Zadar, Croatia

Zadar may be a very charming city, but I really don't know. My interest here is in the islands. I purchased a ticket for a tour that would last all day and take my through the Kalnati National park on the island of Dugi Otok (one of the largest islands in the Dalmatian Archipelago, and the farthest seaward).

The trip started out a bit chilly, I found myself wishing that I had brought my jacket. The combination of the wind and sea spray had quite the chilling effect. Fortunately the crew had a bit of the local fire water to warm everyone up. Horrible stuff, but it did the trick.

The outer cliffs of the island are absolutely magnificent. They tower above you and drop straight into the sea. There is no transition between the cliffs and the sea, leaving you to wonder how deep do the go? The sea is calm today and barely makes a sound as it lightly crashes into the cliff side, but the cliffs have their scars. You can clearly see areas of the cliffs that have been battered by strong have and have lost massive pieces of the face to the sea, leaving a massive concave surface that contrasts with the near vertical cliff walls surrounding them.

After we saw the massive cliff walls, our guides took us into this very nice and calm cove where the killed the engine heaved the anchor, and announced swim call. It did not take long before most everyone on the boat was in the water. Before I dove into the water I had braced myself for the shock of cold water. Was I ever surprised!!! The water was not cold, in fact it was warmer than the air. And extremely salty. I have been swimming in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, the Adriatic is saltier than both.

After the swim call we headed for the National Park where we would be served lunch and have an opportunity to explore the top of the cliffs that we had just observed. Lunch was a wonderful combination of Grilled Mackerel (a first for me) and veal steak. The Mackerel had this wonderful salty smokey flavor. I think that I prefer the flavor of this fish to that of the best Copper River Salmon that I have had. It really is that good.

During lunch, I sat with a French Family. I took 2 years of French in High School, so at least I knew a bit of their language. I always find it amazing how much people open up when you just make the attempt to speak their language. After starting a conversation by saying hello and introducing myself in French, they replied in kind and asked me how much French I knew. I replied, "Very little." and they immediately switched to English. We had a very nice conversation about how crappy the Croatian wine is, and how good the Californian and French wines are in comparison (and yes, they even said that they prefer some of the Cali wines to French wines).

After we left the national park we started our journey back to Zadar. The French family has a 9 year old daughter that is incredibly interested in learning English, so I entertained her interest for nearly 2 hours. She would point something out and say "En Englaise?", I would tell her the English word and then ask her "En Francaise?". I am certain that she learned far more from me than I did her, as even now, I don't remember most of the new words. Languages just aren't my strong suite.

Plitvice National Park, Croatia

When I heard about the Plitvice Lakes, I performed a quick google images search and upon seeing the first images, I knew that I had to go see these lakes. I honestly do not believe that there is a single photographer in the world that can capture the true majesty of this National Park, it absolutely mind boggling.

The lakes were formed as a result of water eroding the limestone, much in the same manner that caves are created. Additionally the lakes are enhanced by the creation of travertine barriers that help to separate the lakes from one another. Travertine is a rock/mineral material that is actually produced by a type of moss. The creation of travertine is an incredibly delicate process that takes an incredibly long period of time. As such, and this was the worst part of the lakes, swimming is not allowed in the national park. Really unfortunate because the water was so incredibly clear that, in most of the lakes, from an elevated position, you can actually see the deep bottom of the lakes.

I spent the entire day hiking around the lakes, all 16 of them. I had no watch and only a time that I had to be back at the entrance to catch a bus back to my campsite, I made it back with 5 minutes to spare, and never felt rushed, I even stopped for a nice nap in the afternoon sun after I had my lunch. Something that I have grown quite fond of and will sincerely miss after my return to the states.

