Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Conclusions are the Hardest Part to Write

Hmm. Let's see. I've been home for over two months.

The last time I wrote I was in Berlin and the World Cup final had just been played. The city partied that night until it got light. At least the people on the street below my window did. I was lame and went to bed around 1am. The next day I woke up and wandered through tired but clean streets to the grocery store, seeing no evidence of the night's revelry except for one or two half-full, plastic beer cups tucked away in the corners of window-ledges.

I managed to cram a whole lot of life into my last 36 hours in Berlin. So much life that I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep, except for the odd twenty-minute episode, between Monday morning and when I got home, which was about 2am Thursday, Germany time. So what did I do? Well, I read my book by the Spree River; I visited with a friend in a creaky, old Friedrichshain apartment; I saw a German country band with a Russian bass player named Boris who played a bright red stand-up bass; I went swimming in a lake 40 minutes by train outside of central Berlin; and I had a nice dinner cooked for me.

And then I crawled onto the night train from Berlin to the Frankfurt Airport, flew to Vancouver via Montreal, hopped on the PCL from the airport to the ferry and eventually arrived home to sleepy, little Victoria (and in true island form, ran into people I knew of the ferry).

Have a look at the photos below.

Look! I Really Did Go to Europe for Three Months

I left Victoria early on April 11. Here is the obligatory photo from the plane window.

I landed in Frankfurt at 11am on April 12 (2am Vancouver Island time). I was in a semi-dazed state for the day and a half I spent there.
I arrived Trier on Good Friday with no food, unaware that I was now in the most Catholic part of Germany and nothing would be open for the next three days. I had a granola bar and beer for dinner.
This is my favorite church from the trip. It was once part of a Roman palace.

After Easter in Trier, I went to Munich.

Munich turned out to be a lot of fun, despite spending a lonely 25th birthday there.

I went to Dachau while I was staying in Munich.


After Munich, I went to Nuremburg. I didn't do any of the things one would expect a history major to do in Nuremburg, but I did go to this really cool modern art and design museum. Then it was off to Dusseldorf to see Anna.

In Dusseldorf I stayed with Anna, and her two flat-mates Nils and Andy (in the photo). Unfortunately, I came down with a mysterious illness and spent a day in bed.
Feeling very well taken care of, and able to hold food down again, I left for Berlin.

Monday, September 18, 2006

I like Berlin a lot. A lot, a lot. Here are some photos.







I went to Krakow, Poland next.

Krakow is a beautiful and historic city...

...but then I met up with Erin and Laura and silliness ensued, and continued to ensue for the next three days.


We did walk to a lake and go swimming one day though.

Like all things, silliness must eventually end and so we staggered our way to Prague.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Prague is as beautiful a city as people will tell you it is, and it ate me.

My friend Lily and I stumbled upon the John Lennon wall one afternoon.
After an unforgetable week that ended with enchantment and surprise, I decided to head south to unwind.
Cesky Krumlov is a wonderful little town in southern Bohemia; I love it there.

Even a town this picturesque wasn't immune to Soviet occupation.
After looking at the bears in the Krumlov castle moat, I went to Vienna.

Hundertwasser Haus was the highlight of Vienna for me.
I left Vienna and traveled an hour down the Danube to Bratislava. This photo boggles my mind every time. (Click to make the photo bigger and you'll see what I'm talking about.)

Once upon a time in Sovietland someone decided it would be a good idea to build this.

I took the train to Budapest with some fun kids I met in Bratislava.
This is Budapest at night. It was raining when I took this photo, but you can't really tell. I didn't go to the baths in Budapest, but I did go caving and eat goulash. And I spent a ridiculous amount of time and energy trying to sort out my train ticket to Romania.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

My adventure into Romania started with a very long train ride from Budapest, which included making the acquaintance of some friendly smugglers, to a city called Cluj Napoca, the capital of Transylvania. Cluj is a university town, filled with bars and trendy clothing stores. However, walk two or three minutes from the centre and you will encounter buildings like this one.


From Cluj, I went south to Brasov, a small city surrounded by green hills.

One day, while I was staying in Brasov, I went on an excursion to Bran Castle and a fortress called Rasnov (below). Isn't Romania beautiful?


I stopped in Sighisoara, a funny, rundown, (it didn't help that it rained the ENTIRE time) little town, for two nights. Sighisoara is best known as the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler.


From Sighisoara I went back to Budapest for a few days. I did laundry and drank a lot of beer.
I first met Em and Gwil (they're engaged now!!) in Brasov. I caught up with them when I got back to Budapest and then met up with them and their friend Fed (far right) in Zagreb. We had a picnic in the park one day; it was lovely.

I travelled with Em, Gwil and Fed north to Lujbljana, Slovenia. Ljubljana is pretty much the coolest little city ever.
By day...

...by night...

...and by early morning.
Jo and Mimo drove me from Ljubljana back to Zagreb. The next day I took the train to Sarajevo.

To really see Sarajevo you need to see it from the hills...

...as well as from the ground.


From Sarajevo I took a beautiful train ride south through the mountains to Mostar.

From Mostar I went south again, to Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Croatia played Australia while I was in Dubrovnik.


I stopped in Zagreb (again!) on my way from Dubrovnik back to Slovenia. All I did was shower, go for a walk, talk to the in-house hair-stylist at the hostel (um...yes, I said hair-stylist) and sleep.
Slovenia reminded me of BC. (Except the signs are in Slovenian.) This is in Bohinj.
There is an island with a church on it in the middle of Lake Bled.


From Lake Bled I went back to Vienna, but I didn't take any exciting pictures there.
Cesky Krumlov is a fairytale town so I went back.


And finally, I went back to Berlin.