Essentially I am slightly delusional...It is almost 8am in Singapore and I think it much be about 2 or 3am in Cairo. We will basically experience about 36 hour straight of daylight. I attempted to reurn my body to some kind of normal sleeping pattern on the plane leg from Cairo to Singapore...however only managed all of about 2 hours sleep.
At the moment it is still about 2 hours before our plane leaves for Melbourne. Kent is sleeping on some chairs nearour departure gate and I am utilisingthe massive number of free internet terminals at the airport. Thats pretty much the long and the short of it.
We hit home tonight at like 7pm...so I think by then I will pretty much resemble an extra from a zombie movie.
There you go...
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Walking like an Egyptian...(20/09/2008-27/09/2008)
I am over the moon that Hawthorn won the grand final today!!! I'm disappointed that I missed the game though..I love the atmosphere of grand final day in Melbourne. I had to rely on sms' from mum as we drove from Cairo to Alexandria...I guess I'll just have to watch a replay when I get home and get drunk then in commemoration!
I think that that th last time I wrote this blog we were just about to depart from istanbul to Cairo...and I am writing this one as we are about to embark from Cairo, home. Our last nght in istanbul was fantastic, we went out and had a few beers with Tom and Alex from New Zealand and England respectively (whom we had met on the Fez tour), Gabriel from San Francisco (whom I had met at the bar when ordering the first round), and Stacey and her 13-year-old daughter Saaskia from New Zealand (we met them randomly when leaving our hostel to walk across the road to the bar.
After a brief stop-over in Greece we arrived in Cairo at 2am. Im thankful now that I had my VISA in advance and that we had an airport transfer. When we arrived at the hostel it turned out that there was no booking...fortunately they could still afford us a room and we had a massive sleep in for the first time in a week. Our first adventure was to locate teh Go Bus Office (this was the tour company we were booked with). The cab driver appeared to have to ask every thrid person for directions, but we got to the street and his thenext dilemma when theaddress did not seem to help us locate the office. By chance we saw someone in a Go Bus t-shirt and they helped us finally locate teh place. When inside we showed the guy our booking, he was utterly confused and had to call someone else. What was booked did not seem to correspond at all to the dates or days or anything that we were actually in Egypt. Out of nowhere the operations officer for teh company rocked in and after some lengthy discussions knocked together an itinery for us. We were informed that we woudl leave immediately to meet a group, that had already seen the pyramids that morning, at the Egyptian mueseum and after whcih would check out of our hostel and get a train that night to Aswan in southern Egypt. Feeling a bit dazed and confused, we said 'sure, why not?'
The mueseum is extroardinary!!! Its essentially a shitty old building, crammed full of statues, artifacts, mummies and stuff drom insude tombs up to 5000 years old crammed into every corner! Following that we checked out of our hostel, hastily arranging a booking for later int eh week when we woudl return and headed off to reconvene with the group to head to Aswan. Admittedly I had never heard of Aswan prior to this point in my life and the thought of another sleepless night on an overnight train chill me to the bones...but we made do. We arrived in Aswan at midday and checked into a hotel. Then spen the afternoon with a Ian and Julie, a couple we befriended, haggling in the market. We then spent the late afternoon playing cards on the hotel rooftop before heading to dinner with everyone else.
This is when an issue struck...upon walking to dinner I realised that I had left my camera on the rooftop of the hotel. I quickly tould Abdul, the tour leader, and he called the hotel to check. After our shithouse meal at a floating retaurant (whcih even included Kentucky Fried Chicken onteh menu!) I returned to the hotel. The camera hadn't showed up, it wasn't in my room or on the rooftop...fuck!
I kind of had to put the camera aside for a while because we had to get up at 2:45am that morning!!! This was to make a three hour journey into the dessert with a police convoy to visit an amazing temple by a made made lake...wow! The name escapes my sleep deprived mind, but go see it...its awsome!
I spoke to Abdul after returning from the temple, he said essentially that the camera was probably stolen but we couldn't prove naything. he also said that if this was reported in a police statement then it would lead to me being stuck in Egypt til it went through full investigation. so I was taken to the tourist police to make a statment saying that it had gone missing while I was walking around the market. Having already come to terms with losing all my photos once this trip, I simply did it again! Luckily Kent is snap happy and we have essentially been with each other for the past two months, so I am not empty handed.
That night we said good bye to the group, they weren't quite sure what to make of us as we kept leaving and reconnecting wtih them, and headed off to Luxor on our own. essentially the advantage of booking with Go Bus was that we got picked up and taken everywhere...so it was minimal hassle.
We checked into another hotel...we had to get up at 6am for a 7am start to see the sites of the city. We saw teh Karnak Temple, teh Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of Workers...basically it is all amazing stuff! Its hard to comprehend what human being have been capable of or jsut some of the amazing stuff that exists in the world! Thats what I have to say about that!
That night we had a proper sleeper carriage in a train...teh downside was that the train was possible early and we were woken up at 4:30am for breakfast. I haven't previously mentioned that it is currently nearing the end of Ramadam, which has had an unsuspected affect on our trip. We barely noticed a thing in Turkey, except for the drums at 3am to wake people up to eat, but Egypt was very different. As a result of Ramadam most tourist attractions close by 2pm, it is impossible to go out and eat, get a cab or anything between 5-6pm because everyone is breaking fast, and it is hard to get anything to eat during the day...except for American fastfood chains! Enough said. Upon waking at 4:30 for breakfast we arrived at Giza station at 5:30am and were taken to hotel cafe to relax for a couple of hours. We played a couple of furious games of 500 and I furiously drank endless cups of coffee! Then we went to see teh jewell in Egypts monument crown...the Pyramids! They are literallyt jsut on the edge of Cairo where the western desert..and tehy are just absolutely more amazing than I could imagine!!! It is just breathtaking to attempt to comprehend their size. We went inside the second pyramid to the tomb..I really had no idea what this would involve. First we had to walk down 30 odd metres of a shaft which is no more than a meter high. Then it flattens out and its about 1.5metres high, then there is another meter high shaft that is slanted upwards. We eventually reached the centre, it was hot, clautrophobic and hard to comprehend that we were in the middle of the pyramid. WE also saw teh Spinx, but after seeing the pyramids, it really doesn't look spectacular.
