Okay, It's been a while. I was too busy flying and doing other things, that I forgot about this weblog. But rest assured, I'm going to give the wise words that you probably all expecte from me.
When I was in Prague, the second day, I stood on the sidewalk waiting for the light to turn green, and all of a sudden a smile got on my face and I laughed. I tried to cover it and not show it to the other people, but I couldn't stop lauging, because despite all the difficulties that came along with it - I had done it. I'd travelled around Europe, my all-time favourite continent, and seen a lot of what I'd always wanted to see. And I had done it by myself, made all the decisions, right or wrong, myself. And I returned safely home without so much as a scratch from a fall on an escelator in Budapest. That's why I laughed, I'd only realized this then. I thought that now I was in a position to be telling people 'That ain't working, that's the way te do it! Get your money for noth.......' (Don't know that song? You're missing out)
I had only three minor issues and one larger issue, in Berlin. This all may be sounding very selfish, but I'll be frank and say that I'm proud of myself. How many people of my age, and even how many people of any age, can say that they sat in Slovak en Czech police stations awaiting their 'Justice', nearly jumped in a driving train in Paris, heared two Austrian gothics having the time of their life above my bed in Berlin, but most of all, has seen almost all major European cities that have a history to them.
Summarizing it all, I've been to Berlin, Paris, Innsbruck, Munich, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Bratislava, Budapest and Prague. And please, everyone realize, I travelled around 25000 km in total and only left the European Union once. Europe is certainly not what it used to be, fortunately for a large part and for another large part very unfortunately. It won't change my support for the Union, but I've got to say I'd have liked having stamps for every country (I have about 5 stamps now), have every officer check my passport and visa, and paying in another currency every 2 days. But that's just not the way it is, and, as I said, that makes me happy yet sad.
I love to travel, and by this journey I realized even more it's my other hobby, next to flying. About flying... I went to the airfield again this weekend and made one long flight, 45 minutes, which was only limited by the size of my bladder that had recently been filled with water. Once I took off I immediately climbed to just over 1 km altitude, and was at the surface of the clouds, severely enjoying myself cloudsurfing (a popular thing amongst pilots). I returned with a perfect arrival route followed by a perfect landing, which was followed by a swift opening of the 'door', running as fast as I could to the ditch and having the most incredible piss ever. (Men, you'll know what I'm talking about) You think you can't hold it in any longer, but when you're focused on such a thing as flying airplanes, your bladder is larger than you think. You just have to get out asap when you land.
I'm going off topic, back to business. I can talk about Europe, it's history and it's present, for ages, but I'll cut it off here. I didn't tear down a part of the Berlin wall, when I'm in Amsterdam I don't eat any spacecake or smoke any joints, I didn't make love all night to a beautiful French girl on rooftops in the Moulin Rouge, I didn't go skiïng in the Alps (I have done so, just not this trip...) and so many things that are typical for a country, I did not do. But I still saw the people and their cities, be it good or bad, beautiful or ugly. As a European you don't see Europe the way, for say, Americans or Australians do, but we all still call it Europe and we all secretly or less secretly consider it ours. And to see nearly all of it, is something any European, if not every human being, has to have done. But then again I dislike other tourists, so let's keep Europe my very own little continent, just sort of shared with 709,608,850 other inhabitants.
This is the end of this weblog, there will be no more posts, but maybe one day I'll bundle it all together in a small book, or translate it into Dutch.
I hope everyone who has been reading this weblog liked what they read, and maybe even learned something from it. I've gained uninmaginable amounts of knowledge on this trip, and I'd be glad if even a part of it has reached any readers, please do accept these 'wise words' from a 16 year old adolescent snotneus.
Byron Sterk
maandag 27 augustus 2007
donderdag 23 augustus 2007
Day 12
So... this is it then.
Let's not start with the 'this is the end', but start with the beginning of the end. My last day on this journey, my last day in Prague, and my first day back into society.
I left my hotel in a bit of a hurry, because I only had 4 á 5 hours to see the rest of Prague. And there was so much more I wanted to see... and I still didn't see it all. The same goes for almost all the other cities and places I've been (where does this street lead to? If I take this bus where will it take me?) Except for Paris maybe, I've seen it all.
I put my luggage in a locket at the central train station and rushed to find the Bodies exhibition. It was found after a brief search in the centre, that also lead me to a nice kebab place where I had the most delicious Döner Kebap in weeks (just plain sheep meat on a sandwich with garlic sauce and lettice, and maybe some excotic herbs.. hmm.) When I finished it I bought me a ticket for the exhibition and put my moral questions about it aside, and went in. I warn you: If you, like my mother, are not quite so comfortable with rather grose descriptions of not so human things, don't read the next paragraphs.
First of all they had a sign saying that all the 'specimen' on show were real. This is what really shocked me: Everywhere, these men and women's body parts were referred to as specimen. Even the complete bodies were called specimen. It would have at least been of some dignity to display their names, and at the very least call them by what they are, not used to be, humans. They may be dead, and may never walk or see or think again, but they're still humans with a name and a family.
The first room was full of everything that had to do with muscle. Complete muscles, parts of them, cut-outs, slices, everything that had to do with muscles was displayed. Actually the same as other rooms: The bones room was full of bones, skulls and everyhing that had to do with them. I once again warn you, if you are easily shocked don't read this.
And children. There were actually babies there, shown in all ways. Skulls, muscle, skin, vessels, everythig. Even embryo's. Of everything there it shocked me the most, to see a dead baby under a glass window, carefully opened for the world to see. Some other things on the show including eyes cut open, the complete human skin laid on a table (it looked just like leather), a complete vein and vessel system (They filled up the vessels and veins with a red fluid that set, and the rest of the body was removed for other displays, leaving a complete visualisation of our blood system), hears, breasts, testicles cut open (you could see all the men grasping their own business, I for one could not look at this for more that 5 seconds..) and much, much more.
And still everything was referred to as specimen. 'This specimen shows how your leg muscles positions themselves when you run', even the babies. And I saw only one woman, the rest were men. One could clearly see that these people were chinese - you just had to look at their faces. I couldn't look at a face, without thinking that this person once thought and walked, and had probably not lived a plesant life.
I think there may be people just seeing these 'specimen' as what they really are - body parts. But I tend to see them as parts of a human, and this is what makes me actually regret that I visited this exhibiton. Everything was mighty interesting: I stood flabbergasted looking at how complex the human body is. I just don't think it's enough to compensate for the, in my eyes, immorality of the whole exhibiton. At the end there was a small sign saying that these 'specimen' (Yes, they were still referred to as specimen) were treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, and there was a book there that people could sign to pay their respects to these people. (I did so too, and left a big message as well.. probably never read by anyone but it's about the thought)
I left with mixed feelings, this is not an exhibition you can enjoy, it's merely one to amaze you.
After that I went for a stroll to the west side of the city, and I was so happy that I'd gotten me a plane ticket, because I could still see this. I won't give a description, but it was absolutely beautiful. That's what made Prague the most beautiful city in my trip: It's pure gorgeousness. Prague is a beautiful city, and it hasn't been ruined by the western influences as much as cities like Bratislava or Budapest.
I walked for hours around the city and saw too much to be describing here. When all other people took a straight street to the subway, I took a small sidestreet and strumbled across yet another beautiful sight. Too much to describe.
The time had come for me to make my way to the airport, so I got my bag and hopped on the metro to the last station. From there, you have to take a bus for 20 minutes and that brings you to the airport, why not just extend the metro line 5 kilometres!?
I love airports. Everyone hates them, and sees them as just a terminal, but I think there's something charming about them. Maybe it's the departure/arrival signs, maybe it's the travellers, or maybe, and most likely, it's just the airplanes. Need I say more?
I spent my 1.5 hours to wait for my boarding with strolling around the airport, watching the people go by and watching the airplanes come and go, untill it was time for me to go.
A bus took me to a Boeing 737-500, a really cute airplane, and I had asked for a window seat near the emergency exit. This gives you more leg room, but also some responsibility. The cabin attentants give you a special instruction on what to do in case of emergency. These seats are the best seats in the house except for the 2 cockpit seats. They have a great view of the wing: the most interesting part to watch during the flight.
Whenever I'm on a (commercial) airplane I'm like a 10 year old all over again. It keeps fascinating me, no matter how many times I do it and no matter how much I know of airplanes. We took off and I got a beer and a sandwich free of charge (at least the Czech state airline still have some class). Well, free of charge? I'dd paid 125,- euro for them fo fly me to Amsterdam, I'd expect a complete dinner with sexy stewardesses and a footrest at the very least.
When we'd landed in Amsterdam I got up as the last passenger and kindly asked if I could make a picture of the cockpit, and I had a nice conversation with the pilots about glider aviation and, well, just aviation. I left, satisfied, and walked through the gate and found out the door was already closed. So I waited for 4 minutes for someone to come by and open it for me, saying sorry sorry sorry I thought they'd all gotten out... but it didn't matter. I crave any second I can stay longer at my favourite airport: Amsterdam Schiphol.
My dad picked me up and drove me home, where I'm writing this now. So this voyage of experiences and adventures has come to an end, but I'll be posting my last message tomorrow, and that'll also be the last message I post. I'm going to miss it, really.
Byron
Let's not start with the 'this is the end', but start with the beginning of the end. My last day on this journey, my last day in Prague, and my first day back into society.
I left my hotel in a bit of a hurry, because I only had 4 á 5 hours to see the rest of Prague. And there was so much more I wanted to see... and I still didn't see it all. The same goes for almost all the other cities and places I've been (where does this street lead to? If I take this bus where will it take me?) Except for Paris maybe, I've seen it all.
I put my luggage in a locket at the central train station and rushed to find the Bodies exhibition. It was found after a brief search in the centre, that also lead me to a nice kebab place where I had the most delicious Döner Kebap in weeks (just plain sheep meat on a sandwich with garlic sauce and lettice, and maybe some excotic herbs.. hmm.) When I finished it I bought me a ticket for the exhibition and put my moral questions about it aside, and went in. I warn you: If you, like my mother, are not quite so comfortable with rather grose descriptions of not so human things, don't read the next paragraphs.
First of all they had a sign saying that all the 'specimen' on show were real. This is what really shocked me: Everywhere, these men and women's body parts were referred to as specimen. Even the complete bodies were called specimen. It would have at least been of some dignity to display their names, and at the very least call them by what they are, not used to be, humans. They may be dead, and may never walk or see or think again, but they're still humans with a name and a family.
The first room was full of everything that had to do with muscle. Complete muscles, parts of them, cut-outs, slices, everything that had to do with muscles was displayed. Actually the same as other rooms: The bones room was full of bones, skulls and everyhing that had to do with them. I once again warn you, if you are easily shocked don't read this.
And children. There were actually babies there, shown in all ways. Skulls, muscle, skin, vessels, everythig. Even embryo's. Of everything there it shocked me the most, to see a dead baby under a glass window, carefully opened for the world to see. Some other things on the show including eyes cut open, the complete human skin laid on a table (it looked just like leather), a complete vein and vessel system (They filled up the vessels and veins with a red fluid that set, and the rest of the body was removed for other displays, leaving a complete visualisation of our blood system), hears, breasts, testicles cut open (you could see all the men grasping their own business, I for one could not look at this for more that 5 seconds..) and much, much more.
And still everything was referred to as specimen. 'This specimen shows how your leg muscles positions themselves when you run', even the babies. And I saw only one woman, the rest were men. One could clearly see that these people were chinese - you just had to look at their faces. I couldn't look at a face, without thinking that this person once thought and walked, and had probably not lived a plesant life.
I think there may be people just seeing these 'specimen' as what they really are - body parts. But I tend to see them as parts of a human, and this is what makes me actually regret that I visited this exhibiton. Everything was mighty interesting: I stood flabbergasted looking at how complex the human body is. I just don't think it's enough to compensate for the, in my eyes, immorality of the whole exhibiton. At the end there was a small sign saying that these 'specimen' (Yes, they were still referred to as specimen) were treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, and there was a book there that people could sign to pay their respects to these people. (I did so too, and left a big message as well.. probably never read by anyone but it's about the thought)
I left with mixed feelings, this is not an exhibition you can enjoy, it's merely one to amaze you.
After that I went for a stroll to the west side of the city, and I was so happy that I'd gotten me a plane ticket, because I could still see this. I won't give a description, but it was absolutely beautiful. That's what made Prague the most beautiful city in my trip: It's pure gorgeousness. Prague is a beautiful city, and it hasn't been ruined by the western influences as much as cities like Bratislava or Budapest.
I walked for hours around the city and saw too much to be describing here. When all other people took a straight street to the subway, I took a small sidestreet and strumbled across yet another beautiful sight. Too much to describe.
The time had come for me to make my way to the airport, so I got my bag and hopped on the metro to the last station. From there, you have to take a bus for 20 minutes and that brings you to the airport, why not just extend the metro line 5 kilometres!?
