Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

(but Because I’m Free, Nothing’s Worrying Me)


Eurorail pass stamped for another day and I’m onto Munich where I will spend even less time than I did in Rome. Getting to Munich couldn’t be more of a hassle. This morning, when checking direction to my hostel for the night, I discovered that the hostel reservation I made yesterday for Munich never made it to my inbox even though it want through. So with Josh nervously itching to get to the train station, I had to rush and make another. This wouldn’t have been a problem, but the hostel had disappeared from the site without a trace. Curious indeed. Later, at the train station I found my way to my platform after going up and down a particular set of escalators for the 6th time in less than 24 hours. There I saw tons of people waiting for the train, making me wonder if the decision to not reserve a seat was a poor one. Regardless, I ran to the 2nd class section of the platform as the carriage doors were closing and the last of the masses squished their way into seats. Not a problem other than the fact that all the seats had been reserved. So now I’m bouncing from seat to seat as people take and leave their seats along the way to Munich. Frustrating times like this just make me want to go home where things are easier. At the same time, it’s not something that worries me more than finishing a studio project or registering for classes on Telebears (what a nightmare). SO onto Munich and all other adventures to come in the next 2 weeks!

But my solo traveling days won’t last too long as the Yes Team has just informed me that they’ll be in Interlaken in a day. And although I was there exactly a week ago, it lies directly on my route back to Spain and I didn’t have the chance to do everything there I had wanted to. Plus, I have 15 Swiss franks from my parents to spend, which is more money I won’t have to be draining from my bank account.


FINAL COUNTDOWN: 14 DAYS TO GO

HEDGE MAZE PART ONE

One sunny morning in Crete I decided that I would one day write a coffee table book on the hedge mazes of Western Europe as no such source (to my knowledge) exists on the subject. However, after experiencing not one by THREE hedge mazes in Eastern Europe, I’ve decided to expand the book to include all of Europe. And now while I am sipping milchkaffee in Berlin with some free wifi time before my train takes off, I have the motivation to get started on this amazing project.

Ambitious, I know, but here’s the first delicious sample of the book that will rest on all your $10 Ikea coffee tables along with last nights dinner plates and the remote:

Hampton Court Palace hedge Maze:

Nestled in the gardens around Henry VIII’s palace outside London, this maze was originally used to get rid of wives. Henry had his gardeners design the most difficult labyrinth possible so he could throw in the ladies and never have to see their faces ever again. 3 hedge trimmers and a handful of servant children lost their lives in the labyrinth and never made it to the clearing in the center with the giant tree. Luckily, people today aren’t nearly as stupid as those poor unfortunate souls and can easily make it through the maze in 3 minutes flat if they mow over all the little whining children and moseying tourists cramping their style. And if you do make it to the middle, you can glimpse the bones of those who never made it out. The English historical society keeps them in special bag marked hazardous waste, its good fun! Overall, it’s a nice maze. Unnamed sources claim it to be the best in the UK. The hedges need a bit of miracle grow through- there weren’t any rough limbs trying to pull me into massive tangles of vines. And the lack of port key at the end is a bit disappointing.

the wall

The onlz thing i don't like about Berlin is the fact that German kezboards have the y and z mixed up on the kezboard making tzping verz hard.

And by the amount of z's in that first sentence, you can tell that I'm in Berlin.

I had very few expectations about the city and decided to just wing it when I met up with James here and wow, this place is amazing. Too bad I have a few more things to see in Europe before I go home, or else I'd stay here a while longer.

Some of the amazing things in Berlin:

look familiar? its on the euro! the brandenburg gate.

james took this lovely picture in the tiergarten.

new memorial

interior of reichstag dome. james and i ran our full bellies across town to get in before it closed. we were the last 2 admitted in that night.

my trusty free bike on the free bike tour

an indie/britpop club near sunflower hostel in east berlin. we celebrated the birthday of the lovely ida here. it was basicly a bunch of rundown brick patios and some tables in the sand.

james plays the water-harp outside the sony center quite beautifully

parking for women only?

remaining parts of the wall

we had german food. which meant eating meat. pork to be exact. because you can't milk a pig.

parles vous frances

It seems the train to Barcelona is a place for catching up on this thing, eh. Anyway- the big news this time is I have a definite return date now, August 11th. I arrive into SFO at 6:40PM on United Flight 8883 from Munich. What I will be doing after July 26th is kinda up in the air, although partying in Madrid is definitely in the list from August 3rd through 11th. IF you’re there, give me a ring as the last of my English-speaking buddies will have split the country by then.

Right now I’m heading south from Paris on a sleeper train back to Spain. I seriously can’t leave that country for very long. It’s been a week since I caught a plane for Brussels with the last of my stuff from Madrid. Now its all packed up neatly ina backpack ready for the ‘end of my trip.’ I suppose you could say I’m heading home, slowly. So the week in review:

Brussels. Nice city, good waffles and great to be on the parents dime. Its amazing to not have to worry about the incredible shrinking wallet.

Brugges. After making it safely out of Brussels with Eileen at the navigator seat, we found our tiny hotel in Brugges. Toured a brewery, met a crazy Australian rocker, saw some swans (who then got me sick, no joke, still getting over the sniffles now), saw some nuns and ate some Belgian chocolate.family

devil swans

australian

Concale. Glen, a friend and former colleague of my father and soon to be an ex-patriot, just bought an old house in the small town near Mont. St. Micheal and invited us to stay with him a couple days. We spent 4th of July with 6 french people eating burgers off of gold plated china with fancy silver flatware around a large antique oak table.


MSM. Wow. Tobriner was right, thanks 170. The cathedral was absolutely amazing. Even more amazing is the fact that there are patches of quicksand all around the cathedral.

Chartre. Stayed there a night. Saw the cathedral in the morning (more 170 action, remember the cathedral with one Romanesque tower and one gothic one?) and then drove out to Disneyland Paris. After the family was safely inside the Sequoia Lodge, I navigated my dad into Paris to drop off the car and take the RER back.

Disneyland. Brad, Disneyland California is better. Much better. That said, Paris Disney did have a few interesting things. The rocking rollercoaster is pretty nice even though you have to listen to aerosmith through the whole ride. And space mountain 2 is enjoyable once you get through the bumping of your head. And hey, Mickey speaks French .

Paris- would have been a lot better without the family. But I did manage to escape this morning and was asked for directions twice within an hour and as I walked past the university, was stopped to complete a survey and join a couple student groups. And I managed to get to the Eiffel Tower at night and pay a visit to the Mona Lisa.