The last time we wrote we were in Austria singing the sound of music hits, since then we’ve been in 3 different countries and nearly pulled our backs out carrying our packs..that strangley seem to be getting heavier with wine bottles the more places we go!
We went to the Salzkammergut lakes in Austria which was beautiful. We hired a couple of bikes and decided to bike around St Wolfgangsee lake which was a 70km round trip. The next day we were both walking funny and headed off to Vienna.
Vienna was pretty good, nice architecture. I really liked it but I found the people quite rude which was a bit of a shame.
Poland was our next stop and it was definitely an experience. We stepped off the train in Krakow and went to find the tram to our hostel. The lady at the tourist information desk reassured me that we were able to buy the tickets on the tram. (every country has been different). We had met up with an Aussie guy so we all got on the tram, about one stop away from our hostel these ticket inspectors came on the tram. All 3 of us were ready to buy our tickets but fatty and skinny wouldn’t have it, they wanted us all to pay a fine. I refused and they wouldn’t listen to my explanation so we just hopped off the tram and they followed us. About 2 hours later, after speaking to 4 different cops and being threatened to be arrested they bargained with us to pay only one fine between 3 of us!! I really thought my negotiation skills would work, later we found that everybody in our hostel had faced the same fines!!
I got over that…eventually. Krakow was nice, the main square was really cool and we had some good Indian food (I was craving it by this time). We took a day trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau which was pretty intense. It was really sad and I think the most depressing place we’ve been to. I’m glad I went as I learnt a lot but that was a sad day.
Zakopane was our next point of call. We hiked in the Tatra mountains (we had recovered from Austrias bike ride by now). I don’t think that part of Poland sees many Asians/Indians as Vien and I kept getting stared at non stop.
Warsaw was our last stop before Berlin, it was ok but not my favorite city and it rained every day!!
This was the end of our month in Eastern Europe on to Western Europe…and we could finally use our Eurail pass and travel in 1st class comfort!
I love Berlin! What an awesome place! It was good getting to Germany everything is so efficient, the trains are on time, everything is made easy for non German speakers. We did a bike tour which was really good. There is so much history and a lot of things to see in Berlin, it’s definitely a place I would like to see again especially because everything is changing so quickly.
We stayed in a city called Dresden for a night. It’s a quiet-ish German city with great architecture. This was where we picked up our nice wheels for our trip down the fairy tale road. The car was an absolute joke. Now most of you know we owned our crappy punto in England but I would have traded this SMART car in for the punto any day. It was hilarious. The fairy tale road was a drive through little german towns that the Brothers Grimm based their fairytales in ie Pied Piper, Cindarella etc.One of the places we stayed was a city called Kassel, we needed some accommodation so went to the tourist office and they organized us to stay in some private accommodation. Vien and I turned up late at night and I thought that we had entered a scene from trainspotting. Seriously, these 2 guys were off their heads, when we were taken to our room there were mattresses on the floor with big hippy posters and flower power paintings everywhere…I made Vien lock the door and put furniture infront of the door before going to sleep. We got up early and before we left, I glimpsed in the kitchen and saw a massive hippy painting and 2 rather large marijuana plants sitting on the windowsill!! Hahaha. Everything made sense.
We ended up in Frankfurt and spent 2 days in the Rhine Valley for my b/day. Lovely, wine tasting and chilling out…Yes..I am old so no emails reminding me please.
While we were in Frankfurt we managed to catch the Frankfurt auto show….cars, lots of beer, more cars, need I say more.
Amsterdam was next. Everybody knows about Amsterdam and yes, the stories are all true.
Right now we are chilling with our friend Pretesh in Essen Germany. We’ve been here for about 4 nights and have recharged our batteries ready to hit the road tomorrow. It’s been great doing nothing at all except watching rugby and frequenting the pub a bit too often.
Next stop the Romantic Road! Miss you all loads xx
