Hi all.
Tonight is our last night in Amsterdam and we've decided to take it easy and confirm to you that we're still alive. Amsterdam has been interesting - today we visited the Van Gogh museum and I have to be honest, I still found it boring. Sorry, paintings just aren't my thing. We also visited the Resisitance Museum, which highlighted the awful choices people had in the Nerthlands during the war.
The most emotional visit so far on this trip was to Anne Frank's house. Here was this little girl and all she wanted to do was to go outside and live her life and instead she was trapped in a house becuase people she'd never met wanted to kill her, and all of her kind. I understand why her book has sold so well, it puts a human face on the tragedy.
On a lighter note, I am currently staying in a christan youth hostel - this is a place with Bibles everywhere and notes about God lying around the place. You can guess I'm not feeling that comfortable there, but the people are nice and thankfully there's no curfew.
Christmas away from home was strange, it really just felt like another day one in which pretty much all the shops were closed, but a normal day nevertheless.
We've met some interesting people so far, I seem to have a knack for finding fellow Aussies and back when we were staying at a youth hostel with a bar, we had two crazy Italian companions who soon became our drinking buddies. We all spent christmas night together and had a pretty good night (pity the morning wasn't so).
Were off to Berlin tomorrow, which should be a fun 6 hour train ride.
I hope this finds you all well.
Cheers Michael
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Benelux
It's been a while since we last made a real post, we're spending Christmas in Amsterdam right now, making our way through Benelux to Berlin on the 29th.
We managed to properly book a train ticket from Zurich HB to Brussels, but it was still a very long trip (around 8 hours). We managed to do some speed-mapping and arrive at our check in point 5 minutes before they closed (since the hostel we were staying at was new, we had to go to another hostel in the chain to do the check in etc). As it turned out, the 'hostel' was actually a 3 star hotel recently bought over by the hostel chain, so while we didn't enjoy a free breakfast or a common room, we did get a TV and full ensuite facilities (even a bath). Not only this, but the hostel was located right in the Grand Place - the heart of the City. The night we arrived there was a Christmas show on in the Square.
Unfortunately due to availability issues we had to relocate to another (cheaper) hostel over the other side of town. While we did get free breakfast here, the bar was always empty, the showers were terrible and they had a baffling rule where everyone has to vacate their room - baggage and all - between the hours of 10:00am to 2:00pm for cleaning, every day.
While in Brussels, we spent a lot of time sampling the Belgian delecacies - Chocolate (I think Biddo has hit the point where supply outweighs demand), Waffles, Fries, and Beer. We also took a day trip to Bruges - where we took some great photos and met some more Australians (from Perth again) while we toured the town.
We've since taken an Inter-City train to Amsterdam, where we've been able to sleep in after a tiring few days in Belgium. Time's running short, and we're about to head off on a city tour, so I'll cut this off here, and wish everybody a Merry Christmas from us both.
We managed to properly book a train ticket from Zurich HB to Brussels, but it was still a very long trip (around 8 hours). We managed to do some speed-mapping and arrive at our check in point 5 minutes before they closed (since the hostel we were staying at was new, we had to go to another hostel in the chain to do the check in etc). As it turned out, the 'hostel' was actually a 3 star hotel recently bought over by the hostel chain, so while we didn't enjoy a free breakfast or a common room, we did get a TV and full ensuite facilities (even a bath). Not only this, but the hostel was located right in the Grand Place - the heart of the City. The night we arrived there was a Christmas show on in the Square.
Unfortunately due to availability issues we had to relocate to another (cheaper) hostel over the other side of town. While we did get free breakfast here, the bar was always empty, the showers were terrible and they had a baffling rule where everyone has to vacate their room - baggage and all - between the hours of 10:00am to 2:00pm for cleaning, every day.
While in Brussels, we spent a lot of time sampling the Belgian delecacies - Chocolate (I think Biddo has hit the point where supply outweighs demand), Waffles, Fries, and Beer. We also took a day trip to Bruges - where we took some great photos and met some more Australians (from Perth again) while we toured the town.
We've since taken an Inter-City train to Amsterdam, where we've been able to sleep in after a tiring few days in Belgium. Time's running short, and we're about to head off on a city tour, so I'll cut this off here, and wish everybody a Merry Christmas from us both.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Photos
Figured this blog is a bit lacking in the picture department (particularly those of me, or so I've been told), so I thought I'd chuck up a few from our travels in Paris and Switzerland.
