how do we get to Toledo?

5TH AUGUST

THIS was a day of high stress although it started out laid back. We caught a bus to madird but as we are fairly lazy travellers and don’t do a lot of thinking we could only get the bus at 1pm. Which meant we didn’t get into Madrid until about 8pm. This would have been fine if we had accommodation in Madird but we had a hotel booked in Toledo which is a 35 minute train ride away. We assumed because it was so there would be plenty of trains going there at night. Long story short- we wenrt to the wrong train station then raced to the right one only to miss the train by about 60 seconds. We asked if there were alternative ways to get there but the guy at information was useless. We called the hotel in Toledo (and this is where I got very excited- by this stage it was 10pm) and the lady didn’t speak any English at all. So I spoke to her (I was nervous because I doubted my Spanish ability a lot) but she understood everything I said and I understood her. Basically the only way to get there was by taxi which she thought would cost about 80 euro. She also told me the hotel reception closed at 11. I assumed we wouoldn’t make it and told her to cancel our booking. After this we did some quick cal we did thatucaltaions and realied we were going to lose 200 euro between the 4 of us and so we decided to race to a taxi and negotiate the taxi driver was more than happy for such a fare to come his way and told us he could get us there in an hour so we should call the hotel and say we might be ten minutes late (he also spoke no English). We were in the taxi and away and ready to cal the hotel when we realised one phone was dead and the other creditless. Long story short we got credit on the phone and called the woman again who said she would wait for us.

We arrived and she was there. She quickly gave us our keys and answered some questions. Its funny how when you are trying to speak another language quickly your mind goes for most circuitous route to get what you want. We needed food and instead of just asking if restaraunts were open (the word for restaurant in Spanish is essentially restararunt) I asked if they were shops with food. Such an idiot. Anyway we traipsed up to our rooms and Emily opened her door then quickly shut it again with a horrified look on her face. Apparently there was a naked couple asleep on the bed in the room. Hysterical with laughter we raced down to inform the lady who was clearly horrified that she gave us the wrong key and sorted it out.

We found a bar with food and we were happy.

Spain, BArcelona

It was a relief to be finished with Italy to be honest. A very disappointing country on the whole. Polluted, not very friendly locals and too hot. Arriving in Barcelona was like a breath of fresh air. It was cooler, cleaner, the people were way more interesting and friendly. When you attempt speaking Spainish they will have a conversation with you etc. First thing we noticed was the buildings were cleaner, fresher looking and the streets were wider and more open. The claustrophobia lifted and we all felt quite elated. We spent the afternoon napping and chilling out. We had an apartment so it felt great to be able to cook pour own dinner. At about9pm we ventured out to Las Ramblas which is the famous walking street in Barcelona. It was beautiful to walk down, full of life and some really great buskers. We watched a group of young guys doing the most incredible acrobatic/gymnastic stunts which climaxed with one of the guys leaping across 5 adults who were about 6 foot tall. So he jumped higher than 6 foot and longer than the length of 5 people standing in a row. Amazing. I liked Spain already.


4th august

We basically spent the day wandering Barcelona. On Las Ramblas during the day is the most incredible fresh produce market. They had the most beautiful Summer fruits arranged like something from Disney land. Seafood was eq1ually amazing and the meat selections were somewhat disturbing even for me as an omnivore. They sold whoel animals, like rabbits with their heads and eyes in, skinned. Pigs etc. Massive cows tongues, pigs trotters anything you could name they sold it dead and skinned. Made my stomach turn a bit.
The only thing that was a b it disappointing was the tapas. We had been told that tapas in Spain was a cheap kind of bar disht that you had with drinks and was often free. Nope they have cottoned on and are charging 5 euros for a plate with 3 deep fried prawns on it. Luckily you can buy fresh prawns for 10 euro a kilo at the market and we made an amazing homemade paella complete with nearly a kilo of prawns and a bottle of wine for 14 euro in total. Great feast. We wandered along the beach and the marina etc.

I was excited to be trying out some of my Spanish. Even though they speak Catilan in Barcelona they still understand Spanish. Just from reading signs etc it was easy to see that catilan is actually very different from Spanish.

5th AUGUST

First thing was another trip to the market to indulge in some amazing fresh juice. They sold pure raspberry juice for 2 thing I have ever tasted I think. So good. Then we made our way to the Gaudi Cathedral. Finally a Catholic Church in Europe that doesn’t look like all the rest (can anyone tell I am over old buildings yet especially the religious ones???). But this Cathedral was an exception. Where crucifixes would have been on other churches this cathedral had colourful bowls of fruit. Above the main entrance was a massive green tree with white doves in it. Its still under construction and so we didn’t bother going in. The outside colours look like they have faded a lot though. It was an awesome building nonetheless.

Next we made it to Barcelona beach. I was particularly delighted to find that it looked like some kind of fairy troupe had dropped mountains of glitter into the sea. Literally you could cup your hands in the water and come out covered in massive flecks of gold glitter. It was really beautiful. Despite the beauty the water was freezing cold. Considering it was in the mid 30s outside I didn’t expect to be shivering in the water.

We worked up a massive appetite and went for a 3 course meal on Las Ramblas. The choices were fairly basic but tasted great- I had meat balls with rice and potatos but they spiced everything up so it worked really well. Garlic and cheese soup and fruit for dessert. Not bad way to end the day.

Sorrento and Rome

28th – Sorrento
Glad to be out of Naples we spent 2 days never leaving the camp site. There was a cooking room, a beach and a pool and plenty of cheap beer to keep us occupied for a couple of days and it was nice to take a break from old churches. The beach wasn’t particularly a beach but a cove, that you had to walk down a cliff face to get to and there was no sand just rocks but the water was very salty and boyant and lovely to swim in.

29th Sorrento

30th – Rome
31st – rome – Vatican City St Peter’s Basilica
So the Vatican was disappointing- not in the sense that I’m a red hot Catholic on a pilgrimage and I missed seeing the Pope because he was on Summer holiday but just in the sense that I was hoping to see a lot more security guys with machine guns. I suppose because the big guy was elsewhere no one cared.


1st – Rome Colosseum

2nd – Roman Forum, Pantheon

Napoli, POmpeii etc

25th – heading to Napoli.

When we got out of the tube station near where we were staying in Napoli I thought we had magically arrived in the Bronx. There were children running around swearing at each other and threatening to kill each other. People piled on scooters not wearing helmets and driving on the pavement. Really didn’t feel safe. A little girl pointed us in the right direction and we were glad to get moving- even though it seemed as though we were getting deeper and deeper in the heart of the true seediness that turned out to be the whole of Naples. In a nut shell- a total shithole- but it did have the best pizza we experienced in the whole of Italy (but more about that later). It was getting darker and darker and we didn’t know anything about where we were except that there were on average 100 mafia related deaths per year in Naples. Eventually we reached our hostel which turned out to be a room in a fat guys apartment. Seediness exceeded.



26th – Pompeii
Hottest day ever and we decide to walk around some dusty ruins. Good choice. I don’t know where my memories of studying this at school went because I was shocked by its size. I thought there would be a few ruins and that would be it but it was 60 hectares of town uncovered. Pretty amazing. But we lost Jonno after about half an hour which meant a lot of wandering around discovering just how big the place was.




