Travel Blog

This morning, we visited the gorgeous town of Innsbruck in Austria. It was only a short visit, but we got to spend some time at Swarovski's main store. There were many beautiful pieces on display and of course, Lisa couldn't leave empty-handed. :P

We then got back on the bus and headed off to our hotel on the outskirts of Venice, Italy. We then travelled by boat to the mainland for a traditional meal of Lasagne and Chicken with Bell Peppers (Capscicum), followed by a drink, listening to a string quartet.

Today, we visited the quaint town of Heidelberg to see the world's largest Wine Vat and some amazing views from the top of this huge castle. Very breathe-taking.

We then made our way into the clean city of Munich, where it was late night shopping. First, we walked around doing some window shopping and then went to Hofbrauhaus (Beer Hall) where I downed a stein (1 litre) of their local drop. XD

For dinner, instead of eating the local delicacy of Roasted Pork Knuckle, we went to an all you can eat sushi station for 13 Euros. The salmon niguri was flowing and Lisa said the staff were looking rather nervous at the number of plates I managed to devour. :)

Today, we left the Netherlands behind and travelled into Germany. It pretty much rained all day, but we still went for a boat cruise along the Rhine river, seeing some of the castles that still remain in this area.

Along the way, we stopped in to see the World's largest Cuckoo Clock, Steif Bears and Beer Steins. I picked up a collectors Red Baron Stein and had it shipped home. :)

We then stopped to have dinner and have a traditional German meal - Pork Schnitzel and sampled the local drop - Heidelberger beer.

This morning, we went to Gassan Diamonds to see how diamonds are cut from raw into the finished product. Of course, Lisa's eyes were popping out of her head, when we saw this 2.15ct diamond worth 35,000 Euros.

Lisa bought some smaller diamonds and she was over the moon; I got a free Diet Coke out of the bargain, so I was just happy to have some caffeine in the morning. ;)

We then bought some perfumes from a store selling them cheap and I found my old fragrance, XS, which I can no longer get in Australia. We then walked through one of the large department stores in Amsterdam, which on the inside, looked exactly like Myers.

We headed towards the Dam Square and saw a Madame Tussauds wax musuem and decided to have a look. It started with wax people from Amsterdam's history and then on the other floors, into the celebrities. We got lots of really good photos there and hope to have those up soon.

I'm actually in an Internet cafe across from Central Station called easyInternetcafe. They have lots of Win98 terminals and I've had 3 crash on me so far. No USB support either, so no uploading of photos just yet.

This morning we left London and headed for the white cliffs of Dover to board a ferry bound for France. Once in France, we drove for several hours past many picturesque farms and canals and then through into Belgium, which was more of the same.

As we entered to the skirts of Amsterdam, our tour guide played "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll" by Ian Dury over the PA system and we then stopped at a local servo, Lisa and I weren't sure what to eat so we though these sausage roll / pasties were a safe bet.

We then took a canal boat cruise through the city and ended up at this floating restaurant called the Sea Palace -- it's was chinese looking Indonesia restaurant and the food was fantastic, as was the Heinekin.

After dinner, our tour guide took us through the Red Light Distict to see all the legal prostitutes in the window. Certainly an interesting bit of culture we soaked up, though Lisa thought the whole thing was a bit tame. :)