The tales of Munich

I was planning on having a quiet do nothing night on my first night in Munich when I first arrived, but it didn't quite work out that way. I met a few people in my hostel when I went back to my room. Two people from California, a girl and guy who I'm not sure if they were dating, best friends or just random friends who decided to come to Europe together were in the room. There was also a guy from Japan whom none of us could figure out his name in there as well. We all talked for a while. I realized I have a very hard time understanding Asian's directly from that region of the world and their English. It was the 2nd straight stop on my tour I've had at least a 10 minute conversation with an Asian, but could barely make out. Seemed like a nice guy, and he did confirm a belief longheld in the world. He was talking about how he went to the museum that afternoon and it was nice, but one of the problems was every 5 feet an Asian person would be taking a picture or ask him to take one of them. If anyone has seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall with the breakfast scene and the Asian couple taking pictures of their silverware and different breakfast poses, this does happen. It's entertaining to watch and now that this fellow from Japan confirmed the existence, I can no longer brush away those thoughts that maybe I'm just stereotyping, jackpot!

He left the room after a while, I hung out upstairs for a bit and then headed to the bar with the Cali peeps. They were real nice and good people to hang out with, we got our free drinks offered by the hostel at their bar, had another drink and headed off. I didn't really have dinner that night, just a late lunch, so the beer hit me rather quickly. We went down to a bierhaus, got some more beer and had some Brez'n (pretzels). The beers were good, I remember the place we went, but couldn't tell you what kind of beer I had. We then went to another place, just a regular bar endulged in another drink, and then came back for one more beer at the hostel. I was sufficiently drunk, though I don't think either of them really realized it, I've become good at hiding my lightweight drinking abilities. Finally around 12:30 headed up and passed out around 1:30.

I woke up around 8:30 the next day with the goal of heading off to the Dachau tour, I was a bit tired, but I got myself out of bed and headed to the meeting place. I arrived and saw a group of people, gathered around so figured it was the best area to go. The tour guide told everyone to grab a bit of food if they didn't have any because there would be nowhere to get food til after around 3:30. I grabbed a couple croissants, one vanilla stuffed the other chocolate and joined back up. We had about 20 people told on the tour, a solid group. I was a little worried about the tour guide because he did show up with a hangover, a scratchy voice, and didn't seem to want to be there, but as the day began he woke up a bit. First we had to take the train over to the camp, when we got to the station the ticket machine wouldn't take big bills, leaving the guide kind of screwed. I decided to be the nice guy, I offered him to use my money and he can get me back after, so it worked out and we were finally on our way. I also gave the guide one of my croissants since he clearly needed food, guess I just felt like being nice. Once at the train station we had to take a bus and then we arrived.

Getting off the bus and taking the walk right towards the camp doors definitely had a creepy feel. It was a cold gloomy day, something I just kind of expected when visiting a place so demonized from it's history. We stopped at remaining train tracks where the guide gave us an introduction into Dachau. It was the first concentration camp in Germany and used as a model for many thereafter. The grounds were also used heavily for the training/brainwashing of impressionable youths and how to use cruel tactics. He then told us the speech prisoners would hear upon entrance and we headed through the door. The land in front of us was wide open meant to have that sense of nothingness. We then started going into the first few buildings where the people slept, were checked in, and were punished. Many of them have been redone, but some original frameworks, items, tables and other things still exist. We first glanced at the table where people were stripped of their names and reduced to a number and then walked through looking at the cruel ways of punishment. The guide was good, let us look at the right moments, explained things well, and took us around. After seeing the tiny beds or boxes people slept in we walked around a few of the memorial signs. The "Never Again" signs always effect me for some reason, I didn't cry or anything, I don't know how to do that in public, but everytime something clicks with that and gives me chills. We had just missed Survivors day by a few days at the camp, but extra mini memorials and flowers were set up around portions of the camp. After that we went inside to get ready to watch the camp movie. I got kind of angry though cause I saw 2 kids kind of fighting inside there on what seemed to be a middle school tour, and I understand the comprehension at that age is impossible as to where you actuall are, but it made me really angry, which is rare. Finally the kids went on their way and we got to watch the very creepy 20 minute camp movie with movies of what the camp was like, the dead bodies, and the liberation. From there we headed to the crematories and gas chamber. There is a myth with Dachau that the gas chambers were never used according to the Germans at the time, but survivors claimed use, plus Jews and others starting in 1942 weren't deemed worthy enough to even be registered as prisoners anymore, so I have a hard time believing the never used story. Dachau technically wasn't a death camp, though over 30,000 regisitered prisoners died from starvation, disease, or cruel death again not counting three years of unregistered members. All that stuff was real eery to see and there wasn't much else to say after seeing that. I'm definitely glad I went and although it can never be described as a fun time, it was very interesting and I would have a desire to see other camps as strange as that may seem.

After the tour I did get my money from there train ride back for those worried ha and got myself a quick lunch. The day was still pretty cold, but I decided to do what anyone in Munich would do, go and find the Apple Store. I saw they were having a live in-store concert that night so I kept that in mind, it was a real nice store (as expected). I then walked around discovering more areas of Munich until finally getting hungry enough to delve into a meal. I had a German restaurant in mind and made my way there. The place was packed as most restaurants around here are basically beer halls and restaurants. I found one open table and ordered a giant wheat beer. It was actually good, I then decided to go with the Ox for dinner and see what this meat would taste like since I was getting pretty tired of pig. As I waited for my meal a German woman came up to my table, said some crazy German and pointed to the chair. I assumed this meant can I use this chair over at my table, but I was incorrect, she took a seat. I thought alright, this is fine, she can barely speak English and looks kind of old so should be safe. About two minutes later this huge younger German dude laced in tattoos comes and takes a seat to join us. I felt a variety of scenarios existed at this point, either I could get stuck with their bill (bad, but not the worst thing), they could be so grateful I let them sit and pay for my meal (I was a tad drunk from my beer), nothing could happen, or they could savagely stalk and kill me after the meal (what can I say, I'm an optimist). The Ox finally came, they ordered their stuff and I began to eat as they spoke German with each other. The Ox was good, some parts tough and others tender, but had a very brisket like taste to it. I finished rather quickly hoping to beat them to at least the bill and get out, but they ate their meals relatively fast. It turned out they were co-workers and were eating before heading off to work and needed to eat quickly. I made it out safe and stumbled my way back down the block.

I saw the line grow in front of the Apple store and felt I have nothing else to do, why not see the free concert. I got in line, was one of the final 10 remaining allowed in (felt semi-bad for those who were probably really interested) and headed up to stairs to the concert. I looked up and saw it was $amy Delight, German hip hop/reggae star (I looked up implies that actually knew who this Samy Delight was, but in fact I just saw a sign). One perk was getting 10 free songs from the German itunes store for being there, no idea if it will work when I'm home, but worth a shot. I stayed for the whole thing, it was pretty packed and besides the Deutsch words when he did more of the actual reggae style of song him and his band weren't bad at all. Apparently he's really successful in Germany, so was worth checking out. I then headed back for the night and tried to call it an early night. I got in early, didn't go out, but slept awfully for some reason, ah well.

The next day I woke up and reunited with the Californians. They were leaving in the afternoon, but we had time to go for a real german breakfast. For the 3rd straight day it was cold and rainy as we walked to the breakfast location. I had Weiß-wurst, the breakfast sausage made with cream and eggs. It was very good, though the skin must be removed before eating so that part was a little annoying. Both of them went with the traditional breakfast wheat beers with their meal, but I decided it wasn't for me and beer in the morning never has and probably never will go well with my body. Afterwards we headed back and then parted ways.

