I got badges of all the different countries i went to and framed them up.

Eurotrip Diary

24th – 26th Dec 2006

Today my trip officially started. I feel like I’ve been waiting ages for this. First things first I walked to the bus stop. However instead of catching the bus a gentleman stopped and gave me a ride in his car because the buses might not have been running that frequently since it was the day before Christmas. After that I caught a bus to Edinburgh as planned.

The next few days I hung out with Eleanor, Aaron and their friends Celeste and James. I had a good time, which was more than I had expected because Edinburgh was only supposed to be a stop over place while waiting to go to Dublin. I never thought I would meet up with old friends from Australia.

27th Dec 2006

This morning I woke up early to catch the plane to Dublin. I think that catching a plane to go anywhere is always the best feeling. Just because it really feels like you’re getting away and going somewhere that nobody will know you.

I landed about 9am at Dublin airport. Unfortunately the first day I here it was raining. So I decided to go to the tourist information and get everything planned for the next day. I also decided to take a train to Belfast for a day trip on the 30th. Asides from all that I also did some shopping since all the shops were still having after Christmas sales.

28th Dec 2006

I have a whole lot planned for today. First I caught the tram then got off and walked through the St Stephens Gardens to the Museum of Natural History. The Admission price was free, which is the best kind. There were lots of animals in there for a small building. It was actually a bit sad to see so many of God’s creatures killed and stuffed for peoples viewing pleasure.

Next I walked around the corner to the National Gallery. The art there was good but was nothing compared to the other masterpieces I’ve seen in Italy and France. Further down the street in Merrion Square I visited the Oscar Wilde Statue and took some really artistic photos using close-ups.

National Museum of Ireland History was my next stop followed by Bram Stoker’s House.
I though Bram Stoker’s House was really cool to see and while I was there I also took a few extra photos from outside her house to show what Bram might have looked at while searching for inspiration while writing.

My next stop is Dublin Castle, but strangely instead of heading straight to the castle I took a few wrong turns by mistake and ended up visiting St Patrick’s Cathedral, Christ
Church Cathedral, and Dublin City Hall before I actually got to the Castle.

29th Dec 2006

Today was a great day because I got to visit the Guinness Storehouse. It took ages to get there because it was so far away on foot. Yeah I could have caught the bus but I prefer to walk around and see everything.

The Guinness Storehouse was amazing. It was actually a lot like Charlie and the chocolate factory because the outside had that 50’s old factory sorta look and inside there was one elevator to the top where you could see the whole city. The rest of the inside was a self-guided walking tour showing all the different processes from making Guinness to advertising and delivery methods.

This was defiantly better then going on a tour of my other favorite drink Heineken in Amsterdam.

Afterwards I went to the Dublina. The Dublina is a small museum that shows artifacts and displays of Medieval and Viking history of Dublin. I didn’t actually realize but the Dublina is just the extra but on the side on Dublin castle. Which mean I could have just seen it yesterday as well.

Lastly I went to the train station and bought a ticket to go to Belfast.


30th Dec 2006

This morning I woke up too early and forgot it was still dark outside, which meant that I wouldn’t be able to see anything on the train ride to Belfast. So I waited and had some breakfast and watched TV in the dining room area until about 8am.

The train ride to Belfast was pretty much what I expected lots of old house and lots of lush green hills and fields. On the other hand Belfast was a little different to what I had expected. It was actually a lot like Manchester City in England, with all the old sorta buildings in with all the new high-rises around them.

It was also a lot like Manchester in the way that you could just easily walk around the whole city using just a small map, no problems at all. There wasn’t anything overly exciting about this city I just basically walked from one end to the other, and went home. At the end of the day I was a little disappointed.

31st Dec 2006

Today was all rained out. I couldn’t believe it the last day that I’m there and its raining. Oh well at least I’ve done everything that I had planned.

The little time that I did spend in town I bought a novel and what were the chances that the very first second hand book shop I went into had the exact book I was after. So far since I left Australia I’ve read The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress, Angela’s Ashes, Rama II, Rendezvous with Rama, The Garden of Rama and I’m currently reading Rama Revealed. I’m so proud of myself to find time in between work and traveling to read all those books. Oh and also half of Deception Point, but it was rubbish so I gave it away. Then more rain, and ducking into shops.

1st Jan 2007

Happy New Year. I was very happy last night that some people remember me and sent me messages. My mum even called me, but I had to quickly hang up since I had to also pay for the call.

Today I caught the plane back to Edinburgh and then from there I took a train to Glasgow. By the time that I got there it was already dark, which made walking around trying to find a bus was a lot more dangerous.

