Day 2 in Venice

Today was another awesome day in Venice! 

We had pizza for lunch (YUMMM!) and even got to have some gelato!

We walked to St. Mark's cathedral and the square, which was awesome, but crowded! 

The highlight of the day, however was our  gondola ride! It was amazing! I seriously cannot describe how beautiful this city is when seen like that! Our gondola driver (or sailor? I'm not sure..) had been doing his job for 26 years!

I'll attach some photos for you all :)

Selfies!

So gorgeous!

Perfection!

I also got to go on an evening stroll with my mum, it was so beautiful around sunset!!!

-Kara

First day in Venice

After a terrible sleep in the overnight train, we arrived in Venice around 8:30am. It was a beautiful day, and I was certainly glad to be there finally! We walked around and waiting for the 12:30 check in. 

We found a marketplace close to our apartment (we had been able to leave our bags there while the previous guests were still leaving) and we shopped around there to kill time. 

We found an amazing mask shop, and let me tell you, it was BEAUTIFUL! Sure, the price tags were less beautiful, but you could tell that the masks were quality (no glitter glue in sight!) and they were all handmade by the shop owner, who had been making them for 25 years.

It took me a long time to decide, but eventually I bought this mask:

Let me tell you this: Venice is beautiful. The canals and streets and buildings all combine to bring you a beautiful picture. Every street and canal looks picture perfect, and postcard worthy. In my next post, I'll include plenty of photos!!

-Kara

Sound of music tour & late night adventure

Today we went on a sound of music tour! It was amazing. It really was! Our guide was lovely, and hilarious, and we had such a great time on his tour! 

We drove around Salzburg, and even on the outskirts, tracing the steps of Maria and the children in the film!

We saw the garden and lake they used for the back of their house, the gazebo used in 16 going on 17, the garden that the children danced through and so much more!!

Here's me at the lake the children fell into in the movie!

The gazebo 

The church they married in!!

The beautiful garden!

After this huge tour day, it was a great feeling as I was about to go to bed. I was a bit resistant as I had slept in the afternoon, but around 10:30 I was about to go to bed. At that time, mum had just realised that our 1:30pm tickets for the next day had turned out to be 1:30am tickets for the next day- but that meant we were leaving in 3 hours!! We quickly packed up, checked out of our motel and got a taxi to the station. At the station we waited around a whole bunch until we got on our train and awaited the 7 hour ride to Venice. What an adventure!

-Kara

Neuschwanstein Castle

Today we went to Neuschwanstein Castle!

It was incredible. Absolutely gorgeous. I took plenty of pictures outside, but unfortunately it was prohibited to take photos inside the castle. The details were amazing! Every wall had intricate pictures that told stories. Each room had a different opera plot theme! It was so pretty!

The outside of the castle 

On our tour there was a little toddler who was rather loud indeed. She was ADORABLE, but screamed out in joy and chatted away in toddler language to her family. She also tried to give me her one of her parent's iPhones-so she got in my good book instantly! 

After that, we walked down the big terrible hill and went back to the car to start the drive that would take us to Salzburg, Austria.

When we arrived in Salzburg, we went straight to a tour of a salt mine! We took a little train deep down into mine, then we went on slides even further down into the mine! If you haven't already guessed, Salzburg is called Salzburg because of its salt, or salz! The tour was amazing! Very fun and educational! 

-Kara

One of our days in Munich

Today I woke up and rested a whole bunch. I've acquired a cold-so I didn't do much until around 10:20am ish. 

At that time I walked with dad to a bakery to get a croissant for breakfast. We then drove to our next spot, an overnight stay close to the Austrian border! Tomorrow we're going to Neuschwanstein Castle, I'll post about that then!

-Kara

Dachau

Note: this post is from a few weeks back, I have only now uploaded it :)

Today we visited the preserved museum and memorial site of the dachau concentration camp.

To summarise the experience, there was a quote that was certainly important: so important it was written in 5 languages. Never again. 

As we walked through what used to be the end for thousands of people, we appreciated the place that brought the beginning of our new world. We felt thankful for our freedom. But it was an emotional heavy place to be. 

We saw a museum that was in the building that innocent people would go through as they first entered the concentration camps. 

We saw living quarters where they were all cramped into small bunk beds. 

We saw tiny bathrooms that were shared between hundreds of people

We saw the square where roll call took place, and where they were forced to stand for hours if the number on the roll was not met, due to attempted escapes, illness and death. 

We read about the things that happened in this place. We were silent as we walked through. We didn't smile much, we just took it in. 

We saw first hand how powerful those two words were. We knew that we needed to keep that particular promise. Never again. 

It was such an educating place to be, definitely a thing to see. 

-Kara

Berlin

Day 1 Berlin

Today was a rest day! Honestly, nothing too exciting happened, I just had a well earned rest! With all the business of travelling, sometimes it feels good to just chill out :)

Day 2 Berlin 

We went on a walking tour today! And we walked. A whole lot. Like 3 hours of walking. My feet hurt a lot. The tour was really awesome, however towards the end I just wanted to sit down... But it was lovely learning about the unique city of Berlin!