The hills are alive with the sound of arrogant arses

So I'm now in Munich, wondering how on earth to try and document the last few days.


On my last day in Slovenia, I spent the day with a lovely Australian girl, exploring the town and markets, including Metelkova, which is an autonomous sector of Ljubljana, absolutely covered in graffiti and shoes over the telephone wires. We stopped for an amazing burrito and the delightfully named "Juicy Pussy" cocktail, followed by a snickers crepe with nutella, peanuts and caramel. Amazing. My last night in Ljubljana ended up being much more eventual than I had planned. When I got back to the hostel, everyone, including the hostel workers,  was getting ready to go out to Metelkova, where there are a few "alternative" bars and people stand about drinking and chatting. It was a pretty good evening, although a few fights broke out. We stayed out until 4 just getting to know some locals.

The next morning, I made my merry way to Salzburg on a 6 hour train, an experience which I shared with Chad, an American I met on the train to Ljubljana. We developed a great technique of keeping our own carriage, by contracting sudden random narcolepsy each time someone passed by our door. Little did we know, works on the line meant we had to get a bus for 20 minutes before rejoining the train. This alone would produce little more than perhaps a tut, however, when we got on the bus, we made the grim discovery of the combination of Chad's broken chair and a German guy behind, who insisted on being the biggest arsehole known to man and pushing against the chairs, loudly complaining to play up to his audience. We named this period "bustration".

Train ride over, we arrived to Salzburg to be met with an atmosphere similar to Dulock (cf: Shrek). Cute town but absolutely dead. We ate in a Greek restaurant, which seemed to be a good idea and then later backfired in the stomach department. That evening, I did some laundry and then got accosted by possibly the weirdest Asian I have ever met. Just as a sidenote, Salzburg seems to be a magnet for Asians, a phenomena I shall name 'Asian Invasion'.

Yesterday was an eventful day to say the least. We got up early and caught a cable car to the top of the Unterberg Mountain, wearing definitely inappropriate clothing for snow. The top of the mountain looked a bit like a chewing gum advert in my humble opinion.

Later on, we popped onto a boat for a 40 minute cruise, which was overall dull, given that the riverside buildings of Salzburg are pretty boring. At the end though, the captain showed us his doughnutting skills with the boat, making everyone feel slightly nauseous.

After that, we ventured to the panoramic terrace of Salzburg which was nice and walked to the fortress, my favourite part of the stay. Stunning views and the opportunity to believe you are living in medieval times.

After that, we checked out a delicious Mexican restaurant and then headed back to the hostel. Here's where things got interesting and I had my first disaster of the trip. I got to my room to find that my key card didn't work and it had been over run with school children. The first thought was "where the fuck is my stuff?". I then got told off by the teacher who was accompanying the children for waking them up at half 11. Venturing down to reception, I find that all my stuff has been shoved into my rucksack and a bin bag and left at the reception, where any Tom, Dick or indeed Harry could access my things. I eventually discover that the hostel double booked and I had to change rooms for my second night, something I was unaware of.

After a lengthy argument with the arrogant cock at reception, I was told to wait until the morning to speak to the manager and was downgraded to a 12 bed dorm. This "dorm" would really be better described as a ward, since the girl above me on the bunk bed was talking to herself in German and I was given blank stares as I went about my daily business. I really expected Angelina Jolie and Whoopi Goldberg to appear.

Anyway, this morning, I chatted to another member of staff and got a full refund for a frankly terrible stay at the hostel.

My overall impression of Salzburg? It's a fairly pretty place, surrounded by gorgeous mountains. But it really lacks soul and character and to be honest, if they could charge you for oxygen I'm pretty positive they would.

This morning, I happily left Munich and got in a carriage with possibly the sweetest French family ever, complete with adorable little baby boy. Day saved.

And now, Munich. Got plans to venture out into the city centre in a little while and then really get some rest.

Lubbly Ljubbly

Sorry about the title of this, simply couldn't resist. So since my last post, I had my last day in Zagreb. I went up the funicular (there's always fun in a funicular) to see the whole town from the upper part. Coincidentally I chose to go there at noon, when they fire a canon out of the tower, which I was previously unaware of and thought Zagreb was being attacked.

Afterwards, I spent the day mainly eating and drinking and catching some vital rays. That evening, I watched Skyfall with some fellow hostellers whilst an obnoxious group of Italians proceeded to take over the whole hostel and shout at each other (which sadly, is often the case with Italians, sorry to say).

The next day, I set off on my journey to Ljubljana in Slovenia. Met some really nice people on the train, including a lovely Croatian guy who insisted on helping me to find my hostel and taking me straight to the door. That evening, I ate dinner with an American guy who I had met on the train, indulging in some delicious Mexican food.

