Interrailing!

My hallowed interrail pass

Interrailing. A plan that had been in the pipeline ever since the 2010 viewing of the film "Eurotrip", finally came to fruition in two magical weeks of contrasting people, styles, cultures, languages, architecture, customs and nightlife. 
So let us delve into this adventure that was pure bloody dynamite, thanks in no small part to great mates, David Bowie's classic "Heroes" and graduating with a 2:1 from Uni, WAHOOO!

A grand total of 636 photos were taken but were whittled down to a mere 14 here. I can just picture a scene showing thousands of archaeological slides led by Rowan Atkinson as the acerbic school master, with his audience slowly nodding off. "This is slide 1411 in the first morning of day 1 of 13. Wake up Plectrum! Detention Haemoglobin. 100 lines on what occurred on slide 836. NIBBLE... LEAVE ORIFICE ALONE!"

Anyway, there were to be four destinations and a company ranging from 3 to 5 to 2. The first port of call was Amsterdam, I couldn't wait!

Amsterdam:
The first thing that strikes you when you arrive at the Dutch capital is the numerous canals, renaissance architecture and above all else the sheer number of cyclists. Oh there were bikes, bikes like you wouldn't believe! Thousands of bikes, great herds of bike sweeping majestically across the planes, the sunlight dancing off the frame,'tis a glorious sight (and barely any fecking cars!). 

Damn!

A mere 2 minute march was all it took to reach our old, rickety hostel; a novelty greatly appreciated after our painstakingly long plane journey of 45 minutes. 
For 3 nights this superbly located hostel would be our humble abode. I say humble abode, although it was rather disconcerting having to sleep in the bunk above a whore chasing druggy.... but apart from that it was just swell. 

Such is the sociable nature of hostels and fellow interrailers, my comrades and I, with relative ease, made friends with several Spaniards and a group of typically exuberant and boisterous Brazilians, cue pandemonium.

Infamous RDL

One cannot however, fail to ignore the dark, all consuming under belly of Amsterdam. The sex obsessed, repugnant, vile and pitiful nature of the red light district, tarnishes an idyllic city that is bursting with vibrancy and colourful sights and sounds; what a pity.

In order to dispel this abiding image of the city, I implore anyone to hire a bike for the day and take a beautiful tour of the city and marvel at its splendour, it really is a must.  

Not bad ey?

On our final day we went to the Anne Frank Museum. I entered the historic sight with a sense of foreboding. Those who know me, know that I am Jewish (although I am a bad jew as I'm an atheist, do not care for religion and one of my favourite foods is bacon). What most won't know is that a great deal of my family were persecuted in the holocaust. 
After this incredible but gut-wrenching experience, I came across a book of thousands of Jews that were taken to concentration camps during WW2. After feverishly rifling through this book, my heart almost stopped. There it was. My mother's surname. Gosschalk. Dozens of Gosschalks littered the page. Without warning, hot, bubbly, irrepressible tears filled my eyes and fell uncontrollably down my trembling cheeks. Naturally I had never known any of them, but after witnessing the Nazi atrocities and the unspeakable truths that occurred in the death camps, I was overcome with grief. I will never forget that moment, it shall stay with me forever.

So after saying our goodbyes to Amsterdam (with the help of some space cake!), after a great "chin wag" with a dutch friend of mine, the now two of us caught the 15 hour long overnight train to Prague and stage two of our journey.   

Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral (Mala Strana)

Prague:
If Amsterdam was very pretty and picturesque, Prague was incredibly awe-inspiring and breathtakingly beautiful. I ran out of superlatives to describe this phenomenal city, so I think the image of me getting jaw cramp from leaving my mouth open for 3 days will suffice.

The architectural feats, ranging from Roman and Gothic to Baroque and Art Nouveau (to name but a few), were majestic. The meticulous attention to detail, the amalgamating and contrasting styles and the inordinate amount of beer consumed by the Czechs was unique. At every turn, every street corner yielded a panoramic view of unspeakable beauty and excessive gasping noises. 

Old Town (Stare Mesto)

As Amsterdam did not particularly have any local delicacies, I was determined to sample some of the local cuisine. A Czech speciality that was both a mouthful to say as well as consume - Vepřoknedlozelo -  was a dish consisting of a pork base smothered in dumplings and sauerkraut. A tad bland but worth a go!

One particular highlight was the free guided tours, which I highly recommend. One particular story that I can recall was the tale of Hitler and his musicians' statue. After discovering that one of his favourite musicians (Heydrich) was Jewish, Hitler sought to tear down the statue that had been erected on top of the music auditorium, the Rudolfinum. However his lieutenants could not discern which statue was the one that needed to be taken down as they had never seen Heydrich. A masterstroke came to one of them, or so they thought. They would measure each statue's nose to see which was the longest, ergo naturally finding the Jewish conductor. Unfortunately for them they cut down Hitler's main composer Richard Wagner by mistake. Maybe that ends that stereotype hmm?

Me and Prague!

Vltava river from Letna

That night my travel buddy and I sought to dive into that melting pot of drunken culture, the dreaded pub crawl. 4 bars, 1 club and 1 hour of unlimited free booze, a recipe for disaster no doubt and a hangover that could slay a walrus! 