Zagreb, Croatia

Getting to Zagreb was rather interesting. I had read that the train network in Croatia is not quite developed to the level of the EU, and when we were scuffled off the train by a large burly Croatian man grunting with a barely comprehensible "No Problem, No Problem", I actually was a bit worried. We were shuttled to 5 buses were it quickly became apparent that a portion of the tracks between Vienna and Zagreb was not in service and we would have to take a bus to the next station that had a connection to Zagreb. Tension relived. I actually rather enjoyed the bus ride. The buses are not your typical city public transportation bus, no, they are more touring coaches. The seats are comfortable, with adequate leg space (even for me), AC, tinted windows, and curtains. Rather nice in my opinion. The rest of the journey proceeded without any additional surprises and getting to my hostel was rather easy, as they had provided very explicit directions. "Take this bus to this station", "Get off the bus", "Follow the yellow feet". Very simple and easy. The city of Zagreb was very charming, unfortunately I happened to be in the city during a national day of remembrance for the people that have died in recent struggles for their liberty. Naturally most things were closed and really the only people that were on the streets were tourists. The lack of things to do actually developed into a very nice discovery. The Museum of Broken Relationships. The museum exhibits featured items that were unique to a relationship and the story of how that relationship failed. There were tales of hatred, of loving remembrance, of strife and grief, pain, and most touching of all, one story of frustration turned to pure love after death. The Item: An antique Key. The Summarized Story: - Woman meets man - Woman and man have a wonderful relationship full of passion and love. - Man refuses to have sex with woman, and (apparently) provides no explanation. - Woman becomes overly frustrated and leaves the relationship. - Years go by and woman receives a letter from man. - Man explains in letter that he has passed away from AIDS. - Woman understands that man loved her so much that he would not even consider the risk. Of all the stories, I found this one to be the most touching. There were other stories that rivaled it. But the simplicity of it I found incredibly elegant. The museum was put together so well that you wanted to read every story and look at every item. When all the exhibits had been viewed, I found myself looking for more.

First Day in Vienna

Today was a lot of fun. In the morning I stepped outside to have a smoke and was asked by a couple of people that I talked with the prior evening about what my plans were for the day. When I told them that I really had none, they invited me to join them. Their plan was to rent some bicycles and tour the city. As my plans included touring the city, I figured it sounded like a great idea. We made our way to the bike rental shop, and for 12 Euros we each had a decent bike for the entire day. The lady at the bike shop was incredibly kind and even made us a little map of where to go and what to see. Among that list was a place on the Danube River that was open to swimming. I explored the first half of our map, then decided that it was necessary to go back to the hostel and grab the things that would be necessary for swimming. We also stopped by a market and picked up some things for a little bit of lunch. We set out for the river, stopping along the way to check the map and marvel at the wonderful buildings here in Vienna. After about an hour of cycling, we made our destination. The four of us removed the extra clothing that we would not need and dove into the frigid, but refreshing waters of the Danube. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing and swimming on the banks of the Danube. I find it incredibly difficult to rank the days. There have been so many wonderful days on this trip, hiking in the Alps, exploring buda and pest, the F1 weekend...it is amazing. Next I will be off to Zagreb Croatia and the Plitzvice Lakes, but first I have another day to explore Vienna...

The past week or so

Well...I have come to the realization that I am just not good at blogging. It isn't that I don't have anything to talk about or share, It is just that I have been having so much fun that I forget to make time to write about it. So let me catch everyone up. I left Prague and headed to meet Lazlo in Budapest. What an incredibly gracious host he was. He provided me with everything that I may possibly need and more. One of the coolest things that he had prepared was a very detailed map of the best things in Budapest. The map had at least three days of things planned out on it. It was one of the most useful things that I have had on my trip. I explored Budapest during the days and hung out with Laszlo and his friends in the evenings. It was great fun. On Thursday evening we headed to the Hungaroring for the F1 race. Thursday evening weekend ticket holders were allowed to walk through pit lane, so we did that. It was an absolute zoo, especially around the Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes-McClaren pits. After the pitwalk we went to setup camp. Selecting a good location was a bit of a challenge, but incredibly important as it had been raining and we did not want to select a spot that could become a pond. After sorting through several spots we settled on a nice spot (the only challenge was an ant hill that we discovered as we were setting up the tent). Camping at the Hungaroring was absolutely incredible, what an amazing party scene...and the topless dancers was pretty nice too :) I have pics and videos of this that I will share when I get home, I figure that I shouldn't post them here. Friday was filled with Practice for all of the different series that would be racing on Saturday and Sunday. Lots of fun. As the first F1 cars hit the track I was in heaven. I could not bel;ieve how incredibly loud the cars are. I knew that they would be loud, but this was almost obscene, except for the fact that I loved it. They are so loud that it really hurt my ears, to the point that I thought my ears were going to start bleeding. Fortunately I did have earplugs. Saturday was qualifying day, lots of fun and lots of really loud cars. Qualifying was a lot of fun to watch, but I think that it is actually more entertaining on the TV. Sunday was race day. This is what I had been waiting for, and it was well worth the wait. There is nothing in the world like the sound and feeling of a F1 races start. It is absolutely deafening and it vibrates every single internal organ. It is absolutely amazing. I would advise everyone to attend at least one F1 race in their life. The race was filled with action and attrition. One of the most excititing parts was when Nick Heidfelds Lotus Renault caught on fire in the pits. The team didn't realize it before he left the box and headed out to the track. By the time he got to Pit exit the entire rear section had been engulfed in flames. Nick stopped the car and got out faster than I have ever seen anyone move. Unfortunately someone did get hurt. One of the track workers was extinguishing the fire when something exploded and sent shrapnel shooting into his leg. You could see that he had been hit, but he continued to put out the fire. I don't think that he was severely injured as the emergency helicopters never took off. Probably just a cut or a bruise. Next I am off to Vienna, Austria for a few days. I will try and write more often.

