‘Tis the Season

It was Christmas time, usually a time for family and friends. As I wasn’t at home, I made did with what was available to me – one friend and some surrogate parents.

In London I met up with Cat (from home and who has been living in the UK) and her friend Jess who was over for a short two month European trip. So anyway, we met up in London at the Pickwick Hall hostel, a private room for three with ensuite which was great.

The first evening we were in London, we went for a walk down Oxford Street and ended up in Hyde Park where a large German Christmas festival was being held. It was full of lights, rides, people and litres upon litres of mulled wine.

Hyde Park Christmas Festival

The days leading up to Christmas were spent sleeping and wandering around London. It was very cool to walk around a city which is so dressed up for Christmas. Everywhere you turned there were decorations and lights, stalls selling Christmas products and store windows arranged for the festive season.

Snowman!

On Christmas Eve I also had the opportunity to catch up with my friend Meri from Finland. She was in Oxford visiting her friend Lou for Christmas and New Years so I headed up to Oxford for the day. We met at the Oxford Castle which was a great idea as there was an amazing outdoor photography exhibition on called Earth From The Air which was showing beautiful airel photography by aclaimed photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. It’s an amazing look the earth from above and how it’s changing day by day. For lunch we had a great Greek meal and then went to meet Lou. Soon we were headed back to London in the car and Meri and I parted ways (again) but promised to meet up once more before she headed home.

That evening  Cat, Jess and I went to meet up with the parents of Cat’s boyfriend, Ant (another friend from home) who were to be my surrogate parents for Christmas day. We headed to a bar, had a few drinks, then headed to the only open restaurant which happened to be an Indian place – pretty nice! But soon we had to get back to bed, early night on Christmas Eve!!

The next morning we woke latish and as promised, I cooked the girls pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast. Accompanying that was fresh fruit,  juice and champagne, and it was all pretty great. But soon it was time to head out for the main meal of the day, Christmas Dinner. We met Ant’s parents at a hotel which they had booked the meal at. We started with presents, I can’t believe that they had even bought Jess and I presents (albiet edible ones)!

The afternoon was filled with champagne, turkey, deserts, wine, Christmas crackers, balloons flying around the room, and a hugely expensive bill which was fully paid by Ant’s parents, an amazing show of generosity. And then bloated, we headed back to the hostel to watch Love Acutally which is apparantly a popular film for Christmas.

The following days in London were rather relaxed. On Boxing Day I headed out into the shopping hoards and bought a few things. The following day I had a quiet one, but later on met up with Meri once again before both of us had to leave London. We also managed to see the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace on the morning before we were set to leave. It was an interesting affair but really not as exciting as everyone makes it out to be!

Changing of the Guard

Part Two

That night we boarded an extremely uncomfortable bus and headed north, destination Edinburgh. After nine and a half hours of half sleep, half candy consumption we arrived faar too early in the morning, and since our rooms weren’t ready at the hostel, we had to hang out in the common room for a few hours.

It was an unexpectedly beautiful day so after  a nap we decided to go for a wander. Edinburgh’s Royal Mile runs for around a mile between the Scottish Parliment and the Edinburgh Castle. So, with this in mind, our first stop was the castle.

Edinburgh Castle

We couldn’t actually go inside as it was incredibly expensive, but we gave it a good walk around. That night, someone decided it would be a good idea to go drinking, so that’s what we did. The hostel was full of long term Australians who only wanted to drink, so we joined them (Cat had also lived there at some stage earlier in the year). Drinking games started and soon everyone moved to what, to me, was a terrible bar – but the others seemed to like it. Backpacker bars just aren’t really my thing.

The following day I spent most of it sleeping. And while Cat and Jess slept even longer, I decided to take a walk up Arther’s Seat, a rather large hill. So after a walk down the Royal Mile towards the Scottish Parliment I began my way up.

Arthurs Seat Silhouette

As I rounded the corner, I found a very cool rock face which would have been excellent for some rock climbing had I had my shoes with me. Just beyond that was another hill which I had decided was worth a climb.

Rocks!

The weather was amazing and this place was amazing, so I kept going. My mission was to make it to the highest hill around and the climb was suprisingly steep. It might have been possible that I took a hard path, but really, that’s all part of the fun. From the top the view was exellent.

View from Arthurs Seat

Soon the sun went down so it was time to head back to the hostel for an easy night, best be resting up for New Years Eve tomorrow!

