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Köln, 26th - 28th July On Thursday we went out for a pre-birthday meal with Oma. Afterwards we took some roses to Anjas Opas grave as it would've been his 79th birthday the following day. The next morning we woke up to Oma handing out champagne at 9am as it was Anjas birthday. She opened all of her lovely cards, blew out the candles and without any food and slightly tipsy we left for brunch with Anjas friend Stephie. There Stephie treated us to two more champagne glasses, but at least this time it was accompanied by food. Seeing as it was the hottest day off the year so far with 38°C we decided to head to lake next to Omas flat next. We had a lovely long swim, watched some of the wake boarding championship, had our first beers and a lovely time catching up. For lunch we headed back to Omas, where we had a cold shower, refreshing salad and another champagne. With no time to spare we went straight out the door to meet Anjas friends Tamara and Saskia in town. We met at a lovely beer garden in the shade of the trees and had several more beers and a great time. After this we rushed off to Anjas mums, where we were received by the whole family and more champagne. Anjas mum cooked an amazing three course meal of lemon spaghetti, fish and banoffee pie. We had a wonderful evening until we said our final goodbyes and set off home around 10pm, as we had to get up at 6am the next morning to catch our bus to Brussels. On the way home though we managed to see the blood moon in its full beauty on an incredibly clear night. It was a nice finish and send off to a really nice (birth)day. The next morning we set off on our final leg of our big 5 month long journey. Oma drove us to the central train station from where we caught a bus to Brussels. There we got a tube to the Midi train strain to catch the Eurostar to London from which we caught our last train back to Hassocks, where the trip had started in February. The whole trip went boringly smoothly despite the copious amounts of luggage that we seemed to have collected in Köln. That evening we relaxed with a curry. The next day we reunited with Tom's family who had been on a trip to Sheffield. Since then we've been finding our back into the normal daily routine of finding housing, applying to jobs, swimming in the ocean and enjoying family life. Thank you very much to everyone who followed our journey. Maybe we'll be back with the occasional updates of little trips throughout the next year.

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Köln, 23rd - 25th July On Monday Anjas mum took us to her favourite bathing spot by the river Rhein. We had a lovely picnic and went for a little paddle. The water level was so low due to the prolonged heat that our knees scraped the river bed, but it was very refreshing and we enjoyed a wonderful sunset! On Tuesday we went with Oma and Fiona on a huge shopping spree in Cologne City centre. Which included Globetrotter, the best shop in the world! At lunch Tom tasted his first German sauerkraut and later he saw the Kölner Dom up close. After a very successful shopping trip we relaxed by the river with a beer. On Wednesday we headed back into Sülz to meet Lorena, an old family friend, for coffee and then head over to Anjas mums flat where Fionas birthday present was already in full swing: a professional cat shooting, to always remember the cats in years to come. We also got a good glimpse at mums beehive. The bees were bundling up outside to try and cool down, as it was too warm for them in their hive.

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Eifel, 19th - 20th July On Thursday Oma, Fiona and us drove to the nearby national park eifel to visit Anjas great aunt and uncle, Maria and Frank. We were received with two incredibly tasty home made berry cakes from their own garden. We talked much, mostly about travelling, as Maria and Frank have travelled much of the world themselves and we hadn't seen each other in many years. It was also Anjas first time at their beautiful new house and garden, with all of its hidden gems. In the evening we watched the sunset from one of their balconies. Later we went to bed in Omas VW camper van. Not because there wasn't enough space in the house, but rather because it might have been the last opportunity for Anja to sleep in the camper van that was almost like a second home to her as a child! Oma will probably try to sell the van soon. The next day we went to an exhibition that Maria and Frank created with photos from their travels and Maria's beautiful hand woven pictures. Afterwards we went for a little walk in the countryside to Frank's old work place, one of the biggest telescopes in the world. At its full height it is over 100m tall. Pictures don't do it justice! It was a wonderful escape to the countryside.