The Notre Dame interior (I'm not certain we were allowed to take photos inside, but everyone else was doing it, so we went with the flow).
Same goes for the Louvre, but again there was a semi circle of tourists around the Mona Lisa, so we snapped away.
Us at the base of the Eiffel Tower. We chose a bad day to go; it was cold, rainy, and we chose to do the stairs. Gruelling (yeah, I am a bit unfit).
Woke up on our second day in Switzerland to find the entire city of Zurich had been blanketed with snow. Pretty amazing, since I've never actually seen snow like this fall on such a huge scale.
The entrance of the Blindekuh restaurant we ate at in Zurich.
We're now in Brussels, Belgium, where Biddo continues to eat his way through all the chocolate he can find. Heading to Bruges tomorrow for the day, then to Amsterdam for Christmas.
The Notre Dame interior (I'm not certain we were allowed to take photos inside, but everyone else was doing it, so we went with the flow).
Same goes for the Louvre, but again there was a semi circle of tourists around the Mona Lisa, so we snapped away.
Us at the base of the Eiffel Tower. We chose a bad day to go; it was cold, rainy, and we chose to do the stairs. Gruelling (yeah, I am a bit unfit).
Woke up on our second day in Switzerland to find the entire city of Zurich had been blanketed with snow. Pretty amazing, since I've never actually seen snow like this fall on such a huge scale.
The entrance of the Blindekuh restaurant we ate at in Zurich.
We're now in Brussels, Belgium, where Biddo continues to eat his way through all the chocolate he can find. Heading to Bruges tomorrow for the day, then to Amsterdam for Christmas.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
It's going to be a white Christmas
Hello all.
Woke up this morning to snow everywhere, overnight there'd been about 40cm of snow, it was pretty amazing. Last night Daniel and I went to the blindkau resteraunt, this is a resteraunt with a difference; you eat in the dark and by dark I mean pitch black, you could not see your hand in front of your face. The two interesting people we sat next to were Susan and Albert. Susan was a 65 year old ex musician and im pretty sure in her own mind 25 years old. While Albert was a music director, 40 years old and thankfully for us had excellent english and was our translator for the night.
Eating in the dark was interesting - we soon realised that forks were useless (hard to pick anything up when you cant see it) but the useful part about being in the dark is that noone can see how bad your table manners are, and I can now claim to have eaten steak with my bare hands, and it was good (sorry mum). After dinner there was a concert, and I can tell you sitting in a pitch black room while music is being played when you don't know where you are and can't understand the language makes for a surreal experiance. The waiters (who were all blind) were very impressive, thou having to ask to go to the toliet did make me feel like I was in prep again.
Zurich is very pretty - not lacking in attractions and is very expensive (when I get back to Australia i'm never complaining about the price of food again).
At the moment its taking most of my self retraint not to start a massive snow fight, as it would be very cold. The snow is amazing, I now know the true meaning of powder. It's sad that I'll probably never see snow like this in Australia.
Apologies from Daniel, the computers we're using don't let us upload our photos, so you'll just have to wait until Brussells.
Hope you're all well.
Michael
Woke up this morning to snow everywhere, overnight there'd been about 40cm of snow, it was pretty amazing. Last night Daniel and I went to the blindkau resteraunt, this is a resteraunt with a difference; you eat in the dark and by dark I mean pitch black, you could not see your hand in front of your face. The two interesting people we sat next to were Susan and Albert. Susan was a 65 year old ex musician and im pretty sure in her own mind 25 years old. While Albert was a music director, 40 years old and thankfully for us had excellent english and was our translator for the night.
Eating in the dark was interesting - we soon realised that forks were useless (hard to pick anything up when you cant see it) but the useful part about being in the dark is that noone can see how bad your table manners are, and I can now claim to have eaten steak with my bare hands, and it was good (sorry mum). After dinner there was a concert, and I can tell you sitting in a pitch black room while music is being played when you don't know where you are and can't understand the language makes for a surreal experiance. The waiters (who were all blind) were very impressive, thou having to ask to go to the toliet did make me feel like I was in prep again.
Zurich is very pretty - not lacking in attractions and is very expensive (when I get back to Australia i'm never complaining about the price of food again).
At the moment its taking most of my self retraint not to start a massive snow fight, as it would be very cold. The snow is amazing, I now know the true meaning of powder. It's sad that I'll probably never see snow like this in Australia.
