Coreyography

The South Will Rise Again!

I'M IN: Allenpy, Kerala, India
HAVING VISITED: Goa (Arambol & Calangute) and Cochi
NEXT UP: Working my way back to you, babe (via Chennai, Bangkok and Burma)

I'm full-to-bursting with American and North Carolinian pride the past few days.  Locals and fellow travelers alike are similarly enthusiastic about our Prez elect, which I take as an excellent sign of things to come.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Pre-election, it was all Goa all the time.  In Goa I found Israelis, hippies and Israeli hippies amongst beautiful beaches.  The beach I stayed at, Arambol, is west-facing which provided gorgeous sunsets every night.  I was similarly awed by the selection of movies playing at the restaurant next to my hotel - four each night!  There were some stinkers for sure (I didn't realize anyone anywhere still had a copy of Final Analysis- someone should address this international crisis ASAP) but on the whole very watchable fare, including Lord of the Rings, Mamma Mia! and Austin Powers. 

Monday night I took the overnight train to Kerala and arrived election day morning.  Being an unreformed political junkie, I immediately I set upon finding a room with a TV withCNN in Fort Cochim.  This took ten minutes.  I spent the rest of the day flittering around, fretful and anxious, gathering supplies for my all-night vigil.  It turned out there was a lot of dozing that happened despite the crazy CNN hologram graphics because Wolf Blitzer is human valium.  I was/am jubilant about the results, and still get teary eyed thinking of the image of the new first family taking the stage for the acceptance speech.  Plus the new puppy?  C'mon!

And with election fever in the rear-view mirror, the next few days I will hopefully be cruising the backwaters of Kerala on a houseboat.  When I first heard of the backwaters I thought, "This sounds like a place that I, perennial mosquito victim, should avoid."  But literally everyone I spoke with, local and non, said it is the best place in India.  So armed with my genetic code altering, super high grade DEET here I am.  I will start shopping around for prices and (non mosquito) travel companions tomorrow.  And pictures will be forthcoming as well at some point - I have taken exactly one in two weeks and realize this is unacceptable.  Onward and upward!

An Update Deferred is Not an Update Denied

I'M IN: Delhi, India
HAVING VISITED: Gurgaon & Udaipur
NEXT UP: Goa and Southern India

Apologies!  Yes, it has been a long time, too long.  The good news: I was indeed able to pick up some work the past month.  The best news: this means a few more months of travel!  The bad news: this left little time for doing as I please.  Indians work really hard.  The regular work schedule here runs roughly 10 a.m. - 10 p.m., and apparently overnighters are not a rarity.  Dad and I settled into a great routine of work, exercise and regular movie viewing.  It felt fantastic to stay put for a spell, too - sometimes I just want to set fire to my backpack so I never have to pack or unpack it ever again in a million years.  But then sometimes I want to marry it: fickle moi.

Dad and I did manage a long weekend coinciding with a holiday celebrating Durga (a riot grrl goddess with a mad weapons collection) to the lovely city on a lake, Udaipur.  We had a few problems getting there as the train we were hoping to take was full due to aforementioned holiday.  Dad showed true traveler mettle by agreeing to a fifteen hour overnight bus, which turned out to be surprisingly painless.  It didn't take us long to be charmed by Udaipur.  There are many large and impressive palaces, including two on islands in the middle of the lake.  Our in and out of town touring included a boat ride on the lake, a dance recital and a day trip to visit a Jain temple and the massive Kumbalgarh fort.  Our best adventure was surely The Case of the Tuk Tuk That Wouldn't wherein our auto-rickshaw broke down half way up a mountain (time to get serious about that diet).  Dad and I then proceeded to climb the remainder of the mountain only to realize that the tuk tuk driver had taken this opportunity to go back to town, leaving us stranded.  We managed to thumb a ride back into town, and it's all's well that ends well, but for an hour I was rather perturbed/worried.  These emotions were exacerbated by the reaction of the staff at the Monsoon Palace (perched atop the mountain, this is what we went to visit) who insisted in equal measure that it was not possible for us to walk back to town ("No, no, too far.") and not possible for them to call us a cab/arrange other transport ("No cab.").  OK?  We started walking back to town at which point they offered to call a cab (?!), but we ended up thumbing down a truck who deposited us at the bottom of the hill, free of charge.  Money savings all around as the original tuk tuk driver departed before we could pay him, so: score.

