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Last week I went to visit my friend Christian in Zürich, Switzerland. It was 3 days of fun, hanging out, eating loads of food and getting into trouble. This time we were doing stuff in Zürich like going to the Zoo which is one of the coolest Zoo’s I have been at.

There were also daily cook-outs and there are also some pictures of them – the most funny pics were taken with my iSight camera though!

We have also made some videos but I have to find some time to edit them first before uploading them. They are really funny, especially the one were the Swiss cops get on to us because they thaught we were smoking weed in the park with Christians waterpipe hehehe – and we have it all on tape! Of course we were NOT smoking weed but apple scented Shisha tobacco which doesn’t even include nicotine – but nevertheless we were falsely accused of being teenies trying to get high ;-)

This summer has been quite busy with respect to travelling around. It started of with a trip to New York where Christina and I went to the states to see the Big Apple. Shortly afterwards the two of us went on to Croatia for a week to enjoy the last holiday before the daily routine of work starts for both of us.

Then, as it has been agreed upon in Edinburgh, Marsha and Michael came for a visit. We did a bit of sight seeing, going out and even went hiking in the Salzkammergut. Two days later Christian, came for a five day visit during which we made Austria unsage ;-). We went hiking for two days on the Dachstein and spend two days in Vienna. It was a short but intense visit!

This morning I have returned from my five day visit to Switzerland. It was a very nice trip and I really got to see a lot: Zürich, Bern, Thun, Aiger, Mönch and Jungfrau and we even went down the downhill race in Wengen where the ideal line is marked during the summer. Of course there are many pitures in the gallery

Early Monday morning (5 o’clock), we got up and had a massive british breakfast to keep us going all day. First we went to the Edinburgh bus station where we took a bus to Glasgow. Then we went to the Glasgow central train station where after some big confusion and error made by the train company we managed to miss our train. Well, it wasn’t so bad after all since the bus company paid for the taxi which got us to Adrossan harbour where we just missed our ferry by 5 minutes :( which meant we had to wait for 2.5 hours for the next one.

But after all we managed to cross the 11.5 mile channel between Arran and Scotland and promptly proceeded to the bus at Brodick which took us to our youth hostel in Lochranza, located at the very north of the island. During our 45 minute bus ride we even saw some seals.

After we arrived at the youth hostel we went for a short trip and discovered things nearby our hostel. Basically we saw and hunted many sheep – by the way sheep hunting is great fun – and discovered seals, deer and many interesting birds.

Afterwards we went back to the hostel to enjoy a large portion of pasta and pesto (our standard evening meal on Arran). We were pretty tired after the first day, and I think I was the first one who fell asleep at 9.30 p.m.

Initially we wanted to climb on the Goatfell but bad weather conditions made us change our minds on Tuesday. So we went around the Cock of Arran which turned out to be great fun and the right thing to do considering the bad weather. There are loads of pictures in the gallery from that trip.

On our last day we made a trip around the island with the bus, went to eat at a nice restaurant in Brodick and then started our journey home back to Edinburgh…(bye bye beautiful island)

Today my sister Ines came to visit me over here in Edinburgh. The first thing we did of course was to fill our bellies with a delicious vegetarian meal. Yes you heard right – I made a meal with NO MEAT.

Afterwards we went down Princess Street and dropped by Starbucks since that was something Ines wanted to do. The one on Princess Street is really nice because it offers a wonderful view of the Edinburgh Castle.

We also made some pictures of todays adventures. On monday we are goig to Arran Island for 3 days – that will certainly be a cool adventure. So stay tuned….

The past few days Christina visited me up here in Edinburgh. It was really nice!!

On the first day we went to The Jazz Bar only to discover that they had a spanish night. But we were not too disappointed since the performance was really OK.

We also spent one day visiting almost all stores on Princess Street and then headed over to Calton Hill, which is located at the very end of Princess Street and offers stunning views over the town of Edinburgh.

