Florence

the Arno River running through Florence

Florence, located in the region of Tuscany was a nice change from Venice because the streets were bigger and easier to navigate around. We soon found out how crazy the drivers of Italy are. With all cobble stone roads and very few line markings you have to be very alert when crossing the road (Leah is not good at this).

The Santa Maria Del Fiore

man beating centaur with club

We walked into the town square and saw some statues and churches along the way. Florence is known for its leather products so we of course visited some leather markets. With so many wallets, books, bags and shoes to choose from, each store started to look the same after a while. 

Then of course we went to visit David, and he was breathtaking. The 5 metre statue was all carved from the 1 peice of marble. Michelangelo’s brilliance was amazing to see in real life. Photos were forbidden and this was policed by some very angry looking security guards telling people off. Arvi loved Davey so much he even considered buying a pair of the statue of David boxer shorts sold at many tourist stands.

Statue of Neptune

We cultured ourselves that night with a Tuscan wine, olive oil and cheese tasting. We enjoyed lovely wines made from Tuscan Sangiovese grapes with smells of raspberry, vanilla, cinnamon and leather which perfectly complemented an aged, smooth sheep cheese (oh yes, we learnt how to talk like fancy wine connoisseurs!).

Crack face

Gardens in the Pitti Palace

We also visited the Palazzo Pitti and surrounding gardens. Pitti was a banker who then sold the palace to the Medici family, a family who ruled Florence and Tuscany for over 300 years. The Medici's also had a big hand in the birth of the Renaissance period. The Palace was huge! The stones on their front gate were bigger than our bunk beds. We walked around the impressive gardens, which you would easily get lost in. We also got to explore some of the entertaining rooms of the palace, which were elaborately decorated  in beautiful paintings. The paintings that covered the walls were 3D and created an optical illusion of staircases, balconies and an open roof. It was defiantly the most impressive palace we have visited to date.

Still smiling with the lovely Tuscan backdrop in the palace gardens. 

We got lost in Venice!

Our journey from Vienna to Venice was our longest so far. 8 hours in total, half on a train and the other half on a bus. The scenery on the trip definitely made the trip more bearable though!

travelling in the front seats on the double story coach

Italian Alps

The first thing we noticed when we hopped off the bus was that we didn’t need thermals anymore yay!! It was noticeably warmer in Italy and the sun was shining for a change.

Venezia Grand Canal 

Leah looking into the distance

Venice is a very romantic city. All the lovebirds where out and about and so where the very public displays of affection, eww! The buildings are old and some are run down but it all seems to add character to this beautiful city. We got lost almost immediately but found this a great way to see the city, as we stumbled across little gems and photo opportunities in hidden alleyways. Besides, getting lost with a 17kg pack on is great DIY weight training!

We began our love affair with home made pizza, pasta and gelato straight away, devouring slices of Pizza as big as our heads for lunch yum yum! Leah also tried the popular Campari spritz. It was absolutely disgusting. Arvi’s aperol spritz slightly more drinkable. We also learnt to always eat pasta made by Italians not Asians, no matter how cheap it is.

Damn you Campari 

As there is no public transport or cars, we walked everywhere, sometimes in circles by accident. We saw some of the sights of Venice including the beautiful Saint Marco’s Basilica, a church with an interior covered with tiny gold mosaic tile designs.

this is just a tiny part of the church!

One thing we also noticed was all the fancy old ladies wearing fur around, Venice would be a PETA members’ nightmare! And we have never seen so many Venetian mask stores, one or more around every corner. We must look like poor backpackers with no money to spend because the people selling handbags and trinkets on the street left us alone.

"gondola, gondola good price"

Took another wrong turn

Vienna: The place of palaces

essentials for a long train trip

Vienna was our shortest stay on our first month of travel. So we got straight to it after checking in our hostel with a walk around the biggest market in Vienna, Naschmarkt. Yes yet another market! The markets included stalls of meats, nuts, sweets, alcohol and clothing surrounded by little restaurants and cafes. 

Barrels of all sorts of Balsamic vinegars 

Our first night fell on Valentines Day and we went iceskating in front of the massive Town Hall (which looks more like a castle from a Disney movie). It was Arvi's first time ice-skating and he didn't stack once but Leah had a pretty big fall on the ground and now has a sweet bruise on her knee :(

Rathaus Town Hall

It was a pretty good Valentines day

With only one full day of exploring to do we planned our day the night before and set out quite early to walk around the snowy gardens of the SCHLOSS SCHÖNBRUNN palace. Then  back into the old town to see some more Palaces and Cathedrals. It feels like every second building you see here is a palace or similar.

