This post is Croatia to Vienna, so it'll be long...
Croatia is lovely, but really, it's kinda dull. It's expensive (min of around €40 a day), and while nice, it lacks anything really special to hook you. It's got nice, clean beaches in warm Mediterranean clear water; it's got walled cities and intact fortresses; it's got mountains; it's got somewhat interesting cultural things. But so do other countries around it that are much cheaper. Originally, I was going to spend a bit more time, but the cost really put a damper on that and I only stayed about 5 days.
I came into Dubrovnik via an overnight boat from Bari, Italy. In my last post I mentioned that I was attempting to skip Croatia, but that the trains were full up and I didn't want to stay in Bari cause it wasn't very nice. Dubrovnik is called the gem of Croatia (or something like that). That's because it is a UNESCO Heritage site due to it's immaculately preserved old town and the wall that surrounds it. It's also located in an island littered part of the Mediterranean that looks more like the islands near Stockholm than those of Greece, but still has that amazing Mediterranean waters. There aren't any advertised hostels on hostelworld.com, so I didn't think there were any and ended up going with one of the guys peddling their guesthouses at the port. Later, I found out that there was a hostel. Bummer.
I say bummer because this guy, Slav, ran his guesthouse like a hostel and a shitty one at that. In other words, he was a dick. He was stressed out of his mind all the time, zooming back and forth between the house and the port and bus station. If you were sitting around, he'd go out of his way to say hi and ask how you were doing, but it was awkward and came across contrived and uncomfortable, like he was watching you. The first night he put me in a tiny room with two single "beds". Mine was actually a converted chair. Then, in the morning he came in about 3 times around 8-9AM, asking me to move rooms. He tried to get me to move into a room with a couple, and I told him I wouldn't. So, he went about the house going into rooms, without knocking, trying to move me. Ultimately, I moved to a room with two Swedes. All this hassle and it was still €20 a night, and that was cheap!
The first day, I had no Kuna and had a bitch of a time finding an ATM. There are plenty, I just couldn't find any. I ended up walking all the way into the old town, which was about 90 mins away. I walked around the old town, which, to it's credit, is really really nice... and too expensive (double the normal price for anything). You can walk the wall, but it's 10 bucks so I didn't. Also, the town inside the wall is small enough that you can see literally the entire thing within two hours. So, I got bored and went back to the guest house.
The next day, I spent laying around in the sun and swimming, since that is pretty much the only other thing to do after seeing the walled town. That night I cooked in the guesthouse's "kitchen" and ended up talking with a guy from the UK, Jo, who was headed to Split the next day like me, so we decided to make the trip together.
The next day, there was a flurry of activity at the house cause that couple that I was supposed to move in with (Jo got moved in with them instead) left at 4AM for the airport and didn't pay for their last night, or maybe couple nights. Slav, was totally consumed with finding them and fucking them. He gives free transport to the bus station, but we were zooming around little detours while he looked for them and bitched about it to us. Jo, who was upfront with him, tried to change the conversation more than once, but it was a wasted effort. If the place I'm staying tries to do good by you than I'd have their back, but this guy was a dick and running a guesthouse, probably somewhat illegally, like a hostel, so I was glad that they bailed without paying him. Jo and I would've done the same thing if we could've gotten away with it. Luckily, there was no chance they were going to get caught since they caught a flight at 5AM and Slav hadn't started his search till about 8AM. He also had the nerve to try to enlist our help in convincing some people at the station to stay at his place. I told him I was in a hurry, but Jo's English gentleman wouldn't allow him to just walk away. He did get the message across with his eyes though not to go.
One interesting aspect of Croatia is that the buses leave not on time, but early; always. So, we missed our bus. The next bus broke down an hour out, but this was very fortuitous for Jo. It broke down next to a specialty cake place and Jo went to get some water. We don't really understand what happened, but Jo thinks she asked for €10. Jo had Kuna and gave her 20 Kuna, which is about $4 or €3. She then gave him 500 Kuna ($100) in change. We couldn't figure out any sort of reason mathematically why this was the change; it wouldn't even make sense if he gave her €100 or if she meant to give him 50 Kuna. Anyway, he didn't tell her. The next bus that came to get us didn't have enough seats to take our bus too, so people had to sit in the aisle for 3 hours.
There is pretty much nothing to say about Split. The old town (also walled) is doable in 15 min and there is a beach. Mostly, I made some friends, Dan from Zimbabwe/OZ, Brad from OZ, Lance and Paul from UK. The main highlight is that we went to the beach and drank and went out and drank - this is pretty much what makes up the majority of Ozzies time abroad. Oh, and Jo bought us some beers with his winnings from the cake lady.
On a recommendation from my dad (thanks pops) I decided to go to Plitvice Lakes NP. The bus is about 5 hours from Split so I didn't arrive till about 1PM and had no idea where I was since the bus stop is not at the town but the actual park and all you see is a bridge of the highway and a parking lot. I was hoping to not stay in the area cause it was expensive so as I walked towards where I thought the park was, I came across a hotel where I was able to get the bus info. There was one leaving at about 6PM, which was perfect. I was able to get cash for the bus and stow my bags at the hotel, which was really nice of them since I wasn't staying there.
