Biking

Oi, I hurt more *now* than I did yesterday. I'm all stiff and painful after biking 20-odd miles yesterday. Now, I bike around at home (in the heat and up all those freaking hills!) but yesterday was brutal. Beautiful and oh so painful. We started off at Dingle and went about a fourth (third? I don't have the map readily available) of the way around the pennensula. The sights were breathtaking (and the hills were too, I wheezed up most of them). We ate lunch on a jutting bit of rock on a clifface which had been occupied for at least 2500 years. Weird. The blue sea was bashing against the rocks, even the foam was blue-tinged. The best and most fantastic part was sailing down the other side of the mountain we pushed the bikes up to the top of. Exhileration at it's best.

BLARNEY!

Ah, I have kissed the Blarney stone, perhaps I shall gain from it the eloquence of speech granted to Walter Scott, or to Churchill? Or just the gift of gab? Whatever it is, it was so worth dangling upside down to kiss a random stone in a crumbling castle. C and I had a ball wandering the premises and crawling around smelly, dank corners of the castle Blarney. I've some breathtaking photos (to be posted later... I've got to get a flikr account set up!) of the scenery, and a few hilarious ones of C and I goofing off in tiny doorways and on outdoor installations. There was a tire swing at one point...

Blarney is about 20 minutes bus ride (6.20 euro for a student return journey, about 10 for an adult) from Cork, and not too shabby either. Fairly normal and industrial for a while, but there are some nice, picturesque Irish plots along the way. You get off the bus in a tiny little plot of a town with only a few shops and a pub or two. Follow the signs to the castle, and I recommend taking the long route-- the gardens are beautiful in the early summer.

The first thing you can see is green, just an explosion of greens. Kelly, Fern, Jungle, Forest, Pine, Hunter, Emerald, Teal, Moss... All the variegato Try here for ideas! It was a riot of green, and even the abundance of tourists couldn't ruin such splendor. If anything, they serve to point out how large and magnificent this estate really is. You'll walk around this huge, rather imposing castle, where the walls seem to grow out of the living rock, which they actually do because the architects used the large natural rock outcropping to their advantage.The castle itself is impressive, but yet more impressive is the view from the ramparts as you await your turn to dangle, the manicured gardens turn slowly into farmland and cultured forests. The town of Blarney is tiny and very tourism driven, but worth a bit of a walk through as you wait for the bus to pick you back up. C and I spent about three hours total there and back, so a nice quick jaunt.

Afterwards, we made burritos. Because I miss Mexican sooooo much. NACHOS. It must have been hilarious to see the three of us struggling in this industrial size kitchen to make half-hearted burritos. They were delicious nonetheless

World Cup

I know that I've waxed, if not poetic at least in earnest, about the WC on my twitter (www.twitter.com/ashesabroad) but I think that the time has come to wonder WHY I continue to talk about it. To be honest, I never follow football/futbal/fussbal/soccer during the year. Heck, hardly even during the four years between cups. But I love the solidarity that comes from the warring teams, the commiseration of defeat and the absolute devotion of even the least interested parties. In Germany we saw all shapes and sizes of people with flags on their faces, their backs. We were there in Munich as the opener game (Germany v. Australia) commenced, and oh the absolute air of excitement was wonderful. We had Aussies on one hand and Germans on the other, and as Americans we rooted for them both. I've heard hedonistic tales of that night, and some like it, where the bars, filled to the brim with supporters, had free shots or beers, and the song of the vuvuzela was heard all through the night. I remember the Bavaria game had supporters shouting and honking horns into the wee hours of the morning, especially funny given that the game ended at like 4 pm.

I've watched many a game now, and I still can't say that I'm anything of an expert on things, but I do know good playing when I see it. While I agree that today England deserved that goal (REALLY, REF? REALLY??) they wouldn't have won at all the way they were playing. Germany DANCED around them, literally.

But that's besides the point. Honestly. The point here is that I wax romantic on it because of the feeling of unity it inspires, despite the warring factions. You might be in Germany and rooting for Ghana, but you will find that the Germans, while not rooting for Ghana, will support your enthusiasm with their own. We were on the U-Bahn on a German game-day, and I ended up; listening to the wild call of the Drunken German Supporter, complete with bad lyrics. It was all in good fun, though.

