Ivan and Jen do Europe

Ivan, Lil Dave and I took the train to Munich, Germany on June, 17, 2010.  It was delayed ten minutes so we left at 12:01 pm.  We arrived in Munich at 1:32 pm.  We weren’t sure if they stopped at two stations in Munich.  So, we got off at the first one.  This added more time to get to our hotel.

We started taking the bus towards the hotel.  It was really slow and would take ages to get there.  A local told us to take the subway.  So, we got off at the next stop and took the underground train.  Then, we had to take a tram.  I was so tired from lugging around my backpacks.  It was too hard to put the backpacks down since it was crowded in the tram.

We walked to Hotel Laimor Hof.  We checked in. 

We had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant called Prinz Myshkin.  Lil Dave got the Koh Samui which was a tasty dish with vegetables, pineapples and bananas cooked in a wok with a Thai sauce.  Ivan and I got the curry, orange and carrot cream soup for an appetizer.  It was okay.  Then, we shared wholemeal fussili with oyster mushrooms and samosas.  The main dishes were delicious.  My favorite was the wholemeal fussili – the sauce was delicious and the pasta was different and healthy.  The dishes are expensive, but they’re worth it.

We walked to the Euro Youth Hostel.  We joined The Crawl tour.  It’s a pub crawl. The group was filled with lots of people, mostly Americans. The charge was €15 fee for each of us.  We got three drink coupons that we could use at the hostel bar.  Ivan and I each had a red wine.  Then, we got a generic Jagermeister shot.

Our first stop was Augustiner Keller.  There are big beer barrels that you can actually sit in while you eat and drink.  We went downstairs to an underground sitting area.  It was dark since some of the lights didn’t work.  We had a beer there. 

Ivan had a liter and I had a half liter.  Lil Dave had a banana juice that he had brought along.  Our guide told us that the beer was very strong in Germany.

We walked to Lowenbrau next. 

We sat down in a big beer hall and watched the football match.  Lil Dave was cheering and jumping on the tables even though he’s not a fan of football.

Then, we went to Augustiner Bierhalle.  Ivan had a beer while I had a wheat beer. 

I also got a nice pretzel.  Lil Dave asked for a banana, but unfortunately they didn’t have any.  We were chatting to an Irish girl who was pretty quiet.

We walked back to the hostel bar.  Ivan thought we should finish at a club like other pub crawls.  We chilled out there.  Then, we took a cab back to the hotel.  It was good thing Ivan remembered the street name near the hotel.  It was a good pub crawl.  The beer is really strong in Germany.  We didn’t drink that much and it got us quite drunk.

Ivan, Lil Dave and I left the apartment around noon on June, 16, 2010.  We had sandwiches at Nordsee.  It’s a great place for seafood.  We’ve been there a few times in Vienna. I got two shrimp sandwiches while Ivan got trout and a salmon sandwich.  Lil Dave brought along two banana and honey sandwiches.

We ate our sandwiches while waiting for the bus.   We boarded the #25 bus.  We got off and headed to Hellbrunn.  It’s a palace that also has fountains on the premises.  We took a tour of the fountains.  It was a big group.  Our guide spoke in German first and then English.  The fountains are 400 years old.  They’re not run by electricity, but by pressure. 

The first fountain is around a table.  All the kids sat down and Ivan as well.  I didn’t want to get wet since it was already a little cold outside. 

Ivan didn’t get wet much.  I don’t think the lady put it on high enough.  She did at the end when everybody was about to leave the area.

The lady took us to other fountains.  Most of the fountains were hidden. 

She showed us one that had a crown on top. 

The fountain was turned on and the crown was carried towards the ceiling.  It was cool!  Lil Dave wanted to sit on the crown and then have the water take him up the ceiling.  But, the tour guide lady wouldn’t allow it.  Outside, there was water coming out of a reindeer.  I got wet from the hidden fountains.  It was fun and did surprise us.  Some of the people were avoiding the fountains.  It was like they were afraid of water.  It’s just water, it’s not going to hurt you!

It was great seeing all the cool fountains. 

The admission included the palace, but we didn’t go in.  I knew it wouldn’t be as impressive as other palaces we’ve seen in the past like Buckingham Palace.

We took the bus back into the Old Town.  We visited Mirabell Park & Garden.  The garden was in the movie The Sound of Music. 

The gardens are very pretty.

We walked back to the hotel since we bought a few strawberries and raspberries for our train ride tomorrow.  We put them in the apartment.

