Final trip counter:
- Jesse - 56 days in Europe
- Yumi - 45 days in Europe
Monday, September 24, 2007
We're Home!
Well we're both back safely in Perth - we arrived just after midnight last night after 20 or so hours of flight, and then spent an hour or so in Customs queues before we were able to go home.
Final trip counter:
Final trip counter:
Friday, September 21, 2007
Stonehenge
Only two days left in London before we head back home. We've been really busy exploring England since we got here and been getting up so early and getting back so late that we haven't had time to sit down and go through photos and upload much.
Here's a quick summary of the things we've done since we got here:
* Walked through the west end and saw 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, the Horse Guards changing, Big Ben, Scotland Yard
* Went up on Tower Bridge and got an awesome view and heard the history about it
* Had a Yeoman tour of London Tower and got to hear some of the history of the Castle.
* Walking tour of the London Square Mile - where the old city of London once stood and heard about the Great Fire of London, the Black Plague and the Blitz
* Exclusive shopping in Knightsbridge - Harrods, Harvey Nichols and all the expensive shops here.
* Visited Camden Markets - HUGE markets and spent ages browsing the stalls and buying nick-nacks.
* Got half price tickets and got to see a couple of theatre shows - Boeing Boeing and Stomp! - Both were great shows!
* Spent an entire day in the National History Museum
* Saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace
* Day Tour to Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, Bath (and the ancient Roman Baths)
* Day Tour to Oxford, including Christchurch - the place where sections of Harry Potter's Hogwarts were filmed and based on, Stratford-upon-Avon - the birthplace of Shakespeare, and Warrick Castle.
* Visited Greenwich Royal Observatory, saw the Greenwich Meridian Line, and visited the Planetarium.
Today we plan to do some shopping on Oxford Street and then tomorrow we'll be spending with my cousins and family before we head back to Perth!
Here's a quick summary of the things we've done since we got here:
* Walked through the west end and saw 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, the Horse Guards changing, Big Ben, Scotland Yard
* Went up on Tower Bridge and got an awesome view and heard the history about it
* Had a Yeoman tour of London Tower and got to hear some of the history of the Castle.
* Walking tour of the London Square Mile - where the old city of London once stood and heard about the Great Fire of London, the Black Plague and the Blitz
* Exclusive shopping in Knightsbridge - Harrods, Harvey Nichols and all the expensive shops here.
* Visited Camden Markets - HUGE markets and spent ages browsing the stalls and buying nick-nacks.
* Got half price tickets and got to see a couple of theatre shows - Boeing Boeing and Stomp! - Both were great shows!
* Spent an entire day in the National History Museum
* Saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace
* Day Tour to Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral, Bath (and the ancient Roman Baths)
* Day Tour to Oxford, including Christchurch - the place where sections of Harry Potter's Hogwarts were filmed and based on, Stratford-upon-Avon - the birthplace of Shakespeare, and Warrick Castle.
* Visited Greenwich Royal Observatory, saw the Greenwich Meridian Line, and visited the Planetarium.
Today we plan to do some shopping on Oxford Street and then tomorrow we'll be spending with my cousins and family before we head back to Perth!
Friday, September 14, 2007
We're in London!
So here's a quick catch up as we haven't had time to write up anything about our lovely trip in Bagneres-de-Biggore yet or sort out the photos (of which I got some awesome ones too).
But in order to keep you guys up to date of where we are - yes, we're in London. We arrived late Tuesday night, and we've spent the last couple of days exploring the city of London as much as we could - so much so that our feet are sore and I'm far too tired to write up much more than this for the moment.
We're here until next Saturday - so we have about 8 days left of our trip before we start heading back home!
Rest assured - we will be posting more photos soon - so stay tuned!
But in order to keep you guys up to date of where we are - yes, we're in London. We arrived late Tuesday night, and we've spent the last couple of days exploring the city of London as much as we could - so much so that our feet are sore and I'm far too tired to write up much more than this for the moment.
We're here until next Saturday - so we have about 8 days left of our trip before we start heading back home!
Rest assured - we will be posting more photos soon - so stay tuned!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Cognac
We arrived in Angouleme yesterday and wandered around the city a bit the first night. We came here with the intention of taking a day trip to Cognac and doing a visit to one of the distilleries and seeing the Angouleme comics museum (which is what Angouleme is well known for)
We couldn't find any guided tours at the hotel, or any information about Cognac - so armed with very little knowledge we simply caught the train to this town and figured we'd walk around and see what we could find.
It took about 40 minutes to get there from Angouleme - and with our Eurail pass we didn't have to worry about tickets at all.
We had fun finding the city centre initially, but once we did we were able to find the Centre de Tourism and she their was an English tour of the Hennessy Distillery due to start in about 15 minutes.
The tour started off with a very brief boat ride - as the main Hennessy buildings were on the other side of the river. Our guide then showed us through the whole grape growing, distilling, cooperage, and aging process.
Fascinating to think that some of the barrels there have been aging for over two hundred years and still haven't aged enough according to the guys in charge - you can see the barrels in a couple of shots there from 1800.
After the tour we were given a chance to taste the different types of Cognac - and Yumi and I got to try all three types on offer:
VS - Very Special - is the youngest of them all, 3-4 years old and suitable for long drinks, cocktails and mixes.
Fine de Cognac - similar to VSOP in age (5-6 years), but a little sweeter and smoother - quite popular among the ladies apparently.
XO - Extra Old - aged more than 10 years - is the oldest and richest of the lot - sweeter and stronger, but also somewhat smoother.
We enjoyed the tastings, but I think both of us decided that Cognac wasn't really our thing - still nice to try though!
After that we wandered around the city of Cognac a bit more - checked out the markets and shops and had a nice lunch before catching the train back to Angouleme.
Tomorrow we're going to spend wandering around Angouleme a bit more, and then we head further south to Patrick's place in Bagneres-de-Biggore (about 30 minutes from Lourdes).
We couldn't find any guided tours at the hotel, or any information about Cognac - so armed with very little knowledge we simply caught the train to this town and figured we'd walk around and see what we could find.
It took about 40 minutes to get there from Angouleme - and with our Eurail pass we didn't have to worry about tickets at all.
We had fun finding the city centre initially, but once we did we were able to find the Centre de Tourism and she their was an English tour of the Hennessy Distillery due to start in about 15 minutes.
The tour started off with a very brief boat ride - as the main Hennessy buildings were on the other side of the river. Our guide then showed us through the whole grape growing, distilling, cooperage, and aging process.
Fascinating to think that some of the barrels there have been aging for over two hundred years and still haven't aged enough according to the guys in charge - you can see the barrels in a couple of shots there from 1800.
After the tour we were given a chance to taste the different types of Cognac - and Yumi and I got to try all three types on offer:
VS - Very Special - is the youngest of them all, 3-4 years old and suitable for long drinks, cocktails and mixes.
Fine de Cognac - similar to VSOP in age (5-6 years), but a little sweeter and smoother - quite popular among the ladies apparently.
XO - Extra Old - aged more than 10 years - is the oldest and richest of the lot - sweeter and stronger, but also somewhat smoother.
We enjoyed the tastings, but I think both of us decided that Cognac wasn't really our thing - still nice to try though!
After that we wandered around the city of Cognac a bit more - checked out the markets and shops and had a nice lunch before catching the train back to Angouleme.
Tomorrow we're going to spend wandering around Angouleme a bit more, and then we head further south to Patrick's place in Bagneres-de-Biggore (about 30 minutes from Lourdes).
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Brussels, Belgium
Next stop Brussels!
