Euro Adventure 2005

European trains!!! You have to love them. Today’s little adventure involves the mysterious disappearance of the train I was planning on catching to Verona for my change to Munich. I mean, I made a reservation and there was no mention of there not being a train, I checked in my European train times book, no mention and online again, no mention. So yes, it’s a Sunday and yes, things change but seriously, you’d think at least the bright spark who sold me the ticket would know!

So here I was trying to find out what the hell was going on and all they would say was “doesn’t exist, not today”. Now wait a minute here, I RESERVED my ticket!! So I showed them the evidence and, once again, the same stock response. Well you could at least tell me what on earth I am supposed to do in order to make my connection!!! Just asking around I was eventually told that I needed to catch the Milan train and change at Verona as planned, the only draw back? My train gets in, if on time, just 10 minutes before the one to Munich leaves giving me such huge amounts of time to sort myself out in Verona!!

As things turned out, I made the connection without too much hassle and I have to say that the journey from here is a pretty spectacular one! As the scenery rolled by I couldn’t help but smile as I took it all in. I had been looking forward to the actual travelling part of, um, travelling before I left and was revelling in its delights now.

I managed to locate the hostel pretty quickly from the train station, they certainly weren’t wrong when they said it was just a short walk from the train station! Now this hadn’t been my first choice of a place to stay here but as I passed a couple of hostels n the same road and came across mine, I had to admit that from the outside at least it looked like it could be alright. The hostel itself seemed pretty bog standard and it may be that I am still feeling spoilt after Barcelona but I cant say it looked great, just, well, ok. The common area was pretty deserted and right by the main door and reception so it didn’t surprise me that it lacked an atmosphere. The rooms themselves, clean, tidy, nice bathroom (possible the best so far) and again, pretty deserted.

Dumping my stuff I decided I’d head out and thought I’d ask the staff where was good to go out, good to do etc. This brought with it a rather comical response. Now, in hindsight it could possible be conceived as the most stupid question ever asked. When the girl at reception promptly replied that “apparently there’s some kind of beer festival or something going on” I could have died. I’ll admit that even then it took a few seconds to sink in. After getting my directions and starting the walk, I started adding it all up. Munich and beer festival DID go hand in hand and I did think the price of my room was unusually high, but one thing kept bugging me, it was, well, it was September. Surely Europe’s most famous beer festival would fall in the month by which it was seemingly named!

It doesn’t! It really, truly, doesn’t! So here I was, walking past drunken hoards of people and spying a festival site. Heading, tunnel visioned towards it I spotted the sign. Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ve arrived! It was official, I was there, by chance no less, and what a chance!! How things fall favourably sometimes. As I passed through the Oktoberfest signs a huge, and I mean ear to ear, grin surfaced, and stayed!

So, Oktoberfest and I had collided head on. I honestly believe that the pure coincidence of the whole thing and the unplanned nature of it all made me appreciate it far more than if I had come with the purpose of going. As I wondered into the first beer tent I hit a warm feeling came over me and I was shocked at what was now before me! A huge, tent, filled to the rafters with people. The tables, those oh so famous tables completely full, people up dancing on them, people dancing wherever they were, beer flowing left right and centre and the band providing the entertainment elevated high above everyone!

Now to get myself a stein! The giant litre capacity glasses the beer halls of Munich are famed for. My plans however seemed to be foiled. I had no idea how to get a drink, I asked and was ignored, and I walked around the entire circumference praying I’d find a way only to be denied at every corner! This was mad! Insane! Here I was at the Oktoberfest and I couldn’t even get myself a beer!!! Time to try a different tactic!

And so it was that I left the beer tent to go find out how the hell I get a drink at this thing! My fortunes changed as I found myself another beer tent, less full, less lively for sure but at least I could grab a seat and seats it seems are the key! With beer in hand (they put a head the size of Everest on these things), and a seat, all I needed now was some company. It didn’t take long before I got chatting to a couple of Polish guys. They didn’t speak much English and we tried hard to converse in German, just about holding a basic conversation. Conversation or at least any in depth chat is not really needed here. Clinking of glasses 5 times a minute pretty much does the talking. All you need do is the drinking! And so I did.

They introduced me to a lovely lass, I think she may have been Polish as well but she could at least speak some English and we seemed to be getting on pretty well. Just as things were heading in a promising direction the Polish guys literally dragged me away, and I do mean dragged. It was their opinion that I was getting nowhere and it wasn’t worth perusing. I on the other hand was pretty annoyed. I tried getting back to her but I was pretty much held in my seat. I still believe they were trying to be helpful but as time went on I found tem increasingly annoying!

Eventually managing to escape I ended up outside and got chatting to an Aussie lass, and getting in pretty well too I might add! Unfortunately neither of us had a pen or any other means of taking any info down and just had to let this one go. A couple of the other Aussies that were with her were headed back to their hostel which they though was pretty close to mine so I just ended up following them. After about 10 minutes I had a strange feeling that I was going in totally the wrong direction. Nothing looked familiar and it all just felt wrong. I asked them where they were going and just got “We’re going to Wombats” back in reply. Not having a clue where this place was I made the decision to cut my losses and head off back in the other direction. We said our goodbyes and off I went.