27th – Napoli
Spent the day in Napoli- went to a pizza place recommended by the fat guy who owned the apartment- and it was worth it. Huge pizzas for about 5 euro and with fab toppings. It was so popular that we had to line up outside to get a seat. The res of Naples isn’t really worth mentioning. Terribly polluted and ugly.

Florence

22nd July Florence

We made it to Florence eventually – our camp site was out of town and we had a bit of a pain finding the bus to get there but after the calamity fo camping Verona we were pleasantly surprised to find our twin cabins had a private clean shower and air con. We were done. And there was a pohaol.

23rd – we spent the morning fart assing about swimming in the pool- reading Stephanie Myer’s books and having a great time discussing her poor ability to write dialogue. Eventually we decided to head to PISA- at about 3pm. After a hot train ride we made it. I actually was surprised to see the tower was in fact on a big lean – I kind of imagined they might have been exaggerating it to draw tourists in. Other than the tower there’s not a lot to Pisa. Their gelato was the worst.

24th – Florence

We wandered about Florence- eating overprice pasta and trying to find whatever it is that people rave about Florence for. There was a big fairly impressive church- but at the risk of sounding like a philistine I just wish Europe had a bit more to offer than old churches. I’ve seen enough. We thought we would go see David- there was a cue that wrapped around Florence so after hearing some people say it wasn’t that impressive we went and found an imitation David in a piazza and had photos with him instead. The sun was incredibly hot- had to be in the 40s.

Venice and beyond- first few days in Italia

18TH JULY

It may take only 2 hours of flying to get from England to Italy but it takes about 2 hours of train travel to get from Gravesend to Stansted airport and then Treviso airport was similarly in the middle of nowhere- so it makes for a day of travelling nonetheless. Our flight seemed to be made up of school leavers and other such party annoyances – basically a large group of morons who liked to shriek and scream about anything and seeing as they were at the front of the plane and we were literally at the very back sometimes it made for a nervous journey when you can’t tell if the screams are warranted or not. A Ryan air threw us to the ground in what they like to consider a blaze of on timeness triumph- we even got treated to their little trumpet ditty that plays when you arrive on time. Didn’t matter that the landing was less than spectacular- we were on time. Just.

Due to my minor control issues I had taken a lot of planning in hand and together with my folder of booking and directions we jumped on board a bus headed for Venice. It took about 30 minutes then we were supposed to get on board another bus which would take us to our camp site. The camp site had claimed to be less than 20 minutes away- turned out that was a conservative estimate. We jumped on the bus loaded up with our bags. The bus sat there for about 20 minutes and allowed more and more people to clamber aboard until it was Thailand 3rd class conditions. It was a fairly frenetic trip but we eventually made it to be greeted by a 150 year old man who only spoke Italian who took us to our cabins.


19th July – Venice

Venice certainly lives up to the fantasy image- absolutely stunning! I had been told by countless people that it had a distinctly bad odour- but we were lucky and didn’t seem to encounter this problem. We spent the day moving between pizza slices, gelato stores, coffee bars, bars, fresh fruit stands and beautiful scenery.

Along the way we decided we would purchase a fairly hefty flagon of wine to consume back at the camp site. It went down a treat and was swiftly followed by a third bottle. Somewhere between the third and the fourth bottle (that Johnno ran to the shop to get before closing) we were joined by a dude called Trevor. He was an American studying for 3 months in France. Couldn’t speak a word of French after that time. Enough said.

20th July

Hangover city. More wandering. More fruit and more gelato. Venice is gorgeous.

21st July

Leaving Venice for Verona. Following the form we had developed over the last few days of spending about 3 hours deliberating over coffee it was after midday by the time we got to the train station. On arrival in Verona it was relatively easy to make our way to our campsite. This campsite claims to be the only campsite in Verona, and perched on the top of a hill near a castle overlooking the town we dared to assume it would be rather spectacular. View was. Accommodation wasn’t. We had booked a 4 person cabin- what we got was a one person 7-0 year old stationary caravan. It looked like some kind of Disney creation and seriously wasn’t built for four. We bunked down pretty much all on top of each other re-creating some kind of teenage slumber party gone terribly wrong. Em and Jonno ended up sleeping outside in the early hours because it was so hot. Not good. We were quite relieved to get out of there. Verona itself was quite beautiful- whole streets made of marble and lots of high end fashion stores. Not great for finding cost friendly food but nice for a day trip.

Croatia

23^rd May

Since our last Europe adventure started out so horrifically we decided to be up early, sober and ready for anything – passports on board! Subsequently we arrived at Stansted Airport about 3 hours early. Really duty free shopping is incredibaly boring.

Our flight to Zadar was quite alright, flying over the alps and having quite a good view.

I think our arrival at the airport indicated a fair bit about what this part of croatia is all about. After a smooth landing it wasn’t the size of the airport that struck us as unusual (its about as big as DUBBO aiport) but the fact that the plane actually crosses a road of traffic. We watched out the window as a man in a yellow jacket held up the stop signal for the oncoming cars and ushered the plane across the thoroughfare. Very strange.

By this stage it was nearly 9pm and considering we weren’t exactly sure how to get to our accommodation (which we knew was in a little town called Zaton 16km out of town) we thought we had better get a move on. We jumped on a bus we hoped went into Zadar. Luckily it did. Then very smoothly we arrived at the main bus stop to find that a bus to Zaton was coming in another ten minutes. It all seemed very fortunate considering our lack of planning.

The bus arrived and we were fairly sure from the Croatian non English speaking bus driver we were on the right one. We anxiously watched out the window for any signs that indicated we were going in the right direction. On occasion we saw a sign to Zaton and felt that was a good sign. It was pitch dark by the time we decided we should get off the bus. Basically we were in the middle of nowhere (so it seems when arriving in a foreign country and jumping off the bus on a road with about 3 houses on it). We asked one other person who got off the bus if we were in the right place and managed to make out from some English and gesturing that we had the wrong bus and would need to wait for another one. (I think this was some bad advice the place we were staying (Zaton holiday Village) is sort in between nin and zaton, but it is about a 2km squared (it has its own radio station and doctor) so the zaton bus stop is about 1 and a half kms from one end and the nin stop is about 1km from the other end. Either way you’re in for a walk and once you reach the gates your still only half way home) Naturally my panic buttons started to sound and Tim’s calmness kicked in. We found a sign with a map and on the other side of the town was our accommodation, so we decided to walk. This seems like an ok idea in the middle of the day when you know the way. These were streets with the occasional street light, very reminiscent of the areas near my parents house in Dubbo but with even less houses and more space in between. Actually it felt very familiar and reminded me of walking around the streets of Dubbo on Christmas eve- except for the lack of Christmas lights. Most of the time I felt really ok about wandering somewhat aimlessly in the dark and then I would remember we were in Croatia and had never been there before and were being a bit risky. Nonetheless we safely arrived at Zaton holiday apartments and excitedly fell asleep.

24^th

Our aim for this trip was to do as close to nothing as we could bear before getting bored. So we slept in, cooked up a breakfast and then wandered to the beach for a swim. Essentially the beach was a bit disappointing in the following regards:

1. The sand was not yellow/white and fine to tread on but more a grey colour with fairly large shards of rock strewn throughout. (the beach can either be described as having the most uncomfortable sand possible or the most comfortable gravel)
2. There were no waves

However there was a quite nice view of the islands in the distance and the water was nice and warm.

