Prague

Prague was my last stop on my trip, and it was a really nice wrap-up. At this point I was pretty tired of meeting people and making small talk about this and that. Where are you from? How long are you traveling? Where have you been?

Well luckily, by this point, I knew people! So didn’t meet too many new people in Prague. The first night I went for drinks with the girl I had met in Budapest and spent a day with in Vienna. We went to a couple of cool bars, and met up with three Americans that she had met in Prague a few days earlier. One of the pubs we went to was really cool (and since then I’ve discovered that a lot of bars/restaurants in Prague are like this) but it’s in the basement, and has exposed brick and archways and things, so you really feel as though you are in cellar or something. That pub had like 5 or 6 different rooms, so, as one of the American’s said when the music got boring, “How about we go back to the first room and just pretend it’s a different bar.”

We did end up going to a different bar though, “Hemingway’s,” I believe, and as you might expect it was a cocktail bar that played smooth Jazz. It was a pretty cool atmosphere, and definitely a place that you would find yourself drinking a martini with a few soon-to-be lawyers and an English major. I did feel left out never having read Hemingway though, might need to brush up on my classics.

Prague Castle, view from Charles Bridge

The next day I went to see the Prague Castle with Lany and one of her lawyer American friends. We were all a bit disappointed by the Castle. It is really more of a fortified district, rather than a castle. It is just a bunch of different buildings, with the palace being the largest, but not extremely big by any means. The gothic church was big though, and we were able to go inside which was fun. We looked for the royal gardens, but didn’t find them, we just found the old and new Orangerie, which are greenhouses pretty much, so that was kind of cool. Then we found some flowers as we were leaving, and felt much more satisfied with our garden search.

For lunch we went to a veggie restaurant, which was SO COOL! I don’t remember the name, it meant “clear head” in some language, but it was tucked away hidden (known about thanks to Lany’s backpacker tourist map) It had the cool atmosphere of being underground, even though the walls were plastered and painted. Each room had a bit of a different atmosphere. Our room had lit tables, and a starry ceiling, and pretty much each piece of furniture in the place was made by an artist or something, you could read about in the menu.

I had a spinach Quesadilla (which we discussed wasn’t really a Quesadilla, or a Burrito, but somewhere in between) and lentil soup, which was really good because it had coconut milk in it. One of the best meals I’ve had on the trip for sure, oh and to drink: homemade lemonade. Mmmm

We had some more reasonably priced cocktails in the old town square, which was a perfect way to end the afternoon before saying goodbye to Lany and the American “Lawyer”.

"Clear Head" Restaurant

Old town Square

That night I met up with another traveller that I had met in Vienna. First we went to a cool place called Black Angels Bar, where the bartenders wore vests and watching them mix drinks was super fun.  I had a drink called Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which tasted really nice, and made me happy because of the name (my favourite movie after all). Then we enjoyed some Pilsner for about a dollar, which is what the Czech is known for after all, where we ran quite randomly into a Brit who my friend had met earlier in the day and hung out with him for a while. It’s interesting how a big city can end up being small. The Brit was an interesting character, someone with an endless supply of stories anyways.

The next day, I decided to wander through the New town, Prague being oh so original naming its districts. It was nice to get away from the picturesque old buildings and feel like I was in a real city again, and I even indulged in some window shopping in an huge American style mall. After that I walked back to the old town and along the river across from the castle, which is so pretty! Prague has a lot of green space on the castle side of the river, so it was really nice to see.

My last day in Prague, I decided to do the free walking tour. After a tip from Lany, I did the Sandeman’s one (she had been on the other). Once again I got a local guide (I was three for three!) and it was a superb tour. I think the Jewish district was the highlight for me, especially the Jewish Cemetery. The tour was quite long, a bit more than 3 hours, but it was very interesting and definitely worth it. I think that I liked going on tours on the last day, or at least after being in a city for a while, because I think you actually get more out of it, because you have probably already been around the area and recognize more. The only downside this time was that I learnt about an exhibition at the Jewish Museum, and since it was a Saturday and closed, I couldn’t see it.

So many Segways Everywhere

After the tour, I enjoyed some ice cream in the main square (cookies in my new favourite type). And waited for the hour to see the astronomical clock in action – now knowing its history and meaning from the tour. Apparently the clock is the 2^nd more disappointing tourist attraction, only beat by the Mona Lisa. Then I headed to the John Lennon wall, which is situated near “Amsterdam” (or what was Amsterdam in Eurotrip) I was pretty disappointed in the wall actually, because it proved hard to actually find lyrics, and because a lot of it was covered with people’s names things, which isn’t really the point of it…..

