I would buy you one if I could afford it xxx
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
The expensive Spain
Phew, this place is expensive!!! Not because of the prices but because they have so much cool things to buy here. I´m already up to T-shirt number four on this trip and don´t know how many more my pack can hold. Then there´s all the great food and of course, the sangria.
We´re have a fantastic time here in Spain. Barcelona was a definite highlight of our trip and one of the world´s great cities in our opinion. It´s very modern but has also done a good job of preseving it´s history. So far in Spain we´ve discovered a relaxed modernism that we found lacking in the busier parts of Italy.
Then, there´s the amazing design and architectural works of Antoni Gaudi - this guy is a rock star round here...only they ran him over with a tram back in the 1920´s - opps. This guy was the genius behind the most amazing church (perhaps building) in the world - the Sagrada Familia, still under construction. We also visted other pices of his work including Park Guell and an amazing apartment block built in the 20´s.
We saw alot in our four days and there is still plenty more to see an do. We also finally discovered some decent falafel at a great vego place where you fill your own salad. We went there four times! Oh course, there are also the moments of insanity, where some dickwad in your dorm room decides to play video games on his mobile at 12:30am and you´re too polite or stupid to get out of bed and kick his butt.
Next it was on to Valencia. We were quite tired when we arrived and thought it might be an unnesecary stop on our trip. However, a rest and a cold shower later we discovered that this is also a great city and we´ve had a nice and relaxing two days here. Our room was a bit crap though, resembling a jail cell with only one window out into a well where the air was just as stagnant as in our room (yes, it had no AC other than a crappy fan), plus due to dodgy plumbing the shower also smelt like the toilet.
That aside, we headed to the beach yesterday using their great metro/tram system and also checked out the America´s cup village which is totally dead now that the racing is over. We then headed back to the same cheap little Tapas bar and Irish pub (sepearte places) as the night before and relaxed with some food and beer. Clare says it great to have a local, even if only for two days. It may sound a little boring but when you´ve been away for 10 weeks and you discover great cheap food and service, we figure it´s a good idea to stick with it.
In a couple of hours we head to Madrid.
We´re have a fantastic time here in Spain. Barcelona was a definite highlight of our trip and one of the world´s great cities in our opinion. It´s very modern but has also done a good job of preseving it´s history. So far in Spain we´ve discovered a relaxed modernism that we found lacking in the busier parts of Italy.
Then, there´s the amazing design and architectural works of Antoni Gaudi - this guy is a rock star round here...only they ran him over with a tram back in the 1920´s - opps. This guy was the genius behind the most amazing church (perhaps building) in the world - the Sagrada Familia, still under construction. We also visted other pices of his work including Park Guell and an amazing apartment block built in the 20´s.
We saw alot in our four days and there is still plenty more to see an do. We also finally discovered some decent falafel at a great vego place where you fill your own salad. We went there four times! Oh course, there are also the moments of insanity, where some dickwad in your dorm room decides to play video games on his mobile at 12:30am and you´re too polite or stupid to get out of bed and kick his butt.
Next it was on to Valencia. We were quite tired when we arrived and thought it might be an unnesecary stop on our trip. However, a rest and a cold shower later we discovered that this is also a great city and we´ve had a nice and relaxing two days here. Our room was a bit crap though, resembling a jail cell with only one window out into a well where the air was just as stagnant as in our room (yes, it had no AC other than a crappy fan), plus due to dodgy plumbing the shower also smelt like the toilet.
That aside, we headed to the beach yesterday using their great metro/tram system and also checked out the America´s cup village which is totally dead now that the racing is over. We then headed back to the same cheap little Tapas bar and Irish pub (sepearte places) as the night before and relaxed with some food and beer. Clare says it great to have a local, even if only for two days. It may sound a little boring but when you´ve been away for 10 weeks and you discover great cheap food and service, we figure it´s a good idea to stick with it.
In a couple of hours we head to Madrid.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Spain
Well, we´re back online after a bit of a break and feeling recharged by being in a new country again. We´re certainly aware of the nine weeks we´ve now been away from home but also a little sad to be getting nearer the end of our trip.
We made it into Barcelona last night after a very long bus trip from Nice (French Riviera). We´re here for 5 nights as we were unable to get any accommodation in Avignon due to a large arts festival. We love the city already - it´s clean, lively and full of amazing architecture, bars and rstaurants. We´re staying in a dorm for the first time in a while but the hostel is great. We enjoyed some Sangria last night while listing to a great local band at the hostel and then ate like the locals - at 10pm!! Had a good sleep despite the drunken Australian super-snorer (seriously, this guy sounds like he´s about to die with every gasping breath!).
