D-Day Beaches, Pictures

Yesterday I had an excellent opportunity to visit Caen and the Normandy beaches. Wow. It was a powerful experience. I took an early two hour train from Paris to Caen. I spent the day there and it could use a lot more time than that, next time.

I visited the museum for a few hours and then did a five hour guided tour of some of the beaches and areas were the allies landed. The Cemetery was unbelievable with the rows upon rows of crosses. Rick you would need a week at least to visit this area. He is a huge history guy and I know you would have loved the trip I did yesterday.

I have to add a thank you to those veterans. I am not doing this justice in this write up, but it was unbelievable.

Click on this link to see pictures of the D-Day beaches and some more of Paris.

Paris, Pictures

Bonjour from Paris. All is wonderful. The sites are spectacular and especially at night. Last night I did an awesome tour by bicycle to see Paris all lit up. The Eiffel Tower was excellent and on the hour for five minutes they really make it sparkle. Our tour guide was terrific and we dominated the road. There were 22 people in our group, but Paris is really bike friendly with shared lanes for busses, taxis and bikes. Notre Dame Cathedral is quite the site. Part of the tour was an hour long boat cruise complete with red wine. It gave a really good view.

I went to the Catacombs yesterday. It is full of over 7 million bones. It was an underground mine used for mining limestone and when the cemeteries were full they filled it with bones. Creepy.

There are tons of buskers here and the streets really come alive at night. They are terrific as well, drawing big crowds. Only in Paris would a couple be all dressed up and busking by dancing.

Click here to view pictures of Paris

Austrian Adventures, Pictures

This morning I donned a full piece wet suit, neoprene boodies, hiking books, a harness, helmet, drove up a huge mountain and repelled off a bridge into a glacial waterfall to start my day. Wow! I went cayoning today. I hadn't heard about the sport until two weeks ago but gave it a go today and I am hooked. It is a combination of hiking, rock climbing, swimming, sliding, repelling and abb-sailing. The glacial water was chilly to say the least, but it was awesome. We followed the flow of a waterfall down the mountain. We hiked through it, slid down it, jumped 5m into it, repelled 15m down it, it was awesome a great adventure and workout. I am tired now. I wasn't able to get any photos so I included a link to a video on the companies website. Hope it works for you. Look for Feelfree Canyoning and press "Hier starten" to see the video. It is towards the right of the page.

Click here for the link to a canyoning video. Press Feelfree Canyoning Hier starten to see the video. It is towards the right of the page.

It has been an adventure experience in Austria. Yesterday I went golfing at Olympia golf course. It has spectacular mountain views. I met a 17 year old girl at the club who is on the Austrian Junior Golf Team. She and her mother, (who worked at the club, maybe owned it, not sure) were lovely. The course was short but spectacular views. Then right across the road in the mountain is the Olympic Bob Sled track and yes I went for a couple of rides. It too was awesome. I have always wanted to go bob sledding and it was so cool. One minute and six seconds, 1270m, 14 curves and up to 95km/h. The gravitational force (not sure if that is the right name) on one of the curves was incredible. You sit upright but on the curve if felt like mine spine was being compressed from the skull down. It didn't last long but it was intense.

A company rents the track for three nights a week from 4pm - 6pm and does rides for 25 Euro. For the ride to go they need four people so one time there was only three to go and I got to go again but for free. I know it was a lot of money for a 1 minute and six second thrill, but when in Austria at an Olympic bob sled track... Today was way better bang for my buck, five hours of cayoning experience, a beer at the end, a shot of Schnapps, an Austrian lunch, 75 Euro. Great opportunities.

Now for the less thrill seeking activities but good experiences too. When in Salzburg I met a girl (Laura) who is a music teacher in Melbourne who is traveling for five months. We did the Sound of Music tour. I thought of you Sarah (Jones) Morrison the whole time. Sarah is a huge fan for those that don't know. The hills really were alive with the sound of music! Laura and I rented bikes for a day and rode around Salzburg. It was a nice way to get around. The parks were lovely and the mountain views were great. It was a hot, hot day so we wheeled those babies up to the Monastery for a pint. They make some of the greatest beer in Austria at the Augustine Monastery in Salzburg. It is huge and they have a great system for getting food. There is a hallway with different vendors and you can buy what you want and bring it to your seat. They have amazing roast chicken, fries and oh course beer out of wooden barrels.

