Budapest

Day 35 and we are on an overnight bus from Budapest to spend a couple of days at Oktoberfest in Munich. We really liked Budapest, in part because of the company we had (Makrina), but we also found plenty to do and see. We found the people here a little more approachable than in Prague but the city itself wasn't as stunning nor well kept. It was a lot less touristy though which was a huge plus and everything was just that little bit cheaper. As an example, we had a coffee and a piece of cake for less than a euro. It soon became the currency for Makrina when she started working out how many cakes she could get for the money she was about to spend like when she didn't want to pay to go to the toilet as she could get a cake and a coffee for the same price.

View of Pest side with the chain bridge over the Danube river

We all turned up to a free walking tour that covered a lot of the sites and attractions as well as a little bit of history and a couple of Hungarian words thrown in. They say see ya (obviously not spelt that way) when they want to say hello and hallo to say goodbye. We learnt that Hungarian is the fifth most difficult known language and that when they want a character in a movie to speak jibberish, they often use Hungarian. It all sounded Russian to me but I wouldn't describe myself as being very worldly.

On the walking tour at castle hill on the Buda side

Roman Catholic Cathedral

A statue at castle hill

Must have been a great photo opportunity

Mak and me at castle hill

Other than the walking tour we went to a chocolate festival (which wasn't as awesome as it sounds), a huge food market similar to the Victorian market in Melbourne, a Jewish memorial on the Danube and plenty of cool pubs/clubs and restaurants. They have these pubs/clubs called ruin bars where some abandoned residential buildings (often damaged from the war) have been converted into some very cool drinking establishments. One we visited had cut out bath tubs for chairs, old black and white movies playing and all sorts of unusual bits and pieces.

Hungary makes this very potent spirit called polinka that ranges from 40% to 80%. Because of Prague's spirit prohibition we all felt like we had missed out so we made up for it and had a shot of the 60% polinka that tasted like nothing in particular but it did burn going down. We were also introduced to a local, pizza style, national dish that has a deep fried base that is similar to doughnut dough but savory with garlic, cheese and what ever else you want on it called langos. We were also informed that the locals eat them before a big night out to line their stomachs. We all shared a few of them before heading out one night and I am happy to say that it did lesson the after affects from the night before.

Market hall that was built in the 1800's

Some awesome hats that would have made us too cool for school if we had of purchased them and worn them back at home

Jewish memorial of metal shoes remembering those men women and children who were lined up and shot next to the Danube

Awesome pallet chairs

A couple of ruin bars that we had a great night in

Langos. I wish they had this at home, it was brilliant.

Some architecture

Our trip to Budapest was a pleasant surprise and it was so good to share it with a good friend. Thank you Makrina for flying from Spain to interrupt your own travels and join us in Prague and Budapest. It was an absolute pleasure sharing it all with you.

Gastro street ... We decided to stay away from that one

Shall end the post with Chain bridge at sunset

 

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Prague

Day 32 and we have now left Prague and we are on our merry way to Budapest. Prague was yet another stunning old city. We were told that Prague is Europe's party capital but someone must have told the Czech government that I was coming. They banned all sale and consumption of spirits greater than 20% only a couple of days before we arrived. Thankfully the mafia was only adding methanol to make boot leg spirits which left beer and wine still available. It was a great opportunity to give my liver a break but then we caught up with Makrina and her new friends Bec and Fallon, who invited us on a pub crawl ... and then my liver was back to square one.

View of Charles bridge and Prague castle at night

We visited sites like Charles bridge, Prague castle, the old town square to see the astronomical clock, the Jewish quarter, many many pubs and restaurants, the John Lennon memorial wall as well as a day trip to see the bone church at Kunta Hora

Chon on Charles bridge

Bec, Chon, Makrina and Fallon on Charles bridge

Cathedral at Prague castle inside and out

Astronomical clock in the old town square

Streets of Prague

Boat restaurant and boatel (boat hotel) on the river

Old Jewish cemetery

On the pub crawl

It was nice seeing a familiar face in Europe after over a month away from home. Prague and Kunta Hora were stunning places to see and visit but very touristy and reminded us of Disney land without the stupid background music and Disney characters everywhere.

In Kunta Hora

With Makrina in Kunta Hora

Kutna Hora bone church with over 40,000 skeletons in it.

John Lennon memorial wall

What we have learnt about Europe so far is that non-smokers are the minority, beer is often cheaper than bottled water (depending on where you are of course), wees and poos are not free in public toilets or restaurants and roller blading is cool here.

 

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Germany

Day 27 and we are heading off to Prague. Whilst we will be returning to Germany in just over a weeks time for Oktoberfest, we are both going to miss Duetschland. The food here is brilliant, if you are a carnivore like we are. We ate so much meat that we both suffered from meat sweats at least once. For all the vego's out there, Germany has plenty of vegetarian options like sauerkraut, olives and various form of potatoes (all the best types of vegetables).

German food in Rudesheim

We started our German leg in Rudesheim on the Rhine river. This part of Germany is riddled with medieval towns and the river banks are dotted with heaps of castles. Rudesheim itself has beautiful buildings and a host of German restaurants and pubs but it is also filled with senior citizens. The whole place becomes a ghost town after 7:00pm when all the oldies head off to bed. The area is also famous for its wine (Riesling in particular) so buying a glass of wine in the town square for 1 euro was too hard to pass up. The highlight for both of us was a cruise down the river to Sankt Goar taking pictures of castles and stunning towns set in a backdrop of vine covered hills. We also explored one of the castles in St Goar called Rheinfells castle, which is in ruins and filled with pitch black tunnels and stairwells.

