Amsterdam

Another train trip and we arrived in a wet and dreary Amsterdam. We stayed in a small hotel instead of airbnb for a change and they had the longest, steepest staircase I've ever seen. We bought some cheap dodgy umbrellas and headed out into the gloom. We were right in the centre of town and it was only a few minutes to the Red Light District. It's so weird seeing the prostitutes in the windows offering their services. Being mid-afternoon the girls working weren't exactly the cream of the crop.....

Next day the weather a bit better so we decided to go for a cycle through the countryside. We caught a train to Zaandam just north of Amsterdam and hired some bikes at the station for the bargain price of 5 euros per day. We rode from there to Zaanse Schans where there are traditional Dutch houses and windmills. Most of the way is either bike lanes or separate bike roads which makes it very easy to get around. Coming back into the wind was less fun on our single speed bikes and after 20km our fitness was waning. We were overtaken by a 90 year old woman at one stage which was slightly embarrassing, but I'll blame the bike.

Back in town we had a snack at Febo which is a brilliant fast food shop with little windows you put money into and get a little croquette or burger. I'm sure we took a few years off our lives but I think it was worth it.

Croquettes in little compartments at Febo

Another healthy snack

It was rainy and freezing again the next day so we headed to Anne Frank's house which was just around the corner from our hotel. It was ok, but I think they assumed that everyone who goes there has already read her diary so there wasn't much info available. Also at the display of the diary pages there was a miniscule sign in the corner that said something like "to preserve the diary the pages on display are copies of the original". hmmmm

Since it was miserable outside we were looking for something close-by and indoors to do so we went to the sex museum which was ridiculous. It had haunted-house style robots and stuff that pop out and flash you.

Museum display

Robot flasher

- Joe

Berlin

We caught the InterCityExpress train to Nuremburg, then changed to the slightly slower InterCity train for the rest of the journey to Berlin via Leipzig. After arriving at Berlin Hauptbahnhof it took us all of about 5 minutes to get our hands on a currywurst and chips which is a very typical Berlin streetfood. Our airbnb apartment was situated on the border of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg which is a hip area in the old East Berlin. There are loads of cafes, restaurants and interesting shops in the area. Since we eat German food all the time at home we decided to mix it up and get Vietnamese for dinner which was really good and really cheap.

Church behind our apartment

Our apartment was in the grey building there past the hipsters

Next morning we headed off to a huge flea market which had tons of furniture, antiques, East German memorabilia, and all manner of crap. (Un?)Luckily we were travelling light because otherwise we would have come home with truckloads of awesome stuff. The market is in the old "dead zone" between East and West Berlin and there is a section of the wall still standing there. We then followed the path of the wall along Bernauer Strasse to various memorial sites. They have locations marked on the ground where escape tunnels were located and where escapees were shot.

Flea Market

Mauer Park

Berlin Wall memorial

Preserved section showing the "dead zone"

We pressed on past the Reichstag and after a quick currywurst overlooking the Brandenburg Gate to re-energise we went to the Jewish Memorial. It is a bunch of concrete blocks set at different heights which forms a sort of maze, with an information centre underneath.

Do what the Japanese tourists do!

Delicious and nutritious

Jewish memorial

Lucky timing

Hitler's bunker is just around the corner, although it's just a carpark now with a sign out the front so there isn't much to see. Through Potsdamer Platz and on to Checkpoint Charlie which was swarming with tourists and Gypsies trying to extract money from them.

Potsdamer Platz

Checkpoint Charlie

The next day we headed east to Alexanderplatz and checked out the excellent DDR museum which has exhibits and paraphernalia from the communist East Germany era. This side of town still has a very communist era feel with many apartment buildings from the 50's and 60's still in great condition looking as drab as ever.

Kate in a Trabant (plastic East German "people's car")

Recreated apartment from East Germany complete with old people!

Diorama of a nude beach for no apparent reason

Classic Communist era architecture on Karl Marx Allee

The East Side Gallery is a preserved section of the wall which has many graffiti artists' work on display. All over Berlin there is some great graffiti on the sides of buildings and old sections of wall.

East side gallery

Graffiti on the side of an apartment building

Random abandoned building

Berlin is one of our favourite cities so far, with a very relaxed vibe, cheap tasty food, good beer, and lots to do.

- Joe

Italy: Venice

Venice is just lovely. The only shame is that everyone else thinks so too and that makes it the tourist capital of Italy. Especially after what a ghost town Cinque Terre had been, we had barely encountered another person in days.

In the two days we were here we walked at least twenty-five kilometres around Venice. After befriending many of the local cats on the far side of the city, I insisted we walk back again the next day to see their adorable little faces once more. 

From what we can gather, a trip around the canals on a Gondola will cost you eighty Euros. Ludicrous. There was however no shortage of people keen to snap up the eighty Euro bargain. 

I don't think it's possible to take a bad picture of Venice - I wish I was as photogenic

Next we headed to the famous Rialto Bridge. I had no idea Venice was such an old city. The bridge that stands now was built in 1551 - The original pontoon bridge that once stood here was built in 1181. Crazy.

Rialto Bridge built in the year 1551

The foundations of the buildings along the canals sit on closely spaced wooden piles. Amazing to think how after all this time the city is still standing.

Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark's Square)

The water had risen and flooded parts of the city, and on the first day my excellent shoes saw me through and onward past the hordes of tourists waiting patiently to reach dry land.

Feeling invincible in my super awesome waterproof shoes

On the second day I felt completely invincible and walked through an even bigger flood of water just to put them to the test. That's when this happened, and I felt silly.



 

For lunch we went to a small pasta shop that prepares a select range of sauces and cooks the pasta fresh before serving it. We had to queue before the place even opened but it was most definitely worth it. Sadly, places like Venice are riddled with overpriced, tourist trap restaurants where you can order last night's spaghetti preheated and frozen pizza oven-baked with a few pieces of ham strewn on top so this place was a diamond in the rough. 

After lunch we carried on exploring the city and came across this cool bookshop (with a counter cat). In the middle of the shop books were awkwardly arranged within a gondola and out the back the owner had created a staircase made from old books. He was a bit of a nutter himself, but very friendly and happy for people to come in and just browse.

Pretty cool bookshop - lots of 70's porno magazines

Buy whhhhyyyy? SO many people dressed up like this, men and women with masks, capes, princess dresses...

So we found out why so many people were dressed up. We happened to be in Venice for the Carnevale Festival. The festival is traditionally celebrated with parades, masquerade balls, entertainment, music, and parties. Children throw confetti at each other and everyone dresses to the occasion.

Following the trend

Confetti was everywhere!

There was confetti, streamers and general party decorations just about everywhere we went. Lots of little girls were dressed up as princesses and men and women in tradition masquerade ball attire. The local buskers that dressed up for a living in Venice were completely outdone by the tourists. 

Our train home wasn't until 9pm so we played with a few Venetian cats before making our way back to the marina for sunset.

We carried on exploring the city until sundown. Venice is so gosh darn pretty.

Beautiful sunset

It's impossible to capture the magic of fairy lights on camera, we tried our best

Night time in Venice with nothing to do but make pretty photos

I hope we get to come back here someday soon.

- Kate