From Berlin we took the ICE trains ( intercity express ) to Brussels. They go at speeds of up to 250km/hr, pretty fast! And comfortable too. We were fortunate enough to be in one of the front cabins, and got to see through the train driver's window of the landscape zooming past in a blur.
Brussels is famous for chocolates, beer and Belgian lace. It is also the EU headquarters and the centre of Europe. It is a multicultural city, evident as soon as you step foot in it, with a strong African influence thrown in. What was unexpected was how grimy and dirty the city looked. Lots of graffiti everywhere, streets are dirty, watch out for the very frequent dog poo, lots of chewing gum stains, in short irst impressions are not very good. Granted we were in the older part of the city, but still... Anyhow, we did the usual touristy things and visited the famous Grote Market ( Grand Place ) with its square of beautiful old 17th century buildings on all four sides, and artists peddling their wares in the centre with restaurants on the sides, perfect for sitting down and enjoying the famous Belgian beers and people-watching.
Wandered through the streets to the Royal Palace, with its well manicured gardens, and of course the Grand Sablon area which is the yuppie area with cafes and antique stores. Must not forget the chocolates too! Heaps of shops selling chocolates in all sorts of combination deals, and the handmade ones too. Tried some champagne truffles, which were delicious! Didn't really get into the beer testing, although Jesse did try the Leffe Blonde and Hooegarten. There is just simply too many beers to sample. A couple of the streets are similar to the Latin Quarter in Paris, with restaurants lining the streets, all competing for customers, and some pretty decent meal deals. We had dinner in Le Petit Brussels, which was very nice, and a glass of complementary Grappa was thrown in at the end of our meal. Grappa is a liquor made from grapes, smells like vodka but tastes much better. Apparently it aids digestion! :)
Next we're off to Angouleme, in the South-West of France.
- YM
From Berlin we took the ICE trains ( intercity express ) to Brussels. They go at speeds of up to 250km/hr, pretty fast! And comfortable too. We were fortunate enough to be in one of the front cabins, and got to see through the train driver's window of the landscape zooming past in a blur.
Brussels is famous for chocolates, beer and Belgian lace. It is also the EU headquarters and the centre of Europe. It is a multicultural city, evident as soon as you step foot in it, with a strong African influence thrown in. What was unexpected was how grimy and dirty the city looked. Lots of graffiti everywhere, streets are dirty, watch out for the very frequent dog poo, lots of chewing gum stains, in short irst impressions are not very good. Granted we were in the older part of the city, but still... Anyhow, we did the usual touristy things and visited the famous Grote Market ( Grand Place ) with its square of beautiful old 17th century buildings on all four sides, and artists peddling their wares in the centre with restaurants on the sides, perfect for sitting down and enjoying the famous Belgian beers and people-watching.
Wandered through the streets to the Royal Palace, with its well manicured gardens, and of course the Grand Sablon area which is the yuppie area with cafes and antique stores. Must not forget the chocolates too! Heaps of shops selling chocolates in all sorts of combination deals, and the handmade ones too. Tried some champagne truffles, which were delicious! Didn't really get into the beer testing, although Jesse did try the Leffe Blonde and Hooegarten. There is just simply too many beers to sample. A couple of the streets are similar to the Latin Quarter in Paris, with restaurants lining the streets, all competing for customers, and some pretty decent meal deals. We had dinner in Le Petit Brussels, which was very nice, and a glass of complementary Grappa was thrown in at the end of our meal. Grappa is a liquor made from grapes, smells like vodka but tastes much better. Apparently it aids digestion! :)
Next we're off to Angouleme, in the South-West of France.
- YM
Friday, September 7, 2007
No Stilettos in Europe!!
This is for the ladies... all over Europe, lots of the places, especially the older historical sites all have cobblestones, big ones, little ones, square ones, round ones... It is all UNEVEN cobblestones, which would made it so very hard to walk around in stilettos or even really high heels! So, remember to pack that pair of flat shoes or joggers if you do not want to ruin that pair of lovely stilettos or an ankle! :P
- YM
- YM
Berlin
After dropping off our gear at the hotel, we grabbed a couple of maps from the foyer of the hotel and set off for a place to get dinner from. We took the advice from the lady at the desk and got directions to the local U-Bahn around the corner and got off in Stadmitte.
We wandered up the streets in search of somewhere to eat and came across Checkpoint Charlie and got a history lesson instead.
Checkpoint Charlie was the name given to the checkpoint where the American Sector and the Soviet Sector met. This was where the faceoff between American and Soviet tanks took place during the cold war and the centre of the Iron Curtain really.
They have a whole block full of placards with info on the history and you can see where the Berlin wall ran through this sector. Fascinating history simply because it happened in my lifetime! The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 - and divided the city (and family, friends, businesses) until 1989 when it finally came down.
We had a nice meal in a restaurant in the area then headed back to the hotel and got a good nights sleep.
The next day we woke up to find the weather had taken a turn for the worse, and it was rainy and quite cold for most of the day. The wind was icy, and we found we needed our jackets zipped up for most of the day.
We bought a CityTourCard each (14.90 euros) each which gave us 48 hours unlimited travel on public transport - and this would cover us fully for the rest of our stay in Berlin.
We headed to Hausvogtel Platz hoping to wander along city streets and look at shops, but instead found ourselves in the middle of a construction zone. We saw the TV tower, so headed towards that and eventually found the shopping areas as well as a few of the sights of the area, including Berliner Dom, Lustgarten, Neptune Fountain, Berlin Town Hall (big Red Building) and Alexanderplatz.
We went up to the top of the TV Tower and had a nice view from up here at the 203m high viewing platform of Berlin. The outside windows were glass (and dirty unfortunately) - but we got a few shots and gave us a good idea of where everything was situated.
I did a little shopping in Alexanderplatz and got to looking at small digital cameras in the local electronics shop as they had a number on sale. Certainly on this trip I've thought more than once that a small compact camera would be a good complement to my digital SLR and handy when you don't want to carry a big one around. Main thing here being size really. After looking at all of them I kept coming back to a tiny little Samsung L77 camera - 7 megapixel with a 7x optical zoom - very impressive considering it's incredibly small size. I had a play with it and found the menu system to be easy to follow and ended up picking one up for $299 euros (~AU$500) and also picked up a spare battery, 2GB SD memory card and a little Crumpler pocket pouch to keep it safe in. I should also get $42 euros back at the border thanks to their tax free refund system.
Next we took the S-Bahn to Unter Den Linden and got to view the Brandenburg Gate with its huge columns and 4 horse chariot on top. Brandenburg gate is a bit of a symbol for the city and where the soldiers marched triumphantly after the successful Prussian wars.
When Napoleon brought Germany to its knees he marched his army through here also and took the statue on top back to France as a trophy. It was eventually restored and Hitler paraded his troops through here before sending them off to war.
We also wandered around the Reichstag (Seat of Parliament) and got some lovely photos of the sun setting on the Reichstag building.
One interesting thing to note is that prettymuch everything in Berlin was destroyed during the war and has been repaired or reconstructed since. This means it has both a modern feel in a lot of areas, while some areas of historical note have been preserved still. It provides an interesting mix of old and new.
We headed to Potsdamer Platz after that for dinner before catching the U-bahn back to the hotel.
The next day in Berlin was very cold - I decided to give my new camera a workout today - so all the photos I've uploaded for today are from it - it's pretty nifty - not great at taking indoor shots or low light unfortunately, but outdoors it's excellent.
