Switzerland

So yeah, Switzerland is to put it bluntly, seriously amazingly awesome. Everywhere you look is an awesome photo opportunity, and the landscapes are so varied, it puts you in a constant state of awe. It's by far the most attractive country I've been to 'landscape' wise. and from awesome valleys, to awesome lakes, hills, mountains, waterfalls... Switzerland rules, and is something you really need to see to believe.









The journey to Switzerland was pretty cool, as we drove through a heap of nice scenic hills, including a stop in the country of Lichtenstein, which provided another pizza that was better than any of those experienced in Italy. In somewhat of a let down, the best pizza, pasta and icecream I've had have probably all been outside of Italy. I guess being sick and missing the Italian dinner kind of contributed to that.

After lunch in Lichtenstein, we headed over the Swiss border and onto Lucerne, an amazing Lucerne. The whole area is amazingly attractive and clean and it's hard to put into words how nice it looks, as it's something you really need to see to believe.



Lichtenstein








Lucerne


Already in awe of Switzerland, I then headed onto Lauterbrunnen, an insanely picturesque village we were staying in. The village was situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains, hills, fast flowing rivers and waterfalls. The morning after arriving in Lauterbrunnen, we headed to the local train station for a 2 or so hour train ride to the 'Top Of Europe', a train station right up in the upper reaches of the surrounding mountain ranges, more particularly Jungfraujoch.





Lauterbrunnen


The views up the mountain were amazing, but nothing compared to the top, approximately 3500m above sea level. In all honesty though, I have never been more cold in my life. The temperature was 'only' 2 degrees celsius, or so, which was fine, but the wind was absolutely insane, and took a bit of getting used to. I can't even begin to imagine how cold it would be in winter.











After going right to the top of the observation tower, as well as a bit of exploring outside, we headed towards the outside area for snow activities and so on. After getting slighty airbourne on the 'ski discs', and performing some sort of 180 degree manouver, I ended up with a nice war wound on my arm, which looked a lot worse than it actually felt.

Once we were back down the mountain, we decided to walk to the nearby Trummelbachfalle, a series of glacial waterfalls and cliffs and so on. Once again, something that needs to be seen to be believed, the falls consist of a huge waterfall and 'river' runnning throughout the mountain, down various cliff faces, and ending up down the bottom in a violent white water river...it was like something out of 'Planet Earth'.



Anyway, back to Germany next...

Czech Republic & Germany

So the Czech Republic was pretty cool, and I'm glad we spent a good three days there. It isn't as 'westernised' as everywhere else we had been so far, and it makes me want to travel further into Eastern Europe, something I'll hopefully get to do in the coming few months.

After leaving the picturesque Austria, we headed off to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. On the way there, we stopped in a smallish town called Cesky Kromlov, which was reportedly the filming location for parts of the movie 'Hostel'... I wasn't able to recognise anything, though... The village itself was interesting, most notably the bear enclosure that they have situated on the outside of the castle that overlooks the town.



Cesky Kromlov


After looking around the outskirts of Prague, and the local castle there, we checked into the accomodation and enjoyed some Beef Goulash. Ahah, I talk about food so much in this blog.

The next day we got to explore more of Prague, which has a tinge of 'medieval' about it, before heading for a ferry cruise down the Vltava River that runs through town, with a complimentary buffet (more food). After the satisfactory lunch and cruise, we headed to a pub within Prague known as the 'Beer Factory'. Essentially, you sit at a table as you would at any normal bar, except, in the middle of the table is a beer tap, from which you can pour as much beer as you want. Then, when you decide to leave, you just pay for what you've drunk (which was about 750 Czech ... or $5.50 Australian a LITRE). Oh, and another thing, there's a big screen projector on the wall, that displays a giant scoreboard of all the tables, and how much they've drunk. Good times.





Prague

The next day started off with a two and a half hour guided bike ride through Prague. This ride brought back memories of my 'younger days', as me and 'The Destroyer' (my bike) carved up the streets, parks and paths of Prague, terrorizing pedestrians, cars and the like. I also managed to see a few sites within Prague, whilst enjoying an ice cream and icy cold coca cola along the way.



