Bellissimo Roma!!!

After a sleep in and very close call, i sprinted and made it onto the rome bus and saw the familiar faces of Alex, Lucy and Megan,  who i soon found out were all staying at the yellow hostel with me, friends, hooray! As usual, a bus day meant feasting and I slowly polished off a packet of rice cakes, ham and cheese before buying my traditional block of AMAZING milka alpine chocolate for the road. We watched gladiator which was perfect to set the mood for Rome and then had to deal with our own battle on arrival, Italian transport strikes! We made it to the hostel just before transport went on hold for the night and with two new friends added to our gang, Chrissie and Katie we arrived at Yellow! Clearly I am now becoming an alcoholic as the first thing I noticed on the wall was you got a free drink for liking the hostel on Facebook so after dumping my bags I was down at the bar getting my free vodka soda. The rest of the girls came down with these giant green cocktails and I immediately had drink envy, so we sweet talked the bartender into giving me one as well, a Japanese ice tea and after these 2 drinks I was already drunk, and we hadn't even eaten yet.

We walked to the restaurant directly across the street and feeling confident after Venice I tried my Italian allergy line but unfortunately this time was met with a blank face. After some conversation and the aid of another waiter we eventually broke the language barrier and I was dining on grilled chicken and potatoes in a white wine sauce which was quite delicious although I pretty much inhaled my food so I could be wrong. The girls foolishly opted for wine at dinner when no one needed any more drinks, and poor megs feel victim to it and wound up lying on the street with Lucy and I desperately trying to get her to bed. Before megs nap on via palestro we decided to go on a gelati adventure and quickly decided the advertised 5 euro a scoop was much too expensive so the six of us each ordered a scoop and then paid 10 euro for the lot and ran away. When in Rome? 

Hostel life often is really fun, but sharing a 6 bed dorm with 5 american boys who think its completely fine to play drinking games in the room until 6am with the full lights on, led to the worst nights sleep I'd had so far. I went down to meet up with the girls who luckily weren't feeling great either so we sluggishly made our way together to the start of our walking tour at circus maximus. Our classy breakfast stop was the supermarket for fried rice for me, pasta for megs and 2 bread rolls for lucy that we ate sitting on the ground  in front of the supermarket. The tour began and our American guide, Tad was absolutely hilarious. Somehow he managed to intertwine 1000 years of roman history with every modern day tv and movie reference possible, every pun and every analogy possible, plus saying bad ass at least every second sentence. We set off to conquer rome and covered most of the major sights in the 4 hour tour including the forum, pantheon & colosseum with lots of interesting history thrown in which i loved #historynerd and 2 amazing scoops of gelati for lunch (seriously good). At the end of the tour we all felt like people watching so we headed to the Spanish steps and sat in the sun for hours, watching the world go by, Asian tourists taking hilarious photos, tacky Italians getting married in huge cream puff dresses and everything in between. I was craving some pasta so the girls kindly agreed to hunt for a place that caters to my gluten free needs and after multiple no's we found a small family restaurant at the end of the street that came through with the goods and only for 6 euro! You couldn't have wiped the smile off my face and I savoured every little piece of penne and slurp of bolognaise sauce, I went to bed a very happy girl.  