We then went to see the Sankkara Pyramid, whcih is the first, proper, well constructed pyramid built in Egypt. From that Pyramid we could see another two pyramids in the distance. I learn that there are in fact 108 pyramids in Egypt! I also learnt that contrary to popular mainstream media, the Pyramids were 100% built by paid workders and not slaves! In the afternoon we jsut tanked! WE spent teh whole eveneing, watching TV, reading and pretty much doing nothing!
Today, as I said we went to Alexandria...a few interesting tombes nad monuments. We saw the former sites of the Alexandria Lighthouse and Library, two of teh former ancient wonders of the world...taking our count on this trip to 4 of the 7. We tried to figure out if we could visit them all, but realised that the hanging gardens of Babylon are in present day Iraq...probably not my next choice of travel destination! Now we are jsut unwinding until we jump on our aeroplane tomorrow for Australia! We leave at 1:30pm, we have a sic hour stop over in Singapore (apparently they have a cinema at the airport!) and then we arrive in Oz on Monday night.
I guess I will probably write some kind of rant about what I have learnt about myself and the world when I get home...but for now here are my immediate reflections...teh world hates vegetarians, beer is cheaper all over teh world than in Australia, I am truly scared of heights, and I amver much infected and feverish form the travel bug...
I think that that th last time I wrote this blog we were just about to depart from istanbul to Cairo...and I am writing this one as we are about to embark from Cairo, home. Our last nght in istanbul was fantastic, we went out and had a few beers with Tom and Alex from New Zealand and England respectively (whom we had met on the Fez tour), Gabriel from San Francisco (whom I had met at the bar when ordering the first round), and Stacey and her 13-year-old daughter Saaskia from New Zealand (we met them randomly when leaving our hostel to walk across the road to the bar.
After a brief stop-over in Greece we arrived in Cairo at 2am. Im thankful now that I had my VISA in advance and that we had an airport transfer. When we arrived at the hostel it turned out that there was no booking...fortunately they could still afford us a room and we had a massive sleep in for the first time in a week. Our first adventure was to locate teh Go Bus Office (this was the tour company we were booked with). The cab driver appeared to have to ask every thrid person for directions, but we got to the street and his thenext dilemma when theaddress did not seem to help us locate the office. By chance we saw someone in a Go Bus t-shirt and they helped us finally locate teh place. When inside we showed the guy our booking, he was utterly confused and had to call someone else. What was booked did not seem to correspond at all to the dates or days or anything that we were actually in Egypt. Out of nowhere the operations officer for teh company rocked in and after some lengthy discussions knocked together an itinery for us. We were informed that we woudl leave immediately to meet a group, that had already seen the pyramids that morning, at the Egyptian mueseum and after whcih would check out of our hostel and get a train that night to Aswan in southern Egypt. Feeling a bit dazed and confused, we said 'sure, why not?'
The mueseum is extroardinary!!! Its essentially a shitty old building, crammed full of statues, artifacts, mummies and stuff drom insude tombs up to 5000 years old crammed into every corner! Following that we checked out of our hostel, hastily arranging a booking for later int eh week when we woudl return and headed off to reconvene with the group to head to Aswan. Admittedly I had never heard of Aswan prior to this point in my life and the thought of another sleepless night on an overnight train chill me to the bones...but we made do. We arrived in Aswan at midday and checked into a hotel. Then spen the afternoon with a Ian and Julie, a couple we befriended, haggling in the market. We then spent the late afternoon playing cards on the hotel rooftop before heading to dinner with everyone else.
This is when an issue struck...upon walking to dinner I realised that I had left my camera on the rooftop of the hotel. I quickly tould Abdul, the tour leader, and he called the hotel to check. After our shithouse meal at a floating retaurant (whcih even included Kentucky Fried Chicken onteh menu!) I returned to the hotel. The camera hadn't showed up, it wasn't in my room or on the rooftop...fuck!
I kind of had to put the camera aside for a while because we had to get up at 2:45am that morning!!! This was to make a three hour journey into the dessert with a police convoy to visit an amazing temple by a made made lake...wow! The name escapes my sleep deprived mind, but go see it...its awsome!
I spoke to Abdul after returning from the temple, he said essentially that the camera was probably stolen but we couldn't prove naything. he also said that if this was reported in a police statement then it would lead to me being stuck in Egypt til it went through full investigation. so I was taken to the tourist police to make a statment saying that it had gone missing while I was walking around the market. Having already come to terms with losing all my photos once this trip, I simply did it again! Luckily Kent is snap happy and we have essentially been with each other for the past two months, so I am not empty handed.
That night we said good bye to the group, they weren't quite sure what to make of us as we kept leaving and reconnecting wtih them, and headed off to Luxor on our own. essentially the advantage of booking with Go Bus was that we got picked up and taken everywhere...so it was minimal hassle.
We checked into another hotel...we had to get up at 6am for a 7am start to see the sites of the city. We saw teh Karnak Temple, teh Luxor Temple, the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of Workers...basically it is all amazing stuff! Its hard to comprehend what human being have been capable of or jsut some of the amazing stuff that exists in the world! Thats what I have to say about that!
That night we had a proper sleeper carriage in a train...teh downside was that the train was possible early and we were woken up at 4:30am for breakfast. I haven't previously mentioned that it is currently nearing the end of Ramadam, which has had an unsuspected affect on our trip. We barely noticed a thing in Turkey, except for the drums at 3am to wake people up to eat, but Egypt was very different. As a result of Ramadam most tourist attractions close by 2pm, it is impossible to go out and eat, get a cab or anything between 5-6pm because everyone is breaking fast, and it is hard to get anything to eat during the day...except for American fastfood chains! Enough said. Upon waking at 4:30 for breakfast we arrived at Giza station at 5:30am and were taken to hotel cafe to relax for a couple of hours. We played a couple of furious games of 500 and I furiously drank endless cups of coffee! Then we went to see teh jewell in Egypts monument crown...the Pyramids! They are literallyt jsut on the edge of Cairo where the western desert..and tehy are just absolutely more amazing than I could imagine!!! It is just breathtaking to attempt to comprehend their size. We went inside the second pyramid to the tomb..I really had no idea what this would involve. First we had to walk down 30 odd metres of a shaft which is no more than a meter high. Then it flattens out and its about 1.5metres high, then there is another meter high shaft that is slanted upwards. We eventually reached the centre, it was hot, clautrophobic and hard to comprehend that we were in the middle of the pyramid. WE also saw teh Spinx, but after seeing the pyramids, it really doesn't look spectacular.