I originally wanted to go to the BMW open that was going on since I had never been to a pro tennis match, but with the colder weather and rain I decided not to. Instead I walked around the city, ended up at the Deutsches Museum and spent a few hours there. This is basically their science and technolgy museum. Half of the place has English, the other half not so much. I didn't feel like an audio tour though and could figure out most of what I was looking at. The place was huge and pretty impressive. From car technology, engines, aeronautics, astronomics, a planetarium, to musical instruments, sexual pharmaceutical technology, computer science and random chemistry experiments it had it all. I didn't plan on spending that long there, but so many rooms existed and it was easy to get trapped on the way to looking for an exit. I left there, got my train ticket for when I return to Munich on my flight to head to Venice the next day, and then searched for food. I was sick of German food, which has pretty much consumed me for 2 weeks now and felt it about time to change up. I longed for a burrito, it's been over 30 days now, I rarely go more than 3 meals without a burrito. There was a recommendation for the best tex-mex restaurant in the area so I went there. Apparently it's the best restaurant in the world because inside and out every seat was filled, the bar was filled, and people were waiting on the streets. I decided I couldn't wait any longer to eat so I let that dream die and got some decent spicy chinese food (it was actually really good, but I say decent due to the results of the following morning where the toilet ate my meal). I headed off and walked down the street. I decided to try Haagen Daas in Germany, I could've went gelado, but figured I'll be in Italy in a week anyway. It was good, I finished it and walked past the Apple store where another concert event was being held. I wasn't gonna go this time, for real, but the security guards were handing out stuff on the street to get in, it was a different person this time, and I was hoping this would mean 10 more free songs, which it did (if it'll work in the US). This time it was Cassandra Steen, not nearly as popular as the other dude. She was just a regular singing type. Not terrible, but I thought her backup singer had a better voice. I went back to the hostel, talked with my Japanese roommate for a bit, and went to sleep early, though again did not sleep well.

Today I got up around 7:45, I was gonna go back to sleep, the other guy had left to checkout and I had until 10, but apparently the cleaning crew here is real irritating. The guy knocked on my door at 8 a.m telling me I had to be out at 10, at first I thought maybe the 6 different sources of time I had were all incorrect, but turns out he was just a dick, especially since he came back an hour later and said it again. Instead I showered and got ready for my day. I finally checked out at 9:55 just because I was pissed and could. The day has good weather for the first time in Munich so I headed off to the English Gartens, walked around the gigantic park (its twice the size of Central Park) for about 2 hours observing my surroundings. I checked out the little surfing area in the park they had (a mini rapid by a bridge where people have a decent wave and actually surf, it's kind of cool) and then walked back. When I went in the morning I took the metro, but saw I had plenty of time so took the hour walk back. I grabbed a gigantic pretzel for lunch and then headed back to the hostel. On the walk back I also noticed a big Israeli concert/rally thing and checked it out for a minute and that was about it.

Now I get ready to head to the airport for Dublin. I'll be there for 4 days, see the Counting Crows tomorrow night, explore the whole place and then head back to Munich for a night before Italy and Greece to end the trip. I'm a little antsy about this flight ahead, but it'll be a good test run at a non-English speaking airport a few weeks before the trip home. I get to Dublin around 10:15 p.m on an Aer Lingus flight so I'll probably take a cab to the hostel since the directions the other way includes a bunch of buses and walking, which I don't think I'm wanting to deal with tonight. Tomorrow I'll probably explore Dublin, although 50s and rain is expected all weekend and I'm sure about 10 hours before the concert tomorrow I'll just start waiting in the general admission line (just kidding, I'm not that big of a fan or that crazy, uh). Anyway, maybe I'll see you in Dublin.

Dahnke Shan

BK

Wieeeeeen

I've just arrived in München where it's cold, rainy, and gloomy so thought what better chance to update about my stop in Vienna. I arrived Friday late afternoon in Vienna where I was exhausted from the previous night in Prague. It was a bit rainy that day as well and I didnt want to do much that day. I met one of my roommates and then headed to walk the streets and check out the downtown area and get a quick lunch. I was starved and knew I'd be hungry again in an hour, but figured Id go cheap. I grabbed some pizza from one of the million fast food pizza type joints. I thought I was going for chicken, onions, and green peppers when i selected the pizza in the window, but turned out to be tuna. It was good, and I'm fine with it, but I could see some people being not happy. Afterwards I thought I knew where I was going, but I walked quite far away from the city center and my hostel. None of the areas seemed shady, which was nice, but definitely a very German feel based on how the outskirts of Berlin felt. It makes sense since Austria is a German speaking country.
Eventually I headed back to my hostel to figure out what to eat for dinner. I had done pretty well sticking to traditional Czech meals in Prague so figured I'd at least attempt that path early in Vienna.

The hostel I stayed at had a bunch of restaurant recommendations so I decided not to walk this time and take their Ubahn metro which seemed quite basic compared to some of the other cities I had been to. I got off at the real downtown this time and scoured the area for some of the restaurants I had remembered. I looked at some of the nice places around in the area, but had yet to research what anything actually was so it was semi meaningless and with the shitty weather I cared even less. After about 15 minutes I made it to a place that was said to have the best Schnitzel in town, apparently that was no lie because the wait was over an hour, first legit wait Ive encountered in any restaurant in Europe, wasn't a fancy place either so was semi surprised. At that point I was starving, so I walked around some more, lots of places were closed for May Day and the rest were busy. I headed back to the hostel, found a local bar/restaurant that was in one of my books and had some schnitzel and rice. It was very good, also got myself some sort of beer and headed back to the hostel. I got back there, ran into a person who was in Berlin on the pub crawl with me, he was all excited to see me, but unfortunately I had no recollection of ever meeting the person being that I was quite inebriated that particular night. I think he picked up on that, but what can you do. Afterwards I decided to do some research on what I wanted to see, circled some things on a map and went to sleep a few hours later.

I woke up semi refreshed the next day and thought it'd be a good time to explore, the weather was a little cool, but no rain and it was supposed to warm up later in the day. I walked about 25 minutes down to Schoenberg Palace, its away from the main city, but it was unbelievable. I spent about 3 hours walking around the gardens, "climbing" to the top of the hill that overlooked the palace and whole city as well as getting a bite to eat. I went to the restaurant on the grounds on top of the hill, but it wasnt too overpriced so i was fine with it. I got a potato pancake with spinach and baked mozzarella on top with some earl grey tea just to act like a member of a royal family (or I was cold).

From there I headed down and saw my next challenge in the gardens. I could either head inside the actual palace or head to the labryinth and maze area. Not a hard decision. I paid the 2 euros to join the families with kids, a few random old people, and some adventerous tweeners who didn't fit in either category. I decided I'd start with one of the labrynths filled with weird obsticles. There was some math problem to solve, but too many people were standing around, but then I stopped my new goal. There were three climbing poles with bells on top. I knew there could be no proof of me actually climbing because I couldnt take a picture of myself on top and I dont trust people, but I was determined anyway. I watched a few people try and then stepped up myself. I had no idea if I could do it, but I made it to the top with ease, I felt like a spider monkey on top of his game. I rang the bell and tried to grab for my camera and that officially ended my climb as I had to jump off or risk sliding down getting "iron burn." After completing that it was maze time. I entered it and was quickly lost inside the world of paths that lead nowhere. I dodged left only to be stopped by the irritating bush, follow kids thinking they should be better at that only to realize they're taking me to where I had already been. Finally I found another opening, started taking that around and saw the glorious ending in front. I climbed up the steps to the platform to overlook the maze and took a victorious picture of myself to weird gawkers. I took the short way out, did another labrynth with some crazy human kaleidoscope and a mario-esque avoid the fire balls (or water) by jumping on to different platforms. I completed my mission dryly and felt it about time to see inside.

Inside of the actual palace was nice, but way too crowded with tours and people to make it truly enjoyable. Some nice art, royal bedrooms etc., but the rooms were somewhat tiny and not good with hundred people per room. I finally made it out of there after an hour and was going to walk back to my hostel, but decided to head downtown to the museum quarter to see if anything intrigued me. I decided I didnt want to go into any actual museums, it was already 3 and most would close shortly anyway, but for the next day i'd keep stuff in mind. I took tons of pictures of the architecture, walked through the parks and gardens snapping photos of ducks, couples taking wedding photos, and random shots of myself being fantastic. I was also hungry again around this time so i found one of the markets, got some semi-cheap japanese food (which turned out to be ramen noodles with chicken, its hard enough ordering food in German, but Japanese food in german may as well just be written in hieroglyphics). I then walked past Hofburg Palace to see if anything intrigued me there, I found one thing I wanted to save for tomorrow so i checked that off in my mind and headed back to the hostel.

