Trains vs. Buses

I caught a bus from:
- Poland to Ukraine: The journey was made upright though the night. My phone and camera chargers were stolen.
- Slovakia to Austria: It left two hours later than promised and took an hour and a half longer that I was told.
- Austria to Switzerland: Well actually, I thought the bus was going to Switzerland. I was sold the wrong ticket and ended up in Germany were I had to catch a train to Switzerland... Also, I often woke up thinking that the bus driver had fallen asleep and we were about to drive off the road... I actually yelled out, "Hey!!" in my sleep and opened my eyes in time to see everyone around me jump and look around scared...

Conclusion: Although significantly cheaper, my experience on buses was not too good.

I caught a train from:
- Germany to Poland: It was relatively expensive but I could lie down and it was easy to navigate.
- Ukraine to Hungary: Made friends with three talented musicians in the next cabin who lulled me into lovely sleep all night. Train was stopped for two hours at the border while the trains wheels were changed (for different tracks system).
- Hungary to Romania: Creepy Romanian man tried to come onto me and ended up sleeping next to me... Casper and I renamed ourselves Taquin and Vivian and became husband and wife...
- Germany to Switzerland: I shouldn't have tried to take the cheaper option.... then I might have ended up in Switzerland straight from Austria, rather than Germany. Gah!

Conclusion: Trains may be more expensive but at least you can move around, sleep in a bit more comfort and read without getting sick. They are also easier to understand and therefore ensure you are getting to the right destination!

Zurich

Oh crazy!! Switzerland is insanely expensive!!

This morning I bought a soy milk and a little bun about half the size of my fist. It cost me 6.9Fks or about the same amount in US Dollars...

Otherwise, Zurich is interesting. First appearences are deceiving and although at times it can seem mundane, in parts sleazy and a fraction quirky, it is actually a pretty safe, happening, funky place!

Last night I discovered lots of interesting and amuzing things before deciding to get a nose piercing. I leave here tomorrow and you`ll hear from me next in a few days.

Love you all!

raff

p.s. MASSIVE thank you to Flavio for his mattress!!!
(Flavio not only proved to be a great Swiss host who let me into his house and his world but he also ended up saving me a great deal of cash that would have otherwise been dedicated to hostels...) THANKS AGAIN!

Austria

Oh wow!

Vienna is SO beautiful!!

The buildings are so pretty, the people are really friendly, there is so much to see and do and it is such an absorbing place to be...

...and get lost in...

Yeah, thanks to those people I sent text messages to requesting help from the middle of the labyrinth who ignored me... now I know who my friends really are...

That`s all.

k

p.s. Thanks to Bryan for the tip but unfortunately, sticking to the right doesn`t work...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GISELLE!

TODAY MY 'LITTLE' SISTER TURNS 21!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY G!

YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU AND WISH YOU THE HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY IN THE HISTORY OF BIRTHDAYS!!!

Love you Gisella-bella!

Kristiana

Conincidences...

Bratislava has gotten to me... I love it.

It is a nice break from the crowds and tourists of some of the other cities I have been in recently and the hostel I am in is really homely, something I was really needing right now (plus the communal area has some AWESOME tribal house music playing constantly!).

Actually, it has been a bit of a surreal experience here... After eight and a half months away from Aus, I have not run into anyone I know at random, here I met three people I knew at total random!

1) When I was in Berlin I wrote a blog about seeing the Italy v. Australia World Cup natch from the fan mile in front of the Brandenburg Gate. There were millions of people there and most sporting* costumes. Consequently, there were many professional photographers. I tried to get the contact details of photographers I caught taking my photo and got them to email me a copy of the pics. As it turns out, and after a random set of questions and a really good memory for faces, I realised that I had had my photo taken with this random Aussie who was staying in this hostel in Bratislava with me on my first night here!

2) Next morning I was on the internet in the hostel and in walks this other Aussie girl that had been staying in the same hostel with me in Prague! She was supposed to be going travelling elsewhere and instead came to Slovakia and just happened to be staying in the same place!

3) Today, I was just about to leave for daily explorations of the town and in walks a girl from New York who was staying in the same hostel as Casper and I in Krakow, Poland!

This may not seem like such a big deal to you all but for someone who has been starved recently of familiar faces, this is a HUGE deal and enough to weird me out a little...

Glad for the familiarity though!

On to Vienna tomorrow and then Zurich.

Love to everyone!

raff

*no punn intended.

The bone church...

Yesterday I saw the most amazing and insane thing ever!

