If my memory serves me correctly....

The Emerald Isle

2008-06-19T11:57:00.009Z

It was quite a way down the coast to where our ferry for Ireland was departing so we headed off early in the morning passing Glasgow and heading down the coast. We had a moment of panic when we realised we couldn't remember which of two port towns we were actually leaving from (yes, that's how organised we can be) but it turned out they were only 15 minutes drive apart so all was well.

The weather was clear and sunny if not quite as warm as Mum and Dad are used to and the crossing to Larne was very quick. By mid afternoon we were in Ireland, and having it on good advice to keep driving once hitting Larne we began our drive up the Antrim Coastal route.

We were in the area of the Glens of Antrim, lovely broad, green valleys which run down to the coast and are very pretty. We detoured from the coast to the Glenarrif forest park which had a boardwalk along a river with loads of waterfalls and lots and lots of greenery, they obviously have as much rain here as they do in Scotland.

It was good to stretch our legs after the long drive but by now it was getting on in the day so we headed for our first pit stop of the trip, Cushendall. We stayed in a B&B owned by an ex-captain who had some pretty impressive photos of the area. That night with dinner we enjoyed our first truly Irish Guinness- very refreshing- and capped off the night with a game or two of doms.

The following morning we continued along the coastal route passing through Cushendun and heading up to the causeway coast, we stopped for a walk up to an out of use weather station overlooking the rather turbulent sea and being able to look across to Scotland. We worked out that had the sea not been the obstacle it was we probably could drive to Inveraray in a matter of two hours.

The Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge was our next stop, traditionally fishermen used to string the bridge up to the rocky outcrop to better fish the salmon heading along the coast but it has become quite the destination for tourists wanting to test their courage crossing over the deep ravine... It really wasn't that scary, high, or unstable but we all enjoyed a rest on the other side nestled in tufts of soft grass away from the wind.

The Giant's Causeway after which the stretch of coast is named was really spectacular as we hope some of the photos show. Apparently there are 38 000 columns but we didn't stop to count as they were much more fun to clamber over. The uniformity and structure of the rocks was mostly hexagonal and we spent some time looking for a 'perfect' example. Thankfully we only had to share the Causeway with a handful of tour groups but judging by the coach parking at the visitor centre Summer must see a lot more tourists.

For lunch we had the first of many picnics overlooking Dunluce Castle, perched upon a crag over the sea. The castle was in ruins and apparently at one point the whole kitchen (staff included) had dropped into the sea.

Our final destination for the day was Derry, or Londonderry depending on which way you lean. Not too hard to guess which is which. Another B&B with a resident Bulldog (British) was our home for the night and we set off for a wander about the towns walls, the oldest intact walls in Ireland although rather updated. Derry's history is close to the heart of all the troubles in Northern Ireland and it was apparent in the huge fences around the town that there are still tensions. Eva had trouble believing the fences were for defensive purposes until we leaned out and saw all the paintball marks on the other side.

As we continued along we looked down on Bogside, the Catholic area outside the town walls and saw all the murals and the sign saying "You are now entering free Derry". It was about this point that dad realised his Somerton sailing jacket he had brought along for warmth was in Navy blue, white and red...... Whoops!

After completing the circuit and a pit stop at the B&B we headed out for a Guinness before dinner at "Flaming Jacks", one of the most filling meals ever! Derry itself was a pretty run down and dire looking place, the walk along the walls was interesting historically but there wasn't much to appeal otherwise, the next day took us away to the West Coast.

Photos: Happy times, Walking across the rope bridge, View across the glens, The Giant's causeway, Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, Giant's causeway (bizarre shapes), They were let out for a day, The Bogside, Dunluce castle.

Welcome to Scotland!!!!

2008-06-03T12:09:00.007Z

So quite some time ago now Mum and Dad T came to visit us in Sunny (yes, really) Scotland. We're kicking ourselves for taking so long to blog as it's amazing how quickly you can forget little details but here goes....

It had been about 20 months since we'd all last clapped eyes on each other (not counting web cams) so it was really something quite special. On the Thursday they arrived we had to keep reminding ourselves that they had just come out of something like 30 hours travelling when we had just driven an hour to the airport.

Despite their jet lag, upon arrival in Inveraray we all decided to take the hike up Dun na Cuaiche which is kinda strenuous but affords great views over the town. The weather was blustery but clear so it made for a pretty nice walk and helped stretch some of the jet lag out of Mum and Dad's bones (or so we kept telling them).

We ate at the George that night and Mum and Dad stayed up until the admiral time of 9:30ish, I'm sure the combination of jet lag and whisky liqueur helped them have a very good night's sleep.

We were both working during the day on the Friday so Mum and Dad took the car and went for a drive around Glen Coe and a bunch of other places getting a look at some of the beautiful highlands and that evening we headed along to the Inver Cottage restaurant on the other side of the Loch for tea. We had heard good things about this secluded little place and it was a really nice meal, we managed to sight some pheasants and highland cattle on the way around as well.

Saturday was brilliant. We had a wander about town in the morning checking out all the shops and then headed out to nearby Cairndow where our friend Iain was taking us around the oyster and mussel farm he works in.

We were able to see the crates where the oysters are left to filter any nasties before going to the table but the tide was in so we couldn't see the actual oyster beds. We did get to sample an oyster there and then though, fresh!

We then headed out to the mussel farm first seeing the platform that Iain has to work on when he is setting and harvesting the mussel ropes. It is a square punt type thing with loads of equipment on it but not much in the way of shelter. No wonder he looks cold when he comes to the pub after work in winter.

Iain is really knowledgeable and was able to answer all our questions about the farm and it was lovely out on the water if a little cold heading back against the wind. As a parting gift he threw us a bag of oysters for our dinner that night, what a guy!

We stopped by the Loch Fyne Oysters shop on the way home to pick up some local produce for our dinner that night before heading to The George for a lunch of mussels (unfortunately not from Iain's farm).

Although we were pretty knackered we then went for an afternoon wander up and around the town, visiting the wishing well and swinging back by the castle again, getting slightly muddy along the way.

For dinner we had a real spread as the photo attests and followed with our first game of dominos for the holiday. We did head up to The George for a drink afterwards but most of our friends were still working and the music was a bloody awful (in my opinion) country and western guy who we only get in once in a blue moon. It was a bit disappointing not to be able to show Mum and Dad how good a Saturday night can be with a popular band on but oh well.

The following morning it was up early to head of n our Irish voyage....

Photos: Mussel lines, a fairly full mussel rope, Captain Mackay, Mum enjoying the sunshine.

Just some photos of the last few weeks..

2008-04-07T13:10:00.008Z

Not much has been happening over here at the moment just work really. We have had a chance to finally go to a football match, which was quite a good night seeing how different football fans are to AFL fans and how the supporters are segregated. We had a chance the other day for a walk up a mountain int the Rest and Be Thankful pass. The weather has been quite a different to last season, we have seen more clear days and not as much rain. It has been quite a bit colder though with many nights well below freezing and a few days too.

A cow draped with an orange shag pile carpet and viking horns stuck on. ;)

You will never walk alone....

2008-03-11T17:39:00.003Z

I used to love snow, but know I am not too sure. We left bright and early on Monday morning, well at 10 o'clock anyway. This allowed us over 3 hours to get to the airport, which should have been plenty of time as Prestwick is only an hour and a half away. Everything was going well, a fair bit of snow was falling but nothing too dramatic until we turned onto the M77, 30 miles from the airport. A news report come over the radio announcing that a blizzard had hit a few miles up the road and as we got closer to the junctions that it had hit we come across a huge traffic jam, not an unusual site on Scotland's motorways. The road had frozen up totally lorries were sliding all over the place and Iain also had trouble getting and grip as we crawled along. We hadn't moved for 40 minutes so we decided the best option was to get off the motorway and try an alternate route, so did everyone else. Eventually we made it to the airport just in time to see our plane fly off to sunny Barcelona. Fortunately during our drive Kris had been liaising with Marine back at the hotel that if on the off chance we did miss our flights could we get another one. We did..at 6:30 the next morning check in would be at 5:30 ouch! We decide to get a hotel room in nearby Irvine not the most exciting place in the world but at least we had a bed for the night. We made the flight the next morning and arrived in Barcelona in good time. Sunshine. We Set our stuff down in our apartment and headed of to catch up with a few other people the boys have met on previous football trips. We went out to an amazing little bar for lunch a meal that consisted of massive legs of lamb just put down on the table, absolutely stunning it was a lot of meat and a lot of drink. Then started the football songs 20 people all singing songs from the Celtic club song to many other songs including their adopted song "You will never walk alone" enough to make your hairs stand on end. During this Kris had been madly phoning around trying to organise some tickets for the game as the asking price was 150€ a wee bit more than we wanted to pay, but to no avail. We did try. A little despondent we decided we would have to watch the game in a bar somewhere, disappointed because this was the reason for the trip. The rest of the guys went to the game and we headed to a little bar to soak up the atmosphere. We drank and sang into the wee hours of the night. The next day we awoke surprised that we had made it back to the apartment as Barcelona can be a bit confusing as it is set up in grids and all the streets look very similar. Yay to us. By the time we woke up Gavin and Iain had already left to see the sights a Barcelona and find some food. Kris, Matt and I wandered around and we wandered into The Cava bar, a little bar down by the harbour an astounding place, small but packed full of people the most amazing thing was the price of the Cava 2.50€ a 750 ml bottle, the only catch was you had to order two freshly made rolls with it, it was a Champagne(Cava) breakfast. We then wandered over to Barcelonetta where we caught up with the guys from last night and enjoyed some more wonderful food and cervesa. Feeling quite well bevvied we decided to stroll on in to the centre again and look for a nice place for some Tapas before dinner. We hit a couple more bars and ate and drank an ate well into the night. On our final day we decided to hire a car and head out to a town on the coast called Roses to do some go-karting a catch up with Big D for lunch, unfortunately the go-karting track was closed. We had lunch at a beautiful resturant that served a few week old suckling piglet and lamb cooked in wood fired ovens. Beautiful and tender, so tender in fact that our waiter cut up the piglet with the side of a plate. Then back to the airport and back to Glasgow. When we arrived back to Inveraray it was raining again.
Oh and the score was Barcelona 1, Celtic 0

And he's off

2008-03-04T11:35:00.002Z

So Adam, Kris, Matt, Gavin and Ian are away to Barcelona on a football trip and Eva is sitting in Inveraray wishing she had been born with another set of equipment and trying to find foundation that can cover green skin.
Not that the trip has been stress free, they missed their flight yesterday and had to reschedule for 5:30 this morning and they are yet to get tickets for the Celtic-Barcelona match on tonight that was the whole reason (excuse?) for the trip in the first place.
I'm sure we'll get to hear all about it on Thursday upon their return, and if the continuing commentary on the past ten years' football trips is anything to go by we'll be listening to anecdotes (teeth clenched) for an unspecified amount of time onwards.
Sigh, I can't be bitter. I'll just cross my fingers and hope for a package of Tapas, sunshine, time off or at least an airport shop present when they get back.

It's a small world

2008-02-28T19:57:00.001Z

Ha ha, the Glaswegian who punched the fireball terrorist at the airport just walked in to the pub. Never stand between a Scot and his holiday!

Edinburgh.....finally

2008-02-25T17:18:00.003Z

Well, after arriving in Scotland about 15 months ago we finally made the trip 2 1/2 hours East to Edinburgh.

Even so this trip wasn't undertaken through any particular touristic zeal but because Eva's cousin Michael was up North from London for a few days R&R between jobs.

We caught up with Michael on Wednesday night after not having seen him since Christmas '03 and it was really, really good to see him.

We have both been catching up on each others movements based on 2nd and 3rd hand news for the last few years so all the details and bits and pieces were great to hear. Michael was only up for the night so after dinner and coffee the following day he was away but we are now pretty convinced that we are going to visit him in London sometime soon. Can you believe that despite both of us having our cameras on us the whole time we forgot to get any photos together?!?

As for Edinburgh itself we had a bit of a wander through both the Old and New Towns which were very appealing, overlooked by the castle of course. Despite having seen loads of programs on Edinburgh we weren't really prepared for how looming the castle really is. Thursday was a day of gale force winds so perhaps not the best time to be looking around but we've decided to knuckle down to another trip over soon to have a proper look about and see the inside of the castle.

Eva has just discovered she has a second cousin is in Ed at the moment so we could make it a bit of a reunion city....

Photo: Posing in front of the Castle on a rather windy day (Adam has since had a haircut)

Saturday Night

2008-02-13T21:43:00.003Z

Saturday night was all happy and sad. On one hand we were celebrating Matt's 30th birthday (whether he wanted us to or not) complete with the band singing Happy Birthday and a bottle of Cava being cracked at 12 'o' clock.

On the other hand it was Robyn's leaving drinks which was a bit of a bummer. Robyn moved here with her friend Matt (different Matt to the afore mentioned) a couple of weeks before we first started and they were our neighbours so we all sort of settled in together.

Robyn's Matt then went back to Oz and Robyn flew the coop of the staff quarters moving in with a local buddy and well and truly placing herself in Inveraray itself not just in the George culture. This included striking up a relationship with a local fellow so now her visa has expired it's all quite upsetting. She is going back home in the hope of being able to come back on some sort of student or skilled migrant visa but it's all up in the air. Working here we get exposed to so many people who's path in life is determined by the ability to get (or not get) visas. Pretty glad we came over hitched already :)

Photos: Matt and his wife Jill, Robyn was the happy-snapper of the night

A white Inveraray

2008-02-04T16:15:00.000Z

After about a week of Britain-wide blizzard warnings that always seem to leave Inveraray with nothing more than rain (of course) we finally got some snow. In fact, we got the best snow we have seen in two winters here and from the sounds of it the best snow for quite some time.

It fell overnight and into the early morning (we are working on George time, early morning=9:30) and the day turned out to be overcast but lovely.

We went for a walk down to the front and Eva continued along to the castle almost slipping several times. The young ones of the town had already been out making snowmen and Eva caught Skye and Mark (our new Aussie neighbours) doing the same near the castle.

Even the roadworkers who have been busy tearing the main street apart for a few weeks got into the spirit of things building a snowman out the front of the hotel which they named Big D- they found a walking stick and all!

The snow didn't last for long with rain washing it all away before long but the town was transformed for a day and it was simply beautiful.

Photos: Mark and Skye building a snowman, Big D directing traffic, The view from front street, A bunch of snowmen

Since then

2008-01-21T17:34:00.000Z

Since the furore of the holiday season things have calmed down a bit. We have moved back into our room from Donald's. It is strange how much of a relief it was to come back- we've managed to make this room feel quite homey.

All the men went for a day of go-karting which Adam didn't lose this year, yay! The lasses then decided they wanted a day of fun, some suggestions being: Extreme ironing, Doctor's and Nurses with the Cheffies, Cross-stitchathon etc etc. Last time we put a notice up for anything in the kitchen!

We ended up taking the bus to Xtreme, a leisure type mall thing where we went minigolfing, all you can eat Chinese buffeting and finally bowling. Eva won the minigolf and the bowling but it was hard to determine the winner at the buffet.

On the news front Matt (the Aussie hitched to a local girl) is expecting child number two and Lucasz and Kasia (the Polish couple who got married last year) have also just announced they are having a baby- and she told us she stopped drinking coffee for her blood pressure!

We have gained a new set of neighbours, Mark and Skye, an Aussie couple fresh from a few months travelling around South America, the Aussies are on the up again!

On Mark and Skye's first day in town we had a really good snowfall. It was very, very exciting as it actually lay on the ground and wasn't just slush which was about as good as it got last year. We were still staying up at Donald's place so at the end of the night as four of us walked up the road we had a really dedicated snowfight. It was some of the best fun we had had in ages. A bunch of the guys decided to make a snow man and then bring him into the pub on a tray. Needless to say he didn't last long in between being hacked to death and sitting in front of the fire.

We have now entered a very quiet patch and everyone is taking the time to unwind a bit and think about holidays. Monday is Colin's 42nd birthday though and after last year we imagine it will be quite a night.

Sorry we have been awful and not been keeping in touch. It was very bad of us and we feel pretty rotten. As D:ream would say 'things can only get better'.

Photos: The Slovakian women's fishing club minigolf day out, Eva lining up a winning shot

Christmas and Hogmanay

2008-01-21T17:04:00.000Z

The lead up to Christmas was pretty full on. Two couples left just before the busy patch so those of us remaining were on a pretty punishing rota.

We participated in a pre-Christmas curry/quiz night which we did OK in given that our team of four had three Aussies on it and the questions were rather UK centric.

On Christmas eve (Christmas day Aussie time) Adam closed the bar and we stayed in Kris and Marine's flat where our computer decided to catch a cold of some description throwing our internet connection into disarray (still not what it was). Our phone also died but has since been replaced, 20 quid for a new phone!! Should have done it ages ago!

Christmas day was funny because just about everyone there were staff that have been at the hotel for ages and most of us had been there for the previous Christmas. It wasn't really as happy a lunch as the previous year but as we all sat around for the afternoon and relaxed together it started to feel a bit more Christmasy. Three dozen oysters that we got for free off a local went down very nicely for dinner as well.

The week between Christmas and Hogmanay was a blur of long, long shifts leading up to a somewhat hellish floor shift for Eva on New Year's (finished at 11:35, back down all dressed up with Champagne in hand at 11:43) and a long night serving drinks for Adam.

New Year's Day Adam had to work a few hours before we came back to join in the Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-ley) a traditional Scottish dance which saw us all joining in. It was a lot of fun getting pushed around, kicked and flung by the Scots who knew what they were doing.

Photos: Adam about to play desk skittles over the remains of our oysters, We all spent hours trying to teach Monika to play glasses to no avail, The Christmas quiz scoreboard- we were the Custard Apples and we got 10/10 in food and drink!, The stylish George staff on Hogmanay

Sorry

2008-01-21T17:03:00.000Z

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Bebo

2007-12-12T16:05:00.001Z

The George Hotel now has it's own Bebo.
The idea to have a chat room/forum for all the past and present staff (because they change so rapidly) has been thrown about for a while but now it is up and running.
So if you want to have a squizz at some of the crazy people we were/are working with follow the link next door...

