TravelStream™ news feed for member canadianaccent on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/canadianaccent en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:04:47 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188469560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188469560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188469560/tpod.html Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:04:47 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Budapest, Hungary

Budapest was my next stop on what lately has turned out to be a tour of mainly large cities. While Vienna was pretty chill, Budapest is not and I find myself looking forward to getting to the countryside again. I think I just miss the mountains.

The hostel I'm at is called The Loft, and it is just that: It's a big apartment suite, really. Homey and cozy. A good way to offset the hustle and bustle of the city. I was given my city info by this tall hairy dude from Oz named Phil. He was also on a long trek through Europe and managed to snag some work at the hostel for a short while. He's a good guy...we ended up going to great (and surprisingly cheap) steak dinner at a place near the hostel.

My stalkers Fred and Nikki arrived at the hostel not long after I did, as did several other people. Everyone seemed a little tired from traveling and no one had much energy to go out and party, so we just grabbed some beers from the market and stayed in. After watching several episodes of Scrubs I decided to put on a movie. Among the collection I was elated to discover they had The Big Lebowski, one of the best movies ever. Only Freddy had seen it before so I was doubly excited to introduce the Dude to a whole new group of people. I was just so happy.

After a late start, I headed out to walk the city. The weather had turned a bit sour, but it wasn't too bad. Even so, I finally broke down and bought an umbrella.

I started on the Buda side of the Danube, and headed up to the top of this hill where a good view of the city was promised me. Of course, my stalkers were up there waiting for me. Imagine my surprise.

After snapping some shots and playing with the artillery, I headed down to the Royal Palace, once the main castle. One I found it I toured the Budapest city museum, and hodge-podge collection of the city's long history. There wasn't much in English and the audioguide didn't work so I was left a little wanting. Oh well, they can't all be great.

Crossing the famous White Bridge I headed back to Pest and just wandered the main areas for a while. Much of Budapest is newer than I expected, but still hangs on to a bit of that poor eastern bloc reputation. Before long that'll be entirely gone, as the gates of western culture have been opened wide. I foresee a McDonald's and Star bucks on every corner before long.

That evening I went with my stalkers and a Kiwi named Scott to a club which was promised to be full of Hungarians. It was, and was pretty cool. It was one of the few bars that actually isn't so loud you can't hear yourself talk. And I got to be part of another stagette party, which is always fun :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189186140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189186140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189186140/tpod.html Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:44:13 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Rome, Italy

Over the past five days I've seen a ton of stuff, but the more I've seen in this city the more I've found that there are even more cool things to do. I could come back for another 6 days and not repeat anything, that's how much there is to do here. So long as you don't get run over.

Ramona had to leave to go back to her family in Germany so I was on my own again. She was a ton of fun to hang with for the past 3 days and I feel very fortunate to have met her. Luckily she doesn't live too far away so I'll have another person to visit when I next hit the left coast.

The rest of today was devoted to seeing the rest of the Michaelangelo and Bernini sculptures that I'd missed thus far. Heading from church to church seems like it would get old really quick, but each is beautiful in its own right so it never did.

I also found that it is possible to get a truly disgusting pizza in Rome. I'm sure it's rare, but believe me it's there.

I had the good fortune to have one more meal with my flatmates, who I didn't really get to see much of this week. Even so, I am immensely grateful for letting me share their home with them.

Tomorrow, I'm headed back northward...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189097040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189097040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189097040/tpod.html Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:28:38 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Rome, Italy

Again, Ramona and I attempted to meet each other to see more of the city. She was to visit the Coliseum and I was going to sleep in and meet her for lunch. But this time it was her turn to mess up (ha ha!). She got the meeting place wrong so it took nearly an hour to find each other. Hey, if all went smoothly we'd have no stories to tell.

We took a quick stroll through the Forum, which isn't nearly as impressive from the ground level as it was from the hill above. Strange.

Next was a church called the Basilica of San Clemente, which is a small baroque church built on top of an early medieval church, which was built on top of a series of Roman buildings. They had excavated all of it and we were able to take a tour through all three levels. The labyrinth was musty and dank, but we both were really struck by the age of the stone rooms we were walking through. It wasn't too hard to imagine toga clad Romans walking those same hallways 2000 years ago.

We then headed back to St. Peter's Cathedral. It had started to rain, pretty hard actually, so the line-ups that had been hundreds of people long all week were suddenly gone.

