The first 24hrs overseas

(7months worth of packing right here!) 

We hadn’t even left Brisbane yet and I’d already learnt two valuable travel lessons at the airport. First one- If you check in online that means you get to jump the queue at check in so don’t stand in the long line with those who haven’t already checked in online only to realise 45 mins later when you are at the front of the line that there was a seperate, incredibly shorter line too for those who checked in online. Rookie error! 

Lesson number two was to never give my passport to my boyfriend to hold because he will forget where he put it, claim I never gave it to him and then after about 2 whole very long and panic stricken minutes realise I’m not talking about a piece of paper but in fact my passport and it is in fact in his pocket after all! Minor heart attack avoided but a close call. 

The flights:

The flights were quite good actually. The first- the longest of the two went surprisingly very well, no turbulence really, was very smooth and I even slept! Got to Abu Dhabi airport and found our gate with only a few minutes to spare until boarding time and then got our connecting flight through to Amsterdam. This flight, although shorter, dragged. I purposefully chose not to sleep so I could go to sleep easily at night time in Amsterdam. Watched some great movies on the flights including Lion (in which I cried at the end) and the animated movie Trolls (which was a cute and fun movie) I also enjoyed the movie “far from the madding..” something or rather.. can’t remember the full name of it but it was a lovely romance story too. 

Nothing else too exciting happened on the flight- Sam found a friend.. or rather he found her to lean on should I say. Haha. See pic below. 

(Sam’s new mate asleep on her shoulder- haha 😂) 

On arrival we had some great instructions to find our air BnB accommodation but were worried how difficult it would be to find. It is me after all.. not the best with directions. Turned out to be quite the breeze. We found the train ticket machine and caught the train to Amsterdam central. A fast train with lovely seats but we stood after such a long flight and with all our luggage. 

Then got the tram 26 to ijburg and got off at our stop no problem and followed the walking instructions like a breeze. Which there was lots of… Amsterdam a little colder than all of us imagined. Jason has not packed well for this weather at all… I have probably packed the best.. thank goodness I suppose because I feel the cold the most. We might need to find an op shop today to get a few warmer scarves, beanies etc. locals of course still in jackets too but not feeling it like us. 

We settled in to our accommodation which is basically a tiny little room with double bed bunker. A cute little loft style room. Met the neighbour who is lovely and hooked up her electric car which was cool to see. 

We went to the near by Servo to get something for dinner and hopefully breaky, it is a shell servo so we were hoping not to be disappointed. Turns out they don’t have as much food as our servos or supplies.. there are some but not to the extent of Australia. We bought soup and two minute noodles for dinner. No bread or cereal which means we have to go for a run to the supermarket this morning to see what we can get. 

Another thing we noticed here is it doesn’t get dark till late. It was 7:30pm and still no sign of the moon. It is 6:35am now and still the moon is out here. I will let you know what time the sun comes out. Slept for like 11 hours and woke up feeling very heavy eyed and with a slight headache. Will have some panadol soon and hope for the best. 

Today we intend on finding the place to organise our working holiday visas and hopefully work out how and where to send off for our Medicare reciprocal health care stuff. Will also get to have a looksie around and explore the city of Amsterdam. I will report on how it goes. Getting my camera ready to go now!

(Sam and Jay at our first Airbnb loft- looking busy on their devices) 

(Me- tired and ready for a sleep after our trip) 

Until next time.. 

Karlee xx 

Days 182-183: Lyon, France 🥐🧀🥖🍷

 Day 182- Thursday: 

This morning we enjoyed a sleep in before leaving Geneva and Switzerland behind and heading in to France to the bustling city of Lyon. 
As soon as we entered onto french roads it was more chaotic than we had experienced as yet- even compared to the German Auto-Bahn. The roads are much more narrow and the drive from Geneva to Lyon was quite hilly and curvy. Normally I can sit and write for hours whilst we drive but I couldn’t today because it was so windy i had to watch the road or I felt car sick. 

We also had to pass through a toll which was the most hilarious driving experience so far! First we passed through a ticket machine that gave us a ticket that we couldn’t read so we had no idea what it said, jay and I only able to decipher most of the connecting words so that didn’t help much.
After a while we got to another toll machine where we quickly realised we had entered the equivalent to our E- toll lane at home, cars were flying through and the gates opening automatically either side of us. And here is us… stuck behind the toll gate unable to get through. The car behind us smart enough to probably see our German number plates and realise we had made a mistake and backed out of the lane and went through another. We put our hazard lights on and Tom was driving so he was freaking out it was the most hilarious thing to watch. (Sam you would have loved it- it was priceless). 
Anyway, he pressed the “help” button on the machine and waited for someone to pick up. We had been teaching Tom how to say a few things in French whilst we were in Geneva and the whole time we thought he hadn’t been listening to a word we were trying to teach him but he proved us wrong when the woman spoke through the speaker to him and he said, “parle vous English” which was mostly right but it’s Anglais not English and he said it in the worst accent I’ve ever heard. Jay and I lost our shit in the seat beside him and he kept yelling at us to shut up but I couldn’t help but laugh.
He had to say it a couple of times until the lady understood he didn’t speak french but English. She told him we had to turn around and go back to the lanes on the left where we could pay by card or cash. Tom was all like, ” I can’t reverse here lady, it’s a highway, there’s cars coming down behind me everywhere, I’m stuck, I’m not reversing here”. After a while of convincing her that it was pretty fricken unsafe and impossible as we would have had to try to cross about 6 lanes of oncoming traffic too she sent someone down to accept our cash payment. 
Well that was another experience watching Tom try to figure out what the amount she was saying was. In the end, after a bit more laughter, Jay helped him out and told him she was saying 16 Euros. The tolls in France were quite expensive but compared to places like Switzerland and Austria where we had to buy expensive toll stickers it wasn’t too bad. 

(Jay having a laugh whilst we were stuck at the toll gate) 
Once we made it through the toll we set off continuing towards Lyon. 

The roundabouts are another major experience in France- they are massive- their size reminds me of the roundabouts in Canberra they are so large but then on top of that they are 4 lanes wide. We had no idea if we were in the right lane for where we needed to turn but were just lucky there was no one behind or beside us on the roundabout so we were able to just cut across the lanes to the one we needed as we were going around it. 
Tom did a good job though driving through the busy streets and navigating his way through. Jay had refused to drive in France he doesn’t like it that much. We both aren’t used to driving in the city at home either, Tom does it everyday so is used to it and happy to drive so that worked out well. 
We made it safely and parked the car in underground parking straight across from the hostel we were staying in. We weren’t able to check in until 3pm so we spent an hour chilling out at the hostel on the bean bags they have on the Astro turf. It was a nice little area to chill out in. The boys had a few beers and then it was time to check in. 

(Jay relaxing on the hammock at our hostel) 

(There was a deck with cute deck chairs and nice hanging lights) 

The lady who checked us in was super helpful with marking out places we should go for dinner and the most important things for us to see as we only had one day for sight seeing. 
We chilled out a little longer on the bean bags and I had a shower and freshened up then we ventured out for dinner. We decided to go to the traditional Bouchon restaurant she had suggested we go to which had 3 course meals for 15 euros. 
A bouchon is a traditional french restaurant and they are literally everywhere in Lyon. Food is what Lyon is really famous for actually- they are one of the most famous gastronomical cities in the world and home to Paul Bocuse who is a world famous chef. He has tonnes of restuarants and places where people travel specifically to Lyon to try his food or learn how to cook from him. 
The bouchon we were at, Chez M’man was in the cutest little alleyway and had loads of different choices for each course. Tom picked the best entree we thought- it was like a cheese and egg dish with sausage and liver filet. I had a traditional Lyonnaise salad which is basically lettuce, egg and bacon with croutons. Jay had a fish entree trying Herring with salad. He really liked it but it was too fishy for me, he gave me a piece to try and whilst I didn’t spit it out I wanted to. 

(The cute little alley way of restuarants where the Chez M’man was) 

(My traditional lyonnaise salad for entree) 

(Jay’s entree of Herring and salad) 

(Tom’s egg and sausage concoction)

When our mains came out I was a little worried about my choice. I’d chosen another traditional lyonnaise dish because, well, when in Lyon! But it was blood sausages and I’d never had them before so wasn’t sure what to expect. When it came out and looked like this… 

(My main- blood sausages with mashed potato and apple Purée) 

I was a little concerned but it actually tasted really good and was served with mash potato and a puréed apple. Tom picked a chicken and mushroom sauce with vegetables and potato and Jay chose another fish dish- tripe which was served with vegetables too. 

(Tom’s chicken and veggies) 

(Jay’s dish and veggies) 
By the time dessert came around we were already pretty full because they had been also placing bread on the table and we had a couple of glasses of wine as well with our dinner. Jay got a plate of soft cheese which was the most revolting tasting cheese or so Tom and I thought. Jay liked it so that’s all that mattered. Tom picked the best dessert choice- lemon mirengue pie and luckily he had eaten too much bread so he couldn’t finish it all which meant I got to have some- it was yum! I got a chocolate cake with custard which was pretty nice too. 

(Chocolate cake and custard) 

(The lemon meringue pie) 

(Jay with his soft cheese) 
After dinner we were going to check out these disco party boats that were along the Rhone river front which apparently have live music but we were so full we decided to just go back to the hostel and hang out there instead as the happy hour was still on. 

(The Rhone river at night from our walk back to the hostel) 
We ended up sitting around on the Astro turf for hours chatting and having some drinks with others from our hostel. We met a girl from New Zealand who had been living in London for a year and a half and was now travelling for a while before she heads home in time for Christmas. She had been to a lot of the same places as us but one place she said was her favourite that we hadn’t been to was actually Turkey. I asked her what it was like because obviously we are told not to really travel there at the moment but she said she did Turkey with a tour group and so she felt safe the entire time she was there and it was absolutely amazing. She did a carpet making class whilst there too which she said has really given her a new appreciation of carpet. It seemed cool. 
Another girl we spoke to was a flight attendant from Canada who’s first language is actually french so she was currently on holidays but came to Lyon following friends of hers who were in a band. They were American and didn’t speak any french so wanted her help getting them accommodation and stuff like that. So she got free tickets to their concert and a free stay on them just by being their french translater here. It was a pop rock bank named R5, we had never heard of them though. She was a nice girl and Tom actually ended up having breakfast with her the next morning and got an add on Facebook from her so good for him. 
We went to bed just after midnight ready to see the sights of Lyon tomorrow. 

Day 183- Friday: 
This morning we had planned to be on a walking tour by 10am in the centre court yard but didn’t make it in time. Tom had got up early but Jay and I were lagging behind this morning, by the time we got up and dressed and finished breakfast it was already 10 past 10am. 
Travelling constantly gets very tiring especially when you’re also having quite late nights most nights and I really felt like it was starting to catch up with me. So we missed the tour- which would have been cool because they took you down into the Traboules which are like underground pathways that are still open to the public to travel around the city from street to street. 
Instead we took a walk along the Rhone River front past the disco boats that were all closed now and followed the river towards the Tête D’or which is a really big park in Lyon that has the oldest free public zoo in Europe inside of it and a botanical gardens along with a beautiful big lake which would be really nice in the summer as they have paddle boats there to enjoy as well. 

(The Rhone river in the daylight) 

( welcome to Lyon- one of the disco boats along the waters edge) 

(Even the gates to the Parc De la tête d’or are Beautiful) 

(A nice statue as you enter the park) 

(The biggest sucks we have ever seen.) 

(The paddle boats by the lake- no one was using them today but I’m sure they get plenty of use in the summer time) 
We were told you could expect to spend 3-4 hours there and it wasn’t until we got there we understood how that was true. It was the perfect place to have like a picnic lunch and hang out on the huge fields of grass they have there or the park benches in the botanical gardens. 

(Jay and Tom walking through the park) 

(Jay seeing how cold the water was) 

(The lake was so beautiful I had to have a play around with the different settings and filters in my camera) 

(A beautiful Autumn coloured tree in the park- too good not to get a photo of) 

In the botanical gardens they had green houses filled with tropical plants which they controlled the temperature for. We walked in and nearly died. We were in there for like 2 minutes and I was sweating. It was a nice little reminder of what home is going to be like by the time we get back. 

(Jay got up close and person with a bee in the botanical gardens)

(Jay and Tom admiring the botanical gardens)

(Jay with the flowers) 

(Me in the botanical gardens) 

(One of the tropical areas in the botanical gardens) 
It was a beautiful warm day today as it was, 24 degrees and I was really regretting wearing closed in shoes, the first time in months I would have been happier in my sandals and shorts rather than jeans. 
We checked out the zoo for hours! It was so cool- African style zoo they had flamingos, a tortoise (which we didn’t manage to see), monkeys, zebra, big pelicans, baby deer, crocodiles and even bears and lions. 
It was sad to see how small some of the enclosures actually were. They had two crocodiles in the tiniest pool of water which would have been the size of a sandpit at home. Even the space the bears had to live in was not big enough in my opinion. 

(The zebra’s were my absolute favourite- caught this one rolling around in the sand) 

(The baby deer- at least we think that’s what they were) 

(Grazing zebra) 

(One of the giraffes- there was either two or three of them all up) 

(There was a whole pond full of turtles) 

(One of the bears- we were lucky to see him- he was just heading into the cave when we turned up) 

(You can see a female lion laying in this picture, the male was actually inside the dark cave but you can’t see him in the picture, only his beady eyes) 

(These monkey’s were the cutest- the baby monkey was just gorgeous, he wasn’t even a year old yet) 

(One of the crocodiles in twit very small enclosure) 

After the zoo we were still feeling super tired so found a nice piece of grass for a bit of a lay down and nap in the park. It was heavenly. We had an hour power nap before waking and moving on out of the zoo. 
We were hungry by this time and ready for a late lunch. It was 2:30pm and we still had a way to walk back towards the city centre. So we set off, choosing to walk on the other side of the river this time that would end up taking us through the shopping district. 

(Tom and Jay napping in the park) 

(The city was a nice area) 
It was a nice area but by the time we got there a lot of the eateries and restaurants were closed for the afternoon. They close after lunch and before dinner for a few hours so we really had nothing to eat everywhere we looked. 
We found a nice pub that looked like it had yummy burgers and it was their happy hour but once we sat down the guy told us there was no food at the moment either. 
We ended up at maccas! Jay and I just decided to share a large meal for now and then eat again for dinner in a couple of hours. 
We went back to the hostel for an hour and a half or so before we decided to go back out again. This time we were headed for Fouviere Hill which had a beautiful big Basilica on top of it and also Roman ruins behind it. From the top of the hill you are supposed to get some really nice panoramic views of the city so we walked to Vieux Lyon (old town) where we could get the fernicular to the top at the metro station. Tickets were only around 2.60 euros each so not too bad. 
The Basilica was lovely and the view was nice but it was on the opposite side to where the sun was setting which sucked. We walked for a little while to try and find the Roman ruins but quickly realised it was much further down the hill and it was already around 7:30pm. We had done a lot of walking today through the park and back so weren’t overly keen to make the trek down to see it. If we had another full day we would have gone back to see it but we didn’t. 

