Thursday July 30th 2009 - Friday August 7th 2009
One thing to note about the Overland Track: when we decided to turn around, we were worried about the possibility of hypothermia. It was a good decision. It wasn't until after we were safely back in civilization that the experience was labelled a "failure". And it wasn't until the obligatory brooding period had passed, that the experience was labelled a "lesson" (a label that dilutes much of the associated bitterness). Thus, the incident is referred to as the "Overland Lesson" instead of the "Overland Failure".. Symantics!
After the Overland Lesson, it seemed prudent to put space between us and everything that resembled the Track. Initially this involved a tight chain of bus transfers aimed at Hobart. A discussion with the bus driver persuaded us to stay at the-nearby-dorm. Staying at the-nearby-dorm was dumped due to a lack of vacancy, and replaced with the-unheated-and-leaky-hut. The-unheated-and-leaky-hut was then scrapped (for obvious reasons), and swapped for the-fully-furnished-cabin. Despite obviously ending in the best possible accomodation, the situation was tense. Nothing was going smoothly. Expectations were exploding everywhere!
I like to be prepared. Preparation requires plans. Even if they're only loosely thought out. Just thinking about what's likely and what's unlikely makes you prepared for most eventualities. I find comfort in having a general idea of what's going to happen. When something unexpected happens, then I become.. "agitated". I think this means I'm getting old. Anyways, my rant is over! We eventually went back to Hobart and began thinking about what to do with ourselves -- enter Jimmy.
Jimmy is a dude that is sort of like Santa Claus. He laughs a lot. He gives out presents. He has a scottish accent. He knows where the pubs are. He knows where the distillery is. He knows where the brewery is.. So yeah, he's friendly and well-informed -- like Santa (he also has a beard!). He also knows all about whatTasmania has to offer. That's why we decided it was time for a road trip!
We spent 4 days on the road, driving ~200km a day on all types of roads: paved, gravel, dirt, mud.. Beyond the driving, there was cooking with the camping stove, sleeping in a tent, sleeping in a car, sleeping on beaches, sleeping in forests, feeding the animals (even though it was forbidden, the kangaroo knew how to beg so I had to give him some pecans - I know I wasn't the first), chasing away the animals, bonding with nature, getting creeped out by nature, walking, viewing, making do with with sketchy toilets, making do with no toilets, etc. Oh, and we may have seen some glow worms. Glow worms (for those interested) look similar to the little stars you see when you stand up too fast or get hit on the head.
The photos of the east coast drive should be uploaded soon on Facebook and that's the best place to see some of the great sights we have of the trip.
Attempt at the Overland Track - Tasmania
Monday July 27th 2009 - Wednesday July 29th 2009
Our main motivation to go to Tasmania was a hike known as the 'Overland Track', one of the best and most beautiful hikes in Australia. And we missed snow from back home so we thought it would be perfect to try the hike in the winter time (and it's also free at that time since not many people want to do it). In theory it was the perfect plan.
It was tricky organising the walk since the bus system in the winter is terrible and it only left for Cradle Mountain on Mondays and Wednesdays - and we originally planned to start it on the Thursday. So that's why we went to Launceston to kill some time beforehand.
Finally, Monday rolled around and we got there, started the walk and then discovered that we were not equipped for the weather. It was terrible! We nearly got hypothermia walking to the first cabin, we had to stay in an emergency shelter along the way and we put out sleeping bags one inside the other and then crammed both of us inside it. Good thing we're both not super large people, it was a tight squeeze and that's how we slept for the night. We had a family of 3 possums trying to steal our food and crumbs during the night and discovered that the best way to scare them was to hiss at them. Not sure why exactly that worked, but throwing stuff and shouting at them did not affect them at all, only hissing.
So after realizing that we were not equipped for the weather up on the Cradle Mountain (we could handle the snow and the rain but not the wind thrown into the mix) we headed back the next day. It was a rough two days and extremely disappointing since that was one of the main draws to Tasmania for us and we didn't have time to try it again this trip. We mostly just felt stupid. :P But lesson learned, and we will do the Overland Track eventually and Tyler is dead set on doing it in winter again, just to prove that we can do it. I think that we also had some bad timing as a storm started just as we got up the mountain and we had a 2 hour trek in uncovered territory and that is what got us soaked and chilled to the bone. They had boarded up a path but it has broken down over the years and there were giant sink holes along the boardwalk so our feet got drenched, even in waterproof boots since it was so deep.
Funny adventure though.
We have some funny pictures and videos from our 2 day hike though. The wind was super rough and it was basically knocking us over. We had to hop over a river on the way back as well and my jumping skills need lots of practice - one foot made it though. But our feet were completely drenched before that anyway. All of our stuff was drenched as well and the only hostel in the area had all the hostel beds full due to a school tour group in the area so we had to stay in a deluxe cabin in order to have heating and get all our clothes dry for the bus ride back to Hobart the next day. Frustrating all around, but worth the money in the end because we would have been more miserable if we were cold and wet the next day as well. We mostly just felt like fools. But one day we'll show the Overland Track who's boss. Mark my words....
Our main motivation to go to Tasmania was a hike known as the 'Overland Track', one of the best and most beautiful hikes in Australia. And we missed snow from back home so we thought it would be perfect to try the hike in the winter time (and it's also free at that time since not many people want to do it). In theory it was the perfect plan.
It was tricky organising the walk since the bus system in the winter is terrible and it only left for Cradle Mountain on Mondays and Wednesdays - and we originally planned to start it on the Thursday. So that's why we went to Launceston to kill some time beforehand.
Finally, Monday rolled around and we got there, started the walk and then discovered that we were not equipped for the weather. It was terrible! We nearly got hypothermia walking to the first cabin, we had to stay in an emergency shelter along the way and we put out sleeping bags one inside the other and then crammed both of us inside it. Good thing we're both not super large people, it was a tight squeeze and that's how we slept for the night. We had a family of 3 possums trying to steal our food and crumbs during the night and discovered that the best way to scare them was to hiss at them. Not sure why exactly that worked, but throwing stuff and shouting at them did not affect them at all, only hissing.
So after realizing that we were not equipped for the weather up on the Cradle Mountain (we could handle the snow and the rain but not the wind thrown into the mix) we headed back the next day. It was a rough two days and extremely disappointing since that was one of the main draws to Tasmania for us and we didn't have time to try it again this trip. We mostly just felt stupid. :P But lesson learned, and we will do the Overland Track eventually and Tyler is dead set on doing it in winter again, just to prove that we can do it. I think that we also had some bad timing as a storm started just as we got up the mountain and we had a 2 hour trek in uncovered territory and that is what got us soaked and chilled to the bone. They had boarded up a path but it has broken down over the years and there were giant sink holes along the boardwalk so our feet got drenched, even in waterproof boots since it was so deep.
Funny adventure though.
We have some funny pictures and videos from our 2 day hike though. The wind was super rough and it was basically knocking us over. We had to hop over a river on the way back as well and my jumping skills need lots of practice - one foot made it though. But our feet were completely drenched before that anyway. All of our stuff was drenched as well and the only hostel in the area had all the hostel beds full due to a school tour group in the area so we had to stay in a deluxe cabin in order to have heating and get all our clothes dry for the bus ride back to Hobart the next day. Frustrating all around, but worth the money in the end because we would have been more miserable if we were cold and wet the next day as well. We mostly just felt like fools. But one day we'll show the Overland Track who's boss. Mark my words....
Launceston, Tasmania
Thursday July 23rd 2009 - Sunday July 26th 2009
After looking into the Overland Track and when we could actually catch a bus to get out to Cradle Mountain, we thought that we might as well go to Launceston a few days early and check out what the town had to offer. We stayed at Launceston Backpackers and it was probably one of the largest hostels that we've ever stayed in and one of the nicest as well. There was even a resident cat named Fuji who basically lived in front of the electric fireplace and loved to bite any of the backpackers foolish enough to try to pet her tummy. It was very entertaining.
Launceston is a very small town, but very pretty as well. They are known for the Cataract Gorge which has some pleasant walks around it and some boat cruises that go down it for the people who like to indulge in cruises. We hiked around the gorge and went up to Duck Reach Power Station, the old hydro plant for the town and it was fun to wander around. Lots of uphill climbing to prepare us for the big walk.
The most random thing about Launceston is the fact that they have monkeys in their city park. Yes, you heard me right. Our map of the town said 'Come see the monkeys in city park' and we were intrigued by this so we went to check it out and sure enough they have live Japanese macaques in an enclosed area in the middle of the park. They are quite aggressive and hate the little children that tap on the glass, they gave the kids quite the scare when they threw their bodies against it in retaliation. They even made me jump. No one really explained much about the monkeys but we heard that they were a gift to the city from a visiting Japanese politician or businessman. Weird though.
4 days in Launceston was probably too many days, but it gave us some time to relax and eat some good food. The town is very walkable though, nice and compact. And we learned that the Tour de France is a big deal over here, lots of people in the hostel were watching it and keeping track of who was winning. It made me fall asleep though.....
-Jenny
After looking into the Overland Track and when we could actually catch a bus to get out to Cradle Mountain, we thought that we might as well go to Launceston a few days early and check out what the town had to offer. We stayed at Launceston Backpackers and it was probably one of the largest hostels that we've ever stayed in and one of the nicest as well. There was even a resident cat named Fuji who basically lived in front of the electric fireplace and loved to bite any of the backpackers foolish enough to try to pet her tummy. It was very entertaining.
Launceston is a very small town, but very pretty as well. They are known for the Cataract Gorge which has some pleasant walks around it and some boat cruises that go down it for the people who like to indulge in cruises. We hiked around the gorge and went up to Duck Reach Power Station, the old hydro plant for the town and it was fun to wander around. Lots of uphill climbing to prepare us for the big walk.
The most random thing about Launceston is the fact that they have monkeys in their city park. Yes, you heard me right. Our map of the town said 'Come see the monkeys in city park' and we were intrigued by this so we went to check it out and sure enough they have live Japanese macaques in an enclosed area in the middle of the park. They are quite aggressive and hate the little children that tap on the glass, they gave the kids quite the scare when they threw their bodies against it in retaliation. They even made me jump. No one really explained much about the monkeys but we heard that they were a gift to the city from a visiting Japanese politician or businessman. Weird though.
