Up until my sojourn to Chicago last weekend, I, in all my travels had not made it to the American mid-west - a glaring hole in my travels around the globe. Keen to rectify the situation, a plan was hatched three months prior, while on a visit to Boston to meet-up with one of my good friends Marianne. We were visiting her during the 4th of July weekend, and Boston is a great place to experience it (more on this in a future post). When she mentioned that she was preparing for a Marathon - the Chicago Marathon. I jumped on the idea of heading to the Windy City and use as an excuse the fact that I would show up to cheer on Marianne and Oded while they ran the 26.2 miles.
First things first - getting a reservation at the infamous Girl & The Goat, this is where Chicago would convert me into a foodie - lock, stock, and barrel. More on this later.
Finally the weekend of the Chicago Marathon arrived. I had booked an early evening flight out of San Francisco - sadly I couldn't take the day-off. After leaving work fairly late, I got into SFO with only forty-five minutes left till my flight took-off. I know, very ambitious! Suffice to say, I missed the flight - fortunately there was another flight into O'Hare half an hour later with ample seats available for stragglers.
While I was at the United counter I noticed an elderly couple speaking Italian at the counter adjacent to mine, their luggage covered in Ferrari decals - finding this curios and being the Smart-Alec that I'm, I said something. Turns out the gentleman was actually one of the VP's of Ferrari! (unverified, but still a good story-I'll take his word for it)
Friday night in downtown Chicago was actually quieter than I expected. By the time I checked into my hotel it was passed midnight. I headed out immediately in search of food, at the hotel's suggestion I went to an Irish Pub that was still serving food. I was pleasantly surprised to catch the Ireland vs. Wales Rugby World Cup match at the restaurant and ordered some food driven by my extreme hunger. Again, the bar was rather mellow for a Friday night. Marianne and Oded had landed earlier that morning but had also called it an early night and I was due to meet up with them early on Saturday morning. Keen to get an early start myself, I called it a night after finishing my meal.
Saturday was an absolutely fantastic fall day in Chicago! Shorts, flip-flops - it was 75F (24C) at 9AM. I actually was up and about before I expected. Like a good traveler, I headed to Cloudgate, or otherwise effectionatly called by locals "The Bean" at Millenium Park. I was due to meet-up with Marianne & Oded there. I actually arrived while the throngs of tourists was at a minimal, mostly runners who were getting a final run before the big day. The backdrop of all the skyscrapers reflecting off Cloudgate was providing great fodder to keep a novice photog like myself occupied for hours. Fortunately, Marianne and Oded arrived promptly to whisk me to other great parts of Chicago.
Breakfast was on our schedule next and we walked what seemed like miles looking for a breakfast spot. In spite of having GPS-enabled phones we were sent on a wild goose-chase; the type that can only be brought about only when exploring a new city. This is that feeling/state that travelers get hooked onto and tourist try to negate. It turned out the breakfast spot (Meli Cafe on Wells St.)- a place know for it's french toast- would end-up near my hotel and also close to our next tourist activity for the day: an architectural tour of Chicago by boat. The french toast didn't disappoint.
Next was the famous architectural tour of Chicago by boat, we had booked our tickets beforehand since we were a bit wary of it beign sold out due to the Marathon-crowd. By now the weather was glorious, at 1PM, the three of us decided to crack open the first beer of the day/trip! The architectural tour is a must-do, it not only acts as an architecture tour but also provides the history of the city - highly recommended. And, the added bonus of enjoying an alcoholic beverage on or near water is quite possibly universal.
From there we were meeting one of Marianne's friends at Gene's Sausage Shop in the Lincoln Square neighbourhood. Gene's rocked my world, it has an awesome rooftop Beer garden with all the Bratwurst you can desire. This along with the 80+F (27C) weather couldn't be beat. After imbuing copious pitchers of the Weissbier and eating Bratwurst and a Rib Belly Sandwich we decided to head to the Chicago Brauhaus located a stones-throw from Gene's. Again, a few stein's of Hofbrau were put down while the band almost managed to transport us to Munich during Oktoberfest. It had started to get late in the evening so we decided to head back to our hotels to gear up for the Chicago nightlife. We headed out to the old town neighbourhood of Chicago and had a ball.
The next morning I was paying the price of starting my first beer at 1PM. By noon I dragged my butt out of the hotel and met up with the gang for lunch. We were headed to Chicago Pizza ando Oven Grinder Co. They were located in a historic location, on February 14, 1929 - The notorious “St.
Valentine’s Day Massacre” occurred just steps from the location of the restaurant.
