We bought the Sun!

Friday 20th - Munich

The train ride to Munich was not too bad and i think I got a lot of naps in which helped catch me up a bit ;) I've found I need to sleep so much more because I'm doing so much more then normal! When we arrived at midday we sent Anthea (one of our friends who live in Munich) a message to let her know that we'd arrived as we were staying with her :) She then met us at the Bahnhof station that was close to her work and we all went to a bakery for lunch. I'd told Ingo while we were tourist-info-researching on the train, that I'd be happy to lie in the sun, swim and basically hang out and chill out, as I was feeling a bit "churched out" as I put it ;) but Ingo was worried then that we wouldn't do any tourist activities, so we agreed on not too many but definitely some ;) 

Anthea then gave us the key to her place and sent us on our way so she could get back to work (these unlucky people who have to work while we're holidaying ;) ) with excellent directions we found her place in no time and despite the BBQ smell (which I actually found quite comforting) her teeny place was very sweet and cozy and we were quite happy to hang out there till the evening shenanigans. While I showered and made myself feel like a civilized human being again, Ingo did the same by way of a brand new haircut ;) and then we were ready!

When Anthea came home she introduced me to the traditional garb I would be wearing for the evening and in true Bavarian style I donned the loaned Dirndl on (had to make a few minor adjustments by way of stuffing with socks. Yes. That's right. I stuffed my bra with socks haha) and was ready to go! We were heading off to Hofbräuhaus (very touristy we were told) to meet up with Simon (another friend) and to meet some of their friends (none of whom were native Germans!) Everyone came decked out in their Bavarian outfits and Simon considerately bought along some for Ingo swell including the very swauve hat ;) I had my first experience trying to lift one of the 1 litter mugs of beer (I have no idea how the waitresses carry 1 in each hand, let alone 5 in each hand!) and we all jumped up and clinked glasses when the beer drinking song (the tune of which is still stuck in my head) came on :D When I'd finished my 2nd 1 litter Radler, Someone poured some of their beer into my glass and I think that was the end of me! Not because I was drunk, just because I was so unbelievably full of liquid and bibles my stomach had expanded by 3 times it's size and was so sore!!! We went to another bar with a tree in it after, but it was small and squishy and I really did feel like I was going to explode so Ingo and I went back to Anthea's to go to bed :)

Anthea has this awesome double air bed that's massive and has a mini vacuum built in so in 4 mins flat it was all up and ready to go, not too bad for comfort either :) So we were able to get a good nights rest.

Finally some time to enjoy the sun! 

Walking - Napping - Napping - Walking ;)

Thursday 19th - Can't get enough of Vienna :D

Waking up early so we could get the best of breakfast before going back to bed for a sleep in was he original plan, but after eating we were both too awake to try sleeping again so we decided to start the day off. The showers were unable to be made warm without waiting half an hour for them to heat up (the only downer of the hostel) which was a bit of a bummer but I managed to brave it and then we were off to the U-Bahn to catch a train to see the Hundertwasser Haus and the KunstHausWien.

The Hundertwasser Haus was amazing! Full grown trees on the roof, and in true Hundertwasser style, minimal straight lines, different bright colours, broken colored tiles and a miss match of bricks and ceramic tiles. It is a very cool place, but unfortunately because it's also the residence of a few people there's no going inside so we just had to make do with looking all around the outside with Ingo photographing every part that he could ;) - Funny story; This was Ingo's tourism destination, I was looking forward to it most definitely, but Ingo was really really excited, so when we arrived and it was made apparent that his "so-much-better-then-[mine]" camera was still at the hostel sitting innocently on the bed, forgotten, he had to resign himself to using my half rate (apparently) pink camera (I gave it over to him, rather then suffer the consequences of not taking the correctly compositioned photo's ;) But he got some good shots I think, even with the second rate camera!

