Markus and Brian's Excellent European Adventure

Cultured

Some pictures to digest! We'd like to post them more often, but it's a challenge getting to cafes that allow us to post them, plus it takes a significant amount of time -- time we need to be getting lost and planning what to do at the last minute. We also need to get better at taking more pictures.

I think Markus and I are getting a little burnt out, actually; most of the stuff we've been doing has left us feeling a little empty. Each museum and grand church are all blending into the same thing. We have the feeling that, while we recognize the incredible talent and emotional impact that went into many of these works, they just don't hold the same kind of draw to us as to many other people. We're uncultured. We don't have the background to properly appreciate and "get" the significance of what we see. It's a worthwhile experience to shuffle from one city to another every few days to see what kind of architecture, history, and culture each has to offer, but it's getting a little old, y'know? (Though we've been sure to enjoy the authentic food at least once in each place; we definitely don't feel empty then.)

So, we'll be heading out to Corfu (a large-ish island on the west side of Greece) and then the Greek Islands (a ton of tiny islands on the east side of Greece) in a few days. There, we're going to chill. Take a vacation from our vacation, stay in one place for a while, make friends with other travellers all staying in the same place, and just relax. Beaches by day, clubs by night. Read a book or ten (Harry Potter, yo), play some volleyball, swim, hike through caves, and so on. So much of what we've done so far we've done because we thought we should -- to expand our horizons, to say "I've been there" or "I've seen that," or whatever. For now, we'll do what we really, really want to do. (Yeah, I'm writing this mostly for my own benefit and self-reflection.)

Anyway, that's not to say that we haven't had some great, memorable times over the past few weeks. There are still a lot of my own thoughts I want to post on Budapest, Venice, and Florence, and I'll get to those sooner than later. But for now, pictures! Captions come first this time. Enjoy.

Pictures

1) The view way, way down the mountain, high in the Black Forest around Freiburg, Germany.
2) The narrow path I hiked through the Black Forest.
3) Flowers for sale at the daily market in Beaune, France.
4) Wine tasting in the dark, damp cellars of Beaune (see earlier posting). If you fancied the wine, you could grab it from the rack on the wall and purchase it at the exit.
5) Erm, I fancied the wine a little too much!
6) In Lyon, Matt and I ran into an impromptu salsa dance held in the Vieux Lyon part of town. It was a little dead, but some people got into it. (Spot the ghost leg for 25 points!)
7) The streets in Vieux Lyon were dangerously steep, and I stumbled across this picture almost by accident.
8) Lyon at night, as seen from the hostel bar terrace.
9) Matt and me, on the terrace in the morning.
10) From the train station in Geneva, Switzerland. I think I fell in love with the ad on the right. The girl's trying to give such a sexy, alluring look: a deep stare full of desire, plenty of make-up, and highly suggestive lip-licking. Oh, and a head covered by soft-serve ice cream. There's nothing that says "Come and get me, tiger!" better than a melting dairy product dribbling through your hair. Funniest ad ever!
11) View from Interlaken, which literaly translates to "between lakes." Not only between lakes, but also surrounded by frickin' huge mountains, including the snow-capped Jungfrau.
12) The lake on the east side of Interlaken, taken while hiking in the mountains.
13) Okay, so I'm not a sucker for originality.
14) The view across the Danube river in Budapest at sunset.
15) Me pondering the mysteries of the universe at a cafe in Budapest. Add a thought bubble to the picture, send it to me, and Markus and I will post what we get.
16) On the left, Buda. On the right, Pest.
17) I got a little mad with power after shooting a few birds out of the sky...
18 - 22) Budapest, formerly communist until the fall of the Soviet Union, had a ton of giant statues throughout the town. After the fall, they were moved to a park, which we visted. Highly inspirational! What worker wouldn't feel motivated with this kind of prime real estate across town?
23) Markus, no longer just an action figure, now has his own store!
24) Favorite Picture Ever. From Piazza San Marco in Venice. This one is dedicated to Mike & Steve. Combining the height of 11th century architecture and beauty with good ol' 21st century crass. (Or, crass.) I think there was even less material from the front, too.
25) Random shot in Venice.
26) Markus pretends he's in Amsterdam.
27) Me, enjoying my mint chocolate chip gelato over the Grand Canal in Venice.
28) Only one of over six million canals in Venice.
29) The massive, massive Duomo, in Florence.

Baked and Broiled

I have often pondered why Italians are so keen on building fast cars. What is it that compels these people to create speed machines like those slick looking Ferraris and Lamborghinis? Having been in Italy for a little while now, I bring forth two theories. One - so the guys here can date several girls from different regions at once. This would require the ability to get from point A to point B and back in as short a time as possible so as not to raise any suspicions. On top of that they have a good looking car and can get away with being even more tactless and relentless about hitting on women. I have a feeling that if the women in this country were even half as willing to engage in sex as the men, the population in Italy would be giving China a run for its money.

