Well after another wonderful 12 hour day of train travel we finally arrived in Budapest Monday evening! A friend that sam met while studying abroad in Oslo who is from Budapest picked us up from the train station with his girlfriend. They were such a great help and brought us to pick up our tickets for sziget music festival and to the store to purchase our new accommodation for the festival. Our first night in Budapest we stayed with balasz and gyongi. We got some za' for dinner and then they took us up to the citadella- an area where you get an absolutely stunning view of the city. I had no idea Budapest was so beautiful. Pest is on the east side of the Danube river and Buda is on the west side... If you do the math of adding them up you get Budapest- crazy how that formula works out. But yes located along the Danube it's stunning. Parliament is such an extravagant building and all the other buildings have been so well maintained throughout the years.
Tuesday we went out for lunch and that evening sam and I went to sziget to see.... Dundundun- PRINCE! He was so much fun and we met some really cool guys from portugal at the concert. After the show we went back to pest and met up with balasz, gyongi, tibor (a roomy) and dori- another friend sam met in Oslo who is also from Budapest. We went to a lovely park on the pest side and shared some drinks and laughs before headin back to balasz's place to crash.
Wednesday was finally the day we were off to sziget for good. As luck would have it I miraculously got better from my sickness literally overnight. I was planning on heading back to the hospital to demand a blood test or something to figure out what was goin on in my insides. Anyways, Balasz dropped us off and sam and I went on a hunt for a place to pitch camp- or rather set up our cave. Thinking we were so smart we decided to set it up on the side of the reggae stage- haha you will hear more about that life decision later.
How to describe sziget tho? Nuts. Absolutely insane-unlike any festival I have ever been to. With 36 different stages and an attendance of 400,000 people all on one island, it was absolutely insane. Unlike countryfest, wefest or the like you are not allowed to bring alcohol in (well if your not a sneaky devil). And there are also not designated campgrounds- you pitch camp wherever your heart desires. And almost everybody tents out there, apparently some bring campervans but there is a designated area for that which we never saw. Plus it's not cool bc tenting out creates such a better fest experience. And there are food stands and alcohol stands everywhere! You would never have to walk more than 30 seconds from any area to find them. And talk about things going on constantly- not only were there 36 stages continually jammin but there were dance classes, circus shows, chess boards, bean bag and huka lounges, stilts and wooden things to play with, yoga, every kind of athletic activity (soccer, ball, vball, tennis, pong, foosball, skating rinks) you name it... Also had so many booth like tents set up for a library, HIV testing, internet, electronic charge areas, hammock hangouts- my goodness you name it and they had it. It was the coolest thing- none of the food and beverage places ever closed. And at cfest/wefest basically all you do is drink from the second you wake up until the second you pass out, but here there was just so much to do! Coolest festival ever.
So anyways after settin up camp we went walking around the island. We also met up later that evening with dori who set up camp next to us and we met our Italian neighbors who were way cool. Also met our Jamaican neighbor who later that week got arrested for dealing drugs- his telltale sign for people to find him was his nice red rag he had tied on the tree above his tent. So Wednesday we ended up seeing Omen and then saw Rise Against at the main stage. They were loads of fun and after them we went and saw Empire of the Sun, an Australian group thy were loads of fun. They played in the Burn Party Arena which houses electro/house/techno genres. They also dressed crazy and i sure hope to see them again in the future!
Thursday morning was something else. We were woken up by the reggae stage blasting music, which continued to happen every morning for the rest of the time. Also someone had rummaged thru dori's tent the night before and stolen her leather jacket and sunnies. Jerks. We went to the supermarket which is like a 10 minute walk from the entrance of the festival and a place to go and talk about the previous night. Hung out there all afternoon. We went and saw La Roux that evening at main stage, a band from the UK. They were loads of fun and after them we saw Good Charlotte. We were right up in the front for them and rocked out. They had a huge mosh sam almost got knocked into. Then for Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous they had the entire crowd squat down and when the song started we all jumped up to jam. After Good Charlotte Sam and I went to the Roma tent, which I'm not sure if there is a typical genre that plays there but I stayed and saw Amsterdam Klezmer band and DJ Scratchy (UK). Both were techno style and I jammed out there till the wee hours of the morning- wow was that a night of some crazy gigs!
