Fairytale cities - Prague and Cesky Krumlov

From our first eastern city of Berlin we headed into the Czech Republic to Prague and Cesky Krumlov. We were excited about going to these places for a couple of reasons - the photos we had seen looked fantastic and we were staying in hotel rooms, as the exchange rate for the Czech Crown is quite good compared to the aussie dollar. Hey, we had to have a break from hostel rooms at some point!

After the brief introduction our Busabout guide gave us when arriving in Prague, we knew it had a rich history. Like our Busabout guide said, I thought some of the older people in Prague looked quite sad and worn down - due to years of first being under Nazi rule and secondly enduring decades of communism. As we soon discovered, Prague has developed into a new world city and is now flooded with tourists.

The highlight of our trip in Prague had to be a three-hour private segway tour we did to see all of the viewpoints. After seeing segway tours in other European cities, we were itching to join one. As the Prague tour was rated number one on TripAdvisor, we decided to give it a shot. For those of you who have never seen a segway, have a look at the photos below. They are basically a two-wheel vehicle with an intricate balancing system inside (yep, that's the extent of my technical knowledge). There's no accelerator or brake, you simply control the movement with leaning your body. It was a warm sunny day and we enjoyed the hours zooming around the heights of Prague, looking down over the city and seeing, in my opinion, the most spectacular city views in Europe. The photos I've posted here don't really do justice to just how picturesque these viewpoints were. We also took some time out to have a beer, and watched  in amazement as our segway guide carried three beers and managed to operate his segway with no hands (no pictures sadly).

Releasing our inner nerd on the segway tour

This picture doesn't really do justice to how beautiful this lookout was

Looking over Prague

If when you think of Europe you imagine castles, old bridges, historic medieval archways and buildings from centuries gone by, then that is Prague in a nutshell. We enjoyed walking along the historic Charles Bridge, dating back to 1357, and visiting Prague Castle, the largest castle complex in the world, with buildings dating back to the 10th century. Walking around the city at night was even more beautiful, as we saw the old buildings and castle lit up in the distance.

Charles Bridge with Prague Castle in the distant background

The gothic cathedral in the middle of the Prague Castle complex

While in Prague we also took a boat tour along the Vltava River, and visited the Eiffel Tower. No, I'm not confusing this post with Paris, as I'm happy to say that I have now climbed the Eiffel Tower - Prague's version that is. Built shortly after the real Eiffel Tower, it sits on top of one of Prague's highest points and has spectacular 365 degree views at the top.

Prague river cruising

Eiffel tower...Prague style

We also enjoyed some amazing food in Prague, upon the recommendations of our tour guides. A highlight was the river boat permanently moored alongside a bridge which has been converted into an Italian restaurant. For just AU$20 each, we feasted on pasta and dessert, as well as wine and beer - and enjoyed the level of impeccable service you'd only expect in a five star restaurant. 

After spending about an hour and half wandering around a bus station and finally managing to buy tickets from someone who spoke English, we were excited to jump on a Czech bus service to Cesky Krumlov. After hearing great recommendations from friends, we were so excited to get to Cesky and enjoy what we hoped would be a highlight of our Eurotrip - a river rafting pub crawl for around AU$15. Sadly, due to bad weather (and other people not having the will and determination of aussies), all other prospective participants pulled out of the pub crawl on the day, so we couldn't go. After much deliberation, we headed into town and hired rafts to make our own way down the river on a three to four hour paddle to the next town. What ensued was one of the low points of our whole trip for me. We spent about two hours paddling by ourselves through driving rain, thunder and lightning, praying the end of our journey was just around the next bend. By the end of the trip we were cold, shivering and completely over it - to cap it off I fell into the river as we were trying to pull our raft out, and watched as my thongs went floating away. What was even more regretful about this was that I had to pay AU$20 for the only pair of new thongs I could find in Prague - although they are Rip Curl ones I believe they are leftover ones that customers in other countries like America or Australia didn't want, because they are pretty bad! One thing we did enjoy about our trip to Cesky was the cool group of Aussie and kiwi couples we met and had meals with a couple of times. We hope to catch up with them again somewhere during our travels.

