Eastern Road

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    Germany to Austria

Sat 23rd September

Caught train to Gatwick and flew Easyjet to Berlin. Had a shit time getting to the hostel. I'd written down how to get from the airport to the hostel, but for the life of me could not find which train platform had the S9 on it!! Ended up catching a train into town and got off at Alexanderplatz. Went out front and looked for a cab. After about 15 mins I finally hailed one down. I speak crap all German so I tried to tell him where I wanted to go, and asked if he spoke English. He said no. He eventually figured out where I wanted to go (because he DID speak English as we then had a full on convo in the car, ffs.) Thought it was hilariously funny that the first song on the radio that I heard was Bruce Springstein.

10 Euros was worth the convenience and I was soon checking into the Generator Hostel. I was supposed to meet Mindy there and we were going to go out for dinner but it was quite late by then and by the looks of it, Mindy had already passed out on her bunk. Promptly did the same.

 

Sun 24th September

Woke up and officially met Mindy. We went down to breakfast and went on the net for a bit before checking into the Park Plaza next door. At reception we met Zak and Meigan. This place was comparative luxury to the Generator, it even had a hair dryer!! Standards are now set by me according to if they have a hairdryer or not...

We had a shower and then headed into town to see the TV Tower. A pair of homeless shoes sat in the square out the front. It was very odd. Went up the top and into instant giggle mode. We could not for the life of us stop laughing. I cant even remember what set it off but even in the lift with people around us in a confined space we could not stop. We ran around the top which overlooked the city yelling out random phrases in shit German such as "Der ist de Rhine" while pointing towards the river that snaked through the city....not the Rhine by the way and then "Der ist Chernobyl" upon spotting a nuclear power plant. Or what looked like a nuclear power plant from 2 kilometres away.

We found a line. We did not know what the line was for, but just like all good German citizens, we lined up. Once we got to the front we could see up some stairs to what looked like a restaurant, decided to stay in line seeing as it seemed so popular. We made it to the front of the line and felt uber special. (I can say uber and not feel like a tweenie nerd because uber is German for very, so ner hehe).

Up the prestigious stairs we found that the restaurant was a revolving one!!! We got a table overlooking all of Berlin and ordered some lunch. Mindy got soup and I ordered a pasta dish, but as we revolved we kept on going past the cake display and they looked ever so good, so we got a piece of Sachertorte cake and a Baileys Icecream Sundae and shared our desserts.

Rolled back to the hotel and at 6pm we headed to the hotel restaurant for our team meeting. Spotted a lot of couples but thankfully what seemed like no teenyboppers. Scanned the crowd, as you do, checked out the guys and then partially listened to our new Tour Manager Jane as she gave her opening spiel.

Afterwards we had dinner and I met Dave from Austin who I had been talking with on the net prior. He seemed very much like the person he portrayed online. We sat down with him and Alex from Montreal. Alex seemed like a very nice, quiet, polite guy. Bahahahahaha omg how wrong was I?! (Not in a bad way Alex, but if I only had to choose 3 words to describe you, it wouldn't be those hehe.) We also met Erick our token Mexican.

After dinner a group of us banded together to go and find some nightlife. I ended up being given the title of temporary tour guide (how little they realised I had come over to Europe planning to possibly apply for a Contiki Tour Manager job.) Our first stop was the TV Tower, again. A few of us waited outside while the others went up for a look. I marvelled that the homeless shoes were still right where we had last seen them, neatly placed together in the middle of the square. We then went to Hackeshermarkt and found an al fresco dining area. Ordered a few drinks and started to get to know each other. Dave, Alex and Erick had joined Mindy and I, along with Zak, Matt and Chris. Zak was a fellow WA'er like Mindy and myself and I was surprised when I later found out he was under 20. Matt & Chris were from the States and had one thing on their mind....ok two, but they kinda went hand in hand. To check out as much European nightlife as possible and hit on as many locals as they could. We some how came to the conclusion that we'd make a Euro porno called Sneaky Freaky on Contiki.

Had a few drinks and some of us went back to the hotel while the others tried to find a club with semi-successful results.

 

Monday 25th September

Up early and dragged our bags down to the bus. We met Peter our Driver and then piled on. Mindy and I scored seats to ourselves up the back as there were a few people missing. Played a musical chairs game and got to know a few people.
We stopped in Dresden for lunch. Dresden was the most bombed German city in WWII and you can still see some evidence around although most of the buildings have been refurbished to their former glory.

Mindy and I walked around with Simon for a bit, then headed to the Royal Palace for a looksie before lazing around on the grass playing with the pretty flowers. Then sat with Matt & Chris at a cafe for a while before heading back to the bus to continue our journey to the Czech Republic.

Arrived at the Hotel Step in Prague by early evening. It was situated in the middle of no where but was nice enough. Definately better than Concept tour cabins heh. After settling in a few of us made our way downstairs to the bowling alley. Got a beer and proceeded to play a few games. Zak was a brilliant bowler and he, Erick and I played against John, Rick and Mindy.

