Paris, Bruges, Brussels, Amsterdam, Venlo, Berlin, Prague

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Hi all,

Well we have hit the road and are making our way around Western Europe. Been doing the hop on hop off thing with Busabout which has been good, but if we thought we were the only Aussies over here we have been sadly mistaken. Everybody is doing it.

Started off in Paris with Brendan for a couple of nights, but we are going back there with Deb and Bruce Cooper so there will be more of that later. Belgium was really nice, both Brussels and Belgium were great to walk around and the weather was great there so that helped.

Amsterdam was good to experience, anything goes pretty much. Dave thought it felt like a pirate town like those ones in the movies, a little out of control. Very sleazy. Was good to go to but probably will not rush back there any time soon. There are too many other good places in Europe.

The best part of the trip so far has been catching up with Leo´s cousins in Venlo, 2 hours south of Amsterdam. We were looked after way too much, especially by Marianne, Annie, Frans, Anime and Grandma. We were shown where Leo's parents used to live after they were married and were treated to lunch and dinner in Venlo. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, we felt like part of the family instantly. We loved how fighting fit Grandma was, almost ninety and drinking Dave and I under the table. You go Grandma! Was great to meet everyone and hopefully we will get to see them again one day in the future.

After the Netherlands we pushed on to Berlin. Lots of history there, it was interesting to read about Hitler, the Jews, the Berlin Wall etc. We found it hard to find places to go out there but found a couple of nice pubs to drink in. We have been drinking pretty much every day, not heaps but a few which isn't helping the éxtra baggage we have picked up along the way. Finally went for a run the other day - that will keep us going for a while. Too much other stuff to see and do (and eat).

Sorry it's been a while since we've done a blog but it's hard to find time to sit down and actually do a blog, let alone our washing. Thanks to all those great people for their comments. As usual, we love reading them. Stace Coops has definitely overtaken Di Foat as the leading comment maker, but Tania Knight, Niamh Duddy, Smell and both Mum J and Mum C are not too far behind. From your comments, it seems that most people were extremely impressed with our photo of the nudist on the beach. :-)

Well, better go. We've just been to Prague which we'll show you in our next blog. We're in Cesky Krumlov at the moment - going to hire some kayaks and take on the 'rapids' they have here. Should be hard work for Dave, he he (Brendan will know what we mean).

Okay, gotta love yas and leave yas.

See ya!

Love Zoe and Dave

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Photos

At the Louvre
Hmmm...interesting, but 4 hours was definitely enough.

The Notre Dame
Brendan and Dave being hunchbacks. Zoe made them.

Bike leader, Dave
Dave got a free t-shirt for being the back marker on a bike tour in Paris. His bag is already jammers as it is.

Eiffel Tower at night
Stunning.

Bruges
Like a fairytale...very cool though.

Best beer in the world
Dave drinking the beer voted the best in the world, called Delirium. He still thinks Tooheys Extra Dry is better. This pub had over 2,400 beers to choose from. Zoe finally had a beer she liked.

Belgium is known for its chocolate
Bought this off a little old granny - she loved it more than Zoe did.

Öur favourite meal
3 euro for a huge bowl of pasta - delicious.

Excited about our name
It is everywhere in The Netherlands

Anyone for a good time
Yep, the women are right in your face, in their underwear ready to service you. Dave had a few tapping on their windows for him, even though Zoe was there.

Dave with the Hauzer clan
Grandma was definitely trying to get Dave drunk on the white wine, well we think.

Lunch with Marianne and Annie
Two lovely ladies and one lucky young man.

More Hauzer clan
We stayed at Frans´ awesome restored farmhouse. Took us out to dinner as well - everÿone looked after us so well.

Relaxing at the farmhouse
Ah, this is the life.

Windmills
Hired some bikes and finally found a windmill. Yay. Zoe looking sexy on the fence.

Canals in Amsterdam
This is the nicest part of Amsterdam.

Big night out
After a big night out in Amsterdam - thank God for the water.

Little sook
Freezing our asses off in Berlin lining up to see the Reichstag whose top dome was closed. Good one.

Brandenburg gates
Part of the dividing Berlin wall.

Jewish Memorial
Eerie feeling walking through here, you got disoriented fairly quickly. Meant to show you how the Jews felt.

Berlin Wall
We were here for hours reading it all about it.

Comments

[Stacey Coops]

I agree with di
Di i think you could be onto something there with the "not fussy" part. hahaha. I am just reading a book about the jews so that was interesting. I liked the humpback bit, i am glad zoe made you do it, best photo in the lot haha.