10 things we love about Krakow, Poland

1.    The people, as soon as we hopped off the train we had an old man come up and give us directions to get out of the station....initial instincts were to tell him to go away because we weren't giving him any money, but he just wanted to help. The people here are so quiet and reserved but are more than willing to help you when needed. It's a humbling place to be.

2.    Pierogi- delicious polish dumplings that we practically lived off here. Filled with meat, cabbage, mushrooms, spinach or cheese they are delicious! There is even a 24 hour pierogi take away that came in handy at 4am after a big night out.

3.    Wodka- As soon as we reached our hostel we were greeted with......a shot of polish wodka, mad dog style. A mad dog shot is vodka, grenadine and Tabasco sauce. Yep- welcome to Poland!

4.    Greg and Toms- this was the hostel we stayed in and it was fantastic. It is owned by two polish guys who live in the same apartment building as the hostel but it is run by young polish uni students. The hostel provides breakfast and dinner and organises everything you want, including vodka tasting nights! Seems that the word about how great this hostel is has travelled around Australia as 90% of the people staying there were Aussie. We made so many really great friends here and felt very much at home with our hostel family. Thanks melly.

5.    Z and j- yep the polish love their z's and j's and with the surname like Dziubinski we were feeling much at home (know exactly what u mean now mel). We loved searching for all the names we knew and found much joy in finding Jerzy, Yurek, Agnieska..... :)

6.   Cheap shopping- enough said! From clothes to food to cute souvenirs it is ridiculously cheap compared to the rest of Europe. A little dangerous.

7.   Medieval history and architecture- Krakow has a rich history with their architecture that dates back to at least the 10th century. There is one big castle just down from the main square that overlooks most of the city. The tale of the town dragon originates here and if you walk around the base of the castle you will find the dragon's cave. There is a statue of a dragon outside the cave which breathes fire ever couple of minutes. Pretty cool! The castle is beautiful and although in Europe you can get over looking at the billions of castles and old churches this one just seemed to stand out. I found myself setting my mind back to the day when it would have been the centre point of the town and people would have busily been walking around the cobble stone paths telling tales of the dangerous dragon that lay beneath the castle to their children. Besides the castle Krakow has some really nice buildings such as St. Mary's church in the city square and the walls that still remain standing around the boundary of the old town square.

8.    Auschwitz- what a terrible history this place holds. We actually got back from here today and are still very much disturbed by the atrocities we heard about. The tours that run here are really good. It consists of visiting two of the concentration camp sites. You can see where the prisoners of the nazis were kept, what their living conditions were like, the gas chambers and crematorium. It is an incredibly moving place. It is absolutely unbelievable to hear some of the stories that the tour guides tell you. They have displays of the prisoner's belongings that came to the camp. Thinking they were being relocated to a different living area most of them had packed their most treasures belongings. As soon as they arrived their suitcases where snatched off them and tossed into a pile to be sorted through, never to be touched by them again. They had on display thousands of spectacles taken from those that were gased, as well of millions of shoes and even thousands of kilos of hair that they had cut off all of the prisoners to be sold back to textile shops to make rugs and nets. Had to take a moment when we came to a display of kids clothes and the stories that went them. Any child under the age of 15 was sent to the gas chamber upon arrival, as well as their mother and anyone else that was deemed unable to work for the nazi government at the camp. Those that were selected for work probably wished they had been killed though as the living conditions were so inhumane. What a scary time it would have been for those people arriving at the concentration camp trying to piece together what was happening and why......all because of a name they had been given! Hopefully the millions of visitors to this place keep this history alive and always remember the atrocities that happened and realise how important it is for equality within our world.

9.    Christmas markets- on a lighter note we caught the last night of Christmas markets here. I'm a sucker for markets at home so poor scott got dragged along the rows of handcraft Christmas decorations, babushka dolls and chocolate stalls. I don't think he minded it too much though with polish kransky to keep him happy ;)

10.    Snow- we had been hoping that along with the cold temperatures here that we would also be greeted with snow, yet this wasn't the case. As cold as we thought it was it wasn't cold enough to snow. However on our second night we headed out with some friends we had made for a night of polish vodka drinking and at 3am we saw out first snow fall. I was so excited I screamed and scott and i ran out onto the street, dancing around. Our Canadian friend could not believe we were so excited about 'snow' but to see it falling for the sky and hitting the light of the street lamps was the most beautiful sight we had seen!