Praha and Kutna Hora

Last night I went out and found this pretty cool little bar in Praha, and by small I really do mean small. There were probably a total of 20 people in the bar, and it was packed full. There I met a very nice couple from Slovakia. We talked music, beer, what the States are like, what Slovokia is like, cars, motorcycles, racing...everything. Not to mention, we consumed a rather large quantity of beer. Eastern Europe (to include Germany) has a very different type of beer. For us in the States, the stronger and more flavorful beers are the darker ambers and stouts. Here, a pilsner is typically 8-12% alcohol and takes extremely wonderful. The tastes are complex, but crisp and refreshing. I LIKE IT!!! Lubos, Michaella, and I closed down the bar. Now comes the fun part, getting back to my bed.... the streets of Praha can be incredibly confusing. Not a single street is straight, the buildings are high, and the streets are narrow. I am typically pretty good at navigating my way through a city, but here there are no points of reference. You can't see the major buildings and you can't see the river or its bridges. This is made more difficult by the fact that I really only seen a small section of the city prior to it getting dark...this was going to be interesting. Fortunately I did have the best friend that a person that is lost could have...A MAP!!! now the only question is, "Can I focus enough through my buzzed stupor to make sense of this thing?" Fortunately I was able to place my location on the map and plot a course for home, and after a couple of wrong turns I made it back to my bed. Tomorrow I will be off to Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora is a small village that lies about 80km east/southeast of Praha. It is somewhat well known for a church that is decorated with the bones of people. So the story of the church is this: Way back when, the priest residing over the church traveled to the Vatican and returned with soil from the city and spread that dirt on the grounds of the church. Word of this quickly spread and the church became a very prominent place to be put to rest. So much in fact, that they quickly ran out of room. To continue burying the dead on the grounds, the monks began exhuming the old remains and storing them in the church. Somewhere along the lines the monks began creating artwork from the bones. Among the most impressive pieces are the chandelier and Coat of Arms of the local lord. The chandelier is said to contain at least every single bone in the human body and the Coat of Arms features a crow picking the eye from the skull of a Hussite warrior. Some people may find the Bone Church morbid and obscene. I on the other hand find it very impressive and remarkable, much more than any other church that I have ever seen. It serves to remind us that we are mortal, that we will someday perish, to love and cherish every single day, because one day, all we will be is bones. I would consider the ones that have been made to be part of this magnificent church to be incredibly fortunate in their deaths, for they get to remind everyone that sees this master piece of this simple and elegant fact.

Praha (Day 1)

Well, I made it to Praha, although with quite different plans. The original plan was to stay in this really nice apartment here in Praha for 3 days, then head off to Budapest for the F1 race. I have revised those plans. I am now just staying in Praha for the weekend. Tonight (Sat) I plan to go out and check out the night life, then tomorrow venture outside of the city to Kutna Hora were I will see one of three Bone Churches in Czech Republic. I am kind of excited.

Praha via Munich

So I have not been very good at keeping up on this, so I apologize and will do my best to catch everyone up on my journey.

I left Fussen on a morning train towards Munich after a good nights sleep, but I was still exhausted. Once in Munich I checked into my hotel and immediately passed out on the bed. I woke up at about 6pm and decided that it was time to go out and  get something to eat and explore Munich a bit. Munich is a pretty city, but it is also very similar to most other major metro areas and takes a good amount of time to truly explore and appreciate. I am off in the morning for Prague, as I really want to spend Saturday night there.

A Lesson in Humility

Funny thing about this trip...I have said to many people, that a portion of the intent for this trip is to learn some things about myself. Well, on my 2nd day in Fussen, I learned a lot more than I had ever anticipated.

The day started out wonderfully. I arose with the sun, and this afforded me the opportunity to have breakfast with Wolfgang before he had to go to work for a 16 hour day. Wolfgang is a teacher at one of the local boarding schools. As it is a boarding school, he is often required to be present from the time that students get up in the morning until the time that they are in bed. This means that he is at work from 6:30am until 11:00pm. Knowing that he would not be home the entire day, he left me a key to his place so that I could come and go as I desired.

I planned to take care of some personal things in the morning, such as washing my clothes as I did not know when the next opportunity to easily do this would be. It would also give me a chance to write about the previous days adventure.

After Wolfgang left for the day, I stepped outside to take a breath of the fresh mountain air, closing the front door behind me.