Then it was back to work in Gurgaon for a few weeks.  Gurgaon is sort of like Cary, NC except more so and not at all.  Similarities: both are cities in their own right but really suburbs-on-steroids of the major towns next door, both have nonexistent/poor public transport, both are experiencing rapid and seemingly unstoppable growth and seem to contain but three types of structures: offices, apartments and malls.  Well, I guess Cary has a lot of McMansions, too.  And a Raleigh suburb is one thing and a Delhi suburb is a stray cow of a different color.  Everywhere you look in Gurgaon you see 20+ story buildings under construction with cranes amok.  The congestion of auto- and cycle-rickshaws plus motorbikes plus cars, constant HONKing, beggars, shantytowns and amazing level of dust are also indicators that this is India.  But then it's not like the rest of India at all, with Marks & Spencer and Lush in residence.  Really unusual. 

So, the next time you're here I highly recommend stepping in to the Bella Madonna salon for their organic facial.  I am not a facial junkie, but I've had my share and this was hands down the best there ever was.  The only odd aspect was that it was conducted in a La-Z-Boy, which became increasingly uncomfortable during the back massage portion (there is a reason those massage tables have head holes for when you're tummysidedown).  Regardless, well worth it.  I was on such a high after this successful beauty treatment that I went on to get a haircut, and this turned out much the same as my Namibian haircut, which is to say badly.  Hardcore Coreyography fans might remember that I was boasting of getting a haircut in Turkey.  As it turned out I only got a dye job there because I became fearful of the outcome (apparently this is a right and just fear).  So this is the first time my hairs have been cutted upon since March.  As with the last time I am not sure how things progressed to the point they did, but I take full responsibility.  It seemed like this time (and the last time! totally) the stylist and I were really and truly on the same page about what I wanted (one inch off the ends) and yet I am shorn.  The bright side is I can probably go another six months without a haircut.

Since completing my work project (a style guide) and Dad's departure late last week I have been staying with couch surfers in the greater Delhi area, having fun while trying to get some errands accomplished.  I have ratcheted down expectations to the point where if I can just get one thing done a day I'm ecstatic.  Today I managed to buy a train ticket from that same International Tourist Bureau that gave Clare and I such a headache a month back.  Similarly there were 12 people outside the station saying the office was closed (it was not) and the office was full of grumpy old men plus the one nice guy (love him!).  My destination is Goa one of the places I have most wanted to visit for years and years (not coincidentally it is located beach-side).  From there my plan is to visit several places in the South (Kerala, Trichy & Puducherry are currently on the list) before heading back to Thailand.  What?  Right!  Since India borders Myanmar and it's my favorite place I've visited I decided to return.  Only it's crazy expensive to fly there from here (four figures expensive, yikes) and Myanmar visas are more difficult to obtain here than there.  So it's back to Thailand for me.  This is, for sure, a don't throw me in the brier patch situation should you have any doubt.

And beyond this?  It's time to get back to work for real.  I am looking for a public administration job either overseas or abroad (target cities: Bangkok, Johannesburg, Raleigh, D.C. & Richmond) - let me know if I can send you my resume.  And please feel free to pass along any openings you see that look appetizing - no lead is too small to follow up.  Who says a major economic downturn is no time to look for work?  Well, I think everyone says this but luckily I am still riding my bliss wave and think that this will all work out just fine.  Plus my mom has a HUGE attic.  And she lives at the beach.  So...

