Palermo, Sicily (Italy)

Day 68 (Cont)

The plane was full of Italian speaking passengers and it made me feel a sense of home. I don't speak Italian but it reminded me of the days when my father was around. I used to hear the language everyday, my mother and father spoken Italian together. I actually really missed those days and it can get a quite depressing knowing those days are gone forever. I have learnt to see all those past memories through good intention aka in my world 'happy memories'. Daddy! if you are reading this, please know that I miss you so much!! I pray to God all the time that he is looking after you. Hope you are well. 

Enough of my little sob moment. I am excited but somewhat scared at the same time. Italy has always been my dream country. It was my fathers country and I wanted to get to know it. My first stop will be Sicily. I was all smiles once I saw land from above. At this moment I am ready to see what this place has! 

The feeling was indescribable when I hopped off the plane. I had mixed emotion and a part of me wanted to cry. I have a feeling this country could possibly get me home sick. Maria and I hopped off the plane and immediately we both smiled to each other. We still couldn't believe we we're in Italy. The whole airport was full of Italians, you could tell by the way they dress and especially how they style their hair. I have never been surrounded by so many of them. The only encounter I had with a mass of Italians was when my father would take me to my Aunties & Uncles place back in Melbourne as a little kid. 

We both had no sense of directions of where to go. We were staying in different hostels and our directions was totally unclear. We followed the bus signs and to find out it was only a shuttle to rental cars so we then followed the train signs. We learned that we were at least 1 hour away from the city centre. Still with no idea we decided to hop on the train and go from there. The train system is different here, you purchase a ticket and valid date it at the station but you still need to have your ticket hole punched by a train inspector on board. He would stick his head out at each stop to see if there was any new passengers coming on. I thought the world would have followed the new times and not have since old fashion procedure. His name was Antonio (Same as my father's name). He spoke to us the whole ride in Italian. We were picking up bits and pieces. He was a very sweet man, helping us find our hostel and suggesting to us how to get there. 

We arrived at Central Station, it was pithed black and quiet. Maria saw her bus and quickly hopped on it. We briefly said bye and agreed to meet online to decide on our travel plans. I was lucky to have a gentleman at the first train stop show me on a map where my hostel street from Central Station was. It was about 1km walk but Maria's hostel was not on the map, it was way further. I hope she would find her place safely. 

In about 20 minutes I found my destination. The whole walk to the hostel was amazing but quiet at the same time. The whole walk was full of old buildings and plazas. Old cities really tampers with my heart, it's mesmerising. The first thing the receptionist (Sonia) asked me was whether I was Italian. I guess my surname gives it away. My fathers Italian, I replied. She asked me whether I could speak it. Unfortunately I couldn't, my father spoke to me in English back home. Once the other receptionist learnt that I was half Chinese and could speak it, he started ripping out these basic Chinese he knew. It was hilarious. He was actually adorable. I think this is a family run hostel and I know for a fact I would love it here despite it being very basic. I did my normal routine at every new place I check into. It was late and the street was quiet. I opted to stay in and make the most of being indoors. Camping for the last 5 nights was fun but super tough. 

Day 69

All the pork, potatoes and beer I have drank in Germany has taken a toll of my tummy. I felt so bloated, could I describe it as a pregnant belly of 11months?! LOL. Maria and I made plans to have a lazy day and hang by the beach. I decided to walk all the way to meet her. It was about 10km away. It may sound far but after what my belly has suffered the past week it was needed. I walked away from the city centre and into the suburbs, through local schools, parks and narrow roads. I even ended up walking in a long narrow road with no foot path for 20 minutes. I really thought I was going to be hit by a car. The Italians are mental went it comes to driving. They must have thought I was crazy because I kept on getting honked out. I don't care what they think and continued to walk. 

After about two hours I finally made it to the street but it was a long one. I walked slowly and Maria hailed across the road for me. She was brunching at a local Italian eatery. It was simply rice with parmesan. I was hungry but preferred to finally have my daily dose of coffee. They don't do any milk coffees here, only espresso. So with no choice I ordered one. I tried an espresso in Germany and disliked it but the one today was actually nice. Could I be bias? Maybe I could learn to enjoy an espresso and have my favourite soy latte once in a while. It is cheaper to have an espresso only. 

She gave me a quick introduction to this area and we headed to the beach. OMG!! It is so good to be back on the beach and have the sun shine warmly on me. The sand was white and the water was blue. To top it off it was full of local Italians of all ages. I love it! we walked along the water and decided we needed to be Gelato'd up! It's so cool to be served by an old Italian man. He ended up giving us three flavours for the price of two. He put so much in our cone. I noticed the others had smaller scoop. SCORE! As much as it could be dangerous to travel as a female but sometimes there are many perks involve. 

We both read on lonely planet last night that travelling as a female can be intimidating in Sicily. Our best option was to wear fully conservative clothes and hide our eyes with shades to avoid eye contact. I noticed what lonely planet meant during my walk to meet Maria. I had my shades to hide my eyes. 

We then headed to the beach and chilled. The feeling of being in Italy and having all the time in the world is so incredible. All I want to do is lay here and never move. In no time we both fell asleep with the sun shining warm on us. It is nice to have someone to talk to. We got to know each other a little more. Maria is such a sweet girl and sees the positive in everyone. I wish I could see the same as her but it's hard. Working in the Mahogany Room for many yeas really F'd up my view on many things. 

Our stomach started to rumble so we headed to dinner. It was this night I got to have my first pasta in Italy. I have been holding off on it for several months. I ordered a spaghetti with mussel and clam. Don't forget the vino to go with it. The pasta was aldenti? Pasta at home is usually cooked way softer but I have always preferred mine this way, semi-soft. This meal was so satisfying. I can't wait to eat more Italian food. 

It was 8:30pm and I really should head back to my area. Maria has already warned me about the buses in Sicily. They were unreliable and there was no bus timetable. They come whenever they like. it didn't bother me and I was happy to take my time getting back. The first bus stop we arrived at was temporary closed so we headed to the next one. 

