Croatian Sailing

Croatian Sailing


When we arrived in Split it was another gloomy day and it didn’t seem as though it would be nice weather for the week of sailing ahead, however the next day it was a beautiful warm day with blue skies and the water was even a crystal blue. I checked into my boat hoping to get aboard with a few of the people I’d befriended on my way down on the Eastern Trekker to Split. Luckily I jumped on board with Tanya and Leigh so I had some friends who I already knew and would get another week with two familiar Aussie faces.

We set sail and headed toward our first destination, Hvar, the first of many beautiful Croatian Islands I was to see on this sailing trip. On the way we stopped for a swim stop in the amazing Adriatic sea, the water was great! After a few beers on the deck we all got to introductions, meeting our fantastic guide Carlos, and I also met a whole group of really fun and friendly people, this was just a taste for the fun times and great memories that were to come. Nic, Jimmy, Mr. Craig Evans.. Ha-ha all of them were a great bunch of characters that made me laugh until my sides hurt. We walked around the old town with Carlos with a brief orientation walk and saw the old ammunitions storehouse as well as a few really cool old buildings such as the bell/clock tower. After the walk Finn, Robbie and I (Finn and Robbie who were also doing the sail but unfortunately weren’t on my ship) sat down to dinner and we bumped into Jackie another girl who we’d met on Eastern Trekker who happened to be doing the sailing as well. Later that evening I met up with a group of people from the ships and we had a great night out at the local night spot. I had a few Tequila Boom Booms, which is basically a tequila shot but you wear an army helmet and get smashed in the head before you drink it ha-ha.. They hit you quite hard. (the drink and the barman lol).

The next morning we headed off early towards the Island of Mjet a small quiet island that houses a national park with a lake and cathedral, but not before another swim stop and a bit of a leisurely morning sitting around on the floaties and lilos. A few of us took a stroll around the island and got some spectacular photos of the beautiful scenery and the beautiful sunset. We had a great dinner back on board the ship that evening, the captain’s dinner that included risotto and a whole baked locally caught fresh fish. The food onboard was amazing! Lunches were 3 course meals. I think I might have to get to the gym when I get back to burn off some of this extra weight. After a relatively quiet night in Mjet we hit the hay prepared for another day.

Then it was a sail to the jewel of the Adriatic coast, Dubrovnik, this old town had a magnificent waterfront fortress that protected the city, apparently it’s never been breached, which the Croatians are quite proud of. We took a stroll through the city and climbed the walls to get some great snapshots of the contrasting landscape with high hills running down to the water. Carlos also gave us quite the history lesson on the former Yugoslavia and the tensions that still exist today between many of the Slavic speaking countries. As the weather was hot Tanya, Leigh and I also made our way over to a swim spot located next to the walls. You could also do a bit of jumping off the rocks there into the water. That night we also had a bit of a party evening planned and I got myself a bucket cocktail (1L), a little different to your typical pint or glass ha-ha. We moved to a few different places and naturally Gingy came along for the party before another night of rest preparing for a tough day of tanning and swimming and gorging on amazing cuisine.

Korcula was our next destination, the place where Marco Polo was allegedly born, although there are many skeptics who would disagree. We had a look about town and saw the old church and the “birth house” of Marco Polo. That night we had a cheaper alternative to going out, we all pitched in and had our own little beach party with our own buckets of a concoction that Justin and Brandy (a Texan couple from Dallas) made up, it was a great night of fun, we all really bonded that night and got to know each other, we even got to meet up with Monica (another guide) and her travellers (the girls boat ha-ha). Everyone got friendly with Gingy and he became one of the crew thereafter.

After another sail we headed back to the mainland to stop at the seaside town of Makarska, here we took a look about town and headed down to the beach where you could hire jet skiis and paddle boats, six of us, Tommy, Mr. Evans, Nic, Justin and Brandy and myself hired a boat and had a bit of fun out in the water paddling around and going down the onboard slide for a swim in the water. It was a great day, then we made our way back for a beer in the afternoon in preparation for our party in the cave bar later that night. The night club was made in a cave along the shoreline. We had a fun night dancing and then made our way back to the boat for a another rest. Unfortunately I missed out on my room that night as Nic had brought a girl back haha, we came to an arrangement, a hat on the door was a sign for “occupied”. So I bunked in another bed that night, hopefully he had fun! We all gave him a bit of a stirring in the morning.

The following day took us to the old Croatian pirate island of Pucisca, at the port of Omis, a group of us had a look around the town and then made our way up to the old fortress at the top of the hill, it was quite a hike but Gingy and I both made it up eventually. That evening, due to the appropriateness of the location we had a pirate party with more bucket cocktails on the beachside. We even had some girls who dressed up as Mexican stowaways!

