on the move for the last time.....

So....I'm leaving Wales in a few hours for the busy streets of London, bringing my journey to an end. When I get home, I'll try to piece together the last few weeks of my trip on this website for all of you I neglect with regard to emailing. This last week has been really nice and relaxing, as I've been staying with my second cousin Iain and his wife Anne (and family) in Bridgend, Wales (just about 20 mins out of Cardiff). They've been absolutely wonderful to me and have shown me around this area, in addition to letting me just relax in their home. For that, I really have to thank them, because I think I really needed it!
Staying in my last hostel tonight and tomorrow night, before crashing on the floor of a few people I met in San Sebastian for the last two nights. Then....home! I honestly can't believe it's been 4 months already. In some ways, it seems an absolute eon for all the things I've done and people I've met, but in others, it just seems like a week ago that I was sitting in the airport on my way out here.
more later......

sorry for the lack of writing...

Sorry for the awful lack of posts...been too busy, having fun (and being sick) in France. I'll write soon....Leaving Paris tomorrow for Amsterdam for two days, before heading out to the UK for the remainder of this trip. Sad times, but I've had a great time! Even the hurling from a nasty flu, caught here in Paris, in Reims could've been worse, I suppose...still got to do a fun Champagne tour before getting sick! Aside from that, I went to the Louvre (yes, for HOURS), to the Musée d'Orsay (also for HOURS); and walked up the arc de triomphe, amongst many many other things, so I've been busy here. It's been fun, but I'm struggling with this keyboard, so I'm going to sign off and write more later....

pics

more pics up on the flickr site. I'll try to keep putting new ones up relatively frequently, but we'll see how long that lasts.

Romanian/Hungarian pics

From behind the Brasov sign in Brasov, Romania (think like the hollywood sign). This was taken after a wonderful walk up the mountain (so what if everyone else took the cable car? the walk was awesome)










Jaime feeding a donkey at a castle in Transylvania. I'd have to give it some more thought to remember what it was called. It'll come to me. This was taken shortly before another donkey came up and bit my hand. But then again, we WERE feeding them.
ed. The place was called Rasov







This is one of the most (if not the most) beautiful castles I have seen. Again, I'd have to research to remember the name, but it was amazing. Unfortunately we got there too late to go inside, but it also meant that there was no one around, so it was really pleasant. It's in Transylvania too. We went to it the day that we hired a car out of Brasov. It's in the town of Sighisoara, which was wholly unimpressive, but the castle was wonderful.



this is kiwi Christine, in Eger, just out of Budapest, while her fiance and I made her do a drunk test. This was in a place called the Valley of the Beautiful Women, and it's renowned for its wine cellars (we spent the day on the wine cellar road, going from one to another, testing their wares - very tasty and very cheap).








This is Christine, Josh, and I in Eger during one of the wine tastings. Needless to say, it was a riot.

Madrid is full of museums - who would have thought?!

New post, new location: Madrid. I had a great time in Barcelona and can honestly say that it's a place I could see myself living quite easily (ok, once I get this whole 'spanish' thing down....or catalan, for living there...hm). I had been told before I got there that I was going to love it, so I was unsure what everyone was talking about. It really is a vibrant city though; I didn't even go out a lot (unlike most people at the hostel, from the sounds of it), but I somehow ended up staying up till at least2.30 every night. It just happens. Most nights, we didn't even end up going out for dinner until 10 or 11, so that tells you something. I'm trying hard to get used to this whole siesta thing though, where you have to try and judge if what you feel like doing that day (grocery shopping, clothes shopping, eating lunch out, whatever) is going to be open during siesta hours, cause otherwise you better forget it!
While in Barcelona, I ended up meeting this guy from LA (Darick) who was a lot of fun to hang out with, so it was kind of nice to have a partner in crime for my BCN adventures. We spent the days going to various museums (my doing), doing some clothes shopping (his doing), and drinking coffee, watching pretty spanish boys (the coffee part was DEFINITELY my doing, the boy watching is DEFINITELY his doing). So, one day was spent going out to see the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's huge and incredibly impressive cathedral that is still under construction. I need to get some pics of that up here, cause it is amazing. Truly. That same day, we (and 2 Aussies) went up to Park Guell to check out the Gaudi stuff there in the park, and that was rad too. It really was so fun to just see all of this great architecture all over the city.
The next day, we went to the nearby town of Figueres to see the Dali museum. That was an experience. The day started off with us not being able to hook up with the 2 Aussie friends, then once we got to Figueres, it was pouring, so some really awesome lady ran to her car and donated her umbrella to the two drowned rat english speakers. Thanks Fashionista lady! (She was christened that due to her very fashionable umbrella, which also took on the name). So yeah, after wandering around the city in the pouring rain, we found the museum, and ate lunch as we watched the line get longer. oh well. The museum is incredible. It really is an experience in and of itself....I don't even know how to describe it. Very cool nonetheless.
My last day consisted of going to the Picasso museum in the city, which was pretty cool, and making a mad dash to the train station. After a miscommunication, I got the right reservation about a minute before my train to Madrid was supposed to leave. It meant that I got to bypass some lines though, and get onto my train! woot!
So yeah, now I'm in Madrid. It's cool and the museums rock. Other than that, it's kind of just a big city, but that's ok, because the Prado is amazing. =) I know, I'm a nerd. Today I'm going to another one of the museums, so it should be good. The crappy weather is following me around spain though. It's warm enough, but I got soaked yesterday. oh well, such is life.