News

2007-12-01T12:01:00.000Z

So far our plan back at the George is to stay over Christmas and into the new year. Just when we thought it couldn't get much more like last year we find Marine is pregnant again and that Donald would like us to housesit and look after the cats for sixteen days while he holidays. All eerily familiar...
Construction work is going as strong as ever in the hotel giving Adam the chance to vary his bar shifts with a bit of labour and to get filthy dirty.
Meynah (I think that's how it is spelt) and Hannah, a Kenyan couple who have worked here for some time have finally secured visas for their children to come over and live here. Meynah has been away from home for several years and Hannah has been over for quite a while too while the kids stayed with family back in Kenya. They have attempted to get visas a couple of times and each attempt is 500 pounds per child!! We are all so happy for them and they are both walking about on cloud nine at the moment.
The grounds at the castle are finally recovering after the Connect festival. Plans are well underway for next year's festival and the hotel is fully booked already. Safe to say it was a success.
While we were away there was a landslide on the road into Inveraray cutting the town off for two weeks and completely killing business. Big D got a seaplane to fly in cases of grog as a publicity stunt.
It's raining.

The irresistable pull of the West coast of Scotland

2007-11-30T12:05:00.000Z

So we jumped on the one and a half hour ferry from Calais to Dover and before we knew it we had left the continent behind!
We were completely blown away by the feeling of home-coming when we hit the UK. Even though we haven't spent any time in England little things like driving on the left again, being able to read road signs and the distances being measured in miles gave us a bit of a glow- very strange.
We spent a night in Stafford, a smallish English town and watched England be beaten by Croatia for the Euro cup qualifier. Quite satisfying after living in Scotland for a while.
We had originally planned to visit London and Eva's cousin Michael but we had run out of time and our funds were geting low so we headed to the closest thing to home on this side of the globe- The George Hotel.
Only a handful of people knew we were coming back and we weren't sure if we would be just visiting or be able to pick up work as this time of the season is pretty slow and there are more than enough staff to go around.
Sure enough though after saying our hellos to our very surprised friends who hadn't been expecting us we both landed shifts on the first night we arrived. Adam even recieved a cheer from some of the locals in the pub.
Settling back into the George over the last few days has been strange. In some ways it feels like we haven't left but having been away has made us notice things we took for granted previously. The smell of the coal fires triggers memories straight back to this time last year when we first arrived, having a few quiet beers in the pub after a shift, re-adjusting our body clocks to George time. All these things underline how much of a home we had made this place.
Easily the most abstract part of coming back is that our room that we have been given is an exact mirror of our last room. Try reconciling your memories to that! It really is odd and we've both caught ourselves going up the stairs to our old room a couple of times.
This week has also been Christmas lights week which saw both of us putting in five hours bent over backwards on rickety chairs threading lights through birch branches strung up along the ceiling. That also brought back a lot of memories from last year- there weren't too many of us here that were at it last year as well!

Paris

2007-11-27T12:08:00.000Z

In between our two visits to Troyes we managed to fit in six nights in Paris which was really nice. It actually worked out well not having the car as what we saw of driving and parking in the capital would have made the whole experience quite stressful.

We did all the usual sights; Notre Dame, which we didn't find that impressive from the outside but was incredible on the inside with beautiful stained glass. The Eiffel tower (boy the wind was COLD up there), The Louvre-massive, The Pantheon, The Arc de Triomphe, Musee d'Orsay (Eva's favourite with all these Art Nouvea rooms), the Catacombs-morbid, Pere Lachaise cemetery and Jim Morrison's grave-even more morbid, and lots of wandering in the streets and boulevards.

We have heard so many negative things about Paris but we found it clean, friendly and, of course, romantic. Something about the cafe lined streets screaming out for you to have a coffee or a wine suited us to a tee.

One of the most impressive things about being in Paris when we were was that the one time we are without private transport there is a nationwide transport strike.

We were staying at the end of one of the metro lines and the services were cut from one train every two or three minutes to one every half/one hour. It was absolutely incredible! Luckily we don't mind being around a lot of people in a very small space but we saw at least one girl pass out and were literally smashed against the doors one one memorable journey, squashed frog style.

It wasn't just the metro though, when we had to get back to Troyes to pick up the car the intercity service was cut from 14 a day to one. We all had tickets and everyone was grouped around these heater things on the platform waiting to find out exactly which platform our train would be leaving from. As soon as the number flicked over the race was on. It was nice that everyone seemed to be good humoured about it, laughing as we jogged along to try and get on the train.

We saw a lot of police over these few days, holding back the crowds at the busier metro stations and there were some riots (not sure if they were related- I think it was students) so we really got to see a bit of French culture. We heard one quip that striking is the second national sport of France after petanque.

For an idea of what the metro was like check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y-lzvWEqmk

Photos: The Paris Catacombs, The impressive interior of the Musee d'Orsay, The predictable crowd around the Mona Lisa, We visited the Arc de Triomphe on rememberance day, Us in front of the Louvre, Seeing the Eiffel tower for yourself really is something although don't come expecting to bring your scooter to the top!

Troyes...and more car trouble

2007-11-25T18:19:00.000Z

We left Dijon in high spirits knowing we couldn't push the car too much but that we'd at least be able to check out a few towns and Paris on the way to a ferry to the UK where frankly we didn't care what the car did from then.

We stopped in a town called Troyes which was very, very pretty and absolutely chokka bloc with ancient houses and narrow cobbled streets. We stayed two nights doing a bit of sightseeing and went to leave on the second morning but in a very Dijon-esc way the car started to overheat just as we were getting out of the town. This led to several moments of deep breathing interspersed with a few choice words and peppered with crazy puppeteering.

Luckily the town had a brilliant, cheap and friendly hotel which we booked back into and spent another two nights organising another garage to fix the car.

The major problem was that although Troyes was a great spot it wasn't somewhere we were interested in spending four nights in (not without sampling all of the restaurants which eats into our budget). Our marvellous hotel held the solution to our problem- wifi!

We proceeded to download a couple of movies but more importantly both seasons and the movie of Twin Peaks.

We consumed the entire lot over two and a half days...... You can only imagine the abstract dreams we were having and are still having.

After much to-ing and fro-ing with the garage they let us know the car wouldn't be ready for at least another four days so we jumped a train to Paris (more on that later). We phoned everyday and we kept getting pushed back until finally we were told to come down on the sixth day as the car was ready!

We didn't get into town till later in the evening from Paris so headed down on the following morning and were told AGAIN that the car wasn't ready and that we needed to come back in two days. We had walked from the hotel to the mechanics, bags on and all and had to walk back to the hotel where we were greeted with- 'No, no, it isn't ready!?!'

The most difficult thing in all of this was definitely language. We relied on receptionists to be our interpreters but there were many, many difficult conversations. We even rang The George in search of French speakers at one stage.

But finally on a Tuesday morning we were free and also out of time and money and had to head to Calais for a ferry to Dover- That was France :(

Photos: Typical streets and wonky houses in Troyes

Car Trouble in Mustard Capital

2007-11-07T09:12:00.000Z

Leaving Switzerland we crossed the border into France on a lovely clear day. We stopped in at a town called Besancon for a couple of hours to buy a map, a phrasebook and some lunch (yummy baguettes).
The town was very pleasant, ringed by a river and with most of the buildings made out of a pinkish/yellowish sandstone. One of the churches had an astrological clock with 30 000 moving parts which 'had to be seen to be believed' but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance.
We moved on to a nearby, much smaller town where there was apparently a campsite still open (many close at the end of October). The campsite let us stay but we were the only ones there until a couple of vans showed up in the evening. The only water on was in the Women's shower block so it was very communal with people doing dishes and all sorts in there.
The small towns we had driven through so far look ancient and the streets are barely wide enough for two cars to pass with pedestrians having to walk on the street as well. We figure the buildings alongside the roads must have been there for hundreds of years, well before the roads were being used by cars anyway.
After a peaceful but freezing cold night in the tent (our condensation froze to the fly) we moved on to Dijon - Mustard Capital of the World- but on the way the car was getting a bit hot. We opened her up, everything seemed in order, and when we continued on the temperature stayed normal- fine.
We spent two days in Dijon looking about the covered markets, the mix of Medieval and Renaissance buildings and the usual churches, being guided by owls on the footpath the whole time (the town has a famous owl).
On Saturday morning we hit the road once more heading vaguely South West hoping to make it to some caves with prehistoric paintings. Once again our bad luck with caves struck with the car heating up a few kilometres out of town.
We decided not to crack the head and turned around back to Dijon. Being a Saturday we didn't manage to get into a garage despite the best efforts of a wonderful receptionist at our hotel (the first of many).
So we knuckled down to another two nights in Dijon. We slept in, we got on the net, we went to the local archaeology museum, we wandered the suburbs, all in all a very nice town but we couldn't ignore the fact that we were possibly very stranded.
Come Monday we dropped the car off at a local garage. Communication was very difficult. Several hours on and we got another saintly receptionist to call the garage and we were told that we would have to go to a Ford dealership. The fellas at Speedy Dijon didn't even charge for the trouble- legends!
We sprung on the Dealership that afternoon, were told we couldn't be seen till the end of the week, we looked sad and desperate and they took the car there and then. It pays to look pathetic sometimes.
Anyway the long and the short of it was; The car's computer or some such expensive electrical thingummy is stuffed but the garage could do a temporary fix to get us back to the UK. Phew.

Never Skimp On Maps

2007-11-06T20:32:00.001Z

When we travelled through The Netherlands to Germany we had a decent Amsterdam map which took us to the German border- it is after all a small country.

Upon arriving in Germany we spent about 5 euro on a brilliant ADAC tourist map of Germany with town maps, campsites and places of interest marked, as well as including slightly less detailed maps of Austria and Switzerland.

We struggled a bit using this map in Austria but got by and were disgusted to find that any map of Italy even coming close to what we had for Germany cost around 20 euro. So we went for a basic fold out map showing major auto routes and some towns figuring that only going to Venice probably didn't warrant much more.

We bought this map at a petrol station, we assume it is aimed at motorists as it shows mainly the major auto routes. Why then did the producers of this map feel it necessary to include a map of Venice, where no car can enter! They didn't feel it necessary to include a map of Mestre, the last place you need to manoeuvre before you get to Venice! And it takes some maneuvering let us tell you!!!!

Much the same story in Switzerland where we finally came to terms with the idea that if you have no reference no amount of good sense of direction and clear headedness is going to get you around a European city- especially if you have arrived being flung out of the orbit of a motorway.

Needless to say we have bought a decent map of France, we can always flog it to someone back in the UK!

Photos: I can't even find where we parked the bloody thing!

Spending in Switzerland

2007-11-06T17:40:00.000Z

We headed North from Italy into Switzerland camping by a lake in a small town for the first night. We were lucky enough to see one of the nicest sunsets that night, capping off a day of awe inspiring sights.

We had driven up over a very high pass rather than take the tunnel under the mountain as the weather was fine and the views were spectacular. The step winding roads brought back Eva's childhood fear of tumbling off South Road as we would descend from O'Halloran Hill, but it was worth it.

The next two nights we spent in Lucerne, a very pretty town in the Alps by another lake. A mist hung over the lake the whole time we were there so we could only make out the outlines of the mountains but it was very beautiful, particularly at sunset.

We were lucky to find a few campgrounds in Switzerland as everything was very expensive to what we had been used to. Prices had been rising steadily since leaving Germany but Switzerland really hurt. Luckily we can cook for ourselves although what with dark and cold coming so much sooner it can be a pretty funny affair.

Our last day in Switzerland we had intended to spend in Bern but with no map we drove around their one way system for a bit and gave up, driving on instead to Neuchatel, another small lakeside town. We got a room above a cosy cafe (it was very cold and rainy) and spent the afternoon checking out the lake (so much water!) and the very nice cobbled old town. We were now in the French speaking part of Switzerland so we had fun throwing a few new words around as well.

Photos: One of two covered medieval bridges in Lucerne, Cooking (messily) at night, Snug as a bug, View from a roadside lookout, Our first night in Switzerland.

Beautiful Venice

2007-11-03T07:49:00.000Z

Our border crossing into Italy was quite noticeable, not due to any actual border checks or anything like that (we still haven't left the UK according to our passports) but because as we drove into a mountain tunnel at one end in heavy snow we popped out the other end in sunshine- and Italy.

We were still in the mountains though and as we drove we got to see some of the views we had been missing on the last few days in Austria. It was really lovely. There were loads and loads of castles dotted along the road as well, perched up on impossible looking pieces of rock and the drive was quite picturesque.

Our one destination in Italy was Venice. The reason for our visit being so short and specific was that Italy is the only EU country that requires drivers to carry an IDP (international driving permit) which essentially is just a translation document.

We both hold IDPs but they arrived in Scotland after we left and we still haven't managed to organise a forwarding address for long enough to get them sent. You really have to wonder about our organisation sometimes don't you?

We had done a bit of research into the likelyhood of being asked to produce the IDP and what the punishment was for not being able to (75 Euro on the spot-ouch) and decided to risk just the hop to Venice and then straight out again.

Boy was it worth it. We stayed four nights in a campground across the lagoon so we had to get a boat each morning across to Venice itself. The first day we spent just wandering about getting royally lost. One of the striking things about Venice is how much larger it was to what we had expected and combining that with the fact it is purely crossed on foot or by boat down narrow streets and canals (most of which are dead ends) it made for a fun few hours exploring.

Adam was sorely wounded on the first day when we thought it would be a good idea to feed the pigeons on St Mark's square. They went mental. We have never had so many living things on us at once. At one stage Eva had pigeons three deep on each arm, and Adam copped a claw to the face. When we returned to the square later in the day the birds were much calmer so a warning to all- do not feed the St Mark's pigeons first thing in the morning when they are hungry!!

The following day we checked out St Mark's basilica which (along with the square) was flooded due to a high tide. The square looked to be shin deep in parts. The basilica and the Duke's palace next door made for a few hours gawping at how opulently thing were built back in the grand old days and we spent the afternoon wandering a few other museums.

Venice was just so pretty and strange looking at the same time. It was like a dream in some ways. It would have been a great city to visit as it stands but added to that is the fact it exists surrounded in water (and sinking fast) made it unreal.

We were lucky to visit when we did. There were a lot of tourists but we can only imagine what it is like in Summer- yuk. Just a few steps back from the marked out tourist path parts of the city were eerily quiet. It is as though either the cost of living in the city or the massive amounts of tourists have driven locals out of much of the town. The fact that the buildings are very run down (it looks so romantic) adds to the feeling of a ghost town at times.

On our way out of Italy we stopped in on Verona to check out at least one other town however briefly. It was a Friday and everyone was out for lunch. The town was truly bustling and felt really nice to wander about. We had a quick lunch, checked out Juliet's balcony (and the tourists rubbing Juliet's left breast in hope of new love) and headed onwards to Switzerland.

Photos: The Grand Canal, A much smaller canal, St Mark's square under water (it is still gushing in), Adam with pigeons, Adam- the walking wounded

Schnee

2007-10-26T18:47:00.000Z

We left Munich with the Austrian weather forecast in our minds, snow (or schnee) was going to hound us over the next few days. Not that we minded too much, it is pretty exciting to be in a good snowfall, especially seeing as we never got a decent one in Scotland the whole time we were there.
We headed to Salzburg and spent two nights. The first night we learnt the important lesson of how crucial a weapon an umbrella can be against snow, (why had this never occured to us?), although nice and dry to begin with your body melts the snow leaving you cold and wet before long. We found some cosy Irish pubs to watch the rugby world cup final with every other Brit and Antipodean in Salzburg which was kind of nice. What was also nice was staying in a warm bed. We had decided that although the idea of camping in the snow was appealing in some ways it would probably lead to us digging our way out in the morning-something neither of us felt inclined to do.
The snow continued through our day of sightseeing but it was truly magical to look out over the rooftops of Salzburg from the fortress on the hill and see them coated in white. We did have to retreat several times during the day to warm cafes although everybody else seemed to have had that idea too!
For Eva's birthday we decided to head to Innsbruck via some really amazing sounding ice caves. We took the slight detour to the caves only to find they were closed due to (you guessed it) too much snow. We then stupidly relied on highway signage to take us the quickest route to Innsbruck (Eva having left her navigational duties behind due to birthday girl status) only to realize we had almost ended up back in Germany and had taken the looong way around. Perhaps the fact that we were forced to buy a ten day highway pass on the border made the transport authority want us to get our moneys worth?
Innsbruck itself was a nightmare to drive into, the first one that caused us to pull over and consider giving up! Once out of the car however the old town won us over with all the lovely, damp buildings, the alpine blue river and the misty distance promising us that on a clear day the view is amazing.
To celebrate Eva surviving 24 years as well as the drive that day we went out to an amazing five course Japanese meal that left us rolling out of the restaurant, very sumo-like.
We decided that as the weather did not look like improving for any view or hiking opportunities we would head south for Italy. Austria would not let us go quite so easily though. Driving out of Innsbruck took us through quite the snowstorm with the biggest flakes yet. Even as we drove we found the snow was gathering on the roads and making driving a bit of a task......the border was close though...

Photos: View from the fortress in Salzburg, Eva in Innsbruck, Driving in a blizzard.

Bye Bye Germany

2007-10-26T18:22:00.000Z

Our last week in Germany was pretty full. We managed to score some great weather in the Black Forest resulting in a hike up and down a big mountain (we always seem to manage hikes down mountains, we wanted to see if we could do the up part), and a great bike ride. We had based ourselves in Frieburg after our night of luxury in a hotel in a Schiltach, it was great to chat to Ryan for his birthday - free wifi rocks!

We didn't spend much time in Freiburg itself- we had reached our fill of towns for a while- and dedicated ourselves to more outdoor pursuits. The bike ride was particularly nice looping us along a valley floor and taking us through both forest and farmland reminiscent of Romania's Maramures area although with good roads and locals that don't hide from you.

Our next destination was Munich but we broke the drive at Lindau, a small town along the banks of Lake Constance which borders Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The lake was kind of spooky in that such a heavy mist hung over it- you could not pick where the water stopped and the air began- it also brought a kind of quietness over the campground near the shore. We could just pick out the silhouette of the alps through the mist.

We hit Munich- checking our Mad King Ludwigs castles on the way- armed with a Lonely Planet walking tour which makes the aimless wandering so much more interesting, if not for the facts involved but for the fun of trying to follow the authors directions! We stayed for three nights in Thalkirken campground where Adam stayed seven years previously during Oktoberfest. The difference was quite amazing, the campground was like a ghost town where Adam recalls avenues of Combi vans, mountains of broken glass and all sorts of bad behaviour. Some evidence remained of this years party, a couple of left behind vans covered in graffiti and dumped outside of the campsite.

We paid a visit to several Munich beer halls but the best fun was definitely to be had at the Hofbrauhaus, despite all the tourists the atmosphere was genuine and friendly. When we were told that 1/2 litre pints were no longer served after 7pm we were shocked but stoically continued. All of this led to our third day in Munich to being one of rest, besides which the weather had turned nasty.

And by nasty we mean snow! That's right we got snowed on in our little tent. How cool is that! Actually it wasn't too cool, we managed to rug up enough to enjoy the novelty of the snow. Only our numb hands were the casualties after packing up the tent on our final day in Germany.

