So I am back in Toronto now. After a trip of a little over five weeks I have come home. This was my first time flying, and thus first time to Europe, and it was such a memorable experience. Just backpacking it around alone is an experience in itself, and you learn so much.

Some things I notice while I was over there. The Australians love to travel, and probably every single one of them one time or another go over to the UK to work and travel. I was on a bus service called busabout and basically this bus has a set schedule for leaving a city, every two days, and you can choose to stay as many number of days as you wish in each city. Probably about 80-90% of the people I met on this bus was from Australia. And probably about a good 70% of those people, maybe even more are working in the UK, or was about to start.

Another thing about this tour bus, it's probably about 70% female. Maybe all their boyfriends are at home making money for "their future", who knows. Anyways, it basically stops at a lot of the bigger cities of interest, so I would recommend it, slightly inflexible is their timetable, but it works out in the end.

Favourite City

I have two. First is Salzburg. I really liked it because its a smaller city than some of the others. The scenery was amazing, the mountains at every corner. The night you can go to a small bar, sit outside and relax. I would not say it has a great nightlife, but maybe cause I did not go out here, but I liked it nevertheless.

The second favourite is Florence. I liked this city because of its relaxing culture, unlike some of its other big Italian counterparts. I was able to sit down in several piazzas, just relax there, enjoy some gelati. Think I liked it just because there are so many things to see, not just all the same.

Mishaps

I mentioned in another post how coming back from Wales the bus ran out of fuel. I was seriously frantic at that point thinking how am I going to catch my flight out of the city. I was seriously worried. Everything worked out. But I tell you, it was a setup I think. It was the bus driver's first ever shift, he was just the poor sap who did not look at the gas gauge, or even worse did not do anything when it started reminding him he had no gas.

When I was in Salzburg, we went to this beer garden. Basically this beer garden is run by monks and is in a church. I tell you, when I first went it reminded me of Willowcreek's environment. Why? First, they have several food stores in its basement where you can buy several different varieties of meals. Second you walk out and its this huge garden with tables all around. This is so people can come together for chatting and being with one another. The only different is this church brews its own beer. Yes, they brew is and the guys seriously pour like its a faucet tap.

So here is what happened there. Was enjoying my schnitzel and beer when we started smelling smoke. Thought it was nothing, then people started congregating at one place looking up. We went to see and the church was ablaze. It was on fire. Oh man this was weird to see. I have pictures of it too. Next thing five to seven fire trucks come, have to work around the crowd and start spraying water. It was an amazing site.

Let me tell you, these firemen are smart. They kept on running out of water or needed more it seemed, and then we saw them pumping water from a water stream closeby, ingenious!

One thing bad about busabout were the buses. They were good, but I have a feeling several were breaking down. Seemed new enough, but had some troubles through Italy. Maybe it was just too hot because we saw several other buses from other companies having trouble as well. So what happened two different stories. Story number one we drove through Italy, and the bus was steaming hot. It was seriously overheating. We had to stop right before this tunnel where supposedly a bus caught on fire last year and killed dozens. Another incident we stopped at a service station going to Nice, and next thing we know we were asked to help push the bus to help start it. Basically if you can get the bus moving some and start the bus at same time a greater likelihood of starting the engine. So there we were, several guys pushing the bus. hahaha.

Had some bad times with the computers over there. the stupidest story was in Paris when I went to burn a cd. I was walking and settling into one computer when the store owner told me to go to another. I ended up having trouble burning and we eventually went back to the one I wanted in first place only to find out that one was english windows, as oppsoed to the french windows he told me to go to! Why in the world would you make me use french windows if you have a computer entirely in english, at least I can read what I am doing! Jeez!

I did a bike tour in Munich. So basically its a tour of the city on a bike, very popular over there. So I meet up and there is this very pretty oriental girl there. So at first I did not talk to her, only I kept on looking over at her because she looked exactly like this other girl I knew over here in Toronto, only a little more prettier, but still was very similar. So much so I was not sure it was not the same person. So as we rode along finally I built up enough courage to talk to her and when she spoke back I knew it was not the same girl I knew. Why? Because this girl had an accent, and could not speak english at the same level. We still kept on talking, when I had to tell her how she looks like this girl I knew, except I really felt it might come off as some pickup line, which was not my intention. So I go to her, "I don't mean for this to sound like a pickup line, but you look exactly like this girl I know back home." Know what she says to me? She says "My english not so good, I did not understand. " hahahah, I was like "Okay, forget it, nothing important." hahaha, that was bad at that time.

Another thing that was bad that happened in Munich. So it's the day of departure, its like 7Am in the morning I go to brush my teeth and then go back to the room. Now you have to understand this room has like 20 people in it, so not exactly private. I walk in, and all I hear is this girl say "help" as I walk in. I look over and I see her (on the top bunk) sitting upright and this guy next to her. Mind you its dark cause lights are off, but I can make out two figures. I think to myself, what does she want, she's with a guy, not my problem. Then I forget what she says but then I realize, this guy is not supposed to be in her bed. He had climbed up into her bed (on the top bunk like I said) and scared her. So I am thinking, well I gotta do something. But how can I get him down? I can't go up there and drag him down, there is only one ladder, I'll kill myself doing so. So like the calm guy I am, I try to convince the guy to come down. And it worked! I convinced him to come down. Man, one of the weirdest things ever I tell you. The girl was alright, but a little distraught that happened, but she got passed it.

In Paris now, lemme tell you I hate their metro system. They have tons of metro stations closed, and you would not know it until you get on the train and see on their map on the train that the station you want is closed. Secondly, it gets a little late, say 10PM, and they close several other stations with no notification until you get close to those stations. So I am going back to the hostel one night, alone, and this happens. Several of the next stations are closed and they just send you off. I am in a city they I have not familiarized yet, with no idea how to get back. I am seriously getting worried of how to get back. I was told by some of the people who kicked me off the train to take bus 21, but I cannot find the stop. I go back down into the metro station three times before one of them decides, I can show him on a map where the bus stop is. WHY DIDN"T THEY SHOW ME IN THE FIRST PLACE, IDIOTS! Man, this metro systems sucks.

That is it for now, I focussed primarily on the bad stuff first, because its so easy to remember them. Next post I can write about good things.