So my last blog was over two weeks ago. So much has happened since then. I'll go right into it.
Jill and I had a heck of a time getting to south France. Buying tickets was a hassle, hours long layovers in train stations with nothing to do, taking an expensive taxi ride into town once we arrived. I was getting skeptical of this trip to France. I don't speak French and I heard the people in south France didn't like to speak English. I was pleased to find out that the people were really friendly and spoke enough English to communicate.
Jill and I walked around the town. It is very charming in Aix. Very romantic setting. It seems as if all people do here is eat, drink and shop. Lots of clothing stores. We came across a street market where people were selling their goods, like am American flea market. The prices of these goods were that of department stores. Nothing was cheap in France, I figured this market would be cheap. Not so much. I was ready to take the plunge and get some euro gear but not for $50 for a pair of shorts. Maybe some other day. We didn't do much else. We had a wonderful Italian dinner at a really neat restaurant. All the restaurant set up tables in the street. I had the lasagna, which was delicious and Jill had a seafood pasta dish. Her plate was FULL of shrimp and mussels. They didn't mind pilling on the seafood, which we weren't used to. Our server/owner (probably) was really nice and funny. He brought out a paper with the English version of his menu. Very accommodating.
The next day we weren't sure what to do so we walked to the tourism building and found out about a tour of three small villages outside of Aix. It included a wine tasting with wines from the villages we were going to visit. We were totally game. Turned out Jill and I were the only ones who signed up for it for it turned out to be a private tour. Our driver was named Venance, I think. He spoke some English but we couldn't understand him. The villages were stunning! The area was named Tuberon, which was the mountain there. The three villages were Bonnieux, Saignon and Ansouis. They were all great. It was a hot day. 34C. That's about 94F. It didn't bother us. We would eat gelato or drink a beer to cool us off. Visiting Aix was totally worth the hassle getting there. I would definitely come back.
We went to Montpellier the next day. We were only going to be here for about six hours or so. Our flight was at 9:30PM. Montpellier was a cool city. Again, very pretty but all there is to do is eat, drink and shop. We just walk around a bit and sat at the park to write in my journal and Jill read her book. The women in south France are very attractive. Maybe I just like the European look.
I decided to go back to Hereford with Jill. Berlin was my next stop and it was cheaper for me to fly into Birmingham and then fly out of Bristol than to fly directly into Berlin from Montpellier. It was nice to be able to do laundry and just chill, too. Back with my roommates, Jill and Sean!
Berlin for five days! I really liked Berlin. My first day I got in around 4:30PM. I settled in and asked the hostel employee where a good place to hear live music was. He recommended a bar call White Trash. It was quite a walk. I didn't mind. It's the best way to see a new city. I got to the bar and waited for the band to come on. While sitting there, these two guys from Denmark chatted with me. Their names were Daniel and Lassie. Very nice guys. They bought me a couple of drinks and talked about politics in a very civil way. We saw eye to eye on a lot of the same things. They even offered to let me stay with them if I went to Copenhagen. The band was a rockabilly band. They were really entertaining. The guitarist looked like Jack Black. It was uncanny the similarity.
I walked back to the hostel and bought a Doner Kebab. These kebab vendors are everywhere in Europe. It is a tasty treat. When I got back, I grabbed my iPad and did some research in the lobby. No Internet in the rooms. While I was sitting there, a young Irish lad sat down at my table and asked me if he could join. I told him, of course and we talked for hours. We were drinking beers and talking and he said he worked at the hostel. The other guy working at the hostel, Karl, was chatting with us too. The sun started to come up and I was helping the guys clean up the place and the whacked out manager lady who was probably on drugs wasn't happy that I was helping. She is not a nice person. Definitely on drugs. So I went to bed around 6:30AM. Crazy and fun first day in Berlin.
