Beijing - London - Edinburgh - Oxford - Windsor - Paris - Luxembourg - Munich - Dachau - Zurich - Venice - Florence - Rome

01 - 31 March, 2010

I must say, that even finally touching snow for the first time in my life, I am quite over it already...though it does make everything so clean & picturesque. Even before entering the Forbidden City, we were able to take decent shots of the Front Gate, & Tianamen Square - which by the way isn´t what I expected.

I imagined that Tianamen Square was much larger, & situated within the walls of the Forbidden City, & with the large framed picture of Chairman Mao hanging from one of it´s buildings. This was not the case; Tianamen Square is a large stoned paved area with a Monument of the People´s Heroes, The Great Hall of the People on one side, & the Forbidden City across the road. The photo of Chairman Mao was small compared to what you would usually see in travel shows, postcards, etc.

There were many gates to walk through in the city, & all had its own purpose. The Gate of Heavenly Peace was the first we walked through, followed by Wu Men (Meridian Gate) which was restored in the 17th century. Then there was the Supreme Harmony Gate, & Taihe Dian (Hall of Supreme Harmony). This was the most important & largest structure in the city. It was built in the 15th century & restored in the 17th, it´s use was for ceremonial occasions such as the emperor´s birthday, nomination of military leaders & coronations. Inside the hall was the impressive Longyi (The Dragon Throne).

Zhongku Dian (The all of Middle Harmony) next, was used as a transit lounge for the emperor. Baohe Dian (Hall of Preserving Harmony) was used for banquets & later for imperial examinations. Behind this building is a large 200 ton stone carving of dragons & clouds.This carriageway was moved to Beijing on an ice path. The emperor was conveyed over the carriageway on his sedan chair over this stone.

I couldn´t feel my feet by the time we finished the Forbidden City, it was just sooooo cold! We kept up with the walking to see the Drum Tower, the Bell Tower, & the Hutong area.

It was a good thing that we were still the only ones in our room because we were up early to check-out & catch the express train to Terminal 3 of the Beijing International Airport.

Flew with British Airways, & it took about 11 hours. We arrived in Longon around 3:30pm adding another 8 hours to our already long day. Didn´t hear much from Joel throughout the flight, he was really stuck in watching 5 movies.

Once in London, England it didn´t take long to find our hostel as I stayed in the same one in 2007 - Astor Victoria.

We were sleeping soundly until 3 bimbo Americans came in, turned on the lights & were forever complaining about it being stuffy & not being able to breath. Here´s a solution - get out & go somewhere else!

In any case waking up with a breakfast buffet to look forward to is always a mood changer for me. So after a filling one, we went for a wonder around good ol´ London.

Got to see Buckingham Palace...queen was in the house..& noticed she was busy making a few renovations. Had a nice stroll through St James´Park to get to Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, & of course Big Ben. Looming over the River Thames was the absolutely over-priced London Eye. I wouldn´t dare pay AUD$20 getting into an enclosed capsule with ´X´ amount of people & stuck with them for half an hour. Though the Indian guy in our room said it was "marvelous"...alright I´ll take your word for it ;)

Walked to Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, & Regent Street...Monopoly anyone?

One of the things I love about our hostel is that there´s a guest kitchen I´d wake-up in the morning thinking what to cook for our meal Plus I haven´t cooked in such a long time so it was very exciting!

That night's sleep wasn't any better, a group of Italians checked-in passed midnight & turned on lights, & unzipped & zipped & unzipped their bags...how many times does a person need to do this? And if you do, you'd think they'll try & do it quietly.

Well Joel & I got them back in the morning...EARLY in the morning :) Turned on lights, sorted & packed our bags very loudly, talking normally, walking over the creaky floors...but the icing on the cake was when a friend of the Indian guy knocked, came in & started talking loudly. One of the girls was getting irritated she hit her head on the metal bed frame while turning over, SERVES YOU RIGHT!