At the hostel I got back to my room and met a new roommate, he seemed like a cool guy, we talked for a bit and told him I'd see him down there. I hung out in my room for a bit eating a random chocolate bar I had bought and relaxing. I headed down to the lobby/bar area, grabbed myself a large beer for happy hour and sat around for a few minutes. From there I ran into another person from a previous hostel, this time in Prague, who I actually did remember this time probably cause it was only 2 nights before and i stayed mostly sober that night. Him and his lady friend knew a few people they had met at a different hostel staying there as well so everyone merged together with a few others to form a large group. We all hung out drinking in the hostel's garden. Around 11 the hostel shut down the bar and garden. From there the eclectic group from Liverpool, New Zealand, Australia, US, Netherlands and probably a few more places headed off to a club suggested to us. It was of the electronica/techno type clubs, clearly the kind I rarely go to. Being that I hadnt had a real dinner either I was feeling the 3 beers I had. We got there and headed down to the main club part. About half the group went down there, not many people were dancing at first, but finally the place got busy. I decided that was the best time to show my techno moves. Not sure if people were making fun or impressed by my style, but some healthy imitating of my moves commenced. I personally think my style is where its at for that music, but who knows. After a while the smoke caught up with a bunch of us and we went to the outside bar area. I retired from dancing for the night and hung out up there until people were ready to go. I also realized that I talked to the (British) girl with the boyfriend a lot too, I don't know how I keep doing that, it's strange. I mean Im personally not looking for anything, but come on. About 8 of us left the rest stayed at the club. We grabbed some pizza across the street, this time went the safer route, though still strange as hell by getting a pepperoni (it was actually salami) and sweet corn pizza. For how starving I was though it was the best pizza ever. We ate and then we were determined to try and make it back. We were told to take 2 night buses. We got on the first one we saw, got off where we were supposed to, and then got on a second. The 2nd bus driver probably didn't want us on the bus as the directions he gave us put us on the right street we needed, but 30 minutes away. We all trekked back and finally went to sleep.

The next day I slept in a bit, took a quick shower, and decided I wanted to explore the city some more. It was slated to be 70s and sunny so I just walked. I grabbed some breakfast on the way, a cheap omelet and the first place that gave me water for free. I got back on the road and stopped at the Hofburg palace area. The day before I had looked at the treasury as a place of possible interest. I decided why not check out the royal jewels. I went inside and it was well worth it. It was a nice change from normal art with crazy golden jeweled crowns, fantastic swords, and royal scepters. I picked out what I wanted from when I'm king in the future and went on my way. I decided to go Forrest Gump for the rest of the day, every time I would get to a place on the map I decided to keep going. I went to the canals, walked up and down that area, cut through side streets outside of the main city area, went back to the canals, passed by the end of some marathon that had just taken place, walked past an art museum and then decided I was good. Of course I was about 6 kms away at that point from the hostel. I walked back, grabbed some quick gelato which was very good. I was still and hungry and thought why not get a street dog. And yes, in that order. I got one of those where it's stuffed in a baguette and looks fantastic. I took a bite and the juices burned the hell out of my mouth, but I continued on. For about 2 minutes I fought with the heat taking out about half the hot dog when I decided to look down. Inside the hot dog grease/lard freakiness was oozing out of the dog. I was done at that point. It freaked me out, a lot, it was quite disgusting. I continued walking and cutting through parks, taking a quick breather in front of Mozarts statue to recover from the oozing lard incident and then finished back at the hostel. I took a 20 minute nap and headed to the bar where I hung out with the people from the other night. I had a train to catch the next day so i was not looking to go out, luckily nobody else was either. We played cards, a game called Shithead, it was like a real weird bootleg version of the card came asshole and then called it a night. Most people were heading to Budapest the next day anyway so we all had the early 10 a.m checkout to get up for.

Today I woke up exhausted around 8 after a pretty sleepless night with lots of weird dreams again, I packed up and headed to the train station. The train was delayed like 20 minutes, first time that has happened. It wasn't that long of a train ride, about 4 hours though i wasn't able to fall back asleep unfortuantely after the ticket guy woke me up for the 5th straight train ride leaving me tired and agitated. i got to Munich where it's cold and rainy, I grabbed a quick bite, went with a hamburger cause it was the first normal restaurant I could find as this place is swarming with the doner kebab and pizza places, which aren't bad in moderation, but it's the majority of what I ate in Vienna. And now here I sit. Tonight I'm going to try to relax, grab some dinner in a bit, and scour the city for random shit. Tomorrow I plan on going to Dachau and we shall see from there. Thursday night I leave for Dublin for 4 days to enjoy an English speaking country and see Counting Crows while I am out there, weird how they are there the same time.

I be gone

BK

It's already May! Prague and onto Vienna

My first night in Prague was pretty uneventful. As I previously mentioned I got some good food, but after that I pretty much retired for the night. I went to sleep around 2 where a night of crazy dreams of teeth falling out, vampire teeth, and other weird things floated through my head. The dreaming ended relatively quick though because to start the second day in Prague a loud banging outside the hostel commenced around 6 a.m. There was some construction going on right by the hostel, I was able to get back to sleep, but woke up every 15 minutes until finally I had enough around 9. I lounged around the hostel for a bit and then headed out.

I decided I'd just walk and see where it takes me. The day was gloomy as the threat of rain existed all day long and it was slightly chilly. It turned out my hostel does laundry so I made the wisest decision I could before leaving. I decided it'd be a no socks or underwear day so I can make sure every piece of clothing (besides the shirt and pants I was forced to wear) could be clean for at least another week. I did wear a rain jacket as well, just in case. I walked towards the main part of the city and started exploring. I checked out the astronomical clock, which is real sweet, but impossible to read. There were people taking wedding photos in front, wasn't sure if it was some sort of presentation or legit, but I didn't stick around long enough to hang out. I continued on my way towards what I thought was the Charles Bridge, but ended up in Josefov, the old Jewish quarters.

I decided since I was there and most things I've read the Jewish Quarters in Prague were with checking out I took out my student ID and bought a ticket for 200 korunas for the tour, it's like $10 US, but just fun seemingly having tons of money, when in reality they charge normal prices. First I started at the synaguoge dedicated to the holocaust. It's pretty intense, inside over 80,000 names cover the walls of victims from the Czech Republic. I looked around for a while seeing how many familiar type names I could find. Klein was unfortunately one of the most popular Czech names for victims, which was interesting to see. There were at least a couple hundred. Continuing on in that synaguoge you go upstairs to see their exhibition of drawings by children victims of concentration camps. I think I realized that it's the concept of kids in the holocaust that effects me more than anything. The drawings came from the Terezin concentration camp with the only reason for drawings being that it was a camp often used for propoganda to show children and adults had "normal" lives there. Of course most died of starvation or were shipped out quickly to the death camps after being used there. It was amazing seeing what different kids would draw. Some had pictures of people being executed, others had stuff related to their past, some getting on the trains, and much more. Some were traditional kids drawings and others were extremely well done by kids who clearly if they would have been allowed could have been artists.

After that depressing stroll I continued on the Jewish quarters tour. I walked through the oldest Jewish cemetary in Prague, but most headstones were faded with some dating back to the 1400s. I continued to check out the other displays at the various synaguoges with their different torah coverings, history, old prayer books, etc. Nothing was as nearly impactful as the first stop I made though. Afterwards I decided it was time to eat. I at first had thoughts of going to the oldest Jewish restaurant in that area, it looked like a good menu until I saw that it was also the most expensive restaurant known to man. So I did the next best thing, went to a nearby restaurant and had a traditional Czech meal. First I started with Czech Sausage advertised with a spicy and sour seasoning. It reminded me of salami, stuffed with a pickle, and peppers surrounding it. Wasn't crazy spicy, but very good. Next up I went with the classic pig knuckle (knee) for my meal. It was fantastic, best decision I made. It came with some mustard and horse radish, but the meat itself could be eaten on it's own. If it wasn't for the concept of what it was, I think people would enjoy it a lot more.

From there I decided it was time to really find the Charles Bridge and see what it's about. It's under construction, which is semi disappointing, but was nice to walk across, see people rubbing the statues for good luck and check out the other part of the city. My camera battery was getting close to dying so I told myself I'd come back tomorrow and save up my pictures for the castle I was walking to. I went to the Prague Castle area, I didn't pay for any of the exhibitions or anything as most of it is open and walked around checking it all out. The church there was huge and real nice on the inside, and the rest of the land gave a great view of the city.

Afterwards it was starting to rain and get darker so I headed back to the hostel to check train times for when I go to Vienna and maybe go book that. It would've been a pretty long walk, so I only walked about 30 minutes until I got on the metro then a tram and took it the rest of the way towards the hostel. I started to check out times, found what I wanted and then passed out. Two hours later I woke up starving as it was around 7:30, I got my laundry which was done, took a shower and decided I'd head out. Moment I stepped out the door it started to pour so I went back inside for a while. About 45 minutes later I went out and walked through the drizzle to find some food. I ended up at a bar I had previously seen in my dreams (it's like the 4th time on the trip it's happened to me with a place or moment). I got some fried cheese and fries, a healthy Czech offering as well as a beer because beer is a lot cheaper than water, so may as well drink it.

