Got up at 5 am to make sure I saw the Arena di Verona, didn't have enough time to make it up to see Romeo or Juliet's house. Cool little town. Will have to come out here when I am traveling with someone else ;-) and will actually go into Venice (not Mestre station which is what I saw, filled with industrial complexes and far from the island).
That 4 hours of sleep was amazing. Haven't got that much in the last few days. Pretty sure napping on the trains is the only reason I am still functional. Plus, coffee.
Getting checked in Ancona and boarding was a huge mess. They do not have clear directions at all, and I was definitely told opposite things at least 3 times on where to go and what to do.
Really looking forward to Athens with Tiago (Portuguese party guy from the looks of it) and hopefully meet up with Efi for a drink then spending relaxed days in the capital cities (Rome, Paris, etc.) No agenda, just figuring it out when time comes. Need to find more hosts or else book hostels to find some people to party with.
Anyways, just chilling on deck watching the ship's wake.
---
Conglemeration of Twitter posts
Starting to get lazy. If I were to cover bits and pieces of the last few days or so. These would be some of the posts.
Uh oh, recognizing the Slovenian immigration officer. I think he remembers me too.
Forgetting what some fruits and vegetables look like #traveleating #bread
Oh, thank god, a salad! #jubilation
Cheek kissing is awesome. #germangirls
Shit shit shit. #everytimeiamcatchingatrain
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Croatia?!
Riding to Zagreb from Vienna! Slovenian countryside is truly amazing. This is up there with riding through Austria.
Whew 10 hours on the train. Youthful feel to the city. Less refined then the other parts I have been to in Europe I guess. Anyways, couldn't get ahold of Marko using my phone, but got to know a Croatian girl sitting next to me the train and was kind enough to let me borrow hers. A PhD in physics, she definitely already looked smart. Told me about how the Pope was coming into town hence heavy security as well as the town festival.
Train station wasn't all that inviting. Contrast with Marko, who was one of the most hospitable people I have ever met in my life. Seriously, he should get an award. Made me dinner spontaneously, drinks, etc. He finished dental school but needs to do a year or two in practice before he can get his own license. Super sweet pad and great host, could not have asked for better. Went to a jazz club, had some mediocre Croatian beer (after having had Czech beer and having had Belgian ales before... no contest). Walked around the main sights in town, lots of events going on. We both had 4 tall ones by the time we met his friends at the movies. Anyways, getting a bit of sleep finally before Plitvice tomorrow, the whole reason I came!
Next day: with 2 of his friends we were off to Plitvice Lakes. Google it. Seriously amazing. About 2.5 hour drive. That was pretty much our day, hiking trails and checking out the lakes and waterfalls. A few boat rides across the lakes. Had no idea about them until James Liu told me that one day he visited Rice and was telling about his ridiculous Europe trip. So nice to get out of the cities every few days. Can only see so many churches and other buildings at a time before I get bored.
--
Complete clusterfuck of traveling trying to leave!
Train Zagreb - Villach (missed, due to wrong bus)
Bus Villach - Venice (missed, train arrived a few minutes after)
Train Villach - Verona (missed, bus was late, literally pounding on the door button to get on)
-25EU online bus ticket (barely missed this bus, but had to buy another ticket for the bus 3 hours later)
-20EU for other bed in Verona. Could only find doubles. Great bed and breakfast nonetheless.
-10EU for reservation on train that locked its doors and I frantically tried to open. My damn bus was late. The bus I ended up taking was twice as long of a ride and packed.
Starting to get a bit broken down from all these traveling fails. Oh well, booked an amazing room in Verona, Italy to relax tonight before going to Ancona for the ferry to Greece!
...
Way late for check-in. The woman had left to run errands but we agreed to meet back at 10 pm so she could give me the key and so on. Despite all that, very awesome service. Would probably stay here if I was coming again.
Whew 10 hours on the train. Youthful feel to the city. Less refined then the other parts I have been to in Europe I guess. Anyways, couldn't get ahold of Marko using my phone, but got to know a Croatian girl sitting next to me the train and was kind enough to let me borrow hers. A PhD in physics, she definitely already looked smart. Told me about how the Pope was coming into town hence heavy security as well as the town festival.
Train station wasn't all that inviting. Contrast with Marko, who was one of the most hospitable people I have ever met in my life. Seriously, he should get an award. Made me dinner spontaneously, drinks, etc. He finished dental school but needs to do a year or two in practice before he can get his own license. Super sweet pad and great host, could not have asked for better. Went to a jazz club, had some mediocre Croatian beer (after having had Czech beer and having had Belgian ales before... no contest). Walked around the main sights in town, lots of events going on. We both had 4 tall ones by the time we met his friends at the movies. Anyways, getting a bit of sleep finally before Plitvice tomorrow, the whole reason I came!
Next day: with 2 of his friends we were off to Plitvice Lakes. Google it. Seriously amazing. About 2.5 hour drive. That was pretty much our day, hiking trails and checking out the lakes and waterfalls. A few boat rides across the lakes. Had no idea about them until James Liu told me that one day he visited Rice and was telling about his ridiculous Europe trip. So nice to get out of the cities every few days. Can only see so many churches and other buildings at a time before I get bored.
--
Complete clusterfuck of traveling trying to leave!