We then watched a short film with Hundertwasser himself where he was describing the decisions he made for his architecture and what he was trying to achieve, but we didn't watch the whole film because the person that made it decided it would be a good idea to put a fish eye effect throughout the entire clip so that you can't see the detail in the proper proportions anyway and it was mildly frustrating to the both of us ;)

So we carried on down the road to the KunstHausWien, which houses Hundertwasser's artworks and creations. But we figured for 10Euro's each it was a bit steep to see a whole lot of images that we'd just seen in all the gift shops so we decided against it and instead went through into the cafe/beer garden for some kaffee und kuchen. Note for other travelers: we were told afterwards that the KunstHausWien is actually quite cool and interesting so next time we won't be leaving it out :) The cafe/beer garden was awesome, trees and vines everywhere the whole place was Hundertwasser styled with colored glass top tables - very cute and very cool. 

After the Hundertwasser extravaganza we decided to wander around a bit in that area. We hadn't planned on going up the giganormous ferriss wheel, but we could see it across the river (The Danube) so we decided to go have a look see.

When we got there we discovered not just a ferris wheel, but a whole massive huge carnival park!!! There were soooooo many rides and things to do! plus traditional carny style game booths and food carts!!! But the coolest thing was that it's open all the time, an school holidays were over! so there were hardly any other people around! :D Candy Floss was first on the wish list :D and I managed to get through a large portion before it was confiscated by my minder and thrown in the bin (you'll ruin your dinner! haha not quite but just about) then we just enjoyed all the sites until we came across (from a distance as the height was noticeable from a wee way away) a possible alternative to the ferris wheel! I can't remember what it's called, but you sit in pairs, and there are about 20 double seats that hang from chains around a tower that's about 120metres high and then you get taken right up to the top, where they slow it right down and you dangle your legs 120metres off the ground while viewing the city from above! It was so cool! no photo's though, we were bait afraid of losing the contents (not to mention the camera - half rate tho it is) should we accidentally drop it ;) But it was ten times better than being holed up in a ferris wheel cabin with 15 other people that doesn't even go as high, so we were pretty happy with ourselves.

Then a bit more wandering around which led me to discover the nicest (probably mainly due to the lack of people but meh) public toilets I've ever been in! Not anything exciting design wise, but it looked pretty fancy, and opposite each cubicle door was a separated handbasin, with it's own soap, hand towels and rubbish bin. How toilets should be! And not half as expensive as the ones at the Bahnhof's!

After all the excitement we were about ready to crash, but there was still so much to do and see so we caught the U-Bahn to the Naschmarkt which is a permanent market with every cheese, meat, mederterrainian salad ingredients, and spices known to man - I've never seen so many places selling every kind of olive imaginable before, we must have walked past about 8 different stalls just with olives! and we stopped at a turkish stall and had falafel pita pockets for lunch. I think at this point we were both starting to get a bit of heat stroke, because it was such a beautiful day with next to no clouds, and so hot!!! plus all the walking mixed with the lack of a much needed sleep in, anyway I was starting to drag my feet and there was still Schloss Schönbrunn (a palace second in size only to the French Versailles) so onwards we went back to the U-Bahn and onto the next stop!

When we got to the Schloss Schönbrunn grounds I decided it would be a good idea to have a sit down for a wee bit first (as I was nearly at collapsing stage at this point - and it's not a good idea to try sight-seeing when you're struggling to keep your eyes open) so wee sat down and promptly both fell asleep! haha on a bench at the second largest palace!!! oh dear! but it was much needed and well received so after our half an hour nap we were ready to wander around! We decided to stick to the palace grounds, as the rooms wouldn't be that exciting (I can hear my interior design tutors telling me off for that decision) but the gardens themselves were worth a good couple of hours wandering so we didn't feel we had enough time (or money) to do both and the weather was so beautiful! So we bought an ice cream each and started a-wandering :)

There were squirrels everywhere!!! and so many trees and separate gardens and water fountains and a massive bird cage for pigeons and statues everywhere!  Amazing! I had also had the brilliant idea to get out the brolly (we were ready for any kind of weather) and use it as a sun-brella to stop myself from fainting in the heat (so weak!) and that did the world of good :) So it was quite a sweet and fun time wandering the gardens together :) Plus I got rewarded for all the funny looks I got from having an umbrella up on such a beautiful day, when I noticed that a group of ladies who had been quite pointedly talking about me and my umbrella as we walked past, pulled out their umbrella for some shade! So now I've added onto my little European fantasy of riding my one piece bike in a pretty dress with my basket on the front, flowers, puppy and fresh loaf of bread, with a sun umbrella :D poor Ingo! hehe

After our little garden tour we caught the U-Bahn back to the hostel for some much needed rest before dinner. While sitting in the courtyard garden reading one of the other guests at the hostel started playing the piano inside so the sound was drifting out to us - and they were really really good! We chatted to a couple of people who were sitting outside as well, and then when the piano finished a group of guys bought out the guitars and started sing a longs :) very cool! 

