Happy New Year!

Well, I just arrived in Budapest for newyears (a day early to give myself a chance to rest up for the imminent partying =)  It's a bit late so I'll keep this short.  Let's see, Christmas in Ljubljana was nice and relaxing, Graz (the home town of Arnold -- it's not a tumor) was quaint, then I road with my new friends Carmen and Harry out to the mountains (hmm, I think they might have been the alps, but I guess just the baby alps or something) to stay a few nights at one of Harry's friends ski homes.  They cooked the best dinners (austrian goulasch and some onion steak roast) and after a rather crazy game of austrian spoons the first night we took it easy and played risk the second night.  Actually, Mathias taught me an austrian card game which is a bit like a variation (very varied that is) of Euker -- I won't bother explaining the rules now, but I think it was called schnapsen if anybody wants to google it...
Yesterday we went skiing -- so now I've skied (if you can call falling on your ass 10 times skiing).  I only went half way down once, but I got to know all the parts of the hill I hit very close up!  On some of the steep parts I made every attempt to slide down as far as I could head first after wiping out, just so I wouldn't have to attempt skiing it...  Ok, I'll admit I'm an awful skier -- a lot of you know that already, but this was not the best conditions for a novice. It hasn't snowed much this winter so the snow was all artificial and icy and the mountains are actual mountains unlike the hills we have in wisconsin... Someday I'll have to spend a few months in a nice hilly cold weather town and get my snow feet.
Anyway, as tempting as it was to stay in Austria with all the great people I met, something inside was nagging me to get back on the road and head on to Budapest before new years.  I'm here with some guys from Austin that I met in Beograd so I'm sure it'll be a good time. 
Boldog ey evet (happy new years)!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Vesel Božič from Ljubljana!  

Ok, I have to appologize to half of my slavic friends because I spent the last four days in Belgrade.  Close your eyes if you arent serbian when I say that I had a great time.  Never the less, it was also nice to leave.  I think I had a little too much smoke --  the hostel where I stayed, not to mention the train ride and everywhere else I went was just sooooo smoke filled.  Everybody seems to smoke there.  Even more than I remember in Germany from ten years ago... 

I was planning on going south towards greece for the holidays and then sailing up to turkey, but plans have changed -- well, if you can call that vague intent I had a plan.  Now Ill be taking the northern route through hungary and romania.  Good thing I didnt already tear those chapters out of my lonely planet... 

Anyway, I really cant write long now because Im writing from a hostel where Im not even staying...  Im spending xmas with a friend here in ljubljana and then Ill be moving on out toward budapest for New Years.

So merry xmas to all, and to all a good night.  Ho ho ho ho.  And happy new years too of course, but hopefully Ill check in again before then.

My first wifi connection in weeks...

Saturday December 16, 2006
As much as I love germany, I do hate how hard it is to find an open wifi connection there. Even in the hostel I stayed at in frankfurt they had some kind of encription turned on. They gave me the passcode, but for whatever reason I couldn't get it to work on my palm tx. Sometimes it would be nice to have a real computer, but mostly I'm happy with what I have in my pocket.
So I'm in Salzburg right now. I didn't plan on staying, it was more of a town I was passing through because it was on the border of germany and I wanted to use they last of my german rail pass to get out of the country. Today I'll be hopping on a train down to ljubljana (the town I still haven't learned to pronounce). Its only taken me a few more days than I thought it would to get there though. My first night in Salzburg I met a group of australians who had spent the last year in different towns of austria on a highschool exchange program. This was about two minutes after checking into the hostel, and with no other plans I happily excepted their invitation to go out. I think it's a bit funny, because in Frankfut Ursel was complaining about all the young annoying people she kept meeting in Costa Rica. She said she realized she was getting old. Well, I don't feel like I'm there yet, because somehow I still feel completely at ease with 18 year olds... In the words of whats his name from dazed and confused (ok, I know his name, but can't spell it...) "I love highschool girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age". Of course that quote would at this point be utterly lost on them...
Yesterday I woke up, had some breakfast at the hostel, and debated whether to stick around another day or not. I was connecting to check my email and about to toss a coin to answer that question when a girl in the hall asked about my palm pilot. She seemed a little dazed and confused and we exchanged the usual pleasantries -- where are you from, how long have you been going, etc... She was from virginia and said she'd been woofing (woof -- working on organic farm) for a while in italy and now she was making her way to barcelona via frankfurt. At that point all I knew was I wanted to hear more. "Mind if I hang out with you today?" She accepted and I didn't need to flip that coin anymore...
About half way through the day I finally figured out who she reminded me of -- she talked just like an old friend from highschool (vicki K for those of you who actually went to school with me). It was interesting because we both shared the same absolute lack of direction and just spent the day wandering around getting lost. We did see the castle and some marienette puppet museum which was pretty interesting, but then we wandered around the weinachtsmarkt, and finally came up with the quest of searching for some yarn (It just so happened that she had a crochet hook on her and wanted to learn to crochet, and I happened to know how to crochet and was happy to teach her). So I spent my friday evening giving basic crochet lessons.
I know though, I've been bad and haven't mentioned anything since Frankfurt, and even that was just a short, hey there, I'm still alive. I did start to write something once or twice while I was on various trains moving around germany, but somehow I just wasn't really in the mood and after a few minutes either my battery died or I got lazy and gave up. I felt like whatever I was writing was boring, and if I didn't want to write it, they I wouldn't want to read it... Then one day on my train ride to potsdam I had the most unexpected feeling. I was sitting in my seat, staring out the window, bored, thinking, hmm, I suppose I could write something... Nah, not really in the mood. I could read (I'm reading a german translation of hitchikers guide to the galaxy and the restaurant at the end of the universe right now) but no, I was feeling a little bit too lazy for that too. I could sleep... No, not really tired. In the end I think I got up and went to the dining car to get a cup of coffee -- like I said, I wasn't tired, I was just bored and coffee seemed like a nice lazy distraction at the time. When I got back to my seat and thought about how absolutely lazy and unmotivated I'd become, I suddenly had the sensation I swore I'd never have -- I wanted to work! I wouldn't say I missed work, but I felt like I needed to do somthing that would engage my head, force me to concentrate and think a little bit. Even if only for a few weeks. So yes, it happened, and it only took three months -- I got to the point where I wanted to work...
I'll even admit I started to get a semblance of a feeling of homesickness when I was alone in frankfurt. I talked about it with shukdee yesterday because she said she was getting a similarly hard to describe feeling recently too. When I told her what I had decided it was, she thought it was a plausible explanation. It's december. It really has little to do with homesickness, but it's a bit of a sense of loneliness, or maybe more emptiness. But the more I thought about it, I realized it's just my usual december feeling -- the weather gets colder, people start to stay in doors, the clubs are a little bit emptier. Last year I was at a bar and noticed there were way more guys than girls. A friend said that it's always that way in chicago winters -- the girls don't go out because they'd rather stay in and cuddle -- of course the girls who do go out are on a mission to find a guy to stay at home and cuddle with... My problem with december is that I've noticed the last few years I've tended to meet some girl, fall head over heals for her, and then spend the next six months trying to get over her. I was hoping that traveling and staying in warmer weather would break that cycle... But then I made the mistake of spending december in Germany! So the lonely feeling I was getting was just my usual winter instinctual urge to nest... Of course realizing that doesn't make it feel any less real =)
Yesterday I told somebody about Descartes's fetish for cross eyed women.
I know that seems like quite a nonsequitor, but if you could see inside my mind that comment made complete sense at the time =)
As for my last two weeks in germany, I had a great time. I'm glad I ended up stranded an extra week waiting on my visa for India. For those of you who want the short version, after arriving in milan I went straight up to stuttgart and checked into a hostel in my old hometown. The next day I sent out a few last minute emails looking for anybody to hang out with. My new found friend in halle texted me back that they had to help a friend move, but she'd surely be happy to have another person help out (the friends name was janine and I ended up crashing on her floor in berlin a week later). Halle was great. I helped Janine move out, went to party at a club which was apparently an unoccupied building which had been "occupied" and rennovated into a party house, went to a class, painted and even played some ultimate frisbee. Then I was off to Tuebingen to visit an old friend. Jasmin decided to take Friday off to hang out with me (and mostly because she felt like she could really use the break). We did a little shopping (I bought a new hat beacuse I'd left mine in halle -- of course I found it again two days ago in my backpack), watched some german dvds, bought some used furniture, installed a washer and baced cookies. Sunday I showed up late at my aunts in Nuernberg for lunch and spent the day listening to stories about her early years in chicago (that may sound boring, but at this point she's one of my few remaining connections to my family history -- or at least the most vocal one so I'm always fascinated by the stories). Monday I headed upp to Frankfurt to get my visa but arrived to late and stayed in a hostel until Tuesday morning when I discovered I'd have to wait a whole week rather than a day... Ursel had just arrived back from costa rica so I spent the day hanging out with her and then left Wednesday to visit Franzi in Potsdam. Thursday I went to two classes -- methods of foriegn language instruction and math for kids -- I learned the difference between aufteilen and verteilen. I'm not sure we would distinguish between the two in english...
Franzi got a call in the moring asking if she could babysit that night. I said if she didn't I would because it was good money so she did and that meant I needed to make other plans for the night. I texted my friends in Halle and they said they were busy, but suggested I try Janine in Berlin -- she was available and said I was welcome to crash on her floor. She had the coolest place! She's staying in an apartment in berlin with three roommates. One has a huge dog and another has two rats -- I got a few pictures of one crawling around on my shoulder -- they were so cutet =) Her room was more like a walk in closet -- I'd say about 5 feet wide and maybe 12 long, but high ceilings so her bed is up in a loft. That left enough room on the floor for me to stretch out. The amazing part is that she only pays 50 euros a month for rent! Awesome =) Friday I headed over to Hanover to visit my friends Mark and Ursel again. I'd have to say the highlight was going to a sauna with Mark on Sunday -- I really needed a good cleaning and walked out of there squeaky clean =)
Monday I went up north to visit a cousin I haven't seen in over 10 years. It was fun to catch up and Tuesday I noticed my camera had finally expired so she and Christof took me shopping for a new one. Then it was back to frankfurt to pick up my passport and now Salzburg which I've already mentioned... So that's basically my germany experience. I should get going now though because my laundry is probably dry and my train leaves in an hour.
tschuss

Coming full circle -- again...