We met up bright and early for a big day of exploring and our first stop was the colosseum! We took Tads tip and bought tickets at the forum which had no line and then proceeded straight over to the colosseum, pushed through the crowds and waltzed our way straight to the front passing a queue of close to 200 people! Fools! The colosseum was absolutely incredible and also scorching hot! We walked all around on every level and I couldn't help but think back to gladiator on the bus and imagine this was the place where Romans would come and witness all those atrocities and wild fights, what a spectacle (albeit a disgusting one)! From there after a few hundred snaps and panoramas we made our way to the Trevi Fountain with a pitstop for bananas and cold water! As we made our way to Trevi I got so excited, the words 'gluten free' and the Italian version 'senza glutine' were all over the place! I would actually be able to enjoy Italian pizza and pasta hooray!! My first glimpse of the Trevi took me straight back to the Lizzie McGuire movie and a small part of me was hunting for Paolo, while the rest was incredulous that after seeing this place years ago, I was finally right there. I was brimming with excitement and pushed my way down to the front to throw in my coin and make a wish. After my first throw we realised we needed photo evidence so I took the opportunity to rid my wallet of the thousands of foreign random coins I could never use again (and that were weighing me down!) and threw about ten more coins in, just to capture the perfect shot- which still didn't happen! It was still super hot so gelati beckoned and I found my favourite flavour combination- pannacotta and strawberry, so amazingly good! The sweet creaminess of pannacotta blended with the fresh fragola sorbet was a perfect match but enough about food, I'm getting hungry. I noticed on my exit my favourite Italian phrase, 'senza glutine' and to my horror they had gluten free icecream cones and I hadn't realised! Perfect excuse to come back and get some more! Lucy megs and I walked the streets for a while longer before heading back for showers and another dinner at the restaurant across the road. I decided to try the special risotto for the night which turned out to be a poor decision, a mushroom and cheese risotto with no mushrooms and way too much cheese, my stomach was not happy, even after lacteeze tablets. I wanted to go and explore some more and digest so I convinced the girls into going for an evening stroll, and we stumbled across a beautiful piazza at sunset where we taunted Lucy with her phobia of pigeons and then found the Trevi at night, only a ten minute walk away when we had been catching the metro earlier! Of course a stop st the Trevi meant a stop at the gelati shop where I tried a gluten free cone for the first time since I was about 14 and my unbeatable flavour combo was even better in a sweet crunchy waffle cone, I savoured every sugary crumb. When we got back to the hostel I met James another busabout boy the girls had met earlier on who decided to tag along on our adventure to the Vatican the next day. 

We started the day with the forum and although the ruins were impressive, nothing could compare to the colosseum, especially on a 42 degree day. Regardless, we wandered around and snapped the remnants of what once was the heart of civilisation and the epicentre of an olden day world. From there we caught the train to the Vatican and were immediately heckled by literally hundreds of tour guides trying to get us to join their group and for the small price of 50 euro each, skip the lines. We all  laughed them off, no line was worth that much to skip, but after am hour and a half in the midday heat, the sun was trying to punish us for being stingy. After finally reaching the front of lime we were all refused entry because we weren't covered up enough... I wanted to cry at this point but luckily megs kept her head and bargained with the security guard to get let out, buy some scarves for us to cover up with and then be let back in without waiting  in the line again, luckily, he obliged. Megs came back with 2 scarves in tow so we had to go in one at a time to cover up our outrageously bare knees and shoulders, what were we thinking showing them on a 42 degree day?! St Peters Basilica was extremely beautiful and enormous, and worth the wait once I finally made it in! I wondered around and stared at the beautiful architecture and decorations inside and marvelled at the huge amount of gold spread around the church before heading out to give James his go. Unfortunately for James, scarves aren't acceptable to cover boys shoulders, the only way is T-shirts so that was it for James and we both sat frustrated as we sent in Megs and Lucy together whose dresses were a sufficient length. Hot and hungry we started on a quest for food and shade and ended up eating a tuna salad sitting in a gutter while the others indulged in pizza. Next stop was the Sistine chapel so we headed off looking for signs, which we never found. Instead we found Castle Sant Angelo which my uncle had told me to visit so we sat in the park for a few hours, laughed nonstop and swung on swings like we were little kids again. We found some other Australians who told us the Sistine chapel was at the back of St. Peter's, we must have missed it! We were SO angry at our stupidity so we bought James a tshirt and headed back to rejoin the line which thankfully this time was only 20mins long. Once we were in again we were kindly told no, the Sistine chapel is in the Vatican Museum 10 minutes walk away, but don't try and go, it had closed 5 minutes earlier. What a fail! Slightly defeated we were starving again and headed towards Trevi once more and the strip of gluten free restaurants. It was still boiling so we stopped at the first restaurant that did gluten free even though it was only pasta, not the pizza i had been craving. It was quite nice, but also quite small so another gelato hit was needed before the wall back to the hostel, I think i have developed an addiction, not the best situation for a lactose intolerant girl with a very limited number of lacteeze tablets.. Uh oh! After a 13 hour day of sightseeing it was time for bed!

