Last time I posted we were about to go to an NHL hockey game on our last night in Canada... and what a night. The game itself was awesome: the Toronto Maple Leafs ended up winning 5-4 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, in a see-saw edge-of-our-seats contest. In addition to nine goals, there were a couple of fights, including an awesome one-on-one (just after Nelson, Jen's cousin, had finished bemoaning the Americanisation of hockey and the fact there were no figh...

As I mentioned in the Egypt installment, I was quite sick on our last day in Cairo, and our 12 hour flight to New York (JFK) was undertaken with its fair share of trepidation. The three movies (Forbidden Kingdom, C+; X Files: I want to believe, F; and Hancock, B-) helped pass the time, and apart from one visit to the toilet after the 'evening' meal didn't agree with my tender innards, the flight was survived. I began to feel a bit drained as we waited 1.5hrs at...

We arrived in Cairo as the sun was setting on my 26th birthday. Just as in Italy, no customs official wished my happy birthday when perusing my passport :( We knew we had to get visas on arrival, but finding just where to buy them was tricky (turns out the 2 bank branches before the passport control are there for that). Getting a cab was a muddled affair too, but after being passed from fluent English-speaking taxi representative to broken-English speaking fau...

[There's a 15 minute limit to internet use here in our hostel in Rome, so this will be brief initially, but hopefully I'll be able to fill in some more details over the next few days... fingers crossed] The Italian leg of our homeward journey breaks down into four sections: Florence - 3 nights Florence was cold but dry. We saw all the sights, except Michelangelo's David (the copy was being restored and paying to see the original was not value for money compar...

We arrived in Hamburg on the 21st, and spent the next three days chilling with Peter and Sina. We checked out the big Weihnachtsmarkt (Xmas Market) in the centre of the city which was really cool (but closed at 9pm which seems a bit early), and a smaller market with a skating rink. We also played a lot of PS3. Then it was up to Schleswig-Holstein for Christmas with the rellies. Christas Eve had a big meal (wild boar, lamb, rosenkohl, rotkohl...) at Sina's parent...