The wind was incredibly chilly and the weather report said a max of 15'C during the day - feels like Winter has started already. First stop was Kunferstendamm (or Ku-damm for short). This was the location of the Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church, and was damaged by bombing in 1943 with only the west tower remaining and left as it is as an anti-war memorial. Surrounding it are new and modern buildings and a large shopping area. Ku-damm was the city centre for West Berlin.
We headed to Potsdamer Platz after that and wandered the streets in search of Hitlers Bunker. This place was destroyed during the war, and was turned into apartment blocks while under East German rule. The whole street is something of a historical walk though - with signs every couple of hundred metres containing a little history about what was there previously. We strolled along here for a while until we got to the British Embassy and then Brandenburg Gate.
We jumped on the S-bahn once more and this time we hwaded to Nordbahnhof to see the remains of the Berlin wall - a section of the wall is preserved here and known as the East Side Gallery. There is also a building here that offers a view of it from above and has an exhibition displaying the history of the Berlin wall including pictures and videos.
Next stop from here was the Seigesaulle (Victory Column) - which we got to by catching the S-Bahn to Bellevue and then walked through the park a bit. This is an impressive statue of gold and it looked beautiful in the sunlight (with some scary storm clouds behind) and made for an impressive picture. The Siegesaulle lies in a direct line from the Brandenburg gate, and it's along this stretch that the soldiers would march as the headed off to war. I climbed up to the top of the tower here (Yumi was getting pretty tired of me wanting to climb up to the top of everything by this point and stayed below) and got a few shots from up top.
We headed off back to the hotel after that as it started to rain once more and was getting dark.
We wandered up the streets in search of somewhere to eat and came across Checkpoint Charlie and got a history lesson instead.
Checkpoint Charlie was the name given to the checkpoint where the American Sector and the Soviet Sector met. This was where the faceoff between American and Soviet tanks took place during the cold war and the centre of the Iron Curtain really.
They have a whole block full of placards with info on the history and you can see where the Berlin wall ran through this sector. Fascinating history simply because it happened in my lifetime! The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 - and divided the city (and family, friends, businesses) until 1989 when it finally came down.
We had a nice meal in a restaurant in the area then headed back to the hotel and got a good nights sleep.
The next day we woke up to find the weather had taken a turn for the worse, and it was rainy and quite cold for most of the day. The wind was icy, and we found we needed our jackets zipped up for most of the day.
We bought a CityTourCard each (14.90 euros) each which gave us 48 hours unlimited travel on public transport - and this would cover us fully for the rest of our stay in Berlin.
We headed to Hausvogtel Platz hoping to wander along city streets and look at shops, but instead found ourselves in the middle of a construction zone. We saw the TV tower, so headed towards that and eventually found the shopping areas as well as a few of the sights of the area, including Berliner Dom, Lustgarten, Neptune Fountain, Berlin Town Hall (big Red Building) and Alexanderplatz.
We went up to the top of the TV Tower and had a nice view from up here at the 203m high viewing platform of Berlin. The outside windows were glass (and dirty unfortunately) - but we got a few shots and gave us a good idea of where everything was situated.
I did a little shopping in Alexanderplatz and got to looking at small digital cameras in the local electronics shop as they had a number on sale. Certainly on this trip I've thought more than once that a small compact camera would be a good complement to my digital SLR and handy when you don't want to carry a big one around. Main thing here being size really. After looking at all of them I kept coming back to a tiny little Samsung L77 camera - 7 megapixel with a 7x optical zoom - very impressive considering it's incredibly small size. I had a play with it and found the menu system to be easy to follow and ended up picking one up for $299 euros (~AU$500) and also picked up a spare battery, 2GB SD memory card and a little Crumpler pocket pouch to keep it safe in. I should also get $42 euros back at the border thanks to their tax free refund system.
Next we took the S-Bahn to Unter Den Linden and got to view the Brandenburg Gate with its huge columns and 4 horse chariot on top. Brandenburg gate is a bit of a symbol for the city and where the soldiers marched triumphantly after the successful Prussian wars.
When Napoleon brought Germany to its knees he marched his army through here also and took the statue on top back to France as a trophy. It was eventually restored and Hitler paraded his troops through here before sending them off to war.
We also wandered around the Reichstag (Seat of Parliament) and got some lovely photos of the sun setting on the Reichstag building.
One interesting thing to note is that prettymuch everything in Berlin was destroyed during the war and has been repaired or reconstructed since. This means it has both a modern feel in a lot of areas, while some areas of historical note have been preserved still. It provides an interesting mix of old and new.
We headed to Potsdamer Platz after that for dinner before catching the U-bahn back to the hotel.
The next day in Berlin was very cold - I decided to give my new camera a workout today - so all the photos I've uploaded for today are from it - it's pretty nifty - not great at taking indoor shots or low light unfortunately, but outdoors it's excellent.
The wind was incredibly chilly and the weather report said a max of 15'C during the day - feels like Winter has started already. First stop was Kunferstendamm (or Ku-damm for short). This was the location of the Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church, and was damaged by bombing in 1943 with only the west tower remaining and left as it is as an anti-war memorial. Surrounding it are new and modern buildings and a large shopping area. Ku-damm was the city centre for West Berlin.
We headed to Potsdamer Platz after that and wandered the streets in search of Hitlers Bunker. This place was destroyed during the war, and was turned into apartment blocks while under East German rule. The whole street is something of a historical walk though - with signs every couple of hundred metres containing a little history about what was there previously. We strolled along here for a while until we got to the British Embassy and then Brandenburg Gate.
We jumped on the S-bahn once more and this time we hwaded to Nordbahnhof to see the remains of the Berlin wall - a section of the wall is preserved here and known as the East Side Gallery. There is also a building here that offers a view of it from above and has an exhibition displaying the history of the Berlin wall including pictures and videos.
Next stop from here was the Seigesaulle (Victory Column) - which we got to by catching the S-Bahn to Bellevue and then walked through the park a bit. This is an impressive statue of gold and it looked beautiful in the sunlight (with some scary storm clouds behind) and made for an impressive picture. The Siegesaulle lies in a direct line from the Brandenburg gate, and it's along this stretch that the soldiers would march as the headed off to war. I climbed up to the top of the tower here (Yumi was getting pretty tired of me wanting to climb up to the top of everything by this point and stayed below) and got a few shots from up top.
We headed off back to the hotel after that as it started to rain once more and was getting dark.
Prague Museum at Night
The train ride was nice, smooth and relatively uneventful. It was an interesting contrast leaving Austria and entering the Czech Republic - as we saw a lot of derelict houses that looked like they'd been damaged in the last world war and still hadn't been repaired or destroyed.
Our train arrived at Praha-Holsoevice - not the main station, so our plan was to get into central Prague, get a map, and figure out where our hotel was in relation to everything. Of course we had no local currency, so a visit to an ATM gave me some cash. Czech Crowns are worth 1/16th of an Aussie dollar, so I withdrew a thousand crowns (about AUD$75) from the ATM and then had to go to the local shop to buy a couple of drinks to split it up (it gave me a single 1000Kc note!) as we needed coins to pay for a metro ticket to the city.
We got a map also, but ended up asking for some help as to which station to get off - turns out that I.P. Pavlova station was the closest to the hotel, so we got off there and it was right next to the hotel which was convenient (except that there was no lift to get our luggage up, so we had to lug them up the steps.
Once settled in our hotel, we were able to dump our things, relax a bit and then - as it was already early evening by this point we wandered around looking for somewhere to eat. We found a lovely pub around the corner called Legenda Pub, with great food, cheap beer and nice atmosphere. I ordered a local Czech beer - Staropramen - which was lovely and ended up having a couple of half-litre glasses. They were dirt cheap too - a half-litre of beer was 27Kc - or about AU$1.70. And it was cheaper to get a half-litre of beer than it was to get a small 250ml bottle of orange juice here (the OJ was 28Kc)!!