After a satisfying start to the day, we walked to Portobello Road Markets & was greeted by what seems like the entire population of London packed into one street! I'm sure most were tourists of course, either curious, like we were on what it was all about, or looking for that antique decoration that you know will be too expensive.

We waited in the common room of the hostel until it was time to leave for overnight bus to Edinburgh, Scotland. Awww...the chairs barely had enough space for Joel's legs, & they only reclined probably an inch? I did get a couple hours of solid sleep, until we arrived at our first stop at 2am. After that I was in & out until we arrived at 8am.

We were walking zombies on our way to High Street Hostel. And of course arriving this early means you can't check-in just yet, so left our bags in storage & walked around. Passed the High Kirk of St Giles, Edinburgh Castle, & the Walter Scott Monument.

Had such a wonderful sleep last night :) Today we headed down to see The Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is the queen's official residence while in Scotland, & also saw Arthur's Seat. We were supposed to fo on the 7:30pm City of the Dead tour, but it was cancelled because there was a mix-up with the tour guides. Good news is, we get discounts for tomorrow :)

Tried to fo to the Royal Museum of Scotland, but it was still closed due to a strike going on. Joined the 3:30pm tour City of the Dead. Biggest waste of money, even with a discount. It says 1 1/2 hours, we were only 1 hour. Kat our guide was good at telling the stories, but I wasn't sure whether to believe her. It all seemed too rehearsed. I'm sure she was telling the truth about what the underground vaults were used for, & the fascinating history of the city, but stories about what people saw, felt, experienced down there? What a load of bull****

*SIGH* So back to the hostel, for another long wait until it was time to leave for the overnight bus back to London. I won't even bother writing about that sleep, I sure you can guess how it was.

After arriving back in London, we visited the British Museum. Only saw a handful of exhibitions because we were just so tired, it was hard to concentrate on reading all the descriptions. So we bailed out.

Went on a day trip to Oxford today. Went to Christ Church College which had an interesting history, as it's links to the story of Alice in Wonderland, and the Harry Potter movies. We weren't planning on it, but we ended up spending almost an hour inside the Christ Church Cathedral where a friendly guide gave us quite a background of the place. This included how Charles Dodgson a maths tutor who is known to most as Lewis Carrol came about the idea of the story Alice In Wonderland. I was surprised to find out that the characters in the story are based on real people who were in some connection to the college. Alice was one of 3 daughters of Henry Liddell the dean at the time, the White Rabbit was Henry, & even their pet cat who was always on a large tree became the Cheshire Cat! There were other interesting facts about the cathedral of course & I'd give you guys examples but I can't remember dates & people's names :P

Since the dining hall was not open until 2pm, we headed out & passed other schools Corpus Christi College, Merton College, University College, & All Souls College. This truly is a university town.

Just by the Radcliffe Camera was also Bodleian Library. One of the oldest libraries in the world, with books from the 1400's. Afterwards we quickly headed back to Christ Church College to see the dining hall. This hall was the inspiration for the dining hall in the Harry Potter movies. It has framed pictures of passed deans throughout the hall.

We spent the next day walking around London. Walked along the Victoria Embankment, crossed the River Thames on the Waterloo Bridge & passed Tate Modern, Globe Theatre, Southwark Cathedral, HMS Belfast, before crossing on the Tower Bridge. Had a quick look inside St Paul's Cathedral, then to the Temple Church.

Then it was off to another day trip, this time to Windsor. It's great to have these youth cards, even when the prices are supposedly for students only. We must look so poor that they feel sorry for us & just give us the discount anyway :) It also came with a free audio guide which was great! Every room was explained. Visited Queen Mary's Dolls' House (it has electricity & plumbing!), The Drawing Gallery, the State Apartments, out to St George's Chapel, & afterwards walked to Eton College.

The Eurostar train to Paris today. Staying at Perfect Hostel & Hotel. I love breakfast in France - hot chocolate, croissant/choc croissant, danish, & orange juice. It's the same everywhere. First thing we did was walk to Tour Eiffel. We climbed up the 2 floors & elevator to the 3rd since there was no stairs to get to the last. Spent about 1 1/2 hours checking out the views as we got higher. Then across the Seine River to Trocadero & then to Arc de Triomph Etoile. Window-shopped along Avenue des Champs Elysees, & the evening headed to Sacre Coeur.

