We went straight into Brasov, and from the train station went to the taxis. Now common sense as a traveler, never use a taxi rank as they will most definitely mug you off. But when you arrive in a country where you do not speak the language, and you don't have a map, sometimes it just isn't an option. The hostel told us that it should not have cost more than a certain amount to get there. The first taxi driver quoted us over four times the amount! C'mon buddy, im foreign not an idiot. So 3 taxi driver's later, the price was right, and off we went.
Brasov is quite a medieval looking town, and clearly thrives off of the tourism side of it. It wasn't packed with tourists as there isn't much in brasov itself, and there are closer options to seeing Draculas castle, but it is fairly cheap, and quite pretty. The buildings are old with beautiful architecture and here is where the smallest street in eastern europe is. It was really rainy the first day but we wondered around for a bit and ended up at a quiet coffee shop. The prices where really cheap so we stayed here for a while.
The next day we got a taxi and did the 3 main tourist attractions in the area. The first stop was Bran Castle, or better known as Draculas castle. Its quite small when you compare it to castles in England, but it is definitely my favourite. It was very cozy inside, with small rooms, each having a purpose. The actual person who lived there was named Vlad Tepes, who was a pretty gruesome guy. He would chop people's heads off and put them on sticks, but his people loved him. Dracula was loosely based off of him. There was also an extra part of the castle dedicated to medieval forms of torture. I could barely stand to read some of the descriptions. A lot of the tortures where mainly created to use against witches or homosexuals. It was sick!! Only a few of the tortures are still in use today, and those would be in the less civilized parts of the world. Bran castle itself is in quite a romantic setting and very picturesque.
The second stop was Rasnov fortress. Also a fairly small fortress but on top of a large hill surrounded by forests and other hills. It is still in great condition, and now instead of houses, it hosts little souvenir shops. From the distance looking onto the fortress, 'Rasnov' is written in front of it just like the Hollywood sign! Brasov town had this as well. Not sure who did It first, the states or Romania. Last but not least, we went to Peles palace. The owners of this residence have 17 other palaces around the world as well. It looks just like a palace out of a fairytale. With little fountains and plenty of statues. The walls were painted and It had plenty of turrets as well. Once inside there are over 27 different types of wood used to decorate. Each room represents a style from a different country. He also has one of the largest weapon collections in europe, plenty of the weapons just hung up on the walls. It had hidden staircases and doors in the book shelves in the library. It is my favourite palace we have been to. It is quite remote and took us at least an hour to get to, but definitely worth it!
We headed back to the hostel, and ended up in that cafe again. The drinks are so delicious and cheap! I had two pina coladas, a large glass of rose, and matt had 3 pints of beer, all for less than €10. Such a cheap country! Romania is beautiful to travel through and has some amazing medieval architecture but a lot of it is very under delevoped, and there is garbage everywhere. Its all over the rivers, alongside the roads and in the forests. A lot of the houses looked like they had been destroyed and were now just housing squatters. Bulgaria seemed to be very similar as well. Although I felt safe travelling and did very much enjoy what we saw, I wouldn't recommend it to any single travellers or girls travelling without men. As tough as I like to say I am, if it weren't for Matt, I wouldn't have felt safe at times throughout Romania and Bulgaria.
Moving onto Bulgaria. We wanted to go to Varna and the black sandy beaches, but unfortunately time is no longer on our sides and it would have taken two night trains to get there, as eastern europe isn't up to date on the high speed train systems yet. So without much of a choice, we had to go to the capital Sofia. We hopped on a train from brasov to Bucharest which took about two hours, and then we had to wait until midnight before we could get our train from Bucharest to Sofia.
When we arrived at Bucharest station, we hopped off the train and the first thing we saw was a sign in massive letters saying to not use taxis to the right of the station as they aren't safe. Just pass the sign were at least 6 homeless people. It was dimly lit and by no means comforting for a foreigner. As we continued to walk, we were being watched by everyone, mainly men in the station. They looked at us as if we were walking bank accounts, and most of them looked pretty worse for wear. I will openly admit, I was scared. The friendliest looking place in the station was mcdonalds. We camped out here for 2 hours until it was time to board the train. Finally our train pulled up into the station. If I haven't painted a clear enough picture of the surroundings, let me describe the train for you. Please picture thomas the tank engine... then picture him 40 years later after having a meth addiction and being in an abusive relationship. This was our train. Once again, terrifying. There were no beds left, so we sat in the carriage for 13 hours, being asked multiple times for our passport and tickets, before finally arriving in Sofia. Safe to say, there Is no way in hell will we be returning the same route we came here.
Sofia is definitely the roughest city we have been to, and didn't leave a positive taste about Bulgaria. We are both sad that we couldn't make it to the coast, as we have realized that capitals dont fairly represent a country. Nine times out of ten, capitals tend to be dirty, over priced, pick pocket tourist traps. For example, if you went to italy, I would say go to venice instead of Rome. In england, go to Cornwall instead of London. In france, go to Lyon instead of Paris. In Spain go to Barcelona instead of Madrid. In Slovenia go to Lake Bled instead of Ljubljana. I think you get the point. With that being said, the Colluseum, Buckingham palace, Eiffel tower, retiro park and the bridges in Ljubljana are all must sees. Its just you have to take the good with the at times sketchy, dirty, bad. If you go to the capital of a country and hate it, dont let that be your only place in the country.
We will definitely be back in Bulgaria one day, just with plans of seeing the better, safer parts. Most of our time spent in Sofia was in the hostel due to us hiding from the police that may have been called. The story behind this one is as follows. We went to a restaurant recommended by the hostel. It was really cheap but inside looked really posh. We ordered our food, and mine came out first. I ended up completely finishing it (keeping in mind im the slowest eater) before Matts food even came out. We waited an hour from when we ordered our food, and no sign of his. So we politely asked for the bill, to which the reply was no, you need to wait. Unfortunately we didn't see the point in that. I offered to pay for the drinks, and my meal but refused to pay for a meal we never even recieved. Long story short, the manager came over and was shouting over me in bulgarian (not a pretty language to be shouted at in), refused to take our money and said to never come back. Suited us just fine as we didn't have any plans of returning.. as we walked towards the door, the waitress came back shouting at me saying we had to pay, I replied with "you have no right to speak to people the way you do, .." and kindly told her where she could go. At this point she threatened to call the cops. So we went into hiding in the hostel and enjoyed the safety and fun of scrabble, chess and figuring out how the hell to get out of this country! I would like to point out, that this story, matt and I find funny now, and by no means do I think its ok to swear at someone whilst at work. However, I would also never speak to someone, especially a customer, in the way they spoke to us. Bulgaria was definitely a funny one, and will look back at this country as the one we escaped from the cops. Next stop greece, for a safer, prettier side to europe!
4/23/2014
A Hot Bath with 100 Strangers
We arrived in budapest and found our hotel fairly quickly. Yes that's right, hotel! The posh lifestyle. We booked ourselves into a four star hotel in the hopes of no snoring or sharing, and having a great nights sleep. So for three fantastic nights, we slept comfortable, and had a sauna and jacuzzi at our disposal. It was fantastic! Since we got to our hotel around 5ish after a 6 hour train journey, we decided to unpack, relax and have a look at where to go for dinner. One of our friends from butlins had recommended one called Trofea Grill. For less then €18 its all you can eat & drink. So we 'dressed up'... I put on my one packed skirt and leopard peplum shirt, some black flats, and we headed out for our date. Budapest is easy enough to navigate and we found it within 10 minutes. It has quite a romantic vibe, but a little on the noisy side when it was busy. I ordered some rose wine, and was given a bottle, and Matt stuck to the beers. Loads of different salads, soups, fois grois, hot and cold starters, cheese, bread, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and they had plenty of different meat which they cooked to order. This place was fantastic! We loved it so much, we came back on Sunday night as well, Matts treat. Thanks bubs!
Saturday we decided to do a hop on hop off bus tour, after about 2 or 3 hours, we did the full circuit including both Buda and pest. It was all audio guide which for me can be a bit boring at times as it doesn't include an quirky people or funny stories. Just the facts, and lots of them! When it wasn't giving you the history, it would play classical music. It was a little bit boring, but Budapest itself is a really nice place.
We wandered around and went to the Coffee&Wine House, where we ordered ourselves two ice caramel lattes! Refreshing and super sweet! After we headed down the road to Arriba. With our bus tickets we got a free margarita, so it would have been rude not to go. I ordered a salad with loads of avocado and delicious dressing, washed down with my free mixed margarita. It was an awesome dinner.
We walked back to the hotel and treated ourselves to a spa night. I loved the sauna, but Matt enjoyed the Jacuzzi more. For the most of the night it was only us there, our private spa! We skyped Matts mom for a bit, finished off our books and off to bed. Matts been reading the first game of thrones, and I read a book by Mitch Albom called The Time keeper. Hes one of my favourite authors, and I finished the book in a day! I also read 'Are You there God? Its Me Chelsea' which is one of Chelsea Handlers autobiographies. Its fantastic, witty and at times innapropriate.
On Sunday I really wanted to find an easter market, and was told by a tourist information point and our hotel that Budapest doesn't do anything like that. A little disappointed, we decided to head to the baths. Budapest has over 120 natural spring, thermal healing baths. To me, it just like a massive spa! We went to one of the top 3, Szcheny. It was near the river and an old, little castle in the park. The bath as two big hottubs, and by big, I mean over 100 people, with healing waters. As well as a normal swimming pool in the middle. It has saunas, and plenty of different shape and styled pools serving different purposes. However, due to it being Sunday, it was packed!! When we left the bath, we realized that inside the mini castle was an easter fair!! So much for Budapest not doing them! It was fairly small but had plenty of stands with different food and drinks. There was music, some farm yard animals and even a stand selling weaponry and leather whips... something for everyone! I tried the strawberry wine, loved it.
We headed back to the hotel so we could skype my family. Had a good catch up, then headed off to Trofea again. Monday we had a late check out and headed back to the fair to try some different food and book our train tickets. We had a hungarian styled gyro and It was awesome! Full of flavor, huge and less than €5! We washed it down with some cider, which was a bit more like a sweet scrumpy.
Our train tickets were booked for €10 to take us to brasov, for a whopping 18 hours. We grabbed our bags, a subway and headed to the station. Our room had six beds, technically. But there is no way room for more than four people in these little boxes. It holds 3 beds per wall and its pretty much a day long sauna. No one else in our room speaks english and Its a constant battle to keep the window open for fresh air. After 14 hours of the window being closed, I could no longer handle it, so I opened the air and breathed in the glorious fresh romanian air! I pretty much sat next to the window for the next few hours until we got to Brasov! Next blog update will be about Draculas castle!
Saturday we decided to do a hop on hop off bus tour, after about 2 or 3 hours, we did the full circuit including both Buda and pest. It was all audio guide which for me can be a bit boring at times as it doesn't include an quirky people or funny stories. Just the facts, and lots of them! When it wasn't giving you the history, it would play classical music. It was a little bit boring, but Budapest itself is a really nice place.
We wandered around and went to the Coffee&Wine House, where we ordered ourselves two ice caramel lattes! Refreshing and super sweet! After we headed down the road to Arriba. With our bus tickets we got a free margarita, so it would have been rude not to go. I ordered a salad with loads of avocado and delicious dressing, washed down with my free mixed margarita. It was an awesome dinner.