On Sunday Christina took me out to eat to The Pizza Express, it was very delicious. And then, on Monday, we finally went to Inverness, in order to go see Loch Ness and Nessie. It was a really pretty trip and we really had luck with the weather too, as you can tell by looking at these pictures and videos.

On Wednesday we went to Portobello Beach again to enjoy a wonderfull beach and strong winds :). In order to round up the wonderful day, we went to the “White Heart Inn” – one of my favourite pubs in Edinburgh – in the evening.

This Wednesday I went to Stirling with Klaus in order to see the Wallace Monument, Stirling Castle and many other little things in and around Stirling.

It was a very nice trip partly because we had very nice weather. But don’t let the sunshine fool you! Up on the Wallace Monument it was very very windy and cold!

We also went to see Argyll’s Lodging, the most complete surviving example of a seventeenth century town house in Scotland. Klaus has also published a story about our trip.

Semester break in England is from the 11.-18. of February and thus Christina came up here to Edinburgh to visit me and see a little bit of Scotland. This time we even had more luck with the weather :). As usual we made some very nice pictures.

We went to see Glasgow for a day. It was a nice trip and we have seen the most intersting parts of town.

The day before our Glasgow trip we went to the Ocean Terminal shopping center in Leith where the Royal Yacht Britannia is located.

On Wednesday we made a day trip to Pitlochry where the picture with the waterfall was taken. We also went to a Whiskey Distillery and made a very interesting tour there. I am now a whisky expert! Since Pitlochry is also known for its nice walks we made the Edradour tour where we saw a beautiful waterfal and some very nice scenery.

We also went to see the Edinburgh Castle. I still had some vouchers so we could go in for free. There are 2 museums in the castle and the view over Edinburgh is just terrific.

I also finally had the chance to go to the Doctor’s Pub with Christina. A place where Christian (hello to Switzerland) and I went to eat the famous Ben Nevis Burger :). Well, the week went by quickly and Christina had to go back to London because school started again and I had to get busy with university again. But it was a very nice and exciting week!

The day before my return to Edinburgh Christina and I went to see Jakob, Bernie and Deep , three friends from home who also spend a semester abroad, namely in Oxford at Oxford Brooks University. After having some trouble finding out how to get there, we finally found the bus station in London where the Oxford Tube would pick us up and transport us to Gipsy Lane Campus in Oxford. Shortly after our arrival Jakob picked us up and showed us the way to their university dorms. Afterwards we got a guided tour by Jakob and Bernie through Oxford. Even though it was already a little dark, it was very interesting.

Then we were invited to have dinner prepared by our gourmet chef Bernie. The meal was delicious and we had a very very good time and a lot of fun! Of course there are also many fotos and even videos from this event.

After a wonderful and quiet night in a huge bed, we – Christina and I – got up, had some breakfast and went to London. First we wanted to go see Madame Tussauds but the queues were so big that we decided to do something else.

Instead we went to see Chinatown. There we went to a little Chinese shop were we explored many new food varieties. I even got myself some chilli noodle soup. From there we headed on to the german film festival where we saw a very good movie.

After the movie we went back to Chinatown and wondered around a little more before we went on to a very nice pub to get some good food.

On the 25th of November at 6 o’clock in the morning I left Edinburgh in order to go see Christina in Watford, north west of London. I was travelling by train and it took me about 6 hours to get to Kings X station where Christina was already waiting for me. First we went to get some hot chocolat in order to catch up on each other and then we went to see Camden Town, one of my favorite places in London.

Since I am a really hungry person (everyone who knows me will agree on that one), we went to one of the many little food places at Camden. By looking at the picture it is not hard to guess that we went to a Chinese place. After it got dark we decided to go to Watford, where Christina lives. We took a train from Euston Station which took us to Watford Junction. At Watford Christina gave me a guided tour through town and showed me around. At night we went to a local pub for a well deserved pint of Guinness. At the pub I also met one of Christinas friends, namely Katherine (I hope I spelled her name correctly). We had quite a good time at the pub together.