The Perfect Village

Before we begin the tales of our Radventures in Switzerland, Scott was nearly deported! On the train to Luzern, Scott was nearly arrested for the worst of sins... having his feet on the seats of the train. Gasp! After a very stern talking to and the threat of police intervention, we continued on our merry way to the most beautiful village in the world, Luzern!

Luzern has the most perfect setting - a crystal clear blue lake surrounded by huge everlasting mountains. As soon as we stepped off the to-the-minute-perfect train, we could already feel the medicinal air of the Swiss Alps filling our lungs and healing our every ache and pain. We enjoyed our first home cooked meal in the last few months and then enjoyed the local brew relaxing by the lake with Olivia and her friends. All was right with the world.

 Happy Family in Luzern

On our second day we took a train to the capital, Zurich. This bustling hub lacked the natural beauty of Luzern, but still had its own bigger city charm. We munched down possibly the best bratwurst in the world (aka a big juicy snag with hot mustard and crunchy crunchy bread). Trying to be uber Swiss, we purchased Freitag merchanise, ate Lindt chocolate and skulled liters of Rivella.

Mouth watering Bratwurst (we made room for 2nds)

We were ridiculously spoilt by Oliva and her mum. Everynight we were served spoon after spoon of delicious food fit for kings. Every meal included some kind of dairy product - no one in Swizterland has arthritis or couldn't afford to be lactose intolerant. We chowed down raspberry pavlova, truffle ravioli, hundreds of types of cheese, homemade stracciatella gelato, traditional Swiss potato bake, roast lamb, toblerone mousse dessert and so much more.

Would you ever believe we became Swiss Mountaineers? Well believe it! We climbed a mountain - Rigi mountain. Sporting a pair of hiking boots, wind jackets and a backpack full of food for a picnic at the top; we walked through farms past big mooing cows, old Swiss grandmas with walking sticks (actually they walked past us) and finally we reached the summit without a single bruise (correct - Sara didn't even fall over once!). The view from the top was spectacular and we soaked it up as we enjoyed our picnic.

View from the top of Rigi

Mooooooo!

On our last day in Switerland we went swimming in the glacier run-off freshwater lake. It was freezing, on Australian standards, but refreshing. We all enjoyed opening our eyes under water without that stinging salt feeling. This was our first true taste of a European summer day.

Chilling by the lake

We all had an incredible time in Swizterland - and it was all thanks to Olivia and her family! Luzern is a perfect slice of the world - if it wasn't so far from Australia we would definately move here in a heartbeat.

Ciao,
Scotty, Sara and David

I Love Schnit

We won't lie to you (or ourselves) the 36 hours spent in Austria's capital was all about eating the best schnitzel (affectionately known as 'The Schnit') in the world. When we arrived, we put our heads together, researching and mapping out exactly where we could capture the quintessential wiener schnitzel. 

"To the untrained eye, all Wienerschnitzel look the same. A well-done Wienerschnitzel is a study in contrasts. The panier -- or coat of fried breadcrumbs -- should be thin, crisp, dry and fluffy. The meat inside should be succulent and soft.When well done, the panier should resemble a small mountain range of hills and valleys -- the soufflé effect of the lightly beaten eggs into which the cutlet is dipped before it's fried."

Source: Making the Most of Schnitzel in Vienna http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121331721099470221.html

Wasting no time, we ventured out into Vienna's heart on a mission. We critiqued 3 restaurants in down town Vienna across the two days in the city. First was the touristy local hotspot of Figlmuller. A great start to our challenge, with a Schnit overflowing the edges of the plate, basically the size of a pizza. Overall rating was 7/10.

Giant Schnit

Secondly, we nervously chose a random family pub for a blind feed. From the outside this pub looked as if it could deliever the goods, but as we sat in the very quiet garden with one other drunk local, we were questioning our choice. Would we be served a frozen Schnit? We should not have feared. The Schnit was fried in rich buttery oil which resulted in a hot crunchy peppery crust and more importantly, it had the essential valleys and peaks - 8.5/10.

