Venice; The Floating City

Hello and welcome to the next instalment of ChickenStew’s Travel Recipes from Around the World. As some of you may know we’ve spent the past few days exploring Italy’s floating (or sinking) city; Venice. Regardless of the floating/sinking argument, Venice is and will always be beautiful as you imagine it to be. Stepping out of the train station we were greeted with a bustling waterfront. There were ferries, gondolas, water taxis, delivery barges and even canoes vying for a spot on the Grand Canal. It was very weird not to see streams of scooters, cars and bicycles roaring through as we had seen throughout so many of our Italian stops. Map in hand, we boarded a ferry bound for the famous Rialto Bridge and our hotel. Quickly glancing at the map in between my tourist gawks of the beautiful Grand Canal I decided that we had to climb over the Rialto Bridge to reach out hotel. Turns out I was wrong and after wandering aimlessly for a few minutes, we worked out that I had been reading the map back to front - durr. I would make a rubbish Scout. So we (well Stu) heaved our heavy suitcases back over the Rialto Bridge and in the right direction of our hotel. Turning down a tiny street we started hearing cheers and groans coming from a tiny pub. Turns out we have just stumbled right into the middle of the Italia-New Zealand game. Deciding then and there that we had to return to this pub to catch the end of the game (it’s always fun watching the Italian supporters) we hurriedly checked into the hotel and were back at the pub within minutes of the second half. Stu decided that this would be the one and only time he would support New Zealand in a sporting match (Stu: unless they ever play England!). Once the game was over we headed towards St Marks Square (San Marco) along the tiny back streets and over the canals. Arriving at the square we found it to be completely flooded – now where do we go? Oh well only one thing to do – take off our shoes, roll up our jeans and get wet. We splashed out way though the square towards the Doges Palace and towards higher ground. What fun – was just like being a child again! Anyway when we reaching the waterfront and strolling down towards the parks, we were amazed to see how many gondolas and cruise ships were in the lagoon. They were everywhere. We found a small restaurant for dinner and were surprised to be serenaded by not only the restaurant owner but one of the waitresses as well. How very Venice.

Day 2 we awoke to grey skies and occasional showers (not again!) so we decided that the day would be best spent exploring the streets and checking out the local museums. All in all we had another Lord of the Rings day (see Stu’s blog “How far did you walk today from 0 to Lord of the Rings”). We headed over the Academia Bridge towards the Peggy Guggenheim Museum (highly recommended by Jen as a must do in Venice). The museum was amazing and definitely worth the visit. I got an audio guide (a must do) which explained how the museum used to be Peggy’s home and how she came about to collect so many famous pieces. It also went on to describe many of the pieces within the museum – fascinating stories. One funny story which I have to share was that of the statue sitting proudly on Grand Canal terrace. The statue is of a naked figure sitting upright (in more ways than one) on top of a horse, worshipping the skies. According the audio guide, the sculptor made the figures “member” removable for when discretion was required. Peggy soon had the member welded on when people started stealing it. As such the “member” now stands proud, welded in place for all to see. From the Guggenheim museum we headed around the point (and the statue of the boy with his frog) towards to cruise terminal to check out the boats in port. From here we again got lost in the tiny streets until we found our way back to St Marks Square (flooded again) and the looming Queen Victoria parked alongside the boardwalk. Unfortunately we didn’t get to splash our way through the square this time as the fun police (Stu) didn’t want to get his feet wet. Finding another way around the flooded square we headed for a closer look of the Queen Victoria before grabbing dinner and heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.

Day 3 we awoke to bright blue sunny skies – hurrah! Deciding that today would be best spent cruising the waterways and lagoons of Venice, we purchased a 12 hour ferry pass and boarded Ferry (Line 1) for a cruise down the Grand Canal towards the island of Lido (and the beach). Arriving at Lido we strolled down the main street towards the beach. Lido is very much like Noosa in many ways, the pavements are wide and lined with trees, alfresco cafes and gelatarias. The way of life seems a lot slower here – it’s nice. Reaching the beach we kicked off our havianas and headed past the little beach huts and umbrellas to dip our toes in the ocean. From Lido we boarded another ferry back to the main island so that we could take another to the island of Murano – famous the world over for its glass. Whilst we managed to score amazing seats at the front of the boat, poor Stu was unlucky enough to sit down wind from an Eastern European gentleman who had the worst case of BO we had ever encountered. Poor Stu didn’t get to enjoy the scenery at all, having to look back at Lido Island the entire trip to the main island. Luckily we were spared the company of our new friends on the second ferry and were able to kick back and enjoy the passing scenery as we circumnavigated the main island enroute to Murano. Stu would like me to add here that we passed the cemetery island where rumour has it the Venetians are just dying to get to. Ha ha ha... hmmm. While we were in Murano we strolled the main street checking out all of the amazing glass wares and were even lucky enough to watch a glass blowing demonstration – very cool. From Murano we headed back to St Marks Square to enjoy the live music streaming from the restaurants within the square. I even managed to con a local pigeon to fly onto my arm for a photo op. Stu thinks that this pigeon will come back to get me when I least expect it. I hope not, then again I heard that being pooed on is considered a sign of good luck? Still gross.