We walked back to the hotel and treated ourselves to a spa night. I loved the sauna, but Matt enjoyed the Jacuzzi more. For the most of the night it was only us there, our private spa! We skyped Matts mom for a bit, finished off our books and off to bed. Matts been reading the first game of thrones, and I read a book by Mitch Albom called The Time keeper. Hes one of my favourite authors, and I finished the book in a day! I also read 'Are You there God? Its Me Chelsea' which is one of Chelsea Handlers autobiographies. Its fantastic, witty and at times innapropriate.
On Sunday I really wanted to find an easter market, and was told by a tourist information point and our hotel that Budapest doesn't do anything like that. A little disappointed, we decided to head to the baths. Budapest has over 120 natural spring, thermal healing baths. To me, it just like a massive spa! We went to one of the top 3, Szcheny. It was near the river and an old, little castle in the park. The bath as two big hottubs, and by big, I mean over 100 people, with healing waters. As well as a normal swimming pool in the middle. It has saunas, and plenty of different shape and styled pools serving different purposes. However, due to it being Sunday, it was packed!! When we left the bath, we realized that inside the mini castle was an easter fair!! So much for Budapest not doing them! It was fairly small but had plenty of stands with different food and drinks. There was music, some farm yard animals and even a stand selling weaponry and leather whips... something for everyone! I tried the strawberry wine, loved it.
We headed back to the hotel so we could skype my family. Had a good catch up, then headed off to Trofea again. Monday we had a late check out and headed back to the fair to try some different food and book our train tickets. We had a hungarian styled gyro and It was awesome! Full of flavor, huge and less than €5! We washed it down with some cider, which was a bit more like a sweet scrumpy.
Our train tickets were booked for €10 to take us to brasov, for a whopping 18 hours. We grabbed our bags, a subway and headed to the station. Our room had six beds, technically. But there is no way room for more than four people in these little boxes. It holds 3 beds per wall and its pretty much a day long sauna. No one else in our room speaks english and Its a constant battle to keep the window open for fresh air. After 14 hours of the window being closed, I could no longer handle it, so I opened the air and breathed in the glorious fresh romanian air! I pretty much sat next to the window for the next few hours until we got to Brasov! Next blog update will be about Draculas castle!
4/20/2014
The Museum of Broken Relationships
Just a quick one! We went from Ljubljana into Zagreb and only took about two hours on the train. The plan was two nights in the capital, then we would spend easter weekend rafting and camping alongside the river. Unfortunately matt is still feeling poorly, and would not be up for doing the trip. We were going to try to head down to split or Dubrovnik but it would be a 12 hour overnight train to get there, and without sleep, wouldn't be worth it for just a couple days. So we've decided to keep Croatia a short trip and maybe come back another time.
Whilst here we stayed at Mali Mrak Hostel, just on the outskirts. We chose this because of the outstanding reviews, but when we finally got here, we felt that it fell short, and was a dissapointment. Nevertheless we stayed two nights and actually happened to bump into someone we met in Slovenia the week before. The weather was really crappy. Very cold, and rainy.
We headed to the museum of broken relationships for a few hours and then went back to the hostel again. The museum had different items with a little story, from failed relationships all over the world. Some sad, some funny, and some moving. For example there were things like a football from a summer camp romance, or a peddle car from a 40 year marriage. A wireless internet adapter that read "we lost connection". It was a really cool museum and probably my favourite museum that we've been to. Its a shame we had to cut Croatia short, but it does however mean that we get to Stay in a 4 star hotel in Budapest for easter weekend.
Whilst here we stayed at Mali Mrak Hostel, just on the outskirts. We chose this because of the outstanding reviews, but when we finally got here, we felt that it fell short, and was a dissapointment. Nevertheless we stayed two nights and actually happened to bump into someone we met in Slovenia the week before. The weather was really crappy. Very cold, and rainy.
We headed to the museum of broken relationships for a few hours and then went back to the hostel again. The museum had different items with a little story, from failed relationships all over the world. Some sad, some funny, and some moving. For example there were things like a football from a summer camp romance, or a peddle car from a 40 year marriage. A wireless internet adapter that read "we lost connection". It was a really cool museum and probably my favourite museum that we've been to. Its a shame we had to cut Croatia short, but it does however mean that we get to Stay in a 4 star hotel in Budapest for easter weekend.
A Pretty Little Lake & a Country with 'Love'
Well I am not sure about you, but I knew nothing about Slovenia before I came here. I don't think I ever even looked at a picture of it, in fact I wouldn't have been able to point it out to you on a map. It is a beautiful hidden gem of europe and without a doubt, probably the prettiest country so far.
We opted for a 4 night stay next to a lake in a hostel called Castle Hostel 1004. This is by far one of the better hostels we've stayed in. As soon as we arrived, Miha (the owner) said we could have an extra night free because we booked 4. Bonus. It cost us €10 per person per night. I will help you with the math. This means we paid €40 each for five nights in a beautiful hostel, with the amazing kitchen facilities and a view of the lake. This was a great start! Unfortunately, both Matt and myself were at a point of exhaustion. The 70 or so days of constant bed swapping, planes, trains, automobiles, castles, churches, endless paintings and tours had worn us down. These 5 days were filled with pure relaxation and an opportunity to recharge our batteries. With that being said, we didn't do a whole lot of anything really! We wandered around the 6km path of the lake, fed some ducks, hiked up to the forest and enjoyed the tranquility. We made home cooked meals every night, including steak, mash, chicken, veggies, pasta.. all the good stuff, and it was delicious!
The hostel only has 8 rooms, the biggest being an 8 share I believe, but also had a double, we slept in a four share. So it was a cosy little hostel with a great living room, easy to meet people. Oh, I forgot to mention it had a PlayStation 4, so as you can imagine, matt was thrilled with that. We first shared with a very friendly irish couple, but after they checked out, the worst was to come. Around 10pm at night, two 40-something year old men showed up. They were weird. At night, I have literally never heard snoring so bad in my life. I had ear plugs in, and he woke me up through that. I tried the classic single clap really loud to wake him... nothing. With my patience wearing thin at 2am already not feeling well, I reached over to my locker, unlocked it, and slammed the door as loud as I could... nothing. So I turned the light on, got up, went to the toilet, came in and slammed the door, and still nothing! This wildebeest needs to be checked. Not only was the snoring annoying, but both of them had some sort of sleep walking issue. Around 4am, when I was still clearly wide awake, one of them got up, was mumbling away to himself and proceeded to stretch himself over the side of his bed, crawled onto the floor and lied down with his head, underneath my bed! Oh and I forgot to mention, his pajama choice was y-fronts, aka little boys underwear and a ripped shirt, showing off his capital D, pregnant, hairy belly. So that was really cute. We had planned on leaving the hostel 2 nights early, but found out they were only staying one more night, so we just dealt with it.
Having met other people in the hostel, we played a game called cards against humanity. If you have no shame in all levels of inappropriateness and a great sense of humor, this is the game for you. Basically there is a black card that asks a question like "what would be the next storyline to a disney movie?" And then you have 7 cards to choose the funniest answer. It gets really innapropriate, really fast, but it is hilarious! We also played the game spoons and quite a few rounds of chess. Great hostel atmosphere.
On one of the last days, I decided to go horse riding. Matt isn't a fan of horses, but its been on my bucketlist to go horseriding in europe, so I couldn't miss this opportunity. I paid €45 for 2 hours of pretty much a private tour through rivers, around lakes, alongside the mountains and through the forest. It was breathtaking. My horse was 6 years old named Venetu and she was beautiful. We also stopped along the forest, to meet two little bears that had been rescued when they were just cubs. They were found without a mother, so were taken and protected and fed by a family that was friends with the ranch owner. We had a shot of home made blueberry wine with schnapps and hopped back on the horse. It was such an amazing day and definitely my favourite part of the trip so far.
We left lake bled, and headed to the capital, Ljubljana for two nights. We stayed in Tresor hostel, which is a converted bank, in the middle of the town center. It looks quite funky and we slept in a 10 share, but each bunk is divided into little cells with curtains. As far as privacy and comfort, it was spot on. However, that is it for anything good about this place. The showers were bad, having to turn them on again every 15 seconds, the staff were appalling and there were no plugs near the bed so everything that needed to be charged, had to be left out in the open. Due to its location and funky idea of being an old bank, the hostel clearly felt that it didn't need to put in any extra effort or be helpful in anyway. Its a shame because it has the potential to be such a great place. The only reason we went to the capital was for easier access to the Skojcan Caves.
These are a UNESCO world heritage site, so we took the bus 2 hours to see them. After arriving in the middle of nowhere, we took a 3km hike down the highway to find them. We then did about 5 hours worth of caves and hiking up and down and It was well worth it!! The caves were amazing. Its unbelievable that it is all natural, other then the bridges to walk through it. We got to see waterfalls and where the river runs through it. A truly spectacular day. Worth the crap hostel and extra money.
We didn't spend loads of time in Ljubljana, but what we did spend was really nice. Its quite small, and very clean. A river runs right through the center with plenty of pretty bridges to walk across. We went to a local slovenian restaurant recommended by the hostel and recieved a free Drink upon arrival. It was their homemade wine. It tasted similar to a cinnamon, christmas mulled wine and it was heavenly. I wanted a bottle, but they didn't sell it unfortunately! We both had Ljubljana styled steak with fried potatoes. The steak was wrapped in ham with eggs and cheese and then deepfriend! How Slovenians eat that and stay skinny is beyond me! I finished about half of it before being defeated. It was our first time In awhile actually sitting down in a restaurant for dinner, and it was a lovely date. Overall Ljubljana is a great little city.
You can't spell Slovenia without love and that is exactly how we feel about this beautiful little country.
We opted for a 4 night stay next to a lake in a hostel called Castle Hostel 1004. This is by far one of the better hostels we've stayed in. As soon as we arrived, Miha (the owner) said we could have an extra night free because we booked 4. Bonus. It cost us €10 per person per night. I will help you with the math. This means we paid €40 each for five nights in a beautiful hostel, with the amazing kitchen facilities and a view of the lake. This was a great start! Unfortunately, both Matt and myself were at a point of exhaustion. The 70 or so days of constant bed swapping, planes, trains, automobiles, castles, churches, endless paintings and tours had worn us down. These 5 days were filled with pure relaxation and an opportunity to recharge our batteries. With that being said, we didn't do a whole lot of anything really! We wandered around the 6km path of the lake, fed some ducks, hiked up to the forest and enjoyed the tranquility. We made home cooked meals every night, including steak, mash, chicken, veggies, pasta.. all the good stuff, and it was delicious!
The hostel only has 8 rooms, the biggest being an 8 share I believe, but also had a double, we slept in a four share. So it was a cosy little hostel with a great living room, easy to meet people. Oh, I forgot to mention it had a PlayStation 4, so as you can imagine, matt was thrilled with that. We first shared with a very friendly irish couple, but after they checked out, the worst was to come. Around 10pm at night, two 40-something year old men showed up. They were weird. At night, I have literally never heard snoring so bad in my life. I had ear plugs in, and he woke me up through that. I tried the classic single clap really loud to wake him... nothing. With my patience wearing thin at 2am already not feeling well, I reached over to my locker, unlocked it, and slammed the door as loud as I could... nothing. So I turned the light on, got up, went to the toilet, came in and slammed the door, and still nothing! This wildebeest needs to be checked. Not only was the snoring annoying, but both of them had some sort of sleep walking issue. Around 4am, when I was still clearly wide awake, one of them got up, was mumbling away to himself and proceeded to stretch himself over the side of his bed, crawled onto the floor and lied down with his head, underneath my bed! Oh and I forgot to mention, his pajama choice was y-fronts, aka little boys underwear and a ripped shirt, showing off his capital D, pregnant, hairy belly. So that was really cute. We had planned on leaving the hostel 2 nights early, but found out they were only staying one more night, so we just dealt with it.
