Travelling to the top of Europe

What a day it has been. And what a start. Our alarm went at 4am. Troy, in a slight act of confusion, thought it was his phone ringing, quickly jumped out of bed and straight into a wooden shelf and has limped for the remainder of the day. But at least the adrenaline was pumping from an early stage.
We took 6 different trains to get to this Swiss mountain with a long unpronouncable name, but it is commonly referred to as the Top of Europe. It is 3500m above sea level. Hence the name. And you could go up onto viewing decks, through an ice palace and onto the actual snow. We were very excited to go onto the snow but sadly we had not really packed winter clothes when we left New Zealand. So we each put on a few jumpers, but it was negative 3 and 40k winds. It just wasnt happening. But we had a great time up there. Infact our whole Swiss experience has been so much fun.
So we are in Zurich at the moment. Fly to London tomorrow then home the next day.
This is a real average computer so cant put our photos on here, but we are home in a few days so can just show them to you all.
Weve had such a good trip, seen so many cool things, met some great people but also looking forward to coming home.
See you all shortly.
Troy (a.ka. Bok Troy, T Noy or DJ Fuzzy) and Chris (aka T-Rip)

Beautiful Switzerland

So we have arrived in Switzerland! So beautiful! Very green and very similar to New Zealand! We are staying with Nadia and Steffi, two Swiss girls we knew from New Zealand. Their town has about 5000 people. Quite small but very relaxing! Yesterday we went down to a lake and had a swim and had played some volleyball before we headed back home for some great Swiss food! Such a good day!

Steffi isnt working at the moment and Nadia finishes at 1. So this morning we are just relaxing and then this afternoon we are off to a mountain somewhere. Should be fun! Then tomorrow we are going to go to Interlauken... I think thats spelt right. Interlauken has one of the highest trains in Europe, goes right up into the snow mountains. And from there we go to Zurich, fly to London and then back home.

So this is the final straight. But what an amazing final straight it is!

Germany.... Slow trains and fast little cars!!

So we had 3 action packed nights in Berlin. It started off not so successfully... we left Krakow, Poland at 8pm on an overnight train due to arrive in Berlin at 7am giving us the whole day to explore the city. The carriages were rather cramped, but you could lie down at least. We woke up at around 8.30am. We were not in Berlin. We hadnt even got out of Poland. They had electrical problems in the night and in the end we got to Berlin at 3pm. 19 hour train ride. We were very tired! We checked into the hostel and then had a rest before we went and explored some of Berlin. Very cool mix of historical buildings and very modern buildings. The

photo of Chris hugging the giraffe is made entirely out of lego. Just outside a legoland kind of place which was probably meant for kids but still a lot of fun!

The next day we drove down to Munich on the Autobahn which was a lot of fun. We had a Mini Cooper. We only just fitted both our bags and us in. Everyone drives very fast (especially Troy) and the roads were so good. Very smooth. And no sign of NZ roadworkers pretending to be working while leaning on a spade and smoking. It was all very efficient!

Next stop..... Switzerland!

Schindlers factory..... was that it?

Ok so we had a free day today and thought it would be fun to explore the Jewish ghetto, and in particular see Schindler's factory, which Schindler's List is based on. Well talk about a disappointment!!
We walked for about 35 minutes in rather hot weather, going through the back roads of an industrial area full of old run down buildings to get to..... well this old, run down building. You cant get inside, there is no information about it, but you do see a few other similarly baffled tourists around. Well at least we've been there!
Troy has also become a mad rapper. For the sanity of the Bartholomew family, I really hope he snaps out of it before he gets home. Here is an example:
Troy: Wow look at that blood on the road!
Chris: Yeah, looks like someone got a stray punch.
Troy: Yeah. Yeah. P to the unch. Punch. Stray punch for lunch. (Troy then bursts into uncontrollable laughter over his apparent genius)
Its quite a site. We are just relaxing at the hostel now for a few more hours then off to Berlin. Just over a week to go now!

Krakow..... a mix of emotions

So we went on a organised tour of Krakow, Poland today. It started with going to the concentration camp Auschwitz where it was estimated 1.5 million Jews were killed during the war. It was a really weird feeling going there, we are glad we went, but it definitely wasnt enjoyable. Compared to some of the history we have seen so far on the trip, it was really recent and it really left you wondering how people could do these things to other humans.
After that we went to see a salt mine. Sounds a bit mundane, but it was actually really exciting! We went down 135 metres into the ground to see this mine which was built about 700 years ago. We were able to see where the salt was mined and there were tonnes of salt statues along the way, and a church which is what the photo is of. We even went into a room where they belted out some Chopin to relax us. It was a great experience!
Tomorrow we have a free day in Krakow before we take an overnight train to Berlin. So we think we might do a touch of shopping and check out Schindlers factory.
Oh and it rained AGAIN today. And its meant to be summer!