My second theory is that anybody that has any sensitivity to heat in any way needs to own a car capable of going about mach so that they can get somewhere where they won't be fried in extra tasty crispy fashion like the Colonels chicken. It seems only appropriate that the Italians name one of their fastest cars after the prince of darkness given that they use it to escape from temperatures equivalent to those in his domain. I know it's just a matter of me getting used to it, but for now I feel like if I don't consume my own weight in water every hour I'll end up spontaneously combusting down some random side street here in Florence and that would be a shame, because it would mean that I would be unable to eat any more Gelato.

It seems that Gelato is served on every single street corner here, and I'll have to admit that if I were to let up my self restraint in even the slightest way, I would end up depriving my future children of a college education simply to support my Gelato eating ways. There is simply no food that could be better suited for mass distribution here. It's cold, it's cheap and it's without a doubt the most delicious substance a person could ever think to put into their mouths. I don't know why substances like Prozac need to be made when food like Gelato is already in existence. Sure, we'd have a lot more fat people walking around, but at least they'd be happy, fat people.

Anyways, getting on to the trip, I think we'll finally be able to satiate all those people out there who seem to live for nothing else but see us post pictures. Brian is choosing and uploading them as I write this and I give you my personal guarantee that I will not allow us to leave this establishment until they are being displayed on the website for your viewing pleasure. [Brian's note: Haha! Sorry Markus. We're leaving the establishment now; selecting, modifying, and uploading just takes too long. We'll hit this cafe tomorrow to actually post them.] Since I last wrote we've been to Venice, Bologna and Florence. Venice was exactly as I remembered it, picturesque and beautiful with the exception of the prices there. I don't know how the locals keep from running around naked since a shirt in Venice costs about as much as one of those Ferraris I was mentioning earlier. St. Marks Square is just as charming as ever, though, and wandering through the winding streets of Venice with it's narrow alleys and hundreds of canals is an experience I would recommend to almost any interested traveler. Bologna was a little but of a let down since our hostel was 50 minutes from the city center and also had a 11:30pm curfew in effect. Since it's the only decently priced place to stay in the entire city, we decided to move on to Florence.

So now we're in Florence and we're going to see what it has to offer. We'll let you know what kind of adventures we experience and whether David is really as cool as everyone says he is. Till the next posting.

Take it easy,

Markus

A Guy Called Buda

Hey there Peoples,

Okay, before I go into the recent adventures in Buda and Pest (The two cities separated by a river, together known as Budapest) I have to give a quick synopsis of that outdoor festival in Vienna that we went to visit. Okay, so I told you guys that we were going to a festival that we had heard about and that there would be some music, food, etc. This is basically all we had heard about it prior to our departure. We thought it might be cool and before talking ourselves into going to a club or a bar, we were off to partake in the splendors of this Austrian festival. Upon arriving, we decided to walk through the whole thing to check it all out. You know, to see what we'd want to spend the most time at. It wasn't until we passed 10 huge music stages, 2 large sections of fair rides, enough booze to give every last person in Austria alcohol poisoning and enough pretzels to satisfy even the most hungry, unruly Germans that we realized this wasn't your average little fair. As it turns out, we had the pleasure of visiting the largest outdoor festival in all of Europe. Over 3 million people attend this thing over a weekend and it took us over two hours just to walk from one end of the island to the other. In typical tourist fashion, we were completely oblivious to this fact, and for a while I was thoroughly convinced that the island was in the shape of a huge donut cleverly designed to trap all who came until every last outrageously priced pretzel and beer was purchased. You can't put anything past those clever Austrians.

Anyways, getting back on track, today we had our first full day in Budapest. It's kind of hard to imagine that communism left this place only 14 years ago, but things like the huge run-down housing units lining the train tracks or the massive factories now shut down with not one window intact tip you off to the fact that it actually was that recent. There's a cool park here where they've put all the statues from the cold war years, but we're not visiting it until tomorrow where I'll try to get some pictures of me giving Lenin a hi-five or something. As for today; we decided to have breakfast at a very cool cafe, hit up one of the baths, check out the city from it's highest view point, eat at a true Hungarian restaurant and then go to a free Elton John concert. That's right, Mr. "candle in the wind" himself. The concert ended up being so packed that we couldn't even get around to the front of the stage, but then again, we're not really big fans so it wasn't a huge disappointment. (well, I'm not a huge fan, but I could clearly see Brian's lower lip trembling and a single tear rolling down his cheek as we turned around to leave.) The baths were also a little bit of a let down since they generally consisted of a swimming pool, a smaller swimming pool with some warm water, and the obligatory hoard of old, naked men. I guess it's not much of a surprise to people that my favourite parts of the day were breakfast and dinner, but this time it was more than just the food which sway my opinion.

