The party bus is coming: Eastern Europe Festive Party Trek - Part 2

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

VIENNA - Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve and we had the journey to Vienna ahead of us. Getting on the bus we were greeted by a happy surprise - it had been decorated Christmas-style by Carlos and driver-of-the-year, Chris. Tinsel down the aisles and windows, snowflakes and Christmas lights adorned the ceiling. It had transformed into a Christmassy party bus.

Over the non-discernible border (I mean, really, where are the borders around Europe? They’re drawn on the map, but they could really be anywhere) we paused for another much needed pitstop and grabbed some delicious Austrian pastries.

We passed through Vienna and out the other side to our hostel. It was a little way out of the town and was the least favourite hostel on our trip. We were greeted by the hostel owner - quite a character - with her wobbly chins and her brusque Austrian attitude.

“Get fucking drunk, it’s Christmas!” she boomed and, slightly taken aback, we edged our way towards our dorm rooms.

We had 6 to a room this time, and only one powerpoint (later, as we were packing to leave, we’d find another 3). We unpacked and got ready to explore the area a little bit - get some food and some euro’s out to pay for all the activities we were going to be doing over the remainder of the trip before heading off for the walking tour. As a group we wandered  to the first ATM we found and withdrew the required cash. A few of us became separated from the main group, and so Danielle and I wandered and chatted our way through the streets. As the hostel wasn’t very close to anything of note, nor was anything open, it was simply a walk to be away from the hostel of weirdness.

He's got the whole world in his hands

The walking tour saw us all piling back onto our beloved coach. By now it was 4pm, and pitch black night time. It was surreal doing an afternoon walking tour at night. Here our tour guide showed our shivering frames around Vienna, pointing out the lovely buildings of old and many of the 700 museums that Vienna houses. By now our bellies were grumbling, and back on the bus we hopped ready for our Viennese dinner. Schnitzels with wine was the order of the evening, followed by apple strudel for dessert.

Beauty and the Beast library

Back at the hostel, it was time to get into the spirit and ring in Christmas Day. We put the finishing touches on our Secret Santas, made our way down to the bar and grabbed our first round of drinks. The clock struck midnight and there were sparklers and champagne all around. Hugs abounded, drinks clinked to the chorus of “Prost!” - accompanied by fierce eye contact because no one was wanting to risk 7 years bad sex - and thus it was Christmas Day.

In sauntered a small Christmas tree aka Carlos and an uncomfortable looking Santa Claus the Bus Driver, gathering all the presents and leading us away from the fray into the adjacent room. It was time to distribute the presents! I was worried my Secret Santa would hate hers because I bought something gender neutral back in London, so I bought a small bottle of vodka to supplement it. I think the piece de resistance was her name written on the card with eyebrow pencil (through a severe lack of pens…). From my Secret Santa (I never found out who it was?) I received a very warm pair of gloves and my card was an origami crane - was this from someone how had been listening to me prattle about my Japan adventures? Thank you, none-the-less, elusive Secret Santa.  

Champagne and Christmas cheer    

What followed was a crazy night. I’m not sure how much I can write as this blog is in the public sphere (seriously though, who is going to find my lowly blog?) but let’s just say this was a what-happens-on-tour-stays-on-tour kind of night.

Drinks, laughter, more drinks, Bar’s open, 1 euro!, music and 3am playground adventures in the freezing Vienna night saw my Christmas in with a bang.


***
Thursday, 25 December 2014
VIENNA - Christmas Day

My alarm sounded, and my head pounded. 8am I was scheduled to FaceTime my family and so I gathered my Christmas jumper, my present from my mum (which I had been carrying around on the tour), my phone charger and a big bottle of water and made my way down to the breakfast room for a bit of peace and quiet (and more importantly, a powerpoint).

Turns out, I’d messed up the time difference. It was 8am here, but only 3pm there. Shit. I can’t do it any later as breakfast is about to start, and then we’ll be off and running for the day. Shit. Shit. Is there anything you can do? As a result, my bro and family and my mum gathered themselves as quickly as possible and we were able to do the chat right then and there. It was amazing seeing all their faces and watching as they opened their little care package from me. I loved seeing the girls running indoors and outdoors with their UV colour changing bracelets, and it was great to chat. I sounded a bit croaky, I’m sure.

