I think this is the first post I will have done purely because I have nothing else to do. We got into Vienna today, but were only able to get a room for tonight as the football final between Germany and Spain is tomorrow and the game is here. We think we may be able to get into a campsite tomorrow, but they told us at the Hostel that the usually have cancellations and if we ask in an hour we can maybe get a room for tomorrow. It's quite a nice place and would save a lot of hassle tomorrow. We plan on getting up early (in about 6hrs) to go to Sunday mass so we can see the Vienna boys choir. If we don't get a room here we would have to stash our stuff at the train station in the morning and come back later and try to find our way to the campsite, then go back into town for the football festivities, so... we wait, and take time to reflect on the past few days.
Swarovski's Crystal world was kind of a let down. There were only two giant crystals, the rest were kinda touristy "art" exhibits displayed there that made some use of the crystals. The store at the end was just as much of a show. We went back to the campsite in the evening to make some dinner and watch the football match. We got stuck for a while on our little covered pinic table island as another (even bigger) storm rolled in. A few lightning strikes were right down in the valley and we were worried the grass field was flooding and our tent would get wet, but as usual it performed remarkably well. After the monsoon subsided we made our way to the campsite restaurant a perfect place to watch the Russia, Spain match in which Spain truely dominated.
In the morning we took the Sightseer bus to the Alpenzoo. It was pretty cool. There are a lot more Alpine animals than we thought, also now we know there are poisonous snakes etc. as well, before we were just enjoying a certain blissful ignorance. They even had brown (grizzly) bears. I think a lot of the animals there no longer exist in nature in the Alps due to hunting and climate change etc. After the zoo we took a tram to the Nordkettenbahn and took the cable car all the way to the top. It was really cold up there so we only spent a little time scrambling around looking at awesome views of the city and surrounding mountains. We took the tram into the city and caught a bus to Ambras Castle. Unfortunately we only around 40min until it closed, but lucky for us an english tour was starting when we arrived, so we mingled in and saw everything at lightning speed (much easier when someone is explaining everything). In the evening we enjoyed some truely Austrian Schnapps with dinner before heading out for our first taste of Innsbruck's nightlife. It was pretty good. We came across an outdoor concert at a Fan Zone first. The guy seemed popular, but was singing in German, so we moved on. We met some South American guys (its funny how difficult it actually is to meet locals) at Jimmy's and later found ourselves at more of a pub. It was just picking up when we had to leave for our last bus at 1:40am. Its cool here how you don't have to show up at a place by 9:30pm just to get in while its still empty and they hold everyone in a line outside to look busy.
This morning was beautiful in Innsbruck. All the rain last night and the night before took away the haze and there were no clouds, so it was just beautiful and clear. Too bad we were moving on. We spent 5hrs on the train to Vienna. We arrived and for a nice change (we've been camping a lot and the campsites are always on the outskirts) we were able to walk to our hostel. We ditched our stuff and found dinner, and a lot of it. We had the most ginormous schnitzels. We decided to see if the night market had kicked off yet, but we were too early so we just kept walking. We discovered some open air concerts and beautiful views of the architecture in the twilight. We saw that the philharmonic orchestra is playing tomorrow at 11am and we're going to try to get in after seeing the Boys Choir. Ten minutes left... perfect. There is a bar in this hostel and it is so unbelievable rowdy at the moment. I think its another Contiki Tour. I hope the guy who just got carried outside is ok :S
Well that's it for now.
Ciao (they actually use that a lot here)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
In Austria now (with my people)
Hey Guys! Since the last post we finished up our stay in Northern Italy and now we're in Austria. The Dolomites were fantastic. We had a couple more days of climbing in Cinque Torri and we found this other area on the map as well. The rock is much steeper, but has lots of big holds, so we were able to climb even in the rain. Our last day there we went to Mt. Lagazuoi. It played a role in WWI and has now been turned into an open air museum. The Austrians had dug themselves into the mountain to hold the surrounding valleys etc. The Italians were able to sneak in below them and essentially blow away half the mountain to take it. The place was full of impressive tunnels and rooms dug right out of the mountain. It was very interesting exploring. While having lunch after David left our tent at Passo Falzerego and we slept in the car that night. We were able to pick up the tent (someone turned it into the cafe there) in the morning and brought the rental car back and got on a train to Innsbruck. There was a fellow on the train from Nigeria who got turned around by the ploice on his way to Germany because he didn't have a Visa, even though he had a German wife.
