We are traveling on 'around the world' tickets with the usually good quality One World network (the one Qantas is affiliated with). We discovered, however, that American Airlines is rather atrocious. I won't go into it in too much detail but despite booking months beforehand, having a high loyalty status with the One world network, and choosing our seats online when we booked, they decided to allocate us seats 20 rows apart and were initially reluctant to do anything because their system wasn't working properly and they were, as usual, over sold. I'm not sure how it is legal for them to do that, but they do. In the end we had seats one row apart and the lady next to me was kind enough to swap with Amanda, but I was so unimpressed (being polite here) that I will be writing to Qantas when we get home. There are many more reasons why we will avoid flying American Airlines in the future, but now is not the time or place. Besides, if our experience was the norm, there are probably a litany of blogs and forum posts outlining how awful they are! So on with our adventure!
After flying through the night we were tired, hungry, thirsty, and a little annoyed. But deep down we knew it was just a part of traveling and felt privileged to have the opportunity. I guess if we were characters in a Jane Austin novel, then we "arrived tired, but in good disposition". Both characteristics were soon to be tested.
A train ride, metro trip, two bus rides (should have been one, but we didn't really know how to get to our hotel), followed by a brief pit stop for lunch while we were trying to get directions from the 12 year old in a cafe (as he was the only one who spoke English), then a walk through the outskirts of Rome and a number of other half English and half Italian conversations (our half was English, their half Italian) and we found our hotel. This is where we met our 16 day bus tour. The itinerary was Rome-Venice-Kirk (Croatia)-Ljubljana (Slovenia)-Budapest-Prague-Vienna-Berlin-Amsterdam-London. It was a whirlwind tour and we started it completely out of puff! So the first thing we did in Rome was sleep for an hour. We then joined up with our tour for the usual orientation chat and then a walking tour of Rome.
Now is a good time to note that we also have an apartment/hotel booked for a week in late August, as we figured there would be so much to see in Rome. When we finished the walking tour an hour and a half later we felt like we'd walked through all the major sites in Rome - did we really need to come back here again? Who knew it was all so close to each other and so easy to walk to? Of course, it may be a different story when we are on our own, without the help of an experienced tour guide... At least we now know where the major draw cards are located (in theory at least) and can go looking for other less toured sites.
(Above: Amanda looking pretty good for just 2.5 hours of sleep... It's amazing what some 'virgin water' from Trevi fountain can do!)
As to the rest of our tour through Europe... You know what they say, "What happens on tour stays on tour"... Of course, that was before the days of Facebook and online blogs. Now, it seems those are "more like guidelines" to quote some famous pirates. So I will share some highlights with you through the eyes of the Swanboroughs, noting that the tour group ranged in size from 25 to 50 people. While we were all under about 35 years of age, we all had different interests and different reasons for being on tour. For us, it was to see and enjoy as much of Europe as we could along with other people our age.
Week 1 - Rome to Budapest.
Life on tour has a certain rhythm about it. One day, we drive long distances then do a walking tour of our new city, and all have dinner together. The next day we explore the city on our own. Then we repeat the cycle. Our bus driver is a Lithuanian rally driving champion, fighting his natural urge to push the bus above 100 km/h. But he is disciplined (supported by the fact the bus doesn't go above 100), so even on the autobahn we have long stretches of time to kill. Fortunately, our tour guide has a wide selection of movies and music to pass the time. Once we got over the almost daily vote between who wanted to watch a movie and who wanted to sleep off their hangover at the back of the bus, the time passed quite quickly. Besides, even on the highways the countryside was often fascinating, with story book farms and churches perched high on hilltops.
Too much happened in too short a time to give you all the details, so to quote David Letterman, "here are tonight's top 5* highlights" from our first week on tour:
[disclaimer: I think Amanda would have put these in a different order...]
Number 5 - a Whirlwind stop in Slovenia.
