Simon & Amelia's European Adventures

Turkey & Goodbye Europe

2008-07-08T13:04:25Z

Merharba

Today ıs our fınal day of our European adventure, sıttıng ın our hostel ın Istanbul. The past 5 days ın Turkey have been excıtıng, despıte the fact ıt has been over 30 degrees for our stay (we wıll be mıssıng thıs heat when we get back to mınus temperatures ın Canberra). Turkey ıs where the East meets the west accordıng to folk and ıt ıs clear why the rest of Europe dont want Turkey to ever be ın the EU. Sımply, Turkey ıs dıfferent to Europe, but I thınk ın a good way. Istanbul has ancıent archıtecture and a fancınatıng culture. Maybe the reason for such European resentment ıs that many of the beautıful buıldıngs are mosques and the culture ıs more Asıan/mıddle Eastern than Europe. Hearıng Muslım prayers beıng blasted out on loud speakers 5 tımes a day ıs an ıncredıble feelıng and the passıon and commıttment of the Turkısh people ıs somethıng Western culture cant compete wıth (especıally the Turkısh bathıng experıence ınsıde a marble sauna wıth other semı nude or fully nude locals). We have been pested to enter every restaraunt ın Istanbul, and persuaded to buy anythıng from cashmere to Kıttens. I am not proud of ıt but Amelıa and I dıd some how end up purchasıng some carpet from the Grand Bazzar. Let me just say, even though we dont need any carpet whatsoever, the salesman certaınly made me thınk we needed a warehouse full of the stuff ! We also paıd a vısıt to Gallıpolı whıch was quıte a surreal experıence, especıally condıerıng so many lıves were lost for the reason of the Brıtısh not gıvıng the Turks back 2 of theır battles shıps whıch they borrowed. The trenches were so close together (under 7 metres apart) soldıers where bound to dıe. Our tour guıde found a bullet on the battlefıeld (not rare - they are everywhere) whıch he was kınd enough to gıve to me ( a fantastıc memory). The saddness of ıt all ıs the regıon ıs so beautıful ıt should never be scarred wıth such a past.

Anyway we need to catch a bus to the aırport so I am off. We wıll post a few more blogs summarısıng the whole trıp so stay tuned !

See you all soon !

Sımon & Amelıa

Turkey & Goodbye Europe remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Exploring a new place, a wedding and goodbye

2008-07-01T19:08:40Z

Dzien Dobry All, finally we have some time to sit down and share our experiences with you from over the past week and a bit. There is a fair bit of information so I'll just write everything in a systematic order! I'll start with our departure from Krakow. After arriving at the bus station a good 20 minutes before our bus was to leave, we encountered our first major difficulty withnot being able to speak the language. You see our destination was in the middle of a larger bus route, so the name of our town stop wasn't on any bus. After seeing the line for information was almost 1km long (note only one booth was open out of 20 odd and I swear she was talking on the phone to her mother), we decided to try and find the bus on our own. Very risky. I knew the area in which we were meant to be heading, so when I saw on of the major towns listed on a bus I thought we were safe. While it took about 15 mins to gets this information out of the bus driver, it was eventually confirmed that this was our bus and we were on our way. We only had to travel about 150 kms from Krakow to Tarnobrzeg, but this took over 3 hours. The roads in Poland are absolutely shit house and apparently over 7000 people die on the roads each year. We almost didn't get off at our stop either, as my body had decided 20 mins ago it was time for a rest, which resulted in me missing the name of the bus station. As we were 15 mins early I thought our station was next, so I just went back to sleep. Luckily a stray elbow hit the back of my chair, waking me up to se a large tall man named Tom waiting outside to pick us up. So we had arrived, in the little town of Tarnobrzeg. When I say small, 50,000 people still live in the town. The amazing thing is that Poland has a population of just under 40 million people, but its largest town (Warsaw) only has 1.6 million people, showing how widely dispersed the countries people are !