Culture Shock and Awe

I'M IN: Manali, India
HAVING VISITED: Delhi and Shimla
NEXT UP: Back to Delhi, back to work

Well, the plane trip to end all plane trips actually went quite well.  I was surprised at how quickly the time passed and was even able to grab some sleep in the Kuwait airport and on several of the flights.  I was a bit on edge when I arrived in Delhi because my pre-arranged ride was nowhere to be found.  Normally I would just get a taxi, but several guide books say this is not a good idea for a single woman.  I realized that I needed to get some cash no matter what, and by the time I secured some, I spotted a guy with my name on a piece of paper coming in the door.  We made our way out into the humid sunrise to a tiny white van (of course I felt like Mma Ramotswe at this point) and I then braved my first encounter with Indian roads.  It was 6:00 a.m., not too many cars on the road.  Regardless we had three super near collisions and ten or more times (I stopped counting) when I braced for impact.  There are people everywhere in the road on foot, bicycles and motorbikes and in cars, trucks and buses of all sizes.  Then there are the dogs (lots) who must yield to people and the cows to whom people must yield.  And all of this happens at top speed.  I wanted to tell the driver that I wouldn't mind slowing down, but the language barrier was large as was my fear of distracting the driver.  After we made it to the hostel I said, "You are a very good driver!"  He agreed.

Delhi is hot, boy howdy, and amazingly crowded and dusty.  After poking around town for a few days I decided to head north into the Himalayas to cool out mentally and physically.  I chose the town Shimla pretty much at random and my hostel roomie, an Aussie named Clare, decided to come with.  This was fantastic as she is great company and for the first time in awhile I was feeling a bit vulnerable on my own.  Even before leaving Delhi, securing our train tickets was an adventure in and of itself.  We got to the train station in Delhi with specific instructions from our hostel owner about where to go (left side, over and up, then you see the sign).  So we went to the left side, went over and up where we met a man who told us we must have a ticket to proceed further.  He was disgusted with Clare and I that we did not have a Lonely Planet and berated us for a few minutes and sent us away.  After 20 minutes of more conflicting information and a puppy being stepped on by a beggar, we finally got to the correct office (which was exactly where the hostel owner said it would be) and attempted to start the ticket buying process.  The International Tourist Ticket Office has floor-to-ceiling hand-painted signs on each wall listing the pertinent rules and regulations.  There were stacks of forms (we selected one at random and filled it out) and about ten men sitting behind mid-'80's era DOS operated computers.  We presented one of these men with our form and he was revolted.  "No, not like this, not like this."  He pushed the form back across the desk and folded his arms.  After a number of seconds he pointed across the room.  "Many trains are changing," the disgusted man sputtered, shooing us away from his desk.  The man across the room was much more friendly, although he was quite alarmed that Clare did not have her passport with her.  After a lenghtly, friendly discussion he agreed to grant us "very special permission" to get the tickets without her passport.  In the end, neither of our passports were ever checked, but whatever, we had our tickets.

After this confusion, what a joy the train trip was the next morning.  The first train offered a continual stream of presents - water and tea and breakfast and cookies and more tea.  All in comfy chairs with plenty of leg room.  Wow!  We changed trains in Kalka for the narrow gauge toy train, about which I was extremely excited.  It was a beautiful ride, but pretty uncomfortable and Clare and I were both happy to de-train after five hours.  Shimla is like the Positano of India (minus Med, plus Himalayas) all stairs and climbing.  We took the town lift (20 cents) to more stairs and clambered our way up to the town YMCA.  I have not stayed in too many YMCAs, but I feel certain that the Shimla branch is unique.  It's like if the hotel from The Shining needed some help from This Old House - all grand staircases missing stairs, creaking doors, red carpets and tall, crumbling ceilings.  No twins were spotted, thank goodness.

And after a few days in Shimla I bid farewell to Clare and came further north to Manali, a hippie/backpacker haven of sorts.  I am pleased as punch to be in one piece after the bus journey here from Shimla (175 miles, took 8 hours) up, down and around some large hills.  The Himalayas ain't no joke, ya'll!  The road was generally one lane and heavily traveled with trucks, who squeezed by inches from the bus.  Also inches from the bus were sheer drops of hundreds of feet into rocky ravines.  I kept reminding myself to dwell on positive mental images not fiery crashes.  Luckily when leaving here I will be on the night bus and unable to contemplate grisly deaths on my return to Delhi.

