Day 19 - 29 (late update part I)

The Long Way Home.

Right. First of all sorry for the long awaited update. We are currently in Sechult, Vancouver, canada, and I am very kindly using Aunty Lois's computer, so we can do a nice little (or possibly long) update.
:)

Lets start back at...
Days 19 - 20. Salzburg.
After deciding that trying to stay in Munich was going to be right royally silly during the oktober fest, we stopped off in Salzburg. Nice wee place with lots of churches. And lots of churches means lots of bells. One memory that stands out was our first walk along the riverside that just happened to be at about midday when all the church bells started ringing, and it being a valley in some very impressive mountains, it sounded amazing!!!
We spent one day wandering about Salzburg finding all the Sound of Music sights that we could. No need to say that Paula had fun, and Alex (I am sure) was just laughing in his head...
On the Saturday (the 27th September) we went up the way a bit into Germany again and visited Berchtesgarten. What a cute little town. When we got off our bus and were waiting for another bus, there were some cow herder's bringing all their cows through the town, and the cows were all dressed up. Very interesting.
Anyways, further up the mountain, and then even further some more and we got to the elevator up to the infamous Eagles Nest. Which was built for Hitler, I think by Himler???
Very cool. But also very much up in the clouds :( Never mind. Kafe and Kuchen in the cafe and back on down through the mountains. I am sure they service the brakes on those buses VERY often!
Back in the town we had fun wandering about, and we even found the only war memorial that we came across for the german soldiers from Berchtesgarten.

Day 20 - Munich and on to Milan.
Since we had to catch a train from Munich to Milan, we decided that we really should go and check out what the Oktober fest is all about. So, onto a train to Munich, Backpacks into a luggage locker and a short stroll to the beer gardens. And, well. It was a right old carnival going on. Not really what we had expected at all. There were lots of families there, and many all dressed up in traditional Bavarian garb. Very cool.
We found a beer tent (after eating some wurst) and even got to sit at one of the reserved tables (one of the beer serving woman took pity on us :) and we had ourselves just a small (1L) beer. But the BEST thing was, :) seeing the oom pah pah band march right past us and onto the stage and play. Paula was a very happy gal!!!
Back onto the train though, and onto Milan, where we were meeting Mel and Tim after they had been to their Queen concert.

Day 21 - Milan.
Now, we were supposed to be looking after Mel and Tim's campervan for the next week, however, they had had a few issues and the campervan was undergoing some repairs in a mechanics in France, so we were going to be doing a Road trip about Italy with Mel and Tim instead (they had hired a French car for us all to use). So, we spent most of this day planning out what we were going to do. :) Then we had a short wander about the shops in Milan and back to base to dinner and sleep.

Day 22 - Big drive to Biassa (sp?)
Next day we were all up and about early and off we headed south towards Rome. We drove some very narrow windy and interesting roads, and eventually ended up in a very one horse town of Biassa. Although, there was a hostel there :) (for those interested it is near La Spezia and Cinque Terre).
I had booked us into a dorm room for the night and while Tim went off for a run (having driven the car all day) Mel, Alex and Paula went for a walk to the only restaurant/cafe that was in the town and had a nice coffee. We decided to head back there fro dinner and had one of the best meals we had on the whole trip. Really good pizza and calzone, really good company, and pretty good wine, and really nice little place. It was even funnier when, here we all were, in this little town, in a little restaurant with about 5 tables, and in walks two kiwi girls from Tauranga... small world!

Day 23 - Cinque Terre, Montecatini
The next day we drove on towards the Cinque Terre where we looked at the first of the five little towns. Great weather, sunny and warm and waaayyy to hot to be walking up and down big hills. ops. That is what we ended up doing. Really felt like a nice cold beer after that one!!!!
We drove on and found ourselves in a hotel in Montecatini that evening. This place seemed odd. Like all it really had was hotels. Mind you, I did find a place early the next morning that was were people went for 'mineral water drinking therapy' whatever that is.

