European Adventure: Part Two

Thank you so much for your kind comments on my last post :) It's nice to hear that the pictures were enjoyed. I'll publish the next two instalments in quick succession, so that we can return to the best bit - stitching! Today's post features what we got up to in Budapest and Munich, hope you like it.

 

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We left on a night train from Prague to Budapest. We took the cheapest option, naturally, and booked two seats on the overnight service - not a cabin. This wasn't as bad as expected and we both got a decent amount of sleep. Budapest is a strange city. The sights are stunning, but there is so much poverty. And despite being the most Eastern place we visited, they strive to be Western, with fast food chains on every corner. Still, it was the cheapest place we went to. Because of the low prices, we managed to rent a gorgeous apartment for the three days we spent there. It was luxurious, with a DVD player, fully equipped kitchen and balcony. It was wonderfully relaxing.

In Budapest we:

 

• Visited St Stephen's Basilica.
• Enjoyed happy hour at a lovely cocktail bar.
• Visited Victory Square
• Trekked uphill to see Buda Castle and saw the changing of the guard.
• Took pictures of St Michael's church.
• Climbed all the way along Fisherman's Bastion.
• Enjoyed a day out at Budapest's Zoo!

St Stephen's Basilica. The amount of gold inside really takes your breath away.

Silly Stitching Lion posing with a stone Lion!

Lawrence and I. Fisherman's Bastion can be seen over L's shoulder. St Michael's church is behind mine.

Fisherman's Bastion - it's like a fairytale isn't it?

Lawrence getting up close to the lemurs at Budapest Zoo.

Me making a new friend at Budapest Zoo.

 

Budapest was Lawrence's favourite city. I enjoyed it too, but it wasn't quite as lovely as Prague :) Again, I would be interested to learn more of the history, why it's divided into Buda and Pest and how did it unite. There were several national museums on this topic, but we had become a bit weary of museums by this point :) I would definitely go back for another visit.

 

We went on another night train leaving Budapest to go to Munich. This was the complete opposite of the first. It was loud, the lights stayed on the whole time and we were crammed in. I must have got two hours sleep, at most. Our first day in Munich was a bit of waste really, because we arrived at 7am, but couldn't check in to our hotel until 3pm! It was hard to do a whole day out on such little sleep, but our time in Munich vastly improved when we had a bit of shuteye :)

 

In Munich we:

 

• Visited the German technology museum.
• Visited Marienplatz with the amazing Rathaus building.
• Had dinner and a few beers in the Hofbauhaus.
• Spent a fair amount of time in Bier Gartens! (I don't actually drink beer, but the wine was good and L had a brilliant time ;) )
• Spent a fair amount of time browsing the Viktualienmarkt, the largest food market in Munich.
• Sunbathed in the Englischergarten and had a picnic.
• Visited the Milka outlet store - delicious!

The amazing Rathaus building, incredible detail.

 

Lawrence with his mammoth 1L of beer at the Hofbauhaus.

The Englischer Bier Garten. We actually preferred the smaller one near the market, it was more friendly.

The amazing, mouthwatering, scrumptious Milka outlet shop! We both left clutching purple bags :)

 

I really enjoyed Munich, and I know Lawrence did too, thanks to all the beer and Bratwursts! It had a really calming vibe to it, very welcoming and friendly. But there wasn't quite as much to see as in some of the other cities. Still, I'm very glad we visited :)

 

Going back through and choosing photos for this post really made me smile. We truly did have such a wonderful time. I am so lucky. The next and final post will be Frankfurt and Paris, and my overall thoughts of the trip.

Hope you've liked touring with me!

Best wishes,

 

European Adventure: Part One

 

Welcome to the first part of my European Adventure! We spent three weeks travelling to 7 different cities, so there was no way I could cover everything in one post. We also managed to take nearly 1000 photos, but don't worry, I won't bombard you with all of them :P These posts will just be a summary of our adventure, but feel free to ask questions on anything you're curious about. I just thought I'd share a few snaps and a few thoughts on the most magical holiday I've had so far :)

 

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We set off for Amsterdam on a night coach leaving from London Victoria Coach station. The journey wasn't so bad, as we both slept, and it was certainly the cheapest way to do the crossing.

We spent two nights in a simple 4-bed hostel in Amsterdam. It was a central location and walking distance to all the places we wanted to go.