Sleeping beauty

Ok so Troy has a special ability.... he can seemingly sleep anywhere! So we have had numerous plane, train and bus rides where he has drifted into the land of nod. Unfortunately he doesnt have a pillow. So to find a place to rest he usually "subconsciously" lands on my shoulder. Its terrible. Ive put this video up to hopefully gain some sympathy

Beautiful Prague

After a massive 26 hours of travel to get from Capadoccia to Prague we made it!

Prague is a really beautiful city, very old fashioned and lots of old buildings. We have had a pretty relaxed time here so far, we checked out some old fashioned castles, looked at some old fashioned town clocks and had some coffee at some old fashioned establishments (also called Starbucks).

We are about to run out of internet time!! Bu

t off to Krakow Poland tomorrow for our first real organised tour. Should be great!

We broke our record and after 31 days had our first day of rain. Unbelievable! It rained for at least 12 minutes.

Photos of Capadoccıa

Heres the photos that we couldnt add before..... we took so many but heres a selection. The one with the mountain looking thing on its own... thats where people live. And very similar to the place we lived for a few nights!!

The best day of the trip

So we are just on our way back from Capadoccia, the cave city! We have had such an amazing time, we both agreed yesterday was the highlight of the trip so far. We'll run you through it.....

4.45am Alarm goes off. Struggle out of bed. Something weird happens. For the first time in the trip we but sweatshirts on. Its a dreadfully cold 19 degrees. How will we get used to it?

5.00am Shuttle comes to take us to hot air ballooning.

5.45am Up in the air! There is about 20 in the balloon. We travel over valleys, checking out an amazing landscape. There are about 30 other balloons around. Incredible! We safely come back down an hour later where we are given a Champagne breakfast and a certificate congratulating us on doing the ride. Although in fairness, we didnt have to do much!

7.00am Back in bed

8.30am Wake again. Feels like a new day!

9.00am Head off on day long tour of Cappadocia. Amazing, we see churches from the 2nd century, houses that have been lived in for thousands of years, all of which are in caves. We see pottery being made, carpets being weaved and explore underground cities, which at a time were up to 19 stories deep. We just went down 4 stories and even that was 45 metres.

5.00pm Arrive home from tour. At hotel for the best part of ten minutes before we head off to Turkish bath. We shower first and then go into the sauna. We then get washed, foamed, rinsed off and massaged by Turkish man. Relaxing and at times uncomfrtable if you can have both feelings at once!

7.00pm Off to Turkish barber for Chris. Barber has no English. Chris has no Turkish. There is no option but to make a shaving noise. Barber shaves head, shaves face with very sharp knife, holds flame to ear to singe hairs, punches back in an attempt at massage and clicks every finger before rubbing something that could only be described as pure alcohol over the shaving cuts. An hour later it has finished. Chris is happy even though he is 15 years old and battling cancer. At least there are still 2 weeks to go!

So our time in Turkey is counting down. Just one long 12 hour busr ide to Turkey where we will attempt to sleep. And then off to Eastern Europe


SORRY!!! Photos arent workıng! We are stıll ın a small Turkısh town and ınternet ıs slow. Should be a lot faster in Prague so will try again there.

A Turkey in Turkey

Well the only to do to compete with my newfound Athenian police friend was to buy a Turkish costume. I kid you not, it is so comfortable! Maybe not work wear, but very comfortable!
So when we have been travelling down through our various countries, there has been a whole lot of similarities, but Turkey really is quite a different country! Different culture, different landscape and a much nicer climate! Its still hot, but not unbearable like Greece was.
We unfortunately had an extremely early flight- to the extent that we spent more time waiting in customs and check in lines than we did sleeping. The Greeks- great builders, maybe not the most efficient at running an airport!
So tomorrow we are off for some real excitement (not that the rest of the trip hasnt!). We leave at 7pm on an overnight bus to Capadoccia, and arrive around 8 in the morning (750km). We then have 3 days of exploring, hot air ballooning and guided tours. Capadoccia has the most amazing landscape- search it on Google but its famous for having these little cave/hills that look like giant stalagmites and hundreds of years ago, the Christians in the town would hide underground and they have these huge underground cities you can visit.
We are staying in a cave hotel. Yeah you heard right! We are unsure what internet access in caves is like, so we may not be on here for the next 4 days. But we will return with some amazing photos no doubt!!

