Vienna to Warsaw

Trains seem to always end in a funny story, especially if you miss them!

Julianne, the girl from Brisbane whom I have been hanging out with the past couple of days, and I were going to go to Czesky Krumlov in the Czech Rep last night, but the train out of Vienna departed from the minor station that was a bit difficult to get to, and by a bit difficult I mean: we took the metro, in order to catch a tram, so we could catch a bus. Well the metro took longer than expected, we couldn't find the tram, and then once we finally found the bus we got on it going the wrong direction. So we jumped off the bus as soon as we realized, hailed a cab and prayed we could make it to the station in 10 minutes. If you are not at the station at least 15 minutes before your train leaves, I would say, "don't even waste your time," unless it is Spain or Italy where trains are always running late. Finally we were sitting in the cab looking at our watches going, "this is not going to happen. Where else can we get to tonight? Lets look in my train schedule. Oh, look at that, we could go to Poland on an overnight train. That sounds fun!"

That is the basic stream of consciousness when one misses a train, but still wants to leave where they are. I mean it takes so much effort to pack in 5 minutes. You really don't want to have to do it all over again the next day unless you are doing it in another country. So, we hoped on an overnight train to Warsaw Poland. Poland wasn't even on my radar as a destination, so it was fun to completely veer off my path. Plus this way I get to make it to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. And got to do my first sleeper couchette, which was so much better than trying to sleep sitting up.

Vienna was a blast! I did so much, and loved every minute of it. Met a bunch of great people, and did some rare tourist activities. After doing the "War and Peace" of walking tours, Julianne and I decided to go to the Royal Viennese Opera and see the ballet that was playing that night, so we got the 3 euro 'standing room only' tickets and stood in the Alps watching a wonderful ballet. It was so much fun seeing a classical ballet in such a fantastic venue, while wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans. (FYI... If you do standing room seats at the opera, there is no dress code. So you can basically walk off the street and see the performance. No need to bathe!!!)

The next day we spent going to a couple of museums, seeing the largest single collection of Klimt artwork at the Leopold Museum, and went out to dinner at this awesome wine bar. The Wine Bar was formerly the wine cellar of the Royal Family, with tunnels connecting many noble establishments in Vienna, so it is HUGE. The food is really cheap, you can buy wine by the liter, it is not too touristy, and it is supremely historic. The Austrians are known for their pork, so the two of us got deep fried pork chops and a liter of fine to split. Finally Sunday morning, I went to mass at the private Royal Chapel to see the Viennese Boys Choir perform. They perform every Sunday at the "Catholic Light" mass. It is incredible, but buy tickets early if you want to see them in Vienna (if you ever go) because the Chapel is REALLY SMALL, and tickets go quickly, but the music is wonderful, and you can take pictures with the little boys in the courtyard afterwards.

Vienna is a wonderful destination. I would highly recommend it to anyone. There is so much to do, and (for the most part) it is reasonably cheap. I can tell if a city is cheap based on how much I pay to use a W.C. In Vienna, if you had to pay, it was only 50 cents. Quite a respectable sum for the privilege of relieving yourself.

I have attached a couple of pictures from Jule's and my night at the ballet.



Those Webster dance classes paid off!

Vienna, Austria

I made it to Vienna today and am having a great time. The city is so clean and beautiful. It reminds me a bit of a modern-day fairy tale. The hostel I am staying in is very near the train station that I came into, so it was a nice easy walk from the train station to my hostel.

The only complaint I have so far with the city is that the tourist map you are given by the Info Center requires the vision of a young Clark Kent to read. The city is quite large, and has a lot of small streets, but there could be some way of them having larger maps of each district or something. When I was walking around today, I had to strain my eyes and my navigation skills to read the 1:50 scale map. I think the biggest problem with the map is not the size of the streets listed on it, but all of the street names are really long German words, so everything on the map is abbreviated or too small to read. I am sure I will learn to deal with it.

Got in contact with my Webster friends studying here, so I think I am going to try to meet up with them tomorrow and figure out where in the world the campus is.

