Again, it was a large night the night before. And again, Jez, Rob and I felt hung over (You would think we would start learning the pattern by now). But we weren’t, and there was an amazing breakfast to tuck into.
After we had our fill, we didn’t feel like doing much so we just went back to our room and watched some movies that were on TV. This was only interrupted by the 2-4 hour nap we all involuntarily decided to have.
It was a very uneventful day, with the only time we left the hotel to go grab some dinner. We went into town and got some traditional Swedish Mongolian buffet.
After we stuffed ourselves silly with all the deep fried food we could, we headed back and had a beer at the hotel bar.
We then went to bed.
Exciting times,
Monty
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
August 22 - Stockholm
The day began with the undoubtedly the best breakfast of the trip. The hotel's buffet breakfast offering would have challenged any 5 star hotel with, waffles, cereal, fresh juice, toast, bacon, eggs and fruit making up a phenomenal spread. After absolutely stuffing ourselves to the gills, we caught a train into the city (it took about half the time and cost about 10% as much as the cab the night before), before heading to a pub to watch the Bledislioe. We all know what happened there so there is absolutely no need to go into it.
From here we headed for the most popular tourist attraction in all of Scandinavia - an old Viking ship that sunk in the 1400s and was only rediscovered in the 1960s. At the time of its construction it was the biggest ship in the world, which made the fact that it only made it about 300 m before sinking all the bigger a disappointment to the Swedes. Anyways, this ship was absolutely massive and the fact that it was built entirely with hand tools boggled our minds (though the fact that thing ended up sinking kinda detracted from this). We watched a thrilling documentary on the ship. So thrilling that all of us had a kip at one stage or another. It was like we were back at uni at a boring lecture. There is only so long one can spend looking at an old old wooden ship, so we headed off to have a bit more of a wander before grabbing some authentic Swedish fast food and heading back to the hotel to rest up for the night to come. This would turn out to be a fantastic decision.
We headed out for our night out on the town at about 8 pm and for the night we had a mascot in tow - Carlos the Puffin - who was on a mission to get himself in as many photos as he could possibly manage. We also had something of a predicament. As we had discovered the night before, getting a cab home was going to be ridiculously expensive and thus not really a feasible option. We had also learned that the last train was at 12:46 and the first one in the morning was at 5:12. Therefore we would have to head home relatively early, or really really late. No prizes for guessing what ended up happening...
Once we made it into town we wasted little time in heading to a place called Kelly's which we were told would have the cheapest drinks in Stockholm. What we were not told was that there would be death metal playing on high rotation, nor that the bar would be wall-to-wall with beautiful Swedes. Additionally, we arrived at the pub just in time to see Steve Hooker win the pole vault in outrageous fashion - things were looking up! Needless to say, it was not long before Carlos the Puffin was making friends and photographed doing all sorts of ridiculous things.
At about midnight we moved on to the next place, though Rob and I did not move quite as quickly as Monty who seemed to be in something of a rush. Who knows why... Despite the speed with which he moved, the bouncer at the next place decided that Monty was too drunk and he refused him entry. Monty had to console himself with an early night. I don't think he was too devastated, well not 'til later on at least. So Rob and I were unleashed on the Swedish nightclub and we certainly made the most of it, cutting up the DF in style. Randomly enough, the nightclub also had a blackjack table and I was able to use my Vegas skills to win a small amount of money.
At about 3, the club shut so we headed to another nightclub which was actually on a boat which was moored on the river. Unfortunately, due to my lack of ID (my driver's license having been snapped way back at the Grand Canyon and my passport being in my bag back at the hotel) I was unable to get in and I lost Rob. It is at this point that my memories of the night blur significantly. Suffice to say that we all eventually made it back to the hotel with Rob making it first, then myself and then Monty (having gone and had some more beers elsewhere). It was not that Rob had gone home early, just that Monty and myself had chosen to have impromptu kips off-site.
Crazy Scandinavian nights...