From there I walked around a bit in the rain, but I was still groggy, not in the mood to do much, and hadn't met anyone. In my room of 8 beds, I only had 2 roommates the first two nights, a younger Asian couple who seems to speak minimal English and have been in the room getting ready to sleep by 10 both nights. I read for a bit and then called it a night, exhausted from a restless night, a day I stressed my mind out with, and the rain. Throughout the night I had more nightmares, don't remember them as vividly, but there must be something with Prague and my sleeping (many myths of Prague ghosts and haunted stories do exist, so who knows).

This morning the construction wasn't as loud, I slept til about 9:30 and felt quite refreshed. I expected rain again as the weather predicted, but instead it was around 70 and sunny, a good day to explore. I took a bit of a different path than the previous day, I wanted to get to the Charles Bridge again, not rush through and rub the statues for good luck so the nightmares will stop. I grabbed a couple Czech pastries of which I can't remember the names. One was like a twisted donut and the other a donut with a nice apple filling. I also bought my train ticket to Vienna, even though getting a hostel starting tomorrow and for this weekend with it being Labor Day in Europe has not been an easy task. I think I finally found one, but I could just end up sleeping in a park tomorrow as well. From there I figured out the best path to the Bridge, passed by the astronomical clock again as a new couple were taking their wedding photos and finally made my way there.

With the gorgeous weather there were a lot more people on the bridge, but it also made the walk across more enjoyable. I rubbed the gold dog on the statue for luck and continued on. I wanted to head in the opposite direction of the castle and get lost today, as well as check out a few things. First thing I looked for was the John Lennon wall right by the bridge. It's a pretty cool wall that has tons of Beatles/Lennon quotes, drawings, amongst other things that have been written on since. After that I decided I was going to walk towards the Petrin Tower area, a bootleg version of the eiffel tower. I had no desire to go to the top of the tower, but I did have a desire to hike to where it was. It took about an hour to walk all the way to the top, well worth it with the views and scenery. As I reached the top I was starved and dehydrated so I went to the first random stand I saw and ordered a water and a hot dog. The hotdog was probably not cooked and was smothered in vegetables and ketchup, but was good enough. I then reached the tower, saw for a "student" it was only like $2 and went for it. The views up top were great and the 400 or so stairs didn't matter at that point. I took pictures of the area, then began my descent.

I considered taking the tram they offer down, but that'd be taking the easy way out. I walked down in the opposite direction I had went up, though eventually they forced me back to that path. I even tried to avoid it, but when I started going down a path I created in my mind and slipping since my gym shoes couldn't gain traction I decided I'd rather walk down than fall down to my death. On the way down I saw a woman with her jack russel playing on the giant hills/park area, it made me miss my dog, so just in case he reads this I'm letting him know. I made it down in about 35 minutes, wasn't bad and then decided to do more walking. I explored regions that didn't have anything noteworthy from a tourist perspective, but it was good to see less touristy areas for a while. I picked up some gelato on my way, wasn't the best, but I needed some sort of food so I was satisfied and headed back towards the hostel.

I got back to the hostel around 3:45, met a new roommate from Australia, he wanted to go on the pub crawl that night and get some dinner later. Then another roommate came in from England and invited us to go to some club that all his friends were planning on going to. We figured we'd join him. We hung around the hostel for a while, then the Aussie and I got dinner around 8:15 at a pretty decent restaurant, got a nice Ostrich steak and roasted fries, was very good though the meal turned out to be semi-expensive. During the meal the guy was telling me all about his life, I thought he may be BSing for a while, but nobody could make up those stories and turned out he's an international award winning graphic designer with offices in LA and Australia. I did the google check just to see what kind of awards he won, was like 2nd for designer of the year and won another category. He wasn't telling it in a way to try to impress me which I respected. After dinner we headed back and met up with all the people hangin around the hostel. We grabbed a couple beers, I wasn't in the drinking mood so I didn't even drink the ones I bought, but it's fake money here anyway. It went from a group of 30 to 8 of us who actually went out to the club. It was like 4 Australians, 2 Canadians, a dude from England and me. I talked to the 2 Canadian girls for most of the night, mainly the one with the boyfriend, but I knew she'd want to leave early so it was a well thought out plan. The other Australians outside of the guy I had dinner with were real annoying college kids, they were so enamored with the "famous" Australian that they hung on to his every word, trying to see what kind of stuff he could hook them up with in the future. We got to the club around 12:30, it was called the Cross Club, supposedly one of the most famous ones in Prague. It was the most terrifying club I'd ever been in. The building was straight out of the movie Saw with the actual mechanical devices used to kill people. It was a giant warehouse set up as a maze, had all sorts of mechanical instruments hanging on the ceiling and popping out the walls and the people inside were shady Czechs. I was glad everyone else was sufficiently freaked out by the building and it wasn't just me. We hung out for about an hour and headed back to the hostel where we split up. Four of them went to another club and got back at 6 while me and 3 others hung at the hostel. Two of them were the Canadians, and the other one was an Australian trying to get with the one without the boyfriend. The one friend wanted to get back to her hostel, she was staying at a different one, but her friend wasn't gonna go with her so I did the nice thing and walked her back. Wasn't sure how far her hostel was, but luckily only about a 7 minute walk because I didn't feel like wandering around Prague alone at 3:30 a.m.

As for now it's the morning and I'm about to leave for the train station to go to Vienna. Not sure how long I'll be there, only booked two nights, but I'll probably add a third or go to a random Austrian city in between. And now I must go.

Peace

BK

Rest of Amsterdam, Berlin, and now in Prague

It's been a while, which may be a good thing so people had time to catch up on the extremely long posts I've been dishing out of late for those who have survived reading to this point. Last I left you I had been in Amsterdam in the midst of looming decisions; prostitutes, hallucinogens, marijuana, gouda, ferris wheels, and more.

I'll begin with me reserving my train ticket to Berlin, it was a story I accidentally omitted last time. I headed over there looking to make sure I'd be able to get out at some point. I got in line, got to the desk and then heard a giant commotion behind me. I turned around to see one guy yelling at another, in what appeared to be friends joking around. The one dude getting yelled at had the look of I just pissed my friend off, but he'll get over it as he chases me, but like a person realizing they may die his face turned to a look of terror. The other guy took a big swing nailing him in the face. I was semi-amused until the woman helping me let out a blood-curdling scream. At first I thought this was security procedure, see a fight, scream and get security, but she was visibly shaken. At that moment from behind a wall this huge Indian guy about 6'6 and 300 pounds of pure muscle got in between those two guys. The one who instigated the fight got thrown back, he thought for a brief moment to fight the Indian guy, but he quickly realized he'd be dead instantly. Within another minute security rushed over and separated the two. The woman helping me was broken down in tears (she was in her 60s, and I don't think used to violence) and I had to be helped by someone else. I stuck around for a while to watch them get interviewed. The guy who started the fight ran away before being detained and I couldn't understand the language so had no idea what happened while they spoke with the kid attacked.

As for my last day in Amsterdam, I woke up early to walk around. There was not much more to see museum-wise, and I wasn't in the mood for that stuff anyway. I read about a cool music store went there, they had thousands of records, CDs, and tapes. It was a small store and you basically had to walk around boxes on the floor of records. I spent a little time in there and then I headed on to the Pancake Bakery my sister had been telling me about. I wasn't sure if she was just stoned when she had the pancakes to make them great or if they were that good, so I thought I'd try them out myself. I got there and the place was pretty busy, but very big so was easy to get a seat. I went with a banana and chocolate syrup pancake, one of their house specialties. It was similar to a crepe, but when you got towards the middle it had a solid fluffiness to it at well. I ate it up pretty quick, it was very good and headed on my way to walk around. I decided I'd actually do something that night and once again took my sister's suggestion to see Boom Chicago so I picked up a ticket to that and headed to the hostel. There I finally met a new roommate, so we hung out for a bit, got some dinner and he went on his way. I saw Boom Chicago, it's an impromptu show with all Americans as the cast. There were definitely some funny parts and I like yelling shit out for people to do. I was the random drunk kid alone in the front row, a solid role for myself. After that I decided to meet up with the kid I had met earlier. He was only in Amsterdam for a night so he wanted to walk through the red light district and then hit up some bars. I must say on a Friday night the quality of window girls improves a lot. I was convinced, so I paid about 50 euros for the best 20 minutes of my life, kidding. We did about a 10 minute walk and then did a bit of bar hopping around the city and called it a night.