The day was new years eve and I spent most of it sleeping. I wanted to be ready for the evening. In the afternoon we took a trip to the local supermarket which was more packed with people than any other supermarket I’ve ever seen.  We were mostly there to pick up alcohol so I grabbed some wine, a Hoegaarden and one of the new Kronenburg Blanc beers (absolutely amazing). The evening was started (as it usually does in this hostel) with drinking games which caused me to finish my entire bottle of wine far too fast. But it was fun, and everyone was enjoying themselves and soon it was time to head out.

Each year in Edinburgh the council holds a massive street party with live bands and DJs and around 100,000 people partying it up. So after all this drinking, we headed out into it. Almost at once I lost Cat and Jess but luckily I was hanging out with a Canadian called Zach. And this was about the last I remember. Much to my embarrasment, all the alcohol hit me at once and most of the night is lost in my muddly brain but apparantly I did participate in the count down. This is the first new years that this has ever happened and I blame it on the fact that I wasn’t with my good friends :P

Fortuntely, the next day I awoke and was feeling fine! I had wanted to do the walking tour of Edinburgh that day and Cat and Jess agreed but by the time we got there it was totally full. This was crazy, we didn’t expect there to be so many people willing to go out and tour around the city on New Years Day, so Jess and I enlisted Cat to tour us around the city which she lived in a few months ago.

It appeared that Cat has forgotten most of the city but took us to two of the more interesting places. First was the Edinburgh Graveyard. This place is full of old grave stones covered in skulls and crossbones and skeletons and such.

Gravey!

The second place which I remember was Caton Hill. This is probably the second largest hill in Edinburgh (other than Arthur’s Seat). On the top of it they have a monument which waas supposed to be a replica of the Athenian Acropolis but for some reason they ran out of oney while building it and it never got completed.

Caton Hill

That night, Cat and Jess went on the New Years Day pub crawl. I decided not to beacuse the following day I had to catch a flight back to Luton to get ready for my next adventure, Morocco!

Prague and all it’s wonderous tourists

Our first night in Prague was the last night we would be camping, well, that Willy and I would be anyway. It was proving more of a nuisence than anything else – most of the campgrounds were far from the city centres and the lack of facilities was becoming frustrating.

We stayed in a camp ground which had almost nothing. The showers were button operated which you had to press evvery 5 seconds to keep the water running, there was no laundry and the only computer which had the internet was taken over by the local cab driver, a huge man who spent all day playing starcraft waiting for someone from the bar who wanted to be taken home. Unfortunately for him I doubt that anyone would really want to go to that bar unless they were staying at the campground.

The morning after, Willy and I packed up our gear and said goodbye to the camping experience with Ollie and Xanthe. We headed into Prague town and after a confusing start to the public transport system and an encounter with a hotel receptionist who seemed like she was on speed whislt giving us directions, we found our hostel. For this leg of the trip we had booked a two bed room which was nice, although the beds were even less comfortable than staying in the tent. But oh well, sleeping wasn’t really the reason for this trip.

After we were all set up, we headed into town by tram. The first thing you notice about Prague is that it is completely overrun by tourists. You can barely even see any of the sights and attractions which you have come to see through the washes of people. I have never been anywhere like this in my life, absolutely out of control. Lunch was had and we headed towards the sights. The good thing abour Prague is that everything is pretty much in walking distance so we found the Astronomical Clock with ease. This is pretty awesome, it not only shows the time, but also moon phases, solstices, constelations, and even tells you what you should be doing on ach day of the year regarding crop havesting and such activities.

Prague's Astronomical Clock

Next we walked towards the river and headed over Charles Bridge. This was like a sea of tourists, buskers, portrait artists and other gypsys selling all sorts of goods. There is no way you can even take a photo of this bridge unless you move to a much further away location (which we did).

Charles Bridge

We followed the river side for a while and came across an incredibly steep street which for some reason we decided it would be a good idea to walk up. This was not a bad plan in the scheme of things, as at the top was the entrance to Prague Castle, and was was possibley the most disappointing castle of my trip so far. Again there were so many tourists it was out of control and it just didn’t really seem all that regal. It could have been easily built in the last 100 years. But inside it was not all bad, there was a pretty amazing Romanesque church called Basilica of St George. We went inside briefly but decided that we would return tomorrow to take decent photos and have a better look around

St. Vitus Cathedral

Other than this, the view over Prague was pretty amazing from up on the hill.

