TRANSYLVANIA

I've always wanted to travel to Transylvania, and given the tricky logistics of travelling around Romiania independently it all seemed too difficult to organise myself so I decided to join a tour group. I was a tad nervous about it, because I don't really react well to being told when to wake up and what to do with my day, but luckily it was a really good group. There were only five of us, so it would have been beyond tragic if the other people sucked. In the end it turned out to be a really fun week (whew!).

We met up in Budapest, and began with a scary 8-hour bus ride into Romania. The mostly-appalling Romanian music was so loud that the driver was wearing earplugs. Not earphones, ear PLUGS. Bizarre. We started off with a walking tour in Cluj-Napoca. Despite being anti-tour group in general, I really enjoyed learning the history of the city and the story behind the statues etc that I would normally photograph on the basis of prettiness then walk away from. Our tour guide had an amazing memory for facts and dates, and there was also a Russian girl on the tour who could engage with him about historical events and how they affected her country as well. Amazing. I'm so completely clueless, and even now I've forgotten pretty much everything I learned on the tour.

We also travelled to Sighisoara, which was a gorgous old walled town, Brasov with its Hollywood-style sign up in the hills, Bran, home of Dracula's castle, Sibiu, this year's European Capital of Culture, and stayed overnight in a teeny village called Sibiel. It was a great week. I saw just the right amount of castles and cobblestones and also managed to have a few nights' worth of drunken adventures. It was the end of my trip, so I was quite tuckered out from skipping around Eastern Europe and was actually very well-behaved and tame. Seriously. I still managed to let myself get snapped looking like a drunken fool in several photos though. Will I never learn?

BRATISLAVA

Bratislava was the scene of my first (and hopefully only) bout of food poisoning on this trip. Actually, I don't even think it was food poisoning, even though the food I ate there was completely bizarre, I think it was just a stomach bug. Whatever it was, my second day there was spent lying on my hostel bunk and dashing to the loo frequently. Luckily I fit lots of adventures into my first day!

Bratislava was the crummiest-looking place I've visited, except of course Katowice in Poland but I didn't stay there so it doesn't count. But once I walked around I discovered there was a really nice vibe about it. There were loads of people in cafes and outdoor restaurants, the old centre was buzzing with activiy, there were lots of sculptures and outdoor art in the public space. I just liked it.

I hooked up with a girl from the hostel and we went out for traditional Slovakian food. Well it was probably the most bizarre meal I've had in all my travels. I ordered a pancake with cheese and some dumplings. What I got was, well I don't really know what it was. I wish I could post some photos here for you, perhaps if I move my blog to another site I can do that.

Anyway, I thought the pancakes were going to be made of potato, and I guess it's possible it actually was potato, but it didn't look much like potato, and it tasted rubbery and glutinous and odd. And the pancakes were topped with grated cheese and tartare sauce. Yes, cheese and tartare sauce. The dumplings were even more obscure. After my fabulous experiences with dumplings in Poland I was no longer expecting the Asian-style delicacies, but these ones were also different to the ravioli-type dumplings of Poland. They were made of some type of gluggy, gelatinous substance and looked like solid tubes of pasta about 5cm long. They tasted a bit like Clag glue would if it was solid (or was I the only one who used to eat Clag as a child?). This was a main course dish, but the "dumplings" were topped with crushed poppy seeds and icing sugar. It was a very strange and not entirely pleasant flavour sensation.

After dinner I wandered around the old town looking at the sites. Bratislava is so small that I managed to see everything of note from the tourist map in a couple of hours. Unfortunately there weren't any opera or music concerts being performed that night, I thought that would have been a cool thing to see, so I went back to the hostel to see what the plan was for our evening's entertainment.

We ended up with a diverse group of about 12 people - Norwegians, Finns, Americans, Brits, one Chinese guy and myself - and headed out to a cellar lounge bar with a crappy DJ but nice comfy seats.We were laughing, drinking beer, smoking shisha, then the bar guy came over and gave us a free round of shots. I love free shots.

Free shots were followed by free food: he brought over these massive slabs of bread topped with butter and raw onion and plonked them in front of us, then moments later was back wheeling a little cart with some sausage and onion concoction inside it. He had a long wooden spoon that he scooped into the cart then thrust under everyone's nose until they took what was offered. It really was bizarre.

After that we headed out to another pub for more drinking and I got into a deep discussion with the Finnish guy about the Mayan calendar and the end of the world. It was good fun. The next day, not so fun. I managed to keep my stomach bug at bay long enough to crawl into town in the afternoon and treat myself to a two-hour Thai massage. It was amazing, very possibly the best I've ever had anywhere in the world.

The next day I caught a train to Budapest.

