Venice is officially my favourite city. I did not realise it is the way it is, about 2 kms offshore from the mainland of Italy. Pretty much built up from swamp. But it is soo beautiful. Went on a gondola ride with 3 other people from Busabout... made it cheaper and was fun. Our driver (is that what they are called?) was hilarious, he was singing the entire time and pretended to hit his head on a bridge just to make us all laugh. Then, when he was taking a picture of the of us, he acted like he threw my camera into the canal. Scared the living daylights out of me. On my last day there, me and another 2 girls went to Verona, where Romeo and Juliet was supposedly set. Saw Juliets Balcony... pretended to be her... stood on it, had my pic taken. Good times.

I then set off on my epic adventure across the ocean to Greece. I was supposed to be on the deck for the entire time, which is just a concrete floor, nothing else. But since the mother of all thunderstorms came rolling in as we pulled out of the harbour... I splashed out and brought myself a bed. Best thing I ever did.... It rained all the way to Greece. And I slept like a baby to the sound and rocking of the ocean. 24 hours later I arrived in Patras. Greece's stinkiest and dirtiest place. Only just beating Athens. It is an amazing place but really has got some cleaning up to do. I walked up to the Akropolis this afternoon, which I was also a little disappointed with. Tourists by the gallon and all the ruins had scaffolding around them... I know, I can't help it but sucks it had to be there while I was there. I got some cool pictures though. I'm off to Mykonos tomorrow, then Ios, Santorini and Paros before getting back to Athens. Then I fly to Rome in about 10 days time. Should manage to breathe in between!!!!

Hugs and Kisses xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

I have finally got some time to sit down and write on my blog..... I am in Munich now, having spent the last 4 days here, and am off to Venice tomorrow.

Vienna was stunning. Everyone else around me didn't like it so much but I thought it was gorgeous. I met an Auckland girl called Olivia, so we hung out and explored together which was cool. First day there, we went into the main centre of Vienna and saw the enormous St Stephens Dom. Gorgeous. Still not finished though... after all these years. Then we saw the main palace in the centre of town and wandered, got ourselves lost in the city. Such a good time. In the afternoon we took a tram out to a HUGE cemetery- 2.5 million people there. We saw the graves of some famous composers- Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms and Schubert. Really pretty place. The next day was a late start due to the late night.. we made our way to Schonbrunn palace- which amazingly was the Royals Summer Palace, even though it was a 5 minute tram ride out of the city. This is an amazing spot. There is a zoo out there, saw some crazy animals... hippos, porcupines, polar bears, pandas. was a fun day.

St Stephens Dom

Mozarts Grave at the cemetery

The Beautiful Schonbrunn Palace with Vienna behind.

And now to Munich... The Home of Bier, sausage and Lederhosen. I am actually quite surprised at the number of men in the city just casually wearing their leather shorts. And they are not flattering in the slightest!! My first day here I went down to Neuschwannstein, the castle which is set down near Fussen, about 2 hours south of Munich. It was really pretty. I did an organised tour, which set off at 8.20 in the morning and our guide was a really arrogant South African called Brad. After the castle, we did a hike (yea, I know) through the other side of the Castle to what they called an Alpine Slide- was basically the Luge in Queenstown but a lot less fun!! and then we did a bike ride through the countryside to a really scenic lake, about 20 minutes away. I don't think I have rode a bike since the bus stop days at the farm, so it was good fun.

The next day I hung out with Heather, one of my roomates, and we went into the Marienplatz, and watched the Glockenspiel do it's thing. Then we walked around the city and saw the various sights. We had to go to the Hofbrauhaus, and try out a Stein of the local brew. Took me awhile, but I got through all 1000ml of it!!! Very Proud. Then we went to the Virkualianmarkt, which is basically a food court but outside under some chestnut trees. All the food was sausages, or schnitzel or beer. They class beer as a food group in this city.

The next day I went to Dachau, the First Ever Concentration Camp in the 2nd World War. It was such an amazing day, opened my eyes to a lot of what happened, making me want to learn a whole lot more. I did a tour with a guide who was really passionate, which you don't seem to find in tour guides, and he wasa textbook full of information. Just cannot put the words together of who to explain how mind altering it was!!

Today is my last day in Munich. It's raining, cold and I am not going to do anything. I have been going pretty hard and fast since Prague so it is really nice to have a lazy day. Plus, it's Sunday. nothing is open. Except the kebab place, gonna get one for lunch!!!

Neuschwannstein Castle

Glockenspiel

Me, with my beer and enormous pretzel at the Hofbrauhaus.

Cremation ovens at Dachau. There were 5 like this in the room.

The main gate at Dachau- up until 2001, no one was allowed to walk through this gate. Arbeit macht frei- literal meaning, working sets you free... A Complete Lie to fool the higher powers.