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Wwweeeee!!!
Yes, that is actually Sarah up there in that parachute! And Tony, the tandem instructor. So...here we are back in the UK!
We have been a little bit lazy updating this blog...we said to each other 'Oh, we only updated it the other day, in Austria'...yes, that was nearly 2 weeks ago! Doesn't time fly when you are having fun!
And having fun we are! So, we'll start from where we left off, in Austria.
The secret activity Sarah was up to that afternoon was...paragliding! This involves strapping yourself to a parachute and a tandem instructor and throwing yourself off a perfectly good mountain in the Alps! All of this madness gives you a fantastic view of the scenery and a great story for the bar later on! I had a ball and would do it again in a heartbeat. Needless to say, Mum and Dad were more than a little bit surprised when I phoned them to tell them later that afternoon! Unfortunately one of the other girls jumping with me tripped awkawrdly and broke her leg in three places, meaning that the next day when we were leaving for Prague, she was flying home to Canada from Munich!
So, following Austria, we headed for Prague in the Czech Republic, stopping
Up up and away
In my beautiful, my beautiful..ahh parachute! at Mauthausen Concentration Camp in northern Austria on the way. This was a sobering experience, a scary place and somewhere that made you think a lot about what people are capable of doing to each other. I don't think you can say we enjoyed it, but we certainly got a lot out of the experience.
Later that afternoon we pushed on to Prague, arriving about 5pm. That night we had a traditional Czech meal of a whole roasted fish and potatoes, then all headed into town for a walking tour to orient ourselves. This evening ended up in a dodgy bar trying absinthe, then finding our way home on the local tram - not an easy task when you don't speak a word of Czech, and the words said aloud sound nothing like they do written down! Anyway, sometime around 1am we made it, after meeting some Aussie boys on the tram who were staying in the same hostel! The next day we had at our leisure, heading into town quite early to make the most of the city. It was an absolutely perfect day weather-wise, so we crossed the Chiles Bridge, went to Wenceslas Square, wandered the backstreets,
Claire on the Chiles Bridge
In Prague. They have lots of old men busking around here, singing Czech folk songs. found a great market, ate some great food and just generally took it easy. Late that afternoon we found ourselves in a little pub that served great Czech food, so we proceeded to stuff ourselves silly. Funny story: We had 280 Czech Krowns (less than $15AUD) between us left. This being so, we worked out exactly what we could order for dinner in order to get rid of the currency. After enjoying our meal, the waiter brings the bill, and there's a 60Kr cover charge! Oops. A bit of quick thinking and a lot of giggling later, and we were able to pay the difference in Euros. This would have been ok, except they wouldn't give change in Euros, so we ended up with 111Kr left over, after all that planning! So our next challenge was to find a little cafe somewhere where we could pick up a coffee each for less than 111Kr. A few minutes walking about and mission complete! No Czech currency left and 2 happy campers!
The next morning we packed up and headed for Berlin, the German capital. On the way we stopped in at Dresden for a picnic lunch. This little town was
Sarah in Dresden
That's kind of self-explanatory absolutely destroyed during the war, and the German government has undertaken to rebuild it exactly as it was. They have completed the works now and it is a pretty little place, beautiful to sit out in the sun and enjoy our lunch. We pushed on to Berlin that afternoon, heading to the Happy Pig Pub for a schnitzel, then had an early night, as we were tired. The next day was a big one, we went on a Third Reich walking tour in the morning, seeing a lot of important Nazi sites from the war and also a lot of East/West Berlin sites. We saw the Berlin wall, Hitler's bunker, the Third Reich Headquarters, the SS Headquarters, Brandenburg Gate, Rathaus, and the Memorial to the Jews killed during the war. Berlin was such an interesting city due to all of the history, and still feels like a new city, due in part, we think, to the fact that it has only been reunified for such a short period. In the afternoon, after wandering for a bit, we took in Checkpoint Charlie, where the East met the West only 15 or so years ago, then split up for the night, as
The Berlin Wall
This was in the 'Eastside Gallery' in (funnily enough) East Berlin Claire went on a 'The Hoff' pub crawl and Sarah went on a 'dessert and cocktails' crawl with one of the other girls - good night had by both!