VIENNA

Wow! I'm so glad I let a cute guy in my hostel in Poland convince me to travel to Slovakia via Vienna. This city is great. I thought I would be intimidated by the classy artiness but it's actually really cool and inspiring.

After lazing around and drinking beer in Cesky Krumlov for two days I thought I'd be a bit more motivated and actually check out some sites during my one and a half days here in Vienna. I arrived off the train late Thursday afternoon and was almost knocked out by the intense heat. It was 39 degrees and baking sunshine, plus when I got to the hostel after only minor dramas (involving me getting lost and being set back on track with the help of a woman giving me directions in German) I found out my room was about 5 degrees warmer than it was outside. Yuck.

So I went out and explored a bit to get my bearings. I checked out some of the cool buildings in the Innere stadt (inner city) and then wandered around the Museum Quartier until the sun cooled off a little. There were loads of groovy galleries and spaces inside the Museum Quartier - I spent ages playing with this high tech painting thing where you press a digital pen to a palette then paint onto a computer-screen canvas on a table. Then when I finished, the chick there pressed a button and my picture was projected up onto the wall. Once again I've become painfully aware that I'm severely lacking in artistic talent, but it was heaps of fun scribbling away anyway. Plus the gallery was air conditioned :-)

That night I went to an outdoor film festival at Rathaus Park. It was a really festive atmosphere with loads of people drinking and eating. The giant film screen was set up in front of this gorgeous old building (which might actually be called Rathaus), and I watched part of a bizarre musical comedy set in Greece but spoken in German. I couldn't understand a word of course, but the exaggerated acting, corny costumes and cheesy dance moves were universal.

Yesterday I was up and at it again for more touristing and spent the day visiting some famous sites, buildings and palaces that I should probably write down somewhere before I forget what they were. One of my favourites was the Belvedere Museum which is actually an art gallery inside a palace. I love wandering around inside opulent buildings, and this was sufficiently opulent for my tastes. The gallery houses the original of Gustav Klimt's The Kiss, which is one of my favourites (for the uninitiated, an image of it can be seen here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/image:Gustav_Klimt_016.jpg).

After calling back into the hostel yesterday evening for some food and my second shower of the day, I set off on a mission to spook myself with some night-time wandering around the cemetary where Beethoven, Brahms and Schonberg have memorial tombs. I got a little distracted, however, when the tram passed a huge neon sign advertising the Harry Potter movie "Original English Version". So with visions of air-conditioned comfort I ditched my plans for a graveyard stroll and went to the cinema for the first time in over 7 months. I had missed the first 8 minutes of the film (which I figured were unlikely to be integral to the plot) but the dude still gave me a discount on the ticket which ended up costing me only 4 pounds or so. Hooray! Securing a bargain almost made up for the fact that there was no air conditioning.

So today is another travel day. I'll be checking out of this hostel in an hour and then have to make my way to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. I don't actually know how to get there, but its quite close to Vienna so I'm sure if I just show up at one of the train stations I'll be able to work something out.

Travelling is fun!

CESKY KRUMLOV

Cesky Krumlov was so much fun. I successfully negotiated my way there using my trusty phrasebook: getting a train ticket from Prague to Ceske Budjeovice then finding a local bus to take me on to Cesky Krumlov.

It's a small town located in southern bohemia with an amazing historical old town centre that is on the UNESCO world heritage list. The guidebook tells me it has mediaeval, renaissance and baroque architecture. Whatever it is it's so pretty to look at. The old town is almost completed ringed by a river, which means the town is attractive, easy to walk around, and you can swim, raft or float down the river in a tyre tube to cool off after a hard day's touristing.

I chilled out my first night there, recovering from all the hard work of Prague :-) then went exploring the next day. I have a fair few pictures, which are sitting on Facebook at the moment. So anyone who wants to see them has to join Facebook - hehe. My hostel was pretty cool, and I ended up hanging out with a bunch of Canadian lads most evenings. On my second night there we had a big drinking session that involved a bottle of Absinthe, a special spoon, some sugar, a lighter, and more than one hangover the next day.

My last night there we were joined by some others and went out for a Bohemian Feast complete with pitchers of wine. My new hostel roommate came along too - she was a 19 year old, haemophiliac, reformed vegan from California. She also turned out to be quite a hardcore drinker and she was soon stumbling around needing assistance to stand. Our bohemian feast took place on a table beside the river, and after dinner we were all sitting around chatting and finishing the wine. Somehow my roommate managed to drop a 100kc note (worth less than 3 pounds) into the river, and rather than let it go she dived in after it to chase it. That might have been just a funny drunk thing to do, except that the river at that point was only about 2 feet deep and was full of rocks.