Innsbruck has turned out to be a lot more than we thought. We expected to stop by for some hiking and outdoor experiences, but there is a ton of history here as well. Yesterday we saw the Golden Roof built by Maximilian I, and learned all about him at the museum. Afterwards we wandered through the Imperial Gardens and played chess on one of those enormous chess boards that you have to walk around. We went to the lake after because it was soooooo hot. We stopped for a delicious Thai dinner and then intended to watch the football game at another Fan Zone. Little did we know mother nature had a different plan. The sky opened up during dinner, and even getting back to the campsite was trecherous. There was ginormous rain drops, hail, lightning etc. It cleared up so we thought to walk 1km rather than wait 20min for the second bus, but it didn't stay clear for long... we got drenched. Luckily we have a good tent and our stuff stayed dry.
Today we're off to Swarovski's Crystal World and some other sites.
I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been replying to the posts. I love hearing back from you guys even if I don't have time to respond to them. Thanks for taking care of my dad on Father's day Fallon and let me know as soon as you have any news on Lacey's baby (wish her the best from us). Also congrats on on the wedding stuff.
I should head out now.
Avedazein
Innsbruck has turned out to be a lot more than we thought. We expected to stop by for some hiking and outdoor experiences, but there is a ton of history here as well. Yesterday we saw the Golden Roof built by Maximilian I, and learned all about him at the museum. Afterwards we wandered through the Imperial Gardens and played chess on one of those enormous chess boards that you have to walk around. We went to the lake after because it was soooooo hot. We stopped for a delicious Thai dinner and then intended to watch the football game at another Fan Zone. Little did we know mother nature had a different plan. The sky opened up during dinner, and even getting back to the campsite was trecherous. There was ginormous rain drops, hail, lightning etc. It cleared up so we thought to walk 1km rather than wait 20min for the second bus, but it didn't stay clear for long... we got drenched. Luckily we have a good tent and our stuff stayed dry.
Today we're off to Swarovski's Crystal World and some other sites.
I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been replying to the posts. I love hearing back from you guys even if I don't have time to respond to them. Thanks for taking care of my dad on Father's day Fallon and let me know as soon as you have any news on Lacey's baby (wish her the best from us). Also congrats on on the wedding stuff.
I should head out now.
Avedazein
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Switzerland and Italy - Coles Notes Style
I actually have a whole half an hour to produce this post, but much has happened since the last one; I'll try to squish it all in.
After leaving Geneva we took the train to Interlaken. The first night we stayed in the Funny Farm hostel. It was interesting, had everything all in one. That night we went to the club downstairs and watched a Canadian musician sing and play along with this Brazilian hand drummer (Pepe), it was quite good. The place was packed with football fans and Swiss army men. The next day was a hunt for a campsite and stove gas. We were successful in the former, that was after getting caught up in a parade of Dutch parade 2500 people strong. We went climbing for the first time on the trip as well. The style is totally different, I found it difficult then, but after a few days here in Cinque Torri, it is getting easier. We met a Swiss fellow by the name of Patrick at the crag as well and after some more shenanigans the next day we caught up with him. He bought all the ingrediants and fed us a real swiss fondue for dinner and let us crash at his place (this included laundry, showers and internet). After the night at Patrick's we took a train to Luzern.
Luzern was an interesting mideval style town. The funniest thing was happening when we arrived though. We walked out of the train station right into at least 500 people in wet suits carrying pool toys. I heard some english and asked what they were up to. Apparently they were floating 25km down the river, because this was the one day a year when they were allowed to. What more reason would you need? It began with them all gathering on a bridge and at the stroke of 11am they all jumped in. After witnessing this we checked out some of the other sites and hoped on a train to Lugano. We only spent one night in Lugano (a mediterranean stlye town in the south of Switzerland) before catching the train to Venice.
