Treasure Hunt

I’m not sure what I expected when coming to Budapest - beautiful scenery, hot spring baths all over the city, friendly people …. Looks like I had my expectations too high.

Budapest is nice but I guess it just wasn’t what we expected. For instance, to go to one of the baths was going to cost us AU$24 just to swim in what looked like a standard indoor swimming pool nothing like the tradition Turkish baths.  Couldn’t really justify spening $20+ to go for a swim! Another time Theresa had to use the bathroom and we couldn’t find a public toilet or a Maccas and none of the places would let us use one and the people were extremely unfriendly and unhelpful.

Other than those few instances we have had a so-so time. Nothing too great, nothing that has made us say “ooowwww … arrrrr”. We did however experience the highlight our our trip to Budapest yesterday;

We did the limestone caves, and they were amazing!!! Definitely our highlight of Budapest!! Cost about 20Euro but it was more than worth it- you are litterally climbing, crawing, and clawing your way through the caves, it was unreal!!!!! We went about 100m deep into the hills and were in there for about 4hours! Pretty hard work but a lifetime experience!!!! We got some great pics which you can view by clicking here.

We went out to a Budapest nightclub last night, when we first arrived it looked like a deserted slum/factorty. However, when you walk up stairs you find yourself on a rooftop filled with 100+ locals watching a football match on a huge screen. As the night goes on, the night club started to get packed and the music was totally different to what we have ever heard! The Eastern Europeans may be out of date with their fashion, cleaniness and hair styles but they are definitely up to date with dancing! We saw some amazing dancers - we even filmed some cause they were that good!!! This one girl was shaking bits of her body that i didn’t even know was physically possible to shake ….. We had a great night out and didn’t get home till the wee hours of this morning.

Click here to watch the video of the awesome dancers with our Aussie mate who thought he’d join in!

Overall Budapest has been an enjoyable experience! Definitely worth checking out - just don’t have your expections too high!

Vienna is such a beautiful place, with streets and streets full of shops, cafes, restaurants and the best ice cream ever. We are staying at Wombats hostel which is a really nice lively place. The euro 08 has just started so it is pretty busy. Our hostel has been filled with many soccor fans which has definately lifted evryones spirits. It doesn’t even matter if your not a big fan of soccer -  with the atmosphere the way it is right now it is impossible not to get into the spirit!

Vienna is a beautiful modern city with lots to do. They have a flea/food market that runs everyday from 6am to 6pm. Food varies from breads, sweets, cheese, dried fruits, olives and much much more. We also were lucky enough* (lucky enough to wait in line for an hour then stand up for another hour and a half) to see the famous Vienna boys choir! Funny thing is, you can get a standing seat for free or pay up to 40Euro for a seat just for a Sunday mass at the Catholic Church …. Even so, we saw the young lads bust out a tune and they were pretty good - some say like angels singing their way to heaven …

We spent half a day at Schonbrunn Palace (Sissy’s holiday house) which was massive. It consisted of a massive rose garden, ponds, huge maze and labyrinth, huge monument and a tonne of land! It truly was a sight to be seen!!!!!

While walking through the city, looking at all the tourist spots, we stumbled across a massive amusement park which was twice the size of the ekka. We’re not sure if it is a permanant thing or if it has been put up for the euro 08 but it was pretty fun with a tonne of rides I have never seen before. 

Vienna is such a fun place to be at the moment, no matter where you are, there are soccor fan statdiums on every corner so spectators can watch the game on large screens, drink and party all day. It is just amazing to see such passion for a game.

We are going to the opera when we get back, it is so cheap only 3 to 5 euros - cant wait!

Check out our photos of Vienna here.

Here are our photos from:

Prague - click here

Cesky Krumlov - click here

Paris - click here

Also, here are a couple of videos from Amsterdam (please note there are some drug references)

Amsterdam fun - click here

Even more Amsterdam fun - click here

Cesky Krumlov, is the most beautiful little fairlytale village you could imagine. We arrived here 3 days ago, and have absolutly loved it. Cesky has a population of 14 000 so it is very small. It is a little village surranded by forest, and was the destination where the movie ’hostel’ was filmed.

Our first day was pretty uneventful,  however we did find ourselves a little dungeon restaurant where we (Dan, I and our freands on bus-about) had dinner. We had the most amazing banquet full of traditional boheiam cuisine, definately a feast for kings.

On our second day we went white water rafting, this was so much fun. We started at 12pm and finished at 4pm or so. During the 1st hour of rafting it started pouring done rain, we pulled into a little cafe which was on the bank. We propbably stayed there for 30 mins but had to continue on with our rafting as we still had 3 hours to go. Amazingly, even though we where freezing and saturated we had so much fun. We ended up finding a little cabin on the bank which had a fire going where we could warm up and try and dry our clothes. We were in real pirate spirits so once we had warmed up  and the rain had stopped we continued on our adventure. As we went the sun came out and it became a beautiful liesurely cruise down the river. On our final hurdle we had to go down a waterfall…….. and we did with success, infact we enjoyed it so much that we carried the boat back up stream and prepared to do it again. This time unfortunately the boat swung around at the top of the waterfall and we went down side ways. We did not flip it but we did come close, once again we were saturated in freezing cold icy water.