(Part of the Basilica at the top of Fouviere Hill) 

(Jay and I at the top) 

(The view of Lyon from the top of Fouviere Hill) 

(The Basilica on the outside) 

(The inside of the Basilica) 

We got the fernicular back to old town and ended up walking back to the pub we had found earlier with the nice burgers and had burgers and beers for dinner. 

(The Sayone River on the other side of the Rhone in Veux Lyon) 
We then head back to the hostel. Jay and I bought a bottle of red wine to share from the bar and sat and chilled on the Astro turf for a few hours. Tom went to bed to watch Netflix which is what he does best over here so we let him go. 
Tomorrow we were off to Dijon which was only about a 1.5 hour drive from Lyon. 
More on Dijon soon…
Karlee xx 

Days 178-181: Switzerland 🇨🇭

 Day 178- Sunday: 
Today we left Salzburg nice and early after a 4 euro breaky at our hostel we were on the road by 8:30am. 

We had a longer drive today as we made our way from Austria to Switzerland. Our first stop, Zurich- the banking capital of the world and with prices to match! 
Adam had recommended we take the scenic route through Austria rather than cut back through Germany as you get really good views of the alps along the drive. This was true, it was just a pity the weather wasn’t better as it was rainy and the cloud cover was quite bad which made it difficult to see them properly. We still got some awesome photos though. 

(Some of the views we passed including views of the snowy alps) 

(Sam having a nap) 

(A castle we passed on the highway) 

(Some more cloudy views)

We had nearly arrived when the question arose, what language do they speak in Switzerland? Tom said, “Swiss” and we all thought about it for a moment, I’d never heard of Swiss being an actual language I just thought it was what the people were called. Turns out, “Swiss” is not a language and they speak a mixture of German, french, Italian and some people still speak Romanish as well. So when we were in Zurich most spoke German then as we moved through to Geneva it turns to french although I’m pretty sure most people speak all three languages. 

It took us about 5 hours to arrive at our Airbnb which was about 30 minutes outside the city centre of Zurich. A cute little two bedroom apartment (which was really more like the bottom floor of a house that had been converted into a lower level apartment. We were a little shocked to find the shower in the kitchen near the sink- a little different to what we are used to seeing but they had a massive TV which we could watch Netflix off of so that was good. 
It was around 2pm when we arrived and we had a bunch of washing to do so we decided to chill out for the afternoon at the apartment and ended up watching Netflix all afternoon hanging loads of washing as they finished. 
We made a quick trip to the grocery store around 4:30pm to see what few groceries we could get. We already had stuff to make pesto pasta for dinner which was a good thing because none of the grocery stores were open on a Sunday afternoon. Nothing was open at all it really seemed a little like a ghost town. 
We managed to by some milk for breakfast and chips for a snack from the coop petrol station which would do us for breaky as we had cornflakes. 
Sam cooked the pesto pasta for dinner and we ate and continued to chill, all took turns showering in our kitchen/bathroom/ second bedroom before going to bed around 10:30pm. 
Day 179- Monday: 
Today was the day to sight see Zurich. We enjoyed a nice sleep in until 9am then took our time having breaky and getting ready for the day. 
We had decided to drive to the nearest train station, park the car and get the train into the centre of Zurich but turns out we really hadn’t thought this through properly because the train tickets were super expensive! I found out later on that you can actually get a super saver pass which gives you access to all forms of public transport at a discounted rate and free access to a lot of other things like museums and other major tourist attractions like day passes to the tops of mount Pilatus or mount Rigi. But they aren’t cheap either and unless you were spending a good few weeks in Switzerland it isn’t worth it. 
But we didn’t have these passes and they were quite expensive so in the end we managed to work out that it was going to cost us 24 euros each to travel in and back on the train to the centre of Zurich- that’s 110 euro for one day! 
So we went and sat inside the local shopping centre across the road which had wifi and did some research about driving and parking in the centre of Zurich instead. Turns out it was much cheaper for us to drive and we could park the car in underground secure parking for 8 euro for 1.5 hours. Much much more reasonable! 
We bought a few more grocery snacks from the grocery store (Sam and I bought Swiss chocolate because we were afraid we wouldn’t get to try it otherwise) then we made our way into Zurich’s centre. 
Zurich was very underwhelming for us. There is not a whole lot to see there and unless you’re super rich you’re afraid to look at the windows of the shops let alone step into them. Home of the Swiss watch we saw lots of them but also lots of other high end stores and the most beautiful but very expensive bikini store were among the highlights. 

(The views of the lake from the bridge) 

(A protest we saw on the street outside the credit Suisse bank. They were asking people to go in and close their bank accounts with them because they were supporting fossil fuels) 

(The square in Zurich) 
There was a church that wasn’t overly impressive and we looked at the lake but we finished within an hour really. The best thing we saw was an old man blowing bubbles for the kids near the church and Jay, being the big kid he was loved it too. 
The weather was not great, overcast and showering here and there. The sky looked like the ass was going to fall out of it any second so we decided to finish our look around Zurich and then head back to the apartment early. 

(The church inside the square) 

(Jason enjoying the bubble blowing) 

( my camera captured the exact moments Jason popped the balloon on his hand) 

(this is what we found in a vending machine in Zurich- pregnancy test, condoms and lighters amongst the other normal stuff) 

(This was in the city of Zurich, there was just a glass box in the middle of the street with university aged kids in the middle of a tutorial and on the outside was a post it note forum asking, “what financial advise would you give your children” – Jay answering) 

(Jay wrote “smoke weed every day”. Nah just kidding someone else wrote that. He wrote something about the stock market) 

Switzerland is not a cheap place and we found Zurich to be no exception to this and very boring compared to most places we have been. 
We spent the afternoon catching up on the episodes of the bachelorette that we haven’t seen and the boys even let us put it on the big screen TV which was awesome. I think we recruited Tom, he is now a bachelorette fan too and I think I’ve got a new cheese and wine buddy to watch it with when Sam goes home. 
I guess by now everyone knows she is home early! 😜tricked you! 
We found it really funny when Leah was getting mad at Sam and Jay and I because she thought we were leaving Sam alone for a night in a hostel in Frankfurt when we leave for Scotland (because that is what I had to write on the itinerary to keep the secret up) when in reality that wasn’t actually happening! We were dropping her all the way to the airport but Sam could do nothing but cop it or it would have blown the surprise! lol 😂. I remember her saying, “I’m getting in trouble for something that isn’t really happening”. 
After that we started to fold up our washing and pack up our bags again- Sam for the final time! 

Petra and Joost had given us a big duffel bag to take home with us to help fit everything in which made it easy because Sam’s flight had 2 X 23kg bags she could take which we think is awesome! For a moment we thought it was actually too good to be true because that’s a lot of luggage, that Sam contacted the airline twice to double check. 
So we filled the duffel bag with all our shit we no longer needed for the rest of the trip and with things like Jay’s new chess set that he bought in Croatia etc. It’s amazing what stuff you seem to accumulate out of nowhere in 6 months.
Jay and I were both sad to see Sam go home but it is all feeling much more real now that we don’t have long left to go of our own travels. 38 days to be exact! That is just over a month. This time next week we will be almost ready to go to Scotland. 
The other day Jay and I got a voucher from Ryan air for that flight of ours they cancelled from Berlin back to Holland. Both Jay and I now have 80 euros worth of money there to use with the airline. The shitty thing is we already have everything for the rest of our trip booked up and no time to use our vouchers. Flights are like 9 Euros at the moment too so 160 Euros worth of vouchers would get us a lot of places! 
So Jay spent some time looking at the end of our trip as we are supposed to be making a stop in Cologne after Luxembourg and before we drop the hire car back to Frankfurt  but because we have already gone about 6 hours over our estimated distance when we had the Navman on avoiding tolls we have decided to skip cologne and go straight from Luxembourg back to Frankfurt and drop the hire car back a few days early. Jay rebooked our flight with Ryan air from Frankfurt to Glascow for two days earlier which means we will now have 5 days in Glascow instead of only 3! We used his voucher to do that so it cost us nothing but we still have an 80 euro voucher to use. I think I might give it to Adam or Dana to use as they will be in Europe for a while longer yet which would be better than letting it go to waste. 
Day 180- Tuesday: 

Today we dropped Sam to the airport bright and early by 8:30am, her flight departing not long after 11am. We were a little worried about the weight of the second suitcase we were sending home with her but it turns out it only weighed 21kg so still under the weight limit! 
I think Jay and I also have 2 x 23kg luggage limit each as well for our flight home but we only have one bag limit on each of our other flights so we can’t really take advantage of that. But it could mean a bit of a shopping spree in London at primark! My fave European store that is like Kmart for clothes on steroids! 
We said a quick goodbye to Sam as we only had a 5 minute drop off time before departing the airport. 
Today we were making our way to Geneva which is in the south of Switzerland closer to the French border. On the way we planned to make a stop off at Lucerne which is a beautiful little town on our way through. 
Sam had been there before and recommended we make a stop there since Zurich had been such a disappointment, so we did. She was right- it was much prettier and the lake was beautiful and we had a lovely hot 17 degree sunny day to enjoy it too. 
We got parking at the central train station easily and it was well priced. The train station was quite large- 3 levels. So we stopped on the second level to go to the toilet and stop for a bite to eat before going out to sight see. 
I connected to the wifi and spoke to Sam to make sure she got checked in alright which she had, only 20 Minutes left until she was due to board the plane towards her Abu Dhabi where she was getting her connecting flight home. 
When we stepped out of the train station in Lucerne there was a cute little carnival for kids going on. We walked through that and straight away saw the view of Lake Lucerne which is stunning. 

(The view once we stepped outside the train station) 

(View of the Ferris wheel) 

(Lake Lucerne with the alps in the distance) 

We walked along some of the bridges including Kapellbrucke which is the oldest wooden bridge in all of Europe first built in the 1300’s and saw the Gutch at the top of the hill. We kept walking towards the closest vantage point which was the remnants of the town wall with towers that used to surround Lucerne. 

(The Gutch on top of the hill) 

(Some of the buildings beside the lake were so beautiful) 

(More beautiful views of the lake and bridges) 

We found the clock tower too and climbed the steps to the top. They were all made of wood which made me feel a little uneasy as it was quite a tall building. we were nearly at the top when the bell started chiming the 11th hour. It was pretty loud and these two women were on the same level as us with their kids who were only young and one of the babies just wouldn’t stop crying- they didn’t plan that very well. 

(Some of the views from the clock tower ) 

(The old arrow slits in the wall of the tower ) 

(Inside the clock tower this ran all the way down the middle and the bell was at the top) 

( the clock from the inside of the tower) 

(Jay and I at the wall) 
We walked all the way along the wall which was also scary for me heights wise and then we climbed back down. 

(The wall From the ground) 
We walked along the shops path back instead of the water front even passing the famous Bachmann chocolate shop where there was a chocolate model version of the tower of lucerne in the window. The chocolates in there are super expensive though! Not in our budget anyway. 

(The chocolate tower in the bachmann chocolate store) 

(The beautiful tree lines along the lake) 

(There was buildings with murals all over the walls) 

We sat for a quick break by the water then kept walking back towards the train station. The day was so lovely and warm we ended up enquiring at the train station about ticket prices to go to Mount Rigi. 

(View from the other side of the lake) 

(Tom and jay admiring the mountains) 

(The swans came to visit me whilst we sat by the lake) 

(Another beautiful view ) 
Mount Rigi is one of switzerlands best mountains for exploring and hiking but also has the most spectacular views of the alps and switzerland in general. It is a pretty penny though to get there, you have to take a ferry that leaves from Lake Lucerne and takes you to the foot of the mountain where you then get in either a cable cart or cog wheel train that takes you up the mountain to the top. 
You can also hike up it and stuff but apparently it is very easy to get lost- even the local Swiss people get lost the lady who helped us out told us. 
It was 120 franks to do the whole round trip but what made it impossible was that it takes at least an hour and a half to get there, so would be another hour and a half back too and the next ferry wasn’t until 1:30pm. So we would have had very little time to explore the mountain itself which has loads of activities including mini golf, aerial adventure park, day spas and more. Given Geneva was still another 3 hour drive away we gave it a miss as Jay didn’t want to be driving at night which is fair enough. 
If we ever come back to Switzerland (it is so expensive it probably definitely won’t be until retirement) I would come in the snow season and would definitely be sure to do a few trips up the mountains like Rigi and Pilatus us the other popular one I had heard lots about. 
We left Lucerne about 12:30pm and made our way to Geneva. It took about 3 hours. Traffic in Geneva is a nightmare and a half. From about 10am until 7pm at night it is just ridiculously busy. There are cars parked everywhere down every street some cars even parking others in. There is scooters and motorbikes everywhere too and bikes. Turns out Geneva has quite the parking and traffic issue and they are trying to phase cars out and turn people to public transport which makes sense to me because it is crazy bad. 

(Some photos to show you a snapshot of the parking) 

They also have zoned parking. So there is the white zone which is paid parking then the blue zone is free parking for the first 1.5 hrs then you have to move your car. And it is also free from 7pm- 9am the next morning. We had to buy a blue Swiss parking dial when we parked in the blue zone to indicate what time we arrived there which cost us 4.50 francs. They have parking inspectors who walk around to check the times and number plates so you can go and change the dial after your free hour and a half but it is at your own risk to do that and stay in the park because if they catch you it’s double the fine. The nice man at the convenience store where we bought the parking dial let us know this. 
This afternoon by the time we put the dial on the car it was around 5pm so we would only have half an hour to go before it was free parking all night so at 6:30pm whilst Jay and I were cooking spaghetti for dinner we sent Tom down to move the dial on the car and left it there for the night. Everything worked out okay for us! But we didn’t dare attempt it the next day as we saw the police officer taking down number plates in the morning. 
Our Airbnb was interesting. We only had a single room with two single beds and another single mattress with a small balcony which was good. We had access to the bathroom and kitchen too but our host also lived there in one of the rooms and then there was another two rooms that were also rented out to other Airbnb users. 
When we got there, no one was there and we were able to enjoy the place to ourselves and cook freely. About 8pm an Asian lady and her father came back, they had stayed last night too. Around 9pm the host, Alex arrived home and he is quite the strange guy. Originally from Russia, he has only been living in Geneva for 4 months. Before that he lived in New York but I doubt it was for long because his English isn’t great and he was very hard to follow in conversation. 
We found it hard to believe that anyone actually truly lived there at all as it reminded us of a hostel- all the facilities but no food or condiments in the house at all, no family pictures and hardly any furniture. Then we met Alex. He is a weird guy and I can totally see why there was nothing in the house once I met him. He has no girlfriend he openly told us that as he was talking to us quite crudely and swearing. Nothing we aren’t really used to but when you’ve never met someone before you don’t expect them to start with those sorts of conversations. He was telling us all kinds of stories about other guests he has had stay there. I believe he referred to it as, “so much crazy shit that happens and crazy people you meet”. 

