Scubophilus Thistler

The afternoon we arrived in Budapest we got caught in our first proper rain shower since Leeds. After some very unanticipated hot days throughout Europe, it was kind of relieving to be cooled by the weather we’d grown to live with in Leeds. The next morning saw us tackling the hill up to the citadel, which featured a statue commemorating Hungarian independence and stunning views of both sides of the river - Buda and Pest. Later we ventured down the hill and over to the castle. We got a great view of the Hungarian Parliament from the well preserved castle. Hungary is well renowned for it’s thermal baths, and we took the recommendation of our friendly hostel owner and went to the Turkish baths in north-east Pest. It was a weekday so it wasn’t too busy, and we enjoyed jumping between the thermally-warmed pools ranging from 25-40 degree temperatures. very relaxing.

After Budapest we caught a train to a smaller town named Sopron, which was on the way to Salzburg - our final Continental destination. The hostel was situated a fair way out of town, but we still managed to cover the medieval town (Roman ruins were still present) in just a few hours. Conveniently, there was a cultural fair on that weekend so we saw a more historically accurate version of Sopron and Hungarian life. The length of train ride from there to Salzburg didn’t leave us with much time to see the city, and the heavy rain prevented seeing much at all when we arrived in the afternoon. The next morning we left Austria for London, our last destination before coming home.

Though we had 5 nights there, there was plenty we wanted to see so got into things straight away. We literally dumped our bags at the hostel and headed straight out again. We met up with a few friends from Leeds at Hyde Park for drinks and some final goodbyes. The realisation that we were heading home finally sunk in, since they really were the last farewells we’d make.

The day we’d been looking forward to for so long finally dawned, Radiohead! The gig was held in East-London’s Victoria Park, and after a few hours of lining up we finally made it in. First up was Bat For Lashes, the only support of the night. Even though the crowd was pretty still the whole time, they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the performance. Radiohead made their way out to an extremely excited crowd, and played superbly for a good few hours. Everything was spot on - set design, music and Thom’s hilariously erratic behaviour. In retrospect the break before encore was more like intermission - they played a heap more tracks when they came back on and left me feeling completely satisfied with the coverage of their song choices.

The next day we did some proper London sightseeing. We’d had a weekend in London late last year, so had already covered a lot of the Royal sights. This time a New Europe tour of the Old Town covered a lot of sights we’d missed last time, including the Tower of London and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Many on the tour went on the Pub Crawl that night, where we experienced the world renowned London nightlife. We also caught a West-End musical while in London - Lord of the Rings. We went mainly because the thought of reenacting the story through song was quite hilarious, but the cast and crew pulled it off superbly. I was pretty surprised at how well it was done, and thought it did the franchise proud.

The morning we left London we had to leave the hostel at 3am, and passed through Heathrow’s Terminal 5 check-in with enough time spare for our last Full English Breakfast. A quick leg over with BA to Frankfurt and a quick transfer saw us on the plane to Taipei before midday. Thankfully the food on China Airlines was just as good as it was on the way over and there were plenty of new movies to tide over the time in the air. We landed in Taipei in the morning, and were pleasantly surprised to find government sponsored tours of Taipei taking place. It broke up the journey a little and allowed us to experience a bit of Taipei. After an extremely hot morning we spent the rest of the day in Taipei Airport. The evening flight was pretty relaxing, and thanks for the few hours sleep I landed in Brisbane without any jet-lag.

And now I’m back! So far settling in has been pretty relaxed, just catching up with friends and family. Before to long I’ll finish sorting through photos and link to them from here. Just over a week to settle in before uni starts up again, but that’s it for now :)

Ash and I spent the first day in Prague exploring the older parts of town - crossing the statue and souvenir stall lined Charles Bridge to the castle. Perched high above the rest of Prague, the castle offered magnificent views of the city as we walked around the impressive cathedral and other buildings on cobble-stone paths. In the evening we took in the old town square by night, where a UEFA Euro 2008 game was being played and enjoyed views of the castle across the river.

