We gave "when in rome" a good ear bashing this week!

Epic Win!! When in Rome!! Epic Fail!! Brutal...These are the words that will be etched in my mind and will shadow the time we had in Munich, Venice and Rome.
We had a great time, moving on from Munich and heading in to Venice. Our last night in Munich was heaps of fun, but sad to say goodbye to a few more people. The only thing that makes up for that is meeting NEW people and having just as good time with them. I can recommend Busabout as much for the people you meet as the ease of travelling, easy accommodation booking/transfers and access to all sorts of tours in the local areas.

Venice is amazing. I didn't really know how I'd find it, but the first glimpse of the map and I remembered the game (San Marco) that I used to play with friends back in Tassie (thanks John D!) We met up with Brad and Erin (who we'd hung out with in Munich but first met in Vienna on the bike tour - and then also the grape grazing tour in Vienna) and Rohan, who I also met briefly that Vienna morning though under a different name (heehee). Michelle (otherwise known as Sth. Africa) was also in Venice, though we had only seen her briefly during a couple of stops - we were able to hang out heaps more during this leg of the trip.

We ended up with a great crew of people to head around Venice with, and I loved seeing the canals, as well as the housing around the canals, eating pizza and seeing so many markets with trinkets as well as the museums.Tash and I cruised into Venice with this motley crew, and had a blast. We had all had a big night the night before (as we were catching up with some old friends and making some new ones) and got to bed quite late. So most of us were quite tired and as it was very warm, we didn't stay right in the city for the whole day, but came back early and had dinner at the Hostel restaurant (great food!). It was about time for a rest day anyway! We did take a water taxi in to San Marco, and then go up the Bell tower, saving the Guggenheim for last (which we forgot to do, argh!) and also thinking we'd go to the Basillica the next day. Turns out the next day was a bit of a rest day for most, (sunburn by the pool, anyone?!) so I headed in with Rohan and we made our way slowly towards
the Accademia Museum. On the way we had fun visiting a few cool glass jewellery stores and just took our time through the streets of venice. Stopping for pics every 5 minutes, and to listen to a classical/jazz guitarist.
The Accademia museum that we went to was full of old Venitian Frescos taken from old churches and surrounds as well as some gorgeous Venetian depictions. Took us ages to get through the museum though, and I was glad that Rohan had a sore foot (hope it's feeling better now?) and had to stop every now and again, as I take WAY too long checking out individual paintings. What can I say, I love to look at art!

I was disappointed as the Guggenhem was closed on the Tuesday - but we made up for it by spending the rest of the afternoon travelling out to Murano and seeing the glass museum. It was quite extensive and covered many periods, but I admit I was hoping to see some more modern displays or even someone giving demonstrations. Maybe a bit too much to ask, but not knowing anything about the museum from the outset...

We were so tired from all the walking around that we both fell asleep on the water taxi back and missed our stop! We ended up at a point which happened to be closer to where we wanted to go anyway, so a good thing. We also had the fortune to amble around some actual non-tourist areas of Venice, which was more than worth it. My favourite time in Venice, I think. Made our way back without getting lost, which was also a bonus!


There was a toga party that night, and finally had a chance to hang out with our Canadian friends (Derek, Sarah and Erika) who we'd spent some time with on the grape grazing tour in Vienna - we all threw on some sheets and had a great night along with the rest of the crew at the hostel. Toga parties, all the way. When in Rome, ahem, Venice...
Anyone for a toga party when I get back to London??
(msg me on facebook ;)

So we finally made it to Rome, minus a few people who stayed on in Venice for a few days, but we eventually caught up with them on the last night there (last night).
Rome, what can I say. You were hot, dusty and never before have I needed to jump in a pool after just a few hours of sightseeing. We did a walking tour, which took us in to the Vatican museum (many brilliant sculptures and paintings Michalengelo and Bellini as well as their masters and understudies) St. Peter's Basillica and the Sistine Chapel. Great fun, but long, drawn out, grumpy and sweaty...we made sure our trip the next day was short and sweet. Heading out to the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain (gorgeous, btw) and finally to the Collesium. Had a great day, but jumped into the pool feeling tired and satisfied.

Last night was great, as we had the new busabout load in and caught up with a few people that we'd not see for a while, a few newbies and some random people that were caught in our crossfire! We ended up with a bunch of about 25 people all crowded around one bungalow and played some weird woohoo game...don't ask. We rarely even had a go, thanks to James and Ben who were apparently masters, or so they claimed. Not so, James. ;)

So the frivolities of our last night were fun, and even though we have said goodbye to pretty much all our busabout crew and had our last achingly long busride - we are finally in Athens. It's very hot here and funnily enough one of our tour guides from our last leg of the busabout trip is here as well. (almost got away from busabout!!) We are very much looking forward to a bit of sightseeing here in Athens and then on Monday we head to the port for our 4 day cruise. Yay for some rest, pool time and rambling on Greek islands.

