Oh Paris I hate... no, wait... I love you... no, wait... I don't know

I travel for the people, not for the sights. I can see why Paris is a place to travel for the sights, not the people. Although I must say not every experience I have had in this city has been bad. It is just the bad parts are so significant that it weighs on me in a negative way. Then again the ups have been incredibly high as well. I hope you are getting the idea here, I am torn between loving and hating this city. As I type this I am sitting in the basement of my hostel in the bar area because it has wi-fi and a plug, both very important.

My trip here was not so convenient. I bought a first class high speed train upgrade so I would have time and space to type in the blog entry. I got shoved into a cramped cabin with a family of small children and no access to a table or plug. Then after talking to the conductor, he was super cool and set me up with a great place to get work done. He even made sure I had my food brought out to me. The food dude did not want to give me the food (cause I look like cheap travel scum, I admit it) but I showed him my ticket and got some R E S P E C T, yeah baby!!! I got into Paris which has 5 train stations around the city and figured out where I needed to be to get to my hostel.

FYI, in Europe the metro doors do not open on their own. You have to actually push a button or lift a latch for the doors to open. I was thankful to have watched others do this. Otherwise I may have been stuck on a train as it left my station. Funny, as a child I visited Paris, I was 9. I remember the feeling of finding the trains though the myriad of tunnels connecting the surface to the rails. I felt at times and looking back it still feels like I was descending into the bowels of hell. The smells and filth only served to accentuate that feeling. Now as I am older and have experienced other metro systems and well just a lot more things in my life, this metro seems so insignificant. The signs are clearly posted and the directions seem to make sense to me. Funny how our perspective changes over time. I am not saying it is not like descending into hell just that for me now hell has a new meaning.

The directions both online and in their email were less than helpful. Every other place I have stayed has had great directions from all different means ingress to the city. This place just gives a metro stop and good luck after that. I saw a sign outside of the metro pointing to the hostel’s general direction. That was a bonus. Then as I walked, that was the only sign. I stopped and asked two boys in broken French if they knew where the street was. At first they seemed like they would help, then one ran inside and when he returned they said something to each other. I caught the word in French for American and then they just ignored me like I was not there. Closed the gate and stood there. Hmm, can we say mean? Turns out the street which I showed them in writing was 50m away. It was the very next street!!

Made it in and it is a crappy place in a not so safe neighborhood. I took out what I would need for my three days here and the rest went into my large backpack and into the lockers downstairs for safe keeping. I have met two people here from the states: Cici from San Antonio, she graduated with a degree in photography; she spent a semester here working at a hostel, and Andrea from cal poly Moreno valley studying Spanish for a semester.

This was not the highlight though of my trip to Paris. The best part about my trip actually starts several years ago with Heather in high school. Heather went to Paris to stay with a friend she made through an exchange program. Sophie also came to the US to stay with Heather. They two left lasting impressions on each other. As you may have guessed, I sent a message to Sophie and her husband Jean Philippe when I realized I was coming to Paris.

They were just returning from a trip the day I arrived and still wanted to meet me as soon as possible. We had a wonderful evening talking and signing and talking and just discussing everything. We spent 5 hours together but it seemed like only minutes and a lifetime all at once. They had their little one with them as well. Little Mr. Emile was a pleasure and a handful. I am getting the impression that Paris is a city of duality now that I type all of this. I had the best time with Sophie and Jean Philippe. They even took me out to dinner. Much to my chagrin as I was planning on paying but I did appreciate it greatly. Sophie even kissed me by the hotel de Ville. According to Jean Philippe, this is a significant event. For you evil bad-minded people out there, the kiss was on each cheek. I leaned also that in France only children make sandwiches with bread, the grownups put their cheese or butter or jelly on one side of the bread and eat it open-faced. He told me this after I made several sandwiches and the waiter giggled. Thanks or the heads-up man.

I spent today going around taking pictures and video and seeing some major sights so that I would have something other than words to put here. I also saw the Movie “Kung Fu Panda” in French and I totally understood most of it. I was stoked at that. FYI I do not speak French, but I know communication. I watched some guys playing bocce ball as well. All in all a very tiring (from walking) and relaxing (not much happening) day for me. There is that duality again.

I hope you see I have a love hate relationship with this city. I will probably come back here again and again just to love to hate it. Maybe that is why the people here are so mean they are just in constant flux.

This one has a happy ending

Let me just forewarn you here this starts out as another sob story but as I write this I am feeling strong, confident and happy. This means the ending will be the sudden realization of new information and the main character will be better off and have learned something. I think there is a literary term for this but I will leave it up to you to put in the 50 cent word for that on your own.

I am able to start a conversation with a stranger. This is due to years of practice and forced encounters with people while using my friend Andrew as a role model. That guy can talk to anyone anywhere and hold their attention for as long as he wants, what a gift he has and what an inspiration to me he has been, thanks buddy. I am not that good but I am functional. I realized one reason I have been struggling here is I cannot join a conversation if I do not understand a single word they are saying. Instead I can sit in a crowded room and be completely alone, worse yet I am lonely as well.

I can survive alone and get done what needs to be done but I am the kind of person that really has fun socializing with other people. I do not need others around me, I want them around me. This makes it even worse when I am alone because I so desperately want to talk with someone to share what I am experiencing and to see if their experience is similar or different than my own. It feels so wonderful to me when people do little things like invite me to walk with them to the cafeteria to eat. We are both going there anyway but with that invite I know that they want my company as I want theirs. My friend JJ did this with me this summer at Gallaudet and well it feels good. I have not really experienced much of this on this trip. I will sit in the dining hall alone at a table with people all around me and honestly it is depressing.

Want to talk about depressing, how about going out to a bar alone having a drink and talking to no one except the bartender you ordered from. After finishing your drink you walk around the neighborhood only to return to your hostel without uttering a single word. Boy did I feel like a loser.

Before any of this, I had taken a self-guided tour of the city. Using my skills at finding the happening places I tracked down the local gathering place. While here I found a Woolworths (like the Wal-Mart of Frankfurt) store and took some pictures of the cheap junk they were selling by the bundle.

(A note for you faithful readers. I am on the train to Paris right now and I have been typing for the last 4 hours)

I also saw some break dancers in the street. That was fun to watch but I was still alone.
I am making an effort to force myself to talk to people even if I do not understand them. For example in Luxemburg remember my roommates I spoke with? Remember the dude from Japan whose name started with an H (sorry I forgot his full name) well I ran into him again. We rode the bus together from the Frankfurt train station (yes we traveled from Luxemburg to Frankfurt on the same train but did not see each other) to the youth hostel. His English was much better than my Japanese and we got along well. I invited him to join me if I went out that night, he agreed but I never saw him again.

See, it is starting to look up for me here. I am also much more comfortable getting around now. I can read the train schedules, take city buses, navigate the underground, and generally take care of myself alone in a new city and new country. That is a point of pride for me FYI.

I checked into the hostel and went to my room. There were ladies' bags and what looked like guys' stuff. I thought to myself I did not want to seem like a prude, maybe in Germany Co-ed rooms are acceptable with younger groups. I headed out to explore as explained above. When I returned, the women I guess had done laundry and their underwear and bras were strewn around the room. I thought maybe I should at least ask the front desk about this. They were pretty embarrassed and assured me I had been placed incorrectly and they in fact did not have co-ed rooms. Either way it would have been fine with me, not like I would have done anything except sleep in my bed alone anyway. I was relieved to be placed into an all male room.

