the jewel of italy, last stop: verona!

apologies for the lateness of the blog... we're home and havent had time, sorry!

we originally werent going to go to verona, but after hearing that ms basini (our old english teacher) had cousins there we thought it would be cool for a last stop. we got to verona at 12.30, rang roberta and sara (the cousins) and they said to meet at 2pm. we had to get to the camping and back, so we caught the bus (which was supposed to take 20 minutes) and were still on it at 1.50. hmmm. we had got the right bus in the opposite direction! and it didnt help that the driver stopped for two cigarette breaks AND the ticket inspectors wrote out tickets for 75% of the people on the bus. we got off the bus and looked up in dismay to see 300 stairs leading to the campsite. we powered up them, and now have rock hard calves. when we got to the camping at 2.20 we were met by a topless guy with dreadlocks. he was quite stoned and took half an hour to explain where everything was in the campsite, and we kept trying to say that we needed to go and could we check in later. we finally convinced him we had to go and caught a taxi to meet roberta and sara. we met them at the arena, which was like a mini colosseum. they took us to a cafe and they gave us a really nice book on verona. sara had highlighted everything we should go and see, which was fantastic. they took us to see some roman ruins, juliets house and the tower. sara convinced the guy on the desk to let us all in for student prices. i dont know exactly what she said, but it worked! from the tower we had a fantastic view of verona. they all had gardens on the roof! after the tower we went to check out the arena but it was the only day ever that it had closed early. 'you MUST see inside!' ordered sara. we made plans to go visit lake garda on the saturday and parted ways.

we got back to the campsite and picked up our bags. we found our way to the rent-a-tent (did i mention we left our tent on the train from sorrento?) and set up camp. we have a knack for picking campsites with awesome views, and once again we could see the whole city.

on friday we set off to explore verona. 

we went to the arena, which was very impressive. they still use it today, which is cool. we also saw castelvecchio, the bridge next to it and everything else there is to see. when we told sara and roberta about our exploration they exclaimed 'mumma mia!'

saturday was one of the best days that we have had on our whole trip. we had agreed to meet roberta and sara at the roman theater, as they were taking us to see the lake. we set off early morning in order to get a good part of the day there as it is about 40km away and the roads were clogged up with people doing the same as we were. after many vineyards and a few very tight corners, the scenery unfolded to a huge beautiful blue lake. it was like when you are heading towards the horizon and then you finally see the ocean. i was amazed, because when i picture a lake, i picture a dark murky sort of thing.. on commenting this thought to sara, she tutted and said that i was thinking of a billabong. the lake i'm talking about is Lake Garda, and it is the biggest lake in italy. it is pure crystal blue, and stretches as far as the eye can see, with huge mountains surrounding it and small villages dotted along the way. 

the town we stopped at was called Malcesine and was so beautiful. there were no cars allowed in the streets and it was an intricate maze of cobblestone. we went to a restaurant for lunch which overlooked the lake and the mountains behind. we had the nicest lunch, and ange and i had brought along our italian book , so we had many a comical conversation. for the most part, sara translated for us. she is really good at english, and it made us feel a tad ashamed that we only know english. we got talking about movies, and sara pointed to the mountain across the lake and said that that was the tunnel that there will be a huge car chase and accident in the new james bond movie coming out. knowing that i was at THE lake that they filmed james bond made my day.we wandered the village for the rest of the afternoon, seeing the castle with its breathtaking views, eating delicious gelati, and even seeing the smallest street in italy - it really was tiny. on the way home sara invited us out to dinner with them that night, and they dropped us off at the camp ground and roberta and her husband picked us up at 7.30. roberta had asked sara to tell us that she doesnt know any english at all. 

the car ride to the pizzaria was full of very animated conversation, half in italian and half in english. it was great! and we reckon that roberta is pretty good at english, she just needs some confidence in herself, because we managed to have a long chat with them about perth, and roberta could understand a lot of the individual words, as we could in italian. they absolutely LOVE perth. it was great talking about home with people from the other side of the world who loved it as much as we do.we arrived at the pizzeria which is in the heat of what they called their swan valley. it was a stunning view over the vineyards. we were greeted by roberta and sara's mum and dad, and saras husband and kids. they even wore perth t-shirts :)

 we learnt that ms basinis mum and sara and robertas dad (they are brother and sister) were born in the very place that we were eating at. we had the best night, with lots of laughing and lots of trying to explan things with oversized hand movements, and great pizza. they taught us sayings like 'vedi napoli a poi muori' which means 'you see naples and you die', which ange thought was hilarious. in return we taught them australian phrases like 'bloody oath', 'fair dinkum', 'woop woop' and 'higgeldy-piggeldy'. there were only a few pronunciation problems with the last one.

we were so chuffed that they had only just met us, but it felt like we had known them for ages. its hard to find people like that, and we are so grateful to have met them.

the next day we set off for paris. it took us two trains to get there, and we crashed in the hotel that night. we snuck out the next morning to get crepes for breakfast before checking out, and headed to charles de gaulle. the plane was delayed by half an hour to london, and then we nearly missed the plane from london to singapore because no one (qantas or british airways) would check us in. BA finally decided to open the flight for us and we ran through two terminals to get there. at singapore the flight was delayed by two hours (the longest delay we have had - thank goodness it was the last flight we had to take!) but we decided the best airport to be stranded at is changi. we had massages, showers AND got a free meal! we love singapore!

we got in to perth and were greeted by australian accents(!!) only to find that someone else had picked up jess' bag. we waited in customs for an hour before realising, and the airport delivered it the next day. so now back to the real world, but we'll leave you with a few favourites:

- icecream: stockholm soft ice (or mjuck glajss - pronounced mucus)

- pizza: rome, pizzarius (soooo good, and you choose how much you want!)

- meal: anything prue cooked!

- city: berlin, by far!

- country: sweden

- trains: ireland

- people: germans, irish, swedish

- day: there was a few - budapest, scootering the amalfi coast and lake garda

- morning: paris after a hideous train ride. go des Champs-Élysées in peak hour traffic!

- night: (s) dancing at the seine in paris, dinner in verona, dinner with kelly and prue, full sunlight at three am in sweden and sitting up with jon and fee at the caravan.

