Vampyre Hunting and other adventures

So here we are at the final day, all packed up but not ready to come home. We had a thunderstorm on sunday night, thunder rolling around the hills, lightning flashes and heavy rain and as such monday dawned as the first bad day, cloud and more rain off and on. However I still had a chance to explore the Tivoli gardens which are pretty with statues, trees and flowerbeds as well as a lake. There is also some forest over the back and it looked as if there were trails, but without knowing where they led, or how long they would last, with the weather as it was I decided to leave it for another time.
Weather perfect yesterday in the mid twenties, and I wandered up to the castle. The views were amazing, with the city and its churches spread out in front and the hills and mountains distantly. The castle itself feels a bit touristy, and their 'virtual tour' was a little strange. It is a 3D presentation where you wear glasses and a headset for the commentary, but halfway through the two parts went out of sync and so you got a picture through one eye and a completely different one in the other! The cheapest trip you'll ever get.
Have found that I am now completely relaxed, typical that it's just as I leave, and in the afternoon I took my book, drank some coffee and ate some ice cream.
Going back to sunday night I got chatting to some australian girls in my room who said they'd found a great restaurant and so I thought I'd join them. It turned out they were desperate for an indian and so I ate in the same place I had at lunch - luckilly the servers were different and lets say I won't need to eat curry for a while. Went to the skeleton bar for more cocktails afterwards.
And then yesterday I ran into an aussie girl I'd met in Zagreb, who'd just arrived - its honestly not that small a city! And in the evening had some more cocktails with other australian girls and two american guys.
Will have another wander out before I have to bus it to the airport, but already I can hear the four double rings signalling the end of my watch. So that's it, another trip over, but stay tuned for more!

So I'm in my final city, Ljubljana, and I've learned how to say it as well! It really is very pretty, with its small river, several bridges, trees and flowers and bars and cafe's next to it all. It's pretty small as well and doesn't take long before you get into the outskirts.
My train from Zagreb was delayed on the way here, however it meant that I got chatting to a Romanian girl who was travelling to meet a friend, after staying with a friend in Zagreb and then staying with a friend in Belgrade - she seemed to have friends all over eastern europe!
Have had some lovely pizza while here and last night was out with a swedish, american and australian guy along with a finnish girl, had two for one cocktails in a skeleton bar where they have skeletons behind glass cases on the wall, before having beers elsewhere and then going to a club called Bacchus, which was ok. A good night though.
Visited the market yesterday, which has an array of fruits and vegetables, apples, cabbages, strawberries, asparagus, figs and onions, as well as clothes and antiques. It is right next to the cathedral and so you feel that it must have been here for centuries, and by the look of the swarthy men and bent old ladies you wonder if they've been there for centuries as well.
The cathedral is painted all over and the organ and other sculptures are all gilded. It's incredibly beautiful. And the old town hall is also quite pretty.
Today I found a piece of roman wall dating from 15AD from the old settlement of Emona which stood here, before going to the history museum which contained lots of artifacts as well as a hoard of coins found five years ago and was pretty interesting.
Between the two I happened across a couple of Swiss girls who I had met in the Zagreb hostel, who were just about to have something to eat, so I joined them and it turned out to be curry which was pretty tasty. The weather has turned a little today for the first time, only in terms of the fact that it hasn't been blanket sun, but it is still pretty warm. I hope to visit the castle in the next couple of days and will bring my final post after that.

I'm just about starting to get used to the relaxed atmosphere of Zagreb, so alien to to Londoners, however I leave today. I've done a couple of museums here which were quite interesting, the archeology musuem had a great exhibit on egypt, canopic jars, books of the dead, as well as a real mummy on display and an etruscan linen book containing 1200 words - which is apparently a lot.
I visited an art gallery which was ok, but the cathedral was lovely. Its ceiling is painted with stars on a blue background, and it has three huge candelabra and long stained glass windows. There is an glass casket at the back behind the altar containing a saint at which people were praying and staring in rapture.
The best museum is the Zagreb museum, explaining that the it didn't come into being until 1094 when the King of Hungary created the bishipric of Zagreb. Originally there were two cities, each on one of its hills and separated only by a small stream. It wasn't until the 1850's that the old and the new were merged to create the city of Zagreb as it is now.
There seem to be lots more people from Leeds here, or people studying in Leeds, and as such I'm sure the place must be empty. For the last three afternoons I've been sitting under the bamboo awning chatting with various people from various countries about various things, and with a couple of beers as well.
We've then normally gone out to a live music bar which is right in the middle of a local park, amazing location but a little pricey. A good time had though and last night I didn't get back until 2. Two nights ago we went in search of a place called Tolkein's house which was supposed to be decorated in a lord of the rings style, but when we found it it was closed (apparantly only for a week) and that it had moved. We found the new location but it was not decorated at all so we went elsewhere. All very disappointing but at least the fellowship didn't break. See you in Ljublana.

