The wall really did fall

If anyone is still reading this blog, then congratulations, have yourself a biscuit and a cup of tea, because as you may have noticed wannacorndog has gone missing off the internet, so missing infact that the link i just put for the website name is kinda pointless as it will probably just bring you to an error page.
But enough about that, you probably already noticed that, so I'll try and fill in some of the recent events, and before you're celebratory brew and biscuit go cold and stale respectively.
We are now in the fine city of Berlin, the only place I believe where spotting a MacDonalds or a Starbucks can rightfully elicit such responses as "The Wall really did fall!" Though we don't stay round to see how Germans respond to such comments.
So the question on everyones lips is obviously, have Titch and Manders actually been outside and can they tell you more than just the colour scheme of their hostel and the plot of their most recent book.
Well in answer to your question: Shut up you cheeky bastard, I don't see you doing any travelling. Oh and incidentally, Yes.
We went out on our first day here (might have been monday) and we saw this big gate...

Which is right next to this hotel, famous for a certain deformed popstar dangling his kid out of. Thats why people come here right?

Oh yea theres also some sand here, which has been expertly moulded into several very impressive sculptures, even more impressive than them ones my mother made at the beach with a moat and everything, I was going to put up the sculpture with the mermaidy type woman on it, but I'm not sure as to the rules regarding softcore porn carved out of sand.

Oh yea they also have bits of wall leftover covered in graffiti, but we don't have any pictures of that, we have walls in England, and some of them have Graffiti on them, I think I can live without pictures of German stuff.

Well thats about it for Berlin, theres probably more to do but we'll be damned if we're going to do them.

Foliage

Now I know rumours have been flying round about what we have been doing all this time we have been in Poland, the first being that we have been working with the Polish Police to bring down the Polish drug lords, Well I'm afraid it isn't true. Neither is the far more logical rumour that we have been working with the Polish drug lords to bring down the Polish Police.

Nor have we been working with the Fire Brigade to rescue Baby seals from trees or the coastgueard to rescue kittens from oily beaches..

We have infact been spending our time here much more wisely. Mostly we have been reading, playing video games and making the twice daily trip to the kitchen to eat pasta, noodles and suchlike. There seriously is nothing to do in Warsaw.

Well anyway. Up and out. We're moving! thats right we haven't forgotten, we are actually supposed to be travelling here. to erm... Berlin! I'm afraid I don't have any pictures since we haven't done anything.. but since I know I can't very well post a blog without something to go with the text, for all those who got bored at the second paragrah and your eyes started to drift, heres a baby seal in a tree
See you next time

European Exchange

The reason I keep neglecting to keep you, the marginally interested reading public up to date on the progress we make on our marginally interesting tour of Europe, is not because I am an awful human being, that just so happens to be a contributing factor.

As the more informed of you may be aware (for more informed read anyone who has spoken to us online) we are currently in Warsaw, and we have been here for a not unsubstantial week already, the reason a blog has not previously been posted to this effect is not due to a lack of events to write about, as we have actually done a fair bit while we've been here, there are at least 3 events I could easily have mentioned before padding it out by rambling on about the best kebab I've had this week (it was 2 nights ago by the way he wrapped it up in a kind of tortilla thing and heated it. my god it was awesome!)

So what have we done? well a few days ago now, We met up with Ela (not pictured. anywhere) a good friend of mine from working at Flextronics, with whom we did quite possibly the most touristy thing we had done in all of Poland, if not the entirity of our travels. We went up this clock-tower, albeit in the daytime so we actually saw the city and not just a sea of lights and the merriot hotel with its lights spelling out words and revolving around the building, as awesome as that is, we can see it from the ground. No we were treated to such views as this one, and obviously now, having seen the whole city from a high up place, there is no need to actually go to any other parts of the city. Job done.

Isn't it great when things like than happen...

As though life couldn't get exciting enough as we finished our cappuccinos and placed whatever flyers we may have been using at the relevant place in our books and got up out of the incredibly comfortable chairs at the coffee place on the second floor of the mall in the cente of warsaw, we realised, to our extreme delight. that the place was flooded!

^All this was written on the 6th of August, before our hour of internet ran out and left our blogs unfinished. I'll try to finish it now eh!

So yes the flooded mall, we obviously stayed for quite some time watching the staff attempting to bail the place out and I got several photographs of what to some may have been quite an unfortunate event, but it amused us, and several Polish people. and I'm guessing some of the staff too.

