Prague - yes it's as good as everyone says it is.

We both loved Prague! It was as good as everyone says it is.

Originally our plan was to spend two nights in Venice and two nights in Prague but at some point on our travels, after we'd heard for the hundredth time how good Prague is, we decided to shorten our Venice trip to one night and increase our Prague trip to three nights.

We arrived in the early afternoon and explored the local area. We also finally got some washing done!

Second day we went to see the opera house, Charles bridge and astronomical clock (which is pretty amazing - it was built in 1410 and it's still running today!). Then we went to Prague castle (I'll talk about in a separate post).

Astronomical Clock

Third day we wondered around the old Jewish area, went to Wenceslas Square and saw a statue of St Wenceslas. We also decided to go see a classical concert because there were heaps on offer and we thought it would be something memorable to do. We decided to go to a concert at the Opera house, even though it cost more than the other concerts, because we thought that would be the best place to go to experience a classical concert. When we turned up though we were disappointed to find that it wasn't held in the main concert hall but instead in a back room (which was nice, but much smaller than we were expecting). I assume they don't use the main hall because it is Winter time. But the concert was very good nonetheless. And not something we would normally do back in Melbourne. So we were happy.

Then it was time to pack yet again.. and set off on the next day for Berlin and the hospitality of Jack and Polina.

Florence - Ponte Vecchio in background.

Finally having a gelati in Italy!

In Rome - Trevi fountain in background.

Dali museum.

If you happen to be in Montmartre we recommend the Dali museum (called Espace Dali). Here's a sculpture which represents God creating man and life on Earth:

Amelie Cafe.

For those of you who liked the movie, here's some pics of the cafe which featured in the Amelie movie:

What does one do with coins?

A big thing in Europe seems to be to throw coins in water - fountains, wells, puddles on the ground, etc. I'm sure I've seen this in Australia too, but not to the same extent as in Europe. I've also noticed people throwing coins over their left shoulder with their right hand. And I have even seen a hole (without any water) with coins at the bottom of it?!?

I'm pretty sure this is supposed to generate some sort of luck for the coin throwers. But does anyone know what sort of luck? And how this tradition all started?!?!

(P.S. For those of you living in Europe now, I was thinking that if you put a bucket of water outside your residence it might be a way of generating some extra money. If it works let me know. And you'll need to send me a percentage of your earnings since it was my idea! ;)

Something you don't see in Australia (2)

In Berlin, and I also saw it in Rome, they are building a new U-Bahn - aka Metro, aka Tube - line. That is they are building an entirely new tunnel under the city plus digging out underground stations too. In Australia you would be shot for such behaviour.

The Liberals had ads which pointed out at the last election that Labour wasted money by building high-speed train links to regional Victoria! This was intended to be shown as an obviously ridiculous thing to do!

Even the now-promised "new" South Morang line is on a line and station that already exists (was closed in the 50s according to Wikipedia), and just needs to be renovated, modern signalling added and electrified. And basically they won't even do that.

*sigh*

Something you don't see in Australia (1)

Walking over to the bakery near Jack's place in Berlin, and suddenly I almost fell flat on my face. I look back to what I slipped on, and all I can see is a little puddle (like when its almost gone - its just damp, no reflection etc,...). Thinks to myself "that puddle must have been a bit slimey, because it was damn slippery.

The more perceptive of you (and more perceptive than me) will have worked out that the puddle wasn't slimey, it was Ice. On the street, in an otherwise civilised city. And no sign of anyone having spilled a drink or dropped an ice-bag.

This is just an abomination against the natural order of things (in Australia).

(side-note: the fact that the maximum temperature forcast for today was 0 didn't even register with me)

A day at the beach.

Den Haag (The Netherlands)

Look what Greg did!!!

Oops. (Ancient City in Rome - thoroughly recommended but now ruined ;)

House of Music - highly recommended.

We'd read that the House of Music (Haus der Musik) was a fantastic place to visit, so we decided to give it a go. And we ended up spending 3 hours in there!! Though I suggest if you have a free day in Vienna then allow a whole day for the House of Music, because there was heaps more to see and do but we didn't have time!! It had a lot of history of musicians and music, which was really interesting after being immersed in religion for the previous few weeks. But it also had a lot of interactive activities, which were really fun! We conducted the Vienna Philharmonic from a virtual conductor’s podium (and i don't think we were very good at it because the orchestra shouted at us in German! They were probably saying "You suck - keep your day job!"). We composed our own Waltz, with the use of dice. And composed other music while we were there (using bodily sounds and other noises. We think it'll be a hit!). We also learnt heaps about music! All in a fun, interactive way! I wish that we had a spare day to go back and complete the museum.