We made our way back to Split the following day and unfortunately after a week of good weather it was a little too choppy to stop for a swim stop that day. But no matter considering how lucky we were during the rest of the course of the sail. We explored Split when we got back there and prepared for our final night out together before we said our final goodbyes. We even had a little presentation for Carlos getting him a sex in the city style necklace ha-ha. Luckily I found out I’d have the pleasure of having Carlos as my guide for another week as he was running my Eastern Trekker back up to Prague the following day. And even better was that a few more of the people on board, Kristina, Monica (the guide) and Michelle were also joining me for the trek. =)

Zakopane to Split

From Zakopane it was onwards to Budapest, but we’d have to cross Slovakia first before we could get there. Along the way we stopped in Slovakia and had an awesome lunch at a little place that made a hearty leek and onion soup that comes served in a bread bowl. It was pretty tasty!

In the late afternoon we arrived in Budapest and headed out to a great place recommended by Ben the Trekker guide to have a 3 course meal as well as a boat cruise (which included 3 drinks in the price). We cruised up the and down the Danube River checking out all the amazing buildings lit up by night, it was our own personal little party boat for about an hour before we made our way back to the dock and then onwards to a night spot in our local district VII (they don’t have suburbs in the inner areas of Budapest instead they have a bunch of numbered districts).

The following morning we got up and headed off on a Bike tour to check out the city of Budapest (thankfully the rain held out that day) it lasted for about 3-4 hours and we got to zip around and check out a few highlights of the city such as St Stephen’s Cathedral and Square, The Opera House, Heroes Square and lastly Castle Hill. The Church was pretty impressive but I’ve seen a lot of them already so I wasn’t overly excited about seeing another. Heroes Square was quite cool and had statues of many of the various saints (mainly kings) who had some significance at one point or another; the most obvious example being Saint Stephen, the first king of Hungary. Castle Hill, as the name suggests, was on a hill so that was a bit of a hectic ride to the top, but after 10 minutes of powering up the hill we finally made it up the top and I snapped some excellent views of the city, parliament house and the Danube river. Apparently the Parliament house is the most expensive building in Hungary; it cost the same to erect/design/build it as it would to house a population of 46,000 with homes.

That night, we made our way to the fabled hot springs of Budapest, they were the perfect temperature and it was a great wind down after a long day of cycling and sightseeing. Where the hot springs come up the water temperature is about 75 degrees, so they actually have to cool it down a bit to make it tolerable haha. We had a great night and headed back to have some pizza back at the hostel, these pizzas were huge! Probably about the size of a whole pizza hut pizza in one slice, maybe just under, either way they were filling! We left a few people behind at Budapest as the Eastern Trekker has a few tours running down this route and some people were getting off here. But we also gained some new friends and moved on to Plitvice National Park.

We arrived in the late afternoon after a brief stopover at an open air war museum that had a few old tanks and other war machines from civil conflicts that have occurred in the Slavic area. On arrival in the park we organized a big BBQ and fried up some sausages and had a salad and some tasty grilled vegetables, by this time we’d gotten to know everyone and we had a big night of fun and laughs before we made our way back to the cabins for a good night of rest for lots of energy to explore the national park the following day.

We jumped up bright and early to get down to the national park and we spent a good 4 hours wandering around checking out the beautiful waterfalls, caves, lakes and the general greenery. I’ve never seen anything like it, this place was timeless. We walked through a good section of the park checking out the caves and waterfalls and then jumped on a ferry which takes you across one of the bigger sections of the lake, walked through some more and then jumped on a road train back down to a café for a coffee before our rendezvous at midday. It was a shame it was raining, but the rain didn’t dampen the day (no pun intended haha), I got some excellent shots all over the park, even some underwater ones. We then continued onwards to Split, after jumping off the bus I can feel it’s sort of warmer here already, maybe I can get some good weather too? We’ll see, but either way tomorrow it’s off to sail the Dalmatian coast, it should be great fun. =)




PS I've got lots of photos and I'll upload them when I get the chance to use wifi and stuff again.. at the moment I've only really had time to get to an internet cafe for a few minutes... perhaps after the sail because I'll have lots of great pictures.

Eastern Trekker

Jumping on the Eastern Trekker Bus in the morning I got chatting to the people I’d be spending the next 9 days with, we even played a little game of musical chairs to meet everyone on the bus, although I must admit it’s pretty hard to remember 40 people’s names right away especially if you meet them for 3 minutes haha It’s kinda like speed dating I suppose.