Friday we finally showered haha and then walked around the island, bought some sweet gauchos, hung out at the sports area and then met up with Dori in the evening and went to see Skunk Anansie, a UK group that played at main stage. The main singer is a bald, black chick with the biggest mouth ever- but could she sing and get the crowd involved. Half the time she was running around the crowd singing, crowd surfing and a couple times she walked on the crowd- daring gal she was but so much fun! After Skunk we went to the Hungarian stage and saw Budapest Bar and ate a giant hot dog smothered in veggies. Later that night we saw Prodigy at main stage- a UK band that knows how to rock. They were one of the best gigs we saw there. YouTube them if you are a pop-rock fan.
Saturday morning we woke up and decided to indulge in Hungarian culture and went to the Lukacs bath. So relaxing -there were so many pools, saunas, exercise classes, ice baths and so many other things. Our favorite was the heated pool which had a small lazy river that you floated thru, big jets that shot down on your back and chair things that had water jets that massaged your body. After the bath we went to a nice little cafe nearby and enjoyed some burritos and wraps. Met up with dori and went to see Kate Nash whose from the UK. If you ask me, dont waste your time. We watched her scream the entire time and her lipstick rubbed all up and down her face from it getting on the microphone haha, at least we got a good laugh out of it. Later that night we went and saw 30 Seconds to Mars who were pretty good. Somehow sam and I later ended up in the A38 stage where we saw Digital Mystikz from the UK and then sam left but I stayed and rocked out to Gaslamp Killer also from the UK.
Well this brings me to Sunday, the last full day of the festival. We were up by 8am and headed to the spa again for the same routine and then ate at the same cafe but this time got an iced coffee and panini yum. Got some more vodka and Gatorade bottles. That evening we went and saw Kid Cudi yaya! Was a freaking crime scene trying to get into that tent, had to throw my elbows numerous times and pretend I was big and strong. Cudi was so nuts!!! We were pretty close to the front and the Burn Party Arena was absolutely packed. And talk about scorching hot- not kidding it a good 40 Celsius in there which is like 110f - maybe even hotter. We were in shorts and a tank and were drenched head to toe in our own sweat plus everyones who was around us, sounds delightful I know. Two guys that were rockin out next to us were from Cali so after Cudi we all went and had a beer together outside. After Cudi I was absolutely exhausted so I went to bed. Sam went and rocked out with dori and came back to the cave later that night. It was so funny because there was a couple rolling around outside our tent next to the side of the reggae stage shackin up. What made it extra funny was the fact that people from the reggae stage would always go to that area to pee and by this time the area was so raunchy smelling (bad for us) but my god idk how they were able to roll around in it! Finally they left and the stench was so overwhelming that sam and I had to evacuate our tent for a puke session. Haha!!!
Monday morning we were up by 6am to beat the mad rush out of there and the heat! It had been between 85-90 all week! Dori, sam and I caught a taxi to doris grandmas place in Budapest and crashed until noon. Then we had some delicious lunch prepared by gma, showered/de-sanitized and got some stuff figured out for the rest of out trip. Gma made a delicious soup, salad and chicken breast dinner for us and then dori brought us around the city center. Budapest is so beautiful!!! We walked around the main shopping street, saw scenic views of the city, went to a cheese fest and bought cheese, and finished up the night at a ruins bar. They basically take peoples junk and put it in this bar giving different areas such a unique atmosphere- you could be sitting on some type of chair, a toilet, a washing machine- basically you name it and it was there. We went back to gmas after for bed.
It is now Tuesday the 16. I have been traveling for a solid 3 months and have 2 weeks left to go- what a realization. I'm listening to Taylor swift Fairytale on the train to Vienna and cannot believe my fairytale summer is coming to an end and fast. We have some exciting plans for the rest of the month, most which consist of meeting up with friends from exchange and friends we have met throughout our travels. Crazy to think I will only have a couple more blogs from here on out! Until next time, enjoy the rest of august and see all you crazy Minnesotans very soon!
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Sunday 7 August 2011
Detox time
Split and bled were ultimate detoxification time. The ferry from Corfu to Bari was just terrible. Once again we had quite the experience in Italy. We got off the ferry in Bari and went to the train station to get a train to northern Italy. However, illegal immigrants from Tunisia and Libya were causing quite the ruckus and had burned the tracks so no trains could come in or leave Bari. Bc of this the Italians got terribly mad and started flipping out and soon enough the cops and military came to control the area. Some kids that had left Corfu with us were in line with us at the train station and strongly advised us to get the hell out of there straight away so we hauled ass back to the ferryport and caught the next ferry to Croatia. The workers at the port were all very arrogant and quite perverted. Unfortunately I think Bari gave us a terrible view on Italy. Once we got on the ferry tho all of the workers were so kind, quite the difference.