4 days in Launceston was probably too many days, but it gave us some time to relax and eat some good food. The town is very walkable though, nice and compact. And we learned that the Tour de France is a big deal over here, lots of people in the hostel were watching it and keeping track of who was winning. It made me fall asleep though.....
-Jenny
Hobart, Tasmania
Monday July 20th 2009 - Thursday July 23rd 2009
We are finally in a new city, it's nice to have a change of scenery. The rainy weather in Melbourne was getting a bit depressing and it was great to get off the plane and have clear blue skies greeting us. One thing that we quickly learned about Tasmania is that the weather changes very fast here. So while we were greeted with clear skies when we arrived, once we got to our hostel, wandered around town and went to pick up groceries, it was overcast and raining when we left the store. Lesson learned.
It's not as cold as we expected here but Hobart is on the south-eastern coast so I think that makes the temperatures more mild. We're bound to be freezing once we're at Cradle Mountain for the hike.
Our hostel - Hobart Hostel - is nice and clean and there are very few people here at the moment. Tasmania is more popular in the warm months - especially around Christmas time where every place is pretty much sold out of beds. Right now the hostel is empty and we have an 8 bed dorm to ourselves, it's a good change. We've gone to the waterfront, enjoyed some fish and chips from one of the docked boats on Constitution Dock that had seating indoors as it was pouring rain by the time we got there yesterday for lunch. The museum was also very interesting (and free!), with lots of fossils, taxidermied animals (including my beloved platypus, very sad to see) and weird expressive art that made us laugh. We're not artsy fartsy, okay?
Hobart has a nice feel to it and it's easy to walk around in. The library has free internet and our hostel advised us that it was faster than the internet they had, so Tyler was excited about it, until we got to the library and saw how slow they were running and couldn't handle multiple windows open at the same time. Let's just say that Tasmania is not very advanced.... but it's manageable, just disappointing to someone who loves fast, efficient computers as much as Tyler.
We discovered that Tasmania has limited buses in the winter season so we had some difficulty planning the walk since buses only leave Mondays and Wednesdays from Launceston to Cradle Mountain and we were unable to catch the Tuesday bus to Launceston and make the Wednesday bus for Cradle. Very sad. So we have to start the walk on Monday, which is fine but not what we originally planned. The walk will be 8 days due to the sidetrips that we have planned and we have all our food, equipment and everything all sorted. We should be back in Hobart by the next Tuesday (I think it's August 4th). Luckily we're meeting up with Tyler's dad in Sydney on August 10th, so if we don't show up then I'm sure he'll notify authorities to look for us in the mountains... ;) Just kidding, we know what we're doing, we'll be fine, I assure you.
We're off to Launceston today to spend a few days before starting the hike on Monday. Wish us luck. :)
-Jenny
We are finally in a new city, it's nice to have a change of scenery. The rainy weather in Melbourne was getting a bit depressing and it was great to get off the plane and have clear blue skies greeting us. One thing that we quickly learned about Tasmania is that the weather changes very fast here. So while we were greeted with clear skies when we arrived, once we got to our hostel, wandered around town and went to pick up groceries, it was overcast and raining when we left the store. Lesson learned.
It's not as cold as we expected here but Hobart is on the south-eastern coast so I think that makes the temperatures more mild. We're bound to be freezing once we're at Cradle Mountain for the hike.
Our hostel - Hobart Hostel - is nice and clean and there are very few people here at the moment. Tasmania is more popular in the warm months - especially around Christmas time where every place is pretty much sold out of beds. Right now the hostel is empty and we have an 8 bed dorm to ourselves, it's a good change. We've gone to the waterfront, enjoyed some fish and chips from one of the docked boats on Constitution Dock that had seating indoors as it was pouring rain by the time we got there yesterday for lunch. The museum was also very interesting (and free!), with lots of fossils, taxidermied animals (including my beloved platypus, very sad to see) and weird expressive art that made us laugh. We're not artsy fartsy, okay?
Hobart has a nice feel to it and it's easy to walk around in. The library has free internet and our hostel advised us that it was faster than the internet they had, so Tyler was excited about it, until we got to the library and saw how slow they were running and couldn't handle multiple windows open at the same time. Let's just say that Tasmania is not very advanced.... but it's manageable, just disappointing to someone who loves fast, efficient computers as much as Tyler.
We discovered that Tasmania has limited buses in the winter season so we had some difficulty planning the walk since buses only leave Mondays and Wednesdays from Launceston to Cradle Mountain and we were unable to catch the Tuesday bus to Launceston and make the Wednesday bus for Cradle. Very sad. So we have to start the walk on Monday, which is fine but not what we originally planned. The walk will be 8 days due to the sidetrips that we have planned and we have all our food, equipment and everything all sorted. We should be back in Hobart by the next Tuesday (I think it's August 4th). Luckily we're meeting up with Tyler's dad in Sydney on August 10th, so if we don't show up then I'm sure he'll notify authorities to look for us in the mountains... ;) Just kidding, we know what we're doing, we'll be fine, I assure you.
We're off to Launceston today to spend a few days before starting the hike on Monday. Wish us luck. :)
-Jenny
Bev'n'Micks Hostel - Melbourne, Victoria
I think it's worth having a little blurb about the hostel that was our home for 3 and a half months. When we were in Melbourne for the first time we stayed at a different Bev'n'Micks, it was directly across from the Victoria Market and was conveniently nicknamed 'the Vic'. It was nice enough, full of Irish lads but it was full once we returned from our friend Ben Kemp's birthday for the Easter week-end in April. So they guided us towards another Bev'n'Micks hostel just down the road and around the corner (aka McMahon's Bev'n'Micks to differentiate between the two). We were quite happy in our new home hence the reason why we never felt the need to relocate. You just couldn't find a better deal than $80/week each for a bed and utilities and the fact that we kept getting rejected for rentals added to the equation of staying put.
So we shacked up in a dorm called 'London Bridge' that was branched off of another room with 6 beds, our room had to be accessed through the other room and ours only had 5 beds. Most of these went unused until the last 2 months of our stay, then our room became the popular one that everyone wanted to be in. This may or may not have had to do with the fact that one of our new roommates brought a tv with him and we subsequently bought a cheap DVD player.... :)
The hostel was loaded with British, Irish and a few Europeans thrown into the mix. We only met 2 other Canadians there during our entire stay, and a few Americans as well. In the end there was quite a lot of drama including people getting thrown out for ripping a door off it's hinges, and another one punched an employee (who was about 50 years old) while his father punched the bartender who tried to break up the fight. Luckily Tyler and I had a knack for either being away or asleep on the nights that these incidents happened.
There were lots of theme nights in the hostel included an 'big kid party' where everyone was wearing face paint, playing with balloons and playing kid games like Twister, hot potato (or 'pass the parcel' as they call it here), musical chairs and frozen statues. We also had a 'twins party' where pairs of people tried to dress in matching clothes, Tyler actually had two twins for the night, he switched outfits half-way through when his second twin was finished work and got back to the hostel around midnight.
The hostel also had:
Monday night = movie night
Wednesday night = pool competition (winner wins bar tab)
Thursday night = quiz night (winning team splits bar tab)
Sunday mid-day = poker competition (winner wins bar tab)
It was a very nice set up. There was a chef who came to the hostel mid-way through and once a week he would make a big meal of which we would pay around $7.00 each for supplies and we would have a huge, home-cooked meal. He was very talented, although we learned that the Brits and Irish love their salt - yikes!
We had some fun day trips with some of the hostel peeps as well included the Great Ocean Road trip, where it rained most of the time but we still saw some good sights. We were able to see London Bridge before it collapsed for good about 4 days later. Pretty nice coincidence. And most of us came down with the flu shortly after the trip because of the weather conditions, but it wasn't swine flu - hurray! And we shared it with everyone else in the hostel, we thought we were going to be quarantined!
We also went to Phillip Island which is known for its population of 'little penguins', they used to be called 'fairy penguins' but the term was considered offensive and they changed it. You had to pay $20 to get in and watch the Penguin Parade, they all come ashore after 2 weeks of feeding in the ocean and return to their burroughs. Very cute to watch and they are so vocal, they all fight over the burroughs and try to navigate their way around the sand hills. You can also see them for free if you just walk through the parking lot and on one of the trails down to one of the non-marked off parts of the beach. A few of the people in the group discovered this, I was jealous since I paid the $20 but at least we know for next time. Tyler didn't get to go because he had to work, sad day for him.
And now our time in Melbourne is done. We had lots of good times, met some great people but since my contract at work finished on July 17th and Tyler wasn't getting a lot of hours at his internet cafe, we decided to do some more travelling since we were in one place for so long. We're currently in Tasmania at the moment, enjoying a change of scene and happy to be done work at least for a little while. Hurray for travel mode! :)
-Jenny
So we shacked up in a dorm called 'London Bridge' that was branched off of another room with 6 beds, our room had to be accessed through the other room and ours only had 5 beds. Most of these went unused until the last 2 months of our stay, then our room became the popular one that everyone wanted to be in. This may or may not have had to do with the fact that one of our new roommates brought a tv with him and we subsequently bought a cheap DVD player.... :)
The hostel was loaded with British, Irish and a few Europeans thrown into the mix. We only met 2 other Canadians there during our entire stay, and a few Americans as well. In the end there was quite a lot of drama including people getting thrown out for ripping a door off it's hinges, and another one punched an employee (who was about 50 years old) while his father punched the bartender who tried to break up the fight. Luckily Tyler and I had a knack for either being away or asleep on the nights that these incidents happened.
There were lots of theme nights in the hostel included an 'big kid party' where everyone was wearing face paint, playing with balloons and playing kid games like Twister, hot potato (or 'pass the parcel' as they call it here), musical chairs and frozen statues. We also had a 'twins party' where pairs of people tried to dress in matching clothes, Tyler actually had two twins for the night, he switched outfits half-way through when his second twin was finished work and got back to the hostel around midnight.