Apologies from Daniel, the computers we're using don't let us upload our photos, so you'll just have to wait until Brussells.
Hope you're all well.
Michael
Monday, December 15, 2008
Paris, Switzerland, stairs, and a lot of trains
Hi all,
Just got into our hostel in Zürich, Switzerland. After learning the hard way the importance of reserving a TGV train seat early (all the available trains today were full) we eventually made it here by taking 3 trains and a tram over 10 hours.
We visited quite a few places in France - our hotel (where we had to walk up 3 flights of stairs to get to our room) was a short walk from both the Notre Dame and the Louvre, which we visited on the first day (for some reason, noone seems to understand french for 'No photography'. We went with the flow) and took some of snaps (I'll chuck a few on here once we find an actual net cafe and not some kiosk where I can't actually access the pictures). We visited the Arc de triomphe and Eiffel tower the next day when it was colder, windier and raining - fantastic timing. It didn't stop us from climbing the multitude of stairs up the Eiffel, but it did make it really unpleasant.
On our final day, we visited the Catacombs under Paris, which was part sobering, part macabre, part stairs (172 to be exact).
Will make another post when we find a decent internet café - Biddo's searching for one right now...actually his kiosk just crashed. Wonderful.
Just got into our hostel in Zürich, Switzerland. After learning the hard way the importance of reserving a TGV train seat early (all the available trains today were full) we eventually made it here by taking 3 trains and a tram over 10 hours.
We visited quite a few places in France - our hotel (where we had to walk up 3 flights of stairs to get to our room) was a short walk from both the Notre Dame and the Louvre, which we visited on the first day (for some reason, noone seems to understand french for 'No photography'. We went with the flow) and took some of snaps (I'll chuck a few on here once we find an actual net cafe and not some kiosk where I can't actually access the pictures). We visited the Arc de triomphe and Eiffel tower the next day when it was colder, windier and raining - fantastic timing. It didn't stop us from climbing the multitude of stairs up the Eiffel, but it did make it really unpleasant.
On our final day, we visited the Catacombs under Paris, which was part sobering, part macabre, part stairs (172 to be exact).
Will make another post when we find a decent internet café - Biddo's searching for one right now...actually his kiosk just crashed. Wonderful.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Biddo at the War museum
Hi all
Well wongo and i have been busy but i`ll start at the top and i apolgise for any bad spelling becuase im currently using a french keyboard which is annoying to say the least! The imperial war musuem was excellent, our origional plan had us spending about 2hrs there which i extended to about 4. The two 15 inch guns at the entrance were amazing.
there was also a james bond exihibatation inside as well (you can start to see why wongo had to drag me out). Afterwards we checked out trafalger square and the national gallery which were both impressive. The next day we checked out the tate modern musuem and well we both agreed to leave quickly (im not a fan of impressionist works).
At 4am in the morning wongo and i caught the train to paris and in a trend im begging to notice sat next to another bunch of australians, this mqde the early morning trip a bit more bareable. So far in france we've beeen to the louve (and taken pictures- naughty us) and the notre damne which while impressive was no St Pauls in london.
we're currently staying in a two bedroom hotel at the moment which is right in the middle of paris which is handy. Thou the 2am lockout and interesting defintation of roomy makes for a tight fit and the four flights of stairs is keeping us fit!
Anwyas got to run off to see the Effiel tower and the Arc de triomph. hope your all well.
cheers Biddo
Well wongo and i have been busy but i`ll start at the top and i apolgise for any bad spelling becuase im currently using a french keyboard which is annoying to say the least! The imperial war musuem was excellent, our origional plan had us spending about 2hrs there which i extended to about 4. The two 15 inch guns at the entrance were amazing.
there was also a james bond exihibatation inside as well (you can start to see why wongo had to drag me out). Afterwards we checked out trafalger square and the national gallery which were both impressive. The next day we checked out the tate modern musuem and well we both agreed to leave quickly (im not a fan of impressionist works).
At 4am in the morning wongo and i caught the train to paris and in a trend im begging to notice sat next to another bunch of australians, this mqde the early morning trip a bit more bareable. So far in france we've beeen to the louve (and taken pictures- naughty us) and the notre damne which while impressive was no St Pauls in london.
we're currently staying in a two bedroom hotel at the moment which is right in the middle of paris which is handy. Thou the 2am lockout and interesting defintation of roomy makes for a tight fit and the four flights of stairs is keeping us fit!
