Munich and Wildschonau Valley

We arrived in Munich later than expected, as the traffic had been absolutely horrendous. We only ended up arriving at our hostel at 7:30pm. We were greated by a huge camping ground. I had known that we were going to be sleeping in a huge tent with 100 other people, but I wasn't quite prepared for it. We got into the tent and there were a lot of bunks. Really quite close together, and shoved into any spot they could fit.

Luckily my nose was still pretty blocked up so I didn't have to smell the tent, but I was told it smelt very musty and very much like feet. When we arrived we were informed that they don't accept card. Unfortunately for us, we didn't have enough cash on us to pay. However the guy at reception told us that there was a grocery store a 10 minute walk away that had an ATM. Only issue, it closes at 8. By this time it was 7:45. We had to race to this grocery store, and we only just made it in time to get cash out. It was pretty lucky. Once we were all checked in, we were handed our blankets and informed that there were no pillows provided. So we had to use blankets stuffed in t-shirts as makeshift pillows. The first night wasn't too cold, I think I only needed two blankets and I was comfortable. We were lucky enough to find a free bunk so we were able to sleep close to each other. We got dinner from the camp bbq and went to bed, it had been a long day. 

The heatwave finally seems to be over in Germany. We awoke to an overcast day, and found that it was actually a little chilly. But it was so much better than the heat we didn't care. We made our way to Marienplatz, which is kind of like the central square in Munich. It is not to be confused with Marianneplatz, which is in fact just a normal street with nothing too exciting to see, as we accidentally found out. We wandered around the square for a while looking at all the different shops and buildings. Standing in the centre of Marienplatz, is one of the most beautiful and amazing buildings I've seen. It's the new town hall that was built in the 19th century, and is still used today as the Mayors offices. 

It's an incredible, huge gothic building with bright red flowers lining the balconies. I loved the way the red flowers stood out against the black sandstone walls of the building. 

After eating lunch we made our way to the markets that are close by Marienplatz. It was fairly late in the day, so I think many of the stalls were closing up. So it wasn't that impressive of a market, and we were kind of dissapointed. By this time it had begun to get really cold and windy so we made our way back to the tent. Whilst the previous night had not been too bad, this night was absolutely freezing. I slept under 5 blankets! It was really horrible actually. 

We woke up fairly early, as you do when you are sleeping in a tent. We had decided that we were going to go on a free walking tour. We really enjoyed the tour, as we usually do, and we learnt a lot about Munich. Once the tour was finished we made our way to the famous and very beautiful English Gardens. I think our guide said that they are the largest public gardens in the world. Bigger than Central Park in New York. They were very beautiful. Once you stepped into the park it was hard to believe that you were in the middle of the city. There is a river/canal running all through the gardens that you are allowed to swim in. There is a section of the river where the rushing water had created a wave, and people come to surf this wave! It was really cool to see! People were surfing in the middle of a park! 

Some of them were really good too. Once we had had enough of watching the surfing we walked to one of the beer gardens that is located in the park. In the centre of he beer garden there is a large Chinese style tower that was given to Munich as a gift from China. 

You are able to sit below this tower, and a band plays traditional German music inside. We got some beer, a pretzel and pork knuckle from the vendors around the beer garden and sat under the tower to eat our lunch. 

It was really yum! And sitting in a park, listening to German music and eating good German food was an awesome experience. 

Once we had eaten lunch we headed back into the main square and went to look at an old church that we had been told about. The inside was pretty spectacular, as most European churches are, and for just €1 you could climb to the top of the bell tower. We climbed over 300 stairs. The view of Munich at the top was very beautiful, you could see all the way to the alps. However, was it worth the climb? I'm still unsure. 

It had been a very long day, so we made our way back to the tent. When we arrived we found that two of our friends from Grunau were staying there too! They had arrived that day, and were planning on going out for dinner, so they asked us to join them. We went to another beer garden and had dinner. It was a really fun night, and was a good way to spend our last night in Munich. 

The next morning we were up very early to catch the bus to a place called the Wildschonau Valley. Luckily it was only a two hour bus ride. The place we are staying is in a small town in the valley, which is located in the Austrian Alps. We are staying at a ski lodge, that is right by the mountains. That first day we were both exhausted, and I wasn't feeling great. It was also raining so we couldn't go out into the mountains, so we had a relaxed day. The hostel we are staying at is quite small, and there were only 5 or so of us staying there. So we all got together that night and played a card game. It was really nice, I really love these smaller hostels. 

 

Unfortunately, over night Harrison caught the flu that is going around! We had thought that he had been able to avoid it, as I was starting to get better, and there were less sick people on our buses. However it finally caught up with him, and he has been hit hard. We spent the morning in bed, and once Harrison had taken some cold and flu tablets and felt okay we decided to catch the gondola to the top of the mountain. 

