Today I took Kieran out for 1 of her Birthday presents. Not knowing what was in store. We travelled by train for an hr to get to the north of London and then a cab ride had us out the front of horse stables. Kieran now thinking we were going horse riding. I had to ask the stable ladies if I had the right place she soon found out what we were doing. ZORBING!. At the moment I asked the stable ladies we found the zorb operator as we had to hop into her 4wd and get taken through the fields to the hill where our plastic ball roll was to take place.
Talking to the operators and deciding on which one we wanted to do. Wet or Dry were our options. We chose Dry as there was less effort for us and more of an experience with the tumbling. The wet looked liked it was more of a ride down a hill in a bath than zorbing.
Superman diving through the entry/exit hole. Kieran was strapped in first then glen as Kieran dangled over head. We were ready for our first roll (we paid for 2). Kieran was rolling head first into the ground as I was coming around behind her with my feet first. Going around and around with the operators pushing us from behind. Before we knew it the first roll was over, with a few screams from Kieran along the way. We were birthed out of the ball coming out hands first. We hopped back in the 4wd and taken back up the hill for our second go.
Second turn down the hill and this time Glen was going down head first. The first go around Kieran could feel the pressure on the back of her head as she rolled over the ground. The second turn was the same as the first but with a few less screams from Kieran and more of a sound of relief when we got to the bottom. Removing the straps and getting out again out time of zorbing was all over. Back in the 4wd to be returned to the gate.
Afterwards we went to the pub over the road for a drink and some chips as we made sure to only have a light lunch before the tumbling.
This weekend we went away to Liverpoool, home of the Beatles. We headed away with Kristen and Jeff. Kristen could get some cheap tickets for the trains through her work so we all took the chance to go up there.
While in Liverpool we did a 3 hrs black cab tour of all the places now made famous by the Beatles. We definitely got our moneys worth and our knowledge banks full of Beatles information. We saw the houses and even the hospital where John Lennon was born! There is a lot of these spots still on the tourist route although they have changed function over the years.
We spent our Saturday night out at the Cavern night club (where the Beatles first performed) leaving in the wee hours to find the masses of stag and hens doos surrounding us as we left! It is definitely a place for these kind of parties as the trash was out that night.
Sunday we had a bit of a lay in, a walk back to the shops for a look around. A nice lunch and a choose your own milkshake where we could add in anything we wanted. Think coldrock of the milkshake world. Kieran was in Heaven.
Getting home just the night before at 11pm, we were lucky to have pre packed some clothes before leaving for Belgium. Today we were off to Scotland for Daniel and Shelley’s wedding. Arriving in Edinburgh we made our way to the hostel upon arrival we met the rest of the gang and had to quickly get ready for the night out on the town for the bucks and hens nights.
This was to be only a small and intimate wedding. In total there were 20 of us. Having a big night out and making our way back to the hostel around 3-4am (its all a bit cloudy). Waking the next morning for check out at 10:30 and to get our bus to Hoscote house where we will be spending our next few days and where the wedding will be taking place.
On the almost 2 hr bus journey to Hoscote house I am sure most of the bus slept from their big nights previous. We were in a rather large bus as the mini coach we were meant to have broke down and we were in a replacement. This was wonderful news as we all got 2 seats to ourselves to spread out on. Upon arrival and making our way up the drive way the house looked amazing on approach. We were all shown to our rooms most in the main house. Kieran, Me, Craig and Shannon were all staying in a cottage still on the property but a bit of a walk from the main house. Upon locating our cottage it was amazing. It looked really nice and modern inside with some very comfy and luxurious furniture inside. We were wondering if this is what our accommodation looks like the main house can only be better, and it was! Just have a look at some of the pictures.
After arrival we had a late lunch before going on a grand tour of the house. That afternoon the men were to enjoy the comforts of the gym with a sauna and a spa. It was a wonderfully relaxing way to spend the afternoon. The house had a rule of no alcohol allowed in the spa which was unfortunate as they forced us to break it.
While the men were bonding in the spa and sauna the women were having a [Kieran will fill in what the women did]
That night we had a barbeque dinner; this was a good way for me (Glen) and Kieran to meet the members of the family we had no yet had time to talk with. It was kept very much as men and women until this point. The dinner was wonderful and well cooked if I do say so myself (not just cos I cooked it).
The next morning the day of the wedding the young men woke early for an hr long run then back to the house to get ready for our 8am trip to a clay pigeon shooting field for some shooting and breakfast. We started with breakfast and then had a brief instruction from the shooting teacher. The teacher would stay in the box as we all took turns shooting at the clay. It was a competition. We were scored for a hit and the person with the most at the end would get a prize. Needless to say it was not I who won. This could be seen as a good thing.
Returning back to the house we had lunch and then off to get ready for the wedding.
While the men were out shooting pieces of clay the women were [Kieran will fill in what the women did]
Getting dolled up we walked down the path to the main house. It felt good to be separated from the main house as it felt like we were going to the wedding not just downstairs. Meeting the other guest and the bag piper who we followed to the walled garden where the ceremony was taking place. Finding our seats and getting ready for the arrival of the groom (or boys in kilts I should say) we then had the arrival of the bride and the beginning of the ceremony……..fill in the rest…say something nice about the shortness.
The reception took place in the formal dining room. We had a delicious 3 course dinner and a main course of lamb. [Side note: travelling up in the bus the days before we drove past many fields with sheep and I am confident to say I was not the only one with a craving for lamb]. Like all good weddings we ended the night by dancing it away, the odd lone men moshpit and a slow dance. Ending the night by eating some haggis and mash in the most Scottish place I have ever been. It was a really nice and intimate wedding.