- 'oh my god the worlds going to end' moment: getting on the train from berlin to paris. jess will never let me forget it.

and many more, the list goes on...

vedi napoli a poi muori*

*a note about the title. this is actually a saying. we were told about it in verona but i cant tell you the story because you dont know we went to verona yet.

we arrived at napoli train station and high tailed it out of there. that is really all you need to know about naples. 

we arrived in sorrento and were hit with sun, beach, pebbles and poms. much nicer. we stayed at a campground just out of town overlooking the bay. on the first day the skies were clear and we could see naples, but for the rest of the week it was too hazy. we settled in and headed straight for the beach. we saw, we ran, we - were stopped? 'six euros please'. well that killed the dream a little bit. we refused to pay, claiming it was a natural resource and how could they charge us for something we could get for free by jumping off the jetty and swimming around anyway. they said '6 euros please' and the dream was over. dejected, we headed back and found comfort with the pizza from the nice man at the campsite.

day two saw us backtracking to pompeii. we took my mums advice (for once!) and bought a huge bottle of icy water to take into the ruins with us and walked around for a few hours doing the whole 'woah, look at that, they actually LIVED here' thing. we found out fee was obsessed with mosaics in rome, so i had a new found appreciation of them and saw quite a few in pompeii. when you think about it, they are pretty impressive. 

we found the casts of the human remains they found in pompeii. they were tucked away in a corner behind dirty perspex. that was a bit of a let down, but jess got much delight out of taking photos of the sleeping dogs that were lying next to them. they werent moving when we got there, and they didnt move even when we poked them, made loud noises and scratched their backs. they were definately alive though as one started snoring and the other was running and howling in his sleep. 

day three was recover from pompeii day. we spent the day walking around sorrento, window shopping and looking at the beach. well it wasnt even a real beach. just some silly black sand and a tiny swimming area. stupid beach ... six euros... stupid. 

on day four we took the bus to amalfi. well. how to describe the road. suicidal, maybe? treacherous, perilous? and the bus driver. oh my goodness. even more dangerous than the road. he beeped his horn once before turning the blind corners without slowing down at all! we feared for our lives and got off the bus feeling quite ill. amalfi was pretty. we had the nicest pasta so far in italy and sat on the rocks (again refusing to pay for the beach) over looking the water. 

on the way home we stopped in positano (we werent going to but the bus driver was worse than the first one so we had to get off!) and the beach there was beautiful. the town was full of expensive designer labels but still very pretty to walk around.

the next couple of days in sorrento were great. the only trouble we had was when two guys decided to set up tent next to ours. we did the friendly thing and smiled and said hello, and then went into town. when we got back, they were all set up, but they'd moved the chairs so that they were facing directly towards us, not towards the panoramic view of the ocean.. strange we thought, but she'll be right.

 so we got a woodfired pizza to share and a beer each, and settled on the bench next to our tent for a nice afternoon/evening of playing cards and enjoying the view. you know when you get that feeling someone is watching you? well we got this straight away, because they were just sitting there, not saying anything to anyone, not even each other, and staring at us. we shuffled the bench a bit further away, but it didnt stop them. they made a flower out of sticks and toilet paper and put it on our bench. we looked at them and they just kept staring, so we put it as far away from us as we could without seeming rude. then all of a sudden they both came over with a long strip of toilet paper that they had witten on with the carbon of a burnt stick, and placed it on our bench without saying a word. it read 'to two wonderful girls' so now we were a bit creeped out, and i looked at them and said, thankyou, but no thanks. they didnt get the hint and then came over saying that they were from naples, and that we are very beautiful and tried to get us to go with them in their car to amalfi. needless to say we declined. we got another note not long after that said 'but=bad' got knows what that meant, and ange grabbed it and ripped it up violently. we told the nice british guys on the other side of us what they were doing and they said they had noticed them staring creepily all night and offered to stay up until the creepy guys went to bed. that was very nice of them. all night we heard them saying hilarious british things like 'of ALL things to write to a lady on, WHY toilet paper!'

 we found some time and checked our e-mails and we had one from jon and fee saying that they were in sorrento, and that theyd been staying at the same camp ground since two days ago! we couldnt believe we'd missed them! we finally got in contact and found them staying in a cute little caravan right near us. 

we met up and decided to hire scooters for a day, go up the coast and have a picnic. this was a good idea in theory... except only jon had ever driven a scooter.. so we got them anyway, one between me and ange, and one for jon and fee. jon and i were driving to start, and i took off to a shaky start. we pulled over, and i asked jon where we were going to go. 'lets follow this road' he said. ok, so we set off, and after nearly hitting a few cars, i had the hang of the thing. 

as we started to get further away from sorrento, i realised that the road we were on is the one that we went on the bus to amalfi! it was the amalfi coast. i tried not to spew when i remembered the busses hurtling blindly around the corners, and told myself to relax. we wound around the coast, around the petrifying hairpin turns, and only nearly got hit by buses, so it was going quite well. we stopped off in a little town for a quick swim. then it was anges turn to have a go at driving. 

can i just butt in here and say that jess is THE worst passenger anyone could have on a scooter. second to possibly only my mother. comments like 'YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST!' when i was doing 5kmph and 'OH MY GOD THERES A TURN!' when it was still on the horizon were frequent, as were the crippling and winding digs of jess' fingers in my side.

ok, so i may have overreacted a bit when i got on the back. but i definately know now that i cant handle being a passenger. it is truly terrifying having no control over a machine that could possibly kill us. i dont know how ange didnt need to scream when i was driving, in fact, she was wooping and cheering telling me to drive faster! when i was on the back i was reduced to a blubbering mess and possibly dug my fingers a tad (A TAD??? i still have bruises!) too hard into anges kidneys.

but my fear was warranted, and we did have a slight crash. we were turning a particularly tight corner, like going around a 5 cent piece up a steep hill, and i wasnt helping the situation by saying we were going to crash, and we lost speed, and long story short, i am heavier than ange, i was on the back, and scooters are very painful when they fall on your leg.

in my defence: 

1: the 'particularly tight corner' was unbelievably tight, almost impossibly so. 

2: some words of encouragement wouldnt have gone astray. if someone had been yelling 'you can do it!' as opposed to 'we're going to die!' i might have had a bit more confidence in pulling the throttle to accelerate out of the turn as opposed to shrieking and letting go of the scooter. 