My mum posted me a present early in December so I had carefully packed that into my suitcase, ready to be opened on Christmas Day. She sent me some lovely Australian themed earrings and a necklace, and also another pair of gorgeous earrings that are real gum leaves which have been electroplated using copper and nickel. Gorgeous!

I said adieu to my lovely family and crawled back to my room. A group of us headed out into the heart of Vienna in the hopes to visit some of the many museums this old city boasts. Alas, they were all extremely expensive to enter, so instead we found our way to a highly recommended cafe where upon we gorged ourselves on Christmas fare.

Dark chocolate mocha with cream and caramel.
Delicious fresh bruschettas.
And finally, the Emperor’s pancakes.
I’ll let you in on a little secret - I had to undo my jeans button.

Rocked my world. 

Rolling out of the cafe, we visited St Stephen’s Cathedral. It was very beautiful and peaceful inside. Everyone knows that I am not in the least bit religious, but I found being in the church very moving and I felt an intense sense of homesickness in here. I felt very alone.

Tonight we visited the Schnaps Museum. The owner was a hilarious character, warning us of liquids that smelt of nail-polish remover while our tour guide hid his face (remember the Death Juice from the first night?). We learnt how the different liquors were made before…tasting! We each were to receive 3 shots of our choice, but it's Christmas, so who's counting?

Prost!

I went for the chilli infused vodka, which wasn't spicy - but filled the belly with an incredible warming glow a few seconds after it reached there. Apparently strangely potent and a good mixer with orange juice to really get the party going. Second, I couldn't help myself but to try the absinthe. As some of you may know, many moons ago I used to drink a fair amount of the green fairy, usually with disastrous results. I can honestly say this was the tastiest absinthe I have ever had, without even a hint of a shudder. It was astounding. For my third shot, I chose the orange flavoured vodka with gold flecks (to poop gold?) and it too was delicious, if a little flamboyant. I did go back for a sneaky fourth - can't remember what it was now, but the first three were so incredible I felt compelled to buy something. After much umming and ahhing, I went with the absinthe as it blew my mind.

Christmas dinner, so many ugly sweaters!

Next stop: Christmas dinner, then back to the hostel and down to the bar with all our Christmas attire in full swing. Ugly Christmas sweaters abounded, antlers poked people’s eyes out and there was a particularly impressive light up fireplace complete with smoking chimney hat, modelled and designed by the lovely Tori (who went on to win the Best Dressed prize, naturally). A much quieter affair than Christmas Eve, I sat chatting for hours before giving everyone big squishy hugs with a final “Merry Christmas!” at 11.55pm.

xx

"How do your antlers stay in"?

The party bus is coming: Eastern Europe Festive Party Trek - Part 1

Foreword

I didn't want to spend Christmas and New Years alone. Simple as that. I had only just started to make friends in London when I had the brainwave to go on a tour over the silly season.

I researched high and low. I became obsessed with one tour, just to become obsessed with another tour a week later.

"I've found it," I'd say, sending the link to anyone who would listen, finally settling on the Busabout Eastern European Festive Party Trek from Prague to Krakow. Again, I sat on it for a few days before stumbling across a 15% online code and wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, I threw down my deposit and I was locked into the 11 day tour.

I am going to try to document everything I remember about the holiday (with appropriate censorships, of course - what happens on tour, stays on tour!). This will be my usual rambling account of events. I will probably break it up into countries which will result in roughly 5 posts depending on how much waffle I put in.

This was my very first tour, and joining me were an additional 39 individuals. By the end, I knew each person by name although I will admit I got everybody's story completely muddled, and hugged everyone countless times. A couple even got a sneaky smooch out of me. And so I will start at the beginning, and end at the end, and what happens in the middle - well, that's the good bit.

***
Sunday, 21 December 2014
LONDON - PRAGUE

I lost 5kg running through the streets of London with my new backpack firmly attached to my back. Casually talking to my housemate earlier that day, she look concerned at how much time (or lack there of) I had left to get to the airport. I'd forgotten to take into account traffic. Leaving work traffic. Just before Christmas traffic.