We agreed to meet up in the afternoon for Sistine take 2, but in the meantime do our own thing. After booking a bus down to Amalfi coast for the next day my mission was food, specifically gluten free pizza. I had looked up a place and screenshotted directions but as soon as I got lost, the very specific directions were little help. I was close to giving up as once again the roman sun was doing its best to melt me but I persevered and found my way to the god sent Voglia de Pizza. An entire gluten free menu was available, not just pasta, or pizza, but antipasto, bread dishes, mains and desserts- I was so close to taking one of everything until I remembered my budget! I opted for pizza, just margarita with salami and it came out huge like a normal pizza, thin crust and beautiful! I took my first bite and even though I burnt my tongue it was without a doubt the best gluten free pizza I had ever had. I wished so badly I had found this place on day 1 in Rome and dined there every single day but instead I just sat and slowly devoured the entire thing while watching the local Italians hustle and bustle down the cobblestone laneways, the real roman life I had rarely witnessed while frequenting the tourist hot spots. Sadly,the pizza came to an end and I had to get back to meet the girls so I headed off. On our second attempt we easily found the Vatican Museum and likewise the Sistine chapel inside it, I have no idea how we so badly missed it the day earlier. The Sistine chapel is absolutely breathtaking. I'm not an artist or interested in it particularly, but this was different. The images looked 3D,mthe paintings were so accurate and spanned such a huge surface, knowing that Michelangelo lay only centimetres away from the ceiling and the entirety took only 4 years to complete, blew my mind! I cannot fathom how one person could possibly create such a masterpiece even in a lifetime, let alone 4 years, I guess that is why hundreds of people a day just like me line up to take a look (and an illegal photo or 2!) On our return to the hostel we decided to dine in and have a few drinks which was an awful decision. The nachos were expensive, small and tasted average at best so I managed to steal at least 5 chips from every other plate at our table to keep me going and use blue lagoon cocktails to fill the rest of my stomach. Yum yum! It was a sad goodbye to my beautiful roman friends, Lucy megs and James but luckily we are all Melburnians so it was more of a so long, especially as we planned to meet up again in Florence in a few days time!

Venice!!

I Venezia 

I arrived to Budapest airport in a panic. Despite every warning I had received about flying with ryanair i had broken one of the cardinal rules, I hadn't printed my boarding pass.This single sheet of paper would come at the hefty price of 20 euro so i began my hunt for a kind shopkeeper who would print it for me and save my pocket. My lsst stop was a success all i had to do was email it to her, but even this proved difficult. The wifi wouldn't cooperate, my phone had 5% battery and then died.. I thought there was no hope and then finally, she understood my panic and simply let me climb around th counter, log into my email on her computer and print it directly. What a legend, i almost cried of happiness when I had that golden sheet of paper in my hands and expressed my thanks a thousand times over before boarding the plane trouble free to Venice!

Through the sweltering heat in jeans, a jumper, two tshirts and wedges (had to wear all my heavy clothes on the plane) I finally arrived at camping jolly. It was without a doubt the hottest I had been so far on my trip and when I opened the door to my tent I honestly questioned whether I would survive three nights here in a tent/sweat box. I got straight Ito a bikini and ran to salvation, the pool! I started chatting with some Aussies also laying by the pool and made plans to grab dinner with them later which soon turned into drinks when we learnt the campsite was throwing a pool party that night. After stocking up on vodka, orange juice and gummy bears the 6 of us girls mixed up a strong punch and started the night. A boy from busabout Alex sat and joined us and we made plans to go and explore Venice together as it was the girls last night. I soon squeezed a confession out of one of the girls Noni, who in a drunken state of desperation had kissed the 45 year old Itsliajn bartender th previous night. I felt extremely sorry for her but st the same time extremely grateful because while we danced, jumped in the pool and pretended to be bouncers and check ID at the door, we were kept hydrated with a seemingly endless supply of free drinks, cheers!

When I met up with Alex the next morning he had invited 2 more companions along from Iceland! Einar and the other guy who I liked to call Einstein, because his real name was similar, but much too difficult to pronounce. After a breakfast of mixed tuna and beans (my staple in Venice it turned out) we hopped on the bus and headed into town. Venice is incredibly beautiful. The canals were glistening in the sunlight, the charming wining cobblestone alleys, bursting with souvenir shops, restaurants and enticing mounds of gelati, which I very quickly fell victim to! We walked aimlessly for nearly 2 hours, sweating and getting lost in the maze of Venice until we miraculously stumbled across the famous St Marco's Square. We wanted to get on a gondola but debated amongst us whether it was worth the money and with some good persuasive skills I convinced them. But first FOOD. We walked away from the tourist traps of San Marcos down some back alleys to find a cheaper eat, unfortunately cheap and Venice is a very rare combination. My first attempt at 'Io sono celiaco' was a success and I was immediately shown the gluten free options with no hesitation, go Italy!! And I opted for the salmon and steamed vegetables which luckily was absolutely delicious, even with the 17 euro price tag. Refuelled we headed to the dock and met our gondola driver (or sailor, I'm not sure what the correct title is?) Laurinzo who ushered us onto the gondola and steered us through the gorgeous canals of Venice for a very relaxing hour. We paid up and then decided to head back as we had all seriously blown our budgets, but Venice doesn't let you escape that easily. It took us another 2 hours to negotiate the lane ways and juxtaposing signposts before jumping back on the bus and drinking all over again, this time with some very crazy Americans who I was very happy to say goodnight to at about 11pm.

