29th of October

Today we planned to go to that beach Nicko, the Italian was telling us about lastnite. We asked the lady at reception how to get there and she said it would take 2 hours but we could go by bus from a main street in the city. She marked the street on the map for us and said to look out for the bus with Sounion on it. Sounds easy enough!

We got to the street she had marked and realised quickly that there was lots of different bus stops, hundreds of buses, we had no idea what side of the road we even had to be on. No one at the information desks could speak English, what a big help! The bus drivers that could still didn't know exactly where the bus was going to leave from nor what time they where leaving and after an hour i was getting really past the whole idea. However, the clouds opened up and out of no where a greek man only a little older then us, came to the rescue by asking us if we needed help! He spoke to a few different people in ghreek and really went out of his way to help us find where we had to go. Turns out we where on the wrong street! Ryan and I have know both sworn that if we ever see anyone in Adeliade with a map in there hand that look like they are trying to find something then we wil go out of our way, even cross the street to try and help them!

Once we found the right bus stop we had to wait another half an hour for it to come. We couldn't give up now though, even though it was past lunchtime! The bus trip took us right along the coast and it was a beautiful trip. 2 hours later and at 2.30pm we arrived at Cape Sounion. All that was there, was anancient greek ruin, The Pantheon, a restuarant and a gift shop. It was very beautiful though, as far as you could see out to the horizon was all the Greek Islands. We had a traditional Greek lunch at the restaurant amd after we where full to the brim, we caught the next bus back to Athens. Sleeping the whole trip back! It was areally nice day in the end.... Lucikly!

Thursday 28th October in Athens

It is a massive public holiday in Athens today, sort of like Independance day in America. This means all of the ancient sites are free to visit, which is great timing for us! You can see the acropolis hills from our hotel room so after breakfast we head in that direction, stopping at a few other ancient greek ruins along the way. I think it would've been good to go on a walking tour of Athens as you don't really get that much information just from the boards along the way. The walking tour we have used in a few of the other countries, don't operate in Athens which is pretty crappy! We found a flea market on the way back from the Acropolis hills to have a look around and we had a yiros for 1 euro 80 for lunch! What a bargain!

We spent the night at the rooftop bar on top of our hostel chatting with the bar guy from Lithuania, looking over the acroplois all lit up at night! We also met an Italian guy who suggested a day trip for us to do tommorow to Cape Souniuon.

Staying with Martha in Landgraff 22nd - 27th

22nd October

We arrived in Landgraff at 2.30pm. Martha had a buffet lunch awaiting us and we where so grateful as the train trip was 3 and a half hours long with know time to stop for food! After getting settled in and having a nap Martha cooked us a traditional dutch meal! It was dutch sausage with a mashed potato with spinach in it. Im not a fan of spinach, but i would never have told her that! It was just nice to be in a home for a change, with a clean shower and nice big bed! Marthas daughter Unky and her husband picked us up at 7.45 to go see an Australian Movie in a dutch Cinema! The movie was called Sansom and Delilah and it won an award this year at the Adelaide Film Festival. It was about two aboriginal kids that lived out in the bush of Australia in an aboriginal community! It was very confronting and very sad.It was good though for Ryan to be able to explain to them what was happening throughout the movie! We went back to Unkys house and met her daughter Esther. She was 9 when Jasmyn went to Holland and I believe they spent alot of time together!

23rd October

A Lazy day today. We slept in until 1pm, went to the supermarket to buy food for the next couple of days and we cooked dinner for Martha this night so she could relax after being with Jan for the afternoon!

24th October

Today bought us a as a day of adventure. Unky had given me the names of places to go and the times the trains came to each of these places and Ryan and I set out early Sunday morning for our adventure. First stop was Mastrischt, a fairly large size town a half hour from Landgraff, but still in The Netherlands. Everything was closed as it was a Sunday but we made the decision we would had bacxk there another day.

Next stop was Leige in Belgium. Anoither half hour away. Leige was a very pretty town and we spent the afternoon walking the markets and a fair they had on. I got to buy some Belgium Chocolates... yummy! So i was a happy girl!

