According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics…

Less than one in four flights are delayed. I just checked my flight status and it looks like everything is going to be on time. Yesterday it was delayed an hour.

I’ve had a great time, met a bunch of cool people, and taken almost 700 pictures. Thanks to everyone who read my blog, left comments, and sent me emails. Zach and Becca for the voicemails. Molly for the email and constant OMG-TheHills posts. Pursley for the crossroads update. Sam for the travel tips.

Thanks especially to my parents. More than just putting money into my account when I ran out of money, I couldn’t have made it here without you. Dad, I used the leatherman more times than I can count and the camera case actually came in really handy.  Mom, despite whatever I may have said, I actually used everything you gave me in the bag for graduation including the sunscreen you bought me at the last minute (only after getting burned once on the shoulders though).

So I guess that’s it. I’ve got 16 hours of travel left before I’m home. But then I’ve got a month to recover before heading off to start making money instead of spending it.

See you all soon.

Almost Everyone Welcome!

Yesterday I spent the first half of the day wandering around the British Museum. Plenty of stuff to see. Lots of old mummies and pottery. Becca and Sara you would have loved it.

Then I walked down to the hayward gallery on the bank of the Thames. This month they were having a special “Hide and Seek” which consisted mostly of large scale social experiments and games. I couldn’t get all the details since it was so crowded, but one of them was you signed up and got a sticker to put on your back with a number on it. Then when someone saw your number around London, or you saw someone elses number you would text it back to the people at the festival and they would track you. There also seemed to be some huge version of Assassins going on downstairs, but it wasn’t just killing people with socks, you had to go on other missions too. And they were tracking everyone’s location with little figurines on a huge map of London on the floor.

Above that there was another great exhibition going on, “Psycho Buildings”. It was a bunch of modern art focusing on architecture. But all the exhibits were huge and you were meant to walk around inside of them. One guy had built up this huge tent out of transparent nylon and inside it were huge hanging sacks of different spices like Cinnamon and nutmeg. A bunch of dutch artists had flooded the roof and put paddle boats up there so you could row around on top of the building overlooking london. Unfortunately they didn’t let you take pictures anywhere, but I snuck one while I was in the boat.

Last night I went wandering around London with my roommate Nick from New Zealand. We stopped in a pub to watch the Eurocup finals (Congrats to Spain, 1-0 over Germany) and afterward Nick said he knew this relaxed bar down the street from the hostel where we could get a beer. So we walked over there and just as we got there people were flooding out of the bar because there was live music there and it had just ended. We decided to get a beer anyway and after we walked in it turned out it was “Why?”, the band I’m going to see tonight.

But now for some pictures. I saw this sign on the side of a trendy shop in Munich.

Nymphenburg Palace, the summer home for German Royalty.

Surfing on the river.

More surfing on the river.

View from the paddle boat installation on top of the Hayward.

Me in the Paddleboat.

Some kid doing a backflip at Festival Pier.

London Skyline.

London Part Two: Dianetics and Hare Krishnas

The Oxford St. hostel is one of the nicest ones I’ve stayed at. The rooms are small but comfortable and it is smack in the middle of London so I can walk to pretty much everything which saves a bunch of money on tube rides. And it has a kitchen so I’ve been making all my food which saves more money, which can then be spent on more important things like beer.

Yesterday in Munich my flight got delayed for 3 hours in Munich. Then when I finally got back to London the traffic was so bad that the bus ride to London took longer than the flight from Munich. It was mostly because of some concert in Hyde park for Nelson Mandella. I think it’s still going on tonight, so I might walk down there tonight and see if I can set up a picnic on the grass and listen. Or possibly go see the new Angelina Jolie movie.

Today I walked down to speakers corner, where supposedly anyone is allowed to set up and just yell and scream about whatever the hell they want. But there was no one there. So I headed over to the british film institute to see what was playing. Nothing good, but the BFI is right on the bank of the Thames, and there were a bunch of kids doing flips off some stairs into the sand. So I just watched them for a while.

On the way back to my hostel I saw a bunch of people in red shirts sitting at tables on the side of the road with a big sign that said “Free stress readings”.

Scientologists!!! So I sat down with Tony, and he handed me two metal tubes hooked up to a gizmo. He told me not to squeeze them and told me to relax. After calibrating it he told me to think about people and situations in my life. So I thought about getting home and seeing my friends and family. Nothing happened, so he asked me if there was anything I wanted to change about myself and I said no. He asked me if there was anything that was stressing me out.  I thought for a minute, and said I was a little worried about running out of money but my parents had just lent me some. Still nothing. After another minute or two of inane questionting, he grabbed the tubes out of my hands and said “OK, Thanks, Bye”.

So I guess I’m officially stress free. Or maybe my midi-chlorians were just too low. To be honest, I was a little annoyed and insluted that he didn’t try to get me to join. But now I guess I’m free to join the Hare Krishnas that are also invading London. I’ve seen at least a dozen walking around the city shouting and banging tiny little cymbals.

