CURRENT MISSION

We want to see and experience South America.

ABOUT ME

We have been married for over a year now. We think that we are lovely and down to earth people. We are lots of fun and we are willing to help out with all the chores around the house.

We are clean and love the Kitchen.

PHILOSOPHY

The most effective way to do things are just to do them.
Imagination is better than knowledge.

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We are willing to be part of the community.

Henry is a Junior soccer coach and loves to have fun playing soccer with them, people often say that Henry should be a primary school teacher but he thinks that it will be just too much work. So Henry can participate with any sports activities. He also is good around the house so if you need a hand he is happy to help you.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We had a great experience in France. Shefali Lemaire took us to her house and we had the best time in Bordeaux. She is the one that inspire us to be part of this great community. We think that if you are in this site you are willing to help out and be a great world citizen.

Shefali Lemaire is a beautiful person who is willing to help everyone. It is rear to find people like her. I do pledge for everyone that wants to use this service to treat others the best you can.

Intereses

We like sports, travel, camping, scuba diving,
Romina loves photography and we both like meeting new people.

• cats
• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• singing
• architecture
• fashion
• street art
• photography
• documentaries
• beauty
• make up
• concerts
• oktoberfest
• dancing
• flamenco
• environment
• human rights
• dining
• cooking
• breakfast
• chocolate
• wine
• red wine
• beer
• cocktails
• coffee
• picnic
• dieting
• running
• coach
• working out
• walking
• nightlife
• partying
• drinking
• pub crawls
• gardening
• boating
• shopping
• clothing
• news
• tv
• traveling
• cars
• stamps
• music
• classical music
• drums
• opera
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• scuba diving
• skiing
• sports
• soccer
• swimming
• world cup
• cartography
• teaching
• emergency services
• forestry
• history
• languages
• law
• tourism
• tours
• sightseeing
• beaches
• parks
• lakes
• mountains

Música, películas y libros

Anne of Green Gables, Internal sunshine of the spotless mind.
We both love spanish music and Jazz.

Algo increíble que he hecho

10 June 2012

We can't believe it's already been a week since our wedding! We can honestly say that we have enjoyed every minute that day and every day since! Here's an update of our travels this far...

We arrived in Zurich on Tuesday morning and - after being lost for 3 hours (turns out we were following a night timetable which is different to daytime; otherwise the transport system in Switzerland is very easy to use!) and being escorted to our hostel by a retired Catholic priest - we went to explore the old town centre and Bellevue Plaza along the Limmat River. The atmosphere was great with heaps of people walking, sitting at the cafes or along the river with a picnic. We are in love with the architecture here with the cobblestone buildings, colourful window shutters and the triangular...everything! We walked for hours waiting for it to get dark. It got to a point where we were too hungry and tired to go on so I looked at my watch and it was 9 pm, yet still light like 6 pm daylight savings time in Aust! (All those who've been to Europe won't be surprised but Romina is still amazed! And loving it!)

The following day we caught a train to the Uetliberg mountain overlooking all of Zurich. Unfortunately it was very cloudy (it has been very cold and/or raining every day except on one and a half days!) so we couldn't see much. We then did a 3 hour walk (Romina is counting her steps for the Global Corporate Challenge!) through the valley.

On Thursday morning we caught a train to Bern, the capital of Switzerland, and spent about 5 hours walking and seeing the town and more gorgeous buildings. Bern is a beautiful city and we were lucky to get beautiful weather too. The river that runs through Bern is absolutely crystal clear aqua blue (Di, like the lake you & Romina saw in NZ while driving and the 'water incident' occurred!). Gorgeous!

That afternoon we caught the train to Grindelwald, a small skiing town in the Swiss Alps. We were very happy to arrive at our accommodation after hiking uphill with all our luggage for half an hour! (Di, reminded Romima of our uphill hike to the hostel in Nelson. There was a shortcut at this one too that we found out about later!) The view from our hostel was just stunning! (Yuri, Sandy & Anusha, they are bigger and more majestic than Table Mountain - which was amazing in itself!). We were facing directly at the top of the Swiss Alps from our balcony while eating our dinner and sharing a bottle of red wine!

Unfortunately the next day we weren't so lucky as it was raining and the clouds were so thick that you couldn't see the massive mountains in front of us at all! It's a real pity b/c we had grand plans to do some short hiking in the Swiss Alps - they told us there's no point as we won't see anything. Instead, we just walked around town in the rain. Henry looked for a place to watch the first Euro Cup matches and we found a bar called Avocado owned by an Aussie!

We then caught a bus back to the hostel, although it was the wrong bus. We didn't think anything of it as all local buses are free for those staying at the hostel so we thought we'd 'sightsee' from a different bus line. However, we didn't realise that the line turned into a 'tourist bus' at a certain point. We ended up going to the top of the mountain to Schwartzhorn! It was a gorgeous ride seeing the snow and waterfalls (both flowing and frozen) in the mountains but could only see 20 meters or less away due to the thick cloud. When we got to the top the bus driver told us off! He explained it was a tourist bus and we had to pay $80 Francs! Would have been worth it if it had been a clear day! Luckily, he agreed to charge us half price. But, still, Henry was extremely upset at our absent mindedness. The funny thing is that in all his anger and annoyance his comment to Romina was "we could have drunk those $40 Francs"!! Hilarious!

By the time we got back to the hostel we were so wet and tired that we watched the Euro Cup matches there (Henry falling asleep at the table by the second match! So far he had fallen asleep at standard places like trains, planes and buses - but also once at a take away restaurant before the food came! And on the bus high in the mountains! Romina is just waiting to write about where else Henry falls asleep! Like the stories she's heard about him during the Germany World Cup!).

On Saturday morning we caught the train to Lauterbrunnen, another gorgeous little town in the Swiss Alps. The weather was great! Go figure! We walked through the town, walked underneath the town's waterfall and hiked for about 2 hours. It was beautiful! Can't wait to show you our photos (625 photos so far with culling).

We then caught several trains to arrive in Liechtenstein. Who knew we would ever come to this country that Henry only knows from the pre-2006 World Cup friendly against Liechtenstein where all Aussies were chanting 'where the F*%#, where the F*%#, where the F*%# is Liechtenstein' (remember, Chris &
& Danny?!). Ha ha! The night we arrived there was a big street party to celebrate 300 years of the south of the country. Unfortunately we didn't go as it started pouring. Pity.

This morning we walked to get a distant glimpse of the king's castle (best view from the nearby petrol station!) - really the only thing to see in Liechtenstein!, then caught the local bus to Feldkirch, Austria to catch the train to Vienna.

We arrived in Vienna about 9 pm and went straight to hotel Topazz, our very generous wedding present from Hayley (Romina's boss)! OMG! We were honestly speechless and the concierge could tell! With all sincerity, the best hotel either Henry or Romina have ever stayed at! We are so grateful and so relaxed! We're watching an opera on our 3D TV where the leading male looks like yMr Bean! We arrived at 9.39 pm, showered, put on our best backpackers clothes and went down to the Salon for free drinks! We are still here now an hour after closing time! :)

We're here for 3 nights then off to Prague and Poland (though not yet sure what order).

