EuroQuest: Day 11 - German Scout Camp/Cologne

Hi everyone! So it was our last day at the Scout Camp so after we cleaned up and packed our bags we were faced with the challenge of finding our way back to the train station. We decided it would be a great idea to walk through the woods to get back into town and it didn't take us long to realised we were lost after the path we were following disappeared. Jenny then took the lead and led us on 'Jennys Magical Mystery Hobbit Tour' which eventually got us back on the track and to the train station.

As we were waiting for the train to arrive the heavens opened for the first time on the trip and at first it was so nice because in most places it was around 30 degrees but then it got heavier and it turned into a mad scramble to find shelter. Our rain jackets were at the bottom of our bags because we didn't think we would need them so made makeshift shelters using our bag covers - well we are Girl Guides after all!

After several train journeys including as usual a sprint to the train after we realised we were waiting on the wrong platform we finally arrived in Cologne. There were so many shops in the station! There was a whole shop selling different things all made out of jelly sweets which looked amazing! I was very tempted to buy something but I didn't think it would still be in one piece by the time I got home! We then wandered into a clothes shop which had loads of really nice but cheap clothes and shoes! I got a dress and a top (which I'm still waiting for the weather to improve to wear) and Hayley found these shoes which were amazing and they were so cheap she had to get them!!

After our little shopping break we headed to a restaurant to get some food because we were so hungry after a day of travelling. The restaurant was primarily pork and had an amazing interior design. As the two veggies on the trip Evie and me decided that we would both order a macaroni cheese from the snacks menu and then share a portion of chips and some hash browns as we assumed being from the snack menu it would be small portions but oh how we were wrong! I don't think I've ever felt so full and neither of us could finish it all!

We then headed to the hostel and it was so nice! I was sharing a room with Frances, Evie and Hayley and as we got to the room we found the door literally wouldn't open. We were pushing against it with all our force but it would budge. Some guys in the room next to ours came out to see what all the noise was and apparently we were opening the door all wrong because you had to do something first with the key. Our room so so nice (once we finally got in!). We had a balcony and a proper walk in shower! This meant we could wash stuff and hang it over the balcony to properly dry rather than just hanging it over the bars on the bunk beds!

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out here:
The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent at the Scout Camp in the Harz Mountains and in Cologne as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

SCOUT CAMP VIDEO: COMING SOON

COLOGNE VIDEO: COMING SOON

EuroQuest: Day 10 - German Scout Camp

Hi everyone! So after a busy day of travelling we were allowed a wonderful lie in after our first night at the scout camp... well we had breakfast at 10 which is probably the latest time we've had to get up on the whole trip! After breakfast we set out on a walk into the nearest town which was a lot further away than we thought! On the way we noticed there was a lot of statues of witches and goblins which is apparently something to do with the myths and legends of the Harz mountains which I thought it was really cute!

We stopped into a shop on the way to the town to buy some lunch and it was so cheap! I picked up some deodorant and lemonade for only €1.50 (strange combination I know but I forgot to put the lid on my deodorant when we were travelling the day before so all my clothes smelt great but with none left I didn't!) To add to the 'Dragon Fruit' capri sun we had earlier on we found another amazingly strange one called 'Fairy Drink' which was really sweet!

After we finished eating our lunch and drinking our Fairy Drinks we headed through the town back up to the mountains to find the cable car that would take us up to the top of the mountains. It was obviously a popular thing to head up to the top of the mountains and then mountain bike down them because so many people in were taking their bikes up on the cars which had special hooks on the back to hang your bikes onto, although they were just hanging there so I would've been so scared that they would've just fallen off!

There wasn't really much at the top except routes to walk back down! We did stop in a little shop which was selling a lot of memorabilia related to these myths and more importantly they sold ice cream which we noticed by the giant magnum situated right outside!

On the way back down on the cable car ski lift we decided to let everyone know that we were Girl Guides by singing boom chicka boom! It's basically a mimic song so it was decided that Evie and Tash who were in the middle of the 5 cars we filled up would lead and we would all shout back. We did get some very strange looks from all the people coming up!

When we got back to the Scout camp we ran up to the top of the scout camp to quickly meet up with some German scouts who were just about to leave. We managed to do some swaps including getting some of their left over food before they left!

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out here:
The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent at the Scout Camp in the Harz Mountains as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

SCOUT CAMP VIDEO: COMING SOON

EuroQuest: Day 1 - Zagreb

Hi everyone! If you didn't already know this summer I have spent 2 weeks travelling around Europe which I was able to do through Girl Guiding (you can read more about how I got to do this and some background info and stuff HERE) and I thought I would tell you about what we got up to!

So the first place we went to was Zagreb in Croatia! On Wednesday 24th we all met up in London as we had a really early flight to Zagreb in the morning, so we thought it was best to stay in a hotel nearby that night. I shared a room with Emii and Frances and it turns out we are the most indecisive people ever! There was a single bed and a double and we couldn't decided who was sleeping where. After almost an hour we decided there was only one way to solve it - each of us wrote down our name and it went into a hat. As soon as this was done we went straight to bed because we had to be up super early.

Our flight was from Heathrow and in the airport we noticed a TARDIS and a Dalek (as you do) so of course after we had eaten we all rushed to get photos and the TARDIS turned out to be a photo booth but unfortunately it wasn't working so we just had photos outside it!

The TARDIS in the middle of Heathrow Airport

The flight was alright, but as soon as we walked off we were met with a gust of hot air. Now, England had been having a heat wave when we left but it was nothing compared to Croatia where I think it was in the high 20's/ low 30's.

We then went to find our hostel which was called the Fulir Hostel and it was actually really nice! I had never stayed in a hostel before and to be honest I was expecting the worst! We all stayed in a room of 10 in bunk beds and the room had a little en suit with a shower and there was a communal bath room there as well so it was pretty good!

The hostel we were staying in

We then went for a little explore around the various market stalls and I was surprised by how cheap everything was! The main price difference that I noticed was that a bottle of Heineken was being sold at the equivalent of just under £1.

As we were explore we met a man busking on some stairs close to where we were staying and he began to serenade us with the few English songs he knew before one of my leaders happily accompanied him as a backing vocalist!

Everyone joining in with Giovanni Furlan

As a group we had a look around the church that was close to where we were staying and I absolutely loved the architecture, especially the detailing on the door way! It was so cool inside that we just wanted to stay there to avoid the heat that was waiting to greet us as soon as we stepped outside again.

The detail on the entrance to the church

We then went off in our own two groups of 5 to explore the city ourselves. And the first thing we did was to go get ice cream - I like to think we have our priorities sorted! Then we basically went for a walk, nipped into a couple of shops including an art shop where the sold ink along with a whole manner of art utensils for literally pennies. We stopped in a park to enjoy the sun and walked through several others on the way back which had gorgeous fountains where many people were dipping their feet in as an attempt to cool off!

Cooling fountains

We then went to a really nice restaurant where I had a huge margarita pizza but throughout the meal there was a fly buzzing around! The amount of times that we attempted to catch the fly in bottles, glasses and whatever else was on the table but alas we failed.

Not the restaurant we went to but the place next door!!

We ended our first day there by going on a little adventure on a Noddy train which did a little tour around the city, which was nice. When we got back we decided to do the Pony Song in the middle of the square and by the end we were absolutely melting. The Pony Song is one of those camp fire songs that we do as Guides and Rangers but for most of us, we had never heard it until the selection weekend!

The noddy train

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out here:
The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent in Zagreb as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

ZAGREB VIDEO: COMING SOON

I hope you enjoyed reading this and feel free to leave any comments!