Now, it was a decision made on the evidence I had. I’m not saying it was the best decision I’ve ever made but I had made it none the less. Now totally lost, I figured I’d just follow the crowd. Again, maybe not the smartest move ever and now completely and totally lost in Munich! I eventually stumbled on an S-Bahn station and went down to ask where I needed to go. Apparently I now needed the train. THE TRAIN! Had I gone that far wrong??! I guess I must have!

1 Stop and I arrived back at the HBH Train station where I had arrived earlier in the day. Easy from here surely. Wrong once again Dave. Wrong again! The S-Bahn had pulled into a different part of the station and I couldn’t get myself up to the main train part and out the way I had gone before. Instead I just hit the streets and just tried to find my way from there. Unable to locate my street I just started asking random people. My question, even in my best German, was met with blank looks. Blank look after blank look. 40 minutes of blank looks. Eventually I stumbled on someone that did know. Off now and on the correct road I saw my hostel just down the road! And just next to it? Yep, you guessed it. Wombats! Oh my!

Despite a decent nights sleep it was still a struggle to raise my body from the sheets this morning! When the mission was finally accomplished, time had ticked on and I was heading down to the station to catch pretty much the same train as yesterday.

In much more confident mood today I opted to just hit the street and take myself wherever my feet carried me, just trying to head in the general direction of Piazza San Marco a good few bends away as you look at a map of the island.

Venice I was discovering rather quickly, wasn’t the easiest place to navigate on foot. I mean, there’s a lot of water for starters (yes, I know you know that) and it’s not possible to just walk along the side of the Grand Canal. I managed to for a while but before long I was being forced away from the great water way and off into side streets and across small stretches of water. I was now officially becoming acquainted with Venice’s backstreets where signposting comes and goes on a whim it seems. I was for the first time in my two days here feeling the warmth of the place. Monuments, buildings, shops and cafes that you never knew existed kept cropping up all over the place. It was odd to feel that in a City famed for its water, it was in such hidden beauties away from the blue passageways that I was experiencing my enjoyment of the place the most.

Not having a guidebook with me or anyone that knew Venice well (or even a few people sharing a little knowledge) I was wandering without any real plan. I didn’t really know what I should be looking for or wanting to see, I was a just hitting and hoping and I think I came out of it quite well! I’d passed the stop for Rialto on my way back from St Marks yesterday and when signs started appearing for it (whatever “it” was), I just followed. When I emerged into streams of tourists I knew I must have hit one of the hot spots and took myself around the streets along Per Rialto and over the bridge (taking time for a snap or 2).

Getting lost can be fun! It CAN be fun; it can also be a royal pain in the backside! My attempts at locating Academia brought me both sets of feelings! I figured after finding Rialto that things wouldn’t be difficult for me but somewhere along the lines I must have veered in the wrong direction and found myself walking alongside another large water way. This however, was NOT the Grand Canal. This was bigger, this was…well, somewhere completely and utterly wrong. Like I said though, wrong can be good, mistakes can turn fortunate and as I walked I as admiring churches galore across the canal. There was no visible way to get across this rather wide stretch of water but the views from where I was walking were certainly worth getting lost for. It was only after about 30 minutes walk and hitting a dead end that I started appreciating the other side of the coin. The one that makes you curse and swear under your breath! The 30 minute walk to get here was obviously going to mean 30 minutes backtracking! Damn this stupid water!

My eventual arrival in Academia was enough of an achievement to warrant a drink at one of the bars. A chance to recoup, recover, enjoy the sun and have a little read for a while. The ability to just take time and soak up a place by simply relaxing and people watching is highly underrated. There are folk that think they always need to be active, moving from this to that, a few pics here, a few pics there and off to the next site. For me, this is one of the great things about travelling. I get more a feel for a place and its people simply by stopping and doing nothing. So, sat relaxing with my coke (I remembered how much my beer had cost me yesterday!) and out of nowhere pops a marching band, a bunch of people with flags and seem to carry out some kind of protest for the next 15 minutes or so before marching back and onto somewhere else. There’s no great story to go with it, I don’t know what any of it was about but it certainly put a smile on my face as I sat there witnessing it!

My intended final destination of St Marks was to elude me today in the end as I eventually wound up on the island opposite it admiring the impressive church. With no obvious way to get across easily and with time pushing into the evening I was left with getting a Vaporetto back to the train station and the train back to my hotel for the night.

Tea consisted of a delightful McDonalds. I was just so hungry I couldn’t wait. I think the only plus point was that I couldn’t be ripped off! After dumping my stuff back at the hotel, a drink seemed like a good idea and the local bar a good option.

A good option huh? Well, that depends what you like! In one way it was a good option in that I wouldn’t have this story had I not gone, on the other hand, watching someone have the crap beaten from them piece by piece isn’t an enjoyable experience! Just sitting there minding my own business, writing some notes down and just generally chilling of my evening and suddenly I hear raised voices across the road. Before I know it there are punches being exchanged between 2 guys. Out of nowhere one of them is joined by 4 others who have all ganged up together on just one guy. It was nasty to witness as they held the guy down kicking him in the face, and then stamping on hid head to finish the job off before leaping into a couple of cars and speeding off before the police and ambulance arrive.

The whole thing had the feel of an incident in a sleepy old town where the whole village is woken by the goings on. This time it was one of the guys (maybe the owner) from the bar I was at who manage d to break the thing up by going over with his dog. I wasn’t long in finishing up my drink and heading back to retire for the evening. Onwards and upwards to Germany tomorrow!!

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