Tom in Europe

I'm home

2008-11-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it back in one piece after a really long ride home. On Monday I rode the train back to Prague with Kyle and Abe and then flew right to Amsterdam. My flight to Amsterdam was uneventful and then I spent a short night in Amsterdam at some local hostel. I didn't go out or do anything particularly fun since I had to get up at 4:40am to head to the Amsterdam airport.

I flew home through Paris and thankfully had the seat next to me wide open. Yesterday was a recover day at home and here I am. I'm not sure yet if I'm happy or not to be home. I would have stayed and traveled longer if Air France hadn't been jerks about changing my flight home.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for Tom's South American blog...

Dresden Rainbow

2008-11-24T08:25:00.001-08:00

This photo is not staged. Matt actually barfed a rainbow.

Rad Bike

2008-11-24T08:22:00.001-08:00

Bikes were everywhere, particularly in Amsterdam. This bike though we actually saw in Dresden and I had to take a picture. Rolling on this faux-fur covered baby would give infinite street cred at Critical Mass.

Spaghetti Wunder

2008-11-24T08:20:00.001-08:00

I can only wonder who would possibly order this thing. As far as I can tell it's spaghetti and blood in an ice cream cone.

Spotted in Dresden.

Kebabs!

2008-11-24T08:18:00.001-08:00

These things are everywhere in Europe and exactly the gut bomb they look like. But at 2am when you're hungry the kebab joints are among the only places open and get the job done.

The Krakow Dragon

2008-11-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

Krakow was supposedly ravaged by a dragon in the 13th century. The king sent his two sons to slay the beast. They were incapble of killing the dragon outright so they killed a couple of cows, gutted them, and then filled the carcasses with poison. They put the poison cows outside and lured the dragon over where it ate the cows and died. The sons because heroes and the dragon has been a symbol of Krakow ever since.

Outside the castle there is a statue of a dragon which breathes fire once every ten minutes for only three seconds or so. Matt and I set up his camera on a bench with the timer and posed in front of the dragon not even aware that it breathed fire. As our incredible fortune would have it the dragon belched out a fireball just as the camera snapped our picture. That's like a 200-1 shot that we randomly hit. I tried to tell Matt that we should immediately go to a casino but he isn't the gambling man I am.

Krakow Snow

2008-11-24T08:09:00.000-08:00

The snow in Krakow was actually pretty fun until my nuts literally froze off.

The Salt Mine

2008-11-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

Now that I actually have my laptop back on the internet I can upload some pictures. Here's me in the cathedral chamber of the salt mine yesterday. Keep in mind that this was 300 feet or so underground.

Monday 11/24 - Prague Airport

2008-11-24T07:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast this trip flew by. My return trip home has essentially begun and is actually even longer than my trip over here. This morning I woke up at 5:45 in Krakow to shove off for the good ole USA. However, thanks to the combined ineptitude of Air France and EasyJet I have an extremely long journey back to Seattle.

This morning was the first leg - back to Prague. As it turned out Abe and Kyle (pictured above at dinner last night) were heading to Prague today so we all rode the same train. We didn't buy our tickets though and seats were reserved so we didn't get to set next to each other on the train. Instead, I sat in a booth with a young couple and an extremely shady guy. When the shady guy sat down across from me he already reeked of beer and then proceeded to fish a large can of some Czech beer from his backpack and crack that. Maybe I was being paranoid but for the next seven hours I kept a sharp eye on both my stuff and the stuff of the traveling couple. I've heard horror stories of people getting robbed on the train so I wasn't about to let that happen.

On arriving in Prague I said goodbye and Kyle and Abe and found a restaurant where I had goulash, bread dumplings, and a beer for lunch. You all probably think I'm an alcoholic at this point but beer really is a way of life over here. It's what the locals drink with meals (plus before and after meals as well) and is cheaper than soda. So when in Rome...

