Budapest 5/8

Vienna to Budapest via Bratislava 5/8 - Carpe Noctem Vitae

I got up and packed my stuff, Ryan didn't even move, and then refused to leave and so he booked another night at the Ibis. I ended up catching about 5 different metro lines as I was hungover and missed stops but I finally got to Hbf. 

I caught a 1 hour train to Bratislava, but on arrival found the train to Budapest was another hour away, plus a 10 minute delay.
I looked at my watch and checked Google maps, I could make it down to the old town in that time. So with my full backpack I hiked down the road for 20mins to the town square. It was very pretty, so I decided to go to the river via a lot of small shops and market areas where I bought some bracelets as a memento. 

I hiked back up the hill to the station, and the bloody train was delayed another 60 minutes, 130 in total. I slept on my bag on the floor of train station. I picked myself up off the floor, got some food and water for the train, which was packed, and was made to stand in the corridor. After the first stop, I got a seat, but shortly after was joined by some smelly backpackers and I had to share the cabin with them for the next 3 hours.

We arrived in Budapest at 9:30pm, I changed some euros, then walked to the hostel, on the way met some Americans in a supermarket who were friendly and gave me some sort of chocolate bar.

I eventually found the hostel where Swaino, an old mate from high school, worked but he was out clubbing at some 'open mic night'. So I showered then went out and destroyed a burrito and a Corona, then continued on my way. 

I first found an 'open air' bar, so I went in doubting the Hungarians english translation. I had a beer and chatted to some French girls, but soon realised I was down the wrong street.
I found Szimpla a really cool beer garden type place, but he wasn't there either, two doors down I found the 'Open Mic night' bar, and got super white girl drunk doing shots of Unicum with Long Island Ice Teas. 

I lost Swaino and stumbled back to hostel with Sam, who I apparently asked repeatedly where we were going.

Budapest 6/8 - Carpe Noctem Vitae

I woke up remarkably ok, but after a shower I soon learned I was still drunk. I found a laundromat for my smelly clothes, a gym for myself and the other party hostel, Retox.
I had an awesome Burrito and margarita for breakfast with Sam and Dani at Arriba Tacqueria.

We all went back to hostel and lounged around drinking for a bit, then I decided to go to gym where i struggled and pick up my clothes on my way back.

I showered and met the girls back down at Arribas for 4pm happy hour margaritas, where we drank until around 6pm when Ryan arrived, so I met him back at the hostel.

I was introduced into the afternoon dance party with the girls, where I drank my vodka and fruit-juice from a breakfast bowl, and made garbage bag dresses for the nights theme party, but I decided on a man-kini.

Our entire hostel went to Retox bar, we all drank heaps including the weekly timed Strawpeedo competition. Ryan found 10,000 on the ground and bought 15 shots of jäger for everyone.

We all went to a club, with all of us still wearing our outfits, getting strange looks from everyone. I was surprised I got in... in my man-kini/wrestler outfit.

Vienna 3/8

Prague to Vienna 3/8 – Night train

We were both wrecked after our more exciting night out in Prague so we slept in and organised a late check out.

Taxi's were proving rather expensive so we gave public transport a go, including getting lost on a bus and tram to try and get to this Slovia pool to meet up with the locals from the night before. 

Whilst waiting for the tram we met Lucy and Maria, locals also going to the pool that were really friendly. It was lucky we started speaking to them, as the location of this public swimming pool was so hidden in this derelict area of town. They even questioned how we knew about the pool.

  

Once we found our way out of the maze-like creepy locker rooms, we couldn't find others, so we opted to chill on the grass with our new friends, Lucy and Maria.
I passed out in the sun after a few beers and chatting to their pommy mate, while Ryan played chess against the girls.  

6 hours later we got back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and went to a strange and possibly gay restaurant for beers and dinner, and then a taxi to the train station for the night train. 12.01am we left Prague for Vienna in a rundown smelly train cabin.

Vienna 4/8 - Ibis Hotel twin share

Eventually arrived 6am in Bratislava, which looked like a hole and not worth looking at, so we took another train to Vienna.
Not having accommodation we just took the metro to the main hostel area, but decided on Hotel Ibis at 9am because of the early check in.

We showered and slept until 1pm. Then took the metro to Cathedral and Rathaus which had a big movie festival on. Amongst all the cafes and stalls there was an Australia bar, that sold Mango cocktails which of course we had to try, and stumbled our way to the big Ferris wheel where we found a big amusement park. 