It was a beautiful ride up, and once we got to the top an even more beautiful view. It was just incredible, we could see the alps all around us and all of the little towns that looked so tiny from above.

At the top of the mountain there was a resturant that served traditional Austrian food, so we decided to have lunch there. Unfortunately, once the owner discovered that we were English he was very rude to us, and the food was not very good. By this time poor Harrison was not doing well, and was not able to eat the food. He was sitting at the table shivering like it was freezing, when it really wasn't. Luckily we had bought the cold and flu tablets with us so he took those and we got down the mountain as quick as we could. Once we got to the bottom he was starting to feel better, so we stopped for some apple strudel before heading back to the hostel. Harrison went to sleep for the rest of the afternoon. When he woke up he wasn't doing so great again. He was shivering and in pain and was unable to eat dinner. We made him a hot water bottle by pouring boiling water into a wine bottle and wrapping it in a towl, and sent him to bed. 

This night was a hard one for both Harrison and I. Poor Harrison was up in the middle of the night puking, and just feeling awful. And I got a call from my parents telling me that my grandpa had passed away. He had been suffering with alzheimer's for a long time now, so in a way it is good that he is finally at peace. However it is incredibly painful for me being away from my family during this time. We were all very close to my grandpa, and his death has been extremely painful for all of us. 

This morning Harrison woke up, and although he was slightly better than the previous night, he was still not doing well. We were meant to catch the bus to Venice today, but the guide on the bus found out that Harrison was very ill and wouldn't let us on the bus for fear of infecting other passengers, having to pull over for him to puke, and that Harrison would just have a miserable 6 hours. It is a little frustrating, as we have to move around our plans and accommodations; but I can't say I'm that upset. The Valley is absolutely beautiful, and a few more days here will definitely not hurt. We watched a movie in the morning, and Harrison has spent the afternoon in bed. He seems better than this morning, so fingers crossed his recovery is a quick one. 

Vienna and Grunau

Our first day in Vienna was hot. It is not fun waking up, already covered in sweat. The open window held no relief, just the occasional warm breeze. You could try and have a cold shower, and it was great while you were under the water, but as soon as you step out you were covered in sweat again. I think that the first day was 38 degrees. It is really hard to feel motivated to do anything in heat like that. However, we got ourselves up and headed into the centre of Vienna. We had planned on doing a walking tour, but when we arrived at the start point there seemed to be no tour guide waiting. We waited there for a while, but no one showed up so we decided to wander around on our own. We went into St Stephan's church, which was amazing. I think it was one of the most impressive churches we have seen! Amazing gothic architecture.

We wandered around the city for a little while in search of lunch, and came across a hotdog stand. We ordered hotdogs with traditional sausage, and they were the biggest hot dogs I've ever eaten! They cut open the top of a really long bun, hollow it out and then put the sausage in there. It was pretty good for how cheap it was! 

Once we were done with lunch we decided to walk to an amusement park that we had been told about, that has the oldest ferris wheel in the world!

 It was a VERY long walk in extreme heat. Once we got there we were both totally exhausted. However we managed to meander through the park looking at all the rides. We allowed ourselves to go on one ride, because we were in an amusement park and we had to! It was a haunted house type ride. You sit in this cart thing that takes you through the house. We entered through the spooky doors and were greeted with complete darkness. So dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Throughout the ride scary things that light up pop out and jump out at you. It was terrifying and super fun at the same time! I really enjoyed it. 

By this time we were completely knackered. We had booked a bike tour for the whole of the next day, so we decided to take it easy for the rest of the evening. As the evening progressed I started to feel really bad. My throat ached and my whole body was in a huge amount of pain. All I could do the whole night was roll around in bed and cry whilst Harrison tried his best to comfort me. It was really horrible. However I did eventually fall asleep. 

The next day I woke up determined to go on the bike tour that we had booked. We got up bright and early and started to get ready. But I just couldn't do it. I had managed to get dressed, but everything still ached. We went down to breakfast to see if that would help, but I couldn't get anything down. My head was spinning and I really just felt like crap. So after a lot of convincing, Harrison got me back into bed, and we had to cancel the tour. I was really upset about it, as I had actually really been looking forward to it. 

The rest of the morning was spent drifting in and out of sleep. It was another incredibly hot day, 35 degrees, and I had a terrible fever which really didn't help as I was sweating out any liquids I managed to get down. Luckily we had some cold and flu tablets left over from the last time we were sick, so I took some of those and went to sleep. When I woke up again I was feeling much better. I managed to get out of bed and get into the shower. I even managed to keep some corn cake things (like rice cakes but with corn) down! Since it was a Sunday, all the grocery stores were closed. We were supposed to go on the tour, during which we would have gotten lunch so we hadn't bought anything to eat the previous day. So we had the trek into the city centre to look for something that was open. We found a small cafe and had lunch and a cold drink. However by the time we were done, the cold and flu tablets were wearing off and I was not doing well again, so we went back to the hostel, and I went back to sleep. 

