My Time Amongst the Natives

Happy Fathers Day!

2009-06-21T21:17:00.001-07:00

Happy fathers day to all the dads out their. Especially to my dad and to Mike on the occasion of his first fathers day with a kid of his own.

Home and Birthdays

2009-06-05T00:14:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Mom!!! I raced home from Pittsburgh to wish you a happy birthday but when I got home no one was here so you will have to accept this. (Also sorry it is technically late but my ride was a little slow picking me up)

For the rest of the world I guess I will update my blog a little as I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I just got back from a trip visiting my sister and brother-in-law along with their kids. It is always fun getting to see my nephews. On the trip I played golf for the first time in my life. Hitting a little ball with a club is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I still say Robin Williams stand up on golf is the best explanation for the sport. But it is fun once you start understanding how to actual play.

Originally I was suppose to leave last Tuesday but when I got to the airport I found out my flight had been canceled. They promptly booked me on the next available flight which was the next evening. John was upset when he found out my flight was canceled that he wrote this sign.

It says "kom too da" which translate to "come home today." Not sure how the home works but its pretty close.

Dan and I also went and saw the Pirates play the Mets on Monday. I don't follow either team too much so I was surprised by all of the ex-Mariner players I saw.

First we have Jeremy Reed. For those who don't know baseball he is the guy at the plate right now.

Then there was Ramon Vazquez who came up and struck out with the bases loaded. Made me see that even though some players leave there is always a little Mariner left in them.

Former Mariner closer J.J. Putz. I didn't get any pictures of it, but he did come into the game later on in the 8th.

I got to hangout with my nephews which is always fun. One afternoon we walked to a little farm nearby that Kelly and Dan get their eggs from.

John and Finn looking for the little chicks. (they are under the coop if you can see them at all in this picture)

On the way back we stopped by this little bench for a breather.
It was hard to get a picture because Finn kept on running to the camera to see how the picture turned out.

We also stopped by a little pond on the way back to the house. John ran ahead of us and ran straight into the mud. When he ran out he was barefoot. So I got to go fishing and I came up with...
two crocs!
John and Finn carried the shoes back on sticks. John kinda looked like a little hobo with his stick over his shoulder and muddy feet.

Happy birthday Mike!

2009-05-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today is my baby brother's birthday!

Me - 1 Virus - 0

2009-04-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

I first tried ignoring the virus. I figured the computer is pretty big, there is space for us to both exist and be happy but that didn't work. I then used software to kill the virus and that only angered the virus and made my computer become very moody. Recently the virus found a new trick. Every time I would try and install some sort of anti virus program the program would start to install and then just stop. I needed a new program because my current anti virus software can only find the 80 some trojans. Actually eliminating the threats was just not in the software's area of expertise. Glad I bought the 2 year plan with it. But after exhausting all options with my computer I finally just formatted the thing thereby getting rid of the virus. Some would consider this a failure. That losing all your information just gives into the virus but I don't. I figure it just sends a message to all other viruses out there, I am willing to do anything to get rid of any program on my computer I don't want.

Also, it is still technically the 29th so just wanted to say; Happy Birthday Finn!
AND
Happy Anniversary Taylor and Anne!

Happy Birthday Kelly!

2009-04-23T16:10:00.001-07:00

Hope you got to have some fun today! I was going to post a picture of us but then I found out I really don't have any. Guess I will have to get one when I go visit.

JUSTICE!!!!

2009-04-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Not sure how many people were told about my first and currently only traffic violation. I got a ticket because I was driving a car with expired tabs. I won't go into the whole story but I believed I wasn't completely in the wrong so I went to the judge to challenge the ticket and get the ticket reduced. I went to court and had my whole sob story all worked out, brought an onion so I could break out the tears if needed. The judge came in about 10 min late and then gave the entire room a 5 min speech about the need for everyone to turn off their cell phones. There were a few cases ahead of me and each one was being shot down by the judge so I started to get a little worried. When it came to my turn I told my story to the judge and she essentially called me and idiot. She was surprised that someone would be stupid enough to drive across the entire state with expired tabs. I am still not sure how this was endangering anyone but I guess she would know best. After she insulted me and treated me like an idiot she was kind enough to take off $7 from my ticket. The whole process left me a little bitter towards the justice system though. But yesterday Mike was reading through the news and he came across this story.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009020383_webrudejudge10m.html

That is the judge from my case. It is nice to see that someone has taken notice of the way she treats the people in her court. I am not sure how much it will change her attitude though as it didn't seem to help before. Heres hoping it helps a little more I guess.

Cell Phone Picutres

2009-04-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

I decided to take a break from trying to fix my computer to post some of the pictures I took with my cell phone camera. The virus has given up some control on my computer and I can now start up windows on my computer just about every time I turn it on. The bad part is that the virus won't allow me to install any software on the computer. If only I knew of some computer science major who could help me. Oh well, I guess I am going to have to go virus hunting after this post.

These pictures are from Austria, Slovakia, and Hungry. Although I think the first picture is technically Poland.

For those of you who were reading my blog I mentioned that the weather had turned for the better once we left Poland. I snapped this picture as we rode over to Vienna. It was the first time I saw the sun while in Eastern Europe.

I didn't take too many pictures of Vienna and I decided I wasn't going to post any at this time. This picture is in Bratislava instead. This is the little path we had to take to get to the hostel.

Again, another picture of the entrance to the hostel. Bratislava wasn't as bad as this picture makes it out to be though. But instead of clearing out these decrepit buildings they just built the buildings farther back and left the old ones standing.

And what was the name of the hostel I stayed at? Why it's the Patio Hostel of course. I took this picture for Elliott who is probably the only person who still calls me Patio. Although I think he spells it differently.

While in the grocery store I saw these chips and thought of Mike and my dad. Why bacon flavored chips haven't caught on in the states I will never know.

Here is Eric in front of the main building inside Bratislava's castle. As you can see it is still under construction. Pretty much all of the building inside the castle have been built recently. I thought it was just a cheap ploy to make another tourist attraction.

This bridge was dubbed the UFO Bridge. The flying saucer is a rotating restaurant. Also if you look in the distance behind the bridge you can see some architecture left over from the old communist days. They are the buildings that look like clones of each other.

