http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/kifandpeter/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from kifandpeter en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:19:06 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:19:06 BST HeiWe checked out of the hostel in Tallinn early and walked to the port to catch our ferry for the short two hour crossing to Helsinki. The boat was essentially one large dutyfree mall We arrived around 930 am and hiked to our hostel which was a good ways from the port. The hostel was a university dorm during the year but a hostel in the summer so the rooms are all selfsufficient. We didn't http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Southwest-Finland/Turku/blog-302227.html HiOn the night of the 12th we took the ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn. This ferry was bigger and nicer than our previous one. We were on deck 8 so well above the waterline and the cardeck this time. It was more like a floating hotel than a ferry and was quite enjoyable. There are many things to do on the boat including a showlounge karaoke and a club. The most entertaining part of the trip w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-299590.html HelloWe arrived in Stockholm early in the morning after our night train from Oslo. We locked up our luggage in lockers and headed off to Gamla Stan via Riksdaghuset with Andy in tow. It was great wandering around Gamla Stan Stcokholm's old town with no tourists because it was too early for them. We bought tickets for Kunliga Slottet the largest inhabited royal palace in the world with over 600 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-298510.html HejWe woke up very early to leave Mariestad so we could arrive in Oslo at a time that would maximize our time in the city. After several transfers we arrived in Oslo around 1pm. We dumped our stuff in the hostel which was decent enough and then we headed out to see stuff. Typical for our trip the Domkirke cathedral was completely underscaffolding so we were unable to go inside. We headed d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-296110.html Hello Peter and Kif blog fansSo we got off our nice little Titanic feeling ferry ride from Riga to Stockholm. Our goal of the day was Kif's hometown of Mariestad Sweden. Now Mariestad or Mstad is roughly a 3 hr train ride from Stockholm. Nice and easy right Not so much we tried to get the direct tickets at Stockholm central to Mariestad. However it was Friday apparently a very popular day http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Vastra-Gotaland/blog-296102.html HelloAfter the miserable night bus ride we arrived in Vilnius Lithuania. Night busses are the bane of our existance but sometimes they are out of necessity as was mentioned in the lat blog post.We arrived in Vilnius around 6am and we trudged over to our hostel which was called the VB Sleep Inn. The hostel is essentially an overgrown house where you have to take your shoes off at the door and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Riga/blog-293339.html HeyOur arrival into Poland wasn't quite as smooth as we wanted. After hearing so many stories about people getting robbed on night trains we decided to throw caution to the wind and take a day train from Berlin to Krakow. 11 insanely mindnumbing hours later we arrived in the city. We pretty much forgot about the train ride after we got into the Old Town. It was gorgeous We were walking throug http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-293265.html HelloSo we decided that we had a couple of nights to kill and after hearing so many good things about the city we took everyones advice and decided to go to Berlin. We were not dissapointed.We left Vienna at the crack of dawn because it was going to be 9 hours from there via Nuremburg to Berlin. We did luck out though and we sat at the very front of the train so it felt a little bit like we were http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-293262.html Hello againWe are in Vienna now. It is fantastic.We arrived in the morning and checked into the famed Wombats Hostel The Base in Vienna. It is great but we have stayed in some nicer hostels this trip.We decided that there was so much to see in Vienna that 5 nights was in order. Not to mention that Vienna was one of the host cities for this little tournament called the European Championships So http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-288304.html So were in Prague now and its fantastic. We arrived late at night and wandered around the Old Town Square and Charles Bridge. Everything was lit up and the sites were only 2 minutes from our hostel.We decided to wander around the left bank of the Vltava River and we planned to leave the hostel around 10am. Or at least that was the plan. So we had 4 roomies from California who went out drinking http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/North/Prague/blog-287330.html Here are some much awaited photos up to Munich. Enjoy http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-286947.html Ok so we got to Budapest and it was a haven after the little eastern swing we had. It is very beautiful with many interesting sights and historically filled stuff. It is made up of Buda and Pest Pest has all the places to stay and eat whilst Buda has all the historical sights and such. So we arrived pretty early thanks to our stellar night train from Romania. We got in early so we dropped off o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Budapest/blog-284697.html Hello AllDespite the ups and downs of our Eastern European Road trip we decided that we still should give it another shot. We hopped on a night train the nicest night train that we have been on so far and headed off to Ukraine. When we boarded the train we ran into 6 Edmontonians who were on a 6 week study trip essentially and extended vacation with 9 hours of class a week and excursions on http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ukraine/Lviv/blog-283995.html Hello allSo we left Dubrovnik and we were not too happy about that. The place was fantastic and we really missed it especially after where we headed next.We took a morning bus to Herceg Novi Montenegro from where we were hoping to catch another bus to Bar and then the night train to Serbia. We got to Herceg Novi couldn't get a bus to Bar for a few hours and ended up taking a bus to Podgori http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Serbia/West/Belgrade/blog-282230.html Hello againWe guess we have to do a little check up again. We're finishing off our time here in beautiful CroatiaWe took the train down from Ljubljana to Zagreb. On board we met a nice Croatian girl named Ana who helped us a lot with the border guards and the transfers. She even helped us find out how to get from Zagreb to Split because the train was not running and bus was the only option. She http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/Dubrovnik/blog-280353.html HelloSo we're in Slovenia right now. Ooooooooooooo ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhThis is really the first part of the uncharted territory of this trip.We left Munich at the crack of dawn and hopped on the train to Slovenia. The seats were all reserved so we made good use of the available space in the luggage compartment. We hadn't left Bavaria before a random guy approached us and asked to see our passp http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Bled/blog-277966.html Ja vi are here in Munchen jaWe took the train from Zurich to Munich where we could be take it easy for five days. We thought we might be able to recharge the batteries a little there. Yeah about that no not so much.Let's break it down to the daysDay 1So we arrived in town and went on a bit of an impromptu walking tour along the main pedestrianised street to Marienplatz which is the main http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-277957.html Hello allKif and Peter were successful with their meeting plan and met up at Platform 1 in Geneva. They went up to the Palais de Nations the UN building in Geneva and got a tour of the place. Its pretty cool in their because you get to see a lot of rooms where big decisions were made throughout history. After leaving the building at 2pm we realized that there would be no way that we could see http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/blog-275748.html Hello people it's Kristoffer here.This is my part of the France adventures. I was passed out when Peter left early for Luxembourg. I took it easy in Bruges and chilled with a fellow backpacker Molly from Guelph. We're having amazing luck with the weather still only 1 day of rain That good fortune continued for me in France .I took the TGV down to Lyon through Brussels and Disney World Paris d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Rh-ne-Alpes/Lyon/blog-274552.html HalloWe have now been to the Benelux nations or at least Peter has because he swung through Luxembourg.We left Cologne and took the train to Amsterdam. We couldn't stay in a hostel in town because it was a long weekend and everything was booked so we had to stay in Noordwijk near Leiden and 45 minutes away at a Beach Hostel. We chucked our bags at the station and started wandering down the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-273936.html