I'm sure there are bad sides of it, but for the most part what we have come across, especially in hostels and the like, is a general air of expectancy and delight. Almost childlike, the people wait to see. Well, very rowdy children with horns like a buzzing hornet's nest, but none the less.

I love it.

Florid: a word not used enough in relation to the Irish and English peoples. The Germans, while red and drunken, tend to be uniformly so. In comparison, the UK lot tend to be florid and blotchy.

Both are great fun when you're watching the World Cup.

Dublin, Ah Dublin

So, the day from hell hath ended and I have seen the gloriousness of human kindness embodied in this hostel, Camden Place. Everything from the friendly reception (they give free hugs!) to the free tea in the kitchen. The shower was fabulous and, though the dorm is a bit cramped, the beds are so much better than the line of bench I pseudo-slept on last night.

We spent 21 hours at Gatwick airport in London. 21 tedious, obnoxious, hideous hours waiting for the next plane to Dublin that didn't cost an actual body part. And after all the hassle of getting from Hamburg airport (where they had only one strip open for both landings and takeoffs, pushing our flight 2 hours behind schedule) to the Ryanair counter, ryanair went belly up on us and the fun began. I almost cried at the airport, like, wander around and pretend you aren't leaking at the eyeballs kind of frustrated with all of this. Turns out the ryanair booked me for the 10am flight even though I bought my ticket at the same time as Air and C, and double checked as I went. That was fun to find out. So, due to an error probably made by yours truly, I had to buy 3 new tickets for us to get to Dublin because Air and C wouldn't just head to Dublin without me (which I really am greatful for). Well, even when expecting the unexpected you can get hit with travel fees you just never expected.

So, between the landing and the frustrating news there was actual sprinting from one end of Gatwick to the other. I have excersize enduced asthma, so trying to haul ass and not have an asthma attack at the same time was interesting and very painful. But I survived to tell the tale ;)

Feeling a little under the weather today, so it's relax and do laundry day, hopefully catch up on posting as well...

Dear Berlin,
Please die in a(nother) fire.
Respectfully yours,
Ashes

I think that there are some days, some times, where you need the space you just can't seem to find, the understanding you don't want to have to ask for. Times where you just want to be able to feel bad or sad or angry, or even to just sit and not feel anything at all for a while, no pressure to be anything you don't want to be.

And then there are those times you just want to be happy in the group and where getting out is the cure, or at least the bandaid over, what ails you.

For now, though, a cup of tea and a good book are all I need. Happy Sunday to everyone.

A list of things we have lost...

The food bag (!) with one (maybe two) of my platypus bottles. NOT. HAPPY.
The lower half of my toothbrush.
Ariel's first aid kit.
My converter's adapter piece, small but really freaking important!
One sock. Huh.
Ariel's bodywash and a shampoo bottle...

When you live out of a bag for a long time, sure you expect to lose some things along the way, but I feel this is a bit excessive for 4 weeks!

I'm really displeased with the water bottles, and the converter piece. However, I can buy a new toothbrush ;)

Berlin, ah Berlin...

A wonderful evening, filled with friends and food. Nothing better, in fact, for travelers but the making of friends, and of course the making of food! The best one can hope for is to form bonds that will follow past the city they're made in, into the future travels perhaps, or into the heart as friendships thousands of miles apart.
This, the people, is my favorite part of travel.