From Bratislava we went to Budapest. I saw this statue in the castle grounds there. While going through Europe and seeing all of the different statues they have commemorating the different occasions I decided that this is the best way to mark significant events in someones life. I plan on giving giant statues as gifts next time something big happens.

I took this picture because of all of the satellites covering the roof there. It wasn't just this rook but most of the rooks in front of us all had a ton of satellites covering them.

One downside in going during the off season is that this is the time people take advantage of the low crowds and repair whatever is broken. So a lot of the places we saw were covered in scaffolding like this.

St. Stephen's Basilica. This was a beautiful church and a little interesting as it also had a relic. The relic was the uncorrupted right hand of King Stephen. No pictures of it though as they frown on photography and they don't allow you to shake the hand either. It was inside this church that I overheard a conversation in English. By this point I would listen to anything in English. They were talking about how much wealth was put into the building and whether or not this was a good or bad thing. Eric and I almost jumped in as we had talked about this before but they seemed to be doing alright so we let them be.

Another leftover from the communist days, some guy preaching to the citizens. They have little communist statues scattered across the city. This one was just a couple of blocks from the first hostel I stayed at in Budapest.

Another gift from American to the world. I rounded this corner and then there was the golden arches.

This picture was taken as part of a pair. Budapest was interesting because you can look one direction and see the above and then turn slightly to the left and...

see this. They seem to be in the midst of updating all of the buildings but it is a slow process. You get a lot of what looks like condemned buildings next to some really nice buildings.

Budapest was my last Eastern European city. From there I went over to Salzburg. Not sure how many people know this but the film Sound of Music was set in this city. So people are generally here for either Sound of Music tours or skiing/snowboarding. This mix of people makes Salzburg hostels an interesting place to stay. This picture is one of the mountains that overlooks the city.

This is one of the churches in Salzburg. The stone work inside this church really stood out to me. The picture really doesn't do it any justice but from all the places I had been to I think this church had some of the best stone work.

Some more of the stone work.

More Salzburg churches. This is a different church though.

This is a poster on the main church in Salzburg. I guess those are saints Pink and Rhianna and some guy. That or the church put up some really tacky adds.

They had a giant chess set out for people to use. I wanted to challenge the guy there to a game but they were in the middle of a game and I had places to go.

I went up to the castle and took a tour of the torture chamber. On the tour they give everyone a little player that gives you the tour in your own language. I just thought it was funny to see everyone milling about in the room and not talking. And just to note, this tour is called the torture chamber tour which is a complete lie. They do have a room for torture but the room was never actually used for that purpose. All the devices in the room have been brought here from other castles. I felt a little cheated.

This is taken from the top of one of the towers in the castle. From here I got a really good view of Salzburg.

Taken from the tower also. The building with the blue dome is the main church is Salzburg.

This was a display inside the castle. It is a lot cooler than the picture makes it out as. It's hard to see but one of the stick guy is dead in the back.

This bed was used inside the castle. It's hard to make out the dimensions but I can't fit on this bed. Just thought it was funny how small it is.

The castle in Salzburg was never taken by force and that is because of the barriers around it. A lot of the places that surround the castle are cliff faces like this.

While walking down from the castle I saw this. Quite possibly the most disturbing statue I saw (minus the statue of two guys wrestling). It's called the Coat of Peace but I just don't see it. I do think it would be a cool statue to just surprise someone with though.

I just thought these were really cool wood carvings. I didn't have enough room for them in my pack though. Otherwise I would have had to get one for my nephews.

Lou Got Baptized!

2009-03-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

First and foremost I just wanted to say, with a little help from Mike, CONGRATULATIONS LOUISA!!!!
(Mike helping me congratulate Louisa)

I guess I still have one reader out there (thanks Anne!) so I guess I will continue for a little longer. Plus I still have some photos I still haven't posted from my trip but who knows when I will get around to that.

I am still having some issues with my computer. Namely I am almost certain it hates me. Originally the computer would freeze up and not show anything except for the desktop's background picture. But when I told Mike about my problem I turned it on and the computer decided that it would boot up with more programs working. Not completely working mind you, just enough to make a liar out of me. Since then I have been battling with the virus with no success. In the mean time I can put up a few of the photos I got at my favorite niece's baptism today. I didn't get photos of the actual baptism because I got to be the official camera man. You will have to refer to Mike or Kayleen's blog for those photos. But I did get some embarrassing pictures of Mike and that pretty much made week.

Here is Lou with her parents and god-parents.

The happy family after the baptism.

The other half of quite possibly the greatest photographer/videographer combo ever (and Garrett)

Fun with a Virus!

2009-03-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

I really have been meaning to post some more pictures on here but there has been a slight problem. My computer has a virus. It's a pretty vicious one at that. When my computer turns on all I get to see is the desktop picture and thats all it does. I have managed to salvage my pictures off the computer but I have been trying to fix it instead of posting pictures. I am about to the point where I am swearing vengeance on the virus creator so who know how much longer it will take for me to post more photos. Although I am not sure if people are still reading my blog so I am not sure pictures are worth it.

Scotland!

2009-03-24T15:54:00.000-07:00

Finally there is one country ahead of the others. Here are my pictures from Scotland.

Okay, this picture was not taken in Scotland. But I am including it because I wanted to show it to Preston and because I took it on the way to Preston.

This picture is for a little compare and contrast. This is in Scotland near Glasgow.

This was taken near Glasgow the next morning. We got a little snow storm the night before and it gave a nice little blanket of snow over everything.

Here is the castle in Edinburgh. By the time we got here there was no more snow left on the ground. It was a pretty warm day in Scotland.

This is the view from the front of the castle. I thought the mountain was sort of cool so a took a few pictures of it. That is my way of warning you I uploaded a few of them.

Eric and the sub deacon. I think they look a lot alike.

This is a view of that awesome mountain from Mary Queen of Scots window.

This is a recreation of the scene when the Scots found their crown jewlels. If you haven't heard about this, the Scots lost their crown jewels. Unlike the Irish, the Scots then found them 100 years later.

Here is Eric warming himself by a fire in Mary Queen of Scots bed room. I am starting to think that all fireplaces should be at least 5 feet tall.

Eric walking in front of the Scottish army memorial. Every Scot that has died in battle has his/her name written in a book in this building.

Eric inspecting one of the cells for soldiers who break the law. I was going to lock him in there but they don't keep the locks on the doors anymore. Oh well.