The next morning I woke up at 10:00AM, somehow and met my other roommates. There was Jackie and Dan, from Chicago. They were actually on their way out of Berlin and going to Spain. Max is from Oakland. Super cool guy. Shai, he was from Israel. He slept a lot. Didn't get to know him very well. Finally, Stefan. He was a 46-year-old German man who is living in Paris. He was going to show Max what train to get on to go to Pottsdam which is right outside Berlin. I told them I would join. Stefan decided to join as well. It was nice having someone who speaks German help out. Pottsdam was neat. There were castles there and really neat buildings. We did a lot of walking. I was starting to wear down from the lack of sleep and lack of eating. We made our way back to Berlin around 5:00PM.
I wasn't ever able to make it to a famous nightclub since I was there in the middle of the week and the one suggested is only open on the weekends. Instead, I went to some museums. There is an area called museum island. Max and I did do the museum tour. Somehow we got four museums in in six hours. I did go to the Jewish history museum, which was great. It was the most interactive museum I have ever been in. The architecture of the building was very neat. After the museum, I was walking back to hostel and remembered that Obama was in town. I walked to area that he was going to be at and the roads were blocked off for blocks. A lot of people did gather to see if they could see him. It was interesting to see some strong Obama supporters with they red, white and blue on and signs and there were some non-Obama supporters. There was some discussions going on between people in German so I was able to understand what was said. I waited for an hour but it was hot and we were too far away to see him.
Last day in Berlin was chill. I had a curry wurst. It was actually very tasty. Everyone kept talking about them so I had to try one. I wasn't disappointed. Hung out with some hostel mates at night. Had some beers and just chatted. I guess Budweiser is originally a Czech beer. They had the original one there so I had to try it. I did taste better than the Bud in America. Maybe it's because I'm in a foreign country and traveling and everything tastes better. Later in the evening, James (a kiwi I met) and I met some people by the river to drink and talk. We stayed out until 2:00am and I had to wake up at 5:30am. It was fun, though. People were dancing and having a great time. James is a cool dude. I have met so many cool people on this trip.
I woke up for my bus to Prague to meet Bianca. Stefan helped me find a cheap bus. It was only around $28. I was given multiple ways to get to the bus station and I had to choose one. Stefan was quite pushy but very helpful. I told him a way I was thinking of going and he said I would get lost. I didn't. Made the bus and slept the whole way. It wasn't the best bus but it was only a six hour ride. There was no bathroom on the bus so we made a pit stop three hours in and I didn't really have to go but thought it would be good to go. We stopped at a shopping plaza and the driver said we only had 10 minutes. I had a hard time finding the restroom. It was in the parking lot below the plaza. There was a line. I kept looking at the time and I was cutting it close. Some guy was taking forever. I only had two minutes and I didn't want to miss the bus so I said screw it and just headed back to the bus without going to the bathroom. I was a tad nervous I would really have to go once we got on the road again. I dozed in and out of sleep and we arrive in Prague.
I got in around 12:00pm. Bianca was arriving at around 11:00am. I had a map of the city already and decided to walk to the hostel. It was muggy and hot! The walk took me almost an hour and I was melting walking around with my pack. I finally get to the place and my face is beat red. I find Bianca and they said we couldn't check in for another hour. We decided to walk to get money and a bite to eat. We couldn't find an ATM easily. We finally found one and saw a cool restaurant nearby. We sat and ate a really good meal of meat and potatoes. It is really cheap in Prague. Our meal for two lunches and two beers was a little over $10. Beer is a little over a dollar here. Craziness!
After checking in, Bianca and I clean up and take a quick nap. Bianca had been up for over 20 hours. We walk downstairs to have a drink at the bar there at the hostel. When we were about to leave to walk around, a girl was in the lobby asking us if we were doing the pub crawl. We weren't really thinking of it but she convinced us. Whimsically, we joined about six others from our hostel. Some guys from the UK, a guy from Australia and some girls from Ireland. Everyone was super friendly. The first bar was all you can drink for the first hour. We got to meet some more people. We met some Americans and some Canadians who were cool as well. We went to a vodka bar and a dance club. Some of the bars were like dungeons. they all were really cool. It was about 3:00am and we lost most of the people we came with. Mark, the Aussie from our hostel saw us and we decided to take a taxi. We ended up getting ripped off. He charged us twice what he was supposed to. Not cool. I don't know Bianca pulled it off. She was up for close to 40 hours! Trooper!
