Europe Honeymoon 2008

Europe Honeymoon 2008 tag:kazza.id.au,2008-04-30:/europe_2008//2 2013-02-24T10:12:45Z Kazza and Stu's Honeymoon Adventure Movable Type Pro 5.2.2 Day 14 - 13th May - Prague to Vienna tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2105 2008-05-14T18:26:16Z 2010-05-12T12:38:50Z

Urgghhh Another 6am start. Need i say more. Stu was feeling sick so went down to breakfast by myself. Had more bacon yummm. Then we packed up and made our way to the station to catch our train to Vienna....

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
Another 6am start. Need i say more.

Stu was feeling sick so went down to breakfast by myself. Had more bacon yummm.

Then we packed up and made our way to the station to catch our train to Vienna. Pretty uneventful trip really.

Our train from Prague to Vienna

Got dropped in Südbahnhof in Vienna and were left wondering how to get to the u-bahn. An info-point guy told us, oh go out, turn left and three hundred metres. Hrmmm. Through various building construction sites. Hrmmm. Such a friendly welcome to the city :/

Anyways, got the u-bahn to our hotel which turns out to be about 100 metres from the cathedral in the centre of the old town, so that was pretty cool. Until we had to figure out how to find reception. There was a locked gate at the front, so we had to buzz to be let in. But then there were no signs pointing to reception, so we had to buzz again to be told second floor. Bumheads. So checked in ok. Came up to the room, which is the smallest we've had so far. And no internet. The only internet is at kiosks and you have to pay 2 euro per thirty minutes. Bumheads.

So the first lesson to learn from all this is not to try and face a new city on an empty stomach. It was 3pm and we hadn't had lunch so our blood suger level would have been about minus five hundred if there were such a scale, so we really weren't coping very well. And Stu was still feeling sick. So our planned laundromat run didn't happen. Which means we'll have to cut short our sightseeing tomorrow just to find a laundromat :( Blah!!

Anyways, we went down for a slightly early dinner at Sparky's cafe near the cathedral. And had 0.7L beers each! And a wiener schnitzel because it had to be done. And apple strudel because that also had to be done. Heh.

Stephansdom

They try to soften the blow of ugly scaffolding by putting
pictures of what it should look like in front

Inside Stephansdom

700mL beers at Sparky's

Was quite full after that and we didn't have internet back at the room so went for a bit of a walk around the place. Including a return trip on the train that went the wrong way so we took the .. er.. scenic route around the other way.

Stephansdom detail

Model Stephansdom

Regierungsgebäude or Kriegsministerium or Ministry of War (or something)

This was a bit of a spinout - a swimming pool set in the canal!

The cleanliness of these train tracks is just *freaky*!!

So then back here to watch tv and play solitaire. Yay. ]]> Day 15 - 14th May - Vienna tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2106 2008-05-16T19:21:52Z 2010-05-14T11:21:02Z

After a not-so-great night's sleep (temperature issues - the doonas make it "all or nothing"), woke up at 7am. Went down for breakfast, which was ok, but much less variety than other places and no hot dishes :( So then...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
Went down for breakfast, which was ok, but much less variety than other places and no hot dishes :(

So then we began our walking tour of Vienna. Saw lots of buildings, a few churches, a palace or two, government buildings etc. Was a bit sad I didn't get to see the lipazzaner horses at the Spanish Riding school cause they were closing up for the day. We also popped into the Schmetterling Haus - butterflies! Although I was expecting more than there actually were. One did land on Stu and seemed to find him rather tasty... :)

Hofburg Palace

Peterskirche

Albertina

Vienna Opera House

Exterior of the Schmetterlinghaus

Moth in the Schmetterlinghaus

Interior of the Schmetterlinghaus

Butterflies in the Schmetterlinghaus

Butterfly in the Schmetterlinghaus

This butterfly wanted to be Stu's friend

Butterflies in the Schmetterlinghaus

South-eastern face of Hofburg Imperial Palace

Natural History Museum

MuseumsQuartier

Hofburg Imperial Palace

Austrian Parliament

Burgtheater

Concert setup in front of the Rathaus (Town Hall)

Rathaus (Town Hall)

I loved all the flowers decorating all the balconies and windows

Schottenkirche

Amazing selection of sweets in a shop on Graben

We quite liked this "Just Married" box near our hotel on Seilergasse

We went to another cafe near the cathedral for lunch (Chattanooga). I had some chicken satay sticks and Stu had Berner wurst - like cheese kranskies wrapped in bacon - yummm :)

Beers at Chattanooga near the cathedral

Then it was a mission to find a laundromat. The hotel dude had given us the address of one so we went and found that, although it appears to be closing at the end of the month. The prices were scary - 7 euro just for the wash, plus powder and drying.. :(

Came back and then headed out again for a walk on Donauislen. Stu had a specific destination in mind, but we couldn't actually find it, so it just ended up being a very long (but not unpleasant) walk.

Donauinsel station - right in the middle of Reichsbrücke over the Danube

The Blue Danube - railway bridge south of Südosttangente

Back again to recover before heading out for dinner. Back to Sparky's again as they have free wireless, so took the laptop along to book Salzburg accommodation. Then back to Cafe Mozart for dessert, as they also have free wireless :)

Was gonna was me hair tonight too.. But couldn't be stuffed... ]]> Day 16 - 15th May - Vienna tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2107 2008-05-16T19:25:29Z 2013-02-26T06:10:54Z

Didn't sleep so well last night. Had the windows open for a bit to get some fresh air, but of course that lets in every tiny sound from the street below. Then some alarm, or maybe a truck reversing sound,...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au

View from our hotel window into Neuer Markt. Before 10am the place is
abuzz with delivery trucks and other such commercial ventures. Then
they all disappear for the rest of the day.

After another boring breakfast, headed out to Schloss Schönbrunn. We decided we'd like to go on one of the "tours" which actually turned out to be a self guided tour with commentary on a bit of paper heh. But that was ok. What wasn't so ok was being stuck in between actual guided tours that would fill up the rooms with a couple of dozen people at a time, stopping us from being able to see anything. Grrr. So you go through the entire first floor seeing various sleeping quarters, reception rooms, ball rooms etc.. Very cool. They don't let you take any photos either so they can sell you a book as soon as you exit the last room. Grrr.

Schloss Schönbrunn

Went back to get my bag (which they also make you check) and by now the entry foyer was crowded with people. We were glad we arrived early heh. Wandered around outside, having a look at the "Privy" garden, then up the big concourse to the big fountain and then up the hill to the Gloriette. It was all so *big*! From the palace it looked so big and faraway and very impressive. Climbed to the top of the Gloriette to look back down on the palace before meandering back down the hill again.

