vienna - fancy building

vienna - fancy building
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Bill Bryson said "If the martians were to land in Vienna, they would think it was the capital of the world..."

There is no one stand-out building in Vienna, just piles of really good ones. They are all so fancy and covered in such amazing art that I started not to notice them, and forgot to photograph them. I forgot to do a lot in Vienna; I even seemed to forget to check what day it was. Luckily I got kicked out of the hostel anyway which made me wake up a bit.

vienna equestrian

vienna equestrian
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

The park around this sculpture was full of army planes and helicopters. They must have been on exhibition. It was quite strange really.

vienna

vienna
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

This is where Celine and Jesse strolled along at some point in Before Sunrise...ahh... how romantic. Well, maybe if the canal had some water.

viennese door

viennese door
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Gotta love Vienna... art nouveau and art deco stuff everywhere!

I met quite a few really cool (non-native) people in Vienna, including Jo from Modbury North, Adriano from Brazil, and John and Jordan who went to uni together in upstate New York. I don’t know if I mentioned but I happened to arrive in Vienna right in the middle of the Vienna Film Festival… my first European film festival! John and I braved two Andy Warhol films… now that was an experience! I fell asleep in the first one, ‘Haircut’, but the second one ‘Kiss’ was such an experience that I stayed awake. It was 40 minutes of non-stop kissing, very close up, with no sounds and with practically every coupling combination that Andy’s friends could make up. I’m looking forward to catching up with Kate some time so we can have an in-depth discussion on what Andy was trying to do! I also went to see Wallace and Gromit with John and Jordan, which was probably as far apart from ‘Kiss’ as you can get!

austrian countryside

austrian countryside
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Pretty as a picture! It's so strange travelling by train through europe, you have no idea when you go over borders into other countries, I only knew because my phone told me.

nuremberg nazi museum

nuremberg nazi museum
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

The metal structure you see jutting into the building goes all the way through the museum in out into one of Hitler's colossal amphitheatres. It represents the German people’s rejection of its Nazi history, a powerful shard of modern metal piercing through the heart of Hitler’s old, traditional stone building. Do you think I would have done a good job of presenting this design to the owners?

nuremberg nazi march grounds

nuremberg nazi march grounds
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

This place was amazing. It was so big I didn't even get half way across the parade grounds before deciding to turn back. It is a very strange place, it's where they have their folk festival every year and all the parks are used just like every other city park. for me though, even though it was full of people I found it really creepy at sunset, it was so huge and so still, and very very cold. I was very happy to get back to the hostel after this.

nuremberg strange food

nuremberg strange food
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

This mischievous little piece of local food was pretending to be onion bruscetta, but on closer inspection I discovered a gooey layer of flesh… something like raw pork! It was actually incredibly yummy, and I had a great time watching the local high school kids play ska music on stage while I was eating.

nuremberg nice food

nuremberg nice food
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

nuremberg sardines - yum

nuremberg sardines - yum
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

bon appetite!

simple fun

nuremberg fun
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

This was so cool. The main square in Nuremberg had a huge kid's fair on the Sunday and this was the most popular ride. Who says you need giant bouncy castles??

nuremberg - marriage

nuremberg - marriage
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Just to explain to my mum, this is a lovely fountain in the middle of Nuremberg. It has sculptures of around 8 married couples, one happy couple, one with a man treating his wife like a slave, one with a very fat wife stuffing her face with cake while the husband starves in chains, and so on... This one was my favoruite though!

slacker

I'm very sorry I've been a terrible blogger of late... I'm very very behind! It's just really hard to find cheap internet while you're traveling and I haven't stopped for a second since I got back. So for those that are wondering, I am back in London and back at work now, so you can ring me on the weekend and I'll probably be home.

I promise as usual that I will write a decent entry soon and try to catch up with my photos as well. Right now though I'm watching the sun set behind my monitor in my brand new fancy office, my view is of London Bridge and the Thames, with the London Eye, Houses of Parliament (big ben) and the absolutely gorgeous art deco Batersea Powerstation all lit up like fire right in front of me. I'm going to catch up with Andre in a minute at Piccadilly Circus, he's in town this week so I finally have an Adelaidian visitor!

Thanks so much for the postcard Kate. It made me feel so homesick looking at the gorgeous picture of the river and gum trees. You are a postcard legend. Have a cup of tea with Kyra for me!

Will write more soon,

Love Becky

ohh marcello!

There are so many different titles I could have used for this blog entry, it's a blogger's dream! 'when in rome...', 'la dolce vita', 'roman holiday'... basically all related to very romantic movies. I've been in Rome for two days and me and my fellow travellors have spent a lot of time pinching ourselves to remind us that we're in the eternal city! This is it, this is THE city, no where else has as much importance or history in Western culture.