After a few rides we had dinner and went back to the hotel for pre-drinks. We decided to go crash Wombat hostel bar and met some British chicks and went out clubbing with them, met Derrick and ended up at a mad rundown night club with awesome hard-electro beats and a N64 on a projector where people were playing 4-player Mario Kart.

Ended up back at the hotel some time in the 'am'.

Prague 1/8

Berlin to Prague 1/8 – Czech Inn twin share

Ryan and I went to a big cathedral and Museum island, when we only realised the amount of bullet holes in every wall and column. After walking around town we picked up our Eurail pass from Nadja at her university and went back to the hostel.
Five hours later we arrived and straight away got some Czech money out, then we were approached by a cab driver, Ryan jumped at an overpriced taxi for 680Kr, but it got to Czech Inn hostel. 
Just outside was St Charles Bridge the first bridge with dozens of statues along it, and that led us up to the top of a park, where we exercised for an hour or so. 
I hailed a taxi back to our hostel and then we went out for an awesome mixed grill in the town square, directly opposite the big old clock. The waiter wasn't happy we didn't tip, so we scrounged what few coins we had and left it on the table, probably only totalling $2.

We caught the first train to Prague with our new Eurail pass from Berlin Hbf. I bought a nice bottle of red wine, with cheese and crackers, which suited first class travel quite well.

After check-in we caught a taxi to the Old town, had some dinner and went on a pretty average boat cruise, followed by a hot and sticky 5 Level sausage-filled club, playing the worst music of each genre.

Prague 2/8 - Czech Inn twin share

We taxied to Prague castle which was huge as much as it was gothic looking, had some lunch, and then walked down to river. Ryan couldn't help but want to see the torture museum which was somewhat disturbing, in the ways at which they would sacrifice or torture people for crimes or sins.


 I managed to convince Ryan to have some Absinthe, and continued drinking at the Hard-rock cafe where we met some cool Swedish couples who took us to Harley's bar and partied with all the locals.

Berlin 27/7

Würzburg to Berlin 27/7 – A&O Hostel

I had to check out at 11, then went and had a kebab for breakfast and wondered around town. Had some lunch with Anne before catching a delayed train to Berlin.

I arrived in Berlin and walked across the road to A&O hostel, which seemed to be a family hostel as there were kids and people of all ages.

I met some American guys at the bar and had pizza with them, then Nadja met up with us and took me to hers to met her friends and we all went out to the Berghain. The line was huge, easily 100m long at the opening time of 12am, we put on a look of ‘my dog just died’ to seem cold and not phased by the club or queue.

And somehow managed to pass the judgment of ‘Pimp Kernel Sanders’, a guy with a face tattoo like Mike Tyson, red leather jacket, turned up jeans, and heaps of silver blinging chains and jewelry, who stroked his beard and rubbed his ear as he glanced you up and down.

Once we got in past the pat down by security and upstairs to the first floor we were greeted by a raging dance floor of people and hard electro beats. Amongst the sea of people that quickly parted, revealed a sweaty guy with a shaved head. Wearing nothing but runners and wang on him to his knees, dancing by himself having the time of his life.

Following that rude awakening to this club, there were 5 booths in which people could have sex in… whether or not they chose to close the door or not, which was a bit of a laugh, until my friend mentioned there was a guy chained up naked with two guys lined up behind him.
Another thing making this club stand out from anything else I had ever been to, was the side bar. Its bench top was a horizontal display-case containing a man-train of naked transparent amber coloured figurines.

We all taxied back around 4am, with most of them planning to return the following night.

Berlin 28/7 - A&O hostel

I was hung-over all day, and didn’t move much until the afternoon. I finally got up and ate pizza, again, then walked down to a bar/beach club by myself and after a refreshing beer I took a taxi to the Berghain to meet up with Nadja and the boys.
Out of nowhere a random girl, Loredanna Hibbard, recognised me at the bar (which was funny considering I had actually never met her) so we had a quick chat of our travel plans and how random it was to bump into each other on the other side of the world, when we never have back home via our Facebook mutual friends.

I wandered around for a bit, trying to find the other guys, unfortunately walking into the side bar where there were some couches and two naked guys in corner going ‘paper, scissors, rock’ on each other. I ran out back to the main dance floor and found the others; they weren’t fazed by my story as we had all seen plenty each.

We were there until close 730am.

Berlin Wombat 29/7 Wombat hostel 6 bed dorm

Wandered around with some random German guys and a girl from Israel all leaving the Berghain, we tried to get into Kalter Holzig (apparently a pretty cool day club) but failed as its was a VIP event (at 8am?). I bailed and went back to A&O hostel and checked out, then taxied to Wombat hostel on about 1.5hrs sleep. Ryan arrived in a cab an hour later so I yelled out to him from my hostel window and helped him check in.

