Testing, testing 1,2,3

 Flying into Zurich. Very green with beautiful mountains.

Historic Zurich riverfront.

  

Flat transport boats to get under the bridges from the Lake Zurich to the amazing museum.

The train journey from Zurich to Rome was gorgeous. Met the cutest Italian lady who was off to see her boyfriend and spend the summer sleeping on her deck. Then from Milan met a really nice Italian family, where only the 7year old son could speak any English. He was great at counting to ten in English, but when it was my turn to count to ten in Italian I was terrible!!! Points for trying I hope.

 

 Mums bruschetta is good, but I think the Italians one upped here, must have been better ingredients and their toast burning skills.

This place has killed more Christians than god himself. 

Monument to someone with a small *ahem*.

 Mussolini's favourite balcony.

The pizza shop guys favourite pizza, I couldn't choose. 

The forum, the current city is built on top of the old city! 

"Kingdoms are clay"...wrong!  

Trevi fountain. My guide stopped me from drinking at a previous fountain, because the next one was nicer. She forgot to mention that the nicer one shown above is said to restore your virginity. Pretty annoyed that I was too thirsty to refuse, :(. 

When the pope is feeling dirty, he gets into his billion dollar bath in Vatican City. Rumour has it 72boys can fit in here at once. 

So apparently in the world there are only a couple of these statues made of bronze from long ago. This spunky guy survived as he was struck by lightning, and the superstitious Greeks buried him in an underground tomb. Hence while all the other statues where being made into cannon balls and weapons, this lucky man survived. 

The Swiss Guard who protect Vatican City get less love than the inhabitants themselves due to their clothing choices.

Just another roof of Vatican city. 

 

 Slovenian cave system stretching 12km, with three levels of chambers. Remember these are stalactites as they look like tights.

   

Pag Island, Croatian sunset.

View from the hotel on Pag Island. 

Deer Goulash, your are tasty and I will come back to Slovenia one day. Love Kara

 

Lake Bled. Romantic lake in Slovenia, you can walk around in a couple of hours. I liked the nature of the people around the lake, sunbaking, fishing, riding, kayaking and just having a chilled out time with people they liked.

Austrian Pancakes in clear soup! nom nom nom

Austrian Guesthouse

 Canyoning in the Tyrol Region. I was lucky to go down the fake abseiling first, so I could take pictures.

First time wearing a wetsuit = pretty warm. Can't wait for some Australian canyoning.

Just another view in Austria. I would like to go back sometime for some hiking (IN SUMMER).

 

Very spicy and tasty apple strudel.

 The bridge sculptures in Prague, Czech Republic.

Marionette puppets! 

They love their fried pork and potato. The back "snack" is blue cheese and ham, crumbed and deep fried.
Random Prague observations:
# Saw a police 'Smart Car'
# Saw an Ivan Milat look alike on a train wearing army green with an axe and a huge dog
# feeling of disconnect between the river and the city, flow of people in city felt strange

Berlin Wall closeup.

 

Berlin Wall, painted and original.

Dresden. The  German city decimated during a festival day in WW2, and rebuilt many years later using salvaged stones from the flattened buildings.

Procession of royalty in Dresden. Nice style.

 After all the heavy meat and potatoes, this was the lightest thing on the menu.

My friend Mel opted for something more traditional.

I was so excited to catch the Train (incl. train ferry) from Berlin to Goteborg. At midnight the train with share cabins of 6-bunks drove into the ship, where the only view was the ferries white walls. 

To the cute post-stoned, Irish accented, near naked, Swedish guy who shared a cabin with me, I wish you luck for your dream of giving up studying engineering teaching and going to be a farm assistant in the US. And thanks for being friendly to a retarded Australian girl who hasn't even heard of a train ferry before. :P.