Later on in the evening, I had the surprise of my life to see two English guys I had previously met at the hostel in Krakow stroll into the room at my hostel. Yesterday, we spent the day together, exploring the castle, drinking pitchers of beer and eating "meat with Bosnian bread" .

In the evening, myself and fellow hostellers went out to a bar where I admittedly quickly crashed as the long days are getting exhausting.

Today, it's raining so I think I will take my time to get out of bed and maybe explore the city centre more.

Tomorrow, Salzburg.

Plitvice Lakes

A sunny morning in Zagreb here with nothing to do but explore the town. On Tuesday, I had a pretty lazy day and just ventured out into the town centre for a bite to eat and to look at some of the buildings. The town itself is pretty small and a few hours of discovery means you can get a lot done.

In the evening, I played backgammon and ate some dinner with a fellow hosteller.

Yesterday, I went on a minibus to Plitvice Lakes with a group of 6 lovely people from various hostels. The chauffeur was hilarious and seemed to have almost every type of music, from Elvis to Dr Dre, Shaggy to Gabrielle. As a group we explored the beautiful waterfalls and turquoise lakes togethe, meandering through the forests and catching the boats from one side to another.

In the evening, we decided to meet up again for some dinner and drinks. There's a really nice restaurant here that has its own brewery. I sampled the goulash. Later in the evening, I got to drinking rakia, which is the local alcohol here. Its basically like a really strong brandy with various flavours.

Today, after the storms of yesterday, the sun is shining and I will take the opportunity to stroll about and take some photos of Zagreb.

Hope all is well!

Zagreb in the rain

Good morning world,

Yesterday, I spent the morning chilling at my hostel before making my way across town for my train.

The train took 6 hours, which I was dreading but eventually turned out to be a lot of fun. I was in a carriage with 3 other people, including an Australian and an English girl and we chatted for pretty much the whole journey. By the end, it had escalated into some hysteria, mainly stemming from the fact that there seemed to be just one man to do everything and who came round with the food trolley, then told us to go for the restaurant carriage, where we waited, only to find he ran the restaurant carriage as well.

Finally arriving in Zagreb, it was disappointing to see that it was raining, which I am told doesn't happen very often. Initial impressions were that it seems a pretty cute town, but a small one.

Last night, we ventured out for some food where I had a delicious mixed grill and chatted with some great fellow hostellers.

Today, a relaxed stroll through Zagreb to discover the town.

A brief spell in Budapest

So I realised it's been a good few days since I published a blog. On Thursday, I went on two walking tours of Krakow, one exploring the old town and the other the Jewish quarters. Really informative and saw the beautiful town of Krakow at its best.

Lots of really nice people actually left that day, which made me feel a little melancholy in the evening. However, the show went on and myself, an American girl and two Brits ventured into the Jewish quarter again for a bar called Propaganda, with Communist decor. It took us roughly an hour and a half to find it, in the pouring rain, and with a stop for a photo of the statue of a dragon which breathed fire at the castle. Unfortunately, I was unprepared and had to wait through 20 minutes and 3 fires to get a good one.

Anyway, Friday came and I spent the morning walking around the town, buying jewellry with my remaining Polish money from a flea market in the cloth hall. I went for lunch in a traditional Polish place and then for a beer with kiwi in it in a really sweet bar with 70s decor and cinema seats for chairs.

That day was National Constitution Day for Poland so the atmosphere was really awesome.

In the early evening, I sat with some fellow hostellers for The Lion King and Shrek before some of the guys decided to convince me I was going to die on the night train to here.

Thankfully, I didn't die and in the end, was put in a cabin with a really nice Australian girl which put my mind at ease for the 10 hour journey. I even managed to get a few hours sleep.

So today, I arrived in Budapest at half 8 in the morning, dumped my luggage at the hostel and immediately went to the baths on the other side of the river. The views here are breath taking and for a small fee, you can visit thermal baths, an indoor and outdoor pool, a steam room and a sauna in an old temple for as long as you please.

Tonight I think I will have an early night as tomorrow I'm off to Zagreb, a 6 hour journey.

To be honest I was sad to say goodbye to Krakow as I loved the town and the hostel but I will definitely be back. I'm finally in a place now though with a bit of sunshine which is nice.

Roll on the next 12 days!

Krakow

I arrived in Krakow safely, albeit slightly bedraggled. As soon as I got to the hostel, I went straight to the salt mines on a tour which was good. It was full of sculptures made of salt and some salt lakes.

In the evening, after a tasty dinner provided at the hostel, I headed out on a pub crawl with lots of people from my hostel. One word: sausagefest. Great evening and a good chance to meet new people and experience Krakow's crazy nightlife.