Day 24 - 27 - Roma, the eternal city
Day 24 saw us getting to Rome. Where Paula had booked an apartment for 4 nights. Little did we all know that the apartment ended up being about 50 m down some steps from the Vatican! Very cool!!! Was great to have a little apartment and a KITCHEN that we coudl use. And we asll made good use of the fresh pasta and pizza we could cook. mmm.....
Anyways, I diverge.
On the Friday (the 3rd) Mel, Alex and Paula went for a trip to the Vatican city. The line outside was HUGE, but we were really only in it for a short time, as it moved very quickly!!!
Inside and looking about all the most amazing things. Too many to mention here. And not enough time to do justice to the art... sigh... could easily have spent longer in there, but I can understand the warnings people had given about getting museum tired!!! sigh.
After seeing the ceiling... you know the one... (hmm, bad memories of annoying american tourists saying 'is that it? it looks so small! are you sure that is the famous one?'... very bad memories...) we went to St Peters Basillica next door. Well, yes, very big and impressive and all that, and I really have not seen that many different nuns in one place, nor seen priests, nuns and monks all in the same place yakking to each other, but it really is a bit over the top. Very ornate. Very gilted. Very scary.
Nuf said.
Again, good dinner and good wine.
Unfortunately, Alex recieved the bad news that his Grandma had passed away back in NZ. Not so good. (lots of hugs)

The next day, Paula and Alex postponed their trip to Cassino, and instead spent a quiet day reflecting and wandering about the ruins of ancient rome, although, we were probably in the backround of several wedding videos that were beign filmed outside the colleseum. odd.

On the sunday, Paula and Alex headed off to Cassino, south of Rome. Nice short train ride and off we hopped. Heaps of shops seemed to be open, which was great. However, the information centre was not. Nor could we figure out how to get buses up the (very steep) 8km hill to teh Abbey. We did walk up about 1 km, but it was hot and sunny, and we decided that we could not do it. We did, however, find that there was a museum open that we coudl go to. So we did. It was VERY pricey, and was also personally guided, which was a bit different. We also ran into more kiwis (can't get away from them!), a mum and daughter (becca and Bev?), where the daughter had been living in London for teh past 2 years. Very nice people! Very odd tour. However, the nice kiwi ladies offered us a ride up and down the hill to the Abbey in thier hire car, which was loverly!!!! When in trouble, who will help you but some really nice kiwis!!!
After that, they even dropped us off at the commonwealth war graves were we had a good look abotu at sunset. Very moving.
Back to Roma and beddy byes.

Day 28 - Drive to Arona.
Looooooong drive all the way back up to Milan. Unfortunately, Mel was a little bit sick with a cold, but still in good spirits. We had a great last night dinner out at a restaurant on the lake front which was fantastic.

Day 29 - flying to Crete.

Day 16 - 18, Krakov to Vienna

(Sorry for the delay, I wrote this a LOOOOONG time ago, but have not had much free internet access... so, here you go...)


Well, the night train from Berlin to Krakow. What an experience! We were on the top bunks of a 6 bed cabin, and the first issue was getting the ladder up. We couldn't get it to sit properly, so had a wobbly ladder and a luggage store in the way of getting into bed. The next problem was the head room. Even me, Paula, couldn't sit up with out hitting my head on the top. :( we were also beaten to the room for the luggage by the 2 other backpackers on the bottom bunks. Sigh. Never mind.
There was also the issue that there was no where to get anything to eat or drink on the train. Just when you want a last cup o tea before beddy byes.
All good.
So... the night train to Krakow... long. Slow. Noisy. Smoking on the train! And I am sure the toilets flushed onto the tracks... interesting.
Right. So Krakow... HIGHLY recommend the hostel we stayed at. Not only has it been the cheapest we have had yet, but when we turned up at 9am in the morning, they offered us breakfast and coffee! The room was fantastic, we had a private room and we shared facilities (including a very nice kitchen) with 2 other double rooms, so it was kinda like flatting!
After we had our coffee and breakfast, we decided to go walkys. Unfortunately the weather was not very nice. We were trying to think when it had last rained on us... Ireland, maybe? Never mind. Walked through the old city sector of Krakow and found somewhere dry and warm to sit for another coffee (well, we had been on the train all night.... ) and learnt how to say thank you in Polish (have no idea how to spell it, but it sounds like Jen-kwee-air).

