Bordeaux and Paris: La fin

After a lovely few days in San Sebastian, we took the train north to Bordeaux where we spent two days.  On our first day, eager to start drinking some French wine, we joined a winery tour.  We travelled to the region of Medoc, where we visited two different chateaus.  The first was called Chateau Cap Leon Veyrin.  This chateau, like most in the region, was a family run operation.  One of the owners explained to us the harvesting process (which will happen about 3 weeks from now), and then showed us the different stages that the grapes go through until they are finally turned into delicious bottles of wine!  This chateau also did all of the bottling themselves (350,000 bottles per year).  At the end of the tour, we got to sample a couple of their wines, which were blends of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.  The other Chateau we visit was called Chateaux Kirwan, which was located in the Margaux area and had a beautiful main chateaux and well kept gardens surrounding it.  On this tour, we also got to view some of the extensive grounds on which the vines grow.  Overall, this tour of the French wine country was beautiful as we also got to see many well preserved and maintained chateaus and vineyards.

aging for one year in oak barrels

about to taste some wine!!

another beautiful chateau

 On the second day, we did a walking tour in the morning which provided us with some history of Bordeaux.  The tour also introduced us to some beautiful sites that we went back to later on. After, we went and visited the Opera house.  We were able to tour the building, which provided information about the history of the landmark building as well as insight into costume and stage design.  We also went to the wine museum which was very informative and also involved many samples of wine.  We finished the day with a bit of shopping (of course), and a lovely dinner in Parliament square.

the main square of Bordeaux

The next morning, we woke up VERY early to catch a train to Paris.  Despite a lengthy 600 km trip, the train ride only took about 3.5 hours.  After luckily being able to check into our hotel early, we ventured out into the streets of Paris.  We went to Angelina's cafe on the Rue de Rivoli and had some extremely decadent hot chocolate, and a lovely Parisian lunch.  After, we headed across to the Musee D'Orsay, which showcases countless famous impressionist works by Degas, Monet, Van Gogh and many, many more.  In the evening, we went to what we were told was a "jazz bar".  However, it ended up being more of a cross between a swing and cabaret show with a 15 person band accompanied by several singers and exotic dancers.  It was a very entertaining show and evening to say the least.

heavenly hot chocolate at Angelina's

the inside of the D'Orsay

On our last day in Paris (and in Europe!!!), we visited the Notre Dame cathedral, the Arc de Triomphe, walked along the Champs Elysees, and went to the Louvre (which happened to be free that day!).

Arc de Triomphe

about to head into the Louvre

midnight in Paris!!

We both agree that Paris has been a perfect city to end our travels.  While we are both excited to finally head back to Vancouver and be reunited with our family and friends, we are also a bit sad to leave Europe.  We have both had an amazing summer in Denmark and everywhere else we have travelled.  We feel so lucky to have had this opportunity to travel together for the last 3 months and will have life long memories from the experience.  A special thank-you to our readers (if we still have any...) for following along our adventures online! Also, we could not have embarked on the trip of a lifetime without the assistance of our financial sponsors... our families! Thank-you, Thank-you, THANK-YOU! We are hopeful that we will return to Europe in the future (hopefully sooner rather than later).  Until then...

Wish you were here,
Rose and Sydney

San Sebastian, Spain

For the last few days, we have been enjoying the beach town of San Sebastian, Spain.  After yet another long travel day, we arrived in the evening and went out for a superb dinner of veal, goat cheese, risotto, and wine.  Exhausted from a day of flights, layovers, and delays, we went to bed early in anticipation of a relaxing few days at the beach.  We woke up the next morning only to discover that it was…RAINING!!!  Thoroughly disappointed in the sudden change in weather, we decided that it was a sign that we should get some exercise and go for a run along the seawall.  We ended up having a great day exploring the coast of this surfing town, stopping occasionally to get a coffee, or into a shop in order to duck out the intermittent rain.  By the evening, the weather was clearing up, so we ventured into the old town for dinner.  We discovered that the only way to eat in San Sebastian was at tapa bars.  Basically, every bar is completely packed during dinnertime (which starts at 8 or 9), and you have to fight your way up to the bar and point at which food displayed on the counter you want to eat for dinner.  Once you receive your plate of snacks, you can hopefully find a corner of a countertop to stand at while you eat.  While on our first night, we found this local style fun and different, by our last night we found it a bit exhausting and stressful.

view of one of the three beaches

view from seaside cafe

The rest of our visit was filled with exploring different beach areas and watching surfers practice their skills on the giant waves.  We also found some nice areas to walk and explore, including hiking up a 12thC fortress with a large statue of Jesus on top of it.  The statue can be seen from everywhere in the town, which gives you the impression that the town is being watched over and protected by some higher power.

statue of Jesus at the top of the fortress

After working on our tans, we are moving on to France to finish up our trip.  We will stop in Bordeaux for a few days before heading to our last European destination: Paris.  Look out for our final La Dolce Vita post later this week!

