http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Hanz/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Hanz en-us Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:50:41 +0000 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:50:41 +0000 Oktoberfest A weekend of German beer German food and more German beer Itrsquos my third year running and itrsquos still not lost its appealBillie Brent I flew into Salzburg in Austria to meet up with Tracie Ellen Co for a little sightseeing before Munich. Salzburg is such a beautiful city both day and night I think it looks like somewhere out of a fairytale. We had a wander around http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-409550.html This is the third and last addition of the Italian Adventures of Jamesone and Hannahlina. We might be near the end of this adventure but there is certainly a lot left to see namely Pompeii Naples and Rome all in two daysWe started at the ruins of Pompeii and knowing we were about to be overwhelmed with information James and I decided to get a guided tour of the highlights before embanking o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Naples/blog-396878.html Welcome to the second instalment of the Italian Adventures of Hannahina Jamesone as they make their way from Sicily north through Italy. Theyrsquove made it to Naples and are now spending a few days along the magical Amalfi Coast swimming wining and dinning their away into a bit of mid holiday luxury. The adventure continues following their early arrival into Naples from the night train w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Amalfi/blog-391080.html Roaming along the various beaches and coastline of Sicily and southern Italy sampling the local cuisine all made with the freshest produce and offering endless gelato icecream flavours stopping only to take a swim or take shelter under a tree from the hot sun whilst looking through ancient ruins which have captivated mankind for hundreds of years. Thinking you could get used to this Well this http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Sicily/Palermo/blog-327777.html What a holiday Coming within a hairwidth of our lives Leo and I needed the rest of the holiday just to recover from the flight there. Meanwhile if I was going to be in recovery mode anywhere what better than your own apartment within a minutes walk of the beach under the warm Spanish sunThe flight started well and Leo and I were doing our usual banter about flying in cheap plastic planes n http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Tarragona/blog-350585.html Well Irsquove had my five days of work its time to head over to Europe again to catch up with Leah the gang this time in the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic. Transport from the airport was interesting since the only directions that the hostel gave was for a bus that finished running at 9.30pm even on a Friday night I got dumped right in the middle of the old city Sta http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-332560.html Although you havenrsquot read about it yet this is my second time in Holland and indeed Amsterdam. I had so much fun first time around there were high expectations this time. And while we had a lot of fun there were definitely a few happenings that none of us saw comingClay Ange and I booked some last minute flights to Holland to catch up with Leah who had just started her big bus tour aro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-319289.html Denmark the first of many weekend breaks over this summer this time with Leo who Irsquom ashamed to say I hadnrsquot seen since before Christmas. It was little surprise to us that our nofrills flight was running a little behind schedule however it was a bit of a shock when we arrived at our hotel to find the reception closed and no sign of life anywhereNo one answered the door bell or ph http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/Region-Hovedstaden/Copenhagen/blog-314389.html Another two months in London has flown by but not without its trail of destruction. Irsquove been fortunate to keep up with a few games of rugby including the privilege of going to Twickenham for the first time and in a Corporate Box to see the England vs Barbarian game. Which was a far cry from the more recent early Saturday morning awakenings to head to the Walkie to see the games in NZ som http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-314385.html Today was the big day when I finally got to go to Vatican City Not only because its another country to add to my list but even this small place has so many lsquomust seersquo things on the To Do List. And besides any place called the Holy See must be worth a look rightMy first sight was two Swiss Guards standing at one of the entrances.. and I just burst out laughing I knew they had their http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Vatican-City/Vatican-City/blog-289407.html Wow I finally get to go to Rome I had heard so much about Rome from so many sources that itrsquos probably the one place in Europe that I wasnrsquot physically allowed to leave without seeing. I was especially lucky to have my very own Italian guide Carlo plus his girl friend Francesca who actually lives in Rome and was our chauffeur for the weekend. After checking into our BB we went http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-289406.html Another long weekend another holiday. You donrsquot have to think too hard for excuses to get away over here and this time wersquore off to Wales and more specifically horse riding in the Brecon Beacons National Park. We started the trip with a whistle stop tour of a collection of the best sights to see between London and Wales starting at the infamous Stonehenge. We were up and on the roa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Brecon/blog-285394.html I didnrsquot have to wait long for my next holiday in Europe this time we were off to the sunny Spanish Island of Menorca. Not to be confused with its big sister Mallorca. And by we I mean a whole sports team worth of 14 of us. Our only goal on this trip was to do nothing on as many beaches as possible Katie had organised two Spanish villas on the north coast through a work colleague. Howe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Balearic-Islands/Minorca/blog-281587.html Hello there No you havenrsquot been caught in a time warp Irsquom actually writing to you now about what Irsquom doing now... not six months agoCrazy I know But with a bit of luck a few things will change around here and I might even keep this up to date and fill in the gap between my last blog and now. Hey miracles can happen Anyway what you really want to hear about is what Irs http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-281585.html We had all been hanging out for a holiday that didnrsquot involve walking through the concrete jungle of another European city so we all jumped at the chance of going mountain biking in the New Forest on Englandrsquos South Coast. However our first mission was getting there... I donrsquot think even one car load managed to get there without getting losthellip and then we had to pitch ou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Hampshire/New-Forest/blog-264493.html After two weeks in Spain and Portugal it was time to spend some time in London and earn some money againWe only had a few days left to complete the construction of our departments raft for the annual WaterAid raft race on the River Thames. The theme this year was lsquo007rsquo hellip and someone decided we were going to make the gondola out of Moonraker Irsquom sure it seemed like a go http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-264852.html Well here we are at the end of our two week trip across Spain and Portugal. We had an awesome time and certainly our fair share of travelling oweshellip which lets be honest makes a trip more memorable There are only a few things left to do see Seville and Cadiz say goodbye to Leah and Dan who are about to head off for another two weeks across Morocco go home to my own bed Ohh and get to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-264116.html We were very excited to be going to the beach town of Lagos today after the weather was against us at San Sebastian. Our one and only aim sit on the beach swim and generally do nothing. However not everything turned out quite as we had plannedhellip On the way there we had a quick exit off the train at Tunes to transfer onto the train to Lagos and just as the train doors were closing I re http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Algarve/Lagos/blog-263722.html Day 12 and here we are at the Portugal capital Lisbon We arrived here on a high speed train travelling at a whopping 221kmhr Our funky hostel was located right into the centre of town over looking the Rossio Plaza I think our corner room had the best view in the whole hostelOur first stop was climbing up the tallest hill in Lisbon to the Castle of S257o Jorge. We had a look around the o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Lisbon/blog-263131.html We were not in Porto for long before we fell in love with it. Not only did we score a cheap room in a nice hotel a huge step up from camping in army rows but there were hills Not something we get to see much of in London or Europe but very much apart of our daily live back in NZ.We headed down to the Ribeira district on the edge of the River Douro. The area was so beautiful full of old colo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Northern/Porto/blog-262511.html