Honeymoon

We arrived in Bologna yesterday afternoon, after a short train trip from Venice (2 hours). We managed to navigate the local bus system with the help of a local and shortly after arrived at our B&B which is located in the country side hills overlooking farmland and the city - about 15 minutes drive out of town. Its absolutely beautiful here. The relaxing surroundings, the peacefulness of the Italian country side… Its just what we needed - a change from staying in city’s. ...

We are finally on the last leg of our trip (in Europe anyway!) - we hit Italy three days ago (1st July), having caught a rather scenic train from Salzburg. The scenery was absolutely amazing - travelling by train through the Austrian and Italian Alps is highly recommended. There are a few rather long tunnels at times, but the scenery, especially prior to leaving Austria was unbelievable. Once again we used our Eurail ticket to facilitate the 6 hour trip (with 1 change over) from Salzburg to Venice. We raced to get on the train in Salzburg - in amongst heaps of school kids who obviously use the intercity service instead of the suburban service for its comfort to get to and from school. ...

We pick-up here were our last post left off. We have arrived in Salzburg – and its the night of the Euro Cup 2008 final, Germany -v- Spain. With Austria being the hosts, we were in for a big night (it had already been a long day… whats a few more hours). We headed out to the old city, about a 15min walk from where we were staying. A large Fan Zone had been set up in the city’s main square with two huge screens, a stage, and of course heaps of beer tents. ...

So we left Prague, and the Czech Republic behind us (and the train made it this time!) for the spoils of Munich (passing back through Dresden, to minimize our ticket cost, and maximize our use of the Eurail pass). Straight out, Munich is a lovely city – beer halls, parks & gardens, old buildings, and lovely people (well almost all of them – we will get to this later). Our first night in Munich consisted of us checking into our accommodation, about 5 min walk from the station, then heading out for a bite to eat and something to drink. Walking the streets for the first time, not knowing were we were going it wasn’t long, literally 2 minutes, before we stumbled on our first Munich beer hall… We need look no further. ...

Having arrived in Prague and settled in (after out exciting train ride) we decided to take a tour of Prague city – old, and new. The tour started in the new Prague and worked its way through the streets to cross over into the old town. The old town is absolutely lovely – cobble stone streets that are easy to get lost in, and medieval buildings everywhere you look. The tour was a mainly walking tour, although it also included a short boat ride up and down the river – giving a different perspective of the city. ...

We laid awake this morning at about 4.50 am listening to the pouring rain, and claps of thunder didn’t put a positive spin on the day to come. After drifting back to sleep, we eventually go up and began to get ready for the day at about 6am - we had an early train to catch to Prague, at least the rain had stopped. We got ourselves to the train station with plenty of time to spare for our 9am departure. As is our general experience with German public transport, the train pulled in exactly on time. We boarded and headed for our seats - we were in a 6 seater booth with only two other passengers. ...

We arrived into Dresden on the ICE train from Berlin and immediately fell in love with the city - despite it being a Sunday, and (almost) everything being shut. If we had realised how cute Dresden was we would defiantly penciled it in for a few more nights than just one - it defiantly deserves more! Our hostel was about a 20 minute walk from the old town, but was situated in a new funky part of town with bars, cafe’s and restaurants. ...

Today is our last day in Berlin – we are currently in the train station having breakfast and a coffee waiting for our train to Dresden. Berlin has been an experience! It’s not quite what i expected as a city, but everything and more than I expected as an experience. The history here is so immense – and its not all to do with Nazi’s and the Third Reich either – Berlin is so much more. ...

So we are in Germany now – having arrived from Tampere, Finland into Bremen the other day. We have been in Bremen for the last few days, staying with friends (Suzanne & Richard) in their lovely apartment which is just a short ride from the heart of Bremen. We quickly realised that the Euro 2008 Cup (soccer) is in progress – and on the night we arrived Germany were facing off with Austria (the hosts), and it was a must win type of situation for Germany to allow them to progress through. ...

We jetted out of Athens this afternoon with our friends FinAir. The flight started out fine - a nice new plane and decent food - then the announcement came over the loud speaker “… the movie that will be shown today is The Bucket List” (great! we’ve only seen it 3 times already), “and it will be shown without audio, and with Finnish subtitles.” Needless to say it didn’t take too long for the iPod to make an appearance. Then the loud speaker crackled a second blow - “drinks will be served shortly. Beer will be 4 Euros, Spirits 7 Euros…” - thats right, no free grog! We might as well have been flying with RyanAir, at least you expect it. ...