View from Prague Castle

We spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around the alleys and streets of the Old Town. That evening we met up with one of Willy’s old friends, Brendon, who had moved to Europe about 2 years earlier and Prague around a year ago. He took us out to dinner and both Willy and I had a pretty nice chicken spaghetti. Afterwards he took us to a street with a couple of bars and we spent the night hanging out at one which upon secondary inspection was incredibly seedy – there was even a group of drug dealers hanging out by the toilets totally known by the bar staff. After a few beers here we left and headed back to the hostel.

The following day our route of the sights was pretty similar. We saw the clock and castle again in the morning, we saw even more tourists than the day before and decided against going back into the Basilica of St George as the line was huge but we did see the changing of the guards which was very cool. We met Brendon again, this time for lunch. I had was turned out to be a ‘very Czech’ meal of potatoe, ham and onion dumpings on cabbage. After lunch we decided to head up to what can only be described as a giant metronome, situated on the hills next to the castle. We ascended the 200 or so steps and ended up in a place that obviously not many tourists make it to, it was all in pretty bad condition! Thankfully there was also a beer garden next to the metronome so we headed there and had a beer in the heat of the day.

Giant Metronome

That night we encountered something very interesting: the guy who wanders around trying to get people to visit the largest strip club in Prague. His speil went something like this:

“Hey guys, you like sexy girls? Come to our cabaret show! We have over 50 girls; African girls, Indian girls, Russian girls… girls from Slovakia, Czech Republic, everywhere. We have live sex shows, lesbisex shows, snake shows and even midgets if you like that. Maybe you like the big girls, 200 pounds plus, we have those too if you are into that. You can even have private dance, lap dance, table dance, dance in our limosine. And at the end of the night we can take you back to your hotel for free and if you like you can take any of the girls home with you. If you like your night and want to come back tomorrow, we can give you a number and we will pick you up from your hotel too.”

We politely declined and for the rest of the night checked out a few other bars and joked about how ridiculous that strip club was.

The next day we met up with Ollie and Xanthe again for our final car ride from Prague to Berlin!

Českỳ Krumlov

The afternoon after we left Vienna, we crossed the boarder into the Czech Repbulic. We were on route to Českỳ Krumlov, a town of similarity to Bruges but of course in a more Eastern European vain.

Upon crossing the boarder, the landscape changed drastically. The language on all the signs changed from German to Czech and the only buildings to be seen were large numbers of small casinos hiding behind a patina facade. Not only could you see a casino everywhere you looked, but almost every 500m you could find yourself a brothel or prostitute hanging around on the side of the road. Whether they were looking to be picked up, or just for a ride to the next town we didn’t find out.

Soon we had arrived at our campsite in Českỳ Krumlov, and after being yelled at in Czech by some woman trying to tell us where we could and couldn’t park, we finally managed to arrange accommodation for the night and set up out tents.

Once all was arranged, we took our first walk, through the streets with more casinos, over a bridge resembling the one from Beetlejuice, past some derelict and abandonded buildings, and into the heart of the old town – a place with variable altitude, littered with cobblestones, hosting a river and overlooked by a castle. This small town had almost everything a small town should. It even had a multitude of tourists – in fact, they seemed to be the only people there!

Beetlejuice Bridge

Českỳ Krumlov from the castle tower

Again we were only here for one night (which really was enough), so we decided to make the most of it. We spent the afternoon wandering around the town, exploring all nooks and crannys but leaving the castle for the following day. Dinner was had and it was time to check out some bars. By far the one which stood out was called the Horor Bar. This was housed underground with stone floor, and a rounded stone wall/ceiling. It came inclusive with skeletons and other props to add to the horror theme. Willy also decided it would be a good place to try out the local absinthe. And by God, this absinthe was like nothing I’ve ever had before. I’m pretty sure we were drinking pure alcohol infused with wormwood. But it was cool as it came complete with the absinthe spoon and caramelised sugar – it just killed you to drink it. The look on Willy’s face upon tongue contact was hilarious.

Horor Bar

That night we slept next to a tent housing the loudest snoarer I’ve ever experienced.

In the morning we packed up, and as Ollie and Xanthe pissed around, Willy and I walked into town to check out the castle. To be honest, it’s not much of a castle, but it does have a pretty cool old tower which you are able to climb.