Photos: Adam chatting to Ryan on Skype (you can just make out Ryan's face on the screen), The view from the mountains in the Black Forest- smoggy mist and all, Farmland in the Black Forest, Us by a lake near King Ludwig's castles, These beers make me feel like a little person

Little Old German Towns

2007-10-13T07:46:00.000Z

We have been spending a lot of time over the last week in small, old, very pretty German towns. We moved from the Moselle valley to the Rhine valley staying in a town called Bacharach and spending the next couple of days exploring the surrounding hills and villages both hiking and bike riding.

The striking thing about the Rhine was just how turbulent it was. We rode past the most treacherous part, the Loreley, a sharp bend in the river with rocks poking up at scary looking angles and were amazed by the boats they manage to guide through.

The other notable thing about the Rhine valley was the amount of castles and ruins. The landowners over the centuries would extract taxes on passing ships and built forts and castles at regular intervals. We rode past heaps, scrambled over a couple and spent several hours exploring the giant ruin at St Goar.

We then drove East to the town of Bamberg, stopping on the way in Wurzberg to buy a new camera- Yay! Bamberg has been recommended to us by a handful of people and we'd have to second the recommendations. It was really pretty -and that's after seeing a lot of these towns- it has a huge cathedral/palace district as well as little winding streets, a river and canal wind through the town and they have their own type of smoked beer!

We also had the good luck of a quiet campground next to a river where we could sit back with a couple of the above mentioned beers (it tastes like bacon so you don't need snacks to go with it). It is pretty rare to get a quiet campground with most being positioned next to motorways or railways so we really enjoyed the peace, watching the sun set and the bats fly over the water.

Winding our way back West (I think we'll have covered every road in this country by the time we are finished) we stopped in at the walled town of Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber, a completely walled town where we tried the local speciality, a pastry called a Schneeball. When our guidebook dissuaded readers from trying the pastry with comments like 'Europe's worst local specialty' we were intrigued but were forced to agree within a bite. Rothenburg has a well fed sparrow and pigeon population we believe.

The town of Heidelberg was another stop, lovely old town, great big castle ruins on a hill overlooking the town, sound familiar yet? A highlight was the 'Great Vat' a giant old barrel in the castle which can hold 221 726 L. Impressive.

We are currently in the Black Forest hoping to break up the little old town route with a couple of days of hiking. It might help us shed some of what we are calling the 'schnitzel layer' which is mysteriously attaching itself to us. Although it very well may be replaced by the 'Black Forest cake layer' quite soon.

Photos: Our camp on the Rhine, An old town square in the Black Forest, The old town hall in Bamberg, Adam cooking up a feast in Bamberg

Poor geography

2007-10-05T15:58:00.001Z

Ok so both of us, upon hearing the words Cologne and Moselle valley conjured up the idea of France but to our good luck both lay withing Germany. What's a little bad geography between friends?

We shifted to Cologne after visiting the Hilgedieks and spent a couple of nights in a nearby campground. It is still such a thrill to find such good campgrounds within a stone's throw of city centres. Cologne is home to the largest cathedral in Germany so we climbed the tower - we are puffing less and less these days. 500 and something steps and we still had energy to walk along the Rhine river through the town.

We have noticed quite a misty type fog hanging about making views and photos not quite the sensations they could be. We aren't too sure if this is just the weather (we seem to recall a similar mist in Romania this time last year) or that we are passing through the industrial heart of Germany, we may never know....

From Cologne (Koln in German) we headed to Cochem in the Moselle valley. We spent an afternoon sampling local wines in various weinstubes throughout the town, in particular the Federweisser (new or young wine). Federweisser is only available for a few weeks of the year during harvest when all of the wine festivals are on -what good luck we have- it tastes like grape juice but is apparently 10%, a case of who spiked my punch really. To our extreme excitement it is sold in 3 litre plastic bottles for anything between 8.50 to 15.00 euro.

We awoke the following day with nary a hangover (falling asleep at 8pm may be why) and hired a couple of bikes for the day.

The entire Moselle river is flanked by bike tracks so we rode as far as we could in one direction, stopping for a picnic and a glass of wine before turning at a town called Alf (a town called Alf!) and heading back down the other side of the river. The journey back involved a few more stops than the journey up for both resting our bones and tasting the Federweisser but we were back for early evening. Upon consulting our map we realised we had cycled about 58 km over the day. Our poor bottoms.

The weather was perfect by the way and we couldn't have asked for a more romantic and lovely day.

Photos and video: The looming Cologne cathedral by night, Eva riding in a straight line, A town along the Moselle, Adam enjoying one of many federweisser, Yep

The Hilgedieks

2007-10-05T15:38:00.000Z

Way back in the mists of time Sue and Steve and Chris Tyerman made their way to Germany. In that time they lived in the same apartment block as Reiner and Angela Hilgediek with their first son, Jens.

In the years since the Tyermans moved back to Australia and added Eva to the family and the Hilgedieks have had another 3 boys (that makes for a grand total of 4 boys!!).

Just before we headed overseas Jens visited us in Adelaide and we always intended on catching up when we were passing through Germany.

As we are very bad at planning things these days, catching up came in the form of going; 'We had better give them a ring otherwise we'll be in Italy before we get around to it' So although it was not intentional we ended up springing on the family with half a days notice. It is not all our fault though, we have never faced European hospitality so fully before, we mentioned we were within a few hours journey and before long we had a day trip to Munster, dinner and accommodation organised for us. We were helpless!!!

We briefly had the chance to catch up with Jens before he had to head to his new job right near-would you believe it- Goslar, and then spent the rest of the afternoon being shown around Munster by Reiner and Angela. We had a brilliant afternoon and night, completely relaxed and enjoyable. We couldn't stop apologising for the late notice but hopefully we weren't too much of a drag.

Hilgedieks, you must visit us in Australia so we can return your wonderful hospitality!!!!!!!

Photos: Angela, Reiner, Jens and Eva

The Tempest

2007-10-05T15:06:00.000Z

After the hustle and bustle of Berlin we decided to head to the hills in the form of the Harz mountains, in the centre of Germany. We set up camp outside a little town called Goslar which was extremely pretty and spent the rest of the day hiding out from the rain and fantasizing about how the next day we would wake to chirping birds, sunshine and a hike in the mountains.

Needless to say we didn't quite realize our dreams the following day. After a drive to the head of a trail where we couldn't see for fog we decided to explore the town of Goslar in its fullness rather than be rescued from a hilltop, wet and disoriented.

So we returned to town, kicked about the town hall, palace, cafes and shoe shops (Eva says goodbye to the pair of Skechers she has had since leaving home only to replace them with another pair) and had a nice afternoon only to have to return to our rather damp tent. There followed a night of torrential rain where we could hear the river we were camped next to rise. In the morning packing up was a damp and muddy chore and when we ducked into the town we saw that the streams had almost reached their limits.

All this rain had dampened our spirits so to speak so we headed to the town of Paderborn halfway between the Harz mountain and Munster (more on Munster later) and checked into a hotel for the night. Luxury and dryness at last!

One cool thing about the Harz mountains, other than the very pretty towns was that they have a huge pagan festival every year and it is a major drawcard to the area. Every streetsign is adorned with witches on broomsticks and every souvenir store sells dozens of types of witch doll. Quite funky really.

Almost forgot to mention, all of you wonderful people keeping Adam in touch with the Grand final as we sat fearing the flood at 6:30 in the morning. What we (or at least Adam) would have given to be in Australia at that moment.

Photos: What to do, what to do? When the rain sets in Yahtzee is the only answer, All the view we were going to get in the mountains, A pretty Harz town square.

Berlin is the s**t!

2007-10-05T14:06:00.000Z

Staying in the old East of Berlin, right next to the East side Gallery (the largest remaining section of the wall) and camping on a boat deck sounded like a good way to begin our Berlin experience and we weren't wrong. We spent four nights in Berlin and had a whale of a time.

Arriving on a Sunday afternoon we took it easy heading to a German restaurant for our first schnitzel in Germany, boy was it good. And big. Huge in fact. Food here is not measured on the normal scale.

The following day we hoofed it to a walking tour (10:30, who's ready at that hour?) and spent all day being guided around by the lovely Victoria. By the way if anybody is after a walking tour in Berlin - and there are a few on offer- we highly recommend Brewar's. We were on the road until six that evening with perfect sunny weather accompanying us all the way. We took in all the sights having the chilling Nazi era history (yuk) balanced with good suggestions for nightlife spots and East side/West side jokes and anecdotes. It is difficult to go into detail about the sights in Berlin as we figure half of it you already know and the bits and pieces are just too horrible, but to be there was amazing particularly the pieces of the wall left standing and that to look around the majority of the buildings are no older than 1950. We crashed after yet another HUGE meal that night swearing never to walk again.

We had a day of rest (and laundry and bad weather) where Adam had to communicate with a hairdresser in his best German, still doesn't look like a punk though!

That night we headed out to see some of the bars in our area near the hostel. The old East has gotten kinda trendy recently and we didn't get much further than a really cool little gay bar called Barbie (actually quite toned down despite the name) with a two for one happy hour (2 1/2 hour) including cocktails!!!! The best bit was you could lay down and get a massage - not as dodgy as it sounds- and pay what you thought it was worth at the end, and you got cake at the end of it! Eva committed herself to a €5 massage and Adam disappeared into the night in search of an ATM. When we met again we had both relaxed a bit, only because Adam met a bunch of Turkish kids firing fireworks at pedestrians and was invited to join in. BANG! Poor pizza delivery driver.

On our last day in Berlin we went for a wander and ended up at the zoo. This led to another massive day of walking (we are slowly getting fitter) around one of the best zoos we have seen. Some of the highlights being the Indian Rhinoceros, Knut the baby polar bear, the gorillas and orangutans, the porcupine and loads more. Adam was very disappointed in the panda.

That night we returned to Barbie for a quick cocktail before heading into town for some of the recommendations from our walking tour. This included a bar in an old WW2 bunker that had free live jazz, that whiled away a few hours and then an ex-squat come artists retreat/venue that is housed in a half bombed out shopping centre. It was a great night just scratching the surface of what Berlin nightlife has to offer.

The next day we headed out of town on a now or never sort of mission. It was the type of place that if we stayed much longer we might not leave, as seems to happen to a lot of the ex-pats hanging about.

Photos: Eva in our first night's cabin, Blue skies in Berlin, In the ghetto (squat cum bar), The east side gallery (longest part of the wall), Brandenburg gate, Cool jazz club, Our tent on deck with the wall in the background.

What a city.

What can I say?

2007-09-29T14:36:00.000Z

We are geelong, the greatest team of all,

We are geelong, We're always on the ball,

We play the game, as it should be played

at home or far away

our banners fly high, from dawn to dark

down at Kardinia park

PREMIERS 2007

Achtung!!!! baby

2007-09-23T11:27:00.000Z

So we crossed the border into Germany without really meaning to it just happened all of a sudden, this whole no borders EU thing is kinda weird. We still haven't got a stamp saying we have left the UK or arrived on the continent, oh well.

We decided that what we probably needed was a road map so we exited at the first town across the border to buy one. We got the map but it turns out this particular town was some sort of black hole that just kept sucking us back in. After a frustrating 20 minutes we were back on the road again and heading in the general direction of Bremen. We weren't sure how we'd do for time but there were loads of camping grounds marked on our map so we figured we could stop anywhere along the way.

Turns out we made good time and pulled into Bremen in the afternoon at another really nice campground, these guys have got camping down to a fine art.

The next day was time for a bit a sightseeing so into the centre we went, aaah, we never knew how much missed town squares like these ones. Big hulking town hall in one corner, massive looming cathedral in the other and lots of pretty little shopfronts and cafes in between. Not to mention a massive statue of the towns protector, a knight called Roland (ha!) smack bang in the middle.

The old fishing/redlight district was cobbled, windy and cute and a slightly different sight was an Art Deco alleyway commissioned by the creator of decaffinated coffee. We capped off our wandering with looking at some mummified human remains in the cathedral, all in all a pretty good day.

Back to the campsite and we have found that we are cooking more now than we have in the last year since we left home. Can't say we've lost the skills either which is nice. We haven't found camping or cooking a drag yet, it is actually nicer than looking for somewhere to lay your head and then trying not to blow your budget while filling your stomach.

From Bremen we took a scenic tour through Lüneburg, a wonky old Hanseatic town where we had some type of wurst for lunch (one of many) in the market square and moved on to Hamburg that arvo.

Hamburg is the third largest town in Germany so we were not knowing what to expect with regards to traffic, pollution, hustle and bustle and whatnot. The traffic was not too big a headache and the city centre was really lovely to get around on foot with a lot of canals to walk along and a promenade from where we could watch the huge shipping port (the largest in Europe) at work. We climbed our first church tower just to remind ourselves how unfit we are and munched on pickled herring rolls and, of course, sausage.

We kept tracking north and ended up in Lübeck for a night. It was a little, chilled out village, ringed by a river and with the patchy old and new architecture that crops up in a lot of these towns that were bombed in the war.

As we walked in to town we observed a rather nasty looking roundabout and commented that we would be staying well away from anything like that for a little while, sounds ominous no? Sure enough the next day Eva decides she is going to drive for the first time on the right side of the road(and she hasn't done a lot of driving in the last year) with Adam navigating. Through no fault from either party we took the wrong turn and ended up smack bang in the middle of town going around this bloody roundabout! Baptism by fire.

We were beginning to think about heading to Berlin to check out the nations capital but decided a night in the middle of nowhere would be pleasant first so chose a campground on the edge of a little lake. It turns out the campground was a trailerpark but it was a very neat, tidy, German trailer park and the no motors rule on the lake made walking about it so peaceful. Eva managed to spot and catch a frog in distress of course. As we were cooking our dinner (a very tasty Thai green curry) we heard a knocking and looked up to find a woodpecker bashing its brains out against a tree. Adam had a smile on his face for the next hour.

So now we are in Berlin, catching up on our blog. We have scored accommodation on a hostel boat right by the largest remaining section of the Berlin wall. Tonight we are in a double room and then we are camping on the deck for the next few nights - random!

Photos: Enjoying our lakeside retreat, The gates of Lübeck, These bells were left where they fell in a bombing raid at a church in Lübeck, A leaning church tower in Lüneburg, The view across to the docks in Hamburg, Blue skies in Bremen, Eva enjoying some fine wine from a plastic cup in Bremen

On the road again...

2007-09-23T10:51:00.000Z

Well, as the title suggests we are once again on the road, this time quite literally as we are bringing our car and roadtripping it.

A couple of Thursdays ago we said a farewell to the George (well the real farewell was the Tuesday night-phew) and hit the road to Newcastle. We had headed off fairly early which was just as well as we didn't have a clue where the ferry terminal was and the one page missing out of our map was the one we needed! Good start.

We boarded the ferry OK although Adam got patted down, I think we still looked a bit seedy after Tuesday night. The next morning - Amsterdam! After coping with his doubts about driving on the wrong (right) side of the road we set off and made it to our first campsite, Camping Zeeburg with no major hiccups.

We spent three giggly nights in Amsterdam, checking out the canals, the red light district (oooher), the really pleasant Jordaan district and doing a lot of wandering about. The city was beautiful and great fun just to poke about in. We were really lucky staying at a campground which was only 10 minutes away from the centre by tram - so much cheaper than any other accommodation and so much fun too, even in the rain. Half the fun was walking past everybody elses' tents on the way to and from the amenities and just hearing muffled giggles coming out of every second tent followed by curious smoke signals.

On our last morning in Amsterdam we headed out early to an outlying area to catch the Aalsmeer flower market, the biggest in the world at 1 000 000 m² or the size of 200 football fields. We could walk over the market floor watching thousands of trolleys of flowers of every description be shunted about by hundreds of people as well as watch the auction rooms where the flowers are bought. It all felt a bit like a school excursion to the Coca Cola factory but was really interesting and colourful, quite different to the usual city centre sight seeing.

We hadn't planned anything from Amsterdam so we drifted towards the German border to see where that would lead us....

Photos: The first thing we hear and see in Amsterdam?!?, The market floor at Aalsmeer, A pretty canal.

Lets get connected

2007-09-04T14:48:00.000Z

Oh my goodness what a weekend. 20 000 people in wee old Inveraray all here for the same thing, with the exception of a few, the first ever Connect Festival. What a huge weekend!! We were originally only going to go to one day of the festival but as it turns out we ended up getting three day passes and as it worked out with a fantastic roster (thanks Kris and Matt). On Thursday morning we prepared the hotel for the worst changing over to plastic glasses and taking away anything that could get stolen or broken, but the crowds all seemed to be fairly good with no real problems at all, but we were extremely busy for the most of the weekend. The hotel also obtained a late license for all three nights until 2 in the morning. Eva went up for a little while on Friday night to see what was happening and watch a few bands, as Adam was working until late into the night (morning). It was an amazing set up although it was very ill lit. The festival was set up around the castle and the surrounding grounds, quite an amazing sight and it was hard to believe that just a week ago the paddocks were being used for highland cattle. The ground did not hold up too well though as typically here in Scotland (as we may have mentioned) it rains almost all the time and the ground became quite muddy, so muddy in fact that about 99% of the crowds were wearing wellies. The mud was so bad that in places it was almost a foot deep but this all added to the feel and uniqueness of the festival. On Saturday we both worked in the morning and headed up later on with a whole bunch of people from The George and had an amazing time, we saw some brilliant live performances by Modest Mouse who where fantastic and Primal Scream who were great as well, just to name a few, we then danced the night away in a few of the dance tents. One of those tents being called the Unknown Pleasures tent which was quite an eye opener as it was staging a burlesque type club with tassel twirling twins, a black Elvis, and a hermaphrodite with an angle grinder, quite an interesting spectacle especially with everyone dancing with their rubber boots on. On Sunday we awoke very slowly and sore and headed on down in the early afternoon just chilling out for a few hours drinking the local ale made especially for the festival and having a bite to eat. All weekend the weather was fairly good only a few drizzly showers thank goodness otherwise it would have been an even bigger mud fest. We then poked around watching a few acts here and there. We watched an absolutely amazing set by M.I.A. she was totally amazing! We have seen her before at the Big Day Out back home but this time it was even better. Her set ended though when she called everyone up on to the stage and much to the security's dismay the stage got stormed by fans and the power blacked out, not a bad way to end a set.. We then wandered around waiting for Bjork's set to start, we were quite excited to see her as we have never seen her before. Her set was absolutely mind blowing better than we had imagined, she knows how to perform with lasers, lights and ticker tape, a brass band and amazing sound. What a show!! we tried to catch a part with our camera but it doesn't anywhere near catch the atmosphere. What a performance. We then caught the start of LED Sound System and Hot Chip who were not too bad but we decided to go catch a with a few friends in the dance tents. We ended up catching up with half the town in the Enchanted Forest which was a dance floor set up amongst old trees, quite an amazing experience. What a huge weekend..it was so amazing to be here in Inveraray for this festival. Tickets go on sale today for next year and our hotel is already fully booked.... I think it was a success.

