Our first destination was Dover. We were late when we left so we got there and were booked to the next ferry, which was great, we could eat and when we boarded to the ferry, we went straight to sleep :) but there is one nice picture on the deck (we are still new/fresh/excited).
And we had a tiny little illegal passeger with us, too :)
We arrived to France - Dunkirk and our next stop was the Atomium in Brussels. When I first saw it I was amazed - it is HUGE!!! And beautiful.. It is a piece of metal (stainless steel...), a big piece of metal, but it is truly unbelievable piece of art, too. It is 102m tall and it is in a shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times - I wanted to see it for years and here we are :)
After a beautiful morning in Brussels we headed north to check out Antwerp, the second largest city in Belgium. It was nearly impossible to find an open café before 10am!!! We were almost dying :P but we got lucky and we had THE BEST hot chocolate in the world :) I only got to the river bank and fell asleep there, but my friends made it to the nice churches and cathedral, too.
Our next stop was the fourth largest city in Germany - Cologne. To tell you the truth, I was so excited to see this city, but unfortunately something went wrong with the car not far from Cologne and we couldn't really concentrate on the beautiful cathedral, Rhine river or the other beautiful site seeing things there, because we didn't know how long will the car last. We had to charge the phones so we stopped in one café opposite the famous cologne Cathedral so we had at least an amazing view :)
Next city and also our night stop (as we had to turn the lights off so the car battery would last longer, because it wasn't charging) was Frankfurt, the fifth largest city in Germany. It was a different kind of architecture that stroke us, there were many skyscrapers, different statues, but also beautiful old houses and churches. Because we arrived here in the evening and this was our second day on the road, I had to sleep for few hours to be able to drive further, this is why we only stopped in the center and did't go to see any main buildings. We had a nice German style dinner and of course a German beer and we slept in the car for the first time in our lives :P it was kind of fun... If it wasn't for a 'broken' car, we would be more relaxed I guess and enjoyed the city far more :P
In the morning we had to decide what to do - to stay and get the car checked or drive. Well, it wasn't an easy decision, but I said we are leaving Frankfurt before the rush hour. So we went... We stopped for breakfast - we could't resist a great German schnitzel. Oh yeah, people were laughing at us, but who cares...
Our next destination was a beautiful German city called Nuremberg (I just called it Numberg - much eeeasier :P). There were many stalls and they were getting ready for the music festival which was happening that weekend. I must admit, we all liked this city the MOST. Beautiful architecture, really friendly people and great atmosphere - this all helped us to forget about the still broken car... After few hours here we had to get on the road again. We were so sad to leave this place, we wished we had more time to spend here.. :/
And we met some guys from Waford :) :) :) What a coincidence...
Well, well, well, never mind, the car started so we continued east and our next city was in Czech Republic - Plzen. We hit a bit of traffic on the way there, still in Germany, so we stopped in some shops :) lucky us.. :) and after we continued. We were so lucky to cross the borders, this was our little dream, for our car to survive till we get to Czech. And we were there, and when we stopped in Plzen, we were happy, but also hungry and we had a great meal - vyprazany syr with a nice Czech beer :) After we went to see the brewery and it was beautiful, I never thought the brewery will have its own little park and pub and flowers will be everywhere...
We had to go again, because we had to get to Prague in the evening, if we knew what was waiting for us there, we would stayed a bit longer here, too. We finally got to Prague. And we got lost in Prague several times, because there are no signs where the roads are going, and my poor little sat-nav did't know which road I am on, so we had to go through the city, yeah, we passed everything, even Charles Bridge :( BUT after 45 minutes of being lost we found out friend's place and parked there - and I honestly had tears in my eyes - we made it to Prague!!! :) We found our friend and he said to park the car on another street, but when I wanted to start the car, it did't work - such a great car, it took us where we really needed to get. Then we dealt with the problem with the car on Monday morning (this was Friday evening). So we were in Prague, without the car, and my brother needed to get to the train station so he could get home. We had many heavy and unnecessary things in our boot we had to get to our 'luxurious apartment' where we stayed during the weekend. So we took the tube to get to the main train station and we got our brother on train just on time (3mins before the departure) and he almost ended up in Warsaw, but we acted quickly and at the end he was in the right part of the train. And I was so tired, exhausted and sad, I just started to cry :) but everything went ok, we found the apartment, we had to wait more than an hour for our friends to come back there and let us in... and let's just say, we survived the weekend and here are some pics from the capital of Czech Republic.
Everyone left on Sunday, only me and my friend Anka were the half of the car crew that stayed and continued the Eurotrip. We looked around the area where the unmoving car was parked and found a car repair place only 3 mins walking distance from the car - how lucky we were, but we had to stay one more night... well, let's just say, it was fun :) more fun than during the weekend! And on Monday, we went to the garage, they took the car, waited for one part and they fixed it in 15 mins and the car was running as before - with lights :) :) Here are some pics from Monday Prague ;)
And then we left in the evening. Our next stop was Brno, second largest city in Czech. we arrived there when it was already dark and after the weekend and the trip so far I was really really tired and I wanted to sleep only half an hour, but I woke up after 4 hrs!!! OMG - I could't believe it! So we quickly went for a walk around the town. We've seen nice churches, many squares and nice statues, buildings...
When we were on one square taking pictures, we had a bit drama, too. One crazy man was driving around the square as mad and when the police car turned up, he run into the police car - we couldn't believe our eyes, but yes, it happened, we have few pics from the incident.
After this unbelievable adventure we left the city and headed to Slovakia, finally! When we crossed the border, we were sooooooo happy :) :) we only passed the capital Bratislava, we did't stop - but we still saw the beautiful castle on the hill and the nice bridges. The sun was shining into my eyes all morning so you can imagine how tired I was after few hours of driving like this. We had a little stop and here are some pics :)
A bit of Tai Chi practice...
We´ve finally opened the Bounty we were carrying from UK :)
Another stop was Zvolen - a beautiful city not so far from my home (but still I was few hrs away). We went to see the castle and took few pics here as well.
I dropped of my longest lasting Eurotrip passenger Anka
And headed home... I went straight to the bed and slept... slept and slept.
This trip was unbelievable, amazing, and I just see the world in a different perspective - I am happy for every second of my life, every step forward is a miracle and I am a lucky person to have such great memories and friends.
And the last picture of this trip - read the wise words ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment