Chilling in the city of love

I managed to make it all the way on regional trains to Lyon. When I got here I found a TGV going direct, but it had no Interrail places left, so I paid the 45 Euro to get to Paris that night rather than waiting until morning. I got in around 1am, struggled with the bus system to end up in Montparnasse station. I then took a taxi to the hostel. Saw the Eiffel tower for the first time but was not impressed, it only had 4 lights on. I arrived at around 0230 and there were still people drinking, a good sign. A guy at the bar said I could crash in a room for free but in the morning I should pretend I was just then checking in. So I got a few hours sleep, walked around the block, then checked back in. This hostel is another good one, although the shower in the room was another push button jobby. Also they had one key per room which was left at reception when no one was in.

I went out and found the meeting point for the Sandemans NewParis tour. Was shown around the city by a Canadian girl and meet 3 Kiwi girls and an Aussie girl on the tour. I heard about how the Romans slaughtered the original Parisii tribe, how the Romans tried to stop the Vikings with chains across the river, how the faces on the new bridge were drunk guests of Henry 4, how a Templar grandmaster cursed the king and pope for betraying him, how Henry 4s assassin missed his heart on his first stab and Henry told him he could do better, about revolutions, an idea to move the Louvre, how the German commander refused to destroy the city so just blew up the outer suburbs and the roof from the Grand Palais, saw the bridge and the M from Bourne Identity, Notre Dame, the new bridge, the Louvre, Cleopatra's Needle, the Arc De Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower, Grand Palias, Invalides, lots of statues.

Later that night I on went on the Montmartre tour, saw Moulin Rouge, Van Gogh's apartment, Picasso's apartment, the last remaining windmill, a city vineyard, Sacre Cour Basilica, the view of the city, Amelies cafe, the headless Saint Denis statue, the Agile Lapin cafe were Picasso swapped paintings for food. After this I went on the pub crawl. Drinks in Paris are damn expensive. still, for every one you bought you got one or two vodka orange shots from the crawl crew. I met mainly Americans here, a guy and girl from California, a Marine Cobra pilot, can not really remember the rest. went to a Irish pub and another bar, then ended up walking back to the hostel with the American girl.

Slept in the next day, then had a picnic on the banks of the seine, thought about climbing the tower and the arc but the queues were too long. I ended up doing a big long walk trying to find a supermarket. Then finally had a few drinks with a girl from Melbourne. On my last day I got up early to go out to the Normandy beaches, but didn't actually make it. I got to Bayeux and went to the museum there, but by the time I had finished I had ran out of time. The beaches are something that require a decent amount of time I think. I got back to the hostel and had some drinks with some Kiwi and English guys, went to a few bars were we met a French girl, then hung out with a girl from Brazil before calling it a night.

I just about missed the train to Calais as I had neglected to buy a souvenir before now.

Bumbling around Barcelona

Finally got to Barcelona after many small train journeys. It was very hot here and given that it was the first Saturday of the European holidays, very busy. I got in around 9pm and went straight to the hostel to wash. Then went out for some food and drink. Even though it was around 11 at night the place was still busy, although I only managed to find 2 actual pubs where I could get a drink. At the first, an Australian pub, I asked for a whiskey and coke and got a Carlsberg instead. go figure. I ended up deciding to call it an early night as I only had a few hours the next morning before I would have to catch my train. It was a shame as I think this place doesn't really get started until after midnight. Not that I was in any shape to go clubbing, what with having no shoes and all.

The next morning I had a free hostel breakfast and probably my first real breakfast of my trip. Then I spent 2 hours cramming in the sights of Barcelona before heading for the train station. The girl at the ticket office had lied to me. I spent an hour waiting for the first train to France. Now I am in the middle of the ordeal of making it to Paris when all of the direct and overnight trains are full.

Naughtiness in Nice

I didn't see much of Nice. I got in around 8 at night, found the hostel and cleaned up, then went into town for a much-needed drink. I saw a group of people heading somewhere so thought I would tag along, Turns out it was a Topdeck tour group, comprised mainly of Aussies and kiwis. I went into the bar with them and listened to a Dutch band play English and American music, hung out with a school teacher from England, and thats about all I remember. I somehow ended up further down the coast without shoes or keys, God knows what happened to them. I made my way back to the hostel but couldn't get into my room so I lay down to rest with a half-bag of cement mix for a pillow. Eventually got into the room when the manager found me. I spent the next day walking around re-hydrating, trying to find first my keys and then something to get me into my backpack. I finally found a $2 shop and got some pliers and new padlocks. I got into my bags and then started the journey to Barcelona. Or so I thought.

