Amourvictoriaa

Hello again to another episode of my crazy Europe adventures!

Prior to Vienna, I was in Prague! (Read more here)

DAY 1

You know how they say travelling sometimes can be a bit difficult?
Well, in our case, yes it was. Because, we found ourselves Stranded without a place to stay.

At Vienna Bus Terminal

Like I've mentioned in most of my posts, our whole trip was impromptu.
Meaning, not planned at all.

For example, say we are in Amsterdam now, and we realised we've had enough time here, so we just decide on our next destination, and book our bus tickets on the spot, then we start finding accommodation on Couchsurfing/Hostels.
That's how it just went about.

So it's definitely not uncommon to find yourself stranded :)

Talya and I were stranded at the Vienna Bus Terminal for a good 2 hours before a kind soul, Thomas decided to take us Hostage! Haha Jokes aside, we were really grateful for him because it was seriously last minute!

Talya is completely exhausted!

My Host Thomas was seriously such an angel!
He knew we were obviously hungry from all the travelling and We can't cook for nuts so he made this! I felt really bad that we couldn't help him cook, but We offered to wash the dishes :D

Fried Chicken, Some boiled potatoes and Salad!
FOOOOD!
Such a lovely welcome surprise!!!!! Thank You Thomas!!! We were joined by Philip and Linh!

It wasn't much for day 1 because we were EXHAUSTED, so we spent most of the time just chilling and talking, and he brought us up to the roof top which was soooo dope!



DAY 2

We decided to slower the pace of our daily activities, by waking up at 2pm everyday! HAHA
Man were we such sloths.

Headed over to a supermarket to get some brunch for Talya and myself, and got a bunch of Groceries to cook!
Yeah, actually we can cook, but we're talking about fried egg and instant noodles and boiled, and fried rice, like super duper basic shit. We are obviously embarrassed :/

And well, spent the rest of the day walking around the city areas with our host! :)




Headed over to Landtmann to have some nice Wien Coffee and of course some apfel Strudel with the host! :)



Groceries: 10 Euro (per pax)
Shopping: 5 Euro
Apfel Strudel & Coffee: 8 Euro

Total: 23 Euro


DAY 3

Headed over to Prater Theme park after waking up 194304820498 Hours later.

Prater was really nice, there's like a ton of things to do!
We mainly went for the horro rides, because well, Talya loves horror, and I like the adrenaline that it brings..

By adrenaline, I meant me just screaming my head off throughout.



we basically spent the day following our feet, wherever it took us.

And thats the best thing about travelling, not having a destination but blindly following whatever paths that our feet took.

Because we landed on some random place that's absolutely beautiful.



Rides & Attractions at Prater: 15 Euro

Total: 23 + 15 = 38 Euro

DAY 4

I slept throughout because I was tired af.

After continuously travelling for a significant amount of time, all that exhaustion really gets to you,

So it was nice to take a couple of hours off the day by myself to relax and sleep it off.

Dinner was made by the ever so talented Linh! Honestly, one of the best cooking ever in our European Trip :)


And Dinner, I managed to catch half of the Dortmund Game with some locals at a nearby Bar.

Funny story, this man decides to sit next to me and start a conversation with me, since I'm evidently not local.

Before you know it, his drunk girlfriend comes into the picture, starts cursing at me, and well, I just looked at her and then continued watching the game. LOL

I pity her tho, cause I have NO clue what the hell she was saying.

Eventually, she got kicked out.


Beers: 8 Euro (for 2)

Total: 38 + 8 = 46 Euro

DAY 5

As I've mentioned countless of times, I use Tinder to meet the locals.
In my opinion, It's honestly a really good way to socialize and it's far less awkward then going up to a local and asking them out for a drink.

So, my friend and I landed ourselves a Tinder date with Akos!
He's also 21 and working in the Hotel line. I don't know what else to say? We just sat at a Park, have a couple of beers before he had to leave.





Beers: Free!
(THANKS AKOS!)


SCHONBRUNN PALACE!

Man! It's un-BELIEVABLY beautiful.

If you plan to travel to Vienna, this is definitely a must see.

Give it a good 3-4 hours, because seriously the place is HUGE.



It's amazing.

I don't know.

Amazing.


Admission: Free!

Final Total: 46 Euros

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Vienna was indeed lovely!
Reminded me a lot of Singapore.
How it was bloody clean! and organized. and everything looked brand new!

a Shout out to our Host Thomas, for having us.
And for his housemates for tolerating us!!!!!!!!!
We miss your cooking!!!