Some girls that left snot all over the walls and another couple were having sex so loud the neighbours called and another couple wanted to find somewhere else to stay lol. Probably not something you tell your other guests. He did try and give us an idea of some stuff to do the next day though so that was okay. 
We just went back to our room after speaking to him and didn’t come back out again for the night. 
Day 181- Wednesday: 

This morning we woke at 8:45am and had 15 minutes to move the car before our time was up there. So we quickly got dressed for the day and set off to check the car.
It had survived the night but was blocked in by a truck so we decided to go and see if we could find somewhere to get some coffee or a bite to eat for breaky. We ended up at a cute little french bolangerie (bakery). Jay tried out his french speaking skills ordering a coffee in french for him and Tom. I wasn’t about to get anything at all but then I saw it! A choc-almond croissant which was the one thing Kristie and Tomi told me I had to try when in France. I may have tried it in Switzerland technically but it was a french speaking country bordering France so pretty bloody close of you ask me. It tasted really nice! 

(My choc-almond croissant) 

(The truck that parked in our hire car. Our car is the first on the right) 
After breaky we walked back to the car and saw the police officer recording number plates so we decided to move the car. The plan was to move the car for most of the day and place it in underground paid parking. Then in the afternoon drive back to the blue zone near our Airbnb so we only have an hour and a half until the free parking for the night. That was the plan. Do you think the boys stuck to the plan? No. They didn’t. 
They wanted to just move the car somewhere else in the blue zone for another free hour and a half and walk to the old town for a look then walk back again and move the car again. They were adamant the old town was close to us- just over the bridge. I had specifically remembered our host Alex telling us last night we weren’t on the map he had given us. Tom had the map and thought we were on the map, they both did. It took a few moments longer until I pointed out that if we were where they thought we were we would have been able to see Le Jet D’eu which is the big water fountain in Lake Geneva. 
After they finally both listened to me and realised we weren’t on the map, I wanted to find wifi so we could work out where we were. Tom thought he knew which direction we had to walk in so we just started walking. We probably walked for a good 20 Minutes before we stopped and asked a lady. She did say we were going the right way but it was much further down yet. In the end we decided it was better to go and move the car now anyway to the underground parking for the day because by the time we walked all the way in there we would have had to walk back to move the car again. 

(These two bozo’s getting us lost) 

( the lake Tom thought was the big lake near the Le Jet d’eau – 😂)
We drove the car to the underground parking at Mont Blanc parking which is really close to everything. It took us 30 minutes to get through all the traffic and find the parking garage. 
But once we did we were able to see the sights of Geneva on foot for the rest of the day. Well when I say day, I mean the next 3 hours because that is all it took for us to see what Geneva had to offer and I’m glad we didn’t spend any extra time here. 
It was also not a very exciting city. We saw the Le Jet D’au which is one of the largest water fountains in Europe. It made for some nice photos but that’s about it. We also saw the giant flower clock at the edge of the English garden which is probably one of the most photographed flower gardens in the world. There were so many people all trying to get a photo with it that jay had to raise his arm up over the top of their heads and Zoom right in just to get a photo without anyone else in it. Asians are the worst for this! 

(There were watch ornaments and shops everywhere) 

(The famous flower clock) 

(So many Asians hogging the flower clock) 

(The statue of the eagle in the English garden)

(Jay being an idiot with the fountain, he then sat on the edge and wet his backside)

(Le Jet D’aue – this lake looks nothing like the one We crossed in the morning) 

We then walked along the waterfront around making our way to the botanical gardens. we even saw someone swimming in the water which was a bit crazy we thought. The botanical gardens were about as exciting as the one in Holland- terrible. 

We stopped for lunch at an English style pub and got some food. After lunch we made our way back towards the car and passed a few extra sites on the way… nothing special. 

(Some nice statue thing) 

(The boys trying to give the thumbs down for what they thought Of the botanical gardens)

(Some stuff from the botanic gardens)

(The guy swimming in the water)

(Some more photos of our walk to the botanic gardens)

(Tom being Asian) 

It took us another 45 minutes to get back to the Airbnb and find a park… we did 3 rounds around the block to find a park before finally getting one. 
We then walked to the local Lidl grocery store to get something for dinner before going back to the Airbnb. We chilled out for most the night until we realised that our next Airbnb we are supposed to be staying at in Lyon France had cancelled our reservation the night before we were due to arrive. 
So we suddenly didn’t have anywhere to stay for the next two nights we were supposed to be in Lyon. Jay contacted Airbnb but the best they did was return the money we had spent on the place and gave us a 10 percent discount on our next booking which was not enough to book another Airbnb the night before- they had doubled in price. So we ended up booking a hostel in the centre of Lyon which also cost us much more but we didn’t really have any other choice. 

After that Debbie downer for the night we went to bed ready to leave Switzerland and head to Lyon France tomorrow. 

Karlee xx 

Days 176-177: St. Gilgen and Salzburg

Day 176-Friday: 

Today we were off to Salzburg but made a slight detour to take a visit to St. Gilgen which just so happens to be the home of Red Bull and also our mate Adam who we met on our Sail week in Croatia. He has been working at a boarding house there so we stopped in to say hello and see his little town then he came with us to Salzburg. 
We left our hostel in Vienna around 10am and the weather was beautiful and hot, around 19 degrees. 
We arrived in St. Gilgen around midday and as we were coming into the town there was the most beautiful views of a lake to our left and rolling hills to the right but our views were clouded momentarily by rain and hale. That’s right it haled for a good ten minutes but luckily the hale was so tiny it didn’t leave any marks on our hire car. 

(Jay driving to St. Gilgen)

(You can see the hail stones out the window) 

(arriving in St. Gilgen) 

When I looked at the temperature it was displaying 6 degrees outside! We had not dressed for 6 degree weather as it was 19 in Vienna. We have not yet experienced 6 degree weather during the day so it was something new for us. Sam only had thongs on her feet and Jay and Tom were in shorts and they couldn’t even get changed because all our luggage was stacked up in the boot and it was raining so to have to pull it all out and put it back again would have been hell. 
We met Adam in the centre of town and he showed us the lake where it stopped raining and the sun came out for our photos. We thought the rain had gone so we planned on walking the half hour distance to his favourite spot which has a pub as well so we could get something to eat. We got like 10 minutes into the walk and were halfway up this hill when the rain started to increase and was really starting to come down. So we took shelter under some trees until it eased then made our way back down the hill back to the car deciding it just wasn’t going to happen in today’s weather conditions.

(The view of the lake at St. Gilgen) 

(Jay by the lake) 

(Me by the lake) 

( Sam by the lake) 

As we were coming down the hill Jay looked back and saw snow on the top of one of the mountains. It had gotten so cold with that rain that the first snow of the season had fallen. It was such an amazing moment to witness! We thought it was so cool that the day we arrive the snow decided to fall for the first time. 

(Sam enjoying the cold and rain- look at those pink toes!)

( the cutest house we saw- it had vines growing up the side and was very Austrian) 

(Waking in the rain) 

(The first evidence of snow up on the mountain- there is cloud and fog as well obviously but the snow is there too.)

We got back in the car and made our way towards Salzburg. 
St. Gilgen a very small but cute little town in probably one of the most beautiful locations in the world so it isn’t a cheap place to live. Adam likes living there, he said he gets bored at times because it is only a small town and his on his own but for the most part it’s good. He lives at the boarding school so has free accommodation, free meals and I’m not sure what his salary is exactly but I think he’s on alright money. 
The kids at his boarding school are all from super wealthy and prominent families from all around the world. One of the kids, his last name is Hapsburg, which if you recall me saying was the family who once ruled Czech Republic so they are very wealthy. Some of the kids are German princes as well. 
Adam’s roll at the school is basically to be like their “big brother” or “mum and dad” whilst they are there and away from their real parents etc. He has to make sure they are up in the morning, keep their rooms tidy, hang out with the kids in their down time, make sure they study and take them out for activities twice a week including doing stand up paddle boarding on the lake which sounded awesome but probably also freezing cold! 
When we arrived in Salzburg we found our hostel and checked in, took our luggage up to our room and the boys got changed into warmer clothes before we went out to explore Salzburg and find somewhere for lunch. 
We walked around the town centre for a bit but it was still raining a little so we quickly found a quaint little place to have some lunch and a beer. They only had a 4 seater table left, but all 5 of us squished our way on to it and had a cosy little lunch together. 

(Jay and Adam at lunch) 
The three boys ordered chicken snitchzel’s with chips and salad and Sam and I ordered the bratwurst sausages with chips and salad. It was really yummy! 

(Our lunch meals) 

After lunch we walked around the town some more taking photos of the castle from below and strolling through the old cemetery which had some graves from the 1600 and 1700’s. We found some Glue Wein which is basically hot mulled wine so we each bought one to try. 
They put a bunch of spices and stuff through it and it tasted nice but I still prefer my wine cold! 

(Our hot mulled wine) 

(Also known as Gluh Wein here in Austria) 

( this small little century we walked through) 

(You can see the top of the castle grin here) 

( four of the seven sail week croatia buds reunited) 
We stopped off at one last bar for another beer before we made our way back to the hostel because our car was parked on the street out the front of the hostel as there was no hostel parking and we were in a paid parking area so we had to get back to put more coins in the pay machine. 

(Having a drink at one of the local bars) 

(Having a Kaiser Karl, just quietly the beer at the first place where we had lunch was better) 

We ended up getting back 10 minutes later than we needed to for the parking meter and of course we had a fine sitting there waiting. Our parking needed feeling at 15:31 and our ticket was processed at 15:32 so they were obviously sitting there waiting for the time to tick over. So shit! So now we have a 25 euro parking ticket as our souvenir from Salzburg. 

(Our parking fine from Salzburg) 
We decided to then stay back at the hostel and we sat in the bar area and played cards together and had some beers. This turned into several beers, several games of cards and a number of other hostel guests joining our table including a guy from New Zealand, a brother and sister duo from Kent and a girl from America who didn’t last at our table long when she said that, “guns were fun”. She didn’t really like us saying that was the craziest thing we’ve ever heard and our opinion in gun laws obviously didn’t quite match hers so she left. Good we say! 
After this I don’t really remember much more of the night, one too many beers later I somehow got to bed and we went to sleep. Jay and I ended up sharing the lower level of the bunk bed together and We snuck Adam in to our room and he crashed in my bunk bed for the night choosing to get the bus home in the morning. 

(Back st the hostel after several beers and games of cards) 

Day 177- Saturday: 

Waking up a little foggy and dusty this morning would be an understatement. I lay in bed thinking, shit I don’t even remember going to bed. You know it’s been a big night when that happens. I checked the time and it was about 7:45am. I was so thirsty and all our water bottles were in the car still and I didn’t know what time we had to place money in the parking meter this morning so I woke Jay and we both went and organised the car and I grabbed our water bottles. 
On our way back into the Hostel we noticed the kitchen was open for breakfast which costs 4 euros so we both decided to have something to eat and I’m so glad we did. It made us feel so much better. After eating we went back to bed for another 2-3 hours. 
When we got out of bed the second time we all had showers and freshened up except Adam because he only had the clothes he was wearing with them and then we went to find a cafe for something to eat and some coffee. 
We ended up at this little cafe nearby the hostel. I still wasn’t hungry so I didn’t get anything but everyone else got a little pastry. 
Austria also has testing days to make sure the air raid signals are still working and that was today around 1pm but lasted ages. It would go off for a few minutes then stop, then 10-15 minutes later would go off again for another few minutes. This must have happened 3-4 times. 
We had another walk around the town centre and Adam took us up this hill so we could get a nice view of the city and the mountains- it was stunning. 

(One of the views from up on top of the hill- you can see more snow fell overnight on top of the mountains) 

(The other view from on top of the Hill with the castle in the distance) 
After this Adam went back home to St. Gilgen and we all chilled at the hostel for another couple of hours. I caught up on my blogs, Sam had a nap and Jay and Tom chilled out watching Netflix. What a life we lead lol!  
About 4pm, Jay, Sam and I ventured out one last time to the city centre as we wanted to go and see the castle at the top of the hill so we set off in that direction. We had a look through some of the souvenir shops at all the little trinkets they have a lot of Christmas decorations that are absolutely stunning but we don’t have anywhere practical to put them without them breaking so there was little point.  

(These horses wee being so cute to one another) 

(Jay and Sam walking through the town square)

(One of the fountains in the town square) 

(The roof of the church we went into- so much detail it was stunning) 

( Jay admiring the church) 
Today they also had like a family festival in the centre with lots of food and drink stalls set up, face painting and other activities for kids there. We had a quick look around and got a traditional savoury bread thing for a bite to eat before we trekked it up the hill to the castle. 
It wasn’t the easiest walk up the hill, it was a pretty steep incline and I’d worn my boots and immediately regretted the decision wishing I’d put my sandshoes on instead. But it was well worth the climb when we got to the top to see the views. The pictures speak for themselves. We decided to get the fernicular back down though which I was glad about. 

(Jay and Sam on the final stretch to the top of the castle. Jackets were off as we had worked up quite a sweat) 

(Some of the castle we saw ) 

( Jay and I at the top. We look a little awkward because there was these annoying Asians standing far too close to us trying to get into our position and they weren’t patient) 

(The beautiful tree at the top of the castle) 

( beautiful view of the river and town in the distance) 

(Beautiful views from the top) 

 We walked back to the hostel after this and got ready for dinner. We had chicken snitchzels at our hostel tonight for dinner- probs our last snitchzel for the trip! It was yummy and then we got organised to go to bed knowing we were getting up early in the morning to leave for Zurich, Switzerland! It was going to be a longer drive tomorrow taking 5.5 hours so we wanted to leave early enough to arrive at a decent time in the afternoon.
We all cannot wait to be in an Airbnb in Zurich instead of the hostel so we can wash our clothes and freshen our towels and things up too. 

Until then… 

Karlee xx 

Days 174-175: Vienna

Day 174- Wednesday: 

We finally set off from Prague around 11:30am after filling up with some petrol (which isn’t cheap in Europe by the way). We wait for the tank to get like three quarters empty before we fill it again and it costs us about 50 euros each time and that isn’t even a full tank- so about $70 Australian dollars. 

We finally worked out where we were going wrong with the car Navman too today. Turns out we had it on “no toll road” mode so that explains why we were being taken into all these little tiny towns out in the countryside and taken on and off the highways. 

It took us around 4 hours to drive to Vienna from Prague. The boys driving around 2 hours each. When we crossed the border over into Austria the countryside was so beautiful. We drove passed all these sprawling farming fields and went through a tiny winery town too. 

(The pumpkin farm we passed by)

(All the crests in the little winery town)

(One of the many sprawling fields we passed by) 

(Some really cool castle we passed) 

We arrived around 5pm and checked in fine. We were supposed to be in a six bed dorm but Jay managed to get us a 4 bed dorm with ensuite for only one night though so it meant we would have to change rooms the next morning anyway but we went with it. 

The boys found a flyer for another pub crawl and were keen to do it again. So we all had showers and got dressed ready to go early enough so we could get some dinner before it started too. 
We bought a 24 hour pass for the public transport system so it would last us the next day too and caught the train into Schwedenplatz which is like the main town area of Vienna. 
We found a place to have dinner and got to dine outside under heaters which was pretty nice. Jay ordered the spare ribs which came with some roasted potatoes and sauces. Sam ordered a burger with chips, Tom ordered a snitchzel which came with cranberry jam (tasted so good on top of the snitchzel). I ordered the beef goulash which came with potato dumplings- it was yummy! Another big meal and reasonably priced too. 