Well, Im in Frankfurt again and writing this from a friends place.  I dont really want to spend a lot of time here so Ill be keeping it short.  Sorry that I havent written in a while, I actually started to write something on the train twice, but kind of gave up after a short while because I just wasnt feeling particularly inspired to write...  That and I was tired.  And I felt more like writing in german than english...

This is my third time in Frankfurt -- this is where I started, this is where I passed through after my circle around the baltic and before my circle around western europe, and this is where Ive ended up coming back to to pick up my visa for india.  Too bad I didnt take the time to get it in the States -- It turns out if you dont live here it takes a week rather than a day and costs twice as much...  So I wasnt planning on spending the next week in germany, but then again I wasnt planning anything.  Still, Germany seems to have had other plans for me so Ill be sticking around a bit.  I have to say Ive had a great time here so far.  Last week I helped somebody move (one of my favorite pasttimes as many of you know), painted, played ultimate frisbee, went to a class at the university (all of those were in halle), then installed a washing machine, watched a small menge of movies, baked biscotti and helped a friend buy and transport some chairs (those were all in Tuebingen).  Tomorrow Ill be headed back toward the east to visit another friend, but I havent figured out any plans after that. 

Ill do my best one of these days to work up the energy to actually write something I myself would find skatterbrained enough to enjoy reading, but for now I guess youll just have to settle with the quick comment that I am in fact still alive. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

To those of you who are wondering where I've been, it occurred to me that I probably never mentioned here that I was going "home" for the thanksgiving holiday.  So right now I'm sitting in St Louis at my brothers waiting around for thanksgiving dinner later on today.  Monday I flew back from italy to chicago and yesterday we drove down to St. Louis.  It's a short stay though -- I'll be getting back on a plane Saturday and then head up to Germany to visit some old friends and family before moving on down through the balkans. 

So for those of my friends in the states, I'm here!  Happy Thanksgiving! 

To the rest of the world, don't worry (or rather be very very worried) because I shall return very soon =)

ciao

The art of a good con

I should preface this entry with the comment that it was actually written a few weeks ago on the train from lisbon to faro -- that would put it back on the 26th of october.
--------------------------------
I'm somewhat ashamed (or I suppose maybe embarrassed is more the word) to admit that I allowed myself to be conned the other day. Yes, I realize that's an odd way of putting it -- allowing oneself to be conned rather than just saying I was conned, but then again I think that's kind of the way a good con really works -- all the while its taking place, one has the feel, a certain apprehension, that something is amiss, and yet for whatever reason, be it sloth, pride, greed (or any of the other seven deadly sins) one can't help but go along for the ride... In my case I'd say pride and sloth were the culprits. I was taking a break to sit down in a square near the water side just at the base of the main avenue in lisbon when a girl came along and asked something in portugese. I just kind of shook my head and said in spanish, "lo siento, no puedo hablar portugese".
"English? Do you speak english?"
"Yes," I answered apprehensively.
"I'm sorry, do you know what time it is?" she asked.
I took out my cell phone and said "I think it's 2:15 if my phone is still on spanish time"
Then she went into her sob story -- more or less -- I mean it wasn't that abrupt that she started asking for help, first she asked if I knew how far the airport was. Allegedly that damn air france had lost her luggage -- never take them. Did I have a guide book, or know where one could exchange money? I said I only had a few pages, but there seemed to be a number of places to exchange money up the main avenue -- I'd seen them that morning as I walked to my hostel (first mistake).
"Oh, which hostel are you staying in?"
"Uh, the hostel. I don't know if it has a name. Just up the street quite a ways"
"The one by picaus? That's where I'm staying"
"Yeah, that one."
"Ah, I thought you looked familiar"
It's funny how suggestible our minds are. I did remember seeing a girl as I checked in, and the girl did look more or less like her, so of course at the mere suggestion that she had seen me my brain just filled in the blank and let itself believe that was her. All plausible, but at the same time I was aware there was a distinct possibility she was playing me for a fool -- after all, everything she said had been more or less ambiguous and all the blanks had been filled in after I had hesitantly offered up enough information...
"You see, I've been to the western union office, I had some money wired there, but I don't have my card" uh, or the story went something like that because I wasn't really paying that much attention. Honestly I was more interested in eating my roll and cheese -- it was good! Mmm, multigrain and crisp... "I tried to exchange my Rens, but they won't take them, I have these coins...."
"Oh, you wont have much luck then, banks don't like to exhange coins no matter where you go. Not sure they'll take south african currency anywhere here though".
"I hate to be a bother, but do you think there's anyway you could help me out? I could give you my rens and then I'll find you in the hostel and I can give you back the euros for the rens."
This is of course where my pride came in... So hard to watch a damsel in distress (and no, she wasn't all that attractive so this wasn't motivated out of lust!) I figured ten euros would probably get her whereever she needed to go so I looked in my wallet -- damn, all I had was two twenties and a five. I really didn't want to give her twenty, but I decided to be a good sumaritan and trust her. "Here, take twenty. I'll be around the hostel tonight. If you want to, you'll find me and give it back." She started to offer me the rens, but I said, "no, don't worry, I trust you. They're no good to me."
She of course thanked me profusely and then said she was staying in room 424, what room was I in... I hadn't checked in yet, so I didn't have one. She asked for my name so she could write it down. I was again apprehensive of giving out that kind of information, but I wrote it down on her map.
Then she was off. I finished my roll and started to snack on some sunflower seeds and raisins. Within a minute or two she was back.
"I'm sorry, but maybe you can help me out here -- how much is 37 dollars? My seminar is 37 dollars but I have to pay in euros."
"One euro is 1.30 dollars so that's about 30 euros."
She started doing the math on her paper, 10 euros would be 13 dollars, 20 euros would be 26 dollars, 30 euros would be 39 dollars, so 37 dollars would be about 29 dollars. "I'm terribly sorry to keep bothering you, I know you're trying to eat, but do you think I could borrow a few more euros?"
Now I was annoyed. It was pretty obvious at this point that she'd conned me and now she was just milking me for all I was worth.
"I thought you have everything in your bag? Aren't you going to the airport before your seminar?"
"Yes, but I have to check in first, and the check in time is soon, so if ... Bla bla bla bla..."
"I'm sorry, I would, but if I give you another twenty, then I won't have any money myself and I'd really rather not walk around with nothing on me." (this was a complete and total lie -- I had more money in my money belt and of course there was that other 5 I'd mentioned...)
"Oh, if you'd like, I can meet you at rossio, say a little after 4? Do you think you can make it that long?"
Now this may sound ludicrous, but to tell you the truth, that last little bit annoys me the most. It's one thing to con me out of some money, but to suggest that we meet at some random place at some allotted time, knowing very well that I would of course show up and she wouldn't, and I would therefore spend a couple hours waiting around and wasting my time looking for her, now that's just plain inconsiderate! I said no way. But the fool that I am, knowing very well I would most likely never see that money again, I gave her the extra twenty -- pride got the better of me and I didn't want to be an @$$hole... I said no, I didn't want to meet her at rossio. If she was for real I knew she'd find me and get the money back to me. Then she walked off and appologized again for interruptinig my snack.
You know what I did next? I suppose I should have followed her, or even offered to go along with her, or asked for some identification or something. I didn't do any of that. As soon as she walked away, I got the hell out of there -- for two reasons -- first I didn't want her coming back and asking for more, but second, even if she was legitimate and was going to give me my money back, anybody in the square who might have been looking our way had just seen me hand out money twice to the same girl. Talk about a mark! So I packed up my snack and quickly walked away.
There was no room 424 in my hostel.
I'm reminded of the time when I went for a hair cut and asked for her to take an inch and a half off. She said, oh, do you want me to use the number 8 guard? No, I want it to be an inch and a half. Right now it's about three, please don't take it down shorter than an inch and a half of it'll stick up.
No, trust me, it'll look good.
No, I know my hair, it'll stick up. Please no clippers.
I should have walked out of the place at that point, but instead let her use the clipper figuring if she insisted that much she had no idea how to cut with scissors. Sometimes I just need to walk away when I know bad things are about to happen...