A word of advice, make certain in Budapest that you: a) have a valid ticket for the metro, and b) if you are going to have to change metro trains, buy a transfer ticket. I bought a three day metro pass while I was in Budapest so I could ride as much as I needed to and not worry about the transfer pass. I thought that the three day pass was actually a 72 hour pass. I was wrong. Also, when you are getting on the train they are pretty lax about checking your ticket. There are no turnstiles or gates to go through, you just hold out your ticket and the guy smiles and waves you past. Well, today when I was headed to the train station from my hostel, I had to take the metro. I had out my ticket, showed it to the guy at the station near the hostel, and was on my way to Keleti Station. But, and that’s a big but (figuratively not literally, well maybe the woman at the metro station did have a big butt, but I wasn't going to point that out) when I got off the metro and was walking to the exit, there was a group of metro officials checking the tickets of people exiting, the first I had seen this. Well I pulled out my ticket, showed it to the lady and was nearly through, until she looked at the date on my ticket, the very small fine print date. Apparently, what I thought was a valid ticket, was not, so her supervisor approached and demanded I pay the 6000 forint fine. Well I certainly didn't have that much money on me since I certainly didn't need forints in Vienna. He walked with me all the way to the ATM at the train station so I could withdraw the cash to cover the fine. Let me remind you 3000 forints is a nice sized meal for me, so because I was without a valid ticket I had to sacrifice two days of good food. Guess it will be another day of stale bread smeared in Nutella. The guy was nice, but it was just his job to enforce the rules, so I knew arguing to him would make no difference. So heed my warning... take a tram instead of the metro in Budapest, no people monitoring the validity of tickets on the trams. It might be slower, but if you are discreet, it is free.

Sunday in Budapest with Mark

BUDAPEST IS INCREDIBLE! This is probably the first city I have been to on my trip where I feel I could spend all 5 months. (But that would be silly to do, seeing is how I will probably feel the same way about some of the other cities I go to, and why miss them because I like this one so much).

I had a bit of a rough night. I went out for a bit after I got here, just to do a bit of walking in the city at night and stretch my legs. I also hoped that doing a bit of walking would help me sleep better that night. Well I think I ate something before going to bed that just didn't totally agree with my system. I don't think I ate anything bad, but maybe had a little too much sugar, seeing as how I ate three pieces of what I can only describe as the Hungarian equivalent to Boston Cream Pie. But I woke up in the middle of the night nauseated and just plain uncomfortable (I don't think the incredibly fragrant fabric softener that the hostel uses helped either. So I slept in a little late, but felt fine when I finally decided to roll off my bed.

Once I was up and moving around I decided to do a little walking tour of Budapest. Wow, the architecture here is amazing. Every single building is ornamented with dazzling carvings, egg and dart molding, and massive sweeping curves. It is known to many as the "Paris of Eastern Europe." If Paris is the "City of Lights," Budapest is the city of "Copper and Gold." Many of the buildings have beautiful Art Nouveau mosaics gilded in gold leaf, and the majority of domes and sculptures have been cast out of copper. It made me think, "When did we lose this architectural attention to detail and love of opulence?" I assume it was when contractors started charging so much to hang drywall. It did remind me of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The older parts of the Temple in Barcelona are expertly carved and ornately decorated, while the newer parts are much more plain and linear. The bike tour guide made a joke about how the original craftsmen had much more sophisticated tools, but went on to say it was a sacrifice to the almighty dollar. Cheaper to build minimal and fast than complex and slow, I guess. That seems like a cop out to me. Maybe this could solve the employment problem in the US. Start building these huge, complicated structures that take armies of men to complete and everyone that wants a job, and a good workout, will have the opportunity. Oh wait, us white folk are too good for that; we would just get a couple of Illegal Mexican Aliens to do all the manual labor... LOL.

I walked all around the city, in both Buda and Pest. (They were originally two cities separated by the Danube River, but merged in 1872. Actually it was three cities, but no one ever talks about Old Buda). I think I have developed a talent for getting to cities during their annual marathon, because, like Zagreb, today was Budapest's Marathon, so I was forced to navigate around the runners. I made it to The Hero's square in the City Park, the Royal Palace with its lovely views of Budapest, the National Opera, and The Citadell (the largest hill in Buda right on the Danube overlooking the entire city), plus all of the sights in between. The Citadell and the Heroes Square are at opposite ends of the map I have, so it was cool to do those because now when put pins in the map indicating places I have been the map will actually stay up on the wall. Because it was Sunday there wasn't a whole lot of "stuff" to do, and what there was didn't stay open very long, so it was the perfect day to walk a bit.

