Bill's Doing The World

2006-11-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

August the 27th-29th, 2006 Berlin

I walked the city endlessly, saw Alexander Platze, which they had dressed up as a soccer ball for the world cup. Saw a broken church, which they memorialized from the war. Got lost, lol. Saw the Victory Tower, that was really cool. More walking, I was by myself as Jessica left early on the 27th. Which was fine, it was interesting to see how you would act on your own, and how you invert for once, time to myself was something I hadn't had in a LONG time. It was nice. Berlin has painted bears, like San Fran has the hearts, Lansing had the cars and Dallas (I think) Has the bulls, well I saw a "Gay Bear", lol. It was funny. I got my Euro-Rail pass stolen, a month early, which sucked, but you can't let that get you down, having my hoody stolen was what really got me down, as the weather was getting cold. I spent almost a day at Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall museum. They had a TON of cool facts and I think I learned more about the war there then I had in class.

2006-11-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

August 26th, 2006 Off to Berlin

Jessica, a girl I had met in Frankfurt at the hostel had beaten me to my next Hostel. It was called The Generator, it was part of a small chain, linked to the one Nick and I had stayed at in Berlin. This one was by FAR the largest one yet, over 900 beds I believe. Jessica had worked her magic, and by the time I had gotten there, she had set it up so that we were in the same bedroom. She had plans to go see Sachsenhausen (sp?) It was another concentration, this one was actually outside of Berlin, in a small town. We kind of got lost and ended up having to walk for HOURS trying to find the camp, lol, just out luck. This one hit real close to home, as it was where a LOT of homosexuals were incamped, and most eventually died. They treated homosexuals among the worst among the prisoners. They had multiple stories of what had happened to some of them and it was quite horrific.

We returned to Berlin quite late in the evening and got there just as a LARGE group of travelers started to gather, upon asking, we found out we were just in time for a bar-crawl. But we had literally 3 minutes to get ready, and we were the farthest room in the hostel. LITERALLY, the top floor and the last room on the end. HaHa, and anyone who knows me , knows it takes more then 50 seconds to get ready, NOT THIS TIME!!!!! I was so proud of myself. We made just as they were taking off. The cost was 5 Euro or so, but free shots for most of the night and a free keg at the first bar. It made for a great night, accept I got lost. Sorry for calling and worrying you Michael, I <3 you :-)

2006-11-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

August 22nd-26th, 2006, Frankfurt

Ok, so I haven't updated in forever, and I can't remember exactly how things went. But I think we checked out of the Hostel in Prague, and headed for Frankfurt. Frankfurt is the financial capitol of Germany, but that seems just about it. Nick and I walked TONS. We saw a 7 layer Mall, that really didn't have any layers, lol. I actually just spiraled ALL the way to the top, and the view up on top was AMAZING. In the mall we found a hair place, and we somehow got this girl to give Nick THEE craziest European hairstyle, it was hilarious. The Stylist did not want to listen to what I was telling her, she thought she was getting what I wanted confused due to the language barrier, and by the end Nick had an audience. We then got a cell phone, and headed for the Hookah bar that was located atop of the mall. The atmosphere was chill, and we called Uncle Bill and Uncle John, and to our shock, we blew almost 30 euros worth of minutes, Oops, lol. Nick and I talked FOREVER, and it was one of those talks you'll never forget. We reflected on the trip, the almost non-existence bad parts, and how there is no one else in the world that we could have taken this trip with and have it go so smoothly.

That night I went out with some locals who were actually from America, the one was an artists, who actually let me have one his paintings, his name was Michael. This was the part that I messed up and accidentily slept in, and by the time I made it back to the hostel I had just missed Nick by 20 minutes. :-( I still can't believe that I had let this happened. Frankfurt's hostel was actually a TON of fun, hung out with a bunch of guys from Mexico, made a friend from New York, LOVE YOU SARAH!!!!!! Met Laura from an Island off of Britain (I think, lol) I had no set plans and Sarah was off for Roma, last minute I shoved EVERYTHING in my bag and ran to the station to go to Roma. We missed the bus and had to head back :-( That was depressing. Sarah left in the Middle of the night to Roma and the next day I decided to follow Jessica, who was from New Zealand to Berlin. I'll refer to her as a Kiwi sometimes, that’s what they call people from New Zealand. Laura was staying at the hostel for a while, so I left my painting there, and took off again, to return before school starts to get the pic.

2006-08-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

August 21st 2006, Prague Czech Republic

So we Joined 5 Irish girls from the train who were also staying at the same hostel as Nick and I. We got there at 8ish am. After no sleep, Nick Wanted to start the day. I wasn't thrilled at ALL. But I didn't want to waste a day. We walked about 2-3 miles to the castle and man should I have brought some tennis shows. The castle was much nicer then the one in Krakow. We got there soooooo early that ALL the tourists hadn't shown up yet. Apparently, according to EVERY other backpacker we've talked to, it's one of thee worst cities for tourists. They weren't lying, before we were done with just the Cathedral the castle was filling up.

We climbed one of the towers, and it was like 270 stairs, up a complete spiral, talk about dizzy. It was kicking our butts, and then almost near the top, we passed a man in his 60's, from the states. LOL, so I guess I don't have to mention how bad it made Nick and I feel when he turned to us and was like "Stay health, and you'll be able to do this when you're my age" Meanwhile I was thinking, "I wish I could do this at my age". HaHa. The view however was AMAZING. You could literally see all of Prague.

After eating some fun sandwiches and walking about the castle somehow we took off for their version of a mini Eiffel Tower on the nearby mountain top. The was another hike, because we had to climb down the castles hill, and then up the Towers hill, and then Up the tower, like another 200+ steps. Then down, and then down that hill. I enjoyed it all, I still had just not gotten any sleep, rest or decent food in over a day, and walked a TON.

We were heading towards the famous bridge, full of art/street venders, when we came across a street exhibition. It had a about 100 aerial photos from ALL over the world. From cool deltas and rainforests, to crazy shanty villages in Africa to absurd traffic jams in Japan. Each photo would have a self-description below it, and then a bit of informative information about what needs to be done in order to save the planet, or things that we have to change.

One fact I really liked was a good kick in the balls to the Parisians, one they need badly. It stated that if the whole world wasted resources like the French in Paris, then we would need 2 and a half planets to give them what they needed. I know Americans aren't the greatest, but "HAH!!!!! YOU GUYS ARE WORST!!!!!!!" Sorry I don't how Nick perceived those people, but they were rude, obnoxious, blatant liars and just dirty. Sorry to ruin anyone's romanticized misconceptions of this place, and you may find this place differently. But for me this is how I feel.

So we crossed the famous pictures, got some cool pictures and wondered the streets. By this point the city had filled up with so many tourists, I felt like I was back in Zurich for the street parade. We found the infamous town square with the really cool clock tower. We were waiting in line for this good looking snack that they made right in front of you. We met two nice elderly sisters, who were taking a boat trip down a river and Prague was one of their stops. They were really pleasant, and the one had wanted a photo of two handsome men to take home. So we Obliged. The line took about 25 minutes, but it was worth it. It was called "Trdelnik", how you pronounce it is lost on me. It had sugar, vanilla, toffee, almonds, nuts covering a bread-like-doughnut.

After this we were off for the hostel, shower, repack some things and take a quick nap. While Nick took the laundry out, I made both of our beds and did some organizing. Then passed out hard core. Nick and the girls woke me up and we went out for a fun Czech dinner. We went back to the hostel, and we all had an A-Bomb (absinthe and red-bull). The absinthe isn't like the real absinthe, its just a more potent. Then we went to go find a bar, and after walking to the other side of the city, we realized we walked right by it in the beginning of our walk. Maybe that shot wasn't the best idea. Had a ton of fun being out, the bar was a twist.

2006-08-23T04:24:00.000-07:00

August 20th, 2006, Morning, Krakow Poland

Got up a little late, definitely thinking last night was not a good idea, haha. Got ready and were in search of the bus stop that would get us to the Salt Mines. It was a van, not a bus, and we missed the first one because we didn't know what we were looking for, lol. We met two more guys from Canada who were apparently staying at a dead hostel, told them about ours and they said they were going to switch. HaHa

We had a hilarious tour guide, her name was "Lucy" to her friends and she had a thick polish accents, but some pretty good jokes. So after 378 stairs down, approximately 65 meters down, we reached the first lever. After getting over the dizziness we were set off down the shafts. All I can say is that human beings can do some AMAZING things when they put their minds to it, or at least get paid enough to do so. Apparently a pillar of salt, about the size of our packs could buy two whole villages and their inhabitants back in the day. No wonder the dug so much. The monuments and cathedrals were wonderful. The main one was built by only 3 men, and never more then one at a time. The details in the floors, the salt crystal chandeliers, even a reproduction of Leonardo De Vinci's "Last Supper" was superb, and none of the creators were considered to be artists, could have fooled me.

We went into a larger pitch-black cavern and saw a light show that coincided with a piece from Chopin who had actually played in the mind at one point. After the tour we got a meal down in the cave. It was definitely some interesting food. We got Flaki and Bigos, We don't know which was which, because the server couldn't speak English. The soup one wasn't so good, but the meet and cabbage was actually good. Nick actually tried something new and actually like the cabbage one, a BIG step for nick, he's your meat and potatoes guys, so to see him try new things was great. The exit of the cave was just as grand as the entrance. A 4 story elevator, how crazy is that?!?!?!?!?!?!

So we kind of made an oops, we spent all our money on the food, and forgot about the van home. So we had to walk a few blocks into the nearby city, which only had one ATM and it was broken and being it was Sunday, ALL the banks were closed, gotta love that "French Family Luck"

Just so happened we found some Euros in my murse and there was a place that did the exchange, THANK GOD because it would be a LONG walk home.

We got home, hung low a while, had some more BBQ, and met a pleasant women from New York, named Christine. She is really fun, and traveling alone, which is giving me more comfort in Nick leaving. We had a chat, and then Nick and I were off for our last night trains.

Just when a night train couldn't get any worst, IT DID!!!!!!! No one in our cabin spoke English, apparently we didn't pay right so they wanted 2,700 kuronas. I was FREAKING out, but apparently that’s like a 100$, which still sucks, but what can you do. My bed was too short, it was too hot, but if you opened the window it's TOO LOUD. Danged if you do, danged if you don't.

No sleep tonight :-/

2006-08-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

August 19th, Saturday Morning 4:30 am, Auschwitz Poland

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, EVERYTHING was closed, apparently if go to visit Auschwitz, you stay in Krakow and take a bus. So we couldn't find a hotel to get, the station lady didn't know what time the camp opened, the nearest ATM was a walk, and only gave us 50 Zealoties (sp?), their local currency, and the women at the only shop opened in town wouldn't break it. So with out eating or drinking in over 10 hours, we were just kind of screwed. The worst part is there wasn't another train for Krakow for another two hours. We had met a nice Japanese Mother and Daughter who were in the same predicament who were SOOOOOO kind as to give us one their waters. It was kind of a double edged sword however because in Europe they like their "Fizzy Water" which is carbonated water, and this was one of such drinks. So thank you Aunt Colleen for the kool-aid mix, it saved our lives.

We took a nap on the floor of the train station, remember, we haven't have had a bed or a hotel in two nights, and we wearing the same outfits and lacking food, I was about to be a complete douche, but I couldn't do that to Nick because he was in the same situation. Thank god he can keep his cool, because helps me keep mine.

After getting to Krakow we walked about 10 blocks to our hostel, which apparently is the biggest (110 beds in all) and nicest one in town, and it was still the same price. It's called Nathan's Villa, I STRONGLY recommend it if you are ever in the area. The staff there were globally collected from everywhere and unrealistically friendly. They didn't have our room ready yet, but let us take showers and lock our packs up so we could head off to Auschwitz. Before I left though I realized my camera was just about dead, since it had been days since I had gotten to use it, but while Nick was taking a shower and I was watching the packs I had met some Australians, A Bi guy Sam and his cousin Rose, who were also packing with a friend. He overheard the predicament and allowed me to take his camera for the day.

I LOVE AUSTRALIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Sam

So we were off to the bus station where it only took 7 Zealloties each one way and the same to return. Which is cheap.

Auschwitz is just……..

