Prague

As we only have had 2 days in Prague we have mainly just walked around the city and wandering through their many many streets and ally ways. We have been on 2 walking tours here as the city is kind of divided on either side of the river. On the left bank is the Prague Castle which is bloody huge! Our guide was a bit boring though, as he had lots of knowledge about architecture and the centuries in which the buildings were built but far out he did not know how to deliver them! I swear Liz was snoring behind her sunglasses! But it was a great view when you got to the castle as it is on the top of a huge hill. The right bank is the Old Town and this is where all the shops, restaurants and gothic buildings are. On this tour we learnt about the buildings (again) and about the history of the city after WWII, mostly about the communist regime which was run by the Soviet Union and how the Czech's over threw them in 1993...interesting stuff actually.

One afternoon we stumbled on the 5th International Folklore Festival where many different countries where in their traditional dress and performing traditional dances. It was brilliant! We had such a lovely afternoon/evening sitting in the sun, drinking cocktails and being entertained! We saw some Polish dancers so we took lots of photos of them for the Jucha's! and New Zealand had some representatives which was great to watch.

Had some pork, dumplings and saurkraut with some local beer so I think we have seen everything there is to see here. Lovely place.

Dresden

Dresden. A small town filled with old buildings and old people. Yes! That's right. The elderly flock to this town. It was crazy, the day we went into The Old Town, (it really is called that) there was just bus after bus of over 50's!!! This section of the city was 98% destroyed by bombing at the end of WWII just to piss off Hilter...well done Allies. So most of the buildings that are 'old' are actually reconstructed and they are a mixture of new sandstone and burnt stones from the destruction. But in saying that, they do have some really lovely buildings and our favourite was the Swinger which is an old palalce. Was just beautiful.

Around where our hostel is what I called the hippie quarter and this was an are filled with alternate people, goths sitting on a sofa on the footpath drinking just one example, and lots of bars. And lots of beach bars which we also saw in Germany and went to one with Ingrid and Tom in Antwerp. But basically they lay sand in a large area and then add in a bar, chairs and table and there you have it...a beach bar!! But as I was still feeling like crap we did not go to any of these bars. I just slept most of the time to try and get better for the rest of our trip.

A very quiet town.

Berlin

Berlin was amazing. It has so much history that it was an overload by the end of the 4 days! On our first day we did the walking tour which was just great. Our guide was Scottish but he'd been living in Berlin for 10 years so he had lots of things to say! We visited so many places that I can't quite remember what they all were but we of course saw the main things, Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall and the Topograpy of Terror (this is a photo gallery of the Nazi party and their torture & intimidation methods), outsides of the many museums, the Berliner Dom (one of Liz's favourite building in Europe so far), some other cathedrals and synagogues around the city. Oh and Checkpoint Charlie, one of the four checkpoints that entered into the Allies section of the city during the Cold War.

One day we went to the German History Museum which we thought would only take 2 hours but we were in there for 4! And our brains were definately a little sore after reading so much information! But we have gained a better understanding of the World Wars, especailly the second one and how the nazi regime came to be in power. There is also this massive Jewish Memorial in the middle of the city, it's really quite depressing, but there is a information centre under it, so we also had a look there.

On our last day, we went for a walk to the Berlin Wall on the Eastern side, it's known as the East Side Gallery, and this is the longest still standing part of the original wall. It's 1.3km and every 3 years artists are drawn out of a ballot and come and paint a section of the wall...it looks fantastic. I cannot imagine what it was like to have your city divided into 2....madness really.

The picutre on the left is of the Jewish Memorial and the picture on the right is of the East Side Gallery - bit graffitied but you can still see the picture well enough.

Amsterdam 14-19th August

So we have visited this so called city of sin and well, it really isn't that sinful. On our first day we went on a walking tour (we do love them) and the guide told us so much about the history of the city that it made us realise there is more to it than just drugs and sex! However in saying this, we did manage to visit the Red Light District on a Saturday night...was definately an eye opener but no where near as seedy or dodgy as I thought it would be. There are just lots of bars and coffee houses mixed with restuarants and of course, lots of glass doorways with business women waiting for clients. They definately cater to a wide variety of clients...some were very interesting in deed! We also saw the highest point in Amsterdam which is walking bridge, and as most of the city is below sea level this bridge one of the only things above it! The skinny house was another favourtie of ours, this house is only 1.8m wide and 1 man lives there. It is skinny as way back people were taxed on how wide their houses were and I guess the person who built this was not very wealthy!