(Tom’s snitchzel) 

(My beef goulash with potato dumplings) 

(Me with my meal) 

(Jay with his spare ribs- he said it was really tasty) 

(Sam and her burger) 

After dinner we made our way to the pub crawl which started very slow and didn’t really get too much better the entire time. There was probably only about 9 of us at the first pub, we paid 10 euros and got one beer here for free, a free shot at the next pub followed by another at the next pub and another at the last which was a club. 
We played some challenges at the second pub, splitting into two teams. We originally thought the team who had the most points for challenges at the end won but apparently not. Apparently it was the top person in each group who won only and got a free shot so it kind of rendered pointless putting us all into teams in the first place because there was no reason for teams. 

 The challenges were really strange stuff but included; 

– wearing your bra on the outside of your shirt- 1 point. I was sneaky and put mine over but it was white over a white top and I lay my scarf over the top so you couldn’t really see it anyway- still got me the point though. 

– Boys waxing a strip of hair off their legs- 1 point which Jay did twice both Tom and I pulling the strips off and taking hardly any hair with them they were the worst wax strips. 

– Going into the bathroom and taking a funny photo with a member of the opposite sex. Which Jay and I did- see our photo ideas below lol. 

– You could also get a point giving the bar tender a kiss so I asked the female bar tender and she let me give her a kiss on the cheek which got me a point! 

– and lastly taking a body shot off someone. So Jay poured a shot into my belly button and drank it so we both got a few points for that one. 

There were a couple more challenges you could choose but they weren’t as good or a little too silly for us but I still managed to win! Yay! I think Jay and I should have probably tied but oh well. 

(Our funny photo in the bathroom. A very odd thing to explain to someone who walks in catching you do this lol) 

The last club we went to was horrible. It was so small and so unbelievably packed you couldn’t move, there was glass all over the ground so we arrived and a group of us from the pub crawl decided it was a shitty scene and left to find somewhere else to go. 
We tried to get the train back towards the centre where we had started but soon realised the train was closed for the night which sucked. We had to get a taxi back there and ended up finding a nice bar with good atmosphere for some dancing. 

(Jay and Tom having a good time on the dance floor) 

All in all it was a big night- not so much for Sam and I because we wanted to see Vienna the next day but the boys had a big night. There were definitely a few sick looking faces the next morning when we went to bed at 4am and had to be up and out of the room by 10am. 

Day 175- Thursday: 

Today was not the greatest feeling morning. We had gone to bed after 4:30am and had to be up and out of our 4 bed room to spend our second night in the 6 bed dorm by 10am. 

Jay was still in bed at 10am and so we were running late and all very moody. We ended up checked out about 10:20am but were able to check straight into our next room straight away which we didn’t realise at first. So we had lugged all our luggage down the steps to the basement and placed our backs in the luggage hold area only to have to go back down and get them out and lug them back up the steps to our next room. 
The boys were still feeling very hungover and didn’t feel like doing the walking tour we had planned to do at 2pm so we left them in the room to rest and Sam and I went off to explore Vienna for the day ourselves. 
We caught the train into the centre and walked around for a while checking out all the shops and filling our faces with German sausages with cheese filled in the middle of them and mustard and tomato sauce squeezed on it. It was so yummy! 

(Our yummy sausages)

We strolled over to the cathedral and took some photos but couldn’t enter with our food. We strolled over to the meeting point of our walking tour which was at the front fountain of the Albertina. We sat on the steps and enjoyed the nice sun shining weather for a while until the tour guides arrived. 

(Some nice statues at the Albertina museum) 

(I’m not actually sure what this building was but it was nice) 

(The cathedral had beautiful mosaic types all along the roof) 
Our tour was run by a lady who was actually originally from Prague and now lives in Vienna. She was good, she had lots of enthusiasm and showed us pictures and videos on her iPad as she was explaining different things to us. 
We started the tour our the front of the Albertina which is a museum before making our way through the gardens of the Hofburg palace which was the royal families winter residence. In the park there is statues of members of the Royal family and our guide gave us some information on some of the royal family. 
After this we walked over to the Mozart monument which stands as a memorial to his work. It was here we learnt that Mozart’s body has never been found and no one is really 100 percent sure how he died. It is believed that he died during the Black Plague and so was buried with the masses of other people who died during this time. Others believe he did from syphlas which was rife at this time and they didn’t have medication for it then. Some people also believe he was murdered. 

(The royal palace- Hofburg) 

(The palace gardens) 

(The Mozart memorial monument) 

After the monument we walked back towards the Albertina and had a look at the memorial against war and Facism which stands in the place where thousands of people were sheltering during an air raid in World War II and died when a bomb hit it the building. They don’t know exactly how many people were inside the building seeking shelter in its’ basement because there was too much rubble to recover all the bodies. 
To this day Austria is not a part of the European Union or NATO and does not wish to have any part in any of it. They never want to be a part of any kind of war or regime again. Our guide explained that whilst the German people are very open about what happened the Austrian (who welcomed and clapped Adolf Hitler into their country during the war) are the opposite. They are ashamed and embarrassed and don’t really like to talk about it all that much. They only started teaching it a few years ago in schools so are slowly becoming more open about it but it is taking time. 

(The anti-war and fascism monument) 
We also went and saw the national library which is a stunning building. The horse stables where they train horses for a ballet performance. That’s right- horses performing ballet. Google it- it’s an actual thing here in Vienna. We also learnt that the government have an initiative to help everyone be able to attend the Opera in Vienna. You can stand and wait in line for tickets for over 90 minutes but can then purchase them for only 3-4 euros. It means you don’t get a seat and have to stand and watch it but you still get to attend for a lot lot less. If we were in Vienna longer I think I would have liked to see both the opera and the horse ballet too. 

(The horse stables where they train them for the ballet) 

(The national library) 
The tour group had a break after this and Sam and I had organised to meet Jason at 5pm at schonbrunn palace. It was currently 3:30pm and we also wanted to try the famous chocolate cake at Sacher’s hotel before we met him. So we decided to leave the walking tour and go and have a piece of chocolate cake instead. It was well worth it! 
So the cake recipe is from 1832 when the Royal family were throwing a party for some reason or another. The original baker was sick and couldn’t bake the cake for the party so his apprentice had to bake something instead. He was only 16 at the time but baked this exact chocolate cake. It was so well loved that the Austrian royal family wanted more baked and then soon it was shared with people all over Austria and he had to keep baking it. The cake baking place is now a very ritzy hotel as well. So you can stay at the Sacher Hotel or just visit the restaurant below to try some cake and have coffee. 
We had to wait in line out the front to enter the restaurant for probably 10-15 minutes then were given a table to try the cake. There are other things on the menu that you can order but as if you wouldn’t try the cake. It came with a big dollop of whipped cream on the side too- tasted great- had a bit of a marmalade taste through it too. 

(Sam so eager to enjoy her cake she put her finger in her cream as soon as it hit the table) 

(Yum) 

(Close up of the cake)

(Explanation of the cake- all in German though so not sure what it all says) 

After cake we made our way back to the train station to head to Schonbrunn palace. We had told Jason we would meet him out the front near the gates but he came up behind us as we were walking there so that worked out well. 
Tom didn’t come- he was still feeling too sick from the night before. 
The schonbrunn palace was the royal families summer residence and it is spectacularly grand. 

You enter through the front gate and it has lovely big fountains with statues in them and it looks huge from the front but nothing prepared me for just how big the gardens are behind. I think my exact words were “holy shit! This is huge”. 

(The front of Schonbrunn palace) 

(One of the water features at the front) 

We took photos from the balcony and pretended to be the royal family  before wandering up the hill to get some photos from the other side. We sat on the hill for a bit watching people roll down the hill or Asians take their typical tourist selfies before leaving to go to dinner as the sun was setting. Fun fact for you- this palace was only the royal families summer house, it is so large there is also the worl’ds oldest zoo located inside the back too. It was closed when we got there in the afternoon but would have been cool to see. Apparently there is a panda there. 

(The view from the back balcony) 

(The lovely water feature at the back)

(Jay and I on the balcony) 

(Walking back down the hill) 

Jason wanted to take us to the restaurant near the fields where he used to play baseball at here in Vienna- the wanderers. We had to get the train back to the centre and then get on a tram. We accidentally got on the wrong tram number and so ended up having to make a loop which took us an hour or so but in the end we found the place right as it was beginning to spit with rain. 
We had to walk through a Park to get to the restaurant which is the park where Jason used to live and where the Wanderers fields are too. It was dark but you could see it would look lovely during the day. It was very busy though too, there were hockey games going on, softball and baseball games as well and loads of people biking and running through the park on the pathways. 

(The wanderers baseball field) 

We made it to the restaurant which happens to be more of a beer garden. We got a seat outside under the umbrella and ordered pork knuckles with sour krout and a sauce mix. Sam and I shared a pork knuckle but afterwards we realised we probably could have shared one between the three of us they were so big.  

(Look at the size of that pork knuckle! The crackling was perfect on it too) 

(The beer garden we went to was called schweiserhaus) 

We ate and by the time we had finished the rain had picked up so we caught the tram straight back to our hostel where we found Tom, still in the room where we had left him. we had nice warm showers and got ready for bed still exhausted from our late night the night before. 

Next stop tomorrow- St. Gilgen and Salzburg 

Karlee xx 

Days 173 and 174: Beautiful Prague

As promised last blog- A video of the boys jumping into the lake. 

​​

(Also some fun facts you might like to know about Prague)

Day 173- Tuesday: 
We missed our free breaky at the hostel this morning not getting out of bed from our big night the night before until after 10:30am. 
A slow start to the morning it was close to midday before we left the hostel by the time we all had a shower and got organised. 
Our first stop was for food! We found a restaurant near our hostel that seemed good and very reasonably priced. It was quite fancy on the inside with a beautifully painted ceiling giving it a “very prague” look. Our hostel had the same, with painted murals over the ceilings- so beautiful. 

(The boys on their way to the restaurant for lunch- “Pivo and Basilica” to the right) 
The meals seemed really nice, Sam picking the traditional beef goulash, I chose chicken breast stuffed with mushroom and bacon, salad and roasted potatoes. Jay selected the biggest meal on the menu- a big pork knuckle, which the waiter recommended he share with someone due to the size but Jay was so hungry he wasn’t having any of that. Tom ordered a mixed plate of meat with some spinach. 
All of our meals were amazing and so filling it tasted so good and it was really really cheap. To give you an idea, Jay’s meal was the most expensive and it only cost him 9.60 euros for a massive pork knuckle. It wasn’t just this restaurant that was like this, every single one we passed seemed to have awesome big plates and looked so good for under 10 Euros. 

(Jay’s big pork knuckle which he finished off well) 

(My chicken breast with stuffed mushroom and bacon) 

(Tom looking very satisfied with his mixed meat plate) 

(Sam’s beef Goulash) 

After we let our food settle for a bit we had to go to the old part of town to meet a walking tour group we wanted to do. We were running late but managed to catch up with the group before they left the square. Our guide an American girl who’s accent was pretty annoying but at least she spoke very loudly and kept us entertained. 
In the main square we stayed for a while whilst she explained the different rulings that Prague has seen since its very long existence, first settled in 300 BC by the Bohemian people. She explained they have undergone many different rulings and wars in Prague including being ruled by the Hapsburg’s and the  Hussite’s. One of the families, the Hapsburg’s were Catholic and the other, the Hussite’s didn’t agree with some of the practises the Catholic Church would use such as taking money from the community if they had sinned etc. They had a really long war that went on for 30 odd years and went through a stage of throwing each other out of windows to their deaths. Members of the community on the other side would wait for them to hit the cobble stones then be there with stakes and swords to finish them off just in case the fall didn’t kill them. Sounds rough, but apparently not for the time. 

(Part of Old town square) 

For a while in the early 18th century they were ruled by Germany and mostly a German speaking nation that ended in the early 1900’s; there was also obviously time during World War II where they were taken over by Nazi Germany but they were lucky enough not to have suffered much physical damage to the city from bombing only one bomb falling on part of the town hall in the of square. All other buildings in Prague remained untouched which is amazing and that is why so many people love to visit Prague because it is absolutely gorgeous with its gothic and art nouveau architecture that is centuries old. 

(the beauty of Prague is just amazing) 

Communism took over after World War Two and the Czech people hated this and didn’t want their help, some people going as far as burning themselves alive in protest of it which began the start of the end of communism in Czech known as The Velvet Revolution. 
They brought the traditional Slovak Czech language back in around the mid 1800’s.
We walked through more parts of the old town and the new town seeing buildings like The House of the Black Madonna, the theatre which has a history of huge artists like Mozart playing there and writer Franz Kafka’s memorial statue. We also saw the church and Jewish quarter as well. Each place we went had an interesting story to it. Some true, some old wives tales that have been told and retold over time and the legitimacy of it they aren’t so sure about. 

(A couple getting their wedding photos in the town square- the girl has Nike sneakers on- a little strange )

( a man dressed in traditional clothing and playing a traditional instrument) 

(The old town square of Prague) 

(Rubbing the feet of Franz Kafka’s statue) 

(It is suppose to bring you better luck than he had in his own life) 

(The building of the black masons, named so because of the black madonna sculpture on the side of the building) 

(This is supposedly the hanging arm of the man who climbed to the top of the church to steal from the church where he supposedly got trapped by the statue of the Virgin Mary  and instead of the priest cutting the statue loose he cut the arm of the man off and then placed it on display for all to show what happens when you steal from the church)

(Inside the beautiful gothic church which aside from the hangining arm was nice)

Once we got to the Jewish quarter we left the tour because it was already nearly 5pm and we wanted to still go and check out the palace and cathedral before it got too dark. 
On our way back through the town square we realised that it was almost 5pm on the hour and in 10 minutes the astronomical clock would have its “performance” which we thought we might as well check out. So we went and bought a Trdelnik otherwise known as a chimney cake which is basically a big cinnamon roll (similar to a donut) filled with frozen cream and your choice of topping whether it be just chocolate or chocolate and strawberries they even had apple strudel flavour. Then we took them back to the astronomical clock to watch the performance. 
At the start of our tour our guide had explained to us how the clock works and explained the performance which starts when the skeleton on the right of the clock rings a bell.  Each figure on the clock representing something that was dispised at the time the clock was built in 1410. The skeleton representing death and the reminder that the life of humans is only mortal. The three men around him represent vanity, greed and lust and earthly pleasures. They all begin shaking their heads in denial of mortality and not wishing to die the skeleton ringing the bell to signify death coming. Then inside the two blue widows at the top they open and the 12 apostles are there. 
That’s the performance basically. It’s nothing special but we are still glad we watched it and even more glad we got to try a chimney cake which are so so yummy! They had stalls and shops selling them everywhere! 

(The astronomical clock building was getting a bit of a makeover whilst we were there) 

(It was love at first sight) 

(Tom and Jay enjoying their chimney cakes) 

We walked back over the Charles bridge out of old town and back towards our hostel. The walk across the bridge at that time of the afternoon was so lovely and picturesque we got some really good shots and enjoyed the live busking performances along the way. It is your typical European tourist bridge with love locks on the end of each side of the bridge, people painting caricatures and self portraits along the way, selling paintings of the bridge (which were so beautiful by the way if I could fit it in my suitcase I would have got one). 