After a few hours we arrived in Kutna Hora, a place where a legend states that holy soil was spilt on the ground here and thus it became a holy place to be buried. So during the years of the plague many people were wanting to be buried at this location and would travel all the way across Europe. The main attraction however isn’t so much the graveyard as the church which is packed with human bones, there were countless skulls and other bones lining the small church, they even had a human bone made chandelier, can you imagine that as a centre piece in your house? After checking out the bone church I quickly went down and had a look at the Cathedral that was supposedly built on the “holy soil”. It was said that all those people were dug up as the church was built on the holy land and hence the bone church was made in another location using their remains to honour them.

From there it was onwards to Olomouc [still in the Czech Republic] (pronounced Olomotts) where we were staying at the flora hotel which was quite nice compared to the hostels I’ve been bunking in. Ben, our trekker guide, took us for a quick walk through town and around visiting another town clock, although this one was more centralized around communism and the worker rather than religion as in Prague. We also saw a few cool churches, one of which pope John Paul had visited in addition to mother Teresa. Later on we got a bite to eat at a local café/restaurant located in the town centre, where I tried some Czech beef goulash which was tasty as. That night we had a scheduled “plane party” which at first I had no idea what it involved but we actually went to a “plane” or a bar which looked like a plane inside and out for a great night out before hitting the hay and waking up to a fantastic buffet breakfast in the morning.

After a feed we jumped on the bus and made our way north to Poland where we stopped at the largest and main concentration and death camp used by the Nazis in WWII, Auschwitcz. The camp is segregated into several main sections I, II, and III. We only visited I and II as the third was mainly destroyed by the Nazis when they fled hearing the news of the approaching soviet forces. We walked through buildings where prisoners were housed, some of the cells were beyond cruelty, the standing cells were probably no more than 1 meter x 1 meter and only a 2 meters tall, four people would be crammed in there at a time forced to stand in pitch black darkness for hours or days on end usually dying of suffocation. There were also stories told of people begging for mercy and priests asking to step in another’s place when groups were selected for the death wall (where prisoners were lined up along a wall in Camp II and shot), one person gives testimony that he survived the holocaust and the camp because an honorable priest stepped in his place.

The disgusting experiments that were conducted on living human beings by the Nazis were despicable, they would infect people by stitching hay or other things inside them and seeing how long people would live. Often experiments were conducted on small children; one baby didn’t even look one year old. A Nazi doctor was said to have effectively established a process which could sterilize 1000 Jewish women every 24 hours through injecting a serum directly into a woman’s fallopian tubes. This place was overwhelming, something like 3 to 4 million people died here, that’s the population of Queensland and I’ve never felt chills like I had when I was walking around this place, I don’t think I’d ever want to go back. But it is certainly something that people should experience to understand the gravity of the injustices of history; you don’t truly appreciate or understand the gravity and severity of these events or just how lucky we are today in the modern world, without having seen a haunting and confronting place like Auschwitchz.

After several hours at the camps I was more than ready to get out of there and onwards to Krakow to discover the beauty of Poland and possibly have a stiff drink while having a think about what I’d just seen and experienced. When we arrived in Krakow we prearranged a meeting at a happening club, The Diva Club, in the Krakow centre and had our own little VIP section for a few hours early in the night. I didn’t see her, but apparently Nikki Hilton was downstairs in another VIP area for some promotion she’d just done. Anyways during the night we danced away and I even got grabbed by a polish hen’s party to have a bit of a dance with them down on the dance floor, overall a fun night.

The next morning the weather again wasn’t so good so we opted to go for a bit of walk around Krakow with an umbrella (but not before I grabbed some new jeans for 50 euros or 240 zloty as they use in Poland). We had a guided walk around the city and saw several of the churches and markets squares and visited the city walls and lastly the Krakow Royal Palace, where all the kings and important historical figure were buried. Recently there was a bit of controversy as the last president was buried there, mainly because he died in unfortunate circumstances from a plane crash, but up until that point it had only been for royals or important religious figures as the people in Poland are very religious. At the end of the tour we grabbed an excellent baguette bake style food with melted cheese and mushrooms and all sorts of goodies depending on what you wanted, and it only cost the equivalent of 2 euros.

From there it was on to Zakopane a small mountain town in the south of Poland with beautiful views and fantastic food. When we arrived mid morning we made our way down to the market and main shopping strip to have a look about and grab a bite to eat. After lunch I caught the tram up to the top of the hill that overlooks the town and got some great photos before trying some local cheese, and grabbing a beer while elevated over the nice little town. For dinner that night we made our way over to a place dubbed “the meat palace” by the eastern trekker crew, we got a massive platter feast of meat and potato before we ended up heading back to our nice little hotel. The breakfast the next morning was pretty good, nearly as good as Olomoucs hotel, I can’t wait to get to Croatia, hopefully for some nice SUNNY weather!

