BLED

BLED - 18/8 - 22/8

We trained it down into Slovenia to Lake Bled........ you might have heard about this place or seen in on TV - two words for you - GET THERE! This place is simply spectacular. The forests are greener than green, the rivers are crystal clear, the mountains are 3,000m monsters and the lakes are picture perfect. Nothing about beers here - well there is a first time for some things! We spent our time hiking or cable-carring through the mountains, drinking red by the lakes and watching 100ś of trout swim past us on the riverbank. Sounds great but that wasnt even the best of it. We have stayed at some pretty good joints on this trip from hostels, hotels, caravan parks, houses and above pubs (good work Karl!) but this place was something special! Location was first class but the people who own it - Clive and Myrna - were fabulous people. They looked after us super well and Clive cooked absolutley awesome dinners each night. Cannot talk highly enough of the grub - makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

MOMENT OF THE WEEK -
Sharing a wild boar goulash and a wild boar meat platter on the summit of one of the mountains overlooking Lake Bohinj and Mt. Triglav - of course we washed it down with a pint of Slovenias finest ale. Scenery was stunning as was the food!

MOMENTS -

• Sitting down each night to a feast prepared by Clive. The courses were big, the food brilliant and the conversation stimulating - every night was a winner! To top it off we finished each meal with a locally made shot... perfect!
• Walking around picturesque Lake Bled........ and stopping for a bottle of red with lunch
• Hiking to the foot of Triglav - the scenery was breathtaking and the rivers were ..... see the pic! Best scenery I have ever seen
• Running like mad over the bridge to get to the bus stop - TC almost died a number of times but definetly got the adrenalin pumping!
• Swimming in Lake Bohinj with crystal clear waters and deserted coves

TOOL OF THE WEEK -

This week goes to my brother simon (or Waz) who has sent around a petition to get rid of the black beater...... shame Simon shame! Traditional Auzzie garb should be cherished! The headband - a fair call, but leave the beater alone!!!!

Its either the beater or the Fakari........... take ya pick!!!!!!!!! And yes Cunch they are fat rolls!

VIENNA

Vienna 15/8 - 17/8

We ventured down to Vienna courtesy of a local Czech guy who was paid well for the privelage of driving us in his little Fiat - u would have loved it Joey! Here we met up with Steve and Bec for 2 nights of drinking, catching up and of course...... eating as many snitzels as we could - 3 in 3 days..... perfect! Staying in the same 4 star hotel provided easy access to hang out and also watch Steves channel 13 and 14....... you are a bad man McNees!

During the day we ventured into the city, saw the sights, absorbed the culture and of course snuck in a few cheeky pints to soothe the throat! Just like old times except the poo brown Gemini has gone as well as both our hair lines! A good time was had by all except for the Austrian frauline waitress who seemed insulted that we wanted a photo of her......... or of both her friends!!!!! Cannons plus according to young Stephen! We then said our good byes as they continued their tour and we headed down to Bled in Slovenia....... happy travels guys!


TOOL/S OF THE WEEK -
There is a new addition to the Tool family this week. Please welcome one Stephen.J.McNees and one Rebecca Muller. Usually to win this award you have to do 1 weird, strange or stupid thing. These 2 travellers seemed to rack up countless amounts of points in the tool award.

• Steves fantastic conversion skills in which he was tripling the auzzie dollar to euros resulting him swearing and carrying on everytime he bought something and converted wrongly- good work Einstein!
• Bec doing 3 loads of washing after only 4 days of travel
• Both being a paler shade of white than Casper the ghost
• Having to put sunglasses on so not to hurt our eyes when looking at their pasty skin
• Making Trav Keays seem tanned
• Getting channels 13 and 14 banned due to overwatching - good work Bec!
• Drinking too slowly

But we still love use both!!!!