We started off the next day at the Communist Museum, which gave an insight into life in Eastern Europe post-WWII and the eventual (and rather recent) downfall of communism in those countries. The afternoon was spent in the newer part of town, as well as some royal gardens - which boasted a couple of albino peacocks and a huge fake-stalactite wall.

While we’d been planning on heading through some smaller Czech towns before Slovakia, accommodation in Vienna towards the end of the month was almost non-existent - thanks to the UEFA finals. A change of plans was needed or else we’d miss out on Vienna altogether, so a bus was booked and we set off early the next morning. We caught up on some much missed Australian food and beer at a friendly Aussie pub on the first day, and headed to get our bearings - the city itself wasn’t too overbearing, and staying a fair way out meant making extensive use of the U-bahn (metro). We spent a good part of the first full day wandering around the gardens at Schloss Schönnbrum, the Hasburgs’ summer palace.

That evening we got a taste for culture with a combined orchestra, opera and waltz event held in a palace in central Vienna. Tailored towards tourists and not hugely accurate as a whole, it still gave an insight into 3 separate parts of Austrian culture in one go. As a host nation to the UEFA games, it seemed that almost every business was cashing in on it. This was also true for the museum we visited, which had a special 45-minute, rushed tour of the main items (indicated with footballs) on show. Not huge football fans, we took things a bit slower and after a few hours browsing the great collection we headed out. We headed to the UEFA FanZone that night, where a few streets were pedestrianised to allow around 70,000 fans to catch the game together.

It was Czech vs. Turkey, and thousands of Turks hit the streets in the hours leading up to it. Inside it was a sea of red flags, with the Czechs only making themselves known when their two goals were scored. The rest of the time the Turks showed their support, and despite their goalie being red carded they came through 3-2. Many celebrations in the streets and on the metro that night.

Having now seen Vienna, we got back on the intended track and got a quick train to Bratislava. We were shocked by the size, easily the smallest EU capital we’ve seen, but it certainly grew on us. Over the couple of days we ventured around the old town, and eventually up to the castle with its wonderful views of town. Probably the most interesting sight up there was the distinct split between medieval streets and communist-era housing.

Tonight is the last night in Budapest, but I’ll add a separate post for Hungary after our last destination here, Sopron, in a few days. It’s all coming to an end quickly - Ash and I are pretty excited to be coming home soon. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Our second visit to Germany made it the most visited country throughout the year, besides the UK and Italy. We were pleased to be back though, as Dusseldorf and Cologne only provided a tiny insight to the Germany’s deep history and culture. Our first stop this time was Berlin. Everyone knows some of the city’s history, but being there reinforced just how much the events of last century have defined the city. It seemed even more relevant since some are as recent as in my lifetime.

We had two full days in Berlin, and we realised soon after arrival that we’d only get a small glimpse of the city in that time. For the three nights we stayed in a 900 bed hostel, plenty of room for annoying school groups. It was handy to one of Berlin’s S-bahn (metro) stations though, which we used exclusively to get around. We choose to take a free walking tour with New Europe, the same company that we’d been with in Paris and Edinburgh. Over the three hours or so we covered most of the main sights, including the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Hitler’s Bunker, Holocaust Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie. The Anthropology-grad guide offered an insight into the history and events that we wouldn’t have gotten doing the tour by ourselves.

Later in the day we walked along the longest stretch of Berlin Wall still in existence (the East-side Gallery), with just over 1km worth. While much of the original graffiti was covered in more recent tags, it was still really interesting to see it. In the evening we enjoyed a pub crawl with a few Australian roommates, and got to see a bit of Berlin’s world renowned nightlife.