The hostel also had:
Monday night = movie night
Wednesday night = pool competition (winner wins bar tab)
Thursday night = quiz night (winning team splits bar tab)
Sunday mid-day = poker competition (winner wins bar tab)
It was a very nice set up. There was a chef who came to the hostel mid-way through and once a week he would make a big meal of which we would pay around $7.00 each for supplies and we would have a huge, home-cooked meal. He was very talented, although we learned that the Brits and Irish love their salt - yikes!
We had some fun day trips with some of the hostel peeps as well included the Great Ocean Road trip, where it rained most of the time but we still saw some good sights. We were able to see London Bridge before it collapsed for good about 4 days later. Pretty nice coincidence. And most of us came down with the flu shortly after the trip because of the weather conditions, but it wasn't swine flu - hurray! And we shared it with everyone else in the hostel, we thought we were going to be quarantined!
We also went to Phillip Island which is known for its population of 'little penguins', they used to be called 'fairy penguins' but the term was considered offensive and they changed it. You had to pay $20 to get in and watch the Penguin Parade, they all come ashore after 2 weeks of feeding in the ocean and return to their burroughs. Very cute to watch and they are so vocal, they all fight over the burroughs and try to navigate their way around the sand hills. You can also see them for free if you just walk through the parking lot and on one of the trails down to one of the non-marked off parts of the beach. A few of the people in the group discovered this, I was jealous since I paid the $20 but at least we know for next time. Tyler didn't get to go because he had to work, sad day for him.
And now our time in Melbourne is done. We had lots of good times, met some great people but since my contract at work finished on July 17th and Tyler wasn't getting a lot of hours at his internet cafe, we decided to do some more travelling since we were in one place for so long. We're currently in Tasmania at the moment, enjoying a change of scene and happy to be done work at least for a little while. Hurray for travel mode! :)
-Jenny
Australia. Australia: Melbourne
Tuesday March 31st, 2009 - Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Melbourne, Victoria
Perhaps you've heard -- the world is experiencing some economic "bumps"..
The majority of this period has been spent in a state of unemployment. A state I am unaccustomed to and unsuited for. Jenny was the unfortunate person who got to deal with me during this period. Not a role to be jealous of.. Luckily we are both employed now. Jenny is working for Melbourne University as a receptionist and I am working for some agency as a passenger counter (public transit passengers).
Despite being unemployed, their have been some highlights:
- a weekend in Fish Creek that was sponsored by our favourite Fish Creekian (thanks Corinna!)
- several experiments that delved into the mysteries of cake, brownies and other assorted confectioneries (varying success..)
- a relaxing hike up the 1000 stairs of the Dandenong range
- a victory by team Canadia at the local quiz night
- a successful home-brew version of a chicken parmesian (a.k.a. "parma")
-
I'll let Jenny expand on those topics -- I'm currently a little busy basking in my own state of employment.
Tyler
Melbourne, Victoria
Perhaps you've heard -- the world is experiencing some economic "bumps"..
The majority of this period has been spent in a state of unemployment. A state I am unaccustomed to and unsuited for. Jenny was the unfortunate person who got to deal with me during this period. Not a role to be jealous of.. Luckily we are both employed now. Jenny is working for Melbourne University as a receptionist and I am working for some agency as a passenger counter (public transit passengers).
Despite being unemployed, their have been some highlights:
- a weekend in Fish Creek that was sponsored by our favourite Fish Creekian (thanks Corinna!)
- several experiments that delved into the mysteries of cake, brownies and other assorted confectioneries (varying success..)
- a relaxing hike up the 1000 stairs of the Dandenong range
- a victory by team Canadia at the local quiz night
- a successful home-brew version of a chicken parmesian (a.k.a. "parma")
-
I'll let Jenny expand on those topics -- I'm currently a little busy basking in my own state of employment.
Tyler
Australia. Australia: The Great Ocean Road
Saturday March 14th, 2009 - Monday, March 30th, 2009
Great Ocean Road, Victoria
(Torquay, Anglesea, Fairhaven, Aireys Inlet, Apollo Bay, Princetown, and Lorne!)
"Look ma', the kid can walk!"
That's right, apparently we know how to walk. During this 16 day stretch we averaged just over 10km a day, with almost all of those days involving ~4 babies worth of weight on each of our backs (the "baby" is a unit used to measure weight; each baby represents ~8 lbs or ~4 kilos).. Perhaps these numbers don't seem that impressive, but believe me they certainly feel like they are when live them. The weight alone was like carrying an extra 25% of ourselves -- that's like growing two new legs and one extra head! Anyways, here's a breakdown of our days (distance walked and weight carried):
- Torquay: ~10.0km; 1kg; bused to Torquay; watched surfers, surveyed surf shops and promised to be surf pros by tomorrow
- Torquay: ~8.0km; 1kg; too rainy for surfing; decide to sit in cafe and drink; determined to be surf pros by tomorrow; meet backpacking Swedish doctor -- puts us to shame by walking ~20-30km day (overachieving swedes =P)
- Torquay: ~9.0km; many surfers at beach.. decide not to make them look terrible by surfing (surfers have weak confidence, don't want to undermine it); will become surf pro after big walk tomorrow
- Anglesea: ~18.0km; 15kg; hiked to Anglsea; long walk; heavy packs; lots of coast; walking on sand with pack found to be difficult -- like walking on a herd of gritty, greased pigs; pass by Tiger Snake breeding ground -- nothing amorous seen
- Fairhaven: ~12km; 2kg; leave packs in Anglesea, walk to Fairhaven, bus it back to Anglesea -- super-duper-success; walk relatively weightless, and thus "awesome"; celebrate with discount, day-old cinnamon buns
- Apollo Bay: ~12km; 0kg; bused to Apollo Bay; Fish n' Chips for dinner -- witness "freakishly-aggressive-Jenny" chase seagulls who want our food.. Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; read about skin cancer statistics in newspaper and decide to buy narrow-brim bucket hat (have beard, have hat, have plaid, need fishing rod..)
- Apollo Bay: ~16km; 4kg; plan on nice relaxing day before first day of big walk; go grocery shopping for Great Ocean Walk; breakdown of shopping:
- walk to town; 2km
- walk first market; 1km; survey prices
- walk second market; 1km; survey prices
- write shopping list
- walk first market; 1km; survey prices
- walk second market; 1km; survey prices
- walk first market; 1km; buy: ramen noodles
- walk second market; 1km; buy: carrots, bread, tuna, vegemite, eggs
- walk first market; 1km; buy: steak and veggies for "last supper"
- Tyler has tiny freak-out about starving on walk
- walk back to campground; 2km
- Tyler has bigger freak-out about starving on walk
- walk to town; 2km
- walk to first market; 1km; buy: bread, cookies, chocolate
- walk back to campground; 2km
- Elliot Ridge: ~9.9; 18kg; have idea to carry plastic bags of food on stick (like two hunters would carry a dead gazelle: gazelle tied to stick, and stick on shoulders) -- GENIUS! Lots of up and down on the walk -- very sweaty; splash water on selves -- refreshing, but not cleansing..
- Blanket Bay: ~11.6km; 18kg; long; boring; middle-aged English couple feel pity for our us after seeing soup dinner -- they feed us pasta -- it is delicious (thank-you England)
- Cape Otway: ~10.5; 18kg; meet Australian named Mathew, who is also on walk -- we all like food, so that's what we talk about for the next 5 days (we also playing a card game called 500 -- fun); buy 6 chocolate bars, 1 ice cream bar and 1 popsicle at Cape Otway Lighthouse kiosk (only place to buy food on the walk); food topic for day: chocolate bars
- Aire River: ~9.7; feeling smelly and greasy; find cold, slimy, pond to bathe in.. feel less gross (actually produced a little oil slick.. *ick*); koala near walks over us to get at nearby eucalyptus tree -- wow; awesome campgrounds -- feels like a brambly hobbit village; food topic for day: McDonalds
- Johanna: ~13.6; 17kg; echidna shows us it's prickly butt -- mmm, wildlife-tooshy; awesomer hilltop campgrounds -- view of wavey ocean; food topic for day: pastry and pies
- Ryans Den: ~12.4; 17kg; hills; hell; up, down, up, down, down, down, up, up, up, up, UP, down, up, down, up, etc.; meet a mob of kangaroos; two leaches jump out of a tree and attack Jenny's left boob -- hilarious; awesomest clifftop campground -- tall, jutty, clifftop view of ocean; food topic for day: food
- Devils Kitchen: ~15.3; descend a couple hundred steps to Wreck Beach, which has an anchor embedded in some rock -- pretty cool; play cards on the beach -- also pretty cool; ascend a couple hundred steps from Wreck Beach -- not really cool..; pretty cool clifftop campground -- trees, view of ocean
- Princetown / Glenample homestead: ~12.9km; 16kg; overcast, cold and dry; sunny, hot and dry; overcast, windy and rainy; sunny, windy and dry; sunny, windy and rainy (?!?); food topic for day: pizza and salad
MelbourneLorne: ~?km; -99kg; bused toMelbourneLorne torelaxwait for Melbourne Grand Prix to stop flooding all possible accomodation; Jenny buys a sun dress- Lorne: ?km; ?kg; What happened today?
- Lorne: ?km; ?kg; devonshire scone: scone, jam, cream -- mmm
So, that was the walking adventure. Good times,
Tyler and Jenny
Australia. Australia. Singleton to Melbourne
Saturday, March 7th, 2009 - Friday, March 13th, 2009
Melbourne, Victoria
Two facts:
So the story began because it was time to leave Singleton. We wanted to go to Melbourne. Melbourne is not particularly close to Singleton.. So we devised a plan that combined feet, cars and trains to get us from Singleton to Melbourne via several way points (numbered for later reference):
Arrival in Melbourne. Initial thoughts:
Other noteworthy events:
Tyler and Jenny
Melbourne, Victoria
Two facts:
- FACT #1: at some point, in the not so distant past, Melbourne was named the world's most "liveable" city (REFERENCE; also note that Canada rocks the liveable list!)
