When in Rome...

Made it here, checked in fine, things are good. I found a system that I really enjoy. For a while, I'd see a city, then head out in the afternoon, get in to the new place at night, find my hostel and crash. That led to a tired, hungry, lost version of myself wander strange streets in countries I do not understand. A little tweaking has made life awesome. Now, my current MO is to leave a city in the morning, train for a few hours, arrive a little after noon, find the hostel, check in, then locate the necessities, such as central grocery store and a map. Then the rest of the day and evening are spent in the city, getting used to it and seeing stuff. Rome has been great. I've used this formula and met with much success. I saw the Colosseum today, and it is awe inspiring. I didn't go in, but I will tomorrow. There is an entrance fee, and I was there close to closing. I don't want to be rushed ;) Also, I read Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons. It is set in Rome, and it has been pretty neat to see some of the monuments, churches, and sights that he describes Robert Langdon interacting with. For those of you following the World Cup (that is to say, not me (also, if someone could find out why it is abbreviated WM over here, like what WM actually stands for, that would be enlightening)) you may have noticed that Italy defeated someone tonight. I'm aware of this fact because the city errupted with car horns, singing, dancing, and mopeds flying around the streets waving giant flags. It's a ton of fun, even though I can only sing the parts of the songs that go Ole OleOle Ole OleOle. Then I say right on, and it's all good again. Sidenote: When determining if a northern Irish guy is going to be good company or not, if he says: "I love it when a plan comes together," it's a deal clincher.

Pack your bags, we're going to Milan, or: It's so hot... milk was a bad choice!

Ok, I didn't actually see Milan. But it is super hot. Let's catch up. I parted ways with Mike and Kirsten (first train I've had to RUN for... with a backpack... not winning friends looking like that...) but I made it. Got in to Genova, checked in to the hostel, and realized that my plan of day tripping to Milan was hosed because it was too late already. So I checked out a little of Genova before calling it a night. The next morning, I got on a train headed for Florence. Actually, I was headed for this little podunk town halfway between Florence and Sienna called Castelfiorentino (not on a map, don't bother looking) because there was a hostel there for cheap, and then I could daytrip both cities. After checking in, I ran back into Florence and checked out the evening life (not night life, since my hostel has a midnight curfew. Thumbs down). Crashed, and met my roommate, aka the only other person in the hostel. The next morning, he went into Florence, while I checked out Pisa. Instead of getting a lame picture of me pretending to hold up the tower, I have formed a photo album of pictures of other people looking like idiots, trying to hold up the tower (shown above). It was a fun activity while eating my lunch on the lawn. The afternoon was spent in Florence. I wanted to see the David, but the line was two hours, so I put it off for a day. My plan was to come pack in the morning and see it then. I went to the science museum to see some of Gallileo's toys, but was closed, as was St. Corce church, here is buried along with Micaelangelo and Machiavelli. More things for the next day. As it was getting late, I returned to the hostel, did some laundry in the sink, and went to bed. And it is incredibly hot, and sweat never stops. So today, I ran into Florence and headed for the David. And the line was twice as long. So, I took a picture of a naked guy who's name is David. Not really. Well, ok, I actually have, but that's another story, and it was a long time ago. I did make it to the science museum and St. Corce, they were stunning. Then I hopped a train to Sienna, and checked out that place. (this is getting long) Sienna was cool. It is days before the famous SomeItalianWord Race, which is a huge deal. Parades, drum lines, and dancing abounded. It was fun. And I saw the whole city in an afernoon. So now I'm back in Castelfiorentina, and I'm about to make dinner (aka, half a loaf of bread, half a brick of cheese) and call it a day. Next time: Roman the Countryside, or In Search of the Original Ceaser Salad.

