Thursday, October 18, 2007

What´s happened since Contiki

Well here we are in barcelona again.... but i´m geting ahead of myself....

If you hadn´t guessed we haven´t had time to keep uptodate with this thing, so we thought we´d just put up a quick post about where we are at now.

Contiki finished about 2 weeks ago, we´ve had our extra week in Germany, and our extra week in Spain is about to end. Tomorrow we start our flights to Egypt. First we go barcalona to london, then its out to Cario, can´t wait.

Contiki finished, it was a shame to see the of contiki in some ways, but it was also good to get out on our own again. Had some great times and meet some awesome people. Some of the highlights where the swiss alps, with there amazing natural beauty, Vienna, the city as beautiful as (i think more than) Paris, and absoluty spotless as well (even the horse´s pulling tourist carrages have little poo catchers) and full of really nice people, Munich and the Octoberfest, great beers, great food, and then an awesome Roller coaster ride ;), Debrovnic, Prage, and Corfu where all awesome as well, Troy, the legend that tuned out to be more than a legand, and they still don´t know exactly what went on there, and Galipoli was an amazing place to see with your own eyes, its easy to see why it went so wrong and when you look at the surronding area you have to think ¨Why didn´t they just land 1Km further down where the flat land is¨

Then it was out on our own again. We got our flight out to Salzburg, got a train up to Berchtesgaden, and jump on a tour upto Hitlers Eagles nest or Kehlsteinhaus as the locals call it. Unfortionatly the weather wasn´t the best so we had no view of the mountains from up there, but its an amazing place, not just the Kehlsteinhaus but the entire area, theirs bunkers to be seen as well as a cool museum full of stuff about the area during the Nazi era. We also had a local Austrain/German meal while we where there, Porknuckle with dumblings and sour kraut, washed down with a stein (1 Litre of course) of beer (Megan had a Raddler which is like a shandy), all for bout 35 Euro for both of us.

After Salzburg it was onto a train to Berlin. One thing about the trains is they are really easy to get on and off, and they always drop you off at a major underground termainl, and the under grounds are easy as to use too....

Berlin was amazing, had abit of a problem, the hostel we origanlly booked ¨had a gas leek¨ so we coldn´t stay there (i think the gay owner was just afraid of having a Hetro married couple staying there) so we ended up booking into a place called ¨3 little pigs¨at the last moment and with out doing alot of research, The place turned out to be awesome, realy helpful staff, clean, tidy, in the middle of town and had German contantal breakfasts (breads, cheese, salami, ham, cerial, salami, coffee... did i mention the SALAMI´S?) for 4.50. he hostel was about 500m as the crow flys to ¨check-point charly¨. While in Berlin we did a walking tour of ¨Red Berlin¨which covered what went on in berlin post WWII, and tended to concertrate more on East than west, and we went on a tour of sachsenhausen concertration camp. Both where very interseting. The red berlin tour was very informative, and the tour guide was great. At the end of the tour he summed up by pointing out that as bad as its made out that red berlin was, since the wall came down, unemplyoment and crime have risen, and the only people that can say for sure which was better was the people that lived through it and are living in the fall out today.

After Germany it was onto Spain, and our Easyjet experience. Not only did we have to wait at every single point from checkin to boarding for between 30min to 2 hours, but the plane landed about an hour late and you where stuffed in so tight it made a herc look like luxury. For what it would have cost extra to fly british airways or one of the other local operators it´s well worth it for the sake of comfort, but we got there in the end.

In madrid it was a new underground to learn, and a new hostel to find, again it was in the middle of town which was great, it was clean and tidy, the staff where helpful when we where able to get past the laungage thing, and we had our own bathroom, but the place had no sound proofing at all, which is a problem when your on one of the main streets of Madrid. But we got over it. Madrid isn´t as nice as Berlin, and after the organised effiency of Germany, Spain time and spain things took abit of getting used to.