Shit shit fuck shit fuck, I thought to myself as I powered through the streets towards the coach station.
Fuck shit shit ball sack shit, I thought to myself as I sat on the coach, paused at a red light.
Seriously where did all these people come from, I thought as my foot tapped impatiently in line to check in my baggage.

I finally relaxed once I was in the queue to get onto my flight with almost an hour to spare. And in the queue I stood for almost 2 hours thanks to my plane being delayed, chowing down on a refreshing fruit salad and catching my breath.

Not the most relaxed beginning to my holiday, but when have I been one to do things the easy way? I fell into my seat on the plane and settled in to arrive in Prague.

Shazza joined me on the plane

A long 2 hours later after sitting in front of a very shout-y and kick-y young boy, we descended into the Czech Republic and my shuttle driver was standing waiting for me, "Mrs Sasha Oelsner" on his little sign.

The shuttle driver was darling, although I was mildly worried jumping in with an elderly man in Eastern Europe. He passed me an info book about Prague and pointed out the main sites to see as we drove our way through the city.

Shortly around 11.30pm, I arrived at the Plus Prague hostel and set myself up in my room. Facebook had indicated some drinks were happening in the bar, and I stood in the front room of the hostel looking perplexed. I happened to say to a girl, "Do you know where the bar is? I'm looking for the Busabout crew", to which another girl to my left exclaimed "You too! I'm trying to find them as well." And so I met Liz and we made our way to the Plus Prague bar across the courtyard.

Here we took a gamble on a group to sit with, meeting Jacob, Cara and Harry. We laughed and chatted and drank until about 1am, before promising to meet on the morrow to begin our crazy adventure.

***
Monday, 22 December 2014
PRAGUE

This morning began as every morning would begin for the next two weeks: early, with a rushed shower and a communal breakfast. Liz and I marvelled over the quality of the breakfast here; delicious scrambled eggs, frankfurters and bread and cheese. Hopefully we weren't peaking too early with the good breakfasts! We rushed back to our room to repack our bags (oh god, how did I pack so much?) so that we could check out and meet the other people on the tour. Later that afternoon we would be able to check back in again when our rooms were ready, but in the meantime we were going on a walking tour of Prague followed by a bit of exploring by ourselves.

We met our charismatic tour guide, Carlos, who made us all feel very much at home and distributed our Secret Santas ("Do you even know who this person is??"). We arrived in the city centre and Carlos led us through the streets - it wasn't long before my good camera was whipped out. Looking around, there were plenty of decent cameras in the midst and thus I didn't feel so alone hanging back and taking pictures.

The colours and rooftops of beautiful Prague

We saw the Lennon Wall, the Prague Castle, the chapel, the astronomical clock. Prague is a beautiful city. We found ourselves in the town square with the Christmas markets, horse drawn carts and mulled wine cheaper than soft drink. At the conclusion of the tour, a group of us decided it was time for food and we each bought a different kind of Czech food (namely meat and potatoes!) and pooled our dishes in the middle of the table.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the streets and the markets, and realising that I need more time in this city to truly appreciate it. In the markets, we had our first taste of the Trdelnik, or as I called it, the donut bangle. Deliciousness in the cold chill air of Prague.

Peering through pure deliciousness

About half of the group returned to the hostel with the early bus. Here, Carlos introduced us to home made palinka (a drink that will rear its ugly head more than once on this trip) which I nicknamed the Death Juice. In a word, it was brutal. One sniff was enough to make the mouth water and the shuddering begin. All together, we shouted Na Zdravi (cheers!) and attempted to down the liquid. The bus was a unified chorus of "Ergh!" and "Blergh!". I had drunk about half of mine in one go - and when I went for the second sip, almost lost my lunch.
That's enough for now, I decided.

It knocked me for six, so I returned to my room for a short nap before gathering with the rest of the troupe for dinner and to line our bellies ready for the Welcome Party and our 5 free drink vouchers. At the Welcome Party we introduced ourselves to those we hadn't spoken to yet, immediately forgot their names, grabbed our free wine or beer and danced the night away. A bunch went to a nearby club, but my elderly self wasn't ready to go so hard so early on, and so I made my way to bed around 1am.

