Oh dear, looks like have left this blog a bit quiet for the last couple of weeks, so I guess that means a long blog this time.

Leaving off from Kylie and Dave's house in London, I caught the Eurostar to Paris and made my way to the hostel. I had 5 days in Paris and on Day 1, I took to the streets to discover a bit of the city. 8 hours later, I had discovered most of inner Paris and walked past, in, around or through... The Notre Dame, Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. I obviously passed many other sights but can not remember their names or importance now. Paris is a STUNNING city and there is always something to look at or watch, I loved it!

Day 2, I decided to head into the Louvre. It is closed on a Tuesday, so was closed when I passed the day before. This time it was open and full of waiting tourists. However, a new entrance and queue opened up just as I arrived, so I really didn't have to wait too long.

The Louvre is unbelievable! It is HUGE and besides the multitude of paintings, sculptures, artifacts and rarities housed here, the actual building is amazing! It is a beautiful former Palace and is big and ornate. If you aren't looking at a peice of art then you're definitely checking out the Palace. The more famous pieces living in the Louvre are the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Statue of Winged Victory of Samothrace. I checked these pieces out first, in order to eventually lose the hoardes of tourists and then meandered around the Museum for about 3 hours. Their Classics area is incredible and I loved that part the most.

Day 3 was mainly spent looking in and around the Sacre Coeur, which is a beautiful Basilica on a hill in Paris. The view from the top is great and since it was such a clear day, you could see for miles! The only downside to this area is the number of Hawkers who grab you and try to sell you stuff. They can be quite forceful at times but my iime in Asia prepared me well for this and I got through it unscathed.

The last couple of days, I spent wandering again. I went going to the Catacombs, which are really quite cool, and also went on a Pub Crawl one night. That was fantastic! Ended up in a very exclusive club by the Louvre and I still don't understand how we actually managed to get in!

After Paris, I was off to Prague but not without a stopover for a night in Stuttgart. Not much to say about Stuttgart really, I wasn't there for long. It does have some funky buildings though. Prague, however, is great! It is beautiful and really not what I was expecting. The first day there, we went on a walking tour around the old town. You get a lot of the history on these tours and they are a great way of getting your bearings in a new city. 4hrs of walking later, we were completely lost so headed into a local bar but not before trying out the Absintherie. Interesting taste, not too bad but don't think I could drink a lot of it! We headed out to the 'burbs to a funky club covered in scrap metal and ended up staying there for most of the night (and morning).

I explored the area and churchs a little more the next day and came to the conclusion that cobblestone streets are not kind on the feet. After attending the Opera, we went off to Propoganda, the bar that had become our local and we bumped into an English guy wh conducts the "Beer Challenge". Not as boozy as it sounds, it's actually a tour of the city, sampling the better beers. You learn about the beers and how they are made etc. Sounded good, so we decided we would do this tour the next night.

Well, after a slow start to the day, we explored more of the city and then meet up with the Beer Challenge group. We hit most of the "Tankovna" which sold unpasturised beers and tried some really good beers. We also tried some really bad beers! Like the one that was 12.6% and tasted like flat Coke and Raspberry. Once again, we ended up at Propaganda and learnt that it is owned by the guy who owns the Communist Museum and all the paraphinalia in the bar is authentic propaganda from the Communist days and just left over from the Museum. Really very cool.

So after Prague, came Vienna. I onl had 1 full day here, so didn't get to see a lot of the city. Especially because I spent most of my first night and next morning trying to contact the bank re: my Card not working. This unfortunately did not put me in a great frame of mind and I think this is why Vienna didn't make a great impression on me. It seemed to be just another beautiful city. So, I am thinking I might go back for a couple of days in August and explore a bit more.

I am now in Zurich, Switzerland, where the weather is incredible (34 degrees yesterday) and the scenery is stunning! It's a funky city with quite a cool vibe and I am really glad I get to come back in August and explore a bit more.

Tomorrow, is another day and another country. I head into Italy and expect to be there for about 3 weeks. Milan first and then who knows?

Catch ya later,

Caz