After Leige we went to Aachen which is in Germany. it was 5pm when we got here and the city was closed aswell, however we went for a walk to see all the old buildings, the church and the town halls. Then we headed back to Landgraff.

25th October

Martha took us to Kerkrada today to show us the house where dad was born. We also went to the town centre for a walk and for Lunch. After lunch we went to visit Jan in his home. All i can say is i think it is amazing that Martha goes and sees him everyday from 2pm til 6 or 8pm. It was very sad seeing him that way but you can tell he is not unhappy and that is what helps Martha manage I think. We stayed with him until 5.30pm and then ordered dinner in tonight.

26th October

Our last day in Country Holland. We woke up early and caught the train back to Mastricht. We spent quite a bit of time wondering the streets and had our picnic lunch in the town square. On the way back to Landgraff we stopped of in a town called Valkunberg. A very very touristy town! I bought myself some wooden clogs and a few other goodies for the house, which are on there way home! We cooked dinner for Martha again tonight and Unky and her husband (cant spell his name) came over after dinner, we shared our bottle of wine from Italy with everyone and stayed up talking until late with them.
 
27th October

It was sad to say goodbye thos morning and as Martha said her holiday is now over too! Unky took us to the train station and off to the Airport we went. 3hours and a change of trains and we where there. Going through Amsterdam Security was not nice. I got patted down quite vigourously from a lesbian security guard because i beeped going through the metal detector. Im not joking either, she was a lesbian and she felt my boobs to see if i was hiding anything in my bra, and pulled the underwire away from my skin to see if anything fell out. Ryan had a joke with her saying... "shes hot isnt she, grab her bumb, her bumb is awesome, grab it i dare you" The security guys had a good laugh about it and they are lucky i didn't really mind to much, most people would feel a little violated after that. She fall on gropped me! yuck!

Anyway we arrived in Athens at 6.30pm. It was 25 degrees which was a nice chamge from the top of 17 degrees in The Netherlands but boy was it raining. It rained and rained and rained and rained for atleast 2hours, the streets where flooded and it was absolutly pelting down, we got saturated! 

Thursday October 21st

It was our last day in Amsterdam, We went on another one of those tip based walking tours with the same company that we did in Munich and Berlin. It wasn't the best one we have been on, our guide was pretty funny which helped alot, however we didn't really learn that much about Amsterdams history! We did learn that selling and smoking marijuana is actuall illegal in Amsterdam. However the police started focusing years ago on cutting out the hard drugs and so decided to turn a blind eye to dope, supposedly a softer drug. The coffee shops (weed shops) not cafes, are not allowed to advertise or have on display the marijuana. if you go into a shop you have to ask for the menu and then they will show it to you, if you don't ask they can not sell it to you. They also are not allowed to have more then 30grams on there premises at one time, so if the police do decide to search the premises and they have more then this, they will shut them down. No more coffee shops are ever allowed to open either, so if any shut down, they shut down for good!

Tonight we are going to see Fedde Le Grand at a club just out of the city called Panama. We catch a train to Landgraff tomorrow to stay with Martha for a few days.

A day in rainy Amsterdam.

It is still raining, and Ryan is still not well, we make a trip to the Doctor to get him some more antibiotics, however this doctor confirms that it is the mumps and that the antibiotics wont work. he just has to ride it out. he isn't a very happy boy! He just has to keep his scarfe around his neck until the swelling goes down!

Today we went to another street market and went to the Heineken brewery. We had alot of fun at the Brewery.

Tonight we were going to head out to see one of the local djs for The Amsterdam Dance Event 2010, but it was too cold and we got a bit lazy so we headed to a coffee shop in the city instead! Our plan was to try some marjuana, we are in Amsterdam of course it has to be done! Like amatuers, we walked into one of the coffee shops and not knowing what to do, we just took the easy way out and bought 2 joints! We started out with 1 joint, between us, which was really silly because I have been so careful not to get Ryans germs and we completly forgot about it when sharing the joint. By the way, it was disgusting, we mustn't have done it properly because after one joint we both felt no different and we decided to leave without having the other one. It tasted disgusting, the smell of the place was so gross and the smoke was suffocating! Tried it once, don't need to try that again! Hope  i don't get sick!

