Prague round 2 (and a 75 euro fine)

So we made it to Prague this weekend and it went really well this time around. The first campsite we made it to was really crappy so decided not to stay there. We drove around a little bit until we saw a sign for another campsite just outside of Prague in a town called Trebonice. The campsite was great besides the fact that is was surrounded by a barb wire fence and had security guards at night walking around but we felt safe. We were going to go into the city that night by metro but when we asked the campsite workers if the metro was safe at night they said that "well you might be alright". That was enough for us so we decided to wait until the next day.

We got the metro station by bus in the morning (having got our bus tickets from the campsite in euros). Our next problem was trying to buy a metro ticket (only the ticket machines work on sundays) with no Czech Crowns. After asking a lot of people and wasting some time we found a bank machine and made our way to the centre of Prague. It was well worth the wait. The city is stunning. The main strip is 60m wide and filled with shops and people. We walked the main strip first heading up the main muesuem and taking photos infront of the fountain and statue. Following that we decided to take a city tour but it didn't start for 2 and a half hours. So we walked down to a few other sites consiting of mostly churches, government buildings and palaces. We took a really nice walk down in the centre of the old town which has 3 main churches but one of them was closed so we just peered through the windows.

That is when I forgot that my phone was still set to british time and I was one hour behind. We made a mad run through the streets to get the bus tour but missed it by 5 min. It was ok though since we just did the 2 hour tour insdead of the 3 hour tour. The tour was great apart from the fact that it was hard to get photos due to the windows. The tour included a 40 min stop at the Prague Caslte which is famous for the St. Vitus cathedral and the fact that in the castle the Czech Republic goverment still operates which is the only country in Europe where the goverment has not changed buildings.

Following the tour we took a nice walk down by the river Vltava and along Charles bridge which is the oldest bridge of the 16 bridges in Prague. Lots of tourists and I am sure lots of pickpockets. Prague seems to be famous for that. We got away unscathed and took the rest of our walk along the park following the river. We debated taking a river cruise but thought that we had better save the money for Italy instead. I am sure we will return to Prague soon enough......right Chin!!!

The next day we set off and drove to the border where we were pulled over to the side and had a talk with the Czech Police. Apperently you have to get a sticker to drive on the highways in the Czech Republic. He said that it was not his problem it wasn't his fault that it is not advertised. There is a sign on the way in that has a ton of information on it. It has the speed limits, what some signs mean, and yes it has a highway symbol that says in english "with label only". Try reading that and understanding what it means at 130 km\h. So he gave us the min. fine of 2000 crowns which is about 75 euros which really pissed us off but when Megan started to ask questions and get a little frustrated he asked us if we wanted to pay 350 euros instead. I guess that isn't a lot you can do to argue with the czech police. So we paid our fine and drove to Regansburg. At least we have a receipt for the fine that will make its way into the scrap book and we can laugh about it in years to come.

Oh yea and I almost forgot. We picked up a bottle of Absinth as well so I think this weekend should be pretty good. Although we didn't buy the real stuff that has 35mg of the the drug in it (ours only has 10) so your not supposed to halucinate of it I don't think.

Germany.. mm the land of chocolate

The sun was down by the time we got there. We were beat from driving through the Czech Republic and just wanted a hotel. Ironically enough the hotel we looked at first was 1 street away from Anna's place and we had absolutly no idea. For 33€ we found a place with no front desk, just a machine that gave u a access code to get into the room (had to pay by credit card) Well we finally get upstairs going on around 12am now, open our door with the code, and Voialla! there before us were a nice bunk bed set, a highway view (noise included) and bed sheets from the army days.. I have learned.. You definatly get what You pay for. However, I must say that it was nice to finally get to sleep in a nice clean bed after nothing but camping for a while now.

After a well rested sleep, a shower and fresh set of clothes, we were set to find the town, contact Curt and have a well deserved 2 year anniversary dinner to make up for the day before. Regensburg is beautiful. The river that runs through is wonderful, and the people are alot more friendly then the Northerners.