John Lennon Wall, Prague


After perusing a museum one is only likely to find in Eastern Europe, I headed back to the hostel, and took advantage of the free wireless internet... something which is as rare as a Dockers finals appearance ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Hahaha, got the best reaction from people sitting near me as I read that back out loud.

Anyway, after finishing up in Prague, we headed on the bus towards Germany and the Olympic city of Munich. As I was only staying in Munich for the one night, everything was pretty rushed, and there wasn't a great deal of sight seeing to be done, besides looking through the city centre, and hugely overrated glockenspiel (clock with dancing figurine things that come out of it... trust me, it sucked.)



Glockenspiel



Munich


Munich had an abundance of shops to keep me entertained though, including perhaps the hugest electronics store I have ever seen, and quite a few clothes stores with outfits as outrageous and quirky as the people that would wear them.

After checking into the hostel, I headed to a local beerhall, for the beginning of the nights festivities. Despite not being a huge fan of pork, the porn knuckle was awesome, possibly improved by the accompanying stein of beer. Traditional German dancing and singing was the 'entertainment' throughout the dinner, and I realised Germans like to 'toast' every five minutes.



Munich


The nightclub we went to in Munich was amusing in the sense that it was 100% identical to any club in Perth. Same music, same kind of people, same drinks, everything. I don't know what I expected, but I guess I expected it to not be SO similar.

I arrived back at the hostel in the early hours of the morning, and crashed into bed like a Curtly Ambrose bouncer crashed into the ribs of many Australian openers (okay, I'll stop now), and caught a few hours sleep before the early start and trip to Switzerland ahead of me.

Austria

The massive 8 hour bus trip from Venice to Vienna was suprisingly easy, I guess that's generally the case when you sleep most of it, as I, and many others on the coach seemed to do.



Austria

In between a few stops at my second home, Autogrilles, interspersed with some insanely nice river/mountain/valley combinations, the trip was rather event free.

After arriving into Austria, and a quick drive around the city on the coach, we settled into the hostel for an hour or so, before getting changed for dinner, and the nights entertainment – a Mozart and Strauss concert in a concert hall in Vienna.

After considerable amounts of European food over the last few weeks, we ended up at none other than an Australian Pub... in the streets of Vienna. I don't know about anyone else, but I've never had ostrich, grasshoppers or crocodile before, but this pub had the lot...including icy cold Coopers, which was the first Australian beer we had experienced (other than Fosters), since we departed. It's really weird that upon leaving the country, and being on the other side of the world, that you realise how patriotic you can be, and how much you enjoy certain things about Australia, as well as feeling almost subconciously compelled to act Australian, and let everyone know you're Australian – even if you think such attitudes are a bit stupid normally.



Aussie Pub in Vienna...


The Mozart and Strauss performance, which included a bit of ballet and opera, was suprisingly extremely enjoyable, and I felt all the more cultured and learned for having been there, if only for the hour following the concert. While the hall in which the performance took place was smaller than expected, the sound and views were still pretty good, and I even managed to down some of the complimentary champagne.



Mozart and Strauss Concert


The next day was spent exploring Vienna, which could almost be described as a smaller, less busy, and more modern version of Paris, although many may beg to differ. The city (and country as a whole, so far), is all very attractive and clean, and has endless amounts of old, classic buildings much like a lot of European cities.

After looking at a few monuments, as well as the home of the Vienna Boys Choir, we headed to a nice cafe and enjoyed coffee, apple strudel and an omelette, before heading to Stadt Park for a bit.






A bit more exploring of Vienna kept us busy until we headed to a nearby Schapps museum to sample the goods (which included Absinthe), and get a bit of a history lesson on the place itself. Having taken advantage of the included free samples, I headed off to the Schonbrunn Palace, which is just this epicly huge uh.. Palace, with massive gardens. The whole time I was walking around, I just kept thinking how fun it would be to run amok through the gardens, but much like most gardens/lawns throughout Europe, walking/running on the grass is strictly forbidden.