Orangerie/Privy Garden looking towards the eastern wall of the main palace

View from the palace up to the Gloriette

Wide open spaces as seen from the back of the palace. The spot just
below was filled with an orchestra and dancers in The Living Daylights

Part of the Great Parterre (Great Ground Floor) looking back towards the palace

Neptune Well

View back to the palace from under Neptune Well

The Gloriette

View towards the palace from the top of the Gloriette

Next stop was the maze, which was a bit of fun, and then Stu stopped and made a couple of phone calls while I went through the smaller mazes.

Can you tell Stu had had enough? :)

Maze in the palace gardens, in part of the French Garden

There were some other fun bits and pieces in the gardens, including this
funky mirror setup and some trick fountains

So by this time it was very late, like 2pm or something and Stu was well and truly fading so we got the train up to the fairground with the big ferris wheel and had some nice lunch at an Italian cafe.

Gösser beer at the Italian Cafe next to Praterstern Hauptbahnhof

And the for 8euros each (blah) we went up in the ferris wheel. Half the cars were empty so thought we'd let everyone that was waiting go ahead of us and take the next one, but the dude forced us to get on with them all. So it was a bit crowded and I'm sure I annoyed people trying to take photos. Too bad. But the view was pretty good although quite a smoggy day so not sure how well photos will turn out.

Wiener Riesenrad (Viennese giant wheel). This large Ferris Wheel
featured in The Living Daylights

On the Wiener Riesenrad

View of the Prater amusement park (which also featured in The
Living Daylights)

View back to Stephansdom from the ferris wheel

Every second car was setup as a restaurant car - this would have been
*soo* cool to do!

Donauturm (Danube Tower). We soo need to go up this
next time we're in Vienna!

Prater amusement park

So headed back to the hotel. It was only 4pm but Stu didn't feel up doing anything else, so we just crashed for a couple of hours.

Stu in our hotel room window

For dinner we went to "Bio Bar" vegetarian/vegan/organic restaurant. Had to wait a little while for food (as apparently my cordon bleu was "complicated" heh) but the food was fantastic.

Bio Bar

Beer at the Bio Bar

Stephansdom by night

And then back to the hotel to crash... ]]> Day 17 - 16th May - Vienna to Salzburg tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2109 2008-05-17T06:04:20Z 2010-05-16T08:12:04Z

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
So did the breakfast thing, checked out, and headed to the station (via some postcard stands) to get to the Westbahnhof for our train to Salzburg.

That loco was moving! Apparently this is banned in Australia for being
too dangerous

We thought as we pulled out that we'd get the compartment to ourselves, but some Canadians had been booted out of "business" first class so came to sit with us. Oh well. But they were nice enough. Rosemary and Camille I think their names were.

So the train trip was very pretty. The area just outside Vienna was very picturesque. And seeing snow on the alps was very cool. So three hours later we arrived in Salzburg.

Our carriage was at the back of the train so we could see out the
back window

Church in Irrsdorf

We didn't see too much on the walk from the station to the hotel, just the hill on the west side of town. Checked into our hotel which is the nicest so far (and the "nicest" price too heh). And wireless internet yayyyy!! ;)

So dumped our bags and went to find some lunch. Found a cafe on the way towards the old town, which was very nice but a bit on the pricey side.. Oops..

Beer in Salzburg

Kept walking down and finally saw the hill with the fortress on top which dominates the landscape. Because it was vaguely sunny, I wanted to go up to it (in case it rained for the rest of our stay here). We got ourselves a Salzburg Card which was also fairly pricey (37e each for 72 hours) but gives us free admission to most stuff in the city and free travel on the electric buses. We also had a bit of a wander through the old town, and went in the cathedral. And then we took the funicular up to the fortress. We ran into Rosemary and Camille who were already on board. And up we went! Very cool, and *very* steep.

Kapitelplatz and Kapitelschwemme with Hohensalzburg Fortress on the
top of the hill

Gold ball monument in Kapitelplatz

Salzburg Cathedral (big surprise - scaffolding!)

Interior of Salzburg Cathedral

Roof of Salzburg Cathedral

Going up the funicular to the fortress

So the view at the top was spectacular. We came out on the northern side so could see all the main area of the city. Then we went inside the fortress to explore. And this is the coolest place ever to explore. Little rooms and nooks and crannies. Half the fun was in looking inside a doorway to see what was there. Hardly any of it was blocked off. Behind one door (in one of the chapels) we found Rosemary and Camille again heh.

View over Salzburg from the fortress

Stu inspecting a wooden cannon in the fortress

Some of the oldest part of the fortress - the Romanesque Fortress Chapel, discovered by archaeologists in 1994

View of the Cathedral and old town from the fortress

Interior of St George's chapel. We never would have found this had we
not looked at a closed door and wondered what was behind it!

On the southern side you get a wonderful view of the alps, which was exceedingly cool. It was a bit hazy so my photos won't be great but anyways...

Looking over Nonnberg abbey to Gaisberg

Interior walls of the fortress

View out to Untersberg

Interior walls of the fortress

Went in another door and an audio tour was about to start, so went along on that to see more rooms and go up a tower with 360 views!

Salzburg Fortress

Mechanical organ in the fortress that ran over the city
telling people what time to go to bed, and waking people
in the morning

On the way out saw something else so went to look at that and it turned out to be a whole other exhibition. Even heard/saw the dinner concert musicians practising.

Practising for the Mozart dinner/concert later in the evening

Spectacular chamber heater

We were about to go down again when Stu looked at the menu at one of the cafes and saw the dessert dish (Salzburger Nockerl) that a colleague of his had told us to have, so we went in. We had a glass of wine while gazing at the alps, and the dessert was amazing.. Huge!! Heh. (We didn't actually have dinner since we had lunch so late and wouldn't have fitted the dessert in anyway had we had dinner first :) )

Enjoying a nice wine overlooking Untersberg (I thought wine would
go better with dessert than beer!)

Salzburger Nockerl!

So finally we caught the funicular back down the hill and wandered back to our hotel. Thoroughly enjoyed the fortress. It was just so fun and it wasn't crowded and they weren't anal about not taking photos etc (although a couple of things would have been an extra admission fee had we not had the cards). Spent probably over three hours up there, which was totally worth it, and one of my best days of the holiday so far.
]]> Day 18 - 17th May - Salzburg tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2110 2008-05-19T06:04:23Z 2010-05-17T10:41:09Z

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
That's right, we went on the Sound of Music tour... !!

So I'd read plenty of reviews and read enough negative ones to not get my hopes up too high. So in the end, it wasn't too bad and even Stu enjoyed it.

