Done and Done (for now)

77 Days
10 Countries (and a city-state)
42 Cities

The time has flown by, but my backpacking trip around Western Europe has come to an end. The past few weeks have been both the highlights and lowlights of the past couple of months. It seemed like every city that I stopped in was having a festival of some sort, so there was always something going on. However, I could have passed on the kids festival in Cologne - thousands of screaming kids running around made it a bit hard to sit back in the park and read. On the plus side, there were the best food stands everywhere: deep-fried potato pancakes, crepes, giant wurst in buns, pickles, beer battered mushrooms and bulk candy. Can't complain about that at all. The locals seemed to be making the most of it too. Most of them had mini-kegs between a few of them, getting drunk in the park in the middle of the morning.

Berlin seemed to be the favorite destination of most people I ran into, but the weather was starting to take a turn for the worst again. I took a walking tour of the city in the pouring rain and got a great rundown of the city history (I highly recommend the Free City Walking Tours where they are recommended). I met another new group of people on the tour and we decided to continue on with the pub crawl that night. For 10euro they take you around to 5 bars/clubs with drink specials and free shots between stops - kinda hard to turn down. Berlin is know for it's nightlife and it didn't disappoint. As usual everyone was best friends by the time we got to the second bar and we went straight through until morning having a great time. But, with every ying there is a yang. We didn't know where the hostel was from the bar at the end of the night so we hopped in a cab. The guy ended up taking us all over town and ripped us off. Fortunately there were 6 of us and it didn't end up costing all that much. In the end I got dropped off at the hostel of the people I was hanging out with - my place was across town, but I had made the same walk that afternoon and knew where I was going. Turns out it was a bit longer walk than I had remembered; so, after over an hour of walking through the centre of Berlin as I passed people going to work I made it back to my hostel - nothing a day of hanging out at the hostel couldn't fix.

Moving on to Dresden and Nuremberg. Both are absolutely beautiful cities and are definitely on my list of places to revisit. as soon as I got into Dresden I sat down to grab a bit to eat and had to do a double take of the guy walking across the courtyard and noticed that he was giving the same look in my direction. Turns out it was a guy that I hung out with in Cologne (Cam from New Zealand) the week before. Aside from just taking in the sights of the city the most memorable thing that comes to mind is that this guy went to the grocery store and picked up a jar of ¨Trader Joe's¨ hotdogs in a jarred brine solution, a loaf of ¨American¨ white bread and the cheapest ketchup possible. To my disgust and his regret he took a swig of the hotdog juice... Cam and I moved on to Nuremberg after a single day in Dresden and had 2 days/nights of another local festival before moving on to Munich.

In short, Munich was the scene of my best days and worst nights. The city was packed and the only place to stay was a campground (that I had to book almost 6 months in advance). I set up my tiny tent and took off to Oktoberfest right away. Within minutes of walking around the tents I ran into a group of people that were on the Berlin Pub Crawl with me. They already had a few litres of beer under their belt (you can only buy beer by the litre), but after a quick bite to eat and a walk around the fair grounds we moved into a tent to sample the nectar of the Bavarian Gods. The night progressed as expected and I had an awesome time. On par with Pamplona and the running of the bulls, Oktoberfest is such a massive party that you have to experience it to really know what it is like.
The tents close around 10pm, after 12 hours of non-stop beer service, and I decided to head back to the camp to see what was going on there. Unfortunately I had a bit of a hard time navigating the streets the 6km back without a map... After wandering for about an hour I found a tram and hopped on. Too bad it turned out to be #7 and not #17, which was the one that I needed. To get to the point, I ended up 20km outside of Munich on the last tram of the night. Then, when I decided I would walk at least a bit of the way back (rather than sitting in the cold for 4 hours) I ended up 25km away from Munich - the sign postings weren't helping me at all and I was still without a map. Finally I made my way to a S-bahn stop that I KNEW would get me home and I camped out there for an hour until the first tram came in the morning. I had no change in my pocket to get a ticket, the machines didn't take bills, and as it was 5am there were no stores open. I hoped for the best, hopped on the tram back and was lucky enough not to get checked. Upon getting back into town I went back to the campground just in time for it to start raining (it was now 6:30am). I crawled into my sleeping bag and crashed for a few hours, only to wake up cold and wet. I was supposed to spend one more night there on the ground, but decided I had enough, so I packed up. I talked to the reception and found out that there was a bunk available in the giant tent dorm that they had set up. This was a huge events tent with about 100-150 bunk beds in it. I decided to take that option, because at least I would be dry and I was in no mood to try and catch a train to another city in the hopes of finding a decent place to stay the night. A bit of a restless night ensued, but I was out of there the next day and on my way back to Dublin.

