Interesting nights....

Back to the wonders of the text form for this post...

So after the last update I haven't been doing too much, come Saturday I had to pack all of my stuff up and store it at the lifts for the day, boarded the entire day away and would have liked to have managed to get one more run in but the Bastards on the lift said it was close.... you know, as they let some of their friends go straight past...

WANKERS!!

So after dragging myself back to the lift where my bag was I returned the rentals and headed to the Felsentherme, the hot springs that Bad Gastein is famous for. Chilled there and had a swim for the first time since I left Oz, the wonders of things that get you remembering home... it was fun.

Got a fucking awesome dinner at a random restaurant, had a steak for the first time in Europe... with pepper sauce.... it was untold levels of awesome. Upon finishing up all of my food I looked at the time and realised that I had a bit over an hour to kill before the last train for the night that was heading back to fair old Salzburg.
Headed to a bar, couldn't go to the Silver Bullet, they had closed for the season the night before so I followed the sound of music to another random bar, had a couple of beers and then was given shots by the barman which was pretty good, then got chatting with them and one of them offered me a place to stay for the night... and this is where the story branches a little bit...

What I said to work... I had missed the train for some unseen reason and there wasn't another until the morning, which I was going to be on.

What actually happened was that the person offered me a place to stay and I thought about it for a little bit and then took the offer, called the YoHo and told my lie, proceeded to drink at that bar for a bit, then dropped off my bags and stuff and then headed to Haegblooms as it was their end of season thing, then drank very large doubles of vodka and lime for 5 Euros each. After a few of those I was given a couple of Captain Morgan and Coke's as the other people had bought a bottle from the bar...

that is one great thing about being over here they let you buy entire bottles in one hit and then give you unlimited mixer to put with it

and then somewhere in the mix my memory ends... which is unusual, normally I at least remember leaving the bar... but it all worked out as I woke up in the bed I was given and I still had all of the things I left with minus the last of the money I have until the end of the month.

I got myself onto a train around noon and got back to the hostel at around 2.30 and spun another lie.

I was on the early train, I fell asleep and woke up just outside Münich, Which is 2 hours by train past Salzburg

I do my best and I'm still pretty good at spinning shit like that... and I don't do it much at all these days so its not too bad.

Now I am probably going to retire for the evening and then contemplate the wonders of working breakfast tomorrow morning... or do my washing... either or.

A short update this time...

The world must be coming to an end, two videos in two days.... enjoy.



Video of the day... Greener Grass by Millencolin

A small update... in person...

The 1 Drawback

The one thing that may have gone wrong in Paris is that my camera has disappeared.

It was in the hotel on Saturday night as far as I remember, I did not take it out with me that night and the next day when I left the hotel I don't remember if I put it in my bag.

The camera I couldn't give a toss about, its more the 220 pictures that I had taken in Paris that I can't really replace.

I've contacted the hotel to no avail yet, there is a chance that Robert may have put it in his bag by accident but I haven't been in touch yet.

One can but hope for the best.

Paris - Sam and Robert

Next day was one consisting of a good chunk of required sleep, killing a few hours and then heading to the hotel where I was meeting up with Sam and Robert. Got there, waited for a bit and then they arrived... A familiar face after all of this time is a bit beyond words, we chilled for a bit, then headed out for dinner at a random restaurant which we found on the main square thing near by where we were staying- good enough for us to go back every night for the rest of the stay. After dinner and chillaxing for a bit we headed out in search of a bar and a couple of drinks... this was an effort to say the least, after walking for fucking ages we came across a small place that met the standards of the guys, I would have been happy with alot less but they are picky bastards. Two beers later I get to see in person just how much of a light weight Sam is when it comes to drinking... but that's what he gets for not drinking for almost 2 years or something before he came overseas. Headed back not too soon after that and crashed out... the next day required a level head.

The next day was awesome fun.

Disney Land!

I didn't quite know what to think when it came to the idea of Disneyland, it was an idea that Sam had been fixated on since before we left Oz and we were planning all of this shit out. It turned out to be pretty fucking awesome, some cool rides and the novelty of now being able to say that I have been to Disneyland... worth it in the end... that and I got some cool merchandise for both me and some other people back home which they should like.