Wish you were here,

Rose and Sydney

Munich, Germany

After a week of yacht lounging, we were both looking forward to a few days filled with history, museums, galleries and tours.  After a layover in Cologne, and some trouble finding our hotel in 34 degree weather, we finally made it to our hotel in Munich.  Since we had shared such close quarters in Croatia, we were pretty excited about the amenities offered in our hotel such as a full bathroom, regular sized beds, and of course, air conditioning!
We started our first full day in the city with a walking tour of Old Munich.  We visited the old and new town halls at Marienplatz, where we watched the Glockenspiel that happens every day at 11am.

Glockenspiel

Old Town Hall at Marienplatz

We also visited Saint Peter's Church, which after hiking to the top gave us some amazing views of the city!

view from the top of Saint Peter's

After a full day of exploring, we went for a traditional Bavarian meal of schnitzel and spetzel, and of course beer.  We then wandered down to the large outdoor beer garden, which served awesome Augustiner beer.

On our second day, we decided to do a day tour of Salzburg, Austria.  After a beautiful 2 hour train ride, we arrived in the home of Mozart and the Sound of Music.  We first visited a garden where scenes from the Sound of Music were filmed. This was thrilling for us, since we both had been singing all the songs from the movie for the past several days. The building in the background of the second picture which is featured partly in the movie was actually built by the Bishop of Salzburg for his mistress and their 16 children! 

about to re-enact scenes from our favourite movie!

the fountain "Do-Re-Me" scene from The Sound of Music

For lunch we went to an amazing restaurant that claims that it is the oldest restaurant in Europe, having been founded in the year 803!  

enjoying the terrace at the oldest restaurant in Europe!

We spent the rest of the day exploring, learning about the history of Salzburg, and doing a little shopping.  We both loved the city - it was so scenic and charming!

heading into the old town of Salzburg

On the third day we did another walking tour organized by Radius Tours about Hitler and the Third Reich in Munich. The tour was extremely informative and showed us a bit of the darker side of Munich in the time leading up to and during WWII. Because it is against the law in Germany to have memorials or plaques commemorating past Nazi events, our guide showed us many locations around town where important historical events had occurred for Hitler's national socialist party.  

After the tour we went for a tasty lunch to the old public market, where we bought an array of dips, breads and olives to feast on in the public beer garden. Its great because the beer gardens in Germany require all patrons to buy their beer from the beer garden vendors, but you can bring your own lunch with you!

beer garden

testing the beer...

The next day we walked back to a place we saw on the Third Reich tour, which was the Haus Der Kunst. The building was built in the neo-classical style and commissioned by Hitler in 1933 to take the place of the "Glass Palace" which had previously been Munich's main art gallery. The Haus Der Kunst was one of the few buildings to survive WWII, as Hitler had it concealed with camoflaouge nets during the air raids that went on over the city. We saw a great exhibition there called "Histories in Conflict" that documented the building's own history between 1937-1955 and how art was used as Nazi propaganda before and during the war. Once American soldiers marched on Munich in April 1945, the building was then transformed into the American soldiers club house and was the center of the American presence in Munich. 

After this great exhibition, we spent the afternoon in the nearby English Gardens, sun bathing, relaxing and swimming in the near by river.  On our last evening in the city, we met up with our friend from our exchange at CBS, Thassilo, and his friend Ralph.  They showed us a trendy part of Munich where we were able to enjoy some drinks and catch up on our summer adventures since Copenhagen.

river running through the English Garden

Wish you were here,

Rose and Sydney

Croatian Boat Cruise

DAY 1: ARRIVAL IN SPLIT

We arrived down at the docks in the Split Harbour at 11am to find our Topdeck tour boat, the Vrgada, which would be our new home for the week. The port was so busy with tons of other young tourists looking for their tours, as well as vendors selling last minute cruising necessities like blow up water floaties, sailor hats and snacks! Once we were all stocked up, we met everyone on board (who were all from either Australia or New Zealand) and had our first lunch of the trip. Our cabins were surprisingly small and we had to stack our suitcases so we could walk into the room... but we weren't exactly there to spend much time inside anyways so OH WELL! It was also great to finally meet up with Megan and Blair (Sydney's sister and her friend), who were just two cabins down from us below deck.

meeting up with Megan and Blair

We set sail that afternoon from the Split harbour towards Milna, which was our first overnight stop of the trip. We had a great pasta dinner on board (our chef was awesome) and went on a local wine tour once we arrived in Milna. The lady who gave us the wine tour said that the business had been in the family for over 300 years. We were able to taste 3 different wines,  a flavourful grappa and some delicious homemade olive oil. Later that evening everyone wandered down to one of the only bars in the little town and had a few drinks to get to know each other.

300 year old wine cellar in Milna, Croatia

DAY 2: HVAR

We left Milna after breakfast for Hvar.  Hvar is the longest island on the Adriatic sea, and a very popular harbour destination.  After stoping for our daily 'swim stop' in the cool, salty water, we docked at the harbour and started exploring.

harbour of Hvar

We walked along the water to the Hula Hula Beach bar, which was right on the water, and was full of locals and tourists enjoying refreshing cocktails. Mmm mmm!

busy Happy Hour at Hula Hula Bar

That evening we then went out for dinner in the main square of Hvar with the entire group on the boat.  We all had some delicious mediterranean cuisine in a relaxing outdoor setting.  Our tour guide, Jane, then took us on a bit of a nighttime bar tour of the town.  We went to Kiva bar, which was so full, that the entire alleyway entrance became an extension of the bar.  After, a few of the more keen bar-goers went to a bar called Carpe Diem, which was only accessible by water taxi (with a first departure of the night to the bar at 1:50am!).  Luckily, all members of our boat cruise made it back aboard by our 6am departure time!

