Mel & Fiona's most excellent adventure

Bonjour from Paris!

Our trip to the home of fashion started out a little bit rocky when we were forced to run for our overnight train, because the connecting train was about 20 mins late. It's a little scary when you jump onto the train and then it starts moving immediately. Aside from near misses, our time in France has been wonderful (even if the weather hasn't been).

As usual we utilised the Sandeman's New Europe Walking tours to get the scope of the city. It started out with a bang. Literally. Our guide started to introduce himself and then a van collided with a motorcycle. He was okay. We think.

Our tour guide (his name is french and pronounced R-no) was most definitely the best guide we've had the whole trip. He took the group around the city of Paris for 3 and a half hours and not once were we bored. He was so good that we were easily convinced to take one of the paid tours that night because he was the guide. The Montmartre Tour at night time, was definitely one of the highlights. Montmartre is a area of Paris located on the only hill in the city. It's not a very impressive hill but the French seem to think it's steep. It's really not. The Basilica of Sacré-Cœur, the church in the area is located on the very top of the 'hill' and is the focal point of the tour. It's absolutely beautiful, a bit castle-esque and white marble on the outside, and what you intially think is paintings on the inside turn out to be all made from mosaics. It is my favourtie church in Europe. It also has a great view of Paris, unfortunately the night we went it was very foggy.

The next few days we took at a slow pace, wandering around to all the famous french monuments. We hit up Notre Dame, didn't make it up to the top to take the typical 'hunchback ringing the bells' photo as it was a little expensive, but we were able to wander around the first level for free. Notre Dame is very famous and very well located (in the middle of an island dividing the Seine river, however it's a sight that I think could be missed.

We walked all the way along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées which leads up to the Arc de Triomphe and the eternal flame. Funny story from our tour guide, apparently the supposedly 'eternal flame' has been extinguished twice in recent history. First time, a drunk American tourist urinated on it and it died. Second and more embarrassingly for us on the tour, some Australians bought some snags and had a barbeque on it. Apparently one of the sausages dropped into the flame and put it out. Both the drunk Americans and the Aussies are not allowed to return to France at all. Fiona and I felt humiliated and guilty for our fellow country men. Other than the stories about the eternal flame, the most entertaining thing to do at the Arc de Triomphe is to watch the traffic at the giant round about. There are no lanes and statistics show that there will be a accident every 15 mintues. Haha. We miss Australian roads and their very logical road rules (and lines).

The next day we made decided to climb the Eiffel Tower. When we got there we nearly had a heart attack from the size of the line. Then we realised that it was the line to take the lift up. We walked straight up to a ticket booth, and then straight up the Eiffel Tower. It pays to take the stairs. I think some of the people waiting for the lift were still there when we came down. The Eiffel Tower was worth the climb, it has some beautiful views of Paris and you could play spot the runners in the park beneath. I spotted about 20 in 2mins. People in Paris like to run. This city has the most runners of all of Europe we've seen. Italy has the least.

Even though the view from the Eiffel Tower is fantastic, funnily enough you can't get a good view of Paris with the Eiffel Tower. So we ventured to the only sky scraper (literally the only one, it's illegal for them to be built now). Visitors are able to go up to the 56th floor and get a panoramic view of Paris which includes the Eiffel Tower. Then we went shopping.

I dragged Fiona to a Vintage Thrift shop called Come on Eileen, which is supposed to have all sorts of vintage designer clothing for cheap prices. We got a little lost and spent a while walking, made a pit stop for chocolate, but we found it. I came out with a vintage [i]Celine red coat for 70 euro - very happy. And then we found Pylones. We want to live there. It sells all sorts of things, from hairbrushes to toasters. It cannot be described in words. Here's the link to their webpage. PYLONES!!! Only catch is they don't ship to Australia so we're seeing how much will fit in our bags and still be at 20kg for our flight to Dublin... We will prevail. After Pylones, we went to the Lourve and visited the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Dying Slave.

On Saturday, we took a day trip to the famous Gardens and palace of Versailles. Our tour guide led us around the gardens telling us about their history and all of the gossip about the royal family.

On the 31 Jan (Fiona's birthday) we've got a tour of the Seine, dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant and a show at the Moulin Rouge (which actually means the red windmill in french) booked. After that it's on to Ireland and the countdown to homecoming begins!!