Today, we went on a trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There's not really a lot to say about it, except that it was truly surreal to see. Definitely a worthwhile visit but you leave just wondering why.

Just a quick word about the hostel I'm staying in. Its a really awesome place with free breakfast and dinner and lovely beds. I've met some really nice people here too, with whom I intend to go out with tonight.

Plan for tomorrow is to discover Krakow a little more, although my impressions so far are that it is a really great town.

Shame about my lack of Polish.

Onto the next one

Morning all!!

I'm sat in the train station at Warsaw (kudos to Poland for free WiFi in here), waiting for my next train to Krakow. Of course, I'm far too early but better to be safe than sorry eh?

Yesterday, I had a much needed lie in after a turbulent night's sleep before finally deciding to get out of bed and have a tranquil afternoon at a massive park.

There were loads of peacocks and red squirrels. I'll take this opportunity to say: never open a cereal bar with squirrels around. Squirrels love dem grainz. I had a squirrel climb up my leg. Later on, I did offer some nuts I had in my bag to a few of the squirrels and they ate them right out of my hand.

Spent the afternoon watching peacocks fan out their feathers in an attempt to attract the female peacocks
In the evening, I had a mad dash to the huge shopping centre to find a camera battery charger. Mission accomplished, I sat in the Hard Rock Cafe for a cheeky cosmopolitan before making my way back to the hostel.

Just a little word about the hostel, whilst I'm on the subject. Its a great little place with everything one needs from a hostel, including hairdryers and a lovely kitchen but, unlike my hostel in Berlin, everyone seemed to keep themselves to themselves, leading to a more solitary visit for me, although I did meet a few nice people.

On the way to the station here, there were 3 guys playing a nice piece on an assortment of brass instruments, brassLADS.

Warsaw in a nutshell? Well I'd say its been a pleasant visit and that in a city which initially comes across as grey and square, there's something for everyone here. Parks, the old town, shopping centres. It's just a case of finding it.

Warsaw in the rain

Good evening blog readers,

So yesterday, I made the 6 hour train journey from Berlin to Warsaw in the rain. It was a pretty journey, but a boring one. As we got closer and closer to Warsaw, it suddenly dawned on me that I know not a single phrase of Polish. This was actually quite a scary thought for me, as a linguist more than anything. Not even capable of saying thank you, or please or sorry, I arrived in Warsaw station, tired and hungry, but excited for the things Poland had to offer me.

When I arrived it has to be said that I was not impressed with the aesthetic properties of Warsaw. Coming out of the subway from the station, tourists are met with a concrete jungle of skyscrapers, roadworks and a ghostbusters-esque Stalin building (the museum of technology). It's fair to say I was disappointed that Warsaw was not the cute, colourful town I was expecting.

After a good half hour walk, I finally made it to the hostel, on the verge of collapse and ventured out quickly for a KFC (just a three minute walk, ideal). After my fill of chicken, I headed straight to my bed.

Today, I began with a tour of the Jewish parts of Warsaw. It's quite cool here, in that there's a company which offers free tours, with the chance to tip if you feel satisfied with what you experienced. We walked for two and a half hours in the rain and explored all of the ghetto areas, the pre-war remnants (the few bits that are left) and monuments to the Polish Jews that died during the Holocaust. I have to say that it was really a worthwhile experience. I would never have found the things that our tour guide showed us.

After that, I made my way to the old town. After being unimpressed with the newer parts of Warsaw, I absolutely loved the old quarter. Full of cobbled streets and beautiful old buildings, I had found the beauty I was expecting from the capital. Afterwards, I walked through the rest of town and soaked up the sights of a much more attractive part of the town.

I then took a trip to a supermarket for dinner (camembert and bread, France, I miss you) and walked back to the hostel. I'll take this opportunity to say that it's probably a miracle that I'm still alive because crossing the road is an absolute nightmare round here. Also, why is McDonald's so good everywhere else but England?

This evening, just chilling with a few beers and getting to know the other inhabitants of my hostel.

bye bye Berlin

So it's my last day in Berlin today and tomorrow I shall be off to Warsaw.
I've had a lovely few days here but, as with almost every journey, it seems to end too soon. I had just got into using the trains here, the way the Germans do things and have only today discovered the more alternative parts of Berlin, complete with street art, some pretty quirky places and some delicious smelling food.

