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Published: August 25th 2009
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Fuck Parade Finale 14 secs
1 additional video(s) currently being processed Guten Tag!
Another ridiculously long gap between our blogs, for that we apoligise. Neil's been too busy tring to make friends due to getting bored of Jamie! Sorry seemed to have slipped into writing in the 4th person there....back in the 1st!
At the moment we're chilling in Berlin's Mitte district, more about Berlin if you use that little roller thing on your mouse on scroll down. If this doesn't work, or you don't have one then use the down arrow. If you dont have a down arrow then you probably don't have a keyboard or computer so how the hell are you reading this?!?!
This long and arduous blog adventure begins in Slovenia's first city of Ljubljana. If, like us, you have no clue how to pronounce this then here it is phonetically.....Loob-ree-ana. This relatively compact capital city has a quaint charm. With its Baroque style buildings, tri-bridge square (its got three bridges) and imposing fortification it has...a quaint charm!
After the first two fairly uneventful days in Ljubljana we were joined by two English lads into our dorm. We soon headed out for a few beers with our new room mates Steve & Neil and
ended up in an English pub, chatting to a 15 strong cockney stag do! The conversation turned to the cockney's mode of transport for their trip and to cut a long story short we were offered a car called Miranda by a pissed nun! Being slightly drunk at the time we thought it was a great idea and jumped at the chance and soon found ourselves driving through the Alps to Salzburg, Austria.
N.B. To clarify. We did not drive the car that night so have breached no drink driving laws!
The road trip through the Alps was filled with sheer beauty, danger and driving on the wrong side of the road twice! Despite this Neil & Steve got us to Salzburg in one piece, much appreciation to the drivers!
To celebrate our arrival in sound of music land we hit the hostel bar's happy hour to find the traditional Austrian, ceramic, plant pot resembling litre jugs of beer for only €4! Cue a night of playing cards and getting plant-potted! Half way through the night we went to check on Miranda (as you could open her with a small padlock key) to find an Austrian parking ticket
for €25. Probably more than she was worth!
Steve, Neil & Miranda parted ways with us the next day and after a train journey involving sitting on the floor for €75 we arrived in Budapest.
Split into two parts, Buda & pest, situated on opposing sides of the river Danube, Budapest has alot to offer the sightseeing traveller. However, we did none of that stuff and got on it for three days at Sziget music festival! We did, however take a trip to one of Buda's thermal baths, an absolute must for any bath loving traveller. This turned out to be an expensive wash as we each picked up a €25 metro fine on the way home. Seriously bad times! On a serious note though, the Budapest metro company are a bunch of scumbags. They target and alienate tourists, make it difficult to buy tickets and will fine on the spot if you are caught without one. We were stung, not because we were trying to ride for free but because their damn ticket machines didn't work at our station. We genuinely tried to buy tickets but were confronted after one stop and threatened with police intervention if we
didn't pay up! If you can, avoid the Budapest metro!
One highlight before the festival was meeting up with Alex, our Geordie friend from Paris. We drank in a kert (google it!), ate some fresh ingredients and played some pool. Canny man!
We need to do a quick mention about our digs in Budapest. The East side hostel in the Pest district was a brilliant find. The vibe was more like staying in someones flat and were made very welcome by Istvan & Livia. Almost all of the guests were heading to Sziget so it was a great place to meet festival buddies, and at only €7 a its definately in our top rated!
Anyway...the main reason for heading Budapest was to catch the Sziget (pronounced SEE-GET or SHEE-GETT if you called Steve Ince) music festival. 'Sziget' meaning island is a week long party held, suprisingly enough on an island in the Danube. We decided to get into the festval spirit by buying cheap tents and camping for the 3 days we were there. The festival spanned the genres and included a world music stage, a dance arena, a circus stage, the MTV headbangers heavy rock tent
and the ambient chillout tent. Bryn, a workmate from Skye met us at the fest and joined us as we caught Snow Patrol, Nouvelle Vauge, Bloc Party, Fatboy Slim, White Lies, Primal Scream, Pendulum and The Prodigy to name a few. This was an awesome festival with an ace vibe and we would highly recommend it to anyone, no matter what type of music your into. A festival highlight was on the friday night, watching the prodigy. Along with some friends from the hostel we managed to get into a position near the front and were involved with heavy pushing, heavy bass and several mosh pits. Luckily, the only casualty were Jamie's flip flops!
After the madness of Buda-fest we needed a break from partying. Our next stop of Prague provided time to relax despite the ridiculously cheap beer! The accomodation in Prague turned out to be strange. Hostel by summer but primary school for the rest of the year, we were literally sleeping in a classroom, blackboard and all! The hostels ace card however was its all night bar with unlimited free ping pong table. Meeting up with a Brummy DJ called Joe we spent the nights playing
international tischtennis with Swiss, German, American, French, Czech and Korean athletes.
Our final stop of this momentous blog entry takes us to the techno capital of the world, Berlin. Did you know that 97% of Berliners can mix techno music by the age of five? The other 3% are deaf!
The first day in Berlin was spent immersing ourselves in the rich tapestry of the citie's history. We checked out Checkpoint Charlie, the sight of the Gestapo and SS headquarters, Brandenberg gate, the book burning square and of course the infamous 'Iron Curtain''.
The next day we joined the alternative Berlin tour. This walking tour is like no other, jumping on tubes and trains we were taken by our Scottish guide Calum McDonald to the lesser known sights of the city. This included the East Side Gallery, squatting houses, graffiti murals, beach bars, a bombed out train depot, skate parks and finishing off with the Fuck Parade. Before you get worried the Fuck Parade is not as it sounds. This electronic music procession was set up as an anti 'Love Parade' party. Comprising of seven floats each with their own soundsystem and DJ it encompassed House, Techno, Drum
n Bass and Speedcore! We joined the parade for the last 4 hours partying with our guide Calum and lots of other techno lovers.
Our next and final stop is Amsterdam, more in our next and final blog!
Thanks- Neil and Steve, Miranda, The Cockneys, Alex (again), Chris, James, Bryn, Istvan, Livia, Joe, Calum and the Irish.
No Thanks- Austian traffic warden and the Budapest metro inspectors.
We continue........
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fiona
non-member comment
good blog but bit disturbed by the topless dancing!