When we finally arrived in split we caught a bus to our hostel which was 10km outside of the city. The hostel was absolutely wonderful, a small family owned place right on the Oceanside. Our room was probably the best one there, it had a balcony that overlooked the ocean- perfect place to watch the sunrise and set! We stayed there three nights and literally all we did was hung out there Oceanside and met other translate staying there. I was extremely sick the whole time there- had zero energy to do anything. Our second day there we met nick and Jason, to guys from london. They were absolutely hilarious and we spent the rest of our time there hanging out with them. Jason also is a crazy good guitar player and singer so it added to the ultimate relax detox time. Our last day there, friday, I could barely walk around so Mario, the owners brother brought me in to the hospital. Doc said I was a very lucky girl as I had been suffering from a case of salmonella poisoning and an eye infection. So she prescribed me like 6 different mess to take. That evening was our last night there and we had such a lovely evening sitting out by the water talking with a few people till the wee hours of the morning. Staying at hostel Adria was exactly what we needed- not an epic party place but a fun relaxed atmosphere with an incredibly nice family that owned it.
After split we hopped a 6 hour train to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. We were meant to catch a train from there straight away to get to bled, Slovenia but our connecting train ended up being delayed. So after 17 hours of traveling we finally arrived in bled around midnight. By then the buses were all done running but some nice lady that closed a nearby cafe gave us a ride to our hostel. As soon as we got there we passed out. Saturday was lovely, we did a 12km hike to vintgar gorge. Walking to the gorge was perhaps the best part. We had no idea what we expected Slovenia to look like- to be quite honest I thought it was gonna be a bit dirty like Greece, but were we wrong. Bled and the surrounding area is absolutely breathtaking, comparable to Switzerland with all the little villages, gorgeous older houses, pastureland, cleanliness, green vegetation everywhere, beautiful lakes and lovely mountains. Our last day here we got some new roomies- a couple English guys and 4 Irish girls. They were all so awesome and we had a great evening swimming in the lake. The past week was rather relaxing and more than needed! Next we are off to Budapest for sziget music festival which is the biggest festival in Europe! Quite excited for it!
When we finally arrived in split we caught a bus to our hostel which was 10km outside of the city. The hostel was absolutely wonderful, a small family owned place right on the Oceanside. Our room was probably the best one there, it had a balcony that overlooked the ocean- perfect place to watch the sunrise and set! We stayed there three nights and literally all we did was hung out there Oceanside and met other translate staying there. I was extremely sick the whole time there- had zero energy to do anything. Our second day there we met nick and Jason, to guys from london. They were absolutely hilarious and we spent the rest of our time there hanging out with them. Jason also is a crazy good guitar player and singer so it added to the ultimate relax detox time. Our last day there, friday, I could barely walk around so Mario, the owners brother brought me in to the hospital. Doc said I was a very lucky girl as I had been suffering from a case of salmonella poisoning and an eye infection. So she prescribed me like 6 different mess to take. That evening was our last night there and we had such a lovely evening sitting out by the water talking with a few people till the wee hours of the morning. Staying at hostel Adria was exactly what we needed- not an epic party place but a fun relaxed atmosphere with an incredibly nice family that owned it.
After split we hopped a 6 hour train to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. We were meant to catch a train from there straight away to get to bled, Slovenia but our connecting train ended up being delayed. So after 17 hours of traveling we finally arrived in bled around midnight. By then the buses were all done running but some nice lady that closed a nearby cafe gave us a ride to our hostel. As soon as we got there we passed out. Saturday was lovely, we did a 12km hike to vintgar gorge. Walking to the gorge was perhaps the best part. We had no idea what we expected Slovenia to look like- to be quite honest I thought it was gonna be a bit dirty like Greece, but were we wrong. Bled and the surrounding area is absolutely breathtaking, comparable to Switzerland with all the little villages, gorgeous older houses, pastureland, cleanliness, green vegetation everywhere, beautiful lakes and lovely mountains. Our last day here we got some new roomies- a couple English guys and 4 Irish girls. They were all so awesome and we had a great evening swimming in the lake. The past week was rather relaxing and more than needed! Next we are off to Budapest for sziget music festival which is the biggest festival in Europe! Quite excited for it!
