Ciao!

The clocks have just gone back in Florence so we had a nice surprise this morning when we thought we were running late and found out that we were still in time for breakfast :) We are having a slight crisis here, having just found out that this weekend is the last major holiday in Italy, Nov 1st is All Saints Day and so all the hotels are booked up in Rome. Hmmmm... we are working it out (fingers crossed), in the worse case scenario we will probably end up staying an extra day here in Firenze (oh no!)

On Friday when we arrived, we climbed the Duomo and saw the sun set over Florence, it was mesmerizing.
Then we had a great dinner at Trattoria Marione. Yesterday we walked our feet down to stumps as we visited the Uffizi gallery, the Accademia and the Santa Croce Church. Byzantine to High Renaissance in one day! Oh, and Vivoli's gelato :) One thing that has stood out on this trip is how much of bloody Europe is under scaffolding!! Everywhere we have gone, everything is shrouded in scaffolding, even the lantern on top of the Duomo is obscured. But thankfully the dome itself is untouched. Inside the Santa Croce Church it was like a jungle gym. But oh well, it is becoming quite a joke.



A few of the art highlights yesterday were:


Botticelli's Birth of Venus














David, absolutely incredible in person













Venus of Urbino

More Venice...

It's nice to hear from you all in the comments section :) We feel like we're breaking new ground here in the travel blog business, in the future no-one will go on holiday without one! Next photo drop will hopefully been in Florence, or maybe Rome and we can entertain you with some more daft antics.

We've been hot-footing it around Venice these past couple of days. On and off the vaporetto we've seen:

- Doges Palace and the Dungeons!!
- Guggenheim Museum
- Accademia
- Bridge of Sighs
- St. Mark's Square
- Drank wine in the shadow of the Rialto Bridge and took too many photos of the Grand Canal at night
- Murano - all the glass blowing
- gelato, gelato, gelato

And much more, got to go, off to Firenze domani.

Venice

Is beautiful. Not raining yet, but foggy in the mornings, burns off in the afternoon - very impressionistic. We have been around everywhere almost, had pasta, pizza and gelato - yum! Zio Toni is taking care of us very well, and we are getting by with a mixture of french, italian, english and sign language :)

Bye for now!

Tomorrow we cross the Alps

Well, via train. It should be a scenic journey though, if we can stay awake for it - the train leaves Salzburg at 7am, and you all know how soporific train travel can be...

We've had a nice time in Salzburg. We've taken it easy a little, slowed down the pace for a breather and it's been a welcome relief. Especially since we'll hit Italy tomorrow and we'll probably be trying to see so much. Today we visited Mozart's birthplace and his second home in Salzburg, interesting to see, but the presentation was weird and not really very informative after all. But we had Mozartkugel so it wasn't a total loss :) Then we stretched out on the banks of the river and watched the water go by for a bit. The weather is incredibly mild here.

Not sorry to be leaving this youth hostel, it's clean and sufficient but a bit miserly about strange things, and noisy - but then again it's only costing us 38 euros a night for the two of us, so we can only complain so much! Tomorrow we go to stay with Zio Toni, courtesy of Rai and Judith. So we'd better go and try to learn a little italiano. :)

In the home of Mozart

Hello, folks, now we're in Salzburg.

But first, our last night of Budapest: last night we saw the worst opera possibly ever performed. Luckily, we only paid about $1.50 each to see it so we weren't too disappointed. It was bizarre, set in WWII and with german surtitles so we had no chance. But the cast made sure to come out at the end for three bows each, which we begrudgingly gave. After that we went on to Grand Cafe Oktogon and had some goulash. Was gut, ja.

Today, after arriving on the train from Budapest, we walked around town and ended up seeing a few of the sights. Tomorrow we plan on hitting Mozart's birthplace and home and then renting some bikes to see a few places where they shot "The Sound of Music." We're staying in a youth hostel in the middle of town for a whopping 36 euros a night.

Off to Venice on Monday morning EARLY :( but we can sleep on the train. Hope all you guys reading this are happy and healthy!

Wiener Photo (not sausages)

Cold day in Wien











So that's about it for photos right now. We're currently in Budapest and tomorrow we are on our way to Salzburg.

First Vienna highlights:

- Excellent coffee at a real kaffeehaus, with rude waiter and all the fixings
- Cheap tickets to the ballet (Giselle) standing room only, good view of the tops of their heads :) Also met a weird guy who whacked his head on the railing and then asked if Helen was from Manchester
- Heurige, where the lady wouldn't let Helen have "no juice" on her meat
- Sturm at the Heurige
- Seeing the Vermeer at the Kunsthistoriches Museum

Budapest:

well, we only just got here, and leaving tomorrow - not enough time!! Hope to get same kind of cheap tickets to the opera tonight. We have finally got our coats wet and Andy thinks the metro is cute.

Oh, we went to the hot baths yesterday, outdoor palatial setting with mosty local magyars taking a dip in the thermal spring water. Fab local experience.

Bye for now!

Prague Photos

Walking Tour with our guide, Evo Shandor















Still on the walking tour










Famous beer hall U Fleku!































