8 nights and 7 days in Budapest, we spent longer here than anywhere else on our trip. During our time we visited a monument park containing the statues and plaques that were removed from the city when Communism fell in 1989. We also just so happened to be in Budapest during the national holiday that celebrated the rebellion, and me and Hawk nearly escaped with our lives when a riot almost broke out and a handful of riot ready police appeared. We also navigated our way through the underground city caves. Dressed in cover-alls and equipped with our helmets and head lamps we crawled on our stomaches, scaled steep ledges, climbed rusty ladders, slid on our bums and squeezed through some of the smallest passages that I didn't think I would ever fit through. 3 hours ... read more

we arrived in the afternoon at the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz II. It was an experience like nothing else, to see the gas chambers and crematoriums first hand. The thought that over 1.5 million people were murdered here (90% being Jews) was unimaginable, its like half the population of Greater Vancouver just gone. Basically I took lots of pictures of what I saw, and so they sort of tell the story. Be sure to see all the pics, as there are 42 of them and you need to skip to the next page to continue viewing them. Now some details and history of the camp... Beginning in 1940, Nazi Germany built several concentration camps and an extermination camp in the area, which at the time was under German occupation. The Auschwitz camps were a major ... read more

After a few delays in traffic we arrived at the Munich airport but failed to catch Kennah as he had already left for our camp site. So we headed there to find Kennah and Brendan (Hawk and Kennah's friend) already checked in and ready to drink. Oktoberfest is frickin' awesome, its similar to the PNE back home with rides and festivities but about 50 times larger and beer tents that house up to a few thousand people (the largest beer festival in the world). On average they consume three million liters of beer a day. Drinking beer, a liter at a time, I found myself intoxicated quite quickly and when the gates closed that first night we had already lost Kennah somewhere and when Hawkshaw and Brendan went to find him, Brendan came back without Hawkshaw ... read more

A short drive south and we ended up in a little country that produces more flavours of beer than any other. Our initial plan was for Brussels, but after a few recommendations to skip it and to go stay in Brugge, that is where we ended up after a short 2 hour stop in Antwerp. Brugge is a very nice little town, very european, with the style of the buildings dating back to the 15th century. The streets are all cobblestone, and lined with pubs promoting more than 300 flavours of beer and chocolate shops selling various flavours of rich Belgium home made sweets. Each brand of beer comes with its own branded glass, so the pubs are just packed with glasses hanging everywhere to accomodate all the various beers they sell. We spent the evening ... read more

Hmmmm... Athens, what can I say. Rude, dirty and hot. Not the most tourist friendly town although many tourists come here to see the Acropolis and marble pillars and what not from Ancient Greece. We stayed in a small hotel, and after one day we were ready to leave. So we changed our flight to as soon as possible, but that still left us here for 3 whole days. Problems here were that people are just plain rude, and they won't accept 50 euro notes, although that is all the ATMs will give you. So you are stuck unable to purchase anything with your money nor get change anywhere unless your lucky. We did what any tourist in Athens would do... and that was to go see the Acropolis... this unfortunately was also a disappointment. It ... read more