Prague

After a short train ride from Vienna we arrived in beautiful Prague. We stayed at the Czech Inn, not the best location but it had amazing facilities and was highly recommended. That night we went out for dinner and had a few drinks at the hostel bar. We where still tired from a travel day and the night before so we went to bed a little earlier. The next day we had an amazing breakfast at the hostel and then set out to the free walking tour. After getting a little lost we made it to the meeting place. Overall it was a very good tour and our guide was pretty hilarious, probably the funniest we had. We saw all the main sights and went through “Jew Town” as our tour guide called it (the Jewish quarter). He was Jewish so I guess it was all good. During most of the afternoon we avoided the rain, but right after the tour ended it started to pour. So we headed back to the hostel to relax a little. After dinner we enjoyed happy hour at the hostel bar. Some guys from Montreal that we met in Dubrovnik recommended a bar called Chapeau Rouge, it was marked on our map and we walked by it earlier on the tour so we decided to check it out. All in all it was a cool bar. Instead of having multiple levels above, it had two basements below the main floor. While at the bar we met a local Czech dude who we conversed with for most of the night. He was quite the interesting guy. We left the bar a little later and it started to pour again. We tried to figure out where we were going but after getting nowhere we got in a cab.
The next day we once again enjoyed the hostel breakfast. The day would get started a little bit later because at 2 pm Joel needed to register for his courses for the up coming school year. He had already picked them in Vienna so the process was actually quite easy, the joys of the Internet. That afternoon we took a walk around the royal palace. It was very beautiful and gave a good view of the city.
After a quick bite and getting changed at the hostel we headed out to the pub crawl. Our tour guide the previous day recommended one of the three crawls Prague offers, so we chose that one. He ended up being the leader on it. After meeting at the clock tower we headed to the first bar for the power hour where there was unlimited drinks. We made sure to take full advantage. From there we stopped at a variety of bars, some of which we were told were actually in the movie Euro Trip. By the last bar, which ended up being Chapeau Rouge we had met most of the group. However, it was not until this bar that Scott met some girls that where from Toronto. As it turned out they knew a whole bunch of people he went to University with, random. It was getting late so we all decided to get out of there. Once again we did not know where we were going so we tried to grab a cab. There were 6 of us in the group and the cab would only take 5 people or charged extra for 6. Being a team player (and cheap) Joel opted for public transportation and let Scott take the cab with the girls. So Scott went back, hung out with the girls a little longer and then passed out. Meanwhile, Joel had to figure out where he was, so he stared walking. Lucky for him the sky was just starting to lighten up. He eventually got to a subway station that had just opened maybe 30 minutes earlier and ate some McDonalds. It was a Thursday and people were going to work, a fact that only slightly fazed Joel. From the subway Joel had to wait for a tram, which at that hour ran much less regularly. At the stop he had a random interaction with a Czech woman who wanted to have coffee with him (I say interaction because the woman did not rally speak English but still managed to communicate with Joel). Joel kindly declined, hopped on the next tram, arrived at the hostel and passed out.
After a good sleep in, we eventually made it out of the hostel. The first priority was booking tickets for the 10 hours of trains we would be on the next to get to Amsterdam. That was eventually taken care of; booking tickets for trains that go through 2 different countries was always more of a hassle. From there we took a walk around and hung out in a park. That night we figured we should take it easy so we went to see a movie called The Hangover, very fitting for the trip.
The next day we got on an early train to Dresden. From there we changed in Frankfurt and took the high speed train to Amsterdam.

Vienna

The hostel we booked was fairly close to the train station but a subway ride from downtown and all the sights. So we checked in, met our roommates (two “Canadian” girls and two Danes) and left to take a walk around the area. On our walk we found a Volksbank location. We had set up our Austrian accounts with this bank so we decided to see how much money we had left. Scott knew his account was low but Joel had no idea how much money he had left. So we got our balances and they where pretty much done. All things considered, the accounts lasted longer than expected. From there we decided to grab some dinner. Being as we where back in Austria we both had to go for schnitzel with a witzen (a wheat beer that is very popular in Austria and Germany). A meal that was very typical in St. Anton. That night we took it easy and hung out with our Danish roommates at the hostel bar. A top deck tour group (18-30 year olds) was at the hostel that night so the bar was pretty busy. Joel actually met a girl that was in his exact program at McMaster.
The next day the weather looked a little dodgy but we were not scared. Our first order of business was to close our bank accounts, but as we found out we pretty much had to go to the branch we opened it to close it. So we now have Austrian bank accounts, just in case. From there we went downtown and then checked out the palace. While in the gardens a fairly ominous storm appeared to be approaching. Not wanting to get soaked, we headed back downtown where all the cafes that Vienna is know for where and had a coffee. But the rain never came and when we left it was sunny once again. So we ventured out once again and checked out the parliament buildings and some other cool structures. After that we had lunch and then ventured over to The Naschmarkt. This market is Vienna most popular. It had tons of booths and some really tasty looking food. We immediately regretted already having eaten lunch and decided we needed to come back the next day to enjoy some of the delicious looking food. That evening we made dinner; something that was done very rarely on this leg of the trip. After dinner we met up with our roommates and the 6 of us played some drinking games at the hostel bar.
The next day got off to a later start. Joel needed to start thinking about the courses he would be taking for the next school year so he dedicated a good amount of time working on his schedule. Any university student knows how much fun this can be. It was getting close to lunch so we ventured back over to the market. It was Saturday so the place was considerably busier and there was a lot more junk being sold. (I use the word junk because some areas where more like a crappy garage sale than a market.) Joel’s Austrian cellular phone was working again so he put in a call home and Scott did the same. The task of finding lunch was not an easy one with all the selection and in the end we went for some delicious sushi. On the way back to the hostel Joel received a text message from one of our roommates. They where at a “protest” we had talked about attending in the museum quarter and said we should join. So we went back to the hostel and told them we would be on our way. As we where walking towards the hostel Scott spotted two girls that looked awfully familiar and then it hit him. He just spotted the girls we met 9 months earlier on our first pub crawl in Berlin. How random is that? They were gone by the time we realized who they were. So we headed towards the protest. Basically this “protest” was to show that people should be able to drink and hang out in the courtyard of the museum area. They had these “bananas” set up that people could sit on. There turned out to be quite the gathering of people. So we hung out there for most of the evening until we ran out of beer. We then headed back to the hostel for warmer clothes and more beer. After a short break and a bite to eat we headed back to the museum area where the party was still going on. Around midnight the place started to empty out so we hopped in a cab and went to an area with a bunch of bars. So we choose one and went in. It was an alright spot but not the best we had been to and a little on the expensive side. After a few drinks we headed home and passed out.The next day we got up and boarded the train to our last new destination, Prague.