Athens..... Lots of history and lots of good times

So we have just finished 3 days in Athens and it has been a really cool city. You have all this history which was obviously very cool but then the markets and the town just had a realy good atmosphere. You seem to be able to get seemingly anything in the markets, as Troy showed by purchasing a police uniform that was IDENTICAL to the Athens police. Like you literally couldnt tell the difference. However, he did get threatened by a rrest (again) if he wore it in Athens. So it will be saved!
Now the photos.... Chris is lunging for the finish line as this is where the Olympic marathon finishes. It was 45 degrees that day, so we figured a half hour walk equated to a marathon.
Troy is standing next to one of the soldiers who has to stand like that for 6 hours. And it is a highly sought after position. Any takers??
Check out his shoes!
So we really enjoyed Athens, met some really cool people and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now for something different... off to Turkey

Ancient Athens

So we got to Athens. We are in a really cool hostel in that it is about 2 minutes walk from all the main historical sites. So we were able to put our bags in our room and go exploring. We saw most of the main Ancient ruins like the Acropolis, the Temple for Zeus, the Temple of Nike and the Parthenon. Sorry spelling may be off! But they were really cool. It was amazing like some of them started getting built in about 500BC. And we were standing right there infront of them. And when you compare 500BC to how old New Zealand is.... Well its a big difference!!
There were a bit pedantic near the Acropolis.... you can see in the photo that Troy is on my shoulders. Then this lady blew a whistle and told us off. You are not allowed to be on someone elses shoulders there. She didnt explain why!

How annoying! It would appear that the photo function isnt working here! I will try and upload the photos from our next place. But we are surviving, its 43 degrees here today and all is going well! We might to on a day trip tomorrow, either to Delphi or Sparta. Probably Delphi. Apparently there is nothing to see in Sparta. You just grunt and call yourself a temporary Spartan. We will keep you posted!

Our Greek Island

We are on an island called Kefallonia. If you have watched Captain Corellis Mandolin with Nicholas Cage, its that Island. So nice and relaxing but very very hot. Today it is 40 degrees. Tomorrow the locals think it will get to 42. So as you can see by the photos, today we rented out a boat for the day. Was heaps of fun. We would just stop at each little cove and do some swimming and snorkelling and sunbathing.
We are staying in a really nice place here. It is basically someones house, but we have opur own little apartment. So in it we have our own little kitchen and bathroom and lounge, and effectively two bedrooms but its all open plan.
Thats our little house in the photo.
So we have three nights here. Tomorrow we are off to explore some really cool looking caves and then no doubt some more relaxing. Life is good!

The future face of ice tea?

Troy drinks ice tea like its going out of fashion.

If this face doesnt up world wide sales, then honestly, what will?

Facial hair

We are in the most boring town in history. There is nothing to talk about. So we will tell you about our beards.

We have added what we are aspiring to and then our photo underneath. Firstly Troy is going for the Asian wisdom beard. They key to this is not full coverage, but just chin growth. Troy is mastering it slowly but surely. Keep encouraging him.

Chris is going for the Gimley look, but just in the beard. If he grew the hair on top, he would never make it through customs. Please ignore the orange.

So that is about all we have to say right now. We are off to Greece in 4 and a half hours. Now we will do our laundry. You may not have wanted to know that, but consider your lives enriched. There really is NOTHING to do in Bari.

Dubrovnik

We are in Dubrovnik today, our last day in Croatia. It has been a really cool country, the people are a lot more friendly and laid back than the Italians, which we have really enjoyed!
We have just done a massive walk around the city walls. Was really amazing, they are up to 25 metres tall. They are about 500 years old, but you can clearly see parts that were attacked by the bombings in 1992.
We stayed with another old lady with poor English last night. We might have had more room in a prison cell, but it was cheap and comfortable and had TWO single beds which was good. Well everything went well until he broke a light anyway.
We are taking a ferry from here at 11pm back to Italy for a night before heading down to the Greek Islands. Ohhh! And on the ferry to Croatia we saw some dolphins! Definite highlight! Might be a little harder on the night ferry!!