Croatia- Split and Debrovnik

Debrovnik by night

View from the city walls

Sitting on the city walls

Sarah and I spent a LOT of time by our schedule in Croatia. We were in Split one night and Debrovnik 4 nights.

Croatia is really pretty and clean. It also had AMAZING weather. We went island hopping around Debrovnik and soaked up the sun. It wasn't as cheap as we hoped, but it meant we had icecream for some meals... Mmm.

Our accommodation was hilarious. It ended up being a room in an old Croatian lady's house- not how it appeared on hostelbookers. She couldn't speak English, but would continually shake your shoulder and say 'good'. She would suddenly appear everywhere- one morning Sarah was eating breakfast and raised her head to see her poking hers in to see what she was eating. Sarah also got into trouble for using the gas stove for breakfast because it was using electricity!

Anyway, I was going to post pictures but my camera just died... I'll add them soon :)

Austrian Alps- Badgestein

Sarah living on the edge!

Our mountain to climb...

Dinner with a view...

Love how they supply a frame

The Austrian alps have been a big highlight. We climbed a mountain, had dinners from our balcony with a view and relaxed in warm outdoor pools with mountain views. AMAZING. You have to stand in awe at the majesty of our Creator!

Coming soon- hiking in the Austrian alps and relaxing on Croatiaś beaches!

Vienna- amazing coffee, architecture and an obsession with Mozart

We were only in Vienna a day- so to celebrate Sarah´s

birthday we drank lots of coffee and looked at the sites...

A statue of Mozart- on every main street corner hawkers tried to sell us tickets to Mozart shows. He spent the last 10 years of his life in Vienna.

Viennaś beautiful parliament house- I found it hard to fit it on my camera

Street artists in Vienna- plenty of those around this time of year

Sarah enjoying a birthday coffee

In Vienna we:

- Visited 3 different coffee houses and ate a piece of worldćfamous chocolate cake from Cafe´Sacher.

- Admired the beautiful buildings, all within walking distance.

- Listened to some organ music in an old church, sounded very familiar.

- Visited a wine tavern suggested by a local and had some traditional food, yum!

Summary of Vienna:

- Again, some great architecure but hazy skies which made good photos hard to take.

- Obsessed with Mozart, as Prague was. They even have an opera toilet.

- Seems driven by tourism- plenty of street performers.

- Coffee shops are full of smoke- it seems Europeans smoke a bit more than Aussies.

- Plenty of scaffolding on the main tourist sites- as we have found everywhere in Europe.

- A great city to simply walk around in!

Prague- the pearl of Europe

Prague is known as the pearl of Europe, and it isn´t hard to tell why. Consequently, it is swarming with tourists peak season!

The over-rated astronomical clock.

View from our river cruise

The Alexander bridge

Prague´s fairytale castle

In Prague we:

- Admired the pastel buildings and diverse range of architectural styles- Gothic, Cubist, Modern, and ugly Communist buildings.

- Saw the famous astronomical clock- bit overrated truthfully.

- Saw a puppet opera show- Prague seems obsessed with both so we thought we would experience both at the same time.

- Took a relaxing boat tour along the Vlatva river.

- Got separated on the tram system- stressful!

- Drank beer at the famous U Zlateho Tygra and sampled Czech food.

Overall impressions:

- The prettiest city I have seen so far- it doesn´t seem as dark as other cities.

- FULL OF TOURISTS! It is a little ironic that WE got a bit tired of them.

- Cheap beer- as in Germany.

- It really is a must-see for the architecture and castle!

Germany- beer, bratwurst and riveting history

A pool in a river where we hung out to escape the heat

Watching the football finals on the streets of Berlin

An example of beautiful, old architecture and a communist TV tower


Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp- the gate reads: 'Work Liberates'



The cute German town of Bremen

In Germany we:

- Explored the German town of Bremen, "the equivalent of good things coming in small packages.˝ There are some great buildings, beer gardens and markets.
- Visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp out of Berlin- a 'model' camp for the Nazis- this really brought home the impact of the Holocaust.
- Saw the Branderburger gate, the hotel where Michael Jackson hung his baby out the window, the Holocaust memorial, the old Nazi headquarters, the Rietschstag (parliament), the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the magnificient Berlin Dom church (a fancy protestant one), Neptune's fountain and Museum island.
- Watched the World cup with our Aussie friend on the streets of Berlin (I wish Germany was playing!)
- Had a wander around Tacheles- an awesome artist hangout or pub.
- Swam in a pool in a river- called Badeshiff- to escape the heat.

Summary of Berlin:
- Riverting history that has had a huge impact on the landscape and vibe of Berlin.
- Beer, bratwurst and currywurst are everywhere!
- A very cool contemporary scene- loved the East side.
- Beautiful buildings- except the huge Nazi and Communist monstrosities.
- LOTS of bear statues- apparently due to some artist comp!

Amsterdam- city of canals, droppies and 'coffee' houses

Amsterdam's canals

In Rembrandt's house- people were short back then!

A cool university town called Gronigan- there were orange flags all over Holland
because of the football.


Dutch goodies in vending machines.

Enjoying a cup of tea before the van Gogh museum.

In Amsterdam we:

- Ate like kings for breakfast at our hostel!

- Put up with backpackers smoking pot at 2am in our room.

- Explored the art of Picasso, Rembrandt, van Gogh and Matisse.

- Walked through Anne Frank's old house.

- And I explored the shopping Amsterdam had to offer while Sarah spent time with an uncle!

Overall impressions:

- Amsterdam is a ring of canals- beautiful.

- There are LOTS of bikes everywhere! Very cool way to get around.

- Lots of yummy dutch food- you can get croquettes from a 'hole in the wall' and 'oma's cake' from vending machines!

- The Museumplain is a must-see- what amazing art!

- Another football-crazy country once again- people were beeping their car horns after the big semi-final win until 6am the next morning!

- Everyone wears Birkenstock- shoes I once despised. I now own a pair and my blistered feet are no more!

London

In London, we:

• Strolled along the Thames until we had blisters :)


• Saw Shakespeare's Globe (suprisingly uninspiring)
  
• Drank Pimms and beer and ate strawberries


• Saw 'Wicked' at Broadway! Fantastic and cheap
• Saw the main London attractions- Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, Trafalger Square, Buckingham Palace with an attractive musician
  
• Had to stand in London's rain for 15min after some bozo decided to throw up on our nice red bus


• Relaxed on Wimbelton's lawns, watching others eat strawberries and drink Pimms while Serena Williams KICKED BUTT in the women's final
• 
  Took in the tantalizing sensory explosion of the Borough markets- free tasters
  
• Shared the London pub experience with Sarah's awesome Topdeck mates


• Got treated to a version of 'do dah' that went...

"We are English and we're shit, do-dah, do-dah
We're not as bas as Portugal, oh do-dah day"

• and some ditty about the RAF shooting down German planes by some English football fans


• Met some nice American blokes we roomed with who we hope will show us around France in a few weeks


• Put up with a grumpy bus driver who didn't believe in toilet or food stops on our 12-hour bus trip to Amsterdam


• And I lost a lot of my photos- so these are courtesy of Sarah :)

Overall impressions:

• Smelly and dirty
• Warm! Funn thing that is- it gets stuffy on the Underground
• Big- the Underground is a maze
• Friendly, helpful people- we had people offering help without asking for it
• Football fanatics- I loved the bustle in the streets during games
• The English love beers, Pimms, strawberries and cream, pies and icecream!
• I LOVED IT, but I don't think I could handle taking the Underground every day

More to come soon on Amsterdam... xo