- FACT #2: the Kings Cross region of Sydney is mostly certainly NOT the world's most "liveable" anything
So the story began because it was time to leave Singleton. We wanted to go to Melbourne. Melbourne is not particularly close to Singleton.. So we devised a plan that combined feet, cars and trains to get us from Singleton to Melbourne via several way points (numbered for later reference):
- 1: feet bring us to car (situated in Singleton driveway; ~30 seconds)
- 2: car brings us to train (in nearby city called Maitland; ~1 hour)
- 3: train brings us to other train (in major city called Sydney; ~2 hours)
- 4: other train brings us to Melbourne (traveling by night to diminish the whopping 13 hour commute!; ~13 hours!)
Arrival in Melbourne. Initial thoughts:
- air filled with smells that are completely unlike urine -- good
- less gayness (as in happy -- unsure about other gayness) -- neutral
- subway's maps and electronic timetables fairly accessible -- good
- accommodations near to subway; somewhat expensive, but include toast, cereal, fruit, milk and various hot breakfast beverages (CEREAL! FRUIT! HOT BEVERAGES! In the immortal words of the Counting Crows: "you don't know what you got till it's gone") (also clean linen -- thank-you Claremont Guesthouse) -- good
- nearby stir-fry place (cheap and delicious -- thank-you Smiley Thai) -- good
Other noteworthy events:
- a hippie restaurant that lets the customer decide the value of their meal: Lentil as Anything -- more difficult than you may think..
- finally confirmed that the McDonalds in Australia provide free WiFi (but sadly do not offer McGriddles)
- egg tarts -- Jenny has been quoted as saying: "mmm" in regards to these
- We re-united with some friends from our Croatia tour who really talked up Melbourne and we helped them win at trivia night -- free pitchers of beer for everyone!
- Parmas are delicious and an Aussie specialty -- breaded chicken with cheese, ham and spaghetti sauce, no pasta is served with it here, only mashed potatoes and veggies. Mmmm.....
Tyler and Jenny
Australia. Australia. Katoomba to Singleton
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 - Friday, March 6th, 2009
Singleton/Hunter Valley, New South Wales
When people think of Australia, Singleton is not often the town that comes to mind, but it was actually a nice place to visit. We never would have seen it otherwise, but my good friends from Edinburgh, Renee and Kempy have settled down there and had a free bedroom for us to crash in. Who could say no to that? It was so nice after the camping in Katoomba and the unpleasant hostel experience in Sydney to go and stay in an actual house with fresh, real, non-travel towels, a tv, a Wii nintendo and all the other luxuries we had at home.
For those of you who don't know, the Hunter Valley is one of the big wine regions in Australia. Many people cruise around the area and go visiting/sampling at all the wineries. They have notices in all of the wineries warning about not being able to serve you if you are intoxicated. I think it must happen a lot. But they were happy to give you a sample of whatever you wanted, it was amazing! And we even had some cheese and bread sampling too. We learned the difference between dry, sweet and fruity wines (just because it's sweet does not necessarily mean that it's fruity). And dessert wines are terrible - that's what I learned, too sweet for me anyway. We tried some sparkling red wine and it was pretty delicious, you can even serve some red wines cold.... as crazy as that may sound to you, it's true. So we're becoming quite the connoisseurs. :)
Aside from being great hosts, Renee and Kempy chauffeured us around town and took us to see Newcastle, a great coastal town in New South Wales. Beautiful beach and waterfront. It would be a great city to live in, not too big and lots of beautiful scenery. And they also took us to Kempy's parents house in a town called Tea Gardens. It's mostly full or retired people who wanted to get away from Sydney in their later years, a nice quiet community on the river/waterfront. The river connects to the ocean so it's saltwater. And I saw my first real life dolphin there, just swimming into the harbour. Amazing!
Renee and Kempy also introduced us to some crazy Australian movies and tv shows and the local cuisine. We went 'yabbying', which involves setting nets to catch yabbies (crayfish-like creatures). We boiled them up and ate them for dinner along with lots of barbecued meat. Before you boil the yabbies you have to rip their bums out so that was kinda gross, but it's better that we don't eat that part of them. We learned that what we in Canada would call 'cocktail weiners' are referred to in Australia as 'little boys'.... but not when you order them over the
counter or you might get some funny looks. Also, fried eggs are delicious on pizza and burgers, Australians try to add eggs to whatever they can. Breakfast pizza is a must! And tim-tam slams are delcious (tim-tams are the popular chocolate cookie here and you eat opposite corners of the cookie then dunk it in your coffee and sip the coffee through the cookie. So bad for you, but delicious.
We came from Singleton/Tea Gardens well fed, better educated on things Australian and extremely comfortable. And we may even be going back if Kempy gets us a job pruning grape vines for his friend. We'll let you know. :)
On to Melbourne!
-Jenny and Tyler-
Singleton/Hunter Valley, New South Wales
When people think of Australia, Singleton is not often the town that comes to mind, but it was actually a nice place to visit. We never would have seen it otherwise, but my good friends from Edinburgh, Renee and Kempy have settled down there and had a free bedroom for us to crash in. Who could say no to that? It was so nice after the camping in Katoomba and the unpleasant hostel experience in Sydney to go and stay in an actual house with fresh, real, non-travel towels, a tv, a Wii nintendo and all the other luxuries we had at home.
For those of you who don't know, the Hunter Valley is one of the big wine regions in Australia. Many people cruise around the area and go visiting/sampling at all the wineries. They have notices in all of the wineries warning about not being able to serve you if you are intoxicated. I think it must happen a lot. But they were happy to give you a sample of whatever you wanted, it was amazing! And we even had some cheese and bread sampling too. We learned the difference between dry, sweet and fruity wines (just because it's sweet does not necessarily mean that it's fruity). And dessert wines are terrible - that's what I learned, too sweet for me anyway. We tried some sparkling red wine and it was pretty delicious, you can even serve some red wines cold.... as crazy as that may sound to you, it's true. So we're becoming quite the connoisseurs. :)
Aside from being great hosts, Renee and Kempy chauffeured us around town and took us to see Newcastle, a great coastal town in New South Wales. Beautiful beach and waterfront. It would be a great city to live in, not too big and lots of beautiful scenery. And they also took us to Kempy's parents house in a town called Tea Gardens. It's mostly full or retired people who wanted to get away from Sydney in their later years, a nice quiet community on the river/waterfront. The river connects to the ocean so it's saltwater. And I saw my first real life dolphin there, just swimming into the harbour. Amazing!
Renee and Kempy also introduced us to some crazy Australian movies and tv shows and the local cuisine. We went 'yabbying', which involves setting nets to catch yabbies (crayfish-like creatures). We boiled them up and ate them for dinner along with lots of barbecued meat. Before you boil the yabbies you have to rip their bums out so that was kinda gross, but it's better that we don't eat that part of them. We learned that what we in Canada would call 'cocktail weiners' are referred to in Australia as 'little boys'.... but not when you order them over the
counter or you might get some funny looks. Also, fried eggs are delicious on pizza and burgers, Australians try to add eggs to whatever they can. Breakfast pizza is a must! And tim-tam slams are delcious (tim-tams are the popular chocolate cookie here and you eat opposite corners of the cookie then dunk it in your coffee and sip the coffee through the cookie. So bad for you, but delicious.
We came from Singleton/Tea Gardens well fed, better educated on things Australian and extremely comfortable. And we may even be going back if Kempy gets us a job pruning grape vines for his friend. We'll let you know. :)
On to Melbourne!
-Jenny and Tyler-
Australia. Australia. Sydney to Katoomba
Tuesday, February 21st, 2009 - Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Jenny and I "tour-ised" Sydney quite thoroughly:
Beyond theft, the Cooee also suffered some minor maintenance issues. There were two bathrooms on our floor. Someone (intentionally?) managed to clog the urinals in both of them. I am ashamed to say that I panicked and fled the facilities the first time that the yellow water started to spill over the rim (don't worry, I had some hand sanitizer in my backpack).
On February 25th, took the train to Katoomba in the Blue mountain region. Small town. Many cafes. Many tourists. Free internet at the library. Impressive scenery (cliffs, waterfalls, trees, wildlife, etc.).
Bought a camping stove (I have fire!)
Stayed at the Katoomba Falls Caravan Park. Facilities well priced and clean.The tent and sleeping functioned perfectly.
Attempted 4 hour hike to the Red Hand cave in Glenbrook -- success (the hands painted on the cave were indeed red).
Attempted 2 day hike to Chinaman's Gully, via Mt. Solitary Summit -- success (!).
Tyler and Jenny
P.S. The previously mentioned showers-with-tinted-glass-divider actually turned out to be the showers-with-one-way-mirror-divider. This discovery came at a terrible price -- it involved me making several very strange faces on the mirror side, while some unknown naked man may (or may not) have been watching on the see-through side. I think it likely that an unknown naked man was watching because a certain gentleman started giving me cautionary-eyes whenever he saw me around the hostel..
Jenny and I "tour-ised" Sydney quite thoroughly:
- Opera House
- NOTES:
- - one local compared it to a pair of turtles mating.. wierd
- Sydney Harbour
- Sydney Botanical Gardens
- NOTES:
- home to a colony of bats
- bat facts:
- unlike vampires, bats can come out during the day
- unlike Batman, bats are quite social
- bats are annoying
- misc phrases for groups of creatures:
- a Thought of Barons
- a Knot of Toads
- a Raffle of Turkeys
- a Decent of Woodpeckers
- a Conspiracy of Ravens
- a Smack of Jellyfish
- a Murder of Crows
- a Kettle of Hawks
- for fellow travelers, the 10am free walking tour is worth checking out
- Aquarium
- NOTES:
- sharks actually do exist and are not fictious creatures created by the Aussies to keep us away from their beaches -- big mouth, big teeth, small eyes..
- Jenny wants a platypus..
