East Berlin

Just arrived in Berlin via Prague. This side of the city, former capital of the DDR, must be the graffiti capital of Europe. Every surface is tagged. But, the weather is beautiful, our hostel lovely, and food is cheap!

Unfortunately Spain strongarmed Germany to a 1-0 victory in the Euro Finals yesterday. H and I were both tired so our night was pretty subdued. We met a couple our age from Texas and watched the Game in the Wencelas Square on a giant screen.

We will be spending two nights here eating as much as possible so that we don't have to buy a bite in expensive southern france next week. H is shopping for a cellphone since Berlin prices are so low, and I will hopefully procure a usb connection for my camera so that pic posting can be resumed. Will be posting more later; time to explore a bit.

Praha

H and I are sitting in Prague, the beautiful bohemian capital that looks and feels like renaissance Florence. It is whimsical, enchanting, suprisingly clean, and reasonably priced. The skyline is dotted with red clay rooves, strangley eastern steeples, and castle turrets that look like Van Gogh's Starry night crossed with Bram Stoker's Dracula. The original Pilsner Beer, Urquell, is brewed nearbye and advertisements for it cover 44% of the walls of the town. The people, speaking a strange gibberish language, are quite friendly and apparently know how to eat. The cafe culture is thriving, and it seems there is a large italian immigrant population given the number of trattoria and italian cafes. Tonight is the Eurocup final match between Germany and Spain. We intend to watch it in the magnificent Old Town Square on a projection screen with probably 10000 other people and of course, much pilsner Urquell.

Munchen

The day before yesterday was one of the most surreal and beautiful of my life. H and I awaoke in our tent, pitched in the botanical gardens-turned-hostel near the center of Munich. We wandered into the old town and ploppled ourselves down on the oaken cafe tables of a wursthaus on the main turist drag, framed by a 13th century stone gate. We inhaled gigantic, soft, and salty preztels with whole grain honey mustard, followed by poached weisswursts, sausages made of pork and veal. I had my first mass (1L glass) of beer. It was 10am. After sight seeing a bit we boarded a suburban train to the Dachau Concentration Camp just outside the city. We arrived at the camp gates with the infamous "work makes you free" inscription, rented the audio tour guide, and spent the next 4 hours touring the bunk houses, guard towers, bunkers, memorials, gas chambers, and crematorium. The juxtaposition of the day and environment, both beautiful, with the horrible place and its history, was violently unreal. some 43,000 people died at Dachau between 1934 and 1945, although technically it was not a 'death camp' as the gas chambers were never put into full use. It was the first and served as the model for the dozens that would follow. There are many pictures that convey the experience far more than I can in this way, so I will post those soon and stop trying to describe it.

After returning to Munich, and having a much needed ice cream. I, and H, and a new friend from washington DC staying at the same hostel walked through the city market of hanging sausages and bright vegetables to the legendary Hofbrauhaus. Founded some ridiculous number of centuries ago, HB is one of the principal Munchen breweries and therefore hosts of Octoberfest. Their beergarten is an infamous tourist haven, but rightly so given the humongous banquet tables, acres of liter glasses, and liederhosen'd staff. After 2 more masses, we said goodbye to our friend, and wandered out toward the English Garten, site of a more laid back and therefore more authentic beergarten. Setting towards the setting sun, H and I passed through Grimms' Fairy Tale looking woods and into a clearing with a huge chinese pagoda. Underneath the pagoda were rows of tables, sausage venders, and kegs and kegs of HB beer. We each grabbed a currywurst and bratwurst another giant pretzel, and 2 liters of "Strongbier." After an hour or eating and lounging, a group of guys about our age wearing feathered hats and bell covered shirts with sharpie signatures came by, blowing whistles and singing. I asked one of them why they looked the way the did and he replied that tonight was their last night in the military after the requisite and universal 9 months of service. So somehow we ended up drinking with them, then running around Munich all night from one beergarten to the next, until parting ways around 6 am. H and I fell asleep on our tram back to the Tent, and awoke to an angry german conductor shaking Harrison's shoulders. After a bit more wobbly walkiong we arrived at the tent, at 8 am.

