bellissimo italia
Correctly guessed, we are now in Italy! We’ve spent our last few days in Milan, Venice, Verona and Bologna. Now we know why we learnt Italian for 6 years in Primary School. For moments like these when you need to be able to count, say hello and thank people!
The sinking city of Venice was quite a sight and a little bit of a smell too. The streets are a weaving mess but we successfully didn’t get lost as many of our travel predecessors have warned us! The sun was out and so were the pigeons.
Actually, the Piazza San Marco was polluted with pigeons who were being clearly overfed by tourists. Methinks this is erring on animal cruelty…
In Verona, it felt like every school was having an excursion to Juliet’s balcony. It was crowded, noisy and dare we say, not romantic at all. There were couples who clearly had devised that the “she” of the relationship would stand in the balcony to look down to the “he” of the relationship. Let’s just say, we cringed and quickly took our photos before dashing out of the courtyard!
Bologna was a surprise squeeze in for us. We hadn’t intended on going but thanks to our Eurail pass, we thought it was best to put it to good use. Bologna was completely different to what we expected; bigger and busier! Our greatest disappointment was that we couldn’t get spaghetti bolognese considering it was this city that gave the dish its name. Suppose it wouldn’t be called “spag bol” similarly to how some clever person once raised that Chinese food isn’t known as Chinese in China?!
Onwards to Florence from here….
Share this:
speeding through the romantic road
Got the keys to our hire car, an upgrade to a Mercedes, which was equipped with a sat nav (thank goodness)! Except that the directions were in German so before we could get out of Frankfurt we needed to work out how to communicate to “Olga” in English. And once we did, Olga was so very helpful, it made our road trip through Germany child’s play.
A thing about driving in Germany, which we were fully aware of before we decided to do this trip, was that there are no speed limits on the autobahn. Little did we know how nerve-racking it would be to start off with. Cars, vans, motorbikes alike were all zooming down that right-hand lane at speeds we didn’t even know road vehicles could go. Yes, we had always seen on car odometers that the dials do go up to 220 kph (or beyond) but to witness it, not on a race track, is a different ball game altogether.
So we began cautiously but we soon hit speeds of 150 kph, which is much faster than anything Australian roads would allow. In four days, we had become speed demons, that still had no idea how to work our hire car’s headlights or windscreen wipers! We’d worry about it when we needed to.
And all this for the ultimate destination: Hohenschwangau, the home of Neuschwanstein Castle. The moment we glimpsed at it high in the mountains was while we were driving around a bend and there was the dreamy home of King Ludwig II nestled in the side of the mountain, a pure fairy tale image. The extravaganza before the curtains come down for Germany!
Share this:
from paris to berlin
“From Paris to Berlin, And every disco I get in. My heart is pumping for love…..” Infernal
This song was our anthem for a long while and now we are here in Berlin. We farewelled Paris by spending a day at Disneyland Paris. For a day, we were able to be big kids, cuddling (and at times almost choking) all our favourite Disney characters. It was one of our highlights of this European adventure so far.
We made it to Germany after a little drama with the staff at the Air France check in counter. We asked to be seated together when we checked in but were told firmly that the flight was ALL booked out and that there was nothing the ground staff could do for us. And that we needed to just wait til we got on board to sort out our seating. Funnily enough when we climbed onboard and settled down, both of us were sitting beside empty seats. What were the chances of that – gee whiz!
Getting past German customs was another rather intriguing encounter. We have been questioned about what was in our luggages many a-times before but not in such an odd manner as we did at Berlin Airport. As we were collecting our luggage off the carousel, we were promptly pulled aside by a stocky, blond German man who was unlikely to be much older than us. The conversation went a little something like this:
Him: (expressionless face) “Hello. Welcome to Germany!”
Us: (all smiles) “Thank you!”
Him: “Where have you come from?”
Us: “Paris”
Him: “Can I see your passports?”
Us: (handing them over).
Him: “You are from Australia.”
Us: “Yes, we have been travelling since July around Europe.”
Him: (in a stern voice) “Do you have anything to declare?”
Us: “Nope!”
Him: (still in a stern voice) “Any drugs?”
Us: “No!”
Him: “Do you have a koala bear in your suitcase?” (clearly a joke but still in his stern voice)
Us: “Uhh…. if there was one, he would be dead now…” (jokingly)
Him: “Okay – you can go.” And still NOT even a smirk from him.
Anyway, Berlin is a city full of surprises. We turn one corner and there is a marathon going, we walk a little further and there are modern buildings, we walk another way and there are historical buildings and the most unusual thing we stumbled come across had to be the nude sunbathing park in the middle of the city while we were looking for the Victory Column. We’re sure this isn’t the reason that everyone seems to love Berlin so much.
Share this:
carefree, relaxing french riviera
So Day 72 of our European adventure and we have spent the last 3 days in sunny Cannes, in the French Riviera. Here we rubbed shoulders with the rich, walked the red carpet and soaked up the sun! Southern France is amazing!! We recall being advised that the French can be a little on the unfriendly side, which may have been true in certain parts of Paris but down south, there is no unfriendliness anywhere. The place has a great feel to it – we love it here.
Yesterday on a day trip to Monaco, we visited the palace and watched the changing of the guards. We visited the Cathedral where Princess Grace Kelly was laid to rest. The Aquarium and the Casino – this place simply blows us away. The people in this part of the world really are living the high life! Seeing the boats docked at the pier, these people here are in a league of their own yet never did we feel out of place or uncomfortable or unwelcome. One private boat even had a helicopter on board! As we walked along the main shopping stretch, we walked passed the Chanel store which had been closed for clearly someone important because there was a black car out front and there were black suited men standing outside. So we felt like we fit in when we got to walk the red carpet in our sneakers 🙂
Today we sailed over to St Marguerite island to visit the Royal Fort which was once a royal prison. We stood in the prison cell of the Man in the Iron Mask and looked out to sea; blue water, blue sky, gorgeous horizon. But standing in there, it reminded us of the movie and what that poor man must’ve gone through.
In the short time, we have grown fond of the French Riviera, but its back to Paris before we continue our journey to Germany.
wise monkeys abroad 