The park fee is $20 (steep!), but that's mainly cause they include the use of a bus and boat ride in the price even though they are unnecessary. The lakes were definitely the highlight of my time in Croatia. I won't do justice to them in my description, but basically this is a enormous park with plenty of hiking and virgin forest. The "lakes" is a series of turquoise and emerald lakes that cascade via a ton of waterfalls into each other. You aren't supposed to swim, but I saw and subsequently joined some locals who were. Also, much of the trail is walkable without shoes :) I made a timing error in trusting that the little boat ride would get me back in time for the last bus to Zagreb. The boat only left every half hour and took about 20 min to get from one side to the other. Having missed the bus, I came across an info booth that I missed earlier in the day and asked them if there were any cheap places in the area; knowing that there were. The lady only made one, half hearted attempt to help, then ridiculed me for traveling alone, "it's better to have two people. There are few single rooms in the area and they full. If you have two, it's easier. You need friend or girlfriend with you. Why not". Thanks lady. I asked a bus driver of a tour company if they had room to take me with them, but they were full too. I ended up asking the lady to call the place back and see if they'd put me up for an additional €10. They agreed. The guesthouse was affiliated with a booth nearby selling cake-like things and some local blackberries. While I waited for an hour to get my ride to the guesthouse, I chatted a little with the guy running the booth. He gave me a cake thingy and berries for free and I learned that he was a plumber from Pula - a few hours away. He comes every year on his vacation time to help his mother with the booth and guesthouse.
After checking in and them knocking about $5 off the price, the guy drove me to a nearby restaurant at the bottom of a "ski" hill. It was the most reasonably priced meal I'd had in Croatia. The guy ate with me and we talked a bit more, but there wasn't a ton to talk about so it was a little awkward. I found myself stretching for things to say.
They took me to the bus stop the next day two hours early, so I read a bit and finished one of my books and the tourist info on the park. At one point I walked to the area where the booths were to hang out with that guy, but they hadn't set up yet. While I was there a teenage girl came jogging up to me and asked if I spoke English. I replied and she came back with, "well then, I'm happy to tell you that god loves you". It was odd, but at the same time it seemed perfectly natural. It was odd cause she didn't appear to be one of those people who hang around to tell everyone that will listen that. She seemed to purposely choose me only, then went on about her business of going to the park without any expectation that there should be more made of it. And, it seemed so natural, almost like I was telling myself it in my head. In the past I may have scoffed at her, but the feeling of the whole thing was that this was supposed to happen. I felt honored, and gave a sincere and big smile, "thank you very much". I was a bit charmed by the interaction and felt a compassion for this girl who went out of her way to speak English and tell a stranger this with no motive other than perhaps an intuition that she should. Anyhow, I never got to say goodbye to the dude I ate dinner with, and caught my bus to Zagreb and connecting train to Budapest.
Budapest seems a bit seedy, like I got offered sex the first night I got in while trying to find dinner, but for the most part it isn't. Just appearances. The city is split into two sections - Buda and Pest - which is split by the river. Each side is quite different. Buda side has a giant palace and the presidents house, where you can eat the fruit in his yard. My apple had a worm in it. There are many luxury baths (similar to Turkish baths) and the hillside is mainly made up of rich homes. Pest side is mainly 5 story buildings, some parks and baths, and museums and monuments and is spread out grid like. The Pest side has the feeling of left overs from the communist regime with the uniformity, slightly rundown, and grid features. It could be easy to get lost in without a good sense of direction. There is also a Jewish quarter where they have awesome bars called "ruin" bars. The story behind them is that the city was going to destroy the buildings and locals decided to preserve them and create really unique bohemian pubs, cafes, clubs and whatnot. They remind me a lot of Portland's really unique places, but on a much granduer scale or even further out there. One that I went to had cars that were cut in half to make tables and seats, old bathtubs for couches, hidden rooms everywhere, and five bars, and I'm not even doing it justice.
I got in to the city about 10:30PM, which as you know, I hate. The place I had hoped to stay was super hard to find because they had no advertising outside to let you know where it was. Luckily, a hotel let me use their wifi because they didn't know where it was (it was across the street). The place was full up, but they had a sister hostel that had rooms. The sister hostel wasn't that cool. Partly, cause it seemed to be run entirely by people staying there and poorly at that. I talked to the girl who checked me in the next day about a key card and some other stuff and she was like, "oh, you're staying here?" Plus, it was all kids and all they wanted to do was party (they weren't even good at it) and be self absorbed. By the time I finally got checked in it was about 12:30, so I went to bed. For the most part my days in Budapest were pretty uneventful. One thing that annoyed me is this skinny loser UK kid sleeping in the bunk next to me woke me up two of the three nights having sex. It didn't even sound like good sex; just a lot of jack hammering. The second night he didn't even get to finish cause she hit her head on the metal frame. Also, at 7am one morning an alarm in someone's locker was going off and the guy wasn't around to turn it off till about 9:30am. I'd really love some good sleep, which won't happen by the time I post this as you'll see.