"Weddings are everywhere, all the time, they are like locks on bridges, people see one and think it's a good idea and romantic and they do it too" - Filip, tour guide

Clock!

John Lennon wall

Then I hiked back to my hostel to pick up my bags and head to the airport. I was staying at the Courtyard Marriott at the Airport for the night, my flight being at 9 am, and the airport being almost an hour from the city. My mother/father treated me to the hotel. But I think they secretly were doing it to make sure I would not miss my flight – as that does happen with early Flight :p – which would cost much more than the 67 dollars for the room.

River, From Charles Bridge

Some Czech Pastry

Bratislava

Bratislava

I stayed at an interesting hostel in Bratislava. Actually, my hostel in Bratislava and the one Prague both had some similarities in certain respects, mostly to do with the crowd, I suppose and from that the atmosphere. But this one, Art Taurus, in Bratislava was a bit interesting, because it seemed as though there were a lot of older travellers, like families. The first night there was a Spanish group that was travelling with 4 young boys. And it was really irritating; it was as though none of them had any sense of how overpowering their presence in the hostel was. But it was a pretty nice hostel all the same, one of the few in which I didn't sleep in a bunk bed, (actually, perhaps the only one on this trip) It had a computer, darts, foosball table, beer and water for sale, a microwaves, tea, coffee, toaster etc. The only annoying thing was they had the fridge and sink sectioned off, so you always needed to get a member of staff to get your food or fill up the kettle for you.

I spent most of my evening in the hostel the first night I was there. I was tired, and still slightly sick, from Vienna. But the next day I got up bright and early to walk around the historical center before a walking tour at 11. The old town was pretty small, but I really liked the two main squares. Perfect to sit and read, people-watch and enjoy ice cream (or in my case, regrettably, a slushy -but it was made with real grapefruit juice) There was also a really cool bridge, not far from my hostel, which has a UFO restaurant on it, which is pretty cool looking.

I really enjoyed the free walking tour. Our guide was a Slovak girl from Bratislava, and I must say I like to have guides who are locals, it's very cool. It was also her first day, but I thought she did a really good job, even if she was a bit nervous, having to memorize 16 pages of script and all.

Bratislava has a history that is very much tied to Prague, because they were the two biggest cities in Czechoslovakia. So it was really cool getting this perspective of the history before going to Prague. One of the most interesting things I guess was that during the communist regime, they pretty much decided that Czechoslovakia should have one cultural city, and one modern city, they chose Bratislava to be the more modern city. This resulted in a highway being built straight through the old town, and 70% of the historical center being destroyed. Another interesting thing, about all these cities (Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava, Prague) is that they were all at one point, part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, but each with a different perspective, and they also all had the threat of the Ottomans, each to a different extent (Budapest being occupied by them)

So back to Bratislava. Other than having a very educational morning, I went up to the Bratislava Castle in the evening, which was lovely. I really liked the Castle, and apparently I was lucky, because it has been under restoration for over 200 years (and the grounds were still) but last year the castle was completed, and is now in pristine condition. The grounds are pretty big, and there was a wedding happening while I was there, but that was only part of the castle. I didn't go into the castle, which houses a museum, because the tour guide said that it has only one painting, and the 4 Euros would be better spent on beer.

And beer it was spent on! Well not beer, but a mojito. So, well rested from my night-in, I decided to join my fellow travellers for a drink at a local Cuban bar. I didn't particularly like this bar, as I don't dance Salsa (do they dance that in Cuba?). But, even though it was Cuban and served tiki drinks, out of everywhere I've been, it had the least amount of tourists there. This made it pretty fun. One of my fellow hostellers made quick friends with a few girls. Two of them were locals from Bratislava and the other a girl from Seattle, who was spending a month in Slovakia visiting her friend. We stayed with them for the rest of the night, and they brought us to another club afterwards. The music was pretty much awful, I don't think anything was more recent then 2002, but it was fun none-the-less. The American girl and I were waiting for our groups to say good-bye to newly made "friends" and got talking. It was really interesting to talk to another North American spending a long amount of time in Europe and really seeing the culture. Especially since she had spent most of her time in Central and Eastern Europe and I had spent it in Western Europe. Especially since emigration and multiculturalism are viewed very differently in both parts of Europe and North America. Some of the most intellectual conversations probably happen in the young hours of the morning.

