THE FUTURE.................

Ah yes! Time travel!
We boarded on the 20th and will arrive in Darwin on the 22nd.
The future.. future.. future.. future.... (echo for dramatic effect)
The flight was shit! Sorry for the language but it was the most horrible flight I think most of us have been on. The planes seats went 3 4 3. We had 42 E and F, Laurie and Zelda had 56 E and F... Right in the middle of the friggin plane between 2 strangers with no escape route to the toilets. Also they were the back seats in each section of the plane... meaning our seats reclined a whole of 2 millimetres so we had to sit upright for the whole 12 hours. Unlike us, the people in front could recline... Right into our laps! We just could not move for the whole trip. Laurie and Zelda were in the same boat as us too.

So to make up for the lack of sleep and comfort we are now in the Qantas lounge having plenty of food, drinks and comfort :)

The trip has been amazing and we are totally exhausted.
Can not wait to get home!

20/01/11 Last Day in Europe

Ahh yes the time has come...
Today was our last day and I say today still because none of us have been to sleep yet.
We had to check out of our rooms at 12pm so we had breakfast then spent the morning repacking and trying to fit everything into our suitcases. Don't tell Jetstar but I think i'm carrying like 12 kilos in my hand luggage and i'm surprised the handles haven't broken yet.
We checked out and jumped aboard another hop on hop off bus. We went around the city listening to the audio guide and when we hopped off we didn't have much luck with the museums. Most of them were closed for renovations. So we strolled through the shopping area again and had some lunch, showed Laurie and Zelda the trippy shopping centre. I had my last taste of delicious German sausages (save your filth for later).
Seriously though... for a country famous for its BBQs we have rubbish sausages! Sorry but I wont be eating any of that crap this Australia Day.
We went back to the hotel and spent the whole afternoon lazing about, reading our books. We had dinner at the restaurant and then caught a train to the airport.
I filled my jacket with cold air but i'm afraid to say it escaped somewhere between Germany and Singapore.

19/01/11 A Leisurely Day in Frankfurt

Laurie and Zelda booked in for a full day river tour... on a bus. It was changed to a bus tour because the river was flooded. You may have seen on the news that a tanker carrying sulfuric acid has capsized in Germany? Yeah well Zelda has photos of the hull poking out of the water where their cruise would normally go past.

They saw a lot of castles and had lunch at a winery where Zelda picked up a couple of bottles of wine that are only ever made when the grapes are at -8 degrees.

Back in the city, I took my time as usual and we eventually left the hotel to go to the Senckenberg Museum.

The museum would have to be the best one I've been to. It had a huge display on dinosaurs and then it goes into all types of animals and there sure are some interesting looking ones. They had a moose that I thought was freakin huge but apparently they get bigger than that. The audio guides were pretty good so we ended up spending 4 or 5 hours in there.

When we finally left the museum we headed for the shopping area. Daniel was patient and even helpful while I did a quick clothes shop then we found a climbing store. There was one awesome shopping center with a really trippy glass roof and floors that all kind of loop around it almost makes you cross-eyed looking at it.

We met back up with Laurie and Zelda and went to a very popular Irish pub for dinner.

18/01/11 Frankfurt Germany

We spent the morning wandering around the old town of Krakow and then flew to Frankfurt.

We arrived at around 5:30 and threw ourselves and our luggage into an overpacked train. When we got to the hotel I was well and truly ready to pass out from exhaustion. Laurie and Zelda went for a walk for dinner and found themselves in junkie town.. They managed to find the one street where people openly offer syringes and all sorts of goods.

Meanwhile I was recovering in the hotel room and Daniel and I went down to the hotel restaurant. It was very flash food and again I somehow ate and enjoyed a little seafood brought out as a complimentary dish.

The rooms we had were quite extravagant with antique style furniture. I liked it but Daniel said it's for old people. Most importantly, the bed was very comfy!

17/01/11 Auschwitz

The reason we came to Krakow was a morbid one. It's something that I have always wanted to experience.

