Today is the last day of our trip and over the past few days we have been chatting about the highlights.  In true Nick Hornby style we have. Compiled our “Best….” List. Best Apartment: Como. (Closely followed by Vienna) Best Selection of mugs : Prague Best Blogging position: Prague Best Wifi: Vienna (24mbs download. Woohoo) […]

After 3 weeks of the technology all working beautifully, it has all gone pear shaped in the last 24 hours.  It began when we checked into our final apartment, a tiny loft apartment with a bed right up in the rafters which you access via a ladder. But it did of course have wifi (we […]

We have now arrived in Freiburg in the heart of the Black Forest (I wonder what cake of the day will be?).  We spent the afternoon wandering around this lovely old city (town? Who knows!).  My nose took me to the flower market around the cathedral, not because of the flowers but because of the […]

Compared to 20 years ago touring around Europe has become a lot simpler due to the Euro.  Gone is the challenge of trying to use up all your money buying random duty free and chocolate at the airport, only for your flight be delayed for several hours and so you haven’t got any money for […]

I may be a bit obsessed by time.  I do have a bit of a penchant for clocks and watches, so being in Switzerland I’m like a pig in muck.  Everywhere you turn, clocks and watches.  But it’s not like I have been taking loads of pictures of the clocks on this journey.  Ok, maybe […]

Today was the day which filled me with both excitement and dread.  We were going to spend most of the day travelling across 2 countries on 3 trains a boat and a tram. The potential for missing trains (or boats) was quite high. The plan was that we took a train from Como to Bellinzona […]

After our success(!) with the bike tour in Amsterdam we have been keeping a eye out for bike hire to have another go.  The great thing about Amsterdam was that it was flat and had cycle lanes.  Prague was neither flat nor had cycle lanes.  Vienna had cycle lanes, was flat but wanted €35 a […]

It’s wrong to say that nationalities have stereotypes.  Everyone is an individual and their personality is not dictated by the place they were born or raised.  But let’s be honest, French people do shrug a lot.  On my journey I have noticed at least some people who live up the their national stereotype. Stereotype 1 […]

Our travels have bought us into Northern Italy to Como, a town that dates back to Roman days and still has a medieval wall around it.  (Not to be confused with Kokomo which the Beach Boys sang about in the film Cocktail.  I did.)  The main draw of the place is of course the lake. […]

You may have got the idea now that this trip is mainly about traveling on trains and eating cake (what, you haven’t?  Then you are an idiot).  The more I travel on trains, the more I realise that it is the future of convenient travel (well in Europe at any rate.  I’m not sure I […]

Globalisation is a a subject which divides opinion.  Some embrace the idea, others like to smash in McDonalds windows because of it (although I have to admit l felt like doing that after the last time I ate there).  On the one hand, if you arrive in a strange land with strange custom, language and […]

Our main reason for coming back to Budapest was to do the things we ran out of time to do last time. The main one was a trip to the thermal spas.  The one we opted for was the Szechenyi Baths which are in the Varosliget park.  When you read reviews on various websites there […]

One of things which we had planned to do in Vienna was to either go to a concert or an opera.  The one good thing about both of these art forms is that it doesn’t matter about language.  You may remember from Day 9’s blog that Ingrid had put us onto a hot tip which […]

Whenever we go away on a city break we do tend to visit the odd art gallery or two. So far we have done the Van Gough museum in Amsterdam, Mucha in Prague and today the Leopold Museum, home of the works of Gustav Klimt.  Well I say the home….. The Leopold is a vast […]

Before we came to Vienna I knew very little about the place.  All I really knew was: 1) A classical concert on BBC2 every New Year’s Day came from here. 2) They were big into music. 3) They made nice fingers. We hadn’t even really got a guide book so I hadn’t been able to […]

Yesterday I left you with us having been on the Big Bus Tour. This morning we did the other line (lots of Palaces really) and this afternoon we decided to do the “20th Century and Films Walk” (well it was included in the price).  We turned up five minutes before the tour started at the […]

The internet is a great thing.  Discuss.  Actually, no let’s not go there, let me rephrase that slightly.  The internet has made travelling a lot easier.  Not just for the booking of travel and accommodation, but also choosing where to eat and what to do.  Here is a quick example from last night. We had […]

Having experienced some Czech sport, the next thing on our agenda was some Czech culture.  Opera? No.  Music? Nah.  Black Light Theatre?  Oh yes Black Light Theatre uses a black back cloth and people dressed as ninjas (i.e. all in black) to move objects around.  I seem to remember that it was used in a […]

The only problem with interailing is that with it effectively being one city break after another, it can be fairly full on.  Today we decided to take a rest from the usual tromping around the city and chill in the park.  I thought today would be an ideal opportunity to give my new Panama hat […]

This holiday we have mainly been staying in appartments.  We have been using various web sites to contact the owners.  The owner of the Prague apartment has been very vocal and has e-mailed me frequently about arrangments.  She gave me “clear” instructions on how to get to the appartment.  So we arrived bright and early […]

I know I left you last night saying I was going to tell you all about our experience finding our flat here in Prague, well I’ve changed my mind and I want to share my thoughts on my night at the Ice Hockey. (Stop complaining, I’m on my holiday, I can do whatever I like!). […]

Last night we had our first experience of an overnight sleeper train.  We were travelling from Amsterdam to Prague on the City Night Line Service.  We had booked a cabin for 2 with an ensuite.   I had always had a hankering to go on a sleeper since as a child I saw Roger Moore […]

There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing Katie Melua once sang (well actually she sang it more than once, Radio 2 never stopped playing that flaming record),  There are 1 million in Holland,  The majority appear to be in Amsterdam.  I love the  fact that the Dutch have trams, buses, cars and cycle paths.  But […]

This morning we began our European adventure early.  3:15 to be exact.  Last night when Karen checked that the taxi was ok they told her that she had booked it for 3:15.  We put them back to 3:30 and we were still in John Lennon airport by 4:05.  I think we actually were there before […]

Just over 48 hours until the current Mrs Fenner and myself head off on our next big adventure.  This time we are interrailing around Europe.  Now most people think that interrailing is for students racing around Europe, sleeping in train stations and trying to get as many countries under their belt before their pass runs […]