Then it's back to London for a time before Tash heads home. Definitely on the last legs of our trip, it's been so much fun - hope you've enjoyed the postcards...will try and fit in one more post before we head back. Starting to put some pics up on facebook, will not get the rest up on flickr before I head home though.

update from Munich

Oh my gosh, I didn't realize I'd left it this long to post. This post will be a lot about the people we've met lately on our trip, as it I have loved every second of meeting new friends and catching up with other travellers.

At the moment I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Munich, about to have our last night here. We've been up to heaps over the last week or so and I was just trying to give a bit of room for the postcards to arrive before detailing too much else here...well that's my excuse anyway!

When we left Berlin, we said goodbye to Erica (Canadian), who we had spent a fair bit of time with in Amsterdam - but met with Sophie, Katie and Donna who were also going on to Prague. We made a stop at Terazin first, and saw one of the camps where they held people during the wars. Ugly places, and very moving to see - but kind of feel bad visiting as a tourist in a place like that. I suppose that's how people feel visiting the concentration camps. I really do regret not spending more time in Berlin, our stay was very brief and not time at all to see any memorials or war sites.

We met Kim (who is from NSW) at Terazin, and then when we arrived at Prague met Afton and Brendan (Canadians) who'd also been travelling on the bus through to Prague.
Prague was brilliant. Mostly because we had so much fun hanging out there with so many great people. Rodrigo (Brazil/Sydney) who we met on our first trip from Paris to Amsterdam was also there. We last saw him on the Pub crawl in Amsterdam and it was just luck that we saw him again as he'd stopped travelling on the buses. We will likely also meet up with him in a few days in Rome and then our flights from Athens to London also coincide.
Funny how many people we keep meeting again and again, even when our routes change. It's really great fun and makes the whole travelling experience around Europe so much richer. In Prague, we also met Sam (America) and Andrew who were in our dorm. Andrew is travelling around with his sister, Mel, (Australians) also on the busabout loops with us and they are also here in Munich.
Sam, however, is travelling on his own and left Prague the day before we did. As Sam had already been wandering around Prague for a bit, he was gracious enough to hang with us for a while and show us around. This was a good thing, as at one stage Donna and I vagued out a little and headed in the complete wrong direction and were able to contact him for help!

We did a walking tour around the main city area which was very informative. It has such an incredible style of architecture, different than so much else that we've seen around so far. Very beautiful, but still the streets somewhat grimy. The only really bad thing about Prague was all the tourists - and of course we were contributing to that. We ventured out the next day to do a bike tour, but it wasn't as different to the walking tour as it had promised to be plus it poured with rain which added a complete other dimension to our tour. Ever tried bike riding (when you're already saddle sore from previous rides) in the rain on cobblestones? They should announce it as a new extreme sport. Poor Afton came a cropper more than once.
Still, one of my favourite memories of prague will be coming out from under a bridge (where we sheltered for a while) in the rain with the sounds of a french band playing the theme from Amelie. It was such a perfect space in time.

While we were there, Sam introduced us to a locally distilled liquor that tastes like Christmas! Otherwise known in Prague and the rest of the world as Bercherovka. Cloves, cinnamon and similar herbs stand out - I fell in love with the flavour at first taste, definitely my new favourite (Move over Mojito!). I even went so far as to purchase a bottle to bring home, only to leave it in our next stop, Vienna. I was so disappointed! I swear the cleaner found it and kept it for herself. Grrr. (bought the bottle in Prague for only about 5.70 pounds for a 750ml!! Will have to go back some time soon ;)

After Prague, we moved on to Vienna, saying a sad goodbye to Donna who we won't see again and a few others that we might see at various points. I did get to catch up with Kim briefly on our last night in Vienna, so that was really great.

When we arrived in Vienna, we met up with Bisade (aka 'B', from Nigeria/Texas) who we've seen on about 3 stages of our trip so far. Afton, Brendon and Tash went shopping around Vienna (shops were all very high street/label around us, so they had a ball) and I hung out with B and Andrew (Newcastle) and we did our own night tour of the city! Unfortunately I did the bike tour the next morning and found out that our approximations of the sites weren't exactly accurate...but I have a few crazy photos anyway. We did find a secret tunnel to the Greek islands that not many people know about. Oh, and ancient Rome, but I think that one's pretty much in the open. :)