Berning Down the House

Yesterday was wonderful :) I spent about four hours online, just booking hostels. I booked all the way through Itay and Greece, which has turned into about 18 days. That gives me time to come back up to Bern, visit with Mike and Kirsten again, and then book through the Netherlands and Germany. Maybe a little more in France too, depending on time. In any case, after the Internet Extravaganza, we went out for a walk in town. It was really cool. Later on in the afternoon, it started to rain off and on, but it wasn't bad. Pretty refreshing, actually. It was still warm, and I do love a warm rain. We wandered over to the bear pits, but the rain turned them all inside. We walked along the river, through a petting zoo, bought some coffee at a cafe and ate our lunches. Then we hiked to the top of the largest hill in Bern (and took a tram up the peak) and had an overlook to die for. There was a huge children's playground, with the largest Rube Goldberg device I'd ever seen. It was a system of tracks and machinery where a ball rolls along the track until a stopping point, when a person has to turn a crank to activate the next section. Hard to explain, but super fun. We probably spent an hour playing with it. In any case, we climbed a huge tower and had a beautiful view of the city and surrounding hillsides. After that, we went down, grabbed some food on the way back, and crashed when we got back to the apartment. Tomorrow, I'm off to Genova, where I can daytrip out to Milan as well.

Nomandy, Belgium, and back to Switzerland

Well, a lot has happened in the past few days. I ended up on the Normandy coast, in the town of Bayeux, which was the first town liberated from the Germans. It was cool, smaller than Caen, and a great central place to spend my time in Normandy. I was in a hostel for a night, but it was overbooked for the next two, so I stayed in a monestary where a few nuns took care of me and a guy from Northern Ireland who was in the same situation that I was in. He and I found the Normandy coast hard to get to without a car, so we signed up for a tour. A little pricey, but very well worth it. We saw Arromanches, then went on to the few remaining German gun emplacements, complete with German 88s. From there, we went on to the American Memorial, which some may remember from the begining and end of Saving Private Ryan (I believe that's where they were, and where it was filmed). After that, we were off to Omaha Beach (pictured). Spent a little time there, then saw Pointe du Hoc. It was an incredible trip, really. There's more pictures. After my time in Bayeux, I went on to Brugge, since I couldn't find a hostel on short notice in Belgium. Brugge is a fascinating little town, and can only be described with the assistance of pictures. This morning, I grabbed a series of trains down to Bern, Switzerland, where I'm currently crashing on Mike and Kirsten's couch. You may remember this amazing couple from early on in my soloing adventures in Europe. As soon as I got here, they prepared a specatcular meal of smoked trout, white asparagus, and absinth (the real stuff, the real way). So from this excellently hospitible base of operations, I will book my hostels for the future through Italy and Greece, since with tourisim in high season now, it is nigh impossible to find a cheap place to stay on short notice. While I realize that this sacrifices some of the freedoms of not being tied down, it does ensure that I see the places that I want to see. After Italy and Greece, I plan on going back up to Belgium, Amsterdam and the like. On a side note, Luke: Parkur is real, they really call it that, and they really practice it in parks in Bayeux. That's me for now!

This one's for Luke ;)

Luke, I don't know if you're reading this, but this picture is for you alone. Sorry about the inability to focus.

I realized that in my haste, I didn't actually say what I've been doing in my last post. Barcelona was cool. for the sake of time, I'll have to tell you about that in person. Paris was awesome. We did the Louvre, and yes, I did see the Mona Lisa. After reading The Da Vinci Code, I have determined that either they re-arranged the room, or Dan Brown has never seen the Mona Lisa in person. Oh well. She was still spectacular. I did find a bookstore and got a travel guide. Now I'm headed out to the coast to see so,e Normandy sites and begin the Band of Brothers tour. Hopefully I can find a place to stay :)

Flying solo again!

Well, I parted ways with Jamie, Adam, Anne and Kristen. They also split up, but to meet again later. I'm excited to go solo for a bit, not nearly as freaked out as I was before, so it's all good. We did a day in Paris yesterday. I want to do more in Paris, but there wasn't time to find a hostel, so I booked a night train to anywhere (I ended up in Toulousa, where I am now) and slept the night. Upon waking, I found an internet cafe (again, with no USB support, and this time, just about every key on the keyboard is in a different location than I'm used to) so I booked a hostel in Paris for tonight. I'll be back there today to check in, scope out the night life, and I have a few addresses of English bookstores, since the most amazing gift I've received on this trip (the travel guide from Mike and Kirsten) was left somewhere in Venice. So tomorrow is laundry, planning, booking and things of that nature. Till next time!