After lunch I worked my way to the bus station via the underground Metro system and caught an Airport Express bus without incident. I now have over 2 hours to kill before my flight so I'm sitting in the Courtyard Marriot lobby poaching internet access. At 7:20pm I catch a flight to Amsterdam (on Sky Europe, the airline with the tall, blonde flight attendants that Andy and I are both fond of). I will spend a short night in Amsterdam and then head again first thing in the morning for the next leg of my trip home.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure if I'm excited to come home or not. I tried extending my trip but Air France are idiots and refused to let me change my plane ticket home. I don't want to waste the plane ticket so I'm coming home regardless. The snow and freezing weather have made me actually miss the Seattle climate, which I didn't think was possible. As I'm crossing the Atlantic I suspect I'll start to dread getting back to the states - that always happens when I go abroad.

Sunday 10:48pm - Tales of salt and milk-shakes

2008-11-23T13:55:00.001-08:00

We just got back to the hostel after a fantastic, long dinner. Not only is Stephanie in town, but we made friends with Abe and Kyle, two guys staying at the same hostel. These fellows are hysterical and my favorite people I've met on the trip so far. They are both recent college grads from a podunk school around Portland and are traveling around Europe for three months. They both have huge beards which they have been growing since the summer and great senses of humor. The remind me quite a bit of the Wilson brothers.

Today the five of us went to some famous Polish salt mines (I can neither remember nor pronounce the specific name). Salt was being actively mined from the site from the 1200's all the way until the 1960's at which point it was exhausted. According to our guide there are 3000 chambers and 300km of tunnels of which 1% is open to tours. What is awesome about these salt mines is that often when a particular chamber was fully mined the miners would bring in some artists to produce sculptures and carve scenes into the chamber walls. So there were sporadic sculptures, Christian chapels, and carvings spread around. The culmination of the tour was essentially a cathedral 100 meters underground which is still used for regular masses, weddings, and banquets. The whole things was very cool and we're glad we went. We even had a pack lunch with us that Gregory, the owner of our hostel, packed.

Speaking of which, I should describe this hostel a bit even though it is our last night here. It's called the Elephant on the Moon Hostel for reasons unknown and is situated a bit away from the center of town. The entire operation is surreal. As I said, it's owned by Gregory who is a Polish bohemian who is about as mellow as they come. His hostel is small and inviting, not the large party hostel that was Sir Toby's. That's ok because my liver needs to do some recuperating.

Each day at the Elephant on the Moon is a theme day. Today is cookie day which is just fine. Starting at 8:03am (yes, 8:03) cookies are available at all times for the guests. This morning we had these scrumptious chocolate-caramel-rice krispie cookies and this evening I found chocolate chip (like Chips Ahoy) cookies waiting for me when I got back. Yesterday was perhaps the best theme day on his calendar though, milk-shake day. When I sat down at our communal breakfast (which is provided gratis every day at the Elephant on the Moon) nearly all of the other eight guests were already sitting at the table. Kyle looked over at me with a grin and told me to get ready for my milk-shake. A few seconds later Gregory appeared from the kitchen with a glass of what looked like chocolate milk for me. On tasting it though I discovered a treasure-trove of flavors. There were small chunks of apple, bits of coconut, and I think I tasted a hint of carrot. In actuality it wasn't bad and I drank it down without incident. However, that was only my first milk-shake of many.

At that point the girl next to me was finished eating and left the table bringing her dishes with her to the kitchen as did her friends. I noticed that she left her milk-shake, untouched, sitting right next to my bowl of cereal. Gregory was sitting down with us and chatting and I could tell that he thought that the empty milk-shake glass was mine. I didn't want to insult him by not drinking it, even though it wasn't mine to begin with, so I proceeded to drink my second milk-shake of the morning.

Matt finally got up and joined us at the table at which point I told him to get ready for a milk-shake sensation. Gregory then appeared with a glass of milk-shake for Matt in even less time than it took him to appear with mine. I concoct up some weird smoothie things in the blender so the peculiar flavor of the milk-shake didn't phase me but Matt clearly have the experience I did. On the first sip, I could tell Matt was shocked equally both by the taste and chunky bits of apple and who knows what else. He was a trooper though and drank it down.