So we spent some time swimming and relaxing on the beach reading etc.

Pretty relaxed day in all. Nice to see some warm weather but after the long dark English winter the 30 degree heat is a bit of a shock to the system and warranted a mid afternoon nap followed by some Croatian beers.

25^th May

We wanted to take a day trip to Zadar and had to walk the 1km or so back into Zaton town to get the bus. It was stinking hot but really nice to see the streets we had wandered in the dark in the daylight. Beautiful Mediteranean style houses dot the landscape, complete with their own mini vineyards and collections of various farm animals. The wild flowers are in full bloom it would seem and wandering along roads with waist high stone fences it seems a bit like a fairytale. It took us ages to walk to the bus stop because we kept stopping to take photos of little lizards that dart out of the undergrowth all the time. They are bright nearly fluro green on the head and top half of the body and then brown on the lower half- kind of like a choco mint treat or something. Very cute. They are about 10-20 cm long at most. The peeling of church bells and an old woman sitting on the road side, peering out from her scarved head at us completed the scene. (church bells and the twittering of songbirds are common sounds in croatia, but by far the prevailing soundscape is the thumping of distant techno)

When we eventually made it to the bus stop we were pretty sweaty and thus fairly miserable to see the bus fly past us. We had a good twenty minute wait for the next one. Not to mention that there was extremely limited shade on this fairly barren stretch of road. We got an icecream from a randomly placed corner store and I thought it was a good sign that within the wrapper of my heart shaped icecream I found an owl temporary tattoo. Considering the family connection with owls I felt pretty happy and didn’t mind standing in the sun. icecream (the on-a-stick sort) have weird branding in Europe, my icecream was called “macho” and contained liqueur others have cars on the wrapper, in the Czech republic we had Harley Davidson icecream.

Zadar itself is quite lovely. The centre is an ancient Roman walled city, with narrow winding cobblestone streets and a thousand year old Church. Quite picturesque. We wandered along the waterfront and eventually found a restaurant we wouldn’t have to sell our right arm to eat at. It would seem by browsing that Croatian cuisine is fairly similar to Italian- perhaps with a greater focus on seafood.

In the afternoon we found what lonely planet describes as a ‘must see sight’- the Sea organ. This is essentially a series of steps leading into the water which has pipes etc. underneath, so when the water moves up and down it pushes air through the pipes producing different sounds- almost like the sounds of blowing across bottles. It would have been really atmospheric except that an International cruise liner was stationed right next to it and running its motor. So the sea organ wasn’t so easy to listen to.

We grabbed some pretty delicious fresh fruit from the famed Zadar market and by this stage realised the day had reached the point where most people are either swimming in the harbour or shut up having their afternoon nap so we decided to go home.

26^th May

Starting the day with pretty fabulous Tim made pancakes and fruit we again had a lazy rest around Zaton. Beaching, reading, getting slightly sunburnt (I figure its ok- we need to store up our vitamin D supplies before heading back to the miserable island).

One excitement of the day was the discovery of Zadar’s finest- Cherry Brandy. Apparently made with a cherry that is renowned for its taste this brandy was simply stunning. Not being really a brandy or a cherry person I had my doubts- but we just couldn’t get enough of this stuff. Really really tops.

27^th May

Today we did a bit of exploring and checked out Nin. The town is an island or islet, I think it depends on the tide. On our way there we stopped at a stone jetty and watched little iridescent fish darting around the rocks. The town is full of roman ruins, cathedrals, wall stone houses and wildflowers. We visited the world’s smallest cathedral, there is also a statue of dumbledore’s younger brother grgurninski renown for his magically prowess and lucky toes. At the edge of Nin there is a huge sandbar and as we approached to we hear a bus load of kids mucking about in the water, so we decided to do likewise and stopped for a swim, the sand was nicer than at the resort and there were some waves, but at all of the beaches here you need to walk out about 100 metres from the shoreline to find water that reaches above your knees. All over the place and especially on the beach there are snails sleeping the day away at the top of grasses and plant stems, they seem to be doing the opposite of hiding. After having a dip we decided to walk along the sandbar and we soon meet some of the kids wandering in the other direction covered head to toe in black mud. We read in one of the brochures about a medicinal peoloid (the spellcheck confirms our suspicions that this is not a real word) near Nin so we formed a theory that it was some sort of healing mud bath. We soon found the source of the mud, the sandbar is only about ten metres wide but somehow there was a 3 metre wide bog in the middle of it complete with its own ecosystem of crabs and some weird sand coloured jelly-fish like thing. I took two steps into it and was up to my knees, Steph preferred to scoop up some mud and smear it on her face, making her look like someone pretending to be a black-a-moor in some racist play. We took a look at our map and realised we were nowhere near the area marked as peloid but after washing the mud off Steph was still convinced her skin had improved. Next we wandered back into town for a late lunch, gelato and some freshly picked mulberries before we headed back to the apartment. Once there we realised we had both forgot to put sunscreen on our legs and had burnt the backs of our legs and the tops of our feet.

28^th May

Today we set off in search for the REAL peloid

Berlin day two

We had a fairly shittxy nights sleep owing to a very echoey hostel where every footstep and door opening etc echoes to about three times its usual volume.

We headed into Alexandraplatz assumign that might be a place to buy a tourist map and start out. We havenät done much research this trip and really had no idea where to go or what to do. With tourist map in hand we walked the two kms to Checkpoint Charlie- which with fake American soldior re enactments etc was fairly lame. The museum was incredibly interesting but not laid out well. Lots of writing and photos etc crammed into a small space and it didnät unfold in a very logical way. Hard to get a chronological idea of the Berlin and its wall and would be particularlz confusing if yzou had no previous knowledge about it. I suppose most people know a bit about it all though. We spent a good 2 hours wandering around it though- lots of incredible stories of escape.

From there we walked to Potsdamer Platz and to the Holocaust memorial. The Memorial is a colloection of probablz 100 or more cement rectangular pillars of varying height. The ground they are on is not even but waving hills and burrows so when you look at the memorical from the outside you donät realise how tall some of the pillars actually are and you can#t see all the people wandering through them.

From there we walked to the Brandenburg Gate- the only surviving gate of 4 to berlin built in the 1700s.

We are now at the internet in a big mall across from where the German Premiere of Star Trek the movie is happening. Lots of excitement earlier on but we couldnät be bothered waiting to see a couple of famous people walk by.

Berlin

Spent the morning bumming around Dresden before getting the train to Berlin. One thing we have realised about Eruope travel is that booking trains ahead etc is kind of pointless and excessive- but that the internet does not help zou at all. Get buses not trains. We booked a train in advance because we have limited time and didnät want to get stuck. We then realised that we booked the super slow train that we had to change at some random German village. But not a complete loss the views were gorgeous. Spring trulz has sprung in Europe. When we arrived in Prague the trees were all still basicallz bare from Winter and over the first week we saw them starting to bloom and now at the end fo two weeks things are reallz green. Its amayzing.

