Prague - 13/05

Mainland Europe - Day 18
Berlin --> Prague

Our foray into booking accommodation ahead worked well in Berlin so we attempted this once again in Prague. However, we arrived at our hostel, which was supposed to be a 10 minute walk to the Old Town, to find it was more like a 10 minute drive. So we ditched it and did our usual tramp around town looking for a good location and price. We ended up in a nice hotel, 100 metres from the Old Town Square which was cheaper then most of the hostels.

Yvonne had some not too pleasant memories of Prague from a working holiday some 14 years earlier, so the 25% patriotic Czech part of me wanted to show her that it was actually an amazing place, even though I'd never been there myself. After our two nights in Prague I think Yvonne and I had met somewhere in the middle. Prague as a city is simply stunning. Beautiful buildings, streets, castles, churches, bridges and to top it off delicious beer.

However, the locals really let it down. Two nights in a row we looked for the fun and we just couldn't find it. We went to two restaurants and seven bars and we couldn't buy a decent conversation. The bar staff were polite, but had no banter in them, which was better then some of the locals who were simply rude. It wasn't all bad, we made our our fun of course, but it did put a damper on things. It dawned on me later that maybe that's why the hostels are actually more expensive then the hotels, because you're more likely to meet some non-locals :)

All in all Prague was beautiful but not nearly as much fun as we've had in some other places.

Berlin - 11/05

Mainland Europe - Day 16
The Rhine Valley --> Gosler --> Berlin

Berlin is big and busy.

The fact that we didn't get taken out by a tram on our arrival, or departure was a miracle. For the first time we actually booked our accommodation before hand. Well, I called a backpackers when we were about an hour from the city, purely so we would have somewhere to drive to when we arrived.

We arrived about noon and immediately found ourselves on a four hour walking tour ... exhausting but good to see all the sights and get some history too. I think we got fooled into the "Nerd Tour" as our new five minute friends consisted of a bunch of Canadian 20 year old students. We bumped into them later in the pub. To make us feel even older, while Dave was slaughtering them at pool I did my bit to boost the longevity of their beer money and bought them a few drinks.

After all that activity in one day (driving, walking, drinking ... I know ... it is a hard life) we felt we deserved a day off. Plus the weather was shit so we had a day of sleeping, eating, reading, e-mailing and back-to-back episodes of Underbelly on the laptop.

We squeezed in some WW2 education before hitting the road again this morning. We are just about to arrive into Prague so gotta dash and do my navigating duties. Most of you know I have a bit of history in this town. I worked here for 3 months about 14 years ago ... will be a trip down (good but mostly bad) memory lane ... should be interesting.

The Rhine Valley - 08/05

Mainland Europe - Day 13 (1000 kms)
Rotterdam --> The Rhine Valley

When we crossed the border from Holland into Germany it was almost as if every car found an extra gear that had been kept in reserve. I'm still not 100% sure about the speed limits, but on the big three lane motorways most people sat on about 150kms. At one point I was getting sick of people flying past us so I decided to see what Pete (the Rover we borrowed from Yvonne's Dad) could do. With sweaty hands and heart a-pumping we hit 190kms. But alas, we were still overtaken by two Mercedes and a Porsche. The Porsche literally flew past us, it scared the shit out of me and we never did more then 150kms after that.

Needless to say, doing these sorts of speeds we reached our destination, The Rhine Valley, very quickly. We were going off a two line reference in our lonely planet book that mentioned a castle in a town along the Rhine River that was actually a hostel (first photo). It took a bit of guess work, but we found it and booked in for two nights.

We spent the next day driving up one side of the river and down the other. There were probably something like 20 castles scattered along the river side. Apparently in years gone by boats had to pay a toll to each castle they passed. These days most of them are museums or hotels and you pay to enter them not pass them.

The Rhine was gorgeous, not what I was expecting of Germany at all. Probably the most beautiful place I've seen so far.

Amsterdam - 05/05

Mainland Europe - Day 10
Amsterdam

Amsterdam was always high on the list of places to visit. The infamous party town lived up to expectations and more.

We were lucky enough to have some partners in crime for our time in The Dam. Sylvia (relo of Dave's) and her partner Mark were up for the adventure too.

We managed to score a cheap hotel in a good location and off we set. Instead of driving, we left the car in Rotterdam and got the train.

The centre of town comprises of two nightlife hotspots.
The Red Light District was described as the 'Unconventional' side in my guide book. Lots of wares on display, of all dimensions and vintages. Fun to take a look.

The 'Conventional' side has heaps of bars, clubs and of course the infamous coffee shops. Things have gone a little strange however, as Holland has followed Ireland and Oz in banning all tobacco smoking in pubs, restaurants etc. Cannabis is not considered a tobacco, so people are free to buy and smoke cannabis in coffee shops but they cannot smoke a fag.....Weird.

