Day 22 - Day 26 - Colorado Continued

22

Staying with two students has meant a welcome return to the best bits of Uni-life - beer, fast food and DVDs....who said backpacking life was hard eh? Extra special is the location were in - surrounded by a stunning mountanous terrain - we drove up to one of the highest points for some cracking views of the snow-topped Rockys. Imagine being able to do that sort of thing everyday at Nottingham, mental.

23

Good full day today. Valentines day - Guy headed out to find present for Emily, whilst I spent my time in shops reading some brilliant labels on some super hot chilli sauce labels, 'Anal angst' being a highlight....how Im still single I really dont know. Guy started scratching at the door and wagging his tail excitedly, so I took him for a long walk around the local creek. He didn't attack the other dogs so I gave him a pat on his head. Knocked up some pasta for our american pals that evening as a thanks for letting us stay. Ended night by pottering over to the local Stout pub - some of the strongest ales around apparently - about 8%. They went down a treat originally but the aftertaste was much like recieving a flying headbutt from a severley inebriated Glasweigan.

24

Climed up the local mountains - the Flat Irons...looks more impressive than it sounds, honest. It took all my strength and dtermination to get up...then I had a shower, put on my clothes and we went up to the mountain. Met an instructor on the way up, which was quite handy. Seemed to think we good, knowledgable climbing chaps...until we took out our panda mascot Pete and asked him to pose with it. Its funny how his pace going down the mountain seemed to quicken from that point on. Went out in the evening to a club called Foundry - was good to have a dance for the first time in an age. Guy introduced his trademark Booty bouncing shennanigans...there were no fatalities and only two concussions, so a good night was had by all.

25/26

My perfect Lazy day today. Lay in - Battlestar Galactica, England footy match, Thai takeaway, Lost, Beers, table football. Surley this was how God wanted us to live. The next morning, we said our goodbyes and thanks and headed off to airport.

SAN FRANCISCO - Day 26 - 32

Landed in San Fran pretty late an checked in at Amsterdam Hostel. Pretty ropey place. Walked gingerly into a ten bed dorm where we were metaphorically lasooed in the face by the fragant delights of 8 pissed up chaps. These were the highest bunks we'd come across and quite poetically they were the only ones without a ladder. I found a chair and elegantly leaped to the top, negotiating my feet away from the Columbian below, and pulled myself up to safety. Imagine a low-budget Cliffhanger.

27 - 32

Highlights:

- San Francisco, home of Alcatraz, Pier 39, beautiful trams and stunning street views. So what did we spend our first afternoon doing...an all you can eat buffet ofcourse! With the flowing pizza and pasta and the torrential rain outside, we must have clocked up a good 4 hours in the place. We both waddled out of the place, which was a new sensation for me...perhaps not so much for rotund Edgar.

- Pillow Fight - record breaking annual pillow fight in town square was happening. Me and Guy came from some cultured Goldengate sightseeing and got sunk our teeth in to some ferocious feather-based festivities. Was pure madness most of the time - a highlight was seeing a guy dressed as a mad professor cycling through the crowds with two massice music speakers attatched to the side. He was loving it and rightly so. It was all going well for me until a group of boisterous and chunky American chaps clocked my small frame and shouted 'get the hobbit'. The thought, 'I'm too young to die' was quite prevalent in the next few minutes.

- Through Guy's contacts, we met up with a young British couple who had moved over to San Fran. They had a quality flat, in which they knocked up a couple of quality meals for us - Fondue and a Roast dinner. The fella Niel worked at Lucas Arts (makers of Star Wars). We got a tour of his work place which was pretty impressive - loads of merchandise and priceless figures from the films. I even took a picture with an extremley life-like Chewbacca figure...it was only when I went over my pictures later on that I realised Guy was due a serious haircut.

Day 33 and 34- Yosemite National Park

- This was roughly in teh middle of our journey from San Fran to Vegas, so we made a stop-off here for two nights. It was a great decision as it was a quality experience of the outdoors - lots of awe-inspiring sights and we were reminded that the sun really does exist in America, which was nice. We went walking and trecking both days and then came back to a Lodge, with open fire, good meals and beer on tap. Felt like a proper old-school American experience. Made one huge walk up to Yosemite Waterfall - we got halfway and then the track stopped as it had snowed heavily recently - that said we were determined to get to the waterfall so we kept goinf - Guy risked his life and would often sink into the snow up to his waist ...I was perfectly fine - I just walked in the footsteps where he didn't fall in. Not just a pretty face eh?