I had dinner at the hostel, not because I was hungry but because I wanted to meet people. This was not very successful as I ended up eating alone. Undaunted, I headed to the café upstairs and went outside and asked in English if I may join these two guys. They switched to English and we had a great conversation. Turns out they are both from Cairo, Egypt (“we are like bothers” one of them said as I explained my background) and have moved to Frankfurt for work. They told me of the other location that people go to in the evening for fun. This is the bar I went to where I drank alone and returned to the hostel. I would not have found that area without their help. As I said earlier, talking to locals is a good way to find popular places.

After returning to the hostel, I went to the pool (as in billiards) room and sat and watched two French guys play for a bit. Finally in French I asked if I may play. They looked surprised and asked if I spoke French? Again in French I replied “A very little” which is a true statement. We muddled our way through the game and had a great time. Later in the evening the two of them saw me in a common room and came up to me and we talked about this and that and the clapped me on the back and went their merry way. That was AWESOME!!

Stoked now, I headed back to the bar area to try my hand at meting people again. I went to the Irish Pub at the suggestion of my Egyptian brothers, ordered a beer, and sat alone at an outside table. Ten minutes later a group speaking English joined me. They were a mix of Germans British, and Americans. It was the beginning of a wonderful evening. This is where I learned the terms bummed and fanny pack. We spent the evening drinking, talking and joking. Being that I was in a new place on my first night, I decided to take it easy. I nursed my beers and in the end I had consumed only three beers. The raucous group I had joints however must have killed at least one keg if not two. I knew my hostel closed and locked the doors at 2 am. I was about 5 minutes from the entrance at this point. At 1:50 I asked the obvious question of “will we continue until 6:30 in the morning or should I go turn in now”? The group (actually the guys) assured me I had a place to crash on their air mattress if we completed our evening before 6:30 am. Relaxed and enjoying myself, I settled in for the long haul. Most of us returned to the guys place and they continued drinking and I continued faking it. Two highlights of the evening included watching a man get arrested for public intoxication and the other is a bit longer in explanation. Back at the guys place two of the people apparently were dating and they sauntered off to a private room. The walls however were paper thin. After several minutes of listening to “oh god, oh god, oh god” I could not resist the temptation. I replied to them “Dana is fine no need to call me god anymore” the room exploded with laughter and the couple were suspiciously quiet after that. One of the people there in the room with me said "I can't believe you said that" or I think maybe she said "oh no you did not just say that". I sort of felt bad but then again I did not.

After the evening had wound down and most of them had dispersed, I grabbed a few hours of sleep in a corner on the floor. At 9 am I bid them farewell, I think they remember me leaving, and I headed out the door. It was at this point I remembered the cab ride here was 13 Euros and I had only 5 Euros on me. I looked around and started walking in what felt like a good direction. The first person I found spoke English very well. After asking for the Rein River he corrected me and said I was looking for the Mein River. The Rein was 40k down the road. I was really hoping I was NOT looking for the Rein. He gave me a general direction to head which was more or less where I was going anyway. I walked and asked several more time throughout the morning. Each time the expressions on their faces became less surprised. I took that to mean I was getting closer and at least within a reasonable walking distance. I walked fairly fast I would say at 4-5mph and I walked steady for two hours. Doing the math I walked about 8-10 miles that morning in a city I had never before seen in the daylight. I did eventually make it back to the hostel without any real incidence and I was and still am feeling very good about my travel-savvy skills.

Now I am in Paris and I have that traveler’s woe again. I have already made contact with an old friend of Heather’s, Sophie. I am meeting her and her husband this evening at a metro stop in the center of the city. I have already nailed the metro system in here in Paris so no worries getting there and back. That about completes my tales that you have missed over the days. Glad to keep you up to date and thanks for reading all this stuff.

Things every traveler should know and no one will tell you EVER!! Except me, of course

Tools, tips, and tricks for the road. There are things that you really need to be on the road to learn and things that the average person or guide book may omit because they have limited space. Well, if you want the official useful info then buy a guide book. What I am including here are things you may never find in a book and your traveling friends will forget to tell you (or do it intentionally just for a laugh).

The first hostel I stayed at I was on the second floor. Not bad I thought I would take the stairs with my full pack and everything. So three floors later I was there. Odd yes, this struck a chord someplace in the back of my head but did not really impact me until Luxemburg. Here I had a room on the third floor, this was four flights up with a full pack. Are you seeing a pattern here? Turns out the buildings I have been to all start with “ground zero” and no, I am not talking about an explosion. The floors are numbered with 0 on the ground floor. One flight up is the first floor and so on and so forth. Note self in Europe second floor = American third floor.

I had heard stories about Americans being easily identified by the color of their socks. What I heard is only Americans wear white socks; most of the Europeans wear black socks. In England I found this to be very true and in fact I could pick an American out in a crowd by the color of their socks. The story changed a bit as I got onto the continent of Europe. Yes if you are wondering I actually took time out of my thoughts to look as peoples socks, and no I do not have a sock fetish; I am just interested in the culture. On the mainland I noticed most of the people dressed similar to me i.e. travelers, wore no socks at all. I have tried this on several occasions but I believe it requires feet less prone to the expulsion of noxious gasses to be successful. Much to the unknown pleasure of my fellow travels I have remained fairly American in wearing my white socks. If you can get away with it then FYI… no socks is good travelin’.

I had also heard stories about bicycling in Europe and other countries and how it was more acceptable than in the US. I must say the stories are true, believe them. On a more detailed note, while I was traversing the US on bicycle I had done some research on bicycling in Europe, one interesting tidbit of info was the difficulty in procuring tires in the size 700c or 27 inches. These are the skinny road bike tires you see in the US. That size is so prolific in my own cycling experience I found it difficult to believe. Now as I have actually seen the biking community here in Europe I understand more clearly the reasoning behind that. In the US for the most part cycling is a sport not necessarily a common means of transportation. Thus the speedy road bike tires as a sport are wide spread in their use. From what I have seen in Europe bicycles are designed more for utilitarian purposes not for sport. The smaller tire size of 26 inches is more suited for this purpose. Over here I see people out for a ride in Suits and ties, in jeans and t-shirts, women in MINI skirts (thanks for that one), and in general in ordinary street clothes. The age range out here is from preschool up to geriatric with all groups in between. It is wonderful for me to see these things happening I the real world and not just in stories. I have seen even bikes for rent, which in itself is not very impressive. It is the means of rental that is super cool. Have you ever been to an airport (yes this is related to bikes) and seen those carts for rent at the automated stiles? That is what I have seen for bikes. They are magnetically sealed to a post. You plop a couple of Euros into the machine and one of the bikes releases. There is a bike lock attached for when you get to a place you would like a reprieve. Then at the end of the day you just return the bike to the post where you found it. The magnet seals it up and you are good to go. No fuss, no muss, and no attendant. I love it!

This one is very important and one I had not been told or read or anything. I actually feel like a spoiled little American even mentioning it. For you others reading this I am assuming most of you are spoiled little American too, so this will be pertinent information. The hostels I am staying at have lists online of their amenities, like internet available, bicycle rental in-house, air conditioning, etc. I found out that AC really means the lobby of the location has AC running only during the hottest time of the day. No other rooms in any of the building I have been to or stayed at have had AC. Now, I am not speaking of the physical presence of an AC unit, I have seen similar things to this. I am talking about windows closed and cold air blowing into the room. It just has not happened. Instead you leave the wondow wide open and let the hot air circulate around your hot room. I must admit this does encourage me to spend less time indoors and more time in the city. If I am going to sweat like a sun-beaten rock in Yorkshire, I may as well be seeing the city while I do it. This does however present a slight issue while I sleep. I have thus far adopted a sleeping pattern that I find helpful. I have no shirt on, belt off, and button undone. My blanket is curled up under my pillow to provide extra lift. My shoes and socks are off; my pants are rolled up to the knees. I lie supine with my arms and legs spread. Finally, I just learn to accept the feeling of friendly little muti-peds traversing the surface of my face moving inexorably downward with the pull of gravity; or in other words, the sweat dripping slowly down the sides of my face while I sleep. At some point in the middle of the night it does cool off and I actually get some quality deep sleep.