I mean I can't describe it and I'm not going to, it's something that EVERYONE needs to experience on their own.

So without being able to see both camps do to the fact that busses stop running at a certain time, and its 90 minute taxi ride which costs about 200 zeallotties. Something we weren't about to deal with.

After getting back and checking into our rooms, we charged some batteries and purchased tickets for the BBQ they hold every day. 18 zeallotties got us both unlimited food and a big beer. The BBQ had sausages, Europe bacon, zucchinis and onions on a roll. REALLY good, we had a couple. We also got a cheap 5th of vodka from a local store so we could save some money at the bar. It worked. LoL I almost didn't make it out.

We hung out with Aussies during dinner, traded cameras back and met Janine Who was a sweet girl from Canada. Dinner was fun, and intoxicating. I passed out for a bit before we went out, kind of not good. LoL I had to run after the group who was heading to the bar. The bar had a cover, which I wasn't prepared for, so Janine Covered me and got me some beers as well. This bar was in the basement, but was INSANELE busy and probably the worst labyrinth I could have ever imagined. There were probably like 20 some-odd small rooms, 3-4 dance floors at least 5 different bars, I was just lost. Somehow I made it out of there by myself, and somehow found my way to the hostel.

Thank you Janine Soooooo much for everything.

2006-08-23T04:21:00.001-07:00

August 18th, Friday 2006, Venice Italy

After a Great night's sleep on the streets of Venice we were off to Vienna in Austria. This was a long train ride, from 6ish in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon. Some of the greatest sight seeing along the ride yet. The mountains were gorgeous and were peppered with grand Villas and Castles

After checking our packs, we were off to wonder the city. We stopped and ate at an oriental restaurant. The lady there was SOOOOOO nice and it was funny because I think she knew as much of the local languages as the people who work at traditional Asian restaurants back home. She was EXTREMELY helpful in trying to let us know where we where and how to get to where we wanted to be. She even gave us a city map book that wasn’t free for her. SO NICE

Even with the map and the directions we still got lost haha. Thanks to knowing some German I was able to talk to some people on the street and figure out how to get where we wanted to. The Museum Quarter. But we didn't get there until 45 minutes until 6, the time in which EVERYTHING closes. We had seen some awesome ads along the way for an exhibit at one of the museums, so that’s the one we chose. It just sucked that we once again were racing through a all these priceless works of art, just barely giving each its deserved time. At the top of a flight of stairs, there was probably one of my favorite pieces of art, it was a warrior defeating a Manitor. The motion that the artist had captured in this stone was beautiful in itself. It looks like he literally took an action shot of a battle and casted it in stone.

So with 45 minutes of art we were back on the streets. We found what was probably the town center, it was full of shops, restaurants, boutiques, and an internet café. So we booked our reservations for a hostel in Krakow Poland and Prague in the Czech Republic. We booked according to what the travelers from Venice had recommended.

Some Ice Cream and we were off for the station. Probably one of thee scariest stations yet. There were crazy, LITERALLY CRAZY people everywhere. Talking to themselves, talking to people who weren't listening, PUKING on the floors, I mean it felt like we were either in some Insane Asylum or one of those TV shows where they try to get reactions out of unexpected randoms, either way we were just glad this wasn't the station we had to spend the night it.

However, the train itself was not that much better. This one didn't have any air conditioning, a nice old Polish women who refused to accept the fact that we didn't speak Polish and yet she kept talking to us, and a girl on the top bunk who pretended to be reading so we couldn't turn the lights off, and by pretending I mean with the book closed haha. The worst about no AC was that meant we had to keep the window open, do you KNOW how loud trains are? Imagine that along with every 5 to 10 minutes another one would ROAR by, it was worst then the tents in Venice which were at the base of the Air-Port.

2006-08-23T04:21:00.000-07:00

August 17th, 2006 Thursday Morning Venice Italy

We decided it would be best to check out of the campsite and check our luggage at the train station, the same one we would have to leave the next morning at 6 something. The thing that sucked with that was that meant we would have to spend the night ON THE GROUND at the train station, I am SOOOOOO STOKED!!!!!!!!!

After Checking our bags for an outstanding steal of 20 EUROS!!!!!!!!!! We jumped a Train for Verona, Birth-Place of Shakespears Romeo and Juliet. Once getting there we realized we had no clue what we were doing, Nick had left the tour book because he though I knew what we should see. Ooops, so we grabbed a map and started to hike around the town. It was cool, there were multiple walls that surrounded areas of the town for it used to be a fortress city back in the day. We saw the old Stadium which looked pretty sweet, saw the High-End shopping district and at another meal where the only things we could read on the menu was Spaghetti and Lasagna, like the second time on this trip, this meal was already getting old, lol. I tried a new cocktail though, I saw a pretty orange drink on the table next to me and was like "I want THAT!!!!" It was Orange Tequila, Spritzer and Gin (I think that’s correct?) It was good for the first sip, but I definitely had to choke down the rest. It was worth a shot, lol.

We decided to head to Padova next, it was supposed to have some nice castles, but after getting off and realizing that we didn’t have the book and that most of the castles were NOWHERE near the station we decided to retreat to Venice.

Once there we walked around, did some net surfing, I got to talk to a lot of friends and send some much needed facebook shout outs. Missing Leah, Eric and Chester I had to send some love. Found out my new roomy's are moving in and I'm jealous I'm not there to enjoy in the fun :-( Wait until December guys, I'll see you then. Missed Michael, he was asleep with my camping blanket. Maybe I'll get lucky next time.

So we got our packs from the check in and made some other friends, Chris and Ed who started out their trips separately, and after meeting and befriending each other they joined forces. They gave us a lot of GREAT advice on places to stay along our way. Some great hostels, so we are going to make some bookings for those. I love how travelers feel this bond and the need to share valuable information with THEE most random strangers one could imagine meeting.

They both had also gotten some new piercings in celebration of their journeys,

I'm wondering where I should get mine done, any recommendations Grandma?

I'm thinking my upper ear lobe?

Let Me know!?!?!?

So Nick and I staked out our own piece of station pavement and settled in for a long night of cold concrete and bright lights. Just as I was about to pass out, the station guard, who walked by a dozen times by now, told us that no one was allowed to sleep within the station, and we looked around and realized that they were kicking out the 20-plus other weary travelers who had also settled in for the night.

So with loosing our great spots on the inside, we moved to a nearby side outside the station, right next to the station and under the yarning. I hate to admit Aunt Colleen, but "You Told Me So", I did need that blanket after all. So after watching a bunch of creepy bums wonder around I decided to attach my bags every way possible, tuck the valuable one in under the blanket with me and put the rain cover on my pack to make it less accessible to thieves.

And just like that I was OUT!!!!!

Poor Nick couldn’t sleep with the meandering bums, and kind of stood guard all night, thanks Nick. I feel bad for him, because he has had much harder times trying to sleep on this trip then I have. I manage to sleep just about anywhere, and even the beds and train-beds are to small and cramped for this poor boy :-(

2006-08-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

August 16th, 2006 Wednesday Morning, Venice Italy

Waking up a little late, I believe it was the wine, lol. Nick had already been up for hours, thanks to a bird that sounded like it was coughing up a small mammal and the constant air-traffic that traveled overhead. Oh yeah, our "Sweet" campsite was right next to an Air-Port and had Killer Mosquitoes. YAY!!!!

So we had to take the bus into Venice. The bus drivers here are crazy, and I would hate to have their job. We got to Venice and mostly just walked around all day. There's not a whole lot to do there. There were Gondolas to ride, but I would rather wait to do it someday with Michael, so we took the river bus. A boat that crammed like 100 people on board, which I believe there should have only been 50 haha. Some more walking, and a RANDOM running in with some 16 yo's we had met at a laundry matt in Paris, how CRAZY is that, almost a week later and a few countries away, WEIRD!!!!!! We were off to the campsite again and then to a nearby local restaurant were not many tourists went, it was really good, thanks Pasha for the Advice.

We decided that we saw what there was to see in Venice, so we decided to make some side trips for the following day. So with some internet time on my hands I responded to some emails, but with no wireless I was unable to update the blog. Instead of another late night I thought It would be a good idea to shower and call it an early night because the next two days were going to kind of SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-08-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

August 15th, 2006 Tuesday Afternoon, Venice Italy

We entered Venice via an elongated bridge which lasted for about a good five minutes out into the blue water. With a bustle we were rushed off and left kind of clueless as to where we were supposed to be. The reservations we had made in Roma only said something about a bus station, and section D1, no bus name no nothing. So we wandered until we crossed a canal or two and found the bus stop. We apparently had just missed a bus because no one else was waiting yet.

Wasn't long before we met a nice couple, from down under as well, I had to say Australians and people from that general region are thee most talkative and friendly. Come to find out we were both heading to the same camp site. Wasn't long until there were about a good 20 travelers waiting as well. It was nice and fresh to be back in the traveling circle, because hotels as opposed to hostels and campsites take you out of that environment.

Once to the campsite we got our tents, which reminded me of the military ones we had used at camp PupuKea in Hawaii, and they even smelt the same which struck me odd. After putting on our bathing suits we headed to the pool they had. It was going to be our first chance to get some sun, its been so not sunny here we were almost thinking of tanning, just so we could say it was, lol.

We stopped at the convenient store, and with some rather cool beer (which is RARE in Europe ) at a reasonable price I figured I would grab one, Nick got a Cola, and we shared some pretzels. We were sitting next to two pretty girls, also from down under, and a young man, name Pasha, who is originally from Russia and now resides in England. He was by himself for some travel troubles had sent his girlfriend home early. It was also his 20th birthday this evening.

Nick was feeling a little tired, so he went to rest as I stayed and conversed with Pasha and the Girls. Come to find out the girls, Sarah and Jay had been together for almost two years (by the time they return home it will have been two years) How romantic would that be to spend your two year anniversary somewhere exotic in the middle of once in a life time experience. They too have a blog, www.sabreintelligence.com/phpbb2 hit that up and leave them a hello. They were saying how one of their grandparents just got a high-tech cd player and they were surprised at that, and when I told them my grandma follows my blog they were kind of shocked. LoL Love you Grandma.

The girls had to leave for a train, so we had a champagne toast to Pasha's 20th, I gathered everyone's information and I said good-bye to the girls.

Pasha was a very intelligent man, and it is rare to have in depth conversations with someone younger then myself (even though its not by much) He himself is well knowledgeable in the field of psychology and myself in interpersonal communication, so it made for a very in-depth conversation. I really wish we would have had another day or two to talk. It was definitely worth it. We had a lot of differences in opinions when it came to families, friendships and even the communication between the units and how they vary. Life I said it was refreshing, one of those talks you wished happened more often.

We were also joined by Ben (Ireland) and Marc (Scotland), and this is where the topic turned to ideas of love, and our experiences. We also delve into concepts of acceptance and religion and how you can't exactly blame someone for their ideas if that is the only ones they had ever been exposed to. Just to look around the table and look at the multinational union of ideas and concepts in a foreign land was remarkable, something I hope to happen over and over again before this trip is over.

2006-08-23T04:18:00.001-07:00

August 15th, 2006 Tuesday Morning in Roma Italy

Woke up to another amazing breakfast, thanks to our new found friends from Down Under. It was sad to pack up and say good bye to these girls. They were really fun and nice to have some sort of consistency on this trip.

I was talking to Nick, and the initial portion of this adventure was the hardest, getting used to a different bed every night, and unpacking and repacking, finding our passports and train tickets, finding clean clothes, digging for your toothbrush all the time, it kind of stunk, and not having practiced packing prior to take off, took its toll on the body. But now after getting used to it, it's not so bad (minus the lonely nights). I can honestly see how people could take trips for 2-3-6 months at a time as most of the travelers we have met seem to do.

So after packing up, doing the dishes and saying our good byes to another set of free-spirits we tossed on our sacks, a little heavier with hat pins, fabric and shot glasses we were off to see what awaited us elsewhere in Italy.