Fwd: An hour from madrid

I'm about an hour away from the madrid chamartin train station and I happen to know there's a wireless hotspot there (mainly the last one I was able to sync up from...) so I figured I'd try to get something put together before arriving.
I just spent the last night on a train from algeciras -- there was a little internet terminal there at the train station that charged a euro for 10 minutes -- I tried sending a short entry with 30 seconds left that said nothing more than "I'm alive -- heading toward madrid..." I know I hit send before my time ran out, but with gmail I'm never quite sure if it actually succeeded (sorry gmail, I'm quite greatful for the free pop access, so I hate to knock your service).
Anyway, you all know me, and I can't just tell you what I've been up to before I rant and rave about something. I've spent a few nights on trains, and last night has to have been the worst. I got a couchette from algeciras and this was one of the six person ones that I was expecting every other time and somehow never got up until now. There were only four of us in the compartment, but I was one of the ones on top, and one of the other guys was also on top. He was exactly the one guy I'd rather not have had to share a compartment with. Pute madre! (sorry, to all the spanish speaking world, but I've heard a lot of that from the girls I was hanging out with the last few days, and somehow if I sware in spanish I feel like it won't disturb my mom as much =) Anyway, this was your run of the mill hippy type guy with long hair not quite yet rolled into dreads, scrawny frame, a couple tatoos, relatively dirty, a bit on the smelly side, constantly coughing... And I got to sleep a few feet a way from him. Considering the couchette was about a foot shorter than me, there wasn't much I could do but fold my legs which tends to work best when your on your side. It was easier to face away from the wall, but that meant facing him, which, if he was facing me, meant smelling his breath... About two hours into the ride I roll over through the veil of darkness notice he's doing the exact same thing the german girls had to deal with from the guy in the riga hostel -- wanking off. Come on! I'm trying to sleep here! Have some common decency and use the bathroom! An hour or so later the ladder starts rattling constantly and I keep having to push it to one side to stop it. I see a flash of light and I think maybe its my neighbor trying to figure out how to stop the raddle -- apparently he has his own way to deal with it, because the flash of light is from a lighter and he isn't looking at the ladder -- he's warming up some hash to go have a smoke... Soon there after he disappears out into the hall and comes back smelling as you'd expect. At this point I decide I've had enought --- I put my flip flops on and spend the rest of the night in the cafeteria car. I mean really -- talk about rude, he could have at least offered to share ;-)
Ok, enough of my rants and raves. I know some of you really just want to know what the hell I've been up to. I decided to hell with everything else and if I was going to morocco I couldn't cop out and just do the ferry ride over, tap my hands on the ground, say finally, I've been to africa and then head back right away. Instead as I think I mentioned, I hopped on a night train to marakesh with a spanish/argentinian couple and checked into a hotel there. My second day there I ended up hanging out mostly with Carlos and Luciana and getting a little bit of practice with my spanish. I have to say I am quite a bit messed up with languages at this point -- always back and forth between spanish and french. The other day I spoke a few words of german with a waiter and half way through groaned because I broke into spanish!
Mostly we just wandered around the medina haggling with the shop keepers -- they were looking to buy some shoes, but I don't think they ever actually did while I was around. The only thing I bought all trip was a bit of saffron -- and I know I overpaid. A little over 5 bucks for 2.5 grams. It may have been cheaper than in the states, but I'm sure I could have done better if I'd shopped around and haggled for it. This was in Fes though and I guess I'm getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, the first day in marakesh I was trying to find the palace and decided the easiest way to find tourist stuff was to follow other tourists. As I didn't want the two australian girls to think I was stalking them, I introduced myself and found they also had no clue where they were going. We spent a while looking for the palace only to eventually figure out that all you couldl really do was walk by the big wall around it -- not particularly interesting. Afterwards we had dinner and tea, and I think it was during my conversation with them that I finally had a revelation as to why european music is so plastic and overproduced -- all the comments I've made in the past about the music here, they don't apply to the UK -- they have their own set of underground music. I was talking about my music preferences when it comes to listening to spanish or french music though, and I tend to like the more poppy crap, largely because its easier to understand the lyrics. Why it took me so long to put myself in the europeans shoes and realize they don't speak native english, so of course they'd prefer stuff that's easier to understand, and even more so, the familiarity of the same songs played over and over again year after year, because you already know the lyrics to them, well, duh, that kind of all explains it!
Yeah, yeah, I know, enough of the desultory remarks. I'm pulling into the station soon though so I'll have to wrap this up quickly. Lets see, left marakesh for a night in rabat, stayed at an overpriced hotel because I didn't have a map and couldn't find anything else. Didn't think much of rabat so I left the next day.
Met an australian couple on the train to fes and walked to the hostel with them. Split the cost of a guide with them the next morning to see the medina -- that's when I paid too much for the safron. One shop was selling skarves and clothes and after a good 10 minutes of me trying my best at french to explain why I wasn't going to buy anything, the shopkeeper gave up the hard sell and admitted he spoke fluent english because he'd lived in texas for 20 years! We had a good laugh after that. At lunch with the aussies, a moroccan at the table next to us asked where we were from. He said he thought I was american and flashed his illinois drivers license. Then went on to tell us how he married an american woman, and after a few questions from us quickly clarified that he had a wife here and his american wife was just a fake so he could get the citizenship. Apparently the going rate is 10k if anybody wants to make a quick buck =)
The next day I took a bus over to chefchaon with the aussie couple. Some guys at my hotel in marakesh had highly recommended it and given me a card for the hotel where they'd stayed. We weren't disappointed -- aside from some of the annoyances of the peddlers trying to sell you stuff or show your their shops, it was very tranquil up in the hills.
From there I headed out on a bus with plans to hop on a 36 hour ferry to france. On the bus though I sat behind three spanish girls who had just come over for a quick visit and were going to spend the night in asila before taking their ferry back to algeciras. From there they were driving to a town outside of cadiz and then to bilbao -- Ane offered for me to join them (depending on whether the luggage all fit) and that was too much of a spur of the moment adventure for me to pass up so I jumped at the opportunity. Unfortunately the luggage didn't fit, and it was raining so we didn't make it to asila -- instead we just split a room at a hotel in tanger and then they were nice enough to squeeze me in for a ride from the port to the trainstation. So that's a quick summary of morocco...
I'm pulling into madrid now and think my batteries about to die, so ciao!

im alive

in  allgeciras heading to barcelona...

just arrived in marakesh

I decided to see Cordoba after leaving Seville.  My impression: not all that worth seeing...  It seemed as though everything was closed for renovation and construction -- maybe under other circumstances...

At least it was good for a decent night sleep.  I got up fresh and took the 10:25 train down to algeciras, then hopped on the first ferry to tangiers.  By the time i got in it was already dark.  I asked a spanish couple Id seen on the ferry if they were walking to the medina and they said actually they were taking the night train to marakesh -- I was hoping to do that myself, but thought Id wait a day until I knew what the train times were.  They already knew, and the thougth of sharing a couchette cabin with two decent looking people was appealing so i asked if i could join them.  The couchettes were relatively comfortable and i got another decent night sleep -- now all i need it a good night of partying =)

So here I am in marakesh sitting in a room off the medina, the sounds of the snake charmers flutes going off in the background.  Im just waiting to see if they have a room for me at a hotel where I left my bag -- checkout is at 12 so Ill go back at 11.

Ciao

slowly making my way toward morocco

I'm in seville right now, just checked out of my fleabag pension -- it was dingy and overpriced which surprised me because I thought this would be past the high season.  There was a music festival in town though and people from all over the world seem to have come for that, so it might explain some of the trouble finding a place.  The first night I was here I hung out with an australian girl and her mom who were on the same bus into seville from Faro (south of portugal).  After some tapas for dinner, Ailsa's mother turned in for the night and we hit the bars.  There was an excellent vino dulce de naranja bar (sweet orange wine) where we had a few drinks.  Later we found a dance club and bumped into the guys who worked at the orange wine bar so after that every time we passed by it they'd call out and say hi.

On our way back from the night club, we were walking by the plaza del triumph and there were some people playing music so we stopped and sat down to listen for a bit.  Somebody came over and said hi and explained that they were actually one of the brazilian bands from the music festival -- nice, we got a free private concert! 

Last night we decided to go to the last night of the festival.  It was cool, but we were both falling asleep to turkish music near the end so we turned in semi early. 

The clocks are supposed to turn back for daylight savings time today, but I cant figure out if they have or havent yet.  My palm pilot is now an hour before my phone, but my phone is in sync with the computer clock here...

Ok, I should wrap this up and head out to catch my train.  Not sure exactly where Im stopping tonight.  Maybe ronda closer down to the straights, or maybe I'll make it all the way into tangiers.  I'm hesitant to show up in tangiers too late in the day though.

Hast Luego

Greetings from Madrid

I know I haven't said anything in quite a while now, but I've been pretty busy and then I had the usual technical difficulties and other lame excuses. I actually started to write something in San Sebastien, but then my battery died and I never got back to it.
As a quick summary though, I was in Bourdeux four nights with Joanna from Hospitality club, then three nights in San Sebastien -- quite the australian party town (two nights in a pension with two aussie girls I met on the train and one night in a hostel), then two nights in Gijon in further west down the northern coast of Spain. All were nice.
I took a train from gijon to madrid this morning and I'll be sleeping on a couchette tonight and getting into Lisbon in the morning. I haven't decided if I'll check into a hostel there, or make my way up to porto first...
I have to admit I'm a bit worn down today -- the last two nights I was able to sleep well for 8 hours, but before that I was kind of burning the midnight oil and I think it caught up to me. Don't worry though mom, I'll be fine =)
It'd been six months since I'd spoken or heard much spanish and I'd forgotten most of it, but the words came back pretty quickly as soon as I got here. I listened to some music on the train to San Sebastien and that seemed to jump start my brain. My first day here words and phrases just popped into my head. For the most part I remembered things as soon as I saw or heard them. It was a good feeling, but I haven't really spoken much since being here. I spoke mostly english with Irene in Gijon (and even some german). Every now and then we'd speak a bit of spanish, but I was lazy. I really should have pushed myself more because I've been struggling at the train booths. I think some of that just has to do with being worn down though... Oh well, a few days of portugese should really screw with my head before jutting back into spain and then out again to morroco... We'll have to see.
Adios mis amigos!