Train Zagreb - Villach (missed, due to wrong bus)
Bus Villach - Venice (missed, train arrived a few minutes after)
Train Villach - Verona (missed, bus was late, literally pounding on the door button to get on)
-25EU online bus ticket (barely missed this bus, but had to buy another ticket for the bus 3 hours later)
-20EU for other bed in Verona. Could only find doubles. Great bed and breakfast nonetheless.
-10EU for reservation on train that locked its doors and I frantically tried to open. My damn bus was late. The bus I ended up taking was twice as long of a ride and packed.
Starting to get a bit broken down from all these traveling fails. Oh well, booked an amazing room in Verona, Italy to relax tonight before going to Ancona for the ferry to Greece!
...
Way late for check-in. The woman had left to run errands but we agreed to meet back at 10 pm so she could give me the key and so on. Despite all that, very awesome service. Would probably stay here if I was coming again.
Vienna
Back to Austria.
Nice walk around all the sites in the afternoon. Daniel showed me all the sites (Imperial Palace, etc. etc. [pick up any travel book]) and also the University of Vienna which had an amazing quad. Funny, goofy guy. Also, he is about 6'4" didnt expect him to be so tall. The famous St. Charles church in town center (Stephensplatz) was all pimped out, trust me not poor choice of words. Also, there was epic Star Wars music playing, a bizarre scene.
Rained in the afternoon so no wake boarding, unfortunately. Was really looking forward to that. Hung out with flat mates. Fun group of guys. In a very Austrian manner, ended eating loads of meat and bread that evening. I don't think they believe in fruits and veggies.
Several hours later... Christoph's 28th birthday. Pretty sure I had 4L of beer (so easy to know when you drink 0.5L at a time) and about 7 games of bowling (I actually got much better as the night went on), hanging around later night ended at 3:30. His girlfriend and other friends from Cologne had come in as a surprise. Nice people, a party bunch. Did the European cheek kiss goodbye thing and headed back. Had to get up at 5:15 for morning train.
1 hour of sleep >_>
Nice walk around all the sites in the afternoon. Daniel showed me all the sites (Imperial Palace, etc. etc. [pick up any travel book]) and also the University of Vienna which had an amazing quad. Funny, goofy guy. Also, he is about 6'4" didnt expect him to be so tall. The famous St. Charles church in town center (Stephensplatz) was all pimped out, trust me not poor choice of words. Also, there was epic Star Wars music playing, a bizarre scene.
Rained in the afternoon so no wake boarding, unfortunately. Was really looking forward to that. Hung out with flat mates. Fun group of guys. In a very Austrian manner, ended eating loads of meat and bread that evening. I don't think they believe in fruits and veggies.
Several hours later... Christoph's 28th birthday. Pretty sure I had 4L of beer (so easy to know when you drink 0.5L at a time) and about 7 games of bowling (I actually got much better as the night went on), hanging around later night ended at 3:30. His girlfriend and other friends from Cologne had come in as a surprise. Nice people, a party bunch. Did the European cheek kiss goodbye thing and headed back. Had to get up at 5:15 for morning train.
1 hour of sleep >_>
Friday, May 27, 2011
Buda...best. Seriously.
Shout out to the couple from Atlanta! Thanks for the good company and beer :-)
I regret not staying longer in Budapest, especially over a few weekends to really experience the nightlife (Google 'ruined pubs'). Off all the cities thus far, I feel like I could have stayed here for months on end,
Anyways, back to what Budapest was like, I got into. Keleti train station. Managed to find my way to the street my host, Lajos, lived on. However, I could not figure out for the life of me which building it was. So I rang someone random on #46, they spoke some incredibly unintelligible Hungarian and I got rung in, take note Ramya! Anyways, I walked into this incredibly dark stairwell, keep in mind it was the middle of the day, Imagine the abandoned building from the Matrix, but without 99% of the set lights. It was at this point I was getting a bit worried. However, I was fortunate enough to survive walking around there for several minutes but then made a call to Lajos who was actually in the much better lit building next door,
"Hello, Mr. Norman!", greetings, etc. I thought it was hilarious he was calling me Mr. Norman with his Hungarian accent. Anyways, first thing we did when we got into his awesome IKEA-furnished flat was take shots of his homemade undistilled apricot and herbs+lemon palinka (45%). They were both quite good, definitely something new after all the beer consumption in Europe, thus far. I could tell already this was an eccentric fellow with his vast book collection, NFC parking meter prototypes (turns out he is an embedded systems programmer) in the surfer room, antique camera, never mind all our communications preceding including him telling me to take a shot in the bathroom at Keleti, all the jokes and sarcasm as well. I didn't really come to Budapest with a plan, so in a rush he suggested I check out the one of the famous bathhouses. He introduced me to his beloved orange VW Transporter (3rd generation) aka the bus from Scooby-Doo. So, after eating he dropped me off at Szechenyi Bath. I came just with swim trunks in hand and was quite aloof of all that had just happened. The bath was amazing, with a main "pool" area, several saunas, ice pools, and all sorts of other temperature, aroma, etc, variations. I will never forget coming out of the hottest sauna i have ever exoerienced and then jumping into a cold bath of 18C. I chatted with a Canadian tour group of mid-20ers, not wanting to just be there alone. Couple of cuties who looked remarkably like Camerian Diaz (pre- bad aging) and a thinner "Sloane" from Entourage. It was a good time and well worth the 2600 florencs (about 190 per USD).