After a nice relaxed meal, we headed back to the hotel to plan the next day and get some sleep.
We decided that since we only had the one day in Prague, we'd take a couple of tours and that way get to see a bit more of it all.
We booked a Konopiste Castle Tour which started first, and then a Grand City Tour for the afternoon.
First stop, Konopiste castle - home of the Crown Prince Archduke Francis Ferdinand who was assassinated in Sarajevo together with his wife. This event was what sparked off World War I!
The Castle was about 45km drive south of Prague - and is a surprisingly modern castle with one of the worlds first hydraulic lifts. It was built in the 13th century and based on the french castles of the time - but was unusual in that it had 7 defensive towers (most similar castles only had one!) - so it was very secure at the time, though most of the towers are in ruins now.
Archduke Ferdinand loved collecting and hunting, and collected an incredible number of trophies. Apparently he killed something close to 3 million animals during his lifetime, of which he had trophies on his wall for something like 450,000 of them - these included deer, goats, boars, and bears - and his walls were adorned with the things - including furs for his floors. He even had several elephant tails hanging up and a couple of rubbish bin made from a elephant feet! Animal conservationists will not enjoy this place.
In addition to his trophy collection, he also had a substantial weapons and armoury collection - including a number of rooms full of suits of armor, pistols, rifles, swords and daggers.
He had installed special viewing cabinets for all of these, and had even installed electricity throughout the castle for lighting and he'd built 12 modern bathrooms, central heating. Quite impressive for its time and the archduke was a pretty forward thinking man.
Archduke Ferdinand was a member of the Habsburg family, and was next in line to be the Holy Roman Emperor of Austria - however he fell in love with the lovely Countess Sophia - who was much beneath him in the social hierarchy of the time. In order for them to get married, he had to sign an agreement that his children would not inherit the the throne or have any social standing because of him.
After the castle tour we headed back to the city and were dropped off at Wencelas Square - the middle of the Neuvo Mesto - or New City. We wandered around for a while before heading back to the hotel to grab our rain jackets (as it was raining a bit) and then got picked up for the next tour of the city. This one took us through the old town (Stare Mesto), including National Theatre, Lesser Town Square, Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge, and then we headed up the hills to see St Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle.
Prague Castle had the same architect as did Schonbrunn Palace. Again, quite a modern castle, as most of it was destroyed in the war and rebuilt since.
Prague has quite a few castles really - there are apparently over 200 castles belonging to the nobility here.
We ended the tour in the evening and wandered through the streets of Stare Mesto together and had dinner in a sidewalk cafe overlooking the main square. Note for anyone considering the same in future - check the beer prices - we discovered that the beer prices in the same restaurant alone changed considerably based on where you were sitting. This place charged 24Kc for a half-litre beer in the beer garden, 28Kc for the same beer in the restaurant itself, and if you were sitting out the front with a view then they charged you a whopping 67Kc!
Still a cheap beer by Aussie standards, but you might want to do any serious drinking in the garden out back!
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Prague, and wish we'd organised to stay a bit longer - things were pretty cheap here compared to everywhere else and we had fun. Prague is a lively place, with Wencelas Square all busy and modern, with the occasional old building with beautiful facades peeking out, though there are still many buildings abandoned and run down also if you wander down a side street.
This country is still recovering from it's communist reign, so things are developing rapidly.
I had a good laugh at the local english here a bit - just over the road from our hotel was a Pizza place called 'Pizza Go Home' which gave me a good chuckle.
The next day we had to say goodbye to Prague and we caught the train from Praha-Holesovice to Berlin.
One helpful tip when travelling Europe - reserve seats ahead of time - it will cost you - perhaps 8-10 euros, but it means you get seats of your own - there were heaps of people on this train wandering past looking for unreserved seats. Because we reserved our seats we prettymuch had the whole cabin of 6 seats to ourselves for most of the trip.
The only person who joined us was a young guy called Daniel who got on in Dresden and was heading to Berlin to start a new job the next day. He had a map of Berlin and advised us to get off at Berlin-Sudkreuz and then catch an S-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz - then a short walk to the hotel from there.
We did follow his advice, but what looked like a short walk on the map turned out to be a 1km or so while hauling our luggage along on a mix of cobblestone and paved streets before we got to the hotel - good exercise at least!
Our train arrived at Praha-Holsoevice - not the main station, so our plan was to get into central Prague, get a map, and figure out where our hotel was in relation to everything. Of course we had no local currency, so a visit to an ATM gave me some cash. Czech Crowns are worth 1/16th of an Aussie dollar, so I withdrew a thousand crowns (about AUD$75) from the ATM and then had to go to the local shop to buy a couple of drinks to split it up (it gave me a single 1000Kc note!) as we needed coins to pay for a metro ticket to the city.
We got a map also, but ended up asking for some help as to which station to get off - turns out that I.P. Pavlova station was the closest to the hotel, so we got off there and it was right next to the hotel which was convenient (except that there was no lift to get our luggage up, so we had to lug them up the steps.
Once settled in our hotel, we were able to dump our things, relax a bit and then - as it was already early evening by this point we wandered around looking for somewhere to eat. We found a lovely pub around the corner called Legenda Pub, with great food, cheap beer and nice atmosphere. I ordered a local Czech beer - Staropramen - which was lovely and ended up having a couple of half-litre glasses. They were dirt cheap too - a half-litre of beer was 27Kc - or about AU$1.70. And it was cheaper to get a half-litre of beer than it was to get a small 250ml bottle of orange juice here (the OJ was 28Kc)!!
After a nice relaxed meal, we headed back to the hotel to plan the next day and get some sleep.
We decided that since we only had the one day in Prague, we'd take a couple of tours and that way get to see a bit more of it all.
We booked a Konopiste Castle Tour which started first, and then a Grand City Tour for the afternoon.
First stop, Konopiste castle - home of the Crown Prince Archduke Francis Ferdinand who was assassinated in Sarajevo together with his wife. This event was what sparked off World War I!
The Castle was about 45km drive south of Prague - and is a surprisingly modern castle with one of the worlds first hydraulic lifts. It was built in the 13th century and based on the french castles of the time - but was unusual in that it had 7 defensive towers (most similar castles only had one!) - so it was very secure at the time, though most of the towers are in ruins now.
Archduke Ferdinand loved collecting and hunting, and collected an incredible number of trophies. Apparently he killed something close to 3 million animals during his lifetime, of which he had trophies on his wall for something like 450,000 of them - these included deer, goats, boars, and bears - and his walls were adorned with the things - including furs for his floors. He even had several elephant tails hanging up and a couple of rubbish bin made from a elephant feet! Animal conservationists will not enjoy this place.
In addition to his trophy collection, he also had a substantial weapons and armoury collection - including a number of rooms full of suits of armor, pistols, rifles, swords and daggers.
He had installed special viewing cabinets for all of these, and had even installed electricity throughout the castle for lighting and he'd built 12 modern bathrooms, central heating. Quite impressive for its time and the archduke was a pretty forward thinking man.
Archduke Ferdinand was a member of the Habsburg family, and was next in line to be the Holy Roman Emperor of Austria - however he fell in love with the lovely Countess Sophia - who was much beneath him in the social hierarchy of the time. In order for them to get married, he had to sign an agreement that his children would not inherit the the throne or have any social standing because of him.