We are now in the process of finalising everything for our departure from the George in 7 more days, it has been an amazing opportunity to be here over the last 10 months, it will be sad to leave all the people we have met behind.

We are of on a ferry to the Netherlands next Tuesday for our next adventure driving around throughout Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France. Can nee wait...

Happy Birthday Nicole!!!!!!

Photos:Bjork on the Oyster stage, Dun Na Cuaiche above the Oyster stage, MIA creating a riot-she's on the right with her legs apart, These boots were made for slurping, Inveraray castle an island in the mud, Bjork's finale

The Isle of Mull

2007-08-21T15:38:00.000Z

The other day we decided to make an impromptu visit to Mull, one the nearby islands and the third largest in Scotland.

We decided to get in form for our planned trip through Europe later this year by camping which meant we had to invest in a whole bunch of gear before heading away.

Once organised we spent a (very cold) night in Oban before getting the ferry to Mull for three nights. We managed to get some warmer sleeping bags in Oban thank goodness.

We stayed in a quiet little campsite and our new tent and stove held up very well. We never really realized how much money could be saved in self catering until now!

We drove all over Mull, mostly on single track roads, visiting the postcard perfect Tobermoray and then skirting the coast around some stunning lochs and mountains.

We drove to the ferry crossing for Iona, an important Christian pilgrimage site where we could see the old Abbey on the shore, the surroundings were quite bleak and isolated and even on a clear day the wind was bitter. It was beautiful though and we later went for a walk on the other side of the island where it was more sheltered enjoying the sun and the scenery. We only got rained on once.

The only real problem we had with camping was the midges. They were beyond anything we had experienced in Inveraray, we can see why camping in Scotland is not a common pastime. It is the only time you will ever see Eva encourage Adam to light up as smoke tends to drive them away temporarily.

All in all it was great to see another part of beautiful Scotland, and to prepare for our trip to Western Europe in about 21 days!!!!!

Photos: Just imagine if it was sunny, Adam holding up a very old standing stone, Beautiful Tobermoray, View of some coastline, One very isolated phonebox, Wild pheasants, Adam doing the cooking, A rainbow over Duart castle.

Go you Inveraray pipers!!!

2007-08-21T15:25:00.000Z

Last Saturday night as Adam was enjoying a beer and Eva was finishing off a shift we heard the sound of many, many pipes and many, many people heading up the road to The George. Despite the rain and the hour half of Inveraray was out to celebrate the fact that our pipe band had just won the World Championship in the Grade Novice Band (whatever that means). Everyone was very proud especially as one of our dishwashers, 15 year old Alan is a member of the band.

It was a great atmosphere as they played on the church steps in the pouring rain with most of the town watching at 10:30 at night.

Well done!!!

Photo: Eva congratulating Alan

Go the Cats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-25T02:10:00.001Z

Just nipped out for a short walk

2007-07-15T14:14:00.000Z

On our last day off we decided to go for a drive through to Glen Coe and then go for a walk. The weather was surprisingly good so we decided to climb a mountain, Stob Coire Nan Lochan to be exact, a mountain amongst the three sisters, 1115 metres almost straight up.

It was a fairly tough walk up to the top and the last 50 or so metres we had to climb up almost vertical cliffs, but it was well worth it as the views were stunning We could see for miles as none of the other peaks around us -with the exception of Ben Nevis (UK's tallest mountain)- were covered with clouds. The wind at the top was very strong and freezing cold, nice though after a 3 hour climb.

On the way down Eva caught a frog and Adam tried to catch a sheep but only Eva was successful. The frog was very slow and stupid, maybe because it was so cold?

We are still astounded here by the amount of water, everywhere water just seems to ooze out of the ground. Makes for a very squelchy time.

Needless to say we have been suffering for the last few days in the leg department but we've got our sights set on the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs (I think that's the right spelling-can't be bothered checking) national park for our next day off.

Photos: Views aplenty, Do we look suitably frozen? Riddip

What have we been up to?????

2007-07-07T11:53:00.000Z

Apart from being really slack on the blog you mean?

Well the Saturday after we got home was a Wild West disco across at the town hall resulting in half of the town swearing off tequila for life. Eva lasted an admirable 54 seconds on the mechanical bull.

We then were lucky enough to pick up a car from one of the local fellows. We now have wheels-and freedom!

We caught up with Mum and Dad before they headed home again, we had a couple of really nice dinners in Glasgow and visited New Lanark which was pretty interesting historically and the ride they had was a laugh. We had yet another goodbye but it was so wonderful seeing Mum and Dad after so long.

We have been in the flat on top of the hotel house sitting for Kris and Marine for the last 10 nights which is one reason for not having been on the net as we didn't have a connection up there. This was made up for by the fact we had cable tv so Adam could watch a Geelong-Sydney match at 5 in the morning.

While we were there we received the message we had been waiting for, that Nicole had gone into labour. Did it seem to take for ages on your side of the world as well? We bet it did. Congratulations guys!!! We can't wait to meet Lucy and to see you all again.

For our wedding anniversary we decided to go on a road trip up to the Isle of Skye which was amazing. The weather was perfect (it has been raining and cold every other day) and we saw some great scenery driving along single track roads dodging sheep, it seemed similar to how Mum and Dad Y described parts of Ireland. It is great we now have the freedom to get around this country we have been living in for 8 months. On the way home we headed through Glen Coe which was magic as well, we have decided to return there to do some hiking. We took a wrong turn at one point and almost ended up on the east coast which made us realise how small this country is. Since we've had the car we've done something like 1300 miles!

We even got an anniversary gift of two lobsters from Donald which was really nice and really tasty, this place rocks.

That's pretty much it for now, we are in the process of tightening our belts and planning our next trip once we lave this place in September.

Photos: 1 & 2 Glen Coe in the highlands, A mountain in Skye with peat stacks in the foreground, Dunvegan castle grounds-blue sky!, Our new car with Eva hiding inside, New Lanark, Deanne riding high, Giddy up!

Pula and then home again

2007-07-07T11:38:00.000Z

Getting to Pula from Plitvice took a good part of a day so we rang ahead for a place to stay. Well, Gabrielle called ahead which was pretty funny as there were a few language difficulties. The lady we stayed with was kinda crazy and seemed to love us, continually talking to us in Croatian.

Pula had a bunch of Roman ruins spread throughout the city including a very impressive amphitheatre and some seriously ankle twisting flagstones. We spent the last two nights just chilling out (like we hadn't been already) before heading home.

Croatia was great to travel through for quite a few reasons. Apart from being a beautiful place it was also very easy to navigate as English was so widespread and the country is set up for the tourist, which makes sense as it is their major industry. Even little things like being able to drink the tap water was great.

We jetted back to Dublin with Mum and Dad and parted ways with them for the next couple of weeks as they did a bit of travel themselves. Our flight back to Glasgow was delayed so we didn't get in til quite late. Fancy sitting in an airport for 6 hours waiting for a 40 minute flight!?!

Photo: The Pula amphitheatre

.........what can we say?

2007-06-21T20:18:00.000Z

We arrived at Plitvice mid afternoon from Sibenik, the bus dropped us outside the entrance to the national park and we headed to a nearby village to try and get some private accommodation, ending up in a lovely little pension.

That night we went for a walk around the village, which was more just a heap of pensions along a small road-tourism was definitely keeping this place afloat. As we walked we were amazed at the amount of sink holes around in the surrounding forests, you really wouldn't want to be walking in dark through here. We were looking for bears and to our surprise we didn't find any :( but we did hear cuckoos calling their famous song.

For dinner we headed to a restaurant called Licka Kuca near the park entrance. The food was fantastic and in the middle of the dining room they had a fire and a spit set up which made the place very warm, we dined on an awful lot of meat that night. We headed home early as the street sign warned that the bears come out after 23:00.

First thing in the morning we got up and headed to the park. We were some of the first people in for the day and the weather was overcast but not raining. We entered through the park gate and we were greeted by the most amazing site of the bluest of blue lakes and beautiful forests with a waterfall cascading off the opposite cliff. We just can't describe the colour of the lakes it was unreal and the water was so clear, again I don't think we have every seen water this clear and so many fish.

The lakes lie in limestone and are separated by natural dams of travertine, which is deposited by the action of moss, algae and bacteria. The encrusted plants and bacteria accumulate on top of each other, forming travertine barriers which grow at the rate of about 1 cm per year.

We wandered around the lakes for eight or so hours, meandering along forest paths and boardwalks this was truly one of the most beautiful places we have been to.

It was hard to believe that this park was where the 1991 war began it was overtaken by Serbians it was not liberated until 1995 by the Croatians, during that time the parks infrastructure was destroyed and the park was heavily mined, the park was reopened in 1998 after it was completely demined.

What an amazing place!!!!!!!!!!!!

That night we went out for dinner at another restaurant which was quite nice although it felt like stepping back in time about 30 years. On the way home we got caught out in absolutely torrential rain. We were absolutely soaked after the 2 km walk back through the park, where we got one more beautiful surreal view of the falls in the dark and rain. We still didn't see any bears though.. although Adam carrying on about them gave Eva the willies. We did spot a wolf out of our pension window later that night which was pretty cool.

Photos: Happy days, Eva trying to get her finger bitten by the multitude of fish, Blue, blue, blue, blue, a bunch of wet numpties.

On the road to Plitvice

2007-06-21T15:23:00.000Z

From Dubrovnik we made our way up to Plitvice national park. We had considered hiring a car but we all agreed that it wouldn't be worth the potential stress of driving. We instead chose to use public transport and break our journey in Sibenik, a small coastal town. We had to go back through Split but our bus connections worked very smoothly and we ended up in Sibenik in the late afternoon.

After a bit of traipsing around we found somewhere to stay although Adam and mum managed to lose each other (that's the diplomatic way of putting it) and they missed out on half a beer each.

The place we were staying had a washing machine which is always a big plus when travelling about so we got down to the laundry. We did wonder though how the laundry/beer drinking jobs were allocated.

We spent the evening wandering through the town with many, many winding streets almost managing to lose each other again and had a relaxed dinner with Dad trying to do his best Mr Bean eating langostines impression.

On the way home that night we passed hundreds of young teenagers out and about partying in bars and on random stairways. It was hard to imagine it being an ordinary Saturday night occurrence, it was hard to see where so many teenagers could come from in such a small town, there were just too many of them to be all from this town.

The next day was another early morning. We had more early morning buses than sleep ins on this holiday. The bus trip to Plitvice was quite a nice one as we passed through areas away from the coast it was quite a nice change.

Croatia has never had a decent road network partly because of the shape of the country, but mainly because most of the countries income has always gone into increasing tourism and not into the other infrastructures of the country. On the way to Plitvice we drove down the newly opened motorway which instead of going around or over the mountain range they went straight through it via massive bridges and a multitude of tunnels, the longest of those tunnels being over 5.5 km long.

Photos: Photos 1 & 2: The way it should be, They got it a little wrong.

Dubrovnik

2007-06-19T18:02:00.000Z

We had pretty high expectations for Dubrovnik. It is the city which is always mentioned in travel shows on Croatia and it was a long way out of the centre of Croatia. It was really well worth the trip down south though for several reasons. Seeing the old town (which we didn't really leave the whole time we were there) was great. It is your classic walled, narrow streeted European old town but perched above the sea and had to be the biggest city of its kind we have seen. The bluest sea, reddest roofs and cream stone was a lovely contrast making the town a joy to wander around (apart from all the hills). We took soooo many photos up the twisting streets with washing hanging from the windows that our memory cards were pushed for space.

The rebuilding of Dubrovnik was pretty awe inspiring as well, the place was all but levelled in 1667 and completely rebuilt and in more recent history the 1991 siege left a lot of damage, photos of which were scattered through out the town.

We organised accommodation in an old lady's apartment although on arrival she was in real state because she'd locked herself out, poor dear. We left our luggage in a neighbour's foyer and came back later when she had got back in.

That night we thought we'd try to get a hold of some non Croatian food and a restaurant nearby called Taj Mahal (or some similarly Indian sounding name) sounded good. Turned out to be a Bosnian restaurant!?! Great food though.

The next day we got up at a respectable hour and headed to a market, checking out some of the local produce and ending up at a bakery for brekkie. We then mounted the walls and walked the circuit which was quite long and exposed to the sun, we wouldn't really want to do it at midday in Summer. We were lucky that there weren't too many tourists about, Summer would be the pits though. The views from the walls were spectacular, another round of frantic camera clicking.

We then joined a cruise to the Elafiti islands which lasted most of the day. We visited three of the islands where we landed at small pretty towns and going for a dip at the final destination where we had to go on a fairly long hot walk to reach the stunning beach on the other side of the island. We had a brilliant fish lunch on board the boat and Nick continued his 'feeding the hungry fish of Croatia' mission, throwing hunks of bread overboard and watching the schools devour them.

Photos: Dubrovnik from the sea, Restored roof tops after the war, View over the city from the wall, Our fishy feast

Korcula

2007-06-08T10:43:00.000Z

We rose early on our last morning in Split as we had to make a 7 am ferry. Ouch! By now we had acquired sunglasses and were prepared for the 5 hours ahead as we cruised towards Korcula, one of the largest islands along the coast. The journey took us through so many islands and we passed lots and lots of yachts. We can only imagine how busy these waters must get in Summer in peak season given the thousands of yachts we saw docked in harbours along the coast.
We arrived in Korcula and the ferry dropped us right next to the old town which gave us a great view of the city walls as we approached.
Korcula's old town is on a small spit of land and defended by walls, the streets were designed to let the warm breezes from one direction flow through the town but to block the cold winds from the other - smart thinking!
We got a great little place to stay in and grabbed a bite to eat there before heading in to town for a coffee. The day had been very muggy so far and hazy making it difficult to see the distant islands. As we sat on the waterfront walls we heard a crack of thunder and saw a sheet of weather heading our way. One by one we saw the yachts reeling in their sails as the weather hit them, then it hit us and all the cafes along the front were madly pulling in umbrellas and menus. Nick even lost the froth off the top of his cappuccino!
By the time the rain hit we were safely inside but we got a touch damp on the way home. The storm didn't last long and afterwards the air was so much fresher and clearer it was lovely.
The next day we left Mum and Dad early for a quick dip which was pretty cold but very refreshing. We met up again and headed to a nearby town on foot, the walk was pretty warm in the sun so we went for another swim in the bluest sea imaginable. In the water was loads of sea urchins (Adam managed to catch one of the prickly things), fish, sea cucumbers (look like poos) and anemone. It was pretty tricky getting in and out of the water though as it was off a rocky 'beach' that we were swimming.
We continued walking about the town and ended up passing through some beautiful vineyards on the way to another beach where we found a brilliant little place for lunch. We all shared a platter and between the good food and amazing location it was a great lunch.
We ended up having to get a water taxi back to Korcula which gave us a chance to sober up after trying the local brandy at lunch (mum!).
It was so nice to be able to spend a bit of time on an island, the scenery, peacefulness and weather made for a great couple of days.

Photos: The view from where we had lunch, A street in the old town, Gabrielle enjoying her favourite food, The view of the old town from the ferry, Enjoying the sun and the company.

What's that got to do with the price of bananas in Australia?

2007-06-07T22:46:00.001Z

The following afternoon we caught a bus on to Split and walked to our home stay type accommodation before heading to a nearby beach for dinner. Looking out over the sea as night fell was really beautiful and relaxing. After tea we headed into the old town for a coffee. The old town which is enclosed in a massive roman palace complex is littered with ruins. We had a coffee in a cafe which used nearby steps and cushions as seating, overlooking some of the ruins. It was a very hushed atmosphere and really quite cool.
The next day we did a bit of a walk around the old town, rubbing lucky toes and trying to find various sights down sooooo many narrow, twisting romantic streets (so many, many photos). Mum found a path heading up and up we went, out of the old town and onto a great panorama of the city. You could see from the industrial/high rise part of town around to the ancient town centre and waterfront and then to some of the islands just off the coast. This is where Adam lost the bananas.

Photos: The cafe overlooking the ruins (sorry for the blurriness), The view to the waterfront from the lookout, Adam left the bananas on the bench beneath the flagpole, Somebody's bathroom window peeking out from the walls of the ancient city, This is supposed to be lucky but Adam can't help thinking how much it would tickle.

Quick, we need sunnies!

2007-06-05T11:25:00.000Z

We arrived in Zadar fairly late on Saturday and had a brief moment of concern when we thought the one ATM at the airport had run out of money and that there may not be any taxis about. All was good though and we headed to our accommodation for the night.

The next day we had a quick run for the bus to Zadar where we spent the morning looking around. The sun was out, the sea and the sky were amazing shades of blue and the marble streets of the old own reflected all this light in a -well- dazzling kind of way. Sunglasses definitely in order for we light starved pasty beings.

The highlight of Zadar had to be the Sea Organ which made a surprisingly pleasant sound to the rhythm of the waves, we sat for some time listening and waiting for boat wake to change the song.

Photos: Announcing your musical leanings is all the rage in Croatian graffiti, sitting and listening to the Sea Organ

Antipodean visitors

2007-06-05T10:05:00.000Z

Well it was pretty strange seeing Mum and Dad Y come through the arrivals gate at Glasgow airport a couple of weeks ago. Strange and brilliant after not seeing any family for 10 months. We had considered borrowing a kilt for Adam for the airport but thought that after 20something hours on planes this may prove too great a shock.

It was strange driving back along the familiar route from Glasgow to Inveraray with Mum and Dad after having spoken about where we have been living so many times. The West Coast put it's best weather on for us as well. Foggy and drizzly with streams and waterfalls doing what they do best in Scotland- flow.

The next couple of nights were great, everyone was keen to meet Adam's folks with several people saying how similar they thought Nick and Adam look. During the days we visited the local castle and climbed up Dun na Cuaiche despite the weather continuing to be decidedly West Coast.

We were luck enough to get a lift off Robyn on Saturday to the airport (Cheers) and set off to Croatia- you beaut!

Photos: Wandering the woods, Surveying the vast moistness of Scotland, Who are these wild men!?! Meeting some of the boys after a (wet) session in the veggie patch.

MIDGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-06-04T20:28:00.000Z

Just quickly before we write about our trip to Croatia, I just want to let you know about some of our beautiful wildlife here in western Scotland, MIDGES!!!!!!!!! At the moment we are building a chicken coup in the estate for the hotel, we were up there for no more than 20 minutes and we got swamped by these little blighters. We have heard lots about them but thought everyone was exadurating. Well they weren't! These are just a few of the bites. Oh but how cool is this though, we have to Badger proof the coup.

