How I Met Your Drug Dealer

by Alex in Europe, Topdeck

Alright, gather round, kiddies! It's story time! Today, uncle Alex is going to be telling you the story of how he almost got knifed by a random drug dealer while on a pub crawl in Krakow, Poland.

At first, we were having a lovely evening - exploring the heart of Krakow with our friends Ally, Jona, Car and Carlos, having hot chocolates in funky underground cafes, and eating giant sausages for dinner - juvenile innuendo included, naturally. And then the pub crawl itself started.

We don't have any pictures from that night, so instead this article will be accompanied by photos of Krakow that your mother would approve of.

Stalking Statues in Slovakia

by Alex in Europe, Photos, Topdeck

The last time we spoke, dear reader - an embarrassingly long time ago - we were well into our whirlwind Topdeck tour of Europe. After Italy and Austria, and on our way to Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, we had one small stop to make - the beautiful, if slightly chilly, Bratislava, Slovakia.

Wandering down the cobblestone streets and squares, our awesome and ever-patient tour leader Kaz tried really hard to give us a brief history of the capital. But to be fair, we weren't really listening. We were distracted by all the statues. So, so many statues.

Bratislava is apparently filled to the brim with statues, which is any Doctor Who fan's worst nightmare. But cameras in tow and a true sense of the ridiculous turned an army of the creepy and lifeless, into fun, recreational living art.

The Hills are Alive in Austria

by Tasha in Europe, Topdeck

The hills are alive with the sound of Salzburg. With songs they have....

Okay I'll stop there. Full disclosure, I'm kind of a massive Sound of Music dork. And I'm guessing, based on your stunned silence and gradual backing away from the computer...you may not be.

Or maybe you are. Maybe the Von Trapps are hidden in your trove of guilty pleasures and you are waiting with baited breath for me to describe in perfect detail the locales which the lovable Austrian family danced and pranced their way across Salzburg in the classic musical film (and to a lesser extent, real life too, I guess).

The Many Merchants of Venice

by Alex in Italy, Europe, Topdeck

After a brief stop in Verona, we travelled onwards on our way to Shakespeare's other contemporary Italian city - Venice.

We arrived in Venice as the sun was setting, so after settling in to our hotel, we headed out as a group to a nearby restaurant for my birthday. Oh yeah, it was my birthday. Did I forget to mention that?

Verona: From Shakespeare to Stroking Statues

by Alex in Europe, Italy, Topdeck

Here's something I've learned from 2 years on the road - if a city has a claim to fame, however loose, they will try and milk it for all it's worth. Whether it's the Hans Christian Andersen museum in Odense, Cong's giant statue of John Wayne, or the Tolkien branding over all of New Zealand, it's true all over the world. 

However, few cities have a longer or more enduring claim than Verona: the setting of Shakspeare's (arguably) most famous play, Romeo and Juliet.

Day at the Museum: 5 Days in Rome - Part 5

by Alex in Europe, Italy

If you ask me, no trip to Rome is complete without two things. Fresh pasta, and a visit to the Vatican City. So, having made fresh pasta (and eaten plenty more in the city), we spent our last day in Rome at the Musei Vaticani.

This was a huge day for me - I've been fascinated with the Vatican City and wanted to visit it for basically as long as I can remember. I love visiting the holy sites of different religions, and the Vatican is probably the holiest site for over a billion people worldwide. On top of that, the little independent nation inside Rome is also home to some of the world's largest and rarest art and artefact collections - and as a pair of history nerds, the chance to see even a tiny fraction of that collection was too good for us to pass up.