Sofia - Munich - Sion - Hägglingen - Munich

Thursday: For some reason, the arrival of my train was supposed to be at 10:35. Yana was coming to wait for me at the train station, but she saw on the Bulgarian Railways that the train didn't get in until 12:00. After all, she decided to trust me and came a few minutes after I thought I was supposed to arrive. In the end, it turns out she was right as I actually got in at 12:40. We headed to her flat to drop off my bag, then went to the mall to have lunch. I was somewhat tired after my train, even though I was able to laze around most of the morning, so we went to watch "Due Date" with Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. It's basically the same premise as "The Hangover", but with two less people and a child birth to get to from the other side of the country. Afterwards we headed back to her place, watched some TV shows and ordered pizza.
Friday: I walked to the hostel from Yana's flat to go check in as her roommates were coming back from Romania. I spent the afternoon on the computer before heading out to see Harry Potter 7. I came back and talked with Racheed and Yana over a few drinks.
Saturday: Got up and had breakfast, then watched a few movies with Bekim, Daniella and Sonja. Played a few games of pool with them as well. I watched the Bayern v Schalke game, which Bayern lost 2-0. Went out with Racheed and a few other people from the hostel to a nightclub nearby.
Sunday: I relaxed most of the day, recuperating from the night out. I played some more pool against Bekim and then eventually Yana came to the hostel so we could go watch "The next three days". Afterwards we walked to a restaurant so that Yana could have supper as she was used to her night-shift schedule. She went back to her flat and I went to the hostel and talked with Racheed.
Monday: I went to visit the Ladies' Market in the afternoon with Bekim and Adam. Afterwards I had some shopping to do so that I was ready for my next day on the train. I went back to the hostel and when it was time to call the taxi, it didn't come, so Stan from the hostel came outside with me and flagged one down while explaining where I was going. Go onto the train no problem, but it was late into Belgrade (by an hour and forty minutes... welcome to the Balkans) so I missed the train going directly to Munich.
Tuesday: I had to catch a train to Budapest first, and my connection in Budapest was about 15 minutes. Well, the train was 10 minutes late (although for a 8 hour train that isn't bad) so I had all of 5 minutes to get off and find the train I had to get onto, but that went without a hitch, even had a couple of minutes to spare. Got into Munich at about 10:45 PM after having left Sofia the previous evening at 8:40 PM. Thankfully, I had deliberatley booked a hostel right next to the Munich Hauptbahnhof.
Wednesday: Turns out that a lot of people in the hostel were there for the Bayern Munich v FC Basel match. One of my roommates, Nick, is a huge Bayern fan, and also speaks great German because his parents are from Germany. We talked a bit before he went out to do the walking tour, while I visited the city alone (having already done the walking tour). We agreed to go to the match together, and we left at about 7 PM. The Metro was obviously packed, and once at the stadium, we found our tickets and went in. Turns out we were seated at opposite ends of the pitch. Bayern are really improving with the return of Breno and Ribery. Bayern created quite a few chances, Ribery especially, but Bayern will have to work on timing and positioning, because Gomez was constantly in the wrong spot to receive Ribery's crosses. Bayern went on to win the match 3-0. I met up with Nick and we headed to the Metro, which was even more packed than on the way in. You quite literally didn't even have to hold on to anything while standing, because you were completly surrounded by other people.
Thursday: I was planning on leaving for Sion, but as it was snowing the trains were quite delayed out of Germany and I missed the one I was planning on taking. I decided to stay in Munich another day. It gave me the chance to visit the Weihnachtmarkt (Christmas market) and to try some delicious Glühwein (mulled wine). I walked around the Altstadt (old city) which has the markets on pretty much all of the pedestrian streets.
Friday: I got up early and went to the train station. I spent about 10 hours on various trains, going through Stuttgart, Karlruhe, Basel, Visp and finally arriving in Sion. When I got in I called Michel as he had offered to come and pick me up. I visited with him and Rose-Marie for a bit, then went to Gregoire's to go to bed.
Saturday: I went skiing with Gregoire at Ovronnaz, which was great fun. I haven't skied for about 10 years, so the first couple of minutes were used to getting used to it again, but after that it was really great fun. We had Swiss fondue at the restaurant on the mountain, with a bit of Fendant wine. In the evening we visisted a "cave" with Guy and Isabelle. I bought a couple of bottles from there, and then we went to another "cave" where I bought another few bottles. We went to have supper and afterwards Emilie took me out to Britannica. Gabriel came to pick us up and drove me home.
Sunday: I had some fun repacking my bag with all the wine bottles I bought. Emilie picked me up with Tania and Philippe. We headed to Montreux to visit the Christmas market there. After a few hours of walking, I went to the train station to catch a train to go to Lenzburg. I go in at about 6:30 PM, and Ursula was already at the train station so we just had to find each other. She drove back home to Hägglingen, where I met the family and we had a wonderful supper. Afterwards, Ursula, her daughter Corrine and her boyfriend Marco and I went to an Irish pub in Lenzburg to meet up with a couple of Ursula's friends: Anja and Daniella. We had a few drinks and I told some stories about my trip.
Monday: I headed off to Zürich with Ursula and Corrine. We walked down the Bahnhofstrasse, then grabbed a tram to the edge of the Zürich lake. We then walked through the old city, named Niederdorf, seeing the Grossmünster church. We walked back to the train station and went back to Hägglingen. Corrine's friend came over after supper and we all looked at a photo album of when Ursula came to Canada.
Tuesday: Anja and Daniella offered to take me to Luzern to visit the city. We took the scenic route there to see some very nice Swiss countryside. In town we saw the Jesuit church and the Kapell-brücke (chapel bridge) and walked around the old city. We visited one of Anja's friends at work, before heading for lunch. Eventually we went back to the car to pick up my bag and I went to my train back to Munich.
Wednesday: I took the S-Bahn, which for some reason was running slow, to go to the Munich airport. Got there later than I wanted but checked in, got through passport control and security without a problem. Got on the plane and when we landed in Philadelphia, I saw that they lost my back-pack. Went through US Customs no problem and when I got to my gate for my flight to Montreal, it was cancelled, so I had to wait another two and a half hours for the next one. Of course, the lost baggage counter was closed, so I went home quickly.