The barracks inside the castle. I am not sure but the cell may have been an improvement or not.

I hope you can make it out but that is at American flag scratched into the door. Edinburgh castle housed rebels from America during the revolutionary war.

Another American graffiti. It is the 'VICTORY' in the door. Below it is a little harder to make out but it says 1781.

Here I am looking over the city of Edinburgh from the castle walls.

Here I am with a cool mountain in the background.

I warned you about the mountain.

Only the best of American culture makes its way over to Europe. As evident by the side of the tour bus.

Sunrise in Glawsow as I was leaving for Ireland. A little sad and really happy at the same time (because I was on my way to Ireland). Scotland is always a fun place to go.

The is a gun that goes off at 1 everyday at the castle to signal the ships about the changing tides. I got a video if it. The video is a little long because I didn't cut out the first half where nothing happens.

Switzerland Revisited

2009-03-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

I was waiting to see if people would vote a little more so I didn't have to pick which country I should post pictures from next. But a lack of voting has forced me to pick it myself. To punish those of you who cared I picked one of the ones with the least amount of votes; Switzerland.

This is one of the first pictures I took in Europe. It was a church I passed on the way to Walchwil.

After our stay in Slovakia Eric and I are trying to stay aware of all the laws for the cities we are in. So while in Walchwil we did not endanger or prejudice anyone.

This is a little bit of the aftermath the carnival festival left over in Luzern. Luzern is one of the places in Switzerland to go for carnival.

This bridge is one of Luzern's main tourist atractions. The bridge was rebuilt after burning down a few years ago.

The castle on the hill in the background it has a little bit of interesting recent history. Michael Jackson tried to buy the castle but the owner refused to sell it to him.

This is my first view of the city of Walchwil. The town is across the lake there.

This is one of the mountains surrounding the city of Walchwil. I forget the name of it but in english it means grandmother. I think...

This is the house my grandpa was born in. It's a little bit better picture than the one previously posted.

Here I am with Christoph in the bar our great-great-grandfater used to run. This was my last night in Switzerland but I am deffinately going to go back.

This is Franz and I at the local bar celebrating the last day of carnival. Behind is the 40 person band playing some music.

I figured a video would probably be the best way to experience the band. It's essentially a marching band but that is what all carnival bands are in Switzerland. This band is on the small side but it was still a lot of fun to hear.

Bridget, I picked up a couple rocks from Blarney castle and a couple rocks from a little park outside St. Patrick's cathedral in Dublin. You can either one.

PHOTOS!!!!

2009-03-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the order. It is just a bigger pain trying to get these in sequential order than its worth. These are just some of my pictures from Ireland.

I saw this while walking down an alley in Dublin. Just thought it was funny how the church and brewery were positioned.

Here I am at the Burren in county Claire. It's a field of rocks. But still really cool.

This is a park in Dublin. It was nice to see the first signs of spring coming. But a little sad since I now have to leave once it starts.

At the cliffs of Moher. I tried to get a shot of myself and the cliffs but must have looked a little pathetic doing it because a woman said that she could get the shot for me.

A better shot with the cliffs of Moher.

Here I am inside one of the towers outside Blarney castle. I am perfecting the timer on the camera.

This is inside my hostel in Cork. The Bru Hostel. Not sure if you can make out the first rule but I can guarantee you I did not break that rule.

This is one of the Tower houses in county Claire. It is one of the best preserved ones so it is the one that all the tour buses stop at. I took the picture through a whole in the wall in the castle. I thought it made a nice little border. That way I didn't have to photo shop in my own.

This is one of my favorite signs I saw in Galway. Not sure what the children do here but I guess you have to be cautious of them.
That is the Blarney stone right there. If you need me to narrow it down let me know.

This is Blarney House. It is right by Blarney castle but I couldn't get in here because they close it for the off season. Guess when I go back it will have to be in the summer.

Here I am on my way to the Blarney stone. I had decided to use the Survivor Man style of photography and set up cameras in front and behind me then backtrack to get the camera.

Here I am in front of the Blarney House. It took way to many shots to get this picture. Lucky no one was around. I took a half dozen pictures or so.
My first view of the Blarney castle.

I guess the best way to do the photos will be to just do a little poll and post whatever country has the most votes. I still have some more or Ireland that's why Ireland will be on the poll.

Home For a Rest

2009-03-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

I finished my European adventure with a few days in London. Monday I mostly just walked around the town. It was a nice walk as London has a bunch of little parks to go through and the weather in London was really nice.

I have been looking for yarn and fabric for my sisters and I sort of dropped the ball while in Ireland so I wanted to make sure I got them something here. I found a store online and then figured out how to get there by subway. While changing station I was walking to my next station and a voice comes over the intercom and says, "there is an emergency, will all passengers please exit the station immediately." This message was then repeated over and over again. I talked to a guy at the entrance and he said that it was probably something really minor like a sandwich or a bag left behind. Eventually I found the store the store was a little on the high end as far as stores go. The store had a rug there for 18,500 pounds and a dress for 550 pounds. So in the end I failed in getting any fabric for my sisters. Oh well, I think I can get over it.

Tuesday (St. Patrick's day) I started the day with a free walking tour. I like the walking tours because they give you a chance to get a lot of the history of the city and you also get a better feel of the area as you have to walk around. After the tour I ran over to Tower Hill to try and make it to the Grim Reaper tour, another free tour. This was a tour that would take you to Whitechapel and take you through the streets that the Jack the Ripper killings took place at. Unfortunately I just missed the tour. So I walked around the Tower of London and then went over to Whitechapel just to see what the area looked like. I suppose I will just have to go back to London so I can go on the actual tour.

Eric and I then met up at the Portugeese church for mass (remember it's St. Patrick's day). It's a little weird how the catholic churches are done in London. It seems as though each church is for a certain ethnicity.This was the Portugeese church, by our hostel was the Italian church. The time for mass came and past without any mass starting. We looked at the schedule and realized they had cancelled mass here and had to go over to St. Patricks (the Irish chruch). We made it for the second half of mass and got some blessed shamrocks. Afterwards I went to a little bar that offered live music. I figured that it would be Irish music being St. Patrick's day and all but I was wrong. So I tried the little Irish pub close to our hostel for some music. The first song was Irish but after that no such luck.