And I am so looking forward to going back to Delhi, as my Dad will be there!  He is doing some consulting with an Indian/US company and will be in the Delhi suburb of Guragon until mid-October.  Hopefully I will be able to pick up a bit of freelance work for this outfit as well.  I am most looking forward to spending an extended amount of time with my Dad, this will be great.  Everything else about the coming month is exciting, too - the potential for earning cash (much needed at this point), a nice place to stay and a little break from the backpack, all most welcome additions.  In the meantime, I continue my cultural acclimation and full exploration of scrumptious Indian cuisine.  Paneer for President!

Farewell Summer, Farewell Europe

I´M BACK IN: Istanbul
HAVING VISITED: Vienna, Austria and Basel, Switzerland
NEXT UP: India!!

I had a wonderful last week in Europe.  Vienna is a city everyone should visit as it has tons going for it: culture, beautiful buildings, great coffee houses and a thought-provoking modern art scene.  For me, it also has my friend Hubs, who I met in the jungle in Laos.  Hubs and his fabulous girlfriend Julia are both studying to be dentists (which involves extensive slave labor and little free time) and they were incredibly kind to host me (brilliantly) with little warning.  At some point I will master the art of planning my travels ahead of time, but this is not the case at present.  Hubs and Julia have a large group of friends who were equally gracious and fun.  We had such a great time that I did not want to leave Vienna on Sunday at all, but did so en (a very circuitous yet thrifty) route to India.  Right, so I had no problems at all getting my visa in Vienna, all I needed was a way to get my tail over there.  Funds are low these days, and I felt like I could definitely do better than the $1300 flights that I found from Vienna to Delhi.  My final travel bill will come to less than half of this cost, but this will involve lots of layover ludicrousness (boo) and a trip back to Turkey (yay).

My flight last night (Basel to Istanbul) started this string of dubious travel.  I arrived in Istanbul's secondary airport (one hour out of town) this morning at 2:40 a.m.  Yikes.  Quite serendipitously I met a woman in my dorm in Basel who was on this same flight!  So at least I had good company for this adventure.  We were both able to get a bus into town and a dorm bed with little to no hassle.  Indeed, I hope the journey to Delhi goes half as smoothly.  Here is the plan: on Saturday night I fly from Istanbul to Kuwait.  Then after a six hour layover (lasting from 2-8:00 a.m.) it'll be Kuwait to Dubai where I have a twelve hour layover, then from Dubai to Delhi, where I arrive at 5:00 a.m Monday morning.  Clearly I was wearing my Bad Idea jeans when I booked this.  Here's hoping that Indian customs officials have liberal policies regarding Zombie Admittance.

But in the meantime, I am back in Turkey and it is a beautiful thing.   A la Bangkok, it is so nice to visit a place where you have a notion of which way is up, even if it is a vague notion.  If only I could get that They Might Be Giants 'Istanbul not Constantinople' song out of my head for more than five minutes!  As recently as this morning I was planning to go around to various Turkish cities I did not get a chance to see on my last visit, but I have revised this plan (in no small part because of my fond feelings for this city) to just chilling in Istanbul.  Full disclosure: there are also movies in English here.  But my goal for today is to get my hair done, always a dicey proposition when there is a language barrier involved.  Wish me luck!

War Zone Vacation

I´M IN: Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sarajevo
HAVING VISITED: Croatia: Zadar, Split, Hvar, Korcula & Dubrovnik
NEXT UP: Austria: Vienna

So, the Adriatic is: warm, waveless and rocky.  And Croatia is just about the sunniest place on God´s green Earth.  I felt like a vampire half the time there, ducking into shade wherever I could find it, not taking my sunglasses off until after sunset.  It buuuuurrrrnns.