I was rudely awoken by the need to puke. So up came all that I had managed to eat that day. Great! This was about 3pm. By 7:30 I had puked 3 more times. I would take a few sips of water, and try to sleep again. But would once again have to run to the bathroom to puke up the water. I could keep nothing down. By this time we both decided that I needed to go to the hospital. All of the doctors offices were closed since it was a Sunday, so we had to go straight to the hospital. I was in no state to catch the train there, so we had to call a cab. It was possibly the longest cab ride of my life. This guy was really stepping on it, knowing that I was sick. But because of this, it made the ride very bumpy, which in turn made me very ill. I did everything I could not to puke in that cab. When we reached the hospital, we went to pay. Our card did not work in his card machine. Could the day get any better, really? We were really lucky that the cab driver was kind enough to walk with Harrison to an ATM in the hospital. We got out the cab, and thank goodness we had brought a plastic bag, because I puked again in the car park. The cab driver allowed Harrison to take me into the emergency and hand me over to the doctors before going to find an ATM.

We were also very lucky that all of the doctors and nurses we dealt with spoke English. Once Harrison returned, we had to wait to be seen. It was not a long wait, we were really impressed. First things first was a blood test, and then I was put straight onto a drip and pumped with liquid and pain killers as my body had started cramping pretty badly. We had to wait two hours for the blood tests to be analysed, which again was not bad. During that time Harrison began speaking to one of the security guards that was working in the hospital. He apparently loved Australians, especially the Australian cricket team. He was such a kind man. He let me use his phone to contact my parents, helped Harrison find something to drink and checked up on me every time he saw that a doctor had spoken to us. He spoke to Harrison a lot throughout the night (whilst I slept and lay down), about his life and asking what life was like back in Australia. 

This hospital was very efficient, and as soon as they got the blood results back they came over to talk to us. Apparently my blood showed that there was a very high level of inflammation somewhere in my body. Unfortunately it didn't pin point where the inflammation was exactly, so they needed to run tests as they were unwilling to send me home with such a high reading. I had to get a chest X-Ray to check for pneumonia, pee in a cup to test for a bladder infection and see the ear, nose and throat specialist. After all of these tests were done we were told that the inflammation was most likely coming from the beginning of a throat infection (like laryngitis just the ones on top not the bottom? That's how she described it). So I was put on another drip. More liquids, and a course of antibiotics. So not only was I incredibly dehydrated, but I also had the beginnings of a throat and possibly chest infection. All because some girl in our dorm had given me her cold! 

Once the antibiotics had finished being pumped into my arm, we were finally free to go. With the request that we come back the next day to have my blood checked to see if the antibiotics had helped the inflammation. We were supposed to be leaving Vienna that day to head to Grunau, but we unfortunately had to push that back. By this time it was 2am, and both of us were just completely exhausted. The security guard that we had spoken to called a cab for us and waited with us until it got there, making sure the cab driver understood English. Before we got in the cab he gave Harrison a massive hug and wished us all the best. It was so nice. We finally made it home at 2:40am. Harrison had to speak to reception to let them know we would be extending our stay, and after that we went to bed. 

When I woke up the next day, I was feeling a lot better than the previous day. I was by no means better, but I didn't feel like I was going to die. I even managed to eat some breakfast, which was really the first thing I had eaten and managed to keep down in over 24 hours. We made our way back to the hospital, on the train this time. I had some blood taken, and had to wait 2 hours for the results. So we ventured into the hospital to look for something to eat and drink. We found a store that was selling fresh squeezed orange juice, which was just what I needed and was absolutely delicious! After the 2 hours were up we made our way back to the ER and were seen by the doctor. The inflammation had gone down! It was still very high, but it had gone down from the previous night which was good. They were prepared to let me go with a prescription for some hardcore antibiotics. We left the hospital in search of a pharmacy. It took a little while to find one, but once we did we had no issues getting everything we needed. This day out had completely worn me out, so we went back to the hostel and I went to bed. 

The next day was Harrison's birthday! I was still not feeling fantastic, so we had a lazy morning. For lunch we decided to go find the Nachtmarkt, which is a big good market in the centre of Vienna. It has the usual temporary food stalls, but also has a lot of restaurants sprinkled throughout it. After a bit of wandering around we came across a Japanese restaurant, and Harrison decided that was what he wanted to eat.