- Bondi Beach
- NOTES:
- against all common sense, this is actually pronounced "bond-eye beach"
- riptides are more fun, than dangerous
- (to Mr. B. Williams) topless beaches are everything you dreamed of and more
- may have to exchange dreams of surfing for dreams of body-boarding -- Jenny will kill me if I die..
Beyond theft, the Cooee also suffered some minor maintenance issues. There were two bathrooms on our floor. Someone (intentionally?) managed to clog the urinals in both of them. I am ashamed to say that I panicked and fled the facilities the first time that the yellow water started to spill over the rim (don't worry, I had some hand sanitizer in my backpack).
On February 25th, took the train to Katoomba in the Blue mountain region. Small town. Many cafes. Many tourists. Free internet at the library. Impressive scenery (cliffs, waterfalls, trees, wildlife, etc.).
Bought a camping stove (I have fire!)
Stayed at the Katoomba Falls Caravan Park. Facilities well priced and clean.The tent and sleeping functioned perfectly.
Attempted 4 hour hike to the Red Hand cave in Glenbrook -- success (the hands painted on the cave were indeed red).
- NOTES:
- got lost one time (1/2 hour confusion)
- many birds
- many bugs
- no snakes.
Attempted 2 day hike to Chinaman's Gully, via Mt. Solitary Summit -- success (!).
- NOTES:
- got lost four times (1 3/4 hours of confusion)
- many birds
- two snakes (who puts a snake in the water)
- one leech (Jesus Christ -- they drop from trees!)
- something that bounced
- for fellow travelers:
- a bit of (lots of?) mild (extreme?) climbing is required
- the signs aren't lying when the claim the path is not well marked
- there is no "chinaman"
Tyler and Jenny
P.S. The previously mentioned showers-with-tinted-glass-divider actually turned out to be the showers-with-one-way-mirror-divider. This discovery came at a terrible price -- it involved me making several very strange faces on the mirror side, while some unknown naked man may (or may not) have been watching on the see-through side. I think it likely that an unknown naked man was watching because a certain gentleman started giving me cautionary-eyes whenever he saw me around the hostel..
Australia. Australia. Sydney: Arrival review
Tues, February 17th, 2009 - Friday, February 20th, 2009
So to recap:
-Tyler/Jenny
So to recap:
- departed from Toronto, Canada (Pearson airport) at ~9pm
- arrived in London, England (Heathrow airport) at ~9am local time (~6 hours of travel, 0 hours of sleep)
- NOTES:
- showered successfully
- bought sandwiches.. and chocolate
- departed Heathrow at ~9pm (12 hours of waiting, 2 hour of sleep)
- arrived in Bangkok, Thailand (? airport) at ~? (~? hours travel, 1 hour of sleep)
- NOTES:
- very warm -- an unsettling precursor to Australian weather..
- security officers are "friskier" than those in Canada or London -- was pleased to learn that my groin was not armed
- departed Bangkok when the sun was near the horizon -- unsure whether it was rising or setting (1 hour of waiting)
- arrived in Sydney, Australia (? airport)
- NOTES:
- forgot aluminum water bottle on plane; attempted to get Baggage Services to retrieve it; failure
- despite warnings about the severity of Sydney Customs officers they are found to be amiable
- telephoned Backpackers Headquarters Hostel to make use of their offer for free airport pickup; failure -- no answer on their end; waited 30mins, then redialed -- failure -- no answer; waited 5mins, then redialed -- failure -- no answer; waited 0mins, then redialed -- failure -- no answer; waited 0mins, then redialed -- success (!)
- departed Sydney airport when the taxi arrived
- NOTES:
- Australian accents can be mixed with any other accent to create unimagined hybrids (i.e., aussie-indian, aussie-polish, etc.)
- arrived at hostel
- NOTES:
- reception: pleasant and helpful
- dorm-mates: nocturnal (i.e., sleep during the day)
- beds: ~clean
- showers: separated by tinted glass (first noticed this while trying to determine if I was the unknown naked man in the mirror -- there was no mirror -- I was not the unknown naked man)
-Tyler/Jenny
Europe. Romania. Brasov: Searching for Dracula
Fri, October, 20th, 2006 - Sat, October, 21st, 2006
We had such high hopes for Romania, especially since we expected a lot of Dracula folklore. Unfortunately our visit to Romania was disappointing but there was still some excitement. We arrived around 6am which was too early to check in to a hostel because they don't let anyone in until 10am. We were desperate for a shower and sleepy so that is our excuse for what happened next. A man named Nick approached us and used his "practical/utilitarian" grasp of English to inform us that he had a private room in his house that we could stay in. He was a sketchy character with missing teeth but his happy attitude and use of English convinced us in our vulnerable state to go with him (plus he was going to drive us there, how convenient is that!). The room was very nice and actually in the home of this nice Romanian couple who spoke no English but did speak French so that helped a little.
Nick also offered to drive us to the castles at Bran and Rasnov for 15 euros(both look like castles that Dracula could have lived in but didn't). So we trusted him and agreed. Nick told us that he just had to make a quick stop at the train station and then he disappeared for 20 minutes. When he came back he had a stranger with him and told us that he had stuff to do today so this new man (who was sketchy as well and spoke no English) would drive us for the agreed price. The new guy is smiley so we go along with it.
The castles turn out to be big tourist traps (who would have guessed???) but they are pretty cool. Bran was the nicer castle (Rasnov was under construction) and it had spooky pictures of gypsy queens which Tyler enjoyed. It had a spooky feeling when you were inside the castle and just felt more like Dracula could have lived there. Very pretty view of the city as well. There were lots of stalls around the castles that sold daggers, an item I wasn't expecting to see so abundantly available but cool to look at.
The end of the trip signalled the beginning of the cabby haggling. We were unprepared for this since we agreed on a flat price and he understood that. Tyler ending up giving 2 extra euros but it was very awkward and unpleasant to haggle with someone who is already ripping you off and is unable to (or at least pretending not to) understand you. I would not recommend the experience to anyone.
We also encountered the greatest language barrier in Romania. We got spoiled in the other countries that we visited by most of the people having a little knowledge of English and most restaurants had English translations for their dishes or at least someone that could explain what it was to you. Romania was different. We were starving at 3pm and found a fast food place while walking around but discovered that we couldn't read anything that was listed so we ended up just picking random combos. I totally mispronounced everything while ordering (and Tyler saved us a table), the girl smiled at me and my brutal attempt at Romanian so at least she was nice about me butchering her language. Tyler's meal was perfectly acceptable, he got chicken drumsticks.... I on the other hand ended up with fried cheese on a bun. It was so gross! And amazingly enough it was a very popular item in the restaurant, I saw many other people around who intentionally ordered it. Craziness! The other excitement of the day was when Tyler ever so slightly electrocuted himself while trying to figure out why the washing machine was covering the floor in water.
The next day we went to Sighisora in the hopes of attending a Dracula theme park which Tyler had read about in our outdated travel guidebook. We learned that the theme park was never actually made because Prince Charles believed it would taint the beauty of Romania... so sad! After mapless wandering that revealed most of the places were closed at noon we had lunch at Vlad Tepes (Dracula)'s birthplace. Very tasty food although it is kinda sad that Dracula's old house is now a restaurant for tourists... but I bet they make good money.
-Jenny and Tyler, Dracula groupies
We had such high hopes for Romania, especially since we expected a lot of Dracula folklore. Unfortunately our visit to Romania was disappointing but there was still some excitement. We arrived around 6am which was too early to check in to a hostel because they don't let anyone in until 10am. We were desperate for a shower and sleepy so that is our excuse for what happened next. A man named Nick approached us and used his "practical/utilitarian" grasp of English to inform us that he had a private room in his house that we could stay in. He was a sketchy character with missing teeth but his happy attitude and use of English convinced us in our vulnerable state to go with him (plus he was going to drive us there, how convenient is that!). The room was very nice and actually in the home of this nice Romanian couple who spoke no English but did speak French so that helped a little.
Nick also offered to drive us to the castles at Bran and Rasnov for 15 euros(both look like castles that Dracula could have lived in but didn't). So we trusted him and agreed. Nick told us that he just had to make a quick stop at the train station and then he disappeared for 20 minutes. When he came back he had a stranger with him and told us that he had stuff to do today so this new man (who was sketchy as well and spoke no English) would drive us for the agreed price. The new guy is smiley so we go along with it.
The castles turn out to be big tourist traps (who would have guessed???) but they are pretty cool. Bran was the nicer castle (Rasnov was under construction) and it had spooky pictures of gypsy queens which Tyler enjoyed. It had a spooky feeling when you were inside the castle and just felt more like Dracula could have lived there. Very pretty view of the city as well. There were lots of stalls around the castles that sold daggers, an item I wasn't expecting to see so abundantly available but cool to look at.
The end of the trip signalled the beginning of the cabby haggling. We were unprepared for this since we agreed on a flat price and he understood that. Tyler ending up giving 2 extra euros but it was very awkward and unpleasant to haggle with someone who is already ripping you off and is unable to (or at least pretending not to) understand you. I would not recommend the experience to anyone.
We also encountered the greatest language barrier in Romania. We got spoiled in the other countries that we visited by most of the people having a little knowledge of English and most restaurants had English translations for their dishes or at least someone that could explain what it was to you. Romania was different. We were starving at 3pm and found a fast food place while walking around but discovered that we couldn't read anything that was listed so we ended up just picking random combos. I totally mispronounced everything while ordering (and Tyler saved us a table), the girl smiled at me and my brutal attempt at Romanian so at least she was nice about me butchering her language. Tyler's meal was perfectly acceptable, he got chicken drumsticks.... I on the other hand ended up with fried cheese on a bun. It was so gross! And amazingly enough it was a very popular item in the restaurant, I saw many other people around who intentionally ordered it. Craziness! The other excitement of the day was when Tyler ever so slightly electrocuted himself while trying to figure out why the washing machine was covering the floor in water.