Arrived at Berlin central station- which is quite incredible in itself. I know this is going to sound incredibly dodgy but Berlin is the kind of place that can reallz take advantage of the fact that it was destroyed by war and build some super cool new stuff and not be bogged down by old buildings forever. Ok yes old buildings are amazing and wonderful etc but seriouslz some of Europe has got to go people! Ok old building rant aside - we checked into our hostel which is about 15 minutes train trip out (everywhere central is ridiculouslz expensive). Then we went back into town. We wandered along a street headed towards Alexandraplatz where the huge tv ariel thingy is (created by the Soviets to make the East look impressive). Along this street we came to this old derelict looking archway and building but there appeared to be some life within. So we walked through to find an area covered in sand with outdoor lounges, benches etc. Not classy pretentious fake beach stuff but just like someone dragged an old couch off the street. Tehre were some art studios with people working in them and stuff to look at. So we had a look around and then sat back amongst the sand etc to ahve a beer and listen to some cool music. The place had a really great vibe and I can now see whz everzone is wanting to move to Berlin and become an artist. There were a couple of rat sightings however but I suppose that just added to the crazyness of it all.

Along this road were some other curiosities. Many many prostitutes. All wearing bum bags. Very strange. I don#t know whether its legal along this particular strip or what but there thez were plain as day with their pimps wandering around behind them. At first I thought the first two were just a couple of slappers out for the night until we kept walking adn the same theme continued.

Dresden

Spent the day exploring Dresden by foot.

Very nice city.

Went to an art exhibition bz this modern German artist called Martin Eder- running out of net credit so not much time to write about it. Google Martin Eder to have a look at his stuff. Some of it is quite interesting, perhaps a little pretentious. Will write more later.

Found a cool part of Dresden that reminded me of Newtown or Enmore, lots of similar shops etc.

Sat in the sun on the River Elbe watching people and whatnot.

Tomorrow to Berlin.

Goodbye Prague Hello Dresden (plus third tragedy)

So we spent the morning wandering about saying our goodbyes to Prague and spending the last few Czeck krones we had. Tim wanted to trz a langos- these depp fried pastry bases that they paint with garlic oil, tomato sauve and then pile with cheese- which he did and enjoyed until I decided to get into this incredible looking chicken kebab on a stick stuck in a baguette. I lined up and got one (the line was huge so I assumed it would taste good) reallz I have no idea how good it was because I basicallz accidentallz swallowed the first piece too earlz and spent the next twentz minutes half choking half trzing to digest this piece of meat. It had no idea whether it wanted to go down or come back up and I suspect it maz have been in the wrong tube altogether, so I was coughing, spewing up stomach bile etc in the middle of the old Centre of Prague before eventuallz vomiting, coughing up this piece of chicken. I probablz didn#t reallz need to describe this in such detail but it was trulz a horrific experience and I (being a drama Queen) thought I was going to die in a verz embarrassing way in a foreign countrz without travel insurance. For about 2 hours I thought it was revenge of the chickens and I decided to go vego once and for all- then when we arrived in Dresden I had a chicke burger at Hungrz Jacks and that was the end of it all. I suppose once yzou fall off that horse zou jsut need to get back on there!

Ok so we made it to Dresden- after what nearlz could have been an Asia stzle bus trip. It was onlz 2 and a half hours but after about an hour thez stopped the bus, started running around as though something was wrong and then declared a ten minute break. We all waited around until whatever was the problem was fixed and were off again. Phew- nightmare flashbacks to 15 hour trips in Vietnam with numerous bus problems! The views were lovely especially as we went through some mountains and along a river passing little Czeck villages and a prettz cool castle on the edge of a cliff overlooking the river below.

Arrived in Dresden about 5pm and spent the evening wandering through the town centre. Its interesting as so much of it was destrozed in WW2 that there is a lot of new development and as such the roads are much wider etc and it feels more like and Aussie citz than anz other we have zet been to.

Botanical Gardens etc

Today we went to the Botanical Gardens in Prague which was quite cool because its on top of a hill on the edge of town. Very nice to get out of the way of buildings buildings and more old buildings... do I sound a little sick of old buildings? well I am. I am starting to realise that makes up a large portion of what europe has to offer- I am now understanding why people can go on a 3 week 7 country Euro drinking spree and feel thez have seen it all. I think (even though reallz enjoyed Prague) we stazed a little too long. Anywaz I will let Tim elaborate on botanical garden escapades as he was very excited bz the green house vegetation.

Kutna Hora escapades

So today we decided to get out of Prague and jumped on the train to Kutna Hora- about an hour and a half away. Basically used to have a silver mine there, lots of churches etc but we were going for the 'Ossuary'- and we got much more than that!

Ok so first of all the ossuary- back in about 990 some dude did a pilgramige to Jerusalem and got some dirt from Galgotha and brought i back dumped it near the monastry and Kutna Hora and then a bunch of wealthy guys decided they wanted to b burieed there and it started out as a burial site for the rich and famous. Then in about 1300 there was a massive plague, followed by a big war (Husseit wars- not exactly sure who with... I think the Turks? Anyway a ton of people got corpsed and laid to rest at the Ossuary. Then in the 1500's his half blind monk thought it would be really cool to get all their bones (some 40 000 dead bodies worth) and turn them into decorative art - which he did and it is in fact cool. There was a big coat of arms made out of every single bone in the human body, a chandelier and oher stuff that photos will depict better than me describing it whilst half asleep.

The Ossuary didn't have as much atmosphere as the catacombs in Paris but the designs were pretty impressive.

Ok so the other unexpected delight was the fact that they were having some kind of Easter fair. It was almost exactly like the Dubbo show or equivalent except for a few differences:

* You could buy beer and walk around with it (not confined to a no kids alcohol area)
* Every second stand wanted to sell either colour co ordinated pegs (yes clothes pegs sorted into olours) or dodgy (used looking) underwear!
*

We had decided to bring our own lunch to save money and found a nice spot on the other side of the cemetary to eat our bread and cheese and it was quite lovely.

Tim succumed to the call of the waffle and experienced the waffle on the stick- whih Tim approved of completely. I will let him review in his own time.

It was kind of cool to be in a random Czeck town that had minimal tourist traps- and to see that not all f Europe is quaint cobblestone alleys and colourful castles... there are shitty carnie shows here too!

Czeck adventures continued

So we spent the rest of our time in eating our way around Cesky Kumlov. WE took a walk up to the top of this hill called 'Krizak' and amazingly it was so hot we had to be bare armed! Very enjoyable. The views from the top were pretty cool and our camera is drying out slowly but surely.

After saying goodbye to the bears and taking a walk through the park and castle gardens we were bound for a bus back to Prague.
When we arrived at the hotel we had booked the woman looked at our reservation email wth puzzlement- which is unnerving when you arrive in a city that everyone is leaving because its booked out for Easter long weekend. BAsically Wotif or the hotel had screwed up and double booked so the receptionist rang around and then told us someone was comign to take us to an apartment- kind of strange and considering I have seen one too many 'Hostel' films a bit unnerving. I pictured our corpses being tortured in some dngy apartment in Prague. But it all turned out ok and we were given an apartment to stay in for the night- it had a very 'Bohemian' feel and so we got ourselves some absinthe and tucked in. One shot and I was done- that stuff burns- I suppose 70 % alcohol will do that to you.
So this morning they came and picked us up and took us back to the original hotel and we checked in for the rest of our stay in Prague.

