European Adventures

Its tough spending 3 weeks by the beach!

We are sorry that its been 3 weeks since we last updated, but we have been very busy, namely lying by the beaches of the Greek islands and sipping cocktails. Its been really rough!

Since we last updated we have been island hopping through greece. For two weeks of this we were accompanied by Emma which was amazing fun. After a 2am flight from Barcelona to Athens, and a lovely nights sleep at Athens airport, we met Emma fresh off a 25 hr flight from Melbourne, so we were all in such great moods. But we battled through and explored the Plaka in Athens before having a lovely greek dinner and heading to bed at 10pm. We were kool kids that night.

Then it was off to the awesome island of Ios, where we partied hard, kicking our night off with a sleep until 1am before waking up to start our night. Ios was gorgeous, with a beautiful beach, even better drink specials, and to top it off, a Sunday arvo roast to remind us a little of home. 3 days werent enough, but we got on the ferry for Mykonos, which was a fun (and vomit) filled 3 hours. The seas were the roughest they had seen all summer, Martine, Emma and I were looking very green after the trip. I was proud to be the only one still in possesion of my stomach content!

So 4 days in Mykonos were spent chilling out by the beach, exploring the maze of streets, going to SPACE MYKONOS! club, and investigating ancient ruins. Then after this we headed for 5 days to lovely Santorini. We had 5 nights of absolute relaxation, the toughest thing we did was ride a donkey up 280 steps. Emma and i laughed all the way up, Martine screamed all the way up....it was good fun! We took a day trip to a volcano, then to hot springs and  witnessed a gorgeous sunset from Ia. The rest of our time was spent sipping on $3.50 cocktails and eating the best greek food.

We left Emma in Athens to fly back to Melbourne, and we headed off to Rhodes where we have spent the last 6 nights. Have crap accomodation which is 30 minutes out of anywhere worth visiting, but we have still enjoyed being 50 metres from the beach and seeing Turkey off in the distance. Visited Symi, a town on a small island between Rhodes and Turkey, and to Lindos. We have had the best food in Greece, the $3 Gyros Pitas have gone down lovely!

Now we are currently trying to plan what we are doing for the next month before we fly back to Melbourne (wipe the tears away). We are heading over to southern italy for a few days before going to Croatia for a week on a boat, so if you dont get another blog update for a while dont panic!!

PHOTO TIME!!!

Southern Italy: www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50163&l=d85be&id=547366611

French Riviera and Barcelona: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50170&l=ed074&id=547366611

Greece: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51015&l=b8b74&id=547366611

And more greece: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51128&l=5d7b7&id=547366611

Barcelona bus crash!

Photo time

Here is what you have all been waiting for!!!

Vienna - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46003&l=ca855&id=547366611

Munich - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46006&l=05797&id=547366611

Paris and switzerland - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46007&l=a723a&id=547366611

St Johann - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46008&l=d550c&id=547366611

Venice - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46010&l=1658e&id=547366611

Rome - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46011&l=c2102&id=547366611

Southern Italy - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46012&l=a5560&id=547366611

ITALIA!!!!

Well as per usual we have so much to say as we have been too busy sunning ourselves in the wonderful Italy to update all of you lovely readers.

So since we have talked to you we have entered Italy and spent the last 2 weeks in above 30 degree weather every day.....its been very tough. We spent 5 days in beautiful Venice, and spent a fair portion of that by the pool in our camping ground. Venice was all that we both thought of and more, the gorgeous walkways and calm canals were great, especially as we got lost a number of times and found ourselves away from the hoards of tourists which was quite a relief. We spent a romantic night having pasta for dinner then went on a gondola ride through the canals. It would have been a wee bit more romantic if there werent 6 of us, but we had a blast in the gondola ride with the others from Canberra that we met. The greatest part of that night was missing the shuttle bus back to the campground and having to walk 40 minutes along a freeway to get back!

So after venice we hit rome. I have not felt heat like that since our occasional 40+ days in melbourne. We battled through it though, sweat patches and all, and visited the major sights. The most exciting thing of all was that we stumbled over the best icecream store EVER!!! I was instantly in love, even though it was $5 for a small cup....but it was worth every cent.

After spending 4 days in Rome it was time to jump on a bus with 25 other people and a girl names Jess to travel down to Southern Italy for our 3 days of Southern Italian pleasure. First stop was the ridiculously hot yet breathtakingly phenomenal Pompeii. We even got to see the lovely menu-like paintings in their brothel as to what services were offered in 79AD. I really dont think we have developed a great deal in that department.