We got a feast! We started with spring rolls and dumplings, and then both got sushi for mains. Harrison got the biggest box of sushi I have ever seen! There were all sorts of different types of sushi.

It just looked beautiful! It was a really great lunch and a nice day out. Once we were finished we went back to the hostel to lounge around there. We were both stuffed from lunch, so for dinner we just had ham and cheese on corn cakes. 

The day had finally come for us to travel to Grunau! We were both so excited, as we had been told so much about it and seen so many beautiful pictures. And it did not disappoint! Grunau is a small village in the Austrian Alps, and the place we stayed was 7km away from the village in the forest.

When we arrived, we were greeted to a delicious home cooked lasagne! It was amazing to have warm, home cooked food! Once we had eaten lunch and got checked in a group of us decided to hike to a waterfall that was fairly nearby. The walk was an hour and a half, through beautiful forest and along the clearest river I have ever seen. It was an amazing walk. When we arrived at the waterfall I think we were all slightly blown away. It was so beautiful! It ran down a lush green mountain into multiple layers of pools of crystal clear water.

We climbed to the base of the waterfall, and braved the freezing water. It was the coldest water I have ever experienced! But it was worth it! It was also really great getting to go on the hike with a group, and meet a whole lot of new people. By the time we reached the waterfall everyone was chatting and encouraging each other and helping each other climb over things and whatnot. When we couldn't take the cold any longer we made the trek back to the hostel. We had an hour before dinner, so Harrison and I had a quick nap. The owner of this hostel is a lovely old Austrian man, who has done a chefs course. So you can only imagine how great the food was. Unfortunately, due to my horrific cold I didn't actually get to taste it, but from the reactions it got I can tell it was amazing. Every night we got a three course meal of salad, a main and a dessert. Another great thing about this hostel was that everyone had dinner at the same time, and we all sat together so we got to meet even more people. We met an American girl and an Aussie guy that we really got a long with, so the four of us spent most of the night hanging out. We later joined in with some other people and everyone had a few drinks and sat around talking and joking around.

The next morning we booked in to go horse riding! I was super excited, because as you may know I love horse riding! However, the whole experience was a bit disappointing. Usually the guides will ride along in front of you, but this one attached a rope to my horse and led me along. I felt like I was a kid on a pony at an amusement park. Not only that, but we basically stuck to the road and residential areas, and didn't actually get to see much of the forest and mountains as we were hoping. It was still a fun experience, but all in all a bit disappointing.

 I was really struggling that afternoon, so we had to stay at the hostel most of the day which I felt really bad about. 

Today we unfortunately had to leave our little slice of paradise. We are on our way to Munich at the moment (although by the time this is posted we will already be there). We are looking forward to seeing what Munich has to offer. Our hostel is going to be interesting, it is called The Tent, and is just that. It is a tent with 100 bunks in it, that everyone sleeps in. There is a fire pit and games room and bar at the camp ground. I think it will be pretty fun! I am still not feeling the best, but I am getting there. I am so grateful that it was not worse, and that I had Harrison to look after me. I don't know what I would have done without him. 

Cesky Krumlov

We awoke yesterday to the most beautiful day. The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky! It was the perfect day for canoeing! We had some errands to run before we began our day on the river, so firstly we set off in search of a pharmacy. Our search took us out of the old town of Cesky Krumlov where we have been staying and into a more suburbian area. It was interesting to see, as all of the buildings in the old town are from medieval times; however the houses out of the town are just regular houses. It seemed that most of them were falling into disrepair and were very bleak. Once we had located the pharmacy and purchased what we needed, we grabbed some groceries and headed back to the hostel to make lunch. 

Lunch was finished, and it was time to hire a canoe! We were both really excited to get onto the river, as it had gotten really hot and the river here is just beautiful. We went to the rental place and looked at all of their options. It really seems that they cater more towards big groups with their pricing. To hire a canoe would have cost us $35 for an hour, which I don't know about you but we thought that was a bit unreasonable. We looked around at other companies in the town and found that their pricing was much the same, if not more. So unfortunately we had to give the canoeing a miss. We were both quite sad about it as we had really been looking forward to canoeing. But we made the most of the day! We got some icecream and headed down to the river anyway! We went for a dip in the water to cool down, and lounged around the riverside for most of the afternoon. 

It turned out to be a really relaxed day, which was nice.