Belgrade - Sofia - Istanbul

Tuesday: I got into Belgrade, walked past my hostel but stumbled upon an Internet cafe, where I learned that I had to walk back 10 minutes towards the train station. I still had trouble finding the Green Room hostel, since it isn't all that visible from the street (it's only one floor of a six floor building). I found out that Partizan Belgrade was playing against Shakhtar Donetsk the same evening so I decided to go, and one of the employees at the hostel offered to come and buy the ticket with me, which I found incredibly helpful. I had trouble finding the correct trolley-bus, but when I did, most of the people on it were going to the stadium so I just followed them. Although FK Partizan played a good first half, Shakhtar Donetsk eventually overpowered them and won the match 3-0. Number 10 for Partizan, Moreira, was easily the best player on the team.
Wednesday: I did the walking tour of Belgrade, which starts out at the Horse monument (actually a monument to Prince Mihailova, but all the locals call it the horse monument). We walked around and saw the main sights, including a grafiti of the Partizan fan club (called the grave-diggers) in a zone of the city called Alcatraz. This grafiti is actually surveilled 24 hours a day to avoid anyone painting over it. We also saw the only reamining mosque in all of Belgrade, though it used to be under the Ottoman empire and had hundreds of them. We also saw the zoo, which is one of the best in world for the animals, since they mate in captivity. We then walked up to the fortress, which is where Belgrade got it's name (Beograd, beo = white and grad = city, the castle is white and is the first thing you see when coming up the river Danube). The people from the tour stuck together and we kind of wandered around the city. Eventually we came upon a cafe and stopped. I didn't know what I wanted really, so I just pointed to some random item on the menu and it turned out to be delicious mulled wine. I grabbed some Chinese food and ate it at the hostel before heading out for my night-train to Sofia (София).

Thursday: The train conductor woke me up when we were in the station, so I had pack the things I took out quickly and then get off the train. Walked for about 25 minutes to the hostel, and the whole time I was basically trying to actually get my brain to wake up. I got in and relaxed for a while and then eventually went to book my night-train to Istanbul. I came back and started chatting with the people at the hostel. Yana (Яна) and I talked for a bit before I went to bed.
Friday: I did the walking tour which took us around the city to see the main sights, such as some of the remains of buildings built by the Romans. We also saw the changing of the guard, the parliament building, the national theatre, the church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Maker and a few other sights. I then went to meet Yana at the Mall of Sofia. We had lunch, shopped and eventually we went back to her place since she had to change before going to work. Racheed tried quite a bit to get me to go out with him, a few other people from the hostel and Damien, one of the employees who has to be our guide, but I was feeling too tired to go out.
Saturday: I was walking around the shopping district when I bumped into Phil and Stewart. We walked around a bit and then came back to the hostel to play pool and relax. I eventually had to head out to catch my night-train, though the train station in Sofia is horrible, with some sort of track numbering system consisting of Latin and Arabic numerals. I eventually found my train, good luck another part of the train coming in from somewhere else was late. The Bulgarian border was a normal one to cross, passport control in the cabins, but at the Turkish border we had to get off the train to verify the passport, then buy entry visas (for some reason the most expensive is for Canadians citizens) and then get the visa verified and stamped. All in all it consisted of a stop-over of about 45 minutes at 3AM.

