Day 33 - Zermatt (there and back again a hobbits tale)

Three intrepid explorers set out one morning on a mission to walk up to the base of the Matterhorn and then back down a near by valley to their temporary home. They struggled through many problems and hardships but they eventually made it to the top of their climb puffing and exhausted. They drank a hot chocolate and then climbed down a knee breaking scree slope walked along a never ending valley and finally made it to their afternoon tea. They rested their very tried legs and then plodded down back home. They left their house at 8:10am and got back at 5:30pm

Total elevation 3260 reached. 

Total ascent 700m 

Total descent 1600m 

Goodnight 

Alastair 

Day 32 - Zermatt (7 trains in one day)

So woke up at 5:30 and left at 10 past 6. Got train 1 and slept (I wish) anyway we had 7 connections today all of which we made.... Just. When we arrived in Zermatt we tried to get rid of our big packs and failed and then ended up walking to the youth hostel and dumping our big packs under the stairs there. We then walked to a cog railway station and caught a train up. Looked around at the top and then went home and slept. 

Wow that was a pathetic blog 

Sorry people I'm really tried

Alastair 

Day 31 - Lake Como (it's not going to rain.... 5mins later .,. WHOOSH!!! )

Ok woke up at 7:30 (I think) ate breakfast and then made our way to the funicular where we were hoping to catch the 8:00 one. Sadly our map reading was inadequate and we had planed our route to go to the picture of the funicular not the little grey dot underneath it (on another street). Luckily mummy spotted out mistake before we got lost and we got the funicular in time for the 8:15 one. (A funicular for those who don't know is a little train thingy that goes up a very steep hill and is pulled up by a cable attached to a big wheel). The funicular was really cool and we looked backwards over Lake Como and got a really good perspective of the town. 

Once we arrived at the top we began today's walk which was to Volta's Lighthouse and back. The walk up was 1.5km and the walk down was 1.3km.... They should have been the same length but on the way up we accidentally followed the driving signs instead of the the walking signs and there were more twists and turns for the cars.

The lighthouse (well more of a monument than a lighthouse because it didn't light up) was really nice and the view was really very pretty we stayed up there for about 30 minutes before making out our way down. Just before we reached the bottom it began to rain so we took cover in a near by restaurant and bought 2 coffees and a hot chocolate. While we drank it start to properly pour and we stayed in the restaurant a while until it cleared. We then took the funicular back down and went and promenaded on the lake edge. After this we made our way home via the supermarket and had a rest for 3 hours. 

Once we were well fed and rested we decided to go on a big ride because dad had a look at the storm and said "oh they're going over us we'll be fine" low and behold 5 minutes later WHOOSH. It began to pour and thunder and lighting and very strong winds also appeared which changed directions ever 5 seconds . We sought cover and put on our rain jackets and amused ourselves while watching other people's umbrellas break and the owner of the umbrella get sodden. There was a particular corner near dad and I which was acting as a wind tunnel. As soon an someone walked passed it with an umbrella the umbrella (doesn't matter how good) flipped inside out and or broke. We saw a really really good umbrella with all it's rods hanging out completely broken. So yeah fun stuff. :P . Once the rain had finally slowed down enough (half an hour later)  we quickly rode home changed out clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. 

I'm a bit tried. 

Alastair 

Day 30 - Lake Como (a slow boat to Como)

Oh today was a day where we had nothing planed so I must say it was a tad unproductive (you might call it a price family typical rest day - a big walk and + a big boat trip) 

So we woke up today at 6:40 because poo poo face daddy came and opened my shutters and let all the light in (supposedly to create a through breeze) Left the house at about 8:30 and walked though Como (the town not the lake) to the ferry stop where we bought tickets and got on the first ferry to Bellagio. The ferry took 2 hours (mummy says 2 and a 1/2 but im not sure) and it became very monotonous after the first half an hour. Once we finally arrived in Bellagio (half asleep because of the trip and heat) we walked up a little alley as far as we could go and then across the top observing the old pebble roads and many tourist shops. We bought 3 tarts for morning tea. I had a lemon tart, mum had an apple tart and dad had a cherry hazelnut (possibly) tart. We had lunch and then decided we had seen enough and headed down to the docks to catch the next ferry home. Got on ferry.... They're sooooo slow its not funny. Anyway we got home drank beer cooked and ate dinner and are now lying on our beds ready to go to sleep

Alastair 

Day 29 - Lake Como (it's fricken hot)

Ok began today with breakfast (as one does) and left the house at 8:30 to go and do what a proper tourist does in Venice.... Go to saint marks square. So anyway at saint marks we spontaneously decided to go to the top of the bell tower and look at Venice from above. It was actually really worthwhile because you get a much better impression of Venice and how unorganized the houses are. Also up the top we looked at the big bells and I tried to spot all the places we've been in Venice. when we got home we had tea and then left the house at 11:20 with big packs on our backs and little packs on our fronts both laden down with merchandise. We caught the first train at 11:50 and guess what..... THE AIRCON DIDN'T WORK!!!!!! Ha not fun believe me! Anyway when we finally arrived in Milan (sweating and trying to cool ourselves off) we went to an upstairs restaurant lounge thingy and had a biscuit and an ice tea. Unfortunately we had to pay a table charge (mummy's prediction was correct) but anyway.... Got on the second train from Milan to lake Como at 3:20 and it was packed (and the air con didn't work) we stood for about 5 minutes just trying to get our seats which was "fun". After a very horrifically hot train trip we arrive in Como and walked (with dad and I directing) to our apartment. The apartment is really nice except I don't have any aircon in my room  D: . We went shopping and bought spec ravioli, pesto and tomato for dinner! And now we are trying to remain semi cool. I'm kinda wishing for the Aussie winter right now. 