Oh, the beauty of traveling...and being a retard.

Alright, so I know I keep doing this, but I really do apologise for the severe lack of writing lately. My last week or two has been slightly stressful (ok, stressful compared to the rest of the trip, not real life), as I think I've been getting tired and just not planning things as well as I should be.....I take complete responsibility for all the things that have happened over the last few days....except I do blame a minor miscommunication between dad and I for part of it.
Anyway, before I get to the misadventures of late, I'll just say briefly that I made it to Barcelona about an hour ago (took a night HOTEL train....no wonder it cost me the entire left side of my body in addition to my rail pass!!). Oh, and it's POURINg. I mean really raining. Luckily, I made it to the hostel just in time...but it's still really hot here. Hopefully it clears up after this shower, but we'll see. Oh, and it's a great looking hostel, with free internet again, not 1 euro per ten minutes...who ARE these people who charge these exorbitant rates? But yeh, this looks like a cool city...I think I'm going to enjoy it here, no matter what the weather. It's going to be weird not being able to talk to people except in english though. I was really getting the hang of this whole 'conversational italian' thing, and I really brushed up a lot on my rapidly decaying knowledge of the italian language, so for that.....woot!!
Back to the misadventures.
I think it started one day when I forgot to charge my cell phone. Then, in a small small small town in Italy (Roccasecca), I learned that they don't like stopping at platform 1...they need to use platform 1 tronco (so THAt's what 1T means...). Anyway, found that out as I saw the teensy train I needed leaving the mystery tronco platform. Not a big deal though - another train was coming by in an hour (I'd waited for 2.5 for the first train...good thing I'm rereading the Hobbit!). Bought a phone card to use in the pay phone to call the farm house I was going to, and proceeded to leave my life sitting on top of the pay phone (in the form of my little orange notebook into which everything goes). Didn't notice till I got to my destination, another small town named Sora. Such is life.
From there, I had a rad time in the farm house and wished I could have stayed longer. I learned how to properly make gnocchi and got up stupidly early the next day to visit a shepherd and learn how to make pecorino cheese at 5am. That night was a pasta and fagioli festival in the village nearby (for those uninitiated few, that means a party for pasta and beans....woot!!). It was a lot of fun and I learned to line dance, italian style...how great is that? Unfortunately though, I hadn't figured out how I was getting to Cinque Terre the next day, cause the farm has no internet. Hm.
The next morning, I got adopted by a mother and daughter pair who were heading to Rome via car (hey, Rome is closer than Sora to Cinque Terre). We got there, and I successfully found a train to Pisa (again, the right direction, right?). It was in Rome, shortly before running for the Pisa train (yes, running back to the platform I just came from...unfortunately Roma Termini is HUGE with moving sidewalks and everything), that I realised that it was Ferragosto, the biggest holiday in the summer, so EVERYthing was closed. No internet points to figure stuff out. Got to Pisa and found a train heading to La Spezia and all 5 CT towns, so I got on. It was around this time that some of you started getting phone calls.......and after being unsure if i gave my dad the right phone number to call back, I ran out of credit on my phone...thank god he called back. I really do thank you, dad! Unfortunately, we didn't have the greatest connection, and dad is dad, and I was confused when the directions to the hostel he gave me told me that it was in La Spezia itself. I remembered getting a hostel in a village somewhere, but hey...he just read the directions from my email, right? So I get to La Spezia and follow the directions, which take me to a bus stop. I think I was supposed to catch a bus from there, but with it being Ferragosto, there were no buses. I saw a sign for the hostel, and started walking. Little did I know that it was a mountain hike to get there....anyway, I wasn't sure I was on the right road and it was getting late and dark, and I found a restaurant to ask directions....this was after walking up a road up the mountain, with no sidewalk or shoulder on it. He told me I was crazy, since it was 930pm, but that I was on the right track. Just keep going for 4 more kms, and then take a right for 1km. ugh. Walked the 4km, got picked up by a girl on her way home from work who drove me the last 1km to the hostel. I'm so grateful for nice people. Got in at 1030, after 2.5 hours on the road. blah.
From there, I forgot I had nowhere to go afterwards, so I decided to skip the south of France for now (nothing available at such short notice) and take a really expensive night train to Barcelona. Cinque Terre was beautiful and I walked a lot, but here I am...one more new country.
Hopefully my tale of woe hasn't bored you too much. I'm sure it'll get better from here on in.

