Weekend in Solo

{Samuel and Andrea, our tour guides of Solo; the view from Andrea's front door, rice fields, so peaceful!}

Had a great weekend in Solo! Very exciting :) and very interesting. I could never learn that much in class! A friend we made at uni, Andrea, invited a few of us to stay at her place in Solo for the weekend, and was really excited to show us around... thank god! It was great, she must know everything about the city! We met up with her early afternoon and caught the train to Solo from Jogja, only about an hour, which was pretty nice. Some pretty scenery, the train was pretty empty, and it was cool, you can turn the seats around so theyre all facing forwards or so you can face another seat. There were three of us and we stayed at Andreas, which is the sweetest little house! She lives by herself in this little one bedroom place and its so cosy! She gave us her bed and so the first night we all squished into a queen-sized bed but the next night I slept on a mat on the floor, which was much more comfortable! She was so welcoming, it was amazing! Ive never met someone so kind and enthusiastic, shed do anything for us, made her home "our home" :) She's studying Japanese at uni and used to work in a museum and study archeology so she knows everything there is to know about the area- and willing to talk about it! Fascinating... her boyfriend had a car so he was a bit of a chauffeur for the weekend. They also had lots of connections- we had a beautiful dinner at his parents street stall, and baked corn from his brother-in-laws stand... so much good food! lol. Andrea gave us a real taste of Solo, cos each city has its specialities, and it was so good! Might have to go back just for the food ;) We went to a museum, an antiques market, batik factory and the princes palace... so many beautiful things! The vibe is quite different to Jogja too, its so much less hectic and less motorbikes. I feel so much safer when theres lots of cars round, motorbikes are so unpredictable! It was really nice, more spread out and easier to get around. Andrea and her boyfriend dropped us back to Jogja this afternoon, i think they were a bit worried wed miss the Jogja stop on the train! But it was nice, really lovely people. Andrea lives in Solo, so she gets the train into Jogja and back every day... thats dedication! A nice trip tho, pretty peaceful :)