Gotta go 

Alas stairs 

Day 28 - Venice (the merchandising of Venice)

Ok I woke up at about 7:30 this morning but we didn't leave the house until 10:00.  At ten we went for a stroll around Venice and went to a fresh pasta place where we bought pasta for dinner tonight. The pastas we bought were: gnocchi and 4 different fillings of tortellini. After this we went in search of a gizmo shop for me because I wanted to buy something for myself. When we found one it only had a few gizmo things left in it but I found and bought a brass compass with a sundial which took my fancy. 

After this we were all quite tired and hungry so we headed home via a supermarket for lunch. For lunch we had:  an eggplant parmigiana, bread, tomato, buffalo mozzarella (which was amazing), lettuce and spek (I ate about 3/4 of the spek) 

We had a nice rest after lunch and left the house again at 3 o'clock. (We being mum gill and I.... Daddy and nick had no desire to go merchandising.) There is so much to buy in Venice it's amazing, we had a great time and gill was very surprised how concise we were. Also we had another gelati :D. (Yummy). When we got home the octopus for dinner was cooked and the fest pasta began. 

So overall dinner was fantastic. We had: nick's specialty octopus tentacles (which was awesome), gnocchi (which was so good because it just melted in your mouth), ravioli, lettuce, bread and plenty of wine! 

So yeah that was today (sorry it's a bit late) 

Alastair 

Day 27 - Dolomites (Mud, Marmots and Marmolada)

So began the day early after a nice breakfast of muesli and bread with butter and jam. 

Pretty much the first thing we saw after starting to walk was a marmot and then another marmot and then another marmot :D there were so many marmots and they are sooooooooooo cute :D it was an amazing morning because we got about 2m away from a marmot. 

Today instead of walking down a valley to our bus home we took a track along the edge of the mountain and looked at the  fantastic view and them took the cable car down. 

For the first half an hour to an hour of the walk was extremely muddy and we all felt like we were walking on platform shoes because of the thick layer of mud caked to our boots. But for this part of the walk there were almost no people on the track and then suddenly after an hour there were heaps. There was about 500 people walking the other derection to us. They were waking from te cable car towards the refuge we had just left to have lunch. On the walk we also say a

Massive wooden buffalo and the walked up a huge hill but at the top of the hill there was a cafe so we bought 2 apple stroodles a couple of coffees and a hot chocolate. After morning tea we caught the cable car down and then Bought lunch and got on a bus. We took 3 busses and two train and all went well except for one train which we had to run for because the ticket machine was buggered. Once we arrived back in Venice we had a nice cold shower (because it was stinking hot) and then had pizza for dinner (yummy) got to be quite early and slept like a log 

Arriverderci 

Alastair  

Day 26 - Dolomites (6 hour walking)

Okey dokey

Woke up at 6:30 and proceeded to have breakfast at 7:00 and we began our walk at 10 to 8. It took us two and a half hours before we arrived at our morning tea refuge and along the way we saw fossilized corals and worm burrow (on the top of a mountain, come on how cool is that), lots of flowers (as always) and some more marmots and one of them began to do the alarm call which was awesome :D For morning tea we had 2 strudels one apple and one ricotta, 2 coffees and one (amazing) hot chocolate with cream. (Have to say that that was the best hot chocolate I've ever had because the actual liquid was quite thick and it just slid down your throat.) 

The next part of the walk went for another three and a half hours and along the way we saw many cows (with bells), horses and heaps of marmots 2 which were playing together (sooooooo cute) 

Once we finally arrived at our refuge for tonight (after going "this is the last corner" and then it wasn't... I think we did that about seven time.... We were and still are a bit tired) we had a very late lunch and then became epically happy because  our rooms had a shower (WE COULD BE CLEAN YAY YAY YAY) we all had a fantastic shower (separately not together) and then proceeded to collapse on our beds. Dad and mum had a tea and I think Dad and Gill may have gone for a stroll but I don't know because I'm still collapsed on my bed (wow I "try" so hard to get info for this blog)

So yeah

I apologize for the weirdness of this blog I may have been high on tiredness.... Meh 

Tehehehehehe it was rather amazing today because I kept thinking people were saying biscuit to me as they walked past.... They were actually saw gossgott which is hi in Austrian German (I'm not sure that's how you spell it but meh) 

Good afternoon (I can't say good night because its not night yet) 

Alastair (who has no idea what he just wrote on this blog) 

Day 25 - Dolomites (up up and away)

Began today's walk at 8:00 after a breakfast at 7:00. Breakfast was bread with jam and fresh butter or bread with spec (ham) and cheese. Today's total climb was 1110m arrive at our final elevation at the next refuge of 2457. 

On today's walk we saw many pretty alpine flowers (which gill showed us), frolicking Marmots (for cousin James), many different rock formations, a young boy cracking a whip very successfully, lots of alpine cows (for Kali), some pretty alpine horses and a brand new boardwalk. It was exhausting and I think I'll be in bed very early tonight!! 

Also today we found out that the drinking age here is 16 so...... I CAN DRINK :D not sure if that's a good thing.

Oh lunch today was at the refuge so I had spaghetti bolognese and everyone had minestrone soup. After this we walked to the summit of a near by mountain (it wasn't far) and took lots of photos of the magnificent dolomite mountains and of ourselves in front of the summit's cross. (Sorry I can't put any pictures up on this because I'm trying to save my battery)

Anyway for dinner I had half of a shandy (beer lemonade mix), tomato pasta because I felt like being boring and a kinda thick pancake with red current jam. 

I really can't be stuffed telling you what the others had but it involved beer, sausages, potatoes, beef and omelet. 

I believe I can fly!!

Alastair 

Day 24 - Dolomites (a short walk)

Got up at 5:40 today so we could catch the 6:50 train from Venice to Verona. Breakfast was cereal which was nice and we took turns who ate breakfast because we could only fit three people at the table at one time. 

