Budapest

From Zagreb we made our way to Budapest. I really loved Budapest as it was such a beautiful and vibrant city. I especially like the unique combination of the Buda Castle and Pest region and then the Danube running through the middle. Also in Budapest I meet up with one of my friends from Copenhagen and ended up going around Budapest with her and her Hungarian friend which was awesome. The biggest different between Copenhagen and Budapest was how cheap everything was. It was ridiculous especially alcohol.

Budapest Parliament

Zagreb

Next stop in my euro trip was Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. An oversight on my part was not knowing that Croatia is actually not part of the EU. Zagreb is one of the weirdest cities I've ever been to. It was completely dead when we got there, mind you it was 40 degrees, plus there is literally nothing to do there. So we promptly decided to go to the plitvice lakes which is about 2 hours outside of the city.



Buses in Croatia are very interesting they assume you know where your stop is and there is no need to mention any of the stops over the loud speaker. So of course we got off a stop late 15km away from the lakes. Not a problem I thought just catch the next bus or at worse just get a cab there. Well we went into a local hotel and they inform us there wasn't a bus till the afternoon and that because it was a small town there were no cabs. So we were effectively stranded in this town. The only thing I could think of was to hitch-hike hoping hitch-hiking isn't as bad as it is in Australia. Thankfully it didn't come to that and we got a ride with someone in the hotel bar that the receptionist organised. Once we got to the lakes it was one of the most incredible places I've seen. Also we had found where all the people had got to. Supposedly they get an average of 10,000 tourist a day at the lakes.

Next stop Budapest.

Istanbul

First stop of my summer holiday was Istanbul. Staying with my Turkish friend from Copenhagen in the European side of the Bosporus. We actually were staying in student accommodation but most of the other students that stay there had left for the summer. So it was just 2 Aussies and 2 turks = awesome time.



It was an amazing 2 weeks as essentially we were living as Turks. By the end I really got to know and experience life in Istanbul which includes bargaining in the grand bazaar which ironicly is closed on Sunday when bazaar in Turkish means Sunday. Supposedly it was just too busy on Sunday they had to close it.

One of the most memorable moments was crossing over to Asia and drinking tea while the sun set over Europe. The only thing that I think turkey is missing this time was the feeling you were a multi millionaire. With the re floating of the Turkish lira the Aussie dollar is almost 1 to 1 unlike 8 years ago when it was 1 to 1 million. Shame. Anyways thanks so much Alperen and Erdi.

Tomorrow Croatia.

Take care
Jono

The summer is coming to an end

Hey everyone

So I'm here in Amsterdam at the moment coming to the end of a jam pack summer. Currently I'm enjoying glimpses of sun shine as I enjoy a coffee overlooking one of the numerous canals. Definitely the life :)

I'm sorry that I haven't written on my blog for ages. But I've come up with a cunning plan to rectify this. Don't worry it will not include one massive post outlining in extricating detail everything I have done in the last 2 months which I'm sure would bore you all. I have instead decided to post one entry a day on each city I visited. Starting with Istanbul tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy it.

Take care
Jono


- Posted from my iPhone

Iceland. Indescribable.

Hi Everyone,

So I have had a awesome 2 weeks going firstly Iceland then back to Copenhagen and now in Istanbul to start a 2 month travel fest. So last weekend I had an amazing time in probably one of the most unbelievable places I've ever visited, Iceland. To be honest after hiking in Austria I was a little concerned that nothing could top what I saw but I have to Iceland did. It was incredible. So firstly getting in early to Keflavík Airport my mate, Mundi, picked us up from the airport and we just casually drove around to the Blue Lagoon. Just driving from the airport to the Blue Lagoon was amazing. It was like driving around on the surface of the moon as there was volcanic rocks as far as the eye could see with moss growing on them which if distrubed takes 100 years to regrow. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa with bathing and swimming area averaging 40 °C. Also the minerals and sulpate in the water is suppose to be really good for skin diseases, so I now have amazing skin. Also I have to say the abolsute best thing to do to when you get off a plane is to go to a natural spa and then hit the sauna. Incredible feeling.

The Blue Lagoon

So from spa we checked out the city of Reykjavík. One of the funniest things I found out about the city is that in the recent elections the 'best party' won and the new major of Reykjavík is an Icelandic comedian. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/world/europe/26iceland.html?_r=2&scp=7&sq=iceland&st=cse) - I would have linked his election video but I'm in Turkey at the moment and youtube is blocked here even on my iphone. Talk about internet censorship (Can I say that?? I was only kidding Turkish censors. I love Turkey and their internet filter.)