roman tales

I really apologise for the lack of posts....I tried a few days ago, but got cut off and lost what I had written. Such is life, I suppose.
I'm in Rome right now and it's raining. Ok, sort of spitting raining, but it's still good enough for me, and it has cooled things down some, which is nice for now. I feel like I'v been running since I got here, so I came back to the hotel (and no, I didn't spell that wrong - I'm staying in a hotel, not a hostel, but the hotel here has a couple of dorm rooms, so same deal) and crashed for an hour and a half. I really haven't been spending a lot of time checking out the nightlife of any of these places, but I just find it hard to get motivated sometimes.....who really wants to go to a club or bar or something and try to avoid the inane and usually annoying conversations (read: loud 'ciao! smile for me!'s) that are attempted in the street during the day? Beau, where are you when I need you?
Rome is a cool place. Every time you turn a corner, you find old city walls, or another set of ruins, or some baroque palace, or something of the sort, perfectly integrated into everyday life. It's kind of weird, but it works somehow. I spent today exploring the Vatican, standing in the seemingly long, but very fast moving line to get into St. Peter's Basilica first thing (bypassing the uber long and not moving line to get into the Vatican museum) and spent quite a while wandering around that place. Even though I had been there before, I think I had forgotten just how excessive and over the top that place is. REally, seriously. I mean, St. Peter's is everything the Protestants hate (and in fact, was one of their reasons for creating protestantism, if I remember my art history courses correctly).....I think the last time I was there, I missed out on a lot of it, not only because I was 15, and who knows anything at 15, but also because the pope had been in attendance, and that meant restricted access. Today I got to wander around freely...it was wild. After the basilica had worn me out, I went and stood in the much shortened line for the museum for 10 mins, and went inside. It's a cool place, with some interesting works in the picture gallery, but you can really tell everyone is there for the Sistine Chapel (or as I heard at least 2 groups of Americans call it, the Sixteenth Chapel). The Chapel itseld just recently had a facelift, so the colours are really intense....I think they did a decent job for the most part.....there were so many people in that room, it was hard to breathe though...cool to see, despite it all.
Hmm....yesterday was just wandering around the city, and I was a bit dismayed to find out that the Fontana di Quattro Fiumi (a rad fountain by Bernini) is under construction, but what can you do? Anyway....the Tuscan villa was awesome, and I ended up staying there an extra day. The bike ride to San Gimignano nearly killed me, as it is uphill (and I mean HILL) for over 2 hours on the way there, and neither derailer on teh bike worked well, so I only really had one gear that sort of worked......unfortunate. but the town is cool, and the ride home rocked. the days before that were spent in a cooking class, a chianti wine tour, and lying in a hammock, reading the hobbit. awesome. Anyway, I have to go check on my pasta on the hot plate, but I promise I'll try to write more frequently, now that internet doesn't cost 10 euro an hour...ciao

Florence is the only place for nerds like me....

Alright, so this is going to be quick, since I don't have loads of time and I need to go find my bed, seeing as I have to get up bright and early again to go to the Accademia...tough life, hey? Anyway....sorry it's been so long, but Venice was stupidly expensive...we're talking 10 euro an hour, so that just wasn't happening. I'm in Florence now, and am heading about an hour out of town tomorrow to a villa/farmhouse in a town called Certaldo. I'm really looking forward to it as a break from all of these cities, and apparently it's only an hour and a half bike ride to San Gimignano (and closer to some tasty wineries...). Having a great time in Florence, and am being a huge nerd, visiting all the places storing the art works I've been writing papers about for years! It's great. I'll catch up on the Hungary news next time. Oh, and it's SO nice being in a country where I can communicate with people...like having actual *conversations* with people in their own language. I'm loving it, even though my italian is even rustier than my french! No one seems to mind, and it even helped me find my hostel (thanks to the wonderfully helpful woman I found in the street!). that's it, that's all, goodbye. =)

the *actual* Romanian adventure

I guess I was so tired last night when I was writing, that I forgot the most exciting and funny part of my adventure (ok, most of you probably won't find it all that funny, but still....): when I got on the bus at the train station here in Brasov, a guy got on to check all of our tickets, so while I was still thinking bout that, I realised that there was this other guy who was standing in the aisle next to me (I was sitting) who was really leaning over me. It kind of looked like he was resting on a hand rail or something, but the only thing was...there was no handrail, just my leg and backpack - oh, and he was holding a shirt in that hand to obstruct his actions.....hmm.....I knew that my packs were both closed in such a way that he couldn't get into them, but I moved my leg away, and this map in my pocket was sticking half-way out....hmm...so, of course, I moved my leg away and he sort of shuffled his hand OFF/OUT OF my pocket and looked at me, I looked at him so that he knew that I knew what he was doing, and he ended up getting off at the next stop. The funny part (or sad?) is that I'm sure the driver knew what was going on, since I was in the very first seat and after the guy got off, the driver kept looking at me....also, there was a police officer on the bus, who got off at the stop after the pickpocket! nice, hey?
Anyway, that's my story. That's *actually* what I meant to write about last night, and just forgot. Oh, and apparently it's so hot in Bucharest right now that no one is supposed to be going to work (a red caution or some other bad translation)....oh, and there are medical tents set up both in Bucharest and here in Brasov. Awesome.

Romanian adventures

I've now made my way north to Romania, and am currently camped out (figuratively) in a town in Transylvania called Brasov. It's a nice change from Bucharest, heat-wise, as it has dropped to at least 38 in the day, and it's actually in the 20s now at night. I can't even tell you how happy that makes me! I took a train from Veliko Tarnovo to Bucharest the other day and had no trouble finding my first hostel, despite its odd location. The 'hostel' is actually someone's apartment on the 9th floor of a communist-era building. Apparently these buildings have TERRIBLE air circulation, and I thought I was actually going to suffocate that night. Luckily I was booked into another place with air conditioning for my second night, so it was much better; however, it was not so easy to find, and I ended up wandering around the city for hours in the 40+ degree heat with my pack on. ugh. Seems to be the story of my life right now.
Saw some cool buildings in Bucharest though. That Ceauscescu guy was seriously deranged. I knew the Casa Popularii was going to be big, but really? THAT big? It's unbelievable, truly. The pictures I have really don't do it justice. Even just walking around the city is something else - the architecture is on a scale I haven't really seen before. It really seems like a cool city, but walking in 45C heat is brutal, so I walked around at night, but didn't really get as good a feel for the city as I would have liked. Think I'd like to go back at some point, just not in the middle of summer!
Brasov here seems neat. It's a smaller city with lots of tourists, of course, but there seems to be lots to do around here. I've sort of hooked up with this couple from New Zealand whose travel plans are similar to mine right now, and I think we're going to rent a car and see some of the castles and stuff around this area (Bran castle included, D, as well as Sighisoara, I think). Should be good.