It had been confusing me as to why I had to go back East to Italy to go West to Spain, but there appeared to be no alternative. I tried to reserve a bed on the train from Turin to Barcelona but was told I had to do that in Turin. So I caught several trains and arrived in Turin around 9pm. Only to be told the train was full and the next one wasn't until Sunday! Met up with some girls from Iceland who were in the same predicament so we discovered there was a train to Barcelona at 8 the next morning. So I spent an uncomfortable night at the station with the two girls before catching the onwards train. But it wasn't one train, no that would be too simple. We pretty much had to change at every station we got to.

Visiting Venice

Venice was kind of disappointing. sure it had the canals, the gondolas, the old buildings, etc. But it felt like it was nothing new, having seen it all on movies. Besides, Venice is a city of romance and since I was on my own that aspect was wasted on me. Also, I have seen lots of grafitti around Europe, but I never thought I would see it on the actual islands of Venice, thats like tagging a monument or memorial. An interesting aside, bus tickets are valid on the boats, as the the only way to get around the city of Venice. I didn't end up going out in Venice for 2 reasons. A, I was damn tired and B, I could find anywhere to go! The part of town where I was staying was basically dead.

R & R in Rijeka

I found Rijeka to be a nice, relatively quiet Mediterranean city, not very pretty but it has character. It is very industrial but with development could become a nice tourist spot. I found my hostel, a small, eastern European affair, though quite nice, easily enough. Then I sat for a bit getting my land legs back after too damn long on the train. Then I met the Aussie girl who was in my room so we went to the beach. It was rather nice despite the rocky shore, near naked older people and oily slick. Later we discovered we had gone to the dirty beach and there was a better one further out. Me, I was just glad for a wash after 3 days of travel. I spent my time seeing the sights with the Aussie girl but didn't go out. It was a Monday after all and god knows I needed a decent sleep. Problem was it was too damn hot. That and in the middle of the night here was a huge thunderstorm, I got woken up by one hit I thought was an explosion.

The following day I just bimbled around town, not doing much until my train at around 2100. This one is in much better nick than the others I have seen. Only problem is I had a 5 hour layover in Pivka, somewhere in Slovenia, between 11 and 4am, before heading on to Venice. good thing I got a new book. Also, I will be back in the Eurozone, no more changing money bullshit. Oh and guess what, the train forgot to stop for me in Pivka, so I had to catch another train back to there. Good thing I had plenty of time on my hands.

Balkan struggles

It starts with the night train from Budapest. I was in a cabin with 4 people who barely spoke English and a German girl who was a bit better. It took 10 minutes of the foreigners discussing between themselves before anything got done about getting the beds ready. The cabins are small, the beds aren't great and it is always too damn hot. I didn't get much sleep and also kept getting border guards coming in for passports (and had to fill in a questionnaire about swine flu). I wouldn't recommend it but it is a good way to get between places without wasting daylight.

As for Bucharest, shit, don't even bother with Romania. The people (the ones I met) are terrible, the country is rubbish, it really doesn't have much going for it. Sure it had a revolution in 1989, but so did heaps of other eastern European countries and they came out alright. Hell, Serbia and Croatia had wars in the 90s and they are still better. two main things screwed it up for me though. First, I managed to get sucked in to an over priced taxi, even showing me a lonely planet with a fake exchange rate. Then he got really hostile when I refused to pay what they said. Then I caught a bus to a backwater border town of Romania and Bulgaria. I got off at the train station and there was no one there. I got in a taxi (I know, slow learner) but this one was legit. Only the driver was a fucking moron. When asked if you know English and you know 5 words, you say no! I ended up pulling the handbrake and taking his keys out when we got to the border crossing, fuck knows where he was taking me. I approached a Latvian family for help getting to Ruse, the Bulgarian border town, and they were much nicer than any Romanians I had met. Unfortunately they had no room, but a nice Belgian who was going to the black sea for a poker tournament took me across.

Upon enter Bulgaria, a different world. No one there was trying to screw me over, they were really friendly (even if they couldn't speak English), a woman at a cafe gave me a bottle of water, some policemen gave me directions, and a nice couple at a bar gave me money for a bus and showed me where to go. I got to the bus station and found I had to wait about 6 hours for the train. A persistent and friendly local there gave me advice, directions and changed money (I checked the rate first), even though I didn't go in his taxi. I walked to the main square and sat people-watching for a while, helped some Turkish tourists, had dinner at a nice bar, and thought to myself how much difference a simple border makes. I finally caught the train around midnight and had some drinks with an American guy on an archaeological dig and two English girls. I also got a bit of sleep, probably more here stretched between two seats than in the sleeper cabin.