Not much happening here in Ecosse....

2007-04-22T14:15:00.000Z

Not much has been happening here since we last blogged, besides the usual late nights, a couple of birthdays, a post wedding celebration and Easter. We just thought we might post a couple of pics.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Oban for a day trip to organise our National Insurance numbers (similar to a tax file number) it was nice to head of somewhere other than Glasgow. We are going to make more of an effort to get out and about more often and see some more of Scotland.

We also continued our house sitting tour of Inveraray by looking after Kris and Marine's flat above the hotel while she was visiting family in France and he was partying in Majorca, you can get a bird's eye view of half the town from their windows. No wonder they always know what's going on.....

Easter was mental work-wise, we are starting to see just how popular this little hotel is. All weekend we were running waiting lists with some people waiting over an hour just to be seated-crazy stuff!

And that's about it....

Oh and by the way, what do you get when you drop an elephant down a mine shaft?

Photos: A quiet night in with our bounty of food and wine (don't worry Adam only looks that skinny because his hair is so big), the hills have eyes, these trees are made for hugging they are nice and soft, the Colosseum?? in Oban

Discotheque time

2007-03-23T23:29:00.000Z

Saturday night was a blinder! Adam finished at 11 'o' clock so as we had a knock off drink we found out that it was Veronika's birthday. Veronika is a new Czech girl who has joined us with her boyfriend Lubosh and we decided to have a good old welcome/birthday night for her. Before we could blink the champagne was out chased down by vodka shots, this led to everyone being quite jolly so when the idea of heading across to the town dance was suggested it was met with enthusiasm by all but the least daggy of us (Lubosh).
The town dance was just like a primary school disco except people were aged between 18-40 with a scary percentage being near the upper end of that range and I think we actually doubled the population of the disco (there were only 8 of us). We had locals from the pub come across with us and shake their booty like mad, especially when the Irish jig came on, it being St Pat's day and all.
It really is hard to explain just how strange the scene would have been from the outside, a load of Eastern European chicks and Aussie dags having dance offs with locals who normally take some convincing to get off their bar stool.
After the dance wound up we headed back to Veronika and Lubosh's room for some Czech version of the palinka/rakia that we sampled on our holiday. We are pretty good at knocking the stuff back without the gag reflex kicking in these days but what we didn't realize was that this version was about twice as strong, bringing the night to a somewhat earlier end that it may have otherwise met. Probably just as well seeing as we were all working the next day, but it really was just one of those nights where everyone clicked and it was great fun.

Barthelona

2007-03-07T10:51:00.000Z

Photos: Sagrada Familia, Arc De Triumph in Barcelona, Girona, Narrow cobbled streets in Girona, Beautiful Collioure.

Last Monday we said goodbye to The George for a week and set off to Barcelona. We spent four nights there enjoying the lovely weather (around 20-25 and sunny) the brilliant Tapas and the very beautiful city.
The city- or at least the central areas we wandered through- was walkable, with tree lined avenues, not too bad traffic, lovely buildings and a great feel to it. It really felt like a livable big city.
We took an open topped bus tour to see a lot of the sights like Gaudi's Sagrada Familia which looked like it had grown out of the earth and looms over the city. It isn't even finished yet so it'll be even taller still one day.
We managed a trip to the Barcelona zoo on one day which was pretty cool, they even had a dolphin show, yay!
The highlight of our stay in Barcelona was definitely the several tapas bars we spent some time (and some money-whoops) in. It is pretty hard for us to sit at a bar with a bottle of wine and the most amazing food lined up in front of us and not stuff ourselves silly. After having visited the markets and seeing all the fresh (still crawling) shellfish and seafood it was great to drop into a tapas bar and sample some of it.
On Friday we trained it up to Girona which is the town closest to the airport used by Ryanair (Ryanair is Europe's biggest budget airline-very handy). We spent a day and a half wandering around Girona which was an amazing place full of winding cobbled roads and topped with two massive cathedrals and placed alongside a river choc full of carp. As we didn't really know much about Girona before we turned up it was a really nice surprise to find such a pretty town.
The following day we headed out to the airport to meet Gavin and Marius, two guys from the George, and we all got picked up by Big D to head for the South of France.
Gav and Marius were both down to do some work on Mr Clark's house in Collioure and we just tagged along for a night, a fantastic night at that.
We started at Cafe Sola for a few beers and some yummy ham and cheese tapas thingos, catching up with Mr Clark and hearing from Gav all the goss we'd missed from being away for four nights. Mr Clark spends most of his time in France and seems to know everyone in the 2500 pop. town so there was lots of introductions and handshakings.
We then headed for a nearby pizza joint for tea after which Mr Clark headed home and we headed back to Cafe Sola for some more beers and some weird cocktail thing the barman kept feeding us.
We had been told of a local bar to visit by Mr Clark so we made it our next stop. The bar has been decorated in Art Deco style and was great, when we entered everyone was up dancing at the bar and singing along to a French song, the place had a great atmosphere, hard to describe and the middle aged owner/barman kept flicking everyone with water from champagne glasses. By this stage we were getting along nicely and Adam, Eva and Marius decided to give Gav a bit of a dance lesson. Two Aussies and a Pole dancing with a Scot in the South of France, funny stuff.
Not meaning to put a downer on the sound of this holiday-it was great- but getting off the plane in Glasgow in the freezing cold rain was quite a low point, we can see why people don't smile as much here as in Spain or France!

Happy Birthday!!!

2007-02-25T21:40:00.001Z

Happy Birthday Dad! Hope you had a great day

Happy Birthday!

2007-02-19T18:25:00.000Z

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Mum

Happy birthday to you

The road to Dun na Cuaiche

2007-02-07T12:57:00.000Z

It has been fairly quiet here at the moment everyone is winding down after the festive season. work has well and truly started on the staff quarters, Adam has been enjoying himself because among his bar shifts he has been helping out with some building work. Last Friday night we had a Mexican themed night which was quite a lot of fun, lots of magaritas, tequila and Corona's, it was little loose. Other than that not much going on.

The nights have been freezing and well below zero with massive frosts with a lot of the ice lasting all day, even the loch has some ice on it. We have now had 4 days without rain, maybe a drought ;).

We went for a walk up Dun na Cuaiche yesterday which was fantastic it was great to be able to go out and do something. The weather was beautiful and sunny (3 degrees).

Photos: At the top, a view of our small village, frost.

Mr Clark

2007-01-29T22:43:00.000Z

If you were interested in seeing and hearing our publican Mr Clark, Big D, Mister, Big Fella and Dad here's a link for you: http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/individual/scotland-inveraray-clark-donald.shtml

Hot Water, Towels & Little miracles

2007-01-29T22:01:00.000Z

Today the Clark family introduced a new member!
Marine, Kris' other half started having contractions around 12ish while Kris was busy serving soup in the cocktail bar.
A couple of hours later they were into the car amid some fanfare (much to Marine's annoyance) and off on the hour long drive to the hospital.
Adding to the excitement was the sweep regarding the exact birth date separated into am/pm blocks, all cash going towards charity of course. A bottle of champers to the winner as well!
We haven't checked yet but we have a funny feeling that Marine may have actually won her own bet. Typical, but probably for the best seeing as she didn't know about the sweep until very recently and was none to happy about it upon discovery.
All we now for now is that Anuk has a younger sister and that our rosters are likely to change pending Kris' parental duties. All the same it was good news for all that the birth went smoothly and we look forward to meeting the new Clark.
(Another girl by the way, the pub has always been passed down through the boys in the seven generations past.......)

Hopoate

2007-01-22T22:14:00.000Z

The last week has been very quiet on the work front excepting Saturday where we hosted a wake for a young local man who was swept off a fishing boat.

It was a fairly sombre affair but needless to say the amount of drinking performed, particularly by the older men was mind blowing. The whole place was standing room only and we probably had half the town through during the day.

On a lighter note we have had some real snow, not just slush although it didn't last very long on the ground. The temperature has been right down and today we were lucky enough to have some sun allowing us to get some nicer shots of the surrounding mountains. We are still amazed every time we get to see the beautiful scenery around us.

Photos: Its so pretty here.

Colin's 41st Birthday

2007-01-22T21:50:00.000Z

Colin is the nephew of our publican, Big D and a great crack. Sunday was Colin's birthday and as he was working Saturday night the celebrations began then, resulting in us not getting in til 5 ish. We were working Sunday night so missed out on the dinner party but joined in after close for a great night.

One of the highlights was Donald (who was yet to count the till) being bet 100 quid that he could not drink the remainder of a jug of cocktail. There was about 1/2 a jug of the cocktail as well as the entire lemon used to garnish it, he then had to keep it down for 20 minutes.

Unbelievably he managed this task and was fighting fit for the rest of the night! The bet got whittled down to 20 quid which Don put towards the local lifeboat charity.

Matt tried to follow this bet up with the old slice of bread in 1 minute trick, came terribly close but walked away with nothing but a full mouth.

All this silly eating also included the bunch of us (about 6) eating a massive jar of pickled garlic over the two nights. Body Odour Alert at the George Hotel!

Then, like all parties we ended up at Kenny's house with one of the band guys doing a sing along. This has been one of the highlights so far, luring unsuspecting musicians back to Kenny's, thrusting a guitar in their hands and having free entertainment- Brilliant.

Photos: Colin jamming away with Stuart at the end on a long night, Matt attempting to win his tenner, Donald celebrating his win.

Sun and Slush

2007-01-17T15:31:00.000Z

We've had a pretty quiet couple of weeks just kicking about and working. We visited Glasgow for the very important purchase of a toaster. We can now enjoy Vegemite on toast in the comfort of our own home!
We also have had our room WiFied so we have been pretty content the last few days, sure makes Skype calls a bit more comfortable.
The reason we have been connected in our rooms is due to the fact that the laundry, former net cafe and sometime party centre has been unceremoniously used as a storage area for all the odds and sods currently being removed from the old staff quarters.
A wee bit of renovation is taking place which involves Adam, Kenny and anyone else manly enough to make the grade ripping walls down, pulling wiring out and salvaging anything we may find useful. Guess what, there was a toaster there!! Doh!
The weather has been on every one's lips. But then we are in the UK, weather is the conversational home ground of everybody. On our visit to Glasgow we had a beautiful clear day for the first time in a long time. Standing in the sun was quite unfamiliar and enjoyable although the day was still freezing cold. Today we experienced what we will tentatively call snow as we did actually hear a Scot refer to it as such although we on loch level experienced falling slush. The hillsides were very prettily coated though, we even did a special photo run in the cold. The photos don't really do it justice though, this place is magic.

The magic of this place even extends to time travel. Well at least it seems that way every now and then when you glance out the pub window or duck down to the local store and run into a 19th century gaoler walking by or buying cigarettes. This is thanks to the well preserved gaol next door to our pub which includes period costumed guides. Funny stuff.

This hotel alone has a lot of history attached to it, the building itself is from 1770 and the hotel was founded in 1777 making it 11 years before the First Fleet landed in Australia. There are loads of ghost stories in the hotel with one couple leaving the hotel at two in the morning to sleep in their car believing their room was haunted.

Adam has to climb the three stories to turn off the lights at night leaving him in an increasingly darkened hotel. Keeping in mind the place is decorated with huge old oil portraits it can be quite a spooky experience. Glad we live in the new staff quarters out the back, although it is probably constructed over some pet cemetery or something.

Photos: The view from our door to the back of the pub-our long commute is interrupted by falling slush, Another view from our door to Dun na Cuaiche (pronounced Doona Craig), We used our beach and snow setting for this shot- we never thought it would come so in handy- note the big mountain in the back left blending with the clouds

Goodbye Verity

2007-01-17T15:11:00.000Z

Verity left last week and it's taken us this long to blog about it. Vee is a chick from Adelaide that we managed to end up working with here at The George. Turns out Eva went to school with her cousin and all! Small world syndrome.

Verity made the whole settling in process so easy for us by being a genuine, friendly, open, fun loving chick. We don't know if coming from the same home town helped us click or whatever but the last eight weeks wouldn't have been the same without her. Especially over Christmas and New Years, man does this girl know how to party.

Vee had planned her departure to be mid week but ended up having her last working night last Saturday after one too many parties led to her getting voted out of The George Big Brother house.

So many people here will miss Vee and we wish her the best for the future. We'll probably bump into one another on Rundle Mall one day anyway.

Photos: Christmas parties are such hard work but Verity kept the pace.

A very, very festive time.

2007-01-04T15:03:00.001Z

Photos: Dancing queens (and Adam), The boss pouring the vodka, So organised, Tucker time.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone!!!!

It has been a wee while since we have had the opportunity to sit down and actually blog, because it has been quite a festive last week or so. Like most occasions here like waking up, finishing work or just being alive Christmas was celebrated with 100% commitment by all involved.
Christmas eve turned to be quite a night Eva had a floor shift until about 22:00 and Adam was working until the cocktail bar closed at 1:30ish, somehow in those 3 hours poor Eva had one too many pre Christmas drinks, ooops. She ended up asleep a little earlier than she had planned. Adam ended up heading to a party just up the road for a few with a couple of other staff members, what a night, everyone danced and partied until dawn. Then off to bed, remembering we all had a Christmas lunch planned for the next day at 14:30.
The hotel was closed for Xmas day so we all had the place to ourselves. One by one staff started filtering in for lunch, everyone was delegated certain tasks for the day ie. Cooking, serving, cleaning up, DJing etc. Kuba our nominated chef did not arrive till about 16:00, luckily Kris had put the turkey on earlier in the morning, no one seemed to mind though as we had plenty of beverages to pass the time. It wasn't until about 17:00 that we all sat down to eat our meal, a fairly loose dinner party really. First course was a medley of prawn and crayfish tails in Marie-Rose sauce, our main was the most fantastic turkey dinner we have ever tasted, and then onto dessert a Baileys cream cheese cake. Not a bad meal really considering the state we were all in from the night before. After the meal Kris cracked open the vodka shots all round.
We then moved on up to Kenny's house for a continuation of the night before, the party went well into the night and into the early hours of the morning. Lets just say everyone was feeling a little sorry for themselves on boxing day at work, as some of had had little or no sleep. The week between Xmas and New Years (Hogmanay) was really, really busy as most people take the whole week off. Knock off drinks on the 30th turned into another massive night, we had some fantastic live music on in the pub and then once again up to Kenny's house for another all night party. Roll on New years eve. Eva knocked off work at 23ish and started getting festive with the rest of the staff, unfortunately Adam had to work, his rostered shift was from 14:30 until he wasn't needed, he was hoping around 23:00, but oh no, it was a massive night and he didn't clock off until 4:00. Everyone here had a fantastic night with free drinks all round and plenty O champagne.
The next day Adam started at noon he had a shift in the Public bar. "Big D" let us give all the regulars their first drinks for free what a good day. Adam then moved into the Cocktail bar which was opened only to hotel guests where we had a couple of live bands on, not a bad evening. Eva worked from 17:00 on the floor serving canapes and food for all our guests. One of the best things about New Years day was that we were getting paid penalty rates (double time).
The last couple of days have been recovery days for everyone, although it has still been quite busy at work. Hope you all had a fantastic time as well.

Happy Hogmanay

2007-01-04T15:03:00.000Z

Here is a quick history lesson for those that are interested. Christmas was not celebrated as a festival and was virtually banned in Scotland for around 400 years, from the end of the 17th century to the 1950s. The reason for this dates back to the years of Protestant Reformation, when Christmas was proclaimed as a Catholic feast, and as such it needed banning.
All the way up to the 1950s many Scots worked over Christmas and celebrated their winter solstice holiday at New Years when family and friends would gather for a party and to exchange presents this became known as Hogmanays.
The act of "First footing" (or the "first foot" in the house after midnight) is still common across Scotland. To ensure good luck for the house the first foot should be a dark male, and he should bring with him symbolic pieces of coal, shortbread, salt, black bun and a wee dram of whisky. The dark male bit is believed to be a throwback to the Viking days, when a big blonde stranger arriving on your door step with a big axe meant big trouble, and probably not a very happy New Year! Doh!
The traditional New Year ceremony would involve people dressing up in the hides of cattle and running around the village whilst being hit by sticks. Sounds like a "wow" of a time. Unfortunately we didn't get to hit anyone with sticks, but hey you cant have everything.
Happy Hogmanay!

Christmas at the George

2006-12-18T16:24:00.000Z

Well, it is't Christmas yet but there are a few clues left laying around the place suggesting it may be very soon.

Say you, Say me.

2006-12-15T18:48:00.000Z

Damn Lionel Richie...Have had this song stuck in my head for a couple of days now. Well, we have well and truly settled down here in Inveraray. It has been a big week in town as our local supermarket has changed owners, wow!!
At the moment we are housesitting just up the road from the hotel, in a lovely two storey place right on the loch, we are also baby sitting two big fat cats (I love cats...not) and one of these cats likes to jump up and sit on laps and also drink out of the tap when you are brushing your teeth, crazy, zany animals those cats. The house is lovely with open fires and best of all it has digital TV so we get to watch the cricket, although it means that there is not all that much sleep to be had at the moment. It also means we have a 5 minute walk to work whch would be fine in Summer but we keep getting awfully wet!
It has not stopped raining since we have arrived and everyone is saying that it is the wettest and mildest start to winter that they can remember, we have never seen so much rain in all our lives. It is meant to be clearing up this weekend and into next week and possibly snowing, so we might actually have a white Christmas. Work has started getting fairly busy in the lead up to Christmas so it is all go here. We have not decided yet what we are going to do on Christmas day as the pub and hotel will be closed. The owners are thinking about cooking up a few geese, pheasants and a whole heap of other food and organizing a feast for all, then one of the staff are organising a party back at their house, sounds pretty good. It sounds like it will be a fairly big day.
Time is going so quickly here, we send a bunch of emails and the next day it's been a week and a half! I think there might be some sort of time Bermuda Triangle operating over Inveraray. That's our excuse for slackening up a bit anyway.
We should have a big old Christmas update for you next. It still hasn't sunk in that Christmas is almost here even though we did spend most of Saturday night cleaning up the remains of Crackers and colecting the great jokes held within, Q: Why don't ducks tell jokes when they're flying? A: Because they would quack up.

Working hard to make a living...