The weather is soooooo beautiful here- must be mid twenties and sunshine everywhere! good outdoor beer weather and we are making the most of it. Today we wandered from our hotel to the Castle and had a wander about. Bit over castles really and so didn't bother paying to go inside- the views from the top of the hill were free and pretty fantastic. Also watching middle aged European tourist couples who dress alike is equally enjoyable.

Just figuring out how to avoid a tour and get ourselves to this bone ossury about an hour from twn by public transport... then we are back out into the square for some sunshine and again more FOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately because of Easter weekend we could either get to Germany yesterday or not until Monday- we opted for Monday because its cheaper here - but it means we only get about 5 full days in Germany- so the highlights of Berlin is all we will manage and a day in Dresden. I suppose if we like it we can come back.

Another day of Cesky Krumlov eating and adventure

So we are taking today easy- more food more drink- I plan to be a size bigger when we return to England- like a camel I am saving my food so I don't have to eat for a month when we return. no more jacket potatos full of beans for me!

So we are headed to Prague again tomorrow and we might do a day trip to Vienna Austria if our budget allows. As it turned out that we couldn't get a train to Dresdent until Monday so we have longer in Czeck Republic thahn germany and thought a day trip might be good. If not there is still plenty in Prague we want to Czeck out! Yes the puns are a plenty!

Second Disaster of what must be a slightly doomed but fun trip

So we slept in and woke up to a delicious breakfast that would rival our odl favourite Martinis in Newtown and the good thing about Czeck Republic is that without the Euro it rivals Aussie prices too! I kinow I keep blogging about food but truly we are having a good time stuffing our faces with things that actually have flavour after surviving for 4 months in the land that flavour forgot. I had almost forgotten I have tastebuds.

We then climbed the main tower that overlooks the town. it resembles a wedding cake in my opinion- each tier being a different colour and painted with a different design. Ceszky Krumlov is a bit like Disneyland really which might explain my love for it. There were some great views overlooking the town. We wandered about the castle and watched the bears who live in the moat playing in their pond and eating honey. Well not really honey but that would have been funny. They were eating apples and carrots and chocolate croissants instead. Yes there are 3 real bears living in the moat! Pretty cool. Although we are not really sure how ethical their environment is - btu they have a fair bit of space- more than most zoos.

Then came the part of the day that spelled our doom. We decided to take a canoe trip aroudn the river which we had seen others doing the day before. The river has a system of little rapids that you need to go down because the river is on a mountain- anyway they looked tame enough to us. The sky was overcast and we heard a few cracks of thunder just to add ot the atmosphere. The guy drove us and a German couple out of town where we were to start our boat trip. We had been given a quick briefing on the rapids by some dude who gave us a map and told us which rapids to go down and which ones to avoid. Naturally Tim was excited and I was slightly concerned. But not concerned enough to really think anythign could go wrong. I mean they didn't even offer us helmets!

So we started sailing and I couldn't particularly enjoy it as I suddenly realised I was busting to go to the toilet- the kind of thing that happens when you are surrounded by the sound of rushing water. Tim looked on our little map and said- 'Oh there is a camp site up ehre we will stop and you can go to the toilet'- so we pulled over and I popped up the hill in search of what looked like a campsite but was really some industrial place with a fence all the way around. Such is the life of someone whose bladder is made small to leave room for a uterus I couldn't contian it and decided to hide behind a wall and do a quick wee! Ashamed I came back to boat and swore never to blog of this incident.

We continued on our way to find that the campsite was in fact just around the bend!

After this we went down one rapid and had a pretty enjoyable time- I didn't die and even managed to get a quick photo of Tim's triumphant paddling. Put at ease by our first rapid encounter I relaxed and started to enjoy my newly emptied bladder and the scenery.

Second rapid came and went with no more than a 'woot' of excitement and a subtle splash.

Then came the third rapid- I think I sensed impending danger and panicked- basically when I panic my brains shuts down and I start flailing- in the case I was flailing with an oar and trying to do who knows what to avoid the rapid. But we went down the rapid regardless and just as we thought we had conquered it our boat got turned around and I saw Tim's end flip and next thing we were under. I think the greatest shock was the freezing nature of the water. It hit my chest and I (again panicked) and started screaming for help. I couldn't touch the bottom and luckily Tim grabbed me and I realsied (briefly) it wasn't too scary and we swam for the shore. Freezing cold and not a happy camper started cursing the world and swearing never to get back into any boat again! Then we turned and saw that the Germans had caught up with us- we watched them go down the rapid much as we had fairly calmly only to be sucked under at the last minute as well. So Tim jumpled back in to help them as the german girl looked to be getting carried away. All freezing cold and a bit shocked (the German girl had lost her shoes) we stood around wondeirng where the nearest bar was. The only solution was to get back in and keep going. Naturally my fear had turned me into the most annoying person alive and I panicked the whole way back- even getting out before the last rapid and walking teh rest of the way dripping wet. Along the way we did manage to find the girls shoes which we thought was pretty impressive. Oh but later I realised the pair of sunglasses I ahd bought that morning were long gone! The other concern was 9and still is ) that our camera may never work again. We have salvaged the memory card and the photos we ahd taken are ok but we haven't had the guts to try the camera yet! Still drying it out! Fingers crossed- I think we are doomed with cameras!

Anyway we then spent a couple fo hours blowdrying our shoes (we only brought one pair with us not thinking we would end up submerged in a river) before heading back to our favourite vego restaraunt for a well earned meal and beer.

Cesky Krumlov- yahoo

So we awoke early and wandered down to the bus stop (which we had spent a fair bit of time the night before looking for only to realise we had been walking past it every time!) and caught the bus to Cesky Krumlov in the South of the country. It took nearly 3 hours drive and mostly the views weren't that exciting. The landscape is fairly non descript- green grass, leafless trees etc. A few towns here and there that look mostly like anywhere else apart from the Czek writing on the signs.

Cesky Krumlov is absolutely beautiful! Tim and I both agreed that we were feeling a little aprehensive about Europe after our Paris trip. Basically Paris was interesting but neither of us absolutely loved it and it cost a fortune and we were both worried that maybe the rest of Europe would be a bit ho hum as well- yes some of you reading will think we are complete philistines for not loving Paris but there you have it we didn't and we don't and the truth is finally out there!

Cesky Krumlov is an old town- with the River Vlatva running through it. The centre of the town (you could say is touristy) but charmingly so. Every building is a different colour- theya re all cement buildings but with amazing designs all over them. Some are just basic so it looks like they have been made out of brick work or whatever but its all painted- so it gives a 3d effect. And again gorgeous cobblestone alleys that twist and turn around each other over bridges etc. and what Tim and I really enjoy the most fabulous places to eat and drink! We had lunch at a vegetarian restaraunt that was amazing- the waiter was so funny he reminded me of Gerard Deparduie- always smiling and laughing and seemingly simple but obviously not. The food here is very hearty- served on big thick earthenware plates and big portions that warm you up. It all feels very medieval. We sat eating along the river and for the first time since being in Europe basked in the SUN! Yes the sun! I could feel the vitamin D soaking in and taking all my sadness away. I never want to go back to stupid England! The weather here is fabulous- its been about 19 degrees which after the UK winter feels so nice!.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the alleyways and exploring. That night we went to a restaraunt serving traditional Czeck food- and drank hot mead- Tim had South Bohemian Mead and I had Maravian- who really knows what was in either but it was yummy and sitting right next to a beautiful castle and colourful tower it was very atmospheric.