Two words to know in England and never use incorrectly unless your goal is a good laugh. Have you ever had a bad day or just had something happen to you, which is just not right? Nothing serious, mind you, but just the little things are all I am talking about here. You might describe this situation as somewhat of a “bummer”, and this would be aptly named of course. Well not in the UK. Seems that when using the term “bummer” it refers to something done to the “bum” or butt just as jumper is a person who is doing the jumping. To bring it all home if you have not yet arrived at the obvious conclusion here, a bummer is an act only performed in an intimate setting and should be done with full informed consent of both parties involved. I hope you get it (the meaning that is), and I hope you use it in the correct context in England.

The second word one might want to be aware of is in a similar region. In America we occasionally speak of those bags that go around the waist as “hip packs” or “fanny packs”. This is great because in America the word fanny is a socially acceptable way of referring to a person’s bottom or butt, this is of course what the “pack’ rests on. Well not in the UK my friends. Across the pond, the fanny is a nether region that belongs solely to the people of the feminine persuasion. Try and put the two together now with the British meaning, what would a “fanny pack” be? Let’s just say “hot dog in a hallway” and leave it at that. Again, don’t be afraid of using these terms, just know what they mean before you say it.

I almost went running with the bulls in Pamplona, and I would have had I not been alone. I was here during the right time, but I really needed someone to call home if I did not make out ok. I met up with a couple who had run and they both came out uninjured and wiser for the experience. Thankfully, they were form British Columbia (That’s Canada) and they spoke English. This means I got the full skinny on the 411 for the bull running. Here it is in a nutshell. Don’t plan on sleeping there, everything is booked 12 months beforehand. Train in early and train out in the afternoon. Be prepared for an olfactory insult greater than you may have ever experienced. Seems the thing to do is get very drunk and pass out in the street. In some places with a large open square it is impossible to traverse the area because the bodies are so thick with drunken revelers. Get a spot on the long straight road early on. The police will most likely physically pull you of the course. Do not fight them, just get off and run like a mad man with everyone else to the other end of the course to get back on and work your way back to where you started. Up until the point when the bulls are physically there in the street the police will be puling people off the street. If you are in a large group of people you are less likely to be singled out as a tourist and yanked out. If you are pulled as I said just get back on someplace else. The white bulls are like passive guide dogs they are pretty mundane, watch out for the black ones they can be a real bummer, and I mean that in both senses of the word. There are three rockets. One to announce the release of the bulls, two to announce some have entered the stadium and three to announce all the bulls are in and those lucky enough to have made it into the stadium are now locked in with the last of the bulls. Now some useful stuff. Don’t get caught between the bulls and the wall. Run in front of the bulls, you can keep up and if you can’t just fall down and cover up. The bulls will jump over you and go around you; it is the people who will trample you a bit. The three most dangerous parts are the 90 degree dead man’s corner (make it around the corner without stopping), the bottle neck into the stadium, and inside the stadium when the doors are locked. Try to make it into the stadium. The only people allowed in are the people in the seats who paid to be there and the idiots in the ring who ran in through the doors.
Once you are in the stadium, a whole new level of fun begins. Here all the midsized bulls are gathered up and taken away. Yippee cheer and be happy you made it there alive, but beware there is more to come. At this point, they release a young and very pissed off bull into the ring full of people. The walls out are three people thick. You don’t want to be the one next to the wall because the people will trample you. You don’t want to be the one closest to the bull either because well, you are closest to the bull. You don’t want to be the one in the middle because then you have no options. Get my point here, there really is no “good” place to be except one of the ticketholders watching the fools below. The raging bull in the middle will tire of skewering people and the circle will close on him. Try to touch him it might be fun. If you grab the tail good on you but it really pisses off the bull and the police will get pissed too so beware of that. This process repeats until the meanest, most pissed off bull is released. Then there are some shows of trained people playing with the bulls and stuff. Finally the show is done. Book it out of there, gather your loved ones and get on a train. Another option is to stay for the next day and just sleep in the street with everyone else. This goes on for 5 days straight. Day one sucks too many people day two three and four are ok. Day five sucks because all the chickens afraid of days one to four have worked up the courage to go now. Better plan on day two and three they are the best times to do it.

Another fun thing to do in Spain is the tomato festival. I hear they import a bunch of tomatoes and you must grab one, squish it in your hands then throw it at people. The tomatoes in the street get to be 1 – 2 feet thick in places. Be prepared to get hosed off and help clean up the mess afterwards. Sadly I will be gone at that time, missed it by two days, oh well.

These same two Canadians told me stories of having their passports taken by train officials in Berlin and being forced to bribe their way out of several situations. It was based on their personal recent accounts of affairs in that region that I changed my mind away from Austria and Poland and decided on Paris instead. If you have been waiting for that bit of information on why I am in Paris and not in Warsaw, then there you have it.

Final tidbit here, then on to the next story in the next post. How to find out where the people are. First get to the city center, this is normally close to the hostel or close to where you arrived. You can always ask how to get there and most people know how. Then watch where people are walking. You will notice one or two directions have more people walking to and from there. Because you are in the city center this means you will want to walk along this direction because the fun is not far from there. As you walk look around for areas that have more people along the path. Eventually you will arrive to a place that a lot of people occupy, congratulations you just found the good hangout place. Be warned though this may not be the only happening place. As I found out in Frankfurt it is also useful to ask a local, they can point you in the right direction for the right kind of fun.

That’s it for tips and tricks, I think one or two more posts to go then you will be done reading.

Inside the mysteries of the Luxemburg Castle

Wow, there a lot of things to say here because it has been a couple of days since I have been able to post anything. I will break this up into several posts I think to make it easier for you to read. See look at that, always looking out for my faithful readers, All 9 of you. I just installed a something called Google analytics on the blog. It is supposed to track all the hits on the site and give statistics on it. Wish that was around last year when I did the bike trip I think it would have been interesting to know how many people actually read it. As they say where I am going now, C’est La Vie (that’s life).

But wait, you may be saying, I thought you were going to Poland, and that last sentence looks a lot like French. Well there is a story there but unfortunately it is slated to be at the end of my story, not the beginning. The best place to begin is of course the beginning; unless your name is Quentin Tarantino. (That was a reference to his editing style in films to begin someplace in the middle and jump around like a flea on crack)

Let’s start in Luxemburg. Dude, that city is awesome. I originally planned on going there just to relax a bit and really do nothing. It is a small country without a lot of mention in anything. Remember my original reason for going there was that silly learn French CD. Well, what a great surprise that was. By far it has been the best city I have been to. Not that I had the most fun there on the contrary I really did not do much at all. It is just that Luxemburg is the first place that made my insides do a little dance of wowee zowee this place is nifty looking ( I am not a sightseeing kind of person so trust me this is very impressive). The hostel was immaculate, modern looking and just really upbeat. I think this may be due to the lower frequency of travelers they can keep it up better.


