Hi guys, I have been ever so slack in writing, but it's not my fault, we have no internet at home and I've been busy at work trying to finish up as I only have a week left at work and 9 sleeps until Rikki and I go to Egypt.
So now I'll give you the low-down of our last trip. Rikki and I went to Krakow, Berlin, Basel and then finished up in Munich for Oktoberfest which was fantastic.
In Krakow Rikki and I did a bike tour and we enjoyed it so much that we were doing bike tours everywhere we went.
The first day Rikki and I got to Krakow we met an aussie guy, Luke, who was meeting his friend, George, in Krakow. We pretty much hung out with them the whole weekend. Funny guys. We went out to the Salt Mine which was pretty cool. 130 metres deep and theres about 200 kilometres of tunnels. And there are chapels and chandeliers and a big dwarf statues and 3-d carvings in the walls. So cool, and the rickety little elevator that took you back up was so fast and so scary. Rikki also ran into a couple who she met in Greece 3 months ago & they came out with us that night, then while we were out they ran into some Canadian chicks from their hostel, so we had a cool little group to hang out with for the night. We went to a cool little club which hwas on a list of bars and clubs that Magda had given me. Magda is a friend of mine in London who is from Poland.
Berlin is a big dirty city, a bit like London, I've never seen so much graffitit before. When we first came out of the tube, I was all 'oh crap rikki, i don't think we're in the best part of town' but it was good fun. But we’ve met some cool people on our bike tour, mostly aussies again. I went out with them but Rikki piked because she was tired, but it was a Sunday night so it was fairly quiet anyway. However, we still ended up out til 3am and saw a couple of cool dj’s playing in this club in this old decrepit building where the only person dancing was this 80yo guy with a beard that made him look like santa.
Berlin was also the first time I've had someone come home pissed and spewed everywhere. The dude from reception cleaned it up for the lazy fucker. Then the dirty bugger just threw up again & was not going to clean it up. But I sorted him. I yelled at him and then went and slapped him on the leg. Boy did he jump up quick then. So funny.
Basel is on the border of Switzerland, France and Germany. I really wanted to go to Black Forest. So we went to Freiburg, just across the border in Germany and hired bikes. We rode out of town along the river, so pretty and clean and nice buildings and stuff. And we also went in a cable car and hiked up to this cool lookout. So it was a good day and we did some fun stuff, but it was too far away to go to the waterfalls and the fairy tale castle and forest and lake constance. So I guess I’ll have to come back.
Rikki and I got to Munich, or as I like to call it Munchen, about 11.30 Thursday night, thinking we’ll just go to the hostel and have a good night sleep before we get into Oktoberfest. But it was not to be.
We were checking into the hostel and there were people everywhere and the bar at the hostel was packed and the music was pumping. Then the reception guy walks in and looks at me like ‘oh my god, it’s you’ and was pointing at me. I was like ‘what the fuck?’ Luckily I realised he was shit-stirring so I said, ‘Don’t you point at me like that, I don’t know you!’ and he laughed and said people fall for it all the time. Then he checked us in and gave us monopoly money for a free beer at the bar. So we decided to go just for one.
Five drinks later, it was 2.30 and Rikki and I snuck off to bed with our Munchen pints glasses as souveneirs. Not quite a stein, but a good effort in theft anyway.
So Friday we got up early and went to our other hostel along with a kiwi guy called Daniel, then we went on a walking tour. It was good, but there seemed to be a bit of product placement in it. The guy was pointing out certain souvenier stores and shops and restaurants which seemed out of place. But the best bit was definitely the big park with the rive through it where there was a fake surf break created in the river & guys surfing it. They were all lining up and surfing across the river. It was so cool. One of my favourite things I’ve seen.