So the tour stars off in front of Mirabell Palace and winds around some of the city streets, pointing out things like the Museum of Modern Art up on the cliff where part of do-re-mi was filmed, past the Mozart bridge where they all run across and look down at the river, and Nonnburg abbey. Then they took us to Leopoldskron which is where they wanted to film but ultimately only used the lake frontage there and used Schloss Frohnburg for the back (and also the front, which we did see from a distance on the way to Hellbrunn). Hellbrunn is where the gazebo is currently located, it having been moved twice so tourists could see it better.

Looking towards Untersburg across the lake in front of
Schloss Leopoldskron

Schloss Leopoldskron with the fortress in the background. The lake
foreshore and gates in the movie were filmed here, but not the
building itself.

Those gates are were the kids fell in the lake

Our tour bus at one of the stops

Schloss Hellbrunn from a distance (we're only here to see the gazebo
so didn't get any closer today)

Us in front of the gazebo. This was originally located
in the grounds of Schloss Leopoldskron, but was
moved because of constant trespassing by tourists

Then we headed out to the lake country, passing by Fuschl and stopping to have a quick run on the toboggan (I wonder how much of a kickback they get from that?!). The toboggan is just like the one at Jamberoo. And just like at Jamberoo you can get stuck behind bumheads that are too scared to go down fast. So that was very frustrating for three of us who got stuck behind this girl :( And unlike Jamberoo we couldn't just go back up for another run, as we only had time for one run, and it was 4.30euro a go! :(

Me coming down the toboggan

Next stop was St Gilgen to overlook the lake and get a peek up to where they started filming the do-re-mi scene and the cog train (didn't actually see these, just told they were there :( ).

St Gilgen and Wolfgangsee. There are two shots of this lake (one from
either end) in the opening sequences in the movie

Then onto Mondsee to see the church where they filmed wedding. We had an hour stop here, so thought that would give us time to get some lunch. Bad idea. The cafe took half an hour to serve us, so we had all of five minutes to try and scoff our food :( I *hate* trying to eat when I'm in a rush, so it was incredibly stressful, thinking we'd miss our bus :(:(

Collegiate Church at Mondsee. The wedding scenes in
the movie were filmed here

Collegiate Church at Mondsee. Julie Andrews walked down this aisle!

Nave of the church

Roof of the church - very pretty!!

Beer we had while stressing over how long our lunch was taking to arrive

Anyways. So then back on the autobahn to Salzburg. They played part of a dvd on the filming of the movie which showed a lot of clips and where they were filmed - very useful!

So there quite a few Americans (some loud, talkative ones as well as some nice (and quiet) ones), and some Australians too. The tour guide was a nutter, but kinda funny in a lame way heh. So was all good fun. Nobody sang though :( It was also good to get out and see the countryside as that's a bit hard to do when you don't have a car. There were still a few things I'd like to get back to have a closer look. But they very nicely gave us a detailed booklet on the filming locations which was very useful for the afternoon.

Anyways so they dropped us off outside Mirabell Palace, where there were several locations for the shooting do-re-mi. So spent a good while wandering around there. Then we wandered into the old town and went up the lift to the Museum of Modern Art (which took us a while to find as it wasn't really obvious (to our tired eyes anyway)) which had some great views of the city. Stu got a coffee there too while I figured out our plan of attack for the afternoon.

Pegasus fountain in Mirabell Palace Gardens. The scene was filmed
from a balcony directly above where this picture was taken from

Yeah yeah ;) I saw someone else had done this on the internet so
thought I would too :) Looking down the "do-re-mi" steps across the
gardens and up to the fortress in the distance

Mirabell Palace and gardens

Mirabell Gardens and fortress

These girls were on their own Sound of Music reenactment tour :)

Statues at the southern end of the gardens. That tourist stand on the
right wasn't there in the movie ;)

For some reason this amused me :)

Hedge arcade (this was actually filmed in the other direction)

This kids skip past this and pat this dude on the head. The statues have
been moved from their location by the river because of frequent flooding

Blick vom Mönchsberg - Terrace above the old town where they did
part of Do-Re-Mi

So the plan of attack was to go back down and go to all the places in the old town where they filmed scenes. This took several hours, heh. Wore poor Stu out in the process.. Oops.. Was a bit bummed that we couldn't see inside the Felsenreitschule (where they filmed the concert at the end) because you could only get in on a tour that runs once a day.

I thought this single geranium in a window was kinda cool

Horse wash (also featured in the movie, but from the other side of the
street so you could see the whole thing)

Cool tunnel through the mountain

We found this at random trying to find a way up to the
back of Felsenreitschule to see if we could see down
into it (you can't because it's covered)..

.. and found ourselves on the terrace where Maria starts singing "I Have
Confidence" straight after leaving the abbey (which is actually a decent
distance away!)

Interior of St Peter's Church

Cemetery of St Peter's Church. This location inspired the scene near the
end of the movie, but was not filmed here (it was filmed in a sound studio)

Cemetery of St Peter's Church

Back to the cathedral, this time to get a shot in the
right direction of the arches that Maria walks through
in the movie

And to get some photos of the horse fountain in Residenzplatz

The movie shot didn't quite work here :)

Me walking into the gates at Nonnberg Abbey

Interior courtyard of Nonnberg Abbey

Stu at the end of the Mozart Bridge with the fortress in the background

And then finally back to the hotel to crash for a bit. Went out for "dinner" - again of dessert, as we'd eaten so much the rest of the day.. ]]> Day 19 - 18th May - Salzburg tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2111 2008-05-19T06:14:44Z 2013-02-27T13:29:32Z

It was raining when I woke up :( And then I checked the Untersberg webcam and got very sad. So went back to bed for a while. In fact had a very slow morning, sleeping in and not getting out...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
And then I checked the Untersberg webcam and got very sad. So went back to bed for a while.

In fact had a very slow morning, sleeping in and not getting out the door until 11am.

Stu wanted to go to the Mozart mass in the cathedral, so we did that. Then had coffee/hot chocolate in a cafe afterwards. It was a great hot chocolate - not too hot!

Attending mass at the University Church

Front of the University Church

Meandered around the old town for a bit trying to find somewhere open to have lunch (pretty much everything shuts on Sunday in Austria). Eventually found a place where I had a ghoulash soup and Stu some pasta with ham and cheese.

Went down to the bus stop with the thought of maybe going up Untersberg in the hopes that we'd get a break in the clouds, but the clouds seemed to be getting *lower*, and regular checks of the webcam showed no letup.