One of the most popular things to do in Budapest is go to one of its many Thermal Bathhouses. The entire city was built on a natural hot spring, so several large (and when I say large, the one I walked around in the City Park today took me 15 minutes to get all the way around) bathhouses have been constructed. They are some of the most beautiful buildings in all of Budapest, and still remain extremely popular with the locals. Maybe I will do one tomorrow, once I get tired enough to need a good relaxing dip in a hot spring.

Lots of tours available here, and things happening all the time, so I think I am going to really enjoy me time here.

Budapest at the Goat Hostel

I have made it to Budapest, after a 14 hour day of travel. I started early in the morning, rising at the ungodly hour of 6 am in order to catch the 7:30 train to Zagreb, and then hitch a ride aboard the 3:45 train to Budapest.

I have taken notice of the fact that Europeans are big fans of sidewalks paved in polished marble. The walkways are beautiful and glisten in the sunlight, and because of their expensive look, appear clean and inviting. Inviting unless you are me. I am what you might call obsessed with flip-flops or thongs (if you feel so inclined). I have an unrivaled affinity for the comfortable and breezy shoe. I have worn them most of my trip. Hiking through Cinque Terra (receiving less than pleased looks from the older, more mature tourists, as they strolled in their expensive hiking boots) I learned that a pair of flip flops encourages you to get more in touch with the world around you. You step light when you need to, run at a moments notice, and can kick them off in a flash to splash around in the water. You might have tired feet at the end of the day, but your paws remain free of blisters and other unthinkable foot ailments. But I digress, back to the marble sidewalks. When a polished to perfection marble sidewalk gets due to rain or hose (lots of washing is required to keep them looking so pristine) they suddenly become EXTREMELY slick, especially to people such as my self that parade around in 6 dollar flip-flops from Walgreen's. Now imagine me, of course in my thongs, carrying the 50 lbs for luggage I have, hiking to a train station at 6 am. Now I will admit I am not a morning person, but it was less hiking more ice skating. There were about two dozen instances that I nearly took a devastating plunge. This all before I got to the main Riva (street of solid marble) that I had to walk down in order to get to the train station. Let’s just say I looked like the uncomfortable person at the roller rink holding on to the railing for dear life. Luckily it was 6 am in Croatia, so the only person that saw me in this compromised state was a guy picking bottles out of the trash left on the street by pubs, so who was he to judge me.

Needless to say, I made it to the station safe and sound, I just give you the warning to bring a pair of ice skates with you when traveling to Europe. You never know when they might come in handy (for marble sidewalks, after dark romps on a wintry night in Vienna, or warding off thieves with their sharp blades).

So far I am really enjoying Budapest, although it will take me some time to accept the fact that a soda costs 500 forents. When taking 10,000 forents out of the ATM, I asked myself "Now you don't really know the exchange rate, this could be a devastating sum." Well my hostel costs 10,800 Ft (forents) or 43 euros for four nights. Hungarians aren't doing so well with the whole exchange rate thing, but good for me. It is a cute hostel call "Goat Hostel" in a charming old building about 2 blocks from the Danube. They only warning they gave me was to stay quiet in the halls at night, so as not to disturb the little old lady who lives on the first floor. Adorable!

Tomorrow I start taking in some of the major sights and hopefully have a bit dryer weather.

Last day in Split, Croatia

Today was a great last day in Croatia. I started it with a nice, healthy breakfast featuring several items that I bought at the market yesterday. A good breakfast is a must when traveling. Too many times I have opted out of searching for breakfast, and too many times my body has said, "What the hell do you think your doing. You might think you're going up that hill, but I am staying right here." So it was nice to have some granola, toast, and juice.