I love airports. Everyone hates them, and sees them as just a terminal, but I think there's something charming about them. Maybe it's the departure/arrival signs, maybe it's the travellers, or maybe, and most likely, it's just the airplanes. Need I say more?
I spent my 1.5 hours to wait for my boarding with strolling around the airport, watching the people go by and watching the airplanes come and go, untill it was time for me to go.
A bus took me to a Boeing 737-500, a really cute airplane, and I had asked for a window seat near the emergency exit. This gives you more leg room, but also some responsibility. The cabin attentants give you a special instruction on what to do in case of emergency. These seats are the best seats in the house except for the 2 cockpit seats. They have a great view of the wing: the most interesting part to watch during the flight.
Whenever I'm on a (commercial) airplane I'm like a 10 year old all over again. It keeps fascinating me, no matter how many times I do it and no matter how much I know of airplanes. We took off and I got a beer and a sandwich free of charge (at least the Czech state airline still have some class). Well, free of charge? I'dd paid 125,- euro for them fo fly me to Amsterdam, I'd expect a complete dinner with sexy stewardesses and a footrest at the very least.
When we'd landed in Amsterdam I got up as the last passenger and kindly asked if I could make a picture of the cockpit, and I had a nice conversation with the pilots about glider aviation and, well, just aviation. I left, satisfied, and walked through the gate and found out the door was already closed. So I waited for 4 minutes for someone to come by and open it for me, saying sorry sorry sorry I thought they'd all gotten out... but it didn't matter. I crave any second I can stay longer at my favourite airport: Amsterdam Schiphol.
My dad picked me up and drove me home, where I'm writing this now. So this voyage of experiences and adventures has come to an end, but I'll be posting my last message tomorrow, and that'll also be the last message I post. I'm going to miss it, really.
Byron
woensdag 22 augustus 2007
Day 11
Hi all,
Instead of posting two messages I decided to put them both into one, so this contains two messages.
First one:
I woke up at 10:00 and took ik real easy. I'd placed the don't disturb sign on the door the night before, so I was assured of a quiet and peaceful morning. I went to the train station to buy my ticket to Amsterdam, and I had the same gothic girl as yesterday.. oh no!! Please make this fast and painless...
It wasn't that fast and it certainly wasn't painless, when I found out the fare was 130,- euro's. 130 euro!!! I might as well take an airplane!!! But no, I have to pay 130 euro for one way, 13 hours in second class. That's just the way it is, things will never be the same....
So I reluctantly gave the gothic 3900 Czech Crowns and made my way to the city, feeling sorry for my 130,- euro.
In the city one thing first caught my eyes: the amount of commercials here. It's like NYC. Pragu is a beautiful city, but I can only imagine how much more beautiful it would be without all these western influences. No commercials, no rubbish on the street (Streets 17 years ago were actually cleaner, so I have heard). I wonder...
Suddenly I remember some things I wanted to post: In Bratislava I was transported from the station to my hostel by something they called a Novy Autobusy (new bus). This was something that in Holland they would've sent to a museum 50 years ago... and absolutely everything in Bratislava was old. Older than the rest of the former Warsawpact countries. I can only wonder why... but it seemed as if Bratislava was less developed than the rest, even than Zagreb (Not a Warsawpact country, but anyways.)
Whilst I'm talking to my friend Bart on the MSN now, I found out that I can fly from Prague to Amsterdam for 125,- euro, so I'm going out in a rush to cancel my train ticket and book that airplane ticket.
Second one:
Okay, thank god! I won't have to spend 13 hours in the train. Eventually, I ended up paying 10 percent of the train fare to cancel it, so in the end the airplane was cheaper. But time is money, and instead of 13 hours the airplane takes only 2. This doesn't take away my feeling sorry for the 130,- euro's...
So, tomorrow I'll be flying from Prague to Amsterdam at 18:50, which gives me another day in Prague. I was thinking maybe I could visit the 'Bodies' exhibition, somthing that I previously wouldn't go to. Why? It's questionable if the people displays there actually gave permission to have their bodies exhibitioned, they're most likely to be poor Chinese people. I found this rather cruel and when the exhibition was in Amsterdam I didn't go there, but I'm reconsidering. I can always leave if I still get doubts.
For those of you who don't know what this exhibition is: look it up under google. Not for the faint hearted.
I have to get out of this internetcafe now, but you'll hear from me.
Byron
Instead of posting two messages I decided to put them both into one, so this contains two messages.
First one:
I woke up at 10:00 and took ik real easy. I'd placed the don't disturb sign on the door the night before, so I was assured of a quiet and peaceful morning. I went to the train station to buy my ticket to Amsterdam, and I had the same gothic girl as yesterday.. oh no!! Please make this fast and painless...
It wasn't that fast and it certainly wasn't painless, when I found out the fare was 130,- euro's. 130 euro!!! I might as well take an airplane!!! But no, I have to pay 130 euro for one way, 13 hours in second class. That's just the way it is, things will never be the same....
So I reluctantly gave the gothic 3900 Czech Crowns and made my way to the city, feeling sorry for my 130,- euro.
In the city one thing first caught my eyes: the amount of commercials here. It's like NYC. Pragu is a beautiful city, but I can only imagine how much more beautiful it would be without all these western influences. No commercials, no rubbish on the street (Streets 17 years ago were actually cleaner, so I have heard). I wonder...
Suddenly I remember some things I wanted to post: In Bratislava I was transported from the station to my hostel by something they called a Novy Autobusy (new bus). This was something that in Holland they would've sent to a museum 50 years ago... and absolutely everything in Bratislava was old. Older than the rest of the former Warsawpact countries. I can only wonder why... but it seemed as if Bratislava was less developed than the rest, even than Zagreb (Not a Warsawpact country, but anyways.)
Whilst I'm talking to my friend Bart on the MSN now, I found out that I can fly from Prague to Amsterdam for 125,- euro, so I'm going out in a rush to cancel my train ticket and book that airplane ticket.
Second one:
Okay, thank god! I won't have to spend 13 hours in the train. Eventually, I ended up paying 10 percent of the train fare to cancel it, so in the end the airplane was cheaper. But time is money, and instead of 13 hours the airplane takes only 2. This doesn't take away my feeling sorry for the 130,- euro's...
So, tomorrow I'll be flying from Prague to Amsterdam at 18:50, which gives me another day in Prague. I was thinking maybe I could visit the 'Bodies' exhibition, somthing that I previously wouldn't go to. Why? It's questionable if the people displays there actually gave permission to have their bodies exhibitioned, they're most likely to be poor Chinese people. I found this rather cruel and when the exhibition was in Amsterdam I didn't go there, but I'm reconsidering. I can always leave if I still get doubts.
For those of you who don't know what this exhibition is: look it up under google. Not for the faint hearted.
I have to get out of this internetcafe now, but you'll hear from me.
Byron
dinsdag 21 augustus 2007
Day 10
Well I'm not going to tell you what Prague is like just yet, because so far I've only seen a train station, a police station, several metro stations and the Dutch embassy. I was going to start this post with a completely different title: Game Over. But after careful consideration and some peptalk I decided not to.
Why Byron! Why!
I'll tell you why, but first you can read about the first part of my day.
I got up at 8, which is the earliest I've gotten up since my 6:00 am in Paris, when I missed my train. There's just something about trains, or maybe their schedules, that makes people rise at the crack of dawn. The two English youngmen would join me on this journey to Prague, I'd made a reservation, but they decided that they'd see if there were available seats. So we walked to the metro station, got some tickets, and forgot to punch them, as we found out in the metro. Well, not so big a deal we thought, until we got to the train station and we were stopped by a ticket controller. She asked us for our tickets, and we thoughtfully handed them over. She nodded her head so fast that if you'd put a lightbulb in her ears it'd shine brighter than ever before. She started talking to us in Hungarian (Ignoring the fact that we, 3 English speaking people with backpacks probably would not speak any Hungarian) and we attempted to look confused, saying: 'English?'
She vaguely said that we had to punch our tickets and showed us how to do so. After 5 minutes we were (thoughtfully) informed that the fine was 5000 HUF. (about 30 Euro's). We had (really!) absolutely no money with us except euro's. I had a 1000 HUF note and handed it over, well I didn't hand it over, she just grasped it out of my hand. After 2 more minutes she'd gathered 5000 HUF and kept on nodding her head, asking us is we maybe had Euro's. We had shitloads of Euro's with us but were smart enough not to tell her so.
We were pointing to our watches and trying to explain we had only 10 minutes left, and she said that just 10000 for the three of us would do. Here's an official ticket controller haggling with tourists about a fine. After some haggling she suddenly let us go, and we were absolutely convinced that this money would not be seen anywhere other than in her pocket...
We got on the train and commenced on a relatively uneventful 8 hour journey to Prague. Uneventful, up to the last seconds. You'll find out why later on. Me and the English youngmen said goodbye to each other and I went to look for my hotel, which I found half an hour later. When I checked in I got a cold feeling all over me and felt as if a dementor had sucked all life out of me: I had left my wallet in the train.
Thank God, all my real valuables were in my moneybelt, but all my Euro's, my ABN Amro card, my driver's license and God knows what else, was in my wallet. Why did I need the wallet? The train staff only accepted Euro's for their ticket fines... That's a joke. They only accepted Euro's for the warm can of coke that I'd bought. I freaked and immediately went on the internet to look for lost and found departments of just about anything. I'll spare you the details.
So far it really wasn't a big problem, I would just have to cancel the bank card and apply for another driver's license. But when on toilets people tend to remember things they usually don't - and in this case I remembred that my Interrail ticket was also still on the train. I panicked so fast that the shit was shooting out of my ass like a continuous bullet, and once again I'll spare you all the details. I called my parents, got some peptalk, and went to the station for more information. There I encountered somthing that did not satisfy me: A female gothic was on shift for the information desk that day. So I gathered all my courage and explained my situation to her. She spit out her chewing gum and told me to go to the international ticket office. There I encountred what seemed to be her boss: When I explained her my situation she got quite angry at the gothic, who then led me to 5,493 miles of corridor to another boss and asked her what to do next. The boss told her that my train was over the German border by now, and there was nothing they could do.
So I went to the police station and had them write an official document of my issue for my insurance. (That is, after several attempts of communication and saying 'Dokument') When I sat in the interiogation room (Yes, those rooms with one side see-through windows and nothing but a chair and a table, I've always wondered what they actually looked like) filling out my document I realized that my passport was also on the train.
Oh no!!! @(#*_)$*(#^!!!!!!!!!
After 10 minutes of panicking and receiving the Dokument, I went to the Dutch embassy to find out that they were closed, and I borrowed the cellphone from a Czech (very kind) and called the ambassador. (How many people can say they sat in an interrogation room and spoke to the Dutch Ambassador 30 minutes later?) He told me to take it easy and come back tomorrow morning, not all was lost.
On my way back to the hostel I strumbled across an internet cafe and asked them if I could make an international phone call, which I could. I called my mom and dad, and received some soothing peptalk, after which I went back to the hotel. When I was sitting in the subway I realized that I really didn't leave my passport on the train, but the hotel staff had taken it as an insurance that I'd pay my bill!!! Thank god!! So at least I got my identity back.
When I was with that feeling that I had absolutely no proof of identity, I suddenly thought of a classmate of mine: Besfort Muslija. He's a refugee from Yugoslavia, and had absolutely no nationality, just a Dutch 'Green Card', and I figured that my situation really wasn't that bad... If I wanted I could even apply for the Irish nationality, he can't even get out of the Schengen countries.
Anyways, I'm back in the hotel now with a alcohol free beer (drinking age is 18 here) and a computer. And now that you've heard the whole story, I'm gonna call my mom and dad to tell them my passport isn't lost.
Byron
Why Byron! Why!
I'll tell you why, but first you can read about the first part of my day.
I got up at 8, which is the earliest I've gotten up since my 6:00 am in Paris, when I missed my train. There's just something about trains, or maybe their schedules, that makes people rise at the crack of dawn. The two English youngmen would join me on this journey to Prague, I'd made a reservation, but they decided that they'd see if there were available seats. So we walked to the metro station, got some tickets, and forgot to punch them, as we found out in the metro. Well, not so big a deal we thought, until we got to the train station and we were stopped by a ticket controller. She asked us for our tickets, and we thoughtfully handed them over. She nodded her head so fast that if you'd put a lightbulb in her ears it'd shine brighter than ever before. She started talking to us in Hungarian (Ignoring the fact that we, 3 English speaking people with backpacks probably would not speak any Hungarian) and we attempted to look confused, saying: 'English?'
She vaguely said that we had to punch our tickets and showed us how to do so. After 5 minutes we were (thoughtfully) informed that the fine was 5000 HUF. (about 30 Euro's). We had (really!) absolutely no money with us except euro's. I had a 1000 HUF note and handed it over, well I didn't hand it over, she just grasped it out of my hand. After 2 more minutes she'd gathered 5000 HUF and kept on nodding her head, asking us is we maybe had Euro's. We had shitloads of Euro's with us but were smart enough not to tell her so.