Day 4, another bright sunny day in the floating city. Having seen most of Venice over the past two day, we decided to once again get lost in the small maze of streets that is the city and see what we could find. Heading over the Rialto Bridge we wandered through the local markets; stand after stand of colourful, fresh fruit and veg. There was also a fish market where we saw two huge whole tunas as well as numerous different kinds of shellfish. Stu recognised a langoustine (shrimp like crustacean with claws) whose shell he had battled during one dinner in Prague. From here we kept walking (more Lord of the Rings) until it was time to settle down to watch England vs. Slovenia with a huge cocktail at Hard Rock Cafe. One yummy pina colada down, we soon realised that they were only showing the USA vs. Algeria and hurried to our local to watch the game. While at the pub we met a lovely Australian couple from Melbourne who had been in Italy for the past 7 weeks. Getting onto the topic of Italian shoes and then somehow on to Oliver Footwear, we soon discovered that this couple owned Aquila and knew Stu’s old boss. Small world huh? They also introduced us to an Australian drink called “Black and Tan” (must be a Melbournian thing because we had never heard of it) – ½ lager, ½ Guinness. Sounds disgusting but it was actually quite nice. Anyway a few hours later, England and the US had both gotten through to the next stage and after a quick dinner, we were back in the pub to watch Australia thrash Serbia. Turned out to be quite the football afternoon.

Well that was how we spent our time in Venice. As I write this blog we are now sitting on a Eurostar City train bound for Milan where we have to catch our next train to Lake Como and the beautiful lakeside town of Bellagio. Only two more days in Italy before we hit France. Ok time for me to sign off and enjoy the passing scenery. Ciao for now.

To view photos of Venice CLICK HERE or visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=445619&id=664955104&l=7fb8f00d9a

Hmmm Florentine Steak!

Hello Tasha here with another installment of our blog; this time about Florence. As I am writing this Stu is desperately searching the local TV channels for the Australia-Ghana game. Hold on he's hijacking the computer for a TV guide... be right back...

.. Ok it appears that the Italian free to air channels only show the last game of each day - no fun! Guess Stu will have to settle for the live online updates for now. Fingers crossed Australia has better luck this game!

Anyway back to the blog. So today is the last day of our 3 day stint in Florence and what a fantastic time we've had - this place is amazing! I think the best way to describe Florence would be "a quaint Tuscan town with the pulse of Rome". Not sure if that makes sense but what i'm trying to say is that Florence is ancient and modern all at the same time. As Stu mentioned in our last blog, our hotel is right on the Arno river near the famous Ponte Vecchio so we've got a great base camp to explore from.

We arrived by bus around lunch time on Thursday and were greeted with grey storms clouds - oh no! Having a vague idea where the bus dropped us, we headed in the direction of the river dragging out luggage behind us along the small cobbled pavements (and prayed that the rain would hold out). About 5 blocks and 4 dead arms later, we arrived at our hotel and checked in. Dumping our bags we headed straight out towards the Ponte Vecchio when it starts to rain.. hard! Ducking into a cafe for a sandwich the heavens open will full force; rain, hail, thunder and lightening! Lets say we ate pretty slow! Once the weather had died down we headed back out into the streets (umbrella's at the ready) to check out the famous jewellers of the Ponte Vecchio! Amazing stuff there girls...