We hope you enjoyed our travel update. Sorry it's so long - they will be a rarity (there was too much time to kill on our 7 hour train ride from Feldkirch to Vienna).

We hope you're all well and happy and healthy.

Lots of love from Europe,
Henry and Romina
(written by Romina and reviewed by Henry - though he would have cut it down by at least half or more if he had a choice!) :)

PS. Julie, please send on to VGSO gang
PPS. Andy, if you're still on secondment, please forward to DOJ gang
PPPS. David O, please forward to SGS gang

21 June 2012

Hello from sunny Crotia!

After Romina complaining incessantly about the cold for the first week and a half in Europe (it really was very cold!) we have been in a heat wave since then! It is so hot!! On Tuesday it was 40 degrees in Budapest and the humidity was a killer. Oh yeah, forgot to tell you we were in Budapest Tuesday! :)

Since we wrote our last essay we have been literally globe trotting. We spent 3 nights in Vienna, Austria, 2 nights in Prague, Czech Republic, a night in Krakow, Poland, a day in Bratislava, Slovakia, 2 nights in Budapest, Hungary, 1 night in Zagreb, Croatia, and currently on the train to Split, Croatia for a couple of nights.

Vienna was a magical city with so many beautiful buildings, culture and history. We felt very uncultured there - we always knew we were but felt it more so among it all! We visited the main cultural attractions, such as the ex-monarchy's winter and summer castles (spent about 4 hours walking through the summer castle gardens and doing a tour of the castle itself), parliament building, several churches, monuments and gardens, several museums and Mozart's house (none of which we had time to enter unfortunately!) and Kursalon (where Strauss mostly performed in Vienna) - we saw a fantastic musical concert there last Tuesday night!

Aside from the culture and beauty of Vienna we will always remember it for being completely spoilt at Hotel Topazz - Hayley's (Romina's boss) wedding gift to us. We ate breakfast like kings (tasted something different off the menu every day and did not need to eat lunch for being so full!) and drank lots of Viennese wine! It was so nice that we struggled to leave in the morning and came back to it a couple of times a day (very conveniently centrally located!) - compared with our backpackers accom which (other than the rainy Grindelwald day) we left early in the morning and don't come back to til late at night to sleep an uncomfortable sleep - most times on a dorm with 6 other people. Aside from the several hours of walking, Vienna was definitely our 'lazy' time - the most it's felt like a honeymoon so far! :)

Wednesday last week we caught the train to Prague. We arrived just in time to watch Germany beat Netherlands in the local pub near our hostel (hostel was great with downstairs pub etc, but full of young Aussies - one wearing a Carlton top - last thing we want to see overseas!). The following day we did a walking tour of the Old Town with a Spanish guide who told the Czech history in a hilarious way, then saw all the main sights including the biggest castle in the world, the Lennon wall (graffiti wall in protest of communism), and statues of two Czech politicians literally weeing on the map of Czech Republic! The statues even rotate from side to side. Hilarious! We met some really cool Swedish students and had some absinthe with them (it just tasted horrible and no effect whatsoever).

On Thursday we caught the overnight train (unfortunately sitting up as all beds were booked out - very uncomfortable!) to Krakow. Definitely one of our favorite cities so far! We did a tour of Auschwitz, which was both extremely interesting and upsetting at the same time. One of the most impacting somehow was seeing the huge pile of 40,000 shoes that belonged to prisoners there, yet that's only a small percentage of those that actually died there. Despite the horrific things you see and hear we'd highly recommend the tour as a must!

That night we went to the town square (which is really stunning surrounded by great buildings and heaps of restaurants) and watched Poland unfortunately lose against Czech Republic. It's a real pity because we expected a big town celebration. Oh well. The following day we did a walking tour of Krakow, saw several statues (including the man who Mt Kosciuszko is named after), buildings, churches, the castle, and learnt a lot of history about Krakow, . We liked the tour guide so much (she had so much knowledge about Polish history) that we joined her again that day for the 4 hour communism walking tour. We had no idea that the fall of communism started in Poland - most people (including us) attribute it to the fall of the Berlin wall the year after. Anyway, cut a long story short we learnt a lot of history in Poland!

That night we caught the night train (this time with a bed!) to Budapest. However, we decided to get off a few stops earlier to spend the day in Bratislava. We saw the castle and walked around the Old Town. It was a very pretty town and very clean. Unfortunately we missed the walking tour as we had an outdated flier with the wrong time. We were pretty disappointed. But it was so hot (37 degrees - apparently 10 degrees over the usual temperature for summer there) that we spent a couple of hours sleeping under the shade of a tree in the park. It was a great nap but we would have much rather preferred to learn some of the history. We ate a traditional meal then caught the late afternoon train to Budapest.

Budapest was nothing like we'd imagined. Apparently it's all about the nightlife there. Two of its bars are rated as the best and 3rd best bars in the world. Though we didn't go to either (we're getting old unfortunately!) :(

We did another walking tour the following day in 40 degree weather. It was so hot and humid. Romina's photo taking has decreased substantially as the weather has gotten hotter and hotter! But the guide was brilliant with his Hungarian history. We again saw lots of buildings on both the Buda and Pest sides of the Danube, including another brilliant castle. We ate a couple of traditional and very cheap meals, walked heaps, drank and watched the soccer.

Yesterday we arrived in Zagreb hot and tired. We walked around town for a couple of hours to look around. We have walked like crazy on this holiday - we both have several blisters and corns on our feet but are loving it. Romina will be very upset of she doesn't at least come close to winning the Global Corporate Challenge (a special thank you to Rach for entering her steps)! :)

We then went back to the hostel to cook a nice meal (our first proper home cooked meal!) and got up early for another early morning train to Split. We are on our way there now (we'll send this email when we arrive and access WiFi - otherwise it'll just keep getting longer and longer!) and hope to spend a couple of nights there to get in some overdue beach time!

Well that's the second essay done now. Hope you're all well and happy and healthy and had no issues with the earthquake (news provided to us courtesy of Romina's mum)!!

Until next time,
Henry and Romina

27 June 2012

Funny (you probably had to be there) stories and some observations

Quick update... Arrived in Split and left the very next day for the island of Hvar and ended up spending 4 nights there. Finally we are completely relaxed! Hvar is a Mediterranean island with cobblestone streets, lots of steps, little hidden alley ways that get you lost.

