Trichy aiport - 13.6.17

We were super lucky and didn’t need to wait long at our spot in Vienna till somebody picked us up. It was a nice and fancy looking Mercedes and therefore in the beginning we didn’t think the guy would stop to pick us up but he was. He was in his mid fifties and just visited his son in Vienna. We started to talk what we do, that we lived in India the last year and now are traveling back home by land. He wasn’t sure if he understood us and so he asked again:

You travel back from India to Germany / France by land? So by train, bus and hitchhiking?

He was clearly surprised and didn’t expect that. And when we continued our story that we would go to our friend’s place in Hausmening now who lived with us for a year in India he was totally overwhelmed and decided to drop us at the doorstep of our friend’s house.

It was amazing, nice, weird and unreal at the same time when we knocked at Matthias’s door and he opened. It has been almost three months since we left India, since we said good bye to him at the airport in Trichy and since we started our travel. He was there when everything for us started and now that it is almost ending he is with us again. At the same time it was such a normal feeling to hug him, to joke around and to spend time together. Also his mom was there to welcome us. She was quite excited, very kind and happy to (finally) meet us!  

Matthias in his favorite clothes - our little Robin Wood

The next day we woke up and it was raining… and since then it seems to have stopped. But after an amazing and talkative breakfast with Matthias and his parents we went to their cottage a little bit more in to the forest. On the way we collected to of his friends: Michael and Luise. Inspite of the rain we walked up the hill and tried to image the amazing view which was covered by fog and clouds. Matthias as very keen on showing us the hunter spots as well as trying to spot some deers or wildlife. When we came back to the cottage we were wet and cold and we moved on to a small but traditional Gasthaus – a kind of inn. We ate some nice traditional food with lots of fresh mushrooms!!! So yummy!!!

As the area of Amstetten is famous for their Most – and also called Mostviertel (Cider quarter) we went to a small, interactive museum to learn something about it. Most is made out of pears traditionally there instead of apples. As Michael is from a family company where they produce Most he invited us over to try different types and explained us some more about it. We never have drunken Most before but we both liked it and ended up buying a bottle.

Chilling and having fun in the kids' section of the museum

In the evening we were all together invited to Matthias’ cousin’s birthday party. Laura just turned 18 and was throwing a big birthday party. It was nice to meet a bunch of Matthias’s friends and family and to receive an impression on how and where he was growing up.

The next day was all about Matthias’s welcome back party. We did different kinds of preparation during the day and got to know his sister and her boyfriend who came from Vienna for the party as well as his grandparents. Almost 40 friends and family members came to celebrate with him is belated birthday and to welcome him back home. It was a nice evening with good food, nice people, good beer and cyder, some funny music and dances and some funny presents like this one: 

the similarities are there - so there is a reason why he gets called Jesus

After a good sleep we woke up and helped to tidy up the place before Matthias’s mom showed Julie and Hannah how to make Kaiserschmarrn. The translators suggested the following translation: cut-up and sugared pancake with raisins. It was delicious and we started to pack our things before Michael and Matthias to dropped us at our next hitchhiking spot. A short time after they left it started to rain but luckily for us we didn’t need to wait for long this time as well … off to Salzburg our last stop before our final destination!!!

Close to Salzburg

Thank you Matthias, your family, Michael and Luisa for welcoming us so kindly to Hausmening, for showing us around, speaking English or standard German with us and giving us the feeling to have a home for a couple of days!

14 equations + 14 pictures = global overview

 x(Austria!) = <3

A nice Austrian hitchhiker in Hungary + a bit of patience = reaching a petrol station close to Vienna

 

Map of Vienna

Another nice hitchhiker + a train station close by = a way to the city

Inside of Stephansdom

 Train + phone messages + Hannah's organization + coordination = finding Denise

Reaching Vienna!

 Denise + Vienna + a nice place to stay (thank you Thomas!) = joy and happiness!

In the Schönbrunner park

(Denise&Sarah + Co) √x = <3

Denise&Sarah + Sandra&Anne-Lore = a nice evening at the beer garden

A park close to the Volksgarten

 The same + Denise&Sarah's place + food + coffee + good mood = a yummy brunch the morning after

Schönbrunner park

Denise + a walk along the Donau + a community garden = a peaceful moment in the late afternoon

Community garden

 The same + Marlene + food + wine + beer + cook-talent + enthusiasm = a wonderful dinner

Denise, looking for the way to help us!

NB:

• Julie = Hannah's friend
• Sarah + Denise = Hannah's friends from university
• Sandra and Anne-Lore = Diakonie-land = Denise and Sarah's friends
• Marlene = fiancee of Denise's best friend = Denise and Sarah's friend
• Hannah + Sarah + Denise + Marlene = international social workers gang

(Exploration of the capital)/x = <3

Anne-Laure's joy + the secrets of Vienna + a smart phone = Geocaching in the city

Saint Joseph

Denise&Sarah's bicycles + amazing buildings + Hundertwasser's house + wonder = amazing tour in the city

The bicycles (and Hannah)!