We heard a loud car about to stop close to us and we were right. Three men dressed in army attire hopped off. They asked us where we were heading. We replied, waiting for the bus back in town. Their English was limited and so was our Italian. They kept on shaking their hair and saying no. There will be no bus back in town. One guy pulled out his phone and called someone. We later figured out he was trying to get in contact with a mate to take me back into town. We asked him what about the car they hopped off and they replied, no it's work. 

Everything seemed like a blur and before we knew it, they were pulling out their phones and handing it over to us. They wanted us to find ourselves on Facebook and even for our number. We tried to give them a fake number why failed because they called out phones to confirm. Nico (the initiator) could not get a hold of his friend and suggested for me to wait till 2am for him to finish his duty for a ride back into town. He also suggested to us that he had a day off tomorrow and he could take us around the island. He also mentioned he was alone. This was getting way out of hand. At last they asked what I preferred. I told them that I preferred to wait for the bus as it was 9:30pm and all I wanted to do was get back to the hostel. All three of them shook there heads and said NO! They kept on pushing for the idea for me to go back to Maria's hostel and wait. Maria and I came to conclusion that they wouldn't budge.  So to shut them up we agreed and pretended to walk back to her hostel. 

We arrived back at her place and asked her receptionist whether it was safe to roam the streets at night.  He laughed and told us that those men were just typical Sicilian and enjoyed foreigner. the streets were safe and he confirmed he buses run till midnight. I decided to make out way back to the bus stop and wait. We were warned that some stop was temporarily unavailable. We thought we were clever and made it to a bus stop that was running. We waited. 30 minutes later a bus drove passed on the other side and this confirmed that there would be a bus soon. 40 minutes passed and I was getting a little worried. I stood up and it was this moment I saw a sign saying temporary. We stupidly waited so long for nothing. It was now 11pm and I decided to take a taxi home. It would take me hours to make it back to town because I need change onto a second bus. 

I finally made it back to the hostel. Those military men was now whatsapping us with silly comments. They were literally writing the identical thing to Maria and I. We couldn't stop laughing. It was now definitely getting out of hand. I told them I no longer need a ride and they tried to push for us to come out for a drink or even ice cream. We decided to not reply at all. 

Day 70

Maria and I met at Central Station. The city was super busy and full of Italians. I still can't believe I am here and surrounded by Italian. I don't know how to feel however I feel happy. The coffee today was again delicious and cheap. Yes I am super bias. Our itinerary today was to just walk around. Sicily was full of old buildings and churches. Every corner you turn there was definitely something amazing to see. There was so many churches and my researches on crucifix has began. 

We ended up at the port enjoying the breeze. There was many Italians fishing by the port. We stopped and sat and before we knew it these Italians started talking to us. They were hilarious. Yelling out to us with typical Italian manner and among each other. Half of the time we didn't understand a thing they were saying but they were harmless and made us laugh non stop. Again it ended with them asking us out for coffee and to another extreme to their house to eat the fish that they will cook.Italians are so funny. 

We had a Skype date with Antonia to discuss whether or not we will attend the wine festival up in North Italy. I came to conclusion I will not be attending. It will cost too much for a return trip from Naples. I need to fly from Naples to Paris on the 10th of October. Maria was real keen and now it looks like we will definitely be separating. We knew sooner or later this was going to happen. It was nice to have her around and I kind of gotten use to having her around. 

Day 71

I spent the whole day lazing around the hostel researching on my next destination. I finally got to speak to some of my roomies which was a breath of fresh air at the start. I ended up wanting to zone out on our conversation topic and was looking for reasonable excuses to leave. 

Those guys from the other night wanted to meet up. Maria and I both agreed as long as we have each other it would be ok. We had codes for each other when we felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave. The code to leave was 'Did you call your mother last night?". we also agreed that will we not let out any information about each other. It is up to the individual on what we wanted to share. Two other girls was gonna join us, Schofia & Angelica from Sweden. They were lovely people and what they did for a living was so cool. I'm actually jealous. They both share the same job and is also best friends. They've known each other for more than 16 years. I learnt that without speaking they understood each other. I am definitely envious on that. 

The situation was super weird when we arrived at the meeting point. One guy (Claudio) was there and the other was no where to be found. We later figured out that those men was using google translate to message us which also made sense to why half of the time it was weird sounding english. Apparently Maria had to be our translator for the night which is going to be tough on her. I could not stop laughing out loud because to me this night was going to be interesting with the language barrier. Every time we could not understand each other I would LOL.

There seemed to be a lot of confusion. Claudio was on the phone countless times and apparently they only wanted to meet is here and drive us to some beach. Did I mention Maria & I only? They seemed to be annoyed that we had more. We already started to feel uncomfortable and insisted we were gonna stay in the City and have dinner. Another unknown male arrived and we later learned it was another one of their colleagues, Jack. 

Nico the supposed second man arrived and didn't seem happy. I clear signs of their intentions has finally been revealed. He kept on dragging Maria aside and she was smart enough to stand her ground and say we were gonna have dinner in the city. Hell NO, will we be going to where they had plans. While this was all unfolding I was making conversation with Jack through a dictionary. It was easier to speak to someone else who didn't have any intention (well at least I thought). At this point I still couldn't stop laughing over the language barrier we have. We were finally move after so much time wasted in one spot. Nico decided he was now busy and was leaving however he wanted to meet us again at 1am. how dodgey can this get? Thank God his gone. 

Dinner was once again awkward to some but way too hilarious for me. I am easily amused on little things but I think the Italians were beginning to think I am laughing at them. I am sorry but I don't know how to hold my laugh in. The situation is just too funny. I don't know what happened but it ended up with Jack asking me in front of the whole table to have breakfast in the morning. I was speechless. How the hell did it end up like that? I thought he was harmless. I tried to quickly think of a way to brush it off. I smiled and said I will be most likely leaving tomorrow. He tried to tell me to extend another day but I pretended I could not understand. The whole table was silent during this and it was getting super awkward. 