Prague & Cesky Krumlov

PRAGUE & CESKY KRUMLOV - 8/8 to 14/8

PRAGUE
Beautiful old buildings, cobbled streets, goulash, abseinth and cheap as beer!!! What a city, what a country!! Cant believe we haven't been here earlier. Our bank balance loved Czech Rep. We stayed a little out of the town centre in a recently renovated hostel, well actually a lot more like a hotel. Very modern, huge soft beds (no bunks!) with fluffy pillows and doonas, hot as showers and a funky little bar downstairs. We arrived quite late the first night so went straight down to the hostel bar and tried our first abseinth shot! The girl at the bar took a liking to DF and gave him a monster shot as seen in the photo! And the result..... drunk emails and a super nights sleep..... sorry bout that email guys! Big thanks to Waz (my bro) who shouted a few shots and even more pints with the 200 crowns you gave us before we left! Spent well! The next few days and nights were full off walking around the sights and eating and drinking like kings with Ben, Daire and the rest of the Czech Inn crew!

CESKY KRUMLOV
Picturesque town with colourful buildings and towers overlooking a magical river, Cesky Krumlov is Prague in minature. Something out of Lord of the Rings. We stayed in a arty-farty type hostel with people talking about the philosopy of life..... took a day or so for us to fit in but by the end we made some great friends.

MOMENT OF THE WEEK
Rafting down the river in Cesky Kumlov with Daire (or Irish!), Chris from Washington, Rebecca from California, the no-name crazy German, and the Hippie English teacher. Flying down some weirs and getting completely soaked we almost capsized, but it soon mellowed out to the most tranquil cruise through the lush green forest that was spectacular. A quick stop for a 70 cent pint of the local brew accompanied by a sausage sitting around a roaring fire (yes, it has been a bit cooler lately, losing the tan!) and we were off with our 2L Pepsi bottle filled to the hilt with the amber fluid. The rain then set in and we ended up the 4 hour journey paddling like the oarsome foursome to our pick up point! It had it all!

MOMENTS

• Walking around Prague city and accidentally bumping into the Prague castle and cathedral (wow!!)
  Cheap beers - the most we paid was 1 euro for a pint!
• Having lunch in a fancy beer garden overlooking the city. It was like a 5 star restaurant and we only paid 20euros (crazy!)
• Cheap beers!
• Going out with a bunch of fellow travellers to a five story nightclub. All the locals warned us that it was pretty cheesy and it was but we had a ball dancing to all the hits of the 80's.
• Hitting the local in Czechy each night and ending up drinking lots of beer and a few 'local' shots thrown in...... love the 40mL shot petrol tasting shots..... yeah right!
• Having hostels that were modern, clean and cheap as too!
• Having dinner in a traditional old stone walled bohemium resturant where they cooked your food on a BBQ plate in the middle of the resturant. We ate like kings and drank red wine from ceramic cups! It was grand (as our Irsih mate would say) and once again cheap!
• Did I say cheap AS beers?
  
  
• TOOL OF THE WEEK
  The "no-name" German who told us "its a crime to drink beer from plastic" in regard to our 2L bottle, then proceeded to take the biggest scull ever and chased us down the river trying to get another - mate the arms were sore the next day just from trying to get away! Those CRAZY Germans!

ROME

ROME - 3-8 to 7-8

Buongiorno a tutti!!!! Baz you would be proud of the Italian that has finally stuck in our tiny little brains!
Back to the land of pizza, pasta and world cup trophies - yes we still haven't forgiven them..... and probably never will!!!

5 nights in Rome and after beach bumming for the past few months we found that we needed some history and culture, hence the stop in rome....... and a cheap flight out of espanyol also helped! It is a must see city and yes you do have to do the tourist thing..... but it is worth the crowds and the conmen - but for the first time ever we weren't conned by anyone - high five TC! We stayed out of town a bit which was great as it wasn't too hectic for us country folk and next door to the pizzeria and gelateria...... could there be 2 better words in the English language?? Didn't think so! So yes we ate like kings, looked around town and relaxed with some good wine and numerous gelatis for our troubles...... the food and wine are just soooooo good and yes I did put a kilo or 2 back on..... so much for the exercise regime in Bilbao... oh well dem the brakes! Highights underneath......

