http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/SandraLund/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from SandraLund en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:01:29 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:01:29 +0000 The Isle of Wight Festival is a three day camping festival located funnily enough in the Isle of Wight.This was my first trip to IoW and we picked the highlight of the summer weather to spend it there. It was a tube train hovercraft bus trip there which took about 3hours all up from home to campsite. The hovercraft was great. I'd never been on one before and it's quite freaky. It's not r http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Isle-of-Wight/blog-197344.html I know this is a blog site dedicated to travelling and travel I did but this particular blog is more about the experience of an Irish Wedding.My trip to Cavan was to attend my mate Paul's sisters wedding. Paul is from a large family of 8 siblings and this was the first time I'd met them.I flew into Dublin first thing in the morning and met Paul who was already there. He then drove me up to his http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Cavan/blog-197343.html After a long winter it was time to get back on the travelling circuit again. Saskia and I decided we'd spend a weekend in the heart of Bohemia. We booked the flights and set off on the 3rd May. Unfortunately I wasn't really that on to it and didn't realise it was a Bank Holiday weekend so we could have stayed an extra day but as it was we arrived later on in Thursday and stayed till Sunday http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-197342.html At Christmas one of my closest buddies Scott arrived over from NZ we've actually swapped countries so he's an Englander living in NZ and I took a few days off work so we could head up North together. It was just after Scott's birthday so I bought him a bottle of bubbles which we enjoyed on the trip up. Was the best train trip I've had probably ever The train was pretty packed I think som http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/blog-197189.html Well the original version of this seems to have disappeared to the land of internet heaven. Not sure what the story is but will try and remember what I wrote previously We set off early on the Friday morning via the Eurostar from Waterloo to Paris. On this particular train was myself Lou and Mark Peta and Duncan and half of the rest of the londonkiwi community. My mates and I were on se http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-139693.html TwickenhamIt was an early start as we had a day of rugby ahead of us. The long awaited All Blacks tour was finally starting today. After a stressful session online trying to get tickets all the way back in June we'd finally managed to get tickets to 3 of the four games and the game against England was today.Duncan and I donned our All Blacks gear and headed off to catch the train to Twickenham http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Twickenham/blog-125657.html A couple of days in LondonWell the Fab 4 have been split up. Georgia headed back to Australia not long after we got back to London but Amy and Gav stayed on for a wee while so we decided to check out some of the sights of London. We met up at my place and wandered up past St Pauls to the Thames River bank. We followed the river up to the Embankment and caught one of the River boats that took u http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-125329.html ParisIt was a bit of a quiet start mainly due to the night before We were meant to go for a look at the Versailles Palace and Gardens but our tour guide never turned up. This wasn't a bad thing as most of us were a bit toured out and were keen to investigate Paris on our own. We got dropped off at the Louvre and everyone went their own way.As it was the first Sunday of the month admissi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-114757.html Lucerne to ParisToday we travelled to our last country before heading back to England. We headed through the Jura mountains and into Burgundy didn't stop for a tasting unfortunately .Again the scenery was very picturesque and we made it into Paris later that afternoon. We had a fleeting glance of the city as we drove to our hotel and managed to catch a glimpse of Notre Dame sans the Hunc http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-105018.html Having just recovered from our weekend away in Paris and my first week working in months it was time to set off to Cardiff to watch the final game of the tour AB's v Wales. This time we me Lou and Mark drove down and the good old Tom Tom lead us straight to the doors of our hotel in Cardiff. We then grabbed a taxi into town. The city centre streets were all closes and there were rugby fan http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Cardiff/blog-158055.html LucerneWe were up nice and early as we planned to journey up to the top of Mount Pilatus. I was really disappointed as it was grey and very foggy and I figured we wouldn't be able to see anything. How wrong I wasThe coach took us to Kriens where we hopped on a cable car that took us up to Frkmntegg which is about half way up the mountain. After only a few minutes we had risen above the fog http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/North-West/Lucerne/blog-101872.html Day 11 Florence to Pisa to LucerneThis was a big travelling day. We got off reasonably early and it didn't take long to get in to Pisa. The main attraction there of course is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This can be found in the Campo dei Miracoli Field of Miracles which is a walled square in the heart of the city of Pisa. Not only does it contain the Leaning Tower but there is also the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-101830.html Day 10 FlorenceI'm afraid I didn't do Florence justice Being slightly hungover and generally really tired from all the travelling we headed into the centre of Florence on a very warm day to be greated by thousands of tourists. I did manage to last for most of a guided walking tour of the city though.It's another beautiful city which is considered by many to be the birthplace of the Italia http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-101804.html Day 9 Rome to Florence via SienaAfter brekkie it was back to the bus and on our way to the Tuscan hill town of Siena. Siena is reknown for being the bestpreserved medieval city in Italy. This is largely due to the fact that very little modern building has taken place inside the city walls since the 16th century leaving it's character relatively unspoiled. The city centre of Siena is enclose http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-98313.html Day 8 RomeWe were up waayy early and on the bus by 645am in the attempt to beat the crowds to the Vatican. And we did. Well sort of there were about 50 people in front of us but that was nothing. Not long after we arrived the queue was already massive. Apparently about 20000 people go through the Vatican each day. So big points to Red Bull for getting us up so earlyWe had a local gui http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-97877.html Day 7 Venice to RomeBig bus day today. Journey was about 6hours in total but the scenery was good. We travelled via Bologna across the Apennines and saw several Walled Towns ruins and Tuscan vineyards and olive groves. I sat in the front of the bus for the first time. Great views from there. Should have done that ages ago.We arrived late in the afternoon raring for a swim but the hotel p http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-97806.html Day 6 VeniceFirst thing in the morning we caught a boat to the main island of Venice to revisit Piazza San Marco's in daylight. It was soooooo much busier during the day and there were hundreds of pigeons. The great thing is though that there is no traffic. There are no roads on these islands so hence no cars. The only form of transport other then walking is by gondola ferry or some othe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-97434.html Day 5 Munich to Austria to VeniceA big trip today so we had an early start. Pretty much everyone looked worse for wear some more then others Gunter Most people slept on the way to Austria which is a shame as the views were amazing as we passed Austria's Western Alps.We reached Innsbruck in the Austrian Tyrol about 11ish and went for a wander through the city centre. It was yet another go http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-95558.html The OktoberfestWow where to start. It's like a Disneyland for adults The festival lasts for 16 days and besides the 14 or so beer tents there are hundreds of side shows food stalls carnival rides shops etc. It was one big party. Many of the locals were in traditional costume and apparently they even turn up to work in that during the festival season.While there was obviously a lot of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-95539.html Day 4 Hoffheim to Munich via HeidelbergAfter another sausages and eggs brekkie we headed off to Heidelberg which is the oldest town in Europe as well as being a student town.Heidelberg is very picturesque and I loved it. Me and Georgia took a walk up to the Castle Ruins built from the 13th to the 17th Century. It's rumoured to have beneath it a VAT which holds 221000 litres of wine but http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-95341.html