Vencie was incredible. I think it was what finally made me realize we're half way around the world (I think I was still in shock in Paris). It was so different, and I loved just meandering down the streets, with a gelato trying to figure out a way across each of the canals. The first night we just wandered eventually finding ourselves in St. Mark's square, which we would see in more detail the next day. We also picked up tickets to see Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" performed in a church with amazing acoustics the following night. That night we went to the "bar" at our "campsite". It was actully quite happening. They must base there business soley on the Contiki groups dominating the place. The following day was a full day in Venice. We saw St. Mark's basilica and the doge's (duke's) palace. The palace was unbelievable. Understandably so David's favourite part was the Golden Staircase. I can't comprehend the time and effort that used to go into creating such magnificent works of art. That afternoon we went to Murano and were fortunate to see a glass blowing/shaping demostration. It was incredible the things these men could create with such accuracy and relatively quickly. Unfortunately the vaporetto there was relatively expensive and we had not enough Euros left to purchase something. That night was the concert. Although not mindblowing it was still very impressive and I could think of no better place to enjoy it. The following morning we booked a rental car we would pick up in Bolzano a few hours later.
Bolzano looked cool, but wasn't our destination. We picked up the car and drove to Cortina, the closest place to the Cinque Torri in the Dolomites. It's an interesting limestone climbing area right in the Alps and we've had the chance to do some amazing hiking here yesterday too. I experienced my first Via Ferrata :D Yesterday we did some exploring and wound up scaling several peaks. Unfortunately we were chased away by a storm about 20m away from the last one, but it was still a day full of accomplishments. We're here till Tuesday, then its on to Innsbruck, Austria.
Bye for now,
Jenn
After leaving Geneva we took the train to Interlaken. The first night we stayed in the Funny Farm hostel. It was interesting, had everything all in one. That night we went to the club downstairs and watched a Canadian musician sing and play along with this Brazilian hand drummer (Pepe), it was quite good. The place was packed with football fans and Swiss army men. The next day was a hunt for a campsite and stove gas. We were successful in the former, that was after getting caught up in a parade of Dutch parade 2500 people strong. We went climbing for the first time on the trip as well. The style is totally different, I found it difficult then, but after a few days here in Cinque Torri, it is getting easier. We met a Swiss fellow by the name of Patrick at the crag as well and after some more shenanigans the next day we caught up with him. He bought all the ingrediants and fed us a real swiss fondue for dinner and let us crash at his place (this included laundry, showers and internet). After the night at Patrick's we took a train to Luzern.
Luzern was an interesting mideval style town. The funniest thing was happening when we arrived though. We walked out of the train station right into at least 500 people in wet suits carrying pool toys. I heard some english and asked what they were up to. Apparently they were floating 25km down the river, because this was the one day a year when they were allowed to. What more reason would you need? It began with them all gathering on a bridge and at the stroke of 11am they all jumped in. After witnessing this we checked out some of the other sites and hoped on a train to Lugano. We only spent one night in Lugano (a mediterranean stlye town in the south of Switzerland) before catching the train to Venice.
Vencie was incredible. I think it was what finally made me realize we're half way around the world (I think I was still in shock in Paris). It was so different, and I loved just meandering down the streets, with a gelato trying to figure out a way across each of the canals. The first night we just wandered eventually finding ourselves in St. Mark's square, which we would see in more detail the next day. We also picked up tickets to see Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" performed in a church with amazing acoustics the following night. That night we went to the "bar" at our "campsite". It was actully quite happening. They must base there business soley on the Contiki groups dominating the place. The following day was a full day in Venice. We saw St. Mark's basilica and the doge's (duke's) palace. The palace was unbelievable. Understandably so David's favourite part was the Golden Staircase. I can't comprehend the time and effort that used to go into creating such magnificent works of art. That afternoon we went to Murano and were fortunate to see a glass blowing/shaping demostration. It was incredible the things these men could create with such accuracy and relatively quickly. Unfortunately the vaporetto there was relatively expensive and we had not enough Euros left to purchase something. That night was the concert. Although not mindblowing it was still very impressive and I could think of no better place to enjoy it. The following morning we booked a rental car we would pick up in Bolzano a few hours later.