I woke up the next day with the realization it was my last few hours in Amsterdam and I had choices to make. I apologize to those I mislead into thinking I'd be snorting coke off hookers. I decided against getting high and sitting on a train for 4 hours, I figured I'd be way too panicked. I bought some cheese for the ride and headed on my way. I wanted to get to the train early because I had to switch somewhere. I got on the train and then had about an hour wait at the next track. From there Berlin was an easy ride, getting to the hostel not so much. I tried to follow the directions from online, but couldn't find what they were talking about. I decided to take a chance and start walking. Not the best decision. With my backpack gaining strength as I weakened I knew after 45 minutes of walking it was time to find a new way. I found the closest metro and after switching three times was able to find my hostel, except I went into the Circus Hotel, not the hostel. So finally after being pointed in the right direction I got in to my hostel around 9 p.m at night, and it was Saturday, so I immediately ran to get food knowing I had little time before my night began. I went to a Mexican restaurant, in Germany, I know how sad. I got a chicken fajita knowing that was hard to screw up. I engulfed my first meal of the day and set up camp back at my hostel. Saturday was the NFL draft, so I sat on my iphone skyping with my dad for a few hours and tracking the in betweens on my phone. It may not be what most people do on their first night in Berlin, but I have priorities and obsessions.

The next day I woke up feeling I should meet people. I had met my roommates, 6 people traveling together from Spain. They seemed like a fun crew and were taping a weird movie of themselves singing American pop songs, but I never really spoke with them much. I decided to go on a Sunday flea market tour with my hostel. It'd be a good way to meet people and never know what I'd find. I woke up anxious that morning unfortunately so the ability to meet people was hindered by my own mind. The goal was to fight that feeling. We got to the first market around 11:30, I had yet to talk to anyone, but decided I was gonna wander myself anyway. There were some incredible music collections at the market. It pretty much seemed like a giant garage sale, which made the feel cooler. It wasn't just crap clothing, but truly random stuff like old video games, toys, music, books, and any random thing you could think of. I even saw an Ernie doll I used to have back in the day as a kid. My real mission though was to start trying some of the 1500 kinds of "wursts" that exist in the German culture. I immediately went for one of the most famous, the curry-wurst. A brat smothered in ketchup, curry, and paprika. It was quite fantastic, I was surprised because normally I'm not a huge catchup and sausage combo person, but worked well. We were all slated to rejoin as a group shortly after so I headed over to that area, grabbed a straight up bratwurst on my way this time and sat down with the group. Finally I started meeting a few people, who were all leaving that day, but at least I was able to talk with people for a few hours along the walking. They were students studying abroad, nice girls. I didn't buy anything at the markets, decided I'd head back with the girls who had to catch a train and do some site seeing on my own. I went to the Jewish museum there to see what kind of crazy Jew stuff they would have in Germany. The architecture on the building makes it real interesting to begin with, it's a very interesting set up. The museum took a couple hours to go through, the history was stuff I remembered learning, but they had some real cool actual art, some great history, and nice dedications to the past. The holocaust tower was quite terrifying though. I didn't actually read what it was, I just walked over there, opened the door, watched it shut behind me and realized I was in a pitch black empty cement room. The only light was a sliver of sun left from the outside. It definitely had a real eery feeling and got the point across. After that I walked around the area a bit more, walked down to checkpoint Charlie, took a few pictures. Walked around other parts of Berlin, passed by the holocaust memorial, saw their famous synaguoge and church and pretty much called it night. For some reason I was exhausted, it was pretty late. I grabbed some pizza around the block for real cheap and headed to sleep. On Monday I woke up a bit early, I wanted to do a walking tour, but I didn't make it on time to the first meeting place of the one I was going to do. I went to the Potsdam area, where they have a crazy Sony Center, a giant lego giraffe in front of lego world, and an overall creative area of architecture. I explored and by the time the other walking tours would begin I was too far away. I decided to do the Reichstag, it's free and you get an awesome view of the city. From there I headed back to the hostel after walking around a bit more and met all my new roommates.

One of the new roommates mentioned a pub crawl he was planning on going on. And so me and someone else decided to join along as well. It was a solid decision to go, met some awesome people and had a real fun night for my last night in Berlin. I figured I was recovered enough from my cold 2 weeks ago now that I could drink heavily and be fine with little sleep. I even met a dude who goes to Wisconsin, I finally know someone there. We got to the meeting place around 8:15 and nobody was really there yet so we hesitated for a while. We finally joined along, got our free beer and began. I ended up with 2 beers, and by 8:45 I knew I could be in trouble. We got to the first bar around 9 and immediately someone bought jager bombs. I had never actually had one, but after about 5 attempts at taking it down I finally did. From there the crawl leader handed out our "free" shots (they were like a thimble). The first shot was some good tasting cherry thing, second one was jager, not so tasty. Being that I was sufficiently drunk already I decided not to partake in the absynth shot that took place. During that time I struck up a conversation with some girl who I ended up hanging out with for most of the rest of the night. She wasn't about taking the shot either. We headed to the next bar shortly after where I was immediately handed a "party" shot. Not sure what was in it to be exact, but I had about 3 over the 45 minutes we were there, whoops. I chatted with people, we all took a lot of pictures, and then continued on to the next bar. At the bar the girl kept saying some weird term about getting drunk, I couldn't understand her, but next thing I knew she bought my a long island iced tea, so I wasn't turning that down. With every drink you get a free shot as well, so I figured this would be my last alcoholic endeavor for the evening. I took the shot, drank the long island and was still standing, a great sign. We all headed to the next bar, some semi-beach club type set up. I don't remember much about that place. I ended up on my own for a while as I stumbled drunk into the 16 different sections of the bar/club. I danced a bit, joked a bit with some people, and time flew by. It was finally time to head to the club, so that's what I did. I do remember one of the guides for the pub crawl looked exactly like Matt Nathanson though, it freaked me out. It also allowed me to introduce more people to the wonderful world of Matt, jackpot. The 20 or so of us headed on to the tram, I reconnected with people instead of stumbling around and we made it to the club. We all got to the club, I danced for a while with the girl I met and the others from the crawl. After about an hour at the club everyone got hungry, we all took a cab back to the hostel and ate. The girl had a 5 a.m train to catch and stayed elsewhere than us, so after I bought her the meal (I wasn't gonna let someone buy me a drink and not reciprocate) she had to go. I gave her a hug goodbye, realized I had probably established myself in the all too familiar friend zone about 3 hours ago (or 10 minutes into actually meeting her), laughed at myself and went on my way. We all passed out around 4, but was definitely a fun night.

As for today I hung out with a few of the people from the night before, ate a croissant, ate some sushi and went back to the reichstag with a friend of mine. He needed to know where the train station was and we were right there so we headed on up, it's free and the views are awesome so I enjoyed going again. Afterwards I headed onto my train and took off. I arrived in Prague around 9 p.m, I was a bit nervous. Other cities at night I was fine with arriving in, but this had a weird feel to me. The language is even stranger than others and the directions from the website were a bit odd. I walked through the park they told me to head through after going on the metro, got onto a tram, and finally found the place. It was a lot easier than imagined. I dropped my stuff off, went to a bar across the street to eat. Went with some beef goulash and Czech potato soup, both very good. I liked the place because it had old St Andrews Hall poster for a few concerts as well as other music memorobilia. Anyway, the computers are shutting down here and it's late. I think this was a bit shorter than in the past, maybe I'm doing less or forgetting more. Anyway, I'll try to be back soon. Hope everyone else is well out there.

-BK

Paris and the Dam I look good.

Last I left you I was getting ready to begin some alone time in France. I was going to get myself a solid meal, walk around a bit and see where the night takes me. I decided on the consistent badgering of Josh I would finally try out Le Academie de Beire. It was only about a 10 minute walk from my hostel, so I figured if I drank a beer or two I'd still be able to make it back. I went to the place, got myself a bucket of mussels, some fries, and in the end 2 Belgian Beers. The first beer I had was a Grimbergen I think Optima ( truthfully I don't remember, but I took a picture for reference) and the second was a beer called Nostradamus (the 10% of content of the first beer left little options of what I could actually pronounce correctly without seeming drunk and what was easy to remember). The mussels, fries, and bieres were very good, I definitely enjoyed the first beer the most though. From there I stumbled back to my hostel and decided to take it easy for a bit.