Back to the last entry - I had a hellish but interesting day making my way to Florence, spent all day waiting to leave Vienna, carrying my pack around in the rain and just waiting to get there. I was not possible to find anywhere in Venice and I knew it would be so expensive so I had to go to lovely Florence again. The man that sold me the train ticket in Vienna was determined to give me the wrong one even after I stated my preferred time 3 times, so I got on the train at 7pm, knowing that meant arriving in Florence while it was still dark. It worked out pretty cool though, at first I thought I was going to spend my night sleeping in between the 30 suitcases of a very loud Italian family with a little italian kid kicking me constantly, but they eventually went into their own compartment and made room for me and two Nigerian guys that spoke very good English. I will never forget that train trip, we were up till 3 in the morning in detailed conversation about everything from religion and politics to why Austrians are so rude and how we can be better people. It was excellent! I arrived in Florence at 6 in the morning and dumped my pack, determined to take some photos of florence at sunrise. Italy is a very scary place for a girl by herself after dark. Italians sleep in every day, the markets don't start until 8 or 9 in the morning, so Florence is dead quiet at dawn. I had to do lots of laps of blocks to find the safest possible way to get down to the ponte vecchio, and even then men were making that discusting kissing noises and stopping their cars when they drove past, so I went and sat at the Uffizi art gallery where I knew there would be an eager lineup of tourists waiting with guidebooks reading about da Vinci and Botticelli.

Eventually the sun finally came up and I took all my photos (not so good) and then went back to the coffee bar near the train station where I consumed a very strong espresso and a custard crossiant (the best of my life) at the bar with all the other florentines. They very rarely sit down and relax with their coffee in the morning, it's a matter of paying for your coffee, giving a docket to the coffee maker, then swiftly drinking it right there at the counter. Hmmm writing about it is making me hungry... I think it's time for my late morning coffee and pastry!

Next installment... the rest of Florence, some backtracking to Vienna, and ROMA!

heidelburg river

heidelburg river
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

The castle is the ruins on the hill on the left. Heidelburg was also packed as there was a huge protest down the main street, I spoke to one of the protesters for quite a while. They were trying to make people aware of a French doctor that is in jail for breaching his licence by giving people very radical and revolutionary medical advice. He beleives that there is more to cancer and other health problems than we think, and a basic way of explaining it is that our frame of mind has a lot to do with the cause and how we can fix it. Very controversial stuff!

heidelburg valley

heidelburg valley
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

OK my photos are finally getting beyond my first day. Heidelburg was a killer to get into and out of(around 5 or 6 trains in one day) but it was definitely worth it. The town was buzzing as it was a Saturday, markets were out and everyone was sitting in the sun drinking beer and eating bratwurst. This is part of the view from the castle. You can see the gorgeous little bridge with fairytale gates in the middle.

frankfurt night

frankfurt night
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

frankfurt old town

frankfurt old town
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

and this is the old town I discovered! Hard to miss without all the tourists... it's the only part left of the old city, most of it was bombed by the allies in WWII.

frankfurt building

frankfurt building
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Somehow when I took this photo it didn't occur to me that this building was part of the 'old town'that I was searching for, and I proceeded to walk in the opposite direction and did a giant loop of the city including the red light distict... around 4 hours later I finally discovered the beautiful old town (and this building again)on my way home.

just don't know what to do with myself!

Hi everybody!

This is probably the stupidist time I could possibly be writing on the blog, but then that seems to make it all the more appropriate!

Ive spent several days, i'm not sure how many, in Vienna, taking in the lovely buildings and culture and all that stuff. I didn't want to leave, so I didn't, and now I've been kicked out of my loverly hostel (it's called 'beleive-it-or-not' for a reason) so they can do renovations and I have nowhere to go, Venice is a horrible place to find accomodation for and it's either Venice or Florence on the way to Rome, so it looks like I may be be staying in Florence again tomorrow night, this time in a tent! Woot! Probably will need to by a blanket... silly me didn't realise that when I booked a 'room with shared bathroom' that it was a tent with an outdoor dunny! So here I am trying to cancel my booking and find another place, going from expensive internet cafe to even more expensive internet cafe, and realising that Vienna isn't as loverly as I once thought it was! The people are as rude as the french, but fatter, and they all have really ugly and dirty dogs that think they run the city and attack anything they like! All of the footpaths have been covered in puddles all week and today is the only day it rained... I never thought I'd say this but I don't want to see another dog for quite a while.

On a positive note, I'm sure I'll find somewhere to sleep at some time, and on the way down to the even more expensive internet cafe the Vienna Greens party treated me to a free slice of chocolate cake to celebrate their election campaign. Vote for them, they give to the poor AND are actively improving international relations! Oh and I guess I have met some pretty cool people... will write about my more positive experinces at a later date.