2006-08-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

August 14th, 2006, Monday Morning Roma Italy

I awoke to an amazing breakfast being cooked by the Aussies. The had gotten bread, eggs, pickled mushrooms, bottled sun dried tomatoes and fresh greens. It made for a perfect breakfast and a great way to start the day, I was already feeling much better about being in Roma. Forget the locals, we had our Aussies. Diana stayed in to catch some rest, so Nick, Lisa, Guilia and I headed off for the Vatican city. We took a bus, thank god Guilia spoke Italian, it was a great help in doing so.

We saw a huge riverside castle and a ton of street dealers who were being shooed away by the local police. Then there was the Vatican city a short walk away. We found some Pope charms for Kayla, thought they were funny, lol. In the actual church there was a dress code, and we were warned about it before, so before we had left the hotel I dressed Nick, and believe it or not I got him to wear a pair of man-capris, I definitely had to get a photo of this once in a life-time experience. According the dress code, no knees and no shoulders are to be shown, and he definitely didn't want to be stuck wearing denim in the first hot day we were to walk about in.

The lines were crazy. But bearable. The girls wanted to see the crypts, and the line was 3 hours long, and Nick and I had sooooo much more to see, so we made plans to meet at 8 so we could all go out to dinner together. Nick and I took the MUCH shorter line to enter the church and see all the murals and sculptures. There was some incredible artwork inside, and some HUGE ceilings. It was quite nice.

Nick and I decided to walk home instead of taking the bus, that way we could optimize our site seeing. There were sooooo many ruins, I can't begin to remember the names of them all, but we saw all the major Sites, the Coliseum, the water fountain Di Trevi, Foro Romano, Foro Traiano, Santa Maria Maggiore, and many many more. It was amazing to see all these ancient sites that back home most people only ever here about in high school or see on the discover channel, and to be there first hand was unbelievable.

With the Fountana Di Trevi, the story goes that you throw a coin over your shoulder and make a wish. If you do that every time you go to Roma, it is said that it is guaranteed that someday you will return. If you Do it three different times, it is said that EVERY wish you made will come true. So Michael, it looks like we have some trips to Roma to make ;-).

We got back and I took a cat nap listening to the only English speaking channel there was, MTV. Go Figure?!?!? LoL

Around 8:30 we all went out to dinner. I had the Alle Cabonarra (sp?) It was noodles in a white sauce with eggs and bacon, really good, a little peppery, I think the first time Europe that my food came with spices. Haha. Nick of course went for the traditional spaghetti with a red meat sauce. Was to be adventurous Nick :-P But it's ok because Diana and Lisa stuck to Raviolis, lol. Guilia got some sort of funky boiled then fried bits of potatoes in a red sauce, tasted alright, but I definitely could not have eaten an entire plate of it.

Afterwards we got some Ice Cream (its probably the cheapest thing along this whole trip, which is good, because you can always find a treat, that’s cool and refreshing and one third the cost of what water is) Plus Nick likes it, lol.

We all retreated back to the hotel, and Lisa and I went over pictures, and I talked her ear off about Michael, and my core group of friends. She could probably recognize Michael, Jimmy, Jason, Ron, Erica, Brittany, Jerry, Rachel, Croberts, Lori, Nick, Brandon, Eric, Leah, Ryan, Jayme, Mikey, Steve, and Tommy on the street with how many pictures and stories I told her. I showed her pictures that even I didn't know I had on my computer, that I had gotten from Jimmy in a clump. Some from the early days back during the nights of hot tub parties, DEMF, H-Kamping, and illegal drinking at the bars (ear muffs Grandma :-P) I even found a lost video of Jimmy, Carla, Jerry, Ron(?) and Ian in Ian's room acting goofy and playing dress up.

The trip down memory lane was emotional, stupid homesickness.

We Had a little photo shoot with the 5 of us acting goofy in our bed. Thank good for cameras with timers, although it was tricky. I hope to see those girls someday again, hopefully when the trip to Australia with Nick happens, they said we can visit. I'm going to keep up emails with them, and maybe join them when Nick heads home.

We said good night to the girls and got some rest, tomorrow has a lot of train tripping for us. I dreamt a lot this night, mostly of Michael and friends, I blame it on the pictures, lol. It's weird, with all my travels and journeys, and the constant distances that I have journeyed too, this is the first time that I've just found myself not totally enjoying myself with the places I am visiting and the people I am conversing with. I think one of the major things is the fact that Nick is going home soon, to be with his family, friends, and loved ones, and I will still have another two weeks of jostling around the European continent, and then 4 months in a foreign land in which I barely speak the Language.

This will definitely be one of my top tests of character that I will endure I feel. As pragmatic and romanticized as that sounds, I'm not meaning it too. I am definitely comforted with the Knowledge that I will be seeing Michael in October, and then visited by Mikey and Steve in November. Thank you guys it means a lot to me to have the comfort of home away from home. Especially with Michael.

2006-08-23T04:17:00.000-07:00

August 13th, 7:00 Sunday Noonish, Roma Italy

Another Filthy City, we're really missing Bern and Zurich Switzerland.

Trying to find the nearby hotels, I asked the souvenir shop worker, and he told me "I don't live here", are you kidding me?!?!?!?!? You work here but don't live here?!?!? At least pretend to not speak English. Someone else I asked told me in PERFECT English "I don't Speak English", could have fooled me, but this point I really wanted to say screw the Vatican and the Coliseum and lets find a sanitary and civil city.

Not to mention I was still dirty from dancing ALL day the day before, the cramped sleeping condition, I think I got about 2 hours of choppy sleep, and then the hike with the packs through Pisa, the heat, and the fact that I still had eye-liner on in this much more conservative country didn't help either, all and all I was just not in a good mood. Which sucked because I didn't want to be in this kind of a mood in Europe , I wanted to get the best of this experience. Thank god Nick had a smile on and was coping with my attitude. I just needed some rest, and to get over my pissy mood.

We went to like 6 hotels, they either were 140 Euros ($190-ish) a night or they didn't take credit cards. Just when we were about to throw in the towel and pay a phenomenal amount, we found a place for only 70 Euros a night and took Visa. It ended up being a REALLY nice room. Sharing a bed, but whatever. Our kitchenette was shared, but didn't matter. Our bathroom had a nice shower and Bade, Nicks first, but these one's weren't like the ones in Japan, they were for girls to use, more like a splash sink I guess instead of one that sprayed.

We went and got dinner, where the service was disgusting, ignoring us for a bit, then slamming down the food and drinks and then ignoring us for the rest of the meal, and the worst part is that they automatically add a 10% service charge, whatever, at this point I was pretty sure I never wanted to return to Roma. We decided to retire early and catch up on the rest we had been missing. We put in "V for Vendetta", the only movie I had brought. I passed out almost immediately. I started to dream that I was in a sorority house, and it was kind of crazy, upon waking up around 9 I understood why, the adjourning room had three girls from Australia who were talking to Nick.

They were extremely friendly and nice. They are packing for 2 1/2 months, Nick and I couldn’t understand being gone for that long. But besides not having Michael here, I am starting to get disconnected and I can understand that after a certain point it doesn't really hit you the same way it does initially. The girls were all 24-25, Diana, Guilia, and Lisa. Lisa is going to be an elementary teacher, and is very sweet. Guilia was a "cheeky" girl, whose family was Italian, and Diana was much more quiet, but she wasn't feeling the best due to a brutal run in with some sea urchins on the Greek island of Mykonos. The girls had to use our bathroom sink to wash laundry because there's wouldn't hold water, and they were so kind as to wash some of our shirts for us as well.

I made an errand run for some ice cream and beer. After some chatting, eating nuts, and goofing around, we all retired early for rest, so as not to miss anything the next day, we had a LOT to see.

2006-08-23T04:16:00.000-07:00

August 13th, 7:00 Sunday morning, idk where, but somewhere in Italy

Switched trains

9ish in the morning we reached Pisa, a small and filthy city with EXTREMELY unfriendly people. We figured out how to walk from the station to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was about a mile hike, so with packs in tow we were off. Apparently ALL of Pisa was closed due to it being Sunday. It was kind of creepy, because with no building under 4 stories tall, we heard no one, every store was barred up, and there were just a few stray dogs wondering the streets.

So we got to the Landmark and took your traditional Pisa pictures, and say the pretty church right next to it, hit up a souvenir shop and were off to the station to catch the soonest train to get us out of this hell hole. While waiting we heard some American English being spoken, and there were two beautiful girls, sisters, from California. It was nice to find some "familiar" faces, we chatted over some extremely pricey breakfast from Micky D's, they were doing the same as Nick and I, the one sister Kiera was studying in Europe for a year, and they decided to get there early as well and do some site seeing. Traded facebook info and we parted ways

2006-08-23T04:14:00.001-07:00

2006-08-23T04:14:00.000-07:00

August 12th, 2006 Saturday morning, Zurich Switzerland

Started some Laundry, which just wouldn't seem to dry, but since the machines were in the building and locked, we felt it would be safe, and we didn't want to miss the parade, so we took off.

The parade started at 1, but it didn't reach where we were until almost 3:30 pm. But the streets were insanely packed and every sort of person was represented, S&M, Hippies, Drag Queens, Yuppie Grandparents, Cow Boys, Ravers, Punks, Skaters, Euro-Gangsters, Hoochies, Cute Families (with their kids ranging from infants to 14),Furries, Gays, Straights, and everything in between. People from EVERY continent and country seemed to be represented as well, even Paris Hilton was there, lol. There was ANYTHING and EVERYTHING imaginable walking the street.

Most astonishing is that with about 1.3 million people, drinking since the night before and intending on going on partying until the following evening, we had only seen one disagreement. You would think with all the pushing and shoving and bumping into one another people would get upset. But knocking someone over was thee best method of meeting someone. We heard just about EVERY language imaginable, but with the beat of the music being the only universal thing one could hear, everyone could understand one another.

We thought the urinals in Amsterdam were public, they took it to a WHOLE new level here, with just 2 foot tall tubs all along the side-walks. I hope no one there was pee-shy. The parade lasted for over 9 hours, with float after float after float. The funny things was how cops were standing on top of bus stops throwing out free ear plugs, which were very handy. Even with those, by the end of the day, Nick said he felt like he had been using a chainsaw ALL day, which was another thing I was surprised about, Nick dancing, you heard me, NICHOLAS BUCHOWSKI was DANCING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I would have gotten a picture, because those of you who know him, won't believe me.

Our train left at 11 at night, so we headed to the station. Just when you thought the party was winding down, there was a city sponsored party right in the center of the station. IT WAS SICK!!!! Thousands of people were crammed in the station like sardines, dancing and smiling and dancing, I was in heaven, it was sad to think that one of my favorite parts of the trip was soon to be ending.

We boarded our train with some confusion because the cars were numbered funny. We were sooooo excited to be sharing a small room with beds three tall, with two 20-something girls from Romania on the top bunk, Nick and I in the Middle, and two elderly Italian guys below us. What a language barrier we all shared. Poor nick, six foot something in this barely 6 foot bed, I felt so bad for him. I used this opportunity as well to do some writing.

2006-08-23T04:12:00.001-07:00

August 11th, 2006 Friday Evening, Zurich Switzerland.

The train station was INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had the tourist information calling EVERY hotel in the area that had openings according to her computer, but literally as she was calling these hotels, there bookings were filling up. A few calls later she found us a place available, it was considered an apartment. We thanked her and started our hike.

Gotta love the Rain.

Got to our place and it was a nice set up, a mini-sitting area, a tiny kitchenette, a bedroom and a bathroom, ALL to ourselves. Which was such a nice treat. After a quick change we set out to see the city. Everywhere we looked stages and speakers were being set up, and everyone was carrying the "Street Parade" booklets. Come to find out this party is one of THEE biggest in the world. In 2003 they topped out at 1.6 million people. Hence all the full hotels and tourists.

We followed another gorgeous river to the lake-front where the parade was to be crossing. There too was a stage being set up, one bigger then some concerts I've been to. HUGE flat screens, and a large performance stage. Apparently this party is better then the "Love Parade" of Berlin Germany. It took us FOREVER to find a restaurant that wasn't going to cost a good 50-60 Euros to eat at and we never did. So we headed back to the hotel. On the way we found a convenient store and purchased some food to make using the kitchenette. After the grocery store it started to POUR!!!!!!! We had a good two miles to walk and were soaked by the time we made it back.