After taking it easy I got real bored, so I thought why not wander the streets of Paris drunk! I started going down side streets I had yet to truly discover, probably not the best idea. I wasn't really lost, but as I was walking around a man started yelling at me. I thought it was just another you're a tourist let me sell you something deal, so I crossed the street. The man did the same and I kept walking faster, he came right up to me and all I could do was say no to everything he said. I don't know French and I wasn't in the mood to deal with him. He finally went away screaming at me for coming to Paris and not speaking any French, unfortunately for him there are quite a bit of my types around that city. After that awkward exchange I felt it best to find my way back to the hostel. It was about 10 and I figured I could pass out, but instead I got a call from the people I had met earlier in France. So I decided to do the next best thing, run to the metro and meet up with them. It was about a 25 minute metro to their part of town, the plan was to find the Moulin Rouge to just check it out (from the outside, 150 euros is a lot for a show). I met up with them and 2 Aussie friends they had met from their hostel. We walked around, as the man from Sydney claimed he knew where it was. About 15 minutes later we realized that the man did not know where to go. Finally after looking at a map and seeing the direction to somewhat head in we began a trek. We started walking when finally we were able to ask for some semblance of directions from a local. He sent us to the nearby metro. On our walk we noticed something strange, police in riot gear and a very quiet town. I hadn't seen police in riot gear since my days at MSU, but these cops seemed a little more intimidating as to not be here when whatever was to happen was going down. We quickly shot up to the metro station, watched nothing happen from a distance and got out of there to the sex district of Paris. We walked up the street, passing all sorts of sex shows until we reached Moulin Rouge. Many people were gathered outside doing the picture thing as we all did as well. We got back on the metro around midnight, got off at the riot stop where the clear smell of burning suffocated the air and got on our respective metro changes as we all parted ways for the last time as they were headed back to their studyin abroad.

The next day in Paris I was determined to get myself some solid French food and go to the Orsay. I immediately headed down to the Orsay and got myself a crepe before I waited in line for about 30 minutes. It was worth the wait, I really enjoyed the it there, it's more modern art and a lot of stuff I know. I did wonder though, how the man "guarding" the painting titled "The origin of the world" feels about his life. I mean it's a very well done painting, but having to stare at it all day has to make him a little disturbed (the painting is very famous and also of a hairy vagina for those wondering). After spending a couple hours there I decided my next stop was to get lunch. I had read about a place called L'as du Fallafel, it was written in one of my books (for real this time) and supposedly is pretty famous. They had all sorts of celebrity pictures on the wall and are known to be the best fallafel in France and possibly Europe. I'm not a huge fallafel fan normally, but decided why not. I got the fallafel special and it was awesome. It was fallafel in a pita with a lot of radishes, some sauce I put on it, and some other stuff that I can't remember now. I accompanied it with fries and an orange fanta, both excellent choices by myself.

After the meal was complete I realized I had stumbled into the Jewish quarters of France. Surrounding me were delis, kosher pastry shops, and orthodox Jews walking up and down the street. I hung around the area checking it out and taking a bunch of pictures. I continued my trek through the neighborhood when I stumbled upon the Jewish art history museum. I wasn't gonna go in, but I was intrigued. Then I looked and it was gonna cost me 5 euros and I definitely didn't want to go in, however, I felt like a bad Jew cause I could pay money to these other art museums in France and this could go to a smaller place. Plus I was wondering what kind of art history, would there be paintings? sculptures? just old torah dressings? So finally I went in. After the strenuous security check point I finally got inside to pay. I went to pay and jackpot, it was free in the end. I walked around for about an hour, the traditional Jewish known pieces of art (seder plates, torah stuff, a special section on a bris in which I will never be the same) reigned supreme. I was slightly disappointed in that regard because I had seen much of that stuff before, however, the scarce paintings and drawings that did exist by Jewish artists were quite awesome. In the biographies of a lot of the painters they didn't seem to make Judaism a huge part of their lives, thus I think part of the reason they didn't feature stuff by them more so, but what can you do.

After that it was already getting late, I walked back and hung out at my hostel for a bit. Then I decided it was time for my meal. I had discovered a great restaurant area when I had been wandering around earlier in the day so figured I would head back. Of course I never actually do that and took a chance by getting off at a different metro stop. It worked out well, I was in the Bastille area where plenty of restaurants garnished the area. I finally found what I was looking for, stepped in and took a seat. I ordered a ravioli dish with foie gras... I figured if I was spending 20 euros on the very off chance I don't like it, I'd at least have some additional substance with my meal. I got myself a glass of red wine, toasted the night and went to eat. The foie gras was good, it melts in your mouth, which is always fun for food. I'm sure as an actual meal it's prepared a bit differently, but there was a good amount and it was all on top of the ravioli, so I was able to taste before mixing anything else with it. During my meal Ben and Jerrys were passing out mini tubs of ice cream to people, but I unfortunately didn't make it to them in time. I was going to get something else after my meal, but headed back to the hostel and realized the red wine I had was telling me it was time to go to sleep so I passed out for an early night (it was 11 at the time, so not that early).

The next morning I woke up, got myself one last pastry (some chocolate filled thing) and headed to the train station. I decided to mix things up on my train ride this time, watch some Boy Meets World on my ipod instead since I missed out seeing French Topanga while I was there, thought why not watch the episode. I was slated to switch trains in Belgium, my ticket was for the fast train there and a slow train back or I could try to pay to stay on the fast train. Instead I acted lost, met a nice conducter type dude, and he let me stay on the train for free. I got to Amsterdam a couple hours earlier than anticipated, walked 10 minutes from the train station, smelled an aroma in the air making me check to see if certain friends of mine had actually met me (realized it's just the way the city smells) and ended up at my hostel (which also happens to be a coffee shop).

I decided I'd explore the city, one thing I really liked was although they may not have a specialization of their own food tons of restaurants, cheese shops and street vendors exist here. After walking around for about an hour I realized I had only eaten some pringles and a chocolate thing that day so I stopped by a restaurant called Oorf. I ordered a club sandwich and cheese sticks. Now I figured they wouldn't be normal cheese sticks so I wanted to see their take. It was the best decision of my life. I'm not sure the cheese it was filled with (tasted like kaseri, the saganaki cheese) and the fried outside was the spring roll/egg roll/tempura type filling. It was 6 sticks of heaven, who needs to smoke when you can have shit like that here! After I decided to wander the streets some more, it wasn't dark yet, but was beginning. I walked pretty far away from my hostel, the streets are easy to navigate though. As I walked I had a flashback to the French dude on the streets. This time it was 2 punk kids hanging out who started yelling at me. I was sober this time and just left as they called me a motherfucker for not taking a second to chat with them.

I finally headed back to the hostel as the darkness set in and the red lights of the city shined brightly. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the evening, hadn't really met anyone, but decided to walk the red light district. I wasn't sure how people would react to the kid with the black hoodie walking by himself. I tried to join along with the old people tours (so many of them, kind of insane) that would go up and down the alleys with amusement. There were some beautiful women, lots of them smoking or on their cellphones in the window. There were also some really ugly women and most just stood there. Every once in a while you'd see a man slide up secretly to negotiate some prices, but not too much. After an hour I got hungry again, decided to hit up some "New York Style" pizza joint on the street, was pretty good and walked around some more til I was tired. Went to bed around midnight after mapping out the next day.

I woke up this morning with the intent of getting some breakfast and then to go straight to the Anne Frank house. I stopped at the cheese shop next to my hostel, grabbed 3 euros worth of gouda (which turned out well, I ate about 3/4 throughout the day until I realized by 6 p.m it probably was not good to still be eating from my pocket). I wasn't sure how I'd react to Anne Frank, especially by myself. I got there in the cold weather in about 15 minutes after walking from my hostel. I waited in line for about 15 more minutes and got in there. I was hit pretty hard by it, I read the book as a kid and the holocaust has always had some effect on me (I still remember my most terrifying dream in 8th grade after reading that book of being taken by the Nazis), but I was a kid so it's not the same. I walked through looking at what remained, the quotes, and the steep staircases to walk through. I didn't cry (I don't do that in front of people), but something definitely hit me emotionally. It was an awesome place though, I recommend it to anyone. I feel like maybe I should read it again, but I don't know if I could handle it mentally to be honest, it was pretty intense in there. I decided to go to the Van Gogh museum afterwards, it was about a 30 minute walk, but much needed and worked out great. By the time I was there my mind was cleared, I had thought through everything and made it to the museum.