The following day we took a train out to the Sacheenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial. It was a model camp for others in the region, and much of it remains intact today. Some parts were deeply chilling, like the pathology lab, with it’s operating tables and a distinct hospital smell still lingering, and the ovens of the crematorium. The camp really gave a insight into the terrible acts that took place there, which is really important for society to remember. After a pretty heavy day emotionally it was good to relax in the hostel in the evening. Before heading to the impressive Hauptbahnhof (central station) for a train to Dresden, we climbed the spiral path inside the Reichstag for great panoramic views of Berlin.

Dresden was almost completely flattened by Allied bombing in the war, but unlike Rotterdam, much of the city was rebuilt as it had originally stood - using the original materials where possible. This resulted in plenty of impressive architecture for us to see, which we took in with an American Architecture-major that we shared a room with at the hostel. Many impressive sights to be seen, in particular Zwinger Palace.

We were planning on going to the Old Masters Picture Gallery in the Palace, which houses classics such as the Sistine Madonna, but it was sadly closed that day. That afternoon we ventured out to see the Moritzberg Castle, a hunting lodge of Saxons of the past. Inside, the walls were covered in trophies - including the worlds largest antlers. Quite eery being amongst it all. After some great weather and enjoyable times in Germany, it was time to head off this morning and we caught a train to Prague, in the Czech Republic. First impressions are busy streets packed with locals and tourists alike enjoying the wonderfully preserved medieval city.

On Monday we left Leeds on the start of our long trip home. Many sad goodbyes were said, but hopefully we’ll be meeting up with friends in London, if not then in the near future sometime. Throughout the year we’ve had many fun nights out, enjoyed movies in the communal cinema and cooked delicious group meals together. After packing, my room was as bare as it was upon arrival - my possessions either sent home, in what is now an almost-bursting backpack or left behind with friends.

The trip to Copenhagen was a long one. We left Leeds at 1pm and took two trains and the tube to London Stanstend Airport, where we flew to Arhus in Denmark. After a bus to the train station in Arhus, we got the 1am night train to Copenhagen. We arrived at the hostel in Copenhagen at 6:30am, dumped our bags and set off to explore the city.

Copenhagen was packed with bicyclists and joggers, embracing the gorgeous weather that lasted the two days that we were there. Serious shorts-and-shirt weather, even early in the morning, unlike the short glimpses of sunlight we were used to in Leeds (that week of sun was a major freak-of-nature though). We spent the morning walking down the wide canals seperating the different districts and recovering from the travel in some of the city’s many parks. After booking our bus to Germany, we wandered back through the Spanish quarter to the hostel, where we where finally able to check-in. We found our beds in the 14-bed dorm and caught up on some sleep (literally none on the train, with constant announcements and overhead lights). That night we endulged in a meal at “Scandinavia’s largest” Turkish buffet at Ankara, which was pretty good for the price.

The next day we decided to hit the city hard, combining a few of the walking tours described in the Use-It guide we’d picked up. We started off in the inner city, working our way from City Hall, past the Cathedral, University and Synagogue to the Round Tower - Rundetaarn. took in awesome views of Copenhagen at the top of the curling corridor. From there we meandered through the Rosenborg Castle Gardens until we reached the castle, now the Royal Treasury. We visited The Little Mermaid statue next, where there were plenty of tourists jumping off busses for a picture.

We walked around the harbour a bit before heading back to town via the Russian Orthodox Church and another huge church - Frederikskirken. Just across the street was Amalienborg Palace, home to the Royal Family. No sign of Australian Princess Mary, but quite a spectacular palace to say the least. Across the river we could see the built futuristic Opera house. After making our way down through the central square, Kongens Nytorv, and the financial area of the city, we crossed the river to tour around Christianshavn and Holem.