So much walking done yesterday, it wasn't going to be any different today. We started at Notre Dame, to the Pantheon, & then to the Catacombs. The place was amazing. We went down 130 steps & walked 2km underground. Bones were just stacked against the walls & some used as decorations.

If you want to spend a day indoors, then the Louvre is the place to go. We spent close to 6 hours in there, & when I think about that it's almost like flying to the Philippines from Australia! But I like the Louvre :) Checked-out every single floor, all the paintings, & sculptures...we're absolutely "museumed" out!

Well the next day, since we were leaving before breakfast started, the lady at reception gave us some stuff to take. The amount she gave kind of shocked me - 2L of orange juice, & a whole pack (6x) of the choc croissants, & she was even apologising that she couldn't get the baguette! hehehe

OK so anyway, we were heading into Luxembourg today. A small but very expensive country. Stayed at AJ Luxembourg, in a pretty little valley, just a bus ride away from the train station. Since we couldn't check-in to our room yet, we walked up the steep hill to get to Place Guill II. Not much really to do, since we were staying here for 2 nights, I didn't want to do all the sightseeing already. It's also a really small city so all could be covered easily in a day.

So the next day, we started off early. Enjoyed their buffet breakfast of cheese, slices of meat, and the different kinds of breads, and the absolutely delicious hot chocolate! We looked around The Casemates, and also did the Wenzel walk (a self-guided tour around the city passing historical sights). That was pretty much Luxembourg, easy to walk around :) I'm sure there are other places to go to for day trips but we didn't have time for that...and perhaps most importantly the money for it :P I did however have come to enjoy the game of ping pong :)

It was another early start today, due to the fact that we couldn't take the shuttle from the hostel, we would have to catch the bus to the station. Which meant having to give ourselves a good 10-15 minutes to walk up that ridiculous hill, and the pavement wasn't smooth...AND it was drizzling. The only good thing was that we would be on the train and won't miss out on a nice sunny day.

We changed trains at Cologne, but didn't move for at least 30 minutes. The train was too heavy. They actually forgot to add the rest of the carriages, and it had to be 2nd class carriages...our one. So everyone who didn't have a reservation for first class were standing in the aisles and doorways. We were like this for about 1 1/2 hours until we got to the station after Frankfurt and they finally added those other carriages. It felt so good to sit down, most especially since we did pay for seat reservations!

The hostel in Munich was on the same street as the one I stayed at in 2007 so it was easy to find - Euro Youth Hostel. Great hostel, even if we were in a 12 bed-dorm room I was able to sleep so well. I just love Germany!

Did a day trip to Dachau the next day. Our tour guide was Gordon, absolutely awesome! He knew everything, and was quite funny. He summarized everything he learnt about the concentration camp pretty good. Because if we had gone by ourselves we'd probably still be reading all the boards. The first thing you see, & walk through is an iron gate with the words in German saying "Work Will Set You Free".

Then they were lined up in rows & marched into the administration office, stripped off not only their clothing but also their identity & rights. They were treated like animals, or even worse. After handing over all their belongings, they were given stripped uniforms & patches with their identity numbers. Punished for the littlest things, & even if it's not their fault. It could be as stupid as someone in your room not fixing their bed...everyone in that room will be punished. Worked in harsh conditions, unhygienic, hardly given food & so on...

We got to see the huge room where they showered & tortured - hands tied behind their backs & pulled up with ropes from the ceiling so hard and sudden that their shoulders popped out, & their collar bones broke. Their accommodations are now only replicas of those that were on the site. They had rooms that should only be for 50 people but were cramming over 400 inside. The rooms were so crowded that when the doors were opened, feaces would literally flow out...