While at the bus stop I meet a fellow Aussie and we decided to take a taxi instead. Not knowing how long the buses would be since its new years. Later the taxi driver told us that the buses were running every two hours or so. When we stopped at my hostel Aussie Paul said that he’ll pay the tab then left. It just goes to show that there are still good people everywhere.

2nd – 3rd Jan 2007

The days that I were in Glasgow I didn’t really do much as planned. Simply because its boring here and I was only here as a stop over before going to Norway. However I did read a lot of my book Rama Reveled and also got my bag stitched up at the alterations shop.

4th Jan 2007

Today I took a train to the airport in Prestwick and hour away from Glasgow, which was indecently called Glasgow Prestwick. This probably causes a lot of problems for some people who want Glasgow airport but go to Prestwick instead. Lucky for me I already had several people from work tell me about this.

After arriving at Oslo I took a bus with a girl named Geeva who was a musician (Look out for her on CD covers in the future). By the time I got to the hostel it was already dark so I decided to get some food and go exploring the next day.

5th Jan 2007

The next day I woke up about 8:30 because the sun doesn’t come out yet here in winter. Where as when I traveled in summer a few months ago I used to wake up at 6 or 7 everyday.

Its really exciting being in a city that’s so different from the UK. Firstly I went to the tourist information center to get a map of the city and then asked the guy to circle all the places I wanted to go from my list I prepared earlier.

After leaving the first place that I visited was the national Historic Museum and got there just as it was opening. Afterwards right around the corner was the National Gallery where they house the replica of the original Scream by Edward Munch. They were both free.

Then I took the number 30 bus to the Viking Village (Insert name) which I think is by far the best place that I’ve been to so far in Norway. Everything there was so incredible. The village was comprised of over 128 buildings.

Next I went further down the road and visited the Fram Museet which was alright. It had all the Norwegian explorers that have visited the North Pole. Right across the street was the Kon-Tiki Museum. That was also very cool and I highly recommend visiting it. Inside there were collection of archaeological finds from Easter Island, East Polynesia, Galapagos and Peru

After leaving I was able to catch the sun just as it was setting over the mountains across the lake. It was beautiful. While on my way home it even started to snow so I just had to stop and take some photos. All the while people were walking past and starring at me.

6th Jan 2007

Today as I was walking to the Castle (Akershus Slott) everything was covered with snow. So again I stopped to take photos of snow. I even rolled my first snow ball. The view of and from the castle was even more amazing.

While I was there I went inside their WWII Resistance museum and saw all the models and artifacts from the war. Next I went to the Munch Museum which was totally crap, luckily it was free.

Lastly I walked back to the city center and caught the tram number 12 to Frogner Park. It’s now the best place I’ve been to since the Viking museum yesterday. The park was so huge with every square inch cover with snow as well as a frozen pond.

The night came quickly around 4pm to be correct. The good thing about that is that you can still walk around and take photos at night while still being perfectly safe cause of all the other people walking around.

At night I went downstairs to the hostel bar and had a few drinks with Jake and Hiroshi (I think?) and she told me about the northern lights.

7th Jan 2007

This morning I tried desperately to find both trains and accommodation in Tromso, Hammerfest, and Kiruna to see the Northern lights, but failed because all the hostels everywhere were booked solid for the next few months and the trains didn’t have the right connecting times. So I’m still going to Stockholm as planned.

Later in the afternoon I caught the train to Stockholm. Whilst on the train I realized that I would arrive too late for the hostel so I borrowed a mobile from this nice lady but when I arrived the hostel was still open anyways.

While I was there I checked my email and received an email from the Yellow house in Kiruna which is where I wanted to go to see the Northern lights, but after another half hour or so trying to organize the trains I soon realized that my plans to go there were once again not possible. I can’t believe it, it’s just been such a disappointment I don’t ever want to think about it again while I’m over here, plus it would have ruined my plans for Stockholm and perhaps Copenhagen anyways. So I’m just going to forget about it unless I’m over here again.

For now I’ll just keep my mind on the current city.

8th Jan 2007

This morning everybody woke up a million times because the stupid Italian kept snoring and then his alarm clock went of four times, so I kept throwing things at him and yelling. I think to best describe the sounds he makes when he snores is like the stretching sound you make when you wake up except he does it all night.

After I left the hostel I went to the information center to get a map all circled with all my plans. While I was there, there was a man in a business suit sitting in the middle of the busy pedestrian tunnel meditating.

The first sight that I saw today was Kungliga Slottet (Castle/Palace) on the oldest part of town, which was actually a small kinda island. Right next to that was Storkyrkan which is a cathedral. I didn’t go inside though because it was closed.

Next I walked over to the national museum but it was closed. Apparently a lot of the museums type places were closed on Mondays and especially Sundays. So I went around the island and took lots of photos because it had such a great view of the city around it.