DAY 3: KORCULA

Early in the morning we departed for the island of Korcula, which is believed to be the birth place of legendary 13th century explorer Marco Polo. The area was part of the Venetian Empire and has lots of beautiful stone buildings looking out over the water. After our daily swim stop, we arrived in the harbour and explored the old town. Our guide Jane took us to a bar called Massimo, which was on top of one of the old 15th century turrets that surrounded the town. Drinks had to be pulled up by a pulley system and there were gorgeous views of the entire area!

view from Korcula 

Megan climbing up the turret

Blair, Syd, Megan and Rose at Massimos

drinks being pulleyed up the turret

After a delicious bbq back on board, our topdeck crew ventured out for some night time fun at a nearby bar which had a huge outdoor patio with live entertainment (a big screen displaying what was going on on the inside dance floor!)

outdoor entertainment from inside the bar... recognize Megan and Blair in the background?

DAY 4: DUBROVNIK

On the fourth day, we arrived at the highly anticipated stop of Dubrovnik.  Before arriving, our captain sailed the boat around the outside of the old walls of Dubrovnik to get a view of the ancient city from the water.  From our view on a boat, we could see how fortified the city was by the tall walls which were 8 meters thick.  These strong walls were what prevented the city from being attacked by passing ships.

view of the city walls from the water

After a swim stop right in the harbour of Dubrovnik, we were all anxious to get off the boat and start exploring. We first went and took the gondola straight to the highest point of the city, which allowed us some incredible views.  We were able to see a panoramic view of the city walls which enclose the old town.  During the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s, this was the approach from which Dubrovnik was attacked. For about 7 months during the 90's, the city was under siege by attackers who came over the mountains and bombed the city.  Dubrovnik has since been completely restored, but evidence of newly constructed buildings can be seen by the newer, brighter bricks of the buildings.

view of the city walls of Dubrovnik from the mountaintop

We also walked around the walls of the city, which is about 2.5 km around.  This tour while extremely hot, was very beautiful with fantastic views.

Stradum - main square of Dubrovnik

In the evening, we went for dinner just off of Stradun, which is the main square and promenade of the city.

DAY 5: MLJET

This stop was the smallest on our tour.  We arrived in the late afternoon, and were told by our tour guide that the only thing worth doing at this stop was a visit to the National Park.  We took a short bus to the park, where we could see the naturally formed, pristine salt lakes.

We were able to take a small boat to an island that sits in the middle of the lake.  The island holds a small chapel from the 12th century with ancient Roman ruins.

view of the island and chapel in the salt lake

After visiting this park, we walked back to our boat where our chef had prepared a huge "Captain's dinner" of fresh mussels, calamari, and a whole fish EACH.  What a feast!

walking trail back to the boat from the lakes

DAY 6: MAKARSKA

On this day our sailing route took us along the Makarska Riviera, one of the most beautiful and popular beach resort areas in the Adriatic. With its beautiful bright blue waters, busy and bustling port and gorgeous rocky beaches we fell in love with this stop instantly. Our boat arrived at Makarska before lunch on this day, which gave us plenty of time to walk around the town, explore the beaches and attempt to find a place to get a pedicure (which we all agreed we desperately needed.) After lunch on the boat, we ventured to one of the rocky beach areas and chilled out for the afternoon.

Blair and Syd swimming at the beach

walking along the beach

the port where we docked for the evening

Our boat went out for a lovely final group dinner with a set menu at a place called Riva and then went back to the boat for happy hour. 

heading out for dinner

There had been a huge themed pirate/sailor party organized for all the other top deck boats,  so our group ventured out all dressed up in our best nautical themed clothing to a cave bar near the beach. It was a very fun evening and everyone had a great time!

ahoy!

most of the Vrgada crew

DAY 7: RETURN TO SPLIT

Our boat left Makarska early this morning to return to Split via Omis. There was an option to go river rafting and meet the boat in the afternoon, which we did and really enjoyed! The water was so refreshing and it was such a beautiful ride we barely noticed how hung over we felt. Our guides were hilarious and made for an entertaining trip through the grade 3 rapids. Once we met up with our boat at the end of the river, we sailed back to Split and had a final chill evening together. Megan, Blair, Rose and Syd went out for a last dinner together in the old town of Split near Diocletian's palace. The evening was filled with organizing our suitcases (which was especially challenging in our 5' x 8' bedrooms). The next morning we said farewell to Megan and Blair and the rest of the boat group and were on our way by train to Zagreb. 

Vrgada route through Croatia 

We spent one night there, which was amazing and then flew off early the next day to Munich. We are so excited to explore this German city neither of us have been to and we will update the blog once we have some exciting stories to share!

Wish you were here,

Sydney and Rose