So anyway we  caught the train from venice to bolzano and then got a connection bus from Bolzano to fie where we began our walk. The walk took us about 3 hours with a 40 minute lunch break included. We made very good time. Along the way we saw jumping fish and people fishing for them, horses, small alpine flowers, and lots of trees and forest plants (and good views). It was quite hot and we had a lunch by a very nice lake!

The guesthouse we are staying in is very comfortable and  the room is rather large and all five of us are together (all 5 = dad,mum,Gill, Nick and I) 

For dinner we had mozzarella and tomato  entree, schnitzel with fried potato as a main and ice cream and fruit salad for dessert. 

So really nothing else to report today 

One down two to go

Alastair 

Day 23 - Venice (a rest day at last)

Well I must say my day started very suddenly when mum and dad rang the door bell at 8:30 and I had to rush out off bed and pretend that I had been up for hours. :P tehehehehehe such fun. 

So today was a fantastically uneventful day. We planned and booked the rest of our train tickets around Europe and also organized our walking trip to the Dolomites with Gill and Nick. :D so mum and dad did that until about 12:00 while I hid away deciding that they didn't require my wise judgement (ha :P if only, I'll never be wise) we Skyped the other fatties (and +1's) separately for a bit today which was very nice. Also today the Venetian canals where full of floating dead fish for some reason! It was very unpleasant and it was the first time it ha ever happened in Venice.

Anyway because I really have nothing to talk about I'll talk about today's FOOD!!!! 

Breakfast for me was great because there was WEETBIX!!!!! You have no idea how much I've missed them :D 

Lunch was: Grilled bread with a choice of gorgonzola cheese, buffalo mozzarella, date tomatoes, char grilled capsicum, zucchini, olive oil and brazil (oops yeah we "so" ate brazil I meant basil). Lunch was very good and I was forced into trying some gorgonzola cheese which was...... Interesting. 

For afternoon tea we all had had the biggest one scoop ice cream I've ever seen. I had caramel (which was great), mum had coconut (which she was rather ecstatic about) dad had nocciola and gill had licorice (which she was very happy about it because no one else wanted to try it). 

Dinner was chicken breasts grilled with oregano and olive oil and on the side we had lettuce, potatoes char grilled cappi and olive oil. 

So yeah 

Welcome to Alastair food guide to Europe 

Ciao (bye in Italian) 

Alastair  

P.s I will be out of wifi coverage for the next couple of days because I'll be walking. 

Day 22 - Venice (Four countries in one day)

Began with a very early start today. We woke up at 5:30 and got on the train at 6:50. The train went from Zagreb to Villach. It went for 3 hours and we spent most of the time reading. Also we crossed the Slovenian border and the Austria border on this trip entering the second and third countries for today. We had a 2 hour break in Villach were we had lunch of our "traditional" ham and cheese rolls. Also we had a coffee and ice cream. 

Next we got on a bus to Venice. I spent most of the time looking out the window because I had the window seat. 

Once we arrived in Venice we were met by my aunty Gill and uncle Nick. They took us on the mono rail to the end and from there nick led us through the Venice streets to their house where I am sleeping and then to another monastery where mum and dad are sleeping. After this we went to have a drink and watch all the decorated boats go past. There is a major Venetian festival on tonight and everyone takes boats out onto the water, drinks and then watches the fireworks display. Anyway to drink mum had a dry spritzer dad had a beer, and I had an orange juice. 

Headed home and for dinner had pasta with tomato and basil. I was introduced to the Venetain kookaburras (killer seagulls that eats rats pigeons and laugh/crow like a really unwell kookaburra but just as loud). It's quite hot over here probably around 30 C while back at home it's snowing. I'm kinda disappointed I missed the snow. Anyway that's all. 

Sorry about the bad spelling I'm really tried!

Zonk off to sleep

Alastair 

Day 21 - Zagreb (Plitvice national park)

Ok today we went to Plitvice national park which is a park with magically clear water and lakes, lots of pretty plants and animals and some pretty although small water falls. 

Ok so we left at seven o'clock with our guide for the day Jakov. Jakov was a mine of information and a very proud Croatian claiming all things Croatian. It was quite amusing. We spend the 2 hour drive (in the guides van) to the park talking to Jakov and we made one stop and saw many interesting thing while driving. The one stop was at a old village that was set over a waterfall plateau and Jakov called it a mill village because all the houses had mills. We went to one of the only mills that was still working in the village owned by an old lady and she opened the water gates so we could watch the wheel turn and see the corn being ground. The water mill was special because it was horizontal unlike normal mills that are vertical and also unlike normal mills it had spoon shapes bits of wood to catch the water. It was very cool and we wouldn't have seen it without our guide. 

While on the road our guide showed us bullet holes in building near the road from recent battles (20 year ago or less). I think mum found this fascinating if a little scary. 

Once we arrived at the park Jakov dropped us off while he went and parked and then came back and bought our tickets for us. The plan was to look at the park starting at the bottom and go to the top. We started with the parks biggest waterfall which was pretty but I found it a bit pathetic compared to the Icelandic waterfalls. We made our way up twisting and turning around the small terraced lakes. Also stopping regularly for mum or dad to take pictures. They took quite some time trying the take a shot of some very pretty blue dragon flys.

At the lower main lake we ate a morning tea of cherry pastry thingys. After this we waited about half an hour for a boat over the lake watching and telling off "bloody Russian" who were just walking around the queue pretending it wasn't there. A Norwegian guy next to us got a bit pissed off. For good reason! Anyway the boat/ferry trip was very pleasant and we got a good view of the lake as a whole. 

When we reached the end of our mini cruise we tried to get ahead of the crowds but were unsuccessful because we spotted some Rainbow trout in a small pond. This was special because all we had seen in the rest of the park was carp. We continued our trek around the park seeing many beautiful mini waterfalls along the way and a little frog. 

We had lunch at a little sitting place a bit up from the lakes. Lunch was spinach pastry things and they were very nice. Again we continued on our way until we reache the end of our trek exhausted and had an ice cream as a reward. 