Like the Vatican museum, St. Peter's is huge, famous, and doesn't disappoint. It's full of amazing sculpture (Michaelangelo and Bernini for starters) and just seemingly endless naves and side alters. We were lucky enough to catch the end of a service, complete with the organ music and singing and everything. We headed up and climbed the cupola, but sadly the very top level of the dome (the one that overlooks the city) was closed for whatever reason. Just another reason to come back, I suppose.

In spite of the overwhelming size, because it's more vast than overly ornate I found the church to feel quite calm and welcoming. Many of the churches I've visited are scary and intimidating so it was quite a refreshing surprise. Except for the doors...they were designed to terrify.

One thing the Basilica needs is a guide to explain exactly what you are looking at. I'm sure they are available from the street vendors, but they should be supplied inside the church.

As we were walking out of the square and heading to find some dinner, one of the funniest things happened. A guy, about 50 or so, came out of the doorway of some random shop riding a Segway. The look on Mona's face was one of the most priceless I've ever seen in my life. A three headed poodle with pasta for fur and a balloon tail wouldn't have elicited a greater look of intense shock and confusion. If only I could have taken a picture of her reaction...I could've made some money.

The Trestevere area of Rome is the trendy half tourist half local neighborhood, famous for,well, just the atmosphere I guess. For those of us North Americans who imagine what a traditional Italian might look like, Trestevere would probably be it. Great food in little restaurants, street music, people shout-talking in the piazzas, and gigantic gelatos.

Oh yea, and the wine was pretty good too.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189018140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189018140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1189018140/tpod.html Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:40:08 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Rome, Italy

What a difference a couple of days makes.

If you recall, loyal readers, on Monday I walked by the Vatican museum only to see so many people lined up they could have populated a small country. Even with that thought fresh in my mind Ramona and I decided to attempt to gain entry into the museum, since it is one of the "must do" things here in Rome.

Walking along the wall the surrounds Vatican City we encountered no line. The closer and closer we got to the entrance my astonishment grew and grew. "Where the hell is everyone?" I was thinking. In fact, we didn't get to a line up until we were already in the building, waiting to pass through the metal detectors. Shock doesn't even begin to explain it.

The moral of this story is, visit the Vatican on Wednesday.

This museum is huge. If it's smaller than the Louvre, it's marginal. It differs from the French museum in that most of the sculpture is from antiquity, and the most impressive painting are the frescos. And the tapestries too, but awesome in totally different way. Hallway after hallway and room after room the frescos stretch from the floor to the ceiling and cover nearly every visible bit of wall space. Each room is another masterpiece, most notably by Raphael. Every wall and ceiling tells a story and each is so detailed it would take days to go through and full appreciate every one. The other main difference from the Louvre, important to me at least, is the audioguide is extensive and very detailed.

A couple of things I've learned about myself after visiting so many museums are a) I like them more than I thought I would, and 2) I like to linger. One of the good things about traveling by myself is I can take as much time as I like, whenever I like. I was very happy to learn that even though I was taking my time getting through this museum, Mona was taking even longer. It was great to not feel rushed in such a place. She was turning out to be a great travel partner.

After going through room after room of mind-blowing art, we started remarking to each other how overwhelming this whole place was. I mean there is just so much great stuff to see.

Then we hit the Sistine Chapel. I'm here to tell you folks, it lives up to the hype. It was crowded, predictably, but because it had been restored a few years ago and the audioguide was so good it didn't matter. It was great to just sit down and be awed. Our brains actually hurt walking out of the place, there was so much to absorb.

The only real downside to the museum is that the hours are so short for such a large place. We'd been in there for close to 5 hours and with only 30 minutes left we still hadn't seen the painting gallery yet. Luckily it is fairly small and we were able to run through it fairly quickly.

I may have mentioned it before, but it deserves repeating. One of the things that I decided to leave at home was my cell phone, thinking it would be too expensive to use. For some reason I forgot the that text messages are dirt cheap, and I've learned how invaluable having that kind of communication can be when trying to hook up with people.

Ramona and I decided to split up for a while, she to visit the Pantheon (which I had seen already), and me to go back to the apartment to change and drop off my dead camera. We planned to meet later at the Trevi fountain. To get back to the apartment I had to take the metro then change to a regional suburban train. Somehow I ended up on an express train that bypassed my stop and took me so far out of the city there weren't even houses anymore. Luckily the return train made all the stops it should have, but it took me nearly 45min longer than it should have to get back into the city. Poor Ramona was waiting at the fountain thinking I'd ditched her, even if she won't admit it. Having my cell to send a quick text would have relieved a lot of anxiety.

