On top of the world (and never going home)!

I am at a loss for words for this blog post. I think I have found my rightful place on the Earth. Switzerland is just soo beautiful I don't want to leave. Anyway, on with the story.

The first full day we had here, Jeni and I took it easy and just explored the village of Lauterbrunnen - twice. It only takes 15 minutes to walk from where we are staying to to train station on the other side of town. The most exciting part was that it was snowing all morning while we were walking. All the snow here in the valley is soft as power and covers everything. Our second visit to town was for the very important task of organising skiing of the next day.

We got up early yesterday morning, pulled out the ski gear from the bottom of your packs and headed up the mountain. It took about 40 minutes to get from Lauterbrunnen to Kleiner Scheidegg, winding our way slowly up the mountain on the train. The view from the top was jaw-dropping. Infact, everywhere on that whole mountain was worthy of a postcard photo, it was all just so beautiful. Jeni and I skiied all the way to the bottom of the mountain, which took over an hour on just that one run. We caught a cable car from the bottom (Grimmerwald) to the very top of the mountain - Männlichen.

Männlichen is about as close to skiers paradise as possible. You have a perfect 360 degree view of the mountains and valleys of the Jungfrau region. There is also a deck chair area and a bar that is made of ice. This bar has it's own brew of beer and their signature drink, the Spycher - hot chocolate with Grand Marnier topped with cream. Needless to say, Jeni wouldn't share. Like I said - paradise.

We spent the rest of the afternoon carving up the slopes and taking photos of the dramatic scenery. For dinner we headed out and had authentic Swiss cuisine, Fondue and Rösti. We both left very tired but very well fed.

Today we walked, walked and walked some more. During the summer this region is a hiking meca, and there are walking trails everywhere. We walked the hour long track to Stechelburg, where we caught the cable car up to the tiny village of Gimmerwald. The others had stayed here when they came thru Switzerland and said it was beautiful. It is a tiny farming village perched on the edge of a cliff. We went walking trying to find the had caves the others had found. While we didn't find the caves, we did pass awesome views and scenery.

In the afternoon we caught the cable car up to the skiing village of Mürren and spent the afternoon walking up the ski fields. It would have been great if we had a toboggan to side down the hill on, but we didn't find anywhere to rent them (even tho everyone else on the mountain seemed to have them).

We came back down to the valley to find we were the only ones left in the hostel, and cooked a huge meal with the kitchen to ourselves.

Tomorrow we head to Paris, but I would rather spend extra time in Switzerland. Oh well, we must keep moving I guess but I will definately have to come back - sooner rather than later!

Lauterbrunnen

Wow, wow, WOW! I'm sure Jeni is sick of me saying it now but if I don't ever come home you know where to find me.

The train ride here was awesome. Riding a few hundred meters above cities covered in snow. We had to change trains in Spiez and then Interlaken. Spiez is a beautiful little town, cross between an Italian town on the lake and a Swiss village in the mountains. Interlaken is the spitting image of (or perhaps the original) Queenstown. It is the Swiss adventure capital and the gateway to the ski fields. We are staying in Lauterbrunnen, which is 20 minutes train ride up the hill from Interlaken.

We dumped our bags in a locker in Interlaken and had a good look round the city. It is very beautiful, and the whole place is blanketed in snow. It is nice to actually see REAL snow, instead of the icy crap they have at the Aussie ski fields.

And speaking of Aussie, Happy Australia Day everyone. We attempted to cook an Aussie meal to celebrate, snags on the barbie, but instead ended up with bangers and mash (English) using Bratwurst sausages (German) and drinking Czech beer. Well, I guess we did the multicultural thing.

We didn't end up doing that day trip in Milan. The weather was crap - sleeting and windy, and we missed the train to Genova so we spent the day shopping instead.

Well, I'm loving Switzerland already (well apart from the place we are staying in charging for everything - including 2 francs for 15 minutes on the stove in the kitchen). Hopefully we can take some awesome photos out and about tomorrow.