Hanging by the Vltava River in Cesky Krumlov

Halfway through our four hour paddling journey, where we had to stop to empty rainwater out of our raft. I'm completely saturated here but looked worse at the end of the trip.

I had to put this photo up of Dan as he looked pretty funny 

We said goodbye to the Czech Republic and set off on our next busabout adventure to Vienna in Austria....the subject of my next blog!

Ich bin ein Berliner

...these were the words of John F Kennedy in 1963 as he stood in Berlin and declared support for West Berlin in the middle of the Cold War. Visiting Berlin for me was like stepping back in time to a Modern History lesson from years 11 and 12 in high school, as all of my memories of learning about World War 1 (WWI), WWII and the Cold War came flooding back. So this blog will take a bit more of a historical tone, as this is what I most enjoyed about the city.

Our first views of Berlin when arriving on the bus were neighbourhoods from former West Berlin. This side of town looks much like any western city in the world. We soon crossed town to the former East Berlin, and it was almost like being in another city. Each building had a real 'communist style', usually grey and very plain.

Any history buff would not be disappointed by Berlin. The quality of the memorials and the monuments is fantastic, and you can enter most historical sites free of charge or for a small ticket price. There were a couple of main highlights for us - Checkpoint Charlie, the 'Topography of Terror' Berlin Wall memorial and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Most of the history I'm detailing here also comes from what I learned during a fantastic four hour walking tour.

Original Checkpoint Charlie sign

Part of the reason the history of Berlin is so fascinating is it was divided by a wall for several decades. Just as Germany was divided into East (Soviet communist) and West (British, American and French democratic), Berlin was also divided. To stop people leaving the communist east and moving to the west, the East Berlin government erected the Berlin Wall, which happened overnight, without any warning. Standing on the road where the wall used to stand, it's hard to imagine being cut off from your neighbours, friends and family just across the road. Checkpoint Charlie was the main entrance into West Berlin from East Berlin, and was heavily patrolled by the Americans and Soviets. The Checkpoint Charlie museum commemorates the numerous escape attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) across the wall. The ingenuity of East Berliners was amazing - from hiding in modified cars to creating a 'flying fox' and swooping over the wall in the night to dressing up as American soldiers. Each of these prospective escapees had to cross one side of the wall into the 'death strip' (where Soviet soldiers aimed firearms) and cross the second wall into the West.

Preserved section of the Berlin Wall

A fantastic free memorial dedicated to Nazism and Berlin during WWII is the Topography of Terror, near a preserved section of the Berlin Wall. I was blown away by the quality of this memorial - the pictures, written history and personal recollections of how Nazism took hold of Germany and the consequences for individual Germans really brought the history to life. On the same day, we also visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial is a whole block of land filled with cement blocks - the artist designed this memorial so each person can make their own interpretation, but I felt the blocks resembled gravestones. We then went underground into the memorial information centre and read stories of Jews who were persecuted during the Nazi regime. Reading letters, postcards and personal stories from these people was incredibly haunting. In particular, entering one black room where stories of what happened to individual Jews were played over a loudspeaker can only be described as heartbreaking.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

When I just entered the city, my feeling over the first couple of days was that it was quite a boring, ugly looking city. But after being there for a few days, I really appreciated the history, culture and progressive feel of the city. Today, Berlin is quite multicultural, and continues to grow and develop. As over 90% of central Berlin was completely levelled after WWI, the city has a different feel to other European cities, some of which have much older buildings. We really enjoyed just walking around the city and seeing the old and the new.

Brandenburg Gate

During our time in Berlin we also took a train trip to nearby Potsdam, where former Prussian and German kings had their summer palaces. It was a great day trip and change of pace, as we viewed the palaces and gardens on a bus tour.

Castles in Potsdam

After getting a taste for Eastern Europe in Berlin, we were excited to travel on to Prague and Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic..stay tuned for the next blog!