my Total Sausage Count: 6
Liters of HB Beer: 6

Moving in many ways

Rioting indeed there was, but nothing of the violent hooliganism I had come to expect because of the skin headed British Futballers that are ubiquitous in the UK. After the game, with jubilant krauts running amok in the streets, the turkish crescent and red emblazoned cars full of subdued fans would have to pass through the throng, and instead of jeers, the germans would approach and say "Gut Gespiel"- good game- and shake hands. Contrary to what H and I expected, the Turkish population here have been Germans for at least 2 generations and so the rivalry is heated in a friendly instead of rabid way. It was beautiful. And apparently the German population is still wary about flying the Deutsche flag because of what happened almost 70 years ago, and only with the 2006 Euro Cup did people begin to take public pride in their country again. Even now, some of the flags have a swastika with a red X over it to show that the pride of now remembers the shame of then. We watched the game with our German friend Torsten and when he quietly explained the flag situation both Harrison and I were affected because we had no idea of the guilt that still pervades the vast majority of the people. This is such a beautiful country,- people, food, landscape, most of the history- and to see that they felt somewhat ashamed to be german still brought on this mixed feeling of pity and agreement that is completely unique for me to this place. Today H and I will try to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp, so I only expect more of this.

We have just had a traditional Bavarian Breakfast of Weiss Wurst (Veal Sausage) and are relaxing in an internet cafe. Yesterday was transport intensive, taking us from Cologne to Basel Switzerland, to Zurich, to Munich. We drank Weissbier in the restaurant car of the train overlooking the hills and forests of Bavarian in the seeting sun. Our hostel is an encampment in the Bottanical Gardens of Munich, complete with Christmas lights and a Beer Garden. Already Germany is my favorite county of the trip.

Deutsche Land!!!

H and arrived in Cologne (Koln) via a high speed train from Brussels and are already in love with this country. After finding our hostel by asking an Argentine handbag saleswoman in German if she spoke English, negative, then spanish, affirmative. While wandering we encountered a century-old pipe shop staffed by the friendliest sales people we've met thus far. We've seen restaurants serving beautiful korean, italian, spanish, japanese, turkish, and of course the almighty schnitzel slingers. In 1 kilometer of walking we've already seen a leather bondage-wear store, and Dr Müller's Sex Häus...

Cannot wait to have a cold Kölsch beer, the specialty of the city. And the prices are reasonable! What a country! and to top it all off, tonight Germany plays Turkey in the Eurocup semi-final match, so we anticipate some very germanic, sing songy soccer rioting.

c'est la vie

in the past 24 eventful hours I have:
seen a kid fall into the horribly dirty seine river
been subjected to an elaborate gypsy scam involving a ring not unlike that from lord of the rings
wandered around lost, double lost, been pinched, laughed at, watched my paris street map dissolve in my hands- still lost, the arruive at the Louvre to find it closed,

finally found selves, sat along the river seine in setting sun, beside notre dame in the light of the afternoon, sipped coffee, beer, wine, water, orange juice, and the light of a second evening on the river.

Am very tired, sweaty, grungy looking, but full
ergo happy.

operation rendezvous: success

sitting here in the paris evening with my dear associate H. Sonntag, whom I encountered beneath the Arc D' Triomphe. After wandering down the champ d'elyesse [sic], we made our way along some canal to the arrondissement of the hostel, a beautiful, spacious residential area that's thankfully the antithesis of the my last parisian hostel. he's jetlagged, and I'm still a bit winded from belgium's brewed beauties, so ill leave this at that. or this.