The only weird.. but also very good.. thing was that it was almost completely empty. It is a massive place and we only saw people very occasionally. This meant we could spend as long as we wanted on the interactive stuff. And at times i felt like we were the only two people left on earth, as we wondered from room to room to room not seeing a single sole. It's probably because it's Winter time, but also because it is open every day from 10am to 10pm.

I also recommend looking at their website, which has a lot of fun, interactive features. (Go to the interactive bit.)

The only thing I want to know is.. why don't we have a place like that??? From an educators point of view it was so clever and engaging and would be a fantastic place to take kids! And for adults it's just as interesting and engaging and fun. I want one in Melbourne!

Vienna - music, palaces, churches but no laundries!

We spent a day in Vienna and made it to all the main sights. We started by walking around The Ring (which is the main road that circles around the city of Vienna - passing through some of the main sights). While in Holland we had heard a lot about Sissi (Empress Elisabeth who is still celebrated in Austria), but knew nothing about her so we decided to go to the Sissi museum, which included the Imperial Apartments of the Imperial Palace. We went to Saint Stephen's Cathedral, which is a beautiful church. And we went to Mozart and Strauss's monuments. While at the Strauss monument we discovered that there is a live webcam (though we couldn't work out where it was!). But check it out if you want to see a live picture of the Strauss monument.

We also went to the House of Music (Haus der Musik), which I thoroughly recommend (and I will talk about in another post because I think it deserves a seperate mention).

Overall, I really enjoyed Vienna. It's a beautiful city and reminds me a little of Paris. My only advice is to arrive with enough clean clothes to last the entire time in Vienna. :)

Some family and friends pics

Coming over here isn't just about sites and ranting about "foreign customs". Here's some pics of loved-ones.

Nelly and Noud (and Tanya and Greg obviously)

Julia, Polina and Jack

Zoya and Cat

Sam and Tanya (cold at stonehenge)

With Tour d'Eiffel (extreme closeup)

Laundromat saga.

Don't listen to Greg below.. there is a laundromat in Venice!

But he's right about there being no laundromats in Vienna!! The worst thing is that our plan was to do all our washing in Vienna as soon as we arrived because we'd be spending two days there. Whereas in Florence and Venice we were only spending one night and half a day. So we arrived in Vienna armed with mounds of washing - wearing our last clean clothes - only to find that there is none! Apparently most of them closed down - obviously they are not needed by the locals. Our hotel searched on the web for a laundromat and we asked at numerous places but no one knew of any.

A good tip to remember when travelling is that you can wear underwear 4 times - forward, backward, inside out forward and inside out backward. Too much info?

Thankfully we found somewhere in Prague and have washed enough clothes to get us to Germany.

Another quick rant

Between Venice and Vienna we couldn't find a single laundromat. Especially in Vienna anyone you asked just kinda looks at you as if to say "Why not do your laundry at home?". Needless to say I don't think the train-compartment from Vienna to Prague was a particularly pleasant place to go.

Thankfully we have found one (count 'em, one!) place to do laundry in Prague. At least we'll make it to Germany in mostly fresh clothes.

The other quick rant is the complete inability to find a decent internet cafe between Paris and here (Prague). I've been trying to upload some photos for the last few weeks and between "cripple-ware" internet-cafe-setups and computing equipment older than even the stuff I have in my cupboards at home I've only just got around to uploading anything.

Anyhoo, all is good here now.

T's final post on Italy - Impressions and what not.

As I said in an earlier post I really don't like Rome - for many different reasons e.g. dirty, polluted, no greenery, rude people, deadly traffic, etc etc. But I do really like Florence and Venice. And travelling on the train through the Italian country side was lovely. Everything looks so lush and green and beautiful.

In Florence and Venice people were friendly and it's less polluted and dirty. And the traffic doesn't try to hit you, which is nice. It's also well see up for English tourists, which is good for people like us who don't know Italian!