pics from the tsaravets fortress church

This is one bad view of the interior of the church in the Tsaravets fortress here in Veliko Tarnovo. Sorry about the quality, but I was doing it on the sly....had to pay 3 lv to take pics, but I didn't. This was a rad place though - painted in 1985, it's all done in this intense graphic novel style. I have some postcards of the interior, and they have better lighting for some of these views.....



Another pic of the interior....these images tell the story of the Ottoman rule and after. It's super neat, and I'm surprised they don't make a bigger deal out of it. Maybe it's because so many people hate contemporary art, and think this type of thing has no place in a house of worship...I dunno.


This is the outside of the church. Some of the fortress ruins can be seen here too. It's interesting, cause they're rebuilding the ruins...instead of ruins falling down with time, they're going up....kinda different and neat.

Go East!

Yesterday I arrived here in Veliko Tarnovo, in central Bulgaria, and I think I'm dying. Ok, maybe not literally, but the heat here is unbearable. This is going to be a short post, because it's past midnight and I'm sweating upstairs here...down in my bedroom, there's air conditioning, at least. (I'm not exaggerating either....it's about 40 degrees here in the day, and it only cools down a few degrees at night, excluding the radiating heat from the buildings)

Since I last posted, I visited Belgrade and was utterly frustrated in all my endeavours there. After a lot of walking around the city, I found the Contemporary Art Gallery in Novi Beograde, only to find out it closed in June indefinitely for renos...grr....more walking. Oh well, that's what I'm here for, I suppose...after a frustrating day (the national gallery was closed as well...), I gave up on the gallery-going, and chilled with an ice coffee and people-watched. It's probably what I should have been doing all along, anyway.

From Belgrade, I overnight trained it Sofiya, and that was an interesting experience. Started with a Bulgarian guy and I in my cabin, and everything was nice and quiet, with him speaking no English, and me no Bulgarian. Turned out he was the worst snorer I've ever heard in my life. Add that to the screaming kids next door, and the portuguese party on the other side, and I was thanking my lucky stars for my mp3 player...thanks mum!! Anyway, a few hours later, I wake up to one of the Portuguese people casing out the cabin. Turned out he wanted to sleep in the middle seat, as his friends were still partying....All was good until the bulgarian women got in in Nis at about 3am....there was non-stop chatter for ages. But hey, in the morning, they were feeding me chocolate biscuits and candies and chips...yum! =)

Anyway, I said I was going to keep this short....Sofiya was cool, with lots of wicked communist monuments (most were terribly built and are falling down, making them even better representations of the regime), but on the whole, not terribly impressive. It's really just a big city. I'll write more about it later....I'm off to bed.

Sarajevo update

As you can see, I've added some pics on this site in addition to updating the regular photo site. Hopefully this makes all you grumblers happy. No more grumbling just cause your own life is boring, D.
I'm currently sitting in my hostel in Belgrade, Serbia. I got here this afternoon after a brutally long day that involved 2 hours sleep, a rush to the bus station for a 6am bus, an 8 hour bus ride, during which we came thisclose to hitting an oncoming vehicle (seriously....not what you want to happen during the first hour of 8), and then a couple of long walks in the heat with my pack on (but hey, I gave myself a walking tour of the city!). So yeh, all this, and I'm only staying till tomorrow night, at which point I'm catching a night train to Sofia, in Bulgaria.
So, Sarajevo was amazing. I was a little unprepared, I think, after coming to Bosnia from the beautiful Croatian coast. I got on the bus in Dubrovnik in shorts and a tank top because it was so warm there, but once I got off in Bosnia, things were a little different....First, the bus trip between DB and Mostar, Bosnia is beautiful. You begin by going up the coast of Croatia, and then once you head inland, it's all these crazy beautiful green rocky mountains. Coming into Mostar was super interesting, but a little shocking, seeing how much destruction is left over from the war over a decade ago.
Bombed out shells of houses are a common sight in the area unfortunately, as are the bulletholes in the pavement and buildings (obviously). I got into Sarajevo at about 9pm and I'm not going to lie, it was a bit intimidating. It was so different from what I had gotten used to in the previous weeks, and it was one of the first times I was getting into a city at night. I had no map that actually showed the street my hostel was supposed to be on, so I ended up catching my first taxi. I was ripped off a bit, being told one price and having to pay another, but it was a couple dollars, so I wasn't terribly worried.
Anyway, the Haris hostel is at the top of this massively steep hill (and this is not just me complaining, you'll see the pictures soon), which is a pain (literally...in my poor old knees), but it afforded us a killer view over the city. From any of you that remember the madness that went on in Sarajevo from 1992-1995, the city is in a valley, completely surrounded by hills (which the Serbs used to their advantage). One of the first things you notice in the area around the hostel is the absolutely huge (and plentiful) graveyards scattered over the hills. It really is something to see....
But back to the hostel. I've already raved about it, so no more, but it really was a great time. The first night there, we hung out at the hostel with Haris and drank rakia (homemade moonshine, basically....actually a homemade plum brandy). The next day, Haris took us on this amazing tour, taking us to the Tunnel of Hope, 'Sniper Alley' and the Holiday Inn where all the journalists stayed during the siege, the Olympic Museum, a typical Bosnian home from the Ottoman Empire, and then for some super yummy food and coffee. Listening to him speak about the city was great, because, having lived through both good times and bad in the city, he gives a really interesting perspective on things. And makes you realise just how much you take for granted in your own life. After that, there was a lot of wandering around the city, watching people playing chess in the parks, and taking a look at all the mosques (from outside, of course....some made you put on a veil if you wanted to enter even the courtyard). I was staying just outside the Turkish (old) area of the city, so it was really fun to hang out in all the turkish coffee shops and wander through the crazy narrow streets. One night, a bunch of us all went out and found some great live music in a pub, too. It was sort of a mix of traditional Bosnian music and contemporary party/bar music. It was kinda cool.
Oh yeah, and it was my first time being in a muslim city....the call to prayer that is played from all of the mosques is really quite cool to hear. Apparently each mosque tries to 'outdo' the other ones, so you hear this chanting/music-like voice from so many mosques all at once (from a certain point on the hill, I counted 30 spires around the city without even trying too hard)...
Anyway, it's 1.30 am and I've been up for a looooong time. I'll try to keep up with the pictures better, but access is not always easy.

