Europe trip, 2005
05.01.2006
Stockholm, Sweden
A quick-fire 4 days in Sweden's capital with Uday, who spent 3 months in Australia a couple of years back. (1.84MB)
31.12.2005
New Years Eve at Alnes, Norway
A quiet New Years Eve celebration on a small island near Ålesund (which is near Sykkylven). Suitably, the small fishing town was equally sleepy until 2350hr (they all use 24 hour time over here), then fireworks went nuts everywhere for about 30 minutes, then the peaceful state returned.. (0.94MB)
24.12.2005
Sykkylven, Norway
Staying with Rani's family in Sykkylven over christmas and New Year period. (Actually christmas goes for 13 days. It's epic. Speaking of epic, check out the scenery. (1.70MB)
19.12.2005
Oslo, Norway
I came to Oslo a while back now, and I'm here again now.. so I guess this one is ongoing. It's a deceptively small capital where everyone I have met seems to be on television. (1.24MB)
15.12.2005
Göteborg, Sweden
I spent three days is Göteborg.. well just south of it actually in a town called Kungsbacka. I stayed with Carin who came out to Australia a couple of years ago.. (1.24MB)
14.12.2005
Copenhagen, Denmark
I was in Copenhagen for two hours total. Just enough time to walk around the lego-inspiring city and stumble across the hard core pornography district (not surprisingly located just a stones throw from the train station). (0.37MB)
11.12.2005
Berlin, Germany
Berlin has been the highlight of the trip so far as far as a city goes. So much to see. 5 days was not nearly enough. The Jazzanova gig was unbelievable. (1.90MB)
06.12.2005
Paris, France
An interesting mix of beautiful scenery, tourist scammers and trigger/baton happy riot police. (1.50MB)
04.12.2005
London, England
Full of interesting sights and Australians. (1.10MB)
01.12.2005
Basel, Switzerland
Switzerland is a ridiculously rich nation with very right wing values. (They have absolutely no public health system, for instance). Bikes are more common than cars it would appear. (9.65MB)
25.11.2005
Munich, Germany
Yes, I didn't see a whole lot of Munich as most of my time was spent building my new bike with Davo. So I guess the photos reflect this. (0.73MB)
20.11.2005
Vienna, Austria
Full of culture and coffee.. There were simply too many Third Man filming locations for me to take in in my time there. (1.04MB)
16.11.2005
Budapest, Hungary
See below for an exhaustive review... (1.47MB)
Budapest Diary
After a long but not unpleasant flight via Heathrow I landed in a foggy Budapest in mid morning of the 16th of November. I had no accommodation, no contacts, no local currency, no clue about the place and no prospects... which in the end didn't prove to be too much of a hindrance.
Lesson 1: Learn your currency
After a quick calculation of the conversion rate between AUD and Hungarian Forints (HUF) I went to the ATM to withdraw money - at this stage I was looking at only withdrawing enough for two days as I was unsure how long I would stay. After successfully receiving my money and receipt the next test was finding some way of getting from the airport to the city. Luckily right in front of me was a counter that had something called an Airport Minibus. The woman behind the counter explained that this bus would actually drop me at the door of the place I wanted to go. I was on to a winner so I handed over some cash. The woman seemed quite surprised and rolled her eyes at the amount of cash I'd just handed over.. At that point I should have realised that something was awry. The bus soon arrived and the driver yelled out my stop so I was on my way.
The trip into the city was relatively uneventful except for a moment of terror when we drove passed a billboard advertising a large flat screen television for less more money than I'd just withdrawn from the ATM. I was walking around with a loaded wallet. Not ideal. IÃve only now just passed getting halfway through the money that I withdrew on the first day (and I'm now 6 days into the trip).
My time in Budapest was very interesting. As I was there alone, most of my time was spent simply walking around the city. With no backpack and no overt signs that I was a tourist, it was a great way to just observe a city. The hostel was small and easy going. Thanks must go to Al and Kate for the recon/ground work on this one...
The city blew me away with its architecture. Coming straight from Australia, I had never really experienced anything over 150 years old so coming to a city where most buildings were at least that old was a shock. I know I will experience that all over Europe.
The language barrier was certainly an issue, though was not impossible to overcome. Basically the only words that I understood were Pék (bakery) and Gyro (Gyro). Suffice to say, I lived on a steady diet of assorted pastries and gyros.
Don't ever drive in Budapest. Just don't. They are the craziest drivers I have ever come across. Example: If I were a pedestrian crossing at the lights in Australia and they went red (and the cars were able to come through) the cars would actually give way until i had crossed. Not so in Budapest - make no mistake - they will run you down. I almost got collected three times.
After four days, I decided it was time to make a move west to Austria. I managed (no idea how) to get an 8 Euro ticket from Budapest to Vienna. Bargain! ThatÃs less than it cost me to get from Melbourne to Ballarat last month. Also, for the majority of the trip I was traveling in first class. Apparently the Hungarian conductors didnÃt care but I got kicked out three quarters of the way through the trip back down to 'second class' into a sweaty, smoky hotbox cubicle where people would walk into the box and light up. Not fun but only really for 30 minutes or so..
After a slow 30 minute amble through the outskirts of town... I was in Vienna.
My now defunct and slightly inaccurate Map o' Europe