3: if jess hadnt eaten so many crepes in france and knew to lean to counter the weight instead of gripping my sides and hanging on for dear life we might have made it. note i say might. it still was an impossible turn. 

ok, so i've just been ripped to shreds (not by the scooter, by anges defense just now) and i cant say anything but never drive with me as a passenger in anything but a car. but getting back to the story, we got back on the horse, so to speak, and ange drove us all the way to positano. the view along the way was breathtaking. it was clear blue skies, bright blue ocean, and beautiful, frighfully winding roads. but i must say, ange did a really good job of getting us there alive.

when we got to positano we went for a huge swim. the water was awesome! jon and i swam out to a pontoon with some other people, and ange and fee stayed closer to the beach. we spent the afternoon swimming and eating gelati and living the good life. i drove back, following jon and fee, and when we got back, we still had more time on the scooters, so jon and i went off to explore, and ange and fee went back to the caravan park. that night we all sat around eating watermelon, and then got a load of pizzas and sat outside telling stories of our trips.

on our last full day we bid jon and fee farewell and they set off to calabria and we headed out for a day trip to capri. after purchasing the ridiculously expensive ferry tickets ($50 each return for a 20 minute ferry ride) and ranting about how ridiculously expensive it was to no one in particular (ahem. ange ranted to ME) we set off down to the ferry catching place and caught a ferry to capri. the island was very beautiful. we contemplated hiring a scooter for about two seconds before realising how unbelievalbly scary the roads would be and took a boat trip around the island instead. we saw mussolinis old house, sofia loren's mansion and also giorgio armanis. we had the option of going in to the blue grotto but we had run out of cash and surprisingly the men in the little row boats didnt have portable waterproof credit card machines. oh well. those little boats looked dangerous anyway. after the boat cruise we looked in all the shops. if it was linen, they had it. if we'd stayed there longer than half an hour i swear we would have come home with complete linen wardrobes. 

the next day it was time to head up to venice. we caught the dodgy rattly regional train from sorrento to naples. we were both reading our books and didnt realise when the train pulled in. i grabbed all my stuff and yelled at jess to get a move on. we got off the train in plenty of time, and just as it pulled out of the station jess realised we'd left the tent on the train. 

after an 8 hour train ride from naples we arrived in venice and set off to find our hostel. we had the map, i'd drawn a line straight to the hostel and we followed it for two turns and promptly got lost. it took us an hour to find the hostel, but it was a nice one and we were IN venice as opposed to on the mainland, which was a plus. 

we had one full day in venice and we explored/got lost all day. it is an awesome city. its great that there are no cars or scooters around. we went glass shopping and drank coffee and ate gelati. lovely. that night i was a tad sick - chills and a high temperature (no i didnt drink the water from the canals) so we had an early night ready for our last leg: verona.

when in rome...

apologies everyone for the lack of blog, we've not really had much chance to access the internet other than to check e-mails. besides, we've been having too much fun :) 

we bid farewell to france, with high hopes for italy. the train ride was as usual a very long one, but we eventually arrived in florence. we were hoping for a fresh change of scenery and culture from france, and we were not disappointed. florence was so welcoming in every aspect of the word. it seemed to have a really nice glow about it. we made our way to the camping grounds, which were only 5 minutes walk from the centre of town (five very steep minutes) and were absolutely blown away. from the campsite itself, we had a full panoramic view of florence and right into the hills. it was amazing. (i'm trying not to write awesome too much, but just between you and me, it was AWESOME!) we had such a nice stay there.

every night we went to the bar area, ate dinner overlooking the city, and sipped on an icy cold tuborg beer. that definately is the life. we explored around the city for a few days, going to the famous gold bridge and the leather markets - ange bought a leather bag that she was very excited about, we saw michelangelo's david - well, the fake one out the front - which was good enough. 

one thing i find really amazing about the italians is how much they like a good tan. florence has no beach, but it didnt stop a whole load of people going down to the local marshlands in their budgy smugglers and bikinis and actually hiring deckchairs to lay in the sun for hours! it really is a funny sight to see, but i must say, they put a lot of effort in, and it pays off. italians have the most amazing evenly tanned skin. here i was thinking i was getting a nice mediterranean tan, until you stand next to an italian and look like frosty the snowman. 

one of the days we took a day trip to siena, which is a very cute little place with lots and lots of gothic architecture. we spent most of the daywwinding through impossibly small alleyways that open out to massive piazzas. 

on another day we took a day trip out to pisa, of course to see the tower. that day trip wasnt really a day trip, because once you've seen the tower and taken a photo that looks like you're holding it up (which i think is hilarious and made ange take a hundred of me holding the tower up), theres really not a lot more to see.. 

so after 5 really nice relaxing days in florence we packed up our things and headed for roma.

so we got to rome, checked in to our hostel and went out for lunch/dinner. we went to a pasta place down the road from the hostel and ordered tortellini. well, we got fettucine and it tasted like dishwater. not a great start. on the second day we set off with high hopes to see the colosseum. we walked down a main road, got slightly lost and then turned a corner and it was right in front of us! it was breathtaking. we sat outside it for a while before heading off to explore the rest of rome. we got hopelessly lost and ended up in suburbia, which was strange. 

when you think of rome you think of ruins, togas 

and sandals, not modern apartments. we realised we were off the tourist map we had, so we found the river and headed to the west bank. we found the piazza we were looking for (apparently it had the best coffee in rome) but the shop was shut. instead we went to 'pizzarius' for lunch and had THE BEST PIZZA EVER! my faith in italian food was restored! we went back there every day. 

on the friday we got up early to go on the walking tour organised by our hostel only to find out that it was cancelled. we headed to the cute espresso bar next door before walking back to the colosseum (hereafter know as 'the big C'  because its really annoying to write) to do a tour of that and palantine hill. the big C was definately more impressive from the outside, but still worth going in.

 we did it with a tour group, so we skipped the HUGE queues. hooray! after the big C we headed over to palantine hill to see where the ancient roman palace was. the tour was worth it because its hard to imagine amazing gardens and marble arches from the rubble that is left today.

we made sure our knees and shoulders were covered before going to the vatican. saint pauls basilica was stunning. it was massive. jess was disappointed with michelangelo's ceiling, but the rest of it was impressive. we went into the tomb below the basilica and saw all the popes graves, including the recent pope before climbing the cupola, or the tower. it was SO crowded at the top and not worth the effort, really.

we saw the spanish steps, which were so crowded you couldnt move, and the piazza nuova before heading out to the beach on the sunday. well, the beach was not like anything we ever imagined. it was just rows of umbrellas and deck chairs and people frying. there must have been at least 100 people on the beach and of them about 7 were swimming. we dumped our stuff, ran into the ocean, 'cleansed' as jess would put it, got out, dried ourselves and got out of the sun. people thought we were crazy! we were the only girls that went in the ocean.