Over the next week we were constantly found at Maja's parents house (Dad and Step-Mum). While we only stayed there one night while our hotel was being prepared, the hostpitality both Pawel and Dinusha provided was unbelievable. We were fed fresh, traditional Polish meals at least 3 times a day as well as sampling the best Vodka and chocolate Poland had to offer (note the best Vodka we had was one called Zubrowka, which is English for Bison grass, with apple juice - it was really good). Meals such as slow cooked Polish sausage and Pork cutlets were some of the best food I have ever had in my life. All meals contained Pork (like all of Europe) and it is so much better than Aussie Pork (never dry, almost like lamb sometimes). I also had a good time playing soccer with Lulec, Maja's little step brother and taught him that Aussies dont dive when they play soccer ! Both Amelia and I had a great time in Tarnobrzeg, despite the fact the town wasn't really a big tourist draw card. Experiencing "real" Polish culture and learning a little about past difficulties, particularly with communism, was absoultely fascinating and much more rewarding than hanging out with other tourists all day. It was also great just to have a laugh with Tom and Maja again, which is something we do not get to do enough these days since we live in Canberra.

The week went fast and before we realised, it was the big day. I had been given a haircut by the local barber (it cost me $5 Australian and he did a far better job than the Muppets hands I use back home !) and my suits pants fitted me after the local tailor cut off around 5 metres from the leg (the bastard also laughed at me and asked if I wanted a waist coat made out of the scraps), so I was ready to go. Despite having to sign the marriage certificate before the wedding had occured and the fact that Tom and Maja didn't ending up sharing a kiss for the crowd (Polsih tradition apparently), the wedding went off without a hitch and Mr and Mrs Walsh were welcomed into the world. During the photos however I felt a little ill and soon realised I had got the runs some how. This in it self was managable, but when I strained my left hammy pushing a little too hard to get back for the 2nd round of photos, I was left a little embarrassed to say the least. I also had some further difficulties just before the speeches, needing to visit the WC once more, however on this occasion I somehow locked myself in. After trying in vain for around 5 minutes to get out and realsing the speeches were imminent, I unfortunately felt I had no other option but to bust down the door. 3 hip and shoulders latter I was free, but the lock needed some major maintenance ! It however was the speeches that made the night. While both fathers and myself made quite good speeches (well no one booed at me anyway), it was Tom's speech that people wont forget in a hurry. Not only was his speech filled with gratitude and humour, he delivered it like a true statesman. He had all the house in tears when he said his major regret was not being able to meet Maja's mother and thanking her for raising such a wonderful daughter. While the party was a bit subdued for a while, the night kicked on and all had a great night finishing up some time late in the morning!

In classic Polish style, the majority of the wedding attendees spent the next day sitting outside cooking sausages around a fire drinking the remaining beer and vodka ! Goodbyes were exchanged and we hit the road the next morning for Warsaw. While we almost missed the bus, thanks to some individuals who will remain nameless leaving the hotel at 8.16 when we agreed to meet at 8.15 (not bitter, just recognise that time is money for certain individuals). We eventaully made safely late Monday arvo. We are now in Warsaw (actually pronounced Va-shar-va) but we are tired and ready for our flight home. We are trying to take it easy here and recharge our batteries for a last stop, Istanbul. I am really excited about Turkey, so for now we will just see the sights slowly (dont get me wrong, Warsaw looks great, but I just cant be stuffed).

Speak to you all soon.

Oh yeah, Mike and Tash keep those photos of Amielle flowing on facebook, it is great to see action shots of her walking around !

Exploring a new place, a wedding and goodbye remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Krakow and Auschwicz

2008-06-19T18:23:03Z

After taking a 7 hour train ride from Vienna to Krakow, which really should only have taken 4 hours if the train moved fater than 20 km/h in the burbs, Amelia and I were pretty knacked to say the least. Luckily we didnt have to walk far to our hostel, which from the outside looked like abuilding transported directly from 1950's communist Russia. The stairs looked even worse, resembling some sort of CSI opening, but the hostel itself and the rooms were unbelievably good. Free breakfast, supper and internet, hot showers and a massive new bedroom. We have even been lucky enough to try a traditional Polish potato and sausage soup, gratis ! After looking around the old town square yesterday, which was really gorgeous, we decided to take the journey to Auschwicz today. An hour and a half bus ride took us to the first concerntration camp, which was basically left untouched after the war. Seeing a room full of womens hair, a crematorium used as a gas chamber and the notorious death wall and death block were all pretty shocking, however with truck loads of tourists it was hard to feel any deep emotions in the camp, which was a tad dissapointing. I still struggle not to belt people who laugh and do whatever they feel in such a place of sorrow. We then headed down the road to Birkenau, more commanly know as Auscwicz 2. Here train loads of people were brought into the camp, with 75% of the load being gassed upon arrival. As this camp was much bigger (3 square kms) you could find some space on your own inside some of the barracks were the prisoners slept. This was a far more harrowing experince and you could almost imagine what people felt inside. Further down we saw the ruins of 2 former gas chambers and even though they were a pile of rubble, you could still see where thousands of people entered the chamber never to be seen again. The fields alongside the chambers had memorial plaques, indicating that pits filled with the ashes of thousands of bodies were only 1 metre away. Still it is not comprehendible to think that 1.5 million people died in both Auschwicz camps, that is roughly the size of Adelaide and Canberra combined !

