"Ich bin ein Berliner!"

As Kennedy said in German "I am a doughnut!". After hanging out here for almost a week I want to be a doughnut too! Our gracious host Lincoln received us last Sunday morning early in the am and after a little chatting and a recovery sleep we set out to explore the streets of Berlin. His house is in a very central location which is very convenient for us to get around.

Berlin has a lot going for it: good planning, good transport, great bars and cafes, tonnes of cultural stuff on, awesome clubs, very cheap rent and other living costs. As cities go this one is pretty hard to beat in terms of livability. The people look very chic and arty but without pretense. You can wear whatever you like into clubs without worrying about a 'door policy'.

The main downers have been the weather (mostly cloudy and showers) and the need for us do all the preparations for Roskilde. After getting a feel for the city we only had a day or two to really enjoy it and the last couple we have been busy running errands. I had hoped on doing more cultural activities and going out a bit more, nevertheless Berlin has been good to us. We've caught up on sleep, got up to date with nerd internet needs, been to most of the 'cool' areas, seen the Berlin wall, went to an unbelievable nightclub, had dinner with Linc's German friends and went to a wine bar where you only have to pay a donation which was cool. Hiring bikes for a day was definately the best way to see the city.

I envy Linc for being able to live in such comfort in the middle of Europe and even enjoy the benefits of free education (damn people with EU passports). Tonight we are hitting up another club which I'm sure will be great before trucking on to Copenhagen. Aufwiedersehen.

Berlin

Blasting Through History

Leaving Bosnia behind so soon was a shame but we had to make tracks further north quickly to have enough time to get know Berlin properly and prepare (mentally and physically) for the 8 days of camping coming up very soon.

The first stop was Budapest which was a bitch of a daytime train ride (14 hours) so by the time we arrived late at night we only found an overpriced hostel with a horrid backpacker bar to have a beer in. The next day we promptly changed to a much better place with a sexy Hungarian manager to stay in and on the recommendation of a guy we met went to a great bar called 'Szimpla'. This place was a lot like Cafe Lounge but it was huge; set in a run down building which had been remodeled with an arty decorum: plants and vines, graffiti pieces, second hand furniture, projections and what not. It was basically the coolest bar we've ever been to. We met people from Spain, Germany, Cuba and of course Hungary. A well enjoyable evening.

The next day after some tiresome city exploring i.e. too much walking, we unwound in the local Hungarian thermal baths for a good 4 hours, definately the highlight of Budapest. They had various pools, a whirlpool and an insanely hot sauna which you have to take a block of ice in to resist the pain; although the feeling when jumping into the 16 degree pool straight afterward was heaven. As night was falling some mean clouds covered the sky and within minutes the most insane storm was underway; wind sweeping away towels and bags, rain being forced in a horizontal direction, hail and lightning. So we watched it from the best possible place... in the 26 degree outdoor baths until we were evacuated for fear of a lightning strike.

After three nights we got the bus to Prague to check out what all the hype is about. In my opinion not much. Sure it's a beautiful city with great statues and architecture but the place was absolutely swamped with tourists and drunken louts. Granted we only stayed for two nights and didn't really know where the good places were but I was happy to leave. The only redeeming feature was a tout in the tourist area promising us a "midget lesbian" show for half price! I was intrigued thinking this was a once in a lifetime opportunity but Juz was not as moved by the two strangest (or greatest) words ever put together.

So it was goodbye Prague, hello Berlin to stay with my buddy Lincoln and check out the quality European city. Hopefully we'll get some rest as this is the calm before the storm, but if we don't that's also good.

Budapest/Prague

A Moving Experience

After deciding to meet the ladies from Sydney we found ourselves in Bosnia a country that was ravaged by war not more than 12 years ago. The scars are still very visible with bullet holes riddling a frighteningly large proportion of the houses and buildings around the country. En route to the capital we stopped overnight in the town of Mostar which is reknowned for its old bridge Stari Most which was rebuilt after the war as a symbol of peace, progress and hope for the Bosnian people. Turns out the whole area around the bridge is a beautiful cobblestone town with nice restaurants souvenir shops. Touristy but nice. On the night we were there we happened to come across a big rock concert under the bridge put on by Heineken which was pretty cool. It interesting seeing the Bosnian youth release their angst, basically it was like a Bosnian "Shoreshocked" with a killer venue.

The next morning we walked into our hostel to find two sleeping beauties waiting for us with mad bed hair. Meeting the girls in the beautiful city of Sarajevo was another unexpected suprise on my trip which turned out to be great. We did some solid catching up and sharing of travel tales, the girls having come from Bulgaria and Turkey, followed by some city exploring before an awesome home cooked dinner (Briony is a Spaghetti god!) and then some solid drinking at a nice bar in town. We happened to come across an Austrian Thai-kick boxer who was having one of his 2 drinking nights for the year so he forced round upon round on us and picked up the tab. He was a hilarious dude, telling us about loose women in Austria, his insane training regimen and even gave Briony a nice compliment about her ass (in a non sleazy way).

The next day proved to be one to remember as we took the recommended tour of Bosnia by a man called Soni, who was a teenager in Sarajevo during the war. He took us to the famous tunnel museum, sniper hill and a great lookout over the city. But what was really emotional was when we sat down in a park overlooking the valley of Sarajevo and he told us the story of his city's tragic history. Like a lot of peoplem Sarajevo and Bosnia were just names I would hear on TV or see in the newspaper, but to be there and have someone as eloquent and humane as Sonni explain what happened adding personal accounts and stories was very moving indeed. People cried as he told the story of his people and everyone was touched by the accounts of heroism and endurance. That night when we were out drinking I said to him that today was a special day for me; he laughed (somewhat at me) and said "It was very normal day for me!" before I left feeling slightly humiliated... but a great guy none the less.

