After an earlier attempt at visiting the worlds oldest republic, Amy from Melbourne and myself took the €9, 1hr bus ride up the hill to check out San Marino. It was the Monday after the Misano MotoGP, so Amy was looking for riders to stalk. I had my camera ready just in case, but we didn’t recognize anyone. Being a republic, San Marino is a tax free city state with shops selling alcohol, perfume, Guns and weapons, high end fashion, €1000 pens, large jars of nutella and alcoholic icy poles. Cool. We walked around for the day but realised a little research would have been good, as there are plenty of things to do and see but we were too late in the day.
San Marino old town is a maze of hilly cobblestoned laneways with churches and old buildings spanning the top of the mountain. It’s a gorgeous walk with lots of photo opportunities. Food and drink can be a little on the expensive side, but like anywhere, you have to pick the right shops. Statues and gardens are kept in top shape and everything is neat and tidy. It’s a great day trip, or even a night or 2 in one of the many hotels if you could afford it.
11-20 September
Rimini, the summer holiday destination for Europeans, especially Italians, has over 9 miles of beaches with hotels running the length of the beach. Each hotel “owns” the patch of sand in front of it and hires out deck chairs & umbrellas to cashed up tourists, an umbrella and chair costs around €17 - €21 a day. They hire out all types of watercraft and there’s lifeguards on duty daily. A small patch of sand, adjacent to the pier is the “free” beach for people who believe it is ridiculous pay for sitting on sand and soaking up the sun. This is where myself, and my backpacking friends, enjoyed what the Adriatic coast has to offer. After researching Bologna and not being able to find adequate accommodation, I decided to head to Rimini early and relax before the Misano round of the MotoGP. I arrived Tuesday September 11 from Milan by train, which cost €19 from Milan to Bologna & Bologna to Rimini only €13.50. Sunflower City Hostel is where I stayed and it was fantastic. Apart from the shower flooding (apparently due to too much sand) I didn’t have any problems. The hostel staff were great, the dorms had good ventilation and plenty of space, the kitchen was well equipped and there was a pretty good common area to meet people. I would go back here to party in the summer months, but it’s a pretty quiet place otherwise. The Tuesday I arrived I was told there were only 13 people staying in the hostel, so there wasn’t much happening. It filled up by the weekend. I met lots of cool people at the hostel from all over the world; The UK, Ireland, Poland, Australia, USA, Spain, Germany, Belarus, Austria, Italy, France, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. It was fun to chat with so many nationalities. On the Wednesday Sian from The UK, Agnieszka from Poland and I went and made use of the “free” beach. It was around 25-30°, the water was clear and felt like a bath. This was my first swim in Europe! We chilled on the beach till late afternoon and made our way back to the hostel. Wednesday nights are Pub Crawl nights and there were around 10 of us from our hostel who went including 8 women, a 35yo Italian bloke who didn’t speak very good English and me. It was fun. On Thursday sometime after lunch we decided to check out San Marino, the worlds oldest Republic… in the rain. This was the worst decision of the year as San Marino is hilly, high up on a mountain, and is known for the beautiful views. I hold Sian and Aga fully responsible, as I was clearly not in a state to make decisions (after the pub crawl). It was a waste of a €9 bus ticket, although we did have a laugh at lunch, and stole Gelato spoons. Friday was Free practice for the Aperol di San Marino e Riviera di Rimini. I met Amy, a fellow Melbournian, the night before and she was also in town for the GP. We took the train to Misano Adriatico station and walked to the ticket office, around 1km from the station. Once Amy had her ticket we found out there was no bus to the circuit, so we shared a taxi with a QLD couple (who wouldn’t let us pay… thanks guys). The track was wet and the riders on track were very few & far between. In the MotoGP category only 13 out of the 20 riders took to the track. Most Prototypes didn’t bother as the track was too damp for slicks but too dry for wet tyres. As is the case in Malaysia, on Fridays a weekend ticket holder can sit on most grandstands around the circuit, regardless of the ticket type. We made the most of this and checked out all stands between turns 8 & 16. We took some photos and had a look around the track. From the main straight to turn 7 were off limits for us, but we saw enough as it was. Amy has a habit of hiccupping daily. Every day she would come out with at least one… Hilarious. Friday night we went out and partied until the early hours with our group of 8 women and me! Haha Saturday qualifying was great! The track had dried out and the guys were making up for lost time on Friday. Dani ended up on pole just 0.018 of a second in front of Jorge. The General admission seating areas were split into 2 sections, Prato1 & Prato 2. I had a ticket to Prato 2, but was stoked when I could get into Prato 1. The view was so much better, although we didn’t have a screen. We could see the starting grid, from turns 7 to 12, turns 15 to 16 and back onto the start/finish straight. As the GP bikes came out of turn 12 and into 13 they dropped 3 gears in less than one second… It was an amazing sound!! Since Amy had a grandstand ticket, on Saturday afternoon I met Kerry, Mike & Colin from Liverpool. Colin is Kerry and Mike’s dad