Glorious

Brusells, despite it's hideousness, is a wonderful place. Last night I wandered around until I found the legendary, the infamous and gruesomely named bar, Delirium Tremens. Home to a world record 2000+ different beers, the bar is decked in tarnished copper, beer stained brew barrel wood, and miles of hung drinking glasses of every shape and size. The walls are decorated with the bars emblem, a stylized pink elephant. I parked myself in an underlit corner and spent 2 very entertaining hours watching people stroll in then totter off grinning. The place alone makes the trip to Belgium entirely justified.

I'm sitting in an internet cafe in the train station awaiting my lightning choo choo to paris where I will rendezvous with Harrison under the arc du triomphe. That is, if everything goes according to plan, and since I'm sitting next to a cafe called Murphy's Law, please pray for us both.

Brussels

good lord brussels is ugly. it looks like Glasgow if it were worked over by a lazy demolition team then rebuilt in the 1960's by a bargain basement architectural firm with a pallette limited to cement, and home improvement store colors. Everything is yellow, orange or brown, and it smells like urine was the base of most of the paint. There are more homeless people here than in paris and london combined

BUT

the plusses: the subway has leather seats and wooden trim for some reason.
and the BEER IS INCREDIBLE. ALready had this golden elixir stuff thats been brewed in smoe small abbey since 1180 AD. Wonderful. Gonna check into my room and wander for some Walloon-grub

lyon

typing this on a wonky french keyboard in my lyon hostel with letters in all the wrong places. in a much better mood; this city is like chicago if it were 500 years older and on the meditteranean. Lyon isn't actually on the sea but it feels like the coast of spain or italy. it's the largest city in the country and i hadn't even heard of it until reading up for the trip about a month ago. the streets are beautiful dust, the sun is intense, and the people are relaxed and vibrant. there seems to be some kind of 1980s american music cover festival and the streets are throbbing with tens of thousands of people eating falafels with one hand, drinking belgian beer from the other.

money is fine actually; i just like to complain apparently. The prices here are much better than paris already and this is still a huge city center.

it's strange to be traveling and instead of culture shock just have one stereotypical behavior demonstrated in abundance. French people really do say "Oui, Oui!", have a strange predilection for horizontally striped tshirts, and smoke like smug chimneys.  The food is great, the waiters neither rude nor fawning, and the mona lisa was about exactly the size i thought it was (maybe 2' x 3').

Tomorrow I may take my good mood to Brusells Belgium, depending on the trains.

escape from paris

this city has me completely overwhelmed. its labyrinthine, massive, and almost as a expensive as london. At least the people here speak more comprehensible english than the scots. Today I wandered around the Louvre, the Pantheon, and unintentionally around the huge international train station. I stood in 3 lines that apparently had nothing to do with anything, and then ended up booking a ticket to Lyon with my rail pass just to get out of paris. But looking at hostel prices, Lyon looks about as bad. I think I might stay for a night then flee even further from any known metropolitan area just so that I can eat and sleep for under 80 USD.

another quick post due to exhorbitant internet prices

1st full day in Paris. Began at the Musee Rodin, had the best bread in the world, Pain Poilane, for the first and certainly not last time. Ate stinky cheese and cherries in a park, wandered along the Seine to Notre Dame, and to the entrance of the Louvre, where I realized I couldn't enter with my groceries and left for a nap. Wandered the cafe scene at dusk. Watching the Parisians eat, and, drink, and talk, and smoke, (often simultaneously), is inspiring. Dining here is such a skill. Tomorrow I might attempt my first restaurant meal instead of the street food/grocery store thing all day. Bed early, museum blitz tomorrow.

paris

just arrived at my hostel. I apparently underestimated the scale of the map I was using and ended up hiking for about 2 hours from wherever the airport bus dropped me off to here. very tired, kinda grumpy, but it's not france's fault. will post more in the less ornery future, hopefully tomorrow morning.
bonsoir

map of this past week (i think)

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113207457256630093697.00044fe1e8e355211deaa&ll=55.354135,1.098633&spn=11.132802,27.070313&z=5

Last bit of Scotland

Today was precisely what I needed. I slept in, finagled a work out at LA Fitness of all places, ate 4 plates of Indian food at a lunch buffet for around $10 which was an incredible steal considering the other indian buffet i came across was THIRTY FOUR freakin DOLLARS. I then escaped the Scottish weather by ducking into every bookstore I could find in the down town area. Books like everything else here are exhorbitant, but reading them in the cafe for 3 hours only costs the price of a huge cup of coffee, (still $4).