Wednesday I went home. The question I keep on getting is, "Are you glad to go home?" I guess I can just answer that now. It was great to see so much of Europe. I really enjoyed the whole trip and was a little upset to leave. But I really am glad to go home. Being away from family and friends was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Just the occasional email or instant message conversation just doesn't really cut it. I look forward to going back to Europe but its great to be home.

Goodbye Ireland

2009-03-16T03:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I left Ireland and made the trip over to London, my final city on my trip. I went back to the hostel I stayed at last time I was in Ireland, so that means no pictures until I get home.

Thursday I made the trip up to Dublin for some of the St. Patrick's day festival as I am going to be in London for the actual day. Most of the things to do for the festival start closer to the evening so on Friday morning I took a historical walking tour of Dublin. The guide was really knowledgeable as he was a history graduate from Trinity college. I guess this is what history majors do for a living. He gave a good history of Ireland's struggle for independence and talked a little bit about the violence that has been going on in Northern Ireland in the past few weeks. (Not sure if anyone heard but a group called the RIRA and CIRA both have killed some people in the North.)

I went back to my hostel to write out some postcards and was met by some of my roommates. They are students from Indiana on spring break. They came into my room at about 4 PM all of them drunk. They had come in to sleep it off and then go back out and get black out drunk that night. I was a little upset they didn't extend an invitation to me but I was able to find some other things to keep me busy.

I hiked up to northern area of Dublin Saturday morning to try and see the grave of Michael Collins. I saw that the grave yard was somewhere north but forgot to check the distance. In the end I didn't find it and later found out that the graveyard was a couple kilometers from where I was. I did find a capuchin church on my way though. The alter in the church was designed by Padraig Pearse's father. I thought that was sort of cool.

That afternoon I met up with my friends who were studying in Florence but were on spring break in Ireland. We went over to Christ Church cathedral and saw the mummified cat and mouse. (Jennifer, I agree it's probably not as cool as a heart, but at least you get to see it. Chopin's heart is inside the pillar so you don't get to see anything) We walked by St. Patrick's cathedral but chose not to go in. We had stepped inside and the church seemed to have been made into a giant gift shop. I wasn't looking forward to paying 6,50 € to go into a gift shop. Afterwards we went over to the Guiness storehouse and took a tour through it. There I got the chance to pour a pint of Guiness. For those of you who haven't seen it, there is a special way to pour a Guiness. You don't just fill up the glass. While there Ireland was playing Scotland in rugby so I watched a bit of that. It was a good day as Ireland won 22-15.

That evening there was a ceili so we all went to that. (I believe I gave a rough description of a ceili before so I am not doing it again) It was held at the Ireland Institution which is basically a Irish culture center. When we got in there the people all started talking to us in gaelic. After convincing them we knew no gaelic (although I can say 'what stinks' in gaelic, I refrained from using it here) they told us where to go in english. It was interesting when they would call out the steps for the ceili, they descibed them all i gaelic. Instead of skip one two three, they would just say it in gaelic. Afterwards we went to a few pubs and I introduced the Florence crowd to the wonderful drink of Irish cider. We ended up at O'Sheas, the first pub I went to when I came to Ireland and finished the evening there with some good Irish music, as well as a few Johnny Cash songs thrown in for the Americans.

For Sunday mass we all went to a church Eric and I had come across last time we were in Dublin, St. Kevin. It was a beautiful church but I had failed to see that all the masses here were in latin. That, and they use the pre-vatican II service (with the blessing from the Bishop so it was a legit mass). It was an interesting experience to see how much the service has changed in such a short time. Afterwards I had to collect my stuff to make it to the ferrys to go to Wales and then bus and train to London.

Thats where I am now and I probably won't update this until I get back home. So there is a good chance I will be posting a lot of pictures this Thursday. Until then I will probably be hanging out in the White Chapel area.

Galway to Cork

2009-03-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Ask and you shall receive I guess. We took a day trip out to the cliffs of Moher and the weather was actually decent. The sun would occasionally shine so it was nice. Our tour guide told us that it rains twice a week in Galway, once lasting 4 days and the other only lasts 3 days. I guess we just got it on the right day. I would post some of the pictures I took but I can't plug my camera into the computer. Guess I will have to do that later. I can go into more detail with pictures as it would be a little easier having visual aids.

An interesting note about Galway is that it is the center for real traditional Irish music. Except in Galway they refer to it as trad music. So pretty much every pub I went to had a traditional band going. As you walk down the streets you can usually hear one of the bands playing so it is easy to find them out. I think my favorite pub was the Quay. It had a pretty good band playing and the atmosphere of the pub was unique and interesting. On our last night in Galway the band kept on getting requests from some inebriated soccer fans to play the song 'Galway Girl.' The band eventually gave in but you could tell they were not happy about giving into playing this one. I was just happy because I have had a streak of hearing that song just about every night since getting into Ireland. One night I heard it twice in the same bar in the span of about 20 min.

Today we then took the train down to Cork. We got in late in the afternoon so the Blarney castle would have been closed by the time we made it up there. So the plan is to go up there tomorrow morning so we can kiss the blarney stone. After that Eric and I will be parting ways for a few days. Eric will be going off to Wales and I will go to Dublin for at least some of the St. Patrick's day festival. I guess the real Irish thing to do for St. Patrick's day is to go to New York, Boston, or Las Vegas (I was told this by an Irishman) but I think Dublin will be nice. From what I have looked up it seems like Dublin has the biggest celebration out of all of the cities in Ireland.

Also a quick note for Bridget, I am not going to make it down to county Kerry so either I can try and steal the Blarney stone (which may be more difficult than I am anticipating) or I can get a rock from either Cork or Dublin.

Ireland has pubs!

2009-03-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

On my first night in Ireland I hit up a little pub close to our hostel called O'Shea's. They had two people playing music that night, a guitar player and a accordion player. While there a few people started dancing. They were dancing various 8 hands. After a little while the guy who seemed to be the leader of those dancing started telling everyone they had to dance in the next dance as it was a big ceili dance and very easy. So Eric and I, along with some girls visiting from Germany, got pulled into dancing. The picture of me dancing would be from this night. (Just to note, I am trying to order the picutres but they take forever to load and don't want to risk having to reload them so you will have to bare with me for a bit)

We went out into Dublin on Friday and saw the General Post Office. That would be what the picture of me in from of a building with pillars would be. It was incredible to be able to walk up to the building and put my fingers into the bullet marks in the columns that are still there. We saw a few other sites in Dublin such as St. Stevens Green and we walked by the Guiness storehouse. That night we went back to O'Shea's and this night they had ulian pipes (Irish bagpipes) and a fiddle as well as someone singing. This night was also amusing as the bartender seemed to hate just about everyone. When someone would order a drink he would mutter something under his breath about the particular customer. I met a guy from Austria who couldn't understand the bartender when he was making one such comment. I decided that I would try and keep the peace and just told him something a polite bartender would be saying in such a situation.

