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.
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.
posted by Trevor Schofield at 11:33 a.m.
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