Later on we went on a night time walking tour and had a look at the Old Town Square with its churches and astrological clock, through the winding cobblestone streets to Charles Bridge.

Afterwards we had a bit of free time so we made our way to Wenceslas Square where John shouted a group of us Tequila shots. We then went to Karlovy Lazne, the 'Biggest Music Club in Middle Europe', as the neon lights advertised on the side of the building. It had 5 levels of different types of music and seemed alright. A bit too cliche and touristy probably considering its proximity to the overly touristed area of Charles Bridge.

Hung around for a bit and watched the dancefloor and then Mindy poledancing in our little booth. Laughed at the Vodka bottles which were named Wodka. We'd see this a lot in eastern europe where W's are pronounced as V's.

Stayed for a few hours then a few of us left and went in search of a feed. Could not find any kebabs after walking to the Old Town Square and back again so the boys settled for a pizza place back near the club.

Found two very pissed Yanks in the form of Matt and Chris who were stumbling up the laneway. They said they were drunk on Vodka but after a few probing questions I told them that they had in fact had the Czech Republic's famous drink, Becherovka. They asked me to make sure they got back to the hotel, so when we were organising taxis I put them in one with some of the others. But once we got back to the Hotel, they weren't in that taxi. Turned out the taxi driver didnt want too many people in his cab. Was a bit worried but they turned up the next morning alive and well.

 

Tuesday 26th September

Alas our Mexican, Erick had not.

He was rooming with Zak and at breakfast Zak told us he had not come back that night. This was a little worrying as we had no way of getting in touch with him.

Went back into town and had a local guide show us around Prague. He was pretty funny. On the way in I spotted an orange Lamborghini Murcielago, my dream car (but in purple). Literally creamed myself.

We started a walking tour with our guide up at Prague Castle and made our way down to Charles Bridge and once again to the Town Square.

The most interesting thing I saw was a moving statue of two guys pissing in a pond in the shape of the Czech Republic. (see video here)

The whole town though was swarming with tourists. It got a little aggravating after awhile. A few of us headed into the modern side of the city ironically in search of the Communism Museum. They had some interesting things on display and I would have loved to have had more time to watch a film they had on the Velvet Revolution and the Czech riots in 1989.

I picked up some great kitsch souvenirs though. Bought an assortment of communist propaganda postcards and an original Russian Red Star hat pin.

Did a bit of shopping with the girls afterwards then headed back to the bus.

I had gone up ahead of the group on the way back to the bus to buy some vintage porn postcards (as you do) that I had seen earlier, and at some point the group had passed me, I don't know when or how, but I missed the bus. Easy enough, I just caught a taxi back. Luckily I remembered the name of the hotel, unlike Erick our missing Mexican who had spent the night wandering the city because he didn't know the name of the hotel and thus couldn't get a taxi there. We found him safe the next morning though, so it was all good.

We got all dressed up back at the hotel and then caught the bus back in for our traditional Czech dinner. They had some traditional music and dancing going on and after awhile I could have been sure I could hear a dog yapping! I kept on hearing it until I looked up and realised it was the female dancer yelling YIIIPP!!! every few seconds. We couldn't believe it and every time she did it we would crack up laughing.

Our dinner was also very interesting. We had an entree of some asparagus wrapped in ham with half a tomato and some cream cheese whipped on top. Next course was a nice garlic soup, main course was an assortment of grilled animals and dessert was some nice crepes.

Afterwards Mindy wasn't feeling well so I used that as an excuse to also head back to catch up on some sleep while a few others went out clubbing.

 

Wednesday 27th September

Another early start and it was on our way to Vienna. Wasn't a long drive and before long we were in the middle of a driving tour of the city. We were then dropped off outside the Hofburg Palace where Hitler did lots of speeches from the huge balcony. Walked up to the main drag and were pointed in the direction of the Hotel Sacher, home of the original Sachertorte, a chocolate sponge cake with a layer of jam in the middle and covered in choc ganache.

I thought it tasted pretty average honestly, but the hot chocolate I ordered with it was awesome.

Started raining so we went to a net place for a bit before heading back to the bus.

Stayed at the Hotel Astana which was very nice. Settled in then headed back into town for dinner. A group of us went in search to find a famous schnitzel place. The plate we ordered was huge, however you could not see the plate because the whole thing was covered in a giant schnitzel!! Mammoth schnitzel!! I think they just squished a whole cow and covered it with breadcrumbs!

Full of schnitzel we then went in search for some form of nightlife. Went into one 'nightclub' thinking it may have been a strip joint which I personally was quite looking forward to, however once inside we spotted an intercom and a huge bolted door. Two other guys came in and used the intercom and were let in. We then realised we were in a brothel. Laughed ourselves stupid before running outside and continuing our hunt. We couldn't find any decent bar, pub or nightclub so we settled for an Aussie bar. We had spotted it earlier that day and tried ever so hard not to go in but we had to. Stayed for a short while, wrote our names on the wall, then I caught a taxi back to the hotel. Had a chatty African guy to talk to on the way back.  

      

       

      

 

Onto Hungary to Germany....