Bern - Seville

Writing this from Seville, Spain, Easter Sunday.

Lucerne - short train ride from Bern. Lucerne is beautiful, mountains and lake right next to each other.

Zurich - met with Dennis (The Menace) Atzert and had more than a few beers. Had a great time with Cecilia (Stockholm with an English accent!) and Jarod from Melbourne who'd backpacked from South Africa through to Egpyt then flew to Zurich.
Truth told Switzerland gets a 'Fine' on the country rating. It's a little dirty and definitely more than European average of people littering and spitting in the streets (which is FOUL Europe, cut it out please)

Paris - what a city, pulled in about 18.30 and met up with Mohammed. Huge night rolled in at 6.30 in the morning having for some of the night been drinking 500mL glasses of VB on tap for Euro7.5. Did the usual Tower, Arc, Louvre, Champs d'Elysse etc. Caught up with Hugh D for a couple of beers too.

Ypres - this delightful town was completely destroyed in WWI by German armies not wanting Allied forces to shelter there. Ypres was a battleground for the whole war and the Commonwealth & German grave sites, battlefield tours and memorials were eye opening. It's hard not to reflect what a difference it is to be a 25 yo in 2009 than in 1914 (or 1939). Each night at the Menin gate (a gigantic gate with the names of all Commonwealth soldiers known to have died but whose remains can't be located inscribed) the Last Post is played. Some of the older people in the crowd were crying. The Australian memorial at the Menin Gate says that 313,000 out of 4,500,000 Australians volunteered to go to Europe for WWI.

Bordeaux - more than a little hungover / still drunk missed my train and had to cough up 68 euros for the next one as there weren't any Eurail places for days. Wine was good. Decide now that older French men are front-runners for the Euro Cup in Snoring.

San Sebastian - what a city! Before I went I knew of Basque language / culture / people in vague terms. Basque language cannot be proved to be related to any other language in the world! Enjoyed great pinxos (like tapas) and went to a Basque rap battle with a couple of American college students. Didn't understand a word but still had a great time.

Madrid - great city, starting to let up on the pace of big nights here. Good paella and so warm! Managed to get first sunburn since leaving Oz!

Barcelona - 4 nights in Barcelona, great fun, what a place. Even raining it was awesome. The photos for Mum's birthday were taken on the beach on a rainy day. My last day in Barcelona spent reading on the beach in the sun while people came around selling beer, henna tattoos and coconut.. I was very sad to leave and head to

Seville - 12 hours on the train and after a late night I hit Seville station at 2030 exhausted. Decided that no more drinking until I get back to Europe from Morocco. I spent 2 hours trying to find the hostel whilst all the holy week processions are going on. Seville has a definite Meditteranean flavour and the processions of hooded penitents are fascinating. Good tapas & coffee here too..

Tomorrow I'm off to Morocco via Algeciras. Even Lonely Planet can't say anything nice about Algeciras and I'm glad that I'm only there for minutes in transit to the boat to Tangiers. Back to mainland Europe on the 16th to begin an epic 24 hour train trip to watch Toulon v Toulouse on 18 April. Playing - Sonny Bill Williams, Tana Umaga, Michalak and Byron Kelleher for 37 Euro - brilliant!