Gutenmorgen!
Please forgive my lack of usual photos and any spelling mistakes, I'm writing on an iPad in a hotel in Munich, because the wifi only covers one device. How irritating. But doable.
Just thought I'd give an update on what I've been up to since I left Denmark, since I'm not going to be able to do full posts because you know, it is far more fun to go and do things than it is to sit and write about them. So!
I liked Zagreb. It was really chill and relaxing compared to Budapest, though that could just have been my outlook. In Zagreb I visited the Museum of Broken Relationships, five different churches/cathedrals, had an amazing Adriatic prawn pasta, went to the Croatian Museum of History, the Croatian Museum of Naive Art, the City of Zagreb Museum, and chanced across a ceremonial guard inspection and ran into them later at the Stone Gate. I also spent time sitting in the park reading Game of Thrones because the day I arrived was a public holiday and most things were closed. It was really nice. Croatia in general has a lot of these things called "Caffe Bars", where you just go and sit under an umbrella in a comfortable chair, sipping your coffee/juice/beer/wine and watching the world go by. So nice, but irritating when you want a real cafe that serves food.
This is where I went to Erdut/Almajs. For the rest of the week I stayed at my cousin Adriana's place in Vinkovci, where we hung out, watched Croatia lose to Mexico :( visited some of Mama's nieces and their families, wandered around the cities of Osjiek (featuring a cool old fort, and the site of the famous floating bridge, built on ships), Vukovar (a town that held out for long enough for the rest of the country to mobilise following the Serbian invasion in the early 90s, with a powerful memorial cemetery). It's a shame I didn't get to go to the Adriatic coast, but that'll have to wait til next time!
I got delayed by three hours at Belgrade Airport because of a technical issue (which they found just after we taxied out, and I'm glad it wasn't any later!) meaning I spent far more time sitting around chilling than I had planned on the day, but it could have been much worse, so wasn't too bad. I made it to London eventually.
On Monday we went through the London Dungeons (a series of short skits by characters of London's history which was really good, and really creepy in parts, like when you'd be sitting in a chair and it would squirm because the 'leeches' were set loose, or the lights would flash and Jack the Ripper would run across the room. It was seriously cool.) We saw the city from the London Eye, and saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We wandered around the Tower of London (which is much less a Tower than I was expecting, but in the middle of a wonderful fort featuring the Crown Jewels, the armour of kings and noblemen and super funny Beefeater guides). We saw the Globe (well, some of it [the recreation that is], since you need tickets to actually go inside), Platform Nine and Three Quarters at Kings Cross, had Strawberries and Cream at 'Wimbledon' (a public viewing site we stumbled across), and watched the football in a pub.
Tuesday morning we played chess in the park (Paul beat Tom) then visited Portobello Road and the markets there, they were only just setting up but they had some really interesting things for sale there! There are markets along the whole street, selling clothes, fruit, nicknacks and whatnot. We caught a double decker bus back. We then flew to Dublin.
Thursday morning we visited the Guinness Factory, where we tasted the Black Stuff (which is actually red??), learnt to pour the perfect pint and then I successfully drank said pint at their viewing deck/bar. We then toured Kilmainham Gaol, learning about its history of political prisoners and about Ireland's struggle for independence. Fascinating. We caught the bus around listening to our guide singing/explaining the route, and wandered around St Stephen's green (stumbling across Bewley's cafe and the Brown Thomas store) and the shopping centre built in the same style as the gaol. That night we wandered in and out of several pubs-- there was fantastic live music everywhere, playing traditional Irish songs, with a healthy measure of Johnny Cash, and other country and modern hits too. It was lovely just sitting listening and watching people play, and the pubs themselves were incredible, just super cool places.
So one week in, another three airports and three countries to my list, and millions of incredible experiences. Hope you're well, have a lovely week!
Please forgive my lack of usual photos and any spelling mistakes, I'm writing on an iPad in a hotel in Munich, because the wifi only covers one device. How irritating. But doable.
