snow this weekend leaving today my last opportunity to hike up to the Bossons glacier.

I know… hike! I am only in it for the view. My last hiking adventure, if we remember was the hardest thing I have ever done.

This was equally as hard. Actually it was steeper.

Recently my sister called me a fat crap. (you know which one you are!) This is partly true. Pizza is a regular in my ‘diet’. I have eaten it at least once a week, home made or bought, since about November last year. I worked in a pizza shop as well so becoming soft a squishy was a given. I am also unfit…. like I can’t walk up ten stairs without losing my breathe type unfit.

In ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, where Felipe and Liz are swimming, he says to her, "from a distance you are slim and slender but up close you are round and squishy." – That’s me all over.

So basically what I am trying to say here is that my ass needed a good work out today.

While I was climbing the only words going through my head were. I am not a fat crap… you are! That and the fact that I had already set out to climb this mountain, I couldn’t quit now. Could I?

The view from the top was amazing. I actually felt a little scared of the height while walking towards the ledge to grab a snap shot. Probably because of the two warning signs. The first saying interdit, (which I believe means forbidden) and the second was a picture of the little green man, only he was white and falling off a cliff. Poor guy, it would have been a mighty drop.

The way down took half the time and was triple the fun. I felt like I was flying. I jumped of every ledge, letting my hoodie flap in the breeze behind me… lol … idiot. I know, but there was absolutely no one else around, I could have sang my favourite tunes from Glee and no one would have told me to shut up.

Anyway I feel good after my hike.

(2 minutes in.)

(10 minutes in.)

Play with your food.

Dear G,

I found this picture of me.

OK Bye.

Annecy

Dear G,

Last road trip before returning the car.

OK bye.

Picture.

Brussels...

Dear G,

I really hate seeing kids pee in public.

Ok bye.

(picture from weheartit.)

I am walking along minding my own business when suddenly my eyes are a forced to view an image of something urinating in public. A dog? No, it’s actually a child. I find a child squatting in public disgusting. I have seen them pee on and in; car parks, poles in the street, plants, pavements and pool areas. I understand that they are just children and desperate times call for desperate measures but come on! I saw a little girl squatting on a pole along a major shopping street in Berlin.

In the last few weeks I have come from Berlin, a city that doesn’t mind if you relive yourself in public, to Amsterdam which is completely against it and finally to Brussels who's national monument is of what I despise - A little boy pissing.

(This is charming)

At least they have the decency to clothe him. This little boy statue has around 800 outfits to choose from, can you imagine have that many outfits??

In Brussels I tried nutty bakery treats, was briefly robbed in Mcdonalds, had all you can eat Pizza Hut, wondered around looking at shops and street art and found a beer that I actaully liked. All in all it was an eventful day!

Best nut snacks in the world.

Moeder Lambic - The beer specialists.

46 beers on tap and as the guide map says “these guys are walking beer encyclopedias.” This is no exaggeration. The bartender could describe and talk about every beer on tap, its flavour and before during and after tastes. Or you could describe what flavours you like and he will suggest something.

I had a Fruitee sucree – sweet & fruity and it was delicious.

Lachie had Blanches – White and wheat.

It had a hint of passion fruit or lyche but a horrible beer taste. Very sour.

We were given these to chew with our beer. They taste like nothing at first but have a kind of nutella after taste... not too bad.

Famous.

Dear G,

Read my guest blog.

Ok bye.

Roaming Tales

(picture from we heart it.)

Other than pot.

For 50 Euros you get 15 minutes, that is, if you can go the distance? The average male can apparently only last eight. So make that 50 Euros for eight minutes and she won’t even take her top off. They don’t do it for fun. They are businesswomen! Businesswomen that make around 30,000 Euros a month. Our dramatic tour guide Michael couldn't stress enough that sex workers in Amsterdam are businesswomen and nothing more.

Amsterdam is universally known for its openness to prostitutes and pot; their conservative government however does not like being seeing in this light. So I thought I might help them with a little list of things worth remembering Amsterdam for that doesn’t involve a suck and a fug or getting stoned.

(we heart it)

Febo.

Amsterdams version of fast food! Kind of like a vending machine for hot food and surprisingly not the worst burger I have eaten!

Bike riding – Amsterdam was made for bikes!

(we heart it)

Museums – The Van Gogh museum or visit the house where Anne Frank lived and wrote in her diary while hiding from the Nazis.

(we heart it)

Monuments such as churches and bridges.

In Amsterdam sailors stopping over for the night who did not have time to go to confession the morning of departure could go and see the priest the night before, pay a sum of money and confess any sins they were planning to commit before actually committing them and leave the next day with a clean slate.

Shopping glory

(excuse the language but the picture made me laugh)

(we heart it)

My favourite shops:

The American book centre… The most amazing book store I have ever been in.. As the coco boys would say. You want it? I got it!

Van de Kaart - a shop dedicated to post cards and paper craft. SO cute.!

Pancakes! – I had the most expensive yet most delicious pancake ever! The café is called Pancake! and yes that is right they only sell pancakes. Not just ordinary pancakes, pancakes in all different shapes and colours including pancake pie!!

This has inspired me to one day own my own pancake house! Mmm…

Cheese

(we heart it)

(OK absolutely nothing to do with cheese but came up when I searched 'cheese')

Street Art

Dumplings!

(we heart it)

Had the best steamed prawn dumplings ever – however the service was shite but apparently that is Amsterdam for you, you can’t rush a waiter/waitress.

Pee deflectors - Amsterdam does not tolerate urinating in public for which I commend them!

This is to stop intoxicated men coming out of pubs and clubs late at night looking for a dark corner to relive themselves in. If they do they will find themselves covered in their own pee! eww

On the weekends they bring out an array of portable urinals for men, (which, mind you, STINK!) but what what about the ladies?? Basically, too bad! The women of Amsterdam once protested at the lack of public toilets for women. They gathered on a bridge, lifted their skirts, squatted and peed! How could anyone ignore that! Not long after public toilets were installed for women. VICTORY!

Unfortunatly people started using them to sleep in and would rob and attack women with bursting bladders. So they closed them.

(Ladies public toilet - now just advertising space (my picture))

As long as you abide by Amsterdam’s three rules you will have an amazing time exploring, shopping, eating, learning, relaxing, partying, whatever tickles your toes.

1. Be discreet - don't go making an idiot of yourself in public

2. Do not harm anyone - obvious

3. Be good for business - Being a tourist you are doing just that!

Invader

and his space invaders..

Dear G,

A reality game. Find Space Invaders all over the globe and earn points on line.

I saw one in Paris as well on the side of the river while on a boat but I was too slow with my camera... devoooo

Ok bye.

Berlin.

BerlinBerlinBerlinBerlin...

Dear G,

Some more bits and bops from Berlin.

Ok bye.

Stickersstickersstickersstickers...

Sticker Gallery. I have never seen so many stickers! I had no idea such galleries existed!

Ok so this is awesome, there is a car yard across the street and at night a light shines the shadow of a flag in the yard on to the wall where the hand is... Not that I got to see it. But still Whoaa!

There are 6 like this painted all over Berlin. They say that it is do to with the grading system 1 being the highest and 6 being the worst. Therefore he paints a 6 on things that are broken or fail to work anymore. Apparently he has been arrested over 400 times but only charged once because he only ever paints over posters or things that are already broken.

I have mentioned Banksy before. I love that you know this a fake as the same guy that paints the 6 has painted 'faked' above it. Plus if it was a real Banksy I doubt it would still be there.

This is where European Pimp my ride took place.. YEww.

It's not always about how it looks but sometimes about how hard it would have been to do.

Don't take it personally.