Anna held her birthday in Weiden, We met some really interesting people there, and everyone had a blast. She had people from every which way attending her birthday. Americans, Germans, Canadians and more. We might even be able to get hooked up with some Kraft dinner.

In other news, Phil spraint his ankle. Tripped down some steps in the dark.. looked like someone stuffed a baseball in his leg.. it was really groce.. im looking after him though so dont worry.

well take care guys
Phil and Megan

Driving in the Czech Republic

Well we left later than we planned to once again since we had to wait around for our tires to arrive. It was almost 1:30pm by the time we left Berlin which ended up taking one day away from Prague. Thats the way it goes I guess. Anyways we made good time all the way to Dresden but didn't stop in the town just drove around the outskirts and had a good look from the highway when we hit the traffic. We made it to the Czech boarder around 4:00. Getting accross was no problem as they looked at our passports but asked no questions. We turned onto the road that lead down the mountian towards Prague and wow its was nuts. All of a sudden this girl come running out into the middle of road and tries to stop our car. I see that she isn't wearing a lot of clothes. I decided to vear onto the oncoming traffic lane (I have been warned about getting robbed like this in Czech) and she just starts shaking her boobs at us and laughing. This is when we see all the other Prostitues around with litte shacks all around the mountian road. It was one of the most sketchiest places I have ever been to. There was a market with tourist junk and more prostitutes. I would rather have fell asleep in the market in Mexico than set one foot out of our car. The rest of the drive in wasn't that much better. The roads had groves in it that our car kept slipping in and out off and we were all over the road. At this time I was sneezing like crazy and starting to get really sick. So we made the call to drive through Prague and just head back to Germany. We read a little in our travel europe guide where it said cars get broken into all the time around Prague. We both had an strange feeling about it so we drove through the downtown centre of Prague (which is stunning by the way) and drove back to Germany (the roads are much better heading west out of the city than the north where we came in) where we found a nice hotel that only cost 40 euros and finally fell asleep around 11:30. Not the greatest way to spend our 2 year anniversary but it makes a funny story.

We have decided that it would be better to spend more than one dcay in Prague and stay downtown and not have the car so we are going to fly there for a few days at a later date. Ryan are you interested in coming? I know you wanted to go.

We are now in Regansburg and have walked the downtown core and had a wonderful steak lunch at a great restuarant here for our anniversary. It made up for yesterday and was well worth the wait. And we even feel safe here. The car is fine and as far as we know no bums and sitting on our car....at least we hope.

Well if you made it through all 3 of these new posts congratulations and thank you. Hope you are all doing well and leave us a mesage letting us know how you all are.

Berlin

Berlin is gourgeous. Its to bad we only had one day because of the car problem but at least we got there. We made it to the Cathedral, and ton of other churches and museaums, Hitler's Bunker, the holocust memorial, and of course checkpoint charlie and the Berlin wall. Well the pieces that have been saved. All the mueseums, churches, and checkpoint Charlie where so busy and quite expensive that we didn't have enough time and money to do it all. Instead we enjoyed walking around and seeing them from the outside and deciding that Berlin is definaltley a place to return to.

We headed back to our campsite around 8:00 which was way out in the country. We had to take the train\underground to the end of the line and then drive our car about 30 min to get to. It was worth it though. The facilites where great and we had a great nights sleep. The next morning we found oursleves back in Potsdam in the morning to get those new tires on. The car runs better than ever now. With that done we headed off to Prague via Dresden which is another story alltogether.

Berlin we have seen your Bum!