We caught up for a bit at the bar upstairs, and met some Aussies so we drank and played pool all night.

We went out front with the majority of our hostel people, chatting and joking around, when all of a suddenly a young German kid starts screaming at us and cussing at one of the other backpackers. So we all laughed and advised him to piss off and drop it, but he decided to smash a glass bottle and threaten us with it.

When he was crouching down, distracted by chatting to someone, I walked up and booted the broken bottle out of his hand. He sprung up, to about just under my nose, so I drilled my index finger into his chest I gave him a fierce piece of my mind. His friend quickly intervened and they backed down.

Got back to my room and met Ewen, this young and very strange UK kid, and Hannah an Aussie from Perth.

Berlin 30/7 Wombat hostel 6 bed dorm

Woke up a little hung-over booked another night, and Ryan moved into my room. Made our way down to Checkpoint Charlie where it started to rain really heavily, and when it finally let up we wandered over to the Topography of terror and an amazing Chocolate store.

Using my map and compass I navigated Ryan, Ewen and myself to the Statue of Victory, then took the train back and had Vietnamese with the Aussie girls, Molly, Jess, Lisa and Maeve. Had some 9% JD’s for pre-drinks then went and played pool back at the hostel until the bar closed.

Berlin 31/7 Wombat hostel 6 bed dorm

We went caught a taxi to the East Wall exhibition and met the girls there after getting out at a roadblock and a wrong turn. After walking along the art covered wall, we all hopped on a tour bus, which told us nothing about the war or sights, but instead how much glass is on top of the main train station, and how many trees the city had.

We eventually got to the Fuehrer bunker, and Jew memorial. Then piled into two cabs and headed back to our hostel to have Vietnamese again for dinner, followed by drinks and a few rounds of pool.

Wurburg 24/7

Munich to Würzburg 24/7 - Babelfish Hostel 4bed dorm

I woke up on Alexs couch still drunk and left his apartment without my wallet. Locking the door behind me, I then realised it must have been inside somewhere, only for him to not answer the door for 5 minutes as he was in a coma-like state.

Eventually he answered the door and found my wallet strangely in his room, apologized for waking him up and caught the subway to Rohs to say goodbye.

I made my way to the station and took the first train to Würzburg, after the lady wrongfully sold me a ticket to Ausburg, that I had to get a refund for.

Arrived in Würzburg at 1pm, Anne met me on platform, dropped bags off and showed me around Wurzburg, then to the Residence, had dinner and beers the met up with Lisa

Went to Airport, a nightclub, with Lisa and the random Korean guy from my room and started my Long Island ice tea drink preference for the rest of my trip. The ridiculously drunk Korean guy and myself taxied back to the hostel where I passed out almost instantaneously, which was fortunate enough considering the heat.

Würzburg 25/7 - Babelfish Hostel 4bed dorm

Anne picked me up for breakfast at Lisa's where we had an authentic German breakfast including pretzels, cheese and white sausage that you had to peel the skin off.
After breakfast we drove up to see the Steinburg, a monument overlooking Wurzburg, the river and the vineyards, whilst taking her dog for a walk.

Lisa and Manu met us up at a restaurant on the hillside for dinner, which was pretty good, except for the service, having Manu and I wait a sufferable 10minutes for a beer.

Later that night we met some of her friends pre-drinking in the river harbor area. A few warm Coronas later and it was time for the hot and sweaty Boat nightclub, where most of the crowd was young drunks; we ended up leaving at around 2am.

Würzburg 26/7 - Hotel

For breakfast we caught up with her friend Vanessa and two others at a nice cafe, then went down to the river for a few hours before she had to go to work.

I was over the hot stuffy room and I had to check out, so I found a hotel with air-conditioning just next door for the night. Shortly after that Vanessa picked me up and we went to gym, the first time since I had left Australia.

I got back to my hotel and showered for the BBQ at Manu's. Lisa and Anne said they were out front, so I walked outside and saw a couple of parked cars and an empty convertible Mini with its top down, only to realise the girls were so short I couldn’t see their heads past the headrests.

The girls had prepared a salad and Manu cooked up a storm on his backyard BBQ. We all had a great night there; eating, drinking, and laughing our heads off to Manu’s rap songs in broken American/German English, and also his crazy high school video-arts action films – starring himself.