Day 35 - 37 Las Vegas

As mental as you imagine it is - an absolute feast of neon lights and booming music for the brain to download. Everything is ridiculous - pyramids, eiffel tower, statue of liberty...all acting as monumental casino's. Good place to people watch.

Highlights:

- First day in Vegas and Guy became super concerned about how much money he has left in his account. Ofcourse I was worried but couldn't help but be amused that he had chosen Las Vegas (the one place in the world where you absolutley need money to do anything) to tighten his purse strings. Being on a budet in Vegas is a real bitch. Naturally we found ourselves in a food buffet for the next few hours - saves some money, filled us up for rest of the day, and we even saw entertainment of sorts...a stream of lardy yanks that looked as though they had strapped a hippo around their waist and were smuggling a leather beanbag beneath their necks.

- We gambled on two occassions...mental aren't we? Searched the whole strip for the cheapest buy-ins - found 3 dollar blackjack at the Hooters Casino. We put on our game faces and settled in for a night of adrenaline fuelled gambling, complete with sexy ladies whispering advice and millionaire gangsters trying to psyche us out......five minutes later we left with our budgeted money lost, dodged an army of Mexican lap-dancing promoters and scrabbled coinage together for a packet of pringles.

Second gambling session was infinitley more successful - we went in with ten dollars and came out with 20 dollars prophit each....we left proud with our sizeable win, dodged another army of Mexican lap-dancing promoters and headed for a good nights sleep. Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll essentially.

- Grand Canyon - one of the main reasons for going to Las Vegas, was the tours that run from there to the Canyon. Tricky to articulate the epic width, depth and general scale and beauty of the Canyon - just makes you feel your in a totally alien landscape - a real jaw-dropper, whoever you are and wherever you coem from.

Its quite a remarkable mind-jump going from vegas to the grand canyon within a few hours. A rick os sounding pretentious, it probably encaptures of what America has all been about so far - a massive collission between incredible natural beauty and a love of razmataz and glamour. The collateral that spill sout from that collision is generally the best bits of the USA - San Fran being a good example.

Los Angeles - Day 38 - 42

Highlights:

- arrive in LA via a coach company called 'China Bus' - did exactly what it said on the tin to be honest. Me and Guy were the only little white fellas amongst a load of little oriental chaps...

- Hollywood Tour

Day 20 - COLORADO

Flew in to Denver from Toronto. Breath-taking sight when we exited the airport the monumental Rocky mountains as far as the eye could see. An instantly refreshing change from the towering skyscrapers.

My contact here was Lindsey who I'd met on a brief holiday to France a few years back. we traveled to a local college town called Boulder. this was where Lindsey's boyfriend Nate and his best pal and housemate JT put us up for the week - a really cool student apartment. Nate gave us a quick stroll through the town - a super liberal, super-chilled out town in a very student friendly environment - would loved to have done some of my degree here.

We knew we landed on our feet when Nate told us he had a back log of new Lost pisodes that we could watch. After resucitating an overwhelmed Guy, we agreed and headed back from some viewing gold. That night we met up with Lindsey, her sister and a few more of the groups friends. Headed out for some Mexican food and ended the day with some drinking games. Absoloutley knackered!

Day 21

Spent whold day igher up in the mountains in the national park. We rented out snow shoes (small ski's) which allowed us to walk over some seriously deep snow. Some great views - most pleasurable was the beautiful sound of silence...until I was bitchslapped with a snowball from Edgar's sticky mits. My revenge was to stare at him wirh a dissapointed father look. Job done.

Day 14 - TORONTO CONTINUED

Recovered from night before. We went to a cool bar called hideout. Great band although spent most of the time trying to convince some girls that we were actually British!I guess its pretty bizarre for two Brits to turn up in a small bar in Toronto in sub-zero temperatures.

So big lay in and then off in to the middle of toronto. Main event was ice skating - fantastic location - right in the middle of some skyscrapers and a concert going on by the side. I didn't fall over once luckily - poetically Guy fell over once and it was right infront of my very eyes - it was a brutal fall for the steak-thighed Malvernite which most probably kicked off a tsunami in Asia.

The fella we stayed with is a top bloke. He seems to have done everything - plays guitar, skuber diving, well-travelled and he's only 19!Definatley encouraged me to get more skills under my belt when I get back home - particularly the guitar - it would be a torturously hard job to become good but well worth an attempt.