Schönbrunner park + Augarten + beers + good weather = chill in the grass

Schönbrunner parl

x – Getting closer = <3

Subway + a good spot for hitchhiking = on the starting block

Hundertwasser's house

Waiting + experimenting Austrian indifference + finally a lot of luck = meeting a nice hitchhiker

Good bye Vienna (Schönbrunner park)

Overview of Vienna from the Schönbrunner park

After a guy dropped us on the ring of Budapest on the middle of the highway we didn’t need to way for long till another car pulled up and picked us up. He wasn’t really able to speak English and as we can’t speak Hungarian we manage to find out that he can drop us at the metro station close by. It was really generous of him. As we were really tired the first we did was to get a cup of good coffee and some wifi to figure out our next steps. 

              Coffee addicts?

We wrote well in advanced to some couchsurfer but none of them was able to host us unfortunately. Therefore we looked for the cheapest hostel which was available and went there. We didn’t read the description of the hostel and due to that it surprised us when the hostel turned out to be a party hostel with 4 bars beneath and party music till 6 am in the morning. Well …it was too late and we were too tired to look for another one. That just meant we needed to party as well and so we did.

Beautiful streets of Budapest

Street art across the street of our hostel

After a quick bite for dinner we met a friend of Hannah – Michaela and her fiancé. Michaela and Hannah knew each other from university in Ludwigsburg and didn’t see each other for almost two years. On accident they figured out through facebook a couple of days before that they both would be in Budapest to the same. So we managed to meet up with them in bar over a couple of drinks. It was nice to see them (again), to talk and discuss, share experience and to get some tips for what to do in Budapest. Afterwards we decided to go to the Donau waterfront to look at the beautiful lighting of the castle, the bridges and the citadel. Unfortunately it was already kind of late and therefore all the lights were turned off but it was still pretty to look at and we decided to go to an open-air bar close by with music to dance a little and to enjoy each others company. At four o’clock we were then finally back in our hostel. Quite tired but happy and ready to sleep despite loud music from beneath.

Buda side

Pest side

The next morning Julie decided to join a free walking tour as it was a first time in Budapest and they walked around, heard stories and learned about Hungarian history almost for 5 hours. One of the things she learned was that there just to be two cities divided by the river Donau which were called Buda and Pest (pronounced with sch) and as both cities were increasing in size they melted together and became Budapest.

The little princess

While Julie was exploring Budapest Hannah was in a Cafe did some administrative stuff, worked a little for the blog and enjoyed the sun. Afterwards we went to a new hostel as we wanted to sleep a little bit more then next night than four or five hours. It was a nice and quite hostel. Before we went to the House of Horror – a history museum about the history of Budapest and Hungarian from the first world war till today- we had Langos: a typical traditional Hungarian food. There we spontaneously met three guys from Germany who went to Budapest for the wedding of one of their friends and we started to talk about our trip, the wedding their attended, jobs and lifes back home, etc.. It was nice and we had a glimpse on how live back home is.

Elizabeth square

To recover a little bit from all the heavy and depressing pictures, movies and information we got in the House of Horror we decided to walk to the hero park. It is the biggest park of Budapest. We were laying in the grass, sleeping a little bit and watch a group of people practicing Capoeira which reminded us of our friends Shrey and Diana who also practice it.

So green the hero park

The evening we spend walking around Budapest at night and this time the lighting of the bridge, the citadel and so on was there and it was sooooo beautiful!

Beautiful view from the Magareten bridge

The parliament by night

After a good night of sleep this time we went to an apparently good hitch hiking spot on the highway. Another hitchhiker was already there and after an hour another girl came but nobody stop or even seemed to be interested in taking us. After another half an hour we decided to walk to a close by smaller road which also led to Vienna. And after 15 min. somebody stopped and took us for 15 km … after that a young German couple stopped and took us all the way till Györ. There at the petrol station we waited for an hour, talked to lots of people but they all just tried to ignore us. Then we saw a car we an Austrian license plate and Hannah asked him:

Do you drive to Austria?
Yes?
Where exactly?
Ah okay, cool! Could you imagine to take me and my friend along?

And with a little hesitation he said yes but with the a half kidding, half serious request not to kill him. We assured him that all our hitchhikers from India till here are still alive and enjoyed our company. So he took us and we were finally on the way to Vienna again! Only 122 kilometers left!

Good bye Hungary!