Some Sarajevo pictures

Ok, so these pictures are a few that I took while in Sarajevo. I'm uploading more onto my flickr site as I write.
This first pic is of the 'Tunnel of Hope', on the far side of the Sarajevo airport. Basically, during the war, the Serbs left the area around the airport open (at first because of a lack of tactical advantage, then because the UN took over the airport to administer humanitarian aid), so the Bosnians started digging this 800m long tunnel from either end, meeting in the middle. During the 4 years during which Sarajevo was under siege, this was one of the main ways supplies were brought into the city, and it was also used to shuttle people out of the city who had somewhere in Croatia or somewhere else to go.

This is one of the lucky buildings that survived, but you can see the damage it took. This is a completely normal sight around the city.
















This is one of the cathedrals to go with the many many mosques around the city. I haven't transferred all of my Sarajevo pics yet, so the mosque pictures come later.....

First, an addendum to the previous post....when I wrote that post, I was in the middle of some evasive manoeuvers (just like in star trek, people!)....one of the guys from that group (the other two people were a really nice couple) was, unfortunately, planning on going to the same islands as I was to go swimming. I was actively trying to avoid him, and one of my tactics was hiding out in the internet cafe...BUT....a guy I thought was him came in there, and as I ducked out the door, I got caught by the actual guy I was avoiding. Curses! Foiled again! Anyway, ended up going to the beautiful island and I went swimming, but all I could think about was leaving, cause this guy was just sooooo boring, and I really did not want to be there. I see a need to stand up for myself but in a tactful (key word...I can stand up for myself, but.....) way. hm. sounds like a future lesson to me.....any takers on being my teacher in this endeavour? Let me know....
So I'm in Dubrovnik now, heading out to Sarajevo tomorrow. I'll try to put some pics up the next time I'm at a computer, cause I know all this writing must be getting boring by now. Dubrovnik really is impressive. I mean, I don't know what I was expecting, but walking up to these giant walls is something else. I really don't think any pics I take will do it justice, but I'll give it a shot. Been doing a lot of walking here, and think I'm going to head up to the town walls and go for a stroll up there next. I think it's going to be even crazier here tonight than it was last night, cause it's the opening ceremony for the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. It's tourists galore here in the old town, but luckily my wonderful croatian 'travel agent' found me a place on the lapad peninsula, so the house I'm staying in is pretty out of the way...it's beautiful.
I don't really have a lot to report, other than it's really freakin hot.

At the car wash......

So I know I just posted yesterday, but I wasn't ready to face the sun yet today, so I figured I'd put something else up here.....
Hvar is a fun place, and much more lively than Bol was. This city is really much more international (Bol is more for young families and young couples, on vacation from other places in Croatia), so you end up hearing English a lot more....I haven't quite decided if that's a good thing or not, but it's just a fact. Yesterday, after finding a lovely room not too far from the harbour, complete with a small terrace and everything, I headed up the hill and checked out the fortress up there. It was pretty cool and gave some pretty amazing views of the town and surrounding islands. Speaking of those surrounding islands, I think I'm heading out there pretty shortly to do some swimming (hvar is beautiful, but is not built so much for swimming).
Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that on the boat over here, as you round the island, you get this intense whiff of lavender, because Hvar is the lavender island, so the hillsides are just covered in it! Because of that, the town smells like lavender as well, with all the people selling little sachets to tourists on the sidewalks. It's pretty nice.
So last night, there was this (not bad) Croatian rock band playing in the main square for some reason. Don't ask me why, but there were lots of people out and about. During the concert, I got to talking to this group of three people (around my age) from Zagreb on the island for a while, and hung out with them a bit. It was kind of funny...after the concert, they were heading to a party up the hill somewhere.....turns out the word 'party' is used fairly loosely, and the 'party' was being held at a car wash, which is a term also used fairly loosely.
It was hilarious, and fun for a while, but we were in this tiny little ramshackle room with all the windows shut, and everyone (all 8 or 9 people) were smoking non-stop the entire time, while drinking homemade wine out of mineral water bottles. Too funny. I stayed for a while, but since only the 3 I came with spoke english, the only language flying was croatian, and it got a little boring after a while, so I walked home. Funny way to spend the night....

