Ok, so maybe we aren't so good at this...

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Ok, so we're in Brussels now. I know we said we'd update in Zurich but it was so expensive and then we became so busy... we just never got around to it.

So, since Interlaken....

Zurich: Expensive (25-45 CHF) drinks at the bar. Met some cool girls from Armstrong BC and Newfoundland and hung out with them for much of our time in Zurich. Did some tourist shopping, went to the zoo, walked around and enjoyed the sights.

Innsbruck: Much less expensive. We only had one day here so we checked out the olympic ski jump and wandered around enjoying the mountains.

Venice: What a weird city. Whoever decided it would be a good idea to have a city there was on crack. We arrived at the same time as a thunder storm. After an increasingly windy and rough vaporetti ride we arrived at our stop and immediately had to run for cover. Turns out we were waiting out the storm about two doors down from our hostel. The next day was hot but constantly breezy so it wasn't uncomfortable. A bunch of wandering and an 80 Euro gondola ride later we were about done with Venice.

Salzburg: The home of Mozart and The Sound of Music. We took a Sound of Music tour with a very funny bus driver on the first day. On day two we visted a salt mine before catching an evening train to Munich.

Munich: Here we were introduced the amazing free walking tour. Our guide was awesome and we learned a whole lot. Visited some old churches, learned some Nazi history. Visted the famous beer hall and saw a beer garden. Well worth the tip that we gave our guide at the end. After the tour we went football jersey/Birkenstock shopping. Then after dinner we went to the Olympic site and saw the football stadium and olympic tower (from the bottom). There was fair going on so we wandered around the rides and stalls before going back to our hostel to sleep.

The next day we went and saw the Dachau concentration camp. A very sobering experience. This was the first camp that saw the SS take complete control and work people to death. It was oringinally designed to imprison about 6000 people but ended up holding over 30,000. Barracks that were designed for around 50 people were sleeping over 200. A sad time in European history. On a lighter note, after the camp we went back to the Olympic site and up the tower. A good view was had and, oddly, a very interesting music museum was up there. A quick litre at the beer hall and it was off to bed!

Fussen - Berlin: Today we took a morning train to Fussen to see the fancy castle that Disney used as inspiration for the Magic Kingdom castle. It was a lot of train time for a short visit but still worth seeing. We headed back to Munich to catch our fancy train to Berlin. The fastest speed that I saw us making was 230 km/h. Not bad, not bad.

Berlin: Berlin was miles away from Bavarian Munich. It's still evident in East Berlin the impact of the communist rule. Many fairly busy intersections still do not have traffic lights apparently because they can't afford them yet. We took another free walking tour and learned a whole lot. The tour ended with a very emotional telling of the story of the fall of the Berlin wall. It was all a big mistake. Some communist guy in a press conference basically called for the border to be opened immediately, not the intention at all of the government but it was too late. After a huge party the wall was down and life has been returning back to normal ever since. We saw a whole lot today, many pictures taken. Sections of the wall, the Jewish holocaust memorial, checkpoint charlie, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and so much more. I hunted down a German national jersey. One store at just one medium left so I snapped it up. Appently with Euro 2008 coming up next year all the teams are getting new jerseys. Because of this it's very hard to find large or medium jerseys. A good time to be a very large or very small football fan I guess.

Next day we tried to go up the Reichstag, but there was a huge line, so we went to the weird TV tower, but there was a huge line, so we went to the ancient mediterranian/arab museum and finally, no huge line. We saw a bunch of old Babylonian stuff and such. An ancient Greek temple and a huge freize of various Greek gods. Then I got a haircut and, sporting my new stylish European hair, we attempted the tower again but still a large line. Some tourist shopping and dinner (mmm Currywurst) and then bed.

Amsterdam: Again a very weird city. Sortof like Venice but with roads and canals. After arriving we pretty much went straight to bed. The next day we wandered around and checked out a weird Mueseum. We did a red light district tour in the evening. It's weird that people can window shop for people. There are over 300 windows in the red light district that girls rent for 8 hour shifts at a cost of up to 150 euro during which they can make upwards of 6000 euro. Apparently most can retire after only 5-10 years.

Next day we did another free walking tour which highlighted Amsterdam's rich history and strange culture. It ended at the Anne Frank house but there isn't a whole lot to see without waiting for a couple hours to get in. We took the mandatory pictures of the outside before catching our train to Brussels.


Voila! Maybe we'll update this again before England... or Victoria, but no promises this time!

Just over 2 weeks to go, wow!

~ Dan

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