Having met other people in the hostel, we played a game called cards against humanity. If you have no shame in all levels of inappropriateness and a great sense of humor, this is the game for you. Basically there is a black card that asks a question like "what would be the next storyline to a disney movie?" And then you have 7 cards to choose the funniest answer. It gets really innapropriate, really fast, but it is hilarious! We also played the game spoons and quite a few rounds of chess. Great hostel atmosphere.
On one of the last days, I decided to go horse riding. Matt isn't a fan of horses, but its been on my bucketlist to go horseriding in europe, so I couldn't miss this opportunity. I paid €45 for 2 hours of pretty much a private tour through rivers, around lakes, alongside the mountains and through the forest. It was breathtaking. My horse was 6 years old named Venetu and she was beautiful. We also stopped along the forest, to meet two little bears that had been rescued when they were just cubs. They were found without a mother, so were taken and protected and fed by a family that was friends with the ranch owner. We had a shot of home made blueberry wine with schnapps and hopped back on the horse. It was such an amazing day and definitely my favourite part of the trip so far.
We left lake bled, and headed to the capital, Ljubljana for two nights. We stayed in Tresor hostel, which is a converted bank, in the middle of the town center. It looks quite funky and we slept in a 10 share, but each bunk is divided into little cells with curtains. As far as privacy and comfort, it was spot on. However, that is it for anything good about this place. The showers were bad, having to turn them on again every 15 seconds, the staff were appalling and there were no plugs near the bed so everything that needed to be charged, had to be left out in the open. Due to its location and funky idea of being an old bank, the hostel clearly felt that it didn't need to put in any extra effort or be helpful in anyway. Its a shame because it has the potential to be such a great place. The only reason we went to the capital was for easier access to the Skojcan Caves.
These are a UNESCO world heritage site, so we took the bus 2 hours to see them. After arriving in the middle of nowhere, we took a 3km hike down the highway to find them. We then did about 5 hours worth of caves and hiking up and down and It was well worth it!! The caves were amazing. Its unbelievable that it is all natural, other then the bridges to walk through it. We got to see waterfalls and where the river runs through it. A truly spectacular day. Worth the crap hostel and extra money.
We didn't spend loads of time in Ljubljana, but what we did spend was really nice. Its quite small, and very clean. A river runs right through the center with plenty of pretty bridges to walk across. We went to a local slovenian restaurant recommended by the hostel and recieved a free Drink upon arrival. It was their homemade wine. It tasted similar to a cinnamon, christmas mulled wine and it was heavenly. I wanted a bottle, but they didn't sell it unfortunately! We both had Ljubljana styled steak with fried potatoes. The steak was wrapped in ham with eggs and cheese and then deepfriend! How Slovenians eat that and stay skinny is beyond me! I finished about half of it before being defeated. It was our first time In awhile actually sitting down in a restaurant for dinner, and it was a lovely date. Overall Ljubljana is a great little city.
You can't spell Slovenia without love and that is exactly how we feel about this beautiful little country.
4/16/2014
Overnight Train & the Sound of Music
We took our first over night train experience. Ben feasey, this would be your dream hotel. At 10pm we got on the train at Krakow to a tiny little room with bunk beds. They were rock hard and the pillow you wouldn't even have made your dog sleep on. At 630 am we arrived in vienna with little to none sleep because our room was basically a sauna. We headed straight to Wombats City Hostel, and luckily because no one stayed in our room the night before, we could check in right away. We went and got showered then walked down to the tiergarten. This is the worlds oldest zoo, and Its located on the palace grounds of vienna. It was really big, very clean and plenty of animals. We were there before it even opened, so when we got inside, there was barely anyone there yet. We were able to sit down next to the orangutan enclosure for a while with no interruptions and all of them just sat on the other side facing us. It was a really cool interaction. Matt and I for some reason seem to go into every zoo we pass, so it only seemed fair to go to the worlds oldest, and it was probably one of the best we've been to.
As the budgets a bit tight, I made pasta for dinner with some veggies in the hostel kitchen, it was delicious if I do say so myself. We managed to skype both of my parents as well which was nice. Matt hasn't been feeling very well the past few days, so in the morning we ended up just going straight to Salzburg. We had planned on stopping over in Linz to go to the Ars Electronica Center, basically a hi tech museum. It was only about a 5 hour train from Vienna to Salzburg.
We checked in at the Yoho International Youth hostel and with matt not feeling very well, stayed in for the rest of the night. I did some laundry and watched the sound of music. I have been collecting post cards from everywhere and have got myself up to 15 of them that I haven't actually posted yet, so I did that in the hostel. The next morning we did what we had come to Austria for. The sound of music segway tour. It was two hours long and we saw the house from the movie, which is now part of the university; the square with the horse fountain; the convent & the gazebo that the oldest daughter sang '16 going on 17' in. We also saw the smallest house in Austria and Mozarts birthplace. The tour was supposed to be based on the sound of music but the tour guide had only seen the film once and knew less about it than me so I was really disappointed, however it was still a fun morning and we did get to see some of the places. Austria is a bit more on the expensive side, however it is beautiful and it would have been nice to have a bit more time here. Now we are off to Lake Bled in Slovenia.
As the budgets a bit tight, I made pasta for dinner with some veggies in the hostel kitchen, it was delicious if I do say so myself. We managed to skype both of my parents as well which was nice. Matt hasn't been feeling very well the past few days, so in the morning we ended up just going straight to Salzburg. We had planned on stopping over in Linz to go to the Ars Electronica Center, basically a hi tech museum. It was only about a 5 hour train from Vienna to Salzburg.
We checked in at the Yoho International Youth hostel and with matt not feeling very well, stayed in for the rest of the night. I did some laundry and watched the sound of music. I have been collecting post cards from everywhere and have got myself up to 15 of them that I haven't actually posted yet, so I did that in the hostel. The next morning we did what we had come to Austria for. The sound of music segway tour. It was two hours long and we saw the house from the movie, which is now part of the university; the square with the horse fountain; the convent & the gazebo that the oldest daughter sang '16 going on 17' in. We also saw the smallest house in Austria and Mozarts birthplace. The tour was supposed to be based on the sound of music but the tour guide had only seen the film once and knew less about it than me so I was really disappointed, however it was still a fun morning and we did get to see some of the places. Austria is a bit more on the expensive side, however it is beautiful and it would have been nice to have a bit more time here. Now we are off to Lake Bled in Slovenia.
4/09/2014
Krakow & the Darkest Room I've Ever Seen
We took the train from Prague into Krakow, even though Poland is not included in our rail passes. The ticket only cost us €16, so cheap! To get from Bognor Regis into London (hour and a half trip) costs £15, so a cross country trip like that was a bargain! We booked 3 nights at Goodbye Lenin hostel. It should have been an 8 share for all 3 nights, instead we were put in a 6 share for two nights and a 4 share for the last, bonus. We grabbed a polish dish which was basically a massive piece of bed with a base of mushrooms and cheese, then on top you can put whatever you like. Mine had pickles, ham and salsa. The description translation however, described it more like a pizza. So it was a surprise when it came out, however, still very nice.
On our first day we took a free tour (if you haven't noticed yet, we love a good free tour). It met in the main town square and took as all over the city showing us the old fortress surrounding krakow (whats left of it); the popes window; the university; the castle on wawel hill; the dragons den and much more. It was a huge tour full of lots of history. One of the interesting things was the trumpet player in the main square. Every hour on the hour a trumpet plays for the highest towers four different windows. He plays the same song, but it stops abruptly every time. The myth is that years ago when the city was about to be invaded, the trumpeter at the time played this to warn everyone, but the invaders were known for their archery skills And they shot him in the neck so he would stop. This was 600 years ago and they still play, every hour, every day.
Later this day, we went of a food tour. The guide was free (tip if you want to sort of thing) and the food was cheap. We went all over krakow to loads of different restaurants, markets and shops to try various types of food. Everything was made in a typical polish way and majority of things were delicious. Some of the things we tried were cheese; bread; wawel chocolate; perogie; gerkins; sauerkraut; sausage; soup; stews; apple fritters & ice cream. That was only some of it and the whole tour was less than 30 zloty (€7). Our tour guide was a polish hipster with a massive mustache and the funniest laugh. The food tour was fantastically surprising and well worth the 3 hours.
Our last day, we went to a gun range. It cost €60 and a very large polish man in a hut showed us all of his guns. We shot an M4, MP5, AK47, glock 17, magnum and pump action shotgun. I did a lot better than I thought I would and Matt only hit the target 8 more times than me. So I was pretty proud. It's basically a bachelor weekend sort of activity but we both really enjoyed it, and if you do go to krakow, give it a shot (no pun intended).
So that was all of the fun stuff we did in Poland. While we were here, we booked a trip to Auschwitz. It's very difficult to describe this place. It is cold, dark, and at the time, would have been hell on earth. I will tell you what I saw, but to feel it is a whole different experience. Its life changing. When you get to the entrance, the gate reads 'arbeit macht frei'. Most concentration gates had this sayig somewhere in the camp. This basically means 'work will set you free'. When people were arriving at the camp, the SS guards would point to the chimney and tell them that was their exit. Work was not going to set anyone free, death was.
We continued into the camp and went into old barracks which are basically little museums now. Most of what would have been brought to the camps would have been destroyed but what is left, is in these barracks. One barrack that was particularly difficult had lots of personal items. One of the rooms had seven and a half tonnes of human hair. On average, one person has 30-40grams of hair. This room had seven tonnes. Let that sink in for a minute. This hair would have come from the women that were put in the gas chambers almost immediately after arrivin in Auschwitz. They would have been told they were going for a regular shower and afterwards would recieve a hot meal and their uniform. Inside the gas chamber the chemicals would take no longer than 30 minutes to kill everyone in the room. They would then been taken out, shaved, any gold in Their teeth would be removed, and they woukd be put in the ovens. The hair was used for creating blankets and mattresses. The nazis would sell these to companies to make more money. Everything about this place was disturbing.
In this same building there was 70, 000 pairs of shoes. All different styles, easy to see that it didn't matter what class you were to Hitler, he wanted every jewish person dead. There was also pots & pans; shoe polish; clothes; kids toys; glasses and hair brushes. These people were just innocent human beings trying to live their own lives. Mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends... all murdered.
We continued on into the basement which used to be a prison, which described three inhumane tortures, as well as being the first place that gas was used to murder 600 jews. We also went into the only gas chamber left, the smallest of the 6 that used to stand in Auschwitz. We walked through it, just as they would have. Into the undressing room and then Into the coldest, darkest room i've ever seen in my life. Words cannot describe the feeling when you are stood in this room. Knowing that mothers would have been stood here with their babies with a glimmer of hope that it would be a shower, and after they would be able to see their husbands again. Yet their lives would be taken from them for no other reason than the religion they practiced. Its the most heartbreaking thing, and the worst part is, its still happening in the world today. At some point the world needs to look back and understand history because right now, it just keeps repeating itself. None of the camps were easy to walk through. Its not a museum or just another day trip, it was a life changing experience.
