Malou's view on Vienna

I've published a post on Vienna before, the girls from Europocket also went here and showed you there experiences on video. Malou is a collegue of mine from InterRailnet.com and she liked to share her expercienes in Vienna with you. So here it goes! If you'd also like to share your stories, just send me an email, sheena@eurail.nl.

Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, if you ask me. I went there in late summer of 2006. There are lots of 18^th century buildings in the old city centre which give you the feeling you’ve walked into some kind of giant fairy tale.

One of the things most people do when they visit Vienna is taking a ride in one of the horse-drawn carriages (Fiaker).

So that’s what I did, too. I was able to sit next to the ‘driver’. He told me about the horses, that one was constantly snapping at the other one for not moving on and, Jürgen (as the man was called) said: ‘They’re like an old couple fighting, they’ve been pulling the carriages together for years!” After a while I ended up steering. Well, actually the horses steered because they knew their way around Vienna so well that they really didn’t need any guidance.

Anyway, enough ‘horse business’, after all there is so much more to visit in Vienna…

I also visited the palace Schloss Schönbrunn, the palace of the Austrian emperors. You can also opt for a tour through the palace. This tour will lead you through the emperor’s dining hall (sit down and enjoy the ceiling painting, dazzling!) the bedroom and many other rooms. Somehow, in the palace you have the feeling you could bump into the emperor himself because so little has changed. Then there are the palace gardens. As already mentioned on this site, the view from the Pavilion up on the hill opposite the palace itself gives a marvellous view of Vienna itself.

If you’re looking for a perfect spot to have your picnic, visit the Burggarten, near Mariahilf strasse. There is a baker’s nearby at Maria hilf strasse where you can buy your cheap lunch. Just on the corner Burggarten-Goethegasse there is a quiet café where you can enjoy your coffee. But you have to be a lover of classical music, cause that’s what they play there.

 Shopaholics (like myself!!) can spend their money in Maria-hilfstrasse and the area around the Stephen’s cathedral.

-Malou-

Kassel, Germany

Kassel is a city in Germany and is also known as the "documenta stadt''. The Documenta fever has broken out in Kassel again and you could be there. Documenta is an international exhibition in five diffgernet venues. You can watch different exhibits of modern artistic development in the whole world. If you like modern art, Documenta might be interessting to see.

Kassel is situated in the heart of Germany and is easy to reach by InterRail. Documenta is open till the 23rd of September. So if you're in the neighbourhood it might be nice to visit Kassel. Besides Documenta is Kassel a very nice city to visit. A collegue of mine went there two weeks ago and really liked it. For more information, check de site of Documenta/Kassel.

-Sheena-

InterRail-Event 2007

I just came across a nice event for InterRailers in London, The InterRail Event 2007! It's a get together for all InterRailers en route to London in the age of 17-30 years. The InterRail team of www.bahn.de organises this event and will take care of a nice 3 day program. It's a fun oportunity to meet other InterRailers from other European countries and to explore London!

The only sad thing is that the registration is already closed... but if you are in the neighbourhoud of London it might still be fun to see so many InterRailers together. Maybe you could join them while they explore London.

-Sheena-

Googlemaps

The journey through Europe continues also on googlemaps! Check it out...

-Sheena-

Europocket trip on Googlemaps

Hey! I put the trip of the girls from Europocket on googlemaps! You can watch the videos there and see where all the places they visited are!! You could also do this yourself with your trip. This way your family and friends can see where you have been and which distances you travelled! If you have a google map account please let me know, share it!Sheena

Europocket InterRail adventure on Google maps

You can now follow the route Esther and Martha took on their InterRail Trip on Google Maps . Everytime the girls travel to their next destination it will be shown on the map. This way you can see where all the countries they pass are exactly on the map. Currently the girls are in Brussels, the video of their adventures will come soon I'll try to post the video in a couple of hours! Stay tuned! 

Sheena

Indigo Magazine, homesick for Europe!

There aren't a lot of media for Europe in general. This is what we would like to achieve with InterRailStation. Being a platform to share experiences, stories and news with all (young) Europeans, or just to give eachother usefull tips and ideas. The topic Europe is alive and kicking amongst most young people and that's really nice to see for we all live in the same continent. Borders are dissapearing and more and more Europeans travel to other European countries to either study, work or just travel!

I recently came across an online 'newsmagazine' which reports about news from Europe. Their target group are readers from 20 to 35 years of age,. It's called 'Indigo magazine', and it is made for and by the participants of the European Youth Media Days in Brussels. They've conceived it with a team of young journalists from eight different countries. The great thing about this magazine is that its available in 7 different languages (english, dutch, spanish, french, polish, italian and german).

One article in particular caught my attention, 'Going Multilingual', on page 47. When travelling through Europe you most likely come across those situations when you want to explain something to a local but you just don't get him or her to understand you! Sounds familiar? Well this article explains why some people are really good in learning foreign languages and others are just not! It also implies that when you're drunk you can all of a sudden speak the foreign language fluently!! Interesting! ;-)

I think Indigo magazine is a great initiative to bring Europe under the attention of young citizens.

So if you like to read about Europe in a refreshing way, written by young Europeans you should definitely take a look on their website.

Sheena

Some Tips for traveling through Spain!

Bienvenidos a Espana!

The journey continuous...this time to Spain. Spain is a very diverse country and I can say I have always had a real great time. My first trip to Spain took me to Barcelona, the city of Gaudi, with its beautiful buildings, nice restaurants, great clubs, good for shopping AND not to forget the beach!

If you like to combine a city trip with the beach, Barcelona is the place to be. There are also a lot of young people because of the Universities in the city. If you don't have a lot of time, but you do want to see as many sights as possible, I recommend you take the Bus Turistica tour. You can buy a ticket for 1 or 2 days and you can hop on and off the bus as much as you like. The bus will take you to the main (amazing) sights of Barcelona. The tickets can be purchased at one of many tourist points in the city. Make sure you see the Sagrada Famila, the amazing masterwork of Gaudi (the famous Spanish architect), Casa Batllo, La Pedrera and Parc Guell! Almost everything is on walking distance once your in the centre of Barcelona (prepare to walk a lot) so that's very convenient. (picture on the left of Placa Catalunya Barcelona was taken by Tony.M).

From Barcelona you can take the train to the capital of Spain, Madrid. Madrid is also a beautifull city that you just can't miss if your in Spain. I was just blown away by the grandness of some buildings that are just standing in the centre of town. Impressive to see that they are made by people! You won't get bored in Madrid for there's a lot to do and to see. I was there for three days and I haven't even seen half of the city. Mind you! Make sure you go to El Parque Retiro, you can really relax and if the weather is nice, enjoy the sun!

Because I really love the sea I just had to go to San Sebastian, in the North of Spain. So after Madrid I travelled north to Bilbao and from there to San Sebastian. If you like to surf (or just enjoy swimming, the sun and the beach) you really should go there! Not only does San Sebastian have great beaches, it also has this really nice old village with funny shops and restaurants. If you go further from the beach you'll enter the more modern part San Sebastian, which is also very nice! From San Sebastian you can either go to Biaritz (also great for surfing) in France or travel back into Spain to see the other probably cool places.

The food in Spain is also really good and really important to Spanish people, they take their time to have lunch or dinner. I really enjoyed this. Tapas, paella and sangria you must have tasted at least once!!   

Look for more information on OkSpain Tourist Office. You can also look for hostels on www.gomio.com or check de sites on my post about hostels.

For my next trip to Spain (don't know when yet) I want to go to the South. I heard that it's really nice there! So Espana yo volvere! (I'll be back)!

Sheena