Day 15

Spent hours sledding. When Canadian friend told us the venue was 'sucide hill' - my face turned the dame shade as the whitest snow. Sure enough my pelvis was obliterated within minutes - Im okay ofcourse but boy were there some bumpy jumps. Guy was fine ofcourse - unlike him I dont have the luxury of having two natural shock absorbers in the form of a pair of significantly large buttocks. Was good alround childish fun.

Superbowl (biggest sporying vent on US calendar) happened this night. Although in Cnada it was a very American experience - loads of beers and loads of chrisps, chicken wings and hotdogs as we watched the game on the tv. we made some hash brownies and some normal brownies - Guy was a chump and polished off the hash brownies assuming they were the ordinary ones. Amusing angle arised when our hosts parents arised and we had to try and act significantly more concious than we actually were. His parents were cool though - they both work in tv and film production and had lots of interesting things to say about that experiences.

Day 16 - CHICAGO

Today we left Toronto and headed off to Chicago. We were pretty tired but headed out to a traditional jazz bar once settled into hostel. Awqward but amusing that a hostel guest came with us. She claimed to be half iraqi, a descendant of Shakespeare and had a nazi spy for a grandad - she looked like meatloaf with a wig and was fully dressed out in army gear from head to toe. Never had the phrase 'only in America' seemed more appropriate than right now. We got on well withthe hostel guide Lindsey and organised to meet up with her again. Oh and the Jazz was cracking - the kind where it was impossible not to pull off a number of air guitar gesticulations.

Day 17

Soon relised our hostel was in abrilliant location. Right next to lots of tourist hot spots. All the museums were free because there are hardl any tourists at this time of year - so we soon cashed in on the planetarium and the aquarium. Guy was on phone to Emily so I took the time to have a snooze in the moon exhibit - great sleep until the disgruntled security guy moved me on. Im making a habit of doing this. Me and guy have agreed that im a bit like a phone charger - just ten minutes sleep will provide me with a few hours of energy to stand on my feet. Because we are walking so much, I;ve even taken to sitting on the pavement whilst we wait for th e lights to turn green - every second spent resting is a second well spent in my book.

Went up Hancock tower - huge skyscraper - on eof biggest in US. Good opportunity to get to grips iwth teh character of Chicago - a fantastic skyscraper city which is beautifully tamed by a truly massive lake (lake Michigan) which looks like the ocean. Instantly like this angle to the city - there is a real hustle and bustle but lots of open spaces to escape from it, which was not the case with NYC.

Met up with Jesse in the evening. Jesse is the nephew of my American neighbour back home. Never met him before now but he was a top guy - we hung out at a series of bars in a livley part of town. As always its great to talk to a local and make a connection - really cuts through the stereotypical traveller who might just socialise with fellow travellers the whole trip. Lots of taco's and beers. Jesse works for a successful software company and told us about his girlfriend in Thailand - was cool to see him and Guy relate to teh difficulties of a long distance relationship. Realising that me and Guy probably get on best when we go out with poeple othe than just oursleves - it provides Guy with a more receptive audience to talk to and takes the pressure off me to be talkative (which im not great at)...also allows me to revel in teh absolutw twoddle he comes out with, with other people.

DAY 18

Bit of a lie in an dthen off into Chicago downtown. Went to conteporary art museum - was pretty shoddy and pretentious stuff - apparently american art is a wheelbarrow full of popcorn. Amusing to hear Guy continuously take on some of teh big heavyweights of the art world by saying 'that is bollocks, I could to do that. Don't laugh, Im serious, I could do it'. Later found the Chicago Art institute -this was much better - one of teh biggest cllections of Monet, Van gogh collections in the world - really cool seeing some of the pictures i had studied for art at GCSE. While I observed the incredible masterpieces, Guy commented once more on the 'tiny penis's' the statues. I love the fact that an artist can slave away for years on an incredible sculpture only to have Guy comment on their cock and balls.

Hooked up with Lindsey - the hostel guide we met a few days before. We met up out of town and she intoduced us to her best mates. Once again - really cool to meet some locals who are our age and go through the usual but always enetertaining array of questions 'Do you have this i England?' 'How do you say this?' etc. As usual Guy kindly offered them all to stay with me in London - my house will be like a bloody hilton hotel by the end of the year. Oh well.