In 'summary', we spent every day in the water (always at a different location), went on two scuba dives (we saw a few octopus for the first time ever - and one even squirt ink right near us! So cool!), drove a scooter over half the island to other little towns and saw lots (unfortunately can't take photos of everything while on the road - something that Romina is very upset about!), slept in brilliant and terrible accommodation, ate Peka - a delicious traditional Croatian meal of lamb and veggies that takes 2-3 hours to cook in a pot covered in coal (actually, the Croatian waiter explained to us that, like the chevapi, Croatians have claimed it as there's but they are both traditionally Bosnian foods), went to the second largest winery on the island, and walked around the palaces on Hvar and in Split. There is so so much more of Croatia to see and we didn't want to leave!

We must say we have really loved Eastern Europe - so beautiful and mostly affordable and so safe. We definitely want to come back to see more!

We are now on an overnight ship to Italy (like the Spirit of Tasmania, except much more run down!). We'll send this at next WiFi location in Italy (as soon as we arrive in Ancona we catch our train direct to Rome, so probably from there).

Ok, here are the experiences (in no particular order) that we found/find really funny - though you probably needed to be there to find them as funny as we do!...
1. Twice Romina has had nightmares and screamed out in her sleep (apparently the second scream sounded like a ghost wailing according to Henry!). Of course those two times had to be when we were in bunk dorms (as opposed to in our own room). Both times Henry freaked out and jumped off the top bunk onto the ground (to console Romina), with a loud bang, making a much louder noise than her screams, and waking up Romina! We have no idea if anyone else woke up.
2. Conversely, Henry has laughed in his sleep.
3. We have gotten lost in every single place we have stayed at. The worst was 2 days ago when we got lost in the mountains on a dirt road on our scooter and had two accidents (don't worry, they were minor with only gravel scrapes on our hands/arms), only to find that an hour later we had to turn back the exact way we came b/c we arrived at a road of rocks passable only by horse or a donkey. ( we did not see either on the island)
4. We ate heaps in Budapest b/c the food was so cheap and delicious. Romina cheated a lot with her diet here (well everywhere really, but more so here). We have photo of Romina in front of the castle literally looking 6 months pregnant. People thought she actually was, so we're considering eating badly as a safety tactic in the more 'dangerous' countries! (Italy, France, Spain, Portugal) Poor Romina! :)
5. We stayed at a terrible accommodation in Hvar, Croatia (stayed at 3 different accommodations there b/c we kept extending our stay and this one was the worst!) where the bathroom flooded after every shower. This was our first experience of the accommodation owner/manager/worker not speaking a word of English. Henry tried to ask her for something so she called her adult son to come speak with us, so Henry explained a whole story in English to him only to find out he didn't speak a word of it! Not sure why the old lady brought out her son! Later Henry used google translator to communicate with the little old lady that ran the place. Hard to describe, but anyone that knows Henry can imagine how funny it was! At one point Romina dropped her bathers top off the clothes line and it fell down into the old lady's backyard so Henry had to go ask for it - try to imagine him knocking on her door, pointing at his chest then pointing down. Of course the old lady had no idea what he meant! So he tried again, pointing first at his wedding ring, then to his chest area, then down her balcony so that she looked and saw Romina's bikini top and went to retrieve it.
6. Croatian trains are terrible! They are super slow and every few kms they start to 'jump' harshly over the tracks and make a loud banging noise each time. We couldn't sleep or write or relax - lucky the 'beach' time made up for it!
A side note - we write beach in inverted commas b/c there is no sand, just rocks, boulders and concrete. Henry kept referring to the people as lizards - laying on big rocks trying to get a tan. Everyone was wearing crocs at the beach to walk over the rocks. (Andrea, only a small handful were wearing those 'water shoes' you showed Romina.) There were only a couple of beaches with sand that looked like dirt (and was dirty too). Other than the painful rocks to step in and sit/lay on, the water everywhere was crystal clear and deep, very refreshing and no need but we much prefer Australia's white to clean the sand off afterwards.
7. Walking along the 'beach' in Split we saw a funny sign on the showers that said 'no sha pooing'. We assumed 'no' meant no (duh!), had no idea what 'sha' meant and thought it was hilarious that there was a Croatian word 'pooing', not knowing what it meant. We even took a photo. When we got to the next shower we noticed that the sign was actually in English and said 'no shampooing' - the previous sign simply had the 'm' in shampooing missing. We're so stupid! We found it hilarious ;)
8. Speaking of stupidity, we have been ripped off or one way or another 'lost' money (didn't get the best deal - a better deal always being around the corner as soon as we paid for something) everywhere we have been (common for Romina on holidays but not so for Henry - she must be bad luck!) - from the accidental bus ride in the Swiss Alps where we couldn't see anything, to 'the Mozarts' (as Hayley calls them) selling us concert tickets in Vienna, to the market in Budapest charging us more for food than the nearby nice restaurants, to several dodgy accommodation spots... and that's just to name a few.
9. Henry fell asleep at the table at the only fancy restaurant we've been to on this entire trip! (It was after the massive Peka meal and some wine at about midnight so it was slightly understandable.
10. At the most recent accommodation our bathroom was shared with the owners of the apartment. Romina went to use the bathroom and walked in on a naked lady on the toilet. Unsure why the owner wouldn't lock the bathroom knowing there are strangers staying in her home!
11. Twice we bought bread from the bakery and took it to the prosciutto man (a big fat Croatian man who owned a very small deli) to make use sandwiches. Every time we went to his store (including when we didn't buy anything) he was drinking, one time singing with his customers, and with every slice of prosciutto or salami he placed on the sandwiches he ate a slice himself! He gave us advice (he told Henry he must love Romina and that no one will love him as much as she does) and told us lots of stories (including that the word honeymoon comes from old times where a newlywed man wanted to spend some time alone with his wife before returning to live with his family with no separate bedrooms. So his father told him to go away and to come back when they had finished eating the jar of honey he gave them - which took approximately one month).
12. Romina is very upset that she's not getting stamps on her German passport! Of course travelling by train there are few passport checks but whenever she gets a chance to get one they don't give it to her, only to Henry. The only stamps she has received are leaving Aust and entering and exiting Croatia (where they did about 4 passport checks!) as opposed to Henry who has another 5 or so.
13. Dani, Romina's friend, had told her stories about how forward and sleazy Italian men are. We checking out the ship when a waiter at the restaurant approached Romina and asked if he could help. She told him she was just having a look. He responded, looking her up and down, that so was he and that he liked what he saw. And we hadn't even left the Croatian port yet!
14. (Last minute addition) We had reclining seats reserved on the ship to Italy but we went to eat and drink and watch Croatian TV before going to bed. When we got to our seats a lady was laying across them. We woke her up and she cracked it! She gave us the seats but loudly complained and continued 'tiching' for some time after that , making it very difficult to fall asleep.