Please take a moment to marvel the valleys and hills

On the last evening we ventured to our last Schnit stop and ordered 3 of their best. This was our third visit to this family run pub - each of the previous times it was closed to our horror, however something was calling us back. As the waiter lowered the Schnit filled plates to our table, a ray of light caught it's rim and angelic songs from the heavens began. It was close to the perfect combination of every trait a Schnit should have. We sat in absolute silence savouring every delicious morsel of the food from the gods. Let's just say it was a religious experience for all of us. All hail The Weiner Schnit!!! A whopping 9.5/10

Magical souffle Schnit

Between the hours of inhaling Schnit, we went to an apple strudel cooking display, ate strudel, sampled great Austrian beer, went to the Haus of Musik and heard a performance from the Vienese philharmonic orchestra.

Walking around Vienna

She made it look so easy to make strudel

... So it wasn't all Schnit!


From the ferocious Schnit hunters

Scotty, Sara and David

Czech-ing Out Prague

Continuing our Eastern Europe Radventure, we czech-ed out the capital of Prague. David made all the necessary czech jokes, which didn't seem to amuse the locals, so hopfully it amusings all of you.


We spent two evenings in this cultural capital. On the first evening we enjoying the local cuisine; more dumplings, although these were very different to those in Poland and very unlike any yum cha plate. It also included a buffet of every style of pork - ham, sausage, cutlet etc etc. The evening was finished off by heading to a local free music festival, where we enjoyed the russian rock/jazz tunes of Russkaja (think of a Russian version of The Cat Empire mixed with Metallica).


The next day we joined a walking tour and discovered the history behind this beautiful city. We saw the famous Opera House, Astronomical Clock and beautifully set city Palace. The afternoon was spent on a rare shopping spree as we bought some new items for our very well worn wardrobe. The evening brought more local dishes, mostly pork, and a deliscious local beer.

The beautiful Palace on the hilltop

The Astronomical Clock - can you tell the time?

Beers and local grub at a tiny pub

Bye for now,
Scott, Sara and David

Visting Uncle Stalin in Poland

We did not know what to expect entering Poland and soon discovered we knew nothing of the language, people or history.

Warsaw turned out to be the perfect place to change all that. After a very wet first evening and some tasty local dumplings, we signed up for a tour of the city the next day, with a twist. Bright and early we jumped into a bright yellow ex-Soviet police car decked out with leopard skin fluffy seat covers and a young suave local guide who was keen to show us the local sights of the city. It was awesome. We spent the day driving around seeing hidden galleries in unknown courtyards, bullet ridden buildings, a local black market (a place you can buy anything and they mean anything!), an old vodka factory, a Jewish ghetto and a lunch at a local 'milk bar' (not the kind you get a milkshake from) leftover from the communist era. The afternoon/evening was spent at a very fun science museum where we all acted like big kids for a few hours.

Bullet strewn wall

Our cool guide for the day

Being big kids in the science museum - who is stronger?

The next morning was spent at the very detailed and educational Warsaw Uprising Museum, where we learnt and were greatly impressed by how the locals rallied against the Nazi's at the end of WWII.

By the end of the day we had journeyed down to Krakow and with some welcome sunshine we relaxed in the big local plaza with a few drinks, followed by a few more back at the hostel. 

Chilling out with some cold beverages

The following day was a journey out to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. We saw Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkenau camps. It is an incredibly startling and confronting experience. When you walk through the bare shell of these camps you are filled with an indescribable feeling; words cannot capture the mix of emotions; sadness, sympathy, remorse, terror and anger. It is a stark image of the cruelty humans are capable of. 

The train tracks leading into Auschwitz-Birkenau

Behind the fence

This journey opened our eyes to the tumultuous history of Poland. It is a survivor, and an extraordinary country.