We caught a bus train back to near where the main entrance was and look over the edge of a cliff onto the lakes that we had just been walking near. I must say they look much more spectacular from above. 

The park as a whole was very pretty and Jakov had heaps of interesting info about the parks and lakes. E.g. Lots of the lakes were named after people who had drowned in them. 

Once we were dropped off back near home we bought the lunch rolls for tomorrow and headed home where we all collapsed. For dinner we had an improvised version of a meal we have back in Adelaide which is gnocchi with tomatoes, tomato pasta sauces (home made) basil and boccincinni. Our version had gnocchi  bought tomato pasta sauce and parmesan cheese on top. It was still very nice and rather filling. 

Goodnight 

Alastair 

Day 20 - Lake Bled (lake bled in 24 hours)

Ok left hostel at 8:30 and began our action packed day with a fantastic bike ride around lake bled. (All was good except my bum's a bit sore). Ok so we rode to a pebble beach where we went for a very pleasant swim in the lake. The water was fantastic and I had a great time ambushing ducks... ( wow I'm so mature) the swimming motto for dad and I was "suck it in" because someone resentful told us our guts are growing :P (feeling the love Kate). Anyway we had coffee and ice creams at the beach and then rode back around the lake. 

Once we had returned we decided to go... I'm not sure what to call it... Lugeing? It was kinda a go cart on a single track that went down a really steep hill twisting and turning. Tehehehehehe such fun. Daddy and I went on it 2 rides for 11 euros. This was absolutely awesome and our first ride we went a bit slow but on the second run I didn't stop accelerating until the very end. Tehehehehehe it was amazing!!!

So yeah next up we walked back to the hostel got our bags and hopped into our friendly taxi which daddy had organized when we arrived. Once on the station we got on a three hour train from lake bled to Zagreb, Croatia. The ticket police were very thorough and we had tickets checked three times and our passport checked twice once by the Slovenian police and once by the Croatian police. Mummy's passport caused a bit of trouble because it wouldn't scan but all was good and we arrived safely. Zagreb is really just another big city but it seems to have more shifty people than the others so far, our pick pocket radars were on very high this afternoon. The apartment we have here is rather large and very comfortable. Once we were all sorted in it we went shopping and than got a big slab of pizza each for dinner (possibly not good for our guts!!!! but ahh well). 

Well I must admit today was a very big but good day. 

The man of the gut :P

Alastair 

Day 19 - Lake Bled (we are posh?)

Ok woke up 6:30 and caught our train at 7:30 after having a breakfast of coffee hot chocolate and croissants. First train was on time, second train was ten minutes late which made us a bit worried about our change to the third train which we had 10 minutes to do. The second train ended up arriving 5 minutes late and our next train was on the other side of the platform. (So lucky). Mummy did very well speaking German to the man next to us to find out info about the train. Third train was a bit late but we arrived in Lake Bled Slovenia at about 2 o'clock. We caught a very cheap and easy taxi to our youth hostel instead of a bus which rid us of a lot of stress! Once we arrived at the hostel we payed and found out we had room 8 but they were still cleaning it so we dumped our big packs under a table (with the lady's permission). We headed off to the lake. The lake water is amazingly clear and very beautiful we walked around to a boat hire stop where we hired a row boat and rowed our way out to and around a little Island in the middle of the lake. It was very pleasant and everyone had a row. After we finish mum and dads romantic row (I was just third wheeling) we made our way around the lake (again) to the poshest restaurant in the lake and sat a meter away from the lake drinking our beers and oringina (for me). After this we went further away from the lake (another 3 meters) and had a dinner of gnocchi  with tomatoes Parmesan and parsley, gnocchi with prosciutto and rocket and octapus an zucchini risotto. All the meals were much liked by there recipient. I have no idea how we afforded the food but it was still fantastic. That's about it for today. The hostel is ok so far, the room is good but the shower is... Well.... Interesting :P

Later hosen (even if we're not in Austria) 

Alastair 

Day 18 - Vienna (40 rooms in 40 minutes)

Ok began our day with another nice free breakfast and then headed off on the U3 and 4 to the Austrian royal family's summer palace and gardens. This palace contained 40 rooms and dad and I reckon we did them in about 40 minutes (we're a bit palaced out after yesterday). Anyway this palace was much more interesting than the last one the best thing being a large waltzing hall that dad and I had a nice pretend waltz in. The gardens of the palace were very pretty and there was a nice forest where we had lunch. Also we saw what we though to be a woodpecker which was very cool. As a treat for me we payed for all of us to go into the maze section which was great fun!! Daddy won the first maze (just). I won the second! The third wasn't really a maze but there was stepping stones that had sensors on them so when you stepped on them you got sprayed with water. :D woo so fun!!!

 Anyway once we left the gardens (oh we also had a nice chat with a kiwi couple) we went to the national history museum that we found out wasn't open on Tuesday which was a bit disappointing but instead we walked to the Vienna opera house and spontaneously decided to go on a tour. 

The tour was really fantastic and very interesting. We found out that the opera company here always has an emergency opera, Tosca available if they need it. Also the backstage area was huge and they had heaps of set change mechanisms like they could sink one set down 11 meters and roll another over the top covering it. Epic!!! We found out that the opera house was 3/4 destroyed by a bomb in WWII. 

So yeah after we had finished the tour we took a train to the Danube to see it and then went for a very big "stroll" along the edge and eventually took an above ground tram back to the city centre where we went home for a nice rest. Went out to dinner (same place as the last 2 nights) and bought a vegi curry, a plate of chips and a serve if very garlicky pesto pasta. Also had the same drinks as last night. While we drank our drinks we watched an old homeless person and the people who got stuck with him. Anyway that's all for today off to a new country tomorrow. 