Day 19

Last day in Chicago. Went to the free zoo. Fantastic because it literally was just me and Guy there - not another tourist in sight. Some say we have come to America at the wrong time of year but I love the fact we can waltz in to everywhere for free without queues. Hadn't been to zoo for ten years so great to see Zebras, Giraffes, pigmy hippo's and tigers. Not as unique to see the huge silverback gorilla being intensely enthusiastic as I have been friends with Guy for three years now.

Me and Guy spent half our time laying in to the polar bear Lee as he was withdrawn from the zoo because it was too cold!The phrase, 'are you having a laugh' seemed particularly appropriate - don't these fellas cruise around the Antarctic all day, the soft git.

Spent the rest of the rest of the day prepping for our stay in Colorado and concincing the zoo staff that Guy was not an escaped chimp on the loose.

Off to the airport at 7 am in the morning!

WEEK 2

DAY 8

Kicked out of apartment by grumpy Danish bird. We couldn't check in to our hostel until late afternoon, so we left the place with nowhere to go. Thus in effect we became part-time hobo's, cruising from park bench to park bench and that. Before long a homeless drunken Vietnam veteran gravitated towards us and we shared hearty stories of better days. Guy saved the day when the old fella asked aggresivley whether we had visited the Vietnam mmemorial ion Washington...he said yes we had actually forgotten. Filled an hour listening to Pilkington, writing postcards and avoid the temptation to join everyone else in asking strangers for spare change. Crisis over when we get into contact with Corey - friend from Washington who is studying in NYC. Stayed at his place and checked in successfully later on.

To complete a bizarre day we went out with Corey and his friends to a few bars. Annoyed me taht everytime we went to bar, a girl called Eileen, would shout, 'Welcome to New York guys!' (add jazz hands for effect)..as if we don't have any bars in England. Naturally we had to feign excitement at such a miraculous combination of people, booze and a bar. Ended up in bar called China 1 - things got mental when our US friends decided they wanted to have a table...sounds understandable until they told us they were going to pay $275 dollars for it!...literally just get a guaranteed table and a bottle of the best vodka. Guy turned a shade of white when he heard the price - luckily we didn't have to pay anything - they were paying for us! Me and Guy had never really seen such OTT exuberance from peopel our age. It was odd as everyone looked past thinking we were celebrities or something. Unfortunatley me and Guy look more like Laurel and Hardy than Brad Pitt and George Clooney.


DAY 8

Battered from night before. Stayed in bed till early afternoon. Amuses me that every time the hostel cleaner sees me, I am lieing in bed in the day...she must think i am the worst tourist in the world...perhaps I am. Walked through part of central Park...genuinley beautiful stuff, great pics and superb blue sky. Incredibly Icy - fell over pathetically - Guy missed it so I just pretended I was doing my laces and integrated my limp into a explanation that I was aquiring the New York swagger. Guy was fascinated by a dog with no back legs but was getting around on a pair of wheels instead - we seemed to follow the paraplegic pooch for hours. Im not sure I've ever seen Guy so happy in my life and that is saying something. Went to big Art museum - too abstract for me so I walked ahead of Guy and had a kip in a secluded part of the exhibition. Woken up by security guard and left.

Ended day with overpriced comedy club - the comedians were pretty cool and lots of authentic New York humour but had to buy atleast two pricey drinks which was annoying.

DAY 9

Got loads of good tourist stuff done today:

Started with Natural History Museum - big exhibition on primitative man and the evolution of humans. Good opportunity to understand how someone like Guy could possibly come about.

World Trade Centre Museum - place dedicated to 9/11 attacks. Pretty powerful stuff - most moving thing was to see a phenomenal picture taken by a French photographer literally five minutes after the first tower fell - its a very iconic image. We read that this was the last picture he took before he was killed a few seconds later by falling debris. Also incredible to see part of the plane that hit the towers - wierd to be a few inches away from something so instrumental in millions of people's misery. No matter how hardhearted you are, its hard not to let the bottom lip quiver here.

Brooklyn Bridge - Iconic piece of architecture taht links manhattan island up with the NYC mainland. We polished off a subway sanwich - argued about how close Guy was eating his next to me and then walked halfway up the bridge before we turned around to take in the Manhattan skyline at night. It was just as fantastic as you could imagine - a feast for the eyes.