I figured the best excuse to use was I don't understand when caught in an awkward conversation. All the girls agreed that it was probably the best idea to ditch these Italians. We made up the excuse of Maria feeling tired and we were gonna go. Boy, did this just turn table. I don't know what was happening in front but Jack dragged me aside and tried to make me stay. I stood there laughing and pretended I didn't understand him. He was working hard with the dictionary. This situation is probably getting worse but I couldn't control my LOL. I really need to learn to shut up. I ended up walking towards the girls. 

Italian men are either so upfront or just sleazy. Angelica got dragged to the side by Claudio and the conversation over there was getting heated up (so I later found out). While waiting for the conversation over there to end, Jack pulled me in and tried for a kiss.bI moved my face and he totally missed. Schofia was next to me. She mumbled to me this is awkward and I don't know what I can do to help you. I replied, "NO SHIT! I will be running away in the next second". Angelica & Claudio returned and he seemed pissed off. He angrily said go and goodbye which we were totally fine with.  We couldn't wait to walk off. Some may be uncomfortable of tonight but I sure did have my fun. Anything that makes me laugh is enough to entertain me. 

We went back to my hostel and grabbed the carton of wine in the fridge that didn't belong to me but I was certain the rightful owner has left. I waited at the bust stop with the girls and before I knew it I was dragged into the bus. They wanted me to go back with them. It was a night bus which went around the whole town in a whole different route the girls know. It pretty much too us about 1 hour and a half to make it to the beach. From there we walked back to their hostel. More bottles of alcohol was opened accompanied with a tub of ice cream. yummmm. I didn't get back to my hostel until 4am. I was still undecided whether I would extend another day or leave. I will decide when I awake. 

xo 

Calafati

Munich, Germany (Oktoberfest)

Day 63

Maria decided to join me in Munich for Oktoberfest. Random last minute decision but it's going to be good. We headed to the central is station to catch our bus to Munich. The ride took about 8 hours. The only time the bus stopped was to change drivers which was literally 2 minutes. It was so costrophobic-. 

First stop at Munich was to hunt down food. It was 8pm when we arrived. We were so hungry because it has been so long since we last ate. We shuffled down a doner kebab so quick that our belly was hurting at the end. Once full, it was time to figure our way to the campsite. Maria actually had no accommodation booked and plan to wing it. I knew I had the tent to myself on the first night and offer to let her stay in there. It took a while to figure out how to get her into the Campsite but I eventually figured out a way to smuggle her in. 

It was freezing but being in nature brings such a relaxing feel and especially being disconnected from the world. It was so peaceful. We bought ourselves beer and chilled on a log until we were adopted by these fellow Australian. They invited us back to their Jack Sparrow van. Maria and I looked at each other and said why not? So we followed. Majority of them was already drunk but I guess we could live with some drunken entertainment. 

Stevo from Sydney was probably the most sober one. He was actually quite interesting. The rest was just being idiotic drunk which is always a laugh for me. Stevo has a van that he has been using for the past few months road tripping. He has definitely inspired me to go see Europe by driving. I have heard numerous times its the only way to see the best of Europe 

Day 64

I ditched day 1 of my Bus-a-bout tour. There wasn't much going on, only an introduction to Munich. Maria and I followed Stevo to this so called 100 Club. Apparently it's this game that the Kiwis and Aussie has come up with. It happens annually on the Friday before Oktoberfest begins. It is unofficial and underground. Each year the location is changed. There was even a coach running to the undisclosed place. Best way to make a quick 5 euro per person. 

I was told it is called the 100 club because you need to take 100 shots in 100 minutes. How it works; Daring Aussies and Kiwis will participate. They all sit in a circle. Every minute they would need to drink a shot of beer however that is not the only thing they drink. The winners from last year will b the judges. As a judge you can make any rule up you like. I heard last year guys had to drink urine, vomit, public hair beer and anything they could come up with. It sounds so disgusting but I decided to come along and see how idiotic they can get.

This years locating was at a different camp site. I was told it is usually at an abandoned field and it normally commences at noon. We arrived at the other camp site and was told by word of mouth that it was happening at 2pm. We made ourselves comfortable with wine & beers to kill time. 

We arrived early but still managed to be late. It started and all the participants downs a whole bottle of beer and 25 push ups. There was so many funnels going around. I see one judge shaving his beard into one if them mixing it with beer. I watched them randomly select a participant to drink it. There was a girl keeping track of time and every minute that passes by she would bang two pots together. It means a shot if beer needs to be drank. The more I watched it got more disgusting but at the same time hilarious to watch. Judges were cracking raw eggs into their mouths. The worse was seeing the judges feed them dog food. They had no choice by to eat it otherwise you are out. It's kind of like the last man standing. 

One of the judge does his toilet business (number 1) in a funnel again mixed with beer. He actually takes a big sip of it before passing it onto the guys. It was super disgusting and I cringed so hard. The first participant throws up and onto his poor friend. In order to stay in the game he needs to drink his own spew. It was disgusting. Then one if the judge puts his fingers down his throat and into the funnel it goes. Another disgusting moment. Beer was poured on their heads, flour thrown at them and even tomato sauce. Whoever came up with this needs to be sent to a mental hospital. 

20 minutes into it the Police arrives and of course they were trying to control it. However if you think about it, there's nothing illegal about this. It's just a bunch of people playing a idiotic game. The commander asked us all to leave and to stop otherwise we will be asked to leave Munich. It didn't stopped them and they continued. We watched for another 10 minutes and decided to get out if here. We didn't want to get arrested. When we left there was about 10 police vans outside. This shit just got real. 

We trained it back to our campsite and chilled the rest it the night. The opening is tomorrow and the site was getting very busy. We needed to be awake at 5:30am the next day. Apparently getting there super early is the only way you could get a seat. It was so hard to sleep because everyone was so loud and it was freezing. 

Day 65

One of the crew from Busabout was screaming wake up in a high pitch voice at 5:30am. Is she serious? It was continuous and the most dreadful thing you could hear. Buses were taking us out to the festival grounds at 6:45am and breakfast was already being served. Simply a roll of bread, half a sausage and scrambled egg. At least they had coffee. I managed to pull off my wristband and passed it to maria to score her free breakfast. 