Afterwards I went to the Historic Museum. By the time I left the museum it was already dark so I made my way home. But not before I quick stop back at Gamla Stan for some souvenirs. Only because when I was there in the morning all the shops were closed.

On the way home I also stopped into a Games Work Shop and had a quick nostalgic look at all the Warhammer models. As well as some directions home.
At night we all gathered in the TV room for the nightly Swedish movie. It was crap, but I still watched all of it.

9th Jan 2007

This morning the stupid Italian woke everyone up again by tuning on all the lights to pack his bag, which he should had done the night before if he had any respect for other people or even a brain.

The weather was a little overcast today. There were still a few places to go to today so I had to hurry. Firstly I went to the top of this hill called Fjallgatan which had a look out that oversaw the entire city. Then just as I was about to take a photo I had realized that I had left my memory card in my laptop from the night before. “Stupid me”. Luckily it only took 21 minutes to get home and back.

Next I went to the national museum, which was closed yesterday. It was actually a lot better then I had imagined it to be. Then the Medieval Museum. At first I made a mistake and went to Medelhavs Museet instead of Medeltids Museet. “Easy mistake”. The Medieval Museum was really interesting with lots of models, costumes and a small boat in the center.

Then I went back into town to find Sweden’s oldest park the Kungstrad garden, only realizing that I’ve already been past it heaps of times going from place to place. I then took the bus to Djurgarden Island and saw the Nordiska Museum and finally the Vasa Museet which was the best of all the museums I’ve been to in both Sweden and Norway. Inside was a huge Ship called the Vasa, which sank in the 17th Century and then in the 60’s they found it again and restored it. Also in the museet were tones of artifacts, models, skeletons etc.

By now it was dark but I still wasn’t finished so I took the bus to the end of Djurgarden Island to take a few photos followed by another photo session at the top of this tower at Sodermalmstorg in Slussen closer to town. Then finally made my way home. Just in time to have a shower and watch the 9:00 movie in the TV room.

10th Jan 2007

Another traveling day today. My next stop was Copenhagen, Denmark. The train ride wasn’t that long only about 5 or 6 hours. I think that long ago it would have been very difficult for me to travel such long distances, but nowadays its nothing at all unless I travel for over 12 hours.

When I got there I was a bit suppreised to find out that the hostel that I was going be staying at is actually a 12 storey high-rise. Even though I booked it myself I had forgotten about it until today. Although everything was nice the atmosphere in the hostel was a bit poor because they didn’t really have a lounge area or anything like that except for the lobby, where the TV was. So people didn’t really hang out and socialize.

In my dorm there is a really nice guy called Edward. Edward is from Ghana, Africa and he is very intelligent. He has a Degree in Computer Science, Theology and he often goes back to Africa to lecture.

11th Jan 2007

This morning I went to the National Gallery, but once again found that I had arrived there too early since everything here doesn’t open any earlier then 10am. So I walked around for a bit and came back. Finally it opened and there were tones of school kids. Which reminds me, why are there so many small groups of school kids and teachers walking around the city? Is it excursion week or something?

Anyways the National gallery was great. It’s collection of things from all the other different cultures were very extensive. After leaving I went and walked around Christianborg. I didn’t get to take any photos though because it was raining and I didn’t want to get my camera wet. Like last time when I went to the Shetland islands. In fact it continued to rain all day so I didn’t end up taking many photos at all. Unless the places that I went to was indoors.

Like my next place Abalone’s Ruins. I must admit that it was pretty crap theses days, but I’m sure it would have been really cool to have discovered it back in the olden days.

Then I went to the Tojhus Museet which is a armory museum. Now this place was cool. First of all downstairs it contained hundreds of cannons from both the medieval period all the way up to the modern day ones. Then upstairs there were lots of hand held weapons which were very interesting. Especially the 17th Centaury pistols because a lot of the times they would be made up of wood and have very strange metallic parts making it look futuristic in a way. It felt like a shame leaving that place especially since the curator there could have talked to me for hours about everything in there.

Lastly I went to the Carlsberg Brewery, which I think was a little hard to find because there were so many Carlsberg buildings around and only one of them was for tourist. This would officially be the third brewery that I have visited. The other two being the Guinness in Ireland and the Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam.

I never get tired of them though because you go on a long walk around the place to see how its made, all the different advertising they’ve had for it over the years and then finally you get to taste it. The tasting part of this tour was especially interesting since there were so many different beers to choose from. There were two different kinds the normal average been and the luxury beers. My favorite was definitely the Elephant beer.

At night one of the guys in our dorm brought a friend back without paying because it turned out that they got locked in the Brewery so they gave them free drinks all night and he was too drunk to take the train home. That was a bad idea though because in the middle of the night one of them decided to go piss in the bin in the hallway and soaked the walls the ground and even some guys shoes.

