Horsies

Today I was out running and I saw one of the horse-driver men peeing on the side of the road.
He thought the horse carriage was hiding him but little did he know a girl from New Zealand was running up behind him and could clearly see the stream hitting the road.
She pretended she didn't see a thing and then ran for her life!


I beat my own personal record with hill-running because of my over-active-imagination's idea that this man was hunting me down in order to preserve his secret. Whenever I could hear the horse feet clopping up behind me I ran a little faster.
Now I can officially say I out-ran the horses.

Briefly...

It's been sweltering hot in the Bad of Gastein and I've been spending my days somewhere between exploring in the sun, running, shopping, and watching bits of the soccer world cup at night.

Not a whole heap to say except that I find I love roaming the hills around here and got an up-close view of my favourite horse who I have named Peanut because he looks like peanut butter and always makes me hungry.
It's amazing having no time limits and knowing that you can't really get lost. No matter where you are you are so high up that you can see the landscape like a map, spot your hotel, and head towards it. The other day my 30 min run ended up being a 2 hour adventure. This is partly because it's too hot to actually run, so everything gets dragged out. And partly because I like to follow my nose and that time it happened to lead me to some cool waterfalls and caves.

I had a list of goodies to buy (mainly clothes) and since there are no shops here I went to Salzburg for my 3rd time there, and after over an hour melting in the heat trying to find the mall, managed to get a bus there. The mall was sweetly air conditioned and surprisingly empty of all the horrible little teenagers that seem to swarm in Salzburg. (I still don't get why its famous. I honestly think it's a well-below-average city. But anyway...the mall makes it worth it).
I got jeans, a skirt, a top, and some sugary goods such as Apple Rings for your Royal Highness back in New Zealand... you know who you are. But I didn't get shoes, which was a bummer I thought as they were top of my list and there were millions of shoes in the mall!

Lucky for me I literally stumbled across a tiny shoe shop in Bad Gastein the next day, of all places, wow! On closer inspection I realised this little doorway and steps lead up into a treasure trove of shoes and I spotted the exact babies I wanted, which came with tiptop customer service and are real leather and a lot cheaper than in Salzburg. Sweet.

That pretty much sums up my life at the moment... I hope it was as exciting for you as it was for me!

Pickle

I like gherkins but I don't like this:

Going to Zurich for a 2 day trip from Salzburg (5 hours away) costs NZ$280 for the train, plus $250 for the CHEAPEST hostel available. Not including food or anything, which isn't provided at the hotel/hostel (which doesn't even have great reviews and looks a bit gak). I know Zurich is expensive but that's just stupid!

I am in a pickle. I have been given more work to do lately but I'll probably leave in just over a week and get travelling again. Maybe it would make more sense to do Switzerland en route somewhere else..

Wouldn't it be great to have a car to sleep in..

Sun, Hiking, and Topfenknödeln

At long last the sun came out in Bad Gastein. I've been monitoring the weather forecast closely so I was prepared to get up and going this morning to tackle the full and complete 'HohenWandernWeg' once more, with no rain to put me off, and no fanciful expectations of Sound of Music polluting my head...

The walk to Bad HofGastein (the next town. The name is confusing, I know) took about 2.5 hours and I loved every minute of it. It ended up being very similar to an NZ bush-walk except much more... civilised? What I mean is, it was reasonably flat, and mostly paved. Old people can do it (with alpine walking sticks of course!) and they were all out in full force. It was fun and relaxing getting into the bush and passed lots of rivers and little waterfalls etc.
I also passed:

• 9 squirrels
• 30-something pairs of alpine walking sticks with backpacks to match (people take this 'hike' very seriously.)
• about 5 really really large slugs (1 squashed)
• 3 horse poops
• 3 baby-buggies
• 1 runner-lady with a long ponytail top-knot from the very tip of her head like Sporty Spice, complete with head band, sharkies, and lots of matching labelled lycra. I secretly wanted a man in pink spandex with a shaggy blonde mullet to come hooning round the next bend and complete the 80s picture. But he never did.

In Bad Hofgastein there are actual SHOPS that even sell more than mother-of-the-bride-hats and overpriced souvenirs! Never mind that they inexpicably close between 12 and 2.30pm (this is not South America people). There are also people under the age of 40 living there! Lots of them.
They have a big green park with a lake in it and i was extreeemly tempted to lie down on one of the benches in the sun and have a nap but 1) this is Europe and 2)I am not homeless. At this point.

I got some food in a cute konditorei (I guess a bakery that specialises in cakes and pastries and chocolate etc... don't worry. I was good) and had a wee wander around the place.

