Some photos at last

1. Chuck by the river in Prague with Prague Castle in the background
2. Deb looking uncomfortable in the rain in Holland
3. One of many ceilings in the vatican, unfortunately our camera battery ran out not long after, we did make it to the Sistine Chapel though, and St Peters basilica.

Munich - Austrian tyrol - Venice

So, this is a bit of a ruched one as well, off to Rome tomorrow.

MUNICH (Munchen if you are local) was pretty cool, i liked germany as a whole. We stopped in town for a few hours and checked out the city centre and went up a another church tower which freaked the shit out of me again (I am scared of heights but I always seem to do these things) Their clock tower on the hour was much more impressive than Pragues i must say. went and checked in and then me and Deb headed back to town. I spent up large on some clotyhes (which were actually even fairly cheap by NZ standards) and the we wnt to the Hofbrauhaus for a German meal and alitre stein of course. Needless to say after that i was pretty care free and we spent up large at the souvenir shop and stumbled out the door to find the Hard Rock Cafe straight across (I am sure they planned it that way) where walking straight in the door was a Guns N Roses signed Les Paul so we (I) went round taking photos of all their cool stuff and then we spent up large there too. Then we wandered the streets a bit more and took in some of Munich at night, good fun and pictuesque like every place we have been.

On to AUSTRIAN TYROL (Tirol if you are local) is a small town in Austria (Tyrol is partly in Austria and partly in Italy, we were in Austria) small skiing village in the winter but we went for a nice bike ride in the Austrian stinking hot summer and went up the gondola where we got a bit too much sun. broke up the trip nicely.

then to VENICE (Venezia if you are local) which is even hotter and where we are staying seems to be the worlds breeding place for mosquitos. We headed in to the city early at 8am on a boat that takes 15 minutes (we are on the mainland, 50 minutes by bus) and man it just blows you away before you even get there (apart from the rubbish boat on the way in) it looks just like the movies and we spent all day till 8.30pm going around the city churches, museums, shops, a gondola ride, eating pizza and pasta etc etc. The artworks in the museums and churches and the churches them selves are unbelievable, 6&700 year old paintings that are huge tower over you as you walk in and you literally cannot describe the images and the scale, the sculptures and everything are just things we dont see in NZ. the place itself was 33 degrees and smells a bit (the canals) but is so pretty and unique you just do not care as you walk around and see and do stuff and I may just do a seperate blog on how cool this place was as I am going to get kicked off the internet soon. Off to Rome (Roma for the locals) tomorrow which I am expecting to be even better(and hotter, and dirtier)...

Berlin and Prague

I'm realising photos are going to be difficult to get put up on this with limited time and what not, I will try and get some on soon.

BERLIN was cool. we got there the first night and went for a wander (which was a bone of contention, I wanted to see Berlin asap and Deb wanted to do it after a drink, I figured I wasn't in Berlin to see a Hostel bar and she said it would only be one. I still stick by my option, the next night indicated I was right) Any way so went explored Berlin at dusk and dark and it was cool walking aimlessly.
We woke the next morning to our bus being burnt out (probably by soccer hooligans as there was a game of the Euro 08 on that night) and some peoples belongings and most peoples sleeping bahgs went up in smoke. Not ours very luckily. We then went on a walking guided tour of Berlin with a very loud and knowledgable American lady and we saw the likes of the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, The Berlin Wall, where Hitlers bunker and house was, the Jewish monument, as well as other sites, and got a very good and thorough history lesson at the same time. We then went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum which was a bit unessicary after the tour info but hey, you don't know this till you try, then we walked around Berlin till about nine that night out to the Jewish Museum (we didn't go in, as it looks huge, Debbie just wanted to see the architecture) and did a little bit of shopping (which I and Deb must say we haven't actually found anything cool to buy yet) and wandered around looking at more sights. After 12 hours of walking we ended up doing our first night of 'socialising' at The hostel bar which was on a balcony 7 floors up looking over Berlin at night. That was to 2am.

We left Berlin and stopped in DRESDEN, the city known for a very unfortunate reason as we all know. Summer has started, goddamn it was hot. We were there for 2 hours on a sunday which meant it was a little quiet but still plenty of tourists looking at the sites. I have noticed in Germany there are actually a lot of Germna tourists also (though I am probably chucking a bunch of Austrians etc in there with my untrained ear). It is also strange that all the cool architecture in germany is unfortunately mostly 'rebuilds' of the buildings that were nailed in dubyadubyatwo, but have been made to look 300 years old, so they still look cool.