12th Jan 2007

Today there were a only a few places that I still had to go to which was lucky because it was really good weather today so I went and visited some of the places that I went yesterday so I could take some photos. So firstly I went back to Christianborg. Then I made my way to the Rosenborg Slot. It wasn’t much but it was still nice to see.

Afterwards I went to Amalienborg, which is where the Queen of Denmark lives. While I was there they even had a small celebration kinda thing for the man who was leaving the building. Then after about half an hour or so I made my way to the place where the little mermaid sits and despite what everybody says about the statue I still thought it was cool to see.

Next I made my back into town to a place called Rundetarn Tower where there was a great view of the entire city from the very top. But the walk to the top was brutal.

Lastly I went to the nearby island of Christainshavn where apparently all the hippies live and nobody here pays taxes. But where I got there it seemed more like a place where rich people live because there were so many yachts.

13th Jan 2007

I am writing this a little late so I might not remember all the details of everything. Well first off all the train ride was the same as usual until about half way it the train stopped and boarded a ferry. That’s right a ferry with a train on it. Absolutely incredible. In total the sea trip lasted only 45 minutes. Then it was back on land and headed to Berlin.

On this, which I call my Eurotrip 2, the train rides seem longer then when I was traveling in France or Italy. So therefore I once again find myself in a brand new city just before night fall. Luckily I am prepared for eventually and have both directions and a phone number of all hostels that I go to. That is what Uncle Ray taught me while I was staying with him.


14th Jan 2007

Berlin Isn’t very difficult to get around in since everything is so close together and the public transport is so convenient. The map that I got from the hostel was very informative and even had its own self guided tour. Although in hindsight I should have taken a free tour because apparently the guides are very good.

So firstly I took the underground to Potsdamer Platz where before WW2 used to be the busiest square in Europe. Then towards Check Point Charlie, where it used to be one of the gates in and out of West and East Berlin, and finally reaching the largest remaining part of the Berlin wall.

Afterwards I walked up the street to Gendarmet Markt, which is a square containing a German cathedral, German Hall and a French hall. It looked nice but wasn’t really that impressive.

Then just a few minutes up the street I reached Unter den Linden which is the most famous street in Europe. This is because of all the monuments, museums, galleries, and other famous buildings and landmarks, and also because of its historical significance, such as the area where the book burning occurred outside the university during the war etc.

It’s a very long street and after a long walk I arrived at the famous TV tower which the locals call the tooth pick. There was a long queue and took about 45 minutes in total. But the view from above was worth the wait.

The days in Berlin seem to last long then when I was further up north so by 1 I still had lots of time left. So next I went to the Berliner Dom. The Berliner Dom was really interesting and had a lot more to see then any other normal Cathedral. This is because you could walk up to a balcony and see the hall below and then walk up to the very top of the dome and have a great view of the city. Whilst also browsing in all the exhibitions on the way up. Then when you leave you have to go through the basement where you get to see all the coffins they had. Some were so big and decorated that they look like mini tanks. All for just a few euros.

Next I went and got a day ticket for all the museums and visited a total of three, the National Gallery, Pergamon Museum and the Bode Museum. Naturally I didn’t stop at every single painting or sculpture. Just the more interesting and famous ones.

As I left the last museum it had started to get dark so I decided to make my way home. Stopping only at the street market for a quick look and then the Brandenburg Gate for some photos.

15th Jan 2007

Tonight I would have to catch an over night train to Krakow in Poland so in the morning I checked out early and went to store my bags in a locker at the train station. Then I headed back into town.

Today I visited mainly the other side of the Unter den Linden. Mainly to see the Strabe Bellevue or as some people call it the chick on the stick, ha ha. Its about 1.2 km I think from the Brandenburg Gate.

On the way there was even a war memorial on the side of the road, which doesn’t look as though many people visit since its so far out of town. When I had finally arrived at the large round-about, much like the one in Paris where the Arc de Triumph sits, I was confused at how I was supposed to get to the island. There were so many cars and I didn’t think people just run over there. Then after about 5 minutes of waiting to run I had asked someone who then told me there was a tunnel. D’oh.

Then after a long walk up the tower and then back down I walked back down the long street. Next I went and saw the holocaust memorial which was basically an area completely covered with these huge concrete blocks of all different sizes.

Lastly I went back to the Berlin wall and went on a free audio guided tour of the area behind the wall with all the pictures and writing. That was very interesting and I’m definitely glad I came back.

Now after about an hour of just walking around and looking at stuff I went and got some dinner and waited for the train. The cabin where I was sleeping in could fit six people but was also pretty small. Luckily there were only 4 people including me. At night I watched a movie that I bought at the street market the other day called Lost in Space. It’s actually a lot like the series of books I had just read called Rama.