So we decided just to go to Hellbrunn instead. Our Salzburg cards covered entry to the "trick fountains" tour, which was just starting as we arrived (you have to go on the tour). But it was totally overcrowded and couldn't understand a word the guide said, even when he was speaking in English. So after not being able to hear about the first couple of things and not able to see either for the crowds of people I was pretty grumpy with the whole place. Barely took any photos. Only a couple of things stood out - the kilo metal "crown" that sat atop a jet of water and could be raised and lowered with just the pressure of the water, and a big mechanical model of a townscape with figures that moved by the flow of water. It would have been nice to spend more time looking at that one, as it was very detailed and there was all sorts of stuff going on in the scene.

Trick fountains at Hellbrunn. Apparently Archbishop Markus Sittikus
used to set off the fountains under his guests' seats while they were
eating and drinking to make them think they'd wet themselves.

Water-operated theatre - all the characters there were moving - it was
very cool

The 1kg cone sitting atop a jet of water

I really wouldn't recommend the tour to anyone, it's just not that good. That is, it could have been a lot better if the operators weren't so money-grabbing and ran much smaller groups, and got guides who could actually speak properly (maybe separate German/English tours??)
Anyways, wandered around the gardens for a little while afterwards, and had another look at the Sound of Music gazebo, sans crowds.

Sturgeon in one of the ponds

Pond at Schloss Hellbrunn

Schloss Hellbrunn

More checks of Untersberg showed no real improvement, so we started walking back to Schloss Frohnburg for a better look at the building that we only whizzed by at a distance from on the tour bus. So that was extremelly cool being able to see the building up close, and then walking around the back to see it too. Very exciting :)

Unicyclist on Hellbrunner Allee

The cause of my depression for the day - a cloud-topped Untersberg

This on the other hand was one of the highlights of the trip - getting to
see Schloss Frohnburg up close! This is the actual building filmed in
The Sound of Music

Stu by the gates of Schloss Frohnburg

And this is the rear of Schloss Frohnburg

Bussed it back into town. Stu went and had a sauna while I did internetty things.

Headed out to dinner, going to Spicy Spices, an Indian vegetarian/vegan restaurant. Was ok, the thing I had was a little warm for my taste, and serving sizes fairly small, but was ok.

Untersberg still in clouds... :( ]]> Day 20 - 19th May - Salzburg to Ulm via Munich tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2112 2008-05-20T05:58:34Z 2010-05-18T11:03:12Z

Hrmm. Worst day so far methinks... Started off ok. Had lots of yummy bacon for breakfast. Was a late start too because the weather didn't inspire us to get up. So didn't leave our hotel til about 11:15. Walked back...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
Started off ok. Had lots of yummy bacon for breakfast. Was a late start too because the weather didn't inspire us to get up. So didn't leave our hotel til about 11:15. Walked back to the hauptbahnhof and jumped on a train to Munich - didn't even worry about reserving this time either, and a good thing too, the train wasn't crowded at all.

Our train to Munich

So arrived in Munich. Stu wanted to get another memory stick for his camera, so we wandered into town to try and find somewhere to get it. That mission was quite successful, we found a Saturn store quite quickly. Then went to the cathedral to have a very quick look at it, then went back to the station to pick up our hire car. That all went ok, except we got an Opel instead of the Peugeot we reserved, and the thing is manual which adds another layer of pain to driving around here (it's bad enough to have to drive on the wrong side of the road and have the blinker lever on the wrong side). And it's a horrible boxy thing, with blindspots everywhere :(

Justizpalast - Palace of Justice - courthouse

Fountain in Karlsplatz

Karlstor

Frauenkirche

Fountain outside the Frauenkirche

Interior of the Frauenkirche

Stained glass window

Organ in the Frauenkirche

Roof of the Frauenkirche

Anyways, so having seen practically nothing in Munich, we decided to get out of town and head for Ulm, with the idea being to see some of the old town there and stay the night.

Well of course actually getting out of Munich was pretty traumatic, wasn't it? Urrggghhh. The autobahn trip wasn't as bad, but still required a lot of concentration, not helped by roadworks most of the way along :/

One of many roadworks sites on the autobahn

Red bridge on the autobahn. I could have sworn we drove over
this again later in the trip but don't know how..

Then we got to Ulm. But we didn't have a place to stay organised in advance so it was a case of looking for hotels. Except we couldn't just pull over or stop anywhere cause we were on roads that didn't allow that. So we passed through the centre of town and were well out the other side before we had a chance to stop :( Got copliot to give us the nearest hotel, so got there ok, but it was booked out, but they did nicely call another one for us so went to that one. Fortunately being so far out of town, they actually had easy parking.

So by this time it was 7pm, but we needed to de-stress before going out again. So here it is, 9:15pm, and we're at a waschsalon doing our laundry, having gotten snacks at a local supermarket for dinner while we waited. Totally missed out on getting to see Ulm. We did glimpse the cathedral on the way through, and like most places we've seen in Germany and Austria it's surrounded by scaffolding :( It's getting a bit tiresome that :(

We're quite worried now about how stressful the next week is going to be. We'd book places in advance if we knew where we were going to be. But is going to be hard going into towns when we know stressful finding parking will be :(

*sigh*
]]> Day 21 - 20th May - Ulm to Stuttgart via Legoland tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2113 2008-05-21T14:24:06Z 2013-02-24T17:12:08Z

Aaaahhhhhh.. A much better day :) Breakfast was a little boring, and was starting to stress over the driving again. So anyways, hit the road around 9:30 and headed to our destination of the day - Legoland Deutschland!! Entrance to...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
Breakfast was a little boring, and was starting to stress over the driving again.

So anyways, hit the road around 9:30 and headed to our destination of the day - Legoland Deutschland!!

Entrance to Legoland Deutschland!!

It was fan-fricken-tastic!!! Totally loved it. Even Stu enjoyed himself.

I only knew about the place because Guy went there last year. So glad I found out *before* the trip, would have been very sad if had found out after ;)

We spent the entire day there and still didn't do everything (skipped a lot of the kiddy rides, but did go on the best roller coaster twice). So mainly stuck the "rides" sections of the park most of the day with the thought of going to "miniland" towards the end, because it was open longer.

Looking over Legoland

Nudie pirate

Stu with a friend on the park bench

Kid inside a shark

Big minifig - there were heaps of these guys everywhere

Lego before it's Lego

I have some dioaramas of Harry Potter and Star Wars characters just like these ones :)

Kid with pigs

Rainbow of Lego

Stu looking at busts of various famous people

A stegosaurus

For Dooce

That's me in blue

An elephant

A giraffe

BBQ - for some reason I really liked this display

Musical instruments that you could actually play with pressure pads on the ground

I actually ran through this fountain earlier. This kid walked into it when it looked like this..