Friday night in a town of 4100

Wow, it must really suck to be a teenager or young adult in a small town. I was in pontorson the last two nights and as charming as it was, Friday night there was absolutely nothing going on. It looked like there was one bar with 3 people in it, the kebab stand was of course open and had another three people, but otherwise the most happening place seemed to be a room up on the second floor of a building nex to the church -- somebody's apartment of course. Both nights when I walked by it sounded like the sounds of a party eminating from the window -- mainly loud music. As I was walking back to the camp grounds where I stayed last night, I caught a glimpse of a guy with a mohawk all spiked up in the room. I guess all you can really do in a small town is have your friends over and party at home. In a town of that few, I'm sure everybody who saw me on the street new I was an out of towner. I kind of regret spending my friday night there, but when I woke up in the morning I didn't really feel like packing up, then spending the day seeing Mont St Michel without knowing when I'd make it back, or where I'd go. St Michel was pretty impressive, but didn't really take more than two hours to see -- plus the 20 minute bike ride up. I was tempted to thumb it -- I imagine that might have been an easy way to meet some people to spend the day there with. It was good to be on a bike again though -- even if it wasn't in the best shape and a bit small for my size.
I took a good number of pictures (for me that is) at Mont St Michel and I'll make sure to upload them and whatever else I took in Paris when I get a chance. Mont St Michel is basically a little mountain/island off the northern coast of france. One of it's big claims to fame is that it's located in the area where europe experiences the largest tides. Lonely planet said the difference between low and hi tide can at times reach 15 meters. Somehow I'm tempted to think that was a mistake on their part. In Rouen when I was looking at the tide charts, it looked more like they were citing numbers during the full moon of 115. I'm not sure what the units are -- I'm pretty sure they're more than centimeters, but at decimeters that would only be 11 and a half meters. However, maybe a little further along the coast they get even bigger and maybe when you get the perfect combination of moon, sun, and whatever that third thing is that affects the tide then it would reach 15 meters. Unfortunately, I was there during the half moon, so rather than seeing it during the grande mari, I saw it during the small one which was only a few meters difference between high and low tide.
So depending on the tides, St Michel is either a mountain or an island. There's an elevated road that you can take out even during high tide, but at low tide you can walk out along the sea floor. One of my pictures is of a boat marooned ashore which at high tide would be floating in water.
Aside from wandering around the streets, I did pay to go all the way up and take the abbey tour. When I walked into the first room, a service was taking place. I sat down and listened to a nun reading the gospel (or some other lesson) in french. Then the choir sang. The accoustics were impressive -- the harmony of vocal ensemble resonated off the massive stone walls and the whole place just filled with a beautiful sound. Later I noticed speakers all along the wall and I couldn't help but wonder if some of that "resonance" I heard was achieved with the assistance of loudspeakers, or if the speakers were only used for the man (or woman) on the pulpit. I found it amusing that they actually painted the speakers so that they'd blend into the stone wall better.
Other than that I didn't do too much in Pontorson. When I arrived I tried to check in at the hostel which my travel guide said was open year round. Not quite so... I couldn't tell if the closed sign meant permanently, or just until 6, so I walked nextdoor to the camp ground and asked at the reception. She called somewhere to ask and let me know that they were in fact closed for the season. I said I didn't have a tent, but asked if she had any cabins for rent. She said a small chalet was 25 euros a night, but since she didn't have any, she'd give me a larger one at the same rate. I imagine I could have found something a little cheaper in town, but this was only a little more than my bed in paris had been, so I was suffering from psychological tolerance of price inflation and the location was convenient, I took it. The "chalet" was really just a trailer, so for those of you who recall my fantasy of living in a trailer park, I finally got to experience a little slice of that heaven =)
The one down side to the cabin was that it wasn't heated (as far as I could figure out anyway) and the night did get pretty cold. This was the first opportunity I had to really put my sleeping bag to the test and I wasn't disappointed at all.
The trailer included two bedrooms, a kitchen, microwave, stove, coffee machine, sink, private shower, bathroom... Rather luxurious compared to some of the hostels -- in Paris I had to walk down two flights of stairs to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night... So I took advantage of the kitchen and spent the two days only dining in. Total grocery list:
1 cheap bottle of bordeaux
1 packet of smoked salmon
1 baguette (not impressed, it was cold when I bought it from the bakery)
1 circle of Fromage de Mont St Michel
1 can of ratatule
1 can of chick peas
1 can of spinach
1 can of ravioli
1 liter of milk

I also finally picked up a jar of nescafe to take with me so now I can easily have coffee any time. Last night as I was eating the can of spinach I felt a little bit like Popeye! I am what I am...
So although the room wasn't the cheapest, I ate well for cheap, and spending friday night in a small town definitely saved me some money...
In paris on the other hand I felt like I was hemoraging money. I didn't do aything particularly touristy -- I skipped the museums, the tower, the champs... Instead I guess you could say I did a bit of a literary tour of paris. The first day there I met two guys in my hostel room who were at the tail end of a three month tour of europe. One was a big Hemingway fan and wanted to see all the Heminway sites. As I'd just finished reading the Razor's Edge (thanks for the recommendation Sanya) which largely took place in Paris, I was myself interested in seeing some of the spots where the charaters spent their time. Montparnasse and Montmartre seemed to be the two big neighborhoods, and the first day I found Le Dome in Montparnasse where some of the characters were always bumping into each other. The second evening I had planned on going to la defense, but instead brought a bottle of wine, a warm baguette and some goat cheese back to the room and shared it with Mike and Codi. Then as it was getting late, I just went out with Mike to look for some of Hemingways old apartments.
The bars in Paris were ridiculously expensive, so we usually had a few drinks before going out and then mostly just walked around. The first night as we were walking back toward the hostel, a girl jumped out in the street and asked us if we wanted a free crepe. I'll admit, at first I was a bit apprehensive and thought she was just trying to run some scam. No thanks, that's all right. "Italian? Do you speak italian?" Mike tried a little. She explained that they had given it to her and she didn't want it. Then two of her friends came out of the bar and she said one of them spoke good english. At about that point it got to be clear she wasn't some gipsy trying to run a scam, she was just drunk and being friendly... We talked with them for a bit, and although nobody ever took the crepe (I have no idea what happened to it) we did decide to join them in the bar for a bit. I ended up talking to the girl who spoke good english, but mostly we spoke french -- very slow and basic french! I did my best to explain why I was there, where I'd been, how I'd spent five days in rouen trying to learn a little french. She asked how much french I'd studied and I said just the five days. I was flattered that she was impressed by how much I'd picked up in that short amount of time. Unfortunately I think I've forgotten a lot of it already...
Mike and Codi left before me but I continued to practice my french until the last minute when I had to run back to beat the 2am curfew back at the hostel. I hate curfews! When I got back everybody applauded my successful return and they let about ten of us sit around on the street by the entrance for an extra 20 minutes before making us come in.
The next night was Codi's Birthday and after searching for Hemingway's apartments, we went back to the hostel for a few drinks and then wandered around the town with three german girls and I'm really not sure how many bottles of wine. Somehow whenever we finished one, Codi or Mike seemed to have another in his pocket (actually, the phrase "up his sleeve" would be appropriate in this case as that was the night I snuck a few bottles into the hostel by hiding them up my sleeve...).
That night we just wandered around the streets, but the next morning we were all a bit tired after all the wine we'd drank, so wednesday we went to the gardens together but then split up. I wandered over to la defense -- I have a feeling I walked a good 10 miles that day! I think it took about two hours to get from the opera to la defense, and that was at a quick pace. By the time I got there I was pretty tired so I just sat around and enjoyed the view. I decided not to go up the grand arche, but the view from the steps was still nice. I got back to the hostel around 9 and we went out one last time -- although after the previous night I decided to stick mostly to water and orange juice.
So that was paris. Nothing special, but definitely fun. I could see where it would be a nice place to live for a few months and I could see going back again some other time for a longer stay -- in a cheap apartment with no curfew! One thing I'll say about France in general is that as much as I may have criticized it in the past for being isolationistic, it is actually refreshing to spend some time in a country that hasn't become to commercialized with western culture.
So now I'm on my way to bordeaux. I'll be stopping in Paris for an hour before connecting to another train for Bordeaux. Crap, I just realized my train arrives in Gare St Lazare rather than Montparnasse where my next train leaves from so I won't have as much time to grab some food and relax.... Oh well. At least the metro is always fast and reliable.
Au revoir

Leaving paris

I'm heading out of paris on a train in 20 minutes for pontourson to see Mont St Michel on the northern coast. I arrive there a little after 5 and I'm hoping I won't have any trouble getting a bed at the one hostel that's listed in my guide... I have a feeling it's a small town though so I don't know how much luck I'll have finding internet connections. I expect to head down the western coast toward the bordeaux area tomorrow or the day after. Paris was fun and I'll try to spend some of my time on the train ride to Pontourson elaborating and going back to earlier escapades, but for now I need to go find my train...

Leaving paris

I'm heading out of paris on a train in 20 minutes for pontourson to see Mont St Michel on the northern coast. I arrive there a little after 5 and I'm hoping I won't have any trouble getting a bed at the one hostel that's listed in my guide... I have a feeling it's a small town though so I don't know how much luck I'll have finding internet connections. I expect to head down the western coast toward the bordeaux area tomorrow or the day after. Paris was fun and I'll try to spend some of my time on the train ride to Pontourson elaborating and going back to earlier escapades, but for now I need to go find my train...

