Hob-a-Nob

Telstra ADSL Lol

2011-05-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Telstra can't install ADSL or ADSL2 service at my premise in Port Macquarie, Settlement city. I'd re-consider moving to Settlement city if you'd like ADSL, other parts of town seem to have access but cross Settlement city off your list.

It's a new development and has Telstra boxes on the side of my house, bit of joke, good one Telstra. They've installed a Pair Gain system around the houses here so they share phone lines. Back to the days of party lines!

Hiking the Cinque Terra

2008-09-18T05:29:00.001-07:00

Day 1 - London to Milano (Underground, Plane, Bus, Taxi, Train)

Up at 4:40am and off to Milano from Kings Cross station, just made it to the first underground train at 5:30am to the airport. What a rush and Melissa runs with me as well. The plane trip over was uneventful and we caught a bus into Milano central station, once there Jim and Carmel arrived shortly thereafter.

A quick snack followed by a long taxi ride to the Green residence our random accommodation, it was OK and we ventured into Milano. We didn't really know exactly where we wanted to go and ended up walking around looking at shops and bits and bobs. We stumbled into a cafe where no one spoke English, the people there were very friendly though and we had a good time gesturing and being shown the food which we were ordering.

That night we had a cold pizza and a quick room party before nodding off to a well deserved rest.

Day 2 - Milano (Underground, Tram & Shanks Pony)

The underground in Milano was three Euro for a day pass and we navigated our way into central Milan once again. The girls managed to find all the shops and from all accounts the clothes were expensive. Luckily though we got lost and found ourselves in a park, well that's what I figure happened anyway, I was just taking the photo's. More shopping followed and Jim decided we should go see the Canals in the late evening well worth it, see photo's.

That night we found out that restaurants open at 7pm in Milan and we hit a diamond of a restaurant which served up a fabulous meal and we had a quick chat to an American who's wife had ditched him for the day as he went to see the Grand Prix for the second day in the rain.

Day 3 - Milano to La Spezia (Underground, Train, Shanks Pony)

No power, no laptop, in our rush to get on the London train I simply didn't have time to get our European adapter so Melissa and I walked around the local shops and found one. Unfortunately I'd also forgotten my camera cord so the photo's are a little lower quality and I had to be a little selective in taking them.

The commute was about 4 hours to La Spezia and the overground train system was easy to navigate, we arrived at La Spezia and took the long way to the 'My Hotel'. The hotel was very nice and the only gripe I had was the shower which was tiny and burnt my chest(ouch) and the hot water lasted about ten minutes at a burst.

We managed to find an OK restaurant that night and had a couple of bottles of wine between four which was very nice. I was excited about walking the Cinque Terra the next day and didn't sleep well that night.

Day 4 - La Spezia to Cinque Terra (Boat, Shanks Pony)

That morning we woke up early to catch the morning ferry - 21 Euros / person and 5 Euro / person for a walking pass. The boat was great and stopped at each village on the way there, the views were fabulous and I'd recommended taking it, it was well worth paying extra for it. We got off at Monterroso (5th village) and took a look around the village, then walked through to Village four Venerzalla, the walk the hardest of the track (3 hours?).

And once we arrived we were all tired and ready for food, we stopped at the first restaurant in the village which turned out to be a really good pick. We shared two pizza's (surprise) and a couple of drinks. The ferry time table was a little confusing and the ferries didn't run to time which didn't help, so in our rush to get on the ferry we got on the wrong one.... whoops. Well I can tell you being on a boat in the Cinque Terra for an extra half an hour is actually a good thing :) So everyone was happy with our fortunes.

That night we went back to the same restaurant in La Spezia and had a really crap meal and service, perhaps because we didn't tip the night before. If you do this try another restaurant the following night.....

Day 5 - La Spezia to Cinque Terra (Train, Shanks Pony)

This was by far the best day, the sun was around 24 degree's in the day and the walks were really easy with a good amount of time to take in the breath taking views. Melissa and I walked together through 'lovers lane'(aka the 'via del amore') and dropped some money into the accordion man's satchel. It was very romantic and we were waiting for Jim to re-propose to Carmel but he held out :) We walked around village one to four and met a couple of groups of Kiwi's from Wanaka and Wellington, I was happy with this as for the majority of the trip we met Aussies and was told that the Kiwi's were being bred out!

At the 3rd Village we had a really nice lunch were the service was fantastic so we gave the man a trip, he was from Sicily and is small, slightly balding and looking for older women, so if you happen to be in town be sure to give him heaps. He even managed to do a fake spill of espresso on me and intentionally not bring Jim his beer I was well impressed and he agreed with me when I said Australians were crazy :)

Once we'd finished our walk it was time to take a swim in the Mediterranean, the swim was great and the water was greater. Jim managed to splash a few ladies who were gingerly entering the water, an elite athlete by all accounts, these ladies simply should have just seen him coming.

We saw the sun set while dining alfresco the pizza left a little to be desired though... perhaps the Earls Court Pizza house had spoilt us and we weren't that impressed with Italian pizza's but it should be noted the dough is pretty good as they make it themselves.

In bed by 11pm for a 6:20am wake up.

Day 6 - La Spezia to Milano to London Town (Train, Tram, Bus, Plane)

Writing the travel adventures on the train, have managed to tweak my laptop to survive for 8 hours.

Edinburgh and Nessie

2008-09-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - London to Edinburgh

Terminal 5 didn't' loose our bags, thanks British Airways. We made it to the hotel half an hour before Jim and Carmel and had a couple of drinks n Nacho's. Then we had a walk around the city to check out the place, ended up walking through the shops, that night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant across the road from the Hotel. The hotel we stayed in was right below the impressive castle, we had a great view.

Day 2 - Edinburgh to Loch Ness

Since we were in Scotland and Jim and Carmel had a car, Melissa decided a trip to Loch Ness was in order, she organised it Contiki styles and had a day sheet drawn up and all. So up early back late, what a day, Scotland was grey but getting out and about was good fun.

Inverness had a local fund raiser on and we walked through a pretty island park, very relaxing and the town provided the country pace. At lunch we'd made it to Loch Ness and stopped off at a restaurant, in the hope that we'd spot Nessie over lunch but we found a place without a view :/

I ordered steak at an outrageous cost and everyone had crusty hamburgers, they all felt sick and decided to have two milk shakes to make up for it. I joined them in their indulgence, which was to my detriment as I felt very car sick later on as we really haven't gone for a car journey in quite sometime. The Scottish Loch's are very skinny and the country side was a refreshing view to the contrast of the grey grim London streets.

That night there was a wedding on at the hotel and Jim had to park the car a couple of blocks up the road, it took him half an hour to get back so he must have enjoyed a pint at the local or something...