Lesson Number 1: When you are in a place other than your own home, be aware of your surroundings and how simple everyday things, like a doors locking mechanism works.

It turns out that the lock on the door at Wolfgang's house are nothing like the door of my apartment. My apartment door cannot be opened if it is locked. Here the lock automatically engages when the door is closed.

So here I am, on Wolfgang's porch, in my socks, no wallet, no ID, no money, and the key that he has left me is sitting on the kitchen table.

I am locked out!!!

What am I going to do? It is not exactly warm, and it is certain to rain today. Fortunately I am dressed, all but shoes. This is my first concern, it will not be possible for me to even attempt anything in stocking feet. A quick glance around reveals a pair of shoes that have been left on the porch...and they are dry.

Okay. Now what? Wolfgang does not have a cell phone (even if he did, I would not remember the number). I do not know where his school is nor do I know the name of it. Finding it in a city of 15,000 people is not going to be possible.

The only option at this point is to enjoy my day as much as possible. So I start walking. The first destination, Neuschwanstein Castle. It is a 5km walk there and 5km back. Sounds like a good start.

The castle is interesting, built in the late 1800's as a fantasy of King Ludwig. I say fantasy because it is cheaply constructed. There are parts of the castle that appear to be made of cardboard. I later discover that a very large majority of the castle was cheaply constructed as there was not enough money to complete the castle as the King had dreamed. The other offsetting thing about this castle is that it served no other purpose than to serve as a summer retreat. Typical castles have a defensive purpose, this one was purely egotistical, and now serves as one of the busiest tourist traps in Germany, often attracting 10,000 visitors per day in the summer. I did not stay here long.

My next destination was Lake Forggensee. It is a massive lake that is fed by the river Lech, and it is absolutely beautiful. I walked along the shore line for nearly 15km before it led me back towards the city of Fussen.

By this time I was a bit tired, and given that the sun was shining I decided to rest on a bench in a very nice park. This turned into a nice afternoon nap in the sun. When I awoke it was about 1:30 and I was starting to get a bit hungry and my feet were starting to hurt a bit from the slightly over-sized shoes that I had borrowed from Wolfgang's porch.

Feeling the need to occupy my mind on discovery rather than the growing hunger of my stomach, I decided to further explore the city of Fussen. Fussen was established in the late 1100's as a city on the Via Claudia Augusta, the road from Northern Italy to the provincial capital of Raetia (now known as Augsburg). It is a spectacular city that still retains the city walls that surrounded the castle and the St. Mangs Basilica has been well preserved over the centuries. St. Mangs Basilica is also home to the oldest fresco in Germany, dating back to 980. It is quite impressive and very well preserved.

Then it started to rain and the wind picked up. I did my best to stay dry, but there is very little shelter for someone that does not have any money to pay for a meal or a beer.

This was quite humiliating.

Fortunately the rain did not last long, and I did not get too wet. Once again I was off exploring, but now not out of curiosity, but more as a means of keeping warm. As the sun was starting to set, the wind continued to blow. With damp clothing it was necessary to keep moving to maintain some warmth. I had to choose between hurting feet and warmth. I made laps around the city, checking the time of each lap as I passed the train station. Every lap I took a slightly different path, just to keep my mind working in the exercise of navigation and reference. As daylight faded, so did the wind, and my spirits rose. Wolfgang would be home in a little over an hour.

I began the process of figuring out how I would tell him the story of my day, and keep him for feeling poorly for having to go to work all day. After all, he had already been a most gracious host and had made every accommodation possible for me. The process of developing my story allowed me to reflect on the day, and really elevated my spirits.

When Wolfgang arrived home, around 11:15pm, I greeted him with a smile, he looked at me with a rather curious gaze, and before he could say anything, I said, "Funny thing happened today..." We gathered some food and made some hot tea and I told him of the days adventure in discovery.

I realized several valuable things throughout the course of the day.

1. Never underestimate the value of good, comfortable shoes. They can make all the difference in the world.
2. Sometimes bad things happen, what matters is what you make of them.
3. Attitude counts for 99% of your mood. When I caught myself slipping into a negative mind frame, thinking of the positive in the situation really kept me going.
4. Not everyone that is homeless/shelter-less (which I effectively was for nearly 16 hours) is there by choice. Sometimes people encounter situations in which they are truly powerless to correct.

Throughout the long day I went through many emotions, and for me there was an end in sight. I can only imagine how horrible it would feel to be in a situation like this where there was no end in sight. I think that it would be extremely difficult to keep any sense of hope. It is something for me to consider on a daily basis.

I must be thankful for everything that I have, and maybe it is time to start sharing that with others that are less fortunate than I am.

Despite everything the events of this day, I am in very high spirits and I am looking forward to the rest of my trip.

