Staying out late and a near- mugging experience.

Well, as you can probably tell from the quality of the last blog, that night was a fairly late one ending up with us walking almost the entire tram track of Munich as we missed it by a minute, singing Angel Gabriel because we had met someone called Gabriel. It is potentially the first time in my life I have been NOT wearing an anorak and been in the minority at the club! A gathering appeared around the campfire at the tent and somehow we managed to persuade everyone that we knew where we were going and that they should follow us and come out. Very eclectic music involving irish jigs lots of elvis some cheeky madness and other random choices but Im pretty sure everyone had a good time, although none of us can really remember...

Needless to say the next morning was non existant. We managed to drag ourselves to mcdonalds sometime early afternoon, I attempted half a goulash and felt worse for it and then it was nap time again. We did wake up for another bonfire in the evening where we learnt the important life lesson of never getting involved when boys are trying to start a fire. And that was the end of friday. Turns out sleeping in the tent when you are not drunk is a lot colder than when you are!

Up nice and early the next morning for a long train to Berlin- which we just about made. I think everyone was ready for a few hours of non thinking time on the train. We also fitted in plenty of storytime, the new book just keeps getting worse and worse (or better and better depending how you look at it!) Arrived to Berlin around 5 and managed to traverse the city on the underground and find the hostel with no problems and no getting lost- definitely a first! Getting LOST in the hostel however is a different matter. It is ridiculously huge, and lurking round various corners are an art gallery, games room, pool, sauna, bar, restaurant, laundry, and a classic beach! (balcony with sand- just for jokes). It was saturday night and we were ready to go big, and we did. Drinking commenced around half nine and continued until way past 1 (thanks to a cheeky shop pitshop for yet another bottle of vodka). At 1 we headed allll the waz across the street to a club called matrix. Well, most of us did.... laura had to ahem... retire a little early. IT was 10 euros entry, but so worth it! and that is not something I say lightly! The music was great (so much sean paul) and we took great care in showing off our ever-growing collection of dance moves- including the christmas tree, the parrot, and the robin thicke to name but a few.

I looked at my watch and realized it was 5.30- but I didnt care we just kept dancing! It was about 6.45 by the time me and lizzie headed back, with sally following just after 7 winning the record for latest night out so far. All this meant that our full day of intensive sightseeing wasnt really that intensive yesterday, and it considered of eating a currywurst, looking at the wall, checkpoint charlie then recovering with 20 mcnuggets and a giant slushie which made us all feel worse! Oh, and we had a near mugging incident, as in a woman had lizzies purse in her hand and was pulling it off the table and we were too tired to notice. BUt we did at the last moment- phew! Lizzie assures me she was ready for a chase, but im dubious!

No where near enough time in Berlin- will definitely be coming back for a long weekend or week or something to fully get to grips with it but today is the last day our interail pass is valid so we will be trekking it to amsterdam today! Off to look at some more wall just to say we have done something today then off to lidl to buy a picnic for the train

xxx

Summer to Autumn in 24 hours!

So after nearly a week in italy and yet more foundering at blog writing due to lack of internet, here we are coming to you from Munich! Venice was awesome, plenty of pasta, pizza, risotto and even more canals and cute coloured buildngs! After two days we found it expensive and also found that every pic of a canal with some nice buildings looks fairly similar, so on the third morning hanging by the pool and sun tanning was deffo the priority. It felt so cheeky to be lying in the sun on a weekday morning in septemeber. I think, despite all my travelling I have ever been away in September. It was great, but we did have to eventually leave, taking the slow train to verona to save ourselves 10 euros on a seat reservation. Once we made it to Verona, we met Lauras former housemate lucy who is joining us for a few days and also realized that between us we had all failed to write down directions to the hostel. In fact we couldnt even remember the name of the one we had booked. After much searching for wifi and a dubious map, involving various peoples recollections / feelings... We made it to sleep easy hostel after only 1 check of the internet in a cafe and one visit to an atm- 25 euro a night! steep!!!

