Keeping in touch with Mark Yungnickel

Back to life in New Zealand

2011-11-16T13:07:00.003+13:00

12 November 2011

We have been home for over a week now and have been all over the North Island.

Its taken us awhile to get over the jet lag but things are back to normal now. We cant wait to get into some work so we are seeing what pops up for us

We made it home in time for guy fawkes. We watched the demo derby and fireworks display at Waikaraka Park on Saturday and then let off our own fireworks on Sunday.

Touch down in Auckland

2011-11-16T13:02:00.004+13:00

2 November 2011

After a comfortable flight home Air New Zealand we touched down in Auckland at midday NZ time.

After such a big long eventful trip its great to be home and chilling out for awhile.

Back in Aotearoa

Last day in Hong Kong

2011-11-16T12:40:00.002+13:00

1 November 2011

We had a few hours to spare so we bused to the far end of Hong Kong island to check out the Stanley markets and beaches.

Even today there was still a haze in the air which really shows how much pollution is really in the air.

At a budda shrine overlooking Stanley Bay

Stanley markets

We saw a few home made bamboo decks from peoples apartments

We stopped for a swim at Refuge Bay where we swum to the platforms and sun bathed for a bit. We felt a little tingily after swimming through all the jellyfish.

In Hong Kong feng shui is very important. The hole in this building is for the dragon to get through.

Our Octopus Card - this card is fantastic as you can just scan it and off you go. You can use it for the buses, trams, trains, most shops and even Mcdonalds.

Heading across the one of many big bridges linking all the islands together on our way to the airport

Lantau Island

2011-11-16T12:31:00.007+13:00

31 October 2011

Anyone coming to Hong Kong should not miss Lantau Island. We had a day looking around the island and taking the most scenic gondula I have ever been on.

It was really interesting visiting the Po Lin monastery. I have read so much about monasteries but never visited one. It was fascinating walking around and seeing all the different parts to it and seeing the monks doing their day to day work.

Getting up close to the Big Buddha was also a big highlight.

After visiting the quaint fishing village of Tai O we took a bus back over the mountains to Tung Chung.

We decided to take the Ngong Ping 360 gondula to Ngong Ping village a 5.7km ride over a small mountain range. Very touristy but well worth the ride

Looking across Tung Chung Bay and city

Hong Kong airport is an entire Island. This is looking back over the airport as a plane was taking off. You can also see the 6 Quantas planes in a row all grounded due to the strikes.

There were some breathtaking 360 degree views of the Lantau country park.

Our first glimse of the big budda

There were all sorts of things to in Ngong Ping Village. This was part of hte bubbles exhibition

The gate leading to the twelve divine generals

This is the general Vajra who represents 7pm-9pm and dog of the chinese zodiac.

These are massive insence sticks you can purchase - almost as big as me.

People putting their incense into the large sand pits at the entrance to the monastery

Statue in the entrance to the monastery

The main building of the Po Lin monastery. In the background you can see they are building a new one

The buddha statues inside the monastery

The decorations inside the monastery were stunning

Each pillar had these astouding sculptures of dragons

We had a full on lunch in the monastery. It was all vegeterian food but the place had such a great atmosphere.

The lower level of the monastery where the monks have their processions.

The monks dining hall

Steps leading to the Tian Tan Buddha statue

There were 3 statues on eaither side of the buddha offering things

Standing underneath the big buddha you realise just how big it is. We walked inside and saw the bone relic from the real buddha. It can be see from miles around.

We visited the little fishing village of Tai O. It was like we were walking through Hong Kong 30 or 40 years ago with locals living a very basic life. This is looking down at all stilt houses

We went on a little boat trip around the Island so we got to have a good look at all the houses on stilts. We were promised we would see the pink dolphins that can be found here.........but thats what she tells everyone

Locals were selling all sorts of seafood. These are live fish and shrimps in these buckets.

A lot of people had stalls of dried fish, mussles and whatever these white things are hanging from these ropes

We went back to the waterfront to watch the symphony of lights again.

We couldnt leave Hong Kong without an authentic chinese massage. This really funny lady and her husband gave us a really brutal massage.

Hiking the Maclehose Trail

2011-11-16T12:22:00.007+13:00

30 October 2011

Well you wouldnt think it but Hong Kong is a great place for hiking and we had a fantastic day hiking sections 1 and 2 of the Maclehose Trail around the Sai Kung Peninsula. We went through some really nice rainforest, past lots of beaches and exploring the coastline.

It took us awhile to get to the start of the track but after catching a number of trains and buses we made it to Pak Tam Au where we got on our way.

This evening we had a look at the 'Wine and Dine Festival' in Kowloon

Tramping seems to be really popular here with loads of people all along the track. There were a lot of campsites on and near the beaches

After tramping through the bush for two hours we came across Tai Long Village. You think you are in the middle of no where then there are restaurants and accomodation.

We stopped for a well needed lunch and swim at Ham Tim

The beach was picture perfect and it was so nice taking a dip and looking up into the stunning rouged mountains.

There was a small walk across this rickety old bridge to get to the restaurant and back on the track

Looking back over Ham Tim beach

Looking across at Sai Wan and down the coast. Another magic sunny day but you can never get rid of the haze from the pollution.

Looking back over Sai Wan. A helicopter went over head yelling something over the loud speaker - we asked a lady walking by and she said they were warning of fire danger

Almost at the peak of Sai Wan Shan at 314m

From the top of the ridge we got some great views of the High Island Reservoir

Most of the Maclehose track was made of concrete which made for easy walking. This is on our way down to the white sand beach of Long Ke.

At the East dam we saw a lot of hexagonal columns on the edges of the dam and along the coast. They are the largest and most expansive in the world.

Looking across the east dam. From here we walked alongside the road for another 10km to the West dam before catching a taxi back to the bus

HAHA - only in Hong Kong

Accommodation was hard to find because of the 'Wine and Dine Festival' so we went along to see what it was all about.

We samples some different wines and food at the stalls and watched some live entertainment on stage.

This is an underground walkway in Tsim Sha Tsui where they have people lanes. This just shows how orderly the people from Hong Kong are - they stick to the rules, keep to their own, and have no graffiti anywhere. I guess you need it to be like this in such a highly densely populated city.

This is looking down from our hostel on the 15th level

Hong Kong Island

2011-11-16T11:58:00.006+13:00

29 October 2011

We saw a completely different side of Hong Kong today from the really busy and what I would call the REAL Hong Kong to the upmarket tourist Central Hong Kong.

We sailed the harbour on a chinese junk boat (Duk Ling Ride), walked the longest esculator in world, went up Hong Kong's tallest building, saw another chinese temple, took the peak tram, went hiking and then saw Hong Kong by night.

The funniest thing was that the lady from the info centre yesterday came and meet us at the start of our boat trip to see how our day went and give us free tasting tickets for the wine festival.

We sailed the harbour on this traditional chinese junk boat.

The sails went up but we wouldnt have gone far without the motor. It was nice heading right up the harbour and seeing the city by water

Enjoying Victoria harbour with this great weather

We handed over our passports, got our name tag and then went to the 55th of 88 floors.

We had some great view of the city and harbour.

It was all very strict. I asked if we could go to the top but that was forbidden. They are very strict on their rules here and they clearly display the consequences. They have signs for example about littering or eating and drinking in the bus with a fixed fine of $1500HKD

We tried some chinese bakery for lunch. This is a ??? which is light sweet soft dough with dried fruit inside.

This is the worlds longest esculator. We sat on here for 25 minutes from bottom to top. In the morning it goes downhill and afternoon it goes uphill.

Another glimpse looking down over the esculator. Im so glad it was there as there were some pretty steep hills.

We had a look through the Man Mo temple. Burning spiral incense hangs in front of the statues. It was interesting seeing how this religion works. The people would light the incense and wave it around while praying, then put it in the sand buckets to burn before crouching in front of the statues to pray.

This is just one of many skyscrapers that had bamboo scaffolding surrounding the outside. It looks so dodgy being bamboo but they seem to tie it all up together and it works well

We went through the zoo and there were monkeys doing tricks. These two were doing trapeze together where one would swing holding the other.

We did our first real touristy thing and took the Peak tram to the top of the hill. It was a super steep ride up

This was the main viewing platform where we got some great views of the city.

We walked the hill tracks but today the smog got worse and worse. This is looking across Hong Kong Island

I went off track to climb to the 'High West' summit.

Looking out at Lamma Island and Pok fu lam reservior

Hong Kong by night is very spectacular with all the lights and skyscrapers

Some more yummy chinese food for dinner

Markets, markets, markets

2011-11-16T11:32:00.004+13:00

28 October 2011

We found that this city doesnt wake up until about 11am so at 8am the streets are bare and you can walk around without having to worry about bumping into anyone.

We spent an hour at the tourist office with the nicest, most friendly information person we have meet on the trip. She told us everything to know about the city and created an action packed itinerary for the next few days so we could see everything Hong Kong has to offer.

We are enjoying the different types of food. We had a great lunch of pork dumplings, pork balls, spring rolls, dim sim, and a weird soup with all sorts in it.
Bad table manners are the norm here so I feel right at home. The locals finish their meal and there is food all over the table and floor. Im still unsure if this is because they use chopsticks or if its just a sign that they enjoyed the food.

We spent the day wandering exploring the jade markets, fish markets, bird markets, flower markets, fruit markets, clothes markets and night markets. They have every sort of markets here so if you like markets then this is the place to be. We had a lot of fun haggling with the locals.

We walked through some parks all with this unique fascinating architecture.

The store owners at the markets are excellent actors. We chatted to some at the jade markets walking in not wanting anything and came out with a big jade dragon.

Tai Sin Temple. We were welcomed into the temple with a huge cloud of insence smoke. This was an experience being the first buddist temple we have been into.

A typical view of the Kowloon area in Hong Kong where everyone lives in these big apartment buildings and has their clothes drying out their window.

The fruit looks amazing on the outside but all our nectarines were rotten. I think we will wait until we get home to have some more fruit.

The fish markets sold turtles, carp, gold fish, exotic fish, sea fish........
It was a bit cliche seeing a restaurant in between two fish shops.

The flower markets.

Exploring the ladies market

Every night Hong Kong has 'The Symphony of Lights' the worlds best light and Laser show.