At the Bulgarian-Serbian border

 

Transport to Belgrade

After passing the border to Serbia and receiving our last stamp in our passports we hoped that hitchhiking would be easier again – but unfortunately it wasn’t. We waited for quite a long time till somebody took us. It was father and a son who came from Turkey where they went for a business trip. Their company was based on producing and selling cake decorations all over Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary, all the way to France and Germany. What a funny business! Then another two guys took us from the toll both close to Batocina till Kovin and from there we took a bus for the last 30 km to Belgrade.

One of  many houses in Belgrade

Couchsurfing

Luka hosted us for two nice nights in his apartment in the middle of the heart of Belgrade. His apartment was temporary without electricity because some wires were broken and his landlord took some time to fix it. But this was not a problem at all and we used lights based on solar panels - the same which you could buy at Hannah’s former workplace. It was really nice of him to host us even through he needed to prepare himself for his exams of political sciences. He was super nice, welcoming and helpful and as we got a little bit lost in the beginning he helped us to find his place and picked us up at the bus stop. He even let us sleep on his 3000€ worth antique couch which is from his landlord. We went out the first night for a beer and shisha and the second night we went to his gig as he is playing the guitar and singing in different bars during the night to make a living. And he introduced us to a really nice coffee place in Belgrade as it turned out we all are coffee lovers and are enjoying a good cup of coffee! 

Enjoying our last cup of coffee together

We enjoyed Luka’s companionship a lot and we hope he did as well. At least he said it was a great experience to host us as his first couchsurfers and he will continue to host people!

St. Markus church - the prettiest church in Belgrade

Free walking tour at the castle

City

Belgrade was compared to Sofia: lots of high buildings, big streets, tourists and way more people - but beautiful with it’s old buildings, the atmosphere with the Donau, the castle and the waterfront. We did a 20th century free walking tour and an old center free walking tour. We learned a lot about the architecture and history of Serbia and its complication with its neighboring countries Albania and Kosovo.

Donau

Belgrade with its cafes, shopping malls, super markets, people’s dress codes, bakeries, etc. made us understand that we finally hit Europe and soon we would be in Paris and Stuttgart. The city seems like a place where there is always something going on but on the same time it is not completely overwhelming in seize and impressions like Beijing or Istanbul where it can quickly just get too much.

Typical Orthodox church

and from inside - gold over gold

Casablanca Bar in Belgrade: Luka is playing!

People

We just finished the free walking tour and wanted to contact Luka to meet up for dinner when Julie’s friends from Paris, Aymeric and Jacko, wrote her that they are in Belgrade as well. What amazing surprise! We arranged that we would meet up in the bar where Luka would play in the evening. Julie was excited and really happy to see her friends and we had a good conversation, lots of laughers, a couple of beers and ciders and the nice music of Luka to listen to. It was a great evening in the old streets of Belgrade in the heart of the city.

(Re)united in Belgrade

 

Another day of hitchhiking

Transport

It took us two different buses to get more or less out of the city to a small petrol station where we were lucky to find a guy with a car which runs on gas to take us. He needed to go to Batajnica for his work – he owned a company which was producing cotton socks. It is so funny what kind of people you can meet while hitchhiking. We just got dropped at a petrol station on the high way when we could get another lift with a truck driver (who was transporting sunflower seeds) till Backa Topola. From their we found a younger German-Austrian couple in a self-build camping van who took us till the border. There was a huge traffic jam so we were lucky to get out of the car and just walk for 2 km pass it.

traffic jam in front of the border

We didn’t have any problem leaving Serbia (...except that we really needed to pee but didn’t have any money left to pay the toilets...). When we arrived at the Hungarian border the policemen told us that we couldn’t cross this border by foot. It was only allowed to pass the bored by car. We were mad and desperate because there was no sign nothing which announced this before and normally it is super difficult to find somebody to take you in their car across the border.
So we started to knock at the windows of the cars which where waiting and we found somebody!!! Samuil: originally he is from Bulgaria but is working in Munich since the last two years. First at McDonalds and now as a driver for a trade company. He told us that he got stuck at the border since 6 hours! So we were lucky that we only needed 1,5 hours to pass the border. It was nice talking to him in German, to learn something about his life and about the advantages and difficulties people from the new/ eastern parts of Europe face when they come to Germany or France to work. We had such a good time that he took us all the way to Budapest instead of just over the border! 

Good bye Serbia!

"Only" Hungary, Austria, Germany (and France) left to travel through. We are really close to reach our final destinations!! 

 

The way to the Capital

Tuesday, the 22nd of August.
At the border.
Around 5pm.

Europe! We are now in Bulgaria, just after the border. Waiting for a car to take us (sorry, it is always the same story, we know…!). There are so many vehicles everywhere. Nevertheless, they are all full because a lot of families are going back from Turkey to Germany. Desperate hitchhikers: we are. But our patience is rewarded: a Turkish guy, alone in his car, stops. Finally! He takes us to Haskovo (85 km further).