She was lucky to escape with minor injuries. Her knee was all sliced up and pretty grotesque really, especially on a full stomach, but we carried her back home and one of the Canadians bandaged her up. Did I mention the haemophilia? There was blood all over the place, very gross. Unfortunately she was too drunk to take the hint and call it a night, so she went back out bar-hopping in the rain. And when I left this morning she was refusing to cancel her rafting trip or to see a doctor for stitches. Ah, the kids these days.

So now I'm about to board a shuttle for Linz, Austria, and will have to buy a train ticket on to Vienna. And I don't even have German in my Trusty Phrasebook - whatever shall I do??

PRAGUE

I survived the overnight train from Krakow without getting gassed and robbed of all my possessions, so that was a good start to my trip! Prague is a very photogenic city. Beautiful old buildings, bridges, the colours are lovely. I met up with four other Aussie girls, only one of whom I already knew, for a birthday weekend. Coordinating travel among people with different interests is always very tricky, so I didn't actually get to do a lot of the things I would normally do in a new town. Namely wandering aimlessly and stopping at local pubs and food stalls to sample the delights.

We didn't venture outside the tourist traps, and I've since found out we were paying 3 times the going rate for alcohol, but it was still a nice sample of what the city has to offer. I wouldn't mind coming back one day, maybe for a weekend trip, and getting to know Prague a little better.

Now I'm in Cesky Krumlov, a small town deep in the south of bohemia. I LOVE it here, and will write a separate entry if I ever get around to it :-)

KRAKOW

Krakow is fantastic. I spent yesterday wandering around the Stare Miasto (Old Town) soaking up all the gorgeous old buildings and cobblestoned streets. The Rynek Glowny is a huge square in the middle of the old town and is apparently the largest medieval town square in Europe. Walking into the square and seeing the huge church, town hall tower and cloth hall opened out before me was just so amazing. I love the look of medieval cities, especialy walled cities. Krakow's old wall has been mostly pulled down and replaced with a 'green belt' which is pleasant to stroll along, but they've kept the main city gate and part of the wall as well as a very cool barbican out the front.

I also explored Wawel Castle, wandered along the river Wisla, had a snooze in the park until I was woken by an old man speaking Polish at me, then headed into Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter, where they have some very cool bars (as well as more historical stuff of course!).

I decided to be cultural last night, and started the evening by dragging some friends from my hostel along to a chamber music performance held in the 17th century baroque Church of St Peter and St Paul. It was so lovely. The program was perfect for my attention span - ie short - and consisted of 'popular', recognisable classics by Chopin, Bach and Pachelbel. It was very atmospheric, and not at all bad for the 4 pound ticket price.

After that we went into Kazimeirz and sampled some Polish cocktails in one of the cool bars I'd spotted earlier in the day. My favourite was Zubrowka vodka (which is infused with Bison grass) mixed with apple juice and cinnamon. Yum. I'm really enjoying the Polish food as well. I've had loads of dumplings, which I expected to be like Asian dumplings but are actually more like ravioli, and I've also had a delicious wild mushroom soup twice now. The last time it was served in a carved out cob loaf - mmmm.

Last night after a few drinks we decided to try a zapiekanka which appears to be the Polish equivalent of a kebab in that it is served out of tiny holes in the wall and eaten by young people in the wee hours. It's half a long bread roll with tomato, mushroom, cheese and other toppings with some very addictive sauces added to the mix. Part of me is hoping the food in the rest of the countries I'm visiting won't be as delicious, otherwise I'll head back to the UK looking like a dumpling.

I still have two days left here, but I'll spend most of tomorrow at Auschwitz. Can't say I'm really looking forward to that, but I feel like I have to go.

I'm very excited because I booked my overnight train trip to Prague yesterday by speaking phrasebook Polish. And from what I can understand on the ticket, I may even have got what I was trying to ask for. Ooh, hope I didn't just jinx myself. Will let you know in my next entry!

FARMS, FIELDS AND FORESTS

That was my first impression of Poland after flying in to land at Katowice airport. I'm very impressed that I've made it here to the hostel, as the journey today involved me having to leave the house at 7.30am which rarely works out well. I took a tram to Amsterdam Centraal station, a train to Eindhoven, a bus to Eindhoven airport, flew to Katowice, then caught a shuttle bus to Krakow. I'm now sitting in the hostel, having a bit of a rest and nursing my blisters before heading out later tonight.

I don't have anything exciting to write yet because I just arrived. My only observations to date are:

a) The airport guy guiding in the plane didn't have any of those ping-pong bats that other airplane waver people use. He must feel very sad about that, I know I do.

b) Katowice itself has some truly hideous buildings. I don't have the vocabulary to describe how ugly they are. However I did pass a humungous Ikea, so I presume the insides of those abominable buildings are full of clean and practical furnishings.

c) It appears as though many Polish men are attractive, although its possible I'm just hallucinating from lack of sleep.

That's it for now. I'll write again next time I can get access to the hostel internet machine.