Not having a map and remembering one of the turns I had to make coming back, I got really lost on the way back. The only marker I really had in mind was a cool building with a shattered glass and metal look that Deloitte had. About 45 minutes later Lajos picked me up from godknowswhere. His girlfriend Margarita was with him. He drove us aro und both Buda and Pest pointing out the buildings, discussing history, and so on. It was late at this point so we went to Gellety Hill for several amazing views. I would have to say the view of the Danube, the city lights, and all of it together made up for the best view of this trip thus far.
Something that I will never forget is when we were atop the hill with some of the few statues kept from the Communist era, I wanted to take a picture of a few since I thought I had a good view. However, before I did Margarita asked if I knew what I was taking a picture of. I couldn't answer her and so we got into the history of why the Communists used the George fights the 7 headed dragon story, which I completely forgot not being Catholic and all. Anyways, from now on I will make sure I know what I am taking a picture of so it is more than a visceral response of "this is pretty, let me take a picture."
Came back and discussed classical music after he found out I played violin and piano. Some Shostakovich with Oistrakh, his favorite violinist. I am a Heifetz man myself, but Oistrakh was truly a great as well. Got some other Hungarians in as well like Bartok and Liszt. I think Lajos loved nightcaps because I had another shot of something.
---
Spent the next day doing everything on the comprehensive hop in hop off Budaoest Sightseeing buses and as well as a boat ride on the Danube and a couple hours spent on Margaret Island, apparently where everyone goes to run. This is definitely the way to go, in order to see what's around, understand some history, and get as much in as possible before further exploration. Won't go into all of it, you will have to experience Budapest yourself :-)
Got back to Lajos' flat around 10pm after being out all day. Tried traditional Hungarian bread (origins dated back to 16th century). Made delicus sandwiches with some amazing cheese he had bought as Well. Took shots of Borovichka and some other palinka probably about 2am at this point. Found out about his enjoyment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Lol. As he said before, he didn't believe in art just entertainment. We watched an episode where one of the major characters was killed, and then an operatic song comes on. He recognized it afterwards we listened to a selecton from Puccini's La Boheme while smoking cigarettes. I was reading the booklet from the CD and at the end of Act 1 that song occurs when two neighbors suddenly fall in love, which similarly happened in Buffy before the woman was killed.
Discussed the ridiculousness that is English and also, Hungarian whereby they append nouns with a million different suffixes to describe it. was really tired by this point so I packed a bit and made sure to set my alarm early to make the Vienna train in the morning.
I regret not staying longer in Budapest, especially over a few weekends to really experience the nightlife (Google 'ruined pubs'). Off all the cities thus far, I feel like I could have stayed here for months on end,
Anyways, back to what Budapest was like, I got into. Keleti train station. Managed to find my way to the street my host, Lajos, lived on. However, I could not figure out for the life of me which building it was. So I rang someone random on #46, they spoke some incredibly unintelligible Hungarian and I got rung in, take note Ramya! Anyways, I walked into this incredibly dark stairwell, keep in mind it was the middle of the day, Imagine the abandoned building from the Matrix, but without 99% of the set lights. It was at this point I was getting a bit worried. However, I was fortunate enough to survive walking around there for several minutes but then made a call to Lajos who was actually in the much better lit building next door,
"Hello, Mr. Norman!", greetings, etc. I thought it was hilarious he was calling me Mr. Norman with his Hungarian accent. Anyways, first thing we did when we got into his awesome IKEA-furnished flat was take shots of his homemade undistilled apricot and herbs+lemon palinka (45%). They were both quite good, definitely something new after all the beer consumption in Europe, thus far. I could tell already this was an eccentric fellow with his vast book collection, NFC parking meter prototypes (turns out he is an embedded systems programmer) in the surfer room, antique camera, never mind all our communications preceding including him telling me to take a shot in the bathroom at Keleti, all the jokes and sarcasm as well. I didn't really come to Budapest with a plan, so in a rush he suggested I check out the one of the famous bathhouses. He introduced me to his beloved orange VW Transporter (3rd generation) aka the bus from Scooby-Doo. So, after eating he dropped me off at Szechenyi Bath. I came just with swim trunks in hand and was quite aloof of all that had just happened. The bath was amazing, with a main "pool" area, several saunas, ice pools, and all sorts of other temperature, aroma, etc, variations. I will never forget coming out of the hottest sauna i have ever exoerienced and then jumping into a cold bath of 18C. I chatted with a Canadian tour group of mid-20ers, not wanting to just be there alone. Couple of cuties who looked remarkably like Camerian Diaz (pre- bad aging) and a thinner "Sloane" from Entourage. It was a good time and well worth the 2600 florencs (about 190 per USD).
Not having a map and remembering one of the turns I had to make coming back, I got really lost on the way back. The only marker I really had in mind was a cool building with a shattered glass and metal look that Deloitte had. About 45 minutes later Lajos picked me up from godknowswhere. His girlfriend Margarita was with him. He drove us aro und both Buda and Pest pointing out the buildings, discussing history, and so on. It was late at this point so we went to Gellety Hill for several amazing views. I would have to say the view of the Danube, the city lights, and all of it together made up for the best view of this trip thus far.