On my way back on the 2.5 hour walk home I ended up having to walk through these tunnels in the cliffs that go in behind the waterfalls. I got a bit scared at that point, partly because the tunnels were dark and scary, but mainly because this made me realise I was on the complete wrong path home.
The good thing about this area is that you can just point yourself in the direction of the mountain you recognise and head that way and you'll be fine. So it wasn't a problem.




Tonight Annamarie made Topfenknödeln for dessert which I'm quite excited about and its the main reason I'm even writing this, but don't spread that around because it's not like i'm OBSESSED with food here.




I asked her, like I always do, what they were called, and then I had to ask 'but what IS it?' because I couldn't make heads or tails of it even after eating one.




Basically on my plate was a tennis-ball sized ball of something coated in a sugary crumble, prinled with icing sugar and perched on a puddle of mashed raspberries. The something was soft like baked custard, springy like flummary, crumbly like american cheesecake, sweet like yoghurt and plain like sponge. I was so intrigued. It turned out the something is Topfen, and Topfen is Quark which the internet may tell you is cottage cheese but its not. It's smooth and creamy like cream cheese. They make a mixture of it into balls, cook it, and serve it as dessert.
I love food in the shape of balls. Everything in balls tastes better. Meatballs. Rumballs. Chokladbullar. Potato dumplings.
They have SO much food in the shape of balls here. Half of the menu called 'Knudel' (noodles) actually means giant tennis-ball sized dumpling. We don't have much in NZ at all.




I had to tell her 'Ich liebe das!' which got me the offer of more balls, which I nobely declined.
I'm trying to omit the part where I accepted cake to take to my room about 2 minutes later. But it seems I've come out with it.

Food

ok funny.

I know it's like 3 hours since my last post but I just have to give this example of how badly these people want me to get fat.

I just had dinner, and when i walked in the chef asked me if I like soup. I said yep sure. She gave me a bowl of this nice noodle soup which on closer inspection was actually shredded crepes floating in salty broth with chives. It was strangely amazing. I was just sitting there feeling enornously appreciative. I couldn't even express how grateful I was for this perfect small meal! It was exactly what I wanted and it tasted good. I was perfectly satisfied. I was celebrating on the inside.

One of the kitchen workers asked me if I would like to help myself to the salad buffet, complete with eggs and a massive range of salady type food. I declined. Really, I told her, the soup is just perfect. I'm full.

Then suddenly this plate landed on the table next to me loaded with, wait for it, 3 peices of pork swimming in gravy taking up half the plate, a large pile of roast (or potentially deep-fried) potatoes taking up the other half, 2 carrots and a massive white thing which I discovered is white asparagus wedged in between, AND a big fat dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkled with cracked pepper.

I was like, o wow, ok, thanks. I didn't realise the soup was just the entre.
It's not that I don't like food or don't want to taste everything on the plate. It's just that I don't feel like I can find any polite way to not eat it all. I brace myself for it, thinking, it's not that bad, pork is protein, and... potato is veggies right?

THEN immediately bam on the table a plate with a large wedge of gateau on it. It looks something like mum's stripe cake but maybe it has banana and walnut in it too. Lots of whipped cream of course.

I am still trying to figure out how to deal with this (no flower pots in sight) when I hear another bang 'Das ist auch fur dich' she says happily. Another plate with 2 not-so-small creme puff eclairs complete with whipped cream and strawberry pulp.

I think she sees my eyes bulge because she tells me I can take it up to my room if I want. Yes. I say. Yes I will.

The salad buffet comes rolling into the kitchen on wheels 'are you sure you want no salad?' asks the lady wheeling it.
'Yes I'm sure'

I am just getting ready to take the desserts up to my room when, yes, again, a plate with 4 peices of french roll, each one topped with a mound of shaved prosciutto, basil and cherry tomato. I made these with Annamarie last night for the guests.
Oh no, I tell her, no thank you, I'm too full.

She tells me to take it to my room, then!
And off I go, (with just one peice of prosciutto bread and shh but not much intention of eating it) ushered out with a large plate of food, a small spoon and a sheet of tin foil to cover it all in.

They didn't do anything wrong. They are amazing. I think Calum and most other men in the world would think they had died and woke up in alpine heaven.

It's just that I don't think I can keep both them, and my jeans happy!

This post is quite boring sorry..

Just a little update on my not-so-very-exciting life these last few days...

Not exciting for you, but very exciting for me!