After the smoking experience we decided to go through the red light district and check out a live sex show. The bus tour that we wet on were also going to Amsterdam and it was something they were going to do as a group so i figured we should do it too. We walked in to some old man dressed up as the captain of a ship feeling up this young, unattractive, chubby young lady! Then they started doing all sorts or x rated things. It was pretty gross actually. They had another 4 or 5 shows which where just strip shows. Thoses girls where not very atractive either. It is funny, i thought that you would have to be attractive to get a job like that on stage, but apparently not. You just have to want to do it!

We arrive in Amterdam! 19th October

We arrived in Amsterdam at 11am. We where on a sleeper train in a 6 birth cabin. So three bunks on top of each other. Two bunks to the one room! It stank like shoes when we got in there, the train had come from prague so there where alreday people asleep. We had no choice but to jump straight in our beds and sleep! Ryan conked out straight away but it took me a good couple of hours to ghet used to all the noise!

We checked straight into our hotel and Ryan had another snooze, still no improvements. We just wondered the city this afternoon. go to the flower markets... Where they sell cannabis seeds!!! Walk into a coffee shop (Where you can buy a joint and smoke it in there) We walked straight back out again the smell was disgusting. We also wondered down to the Red Light District to check out the girls in the Windows! (It has to be seen) I can saftely say most of them are pigs, I think we have seen 2 out of 100 so far that are good looking! It was raining the whole night which made it very cold but we soldiered on back to our Hotel for a relatively early night!

18th October Ryans still sick in Berlin

It is our last day in Berlin today and Ryan still has shown no improvement. He still looks like Eddie Murphy, but he doesnt think its funny anymore. He stayed in most the day and i went gallivanting around the place by myself! We are off to Amsterdam tonight. Well tomorrow morning if I am exact 00.30am. I booked us a private room in a hostel with just a shared bathroom so if Ryan has to spend the next couple of days in he can atleast be in peace! Looks like he might miss out on the Red Light District!!! I doubt he is that sick!

Ryans a sick boy! Sunday 17th Oct

I woke up this morning to Ryan, who in fact now looked a lot like Eddie Murphy in the Nutty Professor!

I rang the travel insurance hot line today to see whether i should take Ryan to the Hospital or a medical centre. They said take him straight to Emergency. If they just give him a script, then we don´t have to pay anything upfront, just have to keep receipts and will get the money back when we return to Australia. If they admit him to Hospital then the insurance money will pay the hospital direct!

So to the hospital we went. Luckily we are staying only 2 tram stops away. After struggling to speak German with the reception lady in Emergency we finally where in the waiting room to see an doctor. all i was thinking was that surely if someone is smart enough to be a doctor then they would have to be smart enough to speak English! We waited about 2 hours, it is nice to see Australia isn´t the only country with emergency waiting room times! But yay!!! The doctor spoke fluent English!

The Verdict, one of two things. He either just has a really bad infection of the glands, or something more serious The Mumps.... which he was vaccinated for as a child? We are hoping it is just a bad infection. He prescribed an antibiotic and diclofenac as a pain killer\anti inflammatory and Bed rest for the next few days. Now we had the task of finding a Pharmacy that is open. Its a Sunday here, they don´t have one attached to the hospital and there are only a few in Berlin that are open!

We head back to the hostel to find out from reception the best place for us to go. It is across town of course and so we need to catch about 3 trains there. We get to the train station and try to buy a ticket! The machine is not working, after missing 2 trains trying to figure it out, we hop on the next train that comes and decide to try at the next station we get off at before changing trains! Bad idea, undercover ticket inspectors, didn´t give a rats bum that the machine wasn´t working, nor did they care that we just came from hospital and where going to get medication for Ryan´s throat which they could clearly see was inflammed. 40€ each the penalty, but i will not be paying it. While Ryan is sleeping tomorrow I will go to the train office and speak to someone there. We left this morning at 9.30 and we finally arrived back from all this at 3.30! What a shit day! Lets hope the antibiotics work so we can head to the Netherlands First thing Tuesday morning!