Then we headed off to Sorrento, and driving in was just awesome, it was what we expected Italy to be like.... villas perched on the cliff tops, beautiful blue water, boats cruising the harbour. We headed off to the Isle of Capri for the whole day the next day, and spent the day rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous of Italy. That night we all got drunk, thought it was a good idea to stay up drinking till 3am even though we had the bus around the amalfi coast at 7am the next morning. So as you would think, the next morning was tough on us all, but was well worth the torture as Amalfi was great. Such an amazing stretch of coastline, puts the Great ocean road to shame! We lay on the pebbled beach of amalfi before making our way back to rome. We spent one more night in rome then headed to Florence where you can now see us sitting in an internet cafe writing you this blog entry.

So there we have it, our last few weeks in a nutshell. Italy has been amazing, yet we have both been a little disappointed in the food (except the gelati). Yet to find a blow your brains out beautiful pasta, or a "oh my god this is fantastic" pizza. But our hunt will continue tonight as we sample the cuisine florence has to offer us.

We have hit the 3 month mark yesterday, and its kind of scary how fast these last months have gone. We have about a one and a half month beach expedition ahead of us. A few weeks in Greece, a couple of weeks in Croatia, and maybe a bit more of Southern Italy will ride us out till we take the flight back to Aus! Martine's goal is to become as brown as she can so people dont recognise her, and mine is to not get my hair cut for the whole 5 months and come back a hairy beast......we are both going strong in maintaining that.

Hope all is going swimmingly for you all, and that you are keeping up with the Olympic games as we cant.

Ill add the links to the photos i have just uploaded. You have no idea how hard it is to find an internet cafe with good USB ports. It has taken us 2 weeks.

Adventures galore!

So we have just been paragliding in the Austrian alps....... soooo awesome, the views were amazing!

So we have once again been a bit slack in updating, been having way too much fun to do any internet stuff! So aftger munich we went back to Paris and spent another 4 days there, went to Versailles where we both nearly knocked out a woman..... soooo angry! Hate rude people and she was the definition of rude. We were waiting in line for 10 minutes to get into the palace, and she comes to the front of the line, uses her two kids to push thru us, and then walks right in. So after this crappy start, we were both kinda angry, but the Palace and grounds were amazing so we soon got over it! We also saw the Eiffel tower lit up Blue. Apparently there is a new EU president who is French, so to celebrate they lit it in blue and had the EU stars on the side. When i get around to putting those photos up, its amaing.

So then off to Bern in Switzerland, where we spent 2 days doing nothing, and loving it, then off to beautiful Lauterbrunnen which is nestled in the valey of the Swiss Alps, 700 mtrs above sea level. Adventure capital of Europe, so thought we should do some extremeish stuff, so went to a high ropes park and used our exceptional arm muscles to maneuvre ourselves around 20 mtrs above ground, then went White water rafting. Class 3 and 4 rapids were awesome. Adam was the hero and volunteered to be up the front. Such hard work, but awesome fun. We all went swimming in the water at the end. It was such an adrenalin rush going down some of those rapids. Martine got blue hands from holding onto the ropes so hard, and Adam nearly fell in, except his exceptional skills and muscles helped to stop hitting rocks.

So after one more night in Munich (visiting the beer hall and eating pork knuckle for a 3rd time) we are now in St. Johann in Tyrol, in the Austrian Alps. Paragliding thismorning was one of the highlights of our trip i think, and wil be long remembered. Martines legs were shaking like jelly when she landed (what a wimp).

Off to Venice tomorrow, and spending the next 3 weks in Italy which should be a blast. Will put photos up when i get a chance, its amazing how many internet places dont have USB ports. Pain in the bum!

Hope your all enjoying the melbourne winter, its 32 degrees here at the moment, its tought being in Europe!