DAY 10

Found an absolute gem a few minutes away from our Hostel in harlem (yes Harlem...but its pretty safe nowdays and nothing someone from leafy Kingston-upon-Thames has necver seen before...)

The world's biggest cathedral is in Harlem. It is absolutley monolithic in size and even puts Guy's backside into the shade. The cathedral has seen better days - looks like a injured hibernating dinsoaur stuck on a cliff-top. We eventually get in and spend hours walking around the place. The stain glass windows were some of the biggest ever made - everything was epic - made me think that buildings like this give you a tiny but tangible taste of just how powerful, mysterious and awesome God might be...assuming he exists...which I'm still working on..the fact there was an albino peacock cruising about in the church gardens makes me think the big fella has a sense of humour.

Went out with a indirect friend called David. He is a former student of an American acting teacher who lives next door to me back home in UK. She once acted opposite Richard Geer to she was pretty interesting to chat to before i headed out. She helped hook me up with David who is a young filmmaker - lots of NYC critics reckon he will go far. He has travelled all around the world like me and Guy are doing so he was full of sound advice - generally just to enjoy the moment and not stress too much about what happens when we return. David brought along an actor called Marcel - he was a proper New Yorker - thick accent and bucketloads of confidence and amusing attitude. Had a great night going to lots of unassuming bars, playing pool, air hockey. We hadn't know them long but it was just like having a good old kneesup with good friends.

Highlight was a barful of drunken teenagers gathering round Guy and listening to his life story.
Because Guy is such a polite, open and warm natured chap, this has happened alot on the tip so far. Strangers tend to gravitate towards him - ask where he is from, directions to places etc. I think I come across as a lot more cynical and closed off. I have grown tired already of introducing who we are and what were doing but Guy still delivers his 'Im a country bumpkin from a small English village' with consistent gusto. Fair play to him.


DAY 11 - 12

Took in our last sights of NYC. Walked entire Central Park - took in some of the locations of one of my favourite films - Home Alone 2. Had a large kip in afternoon - cleaner walked in and rolled her eyes at my apparent laziness yet again...she's like a foster mum nowadays. Went out to a student bar in the evening after playing pool in an authentic new york jazz bar. Played hours of beer pong which made Guy somewhat worse for wear by the end of the evening. His celebrations at scoring points were in direct parrallel to the amount he drunk - by the end of the night every successful shot was followed by a 2 minute, hip swinging dancing routine. Painful but true.

Last day in NYC we headed up the Empire State building. Went at just the right time - caught the sunrise and then got to see everything light up for nightime. Its hard to get tired of looking at it all but I'm increasingly looking forward to seeing something of more natural beauty - like the Rockeys and Colorado. Spent last night with all the people we've met and befriended through Washington and NYC - cool time to reflect on it all and chill it. Next stop Toronto.


DAY 13 - TORONTO

Were off to Toronto to meet up with an old frined of Guys called Matt - he met him on a school Rugby tour to Canada a few years back. Always cool to stay in someone house and have a local show you around so we were excited to get up there. 11 hour bus trip from NYC to Toronto - good time to catch up on sleep. The weather in Canada was pretty apocolyptic at first - tons and tons of snow on the pavements. Got to house in Toronto - beautiful house. Under floor heating was a treat - especially when its -5 outside. Set ourselves up in our room and prepared for a couple of days of snow-based activities.

WEEK 1


DAY 1 - Flight and Arrive in Washington

- Flight was pretty plain sailing. There was one point in the departure lounge when we were frantically looking for our gate, when Guy stopped me:

G: Ben, look
B: For gods sake, what?
G: look, that guy there...he's fat and he's chinese...I've never seen one of those before
B: Brilliant, do you want me to take a picture of you both
G:..(genuinley hesitates)...no, dont be silly.

With Guys oriental fascinations done, we got aboard to find a posse of American Obama supporters. Regular Obama mexican waves were not ideal for sleeping. Naturally this was a good time for Guy to question whether 'Obama gets so much support because he is black'. This was my first opportunity to display my 'im not with him' expression.

In Washington, we stayed with a friend of a uni friend, Lisa - a lovely American-Vietnamese girl. She had an incredible house and me and guy were given a king-size bed each to sleep in with ensuite bathroom - not quite hardcore backpacking yet then.