In between Croatia and Budapest, we had a one night stopover in Ljubljana, Slovenia (just don't ask me to pronounce it). It was fairly small and quaint - not in a 'stepping back in time' kind of way, but in a 'this place has charm and character' kind of way. Here we first heard of the widespread military exploits of Charles de Guille throughout Europe and the number of places where he is commemorated, along with the legend of St George and the dragon. It seems the Europeans love a good dragon story... but then again, who doesn't?
While there we encountered a hapless buck on his bucks night along with his mates, or as their special T-shirts indicated, his 'drinking team'. It seems that as one of his tasks he had to get the tags from the underwear of 5 ladies. Imagine his delight when he came across our tour group! A couple of people in our group, including Amanda, helped him out by cutting the tags of their shirts... I think his drinking team accepted this compromise but jacked the number up to 7 or 8....more than could be found in our group. But then again, we couldn't really understand them, nor them us... So I could just be imagining this is what happened. Speaking of 'continental differences', when we got in our taxi to go home, we diligently did as we had learnt and negotiated a price before getting in the taxi. The driver then beckoned us towards his taxi. I told Amanda she could have the front seat, so she walked up, opened the door...and paused momentarily in confusion, wondering why there was a steering wheel - much to the driver's (and my) amusement.
Number 4 - The Vatican in Rome (technically its 'surrounded by' Rome)
We really weren't sure what to expect with the Vatican. Sure, we'd heard there were many artworks in the Vatican's collection, we knew there was a famous painting on the ceiling of a little Chapel, and we knew there was a very big library that was not open to the public, but how it all fitted together we were curious to see. Due to limited time we were on a guided tour, which is absolutely the best way to see the Vatican. The guides have so much knowledge and love passing it on and you don't have to wait in the Roman heat for several hours just to get in. We now know a few tips for determining the difference between paintings by Michaelangelo and Raphael... ('how useful!' some of you are probably thinking, but over here it can come in handy).
The amount of art in the Vatican is incredible... From paintings to frescoes, to sculptures, to tapestries, to gold and metal work, it just doesn't seem to stop. Even people aren't into art would be hard pressed not to be amazed and enjoy it. The church itself, St Peter's basilica, is also very big and impressive as a building [Amanda insert: as in HUGE and incredibly ornate!], but I did wonder in passing how much the building is a place to worship God and how much it's a place to worship architecture, a church building or human accomplishments. In any event, my words won't do justice to the beauty or impressiveness of the Vatican, so we've included some photos below.
Number 3 - Venice
On the road into Venice Amanda repeated once again that of all the places we were visiting in Europe, she was least excited about Venice as she thought it would all be 'ridiculously touristy' (and yet we were due to visit 3 times for a day or two each time). Naturally, this all changed once we arrived in Venice and started walking through paved streets and over a series of canals on our way to St Mark's square - a place that Napolean (I think) described as 'the drawing room of Europe' owing to its shape and the impression the surrounding buildings give of being walls around a room.
We were there in early June so the infamous summer heat had not really started and while it was busy it wasn't overcrowded with tourists. As part of our tour we got to see a glass blowing artisan make a spectacular glass horse in about two minutes flat. In the shop the selling price started at about 40 Euros. It seemed like a tidy sum for two minutes work until we learnt it has taken him 15 years to develop his skill! We also got to see how they make lace the traditional way... by hand. Many of the ladies specialise in just one or two stitches and by the time they've all finished, some pieces of lace can take months to make. Once again, we were impressed with the skill and dedication on display. However, comparing it with the modern, cheaper, machine made pieces, there didn't seem to be a lot of difference in either aesthetics or quality... just price. I suppose the preservation of traditional culture can be important in and of itself, even if it is expensive to support and maintain, and I guess there must be people that choose to spend their money that way. Even if I'm not one of them! We also enjoyed browsing the very many Venetian face mask stalls and shops to find our favourite type (I was surprised at just how many types are available).
We also visited St Mark's basilica, the ornate church on the main square which often floods.The famous merchants of Venice received a large amount of mosaic tiles from Constantinople. ("Istanbul is Constantinople; Istanbul is Constantinople"...as a certain educational song goes). Evidently, they put them to very good use and the floors, walls and ceilings of the church are simply incredible...if you like mosaics. Amanda was particularly in wonder, showing a greater appreciation for mosaics than me. We also visited the 'treasury' of the church, which had ancient gold and bejeweled goblets and other treasures. It was the first time either of us had seen 'saints relics' and below is a photo of a hand and leg bone of two saints...shudder...