We hung our clothes to dry, and I wrote some in my journal and watched some tv, while nick fought to get into the cans we had bought. No can openers, we should have thought about that, lol. It was nice to finally watch some tv I could somewhat understand. In Switzerland they speak Swiss-Duetch (or Swiss-Dutch, I couldn't understand what she was saying, but anyways Duetch is what Germans call their language, so I was able to figure out what the shows or movies were about) The kiddy cartoons were easiest though, haha, because they spoke slower, and the actual context was much simpler then normal conversation.

After I cleaned up after dinner, Nick decided to stay in so I went to go see what the night life was like. The bars were cool, but not my favorite.

2006-08-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

August 11th, 2006 Friday Noon, Interlaken Switzerland.

I cannot remember who had told me to make it to this part of the Alps, but they were ABSOLUTELY correct about it's beauty. We could not have asked for a more scenic train ride. The mountains went so high, we couldn't see the tops in some regions, and the water was a blue that could not be described. I've seen some beautiful waters in my day, with the Pacific and the rivers at the top of the mountains that Nick and I had seen when we were in Olympia National Park in Washington packing, but these lakes and rivers take the cake.

It was kind of a depressing trip however for there wasn't a lot of places open, and the bungee jumping places were all closed :-( (I guess I'll have to go back, lol) We found a train museum we decided to visit, it reminded us of the Lyonel (sp?) train sets we had seen when we were younger and in scouts. We took in the sites one last time and boarded the next train for Zurich

2006-08-23T04:11:00.001-07:00

August 11th, 2006 Friday morning, Bern Switzerland

We got up around 9ish and were out at a decent hour. We headed to the train station to try and figure out our plans for the next few days. We figured it would be best to make as many train reservations in a friendly, English-speaking city as we could. With much consideration, we decided to head to Interlaken for the day, and in the evening to Zurich, we also booked our trains from Venice, a.k.a. Wein to Poland on the 18th, because that is going to be one of our longer train trips. The desk women were very helpful and understand, and it took about a half an hour to get this all done.

2006-08-23T04:11:00.000-07:00

August 10th, 2006 Thursday Evening, Bern Switzerland

We arrived just after sunset, and had no clue where to go. So as usual we just decided to start walking around. The first hotel we stopped at was kind of nice, and had a hefty price as well. The receptionist however was UNBEIVABLY polite and helpful. We hadn't received such a warm welcoming since we had started our trip. Especially since we were at one place, asking for another that was less expensive. He also spoke English just as well, if not better then I did, lol. He went gave us a map and idiot proof directions to the nearby hostel.

We started walking off to the hostel and couldn't believe how friendly ALL the people were, let alone pretty. It looked like we were in some sort of fashion shoot. Everyone there was incredibly pretty, man and women. For as late as it was the streets were still the most crowded we had seen since our trip had started as well. We were looking at the map and some totally RANDOM elderly man switch the direction he was walking in to come and offer, his help and converse. The funny part is we weren't lost, Nick just had the map in hand and we were seeing what the buildings nearby where. After a steep hike down a mountain, a family who were biking around, with bike lights on kind of knew where we were going and stitched directions to show us where our hostel was, and the kids were only 10-12ish and yet they were out on a family bike-ride this late at night. It made us feel very safe in this city.

The hostel wasn't too expensive but we ended up sharing a room with like 14 other people. Some at least in their late 40's and others as young as 16. It was quite loud with all the snoring.

Before we went to bed we went out for the night since it was such a pretty city. We found a bar called the "Art Café". There were at least 3 guys to every girl there, and with their eyebrows plucked better then mine, I could have sworn we were in a gay bar. BUT WE WEREN'T!!!!! Once again everyone was dressed so Metro-sexual, it made the gays back home look straight. We met a girl named Mini, originally from New York, but with her fathers business, they had moved to Switzerland. He boyfriend was from Bern, and was really cool, and loved practicing his English out on us.

Mini had convinced us to change our plans, because we were planning on going to Brig the next day to see the Alps, then off to Roma, but she INSISTED that the party in Zurich on Saturday was a MUST. So we said our goodbyes and were off to bed.

2006-08-23T04:09:00.000-07:00

August 10th, 2006 Thursday Morning, Paris

By morning, I mean noon, it was a late night for Aaron and I, and by the time we had awaken, Aarons guest had arrived, Hey name was Nicola, and she was from Ireland, she was passing through Paris and this was her first stop. We chatted for quite some while, and she shared with us some sort of wine or alcahol from Portugal called "Porto Consuelo". It was actually extremely good, however a little strong for just waking up. She had shown us the pack that she was carrying for her backpacking trip, and it was a mere school bag, and she had told us of all of her other journeys that she had been on, with just simply that bag. It was unbelievable, it just went to show what typical Americans we are. Waking up to this conversation is what you always imagine happening on a trip, two Americans, one Canadian, one Irish and a great cocktail and an AMAZING cultural exchange.

We stayed a bit later then I believe Nick and I had intended on, but it was well worth it. We got to the train station which had a really cool dragon hanging, which I believe was made entirely out of reused metal. After some figuring out, we were off again. This time to Switzerland.

2006-08-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

esPS!!!!!!

I'm having issues uploading pics here in Roma as well, so as soon as I get a chance i will do so

Be Patient

:-P

-Bill
*muah*

2006-08-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

August 9th, 2006, Paris Morning

After waking up a little late due to my lack of sleep the night before, we headed for a cyber café, were I was having difficulties responding to email, because the keyboard was French and the keys were all screwed up. I couldn't use AIM because the computer wouldn't allow me to use AIM Express :-(, I was able however to call Aaron from the phones there however, and we made plans to meet at noon at his place. It was about a two mile hike, but we were able to catch some not-so-quick burgers from Quick Burger, a semi-Micky D's, but it ended up being like 14 euros for you basic sandwich, fries and small soda (with no refills and the ketchup was extra, lol, no wonder Europeans are soooo skinny, its TOOOOOO expensive to be fat)

We met up at Aarons and he showed us his place he was temporarily subletting. It was quant, and definitely unique. It was post war, and he told us that the mini commons in the center used to be used by all the residents as a place to chill, and allowed for a sense of a community back in the day.

Then we were off to see the city, with one of the best tour guides one could ask for, thank you again sooooo much Aaron. He took us to the Louvre where we off course got to see the Mona Lisa, along with THOUSANDS of other famous artworks. It was unbelievable how extensive the collection was. I feel so bad that we couldn't do it any more justice, but our time was budgeted, and we had so many more things we had wanted to see. We walked through some of the royal courtyards from back in the day.

Saw the Ach De Triumph from a distance, and headed for the Eiffel Tower. We stopped at some Chinese to go and ate in the park at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. And as SOON as we had finished eating it started to down poor :-(. So we were unable to climb it. That kind of sucked, but I guess next time. We went to go to another museum, but by the time we would get through the line, it would be closing so we chose to skip it.

We then went to a Micky D's that had free wireless and FINALLY I could use my laptop to use my aim, and by some PURE good luck, (which we've had a lot of on this trip, thanks Dad, and Grandpa, we appreciate it) my man was online, who I was DIEING to talk to. Reading his emails was not enough, we got to talk for a decent amount of time, and I was able to update my blog a little. I had a hard time uploading pics though because the bandwidth was small with the wireless I was using. I got to talk to Kayla and Aunt Colleen which was well need as well. I got to talk to some other familiar faces as well. I also got to send out a shout out to Uncle John, for it was his birthday.

After that we went back to Aarons and got a little dressy and went to a trendy gay restaurant, called Spaghetti Bar. It was really cute and the food was AMAZING. Probably one of the first times we had been full the whole trip. Nick tried wine for the first time, wasn't a big fan, lol. We ate the meal in a fairly traditional Parisian style, thanks to the help of Aaron. A lot of talk over bread, which you break up to eat, you don't bite into it, and there is no butter, then came the meal which was a pasta dish, (we kind of skipped a few customary side dishes, which usually precedes it) then we had some more wine, at least Aaron and I did, Nick enjoyed the first bit of free water we had had thee entire trip (you don't normally get a class with meals like back home) We followed that with a white chocolate mousse, which was UNBELEIVABLE. And then finished with a coffee, which in France is actually a shot of espresso. I had never had it before, and actually found it quite nice. It was a great evening.

Nick gave another gay bar a shot, but this was unlike the pub in Amsterdam, but more of a crammed pack New York one, where EVERYONE stared and you had little room to breathe. So he nixed the idea, and Aaron and I were very understanding, I'm just glad he gave it a shot. So Aaron and I walked him back to Aarons place. Aaron and I returned and had a lot of fun, we met up with Nathan again and RANBOMLY a friend of Aarons, that he knew from when he lived in Australia was there. How bizarre? So that was another LATE night in Paris, in which we walked home in the sunlight of dawn.

2006-08-13T08:09:00.001-07:00

August 8, 2006, Brussels, Belgium, Morning

We got up at a decent hour, and finally with a decent nights worth of sleep. I went to a cyber café, where I was able to post online a little and do some responding to emails, this lack of home communication sucks a LOT. I miss hearing Michaels voice, and sleeping alone sucks more then I had ever thought it could. I've also gotten use to the presence of a family again, this summer, and the lack of the comfort of home kind of hit last night, I don't know why, but I'll deal.

Nick and Marrin walked around the city and found the nicer parts of town. It was actually really cool. The architecture was beautiful and much attention was paid to detail. The common square for gathering was quite nice, albeit a bit touristy. Nick and Marrin had showed me this GREAT place to try the world famous Belgium Waffles. The were all that and more. It was also nice to start a day out with a meal. For most of the trip our meals have been random, scattered or skipped. LOL, For one reason or another, we didn't have enough time, we couldn't find a meal under 30 dollars or couldn't read the menu, and worst yet the servers couldn't speak English. It has definitely been a little bit tougher then we had assumed.

We next journeyed onto that little statue of the baby peeing/water-fountain thing. We were expecting this MAGNIFICANT fountain, and it was just some street corner piece, no bigger then a talking Teddy-Rupskin. We got our picture all the same. There was little else left to see in Brussels and we had booked a train the previous night to Paris. So once again we said our farewells to another city and country

2006-08-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

August 8th, 2006, Paris, Evening

We got to Paris somewhat late, it was a longer then we had thought train ride. We said our goodbyes to Marrin, she was going to her cousins partners fathers place (I think I got that right, probably not) It was sad to see her go, she was fun and it was nice mixing it up a bit.

We had already booked a hotel when I had gotten online in Brussels, and we were kind of getting an idea of our way around Paris, so we walked, BAD IDEA, haha, we got "ru de "…..mixed up with a "boulevard" and walked like 5 blocks in the wrong direction, and freaked because we found the address and it was an apartment complex. Apparently they have streets with the same name right next to each other, so you have to make sure you get the suffix or prefix correct. So a friendly Parisian showed us how to get where we needed to be and uphill the whole way it was. :-)

It was a fairly nice room, but we had to share a bed and the shower was public and down the hall. The toilet was downstairs. It was still very expensive, surprisingly. We had a nice little balcony and a GREAT view of a church from the beginning of this century. It was called Basilica of the Sacred Heart. It was on top of the slightly large hill north of our hotel. So after unpacking, and doing laundry, which had a cost of over 20 euros by the time we were down, and needing the help of half of Paris to show us how to do it, Nick and I went to go see it. We could take a hill train or walk, we decided to make it worth our wild and hike. It was 240 steps, which doesn't sound bad, until you're half way up, haha. The church itself was GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! It has one of THEE largest mosaics in the world, but I was unable to take a picture do to rules. :-(

The street entertainers we really talented, there was a guy with a basketball that could do just about anything with it, and there was another silver guy, like the ones we had seen in London. After that we went and got something to eat, very small and yet still expensive. We took it back to eat and ate it on the Balcony.

I went out that night, back to the bar I had found the first time I was in Paris, it was only about a two mile walk, but it was nice out and people watching it very interesting in foreign countries. That and a taxi would have been like 20 euros. I ended up meeting a Canadian named Aaron who was very friendly. He's and international lawyer and extremely hospitable. He himself had just recently moved to Paris. He said he would be willing to allow myself and Nick to crash at his place the following night if we wanted one more day of Paris, because hotels were so expensive. I told him I may just take him up on his offer. We said our goodbyes, right as we had met some great guys from Berlin.