Last night there was a big art event on at the hotel where basically the ground floor where all the lounges etc are was converted into a gallery. I was called to help the cooks in preparing millions of amazing delicacies for these lucky people who came to the exhibition! It was, for me, probably the highlight of my whole time here, which might sound wierd unless you understand that I don't respect almost anybody more than the staff who work here. They are incredible. Especially the cooks, as you might have already picked up... so just being able to work in the kitchen rolling dough and helping make everything from absolute scratch was actually such an honour for me.

It was challenging too, being given instructions in German by a chef I haven't met before who didn't seem to realise I had no idea what she was saying, especially since she didn't look in my direction when she spoke. Also because I couldn't understand her, I was pretty sure she always sounded angry at me and freaked me out a bit. I started looking at Annamarie for a gesture or a little nod that translated my task. In spite of that I felt totally at home in my zone in the kitchen!

My work got rewarded by both these chefs, even the angry one, and this was passed onto the big boss who came in to tell me how pleased they were. Happiness. I can't believe how many plates of tiny pastries, prosciutto bread, tiny strawberry sponges and cocktails etc went out.


Today is Sunday and I went down to the town and trudged around in the rain (there is new snow on the hills now. Getting people annoyed because they want summer) wondering if I might catch a sight of a church I could gatecrash. I only saw one and it had 2 people inside, a bunch of incense and a large statue of Mary that (no disrespect intended) I found kinda frightening. Then I thought well maybe I could go sit in a cafe out of the rain, but a town like Bad Gastein virtually shuts down on a Sunday.

Oh yeah, and in other exciting news, I went to the supermarket (if you could call it that) and stocked up on a pile of edible gifts for people back home. I was carrying a baby-sized armload of these lolly bags around, got laughed at by the woman in front of me, commented on by the old man behind me, looked at strangely by the checkout girl. Then realised they gave me no bag so had to butt back into the long queue to buy a bag for 19 euro cents. Then trying to get them all into the bag spilled lollies on the ground and got laughed at further. Bag was so heavy it was cutting into my hand on the walk home. Walked into hotel and got asked if they were all for me.

Then I realised just how much its gonna cost to get such a load back home! Ah well. I sampled some schoco-bananen which are like marshmallow bananas dipped in chocolate, but made from actual real banana so they taste kinda sour and wierd.

Ode to Annamarie

They let me help! Last night I got to do my first bit of real work here. I had to ask to do it but it was good. In the kitchen.


Today I was all excited about going following the signs to 'HöhenWandernWeg' which I thought meant 'Hilly Hiking Trail' or something like that. The sun had come out so I thought I'd spend an adventurous day by myself scaling the alps and scouting out Edelweises! Little did I know the 'weg' was really just a gravel footpath between 2 towns, at road level. I walked some of it but came across no alpine meadows as I'd hoped. I did see some more gingerbread houses tho, and a bunch of older couples walking with those alpine-walking-stick things. Then it started raining so I turned back and spent the rest of the evening/afternoon wondering what exactly i can do in this small town when its raining...

I titled this ode to Annamarie because she is the cook here and at the moment, her meals make up my world! I swear she couldn't create a bad taste if she tried.
Tonight it was couscous patties and salad, and drizzled over the patties was warm dark honey with big peices of walnut. It sounds unusual but she just chucked it together for me (not the restaurant food) and it was great. 'Schmekt good?' she asks me. Heck yes it schmecks good.

Dessert was something that I can only describe as a cross between baked-custard and cheesecake. With a layer of thin apple slices underneath the brown skin on top. Apparently its an Austrian specialty called something like 'Doppfulkerkstrudel' (ok, i virtually made that up, I really can't remember the name).
I don't need to worry about getting fat anymore, last night it was a giant mound of spinach and 3 balls of soft grainy polenta. I love trying new tastes.
They also have Spätzle here which is like mis-shapen pasta, that looks literally like its been made by crumbling and shaking some dough until these funny little worms appear. Thats Spätzle.

Breakfast is forever getting me funny looks because I'm not a big fan of bread and cucumber and cold meat for breakfast. And I usually have no coffee! Insane. I love the make-your-own museli option tho, where you start with cornflakes and add stuff from the other bowls, like crushed walnuts, all kinds of seeds, dried banana, figs, apricots, etc.

(Hmm maybe I should write a food blog so as not to put you through this with every update..)

What else... oh yeah, I'm finding language an issue now that I have to do more than just order food in restaurants and book trains. At times very discouraging but mostly I'm lucky these (mostly non-English speaking) staff are very patient and still include me in their chitchat even when I can only nod.

Schwarzwaldekirshtorte truffles and other important things you need to know about

I thought I'd stop writing in this once I got to Bad Gastein but it turns out I have so much free time that I keep finding things to say. I mean, I have to speak English to someone.

