On the 4th of July our interrail ticket started and we travelled to Berlin.
We arrived in awful drizzly weather and found our hostel straight away, it was really big but nice (even if someone had taken it upon themselves to draw quite graphic images around the doorway). We settled in and then went out to meet up with Alice and Ellie (who I knew from Downlands and Hannah knew Ellie from college. Small world) For a little bit. We then went back to our room where we found 3 very funny and friendly Dutch boys. We stayed up until the early hours talking about everything from neuro-surgery to black adder. They were huge fans of Jazz music. I mean HUGE! I've never seen people get so much enjoyment from a piano solo.
The next day we woke up early(ish) and went to meet Alice and Ellie at the station. We walked down to the Berlin wall, which happened to be literally around the corner from our hostel. It was so great to see it and learn more about it. The art on the wall was incredible and a bit weird in some places. After that we walked down to see all the museums (we didn't actually go inside them. Of course not, they cost money!) and the gateway which was very impressive. We had fish and chips for lunch. TYPICAL BRITS! then we went to see the jewish memorial. The museum area underneath the main memorial was extremely moving and upsetting. It's strange how you learn so much about WW2 but actually reading letters from people inside the camps and all the horrific facts still had a huge effect on me.
After that me and Hannah headed back to our Hostel and had a hilarious evening with teh Dutch boys learning some Dutch and drinking 99c wine. We decided to walk to a club called Matrix so we trecked through the city. When we got there Hannah was feeling ill and we were worried about our early train the next morning so we went back to the hostel, which was a shame because they were playing some crazy music in the club like the Greece Medley and Spice Girls!
We were woken up at 5:30am by the Dutch boys coming back from the club and we packed and headed to the station for our 6:30am train to Budapest.
We sat on the train for what seemed like forever (10 hours) but the scenery was beautiful going through Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and finally Hungary.
Budapest seems nice from what we've seen of it so far. People are really helpful here for example when we needed help to find our hostel lots of people stopped to ask us if we were ok and a couple ended up searching the internet on their phone just to help us find it.
Our hostel is soooo cute. It is sooo much smaller than the one in Berlin which was basically a huge block of flats where as this is just one apartment. It is run by a really lovely guy called Jake who has given us lots of helpful tips for travelling and his saying is Take It Easy! So here we are in Eastern Europe watching Casualty and eating Super Noodles.
Thanks for reading.
xx
literally sounds so nice emma! hope you're having an amazing time :) have you prebooked all your hostels then? me and connie haven't booked any and were hoping to wing it but as its approaching im getting nervous hahhaa! can't wait till you're back and we can compare stories xxxxxxxxx
ReplyDeleteNo we are booking them as we go. I am literally having the BEST time! you are going to LOVE IT! x
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThings are going really well at home thanks for asking, once I got over your bombshell that your 4 days in a damp northern Europe was better than the whole of your previous 18 years at home.
The only thing to brighten the darkness left by your leaving is the hopefully deadly spiral engulfing rupert murdoch at the moment. This won't mean much to you as a young person living in new media, but mr murdoch is a newspaper proprietor (a newspaper is one of those papery things I kept on trying to get you to read) who over the last few years has subverted British life and politics in an evil way. He laso owns Sky, the Sun and Fox news, - Think of an australian gaddafi and you'll be about 75% of the way there. Anyway the short of it is that one of his newspapers has been exposed (by the trusty grauniad) to be very nasty. Now the old scrotum is fighting for his commercial life and so far he has sacrificed a multimillion pound newspaper and 200 staff. All that stands in his way is a truly awful ginger harridan (Rebekah Brooks)and his worthless son Rupert Jr (aka James), who spends most of his time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights while his internal monolgue is crying "Daddy! help me"). Once he has sacrificed those two, it'll just be left to him to do the decent thing and commit harikari and leave the world a better place. If you meet any australian's on your travels (you can tell them by their big chins and absolute lack of self knowledge) feel free to punch them as hard as you can in the face.
Anyway rant over, hope you are having fun and see you soon.
Hi Emma,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are having a GREAT time. Don't worry about your dad and his comments about newspapers....i suspect he is just missing you...although it probably would be a great way to pick up the language to try to translate the local paper...i used to do that in France. The dutch boys sound like they were trying to introduce you into the world of Jazz....good . job you got on that early train!, and steered away from travelling with a hangover. Looking forward to hearing more of your travel journal, Have lots of fun! Stay safe x Nicky x
Emma! Sounds to me that you’re having such a fab adventure! Your stories are making me chuckle I tell you! How long are you travelling for? How strong was the wine again...I'm sure that had a slight taste of petrol lol. Keep blogging! xXx
ReplyDeletehahaha I heard all about the News Of The World downfall ACTUALLY (although I did learn about it through Facebook. Don't shun me.).
ReplyDeleteI am glad that the ranting is still happening even if it is virtually, I miss it!
I am currently in Rome and will probably write another blog in the next few days about recent events :)
Holly: I am travelling for a month(ish) and yes the wine was pretty foul but that what you get for 99 cents!
I am starting to really miss home so your comments are making me smile and feel less homesick so thank you.
Love and miss you all
xxx
HOf course I am not jealous WE are following your blog with interst. About the Llamas. I allways thought they were Tibetan priests which makes the TV programme even more interesting. While in Rome you should go to the area called Trastervere [ across the river], Full of bohemian people and caffs. from granmere & granpere
ReplyDeleteHia Emma
ReplyDeleteFollowing your adventures with great interest.
Having fun I hope, doing what the Romans do! What did they do for us anyway? :)
Looking forward to your next blog.
Margaret & Ray