We stood on the waterfront where the lights and lasers performed in time with the music. There were over 44 buildings taking part

There were some bands playing along the waterfront to keep us entertained.

We walked along the 'Avenue of stars' and found Jackie Chans star. It was the only famous Hong Kong person we knew.

If you havent had enough of the markets during the day then there is also the night markets and all these stalls of fortune tellers.

We arrive in Hong Kong

2011-11-11T20:48:00.003+13:00

27 October 2011

We arrived at Hong Kong with mask covered people in blue scrubs holding laser guns at us to find that they were doing temperature checks on everyone entering the country.

We were quite excited by the organised chaos of this heavily populated city. It felt like we were starting our travels all over agian with the complete contrast to life in Europe. We walked the tourist free streets of Mongkok trying to take it all in, We wandered endlessly finding never ending markets, street entertainment, food stalls, shops, restaurants and PEOPLE.

We lived like the chinese in our small hostel room on the 15 floor of an apartment building. There must have been over 1000 people that lived in our building as there was always a queue to get up and down in the elevator. We found the bathroom really funny as the shower was over the toilet - so potentially you could take a crap while having a shower : )

We checked out the suburb of Mongkok where we are staying. This place just comes to live at night with people everywhere. There are thousands of people walking in every direction.

There was a mass of food stalls everywhere. There was no English at all so we tried everything that looked good. I hope we didnt eat any cats : (

The Ladies Market. I dont know where it got its name but there were all sorts of things in there.

We tried some deep fried squid which was really tasty.

A really talented busker playing a piece of wood like a violin.

Some Hong Kong models randomly posing for anyone that wanted to take a picture

Deutsches Museum (German Museum)

2011-11-11T10:14:00.002+13:00

26 October 2011

Its a little sad as today was our last day in Europe. Being a rainy day meant it was a great day to visit the German Museum so we spent a few hours cruising around the endless displays and exhibits.

There were hundreds of full size planes and engines. This is the Lochhead F-104G Starfighter - a supersonic multi purpose combat aircraft. In the 60s and 70s this was the main aircraft of the West German Air Force

This is a cross section of a Boeing 747. Its interesting to see that the part where we sit is only half of the plane. The Boeing 747 was the first wide body jet introduced to civil air traffic in 1970 and the most popular plane for long distance mass transport.

The Aggregat 4 also called the Vengeance Weapon 2 rocket was the worlds first large rocket launched on October 3, 1942. It was used in WWII by the German army as a long range guided missile to attach Cities and industrial facilities.

They had a really good display about pilot ejection seats. This is one on F-104G.

They had a really exciting space exhibition about the different planets, past space expeditions, international space station, and satellites. These are the different rockets that have gone to space from the US. It was interesting to see the difference between the Russian and US rockets and their progress in size over such a short period of time.

There was a large section about the alternative forms of energy production. This was about the research done with nuclear fusion. Plasma is heated to at least 100 million degrees inside a locked magnetic tube and a fusion reaction takes place and generates energy.

There were lots of interesting robots. This is my favourite - Armar II Andropromorphic Service Robot. It is a humaniod robot capable of learning for household use. It can retrieve objects, set the table, load and unload the dishwasher etc. It can grip, touch, speak and understand general commands.

This is the worlds first automatic milking systems, put on the market in 1992. The cow walks onto the platform on its own. If it is due to be milked, it is fed and then a robot cleans the teats and uses a lazer to attach the teat cups. The cow is milked and the milk si quality tested at the same time.

While waiting in Munich airport to fly to Hong Kong we couldnt help but have one last visit to the bakery. Raspberry torte.

Cycle tour of Munich

2011-11-08T13:32:00.005+13:00

25 October 2011

Munich is a big place so life was made easy on our cycle trip around the city. We looked around the Olympic stadium, BMW world, english gardens, oktoberfest park and the city markets.

The grounds of the Oktoberfest at Theresienwiese park. They were still taking all the beer tents down and getting the park back to normal after the 7 million visitors 3 weeks ago

A weir along the Isar river

We stopped for a look around the English Gardens. This is a guy surfing on the Eisbach. It was #%^*$ cold so thats why he's wearing the wetsuit with hood

Beer bike. You can get 12 of your friends and hire out this wicked bike. You sit alongside the bar drinking and pedalling at the same time then there is someone in the front steering

Lowenbrau brewery

We had a look through the old Olympic park from the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. This is the Olympic tower and swimming pool complex

BMW world and museum

The BMW world was like a place where buyers could come and look at the lastest range of cars. This is one of the mint BMW motorbikes with up to 300km on the speedo

The inside of the complex was like a museum in itself. In the middle you could go test drive the lastest vehicles. It was interesting to see the lastest electric cars that can still go really fast

The worlds offical largest beer stein for sale at over a few 12,000Euro

Our last dinner in Germany at the main Ausgustiner brewery. We had some great food

Last chance to sneak in a 1 litre beer

Back in the big city of Munich

2011-11-07T20:54:00.005+13:00

24 October 2011

It was sad dropping our rental back today as we have really loved motoring around on the German Autobahns but it was also great to be back in Munich.

We did a walking tour of the city then went out for a few beers at the Hofbrauhaus.

The new city hall with the worlds most famous glockenspiel. On the hour the glockenspiel plays a song and all these figures come out. There is some jousting horse riders where the Bavarian knight wins against the Austrian, and on the bottom part there are men which perform the coopers dance before and cuckoo bird comes out and chirps.

This is the Frauenkirchen. This was the Popes church and where King Ludwig was buried. It was bombed like all other buildings in Munich during the war however the British had bad aim and the towers remained standing. When they were cleaning the rubble they just lay the olg gravestones on the side of the church as there wasnt much remaining after the bombs.

This is the Mariensäule (Marian column) in the middle of the Marienplatz Munichs city centre. It was built in 1638 to celebrate the end of Swedish occupation

This is the May pole at Munichs outdoor farmers market (Viktualienmarkt). They have a big celebration to replace the May pole every few years in May. If another German city steals

The Opera house which burnt down several times. King Ludwig had an idea to have a swimming pool on top so if there was another fire then they could use the water from the pool as a sprinkler to put the fire out, however the next fire was in winter and the water was frozen so it burnt down again.

The Feldherrnhalle at Odeonsplatz with the Theatinerkirche on the right and the Residenz on the left. This is where Hitler gave many speeches and where his army marched. During the Nazi days on the left side of the building there were guards 24/7 and anyone walking by had to salute the Nazi symbol

Those that did not want to salute Hitler (the swastika and nazi statue) could walk down this side street to get to work. However after awhile the Nazi guards caught on to this and sent people who walked down this street to the concentration camps. The line on the ground is a memorial for those who did not want to walk past and salute Hitlers statues.

The name Muenchen (Munich) means 'Where all the monks are'. This is because back in the days it had no name and there were only monks brewing beer here. Thus being the beer capital of the world we had a 1 litre stein at the Hofbrauhaus.

There was such a great atmosphere in the Hofbrauhaus (just like what you would find at Oktoberfest) with ladies walking around with big pretzels, everyone drinking litre steins, traditional bavarian band, and loads of people.

Rugby World Cup Final

2011-11-07T20:11:00.001+13:00

23 October 2011

We were lucky one of the Irish pubs in town was playing the rugby so headed into Augsburg in the early hours of Sunday morning. With a pub full of French supporters we kept getting more nervous the longer the game went on.
We were so happy the AB's pulled it out for New Zealand in the end.

We had a good day catching up with everyone in Augsburg.

The All Blacks are the World Champions again

Tegernsee - Ross und Buchstein

2011-11-07T20:04:00.007+13:00

22 October 2011

On the spur of the moment with the sun shining we packed the car and headed to the East Bavarian mountains for some tramping.
There was fresh snow so we had a great full on day playing in the snow and climbing this reasonably tough track.
We are so glad we decided to go as it was one of the best tramps of our trip.

After a steep climb through some the forest it wasnt long until we reached the fresh powder snow.

My little snowman

Looking up at the 2 summits - Ross and Buchstein at 1698m and 1701m

Towards the top there was some grade 2/3 climbing up some rough rock which kept it interesting

Magic view across the alps

Looking across the Bavarian Alps out towards Austria. This was the first of the two summits

After all that hard climbing they even had a hut at the top

Karen stopped for a beer while Katherine and I climbed the second summit

From the hut it was a very steep scramble to the second summit

On top of the world.....well actually only Germany

One side of the mountain was snow, the other was grass

A pic near the summit with our guide Katherin

We had a great view as the sun came down

We watched the sunset through the forest and made it back to the car right on dark

Our awesome dinner invention of Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage), knodel (dumplings) and parmesan cheese and tomato sauce. It tasted a lot better than it sounds

Back in Augsburg

2011-11-07T19:51:00.005+13:00

21 October 2011

After a few stops on the way we arrived back to Augsburg. We spent the afternoon eating cake and drinking coffee (just how the Germans do it all weekend long) and catching up with people. We had a nice relaxing dinner with Sylvia and Thomas.

We were told to stop at this small church Maria Vesperbild on the way to Augsburg. Just like any other church from the outside but really nice inside

We stopped by the Usterbacher brewery in Usterbacher. A really nice beer made in this tiny town in the middle of nowhere

House over the power station where I used to live in Augsburg

Inside the power station with the two large turbines

Its starting to get cold in Bavaria and being so close to Christmas all the Gluewein (Christmas wine) is coming onto the shop shelves. Its red wine mixed with herbs, cinnamon etc heated up. We gave it a go and it wasnt too bad.

All the statues in the town centre were all covered up in preparation for snow.

We stayed with Thomas, Sylvia and their dog

The worlds highest steeple in Ulm

2011-11-05T10:13:00.003+13:00

20 October 2011

We relaxed today with a nice step in. We had a little look through Krumbach town and had lunch at the Butcher with german home made potato salad and schnitzel roll washed down with some bakery sweets YUM.

We also drove out to Ulm and visited the Ulm cathedral with the worlds highest steeple where we climbed the 768 steps to the top.

We had a walk around the small town of Krumbach. This is the old town hall.

The final stairwell up the third gallery is a tall spiraling staircase with hardly room for one person. You think you are almost there then there are still more steps.

The view from the top was well worth the climb. This is looking down at the main church.

