Frankfurted so I gave his head a Krakow. He Pragably won't do it again

Czesc,

Mr. Grindy and myself finished up our time in Prague with style. We went to another eclectic bar with a bunch of old gizmos on the wall such as wheel parts and typewriters. They served traditional Czech brew which was delicious to say the least. The next day we traveled around the city a little more and viewed the castle up close as well as visiting the Kafka museum. I don't know if I will ever have the capacity to fully understand the exhibit, but it was quite interesting none the less. After a wild day of sightseeing we decided to unwind with a Karaoke bar. I have never sung real karakoe before, but it was quite the epic experience. There were some highs and some lows, but we all had a great time until the cops came and told us all to quite down. This warning went unheeded and they had to come back a second time. Interestingly enough a friend we had met was singing both times the police came. I'm not pointing any fingers, but kind of a strange coincidence, not?

After Prague Mark and I traveled to Krakow for a few glorious days. Here we accomplished quite a bit. In terms of touristy stuff we traveled to Auschwitz concentration camp which was among the most sombering experiences of the trip. However, on a bright note, the chicken soup that they serve there was some of the best I´ve ever had in my entire life. JooJee can attest to that as well. After the concentration camp we also did a tour around the city of Krakow with a stellar tourguide.

In terms of drinking, we enjoyed the brew of Poland in a couple of fine establishments with a few friends we met on the train headed to Krakow. These Polish beverages were accompanied by a bountiful amount of Peirogies which I had been craving since Warsaw. We also went to a swanky place in the Jewish Quarter where the DJ let me use the internet to look up stuff about the Schengen zone. Regardless it was awesome.

The last day in Krakow was rainy and chill so JooGee and I went to see the flick entitled 'Inception' starring the homely Leo DiCaprio. It was a very good movie and was interesting to watch with the Polish subtitles.

After the movie we hung around the hostel before getting on the train back to Prague. Just before boarding we were warned by the porter about roaming groups that would rob us in our sleep. Fearing for our junk we swaped sentry duties throughout the night and were subsequently exhausted the next day.

That day we traveled out of the city to a small (formerly prosperous) town, named Hutna Hora, in the boonies of the Czech Republic. Here we witnessed some impressive old churches including one (Sedlec Ossuary) which was full of bones dug up from people who all died of some plague or something. It was a super creepy place, but the entire trip was very nice.

The next day JooGee left for the US and I hung out with Jade for the rest of the day running some very important errands and then I left on a night bus to Frankfurt and the twilight of my time in Europe.

Frankfurt has rubbed me the wrong way since the moment I got here. I was hungery from my long bus ride so I grabbed some McDonald´s (the only thing open) and the burgers were disgusting even by my standards. I then found the hostel after some searching only to discover they did not have any reservation from me. After sorting that out I went to my room for some nice shuteye only to find that there was a chatfest going on in my room between these slow witted Irish people, a dry Indian, and far to bubbly Finnish girl. This loud conversation lasted until 2 in the morning, much to the shigrin of the other 4 people in the room who were trying, to no avail, to get some deserved rest. Today I set out to get some good Asian grub at a buffet across the street and it was, mark my words, `THE WORST ASIAN BUFFET EVER`. My contempt for this place is so great I won´t even try and make a joke about it. Moral of the story all food in Frankfurt sucks and hostels are bad as well.

Anyways, this city has made me very happy to be going home. See you all soon. My flight is less than 24 hours away!

Tschüß,
Eurokid

I thought I'd Pragueably be sick of Europe by now...Bratislava it!

Dobrý den,

Disclaimer: I am in a very noisey resturant/clubish thing right now having a mixture of Queen and Operatic music blasted at me with a chorus of drunkards mumbling along in the background, so the amount of ramblings and misspellings are bound to be greater than in other posts I have made.