From there we headed towards the Duomo to climb Brunelleschi's famous dome (al a Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour). As we pay the entrance fee we see a sign "450+ steps to the top" - argh! Heading up the steps everything seemed ok... until we got to the tiny, claustrophobic stone spiral staircase! We kept climbing and climbing the tiny windowless staircase (ok there were the occasional windows but nowhere near enough for my claustrophobic liking) until we reached the platform into interior dome. As we walked through the door we were hit with a beautiful fresco painting on the dome ceiling (see facebook shots). The walkway covered 180 degrees of the dome, giving us a great view of the art work in all it's glory. We were then back into a tiny corridor to continue our climb to the top - and what a climb it was. Up and up we went between the inner and outer domes for what felt like forever until we finally reach the top. What a view - definitely worth the 8 euro and mental anguish (for me anyway). Just now to survive the narrow corridors and stairwells on the way down.... (which we did). Actually I have to add here that on the way down we were almost died... not by falling, not by a claustrophobic panic attack but by a tourist who decided that the windowless, narrow stairwell would be a good time to drop a fart. Lucky there were no children around, it smell so bad that I think it could have killed a small child. Lets just say this fart was so bad it would have turned Stu into an Ambipure air-freshener by comparison! But enough about farts... arriving at the bottom (no pun intended) it was soon dinner time and we decided to hunt out the infamous Florentine Streak! After some google research of the local restaurants we settled on Acqua il 2 and were not disappointed! You must all research the receipe for Balsamic Steak and make it right away... AMAZING! A perfect end to a perfect afternoon in Florence!

Day 2... the day had finally arrived that I had been so looking forward to since Rome... our outing to THE MALL! Eeeeeee (that's my excitement)! We headed back to the bus terminal we were dropped yesterday and bought two tickets to Leccio! Next bus 30 mins... YAY! Boarding the bus I noticed that we weren't the only tourists there... in fact the whole bus was FULL of tourists (mostly women and the occasional stylish male), all with credit cards at the ready! After a quick dash down the Autostrade (read: highway) we had arrived and my shopping adventure began... and continued for the next 6 hours (with a detour to D&G thanks to a local taxi driver). All I can say is thank you Stu for all your patience and for carrying my bags around. Let's just say it wasn't really Stu's scene. He did like the meat platter we got for lunch though so all was not lost right Stu!? Before I knew it (and for what felt like hours to Stu) we were back on the bus to Florence and were planning our evening; aperitivo at the hotel, blog/photo update and dinner / watch the England match. Unfortunately we were not so lucky with our dinner this night (nor was England with their performance) - back to Acqua il 2 tomorrow night me thinks?

Day 3... today was booked in to explore Florence a little more (and to give my credit card a rest). Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and our umbrellas we out for another day on the town. We started our exploration on the otherside of the river, searching for Brunelleschi's less famous mini dome (as seen on Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour). Having no idea where it was we kept walking until we stumbled on S. Spirito, an unassuming church which turned out to hold many amazing art works under the dome designed by Mr. Brunelleschi himself (well he designed the whole church). Lucky find. From here we headed back across the Ponte Vecchio in search of the San Lorenzo food market and hopefully a cheap lunch. One hour and one crappy stylized map later we still hadn't found the market and popped into what we though was a small pizza joint for refuge and a cheap lunch. What a fantastic place this turned out to be! Not only was it not "a small pizza joint" (it was a really cool artsy restaurant) the food was both cheap AND amazing! Best pizza / pasta yet! Tummies full, we headed back out into the rain to check out some more sights; S. Maria Novella church, San Lorenzo food market (we found it), the outdoor markets and finally the Santa Croce, final resting place for many greats; Michaelangelo and Galileo included. The tombs in this church were so beautiful - you can see all the pictures in the facebook link below. Michaelangelo's tomb was the most impressive however as his was made of Porphyry! This is the super expensive marble that we learnt about in the Vatican! A great monument to a great artist and sculptor! Well I guess that's all for now.... we're off to Venice tomorrow! Can't wait! Until next time..... ARRIVDERCI!!

To view our photos CLICK HERE or go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=442575&id=664955104&l=dd390e1059

How far did you walk today on a scale of 1 - Lord Of The Rings?

Hello crew.... Stuart here again... and as i write this i am in Florence, in our hotel, overlooking the Arno River, and into my second bottle of Red.....re-hydrating....

Well, Siena is one of the most beautiful cities in Tuscany, and we spent a couple of days dodging the rain and trying to see the sights of this place!!! On day one we walked around the Piazza del Campo, saw the tower (unfortunately couldn't go up it as it was raining), went to the Duomo and did a lap of the old city walls which were built many hundred of years ago to keep the rabbits out (very successfully!!)