Look at the size of the people and then you realise how high you really are. The steeple is 161.53m and we climbed to a height just below that

It had a really cool gothic steeple which got narrower the higher we went

A huge gargole

The main church from afar. There was no way I could fit the entire tower into a photo from below as the tower was just so high

A unique looking town hall

Sunset from Alex's house

Alex and Karen

A quick stop in Austria

2011-11-05T09:37:00.006+13:00

19 October 2011

We spent the morning looking through Linderhof castle, another of Ludwigs impressive designs and where he lived for some time before he died. We then surprisingly ended up in Austria on our way to Fuessen where we had a quick lunch and then caught up with Alex in Krumbach.

Linderhof castle is the smallest of three palaces built by King Ludwig II

We explored the castle grounds and gardens surrounded by forest between the mountains near Oberammergau.

Garden terrace steps

In summer the gardens are covered in colourful flowers but now the gardens were bare and many of the statues were covered in wood to protect them from the snow

We had a tour inside the palace which exceeded our expectations. From the outside it looks tiny but on the inside there were so many rooms all uniquely decorated. This was the Kings cutlery holder on his dining table. The table had a trapdoor where the chefs would prepare his dinner in the kitchen below and the move it by pulleys to the Kings dining room.

The mirror hall was a really trippy room where you looked into the mirrors and saw yourself an infinite number fo times.

For our first time in the trip we unexpectedly ended up in Austria

We drove past amny glacial lakes on our way through Austria to Fuessen

We stopped for lunch in Fussen and visited the castle

The paintings drawn on the castle were said to be the originals

Hausberg and Kreuzeck

2011-11-05T09:14:00.002+13:00

18 October 2011

With limited time, icy conditions and sore legs from the day before we decided to skip the Zugspitze (Germans highest point) and do the Hausberg and Kreuzeck points instead. It was a very average walk compared to yesterday following some ski fields to the top of mountains where all these old people and kids were walking because they had taken the gondolas up to the top. We did however get some nice views of the Bavarian Alps and saw some of the extremely steep down hill skiing tracks

Olympic Bobsled track from 1910-1966 as it is today

A picture of the bobsled track in the middle of winter during the Olympics

This is a typical tramping hut in Europe equiped with restaurant, beer garden and flash rooms. Now I understand why Germans get confused when they come to New Zealand and stay in one of our Great Walks tramping huts. This is near the top of Hausberg at 1340m

View from Kreuzeck with the Alpspitze on the left and Zugspitze on the right

Looking back over Garmisch from the top of Kreuzeck at 1651m

Heading directly down the mountain is the downhill hill track - look how steep it is. The tunnel is for the skiers to pass under the track.

We had some fantastic views from the Eibsee.

The gondola up to the Zugspitze at 2962m

Our hostel was right on the edge of the Olympic Ski Jump. There were 4 different jumps ranging in length and height. It would be so cool to come back here in winter during a competition.

Neuschanstein Castle

2011-11-04T17:37:00.005+13:00

17 October 2011

We visited our highlight of Bavaria today the Disneyland fairytale castle Neuschwanstein. We enjoyed a quick tour of the inside of the castle and walked up a steep ridge to the top of Tegelberg where we had great views of the alps and castle.

It really felt like we were in a fairy tale with such unique views. The trees were all in their Autumn colours of red, yellow and orange, the lakes and countryside were sparkling and the rugged alps extended as far as the eye could see with a dusting of snow at the peaks.

We were short on time so decided to catch the gondola back to the bottom, but unfortunately the lady at the visitor center gave us the wrong closing time and we turned up 15 mins after the last one had gone. With less than 2 hours of sunlight and a 3 3/4 hr walk to the bottom we decided to jog and managed to make it to the car just as the sun was going down.

We woke up to a great day in Sulzberg with low lying fog all across Kempten

Our first view of the fairy tale Neuschwanstein castle

After a 30 minture walk we reached the castle with views across Fuessen

Front gate of Neuschwanstein

We had a tour in the castle. There were some really detailed neat rooms and even his own stalitite cave. Some rooms were not finished as Ludwig only partly finished the castle before he died

After our tour we enjoyed views of the castle from Marienbruecke (Mary's Bridge) which extended across the high gradient river below.

Neuschwanstein from Mary's bridge. There was a large shear drop to the river below which made the views even more spectacular

The picture perfect views across Alpsee (Lake Alp) with Ludwigs Hohenschwangau castle on the right. The weather couldnt have been better.

The closer we got to the Tegelberg summit the better the views got

Enjoying a quick break at one of the highest points where we had a 360 degree view of the alps. This is the Alpsee, Schwansee and both castles in the background.

Fresh snow on the side of the track

There were lots of parasailers jumping off the cliffs at the top of the gondola.

Tegelberg summit at 1730m

Titisee and Sulzberg

2011-11-04T17:18:00.005+13:00

16 October 2011

What a night. That was definitely our last night of camping. We woke up to minus temperatures with our tent completely frozen and thick white frost over everything and mist throughout the valley.

After a foggy day on the road passing alongside the Bodensee we had a great night with Ute, Daniel and their flatmates catching up over Allgaeu kase spatztse and few a beers in there little village just outside Kempten.

Our tent was frozen solid

Our worst frost in Europe so far left a thick layer of ice all over the ground, car and trees

Carved wooden Gnome on the side of a forest path

Early morning fog across Titisee

Looking out across the boat ramp you couldnt see anything for a few hours

Forest track to get to the lake

Ice all over Karens jacket as she brushed against the tent

By midday the fog cleared and we had a nice sunny day. This is looking across the lake from the town centre

Autumn is here and all the leaves on the oaks are turning yellow, orange and red as they fall off the trees. We stopped here in Neustadt for a little look around but like every Sunday in Germany everything is closed and nothing was happening

We travelled along past the Bodensee. Most of the day we hit more thick fog.

A vineyard along the Bodensee

We tried some 'Pizza Liebe Kaese' today and it was so good

We arrived in Schmieden a small village in Kemptem to visit Ute and Daniel. Had had a walk around the village and saw the sun set over the Bavarian Alps

Ute, Daniel and us.

We went cuckoo and brought a cuckoo clock

2011-11-04T16:45:00.005+13:00

15 October 2011

We saw Germanies highest waterfall, found about about the cuckoo clocks history at the German Clocks Museum, saw some more cuckoo clocks, discovered some more villages in the black forest, and visited the big city of Freiburg before setting up camp in Titisee.

It is definitley mid Autumn where we are waking up to frosts. These are some icicles on the car

There was a nice walk through the forest to Germanys highest waterfall in Triberg at 163m

It was a laddered waterfall so not that spectacular. This is from the top

More cuckoo clocks. We are expects now knowing all about the battery powered clocks, mechanical clocks, 1/8 day clocks, 2 and 3 weighted clocks, handcrafted vs laser cut clocks, moving parts and modern and traditional cuckoo clocks.

After looking through shop after shop we decided we couldn't leave this great place without a cool cuckoo clock. So after visiting Schoenach 4km west of Triberg where most of the cuckoo clocks are made we finally decided on this clock.

This is the guy who build our clock in Hornberg

Back on the 'German Cuckoo Clock Route' where we visited the German Clocks Museum in Furtwangen. This is the 'Simpsons' clock where Homer comes out and says woohoo.

There was a walk through the history of the black forest clocks. From these old wooden clocks

To picture frame clocks

To cuckoos coming out of churches and then of course to the clocks today with the many moving parts and songs

We drove through many nice villages. This is looking back from Simonswald up to the scenic mountain roads though the forest where we had just come from.

We had a quick stop in the big city of Freiburg. There were crowds of people everywhere. On the right you can see the water canals on the road

This is the Freiburg church

Buskers on the street

This busker would play certain notes and certain animals would dance and play their instruments

This is the large city gate complete with a Mcdonalds. At least they tried to camoflague it.

Worlds largest cuckoo clock

2011-11-03T15:57:00.007+13:00

14 October 2011

We spent the day looking through cuckoo clock shops, taking the black forest mountain train, climbing the Hornberg castle, going inside the worlds biggest cuckoo clocks, and trying some black forest cake all in the heart of the black forest.

The area is such an amazing place with cute little villages nestled between forest covered mountains.

We had a chilly start this morning where we climbed the forest paths to the castle in Hornberg.

This is climbing to the top of the castle tower which has been standing since 1300.

Looking across the valley into the black forest from the top of the tower

This is the largest cuckoo clock with the most moving clocks in the world. It was really exciting to see on the hour where for 5 minutes all these things happened

This is a gigantic weather station (probably the worlds largest) where the lady comes out when the weather is good and the man comes out when the weather is bad

We caught the black forest train through the mountains to Villigen-Schwenningen

We explored Villigen-Schwenningen. This is the main stream with a very Autumn look to the trees

All of these little towns has a wall around the old city. This was the main entrance into the town

The main church had very different towers

This is the worlds largest cuckoo clock. On the hour a large 4 metre long cuckoo came out.

We also went inside the clock. This was the huge pendulum moving back and forth

These were all the giant clock parts made of wood with the cuckoo bird at the top and the sound cylinders that made the cuckoo noise on the bottom left. The robot man told us all about the clock.

We went threw loads of cuckoo clock shops and we felt like it was Christmas it was so fun. All the clocks were quite different: some had lots of moving parts with dancing ladies, music, sawing wood, moving waterwheels, chopping wood, drinking beer and some were more simple with really nicely crafted leaves and animals.

We tried some black forest cake from the cafe with the original recipe in Triberg

This was a slightly different cuckoo clock with a mushroom instead of a house

This place has hundreds of clocks everywhere. From battery laser cut cuckoo clocks to handcrafted mechanical cuckoo clocks

Rottweil & Schiltach

2011-11-03T15:47:00.005+13:00

13 October 2011

We left Stuttgart early and headed to Rottweil, the first stop on our route through the Black forest. We headed to the visitor center and were given a map of the town and a key to the watch tower.

We stopped for a picnic in the car (too cold to sit outside) at a nice view over St Georgen. We detoured off the "German clock route" we were following to go to Schiltach a pretty little town with a few entertaining (and free!) muesums. We had planned to stay in Schiltach but were surprised to find all the cheep accomodation was booked and the campground had closed early : ( so we continued on to Triberg to stay in the YHA hostel.

