Amsterdam (part 2) Day 9 - 15

10 - 16 October 2013

Day 9: Arrival
So I'm back in Amsterdam and I think this is my 9th day although I didn't actually stay in Amsterdam last time so that might not be accurate. Although I've already been here before, my friend hadn't and this time will be a different experience for me because I'm with a friend, I'm staying at a hostel and I'm not a wet-behind-the-ears, introverted, newbie backpacker. The train over was quite good and I slept the whole night. It was the same set up as the one I caught from Berlin to Karkow and I slept as well as I did on that one.

The first mission was to find a hostel and we hadn't booked anything so we wandered around looking at places as asking if there were spaces. We ended up at Shelter City Christian Hostel because it had beds free, it was cheap and it came with a good free breakfast. I'm not what you'd call a religious person, so this might seem like a weird choice, but it wasn't all in your face so I was fine. The funny part is that this hostel is on an alley way in the red light district and right next to a Thai massage parlour that we can assume does happy endings.

Walking tour
Next item on the to-do list is the free walking tour by Sandemans. We stopped off at a fast food place that has a wall of little boxes, each with hot food in it and you put your money in, the door opens and you *nom, nom, nom*. Literally the best idea EVER! Next stop was to get an umbrella because it was raining (apparently not unusual for Holland). The walking tour was great; the guide seemed to know his stuff (or was just a good storyteller), we noted a bunch of places we wanted to come back to see and my favourite part was when ended up at a restaurant that served stamppot, which is kind of like Dutch bangers and mash, and it was amazing!

Day 10: All sorts
An Israeli girl joined us today to go see what Amsterdam had to offer. The first stop was to get some space cake and although it was expensive (7 euro) it was really good cake (in both respects). Next stop was the Heineken Experience, which I'd already done but I was going with the crowd today plus you get to drink beers as part of it so it's not a hard sell. As part of your Heineken ticket you also get a free boat ride so we took that and got the free bottle opener from the Heineken gift shop. For lunch we went to a place called Wok to Walk, which does some good dishes (had quite a few last time). The space cake wasn't really working so we stopped to get some more but this stuff was cheaper (complaints come later). We spent some time in a drum and bass cafe watching the world go by before going back to the hostel to play Jenga and Uno.

Our Israeli friend was catching an overnight bus so we kindly walked her to the bus stop and it was right about then that the space cake really kicked in. It was only a 5 (sober) minute walk home but it took us A LOT longer than that and not just because my friend stopped for food that she didn't even want. The first space cake we had was great and had us at the laughing for no reason stage but the second lot was crap and just made me paranoid so we spent the evening in the hostel freaking out, thinking that everyone was looking at us, which they probably were. The lesson, get the good stuff!

Day 11: Windmills
Today was one of those annoying days where we had to move rooms, which means packing all your stuff and checking out just to undo it again that night, arrg! After that we caught the train to Zaanse Schans, which is a windmill village. We walked around and went into some of the widmills, tried the cheese in their gift shop (and bought some), took some photos in clogs of various sizes and had a look through the not-very-good museum.

After getting the train back to Amsterdam, we stopped in at the Sex Museum because, hey, that's what you do in Amsterdam. Then it was lunch time, Wok to Walk again and then onto a pub for a few beers. The walk home from the pub took us past a waffle place, where we stopped for a waffle with ice-cream and nutella, and because our hostel is in the red light district, we stopped in at a 2 euro peep show so we could say we did it.

Day 12: Anne Frank Huis.... actually no, cheese tasting
It was raining like mad today so when we got to the Anne Frank Huis and saw the massive line we instantly knew that wasn't happening. Instead we went over to a cheese shop that was pointed out to us on the walking tour and luckily, arrived just in time for the cheese tasting session where they let us (in exchange for money) taste 9 different cheeses and some complimenting wines. I really enjoyed most of them, so much so that I bought some afterwards. I also learnt that I can tell you if I like the taste of something, but that's about it. I can't pick if it tastes like chocolate or wood chips or any of the other tastes on the flavour card they gave us.

On the way home from the cheese shop we took refuge from the rain in a cafe and had to try to banana cake and stroopwafels because they smelt so good. We eventually made it back to the hostel but we were saturated so we hung around a bit to get changed and warm up.

