InterRail 2009, chapter 2: South of the Border

July 9. 2009, 7:32pm

I started to Copenhagen from Oslo. Viewed the beautiful Nordic scenery from the train as I worked my way down. Hit the sack around 11pm and had a good night sleep. The conductor woke me up at 7am, 15min before arriving at Malmö, where I was to transfer to a commuter train bound for Copenhagen. I went and bought a ticket from a ticket-vending machine since the ticket office didn't open until 10am. As I boarded the train it soon occurred to me that I could've just hopped on the thing without a seat reservation with my InterRail pass, since there were no reserved seats. But I only spent around five euros on the ticket, so no big deal.

I arrived in Copenhagen around 8:30am, if my memory serves me right, and immediately went on looking for my hostel. Went into a tourist info, grabbed a map, and headed into the wrong direction for about two blocks, regardless of my obviously superior scouting techniques. Shit happens.

After a ten minute walk I arrived at the hostel and got a room in the big dorm (60 people), went in for a wash, and went into town to do some good old exploring. First, I grabbed some good old food, the best damn club sandwich I've had in my entire life. Passed through the central, where all the shops and restaurants are. Suddenly, it began raining like hell and I had to take shelter under the decorative facade of a bank. The rain was intense, yet brief. I went abouts sightseeing and popped into an olde English pub for a pint o' Carlsberg and to scribble on journal, and later returned to my hostel. The place was infested with boy scouts by the time I arrived, along with all the other guests drinking and socializing in the lobby. I felt worn out and tired, and not in a mood for a conversation, or any human contact whatsoever. So, I went into my quiet little corner and enjoyed maybe five episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force before going to bed.


July 11. 2009, 8am

My alarm clock went off and I started getting ready to leave Copenhagen. Checked out of the hostel and headed for the train station with my next destination in mind, Berlin. Met a couple of nice Pakistani chaps sitting opposite of me on the train. Our train was driven to a boat and carried over the sea between Denmark and Germany. On a train on a boat = win.

I changed trains in Hamburg, and arrived in Berlin in the early evening. Went in my hostel, the Generator, which was a huge place. Eight stories tall, a bar, a real kitchen with professional chefs, and the place was decorated with bright, electric colors, with enough UV and Neon lights to be easily mistaken for a techno club.

Met a nice guy from Florida in my dorm, with whom I chatted for a while before heading out into town. I really didn't get to see much of Berlin due to my tight schedule. It was nice enough anyway, plenty of big churches and monuments. Walked from Hauptbahnhof to Alexanderplatz and took the S-Bahn back to my hostel. Hit the shower and hit the sack soon enough.


July 12. 2009, noonish

It was time to say goodbye to Berlin and head out east, to Warsaw in Poland. I took the 12:29 Express train from Hauptbahnhof to Warszawa Centralna. The train ride felt to last forever and the Asian family sitting next to me went on steadily fueling my silent rage with constant blabbering and eating of their snacks, which smelt nasty by the way. Chatted with a Polak man and he seemed nice enough. The train was delayed for about 40 minutes due to some mishap at the central station. I started looking for my hostel, ironically named Helvetia, and after a frustrating tree quarters of an hour I finally succeeded. It was a nice enough place, with friendly staff and a cozy common area.

Warsaw isn't the most beautiful city in the world, I give you that. Most of it was destroyed in the war, way back when, and everything is new or rebuilt, ugly, and a bit dirty. The touristy area where all the shops and restaurants are is pretty dandy, I give you that.


July 13. 2009, noon

I decided to make a day trip to Krakow, in southern Poland. The Polak I met earlier on the train suggested in doing so (apparently even the Polaks don't think highly of Warsaw). And so I went, and there I was. And let me tell you, Krakow is amazing. The architecture, the atmosphere, the churches, food, everything is so amazingly beautiful and lovely. And cheap as hell.

I dashed around for six hours, enjoying what the city had to offer on my brief visit, and took the night train to Prague. I met some lovely people in my sleeper (two Australian, two Dutch, one French-Canadian). We shot bull, drank bison grass vodka and beer until late, and had a really terrific time. The conductor was nice enough to instruct us to lock the door for our coach for the night. Apparently, there are these "train terrorists" on the loose, who go gassing people unconscious while they are asleep, and mugging them. Luckily, we yielded to his advice and made it to Prague with our lives and our earthly possessions intact.


July 14. 2009, 6am

Upon arriving in Prague, we started looking for a form of accommodation. The Ozzies had already a hostel booked, so we decided to see if there was any room in the same place. The place was a makeshift hostel transformed from a apartment in the new town. The somewhat creepy lady told us the place was fully booked, but she could put us up in the same room as the Ozzies, if it was cool with them. She started putting together some numbers, and came up with a reasonable price we would have to split five ways. Nevertheless, there was some confusion about the real price, and after a while the lady grew angry with us and kicked me and the two Dutch out. I can't put my finger on it why se was that angry with us. I mean, we were just a bit confused, that's all. Eventually we found a hostel, Pompo, in the old town. It was a same kind of a makeshift apartment hostel as the one before, except our host was way nicer (even though he didn't talk all that much but seemed like a nice guy)

We went out, with the Dutch, to explore Prague. Popped into a 13th century style restaurant and had a proper meal for a change. I had wild boar with spinach, awesome. Later we visited the Prague castle and a huge church inside the castle compound. Had a beer later and walked around for hours exploring. I had the hunger upon me so we went to the groceries and I got myself a bite to eat. After returning to the hostel we planned on getting some late dinner after a short nap, but our nap was prolonged and we ended up going to sleep around 8pm. I guess we were more tired than we thought.


July 15. 2009, noon

For me, it was time to move on again. This time to Vienna. The Dutch stayed in Prague for another two or three nights. I went to the central station and asked about trains going to Vienna and the staff instructed me to go to another station, since there weren't anything going to Vienna from the central. I had trouble finding the station, so I missed my first train, and had to wait four hours for the next one. I was soaked in sweat, hungry, and tired already. The train was delayed on the way as well, due to some unexpected traffic at some other station. We passed through the biggest thunderstorm, and I felt really miserable in general. Arriving in Vienna around midnight, I tried walking to my hostel from the south station, but eventually thought better of it and took a cab. I checked in, hit the showers, got some food and, regardless of the party downstairs, went to sleep.


July 16. 2009, 10am

Went out exploring Vienna for about seven hours before my train to Budapest. Vienna was amazingly beautiful and clean, just like the picture I had of Austria. Eventually my right foot ended up hurting like hell from all the walking, which had given me a huge blister. I started to Vienna and met some nice Spanish people from Valencia in the station who were taking the same strain to Budapest. We played Texas Hold 'Em on the train (even though I don't especially care for the game it was a great past time on a four hour train ride). We found out we were both members of CS and agreed on hosting one another if one of us ever visited the other's city.

I arrived at my hostel around 9pm. The place seemed very nice. It was one of those apartment-turned-hostel crossovers. I found the staff, Gabe and Timi, one of the most friendly and fun-to-be-with people I've ever met. They were ever so helpful and always there to make sure you were comfortable and having a good time. A big plus for the hostels character.

I scrapped my plans to go to Greece. It would take about 24 hours just to get to Thessaloniki alone. So, I've decided to go to Zürich, Switzerland, instead. From there visit Geneva, Barcelona, maybe Madrid, Paris, Brussel, and Amsterdam. After that round-trip, I believe I'll be homeward bound.