Prague - some thoughts

So we have spent the morning walking about taking in the sights. We are now only at an internet cafe to book our bus to Czesky Krumlov tomorrow.

A few strange things first

* Men here love to double denim- don't know who told them this was ok.
* The toilets have a weird extra shelf in the bowl so you do your business and it sits on this shelf (maybe so you can inspect it?) before you flush it away!
* There are a lot of Police wandering around- I mean a lot! Makes you feel safe though
*When we were on the train headed to our hotel there was a family all wearing blue jumpers that said LUBE

A few delightful things
* The people are very friendly
* The buildings are colourful
*The food is cheap
* The food is good!

Anyway we went to a Jewish Synagogue this morning- just wandering past and were so captivatd by its beautiful colourful, detailed front that we wandered in. It is one of the mot beutiful interiors I have ever seen. Amazing details and colours and amazingly it survived German occupation. Apparently they used it as a storage space which is why it wasn't destroyed.

Sat in a lovely cafe and drank coffee and ate 'little czeck cakes' - gorgeous.
Tonight we are oing on a dinner cruise along the river as an anniversary celebrations. Tim and I have been together for 3 years.

Anyway will update when we have the time.

Ok so after we finally figured out how to book a bus to Cesky Krumlov we wandered down (pretty much by accident) into the old Town Centre- which was abuzz with much excitement. We were later to find out that there was a big volleyball tournament on in Prague! Which also explained the family wearing the LUBE T Shirts- perhaps the name of their team?

The Old Town Centre is rather amazing. All the buildings are brightly coloured and painted with either scenery or fake decorations that would usually take the form of sculpted gargoyles and the like. Really lovely. There was some sort of fair happening with singing and revelry and msot excitingly lots of food and beer options. So We stood at a tall table and tucked into some Czeck goods- a couple of massive (and cheap!) beers and Tim had these potato pancakes that were pretty much leaking lard (they like oil and fat in this country) with a side of cabbage and I had what was labelled 'Old Prague ham' and should better have been described as nearly a whole baby pig. They just carve off a hunk from the spit and give it to you on a plate with two bits of bread. It feels incredibly medievel and it tasted pretty bloody good.

After this we both felt a bit ridiculously full and slightly drunk so we just wandered about the old centre which is an amazing maze of little cobblestone streets, lovely shops and cafes etc. There is no time to try and head anywhere specific because you get so easily distracted by one alley or another and again you are off track. We checked out the 'astronomical clock' which is one of the meeting points for a billion tours.

We ended up in a coffee shop which specialised in hot chocolates- you could get hot chocolate with pretty much anything your heat desired- so Tim had hot chocolat4e and coconut milk and I had hot chocolate with ginger. It was a traditional sludgy cup of liquid chocolate with your additional flavours in a little dish next to it! Neither of us could finish and felt slightly ill after. But we just rolled on out and around the streets again until we realised we had been wandering for about 12 hours and our feet hurt and we wanted to go home to bed.

We nearly didn't make it!

Ok -so we just made the most embarrassing mistake a traveler could possibly make. We went out on Friday night for drinks with workmates- got a bit tipsy and came home all orried because we had no clean clothes. So we thrwe stuff in the wash and wnt to sleep- woke up o wet clothes and spent the morning tryng to dry them with the hair dryer! In such a state of confusion and last minute packing we rushed out the door headed to the train station and felt very proud of ourselves tha we had made it. Settled onto the train and read the newspaper. On arrival at London Bridge for no apparent reason I suddenly remembered we had left our passports at home! Of course I burst into panic accompanied by tears, tantrums, foot stamping and nearly throwing myself in front of the next train all while Tim remained perfectly calm. We racked our brains- if Tim went back would we still get to the airport in time? Answer no. Could we get a taxi- not enough time to get there and back! Long story short we rang our mate Martin (another school teache from South Africa) and asked if he would be so kind as to jump in a taxi and bring us our passports! And thank God he is an awesome guy and did simply that. Our housemate let him in grabbed the passports and a 70 pound taxi fare later he met us at heathrow with only minutes to spare and we got checked in! Amazing! Then I started to panic thinking that maybe there was a supernatural reason we forgot our passports and started imagining the plane crashing etc. But thankfully we made it to Prague and got to our hotel at abou midnight last night!

London again

Yesterday we headed to London to see a play called '3 days of Rain'. We headed in and met Greg on Portobello Road, had some all day breakfast washed down by some tall cold pints in a Tapas bar. Greg couldn't quite reconcile the idea of having beer with breakfast. Wandered along Portobello road to check out the markets. The houses along here are all painted different colours and the effect is like a big colourful lolly. I have no idea why the rest of England doesn't get on board with the colour scheme and brighten up this dreary country. We happened to see the home of George Orwell- had no idea he lived in Notting Hill.
The highlight of Tim's day was another chance at some waffles- but alas they did not live up to his past waffle experiences and he finished his strawberry chocolate waffle feeling unsatisfied. The search for the best waffle continues.
'3 days of rain' was an interesting play. In all honest we just booked tickets because it had James McAvoy in it and we didn't really know what it was about. Basically (like all tried and tested plays) its a story about family and secrets etc. The first half was set in the current day after the death of the characters father- basically trying to unravel the mysteries of the childhood - why their parents were so eccentric why their mother was mentally ill. Not as depressing as you might think from the overview. Very well written and fairly humorous. The set was really cool- old run down loft apartment in NEw York. The second act the actors became different characters- their parents during the time they met '3 days of rain'. I liked the second half better and Tim liked the first half. Neither of us are sure exactly why.
I felt a lot better just being in London for the day. So much more happening, way less pregnant teenagers and racist drunks. I think I am getting a very negative view of England from living in Gravesend and after a bit of soul searching and some tough decisions we are deciding to move to London at the end of Summer. Going to stay here because it is cheap and we can save up for big summer holiday- then come back and Tim will look for work in London and when he gets something we will move up. I will keep working at the school until such time as Tim gets something. We will move up and I will do supply teaching. I can't handle the stress of permanant position when my intentions of being in England are not to further a teaching career. So now we have made that decision I feel ten times better. Who knows if we really have enough we might move sooner. But at the moment its good to benefit from cheap living and school holidays! Also Tim has a teaching assistant job at my school.

Last day in Paris

We were pretty buggered by Friday as we had been partying with Bron all week and checking out the sights. So we took a slow wander around the Pompidou centre before deciding none of the exhibitions interested us that much and then we wandered over to the Louvre and wandered around in there. It was cool to see all the famous artworks we had only ever seen in books but by the end it all got a bit too much to take in. Lots of tourists going mental again kind of destroy the atmosphere.

The next day our train left at 8 in the morning. This time we were in Leisure select which emant we got more space and a meal but really all we cared about was snoozing.