Saturday we took the train over to Kilkenny. We walked through the town and saw most of the major tourist sites in a few hours. I am going to skip over the rest of Saturday because I am not loading any pictures from that day and we mostly just walked around the town. Sunday we watched the local team take on Wicklow in a game of gaelic football. The match was a little one sided to say the least. The score when we left (we left about 10 min early) the game was 4-20 Wicklow to 0-1 Kilkenny. (For those of you who don't know how gaelic football scores are done, the scores are goals-points so in Wicklows case they had 4 goals and 20 points.) I tool a video of Kilkenny's only point so you can see a little bit of gaelic football. Probably not enough for a real taste but you get something. It was hard to sit through such a beating and I was at most of the cougar football games so I have seen this sort of thing before. Just not this bad. The stadium had about 40-50 fans in it and I think besides Eric and myself, there were only a couple other Kilkenny fans. We stilled cheered them on but it looks like it wasn't enough.

Today I headed up to Galway and walked around the town a bit. I had met a woman from Spain who is living in Galway and she gave me a few suggestions for pubs and places to visit while in Galway so we will be looking into those tonight. But I also asked her about the weather up her and her only comment was that "it's shit." I was a little optimistic that it wouldn't be that bad but we left Kilkenny and the sun was out. When we got to Galway it is cloudy, gray, and raining. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better.

Off to Ireland!

2009-03-05T12:01:00.000-08:00

Made it up to London on Monday and stayed there only for the night. While there Eric found out that the Celtic FC game we had planned on watching had been moved so over night we rearranged our schedule and decided to go up to Glasgow the next morning. I have been to Glasgow before, but that was about 5 years ago. So it was a little surprissing to me to see how much I remembered. We stayed at the same hostel I had stayed at years before and it brought back memories of my last stay. I could remember the room I stayed in and I noticed they had changed the wall colors of the hostel. Walking around the streets seemed so familiar. It was strange how comfortable it felt.

On Wednesday we took a day trip to Edinburgh and saw the castle there. I have pictures but the camera is at the hostel and I am at the internet cafe. Just picture me by some stones until I get a chance to post some pictures. Afterwards we went back to Glasgow to catch the Celtic FC game at one of the local sports bars. Eric and I bought some Celtic gear and wanted to go to a bar that allowed colors, so we went to Bairds. That was the place recomended to us by some Celtic fans at least. We got there early and waited for the game. For those of you who have never had this experience, a scotish bar is a very interesting place to be. While waiting for the game there were two elderly chaps who had more than enough drinks for the night. At one point one of them fell over. Several people came up to me, as I was sitting at the bar, and would start talking to me. The problem was that understanding a scot is hard, understanding an inebriated scot is pretty much impossible. I just nodded a lot and laughed when they did. My previous european adventures had tought me that leason. Anyways, game time rolled around but still no game on the TV. Eric asked the bartender what was going on and it ended up thee Celtic bar to go to did have the game. So we ran down the street to another bar and found the game there. For the curious, Celtic won 2-1 and Rangers lost 1-0. One the way home people noticed I had Celtic colors and either asked me the score or told me the score with a smile. I caused one elderly woman to dance with joy once I told her Celtic won and rangers lost.

Thursday we had to wake up early. I would have posted pictures of a really nice Glasgow sunrise right here if I had the camera. But today I headed off to Ireland. Took the train down to Holyhead and got to see a lot of the country side in Wales. Took a few pictures but the glare from the train ruined most of them. From Holyhead, took the ferry over to Dublin which is where I am currently. The ferry I took was a little slower but more impressive than the faster one. This is the first ferry I have been on that had two movie theaters. Tonight I am off to a little Irish pub across the street that offers live music. Should be good.

Off to the Irish Isles!

2009-03-02T03:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, lets see if this works. I am at an internet cafe in Köln and the pictures are looking a little funny but I will post them and see how it works. The picture with me and the house is me standing in front of the house where my grand father was born. The other picture is taken from the little town he was from.

While in Munich we stopped by the BMW museum and walked around and saw the cars. (They don´t offer any free samples dad, I asked.) On display were three of the cars they used in one of the James Bond films. You can sort of see all three but the jerk in the photo is blocking half the car.

It was a little difficult getting around Munich because there was a strike that day so we didn´t see as much of Munich as we had anticipated. From there we left to Cologne to meet up with Eric´s friends. We were able to do all of our laundry and rest up a bit for our final push in the isles. Yesterday we had a few drinks with the neighbors and they told us they had installed a home theater in the basement and invited to watch a movie. He really meant home theater because he had everything a movie theater has. Except this movie theater supplies beer.

I am getting a little excitted we are going to be going to a place where I will be able to understand what people are saying around me. My first question to everyone will not be "do you speak english." Not being able to communicate with everyone has deffinately been a challenge so far. Scotland will be the only challenge. Who knows what they speak there.

Switzerland Rules!

2009-02-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

I am not sure what I should do for last week. Getting on the internet has been getting harder and harder. Go figure its in Western Europe that it's more of a pain to get on the internet. I want to cover some of the stories to this point that I had to summerize but I think I will do that later. Or maybe I won't. I guess I will let the poll dictate my actions. But int he meantime here are the major events from Sunday to now.

As I said last post, we headed off to Assisi Sunday night. We then had about a mile to walk to our hotel. Normally this wouldn't be that bad but my pack is considerably heavier now and we spent a lot of time in Rome walking. Our stumbled across the hotel and it was really nice. It was run by a family and had the mother and son working the counter. When I saw the price of the room in the busy season I was really thankful we came this time of year. Monday morning Eric and I split up and saw what we wanted to see in Assisi. Well, I saw the main monastery but not much more. I really liked Assisi and wished we could have stayed longer but Monday was also a travel day to Switzerland. We had to take a total of 4 trains to get up there but the views when crossing the alps were incredible. I snapped a few pictures with my trusty camera phone but I think the pictures will leave something to be desired. We then met a distant relative of mine Christoph. After dropping our stuff off we went to the local bar for a night cap. The bar was in a hotel that used to be owned by my great great grandfather. Sort of cool to see.