Two orriginally from the states, and the other from Finland. One of them was named Nathan, and we talked a lot, he owns and art exhibit hall and the other two did work for him. We hung out some more, and then I decided to call it a night, or morning, lol and headed for home.

2006-08-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

August 7, 2006, Amsterdam morning

The next day didn't start off as early as we had planned, but what can you do. We set off for Ann Franks house and as usual got lost and took quite the detour. We could tell we were getting close to something touristy though because there were pictures of old women being pick-pocketed, kind of cartoony lol. We got to her house and there was definitely a couple hours long line, and we had to catch a train. So we got some pictures and were off to find the infamous Pancakes we had been hearing about. We found them at this cute, kind-of-American restaurant. The were HUGE and flat, the only thing was that they were kind of doughy.

We met up with Marrin at the train station, who missed her train in the morning. The funny part though, was while we were waiting, the guys from Montana, who were on the plane, ended up walking by, along with Dr Mooshi who we hadn’t seen since the night before and then followed by Rick, a guy I had met at the bar the night before. It just makes the world feel like it is that much smaller.

So with Marrin in tow, we hopped a train to Brussels in Belgium. We got there and were not that impressed. Unannounced to us, we just so happened to get off in the bad part of town. Yay!!!!!! Again!!!!!! We walked around, and found a fairly cheap hotel with it's own shower, that was kind of exciting, lol, and it was fairly cheap, about 20 Euros each, I think it was the cheapest one yet.

We had an AWESOME view of the ghettos that laid in the alley behind the hotel. There were condemned buildings and marijuana growing on the neighbor roofs. We figured we'd make the best of it and took a walk. We were in the middle eastern part of Brussels and found a nice little restaurant and got a rice dish for three. It was cool and the gentlemen who owned the establishment was VERY accommodating. But through miscommunication, we somehow got stuck outside on the sidewalk. LoL It wouldn't have been so bad, but the weather this whole trip has been fairly cold and overcast and this was no exception. The part that stinks was that we had packed for the heat wave that Europe had just experienced and, and apparently it is over, but we're making the best out of it. We called it an early night and watched some tv we couldn't understand and crashed.

2006-08-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

August 5th, 2006, Amsterdam

Gay Parade

We ended up making pretty good friends with all the kids in our room, there were two guys from Bay City, Michigan, Jason and Andrew (RANDOM!?!?!?!?, I know) two girls from Germany, not sure of their name (kind of a little funny), a 29 yo teacher from Switzerland, who has his Doctorate Jerome a.k.a. Dr. Mooshi, a lone stranger from Connecticut who took off after a group trip to Europe, and the last of our little group was Andrew and Elle who were from northern Canada, and then from the other room we ended getting moved to came Marin from Toronto.

All of these guys were fun and really great people, and made Amsterdam that much more fun. We ended up going to the parade with Andrew, Jason, Andrew and Elle, (Andrew from Canada was the other gay guy with the group, and one of the guys from Michigan has a gay father) It was actually REALLY amusing. The whole parade was about 100 registered boats, about another 300 that were just following and about 350,000 onlookers lined the banks of the canal for probably a mile. You saw just about ANYTHING on the boats, for unlike in the states nudity isn't that taboo and they definitely let it showed.

After that Nick Andrew and Jason took off and Elle, Andrew and I went to some of the street parties and danced and listened to some AMAZING DJ's. That night Nick and I went out and wandered the city for a while, and found a cool pub-like gay bar, Nick figured he'd be brave and check it out, that and I'm sure that Jager being 2.50 for a double shot had something to do with it. There were these two girls, one of which was really hot, so Nick started chatting to them and I couldn't help but notice the one that was less attractive had an adams apple, but I just wanted to see how the night was going to play out. Wasn't long before someone pulled nick aside and told him the if why you are str8 why you hitting on a transvestite? LMAO!!!!! Apparently the one girl was dating the other "girl", what a crazy world.

I stayed out a bit later, but pride is just lame when you're loved one's not around and everyone is coupled or coupling, not to mention that NO ONE is speaking English for the most part.

August 6, 2006, Amsterdam Morning

We figured we do some tourist things today, and first on our list was the Heineken Museum, why not? We heard it was cool, and it was definitely worth it. It was 10 Euros and we got the tour, 3 beers and free cool can opener. It was fun, because there was this mini-ride where it let you experience the "life" of a Heineken bottle, it shook you along with the video we were watching. We also Saw the house where Van Gogh lived, nothing to great. Then we went to the Rembrandt Museum, and there was some really cool pieces of art there. The intricacy on some of the wood work was insane. I also got to see "The Mick Maid", it was one of the famous paintings I had learned about up at MSU. I well known for its use of color to portray depth and realism.

We all met up at about 10 back in the hostel so we could all go see a Live Sex Show. We figured it was Amsterdam and there was nothing to loose. So it was Marren, Elle, Andrew, Andrew, Eric, Dr. Mooshi, Nick and I. It was definitely a diverse group of kids. It was more entertaining then hot, and there was some loud Irish guys in front of us that were a trip. There was an interactive part were they dragged up some guys from the audience and the fun group that mine was thought they would nominate me, so Andrew and I both went up for this one stripper's show, she wanted us to dance one by one (there were 5 of us) I was 2nd to the last and the kid behind me was like "I hope you can't dance?" and I turned to him and said sorry, and then went up and shown them how it was done. The audience laughed, and I was feeling glad I had those Heineken's on the street earlier (p.s. you can drink on the streets and just about EVERYWHERE else in Europe , Micky D's even sells beer) When I was returning to my seat some of the guys were asking if I was hooker, I was great, can we leave now? Haha

We were debating out on the street what to do next and the door man from the club yelled William French to me and it was odd that he knew my proper first name. He came running out to me with my wallet in his hand, it must have fallen off my lap. He had told me they were just about to call and cancel my cars. It was so funny to see such politeness in such a place, lol. He also said that the picture of Michael and I was HOT and something else, that I don't want you to read Gma :-P haha

2006-08-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Uncle John,

You're Getting OLDER every Year :-P

Just wanted to wish you a happy B-Day and send some gay bois

your way seeing mine can't be there.

Love Nick and Bill

P.S. Nick Says he wishes he could be there and Loves You

Drink a cold one for us, they're are warm here, and make sure the grass is cut

2006-08-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

August 4th, in the Evening Amsterdam

The city layout is intense, it focuses around a central port/train station, and then in one direction there are canals that loop out almost every block, like 10 or so. Right away you could smell the local aromas, there were cafes everywhere and the streets could not be more packed with people from EVERY reach of the world, the ultimate melting pot of the world I would say.

Took a while to find our hostel as usual. It was on one thee oldest streets of the city and it showed. You always hear of those NASTY hostels with broken showers, people using the floor, ten random people in a room and that was this kind. Did I mention the first night, it was Nick and I who got mattresses on the floor? Making it 12 people in our room. YAY!!!!! Whatever, we didn't care, it was worth the experience.

We hiked around the city that night, had some good fries, and here in Europe they LOVE having mayo on their food. So I tried it, not that bad, Nick passed and just stuck to his ketchup, and they are not that generous AT ALL when it comes to Ketchup. I found a cool little treat at one of the mini-markts, they were called DickMann's, I just had to get a picture of that. Lol

2006-08-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

August 4th, In the Morning, Paris

We woke up early again and got ready to head out, our Georgian friends weren't feeling to good, and one had been praying to the porcelain goddess so we told them we hoped to see them in Amsterdam and said our good byes. We got the train station and had to wait an hour in line to make reservations and two of the gentlemen nearby got into a HUGE yelling match and security were called. People here are a little more confrontational here and have no qualms about breaking out into a loud verbal disagreement, although I have yet to see a fist thrown. We also had to pay for the reservations and it sucked bc the only way we could go to Amsterdam that day was if we got on a train in 20 minutes, so instead of seeing Paris that day we took off and had to return.

2006-08-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

August 3, in the Evening, Paris

Just a pit stop. We got there at 9ish at night and there had been a time change where we had lost an hour as well. It just so happened that ALL of Paris and France for that matter is on vacation for the month of August for most of the train station was closed or closing early and we just so happened to run into 4 guys from Georgia. They were trying to find a place just like we were. After a little man-handling from the local taxi-drivers and hotel-workers we found a hotel where the 6 of us would split two rooms for 30 Euros each, about 180 all together.

So we all got ready and headed out for the night. We somehow made it to a bar FULL of all Brazilian tourists. It was cool, just a lack of English speaking people lol, and the cheapest thing on the menu was a simple beir for 6 euros, so I'm thinking we're not going to be drinking a lot AT ALL!!!!! It was a really lively crowed were everyone was dancing, bad, but dancing all the same. I ended up taking off for the gay district to see if there was anything fun. Nick was going to stay with Georgians.

After walking for a bit I found a local who was going to the bar I was trying to find, it was random because we were still a 30 minute walk away from where we needed to be. It was a LONG 30 minute walk because he didn't speak English very well and I know NO French. Haha So we got to the bar and it was really cool and trendy, but dancing bars and clubs are a VERY American thing and these places are often cramped with walking space for 3-4 people at places.

I met two Australians, Zack from Cali but had been studying in Paris and his friend, Ben, who is from France. They were all VERY polite and friendly and showed me to another bar which was cool and the basement was very short and packed. From there Ben and Zack showed me some other places. I walked by a VERY famous modern museum, I can't think of the name right now, but it is the one with all the construction on the outside. I hope to see the inside. I felt really bad because by the end of the night Ben had somehow lost his phone. But he said he didn't care because he was leaving for New York the following day. It was funny because Ben was off to Munich, Germany the next day, and I for Amsterdam, so it was three of our last time out. They had me try a drink the had gin, vodka, tequila, and crème-de-menthe-like alcohol and a little bit of lemonade it was great and was wickedly strong.

Make sure you toast EVERY glass at a table in Europe ;-) I learned the harder way.

After saying our good byes and going our separate ways I was off to the hotel. I took an hour walk and many wrong turns, and I thought I was being goofy carrying a map to go out to bars. Not anymore, lol. Nick and I also realized that you don't think about it, but you need to get ALL the info on you hotel, things like name, street, address, lol. Ooops!!!

2006-08-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

August 3rd, London

We got up early and headed out to see as much of the city as we could before our train left for the next stop, Paris. We walked a lot, not really seeing anything specific. We went to the Tate Modern, a museum located a mile down from the London Eye, and we traveled there on foot, packs in tow the WHOLE TIME!!!!!! They got heavy real quick. The museum was very modern and very abstract, I LOVED, and Nick told me that he had probably seen more art in the first day and a half of our trip then he had in his whole life, lol.

They also had a few pieces of art from Dali and one of the deaf artist attached hundreds of pieces of paper from convos he had had with people who didn't speak sign language and two of the slips were from Michigan, one from U of M stationary and the other from an Ann Arbor auto-parts place. Though that was random. The weather looked really nasty out side and since we figured we didn't have time to travel all the way to London Bridge or Buckingham Palace, :-( that we should head for the train station.

One of the stations we entered was street level and looked like a normal building. We entered and instead of waiting for the elevator like most people were, we decided to take the stairs, BAD IDEA!!!!!!!!!! LoL After what was about 2 flights down we started to see people taking breaks from climbing the stairs and just lean against the wall. Mind you, this was a spiral stair case, so we had NO idea what laid a head of us. It was probable about another 4-5 stories of spiraling and then another walk until we were at the platform. AND WE STILL HAD OUR PACKS ON!!!!!!!!!!! LoL I'm just glad we weren't going up.

We left for Paris around 4-5ish, right after what I thought was going to be a normal breakfast, but instead it came with beans, and mushrooms and the bacon was more like ham and the toast had no butter, lol. It was good, the only sad part was it was one of the cheapest things on the menu at about 5 pounds, which is a little over 10 USD :-(

One day is not enough for these cities, lol, but I would rather see parts of many then many parts of a few.

