Whirlwind Tour of Europe

Dear Blog Land,

You may have noticed (or not) my absence this past month but I can explain it away with 2 reasons:

1. For the most part of the month I’ve just been living fairly normal life and getting to know my family. And whilst that’s been a really interesting experience for me, it’s not necessarily something I want to share with the whole world.

2. When I haven’t been doing nothing I’ve been gallivanting around the continent as such a non-stop pace that I haven’t had time to jump on WordPress.

I have thought about blogging many times but just haven’t had the occasion, somehow sitting on the Ponte Vecchio to watch the sun set has taken priority!

Don’t worry though, I’ve collected plenty of postcards so when I do get a moment to relax I will upload them :)

–Rebecca

xx

Driving By Lake Lucerne

Switzerland is one of those picturesque countries that conjure images of beautiful landscapes of lakes and mountains, as we witnessed when driving from Zurich down through the countryside to Lake Maggiore on the border with Italy. Had I been driving it would have taken at least 24 hours to complete the journey, partly due to the many precarious roads and tunnels but mainly because I would have been tempted to stop every 2 minutes to take a photo. As it was though we only stopped a few times; Mum and I convinced Dad to make an emergency stop on the road overlooking Lake Lucerne because the water was such an amazing colour we had to take a photo and later we pulled over for an afternoon-tea break alongside the River Reuss, where we naturally made it our mission to clamber onto the big rock you can see above. I may have a slight obsession with high heels and otherwise impractical shoes now but I still can’t resist a little bit of rock jumping and tree climbing, even if it means doing it barefoot.

–Rebecca

xx

Colourful Harbour of København

The sunshine that greeted us on our second morning in Copenhagen gave us the motivation we needed to head out on a canal boat trip around the city. On the way we couldn’t resist stopping to jump on the little trampolines near Customs House, trying incessantly to get that perfect mid-air photo. And then indulging in a few scoops of gelato (strawberry and banana mmm) as a reward after the workout. Even at 11 in the morning, crowds of people filled the cafes and bars that line the waterfront in the vibrant buildings you can see above; the harbour was beautiful and buzzing. The canal trip cost 70DKK (about USD$12), which really is quite good value compared to many city tours but is probably more than budget travellers are looking to spend when most things could be seen by foot. Still, cruising the city was enjoyable; you get a different perspective seeing things from the water and I was incredibly envious of impressed by the language skills of the guide, who presented everything in Dansk, English and Deutsch.

–Rebecca

xx

Sun Setting at Amalienborg Palace

Copenhagen has been on my travel bucketlist for a while (where ISN’T on my travel bucketlist?) but I’ll be honest, I’ve never really had a great deal of knowledge nor a significant interest in the Scandinavian region. Until I went to Denmark. The photo above is taken from the large, open courtyard of the royal palace, Amalienborg, where we are 99% sure that we saw Princess Mary cycling with 2 of her children. It’s such a lovely idea that the royal family could be so normal and real, a bit of a contrast to the British royal family. I felt right at home in Copenhagen; people everywhere were tall and light-haired and blue-eyed, bicycles looked like a luxuriously easy way of getting from place to place rather than a form of exercise and sharp modern architecture was neatly juxtaposed with beautiful old buildings and sculptures. It felt like somewhere I could quite happily live. Of course there is more to every place than meets the eye and I’m really in no authority to comment on Danish culture after the mere 48 hours that I spent in the capital, but it definitely captured my interest and I’m sure I will return. And very soon if everything goes to plan ;)

–Rebecca

xx

Samsung Global Blogger

Sorry for the slow blogging week! I’ve had a few interesting projects going on AND it was my birthday last weekend so as you can imagine I’ve been a little busy.

First things first (I’ll tell you about my birthday trip later), I came across a really exciting opportunity about a week ago; a competition to become a blogger at the London Olympics. Samsung is bringing a number of people from all over the world to explore the streets of London during the games in search of stories that capture the atmosphere of London 2012. To enter we had to make a 30 second audition video. Naturally, with my tendency to over-complicate the simplest of concepts, dozens of convoluted ideas flew through my head: using the Olympic rings for 5 reasons I should win, then linking up those colours to the lines of the London Underground; catching a train to London to shoot my audition; including photos of me as an adorable child at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. My 30 second video had suddenly become the storyboard of a feature-length film.

With my little brother at the Sydney Olympics