As we were excusing ourselves from the table I complimented Gregory on the fantastic breakfast and in particular, the milk-shakes. That was a mistake because he let me know that there was enough for a second for me (not realizing that I'd already had two) and before I knew it he was returning from the kitchen with yet another milk-shake for me to drink. The body can do fantastic things when stressed. Like the woman that lifted the car off her trapped baby I chugged down that milk-shake like it was my last meal.

Tomorrow's theme is "Chocolate Day with plums." I don't know if it's good or bad that I'm leaving at six in the morning.

Saturday 11:41pm - Elephant on the Moon Hostel

2008-11-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

We're back at our hostel for the night and turning in. Stephanie, Matt's ex-girlfriend and my buddy, flew to Krakow today from London today to meet up with us. She was supposed to actually meet up with us yesterday except she missed her flight. It wasn't her fault though. She was on the train riding to Heathrow when a dude jumped onto the tracks in front of the train ahead of her. He was killed and then held up all the trains in the vicinity five hours. Apparently jumping in front of trains is a common way to commit suicide in London. I think those people should at least have the decency to jump in front of the last train of the night and not in front of one during midday.

Today Matt and I (before Stephanie arrived) walked all around Krakow and loved the city. There's a giant castle and cathedral that we explored. We toured the old Jewish Quarter but couldn't really figure out what made that part of the city Jewish other than a couple synagogues. On our way to lunch it started snowing...hard. As in blizzard hard. And it was weird because half the sky was still blue (the half that had already passed overhead). We hit up a cafeteria style place that we were pointed to which was decent but really cheap.

We did more wandering in the afternoon in the snow and whenever we got cold we would pop inside a souveiner shop, cafe, or historic landmark to warm up. After meeting Stephanie at the train station we dropped her stuff off and the Elephant on the Moon Hostel (which we love) and headed out to dinner. Gregory, the owner of the hostel, pointed us to a fancy (relatively) restaurant which he swears serves the best traditional Polish food in the city. I can't vouch for his entire claim but the food was incredible. I had a chicken dumpling soup (my third bowl of soup on the day) and plate of assorted pirogies.

Fully gorged we had a beer at each of a couple bars. The first being one of the places from last night and the second being a random karaoke bar. The Polish locals were butchering American pop songs and Polish classics alike so we decided to take the stage. Stephanie sang I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight and I sang both Mack the Knife and Sweet Child of Mine, all of which went over great. The real highlight of the night though was this crazy blonde who covered both Joan Jett and Alice Cooper and when asked where she was from by the karaoke guy screamed out, "Fucking Germany!!!"

While waiting for a tram back to our hostel Matt picked up five Polish guys who tried to convince us to go to a club with them. Stephanie was really dragging so we declined their offer despite their assurances that we would meet plenty of "Sweet Polish women." We did talk with them for a while and they're pretty cool so we might actually meet up with them tomorrow. I get the impression they just like practicing their English (and that one has a crush on Matt and the others on Stephanie).

Tomorrow morning we get up early to get a tour of some salt mines which are supposedly uber-interesting. If I can actually get my laptop online (as opposed to the public computer I'm on now) I'll post some pictures.

Fun fact: polish is the only word [I know] that changes pronunciation when capitalized.

Saturday 3:05am - Krakow

2008-11-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

Holy guacamole Polish women are hot! We'll come back to that though. Dresden finished up great. We caught a movie in English late yesterday afternoon, Body of Lies, at the local movie theater. We were the only two people in the theater, literally. Matt of course thought this was hilarious and would periodically make shadow puppets on the screen because he thought it wouldn't bother anyone. Well, it bothered me but I got the last laugh. Matt bought popcorn because he can't see a movie any other way but instead of that nasty fake butter, the Germans put some kind of sugar syrup on their popcorn. Matt was disgusted so I got to chow his popcorn for free. The kicker was that I poured the last remnants of the bag into my mouth and then spit the unpopped kernels back into the bag. I had to sneak out of the movie at one point and when I returned Matt was chewing on the very same unpopped kernels. That made up for the shadow puppets.

After the movie we encountered a beer garden on the walk home. At this point it was dark, cold, and rainy out - not unlike a Seattle January night. That didn't affect the Germans though whom were out in droves under beach umbrellas drinking beer like it was still Oktoberfest. Being 3/4 German myself, I kept reminding Matt that he doesn't understand that my people have spent generations enduring such weather and that it doesn't phase us.

This morning we jumped a train to Krakow that was actually three trains - or even four if you count the one we missed. In Wroklaw, Poland we were attempting to catch our final train of the day to Krakow but we misread the "arrival" and "departure" signs and ended up waiting for the train that was actually arriving from Krakow. By the time we realized Matt's mistake it was too late and our train was gone. Matt was ticked about the whole thing but I didn't mind taking a couple hours to drink cappuchino and oggle Polish girls.

Speaking of which, you would not believe the hotness of the women in this country. It is simply astonishing. I imagine the only place with more attractive women is the Amazon jungle in grocery store fiction novels. They are simply all young, thin, and gorgeous. Not only that but they make eye contact and smile at us. I don't know what kind of alternate universe the Polish train system dumped us into but it definitely agrees with us.

We didn't get to our hostel until 9ish tonight so we promptly headed out to find some traditional Polish food, traditional Polish beer, and traditional Polish women. We failed on the first part of that and ended up scarfing down the omnipresent kebobs which are like a European version of a gyro. After that, we bounced among a couple really hip bars which both seemed to be renovated bomb shelters from WWII. It's pretty cool, all the bars here are a level or two below the street and require you to traverse a windy staircase that wouldn't pass US building codes. But that adds to the charm. Inside, the places have a definite cold war vibe to them which is not unwelcome. I fell in love several times over the course of the next two hours including a lovely lass named Margaret who was eventually stolen from us by her unnecessarily overprotective friends.

At about 2 the trams were no longer running so we did a trip first - take a cab. It snowed earlier tonight, our collective nuts were frozen off, the trams shut down for the night, and the massive buying power of the American dollar all led to the decision to wimp out and ride a taxi back to our hostel. Five dollars and three miles later we patted ourselves on our backs for the wise decision and entered our hostel, the Elephant on the Moon Hostel, to call it a night.

Thursday 12:45pm - Happening Cafe & Bar

2008-11-20T03:46:00.000-08:00

Above is Matt boarding our train to Dresden. We left Prague yesterday afternoon after an incredible time. We loved the city, partied pretty good, and made some new friends. The train ride to Dresden was only a couple hours but a welcome chance to sit down and relax. We packed the prototypical backpacker lunch with us and ate it on the train, ham and cheese sandwiches, apples, and Pringles.

We had few problems finding our new crib, Hostel Louise 20. This place is the exact opposite of Sir Toby's. The rooms are small and quaint (as opposed to the dorms we slept in) which is an advantage, perhaps the only one. The downsides are that there is essentially no common area to make new friends and socialize in, there is no bar, they made us pay for bedsheets, and there is no wireless internet (or internet access at all). This place is dead. Really dead. We're only staying for a couple nights so we're not going to bother finding another hostel. It is in a cool, young neighborhood so we are planning on going out tonight.

Last night I fell asleep at 6:30 and didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning. I don't thinre k I've slept that much since highschool and I have to be honest, it felt pretty good. Yesterday was some kind of holiday he're so when Matt explored the neighborhood everything was closed anyway.

This morning Louise 20 was serving breakfast which we popped our heads in and witnessed perhaps 15 forty-somethings eating together in the hostel. I don't aingre travellers or just locals that like hostel breakfasts but that was just another indicator that we're in the wrong place. So we bolted to explore the city.

We wandered for the next four hours (minus a stop for cappuchino) with the intent of both checking out the city and finding wireless acess. The former proved easy as Dresden has a lot worth seeing and exploring. The latter was nearly impossible until now. I turned my laptop on in perhaps a dozen different places and for the life of me couldn't get a friggin internet connection.