I'm in Zagreb now, trying to get the hang of this keyboard which has it's y and z switched among other things. I left you on the morning of the 4th and went up to buy my ticket here. The decor of the international ticket centre has not changed, with wooden columns all over the place, however you now have to take a ticket and wait to be called. It was on 120 when I arrived, I had ticket 171! It took over an hour, and strangely a return trip was cheaper than a single, will try to offload the return to anyone here.
Met up with the south african (who had just passed exams), an american (who was celebrating independance), and two sheffielders (not wednesdayites - but celebrating having money again after camping in slovenia where there were no cash machines or change centres). We all had goulash soup for dinner, the meat was really tender, and then went back to the rooftop bar.
Had a few beers discussing how much better clubs are in europe than in england, then when at midnight the non brits left, we stayed on until 3am - yes another late night!
So much so, and having to get a 6am train the following day, I chilled on the 5th. Got chatting to some americans who seemed ok until they started going on about how great guns are, and then to another american who had just downloaded doctor who! Fantastic, so got to see the last episode which was pretty good.
Train down was ok, had a large guy snoring in my compartment who turned out to be from Zagreb and been to a wedding in budapest. As we arrived he said "Welcome to my city" in a thick accent.
Zagreb is a lovely place, very chilled out, lots of outside cafes and bars, and reminds me at times of bratislava, prague and vienna. The weather has been very hot, upwards of 30 degrees but yesterday got chatting to a scottish couple who were heading to a lake, so we had a swim and a bit of a sun bathe. A swedish guy had come with us and when we said goodbye to the scots we had a walk around ourselves and got chatting to a couple of spanish girls who were lost. We tagged along with them and went for pizza as well. Strangely they were interested in seeing my poems.
Anyway, will tell you more about zagreb later in the week and leave it there before you get bored!! Or jealous.

Just after I finished my last post, I got chatting to a scottish girl in the hostel who was looking for food and to see some of the city, so what could I do but oblige to act as tour guide. We wandered over towards the river, and saw my first sight of it since last year and it was every bit as good as I remembered. Had a nice al fresco meal of chicken and potatoes in a piquant sauce.
It turned out that she was here for a couple of days before going on to Romania for a month to teach kids and was part of a bigger group organised by universities in Scotland. So afterwards we met up with the rest of the group who had already been here a day, another five girls and a guy. We found a nice little bar near the river which was serving Carlsberg. With the weather being fairly stifling, I could quite easily have done John Mills, but didn't. Got to bed at 1.30am.
So to yesterday, got out about mid morning and went back over to Buda to see the fishermans bastion, but was so disappointed. They are doing renovation work and there is netting covering most of it and blocks and dust all over the floor. Had to console myself with some blackcurrant ice cream. Wandered over to the castle though and to the Hungarian National Gallery, full of hungarian art from 19th and 20th century, nothing special but lots of portraits and lots of country scenes giving a sense of the hungarian folk way of life.
Had a lunch of pizza and beer back in Pest in a lovely italian place with pasta makers and books surrounding the walls, before meeting the girls in the hostel again. Should just point out that they're not all in my hostel, two are in the hostel I first stayed at last year, and the least said about that the better. A south african guy in the hostel also came with us.
Went out for something to eat, but most places we found were too expensive, so ended up in a cheap chinese place where the woman barks at you if you don't make up your mind within three seconds, and then warmed it up in the microwave - decidedly dodgy but everyones stomachs seem ok today.
Wandered again and found a great little bar, authentically hungarian, big wooden tables, smoky atmosphere, big bear of a guy behind the bar and cheap beer at only 270HUF, and even only 350HUF for a Dreher, my first since being back and it was gorgeous!!
Then found a cool club at the top of a tower block, had to climb stairs to get there and you wonder if there is anything actually there. But then you find the bar with red lighting and upstairs again is a roof terrace where you can see over Budapest. Had a little dance as well and celebrated the turn of the day as it is now my birthday (well it took me an hour and a half to realise it was the 4th!)
Another late night, 2.30 this time, so been chilling all morning with some coffee, breakfast and MTV. The girls are heading off too Romania today, and I probably need to buy my train ticket, so that's it for now.