Observations (again, in no particular order):
1. The summer colour in Europe is green - everyone is wearing green shirts, skirts, pants, jeans, tops.
2. Noticeable female fashion has been see-through tops with a different coloured bra underneath, otherwise a loose tank top with visible bra underneath.
3. Most males in Croatia wear speedos irrespective of age, weight, etc.
4. Unlike the half flush system on the toilets in Aust (which is never enough so you have to half flush again which probably wastes more water than a full flush), the toilets here have a system whereby you can stop the flush at any time (ie when the job is done) which seems much better for the environment.
5. On Hvar we noticed (or rather Romina noticed and pointed out to Henry) lots of older males with much younger wives/partners and young children.
6. Lots of homeless people in Budapest, none of which are begging (apparently they're too proud to accept assistance from the government which is why they're homeless).
7. There are no mosquitos in Eastern Europe...until you hit the water. We only noticed that there hadn't been anywhere once they started to eat us alive in Croatia! There are hardly any flies also. Something we definitely don't miss about Australian summer!
8. Everyone smokes in Europe - everyone!
9. Americans are very annoying - when you ask where they're from they give you their town not the country as if you should already know. If we meet another one we're going to tell them we're from Melbourne rather than Australia.
10. Something we already knew but now directly experienced... Italians are very very loud!!

Ok, better leave it there. Until the next installment, hope everyone is well and happy and healthy.

Love,
Henry and Romina

PS. Thank you to everyone who has written us emails. Sorry we haven't responded, but we do read them and are grateful for them and think of you. Keep them coming :)

19 July 2012

Our week & a half in Italy (over two weeks ago now!)

Hi all,

Thank you to everyone that's written to us. We do love hearing from everyone back home. We don't always have access to WiFi - and when we do we generally need it to search for accommodation at our next location - so we send this global
apology for not replying to personal emails (or for late replies).

Well we are now in France! When we last left you we just arrived in Italy. That was on 27 June. Since then we have celebrated our one month anniversary - first of being married and secondly of arriving in Europe, and are now half way to our second month anniversaries! :)

Well when we arrived on the coast of Ancona, Italy after our overnight ship ride from Croatia, we went straight to Rome for two nights (2 & a half days) and completely fell on love with it! It is massive and awe inspiring. Every street you turn on there's more things to see and history to learn. The only thing we didn't like about Rome is the thousands of tourists everywhere! It is for that reason that we would hate to live in Rome. But it is otherwise amazing!

Over our first half day and our last day we went to see the Colosseum (outside only) and surrounding monuments and ruins, Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon (from outside only as both times we went it was clised!), Sacred Area (which is now a home for cats - one of which is named Aisha!), Castel Sant'Angelo, Victory Palace, an exhibition of 50 years since the Allies liberated Italy from the Nazis, and about 50 thousand churches! We did all this by walking. Some lazy person (you k ow who you are!) recommended the hop on - hop off bus, but Romina wouldn't get enough Global Corporate Challenge steps that way! :) Actually we found it was all easily accessible by foot. We did look for a walking tour but couldn't find it (think we were given the wrong info again). Oh well.

On the first night we went to watch Portugal v Spain in a bar in Trastevere, the old Jewish ghetto which is now a trendy bar/cafe area. We walked back to our accom pretty late and the streets were full of people, even children. (That's one thing about Italy we have been surprised about - we were told/read about safety concerns, yet we always felt completely safe.) On the second night we went to watch Germany v Italy in the Piazza de Popolo (a big square) with about 2 thousand Italians where they'd placed a giant screen. You can imagine all the cheering, flag waving and flares when Italy bet Germany 3-1! No one expected that one! We were very lucky to be there for a home win. It was a great sight to see and the streets became even more flooded with people everywhere after the match was over even though it was midnight on a weeknight. Though we must say, we have never seen football ('soccer' for you Aussies!) fans celebrate like the Argentinians (sincerely objective observation) and the Brazilians with their music, drums, singing and dancing. The Italians were very happy and cheering etc, but otherwise boring to watch in comparison.

On our second day in Rome we spent literally the entire day in Vatican City - we arrived at 9.30am and left at 7.30pm. We loved it. After an hour in line to get into the Vatican museum (which actually wasn't that bad considering people generally wait for much longer than that!), we stayed there until about 3.30pm, the time the Sistene Chapel closed. We were inside the Sistene Chapel itself for about an hour! It was actually really uncomfortable as we were packed in like sardines and being bumped left right and centre - particularly by the tour groups. But when we were able to appreciate the art, it was amazing. We took hundreds of photos in there but are yet to cull them.

From there we were pretty much pushed along with the crowd of hundreds of people into St Peter's Basilica. It is by far the most beautiful church we've ever seen. Michelangelo added detail in every corner of this church. We walked around for about an hour and a half and then mass started so we went to mass. (Thanks Netio for that advice!) It felt very special going to mass there. We didn't quite understand the sermon but we followed the rest pretty well as it's so similar to Spanish and we said the responses and the prayers in Spanish.

Once mass was finished we had to get frisked by the police and escorted by the Swiss guards to be let into the back area of the Vatican City so we could return the audio guide (which we forgot to do after leaving the Vatican Museum in all that push among the crowd) and get back Romina's ID. We were only 500 meters from where the pope resides. Henry asked the guard whether the pope would be barracking for Germany or Italy that night! After laughing, the guard said that he thought it would be Germany. Unfortunately he would have been better off barracking for Italy. But it was good for us in the end given our experience watching the match that night.

Given we left the Vatican City so late, everything was closed so we went back the following day to send a postcard from there to our parents. When we got there it was packed with people (and not just the usual masses lining up to go into the Vatican museum or Basilica) with banners etc and we had no idea what was going on. Suddenly the pope pops out of a high window and gave an address! We couldn't believe our luck! It happened to be St Peter's Day that day - an important religious holiday there (apparently the bones of St Peter, Jesus' favourite disciple lay beneath the Basilica). Whether you're religious or not, it was an amazing experience to see live one of the most powerful men in the world. Plus we're Catholic so it was very special for us.

That night we left quite late for Florence (we missed a few trains while pigging out on pasta!), slept in the hallway of the train cos there were no seats, and arrived at our accommodation at 2:30 am very tired - yet we were unable to sleep for a few hours so we slept in til lunchtime the next day. We then ventured out to find the Academia Museum to see Michelangelo's David. What man!! We'd watched a documentary about his making before heading out - knowing all about it's history made it all the more special. For example we had no idea that Michelangelo carved him out of a single block of stone after 2 previous artists had abandoned the stone 20 + years earlier because the feat was just too difficult. We stayed in the museum for about 3 hours until it closed - at least half of that time spent staring at the David.

The following day we did a renaissance walking tour which showed us some of the gorgeous buildings. Unfortunately the Medici tour right after which we'd planned to do was cancelled so we walked the streets, saw the many churches and saw a panoramic view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo. This was the best part of Florence for us. While the buildings in Florence were pretty, they were no match for our impression of Rome. Also almost every street stunk of wee and/or rubbish. Combine all that with 40 degree weather plus humidity, you can understand how we didn't really like Florence all that much. We were surprised because almost everyone we know whose been to Florence had loved it. First place so far on this trip that we wouldn't go back to.