Milano

Yup, the fashion capital of Italy... and I thought the shopping was big in Florence.

Before I start on Milan, I would like to finish the chapter that was Florence. We ended up seeing the real David in before catching our train. It was actually worth the €6.50 to go see him in the custom built museum. He commands a presence in the room, and is much more detailed than the replicas. What I didn't realise was that he is David from the David and Goliath biblical story.

Jeni put the rest of the morning to good use in Florence's leather shops looking for a bargain. She ended up finding some little leather heals and getting them for a steal.

The train ride was fairly uneventful, except it was raining when we arrived. We walked the 5 blocks to the hotel only to be told our room was waterlogged. We got moved to another hotel which is closer to the city for nothing extra.

We decided to take a walk around and ended up on the main discount shopping street - not really realising until we got back to the hotel. Jeni still took a good look in some of the shops.

Today we did quite a bit. We had a good browse round the main shopping districts, walking part ALL the big names. We then headed over the other side of town for our viewing of 'The Last Supper'. Another entrance and booking fee later and we got our 15 minutes (strictly timed). The painting is huge and was worth the visit. Unfortunately it is very touristy and they seemed just to be interested in the money.

In the afternoon the checked out the Leonardo da Vinci science museum. Some of the stuff was really good - like the telecomms exhibit and the da Vinci machines, but a lot of the stuff was roped off for school groups or construction.

We saw pretty much everything we wanted today, so tomorrow we are going to do a day trip somewhere. Will let you know how it goes.

Firenze and Pisa

Just a quick update before we head to Milan tomorrow.

We didn't end up seeing David (the statue) yesterday but instead took a walk down of of the main shopping streets here in Florence (shopping is HUGE here) and walked over to the Michaelangelo lookout, on a hill on the other side of the river. Why does it have that name, well because of the (other) replica of David in the middle of the carpark at the top. You almost start to wonder how many replicas they actually did make.

Europe - Florence

These are a select few of the photos I was able to upload yesterday.

Anyway, today we did a bit more walking in the morning (Jeni was exhausted by lunch) and then jumped on a train to Pisa. We did learn one thing today - that the Italian train system is a mess. The voice over at the train station was telling us two different things about the train to Pisa, and the train we eventually jumped on was the faster one - but the destination had a different name. On the way home, a voice over on the train had everyone in the carriage confused (even those that spoke Italian) but a man came thru and told us we had to change trains at the next station. Anyway, after trying to fix all the passengers on one train half the size, they told us another train was leaving earlier from other platform. Then everyone scrambled to get to the other train. We gave up trying to even get on the platform by the time we realised what the announcement was and just stayed on the later train.

That wasn't the only transport dramas we had today. Long story short (running out of internet time) we hopped on the wrong bus at Pisa and ended up 30 minutes later back at the trainstation. We then went in search of an information office, and the correct but before finding the Tower. Took the usual touristy photos which I will upload at another time.

Anyway, internet has run out. Heading to Milan tomorrow. Ciao

Firenze

Florence, the center of Tuscany and Renaissance art in Italy

We arrived yesterday, spent a while wandering the city and met up with Brooke and Tash for drinks before dinner, funnily enough at an Irish pub. Had dinner at a REAL Italian place just round the corner and we all had pizzas! Not quite the benchmark that was set in Vienna but very close (I am still on the lookout for a Bolegnase pizza again).

Today we headed out to the Uffizi gallery, which is apparently one of the best gallerys in all of Europe. We really only went because the host at the B&B we are staying at booked us tickets. The gallery itself was ok, but nothing really special - especially after the Vatican museum. ALL the paintings were Renaissance style and period and it was frankly quite boring. I can't believe we paid so much, and the lines are so big. In reality you either need to be a huge Renaissance art lover, or pay bucketloads for a guided tour or audio guide to really appreciate what you are seeing. Jeni and I left disappointed.

Taking a quiet one this afternoon, but we might go see the real Michelangelo's David this afternoon (and another museum entrance fee). Apparently it is more inspiring than the replica we saw in the street this morning, but I will let you know if we go see it.