Tomorrow the search begins for wedding shoes and replacement shorts for myself, after the volleyball accident of the other day!

Speak to you all later

Krakow and Auschwicz remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Vienna, Australian for lots of schnitzel.

2008-06-17T22:39:32Z

I had a rule when I moved out of home, never eat the same meal 3 days in a row. Well I broke that rule quite badly in Vienna having 4 schnitzels in 3 days, but when they were served on a sword and in a wheelbarrow, how can you refuse ? After leaving the beautiful little town of Cesky Kremlov, we arrived in Vienna in the afternoon. After finding are hostel, we had a feed and went down to the fan zone in the city square. For those who dont know, Austria and Switserland are hosting the Euro 08 soccer tournament, which is a big deal over here ! The corwd was quite tame on the first night, but when the Turks stole a late win, the streets were alive with red flag and chants I couldn't understand ! The next night was the big big big game between Austria and Germany, but it was a bit of a fizzer and there was not much of a party going on (even though my face was painted red and white). While the schnitzels and the soccer were good, by far the best experience we had was a day trip to the Daunabe Valley wine region. Here we rode around on push bikes all day, drinking wine and schnapps, follwed but eating some sausages and chocolate, and finishing with a game of volleyball and more wine. We loved everything about this day except for when I tore my trusty pant/shorts in 2 whilst showing off in volleyball. This resulted in me having to create a makeshift cod piece out of my hat to protect the region from my nether regions ! Funny for all, emotional for me ! Still a great day though.

We didn't really get to see much of the classical Vienna as it was all covered up with soccer stuff, but the atmosphere made up for it.

Oh yeah, Peto you might like this, they make a sausage in Vienna called a Bern - Wurst (or something similar) which is a sausage filled with cheese and then wrapped in bacon. I now know what they eat in heaven !

We are now in Krakow after a long, long train trip, so we will update with more soon !

Until then.....

Vienna, Australian for lots of schnitzel. remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cesky Krumlov

2008-06-13T23:00:43Z

Evening All, we have spent our last 2 days in the tiny little Czech town of Cesky Krumlov. We have pretty much been taking it easy in the cobblestoned streets and castle gardens of the town, composing ourselves before our Polish quest (with a quick stop over in Vienna first). As the Euro soccer tournament is currently in full swing, we have been watching a heap of soccer with some fantastic games on offer. The Dutch side are quite unbelievable at the moment, thrashing both the Frogs and the Wogs. I certainly enjoyed the later win, especially after Australia's world cup exit a couple of years ago. While Italy has probably been our favorite place so far, I still love seeing their diving, whining mob of soccer players have a cry when they lose ! Back to Cesky Krumlov and the highlight has to be the castle's bear pit. I often ask myself how to best protect a castle but building a pit and chucking 4 bears in there never came to mind. Still a fantastic sight though ! Tomorrow we are off to Vienna for some schnitzels and plenty of soccer (since they are the hosts).

Until then stay beautiful.

Cesky Krumlov remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Prague - the place to be

2008-06-11T21:08:13Z

Ahoy All (yep, hello in Czech is Ahoy) todays update is from the pretty city of Prague. Being lucky enought to avoid an major damage in all wars, the majority of buildings in the Old town are quite old and are very interesting to look at. One individual said "it is like being in a fairy tale". While I wouldn't go that far, the set up of Prague is very welcoming and there is plenty to look at. Wehave wandered over a bridge from the 15 century, walked around a castle on top of a big hill and seen the brilliant astronomical clock in the old town square. While we missed the puppets coming out on the our, the design of the clock itself was amazing (telling you the time, month and day is a quirky manner - we will attach photos soon). We also experienced what Prague is truly famous for, its nightlife. We joined a pub crawl and lets just say we didn't ruin the Aussie reputation of having a good time and putting away a few, especially with our Dutch/Belgium friends. Not sure if an of the footy boys read this blog but if they do, 2009 footy trip should be to Prague.