Most of you know of my love affair with coffee, but when an establishment supplies me with my fix and does so in one of the most tranquil and beautiful settings I've ever had the pleasure of being in, I'm almost inclined to kick up my feet and settle in for the winter. Of course, the only thing that could tear me away from a setting such as this is the promise of more delicious food, and so when it was time for dinner, I had no problems making the trek to Restaurant Fatal. I believe that the purpose of the name is to warn people that eating their entire portions may cause them to explode. At this restaurant the food was tasty and plentiful, but the company was even better. At the table beside us were these two American girls and the exact way in which our trips mirrored one another was altogether creepy. They were traveling for the exact same amount of time, started when and where we started, and are leaving when and from where we are. They are also visiting the same places (although not in the same order) and are staying at the same hostels we are. On top of this, one of the girls ranted about the fourth Harry Potter book which Brian had purches just the day before, while the other discussed authors of philosophy and fiction with me. I would have to say that it was one of the most pleasant dinner's I've had this trip. (outside of the ones with Christine, of course. :-)

Anyways, people are asking to use this computer now, so I should probably get off, but Brian and I expect to be able to put up some pictures for you soon. It's hard for us to find places where they'll allow us to hook up the camera card reader since nobody wants their computers messed with and half the time software completely blocks off everything but the browser. Please have some patience with us and the next time we can, we'll have a whole bunch of cool pictures for you.

Take it easy,

Markus

On Hostels

Markus and I are hopping on a train this afternoon to head to the foreign lands of Budapest, Hungary. We're expecting a healthy dose of culture shock. Should be good for us isolated Canadians living in a world of french fries and resealable Cheeze-String bags -- we'll get to see what those things are called in a completely foreign language.

Anyway, I will regale you with a quick description on hostels. Hostels rock. They're essentially a cross between a cabin-filled summer camp and crashing at your friend's place because you've drunk too much. You generally stay in giant rooms filled with bunk beds, usually between 6 to 30 beds in a room, sometimes with mixed sexes. Everyone leaves their backpacks on or beside their beds (concern for theft is relatively low once you're inside the hostel). Sinks, washrooms, and showers are usually down the hall.

You pay roughly $20-25 Canadian a night, and get, outside your room, an extremely casual environment packed with other people your age, all looking to meet people and see the sites in whatever city you're in. There's usually a chill-out area where people meet, eat, read, whatever, and the more interesting hostels have bars to make the area even more social.

Here's what to look for in a really fantastic hostel:

* No curfew (that is, you don't get locked out of the hostel after 12:30am, making it very difficult to have a good time out on the town)
* Free, hot showers (some places will charge you for hot water)
* Central to the city (it's a serious pain to have to hike all the way to and from the edge of town)
* Free breakfast (almost always standard, but usually it's just bread, jam and coffee)
* Movies, chill out area, pool table, foosball table, giant novelty chess board patios, etc (for relaxing and meeting people)
* Book exchanges (leave a book, then take a book)
* Events organized by the hostel staff (generally means the staff is extremely friendly and wants to help you find fun stuff to do in town)
* Clean (there have been some rather old, dingy hostels, but have made up for it with a great atmosphere)

Only downside is that sometimes it's quite noisy in the room until everyone finally settles down to bed. Earplugs have been a lifesaver.

Any questions? You will be quizzed tomorrow!

Oh! the tragedy

Hello there peoples,

Since I've arrived here I've came to the realization that somewhere in the city there's a mansion with an old brooding billionaire who has traveled the world, seen that it's slowly spiraling into a cesspool of tattoos, piercings and thrash metal and before his death wishes only to save the youth of this world from itself. He will do this by offering something that any student in the world can't possibly resist. By offering them free stuff.

Okay, it's not quite free, but it might as well be. I can go and see an opera for less than what it costs me to buy a big mac at McDonalds here. Sure, you have to stand the whole time, but we're young and for now it's our duty to abuse our bodies until we're forced to replace everything with little plastic pieces which will later be relpaced by little metal pieces until we´re ready to be an extra in Terminator 17. Luckily, the play ended with the death of the lead actress (I assume that not only her character, but she herself died since I don't believe any person could possibly sing as loud as she did without their lungs exploding) before my knees did and we were left to ponder the meaning of it all.

Aside from the opera, we also went and saw this very cool sound museum. It went through the science of sound, how it interacts with our ears and our brain and also how easily we can be fooled into thinking we're hearing something when it doesn't exist. It also went through the lives of some of the more famous composers of the past such as Mozart, Hayden and Beethoven and there was even this cool exhibit where you could roll a dice to choose random pieces of music to fit them together into a waltz. This showed just how mathematical in nature a lot of the music in the past was, and I found it highly interesting. Then again, I'm a geek. And in Computer Science. In the faculty of Mathematics... maybe I should just shut my big mouth.

Anyways, today we're planning to check out this cool outdoor festival filled with music and food and lots of alcohol related activities I'm sure. We'll fill you in on it later. Until then, take it easy,

Markus

Brown Water Rafting

I'll classify this posting under Switzerland to describe my little white water rafting adventure, and catch up on our time so far in Austria in another posting.

Switzerland, moreso than anywhere else we've been, is a country that's dedicated to a structured, socially-conscious way of life. Farms and well-cultivated fields are drawn across the rolling hills like a grid, recycling is a way of life (even moreso than Canada), and any kind of public noise after 10:00pm is against the law. Even if it wasn't, it's so ingrained in the Swiss collective consciousness that they'll avoid using the toilet past 10:00 (so that it won't need to be nosily flushed). And every home truly does look like a ski chalet.