Českỳ Krumlov Castle

It also has a bear moat. Yes, that is correct – and the bears are still in there. I guess they would have thrown prisoners down into it back in the day.

Bear Moat

But I think, by far the best part of Českỳ Krumlov for me, was the dungeon sculpture gallery in the castle. This was a three level network of underground passageways and dungeons set under the castle which housed some interesting sculpture. I did take a lot of photos in there, but it was so dark that most of them came out blurry. ‘Tis rather annoying.

That afternoon it was time to leave again, the schedule was becomming a little to fast! But we were off to that magical city, Prague.

Oxford!

I haven’t posted in a few days due to having spent the last few nights in Oxford – yup, the university city.

The main reason I travelled to Oxford was to catch up with a friend of mine (and Mattinum), Isaac. He goes to university in Manchester, but luckily for me he was back at his parent’s place for summer holiday. It also turned out that he was good friends with the manager of the hostel which I stayed at (Central Backpackers) which was good as this allowed him to come into the hostel for drinks and things. It was good to catch up with Isaac and hopefully I will go and visit him again in Manchester at the end of the year.

But enough about that, here are a few highlights from Oxford. Firstly, the buildings. These are (for the most part) even older and more interesting than the buildings found in London. I think that may have something to do with the great fire of London in 1666 though, as many of Oxford’s buildings are from well before that.

The Oxford Library

This building was epic. Built in the 1300s, the Oxford Library (according to Isaac) has the largest collection of books in the world, all stored underground. Apparantly they had some deal with a large number of publishers who would give them a copy of every book they published. I’m unsure if this is still going now but i’m told it was in occurance for a large number of years.

The Oxford Castle

The Castle is a newly opened attraction in Oxford as it only ceased to be a prison in 1996. It’s creation first started in 1071, making it one of the oldest buildings in the city. It was very cool to see, but unfortunatly due to it’s former prison status, I don’t think it works overly well as a castle tourist attraction. And the fact that it is in the middle of town makes it rather hard to take a decent photo of it.

But the buildings which are most commonly talked about in Oxford are the colleges. This was truely amazing. I had originally thought that there was one Oxford university and that was how it has always been. This was proven to be untrue. There are historically around 40 different colleges in Oxford, now all brought together to form the prestegious university you all know. Every college building was more impressive than the next, with architectural feats such as this:

A university square

The above image is just one of the 40 colleges seen in the city. They all now appear to house different faculties of the university from history to physics. But what I thought was the grandest of all the colleges was Christ Church. This place was amazing, just like something from a book or a film, which seems appropriate as Harry Potter was filmed there and Alice in Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass were both written there.

Christ Church

Entrance to Christ Church

Isaac also took me to a pub called the Turf Tavern, which is supposed to be one of the oldest pubs in Oxford. The roof was so low that it was less than 6″ away from from the top of my head at the beams. Isaac could not stand in it properly without having to bend sideways! We got some pints of Sadlers Worcester Sorcerer Ale and sat down. Here are some fun facts I read on the wall: in the 16th centuary, the owner died in the pub. In the 17th centuary, swordfighting was a common sport loved by patrons of the pub. And in the 18th centuary, cockfighting!

The following day, I got to experience something even more exciting (even thrilling if you lose your balance). This was known as punting. It’s the British version of the Italian gondola, and you propel yourself down a calm river by pushing the riverbed with a long aluminium pole. At first I was all over the place and almost fell into the river (which was pretty haggard, baby poo-eqsue colour), but soon i got the hang of it. The worst part about it is when you slide the pole up out of the water, it all drips down your arms and you end up kinda wet, but apart from that it’s pretty good fun!

Punting!

There was also two ways which it can be done. In essence, they don’t physically differ at all, it all depends on which end of the punt you stand on. In the picture above, I’m standing on the platform which is considered to be Oxford style. You can also stand at the other end, which is not as solid. This is known to be Cambridge style. Apparantly they have Oxford-Cambridge races and such which I can only imagine would be pretty amusing to watch.

So yes, Oxford was a pretty interesting little city. Unfortunately I forgot to go up the lookout tower, but  I’m sure I can do that in many other places along my travels.

My next port of call is Southend-On-Sea in Essex, then off up to Warwickshire for the RetroRides 08 Festival which should be very cool.