Our top things to do in Paris:

1. Visit a Pylones store and spend all your money.
2. Have a crepe at a sort of hole in the wall crepery in the Montmatre district. WE (and every tour guide) think they are the best in Paris)
3. Visit the Lourve after 6pm on a Friday night. Under 26 years get in for free.

Adieu,

Mel and Fiona

Hola from Spain!! It has been really very warm here, I'd go as far as to say that it is more like a Brisbane winter. Our jackets even came off. Fiona was very happy.

First of all, it needs to be made clear that we were only technically in Spain for two days, as Barcelona is located in the Spanish region of Catalonia, which is wants to be independent from Spain and actually doesn't speak spanish. In Catalonia, Catalan (a mixture of french and spanish) is spoken. So technically we visited two different places in four days!!

While we were in Barcelona we discovered that the city really doesn't sleep, and when in a 16 bed dorm, neither do you. Every night our roommates would trickle back in from around 2am. We were very boring (read: 2 months travel = tired) and went to bed early most nights. However, we did discover the TravelBar, which provides free walking tours and other activities for travellers to participate in in Barcelona. We went on a Flamenco Dancing night which included a Flamenco performance and tapas.

The Flamenco dancing is absolutely amazing. The dancer's feet move so fast and it just looks really amazing. The dresses that the dancer wore were also extremely beautiful. I got a couple of action shots.

The next night we decided to go on the 'Spanish Cooking Experience'. I really enjoyed this one. First, the chef took us around the main food market in Barcelona and explained about how to pick out the right food for Spanish cooking. After this we went to a port-side bar/restaurant where the whole group was fed huge amounts of tapas, and then watched the chef make and explain how to make a traditional Catalan paella (complete with fresh mussels, clams and prawns).

After Barcelona, we took a train to Madrid, which we found is more our speed than Barcelona (at least after 2 months of travelling). We found our trusty Sandeman's Walking Tours again and got a three-hour history of Madrid and heard some interesting things about the Spanish. We also saw Madrid's main cathedral which is the embodiment of the ''do it tomorrow' mentality that the Spanish apparently have. It took 300 yrs to finish and represents the visions of at least three different architects. You can really tell.

That's all for now, on to Paris tomorrow!!

Mel and Fiona xoxox

Hi from Rome!!

After a short stay in Catania, we made it to the Italian capital and one of the most visited cities in the world - Rome or Roma as the Italians call it (all Italian names and places seem to have been changed to something else in English). We arrived on Tuesday 10th of January and our first order of business was to find something to eat; we got a giant pizza. Not as good as in Venice but still better than anything we have in Australia. Our first full day was spent in Vatican City. We were lucky enough to get an audience with the Pope because it was a Wednesday. Every Wednesday the Pope is in town anyone can book a ticket and sit in a huge auditorium and listen to the Pope and all the Cardinals talk about what is on their minds for two hours. As we were actually taking a proper tour of Vatican City with a guide, we only stayed for fifteen minutes, but it was enough to see the Pope, take pictures of the Pope and be confused by the Pope as he was speaking Italian.

My favourtie thing about Vatican City was the Swiss Guards who protect the Pope. They are the most misleadingly dressed people in the world. See below their jester-like uniform.

Do not be fooled, they not only have at least three martial arts under their belts, they also hold the power to behead you if you threaten the Pope. One of these guards had the most beautiful blue eyes and was absolutely gorgeous - Fiona and I swooned a little. Sorry Kris.

Our tour took us to the Vatican Museum, and the Sistine Chapel. Our guide made the Vatican musuem much more interesting then it would have been if we had done it by ourselves. She amused us by telling little ancedotes about how all the other artists didn't get along with Michelangelo because he had a huuuuge ego. And thought painting was an inferior art form in comparison to sculpting. Then he was ordered to do the Sistine Chapel. Which by the way is amazing. But no one is allowed to take photos because years ago, a Japanese business footed the bill for its restoration and clean up, and in exchange got the rights to all the images within the chapel for a certain amount of years. It is quite funny when you hear the guards start yelling at people who missed or didn't care about the million or so 'no picture' signs. Then they get their pictures deleted. And appartently the guards just delete as many photos as they want, whether or not they are of the Sistine Chapel.