Ok so now its time to tell the much anticipated Homeless man story. Ok it starts out on the day we leaving Cologne to drive to Berlin. A very long drive I must say. Anyways we drive for a while and our car is really starting to shake and veer off to the right. It becomes quite a struggle to contol it times on the Autobahn at speeds off......well its a ford feista....how fast can it go......hahaha. When we get to Berlin it is getting dark and we decided that we have to get the car looked at in a place called Potsdamn just outside berlin. Well we have a quick bite to eat at Mcdonalds and get directions to some Mechanics. Only place that is open is a Toyota and Honda dealership (sorry dad) so they take a look at and think its the tires but recommend going to a ford place the next morning. So we ask about this campsite in Potsdam and nobody and I mean nobody has heard of it. We drive for hours trying to find it getting lost in places like Bablesbug, Potsdam, and downtown Berlin. Fun driving let me tell you. Anyways we give up and try and make our way to our planned campsite about 50 miles outside the oppiste end of Berlin. And yes we got extremley lost again and finnaly make it to a resttop with a hotel just off the highway and say foget it lets spend the night. Well it was out of our price range so we decide to just sleep in the car.

Well after about and hour and a half of much needed sleep in this parking lot and hear a bump on our car. I wake up, grab the knife I kept close by and look out. To my amazement there is a homeless guy sitting on our car. He has no idea that we are there. So I knock on the glass and scare the living Sh*t out of him. He jumps off our car trips onto the car infront of us, his feet go in the air and he proceeds to slide down the hood of the other car onto the ground. Megan and I are not sure if we should laugh or be scared. He looked Pissed!!! So I turn on the lights so he can't see us and then we decide to go and sleep somewhere else since we don't trust this guy at all.

We leave the reststop and head to the Mcdonalds and spend the rest of the night there where we witness a drug deal, and a angry German (he was upset that the Mcdonalds was closed at 4am). Well lets just say we were both really happy to see 7:00am arrive and the Ford dealship down the road open.

Well we went to the Ford place and they wanted 500 euro for a new axle. We said forget that and to another Ford place. They roated our tires and it made a good difference but not enough. They didn't carry our tire size and said we would be lucky to find it in Germany. Well the Toyota place said they could get some but it would take a day. So that sounded good and we headed to our campsite on the northeast end of Berlin. Set up camp, had lunch, and drove the park and ride to get to Berlin......

A day Megan and I will never forget........I don't think this blog even does it justice....hahaha

Drenched in Cologne

Well like we said in our last post we woke up early in Amsterdam and took the tram into the city centre. We arrived at the Anne Frank house just before 9:00 am. Megan got in for a reallz cheap price as a under 17 year old which saved us 4 euro. Inside the house it was extreamly sad to learn about the way the 8 of them had to live in hiding for just over 2 years until one day somebody leaked the information of their hideout and they were sent to Auchwitz anyway. We did however pick up a cheap paperback on Anne's Diary which we have only just started reading. We were there for about and hour and a half before we took off to have a look at the red light district. It was even more sleezy and dirty than I could have imagined. Worth a walk through just to know what its like. For those who are interested I do have photos.

We were back at the campsite to check out for 12:00 and it was a nice 3.5 hour drive to Cologne (koln) on one road. The E35 took us straight there. It was nice however to be in a country where people understand how to drive on a highway. They only use the outside lanes to drive unlike Canadians on the 401.

Anyways we are currently in Cologne and it hasn't stopped raining since we got here. It rained all night and has only turned into a light drizzle. Oh well we went to see the Cathedral and a few other small churches anyway. The Cathedral (Dom) is incredible. I can;t even begin to descibe the size. It has I think 139 spires in it. I guess thats what we could expect though since it took over 600 years to build. Anyways tomorrow we are off to Berlin which looks to be about a 6 hour drive. Talk to you all soon.

AMSTER....DAMN!!!!!!

Wow Amsterdam is an amazing city. We got up bright and early and took the tram from the campsite into Dam Square. First off was this shopping centre for Megan which I couldn't complain about because it was in this 4 story old 1600's building filled with columns inside. So nice. After that is was a church which I can not remember the name at the moment. We went inside but they were charging you since they had a art exibit on this weekend so we took some photos and left. Then after walking around some side streets and looking at all the "coffee shops"we found out we were going in the wrong direction from the city centre and turned around. Found the tourist info and picked up a map. From there it was the St. Nicholas chuch was is really stunning inside. It has murals painted all around the sides inside. And of course we had to stop off at the sex museum. Have to say though it was a bit of a let down. Its not really worth going into. Just a lot of pornography from the 1800's and a few wax people that umm....well use your imagination.