After the castle tour we headed back to the city and were dropped off at Wencelas Square - the middle of the Neuvo Mesto - or New City. We wandered around for a while before heading back to the hotel to grab our rain jackets (as it was raining a bit) and then got picked up for the next tour of the city. This one took us through the old town (Stare Mesto), including National Theatre, Lesser Town Square, Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge, and then we headed up the hills to see St Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle.
Prague Castle had the same architect as did Schonbrunn Palace. Again, quite a modern castle, as most of it was destroyed in the war and rebuilt since.
Prague has quite a few castles really - there are apparently over 200 castles belonging to the nobility here.
We ended the tour in the evening and wandered through the streets of Stare Mesto together and had dinner in a sidewalk cafe overlooking the main square. Note for anyone considering the same in future - check the beer prices - we discovered that the beer prices in the same restaurant alone changed considerably based on where you were sitting. This place charged 24Kc for a half-litre beer in the beer garden, 28Kc for the same beer in the restaurant itself, and if you were sitting out the front with a view then they charged you a whopping 67Kc!
Still a cheap beer by Aussie standards, but you might want to do any serious drinking in the garden out back!
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Prague, and wish we'd organised to stay a bit longer - things were pretty cheap here compared to everywhere else and we had fun. Prague is a lively place, with Wencelas Square all busy and modern, with the occasional old building with beautiful facades peeking out, though there are still many buildings abandoned and run down also if you wander down a side street.
This country is still recovering from it's communist reign, so things are developing rapidly.
I had a good laugh at the local english here a bit - just over the road from our hotel was a Pizza place called 'Pizza Go Home' which gave me a good chuckle.
The next day we had to say goodbye to Prague and we caught the train from Praha-Holesovice to Berlin.
One helpful tip when travelling Europe - reserve seats ahead of time - it will cost you - perhaps 8-10 euros, but it means you get seats of your own - there were heaps of people on this train wandering past looking for unreserved seats. Because we reserved our seats we prettymuch had the whole cabin of 6 seats to ourselves for most of the trip.
The only person who joined us was a young guy called Daniel who got on in Dresden and was heading to Berlin to start a new job the next day. He had a map of Berlin and advised us to get off at Berlin-Sudkreuz and then catch an S-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz - then a short walk to the hotel from there.
We did follow his advice, but what looked like a short walk on the map turned out to be a 1km or so while hauling our luggage along on a mix of cobblestone and paved streets before we got to the hotel - good exercise at least!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Vienna
Early morning flight to Vienna! Had a little scare at the airport when they asked for a visa with my passport. As far as I was aware, I did not need a visa to enter Austria with a Malaysian passport, unless the rules and regulations had changed in the last week!! After some checking, I was allowed to fly to Austria. They had made a mistake. Whew!!
Flight in to Vienna was good. We checked in and headed into the city to wander aimlessly around. Stumbled upon the Film Festival that was going on at the time, but unfortunately it was all in a foreign language. Further along there was a country fair, with various beers and local delicacies for sale. We had fun sampling the local food. Later had a typical dinner of Weiner Schintzel ( crumbed pork fillet ) and potato salad and salad.
Jesse's off to his conference full of computer geeks, while I go and wander through the city of Vienna. Caught the Hop On, Hop Off tour, which takes me to the various sites in Vienna. Spent most of my day in Schonbrunn Palace, home to the powerful Hapsburg family of olden times Austrian Empire. It was originally a hunting lodge, renovated by Empress Maria-Theresa into a palace. she was the last Hapsburgh to rule Austria. Interesting thing was she ruled the Austraian Empire, while her husband Emperor Francis Joseph was content to devote his time to science and gardening. she implemented improvements for her people, starting mandatory education for all children, pretty forward thinking for her time (18th century). Beautiful palace, though not as lavish as Versailles Palace. But on a more practical scale, with various rooms decorated in different themes, such as one done up in Chinese lacquer, Blue china room etc. It has a beautiful garden ( see photos ) and the Imperial Zoo is also housed here. It is the oldest Zoo, started in Emperor Francis Joseph's time.
Later in the evening Jesse and I went on an evening tour, taking us to have a ride on the Giant Ferris Wheel in Prater. It is over 100 years old, with little cabins holding up to 20 people to sit in and see Vienna by night. Then its a little drive to the town of Grinzing, to a wine tavern for traditional Viennese fare accompanied by music and opera and of course a waltz in the city where the waltz was first started.
St Stephen's Cathedral is another landmark in Vienna, unfortunately it is undergoing refurbishments at the moment, so photos of it include construction works. It has 2 towers, with one tower housing a large bell that you can go up and see. Though I think it would be a good thing not to be up there when the bell rings on the hour!! :P
Vienna has heaps of other museums, such as the Natural History Museum, Impressionists art Museum in the Belvedere Palace, Musical Instruments Museum, too many to mention! I had had quite enough of museums and art and churches by this time, and decided I would just simply wander through the streets and see what I see. It was a pleasant change, wandering aimlessly through the little side streets, you see quirky little buildings, turn round a corner and there's a fountain, beautiful facedes to the buildings, nice little sidewalk cafes ( yes, I actually stopped and sat down for some Viennese coffee and did nothing for 45 minutes!! ).
Had dinner with Jesse and his conference mates, a whole restaurant full of computer geeks and undiluted computer talk, in various different languages!! Shudder!! I survived it though! :P
- YM
Flight in to Vienna was good. We checked in and headed into the city to wander aimlessly around. Stumbled upon the Film Festival that was going on at the time, but unfortunately it was all in a foreign language. Further along there was a country fair, with various beers and local delicacies for sale. We had fun sampling the local food. Later had a typical dinner of Weiner Schintzel ( crumbed pork fillet ) and potato salad and salad.
Jesse's off to his conference full of computer geeks, while I go and wander through the city of Vienna. Caught the Hop On, Hop Off tour, which takes me to the various sites in Vienna. Spent most of my day in Schonbrunn Palace, home to the powerful Hapsburg family of olden times Austrian Empire. It was originally a hunting lodge, renovated by Empress Maria-Theresa into a palace. she was the last Hapsburgh to rule Austria. Interesting thing was she ruled the Austraian Empire, while her husband Emperor Francis Joseph was content to devote his time to science and gardening. she implemented improvements for her people, starting mandatory education for all children, pretty forward thinking for her time (18th century). Beautiful palace, though not as lavish as Versailles Palace. But on a more practical scale, with various rooms decorated in different themes, such as one done up in Chinese lacquer, Blue china room etc. It has a beautiful garden ( see photos ) and the Imperial Zoo is also housed here. It is the oldest Zoo, started in Emperor Francis Joseph's time.
Later in the evening Jesse and I went on an evening tour, taking us to have a ride on the Giant Ferris Wheel in Prater. It is over 100 years old, with little cabins holding up to 20 people to sit in and see Vienna by night. Then its a little drive to the town of Grinzing, to a wine tavern for traditional Viennese fare accompanied by music and opera and of course a waltz in the city where the waltz was first started.
St Stephen's Cathedral is another landmark in Vienna, unfortunately it is undergoing refurbishments at the moment, so photos of it include construction works. It has 2 towers, with one tower housing a large bell that you can go up and see. Though I think it would be a good thing not to be up there when the bell rings on the hour!! :P
Vienna has heaps of other museums, such as the Natural History Museum, Impressionists art Museum in the Belvedere Palace, Musical Instruments Museum, too many to mention! I had had quite enough of museums and art and churches by this time, and decided I would just simply wander through the streets and see what I see. It was a pleasant change, wandering aimlessly through the little side streets, you see quirky little buildings, turn round a corner and there's a fountain, beautiful facedes to the buildings, nice little sidewalk cafes ( yes, I actually stopped and sat down for some Viennese coffee and did nothing for 45 minutes!! ).