One thing I did really notice though, was that in all 3 cities there are many beggars - often kneeling in front of churches in a prayer position. There are also a lot of people selling things on the streets. And there were flower sellers who would come up to us and shove a flower right in my face or they would try to stick it in my hand saying "flower for you". Their intention being that i would grab the object propelled at me and then they would try and charge money for it. I found keeping my hands crossed or in my pocket worked well. To keep on moving is also a useful tip. Sitting down means they will hold a flower in your face for a longer period of time.

Update on Venice.

After half a day in Florence we popped back on a train the next day and headed to Venice. We only spent half a day there as well, but it was enough time to see everything we wanted to see. We went to the Rialto bridge and San Marco (church and square). And we walked amongst the many canals, mask shops and pigeons!

We also went to a modern art exhibit at the Penny Guggenheim museum. We thought it would be nice to see some different art - something more modern. But i must say.. I'm not a fan of modern art. Give me ye olde art any day (that's the technical term for it.. I am very cultured you know!)

Next thing we knew it was time for dinner.. and then packing and off to bed before catching a train to Vienna the next day!

Mamma Mia

As mentioned a couple of posts ago I said I'd put up some photos of the guys from 'our' Rome restaurant.

This guy was great, he spoke a bare fraction of english, but knew how to convey the right words (eg 'Vino', and 'Grill' ;) He worked the special Grill section - standing in the front corner of the restaurant, but I suspect he's the head chef. He did get a little disappointed each time we didn't have something from the grill, but on the last day cooked us up something special.

This guy was the head waiter, in the long-suffering 'Manuel' mould. He sighed an awful lot :-p Good value.

This guy was probably the owner in that he was the reason why the head-waiter sighed a lot ;-) He just kind of wandered round and chatted, occasionally picking up a dish and delivering it to a new table. Thinking about it, I'd probably do that if I owned a restaurant.

Impressions of Italy

Apologies to all who love Italy, but...

Italy is probably a thriving country, it certainly has culture, history and food, but the cities we visited all had one thing in common. Every shop and restaurant, no matter how nice has a roller-door over the windows which they close when the shop is closed. All of these roller-doors are covered in graffiti. The shops have no identifying markers or signs on the outside of the roller-door.

This means that during winter, or christmas, or on Sundays, or just generally when the town is closed the town suddenly turns into a dirty ghetto, you can't tell whether a neighborhood is abandoned, or just off doing other things.

To a tourist this is very off-putting and tends to put you on edge.

That being said, I kind of think of Italy, as a little like me, having better things to do than clean up!

Update on Florence.

Florence is such a beautiful city and it was a nice change after Rome. We only spent half a day in Florence but we managed to do and see everything we wanted in that time. We started off going to the Duomo (church) and Greg climbed to the roof while I explored a much older church which was discovered under the Duomo. We also went to the Ponte Vecchio (famous bridge), Palazzo Vecchio (palace) and saw lots of statues .

I'd never seen Michaelanglo's David before and we were going to skip it. But we needed to kill some time and I thought that maybe i should go take a look. I'd seen the replica of the David in a square in Florence, which i thought would be pretty accurate. And also I'd seem the Mona Lisa in the Paris Lourve, which i don't think is worth all the fuss but there are always crowds of people around it! So i expected David to be the same. But I was totally amazed at how beautiful it is!! It is absolutely breathtaking. It is so much bigger and detailed and impressive than i thought it would be. So if you ever go to Florence, you must go see David!!

Venice update next.

Rome traffic

I'd heard that the traffic in Rome was insane, and that crossing a busy street was a nightmare, but after a couple of days there I've learnt a few things I thought I'd share.

1. Crossing the road
There is a useful technique you can use to ensure you are crossing the road correctly in Rome. Just walk across the road and if you are alive when you reach the other side you did it right.

2. Understanding the traffic
Crossing the road is actually quite easy once you understand car-drivers in Rome. The common misconception is that they are trying to hit you. The reality is they are trying to miss you by the smallest margin possible. Note, however, that the scooter riders ARE trying to hit you.

How many restaurants are there in Rome?

The answer is.. I don't know..

