Budapest Day 16-21 (June 2-7) It was another morning of increasingly larger trains for our journey to Budapest our last stop of the trip. Time for sourcing more currency this time the Florin (twelfth currency from 14 countries visited). We had a short orientation walk and then headed down to view the Danube. It is really wide at this point and crossed by many impressive bridges. The main one being the chain bridge. On the Buda side of the river stands the castle/palace (now used as a gallery) and on the Pest side is the very impressive Parliament building. Budapest has [View Full Entry]

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Tatra Mountains - Tatranska Lomnica Day 14-15 (May 31-June 1) We had the morning to fill in, in Krakow and thought a visit to the local Shopping complex would be a good start. However, it turned out to be a public holiday for Pentecost, so waiting for the shops to open turned out to be fruitless. We filled in our time by catching up on our internet mail, as the weather wasn’t looking great. We then caught a bus to the border with Slovakia, where we then had a mini-bus that took us across the border to a stop where we [View Full Entry]

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Krakow Day 12-13 (May 29-30) From Auswich it was a short trip into Krakow. I was very impressed with this city. It is a university town, and still thinks of itself as the important city in Poland (a rivalry exists between Krakow and Warsaw much like the Melbourne and Sydney one). The old town of Krakow has turned it’s the area that had been it’s fortification walls into parks, so now there is a wonderful green band around the outside. Inside there is of course the square which is a nice open one. A church at the entrance, has a wonderful [View Full Entry]

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Teplice (Day 10-11) May 28-29 Another series of train journeys but in reverse this time with increasing smaller trains, This journey took us to Teplice in the north of the Czech republic. Our final two trains were shared with two school groups heading off for a few days camping, which made for a rather packed train. When we arrived we headed off to our guesthouse, following one group for a while but they headed in a different direction luckily for us. Our ten minute walk took us to a lovely guest house set in a valley in this small country area. [View Full Entry]

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Prague Day 7-9 (May 25-27) We travelled by 3 trains, increasing in size - a one carriage, then two carriage, and then 6 carriage train to get to Prague through more green countryside and small villages. We stayed in apartments in Prague which was a change, not that we used the kitchen but it was nice to have the option. Prague has a wonderful old town section, with so many historic buildings. There is a very large castle complex on the hill across the river; a square with an astronomical clock (that crowds stand around waiting to watch the various elements [View Full Entry]

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Cesky Krumlov Day 5-6 (May 23-24) We were fortunate to have a mini-bus to take us to Cesky Krumlov which is over the border into the Czech Republic. The drive was through very scenic and green countryside, always with a red-roofed village appearing with lovely church towers in the distance. Cesky Krumlov is a Bavarian town, that has belonged to various countries. However, it’s Czech heritage is clearly established now. There is an impressive Castle from the 13th century which stands above the town. It has been cleaned up, and the paint that had been part of a renovation [View Full Entry]

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Vienna Day 1-4 (May 19-22) I arrived at the central station far too early the next day, but I still like to leave a plenty of time for the “lost factor” when getting around on my own. No need this time as it was easy to travel by S-bahn to central station, and I located the correct international platform easily. My group leader was travelling on the same train, but she had managed to obtain a first class ticket on sale earlier. We made plans to meet in the restaurant car for coffee and went to sit in our separate carriages. [View Full Entry]

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Day 14-16 (May 16-18) It was a 6 hour journey by train to Berlin, and then a quick metro to our guest house in the Charlottenburg area. The train was full of local soccer fans with the local Berlin team needing to win for position in the finals. It was a cheery ride, with the fans wanting us to join in the singing. We also passed a massive protest on the way, which looked like a response to the global economic crisis. Our booking seemed to have gone astray but was quickly sorted with us staying in the hotel that was [View Full Entry]

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Day 12-13 (May 14-15) A really long travel day was next, leaving at 8.15 and arriving after 8pm in Warsaw, travelling on 3 trains. With such a late arrival we didn’t venture far (next door) for a late dinner of Lebanese food. Not really a Polish meal, but delicious all the same. The next morning we walked across the bridge over the Vistula River, which was undergoing repairs and reinstalling the tram lines. We navigated across eventually, and saw the first escalators that had been brought to the area and a display showing how people greeted the event. Then it was [View Full Entry]

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Day 10-11 (May 12-13) Moving time again and now it was a trip up north 2 hours by local train to stay in the Aukštaitija national park. We were collected at the station and driven to our local host families home where we were staying (they move out into a little cottage next door while we were there). The family speak little English but were so welcoming that we soon felt right at home. We had a room with window and balcony overlooking the lake. The national park was proclaimed with the villages still to remain inside it, as part of [View Full Entry]

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