Till then!

Oh btw, if you were wondering, we didn't pay for transport :p
SHhhhhH!


Next Destination:

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY



I dont care about your opinions, and for crying out loud, credit my pictures. 
God is watching you.

Bradenburg Gate, Brandenburg Tor

(i)Holocaust Memorial, Memorial for The Murdered Jews of Europe

The Holocaust Memorial, Memorial for the Murdered Jew, is easily one of my favourite spots to go.

Before this was built, it was simply just an empty land in the middle. The Mayor (or whoever) hired Architect Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold to create a center piece, a memorial for the murdered jews in fact, that is different and unique, and that would constantly bring people to it.

Tadah!
This was built.

Initially no one actually understood it, nor do they like it.
Who would ever understand just blocks of concrete on this stretch of land?

Personally, I think this is genius.
When you see this whole stretch of land from the top, all the concrete blocks seem to be almost along the same level. But as you walk into lanes, you realise it get darker, and colder, and you seem to feel a little lost.

My personal take on this particular masterpiece is that, I believe the designer wanted us to understand how the jews felt during the war. In the picture above, the lanes are rather narrow, hence you have to walk in a single row. As it gets darker and colder upon walking further it, you can't help but feel scared, worried, afraid that you'll never see the light.
This, I believe is how the Jews felt at that time.
To know that they're walking in a single file to their death, knowing they'll never see the person in front or behind them ever again.

Genius.

Website
Admission = Free

(ii) Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie or "Checkpoint C" was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin, during the Cold War.

The soldier photographed was the last US Soldier that guarded the checkpoint before the fall of the Berlin Wall, while The Soviet Soldier on the flip side.

It has now become a tourist attraction, with actors posing as the US and Soviet Soldiers. There's even a reconstruction of the whole checkpoint, with fake sand bags and what not. OH! You can even get a passport stamp for 5 Euro. But trust me, I don't think you want to have a stamp of a place that's non-existent for decades, on a legal travel document.
Please, Save yourself the trouble of getting into trouble.

(iii) Topography Of Terrors

This is one of the coolest places I've seen, even though I believe that the empty spaces could have been well utilised.
This is an indoor and Outdoor museum.

Honestly, If you're too tired, you shouldn't come here, because there A LOT to read.
Talya and I were really exhausted and we ended up sleeping on one of the benches. But thankfully, I've been there before, so I kinda knew the content of the exhibits.

Part of the untouched Berlin Wall situates directly in front of the indoor museum.
Picture Opportunities!

Definitely a must visit, if you are into learning of the whole process on how Adolf Hitler became the Dictator and how he unleashed his plan to "Purify" Germany.

Admission: FREE.
(They accept Donations)

(iv) Bradenburg Gate

(iv) Gendermenmarkt

Cathedrals, Concert Houses.

(v) The Site of Hitler's Bunker (Führerbunker)

Source: Emilycets.blogspot.com

I didn't take a picture because honestly, It's not that great.
It's really just a carpark.
But that very car park is where Adolf Hitler and his wife committed suicide.
Some say they took poison, some say they shot each other.
To be honest, I don't care.

But yeah, it'll be cool to dig 10metres down into the ground to find the remains of the bunker though.


There's definitely more on the tour, but these are my main highlights.

It's my 2nd time on a New Berlin walking tour by Sandeman, and I must say I really enjoyed the tour this time. My tour guide is Franchezka (sp?) who's originally from Dresden, and honestly, she's one really passionate tour guide. She explains with so much emotions and has so much attachments to each landmark we visit, and she often leaves us with mind boggling questions.
So if you're in Berlin and you do decide to take a Sandeman New Berlin tour, just hope she's your tour guide. You'd learn and feel so much more for her.

Cost of Tour: Depends on how much you tip your tour guide.
Duration: 2.5-3 hours.

2. Explored The City (Ourselves)

Just to clarify if you're wondering why these photos were taken during Winter, well, Talya and I didn't really have enough time to explore Berlin as much as we hoped to.

As I've mentioned earlier, this isn't my first time in Berlin, the first being in 2014 when I decided to travel alone for the first time.

The places with the * are the ones that I explored by myself back in 2014, and I'm just sharing them with you because I think it's worth checking out, and also because I can.

(i) Museum Island *

Well the Name says it all.
There are around 7 Museums on this particular land.
Each building has it's own personal unique architecture.
Definitely worth seeing.