Daytripping at Karlstejn Castle














Charles Bridge (Karlov Most)

Photos from Berlin

On the roof of the Reichstag










Brandenburg Gate at night












Mini Tripod
















Pergamon Museum surprise

Finally, we have some photos...

Here are a few from Amsterdam:

The Great Illegal Cheese Picture
















Our mugs in the Rijksmuseum.













In a square in Haarlem when we rented bikes.














Biking around Haarlem

We're not in Prague anymore...

But we're not in Budapest either, we're in Vienna! Slight change of plans owing to the train times and this made more sense in the end.

Last night in Praha, we ate in an atmospheric, undergound restaurant in Stare Mesto that has been around since the 14th century. A bit gimmicky now (they serve the beer in clay mugs and the waiter wears a puffy shirt) but the food was great. We were sad to leave, not enough time in Prague! We scrambled up to the castle this morning for a look around, before we went on a wild-goose chase to get to the train to Vienna.

Off to Beethoven's old hang-out tonight, a viennese wine garden (a Heurigen) the Mayer Am Pfarrplatz apparently where he composed his Sixth Symphony.

Let you know how it is tomorrow, or the next day!

Ah, Prague! (Coats are good!)

Prague is amazingly beautiful. Everyone reading this must come and visit here soon. We're writing this from the cyber-laundromat in Nove Mesto whilst our clothes go round. It's colder here, so now the coats are definitely worth it!

Yesterday we got the train from Berlin a little later than we had planned (Andy got a bad currywurst, poor thing!) and we got into Prague at about 4pm. Got to Pension Unitas with our bags on our backs and pretty tired and Andy pretty much half-dead. He's better now though, a good night's sleep and plenty of water has sorted him out, so no worrying out there :) Even still, we did go out for a stroll and a bite to eat last night, walked across the Charles Bridge and took photos of the castle - sorry can't upload them here either, this keyboard is practically chisled out of stone. Prazky Hrad, the castle, was spectacular at night. Tomorrow we intend to get up early and catch it whilst the bridge is devoid of tourists.

This afternoon we're going to meet up with a walking tour and then try to get to the oldest beer hall in Prague (and that's saying something - they invented lager), called U Fleku. Well, now that the laundry is done, we're off. The architecture here is incredible and it will be fun to learn a little history of the astronomical clock, even if we can't see it right now because it's under construction! Everything is under construction in Europe. Anyway, Zijte blaze (Goodbye!) from Prague.

Erforschendes Berlin! (Exploring Berlin!)

Berlin is BIG! And bustling with cars and beer gardens and sausage stands. Went to the Reichstag last night and the view from the roof is AMAZING. The sun was setting and I got a bit carried away trying to take pictures of flags. Ah well... Afterwards we walked to the Brandenburg gate via the line of the old Berlin Wall. It really gives you a sense of perspective to know that the area around the Brandenburg gate in East Berlin was known as the "Death Strip". We're staying in a small pension (tiny hotel) in a large building in the Savignyplatz area near the Berlin Zoo station. It's a very pretty area in West Berlin. Today we're off to see Checkpoint Charlie and the Egyptian Museum, then hit the Prenzlauer Berg, a smart area in old East Berlin that is going through a renaissance.

Auf wiedersehn folks! Off to Prague tomorrow...

Amsterdam is in the books. Now we're in Berlin!

Hi-ho Berlin! Amsterdam first. We flew into Schipol on Sunday afternoon, hopped on the train to Amsterdam Centraal and then hoofed it over to the Flying Pig. As a hostel it was great, we stayed in a queen size bunk bed, with shared shower and loo in a room with 4 other people. Didn't really see much of them, met one lucky Aussie named Saskia who has been backpacking for 10 months!

Highlights from Amsterdam:
- the Dutch masters at the Rijksmuseum
- bikes everywhere - it seems everyone from grandmother to infant was on two wheels
- us on bikes getting lost in the countryside outside of Haarlem, saw LOADS of herons
- Van Gogh museum
- not so much a highlight, but the red light district is tawdry and definitely an eye-opener
- Vlaamse frites - a northern delicacy, really just fries topped with mayo, and surprisingly good

The weather was great and still is in fact. Perfectly sunny, not a drop of rain (now it will chuck it down probably) and these raincoats that we searched high and low for (well, i did) are kind of a burden.

(Not figured out the uploading of photos yet, but will post some as soon as we can)

Hier komen wij!

It all starts today. After a brief reunion with my family we are off again. Amsterdam first, we fly out at noon today for 3 nights at the Flying Pig and then we trigger our eurail passes and find out what backpacking is REALLY like.

Can't wait! :)

Goodbye sunny SoCal and hello rainy Manchester!

We're off - flying into Manchester to arrive Thursday to see the Urmstonians and then we head to Amsterdam on Sunday...

We've been looking forward to this for a looooong time now and we've both been running around like headless chickens for the last couple of days; it'll be a big relief to get on that plane :) See you in a few hours Mum!

For Dean:

Happy Birthday to you,
Squashed tomatoes and stew,
Bread and butter in the gutter,
Happy Birthday to you!