We started out at the church Christianskirken, which had a strange layout of a raised pulpit, surrounded by galleries. We made our way into an inner-city oasis, the freetown Christiania. Originally squatters took up residence in an old bunker here, but it is now inhabbited by self-governing hippies. Pretty interesting seeing people living so close to nature in a city. Nearby we got to visit the opera house up close, what used to be the dockyards and the 1600’s church Vor Frelsers Kirke, with an awesome looking spiral tower on top. From there we crossed back across the river, to finish the other tour. It took us past the Stock Exchange, Royal Stables and Law Courts. We finished up on the pedestrian street Støget which, at 1.6kms long, is the longest in Europe. After a full day on our feet we headed to the hostel exhausted, but happy with how much we’d packed into the day.

Most of today has been spent on buses and a ferry, but as I write this we’re nearing on Berlin where another few exciting days await us.

End of exam celebrations have started to quieten down, and so we’re into the last week in Leeds. Exams went pretty well, it was a relief to have four instead of seven this semester. Since exams, I’ve managed to see a bit more of Leeds (it was good to finally discover the River Aire in town) and spent today in Manchester. I’d been a couple of before but only for gigs, so it was good to see the city before leaving.

Manchester is pretty close to Leeds, just over an hour by bus, and similar in size. Seemed a bit more commercial and busier, but apparently Leeds has a higher population. After a pub lunch it was off to Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United FC. An upcoming Bruce Springsteen concert meant the football pitch was off limits, but we still got a tour of the stadium from the comfort of the north stand. Compared to Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough it was pretty massive. The entire crowed from the Boro vs. Pompey match that I’d attended a few weeks ago could have fitted in the stand, and Riverside’s total capacity was under half of Old Trafford’s. Even so, we were so close to the action in Riverside, so each have their own benefits. The museum was packed full of trophies and it was great walking amongst all the past glory.

After leaving the stadium, Ash and I explored the city centre. The was plenty of fantastic architecture to see, including the Town Hall, Library and Cathedral. Quite the mixture of old and new. I’m now writing this from the comfort of a National Express coach as we cruise through some typical English fog and rain back to Leeds. Thought I’d try out blogging from my trusty n810 Internet Tablet, which should certainly come in handy on the long train rides of our final jaunt through Europe.

We leave on Monday for Denmark, heading straight to Copenhagen for a few days for a taste of Scandivania. From there we hope to see Eastern Germany, The Czech Republic (and maybe Slovakia), Hungary and Austria. We’ve booked flights back to London from there for the 24th, just in time to see Radiohead. A pretty awesome way to bring an end to the journey, because after a few days in London we’ll be starting the massive trek back to Brisbane.

While it’s sad to be saying goodbye to the place I’ve called home these past nine months, home is seems very inviting and am looking forward to seeing everyone again in just over a months time. Sadly the friends we’ve made won’t be coming back with us (not just yet at least) so there’ll be some sad goodbyes to endure over the next few days. It’ll be a busy and exciting time as we prepare to move back home.

And now for the rest of the journey! Since we were flying both in and out of Milan, we felt no need to rush through it when we first arrived. After settling in, we did however get a chance to explore the city. What better way then seeing the mighty Duomo (Cathedral), just as the dusk light was fading away. It was a building of such epic proportions, and we spent hours wandering inside and out.

It was a busy night in town, and we were surrounded by hundreds of tourists and locals as we browsed (with no intention of purchasing) the countless posh stores around town. It felt like a really business-orientated city, but we were still quite keen to get back the at the end of the trip. That was it for now though, because in the morning we were off to Venice.

Ashleigh and I had such high expectations for Venice, and I’m happy to say that they were surpassed. Not a sign of the dreadful smell I’d been warned about, nor was it as packed with tourists as I’d expected. I think both of these can be attributed to the time we went- early Spring meant that we avoided the heat and high-season of Summer. That’s not to say I’d avoid it then, because there’s still so much to see year round.

While we arrived to a  bit of rain on a dreadful day, it soon cleared up and by the next day we were enjoying the crystal clear water from the ferries around the canals. For the first time since leaving home I felt that great desire to jump in the water - something that England’s beaches sadly weren’t capable of. We tried to get our monies worth of the numerous ferries around Venice, since we had to pay such an exorbitant amount for a 3 day pass (that was never inspected).