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Köln, 17th - 22nd July Tuesday we started off by going to Anjas final two doctors appointments. We then hired two bikes and rode them all around Sülz, the area where Anja went to school and grew up. We went to the local park, rode around the lake and then went to grab some food from a bakery and play Frisbee at a playground opposite Anjas primary school. Afterwards we went to Fionas beautiful new flat and met her boyfriend Jonathan, then we all cycled to Anjas dads flat to pick up a laptop and finally we cycled to Anjas mums flat for a bbq on her balcony. Unfortunately a summer storm struck at exactly this moment and so the bbq was moved indoors. At the end of the night, very full and slightly tipsy, we decided to cycle back home for about an hour. It was a lot of fun. The next days Tom spent the mornings job and flat hunting, whilst Anja sorted through the many suitcases of old clothes deposited at her Omas. In the evenings we tried to escape the heat by cycling to the lake and the river Rhein. We either went swimming, grabbed some ice cream or laid in the non existent, very yellow grass reading our books. It's been about 30 degrees for 3 months here now with only a few, rare, short showers. As a result the usually green grass has all but completely dried out and Köln looks more and more like california. One evening Anja went inline skating as well, although that got far too sweaty far too fast! And we've been told that the real heat wave with over 35 degrees is only just about to hit us this week. We're excited, Oma not so much.

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Cologne, 9th - 16th July Last week we arrived in Cologne, Anjas hometown. We arrived around midnight with a delay of several hours. Anjas Oma received us with lots of food and we spent the next few days recovering from a cold and the general exhaustion of the trip. Day by day Anja showed Tom all the different places where she grew up. Oma lives next to a big lake, where we've been biking, walking and swimming, trying to escape the heat. We went shopping for Anja and bought her some new trousers. The next day we picked up Omas VW camper van from the MOT. On monday we went to a storage unit and helped Anjas sister Fiona get some things for her new flat. On Saturday evening we met some of Anjas old friends and went to a local club. We also went to the area where Anjas mum lives so Anja could do her annual round of doctor check ups as well as to show Tom where she went to school, her mums flat and to introduce him to her incredibly lovely (and fat) cats.

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Berlin, 6th - 9th July We got to Berlin via DB IC Bus, which have a pretty decent film and TV show entertainment system. In Berlin Anjas friend Anifa received us at the bus stop. Together we went shopping and then on to her home, where we spent the weekend. Anifa lives in a big allotment complex, where she owns her own allotment with a lovely little house. Her boyfriend Marc owns another allotment a few rows over where they both live permanently. Usually Anifas brother lives in her house but he was so incredibly kind as to give us the house for the weekend. The whole allotment complex is situated on the outskirts far away from big roads, next to a river, which makes for a very quiet, green, relaxing and overall unusually positive experience of Berlin. In the evening we all ate together in the garden and shared our polish vodka, which only cost 4€ but tasted better than any vodka we've tasted before. On Saturday we had an accidental lie in till 11am, which however turned out to be the best preparation for what lay ahead of us. We had our breakfast in the garden and then went to Cafè am Neuen See in the Tiergarten to watch England beat Sweden on a big screen, outdoors in the sun with plenty of beer and pizza. We also met Ana there, a previous course mate of Anja. Together with her uncle and aunt, who were also visiting from Sheffield, we had a great time and got completely lost in conversation until we had to run off to meet Anifa for our favourite sushi at Aiko. Still full from the pizza and beer we only managed one course of veggie crispy rolls. However, knowing exactly what they love the most about this restaurant, Anifa and Anja proceeded to order 6 deserts between us! Feeling extremely full and somewhat unwell we headed towards Anifas friends place. At Daniel and Izzys flat we had a few beers and more great conversations. Around 11pm we grabbed a few more beers for the road and made our way to Kater Blau. We queued for over an hour and after the most fashionable bouncer agreed to let us in, we had put stickers over all of our camera lenses. Kater Blau is a popular techno club for all ages by the river. We met some very interesting people as we talked the hours away and our agreed upon time of departure got pushed back from 4 till 8am. Naturally we spent most of Sunday asleep inside, apart from when we went over to Marc's house for Anifas amazing home made pizza followed by a wonderful walk along the allotment complex and adjoining river. We said our hearty goodbyes that evening as both Marc and Anifa would have to go back to work Monday morning. Us on the other hand had another lie in, packed our bags and said goodbye to Anifas lovely home. We nearly made our way to the wrong bus stop but caught the mistake just in time and now we're on our way to our final location: Cologne / Köln.