The watch tower was also once a prison. The watchman and his family lived in the tower and had to look after the prisoners and look out for fires and intruders. They had a bell they would ring if there was a fire.

We turned up at the tourist office and the lady gave us the key to the old town watch tower where they used to imprison witches. It was so cool. we walked up the road and climbed the tower with views all over Rottweil and the black forest.

Funny little narrow houses

Rottweilers in Rottweil

Town gate in Rottweil

Waterwheel used to power the wood mill in Schiltach

Pretty houses along the river

Schiltach town center with the Rathaus on the left

Schiltach has had many devastating fires since the 13th century after the last big one in the 1800's 1 architect was brought in to design and rebuild the town resulting in all these similar sized houses in the same style.

Pretty side street with the mist in the hills

The Bath muesum. It had a full history of the culture of bathing in Europe and a show room of designer bath rooms and high tec showers. Very random and not what we expected but entertaining none-the-less.

The traditional raft used to carry logs down the river

Black forest hay-bail people

Gulash cooked outside our hostel at Triberg

Stuttgart

2011-11-03T15:37:00.003+13:00

12 October 2011

The only tourist attraction in Stuttgart is the Mercedes Benz museum. Im not much of a car fan but the museum was great and we ended up spending the entire day there.
It was amazing to see how much impact cars have had on technology and cars we see today.

These worlds first engined automobiles. Both were built in 1886. The left hand carriage automobile by Daimler Benz where he installed his 'Grandfather Clock' engine and the right by Karl Benz 1886 the three wheeled gasoline engined automobile.

The Mercedes Simplex is the oldest mercedes still in existence

To insure the survival of their car companies after the rough period of hyper inflation after the first world war in May 1924 Diamler and Benz joined together to create Mercedes Benz

Not only did they make cars but also aeroplane motors, bikes, and typewriters. This is the worlds first production engine with gasoline injection

Mercedes Limousines. Each of the 7 floors of the mercedes musuem cars from each era from the first cars to the now futuristic cars. Its amazing how far technology has developed in such a short period of time from 8km/h joystick cars to cruise control, airbag 250km/h cars.

The BMW museum building itself was very futuristic

Mercedes Benz 300 SL Coupe. This sports car was known as the Gullwing with a max speed of 250km/h

This car recorded the highest speed ever on a public road to this day of 268.9mph on the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt.

Some really groovy stairs and features to each level really looked cool

The BMW museum. With 7 floors of BMW history. We were told it would take 2hrs to go through the museum but it was so interesting that we spent 6hrs there and were kicked out at closing time.

Rothenburg on der Tauber

2011-11-03T13:28:00.005+13:00

11 October 2011

We got up early to check out the big castle on the hill in Werzburg before continuing our drive down the "Romantic road" to Rothenburg where we spent a few hours wandering the pretty streets before getting back in the car and heading to Stuttgart.

Wuerzburg Castle

Walking along the outside walls of the castle

View of Weurzburg from the castle gardens. The entire city was rebuilt after WW2 as it was severly damaged in an air raid towards the end of the war.

Our first view of Rothenberg. We parked the car just outside one of the city gates and walked into the center.

On our way we came across this shop selling "Snowballs". They are unique to Rothenberg and are made of layers of thin shortbread type biscuit and covered in all kinds of flavours. We tried chocolate and coconut. (They look more exciting than they taste)

The town is very well known for its massive christmas shop. It was a bit like a grotto with little rooms everywhere all filled with christmas decorations.

The Rathaus and Tower (which of course we had to climb).

View of the edge of the town from the tower. Unlike some of the other walled cities we have been to this one has mostly stayed within its walls and is surrounded by farmland and forest.

In the middle of this picture you can see one of the watchtowers and part of the wall.

Karen taking a stroll in the wall. We walked around almost the entire town on a covered pathway like this on the inside of the wall.

Weimar and Wuerzburg

2011-11-03T12:58:00.004+13:00

10 October 2011

Weimar was once home to Goethe and Schiller (Famous German Writers) but other than that we couldn't really find anything exciting here. We also notice the lack of English here due to the former soviet control. While the West Germans were learning English as a second language the East Germans were learning Russian. This also accounts for the fact that there are few churches here as the communists were against religion and even destroyed many East German churches and cathedrals.

We spent the morning looking around but quickly got back on the road to Wuerzburg. It was great to arrive in this typical Bavarian city full of character

We couldnt figure out why the Ginkgo plant was so famous in Weimar but this is an entire museum dedicated to it.

This is one of the shops with merchadise of the former East German pedestrian crossing men

It was a really foggy cold day cruising along the Autobahn through the Thuringen forest

We stopped on the hour to watch this large scale cuckoo clock. all the bells rang and little men and woman came out and danced while a song played

The Wurzburg Palace or Residense

Underneath this building they were processing grapes to make wine in the cellar

Wuerzburg was heavily bombed by the British on the 19th March 1945 during the end of WW2 which left most of the city in rubble

We went for dinner at a typical German restaurant and had this amazing schnizel with home made potato salad and sauerkraut. The meals were so big and so tasty I was in heaven : )

The restaurant had a great atmosphere. It was really warm, packed out and had these wicked wine chandeliers

Buchenwald concentration camp

2011-11-03T12:49:00.004+13:00

9 October 2011

We visited the Buchenwald concentration camp near the city of Weimar today which was the third largest camp in Germany after Dachau and Sachenhausen during the holocaust. During the Third Reich, 250,000 people were imprisoned here and 51,000 were murdered. We visited various exhibitions, memorial sites, as well as the camp grounds themselves.

Its a kind of unreal experience seeing where thousands of people were worked to death, and murdered that made me sick to my stomach. It is however good to see the Germans opening the doors to the world about the truth of what happened with education to see what humans are capable of so it will never happen again.
We stayed in Weimar the night, another former East German city.

This was the huge Buchenwald concentration camp 1937 - 1945. When the first Holocaust prisoners arrived here there was no camp. Over the years the prisoners slave labour built the entire camp, including the railway which transported other prisoners there. A one stage there were 130,000 prisoners at Buchenwald at one time. And this was only one of 1500 camps throughout Europe.

The sad thing is that after the camp was taken over by the Americans and the prisoners were liberated Germany was split into into parts (French, American, British and Soviet). The soviets then controlled this camp and put it back into use from 1945 - 1950. This is a mass grave of 7000 inmates who died during this time from hunger and sickness.

Massive guard towers and barbed electrified fenced meant no one ever escaped.

This is the main camp where all the prisoners housing was. 16 people shared a bunk made for 4. You can see the crematorian on the left where up to 400 bodies could be burned a day for those murdered or those who died from hunger and sickness. Whenever they had an official visit they told people it was the prisoner bakery.

The building on the left is the where they stored all the prisoners possessions and beside that the disinfecting rooms where new prisoner had to get cleaned. Now they house really informative in depth information about the camp and history to get a full account on what happened here in the Buchenwald forest.

Sunset over Weimar

They had a huge monument built to remember those that died here. Its so sad to think that this is just one of hundreds of camps throughout europe where a total of 6 million people perished on such a huge scale.

Part of the Buchenwald monument

Leipzig

2011-11-03T12:21:00.006+13:00

8 October 2011

We stayed with Julia and her family in Zwenkau just outside of Leipzig. Julia and Robert showed us all around the sights of the city. This is the first real former East German city I have been to and it was interesting hearing all about the differences between growing up in East and West and seeing the physical differences within the city.

We enjoyed eating some yummy home cooked German food and trying a whole lot of different German beers.

On of the biggest breakfasts ever with Julia and her family

A Leipzig specialty. Marsipan cake

We stopped by the Leipzig slalom course where they had a world cup this year at the Markkleeberg course.

We stopped at the 'Monument of the battle of the nations'

Entrance to the Leipzig university. It was so flash like walking into a palace.

Federal Administrative Court of Germany

This city is famous for Goethe. This monument shows his as a young law student at university

The inside of St Nicolas church was incredible.

This is the double cupola at the entrance. This church is really famous as this is where the uprising against the soviets started which resulted in the fall of the Berlin and East German Wall.

We escaped the rain in this nice cafe where we tried some yummy German cakes with Robert and Julia

We had an amazing view of Leipzig from the Panorama Tower building. The areas surrounding Leipzig are very rich with coal. There are many coal mines which have been mined and then filled in with water to create lakes which is how they created the slalom course in Markkleeberg. This is a coal mine.

The Hauptbahnhof and Leipzig centre.

The tower on the left is where we got the elevator up for the city view and the building on the left is the reconstruction of a church which will now be part of a university as the old church was blown up by the soviets.

St Thomas church. This is where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as a cantor.

We tried a few German beers and this green drink called woodruff which they sometimes add to beer.

Potsdam

2011-11-03T11:36:00.006+13:00

7 October 2011

We went to Potsdam a city on the outskirts of Berlin where the Kings and Queens had their palaces. What makes this place so special is that there is so many palaces in such a small area so every few hundred metres you come across another incredible building and gardens . Torrential rain was followed by blue sky and sunshine so we enjoyed the afternoon looking around the massive park grounds.

The 'Topography of Terror' an outside exhibiton on the full history of Germany was very interesting and well done with an overwhelming amount of information. It was also the headquarters of the Gestapo and SS during the WW2

The Nazi salute - anyone who didn't salute was said to be against the views of Hitler and the Nazi party and would go to jail or be murdered.

We love German bread and bakery. Everyday without fail we try something new at a German bakery which seem to be on every street

In Berlin everyone gets around on the S and U Bahns which are sort of like monorails except in the city centre

We walked through the Park Sanssouci where all the Berlin Kings had their palaces. There were really nice gardens in the Orangerieschloss.

Neue Kammerm

The main palace - Schloss Sanssouci

The gardens were amazing at this palace

Chinesisches Haus (Chinese House)

Roemanische Baedee (Roman baths)

The very tiny palace - Schloss Charlottenhof

This palace 'Neues Palais' was also really impressive but was undergoing renovation.

Exploring the wall

2011-11-02T17:25:00.011+13:00

6 October 2011

We started the morning with a very thorough walking tour of the city. We saw all the major sights and found out about Berlin's history.

These pedestrian crossing men at the lights are the only part of the former East Germany which has been kept.

Everyone likes them so much that they entire merchandise shops dedicated to them

The Brandenburger Tor. I think they might have been cleaning the statue of Vitoria.