But we found one at the Happening Cafe and Bar which is now going to enjoy our patronage for a good amount of time. This place has incredible food and beer by the way. We're drinking Freibergifchh Bier which is dark and smooth and I had a toasty-hot baguette with mozarella cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers which ranks among the top three things I've eaten on this trip so far. I would have taken a picture but I was so hungry and the sandwich looked so good that I was 3/4 of the way through it before I realized I should have immortalized it in film.

Irony

2008-11-18T19:33:00.001-08:00

Matt and I took a walking tour of Prague which we bailed on early because our guide sucked. Ollie, a British bloke we've been hanging out with, took a walking tour with a different guide that told an interesting legend about this astronomical clock.

It was built in 1410 by a master clockmaker who, upon completion, declared that he could never construct anything as beautiful again. Regardless, the high Councillors of Prague didn't want him to create an even greater clock in a rival city so they had his eyes cut out and he subsequently died. Karma's a bitch because the clock broke within a year and the city couldn't find anyone that could repair it for a hundred years.

This is just another example of how things always seem to break after the warranty expires.

Go-Go Club Sexy

2008-11-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

Apparently the Go-Go Club Sexy will pick you up in style. We didn't go there but that's still a pretty sweet ride.

The Beer Factory

2008-11-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

Here's me at the Beer Factory on Monday night pouring from our table's metered taps.

4:22am - Insomnia

2008-11-18T19:27:00.001-08:00

Who'd have thought that a nap from 6 to 9 last night would make it hard to sleep?

I'm sitting on a couch in the hostel lobby where it's nice and quiet. I do hear people downstairs in the bar presumably still drinking. Impressive.

Now is as good a time as any to post some pictures I finally got off of Matt's camera last night.

11:38pm - Sir Toby's

2008-11-18T19:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight is the last night we're going to stay in Prague. We didn't go out this evening opting to enjoy a quiet night at home with the friends we made here. I'm sitting in my bed and everyone else in our room is doing the same (sitting in their beds, that is, not mine).

Today we really did Prague on the cheap. Matt and I cooked breakfast for a bunch of folks and then we explored a section of the city we haven't seen yet on foot. We climbed up a huge hill because at the top is a mirror maze we (or mostly me) wanted to check out. I've never been in a mirror maze before and have always wanted to. Anyhow, we climbed up this huge hill only to find that the mirror maze is only open on weekends. Oh well. It was good to get some exercise. It's freezing out so on the walk back we stopped for beer and Czech style chicken soup which was great. A couple hours later I had a wicked stomach ache (possibly from the Czech soup) which a lengthy nap cured.

Tomorrow at noon we ship out for Dresden by train. I read about the city in Slaughterhouse 5 so it will be cool to see in person.

Tuesday 9:20am - Sir Toby's

2008-11-18T00:20:00.001-08:00

Still in Prague and the same hostel. We're having a blast here and are out and about so much that it's hard to find time to get on the computer other than the mornings.

Speaking of mornings here, I appear to be the only morning person (which I don't necessarily consider myself) at the hostel. I have climbed out of bed at about 8:30 each morning while my five other roommates all sleep (generally two or more of them didn't get home until five or six in the morning. That's just fine with me because then I can take all the time I need in the bathroom without tying it up.

Speaking of the bathroom, I found another one that has the shower head installed on the wall which is a bonus. The problem with that bathroom though is that I believe it might be haunted. Several times now I've been in that shower and heard a peculiar noise from the bathroom that only a person could make. Except I am most definitely the only one in there. Yesterday morning I even thought I caught movement of something big out of the corner of my eye. I'm going to continue to investigate for ghosts.

Yesterday was an absolute blast. Matt and I hit up the National Museum which had some incredibly fascinating exhibits. My particular favorite is a toss up between a woolly mammoth exhibit (complete with skulls, bones, and lifesize replica) and an exhibit documenting the tools and weapons excavated from the Czech region over the years (starting with stone and continuing through the copper, bronze, and iron ages).

After the museum we wandered into some little Greek restaurant and had a fantastic late lunch. We did a bit more exploring and then came back to the hostel for a wicked power nap. Dinner was at a local pub and then we went out with a group to the Beer Factory. It's a bar\restaurant\club with an awesome gimmick. Installed in the center of each table are four beer taps along with a digital display which gives you a readout of how much beer you have poured. Then projected onto a big screen are the beer-totals for each table which creates a competition environment. We didn't go to hard but still managed to leave (around 2am) with first place and a respectable lead.

