Merry Christmas!!

Happy Xmas to all from Tallinn, Estonia. After a happy reunion with Jarratt and Bec (ha ha), we have spent a relaxing few days exploring Tallinn, including a very fun afternoon spent ice skating on the outdoor ice rink (well three of us skated - Blue was our photographer). No stacks to report - we are very proud of ourselves!! We are staying in a great place here - a really big apartment right in the Old Town. The only thing we are bummed out about is the lack of snow. It is not even too cold - about 4-5 degrees, warmer here than Germany even. We are all hoping for snow tomorrow (Xmas Day) - not looking too good at the moment. Tomorrow we are booked in for xmas lunch at a nice restaurant near where we are staying, and Boxing Day we are on a bus to Riga in Latvia. A very Merry Christmas to everyone at home - we miss you all but are having a blast.
Love to all.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn

Us in Tallinn

Ice skating

Saving the Best Till Last

Well, we are at the end of a 5 night stay in Berlin, and also at the end of the Eurail leg of our trip (no more trains!) We arrived here via Hamberg, which was OK but which neither of us was too enthused by. Lucky we were only there 2 nights.
Here in Berlin we are staying in a fantastic (and cheap) place - a self serviced apartment in a hostel run by a very friendly and laid back Kiwi! If anyone goes to Berlin we can highly recommend this place. Our first day we took a long walk around the city - if anyone knows Berlin we are staying up past Alexanderplatz and we walked down past it and down Unter den Linden to the Brandenberg Gate - about an hour and a half. Our second day was nice and sunny and we went out to the Berlin Zoo, which was great - by far the best zoo we´ve ever been to (not that we´ve been to that many.) It has heaps of animals - elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, a panda, seals, reindeer, wolves, monkeys and of course Knut (if you don´t know who Knut is look it up.) He´s a year old now and a lot bigger, but still very cute.
The rest of the time has been taking up with sightseeing - there is just so much to do and see in Berlin - it is a fantastic city. Apart from the Brandenberg Gate, we have seen Checkpoint Charlie and the adjoining museum, the Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, the book burning memorial and the Wall Victims Memorial, and there have also been numerous Christmas markets to investigate! The average temperature has been zero degrees - so cold.
Tomorrow we fly to Estonia where our twosome becomes a foursome. To everyone who has requested photos, they will go up on the blog early January when we return to our new home!

Livin´ It Up In Köln

Since the last post we have spent 2 pleasant days in Frankfurt Am Main. Frankfurt has two sides to it - the city side with skyscrapers and crazy motorists and the older town side. We spent our time mainly just exploring: walking by the river, tasting Frankfurt´s drink of choice, apple wine, in the taverns, and of course visiting the ever present Christmas markets!
We are now in Cologne, which is proving to be a very cool place - there are little cafes and cute pubs everywhere. Our hostel gets top marks for location, being right around the corner from a pub and pretty much on the banks of the Rhine. We arrived yesterday morning and booked ourselves on a Christmas-themed cruise on the Rhine. We managed to nab a window table, and were served beer and Black Forest cake while enjoying cruising Germany´s famous river. Some good photos were taken, as the skies were clear.
This morning we visited Cologne´s famous cathedral (the largest in Germany.) It is so huge, and really amazing inside, with lots of colourful stained glass windows. This afternoon we will visit the Christmas markets and then check out some pubs, as it was raining overnight and is sprinkling on and off today. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Chocolate Museum, and cross the bridge to explore the other side of the river.
Not too much longer until we get to Berlin, which we are very much looking forward to.
Hope all is well back in Aussie!

Leipzig

Hi All,
We are currently in Leipzig - arrived here yesterday after 3 nights in Nuremberg, where it was overcast and raining pretty much all the time! We did get to see the city though, and we visited the Christmas markets, reputedly the most famous in the country. We also managed to find a jar of Vegemite, and Bec is now very happy having had Vegemite toast for breakfast for the first time in over 2 months!!
Leipzig is a really pretty place, and we have spent our time just wandering around and doing some shopping (mainly for another bag to carry all our purchases!) Have visited a couple of museums, fairly quick visits as everything was in German.
Love to all.