Last night the hotel lady walked in smiling as I ate dinner and asked me 'Are you boring?'

I didn't bat an eyelid but smiled 'no no, it's ok. maybe tomorrow I'll be bored tho..' (you can't deny this town has about 10 shops and most aimed at the grandmas who travel here for health spa treatments). So she asked if I would like to go to Salzburg the next day as she's driving there and could drop me off.

heck yes please I would.

I did some research and discovered there is a big mall on the outskirts of Salzburg called Europark and got her to drop me there. On the way in I attempted German conversation and probably baffled her with my (lack of) grammar. These people are awesome tho.

I had a happy day buying secret presents for certain people and even decided to try real Paella at lunch (9 euros being the cheapest meal available at the time) served in the pan, and found it was kinda just like curry rissoto. Rice is pretty popular here. I was impressed that about every 4th mouthful was infused with this amazing smokey flavour. The other bits lingered between yellow-curry and a much richer buttery-oniony-salty taste. It was pretty good, however huge. I didn't finish. I then called the hotel and asked a message to be passed on that I don't want dinner tonight. Mainly because my stomach needs, just for once, to not feel full!
(Lucky for me a certain someone whose name starts with C and rhymes with Alum MacLeod sent me a package containing peanut butter today, so I won't starve. Miracle food!)

What I really need to talk about is, I bought 4 truffles at this sweet shop because its important for my research in chocolate making! I shouldn't say truffles. Because they were so much more...

One of them was called schwarzwaldekirschtorte (black forest cherry cake) and it was my favourite flavour explosion of the year. It was made to look like a little cake almost, with about 5 different layers showing. Each layer was made of a different flavour and texture to replicate a real gateau. The top layer of this tiny and beautiful thing was white, creamy and runny to the touch and it was the flavour of almond-rum-laced cream. The next down was a dark and dense chocolate cream. Dark enough to taste almost dusty. Mm. (ok not dusty, but i spent the last 30 seconds trying to think of the word and I couldn't). The next layer down was a white chocolate mouse and below that an AMAZING rose coloured ganache layer which was the cherry layer and i think was laced with cherry liquer. Underneath that a solid chocolate base.

That chocolate deserved the whole paragraph, don't complain.

The other ones I got were various coffee flavours although I thought they were more average.

Unfortunately none of these fragile little babies would ever survive the long trip in cramped conditions home to NZ. So I had to eat them all.

Ich bin dick

I've only been living in the hotel 2.5 days and already I''m awake at night worrying about getting heart disease or kidney stones from being fed so much. I swear they are fattening me for the slaughter!
The food is amazing. The chef is one of those women who just loves to cook and feed people. All the staff seem to love serving others more than anything else in the world. My offers to help are still turned down. Instead they sit me down and put food infront of me. As I eat, various staff constantly pass the table, everyone one of them smiling and asking me 'gut geshmeckt?' (tastes good?) or saying, Guten Appetite, or have you got enough or you want more?

I make a consious effort to finish everything because 1) it would seem rude not to when they are literally cooking just for me myself and I! and 2) it tastes good.

Today was fish on risotto which I saw and thought looked nice and light. Little did I know the risotto was of the cooked-in-cream and not much else variety. Can I just say it was AMAZING however filling. I don't even like risotto. But I loved this.

Most days she also has side salads and little jugs of homemade sauces for me to pour on. Most of the sauces burn like fire. Love it.

Then, after every meal, literally, a dessert is plonked proudly down on the table by my almost-finished first course. Tonight it was two large generous dollops of creamy chocolate mouse swimming in a sea of strawberry soup. Made fom strawberries that I think they pick.

The food is amazing, I'm not complaining. She even made dessert for my lunch which was like a fried pastry with berry filling that she made completely from scratch. I saw her.

The only problem is I'm not used to eating so much (I'm hardly used to 3 meals a day even) and I don't want to get fat.

Next time I hope my German reflexes (she only speaks German) will be quick enough for me to exclaim 'Ich will nicht Dick bekommen!'

ü

Water

This is a plug for water.

Water is amazing. I forgot that there are not many watery spots in Europe. Which is completely insane given it gets so hot here. At home it's rarely hot enough to swim in the beach... think of all that beautiful beautiful water going to waste while people here perch on the edge of filthy river banks and try to pretend they are swimming in it!

