Busabout, Bruges, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Gruneau, Munich.

We (me and Sister Bee) did our Europe adventure on a Busabout tour. The big blue and orange buses for 8 weeks. We loved it!

The tour guides were really good (mostly) I have a biased opinion since I haven't done Inter rail but I would say Busabout is a much better way to go. They take you straight to the hostels, tell you info on the cities as you drive in and organise tours for you. And it means no hanging out at dirty train stations being chatted up tramps!
Not that we didn't get a few of those experiences anyway.

Bruges is a really pretty city. Its quite old school with its cobbled streets, which I love, and old buildings.

 

You can pretty much walk around and explore the whole city in 2 days, take a little boat ride around the canals and most importantly and culturally. . . . . eat chocolate.

Don't tell me you don't want to hear about the truffles we ate. No?

Well I'll tell you anyway.
We got a selection (it took us a good 15mins to decide. Standard) We got one of each to share, pure chocolate freshly made truffles with a great variety of fillings, we had: coconut, peach, vanilla, caramel, rum, banana, amaretto and Baileys. Oh boy, they were good! Plus the Belgian waffles. . . . . not too bad either!

We also 'settled' into hostel life. I forgot some of the horrors of hostel living. The shared bathroom, the dodgy bedsheets, the other 'roomies' walking in at all hours and then getting up at 7am to rustle endless plastic bags FOR NO REASON! Is this some kind of new thing like planking? I get planking, Ive done planking. I don't get the plastic bag rustling at 7am thing though.

Ah whatever. I'm totally over it.

Amsterdam was really good fun. Although our hostel was the worst of the worst. Pure prison cell atmosphere it was pretty dire.
The weather also sucked a lot when we were there, but let me tell you, rain does not matter when your drunk on a pub crawl!

Amdam definitely has as many 'coffee shops' as you would expect, the smell of doobies is everywhere and the red light district is just as fascinating as you could imagine! Just stay away from the blue lights, or you may just get an extra surprise!

Red light district

Of course there is also the cultural side to Amdam, Anne Frank's house, the canals, bikes, Wok to Walk!!
Apart from the bad weather for half of our time there we did get an amazing day which we spent in Vondel park. It is officially my favourite park in the whole world! So pretty, so much people watching to do, so much bike admiring to do, loads of little ponds and fountains and grass for sunbathing! I'm a sucker for a good park on a sunny day.

In Berlin we did an AMAZING 4 hour walking tour. Sounds long but it was so good. All about the history of Berlin, the World wars, Hitler, Checkpoint Charlie. It was really fascinating. I really enjoy learning new things and especially small bits of info like; the Jewish memorial which was created not long ago in the City, is covered in anti-graffiti paint. However the paint is supplied by the same company who produced the cyanide for the concentration camps. . . . . . . because all these companies had to do what they were told during Hitler's regime.

Jewish memorial


We also saw where Hitler's bunker used to be. It is now obviously covered in, there is nothing there so it cannot become a shrine to him. But now where it was are large apartment blocks and a patch of grass where the residents take their dogs to shit!

Where Hitler's bunker stood

I definitely recommend anyone going to Berlin to do a walking tour.

We also went to see the East side gallery. . . . . . The Berlin Wall with all the paintings on by artists all over the World.

 

Also went to a museum which weirdly has the gates of Babylon in! Was pretty interesting.


Prague next. I thought it was a little over-rated?! The castle was nice, the city was quite pretty. . . . . . that's all I have to say really which says it all! Although we did spend a night at a 5 floored club which was fun, drinking wine by the half pint in plastic cups and jammin with hundreds of 15year old kids!
Plus the weather sucked!!

But feel free to prove me wrong!

Prague city

Window from the castle cathedral

Vienna was really pretty. We arrived in the early evening to a beautiful sunny day. The whole bus went on a 'walk and fork' tour! Our guide brought along schnapps and snacks while we went on a tour of the city then ended at a restaurant to have salad, schnitzel and strudel!
Who doesn't love a night of 70% schnapps, snacks, salad, schnitzel and strudel?!
The Austrians sure know how to make a mean schnitzel. . . . . . bigger than our heads! Ummm Yum.

Found a great patisserie in the city which has a pretty secret 'museum' downstairs where they keep all the old window displays all made from marzipan, cake and chocolate. I LOVE to find the hidden gems in cities where no one really knows to go.

Gruneau in the Austrian mountains was SO beautiful. We stayed at a home stay there, this guy, his dogs, home cooked food and a really cosy log fire with board games and bottles of coke!

We spent our first afternoon going on a walk up to the mountains with amazing views whilst wearing his rather fetching ski jackets. (If you have ever seen Twilight, and don't lie now, the scenery really reminded me of the mountains in the film)

We went horse riding for the first time in 10years in the morning along the river with mountain views. In the afternoon we went on a 12k cycle into town to get food and have a picnic, indulging in some cheap traveller wine that we all love, with 4 Aussies.

The 4 of us girls then went on another 12k cycle over to a lake called Almsee, up some steep hills which my bike did not care much for. It wasn't me it was the bike I swear!!
The lake was really beautiful, clear turquoise water from the mountains which was really still so the reflection of the mountains was pretty awesome.
It was a really pretty evening with the sunshine coming through the trees so I was ok cycling at the back of the group all the way home, I told you it was the bike's fault.

 

Back to the home to a log fire, beer, food and a lot of games of uno.

Off to Munich next. Where we celebrated our first night by having a nice greasy chicken and chips on the steps on a building and getting applauded by an old couple driving past. Possibly because we were getting really stuck in, or because they were laughing at how disgusting we looked?!

Went to the Hofbrauhouse which is the biggest beer hall in the city. It is massive! The inside seems endless with all the long wooden tables crammed with people drinking and chowing down on major portions of pork! The waiters and waitresses wearing Lederhosen and Dirndls. Awesome!!

But sitting in the beer garden over a litre of beer and getting given a 16yr old's number on a napkin is one great way to spend an evening!

From Munich we also went to the Dachau concentration camp, the first camp opened in Germany. It had a large crematorium area next to the gas chamber which was never used here but was so eery to walk through. It was really fascinating. Quite a surreal place to be really to know that such horrible things happened there but all these places are such a big part of history that it is a good thing to see and learn about.

But let me lighten the mood. This is the end of chapter 1 of my Europe adventures. I know you're excited.

Stay tuned for Chapter 2. . . . . Italia!

I am home!

I am home!
I have finally returned from my latest adventure travelling around Europe for 2 months. I had the BEST time... although everytime I travel I have the best time.

The one thing that I just love most about travelling is the escape. Being able to leave behind 'real life' and go and have a crazy adventure, doing new and exciting things everyday, meeting awesome people from around the world, eating some great food, and drinking beer by the litre!

The only things I ever worry about are if my flip flop is going to break as I'm hiking through a forest, or if my bungee rope will snap or if the sharks I'm snorkelling with are going to turn on me. (I survived all of the above don't worry)

So I thought for my first few blogs now I'm back would be to tell you all about my favourite places, some good stories and add in a few of my favourite photos, just to make you all jealous!