In 1971, after a fire burned the original house down Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co. was born. Their specialty is the Pizza Pot Pie. A pot pie, created with the ingredients of a pizza, but once the pie is brought table-side it is flipped out of its bowl. Now, you have a upside down pot pie on your plate. But, it works - it is successful in transforming a pizza into pot pie form.
Afterwards we walked toward the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is free!) and traversed our way towards the Michigan Lake shore. Being as it was another picture-perfect fall day, there were many beach bums and volleyball players. We strolled along the beach heading towards the looming skyscrapers of downtown. Fianlly heading back to our hotels as Odie and I were intent on heading to the top of the Hancock building (formerly Sears Tower) for some drinks.
We made it to the 96th floor of the Hancock building, where the city view, especially at sunset is unfathomable. After a bit of a wait (arrive with at least 30mins prior to sunset so that you can get seated in time for it), Odie and I settled into a nice spot - there isn't a bad seat in the house! After a few Martini's and re-telling of past travel adventures we met up with Marianne and were off to our reservations at the Girl & The Goat.
I'm not going to lie, Girl & The Goat is for the adventurous eater (you don't have to be an Andrew Zimmern, the food isn't that bizarre). The menu is split into three categories V, M, F ( Vegetables, Meat and Fish). Here's a list of some of what we ordered:
Roasted cauliflower with pickled peppers, pine nuts, mint
Goat chorizo flatbread with ajvar, peppers, green tomato, apricot, fresh ricotta
Wood oven roasted pig face with sunny side egg, tamarind, cilantro, potato stix
Braised beef tongue with masa, beef vinaigrette, salsa verde
I can't quite describe the eating experience at The Girl & The Goat in so many words - the best I think it could be described is as a food pilgrimage that everyone who goes to Chicago should embark upon. Content and just reliving every bite from every plate we headed back to our hotel and had one last drink for the night.
Rested, I met Marianne for my last day in Chicago. On our agenda was to head back to "The Bean", we were hoping it would be less crowded since it was a working day, albeit it was more crowded than it was during Saturday morning. We went for a walk on the Magnificent Mile, a row of designer shops. I came upon the Apple store which was inundated with post-it tributes to Steve Jobs. After strolling for a while we decided to head to the Art Institute of Chicago, which houses an insane amount of great art; works by the likes of Picasso, Dali, Tanguy, Pollock etc.. It's a veritable who's-who of the art world. You spend an entire day there but sadly we could only muster a couple hours.
Being as though we were getting peckish and my flight was fast approaching we decided to grab some food and our last mean in Chicago would be at a place called The Purple Pig. What a fitting place to finish-off what has been a riveting culinary exploration of Chicago.
Chicago really overwhelmed my taste buds, the people are really friendly and the city is probably one of the cleanest cities I've been to stateside. There are plenty of other great neighbourhoods to explore, restaurants to have your taste-bus wowed but, sadly on a 66-hour itinerary this is all I could fit in.
Chicago, go for the architecture stay for the food!
P.S. I know I didn't talk about my friends running the Marathon after it being the reason I went to Chicago - like I said it was an excuse to get me there :).
Checkout my collection of pictures at the bottom link and add me to your circles on google plus!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Real World: Split.
While both Dubrovnik and Split have international airports, you would be foolish to fly between the two. The Dalmatian coast with it's azure waters, the enchanting small towns dotted with terracotta roof tiles and the interesting border-crossing with Bosnia & Herzegovina make it probably one of the most scenic drives in the world.
We started off from Dubrovnik after breakfast and found a bus company to take us to Split. The journey takes approximately 5-6hours and costs around 120Kuna.
As I mentioned above, Dubrovnik is separated from the rest of Croatia by a sliver of land that is claimed by Bosnia. Crossing the Neum corridor was a breeze for us, Bosnian border patrol officers boarded our bus and we just had to show our passports. The 'Bosnian Riviera' runs for 23km before your back on Croatian soil.
We arrived in Split late afternoon and after finding our hostel we headed out to explore Diocletian's Palace.
It was a glorious evening in Split, pleasant temperature and a gorgeous sunset was in the making. Diocletian's Palace, is not so much a Palace - rather a city within the city of Split. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, bars and such within the walls of the Palace. By chance we came upon a Croatian wedding that was taking place at peristyle within the Palace. We climbed the clock tower in time to catch the serene Adriatic sunset over Split.
After a brief exploration of the Palace we decided to head back to the hostel.True to form there were some Aussies at the hostel and a girl who was at the same hostel as us in Dubrovnik was also there. This is where Real World: Split begins, albeit without the drama of the MTV show! After kicking it off with the folks at the hostel we decided to head out for dinner. There over a few liters of Karlovačka beer and some Croatian delicacies we hatched plans with some of them to head to the island of Brac in the morning.