Then, we walked to Afro Cafe.  Ivan and I each got a pot of tea.  Lil Dave had a banana shake.  We read our books while drinking our tea.

We walked back to the apartment to chill for a little while.

We had to walk 10 minutes to get to The Augustiner Brewery Beer Garden.  There are different places right before the beer halls to get food.  Ivan and I got fish and corn, onions, beet root and beans.  The fish was rubbery and had no flavor.  Lil Dave got a banana schnitzel.  He said it was only average.  Ivan got two beers.  There’s only one beer available which was a smooth lager. 

If you want a beer, you have to wash out a mug.  Then, you pay for it and then a guy fills your mug with beer.

Ivan and I were still hungry.  We grabbed a salmon salad and a pretzel. 

We ate and drank our beer.  We’re not big beer drinkers.  It was noisy in the beer hall.  There wasn’t much going on.  One room did have a football match, but there was no seats in there.  Plus, it was teams we didn’t care about watching.

We walked to Zum Bacchus.  Ivan and I each had a tasty Riesling. 

We walked back to the apartment.  Karin wanted to stay up and talk to us.  But, she was too tired.  We said goodbye and thanked her for letting us stay.

Ivan, Lil Dave and I left Vienna at 11:45 am on June 15, 2010 by train.  We were headed to Salzburg.  We read our books during the ride and watched Little Britain on the laptop.

We arrived at 3 pm.  It was showering.  We thought it would hot and sunny like it was in Vienna.

We walked around in the rain trying to find internet.  I was getting annoyed because I wanted to sit down.  It was wet and I was carrying my backpack around.

Ivan said we should get an apple strudel.  Ivan and I shared the strudel, but it wasn’t as good as the ones we’ve had in Vienna.  Lil Dave ate a banana.  Ivan went in search of free wi-fi.  He came back a few minutes later. 

We walked to McDonald’s.  We sat outside and used the internet.  We would be staying with a couchsurfer later.  But, she said to come by her apartment by 6 pm.  So, we chilled and used the internet for awhile.

It had stopped raining, but it was a little cold out.  We walked the Karin, the couchsurfer’s apartment at 5:20 pm.  We met her daughter Alba and her friend.  She told us her mom wasn’t home yet.

We sat down on the couch.  Alba asked if she could play the Wii.  We said we didn’t mind.  She’s a polite kid.

We met Karin at 6 pm.  She showed us around the house.  She also gave us a map of Salzburg and gave us recommendations for a restaurant and wine bars.  She told us that she was attending a lecture.  She would return around 10 pm.  We also met her son.

We used the internet for awhile.  Then, we decided to get some dinner.  We walked to Sternbrau, the restaurant Karin recommended.  Ivan and I started off with a pretzel dumpling sour with onions and marinated mushrooms. 

It wasn’t sour and the dumpling tasted good with the mushrooms and onions.  It tasted plain alone.  Lil Dave got a good banana schnitzel.  We also shared a salmon ravioli with creamed spinach and cheese and a grilled trout.  The salmon ravioli was okay.  The meal was good.

We walked around Old Town Salzburg.  It’s a small place.

We walked to one of the bars Karin told us about.  It’s called Zum Bacchus.  The football match between Brazil and South Korea was on.  We drank a delicious Riesling.  The match ended with Brazil winning 2-1.  It was expected for Brazil to win really big.

We went back to the apartment.  We talked to Karin about the lecture, life and couchsurfing.  She’s a friendly lady. 

We used the internet for awhile and then off to bed.

Ivan, Lil Dave and I ate lunch at Wrenkh Restaurant on June 14, 2010.  The menu is mostly vegetarian.  Ivan and I shared a nice ginger and potato soup as a starter.  Lil Dave got a banana and chicken wrap.  Ivan and I had a lucky klassik salad which came with buckwheat, smoked tofu and goat’s cheese.  We also had a wild garlic gnocchi a la calabria on fennel carpaccio.  The food was great here.

We walked to Haus der Musick (House of Music) museum.  They have interactive displays.  But, most of it isn’t too exciting.  A lot of it was technical like telling you what a sound wave was.  There are also rooms about classical artists like Mozart and Beethoven.  One of the best parts of the museum is where you can throw dice (two people roll the dice) to make sounds.  It makes a song.  Another great part is where you can virtually conduct an orchestra.

It was actually harder than you think.  You have to wave the wand slow or fast according to the music.

Here’s a video of Ivan virtually conducting an orchestra:

We walked around Vienna more.  We saw Parliament and other cool buildings.