Stay tuned...

Fussen - The Knifes Edge

As has been quite typical for me on this trip, I awoke with the sun. I am not quite sure as to why, but I cannot seem to sleep any later than about 7 in the morning. I awoke with much anticipation about the day, I am about to go hiking in the Alps.

I meet Wolfgang down in the kitchen, and much to my surprise he has breakfast ready and waiting. Fresh bread with local butter and homemade logan berry/raspberry jam complete with coffee. After breakfast he breaks out a very well used map, that is just hanging on to dear life with a massive amount of scotch tape holding the seams together. He lays out this map and we go over the route that we are going to take, it looks like an intermediate hike and not too terribly difficult. After taking a look at the weather, Wolfgang disappears to his basement and returns with a pack and waterproof gear for me. He tells me that I may not need them, but it will be better if I take the equipment. He explains to me that the weather on the Austrian side of the alps can be the exact opposite of the weather in Fussen. I thank him for the clothing and we head out for our hike.

The destination is the Musauer  (sounds like: moose-hour) Alm.  An alm is a summer home for the local cheese makers while their cows graze the grassy mountains sides and is also kind of like a Bed and Breakfast in the Alps. Many hikers make use of the alms instead of  relying and a tent.

The hike to the alm is a bit damp with very Seattle like rain. Not hard and heavy, but just a constant drizzle that eventually gets you soaking wet. It was a good thing that Wolfgang had provided me with some waterproof clothing. His insight also allowed us to make the decision to do some more hiking...so out cam the map. We plotted a course that would take us up through the saddle between  mountain peaks, and on the other side we would stop at another alm. After we ate our lunch and drank a beer, we headed back out into the drizzle. The hike was a little steep, but nothing terrible. Wolfgang set a very nice slow pace that kept plenty of energy in the legs...and we would need it.

Once we broke through the tree line, the saddle was clearly visible in front of us, what appeared to be a nearly vertical climb. Wolfgang just looked at my awestruck face and smiled. Hiking up a very steep mountainside is one thing when it is dry, it is a completely different thing when the ground is completely saturated with water and littered with holes from the hoofs of cattle. The most challenging aspect was not the steepness, but trying to find a place for your foot that was not 2 feet deep and full of water.

After what felt like 4 hours, we finally reached the crest of the saddle. I had lagged behind Wolfgang, and when I finally caught up with him he had some delicious chocolate ready for me. Brilliant man, he knew that we would need a boost in energy for the trip down the opposite side of the saddle.

It only took a few steps before I lost my footing. I slipped and fell straight on my ass, and immediately erupted into laughter. I knew that this was going to be quite the adventure getting down. The grass was slippery, the wind at my back, and littered with the same hoof holes as the ascent. After 2 more slips and falls, we had finally made it to a decent pathway again, and the next alm was not far.

The alm was very warm and all about was strewn wet hiking gear; boots, socks, jackets, and packs. We had a seat and order some food and coffee. We had both packed an additional pair of socks, just in case our feet got wet. Both of us have waterproof boots, and for the most part, mine did a wonderful job of keeping the water out of my boots. There is no hiking boot that will keep your feet completely dry when you step in hoof holes that reach your calves. We placed our boots upside down on the ceramic casting of the fireplace, hung our jackets and wet socks, and enjoyed our food, a version of dutch babies with raspberry jam and applesauce, and coffee.

After an hour or so, our boots had dried out quite nicely, still a bit damp, but not soaking, so we geared up, paid our tab, and headed off into the wild once more. From here on out the hike was pretty easy. There were some steep areas, and some rather muddy holes to get through, but all-in-all, it was very nice and enjoyable. Even the drizzle disappeared.

This was an incredible day. I do not know that I could have asked for anything better than a day hiking in the Alps of Austria with someone that knows them intimately. This day may very well be the hallmark of my adventure.

Arrival in Fussen Germany

I made it into Fussen around 7:00pm, a little later than I had originally hope for, but not really all that late, and Wolfgang had told me that his place was a five minute walk from the train station. I figured that there would be zero difficulties in finding his place, but just in case there were, I downloaded a nice map of the area that I could refer to. Google maps does a great job of finding places in the US...they really need to improve their European Address searching. The address that I put in google maps ended up pointing me right into the middle of Fussen (about five minutes from the train station). After about 20 minutes of searching the immediate area for the address that Wolfgang had given me, I decided that it was not in this general area...out comes my map. Fortunately I was able to find his street and plot my route there. As it was getting a bit later than our arranged time, I decided that I would give Wolfgang a call. I inserted a few coins, and dialed the number, just as the instructions (kindly printed in English as well) indicated, nothing, I tried again still nothing. Seriously, using a phone cannot be this difficult. Frustrated I leave the pay phone and make my way to Wolfgang's place.