We had dinner plans at a cozy looking local restaurant so we got changed and then went into town to find it. It was very small but very nice and not touristy at all! so we were quite happy to sit down to eat. I ordered the Wiener Schnitzel a traditional Vienna dish and Ingo had Goulash something and mine was scrummy yummy!!! not the same as Schnitzel in NZ that's for sure! We stayed there for quite a bit and then we wandered back to the U-Bahn (and would you believe I led the way most of the way!!!) and then went back to the hostel and straight to bed :)

The next morning it was all go go go to get all packed up and washed and ready for our train ride to Munich

A day of culture, music and art

Wednesday 18th - Vienna day 1

I love Vienna! :D

The sleeping train dropped us off at the right stop thank goodness! and we both managed to get at least 3 hours sleep. So we walked to our hostel - right around the corner from the main Bahnhof and U-Bahn! to try to see if they would let us check in at 6.30 in the morning. Sadly no, so we put our luggage in one of their lockers and had some breakfast at the hostel while we tried to decide what we were going to do for the day.

Important note: Hostel Ruthensteiner is AWESOME and if you're ever in Vienna I recommend that you stay there - but book in advance as they were fully booked the whole time we were there!

Ingo got a bit stroppy with me that morning - I think maybe I'd pulled the "you be my tour guide" chain a bit too much - and told me that I HAD to read the info and I had to choose some things that I want to do ;) So I got all organised and picked a nice long list of things that I thought sounded pretty awesome and then the two of us tried to work out the best way.

One of the tour guides we had on loan from Ingo's parent's had this walk around the city that you could do so we decided that, since it incorporated a few of the things we wanted to see, and also led us to a couple of the places we wanted to go to, it would be a great place to start!

So we caught the U-bahn into the centre of the city and started off at the Stephansdom, another old baroque gothic church that was stunning! There were horses and carts driving people all around the city and tourists everywhere! From there we wandered down a few tiny streets with hardly any people and found some nice spots and as Ingo tried to follow the map of the walk we came across the next church the Jesuitenkirche which was pretty boring looking actually, and we thought, 'is that it?!' and just as Ingo was about to walk away I was said "well we've come this way to see it so we may as well go inside!" and it was just as well we did because we came across the most incredibly OTT church you have ever seen ever! Anything you could put into a church was in there - it had marble in every colour available, straight marble columns and spiralling marble columns, gold leaf on everything!!! Balconies wherever they could possibly fit and statues and frills and trills on every single surface. Even the chairs were over the top! The organ looked like something out of a bad sci-fi horror film that would command people and send them to their doom - it was awesome!!! haha and we almost walked straight past! talk about a juxtaposition!

We found an couple of cool looking statues and water fountains and were struggling hard to keep our feet working and our eyes open, so we found a small patch of grass and fell asleep on the grass for half an hour :)

When we woke up we carried right on with the walking tour which took us to a main plaza that was surrounded by massive large buildings with domes and horses and carts everywhere! We walked through one of the arches and into another plaza where we found a map that led us to the Schmetterlingshaus (house of butterflies). It was basically a giant greenhouse of plants and waterfalls, a staircase in a tree trunk and a small bridge. There were some massive butterflies and when we first went in 2 kids were standing near the entrance with a large blue and black/brown butterfly flying around them and it landed on the boys hand! so cool! but then of course I was obsessed with getting one to land on my hand. Sadly it didn't happen, although the butterflies themselves were pretty cool!