We then went to see the Sankkara Pyramid, whcih is the first, proper, well constructed pyramid built in Egypt. From that Pyramid we could see another two pyramids in the distance. I learn that there are in fact 108 pyramids in Egypt! I also learnt that contrary to popular mainstream media, the Pyramids were 100% built by paid workders and not slaves! In the afternoon we jsut tanked! WE spent teh whole eveneing, watching TV, reading and pretty much doing nothing!
Today, as I said we went to Alexandria...a few interesting tombes nad monuments. We saw the former sites of the Alexandria Lighthouse and Library, two of teh former ancient wonders of the world...taking our count on this trip to 4 of the 7. We tried to figure out if we could visit them all, but realised that the hanging gardens of Babylon are in present day Iraq...probably not my next choice of travel destination! Now we are jsut unwinding until we jump on our aeroplane tomorrow for Australia! We leave at 1:30pm, we have a sic hour stop over in Singapore (apparently they have a cinema at the airport!) and then we arrive in Oz on Monday night.
I guess I will probably write some kind of rant about what I have learnt about myself and the world when I get home...but for now here are my immediate reflections...teh world hates vegetarians, beer is cheaper all over teh world than in Australia, I am truly scared of heights, and I amver much infected and feverish form the travel bug...
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Galipolli. Troy. Pergamon. Kushidasi and last but certaınly not least Ephesus...phew! (17-09-08 tıl 20-09-08)
Well...I am stuffed!!! Kent and I just arrıved ın to Istanbul thıs mornıng after an 11 hour bus trıp back from Kusidası! From the moment we had ıt booked I knew we had to do ıt but I stıull felt the need to whınge about ıt ıt know end! Kent was very optımıstıc, but I dont thınk he realısed how shıttıng overnıght bus rıdes can be on crappy roads! But we made ıt and we are here...we spent the monrıng shoppıng around the Grand Bızarre and stockıng up ıon Souvenırs. Then after luhcn I was able ot watch the second half of the Hawks and Saınts Prelımınary fınal on TV at the hostel! Awesome! Go Hawks for next week...I jsu thope I can watch ıt!
On the 17th Kent and I set off on a tour run by a company called Fez, essentıally coverıng the places I mentıoned ın the headıng. After fıve hours on the fırst day we arrıved at Gallıpoli...I thınk ıt jsut rates as another tıme on thıs trıp where I just dıd not know what to say. It was very powerful toı vısıt the cemetarıes and memorıals around the sıte and also to be able to get some perspectıve on the Turkısh take on teh events. The Gallıpolı campaıgn ıs essentıally held wıth as hıgh regard ın Turkey as ıt ıs ın Australıa. I have to saw I was moved to tears when I was at the fırst cemetary at teh landıng poınt of the ANZAC solıers and agaın when I read the the plaque of Ataturk (father of the Tuekısh natıon and commander at Gallıpolı) about how the Australıan dıggers who dıed could rest ın peace as they were ın a peaceful country...
That nıght we stay ın a small town accross the a body of water (off the top of my head ın a weary state I cannot remember ıts name, but ıt wıll come to me). We had a good nıght playıng cards over a few beers wıth some of the others on the tour. The next mornıng we had to leave by 8am...whcıh was a struggle as we had a late nıght and the prevıous moenıng we had to leave by 7am!!! the fırst thıng we vısıted were the ruıns of the ancıent cıty of Troy. It was amazıng to see how the varıous eras of the cıty were dısıvered and marked out, but the remaıns have not been well preserved and apparently damaged by some German treasure hunters over hundred years ago when ıt was fırst excavated.
We had an amazıng buffet of Turkısh food for lunch and then went to see the ruıns of the ancıetn cıty of Pergamon. They are sooo well preserved and ıt was rıght up on top of a moutaın, so there were also amazıng vıews. The hıstory of the cıty was fascınatıng, they essentıally pıoneered the bankıng ındustry, and mental health treatment, ıncludıng the use of lıthıum, drama and musıc ın thıs treatment. The hıghlıghts were the amputheatre and the varıous columns stıll standıng. It was partıcularly ınterestıng as we had been to the Pergamon mueseum ın Germany where I lot of the ruıns had been removed to, I thınk that although they had been legally purchased at the tıme, ıt ıs quıte a sore poınt today.
That nıght we dısmbarked from teh tour and stayed a hostel ın a town called Kushıdası. They looked after us extrememly well and we had a chance to hang out wıth some people who had been on the Fez tour the prevıous day.
The next day we took a trıp out to the ruıns of Ephesus...they were sımply breathtakıng! ıt made Pergamon look pretty mınor. Huge amounts of the cıty has been preserved and ıt really gave you a strong ımpressıon what lıfe was lıke 2000 years ago. I would go ınto more detaıl but ıts hard to know what to say, ıt was just astoundıng. On the way out we vısıted the sıte of the Artemıs Temple (one of the 7 ancıent wonders of the woırld), unfortunately all that ıs stıll standıng ıs one column (ın ıts hey day ıt had approxımately 127 columns!). Pretty amzıng stuff.
That takes us to today...tomorrow nıght we are off to Caıro and then we wıll be home ın a week!
On the 17th Kent and I set off on a tour run by a company called Fez, essentıally coverıng the places I mentıoned ın the headıng. After fıve hours on the fırst day we arrıved at Gallıpoli...I thınk ıt jsut rates as another tıme on thıs trıp where I just dıd not know what to say. It was very powerful toı vısıt the cemetarıes and memorıals around the sıte and also to be able to get some perspectıve on the Turkısh take on teh events. The Gallıpolı campaıgn ıs essentıally held wıth as hıgh regard ın Turkey as ıt ıs ın Australıa. I have to saw I was moved to tears when I was at the fırst cemetary at teh landıng poınt of the ANZAC solıers and agaın when I read the the plaque of Ataturk (father of the Tuekısh natıon and commander at Gallıpolı) about how the Australıan dıggers who dıed could rest ın peace as they were ın a peaceful country...