Next morning and we were up bright and early again, heading to Amsterdam, the so-called city of sins. It certainly lives up to it's reputation! The hostel we stayed in was an absolute dive! It called itself the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel, but it was in no way, shape or form a hotel and the gutter would have been cleaner! It boasts that staying there does your immune system a favour, as you will be exposed to such a wide range of bacteria, and they're not kidding! Claire switched beds within minutes of arriving as hers had a suspicious wet patch in it, and we were evacuated late one night when the fire alarm went off, most likely as a result of someone smoking something they shouldn't have! (Except they're allowed to in Amsterdam...) A few of us went out to an Indian restaurant for a currry that night while some of the others went to a sex show in 'Skinny Alley'. The next day was freezing cold, so we
The Memorial to the Jews
In Berlin. This place was designed for people to walk around in and get lost, so that you could feel what it was like to lose yourself, like the Jews felt. wandered the canals in between searching for cafes (not coffee shops, which sell different types of cakes!), laughing at the stoned people on the streets and dodging the trams, which wait for no-one, stoned or otherwise! That evening, as it was the last night on our tour, we all went out on a canal cruise, with drinks included, and it was some of the boy's ambitions to drink the boat dry! We all managed to go for ice-cream afterward, then the clever ones (i.e. us) went off to bed while the others partied on, getting home at 5:30am for a 7am breakfast call. Not pretty and not many happy campers. We left Amsterdam in the pouring rain at 7:30am, arriving in Brugge (Belgium) about midday. We had lunch here, which consisted of Belgian waffles with chocolate sauce and cream (of course), then jumped back on the bus as soon as possible out of the rain. We caught the 4:40pm ferry from Calais, which was horrible, it was so rough. Sarah spent half the trip in the toilet reliving her lunch, the trip took nearly an hour longer than it should have and was so rough that people weren't allowed outside
The canal cruise in Amsterdam
Claire, Sarah and our new friend Heidi, enjoying ourselves on the canal cruise. on the deck for fear of being blown away! I was very glad to get my feet on dry land in Dover. We finally got back to London about 8:30pm and had dinner in the bar at the hostel, heading to bed soon after that.
We were up early the next morning to get to Victoria Coach Station, which isn't a lot of fun on the Tube in peak hour with backpacks! Getting on the coach to come to Norwich was such a relief, and we have been utterly spoiled in our few days up here with Barry and Sue, family friend's of Sarah's. We weren't in the door five minutes before our washing was in the machine (and there was lots of it) and a cup of tea was in our hands. We have seen the inside of lots of little English pubs all over Norfolk as they have shown us around, as well as many tea houses. Barry likes to stop for a pint or a coffee every now and then, and we certainly aren't going to stop him! Thursday we caught the local bus into Norwich from the village and did some shopping, as Thursday night
With our lovely hosts here in Norwich
Us with Barry & Sue overlooking the Norfolk Broads we cooked dinner! It was so nice to be back in a proper kitchen, not some divey hostel communal kitchen, so we had a ball. Today we have been on a little boat in the broads, seeing where they get the reeds to make thatching for the roofes (for all of the teachers that read this - is it rooves or roofes?) of houses.
So that's about it for now. Tomorrow we will be going back to London, before heading off to Edinburgh in Scotland on Monday morning. We will be there until Thursday, back in London, then fly to Berlin on Sunday to start the Scandinavian leg of our trip - can't wait!
We promise we will try to be more consistent with the updates!
Lots of Love, Claire & Sarah xxx
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Aunty Viv
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Hi Claire
Good to see you are having such a great trip - so much better when you are travelling with a mate too! Wish I'd done the travelling when I was your age. Brad is in Germany for another two weeks with his work - Bonn. Not too impressed with where they have given him accommodation. Keep smiling!