Day 3 - Edinburgh Castle and fireworks

The castle was by far the best part of our trip, the tour guide was very impressive and rattled out a whole lot of information which I won't repeat. The staff inside the castle looking after the place also spoke about each room as you walked in, it wasn't their job but they did it anyway. It added to the tour and we had a great time, even if it was raining on me all day and I was in a t-shirt, the weather made me feel like I was at home ^^

That night Jim and Carmel met up with a workmate for drinks and Melissa and I had a swim in the pool and a steam in the Sauna, for some reason in Europe we haven't found a proper spa yet... very un-impressive really. I think you need to pay heaps to go to a spa resort, I don't think my mother would survive a year without a spa....

We all met up eventually and watched the fireworks which went for an hour played to a Hungarian opera's conductor or something, it was very impressive and we'd seen all the fireworks at the castle earlier, all four tons of them.

Day 4 - Edinburgh to London

Melissa and I had such a good time here we're coming back!!! Watch this space for the Isle of Skye(Mist) and Isle of Bute, where Melissa and Jamie explore a few of the western Isles.

Other Stuff

Some of our fun times in London can be seen via the slide shows here.

The squirrels

Kew Gardens

Engaged!

2008-09-02T03:16:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I were very excited about a weekend away in Paris. We had been there once before however didn't have the opportunity then to see the Lourve or the Notre Dame and so decided to have a return visit. Instead of flying over we took the Eurostar. It was a much shorter journey and by 10:30 we were checking into the hotel, before heading into the city for some site seeing.

The Lourve was amazing and well worth the return trip, it has so many wings and floors full or sculptures and paintings it's hard not to get lost. As we left the Lourve and were walking along the Champs Elysees Jamie suggested that we have a look for a really nice resturant for dinner that night. After having a rest and getting changed off we headed for an amazing meal.

Following dinner we decided that it would be nice to go to the viewing platform across from the Eiffel Tower so we could see it all lit up and sparkling in the night. As I was looking out at the Eiffel Tower, Jamie suddenly got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was very unexpected and he was over the moon when I said 'YES of course I will'. It was then that I realised why we had the flash dinner and the bottle of Champagne waiting for us at the hotel. I have to say he did an amazing job of surprising me.

The next day we continued our site seeing of Paris and headed of to the Luxembourg Park and the Notre Dame. The gardens were amazing as was the architecture at the Notre Dame. All in all it was a weekend neither of us will ever forget.

Sunday Cookup

2008-07-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of weeks now, Sarah (a friend from work) and I have been talking about trying to find some new recipes to make to improve our cooking skills. So Jamie and I invited her over and with some inspiration from 'Foodie Calls' we re-created one of Mel's dishes, Bloody Mary Chicken with Cantaloupe Salsa.

As we had a mixture of ingredients (both from the original and Mel's altered recipe) we proceeded to combine the 2 and I must say it was delicious. However, instead of serving with a nice wine, we thought a frozen mango daquiri would add a nice touch.

Sarah bought over some 'instant scone mix' (courtesy of the Irish and ASDA - a low cost supermarket) which we whipped up for desert, served with strawberry jam and vanilla cream it was the perfect finish to a great meal.

Weekend away in Dublin

2008-07-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

Parties and planes

Friday night was birthday night, 4 people at Melissa's work had their birthdays in July and had decided to celebrate at the local bar and I was invited. It was a fantastic night, I met most of Mel's workmates and floated around like a social butterfly. Missy had a great time too, but she had a little trouble getting me home early, eventually we ended up at home at about 11:30pm.
I dozed to sleep I remember Missy packing 'te he he'

Beep BEEP BEEP BEEP, 5am came and Missy was up and at em, I wasn't so sprightly....
ahhh well I got their eventually and we jogged to King's Cross station, the saying running a little late came to life. After an hour of the tube and train(£34 - inc return)) we arrived at the Stansted airport ticket desk ten minutes before check-in closed. I had forgotten to print the tickets(£103 - inc return) but I had the confirmation number and my trusty laptop with the e-mail on it.

However the check-in lady said we'd need to go to the ticket desk and pay for our check in- well we weren't in a mood to argue or discuss so sixteen pounds later we got our boarding passes and headed off..... the booking lady was a bit shocked and gave us an address to get a refund, I think the check in lady was messing with us.

The flight was uneventful but it was raining when we arrived and the plane did full on slides upon landing. Missy and I found the buses and headed off to Malahide(1.50EU/each), it was easy enough but we needed the exact change for the bus as no change is given. The sun came out as we alighted from the bus and Missy couldn't wait to get to the local castle, so off we trotted.

It turned out to be a lovely wee walk and I took a few photos, we decided not to go in and instead headed back to our bed & breakfast (140EU/total). On the way back we checked out the village which had a Starbucks, park, marina and lots of places to eat. It reminded Missy of Port Macquarie and I was also reminded of Tauranga, though it was a tad bit cooler at about 15 degrees in the summer!

After a lovely 20 minute walk around the beach we arrived at the B&B, there was a lovely room and there was promise of a full Irish breakfast yum, yum. The bed was superb and we deserved a cheeky little rest so we treated ourselves, that night we went to Giovani's in town, the place was packed. It was a good meal and I couldn't help but notice the American influence on the culture in Dublin, the waiters came over about 3 times in 2 minutes to ask if we were having desert.

The next morning Missy found the showers a little cold and low on pressure however breakfast made up for this minor impasse. So we made our way into Dublin via bus, Dublin was pretty quiet on Sunday morning however as we navigated our way across town we walked into a whole load of horses. It was a little strange, I'm guessing it's Dublin's Sunday horse market, in New Zealand we have flee markets :)

The chimney look up was closed which turned out to be for the best as the Guinness factory had a beaut lookout at the top of the Guinness glass. The Guinness glass being the building of course, designed in Chicago and one of the first Dublin sky scrapers... at about 7 floors I didn't think it that much of a sky scraper.

The view and the bar at the top of the factory was good fun, everyone was having a complimentary Guinness and Missy and I nearly fell asleep at the bar.
So much travelling wears you down and it's important to just chill out, if you get the chance.

That night it was back to Malahide for dinner a romantic pizza in the park and a walk back along the coast to the B&B for an early night. There was some Irish TV on and a chef show, we had a giggle at the chef's accent three sounded like tree and woah woah weee waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah they really have a huge accent.