Ivan and I shared an apple strudel at the Mozart Cafe.  Lil Dave wished the cafe had a banana strudel or a banana cake.

We walked back to the apartment at 6 pm.  We used the internet.

Carl’s friends were at the apartment already.

We went up to the balcony and took some lovely pictures.

Carl cooked up a few dishes.  It was pancit (Filipino rice noodles) with chicken, pasta with seafood and shrimp.  Lil Dave had chicken pancit with bananas.  It was great food!  We chatted with everybody and had red wine.  For dessert, we had a tasty cheesecake.

It was another chill night.  We were thinking about going to the Jewish Quarter to have a drink at the bar.  It was cold outside.  We stayed in because we didn’t think anything was really happening on a Monday night.

We said good bye and thanks to Yves.  He works early in the morning.

We used the internet for awhile and then off to get some rest.

Ivan, Lil Dave and I left around 11:30 am on June 13, 2010.  We went to find some lunch.  Ivan and I picked up some trout, salmon, shrimp sandwiches and a salmon wrap.  Lil Dave got a banana and chicken sandwich.

We took the train to Schönbrunn Palace. 

It’s a huge palace that was formerly a summer residence.  The free audio guide in the palace talks about the Habsburg monarchs.  There was lots of walking in the huge palace. 

The gardens are beautiful.  It’s nice to walk around the palace grounds. I had my shrimp sandwich while we were seated in a park area.  

We walked to the maze.  I’ve always wanted to walk through a maze. 

It was only a small one.  Ivan exited first.  He was at a lookout and told me the wrong way to go.  I found the right way out, then went to the lookout to see the whole maze.

We walked through a labyrinth.  It’s just for walking.  Although for Lil Dave it’s like a maze since it’s tall for a small monkey.  The labyrinth took awhile to walk through.  We went to the middle.  There is an area where you can jump and make sounds.

We walked up to see the lovely view of the palace and the city.  Gloriette is a viewing terrace. 

We didn’t walk there since it was practically the same view from the benches. 

We walked through the gardens more. 

We walked to the Apple Strudel Show.  You get a piece of tasty apple strudel.  There’s also a demonstration of how to make the apple strudel.  The guy spoke in German and English.  He was a ham and stopped what he was doing and smiled so people could get a nice picture. 

We got the recipe to try out at home.

We got the train back to Stephansplatz. We walked around.  We went to Cafe Central – Beethoven and Sigmund Freud have had tea there before.  We had a tea and a Viennese cake called sachertorte.  Vienna is known for their cakes.  The sachetrtorte is a cake that’s covered in chocolate.  It didn’t have much flavor.  It was a bit dry as well.  Lil Dave had a banana juice.  There were no cakes with banana in it, so he was bummed.

We walked back to the apartment to use the internet and chill.  Our feet were so tired from walking so much.  Carl and Yves weren’t home.

Carl and Yves came back from a 12 km bike ride.  Carl asked if we ate and we said we hadn’t.  He said he’d cook up bbq and make salad.

We had salad with chicken bbq.  Lil Dave had salad with his bananas on top.  It was really good food.  We chatted about traveling and life.  Ivan and I also had some red wine.

Yves served us ice cream and we put Cointreau on top.  I’ve never had Cointreau on ice cream.  It gives the ice cream a lovely orange flavor.

We used the internet for awhile.  Then, it was time for sleep.

On the morning of June 12th, 2010, Ivan, Lil Dave and I checked out of the Possonium Hostel.

We had lunch at Michaela.  Slovakian people don’t normally eat lunch – so we had to ask if the restaurant was serving food.  Ivan had a vegetarian salad and I had a mushroom omelette.  Lil Dave had a banana pancake.  The food was real plain.

We walked to the train station.  We boarded the train headed from Bratislava, Slovakia to Vienna, Austria at 1:51 pm.  There was no air conditioning on the train.  Thank goodness the train ride was only an hour.  Most of the windows were open – it didn’t seem to help that much.  We arrived in Vienna at 2:51 pm.

We got the subway train to my cousin’s place.  It’s right in the city centre.  We arrived at my cousin Carl’s place at 3:30 pm.  He lives in a beautiful apartment with his partner Yves.  There’s lots of lovely artwork around the house.

Ivan and I both took showers.  We were sweating after that train ride and all the walking in the hot sun.

We were going to meet Carl, Yves and their friends later at an Irish pub. We were going to watch the football match with England vs. USA.  Lil Dave stayed in.  He doesn’t really like football.  He doesn’t understand why they kick around a ball.  He thinks tossing around a banana is more fun.  At least you get a tasty treat at the end.  Ivan and I left at 5:15 pm to walk around the city.