Bianca and I walked a lot the next day. We were a ways away from the city center but didn't mind the walk. We walked across the famous Charles bridge and to the castle on the hill. The city is very beautiful. We ducked into some cafes along the walk and had mojitos. We walked to the John Lennon wall that was recommended and we weren't that impressed. I guess the graffiti has changed some since the original Lennon mural. I saw some street vendors selling food and saw a big wok with some pork, potatoes and sauerkraut mixture. The price listed was cheap so I asked the lady for one. Little did I know that it was the price by ounce or something. I thought it was going to be $2 and it was $10! I got swindled! Actually, I guess it was my fault for not knowing how it worked. After a good day of walking, we headed back to the hostel. We freshened up and walked to one of the pubs nearby. It was all locals. We sat and talked. We headed back to the hostel and saw Andreas. He was one of the guys from England we met on the pub crawl. He was just getting back from the bars and we asked if he wanted to have a drink at a different pub directly across from the hostel. We sat and talked with him for a while. He is a very nice guy. We talked until 3:00am. Another long day. Very fun, though.
The next day we met up with a friend of a friend who is living just outside Prague and working as an au pair. Her name was Nadia. We met at a shopping mall. Bianca and Nadia wanted to shop for a bit. After shopping, we went to a recommended Czech restaurant. It was very good food. I had the goulash. We walked around The old town center and saw the astronomical clock. There were a lot of people walking around. We went into the Hemingway bar and had a mojito. I guess mojitos are big here, aside from the cheap beer, of course. After walking around the city, we said by to Nadia. She was really nice and gave some advice for our travels. We stayed in tonight. We had to get an early bus for Budapest. Another cheap bus ride. Less than $50 for both of us.
It was a seven hour ride. We would stop for bathroom breaks but all the bathrooms, or WCs, cost money to use. Very annoying. We stopped in Slovakia to use the bathroom and Bianca needed to go. We didn't have any local currency so Bianca gave the lady attendant some coins of a mixture between koruns and forint. She was not happy but let Bianca use the bathroom. We slept most of the way.
Got into Budapest around 2:00pm. We really weren't sure how to get to our place. We asked a taxi but he was asking too much. We went inside the bus station and asked how to get to our place. They recommended the tram. We got on a tram but it was going the wrong way. We eventually made it. The place was nice. Great location. They even gave us a bottle of Hungarian wine on the house. We were hungry so we walked around and found a street fair. Bianca walked along the stands and shopped for souvenirs and I ate this delicious veal burger and sat and people watched. I didn't realize that Budapest is actually two cities - Buda and Pest. They are separated by the Danube. We were staying on the Buda side. On our walk, we saw a tourist office and booked a dinner cruise on the Danube. We had some time to kill before the boat ride so we walked around. It is a wonderful city. I think it might be prettier than Prague. The dinner cruise was great. Pretty good food but the views were outstanding! We met a nice couple from Mexico. We talked to them for a little bit. It was nice to talk Spanish in Hungary. I haven't been able to speak local language in the last three cities. It makes me want to learn more languages very badly.
