Nathaniel Heath
We are going on a trip around Europe for the next three weeks, fitting in as many new places as we can.Nat and Mand
Week 1: Central Europe
Week 2: Italy
Week 3: Beach holiday in Croatia
Travel Blog Posts
August 27th 2010
Sorry I have not updated for a while. We had no wireless access in Rome or Ancona and since we got to Croatia yesterday I have been too chilled to type. Blog entrys for the last day in Naples when we took a trip to Sorrento and the three days in Rome will follow. I just need to find the draft documents that are stored somewhere on Nat's netbook (how I held down a job using a computer every day for 9 years is beyond me!) So after two and a half weeks of travelling accross Europe, we arrived in Croatia on the ferry from Italy yesterday afternoon. The ferry journey was 5 hours and I was sea sick for most of it. We had good seats and took a stroll up on the top deck ... read more
August 21st 2010
Over breakfast at the hotel we discussed what each of us knew and was expecting from our day trip to Pompeii. We all knew that it was an ancient city that had been destroyed by the ash that decended on it following the erruption of Mount Vesuvious and that most of the population had suffocated before they could escape. We also knew that preservation work allowed us to see the town as it was before the devastation. During the excavation and restoration work, air pockets had been discovered in the ash within which bodies had disintegrated, so the archeologists had been able to pump plaster into the pockets to create a cast of the people who had died there. (We also knew the story about how Dr Who had caused it all in order to protect ... read more
August 20th 2010
Fully refreshed from our first class train journey we entered Naples to Bedlam Square - sorry, Piazza Garibaldi. It was mayhem, with busses, coaches, taxis and street sellers taking up every square foot. We eventually found the right bus in the scorching heat but stayed on it too long and got a taxi back to the hotel. Hannah had already checked in (she flew in earlier in the day) and had taken the boat to Capri so we had a few hours to explore before we met her. We had a walk along the bay but it was too hot to continue any further so we went back to the hotel to refresh and unpack. It is so nice to know that you are staying in the same place for three nights after sleeping in ten ... read more
August 19th 2010
We arrived in Florence and left the bags at the station. The hostel was half way between Florence and Siena so we planned to spend a few hours in Florence, get the bus to the hostel then in the morning continue on to Naples via Siena. The first mistake was that I left the memory card for the camera in the netbook in the bag at the train station so no photo's to share. I spent the day saying "look at it, take everything in, remember it". Gelato #3 was Cioccolato and Vinighia from Bar Du Ponti on Lungarno Acciaiuoli €3.80 as we walked along the River Arno. We went to the Galleria degli Uffizi where there are hundreds of Madonna and CHild paintings which got a bit boring after a while so we played 'spot ... read more
August 18th 2010
Firstly, a quick summary of the second day in Vienna - mild weather, missed tickets for the Spanish Riding School so spent the afternoon at Haus des Meers Aqua Terra Zoo (mostly looking for bats). The views from the observation deck at the top were good. We had dinner in a Hungarian restaurant that we stumbled upon called Ilana’s Stuberl which provided the best meal we have had so far on the trip. Ilana and her husband Michael escaped to Vienna from Hungary in 1956 and the following year opened the Kleine Stueberl (Little Room) to provide shelter and food to fellow refugees. I had pork and chicken steaks fried in garlic served with bacon, chilli, rice, potatoes and salad on a wood platter. It tasted amazing, Nat had pork in breadcrumbs and afterwards we shared ... read more
August 16th 2010
The second day in Prague went as planned, a walk around the Communist Museum which was actually quite scary, then a 4 hour walk up to and around the castle. It was 30 degrees with a cloudless sky and I got burned shoulders but it was an enjoyable day. Then it was time for the 'Jazz Boat'. One of our party was very keen for this excursion so we were one of the first in the queue at the marina to board. We could hear the Jazz band warming up and it seemed like an ideal way to spend the last few hours in Prague before catching the midnight train. Because we were so early we got one of the best tables near the front on the upper deck. Shortly after we set sail, while tucking ... read more
August 15th 2010
So the plan was to stay in Berlin for a full day which I would have loved - there was so much more that I wanted to do there, but there was no night train to Prague and the hostel had no rooms available to us for another night so the options were to trawl the streets for somewhere to stay or move on, so we hit the road Jack. Berlin is somewhere I would love to go to again. I expected it to be a stop gap between two cities that I had higher expectations of but it is a very exiting city with lots of recent history, pain and triumph that was definitely worth including on the trip. The train from Berlin to Prague was amazing. It was set out with compartments like The ... read more
August 12th 2010
We went on a 4 hour walking tour of Berlin today and the thunder storm held off for the first 3 hours! It was amazing, Berlin is beautiful - far nicer than I imagined it would be. We learnt loads about the history of Berlin, from French invasion by Napoleon, to the wars, division and reunification. Favourite parts were: Brandenberg Gate - the statue that sits above it was siezed by Napoleon and taken back to France. When the Germans got it back, they renamed it Victoria and renamed the square below it Paris Square to signify that Berlin would always be Victorious over Paris. The hotel on the opposite side of the square is where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from a window. Car park - yes we stood on a car park for about ... read more
August 11th 2010
The rain did not subside last night so we just had a burger in the hostel - a very nice burger indeed. When we got back to the room, 2 American gents had booked into the beds vacated by the English couple and we had a little chat while they got ready for what promised to be a fun night for them, then Nat and I settled down on my bunk to watch the A-Team (again) We got up early for breakfast and as it was the second breakfast in the Stay OK hostel, Nat had the measure of the selection. He ignored the continental cheeses, meats and rolls and filled his plate with white bread slices and chocolate spread the proceeded to make a triple decker chocolate sandwich washed down with earl grey. Showered, packed ... read more
August 10th 2010
We arrived in Amsterdam safely then wandered around for a long while trying to find the hostel. We have decided that the Mand + Map approach is not a match to Nat's psychic abilities so he has been promoted to cheif navigator and I will be leaving the map book in the backpack. The hostel is in a lovely spot on the edge of Vondelspark. We went into the park for a walk and a meal last night, then we were beat so had an early night. This morning we hired bikes and cycled around the park and the city, no plan just to see the area. The weather was lovely and we really enjoyed it. We cycled past the ques to most of the museums and decided to give them a miss. I pulled up ... read more
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