Dresden

Dresden 14th-17th June

Our Dresden train initially starts in Budapest, terminating at Hamburg. It was 20 mins late arriving in Prague hl n, and we arrived in Dresden well over an hour after we should have - the first time that the flooding had affected our journey. People on the train were a bit mardy about it but we didn't mind, although Dan had the window seat so I was running out of places to look without accidentally making eye-contact with the girl sat opposite me. Anyway, apparently the flooding is still affecting a lot of this region.

We spent the next day walking around Dresden. It was pretty much flattened during WW2, and the blackened buildings are those that remained standing but were scorched by the bombing. Most of it is rebuilt. Our host told us there was a lot of parties and festival stuff going on. The town got a bit rowdy, with a lot of drunk blokes in groups around shouting at everyone - it ended up looking a bit rough so we headed back.

We planned to go to Saxon-Switzerland on Sunday, but all the S-bahns were cancelled due to the flooding. The were only about 4 trains that day passing through the area, and they were the long distance trains similar to the one we arrived on - all with a 40min delay. In the end we gave it a miss as those trains weren't well timed for returning home. Annoyingly, when we went into the station late afternoon to buy our seat reservations for later in the journey, we discovered those S-bahns were in fact running - annoyed!

We spent Sunday afternoon walking through Großer Garten park where we bought hotdogs then lazed around on the grass reading.

Prague

Prague 11-14th June

We've been to Prague before, and when we arrived decided to reacquaint ourselves with the old town, taking a sunset walk on the Charles Bridge - which is reopened what with all that flooding malarky last week. The river is still quite high and there were still a few flood defenses up and police barriers, but it was nothing like it was the other week when the river peaked.

Last time we were in Prague we wanted to go to Kutna Hora, which is this little village that has a church decorated with human bones. We didn't go as we weren't sure how to get there, so we made sure it was on the agenda this time. So, on Weds, we got the train from Prague hl station which took about an hour and cost a tenner return for the both of us. We walked from the station to the town which was pretty dead, and were just congratulating ourselves on getting the place to ourselves when two coach loads of people turned up/ Nevermind. Anyway, we went in and it was very, very weird. It might have been a bit more spooky if it wasn't full of people all happily ignoring the 'silence, prosim' sign but never mind - it was still really cool. It felt like it ought to be horrible looking around at these skulls decorating the place but I just felt detached from it. I quite like the idea of someone using my skeleton for artistic purposes.

When we got back we went up to the park for some beer and to watch the sunset. We headed back through the new town to district 2 where we were staying. There's a lot of dodgy people knocking around on the main strip, you get the impression they're sizing you up to try and a. rob you or b. sell you drugs. Bit dodgy but nevermind.

On Thursday we walked around the old town again, crossing the Charles Bridge in the day (chaos) and then walked up to Prague castle to look at the views. Last time we did this is was barely above freezing, this time it was pushing 30 degrees. We went back to the town square in the evening to meet some friends from home who were visiting, had some drinks and then went our separate ways. We grabbed a curry and ate it in the park to watch the sunset - people kept looking really jealous. I felt pretty sad to be leaving Prague.

Vienna

It only took an hour to get from Bratislava to Vienna, although we still managed to cock it up slightly - by getting Westbahnhof and Hauptbahnhof confused - but no matter, the metro is efficient and easy to understand. We dropped our bags off at our host's and went straight to Vienna zoo - I was determined to cram lots of stuff into our three-ish days there. The weather continued gloriously and we spent the afternoon walking around the zoo and got to see some very cool, lazy, fat pandas.

We crashed that eve as were both a bit knackered. On Sunday we went on a self-guided tour around the old district, using the directions in one of the guides our host leant us. We had a gander at all the fancy buildings, all v.posh. Everything seems very clean and efficient, you definitely felt the change in the way things were run from Slovakia. Naturally prices jumped, too...  We spent the evening lazing in one of the city parks.

On Monday we went to the Natural History museum as it's meant to be one of the best in Europe. Yes, it was nice but I still managed to get annoyed: We weren't allowed to put our rucksack and umbrella in the left luggage bit as we didn't have any money on us (we paid by card for the entry). What's that all about? You pay to get in, it seems arsey to make you pay to leave your bag, especially when signs say you're not allowed bags/umbrellas. Fair enough if the lockers are coin operated, but they wouldn't even let me leave my umbrella - like it's really making a difference? Sort of like over-efficient ridged rule following to the point of being a pain in the arse. But anyway, the museum was pretty funky, big mineral and meteorite exhibition and all the dinosaur stuff. There was also a Neanderthal section that had the same film playing that we watched in the Neanderthal museum in Croatia - did they nick it?

I liked Vienna, it was pretty and posh - but I also felt like it was out of my reach price-wise... A definite jump from Slovakia and Hungary.