The city of Reykjavík

So in the city centre we went to see the luthern church called Hallgrímskirkja which is an incredible structure. Then we went to check out the Einar Jonsson Museum which includes indoor and outdoor exhibitions, dedicated to the works of Iceland’s first modern sculptor, Einar Jonsson (1874-1954). After this it was off to Reykjavík art museum where there was some very weird art but also quite cool. Finally it was to the National Museum of Iceland (Þjóðminjasafn Íslands) for a bit of history and culture. Such as the Icelanic flag the red is to represent the fire produced by the island's volcanoes, white recalls the ice and snow that covers Iceland, and blue for the Atlantic Ocean.

Me dress as a viking

The next day we started on the Golden Circle which is a circle of famous Icelanic tourist spots. First stop was Þingvellir which is the site of the first Icelandic Parliament. This was actually the first parliment to ever be estalished in the world. It was quite an imposing place to have a parliment with these huge cliffs on either side almost like you are walking through a crack in the earth. Also there were these actual cracks in the earth which were filled with completely clear water and so you can see to the bottom some of which went down to depths of over 100m. (The cracks had different names but the most famous ones were Nikulásargjá and Peningagjá which is littered with coins at its bottom). The most amazing thing about these cracks were they were just surrounded by this small hills and medows but went down to incredible depths and are popular spots for diving and some have underwater caves.

Around the Þingvellir

We then just had a pretty relaxed afternoon headed to the swimming pool which essentially is going to the spa and sanuna. And of course all the hot water in Iceland comes from the natural hot springs. Then we headed out into the city at night (It wasn't actually night as it never get dark there during the summer. Freaking awesome) to check out the skinke action.

The next day we went back to complete the golden circle tour. On the way though we just dropped in the geothermal power station. I found out that Iceland powers all of its electricity via geothermal and hydro power. Also they are starting a pilot electric car program there so soon they could be completely energy self sefficent. Australia why the hell can't we do this. By the way the power station was awesome.

To complete the golden circle we went to see the Geysers in the Haukadalur valley. Acutally the word comes from the Icelandic Geyser from this valley called, Geysir. This was an amazing site to have these natural jet-like eruptions happen every 10 mins almost like clock work.

A Geyser just before it exploded

Finally to finish the cirlce we visited the Gullfoss (Golden Falls) which is a waterfall located in the canyon of Hvítá river in southwest Iceland. I think in this posted I've used the same words over again to describe what I saw but really it is indiscribable just how beutiful and diverse and incredible, amazing, awesome Iceland is.

The Gullfoss (Golden Falls)

I just wanted to thank Mundi so much for driving and showing me around also to Sunna as well. It was awesome to see you guys and I have to say Iceland is one of the best and most amazing places I've ever visited. Truly surreal.

So I'm now in Istanbul which as a kid promised I would go back to as it is one of my favourite cities. Actually it was quite interesting I was thinking about it the other day but Istanbul was the first city outside Australia that I ever visited. Not that much has change still one of the most beutiful and unique cities in the world. Probably the only thing that is different is I'm staying with my Turkish friend Alperen which has been awesome. I had no idea you can bargin for anything here include your meal. Pretty much everything is up for negoication the only problem is you have to be able to speak turkish to get the discounts. I'm more and more getting the impression that the tourist subsides the cost for the turks. Like water for example can cost double for tourists!

Anyways I think I might leave my Turkish experience for another post and just finish by saying I've having an great time enjoying the summer time in Europe.

Take care
Jono

2 weeks in Austria

So I’m now back in Copenhagen after having the most amazing, unbelievable, incredible time in Austria. I left with my New Zealand mate, Steve, and we just had a rough plan to hike in the Austrian Alps for 2 weeks and that was it! Also we were going to try and see New Zealand play in a friendly soccer match in Austria. So we left Copenhagen on a 25 hr train ride to Villach to stay on an asparagus farm in a small Austria town called Tiffen. This is near the Ossiachersee and Wörthersee in Southern Austria. We decided to stay there because it was close to where the friendly was being played and also Steve knew someone working on the farm through the Help X program. So having no expectations or a clue who I was about to stay with we were picked up by 2 of the nicest and down to earth people I have ever met, Isi and Wolfi. Straight from the train station we just drove casually across the border to Italy for an afternoon coffee. After having a coffee we just drove up into the Austria Mountains for a spot of dinner. Unfortunately the place they want to take us was closed. So we had to settle for having dinner in Slovenia instead. So having only been in Austria for a few hours I had already been to 2 other countries. Surreal.

