Norway 18-22 Oct

Norway was my last country stop on my Europe tour and what a great place, its gorgeous and I had a great time catching up with some old family friends too! Check out the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/kiwigirlnextdoor/StavangerAndFlekkefjord

Oslo
Arrived really early off my night bus from Stockholm so had a nap in the lounge room of my hostel before heading out to explore for the day. Pretty surprised that the centre of town is actually quite small (pretty good because it was freezing!) but had a chance to walk around in the afternoon. Saw Karl Johans Gate (the main shopping street), past Parliament, National Theatre and Oslo University before I reached the Royal Palace and the gorgeous Slottsparken that surrounds it. Wandered through some more pretty streets past Uranienborg Church on the way up to the famous Sculpture Park (Vigelandsparken) which I didnt realy know how to take with stacked statues of bodies in an obelisk shape but glad I visited. Had a quite evening checking out the sunset on the harbour and walking past the small Akershus Fortress and Castle.

Stavanger
Oslo was pretty but taking the train right from East to West Norway on the 19th of Oct was amazing and great of Hans Edward to meet me at the station too., hadnt seen him in years but we got along pretty well and had heaps of travelling stuff to talk about. Ended out having a couple of drinks at Consensus (notably a traditional Norweigan Christmas spirit called Aquavita), the Irish Pub (always good value) and Kardina - with over 350 different types of beer - awesome! Needless to say the next morning was pretty quiet and we headed into town to check out the fishmarket, the culture house and cathedral before heading off on our road trip to the fiord.

Flekkefjord
We had a beautiful drive out here past Hatsfjord (and the three swords that commemorate when Norway was bought to one kingdom in the 7th century) and stopping in Moi for candy. Had a great quiet night in their amazing bach, went out and set crab pots, had homemade pizza and look the little dinghy across to some dancing in the community hall on the main island. Up early to collect the crab pots, a fun psuedo dad-daughter thing to do with Noel : ) A flounder even swam in - woohoo! that's lunch sorted : ) Cooked the crabs up, another explore around the main island and visiting some family and then took the scenic route back to Stavanger and ate crabs and drunk wine till the wee hours

Stavanger
Had one day left in Stavanger to spend with Arnhild and we checked out Norway's Petroleum Museum which was pretty well done, and then we had a delicious lunch a the restaurant next to the museum. Spent the afternoon at Ikea (its a good thing I dont live in Europe or they'd be in trouble!) and then had a delicious home-cooked roast (moose calf and kumura!) for my last night here before heading back to London, thanks so much for having me stay guys!

Sweden (Stockholm and Uppsala) 14-17 Oct

Had a great time just taking a couple of days to chill in pretty Sweden and catching up with two ex-roommates, Freddie and Anna : )










Stockholm
After a long-ish train ride up from Copenhagen Freddie met me at the station which was awesome and a great chance to catch up. On my only full day on Sun the 14th we headed out for a long walk around the river which was cool and checked out the government building and Royal Castle before meeting a friend of his, checking out the old town and spending the afternoon chilling at a cafe in Soder and Freddie cooking me an awesome dinner at home.

Uppsala
Trained up to Uppsala and hung out at Anna's place for a couple of nights which was cool. Had a great time catching up over lunch at a gorgeous indie cafe with a wicked vegan salad bar and then I went exploring around the town. Checked out Uppsala cathedral (Scandanavias's largest church so pretty impressive), Uniersity hall with its grand main building, Carolina Rediviva Library (exhibition room containing the silver bible) and circled Uppsala Casle. The next couple of days were spent mainly just hanging out with Anna, also checked out the Botanic Gardens and Uppland Museum which were pretty cool and nice to have a couple of slower paced days on this crazy trip. Went back to Stockholm and wandered down Queen St and had a final dinner together before I took the night bus to Oslo on the 17th.

Thanks for having me guys, it was awesome to catch up : )

Copenhagen 12-13 Oct

It was quite a train ride up from Berlin to Copenhagen (and glad my rail pass is still valid for another couple of days as it probably would have been an expensive one too) Changed trains in Hamburg and had time for a quick coffee with Jess at the station before continuing on my way. Pretty ride up but the coolest thing was when the train drove right onto the ferry and right back off at the other side!