We took one of the daily ferries to Brac the next morning with some of the girls from the hostel. The trip was 45minutes to Brac and provided sweeping views of Split and the Dalmatian coast. We docked at Supertar on the sleepy island of Brac and set about exploring. After hiking around the coast around Supertar's coast we found a beach to enjoy the azure waters of the Adriatic. Even though it was early October, the water was surprisingly pleasant.
We caught the ferry back to Split before sunset. After regrouping at the hostel, we headed out with our newly-made friends and explored the town of Split!
I have to say in all my travels the friends we made in Split we amongst some of the best. I keep in touch with most of them and to date and I've met 3 of them in different locales. It was just a great group of people that unlike The Real World, got along! For those of you who haven't been to the Dalmatian coast, I highly urge/encourage/will use all my persuasive skills to try convince you to visit.
Split, a city within a city, plenty of island hopping opportunities abound and a local feel to a beach town that is hard to find in many other top tourist traps!
We started off from Dubrovnik after breakfast and found a bus company to take us to Split. The journey takes approximately 5-6hours and costs around 120Kuna.
As I mentioned above, Dubrovnik is separated from the rest of Croatia by a sliver of land that is claimed by Bosnia. Crossing the Neum corridor was a breeze for us, Bosnian border patrol officers boarded our bus and we just had to show our passports. The 'Bosnian Riviera' runs for 23km before your back on Croatian soil.
We arrived in Split late afternoon and after finding our hostel we headed out to explore Diocletian's Palace.
It was a glorious evening in Split, pleasant temperature and a gorgeous sunset was in the making. Diocletian's Palace, is not so much a Palace - rather a city within the city of Split. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, bars and such within the walls of the Palace. By chance we came upon a Croatian wedding that was taking place at peristyle within the Palace. We climbed the clock tower in time to catch the serene Adriatic sunset over Split.
After a brief exploration of the Palace we decided to head back to the hostel.True to form there were some Aussies at the hostel and a girl who was at the same hostel as us in Dubrovnik was also there. This is where Real World: Split begins, albeit without the drama of the MTV show! After kicking it off with the folks at the hostel we decided to head out for dinner. There over a few liters of Karlovačka beer and some Croatian delicacies we hatched plans with some of them to head to the island of Brac in the morning.
We took one of the daily ferries to Brac the next morning with some of the girls from the hostel. The trip was 45minutes to Brac and provided sweeping views of Split and the Dalmatian coast. We docked at Supertar on the sleepy island of Brac and set about exploring. After hiking around the coast around Supertar's coast we found a beach to enjoy the azure waters of the Adriatic. Even though it was early October, the water was surprisingly pleasant.
We caught the ferry back to Split before sunset. After regrouping at the hostel, we headed out with our newly-made friends and explored the town of Split!
I have to say in all my travels the friends we made in Split we amongst some of the best. I keep in touch with most of them and to date and I've met 3 of them in different locales. It was just a great group of people that unlike The Real World, got along! For those of you who haven't been to the Dalmatian coast, I highly urge/encourage/will use all my persuasive skills to try convince you to visit.
Split, a city within a city, plenty of island hopping opportunities abound and a local feel to a beach town that is hard to find in many other top tourist traps!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
In Croatia's Southern Dalmatian Coast, Dubrovnik charms you with it's small-town tranquility
Even before we got here, I've heard raving reviews of Croatia's Dalmatian coast (which pretty much runs from Zadar in the northern most point to the southern border with Montenegro). The Dalmatian coast is hugged by the Adriatic and has a typical Mediterranean climate.
Our first stop in on the Dalmatian coast was the southern city of Dubrovnik. To get to Dubrovnik we headed west from Vienna, back to Munich by train then hopped on a flight from Munich to Dubrovnik. By the time we got into Dubrovnik it was later in the evening. The airport is closer to the town of Cavtat than Dubrovnik.
The bus ride from the airport to the city zig-zagged along the hillsides, while the full moon glimmered off the Adriatic. We were expecting Dubrovnik to be sleepy at this hour, but the bus stop was buzzing with activity - many people trying to offer a room for rent/hostel for the weary traveler. Having already booked our hostel we were pleasantly surprised as to how easy it was to find. Literally, steps from the bus station but removed enough to be well away from the hustle and bustle.
We had an apartment-esque type of a room in the hostel on the outskirts of the old town. The owner Marko showed us to our room and highlighted all the best spots on a map. Giving his personal recommendation for restaurants/bars and other attractions.
