Sri Lanka




From India, we headed down to Sri Lanka, flying into Colombo where I met with my parents and two siblings. Michelle and Charlie left us here to begin their own adventures, and after one night at the beautiful Galle Face Hotel in Colombo (a must-stay, simply to sip a gin and tonic as you watch the sun go down over the Indian Ocean!) we made our way to the town of Anuradhapura. Here we explored the ancient Buddhist ruins, dagobas (or stupas), and saw the Bodhi Tree and its surrounding temple.

We made our way to Sigiriya, where we climbed the famous rock fortress. Dating from the 3rd to the 5th century, this elaborate fortress palace was built into the rock at the top of a mountain, and still has beautiful rock fresco paintings which are marvellously in tact. We also went on a fabulous, although very wet and rainy, elephant safari and saw many, many elephants in the wild. What was probably the most poignant happening of all, however, was the night we were invited to have dinner at the little mud hut of a local family, who made us the most amazing traditional Sri Lankan meal on their clay stove (complete with eating with our hands!) and sang us Sri Lankan songs.

Our next stop was Kandy, where we visited the Sacred Temple of the Tooth, and then on up into the mountains and tea country, where we stayed in Nuwara Eliya. Here we drank lots of delicious ceylon tea, and did a magnificent 9km walk (for which we had to wake up at 5am for!) in Horton Plains National Park to World's End - a breathtaking look-out across the mountains and valleys and forest. Our next stop was Udawalawe, and here we went on another elephant safari where we got ridiculously close to some very noisy young elephants!

Our final stop was Hikkaduwa, a famously hippy beach town along the east coast of Sri Lanka. Here we spent four wonderful days relaxing, seeing wild sea turtles, swimming, surfing and snorkelling. We also made the journey to the famous architect Geoffrey Bawa's house, which I fell in love with (and which I haven't included photos from in this post as I'm planning on doing a separate post for it). From Hikkaduwa, we made our way back up to Colombo where we departed for home.

Here are some of the photos I took on my iPhone 4s of the wonderful Sri Lanka.


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Austria



From Germany, I made my way across to the beautiful city of Salzburg, Austria. Birthplace of Mozart and of the Sound of Music, and nestled amongst the mountains, this city was small but vibrant. Here, I visited the home of Mozart, appreciated the many beautiful churches and public buildings, watched Sound of Music approximately 2.5 times (no shame), did the magnificent walk to the fortress which sits up on a hill overlooking the city (the views!) with a new friend, went for a small hike up to a monastery, and the most wonderful night was spent at the opening of the Christmas markets; think mulled wine, sweet pretzels and lots of men wearing traditional Austrian get up.

Vienna was my next stop. The weather was dull and rainy, and it began to snow on the last two days I was there, but that just meant that spending the day cradling coffees in cosy Viennese cafes was completely justifiable. I visited the Leopold art museum and the Natural History Museum (so much fun, I felt like a child again!), wandered the city, went to the opera one night and saw Mozart's The Magic Flute (a childhood favourite, so wonderful), appreciated the multitude of magnificent buildings, and discovered the deliciousness of kaiserschmerren and apple strudel at the adorably festive Christmas markets. Many of my nights there were spent relaxing and chatting to fellow travellers with a glass of wine in hand.

Taken on my iPhone, here's a few pictures I took of the beauty that Austria has to offer.











































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Germany: Cologne and Munich



After leaving the Netherlands (somewhat unwillingly), I headed across to Germany. My first stop was in the city of Cologne, somewhere I hadn't initially planned on visiting but it was on the way to Munich from Amsterdam and made sense. I stayed three nights there, wandering the city during the day, climbing the 533 steps up the amazing gothic Kölner Dom (cathedral) tower to get amazing views across the city, visiting the Ludwig modern art museum (definitely one of the better modern art museums I've been too), walking along the Rhein river, making new friends and spending nights drinking too much red wine.

After Cologne, I carpooled across to Munich. It was freezing cold in Munich, but the four nights I spent there were lovely. Unfortunately I just missed out on the famous Christmas markets there, but I wandered the city as they were being set up, ate pretzels, went to the Neue Pinakothek (fabulous collection of impressionist works there) and the Pinokothek der Moderne, spent nights meeting lots of fellow travellers, and did an amazing day trip to the magical Neuschwanstein Castle out in the German countryside.

Here are some pictures taken on my iPhone of my time spent in Cologne and Munich.






































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