The next day, as usual, I walked around the city trying to get myself lost. I find it is the best way to understand a place and see things that you wouldn't normally. Since it is nearly impossible for me to lose my bearings, I don't have to worry about actually being lost either. I took an afternoon "free" tour of the Buda side. The guide was quite funny, but in the sense that he wasn't trying to be. That night I passed on going to a big party or rave at one of the thermal baths. It sounded cool to have a big pool party, but it just isn't my scene any more. Not the drinking around bodies of water thing, but the whole, kids who annoy me, way too drunk, etc. Plus, I didn't have anyone to hang out with so I know I would have just hated it.
I did go to the thermal baths the next day though, but to use them for their intended purpose of relaxing and recuperating. The bath complex had something like 13 baths, 8 saunas, some cold pools, and 3 giant outside swimming pools. It was also set in an old building (some baths here are 500 years old) so it had some really neat architecture too. I only spent about 3 hours there, but I felt better leaving than I have in quite some time. Oh, and I also went to a museum in an old castle and Hungarian foods festival. The museum was included in the festival, otherwise I wouldn't have gone. The festival was pretty good and I had some interesting sausages for lunch (one was apparently liver of, I think, a cow). All of it was tasty. On the way home I stopped at the ruin bar I mentioned, which was sweet.
But, like I said, it was mostly uneventful. It'd be worth coming back though. There is obviously a lot to this city that requires time to see. You know, little hidden things. It'd also be nice to come back and actually have someone to hangout with at the cool places that are littered around the city *cough, Ivy, cough*. But, because I didn't really connect with anyone, I decided to cut my stay a day short. Vienna being my next stop.
While I was traveling through Croatia and Budapest, I think I finally hit the wall. Maybe it's because I wasn't meeting anyone really interesting or maybe it's just time, but either way, I am ready to return state side. I won't of course, I have obligations and things yet to do - I can't leave without visiting Grant castle, etc. Plus, I feel there is a purpose for me to make the full year and with it so close... Still, I feel like it's getting more difficult to connect with the people I'm meeting, or at least to put out any effort to connect. At the hostels here, they were all 20, if that. If I go out on my own, I am all out of small talk; It's the same shit all the time and it's boring. I don't care where you're from or what you do for work, tell me something interesting about yourself. Fuck, tell me you're afraid of griffins or something, anything besides the normal droll. I don't want to hear about your job and why do you want to know about mine? What difference does it make? Who really wants to talk about how they make money to do the things that are important to them? Tell me about those important things. Rant or enlighten me on something I didn't know that you care about. Tell me what blows you're fucking hair back? what is it that you're all about?
Vienna definitely helped with invigorating me again. It's strange. Is it the people thing or is it the energy that the cities put out? Maybe both, but Vienna was uplifting. I immediately liked it from when I left the train station. It's clean, it's got really pretty buildings, it's got a vibe that feels livable. I got in at a reasonable time and even though the first hostel I went to was full, I was able to find my second choice fast enough. My second choice ended up being a disaster, but I'll get to that later. The hostel recommends this restaurant around the corner for reasonably priced, authentic Austrian food, of which it was neither. There was an English guy, who is a character, running it so I don't know how it's quite authentic, and it was a bit on the expensive side. Anyway, there was a woman named Suzy, UK, who was just sitting down to eat by herself so I asked if I could join. She turned out to be interesting right off the bat without all the superfluous light talk I mentioned above. She wasn't traveling alone; her friend Tom whom came around after dinner. But, it was really nice to have someone who was actually worth talking to.
The following day, I set out like I normally do - trying to get myself lost. I was wondering if Vienna had a good pub and music scene and began to wonder if there is enough commonalities in cities that have cool scenes like Portland, Seattle, Boston, Austin, San Diego, that given a few questions answered by a local (like is there an area that has a bunch of used book stores or something) and a map (constraints like main arterials vs lesser ones or open spaces like parks), you could walk into any city and automatically predict a few areas where there might be that kind of scene. I never really came to any conclusions, but thought that if anyone could come up with that type of thing for different types of interests that it'd probably be the most useful tool any traveler could have. It's hard a lot of times to express the type of scene you are into or what you're looking for, esp to a non native English speaker, so that'd help solve that problem. Anyway, I ended up walking into the university campus and came across some girls setting up a slackline and they had a crank. Now, for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, this is me on one about 5 years ago:
One problem with slacklining was it required a few people to pull it taught and we always wished for a crank. Now they have one! I jumped on and remarkably did reasonably well on it even though I haven't been on one more than once a year for the past few years. Also, it generally attracts a certain type, so I figured they'd know the type of area I would be interested in. I asked them and after a phone call and some hemming and hawing, they told me there was one place that would have some blues.
I kept wandering and found two festivals going (one was a opera film fest set with the screen in front of a sweet ass building - see fb) that looked really fun, though I didn't stay for them. I also did one of my favorite things (and probably one of the best/easiest ways to get a good feel for a culture) for each country, I stopped at a grocery store and picked up some things. If you think about it, there might not be a better way to really be a part of a place than hanging out at the grocery store. Besides being around every day people who aren't pandering to tourism, it will give you a good idea of what the real "authentic" foods are. Europe has good grocery stores, and Austria has well priced and good meats - FYI.
