Interesting Italy

One destination we were really looking forward to in Italia... and we had a pretty full on itinerary! With a few days to spare prior to the much anticipated arrival of Mom & Dad Brick (which we were thrilled at as it had been over a year since we had seen each other), we started in Naples.

Why you ask? Naples is, well, to put it nicely... a hole. But the pizza was amazing! Lucky were there for all of one night, sleeping at ‘6 small rooms’ (located in a dingy alley way), enough time to gobble down a pizza at ‘Pizzeria Di Matteo’ and catch some z’s before our Italy experience really got started.

Despite some minor confusion on the train, resulting in us missing our stop and having to back track, we found our accommodation just outside of Sorrento. We had such a lovely walk in to the city centre, and although touristy we knew we were on a good thing. With a few hours to spare in the afternoon (but with very little time in the scheme of things), we hopped on bus to Positano, in order to get a small taste of the Amalfi Coast. What a lovely little town, boy were we camera happy with snaps of the view, the ocean, the view, the buildings, the view.... you get the point! Very much looking forward to coming back and exploring more of what the Amalfi Coast has to offer.

Next on the itinerary – the charming island of Capri. It was decided we would spend our only full day exploring this beautiful island, and what brilliant weather for it! After the ferry over, we had the water bottles and walking shoes ready... luck because the amount of steps just to get the Capri town from the Port is enough to make anyone’s butt outshine that of Pippa Middleton....

Capri must’s:

• Walk to the ruins of Villa Jovis, high on a cliff overlooking the ocean

• Wander the tiny, winding streets of Anacapri

• Treat yourself to lemonade ice-cream, sooo good!

• Wander up and down the via Krupp, a steep, snaking path that gets the heart rate moving!

• Take a costal walk to see the Faraglioni and the Arc Naturale... very beautiful!

Although we had little time, and decided against the Blue Grotto, an attraction Capri is so famous for, Capri was definitely one of our Italian highlights...

Welcome to J&J Brick and welcome to Rome! After meeting the travellers and starting the gasbagging over a kebab, we thought we should also start the sightseeing. And where would any true tourist begin? The Colosseum. And I must say, I am not sure if the phenomenal structure itself is more impressive, or the fact that the city is so built up so closely around it. Nonetheless we joined the crowds in the heat, strolled around, happy snapped and even tackled the Roman Forum straight afterwards. It is fair to say that the pasta and wine back at our apartment were well earned that night!

The following day, in true tourist form, we made a ‘bee’-line (or is it v-line) to the Vatican. There is not much to be said about how amazing and over the top and extravagant the whole interior is, and that is even before entering the Sistine Chapel. Wow-factor. Wow. And a heap of people.... A tough life we lead, taking in only a small percentage of the many imposing sights of Rome; the Trevi Fountain, Sant Angelo bridge, St.Peter’s Basilica (probably the best Bee had even seen, sorry Gerard!), Piazza Navona – the list goes on... Oh how could we forget the small Church of “Immacolata Concezione” with its 3000 monk bones and skulls, used to make decorative patterns in its rooms. Very interesting... Rome = 7/10.

An afternoon and evening in Florence was spend strolling the beautiful streets (as opposed to waiting in line to see the statue of David – next time Michelangelo). The massive Duomo and unique Ponte Viichio bridge clear stand outs. And the gelato, now a staple in the diet, naturally.

Cinque Terre – wow. We had heard such amazing things about the villages of Cinque Terre and we were not the least bit disappointed. Which was great, as so far Italy had been good, but not breathtaking. The four if us stayed in a town just outside of La Spezia, the largest town south of the Cinque Terre region. Trains were very easily accessible between the villages, as was a pretty challenging walking track (any walking would be challenging in 30C heat, sun bearing down on Gerard’s forehead!). Oh, Riomaggiore and Manarola would have to be our favourites, if we had to pick!

Let us sum it up for you in a few words: endless sea views, winding streets, colourful buildings, cliff top walking, tasty gelato, swimming of the rocks, pizza at sunset. What more could you ask for?

So coming of such a high for a couple of days, we were back on the train via Florence and headed direction Venice, our last Italy stop. Obviously Venice is one of the most talked about cities in the world we were finally about to see what all the fuss was about. First word that comes to mind – Enchanting.

Now we could go on about the endless canals (some so small you could not even imagine a gondola squeezing through), the endless bridges (the Rio Alto bridge is worth mentioning, very impressive) and the endless masks (wow).... but we won’t. It was just so user friendly, jumping on and off the water taxi’s, strolling around the footpaths and over canals and just taking in the beautiful city. A trip out to the glass blowing island and purchasing fresh salmon from the market ticked off both souvenirs and dinner, not to mention getting lost in the maze of canals and streets in the evening time which led us to find a funky bar (sorry, can’t tell you where it is!)

Our Venetian adventure rounded off our whole Italian experience and also meant it was time to sadly say ‘see you in two months’ to J&J, as were going our separate ways. Paris for them, Morocco for us... Bring it on!

Oktoberfest II

Being one year older and wiser and after last year’s shenanigans, the phrase for 2011 was pace. It was great to have large crew together this year to discuss old times and simply enjoy each others’ company. Oktoberfest will be up there with San Fermin as ‘do not miss’ festivals in any European conversations.

I’m not sure we have really seen much of England yet...