I wasn't gonna go to the Van Gogh, but then I saw the adds for a special exhibition of Colours of the Night of Van Gogh. They had borrowed Starry Night from New York and had a special exhibit of how he built up to that painting. The whole museum as a whole was great, I really enjoy his art, but the exhibit made it more than worth the price of admission. I had always wanted to see Starry Night (with the whole Boy Meets World connection of course) and it was pretty awesome. After the hour or so I spent there it was off to the Rijksmuseum. It's under heavy construction so it was actually a pretty short trip as to what you could actually see. It did have some amazing paintings, but worked out well with the amount since I had just been in another art museum anyway.

I grabbed a hot dog on the street (decent, not great) and headed what I assumed was either for real lunch or the hostel. Instead I bumped right into the Heinekin brewery and thought what better time than now with a pretty empty stomach to get free alcohol. It was a pretty sweet tour, taking you through their history, tasting the beer in different steps, tasting the barley, getting a couple free drinks, stealing a free coaster (I was drunk, nobody noticed) and they even had a motion ride of the beer making process. Afterwards I headed up the street, grabbed a bagel with tuna (I thought I was at Brueggers I guess), they put capers and olives on those sandwiches, was good tuna on it's own, it don't need that stuff! I quickly sobered up with food and finally headed back to my hostel. It wasn't too hard to find, I used previous places I ate at to guide my way back.

As for the smoking, the brownies, the spacecakes, I'm still undecided. I have one more day here. I think if I was with someone else or had met more than the one guy in my hostel (he's just staying here to look for a place to live in Haarlem) maybe I'd do it and I still may. It's not a lack of knowledge or afraid of what I may accidentally put in my body, I'd like to think I actually know a decent amount about the stuff for someone who doesn't smoke thanks to unnamed people, but it just doesn't have that same feel by myself. Of course tomorrow, a day I basically have of freedom maybe I'll mix things up and go for it, we shall see. Anyway, it was a long one, but hope you enjoyed what you read. Berlin on Saturday, Amsterdam tomorrow, and who knows whereelse I'll be headed.

I be out (and yes I'm in a coffee shop using their internet and probably am high off the 2nd hand smoke cause I just started smiling randomly, eeeeeekers)

B K

Barcelona to Paris

Well, I have about twenty minutes to attempt an update (the computers here are timed), so I will see what I can do. My final days in Barcelona were good, but more of an attempt to get healthy and relax more than anything. I probably missed out on a few things, but I also got to walk around, doing my own thing, and sleeping to get healthy. I went to the Sagrada Familia one of those days, walked around the outside. I didn't feel like paying to go in, I'll probably doing that at enough churches, plus the mystique of the project not being completed I think adds to it more than anything. It does make me wonder if they ever do actually finish it in 15 years, I think that would take something away from the attraction that's been created. After that I walked around Las Ramblas, had a solid meal of fried boquarones and some meat thing that I once again didn't know what I was getting, but was fine. I must admit by the end of all the random pig, I was ready to move on to other animal meats. Afterwards I headed back to my hostel for a nap since I was still sick (on Friday). I got to my room where new roommates existed. A girl was passed out cold on the top bunk, so it looked like a good idea and I took a siesta on my own (it would've been awkward to hop in the bed with her). Later on I woke up, met her, she had just arrived from New York and traveling on her own. My other roommates were the Belgians that had already been there previous nights, but had a room change. We all went to dinner, got some more paella and talked. Everyone was going out that night, but there was no way with the smoke and the 5 a.m nights of Barcelona I could've survived. I did enjoy one of the receptionists trying to get me to come out. Heavily reminded me of Hank Azaria playing Claude in the movie Along Came Polly. Every time he'd see me he'd say the same thing, "You go party Benjie" "nah not tonight" okay then, you should party. About 20 minutes later the same exact conversation, just subsitute party for scuba and you have your character. Another thing I found entertaining, however, was the story the girl told at dinner before coming to Europe. She said a big reason was she freaked out when her boyfriend asked her to move in. She regrets it and think she made a huge mistake, but just didn't want to move in so didn't know how to react. Fast forward to 5 a.m when people are getting back from the bar and you can clearly hear her drunk in the hall being hit on and making out with the irritating English dude down the hall. Irritating because it was 5, I was trying to sleep and dude was loud as hell trying to get in the room, luckily she did have enough respect for me to say there is a sick kid in the room. I know things happen, people get drunk, but for some reason I think girls like that (and the drunk English guy who wouldn't take no) are the ones who make it hard for a normal guy like myself to get a girl in this world. For the dude who is probably depressed at home, I hope she doesn't try to get back with him and he is able to do his own thing. To end my time in Spain I decided to check out all the local markets open on Saturday. There is a Catalunyan one (basically I was semi-lost and stumbled into it) that was big time for the locals. Lots of meats, cheeses, less touristy restaurants inside the market, solid fish and seafood, as well as a lot less people who could speak English. I wanted to get some cheese from there, but being that I barely speak Spanish, don't speak any Cataylun (or whatever the hell they want to call their own language in a country that already has a language), I was unable to get past people to actually attempt to order. I decided I'd walk around some more and stumbled into the Las ramblas food market. It was semi for tourists and semi for locals. Probably a bit more pricey than the other one, but a lot more stands and options overall, plus more English. I walked around, gazing at the goat brains, whole pig heads, hearts, eye balls and what I think were skinned rabbits. I wasn't able to find really any of that stuff at restaurants, but probably for the better. I finally found a place with a nice cheese stand that I figured I should order, I found a cheap mini garroxta wheel, bout a kg worth of cheese for 10 euros. Figured it'd be a nice treat for the overnight train. I headed back, got some dinner and then the next train ride began.



I didn't have a sleeper car this time, just a reclining seat on the train. I was fine with that, assuming it'd make things better and I wouldn't get freaked out. I wasn't freaked out in the sense of the people around me, but once again I was doomed with nightmares. The movement on the train apparently rattles my mind (and probably eating a ton of cheese before sleeping didn't help) as dreams of being chased, stormy weather, and girls of my past (semi-kidding, I mean they were in some of the nightmares, but I just found it funny to add in that in a nightmare way, clearly taking away from it with this long explanation). I was able to get more sleep this time in a regular seat than sleeper car, so hopefully any remaining overnight trains can be taken in this manner. I arrived in Paris at around 8 a.m, pretty tired, but with a feeling that my cold was nearing its end point. I jumped on the metro, headed right to my hostel and found it with ease. I checked in, but there is a policy of not being in the building from 11-4, so I immediately had to store my bags and depart from the vicinity.

I decided I'd go on a walking tour that I saw posted. They're free and they were offered in other cities I had been in, so I went for it this time. It worked out well, an Australian chick led the way on the tour, which lasted about 4 hours. On the tour we all had to mention where we were from, 2 people said Detroit or so I thought, but I was too far away to hear and the tour guide thought they said Sweden so I ignored that. Finally like 20 minutes later she asked them again and this time Detroit was correct. It turned out there were EMU students studying abroad. I ended up striking up a conversation with them and after the tour we all hung out around Paris. We started at the Louvre to check out the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo and other historical pieces there. I enjoyed the place (the 1/4 of art work that I probably actually saw) and we continued on from there. We walked around, got some ice cream and finally made the trek over to the Eiffel tour. I was really excited to climb it. We got in line, only about a 30 minute wait (not bad at all). In line we met a woman from the UK, I had never heard someone talk so much in my life. She was extremely nice and had good stories, but nobody else was able to get a word in for much of the next four hours. On the way through the line we got to the security checkpoint. Everyone got through, except me. I started beeping like crazy. First I took out my phone, then my camera, still went off, then took off my watch and took some change out, still went off, took off my glasses and finally didn;t go off. The best part of the whole thing is the swiss army knife in my pocket that did not beep. I had been using it to cut cheese and forgot it was in there til after. I'm glad a camera and phone will go off, but not a knife. We got our ticket and turned out we were in the wrong line to walk. I tried to convince the others to walk up, but to no avail we took the lift up. We went up, took pictures, went up some more, took some more pictures. It is a pretty incredible view and I was satisfied with seeing it and being up there. I'm glad I had a few people with me, although it'd be fun on my own as well, it was good having some company. By the end I definitely made sure we would at the very least walk down. We did it, didn't take long at all. The English girl went her way after another 30 minutes of conversation. The good thing about her talking so much was the ability to witness a rare feat. With so many people trying to sell shit and follow you on the streets, she was able to out talk them to the point where they ran away from her. She started telling the man to sell condoms, I've never seen someone more terrified in my life. The Persian ran away and it wasn't from the cops. Afterwards I walked back to the main city with the others. We got to watch the Eiffel tower light up, see all the other monuments lit up at night and went to get some food. Unfortunately it was late, we were all together and once again I gave in to peer pressure, we went to mcdonalds. Now although the burger was more real beef and tasted fine, I was still disappointed in the end result. After that we hung out some more, walked the fancy streets, and called it a night.