So then we went and had some lunch and a beer in a pub. I think we ate a whole pig between the three of us. Boy, they love their pork in Germany. (Matt I took some food photos for you)
Then in the evening we found Tim the Tourman and a few others and we went to Oktoberfest. It was so cool. There were people everywhere, lots of families and stuff too. There were rides and stalls and head and heaps of people all dressed in the Germany costumes. The boys in the leather pants and the girls in the busty dresses. On the hill out the back were people passed out everywhere. So we wandered through a few beer halls looking for a seat. They are absolutely massive and decorated so grandly and there are bands playing in them and stuff. But you can only get a beer if you are sitting down. And we couldn’t find a seat. Finally we were out in one of the beer gardens. And we managed to squeeze a couple of us onto the end of a table full of Italians so we could order drinks. So we ordered beers for everyone and then moved back off the table so the Italians could fit back in.
Then a table of Germans seen us and let us squeeze in with them. One of them was called Ebil, so I was like ‘Ebil? Ebil like the debil or ebil like ebil kineable?’ Me Funny. Anyway, a stein later and we were singing songs and chatting away to everyone within 4 tables of us. There was lots of ‘hey baby’ and ‘seven nation army’ sung. Lots of Germans and Italians, they were all so friendly and fun and not bothered that we knew no German.
Later in the night we managed to get into a beer all, but I was on my 3rd stein by then so it was all a bit blurry and afterwards we went to the hostel to the bar there where me and Rikki were dancing up on the ledge. A while later I realised that Rikki had disappeared so I went looking for her. I thought she may have gone to bed so I went to check our room. Rikki wasn’t there, but I ad walked in on nude people. I was like ‘oh crap, sorry’, then I realised that there 3 of them! Luckily, I was drunk or it could have been embarrassing. So I was like, ‘hey have you seen rikki?’ and started to explain to them how I had lost my friend. So they hadn’t seen my friend, but decided that they would get up and come downstairs for drinks with me. So that was cool, we went downstairs and had drinks til 4.30 and when I went up to bed again, there was Rikki!!
Half an hour later, my alarm went off. It was grand final day and I wanted to watch it. So I went downstairs and found a few fellow footy fans and off we went to some irish pubwhere I had myself a bourbon or two for breakfast. I have to admit I did struggle to stay awake in the first half, but it was such an awesome game by the end I was wide awake, although extremely disappointed as I was going for the swanies. We got back to the hostel from the footy about 9.30 and all I could think was, sleep, sleep. But alas, everyone was up and on their way to Oktoberfest. And rikki was ‘cmon Kelly, you have to come with us now or you will never find us later!’ And I knew she was right, so I struggled onward and upward.
I did struggle through the first hour or so there, but once the first stein had gone down, I got a second wind and was all good for the rest of the day. Day 2 of Oktoberfest was much of the same, singing, drinking, making friends with anyone lucky ( or unlucky) enough to cross your path. It was so fun. The day went fairly quick and before I knew it it was time to head back to the hostel. Once again I had lost Rikki. So I went back to the hostel, drank some more, played some pool, stole some german guys hat and ended up dancing on the tables in the bar with all the other aussies from the tour. It was here, when I was dancing away on the tables when Rikki returned. We were so excited, I was ‘where were you?’ and she was ‘What are you doing up there?’ Even though it was quite obvious that I was ripping it up on the table, my fantastic dances move the admiration of all those in the bar. Although, I think some of the best moves I seen all night was Tim trying to break dance on the table. So I thought I’d have a go too, but my break dancing involved me laying on the table with my knees up and tim spinning me round by my ankles. So 4.30 again to bed and 7.30 to rise as Rikki and I had to catch our plane. By this stage, I was so tired, but miraculously not hung over, and had totally lost my voice. It didn’t come back for 3 days. A sure sign of a huge holiday.
Well now, my photos should be up in the next day or so, but you can also check out Tim the Tourman's photos or Rikki's photos.
Also I will blog again and tell you about how I'm going to be in the guiness world records book, my latest sojourn to the theatre and 'THE PLAN'