Seven of the original housings were linked together by a corridor. These rooms were used for human experiments. We saw the gas chambers that looked like shower rooms. The last thing we passed was the statue of an Unmarked Soldier with the words "To honor the death, to admonish the living" in German. This was designed by one of the survivors of the camp.

When we got back to Munich, Joel & I walked to Hofbrauhaus for lunch. Food and service was disappointing. I had turkey ragout in mushroom cream sauce & spatzle and it was very bland. When Joel's sausage platter came out it looked like a kid made it. And pretzels were a crap size too for the amount we paid for it. I should have known better that this place was a tourist trap. TSK TSK TSK

Afterwards, we walked passed the Residenz, Feldherrnhalle, Theatinerkirche, and into the Englishe Garten. The next day we went back to the garten & took our time strolling around. It's so quiet now compared to when I came last time, the park was full! But I guess it's still not the weather to be out lazing in the sun since there's still not much of it. We visited 3 churches - Theatinerkirche, which is quite nice inside compared to it's hideous yellow facade; then to Frauenkirche, & Peterskirche. We were also just in time for the Glockenspiel to play at 12 noon. Lots of "oohs" and "aaahhhs" from the crowd.

We bought HUGE pretzels in the morning before catching our train to Zurich. They're even bigger that my head, & it took me about 30 minutes to finish it hehehe. We arrived almost 5pm, quite a long train ride. Stayed at City Backpacker - Hotel Biber. This hostel had a kitchen in every floor, the only disappointing thing was that there was no toaster or microwave for our breakfast :(

We walked to Grossmunster early in the morning even before it opened up. Good thing the sun was out and the heat was nice for a change. The church was completed as a Romanesque church in 1220. Zwingli initiated the Zurich reformation in the 16th century here. And one of he's Bibles is set in a protected case near the pulpit.

Went across the bridge over the Limmat river to Fraumunster Kirche. Founded in 853, & mostly noble women lived there. It was an influential Benedictine abbey that had the right to collect tolls, hold markets, & mint coins. The glass windows were by Augusto Giacometti & Marc Chagall. There's also a large organ with 5793 pipes!

Down to Bukli Platz and enjoyed the waterfront view. The square was built under the municipal engineer Arnold Burkli in 1887. On a clear day, you have an alpine panorama which is exactly what we had :) We sat for awhile just soaking up the sun :) Window-shopped along Bahnofstrasse - the exclusive shopping mile which is lined with elegant department store, famous boutiques for fashion & jewellery, inviting street cafes & restaurants...all that we couldn't have. The street covers about 1.4km from the main train station all the way to the lake, Zurichsee.

Back down by the river after eating to take some pictures of St Peter Kirche. It has Europe's largest clock face - 8.7m in diameter, & it has held this record since 1534. The church is also Zurich's oldest. Back in the day it was used as the fire watch lookout point, & parts of the building are from the 9th - 15th centuries, with a Baroque gallery.

I also love lazy days. And this was the laziest one yet :) Since we've seen pretty much everything there is to see in Zurich, we decided to follow the walking tour that was in our city map. It started in Bahnofstrasse then down to Schipfe, and area which dates back to the 13th century where ships were pushed back & forth on the river. Up the hill to Lidenhof with Celtic, Roman & medieval remains bear witness to the rich history of the hillock that has been populated since 1500BC! And in 1798, the citizens of Zurich swore an oath to the Helvetic Constitution on the site.

Passed St Peter Kirche before getting to Paradeplatz, the heart of Bahnofstrasse where the Swiss major banks have their headquarters. Also had a look inside Sprungli Confiserie Cafe, which was founded by one of the original Lindt chocolate makers. Gosh it smelt so good inside!

Had a quick look around Weinplatz/Rathous where there was supposed to be remains of Roman baths, which by the way we didn't see. Then up to Neumarkt/Spiegelgasse. Neumarkt (New Market) was just outside the old city wall, & the tower at the end was built as a residence for the nobilty. History was written in Spiegelgasse at #14 where Lenin set up the Russian Revolution.