We had a lot of Czech money left over that we had to spend, as today we are moving on to Vienna which means we are back to the Euro. Whilst we had been wandering around the town earlier in the day we came across this resturant that looked pretty good, and seemed to have decent prices, so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner there. While the meal we had at the vegetarian resturant the previous day had been the best we have had, this one was possibly the worst. It was a Mexican resturant ( which I guess we should have realised would not have been good. Mexican food in the Czech Republic) on the outskirts of town. Not only was the food flavourless, but there were hidden extra costs everywhere. You want extra guacamole? Well that's €2. Jack Daniels and coke? Well we guess you have to pay for a bottle of coke and a glass of JD. It was really disappointing, as it was our last night in Cesky Krumlov and we had wanted it to be nice. We left as soon as we were finished. 

There is an adorable little ice cream shop on the way back to the hostel. It is a tiny building, with lush green vines and leaves growing on the front of it. 

We decided to stop there and get dessert. We got an ice cream sundea to share, and it was really good! 

A relief after the crap dinner. Once we were done we headed back to the hostel and busied ourselves with packing and colouring for the rest of the night before heading to bed. 

Whilst in Cesky Krumlov we have been in a 6 bed dorm room, which is not uncommon for us. However we experienced the most horrific girl at this hostel. Generally the people in our dorm rooms are fairly nice and you are able to chat to them every now and then. I don't know what this girl had up her ass, but she just refused to talk to anyone, and when you tried to talk to her she rolled her eyes and sighed like it was the worst thing in the world. Not only that, but she slept until about 1pm everyday, and if you happened to disturb her slumber she glared you down and made you feel like you had done something truly horrific. But as soon as she has to leave, she is up early making all sorts of noise whilst people sleep and it's totally fine. She's also got one of her friends to stare you down whenever you're around them. Unfortunately she is an Australian girl on our bus tour. Hopefully we don't have to deal with her again. I truly don't understand people like this. You are in a beautiful country, far away from home, with so many new things to experience. What is the point of travelling if you're going to sleep all day and avoid making new friends like the plague? I'm generally not one to complain about people, I get that everyone is different; I just do not understand this girl. 

Anyway on a more positive note, today we are headed to Vienna! A new country! We are both excited to see what Austria holds. 

The 18 curse

I have been meaning to talk about this for a while, but just keep forgetting to add it to the end of a post, so I figured I would make a seperate post to address this issue we have come across. 

Whilst we have been travelling we have met a range of different people. People of different races, nationalities, ages, and ways of thinking. However out of the people that we have met, Harrison and I are generally younger. More often than not we are the youngest travellers in the dorm room or on the bus. I really didn't think that that would be an issue, but it has proven to be. 

Other travellers will start to talk to us, ask us where we are from and all that. They will seem to enjoy chatting to us and we will get along with them pretty well. Then they ask "oh, by the way, how old are you?". When we tell them that we are 18, they will almost instantly distance themselves. Even though just moments before, we were having a good conversation and enjoying each other's company. As soon as you tell them you're 18 they will find some excuse to leave or just stop the conversation. It's as if they are embarrassed that they enjoyed talking to an 18 year old. And it's not like they are generally that much older. Mostly early to mid 20s. Regardless, it has made it pretty difficult to make friends. 

It's so frustrating. Just because we are 18 does not mean that we are any less worthy of your time. We are able to hold and contribute to a conversation just as well as you can. People judge others before they give them a chance. 

I will say that this is not always the case. We have had some people that seem really impressed when we tell them our age. There have been one or two people that seem to have respect for the fact that two 18 year olds are travelling for 8 months on their own, supporting themselves. But sadly this is only the minority. 

We have tried not to let this get us down, but it is pretty deterring when someone looks down on you because of your age. Whilst we are travelling I really feel like our age does not define us. It's the moments and places we have experienced that define us. Our ability to contribute to a conversation. Our need for adventure. The people we have met and left a mark on a long the way. And if people are too stuck up to see that, well then I guess that's too bad for them. I feel sorry for them. But it does still sting just a little. 

Prague and Cesky Krumlov

On our last full day in Prague we went on a Castle Tour. Before the tour started we ducked into a small pub to grab some lunch. We weren't feeling too hungry so we got a meal to share, and thank goodness we did! The Czech people really love huge meal sizes! Since the pub served traditional Czech food, we weren't too sure what to get. We ended up ordering a dish called the Prague feast. And a feast it was! We were served roast and smoked pork, pork sausage, pickled cabbage, dumplings and potato pancakes. It was one of the best meals I have had whilst being abroad! The smoked pork was absolutely amazing! I also really love the pickled cabbage over here, it's really delicious. It was an amazing meal, for an amazing price. 

The Castle Tour was really interesting. The guide showed us around the castle grounds, explaining the history of the castle and the town along the way. We had the same guide as our walking tour the previous day, and once again she was just excellent. Since she is from the Czech Republic she was able to add a personal touch to the tours which makes them that much better. The Prague Castle is the biggest castle in Europe, and it is incredibly beautiful. The arcitecture is just amazing. My favourite part of the castle is the gothic cathederal in the centre. 