Already my last day in Venice I decided to make the most of the sun and have a lazy morning by the pool. After weeks of floods the sun felt so good on my skin it was extremely difficult to summon up the courage to leave the pool deck and went back into the town with my Venice trio. The plan was to check out Murano but once again we got lost and by the time we found San Marco Square it was 3pm and the 18euro price tag to get there and back wasn't too inviting so we stopped at supermarket bought a lot of food and headed back after a very unproductive day. On the way back we found the famous Rialto Bridge and alongside it, 2 of Alex's friends Megan and Lucy who were also doing Busabout and headed to Rome on the bus with us the next day! They seemed lovely so I was excited to finally have some female company in Rome. Top deck had arrived and taken over the campsite by the time we returned, the only positive was that this meant another party so we brewed a bowl of punch just like the first night although this time we ended up with carrot juice as a mixer instead of orange (that's what happens when you send an Icelandic to do the shopping). It seemed to be masquerade night for the top deckers so I stole a mask from the floor and blended in perfectly as well as scoring a perfect Venetian souvenir for free!!  

Being a Budapest

Budapest

After a 3 hour train delay and a lot of Milky Way spread eaten off a plastic spoon, I rolled into a beautiful, blue skied Budapest. In jeans and a T-shirt I was sweating a lot but the droplets down my spine were happily welcomed in exchange for the warm feeling on my skin. I arrived at the hostel, relatively hassle free except for climbing the 5 flights of stairs with my 20kilo backpack and then realising there was a lift #doh!

I was welcomed into Carpe Noctem Vitae by a lovely American girl called Hoops. She was so welcoming and friendly and signed me up for a pub crawl, pointed out all the sights of a budapest on my map and hooked me up with a ticket for the thermal baths which I set off to immediately. I put in my iPod and soaked up the warmth happily singing along and realised how much happier I am when it is sunny! I relaxed by the water at the largest and coolest outdoor pool and just relaxed, finished Life of Pi and tanned all afternoon with a few dives into the cool refreshing mineral water.

My stomach made me leave but otherwise I would have been content to stay for 4 more hours, as I walked back the sun began to set but the warmth remained and I got back in time for 'family dinner' cooked by the hostel, burgers and chips- of course with no bun! I was already heading off on a pub crawl that night so I sat outside and chatted with some fellow crawlers and then set off! At stop number one I sat around a table which was a very quiet bunch of people... By stop 2 I moved on a found a more fun group including Anna who worked at the hostel and her friend from home, Mims- these girls were to become my Budapest buddies! The pub crawl was very quiet and chilled out so by bar 5 and after some corn chips and salsa, the three of us headed home and took some very stressed French boys back to the hostel who couldn't cope with the directions, walk to the end, turn right and then right again....

After a lazy start to the morning, I decided it was time to go & explore the sights of Budapest, the castle and Citadel (a giant hill) on the other side of the water. I set off on another solo adventure but promised mims and Anna I'd be back at 3.30 for cocktails before the bath party which was on that night. I strolled down the octagon headed to the water and then crossed paths with Peter and his friend who's name I can't remember, Melbourne biys who I had met in Berlin. They had just started a free walking tour which also want to the castle so I decided to tag along and  have some company. Throughout the painful and ridiculously long dialogue from our Hungarian tour guide, we chatted about our travels since Berlin, saw the main sights and of course soaked up the sun. Once we crossed to the other side of town the view was incredible, up a few stairs and there was incredible panorama view of the city. Luckily Tyler had found pan aroma mode in my camera in Vienna so I snapped away. At the conclusion of the tour I was so incredibly hungry so the boys and I stopped for some traditional goulash before I literally ran away from them to get back in time for cocktails with the girls. It was a little Mexican restaurant chain not a cocktail bar like I had expected but they served cheap and strong frozen margraritas as well as yummy tacos and nachos that we shared. 4-6pm was happy hour so we made the most of it and then stumbled back to the hostel via a bottle shop, like we needed it...

