Day 24

Yesterday was the last day of the trip- our drive day back to London. We did make 2 stops along the way- The first being a cheese and clog factory. We listened to the process of how cheese is made in the factory (always an interesting challenge with a group the size of ours). Afterwards, we had a demonstration on how wooden clogs are made and we actually watched a man from the chop make a shoe by carving wood. It was really cool. I actually bought a nice pair of wooden sandals there.

 The Belgian Chocolate Factory was our next stop. It was really just a big warehouse of chocolate and a half hour shopping stop. I couldn’t resist and ended up purchasing more chocolates- including crispy strawberry chocolates in the shape of Pringles. They also had bottles of wine discounted to 1 euro- so I ended up on the bus drinking strawberry wine and eating delicious strawberry chocolates. I was quite happy!

We carried on to the ferry port and ferried across back to Dover (only about an hour and half). During that time we got some fish and chips for dinner. Afterwards was- you guessed it- back on the bus again!! This time the drive was only a couple hours and we arrived back in London a bit earlier than we expected to. This gave us plenty of time to take the tube and bus to get our suitcases out of storage, bring them on a bus, tube line and 3^rd bus to the hotel, arrange all our things and make sure the suitcases were within weight restriction (throwing away a few things because they weren’t), shower and finally get a bit of sleep (5 hours but still it was something). Now we are in Iceland. We got to the bank, got checked out and did our first part of the flight home no problem. Everything went exactly to schedule and now all that’s left to do is wait for the next flight to get us to Toronto and then travel on home with mum and dad who have very generously offered to pick us up.

Day 23

Yesterday was our drive day/ evening in Amsterdam. We didn’t stop anywhere interesting on the way because Ali, our tour guide, wanted us to have as much time as possible exploring the city. Therefore, we left at 7:30am and got to Amsterdam around 5pm to shower and get ready to go out.

We left at 6 and were in the city center by around 6:30. That was our free time to get something to eat and check out some shops or sights until 8, when we had a guided tour through the red light district. We ended up getting some nice Chinese food and wandering through the many souvenir shops.

The guided tour was interesting. There were “ladies of the night” standing behind glass doors with fancy open curtains advertising themselves to those who walked past. A lot of the curtains were closed because it was fairly early when we passed by. There were interesting adult shops all over the place. In one shop, people could sit in the shop window and have a photo taken of them wearing a wig, as if they were one of the “business women” in the area. It was nothing like anything I’d seen before. Our tour guide told us that there was a nursery in a building right by the red light district. She told us that when they asked the children what they thought of the area, they said it’s great and they like the nice ladies that sell kisses. I thought that was pretty cute.

Afterwards was an adult show that a lot of the group decided to see, because it really only happens in Amsterdam. I will leave the details about the show out because there may be readers of all ages here. After the show was time to catch our bus back to the hostel, get some sleep and be ready to drive back to London.

Day 22

Ok today was our free day in Berlin and I must say it was a relaxing day.  Up til now we had been really pushing ourselves to see absolutely everything any given place had to see which has been wearing us out a bit.  We decided to take a bit of an easy today as there wasn’t a insurmountable amount of stuff to see.

The day began with a walking tour of central Berlin.  The guide was incredibly knowledgeable and showed us sections of the Berlin Wall, the car park built above the bunker Hitler committed suicide in and a massive unmarked and unexplained memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.  The memorial in particular was rather interesting.  It was composed of several concrete blocks of the same width and length with only different heights.  All were arranged to make a grid pattern of walkways but not a maze.  Before anyone could ask any questions about how the memorial is to be interpreted we were told there wasn’t one.  The architect from the US who submitted the design never put an explanation for it forward.  Apparently they had such a hard time trying to come up with a suitable memorial to the horror of the Holocaust that they decided this design would mean something different to everyone and it was quite remarkable to see and walk through.

After the walking tour we headed toward the Absinthe Depot.  We had heard of it before and the implication was that it was a place where we could tour the Absinthe making process.  It just turned out to be a small shop that sold plenty of different varieties of it.  No worries though the area had a few random shops to check out and then we headed to a park near the museum district which was on an island.  We did not have time to go into the museums but we did gets some pictures of the museum architecture and listened to a street performer do some rather good versions of Beatles songs and others.

We had a stop at the Hard Rock Cafe as per usual before tracking down something decent to eat.  We thought we had succeeded at a small Italian place with some good set dinners posted but they turned out to be only until 7pm so being after that we decided on burritos instead.  We also were able to quench our desire for bubble tea after dinner as well.

Managed to make it back to the hostel in time to sort through some of the photos we’ve taken before turning in for the night.  Tomorrow we’re off to Amsterdam!

