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Thursday, June 16, 2005
 When the moon hits your eye like a bit pizza pie...yep, I'm in Italy!!! Taking some time out in an internet cafe in Rome while I wait for the rain to clear...was absolutely drenched before as I came out of the Vatican City...not good when you're wearing a light yellow top!!! Okay, backtracking...  Munich has won me over...it's beautiful!!! Arrived in the late afternoon so managed to squeeze in a bit of shopping...eg. a new camera. Yesterday I went for a long walk past the glockenspiel and Residenz to the English Gardens and even managed to see a surfer on the permanent wave - an interesting experience in the middle of a city that's nowhere near the coast! Also trammed out to Nymphaneum palace but the gardens there were nowhere near as impressive as Schonbrunn. I even managed to spend a few hours in the Hofbrau Haus - a pretty good effort for someone who doesn't drink beer. Atmosphere was great but the roast pork was even better! Also managed to make it out (and up) to the Neuschwanstein Castle on Abi's birthday for a photo. It was a huge hike but the views were pretty spectacular and the castle was almost as fairytale as the one at Disneyland Paris...less stained glass windows featuring various Disney characters.  A quick stop in St Johann in Tirol for breakfast which meant that I got to ring the family. Was good to speak to everyone, even if the birthday girl was more interested in the balloons!!! ...And finally, I'm in Italy. Can't explain why I've been looking forward to this bit of the trip so much but I guess along with Greece it's one of those countries that you have images of in your head (and taste buds) which you want to confirm. And I can say that it's all true! Arrived in Vienna at night so the next day headed in and made my way straight to San Marco Square. Now some people are going to think I'm strange (what's new?) but it didn't really excite me that much...I was more interested in the maze of the streets, canals and bridges in Venice and the fact that you can never find the exact same route twice! Spent a lot of time wandering around (not even bothering with the map) looking at glass jewellery, masks etc. On my second day I had another wander around the maze and a ride down the grand canal then went out to Burano and Murano. Murano is where glass blowing was invented and is a cute smaller, more relaxed version of Venice. Burano made me want to learn Italian and emmigrate! I love the place and took about 50 photos of the multicoloured houses on the canals and had a look in all of the lace and glass jewellery shops. Then it was on to Rome...unfortunately the weather has been terrible half of the time but when the sun does peak through...I really like what I'm seeing!!! Did a walking tour of Ancient Rome yesterday which covered most of the majors then went back to go into the Colesseum. Favourite would have to be the Trevi Fountain...I almost lost the tour group by spending too much time walking around it taking photos! Today I've got a very sore neck from looking at a particularly famous (and very beautiful) ceiling!!! Headed into the Vatican museum first and wandered through the seemingly endless maze of artworks stored in even more beautiful rooms. Then I managed to find a spare seat in the Cistene Chapel for a good half hour gawk and the walls and ceiling. If only I had the slightest bit of artist ability, my next house would have an opulent replica!!! Was also pretty impressed with the picture gallery on the way back to the exit. Out of the museum and into Saint Peter's square and basillica. You really don't have any idea how big the basillica is until you go inside - once again, a very sore neck! Lots of gold, paintings, statues... All a bit too much for one day really! And then it rained...hard! I was forced to retreat to a restaurante for a bit of lasange and a quick read of the book I bought about the Vatican city artwork. The sun has just started to shine again (I think) so it's off again to make the best use of my 24 hour travel pass. Tomorrow I head off on a 3 day tour of Southern Italy including Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii and Capri. Then it's back to Rome for one day and on to Florence... Ciao...
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...check Have also seen warm wollen mittens and snowflakes that stayed on my nose and eyelashes!!! Anyway, first things first, then Salzburg. Barclays customer service managed to use up 30 more pounds of phone credit and eventually I had to have my passcode reissued to Australia anyway...watching the pennies very closely now. And thatīs not the worst thing that happened in Vienna - I went to the Schonbrunn palace and gardens which were absolutely stunning and massive...the size of a suburb!!! If Iīm ever a millionaire, I want a garden like that!!! Iīve taken plenty of photos and videos to give to my future personal landscape gardener to get it just right! Wouldnīt mind a tea room like this with a view like this one either!!! Bought some cheap shirts on the way back to the hostel and when I got back, I pulled the shirts out, pulled the tags off, threw the tags back in the bag with some other rubbish and threw the whole lot in the bin. Only realised when I got to Budapest the next day that for some stupid reason, Iīd left my digital camera in there...unfortunately I was staying at the best run hostel in Europe who empty their bins every day so it was gone by the time I realised. Luckily I had downloaded everything but my photos from Vienna so I didnīt lost too much!!!  Budapest was amazing...and amazingly cheap!!! As soon as weīd checked in, it was straight up to the thermal baths for a few hours then some goulash and paprika chicken for dinner. The next morning we did the walking tour which took us though Pest and over the chain bridge to the Buda castle district. Of course after all that walking, we had to go back to the baths to relax. This time I made it into the sauna - 78 degrees celcius!!! Went for a wander along the river when the sun finally went down to see the castle and bridges all lit up. Midday Sunday it was back to Vienna where I ran around trying to replace all the photos that Iīd lost with my camera. Didnīt complain about having to go back to the Schonbrunn gardens. A good nightīs sleep then it was on to Salzburg and straight onto the cheesiest "Sound of Music" tour. Our guide was the most melodramatic person on earth but made the bussing about interesting!!! Saw a couple of lakes, mountains, the glasshouse thingie and the church where they got married. Actually learnt a few things about the "Holywood" story which didnīt quite fit with the "Real" story... A little bit of overnight rain last night meant that there were plenty of raindrops on the roses in the Mirabell gardens (where they danced around the fountain) in the morning so there was some photos taken. Then it was the most expensive tour so far - to the ice-caves...would you believe it was snowing even before we reached the peak - then again, we were 1,700km above sea level!!! The ice-caves were spectacular - as well as being the best butt workout (with all the stairs and hill climbing) but well worth the money and I would definitely recommend it to anyone coming to Salzburg!!! Another good nightīs sleep last night with all that leg work yesterday afternoon so itīs breakfast and internet this morning before the bus comes to take us to Munich.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
I've been out of the country for 3 weeks but I'm still experiencing crap UK customer service... My online banking account has packed it in and so far I've spent 10 pounds on phone calls to try and find out if I can get a new passcode reissued by email...they keep trying to send it to me by post and can't quite grasp the concept that I'm travelling and therefore don't have an address...and if they sent it to the one that they have for me, it would take a week to reach my brother's house. Oh well...Vienna has been fairly good to me so far. Did a bike tour with Mitch to get an orientation of the city and ended up seeing most of the pretty buildings that are on the "to see" list. Had another walk around town in the afternoon and a schnitzel for dinner. Going to try and get to another of the palaces (and gardens) if I can manage to get myself motivated today.  Auschwitz was very interesting (and hot) but really glad I made it out there. A bit upset that Auschwitz I looked like more of a boarding school now that they've "prettied it up" but Auschwitz-Birkenau was very interesting but impossible to realise the size of the entire site!!! Thankfully the train ride back to Prague wasn't nearly as hot!  Not much time spent in Prague this time but enough for a trip into town for the best steak in the world - at La Belle Epoque - a few pina colada's and a silver jewellery shopping trip around the old town. Also spent some time on the bridge at sun-down which was quite nice! Then back to the Hostel and onto Vienna in the morning...
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