Saturday 16th, Ryan sick in Berlin

We woke up early this morning so we could do our laundry while we had breakfast. Ryan has woken up with a massively swollen right gland on his throat. I mean this thing is so massive that i can see it protruding from his neck. He tried to have some breakfast, but it hurt to much to swallow so i sent him back to bed! I finished breakfast and did the washing and pottered around the hostel for a couple of hours. I woke him after lunch and we headed to the pharmacy to get him some throat gargle and some more ibuprofen. I have decided that if its not better by tomorrow then we will have to find him a doctor because this thing is massive!

We didn´t completely waste the day because we did one of those free walking tours, like the one we did in Munich. Where it works on a tips basis. It was 3 and a half hours long and took us for a walk through the amazing history, not only of Hitler and the Nazi Regime but also through the fairly recent cold war, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. This place has a lot of harsh history!

Rugged up in Berlin 8 degrees during the day!

Ryan has gone to bed now and that finally brings me up to date with the blogging. The best bit about hostels would have to be the internet access. Not many hotels have it, and its quite expensive if they do! I should be able to keep up to date, daily now and i will put in some photos tommorow night for you all to look at xoxoxoxox

Friday 15th October

We leave the tour this morning. Everyone else piled on the bus, mostly still drunk from the night before, many of them still throwing up. I am so glad at this point that we don´t have that long trip ahead of us. At least not until later in the afternoon. After farewelling our new friends we head back up to our room, for a longer sleep.

The afternoon brings us more shopping.... again we bought nothing and then at 4.30 our train to Berlin. The train trip was only 5 hours and was much more roomy then the bus seats we had been used to for the past couple of weeks. We arrive in Berlin at 9.30pm.

A short train trip to the hostel, thanks to some amazing directions from a very friendly local, whose help we dint even ask for... we must look like the biggest tourists with backpacks!

Straight to bed we go!

Thursday 14th October, In Prague!

We had a sleep in this morning! Breakfast wasn´t until 9.30am. That is the latest start we have had this whole trip. The day began with Scott taking us on a walking tour of the city. I love these walking tours because they take you right where you need to be and Scott is like a little encyclopedia full of information so you don´t have to guess what you are looking at.

The bridge behind us is where they shot a scene from Mission Impossible

After the tour, Ryan and I walked ourselves up to the Prague Palace and saw the changing of the guard. These guys are noway near as professional as the English! After this we wandered our way through the city, we have heard that Prague is by far the best for shopping, but we don´t buy a thing???

Dinner was at the restaurant by the hotel and was a farewell dinner to Ryan, myself and 2 other girls. Followed by a night out at the famous 5 level night club. 30 of us went a danced up a storm to the olden goldies music playing on one of the levels. The place was empty but we didn´t leave until 2am so it was a good night.

The tour boys at the Prague Club

Wednesday 13th of October. To Prague we go!

Today we headed to the Czech Republic to Prague. We make a stop at the Mathuseun Concentration Camp in Austria. A very sad and confronting experience. It was one of the most brutle concentration camps in Europe with the reputation that if you got off that train and seen the name Mathuseun you knew that you would never be leaving. We watched a horrible movie and seen very graphic photos of how the Jews where treated and what they had become. We walked through the gas chambers and the Crematorium, it was an awful awful experience but one that was definately eye opening and something i would have to say, you really need to do to understand.

When we arrived in Prague we headed out for an all inclusive dinner and then went back to our hotel for an early night!

Tuesday 12th October, Austria here we come!

It is dissapointing to be leaving Venice. We will definately go back there one day and would highly recommend it to everyone to go and take a few days there. However we are headed for Austria and are only staying one night, so it is going to be a big day/night ahead of us. 

We had a few optional´s for this leg of the trip. You could either go sky diving, paragliding or canyon jumping. Ryan wanted to go Sky Diving, so did I but considering what it would do to my collarbone, it just wouldn´t be worth it. Plus try explaining that to the travel insurance people when i end up breaking it again.... So Scott rang and asked if the other too options where okay for me. They both were. Now canyon jumping is absailing down waterfalls and jumping off cliffs into the river with the temperature being approximately 4 degrees. Wet suit or not, it wasn´t going to happen. So that left me with Paragliding which I was pretty excited about. You are basically strapped to front of a guy and he is strapped to a massive parachute which is already opened behind you. You run down a hill and hopefully pick up enough speed for the chute to open. You then fly around in the air for about 15minutes, about 1500metres above the ground. No strain on your shoulder at all. Bingo that was me done!