We went to St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom in German).

It’s a beautiful building.  We walked inside.  There was a mass in progress.  I only took a few pictures inside.

We walked to Flanagan’s.  It was7 pm, but most of the tables facing the big screens were reserved.  We got a table facing one of the smaller televisions.

Ivan and I ordered dinner.  Ivan got a yummy vegetable salad while I got a chicken teriyaki.

Kuya Carl and Yves came a few minutes later.  Then, their friends came soon after.

Carl & Yves at Flanagan's

The Irish pub was really crowded.  The match started.  It was really exciting cheering on the USA team.  USA is actually a good team.  Ivan was cheering for England just like most of the people in the bar.  The match finished at 1-1.

Ivan asked what was next.  Carl and Yves were headed home.  Carl told his friends they should take us out.  We wanted to go dancing.

Carl’s friend wanted to take us to a club called Why Not?  He said You know it’s  gay, right?  We didn’t care.  I said that the gay clubs usually play good music.

We went to Why Not?, but it was closed.  So, we took a taxicab to The Viper Room.

The DJ wasn’t very good at all.  The music was dance and mostly pop music.  We danced for awhile.

We were tired, so we said goodbye to the guys.  Ivan and I took a taxi back to the city centre.  We went to bed right when we got to our room.

I woke up at 11 am on June 11, 2010.  Ivan and Lil Dave were already awake.

We took a walk in Zdiar.  It was hot once again.

Ivan checked us out of The Ginger Monkey.  Lil Dave said bye to his new friend the Ginger Monkey.  They’re going to keep in contact by e-mail.

The Ginger Monkey & Lil Dave

We walked to the bus stop with Jack the English guy.  The bus picked us up at 12:47 pm.  It took us an hour to get to Poprad.   We said bye to Jack.

We walked around the square to find food.  There wasn’t anything good though.  Ivan thought we should walk to the grocery store.  I was feeling weak since I only had a slice of bread for breakfast.  Ivan told me to wait with the backpacks while he shopped for lunch.

Ivan came back a few minutes later with slices of what he thought was chicken.  Nobody in the store spoke English.  He also got bread, strawberries and peaches.

I checked out the slices of meat and it tasted and looked like chicken.  So, we made a few chicken sandwiches.  It tasted good.

We boarded the train at 3 pm to Bratislava.  The views from the train were lovely. We watched Little Britain on the laptop.  We arrived at 7:05 pm.

We checked in to Possonium Hostel.  We chilled for awhile and then took showers. Both of the shower heads on the second floor used to hang from the wall.  You have to hold the shower head while you shower.  How annoying!  It’s really not that hard to buy that part and screw it into the wall.

We walked into the city centre.

It took us 15 minutes walk there.  We went to eat at Prasna Basta.  Ivan saw it listed as #2 restaurant in Bratislava on Tripadvisor.  Ivan and I started off with the onion soup which was really tasty.  Lil Dave got a banana and chicken pie.  Ivan and I shared the salmon salad and the trout with herbs and almonds.

It was an awesome meal!

We looked around for a good bar to have a drink in.  We walked back to the hostel.  We were so tired from walking so much and it was hot out.

Ivan and I went to the bar at the hostel.  We each had a glass of red wine which was cold.  Ivan got a sparkling water which was warm.  How backwards!

We were really tired, so we headed to bed.  The hostel doesn’t have air conditioning.  We kept the window open, but it didn’t help since it was still hot outside.

Ivan and I woke up at 9:20 am on June 10, 2010.  We told Lil Dave to meet us in the dining room for breakfast.  Ivan, Lil Dave and I had the free breakfast.  There was so much food there, but it was only us three in the dining room.

We packed up our bags and stored them at the Front Desk of the Hotel Floryan.  It was another hot day in Krakow.

A guide named Cyril picked us up at the hotel.  We were going on the Crazy Guides Communism Tour.  He took us to the red, original East German Trabant car.  We hopped in to the car.  It’s a very noisy car.  Ivan said it sounded like it could stall at any time.  Cyril said if the car does stall, we would have to help push it.  Ivan asked how often does that happen.  Cyril said only about 2 or 3 times a month.

Cyril drove us to Nowa Huta.  It was a town set up in 1949 that was run by the Communist Government.  He talked about Communism while we were driving through Nowa Huta.