Our evening was spent looking at, and Mona eventually buying, some very impressive paintings being sold by local artists. I'm proud to say that I was an integral part of the search and decision process. Most impressive was watching the doe-eyed Mona talk down the vendor to half his starting price. It was the second time that day she had received the student discount (the guy at the Vatican museum forced, literally forced, her to only pay the student rate. The girl has aged well.)

Dinner was in the charming but touristy Campo del Fiori district. Our waiter was a guy who could have just stepped out of a Brooklyn fight club (we called him Tony). He told us that the past few days were easily the coldest all summer. The days were hot, but he was right; the evenings were quite chilly. The food was OK, but the street vendors were brutally annoying. Every 5 minutes another one was at the table selling flowers or photos. It is one of the excruciating realities of Italy.

A very long but very good day, made possible by great company.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188906240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188906240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188906240/tpod.html Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:06:05 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Rome, Italy

Rome has a great many things to see and do, only equal to Paris in that respect. One of the places I was most looking forward to was the Borghese Gallery, a private art collection of one of Rome's great families. Having developed quite an appreciation for European art on this trip, as well as some knowledge, I was excited.

One of the differences between this gallery and every other is that you have to reserve a specific entrance time, and you have a maximum of 2 hours to see everything. After your time is up they kick your ass out (no kidding). Although a bit rushed, the advantage is that the place is never really crowded. If anyone is wondering if it's worth it, the answer is yes. The sculptures by Bernini and Canova alone are worth the entry fee.

I'm an observant person by nature, and being a single guy I'll nearly always take notice of the women around me. One feature of European women that is hard to miss is how very few attractive women actually smile. Most just hide behind their gigantic sunglasses and frown their way from place to place. This has been especially true in Rome. Whether it's just the fashion or some time-saving creep-repelling defense mechanism really is irrelevant; my point is it's become quite noticeable.

The Borghese gallery consists of several small rooms that are meant to be visited in order. Due to that you'll usually see the same people in each room as you go through. There was this tall, attractive dark haired woman, alone, that I kept crossing paths with inside the gallery. As usual she had a scowl on her face, but I did notice that she spoke English (the audioguide gave it away). Over the course of the visit we exchanged some small talk, but not much else as we were both focused on the art on the walls. But I was thinking, "Here we go again, another woman thinking she's too good to talk to anyone." It's a common thought among the guys I've talked to on this trip, believe me.

After leaving the museum again we started chatting, and before long it was clear that my first impressions were totally wrong about this woman. Her name is Ramona, she lives near Vancouver (Burnaby), and is bookending her week in Rome by visiting family in Germany. The cause for her unhappy look earlier was due to the fact that she had to run halfway across the city to make it to the gallery on time. As we walked and chatted over the next little while I figured that hanging out with her would be much more interesting than seeing the city alone, so we became travel buddies for the rest of the day, and then the following few days. It turns out that this girl with the scowl is one of the sweetest, most honestly friendly people you would ever want to meet.

After checking out a few shops and visiting a few churches, Ramona had the brilliant idea of getting tickets to see Julius Cesare, playing at the Shakespeare theater back in the Villa Borghese. Since I had missed seeing the Shakespeare festival back home this year I was really excited. The fact that it was all in Italian made very little difference. But getting there was half the fun. Earlier we checked out the Capitoline museum (highly underrated, IMO), and realized that we had less time to get to the theater than we hoped. We decided that the bus would save us some time, but it immediately started taking us in the totally wrong direction. By the time we noticed this we were much further away than when we started, but closer to the metro station. A few stops later, and about 10 minutes of running through the park, we got there, huffing, puffing and sweating amongst a crowd of very well dressed young Italians. If there was any way for us to stick out as tourists I don't know what it is.

But the way, the play was great even though we didn't understand a word. The Italian Language is perfect for drama, and the theater is built just like the Globe in London. That, and a couple bottles of wine made it tons 'o fun.

We also found out that even in a huge city like Rome, it is nearly impossible to get something to eat after midnight on a weekday. One of the many charms of Italy, I suppose.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188829260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188829260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188829260/tpod.html Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:53:25 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Rome, Italy

I've seen a few really long line-ups in my day, and I was sure that nothing would beat the one at Versailles. Again, I was wrong.

I had read that one of the worst days to try to visit the Vatican Museum is on a Monday. Now I know why. If I was to guess there were probably 4000 people waiting to get in when I walked by at about 11am. The line snaked all around the city walls and nearly back to the entrance to St. Peter's. Roughly speaking, about 5 blocks long. The best comparison I could come up with was Versailles = the line up for the men's toilet, and the Vatican = the line up for the women's. It was that bad. Most of those people had no chance of getting in the building. But at least they got to wait around all day in the heat.