Rudesheim

Small street in Rudesheim

One of the many castles on the Rhein

Rheinfells castle store room

One of the many pitch black tunnels in castle Rheinfells

Castle Rheinfells (view from the highest battlement)

We then made our way further north to visit some family. We stayed with my cousin Bianca, her husband Kalle and their two boys, Theo and Moritz, in a small village called Eversen, near Celle. Bianca showed us the river Oertze, (which we went cannoying on), Celle, the concentration camp Bergen-Belson (where Anne frank died) and came with us to meet other family members. We caught up with Bianca's parents (Fred and Rudel) and Dad's cousins (Peter and Annegrit) in Delmenhorst and Dad's aunty and uncle in Grossenknten (Helena, Wilfred and their children Bernd and Birte). There was a village parade in Grossenknten where they hand out lollies to the kids and shots of spirits and beer to the adults, (we need parades like that at home). After the parade we downed shots of jägermeister and bottles of beer with sausages for dinner. Bianca had to pull over on the way home so I could remove some of my stomach contents which has since stopped me from eating any more bockwurst and drinking anymore jägermeister. Whilst staying with Bianca we also managed to fit a day trip to Hamburg. Thank you to all my family for making us feel so welcome in Germany, and special thanks to Bianca and Kalle for letting us stay in their castle.

Chon and Bianca bike riding through Eversen

Hard earned tea break after a bike ride

Site of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where Anne Frank, her sister and over 70,000 people lost their lives.

One of many mass graves the British troops had to set up due to the shear number of the deceased. This one had over 2,500. A very sad place to be.

From left to right, Christophe, Birte, Chon, me, uncle Wilfred, Bernd and aunty Helena.

Having shots of jägermeister with the family

Not long afterwards ... Did anyone order bockwurst soaked in jägermeister?

With cousins Peter and Annegrit

Bianca with her parents Fred and Rudel at the house where my Dad grew up in.

Cannoying down the river Oertze

Kalle with Theo (on the right) and Moritz (on the left)

Moritz mit mich ... taking me to the train station

Hamburg town hall

Miniature world in Hamburg ... yes they are doing what you think they are doing

Old town streets in Celle

After seeing our beautiful family, we headed into Berlin. Crossing the streets in Germany was a little dangerous initially as we kept looking the wrong way forgetting that they drive on the right hand side but it was the cyclists that really caught us off gaurd. They come out of everywhere and when we hear them flicking the bell our natural inclination is to move further left on the footpath but that is the side they overtake on. We were very lucky not to have been run into by any cyclists.

We stayed in a great bed and breakfast place in Berlin called Pension Rotdorn. We absolutely loved Berlin. We did the tourist hop on hop off bus thingy, visited checkpoint Charlie and the museum there, what's left of the wall, Brandenburg gate, a couple of museums, the Jewish memorial, a shopping centre or two and the Berlin zoo. We also spent the day in the gardens and palaces of Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam.

Checkpoint Charlie

Brandenburg gate

The remnants of the Berlin wall

Jewish memorial in Berlin

Outside one of the museums we visited

Gardens and the palace of Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam

Nues palace in Potsdam

A couple of fruit cakes who were not employees or making a film ... Just dressing up for the garden

More of Schloss Sanssouci

There was more than two of them ... and that is not Chon and I

And a beautiful girl in the beautiful gardens

Will add more pics to this post after Munich .....

Oktoberfest in Munich

I thought I had prepared myself thoroughly for Oktoberfest with all the cheap and plentiful alcohol throughout Europe, but we both worked out that any preparation was futile. For starters, they only serve the beer in 1 litre steins and the beer itself is stronger than what they sell in the shops. I was expecting a large communal seating area but there was about 10 or so huge sheds/tents that made up the drinking side of the festival where each tent was dedicated to a specific brand of beer (we spent most of the time in the Paulaner tent). The rest of the festival is made up of numerous food stalls and theme park style rides. The photos we snapped do not show you just how big the crowd and the whole festival was.

Oktoberfest 2012 rides and food stalls

One of the many beer tents

It was a sea of dirndls and lederhosen. We happened to sit near a German soccer team that we made friends with and who were great company but Chon felt sorry for any girls that happened to sit near us. Early on in the evening and every few minutes, someone in the crowd would jump up on the table and try and scull the entire stein. The crowd would all cheer and clap, unless they didn't make it, as they would start booing and throwing bits of pretzel at the individual's failing attempt. German beer songs were being played every now and then by a live brass band and everyone would stand on their seats and sing along for those who knew the words. Later on in the evening they played modern English songs so Chon was happy to sing along whilst dancing on the table top.

Early days

This old fella sculled a stein half an hour before and was thrown out not long after we took the photo

With the locals

Okay, Chon wasn't the only one dancing on the tables

Don't read this next bit Mum and Dad ... but we had no idea how we managed to get back to the hotel. We did find a photo in Chon's camera with me and a subway assistant which I don't remember posing for and Chon doesn't remember taking. I guess he helped us get the right train home.

He doesn't look too impressed.

The blurry photos are exactly how we remember the evenings events by the way so no appologies or their quality. We spent the next day exploring the beautiful city of Munich nursing our hang overs. Just visiting Munich alone was a day to remember but if you ever do visit Munich, try and time it with Oktoberfest as it was a really fun and partially memorable experience.

Clock tower in Munich that has moving figures and music but seems to go on for half an hour

The guy on the end is real and the rest are puppets/figurines

Once again the handsome guy on the end is real ...

Some statues in Munich ... Boar, baboon, boar baboon ... Fishhh (look up tropfest winner 2011 - animal beatbox on YouTube if you are scratching your head with the above photo description ... I'm the baboon by the way)

 

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