16th Jan 2007

The next morning I had arrived in Krakow. At first the city looks completely rubbish and dirty. A little like Hong Kong used to be, before the Sars. After arriving and unpacking I walked to Wavel Castle on the hill and walked around there a bit.

This is where I found out about the Salt Mines underground. There was also a tour, coincidently was also run by the same company that’s running the Auschwitz tour that I’m booked to see tomorrow.

Actually before the Castle I visited the main square next to the castle. There they had churches of course, markets and lots of shops.

17th Jan 2007

Today I woke up early and had a free breakfast and then walked down to Matejke Street where I would be picked up by the tour bus. This would actually be the first time that I’ve actually been on a tour since traveling. So it’s a bit different, but I guess this way you learn more and don’t have to find your way around yourself.

After picking everyone up the first place that we went to was Auschwitz 1 (World War 2 concentration camp). This is where the main exhibitions were. Also you were also shown the an actual gas chamber where countless number of people died, huge collections of peoples belongings and the cremation area.

Next we went to Auschwitz Birkenau which was the largest of all the camps. This is also where all the other Germans would send prisoners from the other European countries at the time. Even from Athens in Greece. This is also where Steven Spielberg filmed most of Schindlers List. The other main areas were filmed in the Jewish quarters, Which is where I was dropped off after the tour ended.

18th Jan 2007

Today I went to the salt mines in Wiel____. It was totally amazing. Its 9 storey’s deep and 6x7 Kilometers wide. There were a total of 14 underground chapels. Each with statues that were all carved out of salt. Unsurprisingly it has the largest underground chapel in the world. Which contains many intricate carvings on the walls depicting different biblical scenes. The most impressive one has to be the carving of the last supper with Jesus. In total the three men that carved these masterpiece spent over 70 years in total down the mines.

There were also many tunnels every where leading to countless different chambers and even a river. If any one has ever seen “Beneath the planet of the apes” you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. For everyone else you’ll have to just imagine it until I can get all my photos blogged.

The rest of the day I went book hunting again because I had just finished “2001 a Space Odyssey” (9th book I’ve read since traveling”). It’s a bit hard though to find a good book here since they only have a small range of English books. Although they didn’t have the books that I was after which are “Ugly” or “Z for Zombie Warfare” I did get a interesting book called Freakanomics instead, after a long search.

At night I meet up with Mel again and we played a drinking card game with these two Thailand girls and another Andy from Wales. I hardly drank at all though because I seemed so lucky. The Thai girls got plastered though, drinking nearly the whole bottle themselves. Mind you it was a small bottle. I wish I was more lucky playing poker.

Afterwards I showed everyone the videos of me at work, which got Mel talking about medicine and stem cells, which I thought was actually really interesting.

A bit later I said goodbye to everyone cause I had to get up at 6:00 the next morning. I’m sure we’ll all still keep in touch or probably even see each other again it’s a small world.

19th Jan 2007

This morning I left for my next destination, Prague in the Chech Republic. I was actually really glad I came to Krakow. I recall first seeing Krakow on the train and it looked so dirty and poor. But I soon learned that there were actually a lot of really interesting things to see like the huge original castle, the salt mines, the Jewish quarter and of course Auschwitz. I only wish that I did a little bit more exploring when I was in Naples earlier in the year on my first Eurotrip. Maybe I could have found more then just the ugliness of the city.

Later when I had finally arrived in Prague I had a little trouble fining the hostel cause the directions were so long. It goes something like this Take the Red line I.C Pavlova exactly two stops, take a train for this direction to Novolo Street, find Revl-something-a-rather near a river and walk exactly cca 50 meters?

So right about near the end of following the directions and after walking about 20 minutes I just caught a taxi for the first time while traveling, which only took a few minutes anyways since the driver was so fast. Plus it was so cheap anyways.

At night I walked around a bit but this city is so big I can see that I’m going to have to do a lot of walking the next few days.

20th Jan 2007

Today indeed was a long day. Well I starter off by going to the town center to get a map. This was a hard task on its own since it was so far away. I could have just caught the tram but I preferred to walk along the bridge instead. It was about 15 minutes to Parizka. Parizka is exactly what it sounds like, Paris, and also one of the most expensive streets in Europe. But that’s what they say about every street.

That street leads down to Staromestske nam which is the center of Prague. In the square there is the Astronomical Clock a statue and the Tyn Church, which looks great at night. After taking some pictures I walked through some alleyways to the Charles Bridge which is the most famous in Prague because of all the biblical statues. I even discovered a metal plate near the end of the bridge which symbolizes “The knights Templar.”