"Those who forget the lessons of the past are doomed to relive it."

The tour was done very well and seeing it is the only real way to comprehend the horror and enormity of it. I'm glad that we've had this opportunity.

16/01/11 - Krakow, Poland

The plane to Krakow had about 16 passengers so it was very roomy! It was only a 1 hour flight but we got a free drink, free chips and biscuits. The staff were actually pleasant and spoke English well. This was a nice change as we have not had much luck in Germany. We even got free chocolate as we left the plane.

The plane parked way away from the airport and an announcement said "We do not have stairs, please understand." Daniel got very excited and said "I hope we get to use the slide!!!" Unfortunately the stairs arrived.. and a bus took us to the airport building.

I had a really good feeling about this place. It started with an awesome hotel room. Heaps of space, decent pillows and cloud-soft sheets. Oh and free internet :D We thought this place would be a bit um.. under-developed especially with Laurie making jokes about them recently discovering hot water.

Krakow is one of my favorite places in the world. In no way is this place underdeveloped and in every way has it been preserved. There is a massive castle overlooking the river in the centre of town. Swans swim right up to say hello. The most beautiful sunsets slowly kiss the city goodnight. Then the city centre lights up with amazing christmas displays, twinkling fairy lights, lanterns and flood lights on the palace, churches and clocktowers. In the city centre the bell rings in the crowned cathederal at 6. A lone trumpet sings out of a high window. The stars shine as we wait for the next tune. He plays once out of each tower window. Sending his strong solo to each corner of the city. If you were ever to be very girly, get soaked up in the atmosphere and cry over its beauty.. This was the moment.

15/01/11 Why Doesn't Anyone Speak English..?

Ok so today didn't quite go as planned...

Everyone was down at breakfast, I was lazing in bed. Finally the sun was shining through the window and I was about to get up when Daniel knocked on the door, came in and said get up we're going to the hospital...

Zelda had been showing them her version of narcolepsy by blacking out at the breakfast table... Laurie and Zelda were in the ambulance en route to the hospital and the hotel had a cab waiting to take me and Daniel there.

We got dropped off at the wrong hospital where we spoke to a lovely (sarcasm font) triage nurse who couldn't speak English. Somehow after working out the German word for ambulance, we found our way to the emergency department where they also couldn't speak English and couldn't find Zelda's name in the system.

We had no credit and we weren't really sure where we were so we set out to find a shop to buy credit or a pay phone. The pay phone swallowed our money and wouldn't dial the number. We bought a German sim card that we couldn't activate. We tried to catch a cab back to the hotel but the cab drivers kept saying they couldn't speak English and pretended they didn't know the hotel because it was only a short fare. They wanted an address and we didn't have one. We found a nearby hotel and payed for internet, wrote down our hotel address, tried to top up on credit online but can only do that if you have a European credit card..

We went back to the cab rank, forced them to take us to our hotel, asked our hotel which hospital we were supposed to go to and got them to speak to the next cab driver.

By this stage Daniel looked like he might punch the next person who couldn't speak English and I was getting worried that I would soon be worried about getting to the right police station...

This taxi driver seemed to drop us off at the right place but again, triage did not speak English, didn't find Zelda's name and directed us across the road.

After trying a few buildings and entrances in the area we finally found the right place. It only took us 3 hours... One and a half hours later Laurie and Zelda came out. Zelda a bit red, puffy and dazed. She'd had an allergic reaction to something and had some drugs pumped into her arm to sort her out. We still don't know what it was out of the cold and flu meds or the birdseed breakfast that caused the reaction... but she's going to stay away from both at least until we're in a country that speaks some friggin English :P

Don't worry guys, Zelda is fine now. We had lunch in their room and just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon then went for a walk and had dinner. She's all back to normal so no panicked expensive international calls ok?

Laurie was quite happy to have proof that "that birdseed sh!t is no good for you.." Lol!

Tomorrow we fly to Krakow.