Jez
From here we headed for the most popular tourist attraction in all of Scandinavia - an old Viking ship that sunk in the 1400s and was only rediscovered in the 1960s. At the time of its construction it was the biggest ship in the world, which made the fact that it only made it about 300 m before sinking all the bigger a disappointment to the Swedes. Anyways, this ship was absolutely massive and the fact that it was built entirely with hand tools boggled our minds (though the fact that thing ended up sinking kinda detracted from this). We watched a thrilling documentary on the ship. So thrilling that all of us had a kip at one stage or another. It was like we were back at uni at a boring lecture. There is only so long one can spend looking at an old old wooden ship, so we headed off to have a bit more of a wander before grabbing some authentic Swedish fast food and heading back to the hotel to rest up for the night to come. This would turn out to be a fantastic decision.
We headed out for our night out on the town at about 8 pm and for the night we had a mascot in tow - Carlos the Puffin - who was on a mission to get himself in as many photos as he could possibly manage. We also had something of a predicament. As we had discovered the night before, getting a cab home was going to be ridiculously expensive and thus not really a feasible option. We had also learned that the last train was at 12:46 and the first one in the morning was at 5:12. Therefore we would have to head home relatively early, or really really late. No prizes for guessing what ended up happening...
Once we made it into town we wasted little time in heading to a place called Kelly's which we were told would have the cheapest drinks in Stockholm. What we were not told was that there would be death metal playing on high rotation, nor that the bar would be wall-to-wall with beautiful Swedes. Additionally, we arrived at the pub just in time to see Steve Hooker win the pole vault in outrageous fashion - things were looking up! Needless to say, it was not long before Carlos the Puffin was making friends and photographed doing all sorts of ridiculous things.
At about midnight we moved on to the next place, though Rob and I did not move quite as quickly as Monty who seemed to be in something of a rush. Who knows why... Despite the speed with which he moved, the bouncer at the next place decided that Monty was too drunk and he refused him entry. Monty had to console himself with an early night. I don't think he was too devastated, well not 'til later on at least. So Rob and I were unleashed on the Swedish nightclub and we certainly made the most of it, cutting up the DF in style. Randomly enough, the nightclub also had a blackjack table and I was able to use my Vegas skills to win a small amount of money.
At about 3, the club shut so we headed to another nightclub which was actually on a boat which was moored on the river. Unfortunately, due to my lack of ID (my driver's license having been snapped way back at the Grand Canyon and my passport being in my bag back at the hotel) I was unable to get in and I lost Rob. It is at this point that my memories of the night blur significantly. Suffice to say that we all eventually made it back to the hotel with Rob making it first, then myself and then Monty (having gone and had some more beers elsewhere). It was not that Rob had gone home early, just that Monty and myself had chosen to have impromptu kips off-site.
Crazy Scandinavian nights...
Jez
August 21 - Oslo to Stockholm
The antics of the night before left Jez, Rob and myself feeling a touch worse for wear. Therefore, after checking out there was only one thing to do – get us some Maccas. As we had a few hours before our train left, we headed in and made ourselves comfortable. We passed the time by trying to put together the night before and just generally being hungover.
After a few hours in the home of obesity, we went to the train station and got ready for the 7 hour train ride to Stockholm. There was only one problem when we hopped on the train, Rob and my assigned seats on the train did not exist. There were some fold down seats which were similar to the disabled seating you find on some Sydney buses. They were OK for a half an hour ride, but definitely not for a 7 hour one.
We let the ticket lady know and we were moved over a few carriages into a compartment with people in the same situation as ours. This was a much better option than the seat-wannabes we could have been sitting in.
Rob and I settled down and tried to get some shut eye. This proved difficult due to the drunk Scandinavians that were sharing our compartment. Seriously, it was about 2pm and these guys were drinking vodka and beer like it was going out of fashion.
We finally arrived in Stockholm and went about finding out were our hotel was. Due to our lack of planning, there were no hostels available in Stockholm, but there was a 3 star hotel that cost us around 30 Euros each per night. The only problem was, we couldn’t remember the name of the place, or even where it was. Thus, we introduced Rob in to our style of travelling: just rock up to the city and hope for the best. Unfortunately for us it didn’t work out to our benefit. We eventually found out where the hotel was and caught a cab there. We found out the hard way that cabs in Stockholm are not cheap. Oh well, live and learn (not that we are likely to).