Schnapps Museum






Schonbrunn Palace


From Schonbrunn Palace I spent the evening at another theme park, and sampled some local food, including an awesome schnitzel, before heading back to the hostel, and getting ready to head into the eastern section of Europe, the Czech Republic the next day.

Greece/Italy

So after one of the best nights sleeps in recent weeks, we awoke to announcements throughout the ferry that we were about to arrive in Greece and to be ready for departure.

The hotel we stayed at was right on the beach, a good torpedo kick from the balcony might almost land one in the water. Greece is pretty laid back, and we were told everything here is in 'ish' time... so for example, when a shop says it opens at 10... it's tenish.

We headed into Corfu Town (the centre of the Island we stayed on), and walked around the streets and markets for a couple of hours. Every European city has been the same so far, with the amount of people on the street hassling you to buy stuff, but Corfu wasn't so bad.

The few days we spent in Corfu were really good to just to relax in the sense that there isn't a million buildings to see, or walking around to see heaps of sights and so on.








Corfu


After awaking the next day to a nearly empty hostel, we decided to lounge about, watching a few movies in between a stroll to the shops via the beach across the road. Unfortunately, because we weren't 21, we couldn't hire a car to drive around the island, as many others did.

For the evening, I went to a local Greek restaurant, complete with a wide assortment of Greek dancing and plate smashing. The cuisine was as expected, and included some nice feta triangles (no spinach and ricotta), and some of the best lamb I've tasted in a while. After getting in on a bit of dancing myself, I retreated back to the table for some watermelon, and we were on our way out.

The next day was spent on the boat of a middle aged Greek man as risque as he was round. The drive around Corfu on his boat, which was complete with incredibly satisfying tsaki, ham and salad, was interesting to say the least. George's ability to make seemingly normal things sound sexual, and collection of vulgar rhymes was enough to be amusing in a cringe-worthy fashion. But all part of the experience, I guess.

An early night back at the hotel prepared us for the ferry towards Venice, for which we had to get up at 4:45am to depart for. It also prepared us for Venice in general, and the abundance of mosquitoes encircling the place, as I awoke mid morning to discover my mosquito repellent I had bought the previous day as a result of a few bites, seemed to act in more of a 'add fuel to the fire' manner... and resulted in one of my arms resembling a cricket bat polka dotted with red cherries. Ahaha, so good.

Anyway, I was well prepared for the early wake-up and lack of sleep (LMC, yeow), and recovered in true 'Mark Style' by going to sleep as soon as I boarded the ferry, and sleeping until the middle of the afternoon. It appeared everyone else had the same idea, and as I woke up to get a late, late lunch, others started appearing from their slumber.

A few hours and a couple of meals later, and I had settled back into bed, prepared for the 7am ferry. Ferry cabins seem to be the best place to sleep of late, and this time was no exception, as I woke up extremely well rested and ready to continue on my travels.

I spent the day at a place in southern Italy called Gartaland, Italy's biggest theme park near the lake from which it takes its name Lake Garta. The entry fee was a bit steep, especially considering we had to depart by 2:30pm in order to make it to our next stop, Verona, on time.



Gartaland


Verona is the city in which Romeo and Juliet is set to be based, and one of the most interesting aspects of the city is the balcony from which Juliet is said to speak those famous words (Oh Romeo...). The entrance from the street towards this balcony down a laneway is littered with graffiti in the form of various love notes and so on.







Verona


After leaving Verona, a short bus ride later brought us to the campsite on the outskirts of Venice, and port of call for the next couple of days. Whilst the city centre consists of many canals, it was quite easy to navigate via foot, with the majority of the city being easily accessible via a series of footbridges.

After a suprisingly mosquito free night, I got up pretty early, and caught a small boat into the centre of Venice, for a day of exploring. After having a look at a glass making performance, I started to explore the rest of Venice. As I said earlier, the city itself is pretty easy to navigate by foot, and there was a fair bit to look at, amongst the network of small alleyways and markets. Stores selling pizza and gelato were aplenty, so my hunger was kept well at bay.