Just thought I'd give an update on what I've been up to since I left Denmark, since I'm not going to be able to do full posts because you know, it is far more fun to go and do things than it is to sit and write about them. So!
Budapest
From Copenhagen, I flew to Budapest. I spent three days exploring, meeting up with my friend from Denmark (from Melbourne). Highlights included the view of the Danube, St Stephens Basilica, the largest Jewish synagogue in Europe (third worldwide behind Israel and New York), the palace, the Turkish baths. The nightlife was really cool, bars built in ruined buildings all done up, like a hipster hideaway which hasn't diminished by going mainstream. So very cool.Zagreb
I took the train six-ish hours to Zagreb, including swapping onto a bus for 60km and the border crossing from Hungary to Zagreb. Wasn't a terrible trip, it reminded me of the Hogwarts Express except green, but that was the style of cabins on the train. I arrived in Zagreb to find out the Socceroos had put up a valiant effort against the Netherlands, the Blues had won Origin and Croatia was about to play Cameroon. (They won. The party sounded incredible.)I liked Zagreb. It was really chill and relaxing compared to Budapest, though that could just have been my outlook. In Zagreb I visited the Museum of Broken Relationships, five different churches/cathedrals, had an amazing Adriatic prawn pasta, went to the Croatian Museum of History, the Croatian Museum of Naive Art, the City of Zagreb Museum, and chanced across a ceremonial guard inspection and ran into them later at the Stone Gate. I also spent time sitting in the park reading Game of Thrones because the day I arrived was a public holiday and most things were closed. It was really nice. Croatia in general has a lot of these things called "Caffe Bars", where you just go and sit under an umbrella in a comfortable chair, sipping your coffee/juice/beer/wine and watching the world go by. So nice, but irritating when you want a real cafe that serves food.
This is where I went to Erdut/Almajs. For the rest of the week I stayed at my cousin Adriana's place in Vinkovci, where we hung out, watched Croatia lose to Mexico :( visited some of Mama's nieces and their families, wandered around the cities of Osjiek (featuring a cool old fort, and the site of the famous floating bridge, built on ships), Vukovar (a town that held out for long enough for the rest of the country to mobilise following the Serbian invasion in the early 90s, with a powerful memorial cemetery). It's a shame I didn't get to go to the Adriatic coast, but that'll have to wait til next time!
Belgrade
Belgrade gave me a bad first impression. I didn't like the way taxi drivers swarmed me as I first got off the bus. But it redeemed itself. Belgrade has a beautifully preserved fort, full walls and gates, and it was really cool. I sat up on the wall overlooking where two rivers meet, then got kicked out of the top part of the park because it had a perfect view of a Billy Idol concert on that night. I visited the Serbian Military Museum (funky artefacts, but more in English would be nice), walked along the main shopping street, visited two Orthodox churches, saw about 50 riot cops come out of a parking garage (and quickly left the area), geeked out at the Nikola Tesla museum (very small but very good--people were so shocked at his remote control boat they more readily believed he was telekinetic), and went partying on a boat. Fun times.I got delayed by three hours at Belgrade Airport because of a technical issue (which they found just after we taxied out, and I'm glad it wasn't any later!) meaning I spent far more time sitting around chilling than I had planned on the day, but it could have been much worse, so wasn't too bad. I made it to London eventually.
