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