Vatican City and Ancient Roma

After seeing all the off attractions around the city, we decided to devote an entire day each to the Vatican and ancient Rome.

We headed to the Vatican on Thursday with Brooke and Tash and had a good look round the square - with it's life size nativity scene and huge Christmas tree. Then after going thru the airport-like security screening, went into St Peter's Basillica. That place is huge, and lavishly decorated, but unfortunately the low light makes is hard to get good photos without a tripod. Somehow I think they purposely do that. We also checked out the very pristine catacombs under the basillica.

After that we had some lunch and headed to the Vatican museum around the corner. For some strange reason they close the museum entrance at 12.30 during winter and we missed out by about 5 minutes! The girls took off to do some shopping while Jeni and I went to the Colloseum. We spent the rest of the day exploring it and Palatine hill... And taking lots of photos.

Yesterday we went a bit earlier to the Vatican to the museum and spent a good 2 and a half hours exploring until it closed. While the first rooms we saw were all boring religious pictures of various biblical events, the later rooms were full of ancient Roman and egyptian artifacts which turned out to be very interesting. Lots of rooms full of statues and marble furniture. All the ceilings were exquisitely painted and some of them seemed to continue forever. There was also a fabulous map room and one with micro mosaics in it. The 'highlight' and the reason most visit the museum (including us) is the Sistine chapel. The chapel is just one square room but some of the paintings are amazing. They say no photos but the room is packed with tourists and they can't really enforce it. After leaving the museum, we again headed over to the Colloseum to see all the sights of ancient Rome we missed the day before.

One thing that is beginning to annoy me is the cost of entering the museums and attractions over here in Europe. EVERY museum charges entry, between 3 and 15 Euro per person. This includes the Vatican museum which was €13 each (but lucky for us the had student prices of €8 and a special student ticket line which was shorter than the normal line) and the Colloseum which was €11 each plus more for the 10 minute tour. We are actually spending more on entrance fees than on food at the moment thanks to the kitchen at our guesthouse.

We are on our way to Florence now for the food, fashion and art. Ciao!

Photos!

Finally I have access to a decent (and cheap) computer for uploading photos. You can browse the following albums of our travels.

Europe - Munich	Europe - Munich Markets
Europe - Dachau	Europe - Austrian/Italian Alps
Europe - Venice

Rome photos to come.

Enjoy

Roma

We have left Venice behind for the history and more of Rome!

We are staying in a little B&B about 5 minutes walk from the main train station here in Rome. The lady that runs the B&B is called Monica and she comes round 3 times a day... and makes the best percolated coffee I have ever had.

We arrived yesterday, then proceeded to spend 2 hours talking to Monica, and then an Australian couple from Sydney about their travelling experiences, stories and tips about Rome. We met up with Brooke and Tash last night too for Brooke's birthday. Had a huge serving of Italian pasta round the corner and topped it off with Gelati from the 'oldest icecream factory in Rome' - established in 1880! Was good gelati too!

Today we saw all the odd sights around Rome, including Trevi fountain, the river and all the squares, statues and churches along our way around. We estimated we walked 10-15km today. It was also terrible weather today. Raining all morning and most of the afternoon and reached 16 degrees at about 3pm (saw a temperature display on the way home) - no wonder we all got so hot walking around in our jackets.

Tomorrow we will take on Vatican city and then ancient Rome the following day (if we survive the crazy drivers around this town).

Ciao!

Venezia

We have now done the 'beautiful' city of Venice

I say done because like most things in Venice, internet was ridiculously priced and we didn't want to spent €8 per hour for a blog update.

So, what did we think of Venice? Well, the smelly canals from the moment we arrived wasn't great, either was the way overpriced and slow public transport. But that aside Venice is still a very beautiful city with the canals, wide array of building and architecture and maze-like streets.