Anwyas got to run off to see the Effiel tower and the Arc de triomph. hope your all well.
cheers Biddo
Thursday, December 11, 2008
From London to Paris
We arrived in Paris this morning (after waking up and a nice and early 4:15 am to catch the Eurostar train - the benefit being we save roughly 30 pounds each by catching this particular train) and after wasting a lot of time figuring out how to use the Metro system (and myself temporarily losing my train ticket as it fell under a machine) we arrived at our Rue De Rivoli hotel, which just like our other accomodation, told us that our rooms were not ready yet and we needed to come back at 1. Naturally, we both went to seek out an internet café.
During our last few days in London, we almost visited everything we wanted to - didn't get to see Madame Tussauds - the problem being once we eventually got going we wound up only having time for one attraction, as most places close their doors at 4-5. We checked out the Big Ben and Parliament (as well as the police with submachine guns patrolling - though this was no match for soldiers with rifles at the Gare Du Nord). We visited the Imperial War Museum (I think I'll let Biddo post about this, photos incoming) and the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. On Wednesday we visited the Tate Modern Gallery which had an awesome turbine room, but ultimately I forgot how little I can appreciate abstract and Expressionist art. After crossing the Tate Bridge, we were right at the steps at St Paul's Cathedral, where we were able to catch a Choir performing at 5pm.
We met up with one of my sister Lilian's friends Michelle, who took us out for dinner in Chinatown (Biddo still can't use chopsticks) a few pubs in Leicester Square and Soho and to a Comedy show in Piccadilly (which we attended on 'Improvisation Night' and was really good).
We just found this Internet café, but when we come back next, I'll bring the camera and upload some more photos.
During our last few days in London, we almost visited everything we wanted to - didn't get to see Madame Tussauds - the problem being once we eventually got going we wound up only having time for one attraction, as most places close their doors at 4-5. We checked out the Big Ben and Parliament (as well as the police with submachine guns patrolling - though this was no match for soldiers with rifles at the Gare Du Nord). We visited the Imperial War Museum (I think I'll let Biddo post about this, photos incoming) and the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. On Wednesday we visited the Tate Modern Gallery which had an awesome turbine room, but ultimately I forgot how little I can appreciate abstract and Expressionist art. After crossing the Tate Bridge, we were right at the steps at St Paul's Cathedral, where we were able to catch a Choir performing at 5pm.
We met up with one of my sister Lilian's friends Michelle, who took us out for dinner in Chinatown (Biddo still can't use chopsticks) a few pubs in Leicester Square and Soho and to a Comedy show in Piccadilly (which we attended on 'Improvisation Night' and was really good).
We just found this Internet café, but when we come back next, I'll bring the camera and upload some more photos.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Camden Market
Hi All
we went into the Camden market yesterday, it was interesting to say the least. There we're some intereasting shops and hairstyles but sadly as it seems no one allows photo's you'll just have to take our word for it. There was one big acheivement yesterday, we got Wongo a coat and what an experiance that was. We, after much searching found a coat that suited wongo very much. There was the minor issue of it being a medium and wongo being a rather small boy needed the small size, we thought it would be a simple task of asking the shop girl whether they had a small in the back....noooo. In the end we went to the four other stores before we finally found the small! (photos will come of wongo and his new coat soon). Anyways time to go and see dmore of the sights of London.
Cheers Biddo
we went into the Camden market yesterday, it was interesting to say the least. There we're some intereasting shops and hairstyles but sadly as it seems no one allows photo's you'll just have to take our word for it. There was one big acheivement yesterday, we got Wongo a coat and what an experiance that was. We, after much searching found a coat that suited wongo very much. There was the minor issue of it being a medium and wongo being a rather small boy needed the small size, we thought it would be a simple task of asking the shop girl whether they had a small in the back....noooo. In the end we went to the four other stores before we finally found the small! (photos will come of wongo and his new coat soon). Anyways time to go and see dmore of the sights of London.
Cheers Biddo
Sunday, December 7, 2008
HMS Belfast
Hi All
Today wongo and myself visted the floating museum that is the HMS Bellfast a ww2 cruiser. It has 12 6-inch guns and numerous 4-inch and anti-aircraft guns. I felt like i was 6 year old again playing with the targeting systems and looking at the models, the ships guns are huge;
(thats me, just being childish i guess.... it was fun thou).
