ARE WE THERE YET?

The Beautiful Swiss countryside

kmdud — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:45:00 GMT

Well, we are safe and well in Switzerland, living it up in Luzern. Its a great little place, right on the edge of a huge lake. Today we did a big day trip via boat around the lake then via the world`s steepest cogwheel railway cars to the top of Mount Pilatus. We hiked around for a few hours and enjoyed the cold air before heading down back to Luzern via aerial cablecar. The top of the mountain was covered with cloud 90% of the time and we enjoyed listening to all the swiss cow bells going off as the cows ate grass on the slopes below us.

Tomorrow will be hanging out here, seeing the sites, drinking beer, and relaxing in town before heading to Lichtenstein on friday.

My glasses were sent today and should arrive in Austria tomorrow, so am taking a deep sigh of relief about that.

Almost got taken out by a grazing goat coming down the slopes of the mountain, too. That was fun. It didnt seem to be able to stop before hitting the path :)

So, time to go once again. Mandy`s turn next. Hope everyone is well and relaxed in my quiet absense.

love Krissy xxx

German roots

kmdud — Sun, 9 Aug 2009 10:40:00 GMT

Hellloooooo everybody! here i am in Stuttgart trxing to get this bloody kezboard to work for me (letters all round different way and some missing!) We just came from Paris yesterday. It was great! saw as much as we could in 2 days, all the sights that tourists love, and drank beer and slept and was HOT HOT HOT! it was 30 something on our first site-seeing day. A big change from the teens in the UK. There has been a lot of picture taking and videoing and eating and drinking and trains etc, and I am pooped most nights...but we soldier on right haha nah its all fun. Germany is beautiful and we enjoyed the markets and saturday life atmosphere here yesterday, as well as beer and a peach melba on the edge of the gardens here. Today we check out the Proche and Mercedes Museums and tomorrow is the Frankfurt-am-main day trip. Then off to Lucern, Swtizerland on tuesday. Wont get my glasses for about another 8 days when we reach Austria. By which time I will have run out of contact lenses anyway. Oh and by the way, telstra has F§$%ed me over again and I cannot call anyone even though I have $200 credit on it. It rekons I have none. Idiots! So call me, but remember that at this mooment its 10:30am here...so be mindful of time delay. We will attempt calls via payphone with our phone card...but sorry in advance. So, now I have clean clothes (after I washed them with me in the shower last night as there is no laundry service here on the weekend) and I feel less smelly, we will do touristy things today. Better go now, time to face the music and cool air. toodles Krissy xxx

Edinbrough

kmdud — Tue, 4 Aug 2009 18:45:00 GMT

So after a long bus ride back to Dublin and a train ride to Belfast, we decided Belfast has Nothing on Edinbrough, now that we are here. A quick flight across the water and we have spent the day in the Old Town and around Edinbrough catle. Very nice indeed. The city is VERY picturesque.

A few little fights already but I was expecting that. Nothing a beer or cider cant fix.

Onto sweet Paris tomorrow and three nights there, exploring bohemia.

Phones are no working to call out for some reason but we can receive. Crazy UK!

Anyway, better go. Time to have the rest of my Belhave Best beer, a ocal scottish yummy!

Oh and we found out we really are scottish...name all over the scottish war memorials!

love to everyone

Krissy and Mandy xxx

A bit more of a story :)

kmdud — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:40:00 GMT

I am ALIVE! Just. Its been a long rough ride inbetween the awesome sight-seeing and touring around the countryside. But I will start a the beginning where I almost didnt even get to leave the countryside! Jill dropped me off at the airport and apparently you needed to show them the cared you used to book the plane tickets online. oops...it was at home coz I wasnt planning on taking it with me...thankfully i only needed to tell them the last 4 digits of my card number (which I know off by heart - thank my lucky stars) and then I was off! Slept all the way to Singapore...wondered around the largest shopping airport I have ever seen: Changi , then the very large flight to London, Heathrow. 14.5 hrs dure to bad weather in London and having to circle around for an hour. I was rooted by the end. Got in to heathrow and managed to find my way to the Tube and then work my way to the accomodation where I was to wait for Mandy who flew in from Milan to Gatwick...and was 3 hours delayed. Here i was thinking she was dead, or something worse, and mu phone was dead and SHE had the universal charger with her...not my lucky day. She eventually made it and we spent a less crazy morning persuing the Borough Markets and eating nice food. London was actually way more hectic than I though it would be. We were ALMOST late to most things we booked, such as theatre and such, but managed to look at most things. The Theatre (Oliver) was brilliant. I most amazing experience. And the Brittish Museum was also a highlight. My favourite quote is the train driver saying "This service is delayed due to a passenger UNDER the train at the next station." Isnt that illegal to say that? Apparently someone had committed suicide or something of the sort, and it happens enough that the locals dont really pay much attention. In the hectic rush we were in when leaving to catch the train to go out to Somerset, i left my glasses behind. NOT HAPPY JAN! So now its contact lenses until the glasses can be mailed to Edinburgh, which we reach next week. We spent a day in Cheddar, hiking around the Cheddar Gorge (a gorge made of limestone...largest in England?) and then the aftenoon in Wells, where we toured the famous cathedral and had a pint and stew at the local Kings Head Pub. We have spen the last 2 days in Bath, where we got poured on by very wet rain. yes, wet. We got off the bus in bath and decided to brave the rain and take a nice walk to the accomodation instead of taxi. We should have got a cab! We walked 3 miles UPHILL...steep hill...and got to the backpackers completely drenched. Krissy = ried but happy. mandy = very grumpy. We cheered ouselves up with a trip to the less spectacular Stone Henge (only coz its really small) and the traditional town called lacock, where they filmed part of Harry Potter (yes I have pics). But the best was topping it off last night with a spa and dinner package at England's only thermal spa baths. very relaxing. But today was another matter: A nice train ride to crew, WALES, via newport, but then they overbooked the train to holyhead and there were about 20 people crammed into the end compartments between carriages, standing amongst bags for 2 hours. It was a LONG journey. But we made friends with an Irish couple who we had the luck of running into on the ferry, which was late and ended up docking in Dublin an hours late. Looooong journey. i only mention it because now I smell and am hungry and all I want is a guiness but I have no EUROS! Bugger! So tomorrow is Guiness Tour, Jameson Tour, pub crawl, meeting mandy's mates, and hanging out before heading to Galway. Should be lots of fun. So not too much to mention at this point, but lots of pics waiting to upload and stories to tell later down the track. Hope you are all well. Until next time... Cheerio!

England...

kmdud — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:42:00 GMT

So london was hectic and also very pretty. Awesome lunch at Moro and then sightseeing and museum etc to keep our minds ticking over. We calculate half UK peeps and half internationals in london. so many accents.

currently in Cheddar near the south west coast and hiked around the gorg. Heading to Bath next but not before a few pints of cider and a few handfuls of cheese!

adios amegos,

krissy and mandy