But in Interlaken, all pretenses of a healthy way of life go right out the airplane hatch. I don't think my white water rafting adventure will quite compare to the danger of Markus', but it's up there. We got strapped into wetsuits (I felt and looked like a penguin), driven high up into the Swiss Alps, and given a crash course on what to do if you're thrown from the boat (answer: keep your feet up and make your peace with the world). We also learned our leader's four possible shouted instructions: Row Forwards, Row Backwards, Hold On, or Get Down. Get Down was like the nuclear bombshelter version of Hold On, where your only hope of staying inside the boat and not being dashed onto the rocks was to climb inside (instead of sitting on the edge), sit as low as possible, and pray.

Then, we started the madness. We began immediately on class IV rapids, which are just like the kinds of rushing, surging rapids you might picture when you think of the word, except these rapids woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and the other rapids did something nasty to our rapids' cereal in the morning. The rapids are fed by glacier water from the mountain caps, so they were also a balmy 6 degrees Celcius warm.

Being only one of two guys in our seven person boat, me and an American named Dan were at the front, responsible for getting our rhythm going on the strokes. And, we learned, also responsible for taking the brunt of the waves upon waves of ice cold water drenching our boat with every dip. It was an incredible rush: two hours of thundering water all around you, ice cold water soaking you from head to toe, and constantly blinking out the water so that you could concentrate on sitting in one place, looking ahead and frantically rowing forward so the boat wasn't dashed on the rocks.

Several people fell out of nearby boats and weren't able to hold on to the outside line. One person drifted quite far downriver and had to be rescued by a tiny safety kayak who circled around the boats. Our boat managed okay, but we learned afterwards that because of the torrential rains, the water levels were far higher than usual and our guides almost cancelled the entire trip. They had never let a group go on rapids as strong as ours before. The boat flip-over likelyhood was well into the double digit percentages. The water was a brown colour from all the mudwater washed into the river. Not a bad way to start my thrill-seeking life!

I've got some photos of our group in action on the boat I'll scan up if I get the chance. Anyway, off to see more of Austria for now!

Broken and Bleeding

Hello peoples,

Have you ever noticed that when you look up at a building you think to yourself, "That's not that tall" and then when you're at the top looking down that misconception quickly corrects itself? Well, I found out today that the same law applies to 50 foot high waterfalls from which you have to jump. Oh wait, you also have to hit an area of water about two meters in diameter because landing elsewhere may mean certain death, or for some lucky few, just paralysis. Then again, this is what Canyoning is all about.

Basically, Canyoning consists of following a small stream through a crevice going down the side of a mountain. Because of the way the water has worn away at the rock, there's usually 3 ways to get from one ledge to another. Simply jump into a pool on the next ledge, usually found at the base of a waterfall, slide down rock if the rushing water has made something like a natural water-slide, or rappel your way down. I ended up doing all three several times. On most of these occasions I couldn't help but think, "Woah! I'm not jumping down there in these conditions. Only a crazy person would do that! I mean, if I slip or misjudge my jump even slightly in the wrong direction I could break my leg, or split open my head or..." These frequent thought were usually followed by a small click (the sound of me shutting off the rational portion of my mind) and then the sound of rushing air followed by a huge splash. Luckily, I came away from the whole experience with only a few scratches and bruises and I have to say that I loved ever minute of it.

The experience was utterly amazing. The rush can't be described, it has to be experienced personally, but I have to warn anyone that if they ever feel like partaking in this kind of thing, you can't in any way be afraid of heights. There were many times when we walked along the top edges of massive boulders which dropped off at a steep angle for about 100 feet on either side. The reason you might never have heard of this "Canyoning" is that it's not legal in the US (I'm not sure about Canada) because no insurance company with any sound business plan would ever back this kind of activity. Here in Switzerland, they simply make you sign a form saying, "If I die it's my own damn fault." and that's the end of that. I heard of someone that had broken their leg just two days before my go at Canyoning, which made me a little nervous, but after I saw that they had a helmet with the name 007 on it, I couldn't turn back. Now I've been Indiana Jones and James Bond. I'm loving this trip!

Anyways, I got some pictures taken of my jumping and such, but they have not yet been developed. We shall post them when it is next possible, so please try to be patient with us. Otherwise, I'm trying to re-adjust to living conditions outside of Germany and it's a little difficult. I got almost no sleep last night with the amount of noise people made all night and the shower in the morning must have been fed by some of the nearby glaciers, but otherwise everything is great. The view around here is amazing. There's mountains in every direction, the lakes are a deep turquoise and the sunsets are some of the most breathtaking I have ever seen. Interlaken has been a feast for my senses and I find myself devouring it with nothing but utter joy.

Hope everything is going well for all back home,

Markus

P.S. I want to thank Christine, Sepp, Tina, Joseph, Jacob, Sushi, Grossmama, Grosspapa, Tante Lina, Tante Lousie, Romi, Ervin, Ingo and everyone else who made our stay in Germany a fabulous one. Thank you all!