The next day (my birthday, I'm now venti-uno), we made our way to the ruins of Pompei. It is absolutely amazing. A lot of the original art work is still visible and on the roads you can see the indents that the carts and chariots made in the stone. Hilariously, the deepest tracks are visible in the 'Red light district' of the ruins. Our guide took us into a 2000 year old brothel and showed us the 'picture menu' men passing through could choose from. Use your imagination with that one - I am a lady and as such will not write it out. Seeing the plaster moulds of people who were actually found in Pompei was very impressive, and also a little freaky. All in all Pompei was definitely worth a visit and if anyone goes there in the future, do it with the actual Pompei guides - there are loads of independent guides trying to get you along the way to Pompei but the actual employees know more and charge less. Funny that.

We also had a delcious dinner at an Italian restaurant for my birthday as well as some cup cake like pastries to celebrate my unreversible aging process.

After a long day and night out, we decided to catch an 8.30am train to Florence the next morning. Smart of us. It was a bit of a slow day, as the walking tour we found online didn't actually occur, so we had to use the Hop-on-Hop off buses instead. Don't do this in Florence. They need to change the name to "Hop on at the start of the loop, and if you want to hop off make sure you know exactly which stop it is and some stand next to the driver five minutes before we get to the stop or we won't stop, and you can't get back on at the stops unless you run after the bus waving your arms frantically for us to stop". But I suppose that would be a little lenghty. However, we did see David. He is so cool. There are veins and everything visible. It's pretty amazing.

On Saturday we took a 'Crypts and Catacombs' tour, which takes you outside of Rome's historic centre and literally underneath the ground. We were guided through a labrynth of underground tunnels filled with burial sites. Not for those who dislike small, enclosed spaces. Next, we went to St Clementines Church to fully understand why they call Rome, the Lasagne city - and not for the food. The top level is a 12th century church. Which is built upon a 5th century church. Which is built upon a 2nd century pagan temple. Which is built upon a old Roman Mint. You are able to walk down stairs to all of the different levels and see how Rome has evolved over the centuries. The next stop, Fiona and I both agree we could have done without. We visited a crypt made entirely of human bones. And a couple of actual corpses. An order of monks began the tradition of literally giving their bodies to their worship. When they died, they bones were turned into wall decorations, and chandeliers. We were very freaked out.

The next few days we took at a slower pace, just wandering around Rome, eating Gelato and making friends with our American roommates. We walked around most of the historic centre of Rome, visited the coloseum, the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill. When in Rome, do not take the guided tour of the Coloseum that the coloseum offers - it's really bad. The sun has been out everyday and the weather has been beautiful - a little cold for Rome this time of the year apparently but still pretty good - no sleet.

Our recommendations for Rome:

1. Gelato from Blue Ice near Piaza Barbarini

2. Dinner at La Cicala e la Formica, 17 Via Leonina - www.lacicalaelaformica.info - it's a little out of the way and doesn't look like much from the outside but it has amazing pasta and is really quite cheap. Fiona and I paid 18 euro between us for an entire meal. We can't claim this one though - our American roommates, Amy and Lisa, found it and recommended we try it.

3. Go and see the Pope on a Wednesday if he's in town - then you get to see the Swiss Guards in all their glory. Look for the one with the beautiful blue eyes and ask if he's single.

Ciao
Mel and Fiona xoxoxo

Ciao!!

It's currently our last night in Venice and only the second day of sunshine we've seen so far in Italy. We had grand plans of taking off our big jackets, but sadly Venice has been colder than Austria. We've also had most of our days be extremely foggy.

Other than the weather being a little miserable Venice (or Venezia, its Italian name) has been one of our favourite places so far. We spent the first few days just wandering around the convoluted and winding streets, and crossing the hundreds of bridges of Venice. Fun fact: every
time you cross a bridge in Venice, you're actually crossing onto a different island.

After a loooong, overnight train ride with an old woman with very questionable hygiene, we checked into our hostel, got a little lost, and then went on our half day tour of the small islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. Each island is famous for something different. Murano for its glass blowing.