Day 21

Our 21^st day of the tour (We are starting to get a bit behind on typing these up) was mostly a drive day again, making our way towards Berlin. Our first stop was in Dresden where we had a brief walking tour of the city center (which had been completely leveled in WW2 and since has been rebuilt). There was not a whole lot there aside from some neat looking buildings and our lunch- McDonalds and some bubble tea.

After the tour we finished our driving to Berlin. In Berlin, we had dinner at the hostel and Matt and I decided that rather than spending money on public transit, we would stay back at the hostel and see everything the next day with a day pass on the metro.

We kicked off the night by trying a tiny bottle of Absenth (a shot each) and then sipping wine and beers with the group on the patio. That last quite a while, and we all sat around and played cards together again (I am so glad I brought cards). We eventually got kicked out because it was too late to be talking and making noise and we ended up in the spa area of the hostel, in the sand carrying on talking and sipping our drinks. That didn’t last long before the hostel moved the group again- this time to the hostel bar. After about 10 minutes the bar decided that we should all go off to a different bar or to bed. It sounds like we were really loud and horrible, but really there were just a lot of us. We decided to just call it a night so we could be up and ready for our walking tour in the morning.

Day 20

So the day prior we had explored a great deal of Prague and we probably would have spent the entire day in the city itself if our tour guide had not mentioned a small town 70 kilometers East of Prague called Kutna Hora.  In this town is a church called Kostnice which has a small cemetery around it.  In the 19 century there were far too many people buried there so the interior of the church was converted into an artistic mass grave for the bones of some 40,000 people.  That’s right we’re talking the ultimate Halloween style interior and while the concept is quite morbid it was still what we set out to see for ourselves.

We ended up traveling with two others from our group that were also hoping to see the church and in doing so got a group discount on the train tickets.  I wish via rail was like this as for our share a 75 km journey with return was only 10 Euros!  The trains themselves had interiors and structure the same as the Harry Potter movies so for Tracey and our companions the journey in itself was quite enjoyable.

From the train station in Kutna Hora it was only a 12 minute walk to the church and just under 3 Euros admission per person.  We were expecting a separate charge for a photography permit mentioned online but apparently that’s been included in the admission now.

The church itself was nothing short of amazing.  They had six massive pyramids of bones in separate rooms around the perimeter of the centre of the church.  In the centre of the church were four tall triangular prisms adorned with skulls and above them was a massive chandelier whose composition used every bone in the human body.  It’s six candle positions were each fitted with a skull on the end and above and around the chandelier were “streamers” of skulls and crossbones.  I really can’t say what the people of their day would think of their remains being displayed and honouring God in this way but I personally wouldn’t mind.

Leaving the church we were aiming for a 2pm train back to Prague and arrived at the station right around 1:30 to make sure we caught it.  Unfortunately it turned out the ticket office lady earlier had just been scribbling some arbitrary numbers on a pad of paper to get rid of us when we had inquired earlier and the next train was not in fact due to arrive until 3pm.  There being no sense in arguing we chose to partake in lunch and arrived in Prague right around 4pm.

Now we could’ve gone to the zoo or some other attraction but the pressing matter at the time was a lack of clean clothes so we returned to the hostel to do laundry (quite the party goers we are eh?).  Laundry itself did have some mentionable interest as we encountered the dryer that doesn’t dry.  Our single load of clothes was put through twice and we still needed to hang it to dry (we had to pay twice too).

After laundry was taken care of, we went out for dinner with some of the group. We were going to pick a place to eat near the hostel- a taco place or a steakhouse. We ended up at the taco place and Matt had a steak :) I had tacos so we kind of had the best of both restaurants. We hung out there for a little bit and made our way back to the hostel (after stopping for icecream and ending up with a bottle of sangria instead). After that was just getting dressed and ready for sleep.

Day 19

Today we headed in the direction of Prague but first we had a Lunch stop in Slovakia.  Our stop in Slovakia was at the capital of Bratislava which was much nicer than it was depicted in the movie Eurotrip I must say.  About the most notable landmark is a suspension bridge with a high viewing platform and restaurant shaped very much so like a flying saucer.  The restaurant is in fact called UFO and apparently has statues of Martians in it to empathize that fact.

We had a walking tour of the city centre before being given free time to find lunch.  The highlight of the tour for me was encountering a robed man apparently hovering in midair.  Could not explain how he was doing it as all he was gripping was a staff in his left hand and the staff itself did not appear to be fixed to the ground in order to support a shrouded chair system.  Very interesting indeed.  Aside from that there was an entertaining bronze statue of a man with arms crossed out of a sewer grate.  It was a representation of a common underground labourer who would lounge in such fashion to look up women’s skirts.