X-Treme

I never thought I'd feel wimpy and weak to have signed up for white water rafting down class IV rapids on the side of a soaring, ice-capped mountain.

Interlaken is filled with the most extreme of the extreme: skydiving, ice climbing, skyboarding (I think that's what it's called), glacier skiing, hang gliding, bungy jumping, etc etc. If it involves gravity, and lots of it, you can do it. Markus is off right now doing something called Canyoning. I'll let him describe it for you later -- assuming he hasn't broken both arms, which is apparently a common occurance.

Anyway, back to my original point: canyoners swear by it, and two girls I was talking with at the hostel last night made it pretty clear this morning that I wimped out by not joining the canyoning group. I'm not the thrill-seeking type, but c'mon, white water rafting can't be that weak, can it? Interlaken, and particularly our hostel, is filled with energetic people looking for a great time outdoors; standards are through the roof.

Can you tell that I'm nervous? Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to the rafting this afternoon, and proving myself; wish me luck!

Dear Diary

I'm sorry I haven't written you in so long! I hope you haven't gone off cavorting in the woods with another author.

The thermal baths in Baden-Baden (click here for pictures since my camera would have looked really scandalous bulging out of my bathing shorts) were so incredibly relaxing and worthwhile. So many indoor and outdoor baths/pools. Some calm, some actively fed by the underground source, all at a minimum of 30 degrees Celcius. (Except for one I called the Canada Grotto at a chilly 16 Celcius). The natural mineral water was also a little salty, making it very easy to float and forget the world. Only downside was that it was pretty empty and I felt a little awkward whenever I was around the young couples that were going like this: smooch SMOOCH smooch, and like this: smoooooooooooch. I mean, c'mon, that's what the steam bath was for.

The next day I finally got into France, though the continuing rail strike made what was supposed to be a 3 hour train ride to the sleepy wine town of Beaune a 10 hour ordeal. Man, French people get really cranky when they're stuck for hours in the middle of nowhere on a sweltering, humid, stagnant train. And that was before the snack cart ran out of drinks.

Beaune rocked. Stayed in a tiny room in an even tinier hotel run by a crazy, charismatic old woman. The town is smack-dab in the middle of the Cote D'Or wine region and takes its wines seriously. Not something wimpy like "Canadians take hockey seriously" type of serious. I'm talking "Parents take their baby pictures seriously" type of serious. That serious.

First night I was there, I went to a small recommended wine cellar restaurant where they sit most visitors of one or two people down at a long, long table. It was a fantastic way to meet people; the table had two Canadians, one American, one Spaniard, two Dutch, and four French. We all ended up talking (with me doing some translation for the French) and having a great time.

The next day, I went drinking. Well, ostensibly, "wine tasting followed by spitting," but when you're paying 9 Euros to sample wines, that stuff's doing the full tour, if you know what I mean. It was a great time; you decend into a dark, damp winding staircase into a musty cellar lit mostly by candlelight. Upon each barrel on the self-guided tour, there's a candle and a bottle of wine. You pour a small amount of wine into a little metal cup you bring with you, and sample the wine before spitting into a nearby spittoon. But since no one else was around, I made sure to fully appreciate the hints of oak and truffles and elderberry and whatnot at length before moving onto the next vintage. The signs warned that if you were down there for more than an hour, they'd come searching for you with their two largest grape crushers, "Pierre" and "Spike," and nicely show you the door.

Na, I'm really not that bad an influence, for all of you young, impressionable kids reading this website. (Heh, heh...) I walked out on my own two feet and did some nice, wholesome rented-biking around the vineyard-riddled French countryside aftewards.

I'm in Lyon right now, hanging out with a cool and friendly Wisconson guy named Matt. So far we've seen the Contemporary Art Museum (filled with all sorts of strange multimedia exhibits, giant statues of cats with moving boggly eyes, and pretentious single-green-leaf-sitting-on-an-oak-chair style statements; it was actually a blast, overall) and a museum chronicalling the French Resistance during World War II. The latter blew us away; not only did it have a lost of fascinating, engaging exhibits exploring the Resistance from all possible angles, but some info on the Holocaust as well. The museum was so well presented and powerful; we had to decompress for a while afterwards, as Matt put it, to take it all in. It's easy to forget just how much of an impact the war(s) had on the world, and it's especially more significant now that I'm here, seeing where it all took place a mere 60 years ago.

So now, I'll head back up to the hostel, located up the hill in the old part of town, with a fantastic terrace outside overlooking the whole city. I'll make sure to get a nighttime photo for you guys. Tomorrow, Interlaken and seeing Markus again. I'll make fun of his Weisswurst-stuffed potbelly and dash away, giggling, while he chases me in a drunken stupor. Till then.

Life Without Brian

I woke up today and discovered that Brian was missing. I was very confused at first since he almost always sleeps later in the mornings than myself due to his evening chats with Heather, but today he was up before me. I was puzzled at first, but then like a truck driven by inebriated monkeys, it hit me. Brian was gone. I remembered it clearly then, the conversation on the platform for his train. He kept saying, "It's not you... It's me. I think it's time we started seeing other Countries." Oh, I've heard that line before, but I know he'll be back. I hope he'll be back...