After settling-in we headed out to the old town for dinner. We sought out a restaurant Marko had suggested, one that specialized in seafood (Lokanda Peskarija). There, I had one of the best seafood meals I've had in Europe since Spain- grilled squid to start and a entree of squid risotto cooked in its own ink. Being October, the crowds had died down in Dubrovnik, after dinner we walked around looking for a bar to grab a drink - instead we decided for an early night (since both of us were still recovering after Vienna) in-lieu of our busy day ahead.
We were up and at it early the next morning. The sun was blisteringly hot even at 9AM, after grabbing a quick 'Dubrovnik' breakfast at a restaurant just outside the old town we were off on our exploration.
Dubrovnik has on of the most interesting old town's, in my opinion. Traversing the city wall allows you an almost a voyeur-esque peek into how the people in the city live. One piece of advice I'd give to anyone is to grab a good pair of sunnies - the white marble stone that line the streets of the old town make the sun's glare during the day almost blinding. While walking the around the city wall the terracotta roof tiles provide a tranquil contrast to the turquoise blue of the Adriatic sea.
We went for a brief swim along the rocky coasts of Lokrum and decided to head back before dark.
We found the Buza (pronounced 'Buja') Bar, on the recommendation of Marko, right before sunset. And boy was it spectacular. When we first walked in, Bob Marley was coursing through it's outdoor speaker system, and I immediately wanted to high-five Marko. The beers were cold and the view was stunning..... have a look below.
After sunset, we headed back to the hostel and headed out for dinner with some Brits we had befriended at Buza Bar.
The following morning we were off to Split.
Dubrovnik, charming town that you could spend an eternity engorging in fresh seafood while being mesmerized by its tranquil vistas. I'll be back.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Wiener Schnitzel!
Having stayed at the Wombat's Hostel in Munich, we were happy to find out that there was another in Vienna. We got into Vienna in the late afternoon and after settling in at the hostel we headed out in search of dinner. On the train over to Vienna, which went much more smoothly than our Munich to Prague journey, Oli made his craving for some Wiener Schnitzel and Apfel Strudel clear. So we went to one of Vienna's finest Schnitzel purveyors that night - see below picture.
It's true what they say: A picture speaks a thousand words.
After consuming that perfectly executed beast we went to check out some sights by night. The streets were quiet that night - being a Sunday. We found a night market and the smells that were emanating from all the food stands made us almost eat again. All types of Bratwurst and other sumptuous pork parts were being cooked up.
The Rathaus (which serves as the seat both of the mayor and city council of the city of Vienna) perfectly framed the night market and its Gothic style was our first view of the grandeur of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The ring (Ringstrasse), intricately manicured gardens and the Pestsäule were some of the sights from our first night. We headed back to the hostel.
We found ourselves playing cards at the hostel bar and playing the "Identify the song" game that the bar had organized. The prize was a shot of the Austrian version of Jägermeister. Yours truly kept guessing the songs, but given my repulsion to liquorice or anything tasting like liquorice I was handing these off to Oli - which provided some great entertainment later. :)
The bar started off sleepy, with only a handful of others. However, the infamous Contiki tour bus had just pulled in with everyone's favorite travelers - Aussies! The bar was absolutely hoppin' after this! Oli and I put the cards away and we were chatting with several of them. There were also a group of younger Germans who were there as well. One member of this group had a insane resemblance to McLovin and we definitely shared a good laugh over that.
Everyone was having a great time and this same group of Germans approach us a little while later, one of the guys asks me, " Hey do you have any weed?" Before I could even respond Oli interjects with, "Wait, why did you ask him!?" Without missing a beat he responds, "Well he's black isn't he?" Oli was more appalled than I was at this point. This did shed some light into the random girl in Munich who came up to me and askd for cocaine. This was definitely a night to remember - I still retell this story on occasion.
The next day we headed out to the legendary Schönbrunn Palace, situated in the West of the city.. I would say it is only second to Versailles in terms of size and opulence. It is impeccably kept, the gardens are are so well maintained I didn't even see a rock out of place.
A courtyard of one of the 'smaller' buildings
Surprisingly Vienna turned out to be more diverse than I had expected, and it reflected on its cuisine too.
For lunch, we decided to have some Moroccan food.
Unfortunatley, being a Monday most of the museums were closed. We missed going to the Albertina and The Belvedere Palace. However, we did check out Hundertwasser Haus. Built by the Architect of the same name it is an apartment building that has now become an expressionist landmark.