Prague

From Berlin it was off to Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, along the way we made a stop over at Tezerine, which was where a minor holding camp was set up by the Nazis during the war to hold people before they were sent off the Dachau, Austwich and other concentration and death camps, many famous Jewish people were sent there prior to being trained off to the other destinations.


The bus arrived there in the afternoon and a few of us made our way to a pretty cool bar/club for the night not too far from the hostel. It had all sorts of mechanical and engine related stuff all over the walls very cool, and a fan made with pieces of irons. Nick, the Busabout tour guide, was having his birthday so he recommended the place, it was a great night. There were a few others I met on the bus who are also going to do the Eastern Trekker tour down to Split, as well as the Croatian Sail, so it looks like I’ll have some friends for the next few weeks.


The next day in Prague it was again raining, a pretty miserable day and I still wasn’t feeling 100% so had a sleep in to try and beat the bug before heading down to the chemist again for another round of drugs to try to kick this thing. Once I got my cough syrup and cold and flu tablets I did start to feel a little better, but overall it was a very relaxed day of recovery, the breakfast was pretty good though, eggs, sausage, bread, spreads, cereal, cheese and cold meats, well worth getting up for.


The following day I made my way around town (after downing some syrup, a million tablets and some nasal spray) getting some great photos of the clock tower, the streets and the astronomical clock located in the town square. Each hour it goes off giving a little mechanical show where a skeleton rings the bell and various figures rotate and move about. It wasn’t exactly the most exciting thing in the world but the clock was quite cool. Apparently the maker (who built the clock during the 15th century) had his eyes cut out (or something similar) so that he couldn’t make another more impressive clock in another city. In revenge he got his apprentice to take him to the tower where he sabotaged it and made it inoperable for about 100 years before they could find another clockmaker who could repair and restore it. haha


After watching the clock a group of us from Busabout made our way over the Charles Bridge which was built by King Charles so as to withstand the elements, and it’s been around since the 13th century so I’d say that it has passed the test. Along the bridge there are 30 statues which are all pretty cool, depictions of Jesus, etc. However there is one statue on the bridge which you are supposed to touch in one spot if you want good luck and the other is supposed to make you get married or pregnant within 12 months. However I didn’t know this at the time! Looks like I better start planning a wedding! Haha The group we were with said that you touched the dog and it gave you bad luck but the saint falling was supposed to give you good luck. It wasn’t until later that day after some lunch that we went on a free walking tour of the city to see most of the city highlights and the tour guide said otherwise about the statue!


We made our way around the city, seeing a few monuments recognising the years of communism only two decades ago, to an area where scenes from mission impossible were filmed, stopping at the “pissing statues” of Prague, the John Lennon memorial wall and eventually up to the Prague castle which was quite cool, although it wasn’t so much a castle but rather castle grounds but it contained a church and several courtyards and a garden, as well as a vineyard! That night a group went out for dinner and I had some traditional duck cooked in the Czech fashion with some cabbage and dumplings. It was excellent!


After another night of rest I got up still feeling pretty average but went for a wander again around town, that night I organized the clocktower pub crawl which was, as the name suggests, right near the clocktower. The night started with 2 and a half hours of unlimited drinks for 14 euros, and they had beer pong tables which made for a lot of fun, although I must recommend to everyone to never play people from the US or Canada, YOU WILL LOSE lol The night got pretty rowdy as we moved on before eventually making our way home so I could sleep before I had to get up to catch the Eastern Trekker in the morning.

Berlin...

After Amsterdam it was onwards to the old city of Berlin...

The first day I arrived in Berlin and was determined to get out and see a few things as early as possible so I went for a walk with a nice Canadian fellow I met named Adam. Unfortunately Adam had lost his passport about a week earlier and so was stuck in Berlin until they could resolve it and issue him a new one.

Note-to-self DON'T LOSE PASSPORT, although I must say he probably could have lost his passport in a much worse city with a much shittier hostel. Anyway I diverge... we went for a walk and headed over toward the old book burning square where the nazis destroyed a tonne of books and any other publications that were anti-nazi. Pretty cool to get to a place where major events like that had occured. Along the way we also got to pass the Berliner Dome (which is the biggest protestant church in Europe, I believe) and we walked across what they called museum island passed several galleries and museums, Berlin has something like over 60 museums. After walking past musuem island we made our way past the old Humboldt University where Einstein was a lecturer and Karl Marx was also at one point a student.

The Berliner Dome

Humboldt University (Einstein used to teach here; also Karl Marx was once a student here)

After getting a feel for the city it was time to get back and meet a few more people from the hostel and organise a cheap dinner, which the majority of the time in Berlin was Doner Kebabs because they have the biggest turkish population outside of Turkey. There were seriously kebab stores EVERYWHERE haha.