A close up revealed plastered up bullet holes

This is the sight of Hitler bunker where he shot himself at the end of the war

This is an old Nazi Luftwaffe (airforce administration) building, one of the only buildings not destroyed in the war. It looks like a normal door until you walk up to it and the door knob is level with your eyes. Appartently this was typical of Nazi buildings which used to try and intimidate. They also had really large windows on the bottom of the building which got smaller towards the top to make the building look bigger than it was.

Berlin - the city of bears. Where ever you go there are painted bears.

This is where the Nazi book burnings from Humboldt university occured where the Nazis burnt all the books that had different viewpoints to theirs. The monument of big empty books shelves shows us that the information in those books is lost forever.

The Neue Wache (New Guard) was originally a royal guard house built in 1816. It became a war memorial in 1931.

This big stone bowl was shaped from one stone and carried to the museum to be the centrepiece. However they brought it here they couldnt fit it inside so they left it outside.

The Fernsehturm (Berlin TV tower) was built by the soviets in East Berlin to show how great their engineering skills were. They were very against religion and were hugely embarrased when the sun shined like today and a large cross appeared on the edge of the tower.

There had a large outside exhibition on Bernauer street where many escapes where from East Berlins getting into the West. This was where a tunnel was built for escape.

This is an outline of where the reconciliation church once stood in the death strip until the soviets blew it up in 1985

Looking along Bernauer Strasse

This is a small section of the death strip which was not torn down. It show the main wall, the secondary wall and the guard tower. Anyone caught in this sandy area between the two walls was shot by the East Berlin guards.

Part of the wall left intact. It doesnt look so high but the round part at the top would have made it almost impossible to climb without a ladder.

I climber the Victory Column in the former West Berlin

From the top their are great views across Berlin. This is looking out towards the Brandenburger Tor

Their is Karen sitting down on the steps

Their were amazing mosaic paintings on the bottom of the column

The column is surrounded by a multilane roundabout so entrance is through this tunnel where this stange heat sensor lights up when you walk past

Last time I visited Berlin I could see the Old Tower of the Kasier Memorial Church still in ruins from bombing during the war. However, they have decided to renovate the tower and repair it.

We stayed in this really impressive flash hostel near the east side gallery

The city of Berlin

2011-11-02T16:26:00.011+13:00

5 October 2011

First ever Doner kebab, holocaust monument
It is great to be back in Berlin again. A city full with such recent history which has shaped Germany and the world. I love this city with the contrasts of the old East and West with something at every corner.

Our handy GPS on our phone has been getting us from A to B and making things a bit easier on the road.

We walked along the East Side gallery a 1.6km section of the old Berlin Wall which is still standing.

We stopped for lunch at the Hasir Doner kebab restaurant which is where the FIRST EVER doner kebab was made.

It was pretty tasty but all kebabs are yum in Europe. We also tried some baklava in a turkish sweet shop.

Check Point Charlie - the most famous checkpoint between east and west

This is a map of Berlin and the orange line shows the Berlin Wall around West Berlin.

Where the wall used to stand they have put this cobbled set of stones throughout the city. While Karen visited one of the Museums I followed the old wall through parts of the city

It went through buildings, across roads and through parks

This is another section of wall near Potsdamer Platz which is still standing

The old wall used to go where this building stands

At Potsdamer Platz the wall went through the station

This is the Holocaust monument dedicated to the 6 million people murdered at the concentration camps.

It was right in the city centre with with all these concrete blocks which you walk through which is a very trippy experience.

One of the concentration camps

Underneath the monument is a huge holocaust museum about individuals killed, the rise of hitler and the concentration camps.

The Brandenburger Tor by night

Chalk Cliffs and Cap Arkona - Germans most northern point

2011-10-25T19:39:00.005+13:00

4 October 2011

The highlights of the island were exploring their famous Chalk Cliffs, the Jasmund National Park and Cap Arkona. Some nice areas where we meet a lot of old German tourists.

Something we can't get used to is the pay parking. Everywhere you go on this Island you have to pay for parking. We were in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farmland and you still have to pay for parking : ( that sucks.

We walked through the Jasmund National Park to get to the Chalk cliffs. This was a large swamp.

The trees of this national park were very uniform and mainly the same compared to New Zealands diverse forests.

We found all the knarly looking caterpillars on the path.

Looking down onto the ocean from the viewpoint near the kings seat at the Chalk Cliffs

The coastline along the cliffs

This was an overhang straight down 80m to the beach

Looking over at the Koenigs Stuhl (kings chair)

We had a look through all the markets at the farm town of Putgarten at Cap Arkona. We really liked these haybail people.

Haybail man

There were all these cute thatched houses like something out of smallville.

The old and new lighthouses at Cap Arkona

We walked along sea path at the most northern point of the island. These are the remains of an old lighthouse.

Germans most northern point. Or so they tell us......

We climbed the lighthouse for some nice but windy views of the Ocean and surrounding farmland

We stopped at this nice little beer garden for fish rolls and some North German beer. It just had to be done.

Karen making a feast at the camping ground.

Schwerin and Rugen Island

2011-10-25T19:05:00.008+13:00

3 October 2011

A few light morning showers made Schwerin even more spectacular with mist over the lake as we visited the Schwerin castle on its own small island on the edge of the town. Everything was closed today as it was the Germans National holiday so we stocked up at the Backery and made our way to Rugen Island.

We spent the afternoon exploring the coast and beaches of the south east tip of the Island where we camped near Binz.

The Autobahns are crazy. This is the only place in the world where there is an unlimited speed limit. Such great roads mean we can travel a good distance each day. You think your going fast when you are cruising along at 120kph then someone passes you like a rocket. We saw one guy going at least 220kph today. Now I understand why they sell the Super 98 V-Power petrol as its the only way their cars could go so fast.

The Schwerin castle which is modelled after the Chambout castle we saw in the Loire valley in France.

Massive grey swans in the gardens of the castle

Schwerin town hall. Each each city the town halls are so different.

Loch Ness monster on Schwerins city centre

Interesting street art of pictures of fish

We stopped at Stralsund at the tourist information. This is the famous town hall.

The 2.8km bridge that takes you to Rugen Island

Nikolai church in Stralsund. All the towers of churches in Germany have had matching towers except this one.

Walking around the south east tip of the island at Thiessow

View over Thiessow looking back along the coast

One fo the nice beaches between Thiessow and Gohren

Karen had a go at driving. This is the 20 car line behind her : )

Lubeck

2011-10-19T20:15:00.005+13:00

2 October 2011

We got a little caught up with the long weekend traffic on the autobahns today but finally made it to Lubeck where we were welcomed to the old city with a fairy tale city gate. We did a 3hr walking tour of the city where we visited all the sights. The Altstadt (old town) was surrounded by a canal and had over 6 MASSIVE churches. Why one town needs so many churches I will never know.

We stopped the night in Seehof in a camping place right on the lake. The days are becoming a lot shorter now so we arent getting to fit in as much as we used to be able to in a day (prob doesnt help that we are right up north nearer the arctic either).

Holstentor (city gate) becomed us into the old city

We got a lift up the Petrikirche ( St Petri church) for great view of the city. This is Marienkirche (St Marien church)

Looking back over the city gate with the Salzspeicher buildings on the left where they used to store salt (very important in trading back in the days). You can also see our car parked at the end of the roundabout.

The canal that runs around the old city

Cool stained glass at the Lubeck cathedral

Social housing courtyard which was built for the poor. Its probably one of the nicest place in town now.

Old ladies having their tea weekend coffee and cake in the courtyard

St Jakobs church

We had a look though St Marien church which was heavily damaged in a 1942 british air raid. The bells crashed to the ground during the air raid and left in their place during the reconstuction and lay there to this day.

The Lubeck Rathhaus (town hall)

We camped alongside Lake Schweriner

Low tides

2011-10-19T20:03:00.007+13:00

1 October 2011

In northern Germany on the north sea low tide can go out as far as 15km+, so today we got up early and headed out over the mudflats 10km to Neuwark Island and yes I said 10km (2 1/2hr over mudflats). This must be the only place in the world this happens where as far as the eye can see there is mud at low tide instead of water.

When we arrived at the island it was too late to walk back as the tide was already coming in and we would have had to run or we would have become stuck. So we instead we had a good look around the island before we caught the ferry back to the mainland at high tide.

As far as the eye can see their are only mudflats

Just km's of mud

There were a couple of wet areas on through the mud, this was the deepest one. Some people were too lazy to walk to the island so they took horse carriages.

There were 3 safety towers along the mudflats for those that get stuck with the incoming tide. You can see how the tide somes up 2 metres at high tide here

Some people making the trip by horse back.

A little crab almoat bit our toe

There were markers in the water to show the best way through the mud. This is just before we arrive at Neuwark Island. You can see the lighthouse in the background.

Ramp onto the island as we make it just on high tide

The small town on the island was surrounded by a dike

We explored the island by foot which was completely surrounded by mud when we first arrived. This is a stranded boat in the marina.

The communications tower

We watched all the big container ships heading in and out of Hamburg port up the Elbe river. Ship after ship, minute after minute, hour after hour, they just kept coming.

This is a famous monument on the east of the island

Slowly the tide came in and the island was surrounded by water

This boat took us to Cuxhaven where we caught a bus back to our campsite

We saw a few container ships up close as we headed back to the mainland

Back in Germany - Bremen

2011-10-19T19:59:00.003+13:00

30 September 2011

The weather has been great the last few days and today was no different. It really feels like Summer still after a couple of cold snaps in Paris and Belgium.

Bremen is a nice typical German city alongside a river with an interesting Rathhaus (town hall), cathedral, and markets. After a look around we picked up our rental car found another GPS phone and were on our way.

We arrived in Sahlenburg (near Cuxhaven) on the north sea of Germany just before sunset over the beach. We have a really nice campsite right on the beach.

Town Musicans of Bremen sculpture (fairy tale) - the animals are in their most famous pose, scaring the robbers who invaded their house.

The Bremen cathedral

Bremen is home of Becks. This is the brewery.

Sunset over the mudflats on the north sea

The main beach of Sahlenburg

Pirate ship in Lelystad

2011-10-19T19:40:00.006+13:00

28 September 2011

With only a few hours to spare today we returned to capital via Lelystad to visit a real sized sailing pirate ship and a few more of the countries major dykes and locks.