We also had a rather amusing night out with a group of Irish lads aswell, I think we were trying to find a castle, we never did. This was now quite some time ago (as in I've slept more than twice since it now) so I can't recall anything that actually happened in any grewat detail, but heres a picture of them stood on some kind of white statue we found while wandering the streets of Warsaw.

Not a lot has changed in the last week, we're still here, biding our time. Ok so the moneys running out and its cheap here.

We may do something else soon.

But don't hold your breath

Now I know what a TV dinner feels like

You Know them times when you find yourself asking "What would Bruce Willis do in this situation?" No? Well you've obviously never been stuck in a lift before.

If you look at this screenshot taken from the website of the hostel We have been staying at you may notice it makes reference to it being on the 5th floor and then "(don't worry, there's a lift)". It asks us not to worry? Yea we were stuck in said* lift for over an hour.

Luckily Titch hasn't changed his top since the festival so was quite appropriately wearing a vest for the occasion. Unfortunately there was no hatch to speak of in the highly sophisticated lift so any further Bruce Willis impression was out of the question. Plus his vest was black.

For this scene I was playing the role of claustrophobic Damsel in distress. can you see the distress in my Knees Spleen eyes? Luckily after a mere hour of our time had been taken up, the hostel staff along with some French guys who were extremely amused by our predicament managed to contact the service guy to let us out, in the same way as that flop of a film Die Soft, where John Mcclain is rescued by a repair man with a moustache. It was a short movie, mostly a monologue about John wanting a pint and needing a piss, one o' them straight to bargain bin dvd efforts







*Titch's input word

Right. Where was I? Ohh yea. At the beginning, always a good place to start, right so we were in Prague, now we're in Krakow (I swear I've done that before) and somewhere in-between was a festival and about a week or 2 of time which I should be accounting for here maybe. Lets try.

Yes so Mighty Sounds! What a festival! Here we camped lived in Hobo City with 12 other English folks, where our customized binbag tent fitted in perfectly (not pictured, but heres a nice shot of the residents along with some random drunk czech that seemed to join us on this particular day). There may also be one or 2 people missing. its hard to tell.

So after much music, drunk people and... sing-songs? yes we were that cool group, sat on the bus singing the wheels on the bus, The festival ended, look out for Photos and Videos on wannacorndog soon.

So after a night in Tabor, a night in Prague and a night clutching our belongings on the train over here, we are now in Krakow, to prove it heres a picture of the view from our 5th storey hostel. Trees. oh and Cars, We may do something worth noting, though we are stuck with the dilemma that I was here for a quite considerable time last year, and quite possibly already did everything, but you never know, Theres probably lots to do here....

So What exactly have we done then?

We were In Prague for over a week so logic suggests we were able to get out and see everything the city had to offer, you may have been able to gather that early in our stay we hired a pedal boat, so obviously there were more exciting things for us to do. And there was.

Well We bought some Duct Tape. This takes a lot more careful planning and communication skills than you would think. Made especially difficult when after showing the piece of paper with it written in Czech to the Woman behind the counter, she lied to us and tried to keep the Duct tape for herself. But she couldn't fool us. We knew she was trying to rip us off. We could see it.

Now. These tangents talking about something as seemingly pointless as duct tape (Which of course it is not. Duct tape can and has been used to hold together aircraft before now) are usually just babble to fill out some space before I actually tell you about our amazingly rich and fulfilling experiences out here far away from home. and of course this time is no different. oh no. You see on the same day as purchasing Duct Tape, We returned to our hostel, before embarking on one of our most exciting adventures yet. for this we needed some specialised equipment. Such as A foldaway Knife, Some String, and and 2 empty Pot Noodle tubs. Thats right. We are just that cool.

In our defence though (Not for the telephone, for the not doing anything, I make no apologies for the awesomeness of our state of the art communications device) The Elf Hostel was a cool place to hang out and meet people. Which is just what we did. Infact I've come to the conclusion that in future I don't need to travel. Just choose a hostel, like that one and simply move in and meet several other people who have traveled and hear their stories and anecdotes from around the world. Almost as though I had done it myself. I could then write a book maybe, about the worldwide adventures and travels... of other people. I think it would sell. I would buy it.

Well now we have moved on from Prague and are in a tiny tiny town called Tabor a couple of hours southwards from Prague. Theres not a lot here, but tomorrow not far from here there is a field somewhere where tomorrow, Mighty sounds starts. It promises to be awesome! though that promise is made in Czech so it may have lost something in translation. I love festivals

Ya scurvy Sea Dawg

Avast! Man The Helm. Prepare to be boarded!
And Other such Overly Cheesy Pirate Catch Phrases.