We had breakfast the following day with the entire group after which we headed back into Edinburgh for our farewells. Kieran and I stayed on an extra day to see some more of the city and do a walking tour. In true Scottish fashion it rained while on that walking tour, this means the 2 times Kieran has been there it has rained both and been super windy. That’s it Scotland you have had your chance. If it was not for the good times we had at the wedding we would have written you off as a whole but we thank you for your picturesque country side and a place where our friends Daniel and Shelley can have fond memories of their wedding day in your country side. Thanks to Daniel and Shelley too for the invitation to be part of their special day together.
Being summer in Europe we had to take advantage of at least one festival this year. As Glen missed this festival in 2008 by being back in Aus we decided to go to it this year. A group of friends were going so why not join in and go see some awesome bands for cheaper than in the UK and get a holiday overseas as well.
Kieran, me and a few others headed out on Wednesday night on the eurostar (train) to Belgium. It takes just over 2hrs to get to Brussels. We decided to go a day earlier as the price of the morning tickets went up dramatically by the time we went to book. It was cheaper to go the night before and stay in a hostel. Going the night before meant we didn’t have to get up at 4am to catch the eurostar.
Meeting up with the rest of the group (there were 10 of us in total) the next day we caught a train from Brussels to Leuven then from Leuven we caught a bus to Werchter where we then had (I would say) a 2km walk to our camp ground. There was no pre determined area that you had to camp in. We went to one which was close to the festival grounds, although it was still a 15min walk away! Trudgin g all our camping equipment to the ground we finally made it and started to set up our campsite. It was Thursday and turned out to be a 34 degrees Celsius that day. Once setup it was time for a drink and a chill out in our chairs. The first bands did not start playing until 4pm and it was only 2pm when we had finished setting up.
Come 4pm we wandered down to the festival grounds having a look around and listening to some music it was an awesome way to start the 4 days of music, beer and sunshine. The festival only had 2 stages making it easy to go from stage to stage to see the band you wanted.
The next few days pretty much all went by in the same fashion of getting up around 8-9am or whenever the sun or loud people would wake you. Sit around the camp site till around 2-4pm depending when the band was on we wanted to see. Then come home have a bit of a wash down (no showers so it was all baby wipes or a wet washer) then off to bed around 12-3am.
On the Friday it reached an amazing 42degrees Celsius. This was the day we built a shelter from the sun using a tarpaulin, string and our towels to shade us. You couldn’t really sit under it but you could lay down which was good enough for us. We would only find out the temperature on the way to the festival ground each day. On the Saturday there was some rain but it was mostly nice and warm. It was amazing to have such hot weather. Only prob lem was at the festival there wasn’t much shade so we had to cram into any shady spot we could. There was no going in any mosh pit for us that day.
On the last day we had a full day in Brussels to spend our time before our 8pm train home. We left the camp site at a comfortable time without any rushing around. We decided to leave our tent behind. It had served us well for Glastonbury (link to old post), [Kieran] Rock Werchter 08 and 2010. We said our good byes and to one of our well serviced sleeping bag which had seen the likes of Turkey (twice), Egypt (twice), the above festivals, and 10 other countries in Europe. Bidding our farewells we left and headed back into Brussels to be a tourist for the afternoon and lazily make our way home.
Some of the highlight bands we saw were: FAITHLESS, MUSE, LA ROUX, SKUNK ANANSIE, GREEN DAY, P!NK, FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, THE TEMPER TRAP, RAMMSTEIN, PEARL JAM, ARCADE FIRE, THEM CROOKED VULTURES, VAMPIRE WEEKEND, EMPIRE OF THE SUN
It was a wonderful way to spend a few days off work, sure there were no showers but you can live with that for some wonderful hot weather and sunshine. Along with great music and hanging with friends.
I (Glen) had always wanted to do the monopoly pub crawl in London. It has been over 3 years coming. Finally I decided to do it on Saturday June 26, 2010. What is a Monopoly pub crawl I hear you saying? Well it is a pub crawl where you go to every street on the monopoly board including the stations and have a drink (half pint and alcoholic). Obviously you leave out the power and water station along with GO and hopefully gaol (Jail in my version..grr) Many of the organised tours do not stop at all 26 board locations. Do to this I had given myself 2 challenges. 1 to get me and my group around all locations and 2 have a drink at each location (this equates to 13 pints)
We started our first drink at 11am and had our last one at 11:45pm. We did not follow the order of the board but we did make it to all 26 locations and have a drink. Towards the end as expected the metaphoric baton was starting to slip out of my hand as I had more and more drinks. Trying to find my way to the next pub was getting tougher and tougher. With only 3 pubs left Kieran stood up and took the baton and ran (what a champion helping us get drunk and complete our challenge). We got all the way to the last pub and in stupid London fashion pubs close at 12pm but serve last drinks at 11:30. It was 11:30 when we got to the last one! Not content with this Daniel, Craig and I continued on down the street till we found a pub open and serving this completed our 26pubs.
Along the way of the crawl we ran into many other groups doing it, some were dressed up with the whole group. I just wore a tuxedo. Another group was on a stag do and they were having shots or whole pints at the stops. Needless to say we didn’t see them at the end.
I would like to thank all those who attended and started with the first drink and made it all the way around. It was a great effort boys and if we do it again next time we know where to go and the streets to change the order of.
For my Glen’s birthday Kieran surprised him with dinner at Dans Le Noir which is a restaurant where you eat completely in the dark. You cannot see your meal or anything for that fact. You get a choice of, selecting a meal you know, or choose a surprise meal. There are 3 surprise meals to choose from. These are the green (vegetarian), red (meat) and white (anything fish, veggie, meat). Kieran chose the meat (red) and Glen chose the anything (or white). Along with the birthday meal we had surprise drinks. We took our champagne in the waiting area before our waiter came to seat us. The interesting thing about the wait staff is that they are all blind.