Jeni and I spent most of our one day in Venice just walking the streets with no purpose in mind except to explore the city. It was nice not to have to deal with traffic, but the local Italians and tourists alike could be just as annoying stopping in groups to look in the shop windows in the tiny streets. In the afternoon we went over to Lido to see the Italian version of beaches and their summer resorts that were reminiscent of those I saw in Malaysia in 2005.

Now, food. After getting some awesome food in Germany and Austria we were looking forward to some real Italian. Sadly we didn't find it in Venice. While the bakerys and cafes sold fantastic cakes, pastries and pizza during the day, our attempts for a good cheap dinner were fruitless.

The first night we had dinner with Brooke and Tash at a place run by some japanese girls - big mistake. While the chinese they had cooked themselves looked great, the risotto Jeni ordered was just rice mixed with sauce and the penne and pizzas were swimming in oil.

The next night Jeni and I ducked into a small trendy cafe. The prices were right and the food wasn't too bad but we got slugged with the service charge and tourist price for my beer.

Now an upside, the coffee here in good and cheap. After Dad asked about the coffee on the phone yesterday, I realised that I hadn't had one yet. The next cafe we saw had great coffee (rivaling anything from Brisbane) for only €1.50.

We also learnt a bit about the city too. It is sinking into the mud flats it was built on at a rate of almost 7cm per decade. We also found out that San Marco square is flooded 200 days a year. Lucky for us the tides didn't rise that high while we were there. However, there was a low cloud of fog and/or pollution over the city the whole time.

We are on the train now heading to Rome where we will see the sights and hopefully get some great food (and maybe the perfect Margarita pizza).

The Alps

We are currently on a train speeding from Munich to Verona Italy.

The Alps are extremely beautiful and rise up all around you as you meander thru on the train.

All the mountains should be covered in snow, but apparently they are having a very warm winter over here and only some of the mountains have snow caps. About an hour ago we passed thru a little Austrian village that was covered in snow. Was very pretty and kind of a shame that we haven't had snow ourselves yet.

The weather so far has been pretty good, not much colder than a normal winter back home. This will be great for Italy, but we are hoping a cold change will come when we head back north thru the Swiss Alps.

At the moment we are passing thru northern Italy and vast expanses of vineyards. Bordering the vineyards the the huge cliff faces of the mountains around us. Wish I could upload photos from my phone.

Dachau

Yesterday we took a guided tour of Dachau, outside of Munich. Dachau was the first and most famous of the Nazi concentration camps.

The actual compound itself was pretty sterile, large open spaces in the yard and where all the old barracks used to be. All the other buildings are original, built by the 'slaves' who were sent to the camps.

We had an excellent guide who not only showed us the camp, but explained the gruesome tactics used by the Nazi SS to keep the prisoners in a constant state of shock.

The Dachau camp was basically a place where they sent Jews and other 'undesirables' to work until they died. Most of the people sent there were completely innocent, but were subject to the most inhumane treatment.

The tour really brought home the horror of the 2nd world war, especially for us who didn't experience it in our life times.

All I can say is that everyone should visit this place, if only to realise how cruel humanity can be and to discover that the future never has to be like this again.

München

Hello from Munich, Bavaria.. the home of Oktoberfest, leiderhosen and the Nazi party

Yes, Jeni and I can rattle off a few facts about Munich now, after taking the free city tour today.

We actually got into town yesterday and checked out the local markets (Viktualienmarkt) and then headed down to the very impressive technology museum. I have some great photos of the aeronautic exhibitions but unfortunately cant upload from here.

Met with Brooke and Tash and an American chick called Mary-Ann for dinner last night which continued into a boozy night at their hostel bar.

Today was mostly taken up by the city walking tour. We saw all the churches, historic building etc. The highlights were the Hofbraühaus - the most famous beer hall in the world, and the very ritzy Maximillian St with the €15 coffee shop. The guide was great, with lots of interesting beer related facts and jokes. Like that during Oktoberfest, the Australian govt. sets up a temporary embassy in Munich to deal with all the Aussies who loose their passport while downing Steins.