On our first day we took a free tour (if you haven't noticed yet, we love a good free tour). It met in the main town square and took as all over the city showing us the old fortress surrounding krakow (whats left of it); the popes window; the university; the castle on wawel hill; the dragons den and much more. It was a huge tour full of lots of history. One of the interesting things was the trumpet player in the main square. Every hour on the hour a trumpet plays for the highest towers four different windows. He plays the same song, but it stops abruptly every time. The myth is that years ago when the city was about to be invaded, the trumpeter at the time played this to warn everyone, but the invaders were known for their archery skills And they shot him in the neck so he would stop. This was 600 years ago and they still play, every hour, every day.
Later this day, we went of a food tour. The guide was free (tip if you want to sort of thing) and the food was cheap. We went all over krakow to loads of different restaurants, markets and shops to try various types of food. Everything was made in a typical polish way and majority of things were delicious. Some of the things we tried were cheese; bread; wawel chocolate; perogie; gerkins; sauerkraut; sausage; soup; stews; apple fritters & ice cream. That was only some of it and the whole tour was less than 30 zloty (€7). Our tour guide was a polish hipster with a massive mustache and the funniest laugh. The food tour was fantastically surprising and well worth the 3 hours.
Our last day, we went to a gun range. It cost €60 and a very large polish man in a hut showed us all of his guns. We shot an M4, MP5, AK47, glock 17, magnum and pump action shotgun. I did a lot better than I thought I would and Matt only hit the target 8 more times than me. So I was pretty proud. It's basically a bachelor weekend sort of activity but we both really enjoyed it, and if you do go to krakow, give it a shot (no pun intended).
So that was all of the fun stuff we did in Poland. While we were here, we booked a trip to Auschwitz. It's very difficult to describe this place. It is cold, dark, and at the time, would have been hell on earth. I will tell you what I saw, but to feel it is a whole different experience. Its life changing. When you get to the entrance, the gate reads 'arbeit macht frei'. Most concentration gates had this sayig somewhere in the camp. This basically means 'work will set you free'. When people were arriving at the camp, the SS guards would point to the chimney and tell them that was their exit. Work was not going to set anyone free, death was.
We continued into the camp and went into old barracks which are basically little museums now. Most of what would have been brought to the camps would have been destroyed but what is left, is in these barracks. One barrack that was particularly difficult had lots of personal items. One of the rooms had seven and a half tonnes of human hair. On average, one person has 30-40grams of hair. This room had seven tonnes. Let that sink in for a minute. This hair would have come from the women that were put in the gas chambers almost immediately after arrivin in Auschwitz. They would have been told they were going for a regular shower and afterwards would recieve a hot meal and their uniform. Inside the gas chamber the chemicals would take no longer than 30 minutes to kill everyone in the room. They would then been taken out, shaved, any gold in Their teeth would be removed, and they woukd be put in the ovens. The hair was used for creating blankets and mattresses. The nazis would sell these to companies to make more money. Everything about this place was disturbing.
In this same building there was 70, 000 pairs of shoes. All different styles, easy to see that it didn't matter what class you were to Hitler, he wanted every jewish person dead. There was also pots & pans; shoe polish; clothes; kids toys; glasses and hair brushes. These people were just innocent human beings trying to live their own lives. Mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends... all murdered.
We continued on into the basement which used to be a prison, which described three inhumane tortures, as well as being the first place that gas was used to murder 600 jews. We also went into the only gas chamber left, the smallest of the 6 that used to stand in Auschwitz. We walked through it, just as they would have. Into the undressing room and then Into the coldest, darkest room i've ever seen in my life. Words cannot describe the feeling when you are stood in this room. Knowing that mothers would have been stood here with their babies with a glimmer of hope that it would be a shower, and after they would be able to see their husbands again. Yet their lives would be taken from them for no other reason than the religion they practiced. Its the most heartbreaking thing, and the worst part is, its still happening in the world today. At some point the world needs to look back and understand history because right now, it just keeps repeating itself. None of the camps were easy to walk through. Its not a museum or just another day trip, it was a life changing experience.
Beers & Bones
In prague we decided to stay at a hostel called madhouse. By the name alone, you can imagine which type of hostel this was. I booked this one because I thought it would be fun for us to stay at one that had some good pub crawls and a party style. This was the extreme version of that though. Id like to make a point of saying that I am 20 and matt is 24. We have been travelling for close to 9 weeks and have only been really drunk once, and that was in Tenerife. Most people our age, I would think, would want to do this trip to see what partying in europe is all about. We have instead, seen europe in a different light... for example, daylight. At first I felt that maybe we were being boring, but the more I thought about it, you can get drunk anywhere in the world and with enough shots of tequila in your system your backyard wainfleet party next day hangover will be near enough the same as the hangover you'd get from a bar in prague. So with that being said, the madhouse was too intense for our liking. When we checked in, the receptionist was half buzzed from pre drinks and insisted we go to the bar with him. When we got there, the rest of the staffs idea of a good night was getting 10 shots of jager in before your first beer. How about I dont do that, and save myself the hangover and morning sickness. Cheers.
Prague, in the daylight, is a truly beautiful city. We took the sandemans free tour and learned a lot about the history and various things within prague.Our tour guide explained in detail how to read the astronomical clock and spoke to us about the large list of names on the bottom circle of the tower. Everyone in prague has to name their child one of these names, and if they don't want to, they need to ask the council if they can choose a different name and explain why that name is better. This clock is 600 years old, so you can imagine it isn't the greatest list.
We went down the road to a theatre where Mozart once played and recieved a 30 minute standing ovation. Can you believe that.. 30 minutes of non stop clapping! They loved him in Prague. We also went to another theatre that used to have 6 statues on top of it. Now it only has 5. Hitler used to love this theatre, it had his favourite musician, amongst 6 statues, including mozart and Beethoven. However, one of the statues was a jewish musician. Of course we know hitler wasn't the biggest fan, so he ordered some of his SS men to go ontop of this building and remove the jewish statue. They didn't know which one was the jewish one though. Hitler told them to get a ruler, and measure all of their noses. The one with the longest nose 'must have been jewish'. This is one of the most ridiculous things, even for hitler. They destroyed the statue with the biggest nose, only to find out later, that it was infact hitlers favourite musician, and wasn't jewish at all. Wow. I barely believed it when she said it, but it is a true story.
The tour was full of great stories, legends and lots of history. I would recommend this one for sure! Our tour guide told us that in 2 nights time, there was the first fire party of the year. This is basically just a party in the park, very artsy and free spirited. The style of the night was dreads and bohemian. Anyone was welcome, and in the center of the park there was about 20 people with drums, banging away and lots of people with various forms of moving fire. Some juggled, a couple hula hoops and a few things with chains. It was really cool. We didnt realize it at the time, but our tour guide recommended it, because she does it!! She had two different chains with little fireballs at the end, and she was very good. It was a very non touristy way to see prague.
The same day as our free tour, we booked and paid €15 for the beer tour. This was not a pub crawl, it was a beer tour, very different. Pub crawls, you get wasted over the span of 5 different bars... beer tours, you learn about the history and different types of beers, as well as food. We went to 4 different establishments, trying very different beers in each of them, as well as typical czech cuisine. Delicious. I dont actually like beer, so to me it all tasted bad, just different forms of bad. Matt however enjoyed each sip and of course got a 2for1 cause I didnt finish mine. One of the pubs had only one person who was allowed to pour the beer because it is poured in three different styles. The beer tour was well worth, learning about where it came from, ways to drink it, the local cuisine and last but not least, where would be better to take a beer tour than the beer drinking capital of the world.
Our last night we stayed in Florenc 41 hostel which was way older and not hostel atmosphere whatsoever. It was a great, quiet break. We took the train to a place called Kutna Hora. In this town there is a church which holds the bones of 40, 000 people. This happened because their cemetary became full, they had no where else to put the bodies, so they had to dig up the old ones and hold them in the basement until they could do something. Instead of burning them of finding a new plot of land to put them in, they decided to decorate the church. When you walk around the four corners hold majority of the bones, stacked ceiling high. The family that owned the church had their coat of arms or family crest, made out of bones and mounted on the wall. It is a little bit eery in there but if bones don't bother you, then its worth the look. This pretty much sums up prague for us. We enjoyed Czech Republic and its very easy to see why so many bachelor and bachelorette parties come here. Cheap beer, cheap bed, happy days. Next stop is Poland.
Prague, in the daylight, is a truly beautiful city. We took the sandemans free tour and learned a lot about the history and various things within prague.Our tour guide explained in detail how to read the astronomical clock and spoke to us about the large list of names on the bottom circle of the tower. Everyone in prague has to name their child one of these names, and if they don't want to, they need to ask the council if they can choose a different name and explain why that name is better. This clock is 600 years old, so you can imagine it isn't the greatest list.
We went down the road to a theatre where Mozart once played and recieved a 30 minute standing ovation. Can you believe that.. 30 minutes of non stop clapping! They loved him in Prague. We also went to another theatre that used to have 6 statues on top of it. Now it only has 5. Hitler used to love this theatre, it had his favourite musician, amongst 6 statues, including mozart and Beethoven. However, one of the statues was a jewish musician. Of course we know hitler wasn't the biggest fan, so he ordered some of his SS men to go ontop of this building and remove the jewish statue. They didn't know which one was the jewish one though. Hitler told them to get a ruler, and measure all of their noses. The one with the longest nose 'must have been jewish'. This is one of the most ridiculous things, even for hitler. They destroyed the statue with the biggest nose, only to find out later, that it was infact hitlers favourite musician, and wasn't jewish at all. Wow. I barely believed it when she said it, but it is a true story.
The tour was full of great stories, legends and lots of history. I would recommend this one for sure! Our tour guide told us that in 2 nights time, there was the first fire party of the year. This is basically just a party in the park, very artsy and free spirited. The style of the night was dreads and bohemian. Anyone was welcome, and in the center of the park there was about 20 people with drums, banging away and lots of people with various forms of moving fire. Some juggled, a couple hula hoops and a few things with chains. It was really cool. We didnt realize it at the time, but our tour guide recommended it, because she does it!! She had two different chains with little fireballs at the end, and she was very good. It was a very non touristy way to see prague.
The same day as our free tour, we booked and paid €15 for the beer tour. This was not a pub crawl, it was a beer tour, very different. Pub crawls, you get wasted over the span of 5 different bars... beer tours, you learn about the history and different types of beers, as well as food. We went to 4 different establishments, trying very different beers in each of them, as well as typical czech cuisine. Delicious. I dont actually like beer, so to me it all tasted bad, just different forms of bad. Matt however enjoyed each sip and of course got a 2for1 cause I didnt finish mine. One of the pubs had only one person who was allowed to pour the beer because it is poured in three different styles. The beer tour was well worth, learning about where it came from, ways to drink it, the local cuisine and last but not least, where would be better to take a beer tour than the beer drinking capital of the world.