Street food in Prague is abundant and cheap. After the Beer Factory I picked up a potato pancake stuffed with chicken and a hot dog for the Czech equivalent of about $1.50. The hot dog was a little funky (but not bad) but the potato pancake thing was incredible - definitely worth getting again.

Today we have a hike planned on the edge of town and will probably spend our last night in Prague tonight. Our next destination is still a bit up in the air.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. It's a pain the ass for me to get pictures off of Matt's camera so I will work on that on the train tomorrow.

2:16am Sir Toby's hostel

2008-11-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, today was incredible. Prague is a beautiful city which I would share with all of you if Matt wouldn't keep leaving his camera upstairs. Regardless, expect some sweet pictures before too long.

This morning we had a delicious buffet breakfast that would have been better if the egg and pancake centers weren't self serve. I didn't feel like waiting for the pan to heat up so I just ate cold cereal instead. I did have coffee and put raisins in my cereal in an effort to get the most from the cost of the buffet.

I shouldn't have done that though because that just set the stage for a day in which I needed to find a restaurant and nearly every second.

After breakfast we headed downtown and joined up with a free city walk. That was a bust though because the girl didn't speak much english and what she did speak was inaudible. Instead we headed off on our own. The city of Prague itself was beautiful and well worth the visit. It was much older than I was expecting and had plenty of sites to take in. We walked around checking out the various catherals and palaces before doing what Matt and I do best when traveling, taking in a great lunch with the locals. We ended up at some random place and ultimately paid 10 bucks for a couple beers, my plate of goulash and dumpings, and Matt's plate of roast pork and potatoes. We ordered off the "Traditional Czech" portion of the menu so we're assuming it was authentic. If it wasn't, who cares because it was incredible.

We did more wandering this afternoon and grabbed pizza for dinner. After that we met up with Matt's friends Megan and Chris that he met in Budapest for a concert. We saw the Cold War Kids who put on a helluva show. Afterwords Matt and I grabbed a beer while those two waited outside the band's bus in a stalker-like position. The managed to get signatures from everyone in the band while Matt and I discussed the finer points of punting when you are on 4th down and inside your opponent's 45 yard line. We got the better end of that deal in my opinion.

Eventually we ended up getting streetside hotdogs which were quite good. Matt dicked me over and got mine with mayonaisse depsite my requests though I still got it down (and not really noticing the difference.) Megan and Chris ate three dogs between the two of them in a most respectable fashion.

We're back at the hostel now and writing because we're not really tired. 4 of the 8 people in our room are missing so we're staking out the lobby to see how drunk they are when they eventually show up.

We're staying in Prague at least another day though we're not sure yet what the plan is tomorrow...

Sunday 8.:13am - Sir Toby's Hostel

2008-11-15T23:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it! I'm in Prague, successfully met up with Matt, and am feeling like a million bucks - which is more than I can say for roommates today.

Getting from Amsterdam to the Prague airport itself was quite easy and flying Sky Europe proved to be a great call. I originally had tickets in and out of Amsterdam but Matt changed the plan and wanted me to meet him in Prague. Air France was being incredibly dickish about changing my ticket so instead I just opted to buy a Sky Europe one-way ticket to Prague which only ran me 59 euros (would have been 49 if I knew ahead of time that I wasn't going to check a bag). The airline does nickel and dime you for everything (like a drink of water) but that doesn't matter on a 90 minute flight.

On getting into the Prague airport my instructions told me to take the Airport Express bus into the city. That would have been perfect except the Airport Express bus doesn't run at 11pm. I was faced with a tough call - take a cab or man up and resort to local transport. I figured it was too early on the trip to start wussing out so I hopped on the local 119 bus. I rode that to the metro and then took a couple metro trains which got me to what I figured was supposed to be 1/2 mile from our hostel. When I hit the surface streets on foot I was armed with a map and compass which I love using. The only problem was that I wasn't yet on my map and I wasn't sure where I was. But I had a general idea so I set out in a northeasterly course. 15 minutes later I still hadn't hit any streets I recognized on my map and started to get a little worried. It was almost midnight, very dark out, and there were barely any cars or people where I was. The only thing I had working for me was that it was really cold out. I don't think muggers like the cold - at least I wouldn't if I was going to jump someone.