(Some of many buskers playing along the bridge)

(Just on the Charles Bridge) 

(There were so many people walking across the bridge in the afternoon it was crazy) 

​​

(A video of one of the buskers playing the violin it was so beautiful) 

There are also statues all along the bridge of various historical people but our tour never went over the bridge so we aren’t sure who each statue was of and what it meant. 

(The view of one side of the bridge) 

(The view from the other side- spectacular) 

(One of the many statues along the bridge) 

Once we made it back to our hostel we had a very quick pit stop there to use the toilet and freshen up etc. Before going back out and making our way to see the palace and cathedral which were up the hill a short 5 minute walk from our hostel. 

It was the perfect time of day to be going to see this part of Prague. It was so stunning as the sun was setting over the town as we made our way up the steps towards the top of the palace entrance which overlooks the Pétrin tower and hill on one side and the rest of Prague on the other. We spent some time taking photos all the way up the steps and once at the top. 

(My first shot from halfway up the steps) 

(Jay and I at the top) 

(View from the outlook) 

(There was literally a line of Japanese tourists waiting for their shot like this girl is doing- maybe 30 of them all waiting) 

We entered the palace area which was probably my ultimate favourite building of Prague and all of Europe. It is so incredibly breathtaking to see up close and in person. It is so large it is actually difficult in the space of the court yard to get a photo of the whole cathedral and the palace is huge too wrapping all the way around the cathedral. 
The cathedral is a mix of gothic and art nouveau architecture taking over 500 years to completely build and having changes made to it several times to create what it is today. As the sunset and dusk started it created the most beautiful photos with the lights highlighting the building so well. 

(The front view of the cathedral) 

(Tom and Jay strolling passed the cathedral) 

( a panorama of the palace and cathedral) 

( a close up of the cathedral) 
As we made our way back down the steps we noticed a traditional pub that replicates how it would have been back in traditional times in the Czech Republic. They had fire performances, belly dances, traditional food, all candle lit and 3 course meals. Unfortunately you had to make reservations to enjoy it which sucks because if we had an extra day we definitely would have done that for dinner. 
Before we got ready for bed Jay and I went for one more walk across the bridge at night time and took some more photos, we picked up a few slices of pizza for dinner (still mostly full from our lunch and chimney cake we didn’t feel like too much for dinner). 

(Some photos of the Charles bridge at night) 

We planned to wake early in the morning and head back up to the palace for the sunrise view looking out over the town of Prague so we had an early night tonight. 
Day 174-Wednesday: 
We woke around 6:45am this morning to catch the sunrise and we hummed and harred about whether or not we really wanted to get out of bed or not but in the end Jay, Sam and I all went and I’m glad we went. Tom chose to sleep instead. 
The hike up the stairs was a lot more difficult first thing in the morning but we made it to the top and enjoyed watching the sun come up over the city and got some nice photos too. A partly cloudy morning so not the best sunrise I’ve ever seen but still beautiful. They had a HBO filming crew up there filming the sunrise too, I wish we had asked what show it was for because there was a huge film Crew there and we had to wait for them to stop filming before we could walk back down the steps again. 

(The beautiful sunrise view) 
Once back at the hostel we went back to sleep for a few hours before getting up for some free breaky before checking out of the hostel and making our way to Vienna. 
We all wished we had at least one more day in Prague, all agreeing it is one of the most amazing places we have been and one we would all choose to come back to again given the chance. If we came back again I think I would definitely pay the 4 euros and make the climb of the tower at the end of the Charles bridge to see the view and take some photos. I would also hike up Perrin hill and see the tower close up, visit the palace and cathedral again obviously and have dinner at the traditional pub. 
Prague= highly highly recommend! 
We were sad to leave and as for the reviews about car theft and pick pocketers we didn’t see any of that and it was no different to any other city- you are just careful with your belongings and i think Italy still takes the cake for pickpocketing attempts and theft. Prague is beautiful and so long as you’re not an idiot it’s a very safe and lovely place to visit. 

More on dsy 174 and our trip to Vienna in the next blog. 
Karlee xx

Days 171-172: from Munich to Prague

Day 171-Sunday: 
A rainy morning we awoke to this morning in Munich. We hoped it would ease by the afternoon because we wanted to do a free walking tour of Munich and whilst we probably still would have done it in the rain we would prefer not to have to. 

Grand final day today for the NRL, I had found us an Aussie pub in the centre of Munich to watch the game live at.
We made our way to Munich via the train around 10:30am and arrived at Ned Kelly’s Aussie bar around 11:20am to find out the first half of the game was already 30 minutes in. We had forgotten to take into consideration daylight savings starting, pushing the game ahead an hour earlier than expected. Turns out the bar had not realised this also as they had advertised the game starting at 11:15am too. Bloody daylight savings… we are still forgetting about it and having it impact us even from Europe! 

 
 Ned Kelly’s Aussie bar was pretty big and nice too with a huge selection of food choices and traditional Aussie big breakfasts etc. Which was good even though we didn’t have one because we had already had breaky and to be honest I was holding out for the chance to have some more German food. We did share a plate of wedges and sauce though which was really nice and had a few drinks whilst we watched the game. Non-alcoholic for Sam and I, we still couldn’t bring ourselves to have a beer yet after Oktoberfest. 
Very much a storm domination we couldn’t say the game was really all that exciting but we were glad the cowboys made it to the final anyway, still a big effort for them to even be the team to make it there. It was also good to see Cronk’s last game with the storm was a fairytale ending for him. Well deserved! 
After the game we chilled out for an hour or so longer in the pub taking advantage of the free wifi as our wifi at our Airbnb wasn’t currently working. We chatted to family and I double checked the start of our walking tour. Around 2pm we made our way to the tour. The group of people wanting to join was so large they had to split us into 5 different groups. 
We got stuck with probably the worst of the 5 tour guides, she was far too softly spoken we could barely hear her for most of the tour and she spoke far too quickly too. The Tour was supposed to be around 3 hours long as advertised but we even had a 15minute break and were still finished just after 4pm. 
We saw St. Peter’s church, the Rathaus and Marienplatz but missed seeing the glockenspiel show of it by only a few minutes which was a bit of a bummer, we saw a few other monuments such as King Ludwig II monument and the theatre. We had a break in the area near Hofbrauhaus and Jay and Tom got a coffee from Starbucks whilst Sam and I hit up the ice creamery and tried two flavours which I can report were nothing to rave home about. 

(The Munich Rathaus where the Glockenspiel takes place in Marianplatz) 

(You can tell it’s still Oktoberfest time in Munich) 

(This restaurant covered in vines and greenery which we thought was pretty cool) 

(I forget what this building was called but all I do know it that Adolf Hitler was obsessed with painting it) 

(This is a massive toy store that has a chime hanging under the arch that makes the noise of broken glass to remember the darkness of what happened to the Jews in Munich during Hitler’s reign. Many of them had their homes broken into and windows broken- hence the sound of broken glass.)  

By the time we got to the entrance to the Englischer gardens (which are actually larger than New York’s Central Park) we ditched the tour as they were off to their last stop around the corner. We wanted to walk through the Englischer gardens and see if we were lucky enough to see some River surfers 🏄 which surf on the rapids of the river. We didn’t see them unfortunately. Given the overcast and cold weather they might not have been there anyway, either that or we didn’t come across the right river. There is also a nudest area of the park but we didn’t venture that far. If we had more time in Munich we probably would have hired bikes and tried to see most of the park or taken a day trip to see the big Disney castle Neuschwanstein palace or the concentration camp of Dachau. But we didn’t have time to do all of it unfortunately. 

(Part of the Englischer park) 

(Jay being very serious at the Englischer park) 

(One of the running streams in the Englischer park) 

(The beer garden we found and had a beer at) 

We did however find an outdoor beer garden which we got a beer at. I really wanted to get some food here as well they had bratwursts and sourkrout but by the time I went to get some they were closed. Which sucked. 
By the time we walked back through the park and made our way to the S Bahn train station it was starting to get dark so we made our way back on the train arriving home around 7:45pm. 
I cooked us burgers for dinner and we all had showers and went to bed. The boys had plans to get up early and go for a swim in the lake in the morning before we had to check out and move onwards to Prague.
Day 172- Monday: 
Today was also forecasted as a rainy day but we woke to sun shining which was beautiful but it didn’t last. About half way into our trip it started raining and it really set in unfortunately for the rest of the day. 
In the morning we had some breaky and decided to go down to the lake, the boys both brave enough to take their towels and wear their boardies in. Sam and I filmed them jumping in and then swimming very quickly out of the water again. It was even more freezing than the last time Jay got in on Saturday. They got in and out a few times each, poor Tom had to get in several times more than he wanted to because I kept pressing the wrong button on his phone to record a video of him jumping in. Whoops! 

Sam has a pretty hilarious video of them jumping in the water- I will ask her to send it to me and try and post it to my next blog for you to see. 

(The boys in the lake) 
After that we had to go back to the house and finish packing up our stuff ready to check out by 11am. Before we left the wifi started working again so we took advantage of that to try and find somewhere to park the car when we arrive in Prague. 
A few days ago I decided to check what the drive to Prague from Munich would be like. I read a number of threads on trip advisor (which is a traveller’s best friend by the way) and a lot of people who have also done the drive said it takes roughly 4.5 hours but made note of some important different road rules like you have to drive with your lights on at all times in Prague and you must get a Vignette sticker for your car from the local service station once you cross the border, if you don’t you face fines of up to 5000 euros. 
The vignette sticker is mostly for toll roads I think. You can get a 10 day sticker so that is what we bought once we got to the border crossing- which took us much longer then expected – 6 hours. Our Navman’s route was so much longer than indicated on google maps but we chose to follow the Navman because we didn’t want to get lost. In the end it was taking us off the highway and all through these little country towns and back on to the highway- our drive taking 7 hours! We quickly realised that the built in Navman must be preprogrammed by the rental car company to take the longest/ scenic routes only. There is no way to select an alternate route ( or so the boys say) and even when we tried to keep going on the highway it would just try to make us turn around and go back to following the long route. Such a stitch up! 
Before we leave Prague we are going to check the distance to Vienna on google maps and then compare it with the Navman and see if it’s the same route or not. If not we are going to study the route enough and follow google maps only. 
I also read lots of info about parking in Prague being not great because there is a lot of theft especially from hire cars. Everyone recommended parking the car in a paid parking garage with CCTV and or guarded security present. So I looked into this and we decided to buy parking at the airport car park for the two days we are there for about 30 Euros which isn’t too bad at all we thought much cheaper than you would get in Brisbane for overnight airport parking.
It is much easier to get public transport from the airport to our accommodation and use the public transport whilst in Prague as it is all pretty simple and much easier than driving around. 
I have a feeling we could have made a stop via the Disney castle on our way through from Munich to Prague but we didn’t have wifi long enough to research it before we left. That was very disappointing for me I would have loved to make a detour to go past it whilst on route. The German castle route would have been so fricken amazing to drive through as it has up to 70 different castles and church’s along the way and is a very popular route with tourists for this reason but i think it would have added too many extra km to our drive as is and we have a limit for the hire car. After driving an extra 3 hours trying to find our accommodation in Munich and now extra to get to Prague we really don’t have any wiggle room left with our km. If I were to ever come back and do a drive through Germany then the castle road would be on my list of things to do for sure! 

Today’s drive was so much more painful then the last for all of us I think. It was long, boring and even playing car games together like “celebrity heads” didn’t brighten the mood. Today Jay didn’t do all the driving, swapping with Tom part way through. Poor Tom got a really hard time from all of us when he took over driving but he did do a really good job in the end. We were all a little nervous how he would go and Jason being, in Tom’s words, “the worst back seat driver he’s ever had- even worse than his parents when he learnt to drive” but we hadn’t seen him drive before and he’s younger than all of us (only 23) so naturally we wanted to make sure he was driving safe. 

(Some pictures I took out the window on our way to Prague) 

Jay and I have pretty much earned the nick names of Tom’s mum and dad. Jay telling him what to do and how to drive etc. And getting cranky at him for not coming home with us after Oktoberfest. Tom says “yes dad” all the time. Me for just generally being Jason’s girlfriend I think and being the organiser of the group. Sam’s earned like a big sister role I would say as she considers Tom annoying at times and bosses him around a lot of the time. He’s probably regretting travelling with us already! We’ve been travelling together for 6 months so having another person join the dynamic is not an easy transition for any of us, it’s all a readjustment but it’s good all the same, especially for Jay who is glad to have another male on the trip. 
When we finally arrived and found the airport parking we had to still find our way to the hostel from the airport which didn’t take too long because we ended up getting an uber from the airport there. 

Everything is very cheap in Prague, our 30 minute uber ride only costing us around 14 euros so Split 4 ways it was only 3 euro each roughly. 
The Czech Republic don’t use Euros though instead using Czech Koruna (pronounced Crown) as their currency. This is quite confusing because they have fairly big notes- 100, 200, 500 etc. That are equal to 3.75, 7.70 and 19.85 euros roughly- 1 euro is 26 Koruna. So things seem expensive when you see a price for 190 CZK but really it is only about 4-5 euros.
Our hostel, hostel Santini Prague was super nice, in an old style building very close to the old town and all tourist attractions. It had the most beautiful marble floors and decor of wooden and old charm style we checked in easily and found our way to our 4 bed mixed dorm which meant we were all in a room together again and didn’t have to share with others which is good! 

We did have to share a bathroom again though but only with some other guests on the same floor as us. 
It was around 7:50pm when we made it to our room and the boys had seen flyers downstairs for a pub crawl that starts at 8:45pm. We decided if we were going to do it than tonight was the night because the boys didn’t want to be hungover and having to drive to Vienna the next day if we waited until tomorrow night. 
So we very quickly had showers and got changed ready to go, bought our tickets at the reception of our hostel and got an uber to the starting location. Sam didn’t come as she didn’t want to so she stayed at the hostel in our room. 
The first hour of the pub crawl started in a small downstairs area of a bar with the loudest music playing with horribly corny strobe and disco lights going. We had free drinks for the entire first hour (basically what we paid for in our ticket price so not really free). 
After that we headed to a pub close by that was a little busier but the drinks were much more expensive for spirits (triple the price) so we stuck to beer.
We went to two more places after that, the next much similar to the last and the final stop being a 5 level club which was supposed to be one of the very well known clubs in Prague. There was one level that had an ice bar but you had to pay extra to enter it. All the other levels were similar to the last and I didn’t see what was so good about it. It was busy enough and we had a good time for a Monday night anyway. 
By the time we left we were pretty hungry and ready for something to eat before making our way back to the hostel. It was 2am already so we were getting tired and cranky. I was not impressed when I found pizza across the street for 190 CZK ($5 per slice) but I bought it anyway because it was either that or starve. We found out the next day they had more than tripled the price at night just to make money off those coming out of the club. Ridiculous! 
We got an uber home arriving around 2:30am and went straight to bed, having seen the night party life of Prague and hoping to get a good rest before seeing the tourist sights of Prague tomorrow! 
Karlee xx 

Days 168-170- To Munich and Oktoberfest

Day 168- Thursday: our road trip begins 
Today we spent the morning enjoying our free breakfast at our hostel before checking out and getting the train to the airport to pick up our hire car. 
This was pretty uneventful really and we got there a little later than expected but without real hassle and we were on the road by around 11:15am. The worst thing to happen was Jason’s plugger breaking on route. 
Munich was about a 4.5 hour drive away. Our hire car is pretty sweet, new and has a built in navigation system that works a dream, reverse camera and also has those cool new lights on the side mirrors to indicate when a car is sitting in your blind spot which we think is so awesome! 
Jay was a little nervous to be driving I think but he did a great job and was super careful. Some cars go so ridiculously fast on the auto Bahn they’re like a blurr as they pass. We kept to the right hand lane most of the time which meant we didn’t really go any faster that 120km/hr which was comfortable for all of us I think. 
We encountered a bit of traffic here and there along the way that I think Jason liked to be honest because it’s easier to drive when you’re crawling along and not worried about how fast everyone is going around you. 