According to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Statues and other artwork depicting a she-wolf suckling the young twins Romulus and Remus can be seen all over the city of Siena. Other etymologies derive the name from the Etruscan family name "Saina", the Roman family name of the "Saenii," or the Latin word "senex" ("old") or the derived form "seneo", "to be old".

Sorry - a bit of a lapse back into my old University writing days.... (i love cut and paste)

One place of interest which we visited (and were not allowed to photograph) was the Basillica of San Domenico, this church has on display the head of Saint Catherine of Siena....... and her thumb!!!

I think the best description i can offer for our time in Siena is for everyone to simply to look at the photos on Facebook as they tell the story of our Siena adventures far better than i can!! You can view them by CLICKING HERE or at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=442094&id=664955104&l=165a6a1acd

Sausage Fest and a train to Grosseto!

Hello loyal followers, it is Stuart here again for the end of Rome's blog, the Grosetto blog, and the Siena / San Gimignano blogs..... so the quality of spelling and grama will decline, and the humor will increase again!!!!!

Ok - The Last Supper..... for our last night in Rome, Cousin Nicole and her Italian husband thought we should not leave Rome until we have had a traditional Roman dinner (big difference between Roman food, and Italian food!!) so after an hour blast along the Roman roads at warp speed with Paulo Schumacher we arrived somewhere else in Rome and got the restaurant. After being seated, we had a starter of some form of sparkling red wine at a rate of litres per minute, and 3245345 types of salami, chingali, prosciutto, cheese and roast piggy.... that was followed by a main that consisted of 23525436534 types of the above mentioned meats, a few more tonnes of cheese and a few hundred more litres of booze........ Was a great night out experiencing how the Romans would have feasted a couple of thousand years ago, when Rome was in its "hey-day"!!!

The following morning (with surprisingly operational brains) we farewelled the St. Ange family and jumped on a train north to Grosseto............while on the train at the station we saw one of gods greatest creations....... the gypsy.... taking her pants down and taking a slash on the platform...... in clear view of probably 200 people on the train, and another few hundred on the platform, but it is Italy, so anything goes!!!!!

Zac met us at the train station, and after quickly checking in to the Hotel Bastiani in Grosetto, we were off to the beach for a quick swim... it was blowing a gale and not very pleasant, however i braved a dip in the Med (only because the swim was an easier option than lining up for the toilet...............)

After my "swim" we hit the road for the 15kn journey back to Grosetto............ 2 hours later when we arrived we got changed and were heading up to The Wall for dinner, a few beers, and to watch the Aussie Soccer team get smashed by "zee germans" Fantastic Pizza, Fantastic Beer, Fantastic atmosphere, terrible result for Australian Soccer!!!! We met our new little friend Martina (6 year old Italian girl with very limited English skills) who after the game managed to tell us "don't worry about your country losing, you have lots of friends around you at this table" arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Next morning it was off to Siena with Zac to check into our ac com, then back to Grosetto to watch the Italian game!!! 1-1 the Italians were not happy........ but i guess on a nett level, it is 4 goals better than the Aussie team did.... we got a lift back to Siena after the game with Lorenzo and his lovely finance........Lorenzo was the most sensible Italian driver we had been in a car with yet, still a speed deamon by the Fun Policed Aussie standards, but relatively sensible by Italian standards !!!!!!!

Internet - Oh how we've missed you!

Finally we have an internet connection! Unfortunately it's only in the lounge of our hotel in Florence but that's OK we'll make do! We haven't had time to write our blog yet (maybe tonight) but just wanted to let you know that we have uploaded some photos from Grosseto, Siena and San Gimignano to Facebook today. For some reason we could only upload a few so we'll finish the rest later. To check them out CLICK HERE or go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=442094&id=664955104&l=165a6a1acd

When in Rome....

Pronto & ciao from Roma!