Croatian adventures....

Sorry I've been neglecting my duty to all of you (all four people who read it!...*joking*), but internet was expensive in Zagreb and even worse when I got to the island of Brač. Ok, so we'll start with Zagreb, I guess....
My bro's friend Christina picked me up from the train station on her vespa, and brave girl that she is, gave me (and my pack!) a ride to the flat in which she was putting me up. She's an awesome girl, and let me stay in her mum's vacant flat downtown, which was super nice, and a great change from living/sleeping with 7-11 other people in the room! Seriously, I can't tell you how nice it is to be in a place on your own after living in dorms often with no kitchens! So yeh, the first night, I took it easy and made some tasty food and drank some cheap croatian wine. Oh, and I hung out in the main square for a bit, getting called funny names (I think) by some guy who was not quite all there....but don't worry mum, he was doing it to everyone, not just me! Oh, and there was some skateboard competition going on, so I watched a bit of that, with all the skaters in zagreb who I didn't ever see skate anywhere...hmm....maybe the cobblestone streets were a little off-putting.
The next day was started in the market outside the flat, buying some fruit and veggies for the day, and the rest was spent wandering the streets, seeing the 'sights' of zagreb, heading up to the upper town to see the cool tile roof on a church up there, hanging out drinking coffee, and stuff like that. Truthfully, Christina wasn't lying...there isn't a LOT to do in the city, but I had a great time nonetheless. One night, I hung out with Christina and her fiance Niksa. Both are fabulous people, and it was a nice, chill evening.
From Zagreb, on C's advice, I took an early-morning train to Split (ok, the early morning bit was my idea), on the coast. I was there for a few hours, until my ferry to the island of Brač left. Split is kind of neat. In the middle of town is Diocletian's palace, so you can wander through these amazing Roman ruins (and for free! unless you actually want to go IN any of the places, but the outside is cool enough).
From there, took a catamaran to Bol, on Brač. What a beautiful place, but pretty expensive. I spent my four days there hanging out on a light-coloured stone beach, reading my book, and swimming in the amazingly blue and ridiculously clear Adriatic sea. Didn't do much most nights, but one of them, I met this Croatian cop, and ended up having a few drinks with him, laughing at drunk tourists going crazy in the outdoor bar. It was interesting to hear some of the stories of a cop on a boat in the Adriatic....sounds like a good life, to me! Most days are spent inspecting boats and cruising around the sea.....not bad! Had an early-morning/late night dip in the sea with some of the people we met at the bar and headed home. That was about the most excitement on the island though....it was super relaxing.
So that brings me here, to the island of Hvar. Got here about an hour ago, and now I need to find somewhere to stay for a couple days, before heading out to Korčula, then Dubrovnik. In all, it looks like I'll be spending more time in Croatia than planned, but hey....I'm not complaining! Hvar looks like something out of a james bond movie....all glamourous people (ok, not all, but...) and beautiful yachts.

Livin the outdoors life

It's been a few days since I last posted anything, and for that, I'm sorry. I had access, but it was in a smoky, nasty pub with swarms of flies, and I just didn't think it was worth the hassle. I'm currently in the far northwest corner of Slovenia in a village just outside the town of Kranjska Gora, only a couple of km from both Italy and Austria (I was actually in all three countries at some point yesterday). Where I am, the forested mountains dominate the landscape, with the farmhouse I stayed in last night perched against one side of the valley and the other side of the valley sitting a mere couple hundred metres north of here....it's amazing. It's funny, but I've realised on this trip that I really do enjoy the 'hiking in the Alps' part as much as the 'wandering around grand and interesting cities' part (and I thought I was just coming for the cities!). So far, it's been a really nice balance of the two, and, although I'll soon be out of the mountains, I hope to be able to keep it going with the upcoming 'swimming in the Adriatic' part. I'll let you know how it all turns out... =)
I've posted some more pics on the flickr site, and maybe when I get to Croatia tonight, I'll try to put up a few more on here, now that I think I have this 'posting pictures' thing working (it's hard to figure it all out when everything on the screen is in Slovene!).
I had a great time in Ljubljana. The first night there, I stayed in an old villa and met some really great people. It was mostly Canadians and Americans staying there at the time, and weirdly enough, I was hanging out with the Americans to avoid the really annoying Canadians....what a bad state of affairs! Anyway, I was there on their Day of Independence, so we managed to check out part of a free outdoor concert with some decent Czech rock and some really awful rap. We were probably the oldest people in the crowd, and all the high school kids seemed to really dig it, but....
The last two nights there were spent staying at an old converted garrison barracks (military prison, essentially), which they've redone into a pretty awesome youth hostel, in an old squatter's section of town. The hostel itself was fun, but even better was the section in behind....go around the corner and you find these underground bars/clubs in these abandoned buildings where a bunch of interesting Ljubljana youth hang out. So, needless to say, we got some beer and homemade schnapps, and pulled up a log and/or Persian rug in the middle of the parking lot, and got the night started! After a while a couple of girls and I went in search of some music we heard, and stumbled upon a gay dance club, where we proceeded to dance the night away. I'll try to post a pic of us with our froofy girly drinks (the only thing they really served). All in all, good times in Ljubljana!
From there, it was off to the beautiful town of Bled, further north in Slovenia. Great town, terrible hostel. But I was hanging out with the same girls, so all was good. A couple of us went on a walk in Vintgar Gorge, and it was one of the most beautiful places I've seen, with this crystal clear water pouring through ancient rocks, cutting its way through the mountain. I'll get some pics up of this too, to get some idea of what it was like. Oh, and there's a diving world championship going on there now, so we got to watch people hurl themselves from a 23 metre board. You must be CRAZY to want to hit the water from that height. It was intense.