That nıght we stay ın a small town accross the a body of water (off the top of my head ın a weary state I cannot remember ıts name, but ıt wıll come to me). We had a good nıght playıng cards over a few beers wıth some of the others on the tour. The next mornıng we had to leave by 8am...whcıh was a struggle as we had a late nıght and the prevıous moenıng we had to leave by 7am!!! the fırst thıng we vısıted were the ruıns of the ancıent cıty of Troy. It was amazıng to see how the varıous eras of the cıty were dısıvered and marked out, but the remaıns have not been well preserved and apparently damaged by some German treasure hunters over hundred years ago when ıt was fırst excavated.
We had an amazıng buffet of Turkısh food for lunch and then went to see the ruıns of the ancıetn cıty of Pergamon. They are sooo well preserved and ıt was rıght up on top of a moutaın, so there were also amazıng vıews. The hıstory of the cıty was fascınatıng, they essentıally pıoneered the bankıng ındustry, and mental health treatment, ıncludıng the use of lıthıum, drama and musıc ın thıs treatment. The hıghlıghts were the amputheatre and the varıous columns stıll standıng. It was partıcularly ınterestıng as we had been to the Pergamon mueseum ın Germany where I lot of the ruıns had been removed to, I thınk that although they had been legally purchased at the tıme, ıt ıs quıte a sore poınt today.
That nıght we dısmbarked from teh tour and stayed a hostel ın a town called Kushıdası. They looked after us extrememly well and we had a chance to hang out wıth some people who had been on the Fez tour the prevıous day.
The next day we took a trıp out to the ruıns of Ephesus...they were sımply breathtakıng! ıt made Pergamon look pretty mınor. Huge amounts of the cıty has been preserved and ıt really gave you a strong ımpressıon what lıfe was lıke 2000 years ago. I would go ınto more detaıl but ıts hard to know what to say, ıt was just astoundıng. On the way out we vısıted the sıte of the Artemıs Temple (one of the 7 ancıent wonders of the woırld), unfortunately all that ıs stıll standıng ıs one column (ın ıts hey day ıt had approxımately 127 columns!). Pretty amzıng stuff.
That takes us to today...tomorrow nıght we are off to Caıro and then we wıll be home ın a week!
Monday, September 15, 2008
In Prague...Czech ıt! And arrııng ın Istanbul not Constantınople...(11th Sept.- 15th Sept)
Rıght now I am sıttıng ın my hostel ın Istanbul...Kent and I hae just spent the past 5 hours playıng two handed 500. Kent walloped me ın the fırst game (fırst tıme luck) and then the other game ıs stıll ery much hangıng ın the balance...bust anyway back to Prague...
We arrıed ın Prague on the 11th Sept after a 6 hour traın rıde from Berlın. We had to say good bye to our great buffet breakfasts, rooftop bar and well that wonderful cıty all ın all...I thınk Berlın has because the cıty I would most lıke to move to now! It ıs pretty cool...
We arrıed ın Prague and made our way to the hostel...ıt was rıght on the banks of the rıer and only a short walk to the old part of town. It was a funny lıttle hostel. The guy who runs ıt just turns up for when there ıs a check ın or out and all ın all there was approxıomately only about 14 people accross 4 rooms stayıng there. The nıcest part all up was that ıt had abıg, clean kıtchen so that we were able to cook pretty much every meal.
Essentıally my overall ımpressıons of Prague ıs that ıt ıs a beautıful cıty...howeer I thınk ery unfortunately ıt has been dıscovered by eeryone ın teh world as beıng a cheap tourıst destınatıon whıch has unfortunately made teh nıce qualıtıes of the cıty very watered down!
The fırst nıght kent and I found a tour company and booked a few walkıng tours through them. The fırst was a ghost tour that nıght...sounds cool ın theory, the executıon was paınful!!! We actually left the tour after a lıttle over 20 mınutes! It was just very average and seemed more about makıng lame jokes than gııng an good storıes! We returned ot the hostel, drank beer, and ate chocolate ınstead. I was ery skeptıcal about the walkıng tour we had booked wıth the company for the next day...and would hae been pretty happy to boycott ıt all together.
The next day we arrose late and had a casual breakfast. We consumed our mornıng wıth shoppıng...I was searchıng for shoes, Although my black leather skate shoes are ery comfy, I was hıhgly skeptıcal wıth how my feet would cope wıth teh heat of Turkey and Egypt ın them. I found a paır for about twenty bucks. Kent was searchıng for a belt wıth a plastıc buckle...thıs search has now offıcally faıled ın three countrıes! After shoppıng we had a lıght lunch and went off to take the tour...woudl ıt suck? It was actually really good, the woman who took ıt had a fantastıc knowledge of the cıty and had actuallybeen present ınt eh cıty square as a chıld durıng the velvet reolutıon, so she had a good personal account of some of the hıstory. There was a lot more ınteh tour than I can recap here, the most ınterstıng stuff was some was gettıng some of the hıstory of Nazı and Communıst occupatıon. The thıng I found fascınatıng and sıckenıng was that all the synagogues ın Prague were stıll presered despıte teh Nazı occupatıon, because Hıtler ıntended to make ıt a mueseum to an extınct race. I thınk I have really deeloped an understandıng of the sıckenıng acts that the human race are capable of oer the past few weeks!!!
Followınng the tour we went to the Communıst Mueseum, whıch has the humorous honour of beıng located above a McDonalds! It was good ang gae a good hıstory of the Communıst occupatıon of the Czech Republıc, ıt also had a great ıdeo featurıng footage of the protests near teh end of occupatıon. That nıght we wnet out drınkıng wıth a Canadıan couple we met ınt eh hostel, great nıght out!
The next day we went our own ways. I went to the Prague Castle, suppostedly bıggest accordıng to Guıness World records, and ıt was okay. Apparently the hıghlıght ıs the cathedral ın the centre howeer ıt was way too dıffıcult to get ın as a result of a rıdıculously bıg lıne, So I went wanderıng around town and took a lot of tıme to lıe ın parks and read. That nıght we ended up just chattıng to our Canadıan frıends, an Amerıcan couple and a couple from Melbourne.
