Jakey Jake

This momrnings bus took us through chesky, a picturesque town in the czech republic. I did another run through the town, taking some happy snaps, before having to get on the bus again. We headed off towards Vienna. It is yet another stunning european city. Yes i feel like im in a revolviong door. I would really like someone to share this with, alas it seems impossible. ANyone up for some travelling? After we left Vienna we were on our way to Oktoberfest… YAY!! but before we get there we are stopping in Salzburg, the home town of “The Sound Of Music”. Yes its one of my favourite films, and i bought it in China so we watched it on the bus. It reminds me very much of my gran as we used to watch it together quite often. It made me sad and happy all at once (seems to be the story of my life at the moment).

Todays buss was headed down to Prague via dresden. We stopped very briefly in dresden and continued on our way to Prague. I had heard so many good things about prague, but on our way in, i thought this place is dodgy. It looked like a rundown hole. Luckily things here were cheap and we managed to get a pretty good hosel connected to a very nice hotel which had wireless internet access so i managed to update what little i had updated and added some more photos. We had a night walking tour of prague to go on tonight, and i had no idea what i was in store for, but it was beautiful. I definately have to come back here in the day time… not to mention its by far the cheapest of the european countries i have been to.

Spent the day on the bus sleeping, although the German service station stops are great with some delicious buffet food, not like the slop you get in australia, but more like something from an upclass department stores food court. We took a detour to a concentration camp but unfortunately there was an accident whihc meant traffic was so bad we had to turn around. We arrive in berlin at 5pm again. After checking in i was on a mission to see as much of berlin as i could. First up was the church that was bombed out and left as a monument to deter wars in the future. Next i walked into the main park to see the victry staue where the berlin love parade is held. The park is huge and very very beautiful, then i walked down the main road, past the reichstag building and on to starbucks. Next up was the berlin wall, and finally i went back to the reichstag to have a walk around, they have a huge glass dome over the top of the parliment so that citizens can always see whats going on so the past wont repeat itself. Unfortunately my fear of hieghts stopped me from going to the top Berlin is a very beautiful city and one which i will definately go back to, considering the history one night is cerntainly not enough to do it justice.

We pulled into amsterdam at about 5pm and booked into our hostel. It seemed a bit poxy but i wasnt too concerned as i was only staying there for 1 night anyway. There was a few of us and we decided to go out together and see what amsterdam had to offer. We walked into town but it was raining like crazy and we got drenched. Amsterdam is a bit dingy and seedy, not really my kind of style although the whole idea of all the canals was awesome. But the red light district was sooo distatsteful wiht ladies (ahem) displaying their warez from little rooms with a bed through a window with a red light out on to the street and to passers by. anyway after about 10 minuted of looking at the freaks we decided to find a “cafe”, although i dont smoke dope i thought i would check out what all the fuss is about. Considering marijuana is not really my style, i found the cafes really dull and full of wasted dull people. Surprise surprise… anyway by this time we had managed to ditch a few paopel and it was just Glen and i. We decided to hit some more local nightlife. We went to a place called slamanca. It was a funky club/restraunt and because we got there early we didnt have to pay the 25 euro entrance fee. It was pretty dead and there were really only diners there when we arrived. But after a few drinks and an hour or two the place started to jump. We met some pretty kewl people but suddenly i was alone… i had no idea where Glen had gone. Anyway upstairs they had a dart competition, and i had nothing else better to do so i thought i would give it a go.. I won!!!!! i got 4 tickets to the VIP room with free alcohol, cigarettes and food. What else am i sposed to do if i have 4 free tickets to the VIP room?? ask all the hot chicks to come upstairs with me Had a great night, although when i finally got to the hostel my duna and pillow were gone so i had to sleep on the matress with nothing, and beleive me it got damn cold. So when the girl underneath me said in the morning “i couldnt find a duna or piloow, so i just took yours” i was mighty pissed off.

admittedly this was only a one hour stop on the way to amsterdam from paris. but i can say its a very very beautiful little city and i managed to take in all the culture that you should from this spot in the hour that i was there. I managed to have a passionfruit beer and a cherry ale, although i really wanted a banana beer but the only place that served it was shut until 4pm. I also managed to get a chocolate belgium waffle. It was soooooooooo good. I know i shouldnt be eating this stuff, but i couldnt really help myself. We also had to get some chocolate but it wasnt as great as the waffle. although im sure it was only because of the one i chose, if i hadve gone through all the varieties of chocolate i wouldve found plenty that were delicious.

Well this morning i left St Columbus Inn at london bridge to embark on the busabout journey. I soon realised i shouldve been on busabout instead of buying a car, it wouldve been so much more fun. Alas you live and learn, and to be honest it was probably better than running into camille. So i was heading to Paris this evening, which i had only very quickly driven though on the way to london from Barcelona. So we pulled into Paris at about 5pm and we had a bike tour at 6pm to go on. I figure if im only here for a night i want to see as much as i can. The bike tours are great. We had a ball and managed to see a heck of a lot of paris’ which included a night time boat tour past the louvre, the eiffel tower and the notre dam, on the way home we also walked past the arc de triompfe and the moulin rouge. Paris is stunningly beautiful, and i liked being able to practice what little french i know. Makes you feel like less of a tourist than you do if you know nothing about the language.

Back to london where i was going to book a flight home, just as i was about to press the accept button, i had a change of heart. What was the point of going home. Sure i miss my friends, but nothing would have changed and i would only have to look for a place to live and a job and then i would have to leave again in january for south america. Yer its a hard life i know, but why organise all that only to have to do it all over again when i get back from america?? TOo damn expensive just to pay a lot of money because im a bit lonely. Ill get through it. SO anyway i spent the next week hanging around with Damo, watching a few movies and stuff. We went to the New Zealand Vs Australia cricket match at lords oval. The game itself was pretty boring, but after we kicked NZs butt the crowd went pretty wild, with streakers and a tonne of people trying to run out onto the ground. Security was trying to stop everyone who ran on but there were a few people who managed to make it to the center. The funny thing was i ran into tania when i was there, how small a world is that??? Anyway i was sort of waiting to see what damos mate silks was doing as he was thinking about heading down to europe. He eventually arrived and i just decied to get onto busabout and meet some of the guys from the pink palace down at oktoberfest. That meant i had to cross 7 countries in a week to get to munich in time for Oktoberfest