After flying from Paris at 6pm, we arrived in Rome on the first night at 10pm! And we had not yet eaten dinner, so we were both absolutely starving and worried that we wouldn't be able to find somewhere to eat dinner. After dropping our bags off at the hotel we quickly went searching for food. We came across a restaurant - the first one we'd seen. As we're standing outside wondering "would this place still be open on a wednesday night" the chef came to the door and invited us in. We quickly decided that we should go there because there might not have been any other options.

The chef made us feel very very welcome. The owner talked to us and was very lovely. And the waiter was so funny - he reminded me of the waiter from Faulty Towers.. except not as idiotic. And we really enjoyed the food and wine!! And it was cheap! Then when we were leaving they were saying come back tomorrow and gave us hugs and kisses! And normally i would think that was all odd, but it was so lovely to find somewhere nice in Rome with friendly people!

The next night after a whole day of sight seeing we returned to our hotel late and with extremely sore legs. So we thought.. why not go back to same restaurant cos it's just around the corner. When we got there we were welcomed with hugs and kisses. They were recommending what we should try and it was all good food.

And yes.. sadly.. the third night we were again sore and tired.. and thought.. oh what the heck it's the last time we will ever be able to go there.. so we went again for the third and last time. This time not only were we greated with open arms, but they decided exactly what we should eat. We didn't get a choice! Normally that would have annoyed me, but i found it to be so lovely and fun. Again everything tasted great and we ate loads and loads. And at the end of the night we felt like we had to say goodbye to our "friends". We even took some pictures with them.

So if you're ever in Rome.. we highly recommend Mamma Mia Pizzeria Ristaurante on Viale Manzoni near Via Giovanni Giolitti. We stayed at the Hotel Principe di Piemonte Via Giovani Giolitti 449, Rome. The hotel was good, but it was out of the main Rome area and so is the restaurant.

Update on Rome.

We spent two days in Rome. On the first day we went to the Vatican and St Peter's square. We also went to the Trevi foutain and the Spanish steps and other touristy sights. On the second day we went to the Coloseum and the ancient city. I really enjoyed going to the ancient city. It's a definite must if you go to Rome!!

Today we travelled by train to Florence.. update to come..

Quick tip for travelling to Rome

Look Down.

I've tripped myself up on at least 27 different occasions in just 2 days. What they do is they put, for example, a 2200 year old Roman ruin just up and to the left, while they make the road drop around 15cm under your feet.

And to think they lasted until 1918 (in some form)

To Roma or not to Roma.

I've been to Rome before and didn't like it the first time. I didn't want to go again but Greg really wanted to see the city. So I agreed to go again.

I did enjoy Rome more this time, because I had more time to see the sights and having Greg there was nice. But i have to say .. i still don't like Rome. It's so dirty .. dog poo everywhere, rubbish, etc. There's no greenery! And the traffic is absolutely crazy. People say the French are rude, but i found the majority of the Italians in Rome to be rude to tourists. They have absolutely no patience at all, often sighing when you talk to them, they don't move out of the way for you - even when you are carrying heavy luggage, and crossing the road is a nightmare where cars try to get in first and barely miss you!

So i have to say.. I don't think I will be going back to Rome again.

Tips for people coming to Paris.

• We recommend you stay somewhere in The Marais. It's a lovely area, with lots of great places to eat and a train line which gets you to all the major sights. The only problem with The Marais area is that it is hard to get to on public transport with luggage. To get there from the main Paris train terminal, there are lots of steps to walk up and down and you have to take a couple of different train lines!! We stayed at the Jeanne D'Arc, which seems to be where every Aussie we know has stayed and highly recommended to us. It is a good hotel - clean, good facilities, good location, etc, but it is pricey. You are paying for location really.
  

• It took us ages to find an internet cafe - so here's the address of the one we finally found - 31 Boulevard Sebastopol LES HALLES (and it's a chain with many other locations http://www.milkinternethall.com/ I dunno why it took us so long to find one then!!)

• Amelie Cafe - Les Deux Moulins (15 Rue Lepic, 18th arrondissement)

• All Paris museums are free on the first Sunday of the month
  

Cultured.

We have spent 5 days in Paris, which has allowed us to see much more than just the main sights. We have made it to 3 art museums - The Louvre, Dali museum and the Picasso museum. And here's a great tip for anyone travelling to Paris - all museums are free on the first Sunday of every month!! And luckily we happenned to actually be in Paris on the first Sunday in January!