The next day, I checked out early, did a bit of shopping, although I was disappointed to not be able to find a souvenir deck of cards. Then I walked all the way to the bus station, on the way looking ridiculous with my baggage when I exchanged money at a bank (and I needed to talk to three different people, one of them being a manager I am pretty sure, because the others couldn't speak English- a tad embarrassing) But ultimately I was very pleased I did, because in Prague they are notorious for ripping you off at exchange places.

"Europe's second thinnest building, and we are using it as a Kebab Shop!"

Blue Church

Concert Hall... I think

Bratislava Castle

Bridge and UFO Restaurant

Castle

View from the Castle

Highways through the old part of town

Train Time! Vienna to Bratislava

This is another mini travel entry. I like doing them, because the actual transportation is probably the most confusing part of travelling Europe. My case is reinforced by the fact that I am currently on the bus to Prague, after I almost boarded the wrong bus before mine arrived.  There were some language barriers. But then the travel attendant (like a flight attendent) was super nice, and could speak English, which is nice and she was very attentive, so it's all good now, just took a bit.

So about my Vienna-Bratislava trip. From what I could tell, you can travel between the two cities 3 ways; boat, bus and train. Well the boat was pretty much out of the question, it was actually pretty reasonably priced, for a boat at ~20 Euros. But boat travel is a bit too much for me. So it was between bus and train. The bus being 7.20 Euro and the train 14 Euro. However there is a catch, the train ticket included public transportation in Bratislava the day of arrival and all OBB trains within Vienna, which for me, translated into getting the transpo to the train station from my hostel. So that translated to the Bus and Train being a lot closer in cost. So I decided to take the train (that way I had more flexibility, and I like trains more)

So at about 3 o'clock I headed back to my hostel to get my bags, and then went to the Westbahnhof Train station to get the OBB S-bahn train to Melding and then Sud-Bahnhof. When I got to Westbahnhof, I discovered that the S-Bahn train I wanted to take only came every hour. :S. In Berlin I had taken the S-Bahn, and there, the most I needed to wait was 15 minutes. Whereas I had failed to realize that in Vienna the S-Bahn was much more of a Regional Railway then a city rail, hence less frequent trains.

So then I decided to do the unthinkable, take the subway, without a ticket. I guess the better option would have been to just buy a ticket, but my 48 hr pass had literally expired only 30 minutes earlier, so it would have been painful to spend another 3.60 Euro on a ticket.

So I rode two stops to Melding on the U-Bahn, instead of waiting 40-ish minutes for the S-Bahn that goes past there. At Melding there was more confusion that I won't get into, because there was construction going on at the Sudbahnhof Station (where I needed to catch the train to Bratislava). So I took a Regional Train from Melding to Sudbahnof, then walked around the Station (literally around it, thanks to the construction) to  another section of the station and caught the train to Bratislava with a couple minutes to spare!!

Vienna

Once again, I am not sure where to begin. I guess I'll start by saying that I don't think I am a very big fan of chain hostels. In Vienna I stayed at the Wombat- the Base hostel. And there are 3 Wombat hostels in Vienna, and also one in Berlin, Munich and Budapest. From what I could tell, the 3 in Vienna were all pretty big. It was too.. commerical, if that makes any sense, for example: we still needed to put the linens on our bed ourselves, but they came in a heat sealed plastic bag to prove they were clean... okay, alrighttttt.

The first evening I was there was pretty nice, I went for Japaense food (pizza and falafel is cheap, but lacks the health factor) So I got fried veggies, rice and even some sushi for about 7 Euros. Only complaint, like many restaurants in Europe they wouldn't serve tap water. After dinner, which was in the nauschmarkt area, I went with Lany, the girl I met in Budapest, to the museumquartier and had some ice cream - we both had sore throats-. Museumquartier was super nice at night, there were restaurants and bars inside the courtyards. We were able to walk through "electric avenue" which was a section inside of like shops and stuff -the shops were closed, but you could see into them because the walls were glass.  There were also plastic structures that you can sit and lay on all over, which is where we ate ice cream. In one section they were also showing a documentary outside. Very nice all around.

Near Nauschmarket

Museum Quartier

However, that night was the worst. I was feverish and was having cold sweats all night. I don't even know how much I slept during the night, but I woke up late, at 11am. It only took me until 11:30 to get out of the hostel though. I went to the Albertina, which has the largest collections of prints and drawings in the world, or Europe or something. It was my museum fix for this leg of the trip. Since they have so many, they rotate them, but of course I got to see some big names, Renoir, Klimpt etc. There was also a special exhibition about an American Photographer which I throughly enjoyed.