It's absolutely amazing. All of the windows inside are stained glass and the ceilings are arched and tall. It was so beautiful. 

Our guide took us to this point in one of the gardens that if you stand in the centre of this perfect circle, your voice reverberates off the stairs and amplifies it and makes it sound super weird! We also went to a place of the castle grounds called the Golden Lane. This is where the people working at the castle would stay. It was a lane of tiny old houses on a cobbled road. It was really cool to see! 

We were able to climb the stairs and go into one of the old houses; there were also gift shops in some of the houses so we got to go in those too. 

From the castle walls you get the most incredible view of Prague. You can just see for miles. 

The skyline of Prague is truly unique, and magically beautiful. I am so glad we got the opportunity to see the castle and the amazing view. 

We finished up the tour around 6pm and wandered back down through the town and made our way back home. 

The next day we were off to a little town called Cesky Krumlov! Cesky Krumlov is about 3 hours away from Prague, still in the Czech Repuic. It is a beautiful old medieval style town that has been incredibly well looked after. All of the buildings look as though they are the originals, and in many cases they are! There is a beautiful old castle on top of a hill, towering over the town. On our first day we wandered around the town for a little bit. It is not a very big town, you can walk from one side to the other in about 15 minutes. But it takes so much loner than that, because there are so many distractions along the way! There are so many quirky shops and incredible smelling food stalls and cafés. We found a small pub on the river near our hostel, so we decided to have a drink.

 

It was really nice! We sat by the river and watched people float by on rafts and canoes, and children playing in the water, people eating dinner. The weather had begun to turn kind of bad so we headed back to the hostel after doing some grocery shopping. Our roommates at this hostel were really nice guys! We got a long with them pretty well, and chatted to them for a while. That night we had dinner, then ventured out into the town for a while to explore a bit more. After a little while of walking around, we made our way back to the hostel. 

On our second day is Cesky Krumlov, the weather wasn't the best. We decided to try and visit the castle before the rain started. We didn't go on a tour of this castle, we just wandered around on our own. I think that Cesky Krumlov's castle is much nicer than Pragues. It's not as large and grand, but the details on the walls and whatnot are just breathtaking. The first thing you will notice walking up to the castle is a bridge over what was a large moat. If you peer down into this moat, you will see that it holds no water. However what it does hold, are two huge brown bears!

 Apparently in the old days many bears used to roam the moat, deterring enemies from attempting to breach the castle. Now there are only two, and they live there in the moat in a nice large fake forested area, with a waterfall and lots of bushes and trees. 

As we wandered further into the castle grounds, I became more and more amazed by the buildings, bridges and squares. They were incredible! We were told about a Czech artist who has an exhibition going in what were once the dungeons of the castle. We managed to find the exhibition and paid to go inside. At first we only really wanted to go in to see the dungeons, but once we were inside we were both blown away by this artists work. There were incredibly thought provoking and interesting pieces. It was also amazing to get the see the dungeons. You walk down the stairs into the dungeons and the temperature drops almost instantly. There's a damp smell, and the lights cast eeire shadows on the walls. 

It's easy to imagine prisoners of the castle going mad in the dungeons, as without the lights it would be completely dark, damp and even colder. We spent a long time meandering through the dungeons, taking in both the artworks and the dungeons themselves. 

Once we were done looking at the exhibition, we continued on our way through the castle grounds. We crossed over this incredibly high and magnificent bridge, that has the most beautiful view of the town.

 We made it to the bottom of the castle gardens, and the highest point of the actual castle grounds. At the top there was a viewpoint and a place to get some drinks. 

We both got a beer (yes dad, I drank a beer!) and found a place to sit down, watch the people go by and take in the view. When we were finished with our drinks we made our way into the castle gardens. They were just beautiful! All manicured bushes and grass, and beautiful trees and flowers. We walked to the end of the garden where there was a lovely pond/small lake, with ducks swimming around and lilypads floating on the surface.

We wandered around the gardens for a while, before the weather once again turned bad and we had to head home. 

It rained for most of the afternoon, so we were pretty much confined to the hostel. It wasn't so bad though, this hostel is very small and cosy so it was kind of nice to just sit around and drink tea. Once the rain stopped some of our roommates suggested we go out for dinner and drinks. We went to a small pub in the old town square, and all tried different traditional meals. Harrison really loved his meal, but I wasn't too happy with mine. We moved to another bar once that one had closed, and had a few more drinks before heading home. 

