India: Delhi & Agra

I arrived into Delhi in the middle of the night, and had quite an interesting drive back to the hotel. I discovered that the sound of tooting horns is constant in Delhi. . It’s common to drive just centimetres away from the cars beside. Drivers rarely stick to one lane, and completely ignore red lights. Mental. In any case, I eventually made it to the hotel, at about 4am. I spent most of the following day completely exhausted, barely moving from my room. Room service food = good. Everything is spicy! 

Busy!

On my second day in Delhi I decided that I should venture outdoors, but given that the hotel staff couldn’t give me a particularly detailed map I wasn’t keen to go too far. I roamed the nearby streets by foot, being hassled by every other person I passed; either begging for money or persuading me to buy something.  The streets were crammed full of cars and people; no apparent footpath or road.. Just one area for both pedestrians and cars. The streets are also covered in markets, but I resisted the temptation to buy anything. I soon got lost, and spent more time trying to find my hotel again than actually exploring the area! For the first time, I think I fully understand what “culture shock” is. I can’t even explain how dirty, run-down and hectic Delhi is. In the evening I met my tour group (just six of us!) and we went out for dinner. I had a delicious dal! The tour is an 8-day tour with Gecko’s, taking me from Delhi to Agra, Jaipur, a national park and back to Delhi. So I will have more time to explore Delhi at the end.

(note the monkey at the back!)

Early the following morning we got a train to Agra- the home of the Taj Mahal! It wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was better than I had expected. Out the window I managed to see pigs, cows, monkeys, and a huge amount of stray dogs. There were also a lot of children playing cricket; quite clearly the most popular sport in India! (The night before all the headlines were “Pathetic at Perth”.. Apparently we beat them!) The amount of litter was phenomenal- even when we were in the middle of nowhere.

Upon arrival in Agra we quickly ate some breakfast & headed out for our first tuk tuk ride. However, we may have accidentally hailed one too many tuk tuks and ended up causing a punch on between drivers. We quickly escaped the madness, hailed some more tuk tuks and headed to the Agra Fort. According to everyone I’ve met so far, this is the biggest and best fort in India. For the equivalent of less than $1 we got a very enthusiastic tour guide who was full of insightful stories about the history and the architecture of the fort/castle. It was built in the 1600’s (before the Taj) and was once occupied by Shah Jahan (who built the Taj). Interesting story.. Shah Jahan had six children, four boys & two girls. The girls never married because none of the men were rich enough for them.  The youngest son decided that he wanted to be King but was obviously fourth in line... So he killed all his brothers! Then proceeded to lock his father in a prison within the Fort – which, kindly, faced the Taj Mahal that he built in memory of his deceased wife.

Next stop, of course, was the TAJ MAHAL! It is absolutely breath-takingly amazing. It’s something that everyone’s seen many pictures and videos of, but seeing it in person is just completely different. Incredible. The intricate detail on the inside and the outside is remarkable. When we went inside they were shoving soo many people in at once that I kind of felt a little claustrophobic. So so so many tourists- but most of them Indian. Apparently the Taj Mahal is completely symmetrical in every way except..inside, Shah Jahan’s wife is buried. She lies in the centre. When Shah Jahan died he was then buried next to her, ruining the symmetry of the building. We took some cheesy photos with a professional photographer.. (Mum, you can look forward to one in the mail!) But for now here’s one of me using my dodgy little camera.... It changes colour as the sun sets- the one below is much earlier in the day.

 

For dinner we had Thali, which is a whole combination of popular dishes. Yum yum yum. I love the food here. On the way home there were about five weddings on the street, which looked absolutely incredible! Just like an exotic street party.

London (again)

My last stop in Europe! I was back in London for four nights; I stayed one night with my cousin Jenny, one night with Fiona, and two nights with Lisa (from UMass).

I spent most of my time in London catching up with people and organising the remainder of my trip. I also attempted to do a few things I'd never done before, on my numerous trips to London. One of them was Abbey Road. Fiona Mel and I went to Abbey Road and attempted to take a picture resembling that of the Beatles Album cover. Each of us must have crossed that road (and held up traffic) at least 4 or 5 times! Not perfect, but we tried! This crossing is right next to the Abbey Road studios, which is covered in quotes and messages from fans.