We stopped at a place called Cafe Styli.  It was a stylish restaurant that still had the same styles of the 50′s.  There was a statue of Lenin.  People walk by it and hit it.  Ivan got a honey vodka while I had a cherry vodka.  My vodka tasted a lot better.  Cyril talked about Communism in Nowa Huta and how the people lived.  It was very interesting.

We walked around the square. 

We saw the area where a Lenin statue once stood.

We drove to the ArcelorMittal Steel Factory which was formerly known as Vladimir Lenin Steelworks.  We weren’t allowed to go inside though.  It was the biggest steel mill factory in Poland.

Nowa Huta built their housing communities in units.  There was a couple buildings were set up in one area.  The people would talk in their area.  It was a way that the Government could hear what was happening and for control.  We went to an apartment that had 60′s & 70′s style furniture.  Here we watched a documentary about Nowa Huta by Andrzej Munk.  The film showed people that were happy about building this new town that would be run by Communists.  I don’t think they would have been that happy to move there or even build it.  But, the film portrayed a feeling of enthusiasm.

Cyril drove us to the Arc of the Lord church.  It’s the only church in Nowa Huta.  It was built by the people of Nowa Huta.  The government wouldn’t give any funding for the construction. 

It looks like a boat.  There’s a statue of Pope John Paul II in the front. 

A balcony was constructed at the church for Pope John Paul II.

Cyril drove us back to Old Town near our hotel. 

It was a very interesting tour.  I didn’t know anything about the Communist town Nowa Huta.  I can’t believe that people actually lived like that.  It’s hard to imagine living in a Communist government.

Ivan and I got some noodles at the Asian to go place.  It was very plain noodles though.  We grabbed some sandwiches at Coffee Heaven for our upcoming car ride.  Lil Dave got a banana and chicken wrap.

We met Sean from the Ginger Monkey Hostel.  He was picking us up to drive us to the Ginger Monkey Hostel in Zdiar, Slovakia.  It cost us €20 per person for the ride.  The air-conditioning worked, but only two of the windows went down.  I was glad my window worked in the back.  I worked on the blog and took a short nap.  Lil Dave ate his wrap and then took a monkey nap. Ivan chatted with Sean.

We stopped at a grocery store.  Sean had to buy food for the hostel.  Ivan used up the rest of his zloty by buying 2 yogurts and tangerines.  We arrived at the hostel at 4 pm.  There was no border immigration check.

The Ginger Monkey Hostel is situated in the very pretty mountain town of Zdiar, Slovakia.  There’s actually a Ginger Monkey.  Lil Dave was excited to play with another monkey. 

We checked in and put our backpacks in the room.  We relaxed and used the internet.

Ivan needed to get some Euros.  So, we walked to the ATM.  It was great seeing the beautiful surroundings. 

Sean cooked a chicken stir fry with noodles and veggies.  The charge was €3 per person.  It was a group of 6 of us eating dinner.  The food was good. 

Ivan, me and an English guy named Jack went to the lounge to chill out.  Sean and an American guy joined us later.  We chatted for awhile.  Ivan was talking about hypnosis.  Everybody seemed too scared to try it out though.  It was nice to have a chill night of chatting.

Ivan , Lil Dave and I checked out of the Greg & Tom Junior Hostel on June 9, 2010. Ivan used the internet to find a place to stay.  We were planning on staying at the hostel, but we had to move to a different room.  One of the employees had the key to the room and wouldn’t be in until 3 pm.  We wanted to get in the room to chill out. 

It was another hot day in Krakow.  I had a big headache when I woke up.  Ivan found a place, so we headed to the hotel.  On the way, we stopped at Greenway which is a vegetarian cafe. 

Ivan got a Mexican pita and I had a falafel pita.  The food was okay.

We checked in to the Hotel Floryan.  It was a nice room with air conditioning.  The air conditioning was great since it was hot outside.

We chilled out in the hotel for hours.  We used the internet.  . 

Ivan wanted to look for souvenirs.  We walked to the Main Square.  We browsed all the stalls, but we didn’t find anything cool to buy.

We walked back to the hotel and got ready.  We walked to Apertif Restaurant for dinner.  It’s #2 on Tripadvisor.  The restaurant is nice.  We were seated outside at first.  But, we found out that it’s the smoking area.  We sat inside near the front of the restaurant.  There were lots of midges (a bug similar to a mosquito) flying around since the windows were open.

Ivan and I started off with a  fantastic homemade fish soup.  Lil Dave had a chicken and banana skewer. 

