Wienners, a bit of Buda, knuckles and our first taste of Italy (Vienna, Budapest, Munich, Venice)

Although famed for its museums, palaces and other beautiful buildings we saw very few of the inside of these popular tourist attractions whilst in Vienna. We were instead shown a less touristy side as we were lucky enough to have a guide -one Mr Scott Wigglesworth, a friend from back home who lives in the city. So whilst we did walk around the Museum Quarter and see the outside of Parliament and the Hofburg palace, the majority of our time was spent wandering around, eating, shopping and partying in the fabulous city also known as Wien. However, some touristy things were completed; we wouldn’t have dreamed of missing Vienna’s famous Sachertorte, a rich chocolate cake which we ate at the cake’s original birthplace - the very swanky Sacher Hotel. And as we never like to pass up an opportunity to shop we also visited the Naschmarkt on Saturday, which is a huge food and flea market.

From Vienna we had a little mini-break from our Busabout route and caught a three hour bus to the Hungarian city of Budapest. In two days we saw the beautiful Parliament building, crossed the Danube River and hiked up to the Buda Royal Palace. The main highlight, however, was definitely our half day spent swimming and relaxing at the beautiful 19th Century Szechenyi Baths, which was also a great place for people watching as most of the other patrons were modelling the skimpiest togs European fashion has to offer - interesting when quite a few were 60+ and weighed at least 100kgs...

From Vienna it was time to head back to Germany; onwards to Munich!

Our first night in Munich, rather appropriately, passed in a bit of a beer-blur as we met up with a few of our Cesky Krumlov friends and visited the largest outdoor beer garden the city has to offer - where the mugs of beer were almost too big for one hand to hold (I suppose though that this is what you expect from the place famous for Oktoberfest!). The next morning we went on a day-trip out into the countryside to see the incredibly beautiful Neuschwanstien Castle, which inspired the Walt Disney logo. The views from the castle, the country air and a bike-ride around the foot of the Alps to the beautiful Swan lake banished all traces of beer-induced hangovers and the only downside to the day was that we weren’t forewarned of the rather strenuous hike up to the castle so our jandals drew some laughs from German trampers in more appropriate footwear! That night we visited the Hoftbrahaus, the famous and enormous beer-hall, where my meat eating friends enjoyed some traditional Bavarian fare of pork knuckle and potato dumplings. On our last day the weather took a turn and was reminiscent of the current winter snap New Zealand is suffering, so our day plan to visit the Englischer Garden and walk amongst the nude sunbathers was abandoned for a bit of shopping and chilling at our hostel.

Our umbrellas were swapped for sunhats as the temperatures topped 30+ in Venice, our next stop. For three days we wandered around the beautiful city and got lost in the twisting canals, saw St Marks Square, the Basilica di San Marco, Doges Palace, ate lots of gelati and of course did the quintessential gondola trip, which we enjoyed with a bottle of delicious €4 champagne in plastic cups. The campground where we stayed also added to the joys of Venice as we had our own little cabin complete with two rooms, kitchen, bathroom and even a lounge! Plus the campground itself was a like a small city and housed everything from a bar, restaurant and supermarket, to a pool and a volleyball court. The parties thrown in the bar were also rather legendary, especially the toga party on our first night when we once again caught up with former Busabout friends.

Next stop Croatia and Greece.

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