It is hard to believe in this laid back, beautiful country that they would need Red Bull, but they do I guess. Did you know it was created in Austria? We saw their headquarters.

Innsbruck has hosted the Olympics twice and I can see the ski jump from by hostel. Austria is beautiful. I love those mountains. Having an amazing time. See you soon.

Click here to check out the photos from Salzburg and Innsbruck Austria.

Click here for the link to a canyoning video. Press Feelfree Canyoning Hier starten to see the video. It is towards the right of the page.

Czech Republic, Pictures

The Czech Republic is fantastic. Prague was a wonderful city to tour around. Put lots of miles on there, tons of walking. I am now in Cesky Krumlov in the South and it is fantastic too. A great quaint little town to walk around and check out. Many castles and churches in this country. There are bears living around the perimeter of the castle in Cesky Krumlov.

Have ran into four people I met in previous cities in Prague. It is funny to run into people you know on the street and it is a huge city. One girl I met from Australia in Vienna ended up being my room mate, very small world. I was to stay in a five person dorm and it ended up being a two bed dorm and she my room mate.

I visited the town of Kutna Hora. It has a bone church. During the plague the cemetery ran out of room and a priest decided to decorate the inside of the church with bones. There are pyramids, a crest, strings of garland and chandeliers all made out of bones. I couldn't help but think it would be a great spot for a Halloween party. I will be using my photos from there for Halloween.

Went to a great micro brewery in Prague and sampled their beers. I am not usually a dark beer fan and I don't drink coffee but I have to say those were my two favorites.

I visited the Jewish Museum in Prague. It has a fantastic display of over 4000 pieces of children's artwork from Terezin Concentration Camp. A women taught art lessons there and this work was found in a couple of her suitcases after she was sent to Auschwitz, like the children. It was powerful to see how they depicted the times. It was done to help them deal with what they were living through.

Good food, views, cheap prices, good shopping and tons of sites to see here.

My hostel is pretty cool in Cesky Krumlov, I have a loft room with a girl I met on the bus coming here. But check out the hostel in Prague, it was the best yet. Click here for the link to the hostel in Prague.

Pictures from the Czech Republic.

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Pictures

Wow! What a day yesterday. I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is was powerful. It is hard to believe that this all went on not that long ago and that similar "problems" are happening in our world and that we are letting them happen.

You can not take pictures inside the buildings at Auschwitz so I don't have a picture of all the children's shoes. There was one room full of children's shoes. When I say the room was full I mean there were three regular walls and the forth wall was glass. It was filled from the top and therefore the contents of the room were meters deep. Children, old, crippled and anyone they saw not fit to work was told to undress "remember where they put their cloths." They thought they would be coming back for them and sent instantly to the gas chamber. Auschwitz was a death camp. You were sent there to die. When the people arrived by train they were told to line up and pointed in a direction either right or left. One direction was for heading instantly to the gas chamber and the other was to work for awhile before going to the chamber.

There was a room full of human hair (two tons of it). They shaved their heads and sold the hair to textile companys. The children's shoes as I mentioned. A room full of adult shoes, and others full of eye glasses, trunks and cloths. On the trunks they made them write their name and birthdate on the outside. Some that I saw were from children that were one year old and three years old.

Birkenau is three km's from Auschwitz. It had many wood buildings and Auschwitz had a lot of brick buildings. I noticed that both locations now are very lush and green. At the other camps I have visited (two others in Germany) they have been barren and grey. Survivors say there was no grass back then and only mud and dirt. If there was grass they would have eaten it they were so hungry.

This write up does it no justice, but it is something you need to experience for yourself.

You can see some photos from Auschwitz-Birkenau by clicking this link.