After breakfast I went on a 20km walk to the edge of Split and back. It was a stunning walk down the coastline to the Hotel Zagreb. On the map given to me by the hostel, this route was indicated by a red dotted line. I search for a while to find a key on the map to tell me what this dotted red line meant. For instance, could it have signified "don't go to this area unless you want to get shot" or "this is a bus route" or even "blasting zone for future high rise casino hotel." Well it did not appear that there was a legend on the map, so I hoped for the best and decided to make the walk. Most of the areas were public swimming zones with small rocky beaches. One area was a small marina with a lot of, what I considered, not-so-seaworthy boats, and the last stretch was a quite rocky grassland butting right up to the Adriatic. At one point in the walk I put my foot in the water, just so I could say I had been in the Adriatic Sea. I was careful not toslip all the way in like I did in Cinque Terra. It went so far as to set my bag down before attempting it so I wouldn't put my camera in jeopardy. (It really didn't appreciate the cold saltwater the first time).

While I was on the walk, I sat for a bit on a bench right on the water's edge in a quiet and seemingly deserted part. Since the weather wasn't so beautiful in the morning, most areas of the shore were pretty sparse as people were concerned…pigeons were a different story. I sat there for a while just taking in the sights and the sounds of the Croatian Coastline. I tried not to think about too much, although that was a difficult one, and just enjoy. When I started walking after the break, though, I noticed that as I walked, I always looked down at my feet, seeing exactly what each patch of ground looked like before I put my foot there. I noticed myself doing this for a while, just staring at the ground, occasionally looking up to see the sights. After about 10 minutes of just watching myself do this, I decided to look up, focus my attention not on the ground right in front of me, but enjoy the landscape all around me. I made a conscious effort not to look down, only notice the path ahead in my peripheral vision, and take heed of times when I might need to walk around a pile of dog poop. I began to notice how much more enjoyable and easier the walk was when I wasn't focusing on the immediate obstacles in my path. Sure the path was a bit rocky, but I could trust my feet to go, "Oh hey, that doesn't feel right, maybe you shouldn't put all of your weight down and try again with that step."I tried walking with my head up, aware of my posture and focus for the rest of the day. I would at times catch myself looking at my feet even on a beautifully smooth sidewalk, but I would just grow aware of my focus and change it.

I think I must have lived my life in such a state for quite some time. Only focused on the obstacles right in front of me, not enjoying the whole picture of life. And living in such a way I got very bogged down, because that pebble would turn into a rock which turned into a mound which turned into a hill which all of the sudden with no warning became a mountain. A mountain I was totally unprepared for. If I had just taken the time to change my focus, I would have seen Everest coming and been able to prepare myself for it. But alas, I just kept going, looking at my feet. The strange thing to me, though, was just changing where I looked quickly changed my mood. I went from being tired and doing the walk for the sake of doing thewalk, to energetic and wanting to walk more. All I had to do was look up.

Well I finished the afternoon by doing some research on Budapest, and getting some tips from fellow travelers on where to go and what to see. I have started keeping track of these things in the journal my friend, Jessica, gave to me. I noticed if I didn't write all of these suggestions down, I would quickly forget them. People are already giving me ideas about things to do in Australia and New Zealand, so I decided to have a pen and paper handy in order to keep track of the advice, good or bad. I think as I go along, I will create some sort of ratings scale in my book to denote the good advice from the bad. That way I will know what not to tell other travelers.

I ended the day with a couple of drinks with some friends in Split at a couple of pubs. It was a lot of fun, meeting new people and getting a little drunk, but I headed home early since I have a 7:30 train in the morning. Cheers.

Arrived in Split, Croatia

Well I made it to Split safe and sound, on a train that I am pretty sure never exceeded 40 miles per hour. But it was a strange train ride because the train conductor, a woman in this case, that punches the hole in your ticket also served as the stewardess. She walked up and down the aisle the entire 6 hour train ride serving coffee, soda, and small sandwiches. I bought a sandwich and a Coke, at first I thought she said "50 Kuna" for the lot, and I thought "that seems a little steep for a Coke and two pieces of white bread with ham in the middle," but I was hungry. I gave her a 100kuna note and expected a quick 50kuna note back in change, but she didn't seem to have one available. After serving the other passengers, she returned with my change, and to my surprise and relief she had actually said "15 kuna."