Admission: 5-20 Euro
I'm not too sure about it, but if I'm not wrong there's a Full Day Museum Pass that you can buy for all of them, but trust me, it ain't worth the money.
Unless you're a sucker for museums then yeah sure, go ahead.

(ii) East Side Gallery*

This is one of my favourite sites!
It's basically the remains of part of the Berlin Wall, but instead of completely tearing down, they (whoever is in-charge) decides to invite artists from all over the world and paint this part of the Berlin Wall.
Tadah! The East Side Gallery was born!

There's also one done by a Singaporean Artist which whom the name I can't remember.

Definitely a must visit, plus there's plentiful of photo opportunities.

(iii) Alexanderplatz

Some old photos from my first trip down during Christmas.


Well, If you LOVE to shop
and all you do is SHOP SHOP SHOP no matter what (Get the reference? :p)
Then I suggest you head over to Alexanderplatz.
Seriously though, the shopping there is madness.
PLUS, there's a HUGE Primark Outlet ;)

Knock yourself out.

On Several occassions, there will be pop up bars, stores, food etc etc and you can simply have a beer and chill.

Preetttty cool.

3. Visited a Chocolate House
I don't know if many of you know, I'm a sucker for chocolate.
That's also the reason why I work at Awfully Chocolate.

ALL THAT CHOCOLATE :O

This is my favourite Chocolate house/shop/cafe ever! and I had to revisit it again
Not only are there too many choices of chocolate, but it is generally affordable.
Starting price of a piece of Chocolate candy can start from as cheap as 0.30 Euro.

I'm not kidding.

I remembered the first time I went to this chocolate place, I spent like 70 Euro only on chocolate.
heh.

4. Went to A Concentration Camp

I honestly recommend you visit Sachsenhausen.
There's really a lot to feel, plentiful to learn, and it's definitely worth spending money on.

5. Anti-Pubcrawl-ed

One of the best Experiences ever!
It's my first ever Pub crawl, EVER!

I met this guy, Ben, who was our roommate in our hostel, and he read about this 666 Anti-pub crawl. Now now, before you say no, at least read up on it.

They bring you to the weirdest but the most unique bars ever.
Like literally, from the outside it looks pretty shit, rundown, dirty, but once you go in, it's a completely different world.
Some that we went to includes a Ping Pong Bar (You actually get to play Ping Pong), a Goth Horror Rock Bar, and a Absinth Bar (!!!)
Pretty cool ayee.
And because the group is pretty small (Less than 15 people) we all got along pretty well and stuck to each other the whole night.
What a fun bunch!
Miss you guys already!

Cost Of Anti-Pubcrawl: 15 Euro

6. Had Doner Kebab

It's basically the most common and affordable Turkish food.
Talya says the best one she has was from Berlin.

Source: Andberlin.com

Cost of Doner: 5-8 Euro

7. Went to Charlie's Beach

Just a mere 200 Metres away from Checkpoint Charlie, comes Charlie's Beach.
Plentiful of food trucks, Bars, and seats for you to chill and soak up the sun.

8. Took A Photo

Now Now, I know what you are thinking.
Really Vic?? Really??

Well, 2 years ago, when I went to Berlin the first time, I completely regretted not taking one of these photo strips.
There's no way I was going to miss the opportunity again!
It's only 2 Euro for 4 shots, and takes about a good 5 minutes to print out.

Strongly recommend you to take this.
Plus, it makes your room wall/Diary pretty rad.

9. Got Drunk and Made A Ton Of Random Friends

Well, that's the highlight of each city - to meet a bunch of different unique people.
and get drunk altogether.



Couch surfing has quite a number of public events and bar meet ups.
They are completely free, there's not admission charges.
All you have to do is just indicate that you're attending, find the bar, show up and make a ton of new friends.

If you're looking for lively place to party then I suggest you head over to the Capital of Germany!
They have one of the dopest clubs and music.
A club I can recommend you to go is definitely Berghain. It's also one of the most famous clubs in the world. But apparently, It's quite hard to get in, but you can always try your luck!

Another would be Matrix. They play a mixture of EDM, Hip hop and Old school pop.
My kind of shit! :)

If you have anymore recommendations to places you can go, things to do, clubs to go, feel free and voice it out!
Would love to know more and sharing is care :)

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Back to the Calculators!

Length of stay: 4 Day, 3 nights

Cost of Accomodation: 16 Euro for 2 nights (We camped out on the last)

Food & Transport: Average 5 euros/ day

Party & Drinks: 15 euros (Anti-pubcrawl)

Sightseeing: 18 Euros (Concentration Camp)