Trip #3 - Vienna, Austria

Vienna was totally as one would expect. Statues, buildings... however, there were a couple of surprises...
Vienna was voted the 2nd best place to live in the world, after Zurich. It is a very safe city.


1) Roman Ruins in the middle of the city, right next to the palace. 
The ruins are thought to be part of the officers' quarters of the Roman legion camp at Vindobona and consist of crumbled walls and tiled floors. The bricks were made in Roman times, and you can still see the stamps on them. This area was a sewage system.

2) Roses in Palace Gardens
There was an amazing selection of rose bushes in the gardens of the Hofburg Palace. You can wander through the gardens, and have a beer in the restaurant in the middle of the gardens when it starts to rain

3) Prostitution
We went out wandering around our hotel one night, and along the street that our hotel and the train station sit on. We were naively surprised to find a large number of prostitutes working along the street. These were not skanky hos - but some of the most beautiful women we have seen in Europe. Apparently they were Eastern Europeans (Rumania, Slovakian etc). There were also a number of "Thai Massage" stores, with a red light outside. Although the girls were working, we did still feel safe walking along the street.


4) Schnitzels
It seems that the Austrians actually do eat a lot of schnitzel, and there were schnitzel fast food places even in the non-touristy areas. Unfortunately,  we ran out of time for schnitzel - although it did look delicious.

5) Techno and Dreads
Vienna is also famous for techno/record stores and there were many MANY white people with dreads. Very cool!

Its all Chinese to me.........

Location: Knossos Pyrgos, Crete, Greece
Dates: June 13-20th

We went to a small town called KNossos Pyrgos, on the south coast of Crete.

It was not my first time there. In a previous lifetime of June 1996 (was it REALLY 14yrs ago) - I went to visit my friend Vicki from Uni. To be honest - I dont remember much about that trip. I dont have any photos, and it was under difficult circumstances.

This time was June 2010 - and it was the most awesome experience. We had a blast, and we learned a few things of interest on the trip.

Olive Oil
Olive Oil and Olives are an obsession for Cretians. Everywhere you go through the mountains, there are Olive Trees, planted in row after row. Apparently 97% of Cretian familes have their own Olive Grove - containing a few trees. This is inherited down the family line.

When we visited Knossos (Ancient Greek Palace 1700BC...ish) - they had these HUGE urns (9ft tall). These urns were used to store olive oil. Apparently - Olive Oil keeps longer when stored in large quantitied. I asked my friend Vicki about this when I was at her home for dinner. She said - oh yes - we have a barrel of our own oil.

Ancient V Modern Greek Olive Oil Containers

Apparently, each Christmas they get the new oil that has been crushed from the olives of their Olive Grove - and that lasts them all year! It was damn tasty Olive oil too.

Olive oil is used in cooking..... in cooking EVERYTHING... be it salad, or meat or vegetables....

The food was delicious - we tried all sorts from typical Greek food to touristy schnitzel or delicious peppercream steak. It made a nice change from cooking for ourselves! lol



Driving
When I was last in Greece in June 1996 - Vicki sent a taxi driver friend to the airport. I can remember feeling terrified when driving through the narrow bendy roads of the mountains. It was only 50km away - but the trip takes over an hour due to the mountains in the middle.

Fast Forward - same trip - 15 years later.......   Still definitely a butt-puckering experience - particularly when you are driving at 1am in the morning... in the dark, with a map that doesnt have the hairpin bends on it.

We learned early on that we should just pull over, and let the locals overtake - we were going slowly - and that was okay! We remained aliive.

And Finally......
Thje saying "ITs all Greek to me" - doesnt work in Greece. The greeks say "Its all Chinese to me" :)

Trip #2: Madrid - Bullfighting

I have always wanted to go to a bullfight. Randy, seeing as he is from Texas, isnt so excited about the bulls (yall have rodeo) but accompanied me anyway.

The Madrid Bullfighting Ring is one of the best in the world. It is called Las Ventas - and has a capacity of 20,000. There are no seats to sit on, just concrete stairs. You can rent "cushions" for 1.20 Euros. (AC/DC have also performed at this location)

May is San Isidro 2010 Festival month. During this month there are bullfights every day (usually its just Sundays). The tickets sell out immediately for the San Isidro fights. We managed to get some (approx $350 for 2). We were only 6 rows back, and could hear the bull snort. It was incredible.

A bullfight starts around 7pmish, and has no fixed time length. There are 3 matadors (with their team) and each Matador has 2 bulls to fight (Total of 6 bulls). The Matadors and their team enter the arena and show off some fancy horse footwork. (see Video)

When the actual fight starts - the matador is on horseback and he has 3 helpers in the arena with him (Like rodeo clowns except they are wearing 18thC Andalucian Costumes and have capes instead of barrels - not sure why they are pink). It seems our evening was unique in the fact that our bullfighters killed the bull from the horse, and only got on the ground, after the killing blow.

