Monday, August 21, 2006

I'm going to Iceland!

So gleefully excited! I extended my Summer trip by two weeks to fly to Sweden, hopefully visit Elisabeth and on the spur of the moment, decided to go to Iceland as well. Can't wait. For people asking me (ie. Dad and Carolina) why Iceland and not Greenland, Iceland is closer, warmer and they eat weird/freaky food that I want to try. They're not the same country like I ignorantly thought until I looked it up on Google. Greenland is geographically part of North America but has links with Denmark. Unfortunately, no polar bears in Iceland but apparently sometimes they float over on an ice floe from Greenland so I may get to see one yet.

Bratislava has been a huge disappointment. Nothing special, people are rude and Patio hostel was absolutely shithouse. The staff were the most uninformed, useless bunch I've ever met. Actually, it's kind of funny how unknowledgeable they are. When I got to the train station, there was a guy wearing a Patio Hostel shirt, giving directions/trying to find customers. He told me to catch the No. 3 tram, which was *vague wave of hands* 'over there'. Couldn't tell me which stop to get off, except that it was maybe 4th or 5th. And then when I arrived at hostel, there was a sign saying to keep your valuables in the reception safe, so I asked the girl if I could put my passport there and she looked at me blankly and asked 'Why?' I later asked her about the stalactite/stalagmite caves in Smolenice and she knew nothing and told me to ask the tourist information there. Well, firstly, there is not tourist information centre in Smolenice and secondly, there is nothing in Smolenice except one street with a supermarket, post office and bank.

I did eventually find the caves, thanks to the only woman who spoke English within a 10 km radius. They were pretty cool, like a Slovakian Jenolan Caves. I was feeling sadistic so I touched some stalactites which apparently stunts their growth for 20 years and warps their formation. The tour was in Slovakian so I didn't understand a word but I had fun making faces at the kids who looked at me.

Will be spending the night at Frankfurt airport I'm afraid. Hope they have 24 hour food/internet. I bought Tess of the D'Urbevilles in Vienna so at least I'm not worried about being bored. Hope it lasts me till I return to Logrono.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i feel sorry for the stalactites :(

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for people that are this superficial...