Today, we´re started on our way to the waterfront along the main drag, which is packed with interesting buskers, pet shops and an amazing food market - where you can get everything from whole piglets to live crabs.
What else have we been up to?
After our great time in Siena we spent a few days in a very hot Florence. Had a good time here but had to take it easy due to the heat and our campsite was located quite a distance from the central city (we also waited in our longest line yet - over 2 hours to get into the Uffizi gallery). Next it was onto La Spezia which is the gateway to the amazing Cinque Terre national park. This is a series of five small villages perched in cliffs above the sea. We had an amazing time here - google it if you want to check this place out and we´ll try and post some photos soon. Then it was onto Nice which wasn´t that nice. The main street was all dug up and we couldn´t find a decent meal (which turned Christian into a hungry zombie monster) - luckily it was only an overnight stop before Spain.
We made it into Barcelona last night after a very long bus trip from Nice (French Riviera). We´re here for 5 nights as we were unable to get any accommodation in Avignon due to a large arts festival. We love the city already - it´s clean, lively and full of amazing architecture, bars and rstaurants. We´re staying in a dorm for the first time in a while but the hostel is great. We enjoyed some Sangria last night while listing to a great local band at the hostel and then ate like the locals - at 10pm!! Had a good sleep despite the drunken Australian super-snorer (seriously, this guy sounds like he´s about to die with every gasping breath!).
Today, we´re started on our way to the waterfront along the main drag, which is packed with interesting buskers, pet shops and an amazing food market - where you can get everything from whole piglets to live crabs.
What else have we been up to?
After our great time in Siena we spent a few days in a very hot Florence. Had a good time here but had to take it easy due to the heat and our campsite was located quite a distance from the central city (we also waited in our longest line yet - over 2 hours to get into the Uffizi gallery). Next it was onto La Spezia which is the gateway to the amazing Cinque Terre national park. This is a series of five small villages perched in cliffs above the sea. We had an amazing time here - google it if you want to check this place out and we´ll try and post some photos soon. Then it was onto Nice which wasn´t that nice. The main street was all dug up and we couldn´t find a decent meal (which turned Christian into a hungry zombie monster) - luckily it was only an overnight stop before Spain.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The real Italia
After our experiences in Rome (see previous post) we have well and truly moved on. We have had a perfect couple of days in Siena which is an old medieval walled city like you imagine when you think of Italy. It has narrow cobbled streets, lots of great little shops and restaurants and plenty of things to do all without millions of tourists and handbag peddlers.
You;ll probably hear a lot more about this fantastic place when we return to NZ, it;s one of our favourites so far. It;s quite amazing how your experience of a country can change so dramatically over night!
8 weeks down, 4 to go.
You;ll probably hear a lot more about this fantastic place when we return to NZ, it;s one of our favourites so far. It;s quite amazing how your experience of a country can change so dramatically over night!
8 weeks down, 4 to go.
When in Rome....
....hold your nose to block out the smell of urine. Well, we had some interesting times in Rome. We ended up staying here a bit longer than we originally planned as we decided to skip Ancona which is basically a grimy port town and what a wise move it was as we discovered when we drove through.
We found Rome to be a pretty crazy and very dirty place - perhaps it;s doing it;s best impression of a Roman ruin? It;s quite funny how lots of people drive around in flash cars wearing the lastest fashion but the city is disgusting and run down. I;m not sure what they do with all the tourist dollars but it;s certainly not used to clean the city and make life easy for tourists.
On our first full day we took the bus from the campsite to near the Vatican. I was surprised where we stopped, thinking to myself what a bad neighbourhood the Vatican is in! We started exploring with a walk down the river - and had to make our way over terrible footpaths covered in plenty of urine, crap and rubbish while enjoying the view of all the graffiti and a river no one seems to care about. It seems a real shame as the river seems to have the same potential as Paris and could be quite beautiful but has basically been ignored.
Anyway, we looked around the main monuments which are quite spectacular if you can see them past the other tourists and ignore the people trying to sell you handbags. We had a mad dash back across town to catch the right bus back to our campsite where we enjoyed some local wine from our yoghurt pottles - we had no cups and it was a little better than drinking it out of the bottle, right?
To cut a long story short we didn,t particularly enjoy Rome, we had a few mishaps - including thinking the ATM had kept our 250 euro but charged our account and having to deal with Italian bank staff "come back later" - "come back tomorrow" - Ahhh!
But Rome has some truly amazing history and some beautiful monuments, St Peters and the Sistine Chapel etc are really fantastic. Maybe we;ll tell you about them sometime when we;ve blocked out all the bad memories!
We found Rome to be a pretty crazy and very dirty place - perhaps it;s doing it;s best impression of a Roman ruin? It;s quite funny how lots of people drive around in flash cars wearing the lastest fashion but the city is disgusting and run down. I;m not sure what they do with all the tourist dollars but it;s certainly not used to clean the city and make life easy for tourists.