The Vatican museum is one of the most famous and most popular museums in the world. So what did the Italians do to help deal the hoards of people? They shortened the hours the place is open. You read it right...the hours of business are now shorter! Go figure.
It's Monday, so nearly everything is closed, but I did manage a good sight-seeing day. I took the tour of the Coliseum, which I really liked. Even with my limited imagination I was able to picture what it must have been like 2000 years ago (OK, I'll admit it. My thoughts were just scenes from Gladiator). I strolled past the Spanish Steps, which are just that...a set of stairs. More interesting was the Basilica of Sts. Ambrose and Charles, located just around the corner. It is a stunning baroque church, and was nearly empty. It also helped beat the heat, which was easily over 30 deg.

Also today I saw the area where the Circus Maximus was, now just a big field, and a 2000 year old pyramid. It was not, as was most things from Egypt, looted and brought back to Rome. They actually built it themselves.

Right after this the battery in my camera died and I had forgotten to recharge my replacement. Good luck I still had the rest of the week to snap moore pics.

Rome itself, as far as I can tell, is similar to most big European cities, but with a much more free-for-all attitude. The traffic is much more difficult to deal with as there rarely seems to be any controlled cross-walks. Even the biggest of streets just have the lines painted on the road and you just gotta go and trust you won't get hit. And you wont so long as you don't flinch; walk a straight line and don't slow down.

Everywhere there are tourists (which means nearly everywhere) there will be people trying to sell you useless garbage you don't need or want. People have their head in the clouds and very few people seem to be unaware of their immediate surroundings (if I had a nickle for every time someone cut me off or walked into me...). The public transport is lacking in the city center, save for the very crowded buses. I realized later that there is no metro in much of the city because there is too much history buried underground, and digging tunnels would be impossible. So bring your walking shoes, folks, or get ready to pay €€€ for a cab or spend half your time here trying to figure out the buses (and get very friendly with your neighbors).

That being said, for a big city Rome has a lot of charm and should be a positive experience. It's crazy enough to be entertaining but not so much that it's overwhelming or scary. There also seems to be a never ending supply of things to do and see, as I would discover.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188760500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188760500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188760500/tpod.html Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:39:07 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Rome, Italy

Thankfully, Giuditta was there, as promised. It was good to see her again. She is one of those genuinely friendly people that I've had the good fortune to get to know on this trip.

As we drove from the airport to go get breakfast I realized that in the past 3 and a bit months I've only been in a car twice, including this time. It was a strange feeling, really. I'd gotten so used to public transport that a car feels, well, so foreign.
As we sat eating breakfast a young girl, maybe 7 years old, came up to us with a cup in her hand. Obviously she was looking for a hand out, but it was strange not only cause she was so young but because she came right into the patio area, going from table to table. Giuditta talked with her for a minute (in Italian, so I just sat there blankly) and then they went inside. Apparently Giu had offered to buy her something to eat instead of just giving her the money. Good plan, and a tactic that many others I've come across have used. But the little girl refused! She just wanted the cash.

Later, as we were leaving, the child was on the street hitting up other people when she finally accepted the offer. She walked away with a mighty tasty looking ice cream cone.

After getting back to the apartment I met one of her roommates, a really tall guy called Luca. He was friendly, but admittedly distracted due to his impending move to London for school. She had another roommate but he wasn't around.

I was able to stay at Giuditta's place because she was going to be in London for a wedding. Unfortunately she had to leave that afternoon, so I didn't get to see her for the rest of the the time I was in town. It was a shame, but I was (and still am) very thankful for her hospitality. Before she left she even made some dinner for me and the guys, which was fantastic.

The rest of the afternoon I spent, as usual, walking the city. Starting at the Piazza del Popolo I saw the Pantheon, the Capitol Building, down past the Forum to the Coliseum, over to the Arch of Constantine (where I found out yes, it is possible to pay €4 for a .5l bottle of Fanta), then over to the Church of St. Maria Maggiore.

It was a hot, beautiful day. I'm looking forward to enjoying as many of these as possible before I have to go home.




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188670560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188670560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188670560/tpod.html Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:14:47 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Budapest, Hungary

As I had a very early flight out of Budapest the next morning I had planned to spend the day in town and then spend the night at the airport. It wouldn't be the first time and I'm sure not the last. But when you have to check in at 4 am it usually is the best plan.

After breakfast I said good-bye to my stalker friends, sure that I'd run into them again...probably Florence as, again, we were supposed to be there at the same time. Coincidence? I think not.