In Amsterdam we:

• Visited the Royal Palace
• Visited Anne Frank's house
• Walked past some very funky coffee shops!
• Spent a lot of time near the beautiful canals
• Tried to stick to our budget, Amsterdam was very expensive

 

It was wonderful to see Amsterdam in all it's glory, but I wouldn't return in a hurry. I would like to see rural Holland, but I think I've done this city now.

 

Me in front of one of the many canals, Amsterdam

 

 

From Amsterdam, we used our Interrail pass to take a long train to Berlin. We were both keen to see Berlin, as we've both studied its history in school. We ended up staying four nights instead of the original three, just because there was so much to see! In Berlin we stayed in another hostel, an 8-bed one this time. It was very modern and had a stylish bar.

In Berlin we:

 

• Visited the Reichstag (parliament) Building
• Saw the Brandenburg gate
• Visited Museuminsel
• Saw TV tower
• Visited the Berlin Wall memorial and museum
• Visited the Jewish memorial
• Visited Checkpoint Charlie
• Ate German street food (baked potato and sauerkraut - yum!)
• Visited the city's cathedral

I truly loved Berlin, even though it wasn't the prettiest of cities. It's so rich in culture, spanning decades and there is so much to see. It was so interesting to see the places we had studied in our textbooks, like the Reichstag building. We found Berlin prices very reasonable too and we enjoyed dinners in some lovely restaurants. Lawrence enjoyed the German beer too! I would go back to Berlin for a more laid back retreat. This time, we had a lot to squeeze in our allocated four days.

Berlin's cathedral

The Berlin Wall memorial

 

We spent another day on the trains to arrive in Prague. This was one of my favourite cities, as the architecture is just stunning. As Prague was fairly cheap, we stayed in a small apartment just the two of us. It was a central location, which we tried to get in every city we stayed. It saved money just to walk everywhere!

In Prague we:

 

• Went to the top of the Astronomical Clock tower just as the sun was setting, stunning. And it only cost the equivalent of £3 ($4.72) for both of us to go to the top!
• Ate lots of ice cream!
• Crossed the Charles Bridge
• Walked up all the stairs to get to Prague Castle
• Went shopping in the department stores
• Visited the John Lennon Wall. Yes, that John Lennon :P

Again, I would love to return to Prague someday. Although it has a bit of a reputation in this country for being a party destination, you can stay away from that quite easily. There is so much I'd love to learn about Prague's history. Well worth another visit.

 

The view from the top of the Astronomical Clock tower

The man himself on the John Lennon Wall. Bizarre and beautiful at the same time.

 

I think that's quite enough for Part One. I hope you've enjoyed this post. Part Two will be on Budapest and Munich, hope you like that one too!

Best wishes,

 

 

 

I'm baaack!

Gosh, that was a longer break than I intended to take! Sorry for the unplanned hiatus, but I'm returning to the stitching world now and I'm so excited about it :)

I meant to post about Europe shortly after returning, but it became one of those things you only remember last thing at night, or when you can't get to a computer. I shall put up a post tomorrow with a few pictures from my adventures. I had the most wonderful, amazing, incredible trip and it's given me a thirst for more travelling.

Also this week, I'll be sure to post about my stitching progress. Even though I've taken an extended break from the blog, I've still been putting needle to thread most days. Pictures will be up this week.

I really needed to relax with my stitching lately, as I've had to make a few adult choices. My third and final year at University starts in a fortnight, and to give myself the best chance at getting top grades, I decided to leave my job at Cath Kidston. It was a hard choice, because it is a wonderful company to work for and I've made great friends. But I came to Winchester in the first place to achieve a decent degree, so I need to put my heart and soul into that this year. Of course, it will mean I shall have to stick to my student budget so I can last the year! I'm sure that will be no problem :)

I love that during my absence, my blog came to find me! Thank you so much to Elisa over at Old Ragged Threads for sending me a birthday parcel :) I've been very good and tucked it away until the big day, although I'm itching to open it :P I turn 21 this year, how mad is that?

Thank you all for not abandoning me. I've been running The Stitching Lion for so many years now, and I don't plan on giving it up any time soon :) I cannot wait to see what you've all been up to this summer, I'm going to get started on my blog reader right this minute.

Best wishes,

 

The time is here!