We were pointing to our watches and trying to explain we had only 10 minutes left, and she said that just 10000 for the three of us would do. Here's an official ticket controller haggling with tourists about a fine. After some haggling she suddenly let us go, and we were absolutely convinced that this money would not be seen anywhere other than in her pocket...
We got on the train and commenced on a relatively uneventful 8 hour journey to Prague. Uneventful, up to the last seconds. You'll find out why later on. Me and the English youngmen said goodbye to each other and I went to look for my hotel, which I found half an hour later. When I checked in I got a cold feeling all over me and felt as if a dementor had sucked all life out of me: I had left my wallet in the train.
Thank God, all my real valuables were in my moneybelt, but all my Euro's, my ABN Amro card, my driver's license and God knows what else, was in my wallet. Why did I need the wallet? The train staff only accepted Euro's for their ticket fines... That's a joke. They only accepted Euro's for the warm can of coke that I'd bought. I freaked and immediately went on the internet to look for lost and found departments of just about anything. I'll spare you the details.
So far it really wasn't a big problem, I would just have to cancel the bank card and apply for another driver's license. But when on toilets people tend to remember things they usually don't - and in this case I remembred that my Interrail ticket was also still on the train. I panicked so fast that the shit was shooting out of my ass like a continuous bullet, and once again I'll spare you all the details. I called my parents, got some peptalk, and went to the station for more information. There I encountered somthing that did not satisfy me: A female gothic was on shift for the information desk that day. So I gathered all my courage and explained my situation to her. She spit out her chewing gum and told me to go to the international ticket office. There I encountred what seemed to be her boss: When I explained her my situation she got quite angry at the gothic, who then led me to 5,493 miles of corridor to another boss and asked her what to do next. The boss told her that my train was over the German border by now, and there was nothing they could do.
So I went to the police station and had them write an official document of my issue for my insurance. (That is, after several attempts of communication and saying 'Dokument') When I sat in the interiogation room (Yes, those rooms with one side see-through windows and nothing but a chair and a table, I've always wondered what they actually looked like) filling out my document I realized that my passport was also on the train.
Oh no!!! @(#*_)$*(#^!!!!!!!!!
After 10 minutes of panicking and receiving the Dokument, I went to the Dutch embassy to find out that they were closed, and I borrowed the cellphone from a Czech (very kind) and called the ambassador. (How many people can say they sat in an interrogation room and spoke to the Dutch Ambassador 30 minutes later?) He told me to take it easy and come back tomorrow morning, not all was lost.
On my way back to the hostel I strumbled across an internet cafe and asked them if I could make an international phone call, which I could. I called my mom and dad, and received some soothing peptalk, after which I went back to the hotel. When I was sitting in the subway I realized that I really didn't leave my passport on the train, but the hotel staff had taken it as an insurance that I'd pay my bill!!! Thank god!! So at least I got my identity back.
When I was with that feeling that I had absolutely no proof of identity, I suddenly thought of a classmate of mine: Besfort Muslija. He's a refugee from Yugoslavia, and had absolutely no nationality, just a Dutch 'Green Card', and I figured that my situation really wasn't that bad... If I wanted I could even apply for the Irish nationality, he can't even get out of the Schengen countries.
Anyways, I'm back in the hotel now with a alcohol free beer (drinking age is 18 here) and a computer. And now that you've heard the whole story, I'm gonna call my mom and dad to tell them my passport isn't lost.
Byron
maandag 20 augustus 2007
Day 9 - Part 2
I'm back,
I went in to an internet cafe to wait for the rain to stop, and when I got out it actually had stopped (unlike all my expectations). Everyone was running towards the river so I guessed the fireworks were about to start, and I went to the hostel to get my camera. I went to the fireworks with two English roommates, and this was unlike anything I'd ever seen back home. In Holland fireworks at new years eve is a big uncoordinated mess. But here, it was beautiful. Everything was synchronized and the fireworks were larger and louder. I really can't describe it, but I've got it on picture and video, so you can all see it when I get home.
About home: I think my best option is to be home tuesday night instead of friday, when my card expires. First of all, my school has come up with one of the most stupid things they have come up with so far. Instead of using the monday for the students to collect their books, as it has always been for years, they've decided to use the friday before. So everyone who's on holiday has to get home early to get their books for the next week at the break of dawn. Second reason is that my sister is unable (and other sister, as it seems) to get the books for me. Third reason is that my mom will be gone on friday, and last but not least, I'll want to go to the glider airfield on saturday, I haven't flown in about a month and I'm in desperate need of a pair of wings and a tail.
So tomorrow I'll take the the IC to Prague, that'll take all day, and in Prague I'll have my own room. Next day I'll be exploring Prague and the day after that I'll take the train back to Amsterdam, for 9 hours of sleep and then I'll have to go to school, something right now I really don't even want to think about..
I'm going to take a shower and finish my book,
Byron
I went in to an internet cafe to wait for the rain to stop, and when I got out it actually had stopped (unlike all my expectations). Everyone was running towards the river so I guessed the fireworks were about to start, and I went to the hostel to get my camera. I went to the fireworks with two English roommates, and this was unlike anything I'd ever seen back home. In Holland fireworks at new years eve is a big uncoordinated mess. But here, it was beautiful. Everything was synchronized and the fireworks were larger and louder. I really can't describe it, but I've got it on picture and video, so you can all see it when I get home.
About home: I think my best option is to be home tuesday night instead of friday, when my card expires. First of all, my school has come up with one of the most stupid things they have come up with so far. Instead of using the monday for the students to collect their books, as it has always been for years, they've decided to use the friday before. So everyone who's on holiday has to get home early to get their books for the next week at the break of dawn. Second reason is that my sister is unable (and other sister, as it seems) to get the books for me. Third reason is that my mom will be gone on friday, and last but not least, I'll want to go to the glider airfield on saturday, I haven't flown in about a month and I'm in desperate need of a pair of wings and a tail.
So tomorrow I'll take the the IC to Prague, that'll take all day, and in Prague I'll have my own room. Next day I'll be exploring Prague and the day after that I'll take the train back to Amsterdam, for 9 hours of sleep and then I'll have to go to school, something right now I really don't even want to think about..
I'm going to take a shower and finish my book,
Byron
Day 9
Hi all!
This hostel is nice, but certainly not what it was advertised as. People are smoking everywhere (I quote from the ad: 'If you are a smoker, we have absolutely no facilities for you') and this is not really orientated towards the solo traveller. But this is a good enough place to sleep, but I'll be happy when I've got my very own room in Prague.
About today, I got up at 10 and went straight to the train station to make a (mandatory) reservation for tomorrow's intercity to prague. Yesterday I read in a folder that there was a park outside Budapest that has all the old communist statues, brought there after they'd been removed from the city. The route description was rather vague, but I gave it a try. The folder told me to take bus 9 red to some square, and like magic a red bus with a 9 came strumbling into the station. When I got in I realized that this bus was probably red because of all the people it'd killed, judging by the driver's driving style. He drove aggressively but one thing that I noticed in particular (I had a clear view of him) was that it took him 5 seconds to change gears (I counted it.) That may not seem much but you count to 5 now and realize.. Even worse, he looked at the stick for the complete 5 seconds to confirm that he was in the right gear, before he could hardly clutch again because of all the speed he'd lost in these 5 seconds. But that was just his way of doing it...
15 minutes later it turned out that this was not the the red bus 9, but the regular one. The red one would have a red circle around the 9.... the driver of another bus told me. I asked him where I could transfer to the actual red bus 9 and he told me to get on his bus and he'd tell me when to get off. So 15 minutes later he called me towards his seat and gave me instructions on how to get the red bus, to the frustration of all other passengers on the bus. I got out and apparently I was walking the wrong way, because he got out of the bus (!!) and showed me the correct way. I felt really embarassed (Is that the right way to spell it?) but eventualy I got to the park, not larger than a soccer field but impressive, in a way. When I made my way to the exit I saw a beautiful pocket watch (the ones you have to wind up) with the soviet logo on it and cyrillic letters commemorating to the soviet part of the allied forces in WW2. I have something for these things, and I saw it cost 11800 stuffy. I figured that since the enterance fee was 2000 stuffy it wasn't much. Only when I got back to the hostel did I realize I had just bought me a 50 euro souvenir... and all of a sudden it wasn't that pretty anymore... At least I can always sell it when I get back home, probably even with some profit.
When I was in the red bus on the way back we had to get out right before the bridge across the river, because it was closed for the fireworks tonight. Turns out all (Yes, every single one!!) of the bridges were closed, and my only ticket to the other side was a metro line 4 kilometers down the road, walking in opposite direction of the HUGE flow of people going east for some reason. Eventually, I made it, and when I got out of the metro it was thundering and raining (when I got in the sun was shining). So I ran to the hostel and here I am.
I'll have a shower now and then, provided the weather has improven, I'll go into the city again. Everything is closed (national holiday) but I've been to Budapest before, so it's not really an issue. Oh and I forgot - I didn't really see much of the airshow, but it was nice for what I saw.
Come to think of it it aint gonna stop raining here for some time.. so I better find me an umbrella.
Maybe I'll be posting again tonight, so you'll hear from me.
Byron.
This hostel is nice, but certainly not what it was advertised as. People are smoking everywhere (I quote from the ad: 'If you are a smoker, we have absolutely no facilities for you') and this is not really orientated towards the solo traveller. But this is a good enough place to sleep, but I'll be happy when I've got my very own room in Prague.
About today, I got up at 10 and went straight to the train station to make a (mandatory) reservation for tomorrow's intercity to prague. Yesterday I read in a folder that there was a park outside Budapest that has all the old communist statues, brought there after they'd been removed from the city. The route description was rather vague, but I gave it a try. The folder told me to take bus 9 red to some square, and like magic a red bus with a 9 came strumbling into the station. When I got in I realized that this bus was probably red because of all the people it'd killed, judging by the driver's driving style. He drove aggressively but one thing that I noticed in particular (I had a clear view of him) was that it took him 5 seconds to change gears (I counted it.) That may not seem much but you count to 5 now and realize.. Even worse, he looked at the stick for the complete 5 seconds to confirm that he was in the right gear, before he could hardly clutch again because of all the speed he'd lost in these 5 seconds. But that was just his way of doing it...
15 minutes later it turned out that this was not the the red bus 9, but the regular one. The red one would have a red circle around the 9.... the driver of another bus told me. I asked him where I could transfer to the actual red bus 9 and he told me to get on his bus and he'd tell me when to get off. So 15 minutes later he called me towards his seat and gave me instructions on how to get the red bus, to the frustration of all other passengers on the bus. I got out and apparently I was walking the wrong way, because he got out of the bus (!!) and showed me the correct way. I felt really embarassed (Is that the right way to spell it?) but eventualy I got to the park, not larger than a soccer field but impressive, in a way. When I made my way to the exit I saw a beautiful pocket watch (the ones you have to wind up) with the soviet logo on it and cyrillic letters commemorating to the soviet part of the allied forces in WW2. I have something for these things, and I saw it cost 11800 stuffy. I figured that since the enterance fee was 2000 stuffy it wasn't much. Only when I got back to the hostel did I realize I had just bought me a 50 euro souvenir... and all of a sudden it wasn't that pretty anymore... At least I can always sell it when I get back home, probably even with some profit.
When I was in the red bus on the way back we had to get out right before the bridge across the river, because it was closed for the fireworks tonight. Turns out all (Yes, every single one!!) of the bridges were closed, and my only ticket to the other side was a metro line 4 kilometers down the road, walking in opposite direction of the HUGE flow of people going east for some reason. Eventually, I made it, and when I got out of the metro it was thundering and raining (when I got in the sun was shining). So I ran to the hostel and here I am.
I'll have a shower now and then, provided the weather has improven, I'll go into the city again. Everything is closed (national holiday) but I've been to Budapest before, so it's not really an issue. Oh and I forgot - I didn't really see much of the airshow, but it was nice for what I saw.
Come to think of it it aint gonna stop raining here for some time.. so I better find me an umbrella.
Maybe I'll be posting again tonight, so you'll hear from me.
