Morocco

MOROCCO! WOW! A big difference from the calm and peaceful Europe. Travelling with Marie.

On our first day we got ourselves matching black Henna tattoos which apparently last for a month and which we were very proud of but later found out black henna is made of terrible chemicals which according to the Lonely Planet can cause blistering and severe allergic reactions - you will be happy to know that we were fine.

Drying off our awesome Henna tattoos

 Marie and I stayed in a nice Riad inside the city walls and unfortunately got a wee bit lost getting back that evening, the local street children thought our uselessness and insistence that we didn't need help (when we obv did) hilarious. This hilarity continued every night until we left as the children weren't afraid to remind us of our map-challengedness.

For the next day our wandering went something like this:
Got lost in the Djeena El Fna (central market), stopped for coffee, got more lost in the market, found a coffee shop, went and visited a tomb and queued for almost an hour to see boring green tiles, had lunch, did more shopping, had dinner in the main square while watching all the snake handlers/story tellers/Juice stalls and general craziness going on around us. LOVE IT.

A bustling stall in the main square

The next day we arranged for a taxi to take us to the nearby Atlas Mountains to visit some waterfalls and stopped off at about five fleecing stations before we even got to the waterfalls. The bracelet I bought there from a 'real Berber' has broken already but it was nice to leave the hustle of the city for a day.

"would you like to stop for a view?"  - NOW BUY SOMETHING!!!!
Fleecing Station Number 1

That evening shortly after dinner Marie got chatted up by a Frence Truck driver/ Jessie Metcalfe lookalike (and yes her fluent French helped give him her number)

On our last day Marie felt brave enough (some would say stupid enough) to wear a short skirt....needless to say along with her blonde hair I was offered 50 camels for her (apparently the going rate is 20 - well done Marie.

The only downer to our trip was learning that the restaurant whose helpful staff had helped to scare off some drugged up local intrigued with our skimpy clothes was blown up in a political statement the day we left.

Warsaw

Krakow to Warsaw for the last city on the european part of my travels. This city was really badly damaged during the was so the old town is mostly reconstructed and in all honestly not quite so nice as the one in Krakow.

Here I mostly walked around the old town and enjoyed dumplings and waffles on an hourly basis. It was a nice sunny day so I also took the time to walk the Royal Parks route through to the town.

Krakow

I was off to Krakow unfortunately I hadn't planned this part of the journey so well and it was a 10 hour  journey (actually it was 12 after the train went past Krakow because of line works) where I met up with Chris for the weekend.


Our hostel is in an amazing location just off the main square and there is a very cool Easter market here. I bought a donut looking/smelling thing with cranberry sauce which turned out to be cheese = my new favourite food.

Eating a Pretzel in the main square

First day we took the local bus to Auschwitz which was as somber as you would expect we missed the last bus home and had to walk to the train station for a slow journey back to town.

I want to take this opportunity to shout out to the asian girl on the Auschwitz tour who took photos of everything, including a photo giving the thumbs up in front of the 'death wall' WHAT WAS SHE THINKING!!!

Second day we hung round the main square, main castle and generally ate our way around Krakow, beautiful city made for just chilling out and drinking beer in the evenings.

Anyone else agree that the Ginger Monkey Hostel logo has an uncanny resemblance to Chris....

BUDA & PEST

*Sigh* definitely a recommended city. This place is crazy! Maybe I am wrong but It feels like this city is reasonably new to tourists here and you see the basic street scams involving foreign exchange and an advertised tourist district which is about 10 times more expensive than where the locals go.

This place was invaded by the Turks like a gazzilion years ago and so it has Turkish baths and underground caves created by hot springs. I went caving my first evening which was super cool although at the start of the trip we had to take two local buses, sign a waiver to say we wouldn't sue the tour company should we get hurt and then put ALL our valuables into a plastic bag for safe keepimg....anyone else thinks this sounds dodgy?

That night I went back to the 64 bed hostel to find no receptionist and one other hosteller there. Did anyone know that there were some really scary movies about hostels made in Budapest? It was all right though, no monsters/Bed Bugs and this way I have 24 beds to myself!