As I ventured out into the city it was totally cool. I found I was actually staying inside a castle wall with a moat and everything. I have seen castles and stuff on TV and pictures but they all look so small. This place was HUGE!!!! I am talking several miles inside these walls from one end to the other. They are in the process of excavating the old castle now and I have some video footage of that. Then the town happened to have a medieval festival going on the day I left so I had to visit that of course. I actually bought some leather cords to weave into a necklace. I recorded a message for Sarah K about that feel free to take a look at what I had to say if you so desire.

I met my roommates. One was a bloke from Australia and the other was a dude from Japan. They both spoke English fairly well and we talked a bit but not much. I know this is the first time I spoke of my roommates and it may seem odd at the moment. I only mention this because it has certain significance later on. Keep reading the posts to see why this is important. This is a good place to explain the rooming situation. The rooms I have been staying in are four to eight beds in a room. They are set up as bunk beds in a college dorm room fashion. Generally, you get a cabinet that can hold your pack and be locked in addition to your sleeping space. Some have bathrooms within and some have common bathrooms and showers. Not glamorous but cheap, efficient, and utilitarian.

You may be wondering how I found out about the festival, or you may not but either way I am going to tell you so pay attention. As I was sitting in the lobby of Luxemburg uploading that last video of Brussels (400mb and 6 hours of sitting there babysitting the laptop I hope you appreciate it.) I had just sent a message to a friend complaining that I had not seen a single person using sign language the entire trip. I pressed send on my phone and looked up. Guess what I saw? If you guessed a purple elephant you would be wrong and quite frankly a little odd as well. No silly I saw two Deaf people. Well actually I saw something that looked like sign language. When they looked at me I gestured to them asking if they were deaf. You see I had no idea where they might be from of what sign language they might use. So they signed back in ASL yeah we are deaf are you. Sweet I thought they knew ASL. Turns out they are from Ohio and of course know ASL. They were the people who told me about the festival. See I told you it was worth finding out how I knew about the festival.

Funny aside here… I have not even begun to talk about the items on my list hehe I had no idea how much I had to share with you guys.

I was supposed to meet up with them at the festival but the hostel I was staying at was full and they had to go to another one down the road about 15k (about 10 miles) I was a little disappointed when they did not show up at 11 but I understand why and it is cool with me. The city was so worth it. If ever I come back this city will be one of my “confluence places” (I think only those who have known me for some time will understand that reference I know Heather will. If you would like an explanation then leave a comment asking for it and I will deliver). The city was beautiful and awe inspiring, gets an A+ in my book.

That’s it for Luxemburg I will continue on in the next post here.

Bad internet in Frankfurt

Hey guys, this will be short. Internet is difficult to come by for my laptop. Actually imposible. I have a ton of stuff for you. As soon as I get internet on my laptop I will start uploading. No video so far but lots of fun info. You will just have to wait and see tomorrow when I post. Get comfortable, it will be a long one.

Caught on tape in Brussels

Here is the video footage of what I visited in Brussels. I am out of here now for a tour of Luxemburg. Maybe there will be more video later of Luxemburg.





Transcript (by Heather): Brussels, I read a book that said that central place was the best place to go first. Now I'm walking around looking for that. I found the library, it's cool, wanna see?
Last night I found this place, and it looks cool, but one interesting thing is that they have one area in the ground, when it is nighttime, the lights will light up from the ground. It looks like stars. I'll show you where the lights are. Lights. Last night, I looked and found a cool market area, they had restaurants, food, and different things. It was really cool. I'm walking there again now.
I'm still walking, looking for that central place. I think maybe I found it a while back and don't know about it. Anyway, while walking, I found a cool building, I'll show you. I wonder if that's what I'm looking for. I'll walk and see if I can find the name of that building.
I found grand place, this isn't it, it's around the corner, but I wanted you to see the inside of the central square. That hotel right there is the Hotel De Ville, there is a story on a blog, I'll have to see what's up with that. That big building you just saw, that was the Hotel De Ville. Let's see outside, the grand place now.
I'm leaving now, I'm looking for parc de brussel. It looks like a huge park with cool things inside, we'll see.
I found Don Quixote and his friend, Sancho Panches.
Now I'm in the Cathedral of St. Michael and Gudule. The woman just came up to me and asked me to take off my hat. OK. Anyway, the cathedral here is cool and big. Outside they have descriptions and I took pictures of those already, I'll show you those later.
And that's it, I'll walk around and see what's up.
That park I was looking for, I finally found it.
There's a cool big water fountain.
I'm sitting in front of that water fountain. It looks like a good place to rest. I think I'm finished for now, maybe I'll go back to the hostel at 2, then take a nap. Right now it's 11:15 in the morning, and the hostel is closed from 10am until 2pm. So now I have to go out look at things. Maybe I'll sleep here, it looks nice and pretty.
I feel good, I rested an hour, now I looked at the map, they have the US embassy right there. I've never been inside a US embassy before, so I'll go inside and see what I can do there. If they let me, I'll try to videotape the inside. If not, oh well.
Well, I tried, but they told me NO, you must have a diplomatic passport or if you have a military ID, then you could, but I don't have either one, so I was stuck I guess. Anyway, that's it. I guess I'll try it again in another country and maybe they'll let me in.
Look at the cool bike lane.
See that step? I didn't see it and tripped. It was funny, FYI.
Cool building, but it's interesting when you use my sunglasses, you can see a different design with the windows. See if you can see it with the camera or not. I'll try it with my sunglasses on the camera.
I finally found the EU capital building. That's not it. I thought that was it, but there's another EU building there but I finally saw the capital building, I recognize it from the pictures. Now I have the option of seeing some old arches or the EU building this way. Both are pretty far. I think I've decided which one to see. See the arch. Anyway, I want to see the EU building, it's new and fancy. I'll walk over there, then we can see it together.
I finally found the EU capital building. I don't know why, but it's not on the map, not in books, nothing. I guess it's not really a tourist attraction, but I'm interested, so now it's my tourist attraction. Anyway, a man just walked by and laughed.
A man just walked up to me and told me that I can't videotape here. I already got the video anyway, so it's fine. Interesting that they won't let you videotape here.
Now I'm learning the new metro system for Brussels. It's cool and easy to use, just like any other metro system in the world. You can see the map for this line only. Anyway, soon I'll be back to that ??? area, then buy food, eat, then go back to the hostel and sleep.
I arrived back to the hostel just now, and I'm starving, but I thought about buying food here, and it's expensive, 21 euros for one meal, that's pretty expensive. I don't want to blow my money when I'll be hungry again in a few hours. I remembered what Lee, my friend from Gallaudet in Washington, DC, told me, go to the food store and buy cheap stuff and make your own food. I walked and found a food store close to that central place, I decided to metro there, you saw that, I found it, bought food for 15 euros, wanna see what I bought? I have some cheese, meat, salad, yogurt, a full loaf of bread, it will last me several days, at least. I'll eat whatever goes bad first, then leave the rest for later.
That was an awesome meal, now I'm heading back to sleep. I'll wake up later tonight, go out and party maybe. Bye.

My One night stand in Brussels (with details)

If you are reading this hoping for some juicy details of copulation then just stop there. Shame on you for thinking such a thing, get your mind out of the gutter! Actually I could not decide on a title for this posting I was debating between “Friends for a night” and “One Night Stand”. Hopefully you have figured out which one I chose.

My last night in Brussels I headed down to the backpackers bar in the hostel for a drink, I got so much more. I was greeted by a boisterous crowd. Turns out they have karaoke and two for one beers from 8-9. Not sure if that was a good choice of combinations there guys. I pulled up a seat at the bar buoyed by a text message from Matt telling me to get over it and go have some fun. When asked if I wanted the single looking glass or the double sized one, I understood the two for one policy. You just get a bigger glass for the price of the smaller one. I of course chose the bigger glass. OOPS! Turns out I got two of the bigger glasses. Oh golly this is going to be an interesting night.