We headed back to the hostel and had a really nice hot shower :) felt so good!! No more smelly backpackers for us!! In the afternoon we headed to the Wawell (pronounced with v's) castle which was free to walk about the grounds. On the way we saw a lot of penguins, ops, I mean nun's. As there were 2 nunneries that were on our way. If L.A. Is the city of angels, then I say Krakow is the city of nun's. The castle grounde were lovely. If we had had more time and money, I think a look inside some of the buildigngs would be good. But you can't have everything.
We walked on to the Jewish Quarter, which had an amazingly different feel to it. The highlight of the walk was going into the old Jewish cemetary, which had been founded in 1551 (I think?). It managed to survive a lot of battles over time, but was badly damaged in WWII. They are in the process of preserving and repairing a lot of it, including the synagogue on site, but have made an impressive wailing wall out of the fragmented parts of headstones. Very cool.

Back at the hostel, they put on a supper! Traditional Polish soup, and all sorts of cold meats and bread and fruit and stuff. Honestly, the best hostel! You would not have to spend money on food when staying here. Breakfast is good, and you can make some sammies for lunch and take them with you. Then they put on supper. And they are friendly. And they help you find buses to Auschwitz, which is what we did the next day. :)
Onto the bus to Oswiecim (or its German name, Auschwitz) on Wednesday, as we decided to do the trip ourselves, not at 90 zl (about 30euro) each. The grounds and museums are free to enter at both Auschwitz and Birkenau. Although we did buy the tour guide book at 3zl (1euro) which was good, but not really needed at Auschwitz, as it had a lot of information in English. But it was quite crowded and the tour groups that we kept running into were HUGE. It is a little off putting when there are signs around saying please remain quiet and respect the site, but there are 5 groups of about 30 people listening to a tour guide who pushes you out of the way. Never mind.

We both found Auschwitz to be a little over run, but still haunting. However, Birkenau. (which we got to on the free shuttle bus...) That is another story. The train tracks. The unloading ramps right next to the train tracks, that you have read about, and seen in movies, are there. It is unsettling. To look about you and see fences and the remains of 'horse stables' as far as the eye can see. To see the remains of gas chambers and crematoria that the Nazi's tried to blow up as they were leaving. To see lakes and pits that were used to dispose of the ashes. To walk into buildings that are still standing and contain the bunks. It still feels sad.

Birkenau is such a massive site, on 171 hectares. We both wish that we had gone there first and then onto Auschwitz, as we didn't really explore Birkenau enough. Things to do in the future.
After that sobering experience, it was back to Krakow and onto the night train to Vienna.