Munich 22/7

Munich 22/7 - Rohannas couch

Woke up on the comfy couch and had breakfast with Rohanna on her balcony, I also washed my stinky clothes, and charged all of my tech. Roh had to go to university, so I roamed the streets of Munich, buying myself a replacement belt, compass, a fresh haircut and on the way home; all the ingredients for me to cook them spaghetti bolognaise, to surprise and thank the two for their hospitality.
I Masterchef’d up the bolognaise with Rohanna and had dinner with her and Felix over a few wines and some highlights of my adventures so far.

Munich 23/7 - Rohannas couch

Roh and I had breakfast, then I borrowed Felix’s bike to ride around town. I rode along the Isar river up to the Englischer Garten and borrowed a parked bikes hand pump to top up his tyres.
After exploring the park for a bit Rohanna freed herself up and came to meet me for lunch at the beer garden. I had an amazing pork knuckle, my first for the trip, and a few Weiss beers.

We then rode up around the top of the city, then noticed her tyres were flat, so in my attempt to pump up her tyres at a car servo, I actually completely deflated her front tyre as the nozzle was different. Feeling like an idiot we walked around for 15minutes or so, and out of the 50+ chained up bikes, only one had a hand pump, which after a few solid pumps I ended up breaking it.

We opted to chain the bike up and she took the metro, texting each other of our location along the way to this music festival she recommended highly. 20 solid minutes of riding in the heat, I got to the show grounds only to realise the festival had finished a few days earlier, as they were removing all the fencing and signs.

Roh recommended the castle, another 15minutes ride away, as I waited for her on a park bench it soon dawned on me I was getting attacked by an entire colony of little hyperactive ants. My day wasn’t turning out the best.
When she arrived we walked over around the front gardens and lakes of the castle, to see that the castle I had in mind wasn’t actually a castle but a big mansion on a huge estate, built by a supposedly crazy king.

15minutes into my 30minutes sweaty ride I stopped by the Beer garten and skulled a beer as I was that knackered. Eventually got back to hers and dropped my bike off, leaving hers chained up near the servo. I showered, dressed for dinner and then we caught the metro to meet up with her friend Alex, a journalist for a local paper.
We finished our dinner and headed to a nearby busy bar in the University area, several Long Islands later, I was well wasted and Rohanna was hilarious knocking her last drink off the table. She left Alex and I there drinking, which was probably a bad idea, as I don’t remember much after that.

Zurich to Munich and SkyDiving in Interlaken 21/7

Zurich to Munich via SkyDive Interlaken 21/7 - Rohannas couch

I woke up early, had breakfast, packed up my gear and checked out. Took the tram to the train station and caught the earlier train to Interlaken, which took 3hours. I arrived in Interlaken and a little while later the taxi came to pick me up for skydiving. 

At the office they informed us we had to wait until 1pm to jump because the locals complain the chopper is noisy during their lunch break. The jump itself was 430CHF about 500AUD, and I was told I couldn’t use my own GoPro, for ‘safety reasons’, so I forked out another 200 Swiss Francs.
Switzerland was easily living up to its reputation for being expensive, but at least Zurich was a prettier version of Melbourne city, I’ll give it that.

I was then told I had to go later because the 3 stupid Egyptians hadn’t informed them of a cancellation and they wouldn’t fly me solo. But thankfully the company favoured me and gave a hard time. Eventually we were driven up to the helipad on the hill, all suited up, but only to have to wait for a couple of Germans wanting to a scenic flight over the Jurgenfrau.

20minutes later and it was time to jump. We took off and climbed rapidly up the face of steep mountain, then bank through a valley between the alps, and up further when the farm on the top look like little models. In a matter of minutes we went from the bottom of the valley to above the peaks of the majority, where we could see the endless array of snowy covered Alps. Then it was time to jump, Beat my tandem master, slid open the door and a brief moment of ‘oh shit’ factor came over me but soon settled as I had done this before. I then stepped out onto the footstep of the helicopter, looking down on the small towns below and tiny mountain farms, I put my head back and leaned forward, waiting for that feeling of weightlessness and incredible acceleration to termination velocity, it’s a rush like no other, different to the bulls fear and adrenaline, but equally as exciting. The freefall was for about 45seconds, then he pulled the parachute and it quickly deployed and slowed our decent. I took my goggles off and properly took in my surroundings; the two blue lakes and the steep rocky green mountainous cliffs. We landed in a paddock close to the office and I ran back to check the train time tables, the price differed by 100euro so I managed to ditch the Egyptians and got to the station in time.

7hours, two change overs and 157CHF later, I was in Munich. Got off at the Platform No. 26 and saw Rohanna waiting for me, I snuck up amongst the sea of people leaving the train and scared the crap out of her. We then took a train to stations to her apartment, in a very nice place just off the river. Her and her fiancé were both very accommodating, which I was very thankful for.