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Time be flying!
Almost feels like a just wrote the last post. Cannot believe it's been two weeks! Time is really starting to fly over here, heck I wouldn't even be able to tell you what day it is. The last post came from Amsterdam just after the queens day calibrations. Since then I have covered a lot of ground and had a many adventure!From Amsterdam I was headed towards Berlin and after somehow missing two trains, I finally got my stuff together and arrived in the ever changing city before nightfall. After grabbing some grub and meeting people in my hostel, me and a few guys headed out to Dr. Pongs, a ping pong bar in Berlin. Literally a bar where you play ping pong against everyone in the room well chatting and meeting people. Super cool to experience, now just need to get one in Canada. In my time in Berlin I did a walking tour which highlighted on Berlin's rich and diverse history. What I found to be the most interesting, if not entertaining however was how the city handles its past. The place where hitlers bunker was located, and where his body was brought up for the first time, are now a parking lot and a patch of dirt for your dog to do its business. As well as the square where the book burning a took place is now a open environment filled with various different seats and free books for the public to come by and enjoy. Long story short it was cool to see a City who's history is very twisted and recent be so unified in moving forwards. In Berlin I met up with a friend I had met previously in Bruges, and we traveled together to Prague. I was fortunate as it was not their first time in Prague, so they already knew there way around and what to do. So great to have this after traveling solo for this while. Prague truly is a beautiful city. The old town is incredibly jolly with winding roads and interesting architecture. The hostel we were at was literally in the old town square. Really couldn't have asked for a better location. One of the days in Prague we left and did a day trip to Kutná Hora, a small town about an hour away by train. In this town was a church that contains over 40000 real human skeletons that have all be transformed into various different pieces of art. As creepy as amazing, it was really cool to see. We spent the remainder of the day slowly wondering through the town and getting a feel for small town Czech. From Prague we went to Cesky Krumlov, a very quaint village in the south of Czech approaching the Austrian border. Finding any and everything in this small town to winding pathways lined by huge groomed trees, to a castle guarded by two diarrhetic bears. Cesky Krumlov was small but it was jammed with all sorts of interesting things you really couldn't go wrong. My night there ended at a bar run by a Honduran man who was probably the most entertaining bar tender I have ever met. We drank (cheap but good) beer in a dungeon where a butcher used to slaughter pigs, and when we became hungry later on in the night, the bartender called a guy who knew a guy who.. Well you get the idea. Long story short we all of a sudden have food that has been taken from on of the restaurants in town, and sneaked out the back and into this bar. All for only 4 euros. Crazy!From Krumlov I parted ways with my mate, (who I have since heard likes it so much there is now looking for work) and headed to Budapest for the second time in about a month. I wanted to go back to have a break from having to always be in a new place, and for once already know my way around town. It was great to be back, and crazy enough even ran into two people who had been at my hostel the month previous. One had never left, and one just happened to be back. It was a great week on further exploration of the great city, doing more cuisine exploration and trying to get a feel for the pulse that makes Budapest such a great city. And now I have left Budapest behind me as I sit on a 7 hour train to Cluj in Romania. It will be an adventure none the less. First order of business is to get some garlic as I am technically in Transylvania, and then figure the rest out from there. I'm glad to be back in Eastern Europe where I can afford things and where western culture has not had as much of an influence. Even just through the train windows it feels like another world. Speaking of trains, this train marks the 62nd train of my trip so far. Yikes!Anyways, I must go back to things like looking out the window and wondering where I'm going to sleep
tonight, so on that note all the best to all of you who made it this far in today's edition of Mack's random European Ramblings. Travel safe and we'll catch up in a bit!M (Wrote this yesterday on my train to Cluj. Currently in transilvania. It's super interesting here so far, and amazingly cheap. Went to a fancy Resturant last night and had a deluxe piazza for only 4€. Not bad. Looking forward to getting out and exploring Romania, however I've simply been in relax mode since arriving. Also looking into the train system in this part of the world has become daunting. A simple 166km route is 7hours by train, 4 by bus. Gonna be a blast!...Alright until next time!)M
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Dane
non-member comment
sunday
Hola MacKenzie....thought I should update on what you are doing as your mom is coming by for dinner with Brian and I in a half hour....sounds like you are well occupied and enjoying seeing the other parts of the world....abrazos Dane