The bridge then lead me to the Prague Castle which not surprisingly is atop yet another hill. But it was definitely worth the walk. Inside the castle walls was a bell tower in side the church which I climbed as well. Afterwards there was a changing of the guards with about 400 others. It was ok, nothing special I hadn’t seen before. While watching it though I turned to the couple who was obviously from England and said “Wow looks like a lot of people are going to get their wallets stolen”

Further up the hill and around some bends I reached my next stop at called Mala Strana which is the huge mountain area. Then found the Petrin Tower. Its probably the highest view point in Prague. Seems I’m just gluten for punishment ha ha. A bit further down that was a mirror maze, but I soon learned that it was rubbish.

Finally I took some public transport. But it was special, for it was a cable car down the mountain. After reaching the bottom the proceeded to walk around for a little bit in the strange town I arrived in, and then just went to Tesco’s for some food and went home.

21st Jan 2007

There’s still a lot of stuff to see today. I started off in the main center again cause it just seems like a good starting point. After walking around for a bit I realized there wasn’t really anything new to see there so I went off to explore the outside of the center.

The first place that I went to was this hill nearby. Which turned out to be a good move cause it was a completely different point of view from what I have been seeing the last few days, and it was also nice to wonder around a bit there at the park on top of the hill.

After I came back down from the hill I headed back towards Charles Bridge to take more photos because today’s weather was a lot better then yesterday. I also took the opportunity to go back to the castle.

On the way there I stopped at a restaurant to try the local dish called Goulash. I had remember this from the Simpson’s episode where homer goes to New York to get his car back, and there’s a street vender selling Cow Goulash, Crab Juice and Mountain Dew.

Next I went back towards the Petrin Tower because I remember there was another path which leads further down the hill and towards this wall that looks a lot like the Great Wall of China.

Below that wall was the Old part of the city which wasn’t overly exciting but still interesting to experience. By now it was getting dark so I headed once again back towards the city center so that I could get ready to take some night photos.

22nd Jan 2007

Well today is another traveling day but luckily it’s pretty short. Only a few hours later and I’m in Vienna, Austria. I quickly learnt that Vienna is pretty expensive. I spent almost 100 Euros in just the first day alone. And since I’m writing this blog a little late I know for a fact that I spent 200 euros altogether.

Well since I had a lot of time left on this traveling day after I got checked into my hostel and all that, I was able to head into the city center while it was still light. It isn’t really that hard to travel around here either since they have so many metro lines, trams and buses. I mainly stuck to the metro though since it was much faster. But this is a big town and I couldn’t possibly see everything though.

At night I meet a couple in my dorm, Krista and Mike. There really interesting and I think that we have a lot in common. It’s too bad their going to Munich and I’m going to Budapest. You see this is when traveling without a plan is good thing because I could have just changed my ticket. But I have a very tight schedule that’s fully organized including every hostel and train I take and that’s the way I like it.

At night they taught me a new card game which I’m dying to play again, now that I get the jist of it.

23rd Jan 2007

I can’t believe it its snowing again. But not the good kind of snow this time its sloppy snow. Not quite rain and not quite soft snow. So needless to say the whole day was pretty much ruined. I didn’t take more then 20 photos all day. My plan was to see everything and then tomorrow take photos of the places I went to today. If it still snows, then the way I see it is that everything will be covered in white while today its just wet.

By the afternoon the snow was getting worse so I wound up back at the hostel at 3pm and just went online since they have WiFi (the best word ever, asides from free.)

24th Jan 2007

Ok today is the day! Today I will cram in an entire day of walking around and seeing yesterdays stuff again plus a heap of other places that I haven’t been to yet. It’s still snowing today but its nice fluffy snow so that’s ok.

So it started off with a nice breakfast that Krista invited me to. Then I went and caught the metro to the city center again and took some photos of Stephens Cathedral. Followed by a few shots of the city street and the buildings then I walked over towards the museums, first the historic museum then the museum quartier which has about 5 or 6 different art galleries and museums in the one complex. On the way I also went past the Hofburg Imperial Palace.

Next I went back to the Oberes Belvedere which is the Austrian and international art gallery. And in the same area they had the labyrinth maze but unfortunately since its winter the hedges have all died and there’s nothing left except the stems.

Now that I have seen most of the things that I saw yesterday I can finally go and see new things. The first being the Riesenrad Giant Ferris Wheel at this amusement park. But when I got there it turned out to be crap and also the Planetarium that was there was also closed.

Next I went to see Beethoven’s grave in Zentralfriedhof. But this turned out to be another flop because when I got to the actual cemetery itself it was so huge with thousands of head stones I just didn’t feel right being there. It was so creepy walking through there. So I just took a few snap shots and got the hell outta there.

… Oops got side tracked there for a minute cause I’m writing this blog on the train to Budapest.