Appologies for my long absense!

Sorry about that. Wow, I knew this would happen -- not the absense, but the keyboard confusion. Remember how I was complaining about the german keyboard sooo long ago (um, in my last post...) well, the french keyboard is even more messed up. In germany they just swap the y and the z and a few of the punctuation keys. But in France they go nuts! The q, a, z and w are all jumbled up -- I think just rotated one key clockwise, so while I was staying with my friends parents I had to adjust and now I find myself continuously hitting the q when I need to type an a -- just did it again in qn...
That was part of my excuse for not writing anything -- the keyboard. I couldn't find a wireless connection, so anything I wrote on my pda would have to wait until my next stop, and then I just didnt want to type anything long and involved on the french keyboard. I did end up sending out some emails though which is where my fingers got semi used to the new keyboard.
yes, I'm sure this is exactly what people really want to read about, my adventures with foreign keyboards. And I know some of you (I'm talking to you dan) will likely post a comment saying why didn't I just change the keyboard input -- I did try, but wasn't able to get it to work, and as it wasn't my computer I didn't want to break anything...
Instead I'm sure you'd all much rather hear what I did when I wasn't on the computer. Rouen was great. Thats where I was -- a friend invited me to stay with his parents for a few nights and somehow two nights turned into five. They had plans on Friday so I figured I'd probably just head back to paris for the weekend and figure out where to go next from there. Somehow their plans changed though and they invited me to go out to the countryside to a farm with them where they needed to pick up some food and to stay another night. Since its not so easy to see the countryside by train, I obviously accepted the invitation and when along. We went to two farms -- at the first farm we bought some Neufchatel cheese. Francois asked if the lady of the farm would mind showing me the celler where the cheese ages. She was more than happy to and as we decended the steps there was a hint of amonia in the air which got slightly stronger as we entered the room. All around there were little racks of cheese aging. I asked about the amonia smell and she said the cheese gave it off as it aged. Then we went back up and she showed us the laboratory where she cultures the milk (if you go over to my flickr account you can see some pictures, I'll try to edit them into the blog later). I asked a few questions about the temperature, and when she adds the renin and I guess she was surprised by my interest in cheese production. Apparently the cheese sits in the vat for 24 hours at about 26 degrees C. I thought it would be a higher temperature for a shorter period of time like when you make yogurt, so it was interesting for me to hear. I also thought she'd add the renin after the milk had cultured, but no, she added that right away. This whole conversation was a bit interesting considering I don't speak french and she didn't speak english -- Francois had to act as our translator the whole time and since renin isn't the kind of word you learn in basic english, I had to explain that it was an enzyme from the stomach of the calf to which the cheese lady (what does one call a woman who makes fromage -- fromageur?) went on to explain that cows have four stomachs which each have names -- the last of which is apparently named something like calais which produces the enzyme I was asking about. From what I gathered they just call it something like serum. Then she went on to show us where she squeezes the whey out (I again asked what they do with the whey -- feed it to the pigs -- at which point I mentioned in america they now process it and isolate the protiens and sell as a powder which people consume -- they thought that was somewhat funny) and scoops the kurds out into little cookie cutter shapes to make rectangular and heart shaped pads which then age in the first aging room next to the lab. I got a few pictures of this room, but none in the cellar where they move to later.
By the way, staying five days with Claude and Francois was probably the best opportunity I could have hoped for to learn some French. They were very helpful and patient with my obscure questions of grammar and Francois even took out one of her french grammar books to help me with my verb conjugations. Over the weekend I received intense french lessons from the esteemed professeur Elisa (their seven year old granddaughter) who when I asked plus lentement sil vous plait (slower please) would speak out each sylable slowly and clearly -- unfortunately that made it hard for me to distinguish the breaks between words -- l'animal became la--nee--mal with long pauses between sylables. In retrospect I think she probably said pa--se--que a few times and I had no idea what she was saying but now realize had she just said it a little faster I would have understood it to be because. Still, the patience with which she and her brother explained their childish questions like "do you like dog poop?" was very endearing. In this case I understood everything but poop and laughed when they explained that it was the stuff that your butt makes -- I remembered butt from earlier lessons... I can only hope that I'm not getting her and Hector in trouble with this little story...
After the cheese farm we went to another farm where we sat down and had coffee with the lady of the house. What we saw upon entering might gross some people out -- I thought about taking my camera out, but decided that might be a bit rude. On the table lay a number of skinned rabbits and plucked chickens (actually some kind of game hen) nicely cleaned and packed in clear plastic bags. I clearly remember noticing the contrast of the rabbits dark eyeballs agains the pink deskinned flesh. Sorry to all the vegetarians out there -- not to mention the easily grossed out =) I take no particular pleasure in the thought of killing animals, but at the same time, I feel that if I am going to eat meet I should at least be comfortable knowing where it comes from... When we went back home, I watched Francois cut off a few of the hens necks and tail glands before going up to use the computer.
All in all, it was a very nice day inspite of the fact that it was less than perfect weather. Even that had a bright side -- as we were driving back from the farms, the sun shown like art work through the sparse clouds. You couldn't see the actual sun, but rather its reflection off the top of some of the clouds coming back down through the lower clouds as they danced around like some beautiful little picture show.
Sorry, I had to laugh right now as I looked up and saw a man on the train with his finger so far up his nose he risked poking his brain.
The day before we went to the farms, Claude and Francois took me up to the normandy coast to see the seaside. I asked about the tides and later on Francois showed me the schedule -- I was suprised to see that Rouen all the way up the Seine river was actually effected! We drove up to one town along the coast, then drove further down the coast just short of the mouth of the Seine and then back to Rouen. Along the way we stopped at a nuclear energy production station. I've never really been that close to one in the US to compare it too, but somehow I was surprised by all the barbed wire fences surrounding the area -- and the general idea that it would be a place of interest for people to go see. We also went to see a church up on a cliff with some beutiful stained glass.
Beyond that I wandered around a bit in town, saw some cathedrals, a church on the site where joan of arc was martyred and the Musee de beaux arts. It was a very charming town with some interestingly preserved ruins (not ancient ruins, but buildings largely destroyed during the war).
Every meal was a delicious combination of fresh food mostly straigh from some farm or the market. At midday we generally had a salad of tomatoes, beets and cucumbers followed by a course of potatoes and some sort of meet -- hen, veal, hair or some kind of game animal, then the fromage with bread and wine -- mmm, fromage... Last but not least fruit or some sort of sweet for desert. Dinner was similar but usually started with soup rathe than salad, and for the meet course we generally finished whatever was left from lunch. The cheeses were great though -- camembert, chevre (goat), neufchatel, some kind of blue cheese, something similar to parmesian and another much like colby. They were all delicious!
It was a nice chance to recharge and fill up my tank =) I'm sure I replaced a few of the pounds I probably dropped running around with a backpack on my usual travelers diet, but I'm sure I'll shed them again as quickly as I packed them on...
I should get going now because my train will be arriving in paris soon and I still need to figure out where I'll be staying.
Au revoir

just another quick check in.

Its tuesdaz and Im in germanz.  Excuse the z and y mixups because I havent adjusted to the german kezboards zet and I actuallz had to paz to get on line here.  The lack of free hotspots in germanz is making me less regretfull that Ive spent so much time shunning it.  Todaz was a holiday.  Der Tag der deutche Einheit.  Day of unity.  Berlin seemed an appropriate place to spend it, but well, it was actuallz verz accidental, berlin just happened to be in between where I was and where I was going...
Last night I made the ill advised decision to go out on a pub crawl.  I shouldnt have been surprised that it turned out to be all american and australian tourists -- a bit annoying...  I ended up spending the later half of the night babysitting for some drunk australians.  Two of them got lost on the way to the last club and I had to go back and carry one of them (with her fighting me most of the way) about five blocks to the last bar.  At least it was good for some amusement...
Ok, Im heading out to frankfurt now to catch a night train over to Paris from whence I'll catch another train to Rouen in the north and stay two nights with a friends parents -- Everybody thank Victor for me and go visit him where ever he and Bradley may be DJing these days!
ciao

Riga Rox!

Ok, no more desultory remarks, here's what actually transpired in Riga...

 

Hmm, I really haven't been all that in touch with the calendar since getting here, but lets do the math.  Today's Sunday the first and I arrived in Riga a week and a half ago on a Wednesday, so that must have been (counting on my fingers...) Sept 20?  Something like that.  Anyway, I got off the bus from Tallinn and slowly got my bearings.  Actually I just started walking in the general direction toward where I thought the hostel was.  I had a couple Riga city guides that my friend had given me in Tallinn (much more involved that the few pages I'd cut out from the lonely planet Europe book) and after walking for five minutes or so I decided to pull out the map and see if I could figure out where I was.  Not too bad, I hadn't overshot the hostel by too much, but I had been going off a little bit in the wrong direction.  I just had to turn down a few streets and there I was.  How did I decide on this hostel?  The allure of a dorm bed for five Lats was just too much to resist! 