Burano for its hand made lace, and Torcello for its churches. We were able to see a master glass blower at work - he made the horse in the picture above in under 2 mins. Lace making demonstrations were also going on in all of the shops in Burano. Unfortunately, the famous church on Torcello was covered up for the winter. Don't panic though. We found something else to do on the island. We got hot chocolate. Italian hot chocolate is like melted chocolate. Yummy.

On the 5th of Janurary, we took a trip to Verona, to visit the home of the most romantic story of all time, Romeo and Juliet. We visited Juilet's house, were we both molested Juliet for good luck. Seriously, it is considered good luck for you to rub the breast of the statue of Juliet.

We are having a love affair with pizza in Italy. The pizza shop next to our hostel claims to have the best pizza in Venice, and judging by their two and a-half hour wait on a Friday night, they might be right. We obviously had to try pizza from this shop, just to see if it could possibly be true. We think it might be.

Other than pizza, we really enjoyed seeing and going into the Doge's Palace in San Marco's Square. Half of it is lavish apartments and meeting rooms. The other half is made up of prisons, torture rooms and secret passages. We also got to walk over the famous bridge of sighs, which links the palace to the prisons. It is an enclosed bridge, but from the inside the prisoners who were being escorted to the jail could see the blue of the canal and sky for the last time and they would 'sigh'. It was a very interesting place. Fiona wants to base the ceiling on her future home on the ones we saw in the palace.

Fiona also expressed her concern that we may get scurvy from not eating enough fruit. I then reminded her that we drink orange juice with breakfast. And that I didn't think modern countries have to contend with the issue of scurvy anymore.

We enjoyed a single day of sunlight yesterday. It was nice and relaxing sitting on the edge of the island of San Marco with our legs dangling over the blue-green water of the grande canal of Venice.

xoxo Mel and Fiona

Some of the highlights of our stay in Austria included a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg and a Austrian, Russian Folk music playing band commanding a huge crowd to jump manically around in a circle in German on NYE in Vienna. I hope you followed that.

Fiona's highlight of Austria was the sound of music tour we took - which meant I was stuck on a bus with a load of people singing along to the soundtrack of the sound of music. Other than that the tour was really good. Along with visiting several of the sights from SoM we got to hear about some of the history of Salzburg and Austria. My highlight of the day has to be the lake district - pristine water and lots of snow. We also tried famous Austrian Apple Strudel in a cafe in a small town where the wedding scene of SoM was filmed. The verdict on the apple strudel was mixed and we also learned that when in Europe (or Austria at least) 'vanilla sauce' means custard.

Vienna is famous for its NYE celebrations and we were keen to participate, or Fiona was. I soon realised that participating meant actually staying up until midnight. This is a big call after a month and a half of not enough sleep. We managed though and it was well worth the effort. We got dressed up. We bought sparkly hats. Fiona bought flashing butterfly shaped glasses and a mini bottle of Champagne.

After this preparation, we followed the 'NYE Path' from the New Town Hall to Karlzplatz (Karl's Square). Along the path there are street stalls selling food, alcohol, funky hats and glasses and a variety of different sizes, colours and poses of the famous NYE pig. The superstition is that you give someone a pig, they put it in their wallet and for the whole year they'll have good luck. Fiona and I are trying it out. We'll let you know if they work. Maybe we'll buy a lottery ticket. Along the path there are also music stages set up. Some had live opera singing. Our stage had a Austrian band who play Russian Folk music - Russkaja. They are the most entertaining band live, we've never seen anything like them. At one point, they had the entire crowd jump chaotically around in a giant circle for an whole song. They gave these instructions in German so we didn't realise what was going on until people started jumping madly and I nearly lost a shoe in the crowd... It was awesome though.

We made our way to a countdown screen for midnight - we really hoped the world wouldn't end.

It didn't. Wow. Didn't see that one coming.

We enjoyed Vienna immensely. We also went to the Butterfly House Museum, the Hofburg complex and saw so many old buildings and churches. Vienna is a very beautiful city. Also very clean. After NYE, when there was rubbish everywhere, it took them literally overnight to make the city extremely clean again. We saw Policemen walking around with rubbish bags.

From Vienna, on to Venice!!!

xoxo Mel and Fiona - Us in Salzburg!!