After realising that we hadn’t seen enough of the UK to make a fair overall judgement, our last two weeks was spent exploring the country areas. The adventure in Gerard was calling and so a three day, 100km trek was quickly put together taking in part of the Great South West Walk from Weymouth to Exmouth. With tent, camping gear, food, boiler and the trusty compass packed it was time for some ‘individual pursuits.’ The walk was tough to say the least and thank god for Ipods and Ministry of Sound is all I can say. Pumping through gale force winds and showers on the first day from West Fleet to Lyme Regis was a tough welcoming. This 50km stretch took in some delightful scenery including the longest sandbank I’ve ever seen in Chesil Beach – it never seemed to end! The variety of the terrains of the walk, scenery of the Jurassic Coast cliffs and fresh seafood experience (especially the Lyme Bay crab) was glorious.

The second and third days took in about 25km on each day but proved to be more challenging due to the constant changes in altitude. I’ll tell you what, everything just works out. I was one hill from defeat at 6.30pm when the sun was setting, 25kg on my back was feeling like I was carrying a horse and I didn’t have a campsite in sight. It was looking like a night of sleeping it rough! Darryn to the rescue. A fellow walking his dog tells me to take his lead and after a good yarn leads me to a remote caravan park. It gets better. After setting up the tent (fairly shattered by now) an old fellow, Charlie, comes over with the offer of a cup of tea (‘because it looks like you could do with one’). I will be forever grateful for the Earl of Grey. After a morning trek through some jungle like conditions out of Sidmouth, the last day was a day of much the same, great scenery, great food and lots of ‘holiday parks.’ I don’t know how you can holiday in a park with 1000 other fellow Chavs but each to their own. I suppose the lovely beaches get them through.....Oops. All in all it was a great challenge and a very worthwhile expedition.

The expeditions didn’t stop here though. As we’d already conquered Wales’ highest peak, Mt. Snowdon, it was time to do England’s highest peak, Scafell Pyke (this leaves Ben Nevis but we know we’ll be back to Scotland!). Scafell Pyke lies in the Lake District of England and has some of the best mountains and lakes in the UK in addition to little villages. The pictures tell our story!

P, P, Pretty Prague

What a beautiful, oh I mean, pretty city to put the smiles back on our faces after some sad goodbyes. We arrived on the train from Austria in to the Czech delight and found our bed (not bad, not bad – a small plug for the Czech Inn Hostel). We were lucky enough to arrive just in time for the 6.00pm entertainment that the much talked about clock tower had to offer... a tad overrated but nice, oh and quite funny to see all the tourists with their cameras at the ready!!

Speaking of lucky, we also had timed our visit to the Czech capital to absolute perfection – Teychney was in town! It was so nice to have a beer and a meal (even if we were charged for margarine, bread, salt, sauce... you name it) with a wonderful chick – and what an infectious laugh!

The remainder of our time in Prague was spent strolling the streets, skipping out on a walking tour (boy was that guy frustrating), watching the AFL at our hostel (GO CATS!) and ended with a visit to the Prague Castle. Ok but not a must do... Thanks Praha!

Ahoy again in Austria

Our second home for over a year would say so long after many great memories. On the agenda for the last visit (for this trip) was some quality time in Hans and Gerty’s shack just outside of Vienna in Ollersbach, a nice couple day trek through the Wachau and of course Hans’s 75th birthday celebration.

The days spent lounging, dining and talking in fluent German and English were so very relaxing and exactly what we needed. Wasp collection counting was a particular interest with Hans and Gerty’s collector, obviously being of a higher quality red apple juice, out smarting the wasps on numerous occasions, just edging out Bee and Gerard’s collector on the less potent green apple juice. Talking about juice, the farms in Austria put on a great local spread for about two or three weeks a year for the locals lucky enough to be in the know how. Cider flows and fresh ham of every variety is available during this time at the actually place of production, that just happens to land itself on top of a hill (mound in Austrian terms) with a sunset view to go blind for. A visit to delightful Erlauf ‘See’ (lake in German), Mariazell (one of the most famous churches in Austria) and numerous villages in the Ollersbach region capped off a great few days.

A particular highlight of this trip was Hans’ birthday celebrated in true Austrian style with a family gathering at a wine festival - bringing in some of the best food Austria has to offer. Schnitzel wasn’t the choice this time, but after the ‘soft sausage’ it will be top of the list for the next visit... It was great to meet and see so many of the clan and share stories of travel and life at home on a fantastic afternoon.

Last on the list was two day trek through a region made famous for ‘housing’ Richard the Lionheart in his time in exile (be it for a couple months, it still happened!) – the Wachau. Durnstein itself was the starting point and after a quick bite and load of supplies it was off to climb some mountains that towered over the Danube river. A great couple of days, but relief was finishing, partly because of the feet but partly because we wanted to get back to Vienna to spend some more time with Hans and Gerty before our final goodbyes for 2011... Sob sob!!

Buda & Pest

We arrived in the Hungarian capital in search of a comfy bed, some local goulash and perhaps a beer or two, and we were not disappointed. We stayed at a wonderful hostel located in the heart of the city, a perfect base for exploring the city and indulging in the cheap tucker.

A walking tour (although not the best one we have ever been on) took us through the streets of both Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube. It was just so nice wandering around the streets... tagging along, taking photos – not a care in the world!

Major highlights: Fisherman’s Bastion, Castle Hill, Parliament and the lovely dinner at a beautiful local restaurant. Oh and an afternoon relaxing at the world famous Szechenyi Thermal Spa and Pools – pure bliss!!

Downfalls: trying to get the head around the Hungarian Forint after using the Pound and Euro. How can 20,000 only equate to about $6???

On to the train and off to Wien....