Today is our 5th day in Rome and what a fantastic 4 days we have had so far! As we have done and seen so much since we have been here (and so that we don't bore you with too much detail), we have decided to put our experiences into point form..... so here goes;

• Flying from Prague to Rome on Smart Wings - after our overweight luggage charge with Transavia from Amsterdam, Stu and I decided to wear as much heavy clothing as possible to try and reduce our load. Leaving the hotel I was wearing jeans, boots, a singlet, cardigan and two jackets (must have looked like the michelin man) and Stu was wearing jeans, a tshirt and two jumpers! This was all well and good until we walked out into the 25 degree heat of Prague! Thankfully the cab (not a dodgy one this time) was air conditioned! Anyway we got to the airport to check in and they didn't even weigh our hand luggage - can you believe it? Time to strip off and repack! I love Smartwings already! Anyway after purchasing some Slivovice (local plum liqueur) we were soon on our way and flying over the snow capped mountains of the Alps!

• Arriving at the airport we were met by my lovely Aunty Babette and were soon whisked away to her beautiful family home in the town of Infernetto, south-west of Rome. The drive to the house was interesting; it appears that the Italians have no road rules what so ever. You really have to have your wits about you to drive here. As my Aunty said, she can only drive here because she has driven in Seychelles! Not only are the drivers bad, so are the roads; there are pot holes everywhere! We would later find out that these road conditions will make for a interesting bus ride to the metro station each day! Anyway thanks to Babette's skilled driving we made it to her house in one piece and were soon enjoying a glass of wine in the sun, while Uncle Perin cooked some kebabs on the BBQ! We were soon joined by the entire family for an Italian BBQ dinner and finally got to meet Nikki's husband Paolo and their beautiful baby Amelie (plus all of the dogs - Mocha the baby Pug, Coco the Pomeranian from Oz and Luna the Italian speaking Lab). All in all a lovely first day in Rome.

• Sunday - a day of rest (much needed after the full on tour of London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague). Waking up nearing lunch time we stumbled downstairs to meet the family basking in the hot Italian sun - perfect. Once we were suitably cooked we headed to the local supermarket to buy the ingredients for Babette's infamous Amartriciana and bruscetta! Yum! Once we were all stuffed the family went for a very Italian Sunday siesta while Stuart and I decided to walk to the beach at Ostia Antica. Hoping to dip our toes into the Mediterranean we soon discovered that the beach is covered in beach clubs, each with an entrance fee of 10 euro! Seeming as we had cash on us we headed back to the house, our feet still dusty and dry! My Uncle then took us to an art show/dinner at the home of one of his EFAD work colleagues! The paintings were amazing and very beautiful, depicted scenes from Africa and the Middle East! Sangria in hand we were introduced to a melting pot of people; French, Italian, Arabic and then there were the three American gospel singers! These guys did a few tunes accapella and blew everyone away. Not only were these ladies a complete hoot, we later found out that they were quite famous and had just returned from Oslo from singing at the Eurovision Song Contest! Amazing who you meet along the way.

• Monday - we were finally ready to brave the Italian public transport system and head into the city. After some directions from my cousins we learnt that we had to hop on the 070 bus to EUR Fermi (metro station) and then catch the metro into the city - easy enough right? Well the trick was that you couldn't pay for the bus trip on the bus nor anywhere other that in the city so we had to ride the bus without a ticket to the metro and hope you don't get caught! Argh! Lucky for us there were no inspectors on the way in and we were soon able to buy our week passes without drama. Anyway we finally made it to the Colosseum where our tour of the city began. Joining a tour group we bypassed the queues and were soon inside, marveling at its sheer size and history. It would have been amazing to see the Colosseum in its former glory but the ruin was just as breathtaking. Apparently the Vatican "recycled" a lot of the white marble that used to coat the current structure and used it to build St Peter's Basillica. From the Colosseum the tour moved on to Palentine Hill and the ruins of the Forum. After signing up for the Vatican tour the following morning, Stu and I continued our sight seeing with a visit to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Narvona.

