Back in England

After three months, and 10 countries, I've finished my Eastern European trip, and im now back in the relatively warm weather of England - Go figure!

My last few days in Estonia were great, going to a theme restaurant where I ate Wild Bore (Bear was on the menu....but I just couldnt). I also took advantage of cheap drinks for the last time before coming back to the UK where 'cheap' is the last word you would use for anything!

Now for a quick wrap up of the places I visited...

Slovenia - Ljubljana, Lake Bled and Piran
Croatia - Pula, Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik
Hungary - Budapest
Slovakia - Bratislava
Czech Republic - Cesky Krumlov, Prague, Kutna Hora (Bone church), Olomouc
Poland - Krakow, Auschwitz, Wroclaw, Torun, Gdansk, Warsaw, Lublin, Chelm
Germany - Berlin
Lithuania - Vilnius
Latvia - Riga
Estonia - Tallinn

The highlights for mine were Dubrovnik and Cesky Krumlov. Both were really very touristy, but they were that good that it didnt take away from just how amazing they were. Also very high were Tallinn and Riga, which both had I think the perfect mix of old town charm, and great night life (apart from the hordes of poms on stag do's on weekends!). Berlin was also very high on the list, having so much history, combined with one of the most vibrant cities in the world.

I'm now back at Belinda and Mark's pub - The Beehive - in Wiltshire in the English West Country, where I will be staying until at least new years, while my Irish working holiday visa comes through. I'll get around to uploading a bunch of new pics on my picture sight soon so stay tuned.

The Final Stop

It's been a while since my last post, and in that time Ive been covered in snow, threatened with arrest, and made to drink a combination of beer, vodka and milk....ahhh you gotta love Europe!

It's amazing to think only a couple of months ago I was in Croatia soaking up the sun and swimming on a daily basis. The snow started about a week ago in Vilnius in Lithuania. While of course the cold came with that, these cities just work with snow. It kind of suits them, especially with all of the old buildings and coble stoned streets. It just wouldnt feel right if the sun was blazing down!

While in Vilnius I headed out to a bar with a couple of other Aussies I met in the hostel. On leaving the bar at around 4am, we were given our bill, which had on it a number of drinks that we flat out didnt order or drink. When we said we'd like to pay only for what we actually had, the manager and the very large bouncer said that they would not let us out of the bar until we paid the rest. When we said thats not going to happen, they said they would call the cops, and we said 'go for it!'. After a short while the 'cops' arrived, who were in fact just private security, so we asked that they call the real cops, which they said that they did. After some more waiting, and plenty of arguing, the bouncer and the manager went out the back and returned saying that we dont have to pay for the other drinks...We had called their bluff! Thankfully!

After Vilnius I headed up to Riga in Latvia, which was one of my favouriute places so far. An amazingly beautiful city, and an awesome night life. There was an alternative club accross the road from the hostel which had funky live music and almost no other tourists. One band that played (and seemed hugely popular) were basically a Latvian version of the Cat Empire. Awesome stuff.

One night at the hostel there was a happy hour, where drinks cost about 50 pence - how many times can you get quite drunk for about a fiver?

After Riga I have come up to my final stop, Tallinn in Estonia where there is a great bunch of people - some of whom I played 'Kings' with last night....hence the horrible drink combo I was forced to drink....obviously I'm not feeling the best today!! Tallinn is like Riga, very beautifull, and its not just the architecture!

Flying back to England on Monday where I will get some well earned rest for the first time in 3 months, before heading off to Ireland in the new year!

Lots of pictures will be going up on my photobucket site in the next week or two.

Drinking with the Polish....Oh Dear!

After leaving Gdansk I headed down to Warsaw where I spent a few days in Polands capital. While it was a nice enough city, there wasnt really anything that set it apart from any other. Part of the reason was that it was completely bombed during the war and rebuilt, thus everything is really new so lacks the history. There were some good museums however, highlighting what the locals went through in the war, but apart from that, very little to do. Met some cool people and had a couple of reasonable nights out, but other then that, Warsaw could be given a miss!

From Warsaw I spent one night in Lublin, a quiet town to the south East. Another that fell into the "nice but kinda boring" catagory. The next three days, however, would be anything but!

After Lublin, I headed east to meet Aga, a Polish girl that I worked with at the Ivy House in Tonbridge, who headed back to her home town, Chelm, for a weeks holiday. I spent the three days doing only three things. The first was eating. From the moment I stepped through the door, Aga's mother "forced" me to eat. No 2 minute noodles for me on this weekend!!

The second was drinking. Oh how we drank. All three nights I was there we were drinking combinations of Beer along with regular shots of Vodka. I'm not much of a vodka drinker, but I was told it was rude to refuse! I hate to be rude!! But man these people can down their vodka!

The final thing I did in those three days, was be very hungover. I havent had hangovers like that for a long time (at least since Berlin!). Even when I got on the bus to Warsaw to catch my connection to Vilnius I was in danger of losing my breakfast.

It was a great three days spent with actual locals rather then other backpackers.

I've since come to Vilnius, arriving at 3.30am yesterday morning and it was COLD. I thought it was cold earlier....my god!! Not even above zero for the whole day! Anyways, getting in earlier then i thought was a bad thing. I headed to a hostel hoping it would be open, and to my joy it was. There was a problem though, as the reception desk was closed. So I basically decided to sleep in reception for a few hours until the receptionist turned up.

After half an hour or so, one of the other guests, a Kiwi dude, came out and said that there was a free bed in his dorm so I should just crash in there. I did and got a much more comfortable couple of hours sleep! I then though had the problem of explaining to the receptionist in the morning that I had already been there, but "needed to check in".

Since being here, I got to see my first pro basketball game since I left Aus, heading out to see the local team play a Euro Cup match against a Serbian team. The local team had Matt Neilsen, one of Australia's best players, which added to the event. I tell ya it was good to finally see some top quality hoops again! I feel at peace!

Ok, well I have now less then 2 weeks before heading back to Belle and Mark's place in Wiltshire, and in that time I've got Riga, Tallin and possibly Helsinki on the agenda!