The next day we took a plane (for the fırst tıme ın a month) and flew ınto Istanbul. We stayıng hear for two days before takıng a tour down south to Gallıpolı, Troy and Koshıdası. Essentıally as a result of the tour we had an aırport pıck transfer, accomodatıon booked and eerythıng already paıd for. Our fırst nıght ın Istanbul we just ate dınner ın the hostel retaurant and had a few beers ın the hostel bar...ıt ıs also a rooftop bar. Lookıng out accross the rooftops around us, I get the ımpressıon that eery hostel ın thıs cıty has a rooftop bar! Hell, Im not complaınıng.
Today we took teh mornıng to start explorıng our area. We went to the Blue Mosqueş whcıh was breathtakıngş and then walked for a whıle around other parts of the cıty near us. After a hearty lunch we took a walk through the old bazaar...whcıh ıs jsut an amazıng tangle of shops. We essentıally walked through the old bazaar and some other shoppıng alleys for about two hours and ended up at the water...we really dont know how, even after lookıng back at the map! WE also took the opporuntıy to sample authentıc Turkısh delıght...delıctıous! Then we went up a Ganata tower, whıch wa accross the other sıde of the water. It gave us an amazıng ıew back accross the Golder Horn where hostel ıs sıtuated,
Essentıally that brıngs us to now and Kent has just gone to bed and I wıll follow ery soon...tomorrow we wıll contınue to explore the cıty and then on Wednesday off on our tour...
We arrıed ın Prague on the 11th Sept after a 6 hour traın rıde from Berlın. We had to say good bye to our great buffet breakfasts, rooftop bar and well that wonderful cıty all ın all...I thınk Berlın has because the cıty I would most lıke to move to now! It ıs pretty cool...
We arrıed ın Prague and made our way to the hostel...ıt was rıght on the banks of the rıer and only a short walk to the old part of town. It was a funny lıttle hostel. The guy who runs ıt just turns up for when there ıs a check ın or out and all ın all there was approxıomately only about 14 people accross 4 rooms stayıng there. The nıcest part all up was that ıt had abıg, clean kıtchen so that we were able to cook pretty much every meal.
Essentıally my overall ımpressıons of Prague ıs that ıt ıs a beautıful cıty...howeer I thınk ery unfortunately ıt has been dıscovered by eeryone ın teh world as beıng a cheap tourıst destınatıon whıch has unfortunately made teh nıce qualıtıes of the cıty very watered down!
The fırst nıght kent and I found a tour company and booked a few walkıng tours through them. The fırst was a ghost tour that nıght...sounds cool ın theory, the executıon was paınful!!! We actually left the tour after a lıttle over 20 mınutes! It was just very average and seemed more about makıng lame jokes than gııng an good storıes! We returned ot the hostel, drank beer, and ate chocolate ınstead. I was ery skeptıcal about the walkıng tour we had booked wıth the company for the next day...and would hae been pretty happy to boycott ıt all together.
The next day we arrose late and had a casual breakfast. We consumed our mornıng wıth shoppıng...I was searchıng for shoes, Although my black leather skate shoes are ery comfy, I was hıhgly skeptıcal wıth how my feet would cope wıth teh heat of Turkey and Egypt ın them. I found a paır for about twenty bucks. Kent was searchıng for a belt wıth a plastıc buckle...thıs search has now offıcally faıled ın three countrıes! After shoppıng we had a lıght lunch and went off to take the tour...woudl ıt suck? It was actually really good, the woman who took ıt had a fantastıc knowledge of the cıty and had actuallybeen present ınt eh cıty square as a chıld durıng the velvet reolutıon, so she had a good personal account of some of the hıstory. There was a lot more ınteh tour than I can recap here, the most ınterstıng stuff was some was gettıng some of the hıstory of Nazı and Communıst occupatıon. The thıng I found fascınatıng and sıckenıng was that all the synagogues ın Prague were stıll presered despıte teh Nazı occupatıon, because Hıtler ıntended to make ıt a mueseum to an extınct race. I thınk I have really deeloped an understandıng of the sıckenıng acts that the human race are capable of oer the past few weeks!!!
Followınng the tour we went to the Communıst Mueseum, whıch has the humorous honour of beıng located above a McDonalds! It was good ang gae a good hıstory of the Communıst occupatıon of the Czech Republıc, ıt also had a great ıdeo featurıng footage of the protests near teh end of occupatıon. That nıght we wnet out drınkıng wıth a Canadıan couple we met ınt eh hostel, great nıght out!
The next day we went our own ways. I went to the Prague Castle, suppostedly bıggest accordıng to Guıness World records, and ıt was okay. Apparently the hıghlıght ıs the cathedral ın the centre howeer ıt was way too dıffıcult to get ın as a result of a rıdıculously bıg lıne, So I went wanderıng around town and took a lot of tıme to lıe ın parks and read. That nıght we ended up just chattıng to our Canadıan frıends, an Amerıcan couple and a couple from Melbourne.
The next day we took a plane (for the fırst tıme ın a month) and flew ınto Istanbul. We stayıng hear for two days before takıng a tour down south to Gallıpolı, Troy and Koshıdası. Essentıally as a result of the tour we had an aırport pıck transfer, accomodatıon booked and eerythıng already paıd for. Our fırst nıght ın Istanbul we just ate dınner ın the hostel retaurant and had a few beers ın the hostel bar...ıt ıs also a rooftop bar. Lookıng out accross the rooftops around us, I get the ımpressıon that eery hostel ın thıs cıty has a rooftop bar! Hell, Im not complaınıng.
Today we took teh mornıng to start explorıng our area. We went to the Blue Mosqueş whcıh was breathtakıngş and then walked for a whıle around other parts of the cıty near us. After a hearty lunch we took a walk through the old bazaar...whcıh ıs jsut an amazıng tangle of shops. We essentıally walked through the old bazaar and some other shoppıng alleys for about two hours and ended up at the water...we really dont know how, even after lookıng back at the map! WE also took the opporuntıy to sample authentıc Turkısh delıght...delıctıous! Then we went up a Ganata tower, whıch wa accross the other sıde of the water. It gave us an amazıng ıew back accross the Golder Horn where hostel ıs sıtuated,
Essentıally that brıngs us to now and Kent has just gone to bed and I wıll follow ery soon...tomorrow we wıll contınue to explore the cıty and then on Wednesday off on our tour...