We arrived at our bed and breakfast at 2pm. A Van came and picked us up at 3pm to take us paragliding. Ryan was very dissapointed as the Skydiving got cancelled. Apparently its so cold up there that icicles form on your face as your falling from the sky! So now he was paragliding aswell. We had to catch a cable car to the top of the mountain which approximately took 15 minutes to get to the top!! Thats along way up! On the way up ryan had a bit of an accident. He had purchased this little balloon in venice full of flour which you could mould in to shapes, anyway half way up the mountain he was playing with bambini (thats what he named it) and it exploded. Flour went everywhere and we were stuck inside this little cable. It was not good!!!

There was 7 of us going and only 3 chutes so Ryan and Jobe went in the first group of 3. He will tell you its not funny, but i have footage of him running down the hill, rolling his ankle and nearly not taking off before the cliff! It was pretty funny for us guys watching. Me and Hannah went in the second group and it was pretty amazing. I thought of dad while i was up there, he would love it. Time doesn´t go quickly either which is good, so you really get to enjoy it.

Monday 11th of October in Venice

We start the day off with a walking tour of Venice and we quickly decide that this is by far our favourite place in Italy. You cant drive anywhere because the streets are not wide enough, the only mode of travel is by boat or Gondola. It is amazing to see, the garbage man has a boat, the posty has a boat, the couriers are boats and there main street is a river. It is just beautiful!

The Main Street, Canal 

After our walking tour we go to an Ventian Lace school where they show us the different types of lace they use in ancient and modern times. Mum will definately have to go here if she goes to Venice. They have bobbin lace aswell!

We also went on the Gondola through the canals!

It was hard to get a photo of all 6 of us as i was at the head of the Gondola!

We enjoyed an amazing Lunch on The Grand Canal with Jobe, Hannah,  Cassie and Leigh! It made for a great afternoon.

From Front... Jobe and Hannah, Ryan and Kayte, Leigh and Cassie

Sunday 10th of October. To Venice we go!

The trip to Venice begins. Rocket is back to drive the bus.... yay! And with rocket comes his Australian, American and English Music! We leave Rome behind us, again i am still not overly impressed with Italy as a country yet. We stop of in Verona to see the window of Romeo and Juliet. Very exciting stuff!

Arriving into Venice at 5pm we have a good couple hours to have a rest and a shower before our included dinner tonight. Only a short walk to a little restaurant where we get a 3 course meal, Pasta entree! Meat and veg main.... yum, its been a while, and gelati for dessert. 

Saturday 9th October... A free day in Rome

This morning we took a bus to the Vatican City where the group got a guided tour of the Vatican City. This place is actually its own Country now and is really a lot bigger then i thought. We got taken through room after room of amazing artwork, all leading us to the Cysten Chapel where Michelangelo done his masterpiece on the ceiling. he was never a painter, only a sculptor and so when you see how big this ceiling is and know how long it took him to paint, keeping in mind he never had done anything like it before it really is amazing! We also got to see the window which is the Popes room and the window that he addresses the people of Rome from.
The tour ended here and Ryan and I joint forces with Hannah and Jobe, the newlyweds from Tamworth to go to the top of the Vatican City dome. We took a lift to the bottom of the dome, as far as it would take us and then started the climb up the many many stairs to the top. We where very lucky to do this when we did, because we got to look down from the dome and see the pope in a ceremony... it was in Italian so we have no idea what was going on. Plus i am not religious what so ever but it was still the pope! which is pretty cool anyway!

After the Vatican City we made our way to the Coloseum. The line up was massive, at least 4 hours long, but once again we where in the right place at the right time. Out of nowhere a lady comes up and says we can all join her tour of the Coloseum, where we not only get express entry we get a guided tour explaining exactly what everything was.

The Colloseum... In Roma!

A shot from the inside

Friday 8th of October. To Rome we go!