Next update from Cesky Kremlov soon (we head off tomorrow)

See you all later

Prague - the place to be remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Fascinating Berlin

2008-06-08T15:24:27Z

Halo All, todays update come from the amazing city of Berlin. We have been here for 4 nights now and we head off tomorrow to Prague in the Czech Republic. Berlin has been very interesting and diverse, from finding the best opp shop in the world so far (we both got some cool stuff and so did Danielle) to learning of the troubled past of Berlin on a bike tour, there is definitely something to keep you going for ages in this place ! We have seen bits of the old Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg gates which have witnessed everything from Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, the Russians and Michael Jackson hanging babies over balconies (just up the road a bit), where Hitler died and a moving memorial to the Holocaust victims. We are staying in the old East Germany, so a lot of the bars and buildings here have lots of soviet memorabilia, certainly fascinating stuff. We have also been lucky enough to stumble upon markets were plenty of Nazi and Soviet treasures could be found. Tonight there is a massive game of soccer with Germany playing the Poles and apparently the 2 aren't the best of mates (something about an invasion in 1939 still causes some issues) so we are trying to head down to a popular spot to watch the game with thousands of locals (we just wont wear any red clothing).

Sorry about the delay in replying but internet is hard to find here ( damn commie infrastructure!). Only Kidding

Jus (informal for goodbye apparently)

Fascinating Berlin remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Dam Amster !

2008-06-02T18:14:47Z

Gdáy All, tonights update comes from a coffee shop in Amsterdam ! Don t stress, Amelia and I are taking it easy, well Amelia is anyway ! Amsterdam is a really pretty city during the day and a saucy playground in the night. The takeaway food here is unbeliveably good, I suppose it would have to be with the local clientele available. HEaps of canals, stealth trams and nuts of bikes make this city a little dangerous for the walker, but so far we have averted any problems. There are also plenty of crazy shops here with crazy art and toys (of the day and night) so dont be suprised if a lot of our soveigneers are from the crazy Orange land. Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride of of town a little which should be refreshing. Anyway go to run as we are off to the Sex Mueseum for a for some re-education !

Seeya (cant remember Dutch for goodbye)

Dam Amster ! remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Climbing the tower, hanging with Monet and Versailles

2008-05-30T19:04:44Z

Bonjour All, apologies for the delay in posting but we have been quite busy. Since our last update we have visited the Lourve, the Effiel Tower, Versailles, the Arc de Triumph and a couple of other art galleries. Climbing the Effiel Tower was great fun and it provided us with sensational views of Paris and some much needed exercise (after london). The Musee de Orsay was quite spectacular, housing the best of impressionalist art from Monet, Pissario, Van Gogh and others. The techniques used were very impressive showing just how talented such artists were. The De Orsay was far superior to the more famous Lourve, which a part from Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo was quite average (we prefer the National Gallery in Canberra). The gardens within the Chateu of Versailles provided some of the best sculptures we have seen in Europe so far, particularly of Encaladus which was a sculpture of a gold man struggling to break free from being buried in a pool of rocks. This was the only sculpture so far I felt I could relate to somewhat !

Tomorow marks our last day in Paris before we head off to Amsterdam, so stay tunned for some "interesting" upcoming blogs !

Au reviour

Climbing the tower, hanging with Monet and Versailles remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Goodbye London, Bonjour Paris

2008-05-27T16:59:23Z

Evening All, todays update comes from a very wet Paris. It seems everywhere we go, rain follows us. It bucked down when we left England and so far Paris has been the same (no global warming over here!). After our West End show, our sensational host Josh and old mate Ollie took us around some of the night spots that London has to offer, which included: a bowling alley with kareoke rooms, a bar, a dj and a cinema; a club called shunt under London Bridge, which was absolutley massive filled with art exhibitions, old trucks, a table tennis table and even a mini theatre; a rock and roll pub; and by far the best, an Itallian restauraunt with a Frank Sinatra impersonator singing whilst walking around the tables where people were eating. All showed how poor both Canberra and Adelaide's night scene are. However having all these great places comes at a cost, a lot of alcohol is cosumed by all and Amelia and I both felt our belts tighten somewhat. They amount the Poms drink cerainly put the Aussie's to shame. As for Paris, we have seen the Notre Dame (filled with tacky soveniers throughout such as prayer cards and candles), the concierge and the effiel tower from a distance (we will go closer when the rain stops). Oh yeah, we have already eaten crepes, crossiants and baquettes so all we have to try now are frog legs, snails and foie gras (whatever that is).