So I just sort of bee-bopped my way down the Croatian coast, meeting lots of fun folks along the way.  The beach was generally overrun with tourists, with prices to match such a condition, but it sure is beautiful.  Lots of marble paved streets (that reflect the sun - ahh!) and churches and castles and walls.  I definitely (and inadvertently) saved the best for last with Dubrovnik.  It is one of the places like Venice or Gatlinburg, Tennessee (people compare those two cities all the time, right?) that you have to kind of see to believe.  The old city is still enclosed by an intact set of city walls.  These are billed as the best in the world and I do not disagree.  I sprung for a guided tour and took a ton of pictures.  One of the oddest things about Croatia (apart from the substantial national interest in handball) is that there is almost zero evidence that there was a war there somewhat recently.  There are old things and there are new things, but everything looks fine.  Turns out there was a ton of damage, especially in Dubrovnik (under siege for seven months) it is just all fixed now thanks to influxes of cash from UNESCO and hordes of tourists - amazing.

Especially so when compared with the state of affairs here in Bosnia.  Bullet holes in buildings abound and there are LOTS of bombed out, crumbling buildings.  There are a lot of other references to the war, too, including a museum showcasing a tunnel that supplied goods, electricity and arms to the city (under siege for four years).  And then at breakfast the other morning I heard a large explosion from the hills.  My worried face brought the waiter who mimed someone stepping on a land mine.  No problem, he said.  Funner times were had at the FK Sarajevo soccer game (my first ever professional soccer match) where the good guys won and I learned some new soccer chants.

Next up is Vienna where I plan to bliss myself out on coffee while awaiting (hopefully hopefully) my visa to visit India.  Fingers crossed!

Hither & Yon

I'M IN: Zagreb, Croatia
HAVING VISITED: Warsaw, Krakow & Budapest
NEXT UP: Da Beach

Well, I have been a busy tourist here in Eastern Europe meandering from great city to greater city.  Warsee?  Warsaw!  I had a great time in Warsaw and not just because I went shopping and to the movies (although that helped).  The hostel I stayed in was very fun and I met lots of cool, different people and stayed up waaay too late a number of nights, good fun.

In Krakow I surfed my first couch!  This was fantastic in every way, mostly because my hosts, the Blaszkiewicz family, are incredibly generous with their time and help.  They drew me maps and furnished lots of insider tips and were generally a dream come true.  I felt every inch the honored guest and it was wonderful to get to know them.  It is such a different experience to stay in a home versus a hostel - you really get a better sense of the culture and a more nuanced appreciation of everything, really.  Krakow itself is a beautiful town and there are lots of things to see and do.  I spent a lot of time hanging around town, as per normal.  My main tourista activity was visiting the Wielczka Salt Mine, which has been in operation since the 13th century!  Bonus: it is nice and cool underground.

When I got off the train from Krakow to Budapest, I just about lost my breath.  "I know this place!" I thought.  "How do I know this place?"  A few seconds later it hit me - this was the train station that was my screen saver for years and years on my work computer.  I stared at this view for hours on end talking on the phone or whatnot - it felt like walking into a movie to really be there.  I had a few moments of wistful thoughts about who I was then and who I am now and stay gold Ponyboy before proceeding on to my hostel, a bizarre situation in and of itself.  The hostel owner was a very kind older woman who was wearing a shirt with a cartoon elephant holding a sign that said "Darfor!"  I thought this was a political statement about Africa, but maybe it was a Swedish joke?  Either way...  The hostel was this woman's home and she slept amongst us guests in whatever bed was free that night.  She changed the beds around nightly, deftly moving furniture from room to room, as the guests came and went.  My bed was in five different places over the course of my stay.  Each time I came back to find it in a different spot this woman would be smiling at me saying, "Ja, I move."  I smiled back.