They were served by Karl (an Australian oddly enough from the central coast NSW). Entering the dinning area through double curtains to lock out all light they had to walk close together with hands on shoulders in a line. Lead to their seats and told where everything was, having a feel around to make sure they had it correctly located. Before going in we had to remove anything shiny or with a light feature, there went the watches and phones into a locker.
We were given our starters and not knowing what the food we were eating was we found it interesting to try and guess. Kieran started telling Glen what she had got and Glen was thinking he had the same meal, yes there was a salad but the meats were completely different. The starters were Pigeon breast salad for Kieran and a lobster and caviar salad for Glen. They both failed in guessing their starters. Next came the main meal, the meat was all severed pre cut so you could use the knife and fork if you wanted but it was not necessary to use them. Glen tried as best he could to remain civilised and use the cutlery while Kieran tucked straight in with fingers. Having guessed they were eating similar meals. Only Kieran chose correctly in her guess of steak. She had wild boar and sirloin steak. While Glen thought he also had steak turned out to be Kangaroo and Zebra. If you have any problems eating Zebra don’t worry it clearly tastes like steak but then again Glen thought lobster was chicken (by persuasion of the mind). Lastly was the dessert both had the same meal this time and both thought it was something like a peach. It turned out to be dates. Alas they will never make it on master chef for tasting food.
It was a wonderful experience and worth the money. To experience a meal as a blind person and to actually think about your food and knowing where you placed that glass of water or even pouring that glass!
Today was the day of the Big ride. It is a 54 mile (87km) bike ride from London to Brighton in the south. Getting up at 6:20am to get ready and be at the start line for our 8am start time. We (Craig Fuller and I) drove the bikes to the start line and met up with the rest of our group (there were 6 of us in total). Joining the 8am start queue we finally crossed the start line at 8:23am (I started my gps tracker at this time). With over 26,000 people they had to stagger the groups some how.
The start is just getting out of London which wasn’t too bad there were only a few spots where we had to walk and as it is mostly flat there were no problems cycling in such a large group yet.
Once out of London we were into the green fields, this is where we made our first pit stop. Mostly so Craig could pump up his tyres, have a wee stop and get some food in. It was only 9:30 and I was already starving. We had lost 2 of our group already but they were cycling together so no problem there.
Cycling on further and past more hills was time for our second pit stop this is where we met up with the others. We were a group again although not for long. After this pit stop I pushed on a bit harder setting myself a better pace on the bike. I did keep looking to see if anyone else had kept up but there was no one to be seen, I just pressed on. At the hills it is hard to ride up them, not because they are steep but because the other riders who don’t want to ride up just stop and walk. This feeds down the hill and you have no option but to hope off and walk up. This slows down the pack and adds large amounts of time onto you day.
I stopped once more after a few more miles to get some more food and a power drink in from my bag me; I did have a camel bag on but needed something more than water. At this point I thought I would ring Craig to find out where he was. This was to be impossible as my phone had decided to run out of power possible due to the gps tracking application sucking the life out of it. Also to note at this point I did take a camera with me also but on the day of the ride it decided to stop working. So I have limited to no pictures during the ride. Without anyway to contact the others, I decided not to wait at the pit stop for them as I had no idea how far they might be back and trying to located them in the masses of riders could be hard. I pushed on alone.
Make some good speed and distance on the total (not knowing how far I had gone now due to dead gps) route. I was starting to burn some serious calories. It was now that I was feeling super hungry. Having eaten all the food I brought I pulled over for a final pit stop. I chose the best food going and got a (fully loaded) burger down my neck. Now fully fuelled I powered on. Making it to the last village before the famous (on the ride only) Ditchling Beacon. This is the steepest hill on the whole ride and many walk up. I along with all the other cyclists were held in this village for around an hour. A guy had a heart attack on the way up and needed to be air lifted. We later found out he died which is very sad as he was doing the ride to raise money for the heart foundation. It was an alright wait although our legs were cooling down which is not good for the next part of the ride. There was a little girl handing out apples which I thought was very kind of her. While in the village I actually met up with 2 other cyclist from our group. Its amazing out of all the people you can actually find people from your group. While in the village the police were keeping the group informed of what was going on and how long before we might get going.
Finally we were on our way. The back log of people set out to a fanfare of bicycle bells. Making our way up the hill the walkers to the left and the riders on the right. I made it a mini challenge to myself at the start of the day I was going to make it all the way up the hill and I was very glad I accomplished that challenge. It was tough trying to ride up a hill in such a low gear with so many other riders around you. You could not get a good pace going at all. Once at the top there is yet another pit stop where you can take in the view. I had a quick look around without stopping and continued on my way into Brighton. Once up the hill it is a free ride down. No more hills to ride up, only down and on flats. At one point the guy I was behind the way down clocked 45mph (I asked him when at the bottom).
It took me a while to complete. We went through the start gate at 8:23am, I didn’t cross the finish line until 15:36. In total it was just over 7 hours although there were a few delays and bottle necks with walkers and the sheer volume of people. I am proud of the time I did. It truly is an experience to take part in for the fact of having the roads to yourself (as a London cyclist this never happens) and to be riding with so many other people. All through the little villages people come out or sat outside their homes to cheer you on. One village had a brass band playing and people singing along. There is a great sense of camaraderie at the end and the sense of achievement is wonderful.
Thanks so much for your support and donations. In total we raised over £500 for the British Heart foundation which I think is a great effort.
This weekend it was a long weekend in the UK. Seeing as we hadn’t seen some places still left in the UK we took this opportunity to explore them, that and airports are always super mental on these weekends.