I arrived back in the Land of the Leprechauns safe and sound, am staying at Susan's place for a quick couple of days to get things sorted and am greatly thankful to have a bit of a break from hostels and living on the road (at least for a short while).
As I had the afternoon to kill once I got back to Dublin until Susan got out of class I decided to get one last free pint of Guinness from the Blood Donation Clinic. My day was brightened up even further when I got to Susan's flat and was greeted at the door with yet another fresh pint. I couldn't have asked for a better reception, haha.

I'm working on getting the last of my pictures backed-up on Facebook, so feel free to browse through them if you have the time (I know they are in a mess and completely random, but I haven't had the time to label anything or even think about sorting them out). A bit of organization might happen in the next few weeks if I find I have some downtime and an internet connection, but I wouldn't count on it.

These pretzels are making me thirsty!

More and more rain in Vienna led to a quite couple of days, but I forced myself to get out and went with a couple from South London to the Opera. Carmen was being put on and standing tickets were only €2! After an hour of waiting in line I had the privilage of standing for another 3 to watch the show, haha. It was definitely worth it though; however, I was more impressed with the symphony then with the singing and acting. It was nice to be able to recognize a lot of the songs, and they even had an English translation of what was going on. Actually being able to follow along with what was going on and what the songs are about makes for a much more interesting show.

Leaving Vienna I back-tracked to Salzburg. I pretty much saw the whole city that afternoon, so I spent the next few days exploring the surrounding area (also, I watched The Sound of Music for the first, second and third time as it was played every night in the hostel).
First I went to the Ice Caves in Werfen (the largest in the world). It was a rainy day, but I figured what better way to spend a wet day outside than to spend it hiking around a rocky mountain side and climbing through a -5C cave...
The cave was really cool (pun intended), but photography was pretty much impossible because we were walking around by candlelight and the massive sheets/formations of ice would look pretty pathetic in a picture anyway - you really have to see it first hand to appreciate the size.

Next place on the list was Berchtesgaden (if you have seen Band of Brothers this may be ring a bell - it is the site of Hitler's Eagles Nest). I crossed into the German Alps and signed up for the afternoon tour but was informed that the Eagles Nest was closed due to the freak snow storm that they got the previous week (hence, all the rain that we had in Austria). They were still running the tour of the Nazi residences and bunkers throughout the Obersalzburg, so I decided to do that. Hitler (with Eva Braun), Goebbels, Göring, Bormann and Speer all had permanent estates in this area with an extensive network of tunnels and bunkers running throughout the mountain. Most of the buildings had been bombed and removed since the war, but there were a few still there, and a section of the bunker has been opened to allow visitors to walk through. It is unbelievable to think that much of the Nazi movement was established from that very area. Even Mein Kampf (Vol. II) was written here. From the side of the mountain we were able to see the Eagles Nest, but I found out that Hitler never really used it at all. He only visited it 14 times - it was a 50th birthday present from his staff. The engineering of the construction in the area was the most impressive aspect. I wish I could go into all of the details, but I don't want to bore you at this point, as I want you to actually finish reading this post.