That night we got back and recovered a little bit, got some more food and then got the crazy idea of heading out, this time however we got a tip on at least the right direction to walk in to find some decent places to be, Bastille. Got there, still walked for fucking ages but eventually found a street with bars/clubs and got into one as soon as we could, naturally though Sam and his impeccable standards told us we had to go somewhere better than one of the places that were right there so me and Robert said fuck it and decided that we would move on. We got to a taxi and managed to convey that not only did we want a club... we wanted a strip club, at least I can now say that I have been to one in Paris too. Got there, wasn't too bad, the place was a normal club before 11pm and it was pretty cranking for the most part. Stayed until the change over when the girls came out and they were nothing that spectacular, I'm not the biggest fan of skin clubs, why should I pay when I can work that little bit harder and get a full show for free?

After a little while the guys realized what I already had, that the place was pretty shit and over priced to all fuck, Pulled the pin and headed back to the hotel.

Another morning where I was feeling great as always, I didn't give the guys a choice in the matter, they were going on the free walking tour that I had done and I was going to the Louvre. I dropped them at the spot where the tour was starting, got them signed up and then bailed on them, walked to Notre Dam, Got a couple of good pictures and then meandered to the Louvre, headed in and was greeted by the busiest Museum that you can ever imagine, after getting through the security and then heading to one of the wings I got the big name out of the way and saw the Mona Lisa, over rated but I had assumed that it was going to be, the GIANT picture on the opposite wall has much more too it and it gains such little notice in comparison, did I mention that the fucking thing is probably about 7 meters tall and 13 wide. I wandered around that wing for some time and then headed to another area and looked at a great variety of oddities and interesting pieces of art. They have an awesome collection of Egyptian stuff and similar areas. Looped back at one point and had a better look at the Venus De Milo, that one does live up to the hype a bit more. Wandered aimlessly in the galleries for a while and then made my way back to the central atrium, got some cool shots of the pyramid and the cool effects you can play with, then headed to the second entrance, the inverted pyramid and got some shots of that.

Being in another art gallery I just had to go and get some prints, all 90 Euro's of them. Then headed back to the spot where I was meeting Sam, met up with him, went back to the hotel and then after yet another good dinner went to meet up with the pub crawl.

Oh the Pub Crawl... jebus!

Drinking, a bit more drinking, a little more drinking, a Girl called Cindy from the US, a night club and a bit more drinking.

That sums up the entire night briefly with the only bit I will elaborate on being that it could have been a better night if either of us had had a room that we weren't sharing with friends already.

I eventually got back to the hotel, alone, and crashed out.

-five hours after that Robert came back from the Girl he had taken home, WOOF!

The next day we were determined to do stuff... we went to the Arc de Triomphe and took a good chunk of pictures, then we went to the tower, again for me but a first for the guys. More pictures and stuff and after that everyone was fucked and we decided to head back and crash for a couple more hours. Upon rising Sam had decided to go to dinner with someone he had met the night before, a group of them, but me and Rob weren't keen so we stayed at the hotel, buried almost 2 bottles of vodka between us and then headed out to club REX, one of the biggest and best in Paris.

It was a blast and somewhere I could say I would go again if I had the chance.

Got back at around 4am, slept for a few hours and then the guys had to make a move as their train back to England was at around 11.30am. Still rather glazed from the night before we packed up, made a move.

I said my farewells and then headed to the airport a few hours early, I was written off so I figured somewhere comfortable to read my book would be a good idea.

Hours passed and eventually I boarded, got back to Munich and then got a train back here to Salzburg as tired as all hell around midnight

Paris - the beginning

So since the last little chunk of a post I put up a few weeks ago a couple of things have happened, nothing too bad, a few good things to be honest.

After the week passed and we made our way into the joyous month of March I had done some interesting shifts at work as always... think a little over 30 hours from Friday morning through till Sunday night. Then after packing like mad and making sure I hadn't forgotten anything I made my way to Munich to get the plane from there to Paris... uneventful and easy in all.

My second time through Paris was by far a distinct improvement on the first time through, my love of the metro system continued in roaring fashion, being able to get trains almost anywhere in next to no time at all either is beyond awesome.

I got to Paris on the Monday afternoon/night and made my way to the St. Christopher's hostel, one I can easily recommend to any prospective backpacker or even budget traveler. Great bar and atmosphere, awesome rooms and just a great feel in all. Drank my first night away without much hesitation and was even joined by my boss from here in Salzburg as they were in Paris doing a marketing meeting for the group.