100% Pure Valencia

Valencia is pretty awesome. Adam and I went out last night to check out what people do on a Thursday night. We found this square, around midnight. It was full of high school kids, most riding roller blades, some on bmx bikes. Everyone was just chilling and having a good time. It was really cool. We´re getting up early tomorrow to catch a 6.40am train to Barcelona. We´re doing Barcelona in a day, then night training on to Paris, I think. That´s the current plan, at least. We´ll see what really happens. Well, they´re telling us that they´re closing the lounge here in our hostel, so we gotta jet to bed. Night all!

The world of overbookings and changing plans

So our trip to Barcelona is rescheduled. The train from Geneva to Barcelona was booked solid, so instead, we booked a night train to San Sebastian. We toured the town, climbed a cliff, and hit the beach for a couple hours. We got a hostel from a lady at the station, and the next day we took off Bilbao. We wandered Bilbao for the day, took in a ton of sweet buildings. Lots of good architecture there, which is great when you´re touring with four architecture students. Saw the Googenheim over here, which was splendid, as shown in the picture. Last night, we went to the train station, booked a night train to Madrid with intentions of continuing on to Valencia this morning, but upon arrival, we found that the Valencia trains are booked until 2pm, so we have about 5 hours to tour Madrid before our train. In the mean time, we´re booking hostels, internetting, and shopping at the supermarket. It´s been pretty awesome. Night trains are decent, I´ve found. Sleeper cars are a little more pricey, but it´s ok because then you don´t pay for a hostel. Couchettes and regular cars at night are basically worthless because there´s no room to actually sleep. So we´re down with the sleepers now. I plan on sticking with this group for a while, until they head out, then I think I´ll be in the northern Germany or Amsterdam area, and I may head back down to France and begin the Band of Brothers Tour. But, who really knows :) I still need to go do Italy again, and check out Greece. So much stuff to do...

Again, no USB support.

Sorry Joe, I have a pic of more than 2 feet of snow. It's of a glacier. And I'm on it, and we rode all day. It was sweet. Unbelieveable. On to the new post :)

So I booked a night train in a sleeper car to some place in Switzerland. I didn't even care where, as long as I got a bed that wasn't made of tile for the night. I was headed to Mike and Kirsten's to get back on track. As I'm getting the sleeper car ready for the night, my roommates show up. A guy and three girls, all from Detroit. We laugh at our luck and talk for a while. They tell me about a hostel that they are staying at in Geneve, where we're going, so we get there in the morning, and find that there are in fact places to ruck up (still getting the Austrailian out of me). So I book and all is good. I'll go back to Italy when I'm assured I have a place to stay. For now, we had a blast in Geneve. These folks also had problems finding rooms in Venice, so we spent a leisurly day in a leisurly town, just walking around, went swimming in the lake, got a little sun burned, and lounged for a day of recouperation. Tomorrow, we're headed to Barcelona. I realize that I'm blitzing through these countries, but I have full intentions of returning and hitting up some more cities. For now, I found a great group of traveling companions, and I've found that even in the worst situations, one good person can turn a situation from survivable to enjoyable. For now, I'm blessed with four such people. I really wish the USB here worked so that you all could see pictures of what's been going on. I've already sent three CDs home of pics (yes Mom, two more are in the mail. And don't worry, I'm not wasting money on worthless souveniers, I didn't pay for what else is in the box ;) On a side note, sleeper cars are awesome. Italy isn't so hot, because they still make you reserve a seat, which is 25 euros, even though we all had Eurail passes. That makes it inefficent to use them as alternate housing, in Italy. Tomorrow we may check into prices in other countries, because it was so much fun. Well, I have 4 minutes left. Time to get to the e-mail side of things. Later!

