EuroQuest: Day 11 - German Scout Camp/Cologne

Hi everyone! So it was our last day at the Scout Camp so after we cleaned up and packed our bags we were faced with the challenge of finding our way back to the train station. We decided it would be a great idea to walk through the woods to get back into town and it didn't take us long to realised we were lost after the path we were following disappeared. Jenny then took the lead and led us on 'Jennys Magical Mystery Hobbit Tour' which eventually got us back on the track and to the train station.

As we were waiting for the train to arrive the heavens opened for the first time on the trip and at first it was so nice because in most places it was around 30 degrees but then it got heavier and it turned into a mad scramble to find shelter. Our rain jackets were at the bottom of our bags because we didn't think we would need them so made makeshift shelters using our bag covers - well we are Girl Guides after all!

After several train journeys including as usual a sprint to the train after we realised we were waiting on the wrong platform we finally arrived in Cologne. There were so many shops in the station! There was a whole shop selling different things all made out of jelly sweets which looked amazing! I was very tempted to buy something but I didn't think it would still be in one piece by the time I got home! We then wandered into a clothes shop which had loads of really nice but cheap clothes and shoes! I got a dress and a top (which I'm still waiting for the weather to improve to wear) and Hayley found these shoes which were amazing and they were so cheap she had to get them!!

After our little shopping break we headed to a restaurant to get some food because we were so hungry after a day of travelling. The restaurant was primarily pork and had an amazing interior design. As the two veggies on the trip Evie and me decided that we would both order a macaroni cheese from the snacks menu and then share a portion of chips and some hash browns as we assumed being from the snack menu it would be small portions but oh how we were wrong! I don't think I've ever felt so full and neither of us could finish it all!

We then headed to the hostel and it was so nice! I was sharing a room with Frances, Evie and Hayley and as we got to the room we found the door literally wouldn't open. We were pushing against it with all our force but it would budge. Some guys in the room next to ours came out to see what all the noise was and apparently we were opening the door all wrong because you had to do something first with the key. Our room so so nice (once we finally got in!). We had a balcony and a proper walk in shower! This meant we could wash stuff and hang it over the balcony to properly dry rather than just hanging it over the bars on the bunk beds!

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out here:
The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent at the Scout Camp in the Harz Mountains and in Cologne as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

SCOUT CAMP VIDEO: COMING SOON

COLOGNE VIDEO: COMING SOON

EuroQuest: Day 9 - Prague/German Scout Camp

Hi everyone! So this was basically a full on day of travelling with 4 trains we had to catch with only minutes between  some of them! We had breakfast in the hostel and they had this adorable little pots of nutella and even though I don't like nutella (don't kill me!) I still picked one up to take home because they were so cool.

All credit for this photo to Sara!!!! 

We then embarked to catch our first train and I've never see a train so busy. The train was like the old fashioned Harry Potter style trains with individual little cabins to sit in and a long corridor connecting them all and that was where we had to sit! So we were mind our own business, singing songs and trying to do the infamous pony song sat down when some guys in one of the cabins started laughing at us and trying to join in. We'd got used to this but then he rudely opened the door from his cabin and put his burger king rubbish out in the corridor with us. Naturally, we all gave him the dirtiest look we could master up and he sheepishly opened the door again and took his rubbish back in!

Stuck in the corridor

We got off that train and onto the next one! The train was really fancy and it even had English speaking radio stations! We finally got to a really big station and went off to go get some food. Naturally we made a beeline for McDonalds and they had these really nice tasting fruit slushies in loads of different flavours. I love cirtus fruits so naturally I got the lemon one and it was so nice! On our way back to our bags we bumped into a group of German scouts who were on their way to or making their way back from a jamboree in Germany.

The German scouts we met

View from the train window

We still had two more trains to catch but because our previous trains had been late and then these ones were as well we ended up missing our connections so we had to get on different trains than had originally been planned.