The reason for this rant is, I'm in Bad Gastein. Bad meaning Bath. Landing smack bang in the middle of this tiny village is a GIANT waterfall that crashes down at lightening speed, louder than a freight train, and sends the air hovering around it into a sweet misty frenzy.
I feel more at home by that body of water than anywhere else I've been so far. I guess kiwis have water in their blood, since we are never not surrounded by it (we also have Explorer in our blood. I much prefer discovering new things for myself by exploring than by following some kinda tour map). I discovered the fall today and couldn't help clambering down the steep steps (a few others on this path have hiking shoes, shorts, those long walking-stick things in each hand and backpacks. I found that secretly funny.) to peer over the edge in awe. It's so clear you can see every rock even tho it's deep. The white spray is huge and perfect. It's not just that you can see it, it's that you can hear it, and you can feel the spray from a while away. When you breathe in Bad Gastein, anywhere, you can feel the cold spray in your lungs. Its amazing. No wonder this town is famous for heeling people simply with its air and water. It's like virtual swimming. I wonder if it gets hot enough here, if I'll be able to follow the fall right down to a swimming spot somewhere in the valley. I also wonder if people will think I'm crazy for doing that...

I AM Heidi

Heidi is the chick who lives in a chalet kinda house under the alps with her grand uncle and thrives off goats cheese and fresh mountain air. I imagine Heidi has a great time chasing animals, shephard boys and wild flowers, hiking in the alps and swimming in glacial springs. She has blonde plaits and is happy all the time.


I think Heidi must be from here in Bad Gastein!

I secretly found Salzburg to be a bit of a hole (ok, a nice hole, but just smaller than i imagined) and like many other cities, a bit of a tourist trap... no i will not pay you to see the house where Mozart was born. He didn't even like Salzburg and ditched it as soon as he could. I spent a day avoiding the thunder clouds and in one short evening I had covered the whole city including the Old Town (tourist trap) and the industrial area where my hotel was. Picture Hamilton Northern suburbs. Boy racers, a pokie-machine place or two... not much else. I was overjoyed to find a normal shop in the Old Town tho! Quite a nice find after being ripped off 9 euros for 2 small magnets. The shop was a normal jewellery and accersory shop so I got a brown watch and a wooden flower ring. At normal prices, woot!

The next day I had several long hours to kill before my next train so I wandered the length of the river, took some photos, got rained on (so excited about the rain! finally not quite so hot) and had a sceptical look at the nick-nacky stalls along the river that were overrun with zealous foreigners. I found a nice cafe (on the locals side of the river. not the tourist side) to get hot chocolate and strudel and shelter from the chill. Then I gave in and parted with 7 euros to see up in the big castle thing on the holl. I can't remember the name. Somthing like 'Fungsten' but not that..... I don't think it was worth it (I've seen too many castles now and this one was nothing special...) but it WAS worth the time-killing, the view (below) over all of Salzburg, and the crammed cable car ride back down. Slightly violent on the brakes. It was great.

I got my train to Bad Gastein and arrived in the misty rain in the evening. This is Heidi's town! Apart from the usual 'casino' dodgey little shops that litter Europe. The town is in a valley walled in by alps, an hour and a half from Salzburg. Scattered over the lower hills are hundreds of gingerbread houses and horses. I can't beleive people actually live in houses like this. I almost expect them to be edible and for Father Christmas to come out with a sack of goods.

(the yellow building below is mine. You can see a smidgin of the alps botton left. I cheated and took this later on a sunnier day!)

I got picked up by the lady who runs the hotel, in full Austrian dress, and her daughter. They are completely lovely and I came to the hotel to be shown to my own hotel room with my own bathroom. Basically they don't really need any work done at the moment so I can just stay here as the family's guest. I was completely overwhelmed by that and this whole last day that Ive been here I haven't even known how to respond. I keep offering to help with anything and almost begging but they say no, no, we'll let you know if you need help. I was mortified and honoured to find they cooked dinner just for me last night in the hotel restaurant, complete with side salad and all the works, and lunch today even tho no-one else was having it. I don't know how to react except to keep trying to be helpful and constantly saying thank you this is amazing thank you this is amazing. It's seems like at the moment the most help I can do is to do my own thing and wait to see where this leads.

It's been drizzling this morning but of course it's warm and toasty inside because unlike at home, Europeans beleive in extreme insulation! I hardly sleep at night anymore because I'm always too hot. Whereas they complain it's too cold. Soon I'm going to go explore this little town which I'm told 'might have some' shops. We are literally nestled in the clouds. I don't think I can put photos up because this isn't my computer but I'll take a few...

Ciao

Wiener World

Woke up about 4am in our apartment in Vienna convinced it was about 9am because it was SO light. This was partly because we have no curtains and partly because the sun rises at that time here. Not slowly but at full throttle. So that the room was instantly flooded with the hot light of day. And I mean hot.