I made it to my destination around 8:30 and Wolfgangs first question to me as I enter his home is, "Are you Hungry?", "Absolutely" I replied in kind and he proceeded to serve us a plate/vegetarian stew. It was quite delicious, but much different from what I would interpret as stew. Reagardless, we ate and had a really nice conversation before we headed off to bed. We would need our sleep as the next day was to require lots of energy.

Stay tuned...

Stuttgart Germany...cars cars cars.....

What an amazing city. Everyone that I had spoken to, and everything that I had read said that Stuttgart was a boring city and aside form the Mercedes Museum, was hardly worth visiting. I wholly disagree with them. I found the city to be absolutely charming.

I was a bit nervous about finding a place to stay ( Hostel). I had difficulty booking a hostel while I wazs in Frankfurt due to a problem with their website. The web-form required me to fill in a salutation, but there were no options available from the dropdown menu. This resulted in not be able to submit the reservation. When I got to the Hostel, they had no problem finding a bed for me.

After I dropped my bag off I headed out to explore. My destinations would be SchloBgarten followed by the city center and its surrounding shops. I was informed by the attendant at the desk at the Hostel that the garden/park had a tent city where "alternative" people had been living for the past year and a half. Apparently the city of Stuttgart wants to expand a portion of the Main train station into this area of the garden. The "alternative people have been living there in protest ever since, and rightfully so, this garden is absolutely gorgeous and should remain. A form of protest is strapping teddy bears to the trees...Venturing further north into the park I found several others interesting things. A section of a building from the 16th century that was relocated to the park as a means of preservation, wonderful little gardens with water pools, and giant chessboards that reminded me of Wizards Chess from Harry Potter.
I sat at one of the benches and watched a few very single sided games...it just was not fair to his opponent. When I reached the northern edge of the park, I decided that I was getting a bit hungry and a bit tired, so I began my journey back to the hostel.

The central market (where in Novemeber they open Christmas Market here) was quite fascinating. I had apparently just missed a rather large festival as there were workers everywhere removing stages and booths. I found a market inside one of the buildings that reminded me of Pikes Place market in Seattle. There were all sorts of vendors set up with shops that specialized in one thing. Meats, sausages, herbs, spices, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, nuts and fruits, chesses, fresh cuts of beef or lamb, and fresh seafood. The quality of product at all of these shops was amazing. As I do not really have the facilities to cook any of this wonderful food, I decided on a couple of fresh nectarines. What a treat. Slightly crispy, but not ripe, but not under-ripe either, with just the right amount of sweetness.

Back at the Hostel I met a woman from Georgia that was in Stuttgart for business and pleasure. We had a good conversation and decided that we should go out and grab a beer. Under advisement from the attendant at the hostel we made our way up the hill just to the south of the Hostel to a beer garden that overllooks the city. The path to the beer garden led us through some very nice old houses and a vineyard. The beer and conversation was phenomenal. I learned of her strategy to market herself to the headquarters of her employer (under her own dime) and hopefully gain an internship here in Germany. She discovered my love of technology and mechanics and constantly polled me on how things work and why she has some of the problems that she does at work with computing. I was more than happy to oblige her.

After the beer garden I stopped back in at the hostel to grab my jacket and was rather shocked when I walked into my dorm...there they were two nearly naked young girls, prancing around and laughing in their underwear. Did I have the wrong room? This is a bit unusual. In the states if you walked into a room where girls were running around in their underwear they would probably be rather embarrassed and run for cover. Things are very different here. Boith girls kindly greeted me and carried on giggling and prancing around in their bra's and panties….I figured if they are alright with it...SO AM I!!

Now I am really glad that I had decided to grab a light jacket before I left home. I assumed that Germany would be fairly warm in the summer months, and it is during the day, but as the sun sets behind the mountains the temperature drops several degrees and gets rather chilly, especially with the wind. So that was a good call on my part. I am also incredibly glad that I did not allow Holly to talk me out of bringing my first aid kit. I think her exact words were, "There is no way that you are going to need that!" Well Mrs. Holly Provan, I did need it. See, I thought that I had done a pretty good job of breaking in my new boots, but I was wrong. Towards the end of the day I began developing some pretty painful blisters, one on each foot. The blister on my right foot is right in the middle of the ball of my foot, well actually between the ball of my foot and my second toe. The blister on my left foot is on the bottom of my big toe. As I have a hikers first aid kit, there are things there that make walking with blisters much more bearable, mainly moleskin with an adhesive backing. Simply cut the moleskin to the desired size and adhere to your foot. Once this is done, the pain of the blister virtually disappears...it is like magic. The moral is, 2 days in Europe and I already found a use for something that I was told I would not need…


This morning I awoke to the sun, and that would be great except the sun rises at about 5 in the morning. I tried to get back to sleep but was highly unsuccessful, so off to the shower I went to start my day. The itinerary, Porsche Museum and Mercedes Museum.