We then walked from there around the gardens that were right my there and sat down amongst the locals for another wee rest ;) It was pretty nice! schön! :D and there were people with guitars, and people with BBQ's (Grill) and people drinking beer! in public! and not having to hide it or getting told to poor it out! just civilised drinking on a sunny afternoon :) very cool ;)

From there we went a wandering towards the Museum's Quartier to go to the modern art gallery MUMOK (MUseum von MOdern Kunst(Art)) We passed a brass (I think) statue of Mr Geothe and as a tip of the hat to my German language courses at the Geothe Institut I had a photo with him :) We then made it to MQ and sat down at one of the cafes for kaffe und kuchen and then made our way to MUMOK. The plaza in the MQ is awesome - there are these bright colour bench like things everywhere and there were people all over them just chilling out in the sun! so cool! The museum's main exhibition was by Brigitte Kowanz. She had covered the walls in mirror's including these 2 wardrobe like spaces, and then within the room there were individual boxes which were made out of what I'm guessing must have been window/mirrors as they had fluro tubes in shapes and words on the boxes that were then reflected throughout the entire box. Some very cool effects! The rest of the gallery work was a bit blah, whole canvas's of solid colours and cardboard boxes in a pile, that kinda thing, which is really neither mine or Ingo's thing so we didn't linger too long :)


Caught the U-Bahn back to the hostel and were finally able to check in so we went straight to bed (it was now something like 4pm) and slept for a couple of hours so that we would be fresh for our evening activities.


Woken, showered and fresh we ventured out for our planned evening activities. First off to the Haus der Musik, a relatively new (2 years old) museum dedicated to the great composers and the sciences of sound ;) I again highly highly recommend this museum! It was fantastic!!! In the very first room they had classical music CDs that you could sit and listen to, and to be honest I could've stayed right there for the rest of the night! But I'm glad we didn't as there were games you could 'compose your own music' with and points where you could hear different things happening to your voice as you control them, you could make your own sounds and then put them all together and I had a play with being a conductor with my very own orchestra! Awesome!!! They had seperate rooms with the history's of a select group of composers; Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin to name a few... which were set up to the composers style and period, with their music playing. It was so very cool! But not really photographable naturally as it's dedicated to sound ;)


We were also very lucky with our timing as Vienna has a summer festival at this time where they have a giant screen set up outside in front of this beautiful old building, and then seats all around it. They play a different Opera, Ballet or Symphony every night and there are food stalls and tables further out which sell all amounts of different types of food (and beer) including an Aussie stall (which we avoided ;) ) We ordered the Kase Fleisch Kase and some Wurst (I'm getting used to writing all noun's in capital's the true German way now ;) ) Bier, and then off so sit and watch a modernised version of Aida (which I'd never heard of :s) that was in Italien with German subtitles and not easy German either! So Ingo had to keep translating the hard bits for me :) Then we went back to the hostel so that I could ring mum for her birthday :)


Great first day in Wien!

Walking walking walking - that's tourism

Tuesday 17th - Prague (the second)

We had not much of a sleep in as we had to pack up and check out of the hostel by 10am. So once we'd decided on the plan of attack for the day we set off.

First to the main train station to put our luggage into a storage locker for the day, (poor Clare had to carry her backpack around with her all day :s) Then it was food time (we could tell from the noises - we were all pretty hungry!) we caught the U-Bahn across the river and then went in search of a place again courtesy of the LP Prague city guide :D It was called cafe Savoy and it was a flashy looking place but not too pricey so Ingo ordered the French breakfast, I had grilled chicken and vege's and Clare went for the dumplings (I think she was in search of the best dumplings while in Prague ;) ) Clare and I also had hot chocolates, that came out with a teeny espresso cup and a metal jug of the most chocolatey hot chocolate Ive tasted to date. My grilled chicken was divine! (yes. I just said "divine") and Ingo was pretty satisfied with his meal... Clare's dumplings we all decided were, not bad, but weird hehe they were cheese  dumplings with sweet apricots in the middle and chocolate sauce, sour cream, and sugar and cinammon toppings to choose from - very strange combinations! but we hung out there for a bit and helped ourselves to the nivea hand cream available in the bathroom (very flash) before we headed off to the Prague castle.

