Its been a pretty busy week or so since we last posted, sorry for that... as I type theres two guys out the front pushing a car down the road, and I cant find the apostrophe key, but I digress.

So before we even made it to Munich we stopped off at one of the more cheery sites of our holiday, the Dachau concentration camp. In a few words, the place is probably the most full on location we have visited yet, and we could only spend a few hours there before we had enough. The original barracks are all gone except two, but its hard to fathom how two thousand people lived in a space about the size of my house. The museum there is pretty amazing too, detailing the experiments they conducted at the camp, some of its history, etc.

Munich was fun, but a little forgettable. On the first night there we wanted to go to the original Hofbrauhaus, but the line was incredible, so we settled for some photos and the Hard Rock Cafe across the road. We saw the old and new town halls, including the Glockenspiel (overrated) and partook in some shopping. Ness is now the proud owner of a beer wench outfit, purchased on sale for a fraction of the normal price. Mother Pratt will also be proud to know Ness had an argument with the checkout lady, who spoke no English, and won!

Next day we went to the Disney Castle, otherwise known as New Swan Stone Castle (dont ask me to spell it in German). This was one of the highlights of the trip to date, despite 30 minute vertical climb. Spectacular views down on the town and the ice covered mountains made it look a bit like a fairy tale setting, though unfortunately Steve nearly fell down a mountain - oops! That killed half a day and we spent our dying hours in Munich wandering the main street, getting confused by the public transport system, and eventually shelling for a cab to our hotel.

Next day we set out for Venice, but on the way were lucky enough to see some of lovely mountainous Austria, including a stop in Innsbruck. With snow and ice aplenty, this was also one of the highlights of the trip to date, as was Steve downing copious amounts of schnapps at 10 in the morning. Good news is, he bought some to bring home, too! We also made a stop in Verona to do the Romeo and Juliet thing, which was a bit overrated. Grabbed the boob of the statue, put a note on the wall, and got the hell out of dodge - and Ness has the Tshirt to prove it.

Arriving finally in Venice, the weather put on a show for us, cold but blue and sunny all day. Checked out Saint Mark's Square (yay found the apostrophe), the Rialto Bridge, some glass and lace makers (mothers Pratt AND McCay, we have presents!), had a couple of awesome meals and a Gondola Ride, and also went up in the Bell Tower for an amazing view. It was around this time Vanessa also started getting sick, which sucks, but hey, we had an accordian guy play for us at dinner, so it's not all bad.

Last couple of days has been spent in Rome. Did the walking tour de force on arrival last night, including the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, The Chains of Peter (Saint for some of you), Michaelangelo's statue of Moses, and some random fountains and statues of guys on horses, just for something different. Had dinner around the main square, and Steve got pasta which tasted remarkably like Easy Mac, bringing the awesome Italian food luck to a close. Ness continued her bout with Madame Flu, so we called it a night fairly early.

Got up early this morning for a tour of the Forum and the Collosseum. The Forum was amazing, to see how many levels of the city there are, and to see the Senate and Julius Caesar's Tomb still standing. The Collosseum also rocked, though Ness growled a bit when Steve said the MCG is better. Not so cool was hearing how the Vatican has raided these treasures of their marble to build St Peter's Bascillica. We then made our way to Vatican City, paid the Church, and got to see the Museum, Sistine Chapel, the Bascillica and the main square - all of which were pretty cool.

One final note about Rome and Italy in general - it's dirty, there are lots of beggars and shifty men trying to sell you umbrellas at every corner, and Italians are quite rude and scary. We nearly got run over by a Nun - which we believe that about sums up our experience of Rome! Next stop, we continue on to Florence, before heading to Lucerne and the Swiss Alps. We'll try to post another update this side of France. Ciao!