This list could go on but we'll leave it there. We basically wanted to get the point across that Poland is a fantastic place to come and visit. We don't want to leave but need to catch our train to Prague to tonight so it is goodbye to Krakow, for now.

London calling!

After a lengthy wait in the passport line we finally walked out of Heathrow and into the cold temperatures of London. We quickly grabbed out our scarves, gloves and jackets and followed Brody\'s instructions to find we\'re we would be staying.
Brody\'s place is in East Putney- gorgeous little apartment with real \'London\' charm.
Our first day was spent navigating our way through the city streets. We started in Hyde park and strolled through the christmas markets that we set up for the holidays. We continued on to view all the \'usual\' tourist sights- Harrods, Big Ben, Westminster, Buckingham etc.
After we could not walk anymore we were glad to rest at the Lycerum theatre to watch \'the lion king\'. It was an absolutely break taking show- however Scott and I were so jet lagged that we could barely keep our eyes open by the end.

Our second day was spent in the typical London rain, but it was still an amazing day. We spent hours roaming the tower of London, filling my \'royal history\' fix! We also decided to try our luck at getting into a premier league football game, but didn\'t like our chances as all games were sold out. The football gods must have looked down on Scott though as we ended up scalping tickets from a guy for £45 (told they could cost up to £150). This experience was definitely worth while as the Chelsea crowd was amazingly passionate and wildly critical at the same time. ( most a,out of C bombs I have ever heard- and ever will hear, ha!)
Day three was just as pleasing as we decided to jump on board a day tour to:
Windsor castle- Extravagantly engaging
Stonehenge- a little overrated but still intriguing
Bath- picturesque and perfect.
To top the day off we had - typical english dinner with a warm ciders in an awesome little pub called \'the Albert\' in Victoria- just for Scotty ;)
We were really sad to say goodbye to London but looking forward to heading East!

Sex, drugs and piano accordions

The unpredictable nature of travel is what we love and what we keep coming back for. After our downer in Paris we were back up on top of the world in Amsterdam. What a picturesque city we had landed in. The canals were lined with rows of quaint little buildings that resembled something out of a cartoon- like a little gingerbread village.
Our little guesthouse was gorgeous and the owner- Greg was so lovely and helpful. We would definitely recommend staying at "Helmers inn" for anyone travelling here.

Amsterdam is cold! Really cold! The winds were icy and although we loved riding our bikes all round the city our hands and face froze. On several occasions I swear my bike was moving backwards while I was still pedalling forward because of the ridiculous wind!
Yet somehow this city suits the cold weather. It would have been even better if it was snowing.
We began our history lessons here as well, visiting Anne Frank's house of hiding. What a sad story this little girl's family went through- and to think it happened to so, so many! It gave us a snapshot of how terribly different life was only that short time ago. We also tried our hand at the cultured activity of visiting the Van Gogh museum which showcased hundreds of pieces of his art.
Nights are when Amsterdam come alive! Strolling down the streets we found pastry stands filled with delicious Dutch donuts and pancakes, amongst "coffee shops" where people sat in clouds of smoke smiling quietly and how could we forget the red lit windows with girls on show, tapping the glass enticing all the males that walked passed to come in.

And then there was Berlin. What a city! Little bit of old, little bit of new. Little bit of techno little bit of curry wurst......actually a lot of curry wurst. Ha ha! These German sausages sprinkled with curry powder had us at hello.
Our hostel was AMAZING- thank you jimmy- you were right!! The circus hostel is the best hostel we have ever stayed in. Funky place with a great cafe, friendly and helpful staff and to top it off- pictures of Hasselhoff in the bar and elevator!
Beneath the funky streets and happy faces of Berlin lay a dark history which we explored on a fantastic walking tour- Brewers walking tour. Our guide was Victoria and she was so cool. I reckon we both fell in love with her ;) she told us amazing stories about the history of Berlin through both world wars. We explored the desperate times of the German people after World War One and how Hitler rose to power. We strolled the streets where parts of the Berlin wall still stand. One of the most impressive memorials we have seen was the memorial for the murdered Jews. Here lay over 1000 blocks of concrete, all different. The artist wants you to take away your own meaning of this memorial and we both felt that the blocks represented the uniqueness of each person that was killed, rather than labelling them as the 'Jews' and the fact that we could walk between the blocks made us feel a sense of coldness, darkness and isolation. Can u see how cultured we are getting ;)
Our tour guide let us know about the check point Charlie tourist trap when we got there. Unfortunately most of it is fake and was not the actually checkpoint at all. They have set it up for tourists to come and take pictures of the fake military soldiers 'guarding' the entrance from east and west Berlin. But get this, the soldiers are not even in the German military, not even close. They are male strippers and porn stars who are paid by the government to be there to take tourists money for photos. Nice! Although some of the girls who were with us didn't think this was such a bad thing :)
We leave Germany and continue our history trail in Krakow. The temperature is getting colder as we go.....but we are keeping our fingers crossed for some snow in Poland.
Love to all xx

Eat, love and steal....