Beer and Lederhosen

We are both really enjoying Munich - it is a great city. We have been to a couple of beer halls, had some great food and big beers! Our first full day was spent exploring the city. We saw the famous Glockenspiel, climbed the church tower for some great views of the city and took a walk in a lovely park called the English Gardens. In the late afternoon we checked out the Theresia´s lawn, where Oktoberfest is held, currently home to some funky markets.
Yesterday we took a trip out to Dachau. There is a memorial on the site of the former concentration camp. We spent time in the museum and saw horrible sites like the former crematorium and the gas chamber - very sobering. Today we have just finished a Third Reich walking tour of the city, which points out sites such as the beerhall that was the birthplace of the Nazi Party.
Hope everyone is well.

Eidelweiss

Hi everyone,
We arrived in Vienna Friday morning. After going to the embassy and doing our civic duty like good Australians (haha), we went for a stroll around the city, before going out for a lovely meal. (In Austria we have had some of the best food of our lives.) Yesterday we went to a museum telling the story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, and toured the apartments where she lived with the Emperor. We have now just returned from a concert at a lovely theatre where we saw the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing with the Vienna Boys Choir (!), the men´s choir and some classical singers. The tickets were only 6 euro each (standing room) and we had great views of the stage. The Vienna Boys Choir is awesome.
Tuesday we go on to Munich in Germany. Our itinery for the next 25 or so days is
Munich, Nuremberg, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Cologne, Hamburg, and Berlin, after which we fly to Tallinn in Estonia to meet J and Bec!

How do you Solve a Problem Like Maria?

This is our third day in Salzburg. Yesterday we went on the long-awaited Sound of Music tour, which was great, and our tour guide was fantastic and very informative. Our hostel also has daily screenings of the movie, which we watched last night (yes even Dave). It is not snowing here and not as cold as Innsbruck, although there is still snow on the ground - not so much in the town though. We have had to give up on the ice caves, as they only open in summer, but are still able to see most things we want to despite the snow. We are thinking of hiring some bikes tomorrow and riding around the town, and then Friday we go on to Vienna.
Till next time...So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehn, Goodbye!

Climb Every Mountain

Well we have finally hit Austria. We´re in Innsbruck at the moment - a town nestled in the middle of the Alps where the beers are big, the alpine air is crisp and it is snowing!! (Well only lightly.) The train ride here through the Alps was great - everything was absolutely covered in snow. When we arrived here most things - trees, cars - had a light covering of snow.
Yesterday was our main sightseeing day. We visited the Bergisel ski jump first up. You get a lift right up the top for some great views of the town and the mountains. The ski jump is massive as well, and still occasionally used in competition. Next up we went to the Alpine Zoo, which has a large collection of Alpine animals, including eagles, fish, a bear and wolves. We got some great photos, particularly of the wolves, a tiger cub and some reindeer! Next up was the Hofburg palace, which was beautiful and had gorgeous chandeliers in the rooms. Photos were not allowed there.
This evening we are going to what will be the first of many Christmas markets! These are on all across Austria and Germany this time of year. The Innsbruck one, which starts tonight, is held in the streets of the Old Town with the Alps providing a dramatic backdrop.
Next up is Salzberg, we head there Monday.
Love to all. (Brodie, hope you had a great 1st birthday party!)

Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo?

Hi Everyone,
Verona is awesome! We arrived yesterday after two nights in VERY expensive Venice. After checking in to the lovely guesthouse we are staying in, we walked down to the centre of town and Juliet's house (of Romeo and Juliet - Verona is where Shakespeare set his play.) We saw the famous balcony, toured the house and took lots of photos! We also visited Juliet's tomb. Romeo and Juliet is everywhere here - half the souvenirs you can get have the lovers on them.
Today we have visited the Arena of Verona, a gorgeous outdoor Roman ampitheatre which is Verona's opera house. You can go in and right out to the middle, where Dave had a good time pretending a crowd of 20 000 were all screaming his name!!
We go to Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps in two days time.
Hope everyone is well.