Ivan and I shared the delicious chicken breast stuffed with chips on top of thin chips and a skewer with turkey and fruit.  It was the first time Ivan has eaten turkey.  I told him it tasted similar to chicken.  He liked the turkey.  We had a great meal there.

We walked back to the hotel.  Ivan and I watched Little Britain on the laptop.  We used the internet and then time to get some rest.

Ivan, Lil Dave and I left the hostel around 1 pm on June 8, 2010.  We got lunch at Cafe Vega which is a Wegetarianski (Vegetarian) restaurant.  Lil Dave had a  good pancake with bananas, honey and cinnamon.  Ivan and I shared tomato soup, Polish rice dish and Russian-style pierogis that were filled with cottage cheese, onions and potatoes.  The pierogis was the best dish – very tasty!

We walked to Cool Tour Company office to sign up for their bike tour.  Ivan didn’t turn his clock forward on his laptop.  So, we missed the 1 pm tour.  We got lucky though.  A private group from Intrepid tours was doing a tour at 2 pm.  The group and the guide said it was fine to join their group. 

Our guide was an American guy named John.  He took us to many places during the tours.  We went to the Jewish Quarter.  It’s so sad to hear about how the Jewish people were moved to the Jewish Grotto area.  Most of them were sent to the concentration camps. 

We saw the graveyard and the Jewish Memorial.  Then, we saw the Schindler Factory.  Our guide told us the story of Oskar Schindler.  I’ve never seen Schindler’s List so it was very interesting to hear about his story. 

He saved the lives of 7,000 Jewish people (including all the descendants).  Lil Dave wanted to know if he saved any monkeys.  

It was such a hot day out.  Ivan and I had lots of water to drink.

We went through other areas of Krakow like the Old University Center, Old Town with the Main Market square, Vistula River and the Wawel Castle Dragon.

There was a girl who complained before the bike tour began that her brakes didn’t work that well.  She slightly hit a priest in the park and then fell off her bike.  I didn’t see it, but I heard her say Sorry, then I heard her fall.  Ivan asked me How many Hail Marys does she have to say?  It was funny.  She was annoyed at the guide that he didn’t do anything about her brakes.  She can’t blame him for her horrible bike riding.

In the Main Market square we saw St. Mary’s Basilica.  At the top of the hour, a man plays his trumpet – a tune once on each side of the tower (four times total). 

It was a great tour.  We were sweating because of the heat. 

We stopped at a Wodka (vodka) bar for a chocolate vodka shot.  It was tasty!  We walked back to the hostel and used the internet.

We had dinner at Chlopskie Jadlo.  Ivan and I shared the tasty herring with apple, onions and sour cream.  The chicken steak with mountain cranberries was very bland.  Lil Dave got some delicious banana pierogis.  Ivan and I got some pierogis with cabbage and mushrooms.  I didn’t like it though.  Ivan ordered pierogis with cottage cheese, onions and potatoes.  We ate some of the pierogis which tasted a lot better.

Lil Dave decided to head back to the hostel.  He was tired from the bike tour.

Ivan and I walked to the Clock Tower in the Main Square.  We met up with the guide and group for the Clock Tower Pub Crawl.  Our guide was a pretty Polish girl named Maria.  The group was a mix of ages and people from America, Scotland, Ireland, Poland and England.  There were 20 people in our group.

Our first stop was Pub Sisi.  We walked downstairs to find a cool underground bar. 

The first hour was unlimited beer, wine and vodka shots.  We smoked some shisha.  We were sitting next to two Irish guys named Noel and Cyrill and two Scottish girls named Amy and Beth.  Ivan and I drank a few beers and had kamikaze shots.  It was fun chatting with everybody.

The next bar was Bafomet Club.  There was dancing and a pole for pole dancing.  I was trying to pole dance with the Scottish girls.  I couldn’t really do it right, maybe because I was buzzed.

We walked to the next bar called Hedonic. 

Noel bought some kamikaze shots which were 11 zloty (£2.19 or $3.25).  Ivan thought this was really cheap so he bought some and shared it with the group.  We found out that it was Noel’s stag celebration. 

The group started walking to a nightclub.  I talked to a group of Polish people – 2 girls and a guy.  They were going dancing.  The nightclub Kitsch had a huge dance floor.  We danced some. 

I ran into the Polish people I talked to in the street.  I danced with them for a few minutes.

Ivan and I danced more.  We were the last ones of the pub crawl left.  We left about 4:20 am and walked back to the hostel.  We had a great time on the Clock Tower Pub Crawl.  The pub crawl takes you to bars you would have never found.