we met up with jon and fee when they got to rome. it was great to hear some australian accents again! and having a guy around meant that we got jeered at less. we went to the trevi fountain, the pantheon and through piazza navona before taking them to the awesome pizza bar we found. they agreed that it was totally awesome. we wandered around for a bit, found the spanish steps and piazza poppola. we saw a sign for a michelangelo exhibition so we went to check that out. they had examples of all the inventions that michelangelo had written about, and it was hands on so we got to play with them. our favourite type of museum. that night we went and sat in a dodgy park near out hostels drinking wine and watching the locals.

the next day, our last day in rome, we went to the catacombs south of the city. they were cool; well, more freezing! there were no bones or skulls down there which was disappointing. i expected them to be as they were when they found them. after that we headed to the vatican museums. they were huge, long and draining. by the time we got to the sistine chapel we were exhausted and it was so packed we found the exit as quick as we could.

then it was arriverdeci rome, buongiorno sorrento...

france in a nutshell

the journey from paris to dijon was uneventful. we nearly got fined because we didnt fill in our eurail passes, but we feigned ignorance and he let us off. we go to dijon and found the camping grounds fairly easily. we set up camp (and by we i again mean jess) and set out to explore the town. if you've seen chocolat, thats exactly what it looked like. all the streets are cobble stone and they have old fashioned street lights. very cool. we had an ok night camping; the 'surprisingly good' inflatable mattresses were not so good as they wont stay inflated anymore. but the ground was 'surprisingly soft' so we survived. the next morning we got up and went for a ride. we got fresh pain au chocolats and a baguette from the campground and set off along the river. we rode aimlessly for a while before coming to a huge lake! it was awesome. we rode around it and found a 'beach' where there were kids playing. the water was a bit stagnant and the sand was red, but other than that it looked like any other beach.

this camp ground had a lot less bugs than the one in paris, so we weren't as diligent as we should have been. we were reading in the tent one night when it started thundering, so jess went to clean her teeth and then i went, and when i got back jess was standing out of the tent looking petrified. there was a huge grasshopper in the tent! the thunder was still going, so we were frantically trying to find something to catch the grasshopper with. 

jess ran to the nearest caravan to see if they had a container. she came back with the smallest tin can i have ever seen. 'well i'm not going in there to get it!' so, i had to be the hero and get the grasshopper. i cornered it, and put the can over it as quickly as i could. i had it! hooray! we weren't going to have to sleep outside tonight. 

then i realised it was on my leg! i screamed, threw the can across the tent and jumped outside. just as i got out it started pouring down. within 30 seconds we were soaked through. i looked at jess, and she shook her head. i sighed and bent back down, ready to get in the tent and we saw it on the bug screen. we screamed and ran around for a bit before flicking it off - OUT of the tent. we got back in and checked thoroughly for bugs and kept the bug screens closed for the rest of the time.

there were markets on in the main square of dijon on the weekend, and they were fun to look around. there was also jazz down at the beach on friday night, but we went to check that out and it was more heavy metallish than jazz... 

we got to lyon on sunday. it was quiet, and all the shops were closed. they were all closed on monday as well, which is good because we couldn't go shopping. we rode all along the river and found a communal feet dipping pool. i know it sounds gross, but the water was fresh and clean, and we saw two guys testing it on two different days. there was an awesome atmosphere and there were kids sliding and splashing in the water and families having picnics. we got some food from the supermarket and had a picnic there one night. 

we saw a mini eiffel tower in the distance, so we set off to find that. we found these ridiculously steep stairs leading up the main hill, so we left the bikes at the bottom and started climbing. we found all these cute little parks and quaint houses. it was crazy to think that people have to climb up those hills every day, or ride their scooters up them - and they were cobble stone. the view over lyon was awesome from the top - we could see all the french roof tops and chimneys. we never ended up finding the little eiffel tower though...

bordeaux was next on the agenda. our train got in at 11.45 and as we stepped off the train a thunderstorm started. just our luck. luckily we had booked a hotel close to the train station, and we didn't get lost! we spent most of our time in bordeaux riding around and along the river. the people were pretty rude, so we tried to avoid talking to anyone. there was another communal water feet dipping thing, and this was another favourite of ours for picnics. we had our first bottle of french red wine there, which was quite nice.

we got to montpellier on sunday. we stayed in a really nice part of town; there was a square that was always bustling with activity around the corner. at night there was restaurants, street performers and markets. its quite easy to get lost in montpellier. there are hundreds of little streets and alleys that lead on to new streets and alleys. we were going to go to the beach, but seeing as the the weather was a bit too overcast for our liking we stayed in town exploring all the streets. 

we're now in marseille, and its good to have a sea breeze. well, jess thinks so anyway (i didn't really notice...) we walked all around the harbour last night, turning our noses up at the restaurants and pretending that they werent good enough for us, even though we couldnt afford the bread there.. (prices were $40 - $70 for nearly everything!!) but we enjoyed being snooty before going around the corner to get $5 kebabs. 

today we went on an adventure to try and sell our bikes. we went looking for a bike shop, but couldnt find one anywhere! in every other city we've seen two or three, but none in marseille. when we eventually found one it was closed for the month of august. everyone goes on holidays here! we thought it was strange seeing as thats when they would do a lot of business, but each to their own. we ended up giving the bikes to a couple of guys working for the red cross. 

we're off to florence tomorrow, we have a huge day of travelling ahead. we're leaving marseille at 6am and getting to florence at 6pm. bring on italy!

there isnt heaps to add to anges account of our france experience. it has been nice, but we've definately spent enough time here. looking back, the best places have been lyon and montpellier. i liked lyon because we pent most of the time by the river in the feet dipping water thing, which was really nice. it was nice to see some families and nice people out and about too, because they all came down to have picnics. 

i liked montpellier, because is was different. a lot of the other places were the same as one another. montpellier had a really nice atmosphere and had a really nice layout. it was fun to explore all the little alleyways and gardens. 

its sad to say goodbye to the bikes, but they have really been a life saver in france. it meant we were able to see more of the towns we went to and also not have to walk past the people leering and spitting at you. buying the bikes is definately one of the best things we've done and i recommend it to everyone thinking about it. trying to get rid of them proved hard though, as ange said. we searched for hours for a store, but in the end i saw these people around our age who were trying to get donations for red cross, so i went up to one of the guys and asked if he wanted our bikes or if we could donate them or something, and i think he thought i was joking, but then i showed them to him and gave him the keys and he looked perplexed and like he might cry! so i'm glad that they've gone to good homes.

i am looking forward to italy so much. we're camping in three of the places, so that'll be nice and for the other places there's finally hostels!! we love hostels. mainly because they are a lot cheaper than hotels. and they have a kitchen. and i cant wait to cook some vegetables. i know. weird. but i am well and truly sick of bread!

ps... flickr hates us. i dont know why. i dont know how to fix it. but one day you will see the rest of our photos. 

paris part two

plane tickets over here: $2000

crepes at the eiffel tower:$25

coffee sitting outside:$9

getting mistaken for parisians not once, but 5 times: priceless!