Tonight has been quiet, booking accomm in Venice and working out the Italian leg of the trip. Cooked a nice chicken, tomato and olive pasta in the very ordinary kitchen facilities here at the hostel.

Heading to Dachau tomorrow - the site of the Nazi concentration camp. Should be a interesting experience. Might check out a Munich beer hall tomorrow night too so dont be disappointed if there is no update tomorrow night :)

Salzburg

The birthplace of Mozart and the location of 'The Sound of Music'... the main tourist drawcards of Salzburg and they don't let you forget it.

Once you get past all the tourist crap, Salzburg is a very picturesque city. The view from the fortress is un disturbed to the Alps, and when we were up there the skies were blue and clear.

The city is full of little streets, cafes and lots of churches. At midday all the bells went off at once which was a bit loud, but still nice.

Had authentic Austrian food tonight at the Wilder Mann - Salzburg Schnizel and Beef Goulash, washed down with a half litre of Wiezerbier.

On the subject of beer, it is very cheap and available in Europe. Evenwhere sells it in half litre bottles or glasses and it tastes great. Even supermarkets sell crates of it, and you get money back when you bring back the empties.

We head back to Germany tomorrow, 3 nights in Munich before tackling Italy head on.

Salzburg

En route Salzburg

Currently on the train to Salzburg. We said good bye to the others this morning, they are headed to Budapest, which we are skipping so we can spend more time in Italy.

Hopefully we will bump into the girls in Salzburg or Munich, which is the next stop on our tour.

Looking out the window of the train as I write this, and it is all farm land as far as the eye can see. There is the occasional village and castle too. It is a huge contrast to the dark, 'dead' forests and abandoned buildings in Czech. Another thing we have noticed in Germany and here in Austria is huge wind turbines that appear occasionally in the fields. These 3 blade turbines must be at least 50 meters high off the ground and the blades at least 5 meters long each.

Wiener food! (Vienna Food)

Jeni and I took in as much of Vienna as we could today. Part of that time we visited the markets close to the State Opera building. We took some awesome photos which you can check out here.

Next post from Salzburg

The quest for the holy pizza

Since arriving in Europe Jeni and I have had pizza in every city we have visited. Jeni is on the quest for the perfect Margarita pizza, that is one with real tomato, basil and mozzarella.

In Berlin, the pizzas were cheap - €2, but the toppings were lackluster.

In Prague we found a nice restaurant where the pizzas were huge, but the bases were wafer thin and the margarita was just burnt chesse.

The first pizza we had in Vienna was huge and cheap, only €2.50, but again the margarita was again only chesse (although the mushroom pizza tasted good).

Tonight after uploading the photos in the previous post, we headed to the local pub/italian pizzeria for dinner. While Jeni ordered marinara spaghetti, i ordered bolognese thinking it was with pasta, but instead a huge pizza came out. All I can say tho is WOW. It was the best pizza I have ever had! We didn't get the margarita - Jeni didn't want two disappointments in one day, so the quest still remains.

All I can say now is I can't wait until Italy. If an Austrian-Italian family can make pizza that good, Italy will be bellissimo! We will keep you updated on Jeni's pizza quest.

Vienna

We are in Austria now, the birthplace of Mozart and Arnold Schwazeneger.

We stay tonight and tomorrow night which leaves one full day tomorrow for seeing the sights. After that we are probably heading to Salzburg, Austria. The others are talking about heading into Budapest for a few nights instead.

Eastern Europe

I thought this deserved and dicussion of it's own.

In Prague the communism museum explained the hardship faced by the Czech and Eastern Europe people under communist rule. On the train out of Prague it was very obvious that Prague has not fully recovered.

On the train ride in it was easy to tell when Germany finished and Czech began. The scenery changed from flat to a beautiful valley, but also the buildings became more run down (away from the tourist areas that is) and the land around the was very squalid. The same could be said on way out of Prague, although it got progressively better in the rich farm lands and closer to Austria. Powerlines cross every which-way over Pragues farms - there is never a point on the train ride you can't see them. Along with that, you occasionally see tiny villages that look almost like shanty towns along the small rivers and train line.