Our last night we stayed in Florenc 41 hostel which was way older and not hostel atmosphere whatsoever. It was a great, quiet break. We took the train to a place called Kutna Hora. In this town there is a church which holds the bones of 40, 000 people. This happened because their cemetary became full, they had no where else to put the bodies, so they had to dig up the old ones and hold them in the basement until they could do something. Instead of burning them of finding a new plot of land to put them in, they decided to decorate the church. When you walk around the four corners hold majority of the bones, stacked ceiling high. The family that owned the church had their coat of arms or family crest, made out of bones and mounted on the wall. It is a little bit eery in there but if bones don't bother you, then its worth the look. This pretty much sums up prague for us. We enjoyed Czech Republic and its very easy to see why so many bachelor and bachelorette parties come here. Cheap beer, cheap bed, happy days. Next stop is Poland.
4/03/2014
Currywurst & Sachsenhausen
After Switzerland, we headed north to Germany. We decided to go straight to Berlin to meet up with MC (canadian that we met in Venice). We booked a train in the morning with just one stop on the way and should've been about 9 hours all together. About 2 hours into the trip, we found out someone jumped infront of a train 10km down the track from us which meant all northbound trains were cancelled or delayed at least 2 or 3 hours. We sat at that train station for just over 2 and a half hours before we could head northbound. There were no announcements or anyone to help us to find out how to get to Berlin, except two people at an information desk. I appreciate that this situation probably doesn't happen that often, but a bit of common sense and use of the speakers in the station, could have helped. While we waited in the cue, we met a women who was desperately trying to get home to berlin in time to tuck her kids into bed. If anyone was going to find a way, it would have been her. We stuck with her for the rest of the trip, and ended up arriving in Berlin about 5 hours later than planned, but made it there nonetheless. We met up with MC and had some food and some drinks, played a bit of kings cup, then headed to bed around 2ish.
The next day we went to the Sandemans free tour that met outside the Starbucks infront of Brandenburg Gate. Our tour guide was Rob, he was about as British as I t gets. Well dressed, educated and a posh accent to boot.We started next to the most expensive hotel in berlin. This hotel is atually the one where michael jackson is pictured hanging his baby over the ledge. I had no idea that happened in Berlin. He explained to us a little bit about Pariser Platz (paris square) and then we headed down to the holocaust memorial. When this memorial was created, the artist wanted people to come to their own conclusions about what it was supposed to look like. To me, it looks like rows and rows of coffins, but everyone interprets it differently. Matt and I later went back here to go into the museum. This museum is so moving because it starts with the history of the war and holocaust then moves on to individuals and families telling their stories. A lot of this was through letters or from the very few people that actually made it out alive. It is very moving and definitely worth going to.
Back on the tour with Rob, we then walked to the parking lot above Hitlers bunker. There is no way of actually going into the bunker, the closest you get to it, is the carpark. They have done It this way, so it doesn't turn into a Hitler shrine. Rob explained a little bit of hitler history, which included that when Hitler knew the war was over and he would have been killed, he decided to get married and then 30 minutes later for his honeymoon, commit suicide.
Moving on, we walked to the Topography of Terror. Infront of this is actually part of whats left of the Berlin wall. Wherever the Berlin wall once was, know there is double bricks on the ground. The wall is pretty muh completely destroyed. He showed us a picture of what the wall used to look like, it had loads of barbed wire, and then a concrete wall. If you managed to cross the barbed wire however, you probably would have been shot. Matt and I later came back and went into the Topography of terror museum. It has lots of pictures and stories about the war and the holocaust in detail.
Matt and I squeezed in some time for the local food as well. Germany is known for its sausage, so we tried some. Matt got currywurst which is a sliced sausage covered in a spicy tomato sauce with curry seasonings and powder on top. Its delicious, definitely try it!
We continued into the big square that had the opera house which had been destroyed 4 times and Hitler even ordered them to rebuild it during the war. It was obviously destroyed again shortly after. This square is the place where the library was broken into and any piece of literature written by someone who was jewish, was burned. There is a glass square on the ground with empty book shelves as a memorial to that night.The tour was about 3 hours all together and included a lot more than what i've mentioned but those parts were my favorite. We decided to book another tour through them to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The next day we went here with a guide named Seb. This camp was made as a satellite camp with the headquarters here for most of the other camps. There is not much of it left today but what is there is eery and worth seeing. Next to the camp, is now a functioning police school. The reason the old headquarters are used for current cops, is so everyday they see what can happen when governments Abuse power. Most of the barracks are gone now, but the special prison still stands. There was a prison within the camp to separate people that the Nazi's didn't want speaking to the others. One of these people was someone who try to set off a bomb to kill hitler. Hitler left the building 15 minutes early though, and was lucky enough to miss it. There were a lot of different attempts to kill hitler though, this was just one of them. We walked around the whole camp, including the gas chambers. These were bombed so not much was left, but was is there paints a clear picture.
Berlin is a very interesting place to go and see. There is so much history here and I think in order to not repeat history, we need to be educated on the horrific crimes that were committed during this time. There are still things like this happening in the world and I dont think turning a blind eye and ignoring history will help to change that.
The next day we went to the Sandemans free tour that met outside the Starbucks infront of Brandenburg Gate. Our tour guide was Rob, he was about as British as I t gets. Well dressed, educated and a posh accent to boot.We started next to the most expensive hotel in berlin. This hotel is atually the one where michael jackson is pictured hanging his baby over the ledge. I had no idea that happened in Berlin. He explained to us a little bit about Pariser Platz (paris square) and then we headed down to the holocaust memorial. When this memorial was created, the artist wanted people to come to their own conclusions about what it was supposed to look like. To me, it looks like rows and rows of coffins, but everyone interprets it differently. Matt and I later went back here to go into the museum. This museum is so moving because it starts with the history of the war and holocaust then moves on to individuals and families telling their stories. A lot of this was through letters or from the very few people that actually made it out alive. It is very moving and definitely worth going to.
Back on the tour with Rob, we then walked to the parking lot above Hitlers bunker. There is no way of actually going into the bunker, the closest you get to it, is the carpark. They have done It this way, so it doesn't turn into a Hitler shrine. Rob explained a little bit of hitler history, which included that when Hitler knew the war was over and he would have been killed, he decided to get married and then 30 minutes later for his honeymoon, commit suicide.
Moving on, we walked to the Topography of Terror. Infront of this is actually part of whats left of the Berlin wall. Wherever the Berlin wall once was, know there is double bricks on the ground. The wall is pretty muh completely destroyed. He showed us a picture of what the wall used to look like, it had loads of barbed wire, and then a concrete wall. If you managed to cross the barbed wire however, you probably would have been shot. Matt and I later came back and went into the Topography of terror museum. It has lots of pictures and stories about the war and the holocaust in detail.
Matt and I squeezed in some time for the local food as well. Germany is known for its sausage, so we tried some. Matt got currywurst which is a sliced sausage covered in a spicy tomato sauce with curry seasonings and powder on top. Its delicious, definitely try it!
We continued into the big square that had the opera house which had been destroyed 4 times and Hitler even ordered them to rebuild it during the war. It was obviously destroyed again shortly after. This square is the place where the library was broken into and any piece of literature written by someone who was jewish, was burned. There is a glass square on the ground with empty book shelves as a memorial to that night.The tour was about 3 hours all together and included a lot more than what i've mentioned but those parts were my favorite. We decided to book another tour through them to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The next day we went here with a guide named Seb. This camp was made as a satellite camp with the headquarters here for most of the other camps. There is not much of it left today but what is there is eery and worth seeing. Next to the camp, is now a functioning police school. The reason the old headquarters are used for current cops, is so everyday they see what can happen when governments Abuse power. Most of the barracks are gone now, but the special prison still stands. There was a prison within the camp to separate people that the Nazi's didn't want speaking to the others. One of these people was someone who try to set off a bomb to kill hitler. Hitler left the building 15 minutes early though, and was lucky enough to miss it. There were a lot of different attempts to kill hitler though, this was just one of them. We walked around the whole camp, including the gas chambers. These were bombed so not much was left, but was is there paints a clear picture.
Berlin is a very interesting place to go and see. There is so much history here and I think in order to not repeat history, we need to be educated on the horrific crimes that were committed during this time. There are still things like this happening in the world and I dont think turning a blind eye and ignoring history will help to change that.
3/30/2014
409 Bridges & the Most Expensive Place in Europe
Well to wrap up things in italy, what better place than venice? Venice is just beautiful. We booked 6 nights in generator hostel, which is just across the river from st.marks square. If you are a bit unsure as to which square that is, I always think of it as the one with all the pigeons. And yes, of course I fed them and got my picture taken. Afterwards I found out it is actually illegal to feed them, so I am pretty much a rebel... back to the hostel though. We booked 6 nights for the reason of our interail and eurail passes. Matt and I needed an address to have these passes sent to because there wasn't an option to get them at the station. We paid for 2 months of continuous rail travel throughout almost every european country. A bit pricey, but we hope it will be worth it. The good news was, mine arrived way sooner than planned. Matts came a day early as well. The bad news was, we were now stuck in venice. However, being stuck in venice really isn't that bad news afterall. We did all your typical touristy things, fed the pigeons, went on a gondola ride and visited some of the islands. There are 409 bridges in venice, according to our gondola man.. we probably crossed 50 over the 6 days. Our gondola ride was a little less than romantic because we shared it with four fellow travellers. Because we did this, we only had to pay €13 each. I am all for a good discount. The tour through the canals was very cool though, and an interesting look into how venice functions.
We stayed in a place called Generator hostel & it was probably the best facilities we have had so far. We booked a 7 share room, for 6 nights this cost us €100 each. When we arrived, we were put in a 5 share, which is always a bonus. They had separate sex bathrooms, with awesome hot showers. The living room of the hostel had a bar, menu for food and a photobooth. The hostel was on the right track for a great stay. Most hostels only allow 18-30 year olds, for the reason of everyone having the same interests, with a close enough budget. This hostel, was not the same. It completely missed the boat on the friendly atmosphere. It was far from welcoming and we found the staff to be rude. On our 2nd night, a group of 50+ French students all aged around 13 years old, showed up and just completely took over. What little friendly backpacker atmosphere there was, was ruined. There are signs at the entrance saying not to bring food or drink in, because they have a bar and menu. You wouldn't bring animals into a zoo. This is absolutely fair, and makes sense. However, when this march break field trip showed up, 50 of them opened up a packed lunch. The menu at the hostel was cheap compared to venice prices, however not cheap for a backpacker, and certainly not quality food. When I spoke to the receptionist, she was about as useful as chocolate teapot. (Matts description) The hostel was more about money making, then creating memories for each, individual traveller. For this reason, I would not recommend staying here. Matt and I really enjoyed venice overall, in fact it is probably my favorite place in italy. It is definitely worth a visit, just roll out the sleeping bag elsewhere.
We pretty much lived off of pasta from a place called alfredos. Matt and I ate here at least 8 different times over the six days. As you can probably imagine, venice isn't the cheapest place in the world. We came across alfredos on tripadvisor when myself and some of the girls we met were looking for a cheap place to eat or drink. Alfredos reviews were all fantastic. The one bad review we came across had an hilarious response from the owner, this was not an experience we wanted to miss. They had about 9 different pasta options, as well as 5 different noodles to pick from. My personal favorite was probably 'viagara' with a fusilli noodle. And yes, you did read that correctly. The customer service was unbelievable, and the pasta... to die for. So to sum up venice, I'd say a trip here isn't complete without a gondola ride, and some of alfredos pasta.
