Plans, plans, plans

Having been back from our European adventure for just under a week now, I have decided it is time to tell everybody all about it. I kept a diary throughout the trip and will be typing it up on here, so the stories will come as they happened.

For starters, before we went I emailed Claire (sister and fellow interrailer) about what I wanted to do in each city. It went something like this...

Paris: Wander around looking fashionable and saying 'ooh la la' a lot. Not necessarily go into all the touristy things, ie the Louvre, up le Tour Eiffel as we have already done this, but go and look for free instead. Also climb all the steps up to the Sacre Couer and back down again and go on the carousel. Admire lots of views along the River Seine. Spend time in Montmatre as in 'Moulin Rouge' and go to little cafes. Act out parts of 'The Da Vinci Code' and walk around the Louvre pyramid in awe like Tom Hanks in his moment of realisation. Eat LOTS of pastries.

Amsterdam: More wandering, this time perhaps get on a canal boat and cruise for a while too. have lots of photos on the amsterdam sculpture. Go to Anne Frank's house and the Van Gogh museum. Avoid being run over by a bicycle.

Oldenburg: Enjoy a non-touristy town, have an evening in a German pub and, you guessed it, more wandering. Go to the museum, the palace and the river. The main square looks quaint so we can be old-school German here. Jah jah jahwohl.

Berlin: Ah, the home of beerhalls, lederhosen and the Wall. See the Brandenburg Gate. Go to the top of the Reichstag and look at the (apparently free) view. Hang out at Checkpoint Charlie, talk to guards there. There's an outdoor monument memorial for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust that sounds interesting and is also free.

Prague: Andy has given me lots of tips for this one, we should get a ticket for the castle and museums so it's cheaper. Walk over Charles Bridge, looking at all the stalls on it. See the astronomical clock. Go to back streets to eat - it's less expensive. Be amazed by the amazing architecture. Enjoy cheap trams.

Salzburg: The hillls are aliiive, with the sound of musiiiic! They are indeed and we can go and walk along the hills and sing and twirl a la Maria von Trapp. I would like to be cheesy and go to the places from 'The Sound of Music'. The Residentzplatz has a horse fountain which I'm fairly sure is in the classic film. Generally wander around, maybe wearing fetching dungaree dresses made from curtains and bursting into song. Maybe not.

Roma: Eat lots of fantastic Italian food - pizza, pasta, bruschetta, spaghetti, gelati. Make a wish at the Trevi Fountains. Not get hit by vespas. Go to the colosseum and imagine the gladiators and, of course, Hilary Duff there. Visit the dawn of western civilisation (as my book says) and go to the Roman Forum. I'm putting Vatican City in here, go and be respectful. Maybe act out parts of 'Angels and Demons'. The Pantheon looks pretty cool. Piazza Navona seems like the place to go to see artists, tourists and pick-pockets. Avoid being mugged. Sit and people-watch on the Spanish Steps.

So that was our plan, as well as generally not getting lost and ending up on the wrong train somewhere.
We bought our interrail passes, booked our hostels and a night train (for added excitement) and began to think about packing.

The rest of this blog will come from my diary, in the order I wrote it. I'll put the date and where I was when I wrote each part at the top of each post.

Let us stride like the rooster! (As a t-shirt we saw in Amsterdam said, and our trip motto from then on)