Tuesday, the 22nd of August.
Haskovo. 

Around 6pm.

Our driver just left us close to Haskovo… but we are directly ON THE HIGHWAY! We imagine what our parents would say if they would see us right now, trying to stop cars which are driving at the speed of 100 km/h (at least). Hum… But we can't do better right know. Fortunately for our life expectancy, a nice couple coming from Haskovo saves us: before fully turning on the highway they stop and take us to Sofia, where they are living together!

 

Tuesday, the 22nd of August.

Sofia!
Around 8:30pm.

We are in Sofia! Our day was a long one. Angelina just left us at the metro station, giving us two tickets for the subway. We feel very luck to have found them on the road! Now, let's find the way to our Couchsurfer's place: Ivo is waiting for us!

One day in Sofia

Orthodox Church of Sofia

Wednesday, the 23rd of August.
Palace of Justice.
Around 11am.

After a good night, we go to the center to walk around. But on our way, we cross a group of the Free Sofia Tour and we decide to join spontaneously. And actually, it is worth it! Our guide is very enthusiast and very interesting. He shows us places in  downtown Sofia, talkes about Sofia's history and shares anecdotes about places.

Sofia's Mosque and Roman ruins

He insists a lot about two things: 

• the communist heritage
• the peaceful coexistence of four religions (Judaism, Islam, Catholic and Orthodox Christianity)

It is nice to have an interactive visit of the city. That's why we have a really good time and we learn a lot!

Map of the Free Sofia Tour!

Wednesday, the 23rd of August.
Market area.
Around 2pm.

After the tour, we walk around to appreciate a bit more the architecture of the buildings. We finally end up at the indoor market, where we decide to buy food. Yummy!
It is nice to have a good lunch outside with a nice weather in a nice city! Even if it is very weird for us to be back in Europe, we have to confess that we still enjoy a lot our time of traveling… especially in thess simple moments!
We continue our walk, go the women market, where you can find food, local products and handicrafts and go back home to chill a bit before the evening. 

Sofia's buildings

A bunch of Couchsurfers

Wednesday, the 23rd of August.
Close to Nadezhda Station.
Around 5pm.

We are back at Ivo's place for a few hours.
We didn't tell you about him yet, but we have to! Indeed Ivo is very hospitable and helpful even if he has to work. Yesterday, he welcomed us warmly and efficiently: he gave us a room, the wifi password and the keys of his flat, telling us to feel at home! And we kind of do, despite the communist atmosphere of the old apartment!
Ivo works as a mechanist in Sofia but his family lives in the country sides, where actually his real home is. However, in the Capital, he likes to meet people – that's why he is quite active on Couchsurfing.


Wednesday, the 23rd of August.
Halbite 3.
Around 8pm.

We are in the bar Halbite 3, with Ivo, one of his friends… and a lot of Couchsurfers! Indeed, it is a Couchsurfing event, organized by hosts and travelers. Ivo has to talk with his friend and we meet the other people. It is very nice to know what travelers do and where they go, and how hosts are involved in the Couchsurfing life! We talk a lot about Auroville – a lot of persons are really interested, like Zoltan who asks us a lot of questions! And we are of course very happy to answer, so as to share as good as possible our Aurovillian experience. 

Leaving... with difficulties!

Thursday, the 24th of August.
Close to Slivnitsa Station.
Around 10:30am.

We are standing outside of Sofia. It is actually the best spot ever for starting to hitchhike. Seriously. Nevertheless we don't know why, but nobody wants to take us! We wait and smile, smile and wait, but it doesn't work… But after quite a long time (more than one hour) a dance teacher who is working in Moldavia stops and takes us. It is very interesting to meet him: he talks about his wife's job - she is working for the European Union, on the conflicts between Moldavia and Russia - and about his own job – he tries to develop social interactions and social sharing through dancing.


Thursday, the 24th of August.
Petrol station in Dragoman.
Around 4pm.

Another driver left us two hours ago in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere is called Dragoman. We are at a petrol station, again smiling and waiting, waiting and smiling. But all the cars are full. Or they don't stop. Even for Hannah, blond, white, smiling young woman ("perfect innocent hitchhiker"... *hum*), alone on the side of the road, nobody stops. What to do, what to do? We are waiting for hours now, even if the border is not far away at all (less than 20km!).
Suddenly, we hear the horn of a bus. Yes: a bus! The drivers beckons us to come! Hallelujah! We run towards him and get on the bus. The guy comes from Germany and ownes a Dirving School in Nürnberg - they city where Hannah lived before she came to Auroville. But during the Summer he likes to travel by himself in Europe and uses a whole bus as a caravan! 

In the caravan-bus, before the border.

We enjoy the last kilometers with him, through the green landscape of Bulgaria. And soon, we see the border. Finally!

Serbia, we are coming!