Feet

Something that most people give little thought to or care much about, just like any footsoldier would tell you, feet are important on long marches. Which is pretty much exactly what we're on, a long march with heavy packs and weary muscles, aching feet and even blisters at times. The idea of breaking in a pair of shoes on the go is pretty hideous for anyone with a brain, and the idea of wearing the same pair of footwear through a whole trip is more than some can bear.
I've got what we call 'hippie feet' going on. Wearing my birkenstocks 80% of the trip so far has left me with feet many people I know would cringe at. Calluses, sunburnt at times, strap tan and the ever present black bottom soles... My feet are travel worn and battered. They ache after three hour walking tours, they look bad at times, but they've yet to balk at a task. Seldom will I say no to a walk because my feet hurt, far fewer when i'll refuse to go out because of them. When I get blisters they hurt, of course, but you switch shoes and keep walking.
Here, if you mess up your feet you're as good as dead, travel wise. I bring nice travel socks and comfy shoes, I try to pamper my feet when I can, but few and far between are the days when we take time off completely. So how do we keep up, feet up when you sit when you can, lots of no-shoe time for blisters, and of course, a nice scrub in the showers never hurt.
Feet, thank you for all you do.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Here we have a nice picture of the castle taken (most likely) from Mary'sBridge. A few things about Neuschwanstein : It is called the castle of the Fairytale king because Ludwig II built it due to his desire to escape reality and live in the worlds he read about in fairy tales. Now, if you've ever read a real German fairy tale, they all end in death and unhappiness, so it's no small wonder that he did too. Next, this is the major inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle, and traveling through the wooded areas of Czech and Germany, I can see where the dancing scene was born as well. Lastly, this is an incomplete castle, all work was stopped on it when Ludwig suddenly, and mysteriously, died. 6 weeks after his death, to pay their massive debts, the government of Bavaria made it a tourist spot. Ironically, Ludwig would have hated that; he wanted no one else to live in his little world.
Crazy guy.
Now, there's a picture of Ludwig for you, at 18 when he became Kind of Bavaria. What a looker, eh? Google him and you'll see that he wasn't too much of one later, oi.
So, our tour was interesting, cost about 32 euro and we took two trains and a bus to get there, but we learned a lot about Ludwig, his life and death and all that jazz. Our tourguid was really well versed (she LOVES Ludwig) and her studies into his life are really apparent in the little details we got from her.

I recommend the tour (though maybe a skip on the inside of the castle, except for the random man-made GROTTO. Seriously, weirdness abounds) and felt like it was worth the money we spent on it.

New Europe Tours

The New Europe company, started somewhere around 2003, has suddenly risen to great heights as walking tours are on the rise, especially in the eco-conscious major cities. There are two types of tours, and all the tour guides have to do the free one and train on at least one other type. The first type is their highly popular "Free walking tour of (whatever city)" which caters to a crowd of about 16-20 people on average.
These tours cover the big bases in these cities and last between 3 and 4 hours, most starting between 10 and 11 am. They take you past the major sites, those that are standard fare for tourists, but they also give you the history of wherever it is, as well as little known facts etc. They study and/or live in the city they guide, so they really do know their way around. THey'll also show you some little-known places, or the best restaurants to go to, the little "human" touches that are usually omitted from big tours.
The other type of tour is the paid tour, generally a reasonable rate, in which the tours tend to top out at 25 people and are a little more rushed. We did the free tour of Munich (a wonderful, very educational tour we enjoyed a lot) and two paid tours, Dachau and Neuschwanstein, and both were excellent. The guides know there info, and they are pretty good at giving you enough hints at the big mysteries atthe end to keep you wanting to stick around.
Normally, tours are overly expensive and not much fun, but these were good. I'll talk about each one in more detail, aside from the free tours because really, they're free so you can do them to your heart's content.

More Berlin!

So, yesterday was actually pretty fabulous after we got the grumping over and got out of the hostel. We took our time walking through what had to be most of East Berlin trying to find a park to play about it. We found what we THOUGHT was a park, but it was really just a parking place for dead people. A really, really big parking spot, to be fair. We must have walked a half mile or more trying to get out of it. Luckily the park was only another jaunt away so we just hopped over (well, half a mile hopped but what is that when you've already gone two or so miles?) and found a place to park it in the shade.
Get it? Park it? I'm killing myself laughing here. (Chirp chirp, I know)
So, we had a good time playing hackey sack, or footbag or whatever you want to call it, and then we had siesta time. We spread out underneath a big tree and just lay there, some sleeping (Air) and others dozing or just cloud watching (C and I). I listened to some nice music, watched the clouds drift past the trees, and generally had a good time of it. Then we came back, checked in, and then got ready to wander about outside again to find this supposedly really awesome beergarten in what we think is Berlin's Little 5. Well, we found it but it was a little too hipster/hippie/alternative/whatever for us then, so we scarpered and found another little park to play hack in. However, we did come across very heavily armed and protected German polizei wandering the streets after 8, 8:30 so we ambled back. A successful day, all in all.
Today (the 18th) we went out for one of the new europe free walking tours, because the tours in Munich were awesome (I'll talk about those later!) and were slightly disappointed by it here. Firstly, though, I'll set the scene. We are situated in an eight bed dorm and the sun comes up around 5 here, so people start just getting restless about then. Our room is directly across from the kitchen, which means that it can get a little loud as people start to meander to breakfast. Otherwise it's a fairly quiet little hostel. Well, breakfast was actually pretty good, we bought eggs yesterday and we scrambled those and had watermelon. So, fed and water(meloned) we moved out. I'm not sure when Air started the "eeerrrggghhhh" mood, but she was in full-on don't talk to me, I've got earbuds and a frown mode by the time we made it to the Sbahn (the overground trains, the underground ones are the Ubahn, creative little Germans, huh?). So, we amble the kilometer to the meeting point to find that this tour is over a hundred people, granted they do separate out but still, that's a lot of people. So we made the choice to o anyways and, being free, we could always leave if we didn't like it.
Our guide was nice, but you could tell he'd been too long in the job: he knew his stuff but wasn't really excited about it at all. His presentation made all the Nazi and Soviet talk more boring that it needed to be. Berlin was 95% rubble at the end of WWII, so there wasn't much of the 700-odd year history left to stare at, so all we saw and heard about what the post war era. Fair, but kinda got old. We made it to the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie (over commercialized and not at all what it was 20 years ago) but after that we decided it was too hot (and boring) to keep going. So, here we are, catching up on football and writing blogs :)