We took a tour out to Toledo, and the valley of the fallen, which was awesome, and toured the city of madrid on foot as well, and after Berlin, it was very disappointing. There was a Military parade while we where there, which was cool to watch. Then it was off to the train station for another ride, this time to Granada. At the train station we decided to ring ahead and let the Hotel know we where going to be late getting in, only to find out that the travel agent had booked us in for the wrong day, and the hotel was full... the manager said to give him a call once we got there and he would see what he could sort out for us. Luck was on our side and he had a late no show, so we where able to get a room. Which was lucky cause when we arrived so did an electrical storm and it was pissing down by the time we got to the hotel.

Didn´t get much sleep that night, seems to be the way it is at the moment, got up relatively early and got onto the hop on hop off bus, toured around the city, past the Ahlumbra Palace, Megan wanted to sort out the train tickets and we thought we would come back to the Palace. We got to the train station and very easily got upgraded to first class, so I don´t know why the NZ company couldn´t do that for us. We got lunch and then got back on the bus and went up to the Palace. Unfortunately for us when we got there, the tickets into the Palace were sold out. This was a bit disappointing as it was the whole reason for going to Granada. But we walked around the gardens, into one of the empty palaces, a bath house and looked at the palace from the outside. These things happen. I´ll just have to ask John to so me the pictures he took.

That night it was onto the overnight train and up to Barcelona. Thank goodness we did have a sleeper cos it was a long trip. And we ended up being an hour late. We did have a very nice dinner, it felt very posh eating dinner in the dining carriage, while cattle class were all sitting in their seats.

Barcelona became a time to relax and wind down a bit. We´ve been here before and our hostel is location in an area we have previously been too, so there was some comfort in this. The hostel let us check in early, which was great. We later headed out to Sangrada Familia, the unfinished Spanish church that had Gaudi as the architect, I believe a kiwi is currently the architect. It still unfinished, and I think its somewhere around 2040. Row and I had differing opinions on the church, he didn´t like it and I did. I believed I was standing in the middle of history being built, which I´m sure he did as well, but it was definitely different inside. I hope they finish it in my lifetime as I would like to come back and see it finished. Second day in Barcelona we went out to Montserrat on another tour. This one wasn´t so good, it was just basically an expensive bus ride out to the Church and Monastery. The guide was crap, but at least the views were pretty awesome. Still good to get out of the city. We mucked about for the rest of the afternoon.

Tomorrow we get on a plane back to London and then onto Egypt, this is the part I´m really looking forward too. Hope everyone is well, sorry the updates haven´t really been as often as they could be... wait till you see the photos and here the stories... you´ll laugh...

Hugs & kisses and lots of love Rowan and Megan xxxx

Swiss alps

Woke up today in the swiss alps... clouded over and raining :(

The plan was to take a train up to the mopuntain, but last night renna told us that the ski place was closed as its the end of the session, so that along with the weather made us decide to can heading up, and to check out th local area instead. Ian went and talked to reception and found out about a cable car and nature walk you can do, and a cool water fall that has cut its way into the rock, so we got tickets and headed off.

we headed through town and stopped at a phone booth, megan rung Barb and talked to her and Rob for a while, then jumped onto the cable car and headed up the hill for a walk. The veiws from the cable car where amazing, we where in a glacial vally, the vertical sides, maybe 1.5Km wide.... and all snow topped. We didn't go upto the snow line at all, but there was abit of snow in the lee of trees and stuff that hadn't defrosted since the last snow....

we walked for about an hour, just going slowly taking in the sights and taking pictures along the way, stopped at a little hill side town for lunch, there was a statue there for the guy that invented Slalom racing... and hotel after hotel after hotel. By this time the weather had cleared up so we decided to take a cog train up abit higher to see the veiw... this thing is basically a train, but instead of driving wheels it get pulled up by a cable... and it goes almost vertically. we climbed about 4000m in this thing, jumped out, had a look at the veiw and got more pictures then headed back down, caught up with Ian and Simon who had come with us, then started the treck back down. There where two different cable cars going up so we where able to take a different route down. the second cable car was like the other, but instead of following the hillside down, it went stright over a shear cliff, probably 900m high, quite breath taking when you head over the edge and the ground disappears below you.