Italy Still

So due to unavailability of accomodation in Venice and Verona at the time we wanted it, we have made an unscheduled two night stop in the town of Bologna, birthplace of bolognaise sauce and said to have some of the best food in Italy. Bologna has two leaning towers, and we decided, since it was about a quarter of the height of the Eiffel, that Bec would be OK if we climbed one. Apart from some nervous moments on the way down the narrow staircase all was OK and everyone is in one piece!

From here we go to Venice and Verona, then on to Austria which we are both looking forward to very much.

In Italy...

Firstly, a very happy birthday to Ophelia.
Welcome with us to Florence, Italy. Even though it is November Florence is still packed with tourists, the crowds are insane. Now that the weekend is over it should calm a little hopefully. We arrived here yesterday morning on an overnight train and spent yesterday just walking around the city and doing some laundry (how exciting). We came via Nice on the French Riviera, where we spent one night. The coastline is so beautiful - the days we were there were perfect, blue skies with not a cloud to be seen. The water is so blue and so clear - in the shallows you can see the rocks on the bottom. We spent the first day exploring Nice - the second day we were both getting a little tired so we went to an Irish pub to watch Man United v Arsenal live on the telly.
One of the first things we wanted to do in Italy was have some gelati - and it did not disappoint! Don't worry though - we won't eat too much! Bec is also enjoying window shopping and has already found a pair of shoes she would like! We have decided, instead of going to Pisa to see the leaning tower, to do a day trip to a little town called Siena tomorrow. After here, the plan is to move on to Verona and then Venice, and on into Austria.
Highlights of the trip so far have been the tapas bars in San Sebastian, the palace at Versailles and the coastline at Nice. We are both well, having a great time and not getting on each others nerves too much!! We are managing with the language OK, although Dave is getting muddled and speaking Spanish in France and French in Italy!! The weather is still mild - most days are no colder than a Sydney autumn or winter.
So what's happening back home? Anything exciting?

Drinking wine......

Hi from Bordeaux......

This is a really pretty town with trams running all through it, and at the moment they also have a travelling carnival in town! In the supermarkets you can get bottles of wine starting from 2 Euro so have tried a few different types.

We have got ourselves on a wine tour later today to two vineyards.

There has been a few mattingley mishaps and the odd bec stress out but all is ok.

We will put up a longer post later as the keyboards here are stuffed and the letters are all over the place.

Freezing in Paris

Boujour everyone!!

We have been doing a lot of sightseeing in Paris - Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and the obligatory visit to the Louvre. We have also been out to Versailles and the Chateau there, where all the Kings and Queens lived - it is so beautiful. It is really cold here and looks like it will stay this way for the rest of our trip. We have two more days here in Paris and then we are going down to Bordeaux for 3 nights to taste the wines!

Hope everyone is well.

Hola!!

Greetings from Sans Sebastian in Spain.

We have spent the past few days exploring Barcelona and Madrid, and are now in Sans Sebastian for 3 nights. We are both looking forward to relaxing a bit after a full on few days, and figuring out our next move. We are thinking maybe an overnight train to Paris and then on to Italy at the moment, but that is liable to change. There has been the odd stressful moment since we departed the UK, with the language difficulties proving frustrating at times. We are getting by with a mixture of English and some very dodgy Spanish!

Sans Sebastian looks to be a beautiful city and we are looking forward to exploring and relaxing near the water. However, after a balmy few 28 degree days the chill here was a bit of a shock - 11 degrees, but the sun is still out.

Will be in touch, love to all.

The Blue Eagle and Sparrow Have Landed

After arriving at Heathrow Airport at 6am Friday morning, we made our way to Angel, where we are staying with the lovely Bec and J. Have spent most of the weekend exploring the local pubs and tasting the local beer (local except for the cheap cans of Extra Dry at the Walkabout) with Jarratt, Bec and Garcy. Had a curry at Brick Lane yesterday and also caught up with Steve (freshly returned from Contiki), and today we are planning on going down to the Thames on a double decker bus and seeing some of the tourist sights. Tonight we are going to see the Vegemite Tales, a West End play about Aussies in London featuring Blair from Neighbours.

We leave for Barcelona Wednesday, will keep you all posted on the travels.