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Wrocław, 4th - 6th July

On the bus ride to Wrocław Anja suffered another migraine, which carried over into the next day and both of us still feel very exhausted. So we took it very easy during our stay in Wrocław, which was beautiful non the less. We stayed in an Airbnb with a lovely lady and her two cats Tiramisu and Panna Cotta (Misu and Cota for short and with the colours to match). We had only booked a room but as it turned out the owner was going on a trip to London (ironically) early the next day and she left us in charge of the whole apartment throughout our stay. So we washed all of our clothes, which was desperately necessary, and in the morning after a long lie in, enjoyed a coffee in her private back yard. The weather was incredible again, so in the evening we went for a short walk through the old town. The architecture in general was very neat but grand and reminded us somewhat of Amsterdam. We also spotted a few of Wrocławs tiny gnome residents. For dinner we went to a restaurant by the river to have some traditional polish dumplings with craft beer and cider. Although the dumplings were incredibly tasty and filling, the alcohol only exhausted us further. So after a short rest on the riverside promenade we decided to head back home, where we enjoyed an evening of watching polish TV on a huge projector wall. But when we were ready to head to bed our plans had been foiled by one of the cats mistaking Tom’s side of the bed and his backpack as a toilet… Suffice to say Tom was not impressed! The next morning we wrote the next batch of postcards and then set off for our last leg of the trip to Germany.

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Krakow, Poland 1st-4th July

In Krakow the weather turned to very hot sun! We stayed in, surprisingly, comfy beds in a fantastic hostel called Deco Hostel. On Monday 2nd we started late and tried to visit Schindlers’ factory museum only to find that it was sold out! So we went to the underground museum under the Cloth house in the main square. The museum had many bits of cobble stone roads from the 13th Century. And long information videos. Tom decided that in the 13th century he would have been a blacksmith and Anja decided she would have been a carriage driving nun. We had a beer afterwards and bought postcards to send home. We had chicken curry for tea! The next day we tried to go to the Schindler museum again only to find it shut! So instead of wasting a tram journey we had a beer by the river (which we later found out is illegal). Around 6 we met out friends Kamile and Dominika in a large grassy Park Jordana, (we had previously met them on this trip in Valika Tarnovo in Bulgaria). We played a large game of ultimate frisbee with some others who arrived for about an hour. Tom, understanding no Polish, was a bit of a liability and finally completely broke his shoe, which is now gaffataped together! Exhausted we also watched the England vs Columbia match on a big out door screen nearby. The next day we had breakfast with Dominika and Kamile and then went in his car to visit the Ojcowski National Park and the Pieskowa Skala Castle within it. It was very beautiful with tree covered valleys and freestanding rocks perfect for climbers, of which we watched a few. Unfortunately we were pressed for time, because our bus left at 3, so we had to go back but we had a fantastic time in Krakow!

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That brass ass 😂🎶🎷

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The best brass jazz band in Lviv 🎺🎷🎶

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When we were running around tired on our first day we stumbled upon a band having a sound check (this video). We enjoyed it so much that after another nap we came back to see them live for free. I would recommend giving ONUKA a listen. Their music combines temporary with traditional Ukrainian sounds and instruments. I thought it was pretty cool and unique :)

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Lviv 28th-1st July

We arrived into Lviv very, very early in the morning and very tired. We caught a tram and made our way to the hostel. We’d emailed the hostel in advance to tell them that we’d need to store the bags early but when we arrived we were greeted by a grumpy teenager who, after keeping us waiting for a long time, told us to leave our bags in the kitchen, not a great start. And in general the hostel wasn’t great, it didn’t have any curtains, it did have some prolific snorers (one of which sounded like a dying frog) and also the bed vibrated when people walked past! We went for breakfast in a zombie like state. The breakfast was tasty but the weather was turning a bit cold and wet. We went back to nap in the incredibly bright dorm room afterwards. Running adjacent to our stay in Lviv was the Lviv Jazz festival. We managed to catch one of the acts at the free stage in the central market square, they were called ONUKA. It was enjoyable however I don’t believe an electric flute should exist, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. We found out later that ONUKA played as a guest band on Eurovision. After this, we went for another nap and then headed out to watch the England vs Belgium game at a large Beerhall called Stargorod. It was great! Thanks to the recommendation of a friendly local in the neighbouring table we had a selection of beers, a delicious pig knuckle and watched a lively live jazz band! Inspired by a combination of jazz and beer we forgot all about our tiredness and went for a walk around the ancient castle grounds accompanied by more live music. We eventually settled by a fountain in the square for a final gin and tonic with a wonderful atmosphere. The next morning both Tom and Anja invented new eye mask devices, Tom’s involved a towel and Anja’s a snood. Still tired we set off to a climbing gym in a very abandoned factory on the outskirts but it wasn’t very good. And it took all day. On the last day, now even more tired from the climbing and little sleep we went into town for a small amount of sight seeing, we saw the house of legends and the pharmacy museum. The highlight was the tourist train bus tour which cost 2€, lasted about 50mins and kept us out the rain! We also visited a fancy handmade chocolate shop on Serbska Street. Each chocolate piece costing 9-10UAH, and in €1 there are 30UAH. Ukraine is apparently well known for its chocolate and I would wholeheartedly agree that it’s very tasty. Our coach journey from Lviv to Krakow on Sunday 1st took 9 hours, with 4 hours at the border. Luckily the hostel in Krakow was one of the best yet.