Krakow Poland, Pictures

The pictures I have of Krakow do not do it justice. It is an amazing city. The buildings, parks, and the numerous churches are spectacular. The buildings were not destroyed during WWII like most of the other cities in Europe.

The food is good too. Lots of perogies.

I did a walking tour around the city yesterday. It was a bit chilly but good for checking out the sites. The walk was five hours. I went to the salt mine today. The mine is underground and was a working mine for over 700 years! It closed down operations in 1996 and now is a tourist attraction. It was very interesting. The salt is black. It is called green salt as the lighting wasn't good back then and they thought the black colour was green. There are fasinating sculptures made out of the salt and it was miners that created them. There are three chapels in the mine. One of the small ones is called Holy Cross Chapel and then there is this amazing one that is quite large and still holds weddings and special ceremonies. It was spectacular to happen upon. I knew nothing about this mine before going so I was pleasantly suprised with the whole visit. Did I mention there are churches everywhere? They also have more masses a day then we do at home, so yes I made it to mass and oh yes the former Pope is from Poland, so there are statues of him everywhere too. Even underground.

On the way to the salt mine I was on the public bus with a group of Scouts from Sweden. They were between the ages of 17 and 20 and were earning their "international adventure" badge. It sounded cool. They were dropped off in pairs around Poland and give seven maps. They knew the end location and had to figure out which map would work and where they were. They had 10 days to walk 160 km's with their gear. They had to carry camping gear, food, water etc. Around 20kg's of stuff each. They could stay with people along the way and eat with them but only if the people invited them. All of them earned their badge and were supporting new belts with a compass as the belt buckle. A present for finishing. Each year two countries are chosen as the adventure country. They said next year is Spain and Italy but that you can only do the adventure once.

At the mine I went through with a couple and his parents from England. They too were cool to talk with. It was his birthday and she suprised him with a trip to Krakow. She woke him at 2am and told him to get up. She didn't tell him anything, just get dressed and ready. At the airport she gave him a present to open and it was a guide book for Krakow. Then once at the hotel in Krakow they went for breakfast and there were his parents. They had flew in the day before. I have always wanted to be suprised with a trip, so if my future husband is reading, oh forget that. Anyone can do it. I have always wanted to be told to pack a bag for hot or cold weather and then taken on a suprise trip, hey they could even pack a bag for me like this woman did for her husband. They were having a great weekend away. Must be nice to jet set like that and go to Poland for the weekend.

Enjoying the city. I have to say it is fantastic.

Click on the following link for Krakow Poland pictures

Vienna Austria, Pictures

Click on this link for pictures of Vienna Austria

Have spent the last few days checking out Vienna Austria with a lot of other tourists. The streets were full and lots of people at the attractions. There are many nice old buildings, churches, museums, shops and palaces to roam around and check out. Again lots of walking.

The hostel was huge but really nice, clean and close to everything. They even had instruments for people to borrow, piano, guitars etc. Mozart is from Vienna so I am not sure if they were going for a musical hostel or what but it had a great atmosphere and it was also full of local artists work on the walls for sale.

Just took an overnight train from Vienna to Krokow Poland, an eight hour journey in a nice, clean, modern cabin with three beds and I was the only one in my cabin which was a suprise.

Budapest Hungary, Pictures

Budapest Hungary has the most talented masons and bricklayers of any city I have been to. I know it is a wierd starting sentence but it is true. Their work is fantastic. I could continually take pictures and they wouldn’t do it justice so I just took a few photos. There is so much to see architecturally I walked for 10 hours yesterday.

A must in Budapest is to visit the Thermal baths so that is how I spent the day today. A spa day. The thermal baths are hot pools filled with naturally ocurring hot water. They actually have to cool it down to use it. Their website says that "70 million liters of 21-78 degree C warm thermal water spring forth daily from 118 natural thermal springs." There are outdoor pools, a wave pool, indoor thermal baths and sauna areas. The corridors are vast and it is a large facility. I took advantage of the other services they offer and had a massage today. Not just any massage, a chocolate one. It smelt and felt great. I know you have a visual of being covered in chocoate sauce, I did too, but it was a chocolate cream or lotion. It was relaxing.