When I arrived, there was a young guy talking to the girl at the desk.  She asked if I wanted a bed in the 15 person room, one of the 8 person rooms, or one of the smaller rooms.  The smaller the room, the more it cost.  Each room had one bathroom, so basically you paid a little more to share the bathroom with less people.  As it turned out, the 15 person room was also on the top floor so if you don't like climbing lots of stairs, that might be another excuse to pony up some more cash.  The guy told me to take the cheap bed -- that's where he was staying.  He was a bit dodgy, but seemed like a nice enough guy, and everybody knows I was cheap and there was never a question in my mind anyway, so obviously that's the room I took.  I didn't have any money on me yet though, could I come back in a minute?  Great, where's the nearest bank machine?  Down the street, great, can I leave my bag here for a minute?  Perfect.  So off I was to fill my wallet up with as I've mentioned a little too much Lat for the two or three nights I planned on staying...  I came back, paid for my bed (there was also a 5L deposit for the key which was a bit annoying -- really, imagine leaving ten dollars as a deposit that you won't get back until right before you plan on leaving the country...) and got settled in to my room.  Then I went out to get my bearings and check out the market halls that my friend in Tallinn had told me about.  Apparently they were old Zepelin hangers from the war that have since been converted into this huge indoor/outdoor market place.  Inside there was lots of fish, meat and dairy products.  Outside they had fresh produce and everything else you might expect to find at a flea market -- shoes, purses, clothes, sunglasses...  Some booths were just a table and umbrella, others were more permanent structures that locked up at night.  I wandered around and finally picked up my standard bottle of water, and a liter of kefir for dinner.  The sun was going down so I headed back to the hostel to see if I could find anybody interested in going out. 

Back at the hostel, it was still too early for the night life, but I talked to the guy I'd met by the front desk and asked if he knew where I could get a shot of balsam -- something I'd been told I had to try while I was there and something which would "cure my cold".  He took me to a bar in the neighborhood and had the guy make me a glass of hot black currant juice mixed with balsam and a lemon wedge -- it was pretty good and did leave me feeling a bit better =)  We played some pool, and then headed back to the hostel.  By this point there were a few guys looking to head out to the bars.  I left the guy from earlier and headed out with them. 

I should add some context here.  Riga is apparently known for its nightlife, and cheap flights and relatively cheaper cost of living draw tourists from all over Europe.  As such you do end up with an environment that begrudgingly caters to rich tourists.  Although there's no actual "red light" district, at night, the entire old town area changes its flavor a bit and you're constantly besieged at every corner by russians handing out flyers for yet another "exotic dance" club.  "Come, follow me, I take you now, I give you special entry, 5 lat and two free drinks..."  The irish guys I with said to steer clear of these places as they were all mobbed up and as soon as you went in some girl would expect you to buy her a 600 Lat bottle of champagne and if you didn't some thug would drag you back to your hostel and extort you for all you were worth.  Personally I can't attest to any such stories myself so I don't know how much of this is exageration and how much is reality.  At the first bar we went to, I met a group of 15 or so vacationers from england who'd all flown down to party for a few days with their old friends from college.  One of the girls in the group told me to watch out because her friend had been assaulted the night before just sitting outside the bar we were in.  A couple of guys had just come up to him and started wailing on him until he handed over his wallet.  She added somewhat tongue in cheek that at least they weren't all bad -- when he called after them "hey guys, can I at least have my passport back?" the were nice enough to take it out and throw it back to him.  Again, this is all hearsay, but I heeded the warnings...

I eventually left with the Irish guys from my hostel and we headed over to another bar/club.  Oh, actually, I just remembered, I was pretty hungry at this point, so before I even really joined them at the first bar, I ran off looking for anything to eat.  While waiting at an outdoor beer garden type place and considering a bowl of soup, I bumped into Adam -- an american guy who I probably haven't mentioned yet since I'm recounting all of this somewhat in reverse...  I briefly met Adam at my hostel back in Helsinki.  He and two of his friends from Virginia were taking 8 months to travel around the world.  We exchanged email addresses and since Helsinki we've bumped into each other a good four or five times.  This was one of the last times and once again it was only for a minute.  When I told him I was looking for anything to eat, he suggested the McDonalds right down the street -- I said thanks and hurried off in that direction.  Anyway, as I was saying, we left the first bar and headed over to "Pulkvedim" -- or something like that.  I never could get the name of the bar down, but it was my favorite one there and at the hostel everybody just referred to it as the "left-right-left" bar, because well, that's how you got there.  As you headed out the hostel you just went left, then took the first right, then again the first left.  Unfortunately I wasn't going there from the hostel, I had no map on me, and I had no idea where I was, so I was kind of at the mercy of the irish guys to get me back home again.  Don't get me wrong, they were nice guys, but at the same time, after meeting them and seeing a lot of the other tourists, I can understand why I spent a lot of my stay defending myself from accusations that I was just another "sex tourist".  I kind of thought it would be funny to have a shirt made up that said "I am not a sex tourist!"  These guys were going up to every girl and trying to talk her up.  Of course every time they had any luck, five minutes later you'd hear the tall one yell "scatter".  Apparently that was code which meant he'd finally figured out they were talking to "working girls" and it was time to move on before some thug showed up.  Thus went the walk to this second bar.  As usual, when we arrived, one of the guys started talking to two girls having a smoke outside.  They were aloof, but he was persistent.  Personally, and I was a bit irritated myself and just wanted to go inside.  Somehow it came out in their conversation that she had spent some time in Germany, so I switched over to german and although she said she could only remember a little, she instantly warmed up a bit more to me.  I know, it's a cheap trick, but it seems to work.  Suddenly I'm not just another english speaking sex tourist, I'm an english speaking sex tourist who speaks another language =) 

When we finally made our way into the club, I headed for the dance floor and for the last time bumped into my fellow americans from Virginia.  Finally, some guys who understood the value of a little subtlety!  I spent most of the rest of the night just having a good time on the dance floor. It was fun to watch the dynamics between the locals and the tourists and very easy to tell who was who.  Actually, I hadn't known this before, but somebody mentioned that for some reason there are a lot more women than men in Latvia.  I don't know how true this is, or what the real statistics are, but it did appear to be the case.  Latvian guys, much like the guys in Helsinki, also seemed rather reluctant to dance.  As such, it was a good bet that any given guy on the dance floor was probably a tourist...

When I went over to the bar to order a drink, I had the good fortune of bumping into Linda again -- the girl from out front.  I said hi and as I went to order a drink, she gave me some advice, "when you order a drink, always ask before hand what the price is.  In Riga there are always three prices, the one for friends of the bartender, the one for locals, and the one for tourists..."  Then she tore a red slip of paper off the wall which had a price list and gave it to me telling me not to let me charge more than what was posted on the list.  I thanked her and ordered my drink. 

Later I saw her again on the dance floor dancing with a guy.  I was impressed because he could really dance!  He seemed somewhat possesive and I asked her if he was her in German if he was her boyfriend to which she responded yes.  We stayed on the dance floor for a long time, and when they left to get some fresh air I followed to thank her for being nice and to try introducing myself to the guy.  Outside I introduced myself and he gave me a pretty dirty look.  I think one of his friends had just been in a fight with a tourist and had some blood on his fist.  I couldn't help wondering if it was one of the guys from my hostel!  I was getting nothing.  I went back in and it seemed like my group was getting ready to go.  I went back out and gave it one more try -- they were sitting down on the curb across the street so I sat down next to him and told him I just wanted to say he had a really nice girlfriend and I wanted to thank her for being so helpful to me.  Somehow this time he loosened up a little bit and we all started to have a nice conversation.  It was great!  This was exactly what I was looking for -- an opportunity to meet some locals.  We finally went back in, ordered a round of drinks and sat down at a table and talked for a good hour or so.  His name was Kris -- he had been pretty big in the skateboarding circuit, but it had been a while since he'd really practiced or competed and he had a competition coming up that weekend.  After talking a while, it came out he wasn't actually Linda's boyfriend -- she had only just met him one time before herself!  Anyway, it was fun.  I asked what they were doing the next night, but they were busy working, so we exchanged emails, but never did see each other again.  Either way, it was nice to have a chance to talk to people who lived there and get their perspective rather than just hanging out with other tourists. 

Robert is here with his son now and we're going to go for a bike ride, so I'll continue this more later.

Ciao...

I want my two dollars!

Sorry, yet another quick digression -- this one on the topic of foreign currencies.

While the EU is great and the common currency of the Euro has made traveling between the countries of western Europe terribly convenient, it also has taken away a bit from the challenge and adventure of having to figure out just how much money you'll need to get by for a few days in one country.  For anybody who misses that adventure, just head a little east to the baltic -- the only country here that uses the Euro so far is Finland.

One important tip I can give though -- before taking money out at the ATM, look up the exchange rate!  I made that mistake in Latvia.  I was only planning on staying a few days so I took out a hundred Lat (thinking a Lat was about the same as a Euro).  As I strolled around I was amazed by how cheap everything in Latvia was!  You could get a pint of raspberries at the market for only one Lat, or you could pick up a liter of milk for less than half a Lat!  This was great.  That's what I thought until I finally realized the Lat was actually closer to two dollars US than one.  It's a good thing I hadn't bought anything yet! 

There's one other thing to be aware of in Latvia though.  Every now and then in the US, you'll reach into your pocket for some change and notice that one of your penny's looks a little funny -- oops, it's a canadian one.  Nobody really pays all that much attention and if you accidentally slip it into your change as you pay at the super market, there's a good chance they won't notice either -- that's probably how you got it in the first place -- in your change at the super market.  Well, that's not so bad, somebody ripped you off less than the value of a penny.  Now imagine though that your penny was worth two dollars.  And imagine that Canada had a coin that was worth about four tenths of a cent which was about the same size and the same color.  And imagine you tried to pay for something at the store with that worthless canadian less than a penny and the woman behind the counter looked at you like you were crazy.  That's what happened to me.  I can only imagine some bartender at one of the bars I went to (knowingly or unknowingly) snuck a lithuanian penny into my change, and I the uninitiated tourist accepted it without question as correct change.