We caught the tram there and then walked up the cobblestone path to get to the entrance, awesome views of Prague from there! Once we'd made it inside it was again more of a village then an actual castle. With a couple of churches and lots of shops and cafe's and restaurants, plus the main palace-ey type building (interesting note - I'm writing this on a German keyboard layout so for every ten characters forward I have to go two back to get rid of the ä's and ö's which are where the ;'s and : keys should be, not to mention the z-y swap around... so whenever you see a z or a y you have to understand that I had to type 3 keys in total to get the correct result :p) anyway... a lot of the oldness of the buildings had been ruined a little by the repairs which in a bid to try to fix up the crumbling blocks had just smothered them in plaster completely covering the old sandstone (or whatever it was) blocks and block work :( The main church was pretty cool though. I tried to take a photo of the front facade but in the end had to take it in pieces as I couldn't get far enough away! The inside had lots of awesome stained glass windows that we were pretty impressed by and So Much Effing Gold covering E.Ver.Y.thing. no wonder the church is so powerful - all that wasted (incredibly beautiful and amazing) worth that could have been utilized in so many more productive ways!!! but as Ingo pointed out - all that wasted capital now brings in millions more to these citys in the form of tourists deep pockets.

We spent quite a while there and then started getting bone tired from all the endless walking! We also had gotten lost (Ingo will dispute this but I still maintain that he had no idea where we were - such a massive jumble of buildings and grounds) Plus it was getting time for Clare to head off to make her flight so we headed off for the cable car to see the views and ride it down the hill. If I'd known we'd have to hike a mountain to get to the cable car I would've told them both to meet me at the bottom ;) but really it wasn't that bad I'm just exaggerating as I was soooooo tired of walking by then! but we got there and better yet, it was included in our day subway/tram passes! so whoop! we got on the front section of the cable car and then I sat down and missed most of the views (typical Verity lazy style) but it was nice to not be walking anymore :) We all caught the tram to the subway and then we waved Clare goodbye as she boarded a different train to us :( But it was super awesome to have her spend the time in Prague with us so thanks Clare!!! :D

Ingo and I then went to the main train station and booked our tickets for the night train to Vienna or Wien then went back into the citz and  wandered (yep, more walking) over to the not so special bridge to watch the sunset go down behind the bit more special Charles bridge ;) but then got cold so we went and sat down under some trees for shelter. It was too cloudy for a good sunset though so we headed back to the train station and chilled out while we waited for the train.

I must say, that I did really enjoy Prague, there were some amazing things there to see - and sooo much history and good jazz clubs (highlight for me!) ;D but I was quite relieved to hop on that night train... Might have been the guide books all warning about pick pockets, or the general attitude of the police officers from the night before, but I never really felt at ease in Prague, one hand always on my purse, people always invading your bubble (seriously. does no one else feel the need to have their bubble of personal space?!?)... plus sleeping on a train! whoop whoop!
 

All that Jazz

Monday 16th - Prague
We managed to have a fairly ok sleep in and then it was all go go go! I was quite happy to let Ingo and Clare sort out our plans for the day (I'm a follower that's for sure ;) ) but as we were all clearly thinking about food we decided to head to the centre of town for some fodder.

It was a hot day. Stuffy and hot, with a bit of a blue sky to start off with. We wandered around for a little bit, clicking a few photos here and there (some of which I'll have to get off Clare cause her camera is aWEsome!) then we managed to somehow stumble upon a vegetarian restaurant that woohoo! comes recommended by lonely planet! (I'll take this opportunity to commend Clare and her little lonely planet city guide - Ingo absolutely loved it and it defo had all the good spots in it :D) Anyway we all had a burrito thingee that was scrummy yummy, and a selection of salads from the buffet salad bar, I also got a ginger beer that was a bit of a kick.

After lunch we started our search for the old town of Prague (I'm still not 100% sure why it's classified as that - but it has all the major sites there so good place to start) and when we found a nice little alleyway that also said took you  through to the old town we were quite pleased with ourselves!