Anyway, I ran into Suzy and Tom when I returned and found out that they were going to go to see some blues and I mentioned the place I was recommended. They felt a local recommendation was likely to yield better results than the guide books so we went and scoped it out. As it turned out, we were late and only caught the end of the show, which was still worth going to see their take on blues. We later learned from a local who hung out with us a little while and took us to another bar later, that there isn't really any music scene because Austria has so little people that it can't support one outside of concerts or the symphony. Oh, and on the way home we passed a red light distinct. Not appealing woman, though they were not street hookers and one would expect a bit higher class for the ones behind glass. Suzy thought it'd be interesting to inquire about services and prices at one of the bars. It was not interesting. Not only did the place not give any detail, but Tom and I had a feeling of we'll get stabbed by one of the hookers. We didn't linger.
The rest of my time in Vienna has been disturbed by my hostel and by an incident one night, all of which has fucked my sleep and consequently not allowed me to do too much during the day.
First thing that happened was due to one of the strangest and worst reservation systems I've ever come across, because I didn't use the hostelworld.com to make the reservation I got charged more and could only stay in the room two days though I wanted more. I asked for some money back cause I was being over charged and they just kinda laughed like I was crazy. Due to it being less expensive and so that I wouldn't have to come down at 9am to make sure I could stay in the room, I used the internet to book the additional days. When I had my new reservation I asked reception to write a note and to make sure that this new reservation meant I wouldn't have to move rooms. I did this with several receptionists. Surprise, I got a call at 9 in the morning telling me I needed to move.
Next, in my new room I had two asian roommates, and for those who know my track record with them, know that things inevitably didn't go well. For whatever reason I was having trouble sleeping and then when I finally did, one of the roommates decided it'd be appropriate to start feverishly masturbating. Being a light sleeper, this woke me. I gave a cough, still unsure if my judgement was accurate and it stopped immediately, confirming my suspicions. 30 minutes to an hour he was back at it. This time I said something like, "you better not be doing that shit again". Stopped. 30 minutes to an hour later I think it started back up again. This time I opened the blinds so that it was completely light in the room. But of course by now I was too awake to sleep so I left the room to ask reception to move me. Having only got about 2 hours max of sleep that night, I was hoping they'd have the linens changed for me ASAP by 10 so I could try a nap in a bed, esp because I was obviously pissed off. I tried to sleep a little in the common area, but couldn't. Low and behold my linens were ready for me at noon. Too late for me and I had to power through the day like a zombie with a giant lack of sleep fog and headache.
I tried an attempt at maybe going to see the palace and even went to a Starbucks for coffee to help me. I was so exhausted by the time I got back from Starbucks that I couldn't go out of the hostel for more than a few hundred meters, max half hour. My day was completely ruined.
Luckily, my train to Poland leaves at 10pm so I had all day today to catch any things I missed. I went to the palace and yep, it looks like a palace. Most palaces (all that I've seen) are rectangular, two or three stories, blocky, and symmetrical. Sure, they can be pretty with all the adornments, but the buildings themselves are pretty boring once you've seen one. At least with castles there are a bunch that are weird or have to fit the natural environmental limitations, or just had a weird person design it (though I'm sure most castles get pretty predictable and boring too). This palace was yellow. They usually either come in a yellow gold or a lightish blue. I didn't even bother going in it (esp cause they wanted $20+ entry), but I did walk the grounds and there were some things worth seeing, most notably were some fountains you can see on my FB. Next I just took a bunch of trams, buses, and subways around to see as much of the city outside the main area as I could. This included the river front which is almost completely park land.
Vienna is a very liveable city. I like how clean it is, how easy it is to get around, the history, cool old buildings that are well preserved, museums, cheap beer (if you buy it from the store) and food. You don't need a car here either; it is so bike friendly it borders on ridiculous. The only thing is that things close extremely early - want groceries? Most stores close at 7pm! There isn't a great music or arts scene either, which would make it tough. I would definitely come back here again and maybe use it as a base to explore other parts of Austria. I think it'd be sweet to drive around the country with somebody *cough Ivy cough* Sorry I've being coughing a bit during this post, must have a cold.
For those interested in future plans: I am leaving for Krakow tonight. I will stay at least 3 nights and may go to some mountain town for a day or two after that. Then, I will go to Wroclaw for 3 or 4 nights, then Prague until I go to Munich for Oktoberfest. I don't know my plans to well after that. I do know I will go to Berlin following Munich, then no idea... Belgium, Netherlands, Scotland, England?
Also, I gave Ivy till Sept. first to find work in London and since that hasn't happened I am going to turn down the job. Though some of you may think I'm nuts for "throwing away an opportunity like this", I can assure you it is going to better for me to not take it. It won't be the only opportunity to work abroad, though it will likely be the highest paid opportunity abroad I'll get. That being said, no, I haven't bought my tickets home yet. Interestingly, I had a very vivid dream a few nights back. All the players who were involved with or giving their input on it were involved. Dave (the guy I'd be working for) and I had a long conversation about it and I ultimately told him I wouldn't be taking the job. He was bummed and asked if I had bought the tickets home yet. I told him no and with a very dramatic and important focus in the dream, he told me clearly "wait until the 6th or 7th to book the tickets". With what I've learned on this trip, I am taking that seriously. Do I know why? No, but I'm going to listen to it. Still haven't figured out what day to book back yet.
