Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Another Backpacking Adventure in Eastern Europe


Day 1 to 3- Hungary, Budapest
Eventful trip - celebrated Hungary' National Day wth 1.3 miliion people. Spectacular Red Bull Air Race World Series, fireworks display and witnessing our very first stampede as the storm striked. Also tried the most expensive restaurant in Hungary - Gundel.

St Stephen's Basilica

The Chain Bridge linking Buda and Pest

Party with Albert and his childhood friend at Margaret island

Day 4 to 6 - Vienna

Palaces and museums, freshly brewed coffee in traditional coffeehouses, and the ever famous, overpriced and over-rated sachertorte at Demel. The hot chocolate is good though..

Train ride from hungary to
Vienna

The Gloriette at Schonbrun Palace


Kunsthistorisches Museum


St Stephen's Cathedral at dusk

After a visit to Melk Abbey, we cruised along the Danube River through the Wauchau Valley of Austria. Schonbuhel Castle in the Wauchau Valley of the Danube River in Austria Danube River

Bidding farewell to our wonderful host and Friend, Benjamin. We all looked extremely sleepy with our half-open eyes at 6am.


Day 7 to 8 - Czech Republic, Cesky Krumlov

A little fairy-tale town, with rivers running through. Could I say romantic too?

Krumlov hrad, also called the Schwarzenberg Castle The Vltava

This is one fo the place I love most in the whole trip, it's so beautiful...

Day 8 to 9 - Czech Republic, Prague

One of the most well-visited tourist spot in eastern Europe.

Jewish Tomb

The not-so-romantic Charles Bridge

Having our last dinner with Michael


Day 10 to 12 - Poland, Krakow and nearby towns

Not a very popular tourist spot among asians yet, but I believe it will becoome one very soon. So visit it while the prices are still relatively cheap and attractions are not overrun by tourists.

Amazing Saltmine Chapel - the Chapel of the Blessed Kinga,built 101m underground

Cloth Hall at dusk
My All-time favourite pic...
take away all the ppl, and I feel like I'm back to the 1800s..
Traditional University - Jagiellonian University of Krakow, Poland's oldest

Auswitch Camp I - The Railway to hell


Trekking at the Tatra mountains


Babara (in red) and her flatmates
Day 13 - Poland, Warsaw
It was raining for the whole day... skies were gloomy, pavement wet, wet.. it sort of dampen our mood for sght-seeing. But doing it in raincoat for the whole day was quite an experience too.

Rainy days...
The Captain navigating under the rain,
while the clever runner seek shelter and take pictures of beautiful town square

Day 14 to 17 - Lithuania

Our final destination and our initial purpose of this trip: To visit Avydas and Jolita in Lithuania. It was like meeting a long lost friend when we first met him at the bus station.

The reunion with our first hospitality club/couchsurfing guests turned friends.

Hill of crosses


We crashed with Andrius, his girlfriend and Tibet at his attic apartment.
Tibet, the boss of the neighbourhood. So far, no cats could take his place on the roof of Vilnus.
By the Lakehouse...

Day 18 - Stopover at Finland, Helsinki

About 6 hours on this lone trip.. yet I managed to cover all major spots of Helsinki and even managed to buy back some souvenirs for my friends.