This was the view of the Isi and Wolfi's place from a walk around their house

The next day we started work cutting asparagus and pulling out weeds. In the afternoon though we picked up Isi’s son’s car and then Steve and I drove to watch the friendly soccer match. This was really interesting as they were playing Serbia and the Serbian fans were really passionate. Throwing fireworks and running onto the pitch. Sadly for Serbian team New Zealand was one goal up and because of all the disruptions by the fans the game stopped for at least 10 mins and there was no overtime so New Zealand won. Hopefully Australia will be as successful when we play Serbia in the world cup. So for the next few days we just worked on the farm picking asparagus and pulling out weeds. This was a great time just working in the field and just doing some walks around the town and the surrounding areas. Also we had a multicultural exchange of cooking. As there was Steve from NZ, Miram from US and me from Australia. We all did our part to cook different things such as pancakes from the US, ANAZC biscuits from NZ and pavlova from Australia.

See I can cook and I represented.

On our final day on the farm we took a road trip to Trieste, as you do. We drove for a few hours to get there through the most amazing landscape through the Austria/Italian Alps. I was really taken back by the generosity and kindness of both Isi and Wolfi to open up their home to us. Also it was an eye opening experience to do some actually farm work and what it is like to live on a farm.

This is everyone when we went to Trieste.

So from Tiffen we had a whirlwind trip to Salzburg. I think for 2 days Steve and I eat nothing but cakes, strudel and sacher torte. We had a great time in Salzburg and was very different to farming in Austria. Also we got catch up in a rally by the Turkish community of Salzburg protesting against Israel’s treatment of Palestine. Politics just follows me everywhere.

One of the protesters, bit young maybe?

So now onto the main course hiking in the Austrian Alps. So from Salzburg we went to Kufstein and we were couch surfing with a local Kufsteinen (Not sure if thats right), Monika. This was again another example of Austrian hospitality as we ended up having not 1 but 3 amazing dinner with her family and stayed with her for 3 nights. Also on one of the nights we also got to see their pet snake get fed, which was very interesting. Kufstein was a really beautiful town and is quite unique as it has an outdoor organ which you can here throughout the town. It was fantastic to get such a great insight into life in Kufstein. Truely awesome.

Monika, Steve and me.

Now it was off to do some hiking. We decided to do some hiking in the Kaisergebirge mountain range which is actually a natural reserve. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaisergebirge) So we started off from Kufstein not really knowing where we were going but we were armed with a map and bread, cheese and schnapps. We knew there were some huts in the mountains somewhere where we could sleep and get some food but had no idea what to expect. We took a tent just in case but as it turned out you can’t camp within the natural reserve. So we just picked a route and towards one of the huts, Hans-berger-Haus (936m). From the minute we started hiking it was surreal we had mountains all around us and wild flowers growing everywhere. The landscape and nature beauty of the area was just incredible. I was in a daze for most of the first few hours as we climbed up into the mountains as it was just that amazing. This was heightened by the fact that low cloud had surrounded the mountains and it was like we were walking up into the clouds. In our dazed state we decided for a touch of Frisbee on the side of a mountain while being surrounded by mountains in a field of wild flowers. Not a bad spot for Frisbee.

Ultimate frisbee

We reached Hans-berger-Haus without too much trouble and it was extremely well priced only $10 euros a night. The room was a dorm with beds for 20 other people but surprisingly it was just Steve and I so we had this huge room to ourselves. As it was early in the afternoon we decided to do a casual walk up towards the Ellmauer Halt which is one of the trails over the Wilder Kaiser mountain. After climbing for a few 100m there was heaps of snow which was just crazy as we both were wearing t-shirts and shorts. Then we made our way back down to our hut and just had dinner overlooking the mountains.

The view from where we eat dinner.

The next day of hiking we took it really easy. We spent like 2 hrs with a pack on but it was quite a steep 600m climb to the next hut Stripsenjochhaus (1577m). We reach this hut late morning and then dumped our packs and headed to the Stripsenköpf (1807m) which was just one of the mountains peaks near the hut. The view from the top of this was just incredible.

View from Stripsenköpf

Then we just did a pretty easy day walk and just took it easy played a bit of Frisbee and had a nap on the mountain side.

Nap time

The next day was probably the most intense day I’ve ever had in my life. We left Stripsenjochhaus and headed over the Wilder Kaiser via Egger-steig. This is supposed to be a tough walk with a bit of climbing up the mountain. Also there are ropes and ladders for difficult or dangerous parts of the track. But unfortunately the track was covered in snow and so we had to make our own way up the cliff face with a full pack! Thankfully there were some Germans in front of us that sort of guide the way a bit for us. But it got pretty hairy at points and it was over a 2000m drop if we fell. Also as we came closer to the top there was snow everywhere and we had to hike the last part of the way completely in snow. Again it was just so warm that both Steve and I just had t-shirt and shorts on. I was so relieved when I reached the top and the view mixed with actually getting to the top was just indescribable feeling.

Epic

From Egger-steig we made our way to Gruttenhütte (1620m) for a well deserved lunch. Then we decided that it might be best not to attempted going over the Wilder Kaiser again as most of the tracks were still covered in snow. So we decided to go round the mountain and spent the rest of the day walking around the mountain until we finally setup camp around Veitskirche which was a beautiful forest area around the mountain.