Take it easy yall
Croatia is lovely, but really, it's kinda dull. It's expensive (min of around €40 a day), and while nice, it lacks anything really special to hook you. It's got nice, clean beaches in warm Mediterranean clear water; it's got walled cities and intact fortresses; it's got mountains; it's got somewhat interesting cultural things. But so do other countries around it that are much cheaper. Originally, I was going to spend a bit more time, but the cost really put a damper on that and I only stayed about 5 days.
I came into Dubrovnik via an overnight boat from Bari, Italy. In my last post I mentioned that I was attempting to skip Croatia, but that the trains were full up and I didn't want to stay in Bari cause it wasn't very nice. Dubrovnik is called the gem of Croatia (or something like that). That's because it is a UNESCO Heritage site due to it's immaculately preserved old town and the wall that surrounds it. It's also located in an island littered part of the Mediterranean that looks more like the islands near Stockholm than those of Greece, but still has that amazing Mediterranean waters. There aren't any advertised hostels on hostelworld.com, so I didn't think there were any and ended up going with one of the guys peddling their guesthouses at the port. Later, I found out that there was a hostel. Bummer.
I say bummer because this guy, Slav, ran his guesthouse like a hostel and a shitty one at that. In other words, he was a dick. He was stressed out of his mind all the time, zooming back and forth between the house and the port and bus station. If you were sitting around, he'd go out of his way to say hi and ask how you were doing, but it was awkward and came across contrived and uncomfortable, like he was watching you. The first night he put me in a tiny room with two single "beds". Mine was actually a converted chair. Then, in the morning he came in about 3 times around 8-9AM, asking me to move rooms. He tried to get me to move into a room with a couple, and I told him I wouldn't. So, he went about the house going into rooms, without knocking, trying to move me. Ultimately, I moved to a room with two Swedes. All this hassle and it was still €20 a night, and that was cheap!
The first day, I had no Kuna and had a bitch of a time finding an ATM. There are plenty, I just couldn't find any. I ended up walking all the way into the old town, which was about 90 mins away. I walked around the old town, which, to it's credit, is really really nice... and too expensive (double the normal price for anything). You can walk the wall, but it's 10 bucks so I didn't. Also, the town inside the wall is small enough that you can see literally the entire thing within two hours. So, I got bored and went back to the guest house.
The next day, I spent laying around in the sun and swimming, since that is pretty much the only other thing to do after seeing the walled town. That night I cooked in the guesthouse's "kitchen" and ended up talking with a guy from the UK, Jo, who was headed to Split the next day like me, so we decided to make the trip together.
The next day, there was a flurry of activity at the house cause that couple that I was supposed to move in with (Jo got moved in with them instead) left at 4AM for the airport and didn't pay for their last night, or maybe couple nights. Slav, was totally consumed with finding them and fucking them. He gives free transport to the bus station, but we were zooming around little detours while he looked for them and bitched about it to us. Jo, who was upfront with him, tried to change the conversation more than once, but it was a wasted effort. If the place I'm staying tries to do good by you than I'd have their back, but this guy was a dick and running a guesthouse, probably somewhat illegally, like a hostel, so I was glad that they bailed without paying him. Jo and I would've done the same thing if we could've gotten away with it. Luckily, there was no chance they were going to get caught since they caught a flight at 5AM and Slav hadn't started his search till about 8AM. He also had the nerve to try to enlist our help in convincing some people at the station to stay at his place. I told him I was in a hurry, but Jo's English gentleman wouldn't allow him to just walk away. He did get the message across with his eyes though not to go.
One interesting aspect of Croatia is that the buses leave not on time, but early; always. So, we missed our bus. The next bus broke down an hour out, but this was very fortuitous for Jo. It broke down next to a specialty cake place and Jo went to get some water. We don't really understand what happened, but Jo thinks she asked for €10. Jo had Kuna and gave her 20 Kuna, which is about $4 or €3. She then gave him 500 Kuna ($100) in change. We couldn't figure out any sort of reason mathematically why this was the change; it wouldn't even make sense if he gave her €100 or if she meant to give him 50 Kuna. Anyway, he didn't tell her. The next bus that came to get us didn't have enough seats to take our bus too, so people had to sit in the aisle for 3 hours.
There is pretty much nothing to say about Split. The old town (also walled) is doable in 15 min and there is a beach. Mostly, I made some friends, Dan from Zimbabwe/OZ, Brad from OZ, Lance and Paul from UK. The main highlight is that we went to the beach and drank and went out and drank - this is pretty much what makes up the majority of Ozzies time abroad. Oh, and Jo bought us some beers with his winnings from the cake lady.
On a recommendation from my dad (thanks pops) I decided to go to Plitvice Lakes NP. The bus is about 5 hours from Split so I didn't arrive till about 1PM and had no idea where I was since the bus stop is not at the town but the actual park and all you see is a bridge of the highway and a parking lot. I was hoping to not stay in the area cause it was expensive so as I walked towards where I thought the park was, I came across a hotel where I was able to get the bus info. There was one leaving at about 6PM, which was perfect. I was able to get cash for the bus and stow my bags at the hotel, which was really nice of them since I wasn't staying there.