Any-who back to my story. The next place I went was the Nasch Market. This place is a long Asian street market, with Indian, Paki, Japanese, and Chinese etc. It was cool; it reminded me a lot of being in Hong Kong again.

The last thing I did in the afternoon was go back to the city center and go watch listen to the organs play at one of the near by churches.

Afterwards I went back to the hostel so I could drop off my dinner. While I was there I ran into Matt who told me that he was going to Rome. Oh thank my lucky stars. I’ve waited so long for someone to go there. Because I collect the stickers from each country and when I was there last I had forgotten that Vatican City is their own country so I forgot to buy a sticker from there. Thankfully he agreed to buy it for me, so, if he didn’t just take my money and run I should receive it in the next few days. By the way he’s an Aussie so I trust him a little more then I would others foreigners plus its only 5 euros. Especially Europeans!

Well by now its night time and the last opportunity to go and take some night scenes. The first place that I went to as you would have guessed is the city center. I went pretty much the same route except when I got to the Hofburg Imperial Palace and looked to my left I could see a laser show. So I followed it through a dark park and emerged out into the middle of the city to an ice skating rink.

It looks great and it was the exact area where I could start a night time walk because the path goes past all the popular buildings. I stopped and took many photos tonight and they all turned out perfect. So if I had to say even if the days weren’t as good as I had hoped, the night surely made up for it.

All in all Vienna was ok except for the snow. But it’s not just the photos it’s the experience of actually being there and seeing everything that counts. Photos are just a bonus. By the way Mike and Magic from Scotland were right I would eventually get over being around snow.

Also I would just like to say that it’s officially one month since I started my second Eurotrip.

25th Jan 2007

Time has past quick from now its only 9 days till I’m in my own bed again.

Well today I’m in Budapest. It’s ok but not really what I had expected. Firstly even though I had gotten to here at about 13:30 it still took me another 2 hours to both get checked in and also buy the next train reservations for Brussels.

This is only because people here don’t speak English too well including even the tourist information. For example when I tried to buy the reservation to Brussels she thought I had said Brashov, which is in Romania. Can you imagine how fucking pissed off I would have been if I got there and wasn’t allowed in cause of my passport. Although I would like to have gone to Transylvania. But I would have to apply for a separate visa.

26th Jan 2007

Today’s weather is really good. A welcome change all from the snow I’ve been in the last few days. Well since the latest hostel that I’m staying at is already in the center there’s no need to walk there first like I do in all the other cities.

The first place that I went to was Hero Square. Also near by was the Museum of fine arts which was also housing the temporary Van Gogh exhibit. I usually don’t find too much difference in each artists paintings, but since they had such a comprehensive range stretching over 20 or so years you could really see the change in his style.

Next I walked to the Vajdahunyad Castle in the same sort of park area. Just near the castle there was a hot spring that was filled with birds. It was really interesting to see them all bathing there. They reminded me of people. While was there I never did visit any Bath area or anything like that though.

Afterwards I walked back the other way to go see the opera house. It was nothing special but I just wanted some photos of it. But further down was where I really wanted to go because it was the Saint Istavan Basilica. Inside was the hand of a king who once tried to steal this necklace, but it was said that the Virgin Mary had grabbed his hand and wouldn’t let go. Now his hand is inside a small glass case.

Just a little further down the road was a Jewish Synagogue. This was really interesting because I have never been in such a place before. I’ve been in many, many churches but never a synagogue. Inside was actually pretty plain unlike a catholic church which is covered in art and different statues. There was also a small exhibition with different photos from the war and a whole bunch of different tools and other things that are used for Jewish festivals like Honokaa.

Lastly I went to the National Museum. It was free but there wasn’t really that much to see there.

27th Jan 2007

Tonight I’m going to catch a over night train to Munich. I’m not visiting there just stopping there for a change of trains. The Next stop is actually Brussels in Belgium. The train rides and the waiting will take about 20 hours altogether. It’s going to be a long day. Luckily I have a good book and also a DVD I bought from the train station for only 3 pounds.

Well for the rest of the day I did more exploring. But firstly I went and dropped my bag off at the luggage hold at the train station. It’s snowing today. But luckily it’s just fluffy snow though. So the first place that I went to today is the Royal Palace. It first it was hard to get there because the metro is closed today. So instead they have Metro-Buses. How strange? Anyways I got to the closest metro station and just walked to the Royal Palace. It was really fun because by the time that I got off the bus the snow had died down a lot and so I kept stopping to play in the snow.

The palace was a pretty amazing place. It had such a great view of the city. There was even a really nice looking wall that look a lot like the one from “Lord of the Ring, The Two Towers” The Palace was so large and had so many buildings, a church and different shops. Being there you can really imagine what it would have been like to have lived in the middle ages.

