Diary+from+Strasbourg+(France)

==Internet access has been a problem the last few weeks and as a result of things haven't been updated for a while so here goes and I'll try to make it brief (no sagas this time). We left Iceland with some sadness as we head become rather used to the pace of life and had developed friendships with some of the locals. That said it was exciting to head off to Strasbourg in France where we were surprised by how beautiful the old city was. Like most major cities in Europe it has trams and being on the river there are lots of opportunities to travel round by the water. It would seem that Europe has the edge over us in keeping traffic from the city centres and everywhere we went the use of bicycles was being promoted more extensively than home. Louise did her conference presentations and caught up with her colleagues from Iceland and England as well as the CSU crew.

We travelled on the TGV (fast train) to Paris and caught up with friends who we stayed with for a few days. We spent most of the time sightseeing and riding bicycles through the Paris traffic which can be interesting to say the least. Like most places in France you can hire these bikes from special bike depots and there are literally dozens of them in most of the major cities. If you return them in less than a specified time the hire is free. The weather was superb and like at home everybody says that this has been the hottest period on record (when you're on holiday who can be critical of global warming).

After Paris it was off to Coyolles to stay with other friends and today showed us around Laon and other areas in the region. Every morning starting with fresh croissants cheese and strong coffee only my waistline was struggling to keep up with the pace with evenings enjoying some fine wines of the region.

Tash arrived and we travelled with her down to Lyon (TGV again) as she is studying there on an exchange for one semester and will return home in February. We stayed with her in Lyon for a couple of days which like most French cities has a beautiful old part full of lovely restaurants and churches and then with our hire car we headed south. Tash came with us for a weeks driving adventure and had to return the hire car from Milan back to Lyon as we were flying out from Bergamo(near Milan) to Krakow.

Our first stop was Avignon a very mediaeval city which was for a time the home of the Pope and as a result had a brief but prosperous period when a great deal of impressive buildings were constructed. After this we headed south to Marseille which is a place to be avoided as it was more glitz than glamour and other than a harbour full of expensive boats did not really have much to offer. From then we continued on and found, our cheapest hotel which was simple and basic with a shared toilet for the whole floor. Despite this it was comfortable and had a nice view out the windows and for €40 for three of us was hard to beat. We continued on along the coast all the way stopping at St Tropez (very overrated) Villefrench sur mur (next to Nice) where we stayed overlooking a beautiful harbour and eating at a very local restaurant which was great. It was then on to Monaco where everything is expensive. We saw five or six shops together that sold boats none of which were under a million dollars. After Monaco we crossed the border into Italy and those Tash had been studying French we were all struggling with the language however the Italians in general were very helpful and did their best to help us communicate. Many of the beaches in Italy are private particularly in the towns and you have to pay to get on the beach but they do give you a lounge and umbrella. I must point out that the beaches are not sand but rocks and can be quite tough on the feet but we ventured in for a swim and had a lovely afternoon.

From here we headed north to the Lakes districts of Italy (and Switzerland) which were spectacular. This was some of the most breathtaking scenery we have ever seen and all agreed that it was more spectacular than the coast. At one point we caught to cable cars and finally a chairlift to reach the view above Stressa it was spectacular (see photos) from the top you can see six different Lakes and these are surrounded by magnificent mountains and we could see Mont Blanc with a little snow. Bellagio was a very picturesque location and we caught the car ferry across to save us a second drive on the very narrow roads that are everywhere in Italy. Our week away finally ended in Bergamo where we left Tash to drive back to Lyon and give our credit card a well earned rest in Poland and so we flew on to Krakow. . Krakow was a surprise package with the usual European touch off many older buildings and the largest square in Europe I think. The place has a real feeling of going somewhere and the people are in general are very positive and we had less trouble with finding English speakers than we did in France. There are some quirky things about the Polish including the idea that if the salesperson receives a phone call or is on the phone when you enter the shop don't expect them to hurry off the phone and serve you. This must be left over from the Communist days. A call at the zoo me, really good reason to go to Poland is the cost it was by far the cheapest place we went to where one Australian dollar will buy you a little over 2.5 Polish Zlotis. You could get a good chicken fillet and salad for lunch for around four dollars Australian. There was lots to see in and around Krakow.. We finally headed off on the overnight train to Vienna and much to our surprise we were on a shared sleeper carriage that had six beds and the other four were occupied by some British students celebrating the end of their final year in school before going to Uni. It was very entertaining although little sleep was to be had.

Vienna has more big grand buildings than anywhere else in Europe I'm sure. A visit to the Hapsburg Palace is a must even if it's just to look at the incredible opulence that people once lived in. In its heyday there were more than 1500 servants needed to keep the place going. Despite the grand nature of these architectural achievements it is not a place you would visit if you are interested in going out and partying as a wander around on Saturday night will soon reveal, the Vieneese??? are extremely conservative. Apparently it gets more animated when the ball season is in full swing and everyone is dancing to be works of Mozart etc (I'm not joking). Aside from me quiet Saturday nights Vienna has a very safe feel and you'll see many young adolescents negotiating their way around using the public transport system unaccompanied. Something then you should be wary of is ordering the veal cordon bleu as you're likely to receive something the size of a large dinner plate which is why in schnitzel sandwiched next to another schnitzel and the gap being full of sliced ham and cheese, something this large should only be attempted by two people at least. Another quirk is that every coffee is accompanied by a glass of water why this is so is not clear. The public transport system is really good to negotiate and includes trains (underground) trams and buses with a 24 hour ticket costing around five euros. A quiet beer here in a standard half litre glass will set you back around eight dollars Australian which isn't too bad considering their size. Another quaint thing is the supplying of deckchairs in the parks to sit on and enjoy the sun. This service is provided free of charge and despite fee well made (aluminium construction) nature of these there still seems to be the same number stacked up every morning obviously a fairly honest bunch. Despite the general level of high quality living there is a surprising number of beggars in the streets and apparently these are made up of mostly illegal immigrants who do not have the right passport (EU) to obtain the social services available and cannot get proper work. Many of these people are women.

It's now time to pack and be on our way home where we will be having a stopover in Hong Kong for a quick look before heading back to Aus so until then its cheers from us until we see you back home.