Here is a video I have compiled of my eurotrip progress! Enjoy! I’m afraid it’s not viewable in Germany, but Canada, America, and England can watch it just fine (music copyrights). If anyone else really wants to see it there are proxys that you can use.

Looking back at Honley as we began our hike

A nice view of Castle Hill through an old gate... HDR

Sheep... In HDR!

My dad and his nephew

A nice view of the village of Meltham

My dad again

Some of the sought after Holly

After visiting the traditional holly bush we continued walking and saw some of the other sights of the Holme valley.

Like ponies!

Friendly ponies!

Mooore Mooors

Part of one of the resovoirs of the area

An HDR shot of the Castle on Castle hill - Huddersfield's pride.

And it's medieval well next to it - the inside is filled with bright green plants growing

The green insides

Merry Christmas everyone!

After a late tea, I went to bed – exhausted after my day of travel. The next morning we took a hike up West Nabb – the tallest hill in the area. They say on a gin-clear day you can see coast to coast of England, East to West!

Driving through Melthan to get to West Nabb

Walking up along the road

Standing in the ruins

Peak of West Nabb

My dad on the peak!

Myself on the top!

A nice view of the sun from the top

After wards we took a walk through the village.

Holmefirth village

Palm trees!

My dad's first home (in the middle, the lighter coloured right third is an addition)

We bought some traditional fish and chips and continued wandering around the village.

A nice old telephone booth!

Heh heh.

Münster lies about 3-4 hours west of Braunschweig – just outside of Lower Saxony (where our student permit gives us free train rides), so we went as far as we could in Lower Saxony (to Rheine) and then took another regional train for a few euros to get to Münster.

We arrived late Friday night with a bit of time to practice on trampolines. Afterwards we had a late dinner of pasta and a few beers we went to sleep in the gym. Around 2AM somebody turned the lights on by accident, and it took atleast 15minutes and maybe 20 people to tryand figure out how to turn them off (it was the circuit breaker). People repeatedly hit the buzzer switch instead -HONKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK-.

The next morning after breakfast we moved to the competition hall:

The competition hall

Some of the judges

The competitors list

There were 3 parts to the competition -  a set level routine, a freestyle routine (10 jumps, anything you want), and a 6-person syncro routine. For our syncro routine we decided to do a theme… we all wore pajamas.

Here’s the video: http://vimeo.com/17727410

Two of our group of six won gold in their categories! (as you can see in the video) I didn’t win but I was competing in a higher level because of my backflipping ability, it was still alot of fun!

Wee!

Our pajama team!

The trophies!

Our team at the podium

Attempting a 2-person flag

Our team again

That night there was a party in another school hall, we were the last ones there until they closed at 5:00AM – then we had a massive snowball fight.

All in all, a great weekend.

When we told him we were going to live in Germany for 8 months, he invited us to come visit his pub in Poland! Yes, that’s right. His family owns a pub/bar! It’s awesome.

So a few weeks ago we told Rob to get in contact with him (since he also speaks Polish) and it was all planned out! He gave his cousin the train times and the rest was simple!

We took a ICE (inter-city-express) to Berlin, and then a regional train to Zary – the whole ride was only about 4 hours! As we chug-chugged into the city on our regional train, I spotted the pub! It’s hard to miss, being neon green and all!

PUB MAX! Sorry for the dark photo, forgot to take one during the day! It's a bright green neon building!

As we pulled into the station, I spotted our friend, Mateusz waiting for us. He had been learning english for the past few months so we were able to communicate a bit!

He took us to his car and asked if we were hungry, we were, so he took us to the pub. Got us some beers, and a big plate of ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS PEROGIES! It was awesome.

After that he took us back to his house, showed us around, and next thing we know, his mother called us down for an afternoon snack (not an hour after the perogies) – some more equally delicious fried pastry things! It’s times like this that I really wish I was fat and could eat more food.

We then went into the city:

Some of the typical buildings

Mateuzs und Heinz

A bar similar to Phil's Grandson's Place (More commonly known as Phils) in Waterloo... inside joke for those in Waterloo...

The old city hall, if the translation was right...

Again

...I forget.

Looking up at...

A big tower!

Napolean's gate! He walked through there once upon a time...

A cool wooden playground inside the... wait for it... FREE WI-FI PARK!

Some more history here - in WWII, Hitler stood upon this very hill giving a speech to his troops below.

