BRUSSELS-BELGIUM
Our second CouchSurfing experience was with Yannick, from the Congo in the beautiful Brussels! He was a great host to us for the three nights we stayed! We spent a whole day sightseeing, starting with a Cathedral, then off to the amazing Grand Place. Amazing buildings with golden details on them are in abundance. Whilst tasting a Belgium waffle we visited the Manneken Pis Statue! (Nik once again shared some with her T-Shirt) The weirdest thing we saw was the Atomium, that is a space-age structure, left over from the 1958 world fair! We also spent a day in Brugge. It's a very cool town with canals, churches and lots of shops and restaurants! Yannick took us to a popular drinking spot on our last night, Cafe Delirium! We tried a few different beers there, but with over 1000 choices we hardly scratched the surface. Deep down we were saving ourselves for our next destination.

MUNICH-GERMANY
Oktoberfest!!! What a weekend! We arrived a day before Oktoberfest officially started so we checked out Munic whilst we still could. Checking out the city centre and a quick trip out to Alianz Arena home of Bayern Munichen. We camped with a company called Pillow Adventures! Other companies camp there too. So it's a great atmosphere at the ground with lots of travellers, it was like Oktoberfest had already started. We met Johnny and Dave, from Leeds England, and decided to head into the Oktoberfest with them on the opening day! Waited for the mayor to "Tap" the keg at 12noon to have the first beer! 5 mins before 12 and it started raining... All day, and we were outside! But everyone just kept drinking steins, one Litre wells of local beer. We met some amazing locals and hung out with them all day! Then back to the same drinking hall for the next day! A sunny day so it was nicer to be outside! After a few steins we ended up inside the drinking hall and it was going crazy! Everyone stood on their chairs and sung and danced! We have never seen atmosphere like this before! Then it was an EARLY wake up for a day on the trains to Nice, France, which turned into a nightmare! A phone left in Munich, a very stimulated sniffer dog and then two of our trains were delayed which meant we missed our final train to Nice, so we had to sleep at a train station and wait for the 5.15am train! Not a great travel day!

NICE-FRANCE
What a relief to finally get here. Our hostel upgraded us to a private room with a double bed and ensuite. After our much needed sleep, we had breakfast (at lunchtime) with Kirsty! This was her last destination before heading back to Manchester. Nice is a very NICE place! It's quite picturesque, with some cool streets and beaches. The temperature was great too. We climbed all the steps to Parc du Château, where we got a fantastic view of the whole of Nice. And then ventured to a cemetery when the sharpest strike of lightening and the loudest clap of thunder started a terrible storm! Kirsty and Nic jumped in the air and practically ran away! So the storm looked like it had settled in, so 3 cheap bottles of wine were bought and UNO started! We were all well drunk when we headed out for dinner and salsa dancing! A little highlight Australians would enjoy is one of the supermarkets sold Tim Tams at a great price! So between the three of us 7 packets were purchased (one stolen from the hostel fridge) The next day Kirsty returned to Manchester, and we decided to stay one more night to organize a few things and relax because the next day was another early train to Spain!

BARCELONA-SPAIN
After our first train not coming we ended up arriving in Barcelona 2 hours later than expected. Our accommodation was out of the city, in a national park. A non-profit organization that had staff with certain disabilities working there. It was set up like a school camp in a way. We planned to see the sights of Barcelona on the Saturday but instead it pelted down with rain all day so the afternoon was spent at the La Rambla Market and watching a Liverpool match! The next two days were spent walking to all the things we wanted to see! We saw Plaça Reial, Monument a Colom (a statue of Columbus,) Parc de la Ciutadella (where a beautiful water fountain is.) The most popular sights of Barcalona are definitely the ones designed by Antonio Gaudí. The La Sagrada Família began being constructed in 1882, and will be finished in 2020. And we also visited Park Güell, filled with mosaics and Gaudí designed paths. Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys was a highlight for both of us. We thought it was incredible to be able to walk through ALL of the olympic grounds! It was built in 1927, it held the 1992 Summer Olympics, 1993/4 American Bowl and currently the OTHER Barcelona team 'Espanyol'. And we cant forget to mention visiting Camp Neu, Barcelona FCs stadium. Jackson always loves these adventures, where Nic could find better things to do with her time! The sights in Barcalona are endless and we covered many kilometers over the 3 days.

VALENCIA-SPAIN
This place is wonderful! The beach was a 45 minute walk through town. It was great to lay on the beach and relax! But us travellers still have to get our history fix and did a walking tour through the town led by a Scotsman, who fell in love with Valencia 4 years ago! We visited Jardine del Turia, once the city's river but now a park land stretching for Kms with Football and baseball fields, Running and Bike paths aswell, Romonanesque-Gothic-baroque-Renaissence Caterdral, where the Holy Grail is inside. Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciences (city of Arts & Science) which is a modern Museum Complex and finally we played on Gulliver Park. Its a children's playground on Lemuel Gulliver's massive figure! Lots of fun! Our hostel was great, best kitchen we've seen so far. All the guests would be in there by evening, hanging out, eating and drinking and having a great time! Something we feel Europe hostels lack at times