2006-08-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

August 2nd, 7:27 Arrived in London

We were ready hit the road running and before we got to baggage claim we had to go to customs. I don't even want to start on how that was not the best way to start off. First the line took about an hour long. And then the guy who checked us in, who looked like the comedian, Martin Short, started to make our day a little longer. We didn't know where we were staying, or where Eric lived, or his number, or what university and we tried to tell him that we were backpacking and leaving the City the next day, and even had the our train tickets to show him. I guess he gets his fun ripping on American tourists. The worst part was that I had the information on my Lap-Top and he wouldn't allow me to access it. The women next to him kept on going on that we were lucky he was having a good day. I couldn't imagine a bad one. His parting remarks was that we "should be lucky we weren't on the last row in some airplane on the way back home"

So we're in London and pumped to get going. It was about an hour long travel into the city by subway. We had to transfer a few times. We definitely weren't in Kansas anymore. They hate pigeons and there 4-6 inch sharp barbs atop every surface in most places. We spoke with some travelers who had been packing for months and they were saying how they hadn't eaten in a day, barely slept and had been on a combination of trains and planes for almost a day and a half and they were nowhere near resting and they just looked beat with some of the biggest bags under their eyes and packs they also wore on the front because they had purchased souvenirs. All I could think about was that being Nick and I in 20 days. At least these guys could still smile and laugh and weren't at each other's throats.

Talking to these gentlemen we started to notice a pattern among almost EVERY pair of travelers that we met. There was always a talkative one that would reach out to the other travelers and locals for general information or just chit-chat and to get an idea of what to expect in the up coming areas or days. If you know anything about my cousin and I you can without a doubt cast those characters among the two of us. For those of you who don't know us, that would be Nick as the quieter of the two and myself the outgoing one.

We came above ground at Big Ben, the Clock near the centre of London. It was actually pretty cool, just sad that all the wear from the decades had shown, they didn't bother to clean up or rejuvenate this gorgeous monument. There were works of art EVERYWHERE!!!!!! Statues, Monuments, Buildings themselves had sooooo much detail, it was amazing. After some Big Ben Pix we headed off to Trafalgar Square to see what the big deal was. It was kind of a bad time to come along there because they were setting up for an upcoming festival and it wasn't pretty at all with barricades set up and everything and what not, but we got some pix non-the-less. We walked a lot more and saw the Eye of London, the lard Ferris-wheel that allows you to see all of London. Most cities in Europe have caps on the size of the building so you are able to see over all of them. We wanted to go up on it but it was a few hour wait and we still had to find a place to stay the night.

So we settled for the Salvador Dali and Picasso exhibition that was going on at the base. It was thee largest collection of Dali to travel, and there were just a few Picasso pieces. I was mostly there for Dali however, some know that he is one of my favorite artist and that I even have a coffee table book of his work. We found out the general area that Eric lived and headed for there. We couldn't get a hold of him but he had told me about a cool hostel we could hit up, the Generator, located in Russel Square.

It was packed of course, all 800 beds. We were told to wait until 4 and there may be a cancellation. There was, and we got a room on the 2nd floor, right next to the shower, some good luck if you ask me. We went to Eric's dorm, which took hours to find. The walking and sight seeing was fun. We got a meal at a local pub-like place. We sat down and looked the menu over and waited for a server. A server who never came. So I went to the bar where I was treated horribly again. She went off with a really bad attitude about how "we Americans don't think…..blah blah blah", whatever, her teeth were janky, at least Americans know what toothpaste and Dentists are. We had chicken burgers with "chips" (fries) and a beer/coke (they were both the same price, lol)

Off to fund Eric again, and we finally reached him. We made plans to meet up later at the hostel after he wrote a paper and we got ready. The hostel was having 1 pound pints/well cocktails. 1 pound = roughly 2 dollars The Generator had a really trendy bar area and everyone was out having a good time and getting to know each other. Met a guy Named Peter from South Africa and 3 Girls from Sweden who were on vacation. Eric Joined us later for some drinks. It was fun. Nick and I parted here, he hung with Sweeds and Peter, while Eric and I headed out with some of his class mates.

We took the subway into another region of the city called Leister Square. This was the trendy Theatre and Club area. We went to a few different bars. It was fun, and it made for a LATE night, the first of many more to come

2006-08-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

August 1st, 5:40 pm Depart from DTW

On the Flight we met some really cool guys from Bute/Buke/Beuke Montana, or something like that. They were really fun and all about their trip just as much as we were pumped. They had some Black-Berry Brandy in a flask and one of them had a mini of Jager. Needless to say, we were all having a fun trip and then the kid in the next row started to puke, in a confined place after 5 hours of flying and NO SLEEP!!!!!!! Whatever, stuff happens.

2006-05-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

The Cast of Charachters:

After Tokyo we had a day or so of classes and down-time in Hikone, so I figured this would be the perfect oppurtunity to introduce the cast that made this trip worth it. I don't think Japan would have been half of what it was if it weren't for personalities I toured it with (all guys, how strange? but lucky, made traveling easier), and this way you can put Faces to the Names I mention and see how they're all inter-related, through association, friends, randomly or even just facebook.

In order of Appearance:

First guy I met was Jeff Allen, at this point we had no common friends, according to facebook, but we both had a sense of familiarity, who know, class or something. He was my room-mate and ended up one of the closest on the trip. He also had left a LTR loved one at home, his girl-friend Erin, I feel like I practically got to know her, through him, thanks to drunk heart-to-hearts after beer pong. Jeff was pretty much trip Grandpa, he layed out the days, the trains, the times and pretty much got us where we had to go, when we needed to get there. Definately one up-ed my trip

The second guy I had met was another fellow roomy, Mike Kelly, who came with Jeff, and knew him from back home through courses and a club or sorts (a little cloudy) I figured out he knew my bar-gf from back home Natalie, through facebook, and she said he's a trip and I would definately enjoy his company. This being said, she did not lead me astray. He was halarious, but his sense of humor was one you had to pay attention to, otherwise it may just slip by un-noted. He couldn't drink, which sucked, but he was still there every step of the way. He was also one of our bigger game-fans. I felt bad for him because ceilings were always cutting it close with him.

Third guy I med was Karim Aleman (sp?) He was the fourth and final eddition to our room, for we were the early comers, Costa saw it fit to pair us up so we wouldn't be loney the first days. Karim has been to 46 countries now, and was an Egypt born Canadian with Michigan students in Japan. WHAT!?!?!?!? LOL, I know kind of ironic huh? He knew the professor from McMasters in Canada. He definately had a different take on things, not good or bad, just different. He was the lucky one who got to stay in a capsul hotel :( I'm sooo jealous.

The fourth guy I met was Lu Chen. China-born American. Which proved to be quite helpful for he was able to help with some of the charachters and pronounciation of things. He didn't speak a whole lot in group settings, but when he said something, it was well worth noting, and quite funny. He was kind of a fifth to our room, one morning he cooked eggs and bacon, Thanks Lu. If you've seen the picture of me in a telephone booth while I was there, you'll notice he's to the right of the photo, and some random Japanese guy is walking up on the left, and they are wearing the same outfit, minus the micky mouse, it was totally coincedental, but funny all the same.

Ben Split was the next to arrive and 5th on the list. He seem quiet at first, but he had already been in Japan for about week, visiting his brother who was also studying in another part of Japan. He also knew some Japanese from what he had learned in school, and was EXTREMELY helpful in getting from point A to point B. Come to find out this is the second person from his family I ended up (randomly and without knowing) traveling out of the country with. Onr of the (then random) room-mates I had for Aca Pulco, just so happened to be his cousin, Kristin Buckles. WEIRD!?!?!?!?!

The guys started to come quick now, so the order maybe blurred a little.

I'm Pretty sure Costa was the 6th. He was our Prfoessor for the course, and I met him when the before mentioned group got back from Kyoto (we took a day trip with out everyone, as not to waste a moment in Japan) We had gotten some Saki while in Kyoto, and it was a great Ice breaker. Costa is from Greece, and had attended school in Canada as well. Another global travel, and a smile that could feed the poor kids of the world. He was an awesome professor, extremely motivated, and well connected with ties in Japan. How? I do not know. He also did a great job in keeping 11 strong headed guys together. He's a 31 yo professor in the Tele-Comm college, and never shows up to normal class without AT LEAST a Suit Coat.

The 7th was Sean Kavanagh. There's not much to say about him, he was quiet most of the time. He was the guy who put the facebook group together before we all left, making it easier to pre-stalk the guys. It's a bad pic, I know, but I don't really have any of him, so i stole this from his facebook8th and 9th were pretty much a tie. They were Jeff Siarto and Ryan Abbott (aka R.Abbot). These guys knew eachother fairly well. They had started up a DotCom bussiness a while back thats doing good, and have had classes together. These guys were a trip, and a non-stop laugh the ENTIRE time I was with them. Rabbot laughs a littler easier the Jeff, and Jeff was the one who "got the girl" on the trip. I ran around a shopping center with these two, Split and some asian girls looking for.... and ended up all crammed in a photo booth, come to find out those girls were 17. :-O Talk about trouble. All around great guys, loved em.

Last but not least was Gryph Ward. I had previously heard of him through my roomy, Leah, he was one of her TA's and he has mentioned something about it, because he knew I was going and that she knew me. He's the Pepsi lover, and the other game-fan. He's a 3rd year Grad student in the Comm Arts department. He was the one we were worried about because mixed communication led to us not knowing he was supposed to come a day late. So we were like... "is he at customs? Jail? Wrong Country? LoL All was good he came a day later, and caught up. He always had his head phones on, and didn't like to use unbrellas, which HAD to of sucked in Hiroshima. Quiet at times, NOT at others, but had a good wood to put in. He also ALWAYS had a toothpick on hand, which we all all took a group photo of in TGIF's in Ropongi.

And I made included made it 11

2006-05-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Tokyo: Round 1

We made the long and arguous task of training it to Tokyo, it took about 2 hours and some change, plus all the train hoping. By this point I deemed it necessary to purchase the De Vinci Code, because Ben and Jeff were both reading it by this point and loving it, and with my boyfriend Mike, and roomy Leah having both read and loved it, I figured it was my turn to fall into the pages, and see what all the fuss was about, that and I told Mike he wasn't allowed to watch the movie till I got home and his ultamatum was that I couldn't watch it until I had finished the noval, "TOUCHE young chap Touche", and with all the training we were to be doing, what better way to occupy my time. This book by far has to be one of THEE most intrigueing books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. All the tid bits that Dan Brown has collected to intice the sentences are sooo well structured and researched, it's amazing. I wonder if they offer any courses on Symbology at state, or anything of the sort? Let me know if any of you guys have any clues.

So we get to Tokyo and the subway/train stations are a riddle that not even Robert Langdon could solve, but 3-4 trains later we managed to find ourselves at The Asian Center, oddly named for it mostly hosts to Western Foriegners, but whatever, we unloaded our bags, for the day was wasting already. But we couldn't help but notive so Asian-effiiciency at the expense of westerners comfort, lol. The beds were fairly short, poor Mike, for he's 6'2 ( or something like that), I guess it sucks to be Godzirra!!!! The showers were just equally inabling for Mike, as Jeff demonstrates his Kareoke (which, THANK GOD, we never had to suffer, :-p love you Jeff) We turned on the TV just to see what they had to offered and it was so stereotypical, it was horrible. If you guessed Sumo Wrestling, you're correct. Even worst, the next station was playing Japan-ime, we just found it halarious, and a few more channels away was a CRAZY television challange show of sorts, go figure? lol So without wasting any more time we ventured out into the city.

Unbenounced to us, we somehow managed to throw ourselves into down-town Ropongi Hills, which has crazy shopping and an Amazing nightlife according to some of my friends ( I asked where to go b4 I came, Thanks lil JC). Let me just tell you, it was a city inside of a city. It was just crazy, traffic in all directions, 5 way intersections, bridges, tunnels, underpasses, overpasses, and people just EVERYWHERE. The shopping here is verticle, unlike back in the states. It's EFFICIENT!!!! This made it hard for lazy Americans though, becuase we couldn't read the signs saying what stores were what, let alone what they had, and we weren't about to hike up 8 flights to find out its a travel agency, lol. The buildings exteriors were just as crazy as the city itself, one of which, we beleive was an arcade of sorts, had this HUGE four story cyborg on the outlaying facade, how nuts is that? We also saw cute pet shops, with the cutests little puppies in the windows, I wanted to snag one soooo bad, and all the dogs here were SOOOO expensive, but this no longer came as a surprise anymore, lol. The one below is the one I really wanted. We couldn't stop much, we were in a Rush, because we wanted to get to Tokyo Tower before it closed.