We went out the first night and had lots of fun, the next day we decided to join the masses on bikes and do a city cycle tour. However our Dutch tour guide was funny for all the wrong reasons. He wasn't very forthcoming with the information and he seemed to have a smart ass comment for everyone who passed. If only we could understand Dutch!! Perhaps from Amsterdam's 'Unconventional' school of tour guides!!!

All in all we loved Amsterdam. I can understand why it is so popular with Stag and Hen nights. It's perfect for a group weekend away.

Den Haag - 03/05

Mainland Europe - Day 8
Rotterdam --> Den Haag

We didn't just call upon my grandfather's second wife's cousin's son for free accommodation in Holland. We also stayed at my grandfather's second wife's cousins house. That's not grandfather's second wife's cousin's son's mother, but her sister, Ester. Thanks Ester xxx.

Ester lives in Den Haag, about 25 minutes from Rotterdam. Den Haag is where all the political stuff goes down in Holland. Where the Queen lives and where all the politicians do their yibber-yabber. We didn't arrive until quite late, but Ester was very nice and took us on a late night tour of the city. It was beautiful.

Rotterdam - 02/05

Mainland Europe - Day 7
Gent --> Middelbourg --> Rotterdam

After a great nights sleep in a somewhat creepy B&B, we made an early start determined to reach Rotterdam by nightfall. On our travels we saw our first Dutch windmill. Pop quiz - Who knows the difference between a Belgium and a Dutch windmill? Answer - in Belgium the entire windmill rotates to face the wind, where in Holland only the top part rotates. This is an educational trip too.

We hit Rotterdam about 3pm, took in the city for a hour or two and then, with a lot of help for the Tourist Information lady, made our way to Hillegersberg. A suburb on the outskirts of Rotterdam where my adopted little brother Matt lives. I say adopted little brother because it's easier then saying ... my grandfather's second wife's cousin's son. Matt had the luck (good or bad) of sleeping on a mattress in my bedroom for six months about 10 years ago, so he owned me a night or two on his couch :)

Matt was a great host. We went for dinner, got a bit drunk, slept in the next day and then went into Rotterdam again, this time armed with Matt as a tour guide. The sites were great but I have to say my favourite discovery was Albert Heijn brand paprika chips. A 200 gram packet for on 50 cents (that's Euro, so a bit less then $1 aussie). So nice and so cheap!!

Gent - 01/05

Mainland Europe - Day 6
Brugge --> Gent

Our last day in Belgium was spent driving to Gent and looking for some accommodation. Now this really shouldn't have been a difficult task, however, Yvonne and I were both feeling a bit dusty from the night before, and it was well into the afternoon by the time we left Brugge. After only an hour on the road I was ready for second sleeps. Thus, we stopped at Gent, had a quick look around, found a B&B, and were back in bed by 5pm. A very short day, much like this post.

Gent was gorgeous of course.

Still In Brugge - 30/4

Mainland Europe - Day 5
Brugge

Our prayers were answered and the sun shone bright
So we jumped on bikes and headed off at first light.
Everything looked gorgeous, the canals, the bridges the greenness so flat.
But nothing beat seeing this shepard with an injured lamb on his back.

SO CUTE....

Yvonne is quite the poet. We couldn't get another day in our B&B so we moved across the road to a hostel for our last night in Brugge. The weather was beautiful again, so we hired some bicycles and followed one of the cycle ways out of town. We road very leisurely for about two hours, stopping here and there to take in the sites. When we came upon the town of Silius we were very surprised to realise that we had actually crossed over into Holland. I guess Brugge is very close to the border, but still, everything is so close together over here.


After doing almost 40kms on the bikes we were obviously very thirsty. So we found ourselves a spot at the hostel bar and there we stayed until about 1am. I can say that the Belgium beers are very good ... and very potent. Most are around the 8% mark, but some even get up to 12%. This is roughly 2 or 3 times the strength of normal aussie beers, so needless to say I had a hangover 2 or 3 times as bad this morning. I think joining the 100 pint club in Belgium would be a lot harder then it was in Sydney.

In Brugge - 29/4

Mainland Europe - Day 4
Brugge

In Brugge .... we discovered a tiny, magical city encircled by canals, grand gates and windmills. It feels like it was a well kept secret until Colin Farrell exposed it to the world (however I get the impression from the locals that they would have prefared it had been exposed in a more eloquent way!)

We left Amiens early, had lunch in Bergues and arrived in Brugge quiet late yesterday afternoon. After finding a gem of a B&B we decided to head out to have a well earned drink. It was a Tuesday night and we were having problems finding anywhere open. Just as we were loosing hope we found a tiny bar with a few locals happy to keep us entertained. Among otheres they consisted of a retired police commissioner, an art dealer and an artist/restorer. We got quite drunk and had lots of laughs with these interesting characters until the bar closed. When we all spilled outside we were surprised to see them get into their cars and drive away!!