Tuesday was a little hectic. I have some more family in Switzerland that I wanted to see but not having a cell phone to call people makes it harder to contact people. I was going to visit the Hurliman side of my family on Wednesday but I was able to call and I found out that the whole family was busy that day. So after an incredible lunch Eric and I hopped on the train and went down to Walchwil. There I met another distant relative, Franz. He took us around the town and showed me the house where my grandpa was born. Just to note, on tradition my mom failed to pass down to her kids was the appreciation of the festival called carnival. It is HUGE here. We were only able to catch the tail end of the celebration but it was great. Franz's 2 sisters both play in a carnival band and we were able to see them play at the local bar.

Wednesday we went to mass at the local church and it happens to be the same church where my grandpa was baptized at. From there we just about ran out of the church because our train was just about to leave. This whole running around at churches is becoming a little too regular. We did make the train and from there we went to Luzern. It's the most touristy town that is in the area. So it has a lot of really nice views. There is a castle there that Michael Jackson tried to buy but he couldn't. After spending the afternoon there we headed back up to meet the Haedingers again. There we got a traditional Swiss meal but I have no idea what it is called. I do know that it tasted really good though.

We left early Thursday morning because we planned on touring around Fussen and then going to Munich. This would allow us to save days on our rail pass. When we got to Fussen we missed the bus and noticed the next bus left in almost an hour. Since we were able to rest up the past few days we decided to walk to the castle. It wasn't until we got there that we found out 2 things. First, it is 5 km to the castle from the train station. Second, they stop selling tickets at 3 PM and we got there at about 3:05. We still hiked up the mountain (only about a 20 min hike) to get a better view of the castle. If you haven't heard of the castle it is interesting. Although, any castle built by a guy nick-named Ludwig the Mad has got to be interesting. I guess instead of getting an architect to design the castle Ludwig got a stage designer to design it. The result is a fairy tale looking castle. I don't really see anything wrong with it but people were a little upset at him for it. After the castle we went up to Munich. From there I got on this computer and updated my blog.

Also, I forgot to mention but I got my camera while in Switzerland. So now I can be posting pictures except the computers in our hostel do not have a USB port for me to plug into. Oh well. I should be able to post some pictures on Saturday. But at this rate I will probably just be uploading them from home.

Where has the time gone

2009-02-22T06:30:00.001-08:00

Ok, sorry for taking so long to get back to blogging. It hasn't been easy getting to a computer. Plus I have been running around a lot this week. I don't have a lot of time so I will try and give a very brief run down as to what trouble I have been getting into.

Monday was just a low key day wondering the steeets of Salzburg. There was a traditional desert in town that I was looking forward to trying. I herd that it was huge and delicious. But the only place that I could find it at was at an upscale kind of restraunt. I felt a little out of place going into that sort of place and eating by myself so I oppted for a cheap dinner instead. Now I have an excuse to go back though.

Tueday was a long travel day down to Florence. It was a sunny day though and that made the ride very enjoyable. And it was nice getting into Italy in with all of the vineyards. After so much time in Eastern Europe it was nice seeing a little green. I was met at the station by some friends from college who are studying abroad in Florence. So instead of blindly running around the streets of Florence I had my own guide to take me to my hostel. The other nice thing about visiting friends with an apartment is that I home cooked dinners every night in Florence. Nice thing to have after 3 weeks of kababs. Plus the food was really good. I also got to wash some of my cloths as well so now I don't smell quite as bad as before.

Wednesday and thursday was spent roaming the streets of Florence. I got to go up inside the dome of the Il Dumo cathedral. It gave a very impressive view of the city. A little expensive but I think a must do if you can afford it. I also walked to a nearby little town called Fisole. I was glad I did it because it gave me a break from the downtown that I have been living in so far. I was disappointed I couldn't get in the monestary in the little town but the walk was so nice I didn't care too much. On the way back I met a little Itallian women who tried to talk make little conversation with me. But I could only smile and nod. Oh well, next I come to Italy I am going to need to learn some italian.

Friday I went to Rome with Eric (met up with him on wednesday) and my friends from college, Jenny and Lauryn. We got into Rome and dropped our stuff at the hostel and headed off to the vatican as Eric had scored us some tickets to see the some of the tombs under the Vatican. When we were in line getting into the Vatican we noticed we had about 20 min to pick up our tickets. We ended up running accross the Vatican and just barely getting our tickets. Will go into details about the tour later. But it was really good if you want to know.

Saturday we went to the Lateran Basilica. (5 min left on computer, going to summerize rest sort of quickly). Then to ruins, then to vatican museum that we were a little late to so we coundn't get into.

Sunday we went to mass inside St. Peter's. I guess thats the good thing about going in the off season is you can go into places that usually would be really hard to go and see. Afterwards we went outside to catch the pope's blessing he does every Sunday and noon. Even though he was far away and just looking out his window, it was cool to know that I could actually see the pope. After a d little prayer he then said some things to the crowd in different languages. I am now getting ready to go off to Assisi. About out of time, so until next time.

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

2009-02-15T07:02:00.000-08:00

Again, I am still without a camera so I can't upload any pictures. Plus, Eric isn't around anymore so I can't use his camera. Oh well.

On Friday I decided to stay an extra day in Budapest but I moved to a different hostel for the extra day. The other one was okay but the old lady cheated me out of some money so I left. I was glad I moved to the new hostel, it was cheaper and had free internet. The woman who ran the hostel also spoke perfect english and was very friendly. The only problem was finding the place, I had the address but that didn't really help as much as I would have liked it. There were no signs on the street so I couldn't find the place. I ended up walking around the bloke too many times and ended using an internet cafe to find more exact directions.

After I dropped my pack off at the hostel I just walked around the city. I just walked in the Pest part of the city but it was great. It was interesting to see a beautiful looking building and then right next to it a building that looks as though it is going to colapse at any moment. I did take some pictures with my camera phone, but I won't be able to post any of those until I get home.