Hundertwasser Haus
We grabbed some dinner then headed back to the hostel. Oli had a phone interview scheduled for that night. Our mate Dan, who we met in Prague also had arrived and was staying at the same hostel, we grabbed a quick drink with him. I called it an early night as we had a long day of travel scheduled; back to Munich then flight out to Dubrovnik.
Vienna: Prim and proper dashed with some old-world charm.
See you in Croatia.
After consuming that perfectly executed beast we went to check out some sights by night. The streets were quiet that night - being a Sunday. We found a night market and the smells that were emanating from all the food stands made us almost eat again. All types of Bratwurst and other sumptuous pork parts were being cooked up.
The Rathaus (which serves as the seat both of the mayor and city council of the city of Vienna) perfectly framed the night market and its Gothic style was our first view of the grandeur of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The ring (Ringstrasse), intricately manicured gardens and the Pestsäule were some of the sights from our first night. We headed back to the hostel.
We found ourselves playing cards at the hostel bar and playing the "Identify the song" game that the bar had organized. The prize was a shot of the Austrian version of Jägermeister. Yours truly kept guessing the songs, but given my repulsion to liquorice or anything tasting like liquorice I was handing these off to Oli - which provided some great entertainment later. :)
The bar started off sleepy, with only a handful of others. However, the infamous Contiki tour bus had just pulled in with everyone's favorite travelers - Aussies! The bar was absolutely hoppin' after this! Oli and I put the cards away and we were chatting with several of them. There were also a group of younger Germans who were there as well. One member of this group had a insane resemblance to McLovin and we definitely shared a good laugh over that.
Everyone was having a great time and this same group of Germans approach us a little while later, one of the guys asks me, " Hey do you have any weed?" Before I could even respond Oli interjects with, "Wait, why did you ask him!?" Without missing a beat he responds, "Well he's black isn't he?" Oli was more appalled than I was at this point. This did shed some light into the random girl in Munich who came up to me and askd for cocaine. This was definitely a night to remember - I still retell this story on occasion.
The next day we headed out to the legendary Schönbrunn Palace, situated in the West of the city.. I would say it is only second to Versailles in terms of size and opulence. It is impeccably kept, the gardens are are so well maintained I didn't even see a rock out of place.
Surprisingly Vienna turned out to be more diverse than I had expected, and it reflected on its cuisine too.
For lunch, we decided to have some Moroccan food.
Unfortunatley, being a Monday most of the museums were closed. We missed going to the Albertina and The Belvedere Palace. However, we did check out Hundertwasser Haus. Built by the Architect of the same name it is an apartment building that has now become an expressionist landmark.
We grabbed some dinner then headed back to the hostel. Oli had a phone interview scheduled for that night. Our mate Dan, who we met in Prague also had arrived and was staying at the same hostel, we grabbed a quick drink with him. I called it an early night as we had a long day of travel scheduled; back to Munich then flight out to Dubrovnik.
Vienna: Prim and proper dashed with some old-world charm.
See you in Croatia.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
On the banks of the Vltava river....a failed hair cut!!
We arrived in Prague later than anticipated, due to the added journey time. It was cooler (but still pleasant) than it had been in Oktoberfest - or maybe all those steins had managed to shield us from the brisk weather.
In reading our guides I was surprised at the sights that Prague had. None of them as famous as the other landmarks in Europe, but definitely able to hold their own. Prague castle, The Astronomical Clock, St Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge to name a few.
Before we get to the sights, we had to navigate our way to the hostel which was a short tram ride away from the hustle and bustle of the city center. First impression of the people of Prague was positive - a businessman seeing that we were confused as to which tram to take to our hostel - kindly assisted us, in English to beat!
We get to our hostel and both Oli and I are stunned. Absolutely stuuuuuned! Probably one of the best hostels I had been in. It could rank amongst a 3.5 star hotel! The name, admittedly was a bit cheesy : Czech Inn - should've taken some pics.
For dinner that night - we went to a Thai place! Yeah, in the middle of Eastern Europe and we wind up going to a Thai place. Go figure! But, it was pretty good, and we were loving the non-euro prices in Prague. This meal (with a bottle of wine) would've been easily 80euros, I think we paid something like 30euros equivalent. Koruna is the currency of The Czech republic; US$1 = ~17 Koruna.
The fabled Pilsner beer, has it's roots in the Czech republic - in fact we passed through Plzeň on our journey to Prague. That being said, beer is cheaper than bottled water in Prague ( and I'm guessing in the rest of country, too). In fact, when we were there I think beer was half the price of bottled water. 'Prague', does that translate to beer heaven..?? No complaints from the both us!
We headed back to the hostel after dinner and called it an early night - still reeling from our added journey time and the after effects of Oktoberfest.