So today, I started with a rather sombre visit to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews in Europe. Its basically 2,711 concrete blocks, lined up in various sizes. I was surprised to see that it was surrounded by a fairly busy road and large buildings, rather than nestled in a park, but on entering into the memorial itself, the sound of the traffic cannot be heard. The memorial was designed to make you feel claustrophobic and it's safe to say that, although the memorial looks small from the outside, whilst in between the blocks you feel lost. I was saddened to see that people were playing hide and seek inside. Despite being a lover of this game, even I think that this is more than somewhat disrespectful. Another thing that sickened me was something which I got used to on a few trips to Paris: groups of people pretending to be deaf and dumb, miming at you to sign a petition. Whilst in any normal situation, this is nothing more than a mere annoyance, I felt that inside the memorial was an awful place to try and scam people. And I stand down from my soap box.

Following the memorial, I went into the museum underneath it, which showed final letters from victims of the Holocaust, photos and explained the history.


After a melancholic and reflective morning, I headed down to Checkpoint Charlie in the blazing sunshine and stopped there for my first ever curry wurst. Following this, I decided to walk in completely the wrong direction on my way to the city centre and ended up in a pretty dodgy part of Berlin, where a drunk homeless guy was claiming to be Hitler's cousin and proudly exclaiming he was a Nazi. Perfect. U-Bahn found and quickly taken, I made my way to the East side gallery of the Berlin wall and walked all the way along it. It's covered in some really great graffiti and runs alongside the river so it made for a pleasant walk.

Feet tired and slightly sunburnt, I headed back to the hostel where I am sipping my gin and tonic and writing this blog. How cosmopolitan.

Anyway, with sore fingers I bid adieu from Berlin and I'll write again in Warsaw!

Tschuss!!

Berlin day 1

First official day of inter-railing almost over, I thought I'd take the opportunity to update you all on a rather pleasant day.

Last night, I got but 5 hours sleep, probably due to excitement and perhaps a little dehydration, remedied with a good few litres of water. I started the day by exploring the centre of Berlin, stopping at the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Cathedral and many other things that caught my beady eye.

My first impression of Berlin is that it is so huge and full of buildings. Sounds like a strange thing to say, but as a chick who's just spent 7 months in rural France, it was something of a culture shock. Another thing which occurred to me is how much awesome stuff the Germans can lay claim to. Perusing the vast amount of shops in the city centre just proves this. There's an entire shop devoted to Nivea.

In the afternoon, I had good intentions to do some serious cultural investigations, much like in the morning, and set out on the train. Unfortunaly my straight laced intentions were dashed rather, when I spied with my little eye a zoo, and an elephant casually strolling around in its enclosure. As a lover of all animals, I couldn't resist and popped inside for what I thought would be a fairly quick tour of a few impressive animals. How wrong I was. 6 hours later, I had seen polar bears, brown bears, Canadian wolves, tree frogs, basically any animal you can name and I saw it today. There was even a massive aquarium to look round. Although this may seem like a strange thing to do, I really enjoyed my day and especially appreciated the freedom that the animals were given, as compared to many zoos I have visited. I even treated myself to some tasty noodles and homemade lemonade on the way home.

This evening, I think I will see what's happening in the hostel and surrounding areas before hitting the hay, as a full day in the glorious sunshine looking at animals has really taken it out of me.

Plans for tomorrow are to get myself down to Potsdamer Platz to check out the Holocaust memorial, followed by a trip to Checkpoint Charlie and a visit to some of Berlin's many gardens. To top it all off, I think it would be rude if I didn't finish the day with a wurst and a beer. Next stop, Warsaw!

Safe and sound

Evening all,
Just thought I would let you all know that I have safely arrived in Berlin, despite a long 8 hour journey, complete with suspicious airport staff who decided that I was worthy of a phone swabbing.
After my plane journey from Luton (aka shithole) to Berlin, I was then greeted by an hour's train ride to arrive at my hostel. Pretty sure I screwed the train ride up because it was only supposed to last a measly 25 minutes. Typical Ms. Wilkinson. I say Ms because it seems so awfully pretentious and I figure that whilst I'm out here, I can pretend to be whoever I like. Game is on to invent the wildest story.

Plans for this evening? A chilled beer and then bed methinks, unless a better offer throws itself my way. Frankly though, I'm exhausted.

Clearly too old for this shit.

Pre-departure nerves

I decided that since I'm having a new adventure, a new blog was in order.

As most of you know, I'm off on a 3 week adventure round Eastern Europe, thanks to my recently purchased inter-rail ticket.

My itinerary is as follows;

Berlin
Warsaw
Krakow
Budapest
Zagreb
Ljubljana
Salzburg
Munich

I feel a bit insane to be leaving the country again, since it was such a relief to hit home soil, but I know that the next 23 days will be an amazing experience for me.

There's not much more to say, except that this little bad boy is going to be my life support for the time that I'm out there;

So I'll save the next words until I'm out of the country and the fun has begun.