Ljub-a-dub-dub

So here I am, a new post, a new country....From what I've seen so far, Slovenia is a beautiful place - really lush, with lots of tree-covered mountains. And, from the top of the Castle Tower, you can actually see some Alps in the distance, in addition to the green foothills (aka the Tatra mountains, but they look like foothills compared to the giants behind them!!) that surround Ljubljana. This city is great. I'm not entirely sure why yet, but I'm just enjoying it here....I'll let you know when I figure out why. Stayed at an old villa last night, and I'm in an old army garrison/prison tonight and tomorrow. They've redone this prison, and gave 80 artists free rein over the decorating/designing of the rooms, so each cell is set up and decorated differently. There's also an artist's commune behind here, and some pretty wicked graffiti in the surrounding area...all in all, quite cool.
So, after talking to some guy on the street today, standing in front of his makeshift gypsy carava/snake oil salesman hut, I'm supposed to be spreading the word about Big brother and 1984 and George Bush...any takers? No? Think about it, get back to me.
Also, I have created a flickr account to upload a small fraction of my pictures, just so that you all don't think that I've been lying all this time, and have in actuality been living in the endowment lands or something....I think you can access the few pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jawmack/ .....I think. Try it, let me know. I won't be putting a lot up there, cause it takes forever on all these central european computers/hostel computers, but hey...it's better than nothing. More and more, I've been realising that I tend to take pictures that probably won't interest anyone but me, but hey, then again, I'm not forcing anyone to look......hm.
I'm really quite happy to be out of Austria, actually, cause I was getting a really weird feeling in Vienna....that one following incident wasn't the only one, so after it happened again (this time with some greek guy trying to get me to go to his restaurant, I think), I decided it really was my time to leave. But Slovenia is awesome. And yes, T - ALPS! No airplane bars here though....haha.. thank god. but there WAS some pretty bad 2 euro wine last night.
hmm....lots more to tell, but I think that's it for now....

Who turned the sun up? Just when you thought it couldn't get any hotter....

here I am in Vienna....I've been here for a day and a half, and feel like I haven't done much, but I think that's only in relation to how many things there are to do here! If you really wanted to hit every museum here, you'd be here for weeks, methinks. Checked out the Kunsthistoriches museum today, and it was pretty cool...think I only saw the picture gallery, and was there for hours, but it was amazing.
Been meeting loads of interesting folk, some wanted, some not so much....one guy today started off trying to hawk me concert tickets and then told me if I wanted a 'real' tour of Vienna, to call his cell phone number....oh, I should have prefaced this by saying he was dressed in a satin vest and tights, basically (or whatever they're called....his mozart type costume). Needless to say, I decided against going out with the sleazy ticket salesman, and hung out with my roommate instead.
I guess I never posted about Olomouc. It was a cool place, but not as great as people had made me believe. Still a lot of fun, and the people in the hostel were great folk, with whom I hung out for the couple days I was there. My last night there was pretty funny. We started out with dinner, moving on to a microbrewery, on to a bar that is in an old soviet airplane (yes, you heard me, AIRPLANE), at which point the Czech/Russian guy convinced us to go play darts with him and his friends (we were a group of 5 or so, but we were a little scared about losing our kidneys!)....so we went, and it was fun. They spoke no English, and we know no Czech, so it was an interesting night in all!!
It's odd, being back in a big city again. It's so funny to think that most people only go to the big cities, and from what I've seen, it's the smaller towns that I enjoy most. Don't get me wrong, Vienna is awesome, as are the other places I've been (and, being an art nerd, I'm in heaven here), but it's just such a different thing to go to the smaller places.
Anyway, this hasn't been such an interesting posting, but I just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive and kicking. Tomorrow is Vienna still, then on to Ljubljiana, capital of Slovenia (then BLED! wooot mountains, aka Alps! maybe I'll be able to get away from this absolutely oppressive heat/humidity!).
oh, and mum - sorry bout getting cut off, my phone credit didn't really last as long as planned....

Meandering down the Vltava

Wow, Cesky Krumlov rocks. Seriously, this town is freakin awesome. I went river rafting yesterday with two Aussie girls I met on the bus out here, and it was so beautiful. The hostel I am staying at is so much like a home....its this great eco friendly cozy place with wonderful management. Sorry about the lack of punctuation in this post, but this keyboard is kind of messed up, and has four different options for each key, and I havent figured out how to access some of them yet.

As for your question, Dan, I passed through Budvar town on my way here, and I may stop there for a couple hours on my way out (whenever that may be, since the plan was to leave tomorrow, but no trains or buses really run on sundays, so it may be monday), but no stays there, methinks. I havent read the book, but zevi and I were just talking about it when we were together in Prague!

Anyway, this was just meant to be a short post to say how much Cesky Krumlov rocks, and to tell anyone planning on going to southern Bohemia to come stay at the Krumlov House hostel here in town. It is by far the best hostel I have ever stayed at.