Yesterday I went with an American girl I met to a nearby town called Kunta Hora where there was a church. At the end of the 1700s a monk sprinkled dirt from 'the holy land' there making it, in effect, a holy ground. As a result of the holy dirt, 10,000 people wanted to be buried there... We are talking about the size of half a football field worth of ground...

During the plague, all of a sudden, 30,000 people died and wanted to be buried there too. There was not enough room. Instead of being buried, their bones were cleaned and whitewashed and created into an incredible and kind of gruesome display. There were wall hangings, inspriptions, pyramids and chandeliers made of human bones... It was the most surreal thing... I am still in shock and will post pics as soon as I can.

Today I am in Bratislava in Slovakia. It is lost somewhere between communist times and EU reforms... I am about to get something to eat in the old town where there is supposed to be a lot of cultural stuff going down tonight. Should be fun!

Peace and love,

raff

Laa la-la....

Gah Czech, like many European countries, for having a different keyboard which I am unfamiliar with... It takes so long to write things!!

Okay, so I told you all I caught a train from Berlin to Prague the other day through beautiful countryside, past a river housing multicoloured German lodge type houses and glorious mountains. When I arrived into the Prague trainstation, which is located outside of the city, I had nowhere to stay because a reservation I had made fell through.... I got some info from a nice hostel information guy lurking around the station and harrassed three Spanish guys. I ended up following the Spanish guys to their hostel which is actually a school usually, but during holidays a hostel. We ended up staying together with three Slovakian guys in the Art room. Fun!

That night I met two girls from Amsterdam who are the type of fun, gorgeous, girls who look like they get into a LOT of trouble but actually never do because they are who they are... We went out to the biggest club in Europe, 6 floors of all sorts of music with an unfortunate ratio of about 10 or 12 talentless European men to each woman... It was actually pretty fun until we saw a 55ish year old man drunk on the 4th floor naked, covered in mud and blood, be thrown out.... Oh, and the fight at the end of the night.

Because the clubs stay open til 6am here, I got 2.5 hours sleep before deciding to accompany some other nice people I met to the Tezen former concentration camp yesterday. I know that impressive is the wrong word but I can't think of a better word just now for the state of the facility and the way the town was taken over and run by the nazies. It was really aweful...

After a chinese dinner and getting quite lost courtesy of the tram system (where no one buys tickets), I came back to my hostel to meet new and familiar people and crash.

Today is a gorgeous day and the internet room is located next to the music room in this school/hostel so someone is playing the piano... How cute!

I'll be going into the main square shortly to be a real tourist...

It's a beautiful day here and I hope it is wherever you are too!

k

Prague

I have arrived in Prague!
It doesn´t seem very much like what everyone and the guide book told me it would be like... Maybe it is because it is Saturday... On the weekends, the only things that seem to happen in Europe are the nightclubs and bars...

Still, it is quiet. Really quiet. Like considering there are nearly 1.2 million people, I am surprised that the tram was incredibly spacious. I am also surprised that the tram picked us up from the only train station to Prague (which is outside the city).

Apparently though, bars and clubs are open to 6am (late even for Europe)!

The hostel I am at is a hostel in summer and a school by winter. I think we are staying in the art room. Or maybe it is the history room. I´m not sure. It is kind of cool though.

Sending you all love and happy wishes!

Raff

Bye-Bye Berlin (Take 2)

I think we established a few weeks ago that travel plans are made to be broken, replanned and then negotiated...

Tomorrow I am going to Prague (Czech Republic). From there it looks like I will go to Bratislava (Slovakia). From there I will either go straight to Zurich (Switzerland) or to Zurich via Vienna (Austria)...

How lucky do I feel to be able to make and break plans, that one of my biggest problems right now, is where to sightsee??

I am feeling especially lucky today. I feel lucky to be alive, to be born in the time that I was at the place that I was! I feel lucky to be educated and smart and going places!

I just visited a very moving and informative memorial in Berlin. I feel lucky.

I usually avoid dark tourism but I was kind of drawn to this information centre. I learnt a lot about the war and read some personal accounts from Jews in that time. It was absolutely horrible what these people went through. I find it so scary and sad that people actually committed these sorts of attrocities against other people due to different beliefs or even just plain old 'differences'. I was thinking how glad I am that we have moved on and not affected by this stuff anymore when I reflected on the current Palistinian conflict...

We live is such a weird and wonderful world and I am so glad that I was born when I was. I am certain I would have been murdered if I was in Poland, Romania, Northern Greece, Germany, Austria or any other of the numourous places affected by the Nazies during their occupation. I would have been murdered because I would have been helping those who I felt were being so wronged... That is aweful...