Had dinner with Jesse and his conference mates, a whole restaurant full of computer geeks and undiluted computer talk, in various different languages!! Shudder!! I survived it though! :P
- YM
Paris
After a relaxing time in Switzerland, we head to Paris.
Took the better part of the day to get there, and headed straight into the heart of Paris, the Notre Dame de Paris. Beautiful Gothic style church set in the centre island of the Seine River, 93m high and 442 steps to the top of the church. We were fortunate enought to witness mass at the Notre Dame de Paris. There were 2 priests with an altar girl singing hymms accompanied by pipe organs. Absolutely awe inspiring to see and hear.
Later wandered down to the Latin Quarter, so called because this is where Latin was thought in the University in years gone by. Tiny little streets, which is typical of old Paris, lined with cheap restaurants and souvenier shops. Had dinner of escargots here... baked snails in garlic and butter, delicious!!
Later joined up with the tour group again for a drive to the main sights of Paris, stopping at the Eiffel Tower for photos. Later we had a relaxing cruise down the Seine River, which criss-crossed Paris. Buildings were illuminated, and we got to se the Loueve, Notre Dame de Paris from a different perspective. The highlight was at the end of the Cruise, with the Eiffel Tower lighting up with thousands of little fairy lights as we docked. A very romantic city.
Full day in Paris and last day of tour. Start ff with a drive around Paris to see more of the landmark sights, Arch D'triumph, Opera House. Place de la Concorde ( oldest obelisk at 7000 hrs old ), Champs Elysees ( street full of designer shops ) , Hotel des Invalides ( originally a hostel for war veterans, now a war museum ), Museum D'orsay ( impressionist ar museum, oiginally a train station ), St Joan of Arc statute ( in gold, I wander people don't actually try and steal it, its just by the street side?? ), Musee de Loueve.
We visited the Loueve, a large museum in Paris, holding more than 4000 art pieces in 19km of corridors. The highlights in the Loueve was the Mona Lisa, The Winged triumph, Venus de Milo and Napolean's Apartment. THis was just the tip of the iceberg, there is so much art and history in this building. You could spend a week in here and maybe, just maybe see all the art pieces here. The Loueve was originally a palace, but it was not grand enough, so King Louis built a newer, grander, bigger one in Versailles. GOt to see the spots in the Loueve made famous in The Da Vinci code. There is even a Da Vinci Code tour for die-hard fans!
The grand finale to the tour was a cabaret show, La Nouvelle Eve, meaning New Year's eve, serving a 4 course dinner and a lovely drop of Bordeoux wine. Stunning show with dancing, singing, mimes, acrobat, and trapeezee act. Busy taking photos of everyone as it was the last night. Back at the hotle for a nightcap and a chat to the lovely people we'd met on tour.
Another rainy day in Paris. It had been raining since we arrived here. THe locals say it is unusual for summer. Despite the rain we decided to visit Sacre Couer Basilica in Montmarte. Fairly easy to understand the rail system in Paris. Sacre Couer Basilican is a church set on a little hill in Montmarte. QUite a few steps to go up to it but gives a decent view of Paris. After that we wandered through the streets of MOntmarte, lots of souvenier shops and artists plying their trade. Some gorgeous paintings being sold in the market square.
With the weather clearing a bit more and the top of Eiffel Tower visible again, we went to join the massive queues to go up to the top. Spent two hours in the queue to get to middle point of the tower, and another half hour to get to the top of the tower at 1072 ft high. Brilliant view from the top, being able to pick out the famous landmark points in the city. Check out our pictures!
French McDonald's for brunch! Quite a nice treat. You get orange juice, tea/coffee, yoghurt with fruits, bacon and egg McMuffin, and 3 little French pastries. Keeps you going for a while! After filling our belly off to find a train to Versailles, to visit the Chateau, the famous palace that replaced the Loueve as the royal palace, built by King Louis 13th. Another show of the royal family's extravagance and waste of resources! Huge spread of a palace with paintings on the ceilings, elaborate carvings, marble columns, gold gilded furnishings, even a Hall of Mirrors ( mirrors were new and expensive during that time ). He had his rooms built in the centre of the palace, facing the rising sun, hence the nickname the Sun King. What was most interesting is that this palace has an extensive garden of 7800 hectres originally, but is now reduced to 780 hectres. Fully manicured gardens with mazes, a canal that holds up to 9 battle ships ( because King Louis wanted to re-enact naval battles in his backyard, just for fun! ),99 fountains, and Marie-Antoinette's personal gardens as well. Imagine the size and scope of just the gardens!
Las day in Paris, and we were more than ready to see the next country! Visited Hotel des Invalides, which is a war museum. MOst interesting was Napolean's tomb, which is housed in a chapel here. The tomb is set in the middle of the chapel, from the top you have to look down, just like bowing to him. From the crypt you have to look up at the tomb, putting him in a superior position. I bet Napolean liked that! :)
Slow stroll through the Tuilerries Gardens ( coz Jesse had developed a blister the size of Australia by now!!!), part of the LOueve which is open to the public. Beautiful statues, manicured lawns, family with kids playing in the park, lovely fountains, kids playing sailboats in the fountains and even lucky enough to catch the last few days of a fair in the Tuilerries Garden. Took a ferris wheel ride, which gave us a great view of Paris.
Good bye Paris, hello Vienna!!
Took the better part of the day to get there, and headed straight into the heart of Paris, the Notre Dame de Paris. Beautiful Gothic style church set in the centre island of the Seine River, 93m high and 442 steps to the top of the church. We were fortunate enought to witness mass at the Notre Dame de Paris. There were 2 priests with an altar girl singing hymms accompanied by pipe organs. Absolutely awe inspiring to see and hear.
Later wandered down to the Latin Quarter, so called because this is where Latin was thought in the University in years gone by. Tiny little streets, which is typical of old Paris, lined with cheap restaurants and souvenier shops. Had dinner of escargots here... baked snails in garlic and butter, delicious!!
Later joined up with the tour group again for a drive to the main sights of Paris, stopping at the Eiffel Tower for photos. Later we had a relaxing cruise down the Seine River, which criss-crossed Paris. Buildings were illuminated, and we got to se the Loueve, Notre Dame de Paris from a different perspective. The highlight was at the end of the Cruise, with the Eiffel Tower lighting up with thousands of little fairy lights as we docked. A very romantic city.
Full day in Paris and last day of tour. Start ff with a drive around Paris to see more of the landmark sights, Arch D'triumph, Opera House. Place de la Concorde ( oldest obelisk at 7000 hrs old ), Champs Elysees ( street full of designer shops ) , Hotel des Invalides ( originally a hostel for war veterans, now a war museum ), Museum D'orsay ( impressionist ar museum, oiginally a train station ), St Joan of Arc statute ( in gold, I wander people don't actually try and steal it, its just by the street side?? ), Musee de Loueve.
We visited the Loueve, a large museum in Paris, holding more than 4000 art pieces in 19km of corridors. The highlights in the Loueve was the Mona Lisa, The Winged triumph, Venus de Milo and Napolean's Apartment. THis was just the tip of the iceberg, there is so much art and history in this building. You could spend a week in here and maybe, just maybe see all the art pieces here. The Loueve was originally a palace, but it was not grand enough, so King Louis built a newer, grander, bigger one in Versailles. GOt to see the spots in the Loueve made famous in The Da Vinci code. There is even a Da Vinci Code tour for die-hard fans!