We eventually got to the hotel (did I mention that it was 3 stars?). We were basically treated like royalty. I could not get over the fact that the guy at reception kept calling me sir.
We headed upstairs and went straight to bed with the knowledge that the only meal we had that day was McDonalds…yummy!
Till we blog again,
Monty
After a few hours in the home of obesity, we went to the train station and got ready for the 7 hour train ride to Stockholm. There was only one problem when we hopped on the train, Rob and my assigned seats on the train did not exist. There were some fold down seats which were similar to the disabled seating you find on some Sydney buses. They were OK for a half an hour ride, but definitely not for a 7 hour one.
We let the ticket lady know and we were moved over a few carriages into a compartment with people in the same situation as ours. This was a much better option than the seat-wannabes we could have been sitting in.
Rob and I settled down and tried to get some shut eye. This proved difficult due to the drunk Scandinavians that were sharing our compartment. Seriously, it was about 2pm and these guys were drinking vodka and beer like it was going out of fashion.
We finally arrived in Stockholm and went about finding out were our hotel was. Due to our lack of planning, there were no hostels available in Stockholm, but there was a 3 star hotel that cost us around 30 Euros each per night. The only problem was, we couldn’t remember the name of the place, or even where it was. Thus, we introduced Rob in to our style of travelling: just rock up to the city and hope for the best. Unfortunately for us it didn’t work out to our benefit. We eventually found out where the hotel was and caught a cab there. We found out the hard way that cabs in Stockholm are not cheap. Oh well, live and learn (not that we are likely to).
We eventually got to the hotel (did I mention that it was 3 stars?). We were basically treated like royalty. I could not get over the fact that the guy at reception kept calling me sir.
We headed upstairs and went straight to bed with the knowledge that the only meal we had that day was McDonalds…yummy!
Till we blog again,
Monty
August 20 - Oslo
After a surprisingly comfortable night's sleep in what Rob described as something resembling the set-up from a school camp, we made a lazy start to the day before jumping on the tram and heading into town to see what Oslo had to offer. Whilst Oslo did not seem to offer a great deal either architecturally or scenically, this was more than made up for by the ridiculous abundance of beautiful women walking around. All of the stereotypes about Nordic women were being spectacularly proven correct and the vast majority of them appeared to be tall, blonde and blue-eyed. However, given Monty and Rob had missed breakfast and had only had very average tandoori cup-a-soups the night before, we decided to pick our jaws up from the pavement and go and find some authentic Norweigan cuisine. As a result we ended up eating cured reindeer, having had to turn down the "whale cakes" due our moral outrage... at how much they cost.
After a bit more wandering around and some souvenir hunting from Monty, we found ourselves a pub which was showing the cricket and settled in for a couple of hours. However, the cricket was not that exciting so we were soon heading to the train station to work out how we were going to get to Stockholm the next day, which we did before grabbing some supplies for dinner and heading back to the hostel. After a gourmet dinner of tuna pasta and a couple of quick beers at the hostel, we headed into town to see what Scandinavian nightlife had to offer. The answer was PLENTY. It was a night that completely defies explanation. Suffice to say that the Australian accents did not count against us and that we all had crazy adventures. It was these divergent crazy adventures that meant that I ended up standing alone outside a club in Oslo at approximately 4 am facing the following obstacles:
1. I was in a country where I could not speak a single word of the language.
2. I did not know where I was
3. I did not know the address of the place I was staying, nor the name of the tram stop it was near
4. I had no money
5. I had no credit card
6. I had no phone
7. It was raining
If I'd been sober I'd imagine I would have found this situation somewhat distressing. However, I was not sober and therefore viewed it as simply amusing. My confidence was eventually confirmed when, due to a combination of the mercy of St. Christopher, my inherently charming nature and the kindness of strangers, I managed to work out which tram stop I was near, find some people who were going in the same direction and convince them to give me a lift. However, my adventure was quite a long way from over. After about 20 mins in the car with these complete randoms, they told me that we were at the train station, so I jumped out. It was at this point that they had taken me to the train station called Styffetkryssen when I was looking for the tram station of the same name. Once again, things were not looking good. However, the surroundings did look vaguely familiar and after about 20 minutes of idle wandering, I managed to find the hostel. It had been a massive adventure, but I got there in the end and have seldom in my life been more grateful to settle down on an uncomfortable top bunk.
