The Netherlands, and Belgium

Hello all people!

Ok everyone, pity me, because I am once again stuck using a french keyboard. My brain now explodes whenever I see one of these. So bear with me, and forgive typos and bad punctuation.

Anyways, when I last left you; we were in Delft right? Staying in an apartment, very generously lent to us by Jess`s family. Well, from there we went on day trips to Amsterdam, and The Hague

Amsterdam was pretty, we went on a river cruise, walked through the red light district, the usual. Sorry boys, no pictures from the red light district, the girls apparently beat you down with bats if you try. I did however, get this nice shot of a canal!

One thing about the Netherlands people, there are kind of a lot of bikes around. Like every train station has a huge carpark full of them. The shot below is a pretty typical site outside any large train station, anywhere in the country we went.






And then onto The Hague. This is the home of the international court, so we thought we´d best try and get a photo of that one. Unfortunately you can´t get very close, but with my superior artistic abilities I snapped this very pretty shot, such that you cant see the giant fence in the way.















Also in the Hague is Madurodam, the Netherlands biggest tiny town, if that makes sense. Its a minature town, full of replicas of buildings from all over the Netherlands. As the photo demonstrates, my inner child was excited.






After a few days in Delft, we headed off to stay with Marita for one night, whilst she showed us the night life of Utrecht, a larger university town. We had a great night, john can attest to that. We were with a very dodgy bunch of people, as you can see by the photo, so that helps.














After Netherlands, we were into Belgium. First stop, Brussels. In quick summary, yes we had Belgian Waffles, yes we had Belgian Beer, no we didnt have Brussel Sprouts. Brussels had this pretty cool central square, good for eating chocolate sauce-covered waffles on.







They also had a mini town, but this one was like the European Union Sampler of mini towns. Anyways, Im not putting a picture up of it. Out the front though is this spiffy building, called atomica, or something vaguely similar to that.
I liked it, and yes you can go up it, but we didn´t because it was expensive.

















Ok, thats the end of the photos, so heres the summary of what else happened:
we took a day trip to Brugges, its a pretty little world heritage listed town, but not much to do in there.
we then went to antwerp, where we are now. The diamond capital of the world, predictably diamond stores are everywhere. Its a little crazy, they have a diamond centre, which is a shopping centre, full of nothing but jewellery stores. About 90% of these stores sell nothing but diamonds, and diamond jewellery. Go outside this centre, and theres more diamond stores lining the streets.

Tomorrow we are off to London, so no more crappy keyboards! YAY!

Take care people,
Bob

Dresdin, and a cameo by Berlin.

Hello people!
How are you all going? Well I know it's been a while since I made a post, so I'll try and catch you guys up on what we got up to.
After prague we caught a 2 hour train ride to Dresdin. Dresding is this city of about half a million people, and it got heavily bombed in WW2. What it does have is a whole pile of beautiful old buildings that got restored, a whole pile of new buildings built to look old, and is generally a pretty spiffy place.
It was also the capital of Saxony, a country back in the days of the Holy Roman Empire. One of Saxony's most successful kings, Augustus the Strong, really liked expensive things, and a lot of his collection has survived. I have never seen anything like it! I guess it could be compared to the Faberge egg collection, but more impressive. Among the highlights was a model ship, well over 2 feet tall, made entirely out of ivory. The sails were ivory, cut so thin it was translucent! Obviously we couldn't take any photos in there, but we'll describe it all in detail when we get back.
Here's a veiw looking over the bridge from newer areas of the town to the old town. A lot of the old town actually sits on the old fortress that went around the town, thats the strip down near the water.







Here's the main square in the old town. Dresdin is building heavily, trying to recover from being under the control of the Soviets, and there are cranes everywhere. The large church has been heavily repaired, and you can tell. Those buildings to the right are actually almost all new when you look close, but they've done a great job, and the overall effect is very pretty. Dresdin is definately a place to visit, and will be even better in a few years time when all the contstruction in the centre of town is done with.









A bit to the left of the picture was a transport museum. We were allowed to take pictures in there, unlike the super impressive museams. Here's me trying out the Penny-Farthing bicycle. Awkward thing, let me tell you!




We went for a few wanders through the city, it was very pretty. Most of the building are built on big blocks, with large courtyards in the middle of the block that you can walk into. I just happened to wander into one particular courtyard, turned around, and saw this attempt at plumbing. I had to take a shot. Incidentally, although a lot of the buildings retain conservative, old town exteriors, going a bit funky with the walls facing onto the courtyard is pretty normal.