The next day we went to Sighisora in the hopes of attending a Dracula theme park which Tyler had read about in our outdated travel guidebook. We learned that the theme park was never actually made because Prince Charles believed it would taint the beauty of Romania... so sad! After mapless wandering that revealed most of the places were closed at noon we had lunch at Vlad Tepes (Dracula)'s birthplace. Very tasty food although it is kinda sad that Dracula's old house is now a restaurant for tourists... but I bet they make good money.
-Jenny and Tyler, Dracula groupies
Europe. Hungary. Budapest: Fun with an exciteable Romanian
Thurs, October, 19th, 2006
We got lost trying to find the Statue Park in Budapest since it was in an area not covered by our map. While lost we discovered a cheap internet place and decided to spend some time there to make ourselves feel better. Tyler goes crazy without internet for a few days so it is better to appease him than have a grumpy, computer-depraved geek on my hands. :) When you haven't been on the internet for a while and are stressed and lost in an unfamiliar city you have no idea how fast time flies by. We spent 3 hours at the internet cafe and it felt like 10 minutes... crazy! But it was a nice way to kill time before our overnight train.
We shared our compartment on the overnight train to Brasov, Romania with an exciteable Romanian named Michael. He reminded me of Robin Williams, same peppiness and jumping around enthusiasm and he also looked like him (and I'm not the only one to notice the similarity, he mentioned that people tell him that all the time). He started a conversation with us by asking us what our zodiac signs were, he and Tyler are both Sagittarius's and he said that meant that they were both "soft" whereas since I'm a Cancer I'm "hard & tough". I bet a lot of you are laughing when you read that, but he was convinced that I was very tough. Perhaps I am around strangers. I was amused with his interpretation of me. He provided us with travel advice since he's been all over the place and also gave us diet advice. He was a nutritionist at some point and knows a lot about botany and was convinced that you should eat fruit 20 minutes before a meal because once you eat your carbs and heavy food after the fruit your body is tricked into thinking that the heavy food is a fruit and you'll digest it in 20 minutes instead of 20 hours. It was an interesting theory and he was very enthusiastic about it. He shared his food with us and even if we said no he would say "Come on!" until we agreed. Good thing we're push-overs or there could have been a brawl! :)
-Jenny the Hard and Tyler the Soft
We got lost trying to find the Statue Park in Budapest since it was in an area not covered by our map. While lost we discovered a cheap internet place and decided to spend some time there to make ourselves feel better. Tyler goes crazy without internet for a few days so it is better to appease him than have a grumpy, computer-depraved geek on my hands. :) When you haven't been on the internet for a while and are stressed and lost in an unfamiliar city you have no idea how fast time flies by. We spent 3 hours at the internet cafe and it felt like 10 minutes... crazy! But it was a nice way to kill time before our overnight train.
We shared our compartment on the overnight train to Brasov, Romania with an exciteable Romanian named Michael. He reminded me of Robin Williams, same peppiness and jumping around enthusiasm and he also looked like him (and I'm not the only one to notice the similarity, he mentioned that people tell him that all the time). He started a conversation with us by asking us what our zodiac signs were, he and Tyler are both Sagittarius's and he said that meant that they were both "soft" whereas since I'm a Cancer I'm "hard & tough". I bet a lot of you are laughing when you read that, but he was convinced that I was very tough. Perhaps I am around strangers. I was amused with his interpretation of me. He provided us with travel advice since he's been all over the place and also gave us diet advice. He was a nutritionist at some point and knows a lot about botany and was convinced that you should eat fruit 20 minutes before a meal because once you eat your carbs and heavy food after the fruit your body is tricked into thinking that the heavy food is a fruit and you'll digest it in 20 minutes instead of 20 hours. It was an interesting theory and he was very enthusiastic about it. He shared his food with us and even if we said no he would say "Come on!" until we agreed. Good thing we're push-overs or there could have been a brawl! :)
-Jenny the Hard and Tyler the Soft
Europe. Hungary. Budapest: Terror and depressing ballet
Wednesday, October, 18th, 2006
We went to visit the "Museum of Terror" today in Pest. The focus of this museum was Hungary's history with communism and the terrible things that happened to its citizens during the "reign of terror". The museum had a very spooky feel to it, as soon as you entered there was this very loud, catchy music playing that went with these video images of war, torture and despair. The museum was very well laid-out and easy to follow and in every room there were photocopied readings to accompany what you saw. The museum was definitely a shock, it's weird how we can live in oblivion of terrible things that happen overseas. History classes in Canada are a lot different from those in Hungary, I don't remember anyone having a sympathetic view towards Hungary. I guess that's what happens when you don't get the FULL story, only a distorted view. The museum was very educational and eye-opening. In the basement you were able to go into the prison cells used to keep those who were opposed to communism and you could even see where the people were killed. That area had an eery feeling about it as well, it gave me goosebumps.
In the evening we went to see the ballet at the Operahaus. We discovered that we were underdressed and got a few stares but we saw a few others who were in the same boat as us so it made us feelt better. And if anyone had been making snooty comments about us we couldn't have understood them anyway. The ballet itself was more confusing than we had anticipated. We thought that we were being smart in picking something without words so that we could easily understand what was going on... unfortunately it was a rather complicated ballet and we needed the help of a program to explain the basic plot. The plot was pretty depressing (and based on a real story): an unhappy royal marriage, prince with many mistresses & prostitutes, prince is feeling melancholy & gets new young mistress, they threaten each other with a gun but make love afterwards, prince almost kills the king accidentally, prince kills gun-wielding mistress and then himself. Odd story. The dancing was beautiful though. There was an amusing character in the ballet who was the prince's ex-lover and kept trying to win him back after he was married, she was so persistent and when he kept refusing she found him a new young girl to be his mistress. How nice of her.
Oh and to go with our "inappropriate" attire for the ballet, Tyler also filled up our water bottle in the bathroom at the operahouse. Aren't we classy? :)
-Jenny and Tyler, the picture of classiness
We went to visit the "Museum of Terror" today in Pest. The focus of this museum was Hungary's history with communism and the terrible things that happened to its citizens during the "reign of terror". The museum had a very spooky feel to it, as soon as you entered there was this very loud, catchy music playing that went with these video images of war, torture and despair. The museum was very well laid-out and easy to follow and in every room there were photocopied readings to accompany what you saw. The museum was definitely a shock, it's weird how we can live in oblivion of terrible things that happen overseas. History classes in Canada are a lot different from those in Hungary, I don't remember anyone having a sympathetic view towards Hungary. I guess that's what happens when you don't get the FULL story, only a distorted view. The museum was very educational and eye-opening. In the basement you were able to go into the prison cells used to keep those who were opposed to communism and you could even see where the people were killed. That area had an eery feeling about it as well, it gave me goosebumps.
In the evening we went to see the ballet at the Operahaus. We discovered that we were underdressed and got a few stares but we saw a few others who were in the same boat as us so it made us feelt better. And if anyone had been making snooty comments about us we couldn't have understood them anyway. The ballet itself was more confusing than we had anticipated. We thought that we were being smart in picking something without words so that we could easily understand what was going on... unfortunately it was a rather complicated ballet and we needed the help of a program to explain the basic plot. The plot was pretty depressing (and based on a real story): an unhappy royal marriage, prince with many mistresses & prostitutes, prince is feeling melancholy & gets new young mistress, they threaten each other with a gun but make love afterwards, prince almost kills the king accidentally, prince kills gun-wielding mistress and then himself. Odd story. The dancing was beautiful though. There was an amusing character in the ballet who was the prince's ex-lover and kept trying to win him back after he was married, she was so persistent and when he kept refusing she found him a new young girl to be his mistress. How nice of her.
Oh and to go with our "inappropriate" attire for the ballet, Tyler also filled up our water bottle in the bathroom at the operahouse. Aren't we classy? :)
-Jenny and Tyler, the picture of classiness
Europe. Hungary. Budapest: Aloofness gets the girl
Tuesday, October, 17th, 2006
We decided to spend today walking about Pest (the area across the Danube) and eventually go try to get ballet tickets for the next night since we weren't able to get through on the phone or the internet. It was quite hectic getting over to Pest since I (Jenny) was leading the way and dind't realize that I led us right onto a HIGHWAY!!!! It was crazy, the cars were SO close to us. We tried crossing to the other side but with 4 lanes it was tricky (and I'm naturally nervous about crossing non-busy roads). Tyler and I ended up on opposite sides of the highway because of my cowardice. It was a very stressful situation but everything worked out all right. I learned my lesson about following the "pretty path" (we had been following the river)... there is always a catch!
We walked to St. Istvan's Square and saw St. Stephen's Cathedral at the centre of the square. It was very fancy. There was a young girl in front of the church selling tickets to a Folk Festival that night and she convinced us to go see it. We wanted to take in some more Hungarian culture. Tyler was thrown for a loop though because the tickets in the front rows were the cheapest and the ones in the back were the most expensive, it just defied all logic. We're pretty sure that we were scammed in some way but the tickets weren't super expensive so it's okay, just odd.
We ate dinner at a restaurant near the church where the Folk Festival was being held. The waiter actually understood us when we ordered tap water (that was a first). Tyler's pasta was very good & filling whereas my "turkey stew" was really turkey with gravy... falsely labelled on the menu. If you go to Hungary remember that "stew = gravy".
The folk Festival was really cool, it mainly revolved about 2 groups of Hungarian dancers. The guys did the more complicated foot banging/tap dancing and the girls got hurled around and made "yip"s on occasion. There was one dancer who kind of looked like the actor Adrien Brody and he was so serious he wouldn't make eye contact with any of the girls who were his dancing partner and all the girls were just trying to catch his eye. I think his aloofness made them all want him. :)
-Jenny and Tyler, cultured by the Hungarian folks
We decided to spend today walking about Pest (the area across the Danube) and eventually go try to get ballet tickets for the next night since we weren't able to get through on the phone or the internet. It was quite hectic getting over to Pest since I (Jenny) was leading the way and dind't realize that I led us right onto a HIGHWAY!!!! It was crazy, the cars were SO close to us. We tried crossing to the other side but with 4 lanes it was tricky (and I'm naturally nervous about crossing non-busy roads). Tyler and I ended up on opposite sides of the highway because of my cowardice. It was a very stressful situation but everything worked out all right. I learned my lesson about following the "pretty path" (we had been following the river)... there is always a catch!