Happy travels, I has them.

Berlin!

It is SO NICE to use a real computer, even with the strange placement of keys (sillz german keyboards!)
The overnighter was hideously uncomfortable, essentially just big chairs that sort of leaned back a bit. We each had a two row to ourself, but since the armrests don't go down at all, it was still hellish sleeping. It got cold, too, because that's how it would have to be, right? So about two hours before we stop, I realiye 'Duh, I have a silk sleep sack!' so I grabbed it and was wrapped in a warm little silk cocoon for the last two hours. I didn't really sleep much at all, none of us did, but I think C and I are being better sports about it.
We spent ALL DAY yesterday sitting at the hostel and reading or napping because it was gross outside. So, in this beautiful weather here we, or at least C and I (maybe just me at this rate) are going to go grab some food for the real kitchen, make some food and find a park to play about in. Possibly, that would be wonderful but if one person in the group is contrary, then the whole day starts to suck a bit.
That is what we get for travelling together, though, and we knew that from the outset. Well, I am off to change and head out, if Air wants to be lazy she can, if C wants to come then he can, but I want to move today, to see and feel and do and play. I havenät even had coffee, or breakfast of any type (and we left our foodstuffs bag on the train, so go us!) but I am willing to make my day better, damnit, so they come or they don't, their choices.

Laundry in Europe

Ah, how we love to "live the dream." Smelling your clothes through your bag and not wanting to put them back on because you haven't washed them in two weeks is so dreamy, let me tell you. Here the washers are itty bitty teensy weensy, so for three people we have to prioritize if we want to consolidate and not spend anywhere between 1 and 4 euro a person washing clothes. Sometimes they'll even have a dryer! What a novel concept. In Prague we literally sweated so much that our clothes stuck to our skin and dried in all that smelly, salty glory. So we said to ourselves, let's do the wash before we leave. Well, they didn't have driers in Prague, and we didn't have time to wait for air dry, so we decided to bring them to Munich and wash here. Then you have to decide: what to wear on the train that won't offend your nose or other people's either. You sniff check, you spray perfume or cologne or, my personal savior, febreeze.
You can try to wash in sinks, but most hostels don't have big sinks, or if they do you can never find something to stop it up with unless you though ahead and brought a sink stop (we didn't, unfortunately.) I have a travel clothesline which is amazingly handy for more than just clothes: it can help dry towels or swimsuits, it can be a divider for beds, used to make a curtain or door, and can even be used as a rope-type thing to strap things together.
Even if you washed your clothes at every hostel, aside from costing a fortune, you'd still never have something completely clean to wear because everything mingles in the pack (even if you have separate compartments or what have you) so the best you can hope for it really delicious smelling laundry detergent that makes everything smell better.
But the smell/feel of freshly laundered clothes can make all the difference in your mood, in how you feel about the world in general as well.

