Austria - Spring Holiday Part 4 of 5

Leaving Slovenia, chuffing along in the train to Salzburg, this is the type of scenery we were treated to. I know. It's lovely.


This is a shot from within the center of old town of Salzburg with a view up to the castle on the hill. Yes, there is a man standing precariously on a giant golden sphere. Luckily, he's not made of flesh and bones like you or I.

Alright. How many of you out there have seen the sound of music thousands of times? This garden should look familiar to you then. For everyone else, hey look at this lovely garden.
This is a shot form a Marionette exhibition on in the castle.
Fear. (Part 1 of 2)
Fear. (Part 2 of 2)
We found a giant sized 'grown-ups' playground, so we obliged.
This is a gorgeous shot of the old town.
After two beautiful nights in Salzberg we were keen to train it to Vienna where we were meeting Sarah's sister, Jessica and brother-in-law, Andrew. It was a very happy moment when the two sisters were reunited.
This is a church in Vienna in a square called Stevensplatz. Hehe.
Andrew, having no respect for such petty things as laws, defies the signage and decides to stand casually. Later he is relieved when he finally gets it right.
For morning tea we went to the the (disputed) original home of the Sasha Torte to try the merch. NOTE: The desert pictured is not a Sasha Torte.

That's a Sasha Torte! This picture features the two major parts in the life of a Sasha Torte.


We stayed in a sweet apartment while in Vienna. This is the view outside the kitchen window.
Lovely architecture. And finally, one for the kids.

Slovenia- Spring Holiday Part 3 of 5

So, we're at the half way mark. Spring is starting to set in with sporadic showers and blushes of blue sky.
We Eurail it up to Slovenia via an 8 minute train changeover in Zagreb that would impress the toughest "Amazing Race" competitors and are greeted by the most spectacular green countryside we have seen in a long time, in fact, you could say, ever.
The railway curled itself around the magnificent towering alpine region of southern Slovenia, following the incredibly blue Sava River (I think that is the name anyway). After about 8 hours train ride we found ourselves in Ljubljana (pronounced Loob-lana). After only reading the brief paragraph or two from our massive, but information light Lonely Planet- Europe on a Shoestring Guide we were not sure what we would find. After locating our awesome hostel (Hostel Most is case you ever go) with room that overlooked the river we went out to discover a beautiful little city. The centre of the city it feels like a perpetual Sunday afternoon as most of the inhabitants seem to be students with a lot of time to drink coffee and eat ice-cream at the incredible number of riverside cafes. It also helps that the centre is pedestrianised too so, even when in the centre of the city, it is amazingly peacefull and quiet. It was a shame we only spent a day and a half here as we could have spent a lot longer, but we enjoyed every minute of it and would easily go back.

GREEN!

We found this little bit of genius not far from the Horse Burger joint.

We were both a bit scared to try the horse burger, but Andy did have a "lamb" kebab. I wasn't convinced it was just lamb.

This came from the door of a the castle postioned high on a hill in the middle of the city. I just thought it was a cool door feature.

Croatia- Spring Holiday Part 2 of 5

We touched down in Dubrovnik after a somewhat scary ride via Click Air from Barcelona. Seems that seat belts are not always included in their bargain rates.
After kissing the ground we were overwhelmed with the beauty of this glorious UNESCO jewel of the Adriatic. The scent of Orange and Lemon blossom filled the air and the sea sparkled in the Spring sunshine. We ended up spending 5 days after we had planned on only 3. After those 5 days we headed a bit further up the coastline via Bosnia (good place to stop to buy your essential cartons of cigarettes. Tell ya, this is the place to take up smoking!) to Split. We weren't quite ready for how touristy the place was and were followed around for the first few hours by strange old men offering us rooms to stay in and calling out "cheap cheap" as we hurried off in the opposite direction. We were charmed a bit more on the second day as we wondered around the incredibly old city (we're talking 6th Century BC!). The old town, like Dubrovnik, was riddled by tiny alleys and streets that opened onto paved squares, with tiles worn shiny from centuries of wear.
Anyway have a look at what we saw:

Split Harbour

Andy taking some inspiration

This happy fellow decided to follow us for a little while around the island town of Korcula, a day trip we took from Dubrovnik. This is the second ultra friendy labrador we have encountered on our RTW trip. The first beling in Turkey) So we named him Woofio II.

I was actually watching a photo shoot happening outside of the shot.

Korcula

Sensai Andy teaching Sarah Son the crane position

The glorious orange roofs of Dubrovnik's old town

Spain -Spring Holiday Part 1 of 5

Barcelona:
Spring was kind to Sarah and I. For the first part of our super, five part European world tour we touched down upon the glorious shores of Spain. The weather was balmy and the views were well good too. It was our feeling that the Spanish people were not unlike those from our home country: easy going and keen to please. We started in Barcelona, a great place and i think we're both keen to return.

Here is ol Chris Columbus pointing to the new world.

This photo was taken in Barcelona's Gothic quarter, a tightly knit suburb of Gothic buildings filled with trendy shops, great restaurants and better bars . We had dinner where this photo was taken from. This view was better than any TV show we've ever seen. We saw doggy deals, strange encounters and even a gay relationship breaking up. Better than Neighbours.


This was the hall to our hostel. It was well nice.



On my birthday we went to a Gaudi's gardens (Parc Guell) which were originally intended as a private community. The area was unsuccessful as no body seemed particularly keen on living there (they must be kicking themselves today!). Barcelona owes him a lot as their whole tourism industry is steeped in Gaudi's legacy.

The grounds.
The Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished Masterpiece. Work began in 1886 and it is expected to be finished in 2026. Cripes.
It has many interesting statues.
And a nice door.
And a nice staircase.We took an eight hour train to the scenic San Sebastian, a stylish city in the basque region that wraps itself around two gorgeous little bays.


This was a path leading up to the fortress at the top of the mountain that overlooks San Sebastian.
A canon.
Reclining.Night time panorama.