Nicholas & Kathryn go AWOL

Arrived in Munich on the 17th November and spent three nights. Visited crazy King Ludwig the II castle Neuschwanstein, did a free waslking tour of Munich, visited Dachau concentration camp and did the Beer Challenge. All of these activities were special in their own way, but the concentration camp was by far the most emotional and moving place we have been this entire trip. What one human was capable of doing to another was just unbelievable. From Munich we caught the train to Salzburg where we went on the Sound of Music tour. Our hostel plays the film every day, so we took the opportunity to refresh our minds and sat and watched the 3 hour film, I forgot how long it was!! It helped though as we enjoyed the jokes and stories a whole lot more from our British tour guide. Besides the fact the tour was a little cheesy, the scenery was fantastic. From Salzburg we went to Vienna. We were staying in a hostel on the 10th floor and got some fantastic view of the city. It was very relaxing staying here as we wandered through the streets admiring all the old buildings. We visited the catacombes in St Stephens cathedral which left a very bad taste in my mouth, I can't believe they did that with the bodies!!! We also enjoyed the Xmas markets in Vienna and previously in Munich and Salzburg. Such a wonderful atmosphere and we've also tried some Gluhwein which is a real winter warmer. Next stop was Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic. Not an easy place to get to but this is why it is not as busy and remains such a special place to visit if you do make it here. We stayed in one of our favourite hostels this trip called Krumlov House. It was being managed by two kiwi girls who were just great and made us feel so welcome. We did a walking tour here and visited the Eggenburg Brewery and the castle with the longest grounds I have ever seen. We did walk right to the end and found a huge pond with lillies on it. We caught the bus up yesterday to Prague. Had a quick look around before it got dark at 4:30 then settled in for the night. Went down to the pub at our hostel and watched a live band called Gypsy Noise who play acoustic guitar (3 of them), very cool. Today we did the free walking tour which was 3 hours long and learnt so much about the history, which is now tying in with a lot of other history lessons we have had along the way which is great as it's all starting to make sense to us! We also visited the castle grounds here which is also home to the offices of the President. Tonight we are heading back out into the centre of Prague to watch the All Blacks vs France at the Irish Pub we found. We have only 11 nights left of our trip, and it is certainly flying by!! We've been thinking back to the things we've seen and done, we are going to have some really great stories to share!