Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder

I've been up to lots since last checking in, so I may as well get right to it. Venice was beautiful when it wasn't raining. It's a very cool town to explore, and very easy to get lost in since the streets are very windy and confusing. When I say streets, I of course mean walkways, because Venice has zero streets and cars. The canals are beautiful, but because I was there during the rainy season, they would flood some of the sidewalks during high tide, so people would have to walk on elevated platforms along some routes. Definitely makes it tricky to get around! I didn't do much besides walk and explore since Venice is a very expensive city, and doesn't have much of a nightlife. But I'm really glad I stopped by...really cool town.

After a few days in Venice, I trained over to Ljubljana, Slovenia. This was my first time in Eastern Europe, and it was another beautiful city. The only train going into Ljubljana from Venice though was a night train, so imagine my surprise when I woke up from a nap on the train to look outside in the dark and see everything covered in nearly a foot of snow! This did not make finding my hostel at 2:00 am more enjoyable. I've got nothing but great things to say about Ljubljana though. The hostel I stayed at was great, the town is beautiful, the people there are really friendly, and everything was cheap! What more could you ask for? My first day there was pretty quiet as I did some much needed laundry and caught up on sleep. After that though I had fun walking the city for hours, exploring the different parts of town. Ljubljana is a very young town, and this is reflected in the culture, art, shops, etc. I also bought myself a winter jacket since my sweater/rain jacket combo would clearly no longer cut it. On my second night there I joined the hostel's get together party in order to meet some people. It ended up being pretty fun...we had a few drinks, and I met some cool people from different parts of the world. Over a shared bucket of mojitos (don't ask), I agreed with a couple of South African guys and an American to go find a certain restaurant, the hot horse, the following day. So the next day, we trekked out in the freezing rain and ate at the hot horse. This isn't so much a restaurant as it is a shack in the park. And their claim to fame is their burgers, which are not made of beef, but rather...horse. It was rather tasty...very big bun with lots of fixins...all in all, not a bad meal! So now if anybody ever tells me they're so hungry they could eat a horse, I can tell them what they're in for. That night we ended up going out for some drinks, which was an interesting experience. I tried absinthe for the first time, which I enjoyed. We also got a random bricolage of multiculturalism, as we went to an irish pub, listening to a kilt-clad slovenian band that was playing irish folk music. Met lots of the locals there, which was a great time since they're so friendly. One lady grabbed me from the bar and insisted I waltz with her...it didn't seem to matter to her that I had no idea how. Ah well, I got a crash course in the Vienna waltz, and everybody had fun.

I took off on Friday to Vienna, which was a long train ride. I was disappointed to learn that there were no hostels available for the Saturday night for some reason, so I only stayed in Vienna one night. I got some schnitzel, which was very tasty.

On saturday I took off to Bratislava, Slovakia. Its claim to backpacker fame is that it is the location where the torture-porn flick Hostel takes place. My hostel has even photoshopped their name into a couple movie posters and had them professionally printed, so at least they've got a sense of humour about it. Well I'm glad to say I've been here 4 days and have yet to be dismembered, so that's good. I think that if you really wanted to make a movie about hostels that scares people, make a documentary! Bratislava's kinda small, so there are only so many things to do, especially in the offseason. My favourite part (besides the beautiful women) is the christmas markets in the old part of town. It's kind of got a Winterlude vibe to it, except instead of skating and activities, it's all just eating fantastically unhealthy fried foods from different stands and drinking gluwine, which is wine that has been sweetened and spiced, and then served hot. Great for clearing up the sinuses on a cool day! My South African friends ended up arriving a couple days after me, so we met up again for some food and drinks, which was good times as always. One interesting anecdote... I had a crazy lady in my room the first night. Not just kinda weird, she was legit crazy. She couldn't sleep because of the noise from outside of the room, so every hour or so she would scream that she couldn't sleep, which I thought was really thoughtful. Other highlights included her trying to sell her passport to me for 200 euros, her asking me to stay in the room for the whole day to watch her clothes so that they didn't get stolen, and my personal favourite - her saying the hostel was just like a concentration camp because there was a draft from the window by her bed. Luckily she moved to a different room the following night, and then got kicked out altogether the followind day.

So, next up is Budapest. I'm just killing time for the moment, waiting for my train there. I hear great things about that too, so I'm looking forward to exploring what it has to offer. Til next time.