Another view of the hill

One of Zary's many churches

Very pretty inside

City street

After walking around for a few hours, he took us to his favorite Kebab and Pizza place – According to him, the fastfood equivelent of Harvey’s back in Canada! It was delicious and filling – I also learned that Kebab doesn’t necessarily mean its on a stick…

We wandered around a bit more, checked out another church that opened later, and then headed to the Pub for a nice calm evening. We had some drinks, played some pool, and some PS3 on the big 60″ flatscreen upstairs in the club portion of the pub! (there was no club event that night).

A picture of all 3 of us!

The next morning we awoke to have breakfast, followed by lunch an hour later! So much food! So delicious! Why do I have such a small stomach?!

We went for a walk with John, Mateuzs’ father. He took us through a nearby forest to an ancient watch tower!

Crossing through

Some crazy houses!

A public pool!

The tower!

Unfortunately it was fenced off =(

After the walk (about 10km) we returned home for a delicious dinner, and then headed to the pub again, this time for a club night!

We arrived around 6PM, and were told it goes until 5AM – lots of time there! He offered us beers, but since we prefer mixed drinks, we asked for a mixed drink instead… He said no, because we would be here so long, we don’t want you to go sleepy! So we had a beer, and actually, it was quite good! We played some pool for a bit and people slowly started coming in to the pub. Later on we have our first shot – a Hot Dog. Strawberry syrup, vodka, and tabasco sauce. Delicious! He starts telling us about these crazy shots, shows us a picture, and a few minutes later, he’s made a tray of 8 of them. Just for us. Our mouths kinda dropped. They were really good – some kind of vodka blend! He tells us the next shots will be upstairs in the pub. We play a few more rounds of pool and darts, and head upstairs. Sure enough Mateuzs has made us another tray… of 8!

I forget what they were called...

We grin stupidly and throw some back! He warns us to slow down. Time goes by, the live music starts, mostly Polish, but alot of english hits too! He pours us another tray of 8, after we do a few more Hot-Dog’s with some other Polish people. It’s getting late, and we decide to rail all 4 shots back each.

We pushed the tray back across the counter. He laughed, and then pulled out a 750ml bottle of Polish vodka, and set it on the bar in front of us, along with a bottle of orange juice and a cup.

The bottle of Vodka. Bottle service, if you will.

We almost finished it. Unfortunately, some girls started dancing on top of the bar, and everything was cleared off (including our last bit of vodka). Oh well. I probably would of been out cold if I had finished it.

Our awesome bartender!

We go downstairs and his mom makes us burgers. BEST FREAKING BURGERS IN THE WORLD (I had one the night prior). SO GOOD.

The best burgers in the world.

5 minutes later, she makes us some amazing perogie soup for me, Ian, Mateuzs and his pub friend. EVEN MORE DELICIOUS!

The amazing soup!

Sadly it was around 2-3AM and I was getting tired, so his dad drove us back to the house to sleep.

The next morning we woke up around noon (our train left at 2:40pm), had a good buffet style breakfast, and go hangout with Mateuzs upstairs. An hour later we’re called back downstairs. Theres a bowl of soup before we leave for our journey. I was already full, but I thought I could finish the soup… 5 minutes into eating, and they bring out a full course dinner-size meal. My eyes bulge. It looked fantastic. But I was super full. I was very embarressed about not being able to eat it (it’s an insult not to eat food!) so I asked if I could have a bag… they weren’t mad! Heinz on the other hand really tried to eat it all.. and he almost did! But then we ran out of time, and had to catch a train. I did finish my soup though!

Heinz trying to eat it all.

We packed our bags, and I got my lunch-dinner all wrapped up. Mateuzs’ Mom gave us another bag filled with clementines, Prince-Polo’s (Polish chocolate bars) and tinfoiled wrapped objects – some food for the road!

What an amazingly hospitable family, I’ve never felt more at home… in a foreign country, in the middle of nowhere, and not knowing the language (they didn’t speak much english, the father knew the most).

Overall it was an absolutely amazing experience, and we’re probably going back there soon!

Mateusz and I!

Unfortunately we discovered they don’t work on the NordWestBahn trains (a separate train company for the north coast), so we ended up paying 28 euros for a day pass for 2.

We arrived in the city around 11:30, turned on our GPS, and headed for the coast. Instead we found an inlet.

Some nice apartment buildings, facing the city on this side, the sea on the other.

An abandoned mini-golf course

Now that's an outhouse.

An interesting statue

We made our way towards a bridge… to the coast… unfortunately it was under construction, so we made our way back into the city.

Found a bus stop that reminded me of home…

KW!

As we walked through the city we noticed a sign for a Flohmarkt! (a flea market). We wandered inside and found lots of antique goodies!
I ended up with a gold 17 jewel pocket watch, and Ian, a pewter shot glass! We also saw some old fencing swords but thought better of it… at the time.