Thursday 4 August 2011
The things that will never be spoken about Corfu, Greece
Well first of all sorry it has been so devastatingly long since my last blog, that't what too much fun and deadly sicknesses will do to a person. I believe I left off with our goodbyes with Luke and Ted in Ibiza.... well we made it to Ibiza airport where we caught a flight at about midnight to Rome. Thus was the beginning of our terrible sleeps...spent the night sleeping no the floor in the airport-so much fun, not- and then caught a 630am flight to Rome. We caught a bus from the airport to the train station...what a joke that was. We got to the train station and talk about people galore! In Italy you have to make reservations for all of your train journeys so Sam and I made our way to the death line. We waited in line for hours to make a reservation to the eastern coast of italy to a turdhole town known as Bari. As we were waiting in line we found out that the tracks had caught on fire (later we found out the true cause of this which i will inform you about then) and that basically no trains were going to be coming into or leaving Rome. We literally just wanted to get the hell out of there, it was so hot and so many people were around. So we waited in the train station for 5 hours praying that our train would be one of the lucky ones to get out of there...4 minutes before its departure time there was nothing on the board...3, 2 minutes before and still nothing... finally it just flashed up on the board and thank goodness we were watching b/c it disappeared straight away so sam and i bolted to the train and literally right after we got on, the doors closed and it took off. So we finally get into Bari and caught a bus straight from the train station to the ferryport. (we really had no idea what our plans were to get to the Pink Palace in Corfu, Greece we were just compiling what people had told us and hoping for the best)... get to the ferryport and are asking the workers if we can catch the ferry that night to Corfu..they couldnt understand us so they went and got the head honcho.. we literally got so lucky, he held the ferry and told us to run to it, so once again, packs in gear, sam and i bolted it. Just barely made it onto that ferry but thank goodness we did, Bari is quite the disgusting, creepy sh**hole of a town. So night number 2 of terrible sleeping...we obviously cant afford a cabin on the ferry amongst numerous others that couldnt, so we had to find a spot on deck to plop down... have we informed you yet how much we hate ferries? haha
Right so, its monday now and we finally arrive in Corfu, Greece (big high five!) Once we got off the ferry we had no idea how to get to the Pink Palace, but as bad luck comes in 3's, i reckon good luck does as well. We saw a bus for the Pink Palace 20ft in front of us...so we went to the driver and told him we had no reservations, we had just heard about the place and wanted to come. he said no worries and we hopped on board (another big high five!) We got there around 7am and they greeted us with a shot of ouza, traditional greek alcohol, and then brought us into our room and told us if we got more than 8 people in our shower, it would be a new record.....haha k? So this place costs like 25 euro a night which includes cooked breaky and a 3 course dinner. And while i'm at it i must explain the flippin hike down to breaky....seriously the worst walk ever- especially on a hangover...you walk downhill the whole way- a good 100 stairs plus all teh hills...wait till i post pictures when i return home and you will feel my misery. So sam and i got some food in us and then went and passed out all afternoon IN A BED! YAY! Another thing about the Pink Palace, they have happy hour from 6-11pm...i guess you could say that's a whole new way of defining 'happy hour.' 1 euro everything, yep count us in. So we went down to reception bar (rec bar) where happy hour is from 6-8pm. My first beer there was from a cat named Adam....to be completely honest i was scared shitless out of him... he bought a few beers and told me to slam one with him, so naturally i did....but idk, something about this guy just scared me a bit. A bunch of us then started a massive game of tippy/flippy (w/e you prefer to call it). Dinner there starts at 830...so about that time we went down to the Palladium -->same direction as breakfast except not quite as far, you only have to do the stairs to get there, not all the hills as well. The main level of the Palladium is the club level where the party moves to after dinner. and dinner is on the top level. this place was huge...there were about 300 guests there the entire time of our stay...so basically you dont ever have to leave this place b/c there is always something going on. Dinner was always amazing...soup + salad + meat/veggies. And also happy hour continues down at the Palladium from 8-11pm. Dinner is also such a social event, meet so many people there alone. After dinner we went down to the main level where sam and i danced the night away....this was the first night we invented the (long forgotten) piggyback, where i piggyback sam and we run around like idiots....but its legendary so its fine.
