Week 17: Europe Galore

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To view photos click the link to the right under photos called webshots. Or just click the following link: http://community.webshots.com/user/chic101585

Just a warning though, they havent been rotated or sorted... sorry but I am doing this on the run. You get the idea though.
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Oh the places I have been. Where to start? I guess the fact that I am on a very foreign keyboard is a good places to start. Please excuse typos... I am out of my element here.

So when I left Praha I headed to Cesky Krumlov which was really cool. It is a small town on the border of Austria and the Czech Republic. I checked out the castle, ate a local cinnamon roll, etc. This roll was literally a cylindrical piece of dough, hollow on the inside. Delicious. Then I headed on to Vienna. Meanwhile, my train was late so I missed my connection and ended up on a double decker bus to Linz to meet another train. This bus was insane, or at least the driver was. I was in the front on the top floor so I basically had a windshield and wiper all to myself. Me and this guy from Mexico were playing blackjack and chatting with these other American girls. Funny.

We lived to Linz despite feeling a little carsick, and I proceeded to hop a train to Vienna. Yeah railpass. I find myself in a car with a Nigerian footballer, or soccer player, who not only wants to go to dinner tonight in Vienna but also be friends forever. I find a way to get out of this, naturally. Vienna was cool, but just not really my style. I took a lot of neat night pictures of the architecture. I finished checking out the rest of the town the next day before heading to Bratislava.

Bratislava was ridiculous. I suddenly felt the power of eastern europe before I was off the train. But I had a good time basically running through it because I only had 3 hours there. They have a very traditional castle which was neat to see and I think economically the town is moving up. I bet in a decade it will be a totally different place. So I continued on to Budapest.

Budapest was a blast. I saw the sights, got the nightlife in, checked out the baths... everything. I really liked it there... plus they had a vegetarian restaurant... perfect.

On the way from Budapest to Lichtenstein I shared a night train car with a guy from Vienna. We watched Never Die Alone while riding through Austria. Bizarre, but in a good way.

I arrived in LIchtenstein at 5 AM... Buchs really. That is still Switzerland. But after a short bus ride or 3 I was hiking the Furstensteig... incredible. That was the first time I have ever had vertigo, and probably the worst time to have it. But I lived and I really enjoyed it.

So after seeing the rest of Lichtenstein because its that small that I could do it in a day, I headed on to what I thought was Berne, Switzerland. I ended up in Bremen Germany... NORTH Germany the next morning. Too far to go back, I decided to cut my losses and press on to Coppenhagen. After all, I had a Swiss cheese sandwich in Buchs, which is Switzerland, and it was the worst sandwich Ive had in a long time. I got to see all of Denmark from the train, but unfortunately not much Coppenhagen because my train was delayed due to heat affecting old train tracks and making the trains fun slow to avoid accidents. Sigh.

So I went to Luxembourg where I had a hostel waiting for me. Keep in mind I went HIKING 2 days ago now... still no shower... DISGUSTING. I was sooo happy to get to my hostel. And then I realized that Luxembourg is really really cool. Look up Luxembourg city.. its like a fairytale castle with a moat and everything. Amazing.

Then I hit Amsterdam. Did the Heineken Experience aka brewery tour. Saw Rijksmuseum, Vondelpark, Oude Kirche, Niewe Kirche, the Anne Frank Haus, and of course the Redlight district... ironically Oude Kirche is in it... hence accidentally wandering into it. I also checked out a Buddhist temple while I was over there, just for good measure. Finally, I finished my book A Prayer For Owen Meany... a tear jerker I will say. And then I went to see Oceans 13 at a Art Nouveau theater in town.

Today I arrived in Brussels. I like the town, and I really like the waffles. I don't like the rain... but I will live. Anyways, my fair share of internet time has more than expired, so Im off, but I just wanted to get some of that down before I forgot.

Laters, Sal