After scaring an old lady, I found someone who pointed me in the general direction of where I needed to go. Long story short, I made essentially a giant circle around our hostel and walked perhaps 4 miles instead of the 1/2 that I needed. Although I wanted to, I never broke down and hailed one of the 3 or 4 cabs that drove past me. At 12:30 I found the hostel and went inside.

There was a line at the front desk which wasn't moving so I just trotted to the downstairs bar, back pack and all, and found Matt drinking a beer with a British guy named Ollie. Two beers later we were heading upstairs to our room which we share with 6 other people. I fell asleep right away and was woken up several times by drunk roommates coming home.

This morning I was the first one up and took a much, much needed shower. The shower here has the sprayer head on a hose and no handle on the wall to mount it. The bad part of that is that I had to do this weird juggling thing with the soap and shower head to get clean. The good prat is that the shower head on a hose makes it really easy to give your undercarraige a good rinsing.

Today's plan is hostel breakfast, a walking tour, and then a concert tonight with some Australians.

3:43pm - Cafe de Ster

2008-11-15T06:44:00.000-08:00

Since my only camera for the time being is on the laptop, expect all pictures to be of a similar variety for the time being...

Anyway, what the crap? That's what I just said to myself as I ordered another beer. I brought my recently emptied glass up to the bar and ordered another. The bartender then proceeded to dunk and wash my glass in a sink full of soapy water. I was then expecting a hearty rinse but the rinse never came. The soapy glass went right to the tap and was refilled. Strange. Is he just f'ing with an American or is soapy beer a generally accepted thing to drink?

Anyway, I'm drinking the beer and am relieved that while it tastes soapy it's not as soapy as I was expecting.

2:54pm - Cafe de Ster

2008-11-15T05:55:00.001-08:00

I love this bar. It's nothing fancy - just a run of the mill, wood paneled bar. I don't know what a stereotypical Dutch bar is but this must be it. In Seattle the Irish pubs feel corporate, not Irish. In London, the British pubs I went to felt the same way - though they were more subtle about it. But this joint is the real thing. The two bartenders are older fellows and seem to know about half the clientele here. When I ordered my beer, the older of the bartenders approached me with some skepticism. But when I chose to get the 'big beer' (as opposed to the various 'little beers') my order was immediately returned with a smile and I was encouraged to sit down and stay a while. Which is what I'm doing.

I'm able to get wireless here so all my blog posts are going online now. You'll notice that this is the first post that has a picture. That's because in my idiocy I forgot my camera at home. I put it in its charging cradle last night and forgot to take it out. My laptop can take pictures though but they're not good for much other than shots of me typing or drinking. Matt has a camera though so I only have to make it another 9 hours.

I decided to take the train into Amsterdam and spend the afternoon here. The tour I could have taken was 50 euros but a round-trip train ticket was only 6.8 which made my decision quite easy. The train was a breeze to ride and getting around Amsterdam (by foot) hasn't been a problem at all. I have a map and it seems that everyone here speaks English.

You'll all call B.S. on this but on my wanderings this afternoon I inadvertently stumbled upon the Red Light district. I swear I was just ambling around when all of a sudden I found myself looking in a building window at a half-naked woman waving for me to come inside. While tempting, I declined her offer. As George said once on Seinfeld, "Sex is like a parking space, if you just apply yourself you can find it for free."

I'm pissed at myself now for eating Burger King at the airport. I have seen all kinds of cool cafes and restaurants that would be fun to try out. I really was starving though.

Not sure what I'm going to do now - I have 3 more hours before I need to head back to the airport. I do see another beer in my future though...