In the evening we went for a walk to see a bridge that was decorated with lights and it looked pretty good. To make the walk worth it, we stopped at a local bar and listened to a guitarist play some of his own material. He has some skills and although all the songs he played had negative/depressing themes, he was almost comically sad.

Day 13: Anne Frank Huis, take 2
We tried again today and although the line was still huge, at least it wasn't blowing a gale and raining. The line took about an hour and I have to say, the place was kind of a let down. I'm not really sure what I expected but all the information they give you is pretty boring and I think it's because it's more about the house than the era in time or Anne's story. I can't recommend it.

Lunch was stamppot again, I just couldn't get enough and we also tried a Duvel beer. I'm going to have to start cooking this at home. Later in the afternoon we stopped at a bakery and they do the order food, sit down and eat it, then pay on the way out thing. The problem was we were there for about 2 hours and we forgot to pay when we left although we didn't realise until later that night.

My friend was leaving for England today, on the MegaBus (cool name eh?) so I walked her to the bus stop and that was the highlight of the evening.

Day 14: Family meet-up
Today I was catching up with family that live in Holland and I thought I should bring something so I chose stroopwafels and speculaas biscuits. They're both Dutch foods, which is probably strange of me to bring them along because they all know what they are but in my defence, they're good! On the way back from getting supplies, I stopped by the bakery we forgot to pay at yesterday and paid them. The girl behind the counter gave me the weirdest look, I guess because she wasn't sure why I even came back, but at least I had a clear conscience.

When it came time to head over to the family meeting, I thought I'd give myself lots of time in case something went wrong and I'm lucky I did because I screwed up catching the tram. <Insert excuses about multiple lines sharing the same section of track and not knowing what side of the road they stop on>. The end result was I made it on time so crisis averted. My aunty cooked some amazing Thai food and it was a really fun night with the family.

Day 15: SFA
Not much happened today. I did some blogging and got psyched up for the overnight bus trip to London. I'm not one for sleeping on buses, planes, etc but this MegaBus is far cheaper than the trains and it takes you from Amsterdam to Calias, onto the ferry and right into London so you can't do much better than that.

Locks hanging from a bridge

High heeled clogs

Chicken clogs

The animals at the windmill village

Stroopwafels!

The epic clog

Some wooden crocs

Funny shaped vegetables

At the windmill village

and again...

The skinniest house in Amsterdam. Only one window wide.

The wall of fast food windows

Another giant clog!

Munich (including Oktoberfest) Day 1 - 7

3 - 9 October 2013

Day 1: Flying over
I booked the flights last minute so I ended up taking two separate flights in a bit of a 1 back, then 2 steps forward type thing. My first flight was to Istanbul where I had lots of leg room in the plane, score, and had a chat with a lady from Washington DC about working on Sundays (we didn't agree).

Going through the Istanbul "in transit" area was a pain because I had to give up my water bottle. I thought it was weird because I'd gone through security in Sarajevo with it empty, then filled it up with non-explosive (secure) water so if I'm in transit in Istanbul and they don't have explosive water in there, then why bother having another security checkpoint? Arrrg!

The next leg of the flight pretty much took me back over Sarajevo *facepalm* and onto Munich. On this flight I spoke to a Canadian dude who sat next to me but can't remember what aboooot.

The plan was to arrive at Munich before my friend, who was flying in from England, so I could meet her there. I did arrive first, as planned but I didn't think Munich airport would be so big and because we flew with different airlines, I had to move as fast as you can with a 15kg backpack between terminals to meet her. Crisis averted though, I made it in time.

To the hostel!
Today was one of those "travel days" where I spent pretty much to whole day travelling. Once we found the hostel and dumped our bags, we went out to find some dinner and ended up at a rather fancy Italian restaurant. There weren't a lot of places open and it was cold outside so we're lucky we ended up in a good place.

Day 2: Walking tour... or not
Sandemans walking tours are run in Munich and we planned to make the early morning one but a combination of rain and getting lost meant we didn't. We killed some time by looking for a supermarket (but failed) and got coffee before making it back in time for the afternoon tour.