Tuesday morning I couldnt sleep so i was up at 7 and naturally, made my way down to the rec bar. It was this morning that i met Ryan, Adam and Erin- three infamous aussies who will be in the rest of my stories in the Pink Palace and Joe, a cali guy who went there for vacation and ended up getting a job as a bartender. We drank all morning long and finally around noon it was time for the quad safari. We all rented quads (erin and ryan had to share haha due to ryan not having a license for reasons im sure you can figure out) and drove around the island all afternoon.. talk about seeing some amazing scenery, at one point we could see albania and the greece mainland! It was so much fun, ryan adam and i just kept slamming into eachother and b/c they werent our quads, naturally we didnt give a crap what damage we did to them so we tore shit up. This kind of stuff would never fly in the states... most of us were in sandals, we were riding on cliffs that had no siderails and had verticle dropoffs, and to top it all off on our way back we stopped at a pub and Cristo, the guide shouts 'lets get drunk!' ....since when will a quad guide tell all the people that have yet to return back to the hostel to get drunk?! haha oh how i love greece. That night we continued with our evening happy hour of tippy which is where we met Jeff (aka gus), a crazy canadian who had come with his friends, however when it was time to go he said goodbye to his friends and stayed! We finally made it down to dinner (one of the best parts of everyday, perhaps b/c its the last thing we can all vividly-ish remember). There was also a bar on the same level as the dinner which we closed down at 1130 everynight...they always had to ask us to move downstairs so they could get things cleaned up. It was this night that i was introduced to a suicide shot by ryan and adam...you snort salt, take a shot of tequila, and literally smash and smush a lemon in your eye! This night we also had a flippy tourny in the club...unfortunately our team made it to the final 4 and then lost =( Every night we always somehow made it back up to the rec bar b/c the club music was so loud you couldnt even talk to anybody and the rec bar was like a family.... either joe or sue were always bartending and it was always the same 10 of us there drinking. loved it!
Wednesday Sam and I woke up in time for the infamous booze cruise...unfortunately our aussies woke up in time to watch us sail away. I will not speak of most the things that occurred on this booze cruise but will give you the PG version. We left around noon and the cruise starts off with everybody shotgunning a beer- classic. we then cruised around the waters for about an hour or so- seriously this was the most beautiful water i have ever seen, UNREAL. eventually we made it to these oddball cliffs that are in the waters where people can jump the 50foot death fall. By doing certain 'things' you could win 2, 3 or 6 free beers. After the cliff jumpin we set sail again and eventually made it to a bat cave. We all jumped into teh waters and swam into this bat cave- it was SO cool but did smell a little funny, guano. After the bat cave we cruised around until we made it to a secluded private island in the middle of nowhere, where we played games and further enjoyed the sun. Finally we all got back on the boat and made the journey home where we arrived just in time for happy hour! ..that was probably the shortest summation i have ever made of the booze cruise....if you want the details, just ask. So every wednesday night at the Pink Palace is cross dress night.. Once again we all celebrated happy hour at rec bar, headed to dinner and then down to the club. we had kind of forgotten about the cross dress theme so we all switched clothes down there....ryan and i, sam and adam and erin and jeff...we looked good as you can imagine. this night was sooo awesome, i think i piggybacked everyone on the dance floor, poured everyones beer down their mouth and sam did her infamous bendover move. at one point this night sam was sitting in a chair dancing, so ryan sat on her and started dancing and then i sat on top of ryan and started dancing. The legs on this chair literally gave out and we all crashed to the floor, but it was cool we just kept dancing on the foor! haha. Later that night Cristo and some other guy circled everyone on the dance floor and did some greek dancing for all of us...then they went around, gave everyone a shot of ouzo and broke a plate over our heads. and what happened after that....your guess is as good as mine!
thursday was recovery day.... midday jeff, sam and i walked into town and each bought a couple pairs of ray bans and then went to the beach. the sand was so hot it burned the bottom of my feet! we finally headed back to the pink palace and by this time well, it was happy hour. finally made it down to dinner and after dinner we were at the dinner bar (yes we renamed them all) where ryan and i proceeded to have a flip flop fight. we then started a new tradition of drinking unrealistic amounts of tequila, great idea right? we finally headed downstairs and i decided to try to keep track of how many drinks i drank by putting the straw of each cocktail in my hair..sounded like a good idea until i realized they kept falling out. thursday night was not a theme night but we decided to invent crossdress x2 night so a bunch of us switched clothes again...idiots. it was this night that ryan did his classic break dance move where he would spin on the floor, stop and pose, spin on the floor, stop and pose, etc. it was probably one of those you had to be there moments but i am dying laughing right now typing this and thinking about it.