Well, I've made it here OK and weather is gorgeous, 28 centigrade according to the pilot and it was raining as I left London - so its all good!
I was supposed to get a driver from the airport, but none showed, I was looking forward to some proper treatment aswell. After several attempts I phoned the hostel to be told that there was a problem with the driver, so had to get an airport transfer instead. It turned out to be ten forints cheaper, so I've saved myself about tuppence there.
The airport is one of those long, low white buildings with a balcony looking out over the runways and looks rather old fashioned. The trip in to Budapest was good, getting to see some of the outskirts for the first time.
There were some huge appartment blocks (about two dozen) that looked like cereal boxes, some interesting looking churches and a football stadium, but then the hills of Buda loomed and everything was much more familiar. The hostel was just as I remembered it and it felt like deja vu or a waking dream to be back here again after about 400 days! Strange.
Already got chatting to a couple of young lads in my room who are from York, and interestingly they're going down to Serbia next week for the music festival. They were there last year as well. And I've been sharing travel stories for the last hour or so. They seem likely to be up for some nights out so that will be good. Haven't been outside yet, so will have to do that soon, but I'm here, it's started and I'm excited!

Well, I'm back in England now and it is all over. The concert I went to in Vienna was quite wonderful, aria's from Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Die Fleidermaus, along with other famous works by Mozart and Strauss. The singers were wonderful, the ballet dancers excellent and musicians fantastic. There were ten of them and they played without a conductor which was pretty impressive. I'm sure the percussionist must have had dreams of being in a rock band (maybe he is as well) by the way he twiddled his drumsticks.
The compere was however the star of the show. He sung a couple of aria's himself, and appeared in the first half dressed as a character from The Magic Flute. According to the girls he looked a little like Brad Pitt, albeit with Boris Becker's voice - better than the other way around I suppose. But second half he appeared in a tux and all the women's hearts around me skipped at least one beat!
So that was my final night, the next day was spent catching up on photographs and a final meal, two huge Vienna Schnitzel with fries, to the extent I couldn't eat it all, and a final beer and then to the bus. It only took twenty two hours to get back to London and the slowest bit was coming through the suburbs south of the city. Got to see the white cliffs at Dover for the first time in many years and they are actually quite spectactular. Still had time to chat to a couple of people on the bus, a Lithuanian girl (who seemed disappointed that I hadn't visited her country - maybe next time) and an irish guy.
So here endeth the lesson...I hope those who have followed me around have enjoyed it, and maybe inspired you to visit the places yourselves...And stick around, I'm sure the next adventure won't be too far away!

Had a very strange time in Budapest second time around, as I ran into some of the people I met in Romania. First I was shopping for socks in the shopping centre (Marks & Sparks of course - quality counts) and a New Zealand lady I had met in Brasov suddenly walked up to me! Then later I ran into the aussies I met in Sighisoara. Ended up having a couple of beers in a bar, then went back to their hostel with some cans and got chatting to other people, including a German girl with a scottish accent because her boyfriend was scottish. How odd!
Anyway, it got to about 4.30am and I didn't fancy trying to get back to my own hostel, so just kipped down on an empty bed there, before crawling back for breakfast at 9.30. Two days later I saw someone else I had met from a distance, then later at the station while purchasing my ticket for Vienna, I ran into one of the guys from my night out, along with someone else we had both met in Sighisoara, and they had seen the same person that I saw earlier that day. Budapest is actually a large place, although it may not sound it!
I have fallen in love with it though, and decided that alongside London and Amsterdam, it is a city in which you can do nothing for weeks and not let it bother you. I also met some quite a few english people in the hostel, including a couple of girls from Maidenhead, and spent one day with them rediscovering Buda. I found that whereas with the american girls who liked to eat ice cream at about 3 in the afternoon, these girls preferred to sit down with tea and cakes, and were even considering buying their own tea set when they returned home!
So onto my final stop, Vienna. As soon as I set foot in the place I knew that I was back in western europe, the shops are the same as anywhere you would find in England, France or Canada, and immediately I was missing the eastern climes. It reminds me a little of something across between Prague, with its tourists, and Dresden with its beautiful buildings.
I've visited the picture gallery at the academy of fine arts. They had one great painting by Hieronymous Bosch of the Last Judgment. The demon creatures were very imaginative. The picture gallery at the Kunsthistoriches contains some great Breughals, and another by Furini with the same model as that I saw in Prague. They have whole rooms dedicated to Titian and Veronnese and even a couple of english paintings.
Unfortunately the Third Man museum was closed when I went past, but the Mozart House was great. It is the only house in which he lived which is still standing and was where he wrote The Marriage of Figaro. You get a free audioguide, and they have paintings of the people with whom he was associated. An excellent bit is a holographic summary of The Magic Flute with music, and you get to walk around his old apartment. They don't know what each room was used for, but it doesn't stop them speculating.
Met an american girl here who has been studying opera in London. On Friday I went to a free organ concert in one of the churches, and tonight am going to see the Vienna Imperial Orchestra playing Mozart and Strauss. A bargain at 28 euro.
I have been eating more schnitzel and also another dish of fried chicken with onion, salt and pepper and sauted potatoes all mixed up together. It was delicious. Obviously Vienna is known for its cafes, but a lot of the well known ones are a little posh for my budget, that doesn't mean I haven't been drinking the stuff, only in the cheaper more standard places, and watching the world go by.
The architecture of the palaces is incredible, and the gardens beautifully laid out, but I get the feeling that I might have appreciated it more if I had come before Hungary and Romania. I will briefly go back to football here for a second, as I watched the FA cup final in an irish bar, the actually bar having come from a pub in Cork! Man Utd were robbed by Chelsea, but then Wembley wouldn't be Wembley without a dodgy goal line decision, would it?
Ok, so I'll finish with the pieces of music for this week.