I made time to head over to Camden Market- something I say I’m going to do each time I’m in London & never seem to get around to.. It’s a really cool area, completely covered in shops and market stalls. The vast majority of the stalls are either clothing or tourist things but there were also a few jewellery and artsy stalls. I saw some really nice dresses but there was nowhere to try them on..so I came away with nothing

I went ice skating at Somerset House with Lisa and her friend Hannah. I’m not exactly a pro ice-skater, but after a few laps I can eventually drag my hands away from the rail. There were little penguins to be used as “teaching aids” for kids, but we got in trouble trying to use them.. Cos apparently we’re not children! Afterwards I went to a very nice little old pub with Fiona. It was re-built in the 17^th Century (after the fire) and remains fairly untouched since then. All the stairways were very low- even I had to duck down! We had a cider (yum!) and enjoyed the very British-pub atmosphere.  

On my last day in London I went shopping on Oxford St with Lisa,Hannah and two other English girls from UMass- Kate & Kenzie. Sooo lovely to see them again, and I got some good bargains! Two new dresses to get me geared up for the oncoming Summer in Asia!! In the evening we went to see Shrek the Musical. SO GOOD! I really really enjoyed it! The highlight by far was Lord Farquaad, played by a man who walked around on his knees, with little fake legs bopping around. He played it so well, it was hilarious. In the film they make fun of a lot of fairytales, and this is done in the musical too. However they also make fun of a bunch of musicals..Les Mis, Wicked, Lion King. Brilliantly funny. It was quite clearly aimed at families, so it felt a bit like a pantomime. I loved it.

Being in Europe these last few weeks has made me remember just how much I love it. I love how close everything is and that it’s so easy to get from one place to the next! My uncle Robin (in Budapest) was telling me that from where they live they can get to seven different countries in less than four hours of driving. Four hours of driving, from Melbourne? You probably won’t make it out of the state, let alone the country. I definitely want to live in somewhere in Europe at some stage.

Now for some (slightly) warmer weather.... ASIA :) First stop: India.

Germany

Though I only spent five days in Germany (and one of them mostly on a train) I managed to see many different places! 

I stayed with Dirk, a friend from UMass, for my first two nights in Germany. In this short time we managed to go to Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Frankenstein’s Castle and Heidelberg. 

Frankfurt-- we only spent a few hours there, but I quite liked it. I don’t think there is a huge amount to do in Frankfurt, so a few hours sufficed. Dirk filled me in on all the important historical and contemporary facts. We visited the building where the German government began, and a gorgeous church called the Dom. My favourite area was the riverfront, which is just gorgeous. I also like the traditional-looking German buildings- though Dirk informed me that most of it was fairly new because the majority of the city was ruined during WW2. 

Church in Darmstadt

Darmstadt-- this is the closest city to where Dirk lives, and also where he went to university (and where Karsten- my next host- goes to university). It’s only about 20 minutes outside of Frankfurt and though not a very big city, it’s really nice. Dirk gave me a tour of all the important sites. Most of them not very historically important.. Just pretty! One of the coolest places was a church which from the outside looked like a huge dome. Inside it was really colourful and if you stood right at the centre there was a huge echo, which you could also only hear from that spot. 

Frankenstein’s Castle-- this is located somewhere between Darmstadt and Heidelberg. All of the mountains seem to have castles on top, some of them in better conditions than others. This one gives a particularly good view of the surrounding area- including both Darmstadt and Frankfurt (there is another mountain in the way of Heidelberg). 

Heidelberg, I love you!

Heidelberg-- I went to Heidelberg very briefly a few years ago. Though I didn’t see much that time I remember it being a really gorgeous town. The main street was just as I remembered it, except perhaps a few extra tourist shops! We went up to the Heidelberg Castle (up a small mountain)- which I only saw from street view last time. It’s really gorgeous and inside there was a huuuge barrel which holds something like 200,000L of wine! The view is incredible, of the river and the town. Such a beautiful place, I love it.

While I was with Dirk we also ate a lot of really good German food! Bratwurst, Schnitzel, Spaetzle (German pasta), Rouladen (bacon and pickle wrapped in meat) and some sort of potato cake which Dirk tried to convince me is German..tasted exactly like what we get at fish ‘n’ chip shops at home! However, I did really enjoy all the German foods I tried!