They were strict on letting people on the bus, so Maria & Steve headed to the trains. I knew straight away we would not find each other because non of us had any form of cell signals. it was 7:20am when we arrived and the whole Busabout headed to the Luwen? tent. The doors don't open till 9am but we need to be quick smart. As soon as the door opens we needed to grab as much table as we could. I an totally not a line person. I ditched them and went to a local coffee shop to chill. I came back at 8:30am which was perfect timing. They started to let people through. 

I was actually with my tent buddy Stef that I met one month ago in Valencia. She's a sweet petite girl but I really have known her for all up less that 24 hours. Within the first hour of waiting in line I already know that its everyman for himself. She may have thought I walked away but I didn't and saw(undisclosed) .I don't know whether this has come with age or the things I have seen in life but I am very wary of everything. One thing I know for sure is the passed 7 years working in the Casino industry has opened my eyes to many things. You have to be in it to understand.

Our Busabout crew managed to be let in before the doors open and secured an area but we still needed to race in there and bagged the spot.  The door opened and everyone raced in. It almost felt like everybody was running for their life. Luckily it was only 2 of us which made it easy to join any table. We sat down with some unknown Busabout people and in an instant we pretty much became family. It was 9am and no alcohol will be served until noon or well at least till the first keg has been tapped by the Mayor. The whole tent was already packed except for the reserved tables. How to kill three hours? We bought some cards to play with and to find out they aren't your normal playing cards. They had different type of pattern and the cards start from number 6. We came up with all these silly games to play with.

The wait is finally over. I assume the major has ready tapped the first keg because a marching band came inside the tent and went straight to the stage. The band settled in and German music started playing. The Germans on stage gave a toast and everybody cheered. Within an instant all the waiters started taking orders and numerous steins of beer started coming out. These female waitress are not to be messed with. They can carry up to twelve steins at once. You wouldn't want to mess with them. Don't get in their way because they will just knock you out with the steins. I encountered it a few times. I wouldn't want to be their husband.

The first round of orders for beer took a while. We were told that it would be wise to tip the ladies on our first order. This will make them happy and make us happy. The whole table tipped our waiter at least half of the bill. This definitely made her happy because she was super accommodating to us throughout the day. She kept on coming back to see whether we required any more beers or food. Throughout the day we had gutsy people tackle the whole 1L stein all at once. The tradition was, you would stand up on the bench, the music will stop and all attention on you. If you succeed you get a round of applause and if you fail, you get a roady boo. You are also suppose to pour the left over beer over your head.

As more alcohol was consumed the more friendly everyone got. I was only half way through my second stein and found myself dancing on the bench rather than sitting on it. The music kept on playing and time after time they would play the famous german drinking song. If you were sober, you could see the whole place was in chaos with the rush of beers needing to be serves. I don't know how I agreed to this but I was on my third stein. This was only about 4pm and everyone was now half way into silliness. Well at least I knew I was. I was now jumping on the bench rather than standing on it. People was coming up with so many silly ways to consume their beer. One even used their shoe as a class. It actually felt good to be silly and not be judged.

I finished my third stein of beer. This would be the record of beer consumed at once in my whole life. At this point you could see many people swaying and at the tip of being drunk. I was most likely getting to that point. I could already vision myself suddenly hitting rock bottom. I needed to get outside and go for a walk. I picked up my backpack and snuck out without anyone seeing me. I had no idea where I was heading too. WOW! Outside was like a big kids amusement park. Big kids meaning all ages including elderly. This festival has just gone up a level for me. Where on earth would you find a 60 year old going on a ride?

OK. I need to get back to staying focus and sober. I ended up at a street with free wifi. Maria was online. We were reunited. I was kind of glad to be around someone my age. I spent the whole day drinking with the young ones and I could not keep up with them. Maria lost Steve. Apparently she decided to go for a walk while they were already seated in the tent. She was refused reentry so she spent the whole day walking around. We walked around for a few more hours and decided we would come back tomorrow and be big kids. Somehow we ended up on the bumper cars. This was probably one of the best bumper car rides I have ever been on. Everyone was aggressive but friendly at the same time. These boys started stealing out beanies off our head. We ended up with half our bodies leaning out of the car to trying to retrieve it.

We got back to the camp site at about midnight. Steve was no where to be found. We thought he would at least be back already. Maria and I had no form of contact for him. All Maria's things are in his van. This is a very bad sign. I didn't know what to do because I now have a tent bud. This was a very bad sign. In the end Maria decided to sleep in the showers and hope for Steve to eventually be back. At this point I felt really bad and didn't know what to do or say. The only thing I could offer her was my spare blanket. I wanted to stay up with her but I was too exhausted myself.

Day 66

I woke up this morning and straight away went searching for Maria. I checked Steve's van and found her sleeping in the front. It was 7:30 and way to early for me to start my day. Most of the Busabout people was ready to tackle the last day of this tour. These young kids are guns. I could not do this two days straight. My tent buddy never made it back either which had me worrying a little. I had her wallet with me. Knowing that Maria was safe I went back to sleep. 

At about 9am, Maria came to wake me up and to tell me about Steve. I was too drowsy to understand her. We agreed to meet at the van later on. I don't understand how it can be freezing cold at night in the tent but extremely hot during the day. I got up and ready myself. I struggled to find Maria for a whole entire hour. The whole camp place was now deserted. I decided to leave a note on Steve's van for Maria to meet her later on. I asked the German boys that was camping next to Steve whether they have seen Maria. They said yes, isn't that her in the front. OMG! All this time she was sleeping in the van and I was stupid enough just to walk pass it and not thoroughly walk towards the can to find her. 

Reunited, we made out way towards the city square, Marienplatz?. This place was amazing and old at the same time. It was Sunday and everything was closed but that didn't kill our spirit. We were entertained with the never ending buskers and the old buildings. I was super impressed by a group of buskers. They actually had a grand piano out on the street, with a violinist, chailo?, ? and ?. They were playing old classic music which once again touches my heart. I am in love with Munich and I much prefer it over Berlin. I prefer old over new. 