Actually, I'm very glad that Brian decided to go on by himself for a little bit. Staying here just because of me would have created an endless loop of me feeling bad for him because he feels committed to stay out of courtesy, and him suppressing the desire to go and see more of what's out there. He doesn't have the same family ties here that I do, and therefore, when I said goodbye yesterday with a handshake and a smile, I was truly hoping that he'd have fun off in French land with all his fellow French-talking people. Alas, Brian had the misfortune of meeting the consequences of the strike head on, but somehow I think that he'll still have a lot of fun being stuck in a town filled with nothing but students on holiday and lots of beer.

As for me, I'm doing just fine. I've been shopping and swimming and visiting people and generally doing whatever I feel like doing at any given time. I ended up buying another shirt, which is lighter and brighter than my others, since the sun decided it was time to test the combustion thresholds of my skin recently. There are people out there with cherry-red convertibles that would have envied my skin colour yesterday. I've also continued to support my nasty little habit through bad influences such as Incubus and Green Day, but on the whole, life is pretty good. I'm enjoying a life filled with food, family and fun and that alone is more than I could ask for. I'm still looking forward to the continuation of our most excellent adventure, of course, but I'm also appreciating the wonderful time I'm having with family members that I don't have the pleasure of seeing very often. I'll do a big wrap up posting on Sunday and then I'll be off to meet Brian in Interlaken, Switzerland. Home to everything that has any connection to the X-treme Games. Until then, party on!

Markus

Deutschland Continued

I'm still in Germany as I write this, and will be until tomorrow morning at the earliest. I couldn't travel to Dijon, France on a Tuesday evening night train because of the French rail strike, but I could go during the day, I was told. Then yesterday, after saying goodbye to Markus and his extended family, I found out rail travel during the day wasn't possible, either. So I opened the guidebook, waved my finger blindly over the map before jabbing at a spot, and hoped on a five hour train ride to Freiburg, deep in the Black Forest in southwestern Germany.

It's a small city of about 200,000 people, over 10% of which are students. It makes me cry to see the kind of place Waterloo could be if students weren't overcome by active apathy. And I'm not even seeing the full picture; I chatted on the whole second half of my train ride with a German student who lamented that I was visiting his beloved student town during a school holiday week. I really would have seen the city in action if I had come just 3 days later. But even still, the place was alive on the streets, especially around the university quarter. So many hang-out spots, cafes, bars, bike paths, trees, old well-kept buildings, and energy in the people all around.

My German friend on the train was studying something to do with sports health, and we talked about everything. Particularly interesting was that Germany youths used to be obsessed with everything American. If you wore a t-shirt with the American World Cup soccer team's logo on it, you were sure to get several girls, at once. Now, all the American clothing and expressions are mothballed.

Also, Germany youths (possibly just the men, I don't know) have been required to serve in the military for 18 months for some time now. But now, the time requirement's been dropped to 9 months, and there's an alternative option to do community service for 10 months instead. My German friend opted for the latter. It was tough work, he said, especially when he was working in a hospital and the old World War II veterans condemned his choice of community service, ranting that if he had been around during the war, he would have been lined up and shot. Great to see some things never change.

Anyway! Today, since the French train strike is still continuing, I took a cable car up to the nearby mountain in the high Black Forest region. The slopes are covered by a canopy of trees, and a maze of hiking and biking paths wind their way everywhere. I packed a bottle of water, some bread and cheese, and hiked around all day. The Black Forest wasn't quite totally dark as night, but the tree cover was pretty dense in many areas. It was also almost deserted today, making for a very relaxing trek. Insert some long-winded comment about spiritual growth and being one with nature here.

And now, I'm waiting for a train (after missing my first train, oops) to take me to the nearby small town of Baden-Baden, renowned for its two huge ritzy and glitzy health thermal spas. Waterfalls, pools, saunas, grottos, both hot and cold. I'm looking forward to it after a full day of hiking. One of the two spas has a strict no-clothing rule; I'm not sure if I would have gone, but since it's the far more expensive of the two, my decision's been made for me. (Phew!)

Erk, I better run and catch my train. Tschuss!

Achtung, Kinder!

My time here in Germany has been incredibly memorable. Living with a typical German family is an experience I won't soon forget, and I really feel like I've made some pretty strong connections.

Recap: The last week we've been swimming almost daily at a friend's nearby pool or at the town swimming park, visiting the beer gardens and massive city park in Munich, exploring the BMW museum (the more modern relics and future advanceds exhibits at the top level were the most interesting), hiking up to the castles south of Munich (which were a little bit of a letdown when you realized just how recently they were built; they had photographs of their construction), hiking around the Olympia Park (host of the 1972 Olympic Games), and having several visits with Markus' family and friends. Today I also had a great time meeting up with two friends from my time at Redknee, currently in the Munich office for the summer.