I interjected myself into a conversation next to me and instantly we were all best friends. This guy introduced himself as chow fu. He was from the Philippines. I had a strong suspicion his name was fake because, why would a Philippine person have the name of a movie kung fu master? He began his life story which culminated on the idea that social networking was the way to success in the ivy league educational system (A system of which he was not yet a part but, he desperately wanted to be). He seemed to be stuck on this one for about 90 minutes until he was escorted out of the bar and to his room. I gave you the condensed version here and be thankful at that.

Some of the highlights of the conversation included karaoke in ASL to no one who could understand me. Lots and lots of singing, not always the same words that were printed on the screen. I found out his brother is in jail for selling crack. Interestingly he was an ex crack dealer as well. Talk about intimate details from a complete stranger. I felt like I should close my eyes or something, or at least have him buy me dinner before accosting me with his private things.
He left finally and I noticed the bar had become very empty except for a few locals. Keep in mind this was a bar in the hostel so it was not like some street bar where I feared for my life or anything like that. I asked my new friend, a different guy, if all the people here now are locals or employees or what. He said they are all locals except for

the two sitting in the corner. I waited for the other shoe to drop, it never did, so I gave it a nudge. I asked him “so does that make me a local?” He stammered a bit then said something like oh right, you’re not a local are you. I guess he and I were close now. Wow for me; two in one night.

The bartenders and a couple of other people sat with me. We all talked and reminisced about our pasts together for the rest of the evening. It was like being in an orgy of conversations. I never even got their names. Maybe I did get their names, but after you are friends with the bartender the drinks just appear as if by magic and money never seems to be exchanged. By the time I headed up to my room (ALONE you pervert stop thinking like that) I was exhausted from my series of one night friends. I wonder if the rest of my trip will be similar to this; transient friendships at the deepest most uncomfortable level then a cavernous void until the next hostel friendship.

Golly where is that guy going now??

I have a plan now for where I will be so here is your update as promised

• Tonight July 25 Luxemburg, Luxemburg
• July 26-28 Frankfurt, Germany
• July 28 and 29 Warsaw, Poland
• July 29- Aug 4 Wien (Vienna), Austria Hopefully hook up with some interpreters here.
• August 5th I have a confirmed stay at a friend’s house in Genoa, Italy. From Carlo’s place I need to be in Copenhagen, Denmark by August 9th
• Aug 8 Amsterdam for 7 hours Look out trouble here I come!!!!
• Aug 9th to Aug 21st or 22nd I will be on a Holland America cruise line.
• Free and unplanned time. Probably in Ireland
• August 25th I fly home from Dublin Ireland, YIPEEE!!!

I fixed the Gawthorpe Video

I fixed the video of Gawthorpe where the ugly people live. Had to haggle with google a bit, not sure why they are tagging all my videos as a copyright violation but it is a pain.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE POST http://danaarazi.blogspot.com/2008/07/gawthorpe-where-ugly-people-live-caught.html

A full day of no climbing in England

We came

We saw

We moaned and complained

then we did not climb.






more actual climbing later on.

Taking Brussels by the B@!!$

I had a much better day today. I got a full 6 hours of sleep and went for a walkabout. I think I walked about 10 miles today. I walked for a full 5 hours at an average pace. I really had no idea what the city had to offer so I took a look at my guide book and hit the main things to see. I found out something interesting about myself. I like gothic architecture. Hmmmm who knew?

I did not meet any new people but I did find a grocery store to buy some stores for my trips ahead. I took a lot of video so I think I will go ahead and edit that together so you can take the tour with me. I will toss a few pictures up here to whet your appetite until I get the video posted. I do have some video from England all edited and posted now. I still have not done the one where we went climbing all day. There is just so much footage to muddle through I am putting it off. I may not do that one until I get to the cruise.

Not sure if I mentioned this but yester day I tried to add one more night to my hostel stay here. They were full and told me to check in this morning to see if they had a cancelation. I was stressing a bit about that as well. Luckily they did have an opening here for me so that was a relief. Also the Hostel here closes from 10 am to 2 pm. I like being forced to take a tour otherwise I may have just sat on the internet all day. I ended up getting up early and getting out of here at 9 am. Good on me!!

As for now I have toured, eaten, rested, and now I am just killing time until the bars open tonight. For my next city I am going to Luxemburg. I looked at the rail guide book for locations directly from here to another city. Luxemburg popped up. I remember a learn French CD program I went through years ago. The phrase that sticks in my head for some reason is “I want the bus to Luxemburg”. I just remember that being so difficult for me to say. So I guess I will get to see the city now that inspired those crazy learn French CDs I used.

Actually I wish I had paid more attention to those CDs. Most of the people here speak French. I would really be able to listen in on a lot of conversations if I knew that language.

Later guys

These are two taxi cabs. The are both MERCEDES!! that is too awesome.

This is the Centra Place. Funny story from the guide book said it was one of the only buildings not hit when the French bommed them. Ironic since this was the main target.

Down and dirty in the street of Wakefield

Ok the town is not huge but it is a fair size. This is the edited video footage of my visit to Wakefield England with Matt. I finally got it posted. Hope you enjoy it. Poor heather has volunteered to transcribe these videos. I fear she may resign if I keep posting these up here so often. Make sure you leave a comment telling her how much you appreciate her hard work :)

Bummed in Brussels

I am not sure if my day really had a beginning. If I were pressed to identify when my day began I would have to say it began last night as I put my clothes on to wash. That officially marked the beginning of my departure preparation. Unfortunately as is normally the case when it comes to me and leaving I had a thousand things I needed to get done and not enough time to do them all. I think it is now a standard practice of mine to travel on zero sleep. I was able to complete my postings to this blog as well as upload some videos. I was not able to post a link to the videos, that will have to come when I get WiFi access to post this blog.

I packed up all my stuff and hit the road. The bus out of Matt’s place was late or missing for about an hour. Finally the bus came and off I went. Time sorta flew by after that. I remember it in flashes rather than a continuous journey. *Flash* the bus comes to a stop at a station. I ask, several times if we are at Leeds, finally I am understood; turns out we are at white rose, a shopping mall. *flash* my eyes fly open and the bus is emptying of the last passenger. I assume this is Leeds and hurry to get my bag. I check in at the counter for the national express bus line to London. *flash* the doors are opening and the announcement is on the loud speaker, my bus is arriving. I load my stuff into the bus and grab a seat. I start to get comfortable *flash* we are at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere for a 5 minute rest stop. The lady sitting on the inside seat next to me has moved seats while I was out. *flash* we are at the stop in London. I grab my stuff and drop my glasses, some nice person picks them up for me “thanks”. I roam around London looking for the underground “the tube”, I don’t ask for directions. After roaming through the mall I find it. I recognize the station from when I was 9 years old. I remember where the ticket lines are and the entrance to the underground. Feels good to remember this. I am hungry but I want to get my train ticket first then worry about food. I have already eaten a sandwich for breakfast.

I buy a one way pass for zone 1 and check the map to find the Waterloo station. I have already checked my guide book and I know which metro the Eurostar will leave from. I get to Waterloo without much difficulty at all. Proud, hungry, and tired I wait in the que of the ticket line. The nice man at the window after a 30 minute line informs me that as of November of last year the Eurostar station has moved to Kings cross St Pancreas metro stop. ARG!!!!!