Something that I will never forget is when we were atop the hill with some of the few statues kept from the Communist era, I wanted to take a picture of a few since I thought I had a good view. However, before I did Margarita asked if I knew what I was taking a picture of. I couldn't answer her and so we got into the history of why the Communists used the George fights the 7 headed dragon story, which I completely forgot not being Catholic and all. Anyways, from now on I will make sure I know what I am taking a picture of so it is more than a visceral response of "this is pretty, let me take a picture."
Came back and discussed classical music after he found out I played violin and piano. Some Shostakovich with Oistrakh, his favorite violinist. I am a Heifetz man myself, but Oistrakh was truly a great as well. Got some other Hungarians in as well like Bartok and Liszt. I think Lajos loved nightcaps because I had another shot of something.
---
Spent the next day doing everything on the comprehensive hop in hop off Budaoest Sightseeing buses and as well as a boat ride on the Danube and a couple hours spent on Margaret Island, apparently where everyone goes to run. This is definitely the way to go, in order to see what's around, understand some history, and get as much in as possible before further exploration. Won't go into all of it, you will have to experience Budapest yourself :-)
Got back to Lajos' flat around 10pm after being out all day. Tried traditional Hungarian bread (origins dated back to 16th century). Made delicus sandwiches with some amazing cheese he had bought as Well. Took shots of Borovichka and some other palinka probably about 2am at this point. Found out about his enjoyment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Lol. As he said before, he didn't believe in art just entertainment. We watched an episode where one of the major characters was killed, and then an operatic song comes on. He recognized it afterwards we listened to a selecton from Puccini's La Boheme while smoking cigarettes. I was reading the booklet from the CD and at the end of Act 1 that song occurs when two neighbors suddenly fall in love, which similarly happened in Buffy before the woman was killed.
Discussed the ridiculousness that is English and also, Hungarian whereby they append nouns with a million different suffixes to describe it. was really tired by this point so I packed a bit and made sure to set my alarm early to make the Vienna train in the morning.
On route to Budapest
Tried my Capital One this morning as it was finally removed from the Fraud hold. it worked! Hallelujah, I can blow all my money now. Had to pick up a bottle of Krusovice for my Budapest host. It was 10 korun. Less than 0.4 euro, this must be some shit stuff. Or just cheap, it is Czech beer after all, arguably some of the best in the world. Excited about those Belgian ales.
Looked truly ridiculous with my backpack, water pack, while holding some bread and toting a bottle of shitty beer across town.
Barely caught the train again. 1 minute to spare. I should really stop this. Had to make sure I picked up a burger for lunch >_> I don't think I have caught anything on time this entire trip except for the Munich->Salzburg train.
Long ride ahead. 7 hours?
Wow. Getting the iPad Bloomsberg Businessweek and Plants vs. Zombies was critical. Passes the time fast. Need to refer a bunch of articles to people after I get Internet.
Met a group of 4 from Cal (aka Berkeley). Really nerdy bunch but cool enough. One of the guys was working at a startup with the long term goal of social entrepreneurship which of course I thought was awesome.
Czech Republic and Slovakia look the same. Also, 17.5 euro to pass through Slovakia border to border since it's not covered on the
Looked truly ridiculous with my backpack, water pack, while holding some bread and toting a bottle of shitty beer across town.
Barely caught the train again. 1 minute to spare. I should really stop this. Had to make sure I picked up a burger for lunch >_> I don't think I have caught anything on time this entire trip except for the Munich->Salzburg train.
Long ride ahead. 7 hours?
Wow. Getting the iPad Bloomsberg Businessweek and Plants vs. Zombies was critical. Passes the time fast. Need to refer a bunch of articles to people after I get Internet.
Met a group of 4 from Cal (aka Berkeley). Really nerdy bunch but cool enough. One of the guys was working at a startup with the long term goal of social entrepreneurship which of course I thought was awesome.
Czech Republic and Slovakia look the same. Also, 17.5 euro to pass through Slovakia border to border since it's not covered on the
Prague!
Prague
What a beautiful city, especially at night. Woe to the man that takes a woman around Prague on a date and cant get any. You have to seriously lack game. Got in pretty late since I chilled at Stef's about 2pm instead of doing the morning trains. Was tired, had to plan Rome and had a change of heart about the route I wanted to take post Greece.
Met up with Carlo, my "Italian raised/studied in Finland/working in Prague" host, in the New Town Square. Ate a super late dinner at this nice vegetarian place. Realized really quickly that Prague was cheaper than most of Europe. The 24.5 korun = 1 euro conversions weren't too difficult.
Discussed 40-year old man stuff (politics, economy, culture) with Carlo, a quite intelligent guy, and fluent in many languages. His Czech was quite good and he was learning from a Czech person in exchange for tutoring Italian.
He lives about 30 minutes from Old Town so we took the tram. I won't forget how beautiful Charles Bridge looks at night. or Korluv most :-) We walked across that as he continue to explain the history of the key buildings, statues, and so on.