Au Revior

Goodbye London, Bonjour Paris remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The West End and Buckingham Palace

2008-05-24T13:38:25Z

G'day All, reporting from sunny England where the temperature is a warm 25 degrees (better than the reported minus 3 in Canberra overnight). Since our last entry we have travelled to Buckingham Palace and caught the last of the changing of the guards, which was quite a good show ! The guards do look quite stupid with their massive hairy hats (resemble marge simpson somewhat). Still they had guns so we pretended to respect them. From here went went to the Imperial War Museum which had the Trench and Blitzkrieg Experience which were pretty good. There was a large Holocuast section which was quite intense. We went straight from there to an East End show so we went from War to singing Muppets which was an interesting combination! The show we went to was called Avenue Q which was really cool, it was like Muppets but not a kids show as they had a sex scene and a song called 'Internet is great for Porn'! It was hilarious! After that we met up with Ollie and Fritz and went out for some drinks and crashed at his place. All in all we had a good night, especially Amelia who loved dancing some dude named Sanchez from South America !

Toodles

The West End and Buckingham Palace remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Photos - 1

2008-05-22T23:35:49Z

Photos - 1 remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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London Bridge isn't falling down, it is still there !

2008-05-22T22:50:01Z

We arrived in London from Cambridge yesterday and are staying with our friend Josh (Idol for the footy boys) in the outskirts of London. Today we went to the Tate Modern Muesem and saw a heap of Picasso's as well as some Warhol's and Mattisse's. While in town we also had a look at Big Ben and walked down many Monopoly streets including Pall Mall, the Strand, Picadilly Circus, Oxford St, Regent St, Trafalgar Square etc!!! We are thinking of catching a show tomorrow night in the West End which should be good fun (as long as it isn't Grease the musical) (Simon won't let me see Dirty Dancing the musical either) as well as having a chat to some guards with fuzzy hats and some Beefeaters! I also purchased a soccer strip today so I now offically support Aston Villa (sorry Norwich but you had no shirts anywhere !). It is funny to note that Aston Villa is actually in Birmingham, not in London, but I have had a soft spot for them ever since Aussie Mark Bosnich played with them !

We also plan to have some tea and scones soon, or at the very least some fish and chips.

Note 1 - We are trying to add some photos so have a look at our next post !

Note 2 - Dad, I grabbed you a soccer top today as well but they didn't have your size in Everton and Reading wasn't in the shop, so you now have a new team to support. The good news is that Stan Lazaridis used to play with them, the bad news is that they just got relegated !

Cheers

Simon & Amelia

London Bridge isn't falling down, it is still there ! remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Bullfights and well educated English

2008-05-20T23:02:53Z

Good Evening All, we are writing to you tonight from the home of one of England's most prestigious education facilities, Cambridge. It is a beautiful little town with very pretty countryside and our hosts Claire and Malcolm have made our stay here very welcoming indeed, providing us with a bed and great home cooked meals (with vegies, hooray! Thanks guys). We left Seville on Monday morning on Ryanair which was quite fun, but Amelia and I were still talking about the bullfight we witnessed the night before. I convinced Amelia we should go, stating that the bulls would die regardless of whether we decided to attend or not, and it would be a learning experience. It certainly was! Sitting on bricks crowded next to old Spanish men smoking, watching 6 bulls get killed by groups of men with spears, knifes and swords over 2 hours with the crowd cheering and waving white rags in the air, is certainly something we will never forget ! The victorious mattador received a winning trophy of a bulls ear, which should go well on any wall cabinet ! Despite this experience and how cute Seville was, I cant help but fell dissapointed that we stayed in Spain for so long at the expense of other locations. Overall the Spanish food was crap, the people were rude and the sights were average, we wont be coming back (Italy on the other hand we want to explore more). Tomorrow we are off to stay in London for a week which should be fun and I am trying to convince Amelia to go via Norwich to see my soccer teams home ground !