..and froze when the jets all went off :) His father yelled "get out of there!!" hehee

Einstein

Word of advice: allow more time than you think you'd need for miniland! It was amazing! We first went round the Berlin section and the models were astounding. And geographically correct too. We saw all the "been-theres" from a couple of weeks ago. "Munich Airport" was pretty spectacular too, as was the Munich sports arena. I took a few hundred photos in miniland alone!! Eeeep! I could easily have spent all day there just looking at all the hidden detail and all the stuff going on in the scenes.

The Berliner Rathaus

Amazing detail on the Rathaus

Neptune fountain

Berliner Dom

Lady with minifig hair for a top

The Reichstag

Dome of the Reichstag

The Victory Column

The Brandenburg Gate

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

The Fernsehturm

Schlossbrücke

Tee hee hee

I like to make sexy time!

Ah, Venice!

Venice canal

Ouch!

Piazza San Marco

Saint Mark's Basilica

Frankfurt

Frankfurt old town

Munich International Airport

Airbus A380 cutaway

Black boxes in the A380

Zombies on a plane!

About to join the mile high club?

Air Traffic Control Tower

A380 - a complete one

Neuschwanstein Castle

Lucerne

Munich's Allianz Arena

Thousands of minifigs fill the stands

Just wow!

Hamburg ship

Kids trying to break into the park

Anyways, so a bit before six pm we sadly left the park and headed west. We decided to stop on the southern outskirts of Stuttgart and found a hotel very quickly. It's in a beautiful woods setting, and is incredibly peaceful. It looks like it was an old hunting lodge or something, as there's deer antlers around the place, and lots of pictures of wild animals.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant - roast venison :) Which was very yummy, but I had trouble getting through all mine it was pretty big heh.

Enjoying our venison in Stuttgart

After dinner had a little walk around the woods out the back. No internet here (well there is, but it's too flaky to use) so will just have to relax heh. ]]> Day 22 - 21st May - Stuttgart to near Herbolzheim via Baden-Baden tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2115 2008-05-22T05:22:04Z 2010-05-21T08:07:52Z

Ok this day surpassed the other worst day of the trip by lots. Started off ok. Breakfast was pretty boring, but we were the only ones there and it was so peaceful in the woods setting. Really liked that hotel....

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
Started off ok. Breakfast was pretty boring, but we were the only ones there and it was so peaceful in the woods setting. Really liked that hotel.

Morning was ok too, we headed out on a "scenic route" in the general direction of Baden-Baden. Copilot at one point sent us up a dead end street in a little town called Calw that finished in a parking station :/ doh! So we stopped for a coffee there and listened to a dude playing the recorder brilliantly. Stu and I wish we could play half as well as him. It made the whole town/square feel very medieval.

Arrival in Calw. The parking station was just around that dead end corner on the right

Crazy-crooked medieval buildings in Calw

Looking down the Nagold River from the parking station

Calw is epic cute, visiting here was probably the highlight of the day

So kept going to Baden-Baden. This is where things fell apart. Couldn't find parking again. Followed a sign to a parking station and ended up in a hospital!? Only after we were nearly back out on the street did we see the actual entrance hiding off to the side, but it was too late then. Went round and round and eventually found another parking station. So went for a little walk through the town. Had lunch at a rather expensive hotel cafe and ate far too much (even with one of the cheaper options on the menu :/ ). Then went up to the ruins of the roman baths. It was only 2.50 each to go in, but there were signs saying no photography, so thought screw that and didn't go in. Took a couple of pictures through the outside glass window.

Schloss Eberstein from Obertsrot

Stiftskirche, Baden Baden

Neues Schloß from Marktplatz

Part of the Roman bath ruins

Next we went to the tourist "information" office. Information is there in quotes because there wasn't any. Information that is. We wanted some info on highlights of the Black Forest as we didn't have internet last night to any of that sort of thing. But they didn't have a single thing. About the Black Forest. That they're on the doorstep of. Bumheads.

Lame..

So it was like 2pm by this time, far later than we'd planned to be there. And we didn't have a plan for the afternoon. Well we had a plan but didn't think it would work. So we got stressed out (or I did mainly) and ended up doing nothing. At all. Just drove down the boring autobahn in the direction of Freiberg. Stopped at a roadside hotel near the Europa Park. This at about 4pm. And we didn't leave. Stu ended up doing some planning for the rest of our trip, as I'd given up hope of doing any of the things I wanted to do. That mainly being seeing some of the alps. Not helped by a weather forecast that says rain and clouds for the next several days. All a bit depressing.

Around eight we went out to find some dinner at the local Shell diner. There is a Maccas, a Burger King, a Pizza Hut and what obviously used to be a KFC at this rest stop. The hotel is more like one of the big chain motels you get in America (except about four times the price). And the hallways and rooms are decorated with pictures of American motel signs. It all made me rather "homesick" for the very easy American driving holidays. Maybe next time...

Maccas from our roadhouse motel room

]]> Day 23 - 22nd May - Herbolzheim to Lindau tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2116 2008-05-23T07:02:55Z 2013-02-25T20:27:09Z

Ok so alternating our good and bad days now... Breakfast was the lamest so far, especially considering the size of the hotel and the number of people there :( So headed into the Black Forest, taking a slow scenic drive...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
Breakfast was the lamest so far, especially considering the size of the hotel and the number of people there :(

So headed into the Black Forest, taking a slow scenic drive through tiny towns and windy roads.

Heading up the L106, approaching Bleichheim

Corpus Christi celebrations in Bleichheim (we had to go around the
block as the road in front of the church was blocked off)

Kanone‎ Guesthouse in Haslach im Kinzigtal

Small street in Elzach

Roadside pull-outs were so rare that when we saw one we stopped.
This was a little stream next to the L109 about 5km south of Hinterprechtal

Our first major stop was in Triberg, first finding the world's biggest cuckoo clock (supposedly), a few kilometres north of town just after a road tunnel. Went into the shop inside.. Sooooo many cute cuckoo clocks!! Want! But I know they'd be just plain annoying going off in the middle of the night.. And so expensive.. And a dust catcher... Sigh... Heh. We were there in time for the 1pm cuckoo of the big clock... It was a bit of an anti-climax.. Just one cu .. ckoo .. Heh

World's biggest cuckoo clock, Schonachbach just
north of Triberg

The back of the building. 1 Euro to make the little people come out
and play Eidelweiss

So went back into town, found some parking, and went for a walk. Had some lunch, the wandered up to see the "famous" waterfall. (It started raining at this point too). Well they wanted 2.20 each to go see it and we're like wtf??? It's not even that good a waterfall!! Stoopid.