We are both reasonably indecisive and in the heat we both shifted into slow gear and spent the day dragging ourselves around the streets at a whopping 0.2 metres per second. It took us until 12noon to finish breakfast, check internet, reserve future train seats. After that we browsed shops “on our way” to do touristy things, which we didn’t get around to until 7pm-ish incidentally. Oh and we violated several of the millions of statues around here. There will be photos.

Rashi bought a dress and I searched for a white dress because that’s really what you need in Vienna. Couldn’t find anything not transparent tho. In the evening we went to the art gallery where I was intrigued by the real-live mummies in sarcophagi amongst thousands of horrendous paintings of naked fat ladies, “biblical” scenes set in Russian-like winter snow, and scary babies who look like fat little old men. Blach.

Interpersed this with multiple frappucinos (only trust starbucks, no one else understands the concept).

In the evening I was dead on my feet but we headed out in search of the famous Viennese club called Flex. After several train rides etc we ended up asking a lady for directions, who pointed us the wrong way, and at midnight we were still wandering deserted commercial/industrial landscape for any sight of it. We gave up and came home in a cab. Later we realised this could have been valuable Laundromat time.

Our sheets and pillows and duvets here are all made of old towelling instead of the usual cotton. Which I found very handy since I slept like a zombie, drool and all.

We spent today in a similar way, retiring under a cafe umbrella with waffles and juice until after 12 when we had to get out of the shade and face the heat again. I’m not sure exactly what we did until 5pm but it involved comments such as “Ew, I’m sweating out my face” and a lot of trams and buses to avoid walking. We keep forgetting to eat food and end up living on gelato and frappes instead. Every single block has an incredible icecream/sorbet/yoghurt/coffee/milk bar type thing. Nothing done by halves – no such thing as a boring icecream+sauce combo here. Everything has the works. So hot. So so hot.

At about 5pm we could face the thought of bikes and hired some (with baskets like all good European bikes – where else would all the girls put their high heels when they are cycling to a night out?) and no helmets. Cycling here turned out to be more complicated than I thought because you are only allowed in certain areas, where there are bike lanes. We learnt the hard way that you can’t bike on the footpath, but you can bike on the bike-footpath next to it. And you can’t bike on the left side of the bike lane. And you must use your bell to signal when you’re passing. And you must only go in the direction of the arrow and most of the bike lanes are only one way. Where the lane for the other direction is, no-one knows. And people get annoyed if you bike on the paths through the gardens. Or if you don’t cross on the correct half of the pedestrian crossing. And many more rules that we also breached.

Rashi’s brother arrived and I have just seen them off at the train station on an overnight train to Venice. I’m going to miss having a friend around. Between us, we made up the brain of a whole person.

Vienna – city of my future

We left Prague early morning and were greeted by our train with the strong stench of urine and wet hairy floors. Tried to get onto another carriage but found they were all the same... we also found out that our seats were already reserved by someone and ended up in the back carriage which is just normal rows of seats rather than booths. I.E we had been sitting in ‘first class’. Luckily for us, second class was cleaner (at least the floors were dry) and the only problem was the lack of running water in the bathroom. Toilet and basin. We spent most of the 5 hour ride wishing we had brought hand sanitiser from new Zealand...

VIENNA!
After hours of passing newer and newer cute houses and sound-of-music-style rolling fields with red flowers growing alongside the road, we arrived at Wien Meidling station. I loved Vienna from the moment our suitcases hit the white stone ground, clean and commercial train station and wide open Austrian air. The contrast between here and Prague is fantastic. Even the tram driver stopped to ask us where we were going. He didn’t even slam the doors ON us like the Prague drivers. He waited til we were seated before leaving. He told us where to get off. The tram was neat and the other passengers did not stare at us like an alien species, OR ignore us when we clearly needed help getting our luggage through the doors. Vienna is spacious and laid out beautifully. Row after row of gardens, lawns, lined by massive white stone buildings from Mozart’s day. There are hundreds of beautifully dressed people and especially beautiful tallllll people. I felt average-to-short. We must have passed multiple models. At the same time there is a bustling student culture and tonnes of funky people. Men did not even stare at us when we walked down the street. We spent about 3 hours revelling in this culture shock. We spent the afternoon after we arrived walking the main sites, which are all generally in the same area so you don’t need to take underground trains everywhere. We finished up with shopping on the main streets (window shopping) and eating AMAZING gelato and icecream sundaes at “Eis Salon” which our landlord lady recommended us. Dad would be in heaven. I’m not even a huge icecream fan and I was.