The following day I went for another walk to get out and see a few more things, walked down the "Under de Linden" (which translates to under the lime trees) main strip up toward the Bradenburg Gate where Napoleon, Hitler and a number of other historically significant figures had had passed through the famous colomns of the gate, naturally I had to have a beer while I was there (in Germany you can walk up and down the streets drinking, it's not illegal because the Nazis used to oppress smoking and drinking, so it's implied that your freedom shouldn't be impeached haha. Pretty cool right? Hence many of my photos I took advantage of this and had a beer while strolling around haha.

Me with a Beer at the Bradenburg Gate

I then made my way over to the Topography of Terror located near a remaining western section of the Berlin Wall. It was pretty informative and had a lot of information in trelation to the Nazis, Hitler, the Gestabo and the other secret nazi police. The building itself is located where the old secret nazi police headquarters was. And just outside was a section of the Berlin wall with a mini history. I got a few snaps of the wall and then made my way over to checkpoint charlie.

The original sign still standing at Checkpoint Charlie

After a pretty good day out and about I made my way back and hit the pubcrawl later that night, plenty of german beer, dancing and partying is a good combination for an excellent night. Unfortunately the following morning I woke up feeling sick and have been feeling pretty crappy since. I had originally planned to stay for five nights but extended my stay another two nights because there is alot to do in Berlin, and being sick sort of slowed up my ability to get out and see things, plus after the first two days of pretty good weather the rain was here again.. honestly I've had enough rain... I'd be happy if I didn't see rain for 6 months.

Over the next few days I made my way to the German History Museum and the Alte Museum to see a few of the sights despite the rain and feeling like crap. I also paid a visit to the chemist so hopefully this medicine does something and gets rid of this crappy cold/flu quickly. The history museum was really interesting because I had no idea about the history of Germany and had little knowledge of the first or second world wars so it was pretty informative, plus they had heaps of history prior to that, it was basically a summary of the last 2000 years of Germany as a nation.

Anti Aircraft Gun used during WWII

The Alte Museum was mainly Italian antiquties that were plundered centuries ago, still quite cool to see however. That night I went out with Janina and Julia two very nice German girls that were in my dorm room, we made our way past the TV (Communist) Tower to a club and then caught and elevator to the 12th floor of this building, it was pretty cool, panoramic views of the city and it was gernerally an excellent atmosphere (despite only playing electro music), after dancing the night away I walked with the girls home and we crashed buggered from a long night.

This item from the Alte Museum has the oldest known latin inscription..

Janina donning the fabled Splendour Hat

The next day I decided to make my way to the east side gallery and what better way to do it than by walking and drinking a few brews as we go. Jack (a nice aussie bloke), Adam and I made our way over to the longest strip of the wall, we stumbled on a Youth African Art Market at the end of the wall and went in and had a look around, they had sand and a volleyball court, it would have been perfect for a nice hot day, however that's not what it was haha, so after a quick beer by the river at this "beach" we made our way along the wall and there are some seriously awesome graffiti art on this stretch. (Photos should be on facebook)

Banksy in Berlin

The following day I caught the trams around a little and got some snaps of the TV Tower and Alexanderplatz and found one of Banksy's art works not too far from the hostel (apparently they are all over the world, usually a depiction of a Rat). That esentially sums up my 7 days in Berlin, hopefully I'll fell better in Prague and the weather will clear up before I get to Croatia!!!

TV Tower (I think they said 368metres tall.. as you can see the top is in the clouds lol)

Amsterdam..

After departing Bruges I made my way to Amsterdam for a five night stay before moving on to Berlin. On arrival to Amsterdam I walked in to the flying pig uptown hostel and went to check in. After a hectic struggle up like 40 steps to the 3rd floor with my massive pack on my back I walked up to my room, and sure enough the two girls that were in there were high. haha Well at least I knew I was in the right city haha. Since I arrived in the afternoon I didn't get a chance to head out that day, so instead made the effort to get down to the red light district and get it out of the way.

The "red light" girls line the streets everywhere.. and there are many that you would certainly pay for lol however they are very expensive. After roaming through the area and seeing the windows and walking past the countless "coffee shops" it was pretty obvious to me that the dutch culture is a very open and tolerant one, well at least moderately tolerant of the dumb partying tourists.