Saturday I took the train to Salzburg. It was a clear day so the train ride was paticularly good that day. I got into town and dropped my stuff at the hostel so I could take a quick walk through the town. That evening I went to a local beer hall and got some really good beer brewed by the Augustinine Monks. I met some people from the hostel there and it was nice being able to talk to people again, sorry you don't count anymore Eric. It was interesting to see the locals at teh beer hall as well. I almost tripped over this boy who was probably around 10 years old as he rushed by me with his half pint mug of beer. I am not sure if he was bringing that back for his dad or if he was just really thirsty but I thought it was a little funny to see.

Today I took a good long walk around the town. I went up the local castle here and got an amazing view of the entire city. I really wished I had remembered my camera but my phone's camera isn't too bad so I will at least have something. On my little walk today I came accross three different Irish pubs. I had no idea that the Irish pubs were that popular in Austria. I can only think of two Irish pubs in Seattle. One of them has live music everyeveing so I am going to go to that one tonight. While I am there, I plan on toasting one for Ryan. Happy birthday Ryan!

Quick correction for you dad

2009-02-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

Dad-
Our hostel is not an old woman but is an apartment that is owned by an old woman who rents out rooms. Not sure if you needed the correction but here it is. I was reading over my post and thought my original phrasing didnt sound quite right.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

2009-02-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

Dad-
I am at a internet cafe right now because our hostel is an old women who has a bunch of rooms. I guess that is a popular thing to do in place of hostels in some Eastern European countries. But because I am at an internet cafe I cant post any pictures of me saying happy birthday or something like that so I hope this works fou you dad. I also have been looking for phone cards but there arent a lot of grocery stores in downtown Budapest. I did drink a pepsi in your honor today though. And I plan on going to a pub and drinking something else in your honor as well. Sorry I couldnt be there to say this in person but I will say again here, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Other people-
We took the train from Bratislava over to Budapest adn were immediatly greated by throngs of people eager to meet us. Well, us and our tourist money. Budapest has some of the most aggresive sales people ever. I was offered a place to stay by 4 different people at the train station. While touring a castle today we had some guy with an awesome Hungarian accent telling us he could give us a one of a kind tour of the castle showing us things we could never find ourselves and he would also give us tips where we could get food cheap. It took us a little over 5 minutes trying to explain to him we werent interestead. Finally I said we had a couple friends who were waiting for us and we needed to leave. This made the guide happy and he told us to bring them and he would give us all a tour. I think he is still waiting for us.

We are staying at a little hostel downtown that was recomended tin Erics travel guide. It is nice but there is no laudry facility and no interent. I would be loading pictures now but because I am at an internet cafe I cant really do it now. So no pictures for a little longer. I can tell you that they are really cool. For now you will have to imagine something really cool and then put me into that picture.

Slovakia and some photos in review

2009-02-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

As most of Vienna was closed on Sunday, we decided to stay another day. We walked around the shops and found a little pub that one of our guides talked about. They have a little challenge called drinking around the world where you have to drink 15 beers from around the world. If you finnish the beers they put your name on the wall and you get a free shirt. I wasnt allowed to do it though because you have to allert the bar about your attempt. Oh well, maybe next time I am in Vienna. It was cool though, the bar tender was from Ireland.

Today we took the train over to Bratislava, Slovakia. It was nice as the train was only an hour so we were able to see the city today. We mostly just walked around seeing the sights. It is interesting to see the mix of buildings around here. One picture, I am having trouble loading it might have luck on a different computer, shows a really modern bridge with some buildings leftover from Bratislavs communist days. We made our way up to the castle here and I thought it was odd that it is still under construction. I guess in a way to keep tourists they are rebuilding there old castle. You can tell its rebuilt though because there is no cathedral inside the walls.

Another picture I am going to try and load is from today. I found a Byzantine catholic church online today and saw that they have liturgy at 5 PM every evening. So we were able to make it to that. Its was nice to have somethign that is somewhat familiar. I was able to follow along although I didnt know the responses as they were all in Slovak. I think. So if my mom told you about this Fr. Joeseph, then I have been able to make it to a liturgy while over here.

Tomorrow we will be off to Budapest and from there who knows. I hope I can find a computer to post a few of my pictures. If I cant I will update you in Hungry.

Goodbye Poland Hello Austria

2009-02-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

I guess I will start with what I have been doing since my last post. On Thursday we visited the salt mines. My dad used to threaten my with sending me off to the salt mines and after my visit I find that it would have been really cool if he had sent me there. Apperently the air in salt mines is very healthy and was sometimes used as theropy in the old days. Sort of weird to think about people sitting around while other people are there actually doing work. The mines were a nice break in the weather. Instead of the near freazing temperatures that we have been used to we got a constant 57 degrees. Inside the salt mines there are some really impressive carverns and scupltures. It was interesting to find that almost all of the sculptures and chapels inside the mines were carved by the miners themselves. They didn't get paid anything, just there devotion drove them to do it. Sort of cool to see.

Friday we spent the first half of the day just wondering the streets of Krakow and then took a little trip off to see the Black Madonna over in Czestaowa. Our timing was just about perfect because as soon as we got there they started mass.

Saturday we said goodbye to Poland and headed off to Vienna. I was a little disappointed as every day prior to Saturday was either foggy or just overcast but Saturday was bright and sunny. This did make for a more pleasent train ride though. We then hiked around Vienna for a bit trying to find a hostel. But after about a half hour of wondering we jumped into a internet cafe and found one and just went there. It's a nice hostel but the real selling point was the 'free' drink fro everyone who stays. It's only a small beer but a beer none the less. There is a bar in the downstairs lobby making it easy for us to make our way home after a night on the town. The only downside is that the internet isn't free here.

Today we went to mass at the cathedral in Vienna. It is another beuatiful gothic cathedral. This one was consecratedin 1147. We just missed the 10:15 mass so we went to the 11:15 mass down in the catacombs of the church. It was nice becasue we had the small church feel to it. The other little bonus was that the mass was in latin so it was a little easier for me to figure out what was being said in some parts. The homily was still in german so I could only pretend I knew what the priest was talking about. So not much different than whens its in english. Afterwards we saw in our guide that there is a farmers market type of place where the food is cheap whiched perked our interest. But like most of Austria, this place was closed on Sundays. So we just found a bakery and got some food there. Just a note to make you jealous Mike, they have created something here that you would love. They took bread, and combined it with cheese and bacon. They call it 'bread, cheese, and bacon.' I thought of you when I ate it. And it was delicious.