Speak to you all soon!

Toodles

p.s Mum, I got you something from Cambridge today which I know you will love, it is just so difficult to carry around. I might have to send it home ! I'll give you a clue, this particular thing often wears a rain jacket !

Hoo Roo

Bullfights and well educated English remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Seville, finally some sunshine

2008-05-17T18:25:18Z

Good Evening All, today our update is from SUNNY Seville. Hooray ! Mind you it did rain yesterday, but at least today has been beautiful. Our hostel in Seville has a roof top terrace which is great to sip on an OJ and watch over the city (I really mean OJ since we are both still getting over our illness). Tonight we are going to watch some flamenco were the deal is 3.50 Euro for a Corona and a shot of tequilla, so tomorrow we may be sick but in a different way ! Today we travelled to a former Muslim fortress known as the Alcazar, which was quite stunning. The Spanish elite have modified it a lot over the years and the arctitecture doenst have a thing on the Roman stuff, but the gardens out the back were beautiful *I will try and attach some photos). From here we went and did a tour of the bull ring, which looked really good. Only one man has died from a bull in the last 100 years, and I have a photo of the bulls head who got him (revenge is sweet sometimes). We are still debating whether or not to go, as it is pretty cruel to the bulls, but as they say, when in Rome (or Seville). All in all, Seville is quite a nice little spot, with a fair bit to look at. Still I would be lying if Amelia and I didn't say we are looking forward to catching up with friends in London !

Speak to you all soon.

Gracias !

Seville, finally some sunshine remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The oranges in Valencia are good, who would have thought !

2008-05-15T11:01:06Z

The past couple of days in Valencia have been quite relaxing. We took a stroll down a former river bed which has now been turned into a beautiful park complete with science muesums and art galleries. Perhaps the Torrens could take a leaf out of the Valencia book ! The facinating thing about the city is that it is really up and coming, in that it hosted the Americas Cup last year and it is hosting a formula 1 race either this year or next year, yet it has quite a lot of gypsy villages around these sites. This amazing thing is, these gyspy villages take up prime real estate right on the Medditeranian coast. A prime real estate opporutnity for those looking for a holiday shack (note that this area is home to paella, so it has its positives) ! The city also is the home to the wholy grail, but Amelia and I coundn´t be bothered paying to see a cup so we just went inside and took a photo of a tapestry of the cup, close enough !

Unfortunately as a result of the continued rain in Spain, Amelia and I are a bit crook, but I´m sure if we keep eating the local oranges we will recover fast enough ! Tomorrow we venture south to Seville for some flamenco, tapas and bullfighting !

Until then, Adios

The oranges in Valencia are good, who would have thought ! remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Valencia looks promising

2008-05-13T13:08:53Z

We finally left Barcelona this morning at 7am and we have now arrived in sunny Valencia. We have already found a nice food market, the hostel is nice and the town seems a whole lot friendlier than its northern neighbour. We are about to head off and have a look at the holy grail, the closest we will ever come to it anyway. If only I had downloaded some Hunters and Collectors.......

Speak to you alll soon

Adios

Valencia looks promising remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Rain in Spain has been a pain

2008-05-12T16:13:39Z

Hola, apologies for not updating the blog sooner but this is the first time we have had access to internet while in Barcelona. Where to start on Barcelona - bad hostel, terrible weather, over priced everything or average sights? Amelia and I both were really looking forward to Barcelona as we have so much positive feedback about this place. Yet we are leaving tomorrow and we have little positive to say. I must admit, I dont really like the Gaudi architecture as it is reminds me of caves with mosaics, so the main sights here didn´t impress much. Apart from a couple of funky art shops, there hasn´t been much we have enjoyed. We did attend a spanish cooking class were we learnt the secrets of paella and sangria and we met some nice people in that class. The food here is far more expensive than Rome which is a little suprsing. Barcelona certainly knows how to rain, as it didn´t stop for 2 days straight (amazing considering Adelaide cant get any rain at all). Unfortunately, we decided to have a quiet drink to watch the rain, which turned into more than a few after we bumped into some bloody Poms from Newcastle. The end result was I spent most of the first day when it was actually sunny, curled up in bed nursing a major hangover. All in all Barcelona has been a little dissapointing, whether it be from the weather or built up expectations, I dont think this is a city we will be coming back to in a hurry! Bring on Valencia.