Being back in Amsterdam after a few days seeing the rest of the country makes you feel how unrepresentative Amsterdam is of the rest of the country. Im so glad we saw the real Netherlands as its such as interesting and different place to anywhere else in the world. Its also been so great that wherever we go all the locals speak English. In Germany a lot of people speak English, but here everyone does, even the oldies which has made travelling here a breeze.

The Houtribdijk dyke from Grootebroek to Lelystad only lets water out to the sea.

The Batavia shipyard in Ledystad where they were building a new old style 17th century sailing ship

There were a lot of people working here and we saw how all the parts of the ship were made. They workers were shaping the wood for the hull.

The impressive back of the finished ship

The climbing nets up to the lookout posts

It was really exciting going through each of the levels of the ship. There were little rooms and cubby holes everywhere. This is the second levels where the cannons were kept

The third level

On the main deck. Im surprised they could even drive these boats as they were so complicated and detailed

Thats one massive anchor

The reconstruction of the VOC (United Dutch India Company) ship.

This area of the city on the waterfront was full of shops and there was this massive whale which spurted water every few minutes

A cool sculpture of the end of one of the locks

A night out on the town in the red light district

Texel Island

2011-10-19T19:18:00.007+13:00

27 September 2011

A few showers this morning turned into a great sunny day later on as we headed north to Sneek then over a large 30km long dyke. We caught a ferry over to Texel Island from Den Helder which we explored by bike.

Every morning there has been a big mist cloud. Today it didnt disappear. This is a quick stop on one of the dikes on our way north.

The mist was so thick you couldnt even see the top of the wind turbines.

Driving across the Afsluitdijk dam into the mist. It runs 30km turning the Zuiderzee into a freshwater lake.

On one side of the dam is fresh water and on the other side is saltwater. When the tide goes out the gates are opened to let the river water out but are then closed when the tide comes in to stop the salination of the land.

We caught a ferry from Den Helder to Texel Island. It was one of the best kitted out car ferries I have seen for only a 20 minute ride.

We rode through a lot of farm land. This farmer was plouging land the old way using horses.

We stopped at a few beaches along the way. This is De Koog beach.

Riding through some oak forest

Even this island was surrounded by either Dikes or large sanddunes the entire way around just like the mainland.

Oystercatchers hanging out at the edge of the dike

Sheep grazing on top of the Dike

Heading back to the mainland we saw hundreds of bird flocks passing overhead. If you look close you can see a flock.

Hoge Veluwe National Park

2011-10-12T08:45:00.004+13:00

26 September 2011

We decided to visit one of the Netherlands national parks so we found ourselves at Hoge Veluwe National Park. We had fun riding around the nice concrete paths through heather grass lands, oak forests and san

Driving along the 6km bridge. It felt like you were heading into the middle of the ocean.

We stopped for our breakfast at the end of the bridge.

There were highways running through the middle of the national park and land bridges for the animals to get across.

Biking through the grassland. We even spotted a viper snake.

Swamps on the east side of the park

Heather and grassland

Sand dunes. This entire area used to be dune but the grasslands and trees are taking over. They have many types of deer and sheep roaming in these open areas.

The visitor centre was really good with the history of the park and all about the wildlife and vegetation within it.

You pay your entry into the park and it includes free bikes. You just pick up a bike, ride it to one of the sights have a look around and then pick up another. With over 1700 bikes there is always one there for you.

Oak forests

We camped inside the park for the night

They had a really different system to NZ national parks with things like this secure phone charger box, pay showers, trolleys to take your things to your tent, and library

Delta Project

2011-10-11T19:38:00.008+13:00

25 September 2011

Since we were camping at the beach we climbed over the large dunes and had a quick morning swim.

We spent the day visiting the Delta Park which was an exhibition and theme park all in one. There was a boat ride around the project, aquarium, seal show, exhibitions on the delta works and mussel farms, an area where we could visit part of the dam, films about the works, water slides, whale skeletons, and hurricane simulator. We zoomed around all day trying to see all the cool things.

I think I came out of the exhibitions even more confused with such a complex water system throughout the entire country.

The Delta project started after the sea broke through one of the Dykes in 1953 causing major flooding. To stop it from happening again they started a major project to stop storms and extra high tides breaking the dykes. As well as gigantic sand dunes, now the entire country has either huge massive dykes and sea barriers throughout with complex systems in place to allow fresh water from the rivers to reach the sea, to protect the country from potential flooding and at the same time allowing boats in and out and to keep the marine live thriving as best possible.

On top of the dunes at Zoutelande. They have these long walls going out to sea to stop the erosion

Taking a dip. It was only after I got in I realised why I was the only one swimming - it was freezing and there were jellyfish in the water lol.

This is the sea dike in the town of Westkapelle along the coast of Zeeland. During the war in Oct 1944 the dike was bombed to drive out the Germans which had taken over this area.

Many mammoth bones (and other prehistoric bones) were found in the Eastern Scheldt during the construction of the storm surge barrier

There were very in depth exhibitions about the project. This is a picture of the dike in 1953 when it broke causing many towns in Zeeland to flood

There was a big pool of seals and they had a seal show

We did a cruise out into the harbour where we saw up close some of the delta works

This is pier 66 which was to be used on the storm surge barrier if anything else went wrong with the other ones. Its now used as a climbing wall.

Mussel farm

The hurricane simulator went to 170kph to show what the dikes must be able to withstand

A friendly stringray in the aquarium

This is the size of a sperm whales penis

This fin whale stranded itself on one of the nearby beaches

The storm surge barrier that runs all along the dutch coast. The gates stay open all the time and let the normal tidal flow in and out of the harbour. When there are storms the gates are left shut to protect the land inside the barriers from flooding.

The tide is heading out at quite a force

We were able to walk inside and over the entire barrier and see how it all worked.

These are all the barriers, locks etc built in Zeeland as part of the project

This is one of the giant vibrating rods they used to stabilise the sea floor before they started laying down the concrete matts.

These are big concrete mats which were laid to put the foundations of the barrier on

The barrier

For stopped for dinner in Middleburg where we found this massive windmill

Sunset over Middleburg

Kinderdijk Windmills

2011-10-11T19:32:00.005+13:00

24 September 2011

Another mind boggling stop today was Kinderdijk where 19 windmills dominate the land. After watching a film, walking around the windmills for a couple of hours and climbing inside one we slowly made sense of their purpose.
So they could farm on the boggy land the Dutch have been using windmills to pump water from low canals to high canals and then out to the rivers for years. The Dutch have been doing this for centuries which has caused many areas to sink below sea level. Now they must keep the sea out too!

This place was a photographers paradise and a really magical place to visit.

In the afternoon we made our way to Zeeland. This is the area which Abel Tasman named New Zealand after.

Our tiny rental was really great as you could squeeze into tiny car parks

Perfect day on the Kinderdijk canals

The stone windmills were built in 1738 and the thatched ones were built in 1740.

There were windmill all in rows lining both sides of the canals

When the windmills used to lay slightly on the left of the front door then there was a birth or marriage, when it lay to the right of the door then there was a funeral.

We had a visit of this windmill and saw one a man putting the sails on so it would spin. They use this lever to turn the windmill to get the most amount of wind

When they to start the windmill they put on all the sails and off it goes. Even when we were there on a almost wind free day, the sails still got the windmill spinning and water pumping.

These are all the teeth and main arms that joined onto the bottom wheels

This was a main log that spun through the middle of the windmill to get the water wheel going

Karen in her clogs on this really cool stone windmill.

The funniest thing we saw all day. They had the car, the clothes, the wine, food nd tablecloth,and the perfect setting.

We also visited this nearby flour mill which was being restored.

Gouda, Delft

2011-10-11T19:26:00.003+13:00

23 September 2011

What a crazy country. I could sum the Netherlands up in four words: bikes, dykes, windmills and canals. You find all four things EVERYWHERE,
This could have to be the only country where canal boats pass 3 metres above you while you drive along the road. Then where you have a 6 lane motorway going under those canals.
It was so weird to see massive container ships cruising down these tiny canals miles and miles from the sea.

We picked up our rental car then were on our way. We explored the cities of Gouda famous for its cheese and Delft famous for its blue and white china. Both really nice typical sort of Holland towns.

We were so excited to see our first windmill so we stopped and had a look. Then they started popping up everywhere.

Because of all the canals throughout each town/city we kept seeing bridges lifting up to let big boats through. This was a large container ship travelling down the canal.

Thats a lot of cheese. We tried a few types of the local specialty cheeses in Gouda which is world famous.

The main square of Gouda had been turned into a fun fair with lots of rides. You can see the town hall in the middle.

The streets were lined with their famous cheese hanging above. They really are proud.

We stopped in a few stores where they were selling Delft China. Again it is known throughout the world

Karen in a big wooden clog. It sounds crazy but we actually saw a couple of Dutch people walking in them.

Even the lamposts were made from Delft China

Karen relaxing on a Delft China porcelain seat

Red light district and coffee shops

2011-10-11T19:20:00.003+13:00

22 September 2011

We did a canal tour this morning to see Amsterdam by water. We then wandered through the red light district having a look through the sex shops, coffee houses, and walkway windows by night.

We cruised through Amsterdam via their big network of canals.

On the sides of the river there were all these house boats where people lived.

Notice the three levels of thousands of parked bikes at the main train station

Their was marijuana everything. Tea, bubblejum, mints, chocolate.

All these cosmetics were made from weed. They were also made jeans, shoes, rope and even skateboards and snowboards from the plant.

Every type of condom you could think of. The eiffel tower, windmill, lion, carrot........

A typical coffee shop

The red light district comes alive at night. This is one of the main streets.

Window shops

Sights of Amsterdam

2011-10-11T19:10:00.005+13:00

21 September 2011

We got a good feel for the Netherlands capital as we walked the endless cobbled streets and canals. We joined a walking tour of the city as well as visiting Ann Franks house and the Heinekin Brewery.

We even stopped at the highest point of Amsterdam at 1.5m above sea level. Yes thats right most of the Netherlands is underwater at 6.5 metres??? at its lowest point.