I had another bout of awesome luck with timing in Copenhagen and one step better than Salzburg's "Night at the Museum", the 12th of Oct was Copenhagen's "Night of Culture" with so much more than just musuems open it really was a great night out! Started with City Hall (can't turn down free coffee and cake!), next the Danish Design Centre was awesome with its travel gadgets, watches, lights and cars and then I checked out a dance performance at the Glyptotek with everything from interpretive to breakdancing. Checked out some information about Esperanto, "Play Day" with a sandpit and campfire in one of the squares, Human Rights tent and got a book on "The Way to Happiness", Helligrands church and a cannonball reenactment at Tojhus before calling it a night.

Wanted to give Copenhagen a real thorough exploration in the daylight so had a 4 hour city walk with my rucksack (glad there were no hills) and definitely saw a lot : ) Started at the Town Hall Square past Lurdblower's column toward Nytorv Square with the court building. Hojbro Plads was a pretty nice square overlooking Christianborg Palace and the city canals before finding another pretty square (Kongens Nytorv) with cool houses and the Royal Theatre. The port of Nyhavn was awesome with brightly coloured houses lining the port lit up by the morning sun that was just coming out from behind the clouds. Marble Church was awesome from the outside, as was the square enclosed by Amalienborg Palace (residence of the royal family) which looked out over the new Opera House. Past Geflon fountain and the Langeline Harbour Promenade I finally found the Little Mermaid and walked back into town via Kastellet (Europe's best preserved fortification), the yellow Nyboder houses (built in the 17th C for the navy), Jerusalems Church, and Kogens Have (a renaissance garden) home to the Rosenborg Castle. Last few notable things on my quick tour were the Round Tower, Church of our Lady Cathedral (where the crown prince couple were wed in 2004).

Copenhagen is a really pretty city to wander around and I was really lucky with the sun coming out as I walked along by the harbour and the people were friendly. Would definitely recommend a trip here if you're heading up to this part of Europe : )

Berlin 11 Oct

Shame to only have one day here but just really wanted to hang out with Arne and Sina (who had moved from Hamburg since last time I was in Northern Germany) so it was just a whirlwind visit to catch up with some good mates. Arrived in the evening on the 10th, picked up some turish and had dinner at Sina's apartment. Check out the pics from our Day Trip at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021234&l=a1798&id=220000480

I had done most of the touristy stuff last time when I was in Berlin for New Years but we met Sina at Hermannplatz and took the number 100 bus from Alexanderplatz all the way to the end of the line, it was a pretty cool route running past heaps of the main sites. Sina had fallen down some stairs while moving a couple of weeks back and injured both feet and it was really interesting to see a different side of Berlin with her on crutches.

Managed to borrow a wheelchair and the three of us spend the afternoon exploring the zoo which was a lot of fun. Spent a lot of time in the monkey enclosure (a few of the bigger ones were so human-esque! and the little ones were mental!) saw all the normal animals as well as Knut - a 6 month old polar bear cub which was really cute. After a big day we just had a chilled evening at home having dinner with Arne's flatmates as we were all pretty tired and I had an early start the next morning (heading up to Denmark) thanks for inviting me back to Berlin guys - it was awesome to see you again - next time in NZ yeah ; )

Prague 8-10 Oct

It actually ended up being a good thing that I was two minutes late for my train from Vienna to Prague. The two hours waiting for the next train gave me time to enjoy a beautiful Weiner Schnitzel and Edelweiss Beer at the station and I ended up meeting Mark, Kelly and Greg (from Utah) and Lauren (from Toronto) who introduced me to Flight of the Conchords while we raided the mini bar (pretty cheap even though it was a train!) We lost Mark and Kelly when we got to the station but the three of us had fun there and waited for three more of their friends to arrive on the next train from Vienna. We checked into our hostels and ended up having a great night out partying at the club next to my place.

