Well, it’s been busy!

Mainly because I have been helping out with the launch my parent site, which is exciting cause I know they have a tonne of cool ideas, they just don’t have to people to make it happen over night, but it will get there, I will be helping them where I can (although I think I will need to do a little more traveling first!!).

Anyway, back to it…

right, so after spending sometime in Bled we decided it was time to head out for Venice.  However, along the way we stopped into the famous caves.  We got there nice and early (a little too early, but we had time to relax and be first to get our ticket).  We caught a cute little train that took us deeper into the cave and after  a little time of ohhhing and ahhhing on the way down we got out and was able to walk around while our guide was giving us the facts.  Here are a couple of photos of me in the caves:

a little blurry, this camera wasn’t the best for photos at night I have found out.

It was quite cool down there (in both the temperature and good factor).  Since I am on the topic of caves, while this one was lit up nicely, what is with the coloured lights in caves?  Is it to bring out certain colours in the rocks?Or is it purely for entertainment purposes?  I have always wanted to know that (well, always as in the last couple of hours at least – hehe)

So after walking around the caves, thinking about the millions of years it took to create the stalactites and how it would be typical for me to fall and knock one down (however I didn’t, probably because I am not tall enough) it was time to go.

At the end we were told to wait at a station for the little train to take use back up…..and I am serious, they really have a station in the cave, complete with a little yellow line (which I am naughty and am in front of)!

Toot toot!

Next stop was Venice, since Italy isn’t the cheapest place in the world we were told they have pretty good camp sites with cabins that are reasonably priced, so we found one that is right next to a ferry stop that will take us in.

Byeeeee

Hello!!

Well we are out seeing Bled today.   It is so picture perfect, it’s not funny.  Seriously, look up photo and you will see the lake with the church (I say look them up because I forgot to get photos, I even forgot to get photos without me in them!!!), we opted to go driving to the other side of the lake where there were less tourists (yes, I am still on my never ending search to see fantastic places without all the people – hehe)!

We did a lot of walking and checked out some of the shops, we found a nice little area were I got some shots on a cute bridge:

See what I mean by uber pretty?

Next stop we are off to see the caves, which I am looking forward to.

Ok,

Well, we have done a lot of driving lately….and been across 4 countries (not really recommended if you want to actually see stuff – lol)!!

First we left Vienna for Bratislava, we spent the day walking around looking at the castle and the town, all very pretty, but as it got later we decided we were keen to move on, so we headed out towards Budapest in the afternoon, although because it was getting late, we stopped at Gyor and found somewhere to stay.  Gyor was a bit of a gem, a really sweet place, we got a little bit of afternoon light to look around before retiring for the night in out hotel:

Then in a huge change of events, we all had a bit of a talk and decided that we would ditch the idea of Romania for Italy…… so we awoke early, got some fresh bread for brekky, and head towards Italy, although, it wouldn’t be a real trip without some stop offs along the way!  We decided we wanted to check out Croatia first, however due to time constraints, we couldn’t go down the coast as I would have loved, instead we checked out Zagreb.  On the way, I saw a Croatian chicken!  No one would let me say hi, so all I have to show is a blurry photo:

Due to the lack of information we had on Croatia (we never planned to come here), we drove around Zagreb, looked around and basically headed back out.  Which leaves us here in Ljubljana.  We arrived late, found a place to stay and headed into the centre for something to eat, and oh my, this would have to be the most romantic place ever (Well, that I have seen), we are staying where the water flows through the city, and all the restaurants have outside seating with lots of fairy lights, cobblestones, old buildings and candles everywhere…. just perfect.  We will be staying in Slovenia for a little longer than our normal stops, mainly because we are tired of driving and it’s soooooo pretty  (Also we were told before we left that we have to see Bled and the caves)!!

Here I am being very brave in a photo that was just begging to be taken.  After walking around the very grand Belvedere Palace, we made our way out to the bus, and while walking down the pathway we could hear someone blowing a whistle, continually, and very loudly, then we heard shouting, soon we realised there was a person that actually was just there to keep people off the grass, and he took his job very seriously!  I don’t really blame him, I wouldn’t be too happy having a tonne of tourists stomping my immaculate lawn either.  Although having said that, I couldn’t resist taking this photo:

Next stop was our last of our sightseeing, we went to the Praterstern amusement park, with the oldest ferris wheel in the world.   Had a great time walking around the park at sunset/ night, the old rides were the best, and we tried as many as we could (as you know I love a good amusement park!!), however this one was more special, as it had a real nostalgic feel about it which I loved.  Here is me riding the ferris wheel:

View of the park

View of the city.  Hmmm, I wonder if anyone can point out the newer part of Vienna?  hehehe

The last couple of days of sight seeing have been great, seeing the old part of Vienna with the new make this an extremely livable city, in fact I liked it so much that I looked up available jobs in the UN here, although nothing for this little chicken (I think I would make a great ambassador, well except for obeying signs).  I have been trying to rank the cities in an order from my most favourite to the least, and it’s a little hard to do, but Vienna would be in my top 2 (and that’s pretty good since everything so far has been ‘awesome’ for this chicken.

Anyway, time to head out to Brataslava (we are on our way to Romania), here I am trying to drive again, you can see the problem that I face with trying to look over the steering wheel…..you might also see the other problem….the car is parked!!!  hehehe

Hope everyone is having a happy new year and working hard on their new years resolutions….mine is always to travel more!

So, we left the very Lovely Prague, and headed out to Vienna.

We are staying in a cabin on the outskirts of the city (20min walk to the train), and this time, rather than running around silly like usual, I decided to take one of those tourist buses that travel around the city and drop and pick you up.  Due to this, I have some pictures (some strange ones) that I took while we were driving around:

I love the old buildings

There was a specific reason why I took the second one, and now I forget what it is, damn…

Merry Christmas and New Year!!!!

This Chicken has been eating and relaxing it’s little heart out.  I hope everyone had a fantastic break and are fresh and ready to tackle 2010.  I personally think 2010 will be a great year!

Anyway, back to all things travel!

We headed off to Prague (still sick – and it was my turn to drive), a long day, we headed into the city and managed to get lost, oh yes and we traveled into an area where you are not allowed to drive, I guess the good thing about being a tourist is the police let you off a little bit more (just say sorry lots and that you didn’t see that big, huge sign – which I didn’t, oops)

Due to us feeling a bit under the weather and not really being bothered to stay in a hostel, we stayed in a nice hotel instead, one with parking out the front, and just near one of the bridges into town so it was easy to walk.

After a blissful sleep, we woke up just at sunrise and took a walk through the town. Prague has got to be one of the coolest places ever….well, that is until it hit about 9am and I swear every tourist known to man packed the streets.  Shame really, but at least we got some time, so today we checked out the castle (now one of my all time favourites, gothic, dark, all looks sinister, like lots of bad things went on, one of those great atmospheric places….hmmm should research a little more), we took the stairs up the top of the tower, which has a great view of the city, and we checked out a really cool mosque, and of course the all famous Charles bridge.

The next day/s we then went back to the Charles bridge in the morning as the day before you had to push your way through the crowd, we checked out the square, and spent the rest of the time looking at buildings at the outer edge of the city, why?  We basically had enough of the crowds, the city instantly loses it’s charm. Anyway there are some really cool buildings on the outer edge where no one bothers to go. So that was cool.

Ok, so the good bit, where are all the cool photos?!  Chicken hanging off the tower? Jumping off the bridge or posing with one of the statues?  Maybe one of chicken acting all evil in front of the castle?

Well, I have gone through all my photos, and here it is:

TA DAAAAAAAA!!!  The chicken and the cow!  Well it was a cow in the middle of town.  I know, all those great places that I missed out on…..I was a little awe struck (this place is awesome)… anyway it’s still a cool cow!

Hope you have a great new years eve, and I will see you in 2010!

Ok, soooo, I can finally say everything is not all ‘awesome’

The short version…Am very disappointed, now in the czech republic we thought we would have to try some ‘real’ absinthe, and found out it does not make you see Kylie Minogue fairies like on Moulin Rouge (the movie), we did the whole melting of sugar on a spoon, it tasted kind of nice….however many more later, this chicken found out that absinthe just makes you very, very sick.  We were going to head out towards Prague, however, instead spent the whole next day in bed (Todd had to go and ask for an extra night as everyone else couldn’t move from the bathroom), luckily the room was free for another night and I was free to sleep the day away. Actually, I should mention, we had a fun night, we found a place to go dancing, got very lost, sign language (not sure if that was because the person I was talking to couldn’t understand english, or just couldn’t understand me – lol) and the usual general silliness, so all wasn’t lost.

Not really much else to say, a couple of days later, I am still feeling sick, heading out to Prague.  Oh yes, I do have one thing, breakfast.  I am used to a bit of cereal, fruit and maybe some bacon and eggs.  Because we get up early to drive or to sight see, I have been eating a lot of fresh bread, it’s cheap, you don’t need anything with it and it’s yum, it’s always interesting to see what each country offers, here is what was included for our breakfast:

The photo is on a strange angle, must be that absinthe (I will now blame all bad things on that evil drink – hehe), however it is just a big plate of cheese and meat, and it’s funny, it’s not that much different to having eggs and bacon, but I just can’t stomach it (for lunch I would be happy to have it), it’s amazing how we get so accustomed to what we are used to. They also offered bread rolls….so, bread it was again!

Now we are leaving Cesky (a little sad because I never got to walk around early in the morning to avoid the crowds), and heading off to Prague.

PS.  I just read a bit more about absinthe…. hmmmm, now I understand why I was very, very sick.  It seems the quantities we drank were a little/lot high! ….although, I didn’t really need to read that to know…was very much aware!

Hey,

Well, before I talk about this little town, thought I might discuss accommodation.  Due to the flexible nature of our travels (ie wake up then decide where we want to go next), we don’t really book anything, and so far this has worked out pretty well.  One thing we found excellent about having a car, is that if you are driving, it’s late, there isn’t anywhere to stay and you know you are going to have to get up REALLY early, you can sleep in the car (which we have done once, and are willing to do again if need be – although, only if we have to)!

Some suggestions: Find one of those huge service stations with the truck stop, try to get a park that is not directly under the bright lights (and not alone in the complete darkness either – if you are lucky you can park near a truck that will block the light for you), fold down the back seats, get a couple of air mattresses and sleeping bags to sleep on and voila you have a bed for the night!  Not only that, they have showers, fresh hot bread and coffee for when you get up and head off!  While we are not planning on making a habit of it, it’s really handy and takes the stress off finding somewhere to stay.

I should mention that while I slept like a chick, I am not sure my much taller travel mate would say the same, so if you decide to follow this tip, please don’t hold me accountable for any grumpy tall people the following morning – hehe!!

So, that is Chickens tip for today.

Ok, so back to the topic at hand, Cesky Krumlov!  Can you believe it, another country!?!  This is a medieval town is pretty much prefect …… well, except for the tourists, all I seem to only hear English as I walk around!!  We did manage to get the gardens to ourselves (except for a curious squirrel), and had a nice afternoon tea by the river.  We are staying in a cute  pension just up the cobblestone road from the castle, speaking of which, this is no ordinary castle, nooooooooo, this castle has bears in it’s moat!!!!

Check it out, they were being very cute:

Today we saw a cheap cocktail bar during our sightseeing and think we might just check it out, I have yet to try absinthe and plan to do so!  I also plan on getting up early tomorrow to wonder around without so many tourists, this place would be awesome to have to yourself!

More on Salzburg,

We walked around the old town some more and took an audio tour of Mozart, here I am with him:

We had a very posh afternoon tea in a fantastic little cafe, great food, although we didn’t really fit in too well. All the walking seemed to make the afternoon tea wear off pretty quickly as we stopped by a stand to see what they have, here is me having a bite, num, num:

We are  staying at a campsite just outside the city, it’s green and very pretty, we meet up with a couple that came to visit Salzburg for a couple of weeks and are still yet to leave 2 years later!!

We will be heading off to Chesky Krumlov next, a beautiful medieval town in the Czech Republic.

We are here, a new country, and Salzburg!

Anyone that has seen ‘The Sound of Music’ would recognise Salzburg, if you are not a fan of the movie, then I suggest keeping it to yourself, this place seems to be full of fanatics (or you could just stir up some trouble, that’s fun too)!

We walked around the old town, just admiring the buildings, tripping over cobblestones, looking the churches, and watching the sound of music fans.  We then headed up to Festung Hohensalzburg (the castle).  Here I am overlooking Salzburg.  Unfortunately this is the only photo I have to show for the day, shame really:

I read an article the other day (I can’t find it now), it gave descriptions of different traveler types, and then asked which one describes you.  Today I have come to the sad realisation that I fit into the category of ‘little miss prozac’, as everything is always awesome…. while I thought it sounded sad when I read it…. it’s very true.  In order to embrace who I am, I now going to have awesome in my sign off.  edit:  I found the article, ended up It was actually about identifying your fellow traveler, but it’s still fun, and true: TravMonkey article

Salzburg is Awesome!

PS I will try and find the article.