Through the alleyway took you into a massive plaza square thing that was ALL cobblestones (in fact the way we remember it the whole of Prague was cobblestones) and this was where we would find the Astronomical Clock (after some argument/discussion and a quick peek into the guide book, Clare and I conseeded that yes Ingo was in fact right it IS called Astronomical not Astrological or Astrononomical ;) ) Where we waited for it to ring (there were hundreds maybe thousands of people there to do the same - but as stated in the LP more something you have to do then actually that amazing haha, but quite quirky to see the "skeleton of death" (name courtesy of debate) pull the chain that rings the bell, while someone stands at the top of the tower waiting to play the trumpet in time. There was a giant statue of Chzek Reformer Jan Hus, and huge old buildings, one of which another Gothic church (they're Everywhere!) with windows that were alone in height over 15metres!

The currency in Prague is hard to get used too. The first amount of money I got out was 2600 kroner and we worked out that 100 kroner comes to around about €4 but it's still a bit weird to hand over a 2000 note when you're buying lunch!
We then went to the Jewish cemetary and bought a pass (for 300ck each) that allowed us into the cemetary and also into 5 synagogues. The first was a 2 (3?) level synagogue with names written in neat lines within every wall. The last name and letter of the First names were in red, and the rest in black with dates either of birth and death or just the year they died. There were over 70,000 names and all were Jewish people from Prague who had been killed in WWII, and it was incredible seeing how many people from one city were lost. There was also childrens art work recovered that were done in different times leading up to the War and during that were interesting to see what the children were experiencing through that time.

We then went through the cemetary in which the last person buried there was in the 1700's and the gravestones were amazing! all crumbling and falling over with the words barely visible on some and then others still quite clear. Some were tiny and others were massive and they all jutted out at strange angles probably due to the fact that there were 11 layers of people buried there! Incredible! We think that they must have had to keep bringing in new soil to keep packing them all in - which sounds awful but I think they just all wanted to be buried there - so much history!

We came out of the cemetary a wee way away from where we'd started and wandered through another synagogue, but we could barely stand anymore so we decided it was time to go.

Walking around we were trying to find a traditional Chzek place to have dinner but it was tricky when we were all still suffering from our not-so-great nights sleep and our ridiculously travel sore feet, but we got there eventually thanks to Ingo's navigation (I'd never really tried to help and Clare had given up by then as well - so much easier to let someone else do it!) and sat down to some potatoe dumplings (Clare) and Pork (Me) and Pork dumplings (Ingo) It's safe to say that Clare and Ingo enjoyed their meals a lot more then I did - just a tad too hearty for me! But it was a cool experience and a nice atmosphere :) Plus we were full off the delicious saugsage soupy entree we had :)

It was then time to subway back to the hostel for some quiet time before heading out on the town ;)

We knew we wanted to go see Frank Ghery's dancing house so we took the subway straight there and then spent a few minutes trying to get the perfect shot. It definitely looks a bit more impressive in photo's that in real life :/ but still a must see so we were happy!

We then went to find a live Jazz bar that Ingo had read about to see what was on. It was in a kindof underground old wine cellar or something that was an awesome cozy atmosphere so thirsty Clare and I got cokes and Ingo a beer and we went and found a table. It was awesome!!! The band were amazing and I got a couple of recordings to prove it! Their name was the Jakub Urban Quintet for anyone who wants to try find them on the interwebs (and you should)
Ingo then decided that because we were in the home of Absyinth we most definitely can NOT leave without having some so he got us each a "shot" as in a 1/2 a cup each :s and after one quick sip I almost gagged! It was soooo strong!!! man oh man! Definitely was not going to finish that one!

When the gig finished we wandered around the city looking for a pub to have another beer in. We found a nice place and sat there for a good hour or so then went to try and find our way home.

Because it was now 1.30am the subway wasn't going anymore, and we had no idea which trams went past our hostel and from where they left either so we walked and walked trying to find a tram stop. Ingo had a fair idea of where we were but at one point when we couldn't find our way we saw 2 policemen standing talking to a taxi driver so we decided to go over and ask. This turned out to be a mistake. At first Ingo asked them if they spoke English and they didn't even acknowledge that we'd spoken to them, then when he pointed to the map to ask how we could get to the tram stop one of the officers got right in his face and said "goodnight." Ingo didn't hear him properly and was asking what street we were on, when the taxi driver pointed and told us that it was over there. Then the policeman said again "goodnight." It was frightening (for me) It was like he was wanting us to get aggravated. But the worst was that I've just never ever thought that a policeman would be like that when all you're doing is asking for directions! Talk about living a sheltered life! Made me feel a bit sick really :(

Which is a shame because apart from the arrogant and a-hole-ic qualities of the 2 policemen we encountered, it had been a really awesome night

So Yay for Prague! Shame your policeforce suck!