In short, we loved Venice. Every view was a postcard and we decided we should come back. Then we remembered that we are... twice! So with smiles on our faces and in our hearts we caught the water taxi down the grand canal on our way to the bus station and then our hotel. Fairwell Venice, we will see you again soon.
Number 2 highlight: Paddle boating in the Adriatic Sea (Croatian coast)
Some important background: When we first dreamt of traveling through Europe, there was more than one thought given to the possibility of relaxing in the Greek Islands. There was even talk of sailing at one point.
Ok back to the story.... After catching the cold/flu that seemed to be doing the rounds of our tour group and adjusting to the pace of life on tour, we were grateful for a couple of days relaxing on the Croatian island of Kirk. The beach was really just a stone walkway and the water was quite chilly, but as Amanda is used to having cold showers and I simply love being in the water, we decided to take the plunge and go for a swim anyway... I mean, neither of us knew if or when we would we get another chance to swim in the Adriatic. Having checked that off the list, Amanda then discovered some paddle boats with slippery slides for hire...and got very excited.The next day we joined another couple who were hiring one and we all set out on the blue water...followed shortly by half our tour group looking to join in the fun.
If you've never been on a paddle boat with a slippery slide, then you've never really lived. Climbing the stairs makes you feel like you are 10 years old again and plunging into the icy water is precisely how paddle boating in Croatia should be. It's not exactly the Greek islands, but it had to be at least as much fun.
And coming in at Number 1 - a tale of two cities in Budapest
Budapest really is a tale of two cities - Buda and Pest - once divided by not just the river Danube but years of political animosity. We visited the Buda side very briefly but spent most of our time in the former Pest.
Budapest's chequered history is clearly on display. As we wandered the streets, we were impressed that the city clearly had a golden age. The riverfront gives this away - with a spectacular castle looming large on one side and palaces and the houses of parliament on the other. But the ravages of war and despotism (like much of eastern Europe, Budapest suffered a double occupation, first by the Nazis and then by Russia) savaged the city and it appears to be only now slowly starting to recover - largely courtesy of tourism and other service industries.
While there we visited a large Jewish synagogue, including a garden where there are thousands of holocaust victims buried. We skipped the city's informative and very real 'House of horrors' which showcases the terrible history of persecution and torture methods used in the region. It is rumoured to be fascinating, but sobering. Knowing we had a trip to the former concentration camp of Malthausen coming up in a few days, we decided to leave this one.
Instead, we strolled along the river Danube, and saw them filming stunts in two different locations for a new action movie. A bit of detective work by Amanda and we discovered that it was the latest in the Die Hard franchise. The current slug title was 'A good day to die hard'. We didn't see Bruce, so can't confirm if he signed up to once more being beaten up by bad guys only to prevail in the end and save lots of lives. The scene we saw clearly involved a tank and car chase along the river- so we will be looking out for that when the movie is released!
In the evening we relaxed in some Hungarian public baths complete with an array of saunas and cold pools (together, Amanda's happy place). There were a couple of heated outdoor pools with jets and other fun things. One had with a continuous whirlpool in the middle, in which we enjoyed going round and round.
We tried learning a few key words in Hungarian, but we were only there for one full day and we quickly discovered it can be easier in the areas frequented by tourists to simply just say 'English?' with an upwards lilt in your voice and a confused but well natured look in your eyes. People seemed to respond better to that than to when you have butchered their language in an attempt to ask if they speak English.
The last thing we noticed about our time in Hungary is that it is a misnomer. The meals were relatively cheap and were absolutely massive. (Perhaps 'stuffed' is more appropriate?) I sincerely hope Hungarians are as well fed as we were.
So with sauna-relaxed bodies and full bellies, we bid you good night from Budapest.
Next stop Prague... or Vienna... I can't keep up...
J.
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