The following morning at 6am we were in a Taxi to the airport and made for an early check in, as I type people are standing awaiting to board the flight... I just always sit and wait till most of them are on. I figure the more time off the plane the better, speedy check-in is a con :))

The damage for a cheeky weekend in Dublin
- Flights return £103
- Trains return Stansted - £34
- Accommodation 2 nights- 140 EU
- Travel in Dublin bus & taxi - 30 EU
- Food in Dublin yum yum - 115 EU
- Attractions in Dublin Guinness factory - 30 EU
- Total £137, $315 EU

Expeditious Visits

2008-06-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

June is nearly at an end and it has been a busy month, what with me being off work and everything..... the life of a loafer ain't all it's cracked up to be :)

As you might all know I've been off work recently and I'm counting down the months until I get back to the mighty NZ! Although there are many travels to accomplish before that - Italy, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, France, Egypt, Singapore and then Australia.

At the end of June, Danielle who is Melissa's cousin stayed for a couple of nights, she's not new to travelling and this was her completely independent mission, well that's what we were told :) So being in our a new apartment we were more than happy to put Danielle up and we showed her around three separate markets and a park in one day - Camden, Angel flower and Brick Lane markets as well as Regents park.

That night we rounded up ingredients for a fabulous mango daiquiri and it was scrumptious and a little alcoholic. Danielle was worn out that night and fell asleep during a Top Gear episode that was playing at a record number of decibels!

Although Danielle was a seasoned traveller she still had a little trouble with her monetary funds and called upon Melissa for assistance. That was after a discussion with her mother and I happened to hear the words 'things should just be simpler and easier'. Apparently banks these days don't accommodate for travellers that forget their pin.... shocking!

Well Melissa was all to happy to help however the story did the family rounds as Danielle's parents had to get in touch with Melissa's parents to get Melissa's bank details. Money was exchanged from Australia to Australia and from the UK to the UK.... now that was simple..... hmmm confused... I am :)

So Danielle has her London legs now and a bit of spare change in her pocket. There were a couple of close calls with the train and one missed however as Auntie Bev found out this is all to common a story in the UK.....

Which brings us to Harrods, I don't know how I get roped into all these shopping adventures but everyone tells me you must go here and there and do this and that.... Really... well... you know. Harrods was huge, Auntie Beverly and Bronwyn came along with us. The girls were really chuffed with Harrods and they only tortured me for a couple of hours all and all it wasn't too bad.

So Melissa and I showed the Southern girls how the tube worked and around Regents park. They were really impressed with the park and I think they were really impressed with Melissa too! After a load of sight seeing and eating Auntie Bev and Bronwyn had to catch a train up north late in the evening however as they found out, the trains aren't really all that reliable.

The train they were meant to go was delayed and at about 10:30pm they decided it wasn't leaving the platform so they came up to the King's Cross Palace and crashed out on the exclusive air bed and couch. Our flatmate Dan has been pulling out all the bedding for the folks, good stuff Dan.

In other news family members have been breaking their collar bones, sinking their boats, loosing rapid amounts of weight, cooking up storms and getting new jobs! For more information please contact the Director.

Wine Tasting and Brighton

2008-06-11T02:45:00.000-07:00

For Jamie's birthday I took him for a vineyard tour and wine tasting day in Haywards Heath, Sussex. We took the train and were lucky enough to find tickets for only £10/day after searching different fare prices on the net. Upon arriving at the train station we found that finding the correct platform and train was a bit harder than we bargained for, and we were really lucky we left a few hours early. Otherwise we may have missed the wine tasting, and that would have been really sad...

British wine, is well to put it bluntly weak, this is due to the lack of sunshine in Britain, however there are a few wealthy Brits who have decided to squander their money on creating vineyards around the countryside. The vineyard we were at had a lovely man, that guided us around the vineyard and explained how vines grew and all the finer details of creating wine up to putting the labels on the bottles. It all looked very expensive and he suggested it wasn't a viable investment. After our tour we tasted three wines, which were o.k., Melissa and I liked the sparkling and the rose wine. Then they served dinner as well, which was very British it reminded me of eating at a British friends house. Cold cut ham and salad, but doesn't the chutney make the meal :)

After we had finished our wine tasting we packed up and headed off on the train to Brighton. Brighton is a really crazy place and it would definitely pay to book your accommodation much further in advance if you want to find a good deal. It was really quite pricey £100 / night - no breakfast , but I guess we were paying more for the location than a nice room. The photo below is the view from our room.

The 'Brighton Best Western Hotel' was just horrid, upon entering our room there was a foul aroma, which we soon discovered was due to the wet carpet. Which was being dried by a small fan heater, all the windows were closed and I though they were trying to gas us!!!! It was either stay there or go home and we decided to tough it out and stay. On checkout there was a line of people all complaining about their rooms. The shower was dirty and the view was dismal, they could have put in a little more effort, it should be called the Worst Western. Not something I'd recommed this 'Brighton Best Western Hotel' has put us off all Best / Worst Western hotels.

The beach there is quite weird to us antipodeans, no sand all rocks and pebbles. It made for a nice but very loud walk along the water. Brighton just felt like a town that was a constant funfair. The pier had all sorts of carnival attractions (rides and games) that were open all year round.

Apart from the beach, Brighton is well known for 'The Laines', which is a series of small walkways with shops on either side and lots of stalls. Just before entering 'The Laines' we found a really nice cafe that made fabulous eggs benedict for breakie. It as so good we had the same both mornings we were there. We really just had a relaxing weekend walking around taking in the sites.

We headed out on the town on Saturday night for some Cocktails, they had a 2-4-1 deal on so we thought why not give them a go. Our order took awhile to be filled and even then they got it wrong, however eventually we were given the drinks we had asked and paid for. The first cocktail we tried was a Cosmopolitan, it was really nice. The second was a choc-mint and boy was it STRONG!! Jamie had to finish mine, as it tasted like straight vodka with a hint of mintiness.

On the Sunday the sun finally made an appearance (however the temperature still didn't get above 13degrees- so much for summer) and we sun-baked on the rocks, eating hot chips and ice-cream for lunch, yum yum!!!

By 2pm we had had enough and decided to head home to London. The train ride to Clapham Junction - London, took as long as the Bus to Earl's Court (the train we needed wasn't running that day.....) After finally making it home at 4pm, we decided to have a quick nap before dinner, however we didn't wake until 4am!! No point in making dinner now, so we just went back to sleep.

What a relaxing end to the weekend.

A Weekend Away InThe Cotswolds

2008-06-07T14:58:00.000-07:00

Contiki craziness had passed away but Melissa and I still had the travel bug. We'd been working some land loving jobs and had put our pirate cutlasses away. The two other Captains, aka Cam and Leon have also travelled back to a far away place and are probably still out plundering!