Budapest definitely feels different from any city in recent memory.  There is more evidence of urban blight and the accompanying misery parades (ranging from homeless people to crumbling buildings).  I visited both a public bath (there are many in town due to a former Turkish occupation) and a park containing all the old communist statues (due to a more recent occupation).  This Statue Park was great and I took a ton of pictures.  The statues generally depict people pointing, people running, people holding a flag, people pointing and running while holding a flag and Lenin.  Outside the park they had a movie theater showing all spy training films!  I was able to catch both the home invasion with a warrant and secret home invasion segments before the bus back into town left - really interesting.

Zagreb also seems like a great place - beautiful and great public transport and oddly uncrowded.  But I shall not linger as the sea beckons.  It has been almost three months since I have been on the beach!  Yes, time to go.  Reports of the Adriatic to come.

One Week in Prague

I'M IN: Prague
NEXT UP: Warsaw (via overnight train) then Krakow

I have had a fantastic week in Prague.  This is a city with just about everything you could want: culture, history, beautiful architecture and Art Nouveau out the yin yang.  It was great, also, to share this experience with my friends Amanda and Brian (who returned home earlier this week).  The three of us historyed and musuemed and cultured ourselves silly (the Becks did this in a quite disciplined way that involved lots of getting up early whereas I, as usual, took it easy and spread out my activities over several additional days). 

I like to take the eclectic approach where culture is concerned.  With the Becks, I went to see one of Prague's specialties - Laterna Magica, or black light theater.  We chose the "modern" version of black light at the Image Theater - not coincidently, also the cheapest ticket in town.  I was expecting a lot of cool effects and neat dancing - it turned out to be both much more and much less.  Indeed, at the end of the show I turned to the Becks and asked, "What just happened to me?"  The dancing was cool, if not the amazingly inhuman brilliance of, say, Cirque du Selie, as were some of the effects that look like people are floating, etc.  But the bizarreness of many aspects of the show cannot be overstated, particularly the pantomime elements which involved a Cops and Robbers through-story and lots of shooting people in the crotch.  What?  Right.  Regardless, pretty cool. I loved the Czech documentary (with English subtitles) I stumbled into called Rene about the last twenty years of this ne'erdowell/sociopath/author's life, as overlayed with recent, turbulent Czech history.  Rene has a tattoo that says 'Fock of People' on his neck, which tells you most of what you need to know about him (he is hardcore, sure, but in that look-at-me-Mommy, showy way) and yet his behavior over the course of the film continues to surprise and amaze (in good and bad ways).  And I also went to the opera!  Wednesday night, I saw Don Giovanni in the same theater where it premiered in 1787, which I think is pret-ty neat.  The theater itself was great, if not the most spectator-friendly.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire first act not due to plot anticipation, but to column and wall impediments.  I moved down a row during the intermission and was a much happier camper.  I took my safari binoculars along ("opera glasses") which I thought was ingenious, but I was the only person there with them.  This did not stop me from using them, and engaged thusly I noticed that at one point the singer playing Don Giovanni was actually eating (both chicken and ham) and singing at the same time!  I am not an opera buff, but I assume this is unusual?  Also, was Mozart way ahead of his time using such an unsympathetic protagonist or what?  I've always thought this was a modern thing.

On the history front: Becks and I visited the Prague Jewish Museum, which is actually seven different buildings over a three block radius.  I found it extremely interesting and beautiful, especially the Jewish cemetery, which had a fantastic dappled light effect during our visit, and the Pinkas Synagogue, which has the names of all the Holocaust victims from Prague painted on the walls.  This is such a simple idea, but incredibly effective as they just go on and on and on, and are written so tinily that at first glance it just looks like a pattern on the wall.  My other favorite museum was the Museum of Communism, which was relatively small, but jam-packed with cool artifacts (gasmasks! propaganda!) and interesting yet even-handed displays. 

And, yes, beautiful buildings everywhere!  Once my camera dried out, I even got a few pictures.  Favorites include the Charles Bridge (Becks were not as interested as I in recreating the INXS video "I was standing, you were there..."), Old Town Square, St. Vitas' Cathedral, the castle, more churches, etc. etc.