Bratislava

Dan: We arrived in Bratislava after quite a pleasant journey on a posh train but we weren't too impressed with the area immediately surrounding the station as it looked a bit rough. After a short walk to our accommodation we reached a pedestrian area within the main city which looks much nicer. After getting settled the first thing we did was nip to the river to see how high it was due to the recent central Europe floods. The river is usually 4 metres deep but we were told it was currently 10 metres. Luckily there were some pretty nifty flood defense barriers in place, but they didn't stop a lower portion on the river side being flooded which made for some quite surreal sights seeing benches and trees half submerged. We've been keeping a close eye on the news and it's got us a bit worried since our planned route takes us to Prague and Dresden which are either already flooded or at high risk of it.

We did some shopping (almost relieved to go back to converting Euros rather than dividing by 350 to calculate a pound) and bought some tea and snacks at decent prices while we still can.

On our first full day we decided to take a walk up to the castle. We were very pleased that the sun complete with blue sky decided to make an appearance, which we haven't been familiar with for about 3 weeks. A good day up to this point usually consisted of overcast cloud with slight drizzle. After sitting around the castle grounds looking at the views and absorbing the sun we had a walk across one of the large bridges across the river and sat in a park that had been spared by flooding to eat some snacks and get a better look of the flooded riverside.

We decided to eat out in the evening as we had a recommendation to go to a Slovak pub just down the road from where we were staying. Sally ate a garlic soup in a bowl made out of bread while I had some potato dumplings with some sort of strong-flavoured sausage which was good considering it cost less than 5 euros. We each had a beer which also came recommended, even though my general opinion is that it tastes like feet sweat mixed with fags; to be fair it was relatively good. I then decided to order something with pork which turned out to be strips of pork battered and topped off with lemon which also went down well.

We spend our second day looking at a memorial dedicated to fallen Soviet soldiers of World War 2. After the treacherous hill climb in the heat we decided to chill out in a nearby park and read while further enjoying the weather.

We cooked in again for our evening meal then went for one last stroll around the historic centre, then one last look at the swollen river.

I like it here as it's a nice looking place with quite a lot to see, but it's not bustling with people like the larger and more well known cities.

Budapest

Budapest is a bit brilliant...

It was a relief to get off the train away from the irritating woman in our compartment who spent the last 2 hours on and off the phone with her super loud phone voice. I considered suggesting she open the window, so she could simply shout to them as they'd probably hear her... Anyway, the train was a bit late in and we followed the Americans we met earlier in search of a cash machine so we could get the metro. We weren't sure of the exchange rate so seeing an option of 9000 forints is a bit daunting - turns out it's about £25. When we got to our place it started weeing it down so we cooked tea and stayed in.

On Sunday we went for a walk to look at the market building, then went to the fortress hill and got caught in the middle of a thunderstorm. We went out for a cheap dinner then went for a walk around the parliament building, and mooched back to have a look at the Holocaust memorial on the banks of the Danube (which by the way was already looking dangerously high) and sat and watched the sun set.

On Monday we spent the day in the Szechenyi baths. It was about 4500 forints each for the day and a cabin to change in - about £12. There are about 16/17 pools, with three of them outside, with temperatures ranging from about 20c-40c - awesome stuff. It was a bit daunting as we weren't really sure what to do, and without my glasses I'm practically blind - it made trying to find the women's showers a bit interesting. The inside pools are all quite small with varying temperatures and you just sit around ignoring the eggy smell. The outside ones are more swimming pool like, but one is about 30c and one 38c.

On Tuesday we went to have a look at the castle and then the Fisherman's Bastion. I'm getting sick of people asking me to take pictures for them with fancy cameras and iphones - as though I have a clue how to use them. Anyway, the sun came out again and it was really nice, and we got another view of the rising river. Later, we went to one of the fancy cafes and had a cake and coffee and later we went out to dinner at a Hungarian restaurant. In the evening we nipped back down to the river to see the water level rising and coming over the lower pathways.

We traveled to Bratislava on Wednesday. The women gave us 2 return tickets instead of two singles, but as it was only about 16 euros each I'm not bothered - besides, if this flooding malarky gets worse we might have to return and reroute our journey north. We got a view of some flooded roads and swollen rivers on the way...

Zagreb

We left the rain in Ljubljana and headed to Zagreb. This was our first border crossing, as Croatia is not in the Schengen zone. We had border checks at both the exit of Slovenia and the entrance to Croatia, which is a bit weird as the train went for about ten minutes between the two as though there's some kind of country-less no-man's land in between. I got my passport stamped which I thought was pretty cool, although it's a bit unnerving when armed guards get on the train.

We were really smug when we got to Zagreb as it looked like we'd left the rain behind us. We walked around the main square and bought some pizza slices for about £1.60 each and had a nice stroll. My first impression was that Zagreb is a lot more capital-city-ish than Ljubljana, it's a lot bigger, more modern, which tram system etc. It decided to rain again the next day, but we braved it and went out with our brollies, mooching around in the upper and lower towns. It turns out it was a public holiday ("some Catholic thing" according to our host) and it meant that stuff was closed. We had a nice walk around untill we got totally soaked and so we went to the cinema to see the Great Gatsby, for the grand total of about £3.70 each - bargain.