By the time we had floundering finding the place and a suitable restaurant for dinner, it was 8 oclock and time for me and liyyie to attend the opera! how sophisticated! shame the others didnt want to join us.Yes, it was expensive, but it was also set in a former roman arena over 2000 years old and it doesnt get much better than that it terms of performance venue! We watched Verdis Aida with set design from 1913, it was incredible the sheer scale of it! At many points over 300 people were on the stage and the sets were over 3 storeys tall! Basically any opera i see in the future will pale in comparison, but also it was super long! After an hour, the first intermission of three came along, which considering, it was already 10pm was fairly dubious! We succumbed and paid 3 euro each for an ice cream if nothing else but to keep us awake! Even so, I spent most of the third act asleep on my own knee- shameful for a music student I know! But the end was awesome- we even got a cheeky mexican wave going from the huge crowd- and we finally started walking home at 1.30! Epic.

Our next full day in Verona was lovely. super hot but super touristy. We did however, find a cheap place for salad for lunch, the first healthy meal in a long time! Then. juliets house, followed by a castle and a river and an opera museum with a moving verison of nessun dorma then more food then train station- where I seem to be living my life these days!

Next stop Milan! Fashion capital of the world, but sadly not for us. Although we did stay in a hotel as opposed to a hostel! Classy! Although this did lead to a rather tense argument over the price... No it is not acceptable to cahrge 2 extra a night for linen and wifi (basic services) plus 2 a night tourist tax! Laura and Lizzy argued like troupers and we ended up saving 25 euros ! win!  Otherwise Milan was great. Fun for people watching and ice cream and apparently museums as Laura and the gang spent half their time in them whilst me and lucy were sipping drinks in a nearby bar!

After a cheeky mcdonalds ... and a late night overnight train (beds and everything super luxury!) here we are in Munich germany. Not going to lie I am plenty of beers in and we are heading out. We have been cooped up for too long and have a 24 hour tram ticket! We are staying in a giant circus tent and it is pissing down with rain so we have spent most of the day shivering under 8 blankets each- other than that bought some jeans from h and m and ate thai for lunch, just like being in england really! Tomorrow is lucys bdaz so we are going big! but tonight there is apparently some alternative rock and roll night with is the onlz free entry thing in town so we are off!  Sally is convinced we are off for a morning jog round the park surrounding the tent but who knows! Right time to take off the flip flops and socks combo and sort myself out for a night out! who would have thought yesterdaz was summer in Italy and today is autumn in Milan- nightmare! xxxx

xxx

Ciao Italia!

So Austria definitely didn.t get much of a mention in the last post- good job this place (the italian cheap version of centreparks) has free internet! So we left Vienna in the morning and made the most of our train pass by stopping of in Salzburg (the home of mozart) for a few hours. Half of that time was spent working out how to operate the left luggage lockers, and the other half was being sat in a cafe where sally ordered chilli con carne, despite the fact she doesnt like kidney beans. Funnily enough she didnt like it! So laura had to sacrifice her meal to eat it whilst Sally tucked into yet another combination of bread and chicken... So far we have not succeeded in making her a non-fussy eater!

Next stop was bad gastein- a ski resort- funnily enough there was not a whole lot going on while we were there. Good news though, in that clearly the hostel shuts off-season so the dorms we had booked were upgraded to a suite complete with tv balcony and ensuite, and buffet breakfast! which soon turned into a competition of who can steal the most sandwiches to last the whole day. After 2 nights there having not had a hot meal in over 2 days... our first taste of pizza in italy today was immense!

We did manage to get in some good mountain hikes. It was like fake countryside, so green and so blue! We walked for a few hours and then Sally and Lizzie decided to be adventurous and head off on a mountain trail. Me and Laura carried on the same path and half an hour later came across a cafe in the most ridiculously picturesque loction. We had to celebrate the moment with some wine and berries and ice cream and whipped cream, obvs... Feeling revitalised we strolled the 3 hours or so back to the hotel, via a supermarket which added an extra hour to the journey and bought the other girls a feast of cider crisps, chocolate, biscuits, and an apple for health...  We set it all up on the balcony and waited... and waited.... and when they finally returned for their mountain adventure they were too tired to make it up the stairs for the feast and went to the nearby takeaway for some classic chicken and bread (made worse by the fact the guy recognized them from ordering the chicken and bread the night before!)