Talk to ya soon 

Alastair 

Day 17 - Vienna (graves, castles and bad jokes)

Had a very long sleep in this morning (much to my surprise) and ended up leaving at about 9. Got on our trusty U3 and took it to a bloody ginormous grave yard which had some famous composers in it. We were expecting to have to trudge all over the grave yard in the deadly silence to find these composers but luckily for us they were all in one spot quite close to the entry gate. We saw the graves of: Mozart, Beethoven, lots of Strauss's, Brahms, Schubert. But unfortunately for us Haydn was Hiddin' and we didn't even find him after playing hide an' seek. Anyway after this we went back to the grave info.... mation desk and accidentally turned the light off for some poor lady when she was on the toilet and then we legged it away as fast as we could with much hilarity. 

So yeah.... We took an above ground tram back to the city centre where we went looking for a cafe that daddy had found out was supposedly the best cafe in town. Here we had a piece of lemon meringue pie, a piece of sacher torte (an Austrian traditional cake) and a fruit covered vanilla slice. Also to drink mum and dad had a coffee while I had a hot chocolate all of this was up to a good standard. After this we went and had a stroll through the Austrian royal palace which was nice for the first 20 minutes and then became boring. 

Next mummy went on a tour of the Spanish horses while dad and I relaxed peacefully in the park reading and researching. When mummy had finished we headed home past many mineral stores that we "had" to have a look though!!! So yeah "fun" stuff. When we finally got home we rested for a couple of hours and then went and got dinner from the same place as last night (food festival a block away). I had buttered chicken again, daddy has all the curry together and mummy had a vegi curry. 

After again taking a scenic route home After dinner (shorter this time) we collapsed on our beds and are now wasting time reading, researching, blogging, emailing and writing postcards.

Big day tomorrow with a 40 room palace..   "yay"

Catch ya later mate

Alastair Price 

Day 16 - Vienna (what to do)

Ok started the day off with a nice breakfast and then caught the train to Vienna. Daddy promised free wifi on the train but it didn't work (ha told him so). When we arrived in Vienna we got on the U3 tram/underground (for the first of seven times) and took it to our accommodation which is in a church. The accommodation opened at 3...... It was 1..... Yay two hour to spend with big packs. So we hopped on the U3 again and went back to the train station where we found some lockers. Ok next up we got on the U3 again and took it into the city centre where we took a tram around the edge and hopped off to look at some building. Also we found a food festival (a bit like TASTE) where there was heaps of food (no der).... And guess what..... There was an Australian food stall. Can someone tell me what Australian food is because I don't know. Anyway they were serving kangaroo, steak and prawns and also some other not very Australian combos like mango and something. So after this we made our way via the U3 back to the train station and collected our big packs. Ok then we made our way back to the monastery and got our room. The room is fantastic and the shower is the best we've has all holidays.  Also it's only a block's walk to the food festival so that was where we had dinner. We had aLebanese  kebab, a butter chicken to share and an ice cream each for dessert. Now the torture began...., we took a pointless scenic route back and it took a while. Anyway The bed last night was fantastic if a bit warm. 

Over and out

Alastair

Day 15 - Werfen (an accidental rest day)

Well my day started early at 12:00 midnight with my head over a toilet bowl. Gotta "love" gastro!!!! So I spent most of my day recovering. Finished a book or 2 though which was the highlight of my day. Spent most of lunch time talking to people back in Adelaide. So that that was my day :P. mum will finish this post explaining what they did today 

Mum: 

Andy and I went to the biggest ice hole in Europe (Andy says its all in the pronunciation). Caught bus, cable car  and walked 20 mins up the mountain to the ice caves. Ice cave tour 1 hour 15 and was very interesting. Ice stalagmites and stalagtites like in limestone caves. Andy made me walk down a very steep  trap, across scree slopes. Walk took 1 hour 10. 

Alastair:

Mum and dad got home at about 2:30 

Feeling a bit better now 

Ttfn (tar tar for now)

Alastair 

Day 14 - Werfen (the daily blob)

Started the day with a pleasant train to Werfen Austria. :D when we arrived in Werfen we got our sense of direction and headed for the local bus station. We found out to our great surprise and delight that the bus to our hotel (aren't we spoilt) was free!!!!!! Yay. Anyway when we got to the youth hotel they had given us a room for two because they had forgotten me :( but anyway the hostel is amazing. The beds are good and the view from the main balcony of the Werfen  castle is fantastic. Anyway we headed off to the castle where we caught a funicular (lift like thing on a slope) up to the castle and when we arrived we: looked at the armoury (so many swords), watched an amazing birds of prey show (so many amazing birds) and went on a free tour around the castle. The birds were amazing there was: big eagles, huge buzzards and super fast falcons. Yeah it was very very cool. The castle tour was very interesting and mum loved the easy to use audio guides. Ok quote of the day today was said by mum. She said "I'm sick of walking". It was amazing for me because I wasn't the first to complain woooooooo. (For those who don't know mum always tries to walk the family everywhere). Anyway we got tomorrow's lunch and then went for a "nice" long walk home up a bloody great big hill. Mum suffered but I was fine just a bit puffed. Anyway dinner tonight has been fantastic. It was 12 euro for a main and dessert because we are staying at the hotel. The meals were fantastically huge and I'm officially a fat blob writing a blog that why today's blog is a blob. Anyway I had a huge schnitzel with ham and cheese in it with chips and for dessert I had a pancake folded over ice cream covered in chocolate sauce with cream on the side. IT WAS SO GOOD!!!! Mummy had a veal steak with dumpling swimming in mushroom soup!!! And for dessert she had a apple strudel with ice cream. Daddy had the same main as me and the same dessert as mummy. Everyone is very stuffed. So a short day.