and they go to Silverstone & one other MotoGP European round each year. They saved me from chilling out by myself and were proud of the contribution I made to the empty beer can pile on the Sunday! Kerry is a Jorge fan and pays €40 per year to be part of the official fan club, which includes a T-shirt, hat, key ring, poster, stickers, a personal thank you letter from Jorge and an invitation for a dinner (in Spain) once a year where you can meet him. She’s been to the dinner a couple of times and loves it. Valentino is Mike’s main man and €40 gets him a shirt, cap, watch and an official membership card. Once a year in Tuvulia they have a party, but he said it’s impossible to meet Valentino Rossi himself. If Casey had a fan club I’d be in it for sure!! Race day we arrived at the track early and I found the guys from Liverpool just after Moto3 warm up. Beer was on the menu from around 11 and we had a great day! Both Moto3 and Moto2 races were very entertaining. Mark Marquez beat Espargaro to the line by 0.359 of a second in the Moto2 race and one second separated the top 4 riders in Moto3. Karal Abraham’s problematic season didn’t disappoint at Misano, as he’s clutch refused to work on the grid. Once the red lights went on, he had a clutch problem & put up he’s hand, this led to chaos. Instead of the red lights going out as normal, flashing amber lights bracketed the red lights and yellow flags were waved. This caused a mass confusion, as the riders hadn’t a clue what to do. For the full story click HERE. In the second start Pedrosa had to start from the back of the grid because of a problem with he’s tyre warmer, and on he’s way back through the field, he was taken out by Hector Barbara on the first lap. Lorenzo won the race comfortably with a surprising Valentino in 2nd and Alvaro Bautista in 3rd. It was great to see Rossi come 2nd and the crowd were ecstatic!! Great for them. On Monday Amy and I went to San Marino… see other Blog. Tuesday and Wednesday were just chill out days. I slept, walked around the old town and took photos. We had dinner out a couple of times, ate pizza more than we should have, drank most nights and just chilled in the hostel. They were a great bunch to hang out with and we were all sad to say goodbye. I’ve planned to visit a few of them in my travels through Europe. Wednesday afternoon I booked my train rides to Munich. It cost around €150 and took around 18 hours with all stops.
Below: The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. We sat on turn 11 Curvone. Me with Karleigh, Kerry & Blair. Oktoberfest 2012 Wake up: Done. Drink water: …in progress. Check facebook for updates: Done. Have shower, eat food and proceed to live the day: Easier said than done. 9:56AM Wednesday 26 September 2012 Sitting here in the tent and listening to people around me fight their hangover/still drunken state, is making me feel better. It’s a little warmer in the tent and (sip of water) having a shower is a mission here. The shower block’s a basic shipping container with showers lining the walls, water all over the floor and not enough space to leave your dry clothes. I’ve spent the last hour wondering how important it is to shower this morning, while sitting on the floor of my tent. Memories of the past week of Oktoberfest madness have been circling around my head, and I was wondering how I’m going to remember all the cool people I’ve met, so I decided to write. So far this last week has been broken up into 2 groups of ppl. The first Oktoberfest experience was a day out with Lisa and her 2 German friends Sonia and Ilorna. They are sisters. And a couple of other Aussie girls and a kiwi dude Patrick. But my favorite Oktoberfest experience was with the American girls and John. We were staying at the same campsite and partied together at the festival. Nicole (Shirt off, it’s getting hotter in the tent), Izzy, John and Ashley from Connecticut, are on a 2-month Euro trip. Kate Hudson, or Karleigh as she disguised herself as, Blair and Kerry had been travelling Europe and Oktoberfest was their last hoorah. They call California home. We had a great time and we called it our Oktoberfest Family. They all invited me to come and stay with them when I’m in the states, which I’ll happily take them up on. We went to 2 tents I think, I can’t really remember. The first one was a large looking retirement home with the odd retiree enjoying a nice quiet beer. A Stein cost €9.20, but in true Oktoberfest tradition each beer is paid for with a tip, so each beer cost €10. We had one beer with the oldies and I’m sure our table was the life of the place. There were 7 excited American girls trying to talk over each other and John and I. Once we had our first beer we left for a livelier tent. Hofbräu or HB was the second tent and this is where we had all the fun we don’t remember. We sat outside for a while and when it rained we stood inside. The lovely beer maids still brought us beer (people say they won’t serve you beer unless you have a seat) and we laughed with lots of random people. Lunch was served at 4:44 (Thanks digital photo files) and I think we left around 6. It’s time for a shower now I’ve got past that “hangover feeling”. 10:36AM and I’m off to shower and Drink beer long into the night. 7-11 September 2012