Day 13 Luxembourg Day 14/15 Berlin

After a nice wee train ride From Brussels we wound up in Luxembourg.
From the train station we walked to our hotel through one of the dodgy areas we have
Found so far, never mind, Next day we are off over the bridges to the town centre were we
get our first taste of what Luxembourg is really different for, height.
I have tried to show that in some of my photos probably unsuccessfully..
If you're not in to heights you won't enjoy Luxembourg.
There are some pretty sites and some nice shopping. Palace is lovely. And we had great weather.
After that we went to the casemates, tunnels under that 13th and 14th century town walls dug buy the Spanish.
Which was interesting it was after this however that I came up with my second revelation about Luxembourg. Looks pretty, smells like wee.
After our tripping around we went to the train station with a couple of hours to kill we thought
we might find a few things to eat..
So off Alex walked to find a supermarket or handy dairy somewhere near the Train station.
And Alex walked and walked some more after an hour of finding nothing at all but bars, Restaurants and clubs. I gave up. Also it was dodgy.
Ok off to Berlin via Liege
We had to swap trains at Liege (Belgium) handy tip if you have an hour to kill there is a hotel called Hotel De Ville where you can get a nice coffee at midnight. An Old hotel that is probably been desperately hanging on till the introduction of the Eurail.
Then on our way on a, hot and way to small sleeper train to Berlin. Didn't get much sleep...
But on arrival in Berlin we got to go to our Hostel called Singer109 which was better
Than most of the hotels we have been staying at... It was an ex soviet block type of thing done up
Really nice.
Berlin was in the end a bit surly. We had troubles with grumpy tram drivers and security guards
As I was trying to get around the far to big Museum of Deutchesland The Security guards would sort of pare at you like your about to take off with there 17th century 6 foot square painting of some aristocrat who did nothing but get dressed up as a woman in a military uniform he didn't earn.
(Good on the artist for failing to cover his larger waistline by the way).
Very interesting the delicate wording on the two wars... and I learnt a bit more about the situation that lead to the Nazi rise.
Paula had a troubling experience with a security guard to in that he was trying to explain in German for her to sit properly in a seat. With Paula's lack of understanding he made a joke of this to some other people to laugh at... It was good display of Germans not having got over there bullying ways. Considering the German situation I would have expected a bit more humility.
On our last day in Berlin, we took an u-bahn train out to the ostbahnhof station and walked towards the river. Here there is the largest and most intact section of the Berlin Wall. Paula thought it was longer than her expectations. We went around a few bends, and I expected it to stop! Paula also thought that it was shorter and a lot less substantial than in her mind. After we returned to the hostel to pick up our bags and have a cheap burger, we were onto the night train to Krakow.
Anyway I have come to the conclusion that Berlin is a big dirty city that probably isn't the real Germany. As London isn't England.
... And is just a bit surly...

LX. (and P.)

Day 11 18/09/08 (and day 12) + Pics

sitting in Brussels
So, here we are, sitting in Brussels Grand Place, drinking coffee and eating belgian waffles. It is such a hard life.

We arrived here on the Eurostar last night, and although it took longer to get through the tunnel because of the fire, we managed to get on an earlier train, all good.
We found our way to our accommodation for the night, and were given one of the friendliest welcomes I have experienced so far. We were shown to our room (the 'best room in the house') and it was up three very tight windy flights of stairs. Really fun with full back packs on... not.
Anyways, up today and exploring the city. Found a funky little tourist place that gave us a good map and hints. So, we are here in the Grand Place, that is fairly spectacular and immpressive.

Yesterday, we woke up in St Albans, north of London, and after battling traffic and silly buses, finally managed to get the car back to Stansted and onto a bus into the city. Got to meet the little man Merlin and his mum and dad, and grandma and granddad and aunty jenny. Was very cool!!!! although, the kiwis certainly looked a bit jet lagged. Including Merl. He was all a wee bit dazed, but I still got to have a cuddle and a talk. Uncle Alex even got him to giggle!

The day before (16/09) we woke up in Motcombe. I enjoyed my stay when I went there for Rosie and Joe's wedding, that I thought Alex might appreciate it. Love that bnb! Any place that serves you eggs from their own chickens has got to be good!!!
We drove into Shaftesbury after breakfast and had a wee explore of the Abbey ruins there, as I never managed to do that when I was there for the wedding. Very cool!!! although, we could have done with more time there!
Onto Stonehenge after that. And I was impressed. And I think Alex's comment was that he enjoyed it more than he thought he would. Would recommend any one going there to spend the whole day in the area. There are plenty of walks you could do and exploring them all would have been fun. Never mind.