It was a great and exhausting first day, filled with happy people, cold air and names I was struggling to remember. I crept into my already sleeping room and settled down for a couple of hours sleep. We had an early start the next morning, like many mornings would be to follow.

***
Tuesday, 23 December 2014
PRAGUE - CESKY KRUMLOV

Not only did I get back to the room after my other bunk mates, but I got up before all of them and had a shower. Then I hopped back into bed for a little bit longer before making my way down to another amazing breakfast at Plus Prague. At breakfast, I realised I had made a little bit of a mistake with my booking as I thought the tour ended on the 2 January. Oops - it ended on the 1st. This meant that I had to find accommodation for that final night. I put this dilemma on the backburner and dealt with it at a later date.

Today's stop: Cesky Krumlov, a small city on the edge of the Czech Republic and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the way, we paused at a Tesco to purchase snacks, last minute Secret Santa gifts and a hat or costume for the Christmas days for those who hadn't yet. I boarded the bus again afterwards, realising something was missing. My phone! My life is on that phone. Breathless, I pushed my way off the almost full bus and sprinted back inside. I ran up to the lady at the checkout, who, seeing me coming, reached behind a stand and handed me my phone. I was beside myself with relief. This is why the phone never leaves my hand - but I had put it down to figure out my change.

Back on the bus, it took me some time to gather myself. Thankfully it wasn't long before we were in Cesky Krumlov and checking into our rather amazing hotel. The city centre was picturesque and we were left to our own devices to explore the tiny town.

Beautiful day for an adventure

Cara and I, cameras at the ready, explored the castle, tried to look for the bears and then made our way back to the centre for some local fare. Delicious potato pancake, sausage and mulled wine. Yum! Along with Courtney, we bought some sweets (which..seem to have gone missing along the way, oh well!)

Fud! Eat all the sausage and potato pancake and drink
all the mulled wine!

We decided to go sans on the Torture Museum as it looked rather kitsch, so we wandered back to our hotel to await dinner that evening. For dinner we walked as a group back through the city centre to the Eggenberg Brewery. For me, it was the traditional pork neck with sauerkraut and potato dumplings for dinner. From here, we made our way to a local pub where the poor bartender was clearly overwhelmed by so many orders and serving slowly. I ordered two drinks so I didn't have to go back to the bar, had another drink bought for me by a strange Czech man and chatted the night away.

Beautiful by day, stunning by night.

This was the only time we were going to spend in the quaint little town so it was back to packing and getting ready to set off early in the morning again, this time for Vienna.

***
That's the end of the Czech Republic and takes us a couple of days into the tour.

Next up: Vienna.

xx

My family for the next 11 days

Let's get nutcracking

“It won't be Christmas without going to the ballet,” they said. “Go see The Nutcracker."

Well, I think a few of my Christmases came at once with those gentleman ballet dancers and their shapely bottoms.

When the opportunity to see The Nutcracker came up, I jumped at it. I’m not entirely certain why I was so excited - I was more apprehensive that I wouldn’t enjoy it as dance is not normally an area of the arts that I am particularly fond of. But, when in Rome - or London, as it were - the ballet and The Nutcracker are synonymous with Christmas and so I ended up at London’s Coliseum.

You see, I was a ballerina, once. My poor long suffering mother has sewn thousand of sequins and battled yards of tulle to create my costumes. I think my stand out performance was the time I took to the stage as a duck.

Professional ballerina

So not only am I a skilled dancer, The Nutcracker is also one of my favourite suites of music. I studied it in high school, played it on the piano and as part of the orchestra on the cello. In all my time, though, I had never realised that the music and the ballet were devised together - that the ballet was not choreographed to fit the music, but that they were written as a whole.

And so, ticket in hand and friends at my side, we pushed our way through the crowd to take our seats.

The sheer strength, agility and precision of the dancers was incredible. The children, too, were impeccable, and I couldn’t help but think how much of their lives must be dedicated to dance.

When the two primary dancers took to the stage - I could see why they won the starring roles. Not even the slightest of wobbles when up on pointe (and please forgive me as my terminology will be completely off), legs at complete and perfect right-angles; not too high, not too low.