We walked to St. Istvan's Square and saw St. Stephen's Cathedral at the centre of the square. It was very fancy. There was a young girl in front of the church selling tickets to a Folk Festival that night and she convinced us to go see it. We wanted to take in some more Hungarian culture. Tyler was thrown for a loop though because the tickets in the front rows were the cheapest and the ones in the back were the most expensive, it just defied all logic. We're pretty sure that we were scammed in some way but the tickets weren't super expensive so it's okay, just odd.
We ate dinner at a restaurant near the church where the Folk Festival was being held. The waiter actually understood us when we ordered tap water (that was a first). Tyler's pasta was very good & filling whereas my "turkey stew" was really turkey with gravy... falsely labelled on the menu. If you go to Hungary remember that "stew = gravy".
The folk Festival was really cool, it mainly revolved about 2 groups of Hungarian dancers. The guys did the more complicated foot banging/tap dancing and the girls got hurled around and made "yip"s on occasion. There was one dancer who kind of looked like the actor Adrien Brody and he was so serious he wouldn't make eye contact with any of the girls who were his dancing partner and all the girls were just trying to catch his eye. I think his aloofness made them all want him. :)
-Jenny and Tyler, cultured by the Hungarian folks
Europe. Hungary. Budapest: The kindness of Hungarians
Monday, October, 16th, 2006
We ate breakfast on the train this morning with the two older ladies in our train compartment. Both were quite chatty and though not perfectly fluent in English, they were able to converse with us smoothly (much better than if we had tried to speak Hungarian, which we don't know a word of). One of the ladies (whose name we later learned was Marie) had several experiences with "Canadiana" as her daughter had been courted by one of us. She described how it had been a long 4 year relationship (filled with dancing) but it did not last. She also talked about her job which was as a felt artist, her entire family all work with it. It looks a lot like wool in its natural form and they make hats, carpets, stuffed animals, etc.
We had a lot of fun chatting with the ladies and when the train arrived in Budapest we left the train and were struck by what will likely be the biggest surprise of the trip... Marie, who had been met at the train station by her daughter Anna, offered to let us stay at her place for free. our book had mentioned scams so we were skeptical, plus we had actually made reservations for a hostel (for only the second time on our trip). Despite both of these facts, Marie and Anna seemed genuinely kind so we agreed to accept their kind offer. They even bought metro tickets for us since it's more expensive to get money at the train station. They were just insanely nice, especially for only knowing them for a couple of hours. They made us lunch and tea and we chatted with them in their very nice appartment, it was the Buda part of Budapest, which is much nicer and had a huge castle nearby. It was amazing! They also announced that they were going to their house in the country so we got to have their appartment to ourselves. How crazy is that? They were so trusting. I think that Tyler won them over with his personality, he's quite the charmer. :)
Their kindness really made Budapest one of the highlights of our trip, we had so much fun there. They had such a cool history as well. Marie and her husband work exclusively with felt and have written 30 books with both historical and technical content. We couldn't read any of them but we got to look at the pictures. There are international conferences held on the topic as well and they always go to them. They were one of the fairytale-like families... nice, generous, smart, industrious and we were lucky enough to meet them. :)
We spent the day walking about Buda and went to visit the castle. You get a great view of the city from up there. We wandered through the city and observed Hungarian culture. Meeting Marie and Anna made us feel very welcome in the city. We've also found that felafels and kebabs are the cheapest food in every country in Europe and Hungary was no exception (plus they were delicious). The only bad part of the free appartment we were staying in was that they had no hot water so we had to heat pots of water in order to take a bath but it wasn't so bad. You can't complain when you don't have to pay for anything. They also had this fun board game called "Catan" which we passed the night playing, it was so much fun. I had beginner's luck on my side. :)
-Jenny and Tyler, overwhelmed by kind Hungarians
We ate breakfast on the train this morning with the two older ladies in our train compartment. Both were quite chatty and though not perfectly fluent in English, they were able to converse with us smoothly (much better than if we had tried to speak Hungarian, which we don't know a word of). One of the ladies (whose name we later learned was Marie) had several experiences with "Canadiana" as her daughter had been courted by one of us. She described how it had been a long 4 year relationship (filled with dancing) but it did not last. She also talked about her job which was as a felt artist, her entire family all work with it. It looks a lot like wool in its natural form and they make hats, carpets, stuffed animals, etc.
We had a lot of fun chatting with the ladies and when the train arrived in Budapest we left the train and were struck by what will likely be the biggest surprise of the trip... Marie, who had been met at the train station by her daughter Anna, offered to let us stay at her place for free. our book had mentioned scams so we were skeptical, plus we had actually made reservations for a hostel (for only the second time on our trip). Despite both of these facts, Marie and Anna seemed genuinely kind so we agreed to accept their kind offer. They even bought metro tickets for us since it's more expensive to get money at the train station. They were just insanely nice, especially for only knowing them for a couple of hours. They made us lunch and tea and we chatted with them in their very nice appartment, it was the Buda part of Budapest, which is much nicer and had a huge castle nearby. It was amazing! They also announced that they were going to their house in the country so we got to have their appartment to ourselves. How crazy is that? They were so trusting. I think that Tyler won them over with his personality, he's quite the charmer. :)
Their kindness really made Budapest one of the highlights of our trip, we had so much fun there. They had such a cool history as well. Marie and her husband work exclusively with felt and have written 30 books with both historical and technical content. We couldn't read any of them but we got to look at the pictures. There are international conferences held on the topic as well and they always go to them. They were one of the fairytale-like families... nice, generous, smart, industrious and we were lucky enough to meet them. :)
We spent the day walking about Buda and went to visit the castle. You get a great view of the city from up there. We wandered through the city and observed Hungarian culture. Meeting Marie and Anna made us feel very welcome in the city. We've also found that felafels and kebabs are the cheapest food in every country in Europe and Hungary was no exception (plus they were delicious). The only bad part of the free appartment we were staying in was that they had no hot water so we had to heat pots of water in order to take a bath but it wasn't so bad. You can't complain when you don't have to pay for anything. They also had this fun board game called "Catan" which we passed the night playing, it was so much fun. I had beginner's luck on my side. :)
-Jenny and Tyler, overwhelmed by kind Hungarians
Europe. Germany. Aachen: On our way to Budapest
Sunday, October, 15th, 2006
Today was not very exciting, we spent the day walking around Aachen killing time before we had to catch our overnight train to Budapest. We discovered that calling home from private call centre places is a much better deal than buying calling cards. We called our parents and I finally got a hold of my mom, we've had the worst timing for when we call home. Lots of answering machine messages. :P But it was great to hear her voice and chat.
We eventually got on our overnight train to Budapest which we shared with 2 older ladies. We were originally assigned the two bottom bunks in the train compartment but since we're younger and sprier we offered to climb onto the top bunks and trade with them. They were very grateful and in awe of how easily we could climb up the ladder, it felt really good to be young. We have it so easy we don't even notice it. We chit-chatted with the ladies and had a pleasant evening.
-Jenny and Tyler, not-so-exciting
Today was not very exciting, we spent the day walking around Aachen killing time before we had to catch our overnight train to Budapest. We discovered that calling home from private call centre places is a much better deal than buying calling cards. We called our parents and I finally got a hold of my mom, we've had the worst timing for when we call home. Lots of answering machine messages. :P But it was great to hear her voice and chat.
We eventually got on our overnight train to Budapest which we shared with 2 older ladies. We were originally assigned the two bottom bunks in the train compartment but since we're younger and sprier we offered to climb onto the top bunks and trade with them. They were very grateful and in awe of how easily we could climb up the ladder, it felt really good to be young. We have it so easy we don't even notice it. We chit-chatted with the ladies and had a pleasant evening.
-Jenny and Tyler, not-so-exciting
Europe. Germany. Aachen: On our way to Budapest
Sunday, October, 15th, 2006
Today was not very exciting, we spent the day walking around Aachen killing time before we had to catch our overnight train to Budapest. We discovered that calling home from private call centre places is a much better deal than buying calling cards. We called our parents and I finally got a hold of my mom, we've had the worst timing for when we call home. Lots of answering machine messages. :P But it was great to hear her voice and chat.
We eventually got on our overnight train to Budapest which we shared with 2 older ladies. We were originally assigned the two bottom bunks in the train compartment but since we're younger and sprier we offered to climb onto the top bunks and trade with them. They were very grateful and in awe of how easily we could climb up the ladder, it felt really good to be young. We have it so easy we don't even notice it. We chit-chatted with the ladies and had a pleasant evening.
-Jenny and Tyler, not-so-exciting
Today was not very exciting, we spent the day walking around Aachen killing time before we had to catch our overnight train to Budapest. We discovered that calling home from private call centre places is a much better deal than buying calling cards. We called our parents and I finally got a hold of my mom, we've had the worst timing for when we call home. Lots of answering machine messages. :P But it was great to hear her voice and chat.
We eventually got on our overnight train to Budapest which we shared with 2 older ladies. We were originally assigned the two bottom bunks in the train compartment but since we're younger and sprier we offered to climb onto the top bunks and trade with them. They were very grateful and in awe of how easily we could climb up the ladder, it felt really good to be young. We have it so easy we don't even notice it. We chit-chatted with the ladies and had a pleasant evening.
-Jenny and Tyler, not-so-exciting
Europe . Germany . Aachen: Watch out for the sour cream!!!!!
Saturday, October 14th, 2006
Our first full day in Aachen, Germany. So before leaving we made an executive decision not to get a HI card (Hostelling International), which gives a discount at some hostels. Jugendgästehaus , the hostel in Aachen is the first hostel which required the card... not having it cost an extra 5 euros each, per night -- so far no regrets on our decision. Also the free breakfast turned out to be a very sweet deal so the extra 5 euros was nothing. We did manage to make a huge mistake at breakfast when we thought that this white, yogurt-looking mixture was yogurt and loaded our plates with it (I had even put fruit jam in it to make a fruit yogurt) and then discovered that it was in fact sour cream. So we had this huge portion of sour cream and nothing to eat it with (cereal? - no, toast? - no), when we handed out plates in we had to look down at the floor and walk away in a hurry to show our shameful wastefulness.