• Tuesday - after our experience coming home on the bus during rush hour, we decided to leave home at 7:30am to ensure we got to our meeting point for the Vatican Tour in time. In Australia taking the bus during peak hour wouldn't be such a concern however in Rome there are no bus lanes so the bus gets stuck in traffic like everyone else. Anyway it was lucky that we left at 7:30am because we only just made it to the meeting point at 9:30am. Arriving at the meeting point and seeing the line for the Vatican Museum snake around the block made us realise that our tour reservation was worth it's weight in gold. We again bypassed the line and were soon inside learning all about the history of the Vatican and the art collections inside. There were so many pieces from the great painters of the Renaissance era; namely Raphael, Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Truly amazing to see these famous paintings and sculptures in the flesh. Check out our photos for a sneak peak into the Musei Vaticani. Our tour guide Jonathan was amazing and as we snaked our way though the museum he pointed out all of Michelangelo's inspirations for his most famous piece of work; the roof of the Sistine Chapel. Before we knew it 3 hours had flown by and it was time to say goodbye to our tour group, or so we thought... Jonathan then invited Stuart and I, along with our new friend Tania for lunch at a local cafe. What a fantastic afternoon that turned out to be! Bumping into another 2 from our group, we all sat together eating pasta, drinking wine and chatting. Before we knew it 2 hours had flown by and after a quick limoncello, impromtu "Happy Birthday" and portion of "fragolino" (strawberries) we swapped business cards and said our goodbyes. We will definitely be in touch with these guys! From here Stu and I strolled along the Tiber to walk off our lunch, seeing the Castel di Angelo and the many beautiful bridges that cross the river. After some random wandering we found ourselves at the Spanish Steps and the start of an amazing street of designer shops! I was in LOVE!

• I now hand over the reigns to Stu for the last chapter in our Roman blog so far..... Hi all relaxing morning, then we went into town to catch up with Zac for dinner and a few drinks. On our way to meet Zac, we were planning to get to the "Bone Church" which is the church from some weird sect of Christianity who believes that the body must remain within the church after death, so there are basically a few rooms of bodies in varying states of decay, and then finally when all the meat, hair and juicy bits are gone, the bones are used to make all sorts of trendy interior decorations, i am considering joining this Church, as i will save my family having to pay for a burial or cremation. I think my skeleton would look awesome as a plasma tv stand, or maybe it could be used to build some modern art installation? Anyway we arrived at the church at 6.01pm, one minute after closing time, so we will have to make a return trip to this place! We then went to Termini station to meet with Zac, and from there jumped in a taxi to the Jew Ghetto for some traditional Roman Jewish food, which was very nice, there were brains and tongue on the menu, but we opted for the more conservative Osso Bucco and Amatriciana.... and a few bottles of red! We then went in search of a taxi to start the trip home, a couple of buses later and two nearly burst bladders and we had made it!

• To view photos from Rome CLICK HERE or follow the link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=437377&id=664955104&l=5c77b51a8b

Czech It Out!

Time for our blog from Prague...

As you can imagine our expectations for Prague were at an all time low after the taxi scam incident when we arrived. Arriving at the hotel we were left quite deflated and after checking in we headed straight for the hotel restaurant for a quick bite to eat before bed. We woke up the following morning still slightly unenthusiastic about Prague, however stepping into the streets of Old Town, we were soon blown away by the beautiful and amazing city that Prague really is! The taxi drama aside, we would definitely recommend Prague as a must for anyone planning a Eurotrip of their own!

As some of you may have seen from my Facebook, Stu and I decided to start our Prague experience with the Sandman's free walking tour of Prague. Arriving at the Old Town Square far too early for the tour, we wandered around, ogling at the amazing period architecture and gothic towers of the square. Before we knew it 11am was soon upon us and we headed off with our guide Colin (the Scot) for a 3 hour walking tour of the city. We started the tour with the history behind Old Town Square and the Tyn Church, St Nicolas Church and the Astrological Clock within it. Moving into New Town (which is really not that new at all) we learnt about Wenceslas Square and the Communist regime. During this segment we leant about the sad demise of Jan Palach, a 21 year old man who set himself alight at the square to protest Communism - very sad story. He now has a plaque at the top of the square under the National Museum in memory of all those who lost their lives to Communism. From here we moved onto the Jewish Quarter where we again heard sad stories of the many Czech Jews who lost their lives in WW2. There is a synagogue which displays the paintings of some hundred Czech Jewish children who were imprisoned and soon died in the many concentration camps. This is the only record that they ever existed. Very sad. To liven the solum mood, Colin our guide started to tell us about the Travi (a Russian plastic car), Franz Kafka (kookie writer), the legend of Jewish Gollum (no not the Gollum from Lord of the Rings) and the history of 'defenestration' (an interesting art of throwing people from windows in protest)! Before we new it our 3 hours were up and our next tour was about to begin; the Prague Castle tour.