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Sighetu Maramației to Lviv, 26th - 28th June We only spent one night in Romania's border town Sighetu Marmației. We arrived by train around 9pm. It was another long train ride, but the scenery was beautiful and we had a compartment partly to ourselves. At one point we shared it with a lovely elderly couple and later with two noisy teenage boys. In Sighetu we stayed in an Airbnb, the beautiful home of a very welcoming couple and we were sad we didn't get to spend more time there and with them. They were very relaxed about our check out the next day, which meant we could have a quiet day to ourselves before heading over the border to Ukraine and catching another overnight train. The border was the most scenic border we've ever crossed. Here Romania and the Ukraine are separated by the river Tisa. Once you've passed the Romanian passport control you cross over a beautiful old wooden bridge, which looks like something out of an old western, into the Ukraine. The whole procedure took only twenty minutes and left us plenty of time to get our tickets printed out at the forlorn train station, exchange money on the second floor of a plastic store, buy food for the journey ahead and go for an incredibly delicious schaschlik thanks to the recommendation of the Airbnb couple. Our sleeper train was glamorous in a very communist style. It had decorated carpets, red leather seats and chunky orange lamps. Luckily we got a 4-bed compartment all to ourselves, although we still didn't get much sleep as usual. And at 5:15am it was time for our wake-up call for our arrival in Lviv at 6am. Needles to say it's been a very tired and slow but yet really nice day in Lviv so far.

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Cluj-Napoka, Romania, 24-26th June If you want to see colourful trams go to Cluj (although we have no photos to prove this). We stayed with a lovely couple from Moldova and their year and a half old son. And their lovely dog Goldo. We were welcomed with a beer which was very welcome after our seven hour bus ride. The next morning we booked some places for the coming days and set off in the afternoon to visit some parks. Cluj is full of students, there is a large medical University among others so it was a bustling place. The first park we visited was the botanical gardens. It had some beautiful roses of all colours, a Japanese garden with 2 bridges, a greenhouse with a Victoria water lily and a water tower with a flight steps jutting away from the concrete centre opening up the 30m drop below! We used our new mushroom spotting skills to see some big edible mushrooms! However instead of mushrooms we ate burgers at the Good Friends pub for €15. After lunch we headed to the central park, via DM to buy Tom a hairband because he is very hairy now. After the park, which had the great idea of public hammocks and hammock hooks on many trees, we headed up the hill to the viewpoint under the Belvedere hotel. Here with a beautiful view we had several G+Ts! When we got home about at 9pm our legs were very tired because we hadn't walked around a city in a while! We ordered a pizza and played with the dog. On Tuesday morning we left to catch the 7hr train to Sighetu and the Ukrainian border.

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Cluj-Napoka, Romania, 24-26th June If you want to see colourful trams go to Cluj (although we have no photos to prove this). We stayed with a lovely couple from Moldova and their year and a half old son. And their lovely dog Goldo. We were welcomed with a beer which was very welcome after our seven hour bus ride. The next morning we booked some places for the coming days and set off in the afternoon to visit some parks. Cluj is full of students, there is a large medical University among others so it was a bustling place. The first park we visited was the botanical gardens. It had some beautiful roses of all colours, a Japanese garden with 2 bridges, a greenhouse with a Victoria water lily and a water tower with a flight steps jutting away from the concrete centre opening up the 30m drop below! We used our new mushroom spotting skills to see some big edible mushrooms! However instead of mushrooms we ate burgers at the Good Friends pub for €15. After lunch we headed to the central park, via DM to buy Tom a hairband because he is very hairy now. After the park, which had the great idea of public hammocks and hammock hooks on many trees, we headed up the hill to the viewpoint under the Belvedere hotel. Here with a beautiful view we had several G+Ts! When we got home about at 9pm our legs were very tired because we hadn't walked around a city in a while! We ordered a pizza and played with the dog. On Tuesday morning we left to catch the 7hr train to Sighetu and the Ukrainian border.

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Puppy hide and seek 🐶

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Garden appreciation post 🌱🦋