We didn't really do much. We walked around and stopped constantly to sit but it was perfect. We stopped by the festival grounds for a little but couldn't help ourselves in not eating. We wanted to eat everything. I love this festival. It was entertaining watching the drunks pass out around the festival grounds. I am just glad I am not one of them. I have had a few times passing out at home where I would tell my friends to go away and leave me to sleep on this random grass or footpath. Ahhhh! Those were my younger days. 

We met up with my tent buddy at 6pm as she had no plans for the day. It was her birthday and it must be hard not having your love ones close by. She needed a good night but I couldn't offer it to her. I was anti alcohol at this point. We headed back to the festival once it was dark. It is actually prettier at night with all the lights on. We went on a few rides and took countless photos. After a couple of hours we separated. Stef had to go return something. Maria and I stopped by the local Mcdonals to use the free wifi. Two Turkish men joined our table. It was peaceful at the start where we were doing our own thing. Long story cut short, in the end I was almost at the point of knocking one out. My mother has taught me as a little kid that these men don't allow women to speak up. They like to be in control of everything. Mum has experienced this first hand when she was working at dad's pizzeria. I know too have witnessed it first hand. It's a pity how a grown man can handle their own jokes but not a joke from a woman. Maybe because we are way better than them when making a joke?

We eventually made our way back to the campsite. Steve was recovering from the pervious night. We ended up putting on a movie to watch to mellow down. It was a zombie movie which I dislike. I only realised it after 30 minutes into it. I think zombies are the worse thing us human has come up with. It is totally ridiculous. I decided to leave and call it a night. There was no way I was going to continue watching it. 

Day 67

The 3 night camping tour with Busabout was up. The whole place was a mess with sleeping bags & air mattress all piled up. It looked like a giant mountain. The party was over and everyone was on their way to their next chapter. I was staying an extra night. I wanted to have at least one day to see Munich before I continued with my journey. 

Maria had decided to come to Sicily with me too. She booked the same flight as me. It is a pleasure to have someone around for a long period of time. Sometimes it sucks to meet someone for a day and then having to say goodbye the next. She was finishing off the portrait of Steve on his van. I didn't want to hang around and opted to meet her in the city centre. 

It was monday which means shops were open. There was a market right outside the station. There was so many people around chilling and eating. It was amazing to see the butchers not only offering fresh meat to purchase but they would cook it for you too. The same at the seafood shop. There was countless bakeries, cheese stall and antipasti store. It was a beautiful day. I finally met up with Maria and we decided to have a picnic. We headed back to the market to buy some cheese and antipasti things. Wine seemed a little expensive here so we chose to buy beers instead. 

We found ourselves at a park surrounded with buildings. It was like a patch of green in the middle of the city. Large group of people was here napping. The Germans do know how to enjoy life. Here we settled ourselves for the next few hours and enjoyed the sun. We talked about anything and everything. We ended up speaking to these drunk Italian men. They were here for Oktoberfest. It's amusing to me to see ourselves struggle to communicate but it was something I enjoyed too. They were heavily intoxicated but in an appropriate way. We all decided to meet later on and do something. 

Maria and I really had no plans. We went to buy coffee and dessert. Again we found ourselves back to that park. It was now out new best friend. It also had free wifi which made it easier to stay. We met up with the Italians as headed towards Hofbrauhaus. A world famous brewery house. We weren't hungry but it was out last night in Germany and we needed to German ourselves up one last time. The Italians ended up paying for us. I guess this is the perks of being a woman. We walked around the city one last time and then bided farewell to them. They were nice people. We couldn't tell what their intentions was though. We exchanged details and would definitely hit them up if we were ever traveling to their city. 

Day 68

Today we head to Sicily. We took out time to the airport. We said goodbye to Steve. He told us he was planning to dump his van in Paris once his ready to go home. I reassured him again that we were interested in his van if he was really planning on dumping it. Maria and I had been scheming this for the last few days. Anit we dodgey? He was a nice guy in the end and I do think we can be friends for a long time. 

We stopped by the city one last time. Maria had to do a few things. She abandoned me with all our bags at our best friends place aka that park. It was so peaceful. It's a pity we needed to leave today. I could again stay in this park forever. It is now time to head to he airport. 

I will see you all in Sicily!

Ciao!

xo 

Calafati

Berlin, Germany

Day 57

The directions I had to this hostel/ hotel was clearly given to me. I was to take the train straight to the appropriate station. Once I arrived at the airport I found out there was no trains and only buses. I immediately knew I was screwed and felt lost. What airport was I at again?I asked for help by showing the information people the station I need to get to from my email. I was told to hop on the bus and follow the U sign once I arrived at Alexanderpantz to find the train.

I was getting confused with all these German words. They all looked the same to me and was relying heavily on my email to remind me of what station to get off. As I approached the end of this bus ride I pulled out my phone to find out where I should be going. Oh No! I must have accidentally deleted the email while I was playing around with my luggage. With no wifi and every German word looking the same I officially have no clue where I am going. After several minutes of minor panicking. It clicked to me that I may have that email on my laptop. Thank God! It was there. I felt back on track now. I found myself at the U Bahn (Underground Trains) and followed as per instruction.

You would expect to find the barriers to enter the station expect I found myself  straight onto a platform and not the one I need. It was like a maze in here with stairs going up & down and straight into different platforms.  None of hose platforms went to my station. This is getting beyond silly. I wondered around and had no idea until I came to conclusion that I needed the S Bahn (City Rail). The U Bahn connects into the S Bahn but at the opposite end of it. The adventures of my navigation is getting out if control. LOL. I eventually made it to my hostel after finding my station.

I never so any research when landing in the countries I made plans to. Every time I arrive into a new country I am in shock and I would say culturally shock. I had no idea what Germany would bring. The punk community here is very large. They are almost everywhere. I only know that Melbourne has a small community of it but they usually disappear. I don't know exactly where they hang out or do back in home. In Germany, they are everywhere and instead of finding homeless people begging for money, it's the punks that do here. I have walked passed a few asking me something in German. I later found out they literally say 'Do you have any spare change for beer?'. How ridiculous. The next day I saw a sign in English reading 'I need money for beer and weed'.