Saturday First stop on the train trip weekend was to Stratford-upon-Avon, Birthplace of William Shakespeare. Some of you regular readers will know that Glen visited here back in 2007 with his free tour of the UK
A semi early train of 9:10am had us there at 11:15. Getting off the train and heading into to town to find out what there was to do we decided to walk to the tourist information centre just to you know make sure we were doing the right tourist things. In the wet cold rain with our umbrellas held over our heads we trudged off down the road, only to find that the information centre had moved and was now back at the centre of town. We took the time to have a look around at the canal boats and a monument to Shakespeare. The information centre held nothing of new interest to us. By this time I (Glen) was getting cold. I had decided not to take a jacket and had on only a thin jumper. Searching the shops for a cheap option I settled on a white pull over. Now all nice and warm but still annoyed at the rain. We went to Shakespeare birth house.
We were lucky enough to get tickets off some friends who had been there at Easter. The tickets last for a year and they had them for all the houses. So with our free entry we went along to visit the houses which were close to town. [ok so its not a good thing to rip of a historical preservation society and I know all the money is put to good use but I am a poor back packer. When I am a multimillionaire I promise to come back and give them money for 2 full price Adults.]
We ended up walking around 4 of the 5 houses with a nice walk, although long to get to Anne Hathaway’s (his wife) family home. The others were a dig site to work out the floor plan of one of his homes which was demolished by a future tenant. Another was the house his daughter lived in with her husband.
We took the time to go and see his grave inside the local church. Last time I was there I could not visit it as there was a wedding taking place. We finished our day in Stratford-upon-Avon by having a delicious meal in a pub before making our way home on the train. It felt like one of the longest train trips we had taken in ages although it was only 2.5hrs long.
Sunday Up early to head off and see the 2nd town for the weekend. We were on our way to Cambridge. An early train at 8:30am meant another early start. The good thing about the train to Cambridge is that its only 1hr from London so no epic hauls like the day before. We walked what felt like a long time to the centre of town. Deciding like the day before we wanted to see what the tourist information centre had to offer. Finding that it was closed until 11am we had about an hr to kill so a little walk around some market stall, with Kieran and I both picking up new belts. We then went for some coffee, hot chocolate and scones right near the city square.
Making our way back to the information centre only to realise every other tourist had the same idea we reluctantly joined the queue. We left booked onto a walking tour which was about to start in 10mins and a self punt hire along the back of the universities.
The walking tour was good and a decent amount of time was spent walking in 2 of the Uni grounds and learning about the history.
When that finished at 2 we went for a bite to eat in a pub. A pub which is where the announcement for finding DNA was made and a ceiling which has WW2 RAF pilots names burnt onto it. With bellies full of food and drink. What a perfect time to go punting. There was a real trick to punting as we found out and good thing we got some tips from one of the drivers before giving it a go ourselves. Only having an hr to play around on this thing we set off to go up river. Trying to battle all the other punts and stay on course. There were a few shunts here and there, at one point Kieran almost fell in as the pole got stuck in the mud. None of us fell in though we all stayed dry and had a good time on the river.
After the watercraft experience we went for a walk around the town to see what the other parts held. Mostly it was due to Glen wanting to go find some beer expo he saw was on “today” in the tourist centre. Finding the correct park and discovering there was no beer we walked back and ducked into the first pub we saw for a cheeky beer. Having eating so late in the day none of us were very hungry. It was time to leave and catch our train back to London.
Thinking we had enough time to make it back to the station we started to walk. As time when on and we realised we were still so far away from the station we had to run. As we approached Kieran saw a train going back to London leaving in 1 min. She legged it for that train while Kelly and I walked slowly as she had just disappeared from view to the wrong platform. Yelling at us from the carriage to get on and looking at us like we were mad for not running like crazy to the same train as her. We hoped on the carriage told Kieran this was not the correct train but we will take it anyway as it still goes to the same location. This ended our day trip in Cambridge as we pulled away from the station hot, puffed and somewhat sweaty.
Monday Completely shattered by the busy and tourist life of the weekends and travelling by trains we woke early once more to hope back on a train. Today we were off to a tiny village called Great Bradley. The reason for trekking all the way to this tiny village was to have a look around and see a church where Glens ancestors were baptised, married, and buried over 150 years ago.
Taking the train back to Cambridge as there was nothing going directly to the village. We then took a bus for an hour to another village called Haverhill which is 6 miles (just under 10KM) away from Great Bradley. From there we took a taxi to the village.
Having a walk around and a very long look at a church, longer than I think I have spent in any church. We took lots of picture to mark the occasion. I (glen) must say that it is a very strange feeling to walk in the footsteps (possibly the exact same) as family members over 150years ago! You can’t really describe the feeling but there is definitely one there, a feeling, a sense of history.
Time for lunch in the local sports field, not much else to look at so we headed back to the village by taxi, then the bus back to Cambridge and hopped on the early train for London so we could rest after our very busy weekend.
This weekend we headed down to Brighton for a weekend out of London and for a friends early birthday bash. As we could get some supercheap tickets a few months back, yes only £6 return each. We had it booked in for a long time. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and it was still rather chilly with a nice wind and the rain. We still made the most of our time there, we walked around the streets for a while looking at all the nice little shops and market stalls. It was a good thing we were on limited budget other wise we could have spent a lot of money in these shops. We had lunch of pies in a pub and ended up with a walk along the famous pier a look at the rides, some of us even went on them. A stroll along the English pebble beaches and a few goes at skimming the rocks on the unusually calm sea.
There were 11 of us staying in the dorm in the hostel for the night, sprucing our selves up we went out for dinner. The Italian restaurant was good and because we had some drinks before heading out (you know make the night cheaper) we were all a bit more raucous than usual. This did not matter as there were loads of smashed people in the eatery. Enjoying our nice Italian meal we set out to find somewhere to party the night away. Heading away from the main strip and walking for a while we found a pub that had live music playing. We entered to find out they were a heavy metal band. Not really our scene the group split and we went for a night club down near the peir. Ending the night at 2:30 Kier n I were back in the hostel and trying to sleep.