Still, I'm incredibly eager to get going and move on. Every night, I gaze longingly at the nighttime sky for hours, thinking that the very same stars I see glittering in the sky are being watched by a certain special tourist information booth out there, hundreds of miles away, waiting just for me. Being in one place in Germany has been fun, but I really need to move on.

So, tomorrow morning I'm off to the train station to work my way across to Dijon, France, in the middle of the Cote D'Or wine region. Markus will be hanging back here in Germany for a few days, and we'll likely meet up again in Switzerland.

It's time to travel again! I'm pumped. Before I head off to bed, some pictures from the past few weeks. Captions are after the pictures.

1) Starting from left: Me, Christina (Markus' aunt), Joseph, Jacob, Tina (bottom) and Sushi (top). Joseph, Jacob, and Tina are Markus' cousins, and Sushi is Tina's best friend. (It's a nickname; Germans aren't that crazy to name their kids after Japanese delicacies.)
2) Markus, with a girl on both sides, as usual.
3) Markus' cousins mimick his two most frequent looks.
4 & 5) The Glockenspiel in Munich. The little figures move around in circles at noon. Terribly boring, but since we spent so much time watching it, dammit, we weren't about to walk away without a memory of it.
6 & 7) The main street in Landshut, an old town an hour out of Munich. It looks touristy, but it was 100% locals. Very quaint.
8) Markus tries to look calm and collected while fighting his overwhelming fear of heights.
9) The local castle in Landshut. Your town just ain't worth it, they say in Germany, if it ain't got a castle.
10) Admiring the view from the castle hill.
11) A view from the castle. I like this shot a lot.
12) Our favourite vacation photo so far. The sign reads, in German, "Watch out! Children shoot hadoken fireballs!"
13) A typical German neighborhood. (This one's for you, Serge.)
14) A view of the distant Alps as we head towards the castles in southern Germany.
15) The smaller castle near the big Neuschwanstein castle.
16) The view from Neuschwanstein. It was raining at the time, but still, we like this shot.
17) A sunset taken on the long train ride back to Munich from the castles. If you're looking for a desktop background, we'll have some better sunset pictures soon...
18 & 19) Me at the bluescreen exhibit in the Broadcasting section of the Deutsches Museum. I had no idea what was on the screen when Markus took these pictures of the TV; I was trying to imitate the opening sequence of Tracy Morgan's Brian Fellows character on SNL.
20 & 21 & 22) Some random, dry photos of a residential area in the German countryside. (For you, Serge!)
23) German hop fields. These are guarded by soldiers.
24) Markus, lost in thought.
25) The 4-cylinder BMW building, the BMW Museum, and part of Munich.
26) Slightly sunburnt, me hanging out with Kaoru and Gary in downtown Munich.

Anyway, time to catch some sleep, and make up the rest on the long train ride to France tomorrow.

Role Model

I spent most of my time tonight replying to emails, prepping a new batch of photos, and trying vainly to pull myself away from the German version of Braveheart, so I'll make this update brief and get to the meat and potatoes (or Bangers and Mash, as they say in Britain -- thanks Dave) tomorrow.

These photos below are from the beer garden at the center of the Englischer Garten in Munich yesterday.

Listen, I'm still a little touchy and embarrassed about the whole afternoon, so just go easy on me, okay? Okay.

Gardens of Beer, MMmm Beer

Hello everybody,

Yesterday was a good day. The sun was shinning and casting its glorious warmth across the green fields of the English Gardens, people were lazing about and soaking in what a slow Saturday afternoon had to offer them, and as we strolled through this earthly re-creation of Eden our ears were graced with the sweet sound of clinking beer mugs, boisterous laughter and, to bring it all together, some traditional German folk music. I'm sure that Brian would describe it even better than I, but unfortunately he passed out after the second liter of beer and hasn't yet remembered who he is or why he has some guy's phone number in his back pocket.

Nah, just kidding, we only drank one liter each since the beers cost about 5.80 euros per mug (That's about $9.50 Canadian), and although the mugs are one liter each, that's expensive beer. The experience was well worth that heightened price, however, and judging by how busy the place was, a lot of other people agree with us on that note. What really topped the day off for me was coming across a smaller Beer Garden within the park where the band was playing some high spirited jazz instead of Umpa Polka music. We had some ice cream and watched as the people on stage used those instruments to weave together some of the best Jazz Fusion that I've ever had the pleasure of listening too. The day was one filled with simple pleasures, but marvelous all the same.

On a more personal note, yesterday I also did something I told myself I would not do on this trip. I went out and bought myself a cheap discman along with some Weezer, RATM and the first 9 symphonies composed by Beethoven. The CDs were all on super sale, so it didn't cost me that much, but I was still hoping to get through this trip without having to resort to this. I thought that I would allow my horizons to be broadened by listening to the kinds of music that all these European countries have to offer, but after hearing 50 cent come on for the 1 millionth time I have decided that the world is being reduced to a state that doesn't include anything that even remotely resembles the words "good taste". There have been moments when good music I would never hear anywhere back home has come on, but alas I have discovered that I am an addict and since this is a vacation I have decided to get my fix.