The tour was really good. We saw the clock in the main square (that's where we started) and moved on to the Hofbräuhaus where we were told a story about how, in the olden days, nobody wanted to get up from the table so they made urinals/piss troughs under the tables but then people complained about getting splashed on so they made sticks that you could piss onto and direct it nicely into the trough, ingenious! We also learnt that 30% of Munich's annual beer production is drunk during Oktoberfest.

After the tour ended, my friend and another girl we met on the tour climbed the Talburgtor tower. It was an interesting climb because the stairs are unevenly spaced and not really wide enough for two lanes of people, which is unfortunate because the tower was packed. It was worth it for the view from the top.

After the tower, we rushed back to the main square where we stood around with hundreds of other people to watch the puppet show in the clock tower. It goes for 10 minutes, which feels like forever and I don't remember it being all that awesome although it was better than the one in Prague.

Meet 'n' greet
As we booked for Oktoberfest very last minute, the only way to get accommodation was to join a tour. I spoke to a girl in Ohrid who told me about one called the Fanatics and it seemed good and had free spots so we jumped on it. As part of the tour, they run a meet and greet the night before our group's first day at the festival and that's what we went to tonight. We had our first stein and met a few people, which is always nice to have people who you can go "hey, it's *mumbles name because you forgot*!!". The meet and greet was at a pub with most of the tables set up outside and because it was freezing, the best way to keep warm was to drink beer and get a bit rowdy.

Day 3: off to Oktoberfest
Today is the first day my group goes to the Oktoberfest festival. The people who run it want to get us there well before it starts because it's a first come, best served set up. This means that we had to get up early to leave the hostel at 7am. We could walk to the venue but it only took about 30 minutes and the doors don't open until 9am so that meant we got to sit around in the cold and fog for about 90 minutes. It was about this time when I asked myself "why did I get up stupidly early to sit in the cold just so I can drink beer?".

When you could see people inside the doors getting ready to open them, everyone suddenly jumps up and starts pushing. The tents are massive but there are still more than enough people to fill them straight away so you need to be a bit pushy to make sure you get a seat. My friend and I ended up on a a table with other people from the Fanatics tours; some Aussies and a guy from Dubai. The first beers come out fast and it's a good idea to tip because then the beer ladies (shouldn't say wenches) will come back and serve you again.

This next bit went for about 7 hours but all I can say that we did was: took photos, cheered, sang German songs (badly), danced on the chairs, drew on each other with textas and drank beer. It doesn't sound like enough to fill the time but time flew! It was amazing.

At some point, my friend and I decided it was time to leave the tent and see what else was around. We found a rollercoaster and went for a spin on it. It felt much safer than the Mad Mouse (for those of you in Adelaide). We didn't really have much to eat in the tent (although they do serve food) so we bough some expensive sausages and nuts and headed home 9 hours after we first sat down for a beer. Still not sure where time went.

We stopped past a Thai place, that we'd eaten at previously, for dinner but it was shut so we ended up at a Subway. Did you know that carrot on Subway is an Australian, or at least not a German, thing? Well now you do. The lesson for today was "Drink more water" because I was really dehydrated. Totally worth it though.

Day 4: Back to Oktoberfest
The official plan was to get up as early as the day before and do the same thing but that wasn't happening. Now that my friend and I knew where to go and how to get into places, we were happy making our own way there. I made it to breakfast, win, and we finally made our way to the festival just after 1. We found the tent that the fanatics tour went to and sat at a table with a bunch of Swedish and were later joined by some Americans and Aussies.

I didn't pay for many beers during the course of the day because people kept ordering them and not finishing them so I kindly offered to help. We also found it a lot harder to order pretzels in this tent than the one yesterday and that was a real problem because that is pretty much all we were eating. We also had a texta floating around to keep a tally (not I condone drinking competitions though... *serious face*) and that degenerated to generally drawing stuff all over people.

Near the end of the night I tried to rally people to go on some rides but there was only one American who would have any of it so we went on the Chair-o-plane (see pictures) an the Ferris Wheel. Beer and show rides are a winner.

We made it to closing time today and the end of the night was a crazy scene. All the food places were closing while big queues of people were still trying to order and people were literally still ordering and being served as the shutters were being pulled down on the stalls. The only place I could get something from served a meatloaf in bread type thing that was unusual but hit the spot.