As you can imagine these phrases were used relentlessly as we sailed the seas in our mighty Galleon, looting our fellow seafarers of any worthwhile swag.

Ok, so I say mighty Galleon. It was perhaps less mighty than I was letting on. It may have been a Bright Yellow Pedal Boat.

As for the seas, that may have also been a small exaggeration, they were possibly this small section of the river running through Prague.
But as for the looting.
Well thats another story.
Just like most stories, It was made up.

So yea. Prague. Pedal Boats. Swans with Gammy Legs? 100 Points to anyone who can tell us why this swan appears to have a superfluous leg growing out of its back. Answers on a postcard.

Oh and In response to Amanda on the Website, here is photographic proof, If ever it was needed, that I have thought of my mother while travelling.

Austria. Its pretty big

As I sat drinking my Beer.... Hang on theres something up with that Sentence....

I realised something..

Alchohol Free Beer tastes naff

Now that we're done with that schoking revelation.

We are Now in Salzberg, after having spent 3 days in Bad Gastein in the Alps, Where we went Canyoning, because it looked like fun. Turned out it was so all was well in the world. Due to the nature of the sport, heading dowsnstream in the water, it would have been impossible for us to get pictures, well we could have got some but they wouldn't have survived to the bottom. So instead, here is an awesome artists impression of us doing one of the 2 jumps which we were told were approximately 6 metres, or 20 foot to us stuck on imperial measurements. Either way they were pretty damn high.

While We were in Bad Gastein, we thought we would take a trip up one of the mountains, and it was definately worth it. Check out the awesome view from the top!

Ok maybe We would have been better off on a clear day... Never mind ehh.

So Yea Salzberg.. Seems to be a lot more happening here than in the Capital, We unwittingly showed up on one of the days of a street festival. Which was lucky.

Oh and before I forget, does it mean something else in Austrian perhaps?

Apparently Spain Won?

This Morning, I felt more at home In Vienna than I had in any other City on our travels so far.
Perhaps it was because of all the one way streets so the cars could easily be mistaken for being on the right side of the road? Maybe...
Perhaps the air smelt of Soap and we were near an awful lifeless river? No.
I felt so at home this morning because when we got up and left the hostel, It was pissing it down.

Anyway yes, we are now In Vienna and thought we would enjoy the amazing cultural activities of another City. So Yea.. Vienna... What is there? After Much searching through tourist information leaflets we discovered the answer to be.... An Aquarium type zoo thing. Where you can see some tiny Monkey like creature that seemed curious about my Pocket, whether it wanted to have away with my Passport or to escape we do not know.

Toga party

As we sat, practically naked, surrounded by a handful of old men in a similar state of undress, we suddenly realised the flannel on a string was infact not compulsory attire..

Yes so today.
Followed directly on from yesterday, when we went crawling around in the caves below budapest for just over 2 and a 1/2 hours with this fine group of people we had just met that you at approximately 50 metres below ground, which happens to only be the second lowest point of the tour. This was an interesting way to spend the afternoon, especially considering I am a little claustrophobic, I don't freak out in lifts or anything, but I don't like gaps that look like you could get stuck in them, gaps like this one, and my light kept dying. Joy.

So Today, we felt as though we deserved to relax, to unwind and chill out, and we felt as though we deserved this even more, after a mammoth hike up a hill, to get to a thermal baths, that we were under the impression were at the top of said hill. Turned out we were wrong and they weren't. Damn. So right back down to the bottom of the hill, where we did find this building, and after much confusion with staff that didn't understand us, we found ourselves in a locker room with a piece of cloth resembling a small apron and right back at the story i started at the beginning of the blog entry, before going off on a Tangent.

It wasn't until we saw someone enter the baths in their shorts did we actually realise we didn't need to wear the toga's and could have worn our shorts as originally planned. damn.
But after you get past the wearing practically nothing, and being surrounded by old men wearing practically nothing and the strong smell of rotten eggs that seems to be coming from the running parts of the water, its actually really relaxing. Click here if you would like to see pictures.

Apart from that, we went to a cinema that shows films in English at certain times of day, and watched Wanted. Which is fantastic by the way.

Zou'd Think wouldn't zou....

Well, 9 dazy since the last blog, so zou'd think there would be something interesting and exciting to post about bz now? Well I would hate to disappoint, but am going to anzwaz!