In the morning we had a packed schedule for the day of sight-seeing, among them:
Prague castle, The Astronomical Clock, St Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge
I was really impressed with everything, the cleanliness was surprising. However, we did have an unpleasant experience at the Prague castle, where we encountered some rude service.
Also, travelers of colour -beware to be stared at - a lot! Everytime I got onto the tram, I just felt the gaze of the entire carriage.
The following day we went on a guided walking tour of Prague, which was great. The guide really knew his stuff. We got to learn some history about the Velvet Revolution and walked through Kafka's neighbourhood. Highly recommend! We also learned of a Pub Crawl that was to happen later that night. After having a couple days to recover from the epicness of Oktoberfest we decided to check it out. We were to meet in front of the Astronomical clock.
Before it was time for the pub crawl I decided my head was in need of a fresh shaving. I had taken my clippers with me on the trip and conveniently the hostel bathroom had a power outlet I could use. I had finished half of my head when the clippers decided to give-out. So there I am.....with half a head shaved and half...well...not so much. Fortunately I had brought along a hat, and I met Oli down at the lobby and show him the new hairstyle I would be rockin' that night (hidden by the hat). EPIC FAIL!!! The clippers, although had what looked like the adapter was not compatible with the different voltage in Europe. Mark that under the should've-known-better column.
The crawl attracted a huge crowd and we ended up going to 5 or 6 pubs/clubs. We started the night of with some Absinthe shots and made friends with a Sydneysider, Dan.
At the pen-ultimate club, Daniel (who is of Malaysian descent) was coaxed into chatting up some Asian girls. After a few minutes he returns with a look of defeat. The story goes, that upon finding out the girls were from Kazakhstan, Dan couldn't help asking, "Oh do you guys like Borat?!" some-what enthusiastically. This question was met by stone-cold stares by the group of girls and an eventual walk of shame for Dan.
Prague, you were great (minus the awkward stares!) :)
In reading our guides I was surprised at the sights that Prague had. None of them as famous as the other landmarks in Europe, but definitely able to hold their own. Prague castle, The Astronomical Clock, St Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge to name a few.
Before we get to the sights, we had to navigate our way to the hostel which was a short tram ride away from the hustle and bustle of the city center. First impression of the people of Prague was positive - a businessman seeing that we were confused as to which tram to take to our hostel - kindly assisted us, in English to beat!
We get to our hostel and both Oli and I are stunned. Absolutely stuuuuuned! Probably one of the best hostels I had been in. It could rank amongst a 3.5 star hotel! The name, admittedly was a bit cheesy : Czech Inn - should've taken some pics.
For dinner that night - we went to a Thai place! Yeah, in the middle of Eastern Europe and we wind up going to a Thai place. Go figure! But, it was pretty good, and we were loving the non-euro prices in Prague. This meal (with a bottle of wine) would've been easily 80euros, I think we paid something like 30euros equivalent. Koruna is the currency of The Czech republic; US$1 = ~17 Koruna.
The fabled Pilsner beer, has it's roots in the Czech republic - in fact we passed through Plzeň on our journey to Prague. That being said, beer is cheaper than bottled water in Prague ( and I'm guessing in the rest of country, too). In fact, when we were there I think beer was half the price of bottled water. 'Prague', does that translate to beer heaven..?? No complaints from the both us!
We headed back to the hostel after dinner and called it an early night - still reeling from our added journey time and the after effects of Oktoberfest.
In the morning we had a packed schedule for the day of sight-seeing, among them:
Prague castle, The Astronomical Clock, St Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge
View from Prague castle, Charles bridge on the bottom right.
Charles bridge and Prague Castle.
I was really impressed with everything, the cleanliness was surprising. However, we did have an unpleasant experience at the Prague castle, where we encountered some rude service.
Also, travelers of colour -beware to be stared at - a lot! Everytime I got onto the tram, I just felt the gaze of the entire carriage.
The following day we went on a guided walking tour of Prague, which was great. The guide really knew his stuff. We got to learn some history about the Velvet Revolution and walked through Kafka's neighbourhood. Highly recommend! We also learned of a Pub Crawl that was to happen later that night. After having a couple days to recover from the epicness of Oktoberfest we decided to check it out. We were to meet in front of the Astronomical clock.
Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square
Before it was time for the pub crawl I decided my head was in need of a fresh shaving. I had taken my clippers with me on the trip and conveniently the hostel bathroom had a power outlet I could use. I had finished half of my head when the clippers decided to give-out. So there I am.....with half a head shaved and half...well...not so much. Fortunately I had brought along a hat, and I met Oli down at the lobby and show him the new hairstyle I would be rockin' that night (hidden by the hat). EPIC FAIL!!! The clippers, although had what looked like the adapter was not compatible with the different voltage in Europe. Mark that under the should've-known-better column.
