TravelStream™ news feed for member hels_belles on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/hels_belles en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:13:06 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188770820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188770820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188770820/tpod.html Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:13:06 -0500 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Prague, Czech Republic

This is just gonna be a short one, the pictures speak for themselves!
Well, today was what Prague is all about: the castle and its extensive and awesome grounds! After admiring the castle lit up at night from Charles Bridge I was really looking forward to seeing what it was like up close and personal.
The castle introduction started with a walk up some steep quaint streets, which I loved the look of, even though it was slightly tourist hell. As the road winded on, we were in the grounds of the castle!! The fantastic views over the city were complemented by a classic band playing; quite surreal but fabulous none the less. We managed to time it really well, and got to see the changing of the guards, which was quite funny actually (in my little warped world anyway!).
Time to explore further into the grounds..... we went into the amazing church... pictures speak louder than words on this one I think. I have to mention the hideous stairs to ascend to the roof place of the church: not sure I've ever felt so claustrophobic ever, it was an unpleasant experience to say the least......
Anyways, the castle was awesome, the grounds immense and truly beautiful. If I'd have had more energy I would have loved to explore them more. But it was getting to the end of the 6 weeks, and my energy levels were truly zapped. Next time. I will definately be returning to Prague at some point in the future.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188857280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188857280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188857280/tpod.html Fri, 14 Sep 2007 06:20:31 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

TBC
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188489480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188489480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188489480/tpod.html Fri, 14 Sep 2007 04:57:18 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Prague, Czech Republic

Finally!! The place I had been looking forward to the most of all: Prague. A city I've wanted to visit for so many years, and I was now on my way there, yay! I opted for the early train from Munich, which left at 6.40 and would get me into Prague just before 1pm, thinking I'd rather get up early at get away from Munich. Despite being in the wrong carriage of the train, which thankfully the ticket inspector pointed out, and BO boy sitting next to me for about an hour, nothing could put a lid on my excitement about Prague.
The train pulled into the station, which I have to say for the main train station of a capital city left a lot to be desired. I got a bit lost just trying to get out of the damn place. Then I stepped outside for my first views of Prague..... and saw a load of drunks and scumbags hanging outside the station. Hmmmm. Trying to work out where to head for the hostel whilst simultaneously walking and eating some fruit bread I took a comedy tumble straight onto my knee... not sure what happened but the knee bore the brunt of it, and needless to say it hurt a bit, but I'm sure it must have looked hilarious. I managed to get my bearings ok and headed off in the direction of Wenceslas Sq, where my hostel was close to. I thought I'd misjudged things until bam, the road curved around and I saw King Wenceslas' statue and a heap of tourists, this was defo the right place. I found my hostel no problem, and it was nice and small, fantastic after the hideousness of the hostel in Munich.
I chilled out with a green tea and had a look at a map of the city to decide where to go... no firm plans made I thought it would be best just to head out and see where the tide took me. It wasn't too hard to work out which way to go to get to the main square in this part of town (Staromestske Namesti Square), I just followed the rest of the tourists. And the square itself was heaving with them. But they still couldn't detract from the fabulous buildings: the twin spired Tyn Church, the old Town Hall with its astronomical clock, and a whole load of other beauties. I took a wander in the general direction of Charles Bridge to see what the craic was around there, unfortunately though it seemed almost every shop was full of tourist tack and the streets were rammed with tour groups. Charles Bridge is actually called Karluv Most, and was full of tourists, and a few guys dressed up as sailors, bizarrely, I had to hide my laughter as I walked past them. Anyways, I headed down the bridge towards Mala Strana, the part of town across the river that houses the castle and other beauties. I got some fantastic views of the castle from the bridge, it looked great. Dodging the dodgy 'artists' on the bridge, I got across and wandered zombie like for a short while before realising I was seriously tired and hungry to boot. It was time to head back to the hostel, stopping via Tesco's to feel like a sell-out again by buying their scran.
Even though I had been tired and the ridiculous amount of tourists had irritated me more than slightly, I had still enjoyed taking in my first sights of Prague and was looking forward to checking out loads more over the next few days.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188684360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188684360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188684360/tpod.html Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:31:29 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

Will update ASAP
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188352380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188352380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188352380/tpod.html Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:33:50 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Munich, Germany

I don't understand why we call places different names to what they are called in their own country, like we call Firenze Florence, the area in Germany that they call Bayern we call Bavaria, and we call Munchen Munich..... Anyways, the latter city is where I was off to today, away from Salzburg where I should have just made an overnight stay instead of 2 days, I ran out of things to entertain me and ended up sitting on a bench looking at the city and doing Su Duko, getting hit on by a strange old man..... The train journey to Munich was fine, and I amused myself by watching people try to close the automatic door between the carriages, small things for small minds eh, although it was quite funny. The train passed through lots of pretty looking villages with lovely alpine houses, all wood and lots of colourful flowers. At the local train stations I managed to get a good look at more than a few women in traditional Bavarian dresses. I hadn't actually realised that people dressed that way still, they looked like beer wenches you'd see at a stereotypical German bar.
Luckily my hostel was very easy to find, so I headed off to the main drag, armed with my map of the city. Today was a painful for the left foot so I had to cut short my explore around. My first impressions of Munich were ok, it seemed like a very busy bustling city in which I had loads more to explore.
I managed to learn some interesting facts about Munich whilst I was holed up in my hostel room recuperating: the city name actually means 'City of Monks', and is where Hitler based himself along with other right-wing nutcases, so it was in effect the birthplace of the Nazi party. You can actually go on a Third Reich tour to discover the 'fascinating darker side of Munich's past'. Another trip is to the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, which was built in 1933, and housed over 200,000 prisoners from various countries. I spoke to an Aussie girl at the hostel who had been there, she said it was just as haunting as you would expect.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188147840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188147840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188147840/tpod.html Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:21:59 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Salzburg, Austria