On our walk into town we discovered that our hostel was right beside a farmer's field that was full of cows. They were not impressed to see us but that didn't prevent us from trying to communicate with them only to be snubbed for grain. While we were walking a woman in a car stopped across the road from us and was gesturing like crazy and speaking fast German and pointing at us. We had no idea what was going on but after going in for a closer look at the hand gestures we discovered that we had dropped our jackets about 100 metres behind us near the streetlight. That was very kind of her to tell us, Germans are friendly.
We soon discovered that Aachen was pretty dead on Saturday mornings, there were very few people around. However we did stumble upon a nice and affordable chocolate store and picked up some interesting treats like spicy, chili flavoured chocolate. We also went and visited the Cathedral which was massive and had beautifully painted ceilings. We then wandered through the ritzy streets in the central part of the city and discovered some fun statues and fountains along the way. One fountain consisted of a bunch of toys/dolls and had live musicians beside it playing the accordion, another one was of a man with a rooster in his pants.
We ate dinner at a pub called "Labyrinth" and had our most memorable meal of the entire trip. It was called the "grosse grille platten" and it was huge and delicious, lots of grilled meat. The server laughed at us when we ordered it for only two people and we thought he was crazy, how big could it possibly be? And then when he brought it to the table we were amazed! We ate for two days afterwards, so yummy. We also tried beer at the pub and mine was the girliest beer you can ever imagine, it was called "bannannen vien" which had pureed banana mixed with beer and I got to drink it with a straw. It's very good for a non-beer drinker, I loved it. Tyler's beer was called "Drexler" and he enjoyed it but I bet he would have liked it more with a little banana in it.
-Jenny and Tyler, beer connosieurs
Our first full day in Aachen, Germany. So before leaving we made an executive decision not to get a HI card (Hostelling International), which gives a discount at some hostels. Jugendgästehaus , the hostel in Aachen is the first hostel which required the card... not having it cost an extra 5 euros each, per night -- so far no regrets on our decision. Also the free breakfast turned out to be a very sweet deal so the extra 5 euros was nothing. We did manage to make a huge mistake at breakfast when we thought that this white, yogurt-looking mixture was yogurt and loaded our plates with it (I had even put fruit jam in it to make a fruit yogurt) and then discovered that it was in fact sour cream. So we had this huge portion of sour cream and nothing to eat it with (cereal? - no, toast? - no), when we handed out plates in we had to look down at the floor and walk away in a hurry to show our shameful wastefulness.
On our walk into town we discovered that our hostel was right beside a farmer's field that was full of cows. They were not impressed to see us but that didn't prevent us from trying to communicate with them only to be snubbed for grain. While we were walking a woman in a car stopped across the road from us and was gesturing like crazy and speaking fast German and pointing at us. We had no idea what was going on but after going in for a closer look at the hand gestures we discovered that we had dropped our jackets about 100 metres behind us near the streetlight. That was very kind of her to tell us, Germans are friendly.
We soon discovered that Aachen was pretty dead on Saturday mornings, there were very few people around. However we did stumble upon a nice and affordable chocolate store and picked up some interesting treats like spicy, chili flavoured chocolate. We also went and visited the Cathedral which was massive and had beautifully painted ceilings. We then wandered through the ritzy streets in the central part of the city and discovered some fun statues and fountains along the way. One fountain consisted of a bunch of toys/dolls and had live musicians beside it playing the accordion, another one was of a man with a rooster in his pants.
We ate dinner at a pub called "Labyrinth" and had our most memorable meal of the entire trip. It was called the "grosse grille platten" and it was huge and delicious, lots of grilled meat. The server laughed at us when we ordered it for only two people and we thought he was crazy, how big could it possibly be? And then when he brought it to the table we were amazed! We ate for two days afterwards, so yummy. We also tried beer at the pub and mine was the girliest beer you can ever imagine, it was called "bannannen vien" which had pureed banana mixed with beer and I got to drink it with a straw. It's very good for a non-beer drinker, I loved it. Tyler's beer was called "Drexler" and he enjoyed it but I bet he would have liked it more with a little banana in it.
-Jenny and Tyler, beer connosieurs
Europe . Switzerland . Geneva: Peeing at the Post
Friday, October, 13th, 2006
By this point in the journey we've acquired several trinkets and concluded that our initial provisions were in excess. Also, this is check-out day for Geneva. So, we figure we'll pack our bags, drope by the post office to send some stuff home, then catch a train out of town. Easy, eh? ...No. This is the setup for the mostly painful mail experience we've ever faced (and hopefully will ever face).
Step one, which was simply packing our bags and checking out of the hostel went smooth. We had a hardy Swiss breakfast. Bread, cereal, coffee, juice, milk... yum. Step next, was going to the post office. Our bags were heavy, but this made us more excited about shipping stuff home. Just before we arrive, my bladder lets me know that it's done with all the fluids I had for breakfast and is willing to get rid of them. No problemo -- the post office'll have some public washrooms. We enter the post office and find there's a ticket system: select an option on a machine, a ticket with a number pops out and then you watch a screen patiently until your number and a corresponding cashier number appear. There's a couple options on the ticket machine and we can't translate them... so we end up choosing randomly and take the ticket. Waiting. My bladder gives a couple more mild announcements. Our number appears, and the teller points out the boxes used for parcels. Cool. We get a box and package the stuff -- lots of duct tape. We get a new numbered ticket. Waiting. My bladder is somewhat unuse to coffee and it's telling me that it wants it gone. Piss-off bladder -- you'll wait your turn. Our number appears, and the teller gives us some paper to fill out and tells us the price: ~60 Swiss Francs (~40 Euros)... ouch. Oh, and cash only? Darn. We had expected the credit card to take the hit and didn't have enough cash available. My bladder tries to squeeze some coffee out... luckily it fails, but it certainly gets my attention. A quick search of the post office reveals that there are no toilets. Ok, here's the game plan: Tyler quests for "facilities" and Jenny gets money (via robbery, bank-o-mat, peddling, etc.), then meet back at the post office. Go team go. Tyler quickly finds a McDonalds, runs in (making sure not to make eye-contact with any employees), "facilitates", and runs out (I worked there for 3 years, so I don't feel guilty for not buying anything). Jenny's lost -- temporarily. Stupid Geneva has places and things that look like other place and things! But she's a smartie and recovers. Spotting an old person, she drop-kicks them and takes their purse. Sadly the purse lacked sufficient funds so ditches it and accesses a bank-o-mat, then and dashes back to the post office. Parcel sent. Backpacks lighter. Success.
(NOTE: all of the above actions were executed with the equivalent of 4 babies strapped to our backs -- so we were sweaty and gross by the end of this... so sweaty... so gross).
Other things that happened:
By this point in the journey we've acquired several trinkets and concluded that our initial provisions were in excess. Also, this is check-out day for Geneva. So, we figure we'll pack our bags, drope by the post office to send some stuff home, then catch a train out of town. Easy, eh? ...No. This is the setup for the mostly painful mail experience we've ever faced (and hopefully will ever face).
Step one, which was simply packing our bags and checking out of the hostel went smooth. We had a hardy Swiss breakfast. Bread, cereal, coffee, juice, milk... yum. Step next, was going to the post office. Our bags were heavy, but this made us more excited about shipping stuff home. Just before we arrive, my bladder lets me know that it's done with all the fluids I had for breakfast and is willing to get rid of them. No problemo -- the post office'll have some public washrooms. We enter the post office and find there's a ticket system: select an option on a machine, a ticket with a number pops out and then you watch a screen patiently until your number and a corresponding cashier number appear. There's a couple options on the ticket machine and we can't translate them... so we end up choosing randomly and take the ticket. Waiting. My bladder gives a couple more mild announcements. Our number appears, and the teller points out the boxes used for parcels. Cool. We get a box and package the stuff -- lots of duct tape. We get a new numbered ticket. Waiting. My bladder is somewhat unuse to coffee and it's telling me that it wants it gone. Piss-off bladder -- you'll wait your turn. Our number appears, and the teller gives us some paper to fill out and tells us the price: ~60 Swiss Francs (~40 Euros)... ouch. Oh, and cash only? Darn. We had expected the credit card to take the hit and didn't have enough cash available. My bladder tries to squeeze some coffee out... luckily it fails, but it certainly gets my attention. A quick search of the post office reveals that there are no toilets. Ok, here's the game plan: Tyler quests for "facilities" and Jenny gets money (via robbery, bank-o-mat, peddling, etc.), then meet back at the post office. Go team go. Tyler quickly finds a McDonalds, runs in (making sure not to make eye-contact with any employees), "facilitates", and runs out (I worked there for 3 years, so I don't feel guilty for not buying anything). Jenny's lost -- temporarily. Stupid Geneva has places and things that look like other place and things! But she's a smartie and recovers. Spotting an old person, she drop-kicks them and takes their purse. Sadly the purse lacked sufficient funds so ditches it and accesses a bank-o-mat, then and dashes back to the post office. Parcel sent. Backpacks lighter. Success.
(NOTE: all of the above actions were executed with the equivalent of 4 babies strapped to our backs -- so we were sweaty and gross by the end of this... so sweaty... so gross).
Other things that happened:
- we got train tickets to Aachen, Germany
- we met an anglo-germano archivist on our first train
- we (and about 20 other people) couldn't find a seat for 2 hours on the second train
- usher #1 told us and our posse to find some seats up in 1st class where there was room
- usher #2 told us leave the first set of 1st class seats we foraged (we had 2nd class tickets) despite the fact that the options were either: 1st class seat OR sit in the aisle...
- usher #2 told us leave the second set of 1st class seats we had foraged...
- we muttered angrily about the stupid usher #2 and praised the coolness of the cool usher #1
- we found some 2nd class seats
- we mutterered some more and then relaxed
Bye,
-The Facilitator-
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