Ich liebe Biergärten

Last night I went with a bunch of Canadians to the Augustiner Keller, a beer garden, to watch the Germany vs. Turkey match. It was intense. The beer garden can seat upwards of 7,000 people. It was mostly Germans but there were pockets of Turkish people here and there. Germany ended up winning 3-2 and it was a really good match. A bit slow for the first half, but in the second half it went back and forth and finally Germany scored a goal in the last two minutes.

On a side note, the best part about the larger beer gardens is that they usually have a playground in the middle. So that while the parents sit at a table tipping back liter steins of beer, the kids don´t have to just sit there bored.

Day before yesterday I saw Ibid and got to meet the director afterward. Before it started he said that they had just re-edited the film for the European premiere here. In true film festival fashion, just as the movie started the sound cut out. But then they got it started again and got it working. It was good, but the actors overdid it a bit. Like they say that actors who do plays and theatre usually can´t do film because you have to overact on stage. It´s a different medium. The style reminded me a bit of Waiting for Godot.

Two more films tonight and then it´s back to London tomorrow. It´ll be good to be back in an English speaking country, but I don´t know what I´m going to do for the few days I´m there since I got most of it out of the way when I was in London at the start of my trip.

Film #2: The 27 Club

I saw mz second film last night, The 27 Club. I liked it a lot more than Wellness. It was about a guz in a band whose friend kills himself after he turns 27 in order to join “The 27 Club” of other famous rock stars who all died when there were 27 including Janice Joplin, Kurt Kobain, and Jimi Hendrix. Surprisinglz it turned out to be more of a roadtrip movie as the main character travels from the west coast to New York in order to attend the funeral. The director was there and there was a Q&A section after the film which was even better.

Zesterdaz I went with some people to the huge English Garden again (twice the siye of central park in New Zork). We spent most of the daz lazing out in the sun and swimming in the river that runs through the park. After that we made a quick stop at the nearbz beer garden where I had the largest pretzel I´ve ever seen for lunch. I meant to take a picture of it along with mz liter stein of beer, but I forgot. On the way to see mz movie it started raining and then hailing despite the fact that its 80 degrees outside.

Dan Flavin´s room at the modern art museum in Munich. As far as I can tell he works exclusivelz with flourescent lights. This was mz favorite of the five or so rooms of his.

The current is reallz strong in the river and there´s a place for surfers at one end of the park.

The Chinese Tower in the middle of the English Garden park located in Munich, Germany.

Todaz I´m seeing another film I´m excited about. “Ibid” is about two patients who escape from a mental institution and go on a road trip after thez believe god has tasked them to modernize the ten commandments for the 21st centurz.

Munich: Beer Gardens and Nude Sunbathing

And there is no shortage of either. We walked by about 20 beer gardens on the way to the one we were headed to 2 nights ago. The one we ended up at was probablz the most touristy one we could have chosen. There was a cheesz band playing oompa music everz 15 minutes and a girl in a heidi costume trying to sell pretzels. Interestinglz, it was also where Hitler gave some of his earlz speeches. I ordered a Liter or Radler, which the menu said was beer with lemonade. I didn´t think it was that wierd because sometimes thez give zou lemons with a wheat beer back home. But it turns out that “lemonade” here means sprite. So I got half a liter or beer mixed with sprite. It was pretty foul. But I got another dark beer after that without “lemonade” and it was prettz good. I´m gonna trz to make it to a quietter more authentic place tonight.

Zesterdaz I walked over to the English garden which is like central park but bigger and with tons of naked people sunbathing. There´s a river that runs through it and at one side theres a spot with people surfing on it. I got some pictures that I can post later. Of the surfing, not the naked people.

After that I rememebred that the modern art museum is onle one euro on sundaz, so I walked over there. I wasn´t expecting much since I hadn´t heard of Munich´s pinakothek der moderne before but thez actuallzhad quite an impressivecollection. There were five or six rooms devoted just to the guz who works with the flourescent lights whose name I can´t remember. A few paintings and photographs bz Andz Warhol.

After that I went to see mz first film of the festival, ” Wellness”. It´s about this guy who unknowinglz gets wrapped up in a pzramid scheme and loses his entire life savings. It was interesting, but I don´t see it winning anz awards. It was filmed entirelz digitallz using non-actors thrown into unscripted situations.

When I got back I watched the Spain vs. Italz game with a bunch of people at the bar. It was a good game. Went into overtime and then into a shoot out. Spain ended up winning (Viva Espana!) which is what most of the people at our bar wanted, but we could here the collective groan from everyone gathered at the pizzaria accross the street. Wednesdaz night is Germanz vs. Turkez which is going to be insane because Munich has a huge turkish population.

Todaz I´m hopefullz going to get some swimming in before going to mz second movie at 4:30. I´ve been reallz luckz with the weather so far, but it just got incrediblzhot here in Munich. It´s like 90 degrees and above and supposed to staz like that the rest of the week.

Just a week left, and I´m excited for the rest of the film festival and the Why? show in london but I also can´t wait to get back and see everzone. So who is planning my welcome back party? Someone get on that.