Still Blazin'
Jez
After a bit more wandering around and some souvenir hunting from Monty, we found ourselves a pub which was showing the cricket and settled in for a couple of hours. However, the cricket was not that exciting so we were soon heading to the train station to work out how we were going to get to Stockholm the next day, which we did before grabbing some supplies for dinner and heading back to the hostel. After a gourmet dinner of tuna pasta and a couple of quick beers at the hostel, we headed into town to see what Scandinavian nightlife had to offer. The answer was PLENTY. It was a night that completely defies explanation. Suffice to say that the Australian accents did not count against us and that we all had crazy adventures. It was these divergent crazy adventures that meant that I ended up standing alone outside a club in Oslo at approximately 4 am facing the following obstacles:
1. I was in a country where I could not speak a single word of the language.
2. I did not know where I was
3. I did not know the address of the place I was staying, nor the name of the tram stop it was near
4. I had no money
5. I had no credit card
6. I had no phone
7. It was raining
If I'd been sober I'd imagine I would have found this situation somewhat distressing. However, I was not sober and therefore viewed it as simply amusing. My confidence was eventually confirmed when, due to a combination of the mercy of St. Christopher, my inherently charming nature and the kindness of strangers, I managed to work out which tram stop I was near, find some people who were going in the same direction and convince them to give me a lift. However, my adventure was quite a long way from over. After about 20 mins in the car with these complete randoms, they told me that we were at the train station, so I jumped out. It was at this point that they had taken me to the train station called Styffetkryssen when I was looking for the tram station of the same name. Once again, things were not looking good. However, the surroundings did look vaguely familiar and after about 20 minutes of idle wandering, I managed to find the hostel. It had been a massive adventure, but I got there in the end and have seldom in my life been more grateful to settle down on an uncomfortable top bunk.
Still Blazin'
Jez
August 19 - Prague to Oslo
After the assault on our bodies that was the night before, Jez and I woke feeling pretty good. A mate of mine from work, Rob, was due to get into Prague today as he was going to join us on our next adventure: Scandinavia (and why wouldn’t he want to?).
So I trotted off to the train station to meet him while Jez settled in to get some admin done.
Rob and I talked/messaged for a while trying to establish a good place to meet. After a while we decided on a corner of the park outside the train station. When he didn’t arrive I started getting a bit nervous. Had he been kidnapped at Prague station? Is this all just some prank on his part? No on both counts, he was just at the wrong station. 20 minutes later he had arrived and we went back to the hostel to drop his bags, as out flight didn’t leave until 6pm that afternoon. To make the morning pass we watched Mission: Impossible and just chilled out while Rob filled us in on his journey to Prague.
Due to transportation issues, he had to stay the night in Vienna train station. He found a nice little piece of wall and settled in for the night. Whilst there, a guy next to him spilt coke all over himself and asked Rob for 50 cents to go to the bathroom to clean up. (Bathrooms cost money over here). Being the nice guy that he was, Rob gave him 50 cents and went back to minding his own business. A while later the same guy came back, obviously not having gone to the bathroom.
He proceeded to sit down, put some powder in a spoon and begin to light it to turn it into a liquid. Yup, this guy was about to shoot up right next to Rob. It was at this point that Rob got over his piece of wall and decided to move to a safer part of the train station.
For lunch we grabbed some pizza and then headed off to the airport. We caught a bus from outside the train station. At the start of the journey, we were the only 3 people on the bus (God knows how they make a profit).