As a giant pack we walked down the road to the bath party and had a giant pre drinks in the park with about 30 of us from vitae. I had heard wild things about these bath parties and I was very apprehensive and scared while we waited in the line, but I bumped into Peter and Alex my buddies from Berlin and soon forgot my worries and even managed to sneak in half a bottle of vodka by holding it behind my back while getting my bags searched.. Not very thorough hunters those Hungarians. On entry we were ordered to take off our clothes and GET IN THE POOL so I obliged, bought a drink and jumped into the warm water. It didn't seem dirty at all, none of the horror stories, just a DJ, lights and 30 people swimming around having a good time. I was glad people exaggerated... About 2 hours later unfortunately, all the horror stories came to life. Use your imagination, anything you could do was being done.. Mims, Anna and I stayed in a huddle in the middle of the pool I'm relative safety and avoided the edges at all costs! Despite som disgusting antics going on around us, the vitae gang still made it a fun night and w stayed in the water until close at 3am. It somehow took us 2 hours to make the 15min journey back to our hostel via a kebab shop of course, and I then had a 45min shower to wash off the grime and feel semi clean again. 

The perks of having an underwater camera were revealed the next morning when I showed everyone shameful or hilarious photos of their actions at the bath party and after that we were all feeling very lazy so mims and I took the helm and walked to the park with a few of the boys in tow for a tan at the park! It was a lovely afternoon in the sun just chatting and relaxing and we all decided at about 2.30 it was time to move and feed, so we went to probably the worst Hungarian restaurant in the world and I had the worst salad ever- lettuce, feta cheese and a hot pepper on top. Delightful. Tonight's escapade with the hostel was jäger train. This meant each participant received 5 jäger bombs each which has to be consumed within an hour that were all stacked up and simultaneously knocked over with a pool cue. I got a front row seat for the spectacle and a great view of the 500 shot glasses  falling into their cups. From here we headed to retox the craziest dirtiest party hostel in all of Budapest/Europe and partied all night long- I even crawled on their dirty floor, did turbulence shots, was DJing, cheered on dave drinking dregs (a bucket of mixed alcohol, dirt, and leftover food) and danced like crazy! I was taken home in a big pack of people very ready for bed and crashed straight away. Also, I finally achieved my trip long goal of getting my ear pierced! At retox, in the kitchen, by the bartender.. But I had a hole in my flesh so I was happy!

Today again was another slow start. Budapest was party central and my body needed extra sleep to even attempt to keep up! All I was craving was heathy food, so I summoned up the strength finally to make it to the supermarket and get rice cakes, tuna, avocado and strawberries, heaven! I headed off with the biys to kick the footy and have a drink (again!) at Grandeo and attempted to convince mims to come caving with me later that afternoon, it didn't work sadly but after a few lazy hours in the sun I decided to be active and caught the bus to the caves! After dressing up in my big overall suit, helmet and head torch, a group of 10 of us headed down into the cave. It was so much fun scrambling and squeezing through tiny gaps, commando crawling, sliding down rocks on your bum and climbing up slippery rock walls. I felt as though Europe hadn't completely stolen my fitness because I wasn't puffing half as much as everyone else which was a comforting thought. It was a long exploration down in the dark and by the time I emerged it was already 8pm so I rushed back in time for a shower and then open mic night, a much more relaxed vibe which was nice for my last night. Soon the performance level deteriorated and with that the nught got more fun. I drew the line st 2 ciders but danced around with the girls and cheered on Anna who was brave enough to perform. It was great! I headed back to bed and said my farewells to my girls who I promised to come and visit in Norwich when I head back to England. In the morning, flight time to Venice! My dreams of Italy were finally becoming reality. 

VIENNA!

We arrived after a full day of feasting on the bus to beautiful and unfortunately, wet Vienna. I honestly felt as though I was accustomed to this weather now, and headed out with the group in one jumper and jeans in 9 degree weather for some more comfort eating. The 12 of us filled a long table at Centimetres and decided to indulge in 2 of their most acclaimed dish to share amongst us all. One dish contained 12 schnitzels  (Viennese cuisine) skewered on a giant sword on top of a giant bucket of fries, a bucket of chilli con carne and a kilo of chicken wings. I have never seen so much food, but of course, we polished off every last morsel being 'starving' travellers.