The next morning there were no fights for the shower but it was clearly a struggle getting 11 ppl to shower in 1 room, many of us going to the other floors to use there showers there were queues all other the place for a spot in the shower rooms. Checking out of the hostel by 9:30 we headed to get some breakfast and to make our train at 12 back to London. The group split again and Kieran, Kelly and I went to an American diner we had seen the previous day by the beach from. Ohh man it was soo good we had some really good pancakes and kier also had a milkshake it was a nice way to finish the weekend and an even better way to top of a night out on the drinks. If only there were more American diners around and at the cheaper prices like this one.
Having lasted this long living in Europe and never gone to Berlin was one place we had to see before finishing up. We ended up going with Kristen and Jeff friends from home but now living in the UK. We decided a long weekend would be best to go and make the most of this history rich city.
Saturday With modest flights out of the UK from heathrow we did not have to get up at a crazy hour and arriving in the city in daylight is something we have not done in a very long time. The flight is only 1.5 hrs. Landing at the west Berlin airport easily got the bus and metro to the hostel without any problem at all. After checking in and dropping our bags in the room we headed out on to make the most of our time away and check out the sights. First stop was to get some lunch and what better to get when in Berlin than the famous curry wurst. What an interesting taste that was, can’t describe it other than pork sausage with tomato ketchup and curry powder! Interesting side not you could buy beer at these stall and drink them on the street! Now this is my kinda town.
After our lunch of sags the german way we walked into the main part of the town noticing how quiet the city is on the weekend as there was hardly anyone around or out. At first we thought we were in a bad part of the city with no human activity but later found that its just the way the city is on a weekend. Walking around for the afternoon we came across some interesting sights of spray paited houses, some of the wall then walked to check point Charlie, the Brandenburg gate, and then up to the Berlin Cathedral with drum people playing.
On our way back to the hostel we stopped at a German restaurant for our dinner to get the most of our German fill on the first day. Dinner was none other than pork knuckle and snitzel! Making our way home by metro we were soon asleep back in the hostel. The hostel room by the way was massive especially for a 4 single bed dorm. The ceiling was at least 10ft high, the room was the size of a 10bed dorm we have stayed in. I can totally recommend this hostel with the nice rooms. Although there was no kitchen we still survived all right.
Sunday Having a bit of a lay in, and having breakfast in the hostel we headed out for the day to go on the new Europe tour of Berlin. Travelling the metro to the meeting point Glen first led the group in the complete wrong direction and getting out at the wrong stop, but with time to spare we still made it to the meeting point with more than enough time and even go to see some other sights of the town. We joined the walking tour at a meeting spot, we thought as it starts 30mins before the other tour that they would walk us through the park to join the rest. This was not the case in stead we used the public transport to go to the main group.
The walking tour went from 1-5:30, which is a very long day of walking and listening to the guide (a fellow Aussie). We got in loads of history at this point although one sad note was that we followed almost the same route we took the day before. We did not know this at the time of our walk the pervious day as we did not set out to see anything. This time though we got the history about all the sites we were looking at.
After the walking tour we headed over to the east side and look at the Wall which has been covered in art. This was a great display of art and spans a fair length. Having been recommended to an area with food and drinks which was near the art wall we walked and spent some time at first trying to find the German style pub suggested to us, although with our success we settled on another pub. After our hearty meal we found a nice little pub to drink at which looked like someone’s house with furniture from the 70’s. It was a quirky little place. Having heard or read or told previously that the metro runs 24/7 here we headed back to the station to go the hostel. Arriving we found this not to be true. Waiting a while until a taxi arrive we successfully got back and at a reasonable price of 12 euro which wasn’t too bad at all.
Monday Have a sleep in from the night before. We headed out to see some more sights although this time we went to some shops so Kieran could get Birkenstocks. Then to get some more history but this time not about Germany or Berlin, it was over to the Pergamon museum. After this museum we walked to a bank which apparently had a whale in it. Only to be dissaponted that it was an art work representation of a whle which looked nothing like a whale at all, you be the judge. Feeling knackered and in need of a pick me up we had some icecream a the hagen das restaurant, ohh man it was good as always. That night we went to dinner next to the hostel at and Italian restaurant which had on 1 waiter taking all the orders and doing the running around. The meal took a while to arrive and as a result we were late for the start of our pub crawl. Being late was not to much of an issue as we really only missed the first pub and got to spend 20mins at the second. The pubcrawl cosited of mostly Aussies and Kiwis as there always are on a pub crawl in Europe. We had a really good night and got to see some interesting bars in Berlin. Traveling all over by public transport and in a group it was gr8 fun. It was such a crazy night we even had shots in a kebab shop, which by the way we got to have rolled kebabs which are always a taste of home. Stoping at an absynth bar we had just 1 shot as we know from previous experience not to have too many. Ending the night in a night club we decided to leave as we were all pretty drunk I mean some of us were super drunk we got a taxi home and we back in bed by 4:30 am but it was a great night out.
Tuesday With a brief sleep in we checked out and went to find some breakfast with our sore heads from the night befreo. Leaving the bags at the hostel we were free to roam the town. First on the agenda was a walk through the tiergarten (a park) and make our way to the Reichstag (German Parliament building) we waited in the queue for over 1.5 hrs before being let in and security checked. Finally we were in the lift to the roof to walk around the glass dome to see the city. For a free tourist attraction it was well worth the wait you get a free audio guide which tells you what you are looking out at. We got some nice pictures of the city and gr8 view of it.