Today we had planned on visiting the Budweiser brewery in the next town over. The lovely owner of our hostel helped us look at bus timetables and how to get to the bus stop and then to the brewery. We headed up to the bus station, and we waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. The bus never showed up! We were pretty disappointed as we were looking forward to seeing the brewery. It was also a bit annoying as we had wasted our morning finding the bus station and waiting for a bus that never came. We made our way back into town and looked for somewhere to have some lunch. We walked around for a while before settling on somewhere. We found this vegetarian resturant right on the river. I think it was the best meal both of us have had since we have been away! The food was absolutely delicious, and the location couldn't have been better. It was a great afternoon. 

We are hoping that the weather is good tomorrow so that we can hire a canoe and explore the river! 

Dresden and Prague

On Monday (6th July) we left Berlin for Dresden!  Before leaving Berlin our bus made a quick stop at the East side gallery so we could see the art on the East side of the Berlin Wall. We had already seen some of it, but it was nice to see more! 

The bus trip was the shortest we have had for a while which was really nice! I was so excited to get to Dresden, as I would be seeing my friend Marie! We arrived at the drop off location, got off the bus, and there she was! It was so amazing to see her again.

We headed back to her home and were treated to a delicious lunch. Marie had a driving lesson that afternoon, so she had to leave us for a few hours. We just got settled in and relaxed until she got home, which was nice. We had been so busy in Berlin, we hadn't really had a chance to just stop and relax. When Marie got home she told us we were going to bike to the supermarket to buy some things. Whoever said that you never forget how to ride a bike obviously had never not ridden for 8 or so years and then tried to ride again. It was a difficult, scary and painful experience trying to relearn how to ride a bike after not riding one for so long. Marie was incredibly patient with me, and very encouraging. After a few false starts, I finally managed to get on the bike, and stay on. And then I realised we had to ride on the road, which is something I have never done before. That was absolutely terrifying. I think I gripped the handle bars so hard my fingers went numb. However, I made it to the supermarket, with only one incident of not being able to stop and riding into a parked car. But it was okay! The biking wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, especially since the cars and people on the roads are so courteous to bike riders. We got everything we needed from the first shop and then rode off to the next one. On the way there, the second incident occurred, when once again I couldn't stop properly and dropped the bike in the middle of a crossing island. But once again, it was okay I didn't get hurt. We got what we needed from this shop, and made it home with no more incidents! Once at home we hung out for a while, catching up on two and a half lost years. We had a delicious dinner of cheeses, meats, these awesome corn cake things, fruit and veggies. It was so good. 

After dinner, I braved the bike again and Marie took us to a gorgeous park. On the way there I crashed into another parked car, and this time actually did do some damage, but not too much. I came away with two grazed knees, a grazed calf and an epic bruise that just keeps getting darker. 

It could have been worse, so I was lucky in that sense. However, it was the last proper biking accident I had for the rest of the time in Dresden! Anyway as I mentioned before, this park was absolutely beautiful. It was covered with rich, lush forest, and was incredibly well manicured. In a large clearing of the forest there was an old summer house, with a huge pond in front of it and beautiful gardens filled with flowers. At one point we stopped in the gardens to take some photos, and were attacked by these huge flying bugs. So that wasn't too great! 

We rode around the park for a while, and then stopped to get an ice cream at this really cute beer garden. It was outside and had fold out chairs you could sit in, and it was covered in fairly lights and lanterns and had flickering fire torches. It was lovely! And the weather was beautiful too. Once we were done eating ice cream and chatting, we rode our bikes back home.

Marie had to go to school the next day, so we had the morning/afternoon to ourselves. It was ridiculously hot. The type of hot that is just completely uncomfortable and draining. We had a late morning, eating breakfast, laying around, putting off going outside. When we finally did brave the heat, we headed off in the direction of the park we had been to the previous night. Since we had just been following Marie the night before, we didn't really know where we were going. We conveniently stumbled across a kebab shop around lunch time, and decided to give the kebabs we had heard so much about another go. And we were not disappointed! They were absolutely delicious! And massive! 

Super good value for money. We were really happy! When we had finished our delicious lunch, we continued on our way to the park. We finally made it there! We entered the park from a different spot to the previous night, and instead of walking on the big main path we made our way through the forest. It was really lovely. It provided a nice break from the sun, and was a beautiful walk. 

That night for dinner we had blueberry soup and dumplings. It was really interesting! Basically the soup is canned blueberries in sauce thickened with cornflour, and the dumplings are made from a dough and then boiled. It was something neither Harrison or I had ever experienced before, and it was pretty good! Harrison really liked it. After dinner we rode our bikes to Marie's school, where they were having a play night that some of her friends were performing in. All of the plays were in German, so we didn't really get everything that was going on. But it was fun to try as figure out the story from just their tones and movements. It was an interesting experience! 