friday was another death day...they decided to have another booze cruise and since ryan, adam and erin had not been on it yet, sam and i decided to do it again- WORST DECISION EVER. not really. so we all woke up and had breakfast together and then boarded to ship. oh i forgot to mention last time, like 60 people go on the booze cruise and if this boat were in teh states, the max capacity would probably be 35....so you do the math and picturing in your head. it was this time that two different people did back flips off the cliff and landed terribly wrong..one ended up breaking his back and the other broke his knee. also did the bat cave and beach scene again and the epic journey home. seriously on this booze cruise i saw things in my life i never knew could exist....each cruise takes up multiple pages in my journal and what, 2-3 sentences on here? haha. Once again the cruise conveniently returned at the start of happy hour so we all joined in on the festivities at rec bar before going to dinner. Oh and before i forget to mention...on the cruise i met this guy john who i had met in galway months ago! funny....and we met mcclean and logan again at teh pink palace, two brothers we had met in interlaken! crazy world this is. Down in the palladium sam, ryan and i tried our infamous chair dance move again....this time wasnt so successful- we actually broke the chair this time and sam landed no the armrest giving her the biggest, nastiest bruise i have ever seen! sam, erin, ryan and adam ended up calling it an early night (ha and by early i mean 3am) but it was fine, jeff and i proceeded to close down the rec bar. I also met the owners son and daughter this night as they work reception during the night and had a good old time with them all night (the next day they were surprised i remembered haha).
saturday was the worst day ever. i dont think i have ever had such an immensely dangerous hangover, but thank the lord we were all in the same boat. i made my way down to the pool around 1pm but only lasted an hour b/c it was way too hot. so i went back to the room, cranked the AC down to 5 celsius and went back to bed. saturday night at the pink palace is one of the biggest nights of the week b/c its toga party- everyone wears a pink toga! i dont think the workers and other guests recognized the 5 of us (sam, me, erin, ryan and adam) ..by the time we got down to dinner we all had our very first drink in our hands and maybe a sip missing from them. very poor form as we were always the first ones down at rec bar in the mornings and last to leave the following morning. until about midnight all we were doing was literally just existing. when we finally made it to the palladium we grabbed a table and we all just sat there and watched ....none of us saying a damn word, none of us caring to talk to anyone. When i went back up to the bar i had a shot with Cristo (the quad guide and greek dancer) and hes a bit hard to understand and at one point hes like 'ok i'll find you later' and i was like ok. little did i know what i had agreed to do. once again that night cristo adn the other guy did their greek dancing with everyone circled around and then dr george, the owner of the pink palace came out and picked up a table that had a chair on top of it with full beers filling up the chair WITH HIS TEETH! and then he walked around and danced...i have it on video, its a true sick story. after that cristo came over and brought me out to the middle of the circle where he sat me down and i took 4 shots of ouzo...ughhhh not a good idea for this ailing stomach. and then he ran up from behind me and broke a plate over my head..ferkin hell did that hurt! later found out it hurt so bad b/c it was NINE plates that he broke over my head at once, i have now tied the record! ended up staying out till the wee hours of the night.
sunday we had to check out by 9am-->rough morning x2. the crew all went and had our final breakfast together and hung out all morning until the aussies left to catch their flight home...very sad moment. sam and i went to the pool that afternoon and that evening went to the ferryport where we caught another ferry back to bari.... did we mention how much it sucks to sleep on ferries yet??? Well this blog is overly long so I am goin to end it here and go socialize for a bit....my next blog may be one of the most interesting yet...full of scary things in life. but no worries, everything is just fine! hope i didnt bore you to death too much with this one. ciao!
Right so, its monday now and we finally arrive in Corfu, Greece (big high five!) Once we got off the ferry we had no idea how to get to the Pink Palace, but as bad luck comes in 3's, i reckon good luck does as well. We saw a bus for the Pink Palace 20ft in front of us...so we went to the driver and told him we had no reservations, we had just heard about the place and wanted to come. he said no worries and we hopped on board (another big high five!) We got there around 7am and they greeted us with a shot of ouza, traditional greek alcohol, and then brought us into our room and told us if we got more than 8 people in our shower, it would be a new record.....haha k? So this place costs like 25 euro a night which includes cooked breaky and a 3 course dinner. And while i'm at it i must explain the flippin hike down to breaky....seriously the worst walk ever- especially on a hangover...you walk downhill the whole way- a good 100 stairs plus all teh hills...wait till i post pictures when i return home and you will feel my misery. So sam and i got some food in us and then went and passed out all afternoon IN A BED! YAY! Another thing about the Pink Palace, they have happy hour from 6-11pm...i guess you could say that's a whole new way of defining 'happy hour.' 1 euro everything, yep count us in. So we went down to reception bar (rec bar) where happy hour is from 6-8pm. My first beer there was from a cat named Adam....to be completely honest i was scared shitless out of him... he bought a few beers and told me to slam one with him, so naturally i did....but idk, something about this guy just scared me a bit. A bunch of us then started a massive game of tippy/flippy (w/e you prefer to call it). Dinner there starts at 830...so about that time we went down to the Palladium -->same direction as breakfast except not quite as far, you only have to do the stairs to get there, not all the hills as well. The main level of the Palladium is the club level where the party moves to after dinner. and dinner is on the top level. this place was huge...there were about 300 guests there the entire time of our stay...so basically you dont ever have to leave this place b/c there is always something going on. Dinner was always amazing...soup + salad + meat/veggies. And also happy hour continues down at the Palladium from 8-11pm. Dinner is also such a social event, meet so many people there alone. After dinner we went down to the main level where sam and i danced the night away....this was the first night we invented the (long forgotten) piggyback, where i piggyback sam and we run around like idiots....but its legendary so its fine.