Byron.
zondag 19 augustus 2007
Day 8
Okay, I've forgotten most of what I wanted to tell you about yesterday. Maybe I'll remember whilst I write this:
Boy o boy o boy... have I got some story to tell. This morning I woke up and the first thing I wanted to do was get out of that shit hostel. So I got up, didn't shower, put my backpack in the luggage room and went into Bratislava. Well Bratislava really is nothing if not hardly anything... there is no such thing as a city centre there. I go on the internet at the hostel (only internet I could get) and saw that a train to Budapest was leaving in 35 minutes. Perfect! Only not so perfect in terms of time.. I walked to the tram stop and found absolutely nothing that was selling or even qualified to sell tickets. I could also walk for hours and see if there was anything else, but I decided to take my chances and hop on without a ticket. 10 minutes later this turned out to be the worst decision I'd made this trip with the exception of Berlin as my first destination. Two big guys walked towards me and not-so-politely asked me for my ticket. I said 'Que?' and they foresaw trouble so left. No that's not how it went: I played the innocent tourist looking through my moneybelt and then hopelessly saying 'I must have lost it!' By the time I'd said that we were half an hour later and they asked me to follow them to a nearby police station (riding without a ticket seems to be a serious criminal event in Bratislava...) and placed me on a bench telling me to wait. Luckly I only had to sit between the other guilty and not so guilty people, and a fat officer started questioning me in Slovakian. I said 'Que?' and was swiftly escorted to the exit. No that's not how it went: The officer got to business and made it clear that I had to pay a fine of 1500,- stuffy (whatever they use there) or 35 euro's. I served my sentence and left, knowing I'd never make that train.
Only when I was walking the 2 miles to the station did I realize that 1500,- stuffy is by far not 35 euro's... but the ticket looked official so I didn't go back. Not that I'd have gone back anyways...
When I got there I found out that a train to Budapest left in 45 minutes and so I sat there feeling sorry for myself and my 35,- euro's. 40 minutes later a 'train' strumbled into the staion asf it was supposed to breathe its last breath ages ago. This train was seriously old... I got in to the wooden carriage and it looked even older from the inside... too odd to describe. 10 minutes later a mother and her 4 untolerable irritating ADHD annoying kids stepped into my coupe to see to it that the next 3 hours would be as uncomfortable as it could possibly be. At least I shared this fate with another man.
When I got to Budapest I found out that the metro I needed was under construction and I had to walk all the way to where the hostel was supposed to be. All I found was a wooden door covered in graffiti, standing excactly in the place where the hostel should be. Half an hour later a few people let me in and said that there was something on the upper floor in the courtyard, so I went up and I found: a guesthouse bearing the name of my hostel. When I went in I found a woman who found that there were no more beds there, even tough I'd made a reservation, and she directed me to another 'establishment' 2 miles away. So I walked there, all pissed and feeling sorry for myself and still for my 35,- euro's. When I got to the address I once again only found a door, right where my establishment should be. 10 minutes later a woman leaning out the window shouted to me 'do you have a reservation' and let me in. Finally!
Well this place is nice, it's quiet and more like a home opened to guests. Very comfortable. Something else now: When I got here I heard all these racing airplanes flying over, and I asked about it at the hostel. Turns out that tomorrow the Red Bull air race is going to be in Budabest! This immediately takes away all my worries and makes me feel so lucky... and to make it even better, tomorrow it's like Hungarian 'Freedom day' and there's going to be huge fireworks tomorrow night!
Just my luck! I'm going into the city now to get some food.
Byron
Boy o boy o boy... have I got some story to tell. This morning I woke up and the first thing I wanted to do was get out of that shit hostel. So I got up, didn't shower, put my backpack in the luggage room and went into Bratislava. Well Bratislava really is nothing if not hardly anything... there is no such thing as a city centre there. I go on the internet at the hostel (only internet I could get) and saw that a train to Budapest was leaving in 35 minutes. Perfect! Only not so perfect in terms of time.. I walked to the tram stop and found absolutely nothing that was selling or even qualified to sell tickets. I could also walk for hours and see if there was anything else, but I decided to take my chances and hop on without a ticket. 10 minutes later this turned out to be the worst decision I'd made this trip with the exception of Berlin as my first destination. Two big guys walked towards me and not-so-politely asked me for my ticket. I said 'Que?' and they foresaw trouble so left. No that's not how it went: I played the innocent tourist looking through my moneybelt and then hopelessly saying 'I must have lost it!' By the time I'd said that we were half an hour later and they asked me to follow them to a nearby police station (riding without a ticket seems to be a serious criminal event in Bratislava...) and placed me on a bench telling me to wait. Luckly I only had to sit between the other guilty and not so guilty people, and a fat officer started questioning me in Slovakian. I said 'Que?' and was swiftly escorted to the exit. No that's not how it went: The officer got to business and made it clear that I had to pay a fine of 1500,- stuffy (whatever they use there) or 35 euro's. I served my sentence and left, knowing I'd never make that train.
Only when I was walking the 2 miles to the station did I realize that 1500,- stuffy is by far not 35 euro's... but the ticket looked official so I didn't go back. Not that I'd have gone back anyways...
When I got there I found out that a train to Budapest left in 45 minutes and so I sat there feeling sorry for myself and my 35,- euro's. 40 minutes later a 'train' strumbled into the staion asf it was supposed to breathe its last breath ages ago. This train was seriously old... I got in to the wooden carriage and it looked even older from the inside... too odd to describe. 10 minutes later a mother and her 4 untolerable irritating ADHD annoying kids stepped into my coupe to see to it that the next 3 hours would be as uncomfortable as it could possibly be. At least I shared this fate with another man.
When I got to Budapest I found out that the metro I needed was under construction and I had to walk all the way to where the hostel was supposed to be. All I found was a wooden door covered in graffiti, standing excactly in the place where the hostel should be. Half an hour later a few people let me in and said that there was something on the upper floor in the courtyard, so I went up and I found: a guesthouse bearing the name of my hostel. When I went in I found a woman who found that there were no more beds there, even tough I'd made a reservation, and she directed me to another 'establishment' 2 miles away. So I walked there, all pissed and feeling sorry for myself and still for my 35,- euro's. When I got to the address I once again only found a door, right where my establishment should be. 10 minutes later a woman leaning out the window shouted to me 'do you have a reservation' and let me in. Finally!
Well this place is nice, it's quiet and more like a home opened to guests. Very comfortable. Something else now: When I got here I heard all these racing airplanes flying over, and I asked about it at the hostel. Turns out that tomorrow the Red Bull air race is going to be in Budabest! This immediately takes away all my worries and makes me feel so lucky... and to make it even better, tomorrow it's like Hungarian 'Freedom day' and there's going to be huge fireworks tomorrow night!
Just my luck! I'm going into the city now to get some food.
Byron
zaterdag 18 augustus 2007
Day 8
Okay.. this hostel really sucks. It is everything I'm not looking for in in a hostel - busy, huge, drunk, unfriendly, bad location, filthy. I'll be glad to leave here again tomorrow. And if I don't leave before 10 am, they won't give me back the 10,- euro deposit that I've made because they don't trust nobody here. Anyways...
This computer is really slow so I'll tell you everything tomorrow, I've just spent 12 hours in a train so I'm tired. You'll hear from me tomorrow.
Byron
This computer is really slow so I'll tell you everything tomorrow, I've just spent 12 hours in a train so I'm tired. You'll hear from me tomorrow.
Byron
vrijdag 17 augustus 2007
Day 7 - Part 2
Okay, here's the thing: Second impressions can override first impressions. I think that the tram just lead me through a neglected street, because the rest of the city is very nice. It's not so much that it's special... just nice. I wouldn't spend 3 days here however. There are nice street artists that actually know what they're doing.
Maybe a lesson for anyone that wants to go somewhere in Europe, in particular the east and southeast, for the recent history, don't bother. These are all nice cities, but over the year they've become part of the west. The Berlin wall is gone, if it wasn't for the pedestrian trafficlights (search google for Ampelmänchen), you would't know if you were in the west or east. You can look for Trabi's on the road and be lucky to see three or four. I'm sitting in Zagreb now and the radio's playing Dire Strait - Money for Nothin. On the border crossing to Slovenia.. well I didn't know I was crossing a border because there was nothing.
This is not generally bad, except for the commercials then. I'm just saying that these cites are not what they used to be. Fortunately yet unfortunately. But then again, in 1969 Amsterdam was quite different from now. Nothing we can do about it.Back to daily life, there isn't really much to do here, s I'll be going back in another hour. The hostel is a nice and quiet place so I'll just sit there and read a book.
Oh and - something I've been thinking about on my way here. My mom said that one of her colleagues had said that I write like a philosofician (How does one spell that?) The general description of a philosophic is someone who thinks about life. Well, we all think about life, some of us more then others. There is no such thing as a philosophic - you just have the people that talk a lot about how they think of life, and the people that don't. We all have our own personal or not so personal way we think about life. If this certain colleague is reading this - I really do take what you said as a compliment tough!
Tomorrow I'm going to Bratislava, you'll all hear from me then and there.
Byron
Maybe a lesson for anyone that wants to go somewhere in Europe, in particular the east and southeast, for the recent history, don't bother. These are all nice cities, but over the year they've become part of the west. The Berlin wall is gone, if it wasn't for the pedestrian trafficlights (search google for Ampelmänchen), you would't know if you were in the west or east. You can look for Trabi's on the road and be lucky to see three or four. I'm sitting in Zagreb now and the radio's playing Dire Strait - Money for Nothin. On the border crossing to Slovenia.. well I didn't know I was crossing a border because there was nothing.
This is not generally bad, except for the commercials then. I'm just saying that these cites are not what they used to be. Fortunately yet unfortunately. But then again, in 1969 Amsterdam was quite different from now. Nothing we can do about it.Back to daily life, there isn't really much to do here, s I'll be going back in another hour. The hostel is a nice and quiet place so I'll just sit there and read a book.
Oh and - something I've been thinking about on my way here. My mom said that one of her colleagues had said that I write like a philosofician (How does one spell that?) The general description of a philosophic is someone who thinks about life. Well, we all think about life, some of us more then others. There is no such thing as a philosophic - you just have the people that talk a lot about how they think of life, and the people that don't. We all have our own personal or not so personal way we think about life. If this certain colleague is reading this - I really do take what you said as a compliment tough!
Tomorrow I'm going to Bratislava, you'll all hear from me then and there.
Byron
Day 7
Hello,
Thank god, I'm in my hostel now. Today was tiring. Not at first.. but I forgot to drink and eat enough. Today I've had a bottle of coke and a pizza slice, and that's it, nothing more. Why?? you may ask.. well first of all the train had an hour delay and there was no service on board. Secondly I just forgot it... and now I'm bearing the results.
Anyways, the train journey was once again in an Italian train, and lasted 3.5 hours instead of the usual 2 hours. This morning I waited at the station for an hour and nothing came... and another hour and nothing came... and finally, the 3,45 meter long train strumbled into the station and sounded as if it had just expelled its last breath. I found an empty coupe and sat down, when 2 minutes later 4 Italians entered and started turning the coupe into 3 beds and closed all the curtains.. Then, they asked me if maybe I'd want to sit in the coupe next to this one. At first I thought what the ***, I was here first, had a nice window seat, you go to the next cabin! I was amazed. Then I thought that these people were not going to move and I'd rather not be with them for 3 hours. I didn't lose my temper and silently sat down in the coupe next to this one trying not to curse all Italians. I mean, that was rude. wasn't it?
Well the journey continued and I was nearly refused access into Croatia. The police woman just kept saying 'you have not 18 where parents' until finally, after 15 minutes, she trusted me and actually stamped my passport. (I am so proud) The weird thing is that 10 minutes before, another policeman had come in to check my passport and he only said 'have a nice journey'.
When I got to Zagreb the first thing that suprised me was the graffiti. Well, not graffiti, but more just.. well.. indescribable things applied by permanent marker or anything that will leave something on anything. It's everywhere, on the walls, on the trains, on the busses, on the trams, on the roads, on the dogs... except on the cars. All the cars look brand spanking new. So that's where all the money here goes.. into automotive transportation. Well not so much the transportation... more the automotive part. Anyways, it's everywhere and it's what makes the part of the city I've seen so far really ugly.
I went to a kiosk to buy a tram ticket, and I asked the lady if she spoke English. This seems like a normal question, I'm in an international train station. But her first reaction was WHAT ENGLISH and then she strumbled to a corner of her kiosk. I just said TRAM TICKET and without saying a word she handed me the ticket and my change.
The hostel is fine, a bit messy but nice anyhow. I asked if I could do my laundry here, and heard that for 40 Kn (4 euro's) the people here would do it all for me, and it seemed like there was no other way, so I agreed. At least I'll have clean clothes tomorrow. I'm going into the city now to grab a huge bite and have a huge drink, I could eat a horse and drink the niagra falls.
Byron
Thank god, I'm in my hostel now. Today was tiring. Not at first.. but I forgot to drink and eat enough. Today I've had a bottle of coke and a pizza slice, and that's it, nothing more. Why?? you may ask.. well first of all the train had an hour delay and there was no service on board. Secondly I just forgot it... and now I'm bearing the results.