The first major place on the agenda was Oxford, which was a student town with some neat cafes and a great Garden, J.R.R Tolkien even had a willow noted down as his favourite there which I was very impressed with. I thought it might have been on of the willows Bilbo Baggins ran into in Mirkwood forest on his way to sort out the mighty dragon 'Smaug'.

So Melissa choose a really lovely place to go within Britain 'The Cotswolds'. The Cotswolds are made up of a range of hills in Central-West England (aka 'The Heart of England'), it is quite a large area (40km across and 145km long) consisting of many small villages. Our method of travel was Thirfty car hire and I organised it to pickup from Heathrow (£86/3days hire). It was great to get into the country and drive a car again it's been 9 months or so since I've driven a car, Melissa was on google maps navigating me around yet again. Who says girls can't read maps she's an absolute legend.

Burton-on-the-Water a lovely little village with ducklings, a quaint bridge and a bed n breakfast (the old new inn £200 / 2 nights), garden room 2 rooms, breakfast included and a three course dinner which was absolutely divine. I thought we were going to be ripped off but it turned out to be an absolute treat. If you'd like to stay book it through this website http://www.theoldnewinn.co.uk/

While there we took a little drive around the surrounding villages (Cirencester and Burford) and ended up in a wild life park, for around £10 each we had a look around the place, it was a huge park and there were quite a few families around. Melissa is an animal lover and had a great time, I must say I was a little taken by all the animals and had a great stroll around the place followed up by an ice cream.

The following day we stayed at a bed n breakfast in Bristol (£50/night - no dinner), not much to say about Bristol we had a quick walk through Castle park and had lunch at a cafe along the water which took an hour to get our food, not that impressive. So we decided to high tail it to Bath and found the local Bath Spas, entry was £25/each. The baths had two pools, one a rooftop with the view of the city and one on the ground floor. Then in the middle there were 4 special steam suna's each with different aromatherapy scents and a waterfall shower in the middle. Also there were no kids, and that was great because we all know what kids do in pools.

At our shared bed and breakfast we met a group of students from Trinity College in Dublin they were cool and we shared a couple of drinks at the local. The following day we headed home and took some detours through small villages and roads which were like forest corridors, where your car is nearly touching the shrub on the sides and above. Before getting back into London we visited Stonehenge, Melissa loved it as she has always wanted to see Stonehenge and discover how it was put together and what it was used for. The audio guide helped to answer some of these questions, however it all seemed a bit mythical rather than realistic. I was mildly impressed.

All and all it was a great weekend away and we're hoping to do a few more, a certain person is forever telling us to go to York, so I guess that will be coming soon.

Contiki Craziness - Parts 12

2008-06-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Day 12 - Paris to London

After a massive Contiki around Europe it was time to head home, some of the people were dropped off at the airport in Paris. After that we went to a WW2 battle site, where the Canadians had fought for a strategic hill that had never been taken back from the Germans. Apparently they shelled the German positions for 7 days straight.

The survivors headed up to Calais for the ferry ride to Dover and then back to London via bus. Cards were signed address's were given out, all and all we were happy it was all over :) Once back Nat our tour guide tried to convince the pirates to come out drinking that night, but we'd had enough and were ready for a good nights rest.

Then End

Beeb Beeb - Jamie has won a Bafta

2008-05-30T00:36:00.001-07:00

In case you're wondering what a Bafta is go look here http://www.bafta.org/

Contiki Craziness - Parts 10 &11

2008-05-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Day 10 - Lucerne, Switzerland to Paris, France

The 4 captains had an early start the next day and rushed off in the morning (leaving a good 20mins before everyone else) so that we could get the 4 front seats in the bus. We thought that it would be nice to have a good view for the longest leg of the journey. This saddened a few of our fellow passengers as they had had these seats for the majority of the journey and didn't want to give them up.

During the journey we had a huge French history lesson from Nanny Nat, most people fell to sleep halfway through but Captain Sparrow was enthralled by talk of guillotines, Kings and Napoleans exploits. As we crossed the border into France we entered into some heavy snowfall. It was really pretty and we were lucky enough to get some time to play in it when we stopped for lunch.

Finally after a huge day in the bus we mde it into Paris and had a night tour of the city. It was amazing to see the sites and we got a few good photos when we were allowed to stop and get out of the bus.

Day 11 - Paris, France

After a delicious breakfast of croissionts and fruit and yoghurt (were not in Italy anymore) we all headed of in the bus to none other than the Eiffel Tower. It was a cold morning in Paris and the queue was already quite long. Finally we made it to the front of the queue (after about 35-40mins, not too bad really) and got our tickets to go all the way to the top of the Tower.

We had to take 2 lifts to get to the very top, but once there the veiw was AMAZING!! and just to top off the experience it started to snow, so you can imagine how cold it was being up soooo high. Captain Barboasa even managed to make it up and not feel too giddy from the height.

After we had finished at the Eiffel Tower we decided to take the metro to the Arc de Triomph (we were way too cold to walk around and explore that day) where we saw the war memorial for the unknown soldier. The arc is in the centre of the busiest round-a-bout in Paris and was built between 1806-1808 by the Emperor Napoleon I.

Following this we went to see the Lourve, unfortunalely we couldn't go inside as it was closed for the day, but even just to see the courtyard out the front and the controversial glass pyramid was really cool. As it was such a cold day we all decided to head back to the Hotel early so we could have a rest and get warm before the nights entertainment began. Capatins Hook and Morgan opted to have a sleep while Captains Barboasa and Sparrow took advantage of the Hotels spa and sauna facilities to help them get warm.

Feeling well rested we headed out to the Moulin Rouge for dinner and a show. The meal and show alike were amazing and the costumes left little to the imagination, you wouldn't catch me in one :)

Bon Voyage

Contiki Craziness - Part 9

2008-05-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Day 9 - Florance to Switzerland Lucerne

Nat our fearless tour guide explained to us 'always double bag, after a masscive night out on the Contiki Craziness' and as you can imagine, we felt sick and the rest of the bus was feeling down right ill! The Captains slept it off as we were used to a big night on the rum.

Though the rest of the land lovers were throwing up left right and centre, luckily they didn't throw up in the bus toilets otherwise as the bus driver Jordi said 'if anyone throws up in the toilet or takes a crap, it'll get into the bus air conditioning and stink the whole bus out', thankfully this didn't happen but I can just imagine the consequences on a long bus ride.

The pirates sat zombied out from such a big night, people re-counted their stories and exploits from the previous night at the disco, it was very amusing. The bus stopped for another Italian grill and back we went to Burger King and McDonald's to the small queues, we're such tourists ahhh well.

The Contiki bus crossed the border and Nat gave us a huge talk on Switzerland and their part in wars and how they are a neutral country.