Lunch there was cheap and awesome!  We found a pizza shop called I Love Pizza where we got 2 delicious slices of pizza, a generous portion of bite size garlic bread pieces and a modest size 4 cheese baked pasta for 6.95 Euros!  Was the first time that the two of us had lunch and were completely full!

A few hours later we arrived in Prague, checked into the hostel and began our 2nd walking tour of the day in the city centre of Prague.  We witnessed some interesting contemporary art sculptures, the John Lennon wall (wall where people have used graffiti to express messages of peace, love and support of democracy) and the astronomical clock which every hour has moving statues ringing bells and are accompanied by some playing the trumpet from atop the tower.  We also crossed the famous Charles Bridge which is adorned with several statues on either side of it but a couple in particular have polished spots on them where millions of people have rubbed them.  Depending on the statue and side of it the polished spot is rubbed to grant you a wish, ensure you return to Prague, grant good luck or grant bad luck.  We were sure to rub the good luck side.

After the walking tour we did our own exploration eventually making it to the Hard Rock Cafe and on the way back to the hostel picked a small 2 shot volume bottle of some proper Absinthe to try a bit later in the tour.

Tomorrow is our free day to explore Prague!

Day 18

Today was a drive day from Vienna to Budapest. We left early- loaded the bus at 7:15 in order to get into Budapest early enough to do some exploring. I was disappointed at this prospect because I was hoping it would be the other way around- have some time to explore Vienna and go into Budapest a bit later. Anyways, we were in the city center around 12:30 and had free time until 2pm when our bus tour started. Matt and I wandered around, got a magnet and some lunch (Goulash and paprika chicken with noodles). The meal was decent, but it took forever to be served so we rushed it and ran over to the bus for the tour.

The bus tour itself wasn’t really all that spectacular. There were parliament buildings, theaters, the same sort of thing they have everywhere really, but we did see a couple cool sights. Those were castles that we drove past on the way, and a vantage point that we actually spent about 20 min at where we were able to have a really nice view of the city.

The bus got us to the Hotel Ibis around 4:30pm for a free night. Hotel Ibis is one that we had been to in Paris and loved because it is not a hostel- it’s actually a hotel. Twin rooms, showers and toilets in the room, towels, soap... pretty amazing! We even had a balcony! 

We lounged around the hotel for a little while, resting, checking TV and internet, showering... and eventually got around to dinner. We decided to go to McDonald's in order to save some money for our next stop- the Hard Rock Cafe.

Hard rock Cafe was great, we had a delicious chocolate fudge brownie topped with ice cream, whipped cream and a cherry on top, I had a strawberry daiquiri and Matt had a Hungarian beer. We spent some time there enjoying the food, drinks and music, took some photos of the memorabilia on the walls and eventually took the Metro back home to get some sleep.

Day 17

Today was again, mostly a drive day. We started off a bit later – loading the bus at 8:45 and heading out towards Vienna. We did 2 stops along the way, a 15 min toilet stop and a half hour lunch stop. Matt and I did lunch at the gas station because the restaurant was very pricy. We got into Vienna around 4:30 and had until 6:30 to shower and organize our things before dinner. Dinner was not originally included, but head office ended up calling the hostel and getting us a free dinner. It wasn’t very good, but I couldn’t really complain because it was free. Cold pickled potatoes, schnitzel and salad which a lot of people (myself included) put yoghurt on instead of salad dressing because we can’t read German. 

After dinner was our walking tour of Vienna. Our guide was a funny man with a LOT of knowledge about everything in Austria. We passed churches, monuments, government buildings and a shopping street, stopping to hear the history of each place in lots of detail. 

The tour ended at about 8:50pm and we had some free time to explore. I would have loved to see the Freud museum, chocolate museum and a few other interesting places, but unfortunately everything was closed. Instead we went for a walk, picked up a magnet (I can’t remember if I mentioned before that Matt and I are getting a magnet from every country we visit), had a snack at McDonalds and made our way back to the hostel which is where I am typing from now. It is already past time to go to sleep because we load the bus at 7:15 in the morning.

Day 16

WOW! That is still all that comes to mind when I think about Switzerland but sadly we had to leave so off to Munich we went.  We left around 7:30 in the morning and in a couple hours we arrived for an early lunch stop in the small country of Lichtenstein.  Small country, large prices like Switzerland for food but we ate something nonetheless and got back on the road to Munich.

Since we had gotten off early enough and traffic wasn’t too bad there was an additional stop on the way; the former Nazi concentration camp Dachau.  We had an hour to visit the camp which sadly wasn’t nearly enough time to see and read everything but it was an extremely sobering experience.  To see first hand the conditions the prisoners were exposed to day after day and the tragic efficiency of the extermination process really shed more light on this horrible part of human history.  Certainly depressing but these reminders of our past are still important to inspire future generations to hopefully avoid making the same mistakes.

