Tyrol, Swiss Alps, Lucerne

So after spending time driving in between borders of Austria and Germany we ended up in Austrian Tyrol. The home of extreme sports. Unfortunately the paragliding wasn't on. I was so gutted cause I'd be waiting and saving to do it for my whole trip. So bummer I don't have some awesome paragliding story! 

En route to Tyrol we took a stop at the Swarovski factory. Which had the biggest store I've ever seen full of amazing jewellery and home wares. They were pretty pricey so I was clever, down the back they sold the crystals and jewellery pieces separate. So for a Swarovski crystal necklace it's about €120. I found the exact pendants separate for €20 loose. So I'll just take them home and put on my own chain. also the earrings were around €60, and I found 20 small crystals for €10 so I can just take them home and put on earring backings. ;-) love factory prices 

Either way the scenery really started to change. Huge, even enormous mountains towered above the road we were heading on. First we stayed in Tyrol, which ended up being a relaxing few days. We strolled around the town until we came to a fish farm. And I caught my first trout after two hours! It as soon good cooked up for lunch. We really cheap, for €9 you got all fishing equipment including a full lunch.

After visiting Tyrol we headed to a small town called Lucerne. There really wasn't much going on here but it did have a beautiful bridge covered in flowers you can see in the pictures.

Next stop was the Swiss Alps. Famous for amazing chocolate, that I've managed to buy and keep a block praying it doesn't melt or get crushed in my luggage. The Contiki hostel we stayed in had the best view out the window. The picture of the waterfall and bridge is the exact view out my bedroom window. Luckily we caught awesome weather so at night time we had the windows open and the sound of the waterfall was so peaceful to sleep to. The purple photo is when the sunset was so pretty cause the sunset bounced off the snow and water. 

When we arrived our tour manager told us that at 9:30pm the waterfall turned off. And that you could catch an awesome picture of the water mid air.......... So we all turned up holding our cameras super excited. Turned out to be a Contiki prank. Was pretty embarrassed when the tour group that arrived the night before filled us in that it never turns off.

Was so nice being in such a peaceful place that you could only imagine of seeing pictures on the TV or magazines. But I can officially say I have now been to Switzerland!!

Currently I am sitting in Amsterdam so better get going... I'll be sure to update you all more with stories from Edam and Amsterdam when I get back to London in 2 more sleeps.

Can't believe I've nearly crossed the whole of western Europe!

x

Dacau Concentration Camp

After leaving Munich Germany we headed to Dacau Concentration Camp in the town Dacau.

I thought I'd write a separate blog on Dacau as it was pretty full on and quite an experience. This concentration camp was home to 200,000 prisoners. 80% of them were Jews and the rest of the prisoners were a mixture of homosexuals, gypsies or communists

Trickery was involved to lure the prisoners to the camp. When Hitler took over he told the jews if they hand over their personal possessions and homes they were aloud a one way train out of Germany. Obviously this was not the case, as the train headed straight to the campsite. We were able to see the original train tracks that transported thousands of prisoners.

This camp was mainly a labour camp. Most of the time the work was plain useless but used to torture the prisoners.They would either end their own lives or were shot. - rarely were they gassed.

When walked inside the crematorium, the ovens were still filled with ashes and coal. Also between door ledges in the concrete cracks were pieces of hair. The smell was nothing I could explain either. It is said it is the smell of burning bodies. Although it was liberated by the Americans in 1945 there's still grim reminders of what went on in these camps.

Inside the camp today only two original buildings stand which homed the prisoners. There are also the original watch towers, Nazi headquarters and both the new and old crematorium. I have so many photos on my camera but only a few on my phone so I'll explain what they are.

Photo 1&2: Entrance
Photo 3: Nazi headquarters
Photo 4: Original houses for prisoners
Photo 5: Toilets
Photo 6: Wash Area
Photo 7: Original beds
Photo 8: Living Headquarters
Photo 9: Original lockers
Photo 10: View toward where the rest of the prisoners houses were (you can still see the foundations)
Photo 11: View out window
Photo 12&13: Original beds
Photo 14: Original worn ladder on bed
Photo 15: More bedrooms
Photo 16&17: Old photo of how the bedroom looked
Photo 18: Old photo of walkway between housing
Photo 19: Photo I took of the trees and walkway today - notice the plants were just planted in Photo 18 and today they are fully grown.
Photo 20: Prisoner
Photo 21: Original barb wire around the outside if prisoners tried to cross they were shot. Most of them did it to kill themselves
Photo 22: Entrance and front of the crematorium
Photo 23&24: A photo of the dead bodies that would be held in the room pictured. Known as the holding room before being cremated
Photo 25: Original Cremation Ovens

Austria & Germany

The drive from Venice to Vienna, Austria was so scenic. Leaving Italy and driving to another country just 4 hours away completely changes in landscape. Austria reminds me heaps of NZ with its lush green forests and rolling mountains.

We arrived at Wombat hostel right in the middle of Vienna. Starving from the drive we decided to eat nearby. We ate at Mariahilferbräu. All the waitresses were dressed in the original German attire and the austrians know how to serve up a good feast!
Vienna definitely reminded me of Melbourne with tram tracks all over the roads, modern cafes lining the streets and a really good atmosphere to the city.

The next morning I decided to sleep in and wake up early as we didn't have to be in the city till 2pm to meet for dinner. So Jody and I went to the famous shopping strip down Mariahilferstasse street. And oh my god the fashion you can buy here is so good!! I totally over spent but everything over here is so cheap and nothing like what Melbourne had to offer. My favourite shop was Tally Weijl.

At 2pm we met at the Maria Therese statue to me the rest of our Contiki Tour and headed to the Schönbrunn Palace. The palace was the Hatsburg Familys holiday home. Look at the pictures and you'll see how huge an unreal it was. The Hatsburg Family were the wealthiest an most influential family of Europe back in the day before Hitler took over. This building was enormous and the gardens were so beautiful. We didn't have enough time to go inside but the earliest date I could find when the family first settled was 1273. So you can imagine how historic and cool this palace was.

Next we headed to a family restaurant in country Vienna. When we got there we were greeted by Herman who held Contiki dinners - with a twist. He had everyone up singing and dancing and doing shots. It was like a child's party playing games and singing. It was really entertaining and one of the best dinners on tour. The best thing is we got to experience an authentic Viennese dinner.

The next day we departed for Munich Germany. Once arrived we went straight to sight seeing. There wasn't much to actually see in Munich. It was very modern and again a lot of shopping and cafes. We did come across the town hall which was pretty impressive. My favourite experience was coming across an Original Dirnde dresses. The type of fashion you'd find when oktoberfest.
We went inside and tried all different outfits on. They had every single colour or style of dresses, aprons, shirts, floral jewellery. Was so much fun dreaming and dressing up. The nicer outfits all together cost an arm and a leg, so didn't bother purchasing any!

I can't really say much about Austria and Germany becauee I think we were in such a modern part of the city and so I couldn't get a grasp of what the history was. So today we are heading to Dacau Concentration Camp which I'm sure will be quite intense.

Only 8 more days on tour. Time is flying.

Xx