I arrived in Milan on a Friday afternoon during fashion week. The Metro here is great; it has 3 coloured lines and is easy to find your way around. A day ticket is €4.50. I had 5 hours to look around before Daniela finished work and she was to pick me up. I met Daniela 10 years ago when she was an exchange student at my high school. We got on great and kept in touch over the years. She was married at the start of September to Marcello & had just got back from her honeymoon before I arrived. Sorry Daniela and Marcello. ;) For a couple of hours I looked around Duomo Square and took some photos. I checked out the Ferrari shop and display set up for the Monza F1’s, there was also all the large fashion brands. In one shop display window there was both a male and female model using the window as a mirror and they were changing outfits. It was really cool and had the crowd taking photos. I was tired so looked up the closest park on the map and took the metro. I had a great sleep for a couple of hours on the grass. I used my sleeping mat for the first time & it was quite comfortable. When I returned to Duomo I discovered not all McDonalds have Wi-Fi and when they do it is “law” to have an Italian phone number to use it. After lots of tiring searching (I had all my bags) I finally found a restaurant, which had Wi-Fi. I ordered a beer and got into contact with Daniela. She had tried calling earlier but my phone wasn’t working because I can’t buy credit. Marcello and Daniela picked me up from Zara subway station. They have a great apartment close to the center of Milan. I had a shower, relaxed and at around 9 we went out to dinner. Uharba was awesome! We met up with one of Marcello’s Best Men (he had 2) from the wedding and he’s girlfriend. They were fun and spoke English pretty well. Uharba is an Osteria & the cuisine is Genovese (a town in Italy). We ate some fantastic dishes and drank lovely red wine. The food included nice pasta, Octopus, bread, vegetable dishes and a Fish dish. After dinner we went into the restaurant’s backyard and played a few games of Bocce. The teams were guys against girls and the guys won each time thanks to Marcello. Everyone was amazed I knew what Bocce was and that the Old Italian men played it in Australia. Although it was fun & we had a laugh playing it, they all assured me it was only for old men. Haha Saturday morning was time for Monza! Marcello took me to the track on the back of he’s Honda Hornet 900. It was cool to be back on a bike, even if I didn’t ride myself. Monza is a large park with 2 circuits. The first is the old oval Autodrome, which has a 30° banking on the 2 corners. It hasn’t been used for a long time & it is very dangerous. A lot of people have died on this track. I went to have a look and there are security watching it. The security fella let me jump onto the track and he took a photo. Grazie mate. The 2nd track is the one still used. Monza is the fastest circuit on the F1 calendar with the fastest average lap speed of around 250km/h. I paid €110 ($140) for a seat on stand 16 at Tribuna Ascari. I saw the cars slow from around 330kph to 200kph into a tight left hander, and they then accelerated into a sweeping right and left and onto another straight. When driving through the right into left the cars would drift a little and during the race on Sunday, Mark Webber spun out there around 3 laps from the end. This caused him to retire due to the large flat spots on he’s tires and, due the speed, too much shuddering. The grandstand was concrete and you could sit anywhere. The numbered seats weren’t really followed, although it was very full during qualifying. I missed my go pro camera here. It would have been great! The photos I did get show what it looks like. There was a Lamborghini cop car, which drove around the circuit. Yes, cops drive Lamborghinis in Italy!!! Beers were €6 although I didn’t drink. I didn’t feel like it by myself but if I had someone to drink with I would have. Sandwiches/focaccias/Panini’s and hot dogs were €6 also and I had a couple of these. The program was €10 and was a good read. I didn’t send it home because it’s very similar to the Melbourne program we bought in March. A ticket for Sunday was minimum €195, which was for general admission, which isn’t very good here as there are limited viewing options, Monza, is pretty flat. I watched the GP2 in the afternoon and they looked great. I walked around the circuit a little and watched them from various viewpoints. It’s a bit limited where you can watch from because trees surround the track. There was even a tree in the middle of our grandstand. I took the train back to the house and luckily the station in front of the house is on the Monza line. On Sunday I walked around Navigli and took some pictures. We then went and had Gelato at Grom in the afternoon with their friends. Grom is known as the best chain for Gelato in Italy. I think there are around 4 in Milan alone. It was amazing. The ice cream here really is the best!! Nutella was invented in Italy so there is always a hazelnut gelato!! YUM. Saturday and Sunday nights Daniela and Marcello invited friends for dinner. We had a great night each time. It was nice to entertain at home with friends; we don’t do it enough back in Australia. On Monday I cruised around the city again and checked out the Duomo and the castle. I slept in the park behind the castle and read a book. It was really relaxing. The weather in Milan was sunny and around 30° each day I was there. When I left it rained. It was good to hang out with Daniela and Marcello. They are lovely people and have great friends. I look forward to hosting them in Australia; I think they’ll enjoy the peninsula, although Daniela has already lived there for 4 months. They introduced me to gnocchi alla romana and olive ascolane. The gnocchi is a biscuit sized disc and is eaten on it’s own. Olive ascolane, which comes from Ascoli, is an olive with some meat & wrapped in a type of dough, then fried. They were both yum! We drank a Sardinian red wine called Cannonau, which I will have to check out once back in Australia. It was really nice!