moving on (sorry about such a long post this time!)...well, Tash and I opted to do the Grape Grazing tour on the last day - such a blast! We took about 2 hours to get out to the countryside where our tour began. We met some great people there as well, Sarah, Erika and Derek - 3 more Canadians(seem to pop up everywhere! Almost as much as Aussies, and that's saying something!) who we went out to dinner with afterwards and will also catch up with in Venice as we happen to be staying in the same accommodation. The tour was great, and I did purchase a desert wine and some Apricot Chilli Chutney during the trip. It was amazing just to get out of the city area and enjoy the countryside of Austria. We sampled many wines, stopped for a bbq lunch, tried some heartattack sausages (filled with cheese, wrapped in bacon! Would you believe I'm normally a vegetarian? Good thing I relented before starting this trip. Kind of, ahem.) and checked out the tower where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned for a year. Ok, well the ruins of it. And we worked all that wine off on the hike up there and consequent bike rides. It was a really great day weather wise as well which was great considering our whole trip so far has been oscillating between sunny and pouring with rain.

Ok, well now that brings me to Munich. We have been here for a couple of days, and leave tomorrow morning. Met up with Katie and Sophie again and Bisade for a night, as well as Troy, Kate, Andrew and Mel that we met while in Vienna. I've been out to the Hofbräuhaus both nights we've been here so far, with other busabout crew and other random people that we've met. Might just have a quieter night at the hostel with some mates tonight as we're getting up early for the next day's ride to Venice.

Now for the news you've been waiting for.
Yesterday we woke early to get ready to go on our tour to Neuschwanstein Castle

It was a really mild day though it did rain for a bit later on. Before that we had the opportunity to go on the Alpine slide which zig zagged down a small hill and looked kind of like a metal luge. We also took a bike ride to Swan Lake (not quite the famous one in Russia, but beautiful none the less) and then...we were given the option to Parasail! Tash and I jumped at the chance, and went along with our roommate Bill. It was extraordinary to say the least. I lead the charge, but when we got to the top...have to admit that I did have slightly shaky legs. One step at a time, a few quick ones over the edge, and then, what can I say - I was floating on air. I'm sorry that I'm not posting any pics, will just have to include them afterwards as it's too akward to get them off my camera. If I was travelling for longer I'd work out a better system, but hey I'm giving enough detail here, yeah?!

Phew. If you read through this, thanks. If not...well, it's not like you can hear me. :P

update from berlin

The last day in Amsterdam was a blast. I wrote the last post from the Bibliotheek (library), which was absolutely incredible. They had seven levels and you could see that they are very much into literacy, aesthetics and investing in their children's future. The food there was great too. Huh, a library with a restaurant.
I wasn't able to upload any pics there, but also cannot here, as the hostel was unable to read my card. Only due to their card reader, nothing to do with the card itself (v thankful!) I'll have to start spending money on proper net cafes soon...

Rained profusely yesterday, and more today. Good day to be travelling.

So, we're in Berlin at present. Enjoyed the time to recoop on the bus today. Stayed up late last night enjoying my last night in Amsterdam (will definitely be going back there!). We've met heaps of great Aussies, Canadians, NZealanders and Americans on busabout as well as a few Aussies who are currently living in London like myself. Will definitely catchup when we get back!
Berlin is great, though I'm sad about how little time we have here. It can't be helped, but we will part ways with a few of our travelling companions thus far. Hope to meet more soon!
For the first time, we know almost everyone in our dorm room. Tash is loving hostels (her first experience) which is great. Wondering if it was a good idea after all to book in the couple of private rooms that are coming up...

European travel is more spectacular than I had imagined. I do try not to have expectations before I travel - just take things as I find them, but I've been so blown away thus far.

Oh, and ahem...my elimination diet is completely blown out the window. Looks like I'll be back on the goats cheese, vegies, berries, legumes and rice for a while when I get back to London.

We are heading to Prague at 8am tomorrow morning. Another full day's bus ride in which I hope to get some reading done. Watched Bourne Supremecy today on the coach as well as dodgeball and some 'will and grace' episodes. The coaches are mostly comfortable. could always do with some more legroom. Our last trip was a smaller load so I had two seats to myself the whole way, but we were overfull today and they even turned a few people away. (They hadn't booked, but were hoping to get in on standby. Makes me glad that we've pre-organised every leg of our trip.) Busabout is hitting the busy season!

update from amsterdam.

hi from holland!

ok, now that first email is over and done with, i can tell you whats been going on in the last week.

tash and i caught up with a friend from devonport who'd been over this side of the world for a while on holiday, chelsea king. we spent a great day walking around hyde park, generally catching up and enjoying such a well known outdoor area in london. we saw the diana memorial fountain and took some pics with some random non-english speaking guys as well as spotting a few squirrels. i missed out on going to "the tower bridge experience" with tash and chels as i realized that i had an errand to run back home. i'm sure they enjoyed the history lesson, crypt of the bridge and scary actors running around trying to scare them! (apparently its better and scarier than the london dungeons!).