---
New plan below:
6/4-6/7
Bari->Rome
6/8
Rome->Florence
Florence->Pisa
Pisa->La spezia
6/9
La Spezia-Florence
Florence-Zurich
6/10
Zurich
6/11
Zurich-Bern
Bern-Interlaken
(stay at Ballmer's)
6/12
Interlaken - canyoning, holyshitsoexcited
6/13
Interlaken-Bern
Bern-Barcelona (overnight)
6/14-6/18
Barcelona
6/19
Barcelona-Madrid
Madrid-Toledo
6/20-6/22
Madrid + Sevilla
6/23
Madrid-Paris (overnight)
6/24-6/27
Paris
6/28
Paris-Cologne
Cologne-Amsterdam
6/29-6/30
Amsterdam
7/1
Amsterdam-Copenhagen
7/3
Copenhagen-Hamburg
Hamburg-Berlin
7/5
Berlin-Frankfurt
---
Got up way too late. Was exhausted. The night before Carlo recommended I go to Vsheyrad, a place where very few tourists go, in the southern part of Prague. There was an old cathedral and gorgeous parks with an amazing view of the river and some of the city. Also, there was a cemetery with many big names of Prague. Even if Carlo hadn't told me you could figure it out since the tombstones were massive and ornately made. Right next to the station was a tech expo center. International IEEE Conference on Speech, Signals and something. Man, I should've applied, maybe they would have covered my airfare 8-)
Did the free New Europe tour for Prague. Wasn't as good as Sonja in Munich, but entertaining, informative, and worthwhile nonetheless. So much has happened in Prague with so many groups since its inception. Jewish Quarter in particular was fascinating. Whats crazy is that Hitler, who loved Prague deeply, preserved that Jewish ghetto because he wanted it to be a museum for an extinct race. It is the sole reason, that those buildings still exist.
Met up with his heptalingual German friend for dinner+beer. The guy had been and lived everywhere. Great restaurant. Had a 0.5L Pilsner Urquell and I have since forgotten the name of the dark beer but it was really good!
Came back late and I was tanked, plus had to take care of SimpApply, some emails, and figuring out how I would get to my hosts house in Budapest. Zzzz
What a beautiful city, especially at night. Woe to the man that takes a woman around Prague on a date and cant get any. You have to seriously lack game. Got in pretty late since I chilled at Stef's about 2pm instead of doing the morning trains. Was tired, had to plan Rome and had a change of heart about the route I wanted to take post Greece.
Met up with Carlo, my "Italian raised/studied in Finland/working in Prague" host, in the New Town Square. Ate a super late dinner at this nice vegetarian place. Realized really quickly that Prague was cheaper than most of Europe. The 24.5 korun = 1 euro conversions weren't too difficult.
Discussed 40-year old man stuff (politics, economy, culture) with Carlo, a quite intelligent guy, and fluent in many languages. His Czech was quite good and he was learning from a Czech person in exchange for tutoring Italian.
He lives about 30 minutes from Old Town so we took the tram. I won't forget how beautiful Charles Bridge looks at night. or Korluv most :-) We walked across that as he continue to explain the history of the key buildings, statues, and so on.
---
New plan below:
6/4-6/7
Bari->Rome
6/8
Rome->Florence
Florence->Pisa
Pisa->La spezia
6/9
La Spezia-Florence
Florence-Zurich
6/10
Zurich
6/11
Zurich-Bern
Bern-Interlaken
(stay at Ballmer's)
6/12
Interlaken - canyoning, holyshitsoexcited
6/13
Interlaken-Bern
Bern-Barcelona (overnight)
6/14-6/18
Barcelona
6/19
Barcelona-Madrid
Madrid-Toledo
6/20-6/22
Madrid + Sevilla
6/23
Madrid-Paris (overnight)
6/24-6/27
Paris
6/28
Paris-Cologne
Cologne-Amsterdam
6/29-6/30
Amsterdam
7/1
Amsterdam-Copenhagen
7/3
Copenhagen-Hamburg
Hamburg-Berlin
7/5
Berlin-Frankfurt
---
Got up way too late. Was exhausted. The night before Carlo recommended I go to Vsheyrad, a place where very few tourists go, in the southern part of Prague. There was an old cathedral and gorgeous parks with an amazing view of the river and some of the city. Also, there was a cemetery with many big names of Prague. Even if Carlo hadn't told me you could figure it out since the tombstones were massive and ornately made. Right next to the station was a tech expo center. International IEEE Conference on Speech, Signals and something. Man, I should've applied, maybe they would have covered my airfare 8-)
Did the free New Europe tour for Prague. Wasn't as good as Sonja in Munich, but entertaining, informative, and worthwhile nonetheless. So much has happened in Prague with so many groups since its inception. Jewish Quarter in particular was fascinating. Whats crazy is that Hitler, who loved Prague deeply, preserved that Jewish ghetto because he wanted it to be a museum for an extinct race. It is the sole reason, that those buildings still exist.
Met up with his heptalingual German friend for dinner+beer. The guy had been and lived everywhere. Great restaurant. Had a 0.5L Pilsner Urquell and I have since forgotten the name of the dark beer but it was really good!
Came back late and I was tanked, plus had to take care of SimpApply, some emails, and figuring out how I would get to my hosts house in Budapest. Zzzz
Monday, May 23, 2011
Salzburg - Mozart/"sound of music" town
My first couchsurfing host!!
Stephanie, the Austrian/Australian, greeted me at the train station which was so awesome, since there wasn't an information center or anything close around there. Glorious weather too. We walked through the city, she pointed out the main attractions all the Mozart buildings, the main garden which is on the cover for any tourist guide to Salzburg. There was a small orchestra playing in the garden with quite a crowd. I got to learn about the bureaucracy and conservative nature of the town. Finally got to her place, an awesome 1 bed flat, nicely furnished.