'In Bruge' and 'Iamsterdam'

Our next adventure began on Busabout, which we were looking forward to after hearing lots of good comments from people. We amended our itinerary a couple of months ago to include Bruge in Belgium, and I’d highly recommend stopping there, as it is a nice break from the big cities.

Probably the only time you may have heard of Bruge is from the recent satirical movie ‘In Bruge’ featuring Colin Farrell. The town acknowledges that this was its big break, with posters of the movie in many shop windows and noticeboards. Bruge is a very quaint European town – while most of the buildings look really old, the churches and town hall had either been burned down in the past or wiped out during one of several invasions by the French. Most of the buildings were built in the 18^th or 19^th centuries and designed to look a lot older. The town is surrounded by a wall and the streets are paved with cobblestones. The Belgians were really friendly and spoke perfect English, which we really appreciated.

Picturesque Bruge

Belgium is known for chocolate pralines and many types of beer and we certainly weren’t disappointed! I even started to get a taste for beer, trying cherry and raspberry bear. You can get almost any flavour of beer in Belgium, including honey and mango flavour. The chocolate pralines were unforgettable, so I indulged in a couple of packets with Dan’s help (well, he ate one or two under the pretence of me ‘sharing’ with him).

Our hostel, Snuffle Backpackers, had to be our best hostel so far. We had a great night our first night there, drinking cheap beers with around 10 other travellers, including the usual assortment of Aussies, Kiwis and Canadians as well as a Mexican, local Belgians and a Swede.  Our bartender PJ even took us to the popular local hangout for Belgians later in the night. After getting some Belgian fries late at night, we sat in the town square and watched as a bucks party with a guy dressed as a smurf was chased around with a broomstick by another guy dressed as a goblin… ah, European craziness!

The highlight of Bruge was definitely the bike tour through the city. As many of you know, I am very anti-cycling at home, but I am quite enjoying cycling in Europe, due to the very flat terrain, bike lanes and no need to wear a helmet! We learned all about the history of Bruge from our local guide, including wars and rebellions, trading history and visited local landmarks like Lover’s Lake. I was excited to see about 20 pure white swans nesting along the side of a river, but this excitement dwindled when we were told the swans' wings had been clipped so they couldn’t fly away. “But they’re really really happy here!” insisted our guide.

Bruge waterways

After farewelling Belgian hospitality, we said hello to the city of Amsterdam, where you can  cultivate your own marijuana plants, indulge in cookies, brownies and joints in ‘coffee shops’ and even have sex in public (in a certain city park) without breaking the law. We stayed at an Irish hostel right in the middle of the Red Light District, so after arriving at about 8.30pm, we dumped our bags and set off to see the sights. After walking about 20 metres we saw our first set of red light windows with ladies offering their ‘services’. Tempting as it was when one of these ladies beckoned for both Dan and I to join in a threesome with her (I’m kidding about the tempting bit), we politely declined and kept walking. We also witnessed what happens when someone tries to take a photo of the prostitutes in the windows, with the ladies opening their doors, screaming and throwing water and other small objects at the offenders. They then returned to their windows smiling demurely. On our second night, we decided to go to a show at Casa Rosso. I won’t elaborate here what that involved, but let’s just say it definitely expanded my horizons, as I learned just what you can do with a banana, other than eat it.

Living the hostel life! And using Dan's netbook, which has been invaluable.

Amsterdam canal

Moving away from the Red Light District, we did experience the real culture of Amsterdam. One of the real highlights for me was visiting the Anne Frank House. The Anne Frank Foundation, first started by Otto Frank, Anne's father, has fully preserved the Secret Annexe where the Jewish Frank family hid for two years in the middle of Amsterdam during World War II before being discovered and sent to Concentration Camps by the SS. Walking through the Annexe was really eerie - they have preserved the wallpaper with the photographs that Anne pasted onto the walls. You could also see the attic where Anne and Peter used to sit and look out the window at the hundreds of other Jews being marched down the street by the SS. I would definitely recommend visiting the house, as significant time and thought has been put into preserving the history of the Annexe and educating people about what happened there.

