Germany

So after a very interesting overnight train ride (much like the one on the movie "Euro Trip") where I was stuck in a 6 person room with some scary looking Croatian men, I arrived in Munich at 7am. It was so cold, I didn't leave the train station for a couple of hours. I sat in a cafe, had a coffee, used the wifi and changed into warmer clothes before venturing out into the city. The first day I spent wandering around Munich, and I bought myself a Drindl for Oktoberfest! A Drindl is the traditional Bavarian women's dress that all the women wear to Oktoberfest. Everyone in Munich is so friendly. The girl in the dress shop told me where all the good shopping is and invited me to come back if I had any more questions about Munich.

The next day I went on a tour to Dachau concentration camp. This is one of the first concentration camps, that many others were modeled on. It was horrible imagining all the horrible things that happened in this place. We walked through all the old buildings, which were built by the prisoners, the crematory and even the gas chamber. It's hard to imagine how anyone could treat other, innocent people in this way.

Finally it was time to put on my Drindl and go to Oktoberfest! I happened to meet one of the guys in my water polo team over there and we spent the day in Hoffbrau Haus drinking big steins of beer, eating chicken, making friends with all sorts of people, including some guys in the German Army and watching people standing on tables skulling beer. The music and the atmosphere was amazing. The whole Oktoberfest grounds are awesome. It's like a playground for adults! Rides and roller coasters everywhere, Food stalls that looked like huge gingerbread houses, or covered with decorations, fabricated little people turning a pig an a spit, all selling delicious food - bratwurst, pork knuckles, roast chicken, giant pretzels and all sorts of sweet German treats. But of course, there are the big, grand... beer tents. These things are massive and each one is a work of art. Inside live music is playing, beer wenchs are rushing around, their arms full of fresh beer steins, and almost every table is full of people in traditional Bavarian dress, drinking steins of beer, singing, dancing and eating delicious food.

My second day at Oktoberfest, I went with a Canadian girl I met in my hostel. We started the day by going on the roller coaster which had 5 loops. Good decision to do that at the start of the day before we had any beer I think, I still felt like I was going to fall over afterwards. After having a bratwurst, we went into the Augustiner tent. Supposedly the best beer at Oktoberfest. It was packed, but we managed to squeeze onto the end of a table full of guys from Norway. We planned to stay for a couple of drinks, but we ended up there well into the night, drinking beer, singing songs and we didn't pay for one beer all day. At about 10pm we had a wander around inside all the other tents, and got dragged onto another table with some German guys for a drink where we stood on the benches, singing, dancing and drinking for about an hour until we decided it was time to go to bed. On the way back to the hostel we picked up some candied nuts and chocolate covered fruit skewers for desert, a perfect finish to an amazing day!

 The gate into Dachau Concentration Camp

Awesome buildings!

 Augustiner Brau Horse and Cart

Another beer tent

 Rory, German Army Guys, Me... and crazy strangers in the background

Oktoberfest at night

Me an Megan before our roller coaster ride!

Inside the Augustiner tent

Our new friends from Norway

Beer beer beer!

More Oktoberfest at night

Me and Megan inside Augustiner tent

Croatia

I'm sorry I have been VERY slack on the blogging since I got to Croatia. Obviously I was having far too much fun! And my computer was playing up.

I landed in Dubrovnik where I caught a shuttle bus into the old town. I had booked myself into a bed and breakfast and the owner of the house kindly came and picked me up form the bus station. When we got home, she showed me my cute little room, then sat me down on the outdoor furniture with an ice cream sundae and a glass of juice to explain the bus schedule to me, and show me what there is to see and do in Dubrovnik! "Have you eaten?" She said, I said no, I hadn't so then she brought me out a whole loaf of bread and some cut meat and cheeses to make a sandwich with! I couldn't have asked for more.

Dubrovnik is a beautiful old seaside town. the old town is enclosed in the city walls, which I walked all the way around, looking over the sea and all the terracotta rooftops. For lunch I had some whole squid grilled in butter and garlic, that was interesting! In the afternoon I went up to the top of the hill on a gondola and looked at some of the damage left from the war in 1990. I also went inside the museum up there that is focused on the war. It's hard to believe that there was war here so recently, bombs were fired directly inside the walls of the old town which is a world heritage site. For dinner I had a traditional Mediterranean BBQ, chicken thigh, 2 types of sausages and steak cooked over an open fire. It was delicious.

The next day I started my journey on with sail Croatia. I boarded my ship, Maestral with 42 other guests all around my age. From Dubrovnik, we sailed to Miljet, Korcula, Hvar, Makarska and Split, over 6 days. It was all beautiful, with crystal clear water neighbored by rocky hills and little towns with terracotta roofs. In Korcula we went to a bar on the top of what looked like a castle, where they send the drinks from the bottom to the top of the bar (the roof) on a rope!

A typical day on the boat, the boat would leave port usually about 6am, before anyone was up. We had breakfast on the go, once we got up and helped ourselves to breakfast in the dining room, meat, cheese, bread, or cereal, and watched the beautiful scenery go by as we ate. We would usually get into our next port around 11 or 12 o'clock and have time to explore a little before we came back to the boat for lunch. Lunch varied every day but was usually very good, and always came with bread, which we dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar... yum!! Then more exploring and usually partying at night on the top floor of the boat where we had a bar, music, disco lights and even a smoke machine and bubble machine! Sometimes we would go into town to a bar or Karaoke. In Makarska we had a pirate party and we all dressed up and partied on our boat before going to a club inside a cave! That was very cool.

Our last stop was split, where we said goodbye to all our new friends. Split has some very historical buildings, like Diocletian's Palace, but also feels more modern and new. Lots of nice restaurants and shopping around the main centre, and a huge market selling bags, souvenirs, hats, crafts, paintings, fruit and vegetables...

From Split, I had an interesting train ride to Germany...

 Inside the city walls in Dubrovnik

 Looking down inside the old town in Dubrovnik

 Walking on top of the city walls in Dubrovnik

 Dubrovnik Old Town

 Walking the city walls

 Damage from the war in 1990

 Sailing away!

 Swimming in Miljet with Steph and Marcie

 Maestral in port at Miljet

 Up the bell tower in Korcula

 Mojitos at the roof bar!

 The bar on the roof in Korcula

 The drinks get pulled from the top of the stairs to the top of the roof

 Swim stop!

 Swimming and sunbathing in Makarska

 Makarska

 Pirate Party!

 Party on the boat