So where did I leave off…

Oh yeah, sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted an update but it’s been hard to get decent (and cheap) Internet access for a while. So here’s what I’ve been up to while I was away from the computer.

I left Italy and met up with some Ozzies, Vic and Liz (they’re twins), that I had been traveling with earlier. We met up in Nice on the 29^th and stayed until the 31^st. Nice was nice (ha ha) but definitely not my scene. We also went to Monaco and, following Nancie’s advice, Cap d’Ail – both of which we’re pretty cool (and right near each other). The money in Monte Carlo is CRAZY – we saw Bentleys lined up on the streets (poor people must drive the Mercedes). Overall a good experience but I definitely wouldn’t go back – not unless I learn how to sit still on a beach (and how to tan).

So from Nice I was originally going to go into Spain, but the twins were headed up to Switzerland so I decided to tag along. Our first stop was a small town called Lauterbrunnen high up in the Alps (it’s near a place called Interlaken). It was amazingly beautiful (pics should be up soon) and we did some hiking and such in the mountains and I also did a tandem skydive while I was there.

The skydive was definitely one of the craziest things I’ve ever done. Totally scary when the door to the plane opens and you realize that you are about to fall out – and on purpose to boot. But it was also one of the best experiences I’ve had over here. To be at 13,000 feet and see the snow capped Alps actually below you and then falling toward them – it was something else. Don’t think that I’m actually going to be doing it again and again, but I’m very glad that I bit the bullet and gave it a try.

After the craziness of Lauterbrunnen we headed to Lucerne (also in Switzerland). Lucerne was, well, pretty boring actually. The hostel we stayed in had the bitchiest woman I have met so far working behind the desk. I actually said to her at one point, “If you hate your job this much you should probably find something else.” This, strangely enough, did not serve to enamor me in her eyes.

But while Lucerne was very pretty, it’s more a place where people actually live, so there’s not that much to “see” there. So overall, we were glad to get out of there after the second night. On a side note, Switzerland was easily the most expensive country we’ve spent time in so far. Everything was insanely expensive. For example, a medium sized Big Mac meal at McDonald’s costs (get ready for it) 13 Swiss Francs (which are currently about equal with the ever falling, incredibly shitty US dollar – thus the meal costs 13 dollars). $13 dollars for a Big Mac and fries! These people are crazy. But maybe when you’re secretly stashing and laundering money for the rest of the world, you can afford to pay 13 bucks for a Big Mac.

So we left the ever pricey Switzerland on 6 August and headed back to Munich (which is a really great city and I’m enjoying it even more the second time around). I said goodbye to the twins today as they are heading off to Zambia (in Africa) to spend 5 weeks working with kids affected by (or infected with) HIV (pretty impressive for two 22 year old Sydney girls I think). But we’re going to keep in touch and I’ll see them when I head Down Under at some point (or when they get to the States).

From here, I head to Paris for a night (or more depending on my mood) and then I’m going to take a train down to Avignon where I can pick up the Bus again. From Avignon, I’m headed to Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, and if time allows, I want to catch a train from Madrid to Lisbon just to check things out. Then on to Bordeaux and back to Paris before heading back to the UK to meet the rents and Bob and Wendi for the cruise back home.

God, it’s so weird to think about things coming to an end and heading back home. It seems like the whole trip has been flying by and, at the same time, I’m really looking forward to the familiarity of home. I think the hardest thing to get used to isn’t the language problems – we’ve done a good job getting around those by picking up a few words and just pointing at stuff. The weirdest thing is not knowing the right way to do things – like in restaurants and train stations.

At home you just take it for granted that you know what the customs are in a restaurant (for example). Here, you’re always wondering if you’re doing the wrong thing. Do they seat me? Do I just sit anywhere? Why haven’t they brought the check? Do I pay at the desk? Do they think I’m just some dumb American because I don’t know what I’m doing?

It’ll be nice just to be home and just know what to do without having to think about it (and where everyone knows that I AM just a dumb American).

Castle of St. Stinkus

The rest of Prague finished without any major incident. A truly beautiful city – probably my favorite so far (but that will change once I get back to Rome). After Prague we went to Vienna. The guy on the bus told us all about Vienna and how it’s real easy to go to Bratislava, Slovakia from there as a day trip. So the group of crazy Ozzies and I decided we would do that one day while we we’re there.

We met up in the morning and on the way to the bus station I realize that I didn’t bring my passport with me (yes I know I have a habit of doing this). In this case, it turns out I didn’t need it so all was good. We got over to Bratislava and all the signs were in whatever they speak there (Slovakian?). So we just made stuff up (the castle of St. Stinkus for example) until we found a tourist info center that had maps and descriptions in English – though our explanations were more fun. We walked around the city center and saw the old buildings and such (it was really pretty), grabbed some lunch and then headed over to see the castle, which was uphill as these things tend to be. The uphill wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t so freakin’ hot. It was around 32 Celsius (which is around 98 Fahrenheit my Ozzie friends told me). After the castle, we found a cool spot under a tree in a little park and we all fell asleep for about an hour. Then we headed back to Vienna.

Just roamed around Vienna the last day, took some pictures and hung around. It was a great, lazy sort of day. Vienna is really beautiful as well (it’s all really pretty over here – except Berlin). I got some great shots which I will post when I can. We got into Munich yesterday afternoon and it’s been raining since. Don’t know how much I’ll get to see in the rain, but I’ll keep you posted.