The park fee is $20 (steep!), but that's mainly cause they include the use of a bus and boat ride in the price even though they are unnecessary. The lakes were definitely the highlight of my time in Croatia. I won't do justice to them in my description, but basically this is a enormous park with plenty of hiking and virgin forest. The "lakes" is a series of turquoise and emerald lakes that cascade via a ton of waterfalls into each other. You aren't supposed to swim, but I saw and subsequently joined some locals who were. Also, much of the trail is walkable without shoes :) I made a timing error in trusting that the little boat ride would get me back in time for the last bus to Zagreb. The boat only left every half hour and took about 20 min to get from one side to the other. Having missed the bus, I came across an info booth that I missed earlier in the day and asked them if there were any cheap places in the area; knowing that there were. The lady only made one, half hearted attempt to help, then ridiculed me for traveling alone, "it's better to have two people. There are few single rooms in the area and they full. If you have two, it's easier. You need friend or girlfriend with you. Why not". Thanks lady. I asked a bus driver of a tour company if they had room to take me with them, but they were full too. I ended up asking the lady to call the place back and see if they'd put me up for an additional €10. They agreed. The guesthouse was affiliated with a booth nearby selling cake-like things and some local blackberries. While I waited for an hour to get my ride to the guesthouse, I chatted a little with the guy running the booth. He gave me a cake thingy and berries for free and I learned that he was a plumber from Pula - a few hours away. He comes every year on his vacation time to help his mother with the booth and guesthouse.
After checking in and them knocking about $5 off the price, the guy drove me to a nearby restaurant at the bottom of a "ski" hill. It was the most reasonably priced meal I'd had in Croatia. The guy ate with me and we talked a bit more, but there wasn't a ton to talk about so it was a little awkward. I found myself stretching for things to say.
They took me to the bus stop the next day two hours early, so I read a bit and finished one of my books and the tourist info on the park. At one point I walked to the area where the booths were to hang out with that guy, but they hadn't set up yet. While I was there a teenage girl came jogging up to me and asked if I spoke English. I replied and she came back with, "well then, I'm happy to tell you that god loves you". It was odd, but at the same time it seemed perfectly natural. It was odd cause she didn't appear to be one of those people who hang around to tell everyone that will listen that. She seemed to purposely choose me only, then went on about her business of going to the park without any expectation that there should be more made of it. And, it seemed so natural, almost like I was telling myself it in my head. In the past I may have scoffed at her, but the feeling of the whole thing was that this was supposed to happen. I felt honored, and gave a sincere and big smile, "thank you very much". I was a bit charmed by the interaction and felt a compassion for this girl who went out of her way to speak English and tell a stranger this with no motive other than perhaps an intuition that she should. Anyhow, I never got to say goodbye to the dude I ate dinner with, and caught my bus to Zagreb and connecting train to Budapest.
Budapest seems a bit seedy, like I got offered sex the first night I got in while trying to find dinner, but for the most part it isn't. Just appearances. The city is split into two sections - Buda and Pest - which is split by the river. Each side is quite different. Buda side has a giant palace and the presidents house, where you can eat the fruit in his yard. My apple had a worm in it. There are many luxury baths (similar to Turkish baths) and the hillside is mainly made up of rich homes. Pest side is mainly 5 story buildings, some parks and baths, and museums and monuments and is spread out grid like. The Pest side has the feeling of left overs from the communist regime with the uniformity, slightly rundown, and grid features. It could be easy to get lost in without a good sense of direction. There is also a Jewish quarter where they have awesome bars called "ruin" bars. The story behind them is that the city was going to destroy the buildings and locals decided to preserve them and create really unique bohemian pubs, cafes, clubs and whatnot. They remind me a lot of Portland's really unique places, but on a much granduer scale or even further out there. One that I went to had cars that were cut in half to make tables and seats, old bathtubs for couches, hidden rooms everywhere, and five bars, and I'm not even doing it justice.
I got in to the city about 10:30PM, which as you know, I hate. The place I had hoped to stay was super hard to find because they had no advertising outside to let you know where it was. Luckily, a hotel let me use their wifi because they didn't know where it was (it was across the street). The place was full up, but they had a sister hostel that had rooms. The sister hostel wasn't that cool. Partly, cause it seemed to be run entirely by people staying there and poorly at that. I talked to the girl who checked me in the next day about a key card and some other stuff and she was like, "oh, you're staying here?" Plus, it was all kids and all they wanted to do was party (they weren't even good at it) and be self absorbed. By the time I finally got checked in it was about 12:30, so I went to bed. For the most part my days in Budapest were pretty uneventful. One thing that annoyed me is this skinny loser UK kid sleeping in the bunk next to me woke me up two of the three nights having sex. It didn't even sound like good sex; just a lot of jack hammering. The second night he didn't even get to finish cause she hit her head on the metal frame. Also, at 7am one morning an alarm in someone's locker was going off and the guy wasn't around to turn it off till about 9:30am. I'd really love some good sleep, which won't happen by the time I post this as you'll see.
The next day, as usual, I walked around the city trying to get myself lost. I find it is the best way to understand a place and see things that you wouldn't normally. Since it is nearly impossible for me to lose my bearings, I don't have to worry about actually being lost either. I took an afternoon "free" tour of the Buda side. The guide was quite funny, but in the sense that he wasn't trying to be. That night I passed on going to a big party or rave at one of the thermal baths. It sounded cool to have a big pool party, but it just isn't my scene any more. Not the drinking around bodies of water thing, but the whole, kids who annoy me, way too drunk, etc. Plus, I didn't have anyone to hang out with so I know I would have just hated it.