Iamsterdam....in the rain!

I also really enjoyed the Van Gogh museum, which has the largest collection of Van Gogh's works. While I'm not the most discerning art critic, I really enjoyed the diversity of his work over the years.

The highlight of the trip for both Dan and I had to be a cycling tour through the countryside just outside of Amsterdam, including a visit to a 700 year old cheese farm and clog factory. The weather in Amsterdam had been dreary, but on the day we did the tour the sun was shining, a breeze was blowing and it was perfect weather! We rode about 25 kilometres in one day, but because the terrain is so flat, it was an easy ride. We learned all about the history of Amsterdam and the Netherlands, and how the Dutch created the country using a series of windmills to pump out the water. Amsterdam is often referred to as the 'sewerage pit of Europe' - most of Amsterdam is at least half a metre below sea level. Also, almost half of the land is 'reclaimed land', as it was once underwater and reclaimed by the Dutch by pumping out the water and creating sophisticated canals and waterways. Our tour guide told us a common saying is 'God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands'. The threat of flooding and overflowing waterways is a constant juggling act for the Dutch, who use pumps and drains to move water around the canals and waterways to ensure the land stays above water. It was also fascinating to see how clogs were made and the cheese we sampled was delicious. We also got the obligatory picture of a windmill - there aren't many functioning windmills left in the Netherlands now, but they are still loved by the Dutch, and even celebrated on Windmill Day each year.

Cycling through Amsterdam forest

A cute deer we saw on a farm on the way to the cheese farm

Making clogs the traditional way

At a traditional Dutch windmill just outside of Amsterdam

Our next stop is Berlin in Germany, a city divided by a wall for several decades...more to come in my next blog!

Paris....

After exploring London, we set off to our first stop on our Eurotrip - Paris. After getting up very early in the morning, we headed to Kings Cross Station and boarded the Eurostar. I'd heard great things about this train and I wasn't disappointed - the trip was very comfortable, quick and much nicer than a plane!

Our arrival at Gare du Nord was our first introduction to Paris - and the beginning of my realisation that nothing in Paris is easy. The ticket machines weren't working, so we eventually figured out how to buy Metro tickets to get to our hostel.

In my opinion, Paris is a city of juxtapositions - the beauty of the buildings, art, architecture and history is breathtaking, and there are some gorgeous pockets of Paris like Notre Dame and Montemarte that make you feel like you are in the 'real' Paris. On the downside, I experienced what one of our tour guides called the 'French arrogance' - several waiters and attendents snobbed my attempts to speak to them in either English or French, simply because I was a tourist. Also, the people on the streets continually asking you for money gets a bit tiring after a while.

Just some of the illegal street vendors that try to sell you goods. Every so often the police arrive with sirens blaring and they all scoop up their stuff and run away!

Despite this, we did see some great sights during our four days of exploring. This included wandering through the Louvre, crusing down the river around the city in a boat, gazing at the Eiffel tower at night from one of the highest points in Paris, shopping along Champ Elysses and driving around the Arc de Triomph. There were two main highlights - a walking tour around Notre Dame by a local Parisian, where we learned all about the church's history and all the carvings and statues around the church. We also enjoyed exploring the Notre Dame district and having a 15 euro three course meal, as well as the famous Berthillon glace (icecream). I swear, eating Berthillon will change your life. We also met a really cool french guy (one of our hostel roommates), who showed us all around Montemarte and the Sacre Cour and the Moulin Rouge. Dan has plenty of photos of these experiences, so look out on my facebook when they are uploaded!

Every hour at night, on the hour, the Eiffel Tower glitters for around 10 minutes. This was at 11pm.

 Jumping for joy at the Louvre!

Berthillon glace... mmm......

After almost five days of very hot temperatures and crossing many things off our Paris 'To Do' list, we were ready to move onto Busabout and Bruge in Belgium, which is where I write to you from now. My next blog will showcase beer, chocolate praline and other delights of Bruge! Until then, stay safe and have fun.

Dan started to get a bit arty with his camera - this black and white photos are from what he calls 'the Paris Postcard collection'

Sun is in the sky....

