We arrived in Vienna around 2pm after catching a train from Prague. As always when arriving in a new city, our first task was to check-in and drop our backpacks off at the hostel. A quick read of the U-Bahn (metro) map and we dumped all of our loose Euro coins into a ticket machine. The U-Bahn was quick, clean and efficient, and before long we were at Volkstheater station – the closest to our hostel. We exited the station, looked around for street names to find out bearings, and found our hostel about 10 minutes away by foot.

Our hostel was excellent. It was basically a large two bedroom apartment that has been converted into a hostel/share house. We met many people, including a girl from Adelaide of all places, and an American boy who is currently living in Rome and has offered to give us a tour when we visit in a week.

I think I often make my decision on a city within the first day or so of arriving. On the first afternoon after we sorted out our accommodation, we walked past the Volkstheater, Naturhistorisches Museum, Parliament, Wiener Eistraum, and then through some of the streets nearby. It was sunny, and we were both extremely happy. I was in love with Jess and Vienna.

From there we passed through the Volksgarten, which without the support of the Summer months, was perfect. Many plants or areas were covered (presumably to stop the damage of frosts) or fenced off for maintenance, but the walk was still exactly what we needed. Time together, whilst relaxing outdoors.

We continued on to the Hofburg Imperial Palace. Nowadays it has been split up into different government run facilities, such as museums and libraries. Some are aimed at tourists, while others are for the locals. Following the directions of others at our hostel, we walked past the Spanish Riding School to see some Roman Ruins at Michaelerplatz.

By this time it was around 5:30pm and the locals were outside everywhere enjoying the sun. We returned to our hostel via the Burgarten, where there were teenagers playing soccer, families sitting on the grass and so on. It was really nice to see people just having fun.

We realised early in our visit that Vienna has it’s fair share of money. After visiting Poland, the cars in this city amazed me. I think the average family sedan in Vienna is an AMG or a Maserati. Literally in the first half hour of walking through the city I spotted two 4-door Porsches

We spent the next few days looking at the buildings and walking through the parks and shopping malls. As far as history goes, as in just about every city we have visited now, there is plenty. Palaces, churches and gardens are extravagant and really very impressive.

On our last day I was feeling a little under the weather. Travel takes it’s toll if you don’t relax, not to mention the cold taking it’s toll on two Australians. I had suggested to Jess that we visit a place called Donauinsel – Danube Island. She seemed a little reluctant but I managed to convince her. There was a U-Bahn station right on top of the island, so we caught the metro from Volksgarten. Donauinsel is a man-made island for all of the right reasons – it is part of Vienna’s flood protection system, however it is known to most as a recreational island, where locals can walk, ride, canoe, rollerblade, and even bathe at a man made beach. We walked down the Donauinsel and talked, just like we do at home.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed myself in Vienna. Albeit expensive and probably not the best location for a backpacker trying to travel on the cheap, we will be back.

Vienna on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

I loved Berlin. It is the first city (although I’m sure it won’t be the last) that we have left and I can confidently say I want to go back to. This is partly due to the fact that I  have left with the feeling that we should have done more. Even though we did visit the sites and go to an amazing concert, I feel as though there was just so much more out there waiting for us to see.

Prior to leaving Copenhagen, Jase had carefully studied the maps and train routes so we knew exactly which trains to catch to arrive at our hostel, at approximately 11:30 pm. Unfortunately all his careful planning didn’t account for the hour delay we experienced due to the ferry that our bus from Copenhagen needed to board. As we exited the bus station in Berlin we made our way through the cold night to find the train station. We hurriedly tried to interpret the German ticket machine as a train (perhaps the one we needed to catch, perhaps not) approached. We didn’t get tickets in time so figured we would just wait for the next, only to find out that we had missed the last train for the night. We considered catching a bus but in the end caught a taxi. The taxi driver was very friendly and helpful. As we learned duirng the drive, our hostel was situated on a road that had only existed for 5 weeks.

Our hostel, called the Hotel Meininger was, as Jase put it, a money making machine. I was not as disappointed by it as much as Jase was but I did understand his frustrations. Its excellent location and expansive number of 4 bed dormitories meant it was very popular with school groups – who stayed in the masses for the whole time we were there. Despite its cleaniness and convenient, yet expensive bar, the hostel was much more of a hotel – lacking that community feel. Probably the most frustrating thing was that the small guest kitchen was often closed for “private meetings” between hotel staff or school groups, meaning that we could not access or cook our food.