The grand finale to the tour was a cabaret show, La Nouvelle Eve, meaning New Year's eve, serving a 4 course dinner and a lovely drop of Bordeoux wine. Stunning show with dancing, singing, mimes, acrobat, and trapeezee act. Busy taking photos of everyone as it was the last night. Back at the hotle for a nightcap and a chat to the lovely people we'd met on tour.
Another rainy day in Paris. It had been raining since we arrived here. THe locals say it is unusual for summer. Despite the rain we decided to visit Sacre Couer Basilica in Montmarte. Fairly easy to understand the rail system in Paris. Sacre Couer Basilican is a church set on a little hill in Montmarte. QUite a few steps to go up to it but gives a decent view of Paris. After that we wandered through the streets of MOntmarte, lots of souvenier shops and artists plying their trade. Some gorgeous paintings being sold in the market square.
With the weather clearing a bit more and the top of Eiffel Tower visible again, we went to join the massive queues to go up to the top. Spent two hours in the queue to get to middle point of the tower, and another half hour to get to the top of the tower at 1072 ft high. Brilliant view from the top, being able to pick out the famous landmark points in the city. Check out our pictures!
French McDonald's for brunch! Quite a nice treat. You get orange juice, tea/coffee, yoghurt with fruits, bacon and egg McMuffin, and 3 little French pastries. Keeps you going for a while! After filling our belly off to find a train to Versailles, to visit the Chateau, the famous palace that replaced the Loueve as the royal palace, built by King Louis 13th. Another show of the royal family's extravagance and waste of resources! Huge spread of a palace with paintings on the ceilings, elaborate carvings, marble columns, gold gilded furnishings, even a Hall of Mirrors ( mirrors were new and expensive during that time ). He had his rooms built in the centre of the palace, facing the rising sun, hence the nickname the Sun King. What was most interesting is that this palace has an extensive garden of 7800 hectres originally, but is now reduced to 780 hectres. Fully manicured gardens with mazes, a canal that holds up to 9 battle ships ( because King Louis wanted to re-enact naval battles in his backyard, just for fun! ),99 fountains, and Marie-Antoinette's personal gardens as well. Imagine the size and scope of just the gardens!
Las day in Paris, and we were more than ready to see the next country! Visited Hotel des Invalides, which is a war museum. MOst interesting was Napolean's tomb, which is housed in a chapel here. The tomb is set in the middle of the chapel, from the top you have to look down, just like bowing to him. From the crypt you have to look up at the tomb, putting him in a superior position. I bet Napolean liked that! :)
Slow stroll through the Tuilerries Gardens ( coz Jesse had developed a blister the size of Australia by now!!!), part of the LOueve which is open to the public. Beautiful statues, manicured lawns, family with kids playing in the park, lovely fountains, kids playing sailboats in the fountains and even lucky enough to catch the last few days of a fair in the Tuilerries Garden. Took a ferris wheel ride, which gave us a great view of Paris.
Good bye Paris, hello Vienna!!
Switzerland
After the hustle and bustle of Italy, the differences with Switzerland is even further highlighted. Switzerland, land of chocolates, cheese and Swiss army knives.
We spent most of the day on the bus, taking almost 10 hours to get from Rome to Switzerland. There was a fair bit of traffic as the Italians were all heading home after the end of summer holidays. Beautiful picture postcard perfect scenery along the way, so didn't mind the drive so much. We passed countless tunnels, roads built into the side of the mountains, a 17km long tunnel where the weather could be different from one side of the mountain to the other, hidden lakes in the valley, low hanging clouds in parts of the mountains, absolutely stunning! We stopped at Lake Lugano for a quick photo stop, then on to the town of Stans, just outside Lucern.
Quick drop off for luggage and then we were taken for a horse drawn carriage ride in the little town of Giswil. We had a pleasant ride through the country side, and later afternoon tea of Swiss delicacies prepared for us. It was so peaceful and pretty, fresh country air, nice change after the hectic pace.
Now Switzerland is interesting, if all the mountainous land was ironed out, it would be as big as France. It is well prepared for attacks. All males over 21 must undergo military training, and go for refreshed courses every year. Each one is issued with a gun and ammunition ( so don't go offending the Swiss guys!! Could be dangerous! :P ) Their airfields are camoflouged with grass growing over the, anti-aircraft guns are secreted in the mountains, some tunnels are apparently fully equipped to be bomb shelters. How's that for paranoia for a neutral country!!?? Swiss bank accounts are anonymous, no names, just account numbers, however does required a minimum of A$500,000 to open and account though!
Day two Switzerland.
It was a rather cool summer's day. We took the cable cars from the town of Klein up to the top of Mt PIlatus at 7000 ft. The first stage of cable cars seats 4 persons, going gently up the mountains. Two stops later we hit the halfway point, and switch to a larger cable car, holding up to 30 person. This one heads straight up the steep face of the mountain. Being a misty cloduy day, all I could see was cable lines disappearing into the misty nothingness. For someone who is afraid of heights... It started getting pretty cold by that time. The top of the mountain was 6C, and we were greeted by a white wall of mist. Definitely not a good day to be up here. Visibility was not more than 5m in front of you. Occasionally we could see glimpses of steep cliff faces. Had a walk through the caves supposedly housing the Mt Pilatus dragon, there were also walks along hte mountain sides, but with limited visibility and only half an hour at the top,, we stayed in the main courtyard. Trip down the mountain we could see more, going down in the world's steepest cogwheel train, built in the 1800's and still working till this day. The train chugged along at a maximum of 9km/hr, the steepest incline was 48 degress, but mainly at 33 degrees. This took us into the town of Alphanstad.
Lunch in Lucern, or Luzern as the local call it. We had a cultural show and lunch in Stadkeller, with traditional folk show of yodelling, broomstick banging, alphanhorn, accordion playing, flag throwing, cow bell ringing, and a really unique one was with a saw and woodstick, picking out the tune to Edelweiss. Jesse had a try of the alphanhorn, and managed to get out a tune.
All day it had been raining, fairly cold and gloomy. Happy hour cruise in the evening on Lake Lucern, a bit washed out but we still had fun. It would have been an even better view over the lake, but we still managed to get some photos.
In the evening we had some free time before dinner, so decided to wander around the town of Stans. Headed up the church square and up a little lane, could hear the cowbells ringing, beautiful view over the town and the mountains. green green grass wherever you looked, and fresh cool country air, laced with cow manure of course! :)
- YM
We spent most of the day on the bus, taking almost 10 hours to get from Rome to Switzerland. There was a fair bit of traffic as the Italians were all heading home after the end of summer holidays. Beautiful picture postcard perfect scenery along the way, so didn't mind the drive so much. We passed countless tunnels, roads built into the side of the mountains, a 17km long tunnel where the weather could be different from one side of the mountain to the other, hidden lakes in the valley, low hanging clouds in parts of the mountains, absolutely stunning! We stopped at Lake Lugano for a quick photo stop, then on to the town of Stans, just outside Lucern.
Quick drop off for luggage and then we were taken for a horse drawn carriage ride in the little town of Giswil. We had a pleasant ride through the country side, and later afternoon tea of Swiss delicacies prepared for us. It was so peaceful and pretty, fresh country air, nice change after the hectic pace.
Now Switzerland is interesting, if all the mountainous land was ironed out, it would be as big as France. It is well prepared for attacks. All males over 21 must undergo military training, and go for refreshed courses every year. Each one is issued with a gun and ammunition ( so don't go offending the Swiss guys!! Could be dangerous! :P ) Their airfields are camoflouged with grass growing over the, anti-aircraft guns are secreted in the mountains, some tunnels are apparently fully equipped to be bomb shelters. How's that for paranoia for a neutral country!!?? Swiss bank accounts are anonymous, no names, just account numbers, however does required a minimum of A$500,000 to open and account though!
Day two Switzerland.
It was a rather cool summer's day. We took the cable cars from the town of Klein up to the top of Mt PIlatus at 7000 ft. The first stage of cable cars seats 4 persons, going gently up the mountains. Two stops later we hit the halfway point, and switch to a larger cable car, holding up to 30 person. This one heads straight up the steep face of the mountain. Being a misty cloduy day, all I could see was cable lines disappearing into the misty nothingness. For someone who is afraid of heights... It started getting pretty cold by that time. The top of the mountain was 6C, and we were greeted by a white wall of mist. Definitely not a good day to be up here. Visibility was not more than 5m in front of you. Occasionally we could see glimpses of steep cliff faces. Had a walk through the caves supposedly housing the Mt Pilatus dragon, there were also walks along hte mountain sides, but with limited visibility and only half an hour at the top,, we stayed in the main courtyard. Trip down the mountain we could see more, going down in the world's steepest cogwheel train, built in the 1800's and still working till this day. The train chugged along at a maximum of 9km/hr, the steepest incline was 48 degress, but mainly at 33 degrees. This took us into the town of Alphanstad.
Lunch in Lucern, or Luzern as the local call it. We had a cultural show and lunch in Stadkeller, with traditional folk show of yodelling, broomstick banging, alphanhorn, accordion playing, flag throwing, cow bell ringing, and a really unique one was with a saw and woodstick, picking out the tune to Edelweiss. Jesse had a try of the alphanhorn, and managed to get out a tune.
All day it had been raining, fairly cold and gloomy. Happy hour cruise in the evening on Lake Lucern, a bit washed out but we still had fun. It would have been an even better view over the lake, but we still managed to get some photos.
In the evening we had some free time before dinner, so decided to wander around the town of Stans. Headed up the church square and up a little lane, could hear the cowbells ringing, beautiful view over the town and the mountains. green green grass wherever you looked, and fresh cool country air, laced with cow manure of course! :)
- YM
Quirky Italy
A few things of note in Italy which is interesting:
1. There are no toilet seats! Its true, there are normal toilets, but no seats on them. Not sure why, whether they could not afford to but the seats, or like the cold porcelein, they have a perfectly good toilet with no seats!
2. The cord - hotel bathrooms in Italy have a cord that seems to serve no particular purpose, and the inquisitive person would yank it to see what happens. DON'T!! We were thankfully warned by the tour guide that it is an emergency call if you pull the cord. So unless you would like hotel staff to come crashing in to your hotel room or bathroom wandering what the emergency is, whatever you do, do not pull that cord! Hmm.... kinda makes you wonder whats so dangerous in Italian hotels that they need an emergency cord.
3. Tiny little hotel toilets - you can literally go to the toilet, brush your teeth and shower at the same time. And if you drop your soap in the shower, you have to open the shower stall to bend down and pick it up, unless of course you can contort your body enough in that tiny little space!
4. Bathsheets - now this is a new one for me. They use bath sheets instead of towels. Now you could be mistaken that the hotel staff had had a bad day and put the sheets for the bed in the toilet instead, some of it were that large. But it is what they use instead of towels. Interesting...
- YM
1. There are no toilet seats! Its true, there are normal toilets, but no seats on them. Not sure why, whether they could not afford to but the seats, or like the cold porcelein, they have a perfectly good toilet with no seats!
2. The cord - hotel bathrooms in Italy have a cord that seems to serve no particular purpose, and the inquisitive person would yank it to see what happens. DON'T!! We were thankfully warned by the tour guide that it is an emergency call if you pull the cord. So unless you would like hotel staff to come crashing in to your hotel room or bathroom wandering what the emergency is, whatever you do, do not pull that cord! Hmm.... kinda makes you wonder whats so dangerous in Italian hotels that they need an emergency cord.
3. Tiny little hotel toilets - you can literally go to the toilet, brush your teeth and shower at the same time. And if you drop your soap in the shower, you have to open the shower stall to bend down and pick it up, unless of course you can contort your body enough in that tiny little space!
4. Bathsheets - now this is a new one for me. They use bath sheets instead of towels. Now you could be mistaken that the hotel staff had had a bad day and put the sheets for the bed in the toilet instead, some of it were that large. But it is what they use instead of towels. Interesting...
- YM
Florence
A pleasant 4 hour drive from Rome to Florence, or Firenze as the Italians call it. First off up to the top of the hill for a view of the whole of Firenze. Great lookout point, with a copy of the statue of Michaelangelo's David on top. Then we headed into the city to meet up with the loca tour guide for a tour of the city.
We start out at the Accademia Museum, where Michaelangelo's work is on display. Michaelangelo had quite a few unfinished pieces of work there, marble statues that were only partially finished. They've nicknamed them "prisoners". as they will never be "released" from the marble. Even unfinsihed, you could imagine the potential those sculptures had. And then we were shown the original statue of David, as in David and GOliath of the Bible.This stand as a symbol of justice for the Florentines in the town square, Piazza del Signoria. It stands in front of the old Medici Palace, now the town hall and mayor's office. The original is in Accademia Museum to protect it from the elements. The details on the statue is amazing, muscle tone, veins on the hands, tendons showing on the legs, absolutely stunning! And its all made out of one single piece of marble. It is also well balanced, the tree trunk on the bottom serves to help stabilise the whole statue.
Then we head out to see the Bell Tower and church. The church is made out of five different types of coloured marble. It is not painted at all. The dome is accessible by over 400 steps, with air vents in the dome for archetectural reasons. Next to the church is a Baptism building. The door is made out of 24ct gold, with eight panels, each depicting a story from the Bible. The original has since been removed and placed in a museum, with a replica in the Baptism building now for tourists to admire.
Florence is famous for its leather works and gold filigree. We visited Peruzzi leather factory, large store but bad service! Also look out for Chianti wine in the Florence region. It is very nice, but watch out for the rooster symbol for the genuine stuff.
- YM
We start out at the Accademia Museum, where Michaelangelo's work is on display. Michaelangelo had quite a few unfinished pieces of work there, marble statues that were only partially finished. They've nicknamed them "prisoners". as they will never be "released" from the marble. Even unfinsihed, you could imagine the potential those sculptures had. And then we were shown the original statue of David, as in David and GOliath of the Bible.This stand as a symbol of justice for the Florentines in the town square, Piazza del Signoria. It stands in front of the old Medici Palace, now the town hall and mayor's office. The original is in Accademia Museum to protect it from the elements. The details on the statue is amazing, muscle tone, veins on the hands, tendons showing on the legs, absolutely stunning! And its all made out of one single piece of marble. It is also well balanced, the tree trunk on the bottom serves to help stabilise the whole statue.
Then we head out to see the Bell Tower and church. The church is made out of five different types of coloured marble. It is not painted at all. The dome is accessible by over 400 steps, with air vents in the dome for archetectural reasons. Next to the church is a Baptism building. The door is made out of 24ct gold, with eight panels, each depicting a story from the Bible. The original has since been removed and placed in a museum, with a replica in the Baptism building now for tourists to admire.
Florence is famous for its leather works and gold filigree. We visited Peruzzi leather factory, large store but bad service! Also look out for Chianti wine in the Florence region. It is very nice, but watch out for the rooster symbol for the genuine stuff.
- YM
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