In the corridor again

The pile of bags

 Finally we got to the last train station and we were greeted by the people who were in charge of the scout camp and they gave us a lift up to the camp as it was quite a way away from town up near the Harz mountains. The scout camp was a lot smaller than I had envisioned it as as far as we could see no one else was staying there! We did meet some Dutch scouts but they were a lot older than us but we did give them some of our Euro Quest badges.

Squished into the car on the way to the camp site

Tash's Niall displaying our EuroQuest badge rather nicely!

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out here:
The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent in Prague & the Scout Camp in the Harz Mountains as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.
PRAGUE VIDEO: COMING SOON

SCOUT CAMP VIDEO: COMING SOON

EuroQuest: Day 7 - Vienna

Hi everyone! So I was the first one up as I wanted to have a shower in the morning and I stumbled out of essentially the draw with a mattress and in into the bathroom. As I was getting undressed I caught sight of this little brown mark on the side of my rib. My first thought was 'Oh great - a tic!' so I had a quick look but it was kind of hard to see. It didn't really look like a tic (from the pictures I'd seen) and none of us had got one yet. It was still there after my shower so I showed it to the people in my room but none of us thought it was a tic but we called Sheila round to double check! I'm sure you've guessed now that it was in fact a tic and oh my god it didn't want to come out! Sheila had this card which safely pulls tics out but it took a fair few tries before it was out!

After I was rid of my little visitor we headed outside to go and find a tram to take us to the Haus der Musik or the House of Music in English! Vici went up to this really fancy tram to ask where we could get a normal one to take us but the 2 men that had hired this tram to take them around the city offered us a lift there! Perks of being Girl Guides I guess! The journey there was so funny! The drivers assistant was supposed to be giving commentary as we drove around but he handed the microphone to Fran who gave a wonderful if slightly inaccurate commentary which had us all in stitches!

The tram

The House of Music was so gorgeous just on the outside and as we walked in we could hear this wonderful piano music drifting through the hallway. We assumed it was speakers with pre-recorded music on but as he entered the main hall we saw it was another tourist playing this amazing grand piano! It turned out anyone cold have a go playing it if they wanted too!

House of Music

Piano music

There were so many strange interactive things to do once we were inside including a very odd room where weird music was playing and you had to dance around to make images appear on the screen. The best thing though was in one room you could virtually conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra by standing in front of a screen and sort of like a Wii you moved your baton to conduct them! If you are ever in Vienna this is definitely a place you have to go to!

Having a go conducting

Some sculptures near the enterance

A giant drum

After that we caught another tram to Prater Park which is a sort of theme park but more with rides you would see at fairs or carnivals just on a much bigger scale! We were all given a couple of tokens to go on some rides and off we went! One ride that caught my eye looked very similar to 'Air' at Alton Towers which I had ridden a couple of years ago and loved! However when we got on I noticed it was very different to Air! Instead of being strapped in you had to step into what basically was a cage without a back and we were there like okay they'll put a back on in a minute because some of it involves us going with out backs to the floor so we might fall out. But did they... oh no! The only thing stopping you from falling was your ability to hold on! We were kind of relieved we survived when it finally came to an end!

Prater Park

House of Horrors 

The terrifying ride!

Off we go!

We went for dinner in one of the restaurants on site and I think it was Sara and Evie ordered this drink which they had no idea what it was but when it came out it was in such giant glasses everyone was a bit taken back! After trying a little bit it turned out to be this really nice fruit flavoured drink that if my memory serves me correctly was kind of sparkling, Emii and I got one each! I really wish I could remember what it was called because it's something I would love to have again!

Yum!

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out below. The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent in Vienna as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

VIENNA VIDEO: COMING SOON

I hope you enjoyed reading this and feel free to leave any comments!

EuroQuest: Day 6 - Slovakia

Hi everyone! So this was sort of our first and last day in Slovakia! We had to get up really early, which on the one hand, was an opportunity to leave the creepy hostel, but on the other, was  at 5am! One of leaders has a girl in her unit whose Mum (Marianna) is from Slovakia, and they happened to be on holiday in Slovakia the same time we were staying there, so we went to visit them!