The tokyo Tower wasn't too much further, about a 45 minute walk from the hotel. We could see it almost immediately as we head towards it. It's said to be the tallest building in Tokyo. It's hieght was instructed to be taller then the Eiffle tower, her older, yet shorter sister in Paris. It's height was 333 meters tall, before a later addition of radio/television antennas. Whats astonishing however is that with it being talling then the Eiffle Tower, it somehow is less then half of it's weight. Leave it up to the Japanese to be EFFICIENT. We had to take two elevators to get to the highest elevation, but the first one took us to the first observation deck. It had a cute little diner, and just like EVERYWHERE else in Japan, it was smoking, and totally enclosed, kinda nuts huh? There were these cool little glassed-holes in the floor, where you could look down, and poor Jeff S. (affraid of heights without guard rails) could hardly look through them. They were fun, we screwed around a little and took some fun pics, and all the little school kids (I SWEAR they followed us EVERYWHERE) got a big kick out of Americans laying on the floor acting goofy. We snagged a small bottle of wine and hid it away for a later toast at the top. The thing that really cracks me up in Japan is how the elevators have mood lighting and music, that alters depending on which direction you're going and how close you are to the end, lol. The top level view was TEN times better, it almost made me a little nervous, but soooo worth it. Tokyo is unlike in ANY other city I have ever seen in the sense that there is no epicenter, it is just non-stop city-sprawling with clusters of sky scrapers in every direction for as far as the eye could see. You could only see where the city ended two of the directions, one was because there was the Pacific, and two because there were mountains. NUTS Even in the direction of the pacific, it went as far as it could go, they even added onto the island to make more land mass. So taking in the sites, we popped the cork and enjoyed a nicely chilled French White Zin. Man did that hit the spot. With that we took some final snap shots and headed for ground level.

more updates laters

2006-05-14T18:10:00.001-07:00

Osaka

Thursday we had hit up Osaka, it was pretty cool. We got a late start because we did some blogging in the aim and I helped to set up everyones myspaces and sitemeters (ways to see who is checking our blogs, where they are from, what browser they are using, etc.....) It was sweet, because now everyone here is maintaining a blog in reference to this trip, and I think it will be interesting to see how other ppl are coming at this program and how they translate it through a form of mediated communication.

So took a short train trip to Osaka and had to jump a few subways to get to the Osaka History museum. What was interesting in the subway was the fact that there were areas for women loading only during the more busier times of the days. There was also a stack of mini-kegs, that I thought all you spartan fans would appreciated, I'd bring one back, but I'm lacking the space in my bag. Another note on the whole subway station thing, is that it is unbelievably huge, intricate and confusing, it's nothing like Chicago's, but more along hte line of Toronto's in the way the there are stores everywhere and there is just as much below ground, as far as the city is concerned, as there is above ground.

The Osaka museum was a really sweet building. I was shaped like a boat, and like ten stories high. It was cool because it had those little stick-like walky-talky's that had everything in english so we could understand all the displays. We took the elevator to the top story, and what was really funny is that it had mood lighting and music and we did like 10 floors in like two seconds and you barely even felt it move. The museum was full of really interesting things. I guess the original ancient Osaka was actually all carved out and was an intense network of channels that they had dug out to create crazy motes. Osaka at one point was the largest city in Japan and the capitol at one point. There were again many kids in there and they love trying out there english or Eigo as they call it, and are full of ?'s as to where we're from, what we're doing here, if we liked it here. There were tons of artifacts in this museum, but lie I had said before, they are starting to get old, so I'm just going to throw up a few pics, and if you have any ?'s I'll just let you know. There are so many cool things that I've seen it's just hard to put them all on here and into context, but it's cool all the same and you just can't do it all justice. Another thing is some of the photos are goofy, I am not meaning t odegrade what's in the photo. It would just be EXTREMELY boring if I'm just standing by everything with some dumb grin on my face, instead we as a group are making it all interactive and more fun to look at, otherwise I might as well just buy a bunch of post cards and crop myself into them. From the top floors we were able to see the castle and it was unbeleivably HUGE!!!! From there we went to the castle there. It was by FAR thee largest one we had seen yet. The mote was sick, I just couldn't beleive that these ancient societies had accomplished such feats. They also had the entire grounds on the inside covered in make-shift gardens that had been created and/or sponsored by major companies and garden companies, there were some that were really sweet, others just tacky and cheap. We ate more Tako-Yaki, those squid balls, these ones were a LOT better then the ones we had Hikone. We all tried this fun icecream, it was a stick of vanilla with chocolate balls attached by once melted chocolate incased in a waffle like covering. It was sooooo good and it was only like 89 yen (like 70 cents). We walked by a dojo which had kids stick fighting, it was pretty cool. Some of the 7 year olds looked like they could kick my butt. We also ran by a bunch of kids who were playing vollyball-of-sorts in a circle and joined their game. It was soooooo much fun and the kids ate it up. They were alot of fun and so outgoing, and made such an effort to break the language barrier, a lot more so then I feel ppl in America would have if a group of foreigner came by. They were also extremely inviting and inclusive, I LOVED our reception here in every place we've gone.

We then went to a down-town area to eat at a place called Watomi, which is a diner/saki joint bussiness men go to after work. It was packed, but it was cool because we got our own little den-like room with traditional matts-at-a-table kind of deal. We all tried some crazy food, fried mini crabs (kinda tasted like burnt Patatoe chips), a whole Squid (tasted like fishy rubber) and a 3-piece Watashi (watashi-raw) and it came with raw shrimp with heads still attached, salmon and some other kind of fish. Thank god all the menus here come with detailed pictures. It makes sense since throughout history here there has been loads of foriegners, you'd think we'd have the same kind of deal back in the states. It was really good, the total was like 19,000Y (Y=yen) so it was like 190 bucks. Good thing there's no tip here, lol. After that we rushed home to catch the trains, which ended up being a horrible mess. We somehow lost the professor and two of the guys. So there were 8 of us, I ran down stairs to get a snack, and by the time I got up to the platform (not even 4 minutes later) EVERYONE was gone, apparently I got turned around and went up the wrong ones, oops, my B lol. So there were seven left, they sent Ben down to get me, and then somehow lost him, leaving 6, lol. But some how I managed to beat them home, and so did Ben, meanwhile Ben and I had just assumed that we had missed the train that the rest had gotten on, it was sooooooo random. Thats all for the Osaka Saga

-Bill

*muah*

2006-05-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

Hiroshima: Memorial Peace Park & Hiroshima Castle

Today was definately anothe long one. We stayed up late Tuesday night exchanging culture with Yuta, Myumee and Uka, until almost 2. Which isn't normally late, but after a long day, and having to get up at 5ish, it wasn't the greatest idea in the world. We caught Taxi's to the Marlbarra station and from there caught the bullet train south about three hours south to the Hiroshima station. We planned Hiroshima for wednesday because it was going to be the day with the most ammount of rain, so we wouldn't mind spending 7 hours of it in travel. One of the first things we noticed when we got off the train was an awesome statue of peace and happiness, the symbol of the city. On that note let me comment on how EXTREMELY happy all the women and children are, ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!! My jaw would be sore if I smiled and laughed as much as they do all the time. It's very refreshing.

It was downpouring that day, but it didn't put a damper on our mood, just our shoes, we walked about a half an hour in the terrential rain until we realised it wasn't getting anybetter and the park wasn't really getting any closer. So we finally opted for transportation. Once we got to the park, the first thing we noticed was the Peace Dome, whic was designed by a Russian, and right near the epicenter of the A-bomb and it somehow wasn't totally leveled like almost the ENTIRE area. It's now known as one of the World Inharitance sites. I was an awesome site, but very saddening at the time as well. I guess they were really torn about leaving it up or tear it down, b/c some ppl wanted it to be a reminder of why Nuclear/Atomic weapons are bad, while others found it to be a sed reminder. As you could tell the previous of the two won the battle. Another cool fact is that when the bomb went off, at 8:15 am, the entire covering of the dome, which was made of copper, turned liquid in a second and rained down.

Peace Park also had a bunch of other great Sites

This is the Peace Clock, it goes off every

morning at 8:15 in honor and rememberance of those who lost thier l

ives on that tragic morning.

Thats me ringing the Peace Bell,

it really sweet, and loud as heck as well.

This was made to Honor Sadako, a famous little girl who started dying of
Leukemia Years after the A-Bomb, so in order to fight for life, she fold thousands of miniature paper cranes, and in her honor kids to this day bring thousands of cranes to the Peace Park daily.

There was the Eternal Flame, that will remain lit until

all nuclear weapons have been destroyed.

There was also a monument that they perform all the

ceromonies in front of that looks really cool.

The museum was awesome, it really hit close to home. It made you realise how much the ppl of Hiroshima suffered, over 160 thousand ppl lost thier lives, homes, families and city. So many innocent men, women and even children died long, horrible, hand painful death. The put names, faces and stories to life. I also learned that almost all of the southern hemispheres have signed into an anti-nuclear treaty, and countries like the US, Parts of the UK, France and Russia are still ignorant in thier persistance in owning and testing nuclear weapons. It just gives me yet another reason to hate and distrust our government. To know that they were capable of killing so many innocent ppl just makes my stomach SICK!!!!! I was also surprised in the setiment that the Japanese and museum had, it wasn't one of resentment or hate, but of rememberance of the lost lives and the prevention of it ever happening again. The ppl were so nice to us, even though we were Americans in a site that was destroyed by Americans. This to the right was a model of what it looked like after the A-bomb, all wooden structures were inciterated almost instantly, and most others were reduced rubble. This model is one thousandth the size and technically that ball which represents where the A-bomb should be about thirty meters then where it is. Could you imagine the damage had it been closer to the earth? There were portions portions of walls that hard been sliced up by shards of glass that had been sent flying, if it could do that, can you imagine what happaned to the unfortune souls that had been its way. Do to that mass numbers of victims, so many were unable to recieve proper treatment, and up to twenty years later were having shards removed.

After that we went for pancakes, for Hiroshima is famous for them. It's called Okonomiami (sp?) and it is AMAZING. It's a thin almost crepe-like pancake. A ton of sliced cabbage, a large serving of noodles, whatever meat you had ordered (Igot bacon and squid) The fry that all up underneath the pancake, and then crack an egg and put it all that, so the pancake and egg make a sandwhich of sorts. Then they put some sort of asian BBQ sauce and Mayo on it and it's good to go. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! I strongly recomend it to Anyone. The best Part is they cook right in front of you.

After that we went to the Hiroshima Castle which was fun, It was a reconstruction because it had been destroyed in the bombing. So from the outside it looks just like it had before on the outside, but the entire inside was all modern and was a museum of sorts. It was cool. Castles and temples are starting to get old REAL QUICK. I mean they're GORGEOUS, but they are all so similar and my feet are getting sore, lol. We got to try on some fake quard-wear. Looked goofy but it was fun. I also got to bang on the warning drum, it was kinda loud, and then there's a pic of me being goofy with the dragon, what can I say? There's also another pic of Ryan, Jeff and I dressed up in some of the old traditional army gear. How hot are WE!?!?!? LOL, our proffessor has to think that we are all a bunch of nut bags, he still loves it though, otherwise it would be a REALLY boring trip, lol. Thats pretty much all for Hiroshima, I have a few other days to update but I don't think I'm going to get to that tonight.

I also want to give a shout out to some IMPORTANT women in my life, Happy Mothers Day Grandma, Aunt Colleen, Aunt Kris, GG I. and Grandma I, without you, I would be lost.

Hope you guys are doing great on that side of the world and I'm looking forward to coming home, and enjoying DEMF and Prom.

-Bill

2006-05-09T04:15:00.000-07:00

This is just a picture post because I don't have time to tell a story about everything, but I want to get it out there for you guys to see, as well as have it recorded.

This is at a nearby Garden here in Hikone

Some of the people I've seen

Cool Statues and Rocks

This Ones for you Grandma,

A crane and an ancient artifact,

definately getting my journey on, on this trip

2006-05-09T02:40:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

What's going on on your side of the planet? The past couple of days have been sickly packed, I'm already feeling exhausted, lol. Yesterday we got up early because we all went to bed early, we knew it was going to be a long day. We went and met the rest of the students in the other program, there's about 40 kids here for three different programs. Waited until 11 when orientation was done and got our bikes so we could head to the Hikone station. There were six of us, Karim, a muslum from Canada, Lu a China-born american who can read the Japanese Hinagardi (sp? the alphabet they have here), and then there's Mike, Ben, and Jeff, a bunch of white kids, but Ben knew a little bit of Japanese, and had been for a week already so knew some of the ways.

We jumped on a slow train and went east so we could jump on the Shinkensen (blue bullet train) and took that to Kyoto, which has some AMAZING temples. First off the train station was UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!! It was like four stories underground, and like 15 stories up, but was just an awesome hollowed out monstrosity of a structure. Just had shapes that ran in EVERY direction and thousands of ppl from all over the world going in hundreds of directions, I heard more languages there, then anywhere I have ever been.

The main temple we had in mind was the Kiyomizu which was about a 4-5 kilometer hike through the city. We saw Pochinko (japanese gambling with steel balls??? lol) everywhere in the city, and we crossed this huge canal to find a sign that said freindly family dining with an english menu, so we were all about it. It was a hole in the wall dinner, literally, called Manzou, you can check it out @ www.manzou.co.jp Although they had an english menu, it did not by any means make it easier, AT ALL!!!!!!!! It was fun though, and the server looked like Yen or whatever his name is from that movie dark chrystal, lol. We were feeling adventurous so Jeff and I got Sashimi, this big seafood array, it had sea urchan (The orangish stuff under the leafs in the photo), tako (octopus), some sort of sea snails, and like 5 kinds of uncooked fish, which was all awesome, urchan had a weird taste, but not bad and the sea snails were amazing, i think she said it was something like Uchi but I'm probably wrong. 4 us toasted a glass of Saki to an beginning of a trip of a lifetime, Mike and Karim don't drink. So a couple hours later we were on the road again.

Saw some other temples on the way to Kiromizu, but rushed along. We had to walk up a VERY narrow street and many steep steps to get to the temple that was full of traditional shops and behind those were grand houses, it was interesting. The temple was gorgeous, the colors were vibrant and once again we were in the middle of tourists-town. Took pictures like you wouldn't believe, and rubbed more Buddha's then I care to count. You also throw coins in prayer bins in front of alot of the statues and monuments. The main Buddha was the one of wealth here. Looked kinda like one of the seven dwarfs. There was a love walk, where you made a wish at one and walk with your eyes closed to the other one and in order for it come true you have to make it. I made it!!!!!!! I had one boy and wish in mind ;-). We finished out that temple and it was starting to get late and other temples were closing so we headed to the cities heart and nightlife.

First we were lost for a while and found this really cool street that ran near the canal, first there were some really old traditional buildings that were magnificent and right next to it all the buildings were modern with a semi-traditional facade, very chic. I swear Geishas were living there. We also saw men outlining the future design of art that was to painted on one of the buildings. Out of nowhere the city exploded in front of us. People as far as the eye could see and lights and noises and just craziness. We went in and out of a lot of shops, Lu got some hot shoes, I got some more cell charms. We found what we thought was a back ally of sorts and ended up leading us to a never-ending maze of stores, cafes, diners, boutiques and more allys. We could have spent all day there, but realized we needed to start the hour plus journey back to the train station so we wouldn't miss the last Shinkensen. On our way out however, were distracted by a crazy four lever Micky D's, it was awesome, fiber optics imitating the night skys, complete with shooting stars, one of the levels even had smoking. Most of us tried the Terioki burgers, it was one of the cheapest things, and how often do you get to order that from a Micky D's, they were like 200 yen, (about a buck 90) GREAT!!!!!! Just like the ones from Hawaii.

We headed back and it had already gotten dark and the oddest thing is there wasn't really a main street, lol so we took allyways, which was really scary at times, but we saw girls and 60 yo women walking by themselves, so we figured it couldn't be too bad. We noticed all the sidewalks have certain grooves so all the blind people could follow it, and there were different designs at different obstacles, HOW EFFICIENT!!!!!!! Efficient has been the word of the trip, this country is RIDIC when if comes to it, I'll ellaborate more on later posts. We saw an mini asian statue of liberty that was cool, and also ran into a starbucks, so even when you a million miles from home, you can still get you grande mocha frapaccino hold the whip and you feel like you're right back at home, lol.

We got to the station just in time for the last Shinkensen of the day, thank Buddha, bc it's a LONG walk home. Got home and crashed, it was much needed.

Today wasn't as fun, orientation, class stuff, some shopping, found a crazy rock on the beach of Biwa while I was looking for one for my Grandma, as I always do, it was blue and white and had a hand giving the piece sign etched into it, how sweet?!?!?! We spent an hour with the Japanese students who are here to learn english trading terms and cultural differences, it was very interesting, I found out the envelopes I got from the 99 yen store (asian version of a dollar store, lol) are actually funeral cards, explains the odd look from the clerk the day prior. On the trip to the Grocery store we discovered that one of the Japaneses favorite pets are large rino-beetles, how intense is that, I just thought it was nuts. Tonight Jeff and I did some amazing cooking. Seafood here is much cheaper then eating out so we got some to cook, we made a noodle dish made of two major tenticles of tako and like 8 mini ones, plus some shrimp we got. It was amazing, we used more of that saki derrivative for flavor and more of that sea-weed, I love cooking here.

Off to do some reading, catch you laters

Osaki Ni
(aparently Konbanwa is good evening in coming, not leaving, lol)

-Bill

p.s. I found out today that the professor wants me to lead one of the classes in instructing the other students on how to create and maintain a blog, and I'm to use this as an example, how hawt is that?!?!?!?!?!? Thanks krunkblog, lol

2006-05-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

We took a walk today, to go to the grocery store, it was quite a trip, let me tell you. Crazy things EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! Most of it unwrapped, some things were rediculously priced, others fairly and then there were some that were just out right CHEAP!!!!!!!! It was amusing in the fact that you have to bag your own groceries, they ring it up, give you a bag and you walk to a bagging table to get it done. Also, if you are sick in japan, you wear one of those face masks, like you would around dry wall or insulation, I guess it's like a common curtious thing. I made another Oooops in buying a food not knowing what it was. It appeared to be bits of terioki chicken skeward on a stick, so I got three of them, and bit into it as I was walking out of the store and it ended up being liver, and I jus tabout tossed my cookies. My comrads ate it up right quick though, apparently they liked it. We saw a guy making little balls outside of the grocery store, so we stopped to try it, it was octopus balls, little slices of octopus that were cooked inside of somesort of wheat batter. There were also bits of chives and small slices of chives, it was actually really good. It's called Tako Yaki, try it sometime, it was like 6 for 300 yen.

The walk there was full of sites, cute little gardens with Coi ponds, awesomely shaped trees, kind of like Bonsai's but 6 feet tall, the colors were awesome as well. It's been very rainy and everything, and theres been some awesome mist on the mountains. The signs along the roads and everything have been quite a trip, there was one warning about gangs and being mugged, which I found kind of commical. There was also one sign of Japan's Great Lake, Shiga, one of the oldest lakes in the world ( about 4-5 million years old) that had a dragon on it. There was also another sign for a pharmicutical store that had a pack-man-like cartoon chomping on pills, lol. The scenery here is unbelievable. The mountains, the forests, the fog, the lake, thank god we're not allowed to drive here, not only would driving on the wrong side of the road be hard, but so would driving while ALWAYS looking around me instead of in front, we already know how bad of a drive I am, I don't need to get in an accident in a foriegn country.

We're cooking a bunch of crazy stuff right now, trial error, shrimp, flounder (we think), some sort of noodles, we accidentily baught a saki derrivitive instead of cooking oil, but the foods that much better. We alsomade some sort of noodles with seaweed, shrimp and a few seasons. Looks like no weight is going to be lose on this trip. I just want to eat one of everything. Nigitis are these mini sushi like wraps, there like a 100 yen and are really good (109 yen is about the equivilent to a dollar) These are great for on the road. Also with alot of the drinks you get here, you get some sort of cell phone charm/dangly thing, JC Cunningham told me about these, there huge here, so i'm collecting some.

Konbanwa
-Bill

2006-05-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

Boy am I beat, it's been a long two days.

I Finished off my last exam Thursday night, around 7, I just got my grades on it and I 4 pointed it, SWEET!!!!! Finished up some things in the EL, said my good byes, packed, whatever. Then grabbed my Bonsai's and favorite Alanis Morissette CD and a Slurpee and it was off to the heights for a mini reunion with some freinds I should have never of lost touch with.

Running Late, I didn't get there until almost mid-night :( but some of my best friends were there, my cousin Nick, Brady and her fiance Derick, and Jamie Glenn, all just as I remembered 'em. My boyfriend was a little late as well, he had to finish writing his paper's closing. We had margaritas and caught up on old times. I'm glad Derick and Brady are on their own, happy, and engaged. Jamie has a man now that makes her happy. Nick's working through a few things and my boyfriend and I had just resolved a few things. People slowly drifted off, or to bed. Finished Moulan with my boy, and then he had to run home for minute. I hate how can make me smile no matter what. antidotal

I fell asleep around 4:45 and Brady got me up around 5:35, apparently I slept through my alarm clock, jetted to my Aunt's, got ready, and booked it right after I saw my man for one last good bye. Traffic wasn't to bad and we made good time to the airport. Handed over my cell phone and Tiffany's and that's when it hit me, I'M GONE!!!!!!!!!!

Thank god the fam told me to snag some socks, b/c as usual it was freezing. Small layover in Chicago, but I was back in the air by 12:30ish. Had a very sarcastic and antidotal personality, an exact replica of Leah's father, rather humorous, made for great conversation till the sleep aids kicked in and I was out for a few hours. Woke up three hours later to food and a baby that didn't stop crying until the Bering Straights, man I was unpleasant. lol It seemed like a few more bad movies and have cans of coke I was flying over rice patty's and being told to buckle up. Doing as told and sat and waited for the landing. Excited, Neverous, Independent, FREAKING OUT!!!!!!!! Costums was a breeze, exchanged some money for trains and what not, and waited for an half an hour for the fisrt one. Sat next to a cool guy, although the language barrier killed it, haha. An hour later it was time to exchange trains in Tokyo station, quite possible one's BIGGEST nightmares EVER!!!!!!! I arrived 4 levels underground and had to reach the top platform, and only had 10 minutes to do so with about 80 pounds of junk on me, and of course I went to the wrong top level so I had to go back down and up another ramp, and this place had a few thousands ppl all rushing as well. They even had signs warning not to rush for you will get hurt or hurt someone. lol , Ooops, my B. Made it to my train just in time and just so happened to end up in a smoking train, :( lol.

So one of my first mistakes was getting water from a vending machine, it ended up being a nasty flavored water, but that wasn't so bad, the next one was the one that killed me. I thought I was getting some kind of treat made out of maple syrup, NOOOOO!!!!!!! It was some sort of Teryoki seafood, which I was later informed by my new Japanese comrad, Yuta that it was dried scallops. It was actually good, just not what I had expected. The third was asking for a coke from the train maid, and getting something Pocari Sweat, yeah it's an iron suppliment, like an asian Gatorade. This has definately been a trip so far. The trains were SUPER fast and SUPER smooth, I was impressed. The taxi drive was nice, I asked for the time and he gave me gum, haha. I arrived at my school, JCMU (Japan Center for Michigan University) and it was closed!?!?!?!?!?! Apparently it's Golden week, where the WHOLE country takes off for vacation, talk about lucky. So I went to this cafe called Coco's where I met Yuta, and enjoyed some SeaFood Doria, which was like cheesey rices covered with Octopus, Shrimp, Scallops, Eel, Fish, it was AWESOME, and then there was some sort of patatoe pancake with fish, that reminded me of Lacka's (sp?)

So I've been having a ton of fun, spent a night in the Hotel next door and now I'm with some of my Classmates, the guys are awesome. I'll fill in more later, off to explore......

-Bill
*muah*