The trip to Rome meant another early start this morning. We picked up a new driver because Rocket our gun driver by law requires a 45 hour break. He catches a train to Rome and will meet us there. We pick up a crazy Italian bus driver who cant speak very much English and quickly forgets that we too don´t speak Italian. Need i say the radio station he listened too, was not something we enjoyed for the next 5hours! 

As soon as we arrived in Rome and got checked in we only had enough time to shower and change before making our way into the city with Scott. He was taking us on a walking tour this afternoon to show us the sights we might want to go back and Visit the next day. He took us to the Trevi Fountain that apparently brings you good luck if you throw money into it.... who ever cleans it probably made that up. We stopped for Dinner and had the best Pasta We have eaten so far, and we have had Pasta every day! I Had linguine in just a creamy pesto sauce, which melted in my mouth. Ryan tried something different, spaghetti with seafood! We ended up at the Coloseum ( i thought it was in Greece lol)

Thursday the 7th October. In Florence

We started the day with a walking tour by a local Florencia lady. She took us to all the main spots, we saw the statue of David and the cathedral with the biggest dome in the world. We finished off our tour at a local leather Maker and are shown how to tell the difference between real and fake leather when we are shopping so we dont get ripped off on our holiday and they do a demonstration on how they make their famous leather jewellery boxes with a hinge, without using anything but leather. No nails, glue or anything else. We would have bought one but the small ones cost in excess of 50 euro, they take a lot of time and many processes, it was very interesting.

First impressions of Florence are really not that good, in fact it is my least favourite place we have been too. We have some lunch and do some shopping at the markets. Before we know it, we are not only supposed to be back at our hotel in a half hour to catch a bus to a Chianti winery for dinner, we have walked the whole of Florence and are at the opposite side of the city. We decided to catch a cab back to the room.

The Chianti Winery was definately the highlight of our stay in Florence. We went to a small family run winery, where he took us through the process his family use to make all there different types of wine and then over 5 courses in there beautiful outdoor area we tried all the different types of wine they make.

I stayed up until late tonight so i could ring grandma for her birthday!!! She was very surprised to hear from me. Happy Birthday Granny.

Wednesday 6th October on the way to Florence

An early start again this morning for the trip to Florence, Italy. Ryan proposed this morning up on the top of Mt Rigi, we where so high up on the mountain, it was like we where in the clouds. I of course said yes... duh!!!! We had to catch the train down the mountain again and then the bus would pick us up so we could start the long journey.


Pisa was about 6hours drive from Switzerland, we stopped off twice for a 15min break and then Lunch for a half hour. We were glad when we finally got to Pisa as we where stopping for a 2hr break to take the normal touristy photos of holding up Pisa and then a little shop around the market stalls. Honestly if it wasn´t for the leaning tower, i don´t think anyone would come here because it really is not anything else here to see.

We arrived in Florence at about 6pm. Dinner is not included tonight but out tour leader Scott booked everyone into a little restaurant he really likes. We sat with the friends we have made over the trip and it made for a really nice night, Champagne was on Scott for me and Ryan which was a nice gesture from him. We both opted for pasta, seeing as we are in Italy it seems like the thing to do. I had Spinach and Ricotta stuffed Ravioli in a tomato sauce. Was beautiful but literally only got 10 pieces of ravioli, Ryan had a Spaghetti in a creamy sauce with fresh seafood. His was a lot bigger then mine and he of course loved it.

Tuesday the 5th

Today we caught a train, cable car and then ferry to the Swiss town of Lucerne. Quiet a small town and very touristy, but also very beautiful. Every second shop sold either swiss watches, swiss army knives , swiss chocolate or all of the above. We started of on a walking tour with our guide, Scott. But a few of us where taking too many photos and we ended up losing the rest of the group. We where with our new friends Hannah and Jobe from Tamworth and Tim and Julie from West of Sydney. We found ourselves an English speaking restaurant that wasnt too expensive, and stopped for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at watch after watch after watch and knives after knives after knives. After buying no watches or knives we headed back to the ferry and went back up to the top of Mt Rigi. Dinner was at 7pm and included again in the tour price was a 3 course meal. We stayed up until 11pm chatting with a few couples from the bus and then headed to bed. Bus tommorow to Florence via the Leaning tower of Pisa!  

Monday 4th October. The long trip to the Swiss Alps.

