More photos have been added, click the link on the left. There is also a second album because the first one was getting too full, I’m sure you’ll be able to find it.

On the road from Vienna to Munich today, fair bit of traveling. Ended up getting to Munich fairly late in the afternoon, quick shower and then off to dinner at a traditional German Beer Hall.

Vast quantities of beer were consumed, there is only one size to order, a stein, that holds about a litre of beer. You have to drink it fairly quickly as the glass steins don’t keep the beer cold for too long. Some of the guys on tour decided to kick on and try a few more beer halls in town, I piked and hit the bed.

It has been a few days since I’ve made any updates, but they are on the way, along with some more photos.

Tour has finished and I’m back in London after two awesome days in Amsterdam, have to get my washing done and a few other bits and pieces but expect the last few days of the trip to be updated here in the near future

Just a quick one, I’ve managed to upload a batch of photos. Haven’t got any descriptions on them yet but they are from Rome onwards.

Still have another batch to get uploaded when I can get my iPod working again, damn thing has decided it doesn’t want to play any more.

Spent the day wandering around Vienna today. Visited a schnapps museum of sorts, tried some of the local product and then off to dinner.

Another day on the bus, this time from Venice, in Italy, to Vienna, in Austria. Stopped on the way and had some really nice roast pork for lunch whilst admiring the view of the Alps.

This evening in Vienna we went to a bit of a classical music concert. Being the home of a wide variety of classical composers like Mozart & Strauss it was appropriate. Heard some Mozart as well as a couple of opera singers and watched some ballet as well. All in all a rather cultured evening.

Spent today wandering around Venice. Really nice city. It’s so much nicer walking around a city when there aren’t thousands of cars rushing around. As Venice is built on a swamp all of it’s traffic is on the canals, so no cars.

Had a nice lunch in a plaza with three old guys playing some music in the background, very pleasant. After that we had a gondola ride through some of the canals and then back to camp for the night.

Rome to Venice today. Not a terribly exciting day, spent most of it on the bus.

Stopped at Verona on the way, apparently were the story of Romeo and Juliette is based. Had a look at the statue of Juliette and the balcony where she was wooed.

Back on the bus and arrived in Venice just in time for dinner.

Much quieter day today than yesterday. Bit of a walking tour around the Roman ruins and Colosseum in Rome and then the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. After that caught the train back to the camp site and spent the afternoon in the sun drinking red wine and eating anti pasto. A very enjoyable afternoon.

Wow! What a crazy day today turned out to be. We started the day at about 5am in Florence and jumped on the bus. Our plan was to get to Rome as early as we could to line up and try to get into Vatican City. We got there about 9am and joinded the back of a very, very long line. Word got to us that we were looking at about a 5 hour wait to get in, which would put us very close to their cut off time for entry. So, we jumped out of the line and headed for the front after a promise from a local that with the payment of a small gratuity we could join the line further up and be in quicker.

Turns out the local was a bit dodgy and would only do 5 people ata time, there are 50 of us. So a bit of cunning was required and in twos and threes we managed to insinuate ourselves into the line and magically were in the Vatican City by about 10:30am.

Well, what can I say, the Vatican museum that you are ushered through contains some amazing artworks. The passageway that you walk down heading to the Sistine Chapel is probably around 500m long and the entire ceiling is decorated with intricate painting and frescoes. Hung on the walls are enourmous woven scenes, some over 500 years old! Also painted directly on the walls lining the passage are some truelly impressive works of art, including maps depicting Italy and where various chuch dioces were hundreds of years ago.

Leaving the passageway you are ushered down a series of stairs and then almost without any fanfare at all you are in the Sistine Chapel. Decorated by Michelangelo, it took him seven years to paint. The entire room has been painted and looking at the ceiling it seems like it is 3 dimensional, rather than just a flat painting.

After the Sistine Chapel a little more subterfuge came into play and we slipped out the “group” door and made our way into St Peters Basillica. Wow!! This place is just enourmous and immaculately decorated. All around the sides of the church are statues of former Popes, with what we think are their tombs underneath them. St Peters leaves me lost for words, it is just simply amazing and everywhere I looked was something else.

After being over awed by St Peters and St Peters we jumped on a bus and headed for the Colleseum. Another line, though we didn’t cut this one and it moved a bit quicker. The colloseum was pretty impressive, you can see how it would have been unpleasant to have been a competitor there.

After the colloseum we headed off to the Trevi fountain and then on to the Pantheon before finally stopping and having some dinner. Along the we we also passed the ruins of the Roman Forum and numerous statues and fountains erected to commemorate many people. We pushed through a lot of sights today, as the next day is Easter Sunday and we’re not too sure what would and wouldn’t be open.