Leaving the city we headed to the hostel to pick up the bags and head for the airport. It was time to leave Berlin. It was a really good weekend and we can totally recommend for people to go. It was a long weekend filled with good company, good food, and loads of history. What more can you ask from a trip to an international city.
So Kieran had 4 days of leave to use or she would loose them for good. The thing about the UK is that you cannot accrue your holidays nor get paid out for them. If you don’t use them you loose them. This was the basis for our trip to Poland. It was on our list as a country to visit, we just had to plan it a bit quicker was all. After a few weeks of searching for flights, what to see and do, and which hostels to stay we were on our way. This is our trip to Poland (in some detail).
Wednesday
Making the most of the time we had spare and to get even cheaper flights we flew out on Wednesday night from London Luton to WarsawPoland. Being only a 2hr30min trip it was a short one. Arriving late in the night we missed the last local bus from the airport (which stopped at the front of our hostel) so we opted for the taxi option instead. Like in all major tourist cities I had read about the taxis and how they will try to rip you off. I remembered all the reputable names I had read from the internet and settled on one with and old driver who spoke some English and new our address. Now I am not sure if we were ripped off or not but getting the taxi all the way to the door of our hostel and for only 42zloty (£10) felt like a bargain to me.
Walking up the 4 very large flights of stairs we came to our hostel. After checking in and being shown to our beds we got settled, lucky for us no one else was in our room this meant we did not have to be quiet when sorting our bed out. Well we thought we were alone until someone else checked in and was in the 4 bed dorm next door (it was classified as a 4 bed dorm but you had to go through our 6 bed dorm to get there and it still didn’t have a door, it was essentially a 10 bed dorm with a wall). We continued to unpack and sort ourselves out and were just getting into bed when we smelt this bad smell! It was a mix of wet dog mixed with something else ….death we think. With Kieran and I both going “ohhhh can you smell that gross smell?” To which point the guy in the next room starts spaying deodorant all over himself and his clothes as we watch his half naked stinky self do this. It was such a bad smell I slept for the first few hours under my covers just to escape. He smelt like a homeless dude but only when he took his clothes off…now that is gross.
Thursday
Waking up before stinky guy could get out of his covers. We walked around the local area in our search for a shop to buy some milk for our breakfast. We had bought cereal with us as the hostel did not include breakfast. Finding our milk and finishing our breakfast we worked out what we would do for the day and that was to go visit the Old town and find the information centre. Little did we know that Poland does not have an official tourist information centre but just tourist shops which have some brochures and some more information. Walking around and finally finding something which looked like the information centre we found a few things to look at in Warsaw.
Before walking on any further we headed for a some lunch as it was nearing 1pm lunch consisting of polish specialities meat and cabbage and a beer the whole lot only cost us 40Zloty (£10). Not finding any walking tours well none for free and all car tour options were very expensive (over 100 euro each) We found a hop on hop off option which we decided to take as it was a reasonable £16 each which is about what it is in other cities we have visited and it last for 24hrs, we could use it the following day. We decided to do a full loop of the city and then decide where to get off for the next day of sightseeing. Starting the tour which was meant to take 2hrs took 1hr. The driver missed a stop on the route when he finished at 5pm instead of 6pm. His reason was that there is no point going past that tourist attraction as it closes at 5. We were thinking too bad if the people at that stop wanted to use the service to come back into town. Asking the driver what sights he would recommend seeing and noting them down to look at the following day.We left the bus at the end (where we were told to get off) and decided to do some shopping to buy some dinner and get more milk and breads for lunches, yes were doing this trip in style with our packed lunches.
Friday
Having that night in our dorm room all to ourselves (yes both 4 and 6 rooms) we awoke to our cereal and made lunches for the day ahead. It was our last full day in Warsaw so had to fit a lot of sight seeing in. Having our ticket for the tourist bus the day before we decided to use this service to go back and see the museum we missed the day before as it would be a good place to start and get some history. Deciding to get the bus as it was easier than walking and we did pay for it. We went to stop 9 and waited for the bus, we arrived there at around 10:45am, double checking many times we were at the correct stop we waited and waited and waited. In the end we waited for over an hour for the bus to turn up (Why did we wait there so long you ask well we had waited so long anyway we thought we would give it a bit more time that then turned into the hour. Also the moment we walked away and were out of running reach of the bus it would arrive). So after over an hr of waiting we gave up and walked on to the museum. While on our way we see the bus pull up to stop 1 not quiet running but a very quick walk we made our way quickly over we ask him where stop 9 is (to make sure we were at the right place) and then why was he not there as he started at 10. His reply was that he started at 12 today! Finding out the other reasons for the things he missed and that the museum was open till 8pm the night before and not 5 as he said. His only retort to the faults was that we had an old brochure; they were the brochures he had given us. Arguing some more he said we could call the number on the brochure to complain (ohhh we will buddy we will). Leaving without victory we walked to the museum.
After Note: We complained to the companies(local and head office) and they spoke to the driver who had said he did miss that stop and told us the wrong information so he was reprimanded and we were giving replacement tickets to use on any hop on hop off service in the world.
The map of Warsaw is a bit deceptive as they are pretty large distance between things. 30mins later we finally arrive at the “Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego”and pay our £4 entry fee and settle in for a long day of reading. The museum was really interesting and had loads of things to read about and also look at when Warsaw was at war with Germany and Russia. We would both totally recommend visiting this museum but do it before you do anything else in the city to make you see it under a new light. Although there is nothing much left of the old Warsaw. This was a really interesting place to visit.