The day before (15/09) we visited the Eden Project. Unfortunately, the weather was not the best, and time was of the essence (again). I had a great time. Some very cool things there, and to think that it all used to be a mining pit! Interesting!
Right, I think we are off to explore. Maybe eat some chocolate? Drink some beer? Paula eat some moules??? mmm..... it certainly is a hard life.
Post script; 19/09 (Day 12)
Here we are sitting on a train from a day in Ypres (or wipers, or Ieper, depending on who you are and where you are).
We have started our train ticket with a short trip to look at some WW1 battle fields, which was cool. Although, we had to be cut a wee bit short due to our train timetable.. never mind. Would love to go back one day and have a real good look about there. I reckon hiring a bike and cycling about for a few days would do me. We did get to see several interesting sites though, including the NZ messines memorial. :)

So... what else have we discovered about Belgium? Hmm, some tasty beer. Kwak is one I would recommend. Also some pretty good chocolate. Mmm.... any excuse... Some good value sandwich places. Good for lunch. Umm.... I have found that most people we have asked for help or have served us have been very helpful and friendly. Gotta love that after being in London for a year!
Right.
Off on the train tonight to Luxembourg. Will add an itinery soon, hopefully.
I also hope that the wedding goes well for Matthew and Fiona this weekend. Thinking of you both! Hope it is an excellent day!!!! Love heaps!
P and LX.

The tour so far (14/09) – Day 7

So, here we are sitting in Port Issacs in Cornwall having a beer and waiting for our f n c's! Mmm, its hard being on holiday!
Well, this time last week, we were sitting in an empty flat waiting to depart at a far too early time.
So, the first point of call was Cork, at 8am in the morning on a Monday. First impressions were good, and they did improve. :) We caught a bus into town that stopped outside our hostel and we managed to off load our packs there. We then went on a walking tour of the city, with another random kiwi couple (who had been living in Cork since January). Small world! Learnt more than we ever needed to know about Cork from our guide, who was defineitely enthusiastic! Def had to concentrate to interpret the accent though!!!

We went to Cobh (pronounced 'cove') the next day. Which was fascinating. Tried to do some family research for Dad there as the Wightman's set sail (along with about 3 other million Irish people) from there. However, we didn't manage to find much. Heaps of info on convicts to Aus, but the poor kiwi Irish are under represented.

Wednesday saw us go the cheap way to Blarney Castle. That is, on the local transport bus and paying the fee in, which is half the price of a tour bus!!!! And it was very easy to do. However, this was where Alex termed the phrase 'Direland'. This was due to the immensely crap weather. It rained. Then it rained some more. Then our umbrellas and jackets starting leaking. And still it rained. But being the stingy kiwis we are, we battled on. No way I was wasting that money! And the castle was all the more authentic for the cold dampness. Really.
Back to London that night and staying in the Hilton (a splurge!). It was bad. As Alex says, just like the family. All show and no substance. Look hard and it was appauling. Less said the better.
Thursday saw us back to Stansted and trying to hire a car. WE ended up with a Seat Leon. Apparently it is just like a VUW golf. Alex reckons its more like a Fiat. All good.
Drove west towards Bath. Stayed in a LOVERLY little village of Corsham, where we had the bestest cheapest pizza ever, and a nice coffee. Also the amazing miracle of a post office with attendants at every window, and NO QUEUE!!!!!!! I was shocked to say the least!
Drove into Bath, which was easy. Parked up and walked about. Spent hours at the Roman Baths, amazing!!!!

Then we had a Sally Lunn bun for afternoon tea. Loverly.

Then it went pear shaped. We tried to get out of Bath. Appaarently, it is not all that easy. So, an hour later... we were on the road to Wales. Stayed in Mumbles, at a place with Harbour views. I liked Mumbles. The weather was great, Alex named it Warm Wales. We went to Oystermouth castle to have our collection of castles. It was well worth the £1 entry fee. Nothing like ruins to stumble over!