On a more lighthearted note we then descended upon Munich to drink their beer!  Well we stopped at the hostel first but soon left with the group for an included dinner at a local beer keller where we were treated to a plate of mashed potatoes, three different kinds of sausage and sourcraut (did not appreciate the sourcraut fully but wasn’t too bad).  All received a small 250ml glass of beer and then several of us indulged in some more traditional 1L steins of beer.  Tracey instead had a drink of something called Camprini which the menu we thought described it as orange flavoured soda but there was nothing orange about it.  It was the most bitter, revolting thing that either Tracey or I had ever drank.  Tracey tried to make it bearable by adding sugar to it but it was no use.  The dark side was far too strong with the drink.

After dinner we did some sightseeing but most things were closed being the evening.  We did make it to the Hard Rock Cafe and on the way back to the hostel stumbled upon a fireworks display.  It wasn’t as large as the Freedom Festival fireworks but several of the munitions were of that size.  Still slightly affected by the drinking of earlier and generally sleepy from the consistent early morning starts we turned in for the night.

Tomorrow we greet Vienna!

Day 15

Yesterday was our day to take the train to the Top of Europe- Jungfraujoch. As usual, we were up bright and early to start- this time we were all lined up for breakfast before it even opened. The train ride was nice, it was foggy so we didn’t see too much until we got to the very top. The top though... was absolutely amazing!!!  There were “snow fun” activities going on – handgliding, tubing, skiing, a few other things but they all cost extra. We decided we could do any of those things another time and decided to spend our time enjoying the mountain. 

We took some pictures outside, visit the “sphinx” (a glass done at the highest point), saw some ice sculptures and did a hike. Hiking through the mountains without any equipment was quite an interesting feat. There were steep inclines and the snow just seemed to go on and on. Matt and I were on a mission to see everything, so we did the climb as quickly as we could (of course making stops to catch our breath at that altitude) and we even ended up passing by a couple of people with proper hiking sticks. The views were amazing! All there was in sight were mountains and snow and occasionally another couple of hiker.  We really made the most of our time, spending a lot of it just staring out in complete amazement.

When we caught the train down, our original plan was going to be to take 2 more trains and a bus in order to check out a nice waterfall. We changed our mind before getting down the hill because of the cost and the time (we wouldn’t have had a lot of time to look at it before the area closed). Instead, we went back to the hostel so I could change my wet socks, got some information from the info booth and ended up catching a ride with someone working in the hostel to the city center. Our original plan was to see a different waterfall closer by, but busses didn’t run very often and we didn’t really want to wait half hour for the next one. Instead we wandered through the town of Grindavald just checking out what the area was like and running into and out of little shops. 

We headed back to the restaurant near the hostel for dinner (it ended up being cheaper than the places in Grindevald) and trying some traditional Swiss dishes- Rostas- which were hashbrowns with cheese and bacon on top, and 2 cheese fondu, served with a few veggies, little potatoes and tons of bread to dip in the hot cheese. It was pretty good!

We got back to the hostel and ended up in the lobby with some of the group.  We were looking through the games the hostel had to offer trying to figure out something to do. There was a set of cards with German words on them, which we spent a few minutes inventing rules to and laughing at, cards that went up to 104 and cards with people and places on them. For another few minutes, we were messing around with those cards. “I’d like to see you top a 78!” “Oh yeah well I have Sri Lanka! Hah!”. When this really wasn’t becoming a game, I grabbed my cards from my room and we had about 10 people playing together and teaching each other games from Canada, Ireland and Australia.  Afterwards was time for showers and sleep.

Day 14

Today was another travel day. We were up at 7:45, on the coach before 8:30 and driving most of the day. Once we got to Switzerland, the scenery started looking amazing!! Mountains, waterfalls, lakes, streams... Everything just glittered in the sun. The colours of the scenery didn’t even look real. It was like looking at an enhanced colour photoshop. 

We got to our hostel around 6 and took showers before dinner at 7. Dinner was great! Salads with a fantastic dressing, spaghetti with a different type of meat sauce and what looked like cheesecake, but was really made from yoghurt drizzled with chocolate. 

After dinner we went for a walk up the hills to near the base of the mountain. We passed by the neat little chalets all decorated and well kept with flowers and gardens all around. As we went up, we got to look down at the city and all the houses that had just started turning on it’s lights.

After the walk we headed back to the hostel, finished up some computer things including this blog and talking to everyone back home and soon it will be time to sleep.