Anyways, the train journey was once again in an Italian train, and lasted 3.5 hours instead of the usual 2 hours. This morning I waited at the station for an hour and nothing came... and another hour and nothing came... and finally, the 3,45 meter long train strumbled into the station and sounded as if it had just expelled its last breath. I found an empty coupe and sat down, when 2 minutes later 4 Italians entered and started turning the coupe into 3 beds and closed all the curtains.. Then, they asked me if maybe I'd want to sit in the coupe next to this one. At first I thought what the ***, I was here first, had a nice window seat, you go to the next cabin! I was amazed. Then I thought that these people were not going to move and I'd rather not be with them for 3 hours. I didn't lose my temper and silently sat down in the coupe next to this one trying not to curse all Italians. I mean, that was rude. wasn't it?
Well the journey continued and I was nearly refused access into Croatia. The police woman just kept saying 'you have not 18 where parents' until finally, after 15 minutes, she trusted me and actually stamped my passport. (I am so proud) The weird thing is that 10 minutes before, another policeman had come in to check my passport and he only said 'have a nice journey'.
When I got to Zagreb the first thing that suprised me was the graffiti. Well, not graffiti, but more just.. well.. indescribable things applied by permanent marker or anything that will leave something on anything. It's everywhere, on the walls, on the trains, on the busses, on the trams, on the roads, on the dogs... except on the cars. All the cars look brand spanking new. So that's where all the money here goes.. into automotive transportation. Well not so much the transportation... more the automotive part. Anyways, it's everywhere and it's what makes the part of the city I've seen so far really ugly.
I went to a kiosk to buy a tram ticket, and I asked the lady if she spoke English. This seems like a normal question, I'm in an international train station. But her first reaction was WHAT ENGLISH and then she strumbled to a corner of her kiosk. I just said TRAM TICKET and without saying a word she handed me the ticket and my change.
The hostel is fine, a bit messy but nice anyhow. I asked if I could do my laundry here, and heard that for 40 Kn (4 euro's) the people here would do it all for me, and it seemed like there was no other way, so I agreed. At least I'll have clean clothes tomorrow. I'm going into the city now to grab a huge bite and have a huge drink, I could eat a horse and drink the niagra falls.
Byron
donderdag 16 augustus 2007
Day 6
Well, I've been in the city and I must say it's really beautiful. I woke up today at 9:00 and enjoyed a huge breakfast here at the hostel, and then I went into the city (walking, the hostel is very close to the centre, and the centre is very close to... well... everything. The first thing I wanted to do was climb the hill in the middle of Ljubljana that houses an old castle (The castle itself turned out not to be very exciting, but the walk up was) In the centre there were a lot of tourists, altough not comparable to Paris for example... but when I walked towards the small paths that lead up the hill I was alone, because all the tourists take the automatic train ride up, but some instinct told me that I'd rather walk. It was certainly the right decision. It took some time to find the paths, it's start located in a really beautiful area. I started walking up a very steep path, that, when I saw a car drive by (!! this path was steeper then a red ski slope !!), it turned out to be a road. Slovenians drive everywhere, and like Italians, they park everywhere. Sidewalks are not made for pedestrians, they function merely as a place for cars to place their fore half on if not the complete car. Maybe it's common there for 8 year olds to offer valet parking for everybody...
Back to the hill, when the road ended I sat down on a bench for 5 minutes when suddenly a cat started petting me (yes, the cat petted me) so I spent 10 minutes or so with only that cat, no other people, beautiful houses, trees everywhere except in front of the magnificant view of the city I had there. I walked on and a small trail led through forest like grounds, still all alone. And it was completely silent - the city centre just 200 meters under me and in front of me and I could not hear any of the sounds a city has to offer.
After half an hour I reached the castle and swiftly left again on the other side of the hill, because one of the trains had just arrived with loads of Italians and Japanese, to accompany the Italians and Japanese that were already there. So after another 2 hours of walking I ended up in the centre again and got me a coca cola and a kebap for in total 1,50 euro. When I finished it I got on a bus to see where it would bring me, and as it appeared it couldn't drive for more than 10 minutes without leaving the city. In 15 minutes I found myself on the farm lands, and walked across the street to catch the bus back, sort of had a conversation with a Slovenian, French, Moroccan and Lybian guy (I still don't know what he was)
I'm in the hostel again now, just to relax for an hour or two and read my book. It's so seriously hot in the city you couldn't walk for more than 3 hours. This is abnormal for Slovenia, where the normal maximum temprature is about 24 celsius in the summer.. it's 30 now. I think in another 15 minutes I'll go back into the city to see what more it has to offer me, it really seems like there is nothing else, just a few musea. However, it is really a beautiful city.
Tomorrow I'm going to Zagreb to stay there for just a day, and I think after that I'll be going to Budapest. You'll all hear from me again,
Byron.
PS: It has come to my attention that maybe, perhaps this text should offend Italians and Japanese, let all Japanese and Italians know that I absolutely don't intend to offend you... I'm merely joking. Altough Italians do really have a parking problem... I definitely don't want to offend any of you (if any reading this weblog) If I have then please... accept my apologies!
Back to the hill, when the road ended I sat down on a bench for 5 minutes when suddenly a cat started petting me (yes, the cat petted me) so I spent 10 minutes or so with only that cat, no other people, beautiful houses, trees everywhere except in front of the magnificant view of the city I had there. I walked on and a small trail led through forest like grounds, still all alone. And it was completely silent - the city centre just 200 meters under me and in front of me and I could not hear any of the sounds a city has to offer.
After half an hour I reached the castle and swiftly left again on the other side of the hill, because one of the trains had just arrived with loads of Italians and Japanese, to accompany the Italians and Japanese that were already there. So after another 2 hours of walking I ended up in the centre again and got me a coca cola and a kebap for in total 1,50 euro. When I finished it I got on a bus to see where it would bring me, and as it appeared it couldn't drive for more than 10 minutes without leaving the city. In 15 minutes I found myself on the farm lands, and walked across the street to catch the bus back, sort of had a conversation with a Slovenian, French, Moroccan and Lybian guy (I still don't know what he was)
I'm in the hostel again now, just to relax for an hour or two and read my book. It's so seriously hot in the city you couldn't walk for more than 3 hours. This is abnormal for Slovenia, where the normal maximum temprature is about 24 celsius in the summer.. it's 30 now. I think in another 15 minutes I'll go back into the city to see what more it has to offer me, it really seems like there is nothing else, just a few musea. However, it is really a beautiful city.
Tomorrow I'm going to Zagreb to stay there for just a day, and I think after that I'll be going to Budapest. You'll all hear from me again,
Byron.
PS: It has come to my attention that maybe, perhaps this text should offend Italians and Japanese, let all Japanese and Italians know that I absolutely don't intend to offend you... I'm merely joking. Altough Italians do really have a parking problem... I definitely don't want to offend any of you (if any reading this weblog) If I have then please... accept my apologies!
woensdag 15 augustus 2007
Day 5 - Part 2
Hi everybody,
I'm in Ljubljana now, at the hostel internet point, which thank god is free, but gives me 5 minutes so I have to be quick. The train ride was fine, I met a nice Macedonian guy who said that I really should go to Zagreb instead of Ljubljana. I'll just ignore it and see that Ljubljana is like tomorrow. You'll all hear the whole story tomorrow!
Byron
I'm in Ljubljana now, at the hostel internet point, which thank god is free, but gives me 5 minutes so I have to be quick. The train ride was fine, I met a nice Macedonian guy who said that I really should go to Zagreb instead of Ljubljana. I'll just ignore it and see that Ljubljana is like tomorrow. You'll all hear the whole story tomorrow!
Byron
Day 6
Hi all,
I've had a nice night sleep, a bit too nice. I woke up at 11:00, and check out time (as it appeared, nobody had told me...) was 11:00. So I hurry up to go raus, apologized (which was accepted, it really wasn't a problem) and got on the bus to the city, where I put my luggage in a locker and got me some food. I felt like döner, but what I received was... well not quite a döner. Think of the width of a car exhaust, and 30 cm long. That's how big my roll of sheep meat with lettuce and garlic sauce was, and it tasted delicious, but when I reached 3/4 of it I was really full, there was only place left for a can of coke, which I did not take because I strumbled across this internet cafe. And whenever I want an internet cafe I can't find one so I wasn't going to let this once in a lifetime chance go by, even with my thirst.
Well I've got a train to Ljubljana at 15:30, which means I have about 2 more hours left, not including margin for error... common error as it seems. Completely different thing, something else that suprises me: everybody knows Japanese make for very very annoying tourists. But Italians... they may be even worse. And they're everywhere. Ever wondered why Italy is so empty at summer (concerning Italians, that is..)? Here's your answer: They're all in the Alps! Maybe now someone can tell them to clean their trains every once in a while. Or maybe that's even the reason why they've got filthy trains in the first place... all Italians are here, nobody to clean them. And Italians make even more pictures, walk even slower, talk even louder, walk even wider across the sidewalk, come in larger groups and act even more 'whateva I do what I want!' (Not familiar with that sentence? Watch some South Park.)
Italians... whoever would have thought that they're also tourists!
I think I've said enough, maybe I'll go to the airport for half an hour now.
Byron.
I've had a nice night sleep, a bit too nice. I woke up at 11:00, and check out time (as it appeared, nobody had told me...) was 11:00. So I hurry up to go raus, apologized (which was accepted, it really wasn't a problem) and got on the bus to the city, where I put my luggage in a locker and got me some food. I felt like döner, but what I received was... well not quite a döner. Think of the width of a car exhaust, and 30 cm long. That's how big my roll of sheep meat with lettuce and garlic sauce was, and it tasted delicious, but when I reached 3/4 of it I was really full, there was only place left for a can of coke, which I did not take because I strumbled across this internet cafe. And whenever I want an internet cafe I can't find one so I wasn't going to let this once in a lifetime chance go by, even with my thirst.
Well I've got a train to Ljubljana at 15:30, which means I have about 2 more hours left, not including margin for error... common error as it seems. Completely different thing, something else that suprises me: everybody knows Japanese make for very very annoying tourists. But Italians... they may be even worse. And they're everywhere. Ever wondered why Italy is so empty at summer (concerning Italians, that is..)? Here's your answer: They're all in the Alps! Maybe now someone can tell them to clean their trains every once in a while. Or maybe that's even the reason why they've got filthy trains in the first place... all Italians are here, nobody to clean them. And Italians make even more pictures, walk even slower, talk even louder, walk even wider across the sidewalk, come in larger groups and act even more 'whateva I do what I want!' (Not familiar with that sentence? Watch some South Park.)
Italians... whoever would have thought that they're also tourists!
I think I've said enough, maybe I'll go to the airport for half an hour now.
Byron.
dinsdag 14 augustus 2007
Day 5
I ran out of ways to say hello everybody.. I'm gonna have to come up with some new ones tonight.
Today I went to Munich, as the guy on the nighttrain told me it was a great city, and I've found out that I don't really like wandering around in the same city for 3 days. So I got up this morning at a relaxing 10:30 and went directly to the train station, insufficiently eating a slice of pizza (well, half a pizza, German Swiss and Austrian people like food). It tasted very good and when I finished it I stood in front of the departures display looking at an intercity that left for Munich in 5 minutes, lucky me! So I got on, found a free seat (not so difficult, half the train was empty) and wormed myself through a sleeping Italian on to my seat. Remember I said that my last train was the filtiest ever? Okay: Please, someone tell the Italians to clean-their-trains every once in a while! This one was even worse. Italians.... I mean really. Anyways, a German youngman came in and asked me (the only person in the cabin who was awake) if the seat in front of me was free. I really didn't know but I said yes, and thank god it turned out to be free. We started talking and he confirmed that my decision to visit Munich was the correct one.
We talked about half the journey, and when we stopped at Munich one thing immediately suprised me: it was filthy! Oh wait, I've been spoiled by the Austrian way of living. Munich is a nice student city and I started wandering around, and strumbled across something call the Deutsches Museum. Well, a museum about Germany, may be interesting. So I went in, and found not a museum about germany, but a few square miles of everything that Germany had found out or created over the years concering science, technology, transportation and best yet: aviation! This was great! I walked around for 2 hours looking at everything the 'museum' had to offer. Simply too much to be describing here... but for a technical nut head like me this was pure enjoyment.
Well when I got out I got me a nice Frankfurter (ask your local German for the definition of Frankfurter) and wandered around for another half an hour, and went back to the station, to find out that an intercity train to Innsbruck would leave in 10 minutes. Lucky me! I found an empty seat (not so difficult, the whole train was empty and one could not make a reservation, so my comfort for the next 2 hours was guaranteed.) After 10 minutes a German man came in and sat down, and we started talking (In German, by the way... not the case with the youngman) Turns out he was a bus driver that had to drive a bus full of teenagers from Innsbruck to Frankfurt, but he was 2 hours late because he'd missed a connection. He had just sat in trains since 10 am this morning, coming from... frankfurt. Yes, he'd been traveling all day just so that he could drive the way back with 80 passengers.