After having a few drinks with some nice English blokes I also met Daniel, the Danish-Israeli, who showed me the Burger Bar, this place is essentially the "white castle" of Amsterdam, they served the best burger and fries I've had in my whole life. =D

"The White Castle"

The I am Amsterdam sign

The following day I made my way along to the free walking tour and met Saunder (A Belgium born and US citizen who lives and studys in Belgium), Caitlyn and Erika (Two Canadians), we got to walk around and see a few sights of the city, sadly the main buildings like the central palace and one of the museums was closed off for refurbishments so it wasn't possible to get any spectacular photos because of the annoying scaffolding.

However here's where Napoleons half-wit brother King Louis (who was unfamiliar with Dutch) declared to the population (while giving a speech at top of the royal palace) that he was the "rabbit of holland" rather than the "king of holland" so hence was a bit of a laughing stock haha.

Top of the Royal Palace where Louis declared himself a rabbit (Sadly the rest was covered in horrid scaffolding)

We also saw the smallest house in Amsterdam (which is located next to the widest canal bridge [there are over 200 bridges!!]) it was absolutely tiny, apparently only a few metres tall and a few small rooms housing a single resident. Apparently this house was built because previously in history you paid more tax for the size of your house, I guess this guy wanted to stick it to the man by still living centrally and paying minimal tax haha..

Tiny House (Shotty not living here..)

On the broadest canal bridge in Amsterdam

After the walking tour we made the most of the day and decided why not jump on a canal cruise aswell, we made our way through the canals of Amsterdam getting to see some more of the great city before we sailed out into the harbour. There were heaps and heaps of ships, boats and sailboats littering the water as the Sailing 2010 festival was being held over the weekend in Amsterdam. Anja (from germany) and her partner joined the rest of us for the cruise and then we all decided it was cheapest if we all make our way to the supermarket and grab something to whip up in the hostel kitchen for tea. Which was great! It only cost us about 2 or 3 euros each.

After getting out and seeing a bit of the city the previous day I had a bit more of an understanding of the layout and the way things run, but it's still confusing haha. Not to mention the thousands of cyclists everywhere, and they have right on way, NOT PEDESTRIANS so you've got to keep your eyes peeled or you may end up flattend like a pancake. I met up with another few cool people who were chilling out at the hostel and we decided we'd make our way down to the nearby Vondel Park to have lunch, it was beautiful, greenery like you've never seen and it takes a whole 20-25 mins to walk from one side to the other on foot! All over the place people were lying in the grass, eating lunch, and just generally having a good time. There were various statues, ponds and the softest grass, it felt like walking on pillows, no wonder everyone just lays in the grass. =)

Vondel Park (everyone just laying in the grass)

Vondel Park

One of the many many "Coffee shops"

I met up with a couple of nice english fellow sthe next day, Mike and Adam, we had a pretty good day and ended up watching the Liverpool football match that night with a few hoegarden beers before we made our way to one of the many local coffee shops, we certainly had a good night, eventually making our way back to the hostel where we made dinner and ate it very very quickly haha. One of the coolest things I've ever seen though was this chilled out cat sitting inside the smoking area at the coffee shop we stopped at, I've dubbed him "stoner cat" because even when we went to pet him or anything he'd just yawn.. roll over and go back to sleep haha Gingy also had some fun...

Stoner Cat

Gingy having a spliff..

After a good night meeting a few cool people I thought it was time I organise the redlight crawl, which goes through the redlight area again, but stopping at the local night spots, (eg. pubs and clubs) in the area. Meeting up with Erika and Caitlyn again Saunder and I spent the night in good company and had alot of fun and laughs along the way. I got chatting with an Irish fellow who was running the tour (I bought him a drink and scored more free drinks) and a few more Canadians and we basically just partied the night away. All in all well worth the 15 euros, especially since i got about 6 free drinks! (on top of the standard 6 that were free upon entry to each place) We said our goodbyes to the girls and hit the hay.

L to R: Saunder, Anja (wearing my hat), Caitlyn, (Can't remember his name!!), Ash and Erika

The final day in Amsterdam I made my way to the Heineken brewery to get a taste of holland gold. The tour way heaps of fun and they ran us through the processes that they use and mentioned there "super secret 'A' type yeast" which makes the beer have it's distinct taste. Perhaps I should have tried to obtain it and black mail them? haha The tour basically just gave an insight into heneiken since the global brand name started. Kalea (another Canadian ahah) and Mel (Aussie from Perth who used to date Dom from Tame Impala) both managed to scored free drinks when we got to the bar where we got free drinks.. but they didn't have to give up there tokens.. well at least not at first.. then i went up with them and scored a few free beers on top of the 2 token ones... geeze girls are lucky, flirt with anyone and get anything for free haha.