If only I could figure out who that bartender was, I'd stalk him on the ski slopes with my bike saying, "Two dollars.  I want my two dollars."

Lounging around

Well, I'm stil in Krakow.  Last night was a bit funny.  I was hanging out with Robert trying to figure out what I should do between now and Wednesday when I have plans to be in France.  I was teeter tottering between Prague and Amsterdam and finally fell back on my usual method of decision -- the coin toss.  This coin had less weight than usual though -- I mean really, it was only a lithuanian one cent piece made out of aluminum (by the way, you'll hear more about that in a bit) and after deciding on Prague and then looking into my options, Robert was a bit stunned when I was ready to hop on a train that was supposed to leave three hours later.  Spontaneous?  Impulsive?  I'm not sure what the word for that is.  We continued to sit around on his porch and shoot the $#!+ for a bit and then I finally said I probably should get up and pack my things and be off.  A minute or two later I came back though and said never mind.  I decided I was a bit tired and could do with a full night sleep rather than a night on a train.  So Prague and Amsterdam will have to wait -- even if I don't make it this trip, they'll still be there for future trips.  Since I'm still here though, it would be good of me to go back and actually fill you in a bit on some of my trip thus far.  I'll go backwards and start with the best and most recent parts. 

 

Before that though, I'll make a quick commentary on the trip so far in general.  If I had to pick a favorite place I'd probably say Helsinki.  Riga would come in at a close second.  On the other hand if I had to say where I had the best experiences, I'd probably have to reverse those too -- Riga was kind of the perfect example of what I'd love this trip to be like -- with Helsinki once again not too far behind.  Of course that kind of points out that circumstances may sway my view of the places I've visted.  After all, my memories of Vilnius will always be colored by the fact that I had a stomach bug and sat around sick at the hostel for two days.  When I ventured out to try some Cepelinas, my appetite hadn't quite come back, and I spent the rest of the night waiting to see how my bowels would respond to this new attack...  So I wouldn't say my favorite places were the best for everybody, but I still think that I had good reasons for them to be right for me.

 

One thing that I haven't been able to help doing since coming here was compare the various places I've been to neighborhoods in Chicago.  Skandinavia actually struck me as most odd simply because in many ways it felt as thought I hadn't even left home -- it was kind of a cheap copy of the west.  You know how there seems to be a walgreens springing up on every corner back in the states?  Well imagine that, but with seven elevens!  Really, the whole time I couldn't help thinking, oh heavens, not another seven eleven...  Copenhagen and Stockholm both.  Outdoors sporting is pretty big there two so you find nature company and north face shops all over the place.  My clothes didn't seem at all out of the ordinary there since they really sell a lot of the same products.  Also, the people were all clean cut, nordic, blonde, beautiful, etc...  Then I got on the ferry and headed west to Helsinki.  This is where the comparison to Chicago first hit me -- Skandinavia had been a lot like lakeview or lincoln park.  Outdoorsie, sporty, clean cut, yuppy types.  Helsinki on the other hand was much more like Wicker Park or Logan Square -- punk rockers, dread locks, pink hair, studded belts, torn jeans, chains on their wallets...  I couldn't help but feel like I'd come home again =)  It was as if after spending a night out drinking at the lake view bars I'd hopped on the fullerton bus and made my way back to the safety, familiarity and comfort of the blue line!  As I continued on down the baltic, I furthered the comparison -- it was a little like heading up milwaukee.  Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and finally Poland -- I'm not saying I understand any Polish, but seeing all the polish signs in Krakow, the only difference between here and some of the neighborhoods in chicago is that you don't see everything repeated in Spanish =)

 

So that's it for my chicago/baltic analogy.  Each just seems to me to be a stretched out version of the other rotated by 180 degrees...

 

But I digress.  On to Riga!

A quick shout out to the old PCS SWAT team!!!

Scripted, Compuset, Doc1, kitmanagement, bla bla bla bla...  That doesn't make sense to most of you, but it's secret code a few select people I used to work with and to those of you who know what I'm talking about, Robert says hi =)  I was able to track him down in Poland with the help of a private detective and I'm staying at his place while I'm here, so Rick, Mitch, Matt, Francis, Susie, Dorothy, Gary and everybody else from the old team, Robert and I will be saying a toast to you in an hour or so.  The toast may go something like "God bless those hewittites, and thank god we're no longer with them..." but it will be meant in the best or spirits (and then we'll tip those spirits back). 

Late night musings...

In retrospect I'm amazed at how lucky I've been up to this point. When you're sharing a room with seven to fifteen other people, how long can you expect to go without running into a snorer.  I don't mind people talking in the background or the expected rustling of fellow travelers (some more considerate of others) bumbling into bed after me or getting up before me and packing to check out, but that constant drone of loud snoring is too much for me.  I didn't think anybody could snore louder than my dad (uh, sorry dad) and my first roommate in college definitely seemed to try, but this guy is by far the loudest I've ever shared a room with! 

That brings us to the topic of hostels in general though.  My mom said the other day I should describe them a bit more for my cousin, who I think after hearing me compare them to college dorms is seriously reconsidering her academic future. Some of the hostels I've stayed in have been better than others.  My guide described the one I'm currently staying in as quite the party hostel and "not for the faint of heart".  Then again the very same guide also mixed up "men" and "women" in the estonian language section under bathroom -- forturnately my friend pointed out the error before any embarrassing situations ensued!  Personally I'd describe this hostel as relatively tame, quiet and clean.  Obviously the guests make all the difference, and it's only Tuesday night, so maybe it's much more of a happening place on the weekend, but at the moment that's not the case.  The kitchen gets a bit stuffy if you don't turn the vent on, but then the vent actually works which says something.  The showers have decent drainage.  Really, that last part is one of the most important things in my opinion.  And I think that may be one of the things in my description that scared my cousin the most -- I think I threw in stories of girls in the dorms habitually wiping the hair that got stuck in their hands on the shower wall.  I bought flip flops in stockholm because I really don't want to catch athletes foot. Given the number of showers I'll be sharing with any number of insurmountable travelers, I really don't want to end up with fungal growth on my feet.  It's a small price to pay.  So yes, I can understand where this aspect of budget travel would deter the faint of heart, but I do feel the need to point out -- without offending those to whose dwellings I'm about to allude -- that in many ways the hostels are often better accomodations than staying with a friend would be.  A lot of us (particularly in the USA) have led sheltered lives.  We grew up in new construction homes with showers that actually have curtains (or sometimes even doors) and a house with a central hot water tank.  You turn on the hot water and out comes hot water -- granted, sometimes you have to wait a bit before the pipes between you and the hot water tank heat up.  It's a lot easier to lay two pipes in brand new wood construction though.  Imagine a home or building with masonry walls that was built 80 or more years ago.  You get one water pipe -- one cold water pipe.  Then you put in a space heater real close to the shower or sink where you want hot water.  If nobody turns the water heater on, you have to wait before you get hot water.  Or, in some cases if it's automatic, there's little tricks -- like you have to turn the water on all the way before the heater registers it should heat the water.  Of course sometimes that means the waters splashing out of the sink...  Back the the showers though.  In older construction, bath tubs are more common.  Imagine showering in a bath tub with no curtain and a hand nosel. It's nothing to complain about, but if you're used to a shower that you can stand in, it's a bit of a challenge not to make a mess!  So in that respect, the showers at the hostels can seem luxurious.

Ok, I'm going to head back to bed now.  With any luck the snoring will have ceased for a bit. Besides, the constant coughing from the guy behind me is almost as bad =)

Quick chekin in...

Sorry, I know, I've been delinquent and haven't posted anything in almost a week. I did upload some pictures from Riga to my flickr account which you can find if you click on one of the pictures below and then click on "dscheffy's photostream". I'm in Vilanius now and figured it would probably make sense at the very least to update the blog with my whereabouts in case anybody wants to find me (or track me down if I go missing =)

So today I checked in at the HI hostel in Vilanius. I think it's called the "Old town hostel". After arriving I spent most of the day sleeping. Riga was great. I spent more time there than I planned, but that was a good thing.

I'll update more later...

A short break from the hustle and bustle of nomadic life...

