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Published: August 23rd 2007
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ok so thats a terrible pun but im in the czech republic, when else can i use it!!!
ok first off before i fill you in on all my exciting adventures i need to mention 2 VERY important things i forgot in my last group email... when i was in paris i visited jim morrisons grave which was so amazing and when i was in switzerland the rolling stones performed a concert practically around the corner form where i was staying so i could hear it all... mmm happy rock times!
also i need to point out that at this hostel, first of all shania twain is playing in the common room, and the y and z are switched around but not marked on this crazy czech keyboard so if i stuff it up its not my fault and im sorry! hahaha
ok.... so in my last few days in switzerland i went to geneva which was about an hour or less away from lausanne, it was a really beautiful city and i went on a really nice summers day so i just chilled out there for a day and saw this
HUGE jet there... it was pretty cool
after that i finally went back to italy!
it felt so good after 3 weeks of stumbling through french to be somewhere and understand the language... to a degree anyway...
i started off in milan and the weather was terrible the whole time and most places were closed because the milanese take their holidays in august! It was good to go there but overall it wasnt that impressive. I went to the duomo and looked around at the ridiculously expensive shops though... i walked through a department store that only sold designer names like prada etc... i had a bit of a giggle to myself because the thought of my buying or being able to afford any of this was pretty funny!!! I also tried to see the last supper painting by leonardo davinci which is in this tiny little chapel in milan... but because its so tiny you have to book and they were totally booked out while i was there.... so i just missed out....
after milan i made my way to verona, a small town just outside of venice where
romeo and juliet was set! its such a lovely town, its so romantic and picturesque but there wasnt a whole lot to do there. but my hostel was this old coverted church, it was really amazing.... the fact that i was sharing a room with about 30 other people was also interesting!! I also found this well in verona called the lovers well where people place a lock on the well with their name and the name of their lover on the well and its supposed to bring good luck or something to that effect.. it was really pretty! I also spent one night sitting in front of the old arena and listening to the opera... amazing!
then i was off to venice!!! and that city is just the epitome of beauty! every night i sat down by the canal near my hostel and watched the sun set over venice while i ate dinner, it was so beautiful! and everynight i always had dogs running aorund me, or a little group of nonna's congregating or something else really italian... it was very cool! i saw all the big sights, st marks square, rialto bridge and all that,
AIDS ad in switzerland
they have no conservatism but they all looked best at night when i took a vaporetto down the grand canal!! I also went to the markets there which were really fun! and i felt so proud of myself buying things in italian!! i also went and saw a shakespeare play at an english theatre company in venice, much ado about nothing, it was really exciting to see some form of entertainment in ENGLISH... i understood what was going on!!! not to mention it was pretty good! and cheap!
after venice i planned to go to bologna but i couldnt get a hold of the hostel... AT ALL... i dont even know if they exist... so i went to padova instead... it was nicve to be in a small town and be forced to speak italian but once again... not a whole lot to do! but they had an amazing variety of cheap pizzas just away from the main square which i appreciated a whole lot!
after italy i took a night train to vienna.. now when i booked the train i expected it to be a sleeper train because thats what i asked for, but i soon found
out why i got it so cheap.. it was just a normal train, i was in a 6 seat compartment crammed in with 5 other people for the night... it was not the most comfortable of nights but i have to admit it wasnt as bad as i thought it would be!
but when i got to vienna it was worth it! that city is so beautiful and im dissapointed i didnt get to see more of it! I spent the first day just roaming aorund and saw the Hoffburg palace and other amazing buildings.. and that night i met a few other backpackers from britain, germany, brazil and france respectively and i had the best fun with them! On my second day i went out with emma and paul from britain and ryan from adelaide (in australia) and we went to the sigmund freud museum, the original psycoloigst... it was a little interesting but the museum was a bit rubbish... but then we wondered aorund the museums quarter and went ot this awesome playground where me and emma had LOADS of fun! and that night we went to this fair ground and a bar near it,
we went on a bunch of rides and i had such a good time, but i found it really bizare when one of the rides we went on had a screen thing above it which randomly started playing porn... hmmm austrians arent as conservative as i thought! on my last day in vienna i went to a flea market which turned out to be a market thing this theatre compay does to sell off all it sold prop... me and emma both being big drama nerds were in heaven! but i couldnt really take anything with me so i just got a cool poster for 50 cents...
that night though i went off to prague which is where i am now! ive only had one day here but its so lovely... today i saw prague castle which was so majestic and i wondered thoruhg old town for a bit which was so amazing, then i stumbled across the kakfa museum. Franz Kafka was a czech existentialist writer whose work i LOVE, so i had to go to the museum and it was the best museum ive ever been to! it was like drama class meets philsophy meets
science works fun! it was fantastic... and when i saw a copy of metamorphisis in the gift shop for only about 10 australian dollars i had to buy it!!! the other thing i love about this place is that things are so cheap... theres a place aorund the ocrner from me with beer for 30 czech crones... thats about 1.50 australian dollars... i can understand why people come back from eastern europe alcoholics!!!
anyway i must be off its late and im very tired and im off to cesky krumlov, a tiny czech town, tomorrow, and this friday i'll be in poland to finally start my placement, which means this is my last stop before poland! my backpacking is almost over! and ive been to almost 10 countries and have about 2 stamps on my passport... slack immigration officials!
also i have some photos at http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/joelspants/
just up till italy though i havent uploaded the rest yet
anyway love to all
ciao
-joel
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