Moving north the next day I settled in Munich for a few days. This city is amazing. I ran into a guy I had originally met in Vienna a few days before, as well as a few girls from Manchester that I recognized from Salzburg. We spent the next few days touring Munich, checking out the Oktoberfest grounds, attending a free beer tasting, had a few nights at the Beer Hall then finished on the last day with a tour of the former concentration camp in Dachau. I could have used a few more days in Munich, but I will be back at the end of the month for Oktoberfest. I don't really count on having all that much time to sight-see at that point though. I have already had my fair share of pretzels and wurst, but think I will be able to handle a couple more days...

I am currently in Aachen (just outside of Köln/Cologne), staying with my parents former exchange student, Benny. It is amazing to sleep in a real bed, have a home cooked meal and hace all the luxuries of home at my disposal. Having clean clothes for the end of my trip is going to be great, although it is still just the same 3 old shirts that I rotate day to day. I got a chance to see what life is like here a bit and am apparently playing a game of Texas Hold'em tonight, so things aren't too different from home!
Tomorrow I am off to Cologne for a couple of nights before 4 in Berlin, 1 in Dresden, 2 in Nuremburg and 2 in Munich. I spent the afternoon trying to find a place to stay in the south of Germany that is close to the airport that I am flying out of, but so far have had little luck. The airport is closed from 23:00-05:00 and it says that they do not allow people to sleep in the terminal. It may end up being a very cold few hours wandering the streets, but am still hopeful something will work out.

I probably won't have a chance to put up another post until I get back to Dublin in 2 weeks, but have put more pictures up on Facebook.

Hope all is well,
Trevor

Video and Images

My latest pics are up on on FaceBook (linked through my Images Abroad page).
As well, here is a bit of a video that I took when I was hiking in Interlaken, Switzerland:

A Short Update

So I never quite made it out to the D-Day beaches. I got to Caen to find out that all the tours for the next few days were booked up, so I toured the Normandy Museum (which was pretty amazing, with an extensive video archive collection of WWII) then headed back to Paris. The next day I took it easy, climbed the Eiffel Tower and met up with my old flatmate Brianne. I finally had someone to hang out with on the grass infront of the Eiffel Tower with (along with the rest of Paris) and we managed to take the classic photos and finish off a few bottles of wine. Brianne convinced me that Euro Disneyland was a "must-see" attraction, so off we went. It was a great day, but I was temoprarily side-lined with a bit of a migrane in the start of the day. A quick stop at the First Aid tent got me back on my feet for the most part and the rollercoasters were enough of a distraction that I didn´t pay my head much attention. We even ended the day with a ride on It´s a Small World and I managed to keep my sanity. It had been a while since I had been on a rollercoaster, but couldn´t wipe the grin off my face after the first drop (just wait to see it pictures). And yes, that is Brianne SCREAMING as I am laughing histerically.

After Paris I had to pop back in to Switzerland to see the last recommended place on everones list, Luzern. I had a few days of hiking around the mountains and met a few cool people, but everything was cut fairly short as the rain moved in.

Heading into Austria the weather has been more of the same. I got to Innsbruck and hiked for as long as possible, but ended up playing cards in the evenings when the rain forced up inside. Wein (Vienna) has been more of the same story. I had a chance to walk around and see some of the sights this morning, but got caught out in a downpour this afternoon, then read at the hostel all afternoon.
Regardless of the weather, Vienna has been one of the coolest citys I have been in so far. I will definitely have to come back for a follow-up visit when I make my way through Eastern Europe.

I have got 2 more nights here in Vienna, then 3 in Salzburg, 3 in Munich, a few in Aachen and Cologne, 4 in Berlin a quick stop over in Dresden/Leipzig/Nurenburg, then back down to Munich for Oktoberfest at the end of the month.
Hopefully the weather will clear up a bit in the next few days so that I am not just stuck in the hostel, but it is nice to have a few cooler nights...