It is amazing to see the effects of the socialist dictatorships that focused only on the power and primary industries. You can see that those industries are huge in the country, however a lot of people are still left in poverty because of it all. The amount of abandoned buildings and factories along the main train line is amazing.

All about Prague

Well, this post has been a long ime coming, mostly because the free internet in the hostel was crap and always in demand.

Since the last post, Tom and Jane moved into our apartment for the extra 2 nights we decided to stay in Prague. After a bit of furniture rearranging (moving 2 beds into the kitchen so they could have a private room) we set out exploring again. We headed to a shopping centre out of town for a bit so we could do a bit of cheaper shopping (Prague city is expensive - especially around the tourist areas). That night we went to a "Black light theater" which is a performance where the stage is black and everything is fluroecence colours. After thatwe headed out to "Europe's Biggest Nightclub near Charles Bridge in Prague. 6 Floors or bars and dance floors. Unfortunately when we arrived it was still early by Czech standards - about 11pm - and it was still empty. After an hour or 2 people started pouring in... along with the smoke. Makes me glad Brisbane is smoke free now. Jeni and I left about 1am and headed back.

From Europe - Prague

On Saturday we made up for lost time and headed out to see the rest of the sights in the city. We saw old town with all the towers and churches, the Mucha painting exhibition, the Communisim Museum and all sorts of other sights and buildings. That night we experimented with night photography along the river and explored the pub next door, that looked like it was about 5 meters deep, but actually extended 2 floors underground in small caverns. Couldn't stay too long - again cause of all the smoke.

From Europe - Prague

One thing I didn't mention before was that we found this cool Pub/bar on the first night where you can pour your own beer on the tables. It was expensive, especially compared to the other places we went on Czech, but the atmosphere was great, and the concept was very cool. There was even a screen that showed how much every table had drunk. Whilst ours managed only 1.6L of beer (the girls has cocktails), another table was up to 21L!

The parentals would be pleased to hear that we are actually managing to cook most nights with the limited kitchen facilities. First night in Berlin Jeni and I cooked Spaghetti Bolognese, and in Prague we had pork and cous-cous one night, cous-cous and Indian curry the next and sausages and hand-made chips on the last night.

I have been able to upload some more photos now, which you can see here. These are of Prague, mostly the first few days.

Comments

Just another quick post before we head out. You guys can leave comments on each blog by clicking links on the bottom of each post.

Keep the emails coming too.

Oompa-Loompa Hello!

Yes, it has been a few days since my last update but we have been out on foot exploring this beautiful city. Well worth it tho, even the dingy side streets are nice to walk down.

Weird title, yes... some guy said it to the girls on the first night we were here in Prague. We all found it pretty funny.

We spent all of Wednesday wandering around Prague. It is an extremely beautify city, even when it is cloudy or wet (like yesterday morning). Luckily the sun came out in the afternoon. We walked over a bridge, up the hill behind Prague for the view. Then we checked out St Nicholas' Cathedral and walked up to the castle. The buildings are awesome here, and at night they all get lit up like little gems.

Yesterday we spent most of the day up at Prague Castle checking out the place and spending a bit of time in St. Vitus Cathedral. Didn't do much else because it got a bit windy and really cold. Had a good look at Charles Bridge on the way to and from the castle which is nice, altho very touristy. The streets around the tourist attractions are very expensive with places charging bit trying to scam tourists with no clue about conversion rates.

On that note, money here is weird. 4 Euro buys about 100 Czech crown. Most places in town, after the conversion back to euro or AUD work out to be the same cost as home. We think it will be a lot cheaper out of the touristy areas but we haven't explored that far yet.