Check out the Prague pics on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021231&l=ddb9c&id=220000480

Its hard to suddenly go from travelling by yourself to having 7 other people to work around but it was pretty nice to have the company. Once we got all sorted with breakie at Bohemian Bagel and the others moved from a hostel to a hotel we started on a little bit of sightseeing walking towards Charles Bridge. The others headed back to the hostel for a nap and to get pretty and I continued on to the other side of the river to czech (see what I did there - haha!) out the Church of St. Nicholas, the Wallenstein gardens and made my way up to the castle for a look around. We all met back up and spent the afternoon wandering around town. Split again for dinner (with Lauren and I going for 99K Indian while the others had steak) and then spent the evening hanging out at the Irish Pub on the square - awesome to just chill and chat with these guys.

Was up pretty early to make the most of my day (whats different!) and wandered through Wencelas Square on my way to the station to head out to Kutna Hora famous for its ossuary. Gow had recommended the "bone church" one hour out of Prague, it wasn't as scary as the catacombs Id seen but pretty amazing to see chandeliers made out of every bone in the human bosy and pyramids of bones with over 40,000 people contributing to the "artwork" of this unique church. Next stop... Berlin

Austria 6-8 Oct

Pics on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021217&l=7fb3a&id=220000480

Salzburg

Had a good start to the morning with a true Bavarian breakfast of white sausages, sauerkraut and beer with Gow in Munich but definitely needed it for the big day ahead. The 3.5hr train ride wasnt anything special and the sky wasnt so welcoming when I first arrived in Salzburg but I decided to just dump my stuff at the hostel and headed into the centre to check it out just as it was getting dark. Saw Kajetanerkirche and wandered down Kapielplatz with a gorgeous view of the fortress on the hill, fountain, sculpture and it lead through the Domplatz with the amazing cathedral. Due to the weather Salzburg wasnt that pretty during the day but lots of places in Europe get this gorgeous yellow glow at nighttime.

Heading into the city at night turned out to be a better idea than first planned as there was a special "Night out at the museum" evening on on the 6th of Oct in Austria where a whole bunch of museums were open from 6pm to 1am and a cheap card got you entry into all of them so I spend the night making great use of my one night in Salzburg. Started at the Salzburg Museum with lives and works of people who had influenced Salzburg and and awesome video comparing the city historically to now. I got to sample Austrian red wine and see old music boxes being played in Freysaultkeller, Romanischer keller had live music downstairs, saw the foundations underground of the Dom Cathedral , walked around inside the Residenzgakerie (with an amazing throne room) and the Dom Museum (with a great explanation about the bronze door of hope), Landkartengalerie (the universities map gallery) was really well restored and finished my evening with a funicular ride up to the fortress on the hill for a guided tour and a beautiful view out over the city at night

Seeing as I was in Salzburg I figured I should see a few of the Sound of Music bits and pieces and being a Sunday public transport wasnt a great option as a few of the places were a bit out of the city so signed up for a tour and the 6 young ones of us banded together and had a fun time. We saw the Schloss Mirabell (with the "Do Rae Me" steps), Schloss Hellbrunn (with the "I am 16 going on 17" gazebo), Hellbrunner Allee ("I have confidence"), Palace of Leopoldskron (this was the outside of their house in the movie where they had pink lemonade on the patio and the kids fell into the 1m deep man-made lake). It was awesome to get out of the town and see Lake Wolfgang / St. Gilgen (and Red Bull H/Q!) and we had a great time toboganning down the hill - made a great change from sitting on the bus : ) Last stop was Mondsee and the Collegiate Church where Maria and the Baron finally got married, and enjoyed apple strudel for lunch before training to Vienna

Vienna

After a busy morning following in Maria's footsteps I ended up spending a quiet night at my hostel in Vienna. It was a really cool one with a awesome underground bar and I had some pretty awesome roommates so just spend the evening chatting to Matt and Jenkins from South Carolina, good times : )