We also tried out the Dresdin night life. There's like a dozen clubs within 2 minutes walk from each other, and the place crawls with people during the Friday night we went out. Unfortunately the places we tried out weren't especially inspiring, but were very busy. I think we just got a little unlucky with our choices, so be sure to take a guide when you go out in Dresdin.






After Dresdin, it was off to Delft, in the Netherlands. It's about 10 minutes train ride from the Hague, and 50 minutes to Amsterdam. Getting there, however, was a 2 hour train trip to Berlin, followed by a 7 hour train trip to Amsterdam. It did give us enough time in Berlin to at least prove that we'd been there, however.








And that puts us where we are right now, Delft. Yesterday we got driven around Rotterdam, which is the financial centre of the Netherlands, and is the biggest port in Europe. It was pretty big, to say the least. Amazing! Amsterdam is on the cards tomorrow, we might just wander around Delft today. Delft is the origin of Delft blue, a particular colour for patterns put onto white ceramics, and apparently can only be produced here. The Hague is also on the to do list.

Anyways, you guys have fun, wherever you are. We'll probably post again when we reach London.

Bob

Goodbye CZ.

Ok people,

This is it, the last post from the Czech Republic. Tomorrow morning we hop on a train and head on into Germany. Slight change of plan though, and instead of Munich, we're heading to Dresden.

Anyways, we've been killing a bit of time in Prague, and it's been pretty spiffy. First we walked to the old town square. In there is this awesome clock, called the astronomical clock. God knows I couldn't figure out how to read it, but apparently you can read the date, the phase of the moon, what constellation in the Zodiac the sun's in front of, and a pile of things I've since forgotten.

It's also got this groovy little act going every hour, on the hour, from 9 till 9. John filmed it, so we'll show you when we get back. All the little figures around it move and stuff!

Anyways. John and I then went on a Segway Tour. It was awesome, John and I got the guide, Paul, all to ourselves. We cruised along the sidewalks, at definately not legal speeds (there's a 10km/h speed limit on Segways in Prague) and saw the sites. We saw a house Einstein lived in, and lots of pretty buildings. Paul was really knowledgable, and right about our age, so it was cool. On a side note, it's amazing how much attention you get when you're riding along on these things, I mean it was scary. Like not making it up, everyone was looking! Must really help with the ladies, I should have asked Paul.
Anyways, here's a couple of pics I snapped along the way, one has Prague castle in the background.



After rolling around the town on our two wheeled chick-magnets we met back up with Mum, and climbed up to Prague castle, it's not much of a castle really, as there are no thick walls, parapets, or battlements of any description. It's more a palace. It has this cathedral inside it, and I'd rank it among the most beautiful inside that we've seen. It's immense inside, yet graceful, if that makes sense. This might help explain.





John and I climbed one of the cathedral towers (mum wasn't game) where I snapped this shot, looking over Prague.














After waiting till they let you into the golden lane for free (no way I'm paying 15 bucks to see a street, full of shops) we busted on it. The golden lane is this little back lane, right near the castle, where somehow original cottages have survived for hundreds of years without someone knocking them down and replacing them with the apartment blocks that are everwhere else. It's very cute. Here's proof.





Our next day in Prague doesn't have many pretty pictures, mainly due to the fact it was raining, and we spent most of it shopping. We did duck into the national museum though, and checked out their dinosaur and anthropological exhibits. It was pretty cool. I decided to add this photo, because the dinosaur is cool, and johns face is funny.















After 10 days in the CZ, I would like to summarise with a few of the interesting customs, arranged by the good, the bad, and the weird.
GOOD-
Nobody wears shoes in homes, nobody. Everyone gets around the house wearing slippers. Because of this, every household has to have a large selection of slippers, in a wide range of sizes, such that they can offer any guests that they have over a pair of slippers to wear around the house. I thought it was very cute, all in all.
Beer restaurants. This is not a restaurant with a wide range of beers, oddly enough. In fact the range is usually rather limited to what's pretty local. In beer restaurants, the beer is not brought in in kegs, or bottles. It seems to be stored in massive steel vats. The beer is served sparkling not with carbon dioxide, but air. The difference is you don't belch, don't feel bloated, and somehow the beer tastes better. A definate good custom.