London
I met up with my two best friends from Sydney, Tom and Paul early on Sunday morning (at a pub, yes, if you have seen that photo, my hostel was a pub so they just met me there). We set off through Hyde Park, visiting the Princess Di memorial, saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (well we heard it, seeing was a little difficult but it was still cool), we saw Downing Street (you can't walk down it, it's blocked off), the Churchill War Rooms (which were fantastic! Really good museum, super cool to walk along the corridors picking up on the history), through Trafalgar Square (viewing the Blue Chicken and playing the 'as seen on Doctor Who' game, and where I climbed up on the giant lion statue like the public menace I am) and we saw the show Jersey Boys about Frankie Valli and the Four seasons (that was absolutely incredible. Seriously fantastic show.)On Monday we went through the London Dungeons (a series of short skits by characters of London's history which was really good, and really creepy in parts, like when you'd be sitting in a chair and it would squirm because the 'leeches' were set loose, or the lights would flash and Jack the Ripper would run across the room. It was seriously cool.) We saw the city from the London Eye, and saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We wandered around the Tower of London (which is much less a Tower than I was expecting, but in the middle of a wonderful fort featuring the Crown Jewels, the armour of kings and noblemen and super funny Beefeater guides). We saw the Globe (well, some of it [the recreation that is], since you need tickets to actually go inside), Platform Nine and Three Quarters at Kings Cross, had Strawberries and Cream at 'Wimbledon' (a public viewing site we stumbled across), and watched the football in a pub.
Tuesday morning we played chess in the park (Paul beat Tom) then visited Portobello Road and the markets there, they were only just setting up but they had some really interesting things for sale there! There are markets along the whole street, selling clothes, fruit, nicknacks and whatnot. We caught a double decker bus back. We then flew to Dublin.
Dublin
Our first afternoon in Dublin we went shopping. It was all pretty cheap and they had some good stuff, before watching the football in a pub (seeing a theme here?). Wednesday morning we went to Trinity College, viewing the Book of Kells (a super gorgeous old Gospel), but more impressive was their Long Room, smelling of old books and filled with busts of famous thinkers and writers, it was so gorgeous. We went past Oscar Wilde's birthplace, and around the docklands on a bus tour. Tom and I then went to the Old Jameson Distillery, where we learnt how the whiskey was made (quite fascinating actually. Also, under Irish law you can't call something a whiskey until it has been maturing for more than three years.) That evening we had a nice dinner at a proper restaurant (granted, it was attached to a pub).Thursday morning we visited the Guinness Factory, where we tasted the Black Stuff (which is actually red??), learnt to pour the perfect pint and then I successfully drank said pint at their viewing deck/bar. We then toured Kilmainham Gaol, learning about its history of political prisoners and about Ireland's struggle for independence. Fascinating. We caught the bus around listening to our guide singing/explaining the route, and wandered around St Stephen's green (stumbling across Bewley's cafe and the Brown Thomas store) and the shopping centre built in the same style as the gaol. That night we wandered in and out of several pubs-- there was fantastic live music everywhere, playing traditional Irish songs, with a healthy measure of Johnny Cash, and other country and modern hits too. It was lovely just sitting listening and watching people play, and the pubs themselves were incredible, just super cool places.
Minden
Friday afternoon we flew to Hanover, Germany, then caught the train for an hour to a small town called Minden where a friend of Tom's (Franz) lives. We arrived just in time to be in the car as VIVA DEUTSCHLAND cut into the radio playing a song, where we rushed inside to see the replay of the goal just scored. We then had dinner he cooked for us, then met some of Franz's friends and was introduced to German beer and absolutely delicious peach schnapps. Saturday we sight saw in Minden, including the Middelstand Canal, a built river running from Berlin to Dortmund, with a lock in Minden to get ships from the river up to it-- from below it looks like a highway overpass, but there is water up there, super weird and very clever. We saw the town Centre and the main Cathedral (with beautiful stain glass windows that looked like a kaleidoscope) and to a monument to Kaiser Wilhem that doubled as a lookout point over the whole area. Gorgeous countryside, very picturesque (I promise to show you the pictures one day!) That night we went to Franz's friend's 21st, featuring more German beer and awkward English conversations, but it was really nice, and really fun. Sunday we caught the train down to Munich, and now I'm writing this :)So one week in, another three airports and three countries to my list, and millions of incredible experiences. Hope you're well, have a lovely week!