I did go to the thermal baths the next day though, but to use them for their intended purpose of relaxing and recuperating. The bath complex had something like 13 baths, 8 saunas, some cold pools, and 3 giant outside swimming pools. It was also set in an old building (some baths here are 500 years old) so it had some really neat architecture too. I only spent about 3 hours there, but I felt better leaving than I have in quite some time. Oh, and I also went to a museum in an old castle and Hungarian foods festival. The museum was included in the festival, otherwise I wouldn't have gone. The festival was pretty good and I had some interesting sausages for lunch (one was apparently liver of, I think, a cow). All of it was tasty. On the way home I stopped at the ruin bar I mentioned, which was sweet.
But, like I said, it was mostly uneventful. It'd be worth coming back though. There is obviously a lot to this city that requires time to see. You know, little hidden things. It'd also be nice to come back and actually have someone to hangout with at the cool places that are littered around the city *cough, Ivy, cough*. But, because I didn't really connect with anyone, I decided to cut my stay a day short. Vienna being my next stop.
While I was traveling through Croatia and Budapest, I think I finally hit the wall. Maybe it's because I wasn't meeting anyone really interesting or maybe it's just time, but either way, I am ready to return state side. I won't of course, I have obligations and things yet to do - I can't leave without visiting Grant castle, etc. Plus, I feel there is a purpose for me to make the full year and with it so close... Still, I feel like it's getting more difficult to connect with the people I'm meeting, or at least to put out any effort to connect. At the hostels here, they were all 20, if that. If I go out on my own, I am all out of small talk; It's the same shit all the time and it's boring. I don't care where you're from or what you do for work, tell me something interesting about yourself. Fuck, tell me you're afraid of griffins or something, anything besides the normal droll. I don't want to hear about your job and why do you want to know about mine? What difference does it make? Who really wants to talk about how they make money to do the things that are important to them? Tell me about those important things. Rant or enlighten me on something I didn't know that you care about. Tell me what blows you're fucking hair back? what is it that you're all about?
Vienna definitely helped with invigorating me again. It's strange. Is it the people thing or is it the energy that the cities put out? Maybe both, but Vienna was uplifting. I immediately liked it from when I left the train station. It's clean, it's got really pretty buildings, it's got a vibe that feels livable. I got in at a reasonable time and even though the first hostel I went to was full, I was able to find my second choice fast enough. My second choice ended up being a disaster, but I'll get to that later. The hostel recommends this restaurant around the corner for reasonably priced, authentic Austrian food, of which it was neither. There was an English guy, who is a character, running it so I don't know how it's quite authentic, and it was a bit on the expensive side. Anyway, there was a woman named Suzy, UK, who was just sitting down to eat by herself so I asked if I could join. She turned out to be interesting right off the bat without all the superfluous light talk I mentioned above. She wasn't traveling alone; her friend Tom whom came around after dinner. But, it was really nice to have someone who was actually worth talking to.
The following day, I set out like I normally do - trying to get myself lost. I was wondering if Vienna had a good pub and music scene and began to wonder if there is enough commonalities in cities that have cool scenes like Portland, Seattle, Boston, Austin, San Diego, that given a few questions answered by a local (like is there an area that has a bunch of used book stores or something) and a map (constraints like main arterials vs lesser ones or open spaces like parks), you could walk into any city and automatically predict a few areas where there might be that kind of scene. I never really came to any conclusions, but thought that if anyone could come up with that type of thing for different types of interests that it'd probably be the most useful tool any traveler could have. It's hard a lot of times to express the type of scene you are into or what you're looking for, esp to a non native English speaker, so that'd help solve that problem. Anyway, I ended up walking into the university campus and came across some girls setting up a slackline and they had a crank. Now, for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, this is me on one about 5 years ago:
One problem with slacklining was it required a few people to pull it taught and we always wished for a crank. Now they have one! I jumped on and remarkably did reasonably well on it even though I haven't been on one more than once a year for the past few years. Also, it generally attracts a certain type, so I figured they'd know the type of area I would be interested in. I asked them and after a phone call and some hemming and hawing, they told me there was one place that would have some blues.
I kept wandering and found two festivals going (one was a opera film fest set with the screen in front of a sweet ass building - see fb) that looked really fun, though I didn't stay for them. I also did one of my favorite things (and probably one of the best/easiest ways to get a good feel for a culture) for each country, I stopped at a grocery store and picked up some things. If you think about it, there might not be a better way to really be a part of a place than hanging out at the grocery store. Besides being around every day people who aren't pandering to tourism, it will give you a good idea of what the real "authentic" foods are. Europe has good grocery stores, and Austria has well priced and good meats - FYI.