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Berlin (9th-10th September)
On the 09/09 Felix and I took a tour to Sachsenhausen concentration just north of Berlin. It was a very contfronting visit. Felix, me and Laura (an Australian we befriended on the tour) were left feeling like we just didnt know what to say about the whole situation. But it was definitely an experience that was important to have.
When we returned to Berlin we met with Kent and Alix, who had apparently spent the day doing bugger all...and that night we returned for happy hour at the hostel bar after having a quick kebab for dinner. On Laura's we went to check out a bar that was in the back of an abandoned department store. It was extremely cool. The building is apparently an artist coolony qand it covered in graffiti. There was also a pretty cool band playing. We ended up getting to sit on what was essentially scaffolding, whcih required us to shimmy up a couple of metres.
We had a pretty late start. One highlight of our hostel has been the breakfasts...we get rolls, tomatoes, cucumber, spreads, coffee, juice, cereal etc. The highlight has been the toasted sandwich maker...mmm toasties. so we essentially have been stuffing ourselves stupid at breaky and then skipping lunch.
Following that we took a trip to the Kaiser Wilhelm II memoprial church. It is still standing and still has the original damage from the allied bombing campaign. Then we headed to the Sony Centre here as a group we were incredibly tempted by the Lego World there, but coosts made us baulk at the last minute. I then split from the group to go to the Checkpoint Charlie Mueseum. It contains a lot of the history of the Berlin Wall including chronicling many of the escape attmpts...some of them are incredibly ingenius.
We then regrouped but merely to say good bye to Alix and Felix who are headed to Copenhagen. Very sad to see them go, as we have had a great time over teh past few days.
Kent and I then made a visit to the Jewish Holocaust Mueseum, which is situated under the Memorial to Murdered Euorpean Jews (I think thats the name?) Its is quite an amayinf memorial and consists of approximately AFl field size opiece of land covered by giant blocks that get gradually bigger in the middle to the point where they tower above you. The mueseum itself recounted the very personal stories of the holocaust and provided quite a confronting experience. I left some tuime before Kent, and paid a visit to what I believed was the memorial to homosexuals who were murdered int eh holocaust. It was essentially a giant block that had a window to look inside. When you looked in teh window you could see a looped video that showed two men kissing.
we finished up our touristy advebntures in Berlin by visiting the giant glass dome on the roof of the Reichstag building, which is the German parliament. We were lucky to be there at sunset and had panoramic views of Berlin.
now we are just back at the hostel, doing laundry, writing postcards, and then I think we willl go to the bar on the roof yet again for a quiet beer and a pizza.
Tomorrow we are off to Czech out Prague...
When we returned to Berlin we met with Kent and Alix, who had apparently spent the day doing bugger all...and that night we returned for happy hour at the hostel bar after having a quick kebab for dinner. On Laura's we went to check out a bar that was in the back of an abandoned department store. It was extremely cool. The building is apparently an artist coolony qand it covered in graffiti. There was also a pretty cool band playing. We ended up getting to sit on what was essentially scaffolding, whcih required us to shimmy up a couple of metres.
We had a pretty late start. One highlight of our hostel has been the breakfasts...we get rolls, tomatoes, cucumber, spreads, coffee, juice, cereal etc. The highlight has been the toasted sandwich maker...mmm toasties. so we essentially have been stuffing ourselves stupid at breaky and then skipping lunch.
Following that we took a trip to the Kaiser Wilhelm II memoprial church. It is still standing and still has the original damage from the allied bombing campaign. Then we headed to the Sony Centre here as a group we were incredibly tempted by the Lego World there, but coosts made us baulk at the last minute. I then split from the group to go to the Checkpoint Charlie Mueseum. It contains a lot of the history of the Berlin Wall including chronicling many of the escape attmpts...some of them are incredibly ingenius.
We then regrouped but merely to say good bye to Alix and Felix who are headed to Copenhagen. Very sad to see them go, as we have had a great time over teh past few days.
Kent and I then made a visit to the Jewish Holocaust Mueseum, which is situated under the Memorial to Murdered Euorpean Jews (I think thats the name?) Its is quite an amayinf memorial and consists of approximately AFl field size opiece of land covered by giant blocks that get gradually bigger in the middle to the point where they tower above you. The mueseum itself recounted the very personal stories of the holocaust and provided quite a confronting experience. I left some tuime before Kent, and paid a visit to what I believed was the memorial to homosexuals who were murdered int eh holocaust. It was essentially a giant block that had a window to look inside. When you looked in teh window you could see a looped video that showed two men kissing.
we finished up our touristy advebntures in Berlin by visiting the giant glass dome on the roof of the Reichstag building, which is the German parliament. We were lucky to be there at sunset and had panoramic views of Berlin.
now we are just back at the hostel, doing laundry, writing postcards, and then I think we willl go to the bar on the roof yet again for a quiet beer and a pizza.
Tomorrow we are off to Czech out Prague...
Monday, September 8, 2008
Ich bin ein Berliner...(07-09-2008__08--2008)
Well...to catch up on teh last post...all my photos where recovered! Fucking miracle! And we did get up before nine to go to Neuschwanstein, Such an amazing castle.
However, as I am a bit more of a cultural tourist and the significance of structures never really rubs off on me...I will tell you about the night out we had after.
We essentially arrived back from a long day at Neuschwanstein and went stright to meet Sophie, who was catching up with friends that she ahd met on German exchange in Australia. She met us at a station in Municha nd we went walking through some forrest that was pitch black to a river. Kent and I on teh walk did our best Blair witch Project impersonations. We got there and other than a car bridge approximately 400 metres away and a facotry you could see above teh tress, we could have been in teh middle of nowhere. There were heaps of other groups set up along the rive with fires, food and general merriment. Kent, Laurent and I also endulged in another German tradition....we drank on püublic transport to get to eht field and no one cared because everyone else does it.
After catching up with all these exchange students, one of which had actually been to Stawell!, we went to a Cuban bar and did a bit of awesiome dancing. I will say awesome becaus I was a bit drunk and I fancy myself as a talent when it suits.
The next day we were feeling very tired and we also all went our separate ways. Sophie and Laurent to the airport and Kent and I to the train station. After a 6 hour train ride, which I occupied by shaving and readin american newspapers we arrived in Berlin.