And yes yes, Art Nouveau: the buildings, the interior design, and mucho Mucha!  Such a lovely and likable style.

I'm wordy and linky today!  And, so, on to Warsaw.  I'm hoping to have my first Couch Surfing experience there, or sooner rather than later at any rate.  My last minute planning preference have been a hindrance to using this service thus far, but I am particularly determined to make it work now.  Budgetarily it would be good, of course (I cannot feel good about paying $45+/night for a dorm bed), but as has been so apparent over the past few weeks, it's just fun to stay with people.  One of my favorite aspects of traveling is getting to know people (friends and strangers) in different ways and couch surfing seems like a good way to do this.  Anyway, here's hoping it works!

What Would You Do If I Sang Out of Tune?

I'M IN: Prague, Czech Republic
HAVING VISITED: Stuttgart environs, Landstuhl (outside of Kaiserslutern), Heidelberg & Munich in Germany
NEXT UP: Yeah, I should probably figure that out...

I've definitely been getting a little help from my friends the last two weeks, and it's been absolutely fantastic.  I loved visiting my American friends Brenna and Becky, both of whom are part of military families.  This meant that I, too, got to visit military bases where they have honest-to-goodness Americanesque grocery stores and even a Chili's!  It's weird what you miss after a spell - I didn't think Southwestern Egg Rolls would ever make this list, but apparently they do.  Also, hotdog dreams were realized over July 4th weekend, with Heinz ketchup!  Excitement.  

After my mini-visit to the USA while still in Germany, it was on to Heidelberg.  There I stayed with my friend Suzanne, whom I met in Namibia in March.  We had a fantastic time, touring and going to see the Heidelberg castle "illumination" which is a recreation of the 17th century destruction of the castle (it is a semi-ruin to this day).  The illumination involves fireworks (yay) and also the castle glowing red for about fifteen minutes.  I'm told this effect is achieved using flares or a flare-like burning chemical substance - it is super cool looking.  Unfortunately you will have to take my word for this as my camera was in an uncooperative mood for snapping a decent pic.  Or, you know, operator error: German beer is delicious!

Speaking of my camera, it is a tank and I love it.  I have abused it fourteen different ways, most recently a mishap involving a leaking bottle of water in my purse.  After literally dumping water out of my camera and a two day drying out period, I'll be derned if the miraculous machine didn't come back to life!  Takes a licking and keeps on clicking.  Most other folks I've met who are traveling for an extended period are on their second or even third cameras, an expense and hassle I'm most pleased - and fortunate - to have avoided thus far.

And last week, my friends from D.C., the Beckriches, arrived in Munich.  We did a good round of touring there (including extensive beergarten research) and came on to Prague yesterday.  I could tell right away that Prague is my kind of place.  It's a little funky (both in style and dirt-collection ways) and there's tons of cultural options and lovely buildings around every corner.  I plan to stay on here after the Becks return home on Tuesday and figure out my next steps.  I had sketched out another month and a half wandering around Eastern and Central Europe, but my 90 day Schengen Zone stay will expire on August 21, so... Romania?  Not sure.  Regardless, looks like after Europe I will definitely head to India, about which I'm super excited.  I might even be able to do so work whilst there, which my bank account would most appreciate.  Imagine, money coming in not just going out!  Yesss.  And hopefully I will have enough cash and gumption to continue on to South America at some point, although that is definitely too far ahead for me to plan now! 

Planschen Aus in Baden-Baden

I'M IN: Baden-Baden, Germany
HAVING VISITED: Brugues, Belgium & Strasbourg, France
NEXT UP: Staying in Germany, staying with friends!