Venice, Italy…
1-7 September 2012 Arriving in Italy was cool, as I was glad to visit a friend for the first time this trip. Gianluca and I met in Margaret River a couple of years ago. We became good mates and he invited me to come and visit in Italy! Gianluca works in a ticket office in Fusina on the mainland, which sells tickets for the boat to Venice. It runs every hour, on the hour between 8am and 10pm I think, and returns each half hour from Venice. 4 times I took the boat across while he was at work and each time he gave me a free ticket. Gianluca lives with he’s parents and they are very lovely. Paola and Fabio speak a little English, but we managed to understand each other pretty well. Italian and English words are similar, most of the time I can understand words. On the 2nd night Paula cooked a lovely meal of pesto pasta with crusty bread, salad, prosciutto patties and then Gelato. I was so full I nearly exploded. Ha. They don’t use cold pesto dip in Italy, it must be only in Oz. On my last night, Paola made a lovely tomato based tortellini for the entrée and for mains we ate cold chicken, a hot pea dish and kalamata olives. When I told Paola I want to try a chicken and mushroom risotto while in Italy, she said when I come back next time she’ll cook it for me! I can’t wait. Paola and Fabio also insisted I bring Mum and Dad here when they visit Europe. We are all welcome to come and stay with them. Venice is a fantastic maze!! The map I had didn’t show each street and canal, but gave me a general idea. On my first day in Venice I just wandered and followed the crowd. It was pretty fun. It’s hard to find cheap places to eat, but I managed. There are lots of photo opportunities, and it would have been more fun with a friend. While wandering around, only twice I came across a dead end in the laneways. Otherwise it’s a vast grid, which is connected by cobblestone laneways, canals & bridges. The café’s and restaurants prefer not to provide wifi. Only around one in 20 have it, and of those I had to find one with reasonable prices. It’s manageable but sometimes it’s just easier to sit down and pay extra for a coffee or red wine. Red wine is served chilled here, which I like because it’s been hot. On my last night at Gianluca’s house I bought a nice bottle of red and some German beers for everybody. Fabio put the bottle of red straight in to the freezer along with the beers. Italy is cool. The people so far have been really helpful and kind. Gianluca’s work mates are really nice and helped me out. The ice cream is amazing. I have never had such a lovely, tasty, smooth ice cream!! I didn’t know to expect this, so when I had one I was in heaven. I’ve since found out Italy is famous for their ice cream… I just thought they were famous for Ducati, Ferrari and Valentino Rossi! The coffee and pizza aren’t dissimilar from home; the Italians in Melbourne have already sorted that out. In total I spent 4 days and one night in Venice. Gianluca took he’s girlfriend Stephania & I for a drink on Sunday night and I took the boat during the days Gianluca went to work. I saw Venice while raining, first thing in the morning without all the tourists, at night and during the day. I enjoyed each time, although it can get very busy in the daytime. It was relatively warm while I was there, above 25° most of the time. When it rained I sought refuge in a café with Wi-Fi. It was great & once I cooled down I watched the crazy tourists walking/running around in the rain trying to see everything in one day. I found a really nice restaurant, Bar Da Sandro, on my 2nd last day in Venice. They had great local food and cheap drinks for Venice. I had some coffees here along with a small carafe of red wine one afternoon. The Wi-Fi connection was great and it was central. The San Marco area is the main tourist attraction in Venice. Here you can find the most expensive restaurants & all the big designer brands like LV, Versace, Omega watches, shops which sell just gloves that look expensive and all the main international brands which charge vast amounts of money for their name. I checked one menu and a champagne cocktail was €26… I ran. I avoided eating and drinking in San Marco when I could. The main attractions I visited in Venice were the bridge of sighs, Piaza San Marco (San Marco Square) and the Rialto Bridge. I was happy just walking around taking photos of the canals, Gondolas and streets. Gondola rides were €80 for 40 minutes so I didn’t bother to go for a ride. When mum and dad come over, maybe I’ll jump in with them!! ;) Gianluca took Stephania & I out for dinner a couple of times. We went to a chicken restaurant where they have free peanuts in a barrel at the entrance. You are welcome to eat as many as you want and throw the shells on the floor. It’s weird but fun. I couldn’t help but to leave the shells on the table on my placemat, but I did throw a few onto the floor for a laugh. He also took us to Jesolo. We had dinner at a lovely pizza restaurant and we took Stephania’s dog in with us. They let you take a dog to the dinner table!! Different. We all had pizza and a drink, it cost €43 or $54. After dinner we grabbed a beer from a bar and walked down to the beach. It was my first time at the Adriatic Sea. The beach was full of banana lounges and umbrellas like Bali, but there was more than Bali… lots more. From the path to the beach there were around 15-20 rows of seats. There were thousands along the beach. It was a cool place. Mazzini square was pretty busy, 10pm on a Wednesday night and there were still people with kids everywhere. Apparently it wasn’t even busy. Wow. It was a bit lonely walking around Venice day in day out by myself. I think in future I’ll get onto couch surfing to find people who will chill out in the city with me. I’m still not experiencing the spark which I know is there somewhere, I’m not sure it’s my medicine or if I’m still getting used to travelling solo. I felt really happy at the GP because that’s what I was in this part of Europe for and I really enjoyed hanging out with Brian from Ireland. Friday 7th september I took the train to Milan for €36. There was a dog in the corner of the train on a blanket. Europe is very dog friendly. My stay in Venice was great thanks to Gianluca and he’s family. Their hospitality was fantastic! I would love to have them come and stay in Melbourne and show them around.