I arrived in Sofia around 6 in the morning, and was stuck here for 6 hours. So I thought I would go and see a movie. Only problem, it was Sunday and nothing was open. So instead I saw some sights and had McDonald's for whatever meal it was. Sofia was a nice place but didn't get to see the full potential as I only here for a day. Caught the train around lunch for Belgrade. The entire journey took 9 hours, 6 of that was getting to bloody Serbia. The train was going slowly and kept stopping. I was in a cabin with foreigners who kept smoking outside the door and being checked over by border guards (they didn't care about me for some reason). luckily most of them got out before Serbia so I got a decent sleep on the fold down seats for a few hours. The train was only an hour late getting to Belgrade so I suppose that isn't too bad. Belgrade is an interesting city, Unfortunately didn't see any of it. I also discovered they don't change Bulgarian money in Serbia.

I decided on a sleeper cabin for the Belgrade to Zagreb leg. Once again, foreigners who didn't speak English, smoked and were too bloody noisy. I also woke up thinking I had missed my stop. No, the train was an hour late again. Zagreb is another interesting city I didn't get to see enough of. Also discovered they don't change Bulgarian or Serbian money in Croatia. Then on the Rijeka leg I had to get off and catch a bus for part of it, not really sure why. I Finally arrived in Rijeka around 10am. I did notice the further North and West we came, the better the trains got.

Hungary for a party

A very interesting place Budapest, you get off the train and on one side are old, architecturally wonderful buildings, on the other, BK, KFC, Tescos and a sex shop. Once again got lost trying to find my hostel as they don't have signs on the outside of them. Eventually I found it in a fancy protected building with a covered courtyard. The Maverick hostel was pretty small but had all the conveniences and I got to leave my luggage there all day after checking out, even got to have a shower. Met up with an Aussie guy on the train and we went to his hostel for some beer, meet some more Aussies, a German guy, a Polish/Finnish girl, and an American girl. We went out to Morrisons music club that was huge, its covered courtyard was a garden bar. I managed to meet another Aussie tour-group, and was amused by a girl who told me to fuck off, obviously thought she was all that as she had joined our group. She clearly didn't understand that while she may be regarded as attractive where she comes from, she was surrounded by much better looking women. I finally got home at 5.

3 hours sleep later I was out to see the sights, crossed the river and climbed the citadel, then caught a free walking tour at 2. It wasn't as good as the Sandemans ones but still good value. Heard a story about how the bridge would hide in the tunnel with bad weather, saw the presidents house, saw some hussars, heard about how they invaded Austria but the emperor wasn't there, listened to the blue Danube waltz, and saw a statue of a horse with shiny balls (what does shine mean on statue? someones been rubbing it!). Still, that was mainly the Buda part of the city, didn't see much of Pest at all.

Having a ball in Vienna

An amazing city, one day was not enough to see a fraction of it. I got here late in the day and went to my hostel, Meininger. A very flash place, the 4-bed dorm was fully equipped with couch, tv, shower, toilet and phone. It even had curtains around the bunks. I attempted to go on the Travelshack pub crawl but they didn't get enough numbers. Still, 12 Euro got me an hour free drinking, a free shot and a 8 Euro voucher. Funny thing I noticed, lots of Australian pubs in Austria, a bit of an oddity. Still, it was nice to have some (near enough) familiar atmosphere. I was going to call it a night as I started to come down with a migraine, however after getting lost trying to find the hostel I took some painkillers and it went away. I went back to the Travelshack and met up with 2 girls and a guy from Ireland, a Chinese guy and 2 Swedish guys. I went with them to a decent club with a free drink on entry (but no cover charge?). We got things started on the dance floor, then one of the Irish girls nicked a bottle of vodka from a second empty bar, sneaky bitch did it twice! Still, made for a great night. After leaving the club I found myself talking to 2 girls from Germany, then got lost after showing them the bus stop they needed when trying to find the hostel again, finally got in at 6am, 3.5 hours sleep and I was off to explore Vienna by day.

What did I find? some amazing and varied architecture, lots of beautiful women, and a strange amusement park that seemed trapped in time. Vienna is definitely somewhere on the return to list though.