Anyway, I ran into Suzy and Tom when I returned and found out that they were going to go to see some blues and I mentioned the place I was recommended. They felt a local recommendation was likely to yield better results than the guide books so we went and scoped it out. As it turned out, we were late and only caught the end of the show, which was still worth going to see their take on blues. We later learned from a local who hung out with us a little while and took us to another bar later, that there isn't really any music scene because Austria has so little people that it can't support one outside of concerts or the symphony. Oh, and on the way home we passed a red light distinct. Not appealing woman, though they were not street hookers and one would expect a bit higher class for the ones behind glass. Suzy thought it'd be interesting to inquire about services and prices at one of the bars. It was not interesting. Not only did the place not give any detail, but Tom and I had a feeling of we'll get stabbed by one of the hookers. We didn't linger.
The rest of my time in Vienna has been disturbed by my hostel and by an incident one night, all of which has fucked my sleep and consequently not allowed me to do too much during the day.
First thing that happened was due to one of the strangest and worst reservation systems I've ever come across, because I didn't use the hostelworld.com to make the reservation I got charged more and could only stay in the room two days though I wanted more. I asked for some money back cause I was being over charged and they just kinda laughed like I was crazy. Due to it being less expensive and so that I wouldn't have to come down at 9am to make sure I could stay in the room, I used the internet to book the additional days. When I had my new reservation I asked reception to write a note and to make sure that this new reservation meant I wouldn't have to move rooms. I did this with several receptionists. Surprise, I got a call at 9 in the morning telling me I needed to move.
Next, in my new room I had two asian roommates, and for those who know my track record with them, know that things inevitably didn't go well. For whatever reason I was having trouble sleeping and then when I finally did, one of the roommates decided it'd be appropriate to start feverishly masturbating. Being a light sleeper, this woke me. I gave a cough, still unsure if my judgement was accurate and it stopped immediately, confirming my suspicions. 30 minutes to an hour he was back at it. This time I said something like, "you better not be doing that shit again". Stopped. 30 minutes to an hour later I think it started back up again. This time I opened the blinds so that it was completely light in the room. But of course by now I was too awake to sleep so I left the room to ask reception to move me. Having only got about 2 hours max of sleep that night, I was hoping they'd have the linens changed for me ASAP by 10 so I could try a nap in a bed, esp because I was obviously pissed off. I tried to sleep a little in the common area, but couldn't. Low and behold my linens were ready for me at noon. Too late for me and I had to power through the day like a zombie with a giant lack of sleep fog and headache.
I tried an attempt at maybe going to see the palace and even went to a Starbucks for coffee to help me. I was so exhausted by the time I got back from Starbucks that I couldn't go out of the hostel for more than a few hundred meters, max half hour. My day was completely ruined.
Luckily, my train to Poland leaves at 10pm so I had all day today to catch any things I missed. I went to the palace and yep, it looks like a palace. Most palaces (all that I've seen) are rectangular, two or three stories, blocky, and symmetrical. Sure, they can be pretty with all the adornments, but the buildings themselves are pretty boring once you've seen one. At least with castles there are a bunch that are weird or have to fit the natural environmental limitations, or just had a weird person design it (though I'm sure most castles get pretty predictable and boring too). This palace was yellow. They usually either come in a yellow gold or a lightish blue. I didn't even bother going in it (esp cause they wanted $20+ entry), but I did walk the grounds and there were some things worth seeing, most notably were some fountains you can see on my FB. Next I just took a bunch of trams, buses, and subways around to see as much of the city outside the main area as I could. This included the river front which is almost completely park land.
Vienna is a very liveable city. I like how clean it is, how easy it is to get around, the history, cool old buildings that are well preserved, museums, cheap beer (if you buy it from the store) and food. You don't need a car here either; it is so bike friendly it borders on ridiculous. The only thing is that things close extremely early - want groceries? Most stores close at 7pm! There isn't a great music or arts scene either, which would make it tough. I would definitely come back here again and maybe use it as a base to explore other parts of Austria. I think it'd be sweet to drive around the country with somebody *cough Ivy cough* Sorry I've being coughing a bit during this post, must have a cold.
For those interested in future plans: I am leaving for Krakow tonight. I will stay at least 3 nights and may go to some mountain town for a day or two after that. Then, I will go to Wroclaw for 3 or 4 nights, then Prague until I go to Munich for Oktoberfest. I don't know my plans to well after that. I do know I will go to Berlin following Munich, then no idea... Belgium, Netherlands, Scotland, England?
Also, I gave Ivy till Sept. first to find work in London and since that hasn't happened I am going to turn down the job. Though some of you may think I'm nuts for "throwing away an opportunity like this", I can assure you it is going to better for me to not take it. It won't be the only opportunity to work abroad, though it will likely be the highest paid opportunity abroad I'll get. That being said, no, I haven't bought my tickets home yet. Interestingly, I had a very vivid dream a few nights back. All the players who were involved with or giving their input on it were involved. Dave (the guy I'd be working for) and I had a long conversation about it and I ultimately told him I wouldn't be taking the job. He was bummed and asked if I had bought the tickets home yet. I told him no and with a very dramatic and important focus in the dream, he told me clearly "wait until the 6th or 7th to book the tickets". With what I've learned on this trip, I am taking that seriously. Do I know why? No, but I'm going to listen to it. Still haven't figured out what day to book back yet.
Take it easy yall
I forgot to mention:
ReplyDeleteThe UK loser who was having sex, what annoyed me more was the 30 min after that they spent talking while people are trying to sleep.
I heard somewhere that some people masturbate in their sleep. Maybe that Asian had this affliction.