Day 5: Checkout
We had to checkout today and my friend helpfully woke me up but with hardly any time before we had to be checked out. I made it and we ended up running to get to the meet point for a tour we wanted to be on, which turned out not the be necessary because we made it with heaps of time.

Neuschwanstein
The tour took us to the south of Bavaria to see a castle, named Neuschwanstein, which I think translates to new swann stone. It was about a 2 hour trip to get there and it certainly was an impressive castle but the fact that it was pretty foggy made it hard to get photos or even fully appreciate because it was hard to see. The tour guide told us the history of the castle and the area on the walk up the hill and then we joined in with an organised tour through the castle. Apparently the castle, which is already pretty big, had plans to have lots of extensions to make it into something massive. It didn't happen because the king died or something and if you're curious, I'm sure Google has all the answers. I enjoyed the castle and that's the point I'm trying to make here.

After we left the castle, we went over to a bridge near that gives great views of the whole castle...when it's not foggy. So that was a fail. The next thing was to get back down the hill and there were two choices: the easy way (that we came up) or the interesting way. I chose the latter. It took us down a kind of dodgy looking bridge bolted to the rock face and past a dry creek bed that people had been stacking rocks in.

During the course of the day, my friend and I made friends with a Texan guy and a girl from Portugal. We made plans to go see Salzburg with the Portuguese girl the next day and then headed off with the Texan guy to have dinner at a Mexican place. We shared paella, chorizo, enchiladas and something that I wrote down as "seafood things" in my notes. It was all accompanied with the obvious choice, sangria!

We finished the night by going back to our hostel, grabbing our bags then heading over to another hostel that had spaces and checking into a 40 bed dorm.

Day 6: Salzburg
We met the Portuguese girl at the train station in the morning and had to run to catch the train (geez we were unorganised). The train ride was about 2 hours and we were taking a day trip to another country! This is such a weird concept to an Australian because going to another country is always a big thing, it's not just a day trip.

In Salzburg we walked through a park filled with odd statues, a garden of some fancy looking building, the streets in the old town and around the hilltop castle. We had a laugh when we could hear goats and eventually figured out that they'd climbed up the hill around the castle and were standing up near the top; higher than people can go without paying.

We went to the Augustine Brauhaus for a late lunch where we had a schnitzel and a stein before catching the train back to Germany.

Leaving...or not
My friend and I packed our bags and decided that we'd seen Munich and it was time to leave so we went to the train station with the intention to actually leave. We failed with a combination of reasons: not wanting to pay what they were asking for a ticket, being too late and not really being sure where we wanted to go.

We headed back to the hostel and booked in for another night.

Day 7: lazy day
My friend went on a day trip to see Dakau but I didn't go along because I'd already seen Auschwitz. Instead I spent the day blogging and shoe shopping.

We were definitely leaving this time so once again we went to the train station and booked a train to Amsterdam. We had some time to kill so we went back to our hostel and because I recognised the girl working at the neighbouring hostel as one of the people I met in Split, Croatia, she gave me some tickets for free beers. We enjoyed the free beer and then headed over to the train station. We booked a sleeper train because it was an overnight trip and we pretty much got on the train and went straight to sleep.

Thoughts on Munich and Oktoberfest:

• It was obviously expensive but it was totally worth it. I'm not sure if I'd do it again but that's purely for the cost.
• Munich is a nice place with lots to see and a lot of history
• It rained quite a bit
• It's worth visiting
• I met some great people and that meant I had a great time
• Oktoberfest isn't just about getting drunk, there were lots of families there and as long as you stay out of the tents, you don't see any drinking

I was told it was good luck to grab the boob

Don't do anything of these things! Especially not putting your hands in your pockets.

The view from the tower

Another view from the tower

My friend and I at the top of the tower

Proost!