Still no picture posting.....sorry.

Tourists + Bones = Prague and its environs!

So, it's been a while since I wrote, and here it is again, as I'm leaving yet another city. From Leipzig, I took the train down to Prague via Dresden. Prague is an absolutely beautiful place, even despite the hordes of tourists swarming its streets. And I really mean hordes. It's wild, how many tourists there are here....if you think someone is a local? They're not. Tourist. It's funny to get used to hearing English being spoken again, after Germany. Anyway, I've had a great time here.

Oh, and I've had people say that they can't subscribe to the blog via email...I'm sorry, I must have screwed it up somehow, but until I get one of my friends to help me fix it....(Andrew? please?) you'll just have to suffer through checking it on your own. Sorry!! And thanks to all of you who are reading it! I'll try to keep the posting up to make it worthwhile.

After walking in circles for days on end (for any of you that have been here, or seen a city map of the old town, you know what I mean!), I finally got my bearings and have managed to see some pretty cool things. Prague has some pretty cool cellar jazz clubs, so my dorm roommates and I checked out a jazz/blues band last night - it was rad. Also, the other day I went up to the castle, like any good visitor to the city must do, and gawked at the beautiful high gothic cathedral up there, like any good art history major must do. The rest of the castle was very cool, but I didn't realise when I went up there that everything closed in two hours, so it wasn't really a leisurely visit, trying to see as much of it as I could. Most of my days have been much more relaxed, however, with bouts of walking and picture-taking interspersed with lots of hanging out in the park or on the riverside, watching all the fascinating people here.

Yesterday I went to the Kampa Museum, which was showing an exhibit of Mondrian and Krupka, two interesting artists from the 20th century. It turned out that this is an absolutely fabulous contemporary art museum/gallery and I actually enjoyed their permanent collection of central european modern art more than the exhibit I was going to see. Definitely worth the 100Ck I paid for it. Oh, and the other night, I happened upon this outdoor film festival on an island in the river, and ended up drinking good Czech beer, watching a crazy Czech animated film outside, in the middle of the Vltava river. It was a great night. The animation was truly weird. Who knew the Czech were so messed up? And the next night, while sitting on a fountain ledge, weird things were happening to me....a large group of brits was wandering past, with one of them dressed in a fairy princess/sumo suit, and obviously, I had to get in the picture with them....it was very weird. There were other things too, one of them having to do with a ferret, but I'll leave it to the princess/sumo story.

Finally, for the stories this week, anyway, I went to this place about 60 kms from Prague called Kutna Hora. It's this cute medieval town with this crazy ossuary just outside town. Basically, what I'm saying here, is that it's a church that is entirely decorated with human bones (skulls, ribs, femurs....you name it, it was there). Sounds kind of creepy, but I really thought it was beautiful. I mean, for sure it gets you thinking about your own mortality, and apparently some people couldn't take it, and have left in a hurry, but it's just a really interesting place. When I figure out how to post pics, I'll put some up here.

So, heading to a town called Cesky Krumlov, in southern Bohemia (still the Czech republic, for those of you who need to brush up on your geography), and I have no idea what to expect. It's WAY smaller than Prague, so I'm kind of looking forward to it! Until then......

So, here I am in Bach's hometown (ok, maybe not hometown, but I think he lived here for a good chunk of his life), Leipzig! It's actually a wonderful city, and a nice break from the rampant tourism that was occurring in Berlin (both by myself and all the other millions of tourists in the city). I took the train here yesterday, and really have just relaxed ever since, getting up early to get to the marketplace (like a farmer's market) before it got crowded, and just lounging around in one of the park-like squares. It's been great!

Before I left Berlin yesterday, I went to the crazy big zoo and, after waiting in line to get in, I waited in another line to see the cute and cuddly Knut. Wow, have they ever realised they have a market for Knut souvenirs....so many people walking around with stuffed polar bears or with polar bear t-shirts....it's wild how crazy everyone is for him. I'm not going to lie - he is absolutely adorable, but I felt pretty bad for him....I was sweating like crazy, so I can't imagine this weather being good for a polar bear!

I've had some interesting conversations with people in the last few days....but just not really with other hostellers. One thing I'm realising is that there are really two types of people who stay in hostels: those who are here to drink, and those who keep to themselves. Ok, that's a generalisation, but it's been pretty close to the truth, it seems. It's been a super interesting experience so far, and I'm sure it'll only get more interesting!

Since hostel computers seem not to have access to usb ports, I think in Prague, I'll try to find an actual cafe that will let me connect and upload some pictures.

Polar Bears in Germany?!

OK, so here's the first post, and it's going to be a short one. For everyone I haven't spoken to (which is almost everyone), I arrived in Germany safely, after a long, cramped flight (is there any other kind?). I've been staying in Berlin for the last few days, and am heading out to Leipzig this afternoon for a day or so, just for something different to do. I think the plan afterwards is Prague, hopefully to meet up with Zevi. Berlin has been super interesting and, as always, I found the most interesting bits while I was wandering aimlessly. There was some abandoned amusement park called Pompen Duck or something....I'll post pictures as soon as I can, but this computer doesn't allow that sort of nonsense. Anyway, my time is about to run out, and it's free museum day, so we all know where I'm heading today! Oh, and I may pay a visit to that controversial polar bear we've all seen on the Colbert Report....Knut!