The Prague spring

A 4 hour train journey south from Berlin to Prague was much more interesting than the trip to Berlin, passing through winding river valleys with cliff top forts and amazing scenery. I arrived in Prague with no idea of where I was or where my hostel was, I didn't even have an address to tell someone. I Eventually took the metro to the central station and found the tourist help point. Took the tram too far as the city is smaller than I thought and found the Clown and Bard hostel. A bit out of the way but very nice. Free internet, nice rooms, cheap bar, etc. The rooms are more like an apartment, with 3 rooms to a shared kitchen, foyer, shower, and bathroom. My first night there I went on the bars own pub crawl with two English girls from my room. We managed to get left behind at one bar and walked all over the place before meeting up with the group again. Prague crawls rock, a power hour with free beer, wine, vodka, or absinthe shots. Can be deadly. Also had a shot of this spirit called Becherovka, it tasted like Christmas. Saw an amazing club called Cross Club. All the furniture and decorations are made from scrap metal, it was awesome. Something like four storeys with a food counter, 2 dance floors and a chill-out bar which in stark contrast to the rest of the place is furnished in cane.

On Tuesday I took the Sandemans free walking tour of Prague, another great tour, more great stories about how the Czechs invented the tank (a cannon on a wagon protected with shields), no one noticed, protestantism was invented here by Jan Hus, no one noticed, people being thrown out of buildings (defenestration), The Germans annexing the border defences, then just waltzing in, stacked Jewish graves, cubist buildings, a Mary statue that came to life to take a thief's arm, the astronomical clock and its show, a Wagner statue being destroyed instead of a Jewish one, a communist museum next to a casino, getting the Russians lost by changing street signs and saying all villages were named the same, assassinations, a golem snatching a Nazi, sieges, revolutions and war. Followed this up by what was supposed to be a few quiets with the guy from the Isle of Mann who was in my room. ended up meeting a London lad, 2 French guys, 2 Dutch guys and 2 Dutch girls. Had more than a few quiets then went out with the English and the French. They doubted my navigation skills so instead of a half hour walk we spent an hour wandering around trying to get back to Cross Club. We eventually found it again and had absinthe, beers and a great time.

Berlin blitz

6 hours is a long time to spend on a train. I kept falling asleep and losing my place in my book when I dropped it. Also the air-con went out in my carriage so it was sweltering. Wasn't terribly impressed with the mid to northern German scenery, everything was bloody flat. finally got into Berlin and spent a good half an hour trying to get a map that showed where my hostel was. Finally got on a bus which I'm sure I rode its whole route before having to walk a further kilometre to find the hostel. The Generator is huge but a bit impersonal due to its size. Nice rooms and ensuites though.

Ended up going out with the guys from my room, an Aussie and two Californians (these ones were alright). We tried to get into Watergate club, first to discover it didn't open until midnight, then it took the door staff a half hour to start letting people in, then they didn't let us in as we had no girls with us. A group of girls got turned away as the didn't know the name of the dj playing. So we ended up at a placed called the Soul Inn. Here they played 1950s style soul and Boogaloo. it was definitely different, but lots of fun.

Sunday I took a free walking tour of Berlin. These are great, Sandemans NewEurope free tours. I Spent 3 hours walking around seeing the sights of Berlin and hearing interesting stories about its past. Things like the Nazi SS uniform was designed by Hugo Boss, the company that made the anti-graffiti paint for the Holocaust memorial also made the Cyclon B gas used in the concentration camps, how Hitler couldn't watch his own dog die (they tested the cyanide pills on it), took cyanide and shot himself (thought he deserved a soldiers death) before being partially cremated, taken by the soviets and finally had his ashes scattered in the Elbe river in 1970. Napoleon taking the statue from the Brandenburg gate, the same statute renamed as Victoria above Paris plaza watching the French embassy which is designed like a bunker. The best story of all though was how the Berlin wall fell because the press secretary for Eastern Germany hadn't been at the meeting and said the wrong things, which resulted in a huge party for east Berliners with champagne, bananas and the movie dirty dancing.

I ended up hanging out with two Aussie girls I met on the tour, went to a random park that had a flea market happening while adjacent there was public karaoke and all sorts of street performers. Ended up drinking with the Aussie girls at their hostel bar before meeting a group of Irish lads and unsuccessfully trying to find a club. If staying in Berlin I recommend wombats hostel, rooftop bar and central location.

Suicide cyclists

Another 4 hour train journey and I arrived in Amsterdam to an announcement to beware of pickpockets. Probably didn't spend as much time here as I should have, as all I really saw was canals, lots of bikes, A Scientology church, Dam square, A bookstore that seemed to only sell zombie literature, leaning buildings and an Aussie street performer. Didn't even get to the red light district. Started my night out at the hostel bar having a drink with a guy from Hawaii, then played beer pong on an Iphone, having some space cake and went to a casino with a dude from Cincinnati, and followed that up with a few drinks with some girls from Canada. Stayed in a place called Hans Brinker Hotel. had a nice bar but the rooms were pretty bleak, the shower ran for more than 5 seconds though.