(i dont know if this is more a compliment to us or an insult to the french... haha)

after our long sleep we got up and headed out for a much needed espresso before joining a walking tour at place de saint michel - across the other side of town. we rode like crazy and just made it! the walking tour was cool; i learnt a lot of stuff i didnt know before. such as the three different levels of the louvre were completed at different times. each king wanted to change and improve it. i asked the guide which kings did which levels and he couldnt tell me. i was a bit disappointed. whoever can tell me which king completed each level gets a present when i get home! i really want to know and dont have time to google it, what with gallavanting around europe and all! we also learnt that all the gardens are all square to 'dominate the plants' weird.

we went to the eiffel tower. its one of those things you have to do, really, isnt it? we got there at about 11 (after getting lost on the metro TWICE!! and then finding out a line was closed and taking this ridiculously long route that took an hour and a half longer than riding there!) and lined up for an hour. when we finally got to the front of the queue and got our tickets we were all hyped for the climb. by level one we were desperate for water, which i realised we'd left in the hotel room - i wondered why my bag felt so light! - oops. we climbed up the rest of the 700 steps to the second level. the view was awesome! we joined yet another queue to buy tickets to get to the top, and then lined up again to get in the elevators to get up there! they were the fastest elevators i've ever been in! im not the best with heights, but jess seemed to love it. the view from the top was fantastic! paris looks awesome from the sky. 

we joined yet another queue to get in the elevators to get down and 

then walked down the 700 stairs and felt we could justify a crepe for lunch...

we headed out to versailles in the afternoon to stand in another queue for an hour to get tickets to get in to the palace. the palace itself was fantastic. it was strange to be walking around a place that had so much history. we saw the room marie antoinette was in when the palace was attacked during the revolution, and the door she escaped through. we snuck on to a tour half way around the castle and then ran off when the guide realised that we werent meant to be there. we did learn a few interesting facts though! the garden was HUGE! we set off on a trek to find marie antoinettes hamlet, but they were closing the grounds early so we got kicked out. we tried to sneak past them by pretending not to understand french or english, but they seemed to know how to say "WE'RE  CLOSED! GET OUT!" in every single language. 

on sunday we went to watch the end of the tour de france. we left the bikes at the hotel and walked in, found a good spot on the rue rivoli at around 2pm and waited. and waited. and waited. our 'good spot' turned out to be not so good, as it was the only two metres on the whole street that was in the sun. yes, i had suncream on. no, jess didnt. yes, i got burnt, no, jess didnt. dont ask me how that works. jess reckons its the 1/8th italian she has in her blood. i reckon its false advertising on suncreams part. 

after about an hour there was a parade. that was very exciting. we saw lots of floats for haribo (our new favourite lollies) vittel (water) and even an australian one. at 4.30 there was another parade, but this time it was the offical cars and motorbikes, just before the riders. and then the riders came down the road in a big group, only one out in front. and we cheered and clapped, and they were gone. two and a half hours of waiting for half a second?? but no, they came around again. we were on the inside of the circuit so we saw them come around a few times and each time there was more and more space between the riders. how exciting! 

after that we went back to the hotel to pick up the bags before heading out to our new accomodation: camping. yes, i know, me and camping dont sound like we would go together. but im poor, and paris is quite expensive, so i was willing to give it a go. for one night, anyway. we got out to the campground alright, found a spot and pitched the tent. well, jess pitched it and i picked a fingernail. but i unrolled the self-inflating mattresses and pulled the sleeping bags out of their covers, so i think the workload was spread quite evenly. 

i slept well the first night, but if this trip has proven anything to us its that i can sleep through ANYTHING. jess was kept awake by some noisy germans putting up their tent at one am. so, i woke up cheery and ready to go to the louvre, and jess woke up ready to kill someone. i promised her a nutella crepe AFTER we saw the mona lisa, and she brightened up. when we got to the louvre it wasnt nearly as packed as i thought it was going to be. the ugly triangle (built to stop congestion at the entrances) was clearly doing its job. as we bought tickets there were two american girls next to us asking the cashier: "where are, like, the lines to get in? wheres the entrance?" we shook our heads and walked towards the entrance sign.

we pretended to be interested in the various paintings and sculptures as we walked through the halls, but really we were doing what everyone does in the first five minutes: hunting down the mona lisa. we did, and it wasn't as much of a hunt as we thought. the crowd around the painting was unbelievable! i pushed my way to the front to get a good photo and only got three bruises from the experience! next on the list was the venus de milo. we walked back through the paintings and sculptures and found it quite easily. we wandered around for a while and found the medieval louvre exhibit. that was cool; we went underground to see the original walls of the louvre. 

on monday we went to notre dame before heading up to montmarte to do another walking tour. we met out the front of the moulin rouge, which means red mill. every second shop was 'le moulin something' we saw the only original windmill left in montmarte.

 when the russians (or the prussians, the guy kept changing his story) invaded they knocked them all down, but one farmer stood up to them, so they strapped him to his windmill and let him spin to death. before they could knock it down they were driven out of france, and the farmer had the last laugh. well, you know what i mean. we saw where vincent van gogh lived. its just a regular apartment and somebody lives there now. we also saw his favourite restaurant-slash-brothel. its still a popular restaurant, but no longer a brothel. we saw a statue of the patron saint of paris: st denis. he came to preach christianity, so they cut off his head and he picked his head up and recited the gospel. everyone converted to christianity after that, and they named montemarte after him. it translates to the hill of the martyr. we also saw pablo picassos favourite restaurant, where he paid with his paintings when he was poor. the owner of the restaurant sold the paintings when picasso made it big and retired to the south of france. we also saw le sacre coeur - the church of the sacred heart. the church was breathtaking, and so were the views of paris. when we got back to the bottom of the hill we decided we had done enough excercise to warrant another nutella crepe.

it is safe to say that we wont be flying back to perth, we'll be rolling back. seriously. i've had enough crepes to last a lifetime. but they are so delicious that right after i swear i'll never have another one, we mysteriously walk past a crepe stand, and it smells so good and the crepe maker is standing there smiling saying 'would you like a delicious lovely crepe filled with delicious lovely goodness madmoiselle?'. how can i resist that?!