I decided to check out both the National Gallery and the National Museum. Both housed OK collections but nothing really fantastic, IMO. I was also hoping to see the inside of the Parliament building, as I heard you could do that, but it was Saturday and no one was home.

I did get to see a couple of interesting goings-on. I was just walking down a street, when I see a group of people crowded next to a burning bus. Closer inspection revealed it was a movie set. Looking at the group, though, it was clear that they were filming a movie dealing with the civil rights movement in the American south. Why they were doing it in Budapest, instead of, say, America, I didn't find out. The director wouldn't talk to me.

Later on I heard this tremendously loud roar coming from several blocks away. It was some kind of bike rally, and there were 1000's of bikes taking over the streets. Cool to see, and very loud, but it fit right in as Budapest is easily the loudest city I've been in so far.

The one thing that I had left to see in Budapest were the mineral baths, a place that everyone said is really worth while. I was going supposed to meet Fanny and Amy and then spend a few hours there, then go and catch my plane. But for some reason I couldn't find my swimsuit. First it was there, now, not. No problem, I'll just pick up another one on the way to the baths.

Only it's Saturday, and every place that doesn't serve food or alcohol closes at 2pm! I walked around for seemingly ever trying to find a place that bucked the trend, but to no avail. I guess I was going to have to bathe in my shorts. Oh well.

But the frustrations just kept piling up. I was supposed to meet the girls at 6, but (as I found out later) we got our meeting points mixed up and missed each other. Then I realized that the baths closed way earlier than I thought they did. So not only did I miss hanging out with some new friends, I didn't even get the steam bath I was so looking forward to. Man, was I pissed.

Luckily I got to the airport OK, and made my flight. As I was sitting on the plane I realized something else. My friend Giuditta, whose place I was staying at in Rome and who was to pick me up from the airport, had my immediate future in her hands. I didn't have a hostel booked in Rome so if for some reason she couldn't be there to pick me up I might not have a place to stay in town for a while.

Realizing that there was nothing I could do about it now, I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188294060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188294060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188294060/tpod.html Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:57:23 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Vienna, Austria

I was feeling better, so I finally made my way to the middle of town to see the sights. The Parliament, City Hall, the Theater, the opera house. I checked out the gothic St Stephen's Cathedral, and the fancy baroque St. Peter's. Then I headed to the Hofburg Palace.

Used by the Hapsburgs, it is now a series of museums. The Ephesus museum has a decent but not jaw-dropping collection of info and artifacts from the ancient Greek city of Ephesus (now in western Turkey). I also really enjoyed the museum of Musical Instruments, it was full of the old, beautiful, wierd and wonderful. A real treat was the Arms and Armour museum. There they had a huge collection of ceremonial and battle used armor. Sadly we weren't able to dress up in it and start smashing each other. That would have been really fun.

But the star attraction was the Treasury. Here they have the vast collection of all the sparkly valuables the Hapsburgs collected over the centuries. It is staggering to consider the value of everything in that building. Hundreds of millions, easy, if you could even put a price on it. If you ever are just passing through Vienna and can only see one thing, the Treasury should not be missed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188120120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188120120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/canadianaccent/europe_2007/1188120120/tpod.html Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:55:28 -0400 The Journey begins here

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Vienna, Austria

I enjoyed Prague, and am looking forward to one day seeing more of the Czech Republic. If someone were to ask me if I had been to the CR I couldn't really say that I had, as I was only in the one city. A country cannot be judged my one city alone, or even one region. Just ask Canadians outside of Ontario what they think of Toronto :)

So I was off to Vienna. The first day and a half wasn't too interesting as I was still recovering from the last 2 days. But onward I go.

Freddy and Nikki are from the London area. They go to school in Sussex. They seem like good people. But they have been following me for some time now. And in Vienna they finally caught up with me.

Weeks ago, I was in Amsterdam. Then they were. Then I was in Berlin. Then they were. In Dresden they not only stayed at the same hostel as me just in the same room with the same weird roommate. Then they pursued me to Prague. Up until then I had managed to stay one step ahead of them, even without knowing it. But now they caught up. After finding all of this out, our conversation went like this:

"You two are weird. Where are you going next?" I ask.
"To Budapest" they answer.
"Interesting. Where are you staying?"
"In a place called The Loft"
"Huh. When are you getting there?" was my question.
"Wednesday afternoon" they replied.

That's right, you guessed it. Those were my plans too. Exactly. They claim it was all a coincidence. I think they are up to something sinister. I now sleep with one eye open. Perhaps they have figured out my true identity...
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