Tuesday morning I couldnt sleep so i was up at 7 and naturally, made my way down to the rec bar. It was this morning that i met Ryan, Adam and Erin- three infamous aussies who will be in the rest of my stories in the Pink Palace and Joe, a cali guy who went there for vacation and ended up getting a job as a bartender. We drank all morning long and finally around noon it was time for the quad safari. We all rented quads (erin and ryan had to share haha due to ryan not having a license for reasons im sure you can figure out) and drove around the island all afternoon.. talk about seeing some amazing scenery, at one point we could see albania and the greece mainland! It was so much fun, ryan adam and i just kept slamming into eachother and b/c they werent our quads, naturally we didnt give a crap what damage we did to them so we tore shit up. This kind of stuff would never fly in the states... most of us were in sandals, we were riding on cliffs that had no siderails and had verticle dropoffs, and to top it all off on our way back we stopped at a pub and Cristo, the guide shouts 'lets get drunk!' ....since when will a quad guide tell all the people that have yet to return back to the hostel to get drunk?! haha oh how i love greece. That night we continued with our evening happy hour of tippy which is where we met Jeff (aka gus), a crazy canadian who had come with his friends, however when it was time to go he said goodbye to his friends and stayed! We finally made it down to dinner (one of the best parts of everyday, perhaps b/c its the last thing we can all vividly-ish remember). There was also a bar on the same level as the dinner which we closed down at 1130 everynight...they always had to ask us to move downstairs so they could get things cleaned up. It was this night that i was introduced to a suicide shot by ryan and adam...you snort salt, take a shot of tequila, and literally smash and smush a lemon in your eye! This night we also had a flippy tourny in the club...unfortunately our team made it to the final 4 and then lost =( Every night we always somehow made it back up to the rec bar b/c the club music was so loud you couldnt even talk to anybody and the rec bar was like a family.... either joe or sue were always bartending and it was always the same 10 of us there drinking. loved it!
Wednesday Sam and I woke up in time for the infamous booze cruise...unfortunately our aussies woke up in time to watch us sail away. I will not speak of most the things that occurred on this booze cruise but will give you the PG version. We left around noon and the cruise starts off with everybody shotgunning a beer- classic. we then cruised around the waters for about an hour or so- seriously this was the most beautiful water i have ever seen, UNREAL. eventually we made it to these oddball cliffs that are in the waters where people can jump the 50foot death fall. By doing certain 'things' you could win 2, 3 or 6 free beers. After the cliff jumpin we set sail again and eventually made it to a bat cave. We all jumped into teh waters and swam into this bat cave- it was SO cool but did smell a little funny, guano. After the bat cave we cruised around until we made it to a secluded private island in the middle of nowhere, where we played games and further enjoyed the sun. Finally we all got back on the boat and made the journey home where we arrived just in time for happy hour! ..that was probably the shortest summation i have ever made of the booze cruise....if you want the details, just ask. So every wednesday night at the Pink Palace is cross dress night.. Once again we all celebrated happy hour at rec bar, headed to dinner and then down to the club. we had kind of forgotten about the cross dress theme so we all switched clothes down there....ryan and i, sam and adam and erin and jeff...we looked good as you can imagine. this night was sooo awesome, i think i piggybacked everyone on the dance floor, poured everyones beer down their mouth and sam did her infamous bendover move. at one point this night sam was sitting in a chair dancing, so ryan sat on her and started dancing and then i sat on top of ryan and started dancing. The legs on this chair literally gave out and we all crashed to the floor, but it was cool we just kept dancing on the foor! haha. Later that night Cristo and some other guy circled everyone on the dance floor and did some greek dancing for all of us...then they went around, gave everyone a shot of ouzo and broke a plate over our heads. and what happened after that....your guess is as good as mine!