 

Munich and Pictures from Yurich

I just arrived in Munich and it is reallz hot. I went out and bought mz tickets for the film festival. There was a deal where zou got five tickets for the price of four. I don´t think I´m going to get much done todaz except laundrz which I´ve been putting off for a few dazs. Then probablz a beer garden and to sleep earlz since I woke up at 3:30am to catch the train this morning.

Now some pictures from Yurich. I onlz had four dazs there and I definitelz could have spent a few more. There was plentz to see, and at night I watched the Eurocup games.

View from the Hostel I stazed at in Richterswill, half an hour from Yurich.

The duck that attacked me and tried to eat mz lunch.

The view from the top of the Grossmunster church over downtown Yurich.

The view from Wicher´s house. He´s the guz I couchsurfed with.

Me on the top of Yurich´s nearest mountain, the Uetliburg.

Couchsurfing in Zurich is a Success

So I’ve had three beautiful dazs in Zurich which is nice because some people I met said it’s been raining on and off for about two weeks before I got here.

Two successfull nights of couch surfing in Zurich and it went reallz well. My host was this reallz tall guz from the Netherlands named Wicher. Though I still don’t think I can pronuonce his name quite right, he’s been reallz great showing me around and taking me to watch the Eurocup games with some other people from the couchsurfing website. I think I’m gonna stick to the hostel in Munich, but look for a couch in London.

Zurich has been incredible. I took the train to the top of the nearest mountain zesterdaz, Uetliburg. It was 870 meteres high and gave some great views over the citz and surrounding area. I made a picnic and ate it at the top and then went for a hike halfwaz down the mountain. Todaz I went up to the top of the tower in the Grossmunster church for some more great views. I’ve taken plentz of pictures (550 so far), but I’m going to have to wait and post them when I get to Munich.

I bought stuff to make tomato and mozzerlla sandwiches so I’m heading to the park for a picnic. I’ve got an earlz flight tomorrow morning at 7:15am, which means I have to get up at like 4am. And then a 2 hour wait in Dusseldorf before finallz arriving in Munich. But the film festival started todaz and the website is here: http://www.filmfest-muenchen.de/rc/FFM_en/home/

So far I know I want to see The 27 Club and thez are showing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for free in one of the parks.

Zurich – Apparently soccer is big here

I wasn’t aware while I was planning my trip, but the Euro cup is going on in Switzerland while I’m here. When I got on the train to Zurich from the airport there were a million Italians celebrating their recent win.

Zurich is a beautiful city. It’s located right along a river leading into a lake. But it is expensive. Internet access costs about 3 times as much as any other city. And their monez is wackz too. The smallest bill is a ten, and thez have a HUGE five franc coin. Then the half franc coin is as small as our dime.

Also, these wacky european kezboards are reallz messing with me. The Y and Z kezs are swapped, so please refer anz complaints on spelling to the kezboard manufacturer. I started to fix it at the beginning but then I just got layz and I can’t be bothered.

I’m couchsurfing tonight and tomorrow with a guz Wicher that I met through couchsurfing.com. That waz I save about $40 a night on the hostel, and he can show me around town. And hopefullz he will have a computer that I can get on and post more later.

Viva Italia

So here is the story of my dinner last night:

I decided to have a big night out and try and get some real Italian food at a nice Italian ristorante. I had found this place I wanted to try “Sora Margarita” from one of the books I had.

After getting off the metro I spent over half an hour wandering around the Jewish district where the guidebook said the restaurant was. I was about to give up, but I check again in the book and the address was #30 in the piazza I was standing in. I turned around and there was a small tile labeled 30 next to a door with one of those bead curtains for a door. There was no sign for it. I peaked in and there were a bunch of people sitting at tables in what looked like just the first floor of someones townhouse.

I ducked in through the bead curtain and asked the lady for a table for one. She gave me a strange look, because I think I’m the only person to ever eat dinner alone in all of Italy. But since they didn’t have any single or double tables she sat me at a table with a father and son that were almost done eating. After saying hello I found out they were Italians that lived in Texas. The father made a few recommendations and ordered for me which was good since the people there didn’t speak a word of English and my Italian wasn’t up to par. When they got up to leave they left me half a bottle of the house wine. Bonus.

First course was fettuccine with cheese sauce and black pepper. It was simple, but it tasted incredible. The pasta was fresh, hand made that day. They didn’t even have a set menu. Every day they just wrote out what they were serving that day on a piece of paper based on what they could get at the local market. Second course was “Carciofi di Giudio” or “Jewish Artichoke”. They just took a whole artichoke and fried it and it comes out looking like this golden blooming flower. Like a bloomin onion but ten thousand times better. After that came dessert which was a lemon mousse sort of deal and espresso.

I got out of dinner a bit late, but stopped and picked up half a kilo of cherries and two bottles of Belgian beer at the 24 hour market. It turns out that all the metro and buses were closed early on that Saturday for some reason so I had to walk home twice as far as I normally would. But I was in such a good mood from the meal that it didn’t matter. And since there are no open container laws I just drank the beer and ate the cherries on the walk home and it was fantastic.

Finally, happy father’s day to my dad.