Plane vs Train.

I've always thought flying is better because it's quicker.. and this is definitely true for very long distances. But for shorter distances a train is definitely better - even when the train takes three hours and the flight takes an hour. By the time you factor in getting to the airport and checking in and then arriving and getting your luggage you've already added on an hour or more to your trip. Plus airports aren't generally situated in the centre of town, so you still need to get into the city. Whereas trains will get you into the centre of town.

Also we found the long distance European trains to be a lot more comfortable than long distance Australian trains!

Getting home - the saga...

Unfortunately I spent the first two weeks of our Europe trip very sick and then during our last week in Berlin I got sick again - this time with a head cold. It wasn't a bad illness - just annoying. But then we flew and the pressure changes in the plane were sooooo painful for me because my head was stuffed up and I couldn't unblock my ears! We still had another flight to get on and I saw a doctor at the airport and they advised me not to fly because I could perforate my ear drums! It scared me into not getting onto the second plane. I did everything to unblock my sinuses - breathing in steaming water, nasal decongestant, stayed indoors.. And I did start feeling less blocked up.

Then we discovered it was going to be very hard to book new flights home, because everything was booked out! Arghh.. We finally found one flight and if we didn't take it we would have had to wait for a month or more. I was so sick of staying in a hotel and I felt like i was doing better so we took it. And again i experienced immense pain during the landing of the flight.. and my ears blocked up.

We finally made it home though.. and I saw a doctor as soon as possible.. and i was told that I have sinusitis. So I started anti-biotics.. but they have done nothing. I went back to a doctor today and now they think that it's viral, so there's not much they can do. I'm still in pain.. and I still can't hear. The not being able to hear is the most annoying bit. Apparently i can't hear because my sinuses are very blocked and while flying some of the muck got pulled into my ears during the pressure change. He even said my ear drum is being pushed outwardly.. yuck.

Now I understand why they recommend not to fly while you have a head cold!

Finally.... Snow!!

On our last day in Berlin, we finally saw some snow!

Berlin sight seeing.

On Monday Jack and Polina had to work, so Greg and I went sight seeing on our own. We started off at Checkpoint Charlie and the Checkpoint Charlie museum - learning about all the daring escapes from East to West Berlin. Afterwards we went to the Jewish museum and learnt about the history of Judiasm.

(Checkpoint Charlie)

On Tuesday I woke up sick with the cold Greg had the week before. Thanks Greg. >:-( So we decided to take it easy. We went to the square where the book burnings were done. And to Brandenburg gate. And to the Reichstag (but unfortunately we didn't go inside because the wait was too long). Then we headed home and that night we went out for Thai food with Jack and Polina.

(Brandenburg Gate)

Wednesday I still felt sick and beacuse we were leaving on the Thursday I decided to stay indoors (especially because it was -4 degrees outside). I decided rest was probably better for me and I've been to Germany before anyway. So Greg ventured out.. and I assume he'll talk about his adventures in another post.

Absinthe Sour - That sounds like a good drink!

Polina - not happy with her drink choice - "It tastes like cough medicine"

Jack - How did I end up with the cough syrup?

Berlin - first days.

In Berlin we stayed with Jack and Polina and it was so nice to have facilities (such as washing machine, internet, etc) which we had been living without. It was also nice to have new people to talk to.

We arrived in the late afternoon and Jack and Polina had thoughtfully booked a table for dinner at a pub which serves traditional German fare. Apparently it is also the oldest pub in Berlin and somewhere that Napoleon ate at. And on top of that the food was very YUM!

Afterwards they took us to a bar for drinks - where everything at the bar is for sale. And Polina ordered a drink we assumed she'd had before... and enjoyed very much. See photo on next post.

On Sunday we slept in for the first time in weeks, which was a luxury. We all had a nice breakfast and then decided to go for a walk around the sights of Berlin.

After being in weather of approximately 10 degrees or more.. the weather in Berlin (around 0 degrees or less!) was a big shock! None of us could handle the freezing cold so we ended up going into an information centre under the new Holocaust monument called Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Which left us all feeling pretty crappy.

(Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe)

We decided to end the day with dinner and drinks at home. And a late night. Sorry guys!

Prague 2 - Is that a castle I see before me?

I was excited about going to see Prague castle. Last time I was in Europe I went to Edinburgh castle and loved it.

So we headed towards the castle and as we got closer we could no longer see it. We kept looking around for the castle and even had another tourist ask us where it is. Eventually we realised that we had been walking around the castle.. which was nothing like Edinburgh castle. It's basically a lot of old buildings with a big church (which is what we could see from a long distance away). So "Prague castle" if you can call it that.. just looks like some buildings with streets. Ah well.. it was still very beautiful.

We decided to go to the history of Prague Castle exhibit (which was colder inside than outside!!) And then we wanted to visit other sights around the castle but found out you needed tickets and we couldn't work out where to buy them from! We found a ticket office that sold tours and tickets but it didn't have tickets to the churches and other areas. Eventually, when it was too late to buy tickets anymore.. we worked out that the "tour" tickets weren't for actual tours, they were for visiting many places within the castle on one ticket. hmmm..

Then the walk home was tremendously hard because of massive gusts of wind. I kept thinking "gee Prague is windy" until later we found out that there had been massive gusts of wind over all of Europe, including a hurricane in Germany!! I've never experienced winds as big as those. Walking against them meant that you were standing still pretty much! At times i felt like i was going to be taken up and blown away! We kept getting hit in the face by particles being blown around and my hair was whipping my face. What's happenning to the world?

New Years - the incriminating photos...

Finally I am posting some photos from our New Years celebrations. Greg and I spent New Years in a pub in Richmond, London with Sam and her friends.

First drinks of the night.	Greg getting stuck into it.
A little later in the night.	Ahhh...
Greg's long lost brother.	What the?
Happy New Year!!	See ya next year...

Back in the land down under..

We are back in Australia but we will continue to post on this blog for a bit - with pictures, thoughts and the remaining places we haven't written about yet.

(arghh.. it's going to be 32 degrees today in Melbourne.. not sure how we'll cope after being in 0 degress in Europe!!)

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.