Today is our third day and all we have done is walked to the castle and had a look. It has beautifuĺ views of the village but its not one of the prettiest. Tomorrow hopefully the weather will clear up and we can go horse ridding and find the famous fairy tale castle we have heard so much about.

Click here to check out our photos of Cesky

It’s amazing to think we have been gone almost 6 weeks already. With all the excitment, we sometimes have forgotten to contact our families and touch base with them and let them know we love them …. No better time than the present! We do miss everyone back home and can’t wait to hear from them soon! So please do not hesitate to shoot us an email or comment on our blog to get our slack backsides in shape and we will get back in contact with you!!

Enough mush for now …. About Praha (Prague) 

Beer that is cheaper than water and soft drink … If you can tell me something that is better than that I would love to hear it!

Prague is amazing, we had 5 nights here and have enjoyed every single moment of it and even considered staying longer!!! Such an amazing city with such an interesting history. Good to know that if they didn’t like something that happened or something someone had done, the Czech people would simply throw them out the window!! Knowing this we tried not to annoy to many locals!

So many amazing things to see like the Astronomical Clock - every hour up till 9pm it has a little show that lasts for about 30 seconds. Not much to see in todays standards but if you remember that is was built in the 1200’s (if not earlier) then you will fully appreciate its beauty and makesmanship. The nobles loved it so much when it was built that they wanted it to be unique and didn’t want anyone else to have one anything like it that they went up to the clock builders place one late night and poked his eyes out with a  hot poker! He was able to get some revenge though before he died - one of his dieing wishes was to be able to go inside the clock one last time … while up there he removed apart of the clock which stopped it from functioning for around 30 years after he died!

We ventured 70km out of Prague to a small town where a famous little church is. The thing that is so amazing about this church is that the entire inside is decored with human bones. Up to 40,000 people are burried there! It is very hard to describe the manditude of this so you will have to check out the photos when we have them uploaded!

One of the most beautiful things in Praha is the Prague castle - the biggest castle in Europe! It is even more beautiful at night - it just glows!! There are amazing botanical gardens behind the massive castle which are amazing to go for a ride, blade or just sit and soak up the amazing views!

On the way up to the castle you have to cross Charles Bridge whivch is covered in amazing markets selling anything from pictures, paintings, jewellery, souvineers to buskers playing amazing music! Really lovely and just a good place to walk through.

Under Charles Bridge you can hire boats to cruise around the river which we did on our second last day with our mates we met on Bus-About. Quite a lovely way to spend an hour with a few brews and good company!

All of Prague streets are made of pebble stones which can make it quite fun to walk on especially after a few beers!! We were lucky enough to stay at Emma Hostel, a quaint little hostel just a short walk from town, so we were able to head out every night to all the beautiful sites in just under 10 minutes!

Another big tourist draw card is the famous 5 level night club!!!! Different music on each floor all for the one standard cover charge. Pretty amazing even though it was packed with all tourist and probably did not have a single local Czech person in there! still, very much worth checking out!

Prague has been amazing and we could probaly write so much more but we do not want to bore you too much! We’re off to Chesky Kromlov first thing in the morning - should be amazing as it has one of the most amazing fairy tale castles in the world (so we have heard!).

Berlin was amazing - so much history. We spent 5 nights at CityStay hostel. We did pretty much all the tourist sites such as;

• The Jewish Muesium which was unique,
• The DDR muesium which was a fun interactive muesium,
• The Jewish memorial which is a massive area of blocks all shapes and heights to give the sense of confusion while walking through them - the way the jews felt when they were outcast by the Nazi’s,
• We did a massive 4 hour walking tour which covered all the history from the rise of Hitler to the fall of the wall,
• Check Point Charlie and Check Point Charlie Muesium which was amazing - it showed different successful escape attemps and failed escapes from Soviet controlled East Berlin to West Berlin.
• The remaining section of the Berlin wall - just amazing to see the iron curtain in real life.
• The Brandenburg Gates - where people danced when the wall fell. Very significant as when the wall was up the gate lied in the ‘Dead’ zone. Also where Kennedy made his famous speach to West Berlin that Berlin is his home but because German grammer is quite hard he apparantly said that ‘I am a donut’ or something along those lines. Either way the Germans love the Kennedy’s and they even have a Kennedy muesium!!

By this time we were pretty much all muesium’d out! We also relaxed on some of the lovely grass areas near the monuments all around Berlin. We also checked out a few night spots in the underground scene of Berlin. Not to shabby at all!