so, last saturday we re-packed (and yes that does mean that tash and i both ended up with only 15kg in our main packs after tossing out all our annoyingly heavy extra stuff - very glad for the trial run to cornwall!) and headed over to gare du nord (in paris) on the eurostar.
such a quick trip, especially as we forgot to take into account the 1 hr time change, so we arrived an hour before we expected! Our hostel accommodation was right on one of the canals, and is a new "st. christopher's" so we were really happy with our 10 bed, female dorm room. even provided us with towels.

we planned to do a river siene cruise the first night, after taking a look around, doing our best to order food with our limited french words, but we misread the starting point and by the time we arrived the boat had been gone for 10 mins. so we made the most of it and watched the beginning of a small independant film on the side of the canal til it got dark then headed to the eiffel tower to get a good glimpse at night. we got used to the metro system (similar to the london underground) very quickly and were so confident that we even split up a few times in the next 2 days.
the next day we went on a walking tour of paris. it took us (and a few others from our hostel plus random tourists on the street near 'st. michel') past many museums, interest points like notre dame, the bassilique sacre-couer, the new bridge (ironically the oldest bridge in paris) arc-de-triumphe, the eiffel tower, seine river, the louvre, the obelisk...you name it, we saw it. our guide was brilliant and went at an easy pace, stopping to make jokes, tell us some history and to grab some lunch.

after this, tash, myself and another tassie girl from launie (yes, have met more than one tasmanian already!) went to the sacre-couer again, for some photo posing...and to go up to the dome. heard it was the best view over paris, and i don't think that's far wrong! it was brilliant.

after this, tash went back to the hostel and i grabbed some food and headed for another tour with the same tour company. this one focussed on the Monmarte region and took us through much of the history of the bohemian region. i found out much more about van gogh and picasso than i had previously known, and saw some of their haunts, as well as those of hemmingway and amelie poulain! am keen to put some pics up as soon as i can, but won't be in this post.

we left the next day and had our first bus-a-bout experience. stopping at bruge (yes, i gave in and found some belgium chocolate there!) for a quick pickup of other bus-a-bout-ers, we eventually found ourselves in amsterdam, the netherlands. if i loved paris, i surely love amsterdam just as much, maybe more. so intrigued by the history, just spending 2-3 days in each place is almost killing me! i long to come back and explore so much more. never thought that i would be so inspired by the van gogh museum as i was, but i now have oodles of postcards of his work that will adorn my wall on my return.

the night we arrived, we went on a pub crawl, but were very contained (in bed by 1am) as the next day we planned to go on a bike ride/boat tour. it ended up raining so we postponed it and that's when we went to the van gogh museum, walked through a 1km long every day market and ate dinner at a great little tapas bar not too far from our hostel.

today we went on the bike tour, and had a great time. yes, i'm a little saddle sore, but happy for the experience. i miss riding a bike, its really been such a long time since I did it! we leave from here tomorrow (which I'm sad about, but am promising myself a return) and head to berlin for our quick over night stay before we head on to prague for a few days. these will be our longest days on the bus, but to be honest i'm not as frustrated by the journeys as i thought i might be, as we were bound to be tired but because of the forced travel, we don't feel guilty having to stop every few days. we'll definitely have the rest we need to keep going in each new place.

well, that's it for now! take care and keep in touch.

a note from cornwall

Well, what a trip we've had so far! After 10 months, it was such a great thing to finally see Tash in person. Yesterday was such a great experience, (if a very early one! I met a couple of friendly Aussie girls at the Archway station who were also going to pick up a sibling from the same terminal. How random!)

We had a really long day, as I was up at 4am to catch pick up Tash who had been travelling for around 24 hrs and we hardly stopped all day! After leaving the Airport at Heathrow, poor Tash had to shoulder her backpack for the first time (I won't tell you what it weighs!) fixed up a few things at home and then caught the train down to Cornwall.

At the beginning of the trip, I made friends with a lovely lady who'd been living in Turkey for about 5 years. She told me all sorts of stories of her life over there, and threw in a few recipes which I certaily appreciated! We had heaps of fun chatting away, Tash just mellowing to the sounds of her mp3 player - insistant on staying away until night time so that she would get over her jetlag quickly.
Pat said that if I made my way to Turkey before next april (she's moving back to the UK) I should call her and stay with her. Definitely thinking of taking her up on it.

Today we took our hire car up past St Austel and to the Eden Project. Such an awesome site! Zip wire for tash, photography galore for myself...and lots of walking around. Heading down to St. Ives tomorrow before catching the train back to London.

Hopefully will post more soon. That's all for now!