BAD-
Shower curtains. What the hell happened to the shower curtains? Most bathrooms have a bath, with a hand held shower-head coming off the tap. The bad thing is there is not shower curtain! This is even in bathrooms where there's a place to fix the shower head, making it a proper bath-shower. We could not fathom the reason for this, as we inevitably put water everywhere! This deficiency was compounded by the fact that the bathrooms had no central drain, so any water on the ground had nowhere to go. A definite down point, as I semi-regularly got my towel.

WEIRD-
When people serve their guests dinner, they don't dine with them. Instead, they eat their meals at another time (I never saw them eat?!) such that they may fully wait on their guests. Whilst this had a few advantages, namely that any empty beer in front of you was promptly changed for a new one, it did feel kind of weird, eating whilst your hosts sit nearby, not eating.

Ok then, I hope I've enlightened you all. I must pack and get ready for Dresden!

Bye all
Bob (John's reading, but says hi)

We're in Prague!

Hey guys!

Alright, well let me think for a bit, what's been happening? Well, we spend one more ngith in Znojmo. Predictably, after giving us one night of shovelling beer down our gullets, Peppa decided that the second night was just the night to take us to a beer restaurant, then an Irish Pub, then back to the beer restaurant on the way home. He also ordered John and myself (and himself, of course) a half-litre of every beer they had on tap to begin with at the first stop. Intertestingly, the beer at this restaurant was pumped with air, not carbon-dioxide. The end effect was the head didn't last as long (shame, I enjoy long-lasting head), but you didn't get bloated from the stuff! No enourmous burps! Needless to say, mum was impressed.

Ok, after Znojmo we headed off to more family as Streznice (not sure if I spelt that correct), but firstly, Vranof Castle. We couldn't take any pictures inside, but here's a pretty one from the outside.
In case the castle looks a little familiar to the movie buffs, it's the castle that was used for the filming of XXX, starring Vin Diesel. The interior was also used for the movie, it's a pretty damn spiffy place!

Now, Streznice was nice and relaxing, if you call being stuffed with food and alcohol like a turkey the night before christmas relaxing! What else happened there? Oh that's right, I got sick :(

Yeah, and not the cute sick either, the "stay away, and clear the way to the toilet!" sick. Anyways, I got over that in a day or so, and we were off!

Next place of accomodation, Ceske Krumlov. Of course, Ceske Krulmov is at the other end of the country, so we had some distance to cover. On the way we stopped at Telc. Telc is a thouroughly unremarkable town, except it's got this awesome, UNESCO world heritage listed, central square. All the buldings are so cute! Here's a pic to prove it!



Anyways, after Telc, we found ourselves come accomodation in Ceske Krumliv for a couple of nights, and wandered about the town. It's really hard to capture this town in photos, so I'm going to try with words. It's like you locked a medieval, eastern european, country town, in a time capsule for a few hundred years, opened the time capsule, and invited tourists in the see the result. The result is awesome! Of course, this means that all the residents have been kicked out of the town, in favour of hotels, restaurants, and "authentic" shops, but I'm not one to nitpick.
Here's a shot from the castle, looking back down at the town.


By the way, yes, it is exactle as picturesque at street level as it looks from above.










Ok, we spent a couple of nights there, and then head up towards Prague. On the way, we stopped at a couple of castles (0f course) the most impressive visually, was the castle of Hudlovice. It's not exactly a castle, as a massive hunting ranch, designed to look like a castle.

Either way, the effect is pretty presuasive. I hope you agree.



Ok, the other castle we didn't take any photos of, for the simple reason that the outside is pretty boring, and the inside we're not allowed to take photos of. It was in the day, however, one of the private residences of Franz Ferdinand, before he got shot, of course. Inside it is quite a large selection of his hunting trophies (apparently his career count was approaching 300,000 animals, he liked to hunt) and a massive selection of his weapons and armour collection. Quite literally, every hallway, and more than a few of the private rooms, were decorated with armour and arms, and that was before we got to the armoury. One notable were duelling pistols owned by Napoleon. Anyways, it was cool.

And that gets us here, to Prague. Hmm, I wrote a lot tonight. I'm sure you guys will cope.


Have fun people,
Bob (John's elsewhere)

Some Islands, Vienna, Wine, and a cameo by some piles of rock.

Hello people!
We're in the Czech Republic now, speaking to you from Znojmo.
Ok, on our last couple of days in Athens we did nothing, then we went on a three island cruise. We visited the islands of Poros, Hydra and Aegina.
All our photos here are from Hydra, since that was the prettiest. There were no petrol vehicles there that we could see, and everything was transported by donkey. We saw a washing machine being transported this way.