Well, well Paris- the city of love....or is it. We felt a little let down by the hype around this city of romance. Although we enjoyed many of the great sites we still left wondering if it deserved the admiration other travellers talked of.
Despite our judgments of the city's external look we did enjoy our comfortable stay at "L'Ermitage" and felt much love from the owner of this b'n'b.
Our enjoyment in Paris was when we wandered the streets,the quiet and not so quiet, finding cute little patisseries and lavishly expensive cars shining through huge windows. There was an extremely lengthy line to get into the catacombs when we went but we had heard how good it was and were determined to see it so we waited in the cold and rain for an hour. It was a pretty unique experience walking among the remains of so many people. The way they had set out their bones was so eerie but intriguing. Pretty spooky stuff being up close and personal with the dead!!
 Thanks to Mel and Jas' hot tips we really enjoyed our french lunch by buying a baguette, some Brie accompanied by mulled wine and some amazing macaroons ( black forest flavour and everything!!)
The Eiffel tower was spectacular by day but jaw droppingly gorgeous at night. The huge lines and gale force winds put us off going up the tower. We were quite content just admiring it in all its glory from the ground.
Unfortunately we had a bad experience the day we were leaving Paris. Firstly we rocked up with our eurail passes confidently in hand, only to be told that the 10am train was full and that the next train would be at 2pm and if we wanted a seat it would cost us a hefty €60 each on top of our eurail. Leaving us no option we decided to pay up and catch the train that afternoon. Seeing as though we had a lengthy wait at the station we thought we would head to the McDonald's cafe across the road to hook up a wifi connection and send emails home to our loved ones. This is when things got ugly. We were both swarmed by a group of young kids who got right up in our face and flashed their laminated signs in front of us. One sign covered my hand and one of the girls snatched my phone at the same time then they all ran out an left us wondering what had just happened. I looked at Scott dumbfounded and told him that they took my phone so he ran after them.
While I stayed at the cafe trying to stop my hands shaking Scott caught up with the little gypsy kids and grabbed the two boys yelling at them to give the phone back. All they could say was 'I don't have' and 'help' once Scott got really serious and told them he would take them to the police. Desperation was evident from these kids as they certainly weren't giving back the phone and they would not go to the station with Scott. The girls even started pulling their pants down and yelling at Scott to get him to let go of the boys. They eventually slipped their jackets and ran away, through the crowd of strangers that had formed- all wanting to find out what was going on but not willing to help!
So after a trip to the police station we were both ready to leave Paris behind and hopefully one day remember it for its charmful exterior and not it's desperate, distasteful interior.

Dubai... Silicon oasis

We landed in Abu Dhabi after a 16hr flight. We had 1.5 days in the UAE before moving onto London. We arrived at the Premier Inn Silicon Oasis in Dubai jet lagged and exhausted. The accommodation was nice but the location was rubbish as it took almost 20-30 min to get anywhere. We had plans in Dubai to go to the famous water park, beach, indoor snow field and have dinner in the sand dunes. We decided to can all these plans and settle for a relaxing day and instead went to the Dubai mall to see the world\'s tallest building and the Dubai fountains.
The mall was amazing as there was every shop you could imagine complete with an aquarium, theme park and skating rink. Outside the mall lay the Dubai fountains with the back drop of the world\'s tallest building. The fountains moved and lit up in sequence to various musical pieces and was similar to watching some form of water ballet. We were amazed by the fountains and rated it well above Hong Kong\'s sky line light show.
We now head to London for 4 days of fun during the new year.

Andes to Jungle

Drugged in Lima after a long flight

 

Drugged at the airport with some strange food??