Porsche Museum...small but full of history and very elegenat design and presentation from the beginnings of Porsche to todays innovations and efforts. The vehicles on display were nice, but I thin that they could have put a bit more preparation into some of the cars. Cars that re Black in color require a lot of attention and, in my opinion, are not museum worthy if they are covered in micro-scratches. It just takes a bit of polish and buffing to make black look like glass...I just expected a bit more from Porsche. The TAG engines on display were wonderfully amazing though. A little bit of Formula 1 history for me to get a bit excited about.

Mercedes Museum, this museum is twice the size of Porsche, and rightfully so, Mercedes is a much, much larger manufacturer than Porsche. Porsche really specializes in raw high performance machines, where as Mercedes manufactures in almost all realms of locomotion. The museum was well thought out in design in comparison to the Porsche Museum. In the Porsche Museum you follow the history of Porsche from the bottom of the building, to the top. The Merceds; from top to bottom. So you get in an elevator and it takes you all the way to the 8th floor. You gradually walk down through the history of Mercedes. The first area explains some of the early innovations of the ICE and they even had Ottos original 4-stroke on display. Now coming from a car guys perspective...THIS IS REALLY FUCKING COOL!!!!!!!!!! The rest of the museum is interesting and it is wonderful to see the progression of the science through the decades, but there are really only two genre of Merceds that I particularily enjoy, the mid 1950's and the SL 300 (GullWing) and the Modern racecars….and boy was I in for a treat…

They had 3, yes 3 SL 300's on display, and all 3 were absolute gems. In their race car section, the had an exploded 1999 MP4-14….I almost lost it, but was able to keep it together….until….the 2008 MP4-24...this is the car that Lewis Hamilton triumphed in and won the Manufacturers Championship in. This car is a wonderful piece of mechanical and aerodynamic engineering. I have no more words to describe this…

I am now primed for the Hungarian Grand Prix…

I am now off to Fussen…

Stay tuned...

Day 2 of my travels.

Stuttgart Tree Huggers

Yesterday I arrived in Frankfurt after what was actually a pretty short flight from LAX. The flight, for the most part was pretty comfortable, the only slightly uncomfortable portion of the flight was when the guy in front of my was constantly trying to get his seat to recline further than it would go, smashing the seat into my knees. I honestly thought that he was going to break the reclining mechanism at any point and come slamming back into me. After the served dinner and a cocktail of your choice, they turned the lights out and requested all passengers to close their window shades. I fell asleep watching the in-flight movie (The Adjustment Bureau) which I actually had wanted to see. When I woke up I peeked out the window to a sea of white clouds, at least 15,000 feet below us, and a bright eastern sun. As the sun was in the east, I knew that we were already heading south towards Frankfurt. A quick peak at the location that was shown on the overhead displays confirmed my suspicions. We were only 1.5 hours out of Frankfurt.

Deplaning was one of the fastest and most efficient processes that I have ever seen at an airport. Each side of the aircraft had three jetways (2 for business and standard class, and one for the upper deck first class on each side. From the time that we pulled up to the terminal until I was off the plane and on my way to get my bag was less than 10 minutes. The Germans certainly know how to engineer efficiency, most impressive.

Getting through passport control and customs was a breeze.

Next was the greeting point. This was clustered full of people greeting their friends and family as they arrived...a bit difficult as there were some expectations here (CR)...but I powered right through it, put a smile on my face and reveled in the fact that "I AM IN EUROPE!!!!!"

The challenge came when it was time to get to the main hub of the Frankfurt train system so that I could get to my hotel, offload my bags, and go exploring. Finding the correct line was rather difficult, but with a few questions to the local people, I was off on the right train and direction. My hotel was extremely easy to find ( I selected it as it was directly on the East end of the Main train station. This would ensure 2 things;

1. I could get to my Hotel quickly once I arrived 
2. I could get to the train station quickly in the morning for my transit to Stuttgart. 

The hotel staff was extremely helpful and spoke English (a big plus for me as I know all of 2 words in German). After a few minutes I was checked in and off to my hotel room...and what a shocker that was. Hotels in the states are never really all that impressive, but this made a room at a Motel Six look like a luxory suite. Don't get me wrong , the room was neat and tidy, just really small. At first impression I didn't know if there was going to even be enough room for me to put my bag on the floor. Despite it's small size, there were some really nice things about it. The mini-bar was 100% free (and it had some really good beer in it), the shower, although small, was well thought out. The shower head was not a titling shower head that I am accustomed to, but it was affixed to a rod that you could adjust the height (perfect for me cause I would have had to bend over and touch my toes to wash my hair if it didn't move) . There were well placed shelves that folded down from the walls to place toiletries, and the mirror did not fog up.