More Foodage and Train Thoughts, June 12

Sitting on the train from Prague to Munich at 9:30 and we've been awake since 7. Air woke up at 5:30 this morning because she thought that I had yelled at her for not getting up on time (not true at all) and so I have no doubt that on this 6 hour ride she'll pass out sooner than later. C is already doing the nod, but then we've had to acclimate to the general pattern of train travel: up early or out late, sleep when you can and, if you can sleep, you'll pass the time faster. This works especially well on long hauls because, like flights, the short hops are just more stressful that the long ones because you're always worrying about the connection.
Our last night in Prague we went out for dinner-- we make a point of eating the local cusine at least once in every city/country we go to-- of real Czech food. Rude though it may seem, we shared our food with each other, and it was delicious. Air had some type of pork-cut in whipped cream and cranberry sauce (yes, as sweet as it sounds) with plain dumplings that seemed more like someone had cut a loaf of really thick and moist bread than the American idea of dumplings (or is it Asiatic?). C, whose stomach is still not 100%, had a dish of chicken pieces cooked in a garlic-ginger sauce. I had veal goulash, which I always thought was more of a really thick stew, but it turned out to be really thick veal gravy with absolutely wonderful, tender veal cuts. My dumpling was made with bacon fat cut into the dough, which strange as it might sound was absolutely fabulous. Thick and rich and a delight to eat. We also shared a dish that, on the menu, was called "Chicken Sticks in Honey Sauce" that turned out to be tender, fall-off-the-bone drumsticks in a nice sauce of honey and spices. C about died of happiness at it (he loves chicken). I loved the roasted potatoes that came with it, which I dipped in the sauce and enjoyed thoroughly.
Not only was it the first real MEAL we've had since Gaeta, it was the best one. Even the wursts in Salzburg were really more like fast food; this food took about 30-45 minutes to cook and come out to us, nicely presented and all. I can understand now why the Czech Republic has the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the world-- beer is cheaper than water, soda, or coffee. Air and I had the local brew with dinner, which wasn't too bad. Most of the people we met who talked about Czech beer said it was awful piss, but then again these are mostly younger travelers who tell their drinking stories around the table at night. To be fair, we all trade stories about train mishaps, drinking woes, the interesting ways one can get their stuff stolen... As well as the best hostel to stay at in so-and-so city, or the best place for cheap, good eats. As a group, we like to spend our time at night in the hostel or in a larger group traveling about a city, just because most of the fun of hosteling and traveling is other travelers.
Pub crawls are popular here, almost to the point of ridicule. Way back when (as if I'd actually know when in the dark ages before the dawn of computers or telly) a pub crawl was exactly as it sounds: a group of friends would go down the street to all the bars and have a pint at each. Thus, by the end of the night, it became more of a crawl and stumble than anything. You learn something new every day. Another is that if someone tells you in the summertime (June-August usually) that they have real Sicilian canolis, then they're lying. The goats of Sicily have nothing to eat in the hills during the hottest months, so they stop producing milk, thus no ricotta cheese to fill the canolis. Funny, huh?
Thank goodness that this train is German, not Czech-- the windows don't go down, but there is actual air conditioning. It isn't 93 degrees in here like it was on the way to Prague.
What a hellish trip that was, the train to Prague. I'll save that story for another post.

