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Ok, so an update since Prague. Wow - I have been so many places and see so many things. So after wandering around in the streets of Prague, I went back to Adela and Adam's place in the northern part of the city and went to bed really early. The next morning I got up very early and took the train from Prague to Kutná Hora where there is a sanctuary made from real human bones after the plague. About 40.000 people have contributed their remains to this project. Close to the sanctuary, there is a beautiful cathedral in a gothic style. Very big and nice, but it gets spoiled by the building that was built right into the church by the cigarette company Philip Morris even though the church is on the UNESCO list.
After a few hours in Kutná Hora, I quickly moved on to Svitavy where my former room mate Anna lives now with her entire family. They have a very big and beautiful home there. Anna took me around some old towns Litomyšl and Polička where we also ended up having dinner in a really nice restaurant. The rest of the evening we spent with her family around the fire in their back yard. The next morning we both took the train to Brno where we met Dino (Anna's boyfriend) and we went to a medieval restaurant based in the cellar of an old Czech building in the old part of Brno. Here, the waiters were dressed up like the middle ages and even the menu was divided in three categories: poor, commoners and kings/knights (pricewise). After a really nice meal with meed, Anna and Dino left me to explore the city by myself. And what a city. First going to the top of the castle and then to yet another gothic church. Simply a stunning city.
After a few hours exploring I hopped on the first train to Vienna where I would meet Moritz and Angela. I didn't know Moe & Gela before I came to Vienna. I had written them an email through www.couchsurfing.org - where people can make their couches available for travellers who want to see what the locals live like. And I must say this is probably the most amaying apartment I have ever seen. Moritz and Angela are a couple living in their own 3-level apartment in the center of Vienna - with their own padio on the roof of course from where you can see all of Vienna with the mountains in the background. I arrived to Vienna in the evening, so I spent the night just talking to Moe and Angela after having cooked a nice meal with them. The next morning I wandered off by myself, as Moe had gone to Italy to go to a party and Angela was at work. And of all the cities I have been to so far, I am the most impressed with Vienna. I didn't have any expectations to Vienna, as I hadn't heard much about it from others before my trip. All I can say about Vienna is, if you like architecture, Vienna is a MUST! Having seen the cathedral, churches, city hall and everything else like that, I went to Vienna Kunst Haus. Here they have an exhibition from the famous architect Hundertwasser. And I can only highly recommend it to others. His houses, buildings and drawings are like something I had never seen before. It was like walking into a Dalí painting and I must admit I was inspired right away. In the afternoon, after going to the museum, it started raining - and since Moe was in Italy and Angela was at her friend's birthday party, I decided to go watch Transformers II in the cinema. Very cool movie that I had been looking forward to for a long time.
The next morning, I woke up early to say goodbye to Angela and head for the train station. Here I took the first train to Salzburg to see the town so many people talk about in relation to Mozart and the Sound of Music (which I have never seen). I was just walking around Salzburg for a few hours - but wasnt very surprised after the big surprise in Vienna. I had thought Salzburg would be smaller, and with all the tourists around it makes it difficult to catch the mood. However, one point of my time in Salzburg that I found rather amusing, was when I was in the castle, and I heard an american tourist ask his guide "so, this is where Mozart was kept prisoner?" - that just made my day. If you havent heard the story about the Americans in Denmark asking about the viking-situation I will gladly share it with you some day.
On the train to Ljubljana from Salzburg, I met two Norwegian girls who were on an interrail trip as well. They were, however, going to Serbia to a big festival in Novisad which is supposed to be the Roskilde of the Balkans. So I was talking to them the whole way, and part of the way, we were joined by a Slovenian tour guide who started to tell us everything there is to know about Slovenia and Croatia.
Arriving in Ljubljana late Saturday evening, I was welcomed by Maja and her brother Daniel who drove me to their house in Grosuplje - just outside Ljubljana. Here I stayed for the night before taking a day-trip to Zagreb to meet my friend Slobodan from Belgrade. When I met Slobodan (who I hadn't seen in eight years) it was like we just kept going from where we let go. We were joined by Slobo's two friends who were both doctors - and we quickly went to Varaždin in the northern part of Croatia (Slobo was in a car from Serbia...). Here we had a very nice (and big) lunch before walking around the town a bit. Having seen what the town had to offer, we decided to drive back to Zagreb and do the fastest sightseeing tour I have ever done. Seeing all of Zagreb in 30 mins. by car, we went to a nice café to have a coffee/beer. After a nice time in Croatia, it was time for me to head back to Maja's place in Slovenia. At the border, I was met by a very nice policeman who, when he saw my Danish passport, told me "welcome home (to the EU"... I thought that was quite funny considering how far away from home I actually am. After arriving back to Ljubljana, I was met again by Maja and her sister Leja and cousin Miloš. It was time for us to go to the family bbq at Maja's aunt's house where the whole family was gathered. I had a great time there, and after the dinner Maja and I went to a bar with her cousins Boris and Marko.
So today is another sightseeing day where we will meet with Karina and Marija in Ljubljana (from CRS) and have some fun together.
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