Finishing at the museum we decided to go and have a look around some more of the city. This time we would tackle it on the trams. Leaving the museum we walked to a tram station and got on a tram (without a ticket as you could not buy from the driver), after much deliberation as to which was the correct one, we chose a tram which we thought was the right. Turns out it wasn’t and we were going in the wrong direction. Getting off and this time buying a ticket from the kiosk with a struggle of language we got our tickets and hopped on the tram going in the correct direction. Growing up without trams means we don’t really know how they work. Or it could have been the Polish trams. Either way trams don’t go on the same route like a train(there and back) instead have an almost circle like pattern sticking to the one loop and completing that. Finally we arrived where we wanted to go THE CHOCOLATE factory shop! (Wedel) The night before in the grocery store Kieran found the local chocolate that she had read about in a free tourist book. We polished off that block super quick it was so deliciously the best chocolate ever. Having sampled its delights we needed more so why not go to where they make it.
By the time we got there all that was left open was the shop, that will do us fine! Buying a few bars and having a hot chocolate we left to find a tram back to the hostel. Passing by a wall that that the bus driver had mentioned as a great piece of art of the city. It is a wall which people graffiti/paint with new pieces of work. Its in the guide books, honest. Upon seeing it we were disappointed and left with a very much of “Oohhh that’s it…..that’s it L”. We were told how wonderful it was and were happy it was party of our trip to the shop other wise it would have been a waste of time. We should have known not to visit it when the dodgy bus driver liked it.
Saturday
Waking up early (8ish) and having our breakfast and making our lunch for the day on the trains we left Warsaw. We had a train to get to Krakow; yes we are trying all forms of transport here. Doing my research the night before and knowing which was the quickest and cheapest option to get us there. I went to the ticket counter and showed the lady my piece of paper as they spoke no English. We got the tickets with relative ease and were happy we were going to a common destination and I was prepared. Although next time I will know to draw and x and stick people for 2 tickets as that was a struggle and I thought I almost got a return!
Tickets in hand we toddled off to our communistic platform to wait for our train. Knowing we were in cattle class (40 Zloty each £10) but not sure where that part of the train would pull up. We just stood in a rough spot where we could get anywhere. When the train was minuets away from the station a voice came over the loud speaker rattled off its words, what we presumed were “this train comprises of 6 cars so cram together people” as everyone started to move near us and it felt like peak hour on cityrail. Holding our ground not wanting to be separated and a seat together. We had the added skills of me with the biggest backpack in the world (to block people) and Kieran nimble and light on her feet to nab a seat. We made it!...we had seats and a spot for our bag, even a bin. I was surprised by the quality of the car we were travelling in. I was expecting something more run down like how the train looked from the outside. Inside it was warm and with room to sit comfortably, even enough room to put my pack on the rack above us.
The 2.5hr journey did not feel that long, it could have been our packed lunch meal in the middle and yummy chocolate which helped us cope and the books (not much to look at so happy to read). We made it into Krakow on time (13:40). Leaving the train station we got our bearings and headed for the hostel in the centre of town. The walk was not too bad although it was a lot hotter here that in Warsaw. We checked into the hostel and were shown to our room. Dumping our stuff in the lockers and making the beds we headed out into the town to see the sights and of course visit the tourist information centre and buy souvenirs.
That night we went out for dinner at a polish restaurant having a beetroot soup starter and a plate each of dumplings finished off with dessert and 2 shots of cherry vodka (1 sweet, 1 Dry) and numerous drinks each all for 128 Zloty (£32). After our gorging feast we headed out on the town along the way we found a Jazz club. There was a moment of lost in translation when we were handed flyer for a discount at the bar and told there was free entry. Yes it was free to enter but if you want to stay and watch the band it was £5 each. Still that club and the 5 drinks each only came to £30 for the both of us which is a pretty good price and much cheaper than a jazz club in London. There was no singing, all we had to do was drink and listen.
Returning back to the hostel that night to find we had no company in the hostel dorm we thought it was great. This wonderful feeling was shattered just moments later when the reception lady came in and asked us if we could move in the morning as we had been put in the wrong room. We had agreed and changed to our pyjamas. Not 5 min latter when the lady returns and asks us to move now (bear in mind this is now 12:30am). Reluctantly we move having to put all our stuff back in the bags and letting her know how unhappy we were about it and why we couldn’t just do it in the morning as first mentioned. Anyways we moved into our new room which had 1 guy in there which she had to wake up as she couldn’t use a key to open the lock. We found our beds and unpacked our stuff, made the beds and finally got settled. What a night!
Sunday
We had a slight sleep in after having to move rooms late last night. After breakfast (provided by the hostel) we headed out to meet our tour of the Salt Mines. We travelled for about 30 min to get to the mine in a small tour bus, here were only 12 of us.
I (Glen) found the mine really interesting. It looked amazing as the lights had been positioned well and really bounced off the salt walls. We saw some old parts and massive caverns which they had hollowed out to get at the salt. It was truly an amazing place to see, they even had horses down there working (not any more) back in the day to help turn machines and get the salt out. After our tour had ended we were taken to the restaurant which was over 100m under ground. Kieran and I ate our packed lunch and bought some hot chips as you do in a mine. There was even phone reception at that depth which was amazing when they can’t give you radio or phone reception on the airport tunnel train line on cityrail. As the tour was now ended we got the miners cart up to the surface. They packed 9 of us into this tiny cage and up we went at some ridiculous speed. Once on the surface we went to a stall and bought some cooking salt.
After the tour and back in Krakow we went to the local ice cream café. Looking around for a while to get a table in a better location but failing we settled on the one near the kitchen. Kieran had an ice cream known as a margarita! Yes they had all their ice cream dishes named after main meals or pizzas you could even get a spaghetti which was chocolate ice cream in stringy noodle state with berries over the top it looked good. I just had a coffee.