Budapest

We arrived fairly late in Budapest. After getting some money we went down to go on the subway. The ticket machine did not like our 10 000 forint notes so we where considering riding the subway without a ticket, but instead spotted a manned window where a ticket could be bought. This ended up being a good call because when we where transferring trains we just so happened to get our ticket checked. We found our hostel and upon arrival where encouraged to meet up with the rest of the people who where out at a bar. We considered it but were kind of tired so after grabbing a burrito at a great Mexican place we hit the sack.
Our first day in Budapest started off at the House of Terror. This very well done museum recounted what it was like for Hungarians during the Nazi and Soviet occupations. The coolest and most disturbing part was that building the museum was in was actually used by the secret police. In the basement there where torture chambers visitors could see. From there we checked out St. Stephens Cathedral, Freedom Square, the Parliament buildings and Széchenyi Chain Bridge. That evening we went to a few good bars with most of the people from the hostel.
The next day we went to the Széchenyi bath. We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and thought a bath of this grandeur and opulence was needed at home. It was definitely one of the most relaxing things we had done on our trip. From the bath we checked out a castle and hung out in Hero’s square. That night the hostel was playing pub golf. Like real golf the goal (well one of them) was to get the lowest score. We had 2 teams and would visit nine bars. At each bar each person got a drink with a par value. The score recorded was the amount of sips it took to finish that drink. As you can imagine no one made it to the final bar and there was no clear winner. Joel got sidetracked by some Hungarian girls and was left behind at about the 6th or 7th bar. He ended up walking home in the daylight. It was a great last night experience. Lucky for us the hostel had no set check out time.
The next day we took a short train ride over to Vienna.

Hvar & Split

After shaking off the room hustlers and following some obscure directions we found our hostel, the Green Lizard. We then walked around the old town for a little and then had a great dinner at a steak and sea food restaurant recommended by the hostel. That night we hung out at a local bar where we met some Irish girls with mouths that would make a sailor blush.
The next day we visited the old fortress that overlooks the old town and harbor. It gave us some incredible views. That evening we once again had a great sea food dinner and then went back to the room where we met our Canadian roommates, a girl and guy. They seemed like good people so the four of us decided to find a bar/club that was apparently set up in an old monastery in the middle of a forest. After being sidetracked by another bar we made it to the monastery. It was pretty cool but not as busy as we had thought it might be.
The next day we had hoped to but in some beach time and work on out now fading tans but it was mostly overcast and kind of cool. So we walked around the island a little instead. On our walk we managed to find a great bar on the sea where we had a beer. There where some incredible waves. While sitting at the main port we just happen to catch a big yacht as it attempted leave port. Normally an uneventful sighting, on this occasion the captain managed to tangle a rope in the prop. With the loss of almost all power this multimillion dollar boat slowly drifted across the harbor directly in the direction of what was probably the second most expensive boat in the harbor. Luckily the sailboat in the yachts way moved just in time. That evening we met some guys from Montreal and hung out with them for most of the night.
The next day we hopped on what would be our last ferry of the trip and headed back to the main land. We had one night booked in Split and of course that afternoon it was raining. After eventually finding our hostel we took a small walk around the old town. We grabbing a slice for supper and headed back to the hostel where we watched a movie in our room. This hostel had a TV in the room that allowed us to access hundreds of movies for free. We had to wake up early the next day so this was a great thing to occupy us for the evening.The next day we caught an early morning train that went to the capital city of Zagreb. We had a two hour stopover so we walked around the city and grabbed some lunch. From there it was another decently long train ride to Budapest.