Once we got to the airport, we (mainly me though) had another obstacle to overcome. Wizz Air (our airline) had a weight limit of 15 kilos. On first weigh-in, my bag came to a good 19.5kgs. I spent the next 20 minutes chucking out stuff I didn’t need and forcing as much as possible into my hand luggage. Unfortunately, we had to leave a ¾ full bottle of vodka behind.
We made it to Oslo without any dramas and found our hostel. When we got there, we found out we had rocked up 3 hours after we said we would arrive and the hostel had actually given away our room. We were chucked into a room with mattresses on the floor which reminded all of us of year 10 camp. It turned out that the mattresses were actually very comfy. The guy working at the desk wasn’t that helpful, forcing Rob to remark that he reminded him of a ‘Scandinavian Bazil Faulty”
That night we decided to stay in. There wasn’t a supermarket around, nor any sort of take away shop. So for dinner we had peanuts and tandoori rice. This was not the best tasting thing in the world, especially as we couldn’t find boiling water, forcing us to eat crunchy rice. Still, at least it didn’t poison us.
Kindest regards,
Monty
So I trotted off to the train station to meet him while Jez settled in to get some admin done.
Rob and I talked/messaged for a while trying to establish a good place to meet. After a while we decided on a corner of the park outside the train station. When he didn’t arrive I started getting a bit nervous. Had he been kidnapped at Prague station? Is this all just some prank on his part? No on both counts, he was just at the wrong station. 20 minutes later he had arrived and we went back to the hostel to drop his bags, as out flight didn’t leave until 6pm that afternoon. To make the morning pass we watched Mission: Impossible and just chilled out while Rob filled us in on his journey to Prague.
Due to transportation issues, he had to stay the night in Vienna train station. He found a nice little piece of wall and settled in for the night. Whilst there, a guy next to him spilt coke all over himself and asked Rob for 50 cents to go to the bathroom to clean up. (Bathrooms cost money over here). Being the nice guy that he was, Rob gave him 50 cents and went back to minding his own business. A while later the same guy came back, obviously not having gone to the bathroom.
He proceeded to sit down, put some powder in a spoon and begin to light it to turn it into a liquid. Yup, this guy was about to shoot up right next to Rob. It was at this point that Rob got over his piece of wall and decided to move to a safer part of the train station.
For lunch we grabbed some pizza and then headed off to the airport. We caught a bus from outside the train station. At the start of the journey, we were the only 3 people on the bus (God knows how they make a profit).
Once we got to the airport, we (mainly me though) had another obstacle to overcome. Wizz Air (our airline) had a weight limit of 15 kilos. On first weigh-in, my bag came to a good 19.5kgs. I spent the next 20 minutes chucking out stuff I didn’t need and forcing as much as possible into my hand luggage. Unfortunately, we had to leave a ¾ full bottle of vodka behind.
We made it to Oslo without any dramas and found our hostel. When we got there, we found out we had rocked up 3 hours after we said we would arrive and the hostel had actually given away our room. We were chucked into a room with mattresses on the floor which reminded all of us of year 10 camp. It turned out that the mattresses were actually very comfy. The guy working at the desk wasn’t that helpful, forcing Rob to remark that he reminded him of a ‘Scandinavian Bazil Faulty”
That night we decided to stay in. There wasn’t a supermarket around, nor any sort of take away shop. So for dinner we had peanuts and tandoori rice. This was not the best tasting thing in the world, especially as we couldn’t find boiling water, forcing us to eat crunchy rice. Still, at least it didn’t poison us.
Kindest regards,
Monty
August 18 - Prague
After the ridiculous karaoke exploits of the night before, Monty and I got moving at about 11 am, determined to spend the day seeing all that Prague had to offer. Despite missing the free walking tour due to our sever misjudgement of the time it would take us to eat brunch and walk across tour, we still managed to see all of the sights, and managed to walk what must have been the best part of 10 km in doing so. By mid-afternoon however, we had done more than our share of walking and seen plenty of architecture so we headed back to the hostel to relax and prepared for a big night which was anticipated to follow.