The beer lady who served us on the first day

Outside the tents at Oktoberfest

The chair-o-plane ride

View from the Ferris Wheel

There is a castle in all that fog

The stacked rocks

I helped stack some rocks

Ride the unicorn

This horse looks so happy

A gnome statue in the park of weird statues

I don't always see giant cucumbers but when I do, I hug them

The big gold...ball...with a kid on top....thing (in Salzburg)

View from the gates to the castle in Salzburg

My friend and the Portuguese girl

The goats

Sarajevo Day 1 - 6

28 September - 3 October 2013

Day 1: Arriving on the bus
Crossing the border from Serbia to Bosnia was really easy, we didn't have to get out of the bus and pretty much cruised straight through. When you compare how far it looks between Skopje and Belgrade (~450km) with Belgrade and Sarajevo (~300km), the latter looks a lot shorter (and Google maps says it is too) but it still take forever. Over 8 hours if I remember correctly. The next challenge was the fact the bus dropped us at the bus stop that was a long way from the centre of town. Luckily there was a bunch of us there so two Brazilians and I split a taxi into town and it worked out nice and cheap.

I hadn't booked a hostel so I had a look around for one but without much luck; they were all either closed or terrible. I decided it was worth the walk up the hill to a hostel that I'd be told about and thankfully Haris Youth Hostel was indeed worth the walk. I can't sleep on buses so the first task after checking in was to have a nap.

Dinner
Haris, the guy who runs the hostel, put on a BBQ and beer night for everyone in the hostel. It was a great way to meet people who were staying there and because there were two people having birthdays, we all went out to town (like we needed an excuse). We started at an Irish bar that was ridiculously packed with people (and had indoor smoking *sad face*). After screaming to each other over a few pints, we went to another bar that was far less crowded. Can't really remember anything in particular about the night but I did wake up with a bunch of people's names written in pen on my arm; hopefully it helped me remember their names during the night.

No water
There's a gotcha in Sarajevo: they turn off the water at night. That means no showers, no drinking water and no flushing toilets.

Day 2: Breif sightseeing
The centre of town isn't very big so a group of four of us went for a walk around and saw a mosque and went through a small bazaar. We found the Sarajevska brewery, who also have a bar so we went in to try one of their beers; it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The other highlight of the day was the Kiwi lady, that I met in Ohrid, arrived at the hostel today :D

Day 3: Haris tour
Haris, the hostel owner, runs his own tours of the town and because the sights he shows you can't be easily accessed without a car, three of us signed up. The tour took us to:

• the Tunnel Museum where we saw a part of the tunnel that kept Sarajevo alive with smuggled supplies during the war. The museum had a video and a bunch of artifacts from the war. At the museum I learnt the war still isn't recognised as a "real war", only a civilian war and 8200 civilians were killed in Sarajevo and 250 thousand in Bosnia as a whole over the course of the war.
• the bob-sled track from the Olympics. Haris showed us how sound carries around the curve, like the whispering wall for those of you Adelaideians that have been there.
• a spot with great panoramas of the city but it was super foggy so we couldn't see anything
• the Holiday Inn where we could see patched up holes from artillery shells
• a cafe with amazing Burek
• a traditional Bosnian house. We were shown through most of the house and told about how the residents used to live. The house belonged to a well off family and it was massive.
• the spot where Franz Ferdinand was killed

It rained continuously for the whole day and it was pretty cold.  One of the girls wasn't prepared for it so after the tour we stopped at an op-shop to buy a jacket. We made our way back to the hostel to warm up but it was too late for me, I'd already started to get sick.

Day 4: Planning
Nothing much happened today. I spent the day organising the next stage of my trip: Oktoberfest!

Day 5: Killing time
I'd already seen most of the sights and it was raining so it was another lazy day to try and get over the cold before Oktoberfest. My kiwi friend and I went to town for lunch where we saw a kid, maybe 7, smoking. I also had a haircut and it ended up a bit shorter than I planned because of the language barrier.

Day 6: Off to Munich

It was an early start and Haris was kind enough to drop me off at the airport.