Tschus (meaning goodbye in German) 

Alastair price 

Day 13 - Munich (Dachau)

slept ok last night after finally conquering my pillow (it really big, square, and thin and I has to fold it in half to sleep on it)

Had a fantastic sleep in this morning and we managed to leave as late as 9:10 :O. First stop take away coffee and hot chocolate (which I was lucky to get because mum thought I would spill it all over myself, but in the end she got me one so she could prove herself right) 

anyway then we took a few trains to dacha concentration camp. It was very confronting and very eye opening as it truly gave me a feeling of how bad the war really was. You know you feel bad about it when your learning about it in school but when your actually standing where these people stood and looking at pictures that should have come from the latest horror movie it really hits you.........

So enough of that 

Next we went into Munich's main garden/park. We walked around for quite a while in search of hire bikes. (Found an ice cream on the way, I had banana Carmel flavour) anyway found bikes and me and ...... No dad and I (much better) went for a ride to the southern edge where we watch people surfing on the river (here's a photo) 

It was very cool :D. Anyway then we went back and mummy had a ride around with me and I got us lost. Fun stuff.... And that was our day. We caught the bus home and ate supermarket frozen pizzas for dinner (we cooked them before eating them so no they weren't frozen) 

Catch ya later 

Alastair 

Day 12 - Munich (BEER!!!!!!!!)

Wow the day has come where the highlight of the day is alcohol...... Yeah that's sad.

Ok early start to the day waking at 4 o'clock and heading to the airport (after eating breakfast and dropping the hire car back and all that jazz). Flight was good and we arrived in Germany (Munich) at 2 o'clock. Ok attempted to use the phones in Munich airport for a while..... Guess what.... You has to put money in :P we were trying with the credit card. Once we finally escaped the airport (by train) we got a lift to our apartment (aren't we flash) and slept... Narrrr i wish!!!! Instead me and daddy went shopping (in Germany without knowing any German..... Wow intelligence for the win). Anyway we survived and the hardest thing was carrying all the shopping back in our hand. (I may have dropped some stuff along the way). Anyway next up we made our way back to the train station and caught a train into the (kinda) city center. From here we we went for a wander around the old town and then proceeded towards the BEER HALL!!! Ok when we got there (after following my fantastic direction.... No sarcasm intended) we sat down at a table with out a table cloth and ordered.,,........: 2 1/2 glasses of Weiss beer, an orangeade, two lots of sausage combos  and finished with and apple strudel with custard and cream. It was all fantastic!!!!!! Ahhhhhh.

So yeah that was today blogs might be a bit irregular for a few days because we don't know where and when we may get Internet. 

Tootle pip 

Alastair price 

Day 11 - Iceland (day 7)

Ok hostel was average, and mummy's a bit sick. Anyway so we back track to the cliff where there was puffins and got a really good view of them and some great pictures :D everyone is very happy the we finally got to see then properly...., they're soooooooooooooo cute :D (mummy wants some pet puffins at home) ok so next we went to another waterfall but this one we could walk behind :D it was very epic and everyone got a bit wet. After much driving we reached out third stop which was....... Wait for it ............. A supermarket which was cheap :D anyway we are all prepared for the next plane trip and we bough some presents for the fatties (fatties = Kate and Morgan). Next stop another waterfall which was very pretty much more like a cascade than a waterfall. Then after this we went to geysir (the original geysir). Here we saw and named the d**k head of the day. He was standing UP WIND of the geysir with his very expensive looking camera on a tripod. So the geysir went of and he and his camera got soaked in very hot water and he had to legit. Tehehehehehe it was very funny to watch. Schadenfreude I love it. Anyway the geysir was very impressive and went off about every 5-10  mins. We got some nice pictures and I spotted the web cam the we watch before going to Iceland!!! Had lunch on the edge of a lake in a pretty mini park. 

Righto off we go next up was a national park where the medieval Icelanders had their  annual gathering which went for 2 weeks. This was actually really interesting  and it was nice to learn some of Iceland history like how many country have controlled it. Here we filled our drink bottles (just as a random comment the national park is in the middle of a huge rift which was kinda cool because the ground had heaps of large crevasses in it. 

Soooooo...... The next stop isn't one I enjoyed very much because I generally don't enjoy being underground (especially not when the ground is littered with bits of rock that have fallen off the roof. So we went to a giant lava tube that went for 1.3 km. lucky for me we only worked into 200m. Mummy short legs struggled a bit and so did I on the way in but for me on the way out my fear of being underground got me out really bloody quickly. So yeah "fun stuff". 

This is our last day in Iceland. We are off to Munich Germany tomorrow for 2 days which should be fun :D. The weather here in Iceland is changing every 5 minutes it was foggy to begin with, then bright and sunny by lunch time, then raining and foggy again. I have a feeling I won't miss the Icelandic scenery and I am looking forward to continuing my holiday. 

Signing out

Alastair (way I should do a different ending every day........ Hmmmmmmm....... Challenge accepted) 

Day 10 - Iceland (day 6)

So started day with a fantastic look at a lake with huge ice bergs and then went to the bottom of a glacier, then to a national park where we walked to a waterfall. The walk was nice because it was in an Icelandic forest which is waste high shrubs.... But it was still nice. Ok then we went to look for some puffins in the fog, rain and freezing wind  and found the puffins :D (finally) ok then we went home... Goodnight sorry about the shocking blog I'm sick and very tried. 

Day 9 - Iceland (day 5)

Ok so the hostel was interesting  last night. we called it the Adams family hostel because it looked like the Adams family house. Ok then today first stop after we escaped the the Adams family house was "Petra's rock gardens" (fun for some) there was heaps of rock, I mean heaps and heaps of rocks (tehehehehehe I got some nice flower pictures though which was my highlight of that stop). Anyway then we went down to the beach looking for rocks and found a couple (I got a golf ball). So yeah really "interesting" start to the day for me :P next stop was morning tea where we had a fantastic apple and cinnamon cake and   Some great coffees and hot chocolate.