2006-11-21T15:36:00.000Z

We are now into that part of our trip which requires us to settle down and work. We have been working for a week and are loving it here in Inveraray, a little fishing village on Loch Fyne. We worked six days last week which gave us a lot to get used to but seeing as we have had the last two days off together we have come to the conclusion that with the weather being what it is (wet wet wet)and the size of the town (population 700) and at the moment it gets dark just after 4 there isn't a great deal to be done on days off. That is except sleep, watch tellie and do the laundry.
Adam has been put behind the bar and Eva is waiting but we generally get put on similar shifts so our time off is generally together. This works well as most of the other staff are coupled (not necessarily romantically) and days off can be alternated. There are about 40 staff here as far as we can tell and the majority live in the hotel. We have been lucky enough to land in the new staff quarters, new bed, new bathroom, new cooking unit. We get meals provided when we are working and when we aren't meals are half price. The food is tops too! Adam is learning very quickly about malts and whisky, he has around 100 types behind the bar, also part of his job is to keep all the open fires burning, we have five of them. What a cool job. Eva is proud to have only started one box-kicking, swearing fit from the chefs, these guys are hilarious when they get fired up! Just like My Restaurant Rules. One good thing too is that is in Scotland it is illegal to smoke in public places, very strange being in a smokeless pub.
Other staff are mainly travelers, there are about six other Aussies, two Kenyans and loads from Poland and Slovakia. The amount of languages getting thrown around makes us feel dense for only knowing English. French, Kiswahili, Austrian and Polish are constantly flying around. And of course Scottish. Och Aye!
We have gotten on really well with everyone here so far and have gotten to know the family who own the hotel. Mr Clark, the father, Kris and Marina who live on premises with their little girl and Kris' brother Donald who also works behind the bar. We have got along so well with everyone that Donald has asked us to house sit his place over Christmas when he and his wife go away! Unfortunately this means a slightly longer walk to work but we will be right overlooking the Loch, beautiful.
Our body clocks have adjusted very quickly to the hours we are working, maybe a little too well in fact, most nights everyone stays back for knock off drinks. The other night we were up talking and having a few drinks with people until 4 am, crazy on a schoolnight.. In fact most nights we have been up well past one and the bar closes at midnight!!! The late nights don't really matter for Adam as the earliest he starts is 10:30 but Eva gets the occasional 7:00 brekkie shift - yuk!
We have to keep pinching ourselves as to how we managed to end up in such a friendly, beautiful place. We really do have good luck! We have been in many pubs in our lives so far but this would have to be one of the most amazing ones we have been in yet.
Photos: The two streets in town Main street and Front street, our local wharf, The one way bridge into town, our local Lord's residence the Inverarary castle, Our kitchen in our room.

Things that make you go mmmmm....

2006-11-21T15:26:00.000Z

Beer flavoured chips? not as good as it sounds.

What every smoker needs....

Strange things happen......

Those bloody lights...

What a good idea, a cheese and ham roll. Saves a lot of time.

A shiny pebble on the beach.

Never did work out what bird made this nest.

What kind of nut would eat one of these whole?

Good guess.. But it looked so small.

A temple in Thailand

Anyone for a barbie? Tartar food in Crimea

Missing you Huck :(

When Russians visit a place they enjoy traditionally they tie a ribbon (or whatever they can find) to a tree in hope to return, this can be either very pretty or very hideous.

I think this is more what they were going for.

Adam catching up on the daily news.

Orange revolution?? (Promo girls in Kiev)

What a big bell. Oh and Eva dressed as a babushka, she had to wear this to get into the church.

More golden domes in Kiev.

We will let you decide...

Look at his eyes. I think this cat was somehow possessed

Typical Ukrainian street corner.

MMM Salo!! Healthy snack.

Refridgeration. Blah

2 ltr beer bottles. You beauty!! Excuse the laundry.

Just a picture for Paul

Ahh nice place

On a mountain top.

Job Hunting

2006-11-08T14:35:00.000Z

Well this would have to go down as some of the quickest job hunting in history. We rang an agency who organizes live in jobs, they gave us a huge list of jobs all over the UK looking for couples, we rang two and we got a job.
The first pub we called was a 13th century building in Bath and the bloke there sounded really, really nice but he'd just about lined someone else up for the job. The second one was on the west coast of Scotland in a small town called Inveraray. After a five minute phone call we had the job! The place is called The George and seems pretty bloody nice. We get en-suite accommodation (away from the hotel as far as we can tell) and meals on the job as well as a decent wage. The guy we talked to, Chris is a member of the family that has owned the place for six generations and seemed like a great bloke, we'll have to get used to the accent though.
We have now lined up a cheap (ish) flight to Glasgow where Chris is going to pick us up on Friday and he reckons he'll start us on Sunday. What a trip!

London Town

2006-11-08T13:59:00.000Z

We arrived in London safe and sound on Friday morning and headed to our hostel which is a tops place less than half an our from the city centre. We spent Friday and Saturday wandering around the city, particularly the Camden Markets and adjusting to the sound of English and Australian (so many Australian) accents.
Saturday night we were lucky enough to witness some crazy firework displays. We started with the staff (again mostly Aussies) at the hostel trying to blow themselves up by burying the fireworks before lighting them, and causing them to go off at ground level.
We then headed to the council fireworks at the local park. The council was charging Â£5 for entry so we joined most of theneighborhoodd at the fences and actually were quite close to ground zero. The celebrations included a 15m bon fire packed with explosives which scared the life out of some of the kids watching (and adults). The reason for all the fireworks was Guy Fawkes night which turns into Guy Fawkes weekend as it is the only time of the year fireworks can be bought without a permit! 1000 people were injured last year!
On Sunday we hopped on a topless bus tour and froze our faces on the top level seeing all around London. The tour included a boat trip along the Thames which we took just before sunset (which is at 16:30!) so the view of Big Ben and Parliament with the sun set behind it was just magic.
As we headed to check out Soho on Sunday night we were met by a police blockade on Leicester Square outside the Odeon Cinema. A film premiere, yay! Some of the people waiting had been there for six hours but we just walked up and got a spot one row back, Ha. The premiere was for The Prestige and we saw Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johanssen and Sir Michael Caine. It was the real works with lighting, flame throwers, smoke machines and magicians working the crowd. What a random thing to come across.
Since Sunday we have been bumming around the hostel getting organizedd for work, getting a phone number, bank account etc etc. What fun.
Photos: What a pretty sunset, Hugh Jackman

Trying all the meals

2006-11-02T19:00:00.000Z

We like food. Anyone who knows us knows this and we have come across some interesting dishes over the last three months.
Might just describe a few:
Salo: Ukrainian pig lard with spices. Slice and serve on bread. Really tasty with beer.
Borsch: Ukrainian beetroot soup, not bad.
Tochitura: Romanian stew served with polenta, cheese and a fried egg. Contains all sorts of meat but the sausage in it gives flavour. Adam got hooked on his first one but the many he tried following could never reach those heights again.
Ciorba du Burta: Romanian cow stomach sour soup, really, really good. Kinda like calamari. It is normal to receive a small plate of chillies with any soup to munch on, burn your mouth and then drink your soup with a real sense of need.
Practically all Bulgarian food: The salads covered in grated feta, the grilled meats, the one pot casserole type things, baked feta dishes, the stuffed vegetables, the thick creamy yoghurt with jam or honey, the feta, the wine,the feta, the feta.

Breakfast has been an interesting experience. Sometimes we didn't know if we should be grateful for it being provided or not. Ukraine won the strange breakfast vote with chicken casserole, franks and spaghetti, eggs and peas and the relatively normal pancakes all being offered while we were there, we are sure vodka would readily be available for breakfast if requested.

Pizza was a staple food in Romania for all Romanians. There historical ties with Italy are taken seriously in the restaurant business and every town had a pizza bar. Even if you couldn't find a shop for bread or water you would find a pizza place. Boy were we sick of pizza by the time we got to Bucharest but it was often a case of pizza or starve. Seeing that Pizza Hut is a top notch affair in Bucharest only highlighted the importance of this food here. The awful truth is the pizza wasn't that flash anywhere we went and it is customary to douse your pizza in ketchup, mayonnaise or any other condiment at hand.

Have we mentioned we enjoy Bulgarian cooking? And the feta?

We are sure there is more we could mention but after so long and so much food it is hard to remember. Too much vodka, wine, beer and palinka to go with the food maybe?

Yes or No?

2006-11-02T18:50:00.000Z

Something we almost forgot to add. These crazy guys in Bulgaria shake their head for yes and nod for no. We knew this would be a challenge but had no idea how much we are programmed to read body language over spoken word.
When asking someone: Does this bus go to....? Can I do my laundry? Can I print from this machine? etc and we get a yes answer we have often walked away thinking, 'Gee, they were grumpy' only to realize that it was because we were picking up mixed messages from their spoken word and body language.
We have noticed that people we have dealt with in hospitality who know we are foreigners are very careful to watch our mouths and listen carefully as it is impossible to not nod or shake your head when speaking to someone with either your broken Bulgarian or their broken English.
Eva walked away from a bus thinking it didn't go where we wanted and we met some guys who kept thinking cab drivers didn't want their fare when asking to get to such or such location. The whole experience has been mindblowing and we have tested how much we nod or shake in normal conversation with each other. We can go about two sentences!
Try it at home, it's hard. Let alone in a hurried conversation where sign language is normally your savior!

Sofia for the last time (on this trip anyway)

2006-11-02T18:33:00.000Z

We arrived in Sofia yesterday determined to finish off our shopping and get a whole bunch of stuff done (including this blog). We managed about 75%. We finally found some jeans that fit Eva although Adam had some body issues as we failed to find shoes in his size (have we mentioned how little they are over here?) and grabbed some warm tops just in time. We woke up this morning and it was rainy and drizzly and cold. Less than a week ago we were sweating in Veliko Tarnavo and now freezing in Sofia. About two 'o' clock we were walking along when the light rain started suspiciously swirling and we realized it had started to snow. Adam was in weather spotters heaven forgetting that we still hadn't managed to find him a travel thermometer.
We just got back from dinner and the snow has started gathering on cars and other such objects although still melting on contact with the ground, our new jackets kept us toasty and warm and it was so much nicer than rain!
One disappointing thing about today was that we didn't manage to meet Dobrinka, one of Matt's (Stuart's Matt)friends he has been chatting to for ages on the net. We had swapped several emails but due to us leaving things way to much to the last minute and our phones not liking each other things fell through. We are quietly confident that we may return to Bulgaria one day (it rocks!) so we will keep in touch with Dobi and maybe be a little more organized next time.
We are now in our hostel, which we have to ourselves. That is apart from Natasha who has been here every time we have stayed. She is a middle aged housekeeper/receptionist/mum for the hostel and we are fairly convinced she works 24/7, sleeping on the couch in the common room and being generally great. We are getting more and more edgy about going to London tomorrow. Although previously we have been changing beds every couple of days and seeing so many different things this feels like the biggest change yet and scarier than leaving home even as there seem to be so many more unknowns. Hmm, better go pack.

Varna and Veliko Tarnavo

2006-11-02T18:03:00.000Z

After enjoying a night in Nesebar and considering spending another we instead grabbed a bus to Varna, another coastal town. This town was split by pedestrian strips as Burgas had been which made for very pleasant wandering. We visited another Roman ruin, this time a thermal bath complex which is apparently one of the largest ruins of it's kind. It was awfully large and again smack bang in the city centre but without much explanation it didn't really have a huge impact. There were a few very well preserved columns and pipes from the heating system but a lot was left up to the imagination.
We decided to visit the waterfront park which had a kind of packed up feel to it. There were heaps of bars, clubs and cafes which must only operate in Summer. After seeing Crimea in peak season we can only imagine how busy it would get. The beach was great with clear water and real sand so we sat for a while enjoying the view. Once again however the chain smoking, littering crew had been through before us though so the whole beach was covered in butts, yuk!
We only spent one night in Varna although we once again considered staying another night, this time with the intention of revisiting the Halal restaurant we had eaten at the night before, really, really tasty! We figured we would be able to get equally tasty food elsewhere (hadn't been confident of that in either Ukraine and Romania) and so grabbed yet another bus to Veliko Tarnavo. The bus trip was great in a new bus which even showed a movie, although it was Universal Soldier.
Veliko Tarnavo is one of the major tourist draws in Bulgaria. It is built on the side of a river gorge and the town twists along until you reach the ruins of an ancient fortress. The fortress was similar to the one at Kamyanets-Podilsky in Ukraine only much larger. Almost every piece of land inside the restored walls has ruined building foundations on it with a few bits and pieces being restored a little. Another similarity to Kamyanets was that we were free to clamber over everything in sight which would have been fun if not for the humidity. Unlike Kamyanets Eva did not leave with a gigantic bruise on her behind. Thank goodness.
We ended up staying four nights in Veliko Tarnavo. We originally had plans to visit another town but decided to stay put for a while before heading back to Sofia and on to London. Our decision to stay put was also prompted by the fact we had a hotel room with a balcony overlooking the gorge, how could we leave!?!
We ended up doing a bunch of shopping in Veliko Tarnavo as the prices in Bulgaria are a fair bit cheaper than what we think we'll come up against in London. The whole shopping experience was slightly (hugely), stressful for Eva as jeans above the equivalent of an Aussie size eight do not appear to be available. When explaining with various embarrassing mimes that the jeans being brought to us by the assistant were too small we received looks ranging from blank to amazed that it was possible for someone not to fit these jeans. It didn't help that the first pair Adam tried on fit, looked good and were cheap! After considering binge eating for a day we instead settled on a new pair of shoes and lots of comforting words.
Photos: View from out room in Veliko Tarnavo, Two dorks on a beach in Varna, Street in Veliko Tarnavo

Nesebar

2006-10-31T10:13:00.000Z

Nesebar is a little town positioned on what was once an island before it was connected to the mainland with an artificial spit about 2000 years ago. The island is only 700m by 300m and is a really well preserved old town chock full of ruined Byzantine era churches. We tried at first to get our bearings in the windy roads by going 'Ah, that's that amazing ruined church we walked past earlier' only to realize it was in fact another ruin entirely-cool.
We had read that Nesebar was probably going to be the most expensive place we visited in Bulgaria so we had our teeth gritted when we went to find a place to stay but ended up getting a modern double room with a balcony and an amazing view on the waterfront for 30 leva (about $25 AUD). Yay for offseason pricing! Apparantly the town comes up really well on Google earth and you can see the reefs around the spit. There are ruins underwater as well which were submerged several thousand years ago when the sea level rose, the diving would be incredible off here.
After crawling all over the town seeing the ruins and the fishing boats coming in with their catches and selling them straight from the dock we settled in on our balcony to watch the sun set. We really had a magic time in Nesebar.
Photos: Just some ruins, Sunset from our balcony, Fishing boat from our balcony, Mmm not quite warm enough for a swim.

From the Mountains to the Coast

2006-10-31T09:44:00.000Z

We left Bansko the day after Eva's birthday via a narrow gauge railway that was supposed to be an amazingly scenic trip. The fact that it would take us 7 hours to get to our destination on the train when a bus could have taken about 3 hours we figured would be offset by the scenery. The trip didn't quite live up to our expectations although there was about an hour of going through an amazing gorge.
We arrived in Plovdiv pretty knackered from travel but found a nice private room to stay in at the back of an old lady's house with cats everywhere in the yard. Bulgaria appears to have fixed up the stray dog problem somehow as there are hardly any around but that has left a big gaping hole which has been well and truly filled by cats. The place is crawling with them!
Plovdiv is Bulgaria's second largest city and we spent a day wandering around their old town. We were a little disappointed as a lot of the buildings were in a pretty bad way or in the middle of being fixed up so we didn't really get a good feel for the place. We were very impressed by the Roman ruins scattered around the whole town however. A massive amphitheatre was found after a landslide in 1972 and there are other bits and pieces everywhere, in underpasses, behind office blocks etc. It is amazing seeing how a modern city is built around all the preserved ruins, what a pain for developers!
We grabbed a train from Plovdiv to a the largest Black Sea city Burgas. We met some really nice people on the train who looked after us and made sure we were on the right carriage when the train split in two at a junction. Everyone is so helpful and kind here we don't even need to ask for help when we get lost or need a hand as someone always offers first. The train ended up breaking down which extended the trip by about an hour, Adam reckons it was because the engine was made by Skoda (a Czech car manufacturer).
We only spent one night in Burgas before moving on to a smaller town but the town was cut in quarters by two pedestrian strips which made it really enjoyable to walk around without having to worry about cars running you over (this is a real concern and very, very annoying-the cars park on the footpaths so you have to walk on the road). We went to a Chinese restaurant for tea and made the mistake of not looking at the portion weights and ended up with three 800g serves. We ate what we could, surreptitiously threw the resident cat a couple of bits (it liked the spicy sauce) and then rolled home to bed. It was great waking up to the sound of seabirds in the morning before heading on to Nesebar.
Photos: Roman ruins in the middle of the main shopping area, Bulgarian revival housing in the old town of Plovdiv

Happy Birthday to Me

2006-10-24T11:57:00.000Z

After Melnik we decided to get mountainous again and headed to a town called Bansko which is a ski village during winter (obviously) . We had planned to stay only one night but due to erratic public transport where three busses a day means one at 6:30, one at 7:00 and one at 7:30 we stayed two. This was just as well as the next day, Eva's birthday, was much nicer and left a better impression of the town. We had great views of the mountains above us and exploring the cobbled streets with babushkas clambering over them was loads of fun. A phone call with Mum and Dad T and Chris in the morning was great, although strange to hear everyone's voices after quite a few weeks.
At lunch time we were in for a rude shock when we went to order a birthday beer and the waiter explained in broken English 'No beer, Bulgaria problem, no beer tomorrow' This we took to mean as there was a national sobriety day or some such thing and as we looked around in horror ('Not on my birthday, nooooooo' cries Eva) we realized that in fact no one was drinking at any of the outdoor cafes or bars. We then recalled that the previous night on the news they were showing footage of bottleshops etc. and had assumed it was something about a drinking problem-turns out we were right.
We recovered from our shock fairly quickly and reflected that out of the countries we have so far visited Ukraine would probably benefit greatly from a similar campaign and if anything a smoke free day was what Bulgaria needed. To add to the strangeness of the afternoon the belltower of the central church rang every 15 seconds for over an hour - interesting for the first minute, irritating for the next 59.
After we tuned out the bell and some more wandering and relaxing we decided that a brilliant dinner was what we needed to celebrate and as we were looking around for a cosy mehana (traditional tavern) we noticed that people were once again having drinks in the cafes, perhaps the tolling broke the curse? We will never know.
We could now enjoy our brilliant dinner with a couple of beers and to finish a drink of Rakia (the local grape brandy). Have we mentioned how good the food is in this country - Wow!! We are definitely doing an entry on food at the end of this trip, it has all been so different but we have certainly finished up in the tastiest country. A phone call from the other side of the world (guess who) was a great surprise and all up we both had a great day.
Photos: Another cobbled street (watch your ankles), Mountains behind Bansko.