From Prague to Munich

We have been a little slack in updating recently, probably due to the fact that we have become lazy.
So when we left you we were just about to depart from Berlin....... such a long time ago.
So after arriving in Prague, we spent 5 days, 3 being pretty average weather, but still enjoyed it. We both felt that Prague was a little overrated, some people we talked to rated it their best european city, i dont think we would go that far!
So after meeting up with 3 American girls we had hung around a bit, we explored the old castle and ate traditional Czech food (which looked a little like baby vomit). It was veal in a gravy, with bread dumplings, cranberry sauce and whipped cream. Although it sounds a little feral it was really nice!
So after our Czech delicacies, the next few days were spent exploring the city and took a day trip out of Prague to a small town which had a church decorated in over 40000 skeletons. The skull chandelier was delightful, i think it would fit beautifully in our living room!
So after departing Prague we spent two awesome nights in Cesky Krumlov, this small cute town somewhere in the Czech Republic. We took to the river on a raft, doing what is known as the rafting pub crawl. Such a crazy day, especially since it was 32 degrees and the sun was shining!
Then after this we travelled to Vienna, having Leah as our guide, who we first had leaving Madrid and partied with her in San Seb at the cider house (cast your minds back to that story). So seeing Adam made fun of her little safety talk all the guides have to do at the start of every journey, she got him up to do the safety talk himself.....and he was rubbish! (I dont pay attention when people do it, so i didnt remember any of it). And she also made fun of Adam´s lack of bike riding skills after Martine opened her big mouth. So this trip was quite enjoyable as the whole bus of 40 people found out about the lack of biking. Very nice.
After arriving in Vienna, and finding out that the spanish riding school and the Viennese boys choir were all on leave, we did pretty much nothing, checked out a free open air film festival, visited a museum and saw the painting ´The Kiss´, and ventured out to a little wine town on the outer suburbs for an austrian feed and wine. We also went to a restaurant where we got fed out of a wheelbarrow which was quite an experience, and also ate Wienersnitzel. Very nice!!
So that brings us to Munich. We went on a (quite crappy) free walking tour yesterday and ventured into the English Gardens where apparently wearing clothes is a choice, not a necessity!  We also visited the Hofbräuhaus Beer hall where our group got asked to leave after a beer glass was accidentally broken..... and not by Adam which was a surprise.
So waiting for a few of our travel buddies to arrive tonight and we might venture there again for another feed of Pork Knuckle, then off to Paris (yes again) tomorrow. So 12 hours on a bus will surely be a delight, but we have been to the original Aldi to get our supplies......so cheap!
Heres the link to some of our Prague photos, havent had time to upload any more.
Hope you are all well.
Martine and Adam
P.S. Karen and Deb, i was feeling sick from a massive serving of pancakes in that photo in Bruges, and my backpack was not feeling the lightest....hence by lovely expression on my face!!

Prague Photos - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42028&l=61941&id=547366611

Photos

So being too lazy to upload the photos here, so here are the links to my facebook albums that ive put together that has the photos on them. Everyone can access them even without facebook access.

Portugal - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40759&l=d795d&id=547366611

Spain 1 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40761&l=d9c48&id=547366611

Spain 2 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40767&l=a0917&id=547366611

France 1 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40762&l=df83e&id=547366611

France 2 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40768&l=41983&id=547366611

Bruges and Amsterdam - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40763&l=a6863&id=547366611

Berlin - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40765&l=adc42&id=547366611

So there they all are.....so you dont forget our pretty faces!!

Adam and Martine

Das ist mein Blog entry

So we have been a bit slack, but for good reasons......we have had too many other activities to do!

So we finished off our time in Paris with a couple of awesome outings. Dinner at the Eiffel tower was amazing! Even the food was good. We ventured up the top of the tower, watched the sun set on the horizon....very cool.

Then the night after that we went to see the Moulin Rouge. So tacky yet very extravagant! Had some girl swim in a pool of pythons, and then topless women dressed as clowns. Quite a random mix of acts, but very much worth it!!

After the full on 6 days in Paris, the small and pretty town of Bruges in Belgium was just what the doctor ordered! We slept in, ate lots of chocolate and did a whole lot of nothing.

Then off to the strangeness that was Amsterdam. A place where the smell of Marijuana is in the air has to be quite a weird place for all.....and it was! Seeing the working girls in the windows was quite an interesting experience, and all the adult shops lining the streets were certainly different to what we are used to, but the city is really beautiful! Went on a pub crawl, drank a little bit of Jagermeister, then didnt feel the very best the next day, but we battled thru, went on a free walking tour and canal boat ride, and saw as much of the city by day (and the city by night) than we could manage.

Now in Berlin, have seen the wall, the Brandenbourg gate, the Tiergarten, and the Jewish victim memorial. We also ventured out to Sachsenhausen Concentration camp, which was the model concentration camp set up by the Nazis in 1936. There is still remnants of the ovens used to cremate the mass numbers of prisoners. Very weird feeling visiting this place.