Thoughts about Sarajevo:

• It rained a lot while I was there
• Parts of it feel like any modern city but then you'll see things that remind you of just how recent the war was
• It's fairly cheap and there's some good stuff to see
• I had a good time because I met some cool people at the hostel

View from the hostel balcony

A cemetery that you walk past on the way to the hostel

At the brewery for a beer

The tunnel is made for short people

Panorama of the city

The tunnel

How badly Sarajevo was surrounded during the war

The spot where Franz Ferdinand was killed

The bob-sled track

...and again

A house covered with bullet holes

The courtyard of the traditional house

Pigeons in the main square

Got a photo taken while I had a friend to do it

Belgrade Day 1 - 4

25 - 28 September 2013

Day 1: Bus ride
The bus ride was actually quite pleasant. We did have to get out at the border but it was an easy check and I even had a bit of a sleep on the bus (rare for me). The bus arrived really early in the morning, it was still dark, and I was kicking myself for not taking the later bus so I could arrive when things were open. I busted out the map and headed off toward to hostel I had marked. I went past the zoo, although I didn't know it at the time, and I could hear roosters crowing because the sun was coming up. Definitely not something I'm used to hearing in the heart of a city.

Hostel
I arrived at the hostel, and it wasn't great so I won't mention the name. I booked in early and the guy said he'll just put me down as arriving for that night so I didn't have to pay for two night but he either stuffed it up or lied. I was worth it anyway to have a sleep and a shower.

Fort
There is a castle/fort right next to the hostel and it's kind of like a park so I went for a wander around it. It's a cool idea and lot's of other people agree because there were a lot of people around. The Slovenian guy I met in Skopje was coming on the later bus and I knew he was staying at the Sunrise Hostel so the afternoon's mission was to go find him. His hostel was much nicer than mine, although not as cheap but it was worth the extra. We made plans to go out for the night and because I had to go back to my hostel to change anyway, I decided to check out and move into this better hostel at the same time.

Rejected
We headed to a place that was recommended to us by the girl at the hostel but I got us rejected because there was a dress code and I was in thongs. Instead we went to a bar, had some beers and played some pinball. On the way back we stopped at a bakery type place where my friend ordered us a pljeskavica (hamburger) and a coconut bun thing. Both of them were really good; the Bulkans do some great meat. We weren't ready to end the night so we stopped at the bar next to our hostel and had a chat to some local girls who happened to be out for a birthday. One of the girls spoke fluent English but the other wasn't as proficient to the conversation swapped between Serbian and English to cater for all.

Day 2: Sightseeing
Today was a bit of an aimless sightseeing day. We started with going to see the birthday girl from the night before at her work, although it was super busy so we decided to try again later. We hopped on and off the train a few times, saw a student rally, walked through the main mall and went in search of a Big Z building that I was told about. We think we found it but it seemed to just be offices and not really what we expected (whatever that was). We also stopped at a church. On the way back we stopped in to see the birthday girl again and she gave us some free cake each, score! In the evening we had a few beers and played cards with the small handful of people in the hostel.

Day 3: Fort, again
A French guy from my hostel and I went out to see the fort and the zoo today. We looked at all the military equipment in the fort, climbed up the observation points and eventually made a whole lap around the place. We even got told off by security for walking on the walls.

Zoo
This zoo is the most depressing place on Earth! It was cheap to get it but all the animals were old and/or sick. None of the enclosures looked very nice and it wasn't like the animals were tortured but they just seemed neglected. My notes say I thought the place was like an animal retirement home. The only exception were the reptiles we seemed happy enough or at least not sad (do reptile have emotions?).

We helped a bird crack a nut open because he looked like he was having a hard time, saw some kangaroos of all things, fed an elephant (although we probably weren't meant to) and wondered why the aquarium in the zoo was selling aquarium supplies and sea grass. We finished the day with another burger (they're that good) and my notes tell me we went to a French place although I can't say I remember it.

Day 4: To Sarajevo
The bus ride was early so I bounded out of bed, hangover free and caught a bus without any hassle.

There is a pilot school

Some guns and tanks in the fort

More guns

More tanks

Panorama of tanks (I like tanks)

The coconut bun thing

The Slovenian, the Russian and the Frenchman

Got seagulls?

Moats in the fort

Looking back over the fort from the highest lookout point

Looking out at Belgrade from the lookout

Looking away from Belgrade from the lookout

A cannon that fires 30cm diameter shots

A tank

Another tank

Don't ride the bomb! I had to evade security for this shot

Can't remember what this is

Less gravity in the northern hemisphere 

A Lynx

Goat things

Raccoon

Feeding the elephant a biscuit

Feeding a peacock