Adios

The Rain in Spain has been a pain remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Pomery in Pompeii & Napoli not so nasty

2008-05-08T08:38:14Z

G'day Again, today's adventure saw Amelia and myself head to the city formally covered in ash, Pompeii. This involved a quite expensive train ride to Napoli and then onto Pompeii for a day of turning back the clock. Once again, the ruins and artifacts found within Pompeii were simply amazing, particularly looking at wall paintings dating back 2000 years. Our favourite had to be the suggestive paintings contained within the former brothel, some of which looked quite difficult. We are still finding it very difficult to take in that the things we were witnessing were so very ancient, especially compared with Australian ruins dating a little over 200 years. After walking around the Pompeii site for around 4 hours (my ankles and the cobblestone streets weren't the best of friends) we decided to head back to Rome via Naples. Knowing that Napoli is the home of pizza, I was extremely keen to give it a go. After some long negotiations, I finally convinced Amelia to venture into the supposed dangerous environment that is Naples (note Naples has the highest crime rate in Italy including many mafia realted incidents). I am so glad we did make it in, as the pizza was beautiful. Da Michele is the first pizza shop in Napoli and it only serves magerita and a garlic, oregano and tomato pizza. While simple, the wood oven flavours made this a unforgettable experience.

Tomorrow we are jus going to take it easy and gve our feet a rest, so we might next update from Barcelona, the city of good times !

Ciao

Pomery in Pompeii & Napoli not so nasty remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We went, we saw, and we still aren't Catholic

2008-05-06T16:25:39Z

Today we started our day fairly early to beat the crowds at the Vatican City. We planned to meet a girl I work with at the train station but couldn't find her so had to leave without them. We lined up for about 40 mins which wasn't too bad to get into the Vatican CIty (we 'read' an Italian paper to kill time). The Sistine Chapel was amazing but my neck and back is sore from looking up at the ceiling all morning, I can't imagine how the painters felt over the 4 years it took them to do just one ceiling! There was so much detail there it was impossible to take it all in, it was so extravagent! We saw the Pope's carriages and fancy cars, including a pope mobile land rover (perhaps for safari tours?) It was quite weird to think that they have all these treasures yet priests and nuns make a vow to live in poverty. I was also shocked by some of the violence in the pictures including babies being stabbed and plentiful decapitations. We missed the Pope but also went to St Peters which was also overwhelming. Everything is so big and over the top in Rome, it is unbelievable. We resitied to the tempation to enter the exclusive prayer room and the holy offering even though Simon did want a biscuit (Simon Says - the best bit for me was inside St Peters, there was enscriptions all around the ceiling with a portion saying "Simon Bar". I knew I liked alcohol for a reason, it is my destiny}

Tomorrow we are heading off to Pompeii on the train via Napoli so that should be interesting.

Ciao

We went, we saw, and we still aren't Catholic remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Roma - it is really old !

2008-05-05T20:09:19Z

Hello Once Again, today we spent the full day walking around the wonderful city of Rome, which is nothing like Amelia or myself have ever seen before. For starters, there are buildings in the city which were made BC and are still looking good! Sure puts into perspective the leaking roof we had in our Canberra apartment 6 weeks after purchasing it! I started the day with a cappacino from the bar below us, which I drank standin up surrounded by old men in leather jackets. The coffee was gooooddddd and the price of 1 Euro was even better. Amelia and I then went down to a local market and picked up 5 sugar glased crossiants for 70 euro cents, sensational buy! After this great start, we went and visited the Colosseum. The very first MCG was very impressive, especially since it was last used in 500 AD. Trying to imagine how real gladiators {not Kouta or Vulcan} fought lions in front of 70,000 fans was inconprehendible. From here we went to see to old Roman forum, which was mosly in ruins. However plenty of colums remained and some of the structures and arches were trully amazing. The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring more of Rome's highlights icluding some steps, a fountain, gelati, pasta and the ferrari shop {scale models had a cost of over 500 euros}. But by far the highlight of the day was the pantheon, a structure made in 27 BC that houses the graves of former Italian KIngs and Raphel {the architect, not the ninja turtle}. The marble work and statues was unbelieveable but how the hell they put the marble roof up in BC is truly a mystery. Tomorrow we are visiting the Vatican City because we both are devout Catholics {well at least I know that Jesus gave us some good public holidays} with one of Amelia's workmates, who we bumped into in the Roman Forum. It truly is a small world.