Bolzano looked cool, but wasn't our destination. We picked up the car and drove to Cortina, the closest place to the Cinque Torri in the Dolomites. It's an interesting limestone climbing area right in the Alps and we've had the chance to do some amazing hiking here yesterday too. I experienced my first Via Ferrata :D Yesterday we did some exploring and wound up scaling several peaks. Unfortunately we were chased away by a storm about 20m away from the last one, but it was still a day full of accomplishments. We're here till Tuesday, then its on to Innsbruck, Austria.
Bye for now,
Jenn
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Long Time, No Post
Sorry its been awhile guys. Since leaving Geneva the internet was really expensive everywhere else in Switzerland. We're in our "campsite" across some water from Venice right now. This is where we spent the last two days. In about half an hour we leave for Cinque Torri (in the Dolomites - a mountain range in northern Italy). I can't post much more as I'm not sure how much time is left on the internet, so I should post this right away, but just so you know we're alive an doing well.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Geneva and FOOTBALL (soccer)
After 4 hours sleep we woke up at 5 am Wednesday morning (June 11 I think), in order to secure some train tickets to Geneva for the 7:10am departure. To our dismay it appeared as if all the ticket booths were closed due to the same civil strike that had a lot of things closed in Paris. Luckily enough a nice guy (obviously at seeing our distress) told us there were more open upstairs and downstairs, closer to the platforms.
We sped through the French countryside at 300km/hr and arrived in Geneva shortly before 11am. It was a little trickier here, being less of a tourist city I guess less people speak english. Luckily I learned something useful in highschool, so I was able to procure directions to the campsite and bus passes to get us there. After setting up we checked out the city. We saw the United Nations from outside (just missed the last tour) and the Red Cross museum. In the evening we went to a "Fan Zone" and watched the Czech vs. Protugal game. It was insane packed with 60 000 avid fans from both sides :S Haha, we saw them all around the city as well. Time is running out, I should post this... Its taking longer than normal due to the French keyboard.
P.S. Some dude just walked in in a speedo... Europe for ya ;)
We sped through the French countryside at 300km/hr and arrived in Geneva shortly before 11am. It was a little trickier here, being less of a tourist city I guess less people speak english. Luckily I learned something useful in highschool, so I was able to procure directions to the campsite and bus passes to get us there. After setting up we checked out the city. We saw the United Nations from outside (just missed the last tour) and the Red Cross museum. In the evening we went to a "Fan Zone" and watched the Czech vs. Protugal game. It was insane packed with 60 000 avid fans from both sides :S Haha, we saw them all around the city as well. Time is running out, I should post this... Its taking longer than normal due to the French keyboard.
P.S. Some dude just walked in in a speedo... Europe for ya ;)
More Paris
After my last post David and I grabbed something to drink and hung out in the hostel courtyard with some Aussies (who actually seemed kind of American I think), until around 6pm. This was when we realized we were going to miss the Montmartre tour which started at 6pm outside the Moulin Rouge.
Luckily we were staying close by. It was amazing... I think mz favourite part of the city. We saw the house where Van Gogh lived (apparently there is a grumpy old man staying there now who likes to pour water on George`s (tour guide) head. We also saw the Cabaret where Picasso would sell some of his first paintings for food (making the owner eventuallz very rich), and heard the stories behind it all. At the top of Le Butte de Montmartre (hill of Montmartre) is la Basilisque de Sacre Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), a relatively "new" but very impressive church made of this crazy self-cleaning white stone. Unfortunatelz David couldn't get in (I told him his shorts were too short), haha, but I got to tell him all about it... All the alcoves dedicated to various Saints, the amazing stained glass glowing in the evening sun and domed roof looked incredible from the inside.
