A whirlwind of countries in five days

Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia! 

Day 1: We went hiking to this beautiful castle, that I climbed :) 

Bridge to and from the castle

A real castle in česky krumlov (there was at least 13 bear skins, oh joy.)

Cara-sel :) 

our summer ballroom

vienna! 

Vienna

I climbed things in every country!

Vienna

Vienna was one of my favorite european cities and I wish I'd had more time there! The weather was nice and the city was beautiful! We found a park to hang out in, and chilled for some time before having to go back to meet the group. There was also a random bicycle parade? Not really sure what it was but there was hundreds and hundreds of people dressed funny, or scantily clad. 

Budapest

Budapest

View of Slovakia

Bratislava, Slovakia

Each square made a different note, so of course I had to play on it and make songs :P 

I had my scarf like that because it was raining. 

You are never too old to play

Climbing a castle in Slovakia

I think this makes me queen of the castle, right?

this was the easiest of my castle climbing (notice the rail) :P

our 5 day trip was a whirlwind! I wish I had my own camera but at least my friends didn't mind taking some for me! :) 

I had a ton of fun on this trip and hope to see these cities again!

Good riddance Greece

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I like to do my blogs in chronological order and I really didn't want to write about greece. This is my negative grouchy traveler blog.
Greece. here it goes.

I arrived in greece, found the right bus, and the metro and my hostel! So far so good! It definitely was not as warm as I had hoped though. My hostel was super cheap so it wasn't in the best neighborhood (I did research later and supposedly there was brothels around there... never saw any weird/sketchy people though).
The next day (so day one in athens) I went around and was giving my self a tour of all the places: tomb of the unknown soldier, the olympic stadium, royal gardens, some archeological sights and the acropolis. It was cool, kind of boring since I was alone. After seeing the acropolis, I was making my was down through the lush green park and as I passed an opening in the trees, there was a man watching me, I passed him and he started following me, so I walk over to a bench and sit down (my grandparents & mom are always really worried about eastern europe and always tell me to be really careful because they think im going to get kidnapped and sold as a sex slave).  That is what's going through my head. It is broad daylight though so I figure I'm safe as long as this creepo isn't following me. He keeps looking back as he passes me, so I'm pretty creeped out by now. All of a sudden I hear a branch crack behind me and he is behind me. As I'm turning around to see where the noise came from, he grabs my purse (which is under my jacket and over my shoulder, it's also really tiny, so im not quite sure what he thought would be in it...) and takes off running up the hill (through all the trees and grass up to my waist) and (not sure what I was thinking) take off after him, screaming and yelling, sprinting up hill, of course I lose him. I'm thinking he just layed down in the grass haha
Fortunately someone heard me screaming and (really fortunately) was a translator, so he spoke perfect greek and english! he helped me talk to the police officers (the police system in greece is severely corrupt. and there are so many branches of it. only certain officers can tell people what to do, only certain officers can help with crime, only certain officers can do this and that.) so after waiting for like an hour for the police that CAN help, we leave and he walks me to my friend's hostel. I have no money, no ATM card, no ID, no nothing on me, so I have no way to get back to my hostel on the metro and it's across town. I'm standing in the lobby still really shaken up, and this guy who heard my tell my story presses 50 euros into my hand with only a "God granted some people to be successful." Thanks to him I was able to get back to my hostel, and call home.

That was day one.

Every site in greece is free if you have a student ID, which I now didn't have. So my activities were severely limited due to that and the money issue.

Greece was cold. REALLY WINDY. So much so I felt like I'd be blown away (yes that windy). and it was Dirty.. Trash lined the streets.

I did not have a good time in greece except for the last day and a half, I hung out with a couple friends that had been island hopping and were now back. We went through the markets, bought some worry beads and explored a bit. It was nice not to be alone. I also got to see a parade, it was Greece's independence day from the Turks and there was a huge military parade going on. It was kinda cool i guess.

The last day I'm there I talk to the hostel receptionist and make sure I can get to the airport on time, I"d have to take a taxi because the metro wont be open, which is fine as long as I get there. I have to leave my hostel at 3:30am. I set alarms every 5 minutes from 2:45 to 3:15. I'm all packed and ready.
Unfortunately my iPod didnt catch the time change. i dont know how... the only reason I knew what time it really was is because when I checked out of my hostel I noticed the time. the metro now was open so I took that, thinking it'd be pretty fast. I arrived at the airport at 6. my flight left at 6:20 without me on it.

Can i sue apple? :P
I guess I need to invest in a different alarm clock?

so here I am stuck at the airport. thinking I'd be stuck in this hellhole of a country for ever.
I had the money to buy a new ticket. just no debit card. stupid asshole who robbed me.
eventually I was able to call my parents and get a new flight home to prague.

thank god.

I'll never go back to that dirty, corrupt, thieving, bankrupt country.

I hated greece.
I still hate greece.

(okay I'm done ranting and that is my first and last negative blog! promise)

Life's a beach in Bilbao

     Rush. Rush. Rush. Hurry, hurry! I still needed to print out my boarding pass and needed to be at the airport in two hours and it takes an hour to get there. I got to the airport five minutes prior to boarding, then we sat. Sat and waited. I watched 20 airplanes land and take off before we took off, such a hurry for nothing! I fell asleep on the plane :) such a nice little nap until the loudest czech people I’ve ever heard were in the row behind me. They were yelling and laughing the entire three hours plane ride! I thought I was going to die from the headache I had. 