Now that we had our rail passes, we planned on heading down to Greece. The night before we were due to check out of venice, we found out that international trains to and from greece were on strike. Nothing like a strike to ruin your itinerary. We had to give up our day for Verona, to sort out a new plan. I will just have to wait until next time to touch Juliets right breast for good luck!
Our revised plan was Switzerland. Any plan of a budget, you would just want to throw that straight out the window. Unfortunately, tossing a budget away was not one of our options. We were torn between Geneva and Zurich. Zurich worked out to be cheaper, and closer to our next country. We booked for 2 nights in City Backpacker Hostel costing us a whopping €70..EACH! We had been robbed. This was the most expensive hostel we had paid for. To put it into perspective, you can get a private room in Portugal for €10 each. We paid €100 for 6 nights in venice... but zurich took €70 each and to top that off, we were in a 6 share. The train ride from italy to Switzerland was absolutely breathtaking. If you have a choice to fly or use the rails, I would recommend taking the train. Granted, it is a bit longer, but its absolutely stunning. On the train, I had already accepted that everything was going to be expensive, if we wanted to enjoy zurich we would need to just accept that and be smart about how we spend our time and money.
When we arrived at the hostel we walked up 4 flights of stairs to the check in desk where we recieved no information at all, except our keys. Most hostels when you check in, give you a map, show you some cheap restaurants and tell you what the must sees are in the area. We recieved nothing of the sort, and headed two floors up to our room. The room had 3 sets of bunks, and 6 small lockers, just enough for passports and electronics, the rest of our stuff was just left free in the room. The room had one plug socket, for 6 people to fight for. The wifi only worked in the reception area which had room for a maximum of 12 people. Our floor alone would have had 24 people amongst four rooms, sharing 2 showers and 2 toilets. There was four floors, and the main living area only had room for 12 people. Let me remind you, we paid €70 for this so called hostel. Oh and at three am I was woken up by what sounded like a hibernating bear snoring. Safe to say, I was happy to move onto the next hostel.
Zurich itself is so beautiful. Even prettier than venice. It is so rich and clean. The air is so fresh. Its worlds away from London, thats for sure. Since our budget was so tight, we opted for the free bike rental outside of the train station. We spent the day riding all over zurich. We went from the lakeside, to the main shopping strip, all the way to the redlight district. It was a beautiful day out and a great way to save the pennies. We went to sternen grill, which was in my lonely planet guidebook. It was a tad on the expensive side, but mine was definitely worth the 14 swiss francs. I had a schnitzel sandwhich. It was breaded veal with veggies, cocktail sauce and a fresh crunchy bun. Matt tried the currywurst which is sliced sausage with curry seasonings and tomato sauce. Zurich, although expensive was definitely a great day out and a culture very different to the others that we have experienced in europe so far. Next stop, berlin germany.
As I write this, I am now 11 hours into my travel day. We booked for the 9am train from zurich to basel. No problem, arrived in basel with 20 minutes to grab a pretzel and head to our platform. From basel we were now heading straight to berlin. About 40 minutes into our journey at the next station, a message was said that someone had jumped infront of a train 10km down the track and that we need to get off the now cancelled train. Long story short, we met a nice german lady trying to get home to berlin to tuck her kids in before bedtime. If anyone had a determination to get to berlin fast, it was a mother. We waited for 2 and a half hours at this station to get the next train heading north. We had to stop and change again, but at least now we are only a few hours away. About 2 hours ago we should have been sat in the hostel having a beer, but oh well. Shit happens. Alright, thats it for now. Next blog will have Berlin and possibly even Prague!
We stayed in a place called Generator hostel & it was probably the best facilities we have had so far. We booked a 7 share room, for 6 nights this cost us €100 each. When we arrived, we were put in a 5 share, which is always a bonus. They had separate sex bathrooms, with awesome hot showers. The living room of the hostel had a bar, menu for food and a photobooth. The hostel was on the right track for a great stay. Most hostels only allow 18-30 year olds, for the reason of everyone having the same interests, with a close enough budget. This hostel, was not the same. It completely missed the boat on the friendly atmosphere. It was far from welcoming and we found the staff to be rude. On our 2nd night, a group of 50+ French students all aged around 13 years old, showed up and just completely took over. What little friendly backpacker atmosphere there was, was ruined. There are signs at the entrance saying not to bring food or drink in, because they have a bar and menu. You wouldn't bring animals into a zoo. This is absolutely fair, and makes sense. However, when this march break field trip showed up, 50 of them opened up a packed lunch. The menu at the hostel was cheap compared to venice prices, however not cheap for a backpacker, and certainly not quality food. When I spoke to the receptionist, she was about as useful as chocolate teapot. (Matts description) The hostel was more about money making, then creating memories for each, individual traveller. For this reason, I would not recommend staying here. Matt and I really enjoyed venice overall, in fact it is probably my favorite place in italy. It is definitely worth a visit, just roll out the sleeping bag elsewhere.
We pretty much lived off of pasta from a place called alfredos. Matt and I ate here at least 8 different times over the six days. As you can probably imagine, venice isn't the cheapest place in the world. We came across alfredos on tripadvisor when myself and some of the girls we met were looking for a cheap place to eat or drink. Alfredos reviews were all fantastic. The one bad review we came across had an hilarious response from the owner, this was not an experience we wanted to miss. They had about 9 different pasta options, as well as 5 different noodles to pick from. My personal favorite was probably 'viagara' with a fusilli noodle. And yes, you did read that correctly. The customer service was unbelievable, and the pasta... to die for. So to sum up venice, I'd say a trip here isn't complete without a gondola ride, and some of alfredos pasta.
Now that we had our rail passes, we planned on heading down to Greece. The night before we were due to check out of venice, we found out that international trains to and from greece were on strike. Nothing like a strike to ruin your itinerary. We had to give up our day for Verona, to sort out a new plan. I will just have to wait until next time to touch Juliets right breast for good luck!
Our revised plan was Switzerland. Any plan of a budget, you would just want to throw that straight out the window. Unfortunately, tossing a budget away was not one of our options. We were torn between Geneva and Zurich. Zurich worked out to be cheaper, and closer to our next country. We booked for 2 nights in City Backpacker Hostel costing us a whopping €70..EACH! We had been robbed. This was the most expensive hostel we had paid for. To put it into perspective, you can get a private room in Portugal for €10 each. We paid €100 for 6 nights in venice... but zurich took €70 each and to top that off, we were in a 6 share. The train ride from italy to Switzerland was absolutely breathtaking. If you have a choice to fly or use the rails, I would recommend taking the train. Granted, it is a bit longer, but its absolutely stunning. On the train, I had already accepted that everything was going to be expensive, if we wanted to enjoy zurich we would need to just accept that and be smart about how we spend our time and money.
When we arrived at the hostel we walked up 4 flights of stairs to the check in desk where we recieved no information at all, except our keys. Most hostels when you check in, give you a map, show you some cheap restaurants and tell you what the must sees are in the area. We recieved nothing of the sort, and headed two floors up to our room. The room had 3 sets of bunks, and 6 small lockers, just enough for passports and electronics, the rest of our stuff was just left free in the room. The room had one plug socket, for 6 people to fight for. The wifi only worked in the reception area which had room for a maximum of 12 people. Our floor alone would have had 24 people amongst four rooms, sharing 2 showers and 2 toilets. There was four floors, and the main living area only had room for 12 people. Let me remind you, we paid €70 for this so called hostel. Oh and at three am I was woken up by what sounded like a hibernating bear snoring. Safe to say, I was happy to move onto the next hostel.
Zurich itself is so beautiful. Even prettier than venice. It is so rich and clean. The air is so fresh. Its worlds away from London, thats for sure. Since our budget was so tight, we opted for the free bike rental outside of the train station. We spent the day riding all over zurich. We went from the lakeside, to the main shopping strip, all the way to the redlight district. It was a beautiful day out and a great way to save the pennies. We went to sternen grill, which was in my lonely planet guidebook. It was a tad on the expensive side, but mine was definitely worth the 14 swiss francs. I had a schnitzel sandwhich. It was breaded veal with veggies, cocktail sauce and a fresh crunchy bun. Matt tried the currywurst which is sliced sausage with curry seasonings and tomato sauce. Zurich, although expensive was definitely a great day out and a culture very different to the others that we have experienced in europe so far. Next stop, berlin germany.
As I write this, I am now 11 hours into my travel day. We booked for the 9am train from zurich to basel. No problem, arrived in basel with 20 minutes to grab a pretzel and head to our platform. From basel we were now heading straight to berlin. About 40 minutes into our journey at the next station, a message was said that someone had jumped infront of a train 10km down the track and that we need to get off the now cancelled train. Long story short, we met a nice german lady trying to get home to berlin to tuck her kids in before bedtime. If anyone had a determination to get to berlin fast, it was a mother. We waited for 2 and a half hours at this station to get the next train heading north. We had to stop and change again, but at least now we are only a few hours away. About 2 hours ago we should have been sat in the hostel having a beer, but oh well. Shit happens. Alright, thats it for now. Next blog will have Berlin and possibly even Prague!
3/24/2014
Hung up the Redcoat & Put on the Backpack
Well it's safe to say, consistency is not one of my skills. It has been more or less a year & a half since my last post... sorry about that! The good news is, I am here now, with lots of stories for you. You, meaning friends, family and fellow backpackers. I should probably start at the end of my last chapter.
I finished off my two year working visa in February of this year. I was a Redcoat at Butlins, in Bognor Regis for the full two years. It was a really cool experience. I continued to grow within the job, and ended up being one of the main DJs. I stayed on for the adult break only period of the year, both years and DJd some pretty awesome nights. I stuck with the activities team, and met some amazing families through the kids clubs, particularly VIP, which was the teens. I was put in the Redcoat Game show, which I fell over on stage, was covered in cream pie and the girls ended up winning that night against the boys! I also became really good friends with a dinosaur named Ludo.. if you catch my drift. I have to say these were the highlights of my job.
If we put the job to the side for a minute, lets talk about the social. I celebrated my 19th birthday with a redneck theme, then topped it the following year, on my 20th with 'costumes starting with C'. I was a Canadian Flag, Matt was Captain America, and some other costumes were cave people, a candy cane, a care bear, etc. Around Halloween both years, I went to Thorpe Park with the entertainments team from Butlins to do all the haunted houses. Both years made for some great memories. Around Christmas 2013, a small handful of us spent the day in London, going to Winter Wonderland. It was amazing!! Winter Wonderland has lots of cute little bars, rides, shops and even a helter skelter. It was truly magical, one of my favorite days out in London. If you are ever in England in December, this is a must see for sure. Doesn't matter your age, as long as you believe in the magic of christmas. To end off the year, we had Gala. This is the big celebration with everyone that works at Butlins. They hand out awards, have someone famous to perform, then everyone gets drunk. Overall, always a great night!! The theme was the Great Gatsby, and the performer was Peter Andre, who definitely lip synced the whole performance, which is fine cause he is not the worlds best singer anyways! With loads of drinks vouchers as Matt and I were both leaving, we didn't have to spend a pence the whole night. The following night was the entertainment only party.This night wasn't as much fun, as it was a bit emotional saying goodbye to the good friends I had made whilst working on the resort. Overall, looking back on the two years, I feel that I grew up a significant amount in such a short time. I left Canada as a teen fresh out of high school, but I'll be coming home with a new outlook on life and the importance of family. Also, how lucky I am, that minimum wage in Canada isn't £4.13!!!