Here's the entrance to the port of Hydra, complete with parapets and cannons!


For all it's prettiness, there wasn't a great deal to actually do on Hydra. Here's my solution.



And another shot of Hydra. You can see the donkeys in the background, with these big wooden saddles.














After a quick 2 hour flight, we landed in Vienna, where we stayed for two nights at the Wombat Hostel. First day was spend at Schonbrun, the summer residence of the Hapsburg family during the days of the Austrian Empire. To say the least, they were nice digs. Here's the front door.




The Schonbrun also has it's own personal zoo (the Hapsburgs lived well). It claims to be the oldest zoo in Europe. It's a pretty cool zoo actually, complete with it's own panda.









Here's a shot of the backyard, the structure in the background is called the Gloriette, and is on the grounds of the Schonbrun. As far as we can tell, it serves not purpose other than to give the Hapsburgs an awesome place to eat lunch at and look at their house from.

The Palm House of Schonbrun, for the princess that just wants here own rainforest in Vienna.


And the Privy Garden, looking at the main building from the side.

We also went to the Hofburg, the winter residence, and also the seat of government. We don't have any pictures here though. The hofburg was bigger, much bigger, but not really as impressive.

Here's what the Viennese call their town hall btw.

Off to the Czech Republic, or the CZ, as us cool people call it. We caught a bus (btw, the ticket lady, useless) and mum came and picked us up from this little place called Pohorelice (as far as we could determine, it only had one traffic light, purely for the purpose of getting the school kids across the road safely).

Our first night was at Znojmo, and, of course, we went and sampled wine. We're staying with Pepa, mum's cousin, who is a wine maker by trade, and by hobbie. He took us to his hobby cellar, which is 300 years old and carved into sandstone, and fed us our body weight in fine wine and cheese. You can't actually see any barrels in that photo, but trust me, there were enough.

And our first ever guest appearance on this blog. Here we have mum, there's sand around her, and some large piles of rock in the background. We hope you enjoy.

Bye everyone! We'll keep you up to date with our going ons.

Bob and John

Athens and Dephi!

Good evening all people!

We are living it up in Athens right now. After the hideously expensive world that is Italy, Athens in a shoppers paradise by comparison. This means that things DON'T cost three times as much as you'd normally expect, but are actually pretty close to expected, if not slightly cheaper.

Lets see, the highlight of our first day was that we did our laundry. I know, we were pretty excited too! On the plus side, doing our laundry ran us into a market, which closed off a main road for several hundred meters. About half of this length sold fresh food. Vegetables, fruit, olives, fish were the main features. Oddly enough, we didn't see a single meat vendor.

Anyways, give us a day or two to relax in Athens, and we started to go see some stuff. Here's what we came up with.
We found this pretty neat hill, that had some pretty awesome veiws. Yes, that's the acropolis and the parthenon in the background there.











A day or two later we actually decided to walk to the acropolis, and saw the parthenon up close and personal. Unfortunately there's currently scaffolding all over it, but you get the idea.














There was also a pretty theatre. This is the older, smaller one. The other one is possibly more impressive, but I liked this one, since it was old and had dogs sleeping all over it.
(btw, semi-feral dogs and cats seems a way of life for the greeks, they are bloody everywhere! Not visible, but lieing on the bench about 1m to johns left, is a stray dog sleeping. Evidently they don't need to pay for tickets)









Here's the temple of Zues, I couldn't find a picture I liked with us in it on my camera, so I just went with my artistic efforts.














And here we ran into a nice American lady who was handy with a camera. Here you can see the ancient Roman city of Agora in the front, working back up to the acropolis further back.



















Today we took a day trip to Delphi, the navel of the world, according to the greeks. All we know is it took 3.5 hours by bus, and 13 euro to get there, but it was worth it.
The town, both new and ancient, is situated right on the side of a mountain, and the scenery is pretty spectacular.
The ancient city itself is a lovely collection of ruins strewn up and down the mountain, thankfully around the corner from the new township.

Here's a nice collection of pillars!














And the ancient stadium.













Keep in mind that it really is up and down the
slope, so we needed to stop for a drink.
Here's the place we chose.











Anyways, things are going well. We're planning a day cruise to some of the islands, so we'll let you know how that goes.

Anyways, hope you guys are behaving yourselves. It's not long before we're off to Austria and the Czech Republic.

Byes!
Bob