We endulged in many many many many kebabs which were unreal value - only 2Eure for a massive meal. Unbeatable in Berlin!!! Also had some fine German beer and Theresa had some tasty cocktails!

We really enjoyed Berlin which is the second fastest growing city behind Dubai and also has the second most crains behind Dubai as well. An always expanding city constantly growing and always evolving. Great place to be. We loved every moment!!

Finally we have been able to upload some photos from the following places;

Bruge, Belgium - Click here to view photos.

Amstredam, Netherlands - Click here to view photos.

Berlin, Germany - Click here to view photos.

We will have up some photos from Paris as soon as we can, everytime we go to upload them we always run into a drama … Never fear they will be up soon!

Amsterdam was a hoot - we had a tonne of legal fun (legal in Amsterdam anyways!!!). Lots of fun, plenty to see and plenty to do!

I am very happy to say we did not break the law in any way and we tried a few of the local customs! On our first night in Amsterdam, Theresa and I decided to head out to the red light district and check out a coffee shop. Since we are not frequent Amsterdam coffee shop goers we did over indulge a little to heavy in the local tobacco and it kind of took us by surprise by how hard it hit us! Wasn’t the best fun.

But then we bumbed into a couple of our bus about mates, Dan and Katie, and headed back into the red light district with them. Went window shopping through out the alley ways. It litterally is like the queen street mall but instead of clothes, shoes and shoes in the windows, it’s half naked women of all varieties! Big girls, small girls, black girls, white girls, asian girls and even boy-girls! Definitely an eye opener. Something for everyone!

One our second day we met up with the rest of the bus about crew, Bek, Mike, Dan, Kate, Jill and Adam, and we all hit a different cafe … This time it was a ball! We all hada crazy good time! Some over indulged … Not saying any names (Dan and Katie). We checked out the sex museum - history of sex. Very interesting - sounds seedy but it wasn’t that bad. Apart from the old man taking his own pics of all the olden day pics! It was basically photos from as far back as the 1800’s - Ned Kelly style!!!!

On the third day Theresa and I spent most the day in the park. Why you ask? Well being the curious person I am … I wanted to try the mushrooms. Now anyone reading this thinking I am an idiot please note that because these substances are legal they are moderated and controlled so any element of danger is clearly outlined in the brochure you get with the mushrooms as well as instructions of what to do if you freak out.

Wel lI had a great time, Theresa stayed straight (which was extremely nice of her). I saw the earth breathing, Theresa had pigs hooths. Everytime someone walked past us, from what I saw they were coming up to me asking me question in different questions. Aparantly none of this was real - even though it happened twice! I couldn’t stop laughing! Overall it was an awesoem feeling and everything felt great! We spent about 4-5 hours in the park in total!! And the good feeling stayed around for about 8-9 hours. No hang over, no after effects - nothing.

Good fun. Overall Amsterdam was a bit of a spin out but we had a good time!!!

So what can we say about Bruge? Well, it is a small quaint town in Belgium - well known for it’s endless variety of beer flavours and chocolates! Needless to say that both Theresa and I were in heaven!!!

Beer = Dan heaven

Chocolate = Theresa heaven

We had a couple of nights in Bruge and really enjoyed the time we had. Not much to do except eat chocolate and drink beer. We did find an awesome restaurant that had 3 Euro spaghetti for a small and it easily filled both Theresa and I up and that was only the small!

We hired bikes on our second day and just cruised around doing our own site seeing/adventuring. You can pretty much ride accross the city within an hour. Good fun though.

We have made some cool friends with Bus-About (most of them younger than us but it helps that we are inmature!). All Aussies - most from Perth but a couple are from Brissy!

Some of the best flavoured beer we tried was Banana beer, Apple beer and peach beer! All extremely tasty and easy to drink even for Theresa who isn’t a beer drinker!

All in all we had a good time and were able to recharge our batteries just in time for Amsterdam!

We loved Paris!! We finally found an open air fresh-food market right near the Eiffel Tower. It had everything you could imagine!! Fresh fruit, cheese, roasting meat, fresh seafood, sweets, flowers galore, clothes ….. and much much more!

The markets were definitely a highlight (considering we went to Bastile several times to find the markets pretty much do not exist!).

We had an interesting start to our bus-about … and by interesting I mean we missed our first bus! It wasn’t our fault - the bus-about website didn’t have the pick up points so, being the genius i am, i decided we wait near the bus depot … The bus never came! All good, we got to have another couple of nights in Paris!

We did the Fat Bike Tour at night which was amazing! Paris is much more beautiful at night! We got to go on a cruise past Notre-Dam and the Eiffel Tower (which sparkles at night) - drink some cheap red wine! It was truly beautiful!

We had an amazing time. We arrived in Bruge, Belgium yesterday and are heading to Amsterdam tomorrow!

Stay tuned! Love Treasure and Theresa!