The rest of Europe!

We know it has been a very long time between posts, but in our defense it has been nearly impossible to find affordable internet in Europe! Definitely in Switzerland, where one hour would have cost us about NZ$20!!!! So here is a quick update on the places we have been to since the Cinque Terre...

Our next stop was Nice, for a spot of relaxation in the French Riveria. We spent our first day exploring Nice - wandering through an amazing market where we tasted beautiful sun-dried tomatoes, breads, olives..all without buying any of them. We walked up to the highest point in Nice, with a wonderful view of the beach, and through the old town, "Vieux Nice", which has a lovely "old French" feeling. We walked along the beach, which was a very popular place, despite not having sand, but large pebbles. We ate many Nicoise delicacies, including socca, ratatouille, stuffed courgette flowers and rich, rich sauces. We visited Monaco, and marvelled at the lifestyles of the rich and famous - saw the casino, the palace and the church where Grace Kelly is buried. We spent a day at a neighbouring fishing village called Villefranche, and enjoyed a lovely swim. We also visited Antibes, which is between Nice and Cannes, and walked around this beautiful town.

Our next stop was Lauterbrunnen, high up in the Swiss mountains. Here we enjoyed the natural beauty of Switzerland. We caught a gondola high up into the mountains, and hiked through the gorgeous countryside, up to a height of above 2000m. This part of Switzerland is exactly what you picture Switzerland to be - cute A-frame houses, huge cows with bells on around their necks, snow-capped mountains in the distance, even down to Swiss people with huge moustaches and funny hats. We hiked up and across the mountain-side for about four hours, and caught a different gondola back down to the other end of the valley. Here we visited some amazing waterfalls, where you climb a stairwell carved out of the inside of the hill-side, to see where the pounding water has carved it's own path inside the rock, and rushes through gaps in the rock with huge pressure. This waterfall drains the glaciers of three of the highest mountains in the area, including Jungfrau, so a lot of water comes though! The next day we hired bikes and cycled from Lauterbrunn down to Interlaken, a 20km trip each way, downhill there but uphill coming back! It was an amazing ride through, cycling past a river with waterfalls coming down from the cliffs above us, and the mountains in the distance. Almost made the small fortune we paid for lunch worth it!

We had a one-night stop in Munich (accomodation during Oktoberfest was too expensive) so we spent the evening exploring the huge extravaganza that is Oktoberfest, complete with many Germans in traditional dress (very funny trousers), and again, many more outrageous moutaches. The grounds are filled with loads of beerhalls, but also a huge fairground, with rides and stalls. We walked around a couple of the huge beer-halls, packed to the rafters with drunk Germans and tourists. We had a tasty German beer, sampled many of the sweets on offer, and had a "one-metre long" (almost) sausage.

After Munich we were off to Paris. We spent our first day walking the streets, first to visit the Notre Dame, and then around the Latin Quarter, visiting a church in the area. We lunched in the Jardin du Luxembourg, a beautiful park in the area. We headed to the Eiffel Tower, where we walked halfway up, and then caught the lift to the top for amazing (and freezing!) views over Paris. After this we walked all the way along the river back to our hostel on the other side of Paris - sore feet by the end! The next morning we visited the Catacombes, tunnels that run under the streets of Paris, and which are lined with bones and skulls removed from overflowing cemeteries in the 1780's. The bones and skulls are arranged into lines and patterns along the walkways, and it makes for a very sombre and spooky experience. After this we headed to the Louvre, where we spent four hours viewing the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, Napolean's apartments (very extravagantly furnished) and loads of other amazing artworks, sculptures and statues. The rest of our time in Paris was spent visiting the Arc de Triomphe, walking along the Champs Elysees and the gardens in front of the Louvre, and seeing the Sacre Couer lit up at night-time and walking through around this beautiful church. We spent the last day with Robert and Tessa (friends from NZ), having lunch in a park and visiting La Defense, the business district which has an amazing cube structure that can be seen from all over Paris. We spent the afternoon and evening having a picnic at the park in front of the Eiffel tower, and were even treated to a sparkling light display on the tower! A great finish to our time in Paris.

After Paris we were off to Amsterdam (getting lost in Bruges on the way - we got off for a short stop and nearly missed the bus!! ), where we stayed with Robert and Tessa and had a great time exploring Amsterdam. We spent the first night in a bar full of locals, making friends with some very affable and accomodating Dutch people, who even listened to our song requests. Unfortunately the rain disrupted our plans for a cycling trip in the countryside, so we spent our time eating pancakes, scoffing chips with mayonnaise, discovering Febo (a Dutch delicacy - burgers from a vending machine!), and playing lots of games of cards. We also visited the flower markets, Dam Square, a 300-year old pub and Vondelpark.

And now we are in Berlin! So far the rain has put a bit of a dampener on our time here, but we spent about five hours today in the German Historical Museum, exploring Germany's history from 150BC to the present. This museum was fascinating, with amazing displays and an incredibly detailed and thorough account of World War I and II. It was so engrossing, we even skipped lunch! Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow, so we can do a walking tour of Berlin and explore the city more.