Travelling

BB said:
...neither of you drive????????????

great steaming sheesh kebabs of chilli and mayo doom, girl!

you guys gonna do the whole trip relying on public transport???? :grinno:

...

anyhow anna, let me know if you guys hit blighty- and Glasto would be a blast.

best, BB xx
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When in Britain, I always do. Makes the drinking easier. Besides, the trains there are soooooooo much better than they have on this side of the pond. The 125 from King's Cross to Glasgow through Edinbrugh is the best way I've found to shake off the jet lag.
 
they are getting better .. the new rail agency even made a profit!! :eek5:



edit** - you know BoP ..if we keep mentioning Marmite maybe you can get them to sponsor your trip around the world?



... Marmite
............................ Marmite

............... M ar mite

.................Marmite ............. marmite​
 
Alcatraz was awesome (well, touristy, but still awesome). It was nice 'n sunny, and we really enjoyed the bird sanctuary-type-thing they've got going there. It was rather bittersweet actually, since it was our last day in frisco. :(

I never did a write-up here did I? Hmmm... I think I've got a write-up on the mac somewheres... back in a tick.
 
Here it is:

So, the holiday write-up? Some of it seems so impossibly far away now, so I prolly won't be able to recall bits and pieces, but oh well.

San Francisco: What can I say? It was sunny, and beautiful, and the town & people were amazing. We Did just about everything you could do in 5 days - walked the bay area, crossed the bridge, visited sausolito, visited alcatraz, took a quick peek at fisherman's wharf (too touristy), bought books, clothes, stayed in china town, visited golden gate park, got terrorised by crazy people and rabid squirrels. It was just fantabulous. Was a little scary that they decided to have a crime spree whilst we were there (10 people murdered in one night - one of whom was murdered in the park just as we were passing it - didn't find out until we saw it on the news). Oh yeah, climbed telegraph hill & visited coit tower. Probbably other stuff too, but I can't remember. The main thing I came away with was how friendly the people are. They were just so willing to help you out if you looked lost. It's things like that that make you really remember a place.

Anyway, it was then onto Germany (Munchen) for a week. It rained quite a bit, but I bought an excellent coat which kept me warm and dry. We did the beer halls, we shopped, visited Ludwig II's castles and discovered where him & family were entombed. Visited lots of amazing old churches, ate lots of sausages. Quite by far the best place we visited, that's for damned sure. OOh, and they have markets in the square where you could be the BEST cheese/meat/produce/bread etc, and all for so fucking cheap. I can see why you'd never need utilise a supermarket ever again. Oh, and they have fruit stands EVERY WHERE, so you can always buy plums or strawberries whenever you wanted. Fucking awesome place. We enjoyed it so much, that we've decided that we'll be moving there instead of the US as planned.

From Germany, we trained into Austria. First stop - Vienna. Can't say I enjoyed it as much as other places as the feel of the place was quite cosmopolitan... despite the history. It didn't really have a regional feel like munich. It was sorta everything goes (italian, etc, etc). The cafe food that we had was pretty average, and the coffee was nothing to write home about. They have some amazing museums though, in the museum quarter. WE only got to visit two though - the Natural History museum, and the antiquities museums. They were both relics of the past in themselves (typologies instead of interactive exhibits), so that that made them both quite an experience.

In Vienna, we were fortunate to stay with the BF's cousin in this beautiful old building, so that kept the costs down a bit, and he showed us around the town. Visited the summer royal residence of maria therese (sp?), really got the enjoy the u-bahns (despite lack of air conditioning), and endured some pretty gruelling heat waves (40 degs). AGain, we visited lots of old churches and various bits of the town. There are some amazing photos, but it's gonna take time to sort them....

We then flew to the UK to visit relatives outside of London. Did the requisite visits to both London and Cambridge. Visited the tower of london, used the tube, took my photo at platform 9 3/4!!!!. Found the most irritating bugs known to man in cambridge... they were AWFUL - they flew right at you, and clung on for dear life. I'm still traumatised. Anyway, whilst in cambridge, we visited trinity college (where the music exams come from), but absconded from punting down the cam as it just seemed too thoroughly touristy. What else? Oh, we went to a safari, and saw lots of animals. Went to some really quaint old villages. Apart from the constant rain, it was a blast. And we managed to fly out before all the flooding, thank butt monkeys.

From London, we flew to Salzburg. Unfortunately, we only got to spend 2 days there as we didn't think it was gonna be a highlight (thought vienna was gonna be it), but it was awesome. We went to a mozart concert (of course!), I bought Harry Potter, did some more shopping and looking arround, found mozart's residence where he was born, ate lots of mozart choccies, etc.