The crawl attracted a huge crowd and we ended up going to 5 or 6 pubs/clubs. We started the night of with some Absinthe shots and made friends with a Sydneysider, Dan.
At the pen-ultimate club, Daniel (who is of Malaysian descent) was coaxed into chatting up some Asian girls. After a few minutes he returns with a look of defeat. The story goes, that upon finding out the girls were from Kazakhstan, Dan couldn't help asking, "Oh do you guys like Borat?!" some-what enthusiastically. This question was met by stone-cold stares by the group of girls and an eventual walk of shame for Dan.
Prague, you were great (minus the awkward stares!) :)
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Prost!!
Munich during Oktoberfest is a zoo! Albeit, in a good way in my opinion. Two weeks in late September and early October where many beer lovers gather in what many of them consider their mecca.
I met up with a mate of mine, Oli, at the Munich airport. He was arriving from London, as he had just finished his Master's only a few weeks before. We had landed in the morning, and had the rest of the day to explore. That day we decided not to head to the Theresienwiese ('Wiesen'), the large grounds where Oktoberfest is held. Instead we went to the hallowed Augustiner Bräu restaurant (the oldest independently owned brewery in Munich). There, we had the still in-season Augustiner WeissBier - one sip of that golden nectar cured any sign of jet-lag I may have been suffering (or so I'd like to believe). Along with our beer we indulged in some Pork knuckle. Ah the Pork-knuckle..... I think I may have eaten Pork knuckle 3 times during our 3 day stay! It's roasted until golden and crispy and braised in beer! What's not to love!?!?
One of many Pork knuckle dinners
The following day we headed early to the Wiesen. We got there around 10:30, still trying to recover from the previous night at the hostel where we had a few more litres of beer than we had planned. We moseyed over to the HofBräuhaus 'tent' eager to get ourselves a spot at the infamous HofBräuhaus and try a HofBräu Oktoberfest beer. Oli was struggling and needed a gigantic pretzel to kick the effects of the previous night. The crowd started to get boisterous towards 2pm. By this time the band was in full swing, regularly blasting:
"Ein Prosicht", "Alice", "Seven Nation Army" by White Stripes and our favorite - Fliegerlied (So ein schöner tag). Before long, the alcohol had reduced inhibitions and people were making friends all around us.
HofBräu Festzelt
Inside look
Out of the blue a girl approached myself and Oli, she started to talk to me with the usual banter, in hindsight I realized her speech was a bit slurred. I didn't think too much of it at the time, after all this was the largest drinking festival in the world!!! When I found out that she was from London, I was like "Oh my friend (pointing to Oli) is from London. She didn't even bother to look toward him. Within a matter of seconds after she asks, "Can I ask you an inappropriate question?". Hesitantly, " Ummm... sure. What's up?". "Do you have any cocaine?". To which, I was dumbfounded, I recall saying something to the affect "I'm sorry, but you're barking up the wrong tree". Before I knew it she had left as soon as she had come over. I was gobsmacked, and all Oli and I could do was laugh and have another litre of HofBräuhaus' finest. We ended up finishing 6 Stein's (litres) that night and were able to amble our way back to the hostel without too much incident.
The following day we ended up spending the most time at the HofBräuhaus tent again. Mostly because it was the biggest and it had an international feel to it. We did go by the Späten tent and the Hippodrome, which were both good too. We were able to meet up with some of Oli's friends from grad school, and some of my friends from California, who unplanned, had turned up at Munich. Thank god for Oli, if it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't have made it back to the hostel that second night! Yeah, it was that epic!! 7 Steins is not a joke people!!!
We woke up the next morning feeling the worst we had felt throughout the past 3 days. We were on our way to Prague. Having booked a direct train we were looking forward to catching up on sleep/beating our hangovers!
I was in and out of sleep, Oli was reading a book - all of a sudden during a stop near the border I realized that everyone in our carriage had got off. I thought this was rather peculiar and even said so to Oli. Neither of us took it too seriously as we thought this may be a popular stop. The train started to move, yet, I was still unsettled. Moments pass by, and I see an Engineer (he had an orange vest on) come through to our carriage. I think we looked at each other and simultaneously uttered some cuss words, his were in German. Suffice to say we were no longer on our way to Prague, rather the depot at that station. The train had split up and we were lucky enough to be in the two carriages that were being sent to the depot. In the end, what was a direct train turned out to be a 5 connection passage to Prague - in some cases we only had 2 minutes between trains! In the end this added a good 3 hours to our journey time as well. Hangover gone!