The following day we left for Cinque Terre, with a stop over on the way to Pisa to briefly see the leaning tower. It was hilarious seeing all the people trying to take photos pretending to hold up the leaning tower. One Spanish girl took at least 5 mins (which is a really long time!). Very funny! But other than take some photos we didn't do much else as we were eager to get to Cinque Terre and meet our good friends from Melbourne, Luke and Jess (choreographer for our wedding dance!) who were travelling through Italy.

We arrived in Cinque Terre and climbed the stairs - inclined at about 20 degrees upward! - directly up to the town from the station with our massive packs on. It only took about half an hour! People were laughing at us and wishing us luck! We arrived in a gorgeous tiny town called Corniglia, the third (middle) of the 5 towns in Cinque Terre. It essentially consisted of 3 main streets with accommodation and cafes.

As soon as we arrived Luke and Jess were waiting for us on the roof terrace with some cold beers. Perfect! Luke and Henry then went for a quick 'swim' - which actually consisted of them diving into very rough waters when a wave crashed in then scratching themselves on the barnacles while dragging themselves back onto the dock while the waves pulled and pushed them! Of course the boys loved it. They then played a short game if football with the local kids! :) We went to eat dinner at a local trattoria, accompanied by 3 bottles of wine, then had more drinks after that back at the terrace. It was great to see our good friends and catch up on our respective travel stories :)

The following morning we woke up early very tired and hungover ready for our big hike. Our hike was on various terrain including dirt roads, steps, bush, forrest, rocks, small stones both steep uphills and downhills, with rare flat surfaces. We walked up to La Cigoletta, across and down to Manarola, across to Riomaggiore, then back up to Telegrafo and all the way across and down to Porto Venere (off the map!). It took us about 8 hours including breaks. We walked approximately 25 kms! We all had scratches on our arms and legs from the thorns, Romina had a bad right knee, Jess had a bad left knee, Luke had an aggravated ankle (though still walked like the wind irrespective!). Romina also pulled a muscle in her back when she landed flat on her feet after slipping off a rock. The worst 'war scar' (according to the writer) had to be the blister that developed underneath the length of Romina's second last toe and hurt with every step! As well as for several days after that! But it was all so worth it when we arrived in Porto Venere hot and tired, but very happy, and jumped into the cool water for a quick swim.

That night we had more drinks on the terrace with some pizza for dinner made by an Argentinian who told Romina his life story, including that he'd been on Italian and Argentinian TV due to his pizzas. They were delicious. (But nonetheless not as delicious as Romina's parents pizza!)

The following day we went for another hike - but this one much shorter to Vernazza then Monterosso. It took us about 4 hours to walk the 7 kms in the heat. Once there we went straight into the water for a swim (Henry and Luke spending their time diving off a large rock in the water and Henry pulling a muscle in his shoulder in the process), had lunch, then another swim, then train back to our accom. We cooked a bolognese pasta dish, had wine and antipasto prepared by Luke for entree, and a few more drinks. We loved spending time with Luke and Jess. It was good to share our travel experience with someone else and have stories to share. The following morning Luke and Jess left for Milan and we must say we missed them for a while!

So with our Cinque Terre visit over, we caught the bus to the station (rather than hiking with our packs again!) and made our way to Venice. Unfortunately we had several train issues (horrible memories of the Pakenham line for Romina!) so the trip took the entire day. Though it may have been 'meant to be'...

Despite not really liking Florence, it is the best place to buy leather as it's so affordable there. We actually haven't really done any shoppingjj on this trip because we've just had no time living out of our bags and doing country to country on the run. But we did walk through the Florence market because it was one of the sights to see. On our second last day in Florence Romina saw a red satchel for work that she liked (it will match her office poof!) for $120 Euros, a brilliant price for a leather satchel. But Henry was certain he could get it cheaper. So he haggled with the salesman for a price between $70 - $80 Euros with no luck. After about 15 mins we left and Henry said that the way to do it is to give them the cash in hand so they'll accept the lower price. So he walked back over there with $90 Euros, certain he'd make the purchase. Romina was annoyed because she was certain they wouldn't accept a price under $100 Euros, if any discount at all. Of course the salesman rejected the offer. Romina refused to go back offering any more after that saga. Although annoyed at Henry that he didn't at least try a 'reasonable' offer of $100 Euros, she said that it clearly wasn't meant to be.

Now, 4 days later, on our way to Venice, we happen to be in Florence again, only 15 mins walk from the shop! But it was very hot and with only 30 mins left for our train to Venice (and just wanting to get there as we were already running a few hours behind because if the train problems), Romina said she couldn't be bothered. However, they didn't let us on the Venice train without a reservation (which we'd understood we didn't need) so we had another hour to wait for the next train. Romina thought this was a sign that she was meant to own the satchel! So we rushed with our big packs to the shop. The salesman remembered us, but not completely. At the cash register he asked Romina whether he'd told her $120 or $110. Romina replied$100. So he said alright (clearly sick of haggling with us) and she got it for $100 Euros. She knew they'd sell it for that price! Ha ha! Anyway, she's very happy now, although her pack is much heavier and with a lot less room. Henry also managed a discount on his very first man bag. Definitely meant to be! :)

So after our purchases we ran back to our train with 5 mins to spare and arrived at our accom - a campsite only 10 mins bus ride out of central Venice - at about 9.30 pm. Henry suggested going out to Venice immediately but we were tired and hungry so we ate a couple of calzones and drank a bottle of wine and went to bed (beds inside a tent!). However, we regretted it ever since as we found out the following night that Venice is just stunning at night so we wish we'd gone there instead. We spent the whole next day and night walking the streets of Venice and caught the last bus home at 12.45am.

Wherever we haven't been able to find or access a walking tour Henry tries to download one. So in Venice we did a boat tour by walking to all the places mentioned on the podcast! (After walking almost all of 'main' Venice for an entire day and a half, we finally took a relaxing boat ride on the following day - our last day there.) It was interesting to learn that Venice was once the Las Vegas of Italy. It is a lovely city. We enjoyed walking the inner streets trying to avoid the places with so many tourists. But we did venture out to Piazza San Marco which is chockers (sp?) full of tourists. Terrible during the day. Then when the sun set it settled down and the square filled with classical music playing from the front of various cafes and restaurants. Gorgeous! We definitely didn't spend enough time in Venice.

Venice has a charm about it that no other place could match. Probably because it consists of over 100 tiny islands all connected by even more bridges. Walking into one of the universities to see water seeping through the bottom of what we imagine were once its entry doors was a bit surprising. Well it is slowly sinking - one of the reasons so many locals are leaving. Unfortunately they predict that Venice will soon be only a tourist spot as the locals are leaving permanently at a rate of about 5000 per year! Hayley, you'll have to do something about this and make it your first home for a while??!! :)

So our last day in Venice - and in Italy - was on 7 July. We then caught the overnight train to Salzburg, Austria and since then have been to Germany, Netherlands and Belgium - but we'll tell you about those adventures in our next email (as this one has taken weeks to write - and the longer they take, the longer they get!).