I head back to the underground and back track my steps to get to the correct stop. Man this bag is heavy!! The pessimist in me is wondering if the station really moved. I wonder if one can just move a train stop for a major train like that. In my mind this is tantamount to moving Union Station in Washington, DC. Now I am wondering if maybe he is just playing a 4 pound joke on me. I make it to the new stop and get off. The Eurostar is there and I am relieved. I buy my ticket for a discount because I have a Eurail pass. I plan on leaving my bags behind and going exploring for an hour or two. She informs me that the check in for my train is…NOW. Oh man I rush down to the new que and skip all the food places and shops I wanted to peruse. I was going to buy postcards and mail them out to some people but, not now. I make it to the check in place and my ticket does not work. I have to have them do it manually. It works and I board the train. I get my stuff settled and *flash* we are moving through some country side. I read the signs and most seem to be in English must still be in England. I go grab a curry meal from the dining car. It tastes like crap but I was hungry. *flash * everything is dark we must be under water now. *flash* my phone vibrates I get a text message from my dad.

**yes dad I got your message**

I make a quick note to include this in my blog tonight. *flash* we are here in Brussels. I hurry and gather my stuff. Quick check of the map and I am off.

Now it gets a little pathetic. Time to make a confession, I am so out of my element here. I normally come across as confident and self assured. I can do this because I am in situations that I am familiar with. People have told me I am arrogant at times and I agree, but this is due to the fact that I have actually taken the time to learn what I need to know and more. I am arrogant because I know what I am talking about, because I learned and practiced it. Now here I am traveling internationally alone in a place I know nothing about including the language and I am terrified of meeting new people. Generally when I do something new I keep the learning process to myself. By the time people actually see me doing something I have already spent countless hours developing a skill in that area. By typing this up you get to see me as I muddle my way through a truly terrifying experience.

This trip was originally planned for four people; Matt, Heather, Roy, and myself. Well as you may have guessed I am the only one to actually make it. People tell me it sounds like fun to travel like this. I am not so sure. You see today as I got off the train I knew I should take the light rail car to Brussels Centraal then walk 2 blocks to the hostel. It would be a 3.2K walk up hill otherwise. Well guess what. I could not read the signs and I was too shy to ask anyone for directions so I walked through the city hoping I was going in the right direction carrying my heavy bag. I did eventually find the hostel and I did not talk to a single person to do it. Not really a point of pride for me by the way.

After checking in I went out to explore and get a bite to eat, maybe even meet some people. Well, I walked and walked and walked. I found several restaurants but of course could not read the menu. I did not want to ask the waiter out front because the thought of trying to communicate with them seemed out of reach. After walking around and past several restaurants I headed back to the hostel. Here is where it gets a little funny. I was so hungry I would not walk inside; instead I turned and walked down another street and past more restaurants. This cycle repeated like a tribute to the Asimov book I’Robot when the…(If you have read the book you get the reference). Eventually I made it back to the Hostel without food. I had a coke for dinner and I am really looking forward to breakfast tomorrow. Maybe I will meet people there. Remember my goal this trip is to get over this stupid insecurity I have in new situations. I wish I had a friend here to bolster me. *flash* Hungry, sad, depressed.

Right now I am trying to connect to the WiFi network here without much luck. Let’s hope it works soon because I would really like to sleep. This room is now full of people speaking French. Wish I knew what they were saying. Maybe in my next blog I will type up the rest of my thoughts I wanted to share. But this one is getting kinda long.

Thanks to the Brownes

I stayed with my Friend/brother Matt in England. Actually we both stayed at his parents place. It was marvelous and relaxing. They are the best hosts ever and caring in such a way that they let you roam free but are always there to catch you if you stumble. I just wanted to let you all know what a wonderful time I had there.

I hope this is not my last post

For those of you wondering what my plans are, I have more info for you. Up until today it has been sort of *shrug* I don’t know what I am doing or where exactly I am going. Playing it by ear is sort of a thing I am not comfortable with but I am trying to meet new people and get over that whole shy thing remember. I do have some definite bench marks here for you to let you know where about I might be.

• Tomorrow July 23 I am taking a bus into Leeds, England. Then I am hoping on another bus that will take me down to London. These tickets have already been purchased.
• 
  When I get to London I will meander my way to the train station and hopefully get a train ticket to Brussels, Belgium. I have a confirmed room at a Hostel in Brussels for one night.
• 
  Free and unplanned time here.
• 
  August 5th I have a confirmed stay at a friend’s house in Genoa, Italy. From Carlo’s place I need to be in Copenhagen, Denmark by August 9th
• 
  Aug 9th to Aug 21st or 22nd I will be on a Holland America cruise line.
• 
  Free and unplanned time. Probably in Ireland
  
• August 25th I fly home from Dublin Ireland, YIPEEE!!!

As I know more so will you. To be honest I am not sure how often I will be able to get such great internet access to post my stuff. This may be the last post you see until I get to Carlo’s place. I will try my best to write stuff up and get it to you to read.


****If you read this send me a comment or something so I know you are actually reading my stuff. Even a Hello would be cool.****

Just before I posted this I got a message/comment from my wonderful friend Kathryn, she is fan-frickin-tastic. Thanks Kathryn


Later guys

Last day in Yorkshire *sniff sniff* I will miss it dearly.

Wow busy day today. Really more busy for me not so much stuff for you. I am always looking for some sort of insight or interesting thing to talk about on these blogs. I at least like to include one personal conversation with someone. I have been told this makes reading my stories more interesting. Honestly I think it just takes the edge off the mundane.

I was talking with Matt’s mum (that’s mom in the USA) and suggested she keep a blog of all of the stories she hears while she is hosting people at a youth hostel she works at occasionally. She told me that her stories were too boring for people to read. She really hit home with that statement. Often when I am typing this stuff up I feel the same way. I mean come on it is just my life, nothing terrible interesting about it. I know you are saying it is interesting to travel across the country by bike or it is interesting to travel through Europe for 6 weeks. The actual journey seems like one step after another to me, it is hard to see the adventure when you are so close to it. I just keep plugging away at stuff and try to enjoy the scenery while doing it. When I am actually doing this stuff it feels much less glamorous than it may seem. I hope you do enjoy reading about what I am doing and maybe it will inspire you to take a trip of your own someday.

I recently read a friends blog who was looking for profound insights to the meaning of life and, well there was no and it was just meaning of life stuff. I really do not want to look for anything more profound than to wonder why Brattain’s put ketchup on everything. I actually had it on my eggs, chicken, and tuna. I am not sure if the eggs and chicken count as the same thing. It was just regular old Heinz 57. Surprisingly it tasted pretty good too.


Where did I begin again … oh right, busy day. Today I slept till noon (love that) then headed off to the town of Wakefield for some errands. I had to post (mail) something home then top up (pay for more minutes on) my phone. Interestingly you can pay by credit card in the store to get more minutes however, If you try to do it online or by calling them, they will not accept American credit cards. I think this is due to their system not accepting the zip codes for American addresses. For me it is kinda frustrating but I added 20 quid (pounds) to my phone. I hope that lasts me. I took some film of a museum Matt talked me into going to. They made me fill out some form to get permission to take pictures inside. Honestly the museum was not all that. I will edit and post the film tonight I think.




