Rome, Venice, Vienna and Bamberg

We have been to so many places since that last post! We left Switzerland and headed for Rome where we saw everything that you can think of when you think of Rome...well it felt like it anyway, my feet got very sore! We went to the Colosseum of course and marveled at how colossal is was and frankly were sickened by the very informative but graphic descriptions of the games that were supplied on information boards doted about the place. We also went and saw the Sistine Chapel which despite the crowds was every bit as good as you would think it is and as an added bonus we saw the Raphael fresco's in the Papal apartments. We also enjoyed some Italian coffee, which you can drink at the bar standing up...for half the price!


me in front of the Colosseum...obviously

Then we caught the train to Venice, which looked just like all of the pictures you have ever seen. There were a million winding streets and bridges...and tourists. In fact the place seemed entirely populated with tourists. Our overall impression was that it was a nice place to look at but not much else and sometimes the crowds made it a bit hard to enjoy that. Luckily we spent two days exploring the 'back streets' were you would only occasionally see an elderly tourist trying to find their way back to the cruise ship.

After two days in Venice we where on the train again and on our way to Vienna, where we rented an apartment for a week. The highlight of Vienna was the Figlmueller restaurant, where we ate Wiener Schnitzels that were literally bigger than the plate! They were very thin, but still very big...Louis had to help with mine a bit. We also went and had a look at the Hundertwasser apartment buildings and we even went and used the Modern Art Toilets, which are a part of the same complex. They also featured the same mosaic tiles and funny curvy walls, it was neat!

Now we are in Bamberg Germany, which is a town near Munich. It was one of the few places in Germany that weren't bombed during the war so it still has all of its original town center with the old buildings, its very picturesque. Today we went for a walk along the river that runs through it and made our way out of town in to the country. It was remarkably like the pictures you get as desktop backgrounds for windows. Plus the leaves are turning now that its Autumn and whilst we were walking we came to an avenue of trees where lots of small leave were falling like rain from the trees. Apart from the amazing landscape we have been enjoying the German beer. Actually that's an understatement...it's awesome. We had something called Rauchbier, which is a smoked beer...its like drinking ham! We are going to go and have some more tonight at a special 'tapping' event at the pub that brews it...should be good!

Anyway next stop is Berlin...more from there...or the next place...maybe.

Don't Touch My Stuff!

Unlike Lionel Hutz we aren't cowering in the corner, we are just slightly discomfited by the presence of other sleeping people whilst trying to sleep ourselves...plus the very loud Night Club they have downstairs is a bit off putting too.

We are in Switzerland by the way and the majestic scenery definitely makes up for what the accommodation lacks, but I'm over exaggerating...its well kept and everyone is very friendly. The Place is also swarming with Australians!

Anyway the scenery...snow capped mountains, verdant forests, its pretty good. This is one of the views we enjoyed on a train trip and cable car ride to a place called Murren today.



We even drank water from a mountain stream, filling our empty Evian Water bottle from the same place it was originally filled...kind of.

Tomorrow we are off to Rome, more from there...again if I feel like it...I still haven't managed to make Louis do it!

From Punting to Paris

So from punting on the Thames to Paris...the next day after a veeeery long bus ride. Well that was a few days ago...on the 3Oth of August. We went punting in the morning after checking out of our student accommodation at Magdalen College. Here is a picture of Louis mastering the art:

I did it much less artfully...I ran us in to the bank
Now we are in Paris and we have seen many amazing things, yesterday we went the the Medieval Museum and the one of the modern art museums, which were amazing...but today we went to the Louvre. The walls were festooned with famous and very old paintings! After a while we were wondering if it would ever end! But it did because we left without seeing it all...I'm not sure you could actually see all of it even in a week anyway. So to squeeze the last out of our museum passes we went to another museum, this time to see some very famous works of art, including Gauguin, Picasso, Cezanne, Derian, Renoir, Rousseau and culminating in a stagering display of Monet's 'Water Lillies'. After all that...like other days...we are very tired and we cant be bothered doing much more than half arsedly updating this blog and laughing at Star Gate dubbed in to french...we even watched the Simpsons in french before, weird! Anyway stay tuned for more...when I feel like it!

Also

Check the map out too, its a bit boring at the moment but I will be putting photos on that too...maybe (also I made that public too just in case anyone was having trouble)

More things happened

Well lots more things happened, but I'm about as good as updating a blog as I am keeping a diary (I bought a pretty new moleskin to document the holiday but I haven't touched it). Anyway after London we went to Salisbury, which was the quaintest town I have ever seen. It was like London Court...except real (and better). Salisbury was pretty good (if a little Albanyish in vibe) but because of my hotel booking skills I ended up booking us in to a YHA 45 minutes outside it. It was a very pretty ride through the countryside and the hostel itself was very pleasant....but there was also a quaint little walk to the bus stop that took 25 minutes and the quiant 7 dollar ticket for a one way journey. But it didn't detract from the experience...we had lots of fun on the tour...here is Louis having fun on the tour:



Now we are in Oxford and tomorrow we will be punting on the Thames and having a picnic... in the evening off to London to catch our bus to Paris! So stay tuned for the next update from there!

Lots of things happened!

Well lots of things have happened...but because of limited internet access (apparently 'included' means its included in the room...but you have to pay extra for it?) plus as soon as we get back to the room we basically pass out!

On the first day we walked through Hyde Park (pretty!) on the way to Buckingham palace (just a brief look...it was alright) then on to Harrods, which was silly but very ornate. Then the highlight of the day the Victoria and Albert museum, which was just unbelievable...it was like a million Perth museums in one. We could get close to tomb covers from 300 AD our eyes were ready to pop! It was so interesting in fact that we stayed for 5 hours! and that was not even close to the time we needed...we will be going back for sure!

Yesterday we wandered around and completely by chance came across an exhibition in which the REAL paintings by Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Kandinsky, Seurat and million more...it was amazing, we looked at it with out eyes! Here is me in front of a Manet!

Preparations

Hello everyone! I have made this blog so you can all keep up with our trip and see where we are on the map (I inserted the url from my private map on google so let me know if its not working for you).

I started it so early because I got all excited about going and also so I could test to see if you guys could easily access this blog. I sent you all invites and you will get an email every time we update. I'm not exactly sure how to view it though. I tested it with Louis and it prompted him to enter a google account sign in. Most of you have these but for those of you who don't I think you can access it as a guest...but that was only from a link in the invite email. Anyway tell me if you have any problems.

Louis & Ruth (well just Ruth right now)