The next day was a bit rough. The more research we did on how to get to our next destination, Dubrovnik, Croatia, the daunting of a task it seemed to be. Flights directly into Dubrovnik were expensive. It looked like we were going to have to forego a day in Budapest since we would have a full day of travel. We would have to train into Zagreb and then bus it into Dubrovnik. So Bianca and I went to the train station in the morning to buy our train tickets. The station is on the Pest side. After we bought our tickets, we walked to a castle. It rested on top of a a hill and gave gorgeous views of the city. We soaked it up and walked across the Chain Bridge back to the hotel to let them know we would have to cancel our last night there. Since it wasn't 48 hour notice, we would have to pay anyway. I wasn't happy about that. Oh we'll, it was time to go to a bath house and relax. We bought our tram tickets and saw the tram was about to leave so we didn't validate our tickets. We haven't been asked for validation the times we have ridden the tram so we risked it. Bad move. We get to the stop and, of course, they are asking for tickets. I figured since we bought the tickets, we could play like dumb tourists and get away with it. No such luck. The lady tells us we didn't validate and so we had to pay a fine. 8000 forint!!! That's about $35. We tried talking our way out of it but were unsuccessful. There goes my aromatherapy massage at the bath house. The bath house was very cool. It was styled in old baroque design. There were two main pools outside with heated water and inside we're different saunas and jacuzzis. They all had a temperature written on a placard to indicate how hot each one was. It was nice to chill and not stress about travel plans. When we leave, it starts to rain on us. It had been a crazy day. We get back to our place and we go to an area not from our hotel and a part of town we hadn't seen. It was a small street with bars along it. We decide to go into a bar called Szimpla. It was very big, two stories and like six bars inside. There were little rooms scattered throughout. We sat and talked for a while. I look on the floor and I see a 5000 forint bill. Luck is turning for us!!! We had another drink and decided to go home. There was a "taco" shop along the way and Bianca wanted one. She ordered the taco al pastor. She ends up with a burrito with red bell pepper, pineapple and some meat I think was chicken. It was actually pretty good. Funny to see their version of a taco.
That was the end of our days in Budapest. Bianca and I headed to the train station for our trip to Zagreb. The train was none like I have traveled yet. We had a designated cabin. We shared it with a Hungarian man and an older Croatian woman. They were both very friendly the Czech woman spoke no English but that didn't stop her from sharing some dried fruit with everyone. Bianca really liked them and asked what they were and she responded with, "ananas." Since then Bianca was on a quest to find ananas. Unfortunately, that quest proved to be unsuccessful. Definitely not because of lack of effort on Bianca's part. She asked and looked EVERYWHERE for them. She was wanting to take them back for co-workers. Gotta love that about her. She was always thinking of others even on her vacation.
The Hungarian man on the train spoke decent English. He told us he was trying to emigrate to Canada. He wasn't happy with the political status and future of Hungary and Croatia. He owned property in both countries. He said he wanted better for his family and was going to do all he could to get to Canada. I hope he makes it.
Once in Zagreb, we took a local bus to the bus station so we could get on a bus for our 11 hour bus ride to Dubrovnik. We played some cards and drank a little wine and beer at first but we faded early and slept most of the way. I woke up a bit along the way and it was a beautiful ride through some pretty lakes and eventually down the coastline. Dubrovnik is almost at the very bottom of Croatia. We stopped a few times to use the restroom and stretch. At one stop, I was outside enjoying the view and a younger guy asked me where I was from. I told him USA. He then told me we were in Bosnia. I didn't believe him because I thought we were just cruising down the Croatian coastline. Later I found out that Bosnia has a chunk of coast right through Croatia. Look at a map if you don't believe me. We finally get to Dubrovnik and we hadn't had Internet to find out exactly how to get to our accommodations. We asked someone if they knew the place and they said yes but without sleaking English. I asked if we could walk it and he made some facial gestures that suggested it was possible but probably a bit too far. S e taxi driver was hassling us and finally have in. Once in the cab, he gave us a map and said he was second cousins with the guy who's place we were staying at. That's about all the words he had to say before we were at our place. It was the shortest taxi ride ever. It cost us around $8 but I guess it's worth the story. He made sure to take off quickly.
That is all I will post for the moment. There are still plenty to tell about wonderful Croatia. I am currently in Florence, Italy. I leave for Rome tomorrow. I will completely update my stories I. The next couple of days.
One last thing. My travel partner, Bianca, leaves tomorrow and I just want say, "thank you and I love you." We have spent almost every minute of every day together for the last 19 days. I can honestly say that Bianca has provided me with an international experience that I would not have experienced alone. Ciao, Bella! Safe travels home.
I'll post a separate blog with pictures. It is always difficult to post pics from my iPad.
Stay tuned for more stories.
Be well!!