After leaving Dresden and the fine comfort of my hostpitable hosts, I arrived in Bratislava on a whim. On the surface the city was less than exciting. I decided that I did not need to book a hostel before I arrived. I soon found a hostel on the side of the road and took up residence there for a few days. I mostly just hung out in the hostel and actually saw no sights the entire time I was in the city. The first day I went out with a Danish guy and a girl from New York and we explored the town finding it to be similar to a morgue on a monday night.

The next day I spotted a KFC with the most padded, cushiony seats in existance that side of the Danube. I then spent the majority of the day reading Atlas Shrugged (which I am not even half done with) and munching on chicken wings and mashed potatoes.

Later that evening I met up with some English people and an Italian I met the previous day and we went out and had a much more exciting evening. The next day the whole crew went out on an adventure and found the most exciting and memorable part of Bratislava; a crystal clear lake in the middle of the city. The whole day we spent lounging on the beach swimming out to the depths and diving off a dock they had. It was awesome to be out enjoying the sunny weather and getting a tan in my speedo which no one seemed to mind me wearing.

I then traveled to Prague where I met up with a friend, Jade, whom I encountered on a bus ride from Budapest to Dresden. We hung out for the day and she showed me around the city. Later that night we went to an club where they only played 80's and 90's music. With this they show the music videos on a huge screen. The whole time I felt like I'd look over in the corner and see a young Mary Dittrich and Kevin Henle jamming in the corner. To my relief they were nowhere to be found.

The next morning Jade and I traveled to the airport to pick up Mark Grindy who arrived at 8 AM. Due to a late night and some oversleeping we got there at 9 and could not find him anywhere. After running to every terminal we found him scrunched up by a computer with horrible internet access trying to get a message to me. In the end it all worked out and we have been seeing sights and sampling local brews ever since. One place in particular, hippy bar, which was set in someones apartment was one of the highlights and coolest, chill bars yet encountered.

At this very moment we are exploring how to make it to our next destination, Krakow, but are finding it slightly difficult to find a bus company to provide. Perhaps we will be training our way there...

After a few days in Poland we will find ourselves back in Prague where Mark has to fly home from. Then I will take off to Frankfurt where I will depart as well. I can't believe its almost the end of my trip...

Zbohem,
Eurokid

I've been Dresden the end of my journey, but I guess it will be Budapest

Jó napot

Hungary was crazy.

The trip to Dresden was also full of inconviences. I was set to meet Diana's (a German friend who lives in New Ulm) parents at the bus station at 4 PM. This was primarily delayed by a gimongous crash that backed up traffic all the way to Romania. After waiting at a standstill for 2 hours and not being allowed off the bus, we finally drove by the carnage. At least 3 cars were totaled and a semi with two large bucket trailers had pulled a Michael Richards and crashed, burned, will never be seen the same again. After this hiatus, we arrived in Prague to pick up new passagers which included one shifty Asian guy. An hour later (when we were but 20 km away from Dresden) the Polizei pulled the bus over and took a look at passports. All was fine save this Asian guy who held the bus up for another hour. They ended up taking him in their van to do police things to him and we continued on our way. I tried to find a cellphone or some means to contact Diana's parents, but to no avail.

When I finally did arrive at the station I found a payphone and imediatly dialed their number. I found out later they had waited 2 and a half hours, went home, and had just arrived there when their cellphone rang. Talk about horrible timing.

After this all things in Dresden went well. I spent a day with Diana's friends who gave me a grand tour of the city. I had come down with a very sore throat at the time so it was great that I could do a lot of sightseeing and not much talking. One of the best things I did view was Raphael's Sistine Madonna. It has now become a goal of mine to see the most famous peices of art created by all the ninja turtles. Sadly that will have to wait for another journey because Italy doesn't look to be on the agenda.

The next day I traveled with Diana's parents to see some of the more remote sights. We saw some ancient and unique tramways that glide residents to a hill village by Dresden and crossed over the famous Blue Wonder bridge. We then went to a lush garden palace in the next town and had a picnic. I usually don't find trees amazing, but this place had the sweetest old forest where ever tree was a different conifer. It looked awesome.