Our new guide at the helm (Brisith Emma), a few of us headed across the Vltava River and into the Mala Strana. After once again hearing a brief history of the Czech Republic and how it came to be, we headed into the Secret Garden of the Senate; a traquil escape from the bustling city streets just outside the walls. There were a few quirky items located in the grounds which I have to mention, namely the giant man made grotto, the huge owls and the white peacock (see photo link below). From here we boarded a tram up to the Loretanske Monistery (famous for the beer the monks brew "St Norbert's Beer"), took in the scenery from a few elevated sites and then headed to the Prague Castle. Now before the tour started, I though the Prague Castle was the gothic building dominating the hills of the Mala Strana - I was wrong! Turns out the Castle is a sprawling compound that encapsulates numerous architectural styles, from the numerous rulers who resided there. You really must have a look while you are in Prague! You can see a few shots of the Castle by following the photo link below.

As you can imagine after 6 hours of straight walking and learning (in the cold rain I might add), we were soon tired and hungry. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at "El Toro Negro" in Old Town Square for a seafood paella and some local brew before crashing out.

Opening the curtains the next morning we were greeted with blue skies and bright sunshine - perfect! We decided that we would spend the day taking in a bit more of a few of the stops from yesterdays walking tour. We first climbed one of the towers in the Old Town Square for some panoramic shots of the city and then headed across the famous Charles Bridge (as seen in Vin Diesel's action movie XXX) and up to the leafy green park on the Mala Strana hinterland. All in all a lovely relaxing day in the sun and the perfect conclusion to an amazing time in Prague. This has to be one of our favourite stops so far.

To CZECH out our photos CLICK HERE or got to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=435101&id=664955104&l=f43027cc8a

WARNING: TAXI SCAM!

Just a quick warning to all you travellers planning a visit to Prague; beware of the scamming taxi drivers prowling the airport, train station and any tourist spots. We have just discovered (the hard way) that taxi's are unregulated in Prague and that most taxi drivers will charge over ten times the real cost of the correct taxi fare.

Arriving at the train station in the pouring rain, Stu and I opted against walking to the hotel as we had planned (1.5km away) and headed to the nearest signed taxi rank. Watching a few taxis pull away we waiting until the next taxi pulled in. The taxi looked fine to me, it was signed, had a taxi light on the roof but my suspicions arose when the taxi driver advised that as it was peak hour the standard city fare was 980 czk (about 40 euro) - extremely steep. Stu and I were both shocked at the price but we could see no other option being in a strange city. Plus the taxi driver had already loaded our bags into the trunk. He chatted away to us the entire trip and seemed nice enough but my gut feeling still screamed "dodgy" (that and the fact that the meter was not turned on).

Anyway soon enough we were at the hotel (which is lovely by the way) and upon checking in asked the receptionist how much a taxi would usually be. The look she gave us confirmed that taxi scams were a serious problem in Prague. She said the average fare is about 200 czk but that it can vary depending on the driver. She said that booking a taxi through the hotel or using a shuttle would be the best option for our forthcoming trip to the airport. I have since found out that there are only a handful companies that can be trusted to run their meters correctly;

AAA Radiotaxi - tel. 140 14 or 222 333 222, www.aaa-taxi.cz

City Taxi - tel. 257 257 257, www.citytaxi.cz

Let's hope this is the only problem we run into in this beautiful city. Lesson learnt.

Railways & Rollaways

As I am writing this we are sitting on the EC177 train bound for Prague. Luckily for us Stu and I have scored the only 2 window seats in our compartment of 6 so we can gaze out and watch Germany slip by.

We have quite the melting pot of passengers in out little 6 seater compartment; one older German lady, two middle aged Asian ladies, an Aussie man in shorts (Stu) and myself.

Oh and I can't forget our two massive hard Samsonite cases that stand out like sore thumbs! What a nightmare! It is apparent that these cross country trains were not designed with the long haul traveller in mind! Thankfully one seat in our compartment is empty until Prague so my red suitcase is sitting comfortably in Seat 16 with Stus out in the corridor. For anyone planning on travelling Europe by rail I would recommend a small backpack and nothing else! Like I said - nightmare!

Anyway that drama aside (well at least for the next 5 hours) we can now kick back and let the scenery drift by. What a beautiful countryside Germany has. Such a contrast to the cold concrete jungle that was Berlin!

Prague here we come...

PART 2: Dresden - Praha

Hello again. Were now 3 hours into our trip and Stu and I find ourselves alone in our cabin after all our room mayes left us at Dresden - no more awkward silence - perfect!