We checked-out around 10:30am the next day and waited for out train to Venice, with a change in Milan. The last time I came to Venice the accommodation was in a camp site and you had to take a bus into the area. But this time is was right by the canals at Hotel Leonardo. For dinner we had our first true Italian pizza & spaghetti. Yum yum yum!

Heade to Ponte di Rialto by just following the signs. Good fun to get lost in Venice with all the small alleys and bridges over the canals :) Then lined up to go inside Basilica San Marco. No pictures inside, but I'm getting good at taking sneaky ones ;) Got to see torre dell'orologio, Palazo Ducale, Biblioteca Marciana, & of course Piazza San Marco...with all the pigeons being fed :) Had my taste of gelato a short time later too...soooooooo good! I could never get sick of eating here in Italy :)

It was a good thing that I checked the time when I woke up, I was surprised it was already 8am. Turns out that my phone changes the time automatically for daylight saving, which meant being moved an hour ahead. Lucky too because we needed to catch a train around lunch time to Florence that day!

When we got to Florence it spent about 15 minutes looking for that darn #25 bus to get us to the hostel. Turns out that we'd have to catch another one to San Marco & change there to the #25. Ok so we did, then arrived at the address on our confirmation later. Only to be told that the place had closed down last January. Hmmm so why didn't I get an email about this? Well at least the people at the other hostel there were very helpful, they let me used their mobile to contact HostelBookers.com to find out what was going on. It turns out that B&B Mainson was still open but had moved to a different location.

Sooooooo we walked about 30 minutes to their new address. And I was told that they did send an email regarding their new address...yes they did only a few days before arrival which was stupid. Because not everyone carries with them a laptop, OR afford to pay CHF18 per hour or EUR7 to use the internet. It would have been nice of them to mention it when they were planning on the move.

First place we visited on our full day in Florence was Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, it was quite a line up to get in! Walked accross the popular Ponte Vecchio with all it's jewellery stores & took our time walking up Piazzale Michelangelo with it's awesome view over Florence. Then further up to Chiesa di San Miniato al Monte, before heading down to Santa Croce.

For lunch we waited in line for at least an hour to get our freshly made sandwiches at Antico Noe. But it was sooooooooo worth it! I've never tasted a sandwich better than this, the meat was freshly sliced, the cheese was freshly sliced...everything was just YUM YUM YUM x 3!!!! And afterwards walked around Piazze della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, & Galleria degli Uffizi. We pretty much just followed random people around the streets to see where it would take us, and we ended up at Piazze della Repubblica. Sat under the sun for while like everyone else before heading to Firenze Fiera, which ended up being closed.

Getting to Rome & our hostel was easy compared to the last trip. Now staying at Rome City Hostel. Location is a bit of a hike from the city but not complaining there, because it means we can eat twice as many pizzas, pastas, gelatos & what not ;) We got ready to go out & meet Joel's parents & nan at Fontana di Trevi. Joined them for dinner before heading back to the hostel.

Again we visted Fontana di Trevi in the morning, when there wasn't that many people yet. But everyone seems to like getting their picture taken throwing coins into the fountain, did it once before, wasn't anything exciting. Crossed the river & passed Castel San Angelo before getting to Piazza San Pietro at the Vatican. We waited with the crowd to see the pope. He came out in his pope mobile & everyone was cheering, chanting his name, & groups of people holding banners. It was as if he was a rock star, he was quite happy to be just going around waving too. We only stayed awhile before going to Colosseo, Palatino, & Foro Romano.

Then it was back to San Pietro to get inside the basilica. We actually started lining up to what we thought was to get in, but I saw a sign saying something about climbing 300+ steps. Now I've been here before & I don't remember that, so while Joel stayed in the line I went back to ask the security who pointed me the right way & happily said that there was no line to get into the basilica. *SIGH* I don't know how long we were standing there waiting, but good we didn't have to anymore. Took lots of pictures inside :)

Our treat for the day? Was 6 scoops of gelato (tiramisu, creme caramel, bacio, strawberry, pistacio, & kiwi) & ate at Fontana di Trevi. Anyone jelous yet?