Up pretty early the next morning to cover everything I had been lazy about doing the night before. Vienna was a pretty city (so many statues and important buildings!) Started at Herrengasse near Minoritenplatz and I took the scenic route to Rathaus and ended up at the Imperial Palace (Hofburg) which was pretty so wandered through there and Maria Theresien Platz with the Natural History and Kunsthistorisches Museums and the Museum Quarter itself before finding the Rathaus and taking some pretty pictures with gorgeous blue skies. Found Austria's first holocaust memorial in Judenplatz on my way to Stephansplatz, the church is pretty amazing from the inside and out but its always a shame about the construction work. My pack was getting a bit heavy so did one final ride of the tram around the ring road which goes past all the major sights again and saw the Royal Apartments, Karlskirche and the Secession Building before heading to the train station to catch a train bound for the Czech Republic

Munich 1-5 Oct

Munich pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021203&l=5c97b&id=220000480

Oktoberfest pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021215&l=6c294&id=220000480

Was awesome to spend some time in Munich (and my visit just happened to conincide with Oktoberfest) Gow had just moved down a couple of weeks ago and was lovely enough to let me crash at his and Andrew had come down from Sweden and Nina from Goettingen so it was an awesome little reunion. The boys picked me up off my train, welcoming me to the city with a beer and we had a great evening catching up.

Mon 1 Oct
Wanted to actually see a bit of the city with Andrew before going to Oktoberfest so took the train out to Olympiazentrum and checked out the Olympic grounds from the top of the tower (pretty amazing views!) and also the BMW Museum because we could : ) Had a huge bretzel for lunch in Marienplatz and saw a few of the must-see's in the area; St Peterskirche, shopping Street Kaufingerstrasse, Munich's landmark church Frauenkirche (if you stand at a certain point in the entrance you cant see any of the amazing stained glass windows), Michealskirche is Germany's grandest renaissance church, Kalstor (old city gate) and Richard Strass Fountain before watching the Gockenspiel at the neo-gothic Neues Rathaus perform at 5pm - bit of a let down to be fair so we decided it was time for beer. Had a great first experience at Oktoberfest, Andrew and I ended up making friends with a table of German and Irish guys and having a fun night

Tues 2 Oct
One of Nina's friends had booked a space inside one of the tents from 12-6 so we jumped on the bandwagon and soaked up the atmosphere with a couple of their other friends from NZ, Ben and his sister Francis. Oktoberfest really is an awesome vibe, its so much more than just drinking (although that is the main order of the day) with a huge theme park outside waiting to suck up all the drunken monkies' monies. Had a great time with Nina inside the tent with live music and the most amazing grilled chicken youve ever had in your life, the beer isnt even that expensive at 8euros per masse (one litre). Met Gow (after he finished work) in the biergarden outside and continued to have a pretty good night with free gingerbread hearts : )

Wed 3 Oct
A public holiday in commemoration of the reunification on this date in1990 so we decided to take a break from the beer and enjoy a picnic in Englischer gardens all afternoon and then we made a huge chicken salad at home for dinner, great to have a day to just chill with good mates in this pretty city

Thur 4 Oct
Nina was heading home today so was cool to hang out with her for a bit and also to get a few jobs done (my first time to wash clothes in a bathtub and then hunt down a laundromat to dry them - it was like an American movie but i didnt meet any cute guys while I was waiting for my spin cycle). Checked out the last few things around Marienplatz that I had missed on Monday - Adamskirche which was amazing and so ornate you wouldn't believe it was a church inside, Stadtmusuem was interesting with one crazy and one boring photo exhibit, an awesome musical instruments section and some scary puppets. Last church in the area was Hellinggeistkirche and then wandered through the cool open-air market that is Viktualienmarkt before spending a quiet night in

Fri 5 Oct
Okay so I didnt really plan to stay in Munich this long but I was having a great time hanging out with Gow and Paul and Hayley had just arrived in Munich last night so I wasnt going to pass up the opportunity for one more Oktoberfest experience. Checked out the Deutsches Museum in the morning before meeting them though (so I didnt fell completely uncultured!) and was really glad I went. There were exhibits on everything; glass, paper, textiles, the environment and of course being a science and technology musuem there was a lot of technical stuff I didnt understand but also some really cool presentations of things like the high-voltage unit - awesome! Any museum that can hold boats, planes, rockets and a planetarium is pretty impressive. Later that afternoon I was back at Oktoberfest with Paul (my cousin whose living in London) so it was awesome to see him again. Hayley and a few of her mates showed up a little later in matching dresses and they looked gorgeous and we had a great night chatting, eating, drinking, dancing and just enjoying the atmosphere - good times! Check out the photos at the link above ; )