Oh before I write anzmore, I'd like to point out that, being the barbaric warmongers thez are the huns have thez're [z's] and thez're [y's] the wrong waz round, so rather than be carefull i'm going to tzpe as though i'm at an english kezboard, so z means y and vice versa!

So zea the blog, well as zou maz be able to tell from the previous paragraph when I completlez failed to apologise for tzping like a spay, we are now in Hungarz! Go us, we arrived here zesterdaz, before we came here we spent 2 nights in Burgas while we waited for our train out to these parts, where we went out on both nights, the first night with some bulgarian chappzs we did not know, but who invited us out anzwaz, and were nice enough to leave us with our kidnezs as well,.

Here zou can see Titch and Kiril singing when I come around

Here zou can see Me and Titch absolutelz butchering Don't stop me now

Here zou can see the 2 Bulgarian lads actuallz doing a good job on the karaoke

On the second night in Burgas, we went out with some of the friendlz regulars of the London Pub (Which does a great English Breakfast bz the waz!) some of who are included in these pictures, since I know everzone loves pictures

The rest zou can prettz much guess, we had a laugh, Titch got drunk and I laughed heartilz when he woke up feeling rough.

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So then Saturdaz we embarked on our Journez from Burgas to Budapest. 24 hours! now thats a train Journez, that is a daz of mz life I would never get back, whz I would want it back i don't know, a lot of it was quite dull.

But we were smart. we had the amaying foresight to book the fold out sleepers, thez were supposedlz for up to 6 people, though we ended up with the entire carriage to ourselves, its nice to have the room to stretch out and to leave zour things without worrzing about people stealing zour valuables, but we wouldn't have minded some more companz!

Although. Best room ever, check out....

5 Star stzle accomodation

Complete with Gzm

And a Happz Ending

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So Zea, Hungarz, whz Hungarz, whats In Hungarz zou maz ask? or perhaps zou're asking when I'm going to stop tzping, or whether i'm just doing the z/y thing on purpose to annoz everzone?

Well I reallz don't care what zou're asking, I'm going to answer mz question, its mz blog, click the comment button to ask questions.

The answer so far is. A bridge

Exciting. I know.

Staz tuned

Oh And I'm aware there arent anz links for the embarassing karaoke video, but I can assure zou I have everz intention of Zoutube-ing it up at some point:)

Row Row Row your boat

Its amazing! We've done something, not only that but something we consider worthwhile sharing with you, not only that but we had the amazing foresight to take pictures! The fact that I forgot my camera and all photographs were taken on ann's camera is a mere technicality, something photographable happened in the world of us. And yes photographable is infact a word.

But I digress, we were on a boat trip on a river today, as you can see from the photo on the right, we are looking extremely happy with the situation, well actually titch looks like he's caught something in his mouth and doesn't want to let it escape and I look as though i've spotted something out the corner of my eye and have started staring in that general direction to see if it comes back, leave us alone we're not very photogenic, this was the best one!
As you can see it was all very scenic en route and we saw all the cool wildlife, like this stork fellar, and turtles sat on logs, by the side of the river, in much the same way as condogs sit on sticks, except without the impaling, unfortunately due to the size of the turtles, coupled with the movement of the boat and the distance from the side of the river with the turtles, it was difficult to get a quality shot, as demonstrated by/presented in this conveniently placed graph, but we can assure you it is cool. As we're nice, here's a photo of a turtle close up and larking about in the water. enjoy you "no turtles in the wild" folk.





















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Other items of interest from the days escapades, include the magic disappearing hat:














For optimum enjoyment, save both photo's to your computer and flick between them.








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If I concentrate really hard, I can smash this sprite bottle using only my mind








Thats odd, I swear I was doing it right....








A'ha your turn for the punishment mr Jug.

2008... and. Go!

Yeeaa. I was sat stroking my chin pondering how to start my blog, this is the first post of 2008, so whatever I said had to have some kind of meaning, be profound and raise a smirk in some kind of inside Joke way to someone somewhere. But Titch said the word 'yeeaa' so I went with that instead.

This time round as many people know Titch is here with me aswell, here being bulgaria, having spent a night in Sofia, we are now in Rosen (I think, its somewhere near Bourgas) at Titches dads house, Getting here was an ordeal in itself, as we wound up somewhere 20 odd miles outside bourgas where no-one could understand us to answer the simple question "where are we?"

Well, these things happen, having done next to nothing but sleep and make use of public transportation (sometimes both at the same time) there are no amazing photos of us to share so I will leave you with this label from a carton of pineapple juice