After a delicious dinner of pesto pasta at the hostel and a couple of beers, Monty and I walked into town where we went along to a pub for the start of an organised pubcrawl. Whilst there was not nearly as much free alcohol as we had been led to believe there would be, we both had a great night, though Monty chose to back away from completely CSing on the DF. This was appreciated by all concerned.
Over and out
Jez
After a delicious dinner of pesto pasta at the hostel and a couple of beers, Monty and I walked into town where we went along to a pub for the start of an organised pubcrawl. Whilst there was not nearly as much free alcohol as we had been led to believe there would be, we both had a great night, though Monty chose to back away from completely CSing on the DF. This was appreciated by all concerned.
Over and out
Jez
August 17 - Krakow to Prague
Jez and I had had a fairly quiet night the night before (I know, I know, what is the world coming to?). Because of this, though, we were ready to leave Poland behind and enter the Czech Republic. We made it to the train station with plenty of time and tried to spend (unsuccessfully) the rest of our Polish money. I now have a variety of European coins which I cannot bear to throw out. Im still hoping I will find a magical foreign exchange place which will accept all my little shitty coins. Im still looking….
Anyway, the train was late and we were forced to change platforms, nothing that gave us too much trouble. Before we knew it, we were in Prague. As per usual, we had no idea how to get to our hostel. We therefore went to the information office at the train station to see if they could help us out. The lady there told us that there was a tourist information office on the street just outside the train station. Jez and I set off, only to realise that the lady is either lying, senile, or both as there was no tourist information office in sight. We tried finding the street of our hostel on a map located outside the train station but we may as well have been looking for the clichéd needle in the clichéd haystack.
Depressed, we went back again to talk to the lady at the rail information office inside the train station, only to walk past a tourist information office. After several minutes of trying to figure out how we had missed this the first time, we quickly got our hands on a map and headed off to the hostel.
Whilst travelling, we had heard that Czech food and drink is a lot cheaper than most other places on continental Europe. Excited, we got the low down from those in the know at the hostel and headed to a near pub/restaurant. As we were quite hungry we ordered a beer appetizsr plate to share, and an entrée and main each. It turned out our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. Although the service was slow, the meals were huge and we walked out of the pub bursting at the seams.
After almost eating ourselves to death, we headed back to the hostel bar and had a few drinks. After a few, we all headed off to a pub that turned out had karaoke. As I had consumed a few beers, I quickly got up and blasted out some beats. As was assisted by Ky, a New Zealander who ripped out the air guitar. A highlight for me was yelling (not singing) AC/DC at the top of my lungs. There were a few odd characters at the karaoke bar. One such character included Sam, a bloke who got on his knees in front of Ky whilst Ky was air guitaring in a position that probably made Ky a little uncomfortable. Also, there was a very old dude who seemed to be really enjoying shuffling around the dancefloor.
After the vocal chords started to hurt we headed back to the hostel and got some sleep.
Toodle-oo,
Monty
Anyway, the train was late and we were forced to change platforms, nothing that gave us too much trouble. Before we knew it, we were in Prague. As per usual, we had no idea how to get to our hostel. We therefore went to the information office at the train station to see if they could help us out. The lady there told us that there was a tourist information office on the street just outside the train station. Jez and I set off, only to realise that the lady is either lying, senile, or both as there was no tourist information office in sight. We tried finding the street of our hostel on a map located outside the train station but we may as well have been looking for the clichéd needle in the clichéd haystack.
Depressed, we went back again to talk to the lady at the rail information office inside the train station, only to walk past a tourist information office. After several minutes of trying to figure out how we had missed this the first time, we quickly got our hands on a map and headed off to the hostel.
Whilst travelling, we had heard that Czech food and drink is a lot cheaper than most other places on continental Europe. Excited, we got the low down from those in the know at the hostel and headed to a near pub/restaurant. As we were quite hungry we ordered a beer appetizsr plate to share, and an entrée and main each. It turned out our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. Although the service was slow, the meals were huge and we walked out of the pub bursting at the seams.