We started the day at breakfast at 6.30am. The bus was leaving at 7.30 to begin the 10hour trip to the swiss alps. The trip was broken up into two and a half hour slots. with first a 15min break then a half hour for lunch and then another 15min break. We played get to know each other games, which helped alot, because i kept forgetting everyones names and they put a movie on for us as well Coach Carter. So all in all, it didn't seem like such a long trip. We arrived into a small town at the bottom of the swiss alps at 5pm. A train up to the top of Mt Rigi where we would be staying took a half an hour, and how it got up this hill, im still trying to figure out. it was so steep! but the views were absolutly magnificent. Switzerland is a beautiful Country. We checked in with just enough time to have a shower before dinner. Our rooms where amazing again... A huge comfy bed, a television, hot shower and heated towel rack, we where in heaven! Dinner was included in our tour with a buffet of german food, as we where staying in the German part of Switzerland. (There is also a french part and latin speaking part.)  A few drinks with our table after dinner and time to get to know some of our group and then to bed!

Sunday 3rd October

Breakfast was early because we have a massive day ahead of us. The bus dropped us off at The Notre Dame Cathedral for a free day to sight see. After the Notre Damn, we headed to Napolians Tomb, The Grand Palace and the Picasso museum. There is so much to do in Paris, everything is grand and over the top, decorated with 24 carat gold and looked after by hundreds of police with machine guns. Next stop was the Arc Triomphe, we climbed to the top and got some more magnificent views of the city.

We met up with the bus tour again at 7pm under the eiffel tower for a picnic in the park of cold meats and salad. We where unable to get tickets to the Moulin Rouge, but we went with the rest of the bus to a Cabaret show after dinner which was really enjoyable for me and Ryan. The topless dancers probably had something to do with him liking it so much!

Saturday Oct 2nd

Ryan was up early this morning again to watch the stupid, Rematch of the AFL. Not as good a game as last week! After breakfast we checked out and put our luggage in storage. Today we meet up with our bus tour at 5pm on the otherside of Paris.

We headed to the Sacre Crour, a beautiful church at the highest point in Paris, with amazing views of the whole city. We were welcomed with open arms by the sky with rain, rain and more rain. next stop was the Lourve Museum to visit the Mona Lisa. We luckily had a museum pass because when we got there the line up into the museum was 3hours long. The museum pass got us into a different enterance with no line up. We headed straight for the painting. It was alot smaller the i had thought but still every bit as puzzling as they say it is. No matter what side of the room you stand on her eyes are always looking at you. Ryan was absolutly fascinated by it.

After the Mona Lisa we headed to the hotel we would be staying at the next 2 nights with the Topdeck tour group. We arrived just as the bus pulled up. We introduced ourselves to Scott from Scotland! Our tour guide for the next two weeks. Checked into our room...... 5 star compared to where we have been staying! had a shower and the straight back down to head out for the city at night tour. Paris is amazing when it is lit up at night, the Eiffel Tower, Arc Triomphe and Notre Damn Cathedral, all look gorgeous.

1st Oct Back to Australian Soil, only a 15 min train trip away

2 Trains and a short walk and we were back on Australian Soil! It was nice to speak to someone fluent in English! We had to fill out a form and get our passport photos taken so an emergency passport could be produced. it is supposed to take 48 hours to be processed but because its Friday and they aren't open over the weekend that brings us to Monday night and we should be in the Swiss Alps by then! We where trying to figure out how we could meet up with our tour later, maybe a train to Switzerland? I guess the guy seen how genuine we where so he told us to come back at 5 and he would make sure it was done. Awesome, shit, but awesome and only 100 euros. Which our insurance covers anyway. I guess it could've been worse!

We got our first glimpse of the Eiffel tower on the way to the embassy and as it was only a short walk away we headed over to the base. This thing is massive, not so much in height, but what it covers on the base is huge! We will come back to it early one morning and do the trip up to the top, the lineup was massive so we didn't even consider it for today. We spent the afternoon, killing time, walking around Paris near the Eiffel Tower and taking in the scenery. Our passport where ready at 5pm and we headed back to the hostel for a nap.