We visited St. Marks Basilica, Doges Palace and the Palazzo, taking breaks for huge pizza slices and gelato. We wandered around the canals quite a bit on the first full day there, but headed off by boat to the nearby islands for a trip on our second. We visited Murano, which is famous for its glass exports and watched a demonstration of it all happening. Then it was on to Burano, which was full of the characteristic colourful Venetian houses. Quite a sight seeing them all lined up together. While in Venice we stayed on Lido Island. it was a bit further than some other accommodation, but was also good for getting away from the hustle and bustle of the main islands. In summer thousands flock to Lido for the beach, the remnants of which could be seen as the was an endless line of empty beach huts.

On our way from Venice to Rome, we stopped in a small town called Ferarra. This quiet town had been suggested by my Italian flatmate, and on arrival it felt pretty authentic. We spent the afternoon wandering the small cobbled streets and crashed out our newly-renovated hostel for the night. The next morning we continued on our way to Rome. We packed so much into the three days there, so I’ll just cover a few things.

We stayed walking distance from the main sights, and managed to see a couple of them by both day and night. Soon after arriving we stopped off at Trevi Fountain, which was packed with tourists every time we went but quite a sight. The Colosseum was a fantastic sight, and it felt amazing walking around such a monument of history. We visited again over the next few days, once at night and the other to actually go inside. Was interesting seeing just how much had been preserved, but we skipped the audio tour and the lack of signage meant we didn’t know what we were looking at a lot of the time.

On our second day we went to Vatican City. We took in a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, the shear scale of which blew us away. It’s officially the most amazing building I’ve ever been inside, and it’s definitely worthwhile spending a bit of time exploring. The afternoon was spent in the Vatican Museum, which was quite interesting, but felt like a huge build up for the Sistine Chapel. Once we finally made it inside it felt all worthwhile, being so close to one of the world’s greatest masterpieces.

The next day was packed full of Roman history. Firstly a tour of the Colosseum, then Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Gave a unique perspective into Roman life and it was amazing to see just how much had been preserved in such a busy city. After our time in Rome there was only one city left for us to visit - Florence.

With 4 nights in Florence, we had plenty of time to see the city and make a couple of day trips to the surrounding areas. We started with what was meant to be a short walk but eventually took us to a fake statue of David. It happened to be green, strangely, but had fantastic views overlooking Florence. We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets of the city, browsing (not shopping) at the expensive shops along the Ponte Vecchio bridge. It seems now we’ve been to quite a few of the worlds shop lined bridges now.

The next day we took a trip to Sienna and San Gimignano. San Gimignano was my personal favourite, like a medieval city stranded in the rolling hills of the Tuscan landscape. Old towers are amongst the city’s buildings, looking like a ancient high-rise skyline from a distance. Not a huge lot too do, but plenty of gripping scenery to take in.

We made it to Pisa from Florence also, and found ourselves wandering through town eagerly looking for the first glimpse of the leaning tower. We weren’t disappointed, it still has quite a lean on it. There was also a beautiful cathedral and baptistery just behind it, unfortunately ignored by most of the tourists. We still managed some of the classic photos and perused the load of stalls eager to offload their wares on passing tourists. Somehow we managed to avoid the art galleries and museums of Florence, despite the city being packed full of them. We still enjoyed our taste in Tuscany immensely.

Afterwards we had a quick stay in Milan again, in order to make a flight back to London. We took the chance to see a bit more of the city, and found a castle close to the centre that a bunch of cats had made their home, funny stuff. The flight back was fairly quick, and our second time in London lasted the whole of the 30 second walk from St. Pancreas Station to Kings Cross, where we boarded a train to Leeds. Hopefully will see a bit more after the semester concludes.

We arrived back exhausted, but happy with what we’d packed into the few weeks away. The final 3 weeks of uni face us, with exams, more travel and home on the horizon.