Split seems like a lovely place although I haven't seen much since it was dark when I arrived. The hostel I am in, Silver Center Hostel, is great. A bunch of people were watching "The 40 year old Virgin" when I arrived, so I joined in the fun. A bit of advice for anyone traveling to Split. Make accommodation reservations before you arrive in Split. I did so because the same suggestion was given to me. I say this only because as soon as you step off the train a gaggle of elderly women stand awaiting the soul without a room. They all screech at you about their available rooms, but they tend to be overpriced and under accommodating.

On a totally different note, I just heard today from Kate, the girl I first met in the Madrid airport. She sent me some pictures from our time together in Madrid.
Kate and me at the Royal Palace



Me at the Plaza Mayor (for some reason my strong man face is the same as my pirate face)
Me & Colin walking to dinner in Madrid Dinner in Madrid

1:30 am in Croatia and the Rants begin

I shipped home some things today. I found a place that used FedEx, so I thought that would be a little more reliable than Croatian Post, since the people in the international sector of Croatian Post always seem to be on a break, or "at the other location." Although I think the girls at the FedEx place would have preferred I go to the post office instead of giving them the headache.

I now, however, look at customs in a whole new light. I had to do a piece by piece breakdown of the contents of my box, as well as the cost of the things I was shipping. Um... this is a bit tricky when one is shipping things home that one brought with them. Since I bought them in the US, do I have to pay customs on them because I am shipping them home? It is not as though I am shipping home tens of thousands of dollars in hard Croatian cocaine and don't they have dogs that sniff for that stuff. Well at first the girl didn't understand what I was saying about shippinghome things I did not buy abroad. One she understood what I was doing, she was just as confused about what to do as I was, but we did our best. The funny thing, though, was that when doing the itemized breakdown, the girl asked "Where was it manufactured?" This is the question that makes me now question the validity of International Customs. If I buy something in Spain that was manufactured in China with materials produced by an Italian company, and then try to ship it to the US, why do I have to even think about customs? This stupid "I (heart) Madrid" t-shirt has been more places in the world than I have, and yet the government still feels the need to know that it is coming into the U.S.A. Why? Just because I didn't "buy" it in the U.S.? As Ralphie from "Lord of the Flies" would say, "Sucks to your Customs Agency!" But this trip to CityExpress in Zagreb did produce one of my favorite quotes from my time in Zagreb. The girl told me that my package would arrive in Texas in two days. This shocked me, because I thought the package would take weeks to get home. You know, sit in some bin in Paris for a while, take a long flight to Nepal, get carried to Hong Kong by a Sherpa... etc. So when I looked at the girl in amazement and said, "wow... two days", she simply replied in her thick Croatian accent (imagine Russian mixed with Southern France) "YA, dis is FedEx!" I laughed for a while at that one, I guess you had to be there, but the thought of this Croatian woman being so proud of her FedEx (Federal Express, an American Institution) just gave me the giggles.

I have really enjoyed my time in Zagreb. Apparently so did a few other travelers staying at my hostile, since they would say every morning, "I am leaving today, I swear" then go down to the bar across the street, throw back a few pints (or a few dozen over the course of the day) and then say "I stay one more night, I am too drunk to travel today. I'll be at the bar if you need me." One specific gentleman did this three days in a row. Today when I left, he was sitting in the common room of the hostel, drinking a beer, looking up times for trains to Zurich. I think he will be there one more night, at least.

I met this really nice bartender my second night in town, named Zeljko (or, Jauuuelko, or Jac as I called him since I could never get Zeljko right). He has lived in Zagreb his whole life, formerly a dancer with a company in Croatia, fought in the military during the war with Serbia, and was just a general all around nice guy. He showed me around the city for two days before work, giving me a little tour of the well known and then "not so known" parts of Zagreb.