Today I met up with them for a bit, went to the Arc de Triumphe with a nice view from top. I did the Notre Dame, very nice on the inside (I didn't want to go to the top, wasn't worth it). We walked by the Statue of Liberty the French one, nothing special, but semi-entertaining to look at. A few museums we intended to go to today were unfortunately closed (I'll do them tomorrow), but on the way my glasses randomly broke. The screw fell out, into a bunch of dirt and I was pissed. We were walking, first tried a mall pharmacy, but although they had glasses no screw. From there I saw a high end glasses shop. I went in and the guy could not understand what I was saying. Finally I pointed to the 2 screw holes and showed him one was missing. He fixed it immediately and I was semi shocked there was no charge. I also finally got an ipod/phone charger from a local store that has an "Apple in-store area" which worked out well. Afterwards they got some fast food again, a place called Quick, essentially a French mcdonalds with a different name, I refused this time. I picked up a croissant and after we broke up I got some solid French onion soup (which irritates me that some places actually call it French Onion soup here, just call it onion soup, we know it's yours!) and a solid lemon citrus crepe. It was expensive, but so worth it. Tonight I envision myself splurging on a good meal, I can't be in France and not start eating random good shit even if nobody else will do it with me and even if it costs a ton. Not sure if I'm going to meet up with them again or do my own thing. I kind of want to be on my own and explore places at night, so we shall see if I'm able to reject them.

Anyway I extended my internet time, stole an extra password and luckily they haven't noticed it's been 45 minutes, but now I must go. I'm gonna head to the train station, book my dream train right to the land of drugs and hoes for Wednesday and then see where the night takes me, hopefully to a world with lots of food.

Hollerin-

BK

Barcelonaaaa

What up my people. I am in currently in Barcelona, I arrived on Wednesday evening after leaving Madrid. The train was great, it's one of those bullet trains, goes 300 km per hour. The scenery on the train ride was incredible though in the open country. They were showing High School Musical 3, shockingly the one Ive never seen, but I resisted watching it and wouldnt have understood it in Spanish anyway. I listened to my ipod, tried to sleep a little and take in the atmosphere.

When I got to Barcelona I came straight to my hostel. It's a little far out from the main portions of Barcelona, but not terrible. Its definitely the worst of the hostels so far, but not even that bad, rooms are tiny and not great lockers to store stuff in, but what can you do. I immediately went and got some food after checking in because I was starved at that point. I went to this BraCafe (I thought it meant all the waitresses would be in bras, not that it was a Brazillian Cafe!). It was good, I ordered something random, turned out to be an omelet, with a side of some sort of ham, potatoes, and bruschetta. Not bad at all. Afterwards came back to the hostel and there were signs for a party that night where the hostel was taking everyone out to a club and bar. I figured I'd go because it'd be a good way to meet people.

I met my roommates who were all going to this club thing before we left. I wasnt a huge fan, they were nice, but typical college I want to get fucked up type kids, not my crowd as many of you know. They were all about "pregaming" and I knew at that point they just werent going to be my style. I showed up around 10:30, we all headed out around 11. I met a bunch of people from Belgium who were real nice, some guy from the UK, I think he was Malaysian, and one more guy who I had no idea what country he was from, maybe Russia/I had no idea what he was saying (and we talked for about 3 hours that night, high comedy for me). We went to this first bar called el Gato Negro (the black cat), it specializes in over 500 different types of shots, including many flaming ones. It was entertaining. I took 2 shots. First shot I took I looked randomly and picked one. I went with Casper, hes a friendly ghost and I figured shot wise itd be pretty easy. It was very easy, however, I think at that point it was determined I may be gay by the whip cream on top of the shot. It was easy though and thats all I cared about. I did have one other shot after with the dude who couldnt speak English. I had him order it (not the best idea) and when I went to pay for mine, the woman thought I had paid for both, so essentially I bought this dude a shot and I was stuck. I think he set me up! I have no idea what the shot was, mixed some kind of red and blue thing together. Then you swish it in your mouth for 10 seconds like mouth wash and suck it in, making you cough. Ouch. That shit burned and luckily at that point we were heading to the club.

We got to the club around 12:30, but everyone kept saying it was early. There were Spanisher rappers up on stage, one wearing a tshirt saying I'm the new black, pretty funny. They were whatever, nobody enjoyed them and when they left and the DJ started the place started "bumping." I had a drink when I got there cause we all got free drinks. Made the same mistake again, however, as I let the Belgium kids just get me a drink so I didnt have to cut through. They got me what they were drinking, vodka and pepsi. It was fucking sick, what kind of animals are they! Afterwards everyone wanted to dance, so I went to the floor, danced for a while, talked to the dude from the UK and the one I didnt understand a word he was saying. I thought to myself if I cant pick up a girl in the US, no chance could I pick up one where I dont speak their language. I was right, every time I'd even get remotely close to a girl as I danced she moved away and I wasn't even trying to dance with them, I'm not that outgoing yet! I always enjoyed that form of rejection though, it happens often. I was getting pretty tired, the dude from the UK was almost passed out, and the dude who couldnt speak English said he wanted to go at 3:30. So we planned on that. Around 3:30 I left with the UK guy, the non-English speaking dude was having fun again I guess. We got back around 3:45, I was exhausted. My roommates werent back yet and so I knew I'd be woken up at some point soon. I passed out and starting at about 5:30 a.m until 8 a.m they kept coming in and out of the room. Finally they went to sleep at 8, I slept for another hour, looked at my watch and thought it was 4 p.m. I freaked out, then I realized I'm an idiot and saw what I thought was 11, so a little better, but not much. I immediately got up to start my day and turns out it was only like 9:30, whoops.

I decided first to buy soap since I had left it at the last hostel and figured I should shower at some point here. I went to the drug places right next to here, bought a random soap and then figured Id walk to Las Ramblas. Its 5.3 kms away, if I knew this I probably would not have walked. It was sunny the whole time at least, I had to make it the train station to get my ticket for Paris. I did that and it was perfect because as soon as I got inside a huge hail/thunderstorm came crashing down. I waited it out for a little and then headed on my way to get lunch. I had read somewhere about a great Paella place, so I walked around Las Ramblas, took some photos and ended up at La Fonda. I had the special 3 course menu del dia with some paella, some pork and potato thing I ordered (I took a guess, was still good), and some chocolate pie. The Paella was great, lots of fresh seafood, good rice and good vegetables. It also came with a drink so I got a glass of red wine. Wasnt bad at all. I had a nice relaxing meal, went on my way and headed around the area. I stumbled to the picasso museum (I was slightly drunk), decided why not go in since it was still raining off and on and checked it out. About 10 minutes in though I started feeling sick. A cold was coming on strong. I started sneezing out of control, semi-rushed through the rest and tried to figure out the quickest way back. In the end, I walked about 6 kms back to the hostel, not the best idea for someone who is sick. I made it back and immediately tried to take a nap. That didnt last long with the roommates coming in and out constantly. I decided I'd do laundry for 5 euros, but turns out they do it for you, so that was a bonus. I pretty much laid in bed the rest of the day, got a quick dinner next to the hostel (a bacon bocadillo and a plate of manchego cheese). Got back to the hostel and laid around. Finally my rommates left around 12 to go out. I turned off the light and slept until they got back and did the in and out thing at around 6 again. Luckily they were checking out so they were gone by 8. I slept til 10, then the housecleaning woke me to clean up their beds for the next person, oh well.

I still have a cold this morning and dont feel the best, but I'm going to try to see a few more things to make Barcelona more worth it. I do like it better than madrid, lot more room on streets and overall a nice city. I'd rather rest and not be sick for the rest of the trip though than ruin it all on Barcelona. Hopefully one more good nights sleep and I'll be fine to explore on Saturday (I have all day until my train at 10 at night, so at least I should sneak a few things in without killing myself). I won't walk today though, try to take buses and metros.

Anyway, I will see you in Paris!

BK