Today I was heading west through Austria onto Salzburg, famous for 2 things: the Sound of Music and Mozart. Not really being a fan of either I was hoping that the city would have more to offer than just those, I had heard it was a pretty place. So after a 3 hour journey costing €45, much more than I had paid elsewhere for a train ticket, I arrived in. Trying to follow the dirge directions that the hostel had given me made a 15 minute walk turn into a 40 minute trek. I think the hostel I'd booked into is one of the worst I'd ever stayed in, even beating the weird creepy one in the South Island of NZ, and the awful bed-bug ridden one in NY. This hostel used to be a hotel but is now actually a student accommodation place during term time, which they turn into a hostel in the summer.... they basically have done a really poor job of it, and I was less than pleased at having to stay here for 2 nights. I think the kitchen must have had 3 forks, 2 knives and maybe a spoon. Only one plate though. Oh, and being utter cheapskates there is only one key per 4 bed dorm, completely ridiculous.
So I headed out to get away from the place, walking down the riverside towards the old city area, which certainly looked pretty with the mountains and the fortress as a backdrop. Markets run on a Sunday alongside the river so I took these in as I walked past, noticing a wisened old man with lots of teeth missing selling anti-ageing and other health remedies. Hardly the best advert for his wares. There were also a few food stands selling the huge brezels which are popular over here; these tempted me for a second until I realised that they were just stodge city. I fought through the mass of tourists, mean age 75 years, and into the town itself. This place seems to have rather a large concentration of expensive shops selling disgusting clothes at ridiculous prices. Must be why all the old people like it so much.
After a good wander through the throngs of people, I found a square with a fountain and some horse drawn carriages, the horses giving me that horse-stare and stamping their feet. The feeling is mutual, horses. Giving the plentiful tacky souvenirs a wide berth, I headed to see what the craic was with the fortress... €10, what the???! No ta.
Instead I walked up as far as the other ticket gate up the hill, had a look over the city from the vantage point and took a few piccies, then headed back down. I wasn't really in the mood for traipsing around loads of sights, so I obviously headed for the Christmas shop. The pain in my foot must have been altering my brain as I was this close to almost buying a few things... Thankfully I came to my senses when I almost broke a load of baubles.
It was defo time to get out of the tourist trap and back to the skanky hostel.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188068520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188068520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1188068520/tpod.html Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:57:22 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Vienna, Austria

Another lovely sunny day, so I headed off to the Schloss Schronbrunn which is a 1440 room palace complete with gardens and even a maze. The sun was really beating down so I thought I'd just take a walk through the gardens rather than go into the maze, especially as if I got lost I could get quite annoyed.... The gardens were really pretty, and I could even manage to get the scent from the roses, a rare occasion for my crap sense of smell.
Dosing myself up with Ibuprofen for my still sore foot I took a good walk around the gardens and then headed back into the city to check out what the craic was around the main squares as I hadn't seen these the previous day. I got off the metro at Stephensplatz and walked into the melee, immediately spying an H and M... but being well trained now in the art of trying not to spend any money I gave it a wide berth. Instead, I had a peek at the cathedral, which is still under construction. Being a Saturday the area was heaving with both tourists and locals, so I made a quick exit back onto the metro to find somewhere a bit more relaxing where I could read my book in the sun. I opted for the park near the city hall, a great choice! After a good read and sunbathe there was one more place I wanted to check out - the old Hofburg Palace area. It truely is impressive, I was really in awe of the size and splendour. The complex now houses a whole host of things, including museums and the Spanish Riding school. Around the gardens in the complex are more chairs and benches than I think I have ever seen in a park before, it's great, people were just sat relaxing in the sun and enjoying the weather.
I had really enjoyed Vienna, having come here with no real expectations it had been a great surprise that it is now actually one of my favourite cities I'd been to.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187980920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187980920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187980920/tpod.html Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:08:20 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Vienna, Austria