anyway, as you can see by everything ange has written thus far, we've had a good time in paris. i will say though, that it wasn't what i'd expected, and i was a little disappointed.. i think the real paris has been long washed away with the tides of tourists, who have consumed every little part of its charm and uniqueness. you cant go anywhere without someone trying to sell you something, or being jeered at or having people push past you like you don't exist. though the first morning we were there, when we were out and about before everyone woke up, it was breathtaking, and when we were riding out of the louvre gardens and caught a glimpse of the eiffel tower, it felt like a movie, you know, like an experience that isnt quite real, because its so beautiful. thats the paris you dream about.

our last day in paris turned out to be a really great day. we went pillow shopping, because neither of us could stand another night sleeping on rolled up clothes. we were succeessful after about an hour of trying to find a shop that resembled a pillow shop. what does a pillow shop look like?! i have no idea either. we then jumped back on our bikes and rode the streets to find a market that ange had read about.

we pulled up the the markets and saw that for the most part, it was closed. strangely, a lot of people shut up shop for the summer here. we found one little stand that was still open, and got a few slices of french cheese, as we had decided we were going to have a little french picnic by the river. we then went to a bakery and got a baguette and two beers, and rode down the the seine. we didnt have a picnic rug, but the pavement was pretty soft looking, so we sat down on the edge of the walkway, like many others already had, and had a really nice dinner of cheese, bread and beer. perfect. there were lots of people who had come down after work with their friends and a bottle of nice wine and a hamper and having little french picnics like us. it had a nice atmosphere. lots of ferry boats were passing with heaps of people on them, and i even got ange into waving at them, because i recon it makes people happier when they wave, so we sat there for a while and waved at the passing boats. 

after a while, we wandered down the walkway and found all these little semi-circle alcove things were people could sit around an area overlooking the river. a lot like an open air auditorium or something. it was then we realised the time, and it just so happened to be the place that the swing dancing was going to be on that night! we saw some guys setting up some speakers and so we sat on the steps and waited. then they started playing classical music and doing classical dancing, so we guesed we were in the wrong spot. we moved into the next semi-circle and suddenly ella singing 'frim fram sauce' wafted past our ears. woohoo! we got up and started dancing and it was awesome. theres nothing like dancing outdoors on a barmy evening with a bunch of nice people. just like at kristian and jennas wedding. it was great. we stayed a lot longer than we'd planned, and it ended up getting dark and the ferrys going past had spot lights on them and all the people on the ferrys were pointing and waving at all of us dancing. we retired back to the campsite feeling buzzed from dancing and laughing and waving and to top it off, we had pillows!

paris part one

ok, so as of a week or so ago, our trip has taken new path. as you read in the previous post, we've bought bikes, saddle bags, a tent and some (surprisingly good) blow up mattresses. we've planned to do some camping in between hostels and the like, because it is very very expensive to stay in france and italy as there aren't many hostels (in france mainly) so you have to book a hotel. for example, the hotel we booked in paris cost €60 a night, and the camp ground in paris cost us €60 for four nights! so camping is the way to go. before ange tell you how its all going in france, i must tell you the story of how we got to paris.

so we got our tickets from the lady who didn't have a clue what we were saying, so we were hoping that we had the right ones. all in all we had about 10 separate tickets, some to put on our bikes for each trip and some for us. to get from berlin to paris, we had to take this route: berlin to kassel hoff, kassel hoff to kosch, kosch to paris. it takes four hours to get from berlin to kassel hoff, four hours to get to kassel hoff to kosh, a six hour wait in the station and 6 hours to get from kosch to paris. it was going to be bout 20 hours travel time. we could get back home in nearly that time! so we psyched ourselves up for a long trip with little sleep.

we were to get the first train at 10:30am, so we got up in enough time to get to the station. it took a lot longer to walk there than we thought, so we were really pushing the time when we arrived. i then realised that i'd left our awesome lock for the bikes at kelly and prues, and we didnt have enought time to go and get it, so ange ran off trying to find a lock because we weren't sure what to expect security wise on the trains. the only problem was that it was 10:20 when she left, therefore right on 10:30 when she got back. we had no luck with getting a lock, and ange was starting to get quite stressed.. i could tell by the panicked look and the slight twitch in her left eye.. we went into commando mode and flew through the station to find the train. we were the last ones left on the platform, and they were yelling at us to get on. only we had no idea where to put our bikes, so we went up to a conductor looking man and showed him our tickets and he said to go to the other end of the train "shnell!" which means quick! so we raced down there and were confronted by a scary short lady who wasn't pleased that we were running late. she asked for our tickets, and ange opened the ticket folder she was holding and we both just about vomited when we saw there were no tickets. this of course was impossible because we'd just shown them to the man a second ago! we looked back and saw one lone ticket on the platform, and summised that they had fallen out our in our mad dash. ange ran back to get the ticket and look for the others while i tried to reason with the scary lady. ange came back with the one ticket and the lady just yelled at us to get on the train. so ange tried to get her bike up the stairs, but got stuck. everything then caught up with her, and she burst into tears half hanging out of the train. in seeing this i tried to help get the bike on the train while still trying to explain that the tickets were there a moment ago. the train driver then came out of his cabin next door and started to help pull the bike on, and then ange accidentally dropped her big bag off the train. the only problem was that she dropped her bag right on top of the scary short lady. so at this moment, i'm picking up anges bag off the platform, apologising, the lady is fixing her glasses and looking disgusted, ange is having a breakdown on the train, and the driver is standing there, holding the bike, looking like he wished he was anywhere but there. so we finally got everything on the train, but we still had the problem of having no tickets. i tried to speak german, but all i know is "nein, das ist mein hamburger!" which wasnt going to help us.

when she saw ange crying, the lady softened a little, and wasnt yelling at us anymore. she told us to go and sit down, and thankfully we had our eurail tickets which helped. she still wanted our other tickets though. she then left to do her rounds, and we were given some breathing space. ange had calmed down, and i was freaking out that we had no tickets for the whole trip and how were we going to communicate this to the ticket inspectors and why should they believe us? then about an hour in, the lady simply walked past, and handed ange a wad of paper. now it was my turn to get a tad teary as we realised that it was our tickets! the man that we had asked at the start had seen us drop them and taken them onto the train. geez! we went and found the scary lady who wasnt so scary anymore, and gave her one of the little koala bears that we bought with us. she was very chuffed. it was nice that we could communicate to say thankyou even though we couldn't speak each other's language.

the rest of the trip through the various stops in germany was, thankfully, very uneventful. the 6 hour wait from 7pm till 1am was a killer, but we survived. about half an hour till our train was leaving, we thought we'd be smart and get on the train early. when we got up there we realised that everyone had had this idea, and the train was chock-a-block. to make matters worse, it was a gross smelly train, and you had to go in cabins with other people who had all taken their shoes off! we opened door after door on sleeping people to try and find a seat, because our designated seats were being slept on by someone who refused to get off and slammed the door on us. the only cabin we could find that had room had one man in it, so we asked if we could sit there, he said yes and we walked in. big mistake. it smelled so bad, which was possibly his feet, and to top it off, he was smoking inside the cabin, which was tiny. when you've been travelling for a very long time with no sleep, its easy to get irritated by little things..

six hours later, we arrived in paris...