- Not part of the EU
- Crrency Swiss Franc
- One of the few counties not to enter the world wards
- Defensive country, all roads and entrances can be blown up by the Swiss Military
- Farms have underground tunnels, train tracks and bunkers so they can initiate immediate response to a threat.
- Very defensive as all neighbouring countries are very powerful i.e. Germany, Italy, Austria and France.
- All houses are equipped with guns, bombs and shelters.
- Extremely pretty place though cold

The captains arrived in Lucerne and were shown a Swiss army knife shop, they didn't look any cheaper than normal however it was a public holiday and they exchanged our money there and we were happy with that. Captain Barboasa had the money changed and divided the plunder between the captains, we were all running very low on funds at that stage however we managed to find ourselves in a nice cafe overlooking the city square.

Captn Morgan gave Captn Barboasa an informative lecture on saddlebags because Barboasa wasn't quite up with the captain code but after a little training Barboasa'll be just tops. After that we got ready to go to our accommodation 'The Jail House'. Nat asked us to pack a night bag and carry our bags across a bridge, I'm guessing this is because our tour driver and guide didn't want to waste the time in taking all our large bags out, it wasn't exactly that hard to get to.

It did save us some time though and we found our rooms no problem, they were pretty make shift but did the trick. As there was hardly any ventilation, being an x-jail they were a tad smelly, though the three course meal bought us up a notch or two. That night we got an early sleep though Captns Morgan n Cook were haunted throughout the night but people smoking outside and the smoke entering their rooms and water from the showers running directly through their room at 3am!!!!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeha

Contiki Craziness - Part 8

2008-05-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

Day 8 - Rome to Florence, Italy

After having stayed in Rome for 2 nights it was time for the Contiki group to venture off again and explore somewhere new. Another exciting breakfast of dried bread, then off to Florence. The birth place of some very famous artists (Da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo all born in Tuscany).

When we arrived in Florence we were all taken to the central Piazza where we had a group photo of the group taken. It was supposed to be a professional job, but was just shocking. The photo wasn't all that great and a waste of time and money really.

Following the photo we had another guided tour around the city, it was really quite amazing and the Tuscan people are really proud of the art heritage. Their city is said to be the birthplace of the Renaissance, there were statues on nearly every corner of the city.

That night we had an optional dinner at a Tuscan restaurant which was absolutely amazing. There was an opera singer and some music being played throughout the meal, and they were really looking for some people to join in and have a dance. Captain's Sparrow and Barboasa answered the call and carved up the dance floor for the length of one very long song. Captain Barboasa was feeling a little dizzy afterwards. Following the dance display the opera singer paid close attention to Capt'n Sparrow, and serenaded him, then took him for a dance of her own. It was highly entertaining.

Following an great meal we were well primed to go to the 'Space Electronic Disco'. When we arrived it was mainly just our group there, but it didn't take long before the place filled up and we got our groove on. They have these weird cards they give you, where the first drink is free but if you want another one they just stamp the card and total it at the end of the night. No need to carry cash around, however it would be really easy to loose track of your funds.......

On the main dance floor there were large LCD screens that lit up an the announcer called out 'Contiki...Australia.....New Zealand.....America' etc. you get the picture, but it was really cool. After they called out each country the screams got louder as we all tried to out do each other. The one thing that really stood out was the fact that single girls were being hounded by the locals and there was reports the next morning saying that 'we have never felt so violated'.

As we were headed back to the hotel, Captains Morgan and Hook got a bit lost trying to find the cashier counter to get a leave pass from the disco and ended up at the bar getting another drink, an expensive mistake that one. Captain Morgan then proceeded to rike up the taxi driver and nearly got us kicked out of the cab. Luckily though we made it back in one piece, for Captains Morgan and Hook to be told off by Nat the tour manager for partying in the hallways at 3am and keeping everyone awake. They were not too popular the next morning and we were all very tired.

Keep partying Captains xoxox

Contiki Craziness - Part 7

2008-05-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Day 7 - Rome, Rome, Roma

We awoke to a glorious morning and had another dry piece of bread for breakfast Italian style. The sun was out and boy we were ready for a day of fun in the sun!

As per usual we all piled onto the bus and were taken in Rome for a day in the capital of Italy, obviously the bus was piping with excitement. Nat our fearless tour guide, told us we could do the Saint Peters' Basilica and then the Vatican in the morning, and catch-up with another tour guide in the afternoon.

In Italy you have to have a degree to be a tour guide and pass some special tour guide tests and get a piece of paper from the government and council no doubt.
So our Contiki guide wasn't qualified to show us around town and if she was caught pointing our sites n stuff would be fined HUGE money, that left us pretty much on our own for the morning.

We went through the Saint Peters' Basilica which was pretty massive and you could tell all the marble in their was plundered from the Colosseum. We even went through the tomb downstairs, dead Popes n stuff...... yuck. All and it all was just another Church and wasn't to exciting for the captains, after we finished up there we took one look at the Vatican line(2 hours+) and decided to instead walk down Tiber river.

Captains Barboasa and Hook were in charge of navigating and looked at the map a lot, which was funny as I took these great shots of them, having a camera is great because it gets you off doing the orienteering.

Shortly after viewing the maps Capt'n Barboasa showed us how to cross the road, a large group of people were waiting at a traffic controlled crossing for the cars, having failed to see the red man on the traffic lights and fearlessly made the international stop sign with her hand, walking across the road with a sway in her stride and a grin on her face. Exactly how our tour guide had told us to cross a busy intersection, providing of course there were no traffic lights.

Stunned the three of us looked at each other as Capt'n Barboasa had just crossed one of busiest intersections and stopped traffic using nothing but their hand all the while a little red man was displayed on the traffic light. Luckily the cars were a bit grid locked and stopped one by one as they crossed, I'm glad they did, otherwise the fockers would have had me for breakfast, lunch or dinner one of em anyway. We all had a huge laugh about it afterwards and carried on our merry way.

After a short while we reached the river and I took some stunning photo's, Captn's Morgan and Hook were rushing it up to the Temple of the Vestal Virgins and the Mouth of Truth, where a few more photo's ensured, boy were we tourists or what. Then off to a cafe, it seemed to take forever to find one but once we had, we had a tasty Italian meal.

At the end of the meal this homeless man came begging for money and Captain Sparrow gave him a few coins and was rewarded with a hug, no one else gave any plunder. The homeless man didn't speak any English but he started making signs as it wasn't enough, so Captain Sparrow let a few canon balls go, it would have been the modern day equivalent to a cluster bomb. The poor man rushed away and the rest of the pirates laughed and cringed at the same time!