A Postcard I wrote to Jen & Jeff: Ciao from Venice, Venice is lovely. I’ve got lost, ate pizza, drank coffee, drank cold red wine, got ripped off, got lost again, tripped over cobblestones, was angry at all the tourists, took too many photos and loved every minute. MY Facebook status September 3, 2012: “It’s raining in Venice... Sitting outside a cafe with a glass of Italian red wine listening to funky Italian music!! Different & cool! — at Bacarando Ai Corazzieri” 4pm 31.08.12 – 10:30am 01.09.12
The bus left Brno at 1:30pm on Friday. It took 2hrs and arrived in Vienna (or Wien in the local language…German) around 4:00PM. The long distance busses in Europe are great! They have all the luxuries and sometimes have wifi and a TV screen like on a plane. I then took 2 metro trains and walked 400m to the hostel. It had started raining now and didn’t stop until the morning. The hostel was really nice. Melike recommended it as she stayed there 2 nights a few weeks ago. It’s not far from the main international train station and the property is on par with the classy ones in Bratislava and Budapest. Hostel Ruthensteiner. I met a Turkish guy and 2 Aussie blokes from Sydney in my room and we went on a pub-crawl. It cost €15 (it included the first hour of unlimited local beer) and was pretty fun. We met lots of people from Austria and they spoke English pretty well. Beers were between €2-4 each. I was told this place was expensive??? I had 2 slices of pizza for €1 each for dinner. I woke up at 7:30, took the train to the correct station with 2 names. I didn’t know this so mistook it for another station and went back, spent too long going back looking for the right station and missed my train to Villach HBF. I had to re purchase a ticket €25 and wait an hour for the next leg of the journey. It turned out ok because I only lost 2 hours and €25, I really wanted to hang out with Gianluca on the weekend. After breakfast at the train station I went back and grabbed some snacks for the bus / train journey. I purchased a roll with cheese, lettuce and tomato, a half ciabata with pizza topping and a bottle of water cost me €6.70. At home that would have cost up to $15. I caught the train to Villach HBF and transferred to a bus, which took me to Venice, or Venezia as it is called in Italian. The bus took longer than first thought because of traffic but that’s ok. The busses and trains are really comfortable here. Vienna was a nice place and I enjoyed the 18 hours I was there. I would like to go back. See you soon Vienna! 21-31 August 2012
It’s Monday afternoon at the bar in hostel Blues in Bratislava and I’ve just purchased a €9 bus trip to Brno. I’m talking to the local Slovak girl behind the bar and an Aussie, Dave, across from me asks where I’m off to next. I say Brno and he says he’s going there tomorrow and he’d give me a lift. We commenced to drink beer until well after midnight, after meeting 2 German girls who were leaving in the morning also. I just paid €9 for a funny story. We left Hostel Blues at 3 minutes after checkout and drove the one-hour to Brno. The speed limit is 130km/h along freeways here and the roads aren’t as good as Australia’s. We stopped into a servo on the Slovakia side where fuel was €1.795/L or $2.184/L AUD. Not cheap compared to the rest of the country, no wonder they all drive small cars. At around midday we arrived in Brno, after a little detour thanks to the GPS. Dave’s friend Terezie from Czech showed us around for the afternoon. We went to the Spilberk castle; saw Petrov Church and she showed us some cool cafes. Terezie told us, the day before we arrived was the hottest day in Brno and Czech’s history, It hit 40°. It was a, not so hot, sunny afternoon to be introduced to Brno and Czech people. I went and had coffee with Terezie again a few days later, after she helped me at the police station. In the afternoon I got a Vodafone simcard for Europe & had a few beers and dinner. For my first night in Brno I had organized to couchsurf with Roxana from Romania. She didn’t get off work till 11 so she organized for a couch surfer to grab me for a beer. It was cool. I grabbed a tram and met her when she finished work. It was a good experience for my first couchsurf! We chatted about Romania and got to bed around 2. In the morning she cooked us an omelet and I left around 2. We caught up for beers at a bar on my last night in Brno as well. Wednesday I checked into Hostel Fleda and it was shit. After staying in fantastic hostels in Budapest and Bratislava this was a 100% downgrade. There were no lockers, the wifi didn’t work, there was no fan or aircon in the room, and the lights didn’t work down corridor. It was a shitty place, which put a damper on the mood. It’s a bar first then a hostel. But I