Beer in Triberg

Triberg Waterfalls

So got back in the car and meandered to our next stop - Titisee ..! Couldn't stop giggling over that one, I'm sure Scotty would have giggled a lot too ;) Was a nice place, can imagine it getting *very* crowded in summer though. Had some Schwartzwalder kirshtorte, as you do when you're in the schwartzwald ;)

Teeny tiny little church in the village of Ödenbach

Titisee (I didn't see any tities :) )

Boats for hire by Titisee

Promenade in Titisee

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte at Bergsee Restaurant

View from Bergsee terrace

Tried to find a way up Hochfirst, but couldn't find the road, but did find a couple of ski jumps :)

Hochfirstschanze ski jump hill in Titisee-Neustadt

So then we headed over to Lindau next to Lake Constance/Bodensee. Could see the shore of Austria, but no mountains.. Checked into the hotel then went for a walk into the old town on the island. Very pretty. Ate a late dinner by the harbour and looked at the lights and the reflections. So pretty.

Crossing the Danube near Pfohren. I had to go look up what those
military signs meant too - they're NATO military bridge classification
signs, indicate the safe load-carrying capacity of the bridge for
military vehicles

T-mobile airship near Birnau

Bodensee and Klosterkirche Birnau

Lindau Rathaus

Lindau Harbour. This itself was pretty spectacular..

Then they turned the lights on!

We had dinner here overlooking the harbour - beautiful!

The harbour by night

Bodensee by moonlight

And then we caught a taxi back to the hotel, cause it was dark and a 3km walk heh..

]]> Day 24 - 23rd May - Lindau to Füssen via the Alps tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2117 2008-05-24T20:38:55Z 2010-05-23T01:57:01Z

Better hotel, no better breakfast.. Doh!! So got up and it was sunny!! Could see mountains and everything! Various webcams weren't quite so promising, but decided to head for the Alps just in case. Swiss Alps over Bregenz over Bodensee...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
So got up and it was sunny!! Could see mountains and everything! Various webcams weren't quite so promising, but decided to head for the Alps just in case.

Swiss Alps over Bregenz over Bodensee

As we were driving out of Lindau, just through the suburban areas south of there, we went through a roundabout and Stu said welcome to Austria, and I'm like what? Where? There was just a boring sign (that I missed completely) to indicate a change in country! Bah! Wanted Stu to turn around so we could do it again heh.

So took a very back-road scenic trip up into Lech in Austria. And it was soooo pretty :) Went over a couple of passes and Stu got to go out onto real-live snow :) He was very brave and did all the driving up and down scary mountain roads while I took loads of pictures.

Our hire car

Little church in Bersbuch

Stu by the Bregenzer Ache river a kilometre north of Au in Austria

Elevated road just up from Schröcken. Stu looked at this and freaked out a little!

View from our morning tea spot (you can see the elevated road below)

Stu on the snow at Hochtannbergpass

Widderstein from Hochtannbergpass

Biberkopf from Hochtannbergpass

All the mountains around the roads and villages had these barricades
to help prevent avalanches

Biberkopf, coming into Warth

Looking west down Arlbergpass

Biberkopf again, this time coming back into Warth from the south

Biberkoft and cute chalets just outside of Warth

Finally we headed for Füssen in Germany (this time I was keeping an eye out for the border sign, and it was a complete anti-climax. Boring!! :)

Church seemingly in the middle of the road in Hägerau.
In one town the church really was in the middle of the
road and there were dings in the corners from cars
hitting it!

Church in Stockach, coming down the Lech valley

At least I was expecting the border crossing back into Germany!
Police waiting on the other side!

Checked into our hotel (right in the middle of town - even with onsite parking it was a little crazy), and then we headed out to suss out the castles for tomorrow.

I have wanted to see Neuschwanstein for a very long time (prolly twenty years or so) so finally seeing it was very exciting :) All the parking there is 4.50 euro in gated lots, but didn't want to pay that since we'd be there tomorrow again anyway. So drove off wondering what to do when the no stopping signs stopped and we noticed cars parked on the side of the road, so decided to join them. It was a bit of a hike back, but at least they didn't get our money twice! Anyways, so got our info for tomorrow's visit.

Neuschwanstein!

Hohenschwangau

Neuschwanstein

So then back into town for Stu to recover for a bit, then went out for walk round Füssen. Took some photos of the schloss, then had beer followed by ice cream for dinner :)

Street in Füssen

Hohes Schloss Füssen

Beer in Füssen

Now have been sitting here waiting for it to get dark enough to go out and try and see some stars.... ]]> Day 25 - 24th May - Füssen to Augsburg via Neuschwanstein tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2118 2008-05-25T06:02:15Z 2010-05-23T02:44:21Z

So had stress dreams about the castles overnight :( Mind running round and round in circles about how best to do it heh. Breakfast was pretty decent, even had bacon - woot! :) So we had a *very* early start,...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
Breakfast was pretty decent, even had bacon - woot! :)

So we had a *very* early start, getting to the castles ticket office just after 8am. Got ourselves into the 9:10 Hohenschwangau tour and the 11:10 Neuschwanstein tour.

We walked ourselves up to Hohenschwangau the "slow" way, which probably took twenty minutes cause we kept stopping. (They say the steep way would take twenty minutes, but I reckon it'd take about five). The tour was pretty good (except for no photos :/ ). Saw lots of the castle and it was pretty interesting. So quite enjoyed that.

Alpsee

Beautifully stacked wood

Hohenschwangau

Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau

Hohenschwangau

Went back down the hill to wait for a bus up the other hill. It dropped us near the top and we walked up to Marienbrücke to see the view from there. Then it was down to the castle for our tour. We had a bit of time before it started so wandered around for a bit. Then about a minute before we were due to go in, we read on the sign that bulky backpacks needed to be checked. So of course I panicked. Because I'd looked at the sign before and saw icons for NO anything-else, but no mention of backpacks. We went back to the checking place and paid two euro for a locker. (As it turns out, that's just a deposit which we got back). But someone else on our tour had a much bigger backpack than me and they didn't even say anything, so that was all a bit annoying. But at least I didn't have to lug it around.