While at morning tea we saw some caved granite eggs an washed the for free (a job we really needed to do) 

Afterwards we went a glacier lookout while stopping on the edge of the road twice to look at the coast and a huge scree slope. So yeah.... The glacier look out was very nice and we had lunch there. Also there was REINDEER which was amazing. After lunch we went to the nearest town and took a scenic route while looking for a toilet. Ok found toilet And began around journey towards the now called road F (f for fricken). It was a very very curvy steep road that let up to the top of a glacier. The glacier was 

fantastic but the road up left a bit to be desired. Mummy freaked out on the way up (and I mean she was absolutely terrified) but the way down was much better (daddy drove well). Ummm.... Ok then we went to a huge glacier lake which was fantastic because it had big icebergs floating in it and there was a seal (we called Sammy) who had a huge samon in his mouth. Ok then we went to the youth hostel. Now a quick run down of this one is.......... One word which = CRAP!!!! The showers don't have locks and are push button, the locks on the doors are crap, the toilets don't work we'll, the power point don't work and the kitchen is way to small (with one stove and sink between the 50 of us) so yeah 

Goodnight all I'm really tried 

Day 8 - Iceland (day 4)

Started the morning early leaving at 7:30 to avoid the big group that was staying at our hostel. I has a room to myself lat night which was fun :D (watched a bit of YouTube). My room was good except that my blinds were crap so there was quite a lot of light in my room (24 hour sunlight in Iceland at the moment) which meant that I had to go to sleep with an eye mask. The drivings going well (dad is good at keeping on the right) and we have discovered how to connect my iPod  with the car via Bluetooth. I have a great series of books on my iPod which I am plowing through with great excitement. Mummy is enjoying the book i brought (which i haven't read yet) We had a nice chat with a family from holland last night which was nice, they had heaps of things to recommend to us. We saw this family at another hostel earlier in Iceland.  (Hey Kate just a side note the guy from this family looked like Dello :P.  ) ummmm.... I think that's all the random news so on with today. So yeah left early and headed off to see how much a puffin watching boat trip was (this was one of the things the Dutch family had recommended) turned out the first was at 11 which was far to late for us so we decided to go look for them our self which turned out....... Well lets  say it was interesting. We stopped on a little road near the main road. So we went through an open gate into a paddock and began walking toward what we thought was a cliff (it was actual a very steep slope) it turned out that the paddock we were walking through was a huge nesting side for heaps and heaps of birds and they weren't happy.  We got swooped a lot and they didn't actually touch us. Mum found this amazing, I found it petrifying!!! I saw a baby arctic tern and we almost stepped on some eggs as well. Anyway the bird we saw were: arctic terns (they were the main ones attacking us), ptarmigan (a very rare bird) and lots of other that we don't know the names of. Anyway no puffin in sight though.  once we finally got back to the car after jumping a barbed wire fence we headed off to another puffin bird stop were we found no puffins and I lost one of the binocular lenses covers.  then we headed off to Asbyrgi were we had our first coffee and hot chocolate and went for a walk to a little lake in a box cannon. It was nice and it was the first actual forest I've seen in Iceland (which was very nice) 

while I'm on that let's talk about the Icelandic landscape. Iceland as a majority is made up of generally flat green valleys (with no trees) and big flat topped mountains covered in snow. Then you get the flat desert like plain covered in black sand ash and dried lava from the volcanos. Also there is a very little bit of mars like terrace with lots of steaming volcanic things. So really Iceland is very lacking on the tree side of things. 

So yeah anyway fourth stop was dettifoss which is a bloody enormous waterfall it was pumping. This one was simply huge nothing pretty about it. Also while we were there it poured down and was really really windy, our full water proofs bennies and gloves got a good work out. Next stop was a toilet and lunch stop and then went to a small farm where we all has another hot chocolate and a traditional Icelandic twisted donut. Then we drove lots until we reached a magnificent waterfalls where dad and i ran to the top of the hill and got close to it where mum stopped a little way down and took pictures (I'm so unfit its not funny) anyway there were magnificent waterfalls all down that valley. Ok so after that we got to a major town and went shopping (shopping was a bit expensive this time). So yeah that's where we are up at the moment because I am writing this in the car like a cool kid :P chicken curry for dinner which should be nice. I hope everyone is happy wherever you are. 

P.s please leave a comment if you can because it would be nice to see how many people actually read this thanks :D

Alastair 

Day 7 - Iceland (Day 3)

Ok breakfast was the same as yesterday. We got out of the hostel a bit later than expected and then missed a turn because we were looking at a old town and took a slight (20 mins) detour. (No ones fault). Once we were on the right route we the first stop was godafoss (a huge epic water falls that was amazing) and coffee/hot chocolate. Second stop was lake of the midges (which was very well named) there was midges everywhere but the view over the late was nice and we got some nice pictures of a midge eating bird.  Second stop was a spot near the lake (in a different spot) where we went for a very short walk. Third stop was the dimmuborgir lava landscape where we went for a stroll (aka an hour walk) and had lunch. Fourth stop was some hot spring baths (that we didn't go in because they cost lots). Fifth stop was some bubbling spring that went blub :P sixth stop was a pointless walk to a lava feild and back (I got a bit shitty). Seventh stop was a volcano crater with blue water in it. Ok then we drove lots and got to the youth hostel where I am attempting to right a legible blog 

Goodnight 

Day 6 - Iceland (day 2)

Well not a huge day but I'm really tried anyway. 

Woke up at about 6 had a Breakfast of cereal and some toast. Left at a time I can't remember.... Anyway first stop was another waterfall ( this on was actually quite epic though) after this we got lost and ended up at a dead end. Second stop  was  turf church which was very unique. Third stop a little turf house village/museum and look at them but didn't go In because it cost. 