Dinner tonight was at a local restaurant, French Cuisine was on our agenda. We had snails and frog legs as an entree. Ryans blog...... I didn't really take to the snails at all. Put it this way; i will never ever eat them again. But we are in France and we did want to eat French cuisine and French cuisine we got. The frogs legs were more then frogs legs, they were half the frog, basically from its neck down. Once again i will never ever eat frogs legs ever again but the experience was one i will never forget. Now on the other hand the main courses 

where beautiful.Probably one of the best dishes i have ever eaten. I had a rabbit leg shank with roasted vegies and caramalised onions. It was simply amazing. Kayte had duck with orange blossom and honey glazing. Her meal was beautiful as well. Then for desert we shared a cream brulee. It tasted like scrambled eggs covered with caramel. All in all it was a good French experience! 

Paris here we come 30th of September

Early wake up call this morning for the train to Paris..... Ryan is feeling a bit under the weather from at least 4 litres of beer. I`m glad it turned out i wasn't a fan of beer; even German beer so i was feeling pretty good about myself. The train left for Paris at 7am we slept for the first hour of the trip and then some stupid kid wouldn't stop whinging and with a mum that doesn't know how to discipline her kid; by the time we had our first port of call the whole carriage was pretty aggravated by the whole thing. A few people got off and new people took their seats. not the kids though, in fact more got on, by half hour into the next part of the trip, i had had enough! Ryan followed the people sitting in front of us to see if there was any seats in the bar cart, there was thankfully and we enjoyed the rest of the trip in the peace and quiet, taking in the breathtaking scenery and chatting with a German lady that is an English teacher and her husband. We arrive in Paris at 2pm, 7hours later.

Once we arrive in Paris we encounter our first problem, finding an internet so we can figure out were we have to go. We had a few people helping us before we left the station and we headed to where we thought the hostel was supposed to be. Only to arrive there and there be no hostel. We searched again for an internet and then in the end, i messaged mum to see if she was awake, knowing that it was pretty late in oz, she replied thankfully and after a short time we figured out were we where and where we had to go.... Thanks mum!

Once we arrived at the hostel, we encountered our next problem.... wait for it! We did not have our passports! We must've left them on the train. We literally dumped our luggage and headed back to the station. Once we arrived back at the station the language barrier became a problem, most people can speak basic English but no one could understand that we needed to contact the train, or find out where it was headed to next to see if we could track it down. We ended up going to the police station and even though they didn't make any phone calls for us as the Australian Embassy was already closed for the days, they wrote up a report for us and gave us instructions to get us to the embassy by train the next day! I can't believe that after holding onto them with our dear lives so far that we just left them on the train!

Munich and the Oktoberfest!!!!!!

Today we woke early for breakfast and then met with a small group for a free walking tour around Munich to see the sights. The tours are organised by the hostels and work on a tip basis. The tour guides don't get paid, you tip them accordingly to how you think the tour went and what you got from it. We didn`t find this out until half an hour into the tour, which was funny because we didn`t have any cash on us, because we thought it  was free.... Do you think we walked past one ATM for the whole 3hours....... The tour was pretty good. It took us to the old and new town halls, St Peters church; the museum and also took us through a basic understanding of Adolf Hitler and the war and now how Munich cope with their cities past!

The tour finished later then expected at 2pm, and yes i did manage to run away for a short amount of
of time to get some cash to tip the tour guide. Then we headed to the Oktoberfest.

This thing is massive, its about 5 times bigger then the Royal Adelaide Show except instead of having an agricultural hall, a horticultural hall and a show bag hall etc. They just have beer hall after beer hall after beer hall. (I will put pictures on as soon as i can, but none of the computers we have had since London have had the SD card thingy.) We found a seat just outside of one of the beer halls and after getting an English version of the menu we both ordered a pork knuckle, you cant go to Oktoberfest without having a pork knuckle apparently. I will admit i thoroughly  enjoyed it. Along with my first ever litre of beer..... yuck! We went for a ride on the ferris wheel, ate banana crepes, chocolate coated strawberries on a stick, fries and Ryan drank more beer! all in all it was an awesome day, we met a family from Australia, a couple from Canada and a group of  German teenagers. Its definately something you need to experience at least once even if you don`t drink beer.