Tomorrow I fly out of some little airport an hour south of Glasgow (Prestwick) to some little airport an hour north of Paris (Beauvais). I'm really looking forward to the change of scenary. Scotland is magnificent , but I feel like the pattern of green-ground, grey-sky is being branded onto my retinas.

I still can't find my camera cable, though I did price them in Glasgow. Think I'll wait to buy a french one.

Glasgow

I've just arrived in Glasgow more than a little travel weary. Right now I'm inclined to describe the city, which Lonely Planet euphemistically calls "gritty" as a "bombed-out concrete soviet shit-hole", but that's probably fatigue talking. Like it or not I have 2 nights here, and at least the hostel in nice. Plus I made a less than cheery selection at the EXCELLENT 2nd hand bookstore in Inverness situated in a deconsecrated church, All Quiet On The Western Front. It's gripping but utterly depressing.

The Carbisdale Castle Hostel in Culrain was great, but unfortunately that was the ONLY thing in Culrain, except for midges, which I don't think I've described yet. A Midge is essentially a cross between a mosquito and a gnat. They are small and swarmy and like to fly in eyes, and yet they also suck blood and make itchy bumps. Truly the worst of both worlds. Anyway, I did get plenty of sleep at the castle. I fell asleep on my books at around 7 pm and woke up to catch the train to Inverness at 8am. After more sleep on the train (Ben Nevis really exhausted me), I took a bus from Inverness to Glasgow. The parts of the ride when I wasn't reading about flying shrapnel and limbs were beautiful. I have a few hundred photos from the last few days selections of which I will post later today when I manage to grab the transfer cable from my hostel room.

Oh, and a Happy Fathers' Day to any dads reading this.

*update*
I am in a much better mood after discovering an unsuspecting chinese buffet serving ommelettes for some reason; all I could eat only £7. Glasgow is partially vindicated now that I have eaten a large portion of it. I can't find my transfer cable at the moment but if this persists I will spring for another as they are cheaper than buying new memory cards.

what the highlander eats

I am back from Ben Nevis, having summited successfully. But first I want to talk about the sandwich I saw at the burgerking in the Glasgow train station. It's called the 'Big Breakfast Butty' and has eggs, sausage, bacon, bacon, special sauce, and I don't remember what else. It costs $8, and contains 3785 Calories. I'm still speechless. (no I didn't eat one)

Anyway, back to Ben Nevis. I left my campsite at 6:00 am to make my way to the trail head. I had on 3 upper layers and 3 below, as well as a fanny pack with water, granola bars, a compass and map, an emergency blanket, and my camera. Things I lacked that the info desk recommended: gloves and a jacket. It was about 60 degrees when I set out, and after 2 hours when I reached the first plateau featuring a Loch and many many sheep, that had dropped to around 50. The actual summit is hidden by clouds most of the time, making it impossible for me to judge how far it was and ration energy well. So by the time I was about where I had thought the peak was, there were still around 200 meters to go, through snow and ice and winds much stronger than predicted. The Cairn stones marking the route were frozen on the windfacing sides. I made it to the top after nearly turning around twice due to fog and chill. I spent 5 miserable minutes at the summit then turned around, meeting a nice dutch hiker en route who descended with me to the snowline before speeding up to catch a train. All in all the round trip was a little under 5 hours, which was the minimum time quoted to me. I broke camp, then took a glorious, blazing hot shower, before walking into Ft. William to catch the bus to Inverness.