Really got to know Stephanie a lot better on our afternoon mountain hike up about 2500ft. I thought I was adventurous and an adrenaline junkie but it's nothing compared to what she has done. In her New Zealand travels she did canyoning, canyon jumping, mountain biking. Also, her Australian adventures were just crazy with all the parties and other outings. Relatively strenuous climb with steep slopes at the end. There we a number of memorials on the way up of people who had died climbing. Stephanie surprised me with a large can of Augistiner Steigl at the top. Too awesome. It's the lager locals have been drinking since 1492 when the monks were brewing it. Different brewery from the famous local one in Munich. Already at the too you could see Salzburg, surrounding towns, Germany, Swiss Alps. I won't forget it.
Took the tram down, bastard said only local students qualified for discounts. Found out the mountain was the "Sound of Music" mountain. The town had lots of people come for Mozart (therefore, asians) and "Sound of Music" tours, since it was filmed here. She pointed out where she grew up, parents' lake house, and so on.
Ate traditional Austrian dinner of "cheese dumplings" with bacon for dinner which was kinda like a thicker mac and cheese. The plate looked relatively small but it destroyed me, so good but I couldn't finish it.
Damn, I need to find some version of her in California. No joke. Hopefully she can get a placement in the States and we can climb in the national parks in California or something of the like. Anyways, she also thoroughly convinced me I need to go road trip in England and Ireland. Recommended a hilarious book called, Round Ireland with a Fridge, I seriously want to check it out.
She knows everything about travel, as she studied in a program towards becoming an agent for 2 years, is a couch surfer, and worked in a popular hostel for many years. Having traveled extensively and been to many hostels and so forth, she has an amazing idea of the best hostel experience ever. Told me stories of having Everything stolen in Spain, how she managed to go to a party in Lisbon where she didn't know anyone or speak Portuguese but survived and got back in one piece. She wants to work for STA and then find another gig in a few years. Talked to me about her brother leading a different way of life, wanting to wear nice suits, have a nice car, get married, the normal gig. Funny how even in the same family people are so different,
Anyways, to today. Got up late. I worked furiously to try to reach some hosts in Rome. By the time we left it was 1:35. We walked across more shops and parts of town we hadn't crossed before. She left me at the bridge because she had to meet up with another couch surfer who had gotten in. This Albanian/Danish 19 year old who was biking from Denmark to somewhere in Italy?! Effing crazy.
I tried to catch the 2:10 to Linz so I could transfer to Prague. Ended up running for my life again because we had underestimated the time to walk it. All sweaty and nasty from running, i didn't make it. Got there around 2:14. Luckily I caught the 2:01 rail jet that was running 25 minutes late. It was the only other train that could make Linz in time for me to transfer to Prague.
Now I am chilling the fuck out now that I have 5+ hours on a train that should be taking me to Prague! Meeting Carlo in the evening by the university.
Stephanie, the Austrian/Australian, greeted me at the train station which was so awesome, since there wasn't an information center or anything close around there. Glorious weather too. We walked through the city, she pointed out the main attractions all the Mozart buildings, the main garden which is on the cover for any tourist guide to Salzburg. There was a small orchestra playing in the garden with quite a crowd. I got to learn about the bureaucracy and conservative nature of the town. Finally got to her place, an awesome 1 bed flat, nicely furnished.
Really got to know Stephanie a lot better on our afternoon mountain hike up about 2500ft. I thought I was adventurous and an adrenaline junkie but it's nothing compared to what she has done. In her New Zealand travels she did canyoning, canyon jumping, mountain biking. Also, her Australian adventures were just crazy with all the parties and other outings. Relatively strenuous climb with steep slopes at the end. There we a number of memorials on the way up of people who had died climbing. Stephanie surprised me with a large can of Augistiner Steigl at the top. Too awesome. It's the lager locals have been drinking since 1492 when the monks were brewing it. Different brewery from the famous local one in Munich. Already at the too you could see Salzburg, surrounding towns, Germany, Swiss Alps. I won't forget it.
Took the tram down, bastard said only local students qualified for discounts. Found out the mountain was the "Sound of Music" mountain. The town had lots of people come for Mozart (therefore, asians) and "Sound of Music" tours, since it was filmed here. She pointed out where she grew up, parents' lake house, and so on.
Ate traditional Austrian dinner of "cheese dumplings" with bacon for dinner which was kinda like a thicker mac and cheese. The plate looked relatively small but it destroyed me, so good but I couldn't finish it.
Damn, I need to find some version of her in California. No joke. Hopefully she can get a placement in the States and we can climb in the national parks in California or something of the like. Anyways, she also thoroughly convinced me I need to go road trip in England and Ireland. Recommended a hilarious book called, Round Ireland with a Fridge, I seriously want to check it out.
She knows everything about travel, as she studied in a program towards becoming an agent for 2 years, is a couch surfer, and worked in a popular hostel for many years. Having traveled extensively and been to many hostels and so forth, she has an amazing idea of the best hostel experience ever. Told me stories of having Everything stolen in Spain, how she managed to go to a party in Lisbon where she didn't know anyone or speak Portuguese but survived and got back in one piece. She wants to work for STA and then find another gig in a few years. Talked to me about her brother leading a different way of life, wanting to wear nice suits, have a nice car, get married, the normal gig. Funny how even in the same family people are so different,
Anyways, to today. Got up late. I worked furiously to try to reach some hosts in Rome. By the time we left it was 1:35. We walked across more shops and parts of town we hadn't crossed before. She left me at the bridge because she had to meet up with another couch surfer who had gotten in. This Albanian/Danish 19 year old who was biking from Denmark to somewhere in Italy?! Effing crazy.