After almost eating ourselves to death, we headed back to the hostel bar and had a few drinks. After a few, we all headed off to a pub that turned out had karaoke. As I had consumed a few beers, I quickly got up and blasted out some beats. As was assisted by Ky, a New Zealander who ripped out the air guitar. A highlight for me was yelling (not singing) AC/DC at the top of my lungs. There were a few odd characters at the karaoke bar. One such character included Sam, a bloke who got on his knees in front of Ky whilst Ky was air guitaring in a position that probably made Ky a little uncomfortable. Also, there was a very old dude who seemed to be really enjoying shuffling around the dancefloor.
After the vocal chords started to hurt we headed back to the hostel and got some sleep.
Toodle-oo,
Monty
August 16 - Krakow to Auschwitz and back
Despite having kept a lid on proceedings the night before, Monty and I woke relatively late and made a leisurely start to the day - enjoying the hostel breakfast for all that it was worth. Our plan for the day was to take a day trip to the town of Oscheim, which is better known by its German name - Auschwitz and was home to the Auschwitz and Berkenau camps in WW2. As we expected it was a confronting day and though we had both studied enough history not to be too shocked by the facts and figures on display in the various museums, the sheer scale of the camps, especially Berkenau, was way beyond anything that either of us had imagined. It is pretty hard to describe how bleak these places are and it is beyond imagining what they must have been like during WW2.
After a very sombre couple of hours, Monty and I boarded that bus back to Krakow where we headed towards a local restaurant which had been recommended by the girl at the hostel desk on the basis that it was "cheap and Polish". The fact that neither of us could pronounce the name of the restaurant made it pretty obvious that they had the Polish bit covered and as we soon discovered the food was both cheap and delicious. After paying our bill, we headed to a local bar for a couple of beers but given we were both feeling pretty rundown and had to be up early to get to Prague we made the excellent tactical decision to have an early night.
Still Blazin'
Jez
After a very sombre couple of hours, Monty and I boarded that bus back to Krakow where we headed towards a local restaurant which had been recommended by the girl at the hostel desk on the basis that it was "cheap and Polish". The fact that neither of us could pronounce the name of the restaurant made it pretty obvious that they had the Polish bit covered and as we soon discovered the food was both cheap and delicious. After paying our bill, we headed to a local bar for a couple of beers but given we were both feeling pretty rundown and had to be up early to get to Prague we made the excellent tactical decision to have an early night.
Still Blazin'
Jez
August 15 - Bratislava to Krakow
Jez and I woke up feeling pretty good as we didn’t have a massive one the night before. The place we were staying at had very good WIFI. We therefore took maximum advantage of this in the morning and downloaded some TV shows/movies to help us make the long travel journeys more enjoyable.
We knew we wanted to get to Krakow (or Cracow depending on how you want to spell it) in Poland that day so we headed off to the train station to book our tickets. When we arrived there we realised that this was going to be easier said than done as it may have been quicker to walk to Poland than it was to wait in the lines we were facing.
Being the experienced travelers that we were, we decided to chance our luck and come back later when, hopefully, the rush had died down.
To pass the day, we went and met up with Paul and Jess from the night before and casually walked around Bratislava. There isn’t that much to see, but there is still some cool Communist-era architecture. One of the most interesting is the main bridge in Bratislava. At the top of it, there is a structure that looks a lot look a flying saucer. Weird stuff.
We also checked out Bratislava Castle. It turned out it was under construction, and it didn’t have much going for it anyway. It is definitely no Versailles. However, one thing that Bratislava did have going for it was a bit of colour in its religious pursuits. There is a church that is entirely blue, not something that you see everyday.
After our sight seeing we grabbed our bags and headed back to the train station. Luckily for us our travelling instincts were correct and there were no lines to be spoken of. We quickly grabbed our tickets and jumped on board.
We hopped off in Krakow, Poland and walked/fumbled our way to the hostel. It was a good hostel with plenty of tips on where to head out. We went to a traditional Polish pub that was actually underground which was very cool. After a few amber ales we headed out to one of the clubs, only to be refused entry because we were 2 guys (it was just like being back in Sydney and we both got a little homesick at this point). Unperturbed, we went to another club and danced the night away.