Now the third stop was very interesting...... We had lunch....... On a picnic table...... In the middle of nowhere.... In the wind and it was "fricken cold" as daddy put it :P (yes it was really really really cold) third stop (no wait fourth wow I can count) was the youth hostel but it was  closed so we went and asked the tourist info person 2 sensible question and the heaps of "mummy wants to know random facts about" questions e.g. What are all the horses for? (There are heaps of horses in Iceland and we now know they export them because they are tuff and they also eat them.... The guy said about half of Icelanders do and half don't). Walked to the (very small) botanic gardens and walked around them. Then went back to hostel dumped our stuff and went shopping. Mummy quote of shopping: "oh safety trolly" the Trolleys were yellow (and Kate And Morgan you'll understand this because we were talking about smash and grab in New Zealand :P.     ) 

So yeah that was today just another random things that happen: I fell asleep in the car because I'm cool like that!!!

Disclaimer: look at the other disclaimer because I can't remember what I wrote and I don't want to make it different.

Day 5 - Iceland (day 1)

(Side message for Kate and Morgan: we found another cleaning cupboard shower) 

Ok woke up at 5:30 and read for half an hour till the others woke up. Breakfast was supplied and was very satisfying (I got my first taste of un sweetened yogurt.... Not nice) drove into the centre of Reykjavik (mummy directing) found tourist office and got directions to A big shopping centre. Attempted to drive to shopping centre (mummy directing)..,, got lost. Tried again and got to shopping centre (me directing :P.  ) 

So yeah bought some stuff and drove out of Reykjavik. First stop was a waterfall (it's hard to explain it so I won't try.... Yes I'm lazy get over it :P.  ) second stop was some hot springs (and when I say hot I mean hot. They pump out something like 200L of boiling water every second and also happen to be the biggest in the world.... Yeah they were pretty cool) third stop extinct volcano (the first of many for this trip... We walked up the crater full filling our price family tradition of walking up a volcano almost every holiday) fourth stop youth hostel (I really like this one it's warm comfy and there is plenty of room) 

Ok so daddy did all the driving (he's a bit tried) and it was all on the right hand side of the road (very scary and confusing for all) mummy did most of the directing and I help until I hit the wall at 2 and tried to sleep :D the route today was very "scenic" and but we did see a lot of things that weren't on the main (much quicker) route

So yeah (woooo success first time I've written that this blog) doesn't look like a huge day today but believe me it was very long D:

Post again tomorrow 

Day 4 - London (bus ride, British museum and a "stroll" back)

Well I'm really tried!!! Before I start this I'd like to say that we are going to Iceland in a couple of hours so Internet might not be available (and blog won't go up) so yeah. My wrist is better and everyone else is in good working order :D other than very sore feet D: 

Ok soooo today we woke at about 5:30 (not deliberately bloody 18 hour sunlight) left at 8:45 and took a tube to a bus a stop where we took a bus out to woop woop because we could. Bus ride was actually quite good because it went past all the big sites but it finished in the middle of no where and went for a bit long. Ok then we tubed to the British museum. The museum was: amazing, tiring, huge, interesting, informative, diverse and..... (ahhhhhh run out of adjectives dammit :P ) so yeah :P ummmmm...... We saw: (tehehehehehe get really scared when you see :::::::  ) upstairs and saw the Celtic, roman, Greek display, (then), the Egyptian mummy's, the Lewis chessman (an old chess set), the royal game of ur (first ever board found) then down stairs we saw: the Rosetta Stone, some Assyrian carved walls and the Elgin marbles (from Parthenon). Down down stairs we saw the head of king ife (a small metal head of an African king) and up up up up stairs (flour 5) we saw some samurai armor and swords :D (they were amazing).

Ok so yeah (I say that a lot don't I) 

Some one tried to pick pocket use at the Rosetta Stone but other than that everything was amazing :D 

I liked the Celtic and roman displays because I have done research on both the topics and it was nice to see the things you have done research on (e.g. A Celtic torc) 

Ok so then some one (not me) had a "fantastic" that we should walk home from the museum. " It was only one tube  stop they said not far" they said. It was a stroll (meaning quite a way and my feet are punishing me for it) Anyway on the way home we (all of us not the royal we) got very disorientated and were 180 out (fun times) we worked it out in the end though (it was partly my fault because I had been telling them the hostel was one bubble when it was another bubble on the map) 

So yeah (I really do say that a lot anyone got a replacement phrase?)

We are in the airport now ready to go to Iceland :D security was amazingly efficient and strict but all is good :D 

I hope I will be able to get another blog up soon but it will be a maximum of a week if there isn't wifi in Iceland 

Ttfn (tar tar for now)

Day 3 - London (kew gardens)

So I'm just going to talk about London as a whole for a sec. London is: crowed, busy, expensive, amazing, old, very crowed (yes I know I've said said that),  easy to get around and the free wifi is great!

So yeah now today we went to kew gardens! I managed to take 136 photos in one day woooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! :D 

Woke up at 5 o'clock again (fun stuff) get out of the hostel at about 8 (I think) the tubed to kew gardens (stood up most of the way it was quite painful). 

Ok got to kew a bit early so we went to a supermarket and bought lunch and some pastries. Then had a coffee (hot chocolate for me) and the ate our pasties (Armond croissants) 

Got into kew and went straight to the tree walk. It wasn't great (the Tazmanian one was much better) but it got us a nice view of the gardens 

Ok so then we went to the green house where we saw a nice Australian area but the house is about to under go renovation so all the plants were getting dug up and re potted which was a bit disappointing!!!! Then we went to a few note green houses ( and water lily houses) had lunch, saw a big pinapple in the middle of a pond (i think it was a fundraiser)

Ok the saw pretty flower and some pretty alpine plants (had lunch which was..... Have a guess...... Ham and cheese roles)

So then went to another cool greenhouse         . Then went to the kew kitchens and kew palace (both part of the gardens) they were Interesting but not great! Then went to platform 9 and 3/4 and I got a picture :D. Went home had dinner and I need to sleep good night.