The matador and bull make a number of passes at each other, during which time the matador is apparently weighing up his competition. His sword carrier runs around the arena with his swords - so the matador can ride to any side of the arena, and pick up a sword.

From what I can tell there are 3 types of Sword used. 1 very short one at the start of the fight, then a selection (3 or 4) of dangling swords - and then - what I have named - the "death sword". This is the very long sword that is used to kill the bull by inserting the sword deeply between the bulls shoulder blades. (see photo)

I have always been a fox-hunting advocate, and pro blood sports in general. I would never be cruel to animals myself, nor could I bring about the death of an animal for entertainment. I approached the bullfight with no issues about it at all - and I was looking forward to a great evening of skill.

When the first bull died - I was distraught - I realised I had never actually watched an animal die before. I was quite shocked. It was a clean kill though, the bull went down quickly.

When the second bull died - I almost walked out. The matador wasnt very good, and took 3 good attempts to get the "death sword" into the bull. What impressed me the most - was the crowd was also upset. They did not award the ears to the matador, and there were no cheers. Just a deadly hush.

The 4th bull took a long time to die - even the matador was clapping it in respect. I added this at the end of my video. It is incredibly difficult to watch.

By the time it got to the 6th bull - I was accustomed to the death process.

After the bull dies - If the matador did good - crowd gets out white handkerchiefs and waves them at the "Presidents" box. The president then presents a white handkerchief to the crowd - this means that the matador will be awarded with one ear from the bull. If the matador did really good - he gets 2 ears, and on very rare occasions - he gets both ears AND the tail.

While the handkerchief waving is going on, a team of people with a couple of horses (with nice flower decorations) come out, and drag the dead bull out of the arena. (see video) The sand where he bled - is covered up/removed .There is a lot of blood. A terrible amount of blood is shed.

And so it goes on.........

There is a great respect for the bulls, and they are used at the top restaurants in Madrid. The audience dont want to see cruelty, but do want to see a good display of field sports. It is a technically challenging event - the way the matadors use the horses to antagonise the bulls. And the bulls are such incredibly powerhouses - their sheer strength and agility was breathtaking

Randy says he wont go again. I dont blame him. I think I could go again, but only to accompany someone else - to share the experience.

Sometimes, the bull fights back..... This was from last Fridays fight. (graphic image)

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/2010/05/spanish_bullfighter_julio_apar.html

The Video of our Bullfighting Evening.... 
 The first few seconds are nice to watch, I have added captioning for when it may get difficult to watch. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6T5hZqmd_Y




Vienna next! Woot

Trip #2: Madrid - Spain

I have always wanted to see flamenco dancing, and bullfighting - real Spanish Bullfighting. I had never been to Spain, and it seemed a good place to visit during this tour of Europe. It also crosses another country off the list for Randy. When we started researching our trip - I was astonished to discover that Madrid Zoo had koalas. I knew at that point - that this was a must visit city, and the zoo was my top priority. Randy found a medieval armory at the Palace Real, this was also added to the list of places to visit.

We booked the trip on ebookers.ch

Travel to Madrid

We decided to fly to Madrid because it would take too long by train.

Our plan was to arrive Tues Afternoon, orientate ourselves, check into hotel, flamenco Tues night, Visit Sites and armory on Weds, Bullfighting Weds night, Zoo Thurs during the day. Travel home Thurs night.

As it happens, the "unpronounceable volcano" decided to spew some more invisible ash and 9hrs after arriving at the airport - and taking many intteresting photos - we leave - arriving at our hotel in Madrid shortly after midnight.

There is a metro you can take from the airport into Madrid City. Their underground map is similar to London Underground layout. Make sure you have some small change with you, as there are no change machines at the airport.

Hotel Principe Pio

The hotel was a little tired, but the front staff were incredible. They got us tickets for everything we wanted. They were very friendly, and spoke enough English to communicate. Id thoroughly recommend this hotel as somewhere to bed down for the night - but with no bar, no amenities - it might not be for everyone.

http://www.hotelprincipepio.com/

Madrid Overview

Madrid is an incredible mixture of old and new, traditional and modern. There were statues and beautiful building fronts, and McDonalds and KFC's.

The city was very busy, and the huge number of people/cars/buses/noise was quite overwhelming - particularly in Puerta del Sol. This is the heart of Madrid. There was a demonstration going on the day we visited (Weds). It is here that the Zero KM mark is (the place where all motorways/freeways in Spain are measured from) - and the bear eating the strawberry tree fruit (El Oso y El Madroño - Symbol of Madrid)

(Puerto del sol)

There was a free Egyptian Exhibition we wanted to see at the National Archeological Museum. It wasnt normally free - but as they were refurbishing the museum - they did a subset of their best exhibits, and did a restricted view for free. Great service.