thursday was recovery day.... midday jeff, sam and i walked into town and each bought a couple pairs of ray bans and then went to the beach. the sand was so hot it burned the bottom of my feet! we finally headed back to the pink palace and by this time well, it was happy hour. finally made it down to dinner and after dinner we were at the dinner bar (yes we renamed them all) where ryan and i proceeded to have a flip flop fight. we then started a new tradition of drinking unrealistic amounts of tequila, great idea right? we finally headed downstairs and i decided to try to keep track of how many drinks i drank by putting the straw of each cocktail in my hair..sounded like a good idea until i realized they kept falling out. thursday night was not a theme night but we decided to invent crossdress x2 night so a bunch of us switched clothes again...idiots. it was this night that ryan did his classic break dance move where he would spin on the floor, stop and pose, spin on the floor, stop and pose, etc. it was probably one of those you had to be there moments but i am dying laughing right now typing this and thinking about it.
friday was another death day...they decided to have another booze cruise and since ryan, adam and erin had not been on it yet, sam and i decided to do it again- WORST DECISION EVER. not really. so we all woke up and had breakfast together and then boarded to ship. oh i forgot to mention last time, like 60 people go on the booze cruise and if this boat were in teh states, the max capacity would probably be 35....so you do the math and picturing in your head. it was this time that two different people did back flips off the cliff and landed terribly wrong..one ended up breaking his back and the other broke his knee. also did the bat cave and beach scene again and the epic journey home. seriously on this booze cruise i saw things in my life i never knew could exist....each cruise takes up multiple pages in my journal and what, 2-3 sentences on here? haha. Once again the cruise conveniently returned at the start of happy hour so we all joined in on the festivities at rec bar before going to dinner. Oh and before i forget to mention...on the cruise i met this guy john who i had met in galway months ago! funny....and we met mcclean and logan again at teh pink palace, two brothers we had met in interlaken! crazy world this is. Down in the palladium sam, ryan and i tried our infamous chair dance move again....this time wasnt so successful- we actually broke the chair this time and sam landed no the armrest giving her the biggest, nastiest bruise i have ever seen! sam, erin, ryan and adam ended up calling it an early night (ha and by early i mean 3am) but it was fine, jeff and i proceeded to close down the rec bar. I also met the owners son and daughter this night as they work reception during the night and had a good old time with them all night (the next day they were surprised i remembered haha).
saturday was the worst day ever. i dont think i have ever had such an immensely dangerous hangover, but thank the lord we were all in the same boat. i made my way down to the pool around 1pm but only lasted an hour b/c it was way too hot. so i went back to the room, cranked the AC down to 5 celsius and went back to bed. saturday night at the pink palace is one of the biggest nights of the week b/c its toga party- everyone wears a pink toga! i dont think the workers and other guests recognized the 5 of us (sam, me, erin, ryan and adam) ..by the time we got down to dinner we all had our very first drink in our hands and maybe a sip missing from them. very poor form as we were always the first ones down at rec bar in the mornings and last to leave the following morning. until about midnight all we were doing was literally just existing. when we finally made it to the palladium we grabbed a table and we all just sat there and watched ....none of us saying a damn word, none of us caring to talk to anyone. When i went back up to the bar i had a shot with Cristo (the quad guide and greek dancer) and hes a bit hard to understand and at one point hes like 'ok i'll find you later' and i was like ok. little did i know what i had agreed to do. once again that night cristo adn the other guy did their greek dancing with everyone circled around and then dr george, the owner of the pink palace came out and picked up a table that had a chair on top of it with full beers filling up the chair WITH HIS TEETH! and then he walked around and danced...i have it on video, its a true sick story. after that cristo came over and brought me out to the middle of the circle where he sat me down and i took 4 shots of ouzo...ughhhh not a good idea for this ailing stomach. and then he ran up from behind me and broke a plate over my head..ferkin hell did that hurt! later found out it hurt so bad b/c it was NINE plates that he broke over my head at once, i have now tied the record! ended up staying out till the wee hours of the night.
sunday we had to check out by 9am-->rough morning x2. the crew all went and had our final breakfast together and hung out all morning until the aussies left to catch their flight home...very sad moment. sam and i went to the pool that afternoon and that evening went to the ferryport where we caught another ferry back to bari.... did we mention how much it sucks to sleep on ferries yet??? Well this blog is overly long so I am goin to end it here and go socialize for a bit....my next blog may be one of the most interesting yet...full of scary things in life. but no worries, everything is just fine! hope i didnt bore you to death too much with this one. ciao!
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