The next day was thankfully a lot cooler. Marie had to go to school again in the morning, but only had a few classes so we were able to meet up with her at 12:30. We took the tram to downtown Dresden and Marie showed us around a big shopping centre, and the main tourist attractions of Dresden. She had to leave to go to a driving lesson, but we stayed downtown to look around more. We went into some really beautiful gardens, and saw some incredible old architecture.

 We went into a famous old church, which was just amazing.

The inside was so different to all of the other churches we have been into, it was all pastel and gold colours, with so many levels of seating. 

There was a beautiful painted dome in the centre of the church that was amazing. It was one of my favourite churches so far. 

Marie's choir was having a BBQ and awards night that evening, so once we were all home we headed off to that. We got to see Marie sing in her choir which was really nice! They were great! We met a few of her friends which was also nice. It was a lovely warm evening and we had a picnic bbq dinner outside on the grass, it was lovely. Once we were done with the choir dinner we briefly headed home before going out again. Marie was taking us to one of her friends birthday parties! It was pretty cool to experience a German party and meet even more of Marie's friends. We got home at around 2:30am. 

Marie had to be up bright and early the next day to sit her drivers test. She passed!! We were really proud. All of us were pretty exhausted from the previous night so we just lounged around at Marie's house for most of the day. We went to the shops at some point to get some things Marie and I needed, but other than that it was a relaxed day. Marie has the most adorable tortoise called Hugo! Harrison and I absolutely fell in love with him, so a lot of our free time was spent with Hugo.

That night Marie's school was having an end of year party, as the next day was the last day of their school year. It was really cool. All the teachers and students get together on the school grounds and eat food, sit by a fire, listen to music, play games and just hang out and celebrate the end of the year. 

I thought it was a great thing for a school to do. We stayed at the school party until it was over, and then rode our bikes into the city. We were celebrating Marie passing her drivers test and finishing this year of school, so we went to two bars and had a few drinks. The ride into town was absolutely beautiful, as the sun was setting. We rode over a bridge and got an amazing view of Dresden with the sunset in the background.

The second bar we went to was a hippie karaoke bar. It was interesting to say the least! Definitely an experience. Once we were done, we rode our bikes home for the last time. It was a bittersweet moment for me. I was pretty much terrified the whole time we had been riding the bikes, but I was also starting to get fairly good and actually enjoy myself. Since we were riding home at like 2am there was no one else on the road, so it was far less scary and made the experience really fun. 

Our bus the next day was coming at 11:30am, and Marie had to be at school for her last day at 10:30. So we had to say goodbye at her house before she left, which was sad.

 It had been so nice to see Marie again after so long, and it had felt like the time just flew by. I really didn't want to leave. It was a really lovely few days, and I really hope that I will be able to see Marie again soon. 

The bus ride to Prague was only about 2 and a half hours long, so not too bad. We arrived around 2, and were absolutely starving so we had lunch at the hostel. We were pretty worn out from the previous night, so we spent the rest of the day at the hostel bar, and just hanging out at the hostel. We went out in search of dinner, and came across this little Asian restaurant, where we got two huge noodle and meat dishes, 6 pieces of sushi and four drinks for €16 ($24). It was amazing! Prague has a different currency to the rest of Europe, and everything is very cheap for us. Our meal cost 300 czk, which is equal to €16. So it's pretty scary when you first glance at the bill and see such a huge number! But once you work it out you feel much better. 

Today we went on one of our much loved walking tours around the city. Our tour guide was a local, who experienced communism and it's fall in the Czech Republic first hand. It was so interesting to hear her stories, and have her share the history of her country with us. You could really tell she was passionate about it. Once the tour was over we went in search of lunch, and wander around the town on our own. The old town part of Prague is really beautiful.

 

All of the old buildings, narrow alleyways and cobbled streets are an incredibly thing to see. I'm really loving it! We spent almost 2 hours wandering around the streets, before picking somewhere to eat. Before we found our lunch spot, we came across these bakeries selling spiral dough things. I have no idea what they are, but they wrap dough around a large stick, cover it in cinnamon sugar and then roast it.

You can have them plain, or filled with Nutella. So of course I got one filled with Nutella, and it was delicious! For lunch we finally settled on a Czech bar. I had gnocchi with sheep's cheese and Harrison had roast duck with two different types of dumplings. He also tried a Czech beer!

 It was a really amazing meal! And also ridiculously cheap. It's so great! After lunch (that was really more like dinner, since we finished up at 5) we caught the tram back to the hostel. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of Prague castle, which should be really interesting! I really enjoyed exploring old and new town Prague today! 

The atmosphere is so vibrant and fun! There is so much to see, hear and smell! There were people playing music in the streets, and selling food and other goods, and street performers, all together amongst the beautiful buildings. It was really amazing.