- 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
Five Souvereign Lands
Lot's of business to take care of today.
First on the order was picking up the Mongolian visa. No problem. I now have a nice colorful sticker in my American passport, which I may or may not need to go to Mongolia. The Mongolian consulate worked here insisted that it was necessary for Americans to get a Mongolian visa, although all my prior research indicated otherwise. Hard to argue with an official who is supposed to know such things though. At least I was now covered in any case.
Surprisingly, my Russian visa got approved without a problem either. This was too easy. I was really expecting having to negotiate and bribe, but apparently they had no problem issuing a visa without a set travel itinerary, or hotel and travel arrangements. Things are good.
The Chinese embassy was closed, so i went to the American one to get my passport enlarged. It is getting to be tight in there and it would be a pity to end up needing to get a visa to some country I did not anticipate going to just yet and not being able to do it because of lack of free pages in the passport.
Walking around this part of Warsaw was weird. It is an area where many embassies are located. Given that only nine days have passed since the tragic terrorist attacks in London, there were police and military officers armed with automatic weapons on every corner. I made sure not to look suspicious while taking care of my business.
In the afternoon I was off to the Chinese embassy to put in my paperwork for that visa. When i got there, I talked to an attorney who was taking care of visa matters for some clients of his. His words of advice were not very comforting. You apparently need full travel arrangements in and out of the country before being able to obtain a Chinese visa. He told me flat out that I would not be able to even put in an application. I decided to try anyway.
I walked up to the window with two applications filled out. One was for a Chinese visa in an American passport and the other in a Polish one. I was not sure what the fees would be, and it does not hurt to bargain shop. I found out that the gentleman I would be speaking with was the consul general for China in Poland, so at least I knew that the answers I would get from him would be pretty authoritative. So I stroll up to the window, get price quotes on both nationality options, and promptly put the American application into my pocket. The guy laughs. So we proceed to talk about my unfortunate situation of not having a ticket in or out of the country. I explained to him that we are taking the Trans Siberian train and then going to China through Mongolia. He then proceeds to try to convince me that it takes too long to go by train, and is not that much less expensive than flying. he says I should try getting to china in a faster way as it is a beautiful country. He strongly convinced my not to apply for a two week visa either, recommending I get a four week one instead. This was by far the nicest, friendliest, and most helpful ambassador I have ever talked to, and i felt very comfortable with the fact that I was surely getting my Chinese visa. Eat your heart out lawyer guy. Too bad you were not around any more when I was done.
Later on in the evening I met up with Ola and Asia and we went out. Found out it was international kissing day. Got to mark this down in the calendar for next year.
I get a phone call from Roger, my potential future boss. We were going to meet up in Poland earlier, as I knew he had plans to travel here, but after not hearing anything from him figured thing shave changed. He tells me that he will be in Rzeszow (far south-eastern Poland) on July 27th. Unfortunately, i will not be able to make it there, as I am planning on leaving for St. Petersburg on July 26th and need to get my Trans Siberian tickets from a friend there.
All in all, it was a very interesting day. Since embassies are considered sovereign land, I was in five countries today. My feet touched sovereign carpet on the 9th floor of the building in which the Mongolian embassy is located. I got to walk the sovereign Russian ground at their huge embassy that takes up a good chunk of Warsaw. I was on American soil for the first time since leaving New York City. Also, I had a glimpse of the Far East at the visa application office of the Chinese embassy.