Last few days in London... & Paris to Bruges

In my last few days in London I visited the National Gallery (unfortunately I couldn't take any photos of the artwork, I wasn't allowed to) and got to see a huge range of 13th to 20th century art, the marjority of the paintings surrounded John the baptist, the virgin mary and depictions of Jesus on the holy cross. Some of the artists included Raphael and Michealangelo and hundreds of other paintings and works from centuries ago, similarly to the British Museum it was impossible to see everything in one day, I spent a solid 3 or more hours wandering the wings and galleries, but it was definitely worth seeing the various influential artists over time. I did get some more photos of Trafalgar Square though, which I didn't get to snap on the first day.











One of the four HUGE lion statues surrounding the central monument






Trafalgar Square (National Gallery in the background right)





Due to the rain it wasn't really a good day to be out and about (I had actually planned to visit the main parks, Hyde Park and Green Park) but I managed to brave the rain, put on my poncho and get myself out and then back to Kings cross before I met up with Bronwyn later that night to grab dinner and another drink before I left. Just over near where Bronwyn was working. We had a great night filled with laughing and some great stories before we said our final goodbyes before made our way home again.




The next day I woke up and packed my bags in the morning (premptive for the initiation into London that my cousin James had organised for me) so that I didn't have to wake and pack after a big night and hopefully so I didn't miss the train packing in the morning. Then I made my way over to the Camden markets with Jim (Gingy also came along.. if you look closely haha) to check out what they had on offer and to check out some of the punks and there wicked coloured mo-hawks and punk style. While we wandered the markets we stumbled on a place called Cyber dog, which was basically a rave and alternative fashion store. This place had dancing girls, a DJ downstairs and everything was basically fluro or flashing! And this was a clothing shop... haha











Jimmy at Camden Markets.. (and someone else is hiding in the photo)






Cyber dog (the rave clothing store in Camden Markets - basically a club lol)





After wandering the stalls for a few hours we grabbed a bite to eat and met up with Roman (a French friend of my cousins) for a few drinks and then eventually made our way back to James's new apartment near Paddington before heading to the house party a few suburbs over. We had a great night and I met a bunch of great people before eventually making my way home to sleep and then got on the train to Paris the next day.











James and I on our night out





When I arrived in Paris unfortunately the weather had followed me and it was raining quite heavily again, I spent the night within the hostel but will definitely get back out and get some great photos when I return to Paris at the end of my trip. Once again, I met a great group of people who were friendly and we played a few drinking games before getting to bed... unfortunitely I forgot to change my phone time (but I had changed my watch!) so my alarm went off an hour after it was supposed to, consequently I missed the Bus to Bruges. Angry as I was about it I booked myself a Eurostar train from Paris to Brussels and made my way to Bruges from there. Let me tell you, the french are a complex lot, they rarely speak English! Which made it super diffcult to navigate my way around, but I managed as there were some quite nice and helpful people too even though they didn't speak English. Pointing and smiling can help you out! haha. Conincidently Rebecca (another busabouter) over heard me talking about how I had missed my busabout and then she'd said how she'd also done the same thing as me and changed her watch but not her alarm (phone time) to the correct time! We both managed to make our way over though and check in with no issues.











Bec and I (The two silly Busabouters who missed the bus!)





After arriving in Bruges (THE RAIN HAD FOLLOWED ME AGAIN!!!) I took a stroll through the cobblestone streets and got some great snaps of local windmills and the city canals. The buildings over here are amazing! The first day in Bruges was a quiet day, due to the weather but I was happy that I had arrived and managed to see a few things even with the minor set backs. The first night I tried some mussels (a great fresh local dish as Bruges is very close to the coast) and sampled a few Belgium beers for free (inclusive with dinner!).











Windmill located along one of the canals






The Beer Sampler (Leffe, Hooegarden, and Bellevue (a cherry beer))


Today (my second day in Bruges) I made my way to the central Markt (or market) and had a look at some of the key architectural structures in the centre of town and made my way past the chocolate and beer shops, not to mention the pancake, crepe and waffle stores! Got some great snaps of the bell tower, the church, the central square and town hall, all littered with magnificent statues! (I'll upload them later on)I've just come back from lunch and and sampling another 11% dark beer, all of them have been fantastic! I plan to make my way over to the chocolate museum shortly to sample a few choccies!

London Day 2 (12th Aug)

Hello my little gingerbread lovers,

After Bron showed me around on my first day I got a feel for the London central area, aswell Wendy and her housemate Natalie have both been really helpful with transport and finding my way around and with what I should get out and see. The public transport system over here is excellent.. I think the longest I've waited at a train platform is 3 minutes (It may have been less time than that!).

Anyway.. back to my day - I started my second day with the goal of making my way to the British Museum but I wanted to see a bit of the town along the way. So what better way than by foot, you don't really see any of the city travelling via the Underground. Plus with the museum only 20-30 minutes walk from where I'm based in Kings Cross it seemed silly not too.