Well, this is me officially signing off for July. I thought about posting as I go round, but I wouldn't want to risk losing any of my pictures trying to upload them on here. And it's really pictures that make a holiday post :)

I hope you're all enjoying the current gorgeous weather, long may it continue. It's similar in Amsterdam, which is where I'll be this time tomorrow :D

I'm so excited for this adventure to begin. It doesn't seem real yet, probably because I've got one more shift at Cath Kidston to get through before I can head to Lawrence's house. And then it's up to London to our coach. A twelve hour coach trip might not be glamorous, but it's the cheapest way to get across the sea :)

Cross lots of stitches for me my friends! I couldn't squeeze in any stitching in my backpack, and I didn't want anything to get ruined in the bumpy journey. So I'm relying on my notebooks, ipod and puzzle book to keep boredom at bay during these next three weeks. Hopefully, I'll get lots of writing done on my creative pieces for Uni, I always feel more inspired on holiday.

I don't know where we're going to go or what we're going to see or where we might end up and it's utterly thrilling. I shall be back by the start of August, where I can look forward to a whole day filled with catching up on blog reading :D

Best wishes to all,

A Great Summer

Hello my friends. I'm telling you, the tennis season is giving me the perfect excuse to get my needle stuck into fabric. Farmhouse is still growing, and I've been stitching so much on it, I thought I'd show a before and after.

I told you my needle has been busy! And it was grande prix weekend, so that gave me a brilliant excuse to kick back and stitch too :D

In other news, I'm going on an adventure. This weekend, I'm off for three weeks travelling around Europe :D Me and Lawrence have got Interrailing tickets and we're off to see some amazing big cities. One thing, I've got to fit everything I like to take on holiday in this . . .

For a girl that's used to straightners, mirrors and daily showers, this is a little bit of challenge :P But I know it's going to be so worth it. And don't worry, I've packed travel hair straighteners :P

I'll be sure to post just before I go. I think I'll have even more done on Farmhouse by then. 

Best wishes,

My needle has been busy

By the time I got round to taking a progress pic of my latest project, I'd finished it! Here is my finished Halloween Medley by Heart in Hand, minus the decorative buttons.

This design was a perfect break from Farmhouse. I didn't use the recommended threads, just matched the colours with what I had in my stash. A mix of DMC, WDW and CC threads went into this design, and I think it looks pretty good. I know it's completely out of season, but I'm hoping to get a few Halloween/Autumnal designs together so I can decorate my room appropriately when the time comes :) And sometimes it's nice to just stitch what you fancy.

Since finishing Halloween Medley, I have returned my attention to Farmhouse. I'm onto the chicken couple now and I'm still enjoying every stitch! I'm in it for the long haul I know, but at least I can see it growing before my eyes.

I had a lovely time last week with a visit from my mum. She was doing a bit of a tour in the area, seeing various family members. She stayed the night and we got to go out shopping and have a wonderful meal out. And then this week, I've got Lawrence visiting today and we're heading out to one of my favourite places in Winchester, Cafe Monde, for lunch. Then on Wednesday, my sister is coming over for a visit and we're having tacos! It's so lovely that everything has shifted to a slower pace so I can see people and take the time to enjoy their company :) 

I hope you've all had a brilliant start to the week,

 

What makes the world go round?

Kindness!

For my blogaversary in April, I had the chance to give back to this wonderful blogging community of ours and offered a giveaway. Two months later (gosh, I'm terrible!), the winner Karoline received her goodies. I'm pleased to say Karoline loved what I sent, which is always the aim :)

Here's what was in the giveaway parcel . . .

I stitched up CCN's The Tea Room and finished it into a pin pillow. That's what took me so long to get the parcel out, I'm rather slow at finishing things.

Appropriate backing fabric I'm sure you'll agree!

Here's what the whole parcel contained . . .

I would love to do more giveaways. But next time, I'm going to FINISH the intended prize before I offer it away :P

And kindness was returned in my direction when Sadie from Stitching Up a Storm offered to send me the chart for a design I'd been admiring on her blog. I'm such a lucky Lion! I cannot wait to stitch up LHN's Moons and Stars - thank you so much Sadie!

Extra shifts at work have been keeping me busy, but I'm finding plenty of time to stitch. I'm hoping to get a couple more finishes ticked off my list on my day off on Tuesday. 

Back with a stitching update soon!

Best wishes,