Iconic Neuschwanstein picture from Marienbrücke

The American couple we met took this picture of us at Neuschwanstein

Looking down at Alpsee and Hohenschwangau from above Neuschwanstein

Hohenschwangau from above Neuschwanstein

Front entrance of Neuschwanstein

Courtyard from under the gates

Courtyard area

Back of the gatehouse

Courtyard showing the location of the chapel that was never completed

Anyways the tour of Neuschwanstein was a lot bigger (in terms of numbers) and so we didn't get nearly as much commentary because we had to wait a lot longer for everyone to get into the rooms. And didn't seem to see that much either. Apparently seventeen rooms were completed before Ludwig died. We were thinking on the way out it might have been nice to see some of the incomplete rooms, but I suppose we did - in the form of a couple of gift shops.. hrmmm. Anyway so didn't enjoy that tour as much but it was still nice to see some things.

Model of Neuschwanstein

So then started back down, and took a horse carriage ride back down the mountain. That was a very pleasant ride. (While waiting I saw someone with my camera. I thought that was pretty cool, until she pushed in in front of us to take the front seat in the carriage. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate pushins? :/ But we did talk to an American couple from Texas who were in Europe for their honeymoon too! They were on our tour as well and we kept seeing them before and after as well heh).

Exterior lower walls of Neuschwanstein

This woman has my camera. She is also very rude and a push-in.

We rode a cart pulled by these horses down from the castle (in the background)

Next stop was Tegelberg, where we thought we might get some more views of the castles. We had lunch up there, overlooking the Alps. Was gorgeous :) Walked up the mountain after lunch, and then down the mountain, and even across the mountain, but no luck seeing the castles :/ Oh well, so then came down the cable car and finally left the area.. At 4:20pm heh. Drove north, through Landsburg, not actually stopping but going through the old town and taking photos anyway, and then onto Augsburg.

Can you tell is thrilled to be being dragged up another mountain?

Neuschwanstein from the Tegelbergbahn

Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau from Tegelbergbahn

German and Austrian Alps from Tegelberg

Beer on top of Tegelberg

Hanggliders waiting for the right conditions to take off from Tegelburg

Looking down to the cable car station from near the summit of Tegelburg

The Birds!! Hanggliders actually :)

Hauptplatz in Landsberg am Lech

Sandauer Tor, Landsberg am Lech

Sign indicating we were on the "Romantische Straße", on Augsburg
Straße just north of Landsberg am Lech

Checked into our hotel, then out to find a waschsalon. The nice thing about this one was it was right next to a Vietnamese restaurant, so we had dinner there while our clothes washed and dried. Was the most pleasant washing experience of the whole trip :)

Wood carvings in the table at the Vietnamese restaurant

And finally back here to crash. Think got a little sunburnt up the mountain today.. Oops... ]]> Day 26 - 25th May - Augsburg to Heidelberg tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2119 2008-05-26T05:32:52Z 2010-05-23T03:54:29Z

Had a very slow start today. Let Stu sleep in til about 8:30 heh :) Breakfast was one of the biggest so far. And lots of yummy bacon yayyy :) So we stocked up on breakfast so we could skip...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
So didn't get out the door til 11am. Whoops.

Ha! We *did* go over this bridge earlier in the trip. Crossing the Lech
near Augsburg.

Reichsstrasse, Donauwörth

Schloss Harburg

Our first stop was Nördlingen. We found a parking lot just outside the city wall with free parking (and unlimited cause it was Sunday) so stopped there and walked in through the gate. Where we found a staircase up to the city wall, which you can walk around! Very cool. Walked along to the next tower and found a museum. In the tower. It was all in German, but Stu loved all the stuff on the Thirty Years War. So next we headed to the church right in the centre of town (the town is an almost perfect circle and only about a kilometre diameter).

Deininger Tor, Nördlingen

Stairway up to the wall

Wall around Nördlingen

Löpsinger Tor from the wall

30 years war battlefield in Löpsinger Tor

View towards Saint Georg's Church and the steeple "Daniel" from
Löpsinger Tor

View back to Deininger Tor from Löpsinger Tor

Beautiful wood carvings in a store

Saint Georg's Church in the centre of town

Nördlingen Tanzhaus

Another church, another tower to climb :) (The tower is called "Daniel"). Stu didn't want to get all hot and sweaty, so I went up by myself. The view was fantastic, in fact the same view as filmed in the 70s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory heh :) Have to watch that when I get home too :) It was two euro for adults to go up, but you pay when you get to the top! *and* there are toilets at the top of the tower!! Weirdest thing ever :) (and there were free toilets *in* the city wall at various locations :) )

Bell in Daniel

Nördlingen from Daniel. That streetscape features in the movie
"Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" at the end of the movie
where they fly over a town

Storks in their nest as seen from Daniel. See their webcam.

While up the tower I got a map of the town, so when I got back down we decided to follow the historic walking tour around. Saw tonnes of really cute old buildings. We really really liked Nördlingen (I think it might be pronounced Nerdlingen? :) ). It just had such a nice easy-going atmosphere. And it wasn't completely touristy. We loved it.

Saint Georg's Church and "Daniel"

Klösterle

Stu on a bridge over the Eger stream

Another view of the Eger stream

Crazy-crooked Gerberviertel

Cute little car

There were a few buildings that hadn't been maintained. They had
no photographs signs on them heh.

Reimlinger Tor

So our next stop was Dinkelsbühl (or as Stu dubbed it, Dingle-Dongleberg ;) ). We had more trouble finding parking here due to roadworks and road closures due to festivals etc. So that wasn't a great start. Ended up parking at the Krankenhaus (hospital - love that word heh). Walked into town via the lake outside which was very pretty, and then down into the main square of town. The buildings here have all been done up medieval-style and do look very cute, but this place was much much more touristy which came as a bit of a rude shock after the peacefulness of Nördlingen. We looked in the church and had an early dinner and then just left.

Dinkelsbühl

Dr. Martin-Luther-Straße

Saint George’s church

Interior of Saint George’s church

Roof of Saint George’s church

Stu in Saint George’s church

Beers in Dinkelsbühl

Supposedly famous medieval building in Weinmarkt

We were going to go to Rothenburg but it was just getting too late, so just went straight to Heidelberg. Checked into our hotel, the went for a little walk around the old town, had some ice cream, and walked across the old bridge to the other side. As is tradition on this trip, stuff is covered in scaffolding. A third of the bridge and a quarter of the schloss :(:( All a bit sad-making. Sat by the river for a while as it got darker before wandering back to the hotel.

Heidelberger Schloss from the old town square

Heidelberger Schloss, Old Bridge and Neckar River

Old Bridge over the Neckar River

Church of the Holy Spirit and our hotel in front from the other side of the river

]]> Day 27 - 26-28th May - Heidelberg to Canberra via Frankfurt, Narita, Sydney tag:kazza.id.au,2008:/europe_2008//2.2123 2008-05-28T07:19:58Z 2010-05-26T12:07:50Z

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au
So we woke up in Heidelberg. In fact we were woken up at 6am by a wakeup call or a prank call or a wrong number or something... needless to say I wasn't impressed.

