Matts Meanderings

... I'm now back in London.

Arrived back last Thursday from my 3 week backpacking jaunt round Eastern Europe. Ended up visiting:

• Berlin, Germany
• Krakow, Poland
• Praha (Prague), Czech Republic
• Kutná Hora, Czech Republic
• Ceský Krumlov, Czech Republic
• Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic
• Budapest, Hungary
• Split, Croatia

Seems like we did more than that, but I suppose we did visit Prague 3 times (don't ask!). Also got to go to Hungary, which wasn't planned, but our bus from Ceský Krumlov to Praha broke down, which meant we missed our flight to Croatia... We ended up at the main train station in Prague at 7pm, and went “which night train looks like fun?”. Was a good way of doing it, but I think we would've all preferred to go to Croatia instead. Also meant that I only got two days in Split, rather than 5 or 6 days... I could've visited the islands and Dubrovnik, which is apparently amazing. Oh well...

Was very interesting to go to Berlin - got to hear a lot about the cold war, and communism and the like. We even went on a walking tour done by an ex-army major, Nigel, who lived and breathed the cold war - was amazing. Also learnt a lot just travelling through former communist countries - really opened my eyes up about it all.

A lot of the cities were amazing - so old, and beautiful. Granted, Budapest wasn't so crash hot - it was a little grotty, but it was in the process of getting cleaned up.

Split, even though it was completely bagged by the Lonely Planet, was quite nice. Not a lot there, but by that point, we didn't care. A nice city to kick back and relax in. Had a very Venetian feel to it, combined with a bit of Greece. Nice place. Apparently Dubrovnik is much nicer, so I would've loved to have gone there.

Kutná Hora was a bit freaky - there's an ossuary there, which has the bones of 40,000 people arranged as a chandelier, a huge coat of arms, and various other ornaments - very freaky.

All in all, planning on going back to Prague - didn't get a chance to do any cultural type things there, and also Ceský Krumlov - extremely beautiful town. Both a bit touristy, but you can overlook that. Also want to go back to Croatia - a week or so sailing round the islands off Croatia, sounds good to me .

Photos to come soon!

Seeing I'm getting hassled to get some photos from Andrew and Caths wedding up, I thought I'd better pull my finger out:

Cath and her Dad


Cath and her Dad


Andrew, Cath and the Registrar


Andrew, Cath and the Registrar


Andrew, Cath and the Registrar, and Andrea hanging around


The Kiss


Signing the Register


The Family


The Bridesmaids (with one missing (she missed the flight!))


Me and Andrea
aka 'The Best Man and Groomsman' (Andrea was the Best 'Man')

Was a good day - the bride looked beautiful, and he scrubbed up okay .

I know I said it on the day, but congratulations, guys!

By the way, if you want to keep track of what they're up to, check out their blog (yep, Biscuits geek side has rubbed off!).

Oh, and also, these were all taken by Rob, albeit on my camera. Thanks Rob!

Oh well, just looked at the countries I've visited, and doesn't seem I've made that one yet...

1. Australia
2. India
3. Malaysia
4. England
5. Scotland
6. Wales
7. Italy
8. Vatican City
9. Austria
10. Germany
11. The Netherlands
12. Greece
13. France
14. Monaco
15. Ireland
16. Turkey
17. Belgium
18. New Zealand
19. USA
20. Poland
21. Czech Repulic
22. Hungary
23. Croatia

That said, I'm excluding countries that I've just stopped over in briefly... ie, Switzerland and Singapore. But still, that only takes me to 25.

Oh well, thats another 11 months to visit 7 countries. Spain in early November, which puts me well on my way . 

Bugger, life's hard sometimes...

Oh, btw, just updated my visited countries map - just added #20 to #23 to it!

Airports, that is... Pretty good, seeing the first time I left the country was two and a half years ago...

1. Melbourne, Australia (Tullamarine)
2. Adelaide, Australia
3. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4. Bangalore, India
5. Goa, India
6. Mumbai, India
7. Chennai, India
8. Dubai, UAE
9. London, England (Gatwick)
10. Singapore, Singapore (Changi)
11. London, England (Heathrow)
12. Edinburgh, Scotland
13. Shannon, Ireland
14. Istanbul, Turkey
15. Rome, Italy
16. Nice, France
17. Berlin, Germany (Schoenefeld)
18. Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Schipol)
19. London, England (Standsted)
20. Rotterdam, The Netherlands
21. London, England (Luton)
22. Glasgow, Scotland
23. Athens, Greece
24. Brisbane, Australia
25. Cairns, Australia
26. Christchurch, New Zealand
27. Nelson, New Zealand
28. Los Angeles, USA
29. New York, USA (JFK)
30. Prague, Czech Repulic
31. Split, Croatia

And thats nearly a year before I hit the dreaded three-oh. Now, to figure out if I've managed to hit 30 countries by 30...

Oh well, Taggs, I beat ya! 

Great quote from Charlie the other day:

Matt: “Where are we again?”

Charile: “Its Tuesday, so it must be Prague.”

And it wasn't even meant as tongue in cheek .

Think of all the clear things you know of, ie, glass, cling film, perspex, etc.

Now, why are all of them shiny?

(I've got no idea, just a thought I had the other day...)

A little naïve, but still a great story: How to make a corporate butt pucker.

That said, even if it takes 10 times as long, still damn good.

Oh, how I want to be doing ASP.NET rather than using technology over a decade old...

Saw this one the other week, but didn't get around to posting it...

Mutiny as passengers refuse to fly until Asians* are removed

Racial profiling at its best... Scary. Those guys went through security. if the other people don't want to fly with them, it should be them who get off, not the ones accused. Or did we change to a mob rule, guilty till proven innocent model when I wasn't looking? I mean, how would those guys have felt? They'd probably have a great case for suing, I think.

Just adds to the racial tensions between east and west. Not good.

* By the way, Brits call middle eastern people Asian

I'm back in travel mode. currently in Berlin, after a week off work, where I bummed around, visited Cambridge with Rob and Dan, and dropped by Liverpool for Andrew and Caths wedding, which was quite good. Will post a photo or two when I can.

Now on the road with Matt and Charlie for three weeks, heading south from Berlin, aiming to drop by Prague, Krakow, Vienna, and end up in Croatia.

Should be fun! :)