Well after the pembrokeshire coast in Wales I caught a bus, to another bus, to another bus, to a train, to another bus, to the underground, to another bus and then I found myself in the flat of my good friends Glen & Camille. It was a travel day for sure. But once I was back in London I had a delightful night and dinner (thank you glen) with my friends.
The next morning sometime in the 4 am region, Camille and I hit the pavement to make our flight out to Austria. Lets just say we could have been a little bit more prepared for getting to the airport. After the first 2 train stations we tried being closed, we had to take a taxi to another station in order to make the only train going to Gatwick airport that would get us on our 6:50 flight on time. Problem was, neither of us had enough cash for a taxi so the taxi man had to make a pit stop at an atm. Anyways we made it to the airport, got through security only to realize that our gate was "20 minutes" from the terminal center and we were supposed to be there to board in like 5 minutes. So we were totally those girls running through the airport to catch our flight. And we made it! Once on the flight we realized that Camille had somewhere in the chaos of the morning, lost her credit card and it was nowhere to be found. We ended up canceling it once we got to Prague and I became her sugar mama for the week.
So after an eventful start we made it to Innsbruck Austria. Oh my gooooodness. seriously the most quaint, adorable, charming, beautiful little city ever. Surrounded by mountains on all 4 sides, we were SO happy that we went! We couchsurfed with a really sweet girl named Claudia who had an awesome flat really close to the city center, and who really helped us out with how best to see and get around Innsbruck. We stayed with Caludia for two nights and all during the days Camille and I just explored the city, window shopped, ate good food, and went up two different mountains ranges that had the most incredible views ever. We hiked about in our skirts and dresses, and steve madden boots while legit hikers had hiking poles, and hard core hiking boots. it was awesome, we totally fit in.
The most eventful night of our trip happened in the Innsbruck train station waiting for our 1 am train to Vienna. Camille and I were trying to be savvy and take an over night train so that we wouldnt have to pay for a night of a hostel, while that sounds really great. It ended up not really being the case. We got on the train, with tickets in hand and the conductor told us that all he had for us was "standing room". We were thinking "what do you mean standing room? its a night train. that means sleeping room sir". But oh no, we didnt get seats, or bunks, we got a service cupboard that had a desk, a cold hard floor and us. Soooo we slept on our clothes, under a desk, on the floor of a train. for 6 hours. Needless to say, not our best moment ever.
It ended up being okay once we were in Vienna, and although we lost about half a day because of exhaustion we still had a really great first day in the city. We met a really fun friend named Maureen who spent the next two days with us, she is from California, is our age and is traveling for a few months on her own. She came along with us and we went to the Vienna opera house and saw the opera! It was a really cool experience, even though I have no idea what opera it was, and it was in german, but we had english screens with sub-titles so that helped. We walked through the city afterwards for a little bit and had dinner at a great greek restaurant that had the most adorable little greek man who owned it. he was precious.
The next day the three of us explored and saw some amazing churches and palaces. We went up in the tower of this incredible church in the middle of the Old town and I think it is my favorite church I have ever visited. I loved the roof and the stained glass, so pretty! We also went to the Shonbrunn palace, which was awesome! Its a huge palace and gardens, that has the oldest zoo in the world, and incredible views of the city from the roman ruins on the hill above it. We went at dusk, which was great to see the city as it was lighting up. We really enjoyed Vienna and getting to meet Maureen!
The next morning, after a long coffee with Camille, I caught a train to Prague. I met up with Jordan, a friend from school who is studying for the semester in Rome. We had two good days in Prague and saw a lot of stuff. The first day we went to the castle and walked all throughout old and new town Prague. A mutual friend of Jordan's is a native of Prague and was nice enough to show us around a bit and tell us a lot of the history which was really great! She also took us to the astronomical clock at night, where there was a light show of sorts against the structure of the clock that showed the history of Prague and it was really really neat, I am glad we got to see it! The next day my friend Maureen from Vienna came to Prague!! It was really fun to meet up with her again! We met a guy from Chicago in our hostel who tagged along, so the four of us explored the city and went up in the astronomical clock tower. It was by far my favorite thing in Prague, I loved the view from the top right in the middle of the city. We walked through old town center and then went to an authentic Czech restaurant and brewery for dinner that had been recommended to us! It was a really cool experience, but Czech food isnt my favorite. Afterwards we took a tram up to the top of the hill to see the castle lit up at night, it had a really great view of the city as well!
I cant believe that I only have 10 days left of the travel time of my trip! Its gone by so fast, so so fast. But has been super great! I am so glad I am seeing so many new places I have never been before and that I am having friends to meet along the way! Today I leave for Turin, Italy to stay with my friend Jess's parents for two nights and regroup after all my traveling :) It will be a nice break and so great to stay in a home, I am looking forward to it!
great news: My parents and JP booked their tickets to come for 10 days in November!! The listened to my previous post and they are gettin themselves to Scotland. as everyone should. I am super excited, im sure it will be here before I even know it!
I love how you pick up random people to travel with you and your friends :) It is wonderful, I can just see you chatting it up with every new person you meet.
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