met 2 cool German girls on the first night who I went to the caves with on the Thursday. Wednesday afternoon I messaged a Chilean couch surfer named Anibal and we met up for a drink. We ended up drinking at a brewery and ate some dinner there. One of he’s work colleagues from Czech joined us. They work in IT, as it seems most of the expat world does in Brno. AT&T is there along with IBM and some other smaller IT companies. It’s largely a student city as well but it was Uni holidays when I was there so we didn’t get to see the student bars/parties. It was a fun night and around 9pm I got back to the hostel. A short tram journey for 15 minutes is 20Kč or $1. I ended up not bothering to pay. It’s hard to find machines to buy tickets sometimes. Thursday morning we took the train north for around 20 minutes to the Moravia caves. Because the next bus running to our destination was 3 hours away we walked a part way and hitched the rest. The German girls tried to get a ride but as soon as I put my thumb up we had a lift… weird. The national park was nice and we probably walked around for over 3 hours. We saw some caves and nice scenery. I wouldn’t take anyone there. It wasn’t anything special but was nice to walk around in the forest. Friday I went to the MotoGP!!! I had that alive feeling at the bus stop and as the bus arrived at the track! It wasn’t busy, and it seems the gates are a lot bigger and more organized than Phillip Island. I never had to line up to get into the track. They don’t check bags so it’s a lot quicker. From the gate it was harder to work out where to go. The first thing you do when you arrive at any Gp, is purchase a program. It has all the information for the weekend: session times, maps: including where everything is, riders names and numbers, a little about the city and some fun facts. This is really helpful for the fans, unless the program is only in Czech and German. They wanted €8 for it and it wasn’t even in English??? As I spoke to more and more people over the weekend I wasn’t the only disappointed one. English is the universal language when travelling. Since I couldn’t rely on the program I tried to ask workers at the track how to get to the grassed areas to watch the bikes. They either didn’t speak English or said to leave through the gate and walk around into another gate. This was stupid as the track is massive and it would have taken over an hour. So I had another look around and found my way. The organization of the staff was even worse than Malaysia. I made it to C area (it took an hour to find it) and watched the MotoGP free practice 1. Hearing the bikes in full force again gave me shivers. It’s always such an amazing sound! All weekend I sat in C area, which they call Prirodni Tribune, or banked areas. They call this the stadium section. From where I sat I would hear the bikes turn right into turn 4 and take off down the hill to the double right of 5 & 6. All this time I couldn’t see them, but heard their gear changes and acceleration. I could see them mid turn 6 and change of direction into the long left-handed turn 7. The bikes were closest to me when exiting turn 7. Then they would shoot down to the 90° left handed turn 8 without changing up gears. Some CRT’s would change up and back down for 8. They would then exit 8 into a 110° right, turn 9. Once out of turn 9 the bikes head down to the bottom of the circuit at the right-hander turn 10. I lost sight of them exiting turn 8 and would see them exiting turn 9 and accelerating down towards 10. It was a fantastic spot to sit and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back there again. We had 2 screens to watch from where I sat, which was 100m from the entrance of Tribune C near the top of the hill. On the Sunday it wasn’t too crowded. People could walk up the hill to the bathrooms or toilets no problem. At the Aussie F1 GP in Melbourne it was more packed. All along the top of the hill had food, drink and merchandise stands. They had a Repsol Honda tent shaped like a bike with one type of Casey shirt and the rest Pedrosa or plain Repsol stuff. They had a couple of Repsol Honda bikes on show too…. Nice! There was a Ducati stand with Rossi & Hayden merchandise as well as Factory Yamaha with Lorenzo & Spies. Pedrosa had a stand along with Simmoncelli, Marquez, Tech 3, Abraham and the Brno Circuit merchandise. There was a Die cast model motorbike stand, Marlboro, Red Bull, Streets Ice cream and Lots and lots of beer tents. The food stalls had Burgers, hotdogs, sausages, Street’s ice creams & cigarettes. The Aussie GP’s have more variety. Beers were 50 Kč/$2.50 each at the stand or if you bought them from the girls carrying them around the crowd they cost 55 Kč!! Cheap as!! They sold them in 500ml plastic cups out