After that we rushed down to the guided tour at the Colosseum, the tour lady was pretty good and talked up the Roman ruins and gave us some interesting facts about Rome. After that we waited for our organised dinner. It was so HORRID I didn't have hardly anything, I swear that place re-cooked up the previous nights food, I would have rather bought another meal, far out. And then went to a tube station which was closed!!!! So that meant running to another one in the pouring rain, this was to be blamed on the Pope as he was talking that evening and attracted a massive crowd....

All in all we made it back in one peice and throughly wet, good old Rome a day to remember arghhh me harties, arghh, arrgghhh, arrrrrggghhhh

Contiki Craziness - Part 6

2008-05-10T01:06:00.000-07:00

Day 6 - Venice to Rome, Italy

That morning we got up late and were hungry from the previous days adventure, we rushed downstairs for a nice meal. However breakfast was a piece of bread and some chocolate thing in plastic. Italian hotels don't really do breakfast all that well.

That morning Captn Barbossa N Sparrow were late to the bus and were relegated to the back again, however Captn Morgans n Cook made it to the centre as they were speedy goons. It was another long bus ride and there was alot of traffic coming into Rome. The driver Jordie even had to make an unscheduled stop as he was only allowed to be on the road for a limited duration.

At the stop we managed to eat Burger King in 45 minutes at a rush, so fast food in Italy ain't all that fast. The landscape changed again on the journey and there were mountain villages all the way into Rome it looked really pleasing to the eye, there were another few camera shots taken from the bus.

We arrived in Rome and were drove around the major sites for a look around, it was really amazing as we saw the ruins and coliseum, they look nothing like the movies, it was like another world. The bus did an illegal stop in the middle of the city and we popped out quick smart before the tourist police came and smacked the driver with a heavy fine.

The sun was coming down and we rushed around the major sites and threw afew coins away for goodluck at one the Trevi fountain. Captn Morgan was really impacted by this place, although everyone had some real wow moments. We found dinner in the centre of the city and had a huge meal. Captn Jack Sparrow decided to get some seafood for an entrée but it was as big as the pizza's we got for the mains so it wasn't all finished.

The guy at the restaurant was really entertaining and spoke to us in English and then spoke to a couple in a language we didn't understand, we enquired and he said "It 's Dutch and in Rome you're expected to speak everything f**n^%$g language, it's crazy" and laughed.

That night we had an early rest and awaited for the next big day to explore Rome.

Captain Jack Sparrow

Contiki Craziness - Part 5

2008-05-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - Innsubruck, Austria to Venice, Italy

Venician Casanova's gallivanting in Gondola's

After feeling overslept and still abit groggy we rolled out of bed and faced the showers, every hotel had a different setup and the most important part was the shower. That morning the shower was cold and quick however the breakfast was heaps better with yoghurt, cereal, ham and fruit, this was the last of the normal breakfast's to be digested.

And with that we had a devious plan to change the seating, the back of the bus was hot and there was a little bit of animosity was being fostered so we all turned up to the bus early and moved ourselves to the middle of the bus. For the most part people were used to their seats but now they had to find new ones and a few poor souls found themselves cramped and hot in the back as a big heater is located at the back of the bus.

In our travel to Venice was passed gorgeous vineyards and Terracotta housing which littered the landscape. Venice itself is only accessible by boat and usually floods, forcing the shop owners to put out planks so the shoppers don't get to wet. Nat our tour manager told us to wear good shoes, weather proof jackets and the like, however it turned out to be the most stunning day we'd seen.

So we all got off the bus and piled into a small boat, we sat at the front and lapped up the sun, everyone's mood changed for the best and we arrived at Venice. Venice itself isn't that big but it sure was easy to get lost. There were loads of little alley ways and very few signs, though somehow we didn't get lost. Guess that was Captain's Hook and Barboasa on directions or something, the place wasn't actually that big.

Now the day was at it's peak and we had an arranged gondola tour around Venice, we were told some drivers even sang to you. As it was we were the four pirates of the high seas and Nat the tour driver read our names out as we had written them for the booking ' Captains Morgan, Jack Sparrow, Barboasa and Hook'. We all had a laugh and hoped on, the tour through the canals was very relaxing and we all had a good time. There were a few foul smells but nothing to shocking, all and all it was dam fine.

Contiki had arranged us to view and purchase some glass blowing stuff, we all huddled into a small room and viewed some dude making little horse figurines out of glass. I'd rather not have gone into these little nick knack stores as our time was always very pressed. We wandered round the shop didn't buy anything but used their facilities, which we found to be a little different. In Italy the toilets don't seem to have seats..... hmmm well for the majority of them.

So we wandered round Venice explored the little markets and waited for our organised dinner which was to be that night. The dinner was an optional extra, which we paid for and boy we were hungry by the time they served up the meal. The food was great and the entertainment was spectacular.

There was a couple of guys with musical instruments playing in the background and then all of a sudden they were in the foreground. Capn Morgan was being serenaded by an Italian and we were loving it. Out the camera's came and snapped up the entertainment and embarrassed diners - us. Well it was such a good night, towards the end Capn Barboasa and Capn Sparrow got up for a dance while the other two pirates just took it easy.

Then we had an festive boat ride to our next hotel, where we all had a very good sleep.

Captain Sparrow

Contiki Craziness - Part 4

2008-05-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

Day 4 - Munich to Innsbruck, Austria

After the huge piss up the night before we all managed to get out of bed and ready for the trip from Munich to Innsbruck. Breakfast was pretty tasty, bacon eggs etc. very nice! We got on the bus nice and early and all felt nice and ill.

Within an hour or two we ended up at a Concentration Camp, it was quite moving and disturbing at the same time. It's hard to imagine exactly what it would have been like during those days but it mustn't have been pleasant. We only spent 1 hour at the camp but it was enough time to have a quick look around.

We got back on the bus and started heading to Austria. Our tour guide Nat announced we were off for an unscheduled visit to some fancy pants German Castles. We arrived at the location which was also our lunch stop, instead of checking out the castles first we grabbed some food. This left us with 1 hour to check out the Castles. We were told it would take 40 minutes to get up to the Castle but we scooted up the hill in about 20 minutes flat. Captn's Hook, Barboasa and Sparrow slacked behind having snowball fights as there was snow everywhere - they arrived about 5 minutes after me the slackers. We then got a few shots of the Castle and a Waterfall which was also up there. We raced back down the hill to get a few photos by the lake which came out pretty well. We then jumped straight back on the bus and took off again.