... and walked out of the train station looking super excited (well, as excited as one can look after a crappy overnight train) only to be spat at by a creepy man. lovely. we walked down the street and found our hotel. i walked in and asked if we could leave our bags there until check in time. the desk man was quite rude until i produced our booking sheet, at which point he decided he was my best friend. we left our bags there and set off with the map i stole from the tour guide from the start of our trip. we rode down a few random streets and found a patisserie. we couldnt resist the delicious looking pain au chocolats, so we asked (in our best attempt at french) for some, and the lady seemed to understand us. woohoo! we continued riding and ended up at the louvre. it was awesome. picture this: riding from the seine through the gates and seeing the sun hit the louvre (and the random glass triangle) and its all shiny AND there was NO ONE around! it was 8 oclock and the louvre opens at 9, so we missed the tourists.

but, we didnt miss the traffic. after we'd walked our bikes through les jardins tuleries we found ourselves smack bang in peak hour traffic on the Champs-Élysées. it seemed like like a nice easy ride from the bottom, but when we got to the top and looked down our jaws hit the road. we'de ridden two kilometres up a cobblestone street that was packed with cars. it was one of the most scary moments of my life! we took photos of the arc de triomphe before setting off in search of the eiffel tower. we could see the top, we just needed to find a way there. we turned a corner and bam! there it was. we were on the opposite side of the seine, overlooking the eiffel tower and paris. we got delicious overpriced pretend-nutella crepes and coffee with cream in it (CREAM!?!?!?!?) and sat down to breakfast number two watching paris wake up. there were a few early rising tourists about, but not enough to distract the men selling little eiffel towers (you buy, you buy, three for one euro - special price, just for you!) and every single one tried to sell us them. i was happy to pretend i didnt speak french OR english and enjoy the crepe and the view, but jess got more and more angry. which, in turn resulted in them trying to provoke her more. hilarious, from my angle, but dont tell jess i said that.

we rode to st germain de-pres to check out the shopping and it was there we had our first ham and cheese crepes. that was the turning point where we knew that we would eat nothing else in paris. until, for lunch number two jess, had yet another crepe, this time with REAL nutella. uh oh. this was swedish soft-serve all over again! every morning for the rest of paris there was no "good morning, ange!" but "WAKE UP! lets go get crepes!"

at 2pm we rode back to the hotel and crashed. we slept for 24 hours straight! no more overnight trains for us! we woke up refereshed and eager to explore paris some more...

... but its getting late so we'll tell you about that next time!

i know a guy who knows a guy...

well the past week has been an eventful one - hopefully i dont forget anything!

last monday we went out looking for cheap bikes to take around europe. we went to little johns bikes in hackesher markt (v. central location) and they didnt have any but their other store did. we trekked out to the 'burbs (and by trekked i mean took the 'tube') only to find the bikes were pretty bad so we came back into town. kelly and prue got bikes from up the road from us, so we thought that would be a good place to try. we walked up and asked at the first bike shop that we saw. the guy couldnt speak english but his friend was like 'no, he doesnt sell them, but i do. come with me!' we were wary, but he said he was taking us to a shop, so we followed him. he took us down the street and around the corner to a second hand washing machine store and pointed to two rusty old bikes. he grabbed one and practically pulled it apart to repair everything. meanwhile, his neighbour brought out a nice looking bike. we stood there for ages trying to make the guy understand that we didnt want his bike, but we wanted his neighbours instead. in the end we ended up shoving them the money and running. he was a really nice guy, but couldnt understand why we didnt want his old, rusty and broken bike. half our problem was solved. as we were walking home we came across another bike shop and asked the owner if he was selling second hand bikes. he replied: no, but my neighbour upstairs is. come back tomorrow at 9.30!

so we did. and it turned out to be a really nice 'holland style' bike. it also turned out that we got ripped off with my bike, because jess' was 30 euros cheaper and much nicer. ah well, you live and learn.

on tuesday we took out our bikes (named eike the bikie - mine - and rosie - jess.) with kelly and prue and rode over via the brandenberg gate to yet another museum in the west! it was called the story of berlin and it was so intense. it detailed, and i mean really detailed the history of berlin starting from around the 1200s. there was SO much information! and then, just when you thought there couldnt be any more, world war two came around. and then the cold war. it was so overwhelming! after that we needed something a lot less sombre so we headed over the the aquarium to hang out with the fish. that was cool - they had heaps of different varieties. jess had fun pointing out all the fish she has to kelly and prue.

on wednesday we went to the cute little cafe we discovered down the street. they do the best coffee in berlin by far. we then rode into town and got some saddlebags to put on our new bikes. we look all professional when we ride now. we went to the main train station to try and book our tickets to paris and then lady could hardly speak any english. we found out that we couldnt catch the train til tuesday AND it would take two days to get there! but at least it was booked. after that we walked down friedrichstraße and ended up at checkpoint charlie. as you do, when you go for a walk. there was no one around so i made jess pose for a picture, but she wasnt very happy because it was raining pretty heavily.

on friday we went op shop shopping around prenzlaur berg. we got a map from the one opposite our apartment and set off. we found some fantastic shops with heaps of original gdr stuff in them. it was awesome to see the area - there are so many little awesome shops and the people are so interesting to watch.

tent shopping was on the agenda for saturday. we went to a couple of stores and found an awesome one that doesnt look too difficult to put up, and is small enough to fit in our bags. we also picked up a couple of blow up mattresses but we got the cheap ones, so hopefully they will be ok. we took kelly and prue out for dinner to say thankyou for having us. we went to an awesome vegetarian restaurant in kreuzberg. the food was amazing! very rich and much enjoyed by all.