of a keg! Great set up!!! Burgers were 65 Kč/$3.25 and hotdogs similar. On the Friday I didn’t meet anyone to hang out with. The hostel was useless to meet people and because it was Friday it was hard to meet any English-speaking people at the track. Lorenzo low-sided right in front of me in FP1 but it was such a slow fall it wouldn’t have hurt. He didn’t seem too pissed really. When he jumped the fence there was already a scooter there, which took him straight back to the pits. The bike stayed a little longer, although made it back before the end of the session. I wandered around the pit area for a bit, checked out the straight, Tribune F and the shops. It was a quiet day and I didn’t stay to watch the last Moto 2 Practice. When I got to the city I messaged Melike who also invited me to stay on Couchsurfing. She came into the center and met up with me. I had already been talking to an English couple and 2 Aussie guys who were in Europe for a wedding and decided to come to the race last minute. Beers in town were around 37Kč/just under $2. As always in Europe so far, beer is served in 500ml amounts. Melike and I went to a Couchsurfing meeting for expats in Brno later that night. I had a great time. We met people from all around the world. As I was walking into C are on Saturday morning I met Brian from Ireland. He had a Repsol Honda Doohan T-shirt on and a Stoner cap. I said I have the same shirt… Haha. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the weekend. He was camping 3km from the track. We drank large quantities of Beer together and voiced our opinions about Casey’s triumphs, Rossi’s “problems” and how Honda is the best bike in the World. We had some friendly arguments with some German and Dutch groups. It was really fun because he loves he’s bikes like me and just wanted to have a fun time! It was great!! The crowd was letting off fire works of all types, waving flares everywhere and blowing the horns, which seem to only be at the European rounds!! The bloke selling the horns wanted €9. I left it at that. On the Sunday I arrived around the start of the Moto 3 race. I grabbed some food and beers and found Brian who had reserved a spot since 8:30 with a German by the name of Andre. Andre had rode 600km on he’s bike to see the race. He prefers it rather than Sachsenring because it is a lot cheaper for the weekend and it’s a good ride over. We watched the Moto 3 race, which was won by a mile. Moto 2 race was great and a close battle with Marc Marquez and Thomas Lüthi. The MotoGP race was AWESOME. It starts at 2pm in Europe, unlike the Australian race which starts at 4pm. We’d had a few beers by this stage but not enough to be pissed. We grabbed some food and sat down for the Main Event!! The start was great and there were a few up front for the first laps. Rossi was 5th I think at one stage but was passed by the Honda’s of Bradl and Bautista. We cheered really loud when Rossi was passed! It was so fun!! When Dani overtook Lorenzo for the first time the crowd was pretty stoked. Lorenzo overtook Dani on the last lap right in front of us. It was electric. Gavin Emmett said on the radio there are normally 50,000 fans in this part of the track!! Dani passed Loronzo 2 turns from the end and won the race by 0.178 of a second. After the race Brian and I sat around for over 3 hrs on the hill and watched the Red Bull Rookies Cup while kicking back with beers. My bag was stolen when we were chatting with a German father and son. The Old man couldn’t speak English but understood most things. It was funny. Once we realized my bag wasn’t coming back we made our way to the Paddock Restaurant. The night before Brian met Loris Capirossi. We didn’t meet anyone famous but stayed on drinking and chatting. I left at 9pm and had to get a taxi home as the busses were finished. We were literally the last people there. It was really cool. I spent most of my time in Brno with Melike. She was fun & really nice and had spare time to hang out. She is from Turkey and studying Veterinary Medicine. When I checked out of my hostel she hosted me for 4 nights as well. She cooked some Turkish food and we went out for drinks together a few times. On the Sat and Sun nights Melike had 2 couch surfers. An Israeli guy was riding a pushbike around Europe for a month and a young Belgian bloke Nick who was hitchhiking around for a month. We went out for dinner and had drinks at the student accommodation where Melike was staying. The 2 Turkish girls Shuheda and Buse who we met at the Couchsurfing meeting also joined. They are lovely girls and are studying to be a chemical engineer and chemist. If it wasn’t for the GP there isn’t much to do in Brno for a tourist. It’s more a city for IT professionals and students. I wouldn’t go back.
