Europe Trip 2008

We got up early and went exploring, found the local market selling fresh fruit, vegetables and local seafood. Ben found raspberries being sold 2 punnets for 2 euros, so he couldn’t help himself and bought two. We explored almost the whole of Venice by foot, going down small alleyways, which led to little bridges, which led to more small alleyways. Once we got completely lost, we referred to our trustworthy map to work out how to get back to the Grand Canal. We then enjoyed a lovely gondola ride through the grand canal, and little side canals. Our gondola driver showed us the sights and also pointed out where they filmed the ‘Italian Job’. It was easy to see why Venice draws so many visitors every day.

Today we flew to Venice with Flybaboo. Got in and caught the water bus/ferry to our hotel, which was very central between St Marks Square and the Rialto Bridge. With Venice streets as they are, we barely managed to find our hotel! But there it was on the corner of a cute little bridge. We dropped our bags and had an evening walk to the Rialto Bridge. Found a nice romantic Italian place for dinner, and then headed back to the hotel for some well needed rest.

Our last day in Switzerland, so we took it easy. Drove through vineyard country. It was a beautiful scenic drive around Lake Geneva. Got a little lost during the way but it wasn’t all bad, as we got to see a lot more lovely vineyards.

We then drove on through to Vevey and Montreux and visited the Chateau De Chillion. A castle on Lake Geneva. We went into the dungeons where Lord Byron was kept during his imprisonment, the entertaining halls, several courtyards, chambers, chapels and guards towers. It was our first visit to a castle!

We went home to a great dinner with the Swiss crew (our last one with them)

Our first day alone without the Swiss to accompany us! We drove the car to Morges (on the wrong side of the road), and caught a train from there to Bern – the capital. Swiss trains seem to run like clockwork, and are also clean and comfortable. They are not cheap though at $75 AUD each for the return trip, which is 1.5 hours each way. From the train station, we managed to navigate our way to Bern’s historic area.

We stopped at the many quaint little shops and went to visit the poor little bears in the bear pit (apparently Bern means Bear in German).

Our very limited French was useless here, and our German was non existent so we resorted to speaking English. As it was a very touristy town, this was well received. By this time, we were famished and found a wonderful South Indian Restaurant and Pris, who is still recovering from all the cheese, couldn’t help herself. But it was a fantastic meal! On the way back to the train station, we spotted an Asian supermarket – the only one we’d seen in Switzerland! So we decided to pick up some supplies to make a Pad Thai for dinner for Christine & us.

We drove to a great thermal spring today. They are not like the thermal springs In Indonesia or NZ - no sulphur smell at all. It was almost like an amusement park with several different things to do- like a superfast current swirl, water jets that give you a massage, Turkish steam rooms, relaxation rooms, saunas etc. The water was around 36 degrees, warm and lovely. We stayed in the big outdoor pool for a while and headed to the steam rooms, where you could get into some freezing cold water or rub yourself with ice in the ice room and jump straight back into the sauna! There was also a section where you could lie back on mattresses and put your ears into the pool and listen to classical music or whale noises which they played through the water. As we were heading back to the other sections of the springs, we had to go through the big outdoor pool again and it was snowing!!! Our heads were freezing but the rest of our bodies was nice and warm under the water. It was a fantastic experience.

We finally had to leave all the warmth, but had one more stop before heading home. Christine treated to us a delicious traditional Swiss fondue with bread and potatoes for lunch.

Completely stuffed we retired home for the day. After a rest, we cooked a big Chicken Tikka Masala with Basmati Rice and Yoghurt Salad for the Swiss crew, which everyone appreciated!