Following that we walked the main strip and went over to the building that Anne Frank was hidden in and where she wrote her diary. Unfortunatley it was packed and the line up was over an hour so we decided to leave it and make a note to come back to Amsterdamn in the future. Stan when are you coming again?

We took a long walk around the 4th outside canal all the way to the Hardrock cafe so I could pick up another shot glass for the collection. After a walk back Megan was feeling really down and we decided to spend a little money to cheer both of us up and take a guided tour of Amsterdam in a horse and buggy. Which was outstanding. The tour was brillient and the horse and condutor were dressed up to suit the part. He showed us things that that a lot of people don't see like some famous tinted glass and Oto Franks house (farther of Anne Frank). Also we saw a few house that are sinking due to the fact that they are right next to the canals. It was a great ending to a great day. So the only things that we missed was the red light district and the Anne Frank house which we have decided now to go in tomorrow morning and see. Also there is a bridge called the "bridge of 15 bridges" where by standing on the bridge you can see 15 other bridges. Should be a great time. After that we head back to the campsite, grab the car, and drive to Cologne.

Belgium

On a slightly happier note than our last post Belgium was really really beautiful. We spent 2 nights in Brugge and unforuantley didn't make it into Brussles since the train was about 50 euros. We are going to stop there on our way back since it is pretty close to Calais for our ferry crossing. Of course we had to try a Belgian Waffle and some Belgian Choclate of which both melted in your mouth. We both highly reccomend both of them if you are ever over this way. Also we did the boat tour around the canals and did a very extensive walking tour of the city centre and a driving tour of the northen part (very stressful driving since I didn't know what some of sings meant). Today we woke early and went to the Hamsters grave to say good bye and left on our very long drive to Amsterdamn. It wasn't supposed to be long but there was a accident and a lot of traffic. Then when we reached Rotterdamn it poured down with rain and we couldn't see 2 ft in front of us. Anyways we are now in Amsterdamn and have some stories to tell already that might not be suitable for the blog but we are having a great time. We are heading off into the City Centre tomorrow and then heading off to Cologne the following day. Hope you are all doing well. Take care.

Sad News

When we were in brugge which is a beautiful little city in belgium, we had the hamster and he was doing fine, we went into the city just for a few hours and left the hamster in the outter side of the tent, (we had the flap slightly open for him) unfortunatly the day got really hot which was unexpected since it was freezing in the morning and fairly cool the day before. The poor little guy passed away.. we are both horribly devistated by this since we got so attached to the little guy. He was the sweetest hamster ever. Poor Megan has been crying on and off the last two days and is having a very difficult time accepting the death in which she thinks could have been prevented. RIP little hamster we will miss you forever!

We are finally leaving Britan

Hello everyone. Well tomorrow our adventure really begins. We are finally leaving Britan and heading over the channel. We are starting off at 7:00am to head for Dover so we have more than enough time to reach our 11:00am ferry to cross over to Calais.
We are not staying in France for to long though since we drive directly from Calais to Brugges in Belgium where we plan on pitching our tent and heading off ino the town to explore. On the 11th we we take a train into Brussels for the day with our main point of interest being Sts Michael and Gudula Cathedral. Early on the morning of August 12th we head for everyones favorite place Amsterdamn for 2 days. I will not comment at the moment on the places we will be visiting there. Following that we have 2 days in Cologne, 2 days in Berlin, and 2 days in Prague. Then we are looking forward on the 20th to arriving in Reganburg just in time for Anna's Birthday. We are really looking forward to seeing Curt and Anna. Should be some good nights and days for that matter in the German Beer Gardens. Can't wait. Well
I am off to pack some more and get things organized. I will try and post in the next few days if we get time and find a good cheap internet cafe. Talk to you all soon.

