http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jackiewawa/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jackiewawa en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:32:58 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:32:58 +0000 Our arrival in Amsterdam was pretty much uneventful although when we got off the train a lady about 55yo who shared a lift with us and her bike to the platform advised us to take care as there were many pickpockets about. So this was our intro to Amsterdam. We once again had good directions to our accomodation and found it to be 2 metro stops from the Regional train station. Only a 5min walk from http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-412545.html We have been watching the news which tells us that there is storms and extreme heat throughout west Europe from Spain through France and moving into central Europe............. well we have missed it We have had decent weather but not real hot not real cold but more cool than warm. I have had a cardigan borrowed from Lisa on most days. We arrived to a cool day in Brussels and found our accomoda http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-410845.html We arrived at the train station to find our hotel directly accross the road about 100mt up. We read te reviews whcih advised us that it was in red light district It was too Fancy that.................. It wasnt intimidating but there were lots of unsavoury characters trolling the streets amongst the numerous reputable cafe's. We dropped our bags and took a walk looking for a good place to eat a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Frankfurt/blog-410843.html As we got off the train in what we thought was Budapest we checked to find in fact we had one more stop ......so back on the train difficult when you have to lug your bags on and off As we had changed carriges Lisa left her book and 2 new bookmarks on the seat and was disappointed to have lost them. I got chatting to a young Somalian student who offered to assist with finding our way.......... http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Pest/blog-407795.html After 7 12 hour train ride we arrived in Pretty Prague. Once again we arranged an apartment which was this time a new aparthotel which is a great idea with long and short time apartments in the new part of town. We found it to be new and very clean the apartment was wonderful no laundry facilities though so luckily had it all up to date There was a supermarket about 50mt away with a pub on th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-407820.html Okay we caught the early train to Vienna via Salzburg and had time to stop and take a look around but decided not too as we would go back to do the Sound of Music tour on another day. We arrived in Vienna at Westbahnhof central train station but was supposed to be at Sudbanhof South Train Station So off we went to find our train. When we arrived at our destination the directions given on the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Lower-Austria/Wiener-Neustadt/blog-407259.html Well I was pleasantly surprised to find Innsbruck quite a large place and our accomodation 500m straight out of the train station. Right next to the famous arch and on the edges of the Old town Loved it..... Room was fair and breakfast was included. It was about 7pm and we asked reception about internet but the girl told us to go down to a Uni club that had a faster connection which was free. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Tyrol/Innsbruck/blog-405851.html Probaly repeating myself but here goes...We arrived in the outskirts of the small skiing town of Davos which looked deserted. I climbed 5 flights of stairs to small flights advise Richard Lisa that our hotel was in fact at the top. They decided to walk around the block but that was taking too long so they took the next lot of stairs that only had 3 flights. We arrived at reception to be told the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-East/Davos/blog-405847.html We left Geneva bound for Lucerne via Montreaux. We were advised by one of Richards work colleague Phillip to take the Golden Pass train through the countryside as it was spectacular and we were not disappointed. We arrived in Montreaux and disembarked for a wander. It was picture perfect with its colourful yellow or red umbrella awnings along the hotels facing the lake. We caugh a bus to Chatea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-West/Lucerne/blog-404793.html Well Richard and i left cool Adelaide bound for Melbourne. Only a short stop over before we took off again for Abu Dhabi. The flight was jam packed and poor Richard was stuck in a seat with his knees around his ears behind a little man who insisted on reclining his seat and shoving his armrest into Richards already tortured knees. There were no spare seats to move too. Isnt it amazing on a plane http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Geneva/blog-403458.html