Trip four of 2014 was three weeks of Interrailing around Europe. 22 days on the go, covering 9 countries, means a lot of experiences so I'll do my best to summarise it! Interrailing itself was fantastic; you've got to have a little flexibility, and not hate trains too much (I'm not a big fan of people, frankly, but it was rare that I felt that I had a lack of personal space, unlike pretty much every time I travel with First Great Western - probably the worst trains were those to Prague and Bratislava and I'm going to blame Central & Eastern European stag dos for that one). But, that aside, it's a pretty cheap and easy way to travel, if occasionally meaning you're not able to go everywhere you want when you want if you're relying on public transport.
Our itinerary was broadly centred around WWII sites and places of interest, interspersed with some other interesting towns, but it was jam packed:
Day One: Swindon - London - Brussels
Straight from work, we hopped onto the train to London and then the Eurostar to Brussels, accompanied by crisps and a few beers. Took us ages to find our hotel but, when we eventually did, we rewarded ourselves with a pint at a local bar. The trip has begun!
Day Two: Brussels - Roosendaal - Soest
Another long day on the trains to visit the Dambusters memorial park and Guy Gibson's grave in Roosendaall, The Netherlands. Lots of walking with heavy bags on our backs! Then another train to Soest, Germany: a beautiful little walled town. Our hotel was lovely and, strangely enough, run by a man from Swindon of all places! We found a great little place for food and lots of beer that evening.
Day Three: Soest - Berlin
Prior to hopping on the train, we went for a few kilometers' worth of running around the old walls of Soest. Then it was back to the hotel for a shower, lovely breakfast and a bus to the Mohne Dam. What an insane trip: the bus arrived 55 minutes before the next was due to depart, with a 3 hour wait after that, so we managed a 2.5 mile walk up and down a very steep hill, a look at the dam and a few photos before power walking (some of it jogging...) back to the bus stop. The a train to Berlin; a well-earned rest! Checked in to our hotel near Ku'damm and out for dinner; not too much exploring this evening as we were exhausted!
Days Four to Six: Berlin
Berlin was probably the part of our trip that I was most excited about: the history of it, both the World War and subsequent Communist segregation, are incredibly interesting. Having visited Berlin before, but when I was only 3, I was excited to go there and see everything...and remember it! The only photo I have from my previous trip is of our trip to Berlin zoo, where I befriended a goat. Good good.
There was an awful lot to pack in to 4 short days and Berlin is very spaced out so getting from a to b isn't exactly easy (we later found out that it's built for twice the number of inhabitants it currently has; in stark contrast with London! We wanted to see a lot and some of it just had to be done: the Berlin Wall, down the East Side gallery, was a must and was well worth the trip, too. Not so much of the artwork is original but it's still very much worth seeing. We walked past Checkpoint Charlie a number of times though didn't go in to the museum; the only original bit of it is the surround for the sign; the rest has all been reproduced for the tourists.
We had a slot booked to visit the Bundestag and, while I fully expected to miss it due to being late, we got in, through security and up the impressive German Parliament building. The views at night over Berlin were incredible and the building itself is a work of art!
Of course, there was an awful lot of historical stuff to do in Berlin too: we went to Gleis 17 at Grunewald station, on the local trains from Berlin, where a moving memorial to those deported from Berlin has been built. Grunewald, most famous of course for the forest, is a peaceful, pretty little place: to think it's seen such sadness is incredible. We visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, in Oranienburg, too: easy to get to, but overwhelmingly large. It's much less harrowing than Auschwitz but a bit of an information overload, quite frankly. Still, it was worth a visit.
One of my favourite things about Berlin is how you can stumble across old WWII buildings in the most bizarre places: Anhalter Banhof was razed, except for the beautiful facade which now stands alone. The old Luftwaffe building is still exactly as it was, and still used as offices. Even Hitler's bunker site has a plaque next to it.
We did a free walking tour in Berlin too; we were on a bit of a budget, trying to eke our cash out for the full 22 days, and the free walking tours are always fantastic. Ours went from the Brandenburg gate, with a brilliant Aussie chap leading it, and took us all over. Again, well worth the 5 Euro tip! And they told us about the Ritter Sport shop - brilliant! You can even make your own customised bar, although their 'standard' ones are incredibly cheap and super tasty.
We got a decent length run in while we were in Berlin, which helped to burn off the numerous sausages, goulash, dumplings and vast quantities of beer. Having worked it out when we got home, I didn't go without beer for a single day of our Interrail trip! And, thanks to the Berlin Marathon 2015, we do plan to go back to Berlin quite soon.
Day Seven: Berlin - Colditz - Dresden
Both Nick and I were very keen to add a trip to Colditz into our itinerary so, from Berlin, we went straight there. My navigation from the station to the castle itself wasn't exactly the most direct: don't follow the signs; they will take you the long way round!
Entrance to Colditz was very cheap indeed and we avoided the two hour long guided tour due to time constraints. While I'm sure we also missed out on some great stories, walking round by ourselves allowed us to really absorb the history and the tales we'd heard for so long. One of the rooms in the Castle was converted into an eclectic little museum with loads of tales of escapes and whatnot by PoWs; it was an incredible contrast how the Germans treated their PoWs and considered their escapes just a bit of a laugh, even taking photos of some of them in their inventive escape outfits, as opposed to their treatment of those locked up in Concentration Camps.
Either way, Colditz was incredible and I'm so glad we went: it's beautiful in a funny way.
A brisk walk down the hill, through the town and a bus back to the train station; onwards to Dresden! We only had one night in this historic town so didn't manage to see a lot but the little we did see (in the dark) seemed very pretty indeed. Possibly one to return to.
Day Eight: Dresden - Prague
A late start to the day for a change and a late train from Dresden after lunch - we rented out a lovely woman's apartment in Prague for two nights and she met us there to show us around. Just wow. Apartment Vysherad comes highly recommended; it was very reasonable and incredibly beautiful! After settling in and making our first cup of tea in over a week, we made our way into the centre of the city for dinner and the obligatory beers.
Day Nine: Prague
First cooking for over a week: breakfast in the apartment. It's funny how you miss little things like cooking when you're away. While we didn't have much time in Prague really, we resolved to get as much in as we could and walked around the outside of the Castle, to the Lidice memorial and the church where the man who assassinated Heydrich hid before being caught and went to the Old New Synagogue.
Czech food isn't terribly different from German, really, and is still quite heavy but the beer was brilliant. Lots of card games here too.
Day Ten: Prague- Bratislava
The journey from Prague to Bratislava was a long one, with little room on the trains: northern and eastern European trains weren't brilliant but they definitely improved from Slovakia onwards. We'd booked into a hostel in Bratislava, probably not a decision I'd make again, although we did have a private room: it wasn't too far from the station or the town centre and we got a run in here too; quite hilly but we'd been missing the exercise. I'm not sure either of us had really clicked that the Danube runs through Bratislava and I was surprised by the size of it, too.
Day Eleven: Bratislava
With little time in Bratislava, you'd think we'd have a lot to pack in but there didn't seem to be an awful lot to do: another free walking tour, which was nice but again it didn't show us a lot. We went to the Blue Church which was, unsurprisingly, blue, but more of a novelty than anything. A walk around the Castle grounds was nice although I'm not sure eastern Europe sees Castles in quite the way I do: it needs crenellations and towers!
Day Twelve: Bratislava - Vienna
Austria was my other 'highlight' before we went, as years of reading books about the country had really whetted my appetite. And, of course, it's famous for cakes: what more could you want? The journey between Bratislava and Vienna was very short albeit very beautiful, with stunning countryside and bridges. In fact, all of our train journeys through Austria were pretty stunning!
Day Thirteen: Vienna
We'd planned to go to the Zoo today; not quite Berlin but it was still exciting nonetheless. I fear I may have been most excited by the goats; Nick got quite friendly with one of them!
Cake was obligatory and, although it's technically from Salzburg, Sacher Torte is worth trying: not as rich as you might expect but still tasty. Another thing we discovered in Vienna was Langos, a fried bread snack a bit like very thin garlic bread. Very tasty albeit not exactly healthy! I haven't a clue if it's Austrian or not but it is worth trying.