We really loved Italy and would have loved to spend more time there and visit more places. So before we leave you, copying an email format from Jess re Paris, here's a few comments from us about Italy...

1. What we'll miss about Italy:
- The friendly people who are full of life.
- The amazing history and sights.
- The aperitivi (pre-food cocktails).
- The gelati! The gelati in Hvar was just as good as Italy so we thought maybe it was standard in Europe. Not a chance - no comparison!
- Knowing how to somewhat speak the language in the country we're in. There hasn't been any other country where we've felt this way so far.

2. What we won't miss about Italy:
- The street vendors incessantly harassing you to buy something from them.
- The smelly and/or dirty streets (where they were - mainly Florence).
- The pigeons that are everywhere and not scared of people (though in fairness they seem to be a problem all over the Eastern European countries we visited too). Actually funny story about the pigeons. We watched a male one for literally 5 minutes (which is a long time) with his chest puffed up chasing after a female pigeon. The female wanted nothing to do with him but the male insisted (Romina said, 'just like Italian men'!) and when the female flew away he even flew after her! Hilarious!
- The 50 thousand tourists.
- The hundreds of beggars. There really was a lot of poverty in Italy - more do than any other country so far.

3. And our addition - General observations:
- There are more bikes in Europe than cars (it seems). Heaps of people on bikes in very country we've been in. We even saw a bike protest in Rome for more bike ... in Rome (it wasn't a naked protest like the one we saw in Melbourne on the last day of our wedding course!)
- Everyone speaks English - everyone! It's made our holiday super easy. But it's also a bit sad we think. We now want to learn another language. Not sure which though.
- We are very annoyed that we have to pay for toilets everywhere in Europe - even sometimes at places you go to eat/drink. Henry says free toilets should be a human right. (Finally got Henry interested in human rights Mmaskepe!) :)

Ok, better stop or I just keep going. Smell ya later! (a la Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons) :)

4 August 2012

Everywhere between Italy and France

Hi all,

We are now in Spain in the final month of our holiday (we are in Granada,Spain at a bar. On our left is an all male flamenco band; on our right is Alhambra all lit up. We are in heaven!). We will be home in exactly one month from today (it's 4 August here now at night). We are very sad that it feels like it's coming to an end so soon! :(

When we last wrote we were already in France but only told you about Italy. Between 7 July and now we have been in Salzburg, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France. But we will tell you about France next time.

So on 7 July we left Venice on the overnight train - sitting upright - to Salzburg, Austria. That's where the Sound of Music was filmed. We walked all over the town, went to mass in Austrian German (didn't feel as 'warm' as the Italian one but there was much more singing!), did one of Henry's podcast walking tours to various churches, castles, buildings and squares, Mozart's house, and went to all the Sound of Music (SoM) locations that were within reasonable walking distance. Actually, there were only 2 main SoM locations that we missed - the gazebo where 2 songs are sung (16 going on 17 and Something Good) and the church in the movie where the baron and Maria marry. (Though we did visit the actual church they got married in in real life. Did you know the SoM was based on a true story?! We didn't know until this trip! Although there were obviously a few Hollywood exaggerations, including that they didn't hike across the Alps to Switzerland to escape the Nazis - in real life they 'simply' caught the train to Italy.) Funny thing about Salzburg is that the locals do not understand or know of the hype over SoM. It really is just a Hollywood phenomenon. But we were definitely hyped up!

We visited the convent (which is where they got married in real life), the cemetery where they hid from the Nazis (though the movie wasn't filmed there but rather on a Hollywood set based on this cemetery), the concert hall where they performed before they fled in the movie and in real life (outside only), Mirabell gardens where they sing do re mi, and the house they lived in. You can only see the house from the outside (it's private property) from the other side of the lake so we felt really sorry for all those people that had paid for a tour. But we loved seeing the house even from the small distance (essentially just the front of the house) and are now eager to watch the movie again! :)

Salzburg was gorgeous and we wish we'd had more time there to go up to the mountains, do hikes, etc. Unfortunately the weather had been so unpredictable there (we'd been keeping a tab on it before going) that we decided not to try our luck as we didn't want to waste the time like what unfortunately happened in the Swiss Alps. On our day in Salzburg it was very sunny, though cold in the wind. Romina took off and put on layers consistently throughout the day - much to Henry's amusement (he even took a photo). In the middle of the day the skies turned completely dark and it bucketed down for about half an hour, then stopped and didn't rain again.

That evening we caught the train to Munich, Germany. We hadn't eaten all day in Salzburg since breakfast so we bought yogurt and muesli (cheap and healthy meal) to eat on the train. While Henry was concentrating on carefully pouring his muesli into his big tub of yogurt, a man walked past, stopped to look at what Henry was doing, looked Henry up and down and said something to him in German. He told him he didn't understand and asked if he speaks English. The man pulled out some ID and said in English that he was checking passports. As Henry quickly started looking for his passport, the man asked Henry where he's from. When Henry said Australia, he actually apologised, said he didn't need to see his passport and walked away.

It's a bit of a long story (as all our emails are!) to tell you the punch line. It would be much funnier telling you this story face to face because Romina can't stop laughing every time we tell it. We found out that the man was an undercover immigration agent keeping an eye out for potential illegal immigrants. Romina finds it hilarious that the man looked at Henry with his 'foreign' features, looked at his clothing (he was wearing an old t-shirt that he cut the sleeves off himself in Italy), looked at the 'strange' meal Henry was preparing and considered him a potential illegal immigrant!! Hilarious!

We arrived in Munich at night to rain. That night Romina had the worst sleep ever. She was very unlucky to be sleeping on a bunk above a guy who came into bed in the middle of the night and reeked of sweat and alcohol and clothes that hadn't been washed in a couple of months. Disgusting! Then half an hour later another guy went to bed in the bunk next to hers and snored his head off all night. Romina was very distressed. Of course Henry didn't hear (or smell) a thing and slept like a baby!

The following day we did two walking tours; one of the city and a Third Reich tour. The one of the city took us to the Hofbrauhaus, the market, churches, town hall, some of the very many discreet WWII monuments (they are all quite small and subtle, intended to get people to go off and learn more about it), including a monument for the Roma (second largest group murdered during WWII), and many other places. The Third Reich tour took us to all the places in Munich where significant WWII/Nazi events occurred, including the public square where Hitler gave various speeches and the spot where Nazi troops clashed with police prior to their takeover (despite Berlin being the capital, most significant events occurred in Munich). He told us a lot of history about the rise and fall of Hitler, including the circumstances that would lead to/rationalise his having so many followers. Both tours were brilliant. Both praised the Germans for ensuring that Germany is fully aware of its history - both the good and the bad which rarely occurs in other countries (the British tour guide gave an example of the history lessons in England covering only its successes and not a single mention of the various atrocities it has been responsible for over time).