12:25pm - Amsterdam Airport

2008-11-15T05:54:00.001-08:00

Ok, I've made it to Amsterdam. It's 12:26pm and my next flight isn't until 9:20. 9 hours to kill.... I'm flying a different airline to Prague and am not checked in for that yet. So I had to exit the terminal through customs - which was a dream by the way. I didn't check a bag and had nothing to declare so I just marched out. No customs officials, stamping of the passport, or anything like that. Blam - I'm in Holland.

I was dying of hunger and Burger King was as good as any of my airport options so I got some lunch. Now I'm contemplating what to do until my flight. Options are ride the train into Amsterdam and explore for a while, sit in the airport, or take a guided tour.

Internet access doesn't appear to be free so I'm going to work on a plan for the day before I write more.

10:42am - Flight 8244

2008-11-15T05:53:00.001-08:00

Dammit! I just opened my can of orange juice and it exploded sending juice onto both my and my laptop. I really some kind of blast shield to deploy when I'm opening things on these planes.

Saturday 10:36am - Flight 8244

2008-11-15T05:52:00.002-08:00

Now's as good a time as any to switch over to Paris time (which may or may not be the same as Amsterdam time). Charles De Gaulle Airport was a major pain in my nuts to transfer through. I've had international connections before and this one was by far the biggest headache. I had to pass through two separate security/immigration/emigration checkpoints for whatever reason which included a passport stamp and having my backpack thoroughly searched.

The security checkpoints used up all of my layover time so I had to run to catch my next flight leaving me no opportunity to grab some breakfast which I could use in a bad way.

10:22pm - Flight 049

2008-11-15T05:52:00.001-08:00

They just served us 'breakfast' which was a little lacking. Since I'm starving and have eaten all the snack food I brought except for a few hard candies, I thought I'd try the yogurt. Yogurt is generally nasty but desperate times call for desperate measures. My mistake. It turns out that yogurt which is sealed and then opened in a low pressure environment (like an airplane at 35000 feet) may explode. I think I've cleaned off the majority of the strawberry yogurt which landed on my shirt, arms, and face. I felt some land in my hair as well but I haven't tracked that down yet.

The worst part of this debacle is that I packed incredibly light for the trip since I'll be backpacking from hostel to hostel. That means that my clothes need to last multiple days each. Blasting strawberry yogurt all over myself on day one significantly reduces the life of one of my three t-shirts. Ugh.

7:05pm - Flight 049

2008-11-15T05:51:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of not complaining I didn't mention the nasty B.O. smell I've been catching uninvited whiffs of periodically on this flight. I just got back from the bathroom and on getting back to my row I think I found the source. It is either the old dude one row in front of me or the cute girl next to him. I'm going out on a limb here, and with apologies to any old dudes that don't smell, but I'm pinning this one squarely on the geezer.

George Clooney movie was boring so I switched in Harry Potter 4. I suspect I won't make it though that one either.

Friday 6:40pm - Flight 049

2008-11-15T05:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my lastest adventure. I'm currently on Air France flight 049 to Paris. After Paris I connect to Amsterdam and then onto Prague where I'll (hopefully) be meeting my buddy Matt.

I've already watched two movies and just fired up a 3rd so I thought this would be as good a time as any to start writing. It's only 6:40pm Seattle time yet 3/4 of the damn plane is asleep. How are these people tired? I have no clue.

Dinner on the flight was pretty good earlier. I had the prototypical airline saucy beef with potatoes and vegetables. It also came with a baguette, shrimpy cous-cous, rice pudding, and chocolate cake. I turned down the complimentary wine with dinner and the flight attendant couldn't believe it. She then tried pushing various beers and liquors on me which I also declined leaving her puzzled. Maybe 8 years ago I was on a flight from JFK to Heathrow and I drank a couple complimentary beers. They knocked me out which was good but then I woke up an hour later with a wicked hangover. So no alcohol for me on this flight.

4 more hours to go, I'm hungry, and I think I can feel deep vein thrombosis setting in. However, unlike my flight home from Laredo, there isn't anyone sitting next to me that requires a seatbelt extension. In fact there's no one sitting next to me so no complaints.

Back to Solaris, some weird George Clooney movie in space...