I then headed to the fountain near the entrance to the Bellvedere to meet up with Lany again. We saw some girls in the fountain, and was informed that after it is hotter then 32 degrees you are allowed to go into the fountains in the city. Which was a fun fact.

We then went to Schonbruun, where we walked around the grounds, which were HUGE!!!! But it was pretty cool, we checked the price of the zoo ticket, but 15 Euros was a bit too steep for our student pockets. But we were melting -apparently it was hotter then 32, afterall- and tired of walking. So decided to then head back into the city and ride the tram around the ring, which is where the old city wall was. We also checked out the beach bars on the Danabe, which are interesting. Sand, beach chairs, and tiki beach bars on the side of the river. We rode the 1 and 2 tram, each doing half the circle, and you can see alot of the important buildings from it, like the Rathaus.

Later that evening we went to an old school style ice cream parlor, where I had a ice cream pizza (probably the healthist thing on the menu, because it was covered in an intense amount of fruit). It was A-mah-zing. And ended the night with a quick drink at the bar at my hostel.

Because my next stop was Bratislava, I was able to leave Vienna pretty much whenever I wanted, because trains leaves every hour, and only take an hour. So I decided to make the most of being in Vienna. I did a free walking tour offered by the hostel. There were a lot of people (3 big hostels remember) but I really really liked the tour. You could tell the guide really knew what he was talking about. He really explained the different architecture, which I really enjoyed. After the tour, I went for a drink with a couple of fellow travellers, where I enjoyed an apple strudel, which Vienna is famous for, which was a lovely way to end my stay in Vienna before heading off to Bratislava

Budapest

Where to begin talking about this interesting city. Well I guess I'll start by saying, I feel the more you travel, or at least the more I travel, the more I realize that even though I can absorb the atmosphere of a city in the few days I stay there, I still always leave with the feeling that I just brushed the surface, and wishing I could discover even more. This was definitely the case with Budapest.

I had already been to Budapest for a couple days, two years ago, with my sister. We had done a lot, like a walking tour, the castle district, house of terror and Hungarian spa. So I really didn't feel too much pressure to complete the tourist checklist. SO that led me to be able to completely absorb the city's atmosphere and mood. Which was lovely. I also extended my stay by a night, and switched hostels for the last one. Not because I didn't like the first one, but I wanted a change of scenery I guess (and it was 4 euros cheaper).

I stayed in a Hostel called GoodMo for the first 2 nights, which was near the Metro Station Kelvin Ter, which was within walking distance from pretty much all of the main sites. The hostel was really cool actually, it was on the top floor of a building (5th floor), and the elevator was.. well broken most of the time. But the hostel takes up the whole top floor, has a kitchen, common room, 24 hr reception, and a rooftop bar, oh and lotsa spare bathrooms around, in case a dorm-mate is taking forever. The bar isn't much more then a terrace, with a staff member that will sell you beer, or basic mix drinks, for those who are too lazy to go to the grocery store, since you are allowed to drink your own alcohol there. But the cool part is that, the whole building (other then the hostel) is underconstruction, aka no tenants (and honestly I don;t think they will be apartments when the building is done anyways)- so that means, the terrace is open til 2 am because there is no neighbours to awake,  which is pretty cool, and one of the first hostels that didn't shut the outdoor section at 10 or 12.

The first night I met a Australian Girl, and we went on the pub crawl promoted by the hostel. Which was over priced. But it did allow us to go out and have authentic Hungarian guides with us. We went to three different bars, well actually, I would say, a bar, a bar with a dancefloor and a club. Even though I don't think I got my drinks worth from the ordeal, I'll give it to them that they did bring us to alright bars, especially considering it was a Wednesday, and still packed with locals. I've found that while travelling, sometimes on weeknights bars tend to be saturated with tourists - and in a later post I will tell you about Bratislava, which takes the cake for drinking with locals, and non-English speakers.

The next two days, were pretty full of tourist activities. I went on a free walking tour, that has alot of history, and actually went to some different sites then the one I went on 2 years ago. I did a lot of walking, around both Pest and Buda and Marget Island. I also went to a thermal spa and the central Market, finding lunch for under 3 euros (and being stuffed) at the Market.