Alice, Laura and I met up at 8am, my earliest morning of the trip so far, and headed to the Nashmarkt, a food market directly opposite our hostel. Walking along the shopkeepers offered out samples of their produce and at a particularly sweet smelling stall I decided to give in a taste a 'tiramisu almond'. I was in food heaven instantly,sweet marbly chocolate coating a crunchy almond- I bought a bag straight away... We kept walking along and the produce was not at all what I expected, piles of olives, dips and antipasto, dried fruit and chocolate stalls, piles of meats and cheese, I felt as though I was in Italy! We went to find the girls some breakfast at a bakery and I thought I would optimistically ask about gluten free and to my surprise she simply pointed at a basket on the counter 'gluten frei' filled with baked goods, I did a double take and then bought 2 bread rolls and a brioche and started eating my first bread of the trip! 

The girls and I recommenced mission ear pierce only to get an introduction to the steep prices of Vienna- 50 euro for a single ear piercing! I was horrified. So rain coats on, we set out to explore the sights of Vienna on foot. Similarly to Prague there were incredible looking buildings everywhere, and even in the rain it was nice walking around taking a look. We walked through the Main Street which was amazing and headed into Stephansdom, an enormous cathedral there. There was an amazing art exhibition occurring inside the cathedral where colourful lights were displayed throughout the church creating the most amazing light and colour display, I was taken aback and just stood there staring for about 10 minutes. Afterwards we were roped into buying tickets for an orchestra show that evening which included opera and ballet and although it was 40euro, when in Vienna you must see opera and an inside palace theatre sounded a lot more appearing than a 3hour outdoor show in the rain, even though it was much cheaper. We were very hungry so we headed to a cool Asian restaurant to fill up on vegies, chicken and rice with a yummy Thai spicy sauce, yum! After a failed attempt at climbing an old spy tower which had been converted to an aquarium (cheers outdated guidebook) we went home and prepped before our classy adventure to the opera! The show was actually really great and I was so surprised at how many Mozart and Strauss songs I knew, I must have a secret love for classical music I don't even know about. We treated ourselves to post show drinks and dinner at a cool rooftop bar around the corner which gave us an amazing birds eye view of the whole city. 

Two nights in Vienna and we were already bored with it so we headed off to Bratislava with an amazing picnic in tow and explored. It only took an hour and we were in an entirely different country, so crazy! Bratislava really didn't have much to offer except an extremely flooded river which was good to see,  but probably not their ideal tourist attraction considering the river had doubled in width and consumed streets on either side before flood walls could be erected. We made our way up to the other sight of Bratislava, the castle. The view alone was worth the hour bus ride it was amazing and the rain was kind enough to hold off while we perched on the castle walls and feasted on gluten free bread, avocado dip, prosciutto wrapped feta, olives, sundried tomatoes, dried strawberries and of course tiramisu almonds. In a food coma we stumbled back on another lap of the town and then we were back to Vienna on the bus. Surprisingly we were hungry again even after our feast so we found a Mexican restaurant to go to because Alice was craving and Sinead came along too, so it was a true girls night with nachos and margaritas mmmm!! The Mexican staff obviously took a liking to our table of 4 girls and we got free cocktails, shots and salsa lessons! 

The final day in Vienna I decided to go sightsee some more and headed off to the Schonceberg palace with Tyler & Sinead. The sun decided to show itself a little bit so I bravely wore a T-shirt, of course with a jumper and raincoat in my bag. The palace itself was a grand building but cost money to enter, so being a cheap backpacker I decided to take a picture out the front and the walk around the extensive gardens surrounding the palace which were incredible, after about two hours walking around we still hadn't covered the whole estate. Hunger prevailed however so the three of us set off on a hunt for food and sat outside a little cafe enjoying a rare glimpse of sunshine. While dining in chevapchis and chips we talked about life and travels and suddenly it was 5pm! We headed back to the hostel and had a few cocktails with Alice and Laura for happy hour before bed, Budapest and its 28 degrees was calling me!