Today Brooke and Tash left us in the direction of Vienna while we stay a few extra nights. Tom and Jane have moved in with us instead and the others have a dorm room in the same place as us (they were on the other side of the city until today). We are heading south to a shopping centre and to check out the 'modern' side of town to do some shopping. At this stage we are leaving Sunday in the direction of Vienna or possibly Budapest. The computers here are crap (but free) and hopefully we can get some photos up at a later stage.

Praha

We made it.

Just a quick post cause the city looks so beautiful. The place we are staying at is an old hostel in the very centre of the city with a great atmosphere of travellers. Heaps of places to visit so BYE!

Heading East

I am writing this post en route to Prague in the Czech Republic! We just got our passports stamped just past Dresden on the train by Czech and German officials.
We are currently a group of 12, altho in Prague we are staying between 2 different places. Hopefully we will get some awesome photos in Prague. The current plan is to stay for 3 nights and them head to Vienna.

New Years Eve and Berlin!

Wow, all I can say is that I learnt alot about Germans and Berlin yesterday and last night.

We are staying in the apartment that is directly across the hallway from the others, which is awesome as they are all set up with food and everything. They even bought a cheap microwave between them! Every one is getting along well too. Brooke and Tash showed up yesterday too, after I got an email from them. They didn't have anyone's number and were wandering round Berlin until we got in contact with them. They are sharing our apartment.

So, yesteday after the girls arrived we set out to explore the city. We caught the U-bahn (underground train) to Checkpoint Charlie which was the American border crossing from East to West Berlin. It is very touristy and there are heaps of people there taking photos.

We then walked up to Brandenburg Gate, via some shopping centers, stalls and the Jewish War Memorial. The memorial is pretty cool, very symbolic. Here is a photo of the girls standing on some of the blocks. The whole thing is a city block of a few thousand of these concrete blocks of different sizes.

From there we walked up to the gate where the huge Nokia New Years Eve party was. It was the afternoon so it wasn't particularly crowded. We were able to walk thru all the food stalls from one end of the Tiergarten to the other. Had our first Glühwein which was suprisingly nice warm (and strong) apple wine/cider. We then went home for a bit to get some warmer clothes and dinner before heading back to the party.

The next few hours were CRAZY! Fireworks are legal 3 days either side of NYE in Germany, and the Germans certainly make the most of their new found freedom. Everyone from kids to adults randomly let of fireworks and crackers in the street. The little kids and roudy young 'adults' make their fun by throwing them at people or setting off in train stations etc. where it makes huge bangs. It was very surreal in fact walking thru Checkpoint Charlie and past the Berlin wall remains with the sound of explosions in the background. Anywho, it is a pain in the arse wakling around the streets because you have to watch out for people throwing them off balconies or under your feet.

When we caught the train back to the festival, we found that the local police had blocked off all the streets around the Gate. We walked for an hour with a crowd of thousands around all the road blocks to get into the festival about halfway along the Tiergarten. then it really got crazy. Because they were letting thousands of people in at the one entrance point, once we got thru the security we were stuck in a crowd of thousands of people. We couldn't move for at least half an hour, and the crowd was pushing back and forward. We managed to get out of the huge crowd and walked thru the garden (away from the stalls and crowds of people) down to the main stage which was suprisingly easy to get to compared to the entrance crowding.

When we got there the Scissor Sisters started playing on the stage, and we were able to find the others off to the right of the stage, about 50 meters from the stage were there was room to move about. The crowd went on for at least a kilometre and it is amazing we were able to get so close to the stage, especially since we entered so far away. The countdown was interesting with us yelling in english and the rest of the crowd in German. After midnight, we decided to head back home and got stuck in huge crowds again at the train stations. We finally got back at 2am, avoiding fireworks and crackers in the street still.

Wow, well that was one day in Berlin. Cold, sometimes wet and very crazy. We head to Prague tomorrow where we are hoping for snow and a completely different experience. We are all sick of the germans now after their pushing, shoving and fireworks antics. I will leave you with one more photo of the mess outside the Jewish war memorial after the celebrations (public drinking is legal here, and glass wasn't allowed in the festival so everyone let off fireworks and broke bottles in the street).