It was 32 degerees yesterday, and now its raining and 21, so thought we would do the right thing and fill you all in. We are off to Prague tomorrow which should be interesting, and we have booked and Italian Amalfi coast adventure as well as an 8 day Croatia sailing trip for the end of our journey, so they are things to look forward to.

We will post some random photos of the last few weeks for your enjoyment.

Its been a while!!!

Portugal happenings

So after arriving in Lisbon and being a little scared as it was the first country where no one spoke English, we had a great time.

We spent the first couple of days walking and walking, did anyone know that Lisbon should be called the hilliest bloody city in Europe....well we are yet to be proven wrong, will keep you posted. Had fun visiting the old part of town and the castle, then Adam ventured to the Community Psych conference and Martine was very brave and went investigating on her own for 3 days,

The conference was awesome, sat in on some really insightful sessions, and had a heap of fun with the VU people. Had some really nice nights out with them too, went to dinner one night and waited 2 hrs for our meal, ate at 11.30pm, so ridiculous. Also had a fun night out with Romana and Lut at a Tequila bar. The girls ripped the dancefloor up.

Martine ventured up into the hills to Sintra, and saw the fairytale Palace, and made me go up there, so we decided to spend the weekend up there, and had 2 nights in the town. Really relaxing.

And after 7 hrs on a bus we are now in Seville, Spain, and it is 25 degrees at 11.30 pm at night, so awesome.

Will try and get some photos of Lisbon up soon,

Congrats to Brett and Louise on their little bub Joe!

and some more scottish love!!

Jumping for joy at the Harry Potter Viaduct!

Our awesome tour group

Adam and the haggis

Martine and Edinburgh

Time for some photos

After trying for half an hour to put photos up in Portugal, the computer decided it didnt like us and loaded nothing, so heres the second attempt!

Attached are some photos of our Scotland trip! Richards kiddies, make sure you check out the inscription on the gravestone. Morbid yet oh so funny!!

Martine at the awesome Edinburgh Castle

The scary Loch Ness monster

Great Gravestone

Oops, just a wee addition

Just for the benefit of the Harry Potter fans (Monet), we also went to the viaduct where the Hogwarts express was filmed crossing the bridge. We got some fab photos of that, will post when we can. Also went past they hill where they set up Hagrids hut. Also went to Glen Nevis where they filmed both the Braveheart battle and Harry Potters Quiddich matches.  Also saw the castle where they filmed the Monarch of the Glen series and also another castle where they filmed a Monty Python film....cant remember which one.

So that was our glimpse of show bizz..... will show photos when we can. Love u all, adam and martine

Deep scottish love and the trip to Lisbon

Currently sitting in an internet cafe in Lisbon, Portugal, and as the computer is not recognising the camera memory card, sorry folks, no photos this time (Richards kiddies, i have a photo of gold value taken in a graveyard in scotland that you will all love)! But exciting stories anyway.

So after our disaster night in Edinburgh when we arrived, our impressions of scotland soon turned around. Our tour departed on monday, had an awesome Scottish woman named Claire as our tour guide who was an absolute blast. Had a really great group of people on the bus aswell which made it even more exciting.

In 5 days i lost count of the times we saw mountains, but the views were spectacular. Visited Loch Ness, got photos of the Loch Ness monster....you´ll all just have to wait to see them! We visited Eilean Donan Castle, as well as about 20 other less famous ones, and we both ate Haggis.....yummy! Martine loved it so much she even ordered it when we went out for dinner in Edinburgh. Very keen. We got attacked by midgies, which are tiny insects that bite like mosquitoes, such little buggers, i think everyone on the tour was itching for at least 3 days, we both still have bites now, very attractive. We all dipped our faces in a river which apparently has a spell on it from the wee people that makes anyone eternally beautiful if they put their heads in for 7 seconds. I reckon we both dont need any more help, but stuck our heads in anyway.

In Edinburgh we spent 3 hours at the Edinburgh Castle, such a cool place, then got to have an exclusive listen to the sound check of a suga babes concert, was rocking!!! Ran into so many Hens and Stag parties, they must all fly from England for a raging weekend. Saw people dressed as Cowboys and girls, cheer leaders, school girls, policemen, ballerinas (yes they were guys), rowers, sheep, and my favourite, smurfs. They went all out, painting their bodies in blue...pretty funny.