My last two nights in Germany I spent with Karsten- another friend from UMass! He lives in a small village in a bit further north of Dirk, called Riesenbeck. On the first night we drove into Munster, a city that was less than half an hour’s drive away, to meet some of Karsten’s friends. I got to know the area when one of Karsten's friends gave me a quick tour of the city - in the dark. There was a palace, and church! Seemed like a nice city. Before heading home, Karsten informed me that I had to try a Doner Kebab; “typical German late-night-food”! It’s essentially like a regular kebab but in a bread roll. Preeetttty good. 

The next day Karsten cooked Goulash for lunch. YUUUUM. He then took me to all the important places in Riesenbeck. Firstly there was a viewpoint, where you can allegedly see all of Munsterland, except the weather wasn’t great so you couldn’t see all that much! Then we went to a huge mansion where an aristocrat lives. Beautiful. And finally we went by the fire station (significant because Karsten is a volunteer firefighter). In the evening we went out for dinner with a bunch of the other volunteer firefighters to a Greek restaurant for “traditional German food” (of course, what else would you get at a Greek restaraunt?!). 

Afterwards, we went to a club called Aura. It was absolutely huge! There was a big entrance-room leading to four different dance floors, each one playing different types of music; house, rap, old school, and current popular music. They even had a snack bar within the club! Awesome venue! Great night!

Today I’m headed back to London for a few days before I *hopefully* head to India...provided that I get my visa!

Vienna & Budapest

Upon arriving in Vienna I had a great struggle trying to find my hostel. My new rule for foreign-language countries is that you shouldn’t follow anyone’s directions unless you can get it confirmed by at least one more person. I got soo many bad directions, but eventually found my way. The hostel was really really nice, even better than Bratislava! I met an Aussie guy at the hostel and we went to a “traditional” Austrian pub for dinner.. Though, I had gnocchi.. So that’s not very Austrian! Oops!

Mozart!

I have actually been to Vienna before (briefly) and all I remember doing is going to a palace, a schnapps factory/museum, and eating schnitzel! So there was definitely still plenty to see.. The following day I got up early in order to make the most of my one and only day in Vienna. However, I had to carry my bag with me all day, so it was a bit difficult. Luckily I left my suitcase at Fiona’s apartment in London so I only had a carry-on-type bag. Still heavy enough to be a pain. I got a metro into the first district, which is basically where all the sights are. I wandered through Burg Garten where I found a statue of Mozart (who once lived in Vienna) as well as some other significant Austrians; mostly musicians. I passed the Opera House, which is absolutely stunning. All of Vienna is quite picturesque; with gorgeous buildings and very clean streets.

Beethoven

Eventually I made my way to the “House of Music” museum. Vienna, and Austria in general, is known for its music and musicians; as it is home to Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, and many others.. In the museum I found out quite a lot about various Austrian musician’s.. I thought Beethoven was the most interesting: he was so difficult to live with that he lived in almost 70 different houses/apartments in his 35 years in Vienna! He also had a difficult love life..Not hard to imagine why, if he’s that difficult to live with. There was also a section of the museum devoted to general knowledge about sound and the human ear. The first room was meant allow you to “re-live your experience of being inside the womb” by having sounds coming from all directions that are like what you’d hear before birth. Weird. I also tested my threshold for hearing, and learnt about the Shephard Scale- a trick on the ear that leads you to believe you are hearing an ever-ascending scale. You could also conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (via video) – and due to some fancy technology, their tempo was actually dictated by your movements. If you went at inconsistent or ridiculously fast speeds they’d stop playing, all turn and grunt at you while a voice over announcing that you were doing a terrible job! Very cool.

After that I grabbed lunch- goulash soup! Yum! I continued wandering through town, on my way to the bus stop. I passed through what seemed to be the main shopping street; full of clowns making balloon animals, buskers singing or playing guitar, and even a dance crew. The street seemed like it would be gorgeous at night, with all the Christmas decorations, but sadly I couldn’t be around to see it! I also would have really liked to go to the Sigmund Freud museum (in his former house) as I found his theories really interesting when I studied psychology at school. All the more reason to come back.

I got a bus to Budapest, which arrived at about 7pm. I met up with my uncle, Robin, and we went back to his apartment, to see the rest of the family! Leda (5 yo) I had met once before, three years ago when I first came to Budapest, but Milo (2 yo) I had never met before, so it was lovely to spend a bit of time with them We had dinner, I read the kids a story, and then had an early night. The next day Robin was working & Marie was working from home because she was sick. I spent most of the day playing with the kids- very easy to entertain with games and crafts and even a trip to the local park. I didn’t have any time to do anything touristy in Budapest, but given that I had been there before it’s not the end of the world. I enjoyed spending time getting to know my little cousins. Aren’t they adourable?