EURODISNEY

What can I say? Disneyland truly is the happiest place on earth. I had a smile from ear to ear all day (except for about 2 minutes when I was relegated to a small horse on the carousel because all the children beat me to the big ones!). Even cynical anti-disney Tim was won over by the charm of the place. What is most striking about Disney land is that its not just a trashy theme park with dodgy rides, but its this masterpiece of planning. There is so much attention to detail. the gardens are all beautifully sculpted. There is not a blank wall in the place. its not all tacky bright colours- Main street is like a beautiful New Orleans style street with Victorian tea houses and ice cream parlours, shops etc. Gorgeous.

Because we only had a day we didn't get to see everything properly but we made a pretty good effort.

hilarious occurance that I don't want to forget: when we were on Thunder Mountain roller coaster (which is fairly tame) there was this kid behind us who just screamed at the top of her lungs the whole time. even when we were travelling on zero incline or decline. At the very end of the ride she called out 'Get in there!' in this hilarious way- Tim and I pissed our pants laughing. probably had to be there but I still get the giggles thinking about it.

Best part of the day: about ten minutes before the park closed Mickey and Minnie appeared on the top of Sleeping Beauty's castle to say goodnight. The whole castle lit up with fairy lights and Tinkerbelle shot glitter out of the top turret. It was a magical glitter overload of excitement and given my fondness for glittery tackiness I was in ecstasy. I think Tim secretly enjoyed the silliness of it all too.

Montmartre

We headed to Montmartre today and I have to say I felt like I had finally found an area of Paris that lived up to my expectations. On the top of the hill is a beautiful white Church called Sacre Cour (not sure if spelled like that). Perched alone on the hill it is stunning. From the top you can look out over Paris. It but fairly smoggy/foggy but still a good view.

We wandered around the little streets surrounding. Montmartre is the area where all the artists hang out do portraits etc surrounded by lovely little shops, cafes, bars etc. We wandered into an art gallery focusing on Dali and had a look. I think most of the work were reproductions but still cool to see.

One thing that I was shocked by in Paris was the food. People rave about food in France but most things and not that fresh- all sandwiches are pre made and sitting there etc. They even premake hotdogs with melted cheese on. Gross. Also- how lazy can you be to not make a hot dog fresh?
Everywhere you go you can buy crepes with Nutella- they really love nutella in Paris!

After this we wandered around looking for the Moulin Rouge. By this stage of the day though the camera battery had died. The Moulin Rouge was fairly disappointing- the windmill was tiny and just plonked on top of an ordinary building on the street. Lame. Not to mention we had to wander through the sex district to find it.

So we wandered onto the Montmartre cemetary which is the final resting place of many famous people. Most of which we had never heard of. Nonetheless the cemetary was incredible. Each plot is a mausoleum- so the cemetary is divided into streets you walk down and you are surrounded by these miniature stone buildings complete with stained glass windows, turrets and gargoyles. Spookily on one fairly impressive tomb sat a black cat which just stared at us intently as we walked past.

Tim and I ended up hanging out in a bar in Montmartre during happy hour to end the day.

17th Feb

After a big night out we slept in and were feeling a bit seedy. We eventually made it out of the house and headed for The Catacombs. When we got there we were confronted with a line that was about 100 people long. Anyway we stood in the cold and much to our indignant Australian anger watched as a girl about to push into the line just behind us. Unfortunately she was successful and we couldn't believe how sly she was.

Anyway that aside the Catacombs were underground tunnel mine things that got turned into tombs in the 1700 when there was a massive plague. A whole bunch of people died and were tossed into mass graves- but because there wasn't much room it was very unhygenic and they decided to take them down into the tunnels. The bones and skulls are all arranged in patterns, love hearts and different shapes. Its quite beautiful. You have to walk down about 130 steps and walk through very winding tunnels to get to the bone section. There are so many bones- thousands of people in there. I thought it might be creepy in there but it wasn't- just interesting. No strange vibe. Just peaceful.

We did see some hilarious things in the Catacombs that I don't want my ageing brain to forget.

1. this little kid was walking around with his legs wide apart like a cowboy. Hilarious.
2. There was this girl who was being photographed in the tunnels by these two others- and she was acting like a model even though she didn't really look like one and it was fairly funny. Probably had to be there.
3. Not that we saw this but Bron and I were making spooky noises to scare these kids but ended up scaring ourselves.

After the catacombs we headed back to the Latin Quarter where we saw a 15 Euro 3 course meal advertised. Not a bad price in Paris.

Bron ordered snails (Tim and I were a bit hesitant to order a whole plate and just tasted Brons). Basically tasted like garlic butter chewy gobs. Not unpleasant- quite nice but nothing to rave about really.

16th Feb

We wandered about some little streets in the centre of Paris. The little cobblestone streets are lovely and there were some charming shops - most hilariously was a posh looking kebab shop. We went up to the Latin Quarter because we read there was a pub there that had live jazz which we thought would be cool. Turned out it had a TV playing top of the pops and full of Poms. Not very charming at all. But we saw some cool things wandering about.

We had a beer and headed off to see the Eiffel Tower. It costs a fortune to climb and none of us were that interested. We saw it so I feel we conquered it.

Best part was we got ourselves in some Japanese Wedding photos.

That night we headed out to a bar with Bron's friend Freddy and had a few beers. I was very proud of myself for ordering in French. So now I now how to ask for 4 Leffe beers in French. Thats about it. Was a good night.

15th Feb- Paris Day 2

On Day 2 we got up excited and ready to see Paris in the daylight. So we headed to the River Seine for a stroll and to see where the day would take us.

Basically we got off at Pont Neuf because for some reason I thought I had heard of that and thought if I had heard of it something about it must be interesting. Turned out it was a bridge with a bunch of carved heads underneath. The Seine has about a kazillion bridges running across it. Quite pretty.

We wandered along until we ended up at the Louvre and took a look around the outside.
From here we wandered through what I expect is a a fairly notable Parisian park full of statues and ponds. I am sure in the Spring it must be stunning but in the bleak Winter it wasn't that exciting and the ice on the ponds made it look a bit scummy. At the end of the Park was the Obelisk and from there the Champs Elysses.

From this point we spied our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. But more excitingly for Tim he ran into a waffle van. Tim can't pass a waffle van without stopping for a snack and amazingly enough waffles were super popular in Thailand which is where Tim's waffle obsession took full flight.

We then wandered back in the direction we came to find Notre Dame Cathedral.
Its a very impressive building. The stained glass windows are incredibly beautiful- the colours are not your typical churchy glass windows but have bright pinks, torquoise etc. The colours don't show up well on the photos. There isn't much atmosphere in the Cathedral though as its so jam packed with tourists wandering around with cameras etc.


After this we headed back to the apartment to meet Bron who was travelling up from Renne to stay with us.
It was great to see Bron and almost quite weird to be in Paris with her. But like all good girls from Dubbo we spent our first evening gossiping about people we haven't seen in ages and drinking beers from a can. Poor Tim!

Paris- in retrospect

Ok so I am writing this 2 weeks after we returned but thought I should update before my memories get even foggier.

Tim and I travelled on the Eurostar to Paris on Valentines day. I was feeling a little bit nervous about travelling through the Channel Tunnel but in the end we were only in the tunnel for about 20 minutes and then we were up and out in France. Very strange. The scenery looked surprisingly like Kent scenery. Green (ish because its Winter) fields. Little villages spattering the country side etc. It did seem less populated than Kent though with the emphasis on little villages rather than sprawling towns that merge into each other like in Kent. The villages could be identified by a town church tower and mostly the houses looked to be fairly old and reddish in colour.