No sleep, but definitely a good story.
Munich is probably one of my favorite cities in Europe - in spite of getting asked for cocaine at the Wiesen. Definitely plan on going back! Pork knuckle and Weissbier; until we meet again!
More to come hope you guys enjoyed the first installment. Bear with me as I perfect this Blogging thing.
Also keep in mind this blog will skip around my travels as I have stories from years ago that will be shared at random times.
Cheers or Prost, until my next post!
I met up with a mate of mine, Oli, at the Munich airport. He was arriving from London, as he had just finished his Master's only a few weeks before. We had landed in the morning, and had the rest of the day to explore. That day we decided not to head to the Theresienwiese ('Wiesen'), the large grounds where Oktoberfest is held. Instead we went to the hallowed Augustiner Bräu restaurant (the oldest independently owned brewery in Munich). There, we had the still in-season Augustiner WeissBier - one sip of that golden nectar cured any sign of jet-lag I may have been suffering (or so I'd like to believe). Along with our beer we indulged in some Pork knuckle. Ah the Pork-knuckle..... I think I may have eaten Pork knuckle 3 times during our 3 day stay! It's roasted until golden and crispy and braised in beer! What's not to love!?!?
The following day we headed early to the Wiesen. We got there around 10:30, still trying to recover from the previous night at the hostel where we had a few more litres of beer than we had planned. We moseyed over to the HofBräuhaus 'tent' eager to get ourselves a spot at the infamous HofBräuhaus and try a HofBräu Oktoberfest beer. Oli was struggling and needed a gigantic pretzel to kick the effects of the previous night. The crowd started to get boisterous towards 2pm. By this time the band was in full swing, regularly blasting:
"Ein Prosicht", "Alice", "Seven Nation Army" by White Stripes and our favorite - Fliegerlied (So ein schöner tag). Before long, the alcohol had reduced inhibitions and people were making friends all around us.
Out of the blue a girl approached myself and Oli, she started to talk to me with the usual banter, in hindsight I realized her speech was a bit slurred. I didn't think too much of it at the time, after all this was the largest drinking festival in the world!!! When I found out that she was from London, I was like "Oh my friend (pointing to Oli) is from London. She didn't even bother to look toward him. Within a matter of seconds after she asks, "Can I ask you an inappropriate question?". Hesitantly, " Ummm... sure. What's up?". "Do you have any cocaine?". To which, I was dumbfounded, I recall saying something to the affect "I'm sorry, but you're barking up the wrong tree". Before I knew it she had left as soon as she had come over. I was gobsmacked, and all Oli and I could do was laugh and have another litre of HofBräuhaus' finest. We ended up finishing 6 Stein's (litres) that night and were able to amble our way back to the hostel without too much incident.
The following day we ended up spending the most time at the HofBräuhaus tent again. Mostly because it was the biggest and it had an international feel to it. We did go by the Späten tent and the Hippodrome, which were both good too. We were able to meet up with some of Oli's friends from grad school, and some of my friends from California, who unplanned, had turned up at Munich. Thank god for Oli, if it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't have made it back to the hostel that second night! Yeah, it was that epic!! 7 Steins is not a joke people!!!
We woke up the next morning feeling the worst we had felt throughout the past 3 days. We were on our way to Prague. Having booked a direct train we were looking forward to catching up on sleep/beating our hangovers!
I was in and out of sleep, Oli was reading a book - all of a sudden during a stop near the border I realized that everyone in our carriage had got off. I thought this was rather peculiar and even said so to Oli. Neither of us took it too seriously as we thought this may be a popular stop. The train started to move, yet, I was still unsettled. Moments pass by, and I see an Engineer (he had an orange vest on) come through to our carriage. I think we looked at each other and simultaneously uttered some cuss words, his were in German. Suffice to say we were no longer on our way to Prague, rather the depot at that station. The train had split up and we were lucky enough to be in the two carriages that were being sent to the depot. In the end, what was a direct train turned out to be a 5 connection passage to Prague - in some cases we only had 2 minutes between trains! In the end this added a good 3 hours to our journey time as well. Hangover gone!
No sleep, but definitely a good story.
Munich is probably one of my favorite cities in Europe - in spite of getting asked for cocaine at the Wiesen. Definitely plan on going back! Pork knuckle and Weissbier; until we meet again!
More to come hope you guys enjoyed the first installment. Bear with me as I perfect this Blogging thing.
Also keep in mind this blog will skip around my travels as I have stories from years ago that will be shared at random times.
Cheers or Prost, until my next post!
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