We took a bus back to Matt’s place and headed out with Stee (Steve)and Johnny to go climbing. We went to a place called “Widdop”. Man it is wet here all the time. My shoes were dripping the whole time we climbed. I was planning on saying Stee and Johnny spent their time making me feel totally inadequate and inept on the rocks because they are so much better than me, but, I am not going to say that so please erase that last sentence from your memory. The reason for this change of heart is I just read the climbing guide Matt has and it shows a picture of a dude climbing a 5c V2 boulder problem. I TOTALLY CLIMBED THAT!!! I even have it on video. Man that really just made my night! Aside from the watery shoes there were these little bugs they call midges annoying the heck out of us. Those suckers bite and bite and bite. Thankfully it looks like I am not allergic to them, I don’t have any itching now. Wow I am still stoked about climbing a V2


That’s about it. We packed up, headed into town, had the obligatory pint of ale then I am back at Matt’s now doing laundry and getting ready to travel.

Yorkshire; Where the men are men, and the sheep are affraid

Here are some important things to know if you visit England. These are the things you never read about in travel books and you cannot ask the locals because it is not something they think about or sometimes even notice they are doing it.

For example if you are in America and you are walking down the sidewalk and another person is approaching you heading in the opposite direction, which way do you move to avoid them? In general both people would move to the right and would pass without incident. Of course that is not always the case and yes I understand there are always exceptions. I am only saying that in general people in American have a greater tendency to move to the right to pass oncoming foot traffic. When this happens it is seamless and unnoticeable. In my opinion this is due to what we are taught about cars and driving, in that you drive on the right side of the road.
Well guess what folks; they drive on the left side of the road here. Not too surprising, passing a person is much easier if you move to the left as they approach. I learned this after practicing my two step shuffle dance with a few strangers. Again there are exceptions but still a nice thing to know. On the same note, when crossing the street the look is right left right… not Left right left as you may be accustomed to.
Another little tidbit of info you may find helpful involves standard greetings. Word to the wise it is not a good idea to as a native speaker what the proper response is to a standard greeting. If they get to thinking about it they will just give you some improper response that seems ok at the time. These responses to standard greetings are like a reflex and often they do not even realize they are doing it. This is especially true if you are using the same language as is the case here in England.
Here is my technique for a new greeting. If I can I listen to two native speakers do the greeting dance spontaneously without them knowing I am listening. Then I am ready when they hit me up. The second method is to copy them at the greeting a few times. This way you initiate the greeting and therefore you are not responsible for the response, they are. Just make sure you remember what they say.



Using these two methods I have discovered two appropriate responses to “You all right then?” If you are fast enough to start very close to the time they begin speaking you can just repeat the phase to them so you would say “You all right then?” at the same time. The second optional response is a short one that involves a one word answer of “Good.” And there you have it two new things from me to you.



For today’s activities we went climbing a bit. I have some video footage of it but I will up load it later I think. I heard a rumor that we will be climbing again tomorrow with some friends around here. For now you will have to make do with the boring old picture types.


Kinda cool I guess I did see a few sheep just sorta hanging out there by the rocks. Ok this one is old but still good. It was told to me by Matt in 1994. The way to catch a sheep is to heard it to a cliff. The sheep will not turn around and put his back to the cliff. Instead the sheep will just back up into you.

Gawthorpe: where the ugly people live, caught on video

You will have to get to the end of the video to understand the title.

Matt's birthday night

Yesterday was Matt’s Birthday. To be honest, not much happened at all. There was dinner with the parents, drinking, climbing, and then more drinking. Well, come to think of it, maybe a few things did happen that are worth mentioning so I will do that just for you who are reading this. Which as far as I know now, it is just the one person reading it. Er, Um, that would be Heather.
For dinner, Matt and I had the “Mixed Grill” at a local pub-turned-restaurant called “The Bulls Head”. The menu described it as 18 ounces of Yorkshire goodness grilled to perfection. What that meant was a slab of every kind of domesticated meat western cultures eat, all served together. Then because the plate was so full with meat they had to bring the veggies and the “chips” (that means French fries or freedom fries depending on your preference) in a side dish. I struggled to get through it all, but I was able to pack it in and move on. If there are people starving in the world it may single-handedly be due to the portion of meat served at this pub.

I mentioned this was a local pub-turned-restaurant. This brings me to an important part of British culture that is dying out. Over here, going to a pub is the thing to do for old and young alike. Last night we went back to the Tap and I saw people from 18 all the way up to 81 enjoying the same atmosphere. It is noticeable how many pubs have shut down since the last time I was here 3 years ago. I have seen at least 4, some of which have been in business for over a hundred years. According to Matt (and he would know), the tariff (tax) on beer has been increased dramatically. Now to get a good, proper ale poured from the tap costs about 3 quid 80 (translation: good beer costs about $5.00 on tap). For the locals, this means the beer is just too expensive in the pubs now. People have been buying the beer in the local grocery store and taking it home to drink. This is putting many pubs out of business. More importantly, this is changing one of the fundamental aspects of British culture, the pub life. Over here, it is not about drinking but about community in the pubs. Without the community, perhaps it may become more about drinking. That would be a sad state of affairs indeed.

Ok let’s take a moment to mourn the pubs then go on……

Enough of that. The first drink of the night for me, after about two sips, Matt showed me a cool game. This was a bad idea on his part. You flip the coaster up from the edge of the table then try to catch it immediately afterward. I was not doing too badly until I hit my very full glass of beer. On the upside, there was no one sitting in front of me to get wet or showered with glass. On the down side, I was without a beer and very much in need of something to quell the blazing fire of embarrassment within. I waited another two full rounds before I partook in the beer drinking again. It seems here when you say "I have had enough", that means "please buy me another drink". It is very difficult to tell the people you are out with, that you do not want to have any more beer.

For my friend Michelle, the beer connoisseur, you will be pleased to hear I found a beer that I can actually taste a uniqueness about it. On top of that, it is really good. Should you get the opportunity to try “Franziskarner”, a German beer, I highly recommend it.

While sitting out in front of the tap and our evening winding down, this dude decides to talk to us. He asks me if I am from Australia? That is a first for me. He joined in our conversation a bit, but really the only thing I got from what he was saying was that there was another pub up the road open much later. At this point, we were out of cash and in need of an ATM machine. Off we went into town to get some cash. That really means we walked 2 blocks up the road.

While they were getting cash, I decided to try my hand at climbing the building. Unfortunately, the stones were not real stones and just crumbled under my grip. Inspired, we walked across the street to another bank and the sides were much more stable. Matt and I scaled the building without much difficulty. This, of course, attracted the attention of two local people on their way to a pub. They decided to join us in the climbing goodness. After a bit more climbing on several buildings, we all meandered our way down to the pub. Turns out it was the same one our friend earlier had recommended. They had karaoke and food and all sorts of stuff. As we took a seat inside I saw the bartender from the last pub we were in sitting and having a drink. The only reason I remember Sam, the bartender, is because he was the one that had to clean up my mess of a spilt beer. Of course, when he offered to get me a drink, I reminded him of my mishap earlier and told him I had had enough drinking for the night. He said ok, he understood and returned shortly with a beer for me. I think he and I must have missed something in that exchange. Later, he tried to buy me another beer, but thankfully the bar had last call shortly before he got there.

It was amusing to watch Joel try to hit on Matt’s girlfriend right in front of Matt. She pretty much just ignored him. When he asked me what her name was, I told him. Thing is, I only spelled it out in British sign language. He found that much less amusing than I did.

It was not too long after that, we made our way home and to bed. Well, I guess I did have something to say after all. Don’t forget to send me a text message or call me. 011 44 7517038243

-dana

How to contact me while I travel

My text number from the US to Europe: 011 44 7517038243

Early in the day, I walked down to the local convenience store and purchased a “top up” for a local sim card Matt gave me to be used in my phone. It is a pay-as-you-go card, so I added funds to it. Now I can send and receive text messages. It is free for me to receive messages and free to receive phone calls as well. If anyone at all reading this would like to call me or text me while I am in Europe please do. I may or may not reply but at least I will know if you are reading this. My number is 07517038243 This is the number if you are in the UK . To text from America, send your messages to (011 44 7517038243). That includes the country code and international numbers needed to get the message to me. This has been tested and it works well.