I'm also pretty sure that the manager of the hostel from Amsterdam, a cute blonde, was flirting up a storm with me but I, while being flirtatious in kind, avoided the possible repercussions of such actions if I decide to go back to Amsterdam, for work or otherwise - although a section of my brain was still thinking, "You're only in Europe once," meh - these things come and go.

The next day, after dragging myself out of bed feeling rather shabby to get the breakfast that was included, after getting six times my RDI of caffeine I waited for the group from the walking tour, free, to leave from the hostel at around 10am, the group at the door got to a reasonable size but there was no sign of the guide that was meant to be picking us up. Once 10.15 came around we pulled the pin on waiting for the guide and decided to catch the tube to the spot where we were meant to be meeting the rest of the people on the tour. Easy as always on the tube. Did a massive tour of the city lasting around 4 hours and met a few random people as you do, then proceeded to go to the Eiffel tower after the tour had finished with the people I had met up with. hung around with them for a few hours, then went back to the hostel, got warmer clothes and then headed out to dinner with the before mentioned people. Fun times, more drinking and getting back to the hostel on one of the last tubes running.

Righty O then

Well I have managed to get myself along nicely in this fine town of Salzburg for the last few days and have been having a bit of fun making random crap in the kitchen. The wonders of getting bored and making Brownies or Choc Chip cookies.

Hell, if I had the right type of trays and things to use I'd probably be making muffins and possibly even cakes.

My first couple of days here I had off because they didn't know for sure if i was going to be coming, had the breakfast on the Saturday which was OK except for the fact that the lazy topdeck assholes left the majority of their plates on the tables, all 50 of them, and I was working my myself; a lot of people got free breakfast until I could clear all of the tables off and clean them down. The rest of that day was a bit of a nothing day... it was Valentines and being wonderfully single and not in the mood to go out and play the field it was a boring day - although I did get a message from a fellow single friend of mine, Jen, which lifted my day from a chore to just another day which at the time was an achievement.

Dinner that night was a breeze and the wonders of having to do breakfast the next morning was something that I was so looking forward to. The one thing I did do that night which was a little bit different was to make myself, and the two other people working, a roast chicken. It was meant to be a two hour chicken but the wonders of a fan-forced industrial oven cut that cooking time down to just under an hour and got rave reviews all around.

The next breakfast was another snooze, only had a couple of people come in, 15-20, and only had to break out the fry pan twice for the eggs so it made for another boring morning. The day dragged on and then I crashed out early so I could manage to stay awake through my night shift which I had the joy of doing.

Dragged myself down stairs after a few hours sleep at 11.30pm and headed into the bar where the reception guy was hanging out with the barman and the regulars. Two beers quickly disappeared and then I was on the job, didn't really do much for a couple of hours till the people in the bar finally fucked off and left. Then I setup the breakfast bar, chatted to random people on FaceBook and then decided to use the random baking supplies I had the foresight to buy the day before, no shops are open on Sundays.

At 4 am I made Choc Chip Cookies, and then at 5 am I got bored again and made a tray of brownies.

After dragging the last few hours the shift was over and I headed to bed at a bit after 8am.

The rest of the day was a non item and then the night came around... I had ten euros and some change to spend, had three beers here at the YOHO and then decided to go out and see if I could run into the random American girls at O'Malleys again. They weren't there but I got a beer anyway and got talking to a guy called Toohey (like the beer) and a girl called Amber at the front bar. One beer turned into two and then I headed with them to a live music joint where Toohey was playing, great little place and the first that I have managed to find that has beer that is cheaper than here at the hostel. Got a couple of beers, chatted randomly with a couple of cute local girls and then decided that my lack of money was a sign that I had better get back seeing as I had the breakfast shift that coming morning too.

Breakfast was another non item, then I got pro active and did a total stocktake of the kitchen from scratch, which apparently hadn't been done in months. That wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be considering what I was used to doing back at the football club. Then it was another slow night in the kitchen but no breakfast which is something I was grateful for... back to the repetitive monotony of work.

On this fine day I have finally been told the kind of hours I would be working and how much money I should be expecting per month.

-6 nights a week
-5 mornings a week
-1 day a week off with the following morning off as well.

around 40 hours a week and around 500 euro's a month, and that includes accommodation and some food as well so its effectively around 1000-1200 euro a month if you add those costs in too.

Things are starting to become a bit more solid which after so much variability is a bonus.

That and its only a bit under two weeks till I get to catch up with my old mate Sam in Paris...

Today's feature is an old favorite.



"Johnny I hardly knew ya" - Dropkick Murphys