Off to Austria today, famous for Arnie, Hitler and Weiner schnitzels. Luckily my hostel in Bratislava was only a quick walk away from the train station, so I was out and off to Vienna by 11am, heading out of the old communist countries and over to right-wing Austria. The train journey only took about 1 and a half hours, and the biggest thing that struck me was just how many wind turbines there were in Austria, well in the part of the country the train took me through anyways. From my Lonely Planet guide I thought I'd sussed where to go, so off I headed, but the strutting map was wrong so I ended up walking in completely the wrong direction for about half a hour, and eventually found the hostel, which was actually only 5 minutes from the train station, grrrr (foot report - better than in Bratislava). I actually bumped into Danny the American dude again in the hostel, Wombats. The hostel is quite a big one, but didn't feel impersonal or irritating, well that is apart from the people who are travelling..... I have a pet hate now, in hearing people's stories about where they have been, when they say "yeah, I've done (insert country name)".... what the hell do they mean they've done it??? Have they seen each and every square inch? What's wrong with saying that you've been to somewhere, rather than 'done' it???? Idiots.
Anyway, we hopped on the metro system, which happens to be very well labelled unlike Budapest, and into the main part of town. We took the tip from the guides and jumped on tram 2, which goes on a loop around the centre, very good idea actually as it takes you past a lot of the impressive buildings and sights and gives you a good orientation of what is where in the city. My impressions of Vienna at this point were very favourable: it is super clean, seems very easy to get around with the metro and tram system, and has some truely magnificent buildings and statues. I liked it a lot more than I had expected I would. After taking a loop around, we hopped off near the city hall spying something going down, which was the Film Festival, which has actually been running all through the summer, and basically just seems to be a re-screening of some classic operas and musicals. There were also a variety of exceedingly tasty food stands around the place, where Danny annoyingly bought what looked like a really tasty tortilla wrap, and I could only watch on as he enjoyed it: the food was actually quite expensive and not in my meagre budget, dammit.
Anyway, after watching Danny scoff the lot we headed off towards Museumquartier, where, yep, you guessed it, a lot of the museums are located. The buildings around this part of town are so immense, I couldn't even fit them into one shot on my camera. Vienna is a great place to just wander around in the summer, taking in the buildings and parks on offer. So that's what I did for the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening as the weather was just perfect. A great day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187623560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187623560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187623560/tpod.html Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:05:58 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Budapest, Hungary

A nice sunny day greeted me in the morning, so after a shower and some scran we headed out, planning on catching some of the air show around the Danube, and taking some sights in along the way, then seeing St Stephens hand parade, and finally winding the day up with the fireworks that were due to go off at 9pm. A busy day in store eh!!
People had already begun to line the Danube to get a good view over the river where the air races were being held, so it was all a little manic really. We caught a bit of some helicopter doing some tricks, and then some little planes doing their own tricks, then took in the parliament building, which apparently was built in the image of the Houses of Parliament. Obviously with so many potential photo opportunities my camera battery decided it wasn't playing, and proceeded to die. Argh.
The chain bridge across the Danube was roped off, so we took a walk down to the next one so we could head over to Buda (or Buddha as I kept calling it). After fighting my way through lots of big burly Hungarians, we were there. I got a good chance that day to check out the Hungarian people.... they are not the most attractive people in the world, and the stodgy fatty food doesn't do good things for their figures either.
We tried to get up to the Palace on Castle Hill, but there was some folk festival on with a rather expensive entrance fee to get in, so we just had a peer over the wall. After a walk along the Danube in the opposite direction to what I didn't realise was the only open bridge of the main ones, we had to walk all the way back....... cue walking for another hour through crowds of people..... By this time it was gone 4pm, and I was keen on checking out what would be happening with the Holy Right. Arriving at the Basilica, there were loads of people already gathered, with some sat in special seats outside the church. Due to the ridiculous amount of security guards it was difficult to really get close enough to see what was going on. After listening to the priest for a bit, the heavens well and truely opened and the rain lashed down, which put an end to the ceremony for me, with no shelter from the torrential rain to be had anywhere in the Basilica vicinity. Shame.
The fireworks in the evening were amazing, and drew big crowds all along the Danube. It had been a busy day for sure, and I reckon I must have clocked up at least 5 hours of walking, so when my head hit the pillow, I was fast asleep in literally seconds.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187894100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187894100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hels_belles/europe-summer07/1187894100/tpod.html Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:57:19 -0400 A 5 week jaunt around some of the best sights that Europe has to offer

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Bratislava, Slovakia

After having a good read of my Lonely Planet's one paragraph that it gives to Bratislava's 'sights' and the tourist guide I'd picked up the day before I had about 4 places I wanted to visit today. To be honest, outside of the old town there isn't too much to see in this city. Which is quite fortunate, as my foot was still sore (yes, I am going to mention my foot news in each one of these updates now, sorry!!).
Being in no particular rush, I headed out just before midday, and took a wander through the old down, passing the Cathedral, having a look up at the castle, then seeing St Michael's gate and taking a quick look at the UFO bridge, so called because it looks like a UFO. Surprising that eh. To build the bridge they had to knock down a heap of old buildings, and also the old Jewish synagogue, what the strut??!
Bratislava does have a lot of pavement cafes and bars, so if you like people watching then this would be a good place for you.
In hindsight, I should probably only have stayed here for one night, there just wasn't enough to occupy me for 2 whole days. But there was a good park there, which is always a bonus.
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