Day Fourteen: Vienna - Salzburg
Probably the most stunning part of our journey, we chose to travel through Bruck An Der Mur, a tiny little place in the countryside (and consequently not worth visiting itself)! Mountains, lakes and largely unspoilt countryside: this was what I expected from Austria and I certainly wasn't disappointed.
Days Fifteen to Sixteen: Salzburg
Foregoing all Sound of Music related trips and things, we were initially aiming to travel to Berchtesgaden to the Eagle's Nest. After further research, the walk was just ridiculous so we ended up walking 4 km from the station in Berchtesgaden to the base station of the Cable Car up the mountain. This was without a shadow of a doubt one of the best things we did as the views were jaw dropping, it was lovely and fresh and we managed a beer high up a mountain! The cable car up was a tiny little thing with each pod only just fitting two people in, which made it even more of an adventure.
Our second day in Salzburg meant us doing very little as it was raining pretty heavily and neither Nick nor I are lovers of rain. You get a bit of Mozart overload here too...
Day Seventeen: Salzburg - Liechtenstein - Innsbruck
With Liechtenstein so close by, it seemed silly to miss ticking off yet another country; in hindsight, I would suggest not bothering. While I'm glad I can say I've been there, there was very little to do. At all!
Innsbruck, in contrast, was stunning - tiny but very picturesque, framed by the mountains behind it. We saw the Golden Roof, as you must when in Innsbruck, and I did rather enjoy that all the buskers in Austria seem to only play classical music - it makes an interesting change!
Day Eighteen: Innsbruck - Munich
A morning in Innsbruck before heading off back into Germany; the Funicular railway was a bit of a let down and I'm very glad we opted for the cable car in Berchtesgaden as the Innsbruck one was much more large-scale. I suppose it's used for skiers in the Wintry months, requiring more space. Innsbruck's other big export, apart from the skiing, seemed to be dried meat - seemed silly not to buy some while we were there to test out!
Munich was always going to mean lots of beer - not that it was Oktoberfest of course; that's next year's trip!
Day Nineteen: Munich
Another (and indeed our last) free walking tour was a necessity in Munich; probably not quite as good as the others but still a worthwhile effort for the morning. It was fascinating to find out about how much Munich had been razed by the RAF during the war, excepting the new town hall, which was used as a visual reference point for the bombers. Ironically, the old town hall, which was rebuilt in the '60s, is thus newer than the new town hall. We had plans to go to Dachau so we had to bail early from the tour, albeit after a quick (and expensive due to quite how much we bought!) trip to the Milka shop; Dachau was very moving indeed, a lot more interactive than Sachsenhausen and very much a place of remembrance. Nick was very excited to see a real life monk there too!
Of course, while in Munich, we had to go to the Hofbrauhaus for a few beers. We sat with a lovely older Argentinian couple and had a good chat with them; his sister lives in Northern England and their English was brilliant. A little after they left, an Australian couple took their places; they'd been travelling for 3 months as an extended honeymoon and we swapped lots of stories. It was great to talk to some other travellers!
Next time we're in Munich will be Oktoberfest 2015; I'm very much looking forward to it. For many reasons!
Day Twenty: Munich - Luxembourg
Getting from Munich to Luxembourg is not a quick process! Interrailing requires a little flexibility, especially in or into France, as their regulations are notoriously strict. Our initial plan was to spend the day in Nuremberg, the night in Heidelberg (staying with someone through Couchsurfing) and then on to Paris but this didn't really work out so Luxembourg was our alternative. Apart from anything else, it meant ticking off yet another country!
While we stopped briefly at a little station in Germany, we were left wondering if the zombie apocalypse had hit in our absence - I've never seen anywhere so empty, run down and desolate...and I live in Swindon!
We only had a few hours in Luxembourg; it was pretty, compact and admittedly quite expensive - after litres of beer for the equivalent of about £1 in Eastern Europe, paying 6 Euros apiece was a shock to the system! Our hotel was a compact, comfortable little place directly opposite the station which was rather handy considering we had a very early start coming up!