We also took refuge in the Butterfly museum where we got to walk in the warm rainforest enclosure and see some pretty butterflies and even some dead ones too!

Arvi frolicking in the snow

our walk to the top of the snowy hill at the SCHLOSS SCHÖNBRUNN palace.

The Belvedere palace

Butterfly Museum 

Wow Prague

old town square at night

What a Beautiful place with mazes of streets, amazing architecture and fairy tale churches made magical by the heavy snow we had on our first day. We were taken on a tour by Kate an Australian who moved to Prague 22 years ago, just after Czechoslovakia split to become the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

old town square with about 15cm of snow

old town square

monument to Mozart 

old town square

This city has so many churches, but today it has a 60% atheist population. Subsequently, many of the churches and synagogs have been turned into museums, art galleries and even one pub! One Church though, did have a 600 year old embalmed arm hanging inside. So of course we had to see that but couldn't take any pictures :(. The arm belonged to a thief that had tried to steal a neck lace off a statue of Mary where, legend has it, came to life and grabbed his arm. 

Yummy Czech pastry 

John Lennon wall

"Stop looking at me swan!" 

yummy Czech beer

 One night we went on a beer tour and tried a selection of beers the Czechs have on offer. One place we went to had a selection of 30 micro brewery beers on tap! The selection included a raspberry, chocolate and even a pepper beer ( we were not a fan of that one).We also leant some of the 'rules' of czech beer drinking. For example, you must never cheers across someone else's arm or you will have ugly children. We had a great night and met some interesting people, but the mixing of so many different beers proved to be too much for Leah the next day...

Brrrrrr!!! Berlin

Snow covered Football Pitch

We had a very comfy train trip to Berlin (much better than flying!) . It did take 6 hours but we had a chance to see all sorts of amazing scenery; little towns, forests, snowy fields and rivers.

I dropped Leah off at the "free to good home" give box.

Walking through Berlin admiring all the graffiti and soaking in the alternate hipster vibe, we very quickly realised how much colder it was here, with the temperature below zero most days.

We braved the cold the first night to join the hostel's pub crawl tour. We went to some crazy little bars with equally crazy/creepy bartenders. Our favourite place was called Dr Pong, where you could play a huge group ping pong game with about 30 other people. If you stuff up your out and last one in wins (no, Arvi wasn't that good). Awesome fun. 

Playing ping pong at Dr Pong

  On our walking tour we learnt not only about Nazi Germany, but life after Nazi rule and the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany. We also visited the East Side Gallery, the longest stretch remaining of the Berlin Wall that has been decorated by famous artists.

Kircheneintrittsstelle Berliner Dom

Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

'the kiss' the East Side Gallery

 

 Markets are pretty popular in Berlin. Stores have everything from fruit,veggies and eggs to old cameras, rings and fur coats. We loved walking around and looking at all the stalls, stopping for a  delicious soup or gluhwein to warm our tummies.  

Gluhwein to warm us up

Munich

Our first full day in Munich started with a free walking tour around this beautiful city. We loved the amazing gothic architecture that looked like it was out of a fairytale. We were also surprised to learn  that 70% of the city was destroyed in the war and had been rebuilt in the last 50 years.

the New Town Hall in the Marienplatz

Leah loves Gargoyles 

Odeonsplatz

That night, we went to a beer hall and had a traditional Bavarian feast, all washed down with steins of beer.

BEER, SAUSAGE, POTATO SALAD, SAUERKRAUT

The next day, we decided to visit Dachau concentration camp. It was a very eye-opening experience to see the kinds of conditions the prisoners lived in and the horrors they endured. It was a freezing day and we could only imagine how cold the prisoners would have been with minimal clothing. We also found out that some Estonians were sent to Dachau. This visit gave us an insight into what some of our ancestors would have experienced during the war. It was not a happy tour but very informative.

Memorial in Dachau 

Chambers in Dachau

Dachau Barracks

This evening, we enjoyed the snow and explored these cute little markets and bought some tasty morsels for dinner.

"I LOVE CHEESE!"

Tomorrow we are off to Berlin

We got here!

So after months of planning we finally got on our flight with our bags packed and adventure ahead of us. Sydney to Abu Dhabi 14 hours of in a plane was... interesting, 3 hour stop over then 7 hours to Munich.

Leah having a snooze at Abu Dhabi

First Hostel in Munich

We finally arrived in Munich around midday caught a train to the hostel and needed some food to settle our stomachs. So naturally straight to the Schnitzel house to fill up.

Massive Schnitzels and delicious beer