Liechtenstein 30 Sep

See the pics from my afternoon in Liechtenstein on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021014&l=4468a&id=220000480

Randomly on the way from Zurich to Munich I decided to take the really scenic route and pop into a different country - Liechtenstein - just for a few hours in the afternoon to check it out. There are no trains in the country so I took the train to Sargans and then the bus into Vaduz (the capital) which gave me a little bit of time to see the rest of the coutry. Vaduz was really pretty, a nice peaceful little town to visit on a Sunday afternoon. Got my passport stamped at the tourist office just to prove Id been there, sent a postcard to my folks and bought the obligatory patch and country sticker. Hiked up the hill on the edge of the city (with my pack) for a closer look at the castle where the prince and his family live and then took the bus back out to Buchs and trained on up to Munich from there. Pretty cool to just pop into another country for the afternoon but it (at least Vaduz) was really pretty to spend a couple of hours wandering around and great to add another country to my ever growing list.

Switzerland Adventures 27-29 Sep

Lausanne and Bern pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021010&l=bf993&id=220000480

Lausanne
Recommended by a couple of girls from Perth Id met at a hostel, I took the train for an hour from Bern seeing as I was too early to check into my hostel (yay for rail passes - absolutely love travelling through Switzerland by train, its so pretty!) to check out Museo De L'Art Brut, which was definitely worth the trainride. The musuem is really more like an art gallery with pieces by untrained artists - psychiatric patients, eccentricts and incarcerated criminatls - making for some pretty interesting displays. Really impressive collection but I think my favourite piece by far was a 3D aquarium made completely by shells by Pail Amar. Also had time to check out Cathedrale de Lausanne and Esplanade de Montbenon with pretty views out over Lake Geneva (Western Europe's largest lake) Lausanne was cute but steep and it was a little crazy to switch from Swiss-German to Swiss-French but really glad I came to visit, even if it was short

Bern
Awesome to see an old town in Switzerland, Bern was lovely bordered on three sides with the river Aare and with a number of churches I had a great time wandering round in the evening when everything had a faint orange glow to it. The zeitglockenturm chimes on the hour and the city is filled with fountains, cute covered walkways and a really regal feel, awesome to stumble across free live music in Kornhausplatz too. Shame Parliament was under construction (as they usually have free guided tours) but it was great to walk up the tower at Munster cathedral and get a great view out over the city, as well as the gorgeous stained glass windows inside.

Luzern and Zurich pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021013&l=821bd&id=220000480

Lucerne
Now this is a picturesque city if ever there was one, the touristy Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge) has graced many a photo and it was amazing to look out over Lake Lucerne to Mt. Pilatus. Got a chance in the afternoon to look around the Glacial gardens which were pretty awesome, the musuem had a great presentation about climate changes in Lucerne and scientific explanations and facts about glaciers (in all three languages!) and there was even a recreation of 18thC living quarters and a "hall of mirrors" just for good balance. Finished the night off by dipping bread and sausage into cheese fondue with an aussie girl from the hostel - so good, especially being able to taste the hint of wine. Definitely dont overlook Lucerne if you ever have the chance to visit.

Zurich
Arrived just in time to find the English Sports Pub to watch the ABs beat Romania in the afternoon made a couple of NZ mates who invited me to a party later that evening so still had the time to cram in a few touristy things. Zurich was pretty too (anyone sensing that I liked Switzerland yet...) checked out a couple of churches;Grossmunster had a pretty view from the top of the south tower, Fraumunster had some absolutely amazing stained glass windows and St Peters Church had the largest clockface in Europe. Checked out a funky exhibition of buddha statues mised with snowmen and empty cookoo clocks before wandering down the east bank of Lake Zurich to Zurichhorn park and enjoyed people watching all those out and about on a Saturday afternoon. Wandered up Bahnhofstrasse - amazing elegant shopping street - on my way back to the hostel (awesome with partitioned beds even in a dorm room!) and then had a great time chilling with new friends at a house party.