Prague

After a sad departure  from Berlin & a long morning on the bus I arrived to a fairly sunny Prague, what a miracle! The next mission, new friends. Berlin had given me a confidence boost being a solo traveller so I invited myself to sit down with 2 sisters from Adelaide, Alice & Laura (every person on Busabout seems to be an Aussie!!) Adam from the hostel came over and had schist to the 3 of. Us and within 5 minutes we had booked in for a walking tour, skydiving and a river boat booze cruise the following day, talk about an action packed 5 minutes! We decided to make the most of the good weather ( luckily, considering what was to come) and hopped on the tram to Prague's old town. 

Prague is extraordinarily beautiful. I know nothing about architecture or art but despite that I was completely overwhelmed by the beautiful and versatile style of buildings that surrounded me. As we strolled through the old square I was once again encapsulated by the incredible smell of street food stalls. Huge legs of pork slow roasting over wood fires delivered the mot incredible smokey smell, huge piles of a potato style sauerkraut, crepes, Czech style doughnuts coated in brown sugar and almonds, it all looked amazing and I struggled massively walking away from it. But we were on a mission to find John Lennon wall and get back in time for the final night of the Czech beer festival so my stomach had to wait. After roaming through many winding cobblestone streets and hitting a million dead ends, Alice's map reading led us right to the spot. It was so amazing how random public graffiti from everyday people, mostly with no artistic talent could come together in such a complementary fashion and create a masterpiece. I was dying to grab a marker and lease my mark on the wall, but there were none in sight so a classic tourist shot had to suffice. The walk back through the square proved much too difficult for all of our stomachs so we gave in to a hunk of pork and some potato, cabbage, bacon mix to share between the 3 of us, even I was no match to the ridiculous portion size!

After a truly magnificent feed we were running late and headed straight to the Cesky Privli beer festival to meet the group. This is Prague's version of Oktoberfest and it did match quite a lot of my imaginations. A huge tent, giant jugs of beer everywhere, loud drunken fat men making up a majority of the crowd and the servers all in their version of leiderhausen. For the first time I could really see the appeal of busabout, we filled up two enormous tables and within minutes the 20 of us were playing drinking games, forcing each other to skull and lastly, actually talking and getting to know each other. The beer festival kindly provided vodka and raspberry for me for double the cost and a quarter f the strength, but at least I could join in the fun! It was raining when we left so we opted for a taxi home, little did we know,the rain was never going to stop. 

I awoke buzzing full of excitement and nerves for the big day ahead but the rain quickly squashed any positivity I had. Skydiving was cancelled and the river had flooded, and the weather wasn't changing  any time soon. Despite the disappointment, I donned my trusty raincoat and headed out with Alice, Laura and Tyler for the free walking tour. Literally the only thing that kept me walking through the rain was the fact that our tour guide looked identical to a future Ben Jakobi. Through the rain the sights of Prague were slightly marred but still very picturesque. At the conclusion of the tour we decided to brave the weather and continue on a second 3 hour tour of the Prague Castle, in the hope that the next day we would be greeted with a blue sky and would be able to skydive. This second tour was a bad idea, the weather turned vile and the only thing I remember from the entire time was the hot chocolate I got which temporarily warmed me and simultaneously killed my stomach. All I wanted was to get back to the hostel and its SAUNA but we accidentally caught the tram to the complete other end of the line so this 1.5 hour mishap meant a hot shower would have to suffice. We went down for pre drinks for the boat party before being told of course this too was cancelled due to the floods. The only positive was we got a refund and I had already taken full advantage of my free drinks, success! We got cabs to a 5 storey club instead and danced until 6am close enjoying the warm interior and fun songs, just like Seven's red room, were a pleasure compared to the repetitive drone of Berlin's deep house music. 

Although my skydiving dreams were shot I headed into town in the rain once more to achieve another goal, getting my ear pierced! It took an hour to find only to discover it would cost 30euro, definitely not in my price range, so instead we drowned our sorrows with hot chocolate, nougat, goulash and the girls got donuts to top it off, fat Europe georgie is well on her way! It was an interesting adventure back to the hostel because all the metro stations were closed due to the floods. Exhausted, grumpy, wet and cold we headed back to the hostel, very ready to move on to a (fingers crossed) sunny Vienna!!

Berlin, I love you!