Inverness is a sort of strip-mall town. Literally 88% of the real estate is shopping. I'm taking it easy tonight, then tomorrow I may make it out to Loch Ness which is 6 miles away, or do some other day trip. I'm exhausted right now, but well fed. Haggis is delicious.

I am posting the rest of the photos on my facebook page, which should be accesible to everyone at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2316459&l=93a47&id=8815627

$8 an hr internet fast post

hey all, Im alive with no time for punctuation at glen nevis in the highlands of scotland. climbing ben nevis tommorrow morning (hiking really) many piictures to poost from innverness. love all.

addendum: Meeting my professor in Edinburgh was excellent. We went out for a pint with one of his phd students then to a quick dinner with his wife at the cafe where Jk Rowling worked on the first Harry Potter.

San Francisco's Red-Headed Cousin

I love Edinburgh. My bus pulled in at 7:30 and despite around 4 hours of upright sleep the sight of the city was exciting enough to give me the energy to climb the tallest thing I could see, Arthur's Seat. Everywhere I look are castles, hills, statues, and pretty snails for some reason. The city is set on a blue bay, dotted with towers, turrets, and green trees.

After descending, I made my way to the Scottish breakfast place recommended by the hostel desk guy. There I consumed my weight in eggs, haggis, ham, toast, beans (served separately). Phenomenal. As I was strolling around the streets I passed a cemetary with a sign saying David Hume is buried there, so I popped in. His tomb was set into a tower with an open metal gate, and inside were two considerably drunk scottish guys probably in the middle of a (minor) drug deal/lunch. They mumbled something at me in a friendly tone so I took a picture and backed out slowly. I cannot for the life of me understand 68% of what scottish people say to me.

Right now I'm running errands trying to get my finances and travel plans set for the next few days. Tomorrow I catch a morning train to Fort William in the Highlands.

day 2

Things I saw today:
Napolean Bonaparte's toothbrush
the Elgin Marbles including the ENTIRE freize of the parthenon
The Rosetta Stone
Charles Darwin's movie villain-ish curved walking cane made of whalebone and topped with a grinning ivory skull with 10 karat rubies set in the eye sockets.
And speaking of Darwin I also say an old toothless man shouting "ee-vo-LU-tion!" at a flyer guy wearing a 'Jews for Jesus' tshirt.

I checked out of my hostel at 10:30 this morning having drooled all over the (former) incredibly clean and suprisingly comfortable little bed. They held on to my bag for me while I wandered around from the British Museum to the National Galley, through Trafalgar Square, over the Westminster Bridge, under the London Eye, and finally into the British equivalent of TGI Fridays for the British equivalent of Fugu, a hamburger. To give an idea of the prices here, things would still be 10% more than NYC prices if you only substituted the little wiggly pound sign (£) to a dollar sign. Factor in the almost 2.25 multiplier and you understand why I only spent one night here.

Right now I'm in an internet cafe waiting for the free hostel dinner at 6:30 before catching my overnight bus to Edinburgh, where I'll be meeting my former philosophy professor from dartmouth for a pint.

Day one -London

subtitled: The English deserve every imperial ounce of their culinary reputation.

I had lunch at a grocery store, which doubled as a cheap source of even cheaper laughs at offerings such as "whole grain yogurt", "mayonaise and prawn sandwiches on oatmeal bread", and yogurt that included whipped cream, lemon juice, and "maize derivative" in its long list of ingredients.

My timeline of the day was more or less as follows: arrive at Heathrow on the redeye at 6:30, clear customs and baggage claim, ride the underground to my hostel- a gutted mansion in a wealthy london neighborhood, wandering to find a pub older than my home country ( i didn't have to wander far), napping for 3 glorious jetlag soaked hours, then taking the tube to the Thames river bank around sunset to walk from the london bridge to the tower bridge. Right now I am sitting at a curry house on the famous Brick Lane, one that features an "off liscence" internet cafe. It's almost 10pm now and only dusk. My energy is wavering so it looks like it's back to my hostel for tonight.