Finally we ended the day with a tour of an old castle/fortress called Königstein. It was one of the most well preserved, historic castles I've seen and it was friggin huge. We also could catch a glimpse of the entire Elbe River valley and Ore Mountains which were quite an impressive sight to behold.

Some last minute changes have altered my course and I now find myslef in Bratislava where I have no idea what to expect. I didn't even book a hostel before I came here. I don't know if I'm getting lazy, tired, or just more comfortable traveling around Europe and having strange langauges shouted at me.

On a side note my former roommate, Mark Grindy, the little scamp, will be traveling to Prague and meeting up with me on the 21st. I am looking quite forward to this and don't know how to contain my almost schoolgirlish excitement.

Viszontlátásra,
Eurokid

I Hamburglieve this journey is Ulmost over

Hallo,

My time in Olso ended with a very intreresting experience. Due to exorbanent prices of hostels and a general lack of planning on my part I had no place to stay for 1 night in Oslo as my friend headed back to his hometown for a festival. With my flight being the next day I decided to spend the night in the Oslo airport rather than be a bum on the streets. This could have been a lot worse, but has deffinaltly been the worst night of sleep I got the whole trip. However, a few valuable things came out of the experience. First, I learned to appreciate being able to sleep horizontally. Second, I began reading a book I bought in the airport. The tome, entitled Atlas Shrugged is one I have attempted to read several times before, but could never get past the first 30 pages. This means nothing in a book thats over 1200 pages long. The night at the airport, however, gave me the perfect oppertunity to be force to read. So far it is going quite well. Finally the night was made bareable by the free internet that they had at the airport (thanks to everyone who was online and spoke to me in this time of need). It kept me awake and sane as I waited 16 hours for my flight.

Departing Scandinavia, I soon found myself looping back around to Hamburg where I met up with my friend Holger and a few of his friends. The city was 7.27 times more exciting than the last time I was there. For instance, I actually knew some people and wasn´t lost on the Reeperbahn alone. The place we stayed was a little outside the city center in an office. When Holger had told me we would be staying in a friends office I was quite skeptical and figured I could be curled up in a cubical under a desk hopeing to not get strangled by computer cords as I slept. Apparently the German version of an `office`is quite different. The place was formerally a flat and was absolutely enormous. It was clean, sleek, and open with a full shower, jacuzzi tub, and swimming pool in the yard.

We did a few other things in Hamburg including seeing and crawling around in a old Russian submarine, visting the largest model trainset in the world (which was absolutly astounding in detail and hilarity) and also ate at an amazing Brazilian resturant where they brough giant spears of meat to your table and hacked them off right on your plate. It was absolutely great.

After Hamburg I travled with Holger to his home in Senden where I spent the night. Last year I had also visited his house and met his lovely family. They are all even more wonderful than I remember.

From here I will travel to Budapest and stay in a hostel for the first time in about a month. It will be a groovy transition. I can´t believe I have less than a month left...

Tschüß,
Eurokid

Oslo you were Stockholm, so I thought I`d come visit

Hei,

I know it`s been a while since a post, but again, extended internet access has been patchy.

After leaving Copenhagen, I rode the fast train up to Stockholm for a last few days with my parents before they had to go back to the US. During round 2 in the city I met up with a friend I had shot guns with in Vilnius. She was doing the Scandinavian trip that I was doing except in reverse. With her a friend I had made on the trip, but definitely not the last time.

After Stockholm I met up with another friend who lives north of there in Uppsala. This marks a new phase in the European Excursion as I now am on a campaign of staying with friends instead of in hostels. I hung out with her and her flatmate and another friend who showed me around the city (which mostly consisted of a huge church, a castle occupied by a mayor, and a modern art garden). We also explored a phenomena called `student nations`. To my understanding they are student organizations (sort of like fraternities that students are forced to join) based on geographic locations around the country that have bars in the basement that serve beer at student prices. It was great. By the way if anyone asks I`m still a student.