On our first full day we took the bus from the campsite to near the Vatican. I was surprised where we stopped, thinking to myself what a bad neighbourhood the Vatican is in! We started exploring with a walk down the river - and had to make our way over terrible footpaths covered in plenty of urine, crap and rubbish while enjoying the view of all the graffiti and a river no one seems to care about. It seems a real shame as the river seems to have the same potential as Paris and could be quite beautiful but has basically been ignored.
Anyway, we looked around the main monuments which are quite spectacular if you can see them past the other tourists and ignore the people trying to sell you handbags. We had a mad dash back across town to catch the right bus back to our campsite where we enjoyed some local wine from our yoghurt pottles - we had no cups and it was a little better than drinking it out of the bottle, right?
To cut a long story short we didn,t particularly enjoy Rome, we had a few mishaps - including thinking the ATM had kept our 250 euro but charged our account and having to deal with Italian bank staff "come back later" - "come back tomorrow" - Ahhh!
But Rome has some truly amazing history and some beautiful monuments, St Peters and the Sistine Chapel etc are really fantastic. Maybe we;ll tell you about them sometime when we;ve blocked out all the bad memories!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Summer`s here at last
Hello again,
We are now in Venice and the key board characters are pretty normal but the punctuation is totally messed up so forgive my writing. Had a couple of relaxing nights in Austria on our way here. We were booked into stay at some Aussie pub but we were given a room at a guest house next door with a nice host named Annelise. Felt a wee bit isolated from everyone else but it probably worked out for the best as they all stayed up till 3am drinking and we are just getting too old for that kind of carry on. We think the Aussie pub must have imported lots of flys to make it more like home as there were a hell of a lot of them in this town. It can also rain rather well also. Had great weather on our second day though and went for a great walk into the countryside.
So we are now in Venice staying at a campsite near the city, convieniently located next to the noisy airport. The drive through Northern Italy was beautiful and it was actually quite cold when we arrived due to recent rain. The weather today has been perfect and not too hot. We jumped on the shuttle bus and headed into the city which is stunning as expected.
It is a bit of a maze to navigate but much easier when you actually dont have a detailed map and just follow your nose and the signs to the main landmarks. The main square is pretty nuts and full of my pet hates - pidgeons and other tourists. The ice cream makes up for this though. Once we got to a more quiet spot, the place is pretty unbeatable with the ocean, ancient buildings, warm sun, wide blue sky and cool sea breeze.
We are now in Venice and the key board characters are pretty normal but the punctuation is totally messed up so forgive my writing. Had a couple of relaxing nights in Austria on our way here. We were booked into stay at some Aussie pub but we were given a room at a guest house next door with a nice host named Annelise. Felt a wee bit isolated from everyone else but it probably worked out for the best as they all stayed up till 3am drinking and we are just getting too old for that kind of carry on. We think the Aussie pub must have imported lots of flys to make it more like home as there were a hell of a lot of them in this town. It can also rain rather well also. Had great weather on our second day though and went for a great walk into the countryside.
So we are now in Venice staying at a campsite near the city, convieniently located next to the noisy airport. The drive through Northern Italy was beautiful and it was actually quite cold when we arrived due to recent rain. The weather today has been perfect and not too hot. We jumped on the shuttle bus and headed into the city which is stunning as expected.
It is a bit of a maze to navigate but much easier when you actually dont have a detailed map and just follow your nose and the signs to the main landmarks. The main square is pretty nuts and full of my pet hates - pidgeons and other tourists. The ice cream makes up for this though. Once we got to a more quiet spot, the place is pretty unbeatable with the ocean, ancient buildings, warm sun, wide blue sky and cool sea breeze.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Camera crimes 101
There's one thing about travelling I hate as much as pidgeons and hoards of other travellers, and that's tourists taking photos. Now this may sound a bit hypocritical being a fairly keen tourist photographer myself and all - except that all my photos are great.
Why oh why must people use a flash on all occasions, even in bright sunlight?? There's also nothing worse than being bombarded with flashes everytime you're in a dark spot. I really wish cameras were banned in more places, it would really improve the experience - and you can always get decent photos on postcards or the Internet etc. Though I can understand the appeal of taking your own pictures, it's everyone seems to take so many.
Then there's probably the worst crime and that's making people wait while you take a photo of your buddy, Mrs, whatever in front of some stupid attraction. This is so damn rude in my opinion and I'm sick of it!! This is made worse by people who don't know how to actually use a camera and take 10 minutes to take one.