We arrived in Innsbruck and checked out a fancy pants crystal shop and the copper roof (the ruler of Innsbruck used to look out from this roof to check out his people eating below in the markets - well I think this is what happened). Instead of waiting for dinner we thought we'd try out some local food in the market. We ended up having some sausage and garlic ham & onion potatoes - it was bloody tasty and Full of GARLIC. Captain Barboasa gave Captain Hook a taste of Garlic when they did a silent but violent death burp in their face, boy did Captain Hook jump. We then headed back to the hotel to call it a night - we had an early one due to the HUGE brithday drinks the previous night.

Captain Morgan

Contiki Craziness - Part 3

2008-04-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - St Goar to Munich

Birthday Celebrations

Waking up the following morning was rather difficult to say the least. The sleeping quarters shared with boeing 747 (AKA Captain Morgan) meant reduced sleep. We had a bit of a look around in St Goar in the morning after a pretty good breakfast. One of the attractions of St.Goar was a shop where all the beer steins are sold. There was a huge variety and one of the more expensive items include a stein with an actual piece of the Berlin wall on the top of it. The steins have been around for some time and are used to keep your beer warm and free of flies. The Germans seem to love their beer so needless to say they were huge!!!

Back on the bus we had sung happy birthday to Captain Jack Sparrow! The man of the day! He and Captain Barboasa looked pretty happy in the morning so he must have received a *special* present. The dive to Munich was totally amazing and captivating. The area has bred all the classic childrens fairy tales, and you can see why. You drive through the Rhine Valley and there is castle after castle. They are totally amazing and very romantic. It made me wish I could see them through a childs eyes.

The accomodation in Munich was really nice. We got dropped off in Munich central and went and had a look at the Glochenspeil. There are some pretty impressive building in Munich. I would have to say the Germans keep everything very clean and tidy in comparison to Amsterdam. After doing a bit of shopping for some new jeans for Captain Sparrow (all that farting takes its toll) we went to the Hoffbrau beerhall and had a couple of steins. Very tasty and the atmosphere was really cool. We had a pretty grumpy beer wench when we declined a third stein though.

To celebrate Cap'n Sparrow's birthday we went and found a bottle store and purchased none other than Jack Daniels. We navigated (or Cap'n Barboasa did) our way through the U-baan and in a rather happy state got some directions from a poor girl sitting at the bus stop. We must have been a sight! Back in the hotel we set into an extreme drinking session. We made a few phone calls (one to Cap'n Morgan's girlfriend - poor thing)... Everyone really enjoyed themselve though and the general concensus is that Germany is a pretty cool place! It was great to be celebrating 29 years of Cap'n Sparrow's life on tour.

Happy Birthday Captain Jack Sparrow and Zum Wool!

Captain Hook

Contiki Craziness - Part 2

2008-04-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - Amsterdam to St Goar, Germany

Wild Weather, Wine and Witches

After getting up nice and early for some breakfast we were allowed some free time to explore Amsterdam before heading off to St Goar. So we set off in the pouring rain and went to visit the Anne Frank House, the house was where her family hid during the time of Hitler as they were trying to escape prosecution from the Nazis. There's a book and movie about her struggle through this period.

The house was very eerie and everyone was really quiet, it was a sombre affair but quite interesting all the same. Anne lived in a space that was bigger than my apartment but it sure would have been a tight fit for eight people and living in one place for two years and without being allowed to leave wouldn't have been much of a life.

Amsterdam's wet weather forced us into buying some expensive umbrella's and KFC was our lunch followed by a bus ride to St Goar. St Goar is a nice sleepy village in the Rhine Valley and we had a very simple place to stay however it was one of the better places all the same. That night we had an optional excursion to go wine tasting and we all headed off 5 minutes down the street to the wine tasting.

On the way to our wine tasting tour we were told a story of a wicked witch who lived in one of the nearby houses. Then our tour guide stopped us and told us to look through a dim lit fence, lo and behold there was a statue of the witch ....Scary!

Once we made it to the underground cellar a lovely German man explained a few things to us about the vineyards in the Rhine Valley, they are on the hills and are sloped at a 60degree angle, so the harvesting equipment and people all have to be strapped in and lowered down on a pully system to harvest the grapes.

They are famous for their ice wine, ice wine can only be made if the grapes are frozen at <-10degrees for at least 8 days. So you can imagine how expensive it is. It was very sweet and is mainly used as a desert wine. The wine tasting was a very good experience and we'll all remember the German saying 'Vool zoom' or something to that effect :)

After spending much of the day cooped in the bus, it was time for a PARTY!!! The tour group all headed for the hotel bar following the wine tasting and it was a very late night for all. Two of the captains got into the drinking with some jager bombs, while the other two captains danced the night away. We all reved up the tour guide and learnt about the elusive kiwi guy. Aparently a nice kiwi guy is hard to find....

Contiki Craziness - Part 1

2008-03-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

The four Captains of the rough seas (Cap'n Jack Sparrow, Cap'n Morgan, Cap'n Barbosa and Cap'n Hook) set out for a holiday to see what all these landlovers were really about. Cause pirates need holidays too...right!! So what better way to see this land than with a Contiki tour through Europe. Arrr me harty's.........

Day 1 - London to Amsterdam, Netherlands

Early shenanigans and silliness

London was still sleeping but the Contiki group were all preparing for the tour of their lives at 5am. We made our way via tube to the Royal Contiki Hotel, where we had our bags weighed and then hoped on the bus.

The back seat was chosen as our preferred seating and we all crammed in there and the tour bus headed to Dover with the music blaring. The trip to Dover was pretty cool and the atmosphere in the bus was buzzing, there was alot of introductions to be had. At the entrace to the ferry we had to go through a border to France, the border guards all spoke in French and we greeted them with an enthustic 'Bonjour', that way they gave us speedy entry to the Ferry.

Once on the ferry we quickly grabbed a bar seat and had our first beer, well Cap'ns Morgan and Jack Sparrow did, Cap'ns Barboasa and Hook were saving their constitution for a later time. We bid farewell to Great Britan and the Dover hills. We were glad to see the end to the grey wet weather and were hoping for some good weather through Europe.

The tour bus drove for three hours through France, Belguim and arrived in the Netherlands and then we found ourselves at our first hotel, Slotmania aka Slutmania. There was a big mixup with the rooms and their locations but after a short time the Cap'ns found they had 2 rooms with 3 single beds each... they wern't that great however we were on Contiki and were happy with any room at that point.

That night we walked through town and headed to the Grasshoper it was recommended by one of our friends, however it was 40 Euro's for four JD's and coke, what a ripper!! After consuming our very expensive drinks we decided that the local supermarket would provide cheaper drinks which we could consume while viewing the city sites.

The night life in Amsterdam was very entertaining, however it was Amsterdam and this my friend is the Internet, if you want to know more you'll have to ask in person about the nightlife. Though I can say we were drug free, they were left to the locals.