I think the low point of my trip was attempting to watch the sunset from the Fisherman's Basin in Buda. It is quite the hike, having to cross the river, and then climb god knows how many stairs to the top. Well I was happily clicking my camera here and there, the river, the bridge etc etc. And then, as I was walking up an incline, three excited terriers (on leashes don't worry) gave me a bunch of attention. I was really excited because two of them were Carin Terriers. I wanted to take a picture of one of them, and that's the moment when my shutter would not release because the battery power was too low. SADFACE!!!

So there I was, almost at the top of the hill, wanting to take lovely pictures of the sunset over the Danu, and my SLR is out of batteries. Let me back up a bit and tell you why I was so pumped to take pictures. It's because two years ago, we witnessed the most amazing sunset, and took - if I do say so- gorgeous pictures of the Parliment Building in the pretty dusk colors. However, these pictures were captured on little Canon PowerShot, point and shot camera. So I was excited about the opportunity to recreate the pictures with a more powerfiul camera.

Hence my disappointment, that even before 8pm I was stuck without my SLR and only my Canon PowerShot. I still had a good time walking around the Buda side of the river, and opted not to take any pictures. The only comfort that the sunset turned out to be completely underwhelming and wouldn't of made for good pictures anyways.

Zsimpla, a famous Ruin Pub

Parliment

Spa

On the Liberty Bridge

Hungarian Fried pancake, 

Statue of Liberty, one of the only remaining marks from Communist Rule

Chain Bridge

To end my post on a slightly happier note: SPA!!!

Well I went to the Gellert Spa, which is attached to the super nice Gellert Hotel. And it was super nice, I went with the Australian girl I met in the hostel. The ticket cost 4100 Forints, which was like 15 Euros or so. And there were a couple different sections you had access to. There was a pool outside, where you could also lounge and suntan around it. It was 26 degrees, and sometimes had artificial waves. Ya I know, wave pool is not exactly what I expected in a spa. Inside there was another pool, which was 27 degrees, we didn't go into it, because it required bathing caps, and besides, it was a thermal pool which was 36 degrees, we didn't go in this one either, it was a mixed. We went to the womens section instead. Which had 2 more thermal pools, 36 and 38 degrees, which was super nice. Then there was the steaming and plunging scenerio that you were supposed to do. This involves sitting in a steam chamber, for as long as you can stand it, which is a super hot room, and I guess is a "wet" sauna, because the room is super steamy and foggy, you can hardly see the other side. I found it pretty hard to breath and it hurt my eyes. It took me a couple tries to stay in the room for any amount of time. 

So after you are sweating out all the bad stuff and toxins, and feeling as though you are about to die, you go to a freezing cold pool. And then repeat. 

I did this about three times. At the end, the steam chamber was actually feeling really nice. After this routine, we went swimming in 27 degrees to get a bit colder, before heading to the dry sauna to end off our spa adventure. The dry sauna also had two different levels, we stuck to the really hot, rather then the unbearably hot, you feel as though there is hell on earth.

The morning before leaving to Vienna, I was able to go the market and spend most of my last forints, which was a nice endeavor. I took the Eurolines Bus with my new Australian friend, which was fun. The bus was 3 hours and cost 3900 Forints.

Zagreb

Zagreb, Croatia 

I think Zagreb might be my favourite city so far. It's a pretty small city, not too much bustle, but I had no problem filling my day and a half there. Although I think you wouldn't want to spend much more then that, especially if you are into the nightlife aspect, of which, I've heard there is very little. 

When I arrived, the hostel was only a 15 minute walk from the train station, which was nice, and it was right on a main square. The hostel reception was really nice, they told me where to get some cheap eats, and gave me a book with the important sites to check out. So I headed out and got some margirita pizza for 10 Kuna, and sat in one of their many lovely parks to eat. Then walked around lower town a bunch, which was nice. The city is divided into the lower town and upper town, upper town being older, and the lower town being more planned and built in the late 18th century and 19th century. I wandered to Dolac Market, which was really nice, I bought a peach, and got some free (waspy) watermelon. Everyone there was super nice. I also walked around the Upper Town, which was cool.

I checked out the Zagreb history museum and the Croatian History Museum's exhibit, "The Homeland War" 

I won't repeat all the history that I learned, but you should "wikipedia" about the Civil War in Croatia, it's quite interesting. Especially how recent it is, like, this was happening in my lifetime and I knew nothing about it, even if I was about five. But it made me think about how everyone my age and older that lived in the areas of Croatia affected, lived through war, which is something that I just can't imagine. 