Looking out the window of the plane I saw nothing but fog, thick fog. So thick it appeared as though the plane was not moving. The weather was so bad we couldn’t land so we circled for about 45 minutes before landing. Rain in Spain? Say whaaat? The first view I got of Madrid I thought, wow this looks like a rural prague, but really green! And everyone has swimming pools in their yards hahah. After disembarking from the plane, I unsuccessfully navigated the airport to the salida or “way out.” I finally see some bus signs and see a ticket booth outside. The ticket seller spoke only spanish and all my spanish knowledge has been replaced with czech, desperately trying to get the right ticket and trying to be understood I manage to squeak out a prosim before realizing the correct word would be por favor, grab my ticket and go find my bus. After finding the right bus and the right number, I just had to make sure I got off at the right stop.
My stop was a huge bus station where the local and the national busses convened, armed with directions from my friend to “find an ALSA bus,” I stepped off the airport bus and saw how lucky I was that there was plenty of ALSA busses (insert sarcasm here.) 

(I am so late for my 8 pm bus to Bilbao!! It is 8:07…) I wander the station up and down a few times and have definitely missed the only bus until 10 pm, so I take my time inspecting each bus stop to see if it will be going to Bilbao, (of course I have no idea,) and begin asking hablas ingles? One woman replied,  “no speaky english, only speaky espanol.” Another tried to help by yelling HABLAS INGLES a few times around the bus station. No one. Just my luck. 
     I finally asked a group of bus drivers “Bilbao?” they point to the left an up, I wander over in the direction they pointed and see some stairs, and at the top, Hallelujah! An information desk!! Trying my new method I ask “Bilbao?” the woman points. I go in the direction and see an ALSA ticket booth and by using my tried and true method, “Bilbao?” I now have a one way ticket to Bilbao in about an hr and a half…. 

  So  I wander the bus station, up and down, up and down. A couple clothes shops, a souvenir shop and a candy shop. I find a pay phone and try to call my friend to tell her I’ll be late, unfortunately all the directions are in spanish and I manage to waste a few euros. I then wander to find my bus to Bilbao, just so I know where to find it when the time comes. I find bus number 1 to Bilbao in station 32. Easy peasy. Now to wait. 

After getting fed up waiting I decide to venture over to the intercafe bar, hoping to find cheap beer and wifi. There is neither, however I do find some sort of sandwich on a small round rholik type bead with tons of mayo, (sort of like the crocodile sandwiches,) some tuna, tomato lettuce and what I believe to be egg.. Yum? A canned san miguel (cervesa!) which only adds to my headache rather than relieving it as I had hoped. I wonder how long the bus ride to Bilbao will be and if they sell drinks on the bus… 

After boarding and getting settled I figure out that there are assigned seats so I ask someone (who of course doesn’t speak english.) I show them my ticket and gesture in a sitting motion. I have to sit in seat number 2. I thank him and he replies with “de nada hombre” I find my seat and the bus takes off. It is a long ride. LONG. A few hours in we make a half hr pit stop and a couple hours after we are in Bilbao! Finally! I find a pay phone and call my friend. She must be sleeping. I wander till I find the metro.


Closed till 6 am...

3+ hours to wait.. More waiting. I find a taxi and ask how much to her place: as much as it cost to get halfway across Spain just to get across the city. I decide napping and waiting at the bus station till 6 am isn’t that bad after all. 

The view from Natalie's flat

Pig legs in every store

Life's a beach :) I'm just playin in the sand

There were many cool machines like this, it was like a park!

The Guggenheim 

Evening view from Natalie's flat

Carnival, yay

The aftermath of carnival

We hung out here for a bit and watched the waves crash lightly on both sides

Climbed this, yay adventures

Scaled that, whhhooooooppp

 MADRID:

Retiro Park

The Royal Palace

Spain is one of my favorite places in Europe so far :) 

St. Patties

Getting lost on a two and a half hour jog isn’t usually part of my ideal day. However, today the sun was shining, I had layered efficiently and I kept stumbling across interesting places. There were some beautiful swans, who actually looked like this

Awe :) aren't they cute?

While on my jog I thought I saw someone I knew, it stopped me dead in my tracks and I almost called out their name before realizing they were halfway across the world! Later when I was headed in a direction I hoped was home, I saw them again!! The resemblance was uncanny! 

Guess I miss my friends and family more than I say!! I miss you guys!!! and hope all of you had a wonderful St. Patties day! I had some green beer and got painted at a club we went to :) Overall a great day!! 

Masopust v Moravia s moc víno

The title translated is Mardi gras (or meat party), Moravia with more/much wine

Moravia is the other part of the Czech Republic, there is Bohemia and Moravia, Bohemia is the more populated city area (i.e. Prague.) We went to Masopust which is like mardi gras, translated I think it means meat party, or something like that. 

Pig killing festival

Yes, this is pig blood soup. 

We went wine tasting a couple times that day, which resulted in lots and lots of fun

Such a quaint small town

Yay wine tasting

After our first wine tasting, right before our "sober walk" as Geiger called it

Geiger (one of the program guides) took us to this beautiful park after our first wine tasting, before our second wine tasting, he called it our "Sober Walk"

Second wine tasting was a lot of fun, really enjoyed the late harvest wines and the other wines. I'd have to say rose wine is now my favorite. 

Cheers!