The streets were still full of people roaming around like us even at 10pm. Shops were closed but people were just milling around in the atmosphere under the white buildings and gold lights. We didn’t feel unsafe even once.

Of all the cities I’ve seen in Europe, this is one I love the most. Possibly even shunting Copenhagen out of first place.

Prague surprises

Prague has been ridiculously hot the whole time we've been here. Like close-to-heatstroke hot. Last night we got ripped off in a stupid tourist trap restaurant and were left feeling like Prague is seriously overrated. Today however we went on a tour (also overrated. English speaking tour guides who can't speak English... buses that don't stop to let you out at the sites... large price tag..) but it turned out to be good as we discovered a whole new world of Prague we didn't know existed. That is, the world over the bridge!

Our neck of the woods has so far been an accumulation of bogans, ripoff tourist traps (Rashi and I call them man-traps) and generally dodgey looking men. (Who stare at you coldblooded if you should happen to dress up, to go to a classical music concert in the National Museum, for example! After walking to and from that experience we figured, no wonder Prague women don't dress up... imagine having to deal with that every time you wore something other than shirts and shorts) (can I also point out the concert was amazing, and even tho I've never ever been a fan of classical music, I was actually very 'moved' by some of the pieces especially Brahm's Hungarian dance which for me was a completely bizzare experience. A whole new world of music.. for the first time in my life I could hear the violins question and answer each other, the snow storms, whirlwinds... kinda forgot where I was. Except when the musicians pulled interesting faces - that drew me back in. E.g the violinist lady who grimaced madly, the pony-tail man with a peaceful smirk, the cellist who seemed to be holding back tears the whole time, the cute little Asian pianist who bobbed her head in time to the beat constantly)

Anyway where was I... oh yeah, so we thought Prague was filled with all that dodgey stuff, especially considering all the sex shops and other unmentionable stores we have to walk past to our apartment.

But the world beyond the river is amazingly old and for miles and miles there seems to be nothing but gothic steeples ("city of a thousand towers") and terracota rooves. And tourists. And sunstroke. (And disgusting sausages with a stench that seeps into your clothes I swear and after walking past a sausage stall you can almost imagine your skin has been freshly spritzed with grease. In fact I got a pimple here in Prague. Not normal. )

Its a pity about the tourists being everywhere but still, who cares; when you step into a world of clean pedestrians and amazing shops, the lack of gold chains poking out from hairy chests is more than refreshing. Everything was as it should be on the other side of the river.

Turns out we had been chilling in our own little beighbourhood and the main road, but had not ventured to the Old Town, which is the main attraction of Prague, and is totally beautiful.

We went to Hard Rock cafe for lunch (milkshake and juice. You can't face anything else after a greasy sausage for breakfast when you were running too late to keep up with the rest of the tour group). Which was a nice and normal seeming place. I can now understand why American's buy McDonalds and Starbucks even when they are in NZ. Not that NZ restaurants are scary.

We have decided to leave here tomorrow morning and head to Vienna. Another series of multiple trains and trams with an overwieght suitcase, backpack, and stairways which I'm completely not looking forward to. Everyone says the train is great in Europe because you can go everywhere. But I find 'everywhere' usually requires 3 to 4 changes just to get to your hostel. Anyway, enough complaining.

After Vienna I am stranded all by myself until who knows when. I'm not entirely sure how I'll spend the time apart from a random hotel job 2 days a week. That means 5 days a week to fill in. I'm pretty keen for a short no-travelling break for a little bit so I might just settle into some Austrian culture for a week. I'll see.

Prague: THATS not normal

Frankfurt turned the waterworks on us after that one sunny day (during which I got a slight tan, thank you very much Calum MacLeod, it is possible...). Rose and I killed time drinking coffee in a cafe (of the weird European variety – nowhere near as good as home) and in the Jewish Museum.

I’ve discovered I am a sucky tourist. Museums and history of buildings don’t interest me one bit. So far anyway. All that really fascinates me is culture, people, architecture, food and fashion. Needless to say the Jewish Museum has been cemented in my memory as a place where i got very sore legs and gravity was about twice as strong as it is in shops. Panel after panel of long paragraphs and fuzzy black and white photos. It was all about the Jewish settlements in Frankfurt. I’m fine with that stuff if it hits me in one swift blow : Jews were more welcome in Frankfurt than in other parts of Germany and therefore there was a large settlement here, which suffered persecution in the 1900s.