The most interesting thing for me when talking to him was his opinion of the US. Croatia is a very young and small country filled with history. But because of its size and youth, people don't pay it much attention. Recently, due to the fact that Croatia was joining the United Nations, President Bush made a two day trip to Zagreb. It was quite a big deal for the people of Zagreb, dealing with Secret Service, FBI, and our lovely first family. Zeljko was impressed, but more appalled. He said, "This is the most powerful man in the world, coming to visit our little country, a country that we have worked very hard and sacrificed many lives to get. Yet this one man, with so much power, makes us change our ways and close shops and stay off the streets for a two day visit. Does he not realize that with his job comes the risk of death? You have replaced presidents before, no? So why does he send so many men to risk their lives in another country, but be so fearful that he must risk his own. If he is killed in office, he died serving his country and the world, on honorable way to die. Why does he then not have the courage to step outside without a massive team of armed men around him?"I thought this was a very interesting point he made. Why does the president need so much security? It is paid for by our tax dollars, not his own money, and we elected him to serve our nation, not hide behind secret service. I understand a need for security, he is a well known and sometimes hated figure, but would it not make our president a much cooler guy if he just sucked it up and risked his own life the way he does our brothers and sisters. Plus, if the president didn't have the entourage of security details, he would probably be a lot more careful about the political choices that he makes, thinking "If I do this, is this something that will get me killed?" I think yes. Zeljko also said to me that for many years he was afraid of Americans based on what he referred to as the US's "Politics of Terrorism." Starting wars, making wars worse (he used Vietnam as an example), and terrorizing the rest of the world like a bully. This came out of his mouth after he fought next to our soldiers in the Serbian War.

His fear of America upset me. I don't think I am a scary person, heck I don't think most Americans are scary people, but because of the way that our government deals in political affairs, not just during the Bush Administration, people around the world have learned to FEAR us. Fear begets hate, hate begets war. It reminded me of when dad told me about the Russian guy that came to visit you when you had the two Russian women staying with you. He said he hated Americans, but now that he has met Americans he does not think we are so bad. Is this how we are viewed in most of the world? Probably, maybe not the larger countries like the UK, but the French certainly don't like us, I am sure most Middle Eastern countries don't like us, and I would bet money most African Countries don't like us. I did not like the idea of being feared. I try to live my life in a way that results in the exact opposite, making people enjoy me. I did not realize until I got the Europe how important US. domestic politics was to the rest of the world.

The dispute about votes during the Bush v. Gore election made the world cringe. Billions of people around the world, non Americans, watched the news on pins and needles because no one knew who the next most powerful man in the world would be. It put a sour taste in many people’s mouths. I thought the electoral college situation was something that only Americans fretted over, but many of the people I have met ask me how it works and what is its purpose. I have gotten pretty good at explaining how it works (generally a number of differently sized beer mugs are involved), but the purpose is something that I am not very good at explaining. People around the world think that our votes do not count, that these "electoral college votes" are something that can be bought by a candidate. Sorry to get so political on you. It just hit me hard when I was told "I used to fear your people" I didn't like the way it made me feel. It was not "I used to fear your government" but "your people." Please remember this when voting in future elections. You are electing someone to represent you in U.S. politics, someone to fight for the things you want. But you are also electing the most powerful man in the world, someone who will represent the way you are viewed by people around the world. Having a bad president could prevent someone like me traveling the way I am because the fear people see in Americans, quickly turns to hate. Sarah Palin is on the cover of many newspapers over here. This is an important election to EVERYONE! Please don't let your choice be determined simply by the party for which someone runs.

OK... you have put up with my political rants long enough, I promise that I will keep such posts to a minimum, you want to read about the funny things that happen to me. So I leave you with this: Two priests and a Croatian walk into a bar, no no no, I jest.

When in Croatia make regular stops at the main square in the center of town (ten minutes walk north of the train station), you never know what you will find there. One day there was a big concert, the next time people were getting free heart examinations, but today it was "Croatia got Talent." There was one act after another of old Croatian people showing off their "talent." One group of four did a dance routine with canes to traditional Croatian music. I have never seen my mother perform live in one of the tap recitals, but I hope it is something like what I saw those four people do. It was totally uncoordinated and at one point I think all of them just stopped what they were doing, conversed, and waited for the melody to start again and get to choreography that they actually knew.

Peace and Love, Mark