Vienna - Ultravox
Harry Lime Theme - Anton Karas
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - W A Mozart

I've managed to keep my blog football free so far, but as a proud Sheffield Wednesday fan who's side almost scraped into the playoffs following a terrific run of results at the end of the season, I was delighted to see both West Ham and Wigan win yesterday to consign the Blades back to Championship football.
I was therefore expecting to read today that Neil Warnock would be saying something along the lines of "he was disappointed to go down but then everyone expected them to at the start of the season, and to take it to the last game...yadda yadda yadda"
But to read that he's blaming it on Liverpool and Man Utd fielding weakened teams against their rivals, and then the board claiming it was all to do with West Ham not being docked points, all sounds a bit like sour grapes to me. I'm wondering whether it would have been mentioned if they had managed to gain a point at home to Wigan and stayed up?
Sorry guys, its all about winning games in football, and you didn't win enough of them to stay up. Just look at it this way, you've got two more opportunities to beat us next season...or not!

Sighisoara is famous for being the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, and the house in which he grew up for his first four years still remains. A pretty butter yellow on the outside, inside it is now a pricey restaurant, but it is possible to access the upper landing where a bust of the man himself stands, and a dracula related frieze has been painted onto the wall.
The museum of Sighisoara is housed in the clock tower, but contains no information on the impaler. Instead it houses pottery and other objects from the history of the town, although its difficult to tell their importance as the descriptions are in Romanian. It does allow you access to the top of the tower however, and you can see the inner works of the clock, as the cogs go round, and the view from the outside is fantastic. You can see the green hills and valleys all around, as the river winds itself through and small red roofed houses encroach onto the lower slopes.
Interestingly, the bust of the man who concieved the idea of the museum shows him with exactly the same hairstyle as Gary Oldman's Dracula. Spooky!
There isn't really much else to see here, the town is quiet, and if you sit in one of the local's beer gardens you could began to believe that the last thirty years have never taken place. However, that is part of its charm and the charm of Romania as a whole. Although you can't understand what any of the museums are about, or that you have to wait twenty minutes to make a reservation on a train which is arriving in thirty minutes, I think I will miss it a little. Eventually it will catch up with the west I'm sure, but hopefully not too quickly, and not before I return either! I am now in Budapest again after taking a night train and had a compartment all to myself.
The closest thing to vampires I found out here are the bloodsucking insects, and the receptionist at the Sighisoara hostel, who on one drunken evening came on to four of us within five minutes. If she was young and good looking I don't think that we would've minded.
Dracula doesn't seem to be here after all, but maybe on reading this blog he has travelled to Whitby or London and will await me there, or maybe there is another twist.
I have discovered a poem which suggests that the origin of the ashes played for in Cricket by England and Australia may come from a different source to that of a burnt bail:

There once was a man called Vlad
Who in a cape would often be clad
When he began biting necks
The locals were vexed
But when Van Helsing turned up they were glad, were glad
When Van Helsing returned with the urn, the urn
When Van Helsing returned with the urn.

But then again, maybe some things are meant to be shrouded in the mists of myth and fiction. Here are three songs for this week.

Welcome to Paradise - Green Day
Nothing Ever Happens - Del Amitri
0345:No Sleep - The Cardigans