Better get my act together... gee I'm hopeless... oh well, that's what it's all about isn't it? 'Life experience'

tchuss

vienna - schloss belvedere

vienna - schloss belvedere
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

This is a gorgeous little old palace in Vienna. I was freezing my but off! Will hopefully find cheap internet (and a train somewhere and accomodation) tomorrow)will put more on then!

nuremberg - under the castle

nuremberg - under the castle
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

This is just a small part of town, at the top of the hill under the castle walls.

heidelburg

heidelburg
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Look how gorgeous it is - need I say more??

frankfurt

frankfurt
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

I really liked Frankfurt, those towers glowed in the sun all day and were lit up beautifully at night. This was walking to town from my hostel.

nürnberg

In Nuremberg but haven't seen it in the daylight yet, I arrived here pretty late last night after catching 6 trains all over Germany to get here! Should have splurged on a Europass, then I could have gone on a really fast train... oh well, maybe next time.

Stopped in Heidelberg yestrday on the way here. It is such a beautiful little city, it's just like a picture book! The leaves are all turning orange, red and yellow which makes it all so much prettier. There is a castle on a hill above the town that has the most stunning views. The castle is half in ruins after WWII bombings which actually makes the whole thing even more pretty. Heidelberg is easily the cutest town I've ever been to, anyone that goes there has to walk east alond the Neckar river at sunset...it's the most romantic thing I've ever done!

I'm off to check out Nuremberg now, there are so many important museums here, and the sports field that Hitler built to house his incredibally huge rallies back in his day. The old town here is easy to walk across, my hostel is literally on the edge of it, there is only a walkway between this building and the old Nuremburg wall.

seeya!

guten tag!

Well I'm finally in Germany! I always knew I would get here eventually. It is really strange that I'm doing all these things that I've dreamt of for so long, and it just seems like a normal everyday sort of thing to do. I almost had to pinch myself to remember how cool this is! You would not believe how little German I remember, it's quite discusting considering I studied it for a couple of years (and was in the 'advanced class'!). For my first half an hour in Frankfurt I said please instead of thank you to everyone I met!

I've decided that I'm quite fond of my travel style...basically I book flights and show up in cities I know nothing about and without accomodation and just hope it works out! I was also treated to free gourmet breakfast this morning as British Airways is still in a dispute with their caterers...it's been going for months. So that worked out pretty well, and then I managed to skip all cues all the way to Frankfurt Airport.

Frankfurt is a much cooler city than I expected. It's really quite beautiful, a mix of amazing glass sky-scrapers and medievil buildings on a really pretty lake. I was watching the white swans clean themselves at sunset and it was really nice with all the autumn leaves and silver buildings. I've been struggling to find the centre of city nightlife though, it seems to be either deserted office blocks or rows and rows of sex shops. I read somewhere today that Germany recently legalised prostitution, it certainly seems to be popular here! There is also an incredible amount of young goths. I've seen lots of German Shephards so far, it's strange, I somehow forgot that they were German.

Met a few people already but it looks like I'll have to leave early next morning so I'll have to meet more tomorrow. German hospitality hasn't exactly been crash-hot, that could possibly be because I've been saying something offensive every time I try to say hello.

I'm thinking I'd like to go to Heidelberg tomorrow, but I'd better get some research done to make sure that's possible.

If anyone has any suggestions of places between here and Rome, leave a comment. It may be a more sensible way to decide where to go than rolling a dice, which is what I'm considering!

Tschüss

radcliffe camera

radcliffe camera
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

This was such a beautiful building. It's got a library and other functions in it, I can't really remember, but it really was very beautiful!

OK guys you can stop nagging me, I've posted more on the blog. Next up... Germany, Austria, Italy and possibly Czech Republic!

punting in oxford

punting in oxford
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

We didn't do this it just looked a little bit too 'touristy'! (I think it was probably more because neither of us wanted to have to steer)

dining hall

dining hall
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

Christ Church dining hall. This has to be the most famous 'caf' in the world. The stretched neck/heads on the covers of the fireplaces were the inspiration for someone's neck stretching in Alice in Wonderland (still haven't read it or seen it) and there is a huge portrait of King Henry VIII at the end of the hall. But of course the hall is more famously known as the Hogwarts dining hall in the Harry Potter movies! Wow! It's still used by students and it was set up for a small diner when I visited.

head

head
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

There are lots of Gargoyles and funny heads sticking out of buildings all over Oxford

christ church mews

christ church mews
Originally uploaded by BeckyKiil.

The beautiful mews of Christ Church College in Oxford. It is just so English there and really really beutiful. If I studied here I know I would spend most of my time 'working' in the parklands, which would probably consist of watching some squirils and then falling asleep under a huge plane tree. It was a really nice hot day when we visited.