In between the two tours, we had half a litre of beer each (made the 2nd tour very funny actually!). Romina never liked beer until Italy. But German beer is a thousand times better. We were told on the walking tours that all German beer is only allowed to have the 4 same ingredients (to limit competition) so it tastes delicious and the lack of preservatives prevent the horrible hangover the following day. They also told us that every year literally hundreds of Aussies lose their passports at Oktoberfest and have the embassy working double time! I asked if that was just a British tour guide having a go at Aussies, but he confirmed that it was definitely true.

We actually really liked the feel of Munich and wished we had stayed longer to explore the town or go to Hofrahaus for the night to drink 1 litre beers with the locals. (Its what happens when you don't plan your trip at all except for a day or two before the next location. Maybe next time.) We also didn't realise that you can do a day tour to the castle that Walt Disney copied for Cinderella. Oh well. Plus Henry thinks he drove past it when he was in Germany for the 2008 World Cup anyway. (Can anyone who travelled to Germany with Henry verify?)

One thing that struck us about Munich were the huge number of Muslims in full black burqas. We're just curious as to why Munich as we haven't seen them anywhere else in Europe (except for one or two here or there). Then on the walking tour they told us that Munich has the most expensive shopping strip in all of Europe (we saw a watch on sale for approx 230,000 Euros and it doesn't even tell the time!). So we assumed they were mostly tourists from Saudi Arabia on a shopping holiday! :)

So anyway, after two exhausting but fantastic tours, we caught the overnight train to Berlin (arriving 10 July - just to keep you updated on when we were where). We stayed in this amazing hostel in Grunewald (we like the Harry Potter-ish names!) that also houses youth camps and has a hotel, a church and a beer garden! Grunewald is about 15 mins away from central Berlin by train and is gorgeous, full of mansions.

The day we arrived we went straight into the centre of Berlin to walk around for a couple of hours before going on another walking tour. On our way to the tour meeting spot we saw heaps of people gathered around a tall, thin, attractive woman who had a camera crew filming her as people jumped in to have a photo with her. Since everyone else was doing it Henry figured he'd get a shot with her too. Not sure how she knew, but when he walked up to her she asked Henry in English if he even knew who she was. Henry's response: 'yeah, that guy just told me'! Although his answer was true, Romina thought that was pretty funny. Turns out the girl was on a show similar to Big Brother and takes (has taken?) her clothes off on TV (not sure if on the same show or if that's her 'success' after the Big Brother show). Even though we don't know her name we'll try to google her when we get back to find out who she is!

The walking tour was fantastic. We saw several WWII monuments, including the golden bricks laid in the ground in the exact spot that previously separated East and West Berlin by the wall, the controversial 'block' monument for the Jews, the monument for victims if war and tyranny, we went to Check Point Charlie, and sat on the grass above the exact spot where Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. We also saw the new parliament house built with a glass dome ceiling where anyone can go to view parliament in action, intended to symbolise that the country is ruled by those who look down upon the politicians (tourists and school children!). We saw the most expensive hotel in Berlin (the balcony from which Michael Jackson 'dangled' his child) and went to various parks, museums and churches (outside only). The interesting thing about Berlin is that it was practically destroyed during WWII so it is practically a brand new city and still developing. Of course there are a few buildings still intact and even more with bullet holes in them. It really was surreal for Romina who has never experienced war.

In Berlin they had advertised everywhere the beer Berlinweiser and the 'original Berliner' Currywurst sausage - so we had to try both (for walking tour energy!). The beer was not the best (well at least Romina didn't like it as it tasted too much like beer!) and the Currywurst was terrible. It was basically a sausage with tomato sauce and curry powder. Really bad. Thought we'd be eating a lot more sausages in Germany than we did. In contrast, for dinner we shared a litre of really good German beer and a delicious traditional soup called Kartoffelsuppe Kaiser-Wilhelm with potato, bacon, parsley, marjoram, cream and beef. Yum!

The following day we rented bikes (finally, since we'd wanted to/tried at several places so far on this trip) and rode out to Potsdam, a garden city about 45 mins from Berlin central. We looked at our train system map and Potsdam was only 3 stops away from Grunewald so we decided to ride it. What we didn't realise at the time was that Potsdam is outside Berlin so they didn't show all the stations between the last Berlin stop (2 stops after Grunewald) and Potsdam, so it took us 3 hours to arrive! But we did keep turning off to take the longer more scenic route.

We didn't know how to get there either and didn't have any maps so we decided just to ride beside the train line. About 5 mins in, there suddenly appeared a long row of tiny houses on our right next to the train line and a forest on our left. Then the line of houses ended and suddenly we were riding in the middle of a forest. It was stunning! We later looked at a map and saw that Grunewald is surrounded by a massive forest! We had no idea! (Again, lack of research on our part.) It took us a while to ride through as there were no bike paths and the roads were muddy from early morning rain. Once we were out of Grunewald, we decided to continue the bike paths on the scenic routes (as mentioned above) and rode along huge lakes and beautiful forestry, almost everywhere finding a beer garden in the middle of nowhere. As we got closer to Potsdam, there were more and more people riding on the bike paths.

We finally arrived in Potsdam and literally 5 mins later it began to pour down. We had to take cover in the alcove of a closed shop for about 15 mins. We then continued in the drizzle to various ex-monarchy gardens, Neuer Garten and Park Sanssouci, riding from castle to castle. The gardens were enormous and built for the monarchy way back when. Many of the castle buildings are now university buildings which is a brilliant way to make use of now otherwise useless (but gorgeous) buildings. We spent the entire day in the Potsdam gardens and castles (we didn't even stop to eat - though we did eat like monsters at buffet breakfast!) and caught the 9.30 train back to Grunewald, arriving back at our accommodation at 10:40, with just enough time to run to the beer garden for a quick couple of beers before it closed at 11.

The following day it rained most if the day and it was very cold. We checked out, left our bags at the station and went to do more sightseeing. We went to two parts of the remaining Berlin wall at two different sides of the city - one part which is now painted with more recent murals and called a gallery; the other part which is like an outside museum of all the residential buildings they tore down to build the wall and avoid people jumping over (we also read stories of many people who did). We also saw photos of the building of the different stages of the wall (starting simply with 'no go' signs and military, moving on to wood and wire then bricks and concrete) and saw a section of the wall retained in its original state. We hadn't realised that there were actually two walls with about 15-20 meters of 'empty' space between them and a watch tower inside it. It was very interesting but really difficult to try to imagine the reality of that enormous wall surrounding the city for so many years. It felt completely surreal. After that we spent a couple of hours walking around through the Zoologischer Garten &Tiergarten suburbs (walking through more gorgeous gardens) before heading back ro Berlin and catching the overnight train to Amsterdam, Netherlands (arriving 13 July).