Got ready then went out for across the river and around the old town, and had our breakfast out (in the end we should have just had breakfast at the hotel, it probably would have worked out the same price). We were going to go up to look around the schloss, but decided that we wanted to just go to Frankfurt. So we packed up our stuff and checked out and made a detour up to see the Thingstatte and the old ruins there.

Church of the Holy Spirit

Synagogenplatz is a memorial based on a synagogue that was burnt
down during the infamous Kristallnacht in 1938. It follows the original
layout of the synagogue (built in 1877). Paving stones indicate the
walls and twelve stone cubes show the location of the pews and stand
for the twelve tribes of Israel

Alley in Heidelberg - look how clean it is!

Heidelberg Rathaus

Bridge gates

Stadt Heilbronn on the Neckar River

Heidelberger Schloss from the Old Bridge

Heidelberger Schloss, Old Bridge and Neckar River

Bridge monkey. There was a steady procession of tourists taking photos
of themselves with this thing... This one has been there since 1979

View from our hotel room window - one of the best we had!

Stu in the ruins of Stephanskloster

Lookout tower on Heiligenberg

View of old Heidelberg from the tower

Heidelberger Schloss

Stu up the tower

Ruins of Stephanskloster

Heidelberger Thingstätte. Built by the Nazis for propaganda rallies,
wasn't very popular because it was often too cold

56 rows could seat 20000 people

Thingstätte stage area

And then back to Frankfurt. Had good traffic the whole way so that took away some of our stress. Found a car wash and petrol station near the city, so cleaned the car before heading into town. Where things started getting messy. We didn't know where the actual parking lot was for the rental car, and ended up going down a one way street at one point. So Stu just stopped and I went in to the station to find out where to take it. Twenty minutes of walking later.. hrmm. Anyways, got the car returned without any dramas (that I know about heh).

Arrival back in Frankfurt am Main

We decided we didn't want to wander around Frankfurt city because we were hot and tired and carrying heavy bags, so thought we'd just go to the airport. Except we got on the wrong train. Oops. So at the first stop had to turn around and come back. Oops.

Finally got on the right train and got to the airport very early. Secured window seats, getting the last row on the first leg (the 777). Then waited for a few hours. Went and had some dinner at a very overpriced cafe. Spent the rest of our euros at a very overpriced gift store. Used some wireless internet over a very overpriced connection. Airports seriously suck sometimes. Waited some more before finally boarding our plane.

Schöfferhofer Weizen beers at the airport

It was late dusk by the time we took off, so no photos of Frankfurt or Germany. The night was very short, and they got us to close the blinds so the sunrise at 2am wouldn't annoy people. I think we flew further south this time, and more snow had had a chance to melt, so much of the countryside was a rather plain brown. Not that I looked too often, as opening the window illuminated the entire back of the plane. So not many photos there either. Watched PS I love you, The Bucket List, Hits from the 80s, and most of The Firm (missed the end cause we were landing - doh!)

This photo is looking out to the north of the plane. That light is coming
over the top of the world!

Over Surgut, Russia

Flying in over Japan

Got into Narita at something like 7am Germany time. After having slept for maybe an hour all up. Zombie-making. Upgraded our seats on the second flight from being over the wing to a two-seater section up the back of the 747. Went through security again at Narita. Then hung around the airport. Which is a much better place than Frankfurt which has next to nothing past security :( Narita has shower rooms and day rooms. We rented shower rooms for 500 yen each for thirty minutes. Let us have a shower which made us feel a whole lot better. Then went and had a drink. And bought some sake and other things for Stu. And used the free internet cafe. And had some dinner. And played some gin with the cards we just bought. And had a ten minute massage in these way-cool massage chairs for 200 yen each. We were in Narita for about four hours.

Narita airport! Over half way home

Air traffic control tower from the Yahoo! Internet Cafe

At 8:20pm Narita time we headed off again. Watched Monsters Inc while we did dinner type stuff. Then I was going to lie down in a spare four-seater row that noone was sitting in, but was too slow, someone else beat me too it :(:(:( Sad-making. So attempted to sleep sitting up. Got maybe an hour or so. Maybe two. Gave up after a while and watched Charlie Wilson's War.

Our JAL 747

Arrived in Sydney around 6:20am. Stopped at the duty free place to pick up some grog, then through security. Immigration was very quick (maybe 3-4 minutes waiting) and uneventful. Picked up bags. Then through customs, which was also quite quick (maybe five minutes). We'd declared food and wood, but after x-raying our bags they weren't interested in seeing anything or even asking us what the stuff was. Shrug :) (And Border Security wasn't there filming - doh!! hehe)

Caught a taxi back to my parents' (cause last time we took the train and bus and it took an hour and a half, and were too tired for that sort of nonsense this time). Got very sad as I drove past my house :( Still miss Sydney :( Arrived at my parents to pick up my car and a few other bits and pieces. Then headed for home. I felt fine for the first bit of the trip, but could feel my brain fading. We played A-Z games (try to think of something starting with each letter of the alphabet in a variety of categories) to try and keep our brains awake. But it wasn't working for me, so we stopped at Marulan to get some sugar and salt and Stu drove the rest of the way home.

Fog over Lake George

Dumped our bags and got straight into bed and was asleep in seconds. Slept for a few hours, but forced myself to get up to try and prevent any problems sleeping tonight.

Very nice to be home. Nice to be back at my puty with its massive screen. Thanks to Natto-san for taking care of the house :)

Haven't looked at my photos yet. Haven't transferred any yet either. Not sure how will get them online. But I'll probably do a day at a time and insert the highlights into the existing blog entries. And eventually get the whole lot onto conspiracy. Hopefully it won't take two years to do like my USA photos did... ;)

This was all the crap that was in my suitcase and backpack (the 1/3 on
the right was brought home new)

Update May 2010: I saw the last line of this blog entry a bit over a month ago, hence the frenzied effort to at least get some photos into this blog! So it was exactly two years! Sadly I'm nowhere near finished, but at least the blog is.]]> Panoramas tag:kazza.id.au,2010:/europe_2008//2.2886 2010-08-05T10:44:35Z 2013-02-24T10:12:45Z

Hotel room view - Narita, Japan Rhine River, Cologne Roman Excavations, Cologne Hotel room view, Cologne Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Victory Column, Berlin (360) Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin Spree River, Berlin Fernsehturm, Berlin (360) Potsdam palaces Potsdam palaces Schloss Cecilienhof, Potsdam...

Kazza the Blank One http://kazza.id.au