Name That Hamster

Well, being on the road all the time gets kinda lonely when you are so use to having a pet near you all the time. So today I went out and bout myself a 'travel hamster'. I know most of you are thinking 'SHES CRAZY' just trust me, when your gone for a long time you start to miss the little things in life like owning your own pet. I havent named him yet. Infact I have no idea what to name him. Here is his description.
Male, medium length hair, silver, dark eyes and a bad attitude lol, (think he is just scared at the moment) He is actually one of the only hamsters that seems to voice an oppion by squicking when he is mad and seems to be more of an adventurer then a sleeper.
If any of you would like to give a suggestion for a name id appreciate it :)

love yea all
Megan and Phil

Avesbury, Stonehenge, and 40 miles in the wrong direction

Well today has being quite an adventure to say the least. We started out to Avesbury to see the standing stones which was a remarkable site. We spent about and hour walking around the small village and the stones trying to find one of them that was supposed to vibrate....which was quite unsucessful...I think its a bunch of B.S. myself. From there its only about and hour drive to Stonehenge which was completely packed and they charge you know to park in the parking lot, although you get reimbursed once you purchase a admission ticket. Thier way of stopping people parking and walking to the fence to take pictures. Good news though Megan and I got in with student price. I used my student card from 2003 and Megan didn't even have one so we only spent £8.00 gettin gin plus out £2 back. We took a ton of great photos and moved on to Salisbury where the troubles started.

Once there the streets are quite confusing to navagate around so we got lost a few times and then our car decided to give us attitude. It was jumping and shaking mo matter what gear it was in and started losing some power. We drove around in Circles for a while looking at the Cathedral until we decided we had better find a petrol station to so we could check ther car over. Funny enough we ended up accidently driving to the town where Bill was staying that night. We had a good look at the car and a man who worked at the Esso even came over to have a look and try and help us. We couldn't find anything wrong so we started it up and took it for a quick run and it was back to normal. We tried waiting around for Bill and family to arrive but we hadn't told them that we would be stopping by and we had no idea what time they were arriving so when it got to 8:00 we decided to make the 2 hour (plus) drive back to bristol the long way. We decided to take the main highways with so we only had 2 turnoffs to make so it would be easier in the rain and dark. On the first turning I knew I had to head north on thie A358 so at the roundabout I did just that. Although signs here are not posted with compass directions on them only the closet big city in that direction. My geography of some areas here are not up to par and I didn't realise that the road curved many times and then we were heading south until we saw a sign saying "Welcome to Devon" which was heading back south. WE were within 30 miles of the english channel and about 80 miles from bristol...... Great. So we realised the mistake and turned around. The most annoying part was if I had gone one more exit on the roundabout that was the one wanted. Oh well live and learn. We laughed all the way back to Bristol about it and ended up back home just after 11:15. It was a day we won't forget.

A day trip from Bristol

Yesterday we decided to take a day trip out from bristol to do a little site seeing. Our first stop was a place called Wells which is quite famous for its beautiful cathedral which was built c. 1230. The West front has many carvings from top to bottom that start with carvings of biblical scenes at the bottom, kings, bishops, and orders of angels in the middle, and finaly carvings to the 12 apostles at the very top. It is really remarkable to see.

Our 2nd stop was glastonbury where we drove around the outskirts of the city and around the Glastonbury tor which we actually had some trouble finding the park and ride so we decided to give it a skip since had quite a few more things to do. After that we headed to a small town about 5 miles south of Glastonbury called Street which had a great outlet store where we finially found a new tent that we both liked and agreed upon. If you are unsure we need a new tent refer to the last few days of our scotland trip. Very wet clothes and sleeping bags thanks to our cheep Zellers tent.

Anyways once that was all sorted out we drove to a place called Chedder and Chedder gorge which was a amasing drive through this rock cliffs. The Gorge was filled with curves and steep inclines at parts so it made for a fun drive. Once through the gorge we made our way back through some side streets back to bristol only making wrong turns about 5 times......

Today was just a relaxing day sorting out a itinary of where and when we want to go in Europe. Once we have it all finalised we will post it on the site.

Tomorrow we plan on going to Avebury, Stonehenge, and Salisbury and after that if Bill gets my message that was left for him we will be meeting up with for a drink that night. Talk to you all soon.