- USA
- Ireland
- France
- Belgium
- Back in France
- May 30, 2005Mexican Princesses
- May 31, 2005Versaille
- June 1, 2005Last Day in Paris
- June 2, 2005Coast of Marseille
- May 3, 2005Callanques of Marseille
- June 4, 2005Leaving Marseille
- June 5, 2005Busted Ankle
- June 6, 2005Healing in St. Raphael
- June 7, 2005Bongos on the Beach
- June 8, 2005Goodbye, St. Raphael - Hello Cannes
- June 9, 2005Antibes Daytrip
- June 10, 2005Chilling in Cannes
- June 11, 2005To Nice with the Finns
- Monaco
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Austria
- Hungary
- Poland Fun
- June 29, 2005Zakopane
- June 30, 2005Hiking in the Tatry Mountains
- July 1, 2005Trail of Wooden Architecture
- July 2, 2005Krakow Jazz Festival
- July 3, 2005Kazimierz
- July 4, 2005Goral Burger
- July 5, 2005Ciupagi
- July 6, 2005Czestochowa
- July 7, 2005Trainhopping
- July 8, 2005Happy Birthday Mom!!!
- July 9, 2005Happy Birthday Jack
- July 10, 2005Banana Riding
- July 11, 2005First Russian Embassy Visit
- Poland Family
- July 12, 2005Family, at Last
- July 13, 2005Mom's Schoolfriends
- July 14, 2005Muddy Ponds
- July 15, 2005Partying in Poznan
- July 16, 2005A Relaxing Day
- July 17, 2005Sheeshah Bar
- July 18, 2005Five Souvereign Lands
- July 19, 2005The Good News
- July 20, 2005Another Family Function
- July 21, 2005Just Chilling
- July 22, 2005The Best Bike Ever
- July 23, 2005Looking for a Home by the Baltic Sea
- July 24, 2005Copernicus and the Boyscouts
- July 25, 2005Visas are Set to Go
- July 26, 2005Luxury
- July 27, 2005A Day at Work
- Russia
- July 28, 2005Back in St. P Looking for 1UP
- July 29, 2005Peter's Pimpin' Palace and the Neverending Nights
- July 30, 2005Big Bad Moscow
- July 31, 2005Beating Birches
- August 1, 2005Off to Siberia
- August 2, 2005Drinking with the Guards
- August 3, 2005Big, Rolling Trans-Siberian Party
- August 4, 2005Pack up, Only Six Hours Left
- August 5, 2005Irkutsk
- August 6, 2005Swimming in Lake Baikal
- August 7, 2005Drenched
- August 8, 2005Partying with Uzbeks
- August 9, 2005I Love You Omul, I Heart Baikal
- August 10, 2005Pushed out of Russia
- Mongolia
- China
- August 26, 2005Chasing Buses
- August 27, 2005Looking for the Opera
- August 28, 2005Sleeping on a Wall
- August 29, 2005Trying to Find the Opera Once Again
- August 30, 2005Forbidden City and Searching for the Opera
- August 31, 2005The Opera Sucks
- September 1, 2005Hutongs and Strange Food
- September 2, 2005The Peking Ducks Incident
- September 3, 2005Beijing Shopping
- September 4, 2005The Dirt Market and Tiger Penis Vodka
- September 5, 2005Temples, Temples, and More Temples
- September 6, 2005The Amazing Summer Palace
- September 7, 2005Goodbye Asia
- Back in the USA
World Trip
Off to Poland
Today is the day to leave for Poland. The train, according to the lady at the wrong train station, leaves only once a day from the other station at 7pm. I had a whole day to kill so I met up with Monika and Marie again. They were going shopping at the mall. While not being exactly thrilled to go to mall, I wanted to spend some more time with them and had no better plans. I went along, and thankfully after about half an hour, they noticed my complete boredom and decided that tomorrow would also be an OK day to go shopping, and we headed off for Margarette Island.
We spent the day eating ice cream, walking through the great park that Margarette Island is, and laying in front of an awesome fountain listening to classical music. Eventually it was time to head back to the hostel to get my backpack and head off to the train station, so we said our goodbyes.
The metro between the hostel and the train station is under renovation, so I should have taken a bus. But there are so many busses and I did not want to get lost in this city with not that much time to spare, so I walked. I got to the station with at least half an hour to spare and went to buy my ticket. The line moved reasonably fast, which seemed unreal for this city. However, the lady in front of me had some quite complicated business to take care of that involved exchanging some tickets and trying to get a dog with her family into a sleeper car. She ended up being Polish and we chatted for twenty minutes while her business was being taken care off. She said that I should have asked her to cut in front, but how was I supposed to know her deal was going to be so damn complicated.
Ticket in hand I headed towards my train. It was on a far track, so I had to walk past the whole train station. The way to go was blocked. Smoke was pouring out from underneath an ancient looking train, and people in vaguely military uniforms were shuffling about. Above head was a sign saying "Roma Train", and from guessing I figured this was some weird gypsy military send-off. Normal people had to walk between this hell-train along the tracks to get to the far tracks. As I passed the locomotive it looked like it was going straight to Hogwarth's. Eventually after taking some pictures and talking to someone I got the down low that they were filming some movie here. I was thankful because otherwise my memories of this city would have been quite more bizarre.
I settled down into the train into a cabin with a cute little girl from Cleveland. She was traveling around a bit and was going to some little town in Slovakia to see her aunt and uncle. She had a little basket of peaches with her. She reminded me of little red riding hood. We walked the entire trip and it turns out her life story is very similar to us. We talked about life in general and gypsies. She missed her train station and had to take a taxi for 36 km to get to her uncle's home. Her biggest fear was not to get eaten by the gypsies. All in all Budapest was great. Sure, there were the rough times, but overall I think the city is very interesting and a great place to visit. The only word I recognized in this language, even though it is not a Slavic language, is "kurwa". I also learned how to say thanks, mind you not even a proper thank-you, but just thanks (koo-see). I would like to come back and spend more time seeing the sights it has to offer, while riding their public transport without a ticket, attempting to recoup my fine.