It was a long bus journey to their house as they lived in Smolenice, outside of the capital Bratislava where we were staying. When we got off the bus we were told we were going off on a little hike through the forest, but thankfully Mariannas husband was there to take our huge rucksacks off us and take them straight to their house! We walked a little bit up the road to find a space to eat the breakfast Marianna had brought with her for us. She had a mixture of breads and some jam to go with it, which was delicious! My favourite was this sweet bread which I think was kind of like brioche?

We then started to walk into the forest and up a hill to visit some caves. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take any photos of the caves but they were absolutely stunning! Some of them were huge and when we all went into the main cave he turned the lights off to give us a sense of what the people who first discovered the caves and it was ridiculously dark! When we came out, we climbed on the rock side of the hill to to the top where we could see the entrance where the first people climbed into the caves from! As well as that, we could see all over the forest and it was amazing!

We then headed back down and went on further into the forest to this sort of big old office thing? Anyway, it had a tower which we all went up and we could see all over the town as well as back into the forest. It was then a short walk to Mariannas house where she had cooked a BBQ for us and much to my delight, she had bought some tofu for myself and Evie! It was so nice to have actual vegetarian food again!

We then caught the bus back and I think everyone fell asleep because we had been up since 5am! We got off at the port where we were catching the hydrofoil to Vienna. It was so windy on the back of the hydrofoil and there was some reenactment of Titanic!

We got the the hostel and it was really nice! I was in the room of 6 and it was pretty packed because there were 2 bunk beds and each had a little pull out tray with another mattress in which basically took up the whole floor! As we got there pretty late and there were no restaurants near where we were staying we decided to get take away pizza!!!

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out below. The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent in Slovakia as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

SLOVAKIA VIDEO: COMING SOON!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and feel free to leave any comments!

EuroQuest: Day 5 - Budapest/Slovakia

Hi everyone! This was our last day in Budapest and so we decided to head to one of the places Budapest is quite famous for - the spa! We went to the Gellert Spa which was in a really fancy hotel which looking as we did in Guiding uniform and shorts we didn't really fit in!

None of us actually had any spa treatments, so we just used the pools which were separate to the spa. There was a main pool in which every hour they turned on the wave machine; a hot pool which has heated to 36°C and it literally felt like a bath, and a freezing cold tub next to the sauna. I decided to wear my new swimsuit I had bought a couple of weeks prior to my trip from Primark and it was a really nice nautical style one which could be worn with or without straps. However, I fell into a little bit of predicament when one strap unattached its self I couldn't get it back on so I decided to just wear it strapless. Big mistake! Firstly, without any straps to hold it up, it looked very unflattering as I think it was designed for someone with a smaller chest than mine. Secondly, when the wave turned on I was left with the struggle of holding it up in order to retain my dignity. It was also the first (and last) day that I got sunburnt, but thankfully it was only a little bit on my shoulders and nose!

We then headed to the train station to catch a train to Slovakia! By now it was about midday and 41° and we were traipsing through Budapest with our giant rucksacks on, literally sweating buckets! Our train was so late arriving that several of us decided that the platform floor seemed a good place to have a little nap! We actually got seats on this train but it was so hot outside the air conditioning wouldn't work! The man in the serving food and drinks was going mad with the heat which brightened up the journey a little bit!

The strange thing about the train was they didn't announce the stops so suddenly we found ourselves rushing to get everything packed away as ours was the next stop! The station we got off at didn't seem like a main station should - it sort of looked like the station in my town! But we were assured that it was Bratislava's main train station. The temperature when we finally got there was still ridiculously hot!

We got to the hostel, which was basically some student halls for a university nearby and I think this was the scariest place we stayed in! As we were waiting in the lobby there was a giant wasp flying around on a mission to kill, but thankfully a man who was also waiting managed to swat it with a tray (not that I condone the killing of insects but I see it was self defense because it looked like it was ready to kill us!)