After another busy morning stealing sandwiches for lunch and dinner we trekked up another mountain side for some good views before the train. Fairly uneventful day taken up with travelling to Venice... but we are having story time reading a vampire trilogy which is so ridiculously awful we are quite enjoying it. Arrived into Venice at 6 ish and snuck onto the shuttle to our campsite an hour later. Within 10 minutes of arrival me and Lizzie were at the minimart with 4, 1 litre bottles of wine costing 1,80 each... surprisingly not that awful! We dumped our bags in the tents and headed to the campsite disco... which went on a lot longer than expected because the dj was too busy kissing some girl in the corner to turn off the music. Ideal.

Still, I was up at 9 for a cheeky morning swim and jacuzzi sesh before we got the shuttle to central venice for a full daz of exploring. Everything people have said about Venice seems true... super pretty but super touristy. We lasted about 5 mins in the main square before we had to abort to some scenic side streets. We also almost had a breakdown when a shop tried to charge 3.50 for a can of coke! We also made sure to have pasta and pizza on our first day in italy.... why not!

More swim time tomorrow before more exploring. Laura is on about finding an art gallery which means I should take a book, music and food supplies for a long daz of sitting around outside. Brill!

wine, wine more wine and austria- where we cant afford wine!

So, turns out that the further west you go in Europe, the stingier hostels get with their internet and you end up having to type a whole blog on a kindle. Nightmare. The story leaves off in Belgrade. It was raining again, so we did the sensible thing and went to see some Matt Damon at the cinema before catching our second night train. This time we had out own cabin but the seats were super ungodly, even so wepowered through left our luggage at Budapest station and jumped on the 7 am train to a place called eger.

We got our fill of culture in the morning at a castle which was more like a fortress. Laura and Lizzie loved the art gallery, me and sally were more dubious! She however loved the history section, I preferred the wine tasting in the afternoon. Half an hour walk from the station was the valley of the nice women or something like that and there is this super cute semi circle of 40 or so Mini wine cellars. You taste a couple and then the tense moment comes when you have to commit to buying a full glass- a big commitment when you consider that each glass is 60p!!

Feeling slightly tipsy we transport jogged it back to the station and headed to Budapest for the second time that day. We had booked into a place called  instant groove party hostel, and had high expectations. They were not disappointed. Budapest is the place to be at a weekend and we made the most of it. Turns out, the hostel is the second floor of this ginormous club, absolute win when you can walk through security, skip the queue, bottle of vodka in hand to head to the common room. It also explains why lizzie found herself in flip flops three sizes too big toothbrush in bra and glass of water in hand at half four in the morning because I heard daft punk through my pillowcase and decided that sleep could wait a little . Longer.


Laura and sally bailed early the first night but brought it back the second night when they gave up on the reggae room at half five. The club was like a maze! Literally every genre you can think of had its own room, we even found a foosball table, a napping area and a disco pig hanging from the ceiling. It's a wonder we ever made it out the hostel building the whole weekend but we also managed to check out some cool ruins bars and of course the sights of Budapest. Somehow we even managed to fit in a circus with actual elephants, tigers, and parrot that clearly did not do what had been rehearsed.

After three nights, we were all knackered but had all pretty much decided that Budapest was deffo way up there in terms of places we have visited so far... sadly we had to leave as we feared the disco pig could strand us there forever!

Next stop Austria- vienna actually! Well the prices were a shock for one thing! No monies for food and wine anymore! Nightmare. First I impressions of vienna- how suave are the people- men especially. We defs looked worse  than the tramps wandering round in anorak s and flip flops wristbands from the weekend hanging off arms and spotty face galore from too much pizza and vodka. Due to ridiculous prices we had to leave after one night,but we did manage a birthday party for lizzie including salmon and potatoes- shame we left the potatoes at the till... oh and cake... oh wait there was no oven at the hostel. And how can I forget the wine... and the lack of corkscrew. All in all a successful evening.

Since vienna we have been loving life in Austria but are heading tomorrow to..... Venice! Fingers crossed for more internet access... doubtful as we are camping to save money!