Now for the rest of Europe! To start, Matt and I moved into his parents house for the month of January. When we finished our contracts and parties, they came down with a van to load up our little appartment, then we drove home with his friend Chaz. It was a great month with lots of planning, pub days and clay pigeon shooting. February 3rd, just a few days before I had to legally be out of England, we headed to Ashford International. This is the train station that took us into Disneyland Paris. What better way to start 4 months of backpacking, then in Disney?! We stayed in the Santa Fe hotel for two nights, with three days of both park passes. The kid at heart was unleashed, and whether or not he will admit to it, Matt enjoyed Disney too! We both got our picture taken with Buzz Lightyear.. Yes thats right, THE Buzz Lightyear. He's kind of a big deal. I also took a picture with Captain Hook, Mr.Schmee, Tigger, eey ore, Stitch, Queen of Hearts, Pinoccio, Gipetto, Pluto, Goofy and the main man himself, Mickey. We watched all the parades and went on all the rides. My favorite would be a close draw between Buzz Lightyears & Finding Nemos. Both amazing, and more designed for kids, but I loved it. We watched the fireworks and show on the castle both nights as well.
On February 5th, we packed the bags, and took a train into Paris. We stayed at St.Christophers Inn Hostel, which was probably a bad idea, as it set the bar quite high for the rest of the hostels to live up to! It was so clean, and funky. Our bed was really comfortable and we got a private room to ourselves, so we didn't have that typical hostel experience just yet. We spent just one day in Paris as I had been there before, and Matt wasn't very interested in France. We did the typical tourist thing of going up the Eiffel Tower. We opted for the stairs, because the elevator had a really big cue, and the stairs were half the price. This now makes perfect sense to me why no one was lining up for the stairs. It was pissing down with rain and very windy that day. Walking up the Eiffel Tower was cold, and wet. If you've got the budget, take the lift. We took our touristy picture from the top, then walked back down, and headed back to the hostel for a hard earned pint of 'Frogs Bollocks', this was the beer on tap.
The following day we headed back to the train station, this time heading south to Lyon, France. Here lives quite a bit of my family. They are my second & third cousins, and my great aunt and uncle. Unfortunately, mine and Matts french when we arrived was very little, and my families english was the same. The first couple days was a bit of a nightmare when it came to the translation. By the end of it, they were speaking english, and I was speaking french, it was great! We stayed here for two weeks and they took us out on many different day trips, with alot of french cuisine in between it all. We went to a zoo on the outskirts of Lyon that is quite famous because of the gorilla named Digit. He lives in the owners house in his own little room. He also has a regular gorilla area with the other gorilla's but at night sleeps in the owners house. It had picturesque views everywhere and lots of beautiful animals. Because it was mid-february, they only people in the entire zoo were my family! It was like a private tour. During our stay it was my third cousins 14th birthday, so we went to that house for a meal. We tried fish cake.. this was basically a jello type dish which sets inside a cake mould with various fish inside. It sounds absolutely rank, however, with a bit of spicy mayo, tasted quite nice. We also tried 'fromage blanc' for the first time, which I fell in love with. Its a mix between cheese and yogurt, covered in sugar, jam or honey and its for dessert. Just beautiful. Of couse accompanied with every meal and course, is wine. Amazing, beautiful, delicious wine. The french have mastered cuisine. One of my cousins is a scuba diver, so he took us to his training pool where we got to try it. His friends taught myself and matt seperately. Matt has already been scuba diving, so he didn't really need to learn any of it, however for me, this was a first. I loved it. My coach didn't speak a word of english, and my french isn't strong enough to have done a whole lesson in underwater breathing, so we met in the middle with spanish. It was a really unique experience, and hopefully one day I will be able to do this in the sea. We spent a full day seeing the Lyon Basilica, roman ruins of an amphitheatre, and a movie museum, This same day we ate in a restaurant called Les Lyonnaise where we tried Fois Grois. Now if you don't already know what this is, don't google it, just try it first.. then you can ask what you've eaten. It is delicious though. Sylvie took us to a mining museum which was really interesting as well. There was so much that we did in France, we were sad to leave. As the two weeks came to a close, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Barcelona.
For some reason, we only booked one night in Barcelona, Spain which was very stupid of us. Barcelona is not a one nighter, it needs at least 3 days I'd say, so we will definitely be re-visiting one day. We stayed in Hostel One Sants, which was a fairly decent hostel. There was only about 15 people staying in the hostel that night, and what should have been a four share ended up just being a room for matt and I. We played Kings Cup that night with about 13 of our fellow roomies, and had lots of Sangria. The following day we went into Barcelona and wandered around a little bit, then headed to the zoo. For some reason, Matt and I always end up going to the zoo. It was quite a big zoo with a variety of animals, worth a visit. When we went to the Sagrada Familia, it was half under construction and had an enourmous cue. Unfortunately we were on a time crunch so we didn't get to go in, however it was beautiful from what we could see. We went to Park Guell and got to wander around for a little bit. The architecture and views of the city were stunning. Barcelona was a flying visit, and we were off to Madrid, Spain. Back to the airport we went!
Once in Madrid we headed to Flat5Madrid, our hostel for the couple of nights. This was so much better than a hostel, and we had a private room. So although we didn't have the hostel atmosphere, we had a very comfy bed and a hot shower, which was better! I lived in Madrid for 3 months when I was 16, so I turned into a mini tour guide for Matt. It was really nice being back in Madrid, and being able to show Matt that part of my life. During the couple days, Matt felt a bit sick, so we ended up just hanging out in Retiro park for quite a bit. We did manage to go to the San Miguel Market though and try out some beautiful tapas and sidra. Then it was time to head even further south, to Tenerife.
In Tenerife, we stayed with one of the guys we had met whilst working at Butlins. Turner hosted us for what ended up being three weeks. The majority of this consisted of breakfast at Legends Bar, some form of rugby down at Paddys Bar, and a whole lot of sangria and beach time! It was beautiful with hot weather almost everyday and black sandy beaches right on our door step. We did one day trip to Loro Parque. This is similar to Marineland and Seaworld, but with much better treatment of the animals. We saw quite a few whales, dolphins, sealions and birds. Tenerife was a lot of fun, but it was time to get back to the rest of europe.
We had a sleepover in London Gatwick, as that was the cheapest way to get out of Tenerife, and into Milan, Italy. Milan, in three words.. Do Not Go. This city is so dirty, and expensive. When you think fashion capital, this is the last city that should come to mind. There is nothing worth seeing here, massive waste of time. So lets move on. Another day, another airport, off to Rome now.
Rome is a weird one. It wasn't exactly what I had expected. Basically I think Rome is a big tourist trap. There are some truly fascinating things to see within Rome, for example the Colusseum, but because of how many tourists come each year, the prices in this city are extreme. We took a guided tour of the Colusseum which was really interesting, Tiberius really knew his stuff! We spent alot of the time just wandering the city, where we came across the Pantheon and saw a couple get engaged at the Trevi Fountain. We briefly passed the spanish steps as well. Whilst in Rome, for Matts birthday we went to see the Six Nations England vs Italy rugby match with one of Matts best mates from home, Feasey & his girlfriend, Lauri. It was really nice catching up with them for the weekend and having some drinks and meals too. England of course won that game and the atmosphere was phenomenal. Hearing upwards of 20,000 englishmen singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot, all together followed by a mexican wave, was a pretty cool Saturday afternoon. We spent a full day in the Vatican, which literally has too much artwork to comprehend. Without a tour guide I found all of it overwhelming and wasn't exactly sure on what I was looking at. When we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel, I couldn't even find the picture I was looking for!!!! That was really annoying, but looking back on it, kind of funny. A friend of mine, Michelle, lived in Rome a couple years ago and had some advice on things to do and see, so we followed that. We went to the best ice cream place in our lives. It's called Frigidarium. I had their own home made flavor and stracciatella, which I then had dipped in heated dark chocolate. It was unbelievable. Thanks Michelle, we owe you one! Lastly, our hostel. We stayed in Thousand Sunny Hostel. This was a little appartment where we shared a 4 share room with an ensuite washroom. This hostel was really clean with some awesome staff and an adorable dog named Zoro. He was bad ass. Our next stop, Naples.
We took a high speed train from Rome to Naples and by accident booked business class. This is an awesome accident. For the first and probably last time on this trip, I felt rich! It was the first class of trains, we loved it. We almost didn't come to Naples because of how dangerous everyone said that it was, however after already paying for the train and hostel, we couldn't justify not coming. So we gave it a shot. Upon arriving at the train station we took the sketchiest taxi ride of our lives. We were dropped off a good distance from the hostel at close to 11pm, when we heard this little old man shout down from the balcony that he was Giovanni. So up the stairs we went to Giovannis Home. This was the best hostel we had stayed in so far. We had free dinner almost every night, even lunch on some days. We booked an 8 share room, which he ended up giving to just us for the whole 4 nights so we could have some privacy, that was really nice. The atmosphere was great and we made some good travelling friends, Devon & Emma. We went around the central area of Naples and did the underground tunnels as well which were interesting. We spent a full day seeing Erculano, and Pompeii which was bigger than I thought. Of course, we climbed to the top of Mount Vesuvious, THAT is what I call a hike. Naples was awesome, but I would only recommend going here if you stay with Giovanni as he made us feel like we were in a home away from home with the best advice possible.
Now to bring us up to date. Venice. We flew from Naples into Venice, which is where we are right now. Venice is so surreal. Its hard to describe, my advice, come and see it for yourself. We ended up meeting up with Devon and Emma as they were spending the weekend in Generator Hostel as well. We met another canadian called MC who is studying in France, and we hung out with them for the weekend. Together we went to Murano and Burano, two of Venices islands which are famous for their blown glass and lace work. Each house is a different bright colour, it looks like a cartoon. One of the prettiest places I have ever been. We also did the typical tourist trip of a Gondola Ride. This was awesome, 80 euros for 6 people to split, so it worked out to be quite cheap. We have eaten at Alfredo's alot, which is one of the best pasta places i've ever been to! We have 3 more nights here in Venice, then we are off to Greece!
Sorry this post was so long, but at least you know what kind of shenanigans I've been up to for the past two years!
I finished off my two year working visa in February of this year. I was a Redcoat at Butlins, in Bognor Regis for the full two years. It was a really cool experience. I continued to grow within the job, and ended up being one of the main DJs. I stayed on for the adult break only period of the year, both years and DJd some pretty awesome nights. I stuck with the activities team, and met some amazing families through the kids clubs, particularly VIP, which was the teens. I was put in the Redcoat Game show, which I fell over on stage, was covered in cream pie and the girls ended up winning that night against the boys! I also became really good friends with a dinosaur named Ludo.. if you catch my drift. I have to say these were the highlights of my job.