This is why it is one of the flattest countries in the world and the reason why there are so many bikes. We got out off the train yesterday and almost got knocked over bike after bike after bike. The bikes rule in this town, they are everywhere. Before you cross the street you have to look left, right then everywhere else. There is no such thing as a red light they just go when and where they want. It made sense when the guy on our walking tour told us that they pull over 20,000 bikes out of Amsterdams canals each year.

Ann Franks House where she and her family hide from the Nazi's during the war. We had a look through the house.

The bookcase which concealed the door where she and her family hid

This is a church in the Red Light District which the sailors used to confess their sins in advance when they came into Amsterdam after being at sea.

This is a Dutch croquet - really tasty sort of deep fried meat. They had all these little windows and you put your money in and could choose to open a window.

This is the widest canal in Amsterdam. Also notice all the bikes all along the canal edges. They line the streets.

This is the narrowest house in Amsterdam. You get taxed on how wide your property is, thus all of the buildings are very narrow and tall. In our hostel the stairs were the steepest I have ever seen, but thats the norm here.

This is the main church in the city. It is mainly built of wood as concrete is too heavy and it would have toppled over.

This is the town hall in Dam Square where all sorts of busking were going on.

Notice all the houses leaning all different ways. All the buidings were built on stilts into the mud below and some have become unstable.

They lean forward on purpose as because the stairs are too steep to take things up they have a big hook on the top to slide things up on a pulley outside.

We visited the Heineken experience

The big brewing tanks

They had all sorts of things like old Heineken adverts, and a simulator where you got brewed in the brew process. It was quite well done.

After they taught us about how to taste a beer properly we enjoyed a few pints at the end in the bar

Amsterdam via Antwerp

2011-10-07T09:20:00.004+13:00

20 September 2011

We stopped in Antwerp for most of the day on our way through to Amsterdam. Antwerp is known as the Worlds diamond centre which trades 60% of the worlds polished production. They have a turnover of 40 billion a year which is 8% of Belgiums total export so we made sure we looked through some of the shops and saw some diamond cutters in action. We also walked through the city and climbed the Mass museum for a view of the city.

The city hall

Castle on the riverfront. I like how it has its own unique Belgium style with the stepped towers

The new Mass museum

After going up at least 10 escalators we reached the viewing platform on the roof where we could see all of Antwerp including the river here

The Antwerp Cathedral with its gigantic tower

Giant hand

They had some expensive rings. This was the most expensive one we could find for 20,000 Euro, so about $40,000NZD

This guy was shaping a diamond in this diamond exhibition we went to.

One of hundreds of stores selling diamonds

The train station was like a museum in itself with the incredible architect

Enjoying our private coach in a fast speed train to Amsterdam.

Mini Europe and the Atomium

2011-09-30T20:32:00.008+13:00

19 September 2011

It was quite fun visiting mini Europe since we are 2/3s of the way through our trip and have seen most of the famous sights, buildings and Museums which Europe has to offer.
The Atomium was also really different. We visited it the other night to find that you could actually walk inside it so we had to come back to visit.

Mark the Warrior

Mini brussels main square

Mini Belfort tower in Bruges that we climbed yesterday

Karen the guard

Mini big ben in London

Mini Eiffel Tower

Mini Arc de Triomphe

Mini Basilica of Sacre-Coeur

Mini leaning tower of Pisa

This strange structure is a giant iron atom

The Atomium was built for the world trade fair in 1958

Mini Europe from the top of the Atomium

We got a high speed lift to the top ball where they had a restaurant. This is looking down to the ground

There was a maze of lifts and stairs between the different balls and there was something different in each one: conference rooms, exhibitions, a place where school groups sleep over night.

We stopped for a waffle in the snack bar ball

One of the trippy escalators between balls.

We tried some Macaroons after wandering past hundreds of shops selling them the last week.

Hanging out with Mannikin Piss

Mannikin Piss without his costume on today

Day trip to Brugge (Bruges)

2011-09-30T20:18:00.007+13:00

18 September 2011

We had a great day roaming the streets of this small but nice medieval town. This town used to be Europes leading trade centre in the 14th century. However the canals linking the waterways to the sea silted up. There was a lot of entertainment in the streets with live bands, orchestras, funfair rides and dancers.

A old building covered in ivy

The main canal through the middle of the city. From the building on the left Colin Farrell jumps into the canal in the movie 'Inbruges'

We climbed the Belfort which is a tower of 366 steps to get a view of the city. They had this very sophisticated bell system with all the strings leading to a round pulley system to play certain tunes.

All the old houses and buildings of Bruges.

The cute little towns of the main square

We decided to give Belgiums version of Mcdonalds a go called QUICK

They guys were very funny running around the square freaking everyone out with their long extending necks and twisting heads.

There were horse and carriages everywhere

An orchestra playing some tunes in the fishmarket

This basilica has a few coagulated drops of Christ's blood which we had a look at.

The blood relic

Cruising past the oldest bridge in Bruges on our canal tour

The Belford by boat

One of the churches contained Michelangelo's 'Madonna and Child' marble statue.

We had a tour of the Halve Mann brewery. The lady took us through the processes of their beer but wouldn't reveal the secret ingredients of what makes a good belgium beer. She kept talking about the special hops they use which are related to marijuana calling it hoppy beer. These are the beer maturing barrels.

Taste testing their blond beer.

Sights of Brussels

2011-09-30T19:48:00.010+13:00

17 September 2011

Again we stumbled across another festival today. The locals were selling belgium specialties in the main square. This is the city where 'The Smurfs' started so we had a look through the comic strip museum. Then we spent the afternoon looking at all these dinosaurs at National Science Museum which were found in southern Belgium.

We did some more beer tasting today including cherry and raspberry beer, but my favourite was the Grimbergen dark beer (they also call it Abbey beer brewed by the monks).

We were just in time to see the unravelling of Mannakin Piss new Columbian costume where they had a countdown and even sung songs

When the man turns the wheel it plays songs

The giants which walked throughout the square

We tried some Bodding cake a thick heavy cake covered in rum special to Brussels.

They had some nice stained windows at the cathedral

The first drawings of the smurfs at the comic strip museum

The smurfs started as comics before they turned into a tv series

Tintin

The smurfs

In March 1878 in St Barabaras coal mine in Bernissart (west Belguim) miners encountered iguanodon bones at 332m. Further digs found more and more at different levels

The iguanodon skeletons started to crumble so they were protected with shellac. It was just so cool that we were sanding there right in front of real live dinosaur bones that had been their in place since 1902.

Tricerotops horridus (cast from Montana, USA)

Dimetrodon a synapsid which lived before the dinosaurs

Tyrannosaura regina or T.Rex my favourite (cast from South Dakota, USA)

Right foreleg of a giant Sauropod

Stegosaurus stenops (cast from Wyoming, USA)

Day trip to Leuven

2011-09-22T06:12:00.005+12:00

16 September 2011

After a well needed sleep in and a relaxing morning we decided to head into Leuven for the afternoon. It was a neat little city and home to the Stella brewery. We were there on the wrong day to do a brewery tour but had a Stella on tap at a pub in the old fishermans square.

We tooks around all the sights, laxed out in the park and checked out the fair they had on in the main square. We almost tried some snails in a salsa soup (also a Belguim delicacy) but couldn't make ourselves do it as they were so disgusting.

We then went for Brussels so see the city by night and Manu and Suzy took us out for a fantastic dinner at a traditional restaurant where we tried some of the most yummy food of our trip.

Leuven - home of Stella Artois. This is the brewery

The city hall was really unique with all the fine detail in the stone and the flags it really stood out

City Hall

The Leuven cathedral with some really interesting stained glass windows

What could be better than having a Stella in Leuven straight from the brewery

Beguinage of Leuven - where beguines (religious woman) lived. Part of the Unesco world heritage list

There were all these rides at the fun fair including this merry-go-round with real horses.

Our first Belguim waffle covered in chocolate was amazing..........it was so rich and sickly that we didnt need to eat for the rest of the afternoon

Our first look at the Atomium flashing at night was very spectacular

Manu finds us some yummy chocolates at one of the Belguim chocolate shops

The town hall by night

We went out to a typical Belguim restaurant in Brussels and we each tried a Belguim specialty.

This Belguim beef stew may not look great but tasted SO GOOD

We really liked the endives in this cheesy sauce. We also tried some rabbit and horse.

Hello Belgium

2011-09-22T06:05:00.002+12:00

15 September 2011

Relaxing in the Belgium countryside at Suzie and Manu's second house.
What an awesome introduction to Belguim. Chocolate, eclaires, belgium beer, and more chocolate. Suzie and Manu kept giving us all these Belgium things to try : )

After a long bus ride Brussels Manu picked us up and we headed to their family home out of the city. We had a nice afternoon relaxing and Suzie cooked a delicious Belgium dinner.

Manu gave us an insight into the separation between the french speaking part and flemish speaking part and have presently Belgium is at the edge of splitting into two different countries.

Nice realxing family home out of the city

Eiffel Tower

2011-09-22T05:23:00.015+12:00

14 September 2011

Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Catacombs, Notre Dame, Pantheon, Alexander bridge
The weather perfect so we had a great full on day seeing the rest of Paris. We started early and managed to fit in all the best sights for a really fun day.

We walked 1.6km of winding tunnels stacked from floor to ceiling with the bones and skulls of Paristians. These catacombs are all over Paris. There was a problem with dead bodies from graveyards smelling and making people sick so they created these catacombs from old quarries where they dug up the dead and threw their remains underground.

Going to the top of the tower was well worth it. The Eiffel tower was built because France wanted to show the world they could build the biggest tower in the world. It had no use to anyone so it was almost destroyed by the military during the world war until they put a radio mask at the top which saved it.

We had mixed feelings about visiting the Louvre but we are so glad we did. What an incredible huge museum not just for the treasures that it holds but just the buildings and architecture within it.

Catacombs

The catacombs were really cool and creepy and we were a little shocked by all the bones and skulls. They were completely different from Rome. This is when the rocks were laid in place.

All the bones were right there in touching distance which was a little freaky. A lot of visitors get past the guards and steal skulls and bones.

It was only when they had visitors exploring some of the catacombs that they stacked all the bones and skulls into perfect piles.

The Notre Dame cathedral. We were going to do an english tour of the church but couldn't understand the lady

One of the famous stained window roses

The Pantheon

First signs of winter coming

A crepe (pancake) a day keeps the doctor away.......or thats what Karen thinks as she tried a new crepe everyday without fail.

