Day 15 Friday 5 October 2007 Roman Holiday Wake up 5:44am Breaky 6:30am Meet 7am We had a very early start to get to the Vatican. Rome is a mad city. Cars everywhere. Vespas even worse. The group line up was quite long when we go there. The public were already queued even though they wouldn’t be let in until after 9:30am. We met our guide Franka and went in around 8:15am. The Museum was amazing. It was hard to understand the scale of the place. The letters at the top of St Peters dome were over 2 metres yeat looked [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 14 Thursday 4 October 2007 Rome’n around Wake up: 6am bags- last night Leave 7:30 We caught an early boat across the pond. Venice was covered in mist. We were glad to see the coach again. Today was a very long travel day again and most of us slept as we were not well. The Italian countryside was beautiful but I was sick and couldn’t keep my eyes open. We stopped at a self service place for lunch and I was shocked. Huge culture shock. Rapid Italian was spoken everywhere and I had no idea where to go or what [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 13 Wednesday October 3 Gondolas and glass Wake up 7:15am Breaky 7-8 Meet 8:45 This time, we took a larger boat over to Venice. The number of people there was astonishing. It was very different to last night. It was extremely crowded and you were not allowed to sit down, even if eating, unless in a shop. We met Anna for our guided walk. It wasn’t that interesting to me. I was beginning to get sick like the rest of the bus. I was feeling very giddy and hot. We went to the glassblowing demonstration. Very interesting. Then they tried [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 12 Tuesday 2 October 2007 Bellini Baby Wake up 6am Breakfast 6:45am Leave 7:30am We knew we were in for a long travel day today and on a time limit to make our boat. We left Vienna and drove through Austria. We stopped at about 9:30am at a charming village called Kindberg. We had a walnut sort of tart and hot chocolate. At the last minute we found a quaint shop called “team 7” and brought some ornaments. This is where I KNEW I wanted to come back to Austria. Back on the bus and a glorious drive through the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 11 Monday October 1 From Palace to peephole. Wake up: 6:15am Breaky 7am Leave for tour 7:40am Breakfast was ordinary and cold. We left for Schonbrunn Palace with our local guide Ilse and arrived at 8:30am. The Palace was spectacular. Every room was unique. The Hapsburgs used this Palace as their summer residence. Walking the floors of the ballroom was incredible, imagining all the people that graced the floors over the centuries. One painting in particular took my fancy. It was of Maria Theresa on the throne surrounded by people. There were 3 frescos on the ceiling. 1 of peace, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 10 Sunday 30 September 2007 Straus me up! Wake up: 7am Breaky 7am Bags and depart 8:40am We arrived at Parliament house at 9am with Dora. It was all very serious. I took a photo of everyone coming in the entrance and was immediately approached by a suit and told to “Clear it” the men in suits followed us everywhere. The ground staircase was impressive. We climbed up and entered the dome where the crown was kept. Each room was decorative and amazing. When we left we were given a card with the number visitor we were for this year. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 9: Saturday 29 September 2007 What??? No English?? Wake up: 6:30am Breakfast 7am Depart for tour 8:30am This morning Dora took us to Hero’s Square first. I loved it. It had the tomb of the unknown soldier. Along the top of the columns, the statues mean work, war, peace and wealth. The main statue in the centre was of Arc Angel Gabriel. The legend was that the Pope wasn’t sure who to give the crown to… Poland or Hungary. He dreamt the angel told him Hungary. We drove through a park where there were zoos (saw an elephant) swimming pool [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 8: Friday 28 September 2007 Beautiful Budapest and the Blue Danube Wake up 6am bags and Breaky 6:30am Leave 7:30am We headed off for Budapest this morning!! It began pouring rain. Perfect timing. At one point we had to make a detour for roadworks. There was only one sign then nothing. We ended up on a country road through some quaint towns. This was great as we didn’t have to look at highways. There were lots of interesting little towns to drive through. We stopped for morning tea at a Maccas. FREE clean toilets. Even though they had neon lighting [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 7:Thursday 27 September 2007 Let the Czech Beer flow! Wake up:7am Breaky: 7:30am Prague Sightseeing: 8:30am It was lovely not to have to pack and rush today. I still went to breaky early at 6:30am. It was delicious. I thought it might be after dinner last night. At 8:30am we met Gary and Lucia at the coach and went back to the Historical Area. It was impressive to see a presidential car parade go past. Tomorrow is a festival holiday in Prague. The skull of Wenslaw will be paraded through the town. We walked over to St Vittus cathedral and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 6: Wednesday 26 September 2007 Gingerbread and Brandy! Wake up Call: 6:30am Bags and Breaky: 7:15am leave 8am Breakfast was basic. When they ran out of food they took forever to replace it. I had egg and lovely ham, then a roll with a “Brunch” spread (Cheese and Onion) We drove a short distance to the Old Bridge and went for a 20 minute stroll. The view was picturesque. The water was rushing over the rocks. The statues were lovely. It was very foggy and very chilly. I saw that it was going to be around 13 degrees. It looked [View Full Entry]

---

---