So Gingy jumped in my pack, eager for his first day out on the town. The walk was great, I got a chance to check out the housing in central London which is pretty spectacular, Brisbane Town Hall probably isn't as old as half of the residences here! After the walk I was standing at the front gate of the British Museum and my jaw dropped, my first thought was "now that is a museum." And it's free admission, though they ask for a donation. (However, being a poor Aussie backpacker I didn't make a contribution! I felt the rich Italian, Swiss and French tourists could donate for me haha)

Gingy and I at the Main Entrance to the British Museum

Everyone was out the front getting snapshots so I took a photo for an Asian tourist and got her to return the favour. "I love Gingy!" I believe were her exact words as soon as I pulled out my little friend, I'm thinking I've chosen the right travel companion. haha

Once inside the museum seemed to go on forever, I spent a solid 5 hours walking around looking at the Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Asian and countless other exhibits on display throughout the museum. I was lucky enough to get to see priceless artifacts from amazing Greek and Roman statues of Venus (or Aphrodite depending on which civilisation crafted it) to a room full of mummies and scripts from the Egyptian book of the dead. There were even mummified cats and a crocodile! Maybe when oscar isn't with us any longer we'll have to get him mummified...

Cat mummified in bronze coffin (you can see the head of the mummified croc at the bottom left)

Script from the Book of the Dead (Within this particular text is a spell used to prepare people for their transition into the afterlife)

I even managed to see the Rosetta Stone (which helped decifer the mystery of the Egyptian hieroglyphs) and The Lindow Man, so there we go I'm seeing things I learnt about in school, and physically seeing it makes you appreciate it that much more.

The Lindow Man

Gingy and I with the "Rosetta Stone" on display in the Age of Enlightenment display of the Museum

The Real Rosetta Stone (Encased in glass)

After a solid day in the museum I was buggered, but made plans to meet up with James Hargrave (aka "Jimmy" to the girls in Europe haha) for dinner and a drink at a local Irish pub in the Kings Cross area. We got ourselves a mixed grill and the evening turned into a night of laughter and stories as another 3 or 4 pints digested, we made our way home and used caution because we noticed an interesting sign warning us to do so (see below haha), then we said our goodbyes and James made his way back to Paddington. We've scheduled to meet up on Saturday and make our way to the Camden Markets before a house warming for a few friends James met in his travels on Busabout. Maybe this'll be a glimpse into the upcoming 3 months of fun and the friendly people I could meet along the way!

Look out he's everywhere and ready to strike you down...

James and I out front of O'neils Pub

Made It.....

Hi All,

After a long flight we finally made it to London yesterday morning =)

A stopover in Brunei and another in Dubai resulted in over 20 hours on a plane/in transit and that is plenty for me for now! Thankfully I won't be flying again until my return trip home!

The first day I hit the ground running, after getting off the plane at 0630hrs I caught the Underground to Kings Cross where I'm staying while in London. Despite having not rested while on the plane I managed to power on and make the first day count.

Bronwyn and I in London (Picadilly Circus)

Picadilly Circus Fountain (Feat. Statue of Anteros)

 Firstly I organised to meet up with Bronwyn at St. Pancras/Kings Cross Station before we made our way to Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and then across to Southbank (near the London Eye) for a pint, a meal and a catch up. Got some great photos along the way! What a legendary way to start the trip =)

Trafalgar Sq. Fountain

On the footbridge to Southbank (London Eye far left, Big Ben far right)

After lunch we made our way to St Pauls Cathedral (where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married). It's a beautiful Church, hell of a climb to the top though, Bronny and I were buggered by the time we got up there.  But it was defiinitely worth it for the views and the beautiful artwork inside.

St Pauls Cathedral

Inside the dome of St Pauls

Preparation and Planning.

As some of you would already know I'll soon be making my way across the Indian Ocean (a first time for me, it's always been the Pacific!) to Europe travelling through England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. My seats are booked for the 10th of August (Arriving 11th August) and Gingy is planning to jump in my luggage to avoid paying another airfare. After touring Europe in a clockwise direction I'll return to England to fly back home on the 10th of November.

We'll be starting in Paris around the 13th or 14th of August and then the rest of the trip will sort of depend on what we get up to as we go along. Watch this space as Gingy and I make our way across the countries of old drinking the beers of Belgium, getting lost in the redlight district of Amsterdam, partying in the nightlife of Prague, touring the galleries and museums of Vienna and enjoying the festivities of Oktoberfest in Munich. =)

I'll try and update photos and add new blogs as I go from place to place.

Cheers,
Ashman (and Gingy)