Anyway, got our staple food of gelato at the mall and discovered that no shops were open. Also encountered Bratwurst for dinner, of the cheap train station variety. I had high expectations of German meat but nothing compared to meat at home. Everything tastes like luncheon sausage. Everything. We sheltered from the rain under an umbrella in a beer garden, with amazing heaters and blankets, and sickly hot chocolate that was nothing less than runny cocoa icing...

The next morning we embarked on the Europabus tour of the Romantische Strasse. Hoping to leave the rain behind. Bus driver was a very funny man... “I like to have wine in the morning before I drive the bus. Red wine. But this morning I sad, because it’s rainings. And I forgot my wine. I sad.” Long pause, “Just keeeding!”
We passed many many tiny villages, clusters of roofs amoungst the hills, and a steeple indicating where each one was. Rain didn't stop. Villages emerging from dense fog when you are high up in the mountains is amazing. The architecture of these houses made them look exactly like Cuckoo Clocks. I still find it wierd that people actually live in them all over Germany.

Rothenburg was the tiny medievil village we stayed at - tiny and old and full of tourists. Cars and tourists in all our photos. Still raining. Killed time in the museum of Crime (a building full of original instruments of Medievil torture and executions. I didn't take any photos in there. Mainly because I didn't think they deserved it. Creepy.) and at a restaurant which was very German. Getting things like "cheese balls" for dessert (cheesecake dumplings with plum filling).

Next day we headed to Fussen. Still raining. At this point my ONE pair of jeans and ONE hoody are permanently damp. It's remarkably freezing. Colder than NZ winter. We are wondering what summer is. I had nothing else warm so started dreading getting dressed every day into those clothes. I still can hardly look at them.

Serveral days later we arrived at Munich in the rain and in the same clothes and shoes. Relieved the hostel was nice. Ate in the basement restaurant because couldn't face going outside. We had a BATHTUB which got well used. We met Rashi there. Woot.
Following day we explored Munich in the rain and in the evening cheered ourselves up by going to the famous Hofbrauhaus beer hall (literally several hundred people in that place, food and beer going back and forth at amazing speed, waitresses running around, old German music playing) and a ride on one of those little bike-with-seats-on-the-front things. And late night gelatos. In the rain.

Next up Berlin - train station an insane mess of 5 floors plus underground floors, hundreds of shops, uncountable platforms when we arrived in the late evening. I was utterly lost and train maps make no sense to me here. Too big. Like looking at a matrix. Rose was more in control being a Londoner (almost) and we got the 2 trains in the tube to our hostel, supposedly. Turned out the hostel people's directions were rubbish and we were on the wrong side of town. After standing outside in the dark on a street corner an old couple miraculously appeared and asked where we were going and sent us packing in the right directions. Several train rides later we hit our hostel which didn't comfort us much with its flight of stairs to drag luggage up, its cold tiled floors, shared bathroom and rather crap bedroom.

The sun came out.
Berlin is massively insanely huge and I never did get a hang of the train system. Which we had to use for everything. Its so spread out. We went on a walking tour around the city which I have to say was one of my most boring experiences in Europe because the guy was a history nut and all I wanted to do was people-watch and take pictures. It went from 10am to 4pm because he just couldn't quit it with the details. By then we are well sunscorched and gravity has tripled. My swollen right foot from a muscle sprain (probably from lugging luggage around) has swollen more and my toes are fat too. I'm kinda intrigued by this. I can't help wandering off from the group and trying to scan for things of more interest.

We went out in Berlin on saturday night with an organised group to experience the nightlife. Certainly it was good times all around inspite of the lacerated feet from stupid high heels and the amount of smokers in European cities. Who smoke inside. Gack.

Next day we explored some more and said goodbye to Rose who headed back to her day job. Rashi and I continued on in the hopes of becoming Czech Republics next top model. Unfortunately we had to settle for being the only normal people in Prague. Good enough.
Once again we arrived late at night which I'm starting to think is a bad idea. We got lost once again by getting on the wrong tram and landed up in the dodgey side of town. First impression of Prague was dirt, graffiti, old buildings, bogans. Second impression of Prague was AMAZING beautiful apartment we are staying in and very very kind lady at another hotel near where we got lost who insisted "Don't be worried, don't be worried, it's not too far" and measured out on the map exaclty which tram stop would be closest for us to get off at.
Third impression of Prague the next morning was fat tanned men with no shirts on and disgusting gold chains, more dirt, more graffit, more bogans, more 90s fashion, more 90s music, beautiful old buildings amoungst scummy falling apart ones, great food at a local hotel, cheap food, expensive clothing, stunning river.
Tonight we plan to hit the theatre for some mozart just so we can say we did.