Madrid has a 20% unemployment rate - but you could not tell this by being in the city. The businesses all seemed to be thriving, the coffee shops and restaurants were all busy, and it seems that all the jobs that could be taken have been taken. (Does it really need 10 people to sit in the museum and be responsible for only 3 major rooms? And 4 helpers in the Madrid Airport toilets?) 


Randy noticed how incredible clean the city was. Everywhere. 


As you can see in the first photo, there is not a scrap of trash on the street. 


Even the underground was spotless. Whenever we walked around whether it was 11am, 5pm or 3am - we saw street cleaners cleaning the streets. 

We had lunch at a small Tapas bar - and although the food looked terrible in the photo - it didnt quite taste that bad. These were Iberian Sirloin Tostas. If you happen to know that "Iberian Sirloin" is not Spanish Beef steak but happens to be the fleshy part of a rams left gonad - please do not let us know.

During the afternoon we had a siesta as we had a busy evening ahead of us. We were intending to go to the armory but we arrived too late and it was already closed for the evening. (We then realised our hotel TV clock was 2hrs late - and when we thought it was 3:30pm it was actually 5:30pm). We had bullifght at 7pm, and Flamenco Dinner and Show booked for midnight. (Madrid doesnt sleep. The Spanish party all night.)

I have made a seperate entry for the bullfighting, so not everyone needs to see the gore. Just as a taster though - here are some shots of the bullring, a Spanish Rodeo clown - and of course, the wonderful rain....

After the bullfight, we went to the hotel - and changed for our evening dinner. We were able to stroll to the flamenco place, past the Palace Real.

The Flamenco Place was "Corral de la Moreria" one of the worlds most renowned flamenco clubs. I was expecting a large stage with a cabaret-like show. However, what we received was the most amazing, personal show - even Randy was moved. The restaurant was small - only about 20 small tables - with a large number of servers. The menu was interesting, however, I wouldnt recommend eating there. I had Shoulder of Lamb - it was okay - but not great.

There was a small stage in one corner of the restaurant, and this is where the show occured.

The show started soon after orders were placed, and dinners were discretely served during the show. 

The first person to perform was Anabel Moreno. She has performed for the King and Queen of Spain. She was an incredible dancer filled with so much passion, and emotion. 

Ivan Vargas, an incredibly sexy male dancer.

Ivan and Anabel then danced together. (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwaSrchLv3c


These 2 dancers were followed by a group of 3 ladies. These ladies had castanets, and typical flamenco styled costumes.

Randy was fascinated by the rhythms and the tempo. They really slam those feet down, like Spanish tap dancing. See video below for Flamenco Feet Dancing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvyvMBv1G6Y

A totally Incredible, not to be missed show/event. 

As a side note - On Weds night - Athletico Madrid won UEFA Europa League against Fulham. Every bar and tavern we walked past on the way home from the bullfight, and on the way to the flamenco had all eyes on the TV. Even at 2-3am in the morning coming home from the flamenco, we could still hear people cheering, and car horns blowing. A wonderful evening.

Madrid Zoo

Thursday we visited Madrid Zoo.

This was an incredible place - not too large, but with a huge variety of animals. The zoo is split into continents and animals are mostly grouped as such. They seemed to have large interesting enclosures. 

There was an aquarium in the zoo which focused on tropical corals and sealife - this was one of the best aquariums I have been too. The tanks were so incredibly clean. The enclosures allowed people to get close to the animals. 

Randy particularly liked the birds of prey area.

The highlight of the zoo for me was the koalas (including the baby).

Apparently there were 2 rare species in the zoo that day. A North American Bearded Tiki, and an English Grinning Tet... we were lucky to get photos of them.

Trip home - more delays - "weather". Had to run through Geneva airport - 7mins from gate to train - did it in 6... couldnt breathe till we got to Neuchatel (about an hour later).

The thing that surprised us the most about Madrid and the Spanish was how helpful and happy they were. It was very noticeable - particularly as most peoples English was about as good as our Spanish - we all struggled through - and we all end up having a good laugh and giggle as we end up with the right order. (I think Randy was impressed with my "pain" impression at the pharmacy).



And thank god for the guy from New Jersey who helped us at our first metro ticket buying situation..... Thanks - whoever you are!

Eurodisney, Paris

Trip #1: Eurodisney

For those who know me (Caroline) - Eurodisney was a strange decision due to the large volume of child creatures wandering around freely - however, it was a wonderful time - despite everything...

Transportation To EuroDisney (TGV)

We took the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, meaning high-speed train) to Paris . Fortunately we can do this from outside our apartment, and its a direct train. It takes about 5mins to stroll to the train station.

Door to Door - 4hrs.