Amsterdam was a city like no other. As they told us in the walking tour, it is a place all of its own and not representative of the rest of the country. We were meant to stay in a nearby town next to a forest but unfirtunately that didn't end up working out. Pity because it would have been nice to see other parts of the country. Instead we stayed near the city and spent ever day walking the streets (when it finally stopped raining!) and getting completely lost, checking out the wonders that are the coffee shops and the legal prostitution. We found the city to be very beautiful and actually similar to Venice with all it's canals. But much more expensive. We found Amsterdam to be a pretty expensive city up there with Switzerland.

The streets were actually fairly quiet during the day (maybe because it rained every single day then stopped - we were told on the walking tour that it happens every day on Amsterdam!) but the streets were packed as soon as the sun came down and the red lights came on. The ladies are on 'display' behind a glass door and entice the men to enter by smiling, winking, blowing kisses etc and opening and closing their door. Some are combing their hair or putting on make up etc to give the perception of 'the girl next door' as an enticement. It was very interesting to watch, not really wanting to look (it felt uncomfortable looking especially when they'd look you back straight in the eyes) but not being able to look away. About 90% of these girls had perfect bodies and were stunning. They could have been models. It was very sad to see, but also so intriguing if that makes sense.

On the walking tour we saw (mostly from the outside) Anne Frank's house, previously occult churches, the marijuana museum, the buildings that tilt outwards adding the the 'trippy' feel of the city, and the world's most narrow home, which is only 2 meters wide! It was also interesting to hear about the coffee shops and that drug use in Amsterdam is actually lower than much of the rest of the world - by the locals that is - main use is by the tourists. We also learnt that the criminalisation of drug use and prostitution that they've been 'threatening' for the past 3 years is happening at the start of next year. So bad news for those of you who would have liked to experience it 'in all it's current glory', you'll have to book a quick holiday! Actually the coffee shops will be allowed to remain but may only be attended by residents of Netherlands, ie it will only be illegal for tourists. The actual effect will be to drive everything underground. But apparently the residents of Amsterdam are done with it all, hence the new law.

One thing that really struck us about Amsterdam was that every street in the centre had minimum two Argentinian restaurants. They were literally everywhere. We would have seen about 50 of them - no exaggeration - and we're sure there were plenty more in streets we didn't walk down. Argentinian meat in known in Europe as one of the best in the world. Unfortunately our experience wasn't the best. We chose an Argentinian restaurant that was owned by an Argentinian (most aren't) assuming it would be the best, but unfortunately the presumably Argentinian meat was very chewy. Everyone we told of our experience was very surprised. The following day we came across a Uruguayian restaurant - the only one we'd seen - so we thought we'd try that to compare. It was pretty much the same.

On 16 July we caught the train to Brussels, Belgium. We arrived at night o went straight to sleep. We got up the next day and went to the local shops to buy some things to cook breakfast. We came across a Polish deli and since we didn't get a chance to try many local foods in Poland, we decided to buy some Polish sausages to cook. Of course we couldn't read the Polish writing but could see the picture that they were sausages. They were terrible! They weren't proper sausages in the end but rather had something in them like stuffing. Oh well.

We then went to walk the streets of Brussels. We'd googled a walking tour online but unfortunately it must have been outdated because there was no tour and we had missed an earlier one by another company (that we hadn't seen online). We really do enjoy a town more when we can learn the history of it and see the main sights in a 2-3 hour walking tour. Oh well. We went to the Grand Place where we sat and had a Belgian beer (best beer by far!!) and looked at the gorgeous grey and golden buildings surrounding us. We saw the Manneken Pis fountain (fountain of a little boy weeing, for whom several outfits have been designed, though have no idea why it is so famous, and saw large street art Tin Tin murals everywhere. We also walked through a street where every restaurant was Greek. We have actually not seen a Greek restaurant anywhere else in Europe. Interesting. Actually, we also saw a store called Australian home made ice cream. But we didn't try it. Instead we had some french fries because they were 'invented' in Belgium (they tasted the same as everywhere else) and almost a waffle with Belgian chocolate ice cream (we say almost because we had about a quarter of a spoon each before Romina dropped it face down on the ground). We then caught a late train to Paris.

So we arrived in Paris on 18 July at night, found out accom and went to bed. We will tell you about our experiences in France next time (we'll try while still in Spain, then we'll tell you about Spain from the next destination!).

Until then, hope you're all happy and healthy and we look forward to hearing news from you.

Henry and Romina

France

So we're currently on a bus sadly on our way out of Spain - without question our favorite country! We've spent the longest time here than any other country and it has taken us forever to finish this diary entry. So we will send this to you from the next WiFi location which will be Portugal. But as we said in our last email, we'll tell you about Spain after we leave it. This email is about France, which we spent in between 18 July and 27 July.

Every country we go to we love more than the previous ones. And we loved France. One thing we really liked - though it made our travels more difficult, yet more interesting - is that much less people speak English in France than any other European country we've been in. So it was interesting and funny. One funny thing is that whenever we mentioned the Eiffel Tower (in English with our Aussie accents) no one knew what we were talking about - we had to call it 'Tor Eff-ill' (terrible attempt at spelling it phonetically). Sounds nicer that way too :)

Also, the French have a bad rap for being rude - even French people told us that. But we found everyone to be lovely and very helpful. Especially at the food markets. They praised us for trying to speak in French even though all we could say was hello, goodbye, please and thank you, oh and 'do you speak english?'! We are yet to master the French 'r' which sounds like a combination of a Spanish 'r' and getting ready to spit a big one - yet somehow s*xy! We can say the Spanish 'r' perfectly and can spit when we need to, but just can't combine the two - or sound s*xy in any way whatsoever! ;)

One thing we loved about France was that everyone sat outside of the restaurants/cafes (even though the nights were often cold) and rather than the chairs facing each other at opposite ends of the table (like back home), they all face out into the street. Perfect for 'people watching', which is what everyone was doing. We saw this a bit in Italy, but it was absolutely everywhere we went in France. It was such a cool atmosphere.

So anyway, here's what we did...

We arrived in Paris on 18 July late at night and made our way to our accom in Alfortville (20 min train ride out of central Paris) at a cool girl's apartment (we rented out her spare room via Airbnb). She was a teacher and everything was very organised and neat. The next day we woke up late and went to check out the local weekly street market and bought groceries for our stay. The girl at the bakery could speak English and asked what on earth we Aussie tourists were doing in Alfortville! She was so happy that we were there! We explained we like to stay in the small towns when we can.

In the afternoon we headed out to Montmartre, a very funky, artistic town of Paris which is set on the highest hill in Paris. We took some photos of the outside of Moulin Rouge,

Enseña, aprende, comparte

our life story.

We are sure that we we can share more but is hard to put it on words. Just test us and we sure we can help out and contribute to a good course.