Hey there, fellow travel lovers! So, where to start with my recent adventure interrailing across Europe? With 9 countries to talk about, there's a lot of stories to cram in, so I've decided to split my trip into three posts, as I don't want to bore everyone completely by trying to fit it all in now. Anyway, here goes - I'll start from the beginning...
St Malo
My first stop was the beautiful coastal St Malo. I only had the one day to explore but, after an overnight ferry and with a budget to stick to, I didn't visit many attractions. Still, a day walking around by the beach, taking in all the history that's there was interesting. What was also interesting, was trying to check into the hotel. After a struggle with the map and asking for directions from a nearby driving school, I eventually found it. But did they have my booking? No, apparently not. As you would probably agree, for a first time massive trip, for this to happen on the first day was ever so slightly nerve wracking. However, after trying to explain (thank God we speak French) that there must be a problem with the hotel's website, and several checks and chattering and arm waving, we managed to get a room. Although I've gotta say, the breakfast the next morning certainly made up for the confusion over the booking - croissants, fruit salad, bread rolls, crepes with caramel sauce, tea and orange juice - we definitely got our money's worth with that one!
Getting to Amsterdam would involve 3 trains, and 1 metro journey. And of course, our first official train journey on our interrailing trip just had to go wrong, didn't it? We were delayed after having to make an emergency stop for someone being carted off the train into an ambulance, which was rather unfortunate - probably more so for them than us - but, of course, this stressed us out. However, after changing trains, and proceeding to run like hell for the metro (after the slowest ticket woman in the world finally managed to print our tickets), we finally made it to the Gare du Nord in record time, onto our last train of the day that would take us to Amsterdam Centraal. Not the easiest, or most fun thing to do in any situation, but it's a hundred times worse when you're carrying the equivalent of a few small children on your back, and are 5 ft 1. Still, I did it. So, with that manic day over, I could finally get excited about my 3rd visit to one of my favourite cities.
Amsterdam
Speaking of artwork, one of the funny things I noticed was how there seemed to be so so much ink and piercings in Berlin - definitely more so than any other city we went to. Oh, and don't forget your penicillin if you need it when you go - it's possibly one of the trickiest things to find in Berlin. We managed it, but it wasn't easy! But that's only a tiny thing - aside from that, Berlin is wonderful. Maybe not one of the prettiest cities, but it's so rich in history and culture that I was hooked - if you get the chance, don't hesitate to go - it's amazing.
Prague
Our next stop took us over the border once more to the Czech Republic. We made it onto the train with literally seconds to spare - not even kidding - which again, with crowds of people and your massive bag, is pretty hellish on your stress levels to say the least. But we made it, and got to Prague. We had a similar problem to Berlin with navigating our way to the hostel (this happened a lot on the trip), but we got there. And we did not stay long. Hostel Olet was quite bizarre - it's actually a school which transforms into a hostel for the summer, so you are in fact sleeping in a classroom, which was strange. It just had a slightly weird atmosphere about it, and the beds were worse than Bob's. We did make friends with some Swedish girls though who gave us watermelon! A bearable place for one night, but not 4. We switched to Hostel Emma the next day, which I would thoroughly recommend - it's about 15 minutes walk to the main sights down one road which was fab, and the beds are comfy and the showers were good. We stayed in our own room which was like a small apartment, sharing a kitchen with 3 other rooms - a bit of a trek up several flights of stairs though! Although I did find myself unable to use the hob one day as a group of Czech girls had taken up all the saucepans boil washing their underwear...
I won't say a great deal about Amsterdam, as I think I've pretty much covered everything I love about it before. Although, I'd only ever been when it's not quite so warm, and it really is just as amazing in the summer, if slightly busier - not sure if that was only due to the high season, or perhaps Amsterdam has now become even more popular thanks to the June release of the film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars. I did finally manage to find the 'I Amsterdam' sign this time though which is great for a touristy photo. Oh, and if you like your home comforts, check out the fab full English breakfast at Pasta Bar for less than a fiver. And another visit meant another accommodation; this time, it was Bob's Youth hostel. The showers are good, and it is literally 5 minutes walk from the station. However, the beds are like rocks, and I do not believe it was worth 45€ a night. Mind you, Amsterdam isn't particularly cheap at all, so I guess that was expected. Although, one of the main rules at the hostel that made me laugh was this; "you can smoke weed in reception, you can smoke all the weed you want, but under no circumstances can you smoke tobacco on our premises". That just doesn't happen anywhere else, does it? The other guests certainly made full use of this, though - 10 minutes standing in that reception and I was really craving a nap. Anyway, my time in this awesome city was over all too quickly, and it was soon time to power through the longest single train journey of the trip - 7 hours to Berlin.
Berlin
As Germany would be the first country of the trip I'd never been to, I was pretty excited to get to Berlin. Our hostel, Generator, was a little far out from the centre, meaning we had to navigate our way there via the S-Bahn. Upon arriving at Berlin Hautbahnhof, I don't think I'd ever been so confused and worried in my life - I hadn't spoken German since GCSE and so, besides 'guten tag', 'danke schon' and 'wintergarten' (conservatory, FYI), most of my vocab had been long forgotten. However, after getting help from an attractive older man who happened to speak great English, we made it to the hostel. The beds were a million times more comfortable than the ones at Bob's, and the all you can eat breakfast for 4€ was definitely worth it. We did our first of many free walking tours of the trip here, run by Sandemans Europe. Seriously, these guys are fantastic! The tour guides work on a tip only basis, but each one we had was so knowledgeable and funny and certainly made the tours worthwhile. Our Berlin one was led by Rob Shaw - he is brilliant! As a former History student, it was incredible to go around some of the most important sights - Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, and of course the Wall, to name but a few. I also managed to sample some German cuisine, in the form of Currywahst - it's pretty good! But I will admit that we did go over to Burger King one night to eat cheap brownies and ice cream and play cards...well, you've gotta have some fun, right?! Other cool stuff to do in Berlin included the Berlin Dungeons (not particularly scary but good fun), and a trip to the Ritter Sport shop. As one of my favourite chocolate brands, it was heaven. The East Side gallery is also an amazing sight; I've never been very into gazing at artwork and reflecting etc, but this changed all that. A must see.
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| Yes, I found the massive clogs again.. |
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| The Ritter Sport shop! |
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| Just part of the beauty that is the East Side Gallery |
Our next stop took us over the border once more to the Czech Republic. We made it onto the train with literally seconds to spare - not even kidding - which again, with crowds of people and your massive bag, is pretty hellish on your stress levels to say the least. But we made it, and got to Prague. We had a similar problem to Berlin with navigating our way to the hostel (this happened a lot on the trip), but we got there. And we did not stay long. Hostel Olet was quite bizarre - it's actually a school which transforms into a hostel for the summer, so you are in fact sleeping in a classroom, which was strange. It just had a slightly weird atmosphere about it, and the beds were worse than Bob's. We did make friends with some Swedish girls though who gave us watermelon! A bearable place for one night, but not 4. We switched to Hostel Emma the next day, which I would thoroughly recommend - it's about 15 minutes walk to the main sights down one road which was fab, and the beds are comfy and the showers were good. We stayed in our own room which was like a small apartment, sharing a kitchen with 3 other rooms - a bit of a trek up several flights of stairs though! Although I did find myself unable to use the hob one day as a group of Czech girls had taken up all the saucepans boil washing their underwear...
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| On the Charles Bridge |
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| The city view from Prague Castle |
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| New bestie Tijo the Tour Guide and me |
Georgie