I tried to catch the 2:10 to Linz so I could transfer to Prague. Ended up running for my life again because we had underestimated the time to walk it. All sweaty and nasty from running, i didn't make it. Got there around 2:14. Luckily I caught the 2:01 rail jet that was running 25 minutes late. It was the only other train that could make Linz in time for me to transfer to Prague.
Now I am chilling the fuck out now that I have 5+ hours on a train that should be taking me to Prague! Meeting Carlo in the evening by the university.
Neu + Munich
Disclaimer: Serious travel beginning, writing style going to crap.
Got up bright and early to go on the tour to Neuschuanstein Castle which was about two hours away by coach bus. The amazing story of 'Mad' King Ludwig II, his murder mystery, the history of the castle and so on was all very engaging. Fantastic guide from South Africa, Brad, who had been doing the tour for 11 years and knows everything and was quite fun. He's got it made as he simply lives by the castle now. Paragliding for free in return for turning tourists to the school that exists by the mountains and castles. In the winter, there is skiing to be had.
Important note: Munich - Beer capital of the world.
Sonja Crome (american) from Sandman's neweurope walking tours led us today. Completely free, the guides work strictly on a tip basis. Bumped into the girls from UF again after meeting them at another hostel the previous morning.
I have never been so engaged for 4 straight hours. Fascinated by history, folklore, etc. She knew everything from the history of stones on buildings to a very detailed account of the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Beer is heavily engrained (ha, pun) into Bavarian history. I had no idea. They have paid of national debts with it, monks have been brewing for hundreds of years, and hold the craziest traditions centering on beer. (see maypole). Discovered a new favorite beer today, with the help of the guide. It's called, or "Noble Stout" or Eidelschtaut (sp?). From the Augustinerbrau Munchen brewery.
It apparently is the Pope's favorite beer and he imports it twice a month to the Vatican. As the guides joked, since it's the Pope's favorite beer it is God's favorite beer. The brewery never spends money on advertising and only serves from wooden barrels, never metal kegs. A third of their yearly profit also goes to charity.
I am missing so many details from the past 2 days, but nevertheless this city is truly amazing. Will come back one day for Oktoberfest, for sure!!!
Got up bright and early to go on the tour to Neuschuanstein Castle which was about two hours away by coach bus. The amazing story of 'Mad' King Ludwig II, his murder mystery, the history of the castle and so on was all very engaging. Fantastic guide from South Africa, Brad, who had been doing the tour for 11 years and knows everything and was quite fun. He's got it made as he simply lives by the castle now. Paragliding for free in return for turning tourists to the school that exists by the mountains and castles. In the winter, there is skiing to be had.
Important note: Munich - Beer capital of the world.
Sonja Crome (american) from Sandman's neweurope walking tours led us today. Completely free, the guides work strictly on a tip basis. Bumped into the girls from UF again after meeting them at another hostel the previous morning.
I have never been so engaged for 4 straight hours. Fascinated by history, folklore, etc. She knew everything from the history of stones on buildings to a very detailed account of the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.
Beer is heavily engrained (ha, pun) into Bavarian history. I had no idea. They have paid of national debts with it, monks have been brewing for hundreds of years, and hold the craziest traditions centering on beer. (see maypole). Discovered a new favorite beer today, with the help of the guide. It's called, or "Noble Stout" or Eidelschtaut (sp?). From the Augustinerbrau Munchen brewery.
It apparently is the Pope's favorite beer and he imports it twice a month to the Vatican. As the guides joked, since it's the Pope's favorite beer it is God's favorite beer. The brewery never spends money on advertising and only serves from wooden barrels, never metal kegs. A third of their yearly profit also goes to charity.
I am missing so many details from the past 2 days, but nevertheless this city is truly amazing. Will come back one day for Oktoberfest, for sure!!!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Not so good
Got to the Frankfurt Hostel just fine. Great views from the balconies, also right next to the station. It happens to be next to a place called "World of Sex." Self-explanatory. Also, so many bankers and sex shops, strong correlation? I think so. Anyways, Frankfurt is a big financial services city, so there were massive bank buildings throughout. That amidst some fascinating and beautiful architecture.
As I tried to make my first withdrawal from an ATM disaster struck. My Capital One card was invalid. I had already called in last week to be approved in all the countries I would be traveling in. After an hour talking to two different reps who subsequently talked to whomever, 10 euros spent at a call shop, and being furious at the bank my debit card remains a clusterfuck, as Sean would say. Complete incompetence. I will probably chew out more of those idiots when I can find a pay phone and call collect. Usually keep my cool about these things but has become a serious problem.
Exchanged all the cash I brought and luckily my sister has another bank debit card which we can withdraw from, but I am not sure how I will cope when she has to go to her program in Copenhagen.
Ate a shawarma sandwich at the Lebanese shop, walked around for about half an hour through a park and passing lots of shops. There was a massive Euro currency symbol monument. Something Flava Flav would wear around his neck if he could.