After Uppsala I traveled to Oslo to stay with a Norwegian friend I went to Carlson with. He showed me around Oslo which is a super beautiful city with awesome statues and gardens. The only downside is the prices of everything. I heard that things were expensive, but I never really realized that it would actually be expensive. For example a beer is around 13 dollars and that's the lowest quality one on tap.

Soon I will be headed for the land of beer again, Germany, to meet up with another friend who I met on my previous trek through Europe, Holger. Life is good.

Ha det bra,
Eurokid

How Swede it is to be loved by you

Hej,

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but hanging with my parents has really threw off my `backpacker internal blog clock´. I will attempt to catch you up.

I met up with my Kevin and Mary in Stockholm where we all hung out and did family things, such as testing out every Swedish beer we could find and sleeping in till noon. We also went to a museum on a ship called the `Vasa´which was a really big, really old built of the finest Swedish engineering that sank 20 minutes after it lauched. In the 50´s they dug it up from the depths of the harbor and it is now on display.

After Stockholm the Henle´s traveled to Borås to meet up with the expansion pack to the family, Karl. We stayed with his parents and toured around his hometown. I had been there 5 years ago with Erik Braegelmann it the city really hasn´t changed a whole lot. They have more statues than before, but the McDonalds, main square, and establishments are all still in their spots. They did however remove a outdoor urinal/toilet that I remember an angry Finnish guy storming out of last time. I also met up with a few of Karl´s friends, one of which remembered Erik and I vividly and actually (to my absolute amazement and glee) remembered the chorus of `I Like Beer´.

Once our time in Borås came to an end we headed to Copenhagen for a few days where we are currently staying. Our accomodations are...unique. It is a cabin style room that looks like its straight out of a Japanese apartment. The beds are all stacked on top of each other and the entire bathroom converts into a shower. I´ll have to check this place out a little more and give you an update.

Next stop is back to Stockholm for a flight (possibly).

Adjö

Put a chicken in the ocean and Helsinki

Päivää,

Wow, that "hello" doesn´t even look real, but it´s what google told me... My trip to and from Helsinki has been a super unique one. I left Tallinn, after staying an extra night, on a fast ferry that skirted me over to Helsinki in only an hour and a half. During the trip we passed beautiful scenery of the Estonian and Finnish shoreline, marvelous rain showers in the distance, and majestic ships plowing their way through the smooth Baltic waters. However, I was oblivious to all of this because I was sleeping during the whole excursion. I had to be up at 7:45 AM which my body is equating with bedtime lately rather than a time to get up.

Relaxed from my nap, when I was ejected from the ferry to the shores of Finland I was ready to explore. I searched all around and found another ferry line which I used to book a passage to Stockholm where I would meet my parents. Once I had the ticket in hand I explored 2 nearby churches and feasted in an open market which served me a hearty portion of potatoes and reindeer meatballs. Donner was delicious.

The real fun happened on the cruise I took from Helsinki to Stockholm. At first it appeared as if I was the only one who fit into the age demographic of 17 to 35 year olds. This was reinforced by the other 3 guys in my cabin, one of which had the smelliest feet in all of history. I had to exit the room several times to gag and get fresh air. On one such get away, I managed to see the largest rainbow in the world. I don´t even know how to describe how big it was, but it stretched across the entire sky like the gates of Mordor (did I reference that right JooJee?), and I couldn´t even fit the whole thing on my camera. I did take a load of pictures though...

Later on I went to a live music show and found my kin. 3 people who were right age bracket (one of which I actually knew, and have been stalking since Warsaw always a few days behind). It was a groovy time of live music, disco, and Finnish beer. All I´ve ever wanted in life. I was in such a good mood that I didn´t even smell stinkfoot when I returned to the cabin and slept until we hit the dock in Sweden.

Now I´m in Sweden hanging with my parents which is an abrupt change of pace. I´ll let you know how it turns out!


Näkemiin,
Eurokid