(Some nice scenery we passed on the way) 

(A pretzel Jay and I had for lunch) 

(just driving through Germany) 
We played a name countries and places game pretty much all the way there and snacked on food in the backseat. We stopped a couple of times for toilet breaks and a stretch of the legs. The trip seemed to be taking a lot longer than we thought and after 5.5 hours and around 5pm we arrived at this house which we thought was our final destination- our Airbnb house. we knew it was supposed to back onto a lake though and there was no lake in sight. The keys were supposed to be left to us on the door but they were not either and ringing the door bell there was no one home. 
We soon realised when Jason typed in the address again into the navigation system that we weren’t at our Airbnb at all and in fact it was an hour and a half back the direction we came from! We had driven an extra 1.5 hrs than we should have and now had to drive it back again. Turning what should have been a 4.5 hr drive into a 7 hour drive! 
Jason was pretty cranky about it but what could we do. Turns out he and Tom had typed the suburb name wrong into the Nav system in the first place. So we’ve learnt our first road trip lesson: double and triple check the address and that we are on the right track. 
The drive back just happened to be lovely and scenic and beautiful as the sun was setting behind us. I spent the time taking pictures out the window of the car with my camera and we passed the most beautiful lake we had seen since Krka lakes in Croatia. It was so clear and picturesque I just wish we were able to get better photos of it. 
We spent most of the drive back stuck behind two trucks which were going very slow but we eventually made it there arriving at 6:40pm. 

(A massive cow crossing the road)

(This beautiful old shack on a farm I saw)

(The beautiful big lake we saw on our drive back) 

(The grass was so green and the mountains in the distance was so beautiful) 

The owner is so lovely and welcomed us with a wave and showed us around the house. 
We are basically staying on farm property. They have a big house that they live in attached to a barn where they have cows inside. They also have two more big houses, one of which we are in that they have converted into an upstairs house and a downstairs house that another Australian couple are staying in below us. 
The other building opposite ours looks like more apartments and smaller apartments too for guests as well. There are horses in a paddock to the right of us and it is absolutely beautiful views. The lake is also behind the horse paddock. 

(Tom’s sleeping digs for our time in Munich) 

(Our pool and foosball table)

(Sam’s sleeping arrangement for Munich) 

(Jay and Tom out on the balcony) 

(The kitchen area) 

(Living room) 

(Mine and Jay’s room) 

(Lovely modern bathroom) 

By the time we checked in and were given driving instructions to find the grocery store we left right away to find it because it was almost 7pm and the store shuts at 8pm. 

We got some food for the next three nights dinner and passed a really authentic looking pub that we want to try out before we leave too for dinner. When we got back we put some oven pizzas on for dinner and all had showers before organising our way into Oktoberfest tomorrow. Upstairs in the house we have a foosball table and a pool table. The boys played a few games upstairs before having a few beers on the lounge downstairs before going to bed around 11pm. 

Tomorrow bringing with it an early morning off to Oktoberfest. 

Day 169- Friday: Oktoberfest! 

We woke today before the sun rose at 6am to get ready for Oktoberfest all dressed in our leiderhosen’s and dirndls we made our way to the bus stop down the road at 7am. It was a beautiful morning, a little fog in the air and a slight chill to the morning breeze but a stunning sunrise none the less. The bus arrived at 7:20am and we were told by our Airbnb host to ask for a group day ticket for 15.90. She had told us that the bus driver would probably try and tell us there wasn’t such thing and charge us more but to say that no, we knew it was a thing and wanted that one. This is easier said than done if you speak German or if the bus driver speaks English of which was not the case for us. 
We had no idea what he was saying and he had no idea what we were saying when we were shaking our heads at his 23 euro price that he was trying to charge us. After a number of attempts to communicate we wanted the 15.90 group ticket and getting absolutely no where we ended up just paying the 23 euros anyway. Language barrier failure number 293839238391! Haha. 

(Jay and I in our Oktoberfest outfits) 

( Sam and I in our outfits) 

(Jay and Tom in their Oktoberfest gear)

(The beautiful morning sunrise on our walk to the bus stop) 

(Our Airbnb. The host lives in the big house on the right and our house is the one on the left) 
The bus was filled with school children making their way to school and a few adults. Everyone staring at the foreigners in their Oktoberfest gear- safe to say we were feeling very judged and like outcasts. 
But soon we were off the bus and on a train on our way to the centre of Munich. Sam and I had decided to wear our leggings under our Dirndls for the morning because it was pretty cold when we left. A good choice made but we did get some funny looks from German people and I’m pretty sure that the bus driver made a comment about leggings not being part of the dirndl outfit but it was in German so I really wasn’t sure if he did or not.
Once on the train we took them off and rolled them up to place in our handbags for the day. We found the Oktoberfest really easily from the train station and made our way in the entrance before 10am. Each of the beer halls don’t open until exactly 10am so we had a quick wander around looking at the amusement rides and stalls and trying to decide which beer hall we would go for. We were all a little surprised how much the Oktoberfest reminded us of the Ekka but just with the addition of beer halls and wearing traditional gear in costume form. 

(All the rides at Oktoberfest) 
There are so many beer halls and If you don’t know much about German beer it can be hard to pick one to enter. One thing we knew was that we had to pick a beer hall and be there early to get a seat at a table. We ended up going for the lowenbrau beer hall which probably had the biggest line waiting to go in at 10am. We knew we liked the beer so chose to go with it. 

(Me waiting in like at the lowenbrau beer hall) 

(The crowd waiting to enter at the start of the day) 

(Some of the other beer halls) 
It started off slow, only part of the tables being filled and no band playing yet. By midday the band had started playing and Sam and I were still on our first beer. Litre steins are so big it is ridiculous. The boys were on their second and Tom had already broken the seal having already needed to go to the toilet several times. Rookie error! 

(We were pretty close to the stage in the hall) 

(Prosting our first beers) 

(Sam enjoying her first stein) 

(Jay with his first stein) 

After another hour or so we decided to maybe check out a different beer hall. After a few beers and not thinking about the fact we were leaving a perfectly good beer hall and seats behind we ventured outside.
Straight away Jay and Sam had a great idea to go on a ride altogether. I was not keen on it because I’m scared of heights but fuelled with a little bit of alcohol it didn’t take much convincing to get us all on this one ride that swung back and forth and before I knew it, it was paid for and we were sitting in the chairs, feet dangling and locked in by the seat belt. 
It started off okay, we were laughing and having fun, but then it started getting higher and higher and faster and faster. Before I knew it my eyes were shut so tightly and I was trying to focus on breathing normally and relaxing my mind until it was over. It worked fairly well but not for my stomach after two litre steins let me tell you it was not happy. 
After we got off (which felt like a lifetime after the ride had started), we went straight across the street to a very small eatery beer hall. We ordered water and Jay ordered some food which I felt sick at the thought of after the ride. Both Sam and I were not in a good way, our stomachs in all sorts of twists and turns so we thought we would go home soon once I was feeling a little better. Once we did, Tom realised he had lost his phone as it was no longer in his pocket so we stayed put and he went off in search for it at the beer hall from this morning or at the ride. After the second attempt searching he found it! Luckily! Tom is worse with losing things than Jason is. He’s not even been with us a week and he’s already left his beanie behind twice only to be found by Sam, lost his phone and found it again and left his wallet behind a couple of times as well. 

When he returned we had missed the last possible bus home to our Airbnb out in the sticks so would have to catch an uber. Tom had been contacting a girl he met whilst on a contiki tour a few years ago who was also in Munich and coming to Oktoberfest. Whilst Sam, Jay and I were ready to go home, we decided to all stay with Tom a little longer to meet this chick who was on her way there rather than leave him behind to come home on his own. 
By this time all of the beer halls were absolutely packed with people and there was little to no standing room let alone places for us to sit. We tried beer hall after beer hall looking for a spot for 4 to sit down with no luck. After stopping at a few different bratwurst stalls so Sam and I could eat we ended up at a beer garden style area near the entrance and getting another drink there whilst we waited for this girl. 
The bratwursts were amazingly good for 4 Euros, so much so Sam and I both had two each. 
Another hour or two went by and the girl had messaged saying where she was waiting for him… or so we thought. We made our way there and there was no sign of her anywhere. We walked around for another hour or so trying to find the beer halls she was apparently in and waiting around for her… she seemed to be leading him on a little as each place she was supposed to be we never found her. In the end Jay found us a seat in this beer hall where she was supposed to be. He ordered us all a beer and before we knew it Tom had disappeared without telling us he was going to find her or anything and he still had Sam’s phone with him because he had used it to message the girl. 
Some two hours we waited for him to come back. Sitting in this beer hall drinking and listening to music and talking we decided to go searching for him because he clearly wasn’t coming back for us. Sam’s phone was the only one we had with our Vodafone sim we got in Holland so we had no way to call for an uber home without it. 
We couldn’t find him and by this stage had given up on finding him now we decided to make our way back to central Munich station and get a cab. We knew it would be expensive but there was no other solution for us. In the end we got a cab back to our house with no sign of Tom there. He had sent me a message asking for our address so we assume it didn’t work out with the girl. Jason was very angry with him for taking off like that with Sam’s phone and without telling us especially because the only reason the three of us stayed for longer was to come home with him altogether. Now it cost us all a lot more to get home than it should have and Tom had no address to get himself home. 
I sent it to him but he still didn’t get home until 4am in the morning because he couldn’t remember the pin code to Sam’s phone to get the messages. Jay had to ring his mate Imogen in Australia to call Tom’s phone to tell him the address and code. 
Luckily for Tom he still had Sam’s phone when he got home otherwise I think she would have cut his balls off for him and stewed them for breakfast. She wasn’t happy about it that is for sure! 

Day 170- Saturday
Today we all enjoyed a nice sleep in rising around 10:30-11am all with hangovers and a few headaches for the boys. Tom didn’t rise until well after midday or so because Jay, Sam and I had been up, had cereal for breaky with our fresh cows milk our host had left on the door step yesterday morning and got changed to go to see the lake on the property. He still wasn’t out of bed so we left without him. 
We spent probably an hour at the lake. It was so scenic and peaceful out there, I spent most of the time taking photos. How could I not, it was just gorgeous. We had spoken to our host the day we arrived and asked her if you could swim in the lake. She said of course you can but she thought considering we are from Australia we wouldn’t find the temperature of the water very nice. She said she had some Russians there staying last week who swum in it all day long.. crazy! This water was ice bath cold. That is no overreaction it really was freezing! You also can’t see in to the water or anything like that so there was no way I was getting in it. Jay did though, mostly because he had to because Sam had thrown the ball to him and it accidentally landed in the water. Even if it was only for a split second he still got in. 

(Me sitting on the edge of the pontoon)

(Sam enjoying the peace and quiet) 

(The lake was so stunning) 

(Jay contemplating whether to swim or not) 

(Jay throwing the ball to Sam- it soon landed in the water so in he went to get it) 

(Jay in the water) 

(A bit cold as soon as he was in he was back out again) 

(Chilling on the deck) 
We sat and chilled on the wooden deck for a while before heading back up to the house. I took pictures of the cows, horses and sheep around us and we ran into our host on the way back. She is so lovely, we told her about our adventures at Oktoberfest and she said she would bring us fresh milk again tomorrow morning and some eggs too from the chickens which will be nice. 

(Some of the farm life) 
We decided to chill by the house all day today and rest enjoying the solitude it brings with it. When we got back to the house Tom was up. He apologised for his actions at Oktoberfest and we chilled out at the house for the rest of the afternoon. Jay and I napping for a couple of hours too before we got up and had showers and got ready to go to dinner. 
We decided tonight was a good time to travel into the main part of town and have dinner at the pub we had seen on the way to the grocery store. It was very traditional looking, meals were reasonably priced but not a large menu. Everything was written only in German and the waiter was sort of helpful with what each one was but Jay still stuffed up his order. He thought he was getting chicken parmi or something of the equivalent and he ended up with an entree styled dish with flat bread covered in prosciutto and rocket. Whoops! We ended up splitting our meals between the two of us because I had ordered a massive meal of snitchzel with roasted potatoes and salad. So I ate half and Jay ate half of his and then we switched. 
Sam ordered a snitchzel too but the smaller version of mine and Tom ordered what looked like Pork loin with some weird green vegetable concoction and mashed potato. 
After dinner we went to the grocery store quickly to get some ice-creams for dessert then head home. We basically went to bed straight away tonight to get an early night.
Tomorrow we will be making our way into Munich again to explore the city. We will try and catch the Glockenspiel at 11am in the town square and then watch the footy final at the Ned Kelly down under bar before then taking a free walking tour at 2pm of Munich. 
We also hope to be able to check out the Englisher garden which is actually bigger than New York’s Central Park. It is suppose to be colder weather tomorrow and maybe raining a bit so we hope it stays nice at least for the afternoon’s walking tour. 
Our last day in Munich tomorrow before heading to Prague on Monday. 

Karlee xx 

Days 166-167: To Frankfurt

Day 166- Tuesday: 
Today was leaving Holland day. 
With mixed feelings (mostly sad) we rose early to leave Holland ready to embark on the second half of our travels for the next few months. We have loads in store, in case it’s been a while since you read our next itinerary (or you haven’t read it) we have many countries in store including; Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Scotland, Iceland and England before venturing home via Bali.  
First stop: Frankfurt for two days before picking up a hire car and driving to Munich in time for the last weekend of Oktoberfest! Prost! 
Joost picked us up at 6:30am to head to the bus stop- it was just as hard saying goodbye to him as it was Petra and you could tell he was a little upset. We got a coffee and then it was time to get on the bus. He stayed to wave us off then we settled in for the nice long 8 hour bus ride. 