After the ice cream and coffee we went back to the hostel for a bit of a nana nap. Upon arrival we found that we had new guests, guest we had not see yet but knew by their bags and the open windows we had other people in our room. Nana nap over we headed out for dinner. That night we went out for Chinese that we had seen down a side street previously the day before on our walk to find a supermarket. The long walk later had us sitting in the restaurant ordering our polish Chinese. When in foreign countries we find that there is always so much of the same type of food that you can eat until you need to change. That change is usually something so far from what they serve. Tonight that was our Chinese. We were happy to find another table of diners in there with us. It was just Kieran and I for most of our meal alone in the restaurant. The food was good and hit the spot. Returning back to the hostel we find out the windows in our room are all open again after we had closed them due to the cold and possible rain coming. That night we found the person who had been opening the windows to be a Crazy guy with beady eyes. He wanted to keep opening the windows saying it was hot.
While getting ready for bed he decided to appear and try to open the window near our bed and by moving belongings. We confronted him and he was saying it was so hot. We said fine but just don’t move our things. So he opened the windows on the other side of the room. Going to sleep we found it was very noisy with the windows open and not that hot in the room really. Our other roommate a local lady (old) got up and closed the windows muttering in polish. 3 hrs later beady eyed mate returns and tries to open the windows again. Polish lady goes off her head at him, he doesn’t understand so Kieran had to interpret for her. He finally understood not to open the windows and not to open any window as its noisy and will rain soon. Fair call 5mins later it starts raining and beady eyes is asleep. At 3am the rest of us can go to bed now.
Monday
Waking early (6:40am) to get ready and meet our transport/tour (8am) to take us to Auschwitz. On the way there we watched a documentary on it which lasted the whole ride there.
What can you really say about what was done there? It is a place I can recommend on visiting not by its sombre nature but to see the scale of the place and what really went on there to get a sense of what happened during that time. I had read about it before in books and saw on TV but it was not until visiting the place that you realise the scale and how over 1 million people were murdered there. Going there made the numbers of what happened appear more real and alive than reading about it in a book while in Australia over 15,695 km away.
Eating our lunch on the bus on the way back to the city we had a bit of a sleep. Returning back to the hostel and dumping our stuff to get ready for the last night in the town we found out that our 2 previous guests of beady eye man and polish lady had left. Rather they were replaced by fat weird guy. Sitting on my bed and packing my bag ready for leaving the next day fat guy walks in an immediately says “is that your bed” point to Glen umm ok weird question, no I like to sit on other peoples made beds and go through their stuff after using the key to get into the room. I reply with “yes its mine, why?” to which his reply was long silence and then a “just checking”. Ok that was weird was he trying to single me out and know where my bed was to get me?? He then left the room, super strange and what a fun night we would have with fat guy who would soon be nicknamed might night nommer.
Having packed most of our bags and the strange encounter with the huge man. We went out for a walk around the town yet again. That night we had our last polish meal in a nice little dinner, a classic meal with our meat and salad finished and washed down with some local brew. It was good for the last dinner in Poland. After dinner we were feeling pretty tried and because we are becoming old we thought lets just go back to the hostel and watch a movie “the boy in the striped pyjamas” on Kieran’s MP3 player. We rigged it up to the top bunk slats and laid below with our headphones on. We watched the whole thing without interruption.
Going to bed after the movie, we were just starting to fall asleep and then in comes nom nom guy. What does he start doing? he noisly opens his locker and proceeds to rummage though his bag for some chips in the nosiest bag ever, then sticks a couple of handfuls of them into his mouth. Putting the bag back into his locker and leaves. He does this 2 more times through out the night until the last time at 3.30 am he comes back gets out his chips and sits outside our room nomming down the rest of the bag. We were almost at the point of asking if we could have one as they must have been awesome freaking chips to keep coming back and waking us up to eat some. Why the hell this guy needed to come back every hour to eat them I have no idea and I guess that’s why he was so freaking huge eating a bag of chips at 3am is good for no one. Finally after his early morning meal he goes to bed and we can all finally sleep.
Tuesday
Getting up early with our last day in Poland we make no point of trying to be quiet and at some points even saying “nom nom chips yum” out loud for nom nom guy to hear. We make our selves ready noticing all the chip crumbs on the floor around the lockers and outside our room. So happy to not be sleeping in the same room with him ever again.
Today we had to leave the country. Before doing so we found some time to squeeze an hr of a walking tour into the morning. It would have been wonderful to have done the full 3hr walking tour but we had to get to the airport and check in. The problem we could not do this any sooner was that during the winter months they only ran the free tours once a day and we were always busy at that time until the last day. The tour was really good and we definitely recommend it to anyone, it starts outside the main church and is a free city walking tour.
After the tour we made our way from the main square to the train station to get a train to the airport and having to legg it from the ticket hall to the train and making it with 1 min to spare (never sure how on time trains are in other countries). We always need to have an amazing race moment at least once when we travel. Getting the train which leaves every 30mins to the airport, we then had to change to a bus and got to the airport with more than enough time. In an annoying way it meant we could have spent more time on the walking tour. We had some lunch after we checked in which took up the rest of our zloty. Waited for our time and our rush to the plane, as the seats are not reserved on RyanAir flights and a lot of the budget airlines in Europe. It is a scramble for seats together and/ or a place to put your bag near you. This time we were ready getting there early we sat near the front of the gate so we could stand as soon as the queue was forming. This worked so well in fact we ended up getting an exit seat for the both of us! This is truly amazing on these flights! It was with this joy and walking straight through immigration on the other end which made our holidays come to a good end without any stress and cramped life in a queue.
All in all we had a really good time in Poland sure we slept in the dorms with some freaks but in the end this is the price you pay for hostel living. It didn’t detract from the country at all and we would highly recommend going to Poland. You will surly get your fill of WW II information and in a good way I think it will make the younger generation understand what happened in the world of the past. Thanks Poland for a wonderful holiday!