Bratislava

Fiona, Mel and I flew into Bratislava on Dec 29 in the evening, with very rocky take off and landing. However, Fiona assured me that it was just the weather; nothing to do with the very cheap airline! Oh well, we made it.

We made our way to the hostel, completely exhausted. Definitely one of the nicer hostels I've stayed in around Europe.

The following day we got our free breakfast from a cafe down the road that has a partnership with the hostel. It was a really random cafe; socialist themed. Bit strange, but interesting. After that we wondered around, getting our bearings, and eventually made it to the main square where we would embark on a free walking tour. The tour guide was from Bratislava so she knew a lot about not only the area but also the history. We learnt about how Slovakia has been a part of Hungary, and Czechoslovakia and only got independence quite recently. Bratislava is very small (easily a walking city) and everything’s pretty cheap which is nice! We saw many churches, some of them quite pretty. One of the nicest ones, I thought, was the one pictured- it’s called the Blue Church (imaginative, eh?) and while there we were told about how the communist government didn’t want people going to church, and one of their tactics to deter people was to surround the churches with ugly buildings! Another tactic was to make them hard to get to.

Bratislava is also known for their random statues- most of them completely meaningless! One which did have a meaning was a statue of a German man who was mentally disabled but very friendly. He worked at a cafe, and people used to come to him to hear all the gossip. The statue is called something in Slovak which translates to “nice Nazi”- seems slightly inappropriate... Others included a man with a camera nearby a restaurant called “Paparazzi”; a man peeping out of the ground, potentially looking up ladies skirts; and the one pictured, just a random man leaning over a bench. 

In the evening we went to the first Slovak pub for dinner, as recommended by our tour guide. She also recommended that we try traditional Slovak dumplings. However, there was a picture in the menu and it scared us a little bit. It looked more like porridge.. Go figure. In the end Mel and I got schnitzels and Fiona got a soup which came in bread (SO yum) and we shared a different type of dumpling, which Fi convinced us was still very Eastern European- still made with sheep’s cheese. It was alright but I don’t think I’d have wanted to eat the entire serving. Very cool pub.

The view over the Danube

On New Years Eve, during the day, we went to the Bratislava castle. After hiking up about twenty billion stairs we finally made it to the castle grounds. From there you get quite a nice view of the city, and according to our tour guide you can see three different countries from there. Obviously Slovakia, but also Austria and I think the last one was Budapest. However, we didn’t really know where to look for each of them. From the castle you get quite a nice view of the Danube, which also goes through Vienna and Budapest- my next two destinations.  

We went back to the First Slovak pub for lunch; determined to all try the soup in bread. Sadly, they were out of bread! We had schnitzel instead which was still delicious. In the afternoon we wanted to go shopping, but most of the shops seemed to be closed. We bought ourselves some super unhealthy add-water types meals, and some alcohol  to have in the evening.

When we got back to the hostel there were a few Slovenian’s around, keen to hang out before we began the New Year's celebrations. We ate our dinner, played some card games, listened to some strange European music and met every single person staying at our hostel- which was not many, very small hostel. But a nice way to start the evening! Around 10pm we headed out to check out what was happening in town. All over the city people were sending off lanterns, lighting up the sky- it was beautiful! Though, a lot of them did get stuck in trees! We went to the two main squares. One had a DJ and the other a band. The DJ was playing dance music mostly in English, and the band was playing kind of strange music in Slovak- both interesting! 

We had a bit of a dance at each square, then walked towards the Danube; where we’d been informed that there would be fireworks.  We managed to get a good spot between the two main bridges, the perfect place to see all the fireworks. It was evident that it is legal for people to have their own fireworks because they were coming from all over the place- often from people’s hands.  The main fireworks, which were coming off a boat on the river, were pretty spectacular. We went back to the squares, and danced the night away. A really great New Years Eve!

Today I was meant to be going to the other side of Slovakia to meet my uncle and his family (where they are holidaying)- but they are snowed in, so I can’t get to them! Instead, I am going to Vienna for a night!! Then tomorrow I will get a bus to Budapest to meet my uncle (where he lives). 

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)