Click on this link for Budapest Hungary pictures.

Belgrade Serbia, Pictures

The picture is of me at a kiosk on the street that was selling only pantyhose. I thought it was a little random as there were no other kiosks in the area.

Spent the day walking around Belgrade Serbia with Michaela from Sweden. Again pleasantly surprised. The guide books say “Belgrade is not a beautiful city.” Well I guess they comment on so many that some have to be “not so beautiful,” but it was good. Enjoyed walking around. Lots of nice buildings and a lot of people who speak English. Great markets, really cheap veggies and bakeries. Had a feed of yellow beans tonight mom, reminded me of you, dad and the garden. It was nice to use the hostels kitchen and cook a nice meal of yellow beans and pasta.

Not as an eventful day as yesterday.

We happened upon an international parade with people dressed in their traditional costumes. Not sure what it was about but then they broke into dances in the square. It was neat to see. Came across some Military buildings that were bombed during the war in 1999 and left the way they were hit. The largest Orthodox Church in the world is in Belgrade so we visited that too and a fortress. Overall a pleasant day.

Click on the following link for pictures from a day in Belgrade Serbia

Guns, drugs, fireworks, cigarettes and a Serbian train

Guns, drugs, fireworks, cigarettes and a Serbian train. WOW! What an adventure.

Met Michaela from Sweden in the train station and sat with her all the way to Belgrade. We met Brian from Victoria on the train and I cann't help but stop smiling. I am on overload, we have seen so much today.

Brian saw one of the train employees put fireworks under the train and while he was standing in the hall a woman hid cigarettes behind his seat.

Michaela and I were in a six person (full) cabin and the fluorescent light fell out of the ceiling nearly missing us. We thought wow this is an old dodgy train. Good thing we didn't get electrocuted. An hour maybe passed with the light hanging by the wire until it gets better. The cop comes into the cabin and we just wait in the hall and doorway and doesn't he pull out of the ceiling two guns. Wow!

So at this point the train is stopped or has been stopped the whole time he searched. But I cann't believe we are still on the train. Right at his feet.

The cop checks a few more cabins but not thoroughly as they didn't get the cigarettes but a girl in our cabin says this happens daily. I guess cigarettes are expensive in Serbia so they smuggle them from Bulgaria.

So we were stopped for half and hour. Then we carry on and don't we see a guy right at our door get a pack of drugs out of the ceiling in the hall while the train conductor is standing 2m's away, watching.

They finally come to check our tickets and the two women in our cabin don't have tickets so they pay the conductor off with some smokes.

Then another guy takes the paneling off in the hall for more treasures. As we look around you can see screws out all around the paneling and windows.

Oh and the train toilets, god. The odour and filth. We went through a lot of hand sanitizer today. I have been in some bad toilets but todays have to take the filth cake.

It was a 10 hour train ride that was three hours late getting into Belgrade Serbia and I have to say that it was the best train ride I have ever had. What an adventure! The country side of Serbia was a lovely view too.

The train trip was documented with photos click on this link to check out the Serbian train ride.

Sofia Bulgaria, Pictures

I am currently in Sofia the capital of Bulgaria. I love when you are pleasantly surprised with a country or city. I thought Bulgaria would be a little more dodgy than it is. It is way more modern then I expected. The train station is a bit old and dilapidated but the rest of the city has surprised me. I went on a walking tour with a guy from London England and a local guy. Lots of info and great architecture.

Crazy small world I met a couple of girls today from Canada, Edmonton and Toronto. So the girl from Edmonton's boyfriend is from Peterborough, Cavan really and yes we know people in common. It is a small world.

Click here for photos from Sofia Bulgaria

The hostel has a real positive vibe to it. You can feel the good energy and it is also great that it has the following for free; breakfast, internet, supper and with supper (spaghetti) you get a beer.