14 - 21 August 2012
All I knew about Slovakia before I arrived was that it was considered Eastern Europe, therefore has Beautiful women and cheap beer. Both are true, although there is more to Bratislava. I arrived on Tuesday afternoon after finding my way to the hostel from the train station. Hostel Blues is awesome! It’s an old 6 or 7 story building which is done up inside and costs around €20 ($25AUD) a night in peak season. They have free wifi (which is really fast), a great kitchen/dining area, live blues music once a week and a really cool bar/common area which makes it easy to meet people & chat. The staff are lovely and I hope to see a couple of them in Oz someday. I would definitely stay here again! I went on a couple of bar crawls which were €13 each. This includes endless beer and wine for the first hour at a funky little underground rock bar, and 3 other bars with a shot on entry. They passed around a bottle of the local spirit at the last bar which is around 50% alcohol but I politely refused knowing dam well what would have happened… apparently it tastes a little like Gin. That was enough for me. I met people from all around the world on the first tour. It was pretty fun! After a failed attempt in Budapest I had another crack at meeting people on couchsurfing. This time I sent out a few messages to locals who looked cool to hang out with, no couch requests. A day later Vierka wrote back saying she’d love to show me around the city and take some photos. Also a Motogp fan, although a Rossi supporter, we had a lot in common and chatted non-stop. She took me around the old town part of the city and showed me the castle. Sunday night Vierka took me out in her car and we went up to the TV station tower. There are 2 restaurants and a bar in the tower. We went straight to the top for a coffee and watched the sun set over Slovakia, A pretty relaxing sight. We had a good chat and relaxed overlooking Bratislava. It was one of my favorite parts of this city! We went and checked out Slavin, which is a statue and monument area high above the city also. It’s built in commemoration of the soldiers who fought and died in the wars. I think it was for Russian soldiers but I’m not 100% sure. This couchsurfing thing is turning out to be alright! With photos in mind and a free tour running twice a day I headed to the 11am outing. Timmy who runs some of the tours is from Brisbane and has been living in Europe for the last 8 years. He studied something to do with Slovakian history and knows more about the city than the city itself!! The tour was fantastic and it gave me a new reason to visit cities across Europe. Instead of wandering aimlessly around a city with a camera, there are free tours (which ask for a well deserved tip) running in a lot of cities across Europe! I ate out most days and drank beers at night. Beers at the hostel were only €1.30 or $1.50 for a 500ml can. In a supermarket beers are between €0.50 and €1.20. The good and popular beers sell from €0.80. All beer cans here and what seems like Europe come in 500ml cans or bottles and are sold separately. It’s great for comparing prices. In Australia bottles are all different sizes, which makes it hard to look for value for money. Food was cheap: a slice of pizza the size of a small pizza at home costing €2. A local meal/entree of cream and garlic soup served in a loaf of homemade bread costs €2.80. I enjoyed Slovakia with the numerous ice cream shops, cobblestone streets, beautiful weather (30-40 degrees daily), cheap F&B, pretty girls and the friends I made.
MY first day in Europe!!
Budapest! After exiting the baggage claim area, and walking through the “non existent” customs I headed straight for the ATM… took out some Hungarian Forint and followed the directions from the hostel to find my accommodation. The buildings in the city here are great as they are built around a courtyard. There are shops in the bottom floor and accommodation on the levels above. These buildings are around 4-8 floors high. Njoy backpackers : http://www.njoybudapest.hu/ was awesome! The 2 bathrooms have a toilet, XL sink, shower, free towels, hand soap and hand towels. It was like living at home. My room had single beds, not bunks, which were king singles with lockers under the bed. We each had a table and plenty of space for our bags. I would definitely stay here again. After I showered, changed, unpacked and shopped I had some dinner and went online to relax. Budapest for me was a chillout. I spent a lot of time sleeping and relaxing at the hostel. After the full on family holiday in Bali (Thanks Jay), and the full moon party in Thailand, all I wanted to do was relax. On the 2nd day Nadine and Evelien from the Netherlands took me on a walk around the city. We explored the Citadella and a castle nearby. It was a great day of pictures and looking around. We ended at the market and cooked Mexican for dinner. YUM!! I can’t remember which night it was, but the owner of the hostel cooked a Hungarian favorite of Paprika Potatoes. It was delicious and filled me up very fast! I’ll have to have a crack at cooking this at home… I took a pic of the recipe. After a sleep in I went to buy shoes in the mall… I needed shoes to go out in. I paid $50 for a pair of diesel Shoes. It would have cost double in Australia …minimum. I went out one night with 2 German guys and ended up hanging out with 2 local girls. They were cool and taught me a little about Hungary and Budapest. The Sziget festival was awesome. The 2 dutch girls and I left the hostel around 2 to make it to the festival by 3. Blue skies and a hot sun greeted us! We scouted out the bar and bought a couple of drinks to kick start the day. The Subways (no idea who they are) were playing and then we went to see some Dutch band, which has been around for a few years. I met Mitchel, from Texas, at the burger stand and he ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the day. He’s cool and we had a good laugh. We had a couple of litre bottles of wine and soda, which rocked. They were an easy way to drink, as we didn’t have to keep buying beers. We met lots of random people and chatted to anyone and everyone. It was really cool. The festival was really well set up. They had lots of free activities… Sumo wrestling, plastic chicken totem tennis, 10 pin bowling, clay modeling, stilts to play on, bikes on stands which you could race, a ferris wheel (which we never saw) and lots of other fun things!! LMFAO started off a little boring but by the end they were Party Rocking!! It was a great show and they entertained the crowd well! I would see them again. We ended up getting a taxi home around 2:30… 1000HUF or $4.50 between 3 of us. Bargain!! On the day after the Sziget festival we all relaxed around the hostel. I think I watched a couple of movies and just cruised online… the hostel had free wifi. Budapest was a nice city, the people were reserved although once they decided to talk with you they were friendly. Cheers is pronounced: agire shi gedra (egészségére) …. How much effort!!! Thank you is pronounced: kirsonum (köszönöm) … a bit easier…. Haha $1 AUD = 240 Hungarian Forint. I made my way to Bratislava on a train because all the busses were booked out on the Tuesday. It cost $20 AUD. |
Intro:Spinning the Globe has been my dream ever since i was a kid, I've always wanted to travel to the places in the movies & where people had described in stories... I just wanted to go!! Archives
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