Oh and for anyone who loved the movie Amelie (which i did!) we found the cafe which featured in the film! We had coffees inside and took some touristy photos.

Tonight we're off to Rome!

Tour Eiffel

I'll post some pics up here in a bit, but just thought I'd give the low-down on the Eiffel Tower.

Tip for anyone visiting there - even though it was winter there was a massive line of people waiting at the bottom for the lift. Meanwhile, opposite was a complete absence of a line at the other leg of the tower for the walk up to the first level. Not only is it cheaper and quicker its quite a do-able climb even for someone of dubious fitness and just recovering from being sick as I am, which brings you to the first level. There you find another queue for the next elevator to the next level. After a quick circumnavigation of this level (there's signs and photos showing you bits of paris), I found the next set of stairs, which take you up to the second level.

And yet again there is a queue of people who came from the second elevator, waiting for the elevator to the top (no options here). Only the people who take the elevator are only there for one thing, because there is a second queue with no-one in it to the same elevators on the other side of the tower, just near where you come out of the stair-well. These elevator tourists didn't even walk around the level! i'ts only 25 metres around. They just line up like cattle at the next big queue.

Now I'm not 100% on heights - I very much like to have something to hold onto, so the stairs were ok - but that tower is waaaaay too tall for its own good. Even inside a closed elevator, the trip from the second level to the top of the tower was enough to make my legs start to go wobbly. They're nice enough to enclose you within a glass elevator, which leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, and you just keep going up, and up and up.

The top was pretty amazing though. Suddenly all the big sites of Paris are there to be seen, at the lower levels it was just buildings and buildings and buildings, at the top they just pop out.

Anyway gotta go - times up on the internet cafe machine thingy

In Paris

It has taken us 3 days to find an internet cafe!!! And finally we have found one! We were beginning to think that there were none in the whole of Paris! And now I am trying to write a post on this blog with a keyboard that's all wrong!!! So i might keep this short!

Paris is warmer than London - around 15 degrees during the day which is nice! So far we have seen all the major sites - Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, etc We are eating a lot of nice French food and luckily also doing a lot of walking to hopefully couteract the rich French food.

Tomorrow we are going to Montmarte and we'll try to find the cafe which featured in the Amelie movie!

OK I need to finish cos this keyboard is driving me crazy!

A rant on european showers.

Warning: This post is going to be a rant on showers in Europe..

So far we have stayed at three different places and each place has a unique system of turning on the water! Whatever happenned to having two taps - one for hot and one for cold. If you want hot water you turn the hot tap on. If you want cold water you turn the cold tap on. If you want a mixture of both you turn both on. Simple no?

Well instead Europeans have their unique "water turning on" systems. This morning I was in a shower and turned a tap on. And nothing came out! I kept turning the tap and nothing came out. I was about to get out and ask someone. When I stopped and thought... I have two degrees, surely i can figure this out! Eventually i realised that the bit i was turning was to adjust the temperature and there was a hidden tap to start the water. hmm..

The best so far has the be the shower in London. To turn it on you need to pull a cord on the other side of the room before the shower will work. Of course! So obvious! That one had to be explained to me!

What's next?! Maybe there will be a shower which we have to ask nicely to start or one which we have to press a button seven times... who knows?

Update on London.

After New Years we spent a day indoors - partly because we were all hung over and also because I've been sick with an awful cold! (I actually lost my voice on New Years because we were in a noisy pub and I've had a cough for a week!) I saw a doctor and found out I have a chest infection, sinusitis and laryngitis! The anti-biotics have done wonders though!!

We caught up with some of our Aussie friends on the 2nd January. We started at Zoya's house and saw her gorgeous baby Catherine. We also caught up with Jack, Polina and Julia and went out for drinks and dinner.

On the 3rd January we went sight seeing in London and I caught up with Julia for lunch. We saw Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, London Eye, etc. Then at night time Sam drove us to Portsmouth to catch up with her parents for dinner. It was so great to see them again!

Today we had a quick tour of Portsmouth and then went to see Stonehenge. It's an amazing place, but very very cold! Then we went to Salisbury, which is a town nearby with a gorgeous cathedral.

Now we're back in London. Tonight we're off to the pub. Tomorrow we're doing more sight seeing and going out for a curry at night (which was a request of Greg's). Then Saturday we leave for Paris.