We headed back to the coast, and this time checked out the Oceanis museum:

Oceanis!

It was pretty interesting, but aimed more at kids… there was a rather cool pirate game though…

In 3D! You got to aim and shoot the cannons at pirate ships, and a squid boss!

After that we went back outside and thought again of the fencing swords…

“You know… we might actually be able to bring those home… the handles might come off…”

“Hmmm…. your right….”

“But I only have 7 euros left…”

“Hmm… I only have 7.20 left…”

“If the shopkeep accepts, we take em!”

We wandered all the way back to the flohmarkt, and sure enough, the swords were still there. Unfortunately he didn’t speak a lick of english. A few other shopkeeps helped translate and we managed to barter the swords down to 14.20 for both. We were poor students.

Here’s a map of our first path..

I sheathed my sword behind my leather jacket and we continued to walk… all the way back to where we started, towards the bridge in the OTHER direction.

After another half hour, we saw this:

We crossed our fingers that the sea would be on the other side...

Thankfully it was.

The North Sea!

Just call me Duncan.

Oh yeah.

Two swords are better then one!

Fight!

Fighting!

AH MY EYE!

Bring it!

Another style...

Our swords... Made in Toledo, Spain! Perhaps antique!?

I christened mine in the sea (note the seaweed)

For reference, here’s the route we took back this time:

Route back to the train station

We removed the sword handles, and stuck the blades in Ian’s backpack. To any passerby… well we don’t know even know what they looked like… Some random pieces of metal.

Made it home in about 3-4 hours, and now the swords are safely resting on our walls – ready for our next duel.

We left Braunschweig early Saturday morning and arrived in Amsterdam around 14:00.

Amsterdam Central Station

Weather called for rain… and sure enough, rain it did! However it did let up at night!

We made our way to Dock 2, where our hotel boat awaited - the Friesland

Cozy room...

A nice view of the Amsterdam (VOC vessel recreation from the 17th century)

The other rooms

The hotel from the outside

The 17th century Amsterdam VOC vessel next dock over!

Standing on the bow (and no, that isn't a huge ship behind me, it's a ship-shaped museum called NEMO!)

The officers ate well at least...

Cozy

Captain's bed!

Some pistols

The bathroom's not half bad!

Bit small though...

Yar! FIRE THE LASERS OFF THE STARBOARD BOW!

PEW PEW PEW!

AVAST MATEYS! WE BE TURNING THIS SHIP ABOOT!

But first, a drink for your weary captain!

OM NOM GLUG GLUG GLUG

Nap time.

I don't remember vacuum cleaners existing in the 17th century...

After touring the ship extensively, we headed into NEMO, an interactive science museum (similar to the Science Center in Ontario). It was pretty interesting but a bit beneath our engineering prowess. We still spent a good hour or so in there though!

We started to tour the city next… Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera with me all the time, so there aren’t too many pictures…

Shiny.

Amsterdam's Bibliothek

Another view...

So that's how they build buildings!

Fast food vending machine

A Grand statue indeed...

A Palace

A plastic bicycle!

The Sex Museum (which we didn't end up visiting unfortunately...)

She had a beard (unfortunately you can't tell with this picture quality)

In my new Amsterdam swag. Glasses, furry hat, and scarf.

Wow. I don’t seem to have any pictures of the canals… or bridges… Looks like I’ll have to go back!

We wandered through the town, which was mostly empty!

We saw a structure on a hill and went to investigate…

A skeletal church?

We continued past and started climbing a dark staircase through a forest… we knew the castle was on top of the mountain, but we weren’t sure where…

Atleast there were lights...

5 minutes later...

A sign! Finally knew if we were on the right track or not!

Castle?

Found it!

After checking in, we headed back outside to explore the rest of the castle mountain…

The castle

Sitting in the battlements

The castle and I

Climbed up another stone building and got these pictures of the castle and Bacharach

Nice view of the Rhine, high speed train going by

A few of the mountain vineyard

In front of the castle

In front of the second building/rock

We headed back inside to have dinner – since it was November 1st, there were still some halloween decorations up… Spider spaghetti anyone?

It was quite good actually!

We woke up early and I attempted to do a time-lapse of the sunrise... Sadly, I didn't account for the height of the mountains. The sun never came up in the time we were there

Part of the castle in daylight

The vineyards

The town

City hall

Turns out you can see the castle from the train station... in daylight

We left Bacharach at 9:30AM, to be home in Braunschweig in time for a language appointment at 15:00PM.

Frankfurt train station

Made it home with plenty of time. This weekend we’re off to Amsterdam!