MOMENT OF THE WEEK
Finding a little restaurant down the road from the Colosseum and ordering the best Italian meal we have ever had (apart from in Tuscany). Started with Bruschetta, Dazza had traditional tomato and TC olives with a very impressive house red. Then to Dazzas mouth watering ravioli and TC's super impressive spaghetti marinara - even came in its own massive sea shell. Then to top it off Tiramasu and espresso!!! Your mouth had better be watering when reading this puppy coz it was bellisimo!

MOMENTS
Breakfast!!!!! Full European buffet. Everything was there including pizza!!! Our first 'free' breakies in ages

• Cruising around the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine
• Pushing past the tour groups to get a glimpse of the Trevi fountain
• Stumbling on the Tomb of the unknown solider - wow what an impressive building and probably our fav in Rome
• Visiting Vatican City and St Peters - it even inspired us to go to church.
• Going to church on Sunday morning and only understanding a few words including a tutti, ragazzi and amen
• Trying on Armani and Varsace suits and DF even nearly bought one.... but have to remember we are actually meant to be backpacking!
  
  TOOL OF THE WEEK
  Dazza for stating - 'life feels pointless without work'...... maybe made during a moment of weakness.... we hope!!

Bilbao - Santander

Bilbao (Spain) 24/8 to 1/9 - Santander 2/9

A fellow traveller recommended Bilbao, so we thought we would check it out. It is only 1.5 hours from San Sebastian along the coast. It is famous for the Guggenheim - a modern, funky museum. It's a mixture between the Opera House and Federation Square. We originally booked 4 nights however have ended up staying 9 nights. Crazy??? Yes, but we managed to get a great deal in a 4 star Novotel Hotel so we couldn´t go past it - talk about flashpacking! We are still not sure what has been the best part....was it the air conditioning, the sound proof windows (the Spanish love their horns, loud exhausts...), the bar fridge to store our cheap drinks, the pool, the bathtub, the queens size bed with fluffy doona, the satellite TV.....after hosteling this was heaven!!

We then headed to Santander for a night - where the Spaniards go for their holidays. After a day on another beautiful Spanish beach we met up with a Pom and an Irish fella in the hostel and a bar hopping we would go. The Pom was a bit lame but the Irish bloke - JP - was a friggin champion! We hit it off immediately and set a cracking pace on the beers and awesome tapa. After climbing a 10ft fence to get back into the hostel after missing the 2am curfew (felt like we were 16 again) DF woke up the whole 10 bed dorm with some of his famous trumpeting! Ooops!

MOMENT OF THE WEEK
Tapa crawling around the old town (including garlic boiled potatoes, chorizo sausage encased in pastry, fancy octopus, sensational smoked salmon and the old faithful patatas bravas). Could eat this stuff 24/7!

MOMENTS

• Watching MTV, especially 'Date my Mum', 'Hulk knows best' and 'Pimp my ride'. Sounds cheesy I know, but hey we havent seen any telly in ages so leave us alone!
• Drinking vodka, soda and lime next to the pool (we love the free pour spirits)
• 15 euro meal deals including 3 courses, wine and bread!!!
• Walking around the out-there looking Guggenheim
• Shopping at Lidl - cheap as food and drink - €4.50 12 packs of beer and €3.50 for a 700ml bottle of gin!
• Losing a few of the German kgs by eating little and exercising heaps - love the pool!
• Talking to a few good fellas from home - miss ya guys..... even though u r both gay!
• Having a beer looking over the majestic Santander beach
• Hitting the turps with the Irish

TOOL OF THE WEEK

Dazza and Trace....for dressing up and going down to the Novotel restaurant. From our translation we thought that we were getting the 16 euro menu of the day (including entree, main, dessert and wine) however it was literally 'for the day' e.g. not evenings. After Dazza took a few deep breaths after seeing that the mains ranged from 15 to 25 euros we decided to treat ourselves (truth be know, we just couldn't walk out!) getting ripped off overseas - tool material for sure!