I feel lucky.

Sending everyone lots of love.

See you in ten minutes.

k

New Plans

Tomorrow I am going to go to Czech Republic before Austria and then Switzerland!

I decided last night. Isn't that fun!

Will let you know how it goes when I get there but for your information, each of these places are supposed to be safe and fun, even for single, white, female travellers!

Don't be worried, I am not, it is going to be smoking!

k

Back in Berlin

The last few days I have been down in the Southern part of Germany at a tiny village. There, I went with Veronika twice to Mother Meera's Darshum. Mother Meera is supposed to be an Avitar, like a special being placed on Earth to spread love and peace and hopefully heal the world enough, and inspire positive energy in others enough for the world be be able to save itself. I gather....

It was pretty cool... A very personal experience but one that gave me a lot to think about and filled me with lots of feelings of pure love....

I don't know if the above makes sense but just in case it doesn't, just know that I have not joined a cult and that I am safe (and a bit wet) back in Berlin. Plans have changed a LOT the last month or two, so why stop the trend??
:D

Anyway, will write again when I know my next steps.

Mucho love.

raff

Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a bit of a shock to me after so many weeks of Eastern European travel and a few days recovery at a little town. I felt so overwhelmed by all the tourists in the street!

However, I quickly became distracted by clogs that were for sale, a church that was playing host to a fashion exhibition and Pride in Amsterdam! Actually, it is really exciting to be in the gay centre of Europe for Pride, even if it is only the end of celebrations!

My friend Veronika (the one I stayed with in Hawaii) and I wondered around Amsterdam looking at shops, street life, the red light district and China town before meeting up with Casper, his boyfriend Matt and his little sister Rosa at a Pride wind-down party at 'Homomonument'.

It was such a pleasant, weird and entertaining day. Although we didn't have any space cakes, hash or mushrooms, the street vibes was friendly and random - a great combination, I think.

I really like Amsterdam, we'll be back tomorrow...

Meanwhile, yesterday we woke up to Casper's gorgeous grandparents guest house. It is a eco-house that is situated next to a little river and in amongst some cared for gardens. After admiring our surrounds all morning we all set off cycling around the countryside for a rainy afternoon. It was really, really lovely despite the fact I was eventually swiming in my own shoes...

Anyway, point is, I LOVE HOLLAND and I thank Casper's family eternally for their wonderful hospitality!

k

In the Netherlands

Casper's family has the most quaint seaside house in a little coastal village called Bergan Aan Zee which is where we have been staying the past couple of days. I hadn't realised how much I missed the beach until we came here but now that we are here, I am so delighted to have sea salty air in my lungs and a cool wind kissing my cheeks!

While here we have cycled through the sand dunes, stopped to eat mulberries growing by the path, seen the windmills you expect of Holland and eaten lots of very sweet Dutch food. It's been fun! Tomorrow we go to Amsterdam!

Woo!

k

Goodbye Ukraine!

In a few hours Casper and I are leaving the Ukraine to go the Netherlands via London.

Kiev has been fun!

There was the most amazing church called St Sophia's Cathedral that we explored yesterday before getting a little lost in the public transport collective of Kiev... We then had our first little tif before shopping away our anxiety and seeing the best street break dancing I have ever seen!

The food has also been great! In Lviv, a much more nationalist part of the Ukraine than Kiev, the food was quite fatty, oily and based around potato and bread. In Kiev, we have been exposed to much more variety with so many different vegetables and presentation of those vegies.... I have eaten SO MUCH... It's been grand!

Anyway, back to more English speaking lands....

k
p.s. MASSIVE thank you to Zoe and her family for housing us in Kiev the last few days!!!

Kiev

After a 32 hour train journey I got my wallet stolen this morning. It was pickpocketed out of my bag on a very crowded local train.

I noticed just as soon as there was room enough for me to look at my bag (which was open). I ran off the train, after the man that had been standing next to me, grabbed him from behind and yelled, "You took my wallet!!".

The man dropped it on the ground and raised his hands and looked at me as if to say, "What? I did nothing?!".

I picked up my wallet, thumped him and yelled again before he walked off and I got back on another train...

Damn. That was close...

Meanwhile, I just learnt that the Ukrainian government is currently non-existent and has not been for the last 6 months... Tomorrow is the last day for the president to decide what to do.... Should be interesting...


We are safe though, staying with one of Casper's friends. We leave in a few days.

k