I next noticed on the streets, it didn't matter what age you were people at least holding a bottle of some alcoholic beverage on their hand. Did I mention the bottle was open too? I still comes as a shock to me that you are allowed to freely drink anywhere in Europe. It felt uncomfortable at start but I am starting to get use to it.

I was also weather shocked. It was 13 degrees. I have been travelling around with summer clothing only. It felt like winter. I left Barcelona this morning and it was humid. In a matter if a 3 hour flight I am in winter. With no warm clothes I opted to find quickly some dinner and spend my night in researching in what Berlin had to offer.

Day 58

I decided amongst all walking and bike tour that I would do the alternative tour. History and Calafati don't really mix well. I wanted something that would interest me and this had flea markets and urban art involve. Penny our tour guide was from Scotland but has loved in this city for the past five years. She was into urban art but writes press released for street art. Germany was known to be the street art of Europe. It houses over 700 active artistes. Grafting is illegal here but it will be hard to be caught. The country only employs about 20 members to  clean, log and catch.

She had full knowledge of the the type of street art and background of many street artistes. It's amazing how they interrupt themselves and why they choose to use such portrait to represent themselves. Street art is everywhere around Berlin and it constantly grabs my attention. She even took us to this African camp. A small area by the river where it once was only a public basketball court. The Africans didn't have much money and hence the reason why they hanged around here. Today it's a place called 'YAAM' where they now have a soccer field, kids playground and constantly holds festival. They also have a small bar inside that is non profit. All the profit they earn here gets sent straight to places like Jamaica to help out the poor community. The vibe here was amazing. I felt so happy standing right here knowing of such good cause.

We ended the tour at an that had an abandoned train station. I forgot when but the station was bombed years ago. She told us a story that this was pretty much where the underground raves were born in Berlin. Every night you would hear music but all the doors were closed and you would wonder how to get in. At the end of this strip there was a Doner Kebab stall and there would be constant traffic going in and out. Apparently there was two toilets in there, one that was a toilet and the other a hole with a ladder down there. This was were the entrance and exit was to these clubs. The council was getting worried and decided to shut down this place, however a kind businessman bought this place and leased it out to the squatters to continue their club scene. Oh how i wish I got to experience the going down and up the hole to these rave parties. It sounds so much fun.

Day 59

I wanted to make this day useful and made myself available early. It was a Sunday and to my surprise all the shops were closed. Only a few restaurants & cafe was open. I was supposed to have breakfast with Thais (My new friend from my Madrid hostel) but she was MIA. With everything closed I made my way to some park karaoke I googled online. At this point I was so desperate for a kaffee (coffee). I was having a hard decision in where to have it. #storyofmylife I finally settled for this little cafe near the station I got off for the park. Here I found wifi and surprisingly I heard from Thais. She lost her phone and was having difficulty contacting me.

She had plans to take me to a market and ironically it was at the same place of this karaoke place. It was right next to each other, We headed to the public karaoke first. I could only say how brave these people are. It was such a fun atmosphere. Apparently people come super early to put their names down and most of the people are regulars that come to sing every week. The regulars alwsys sing the same song every week. There was so many different types, starting from young, old, crazy cat woman,  another country, bad singers & good singers. I could come here all the time. It was so entertaining and it had me laughing non stop.

It was getting late and by the time we made our way to the flea market it was beginning to pack up. Thais actually lived in this neighbourhood for a year. She showed me around and took me to her favourite cafe. Here I had  this banana cake (bread in my eyes) and it was the best I have every had. It was so crunchy on the outside but super moist inside. Thais was living on a massive hangover and I was getting exhausted and an end to the night was called. It was with great pleasure to finally have a human to speak to.

Day 60

I had no plans at all. I ended up at the east side of the Berlin wall. It was incredible to see all the artworks along the whole wall. Someone helped me make a decision on where to go. It was a random train station. I had no expectation of what there was but boy, was it a good choice. It was where the Berlin gate was. There was a few other things around that I took pictures of and have yet to figure out what it was. There was this massive park that ran down about 4 to 5km. There was a beautiful road in between and I decided to walk the whole lot. Everyone should know that by walking is the best way to discover things especially when travelling. There was so many stops along this walk that I have yet to figure out what it is.

It was raining and I dread the cold and decided to head back to the hostel and chill. I needed to recheck in and this time to a female dorm. Here is where I met Maria, a Canadian that was born in Rome but her parents are from Poland. She can speak Polish, English, Spanish and French. She was an artist too. She too was travelling alone. She is also a talented artist. We started off speaking only and decided to go for a walk to explore. We ended up walking all the way to the central part of Berlin which when thinking about it was far. We stopped off for a German dinner. It was actually so good to have someone to share food with again. German food is quite heavy and we definitely needed that long walk back to the hostel. Meeting Maria was one positive in my journey. We are somewhat similar in a way. At this time I didn't know this will change my travels. Everyone was so friendly in this dorm. We made friends with Antonia from Northern Italy (my first Italian friend) and ended up the bar downing a bottle of wine. Antonio is in Berlin to look for a job. She loves this city so much and wants to live her. She was here for a few days to send her job applications to agents.

Day 61

Maria and I signed up for free yoga this morning. It was a struggle and a lot of contemplating in bed this morning whether to do it but we finally got off our asses and headed upstairs. Within 5 minutes into it i wanted to leave. I have always hated normal yoga and I tend to put myself in this situation every two years thinking that one day I will enjoy it. This is like the third time in my life. I vow to never attend another yoga class ever. I will stick to my bikram yoga.

Maria decided to join me on my day trip to Potsdam. I didn't know what to expect but have heard off Thais that they have beautiful gardens there. Thais actually travels to Potsdam to attend university. It was about over an hour train ride to get there. The town was old which was perfect. Berlin is so modernised and it was so good to be surrounded by something old again. This is the Europe we both know and love. We pretend we knew what each fancy building was and took photos of them like any typical tourist. There was a closed up street where you can walk freely. It was amazing, it felt like a market but not quite. We were heading in the direction of some history persons palace and so we think.