If we put the job to the side for a minute, lets talk about the social. I celebrated my 19th birthday with a redneck theme, then topped it the following year, on my 20th with 'costumes starting with C'. I was a Canadian Flag, Matt was Captain America, and some other costumes were cave people, a candy cane, a care bear, etc. Around Halloween both years, I went to Thorpe Park with the entertainments team from Butlins to do all the haunted houses. Both years made for some great memories. Around Christmas 2013, a small handful of us spent the day in London, going to Winter Wonderland. It was amazing!! Winter Wonderland has lots of cute little bars, rides, shops and even a helter skelter. It was truly magical, one of my favorite days out in London. If you are ever in England in December, this is a must see for sure. Doesn't matter your age, as long as you believe in the magic of christmas. To end off the year, we had Gala. This is the big celebration with everyone that works at Butlins. They hand out awards, have someone famous to perform, then everyone gets drunk. Overall, always a great night!! The theme was the Great Gatsby, and the performer was Peter Andre, who definitely lip synced the whole performance, which is fine cause he is not the worlds best singer anyways! With loads of drinks vouchers as Matt and I were both leaving, we didn't have to spend a pence the whole night. The following night was the entertainment only party.This night wasn't as much fun, as it was a bit emotional saying goodbye to the good friends I had made whilst working on the resort. Overall, looking back on the two years, I feel that I grew up a significant amount in such a short time. I left Canada as a teen fresh out of high school, but I'll be coming home with a new outlook on life and the importance of family. Also, how lucky I am, that minimum wage in Canada isn't £4.13!!!
Now for the rest of Europe! To start, Matt and I moved into his parents house for the month of January. When we finished our contracts and parties, they came down with a van to load up our little appartment, then we drove home with his friend Chaz. It was a great month with lots of planning, pub days and clay pigeon shooting. February 3rd, just a few days before I had to legally be out of England, we headed to Ashford International. This is the train station that took us into Disneyland Paris. What better way to start 4 months of backpacking, then in Disney?! We stayed in the Santa Fe hotel for two nights, with three days of both park passes. The kid at heart was unleashed, and whether or not he will admit to it, Matt enjoyed Disney too! We both got our picture taken with Buzz Lightyear.. Yes thats right, THE Buzz Lightyear. He's kind of a big deal. I also took a picture with Captain Hook, Mr.Schmee, Tigger, eey ore, Stitch, Queen of Hearts, Pinoccio, Gipetto, Pluto, Goofy and the main man himself, Mickey. We watched all the parades and went on all the rides. My favorite would be a close draw between Buzz Lightyears & Finding Nemos. Both amazing, and more designed for kids, but I loved it. We watched the fireworks and show on the castle both nights as well.
On February 5th, we packed the bags, and took a train into Paris. We stayed at St.Christophers Inn Hostel, which was probably a bad idea, as it set the bar quite high for the rest of the hostels to live up to! It was so clean, and funky. Our bed was really comfortable and we got a private room to ourselves, so we didn't have that typical hostel experience just yet. We spent just one day in Paris as I had been there before, and Matt wasn't very interested in France. We did the typical tourist thing of going up the Eiffel Tower. We opted for the stairs, because the elevator had a really big cue, and the stairs were half the price. This now makes perfect sense to me why no one was lining up for the stairs. It was pissing down with rain and very windy that day. Walking up the Eiffel Tower was cold, and wet. If you've got the budget, take the lift. We took our touristy picture from the top, then walked back down, and headed back to the hostel for a hard earned pint of 'Frogs Bollocks', this was the beer on tap.
The following day we headed back to the train station, this time heading south to Lyon, France. Here lives quite a bit of my family. They are my second & third cousins, and my great aunt and uncle. Unfortunately, mine and Matts french when we arrived was very little, and my families english was the same. The first couple days was a bit of a nightmare when it came to the translation. By the end of it, they were speaking english, and I was speaking french, it was great! We stayed here for two weeks and they took us out on many different day trips, with alot of french cuisine in between it all. We went to a zoo on the outskirts of Lyon that is quite famous because of the gorilla named Digit. He lives in the owners house in his own little room. He also has a regular gorilla area with the other gorilla's but at night sleeps in the owners house. It had picturesque views everywhere and lots of beautiful animals. Because it was mid-february, they only people in the entire zoo were my family! It was like a private tour. During our stay it was my third cousins 14th birthday, so we went to that house for a meal. We tried fish cake.. this was basically a jello type dish which sets inside a cake mould with various fish inside. It sounds absolutely rank, however, with a bit of spicy mayo, tasted quite nice. We also tried 'fromage blanc' for the first time, which I fell in love with. Its a mix between cheese and yogurt, covered in sugar, jam or honey and its for dessert. Just beautiful. Of couse accompanied with every meal and course, is wine. Amazing, beautiful, delicious wine. The french have mastered cuisine. One of my cousins is a scuba diver, so he took us to his training pool where we got to try it. His friends taught myself and matt seperately. Matt has already been scuba diving, so he didn't really need to learn any of it, however for me, this was a first. I loved it. My coach didn't speak a word of english, and my french isn't strong enough to have done a whole lesson in underwater breathing, so we met in the middle with spanish. It was a really unique experience, and hopefully one day I will be able to do this in the sea. We spent a full day seeing the Lyon Basilica, roman ruins of an amphitheatre, and a movie museum, This same day we ate in a restaurant called Les Lyonnaise where we tried Fois Grois. Now if you don't already know what this is, don't google it, just try it first.. then you can ask what you've eaten. It is delicious though. Sylvie took us to a mining museum which was really interesting as well. There was so much that we did in France, we were sad to leave. As the two weeks came to a close, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Barcelona.
For some reason, we only booked one night in Barcelona, Spain which was very stupid of us. Barcelona is not a one nighter, it needs at least 3 days I'd say, so we will definitely be re-visiting one day. We stayed in Hostel One Sants, which was a fairly decent hostel. There was only about 15 people staying in the hostel that night, and what should have been a four share ended up just being a room for matt and I. We played Kings Cup that night with about 13 of our fellow roomies, and had lots of Sangria. The following day we went into Barcelona and wandered around a little bit, then headed to the zoo. For some reason, Matt and I always end up going to the zoo. It was quite a big zoo with a variety of animals, worth a visit. When we went to the Sagrada Familia, it was half under construction and had an enourmous cue. Unfortunately we were on a time crunch so we didn't get to go in, however it was beautiful from what we could see. We went to Park Guell and got to wander around for a little bit. The architecture and views of the city were stunning. Barcelona was a flying visit, and we were off to Madrid, Spain. Back to the airport we went!
Once in Madrid we headed to Flat5Madrid, our hostel for the couple of nights. This was so much better than a hostel, and we had a private room. So although we didn't have the hostel atmosphere, we had a very comfy bed and a hot shower, which was better! I lived in Madrid for 3 months when I was 16, so I turned into a mini tour guide for Matt. It was really nice being back in Madrid, and being able to show Matt that part of my life. During the couple days, Matt felt a bit sick, so we ended up just hanging out in Retiro park for quite a bit. We did manage to go to the San Miguel Market though and try out some beautiful tapas and sidra. Then it was time to head even further south, to Tenerife.
In Tenerife, we stayed with one of the guys we had met whilst working at Butlins. Turner hosted us for what ended up being three weeks. The majority of this consisted of breakfast at Legends Bar, some form of rugby down at Paddys Bar, and a whole lot of sangria and beach time! It was beautiful with hot weather almost everyday and black sandy beaches right on our door step. We did one day trip to Loro Parque. This is similar to Marineland and Seaworld, but with much better treatment of the animals. We saw quite a few whales, dolphins, sealions and birds. Tenerife was a lot of fun, but it was time to get back to the rest of europe.
We had a sleepover in London Gatwick, as that was the cheapest way to get out of Tenerife, and into Milan, Italy. Milan, in three words.. Do Not Go. This city is so dirty, and expensive. When you think fashion capital, this is the last city that should come to mind. There is nothing worth seeing here, massive waste of time. So lets move on. Another day, another airport, off to Rome now.
Rome is a weird one. It wasn't exactly what I had expected. Basically I think Rome is a big tourist trap. There are some truly fascinating things to see within Rome, for example the Colusseum, but because of how many tourists come each year, the prices in this city are extreme. We took a guided tour of the Colusseum which was really interesting, Tiberius really knew his stuff! We spent alot of the time just wandering the city, where we came across the Pantheon and saw a couple get engaged at the Trevi Fountain. We briefly passed the spanish steps as well. Whilst in Rome, for Matts birthday we went to see the Six Nations England vs Italy rugby match with one of Matts best mates from home, Feasey & his girlfriend, Lauri. It was really nice catching up with them for the weekend and having some drinks and meals too. England of course won that game and the atmosphere was phenomenal. Hearing upwards of 20,000 englishmen singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot, all together followed by a mexican wave, was a pretty cool Saturday afternoon. We spent a full day in the Vatican, which literally has too much artwork to comprehend. Without a tour guide I found all of it overwhelming and wasn't exactly sure on what I was looking at. When we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel, I couldn't even find the picture I was looking for!!!! That was really annoying, but looking back on it, kind of funny. A friend of mine, Michelle, lived in Rome a couple years ago and had some advice on things to do and see, so we followed that. We went to the best ice cream place in our lives. It's called Frigidarium. I had their own home made flavor and stracciatella, which I then had dipped in heated dark chocolate. It was unbelievable. Thanks Michelle, we owe you one! Lastly, our hostel. We stayed in Thousand Sunny Hostel. This was a little appartment where we shared a 4 share room with an ensuite washroom. This hostel was really clean with some awesome staff and an adorable dog named Zoro. He was bad ass. Our next stop, Naples.
We took a high speed train from Rome to Naples and by accident booked business class. This is an awesome accident. For the first and probably last time on this trip, I felt rich! It was the first class of trains, we loved it. We almost didn't come to Naples because of how dangerous everyone said that it was, however after already paying for the train and hostel, we couldn't justify not coming. So we gave it a shot. Upon arriving at the train station we took the sketchiest taxi ride of our lives. We were dropped off a good distance from the hostel at close to 11pm, when we heard this little old man shout down from the balcony that he was Giovanni. So up the stairs we went to Giovannis Home. This was the best hostel we had stayed in so far. We had free dinner almost every night, even lunch on some days. We booked an 8 share room, which he ended up giving to just us for the whole 4 nights so we could have some privacy, that was really nice. The atmosphere was great and we made some good travelling friends, Devon & Emma. We went around the central area of Naples and did the underground tunnels as well which were interesting. We spent a full day seeing Erculano, and Pompeii which was bigger than I thought. Of course, we climbed to the top of Mount Vesuvious, THAT is what I call a hike. Naples was awesome, but I would only recommend going here if you stay with Giovanni as he made us feel like we were in a home away from home with the best advice possible.
Now to bring us up to date. Venice. We flew from Naples into Venice, which is where we are right now. Venice is so surreal. Its hard to describe, my advice, come and see it for yourself. We ended up meeting up with Devon and Emma as they were spending the weekend in Generator Hostel as well. We met another canadian called MC who is studying in France, and we hung out with them for the weekend. Together we went to Murano and Burano, two of Venices islands which are famous for their blown glass and lace work. Each house is a different bright colour, it looks like a cartoon. One of the prettiest places I have ever been. We also did the typical tourist trip of a Gondola Ride. This was awesome, 80 euros for 6 people to split, so it worked out to be quite cheap. We have eaten at Alfredo's alot, which is one of the best pasta places i've ever been to! We have 3 more nights here in Venice, then we are off to Greece!
Sorry this post was so long, but at least you know what kind of shenanigans I've been up to for the past two years!
So until next time, lots of love,
Carlie xoxox
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