German/Austrian food

So, we've been in the Austria-Bavaria region of the world, and though we travel on a pretty tight budget, we do make time to sample the local cuisine. I know I talked about the Czech food we had in Prague, but I thought I would take a moment to talk about the wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful) foods we've eaten in Salzburg and Munich.
In Salzburg we had a few good dishes, most of them at the wonderful Augustinian Brewery Beergarten, where the beer is brewed, as you can tell by the title, by the Augustinian monks in the monastery above the garten. We went there our first night, following our roomies who had been there dozens of times over the course of their study in Salzburg, and tried a dish on the recommendation of one of the guys. It turned out to be a slab of pork that was cooked nicely, but was fattier than I would usually eat. Being hungry though, I ate it regardless and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor, a rich pork roast. The potatoes were a little different, not quite sauerkraut potatoes but they were mixed with what I presume is some kind of mustard. They took a little getting used to, but I ate mine and Air's because I liked them so much. The second time we went to the Augustinian we had several things from the food court. Air got a currywurst, literally a wurst topped with ketchup and curry, as well as something like a meatloaf meatball (we didn't really like that one). I got a kaserkreiner or something like that, it was a regular braut type sausage smothered in two different types of mustard. Mmm. We also got bretzels and different deserts to try.
Being a beergarten, they obviously serve beer. The way you do it is to find a seat out in the shady garden filled with trees and tables (hard to do in the evening when everyone and their kid is out to enjoy the food and friendships), then you have one person stake the table while the other go get the beers. You pay for the beer at the cash register, they hand you a ticket and you grab a freshly washed stein (1 liter or .5 liter sizes) and go wash it in cold water for a minute or two. This chills the stien so that the beer stays colder longer, and gives it a better flavor. Next, you take the cold stein and ticket to the pourer behind the counter, and he pours you your beer, takes you ticket and sends you off.
Fast and efficient: the German way. Interesting tip: There is a line on all the mugs and cups here in Europe, and if your beer isn't poured to the line, or comes out with too much head and not the right amount of beer, you can point it out and get the correct amount. I don't recommend doing it if you don't speak the language, but it's a good tip in case they decide that just because you're a tourist you don't deserve the same treatment as a native.
Here in Munich we ate our first meal at the festival celebrating Munich's founding some 800 years ago, so we ate stall foods of traditional nommage. We had bretzels with mustard, Air got a real brautwurst and I got some kielbasa-type wurst. I didn't like the flavor of hers, but mine was fabulous, especially because the bun for it was a hard, crusty fresh baked thing, full of flavor.
Air tried this thing called a "raddler" which is some kind of fruit drink and light beer mixed. It sounded bad, but it was almost like sprite-flavor, and we saw that they had different fruit flavors, raspberry, strawberry, lemon etc.

Travel Contemplations June 12

Travel planning can be such a pain in the buttinski some days. We spent the first half of the day going over and over and over our plans (which we were making as we went along). We still have 4ish weeks before C leaves, and we have to have him in London by the 4th of July for his flight the 5th. We can honestly look back and wish we had stayed longer in each city so far, but we were terrified from Swizerland, and made hasty plans on sleep-deprived and hungry brains just trying to escape the bloody expensive Swiss towns. We had made tentative plans to go to Innsbrook and another town or two, but we spent over 250 euro just traveling through, so to us even looking at something meant hemorrhaging money. We should have spent another day in Salzburg for sure, and maybe even Prague. But we're on the way to Munich, then Berlin, then Hamburg and then a hop to Ireland for a week and a half or so before cruising to London, where C's flight leaves from. Well, we're mostly sure on that last bit (the Ireland part, not the flight part). Air and I will hop a plane the same day to the Continent again and head to Denmark to meet up with an old school friend, then onwards. After C leaves, we still have a month and a half out here; I'm excited but a little scared of just how much we're spending getting from place to place.
We didn't buy eurorail passes because we were training between 9 countries or so, and the passes are fairly restrictive (and expensive!) but now we've been almost sad we didn't. Almost. I mean, we've spent almost $1000USD on planes and trains alone, not including city transport. But we planned for it, we're budgeting well enough, and we're averaging better cost than we did last year. We figured out that we ate out a lot more in England-- with four people (two boys, and boys are always hungry!) we felt more compelled to eat around. Kebap and food from stalls etc, they all add up fast.This year we've been trying to get hostels with kitchens, cooking our own food for the most part and drinking water that we bottle from taps and drinking fountains wherever we go. It is rare for us to buy anything to drink, and only in desperation will we break down and buy something. With an electric kettle we can have hot water for tea or coffee, we have instant noodles and seasonings to make quick soup. We supplement the noodles with fresh items from wherever we are, fresh breads and cheeses and meats in sandwiches (even sometimes veg!).
We seem to be doing well enough and no one but C has gotten even the sniffles. We take multivitamins most days to get our daily dose of healthy, and we eat a lot of apples and oranges, which are great take along foods. Yay for self contained foodstuffs!