(we ended up catching a taxi home after clarifying the price was 250ck and then when we got back the driver put his hand out so I put in 240 (accidentally) and then he said "240?' so I was like "oh sorry!" and gave him the 10 extra, then he shot Ingo a dirty look as we were getting out and I said "what was his problem?" and Ingo said "I dunno! since we gave him more then what he said it would cost", and I said "no, I gave him 250" which was when Ingo said "oh the meter said 280" well now I felt terrible! I couldn't even see the meter so I had just thought the price we'd agreed to at the start was what I had to pay :s So if you're out there mister taxi driver we're super sorry!!!!!)

Long Day, Long Night!

Sunday 15th - Journey to Prague
The early morning was not easy due to our late night :s but I forced myself up to pack my stuff together for the next 9 days (approx) of my first Europe holiday ;) then a quick breakfast with Petra and Theo, made our packed lunch and a quick shower before it was in the car and off we go! We headed out to the train station at Idar-Oberstein and then I had my first experience on a German train! I was impressed. And this one wasn't even one of the fast ones! just the "regular" ones! but it was faster and way way way quieter then any NZ train I've ever been on before!
Then at Frankfurt train station we changed to an ICE which was pretty smooth sailing ;) (and as Ingo informed me, this wasnt even one of the NEW ICEś) so I was kind of disappointed when we got to Nurnberg and had to change to a bus for the remaining 4 hours of our journey :( But the bus was a double decker and we were right near the front so it wasn´t too bad :)

When we arrived in Prague, it was around 6pm. Ingo (who is now classed as my tour guide) had all our subway connections figured out so away we went! Very easy rational subway system in Prague - but kinda old looking and grotty :s

We found our hostel ok, and chilled out for a bit, while we waited for Clare to arrive... she was originally due in at 10.55 so we had a beer each and settled in. At 11.30 when Clare still hadn´t arrived I started to get a bit worried :/ so at 12.30 when she still hadn´t arrived I decided to go down to the reception area to find out when they were open til and wait down there. Ingo came with me.

At 2am when she still hadn´t arrived I was really worried! silly us for not getting her flight info and no one had a working phone either so it was all just ridiculous planning but I was most definitely not a happy chappy at this point - imagining all the awful things that could possibly have happened to my friend! Plus it was raining like there was no tomorrow and thunder and lightning to boot! (anyone rational would have seen by this comment what was most likely to have happened) We´d found a flight that was due in at 10.55 that was delayed by 50mins, but still that flight was leaving from Louton not London and if it had been that she would still have arrived by then.

So we decided to go to bed and then try figure out what to do in the morning :( Ingo was confident that Clare with her travel smarts (experienced traveler) would know what she was doing so we went to bed. And I tried to sleep, I may have dozed for a few minutes at any rate, but at 3am when there was a knock on the door I jumped up and raced to unlock the door - dropped the key a few times :/ and then finally got the door open to a soaked and not very happy Clare! :D I was stoked! YAY!!! phew!

Turns out even Clare hadn´t known what was going on and had thought they were coming in for landing at Prague... which was taking a bit long... a bit too long, then they finally land, only to be told that actually could everyone please stay in their seats as they are not in fact in Prague, but actually in Germany! Germany!! Where in Germany?? well Clare still has absolutely no idea. They all had to stay on the plane seated in some tiny private looking airport until around 1am ish when they finally took off again and made it into Prague. Phew.