But he did not seem agitated and was very nice. When we stopped at Innsbruck we both walked towards his bus (We had to go in the same direction) and I wished him a pleasant drive back to where he just came from. I walked on to an internet cafe, and here I am.
By the way, something that's been on my mind for a while: I just can't get over how accepted smoking is in German languaged countries. There's commercials everywhere, everyone smokes, even here inside, my hotel room only has a warning not to smoke in the bed and there are as much cigarette machines as there are coca cola machines here. When I made my reservation yesterday the woman automaticly assumed I was a smoker, and she handed me tickets for a smoking part of the train (Not the actual train, that is... just it's temporary inhabitants.) I didn't feel like making a fuss about it, and tonight I have the chance to correct it as the tickets were wrong anyways. Germans and smoking...
I'm not really sure what to do about Ljubljana, all the connections to other cities kind of suck. I'll be staying there for 2 nights, and I think I'll just be deciding what to do there.
I'm going to get my dinner now (Something cheap and street worthy) so you'll hear from me tomorrow or another day.
Byron
Today I went to Munich, as the guy on the nighttrain told me it was a great city, and I've found out that I don't really like wandering around in the same city for 3 days. So I got up this morning at a relaxing 10:30 and went directly to the train station, insufficiently eating a slice of pizza (well, half a pizza, German Swiss and Austrian people like food). It tasted very good and when I finished it I stood in front of the departures display looking at an intercity that left for Munich in 5 minutes, lucky me! So I got on, found a free seat (not so difficult, half the train was empty) and wormed myself through a sleeping Italian on to my seat. Remember I said that my last train was the filtiest ever? Okay: Please, someone tell the Italians to clean-their-trains every once in a while! This one was even worse. Italians.... I mean really. Anyways, a German youngman came in and asked me (the only person in the cabin who was awake) if the seat in front of me was free. I really didn't know but I said yes, and thank god it turned out to be free. We started talking and he confirmed that my decision to visit Munich was the correct one.
We talked about half the journey, and when we stopped at Munich one thing immediately suprised me: it was filthy! Oh wait, I've been spoiled by the Austrian way of living. Munich is a nice student city and I started wandering around, and strumbled across something call the Deutsches Museum. Well, a museum about Germany, may be interesting. So I went in, and found not a museum about germany, but a few square miles of everything that Germany had found out or created over the years concering science, technology, transportation and best yet: aviation! This was great! I walked around for 2 hours looking at everything the 'museum' had to offer. Simply too much to be describing here... but for a technical nut head like me this was pure enjoyment.
Well when I got out I got me a nice Frankfurter (ask your local German for the definition of Frankfurter) and wandered around for another half an hour, and went back to the station, to find out that an intercity train to Innsbruck would leave in 10 minutes. Lucky me! I found an empty seat (not so difficult, the whole train was empty and one could not make a reservation, so my comfort for the next 2 hours was guaranteed.) After 10 minutes a German man came in and sat down, and we started talking (In German, by the way... not the case with the youngman) Turns out he was a bus driver that had to drive a bus full of teenagers from Innsbruck to Frankfurt, but he was 2 hours late because he'd missed a connection. He had just sat in trains since 10 am this morning, coming from... frankfurt. Yes, he'd been traveling all day just so that he could drive the way back with 80 passengers.
But he did not seem agitated and was very nice. When we stopped at Innsbruck we both walked towards his bus (We had to go in the same direction) and I wished him a pleasant drive back to where he just came from. I walked on to an internet cafe, and here I am.
By the way, something that's been on my mind for a while: I just can't get over how accepted smoking is in German languaged countries. There's commercials everywhere, everyone smokes, even here inside, my hotel room only has a warning not to smoke in the bed and there are as much cigarette machines as there are coca cola machines here. When I made my reservation yesterday the woman automaticly assumed I was a smoker, and she handed me tickets for a smoking part of the train (Not the actual train, that is... just it's temporary inhabitants.) I didn't feel like making a fuss about it, and tonight I have the chance to correct it as the tickets were wrong anyways. Germans and smoking...
I'm not really sure what to do about Ljubljana, all the connections to other cities kind of suck. I'll be staying there for 2 nights, and I think I'll just be deciding what to do there.
I'm going to get my dinner now (Something cheap and street worthy) so you'll hear from me tomorrow or another day.
Byron
maandag 13 augustus 2007
Day 4
Let's start with the title of this post: day 4. Maybe I'm confused but it doesn't seem like day 4. Maybe because it actually is day 5, including the train journey Amsterdam - Paris... I think somewhere in between then and now I messed up with my timing.
Let's get back to business, I'm finally out of Paris! Thank God! (Many people will find it weird that I say that, but take it from me, Paris is nice, for a day or 2. Well I'm in Innsbruck now, a wonderful city. To start: It's clean, cleaner then any other European city you can imagine. It took me some time to find the first coca cola bottle on the pavement. And the people here are different, they all seem more friendy. But maybe that's just because I speak a fair bit of German... and an unfair 5 words of French.
Second reason why this city is so great, is the surrounding. You've actually got something to look at, mountains! I love mountains, as long as they all have some kind of mechanized way to climb them. And they've all got that here! And actually the main reason for me to visit this city is the aitport. Innsbruck is world famous amongst aviation enthousiasts for things like this:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0992312/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0963910/L/
And so on. This place makes for a great day of relaxing by the side of the runway. Yes that is actually relaxing. And when you're walking in the city, and the airplanes fly over at a mere 200 meters, it's relaxing. Many people find it annoying if not life threatning, but some people are just... well like me and a few million others on this planet.
Anyways... my journey was great. The nighttrain was comfortable at first, but got less comfortable over the hours. I was just a few inches too tall to lay streched so my head touched the bulkhead and my feet the window. There was a solution, to lay diagonally. And a few more solutions, but they all vanished rapidly because I quickly fell into a deep, deep sleep and when I woke up, we were 15 minutes from Munich. Wonderful! Never, ever, do I sleep when travelling. some posess the gift, some don't... like sleeping on airplane. Some can do it, some can't..
After that I had 10 minutes to catch my train to Innsbruck (actually an Intercity to Rome, which was comfortable, but also the filthiest train I'd ever set foot in. The windows were only half see through, they were that filthy.) and before I knew it we pulled in at Innsbruck and I hurried to get to the pension, and got a nice room with a filthy toilet, but you could predict that on my bill, with a suprising 38,- a night.
I had a nice, long shower followed by half an hour of watching TV and then I went into innsbruck, and here I am.
Maybe tomorrow I'll to to Munich for half a day, the person that had the bed under mine on the nighttrain said it was far better than Innsbruck and that I'd at least have to spend an hour or two there). I'm going to check on that now.
That's it for today.
Byron
Let's get back to business, I'm finally out of Paris! Thank God! (Many people will find it weird that I say that, but take it from me, Paris is nice, for a day or 2. Well I'm in Innsbruck now, a wonderful city. To start: It's clean, cleaner then any other European city you can imagine. It took me some time to find the first coca cola bottle on the pavement. And the people here are different, they all seem more friendy. But maybe that's just because I speak a fair bit of German... and an unfair 5 words of French.
Second reason why this city is so great, is the surrounding. You've actually got something to look at, mountains! I love mountains, as long as they all have some kind of mechanized way to climb them. And they've all got that here! And actually the main reason for me to visit this city is the aitport. Innsbruck is world famous amongst aviation enthousiasts for things like this:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0992312/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0963910/L/
And so on. This place makes for a great day of relaxing by the side of the runway. Yes that is actually relaxing. And when you're walking in the city, and the airplanes fly over at a mere 200 meters, it's relaxing. Many people find it annoying if not life threatning, but some people are just... well like me and a few million others on this planet.
Anyways... my journey was great. The nighttrain was comfortable at first, but got less comfortable over the hours. I was just a few inches too tall to lay streched so my head touched the bulkhead and my feet the window. There was a solution, to lay diagonally. And a few more solutions, but they all vanished rapidly because I quickly fell into a deep, deep sleep and when I woke up, we were 15 minutes from Munich. Wonderful! Never, ever, do I sleep when travelling. some posess the gift, some don't... like sleeping on airplane. Some can do it, some can't..
After that I had 10 minutes to catch my train to Innsbruck (actually an Intercity to Rome, which was comfortable, but also the filthiest train I'd ever set foot in. The windows were only half see through, they were that filthy.) and before I knew it we pulled in at Innsbruck and I hurried to get to the pension, and got a nice room with a filthy toilet, but you could predict that on my bill, with a suprising 38,- a night.
I had a nice, long shower followed by half an hour of watching TV and then I went into innsbruck, and here I am.
Maybe tomorrow I'll to to Munich for half a day, the person that had the bed under mine on the nighttrain said it was far better than Innsbruck and that I'd at least have to spend an hour or two there). I'm going to check on that now.
That's it for today.
Byron
zondag 12 augustus 2007
Day 3 part 2
Hi all,
I have time on my hands so I got me another half an hour on the world wide web. After my last post I went to the Catacombes, I couldn't go there yesterday as it closes at 16:00. But I managed to get in now and it was, to say the least, impressive. Not at first... then it's just a small tunnel underneath paris, it might as well be a mini subway. But after about 10 minutes they warned you (yes they actually warn you!) that you were entering the 'chambers' (can't remember the exact name). Then, once you first step in there, you get this weird feeling (well I got it anyways) that lasts only about a minute, while you just stand there looking at all the skulls and bones, carefully layed in a pattern for hunderds of meters. You just look at the skulls, some of them with teeth in them, some of them with what looks like a bullet hole, some smashed, and some non-existant, because (sick) people (maybe gothics obsessed with death) like to steal bones and skulls. Anyways, you start walking and walking and walking for about 2 kilometers and see nothing else but skulls and bones. I think you can almost compare this with visiting Auschwitz.
I wouldn't recommend anyone with the least bit of claustrophobia to go there, nor anyone with a phobia for dead things. They have a special warning sign in at the enterance warning the faint hearted and children not to go in (suprising, I saw a lot of children in there.)
After that I started strolling across Paris again and I actually did nothing else since... but I've had my fair share of strolling in Paris and I'm getting sick and tired of it. I'll be glad once I'm on my train tonight, which by the way is not a seat but a bed! Yes, an actual bed. Well, I don't know in what factor it resembles a bed but the website of the Deutsche Bahn (the train is a DB NachtZug.) says it is most comfortable and affordable. Well, I paid 20 euro's for it, I don't really consider it affordable, but I need a good night sleep. I just doubt whether I'm going to get it tonight, maybe I should've gotten a regular seat...
Another thing about Paris: It's great, for the first two days. After that you realize they're all just looking at your wallet and constantly trying to get a little bit of $$ out of it. Yes, they're all after your money. For example: Today I put my backpack in a locker at gare est for 7 euro's (!!). After that I realized that I wanted my book and my interrail ticket, because my plan was to take a train to a little village or at least somewhere not-so-Paris. But if I wanted to take anything out I'd have to give them another 7 euro's. The locker was just large enough to fit my backpack by the way, if my backpack were any larger I'dd have to get a 16 euro locker. And the drink and food here: I paid 7,50 for a coca cola and a sandwich. 7,50!!!!!! And come to think of it (don't get me wrong there are a lot of nice people here), almost everyone that you buy something from is not so friendly. (They're all down, angry, look like they just divorced, etc etc.)
Everything costs money. Everything! Yesterday I desperately needed to shit, and I went by about 10 cafe's and restaurant's and they all denied me access with a pissed look on their face. So I went to the train station, the closest public toilet, and paid 1,- to do my thing. With a cleaner that seemed only to clean the floor, that looked like brand spanking new, but the toilets... It seriously wouldn't be much longer untill I ran out puking.
Whoops... I'm headed down that spiral of negative thinking again, the one everyone has been warning me for. I think I'll just leave it at this.
Byron
I have time on my hands so I got me another half an hour on the world wide web. After my last post I went to the Catacombes, I couldn't go there yesterday as it closes at 16:00. But I managed to get in now and it was, to say the least, impressive. Not at first... then it's just a small tunnel underneath paris, it might as well be a mini subway. But after about 10 minutes they warned you (yes they actually warn you!) that you were entering the 'chambers' (can't remember the exact name). Then, once you first step in there, you get this weird feeling (well I got it anyways) that lasts only about a minute, while you just stand there looking at all the skulls and bones, carefully layed in a pattern for hunderds of meters. You just look at the skulls, some of them with teeth in them, some of them with what looks like a bullet hole, some smashed, and some non-existant, because (sick) people (maybe gothics obsessed with death) like to steal bones and skulls. Anyways, you start walking and walking and walking for about 2 kilometers and see nothing else but skulls and bones. I think you can almost compare this with visiting Auschwitz.
I wouldn't recommend anyone with the least bit of claustrophobia to go there, nor anyone with a phobia for dead things. They have a special warning sign in at the enterance warning the faint hearted and children not to go in (suprising, I saw a lot of children in there.)