 We began our journey with a rough and uncomfortable trip courtesy of Aeroleanas Airlines to via Lima Cuzco, Peru. During our stop in Lima we decided to hit the town in the trendy area of Miraflores. We quickly found ourselves lost after looking for some local markets but were quickly saved by a trusty local. He took us personally to the markets followed by a bar a friend of his owned near by to try the famous pisco sour. After 1 glass we were starting to get offered Cocaine and were feeling a little strange. Halfway through the second glass we both realised something was up and decided to bail. Our friendly Peruvian quickly turned no so friendly and tried everything he could to try make us either have more alcohol or buy cocaine. After explaining that we had a plain to catch we were allowed to leave and were sent to the bar to pay for our drinks while 2 large bounces stood around me. At the time I knew I was being ripped off but was just keen to get out. 2 drinks and $100 later Em and I were in Lima airport rolling and giggling on the floor. we managed to get on our flight with nothing more than some foggy memories and our kidney's intact.

Cuzco and Machu Picchu

 Straight away Em and i were effected by the 3500m altitude and found simple walks to our beautiful hostel Quipu a challenge. Staying a Quipu was like staying at long lost grandma's house and at about 20AUD a night very affordable with all the coca leaves and freshly squeezed  juice you could want.
Cuzco is and amazing place with beautiful cobblestone roads and breath taking views of surrounding mountains. The food is average and very Americanised and both Em and I found ourselves sick. We setled in and within a few days were use to the altitude and booked a rafting trip. The rafting was amazing as we cut through the steep valley's of the Andean mountains trying to avoid falling into the freezing water.

Machu Picchu

The next day embarked on our Cameno Inca trek (inca trail). This was a four day trek through the mountains to Machu Picchu. Our guide, cook and porters from Alltrek were fantastic and the traditional Peruvian cuisine was easily the best food we had eaten.Unfortunately for my self i was still not well and my diet mainly consisted of electrolyte replacement fluid. The trek was amazing and reward of walking into the misty Machu Picchu early in the morning before any other tourist arrived was an experience neither of us would forget.

Arequipa and Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon

After getting a feel Cuzco and returning from our trek we booked a first class sleeper bus ticket to Arequipa where we enjoyed Spanish Bingo and 180' lazyboy type recliners. Arequipa was a pretty city made from white Volcanic rock from the 3 active volcanoes that surrounded it. We visited a few museums including one that housed the remains of Juanita the inca ice queen that was found frozen at the top of one of the volcanoes. We booked a 2 day trip to Colca Canyon(the worlds deepest canyon). This trip was a little disappointing as we spent nearly the whole time in the bus and didn't even reach the deeper parts of the canyon as the bus driver ran out of time. We were also surprised by a 5200m pass where we saw the worlds highest toilet where nearly everyone on the bus suffered

d from altitude sickness. On a positive we did manage to see the famous condors that lived within the canyon.

Puno Lake Titicaca


Home stay

We headed from Cuzco in a tourist bus to the town of Puno stopping at various sites an small villages along the way. Puno was a small city that had little to offer except for lake Titicaca. We booked a cruise and home stay on one of the remote islands on lake Titicaca. We stayed with a Quechua couple that lived a sustainable life as the island hand no shops. The house was basic with a mud floor and they looked all meals over an open fire that consisted of mainly potato. That night we dressed up in our host clothing and went to a traditional dance with the rest of the island. The next day we left our guest headed back to Puno.


Peru to Bolivia.

We took a long local bus from Puno to la Paz that crossed the border that consisted of a chain across the road which you had to hop off the bus and and walk around. As we winder our selves around and acrosss lake Titicaca we finally came to our descent into La Paz. La paz is an interesting town as it is biult in a crater like pit amoungst beautiful snow capped mountains. After finding a place to stay for about 15US we found a taxi to take us to the Witch Markets. We were driven to what seemed to be the end of the town and asked to get out. I questioned the driver if this was the right place and he contibnued to ask us to hop out and pointed in a direction for us to follow. We followed the direction he pointed and found ourselves in a small quiets part of outer town late at night with no clue where we were. After a long walk with little direction from the locals we finally found our way back to our hotel. These types of event seemed to follow as we began to feel unwelcome in the town of La Paz as we were ask to leave stores and constantly refered to as ''Gringos''.

Lama Fetus from the witch markets

Our aims in Lapaz were to ride Death road and visit the infamous San Pedro Prison howere unfortunately for us we couldn't visit the prison due to a recent riot and we desided to skip death road after a tourist rode off the edge due to poor conditions. With these events we desided to leave La Paz early so we booked a ticket to Rurrenbaque to visit the Amazon.