Sunday: Got into Istanbul. I had walking directions to get to the hostel I had reserved, but had no inclination of walking, especially since the streets in Istanbul are all about 200 meters long, so a 20 minute walk consisted of about 12 streets. I finally found out that a tram led to the Sultan Ahmet (Blue) mosque, which was very close to my hostel. After having looked around for a while and being unsuccessful at finding the hostel I had reserved, I stumbled upon the Orient hostel, which Phil had recommended. I walked in and they had room so it was a done deal. I walked into the room and was greeted by four extremely friendly roommates, who told me the story of one of the other previous roommates who actually got kicked out of the room for extreme snoring. They were headed out for some sightseeing, so I decided to follow them as I didn't really have a plan for the day. We walked along the highway that runs along the Bosphorus from the southeast to the northeast of the Fenerbahçe neighborhood and we saw the lighthouse on the way. We visited the spice market, and then went inside the New mosque (Yeni Cami). We then tried to go to the Grand Bazaar, but it was closed. I headed back to the hostel to nap while the others continued sightseeing. In the evening we all went out for kebabs and came back to a bar across the street from the hostel to smoke hookah. In the bar we saw the final minutes of the Galatasaray v Beşiktaş game, both neighboring districts on the Northern European side of Istanbul. The away team, Beşiktaş won 2-1, and since we were on the Southern European side, we didn't really hear any kind of street rioting or whatnot happen.
Monday: I went for a haircut and a shave, keeping only my Movember mustache on. I then went to join the rest of the group at the Blue mosque (Sultanahmet Camii). We then headed over to the Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı), which happens to be one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, and basically the inspiration for shopping malls, where, as everyone else, we got lost and came out at a different exit. We saw a pizza delivery man that looked completely clueless as to where he was supposed to go. To give you an idea of the size, the West Edmonton Mall has an area of 570,000 square meters, whereas the Grand Bazaar has an area of 307,000 square meters. We had a great fish sandwich by the river as a snack. Greg and I went over to Üsküdar, the Asian side of Istanbul for a little more than an hour. On our way back, before getting onto the ferry, we had a french fry sandwich, which I think is just about the definition of junk food. I had a typical meze plate for supper, which consists of four different sauces. I'm quite sure one of them was aubergines, another one very similar to tzatziki, some salsa-like sauce and hummus. It also had rice-stuffed vine leaves and is eaten with a bread similar to pitas. I then went to a bar next door to watch the El Clasico (one of the biggest derbys in the world, the game actually has a name), Real Madrid CF visiting FC Barcelona. To give you an idea, it's much more than about just the football. It's a time when the ideology and culture of two very distinct regions of Spain meet. The capital and where all of the decisions are made, against the the capital of Catalonia, a region that has long wanted independence from the central government. Real Madrid is the rich club, the New York Yankees of Spanish football, the club that considers players as stock, to be bought and sold as much as possible. Always buy the best players, that's their ideology. Barcelona is the complete opposite. They have a very good youth development program, with many of their current stars having gone through it. They consider their players as an investment that will bring them victory and thus money. There could never be two more different clubs. All of this in a country that is mad for football. Barcelona ended up winning 5-0 and you can be sure that Barcelona now has bragging rights, until the next El Clasico is played.
Tuesday: I woke up to find my cellphone wasn't working, so I spent part of the day trying to unsuccessfully fix it. I guess that will have to wait until I get back. In the evening I went out to supper with Greg and David, had manti, a type of Turkish ravioli. We then smoked hookah for the rest of the evening.
Wednesday: I went up to the Topkapi palace, though I didn't actually want to go inside. I crossed the Galata bridge, and found a used book store. I then went to a barber to get a shave, including the mustache this time. I then walked up to Taksim square, where a bombing took place about a month ago. I took a historic tram back to the edge of Galata, then an underground train to get closer to river. I had to walk back uphill to see the Galata tower (the train passes underneath it). I then went to the spice market and the Grand Bazaar to do some Christmas shopping. I came back to the hostel to drop off my stuff before heading back out to take a Turkish bath, which consists of a guy throwing water at you (no small exaggeration, he literally throws it at you). Then he peels your skin with a special glove, and gives you a foam massage. Afterwards you rinse and you're as good as new. I had a beef McTurco for supper (folded pita bread with a beef patty inside). After that I was quite relaxed and set for the night-train, which again consisted of getting up and going outside at the Turkish border for passport control.