Church of Bones June 11

Remember that Vincent Price quote in "Thriller," the one that goes something like "the funk of 40 thousand years..?" Well we visited a church in Kotna Hora (I think that's how to spell it) that had the funk of 40 thousand corpses. Literally this Ossuary was decorated in human bones. There were these huge pyramids of skulls and bones that were not held together with any bindings, just stacked up twelve or fifteen feet high. The smell was terrible-- and slightly terrifying. How can bones from over 500 years ago still smell so funky? Well, they are still remains and slowly decaying even under the sterilization and whitewash treatments. It smelled like old tapestries and musty, closed off rooms, laced with the smell of sweat and b.o. from everyone there-- the only way to really get there without a car is to walk about a kilometer from the train station; in the 90+ heat, it was like slowly baking in a brick oven, the heat coming off the pavement in waves. It was so freaking hot we actually broke down and bought cold drinks at the station to cool off. By the time we got to the ossuary, we were plastered with sweat, but really that isn't anything new in Prague. We showered twice a day sometimes, just to cool off and de-stinkify. We were happy to get into the shade, and knowing that usually churches and museums are cooler than the out-of-doors, hoping that there would be a breeze or something to cool us down. Well, it cooled us down, but it smelled awful, so it was up in the air as to whether or not it was "better."
As soon as you enter the place you can see the bones, and the absolute shabbiness of the place. One lady at a desk at the front taking money for the tickets and handing out a badly translated history of the chapel. Apparently some half-blind (and in our consensus totally mad) monk set out to honor God by using the bones that were heaped up and mostly forgotten to decorate. These 40,000 corpses are largely unknowns; victims of the bubonic plague and the Turkish wars. There was some famous guy who spread some famous handful of consecrated earth from the crusades over the graveyard there, so lots of people wanted to be buried there. They literally heaped them up inside and out, a pathetic sepulcher for about 200 years or so; then, after a fire destroyed part of (most of?) the chapel, the monk-guy (who apparently had nothing else to do with his time, and had no sense of smell left) took the bones, most of which were heaped up, mouldering outside the walls and started playing kinex with them. Somewhere in the 16-1700's some famous Italian architect dude came along and sterilized and whitewashed the bones before actually creating artworks with them... chandeliers, wall drapes and crucifixes, a coat of arms and heraldry, even candelabras and instruments of the churchly rites.
All in all, it was an interesting place and well worth the 50 cent entry fee, but I wouldn't recommend taking kids there.
The train to Kotna Hora took about an hour, but for the three of us to go and return was 300 crowns, which we earned by having to stand the entire way to Kolin, where we switched trains unnecessarily. Literally the train was packed too tight for us to find seats in second class, so we stuck our heads out the windows in the aisle and just tried not to die of heatstroke. It was like being in an oven-- but we were like marinated chickens: marinading in our own sweat and the stink of hundreds of unwashed bodies. It was probably better than the seats, to tell the truth, no matter how achy and sore our feet, knees, hips got from standing, sitting on the floor was a hard prospect-- not only was it filthy, but people kept coming and going past us, so every time Air would try to sit, a few minutes later she would have to stand again.
It got us out of the hostel and out into the sunshine, so it was worth it.

City Walkabout Tour June 9

Our unofficial "tour guide" in Salzburg was a guy we shared our room with, Wes, who had been in Salzburg studying for 10 weeks and was spending his last week just enjoying the place. He took us to his favorite places, and told us the history of Salzburg inasmuch as he could. We walked up about a million stairs to reach the top of the Cappucinburg (The cappucin mountian/hill) where the views of Salzburg were breathtaking. Then again, so were the stairs: steep and never-ending they went from the street/river level to the top of the mountain, and we were gasping for air by the end of it, calves and thighs trembling and on fire.But the view was worth the pain, and as we took a different set of stairs back down, you could really see how Salzburg had grown from the rocks outward. They built houses and such right into the cliff face, which we found out had caused many a collapse of the mountain sides over the centuries.
He took us to the cathedrals and to the cemetery for the wealthy families of Austria. Apparently, you can be removed from the cemetery if your family doesn't continue to pay your burial taxes! THe city of Salzburg did have some plots for the American troops who died defending Salzburg from the Nazis in WWII, including a memorial to them for their valour. From there we went up the mountain upon which the Fortress, the Festung, was built and the original home and residences of Salzburg princes and arch-bishops. It was never taken by force, apparently, and is an impressive building with a long history back into the Medieval times. We stopped at a beergarten called Stegiel where we tried apfelstrudel and watched the sun slowly sinking down over the city of Salzburg. It was a wonderful impromptu tour of the city, and probably more enjoyable than any pay-tour.