After some initial apprehension about my choice of accommodation in a suburb out of town called Kreuzberg, described as 'edgy, filled with graffiti, and dog shit', as soon as I arrived at Jetpak Hostel, my worriesnvanished and I was so glad I had chosen it. I dumped my bags in my room and sat down at the table in the lounge area and was immediately greeted by an over friendly Canadian, Spencer, offered a glass of jäger by Peter from Sydney and was soon doing shots of some German liqueur with a Swedish girl named Goldie! Talk about an action packed first 5minutes!

Before arriving in Berlin, I really didn't understand the hype. A rich history, some crazy techno nightclubs and a lot of abandoned places to break into.. Surely a few days would suffice, and without the people I met and the place I stayed, I think those few days would have been enough for me. However, at the end of a week, I was still hesitant to leave this wonderful city and the amazing friends I made here.

There was a lot of partying. Tresor, an underground bunker, filled with smoke and strobe lights that flashed in time with the music in an otherwise pitch black dungeon. Chalet, filled with house music and a little courtyard with a fire to take a break from the constant doof doof of the music, and lots and lots of cool little bars that are scattered along every street in the cool area of Kreuzberg. Everyone loves to party in Berlin (just like me) but for once I found myself truly overwhelmed, on night one I was ready for bed at 4am and everyone looked at me in shock, night 2 I left at 7am and strolled home in broad daylight, and I was the first to leave... I simply couldn't keep up with crazy Berlin! Probably partly because I strongly avoided visits to the businessmen in Gorlitzer Park, who seemed to be quite busy fuelling the late night party animals of Berlin.

I also did a lot of sightseeing even amidst the rain which decided to follow me from Amsterdam, and even walked an hour from a kreuzberg to brandenberg gate before partaking in a 3 hour walking tour all in pouring rain, safe to say I was fairly drenched by the end! On the one sunny day we had, (I even wore a t-shirt!!! ) I made the most of every second and went sightseeing like mad with my 2 good friends Dan and Glenn.  We climbed to the top of the Berliner dome, went to the reichstag, had a picnic in the teirgarten, went to checkpoint Charlie and the remnants of the Berlin Wall and even went to a museum! 

I made so many friends staying at such a small hostel which was so social and loved finally having good friends to hang out with. I ended up becoming part of a little trio with an American girl called Christine and a Canadian guy called Dan. They were both such lovely, kind and intelligent people, it was so lovely to spend time with them, getting coffee, exploring and mostly feasting on delicious food like Indian feasts, Spanish tapas or coffee and cake while having discussions about wine,art & literature, and for the first time in my life, I felt extremely mature and cultured. Apart from feasting and chatting, Dan and I also went on a day trip to Potsdam in some more rare sun, (there has only been 3 days of it the entire trip so far!) and I am so glad I went. My next desk neighbour at work, Phil, the travel guru recommended that I went there and it was a great decision ( I even sent him a postcard to prove I took his advice!) The royal family used to live in Potsdam, just an hour on the train outside of berlin. The entire town is filled with beautiful cobblestone alleyways and really transports you back to a medieval time. Sansoucci gardens are the real heart and soul of this town with rambling gardens which stretch for miles filled with fountains, multiple palaces, a vertical vineyard and some beautiful estates. It was lovely strolling around and soaking up some much needed sun before my dear old friend the rain came running back and drenched me again, just to remind me how much I hate the sun...

The food was incredible and this was probably partially to do with the fact I ignored every single type of traditional German food, except for the incredible kebabs which I was very surprised to learn were actually invented in Berlin! I treated my taste buds to all sorts of cuisines- Thai (which will never live up to Clover), Korean (which didn't tickle my taste buds but was interesting, Indian (the table was too full to fit drinks on), kebabs which come in a box (go gluten free!!) and last and certainly not least, Spanish tapas. If this restaurant is any indication of the food to come in Spain, I have certainly made the right decision to spend the majority of my travels there. This restaurant was so amazing, I came back twice within my week in Berlin and was blown away both times. The smoky chorizo cooked in cider, patatas bravas toasted with paprika and lathered with a delicious aioli, warm goats cheese drizzled with honey that melted in your mouth, and so much more.. I was in food heaven, and best of all, it was all gluten free. For a mind blowing feed and a glass or 2 of wine, I was more than happy to pay the 12 euro it cost. Cheap and cheerful Berlin, this was my most expensive meal!

I was sad to leave Berlin and the beautiful people at Jetpak, I will definitely be back during this trip, I finally understand what everyone is talking about, there is something about berlin which captures you.. It has been my favourite stop so far!