Hosed

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Venice, which is a pretty good spot to be, in my opinion. However, I spent last night on the floor of a train station, still have no place for tonight (all rooms are either booked or more than 100 dollars), and I seem to have lost my journal. But heck, I am in Venice. I don't know for how long, though. It seems that Italy is a pain to book, hostel wise. Due to this, I may just skip the whole country in frustration.

Into the Eagle's Nest

I arrived safely in Salzburg, although very tired from the many days of walking that I've been doing. I decided to just stay in, since I had arrived at 7pm. Just journaled, then read the section in Band of Brothers about the Eagle's Nest, since those were my plans for the next morning. Well, at 8pm in the lobby of my hostel, they were showing The Sound of Music, which is set and filmed in Salzburg. I figured, what the heck. I'm tired anyways. So I ventured down and sat with two girls from London, one of which is totally all about the Sound of Music. Then three Aussie guys who are in the same room as me walked up and were like "We saw the Band of Brothers book on your bed, and we're going to Eagle's Nest tomorrow" so the four of us went out after the movie to sample Salzburg's nightlife. We had a good time, then hit the hay (or, as they say, rucked out. Or rooked out. I don't know how to spell it. Or why they call McDonalds "Mackies.") They all paid for the guided tour (about $65 US), while I decied to use my train pass and wing it. I never saw them there, but I did meet a guy from the UP, travelling with a guy from Louisiana, and the three of us wandered about the Eagle's Nest. I got some pictures of the place, but the overpriced internet cafe I'm at right now doesn't have access to USB ports, so I can't show you any of them. I'm heading to Kitzbuhel tomorrow night, for three nights. It's near Innsbruck, so I can go there for a day, and also check the place out. As for the future, I think Italy may be in the running.

Vienna

Ok, due to popular request, here's a shot of me under a chandaleer (I can't spell that...) made of human bones, at the BONE CHURCH. In other news, I'm planning on linking back to everyone who is kind enough to link to me and also to add a site meter, but currently, every post I make is on a pay-per-minute basis, so I basically log on, do my thing, and log off as soon as I can. If I find free Internet, I will right all wrongs :) Vienna was cool. I don't know what to say about it. I walked a ton today. I got in at midnight, and the hostel directions were poor, and also utilized a bus line that stopped running at midnight. Then I got poor directions from a local. So more or less, I wandered the streets until 1:30am, when I found the address. No sign out front, and no sign on the first floor even. But they had left a key out for me, and I made it :) I booked a hostel for two nights in Salzburg. I wanted three, but the only cheap place had just two available. I may splurge in the near future, as I found a deal on skiing a glacier for $30, all day, with rental. So tempting... we'll see. That's all for now. Mom, expect a package in the mail soon. I need to send some stuff home that isn't doing anything for me now. As soon as you get it, I need you to copy the CD of pictures to my computer, then e-mail me and let me know that they all copied correctly, so I can clear off my memory card. I just have to find out how to mail it. Later all. I miss you all!

on Riding Black and Czeching out...

Two days in Prague were excellent. A lot of good times wandering the streets of old city and new, seeing the giant cathedral on the hill, overlooking the city, as well as some modern art. Public transportation is awesome. I was running low on funding, and still had to navigate around the trains. When you just hop on the city subways and trams without a ticket, it's called "riding black." So that's what I did all day. I felt a little like James Bond, keeping an eye out for Jaws, who was prepared to rip my tram and my head in half, demanding the 500 crown fee for being caught. An American couple in front of me got caught and had to cough up the money. It was exciting. Today, we're going to a town called Kutna Hora. I guess back in the days of the plague, this town was more or less wiped out. They burned all the bodies, but there so many that they didn't know what to do with them. A monk took all the bones and built a cathedral and furniture out of them. Sounds creepy, but cool, nonetheless. I've got my next hostel booked in Vienna for the next two nights, so that's where I'm headed. Austria, here I come. Joe, I'm looking for some late season pow pow on the cheap :)