After the tour George took us to the start of the pub crawl ran by the same company, but we just stayed for the first place, as did most people, us mainly because we had been wearing the same clothes and not showered for 3 days, so close contact with people and dancing was out of the question.
We arrived back at the hostel to... woohoo our bags. A shower was first, then we went tried to organize a trip to Geneva in the morning with the help of a girl from Calfornia who lived in Paris and her wine (went perfectly with our bagette and brie). We were unsuccesful, so it had to wait until the morning...
Luckily we were staying close by. It was amazing... I think mz favourite part of the city. We saw the house where Van Gogh lived (apparently there is a grumpy old man staying there now who likes to pour water on George`s (tour guide) head. We also saw the Cabaret where Picasso would sell some of his first paintings for food (making the owner eventuallz very rich), and heard the stories behind it all. At the top of Le Butte de Montmartre (hill of Montmartre) is la Basilisque de Sacre Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), a relatively "new" but very impressive church made of this crazy self-cleaning white stone. Unfortunatelz David couldn't get in (I told him his shorts were too short), haha, but I got to tell him all about it... All the alcoves dedicated to various Saints, the amazing stained glass glowing in the evening sun and domed roof looked incredible from the inside.
After the tour George took us to the start of the pub crawl ran by the same company, but we just stayed for the first place, as did most people, us mainly because we had been wearing the same clothes and not showered for 3 days, so close contact with people and dancing was out of the question.
We arrived back at the hostel to... woohoo our bags. A shower was first, then we went tried to organize a trip to Geneva in the morning with the help of a girl from Calfornia who lived in Paris and her wine (went perfectly with our bagette and brie). We were unsuccesful, so it had to wait until the morning...
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Paris
So we've been in Paris for about a day and a half now. The flight over was good. The trans-Atlantic plane from Montreal to Paris was pretty cool, with individual TV's etc. Unfortunately the armrest controls on the flight to Montreal didn't work, but we had lots to entertain ourselves with.
There is so much to see in Paris so after checking in to our hostel around 11am yesterday we went straight to the Tour Eiffel (tower). It stands out immensely against the Paris skyline at over 1000' tall. The view was incredible. We climbed something like 648 stairs to the second platform then took the elevator. Afterwards we walked to the Arc de Triumph and stopped for dinner at a cafe. We got home around 8pm and went straight to sleep as neither of us got any on the plane trip over.
This morning we armed ourselves with fresh bread, fruit and cheese from local shops and headed out for a free 4 hour tour of the city. It was great to have someone there to explain the significance of Paris' many sights. We plan on doing another tour tonight of Montmarte and possibly a pub crawl by the same company.
For now we are chillin' at the hostel waiting for Air Canada to drop off our bags which unfortunately didn't arrive with us in Paris. We think that because our plane into Montreal was late and we barely made the connection... our bags missed it :( Oh well... C'est la vie.
A toute a l'heure,
Jenn & Dave
There is so much to see in Paris so after checking in to our hostel around 11am yesterday we went straight to the Tour Eiffel (tower). It stands out immensely against the Paris skyline at over 1000' tall. The view was incredible. We climbed something like 648 stairs to the second platform then took the elevator. Afterwards we walked to the Arc de Triumph and stopped for dinner at a cafe. We got home around 8pm and went straight to sleep as neither of us got any on the plane trip over.
This morning we armed ourselves with fresh bread, fruit and cheese from local shops and headed out for a free 4 hour tour of the city. It was great to have someone there to explain the significance of Paris' many sights. We plan on doing another tour tonight of Montmarte and possibly a pub crawl by the same company.
For now we are chillin' at the hostel waiting for Air Canada to drop off our bags which unfortunately didn't arrive with us in Paris. We think that because our plane into Montreal was late and we barely made the connection... our bags missed it :( Oh well... C'est la vie.
A toute a l'heure,
Jenn & Dave
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