Returned to the hostel for a chill night following up with CS messages and relaxing.
Excited about Munich despite all this!
As I tried to make my first withdrawal from an ATM disaster struck. My Capital One card was invalid. I had already called in last week to be approved in all the countries I would be traveling in. After an hour talking to two different reps who subsequently talked to whomever, 10 euros spent at a call shop, and being furious at the bank my debit card remains a clusterfuck, as Sean would say. Complete incompetence. I will probably chew out more of those idiots when I can find a pay phone and call collect. Usually keep my cool about these things but has become a serious problem.
Exchanged all the cash I brought and luckily my sister has another bank debit card which we can withdraw from, but I am not sure how I will cope when she has to go to her program in Copenhagen.
Ate a shawarma sandwich at the Lebanese shop, walked around for about half an hour through a park and passing lots of shops. There was a massive Euro currency symbol monument. Something Flava Flav would wear around his neck if he could.
Returned to the hostel for a chill night following up with CS messages and relaxing.
Excited about Munich despite all this!
Air Travel is...
Well... the beginning of this journey has been pretty un-adventerous thus far, having to fly between all these airports. With the exception of me running all the way across the long C terminal of the Washington (IAD) airport to catch my connecting flight since we were late on the one from Austin. Putting Crossfit and endurance running training to good use!
Just touched down in London.
Okay, I take all that back about adventure. I think I have set the world record for running across Heathrow Terminal 1. Barely caught my flight, which said Flight Closing by the time I was able to get to the connecting flight area to even check the status. I briefly saw a sign that said "Allow 10 minutes for walking to Gates 5, ..." anyways, i am pretty sure I did it in less than a minute. I looked for Anissa's gorgeous lookalike at Coach and Burberry in passing, but alas she was not there. Probably quit since last time I saw her was last October for the Rwanda trip.
Chilled the fuck out on the plane to Frankfurt as I was exhausted and I still haven't gotten a solid 8 hours of sleep in the past 2 weeks. Chatted with the man next to me briefly as we descended. Turns out he was coming back from a business trip and get this, the business deals with vineyards so he had some nice wines from Brasilia and England with him. One day I will probably start a mini-brewery, wine has to grow on me more before I contemplate operating a vineyard, well that and having $XX. Anyways, he mentioned how the weather was going to be a lovely 24C which would be fantastic for hanging out in the beer gardens ;-)
Just touched down in London.
Okay, I take all that back about adventure. I think I have set the world record for running across Heathrow Terminal 1. Barely caught my flight, which said Flight Closing by the time I was able to get to the connecting flight area to even check the status. I briefly saw a sign that said "Allow 10 minutes for walking to Gates 5, ..." anyways, i am pretty sure I did it in less than a minute. I looked for Anissa's gorgeous lookalike at Coach and Burberry in passing, but alas she was not there. Probably quit since last time I saw her was last October for the Rwanda trip.
Chilled the fuck out on the plane to Frankfurt as I was exhausted and I still haven't gotten a solid 8 hours of sleep in the past 2 weeks. Chatted with the man next to me briefly as we descended. Turns out he was coming back from a business trip and get this, the business deals with vineyards so he had some nice wines from Brasilia and England with him. One day I will probably start a mini-brewery, wine has to grow on me more before I contemplate operating a vineyard, well that and having $XX. Anyways, he mentioned how the weather was going to be a lovely 24C which would be fantastic for hanging out in the beer gardens ;-)
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
So it begins AKA bored at the airport
Blogs. Damn, haven't written an entry in one since having a Xanga in 10th grade. Anyways, I felt like starting this one up so people might hear about the strangers->friends I meet, their lives, and local cultures. Along the way I'm sure to accumulate some great stories, learn what pubs are the best, and party it up etc. ;-)
I have my aunt to thank who has more money than she knows what to do with for getting me this amazing iPad 2 with 3G as a graduation gift so I won't have to journal by hand and transcribe to a blog.
For those of you who don't know, I decided back in March after coming back from my two week stint in China to go backpacking in Europe, meeting up with people along the way. Don't know if the latter part of that statement will be true BUT I will be Couchsurfing (see profile) all the days I'm not with my sister which are just a few days in Germany and Denmark (maybe Sweden) at the beginning and end of the trip. CS is a network of people across the globe who open up their homes to others and share each others' cultures. Experiences vary greatly, the most raucous parties ever to a chill stay filled with intellectual conversation. I have heard nothing but great things so I knew this was something I had to do. I have informally couch surfed Stateside on both coasts but this is sure to be something else.
Hopefully, through this blog I can keep my mind occupied during the countless hours I will spend sitting on trains and at train stations. That is when I'm not chatting it up with other passengers or more likely, sleeping to make up for hardly ever sleeping ever :-P
I'm off to Europe! Cant believe it. Just last week I was frantically scrambling how to fill the 10 days that was set aside for Egypt and lengthen my 15 flex day Eurail Global Pass. Too bad that fell through... And oh yeah, graduated from college 3 days ago. Feeling a lot better after last night when I had hosts in Zagreb, Salzburg, and Prague confirmed they could host me.
So here goes my life savings and an adventure of a lifetime. Hoo ah!
My relatively set itinerary (well, at least the first half): http://bit.ly/hja8M5
Monday, May 16, 2011
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