I'm in Krakow!

NETHER-NETHER LAND

I'm really loving being in the Netherlands. I arrived Friday night and was collected at Eindhoven airport by an Australian mate who I haven't seen in way too many years. He lives in this little village called s'Hertegenbosch so we drove straight there past fields and cows and dykes. All very stereotypical - peaceful and quaint and lovely.

The next day was his wedding so I drove to Veght in a car with his mum, the best man (a Brazilian), another Aussie friend and her English partner. The five of us were the only foreigners invited, we were all left in a car alone together, so naturally we got lost on the way to the wedding. At one stage we received a frantic phone call from the bride, who must have been keeping an eye on us from the lead car, saying "What are you doing? You're heading towards Utrecht!". It was really quite amusing, mainly because we had the mother of the groom, the best man and the wedding rings with us so the wedding literally could not start until we got there. Hehe.

When we finally arrived at the wedding ceremony venue (which was a castle!) - impressively only 7 minutes late - we were treated to the largest collective glare I've ever been subjected to in my life. It was very amusing. The wedding ceremony itself was lovely. I was one of only 3 people in the room who didn't have a clue what was being said, but the celebrant seemed very nice and got a few laughs from the crowd so it all seemed to be good.

The next day I hitched a ride to Amsterdam with the other two Australian/English guests. It's really been so cool being driven around the countryside and seeing more than just the coffee houses in Amsterdam. I saw some windmills and a decent amount of grass and cows, and now imagine I have a rough idea of how the country is laid out. Seeing as I get lost driving around a roundabout, the idea that I know where I'm going is completely illusory but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

I'm staying in Amsterdam the next two nights, crashing at the home of the Brazilian best man who I met for the first time yesterday. It's fabulous, he's about one block from the Heineken Brewery which I forsee will be quite handy. Tonight we wandered around the streets, ate dinner at a Peruvian restaurant, drank copious amounts of wine, and generally unwound. I drank half a bottle of Chardonnay by accident. I'm not exactly a chardy kind of girl, but somehow when my Brazilian friend spoke Dutch to order a Chilean sauvignon blanc from the Romanian waitress, a few wires got crossed. Perhaps I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was.

Tomorrow I'm going to head to the Heineken Brewery, maybe the Van Gough museum if I feel the urge to be cultural, and just wander around. Last time I was here I didn't go to any museums or sites, and now I remember why. It's such a beautiful city. I'd much rather walk around beside the canals, sit in the parks and people watch than pay however many Euros to walk inside a building filled with images and relics created and used by loads of dead chaps. Amsterdam is just so beautiful and there's so much going on that doesn't involve queueing up to part with loads of cash. As you can tell, I'm not really a museum type of person.

I'm here until Tuesday morning then heading on to Poland, which will be interesting because I've not been there before. Adventures, adventures.

I love being on holiday!!

HOMELESS AGAIN

I've moved out of my apartment in preparation for a month of travels around Eastern Europe and am now couch-surfing for a few days at the homes of some of my wonderful friends. I moved out of the house on the weekend, I'm still working every day until Thursday, then flying out Friday.

I've discovered that I am distinctly bereft of talent in the field of logistics. My entire life is basically 4 suitcases and a backpack which I'm leaving with various friends in London while I travel. I've been carting the bags all across town and dropping off ones that contain my non-work-clothes and non-holiday things while hanging onto everything else until I don't need it anymore. Can you imagine me last Saturday morning trying to decide what I needed to wear, read, write in, and generally have access to for the next five weeks in situations ranging from a professional meeting with a corporate sponsor today to sweltering in a Romanian heatwave this time next month? The only reason I show up looking semi-decent to work each day is because I only have five different outfits. Actually I only have four, but my job lets me wear jeans on Fridays so I'm hoping they haven't noticed. The point is, I'm not well know for my forward-planning ability.

I've been having mental conniptions trying to work out if I should leave my boots with my Monday-night luggage drop-off buddy, or whether I need to keep them with me until I get to my Wednesday-night friend's house. Whether it's worth hanging onto my favourite top in case I go out for dinner on Thursday or whether I should put it in the bag with the clothes I don't think I'll have occasion to wear in the next 4 days. I'm driving myself barmy. I've ended up with such a complex schedule of bag relocations and got myself so confused that at one point on Sunday, a mate carried my backpack all the way to his house only to receive a phone call from me twenty minutes later asking if he could bring it back because all my work clothes were in there.

And moving luggage around London is not very fun at all. Twice so far I've had to hop on the London Underground during peak hour while carting multiple suitcases. I've just had to barge my way into the sardine tin and deal with the glares as my mini suitcases take up a precious square foot that could have held two people squished in tightly. Tomorrow morning I'll be facing the peak hour tube with a backpack, daypack and shoulder bag. Wish me luck...