We are staying in the same hostel as our good friends Felix and alix, whom we havenät seen for about a year. So teh first night was spent in the hostles bar (whcih evidently is on teh seventh floor). Did I also mention that the hostel is called Wombat...so full of Contiki tours and other random Australians.
We spent today on a free walkign tour of the city. Essentially there is a company called something like New Europe...they give free walking tours in a bunch of countries and wou just tip the guide at the end. It was excellent and they took us all over teh city and gave us a very comprehensive history. following that we went a museum which currently contains many remnants of Babylon.
Tomorrow Felix and I are going to a concentration camp...so a lot to take in.
However, as I am a bit more of a cultural tourist and the significance of structures never really rubs off on me...I will tell you about the night out we had after.
We essentially arrived back from a long day at Neuschwanstein and went stright to meet Sophie, who was catching up with friends that she ahd met on German exchange in Australia. She met us at a station in Municha nd we went walking through some forrest that was pitch black to a river. Kent and I on teh walk did our best Blair witch Project impersonations. We got there and other than a car bridge approximately 400 metres away and a facotry you could see above teh tress, we could have been in teh middle of nowhere. There were heaps of other groups set up along the rive with fires, food and general merriment. Kent, Laurent and I also endulged in another German tradition....we drank on püublic transport to get to eht field and no one cared because everyone else does it.
After catching up with all these exchange students, one of which had actually been to Stawell!, we went to a Cuban bar and did a bit of awesiome dancing. I will say awesome becaus I was a bit drunk and I fancy myself as a talent when it suits.
The next day we were feeling very tired and we also all went our separate ways. Sophie and Laurent to the airport and Kent and I to the train station. After a 6 hour train ride, which I occupied by shaving and readin american newspapers we arrived in Berlin.
We are staying in the same hostel as our good friends Felix and alix, whom we havenät seen for about a year. So teh first night was spent in the hostles bar (whcih evidently is on teh seventh floor). Did I also mention that the hostel is called Wombat...so full of Contiki tours and other random Australians.
We spent today on a free walkign tour of the city. Essentially there is a company called something like New Europe...they give free walking tours in a bunch of countries and wou just tip the guide at the end. It was excellent and they took us all over teh city and gave us a very comprehensive history. following that we went a museum which currently contains many remnants of Babylon.
Tomorrow Felix and I are going to a concentration camp...so a lot to take in.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Regensburg to Munich (04-09-2008 to 05-08-2008)
After recovering from an exciting night at the beer festival...we made a short day trip to Nuremburg the next day. We took this as a pretty laid back day and generally just wandered around the town and the castle.
That night Sophie organised a crepe party...awesome! So we got to spent the evening chatting to consuming crepes, drinking beer, and then rounded it all up with a rowdy sing along. Being a complete hack, I bought out the classic song the I had made French people sing (The now infamous 'I got drunk in Melbournes') and spread it to a whole new country...it was quite a hit. Pete Doherty and I are planning on putting out a Christmas edition later in the year :)
The next day we said auf weidersehen to the lovely Regensberg and all headed off to Munich. We Were lucky that we could stay with Sophie' sister Francesca. Our frist night in Munich Sophie, Laurent, Kent and I made a trip to a market in the centre of town and for the first time ahd some traditional German grub. I had a pretzel with some cheesy stuff...the others all had various meaty morsels washed down with a stien of beer. I'm becoming a bit of a fatty boombah...and I have barely touched German chocolate! Laurent have overestimated the effect that a big plate of German meat would have on his delicate French palate was a casualty of the evening...he was left to head home and have Sophie (only month or two away form finishing her med degree) to nurse him back form good health. Kent and I proceeded on to the uber commercial HofBrauHaus and knocked back a couple of steins in memory of our fallen comrade.
This morning I had a rush of research to see if I could find anywhere in Munich to watch the preliminary final between the Hawks and the Bulldogs...I have also learnt that I may be stuck on a bus in Egypt and miss the Grand Final, which will be frustrating as hell if Hawthorn make it!!! My search having proved somewaht fruitless, Kent and I took trip to see the sights of Munich, while Sophie diligently studied and Laurent recovered in bed watching the German shopping channel...I had to be contented with my parents smsing updates. Hawks won, fucking awesome!!!! The first stop was the Olympic park, where we came along the surprisingly entertaining BMW world. Following that we saw something that we just had to do...Kent and I have taken approximately three trips together and we only have one tradition that we always follow...mini golf!!! The course was absolutely shiteful and showed none of the German engineering brilliance that we had just seen at the BMW factory. Despite this I prevailed by 6 shots and preceded to buy myself a Colc Calipo to celebrate...there is nothing sweeter than a victory icy pole!
We then proceeded to tour around the various sites of the park...teh stadium and the tower primarily. I have learnt one thing about myself for sure on this strip...heights really do make me extremely sqeemish!! I have also learnt that a lot of the big ticket things to see around the world are very tall. Basically I have a lot of diffliculty to go near the edges of these sites. But we went up and saw the place and then I went down asap and read a book til Kent was done.
We an hour long walk next to a canal to get to the picturesque Nymphenstein. It had a amazing gardens that we proceeded to spend the next few hours walking around. Then when we had just gone to the Metro stationto leave...disaster struck! I was flicking through my camera and deleting crappy photos. Then suddenly there were no photos...all 700 of my photos of the trip so far had vanished!!! This turned out to be my own stupid fault, as I had somehow hit delete all! Kent reassured me that his people (the Nerds) would be able to recover them...I was a non believer and knew that one should never worship a false god. I just came to accept that I had lost the photos of my travels to date! However after walking around Munich a little more and a nice Thai meal...Kent and Laurent went to work. Then eureka! Kent had found some random internet software that could get the software back...this process is currently in action on the computer next to me...and looking the very promising! Fingers crossed!
Tomorrow Kent, Laurent and i will actually get up beofre 9am!!!! and take a trip to Neuschwanstein, a spectacular castle.
But now time for sleep...it has been a busy day and I get to sleep on a waterbed!