...oh why oh why would I wanna be anywhere else? So the music theme continues, but it's hard to get Lily Allen's song LDN out of my head when we've had such great weather here in London!

We've had almost one week in London now, and have enjoyed exploring our new home and seeing as much as we possibly can (and doing some boring stuff like setting up bank accounts).

We arrived into Heathrow bright and early on Tuesday morning and jumped straight on the London Underground, which was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. Yeah, I'm a bit of a transport nerd, but how could you not love the tube when one arrives every two or so minutes, it costs 30 pounds per week for unlimited travel, and you feel like you are travelling around a monopoly board ( Leicester Square, Piccadilly, Regents Park to name a few). Plus the history behind it - the tube is the world's oldest underground rail system at over 138 years old, some of the stations have ghosts and some were even used as shelters during WW1 and WW2.

For those of you that were wondering, we have been completely safe over here during the riots. Fortunately, they haven't been in our part of town, although it's been interesting and sad to watch what is happening on the news. There have been some really sad stories of shops and buildings that have been in families for generations being burned to the ground by mindless 13 year olds. But London will recover and it seems the worst is over.

We've been staying with our friend Bron in Southfields, just between Wimbledon and Putney. I think we might look at living in this area when we arrive back in London as we love the friendly family feel and close access to everything. Bron has been a fantastic tour guide, making us feel really welcome, introducing us to other friends and showing us around town. Bron, I know you've been joking about setting up a tour company welcoming aussies to the town but I seriously think you could do it - your help and advice has been invaluable!

 View from London Eye

 Looking down the road near Buckingham Palace

 Checking out the swans while cycling in Hyde Park

 Portobello Road, aka Notting Hill markets

 Yep, they really take their pubs seriously over here

The prettiest bridge - Tower Bridge

So far, we've been on the London Eye and Madame Taussads, the Science Museum, Buckingham Palace, Portobello Markets at Notting Hill, bike ride through Hyde Park, taken a river boat cruise and checked out Piccadilly and Leicester Square. Highlights for me have been learning the history of Madame Taussads, watching the guards at Buckingham Palace, picking out landmarks from the movie 'Notting Hill' at Notting Hill and sailing under London Bridge. Not to mention the pubs - we've been to one or two every day since we've been here, and I've discovered new drinks such as Pimms, ciders and alcoholic ginger beer - there's a severe risk of becoming an alcoholic over here.

We are catching the Eurostar tomorrow to Paris to begin our French adventure! Hopefully my six months of French lessons will pay off, but we are very excited to indulge in some French pastries and cuisine - ooh la la!

Till next time, stay safe and have fun!

Before the journey begins

It's just over two weeks until my boyfriend Dan and I take off to Europe. As a record for myself, and to update my friends and family on my travels, I've decided to create this blog.

Two weeks until I leave is not a very long time considering I first started to contemplate this trip a year ago. It started as a fleeting idea, and then seemed to become more and more possible and achieveable as I started to look into visas and travel options. Then Dan and I decided in February this year to 'just do it' and before we knew it we had flights, visas, busabout tours and work contacts organised.

I feel like I'm on the edge of a change at the moment. While I love my life, friends and family in Australia, I know travelling to Europe and living in London will irrevocably change me. But I still want to stay true to the person I am and who I want to be.

I decided to travel because I wanted to experience something different - to challenge myself in ways my career and current life couldn't do, to learn more about myself and about the big world out there.

Choosing the name for this blog was very easy as it's become my mantra and goal for my trip. The name comes from the recent song 'It can wait' by the artist Illy and the lyrics go a little like this...
"For the moment it can wait, I'm addicted to the chase of my happiness".

And that's what this year is about for me - to travel, learn new things, experience historical wonders, marvel at a different part of the world. But most of all, to have a year to 'chase my happiness' and appreciate each and every moment.

My next post will be when we have arrived in Europe, and I hope to keep this up to date with photos and memories from travelling around.

Until then, wish me luck and I'll say hi again from London!