on sunday we slept in late before going to a flea market around the corner. it was sooooo cool! im so glad we got there late as we could have very easily spent all our money there. jess got a few t shirts and i found an awesome bike! it was a sad moment, but i traded eike in. i now have franz, who is a holland bike like jess' and is much easier to ride than eike.

on our last day in berlin we went to the sony centre to check out the architecture. it was pretty cool so we sat and had hot chocolates to keep out of the rain. we rode back through checkpoint charlie to get souvenirs (we love tourist shops now!) and via the brandenburg gate to the reichstag. we were going to go in but the dome was closed for cleaning and the line was so long. we rode home and just as we turned on to our street it started raining cats and dogs and we got saturated! it was like perth rain - it came down sideways! prue cooked us a delicious dinner and we went down to the scotch and soda (the pub downstairs) and had cocktails.

off to paris now... if we make it in one piece!

nien, das ist mein hamburger!

we got to berlin late on sunday night. we got on the train at the airport, got off at charlottenburg and practically tripped up the stairs to the hostel it was that close to the train station. awesome!

 we love hostels that we dont have to walk to. and we had a twin room, which was fantastic after the 200 bed dorms at herrang! we spent the first few days recovering from herrang - sleep is SO good! we went in to town and walked up the shopping strip on the second day. it was cool because we knew where we were - sort of. we kept going: hey! i remember that! its nice to be somewhere sort of familiar. charlottenburg is a nice area. but, we found out, not as nice as mitte. or prenzlaur berg. east rocks. we met up with kelly and prue on wednesday night and had...

delicious fried rice with zucchini and lemongrass. and champignons. it was delicious! i thought about it all the next day!!

we moved into kelly and prues two days ago. they are staying in such a nice apartment! the area is soooo nice. the only bad part was the 300 (its actually 107) stairs to get up to the top floor of the apartment block. but at the end of the week we will have legs of steel. mmm. legs of steel. 

on friday we went to the pergamonmuseum, which was home to the babylon exhibition. 

the first half, with all the artefacts was awesome, but the second half had lots of weird modern stuff and wasnt so good. we bought the threeday museum card (much to jess' delight...) and set off to the bode museum around the corner. that was cool, it had lots of coins. we like coins. we went out with kelly and prue that night. the first bar we went to was called 8mm and was described by exberliner.com as: 

"The kind of cramped, stuffy hole   where desperate but culturally literate 30-somethings stand around soaking their liver in gin til 4:00am on a Monday night. But it's better than that: a lot of the barflies there are actually talented, multi-lingual flimmakers or over-the-hill cutting edge DJs. Yes, it's smoky and a bit grimy. But the DJs have class and the project the same weird movie all the time."

yes, we saw the barflies. yes, we saw the weird, slightly creepy movie and yes, we heard the djs. it was almost too cool for school. but we are cooler than school and therefore were too cool for it. 

on saturday we got up ready for another big day of museuming. we started off with the photography museum. there was an exhibiton on helmut newton which was amazing. he took some fantastic photos. there were also photos of the paparazzi and of 70s celebrities that didnt know they were being photographed. most of them were by helmut but there were a few from other photographers. for example, all the photographs of helmut newton were by a lady called alice springs, which we found quite hilarious. the guards didnt get what was quite so funny.

the second museum we went to was the berlinische gallerie. this had lots of modern art from the 80s and some disturbing photographs. we didnt like this one as much as the first museum. the gallerie was quite a walk from any tube station so we set off down one street back to the nearest tube station and stumbled upon the juedisches museum, or the jewish museum. when we were in berlin before we were told about a museum with crazy architecture and sloping floors which jess was quite keen to go to, but we couldnt remember what it was called. we walked into the jewish museum and were like: '... wait a minute... this is it!' it was the most amazing museum ever! the whole experience was intense. there was a room called the memory tower and it was a triangular tower with a tiny hole letting natural light in. it was meant for reflection and for people to think what they liked. another room was the memory void. (check photos on flickr because its hard to describe) it was like walking over the faces of the jews who lost their lives during the holocaust. they were metal and when people walked on them they made a clanking noise which echoed throughout the museum. the way the whole museum was set out was fantastic. there wasnt an overload of information; just enough to make you think.

on saturday night we made dinner..... ange went to the store and came back with ingredients for a masterpiece. well, a masterpiece in our eyes. we cut up an onion, diced some garlic, and cooked them good and through, then we put a cut up zuccini, and two cut up fresh tomatoes, half a tin of diced tomatoes to make it saucy. then we put it on wholemeal pasta and voila! a masterpiece. well, it was delicious..

yesterday we got up ready for our final museum day. we headed out to museum island again and discovered an awesome market strip. we spent a bit of time thinning out our wallets before heading into the egyptian museum. we saw nefertiti's head sculpture. that was awse, except for the guards that told me off for everything i did including breathing on an exhibit...

we then went on to the DDR museum, a hands on museum about life in the GDR. that was awesome. we got to pull drawers out and they had stuff in them we could play with. totally cool!

the last museum was the anne frank zentrum in mitte (the hip and happening centre of east berlin) it was done really well and had a contrast of modern life and anne franks life. there wasnt an overload of information which was good, seeing as we were nearly brain-dead from all the museuming we'd done over the past few days. 

ok, well, ange has pretty much covered most of it, so i wont write too much. Prenzlaur Berg (where we are currently staying) is awesome. kelly and prues apartment is the bomb. it is the coolest place, right in the middle of east berlin, only two train stops away from everywhere and anywhere! the apartment itself is such a nice place and we are so grateful that we could stay here. and just to top it off, prue's cooking is like eating at your favourite restaurant!

last night we all went for a stroll down the street and went to this little wine bar thats hidden into the rows of cafe's and apartments. you step down into this little doorway, and find yourself in this most amazing space. its a tiny bar, and you pay one euro to get in. the lady then suggests a wine you might like (they only do red wine - dad, you'd love this place) and then you find a seat at this big wooden tables and the lady brings your wine and some water. the atmosphere was so great, its very dimly lit, mostly by candles, with bright fairy lights dotted here and there. it almost feels like you're in a cave. very cool. we stayed there for hours, talking so much we only had one bottle of wine! at the end, you go and you pay only what you think the wine deserved. pretty cool yeah?

so all in all, berlin is definately up there in my most favourite places in europe...i can say that now because i've been to many... woohooo!! tomorrow we're going over to the west to the aquarium at zoologischer garten, which i am extremely excited about, and we're also going to check out some more museums and galleries.

lots of love to all, i feel a little bit homesick.. x