Next I walked back down the hill and then up another to the citadel. On the way I also saw the Saint Gelllert. The Saint Gelllert is a huge statue surrounded by pillars in the middle section of the hill.

Near by there were also some grifters playing that game where you have to guess where the ball is under the three cups. There were two of them one pretending to make it look easy by keep on losing letting you know that it could be easy, while the other guy who looked like that monk from “The Golden Child” kept encouraging people to play.

Yeah Right, do I really look stupid to you. So I left to look at the Statues and came back, and sure enough there were two dumb Australian playing at 50euros a pop. Then more people played. In about 20 minutes the grifteres won about 350euros ($585AU) from a total of about three people. One of them even winked at me secretly telling me not to say anything.

Anyways after seeing that I laughed and went to the top of the hill to see the citadel and then came back down through a dog park. Then I crossed a bridge with a great view of the city. That’s basically it until I caught the train at night.

28th Jan 2007

Well today I and the rest of the train woke up on the train to this stupid, loud Kiwi girl talking about herself. The train ride from Budapest to Munich took about 10 hours. It was even thirty minutes late so the next connection was really rushed. In fact I just made it on with only a minute to spare. I also got a feeling that the Kiwi and her family were trying to find the same train but since her family was so slow they missed it.

The next train was to Frankfurt and takes three hours but I had to wait at that station for nearly two hours for the next connection. Some guy even tried to rip me off at the sandwich bar. This sure is a long trip compared to the rest of the other rides I’ve taken so far. Well anyways eventually I got to Brussels at 5pm.

That night I called to get myself into a criminology course. I got in. By since there was such a huge time difference I had to wait till midnight to call. Therefore I hadn’t slept at all for 52 hours except for the 5 hours on the over night train ride.

29th Jan 2007

Even though I haven’t slept much in the last few days I still got up early so that I wouldn’t miss too much of the day. The first thing on my list today was the parliament. This was lucky because the information center was just on the opposite side of the square.

Next I went to this place that was circled on my map and since the information person circled and wrote on my map so messily I didn’t really know what I was going to see, but I still went non the less since it was so close. As it turned out I was either I small church or a stock exchange.

Afterwards I went to Manneken Pis otherwise known as Pis Fountain. What it is, is a small statue of a baby pissing. Basically it’s one of those things that are so famous but when you go and see it for yourself its just one of those small things that you would have probably missed if you weren’t trying to find it.

My next stop is the Place du Grand Sablon. It’s a nice looking garden in the middle of the town. But nothing compared to the Parc de Brussels, which I will go to later. From this road I was able to go straight to the Musess Royaux des Beaux-Arts. Unfortunately it was closed when I got there.

So instead I went to the comic strip museum. But that was closed too. It’s really weird how every city seems to have their own museum closing dates. This particular city closes its museums on a Tuesday.

My last stop of the day is the Nexhus Chocolate shop to buy some chocolate since it was so famous. But that’s all it is famous. Nothing else special except for the extortionist prices. That’s my I didn’t buy any chocolate from that shop instead just went to some of the other hundreds of chocolate shops around town.

30th Jan 2007

Ok today I went to the Comic Strip Museum first thing in the morning. It was fantastic. Probably one of the best places I went to in Brussels. Inside were comics by tones of different artists, but the main cartoons would have to be The Smurfs, Tin Tin and Asterix. There was even a display with tones of recreations of different Smurf tools, clothes and even a cage that Gargamel would have used to catch the Smurfs in.

After the museum I went to the Atomium. The Atomium is a huge structure made in the shape of a atom. Next I went to the Autoworld, where there were tones of old cars. I’m sure all the guys would have loved that placed.

Next I went to St Michael’s Cathedral. And then just spent the rest of the day walking around city. There really isn’t that much to do in city.

31st Jan 2007.

Today I went to Amsterdam as a stop over before I took the plane back to Liverpool. I didn’t really do anything cause by the time I got there it was already night and I couldn’t take any night photos cause it was raining.

1st Feb 2007

Today is the very last day of my Eurotrip. I got up about 6 in the morning and caught the plane to Liverpool. Later that day I had Yum Cha with my uncle and grandparents. Then caught the rain another 4 hours to London.

At night I had a few drinks with Allan. And we also went to the airport to place my luggage into storage so that I wouldn’t have to carry all my bags including my suitcase in the busy subway in the morning. It was funny cause before we went to the airport we had dinner and when we came out we went straight to the airport. But when we got to the subway I had realized that we didn’t even have any bags with us. Ha Ha.

2nd Feb 2007

Today is the very last day and now I can officially say that during my entire trip through Europe I have never been robbed, never lost anything and never missed a train or plane that I had booked.

19 Countries, countless cities, towns, islands and many different beds later, now I am finally coming home.