The history of Zagreb museum touched on history that was much older, and also, was interesting. The receptionist there was also the only person I met in Zagreb that was not friendly. A lot of the history had to do with the church's influence on the city and the Kaptol settlement, which was a religious town, centered on the Catherdral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The area around the Catherdral is really nice, I couldn't go into the actual building though, because when I went it was late at night, but the outside was impressive enough.

The next morning, I slept in a bit to be able to catch a 9:55 train to Budapest. 

After the museums I wanted to check out botanical gardens, but unfortunately they were closed early on Tuesdays. So I walked through the lower town a bit more before heading back to the hostel again. 

Plitvice Lakes

Plitvice Lake National park is the largest and oldest national park in Croatia (I believe). I spend two days in the park, and I think that I could of spent longer if I wanted to take on some more intense hikes.
So basically, the set up of the lakes is that there are a series of lakes that are separated by a series of, sometimes cascading, waterfalls. It takes about 6-8 hours (or so says the map) to walk around the whole set of them. But of course, not everyone has eight hours to walk around everything, so there are two "trains" (aka those buses that go around zoo's, or as I found out at Christmas, large all-inclusive resorts) and two boats.

The first thing I did was ask the info desk for a map (there was a poorly-detailed one on my ticket, but I wanted ones with marked trails), but apparently maps cost 20 Kuna. So I just asked what I should go see since I had 6 hours or so to walk around the lakes. She suggested to take the zoo-train to the 1st entrance and then follow the "C" route. I obeyed.

Well after about 30 minutes of crowded pathways and people stopping at the stupidest times and places for pictures, I decided to veer off the "C" path. Best decision ever. Once I had left the very well marked route, there were way less people. I'm not sure why the park does this, but it has about 6 routes marked out of varying lengths (2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours) and then there are virtually no other trails marked or maps accessible, even though there are "a lot" of other trails to hike around the park. So knowing that I had about 5 hours til closing I figured that I had a pretty good shot at being able to "wander" (with direction) for a while before having to make my way back to the entrance again.

So, on the first day, I walked on the "c" route along the biggest lake to "the big waterfall", then ditching the crowd, made my way to where the boat goes across the big lake towards entrance 2. Seeing the line for the boat, I decide to walk around the big lake, then up to station 4 through the upper lakes. I finished at the train stop at about 7 pm, and called it a day. I went back to my wonderfully private hotel room for a nice shower. I just needed to go to the desk and get them to sign my ticket, which made my daily ticket good for the next day as well, since I was staying at the hotel.

The next day I took my time getting up, knowing that I had no real deadline leaving the park, I just wanted to get to Zagreb at a reasonable hour. But I had hiked more the first day then I had planned, so it was about 9:30am when I was out again. I took a boat a small distance across the "big" lake, and hiked up the hills to some of the view points. It was really nice again since I wasn't following a designated route. I overshot the end of the lakes a bit, and hiked about 30 minutes along a bigger hiking route, which would of been another 3.5 hours. But deciding that I didn't like the up and down elevations of the hiking, I decided to not embark on that, and grudgingly returned to more touristy area of the waterfall.

I'm not sure if I regret going back to the tourist area, for sure the waterfalls were really nice to see, but there were SO MANY PEOPLE, I think that aiming to do that closer to closing, and not mid-day would have been more ideal. I got fed up pretty quickly, so at about half past one I decided to get my luggage and read until the bus at 3 o'clock.

Travelling is fun. Meeting people is fun. While waiting for the bus I met two Korean girls. And they were very friendly, although admittedly not the greatest at English.

So while waiting for the bus, we were approached by a taxi driver that said he would drive us for 100 Kuna each, I don't get into cars with strangers, so I initially said no. But then, when he left, I asked the girls how much it cost to take the bus and it was 103 Kuna, plus 7 for luggage. So then about 5 or 10 minutes later his friend came by and asked the Korean girls if they needed a ride to Zagreb, and since they were going, I decided to as well. Saved me a Euro or two anyways.

Well the taxi (or collectivo rather) ride was ride enough, there were 7 of us total. And the taxi driver turned out to be pretty nice, he brought us to the train station instead of the bus station (upon our request) which saved me some time and a tram ticket. And when he was dropping us off, and it became apparent that the two Koreans had no idea where they were going (which I really question, because they had come from Zagreb that morning) he offered to drive them, and another couple that was with us, to their hotel, which I thought was nice.

And thus ended my Plitvice Adventure. Up to now on the trip I have travelled by, Train, Bus, Bike, Feet, Tram, Metro, Taxi, "collectivo", Boat and Funicular rail.