Aaah, small towns

2006-10-24T11:24:00.000Z

After having spent some time in large cities over the last couple of weeks we were relieved to be heading out into smaller towns around Bulgaria.
We first visited Rila Monastery, not really a town but a handful of hotels around the monastery to cater to both pilgrims and tourists alike. We arrived fairly late in the day and decided to leave the monastery till morning although from the outside it looked huge and quite impressive. We instead spent the evening wandering around looking up into the mountains the monastery is set in and feeling just how cold the weather up at higher altitudes is starting to get.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast at the very popular bakery which sold nothing but yoghurt, bread and donuts. The place was packed possibly because it is the only place to grab anything and it is directly opposite the entry to the monastery.
We then headed to the monastery and were lucky enough to be some of the only tourist there although the place was packed with locals there for the morning service. Everyone had sprigs of herbs to take into church, a few had brought bread to pass out at the entrance and the place was buzzing. Well maybe not buzzing but ringing as the monks inside the church kept up a chant all morning which was magic. We ended up spending some time looking around and we even saw a farmer bring (drag) a lamb in to be blessed by one of the monks. We in fact spent an awful lot of time out the front of the monastery as well as it is very poorly served by public transport and the bus did not come till two. So we got to observe the comings and goings for several hours including the police directing traffic, the mob looking people parked out the front doing who knows what and the fast moving nun running around distributing food to a beggar and a group of elderly pilgrims.
Once the bus came we began our journey to Melnik which included catching two other buses and was only successful due to very good luck with connections. Arriving in Melnik was strange as it was a town we had talked about visiting for ages and yet we weren't too sure what to expect. With a population of 240 but a roaring tourist trade due to the wine produced there Melnik was wonderfully quiet when we visited. We spent a day and a half eating delicious food and sampling Ok wines (even arguing with a cellar owner about Australian wines - he started it) and checking out the ruins spread around the town. The town is only 20 km north of the Greek border and boy did it feel like we were in a totally different region. Much dryer, the food is soooo much better and donkeys have replaced horses.
After all the wine we decided it was time for some fresh mountain air and headed onwards again.

Photos: The main street in Melnik, View of Melnik, The mass moved outside the church for a while, The church inside the monastery walls, The monastery and the mountains.

Now into Bulgaria

2006-10-24T11:15:00.000Z

After having a couple more days wandering around Budapest (did we mention what a nice city it is?) we caught our flight back to Bulgaria, which in itself was fun, for the first time we had to check in our luggage, just before we started queuing (loosely termed) a call come over the P.A. 'paging a Mr. Adam Yacoumis, can you please come to the ticket counter' not bad in Hungarian. Adam then got ushered away back through customs and into a little dingy room, where he had to wait for an air Marshall to be present. He was then informed that they believed that he may be carrying some sort of illegal device in his luggage (What the?), he was then read the riot act, in Hungarian, at least that was what it sounded like. He then had to open up his luggage, the so called bomb thing turned out to be our phone and camera chargers, phew! Thank goodness because we didn't remember packing a bomb. He was then allowed back through customs and onto the flight. We also got a chance to give Ryan a call for his 8th birthday it was great talking to him and the others, sounds like he had a great birthday.
We spent a day in Sofia which was still raining and apparently had been constantly for about a week. It was a pleasant town, fairly modern but with loads of churches to duck into out of the rain and to have a look around. There is however a limit to how many churches can be tolerated in one day so after checking out the amusing changing of the guard ceremony and the archeological museum we spent the evening chilling out and booking our flights to the UK.
We have set the date for the 3rd of November and are flying Bulgaria air to Gatwick airport which should be interesting. Kinda scary thinking we are going to be job hunting and paying through the nose in England soon.
Photos: Guards at the Presidency, Hot springs in the middle of Sophia.

Rocktober!!!!!

2006-10-24T10:58:00.000Z

The time had come to meet up with Stuart, Melanie and Kebab in Budapest and boy were we excited waiting for them to rock up at the hotel we had all booked months earlier. They had made T-shirts up with the Rocktober details as gifts which was totally awesome.
On the first night we had a tops time with Adam and Stuart making up for the last 2 months of not catching up for drinks once a week which resulted in Adam being pretty useless on the sightseeing the next day. (Bloody Palinka!)
Despite Adam's temporary illness we spent four days walking around Budapest, the markets, bridges and old town as well as making a day trip out to Godollo palace with the guys, catching up on each others trips and having a few drinks.
The Friday night before Stuart and Melanie left was loads of fun, with an asianesc dinner followed by drinks and then a few more drinks in the form of some very tasty cocktails, listening to a Russell Crowe look alike playing the guitar.
Four days passed VERY quickly and it was strange to see Stuart and Melanie off on Saturday morning. Time just flew by, it was great fun and really weird to catch up with people you know on the other side of the world.
Photos: Rocktober uniform (cheers Logan), The Rocktober team, Eva and Melanie horsing around, View of Parliament from Buda, Stairway to nowhere (Random stairway in Stuart and Melanie's room), Eva practising for the UK, Paprika!!!!!!

Bucharest-Sofia-Budapest

2006-10-24T10:55:00.000Z

We spent a day or two in transit first hopping on a train from Bucharest to Sofia. Spent a night there in what seemed a lovely but rainy city before hopping on our first budget European airline flight to Budapest, all in all a lot of miles covered on the way to Rocktober!!!!

Play Police

2006-10-24T10:50:00.000Z

On our way to the train station in Bucharest we had the fairly unpleasant experience of almost getting scammed. We were walking along when a bloke came up to Adam blabbing about something, Eva thought he was a cab driver and kept walking as that usually gets rid of them quickly enough but by now he had stepped in front of Adam and explained that he was a Ukrainian tourist who wanted directions to the Intercontinental Hotel, yeah right! As soon as Adam said 'Umm, yeah that way' and went to walk off two other heavies rocked up and blocked his way. By now Eva thought to stop and return, just as the two new guys were spinning a line something like 'We are Romanian police. This man is a very dangerous drug dealer from Ukraine, heroin, cocaine, you are speaking to him so we want your passport to see who you are' Not particularly believable at the best of times and the badge that got flashed which had written clearly on it Play Police didn't help but that didn't change the fact we were in some Bucharest suburb with three big thugs surrounding us. Now is probably the time to thank all those people out in Cyberspace and guidebook world for the advice we have read on scams like this (and thank ourselves for the research we have done). We started to explain that yes we will show them our passports at the nearest police station we could walk to and we would be more than happy to cooperate once there.
There followed a lot of yelling of 'identification please!' and other such things but we held our nerve (all the while waiting to get bashed by three Romanian thugs) and they eventually gave up.
The funniest part was when they attempted to keep up the ruse by shaking Adam's hand and thanking him for his cooperation, hilarious in hindsight but scary as at the time.

Bucharest

2006-10-07T11:10:00.000Z

We arrived in Bucharest in the evening after a very long (8hrs), hot train trip and crashed pretty much straight away in a place near the station. The next morning we set out to a hostel closer to the centre and after settling in there had a bit of a nasty morning discovering our inner demons. After some food and a sit down we were ready to try the city out in a better frame of mind and organised tickets on to Sofia for Saturday night-it's really hard to believe it is almost time to leave Romania.
Bucharest was a very busy place and it took a bit of getting used to after all the quiet places we have been visiting. After wandering around for a day getting our bearings we set out on a bit of a walking tour starting on the large boulevard Ceasescu wiped out 1/6 of Bucharest to build. We had read a lot about this area and the general consensus was that the whole area was hideous but it was actually amazing. Sure it was no picturesque old town but the scale and grandeur of it all as well as the uniformity of the architecture sure had an impact.
At the end of the boulevard is the Palace of Parliament which Ceasescu never actually saw completed. The place is freaking huge!!!! It is the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon, crazy. The tour we went on took us through some of the most spectacular halls but only covered around five percent of the building. Our guide had only ever seen about fifteen percent. To give some idea of how over the top this building is the 4 curtains in one room weighed a combined total of 1 tonne, velvet of course with real gold trim.
We continued walking through the city and passed through the squares where the 1989 revolution really exploded. The old securitate building is just a shell left standing as a reminder of the old regime and there are crosses all over the place commemorating the 1000 or so people who died over a couple of days in the capital. Once we started looking we found bullet holes everywhere, some still with bullets hanging in there. We really were speechless thinking about just how recent all this was.
To get over our speechlessness we found -yet another- beer festival. Besides it had started raining and we needed to shelter somewhere. Several beers and a plate of German sausage later we didn't mind the rain so much and decided to make a night of it and hit a really nice bar, sampling a few cocktails and acquiring the coolest Bacardi swizzle stick in the process.
We spent our last day in Romania hitting the shops for supplies for our overnight train trip and trying to find a new Tshirt each, Saturday is definitely shopping day over here, everywhere was packed.
We then headed to the train station, on the way having a nasty experience and left the country in a rather paranoid mindset, more about that later.

Corvin Castle

2006-10-07T10:59:00.000Z

We had wanted to visit Corvin Castle in Hunedoara from Sibiu originally but had not been able to hook up transport so instead did it on the way from Timisoara through to Bucharest. We planned to stay in a nearby town called Deva but when we arrived and the entire town had no water (and the hotels still wanted to charge $100AUD) we decided to move on to Hunedoara itself and try our luck.
We went straight to the castle as the afternoon was wearing on which hampered us somewhat looking around as we had our packs. Did I mention how cool this castle was!?! The whole thing is about as intact as you'll find and had all the turrets and towers you could ask for, oh and a drawbridge!
Despite the discomfort caused by carrying our packs around (it was hot too, 30 degrees) and the slightly unfriendly staff we really enjoyed the castle and the view from the window over the miles and miles of abandoned, slowly crumbling industry. Quite a contrast.
We then made our way to the town's one hotel, described in our guidebook as a 'dingy, flea-ridden place' best to be avoided. Well at least if had still been like that it would have been cheap! Instead it had undergone a major facelift and set us back what we would have paid in Deva. At least we had water. Did I mention how cool the castle was???

Photos: The view from Corvin castle, Corvin castle

Sighet to Timisoara

2006-10-07T10:36:00.000Z

We arrived in Sighet in the north of Maramures (back up near the border with Ukraine again) and strangely enough found a cigarette market!! So this is where they end up. There were border police everywhere in the town but obviously have a blindspot for this little market.
Sighet wasn't a particularly pleasant town but contained a prison in Ceausescu's time for anti party folk and was very cruel, starving and torturing prisoners. It now contains a museum covering the communist period in all of the satellite states and all of the various cruelties etc. The museum is rated up there with Auchwitz for it's representation of the past and certainly had a similar effect on us although not to the scale of Auchwitz.
We had a particularly friendly doorman at our hotel in Sighet who gave us a shot of palinka on our way to our room, and when he was our waiter that night continued to bring us shots and said (through the translation of the receptionist) that he'd keep bringing it as long as we wanted, all for free of course. The fact he looked like Robin Williams made him even more endearing, crazy.
From Sighet we caught a bus back through Baia Mare (no sign of the dolls) and on to Oradea. We weren't too stoked to be back on a minibus but our driver did very well given the state of the road. We had heard they were bad, and thought we had seen the worst of it but this was ridiculous. Almost beyond description really but it had the effect of jackhammering your spine into the base of your skull, yuk.
Oradea was a very sleepy town, leaving us with not much to do or see but spend a pleasant day wandering around watching a bunch of men fishing and waiting for somewhere to open to feed us (the hotel doesn't do brekkie on Sundays-must be a fast day for all travelers or something). The receptionist at the hotel was nice though asking what Australia was like and if we really have that many snakes and spiders.
From Oradea we grabbed a train to Timisoara, the town where the 1989 revolution began. The town was really pretty with three squares and lots of nice old buildings next to the newer cement ones. The protesting started here when Father Tokes spoke out against the government and was arrested. There were about 100 deaths in the following few days. It was strange walking around realizing that anyone over the age of 28 or so would remember the revolution or may have lost someone in it.
Photos: Some bloke we met in Timisoara, Think we should ask for Royalties?

Maramures

2006-10-07T09:54:00.000Z

Maramures is a region in northern Romania which holds what is generally held as the last stronghold of true rural Europe, people living and farming much as they have since medieval times. We planned to base ourselves in a central village in the Mara valley and to hike to neighbouring villages but our plans didn't really last very long...
We grabbed a bus from Cluj-Napoca to Baia Mare (big mine-a predictably nasty looking town) and from there another bus which was headed for Sighet at the entrance to the Mara valley.
The first bus trip was no fun as Adam was busting to go to the loo the whole time, and when we arrived we dashed off the bus so quickly we forgot the package containing the Russian dolls we had been lugging across mountains etc for the last five weeks. By the time we realized what had happened the bus was long gone. The package was addressed and all too. We might have to chase down some Romanian dolls or something....
We grabbed some pizza in between buses which led to the next trip being doubly as unenjoyable as the first. Eva's stomach disagreed with the pizza - violently. After an hour of chills, spasms etc. Eva stopped the bus on an isolated hill top in the middle of a forest, leaving Adam to lug the bags off and tell the driver not to bother waiting as we had no idea how long we would be.
After that problem had resolved itself we were left with the entirely new problem of being stuck on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. We knew another bus was due to go by in several hours but didn't really feel like hanging around not knowing if it would even stop for us as we weren't at a bus stop. Eva voted for hitching and Adam voted for walking. After every car that went past in a 15 minute window was either flash (therefore not picking up feral backpackers) or full (the one place they carpool!!) we were left with walking, Thankfully the roads here are very well signposted so we knew the next village was 12 km away and that we had about 3 hours of sunlight left, we got cracking.
The road was marked at every kilometre and we were walking at 6kmph (downhill thankgoodness) through very pretty forest. Unfortunately it was a little hard to enjoy as we had no idea if the village we were heading to even had a place to stay or even a shop and our worries were confirmed as we finally arrived and the place was a one street affair. They had a shop though so we stocked up a drink (frutti fresh saved our lives) and decided to try the next town which was only another km away.
We were walking through such a pretty village it was hard not to appreciate, with huge wood carved gateways and matching woodcarving on the homes themselves. When we rolled into the next town and saw a sign for a pension we almost fainted, they even had nanna out the front making jam over a fire with an ancient wooden mixing device.
The place was really, really nice and cheap too. We got to have dinner with the couple who run the pension (well he drives trucks, she manages the home). Everything was home made, the soup, bread, dessert and most importantly the palinka! They were a fairly young couple with a fourteen year old daughter and an eight year old son and they were passionate about their heritage, showing us photos of weddings and occasions where they had all the traditional dress on. They even had the 24hr culture channel on TV and seemed to enjoy it!
The next morning we were pretty sore but hiked on to the village we had originally planned to stay at, Ocna-Sugatag, another eight kilometres on. The countryside is wonderful, we passed so many people making haystacks, doing the washing up outside, making jam and heaps of old ladies lugging huge loads on their backs in baskets. It was quite a timewarp and once again there were loads of horses and carts trotting by, even the odd ox-drawn cart.
The next day we decided to visit a nearby protected peat bog instead of a village as we were keen to see some wildlife. We took a picnic and got to see more village life on the way. Arriving at the bog we sat for AGES not moving or talking hoping to see something living but to no avail. We did see a pretty cool nature at work moment though when a wasp stunned a caterpillar on a leaf, then when the wasp realized the caterpillar had dropped to the ground it in turn dropped straight off the leaf to get a search area figured out. It took a while but just as the caterpillar was waking up the wasp found it-brutal.
When we thought that was all we would see we stepped in some long grass and YAY!!! FROGS!!! We spent the next half hour searching for frogs and scaring the daylights out of the poor little things.
We bussed it out to a larger town the next day but rural Maramures was definitely a highlight so far.
Photos: Strip farming, Wooden gate, More scenery

Cluj-Napoca

2006-10-07T09:42:00.000Z

Our next stop from Sighisoara was Cluj-Napoca, a largish town with a big university population. We didn't do much sightseeing but just kinda wandered around for a day and a half. We had to get Adam a new pair of shoes as his CAT shoes had worn through to the leather, in three months! Not happy! We stayed in our first hostel for the trip which was a cool little joint near the centre, Cluj had a really hip feel to it after we got used to being in a bigger city again. Lots of funky looking bars and restaurants and generally just pleasant architecture though the centre. Not a bad spot really....

I just called to say I love you........

2006-10-05T11:30:00.000Z

We will be updating our blog very soon, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused to any of our avid readers. We have been in fairly isolated places and we havent found the time, we have just arrived in Bucharest so we should have the chance soon. PS. emails will follow too :)

Mapping our past..

2006-09-25T12:09:00.000Z

We have added a map on our page that acts as a link on the sidebar. Let us know if you have any problems using it.

Holiday Homes

2006-09-25T09:29:00.000Z

Current holiday home count: 24 in 49 days.
And they're all soooo different.

Tree Huggers

2006-09-25T09:12:00.000Z

Something we are having more and more trouble with over here is the litter. Not just a little bit but excessive amounts. So the rubbish man didn't come this morning, take your bin to the side of the river to empty it. So you had a picnic and are too full to pack up, just walk away! On the train and just leaving your empty drink bottle under the seat isn't goods enough, see how far you can throw it!!!!!!!!!!
What is awful is the totally unnecessary nature of littering. Romania has an awful industrial record. One town we visited had an aluminum plant and carbon factory based there in the Eighties and two thirds of the children showed sign of mental illness at that time. When we went through the abandoned factories are still standing and are pitch black, along with the surrounding houses. Apparently they saw white snow for the first time in a long time not long ago. There was also the gold mine disaster several years ago which resulted in cyanide being released into the drinking water of thousands of people, to the Danube and through to the Black Sea (an Australian company was the major shareholder in the mine).
These disasters are awful but we find it easier to understand how companies and industries pollute than we understand how people just have no care for their immediate surroundings. It is hard to describe the scale of it really but we are both disgusted at times by the piles and piles we come across.
We are VERY lucky in Australia.