From Salzburg, we trained into Kufstein, where we were met by Hubert, proprietor of the guest house where we stayed. Let me first say, I think Hubert was really superman in disguise. Not only did he pick us up from the train station, but when we arrived at the guest house in Erl, he lugged both our suitcases up 2 flights of stairs (both weighed 20kgs), and then met us downstairs wearing a cook's apron, whereupon he proceeded to cook us lunch. This guy was amazing. He was so helpful. The first day, we weren't sure if we were too late for breakfast, but he ushered us into the dining room, and plied us with food & coffee. He also drove us places, and suggested various activities like bike riding and alp climbing. He was just... well, everyone needs a Hubert!

Our place in Erl was incredible. We looked right out onto the alps/forest (it was situated at the base of the alps, so we had to climb 15 minutes to get there). There were LOTS of busy cats, and cows with bells. Our first day there, we were greated by a giant moo-er, who came waddling up the driveway (to be milked, I think), and she thought we were the greatest curiosities!

Every night we'd make the trek down to the opera house to watch Wagner operas (the ring cycle, tristan & isolde, parcifal), and during the day we'd go bike riding, or walking around the countryside (
Erl literally was in the middle of nowhere, but villages were all within walking distance and they all had pubs *grin*). And because we were right on the border of germany & austria, we could literally cross a bridge between the two countries (we biked to Germany in about an hour).

We were quite the oddity at the opera, because we were the youngest there, and the only ones wearing tee-shirts and shorts. People loved us. I don't know why, but everyone kept coming up and talking to us - possibly it was because of our youth and lack of dressing up. In fact, we were running late coming back from the alp climbing one day, that we thought that we'd miss the opera, but a german couple picked us up because they recognised us from the wagner festival!

From Erl, we trained back to Vienna for another day, before flying out to Hong Kong. I don't even know how to describe HK. It was certainly the craziest place I've ever visited. The buildings all seemed so ramshackle, and the place was positively buzzing with cute-titude. There were hello kitties everywhere, and markets galore. I had the best fucking seafood EVER in this grimy little market in the middle of a street where you could just about have yer bum swiped off by passing cars. We also visited the floating restaurants in the middle of the harbour (you catch a ferry to get to them), had clothes tailored by a HK tailor (THE thing to do in HK), visited a giant budha statue in Lantau, went to the amusement park (ocean park), etc. We also did dim sims (sp?), where you sit around a table with lots of people, and they were so nice and helpful. We didn't speak a stick of chinese, and they couldn't speak english, but they showed us what to order, and how to get the waiters attention, and so forth. Again, it's expieriences like that that make you really remember a place.

Anyway, there's more, but that's all I can recall at the moment. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload some photos.
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STILL haven't gotten around to trawling the photos (there's like a bazillion).
 
We enjoyed it so much, that we've decided that we'll be moving there instead of the US as planned.

Elaboration? *sad puppy eyes*
 
I still wish you'd have said something close to when you were going to leave... I live 3 or 4 hours from San Francisco (depending on traffic) and I'd have certainly made the trip to say hey and grab lunch or something.
 
Are you still considering it now that you have a nice pad downtown and a phat defense job? ...poor widdle kitty-witty might have to spend a few months in vet jail before being allowed to emigrate.
 
We spent about two days in San Fran this past summer. Two days wasn't enough!! We so want to go back soon!!
 
unclehobart said:
Are you still considering it now that you have a nice pad downtown and a phat defense job? ...poor widdle kitty-witty might have to spend a few months in vet jail before being allowed to emigrate.
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Yep - it was never our intention to stay in NZ - we still want to wet our feet overseas (Munich has 8 weeks holiday leave o.0). Don't know what the story is with kitty but NZ is REALLY strict on our end which means that it will likely be easier on the other end.
 
Germany (well the small part we saw) is definitely worth seeing! I hear nice things about the other cities and stuff too - can't wait to get back there.
 
Southern Germany was more authentic in architechture, attitude, cuisine, and language. The north was fairly Eurorude in most respects.
 
My g/f as family in Germany and in the 2++ years we have been together, we haven't made it over there. I so want to go, and I am not gonna lie, it is mainly for the beer, food, and maybe a smattering of history... I so wanna take a month or two off (read: quit my job) and go traveling. No time like the present!
 
unclehobart said:
Southern Germany was more authentic in architechture, attitude, cuisine, and language. The north was fairly Eurorude in most respects.
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Eurorude!! *lol*


I notice that other countries treat us badly when we travel, thinking we're Americans, but when they realize we're from Hawaii, we get treated better :grinyes:
 
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