But enough of that, on to the amazing city itself. Filled with so much history, there were many sites that we wanted to visit. Our first stop was the East Side Gallery, a Berlin wall recreation beautifully painted by several artists. The original artists that had painted the wall were invited to come back almost 20 years later to repaint their work on the new wall. I was really moved by some of the images and enjoyed strolling along the footpath, taking in the detail and emotion behind each of the works of art.

On our third day in Berlin we went on a free walking tour of the city. For me, this was a definite highlight of our whole trip to date. Our guide, Benjamin, was a young American living in Berlin. He was a fantastic guide – so enthusiastic, knowledgeable and entertaining. What made the tour so great was that while we saw many of the main attractions of the city, we discovered much of the history behind it – something we wouldn’t do walking past the sites on our own. The tour included sites such as the Brandenburg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, churches and other historic buildings.

The next day (our last day in Berlin) we went exploring once more, starting with the Reichstag (Parliament House). This was an amazing building with a glass dome positioned on the top, which is free for the public to access. The idea of the glass celing and dome is that democracy should be transparent and that the parliament members seated below only have to look up to be reminded of the people they are serving. The dome has a large walking ramp spiraling round it which gives fantastic views of the whole city.

A short walk through the Tiergarten led us to the Holocaust Memorial once more. While we had taken a moment on the previous day’s tour to walk through the myriad of  concrete blocks, I wanted to go back to visit the underground memorial museum. I always knew this would be a difficult stop for me, not because I’m Jewish or in any way closely tied to victims of war… I guess I am just an emotionally sensitive person. As we walked through the dark rooms, reading excerpts of letters, listening to accounts of concentration camp experiences, I wept openly. It was such an awful period in history but an important one to reflect on and remember the millions of victims.

After the emotionally draining experience of the Holocaust Memorial we needed a pick-me-up. Our deliciously filling doner pita  and the amazing Vampire Weekend concert were the perfect solution.  The day was a really fitting way to end our time in Berlin… the confronting experience of Berlin’s past, contrasted to the high of an overseas band performing to the vibrant youth of the city.

Berlin: City of Contrasts on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..

It’s been a short stay, but we’ve achieved what we wanted to. We landed in Athens two days ago at 7am local time after sitting on a 12 hour flight from Singapore. Weary from the predominantly sleepless night we just had, we left the plane and made our way to Greek Immigration.

Five minutes off of the plane and we were already amazed. There is a smoking section in the airport. Indoors! I think that’s when I truly realized that we were now in Europe.

We grabbed our bags and made our way to the train. Some sketchy Greek pronunciation from myself bought us two tickets to the train, where we boarded and made our way to Acropoli station. It was a pretty easy ride, with one train change at Syntagma station.

After leaving the train we made our way up to the quiet streets in the early morning. It was a nice relief from the humidity of Singapore. Around 11°c and fine. We checked into our hotel, Airotel Parthenon, literally 200m from the metro station, and had a shower. For anyone considering going to Athens, it’s a quality place. Cheap for young travellers like us, but has everything you need. It’s four star in Athens, probably equated to a 3 star in Adelaide, but it’s clean and it’s central – we could get to all the historical sites in anywhere between 1 minute to 20 minutes on foot. Since we are travelling together, it worked out cheaper than the backpackers place down the road, and this way we got our own shower and room – something we wanted after the long flight.

To see the Acropolis and other sites surrounding, it will set you back 12EUR. You can see the Parthenon from everywhere. It’s just so impressive. We were basically pinching ourselves the whole time we were here. It’s so surreal, and everything is just so much larger than life.

On the flip side, it’s almost as though every man and his dog (literally, I don’t know if people own these dogs, but there are dogs everywhere) is in on the deal. For the major tourist attractions of Greece, the gardens, paths, and all of the infrastructure surrounding seems somewhat makeshift. It looks as though they are constantly working on the Acropolis, however when you walk around, you can see where rubbish has been thrown after previous repair jobs.

For these reasons I have mixed emotions about Athens.

Enough negativity though, we both enjoyed this place. Yesterday’s lunch was at Thanassis, where we had some authentic lamb kebabs. Melted in your mouth!

We were worried about visiting in February – not really sure what the weather would be like, but it was perfect. I’d definitely come again during this time of the year. Yesterday it rained in the morning, but it was only drizzle and it didn’t affect us at all. The rest of the time the sun was out and we were comfortable in a jacket.

Ultimately we had a great time here. The people are friendly, the streets are very picturesque, and the history is just something neither of us have seen before. It was short, but sweet.

Our Athens Adventure on the way to somewhere - ..you're only lost if you know where you're going..