See Below for the start of this post..


After Dachau, i made the smart move of joining the beer crawl, but i had to stay true to the motto of my trip so far: when in Paris...drink wine and eat cheese at the Sacre coeur, When in Belgium...waffles, beer, chocolate and Tintin, when in Amsterdam...well you know, When in Munich.....BEER HALLS and BEER GARDENS!

Went to the Hofbrauhaus which is more touristy but a necessary visit. Also the Augustiner Keller, the largest inner city beer garden in the world and the Lowenbrau Brewery. Steins only of course. The beer all throughout central europe is so clean and pure and preservative free that it tastes fantastic and you never get a hangover.
So I fixed my sore throat by drinking litres and litres of beer! Huzzah!

And now Ive moved on to Venice where the temperature rose considerably, and will most likely stay above 35 until i get back to paris in early october.

Venice is obviously a beautiful city. With the heat we decided to go in early (staying out of the city in a camp ground next to the airport... How's the serenity?)

6 of us had the obligatory gondola ride in the morning before it became too hot or expensive. There was no need or point using a map in Venice because its inevitable youll get lost. There are signs to the few major piazzas everywhere which guide you through the stalls selling Venetian glass and Venetian Masks.

The Main Piazza is justly famous and the view from the Bell tower opposite the basilica is incredible. Some (well a lot really, i dont want to lie too much) photos
will eventually be put up.

However it is really just too hot to stay around for more than 5 or 6 hours in the city, so after some incredibly delicious gelati, we returned to the air conditioned rooms and pool at the campground.

5 minutes ago i was sweating profusely by the pool in a campground 20 mins out of venice.

I have finally made it to Italy, country number 7 in Europe and number 10 overall.

Prague was a beautiful city. The history and architecture were very interesting, and like Berlin, it had only been 10-15 years since Czech Republic had been independent.

We walked up along the northern side of the river along a beautiful park towards Prague Castle looking over the whole city. It was definitely the most beautiful city since Paris.


From Prague, we moved swiftly along to Vienna, a rather more expensive city, especially if you indulge in the Viennese Cafes, which fortunately i didnt because i dont drink coffee. Not that you'd want to when it was the hottest day ever around europe. I think itwas about 35 in london and probably the same in Vienna.
The first day, i actually got out of the city on a Wine tour about 1.5 hours out o f Vienna. Some wine tasting, a long bike ride, a great bbq with sausages filled with cheese and covered in bacon! Best.Sausage.Ever.

And a swim in the Danube. Also had some tastings of schnapps and some fantastic jam.

The second day involved minimal sightseeing due to the heat, but i went to the Haus der Music, which was air conditioned and very interesting.

Then we were off to Munich , by which time I had got a bit of a cold, possibly something to do with drinking every night since i left london.

So the best way to sober up was to go to the Dachau Concentration camp which was an unsettling but necessary experience. It was the first one ever built in 1933.

Finally had more time to write a quick update.

I'm now in Prague, Czech Republic, having left Brugge, Amsterdam, and Berlin.

Brugge was a quaint small town with cobbled streets, and a Tintin Shop (which occupied me for far too long). I ensured i experienced the true Belgian cuisine of waffles, beer, chocolate, and more beer. It was good preparation linguistically for Amsterdam as I had very little idea about dutch and still really have no idea.

Amsterdam... Well there were sex shops, coffee shops, smart shops (look em up), dykes, alot of canals and bridges thereover (if that is a real word), and even more bikes. Oh yes, and some trams. Went on a bike tour around the city and also out to the countryside to a cheese and clog factory. And made the obligatory visit to the sex museum which is alternately hilarious (1870's porn with innappropriately sized moustaches) and incredibly disturbing (i won't go there).

ALso went to the Anne Frank Huis which was a little more educational.

We knew we were in Amsterdam when, waiting to check in to our hostel, a guy walked in with an industrial sized bong, and seemed to have used it.

However, the liberal attitude to such things seemed to create a more relaxed atmospshere and we saw no real problems. The red light district itself is one of the most highly policed areas in the world with cctv everywhere.

Saying our goodbyes to Amsterdam, we set our sights on Berlin.

Not the most aesthetically pleasing city in the world, but the incredible history
and quite modern history made it very interesting. We did a walking tour which was very in depth about the 20th century history which changed the city. The new (2 years old) memorial for the murdered Jews is striking.

Despite the fact that most young people can supposedly speak english very well,
I was forced to practice my german on 80 percent of the people in shops etc. to find a laundromat.

It was also very warm. Amsterdam had been mid 20's but it was about 30 in berlin, which created some stifling heat for our pub crawl on the second night, ending in a massive club called the Matrix. We left as the World Cup decorations were being taken down and the Love Parade was being set up (look it up).


Now in a great Hostel in Prague, about to do a walking tour of the beautiful old city.

This is also the first cheap place ive been to since home. Indeed, it cost about
AUD 10 for a hearty dinner and 2 half litres of beer. I have to make the most of this because everywhere else i'm going will be very expensive.

Finally had a minute to get onto the interweb, after several crazy days/nights in Paris.

Now in Brugge, Belgium, off to taste a few of the 300 types of beer here.

the 3 nights and 2 days in Paris were not nearly enough so ill have to spend a bit more time when i return in 3 months.

Spent the first night in an aussie pub (!) opposite the moulin rouge, having dined on baguettes with an amazing view of the justly famous Sexodrome' and less excitingly named 'Porno Shop'.

That's right we were staying not far from the Red Light District in Montmatre.
However, this meant we were able to climb the steps to Sacre Cour 2 nights at midnight/1am to indulge in some french vino et fromage, although one of the bottles seemed to be Chateau de Schiser (if thats how its spelt and yes i know that's combining french and german but hey, its all part of the EU now - We still havent got our passports checked since entering the UK)

Travelled round paris with about 10 or so others, all aussies of course.
Up the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc d'Triomphe, along the Champs Elysses and Notre Dame.

And of course, we visited Mona and Venus (Lisa and De Milo) in the Louvre.


Natrurally all of this is fantastic but being in Paris for the 2 world cup Semi-finals made this another kind of experience.


Although we didnt go to the Champs Elysses for the France-Italy Match, we forced ourselves into the most packed pub in the history of packed pubs, chanting Avec le Bleu with hundreds of crazy french people, as we delighted equally in Italy's downfall caused by a penalty.

And yet last night was equally memorable, as we stopped traffic and pissed off alot of french drivers on a bike tour that involved ice cream, crepes, beer, and free wine, cruising the Seine taking 100 pictures of the Eiffel tower at night.


You could say i had a good time.