Mostar/Sarajevo

First Taste of Europe

So after arriving in Croatia and finding a place, I was joined by Mr. Justin Mile to begin our trip through eastern Europe en route to the Roskilde festival in Denmark. We met in Dubrovnik on the coast which was incredibly beautiful but too touristy, so many vacationing European families and not so many backpackers.

After a good session of catching up we made tracks up to Split which was not so different: some Roman ruins, the beautiful Adriatic sea, a tonne of elderly tourists, but it did have one point of difference which was some pretty banging nightclubs. Down by the beach was a big building filled with bars (somewhat like cockle bay) which were packed with gigantic Croatian locals and foreigners.

The highlight of our brief foray into Croatia had to be the day trip out to the island Hvar where we hired a small boat and jetted around the small islands and bays. Upon sighting a tiny island inhabited by some random goats we promptly docked in the bay and chased them around for half an hour, good clean fun.

Our visit was cut short by the desire to meet up with the Bourke st ladies Eve and Briony in Bosnia. It is great to be travelling with a mate from home, especially one as quality as Mr. Mile... plenty of good times to come.

Croatia

Land of Milk and Honeys

Me and Em reunited in the wondreful city of Tel Aviv and promtly set about getting to know the local bars and clubs with her new Israeli pals. To my suprise the city is extremely modern and the main priority of the locals is to have fun in the sun. The Mediterranean beaches are beautiful as are the local people (some of the best in the world in my opinion) who come from all cornrs of the world as a result of the Diaspora. Most people have immigrated from Europe and the States although there are many other Jewish descendants from places like Ethiopa, Morroco and Argentina that have returned to the motherland.

We met alot of great people there despite their reputation for being stand-offish. One Canadian Jew I met described Israelis like a pineapple, "prickly on the outside and juicy sweet on the inside" which is true to some extent. Tel Aviv is not so different from any other cosmoplitan city. So we made tracks to the holy capital city of Jerusalem for the real Israeli experience. I was shocked to find that within the walls of the old city there were countless shops selling tourist junk such as t-shirts with things like "don't worry, be jewish" written on them. Despite such places the experience of being in that city was pretty special.

Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Catholocism all have their own unique "quarters" in the old city where thy have some of the most sacred places in the world. I went to a beautiful old church where they had the piece of marble that Jesus's body was put on to prepare for his burial and other such incredible pieces of history. I saw the famous "wailing wall" where the orthodox jews pray, Mary's tomb and even visited the alleged room of the Last Supper. AThese such places were incredible but the experience I will remember the most will be my visit to the Holocaust museum: Yad Vashem.

Even just the building for this place is amazing, it is shaped like a Toblerone with a slight unoticeable inclination so that when you walk through the museum and follow the story to it's conclusion (the creation of Israel) you exit to a spectacular view of the valley of Jerusalem. The exhibitions were tastefully done without anything too gruesome. They had objects like Schindler's List (the real thing), parts of the train cars used and anti-semitic propoganda. The most powerful moment for me was seeing the room were folders full of the names of the victims were and realising the extent of the tragedy. Six million is a big number but when you see a visual representation of those people it's overwhelming.

We also made a quick daytrip to the Dead Sea which was super cool despite the gaggle of loud Americans that were also there. I highly recommend getting muddy there, apparently it's great for your skin. Then it was time to return to Tel Aviv for more sun and drinking before me and Em parted ways. It was very interesting for me visiting that tiny new country and getting to know some of it's inhabitants. I find Iraeli people to be mature and responsible people (maybe because of the military service) who are also execptionally kind and hospitable. I hope to return one day for a longer time. The intense security (bag searches, metal detectors, guards, military folk) can be annoying (I had to be interviewd and searched for about an hour when crossing the border) but is necessary and just becomes a part of life.

So thank you to Em for letting me tag along and to all the great people we hung out with, I'll never forget the place or the great food.

Tel Aviv/Jerusalem/Dead Sea

Friendly Jordan

Due to the available flight paths on my airline network, I found myself on a Royal Jordanian flight to the capital of Amman (en route to Israel) so I decided to use this unexpected opportunity to get to know the country of Jordan a little bit and I'm very glad I did. To my pleasant suprise I discovered that Jordan is a nice place and the people are ridiculously friendly. I'd heard their reputation for being friendly but it was still a suprise when I experienced it first hand. They really are ridiculously friendly; whether it's the taxi driver giving you his number in case you have any problems in town or the old men inviting you to sit down and drink a tea with them or everyone you talk to saying "welcome to Jordan!" with such enthusiasm.

I spent a day in the capital Amman getting to know the place a little and checking out some ancient Roman ruins, before heading to the incredible Petra. This place is shortlisted for one of the "new seven wonders of the world" and it's easy to see why. They used this place in films like Indiana Jones & the Mummy. It's basically a city carved into sandstone mountains and terrain on an epic scale. I rode a horse into the caverns with this Jordanian horse man jogging along side. He thought it would be hilarious to make the horse run as fast as he could while he yelled things like "Try before you die!" at me. I thought I might be dying sometime soon for a minute before some lady yelled at him to give me a break. It was pretty funny though.

Another unexpected place that turned out to be a winner. I really think it's much better not to know too much about a country before you get there, it makes everything more interesting. Also I think the countries in this region like Syria, Lebannon & Israel are underated destinations. The middle east is definately a nice place to travel and interesting too.

Amman/Petra