Yesterday we made our way to Lisbon, the first flight from Edinburgh to London Luton was fine, then we had an hour delay in Luton as "the plane was too heavy to take off, so some of the catering equipment had to be taken off". Not sure what everyone else was thinking, but how heavy can catering equpment be??? But we got to Lisbon fine, and are staying pretty much smack bang in the middle of restaurant central. Our Pensione isn't the grandest thing you have seen, but its quite homely, and the owners are really nice. Adam's conference starts on wednesday and he poster is being displayed the first day, should be exciting.

So thats it for now, will try and find somewhere we can upload some photos so you dont all get bored of just reading boring blogs. Thanks for all the comments, makes us feel like you havent forgotten us just yet, which is quite good.

Touring England and beyond

We have finallly seen true London weather

So after our last post of saying its such great weather.....the next day turned out to be poo! Has been bloody cold and wet the last 3 days, but hasnt stoppped us doing lots and lots.

We went to see Wicked at the West End....luis and emma, it was spectacular! Have seen the changing of the guards at Buckigham Palace, saw Big Ben, had breakfast from Harrods, got lost in Selfridges, went on the London Eye, visited the Tate Modern Art Gallery, and went to the Tower of London and saw the crown Jewels - pretty sparkly.

So those were the touristy things, we have done some pretty cool other stuff too. Kel had the day off on thursday so we went to the Tower of London, she has been living here for 9 months and hadnt been yet. But then went to a really funky wine bar and drank french chardonnay and nibbled on beautiful cheeses...it was tough! Martine went off by herself to see the Lion King ( I know, what a loser) whilst Kel and i had a couple of beersin a cool pub. Then yesterday we visited the Borough Food Market, such an amazing variety of food. Rocky, you will be very proud of us, we ate lots of samples, had some great food.

Kel took us out last night to the Walkabout Aussie Pub. Corny place, but had a great night. Tasted our first Snakebite (Cider, Draught and raspberry syrup), was quite interesting. As we speak its 7pm at night and i still have a headache. Kel made me drink too much!

Today we made our way back to Colin and Penny's place, and stopped off at Cambden Market for lunch. Kay, you would have loved it, had everything there. We are staying in tonight, its too cold to do anything else.

We are off on the tour of England on monday, so that will be exciting! Keep in contact.

Sunny weather, sunburn = London?????

So after 2 days flying, we have finally arrived in England. Our two flights were pretty good, and our South Korea stopover was great, we spent 14 hours in Korea, and all we saw was the airport and the hotel. Both of which were pretty cool. We got a room, dinner and breakfast at the Hyatt, a 5 star hotel, so that was quite nice. Adam took full advantage of the free breakfast by easily consuming the following: A crossaint, a chocolate crossaint, a donut and a muffin.  What a piggy!! as you say luis, muffins will give you muffin tops!! The flight from Korea to London was good apart from Martine breaking her TV screen.... that girl is trouble!

We arrived in London yesterday at 5pm, and crashed by about 9pm (6am melbourne time) , so tired! Got up thismorning, and battled the crowds to get to Oxford Street. Was especially exciting as someone was stabbed to death there the day before, so the police were out in force. We saw Kellie who is now working at Selfridges.....bloody massive department store! And we visited Hamley's, 'the worlds finest toy store'. It was pretty fine. We also walked around the west end, probably going to see a show tomorrow or friday. Pretty exciting.

The weather has been awesome, was 24 degrees today, Martine even got a little burnt..... how strange for London!! Its meant to be showers from thursday till sunday, so i suppose we are getting the true london weather anyway.

Martine's Uncle, Aunty and cousins are great, they have been really friendly and helpful. And their dog is awesome too. We are catching up with Kel on thursday, probably staying with her thursday and friday, so fun shall be had by all.

Our Itinerary so far

So here's a rough guide of what we know so far:

11th May - Depart Melbourne on route to Seoul, South Korea

12th May - Depart South Korea for Heathrow

12th May - Arrive London

12th-18th May - Explore London staying with Martine's uncle Colin and his family

19th23rd May - Haggis Tour of England

24th- 26th May - Edinburgh, Scotland

26th- 30th May - Haggis Tour  of Scotland

1st June - Depart Edinburgh for Lisbon, Portugal

1st -7th June - Lisbon, Portugal

8th- 18th June- Spain (Madrid and San Sebastian) and France (Bordeaux)

19th-25th June- Paris

25th - Bruges, Belgium

Then continue our Journey, including the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Greece.

Depart London, via Soeul to Melbourne, arriving 16th October.

OFF TO EUROPE.... LIKE EVERYONE ELSE

Hey everyone. We are off to Europe for 159 days, so keep up to date with our travel excitement here.