Jungfau Region 23-26 Sep

To see my pictures from the Jungfrau region, check out http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021011&l=84e47&id=220000480

Well, Ive never been to Switzerland before but never has taking the train into a country felt so much like coming home as this did. Maybe after all the craziness and history overload of amazing Italy it was just awesome to get back to nature. I absolutely loved this part of the world, everybody definitely has to include it in their Europe trip!!

Interlaken
Had a great train ride up from Verona (4 different ones) it started getting beautiful through Northern Italy (Verbania and Domodossola) and we rode along the side of avalley from Brig to Spiez (right on Lake Thun, so shame my train was in 15mins!) but rode around the lake to Interlaken an settled in for a quiet evening at my gorgeous little youth hostel right on Lake Boningen. Walked into town along the lakefront the next morning to explore before my canyonning adventure (probably not the best idea with my neck still not 100% but a lot of fun!). We clambered into wetsuits, drove a little out of the city, hiked up-stream a bit and then proceeded to jump, abseil and slide our way down the canyon - awesome way to spent and afternoon!

Lauterbrunnen
On recommendation of a good friend of mine I made it to this tiny valley in the mountains and a really cute friendly independent hostel. It was too cloudy to go right up to the top of Jungfrau (or even Schilthorn) but had a great time just chilling in the valley - its gorgeous! Checked out trickling Staubbach Falls and then the mighty Trummelbach Falls - 10 glacier waterfalls inside the mountain - amazing! Took a cute funicular and train ride up into the clouds and wandered through the mountain town of Murren and back down the gondola to the valley

Grindlewald
Didnt do anything touristy in Grindlewald at all, it was a little drizzly out and my hostel was on the hill overlooking the mountains with a fireplace, guitar and a comfy sofa so I just settled in for the night with a good book enjoying the view, great re-energiser

Padua and Verona 21-22 Sep

Check out my pics from Padua and Verona on facebook at
http://vuwac.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020529&l=989ae&id=220000480

Friday 21 September
Spent the day wandering around Padua. Checked out Scrovengni Temple which was pretty amazing with 38 frescoe panels by Grotto that depict Christs life. It wasnt like other religious artworks I had seen with the bright, blue starry roof making this a pretty amazing place. Continued to get properly lost in this city without a map but stumbled upon a fruit market, wandered along the river and a huge detour around St Giustina Church before finding Basilica di Sant Antonio (patron saint of Padua and lost things - so very ironic that it took me so long to find it!) Made my way to Verona and my hostel up on the hill, watched the sun set from San Pietro Castle which was a gorgeous panorama of the city.

Saturday 22 September
Up early to make the most of my day in Verona - such a pretty city! Walked into town across Ponte Nuovo, quickly popped into Duomo at the start of a service and then through Piazza Erbe and Di Signori before picking up my Verona Card. Found Juliettes tomb (and a couple of weddings) and had lunch in Piazza Bra before checking out the Arena - third largest amphitheatre in Europe dating from the 1st century. Juliettes house was pretty roomy (about six floors with high ceilings) and stood on the balcony overlooking the graffiti covered courtyard and rubbed the breast of Juliettes statue as its said to bring good luck in love. There was some random international games festival (called Toscali) in town this weekend with petanque, old-school hockey and baseball, marbles, knife throwing, giant dice, biscotti making, arts and crafts, giant chess, stilts, whips, goh, go-karts, and spinning top pinball (which I was awful at but it was fun!). Found Romeos house (now a private residence) and the Della Scala (Scaligeri) residence in my wanders too. Had a quiet night chatting with my roommates at the hostel, had a great time in Verona and it was awesome as my last impression of Italy - off to Switzerland tomorrow - ciao!