Uk Quirks

2008-03-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

Wotcha, ay-up, so you've found yourself ere? Fair nuff, wot, wot.
Me and Missy are in London but not for long tee hee - next week we are going on a Contiki tour!

Cammy and Smithy arrived last week and those boys have been bootin about the show. Missy and the boys are getting on just fine, we had a massive 80's party the other night it was just fab, Smithy should have a few pics but I don't, oh well.

So instead of ranting about travels I thought today I would rant about the state of affairs ere is Britland. It's an upside down place for us antipodeans and one cannot fathom it's quirks.

Small Change

For some reason the UK still have pennies and you seem to accumulate masses of these things. When I first came I went to the bank to cash my small change, the bank promptly gave me plastic bags and asked me to count it all out. Well this was *fun*, I'm used to them putting it in a big counting machine and giving me the cash... very strange.

Then I noticed at the local supermarket there is a change counting machine, however they charge a commission to count your money - really they must think I'm crazy! Everyone knows counting money is *fun*. So I decided I needed to get to the bottom of this matter. Where did all this change come from and why?

Laziness

In nuddy puddy land they are lazy and proud of it, it seems you can do nothing unless someone tells you to, because afterall why would you do it anyhow? It maybe a throwback view from the feudalism days, Eddie Lizzard sums it all up in this youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw

Missy found the hard way at the Tesco's she tried to buy something which didn't have a barcode, at the end of day they wouldn't sell it to her and told her to go get one with a barcode. When she told them they didn't want it, they didn't want to total her purchase. After a minute or two they let her pay. Apparently the till person was very unhappy...... They make you pack your own stuff to and you're expected to ask for the total before it's totalled as well.

Laziness breeds small change

The supermarket is a breeding ground for disaster really, fast food is right up there to. Anyhow the checkout people will always give you the lowest denomination in change. It's like they can't count two two's and a one to make five pounds, instead you always get five pounds in one pound coins. It would be alot simpler to get a five pound note but they seem intent on giving you change. In fact say if you were getting a pound change sometimes they will give you five twenty pence coins. I've tried to understand the rationale behind this and I've decided it's counting one's till at the end of the day. It must take longer if you have loads of change so why not pawn it off to the customers?

How can you fight back?

Lately I just carry change, and I only pay for things in change. I stand at the checkout and count it out for the person at the till, as I do I swear I see a defeated look in their eyes. It just makes one's day. The other day a cashier asked for change so I'd get a clean five pound note and instead gave me five one pound coins in return. So never give them change when they ask for it, they will only ambush you with more change in return.

Enough said nuddy puddy land is really quite something, they will make you wait, charge you loads, as I said it's all upside down.

Perhaps Old Greg will help you understand how they think, it's a recently comedy clip of BBC3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0S6vL0-u58

Europe next week - watch this space!

Prague Feb 2008

2008-02-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

After a busy Christmas and New Year Jamie and I were feeling a bit restless, so we organised a long weekend away in Prague. I was hoping to see some snow this winter (being in the UK and all) and thought that this would be my best bet as the average temp for Jan/Feb is around 0-3degrees.

Our first visit there started off well, we managed to get the bus and metro into the city without too much trouble, and after a minute of minor panicking found the Hotel. We went to check in only to discover that they had double booked our room and that we had a spot in another Hotel next door. As a bonus for the inconvienience of moving we were upgraded to the executive suite and had a free bottle of Champagne awaiting us. No complaints there :)

Day 1 - Following a huge continental breakfast we headed out to Pražský hrad (aka Prague Castle). To get to the Castle entrance we walked up the castle stairs (Zámecké schody) as we neared the entrance we were lucky enough to see the changing of the guard. They were quite funny as they were trying not to laugh at all the tourists taking photos of them.

Inside the castle grounds we wandered around and took in the amazing architecture of the buildings. We decided to buy tickets for the short tour which allowed us entrance into the Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basillica and Convent, and a tour of the Golden Lane. It is quite a large Castle and was lots of fun to explore, for more information visit

http://www.hrad.cz/en/prazsky_hrad/navsteva_hradu.shtml

Following lunch we headed out to Old Town Square, which had many cool buildings surrounding a large paved square where people tend to mill about and soak up the sun (when it's out). After a huge walk around the Castle it was nice just to relax a bit and take in some of the local culture. We headed out to a French resturant for dinner where Jamie and I practiced some Czech and French and had an amazing meal.

Day 2 - We decided to head up to Petrin Hill, which is the tallest point in Prague and offers stunning views of the city. At the top of the hill there is gardens and park areas where you cn wander at your lesiure. Being the middle of winter there wasn't any plants or flowers around but you could tell it would be beautiful in the spring and summer. There is also an observation tower, which is well worth the 299 step climb to the viewing platform as you get 360dgree views of Prague and the surrounding countryside. It was quite a chilly day and as we were taking in the views I got my wish as it started to snow, however it wasn't heavy enough to settle on the ground.

That afternoon we headed out to see the famous Charles Bridge (Karlův most). A gothic bridge that was constucted in 1357 and is lined with Baroque statues, and has survived many floods and wars. There are lots of tourists, local musicians and souvenir vendors lining the bridge and whether viewed in the daylight or at night it is quite amazing.

For dinner that night we headed out to a local pub Pasticka, where we had an amazing meal of traditional Czech food, the beer was great and the food very rich. We were the only tourists there so we were able to see how the locals live. The following site has some photos of the inside of the pub, I thought that it looked really homley and the atmosphere was really relaxing. http://www.pasticka.cz/fotogalerie.php

Day 3 - Our third and final day took us to the Jewish Quarter where we saw some synagogs and a Jewish market. The Jewish Quater lies between Old Town Square and the Vltava river, so after walking around and viewing the amazing buildings, Jamie and I headed out for a walk along the river. We were quite tired that afternoon so just headed back to the hotel and took advantage of the free DVD hire that came with our room and settled in to wtch the 'Last of the Mohicans'. An oldy but a goodie.

Well that brings us to the end of our trip, for more photos of Prague you can visit www.picasaweb.google.com/jamie.nicholson

Till next time, Lots of Love

Melissa and Jamie xoxo

Welcome to Hob-a-Nob

2008-02-10T05:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new and improved blog site for Jamie and Melissa.

Hob nobbing is all about staying close to family and friends, sharing stories and photos of trips away, so we thought what better name for our site:)

We will be inviting you all to be contributors to this site. Which means that anyone can add posts or pictures making it easier to stay in touch as we will only need to check out one site instead of many. So Jimmy you will need to set up a gmail account so you can participate too :)

Hope to hear from you all soon, Keep in touch

Love Jamie and Melissa xoxox