We made it to Sanssouci, his palace but the actual building was deep inside. He had a massive garden, one where you wouldn't be able to see it all in one day. We walked pass this massive driveway with massive trees lined up and eventually found ourselves at a big fountain. We stopped, sat and popped open a bottle of wine. It was picnic time. After half a bottle we decided to continue walking. We walked so much and it felt like the exit was so far away. We finally found his palace but it was closed, so what else to do? We made used of his grass in front and continued out wine while talking a lot of nonsense. exactly what I enjoy doing. It was late and we knew it would take us about an hour to get back to the train station. So we made our way slowly back stopping by for an ice cream. yummmmmm

A friend from France was really sweet by setting up a dinner with her friend in Berlin for me. She knew I was travelling alone and must have felt sorry for me? Maria & Antonia was gonna join us. I didn't know what to expect or even how she looked like. It felt like a blind date. We had plans to meet at a tapas place. Tapas will definitely remind me of Spain.

Antonia the Berlin expert (as this is her fourth time here) guided our way to the restaurant. She was adorable and lost at the same time however she still managed to get us there. If it was left to my navigation we might make it on time for breakfast. I was meeting up with Lonni and her boyfriend (I forgot his name). She was German and he was Canadian. They were very accommodating and everyone was getting along. It actually felt nice to have dinner with people I barely knew because everyone had stories to share and I am sure we all learnt something tonight.

Antonia, Maria and I decided to hit the town as we were in Berlin and needed to see what the rage was about. It was a Tuesday night and we were suggested to hit up Cookies. There was another place that was popular but we were warned they only allow selective people in. Cookies was definitely not our scene. The music was deep and dark. The crowd was all of different kind. They even had a room with hip hop tubes. We all could not handle this place and decided to give it the boot. We made our way back to the hostel, popped open a bottle of wine on a classy manner and bid goodnight to each other.

Day 62

It was my last night in Berlin. Maria has decided to come with me to Munich and wing her way around Oktoberfest. We set ourselves a mission to find a cheap sleeping bag or blanket for our camping in Munich. We went to second hand stores but we ended up founding ourselves in vintage second stores which made things extra expensive. We settled a big cheap blanket in Primark.

It was 5pm and we needed to make our way back to the hostel. Antonia was leaving tonight and we wanted to farewell her.  She will be missed. I still remember the first time we spoke. She was so friendly and was always up for anything. She is also kind at heart always lending offering to do research for us. She would have joined us for Oktoberfest but she had a mini holiday booked in at that time with her boyfriend. She mentioned there was a wine festival in Northern Italy that she attends every year. Apparently its the perfect opportunity for everyone to get wasted and its one of her best day of the year. She extended the invitation to us and we are now pretty sure we will give it a go. We will try and make our way up there, depending on time/money.

We shared a bottle of wine and Antonia didn't want to leave. She was about 20 minutes behind schedule when she left. Maria and I spent the rest of the night catching up with the world and readying ourselves for Munich tomorrow. Bring on camp life and Oktoberfest.

xo

Calafati

Barcelona, Spain (AGAIN)

Day 50 & 51

I landed in Barcelona on a Friday and for the next two nights I didn't want to do anything crazy. It's hard to believe I would say this during a weekend. It is definitely hard work being a tourist.

This place already has memories everywhere for me. I wish someone would build a time machine and bring me back. It was only two days but it was enough to stay within my thoughts.

Day 52

My sleeping routine is all over the place. I now struggle to get up even with 8 hours of sleep. I would guess that I am so use to this no responsibility life. It was time to make myself useful after days of nothing. How convenient on a Sunday where shops would close early. I decided to make my way to one of Guadi's piece of work. Park Gueili.

I arrived at Valcarca station and tried to navigate my way to this park.  Luckily it was a tourist spot which made it easier to locate. All I had to do was follow the crowd. I didn't realise the park was set upon a hill which to no surprise there was a million steps to get up. The escalators was not working today, what a coincidence! Up the hill I go.

The steps weren't finish, The whole park was an incline which meant steps everywhere around. It's amazing this place. Up on top you can see the whole city centre of Barcelona with the sea at the very end. You can see the huge amount of effort he put in creating this kingdom. I think he was known for his murals. The whole park was tiled with small art works made out of tiny tiles. The colours he chose to use was vibrant enough to grab my attention. He must have took years to finish this place off. Every piece of art he created was carefully detailed and assembled.

This whole place was filled with people which made it hard for me to chill. It was loud. As I was about to end this trip short, I could hear cheers softly at the back of my ears. It was somewhere close but far. I decided to walk further up and there it was, a random soccer field up in the park. There was a local game on. I already love watching soccer and I noticed I get so much more into it when it's a field full of Spaniards. Here I stationed myself till the game finished. It was actually an exciting game with close goals but no goals. 

I decided to finally participate in a free walking tour. I have been staying away from it as I preferred seeing things at my own speed. I ended up in an usual tour, not your landmarks and normal history one but an unofficial tour which took you around the streets of Barcelona searching for street arts. I definitely am looking forward to this now. Alex our tour guide had many stories to share about each artwork and artist. It's quite astonishing in how one artist credits himself world widely.

Grafting is illegal in Barcelona but  there is this wall that was left behind from a demolished factory which is now a skate park ground. Alex told us that you can apply to have your spray art on it however it will only have a life of a few days. Your artwork would get painted over within a couple of days. It's like a new story for Alex everytime he takes a new tour group because he never know what he will see. He also pointed out the oldest sex shop still running in Barcelona, Bagdad. The stories he had to share was not kind to the ears. This tour definitely was worth it,I learnt the history behind the Raval (Xino) vs Gotic area, The Catalunya community and the word, Squats (Squats, Squatters & Squating). All these words and buildings I have been seeing has finally made sense to me. 

We finished the tour off at a bar and with a complimentary free dinner (nothing fancy).