Well, it's already after 2 in the afternoon, and I haven't even left the apartment. At some poinit I'll need to run over to the bus depot at the very arrange my ride to Riga tomorrow (um, I'm in Tallinn right now by the way). I'll probably also pop in at Stockmann a block away to take advantage of their wifi connection. Actually, one of the neighbors in this building seems to have one, but for whatever reason I can't send emails out through it, I can only receive -- it's very remniscent of my experience in Sweden...
So what have I done today? Mostly veged out. I actually planned on doing this yesterday and then seeing the town today, but, well, things don't always work out the way you want them to... I slept in until around noon -- a luxury which I was greatful for -- and then decided to make a pot of coffee when I remembered there was no milk in the fridge. I decided to make a quick run over to Stockmann (a large department store with a grocery section on the first floor). It's only a block away from my friend's apartment, so I didn't bother to shower or change. I just hopped into my jeans and off I went -- well, for some odd reason I did decide (almost presciently) to throw the few city walking tour guide books Rene had left out for me into my pocket. You see, Rene had explained the night before that there was a slight issue with the key situation. His door has two locks -- one which works, and one which kind of works. Unfortunately the one that works well only has one key that also works well. The only lock with two good keys was the lock that doesn't work well... So we risked it and decided to use the questionable lock -- I wasn't even sure I'd be able to get out alright! Getting out turned out not to be an issue, but when I came back with my liter of piim (milk) and bottle of water, I put the key in the lock, turned it without any trouble, but still couldn't open the door. Had I forgotten to lock it in the first place? I tried to turn it back to it's original position, but now it was stuck! After a good ten minutes of jiggling, twisting, pushing, pulling, and anything else just short of kicking I finally turned it back to its original position, but that didn't help either. It was indeed still locked. I gave it another 10 minutes or so of frustration and finally gave up with the lock in such a state that the key wouldn't turn more than a few degrees in either direction. I later heard when Rene came back, it took him a good 15 minutes and some blistered fingers to finally work it open. After that ordeal, we decided to stick with the good lock today -- that means I'm here with the key and just need to make sure I come back before Rene does tonight.
So here I sit, already 2:30, soothing my throat with a nice warm bowl of seljanka -- apparently one of the few russian things the Estonians had the composure not to attempt ridding themselves of -- and watching my clothes hang dry right beside me. Yes mom, I took advantage of Rene's washing machine. There's no dryer though, and even though I'm sure my jeans would probably be dry by tomorrow morning, I decided to help them (and my oxford shirt) to dry a little faster by applying a heavy dose of hot iron. It may sound odd, but after two weeks of running around, it's great to just sit back and pretend like I'm not leading a nomadic lifestyle. I'm greatful for the opportunity to sit around in the privacy of an empty apartment and do nothing for a day. Like I said, I was hoping to do just that yesterday, but sometimes you just have to see the sites in day (or two) old dirty clothes and a slightly stale body that wants for a nice hot shower.
Tallinn is a cute little town, and under other circumstances I would be out and about wandering around aimlessly as usual, but I'm once again feeling a bit under the weather. I think I caught another cold in Helsinki and this one's hit my sinuses harder than the last one. Since getting to Tallinn my nose has been stuffy, runny, I've had a cough, and my heads a bit cloudy in general. Actually, part of me wonders if slowing down is exactly what brought all the symptoms on. Adrenaline is a great antihistamine and it's possible all the running around is the only thing that kept me from being more stuffed up earlier on.
One of the best things about sitting around here is the chance it gives me to listen to the local music. Rene left the radio on when he left this morning (lucky for me because if he hadn't, I probably wouldn't have thought to turn it on myself). So while jotting down whatever crosses my mind, sipping down my seljanka (oh yeah, I forgot to explain what that is -- it's a bit hard to explain, but for those of you who know what rouladen is, imagine a soup with the intense flavor of rouladen only maybe a litte bit sweeter. For the rest of you, there's no way I can explain the exquisite flavor, but picture a russian bachelor who wants to make soup for guests, but opens his fridge to discover all he has is an assortment of salami and other sandwich wursts, a jar of pickles, a jar of olives, an onion, a lone bell pepper -- I know, what bachelor would have that in his fridge... And maybe a hunk of some other bargain basement meat of questionable origin. Cut all those condiments up, throw them in a pot with some water and a healthy dose of paprika, and I imagine that's how you make seljanka! No, it doesn't sound particularly appetizing, but then again I'm sure I'm leaving something out of the preparation because trust me, it tastes great!) Man, that was a long parenthetical -- so long I'm sure not only I, but you too have forgotten where I was and feel the need to backtrack. Don't worry, I'll just cut the train of thought whereever it was and move on with another one =) Anyway, oh yeah, the music =) It's fun to take some time and listen to the local music, because well, it's not really as local as you might think. I mean, I'm not listening to traditional Estonian village music (if that happens to exist) but rather just whatever the popular top 40 mainstream type radio station happens to play. Radio uno -- or that's what they just said in the call signal. It's mostly english music, but with a distinctly european twist. If you haven't spent much time here, that can be hard to explain. Ok, here's an example. Most people have probably heard the comment that "Germans love David Hasselhoff". While that may be a bit of an exageration or overgeneralization, there is a bit of truth to it. How many americans have ever even heard a song by David Hasselhoff -- yes, he sings, and as I alluded to, even has a successful career in singing thanks to the European market. Chess pointed out another example in Helsinki. Saturday we went to a football game -- and yes, I mean an american football game, not soccer! Um, here's a quick aside, I think a good highschool team could have beaten either of these teams... But then again, I don't know much about football... Anyway, at half time the cheerleaders did there little cheers and a song came on that I vaguely recognized, but couldn't place. It was Man-eater by Nelly Furtado. In the US here ubiquitously unmistakebly recognizable first release would be promiscuous girl, but here she (or I should probably say her marketers) decided to release man eater instead. I can see why too -- it just fits better to the european market. There's a certain plastic overproducedness to the music that makes it here. It's almost cheesy by american standards, but it's also kind of feel good comfort music if you can get past the cheesyness. There's something else about the music here -- they never stop playing certain songs. Where else (aside from some strangely mixed up specialty oldies station) would you still here Phil Collins and Michael Jackson on a regular basis. I just heard a song by Marillion -- a CD which I actually have, but a band which very few of my friends have ever heard of. Thinking back it makes sense that I first heard the band in the room of a german exchange student who spent a year at my highschool. I've actually heard a lot of Juanes which shouldn't surprise me too much, but I was a bit surprised to hear Monchy y Alesandra's Obsession this morning on the radio. So I imagine none of this really has any significance to most of you, but having lived here (well in Germany anyway) for half a year, it's always oddly comforting to hear the music that I've been missing for the last ten years. It's just part of being "home" again. So for those of you who asked if I wasn't going to miss my home while I'm off traveling the world, yeah, sure. Of course I'll miss my friends and certain conveniences, and my favorite places, but like I've said before, when I'm at home, I miss all my other homes. Ha ha, sorry, had to laugh, they're playing Juanes again -- tenga la camisa negra. They seem to be overplaying this and a dios le pido everywhere.
Ok, I know I haven't said much, but I'm going to leave it at that for now before too much of the day slips away from me. I do after all need to run out and check on fairs and bus schedules for Riga tomorrow. As always though, I swear I'll go back and catch up on just what it was I spent my days doing in denmark, sweden and finnland =)
Until then, happy trails!

What are you sinking?

That's what all the germans were asking when I visited Rodin's thinker today at the Atenium in Helsinki.

I know, I know, I still owe everybody a better update on what I've been up to and some more pictures, but, well, I've been kind of busy having fun =) My mom will be proud though. Yesterday I did go to church. I didn't realize that's what it was when I walked in the door, but I figured it out quickly enough. Later I found out it was even the Lutheran church -- which explained a lot, because although it was somewhat ornate on the outside, the interior was rather simplistic. Tonight I'm going out with some guys I met last night. Locals actually. A few weeks before I left, I met a couple germans in chicago at a bar and went out with them two nights later. That next time I met up with them again, one of the new guys I met said he had a friend in Finnland that I should look up. I'm greatful that he sent me his friends contact information just before I made it here, because it's always nice to see a town from the locals' point of view. Oddly enough, my newly aquainted german friend's friend in finnland is actually from Columbia and most of his friends that we met up with (ok, actually all of them) were also foriegners. A couple spaniards, a turk, a welshmen, and an american. Not to worry, that just meant I had to make up for the lack of finnish blood in the group by talking to some nice ladies at the clubs =) Tonight I'm meeting up with the same guys at another bar so with that I bid you all adieu.

15. Sept 2006

Some more photos from the night out in stockholm

Some more photos from the night out in stockholm
Originally uploaded by dscheffy.

Not sure why, but I couldn't upload anymore photos on blogger. We'll see if it works this way...

Some more photos from the night out in stockholm

Some more photos from the night out in stockholm
Originally uploaded by dscheffy.

Not sure why, but I couldn't upload anymore photos on blogger. We'll see if it works this way...

Some more photos from the night out in stockholm

Some more photos from the night out in stockholm
Originally uploaded by dscheffy.

Not sure why, but I couldn't upload anymore photos on blogger. We'll see if it works this way...

A night out on the town in Stockholm

Last night we went to a bar called the KGB to watch what we thought would be a live gipsy-punk band (whatever that might be). The band wasnt what we expected, but still pretty cool. More the u2 style of music than anything else, but live music is live music... They didnt play too long, after the first set I saw them packing up and asked if they were leaving -- yeah, apparently the neighbors complained... After that we headed upstairs -- they place was a maze with two stories under ground and a few above. Ok, maybe a maze is a bit of an exageration -- the floor space on each floor was tiny, but with the winding stairs it was kind of crazy. In the bathroom they were playing teach yourself communist russian tapes -- stuff like how to say Are you an american? You dont speak russian do you? Whats wrong with you stupid american? It was pretty funny. Anyway, after the band stopped, the regular bar music was the type of music we were expecting. We went upstairs by the main bar for a bit and Christie convinced me to have a go at two cute swedish girls. No luck. They talked to me for a few minutes but it was going nowhere. Later Bernd one of the germans struck up a conversation with a group of six blondes -- half very easy on the eyes, the other half not so much... Somehow we seemed to keep getting stuck with the second half! Anyway, one of the girls pointed out the couple at the table next to us and asked if the girl with the guy was herself actually a guy. Definitely, that or a very very manly looking girl! We really werent having any luck with the blondes either, and by the time we left we were seriously starting to wonder if wed made the mistake of trying to find girls in a gay-lesbian bar... Still, all in all a very fun night out!