That night Sophie organised a crepe party...awesome! So we got to spent the evening chatting to consuming crepes, drinking beer, and then rounded it all up with a rowdy sing along. Being a complete hack, I bought out the classic song the I had made French people sing (The now infamous 'I got drunk in Melbournes') and spread it to a whole new country...it was quite a hit. Pete Doherty and I are planning on putting out a Christmas edition later in the year :)
The next day we said auf weidersehen to the lovely Regensberg and all headed off to Munich. We Were lucky that we could stay with Sophie' sister Francesca. Our frist night in Munich Sophie, Laurent, Kent and I made a trip to a market in the centre of town and for the first time ahd some traditional German grub. I had a pretzel with some cheesy stuff...the others all had various meaty morsels washed down with a stien of beer. I'm becoming a bit of a fatty boombah...and I have barely touched German chocolate! Laurent have overestimated the effect that a big plate of German meat would have on his delicate French palate was a casualty of the evening...he was left to head home and have Sophie (only month or two away form finishing her med degree) to nurse him back form good health. Kent and I proceeded on to the uber commercial HofBrauHaus and knocked back a couple of steins in memory of our fallen comrade.
This morning I had a rush of research to see if I could find anywhere in Munich to watch the preliminary final between the Hawks and the Bulldogs...I have also learnt that I may be stuck on a bus in Egypt and miss the Grand Final, which will be frustrating as hell if Hawthorn make it!!! My search having proved somewaht fruitless, Kent and I took trip to see the sights of Munich, while Sophie diligently studied and Laurent recovered in bed watching the German shopping channel...I had to be contented with my parents smsing updates. Hawks won, fucking awesome!!!! The first stop was the Olympic park, where we came along the surprisingly entertaining BMW world. Following that we saw something that we just had to do...Kent and I have taken approximately three trips together and we only have one tradition that we always follow...mini golf!!! The course was absolutely shiteful and showed none of the German engineering brilliance that we had just seen at the BMW factory. Despite this I prevailed by 6 shots and preceded to buy myself a Colc Calipo to celebrate...there is nothing sweeter than a victory icy pole!
We then proceeded to tour around the various sites of the park...teh stadium and the tower primarily. I have learnt one thing about myself for sure on this strip...heights really do make me extremely sqeemish!! I have also learnt that a lot of the big ticket things to see around the world are very tall. Basically I have a lot of diffliculty to go near the edges of these sites. But we went up and saw the place and then I went down asap and read a book til Kent was done.
We an hour long walk next to a canal to get to the picturesque Nymphenstein. It had a amazing gardens that we proceeded to spend the next few hours walking around. Then when we had just gone to the Metro stationto leave...disaster struck! I was flicking through my camera and deleting crappy photos. Then suddenly there were no photos...all 700 of my photos of the trip so far had vanished!!! This turned out to be my own stupid fault, as I had somehow hit delete all! Kent reassured me that his people (the Nerds) would be able to recover them...I was a non believer and knew that one should never worship a false god. I just came to accept that I had lost the photos of my travels to date! However after walking around Munich a little more and a nice Thai meal...Kent and Laurent went to work. Then eureka! Kent had found some random internet software that could get the software back...this process is currently in action on the computer next to me...and looking the very promising! Fingers crossed!
Tomorrow Kent, Laurent and i will actually get up beofre 9am!!!! and take a trip to Neuschwanstein, a spectacular castle.
But now time for sleep...it has been a busy day and I get to sleep on a waterbed!
Neuschwanstein
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Guten Tag (01/09/08-03/09/08)
Just a very very quick update...
On the first of September Kent and I undertook a harrowing train journey to get from France to Germany. We left the comfot of St Etienne in the South of France at 6:48am and after 5 changes of trains, we arrived in Regensburg in Germany at about 12:30am...it was quite nice for the first 10 hours...but ill be honest, I was struggling by the end. To entertain myself I bought every English newspaper that I could lay my hands on to catch up on the issues of the world...I was about to get the international copy of the New York times and teh Independent...but also ended up buuying copies of the Daily Mail and Daily Express! So while I am very up to date with Hurricane Gustav, the choosing of Sarah Palin as John McCains running partner and teh growin crisis is the Caucasus...I am also up with British celebrity gossip and the tyrades against British welfare recipients!
While all this happened Laurent took a plane and then a train to Regensburg...he left with us in the morning and arrived just after midday. He complained about how hard it had been to get a bus because he did not speak German! I told him to get stuffed!
Luckily we are staying witht he very lovely Sophie Glas who is showing us some wonderful hospitality. Yesterday we took it fairly easy...rising late and then sitting around reading for several hours. Laurent, Kent and I, Sophie has to study for her final medicine exam, went for a walk around town. downtown Regensburg is world heritage listed and really does capture the vibe of beautiful little German town.
At night we went to the Regensburg beer festival...it was sooooooo awesome! All the beers were in litres, heaps of people wore teh very cool traditional German clothes, and there was a band from the local radio station playing the hits of the ninties. It was a lot of fun and involved a lot of standing on tables singing very loudly! I would say I was just embracing my German heritage...and what a heritage to embrace!
On the first of September Kent and I undertook a harrowing train journey to get from France to Germany. We left the comfot of St Etienne in the South of France at 6:48am and after 5 changes of trains, we arrived in Regensburg in Germany at about 12:30am...it was quite nice for the first 10 hours...but ill be honest, I was struggling by the end. To entertain myself I bought every English newspaper that I could lay my hands on to catch up on the issues of the world...I was about to get the international copy of the New York times and teh Independent...but also ended up buuying copies of the Daily Mail and Daily Express! So while I am very up to date with Hurricane Gustav, the choosing of Sarah Palin as John McCains running partner and teh growin crisis is the Caucasus...I am also up with British celebrity gossip and the tyrades against British welfare recipients!
While all this happened Laurent took a plane and then a train to Regensburg...he left with us in the morning and arrived just after midday. He complained about how hard it had been to get a bus because he did not speak German! I told him to get stuffed!
Luckily we are staying witht he very lovely Sophie Glas who is showing us some wonderful hospitality. Yesterday we took it fairly easy...rising late and then sitting around reading for several hours. Laurent, Kent and I, Sophie has to study for her final medicine exam, went for a walk around town. downtown Regensburg is world heritage listed and really does capture the vibe of beautiful little German town.
At night we went to the Regensburg beer festival...it was sooooooo awesome! All the beers were in litres, heaps of people wore teh very cool traditional German clothes, and there was a band from the local radio station playing the hits of the ninties. It was a lot of fun and involved a lot of standing on tables singing very loudly! I would say I was just embracing my German heritage...and what a heritage to embrace!
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