- Lisa's dog, Honey, is incredible. The most enthusiastic bounding dog you will ever see. Naturally her and Guy kicked off a beautiful relationship. It was priceless every time her and Guy's eyes met - there was a definite sense that the two of them were intriniscally linked and perhaps only missing a few steps in evolution.

- Her parents own a very successful Vietnamese restuarant - food was touch intimidating - it was a bit like a bush tucker trial as i struggled to identify certain bits. it was tasty but I was glad I was hesitant as Guy ate everything and soon learned he had consumed a couple of blocks of solidified cows blood...nice.

- Amused when we were discussing Lisa's boyfriend's fashion style quite casually, when Guy waded in with 'no, seriously I love geek sheek'...therby implying that he (Corey) was a geek. Corey's face was priceless and I chortled under my breath.

Day 2 - Sightseeing

Today I really knew we were in US. We set out for a day in the capital and saw some iconic american sights:
- The Washington memorial -that tall spire next to the huge lake where Jenny and Forrest Gump hook up.
- Capital Hill - Home of US politics and where Obama will get inaugarated and that.\
- and...some lardy American's the size of a small European state, exerting there every muscle fibre to consume a hotdog in the most efficient time possible.

Day 4 - Inauguration Day

An epic experience. One where the old phrase 'something to tell the grandkids' comes in quite regularly. There were two to three million people in the central squares. We were somewhere in the middle. Although we could only see the action from the screens, it was quite exhillirating to hear the ripple of 'Obama, Obama' go up and down so many people.

- By the end of the day we were walking back towards our train station to get back home. Quite amazingly, Colin powell (former Secretary of Defence and an immensley well respected man in US and world Politics) walked straight passed me and Guy. Cool right? Well not really, because we both missed it...Guy was a dopey git by trying to open a packet of chrisps with his gloves. I naturally stared at him and laughed away at his incompetence. Before we knew it Powell had passed. Thanks Guy.


Day 5 - Travelling to NYC

- We got on thebus from Washington to NYC. Had a hardcore but cool bus driver. His opening monologue went something like this:

'Hey!! everybody listen up and listen damn well good. This is my bus...you hear me, my bus! Don't get it twisted, I am the boss here. This bus was clean when you got on it and it sure as hell will be when you get off. You hear me...I said did you hear me!!'

If that was entertaining enough, I watched Guy slowly and nervously remove the subway sandwhich from his jaw and slowly put in in his bag as if it was a ticking bomb. Brilliant.

- We were introduced to our apartment by Guy's contact Scott (new yorker who is old work friend of Guy's dad) We got lucky because Scott's close friend was on vacation and gave us her place for a three nights. Really cool location - we found out that the opening shot of the Friends Flat was filmed on our road. Guy whacked out the camera in an instant. Incredible to turn round teh corner to see empire

- Set out on a night out. Went to Irish bar to get the lay of teh land. Asked for a few pointers from the barmen. He suggested we go to a district called 'Meat-packer market,' . Guy comically putting two and two togetehr said , 'oh that's Soho right?'. He was wrong.

- Found cool bar, very much like a student union. Met some french girls, one of which was a stunner, Clementine she was called. A real femme fatale I reckon. She offered us a place to stay in Sydney which is where she is studying so hopefully havent seen the last of her. Got put on edge towards the end of night when a seriously dodgy chap inquired if I was up for a foursome with a few other girls and a night of cocaine. As you do! Valuing my life, I declined.


Day 6 - Statue of Liberty

- Great day. Statue of Liberty was incredible. We got a cheap ferry over to the lovley lady and looked her upa nd down for a few hours. There was a thick layer of snow on the island so it was brilliant to have a little snow fight with the immense Manhattan skyline in the background. This was what coming to the US was all about. On the ferry back the sunset just behind the statue - some great pictures were taken and Guy politley held himself back from putting his arm around me.


Day 7 -It was all going so well...

- Saw Times Square - lights were quite dizzying and you get neck ache trying to take it all in. Even more grand and bizarre than you see on TV. After some window shopping and pics we headed back for an early night after walking all day.

- Chaos kicked off at 2 am - the owner of the appartment came back a day earlier than we were told and boy was she not happy!

'Open this door, who are you, I want you out before I get up tomorrow' etc. I wasn't too fazed by this occurrence but significantly more disturbed that I was forced to sleep in the same bed as Guy. It was a dark time indeed. We would awake the next day without any place to stay for atleast 10 hours in minus 3 weather. It was like Home Alone 2 allover again.