Europe 2011

We arrived in Prague from our over night train and made our way to the Marriott hotel. We were able to check in early and had a modern, fully self contained apartment. We found accommodation, food and drinks to be very cheap in Prague so we ate out a lot. We did a hop on hop off tour which was quite informative and gave us a good overview of the city. We took a guided tour of Prague castle, walked across Charles Bridge, explored the Jewish Quarter and the old town. We went to a sports bar to watch the All Blacks vs Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup semi final. On our last day we visited Prague Zoo which was a lot larger than we expected and managed to get lost when we needed to make our way back to the hotel. We eventually found the exit and got to the airport in time. The zoo was great but would require a full day to see everything.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Europe but are looking forward to returning home to see friends and family.

We were staying in Lauterbrunnen and when we got to Interlaken (20 minutes away) we were advised it was impossible to get there as too much snow had melted and caused a large flood that had covered the roads and also taken out part of the railway track. We were told we might be able to get there in a few hours time. We went and got some dinner and 3 hours later we were advised by a rail employee we would need to catch the train to Zweilutchen and then a bus would be there to take us to Lauterbrunnen. The bus came half an hour later and we eventually got to our hostel at 9pm. We were pretty exhausted so had an early night. The next day we woke up to stunning views of the mountains and waterfalls with sunny weather. We found Switzerland very expensive so all our meals came from the supermarket. We explored Lauterbrunnen and visited Trummelbach falls which was a series of fast flowing waterfalls fed from glaciers high up in the mountains. We saw cows and sheep with bells on and found the town very peaceful. In the afternoon we went shopping in Interlaken. On day 2 we caught the cable car 2700 metres to the top of the Shilthorn where a 1960s James Bond movie was filmed. We enjoyed being in the snow and had 360 degree views of the alps. There was a revolving restaurant where we had a drink before catching the cable car down to Murren. We had lunch in Murren then hiked to Gimmelwald which was a cute little farming village. We caught the cable car to the bottom and got the bus back to Lauterbrunnen. On day 3 we caught the train to Zurich and explored the city before catching the night train to Prague.

We stayed in a charming B&B on the outskirts of Salzburg with views of the snow capped mountains. The meals we had at the B&B were excellent. We went on the Sound of Music tour which we both enjoyed. We learned the facts of the movie, visited many sights and were entertained by our very funny tour guide. After the tour we visited Mozarts residence.

The next day we had planned to go on the Eagles Nest Tour but unfortunately they cancelled it due to too much snow on the roads. We decided to get a 24 hour Salzburg card which gave us free transport and entrance to many attractions. We caught the cable car to the top of Untersberg Mountain which was 1773m high. We played in the snow then had a coffee in the cafe to warm up. We visited Hellbrunn Palace and the trick fountains that the arch bishop of Salzburg had built. The gardens had hidden water features that the guide would turn on to wet the visitors. We were some of the lucky ones that didn't get too wet. We toured the Salzburg fortress which had magnificent 360 degree views of Salzburg and the surrounding countryside. Even though the weather was very cold and wet we still enjoyed our time in Salzburg.

In Vienna we were looked after very well by Jaimees great uncle and aunty. They showed us around, took us to Schonbrunn Palace, an art museum and also gave us a tour of the city by horse and carriage. We dined at several up market restaurants and met more of Jaimees relatives. Vienna was a beautiful city with a lot of history. Jaimees 2nd cousin drove us from Vienna to Vocklabruck, a town where her family lived before taking us to stay with her great, great aunty in Linz. Jaimees relatives were all really lovely. From Linz we were taken to visit Hallstatt, a beautiful town on a lake with snow capped mountains. The temperature dropped by 15 degrees within 24 hours. In Hallstatt we visited a cemetery which had a crypt of decorated human skulls. After Hallstatt the family kindly drove us to Salzburg. We tried several different types of traditional Austrian cuisine during our stay. We had a fantastic time with the relatives and look forward to seeing them again on our next trip.

We arrived in Venice and caught the ferry to Lido Island where we were staying. Our hotel was just across the road from the ferry terminal and we had a view of Venice from our room. The weather was nice so we went for a swim at Lido beach. The water was clear and refreshing. We had dinner on Lido then caught the ferry to explore Venice at night away from the crowds. The next day we planned to go to Murano Island to see the glass making but the ferries were having a 24 hour strike so we were unable to go. We managed to get to the train station to store our luggage and spent the day getting lost in Venice with the crowds. We had a nice dinner and wine at a restaurant on the grand canal before making our way back to the station to catch the night train to Austria.