(Some of the German landscape we passed on the bus on the way to Frankfurt) 
Fast forward 8 hours and we had snacked our way through a bag of dorrito’s and most of Jason’s stroopwaffles, napped and used our devices for hours when we arrived in Frankfurt! We had bought a ticket to the airport stop but were able to stay on the bus an extra stop and get off at the central station which was great as it was only a 100m walk to our hostel from there. 
Almost as soon as we got off the bus and started walking a lady approached Tom with a ring trying to get him to buy it (he thought she was proposing lol) and the smell of piss was everywhere along with a lot of homeless people which we later worked out are a part of the large druggo community. 
Frankfurt is really a city of contrasting looks. The central station is quite beautiful to look at with its old architectural design yet it is riddled outside with the homeless and doesn’t look like a very nice area yet the buildings all around are old and beautiful and expensive then you see businessman and bankers walking around everywhere and expensive cars too. 
We found our way to the hostel easily though and checked in no problems at all staying in a 4 bed private dorm which means we have a room to ourselves basically. 
We quickly realised we didn’t have wifi in our rooms at all and could only access it from the common area outside which sucks but will be fine for two nights. 
We decided to go for a walk and check out a few sights. Jason had found a market hall for us to visit so we set off in hopes of finding it which we eventually did after much zig zagging around the city. The market hall was pretty much just a fresh grocer and not very exciting at all so that was a bit of a fail but oh well. We found a bite to eat at this little Bakery chain store because Tom was getting a little hangry before heading back to the hostel in time for dinner. 

( A picture of our hostel in Frankfurt) 

(Some of the sights we saw on our way through Frankfurt) 

We bought a few beers from the corner store and played some cards in our room beforehand, then at 8pm we went out to the common area to enjoy our free dinner of pasta which they serve every night. 
It wasn’t too bad actually for free pasta, was tasty and a big enough serving so that’s good. After dinner we went back to the room, and Tom is still suffering from a bit of jet lag so he fell to sleep. Sam, jason and I ended up sitting up talking about our travels and what parts we have enjoyed and so far and around 10pm we decided to go to bed. 

Day 167- Wednesday:

This morning we enjoyed a bit of a sleep in until 9am and then showered and got ready to go to breakfast. Our hostel offers a free breakfast as well- just your normal continental style stuff- toast, cereal, juice and eggs but we filled up pretty well on that and used that time to catch up on our social media and messenger apps etc. 

We knew we were going on a free walking tour this afternoon at 2pm but really didn’t have any other plans for the day. Sam wanted to go to check out the shops because her helix earring broke and she needed a new one otherwise her ear would close up. So we left the boys behind and set off in search of the shops. 
Frankfurt has a big shopping area called The Zeil promenade. We managed to find our way there on foot as Frankfurt really is only very small. It has two sides- an extremely expensive side that has shops like Armani, Calvin Klein, Swarovski, guess etc. Then it has a more reasonably priced side that is more in our price range. 
Sam and I found the latter only after walking through the entire expensive side but eventually found her an earring to buy. It was quite a nice little morning trip and we enjoyed seeing the shopping centre which apparently has the longest escalator in Europe (we didn’t see it to confirm unfortunately.)

(A panorama of Frankfurt) 

(The zeil promenade shopping area) 
After we made our way back to the hostel we didn’t have too long before our walking tour was due to start. At 5 minutes to two we made our way there and met our tour guide, Stephan. 
He was nice enough, a local Frankfurt man who did know a lot about the area and obviously really enjoys telling the stories and history/present issues of Frankfurt. The tour, named “alternative walking tour” soon confirmed why that is. Instead of starting in the old town or tourtisty area as most walking tours do, we instead started in the area frequented by druggo’s and in the red light district which has some questionable streets and people around it let me tell you. 
Jason was appalled he took us through there but I didn’t mind it too much (at least not in the day light) I think it gave us a real view of all of Frankfurt instead of just the tourist view which tells half the picture. 
We saw this grey building which is a safe spot for druggo’s to enter and take their drugs. It houses a doctor and an area where they can check their drugs. The drug situation in Frankfurt has always been a real problem that they keep trying to solve but there isn’t much they can do about it because the law states that they can consume drugs (of which they make sure to only ever have as much as they are allowed to consume on them). So unless they are caught dealing drugs there is not much else the police can do. 
He explained they have a real intricate system of telling everyone in the area when there are police around to warn them to get rid of any extra substances they have and they are good at dropping or hiding whatever they have that is more than they should and going back and finding it later. We watched a woman doing this whilst we were standing on the corner, she was searching through the grass and around the garden bed. 
The line outside the grey building was pretty long and it wasn’t a very nice area, there was broken glass all over the place and probably broken needles etc. People just sitting on the ground snorting white substances into their nose right in front of us. A very surreal thing to see and it’s hard to get your head around the fact it’s legal. 
The police just monitor the area often and think, at least they are all sort of in one central spot of the city but the new problem is, the area around where they all are is being developed and a lot of older apartments renovated and sold for a lot of money to businessman and bankers who are putting a lot of pressure on the government to do something about the homeless that are outside their doorsteps but there is no where for them to go. 
Once we left that area we found ourselves around the corner in the red light district of town. There is building after building of brothels with hundreds of women working in there at a time. Because of the amount of money the brothels make and bring to the city the government won’t get rid of them. 
He has spoken to the workers and business owners of these brothels and asked for their numbers and reckons that over 9000 people pass through their doors in one day and they make more than 250 million dollars a year in revenue. 
He explained to us that a lot of the buildings in the area were built after the war as most were bombed and therefore there is a lot of shitty 50’s architecture around surrounded by a few older buildings that survived the war. But there is also very new sky scrapers as well which gives Frankfurt the title of “only city in Germany to have a skyscraper city”. 

(This picture shows well the contrasting achitecture of buildings) 

He also pointed out some street art that is similar to what we found in Florence, Italy where you have to find it all around the city accept here they are life size versions of Spider-Man. We saw two of these but I only got a photo of one because the other was on top of a Brothel and we weren’t allowed to take photos in that area of town because he told us a scary story about being approached by a member of the Hells Angels bikey gang who handle the security at the brothels for having Asian tourists snap too many photos out the front and he stood there whilst they deleted them all. 

(The one snap of Spider-Man I managed to get) 

After this, we walked out of this area and into the business area of town which is much more fancy and clean and also the old town which has some super beautiful old buildings including the town hall and cathedral.

(This is the town hall building) 

(Given Frankfurt was originally home to the largest population of Jews in Germany they also have a book burning plaque in remembrance similar to how they do in Berlin) 

(A panorama of the old town) 

(A mural showing traditional apple wine making which is the local wine of Frankfurt) 

(There are constant renovations of buildings trying to restore them to their original looks) 

(One of the hotels that all the rich and famous stay at when in Frankfurt) 
We also were shown a building that houses all the local Free Maisons. We were right up close to the gate when all of a sudden we hear what sounded like a dog barking through the intercom… then it happened again and we realised it was a person from inside telling us to move on basically by barking like a dog. One of the strangest and funniest things I’ve ever heard. So we stood further away outside and our guide explained he has been shown around inside the building before and it has lots of weird symbols and things all over the walls. A chair for each member and then a throne for the leader at the front. A little strange and a little cool at the same time. Only a select few members are known to society the rest are not known. 

(the gate leading through to the home of the free Maisons) 
The tour finished on the bridge where we got some nice photos over looking the river with the cathedral in the background. Apparently over the other side was a lot of good restuarants with local food to try but we walked over there and couldn’t find a single one so we obviously didn’t walk the right way. 
We were feeling a little peckish afterwards though so we walked for a while trying to find a small snack to have as we still had a couple of hours until dinner time. 

(Some views from the bridge- it was very beautiful) 

We ended up walking back to this Grill stall that Sam and I had passed in the morning selling bratwurst and currywursts. Jay, Sam and I got a bratwurst each and Tom got a currywurst. They were pretty good but not the best I’ve tried. Safe to say we are very much looking forward to going to Munich and eating so much German food it isn’t funny because Munich is where it’s at! 

(Our bratwurst and currywurst feed) 
Unfortunately the Airbnb Jason has us staying in Munich has some advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it’s a massive farm property on a massive lake in the countryside which will be beautiful and nice and quiet but it’s a 50 minute drive from the centre of Munich! A major disadvantage. It makes it hard when we want to go to Oktoberfest and have to try and get our way there and home from it when we are living out in the sticks basically. Not to mention we want to travel into Munich everyday we are there to sight see. There is a lot to see and do there so it’s a bit of a waste really to have this massive property. We are just going to have to figure out the best way to see and enjoy both the property and Munich and know that we won’t get to do it all because of it. The owner says there is a bus we can get to a train station then get the train from there to Munich for Oktoberfest. He also said we can get a taxi back later at night from the train station so fingers crossed we can. I think it will be a bit of a mission. 
But the first mission starts tomorrow, after checking out we need to be at the airport to collect our hire car by 10am then drive to Munich which takes around 4.5 hours. 
The road trip awaits! More on this in the next blog.
Karlee xx 

Days 163-165: our last weekend in Holland :(

Day 163- Saturday: 
Today was the last day of home games for Baseball at Orioles club. 
We slept in and then Jay biked to the club by midday. Sam and I stayed home for the morning to do a few things before biking to the game when it was due to start. 
We wanted to start packing plus get a few things organised for our trip. We purchased some snacks for the road trip and looked in the store downstairs for zip lock air pressed bags like the ones I brought over from IKEA (thanks for the idea mum) that compress your bulky clothing so we can fit more in our bags. They have been really awesome and good value for my packing I only wish I had packed more of them as spares because majority of them are broken now so they don’t compress properly. We couldn’t find them and hoped maybe we would find them tomorrow. 
The packing still didn’t get started and not much else got done for the morning. I was on the slow boat from china today as I still wasn’t feeling well with this head cold I have. So far no one else has it which is good. 
Sam and I kept updated on the Cowboys Vs Roosters game and we were excited to hear that cowboys won and are looking forward to hopefully a cowboys win next weekend. I have already found an Aussie bar (the Ned Kelly Aussie bar) in Munich for us to watch the grand final live next weekend. Forward planning is important! 
We biked to the game arriving a little late. Jay was playing second base today which he hasn’t played all season and I don’t actually think I’ve ever seen him play in the 2nd base position ever but he enjoyed it and did a good job. They won the game today, it only lasting around 2 hours or so.. a very quick game by Orioles standards which we were happy about because we had to say goodbye to everyone at the club and then were having dinner at Chantel’s place tonight so needed to bike home in time for her to pick us up for that. 
We had a few beers at the club with the team and said goodbye to some of the regulars we know like Frans and Sam had to say goodbye to Lotta who was her good friend on her softball team- she cried… Sam did well though and the tears didn’t start. 

      

(Lotta and Sam saying goodbye) 

We biked home really quickly as Chantel was waiting for us, quickly got changed into warmer clothes and left to meet her as she was waiting on the street before the roadworks as they had the road blocked down to our apartment. 
We didn’t realise exactly where she was taking us as we knew she lived in Rotterdam but turns out her parents have a caravan in a little built in caravan park somewhere right up near Amsterdam as they are in the direct flying range of Schipol airport. They spend almost every weekend there during the summer months of the year then drive home and live in Rotterdam during the weekdays so it took us a good hour or so to get there.
It was out in the countryside and so super beautiful to drive through. Not so good for keeping warm at night in the cold when you’re sick but it was very pretty. There caravan was simple and only small but had a little living area that probably doubled as the bedroom and a toilet and kitchenette. They had a cute little backyard area as well with grass and a patio, shed and outdoor bar fridge and BBQ set up. There was also a little deck area which backed onto the canal behind that so you could sit on the deck in warmer weather and look out over the canal or fish in it. It was the perfect little retiree set up and although her parents haven’t retired yet you can tell they will live there full time when they do. 
Her parents, John and Laurelle were really nice. Her dad is Dutch and quietly spoken (which I didn’t realise at first, I thought they were all Australian but turns out they’re not) and her mum is Australian. Her dad moved to Australia many years ago with his first wife, who he then left when he met Laurelle. They married and had kids and then when Chantel was 7 they moved to Holland. 
Chantel and her brother Benjamin moved to Holland with the parents but she also has an older sister and brother who didn’t move with them and stayed in Australia to live with the grandparents. They haven’t been back since and it has been 18 years. 
At first when I heard this (and still even now) I think it is so strange that they left two of their children behind and haven’t seen them in 18 years!! It’s not like they were already adults or anything I think the sister was 12 at the time. They still keep in contact because Laurelle showed us pictures of the daughter and her family but a little unconventional. I don’t think I could leave my kids behind. 
They have plans to visit next year and see the family but apparently they have had plans to do that nearly every year since they arrived and haven’t so who knows if they actually will follow through on it. They all smoke cigarettes like chimneys so they are having a hard time getting their heads around having to pay the exuberant amount of money it costs for cigarette packs in Australia whilst they are visiting. 
They also had a fire burning for us so that was good and helped keep the cold away a little. It became Jason’s little piece of Heaven and John wasn’t very good at getting it going so Jay sat by the fire most of the night and kept it warm.
John is an excellent cook and I mean like he is so good he should have been a chef, a very talented man. Laurelle said she can’t cook to save herself and stays out of the Kitchen, he handles it and she does the cleaning.. sounds like me. I only wish I had got pictures of all the food for you to see. 
He cooked us the biggest and best meal I have had the entire time we have been in Holland. It was amazing! First, he asked us if we liked seafood and all three of us are not big seafood eaters so we wanted to know what kind of seafood. Turned out to be prawns and squid. We all were a little like… hmmm nooooo but we will try it. 
For Entree (that’s right, there was three courses) he puts on the table the most amazing smelling prawn dish I have ever seen. It was prawns cooked with pan sautéed tomatoes with other spices mixed through it and tasted divine. Squid in a garlic butter sauce which was also amazing and garlic bread with herbs and spices on it too lightly cooked on the BBQ. 
Jay didn’t realise you had to peel the shell off the prawn before you ate it though because he’s not a prawn eater so he was eating shell and all for most of the dish until we said something to him. Too funny! 
After our entree he cooked us up steak for a main with potatoes. We knew to expect big steaks because we had told Chantel how we haven’t had a proper nice steak since being here because they don’t sell them in the grocery store and the butchers are very expensive over here. Her dad goes to a butcher in Rotterdam who he found many years ago that sell huge (and I mean huge) pieces of steak for pretty much half the price you would pay anywhere else. He asked if Jay wanted a half or whole one but we didn’t realise how big he was talking. It was the biggest peice of steak I think I’ve ever seen. 
Jay’s looked like he barely put a dint in it.

(A picture of my steak size- pretty much the whole plate) 

(Jay’s steak size- it was ridiculous!) 

(He stopped eating after this photo- looked like he barely touched it) 

After our mains we were given dessert and tea which was loosely based on Chantel’s favourite dessert food- Teramisu. It wasn’t exactly what you would call traditional but John said he worked with what he had there and it was easy. It was again, outstanding and very yummy and I only wished I wasn’t so full from the main so I could have another serving. 
We chatted and chatted and the time got later and later and before we knew it, it was after midnight. We were all in massive food comas and wondering when Chantel would be taking us home but also not saying anything because you can’t be rude. 
It was 2am by the time I climbed into bed when we got home and we were absolutely knackered. It was probably our latest night since being in Greece. We really haven’t been the biggest party animals here at all so 2am was late for us and we went straight to bed! 
It was a nice night though and Laurelle still very much has her Aussie accent even after 18 years. She took 5 years to learn Dutch fairly well but now says she speaks it most of the time and barely speaks English anymore unless she has to. She even thinks in Dutch now. But what is strange about it is that Chantel learnt Dutch much quickly than her mum having to go to school and speaks it very well but she said she still thinks in English. If she’s reading a Dutch book she translates it to English in her mind before processing it. Strange huh! 