In no time at all our last night in Prague was upon us. What better way to conclude this part of our journey than hiring a pedalo for our very own booze cruise, complete with a great deal of merry making, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean quotes, faaannntasstic!

If I.. no scrap that, when I do interrailing again, Prague will definitely be one of the first stops on that new list. I fell in love with the place; indescribable beauty. A fairly shambolic train service left us with a mad dash for our train journey to Vienna (a recurring theme throughout the trip). Thank you so much Prague, I am not worthy!

Vienna:

Statue of Athena

After arriving in Vienna later than I had planned, partly thanks to my travelling buddy who moves slower than a glacier when getting up in the morning (which probably included doing his makeup), it meant that we had one full day to sample as much as Vienna could throw at us. As Samwise Gamgee once said when he and Frodo Baggins went to Vienna on their interrail trip, "now there's an eye opener and no mistake!"

The sheer scale of the city's monuments was something to behold. Vienna was by far the most grandiose, ornate and royal-like of all the cities we visited. Once again jaw cramp set in as I gazed in wonder at the works of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. 

St. Stephen's Cathedral

As we were meandering through the streets of Stephansplatz I was approached by two different Austrian radio workers (who must have realised I was a tourist due to my Boston Celtics hat) asking my opinion on guidebooks vs apps and then the city itself and its residents.
Either both can convey extreme enthusiasm with apparent ease or I gave a damn good answer as both left with a considerable amount of notes and a big smile on their faces as they departed. What can I say, the Austrian people crave my words of wisdom. I am probably famous over there already.....

Hochstralbrunnen fountain &
Russian Liberation monument

Me... being me... with Johann Strauss

After an exhausting and highly satisfying day in the sweltering hot sun, where I think I was able to actually tan, which in my family is unheard of as we usually burn and peel, we returned to our hostel refreshed and raring to go for another night of inebriation!

A spontaneous purchase of cheap wine and offering a group of Americans, Brits and Estonians to pre drinks, including the ever reliable "Irish Snap", we set off in a drunken daze for some sort of nightlife, which was fairly hard to come by unfortunately.

Hofburg Imperial Castle

Nevertheless we soldiered on and continued to drink copious amounts of alcohol (well at least I did). From what I can remember I successfully convinced two Austrians that I could speak fluent French by blagging my way through La Marseillaise and throwing out phrases such as "Ca coute Cher!", "Qu'est-ce que ça veut dir upla?" and "Oh la la la fusée!"

Schonbrunn Palace

The previous nights escapades caught up with me the next morning as I was once again in a very delicate state, but as it was our last day I was determined to see the remaining tourist attractions and boy did I not regret it!
A much shorter train journey lay ahead of us but once again it involved a slightly worried gallop to our carriage, I really do enjoy these nervous times....
Next and final stop Budapest!

Budapest:

Not sure why I did this pose...

Before I had taken 3 steps into our hostel (I cannot speak highly enough about the Blacksheep hostel and all its staff who were fantastic and even cooked us a meal!) I was embraced by a drunk Ozzy who must have ignored my tired and sweaty demeanor. From here on in Budapest was an absolute delight. Never before had I been in a more sociable, buzzing and hospitable place, it was such a treat.

Further encounters involved meeting several Northern Irish travellers (every time we saw each other we made a Sylvester Stalone abstruse grunt after watching the hilarious Expendables 2, my god what an awful film), who spoke at at least 100mph, which rose to 200mph after another pub crawl, leaving the Aussies, Americans, Swedes us English and the Hungarian staff all utterly perplexed.

The Danube!

One particularly memorable moment was sitting on our balcony, with three Germans, where we drank, laughed and played music (my input was to nod my head every now and again) as well as remarking on how lazy us Brits generally are when learning other languages and expecting everyone else to learn ours. This lackadaisical and arrogant mindset infuriates me and I intend to attempt to learn a foreign language post haste!
We spoke well into the early hours of the morning and one conversation that resonates with me was how the current generation is still burdened and tarnished by Nazi Germany, a totally unfair and abhorrent state of affairs, hopefully this changes pronto.

Another free guided tour of both Pest and Buda of Budapest (which as expected was stunningly beautiful), was embarked upon under the scorching sun. It was here that the Aussie numbers swelled to record numbers, a state of affairs that reminded me of the "Mate, mate, mate, mate, mate" seagulls in Finding Nemo!

Ruin Bars

Turkish Baths... in Budapest

Further highlights came in the form of the Ruin Bars (a collection of beautifully lit and atmospheric bars adjacent to one another) and the tranquil and uber serene Turkish baths, which we felt we had earned after a great deal of walking and boozing which can be hard work!

So that is it, the end of my adventures.
Perhaps some of the most magical and unforgettable moments have occurred in this fortnight. A multitude of faces, places, tastes, shapes and sizes, all of whom celebrated the ineffable joys of travelling.
I for one am itching to do it all again.
So Dank U Amsterdam, Děkuji Prague, Danke Schun Vienna and Köszönöm Budapest, I love you guys.