As the day rolled on, we made our way back to the Piazza San Marco, before making our way back across town for a gondola ride throughout the canals of Venice. The gondola ride was pretty much as one would expect, except the guy driving ours kept getting distracted by his mates and would continually come close to crashing our gondola into the sides of the canals.











Venice


Back at the campsite, and we demolished a few games of my newest and highly satisfying purchase Uno, before crashing into bed ahead of a mammoth bus trip to Vienna, Austria the next day.

Italy

The start of the trip into Italy wasn't as pleasant as planned, as I woke up in Antibes, before the bus trip to Florence feeling a bit under the weather. This general feeling of unwell progressed for the worse throughout the next 48 hours, as I spent about 44 of them sleeping either on the bus, or in bed at the campsite. After paying for a taxi far to and from a doctor in Florence, as well as the exorbitant consultation fee, a prescription for some antibiotics and two days and nights rest, I'm feeling on the mend.

In between the various ailments I had encountered, I've managed to travel through Pisa, to see their famous leaning tower. The hours worth of Florence I saw walking to the doctor's surgery looked pretty good, too.



Feeling sick at the Leaning Tower of Pisa...


After packing up from Florence, we headed south to the incredibly warm Rome, via the Vatican City. Had a look at the Sistine Chapel (can't take photos of it), but after a while all artwork from that era seems to look the same. Cool to say I've seen it though, I guess.





Vatican City


The heat in Rome rivals anything Australia has to offer. Once we arrived there, I managed to get a look at the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and a quick look at the Colosseum in the afternoon.



Trevi Fountain




Pantheon


The amount of people that hassle you on the street in Rome is insane. Random guys will go up to girls/women, offerring them a plastic rose from a bunch they have. Then, when the girl takes the rose, the men will refuse to take it back, and demand money for it. There's also men who have bedsheets laid down on the ground, covered in designer bags. Once the police come, they grab all four corners of the bag, and then run off, with their napsack of counterfeit goods.

The next day I was feeling considerably better than I had for the previous few days, and this came in handy as we had to spend a few hours in the searing Roman heat through our tours of firstly, the Roman Forum, the ruins of the 'city centre' of Rome from upwards of 2000 years ago, and secondly – a tour throughout the Colosseum. While the buildings themselves are pretty impressive, this is nothing in comparison to the knowledge that you're standing in the same arena, or same stairs that bloodthirsty Romans stood on 2000 years ago.





Colosseum


After departing the Colosseum, I caught the train over to the 'Spanish Steps', an elaborate set of steps with a fountain and so on, and bought a traditional margherita Italian pizza. Not bad at all.

Once back at the campsite, a failed attempt to use the internet there, and a mediocre dinner, I made my way to bed, in preparation for a 7:30am departure.

The next morning I set off on the bus south towards Pompeii, the city famously covered (and later uncovered) by ashes from nearby volcano Mt Vesuvius. Nothing like I had expected, the whole town is essentially still in tact – roads, houses, even a brothel, complete with 2000 year old pornography painted on the walls. Apparently the clientèle, who would not all speak Latin, would go into the brothel, and 'pick' what they wanted from the paintings on the wall... kind of like a menu.



Pompeii


After leaving Pompeii we had a lengthy drive to the south of Italy with a couple of Autogrille stops in between. Autogrille's are all through Europe, and they're basically like a super sized service station/road house. They're either hanging over the road – kind of like a bridge...like if you imagine the roads crossing over Mitchell Freeway had a huge roadhouse/service station spanning the length of it, you kind of get the idea.

Alternatively, there will just be one huge Autogrille on either side of the road, so no matter what direction you're traveling in, you don't have to cross to the other side of the road to get food/fuel/etc. All of the Autogrille's so far have had an abundance of food – some have like mini marts attached, and most have some sort of food court as well. Pretty cool.

Anyway, after getting to the southern end of mainland Italy, we boarded the overnight ferry for Corfu. We had cabins with beds and a shower, so this was a nice step up from the ferries I have caught in the last month or so.