On the Friday night we went on a Pub Crawl and there we met some of the people we've been travelling on the buses with and managed to get drunk and dance the night away. Was super fun even if the clubs were a bit dodgy. We also managed to waste a good few hours one day in a park just enjoying the sunshine and the ability to do nothing. I visited the Van Gogh Museum whilst Liz explored the city. Art is really not her thing so we decided to go our separate ways on this morning. I really enjoyed it and found it quite interesting...he has such cool paintings! There were a few markets around which we went and visited, mostly just junk but nice to wander through.

On our last day there we thought we would be energetic and hire bikes and go for a ride outside of the city. It had been raining that morning but we tried to stay positive and waited til it had stopped for an hour before hiring them. So we were about 30mins out of the city when it started to pour...our executive decision, since we had no rain coats and no idea what would be at the end of the map, was to turn around and dry out somewhere with food and coffee. Which we did. There are so many bikes in this city it's just crazy, if you hear a bell you have to get out of the way fast or you hear dutch being yelled at you as they ride past. And you don't want to mess with them as they're huge!!

We also visited Rembrandt's statue in Rembrandt Park (original I know) which was a really cool part of the city. And just around the corner was Leidseplein where there were always street performers in the square which I liked to watch. I drank Heineken here but unfortunately the brewery was closed, so no beer making for me. And I think that's it for Amsterdam.

Chocolate, Waffles, Fries & Beer. 12th-14th August

Yes! That’s right, we are still in Belgium but have moved onto the tourist town of Brugges. Here we did all things Belgian as you can see from our title! There was not too much to see in Brugges so we were glad that it was only a two day stop. But it was such a pretty little place (even though it did rain on and off the whole time). On our first night we went out on a walking tour of the city, which turned into a hike really as the guide I don’t think really wanted to be doing it. However, he was entertaining and gave us lots of interesting facts about Brugges’s history. For example, all of the houses/buildings have brick fronts where you cannot see the roof behind it. Why? Well, back in the day when they were making them, brick was super expensive so people build their houses out of wood and then just put the brick in the front to give the illusion that they were well off!!

Our hostel was pretty old but it did the trick….even if we had to walk through a 10 bed dorm to get to our little 4 bed dorm! On our second night there, a group of people were staying in the bigger dorm and had been out sampling the delicious Belgian beer I’m sure, and at 3am thought it would be cool to let off the fire extinguisher in their room. I heard all the ruckus but was too tired to get up and see what had happened. Glad I didn’t, that whole room was covered in pink dust as was all their belongings and the beds. Super glad we didn’t choose to be skimpy on that hostel and chose the 4 bed dorm!!
Sampled 2 more beers here. One being the Brugge beer (cannot remember the name) and the beer in the picture of me is called a Qwak, as it’s supposed to make a quaking sound as you drink it…I didn’t hear the quack and was pretty drunk after one due to it being 8%!! And yes Tom, I took an hour to drink it just like you told me to!!

We also climbed to the highest point in all of Brugge. There is a windmill on it which I also climbed, but can you beileve the size of this hill...it's a slope people, not a hill! haha

We also visited this cafe/restaurant called Choc Bar which as it's name states is a bar full of chocolate. Here we had hot chocolates that were just heavanly and then we decided to try their signature dish which was a beef stew cooked in Leffe beer and chocolate. I have never tasted anything like it before...it was delicious!!

We really like Belgium, the people were friendly, the food tasty and the beer cold. What more do you need!

Ingrid & Tom's Bed & Breakfast, Antwerp Belgium 10-12th August

So our next destination was Belgium where we were dropped off in Bruges by the bus and jumped on a train to Antwerp to see Ingrid and Tom. For those who don’t know who these people I speak of are, Ingrid is the sister of my good friend Emme and Tom is Ingrid’s fiancée. When we hopped off the train they were there to meet us and took us to their cosy apartment where for dinner Tom cooked us what Ingrid referred to as poor man Belgian food but to Liz and I it was five star as this was the best home cooked meal we’d eaten since before we started out trip! It was sausages, potatoes and this red cabbage and apple stuff ( I remember the actual name of it!) delicious! Also we got to try some chocolates and of course a Belgian beer, which Tom advised me to drink slowly due to it’s high percentage of alcohol content. Safe to say, after it I was slightly tipsy. They then took us to this lovely outside summer bar and then Ingrid took us to see a movie which was being screened in the old hangers by the river. It was awesome!! It had lights and you just pulled up a blanket to watch. And to make it even better, it was in English with Flemish subtitles! Score!