Today was a beautiful day, so we took advantage of the sunshine and did a guided cycle tour. The final stop was the oldest pub in Brugge. They claim to have been pulling pints since 1515. Needless to say they do it very well.

"The Venice of the North" centainly lives up to this comparison. This picture perfect town has claimed the contents of the camera's memory card in a mere 24 hours...impressive eh?? Everytime I look at Dave he is off snapping like a Yank!!

Tonight is our second night here but it doesn't feel like it is time to leave yet. Weather dependant we hope to get back on the bikes tomorrow and see more of this magical place.

Fecamp, Dieppe & Amiens - 27/4

Mainland Europe - Day 2
Fecamp --> Dieppe --> Amiens


It took us quite a while to get out of Fecamp. In an attempt to be some-what fit, we started the day off with a jog along Fecamp's waterfront. Any trace of the previous days beautiful weather had disappeared and we ended up running in the rain. However, when you're on a four month holiday even running in the rain doesn't seem that bad.

From Fecamp we went to Dieppe, but to be honest it seemed something akin to Parramatta, so we didn't bother stopping we just kept moving. It sort of turned into a travelling day, which meant we saw some amazing country side. I'm guessing that France must get really hot in the summer, especially out in the rural areas, because there are giant fans all over the place. Maybe we should get some of these babies in Oz.

We drove through Amiens to take a look around but got totally lost and ended up driving around residential areas, not so exciting. We ended up staying in a dodgy little tuckies stop outside of town. Cheap and nasty, but it was clean so no complaints. It was here that we also came up with the great idea of hard boiling eggs in an electric kettle. It worked perfectly :)

Le Havre, Etretat & Fecamp - 26/4

Mainland Europe - Day 1
Le Havre --> Etretat --> Fecamp

There nothing like driving on the other side of the road to make you feel like you're somewhere very different.

We landed in Le Havre at about 5pm but as the sun doesn't set until well after 8pm we had plenty of time to cover some ground. We pretty much skipped Le Havre and headed north along the coast, not really knowing where we would end up, just following a vague plan to make our way to Holland. By luck we came upon the town of Etretat. A cute little coastal town with an unusual, but beautiful, stone beach. Yvonne has often said that no Australian would ever be impressed with the beaches overseas, and I can see where she is coming from.

From Etretat we headed to Fecamp where we stayed for the night. Contrary to my expectations all the French people we've met so far have been lovely. However, sometimes communicating has been a bit of a challenge. It may sound stupid but I never really gave the whole language barrier much thought. I guess I was just expecting everyone to speak english and surprise, surprise, they don't.

We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant last night, which was packed. After a delicious meal of calamari, mussel ls and salmon we were treated to a real life girl fight. Although I've already admitted to not understanding any French it was quite easy to understand that two ladies at a crowded table outside were a bit upset, when they had to be physically separated. Good to see French attitude in action.

Leaving Ireland - 25/4

...is normally a painful experience; saying goodbye to family and friends knowing I won't see them for up to 18 months. However this time I know I will see them in Europe and then back in Ireland so it was relatively easy.

The night before our departure we met mates in Dublin and had some pints. On the way home we made an unusual diversion to a Casino (in Dublin?? New to me!!) Paula 'The Shark' proceeded to pocket 500Euro. I, on the other hand was happy to get a free vodka and tonic!

The next morning We set off with full tummys and lingering hangovers to make the four hour drive to Rosslare to catch our 22 hour ferry to Le Havre, France. Very sketchy weather was bringing back memories of being on Irish Ferrys with puke rolling down the stairs and corridors but I am happy to report it has been a very smooth sailing so far. We are now half way to France and it looks like the sun is shining. I had a good nights sleep on the lounge chairs (tight arse backpackers - no budget for a cabin) but Dave decided to watch movies through the night and save his snoozing for the day time leg.

France here we come!! The most important thing for us now is to remember to DRIVE ON THE RIGHT....!

Monasterboice - 21/4

Today we travelled north of Dublin to County Louth. This is where Yvonne's mum grew up and where much of her family still live. It was an absolutely jam-packed day. We visited Oldbridge Estate, built on the site of the Battle of the Boyne, the largest battle in Ireland's history. Where King William III defeated and his father - in law, King James II, on 1 July 1690. We also met quite a few of Yvonne's relatives, who were lovely and kept us well fed and entertained. We eavesdropped on some singing monks, which was pretty cool. And we even walked through a hedge maze. But the hi-light for me was Monasterboice. This was an amazing graveyard where quite a few of Yvonne's family, on her mother's side, are actually buried. It was simply beautiful. A truly peaceful place.