We left Neuchatel at 0910AM precisely. Trains in Switzerland are very rarely late. Train climbed over the Jura Mountains, and down through the Dijon countryside. There were rolling hills, and farmland. We travelled through massive bright yellow rape fields, and past 8 massive windmills. These were the wind powered electricity turbines. I was shocked at how huge they were.

I would love to have provided photos however, the camera didnt work very well from where I had left it on the kitchen table.

Transportation To EuroDisney (Paris - Gare De Lyon)

Gare De Lyon is a typical old European railway station. A large structure with an impressive stone frontage, and iron warehouse style station area covering the trains. It was noisy, and dusty - and had the wonderful timetable boards that clicked as they changed arrivals/departures. It was very impressive seeing the lines of TGV's that arrive and leave from this station. We arrived at around 1pm.

Unfortunately, it is in need of a little attention - as I found out when I tripped and fell in the pothole on the platform. Randy mentioned something about multi-tasking issues, I just tried to catch my breath as I had winded myself quite badly (much like the rollerblading incident in DC)

Transportation To EuroDisney (Paris - RER)

Fortunately, in our Neuchatel Train station where we booked the tickets- The ticket man gave us an additional 2 small purple tickets to use on the Paris Metro/Underground/RER. I was very surprised when the ticket machine accepted our tickets, and we were on our way. It was a typical underground station with buskers, and long tiled walkways. We got to our platform. There is a board with a list of destinations on it, and lights appear next to the destinations that the next train will go to. We got on the train and off we went. 15mins later. We arrive at Marne-la-Vallée, or Eurodisney.

Eurodisney - Newport Bay Hotel

Our hotel was the Newport Bay (Providence Yachting theme), just a quick stroll through the Disney village (Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe, Disney Store, Sportsbars, Billy Bobs with bucking bronco). The room was a nautical theme, and the hotel corridors were like corridors on a boat with portholes. However, we soon learned that we wished to never, ever, have a striped bedroom, with striped curtains and furniture. Temperature was hard to control in the room, view was incredible. Wish I had the camera. It was over the lake and the park, looked great at night.

Hotel had pool, and games room, and jacuzzi (which was quite chilly). It had a great bar with some cool cocktails. Drinks were approx 10E ($20) each.

Donald Duck was there the morning we left, having photos taken in the lobby.

EuroDisney - The Parks

Eurodisney and the Walt Disney Studios were an amazing couple of parks. We enjoyed the Finding Nemo ride (Too cool to surf the EAC man), and Aerosmith Ride (whoa - fast FAST start), Pirates of the Caribbean (cool animatronics) and the "its a small world" ride.

EuroDisney - The Parks - Armageddon Ride

My favourite - the Armageddon ride - In this ride, you are playing extras in a new scene for the Armageddon movie. You have a movie introduction by Michael Clark Duncan where he tells you about working on a movie set. Then you practice some ducks, and screams and scared looks with a lady at the front. When she gets a call from the set director - all us "extras" walked down this corridor onto the set. The set was a circular flight deck on a spaceship, there were monitors and shoots and it was all very science fiction. When the "cameras started rolling" there were a series of very good special effects directed onto you - including steam, wind, platform collapse, metal collapsing noises and a fire with quite an intesnse heat. The 3rd or 4th burst of fire set the kids all crying. Poor parents! Poor kids - they were so scared. LOL. I did chuckle a little... I have to say.

EuroDisney - Overall Impression

The parks were a little tatty, but it was still a wonderful fantasyland. We climbed the Swiss Robinson Tree House, and watched kids fly in dumbos. We went to see the dragon under the castle, and found the queen of hearts in a maze. We watched a parade of our cartoon and flim favourites come to life.

There were a number of attractions that were closed (Toy Story area, Studio Movie Tram Tour and the Stunt Car Show) - this was quite unfortunate, and we were a little disappointed. In addition, we had planned to do the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show the 2nd night, but didnt realise that it was not scheduled for that night until too late.

I would recommend checking on all showtimes for your plans with the concierge as soon as you arrive.

T-1 Day - Packing up the office

Gave plant to the man who craves water. Plants crave water.

TNT Europe - 5days and counting

5 days before my last day of work, and my husband and I spend the summer travelling Europe like HippyBums.

Quickly finding a blog spot to setup and make notes on. Mainly for our own reading and memories, and parents.... and if we become famous during the next few months - maybe this will become Book #1. TNT does Europe.

Why TNT?

Tiki 'n' Tet of course

Who is Tiki n Tet?

Tikibob (Randy) - Undead Mage and Tetamania (Caroline) - Female Orc Warrior were our first WOW toons. We have a lot of friends that play WOW - and many of our friends started calling us by our online names - Tiki and Tet! We love these names - and use them ourselves!

Have you seriously quit your job to travel Europe?

Yes