Camp site – (Also where we camped was technically just outside the national reserve so were allowed to camp there)

The next day was a massive 9hrs of walking around the mountain and then making our way towards Vorderkaiserfeldenhütte (1388m). This was an epic day made harder by the fact it was 30 degrees. Thankfully there were plenty of streams where we could cool off.

On our final day of hiking we took it pretty easy and just went up to the top of the pyramidenspitze (1997m). Then we made our way down to Kufstein, nearly 1500m descend.

So that was my Austria trip. I haven’t included everything we did as it would probably go on for another 10 pages but hopefully that gives everyone a general idea of what I’ve been up to the last few weeks. Again I just want to express my gratitude to both Isi and Wolfi and Monkia for letting us stay with them as it really made such a difference to stay and get to know local Austrians.

Anyways now it’s off to the rest of Europe for the next 2 months. It’s a really tough life here in Copenhagen.

God bless
Jono

A long time

Hey everyone,

I’m back! Sorry its been so long since I last blogged. But it’s been really hard to sit down and write as I’ve been out experiencing Copenhagen and Europe. At the moment though it’s exam time and instead of writing this I should really be studying. But it has been extremely hard to study here as there are way too many distractions (You can relate can’t you Borty!). So I feel writing this blog is slightly better than full on procrastination but probably not as good as actually studying. So here I am writing.

I suppose the first thing that’s happened since my last blog was that I got caught out by the Icelandic volcano. I was supposed to go to Geneva on the 16th April but unfortunately my flight got cancelled. Thankfully I was able to change my flight to the following week.

I had an amazing time in Geneva and it was so much better having a local as a tour guide, thanks Sev. So I spend most of Saturday just walking around Geneva enjoying the beautiful 25 degree sunny weather while sadly Severine had to work most of the day. But I was well equipped with a map pinpointing all the touristy things I should visit. But I think what I enjoyed most was just sitting and relaxing in the sun and looking out onto Lake Geneva with the Jet d'Eau in the centre and the surreal Swiss Alps in the backdrop. Then in the evening I was treated to a traditional Swiss dinner which c'était délicieux. Sunday was again a fantastic day, weather wise. First thing Sunday morning it was off to church which was completely in French but I think I managed to get something out of it with a little help. After church we trekked up the side of a mountain with some of Sev’s friends. Then we all had lunch on the mountain side overlooking the entire city of Geneva. After lunch it was off to Nyon for afternoon tea which is right on Lake Geneva about an hour or so outside of Geneva. So all in all not a bad trip Geneva. One small hiccup though was I left my camera on the plane on the flight back. This wouldn’t have been such a big deal as I realised before I left the airport but Easy Jet, the budget airline, they are only are on the tarmac for 30 minutes before they fly back to Geneva. So I spend 30 minutes franticly trying to make sure they had found my camera before the flight took off again. Thankfully I caught it just in time. TIP - don’t leave your camera behind on the plane when you depart.

Jet d'Eau on Lake Geneva

Geneva

Back in Copenhagen, I had an interesting experience last weekend as it is Union Day on Saturday 1st May. This is a holiday for most workers in Denmark and they have a political rally of sorts in Fælledparken. As a politically inept person I thought there would be political speeches, marches, and lots of passionate lefty political types (Much like myself). There was definitely a political backdrop (Complete with communist flags and fascists) but the focus in Copenhagen was clearly to get drunk and in true liberalism was encouraged for all ages (Some were as young as 10!) So I came away a bit perplexed and saddened by the whole event especially at the fact that such a fantastic idea had deteriorated into a drunken slosh. I suppose I’m just highlighting idealistic I actually am.

The Free Tibet Party

The Communists in Fælledparken

On a lighter note I experienced some traditional Danish cultural on Sunday with my one of the families at my church. Peter and his wife Mona were kind enough to open there house to us and treat a group of us to a traditional Danish grill (i.e. A BBQ). This was truly hygge moment. (Not sure if I’ve mentioned this yet but ‘hygge’ is a Danish word which can’t be translated into English. The closest word is probably cosy but it is so much more than this. It’s a deep sense of place and well-being, a feeling of friendship, warmth, contentment and peace with your immediate surroundings. A really beautiful concept and one of the aspects I just love of Danish culture). We all sat round the grill with bamboo sticks wrapped in dough cooking it over the open grill. Once cooked you replace the bamboo stick with a sausage and then you have a traditional Danish hotdog which you top with onions and remoulade sauce.

So that’s been the last few weeks in Copenhagen. I want to finally leave with the funniest thing I’ve read recently just to demonstrate just how strange the Danes are. Enjoy. http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article962411.ece

Missing you all. Take care.
Jono