Time just seems to fly here, were up early in the morning eat quickly and go out to see london but before were ready it's all dark, oh right the sun sets at 3:30 here..... The temperature i can deal with but it being pitch black at 4:30 is quite disconcerting. We've got a few sights for the next couple of days London war museum (which is doing a james Bond expo, awsome i know), Camden Market or hippe central as i've been told, the portrait gallery looks like it's going to be quite busy!
Today wongo and myself visted the floating museum that is the HMS Bellfast a ww2 cruiser. It has 12 6-inch guns and numerous 4-inch and anti-aircraft guns. I felt like i was 6 year old again playing with the targeting systems and looking at the models, the ships guns are huge;
(thats me, just being childish i guess.... it was fun thou).
Time just seems to fly here, were up early in the morning eat quickly and go out to see london but before were ready it's all dark, oh right the sun sets at 3:30 here..... The temperature i can deal with but it being pitch black at 4:30 is quite disconcerting. We've got a few sights for the next couple of days London war museum (which is doing a james Bond expo, awsome i know), Camden Market or hippe central as i've been told, the portrait gallery looks like it's going to be quite busy!
Friday, December 5, 2008
and were here!
Hi All
we'll im half asleep and it's the middle of the day, hi jet lag. Wongo and i are about to explore the city, it looks how i imagined it. It was such a shock leaving the station and seeing all the terrance houses, britsh shops and blackcabs. Thats when it kinda kicked in Hey were in london! Wongo pretty sleeply and probably started if not suprised by my sudden excitment just gave me a weird look.
anyways i've spent to long browsing the age website and it's time for us to actually see something.
Hope your all having fun.
Edit: and yes mum i'll get some gloves. yes now.
we'll im half asleep and it's the middle of the day, hi jet lag. Wongo and i are about to explore the city, it looks how i imagined it. It was such a shock leaving the station and seeing all the terrance houses, britsh shops and blackcabs. Thats when it kinda kicked in Hey were in london! Wongo pretty sleeply and probably started if not suprised by my sudden excitment just gave me a weird look.
anyways i've spent to long browsing the age website and it's time for us to actually see something.
Hope your all having fun.
Edit: and yes mum i'll get some gloves. yes now.
Arrived
We've just arrived at London and checked into our hostel (well, we were early so they won't actually give us keys until 2pm - we left our bags in a luggage storage room, but since Biddo's carry-on luggage being too large to fit into the lockers, it is now tied using my cable lock to a nearby gas pipe).
The Singapore Airlines flight to Changi was great, watched Batman, Hellboy, 30 Rock and Flight of the Conchords using the TV on demand system, the only downside being the people in front of us leaning their chairs all the way back at the first possible opportunity for the duration of the trip. God.
We didn't spend long waiting at Changi Airport - probably a good thing as the temperature at midnight was a toasty 27 C and we were beginning to sweat as we boarded the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.
Got a little bit of sleep, long flight was long.
Landed at Frankfurt Main at 3pm Australia time (5am local time), and promptly got a bite to eat.
And gloves. Biddo will buy some gloves.
The Singapore Airlines flight to Changi was great, watched Batman, Hellboy, 30 Rock and Flight of the Conchords using the TV on demand system, the only downside being the people in front of us leaning their chairs all the way back at the first possible opportunity for the duration of the trip. God.
We didn't spend long waiting at Changi Airport - probably a good thing as the temperature at midnight was a toasty 27 C and we were beginning to sweat as we boarded the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.
Got a little bit of sleep, long flight was long.
Landed at Frankfurt Main at 3pm Australia time (5am local time), and promptly got a bite to eat.
Yeah, I know.
And gloves. Biddo will buy some gloves.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
My turn
Hey everyone.
Don't feel bad about only just packing Biddo, I also just started. Don't see why everyone makes a huge fuss about it (you can tell I'm not a seasoned traveller) I figure I can probably do this in about an hour.
Dad did a great job of almost breaking my international power adapter, but managed to fix it, so it's just my shoes, and backpack that needs doing. By the way Biddo, you got around to making a copy of your passport/drivers license and emailing it to yourself? Sis said it might be a good idea.
Ok, time to head out. Ciao!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Just before we go
Hi all
Well it's nearly 24 hrs before the flight and i've just started packing (classic me i know), i suddenly realised that i hadn't put this up yet and better get a hurry on. The first week of the trip has us in London but after that were scurring around europe like chickens with our heads cut off. Anyways Wongo and i will user this blog to keep you all informed of our progress and fun times.
cheers Biddo
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