Granted, I was somewhat fixated on the gentleman dancer’s supremely muscular upper thigh region. They must pour themselves into those tights, or they are spray painted on. Either way… The ladies costumes were beautiful too, long flowing dresses for the first act, which moved to sparkly tutu-d numbers for the 2nd.

When it comes to the finer points; I cannot discuss these as I do not know enough. I was surprised at how much I had to concentrate (again, I’ll be honest, I was very tired and a little worried I may have to fight sleep). I had researched the basic premise and could follow well enough, but it was interesting to have to focus so strongly on the body language to know how the ballet was progressing. And another thing that I found, which is going to make me sound like an utter fool, is how much of a story there actually was. I guess I had always considered ballet…just…to…be…dancing? It had never crossed my mind that they are actually telling a story. 

And so I’ve been to my first ballet. I’m quite sure it won’t be my last, but I think I will stick to ballet’s where I know the music so I feel more of a connection to the dancers and storyline.

As the wonderful, late Robin Williams once said:

Ballet - Men wearing pants so tight you can tell what religion they are.

I can’t get their scrumptious bums out of my head.

xx

Christmas in London: Winter Wonderland

London does Christmas. In the lead up, I was told, “London..nah, nothing really happens at Christmas, they don’t really get into it.”

Whoever said that was an idiot.

(NB, I can’t remember who it was…so uh…sorry if I like you and just called you an idiot)

London does Christmas. As it is dark by 3pm (a slight exaggeration, it’s about 3.30pm), this truly is the city for Christmas lights. Even the littlest of county’s are decked with sparkles; the little orbs in Hammersmith are particularly lovely. The shopping centres are filled with massive twinkling tree-like structures and ice rinks - and I don’t know if it is because I am so over-excited for Christmas, but I have barely even noticed Christmas carols being played on repeat in the stores. 

Ugly Christmas sweaters. Christmas themed hand warmers, gloves, scarves and beanies (mostly a la Primark). Christmas socks, pyjamas, pants (that’s underwear for all you Aussie folks). Everything you could normally get, there is now a Christmas version of it. And it is all so delightfully wintry. 

In a Christmas bauble!

A foreign concept to a warm-weather creature such as myself. 

Winter Wonderland is a culmination of all things festive. Situated in Hyde Park, it spans a huge area full of rides, markets and food and drink stalls. It’s the Royal Adelaide Show, but free - and Christmas themed. I almost died of happiness.

Throw the ball, Christmas style!

I visited on Wednesday night; a night so chosen as to try to avoid a painful weekend crowd. Becki, Nicole and Cory in tow we met in the freezing night air all ready to go iceskating. I was alternating between clapping my hands with glee like a child and lamenting “Oh, what have I done?”. After some german sausage (everyone needs some german sausage), I skulled a mulled wine  (for confidence) and we made our way onto the ice.

Zoom, round and round

I approached the ice like a baby giraffe. I felt like my legs would go every which way, as I stumbled with shaking legs around my first couple of laps. I stayed close to a wall, skirting it so I could reach out to grab at the moment it looked like I were to go head over heels. Cory, Canadian, took to the ice like he’d been born for it. Becki, much practised, hands clasped behind her back swirled around the rink. Nicole, confident, zoomed past me.

To be fair, I hadn’t ice skated since my second knee reconstruction (or my ankle injury for that matter) so I was worried how my legs would hold up and, knowing me, if I did fall over I had the potential to do some serious damage (coz that’s just how I roll).

Lo and behold, there was not a single stack. Not one of us went arse-up. Soon, the mulled wine settled in and I gained in confidence, seeing how fast I could get around the loop, flailing my arms wildly when I started to wobble. The main problem was the sheer number of people on the rink - at times it bottle necked and with my wonderful ability to stop (read: I can’t stop) meant that I ran into the back of someone. 

I belted out the Christmas and non-Christmas tunes. I skated as fast as I could. I went cross eyed looking at the frost dragon of my breathing. The fairy lights above me. The tree decked out in the middle. The hubbub of the crowd around. 

Ice skating, outside, in the cold night air at Christmas time. Perfection.

***

I will miss my family and friends this Christmas, but between London and its sites and all the activities I have to distract myself, I think this Christmas will be incredible.

It’s not long now.

xx

Complete with Christmas sweater!