Eiffel Tower

We wanted to walk up the tower to feel like we earned the view

Queue's developing to get up the lift

The views from the first and second levels were great but the views from the top were THE BEST EVER. I guess that is because at 300m high you can see a lot. this is looking out towards the Arc de Triomphe.

Looking over towards the Louvre

At 300m it was a long way down

Palais de Chaillot where we watched the tower sparkle at night. I love the defined lines the streets make with the high apartments.

No trip to Paris is complete without the tourist Eiffel Tower shot

Alexander 3 bridge

Louvre

The reverse pyramid under the louvre is meant to be where the Holy Grail is found. But instead we find a small shopping centre with a subway a souvenir shop

This is one of the most fascinating things about the museum. This shows a model of the Chateau du Louvre which once stood in this exact spot.

In 1989 archeologists dug up the ground to find uncover the footings of some of the old castle which is now part of the museum.

Excavations in 1989

They had the biggest and coolest collection of Egyptian statues, mummies, tombs and art I have ever seen

Inside the Louvre

St Mary Magdalene

Captive (the dieing slave) - a statue by Michelangelo

There were so many different designs in every hall, passageway, entrance, room and they were all really different and impressive.

Pyramids in line

Ground Floor hall

Aprodite known as the "Venus of Milo"

Seated Scribe

First Floor Halls

The famous 'Mona Lisa'. We almost had it all to ourselves as not many people were around this evening

Napoleans dining hall

The pyramids were really cool all lit up at night

Eiffel Tower by night

Every hour at night the Eiffel Tower twinkles which is really spectacular.

We stayed with Madjid & Aurélie for two days

Versaillies

2011-09-21T18:21:00.009+12:00

13 September 2011

We caught the train to the outskirts of Paris to Versaillies to visit the famous Palace. The gardens were humungous with fountains, ponds, hedges, gardens, and statues everywhere. You could spend an entire day getting lost there. Every Tuesday is a special day where they have the music fountains going. The fountains displayed a show with classical music.

We then visited the worlds most visited graveyard Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. This was the largest cemetery I have even seen with really flash graves. There were a lot of famous people buried here.

We also went to Arc du Troimph and were entertained by the traffis on the enormous roundabout. There were 10 unmarked lanes with cars, scooters, bikes, trucks and motorbikes everywhere trying to go in all directions. There seemed to be a car horn blowing every 15 seconds as the cars played chicken to get on and off the roundabout.

Looking down the main street from the palace

The entire palace in all its glory from the front. A very popular tourist attraction with people everywhere

The gigantic royal gardens of the palace stretched for miles and were very spectacular.

The music fountain at its climax

Enjoying some lunch while the fountains went hard to classical music

One of the many interesting flower gardens

There were a lot of scrubs throughout the garden which were pruned in strange shapes like this

It was really funny at this garden as there was a man who blew his whistle every 30 seconds to tell people to get off the grass

How pretty

The palace up close. It had gold plated.

We could see the top of the Eiffel tower from our hostel room in the suburbs of Clichy.

Pere Lachaise cemetery - the worlds most visited graveyard

The memorial flame of the unknown soldier at 'Arc de Triomphe' being rekindled.

There were some really huge statues.

French soldiers parading around the arc.

The grave of the unknown soldier. We were told a story about two times when the flame went out. A Irishmen was coming home from the pub one night and pissed on it which put it out - he was sent straight back to Ireland and the government made a big apology. Another time some aussies couldnt find a place to cook there food so they set up bbq here - they too were sent home but the government refused to apologise.

Looking up the ...............boulevard at Arc de Triomphe

Disneyland Paris

2011-09-21T18:12:00.005+12:00

12 September 2011

We decided we needed a break from the sight seeing so what a better way to spend a day than at Disneyland. We hooned around all the rides and rollercoasters. The weather held out for us so we had a great day.

As soon as we were in the park we went straight to the all out adventure rides. My favourite ride was the Indiana Jones Temple of Doom

This high speed rollercoaster was short and sweet and we kept lining up for more all day long

Space mountain was another great ride. It was a loop and spiral rollercoaster in the dark with some cool lights

The queues on the 'Thunder mountain' ride were well worth it. We can see how it its name too with the deafening noise of the gears clicking in inside the tunnels.

We headed to the kiddies rides where we had some fun on the teacups

Its a small world ride - the happiest boat ride in the world

Pirates of the Caribbean

Skull mountain

We couldn't miss the Disney Parade where all the characters came through on the floats

Disneyland castle

Walking tours in Paris

2011-09-19T21:04:00.004+12:00

11 September 2011

The weather wasnt great but we made the most of the day by doing a couple of walking tours of central Paris and Monmartre Hill.

This is the bridge where Liam Neeson jumps onto the boat from the movie 'Taken'.

Pont Neuf island (in the middle of the river) is where the famous Notre Dame church stands

The Lourve pyramids

Looking down Paris's main boulevard

Our first glimse of the Eiffel Tower

Place de la Concorde - where over 1000 people were guillotined.

This is where Van Gogh lived.

The Romans used to bring the Christens up to the top of this hill and cut off their heads with a guillotine. This man St Denis apparently had his head cut off here where he then picked it up and walked 6000 paces before he collapsed (St Denis church nows stands where he collapsed).

At this restaurant Picasso when he was 18 used to bribe the waitdresses with drawings on napkins instead of paying for his meals. One day the boss found out and said he it had to stop because he was losing money. Picasso then told him that he would would be the most famous artist in the world and would he except some canvas paintings which the waiter agreed to and later became very rich.

Basilica of Sacre-Coeur - another amazing cathedral incorporating many different styles both inside and out. It was built with self cleaning stone which cleans itself when it rains. The bits that dont get any rain turn a black colour.

Paris city from the cathedral at sunset at the top of Monmartre hill

Sacre-Coeur all lit up at night

Karen standing over the air tunnel with the famous moulin rouge in the background in Paris's red light district.

Day 4: Olivet to Tours (via Meung-sur-Loire ) 35km

2011-09-19T20:54:00.003+12:00

10 September 2011

Again we did a short day of cycling as we wanted to get to Paris this afternoon. We decided to back track past some old mills, chateau's and vineyards and wineries. We cycled off the main cycling path today where we caught a train from Meung-sur-Loire back to Tours.

Kath prepared us a huge tasty French breakfast.

On our way out of Olivet we visited a series of old mills used on the side river.

Max showed us the way through the parks along the side river to get us on our way

Cycling off the main path through some typical French oak forest

It took us ages but we finally found a Chateau we were looking for hidden away in the forest roads

We came across this wine processing plant in one of the small villages where freshly picked grapes where being processed.

In all the main towns along the river we have noticed this style of building which apparently have hidden messages that knights used use.

4 days of cycling and 2hrs back to where we started on the train. The coached were just like what you see in the movies with a small room for 6-8 people.

Day 3: Beaugency to Orlean/Olivet 35km

2011-09-19T20:46:00.004+12:00

9 September 2011

It was a short day of riding today which gave a chance to enjoy some French food and the city of Orlean. We couchsurfed with a french couple Max and Kath?? in Olivet. They took us out for dinner at the French restaurant which had over 100 beer choices. We had a great night trying a few beers and eating crepes.

People picking apples in the orchards

There were heaps of frogs on the river banks

Enjoying the sun after a rainy start to the morning

Trying some french food at a fancy restaurant in Orlean. Karen ordered some wine and the waiter brought it out and showed me the bottle, I just sat there wondering what he was doing, he then poured a bit in my glass and wanted me to try it instead of just pouring us a glass and he didnt leave until I tried it. This was our introduction into French customs.

The very big cathedral in Orlean. I really like this one as its different from all the ones we have seen before

Karen was addicted to crepes after trying her first one in the main square

Orlean cathedral

The name of the French beer I tried was 'Pants down'

Kath and Karen at the cool little pub called absinth.

We stopped in Olivet for the night which is a town on the other side of the river to Orlean

Day 2: Blois to Beaugency 50km

2011-09-19T20:41:00.005+12:00

8 September 2011

We travelled again along cycle paths through the country passing fields of flowers, grain, sunflowers and through small villages. There were apple orchards, peaches, pears, grapes, walnuts everywhere and ready to pick. All along the river over the last two days we have seen several Chateau's (French castles) so we decided to stop at the most impressive one - Chateau du Chambord (Chambord castle).

Field of flowers

A unique little house in one of the villages covered in Ivy

Chambord Chateau

The main spiral staircase in the centre of the castle

Exploring the top level of the castle. The architecture was stunning.

The moat around the castle

Most rooms were decorated in this interesting ceiling with F's and dragons (apparently standing for I FEED?)

One of the many trophy rooms lined with deer antlers

We came across this Nuclear Power station along the river.

We make it to Beaugency where we stay the night at a youth hostel

Day 1: Tours to Blois 60km

2011-09-19T20:27:00.009+12:00

7 August 2011

We picked up our bikes first thing this morning and after sorting out our panniers we were off on our 4 day bike in the Loire Valley. We had a great day on the cycle tracks which started following along up the river, then through some small towns, villages, farms and wineries. We stopped at Europes largest and best freshwater aquarium.

Tours cathedral was the highlight of the town

Enjoying the well defined cycle tracks up the Loire River along with many other cyclists

The big grapes in the winery region in Montlouis-sur-Loire

Enjoying all the blackberries through the farmland

Vineyard region where we tried a few grapes and wow they were tasty

It was a nice sunny day and many farmers were out harvesting their grapes.

There were signs to put your hands into this tank with all sorts of carp and they came up and sucked on our fingers.

This strange big fish is a type of carp

This 2m long fish is a Wels which comes out at night in the Loire River

This is the first time I have seen live horseshoe crabs...what strange looking animals

This was the most impressive of all the enclosures. It was full of 4 electric eels and the tank was equipped with sensors to measure the frequency, length and strength (volts) discharged from the eels. Every few seconds they created 50-500volts of electricity. They went crazy for 30 seconds constantly discharging 400+volts of electricity. Apparently they use this energy for hunting and communication.

They also had a shark tank with white and black tip sharks

Cruising through the streets of Amboise

We arrived into Blois quite late just as the sun was setting

Riding along the river at sunset into Blois

The main bridge into the city

We couchsurfed with Thomas