Scotty, Sara and David

Deutschland

It is hard not to be intimidated by Germany, especially the rough people and even rougher language, but underneath that rugged exterior we have found a very friendly and loud country.


The German radventure started in Dusseldorf and was kicked off with sharing our train carriage with boom box carrying and partying Germans (a common theme throughout the country). The first night we scoffed down the local dishes of Schnitzel and accidentally ordered Blood Sausage (best described as interesting) and our body weight in potatoes, at a suburban pub.


Scott's Birthday was celebrated with the too rare sleep in and then a beautiful wander around the old town. Sara created a treasure photo hunt and Scott reluctantly had to have his photo taken with a stiener, pretzel, bratwurst, ice-cream and much more in his hand. Luckily not all at once.

By the river in Dusseldorf on Scotty's birthday

Treasure hunt - pretzel photo

The next day entailed a day trip to the town of Cologne, the main highlights were the heavy metal gothic gathering around the local gothic Cathedral and the Lindt Chocolate Museum, it is hard to say which was more interesting.


A quick train down to Frankfurt on a public holiday meant the city was very quiet and we made the most of the sunshine wandering and relaxing around the river which cuts through the city. We also snuck in a taste of the German delicacy, pork knuckle, which was delicious!

More strolling by the river, this time in Frankfurt

We continued our train hopping around Germany and travelled north to the city of Hamburg. The Maritime Museum taught us all there is to know about this grand port city and sea-bound history. Many of the old warehouses have been transformed into chic modern galleries. Being a port city, it was coupled with a red light district which rivals Amsterdam; it includes a street which is off limits for women and men under 18. No city is complete without a sample of it's cuisine, so we had to chow down a few currywursts. Thumbs up from us.

Sara enjoying one of many bratwursts!

Next was Berlin. Wow. It is the perfect combination of history, culture and mystery. So many people had told us how cool Berlin is and they were dead right. The amount of things to do in this city really means you need to live here for at least a few months, but we valiantly tried to fit as much as we could into 4 days. The stops included the open air Berlin Wall Memorial, Jewish Museum, a full city walking tour, Topograhy of Terror, another chunk of the wall, the coolest market (you'll see our cool clothes on our return), Brandenburger Gate, Hitler's Bunker, Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and the Bookburning Memorial. Through this time Scott got entranced by all the incredible street art and we made a trip to the Eastside Gallery on the largest section of the Wall. Mid way through all the fun, in Berlin, we were met by Sara's bro, David, and enjoyed many a refreshing beers as we explored this incredible city with a new radventurer.

The Berlin Wall

The Holocaust Memorial

One leg in the East and the other in the West

One of the many great buildings in Berlin

The Brandenburg Gate

Berlin street art

Making own art in Berlin

A few hardcore punks in Berlin

Oh dear - just imagine the fun Sara is having!!

After a hiatus through some Eastern countries we re-entered Germany and enjoyed the flavours of Munich (barley, yeast, hops - aka Beer!). Before we hit the Beer Gardens, we saw a few sights on another lovely walking tour. The Glockenspeil twirling display lived up to it's poor reputation as the most dissapointing tourist attraction in Europe. We continued our WW2 history studies, and retraced Hitler's steps in his failed the Beer Hall Putsch. However, the highlight had to be the relaxing Beer Gardens and Beer Halls. David relived his 18th birthday at Hofbrauhaus by trying to drink 8 liters of beer (he was terribly unsuccessful as he only made it to somewhere between 4 & 5 liters). We blended in with the locals as we nibbled on bratwurst and some of the biggest pretzels in the sunshine of numerous gardens. A great finale to Germany. Brostch.

Sibling love in the Beer Garden

Fiancee love in the Beer Hall

David's love in the Hofbrauhaus

Another European country ticked off the list and we have now passed the half way point of the trip. Start counting down... we will be home soon!


Scotty, Sara (and Dave)