As for my rant of the day, I dont really have much to complain about. However, it is amazing how old, fat American tourists walk in diagonal lines whenever you try and pass them. Perhaps they need to confirm that in fact they are the most annoying people on the planet {including Port Adelaide fans}

Ciao

Roma - it is really old ! remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Lost apples, no accommodation and a cold shower !

2008-05-04T19:56:08Z

Good Evening All, I am writing our first real blog entry sitting in a little marble walled room in Rome. I thought I had better let you know of the adventures we have had so far. The bus trip up from Sydney and our overnight stay was uneventful, apart from losing our lunch down the bus aisle when both our apples went for a roll! We got on the plane on time, settled in and enjoyed our flight into Seoul, where we were greeted by our first suprise. Our overnight accommodation in Seoul, courtesy of Korean Air, didnt show up on the system. Unfortunately the muppet from Flight centre forgot o book us in, so we were on our own. After muttering some unpleasent English phrases, we decided to head into Seoul and try our luck there. All capital cities have an abundance of accommodation options, but my suggestion of getting off a couple of stops early proved not to be the best {in distance terms, we got off in Yass when we should of got off in Canberra}. After a good hour we found a quaint little joint that cost us 40,000 won for the night {about $40 Aus}. Apart from having no hot water, it was a great little joint. We dared to try some Korean food, which I still dont actually know what we ate. It did include raw beef and an open grill and heaps of spicy cabbagge, which was great for the 12 hour flight! The flight to Rome was good and we jumped on the train when the ATM eventually decided to work, Suprisingly, Rome appears to be a very dirty city and their airport was terrible {so much for Armani style}. We have a couple of photos but cant put them up at this stage as the computer is a bit old.

I have decided to have a regular feature in the blog called "Pomerys Rant of the Day". The first rant in the series is dedicated to those wankers who see fit to have their seat down for the entire 12 hour flight. This in itself shits me to tears, but when these particular individuals have a go at me for bumping their chair, I lose the plot a little. Next time I wont keep pulling travel pillows out from under their head and hidding them under my seat, but I enjoyed that activity today !

Lost apples, no accommodation and a cold shower ! remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Proposed Itinerary

2008-04-29T04:21:53Z

Canberra - Sydney - Seoul - Rome - Barcelona - Valencia - Seville - Cambridge - London - Paris - Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague - Cesky Kremlov - Vienna - Krakow - Tarnobzreg - Barnow - Warsaw - Istanbul - Seoul - Sydney - Canberra

Proposed Itinerary remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Packing....

2008-04-29T04:18:23Z

With almost everything booked and organised, we are currently faced with the task of determining what we can pack inside our little backpacks (still bigger than Amelia). Unfortunately for this trip, I will not be able to take my collection of ten-pin bowling balls, which is a shame.

Next update will be from Seoul, so stay in touch to see how the green tea porridge goes down on the flight !

Packing.... remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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In the Beginning...

2008-04-29T04:27:31Z

Like most youngsters, Amelia and myself have always dreamed of travelling through Europe. After going on mini adventures to New Zeland and Thailand, we figured the time was right to go a little further away from Australia. So when our good friends Tom & Maja invited us to their wedding in Poland, we knew the time had come !

After months of planning, we have finally booked in most of the important stuff. We have flights with Korean Air, leaving from Sydney on 3 May, stopping over in Seoul for a night, and then onto Rome on 4 May. On our way home we leave Istanbul on 8 July and reurn to Sydney via Seoul on 10 July. We have arranged most of our accomodation, we have organised some bus transfers and some internal flights, yet we still feel like we have a lot to do !

Unfortunately I haven't saved as much as I would of liked to (thanks to some prepaid uni fees and the purchase of a fairly expensive peice of jewlery for Amelia), but I am sure I will manage (I still have 2 kidneys so I could sell one of those )

Any how, 32 days to go and counting......

In the Beginning... remains copyright of the author Simelia, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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