Day 53

It has been hit & misses with the weather in Barcelona. It can be sunny and warm enough for the beach but out of no where it can go cold and rain. It kind of reminds me of weather at home. I headed out to hire a bicycle. I wanted to explore Barcelona in wider stretches but secretly I needed to get some exercise in me. I just rode and rode for hours. I passed through all these different beaches and the further I got the quieter the beaches were. Barcelona beach was heavily packed with people and it was way more commercial. I found myself in a deserted beach with a packet of Spanish ham and piece of baguette. Just the way I like it.

I continued riding heading to the different ports of Barcelona. It's amazing where a bicycle could take you. I wouldn't have walked this far if I was walking. I don't think there was any metro close by either. Before I knew it I have been roaming around for 4 hours. The rain started to come softly. I saw a local shopping mall and decided to take a break. Tossing and turning whether I should reward myself with a glass of rosé. In the end I satisfied my other craving, coke zero on a can. The shopping centre had free wifi. When you put Calafati & Wifi together, we wouldn't know how to superstate. The dark clouds faded and the sun was out. I had to pull myself out of this wifi zone and head down to a beach for the normal routine, beach nap. 

Time really flies when you are enjoying life. it was 6:45pm when i woke and I was surely running late for dinner. I was meeting Kerry, my roomie. Negro Paella was on my 'must-try-before-i-leave-Spain-list). Tonight I was determined to have it. Kerry was somewhat frustrating. She really liked to complain about things. I am at a point of my life where I dislike hearing people complain. It is what it is, we can only learn to deal with it and move on. I have surely learnt that I no longer want to be the person who stresses about things. I am now wanting to be the person that doesn't let anything get to her. This will save so much energy of mine.

She did managed to pull out a very interesting topic. One she had me so curious about and that I had to go back and google more information on it. The topic was regarding the human brain. There have been proven facts that our brain is constantly forming and is not until you reach about 25 years old the brain finalises the form. Here in the new few years, you will start to understand alot of the present and past events that has happen. Here you will begin to become the person who you really should be. Here you would finally link all your unsolved thoughts. I actually said something to her that I have never said to anyone before. It was a reason why such event happened on my life. It was weird because I only figured that out 3 minutes before she spoke on this topic. She caught my attention bad. 

The paella was delicious. I definitely could not finish it but forced it down my throat. Kerry left me to end my night on my own as she wanted to attend a tango class. I walked through the streets of Barcelona to digest my full belly. I landed myself at the waffle place we were last time and had to buy something to be reminded of the happy times. I scream, you scream, we scream, ICE CREAM please. I even found myself at that McDonalds. My feet obviously didn't want to stop by bringing me to all these places. All happy places. 

Day 54

Churros & croissant dipped in Spanish chocolate for breakfast! Yummmmmmmmm! What a wonderful  way to start my day however it was lunch time tho. I spent most of the day walking and looking. There is so much to see. I ended up finding a new area in Barcelona that I will come back ad explore properly during the day. I ended the night in with my favourite wine, cheese and olive. PERFECT! 

Day 55

It was Catalan National Day. I had plans to so a few things but was shut down as soon as I stepped outside. All the shops were closed which I wasn't prepared for. Catalan is an area in Spain that wishes to be it's own country. Apparently years ago they were their own country. People in the Catalan region would all come out and form a human chain which stretched over 400km. They just stand there all day. I think that's so amazing showing support for what you believe in. It was hard to get through town as the chained blocked most of the road. It even twisted into little alley ways. 

All the shops were closed so I has no option but to kill time by feeding myself. I found myself at a tapas joint. Travelling solo has made it hard to have tapas. I would be so greedy if I was to go have tapas because I would definitely over order. I walked a bit and found a place that did small plate full which means I could try more things. It was so delicious!!!! I love Spanish food or should I say I LOVE FOOD!!! 

Day 56

It was my last day in Barcelona and I definitely had a mission to accomplish. Today's mission, one last feed at the market, paella cooking class and magic fountain.
With a late rise I head to the market for a quick bite. I wanted to walk te streets again to leave a clear memory of Barca in my mind. No, actually I preferred to hang out at one of those many plaza. The surroundings are just so amazing and beautiful. Of course with a glass of champagne!

Why does time fly so quick when you don't want it to end? I made my way to the class I had booked in. Fernando from Argentina was our teacher aka the cook. He took us to my favourite market to purchase the ingredients. The market was closing but I would assume there was pre plans with the stall to stay open just for this short 10 minutes. We ended up at a seafood stall. Everything was laid out picture perfect. Here he purchased the seafood for the Paella. He then took us to a cured meat stand explaining the different class of jamon (cured ham). Cured meat is totally my weakness.

We made our way to a local bar where we had a reserved area at the back. As soon as we all sat down we had jugs of Sangria placed for us. Fernando brought out plates of different kind of meats, cheese, bread and the ever so popular patatas bravita (potatoes). He then thought us the correct way of eating these. You need to firstly grab a slice of bread and rub a tomato on it. Followed by a slice of cheese and then your preferred topping. There was jamon (cured ham), salami, chorizo, egg omelette, fried jalapeño & patatas (potatoes). Thete was so much food going on here. After these were all demolished we moved into the main course, the Paella. He gave a very informative session on it. I think I may have mastered this. LOL. Who am I kidding? As if Calafati can cool. It would be a miracle. While the rice was cooking we were taught how to make sangria. He taught us the correct quantity of substances. We all even got a chance to make a jug ourselves. The Paella was finished cooking and our main was served. I felt like rolling out of the door once everything was in my tummy. Overall there was so much food and sangria going on tonight.

After class I made my way to the magic fountain, where most nights they a light & water show every 30minutes. I wish I discovered this place earlier because the whole place was full of amazing buildings. Typical  Calafati never wanting the night to end (in denial) decided to walk back to the hostel to savour my last hours in Barcelona. I didn't care that it was gonna be a long walk because I have all the time in the world but being a Calafati means you will surely get lost. I spent half an hour walking the opposite direction to the hostel. I only realised when I decided to pull out the map to see where the hell I am. Fortunately I was able to read the map this time. The night is now over which means Barcelona is finally coming to an end.

I already miss Spain and I haven't even left.

See you in Germany.

xo

Calafati