We arrived in Paris at about 7 at night and decided to head straight for our apartment in the tenth district. But as usual we kind of ran out of the house unorganised and didn't bring the instructions on how best to get there. So we bought a map and navigated our way through the metro system. Stupidly we ended up on the wrong end of a very long street and had to make our way back again until eventually we found our place opposite a very large and easily accessibly metro station. One that we did not travel to.

Nonetheless I need to remark on how brilliant European subways are. You can get basically anywhere from anywhere and rarely have to wait more than 5 minutes. Truly brilliant!

Our apartment was quite cute and I was very excited to finally have access to a shower instead of a bath (which is all we have at our place). I really miss standing up to wash. Its the little things.

We went to a Japanese restaraunt for dinner and had a few wines to celebrate Valentines day. I suppose a lot of people dream about being in Paris for Valentines day. Tim and I never take it too seriously but I realised that we were pretty lucky.

a day of culture and stuff

Yesterday we decided to head into London and actually see some exciting things instead of the inside of a bunch of public houses. So we caught the tube to Leicester square and then stood around confused as to which 'official half price ticket stand' was the real 'official half price ticket stand' so that we could buy some theatre tickets. In the end we chose the one with the shortest line- probably not the smartest idea really as a short line generally indicates something. W wanted to see 'Wicked' but it was sold out so we got tickets for Les Miserables. With tickets in hand we decided to warm our hearts with a coffee. It was at this stage of our day that I began to really understand that there are 3 times as many people in England as Australia- In London there was a massive line up for everything- including a simple cup of coffee.

After our coffee we followed a sign saying China town and the sound of banging drums etc. There are still Chinese New Year celebrations happening so we had the opportunity to follow the dancing dragon around China Town as it went to each shop front to retrieve the hanging piece of lettuce from the front door. Again there were masses of people. Here we found a couple of Asian grocers and in true ex Aussie uni student fashion we went on a search and rescue mission for Mi Goreng noodles. Success- we packed our bags full of the little suckers! yay!

We found a chinese restauraunt that did £3.55 lunch meals and seeing as we are totally sick of pub food (which seems to be the only option in most places) we went in and shoved our faces full.

We wandered up to Trafalgar square and popped into The NAtional Portrait Gallery- it was fairly disappointing in all truth. Momentarily it was cool to see all the old Tudor portraits that I;ve seen a million times in books but this wore off as it took forever to get through the throngs of people out and about. The contemporary collection was fairly bland and neither Tim or I could figure out all the fuss over a photo of a few celebrities. We didn't bother with the Annie Leibovitz exhibtion because you had to pay for that and we are stingy.

So off to South Kensington to the NAtural History Museum where we met Greg. This building is absolutely breathtaking - its massive with ancient creature gargoyles and blue tiles everywhere. Inside the rooves are really tall andthere are beautiful stained glass windows. It was worth the trip for the building alone. Anyway we wandered around the free exhibitions- we wanted to go ot this Darwin exhibition but it was sold out. But Tim particularly had a good time looking at weird insects etc. They had a room full of old stuffed birds from the 1800s when this was fashionable- there were dodos etc. There were some crazy things there. We saw big dinosaurs and all the things you would expect at such a museum.

Then it was off for a beer before the show- but apparently thats fairly impossible in the West End on a Saturday night- we wandered for nearly half an hour before finding a pub with a table left. The atmosphere was really cool though- considering there is an economic crisis people were out liviing it up and the theatres were packed. I really like the fact that in England a Saturday night at the theatre is so popular and normal- our show was full of people our age - which is a rare sight in Sydney productions. Its very exciting to be in an area totall dedicated to theatre.

I have been listening to the recording of 'Les Miserables' for the last decade and have always wanted to see a production-which I think was to my detriment because it meant I left feeling a little disappointed. Apparently my imagination dreams too large for the actuality. It was still great and I am glad we went (I dont think it was Tim's cup of tea). I loved the chorus parts because the music is so beautiful and I enjoyed the girl who played Eponine. But every time the show really built up and I thougt finally here's some spirit it returned to a really slow pace. Considering all its grand themes of revolution, love, revenge etc. I left the theatre feeling fairly placid. I was only momentarily stirred to jump out of my seat and start a revolution against my bourgois oppressors- to me this isn't really good enough. But oh well- I've seen it now and I can safely say the music is still great!

LONDON WEEKEND

Yesterday we went into London meet up with a friend I went to University with. We were originally going to see a play but Amanda's boyfriend wanted to see some sights- principally 'The London Bridge'- so we agreed to meet them on London Bridge. As soon as I heard that Brad wanted to see London Bridge I thought he surely must mean 'Tower Bridge'- because London Bridge is nothing special. But stupidly I didn't say anything just continued on our merry way to London Bridge. Tim and I arrived and phoned Amanda- she said she could see London Bridge in the distance and were walking along the THames towards it- would only be about 10 minutes. SO we stayed on London Bridge (it was extremely windy and cold) looking out for a girl in a green jumper to come towards us. Eventually we got another call from Amanda saying that it was a longer walk than she expected and they were nearly there- I asked her which side of the bridge she was on- and she said the side with the glass building- I looked around and saw at least 2 glass buildings on every side of the bridge. So we just said ok we will meet you in the middle. Another 5 mintues past and we thought they should have been on the brdge by now. So I called Amanda and said, 'hey are you on Tower bridge or London bridge?'- she said I think London Bridge- I said, 'is there a tower on your bridge? and as I expected there was. So we walked donw and met them on Tower Bridge. It seemed a lot funnier than it does in this post. So by this stage everyone was over the idea of sightseeing and in need of some lunch. So we went to the place we go every time we go to London- Camden and had some food and checked out the markets. We found this awesome bar in the middle of the markets called 'The Cuban' which had a really great atmosphere. We had a beer there and then went to Euston to meet Amanda and Brads mate. He took us to this Australian pub called the 'walkabout'- apparently its a chain and its full of bad Aussie gimics like kangaroon burgers and stuff. We drank (what is apparently an Australian favourite?) snakebites- cider, beer and cranberry mixed in- it was an ok flavour but a bit too sweet for me. And really Australians are too tough for the that kind of girly drink. We ended up staying there the rest of the night. It was a good night because of the company but I wouldn't bother going back to the Walkabout pub- I didn't think it had much charm really and truly had no Australian feel to it aside from all the Aussies working behind the bar.

Some UK stuff

Last weekend we went to Rochester which is a very old town close to Gravesend. It is famous for being a point where a lot of invasions occured I think. It was quite quaint- little cobblestone alley ways everywhere etc. There was a massive cathedral which we explored - it was like most big cathedrals here- really beautfiful stained glass windows- some sort of crypt underneath etc.

There was also a massive castle on the hill overlooking the Medway River. We wandered around it but were too stingy to pay 5 pounds to go in. I mean we've both seen castles before- Im sure we didn't miss much.

Best part of the day we went to a pub that had 1 pound lasagne and chips and 2.50 fish and chips! Bloody Brilliant! Obvioulsy like all food in this dreary country it had minimal flavour but you can't complain for that price!