We then went up to our rooms and found out that it was 1 bathroom per 2 rooms, but we had all been split up so we were essentially sharing a bathroom with people we didn't know... but then it got worse! I was sharing a room with Frances and thankfully no one seemed to be in the room next to us and we had a lock on the bathroom door unlike some of the others, but I then lifted the duvet from my bed to find the mattress and sheet were blood stained - which is just what I wanted! Safe to say, I slept on top of the duvet. Jenny and Emii met there neighbour, only to be told he kept a basket of girls back at home (which later turned out to mean he had a lot of sisters)! Tash and Evies neighbour brought back a girl in the night and well... the walls were pretty thin so I don't think they got much sleep!

Once we had put our stuff in our rooms, we headed over to the 24 hour McDonalds as it was the closest food place near to us, but they didn't have any of the vegetarian options such as a veggie burger/wrap/sandwich which we have over here. I ended up ordering a salad, which wasn't too bad! (Although I didn't use the strange blue cheese dressing that they gave me with it!)

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out below. The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent in Budapest and Slovakia as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

BUDAPEST VIDEO: COMING SOON!

SLOVAKIA VIDEO: COMING SOON!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and feel free to leave any comments!

EuroQuest: Day 4 - Budapest

Hi everyone! So we are still in Budapest! The day started where our leaders had gone to the local shop to buy some stuff for us to make our own breakfast in the hostel kitchen on our floor. It was a bit of a mismatched breakfast but still lovely! We ended up talking to another English girl who was staying there with her friend and they were travelling around Europe as well (although I think it was their gap year), whilst the others eating breakfast in the living area were talking to a guy who was (correct me if I'm wrong) born in South Africa but lives in Australia? It don't know if it was because we were staying in a hostel so pretty much everyone was around late teens/twenties, thus were happy to talk, but it was so nice yet strange as you just wouldn't talk to random people in a hotel in England!

Budapest in the morning

It was still super hot (around the high 30's!) so we went to a park, where we hired out these bubble car things (again due to my awful ability to describe anything I'll put a picture below) which we were able to pedal around the park. Frances took the wheel of our one and I think we were the most sensible drivers! As soon as we came near the others the drove straight at each other then swerving last minute to avoid a crash!

Awesome sculpture in the park

Driving around

After we had driven around for an hour, we returned them and went to the fountain to eat lunch. It was so refreshing to dip our feet in the water and watch the fountains. On the hour, suddenly music blasted out and the fountains began to synchronize to it which was awesome! We then split into our 2 groups and went to explore.

Nice and cool

Fluffy the fish having a swim

Our first port of call - ICE CREAMS! I played it safe with a lemon sorbet, but after we had eaten them we went back for a slush puppy. I got a bright green one which was green apple flavour but turned my tongue a brilliant green colour! We did try to find somewhere to sit and drink them, but we were pestered by flies everywhere we went.

Yum!

Oops

Consequently, we gave up on the idea of sitting on the grass and headed back to the fountain. On the way we bumped into the other group who were all sat on benches enjoying a variety of brightly coloured mojitos. (non alcoholic of course!) Despite already having an ice cream and a slush puppy we went and got one! They tasted as amazing as they looked, although many had the same effect of the slushie by turning our tongues various colours!

We headed back to the hostel for an early dinner so we could go exploring the city in the evening and the lovely people at the hostel  cooked us a meal of traditional Hungarian food! I think we were supposed to cook it ourselves but they ended up doing it for us which was very kind of them! The veggie option was sort of like gnocchi and scrambled egg put together which was actually really nice, although very filling!

Pin board in the kitchen

That evening we headed up to the old town (Buda) on the funicular railway and got some stunning views over the rest of the city as we were heading up. Up there we went to the presidents office took loads of photos of the view!

Then began the long walk back down! According to Hayley's pedometer there were over 10,000 steps just on the way down so it was safe to say my feet hurt just a little!

When we got back to the hostel Sara made the biggest cup of tea I think I've ever seen! I tried to take a photo of it next to my deodorant can to give you a comparison but it was huge!

If you want to see more I filmed a bit of what we were doing so you can check that out below.

The video is a montage of several clips and pictures throughout the time we spent in Budapest as apposed to these blog posts which a split by day.

BUDAPEST VIDEO: COMING SOON!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and feel free to leave any comments!