Day 164- Sunday: 

After our late night last night we slept in until pretty late this morning. Jay pretty much having to get up and go straight away to his last game of baseball. He got a lift with one of the guys from his team (who actually let him drive there which was good- more practise ready for our road trip). 
Sam and I made a 30 minute bike trip to the shopping centre to visit primark one last time before we leave. Last time we went to this shopping centre we got the train and forgot to swipe on and it ended up costing us 20 euros which was an expensive bloody trip! 
So today we biked instead and I’m so glad we did. It was a very picturesque bike ride there past this really nice bike/running track and canal area. 
We bought really really warm trackies for 6 euros from primark and some souvenirs. We Managed to find rubber bands to help keep our clothes rolled in our bags and bought Joost and Petra a gift for all they have done for us whilst we have been in Holland.
Sam and I were super stoked with our gift… a kangaroo money box (that just so happened to be orange- the colour of Holland and the Orioles). So now they can put all their loose coins and change in it to save for their trip to Australia plus it’s a little reminder of “The Australie’s” as Joost calls us. 
We also picked up an orange plant for them too and stopped by the Hema store to see if we could get zip locked bags… no luck but they did have Tompos… which is similar to vanilla slice so Sam and I got 4 of them.. 2 for us and 2 for Jay and Tom to try. 

(Our skippy gift for Joost and Petra) 

Jay lost his last baseball game but said he still enjoyed it. He pitched two innings and then pulled himself out because his shoulder was hurting him and played 2nd base again. 
After the game, Joost dropped him to schipol airport so he could wait for Tom’s plane to land and bring him back to Rotterdam. He had a 2 hour wait from the time he arrived to the time Tom’s plane was due to land so he killed time by getting a coffee and reading. 
Whilst he was doing that Sam and I had spent the rest of the afternoon packing all our stuff up and finishing washing clothes. I packed Jason’s bag first.. it took me 15 minutes max. Then mine- which took me the better part of 3 hours! 
I cleaned the apartment a bit more whilst Sam cooked dinner and then we ate and had a girlie night of pampering and a chick flick. We had bought face masks from primark whilst we were at the shops today so we did those, painted our nails and watched a movie with a glass of wine. It was nice- the last “just the girls” moment before our next journey. 

(Sam and I with our face masks on) 
  

(our wine and chick flick, oh, and we painted our nails)

Jay and Tom arrived home around midnight. It was freezing outside and I look down and Tom’s in shorts and thongs- crazy! 
They had showers and ate and we all went to bed.

Day 165- Monday: our last day in Holland! 

Today we enjoyed our last sleep in Holland and got up around 10am. 
Jay cooked us scrambled eggs with bacon and spinach and tomato through it for brunch, we cleaned up and got ready as Jay wanted to take Tom into Delft to show him around. He wanted to show him a little bit of everywhere but we didn’t have the time. 
We had to go via the post office to post our de-registration forms to the town hall to say we are leaving Holland and no longer living in Rotterdam then we caught the tram to Rotterdam central where we dropped our working holiday ID cards off at the IND desk before catching a bus to Delft. 
It would have been much quicker to get the train to Delft but in order to do that you have to have 16 euros as a minimum on your OV card and because we are leaving we didn’t want to have to top them up and waste the money on them so the bus it was. 
It took around 40 minutes to get in there. We walked down to show Tom the court yard and old church which is being renovated then went for our actual last coffee at the coffee company. Told you our coffees on Thursday wouldn’t be the last!  
Jay wanted to take Tom to show him the gate house so Sam and I bought a few more snacks and souvenirs from Delft and met them again later after they had seen the gate. 
By this time it was pretty much 3:30pm so we got the bus back to Rotterdam as we needed to get back to get ready for dinner with Petra and Joost. 
When we got home at 4:30pm Sam and I had just enough time to get changed and for me to pick up my jacket from the dry cleaners before leaving. We had to bike our bikes back to Petra and Joost’s place before dinner. 
We were running late so we had to peddle pretty quickly which sucked because we didn’t get to relax and enjoy our last ride one last time. 
When we got there they drove us back to our place where we picked the boys up and drove into Rotterdam city for dinner. 
I can’t remember the name of the restaurant but it was right on the port overlooking the water- very nice. For $12.50 you have a choice of entree, main and dessert and it comes with a plate of chips and salad as well which was all very nice food so for that price- bargain! We all got a few drinks on top of that but all up it was a nice meal and very cheap. 
For entree Jay, Sam and Petra all ordered a beef dish with some kind of sauce, Joost and I ordered a cabbecia which is like a very thin peice of raw meat with a dressing over the top and pine nuts and Tom ordered a mushroom dish with mushroom sauce and bread. I think the beef dish was the chosen favourite but I enjoyed mine still too. 

  

(Sam enjoying her entree) 

(My entree) 

(Tom’s arrived- his mushroom entree dish) 

(Jay and Joost enjoying their entrees) 

For main (sorry I forgot to take a photo) most ordered the pork loin except for Tom and I. I ordered the chicken Satay dish which was so yummy! And Tom ordered a hamburger which was really crappy and he didn’t eat it all it was that bad. Rookie error! 
For dessert the Dame’s (ladies) had warm chocolate cake with vanilla icecream. Joost ordered a small cheese platter and Jay and Tom both ordered the cheesecake which looked yummy too.

(The cheesecake) 

(The chicksgle cake with icecream) 

We exchanged our gifts… Joost and Petra buying all three of us a box of stroopwaffles each and writing on a postcard for each of us from Holland. They loved their Skippy for a present and Petra sent Sam a photo of it later on already on the mantelpiece at home. 

After dinner we went to Petra’s costume shop to pick up some Oktoberfest outfits to take with us to Germany. Jay had an outfit picked out in the first 5 minutes we were there- the first one he pulled off the hanger was good. Tom ended up with the same version but is going to wear a different shirt with his because the costume one was miles to big for him. I tried on three different ones and in the end settled for a brown and pink one. Petra found Sam one that is really really pretty and I’m gonna attempt to braid Sam’s hair for her the night before maybe… I’m not good at braiding other people’s hair but I’ll give it a go so she looks authentic! 

(Tom and Jason having fun with the costumes in Petra’s store) 

(Jay as batman) 

After the shop they dropped us home. We had to say our goodbyes to Petra then and there because she had to work tomorrow morning when we were due to be dropped off at the bus. It was sad and she was sad too but we didn’t cry which was good! Choosing to think it’s not goodbye but a see you later. 
It’s nice to have met such caring people on our journey. They told us they don’t consider they only have three children anymore they have six and three are off to Australia… it’s too far away Petra said! 
They really did make our time in Holland so much easier and more enjoyable and we would have been lost without them. Organising us bikes, helping us with our work, letting us use their printer when we needed forms printed, helping drive us to baseball games and accommodation for the second half of our stay in Holland. They are top people! 
Tomorrow we are leaving at 6:30am. Joost is coming to pick us up and drop us to the bus stop. Our bus trip will take 8 hours all up and we should arrive in Frankfurt around 3:30pm. We have one full day in Frankfurt before picking up our hire car from the airport Thursday morning and driving to Munich! 
Karlee xx 

Days 160-162- from Delft to Gouda

Day 160- Thursday 

Today we had a list of things to do one of which for me involved starting to pack. It didn’t happen. 

But we did manage to take a trip into Delft again for the day. 

Jay and I started the morning biking to the bank because I still needed to collect my pin code in order to be able to use my bank card. I’d tried to collect it Monday afternoon after work on the way home but apparently you can’t just collect it from any ING bank and I was at the wrong one. This is after I had already sat there waiting for over 20 Minutes. 

We got it sorted this morning which was good and when we got back we set off on the train towards Delft station. 

When we arrived things looked as per we had left them two months ago with only a few small changes. They had finished the road works along the tram line but the old church was now covered completely in scaffolding- it is obviously receiving a bit of a make over.

We went straight to the coffee company to get our regular drinks… for the last time (which I think we have said numerous times now and each time it isn’t our last time). 

(Our “last” coffee company drinks) 

(They always have the cutest little sayings about coffee on the board) 

we then took a stroll around the Thursday markets. When I say around I mean to the stroopwaffle van. 

(Sam with her freshly warm stroopwaffle) 

(I wish we could bring ones this size home) 

(Our beloved stroopwaffles van at the delft markets) 

It was absolutely beautiful weather today, sun shining and it is suppose to be this way for the rest of the weekend so we can’t have asked for better weather for our last weekend! 

We wandered around a little longer, Sam and I picking up scarfs at the delft market, I bought a pair of boots from a shop in the centre of the town and we did a little souvenir shopping whilst Jason went and got a haircut.. yes another one but a decent one this time from a barber who knows how to trim a beard so he looks good! 

(This was the first time we have ever seen this. The swans not on the canal and literally just chillen and sleeping on the road) 

(Walking through the markets with the new church in the background) 

(We walked passed this cheese shop almost every time we were in the centre of Delft and finally only just decided to get a photo of it.)

(Sam posing with our friends) 

(Say cheese) 

Once Jay was finished with his haircut we made our way back to Rotterdam on the train. 

Tonight we watched the first new episode of the Bachelorette. It wasn’t great because the link we used kept freezing all the time so we only got through the first episode but it was good and Sophie Monk is the absolute funniest chick.

After watching bachie we went to bed. 

Day 161- Friday: 

Today we were meeting Joost and Petra at their place at midday and they were taking us on a day trip to Gouda (the home of Cheese making, stroopwaffles and candles in Holland). 

I made us eggs in a nest for breakfast and Sam and I did a very quick session of yoga before we got ready. We had to bike over to Joost and Petra’s so we left about 11:30am. 

(Decorating Sam’s egg in a nest) 

When we arrived they were just having some lunch, Petra was making fried eggs on bread rolls so Jay had another serving of eggs which he was more than happy with. 

We left soon after and made our way to Gouda which is only a short 30 minute drive away. Petra hadn’t been to Gouda in 15 years. A strange thought for us really when it is only a 30 minute drive.. that would be like living in North lakes and never visiting Brisbane CBD in 15 years. 

Gouda is a cute little town, which isn’t very big. It reminded us a lot of Delft actually, quaint and historical with lots of new boutique touches to it. 

When we arrived the first thing Petra and Joost see is a van.. similar to a stroopwaffle van but that sells Olie bollen instead. We had no idea what this was and of course, Petra tells us, “It is real Dutch and we must try it”. Between the stroopwaffles, Tompos (which is like a vanilla slice but different), mini Dutch pancakes I don’t know how the Dutch all don’t have diabetes. 

So over we went and tried the Olie bollen. It was like a donut but round and not as soft, covered in icing sugar after being deep fried. Real healthy.. not! It tasted good but a little bland once all the icing sugar disappeared but they seemed to have lots of flavours there too. 

(The fancy Olie Bollen stand) 

(Petra with our Olie Bollen) 

( a close up) 

(All three of us eating our Olie Bollen) 

We just so happened to arrive in Gouda the weekend the carnival was on. There were rides and side show games all through the middle of town. Sam was going to go on one of the rides but in the end she didn’t. 

(Just some of the rides) 

(Sam heading straight for the rides) 

(Some more rides)

We found a store selling the original stroopwaffles which were called kamphuisen originally made in early 1900’s. They were nicknamed the poor mans diet because they were originally made for those who couldn’t afford nice biscuits and stroopwaffles were made cheaply from left over dough. Now they are a yummy delight that is a Dutch tradition. Sam and I bought a packet of original Kamphuisen’s to try as they are made different to how the stroopwaffles are made today with a secret recipe. We got to try some for ourselves to see the difference. They also had mirang with stroopwaffle for tasting too. 

(The stroopwaffle shop) 

(Our taste testings) 

We walked around the rest of the small city looking at the historical aspects of the city including the town hall building and the church which had lots of stained glass inside. You had to pay 6 euros to enter though so we didn’t bother. 

(The town hall building) 

(Jay and Joost walking through Gouda) 

(Jay, Sam and I at the town hall of Gouda) 

(The town hall was first built in 1603- that is crazy old!) 

(An old candle making shop we passed) 

Soon after this we stopped for coffee. All the Dutch do is drink coffee or tea or stop for coffee and tea. I got a hot chocolate with whipped cream on top so by the time we finished I was all sugared out! 

We then walked through the shopping street of Gouda browsing at some of the clothes and jewelry. I saw the most beautiful watch in one of the Jewellers but I resisted the temptation. 

Before long it was time to head on back to Rotterdam because Jason was playing softball tonight with the men’s team. 

Petra dropped Sam, myself and Joost back to their place and Jason and Petra drove back to our place to pick up Jason’s baseball clothes for the game. Petra let Jason drive there and back to get a little bit of practise in before we leave for our road trip. He did well and didn’t turn the wrong way, sticking to the right side of the road so that’s promising.

 
Whilst they were gone, Sam and I went with Joost to get something for dinner from the grocery store. On the way we stopped off at the camera shop that had my new battery for my camera ready to collect so we picked that up first before going to the grocery store. 
We selected some oven pizzas for dinner and what should have been a short 10 minute trip turned into a good 30-40 minutes. Joost is somewhat of a little celebrity in the town, I swear every 5 minutes or so he was running into someone else he knows and chatting away like a little old woman for 10 minutes at a time. Sam and I thought it was hilarious. He was all like, “you girls pick out the flavours of pizza… I’ll be back in a minute..” wanders over to chat to someone he knows. lol. 
Sam said Petra is exactly the same because she has also been to the grocery store with her when she stayed with them for the weekend and it wasn’t a quick trip.  
We had our pizza and then all biked over to the Orioles club for the softball game. Jay had left a good 45 minutes before us to be there on time and warm up. By the time we all arrived the game had already been started for 5 minutes. It started early, which doesn’t normally happen but with the summer gone each week it is getting darker quicker and quicker so the sooner they can start games the better as there is no lights at the club. 
Jay had already hit a home run before we arrived which we were sad to have missed. He said he was going to hit one tonight and he was right. It didn’t matter because within another 5 minutes or so he hit another one but he didn’t stop there…hitting a third home run for the game before it ended. Was awesome to watch him play well for his last softball game before we leave. 
After softball we biked home from the fields. When we got home we showered and sat down to watch the second bachelorette episode that we missed watching last night before going to bed. Sam and I have picked out our top 4 male contestants who we think have a chance of winning. 
1. Apollo ( this doesn’t need explaining) 

2. Jarod (although he is coming on a little strong) 

3. We did have Sam picked but aren’t sure now.. he seems a little seedy maybe? Plus needs to stop combing over his hair and cut his man bun… it’s not doing him any favours. 

4. I can’t remember… I’ll update again after this week’s episodes maybe. 
The next blog will be my last of our time in Holland 😦 with mixed feelings we will leave for Germany on Tuesday morning. 

Karlee xx