(the view from our window!!!)(the tide was out, but it was sunny and warm)
(our car on the beach at Weston-Supermare, a detour)

After that we decided to head back to England. Onto Exeter where we finally found somewhere to stay on a Saturday. Ended up being rather nice, with a bathroom bigger than some rooms I have stayed in! Sunday morning we headed about the city walking along the old Roman city wall, most of which is still intact. Again, the weather was FANTASTIC! Sunny and warm and loverly.
Finally, we headed out of the city and onto here, Port Isaac. Where you really do not want to drive a car about. The roads are TINY. I think I almost had a heart attack. And those like us (annoying tourists) meander along the road forgetting that they are actually for cars. Sigh.
Never mind.
We have a great BnB thanks to Alex. Amazing views, and breakfast bought to our room. Little seats in the window to watch the sea and the people walk by. I love it.
Well, thats all for now. Not sure when we will be able to post this, wireless internet is a little hard to come by in this little village.
See you all.
P and LX.

Catching up.

Hi all!

Well, we have been slack on the blog front, haven't we? sorry. But no' so slack on the fun stuff!

I think I will start now and work backwards.

I (Paula) have just waved goodbye to our boxes that are being shipped back to NZ. I hope they get there! While Alex has been working this week, listening to worried teachers who are just back at school, I have been organising and binning (yes, Mum, I have thrown out CLOTHES and SHOES!!!) stuff to try and get it all down to a manageable amount.

Where as last week... well... Alex and I took off on Friday the 22 August to Edinburgh. Very exciting! We met up with Mel and Tim who were there in their campervan and explored some of Edinburgh. We also had a nice beer with Richard at a book fair???? (odd) but was good to catch up!!!!

On the Saturday night Alex and I went to the grand finale of the military tattoo. Which was amazing. Absolutely amazing! All of it. Although, I do have to say that the Norwegian Kings Guard were astounding. The drill was so polished and the band was fantabulous! sigh.

Anyways, on the Sunday, Alex, Mel and myself decided to fork out the money and visit Edinburgh Castle. The queue to get in sucked, but we were amazed at how all the people disapeared when we got inside! odd. We managed to get onto one of the free tours going, and then wandered about ourselves. very fun.

We then drove our way to Dundee and got in very late at night. ops. never mind.

Monday we decided that there was more we wanted to do back in Edinburgh, so we drove back and went to Holyrood Palace. Very nice. I loved the abbey ruins that were there. and walkign through the garden!!! We then walked a wee way up the royal mile and had a cup o tea.

We headed to Perth for dinner, and decided that if we were ever going to go again, we would stay in Perth, not Dundee. Less said the better. Perth also had a Hay street that we found by accident. And on Hay street, was the Black Watch museum. Better yet, there was no entrance fee to the museum, so we donated some money and had a good look abouts. I really liked the band figurines. (If I was a little kid, I would say I want one... hehehe.)

Tuesday was Alex's birthday, and we started with heading back to Perth to look at the Blackwatch museum and then to Scone Palace. We did get diverted and ended up talking politics with a guy in a Drum shop in Perth. Never mind. :)

Scone Palace was lovely. Wish we had more time, but it was very cool none the less.

We decided to drive north towards Cruden Bay after that, where I had booked us into a hotel for the night. Apparently (if you believe the story) it was the hotel where Bram Stoker stayed and got inspiration for the castle in Dracula. Slains Castle (or, actually, New Slains) was the castle for the Earl of Erroll, a 'Hay'. So, the 'family' castle for Alex. Although it is now in ruins as the roof was removed in the 1930's (I hope I have got all that correct!!!!) and it is securely fenced off. However, when we went exploring the next day, we found the gate to be swinging open. So... in we go... :) was fun!!! although some of that castle is very precariously perched on the cliff face!!!

I'll finish with my favourite shot for now. Which is the Red phone box in the middle of nowhere. very cool!!!!!

Will finish up later. I promise!!!

Love to all!!

P.