Sighisoara

2006-09-25T08:59:00.000Z

Sighisoara is a smallish town (36000 people or so) and is centred on a little hill upon which the old citadel is perched. We were lucky enough to stay in a place inside the citadel and this part of the town feels like it hasn't changed for a very long time. There are covered walkways, narrow cobbled streets, ancient houses and even more ancient city walls (still intact all the way around!). There are two churches inside the citadel walls and one a fair way outside. This one was for victims of the plague and other infectious diseases. Smart people.
We made an attempt at riding a pair of bikes to some outlying towns but given that Adam had no brakes, Eva's bike was stuck in the highest gear (or the chain would come off) and it felt like they would fall apart over all the cobblestones, made for an interesting morning not getting out of the towns limits, but good fun. It was beginning to rain anyway so we spent the arvo looking around a good history museum and the citadel's two churches.
If every we were going to search for a location to shoot a movie set in the 16th century (OK not likely) this would have to win so far. To think there were actually impalings, hangings and witch trials right in the sweet little square was a bit off putting though.
Photos: Rooftops in the old town, a bastion

Sibiu

2006-09-25T08:38:00.000Z

We spent two days in Sibiu wandering around the old town with little windy roads, stairways up between buildings and town walls which were still partially standing. It was very pretty but there was one thing interupting our enjoyment (and I'm sure the local's enjoyment) and that was roadworks.
Roadworks, Roadworks, Roadworks. Almost every road was in the process of being dug up. That is without any exaggeration either. If you weren't on a road with roadworks on it you could at least see roadworks at either end. The thing which amazed us was the fact that you were free to walk through what was essentially a city wide construction zone, dodging massive 6 ft deep holes and traipsing through mud and freshly laid concrete. Not so amazing really when you consider that if you weren't able to cross these zones you would end up in some type of house arrest.
We found out that the reason for the rush on roadworks was 'Sibiu 2007', an event which selected Sibiu as 'the centre of culture' for 2007. It is a Europe wide event so they obviously were putting the polish on quicksmart. Somehow we doubt they'll be finished in time but at least everything will be covered in snow for the first couple of months.
We made a trip out to Sibiu's open air ethnographic museum which was a huge complex containing full villiage set ups including wells, windmills, workshops, houses churches-everything. Eva was running around looking at everything but it took a dose of food for Adam to see the light and enjoy himself. Or it might have had something to do with watching a bunch of fishermen pull a few carp in and us seeing loads of frogs the size of our palms launching themselves into the water as we walked along the banks of the lake, way more fun than looking at a bunch of old houses.
We left Sibiu for Sighisoara but not before we climbed throught our last pile of roadworks outside the train station. Oh the memories.
Photos: Some Roma in Sibiu

Bran

2006-09-25T08:13:00.000Z

The morning after we arrived in Bran we thought we should probably get to the castle early before all the other tourists arrived. We ended up having the place almost to ourselves which was nice but the castle itself was not really as interesting as others we have seen (Oh aren't we getting spoilt). There is a very pretty inner courtyard but most of the place was extensively renovated in the early 1900 so kinda lost it's medieval feel.
We ended up hunting through the markets at the bottom for a deck of Dracula themed playing cards to mix with our other deck so we could play Rummikin. We didn't succeed on getting Dracula themed ones but still grabbed a deck and spent much of the evening trying to figure out how to prop 14 cards on pillows to play one another.
The following day we ran into (for the second time) the issue of most tourist sites being closed on Mondays. You may ask why we don't take Mondays into account in our planning.....What planning!?!?
We did a bit of ringing around to see what we might be able to get out to but it was no use. There was only one thing for it, a day of rest. We loaded up on some wine, a bottle of Palinka (a local strong brandy), a stick of sausage, some bread thingos and headed for the hills. We found a nice spot with a view and sat there for about six hours consuming our treats, and somehow Adam got bitten by a horse. Definitely our best experience of Bran!
The following day we left Bran to visit Rasnov citadel then on to Sibiu. Rasnov was great, although still in the process of being reconstructed what was there gave a really good feel of what the place would have been like 500 years ago. In fact the ruins being worked on out the back heightened the sense of history. Oh, Eva made friends with a donkey too.
We then began yet another epic public transport trip to Sibiu. We are still in awe that a train can take an hour to cover 40 km. No it isn't steep or windy, it's just that every farmhouse along the way constitutes a stop. Interesting at first but....
Due to the long trip to Sibiu and the fact it took us five hotels before we found one with rooms we weren't in the best of moods when we arrived. Our first impressions were not tainted though, Sibiu is a beautiful old town...
Photos: Bran Castle, Horse and cart, Adam trying to play Rummikin

Once again..

2006-09-17T12:08:00.000Z

We have once again been able to update photos. Some go back as far as Ukraine so if you want to check them out have a browse. It may seem a little out of sequence- long story.

The descent into Bran

2006-09-17T11:41:00.000Z

After a coffee and a pack of biscuits for brekkie over which we chopped our map in two for Will and Simon who had lost theirs (lucky we were traveling in opposite directions) we set of for Bran.
The sign at Omu said the walk should take 41/2 to 5 hours and our guidebook said 6 so planning on about 61/2 we figured we should be OK but knackered when we arrived in Bran.
The walk was amazing as we descended from the tundra through alpine pine thickets to pine forests, then to logging roads into the town.
This however was no easy descent. It was a 1700 metre drop over 15 km. Most of the drop occurred in the first 8 km though. At times we thought we should have brought along some rock climbing gear as we slid down loose gravel, sheer slopes and amazing dropoffs. With the occasional landslide blocking our path as well.
Crazily enough we actually passed some people coming the other way. No joke, they were insane. The sign in Bran puts the uphill climb to eight hours and we'd add a bit on to that. Mad.
So, the path eventually leveled off and we worked out we had been walking for seven hours pretty much straight, thank goodness for good backpacks!
Coming into Bran was somewhat of an anticlimax however, this was definitely a case of the journey being worth more than the destination! We came around a corner all of a sudden to see busloads of tourists swarming around the tacky, Dracula themed markets at the foot of Bran castle.
We were sooo knackered by this stage we found a place to stay, grabbed some food (squeezed in time for some washing-grrr) and crashed!
Photos: Our first Autumn colour, Another stunning view, Adam observing the view

On Top of The World

2006-09-17T10:39:00.000Z

We set out from Babele early planning to either return to Busteni that night or stay at Cabana Varful Omu on the highest peak of the Bucegi mountains. Eva had been dreaming of walking down from Mt Omu to Bran since we started planning our trip but we weren't to sure if we would be up to it as it was described as being quite tough.
We first headed towards the WWI monument we had seen hanging above Busteni the previous day. We could not see very far in front of us due to the cloud we were walking through and realized why the trail markers are spaced at 10 metre intervals. As we walked the cloud cleared up and the view emerged, it was spectacular!
On the way to the monument we saw more of the flighty deer we had seen the other day and also came across a huge hunk of ice, this reminded us just how cold we actually were. We came over a final peak and saw the gigantic cross monument which we guesstimate at about 30 metres high. We were lucky enough to be the first ones there and to have the view all to ourselves before several other hikers arrived. Once again the view was amazing.
From the monument we set out for Mt Omu which is at 2505 m. We climbed from having the clouds at eye level to being well above them. The terrain was all mountain grasses and quite beautiful, we were well above the tree line by now and when we stopped walking pretty cold too. The sky was the bluest we had ever seen it being so high up above the clouds...stunning.
We caught sight of the cabana and meteorological station perched on the peak of Omu and realized just how isolated it was. By now we were all enthused to have a crack at the Bran walk so when we hauled ourselves up to the cabana we arranged to stay the night.
The cabana was basic with no running water (and only fizzy mineral water in bottles), no electricity and a long drop squat round the side. The setting and the lovely lady running the place added to the brilliant feel of the day. Isolation can be sooo nice.
We were the first couple of people to grab a bed for the night (so we scored a room to ourselves) so we spent the arvo lazing around in the sun seeing who else would turn up and soaking up the view.
We headed into the dining room for a beer (served up with some drippings on bread-tasty) and were just wondering how many Aussies are lucky enough to stay at Omu when in walks two guys, Simon, an Aussie and Will, a Pom. They had met in Bulgaria at Rila monastery which is one of the places we hope to visit and had met up to travel this stretch of mountain together.
We spent the evening chatting to these two fellows which was tops as we hadn't had the chance to have much English conversation since Paul and Olga in Ukraine.
As the sun set the dining room got pretty dark due to the whole no electricity thing and we grabbed some sausages and mashed potatoes for tea YUM. The candles were eventually cracked out when we had to start using our torches to eat. There was probably about ten people staying there and it was lovely and cozy. To just about everyone's disbelief a couple of very well equipped but cold looking hikers spilled into the cabana at about 9 pm out of the pitch black - mad!
After a hot chocolate we headed to our bedroom which was heated by a naked gas flame, very, very cozy.

Photos: Mt Omu (If you zoom in you can see the Cabana), The WWI memorial, Eva looking like a total dork next to the block of ice we found

Silence of the Lamb

2006-09-17T10:00:00.000Z

We left Busteni early to take the cable car up to Babele, a cabana situated at the top near some rock formations. The ride up in the car was spectacular and walking up would have been out of the question, even the trees had trouble holding on to these cliffs!
We got to the cabana and dumped our packs before going for a hike down to the Ialomiciora monastery which is nested in a cave. The monastery was pretty but the coolest bit was climbing about 800m through the cave on the most rickety slippery boards ever. We got absolutely filthy but it was well worth it.
We got back to the cabana and settled in to the dining hall for the evening along with a whole bunch of workers from around the mountain and a couple of shepherds. They all got pretty rowdy and the shepherds, after some sort of argument, disappeared for about 15 minutes.
By now the whole place was surrounded by clouds so we thought maybe they had lost their flock while they were busy boozing but sure enough upon their return to the dining hall they carried in a skun, gutted sheep carcass- talk about fresh!!
One of the shepherds must have noticed us observing the goings on and decided to come make friends with Adam. After much hand waving and Romanian he gave up on us but we have a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to sell us some of the mutton he had just slaughtered.
The following morning we walked out of the cabana only to realize that the rock formations which had been covered in tourists the day before had been the site of the slaughter and was now covered in a huge pool of blood-cool.
Photos: The Babele cable car disappearing in the morning cloud, The sacrificial rock, The view of the WWI memorial from Busteni (you might have to zoom in)

These mountains are freaking HUGE!!!!

2006-09-13T14:30:00.000Z

As the title suggests we are now in the mountains of Transylvania, the Bucegi Mountains to be exact which are part of the Carpathians. We arrived in a town called Sinaia and ended up staying in a little old lady's house. She spoke not a word of English so we got to practice a bit of our Romanian on her. We have really noticed how much easier this language has been to pick up compared to Ukrainian as it is Latin based rather than Slavic based. She must have been able to understand us too which was a bit exciting as we figured out we did have a hot shower and that we could come and go as we pleased. There was a little more difficulty when she had to go shopping for half a day and had to leave the front door key with her neighbour but we figured it out. It was cool having to go through her kitchen to get to our room and passing her chickens that lived in a box, her dog, cat etc etc..
The town is in a valley with massive mountains looming over it which we decided to catch a cable car up. It was a two cable car trip with the first taking you up to 1400m and the second taking you up to 2000m. Up the top it was sunny but freezing and as we were above the tree line it was very exposed. We wandered around for a couple of hours seeing a shepherd and his flock, some deer and lots of flowers, lichen, spiders and grasshoppers. And of course plenty of jaw dropping views, lots of those.
As we descended on the cable car we realised that we had just had one of the best experiences, the mountain was just so beautiful. The best part was we knew there was more to come.
The next day we visited Peles castle which was another jaw dropper. It is the classic fairytale castle which took 39 years to build (a few months after which the king it was built for died-Doh!) and which we have decided to move into if we come across some ridiculous amount of money.
We then headed to Busteni which is at the base of another cable car up into the mountains. Tomorrow we are going up and are hoping to do a bit of walking, staying at cabanas (mountain hut thingos), and hopefully seeing some wildlife. Our current wildlife count is some frogs, some deer and two squirrels. That isn't counting the hundreds of stray dogs and cats everywhere.
We should have some amazing pics for you guys next time we can add them......
Photos: Peles Castle, Us chilling out on a mountain

Brasov

2006-09-12T14:38:00.000Z

We hit Brasov the other day, the main gateway to a lot of the sights in this part of the mountains and a beautiful town in its own right as well. We searched around for a decent place to stay and ended up in a guesthouse recommended by the trusty old guidebook. It was tucked away in a courtyard off a pretty street in the old town. We just had to walk a few streets over and we were in the old town square, perfect.
It just so happened that our arrival in Brasov coincided with a Tuborg Gold beer festival. Totally unexpected but very handy. A whole outdoor area was set up with heaps of beer tents, BBQs and a stage. We had a lot of fun sampling the cheap beer, queuing up for mici (meatball things served with mustard and bread) and getting down to awful DJs and a so-so Romanian rock band which was very popular. After seeing a big street dance party in Yalta and now this we have concluded that these guys know how to party over here, don't know what the noise pollution rules are though... You could hear the partying across town.
The next day Adam was healthy as usual and Eva was trashy as. How unfair!! As a hangover cure we took the cable car to the top of the mountain overlooking the city. The ride to the top was a bit on the queasy side but the fresh (freezing) breeze at the top was very restorative. It was very exciting getting to walk up to the huge BRASOV sign which is on the side of the mountain Hollywood style and which we had seen hanging over our heads for the last couple of days. Getting to see an aerial view of the old town was wonderful as well, with its huge defensive walls, ancient buildings and Gigantic church.
We ended up staying four nights in Brasov without seeming to do anything other than a bit of lazy sightseeing. It was just one of those places where you can spend a lot of time just soaking up the feeling of an old town and chilling out. Perhaps we stayed there so long because we knew our next stop was to the mountains where we were actually going to be doing some exercise...
One little adventure we had was trying to get out to a fortified church just out of town. We grabbed a couple of train tickets but when we pulled up at the 'station' we didn't quite know what to think. There was a house and a road and we had to jump down from the train about 1.5 m. We managed to navigate our way to the church only to find that it was closed which was pretty disappointing as from the outside it looked pretty cool. Mind you by the time we got back to Brasov (on our first minibus since 'the crash') we were pretty happy just to have gotten out to yet another tiny town for a look around what life is like over here.
Photos: Brasov main square (Note sign on hill)

Photos

2006-09-08T14:43:00.000Z

We have now added photos to some of our blog entries!!
There are descriptions at the bottom of the entry if you can't be bothered reading the whole thing again.
There aren't any recent ones as we need to burn our cards to CD to be able to upload them.

Transport issues

2006-09-08T14:22:00.000Z

We have spent a bit of time in transit in the last few days. We have thanked the fact that we are not running on any type of schedule a fair few times now. You will have already heard of our experience in crossing the border, we then had a two hour bus trip turn into a four and a half hour trip as the bus broke down.
The next time we went to catch a bus, this time to Lacul Rosu, it was flat out cancelled stranding a whole bunch of people til the next morning, ourselves included.
When we did get that bus the next morning we headed to Lacul Rosu, a resort 'town' which we had expected to be a lot larger. We were going to spend the night there but after seeing the magnificent Bicaz gorge nearby and wandering around the lake for a bit we decided to head on to Brasov that day. That involved a stop in Gheorgheni as we had not brought enough money with us to get all the way to Brasov. As we had expected Lacul Rosu to be much bigger we thought they would have ATMs (everywhere else so far has) so we were pretty much skint. Lucky we didn't want to stay the night anyway.
The next bus we jumped on was a maxi taxi, similar to marshrutkas in Ukraine but not quite as crowded. Not the best journey as there was a mother and son behind us getting terribly travel sick and stinking out the bus. We were relieved when we saw the city limits sign for Gheorgheni although our relief didn't last long. A woman turning left as we were overtaking her (silly bus driver) sideswiped us and sent us careering into a telegraph pole. BANG!
It was a scary couple of seconds before we figured out that the little girl sitting on her mum's lap and gone flying forwards was ok and that the sleeping babushka who landed in the aisle hadn't broken her hip. Oh and of course checking that we were ok too.
Actually thanks to that invention called the brake everyone escaped completely unharmed (except for Adam who has a mysterious sore arm). The telegraph pole might need replacing though, and the van.
The weirdest part of the whole experience though was that as no one was hurt, no one spoke our language and there was nothing for us to do we just put on our packs and walked the remaining ten minutes into town. How lucky that it was the town we wanted to get to in the first place.
Now just to settle down any worry warts out there, the driving here has actually been fairly sedate. A combination of shocking roads, horses and carts and livestock keep the speed limits right down even between towns. Just thought we should add that...
Photo: End of the road...

Horse and Cart

2006-09-08T14:02:00.000Z

When our guidebook mentioned that horse and cart is still the most popular mode of transport in Romania we didn't really pay it much attention. True in Suceava we saw one or two which was a novelty but we didn't really think they were that common.
That was before we hit Gura Humorului (say it!!!). Don't get us wrong, this is no little village, they have a Best Western, all the mod cons and quite a large population. So it was quite a shock when every second vehicle was a horse and cart, they're registered too.
When we visited even smaller villages the old horse and cart outnumbered cars about 20 to 1. This all provides a dreamlike quality to the landscape we have been seeing in these rural areas, haystack upon haystack, people walking around with scythes, cowbells dinging. Just like stepping back in time.

Romania Romania!!!

2006-09-08T13:34:00.000Z

Our first port of call in Romania was the town of Suceava. Immediately we realized what a different country we were now in, to begin with almost everyone we stammered our 'phrasebook Romanian' at replied to us in English (a little embarrassing) and they had much more modern music, if a little daggy. We also have seen so many more smiles, and the service!! Heaven!! Adam is now happy that we are dealing with plastic money rather than the paper hryvnia that kept disappearing in his pockets in Ukraine.
The money actually confused us for a little as they have just downsized. For example what was once 500,000 is now 50 lei. What made this so confusing was that we knew they had gone from millions to thousands in 2000 but were unaware of this more recent (December 2005) change, the old notes are still in circulation too. Kinda disappointing as we would have liked to get 21000 lei for our dollar rather than 2.1, Oh well. It doesn't help that many people haven't really adjusted to the change so we have had some very weird prices quoted to us.
We stayed a couple of nights in Suceava, seeing the town's ancient citadel and churches and getting used to a new country.
The next town we visited was Gura Humorului (say that 5 times fast) which was a little place we used to base ourselves while we visited the regions painted monasteries. These monasteries were fortified against attacks in the 1500's and as soldiers were sheltering in the grounds between battles the monks decided to paint the outside of the churches, cartoon style, with biblical stories. Amazingly they have largely survived and are pretty entertaining at that, gory too.
One of these monasteries proved to be quite difficult to get to. After a rotten morning getting lost Adam somehow stumbled on an English teacher who enlisted her daughter to take us to the correct bus stop. By bus stop we mean crowd of people at a random spot next to a paddock. Once we had seen the monastery we were then faced with the challenge of returning to Gura Humorului (say it loud) and considering busses were quite infrequent in the two street village we had landed in hitching was looking like our only option. We had seen sooo many people do it already but were quite nervous ourselves as it is not common practice in Australia. After seeing about three other people get lifts in front of us we while we waited we were saved the decision by two people in a van pulling up and asking if we needed a ride, this apparently is a common way of people covering fuel costs. We hopped in and received door to door service, brilliant. Love this place.
Photos: A painted monastery, Countryside near Gura Humorului (say it!)