The next day Liz and I got a sleep in and around lunch time Ingrid finished work early to take us around town. It’s a really small place but so quaint and lovely. We got to go and try REAL schnapps at this bar, so many choices! But we all chose different ones and shared. They were so strong (20% but the strongest was above 60% I think!) and after 2 each we left as we didn’t want to be drunk! We also got to try Belgian waffles which were delish! I think this would have to be part of Liz’s favourite part of Belgium!

After another home cooked meal and a few drinks our second night was over and the morning came too quickly and we were off back to the train to Bruges.

So thank you Ingrid and Tom for having us, we had a great time and cannot wait for Christmas!!

Bonjour! 5th-10th August

Our next destination was the beautiful city of Paris, France. So we hoped on our first bus and while watching movies and tv series on the bus we crossed the German boarder and were in France. 4 hours later we were driving through Paris. This city is amazing. Everyone is really nice and the feeling you have when you are there is indescribable. We loved it!

On our first day we took a 'free' walking tour which lasted 4 hours. This did not turn out to be free as you are expected to tip the guide at the end. False advertising! But it turned out to be worth it, as we got shown to all the major sites and gave us our bearings for the rest of the trip. The weather there was absolutley gorgeous for the first few days but then we had rain for a few days, not that it stopped us from getting out and exploring!

We saw Notre Dame and went inside to have a look, it is such a lovely building, so much detail, and the gargoyles are way cool. We also stumbled into an area known as the Latin Quarter where we mananged to find some super cool streets with some tasty food to eat. It was a really bohemien area where we were told lots of student's hang out. We tried to find this area on another day and as we didn't take any notice of the street names it took us 3 hours of walking to refind it again! We really liked the food there so we visited it 3 times in all.

We were super excited to visit the Moulin Rouge and we did this on the Thursday night. It was so cool! Their costumes are fabulous, their dancing was fairly average but everything else was super cool so it didn't matter. In the show there was also a ventriliquist, acrobatics, a juggler and the coolest was this lady who swam in a giant tank filled with water and snakes!! On Friday we visited the Louvre, this place is so huge! I swear we walked at least 3km and we barley even got through 1 third of the place. I saw the Mona Lisa but to do this I had to push my way through the hundreds of tourists who were taking photos of it. We also saw some other famous artworks but I cant' remember all thier names! After the gallery we went to sit in the park to eat crepes and watch the Eiffel Tower which was all lit up. It was magical, and on the hour the put lights on that twinkle and you here everyone in the park go ooooo, it's great! We didn't go up it then but decided to wake up super early the next morning to try and beat the crowds which kind of worked, but we still had to wait a little while to go up. And no, we didn't climb to the second floor, we just lifted it all the way up! The view was spectacular! Something I will not forget quickly!

On our last day, we bought some delicious pastries and went and sat down beside the River Seine and watched the boats go by, I think this was one of my favourite parts of Paris. That night we went to the hightest point in Paris which has the Sacre Coueur which is a lovely church and we ate cheese and drank wine on the hill until we got chased out by security as they were closing!

It was kind of sad to leave Paris as we just had such a good time, and loved just walking around and finding new things but the adventure must continue!

Au Revoir

Stuttgart, Germany

Well, we are finally on our adventure and our first stop has been Stuttgart. We arrived here with little hassle with only our plane being delayed half an hour in Stanstead(UK) due to the mob of people waiting to check in - there was no queue and it took us an hour and a half to make it to the desk. CRAZY!

We managed to navigate our way to our Hostel really easy as there are loads of signs around - not in English mind you, but we are getting very good at matching words! The hostel is actually more a hotel and here we have a room by ourselves and we get to watch tv! So now, we have watched The Simpsons and Little Britain in German...my life is now almost complete.

The city itself is really lovely. It's slow paced and not at all crowded which is a nice change from the ever busy London. It has these beautiful squares in which cafes and bars surround it as well as places for people to sit so you can just relax and enjoy the sunshine. Also great for people watching! There is not much here to sightsee as it is not so much a tourist destination as some of the other places we'll be going to. But it has been a great way to start our holiday by forcing us to just take it easy, enjoy our sleep ins and relax.

However, we have tried as many German related food and drink as our daily budget will allow. Meat, bread and beer is what seems to be the delicacy here and we have definately enjoyed trying them. Our favourite is Bratwurst and Kasseler, both of these are just served in a plain bread roll and are scrumptious! The Kasseler is kind of like ham but super thick slices and much more tasty. We also had dinner in a restaurant here and the meals we had were great - again meaty but oh so good.

The one thing we have seen here is an exhibit called United Buddy Bears which are these 2m tall bear statues which have been painted by an artist from each country who are a part of the UN. They were so beautiful -Australia's was there and our bear was painted by Ken Done but ours was not the coolest by a long shot!