The countryside is becoming even more beautiful the further south we head. Looking out the window I can see green rolling hills, quaint German homes with exposed wooden beams and a fast flowing river - stunning! This is what I imagined Germany to look like! Let's hope Prague is as pretty!

Location:EC177 from Berlin to Praha

Berlin - Achtung Baby!!!

Hello loyal followers - Co-writer Stuart here for todays episode......

Ok, after a short flight in from Amsterdam (and 40 Euros in excess baggage!!) we came down into Tegal International Airport, Berlin.

First impressions were that it was freezing and a pretty miserable concrete jungle, however after a couple of days adventuring through its streets we discovered a pretty cool city!

What we did in the couple of days in Berlin......

Day One - 12 Degrees, Intermittent Rain, Windy

• Arrived around five in the arvo
• Got settled into our apartment (which turned out to be just across the street from where Mr Hitler came to an end!)
• Went for a quick dinner at a little Italian restaurant downstairs from our apartment
• Called it a day with an early night to recover from a few big days in Amsterdam!!

Day Two - 12 Degrees, Intermittent Rain and a freezing wind!

• An early start, and off for a five minute walk around the corner to Checkpoint Charlie, where the old American Guardhouse still remains as a constant reminder of the past. We then spent an hour or so walking through the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which had all sorts of stories of escape over the wall with varying degrees of success!
• After the museum it was still cold and miserable weather so we boarded a local bus tour, where we managed to score the front seats on the top level!! We spent the next couple of hours in heated, waterproof comfort seeing the sights around Berlin - all of them i think!
  
• Everything on the tour bus seemed to be either something to do with the War, or something to do with the Wall, without either - i think Berlin may struggle to attract the tourists that it does!
• We jumped off the bus in the main shopping district to grab a bite to eat, and as we were in Berlin, thought it only right that we sample one of the local Currywurst Sausages - mmmmmmmmmm. Not too sure how many of them i could eat before vomiting, however the one i had was great!
• We then ventured down to the Brandenburg Gate, the Jewish Memorial and then on to the old undercover SS headquarters located across the road from our place.
• And again - with it being too cold to venture too far outside - it was down to the Italian restaurant downstairs where we thought we were being stalked!!!! Firstly - we had "German Jen" come and sit at a table right behind us (see Facebook for photographic evidence). After we composed ourselves following our meeting with "German Jen" we noticed a cool dog who was barking at everyone from under his owners table. I could not see him, however Tash described him as looking like Whisky, but a bigger version - this got a little bit more funny when the dog (who was a local, well known to the restaurant staff) was called out from under the table, and his name was actually Whisky!!!!
• So there we were, in an Italian restaurant in Berlin, dining with "German Jen" and "German (reincarnated) Whisky"!!
• Off to bed again with our fingers crossed for some sun on our final full day in Germany!

Day Three - about -123412 degrees, bloody windy and a bit of rain..... come on Global Warming!

• We started our day in a lineup to get into the German Parliament House, which has a great big glass viewing dome on the top of it - which would have had great views over the German capital, however after standing in the line for about an hour, and not seeing much movement we decided to make a dash for the warm and dry shopping centre only about a fifteen minute walk away. There are probably people frozen to death, still waiting in that line at the Parliament House!
• After a quick defrost in the shops, we were off to the Berlin Zoo, quite possibly the only toursit attraction in the city that has nothing to do with either the war or the wall! The zoo was fantastic, the rain held off for a couple of hours, there were no people there, and we were able to get so close to all of the animals that it was a pretty amazing experience, and 13 Euro well spent!! Check out the link to photos to see the snaps of the Elephants, Monkeys, Bears, Polar Bears, Lions, Tigers, Penguins, Seals and Hippos - one of which we saw do a massive explosive poo, and immediately after, another of the Hippos surfaced from under the water and made what could only be described as a really loud laughing noise!!! It seems that humans are not the only animals to find poo and farts funny!!
• After the zoo, it was still freezing cold (and i was wearing shorts) so i was roped into seeing the new Sex and the City movie, i heard Tasha's suggestion as "do you want to go and sit in a warm dry comfy chair for a couple of hours?" so after the movie it was back out into the cold. (a nice escape from that movie!)
• Dinner again at the Italian - no German Jen, No German Whisky :(
• Off to Prague tomorrow!

For photos visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=433284&id=664955104&l=210eb6f5c2