Well, Belgium got a lot better.  There were frites, there were waffles, lots of art and lots of beer.  The Belgian beer officially falls into the No Joke category, both in deliciousness and fortitude.  After a few days, I hopped a train to Bruges, one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe.  It's pretty much the cutest, if not the happeningest.  From there I made a little detour to France to visit the former home of my Uncle Mike and Aunt Beth, Strasbourg, which is a model for urban living in my opinion: public transport, plenty of green space, bike paths, well preserved public buildings.  Things came a bit full circle when I was able to see In Bruges in Strasbourg in English (INXS).  It's a pretty good movie and I was tickled pink while watching it thinking, "I was just there.  And there, too!  And right there, I loved that place."  

My other viewing material has been Eur08 soccer.  I chose Spain as my team at the beginning of the tournament, both because I was there at the time and because Fernando Torres is a total dreamboat.  I was happy to find a cafe of (mostly Algerian) Turkey supporters with which to watch the Turkey-Germany semi-final in Strasbourg.  They were as disappointed, as was I, when Turkey lost.  Surprisingly (to me) almost no one watched the Spain-Russia game the following evening, but I did and best: Spain won.  This set up a Spain-Germany final on Sunday, the day I came here to Germany.  I'm all about win-win situations and this was one - yay if Spain wins because they are my team, and yay if Germany wins because these volks are going to lose their frickin' minds up in here.  But it was even better.  Here in Baden-Baden they had a public viewing area set up in a park with a huge screen and lots of sausages and beer, so I was able to watch the game with about a thousand other people.  There were even six or seven other Spanish fans in the crowd!  Then Spain totally won (thanks to a goal scored by my future husband no less) ending a long drought of Spain winning anything soccer-related.  Although the German fans seemed a bit down, their loss did little to suppress the ensuing party which mostly consisted of people driving around in cars, honking a lot and shaking German flags at each other.  So much fun.

There's a lot to like about Baden-Baden.  It's lovely and smallish, but not too, and has a plethora of walking trails.  But the reason I came here was to bathe-to bathe (it's right there in the name after all).  I was far from disappointed.  There are two baths: one is more modern and you wear a bathing suit, the other is older and all nekkid with men and women bathing together (welcome to Europe!).  I decided to ease myself in, so to speak, with the former.  It was great - thermal water pools everywhere (indoor and out, many different temperatures) with waterfalls and these muscle melting super high powered water jets.  These jets were sort of like those hand dryers they have at the State Fair that move your skin around, except for under water and on crack.  Yesterday I braved Friedrichsbad, which had lovely tile and cupolas at which to gaze while completing their 16-Step Bathing Program.  Each room had placards with the Step name and number (in German, English, French and Greek), the recommended time to spend there and a map to the next step.  Ja.  My favorite part was Step 15: after all the various temperature rooms and pools and scrubs, you slather yourself with lotion, hop on a bed and a woman comes and wraps you up in a warm sheet and blanket and you cook there, cocoon-style, for a half hour.  Step 16 was sitting in a lawn chair reading trashy Euromags, which I did for another thirty minutes because this is important apparently.  I shouldn't mock as relaxation was achieved.

And now I'm going to stay with friends for the next few weeks, which is wunderbar.  First up: visiting Brenna outside Stuttgart.  My main goal, as with last year, will be scoring a hotdog on July Fourth.  Hope your July the Fourth is also hotdog-filled and fun for all.

Brussels: All Sprouts, No Frites

Well, Brussels and I got off to a weird start yesterday, but am hoping for the best today.  Most of my problems stemmed directly from my flight (Madrid to here).  I flew Ryanair, one of these newish cheapie airlines, in what I believe will be a first-and-last experience.  The good news: the flight only cost €30!  But the bad news is that it left at 6:15 AM, the Madrid metro does not start running until 6:00 AM which necessitated a €26 cab, and the flight landed not in Brussels but in Charleroi, an airport 40 kilometers away.  Which meant another hour and another €12 on a train.  So I arrived at my hostel around noon (having been awake for eight hours) completely wiped, road-weary and grumped up to Jesus that I just shelled out €68.  There was nothing for it but to take a nap, then head to the movies.  I saw SATC(meh) and Iron Man(ROCKED).  Today I have a new lease on life, and am heading out presently to obtain culture and frites (not necessarily in that order).