So when we´d calmed down Clare went to bed and we tried the sleep thing again :)

Another "Lazy" Day

Saturday 14th
We had a nice bit of a sleep in to start the day off finally! But not all was going to be easy going for both of us ;) Ingo got up and went to help his dad clear out a basement of a house they own in Morbach, while I tried to (unsuccessfully) catch up with my blog (unsuccessful as I'm now writting this on the 17th :s) and then tidy a few bits and bobs up :)

Petra (Ingo's mum) then took me up to the next village to see a church that one of the once village residents built. It's actually a nice wee story. A man (Peter Weber) who was serving in WWII lost both of his legs so he prayed to Mary to get him home and promised he would build a church if he made it home. So with no legs he built a very small and quite sweet little church up a nice little hill that looks down into the village below, and he dedicated the church to Mary, to thank her for bringing him home. And now whenever someone asks Mary for something that is then granted they put a plaque up on the wall that says thank you or thank you for your help etc. with the date or just the year on it (no names). So it was quite special :)

Then we went to past the local swimming pool which was very nice :) outdoors and with 3 different sized pools, on our way to the church where Ingo had his communion. Where we were unable to get in as the doors were locked which is a shame, because I asked Petra if this church had an organ and when she said yes I then told her how I'd wanted to play the organs in all the other churches we'd been to but I was never going to be allowed and she said if it had been unlocked we could have asked at this church and they might have let me! (PS all this conversation was in German :D probably not very good German on my part but still!) We then drove down to meet the hardworking men, but they'd already packed up and gone home - which I think means that they were slacking off ;) but not really because when we got back, they were both hard at work with Ingo mowing the lawns! I couldn't believe it! REAl mans work! ;) hehe so I took a photo (for prosperity reasons) and then Karolin arrived for lunch :)

After lunch I had a few minutes to recover from the massive intake of food before Ingo's friend Martin arrived, and then we sat on the porch with coffee and cake and Ingo and Martin caught up. Not long into that and Ingo's friend Daniel and his partner Francie arrived and more cake and more drinks were brought out :s you can imagine the pain this was inflicting on my stomach! So we sat outside for a couple more hours before we had to say goodbye as we were heading off to pick up Karolin and Ingo's friend Enrico (popular boy Ingo is)...

...To drive to Trier to meet Kristina (who I'd already met in Wellington so was awesome to catch up again!) and Georg (pronounced Gayorg sort of - my phoenetical spelling isn't that great) :D We decided after a quick discussion to have Flammkuchen for dinner as i hadn't tried it before, so we trekked around the corner to a Flammkuchen restaurant with a beer garden out the back. Well this was an experience!

After ordering our drinks and dinner we waited... and waited..... and waited..... Finally Kristina called over the waiter and asked where our drinks were and he mumbled something (translation lost) and then her dinner came out (no others) and then a while later out came our drinks. Then while the waiter was trying to hand them out he managed to lose grip on his tray and two large glasses of beer went splashing all over Georg (Enrico was fast and whipped out to the sideand managed to get away) and despite that he managed to get his jacket off in quick-smart time the beer was too fast and had already completely soaked through his shirt and all the way down his back, plus all over the seat :/ So he whipped off to get changed. While he was gone the food finally arrived, well when I say the food arrived I mean everyone else's (Kristina had got hers so much earlier then the rest that she was already finished) except mine! And they were all luke warm at the hottest :s and we had to ask them to keep Georg's hot as he was still not back. Just as Georg got back we'd decided to move inside as it had started to rain. Once inside Kristina asked them to bring out Georg's food - turns out they didn't have it anymore and had to make a new one, and mine? well looks like they'd never made it in the first place so when we'd finally all eaten we'd been there a total of 2 hours! Enrico I think felt that he had to reassure me that most definitely NOT all German restaurants were like that, but I already knew that :) plus the food and the beer were still pretty good, and the company was awesome :D

But then we had to race off to the arena to watch the Gladiator fighting show that was on - good timing on our part to have our holiday in this month! The storyline was based around Hercules and I think (language barrier) that it was set after Gladiators were no longer allowed to kill each other, so the Arena's weren't making money anymore and Hercules showed up and basically paid the owner of the Arena to let him and his gladiators fight to bring back the popularity, then there was something about a play (a play within a play) and I then started to get sleepy so was hard to keep track, but it was really well done! We then all trekked into the city centre to have a beer. I think we got home around 2am in the end, which was probably the latest we could handle as the next day it was off to Prague!