After a few minutes of relaxing, I decided that I really was not all that tired, so it was time to venture out and explore the city of Frankfurt. When I am driving, I have a pretty good sense of direction. I can pick a visible fixture and figure out where I am in relation to it. Not so much here. I walked for several miles thinking that I was heading in the correct direction, and somehow managed to unintentionally wind up back where I started. I guess the good news is that I got lost to a point that I knew exactly where I was. At this point I was getting pretty hungry so I went down the street to a bar that was packed with people watching the Women's World Cup. Now this is a sport that is entertaining to watch, especially when you are surrounded by crazy drunk people from all parts of the world, dressed in togas and capes made from the flag of the country that they are supporting. The 2 craziest things that I saw:

A Japanese guy with what amounted to a very scary hat with Barbie dolls strapped around it. I don't know why, but I just found this really disturbing….
A group of guys dressed as Smurfs. There was Papa Smurf, Handy Smurf, and even Smurfette (and yes it was a guy). These guys took this to the extreme. They were wearing white little shoes and white pants, then painted from head to toe in blue body paint, completed by a white stocking cap

After some food and some beer I decided that it was time to retire for the night. The bed was surprisingly comfortable and I slept really well, until about 5:30 in the morning. Breakfast was really good, especially the coffee.

The coffee was fresh ground, strong, but not bitter, perfectly hot, but not scalding. Starbucks should take lessons from them.

After breakfast, I sat in the lobby of the Hotel, checked my email, responded to some messages, and proceeded to plan out my day. The p[lace that I had arranged to stay in Stuttgart had to cancel, so I am left with no definitive idea of where I am going to stay in Stuttgart. I attempted to book a Hostel, but there is a field in their database that is set to "cannot be null", but there are no values to select, so I cannot complete my reservation online. Kind of annoying. So I figure that I will just go to Stuttgart and figure it out from there. I have all day. Tomorrow morning I will check out the Porsche Museum and the Mercedes Museum, then head off to meet Wolfgang in Fussen.


'Til my next post...

The Terminal

...and so the adventure begins...

My Airplane

Chillin in the terminal

I really have to send out a special thanks to the people that have supported me in this adventure and have been crucial to it becoming a reality.

1. Holly and Eric: Thank you for taking me to the airport. Thank you for understanding the CR situation and not rubbing it in my face with an "I told you so". That is really appreciated.
2. Mike: Thanks for taking care of my Z while I am gone.
3. Dave and Morgan: You have been most gracious in offering to look after my place during my absence.
4. My colleagues at work. Thanks fro dealing with my BS and enthusiasm about the trip. I know that it isn't always easy to hear about the cool and fun things that other people are partaking in. Keep up the great work and I will see you when I get home.
5. ...I guess that even CR should get some thanks...now I do not have to look after anyone else or worry about leaving that person to fend for themselves while I have a blast. (I do not mean to sound bitter if it comes off that way)

AND NOW....THE ADVENTURE BEGINS...on the evening of my 31st birthday.

Interesting Start

Well here I am, less than a week away from beginning my adventure in Europe. Some of you know that I was supposed to be making this journey with a friend (supposedly) of mine. Well circumstances arose that have prevented said friend from joining me.

While I am a bit disappointed in this, I am fiercely determined to have the best possible time that I possibly can. So much so that it has been rather difficult for me to focus while I am at work. There have just been to many things to rearrange and set straight prior to my departure. The largest of which I think has been fully settled, that being the rail passes to get around Europe.

I had purchased a saver pass that was going to provide us with 10 days of rail travel over the month. That pass is only valid if you are travelling with the people listed on the pass. I contacted the retailer and was told that I could travel on it, or I could exchange it....let's do a bit of math...10 days of limited travel for the price of $1600, or unlimited travel in a month for the price of $1200...hmmmm... tough choice. I should have my new rail pass by Thursday, Friday at the latest.

The trip is going to be quite amazing. Destinations right now are:

• Frankfurt, Germany
• Fussen, Germany
• Stuttgart, Germany
• Munich, Germany
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Budapest, Hungary
• Zagreb, Croatia
• Plitzvice Lakes, Croatia 
• The Dalmatian Coast of Croatia (various Islands)
• Dubrovnik, Croatia

Stay tuned for all the exciting stories and photographs...