Yours truly,
Monty
We knew we wanted to get to Krakow (or Cracow depending on how you want to spell it) in Poland that day so we headed off to the train station to book our tickets. When we arrived there we realised that this was going to be easier said than done as it may have been quicker to walk to Poland than it was to wait in the lines we were facing.
Being the experienced travelers that we were, we decided to chance our luck and come back later when, hopefully, the rush had died down.
To pass the day, we went and met up with Paul and Jess from the night before and casually walked around Bratislava. There isn’t that much to see, but there is still some cool Communist-era architecture. One of the most interesting is the main bridge in Bratislava. At the top of it, there is a structure that looks a lot look a flying saucer. Weird stuff.
We also checked out Bratislava Castle. It turned out it was under construction, and it didn’t have much going for it anyway. It is definitely no Versailles. However, one thing that Bratislava did have going for it was a bit of colour in its religious pursuits. There is a church that is entirely blue, not something that you see everyday.
After our sight seeing we grabbed our bags and headed back to the train station. Luckily for us our travelling instincts were correct and there were no lines to be spoken of. We quickly grabbed our tickets and jumped on board.
We hopped off in Krakow, Poland and walked/fumbled our way to the hostel. It was a good hostel with plenty of tips on where to head out. We went to a traditional Polish pub that was actually underground which was very cool. After a few amber ales we headed out to one of the clubs, only to be refused entry because we were 2 guys (it was just like being back in Sydney and we both got a little homesick at this point). Unperturbed, we went to another club and danced the night away.
Yours truly,
Monty
August 14 - Vienna to Bratislava
After a very interrupted night's sleep due to Monty's snoring and the somewhat cramped sleeping arrangements at the hostel, I woke up feeling pretty grumpy and proceeded to go straight back to sleep for an early morning nap. By the time we had woken up properly, showered and checked out of the hostel and caught up on some admin stuff it was getting on midday and time to make a move for Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Lucky for us, Vienna and Bratislava are the world's two closest capital cities (that's real talk) so it promised to be a relatively short journey.
We got to Bratislava in the early afternoon and after finding our hostel and killing some time (we were both still feeling a little weary after the night before), we headed into the old town to have a look around. Whilst the old town itself was not particularly special or different from any number of the other "old towns" we've been to around Europe, we were encouraged by the large number of pubs and amused by a series of the strangest statues you could imagine, including one of a dude peering out of a pothole.
Our next stop was to go and meet up with a friend of mine from uni, Paul, and his girlfriend Jess for some drinks and dinner. After the customary trading of travelling stories and rants about various things over the homemade beers at the Slovak Pub we headed to a local pizzeria where we discussed all of the business ideas that we will be taking back to Australia, the expensiveness of Australian beer and the general cheapness of Eastern Europe over cheap pizzas. Despite having had plans of a big night out on the town, Monty hit the wall spectacularly, to the point that he actually fell asleep at the table and we beat a path back to the hostel for a good night's sleep.
Out!
Jez
We got to Bratislava in the early afternoon and after finding our hostel and killing some time (we were both still feeling a little weary after the night before), we headed into the old town to have a look around. Whilst the old town itself was not particularly special or different from any number of the other "old towns" we've been to around Europe, we were encouraged by the large number of pubs and amused by a series of the strangest statues you could imagine, including one of a dude peering out of a pothole.
Our next stop was to go and meet up with a friend of mine from uni, Paul, and his girlfriend Jess for some drinks and dinner. After the customary trading of travelling stories and rants about various things over the homemade beers at the Slovak Pub we headed to a local pizzeria where we discussed all of the business ideas that we will be taking back to Australia, the expensiveness of Australian beer and the general cheapness of Eastern Europe over cheap pizzas. Despite having had plans of a big night out on the town, Monty hit the wall spectacularly, to the point that he actually fell asleep at the table and we beat a path back to the hostel for a good night's sleep.
Out!
Jez
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