Apparently you have to register with the police station when you go Croatia, and if you're in a hotel or hostel they usually do it for you. We were staying in private accommodation so we weren't really sure what to do. Tourist info were a bit vague saying your host should go there as it's their property but suggested we give it a go ourselves. We got there too late on our first night so it was closed, and we couldn't go the next day because of the bloody public holiday. We turned up on Friday to do it, giving ourselves two hours before we were meant to get the train to Krapina for the day. We get there and there's people spilling over the street and it's total chaos - a bit like a mix of the DVLA, Citizens Advice Bureau and the Post Office. We ask a copper and he says "counter 29" pointing upstairs. It's mental up there too and there's a sign saying "Foreigners 90 day visa counter 29, no ticket." We wait there for about 20 mins and finally someone appears and says no, we need to get a ticket and queue for 30. In the end after standing in the queue in this complete dive we decided to just give it up and go get our train. What a farce. I don't think holidays should involve spending a morning in the copshop. We asked at Tourist Info at the station about registering with the Police, and the guy shrugged and said it's the host's responsibility, not ours. No one seems to know their arse from their elbow.

So anyway, after the police fiasco we went to Krapina, where there's this big Neanderthal Museum because apparently loads of settlements were found in the region. It was pretty nifty, more for adults than kids because of the depth of info on evolution etc - pretty cool and something I'd not necessarily expect from a Catholic country. It was bloody freezing on the platform waiting to come home. Also, having an actual platform at the regional stations is fancy in Croatia, at one point we were just stood on a dirt track next the train tracks, and you just have to clamber up onto the train and try not to wee yourself when it pulls up next to you.

We got the train to Budapest on Saturday, which was another massive farce about. We got to our platform early, and there was another train supposed to be arriving before ours which was conveniently late. On the board there were two trains, including ours, for the same platform at the same time. I rightly assumed that they'd be the same train that splits off at some point, one going to Osijek and the other to Budapest.

Anyway, the platform got crowded and this earlier train didn't turn up, but it was now 5 to 10 and no one was quite sure which platform the Budapest one would be at when the board still said this delayed train was meant to be turning up at any point. Everyone kept asking me and Dan, as if I'm some train guru. Finally a train appeared with about 3 carriages for the vast amount of people and luggage on the platform. The train said 'Osijek' on it, but the guard Dan asked said it was Budapest. Naturally, there was the mad scramble as everyone did the bit of mental arithmetic that tells you there's not enough seats and standing up for the next 6 hours isn't fun.

We jumped into a compartment, faffed getting our stuff on the racks and sat down. A bloke comes in going "This train going to Budapest?" I said yes, the other people in the compartment, no. "Other end of the train, this splits off." ARGH. It's like 2 minutes to 10 and there's this mad scramble on the train with everyone shouting "BUDAPEST?" at each other, including me. I couldn't get through the train cuz of the crowds and I wasn't even sure if you'd be able to if they were separate trains, so in the end I flung myself off the train and legged it to the other end of the platform, repeating "Budapest??" at randomers. I found the group of American lads I was chatting to earlier on and we plonked our stuff in the compartment next to theirs and continued asking people if this was to bloody Budapest or not, the majority of answers "I hope so." ARGH.

Was a bit nervous at the border crossings what with us not registering ourselves in Zagreb but the guy just stamped our Passports without question. A lady got on and asked "Anything to declare for customs?" and left when we all just said no. Not exactly the tightest security, then.

Now... Budapest :)

Ljubljana

We left rainy Bled and took the train from Bled Jezero station, changing at Jesnice for Ljubljana. There was a direct link from Bled's other station that's a few miles out of the town but I didn't fancy the walk with my bag and the rain. When we arrived, our awesome host dropped us off in town where we walked around and got a cheap curry. It started raining again so we gave up and came home.

Dan made a friend at the station

On Sunday morning it was sunny so we took the Funicular railway up to Ljubljana castle to look out onto the city and the mountains, where we had a nice view of the big storm cloud making its way over, and promptly got rained on again. The town was a bit dead and we just strolled around which was still nice.

From Ljubljana castle

On Monday we had another mooch around town and then went out to one of the parks. We went for a walk up into this forested path and got lost, and I kept remembering that there's still loads of bears in Slovenia... The weather was weird that day, really windy, but as soon as you were in some shelter from it, you were completely boiling. Beats the rain though.

On Tuesday we took a day trip out to the Škocjan Caves, taking the train from Ljubljana and jumping in the mini van at the station that the national park runs. We read reviews on TripAdvisor where people went a bit out of season and it was only a few people in the group, but every man and his dog decided to turn up to our tour so there was about 60 of us in this cave... Nevermind, still really good and we got to walk on this bridge that's 40m above the underground river. We weren't allowed photos until right at the end...

Ljubljana is really pretty but you can cover it in about a day if you wanted, and the fact that it chucked it down made it a bit boring in the end. Still nice, though.