Anyways, that's about it on my end. Brian and I have some great pictures for you that we'll post up later today.

Take it easy,

Markus

New Threads

Website has been redesigned, as you can see. Still some minor stuff to be tweaked, though, and we plan to fill up some of the empty space in the title. Let me know if something doesn't display properly in your browser. (And let me know what you think!)

Now's also a good time to hand out some mad propz. Thanks to my incomparable S.O. Heather for the Bill & Ted-imitated logo, and thanks to John Ko for the great site name idea. Also thanks to Jessie Shen for the Europe map graphic I have yet to incorporate into the site, but for which I should thank her, lest she heap yet more bitter scorn upon my name.

Don't poke me, I'm full of chocolate!

Hello Everybody,

I'm sorry that we haven't been too frequent with the updates lately, but it's hard to get to the computer to type up an entry when you're busy gorging yourself. I'm glad that I don't live here any more for the simple reason that if I did, I wouldn't be able to fit behind this keyboard to write an update. My previous theory that I would get into really good shape on this trip has been replaced by the hope that I can work off what this visit to Germany has done to me.

Even though it doesn't sound like it we've also been enjoying some of the things Germany has to offer that are not edible in nature. So far we've managed to see the Glockenspiel, BMW museum and the Olympia park in Munich. Yesterday we also made the 3 hour treck to Füssen (very close to the Austrian border) so that we could see two spectacular castles, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau (You can look up some great pictures of these on the internet). Today we plan to go to the a huge science and technology museum based in Munich called the Deutsches Museum. They have one of the coolest exhibits there where they take a "volunteer" from the crowd, put him in a giant metalic sphere and shoot a huge bolt of electricity towards said volunteer. Instead of spontaneously combusting, like you would expect, the person remains completely unharmed due to the physics involved with the sphere. I think I'm going to "volunteer" Brian for this one and just not tell him what's going on. "No Brian, it's okay, step into the metal sphere. You can trust us Germans." Then once he's in there I'll yell, "Sucker!" as loud as I can and run away laughing maniacally. It'll be great!

Anyways, I have to get going, but I just wanted to let you all know that we're doing great. I'll probably be fifty pounds heavier when I leave Germany, but hey, I can always swim it off in Greece.

Take it easy,

Markus

Das ist fil spass

We're currently deep in the heart of Bavaria at Markus' aunt's farm / house, and it's been an experience that's been both very rewarding and moderately frustrating so far. Before I get onto that, a few quick notes on Versailles and the trip to Munich:

Home Away From Home

Hello everybody,

Friday we got to Munich with the night train (formerly called sleeper train, but sleep is not exactly what you get when they pack you in like sardines and jerk the train to a stop every half hour). We exited the train rubbing our eyes, but I was glad to be back in a place where I understood the language. We took another quick train to Moosburg after which we called Christine and were picked up by my uncle Josef and my cousin Jacob. Coming back to Mauern was wonderful for me. Memories of previous visits came flooding back and I started to get that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you come back to something pleasant and familiar.

After some warm greetings, we were given some lunch and this is when I knew for sure that we were back in Germany. A large assortment of breads, some warm Leberkässe and delicious potato salad were offered along with questions about what kind of dinner we would like that evening. These are my kind of people! After lunch we went to visit my Grandparents to have cake and coffee and Brian got the pleasure of seeing several photos of me in my younger "afro" years. Even though he got to see embarrassing pictures of me, I did feel kind of bad for Brian since a lot of the time I simply forgot to translate for him. There were also a lot of times when I would become involved with the discussion and then minutes would go by before I would "sum up" what was being said. Instead of seeking a better translator, Brian has decided to take the burden of learning some German upon himself, much to our amusement. He is making some progress, though, and it'll only be a short while before he'll be able to say some short key phrases such as, "Hallo. Mein name ist Brian. Bitte schlage mich sehr hart ins Gesicht." I taught him that one myself :-) (check it out with Babel fish if you don't speak German.)

Aside from actually doing our laundry, eating well and seeing all my relatives we've been making plans about what we want to see down here. Today is my grandfather's birthday, but next week we plan to travel to Munich so that we can drink and sing in the famous German beer gardens. Oh, I mean to see the wonderful museums and, uh, majestic castles and, ummm, see the Olympic park and... drink and sing in the beer gardens! Yay. (maybe I am a bit of a raging boozer, but then again I don't feel so bad about it now that Brian's sexuality is being questioned again.)

Seriously, though, we're having a great time down here and it's hard not to feel welcome when you get the amazing hospitality that Christine and Sepp give out without thought. A big thank you from both of us for everything!

I hope that everyone's summer is going as well as ours thus far and if anybody out there wants some postcards, just e-mail me and let me know your address and from where you want it.

Take it easy,

Markus

P.S. We had some technical difficultis yesterday (Christine's computer froze on Brian after doing a LOT of work. As a result, istead of throwing though the window, he prudently decided to go to bed.) Pictures will come after my Grandfather's Birthday today and we'll have a smaller version of them for all you poor dial-up users out there.