PRAGUE is an interesting one. We got in around 6 or seven (it stays light very late here, Amsterdam like 10.30 at night and the rest like 9.30 -10.) and it was stinking boiling. We went straight to Prague Castle and its surrounding buildings on the hill in Prague which overlooks the city. Amazing, absolutely beautiful picturesque city and archtecture. We then walked from there down into the Old town Square acros the Charles Bridge. The old town I did not like I must say. I had read how you get scammed here and most of us on the trip have encountered dodgyness in the restaurants. Not speaking Czech or being able to read it does not help one bit either. The town itself is amazing with its narrow cobbled streets and great old buildings and the Astronomical Clock(which is not worth waiting for the 'show' it puts on every hour, I've seen better from a cuckoo clock) but unfortunately you feel very uneasy in the Old Town of Prague, I got offered 'hash,ecstacy' within ten minutes of being there and it's notorious for it's pickpockets, dodgy restauranters and taxi drivers, and the people just aren't friendly at all. (I must say the Dutch have been the friendliest so far). After getting back to the hostel and checking in we then spent the night till after one at the hostel bar (thanks to Deb, a disturbing trend I'm noticing, not unlike Doug and Frans scenario in SA). I awoke to the sound of an explosive bomb rocketing throughout the city about 5 or 6 o'clock this morning and then a nother not long after, I honestly wondered what was going on and the noise sounded like nothing I had heard before in volume etc. After about 3 of these horrendous bomblike sounds I got up and looked out the window, The sky was dark but there was no rain at all. It was thunder and went on for maybe 15 minutes sporadically and was honestly horrendously loud and I've not heard anything like it before, especially without rain. We then spent today (stinking hot and summery again) on a canal cruise and then spent over an hour walking through shops etc, and stopping at the odd one, to the National Museum to see the remains of a Woolly Mammoth. You can imagine our dissapointment after getting there to find they planned to close early today for 'technical reasons' and had closed an hour before we got there (remember that time we went all the way to Prague and didn't see the Woolly Mammoth coz they were closed??). So we went for a wander, some of the sights today included the building where Mozarts Don Giovani premiered and the 'dancing' house which is a strang looking building, among others. I must say after today I liked Prague alot more (as I always thought I would) the only thing is really you have to be on your toes and the people are not friendly, of well.

Amsterdam & Springsteen

I realised our photos are on Stephs computer so London photos will have to wait, Ill get some Amsterdam and other photos on soon. Well we journeyed down to Dover by bus where the white cliffs are and caught the ferry across to Calais. We then drove through Belgium and on to The Netherlands. Thats 4 countries in 12 hours, pretty impressive. Got to Amsterdam and met Big Mal at the hotel we were both staying at and cheesed it out to Amsterdam Arena to see Springsteen. The Arena seats 60,000, the biggest gig I've been to as NZ's biggest would be only 40-45,000. It was awesome with a full stadium which was huge and Bruce played a full 3 hour set from 8 sgharp through till 11pm and with more energy than anyone you see, I would put him as the best living artist easily. I must get his setlist of his website, It can be one for the spaghetti incident Jimmy. Then we headed back into town and met Deb at The Grasshopper, a well known Amsterdam cafe and afterwards wandered through the red light district. Some very dodgy characters wandering\following around and subtelly yelling 'coke' at you as they walk past, wouldn't want to take a wrong turn on your own, caught a cab back with Big Mal the guy did about 90km\hr through the city streets, crazy, especially since there seems to be no defining footpath and there's cycles, pedestrians, cars, trams everywhere. The next night we did a canal cruaise and went out to dinner and went for a quick stroll and then back to the hostel for another early morning to head off to Berlin where I am writing this from at midnight on a computer set to German, it's confusing, but Berlin looks awesome already as Deb and I went for a wander this evening when we got in, the buildings and streets are amazing....

London...

...is awesome. we've been running around like mad for the last 3 days going every place we want to see. Some cheesy stuff (buckingham palace, london eye, westminster abbey etc) but the highlights have been the Salvador Dali exhibition, the Jack The Ripper Tour(which takes you round the exact murder spots etc), all the cool art (Dalis, Picassos, Rembrandts, Cezannes, Michelangelos, Raphaels, that all Londoners and must take for Granted as you can walk down the local Gallery for free and step as close as a meter away from a 500 year old masterpiece)and all the cool architecture everywhere, and the St Pauls inside. We have been total tourists clicking our camera every 5 minutes looking at stuff going 'wow' but we've loved it, and it's been great having Steph take us everywhere like our personal guide, navigating the city for us saving us hours and stress. Having a ball so far, off on a bus to start around Europe in about 7 hours (what sleep? we're becoming fast acusstomed to running around all day and not getting much sleep and being a little constantly tired) and also Springsteen tomorrow night in Amsterdam, (awesome) internet is playing up, will add photos later.....

Singapore....

So we got into Singapore around 7 or eight the first night and like everyone tells you, as soon as you walk out the airport 'wammo' the heat hits you, hot and humid and after some food and some beer we crashed out 2 hours later. We stayed with great hosts who showed us around everywhere, through chinatown, little india, the night safari, the Raffles hotel and more, and did the usual touristy stuff visiting the places of worship and what not (it's an expression). now in london, staying at stephs, and have caught up with friends will update soon......

and away we go.....

Ok so I'm not big on blogs and Deb is even less, but hey this could be a good way of keeping a tour diary(if we can find time). 'Mini-cab-radio'? a line from a song, and the name of my next band(if Ian and I don't argue too much, but he likes london and thats where mini cabs are with their radios, so hey)!? Maybe!?. Anyway. So 2 nights to go till Singapore, 4 till London, and our goals are, among many, to see Bruce, and to see me on TV (did I say 'our goals'?). Ok so 'our' goal is to stay married through this, we are looking forward to seeing our friends and family in London and anyone who cares (i.e has a desk job and surfs the net during work time) can keep up with us on tour. i just hope we get enough time to keep up........