once down the bottom, we caught a bus to the water-fall that has cut its way into the rock. the swiss have dug tunnels into the rock along side it so you can get a good view, which is great, because in places the water fall is about 10 meters inside the rock face. saying water fall is abit missleading, its actually about 10 of them, draingin the water from 3 different glacers.... its an amazing sight even at this time of year, it must be out of this wold during the spring thaw...

after more awsome views and photos, we headed down, jumped on a bus and headed back to camp. There where two birthdays on tour today, so we had a party, and the theme was "garbage bags". You could wear what ever you wanted, so long as it was made from garbage bags... Megan did an awsome job of putting together our outfits, i went Fred Flintstone, and Megan went as Whilma, The our outfits rocked :) there where some preaty cool others there too.

and that was about it for the day

hope all is well

R&M

Monday, October 1, 2007

Day 10´- Venice Italy

Today we were taking the boat into Venice. It was a private charter, and then public transport back to the camp site.

The boat ride was great, the water smells pretty bad, but the view. I did expect the city to be built with taller buildings, although in a way it was a nice change. First stop was San Marco Square, which has a bell tower, palace and basilica. Apparently the basilica has very uneven floors, would have been interesting to see. After taking some photos and looking at the bridge of sighs (the saying goes that prisoners would walk along the bridge after being sentenced and sigh after looking at Venice for the last time), we walked around to the square with all the pigeons, there were hundreds of them. We brought some food and fed them, we have photos on them on my arms.

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Not enough time to finish this so I´ll finish it next time
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Day 9 - Venice Italy

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Oh my gosh its been so long since I´ve posted anything, finally getting the chance to catch up a bit in Heidelburg Germany. Hope everyone is doing well. Luv Row and Megs
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Another travel daz, we´re starting to get use to these. This time we´re leaving France and going to Italy. Venice here we come via Verona (home of Romeo and Juliet) Packing up was slow we were trying to get away early, but it wasn´t working. Chris our driver was leaving us for a couple of days off. So he wanted to get there early, as it was we only just got away on time.

On the road again.... first stop after the Italian border for pizza, and it was good. The only problem with this leg of the journey NO BOOK!!! I had finished it and now I had nothing to read. All the book stores had things in their own language not English, well to be honest I didnät look verz hard for an english book, so I slept instead.

After the services stop, I got the diary out and started catching up. The last time it was written in only finished the 2nd day in Paris. I had a lot to catch up on, and it was one of those things I didn´t want to start cos there was so much to catch up on.

The next stop was in Veron, the home of Romeo and Juliet, this meant I had three hours of writingand I made the most of it. 4 dazs written up, but the 4th not quite complete. Well that was bz the end of the daz. In Verona we walked past the old Arena, which use to be four stories, but now it is onlz two. Thez still have plays in there which is quite cool. Then it was a short walk to Juliet´s balcony and her statue. Row had a photo with his hand on her left boob, it´s suppose to be good luck... seems there are a lot of things like that around the world. Funny thing is that her boob is worn down so she hardly has any left.

Then we had a walk around the markets (on our own), got some nice fruit, a post card and wondered back to where we met everyone. Interesting point about the balcony, it was actually built in the 19th century, so it can´t be her original one. Although it would be interesting to know whether the story is true or not.

Back on the bus agian, bound for Venice. Got there wuite early, unpacked and set up camp and then went for the bar, well after dinner. Jellz our cook wasn´t feeling very well, she finally got the bug that was going around.

The bar went off that night, everyone was drinking attitude adjustors (crap loads of alcohol in them) I didn´t have one, as I didn´t want to get smashed, but I did have a few beers so I was still tipsy by the end of the night. Off to bed about midnight, tomorrow we´ll be in Venice.