Day Twenty One: Luxembourg - Paris
Good thing our hotel did breakfast as this was a painfully early start! Most of our breakfasts in Austria and even Germany to an extent that were included in the room rate were of the same basic type: rolls (Austria do some absolutely gorgeous rolls called Kaiser rolls), cheese, ham, pate, jam, honey and, occasionally, breakfast cake. There's something we should do more of in the UK! The Luxembourg breakfast was pretty similar, albeit probably more 'French' but set us up well for a long day's journey. Although it wasn't half as long a journey as we'd expected, as we managed to (somehow) reserve seats on the TGV from Metz to Paris, more than halving the journey time. This meant we got plenty of time to wander round Paris before meeting my friend in the evening.
Many train stations in Europe have big lockers for rent that you can leave your bag, which helped us as it meant a rare day out without a heavy rucksack on our backs. Nick hadn't really done much of Paris, so it was a bit of a whistle stop tour - Notre Dame (we didn't go in - the queues were huge and it was tipping it down!), Eiffel Tower (just for the photo!), Montmartre, beer (why break the habit of 3 weeks?!) and a trip to the Pere Lachaise cemetery. French cemeteries are incredibly different to British ones but Pere Lachaise is particularly interesting as it contains the graves of a vast number of very famous individuals, both French and foreign: Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Alphonse Daudet (Lettres de Mon Moulin was the first book I read in French), Edith Piaf...the list goes on. It was a little creepy but very impressive to see!
We were staying with an old friend of mine, Anne-Lyse, a lawyer in Versailles, for the night and this meant a night out in Versailles; while we saw the Chateau, it was in the dark, but Nick was still overawed to see it. It was great to have a chilled out dinner of Moules Frite and lots of worryingly easy to drink wine and a catch up with Anne-Lyse on our last night away.
Day Twenty Two: Paris - London - Swindon
Our last day of holiday started with some fresh croissants and coffee with Anne-Lyse; very French indeed! After an emotional goodbye, it was a trip back to Paris and we boarded the Eurostar back to London. It was great that it was so quiet on board, giving us time to relax and enjoy the vast quantities of Milka Lila Stars that we'd bought from the Milka shop in Munich; they're a bit like Ferrero Rocher but smaller, 'meltier' (it's not a word but should be!) and very, very moreish.
I can't say I was terribly excited to be back in Swindon, especially considering the conversations I heard on the bus on the way back from the Station home (we'd done enough walking by that point) but, in many ways, it was good to be home, even if just because it meant we could plan our next trip away!
What a brilliant trip! There were places I have no interest in returning to, places that were great to see but just a one off...and a few places I absolutely fell in love with. Next Interrail trip will be Central & Eastern Europe, but who knows when! We developed all sorts of muscles in carrying those huge rucksacks everywhere for three weeks, although mine was almost half the size of Nick's: 32 litres vs. 60 litres. I know he's a little bit bigger but surely he didn't need that much more kit! Still, it was good to get the bags off our backs and we can't wait for our next adventure!
Sunday dawned bright and only a little drizzly; after a gorgeous breakfast of muesli bread, fresh fruit and tea, we relaxed and prepared for a couple of hours before changing into running kit and driving to the park and ride, ready to start our race. It was looking, that morning, like the world record for the Marathon was going to be smashed, with the front runner keeping up an eye watering pace up until a few km from the end, where he, seemingly, collapsed. Fortunately for us, we weren't quite so worried about our own pace!
Monday was a day off from work for both of us, fortuitously, so another lazy start, lovely (albeit lighter than Sunday's!) breakfast and a departure back to Bruges; we'd meant to go into Amsterdam and explore a little as I wanted to see the Anne Frank Museum for one, but we've decided we can make that into another trip in itself, hopefully staying with Mark and Sarah again. So, an afternoon in Bruges it was! Of course, having exerted ourselves somewhat the day before, we decided to indulge a little and shared some lovely Belgian beer and a portion of frites and mayonnaise. Oh, and a waffle a little later on too. But, with it being such a lovely day, we decided to climb the Belfry too; it was quite a notable part of the film 'In Bruges' apparently, although I have a terrible memory for films. Either way, the view from the top was spectacular and it gave my already achy legs a bit more of a workout.