Tomorrow looks like we will be heading off to Bratislava. I hope to put some pictures up there where the internet will probably be free. If not then Budapest. I am banking on the fre internet of Eastern Europe basically.

Poland

2009-02-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

Got into Warsaw Monday and immediately went to the hostel to go to bed. It's a little more than a nine hour train ride from Prague to Warsaw so I was little tired. Tuesday we walked down to the old town and saw some beautiful churches. It's kind of interesting to see the difference between the Polish churches and the churches we saw in Germany and the Czech Republic. In Poland there was a very reverent atmosphere and you can still realize that this is still a place of worship. For the most part, all of the churches we saw in other countries were all tourist locations.

In one of the churches we went to they had Chopin's heart preserved inside one of the pillars. I thought it was a little interesting. Eric snapped a picture of the plaque saying "this is Chopin's heart" or something to that effect. I can't post any pictures right now so you will have to make do with just imagining it.

Today we got up and hopped on the train down to Krakow. It's a considerably closer distance than our other train rides so we once we got here we threw our stuff in the hostel and went back to the train station to go down to Auschwitz. When the train rolled into Auschwitz there was a lot of fog that sort of gave the town an ominous sort of feel to it. As if the town didn't have that sort of feel already. That pretty much filled out our day but we booked our hostel for 3 nights so we are going to be here for a little while. The hostel we found is really nice, we are staying here for about $35 a night. And that is with a complimentary breakfast. I know that probably just means some cereal and a roll but who cares its free.

My First Experiment with Absinth

2009-02-02T11:59:00.000-08:00

Just kidding. But I guess you can get a little bottle for about 130 Krown (about 7 bucks) so if anyone wanted me to pick some up for them you missed your chance.

The first picture is the view from our hostel window. I think it's one of the best views in town but I am a little biased. A little interesting fact, one pigeon has enough meat to sustain two grown men for a day. At least the pigeons that we have come across here.

Sunday morning we went to church at St. Giles. The church is beautiful but we didn't get any pictures. The church is famous for its massive organ. You have to pay to listen to it perform but we got to listen for free because we were there for mass. We spent most of Sunday trecking around Prague. There is a little hill there that we climbed so we could see the entire city and the view was great.

Not seen in the picture is a huge gothic cathedral. The way we planned out our trip was by walking around seeing the huge cathedral and then just walking in that general direction. So on the way to this cathedral we came across a church called Our Lady of Victory. Inside was the original Infant of Prague. At least I think thats what the sign said. Not sure if you can tell in the picture but that's the infant of Prague there. We stopped in for a bit and had the priest there bless some of our rosaries and medals. I guess I look Irish or something because the first thing the priest asks me is am I Irish.

Monday we took the train over to Warsaw. It was a 9 hour train ride so that pretty much took the entore day. But I do like taking the train. I spent most of the time looking at the country side. Tomorrow looks I will be seeing the sights in Warsaw.

In Prague now

2009-01-31T23:27:00.000-08:00

We pretty much spent all day on the train yesterday. It takes a little more than 9 hours to take the train from Cologne to Prague. But I think the train is the best way to travel. We got to see so much of the country side as we went along. We changed trains in Berlin so I got to see at least some of Berlin and a state of the art train station. We got into Prague and quickly found a hotel. I guess clubs are really big here because when we got in the person at the hotel desk pointed out about 10 different clubs we could go to. But we decided putting our stuff away was more important at that time. Afterwards we walked around the streets at night. With a little snow falling Prague is really cool. You have the incredible buildings and the coble stone streets. I dont have any pictures to upload right now but I will try to get some up here later. We found a beer hall from one of Erics travel books and they had some really good food. One fact I didnt know about Prague is that it is a beer lovers paradise. I was able to get a liter of beer for 75 crown. Thats less than 4 bucks. Plus they are known for there beer here so its really good beer on top of that. I am now getting ready to head off to mass. I forget the name of the church we are going to. I will try and post some pictures tonight. If not, next stop is Poland.

Real quick, I am getting a little more familiar with these keyboards but still sometimes have trouble finding the right keys, so again mispelled words and missing punctuactions are going to happen. Live with it. Mostly this is going out to Mike.

Let the 7 week pub crawl begin!

2009-01-30T02:19:00.000-08:00

We made it safely to Frankfert and started our European shinanigans. After getting off the plane we headed towards the huge cathedral in town. Along the way we snapped this picture in one of the little tourist traps along the way. Afterwards we got some brats and apple wine from one of the street vendors. It's a little weird to see people drinking alcohol from a street vendor but I'm not complaining. After walking around the town a bit we took the train up to Köln (Cologne) and visited the cathedral in town. Eric says that construction began in 1248. But he is a liar so who knows. Got some food at a local beer hall along with a few drinks. Our table was in a prime location as it was where the waiters were hidding their beer. Every now and then one of them would come by for a sip. Needless to say we got a lot of attention and our glasses were rarely empty. By this time I had been awake for about 30 hours (except for my 2 hour nap on the plane and a nap on the train) so I was a bit exhausted. So we went over to Eric's friends house and had a few beers as our night cap. I am beggining to find out that beer is big here in Germany but I'm not complaining. They do like to make fun of what we call beer though. But after drinking the beer here I do have to side with the Germans. Also, the keybords here in Germany are different so if any words are typed wrong I am going to blame it on that.

Just a note, the awesome gloves and hat I am wearing were made by my sister Kelly. Thanks Kelly, they are keeping me warm so far.

Quick note

2009-01-27T15:44:00.000-08:00

I found out today that I can still get text messages while I am in Europe. So if any wants to give me words of encouragement, tell me about your day, or birth announcements I will be able to receive those messages. It will cost me 35 cents to text so unless it is an emergency then I do not plan on sending anyone any messages.

Preparing for the journey

2009-01-26T23:40:00.000-08:00

I have finally caved in and joined the blogging community. Congratulations peer pressure, you have taken yet another victim.

For those I failed to mention this to, I will be traveling throughout Europe for the next 7 weeks with my roommate from last semester. We will fly into Frankfurt, Germany and fly out of London, (forget the name of the country this city is in). In between that is pretty much up in the air. I figure blogging will be the easiest way to keep everyone up-to-date on all of my European travels.