After that I started strolling across Paris again and I actually did nothing else since... but I've had my fair share of strolling in Paris and I'm getting sick and tired of it. I'll be glad once I'm on my train tonight, which by the way is not a seat but a bed! Yes, an actual bed. Well, I don't know in what factor it resembles a bed but the website of the Deutsche Bahn (the train is a DB NachtZug.) says it is most comfortable and affordable. Well, I paid 20 euro's for it, I don't really consider it affordable, but I need a good night sleep. I just doubt whether I'm going to get it tonight, maybe I should've gotten a regular seat...
Another thing about Paris: It's great, for the first two days. After that you realize they're all just looking at your wallet and constantly trying to get a little bit of $$ out of it. Yes, they're all after your money. For example: Today I put my backpack in a locker at gare est for 7 euro's (!!). After that I realized that I wanted my book and my interrail ticket, because my plan was to take a train to a little village or at least somewhere not-so-Paris. But if I wanted to take anything out I'd have to give them another 7 euro's. The locker was just large enough to fit my backpack by the way, if my backpack were any larger I'dd have to get a 16 euro locker. And the drink and food here: I paid 7,50 for a coca cola and a sandwich. 7,50!!!!!! And come to think of it (don't get me wrong there are a lot of nice people here), almost everyone that you buy something from is not so friendly. (They're all down, angry, look like they just divorced, etc etc.)
Everything costs money. Everything! Yesterday I desperately needed to shit, and I went by about 10 cafe's and restaurant's and they all denied me access with a pissed look on their face. So I went to the train station, the closest public toilet, and paid 1,- to do my thing. With a cleaner that seemed only to clean the floor, that looked like brand spanking new, but the toilets... It seriously wouldn't be much longer untill I ran out puking.
Whoops... I'm headed down that spiral of negative thinking again, the one everyone has been warning me for. I think I'll just leave it at this.
Byron
Day 3
Boy o boy, have I got some story to tell. Yesterday, after a (painful) day of stolling through Paris, I was on the subway towards my Hostel to pick up my luggage that I'd left in a locker there. Once I got off the subway I suddenly realized that it had just taken about 20 minutes to get from where I was to my hostel.. and that I had to hurry to the station. Well, I hurried but once I was on the subway there just wasn't much more I could do. (Can you feel what's coming?) I sat down and as the stations passed by I started to get more nervous... gradually building up to that feeling you get when you know you're about to miss a train. The subway stopped at Gare de l'est, and I ran as fast as I could (with a heavy backpack on me) towards the platform only to witness a sight I had witnessed before in Berlin. The sight of a train leaving right in front of you, without yourself in it.
I instinctively called home and my dad said he'd go and look for options for me. I sat down on a bench and just waited, looking at a homeless man and thinking that maybe I'd be like him for the night, sleeping at the station. Well that thought quickly vanished when I asked if the station closed at night, and the answer was at one o'clock. Just a few minutes later a truly miserable looking Frenchman (definitely not a homeless man) sat down besides me and said bonjour in a way that made me think it'd be the last word he'd ever say. I speak exactly one sentence in French, and that's how to tell a Frenchman that you don't speak French. Well we 'talked' for about 15 minutes using hand gestures and careful words, and the conclusion was that we both had missed our train. One difference is that he lived in Paris and had a bed (I understood at least that... ) After that he made it clear he was gonna drive home and I said goodbye.
Before the thought of sleeping (or wandering) through the streets crossed my mind my dad called and said he'd made a reservation for one more night at my hostel. So I got into the subway again (this is saturday night and the subways are full of clubbing or pubcrawling people). One difference with daytime: everyone was happy. One wonders how this could be... I suppose not because of the average consumation of beverages containing a varying of percentages of alcohol.. Well anyways, people started talking to me in French and once again I said only two things in return: Je ne parle pas Francais and Do you speak english.
Well I won't be boring you with any more stories from that night and begin with this morning. I got up with trouble and took the subway to gare de le est only to find out that all the trains for that day were full. (Sunday!!!). So after about 2 hours of careful consideration I booked a bed on the night train that leaves the station tonight at 22:45. The same train as yesterday only +24h.
I'll be arriving on time now, and I have to find something to do for the coming 10 hours. I any of you have any tips please do give me a call of an sms: 0031645027821.
My time is up now, I'll see if I can post something tomorrow.
Byron
I instinctively called home and my dad said he'd go and look for options for me. I sat down on a bench and just waited, looking at a homeless man and thinking that maybe I'd be like him for the night, sleeping at the station. Well that thought quickly vanished when I asked if the station closed at night, and the answer was at one o'clock. Just a few minutes later a truly miserable looking Frenchman (definitely not a homeless man) sat down besides me and said bonjour in a way that made me think it'd be the last word he'd ever say. I speak exactly one sentence in French, and that's how to tell a Frenchman that you don't speak French. Well we 'talked' for about 15 minutes using hand gestures and careful words, and the conclusion was that we both had missed our train. One difference is that he lived in Paris and had a bed (I understood at least that... ) After that he made it clear he was gonna drive home and I said goodbye.
Before the thought of sleeping (or wandering) through the streets crossed my mind my dad called and said he'd made a reservation for one more night at my hostel. So I got into the subway again (this is saturday night and the subways are full of clubbing or pubcrawling people). One difference with daytime: everyone was happy. One wonders how this could be... I suppose not because of the average consumation of beverages containing a varying of percentages of alcohol.. Well anyways, people started talking to me in French and once again I said only two things in return: Je ne parle pas Francais and Do you speak english.
Well I won't be boring you with any more stories from that night and begin with this morning. I got up with trouble and took the subway to gare de le est only to find out that all the trains for that day were full. (Sunday!!!). So after about 2 hours of careful consideration I booked a bed on the night train that leaves the station tonight at 22:45. The same train as yesterday only +24h.
I'll be arriving on time now, and I have to find something to do for the coming 10 hours. I any of you have any tips please do give me a call of an sms: 0031645027821.
My time is up now, I'll see if I can post something tomorrow.
Byron
vrijdag 10 augustus 2007
Day 2
Hi all,
Back in another Paris internet cafe, after a day of mainly walking and reading. I was looking to go to the catacombes today, but it's only open till 14:00. Will do that tomorrow, along with a visit to Charles de Gaulle, Europe's largest airport in terms of capacity (Yes, it surpasses Schiphol and Heathrow: although Schiphol is larger in terms of size.)
I got up today at 10:30, simply because I could. I didn't really feel like getting up early to go walking so I took ik easy. I also skipped my free breakfast.. but I had a sandwich left that my mom had thoughtfully bought me yesterday. Then I went to the train station to make a reservation for my next train: it turned out to be the night train to Zurich that leaves tomorrow at 22:45. (I'm going to Innsbruck, and I'll have to take an intercity from Zurich on).
I asked my dad to call a pension (is that word as much English as it is Dutch?) in Voels, to make a reservation. After that I'd like to try a hostel again, maybe I've gotten over my phobia for them. I haven't really met anyone here, which is not really bothering me, but maybe that'll change once I visit a hostel. I hope for it to be a small, personal hostel rather than a huge drink dance and maybe sleep centre. I'm just not that type of person... that's why I'd chosen a certain hostel in Berlin, that turned out to be fully booked.
Anyways, today I went to the Eiffel tower. I didn't like it, well the building was all right, but it was just too crowded. I think (and read in a bood I'm reading right now, a very good book by the way) that each year for a few months a few billion people come to Paris to destroy it. Well they sure succeeded at: The Eiffel tower, the Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the avenue that leads to it, and just about all other major tourist attractions. I like paris, but I think that it's just what I said about Rome: It's a city for the winter. For me, that is. (Not because of the heat this time...)
PS: as I thought, I couldn't rent a scooter here because I have to be 21 (Yes, even for under 50cc!)
I don't really have much more to say right now, you'll all hear from me again tomorrow.
Byron.
Back in another Paris internet cafe, after a day of mainly walking and reading. I was looking to go to the catacombes today, but it's only open till 14:00. Will do that tomorrow, along with a visit to Charles de Gaulle, Europe's largest airport in terms of capacity (Yes, it surpasses Schiphol and Heathrow: although Schiphol is larger in terms of size.)
I got up today at 10:30, simply because I could. I didn't really feel like getting up early to go walking so I took ik easy. I also skipped my free breakfast.. but I had a sandwich left that my mom had thoughtfully bought me yesterday. Then I went to the train station to make a reservation for my next train: it turned out to be the night train to Zurich that leaves tomorrow at 22:45. (I'm going to Innsbruck, and I'll have to take an intercity from Zurich on).
I asked my dad to call a pension (is that word as much English as it is Dutch?) in Voels, to make a reservation. After that I'd like to try a hostel again, maybe I've gotten over my phobia for them. I haven't really met anyone here, which is not really bothering me, but maybe that'll change once I visit a hostel. I hope for it to be a small, personal hostel rather than a huge drink dance and maybe sleep centre. I'm just not that type of person... that's why I'd chosen a certain hostel in Berlin, that turned out to be fully booked.
Anyways, today I went to the Eiffel tower. I didn't like it, well the building was all right, but it was just too crowded. I think (and read in a bood I'm reading right now, a very good book by the way) that each year for a few months a few billion people come to Paris to destroy it. Well they sure succeeded at: The Eiffel tower, the Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the avenue that leads to it, and just about all other major tourist attractions. I like paris, but I think that it's just what I said about Rome: It's a city for the winter. For me, that is. (Not because of the heat this time...)
PS: as I thought, I couldn't rent a scooter here because I have to be 21 (Yes, even for under 50cc!)
I don't really have much more to say right now, you'll all hear from me again tomorrow.
Byron.
donderdag 9 augustus 2007
Day 1 - part 2
Hi everybody, I'm in a Parisian (that's spelled ok, right?) internet cafe now, I took half an hour of internet just to update this blog and check my e-mail and such. Paris is really a nice city, but for as far as I've seen now not really extrordinary... but maybe that'll change tomorrow. I want to go to the catacombes, word has it that every single person that died of the plague lay to rest (?!) there. Also maybe I'll go to Charles de Gaulle airport (or orly) to do some airplane spotting (if possible...).
My hostel room (well, figure of speach...) is really nice. I've got a two bed room, my own shower (and toilet) and airconditioning. Right now, it isn't that sunny in Paris (which is good, really) so I won't need the airco but my own bathroom is very nice.
About my journey here... well as I said the NS (Dutch railways) dropped me off at another station without further (or previous) notice. So I had to find my own way to the other side of the city (Brussels) to make it to my second train (well, turned out to be my third...) which I catched by a margin of about 20 seconds. But all was well, I was on the train. A really comfortable one, for that matter... and fast. Pehaps even faster than the ICE.
I walked about 3 kilometers to get to this internetcafe, the lady (the bitch) from the tourist information desk thoughtfully pointed me here, and I didn't feel like searching for another one (didn't see any on the way here either...) And another thing... in Germany they use QWERTZ keyboards because they use a lot of umlauts.. ok, I can get used to that. But over here they use AZERTY keyboards. (for those who have absolutely no knowledge of this all I reccoment you visit wikipedia) And so, I discovered I could actually type blind. That's right, before this I always looked at the keybord when typing.
Back to Paris, another idea is that tomorrow maybe I can hire a scooter for half a day.... I seriously don't think it's possible, but I do have a Dutch license for scooters up to 50cc, so it's worth a try. I'm amazed at that, by the way. The sheer amount of scooters here. And the traffic in general, there are no real pedestrian aeras. And to get to the Arc de Triomphe, you have to walk underneath what seems to be the world's largest and most disorganized roundabout.
When I leave here again I'll just find a small stand where I can get my nessecery vitamins and minerals (food). Well I'm not expecting anything good, as long as it's etible.
I think that's about it for today, you'll hear from me tomorrow.
Byron
(By the way: thanks to everyone for their replies on the previous messages. It's nice to read from home or from anyone what they have to say.)
My hostel room (well, figure of speach...) is really nice. I've got a two bed room, my own shower (and toilet) and airconditioning. Right now, it isn't that sunny in Paris (which is good, really) so I won't need the airco but my own bathroom is very nice.
About my journey here... well as I said the NS (Dutch railways) dropped me off at another station without further (or previous) notice. So I had to find my own way to the other side of the city (Brussels) to make it to my second train (well, turned out to be my third...) which I catched by a margin of about 20 seconds. But all was well, I was on the train. A really comfortable one, for that matter... and fast. Pehaps even faster than the ICE.
I walked about 3 kilometers to get to this internetcafe, the lady (the bitch) from the tourist information desk thoughtfully pointed me here, and I didn't feel like searching for another one (didn't see any on the way here either...) And another thing... in Germany they use QWERTZ keyboards because they use a lot of umlauts.. ok, I can get used to that. But over here they use AZERTY keyboards. (for those who have absolutely no knowledge of this all I reccoment you visit wikipedia) And so, I discovered I could actually type blind. That's right, before this I always looked at the keybord when typing.