The last day I wandered around the Jewish district. This was a ghetto during the second world war and all the buildings are practically ruins but there has recently been a move to save them from destruction and inside the dodgiest looking places and alleyways are ruin bars (and nice restaurants). We went to Szimplar and a couple others WOW
Entrance to Szimplar bar:

 A Hungarian invention.... you buy a lock with your current flame and lock it onto this tree/fence then throw the key in the river and your love will last forever...particularly liked the combination locks (just in case i guess)

Another night with only 3 people in the hostel and off to Krakow

Vienna

Sigh. This place I love. The Capital of Austria...Vienna. The home of the Hapsburgs there are some amazing buildings in this town and for the first time on this trip too much to see and do in the 4 days I have here.

Luckily I am staying in a busier hostel and managed to meet some new Brazilian friends so on the Saturday we went to an Austrian Beerhouse to meet some locals. The place was full of bar games, I had to move away from the fooseball table after being told that I was cramping the players elbow space...there was also a LOT of rage whenever the opposition scored so best I moved onto the 'Hammer game' where you take it in turns to use the back of the hammer to put a nail in a block of wood....money making gold mine, I think so.

Here is a photo of the museum quarter and of course the obligatory horse drawn carriages for those tourists who aren't travelling on such a tight budget:

I took a day trip to Bratislava and visited the castle plus took a photo of this cool statue in the old town.

The thing I loved most about Vienna? all the coffee shops :-)

Salzburg

On the train from the principality of Liechtenstein to Salzburg the home of the Von Trapp family and the Capuchin monks (they tell me the Cappuccino was named after these monks because they dress in Cappuccino colours - I assume they will look something like this).

There is an Old town. A Castle. Helbrunn palace with trick fountains i.e. a picnic table that sprays water at all still sitting down should one person decide to stand up and a Stags head fountain which is a motion sensor and gets you when walking past! the wealthy Archbishop princes sure new how to party huh.
The Royal yellow coloured Helbrunn palace:

Staying in a church...there is a Crown plaza bath mat...Holiday inn soaps and weirdly hot and cold water taps above the toilet?

Along with the sound of music this is where Mozart is from. You can visit his birth place, his family home, his favourite pub, his favourite park, his favourite restaurant, eat Mozart chocolate, buy Mozart Jewellry etc. etc. If there is one thing Salzburg knows how to do its to capitalise on merchandise! Turns out Mozart didn't really like Salzburg and went to Vienna for most of his adult life.Off to Vienna next.

Oh and Christian Doppler was also born here but he just got a plaque on the wall:

Principality of Liechtenstein

Yes. You could say this was a tick off the list on my way to Austria....learnt some good pub quiz facts e.g. Liechtenstein is the 6th smallest country in the world and the largest exporter of dentures.

Here is a quick pictoral tour of Liechtenstein for those of you not willing to spend a night in the middle of nowhere for a passport stamp.
1. Got a passport stamp and postcard stamps from the tourist shop in the capital Vaduz

2. Saw the Principality aka the castle

3. Went alpine walking and got lost with an inappropriately large city map

Switzerland

Why do I always think the earliest flight is a smart way to save money when booking? 3 hours sleep, a night bus and gatwick express + flight later and it really doesn't seem worth it!

Anyway, landed in Zurich this morning. Had a tour around the old city which is beautiful. Have a couple of unanswered questions though:
- Why do the souvenir shops sell cutlery and William and Kate engagement tea sets?
- What language is actually spoken here? I get Ciao, Merci, Guten (something) seriously pick a language so I can attempt to fit in a little bit.
and...... why is the German lady telling me about her problems getting a passport from the Swiss embassy in Argentina and the need for her to be in Zurich a week before heading to Geneva where getting a Swiss passport wont be a problem?

Planning

Work has finished, my final day was yesterday, I arrived to find a huge banner and lots of balloons tied to my desk (Thanks Rosh). People kept wishing me happy birthday, AWKWARD.

Now comes the planning. April = Central Europe. May = Sth America is as far as I have got. Just need to finalise the details, pack my bags and cram in some UK sightseeing.

Today I went and climbed the dome at St Pauls Cathedral approx 600 steps to the top and a sunny day to view London. There are actually two domes the inner one made of concrete and the outer one made of wood and placed on top to make it look a much more impressive sight on the skyline.