Walking tour of Gawthorpe Ossett

I made it. Matt and his dad met me at the airport. All is well. I am working on getting my laptop online here. The first night Matt and I stayed up until 4 am here talking. He drank while I struggled with the internet. In the end I used his computer and was able to make a video phone call home. That was awesome. Finally I was satisfied (or maybe just too exhausted to continue) so I went to sleep.
Turns out sleep deprivation and a lack of sustenance really works as a great sleep aid. I slept until 2 pm and now I am up and ready to go. At the moment we are walking out the door to see what there is to see in Gawthorpe Ossett. Will keep you informed.

I have some pictures but really not a lot happened today or tonight. I think that may have been due to the fact that I slept until 2 pm. Felt great though to get plenty of sleep. We did head out to a local pub and downed a few pints with Matt’s mate Steve. On the way back it “pissed” (rained) on us a bit. We stopped to aid a motorcyclist whose chain came off. After getting him back on the road, we made it back to Matt’s place. Been here all night taking turns on the internet. All in all, a pretty chill day. Saturday (that’s today now) it is Matt’s birthday. We have some climbing planned and some drinking as well. I posted some more Pictures in facebook. Feel free to take a look.

A Day in Dublin

I have not been home since June 2 of this year. No, I am not independently wealthy, I just make a point to be on vacation 4-5 months of the year. This equates to working my tail off for the remainder of the time. Even when I am on vacation, I sometimes pick up a job or two but the work is uplifting because it is in a strange place with new people. I am by nature a shy person, however, when I am in an environment where I feel safe and comfortable I am like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Those who only see me in my element have a hard time believing I am so shy, I sometimes ask friends to order more water for me because I am afraid to talk to the waiter.

One goal for me on this trip is to get over my fear of talking to new people in strange places. I am currently beginning a trip to Europe which marks the completion of my trip to Washington DC. I am always surprised at the kindness of strangers with so much happening in the world I relish in the unsuspected acts a person can do that to them may seem insignificant but to me have a profound effect.

I had just come off a flight from DC to Dublin on Aerlingus, a pretty decent airline with super nice stewardesses. The night before I left I went out with some friends Kathryn, Kaedy, and Keith. As always, with this group of friends, I had an exceptionally great time!! Thanks guys for that sending off bash. Needless to say, I was not at 100% as I boarded the plane. As I discovered later, fatigue affects my math skills.

My ticket showed a departure time of 7 pm with an arrival at 7 am. To me, this meant a good solid 12 hours in the air. I planned on 6 hours of winding down, listening to music, reading, and relaxing, then 6 hours of sleep. For those of you who are not yet laughing, let me explain the error in my logic. I did not factor in the time change. Just as I was hunkering down for a much needed respite from this continued wakeful state, the lights came on and the pilot announced we were 20 minutes from landing. It was this announcement that caused adrenaline to course through my veins and provide that little bit of extra alertness so that I could recalculate my trip time. I quickly went from tired, sick, and sore to seriously bummed out, tired, sick, and sore.
It's not like I had a choice in the matter, so I gathered my pride from the floor and packed my stuff in my bag. Going through customs, my phone battery died, so I did not have my outgoing informating for the customs dude. He chastised me for that. He was nice about it, but I was in a fragile state. Plus, I think I forgot my smile back on the plane because try as I might, I could not seem to get it on my face.

I picked up my rather large bag and checked in with my body. I needed food and sleep. Sleep seemed less likely at this juncture but food could be managed. I had not exchanged money into the local currency because this was only a layover for me. I searched the airport for a place to eat that also provided a nearby plug for my phone and laptop. I found one and double checked to confirm they accepted American express. They did and I was set. Problem was, I really needed to set my bag down before I tried carrying the bag plus food. This would have been a recipe for disaster. I found a quiet little corner away from people (remember, I am shy), plugged my stuff in, and nested. Then for whatever reason, my mind decided it was more important to fully charge my cell phone than to eat and sleep. I know, I was totally not thinking clearly. Actually, I am still not thinking clearly now.

I sat there until my body’s need to feed overwhelmed my flawed logic of cell phone charging. I packed up my fancy electronic gizmos and headed to the food queue (queue means line for those who don’t know). I got a plate of “stuff”. The plate included meat, eggs, bread, and some things I could not identify. Famished, I approached the till (cash register) only to witness the girl up there being scolded by her boss. Seems something was not balanced in her drawer. She was obviously new and still learning. The manager was pleasant but the poor girl was still flustered.
I handed her my American Express card, and as sometimes happens with this card she said she did not think their computer could handle it. (FYI: American express is not accepted in many places around the world) Luckily I kept a back up card with me. I handed her the second card and she looked around frantically for something at the register. Then she walked over to another register talked to a coworker and returned. Looking distraught she asked me politely, "do you have any cash"? I of course did not and all I could think about now was how good that food smelled. She must have seen it on my face because she smiled at me and said “why don’t you go ahead and eat your breakfast then got to the auto bank (atm) get some cash to pay for this later”. And that was that.

With a single gesture of kindness to a complete stranger at the obvious risk to her employment, she reaffirmed my belief in the kindness of humans. That final sentence then lifted the veil that had been obscuring my smile all morning. Now with a silly grin going ear to ear I thanked her most sincerely and headed off to eat my breakfast.

Amazingly, I found the energy to check my bag and hop a bus into the city center. While there I took the obligatory tour of the Guinness factory. I decided to walk there myself with nothing but a gut feeling and a vague description, but that is another story. Suffice it to say, she made my day and inspired me to write this post.

In case you are wondering, I did return to pay her directly after I completed my meal. She seemed relieved.


Transcript (by Heather): While flying, I'm thinking about what I'll do in Europe. All the seats on this plane are green, it's cool. This plane also has TVs, music and other stuff to relax with. Do you want to see the plane? I'll show you. TV. It's a huge airplane, it's cool. I'm relaxing now and thinking about what I'll do when I get to Europe. Bye.

OK so anyway, I took the bus here to Dublin. Now I have no idea where I am. I have a map, but I'm looking for the names of the streets, so I don't know where I'm going or what to do, but Matt told me I must find the Guiness place, so now I'm looking for where the beer is. I guess I'll see, but it's an interesting city. It's cool to look around, I'll show you. Now I look like a dorky tourist, but it's still cool. Bye.

Guess what? I found the street names, they are on the buildings, look. Anyway, now I know. I finally found out where I am. Now I'm looking for that guiness because it's very important to find beer. Bye.

This is called Stephens green. Let's see what they have here. I think it's a park. *shrug* Cool. OK, I'm satisfied with the park and you are too. Bye.

Again, I don't know where I am, but I'll keep looking to see if I can find guiness. Now it's like a hunt for beer.

There isn't much light here, sorry.

Writing on the wall: Centuries ago, many people were convinced that, somehow
lead could be transformed into gold. In a way, Arthur Guiness
was such a man. But where others failed, he succeeded.

Writing on the barrell: A copper has a 600 barrel capacity
288 pints --> so each copper ???

Now I finally have beer, see? Yum, I'm happy now. Bye.

This is called Saint Augustine and Saint John's catholic church. It's cool.

Well, I'm not sure how, but I finally arrived back to the right place. Now I'm waiting for the bus to come. The bus number is 747. When it gets here, I'll board it and head back to the airport. Bye.
*** End Transcript***