Back to Paris, another idea is that tomorrow maybe I can hire a scooter for half a day.... I seriously don't think it's possible, but I do have a Dutch license for scooters up to 50cc, so it's worth a try. I'm amazed at that, by the way. The sheer amount of scooters here. And the traffic in general, there are no real pedestrian aeras. And to get to the Arc de Triomphe, you have to walk underneath what seems to be the world's largest and most disorganized roundabout.
When I leave here again I'll just find a small stand where I can get my nessecery vitamins and minerals (food). Well I'm not expecting anything good, as long as it's etible.
I think that's about it for today, you'll hear from me tomorrow.
Byron
(By the way: thanks to everyone for their replies on the previous messages. It's nice to read from home or from anyone what they have to say.)
Fresh start: Day 1
Hi everybody,
Im in Paris now! The journey was fine except for the first part, where the wonderful Dutch railways decided that the train would go no further than Brussels north, whilst, when they dumped me and about 150 other deputees, I had only 15 more minutes to catch my connection to France at Brussels !!south!!. Anyways, I"ll tell all about it when I get back because I've only got 10 minutes here. the 'hostel' is great, and I'll tll you all about that aswell.
I'm going into the city now, to walk down the Champs Elysees.
Byron
Im in Paris now! The journey was fine except for the first part, where the wonderful Dutch railways decided that the train would go no further than Brussels north, whilst, when they dumped me and about 150 other deputees, I had only 15 more minutes to catch my connection to France at Brussels !!south!!. Anyways, I"ll tell all about it when I get back because I've only got 10 minutes here. the 'hostel' is great, and I'll tll you all about that aswell.
I'm going into the city now, to walk down the Champs Elysees.
Byron
maandag 6 augustus 2007
Pauze
Hi everybody,
I'm back home now and I came here in desperate need of some serious peptalk. I can tell you all about it here, but I'll save the details. Here's the thing: Next thursday I'm going to make a completely fresh start. I realized that Berlin (however fascinating that city is) was just a false start. I went there with the wrong expectations and the wrong attitude, and that in combination with my personality makes for a deadly combination. When something goes wrong, I (something I inherited from my father) tend to raise that that hase gone wrong above everything else (often that that didn't go wrong.). And when that that went wrong is not just one thing, but a (deadly) combination of things, it can lead me into a small personal crisis. At that point, my second day in Berlin, I cracked. I just did not know what to do next.
Now that I'm home I've had a lot of time to think about it, and more time to talk about it I realize that (the above). Today I sat down with my dad and we planned a small section of my journey to come, starting in Paris. In general I think that the route will be from France to the Alps, Italy, on to the ferry to Greece, then off to Istanbul, through the Baltic, and some Eastern Europe.
I just hope now that things turn out the right way on this second try. The start in Berlin really had a big negative impression on me. I'm happy right now, I hope that once I'm in bed I don't start thinking about everything, because that can bring me down to the previous state of mind faster than you can say temporarily depressed...
Byron
I'm back home now and I came here in desperate need of some serious peptalk. I can tell you all about it here, but I'll save the details. Here's the thing: Next thursday I'm going to make a completely fresh start. I realized that Berlin (however fascinating that city is) was just a false start. I went there with the wrong expectations and the wrong attitude, and that in combination with my personality makes for a deadly combination. When something goes wrong, I (something I inherited from my father) tend to raise that that hase gone wrong above everything else (often that that didn't go wrong.). And when that that went wrong is not just one thing, but a (deadly) combination of things, it can lead me into a small personal crisis. At that point, my second day in Berlin, I cracked. I just did not know what to do next.
Now that I'm home I've had a lot of time to think about it, and more time to talk about it I realize that (the above). Today I sat down with my dad and we planned a small section of my journey to come, starting in Paris. In general I think that the route will be from France to the Alps, Italy, on to the ferry to Greece, then off to Istanbul, through the Baltic, and some Eastern Europe.
I just hope now that things turn out the right way on this second try. The start in Berlin really had a big negative impression on me. I'm happy right now, I hope that once I'm in bed I don't start thinking about everything, because that can bring me down to the previous state of mind faster than you can say temporarily depressed...
Byron
zondag 5 augustus 2007
Day 4
Hi everybody,
Let's start with last night's sleep... in other words the lack of it. At about 10:00 pm 2 gothics (most obviously boy&girlfriend...) entered the room, introduced themselves, put about 4 different bottles of drinks (alcoholic drinks, that is...) on the table and started drinking. Luckly they went out about half an hour later, that gave me some time to rest myself. Not for long though.... I was downstairs on the internet typing my previous post, and when I went up to my room again (without knocking, I mean pleease, it's also my room!) I they were (what looked like) rushing to conseal their more private (maybe in their case not that private) parts. I went to bed and about half an hour later they just started (or continued?)... well need I say more? Just hearing the moaning of both of em and the plain wooden bunkbed that rapidly became a slow vibration bed... made for a more or less sleepless night.
I just can't imagine why people would do that in a public room. Book a room for yourselves, or a least go to the showers or the toilet or somewhere more private...
Anyways, as I was saying yesterday I'm considering to change the plan of this journey... and when I missed my train to Prague this morning (turns out my cellphone clock is not as accurate as I would like it to be) I had it. I just didn't know what to do next. So I booked a train back to Amsterdam, and I'll see what I'll do then and there.
I really hope I don't disappoint you all as much as this journey and myself disappoints me. I've been told millions of times not to be disappointed in myself, and that each desicion made by myself is the right one... but it just doesn't feel that way. Sorry everybody...
This however certainly doesn't mean I don't like eastern and central Europe. And I'dd reccomend everybody to go there.. on their preferred way of travelling. I tought, and hoped, that this way is my way of travelling. I guess thing just don't turn out the way you would like for them to turn out. If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. If there are two different ways for something to go wrong, and you comprehend these ways, a third way will promptly develop. God, don't we all just love murphy?
You'll all be reading from me again, I have a train to catch now. In a smokers cabin, there were no no smoking seats available...
Even in het nederlands voor alle lezers van worldonrails.nl, laat dit (en evt. het verhaal van Diederick) je niet afschrikken.... Dat het mij niet bevalt is een kwestie van persoonlijkheid. En dan ook puur en alleen dat.
Byron
Let's start with last night's sleep... in other words the lack of it. At about 10:00 pm 2 gothics (most obviously boy&girlfriend...) entered the room, introduced themselves, put about 4 different bottles of drinks (alcoholic drinks, that is...) on the table and started drinking. Luckly they went out about half an hour later, that gave me some time to rest myself. Not for long though.... I was downstairs on the internet typing my previous post, and when I went up to my room again (without knocking, I mean pleease, it's also my room!) I they were (what looked like) rushing to conseal their more private (maybe in their case not that private) parts. I went to bed and about half an hour later they just started (or continued?)... well need I say more? Just hearing the moaning of both of em and the plain wooden bunkbed that rapidly became a slow vibration bed... made for a more or less sleepless night.
I just can't imagine why people would do that in a public room. Book a room for yourselves, or a least go to the showers or the toilet or somewhere more private...
Anyways, as I was saying yesterday I'm considering to change the plan of this journey... and when I missed my train to Prague this morning (turns out my cellphone clock is not as accurate as I would like it to be) I had it. I just didn't know what to do next. So I booked a train back to Amsterdam, and I'll see what I'll do then and there.
I really hope I don't disappoint you all as much as this journey and myself disappoints me. I've been told millions of times not to be disappointed in myself, and that each desicion made by myself is the right one... but it just doesn't feel that way. Sorry everybody...
This however certainly doesn't mean I don't like eastern and central Europe. And I'dd reccomend everybody to go there.. on their preferred way of travelling. I tought, and hoped, that this way is my way of travelling. I guess thing just don't turn out the way you would like for them to turn out. If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. If there are two different ways for something to go wrong, and you comprehend these ways, a third way will promptly develop. God, don't we all just love murphy?
You'll all be reading from me again, I have a train to catch now. In a smokers cabin, there were no no smoking seats available...
Even in het nederlands voor alle lezers van worldonrails.nl, laat dit (en evt. het verhaal van Diederick) je niet afschrikken.... Dat het mij niet bevalt is een kwestie van persoonlijkheid. En dan ook puur en alleen dat.
Byron
zaterdag 4 augustus 2007
Day 3
Hi everybody,
I'm still in Berlin, but in another hostel. There was no night train going to either Warschau or Prague, and the hostel I slept in yesterday was fully booked for the night... so I had to look for somewhere else to stay. Well I found a place that'll do... but it'll do just that. Give me a roof over my head for a night. I'm sharing a room with one person who has yet to show him/her self, and two Austrian alcoholic gothics who are sleeping together in the bed above mine... Not that I don't like roommates, but this is a bit.... well it's just plain weird.
Now what I'm about to say may come as a suprise to some... but I'm not having fun on this journey... it's just not what I expected it to be. Travelling alone, that is. I tought that I'dd be meeting people as easy as I do when.... no let's cut to the chase. I don't meet people easily. And that's what leaves me feeling very very disappointed. I'm going to see what Prague is like tomorrow... but if that turns out to be the same as here in Berlin then I'll be going home/or to my second home, Ireland. Please understand that I feel quite ashamed saying this now... all year round I've been working rock hard for it and now I may be abandoning it.
The desicion has yet to be made, but if things go on as they are now... I'll know what to do.
Byron...
I'm still in Berlin, but in another hostel. There was no night train going to either Warschau or Prague, and the hostel I slept in yesterday was fully booked for the night... so I had to look for somewhere else to stay. Well I found a place that'll do... but it'll do just that. Give me a roof over my head for a night. I'm sharing a room with one person who has yet to show him/her self, and two Austrian alcoholic gothics who are sleeping together in the bed above mine... Not that I don't like roommates, but this is a bit.... well it's just plain weird.
Now what I'm about to say may come as a suprise to some... but I'm not having fun on this journey... it's just not what I expected it to be. Travelling alone, that is. I tought that I'dd be meeting people as easy as I do when.... no let's cut to the chase. I don't meet people easily. And that's what leaves me feeling very very disappointed. I'm going to see what Prague is like tomorrow... but if that turns out to be the same as here in Berlin then I'll be going home/or to my second home, Ireland. Please understand that I feel quite ashamed saying this now... all year round I've been working rock hard for it and now I may be abandoning it.
The desicion has yet to be made, but if things go on as they are now... I'll know what to do.
Byron...
vrijdag 3 augustus 2007
Day 2
Hi everybody,
I'm in Berlin now as we (I) speak The train journey was fine, the ICE trains are seriously FAST. I had to change at Frankfurt hbf on to another train, in just 15 minutes. The train I was on before had to take a detour due to work on the rails near the Dutch border. But it went great and I arrived at Berlin ostbahnhof just a little over 7pm. The hostel however didn't make such a good impression on me... I don't really know why but I just don't like it. Probably mainly because it's a bit large (huge!). If I would decide to stay another night here I think I'll be looking for another place to stay.
I'm going into Berlin now for just an hour or two, I'm tired and need a bed...
Byron
I'm in Berlin now as we (I) speak The train journey was fine, the ICE trains are seriously FAST. I had to change at Frankfurt hbf on to another train, in just 15 minutes. The train I was on before had to take a detour due to work on the rails near the Dutch border. But it went great and I arrived at Berlin ostbahnhof just a little over 7pm. The hostel however didn't make such a good impression on me... I don't really know why but I just don't like it. Probably mainly because it's a bit large (huge!). If I would decide to stay another night here I think I'll be looking for another place to stay.
I'm going into Berlin now for just an hour or two, I'm tired and need a bed...
Byron
woensdag 1 augustus 2007
Dag 0
Hi everybody,
For the next 22 days, every day (so I hope) I'll be writing here about my daily experiences on my journey through eastern/southeastern Europe (And a little bit of Asia). Mainly for my parents who are a bit concerned about my safety in some of these countries, but also for everybody interested in my travelling and what I have to say.
I hope to be posting messages every day, but undoubtably there will be days when I either have no acces to a computer or simply don't have the time...
So for these coming days I hope you'll all find this weblog interesting enough to read and maybe for future travellers a useful source of information.
If you have anything to say yourself, or have a question, just post a reply here and I'll see if I can answer it...
Byron Sterk
For the next 22 days, every day (so I hope) I'll be writing here about my daily experiences on my journey through eastern/southeastern Europe (And a little bit of Asia). Mainly for my parents who are a bit concerned about my safety in some of these countries, but also for everybody interested in my travelling and what I have to say.
I hope to be posting messages every day, but undoubtably there will be days when I either have no acces to a computer or simply don't have the time...
So for these coming days I hope you'll all find this weblog interesting enough to read and maybe for future travellers a useful source of information.
If you have anything to say yourself, or have a question, just post a reply here and I'll see if I can answer it...
Byron Sterk
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