You have the people taking videos of videos, not realising how bad these will actually look back home and the fact that they'll never watch them anyway. People want to take photos of absolutely everything, to capture it all - but you can't!!. Someone at an art gallery on the box the other night was saying that people don't go to galleries to see art - they go to take pictures of themselves.
Worst of all was at Duchau today - to me this memorial wasn't really a place to take photos, but obviously not other people - 'look Mom, here's me in front of the crematorium ovens, and here's me in the gas chamber, and here's the video I took of the video of the dead bodies' - sick!!!! There were people smiling for the camera while their friend took a photos of them in the grounds. There's no way I could smile in a place like this.
Rant over.
Why oh why must people use a flash on all occasions, even in bright sunlight?? There's also nothing worse than being bombarded with flashes everytime you're in a dark spot. I really wish cameras were banned in more places, it would really improve the experience - and you can always get decent photos on postcards or the Internet etc. Though I can understand the appeal of taking your own pictures, it's everyone seems to take so many.
Then there's probably the worst crime and that's making people wait while you take a photo of your buddy, Mrs, whatever in front of some stupid attraction. This is so damn rude in my opinion and I'm sick of it!! This is made worse by people who don't know how to actually use a camera and take 10 minutes to take one.
You have the people taking videos of videos, not realising how bad these will actually look back home and the fact that they'll never watch them anyway. People want to take photos of absolutely everything, to capture it all - but you can't!!. Someone at an art gallery on the box the other night was saying that people don't go to galleries to see art - they go to take pictures of themselves.
Worst of all was at Duchau today - to me this memorial wasn't really a place to take photos, but obviously not other people - 'look Mom, here's me in front of the crematorium ovens, and here's me in the gas chamber, and here's the video I took of the video of the dead bodies' - sick!!!! There were people smiling for the camera while their friend took a photos of them in the grounds. There's no way I could smile in a place like this.
Rant over.
Muchen
Spent the last two days checking out Munich and it's a great city - this wasn't completely obvious when we arrived on Friday night as we're staying on the edge of the CBD with plenty of bad 60's design, but once you get into the centre it's beautiful. It's hard to believe that most of the bulidings are only aroudn 60 years old as the place was carpet bombed during the war then rebuilt - many building to their historical specifications.
The hostel we're staying at is probably the best so far - these guys really know what they're doing and we took the free (well, it works on a tips basis) walking tour from here yesterday morning. Our guide was great and we packed in heaps into our several hour tour - he even gave us useful and accurate information, unlike our bus tour guides. Finished up walking through the large and beautiful public park and having a beer at the huge beer garden (not before seeing the clothing optional section, though unfortunately we didn't see the local sun legends 'Tripod' and 'Robocop' - guess how they got their names).
We spent Saturday evening on a beer appreciation tour (or more accurately, a pub crawl). At times I think we were the only two actually listening to the beer history and trivia. There were were plenty of 'interesting' travellers on the tour and by the end we were pretty ready to leave them all but it was still a good time. I wonder what the locals think of us boozed tourist. Must have eaten something funny though as I had a bit of an upset tummy when I got back to the hostel ;-)
Today, we took the metro out to the Duchau concentration camp memorial - this was a very sombre experience but something very worthwhile. We feel like we're got a much better perspective on the war from our time here in Munich.
The metro system here is fantastic and we arrived back in town nid afternoon. It was very hot so we took refuge in the historical Hoffbrau beer house and enjoyed some more beer and local food. Back at the hostel now doing some necessities like washing before we head to Austria in the morning.
The hostel we're staying at is probably the best so far - these guys really know what they're doing and we took the free (well, it works on a tips basis) walking tour from here yesterday morning. Our guide was great and we packed in heaps into our several hour tour - he even gave us useful and accurate information, unlike our bus tour guides. Finished up walking through the large and beautiful public park and having a beer at the huge beer garden (not before seeing the clothing optional section, though unfortunately we didn't see the local sun legends 'Tripod' and 'Robocop' - guess how they got their names).
We spent Saturday evening on a beer appreciation tour (or more accurately, a pub crawl). At times I think we were the only two actually listening to the beer history and trivia. There were were plenty of 'interesting' travellers on the tour and by the end we were pretty ready to leave them all but it was still a good time. I wonder what the locals think of us boozed tourist. Must have eaten something funny though as I had a bit of an upset tummy when I got back to the hostel ;-)
Today, we took the metro out to the Duchau concentration camp memorial - this was a very sombre experience but something very worthwhile. We feel like we're got a much better perspective on the war from our time here in Munich.
The metro system here is fantastic and we arrived back in town nid afternoon. It was very hot so we took refuge in the historical Hoffbrau beer house and enjoyed some more beer and local food. Back at the hostel now doing some necessities like washing before we head to Austria in the morning.
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