Salt Mines, Salzburg, June 10

Our real "sightseeing" day in Salzburg was intense; we went to see the salt mines, where the city got it's name ("Salz" is German for salt), and the Festung fortress, and we did another walkabout the city before ending in the beergarten we went to our first night where the beer is brewed by the Augustinian monks who live in the monastery above.
The Salt Mines tour, operated by Panorama tour group, is 40-odd euro, and I'm not sure if it was really worth that much. Possibly we could have bussed up there and gotten admission for less, but the tour group meant that we would get some info on the way and that we got to see more than just the mines. The tour was separated into groups, the ones headed up to the Eagle's Nest (Hitler's seat of power in the Bavarian Mountains) and those of us headed to the Salt Mines. There were five of us headed to the mines, all from the same hostel, and all around 20's. So we stuck together for the tour, and it was probably more fun for it. The bus ride up there was not too enjoyable, the tourguide wasn't very good at his job, and it would almost have been better without narration. When we got to the mines, they put us into coverall suits because not only are the mines incredibly salty, but they're cold and there are slides which, if you didn't have pants on or didn't want to ruin your own, would have sucked. So there we are, looking ridiculous, but warmer for sure, taking pictures and dreading the rest of the group we were being stuck with: lots of babies and toddlers in a group with, presumably, their parents. They screamed a lot. So, firstly you have to take the tram to get into the mines, a nice long ride at a decent speed, where you straddle a bench and hang on to a rail to keep from falling off. Then, when you arrive at the first cavern you can walk around for a few minutes before the first slide. the slide is long and it's another straddle operated shindig, where five people get to hug one another and then scream to the bottom their their legs straight and you cannot try to stop with your feet, you come to a halt at the end. It was fantastic.
After that you take your audioguide and follow the conductor around to various demonstrations and attractions, the best of which is the "Mirror Lake," a cavern lake with no inlet or outlet, so when it settles it looks like a mirror it's so clear, thus the name.
The frustrating part of it was that the audio guides didn't work half the time, and the tour guide didn't speak a word of English or anything but German. Frustrating. We finished the tour with an elevator ride and free miniature salt shakers with salt (which will be used for cooking along the way!). Then another train ride to the surface and kabam, finished. Then the tourbus picked us up and took us to gather the rest of the group at the Eagle's Nest and then to some Bavarian town in the mountains where we stopped for lunch. The five of us had pretzels and then Air, C and myself played hackeysack to the great amusement of the general populace.
Overall a nice tour, but wouldn't recommend doing it through Panorama Tours

Review for Sir Toby's Hostel, Prague.

Comfort Level: 5
Amenities: 5
Staff: 5
Location: 4
Fellow Hostelers: 5
Overall: 5

Sir Toby's is a really good hostel for long term stays, but maybe not as good for the short term people. It was clean and well kept, which is pretty amazing for Prague and Czech in general. The location is okay, but walking to town is really a long haul. The trams cost next to nothing though, and at check in they'll tell you which ones to take, point our great restaurants and good places to see. It is a long way from any real "nightlife" which is a downer for a lot of people: there isn't a whole lot to do and see in Prague that you can't do in a day or two, and everything closes around 6. We were happy to sit in the pub downstairs and watch movies and play games with the people there. The guest kitchen is available from 6am to 11pm, and they serve vegetarian food at the bar until 11:30. The breakfast bar is entirely worth the 100 crowns (110 if you don't buy in advance) because you get to make your own scrambled eggs, crepes, and breakfast roll sandwiches, all you can eat. You get a mug for as much tea and coffee as you want, as well as a bowl for yogurt (two kinds, I highly recommend the blueberry/berry flavoured one, it was wonderful) or granola (homemade!) and even cereal. They had all sorts of add-ons for the egg bar, and fruit toppings for the crepes and for munching. All of this is included in the ticket and all you can eat.
The beds were wonderful and soft with huge pillows! They were onsies too, so I felt like a real adult instead of a pretend kid. The room was spacious with 5 beds (though at first they shoved an extra bed in there to make enough room, and I asked to switch from that when one of the people left) and huge windows. There is NO central air, but the heating probably works. We had the windows open pretty much all day and night trying to cool off, but the whole hostel was absolutely hot.
There is only one bathroom per dorm, so 5-8 people have to share one toilet and one shower, which could get hairy, though we never had an issue with ours.
The kitchen is pretty good, with two small refrigerators and two rangetops, sinks and pans, plates, bowls and silverware. They are serious, though, when they say anything without info on it is getting chucked each night. The kitchen is closed and locked after 11pm, but if you need to grab something or put food away you can ask for the key-- there's a time limit on it though, so you can't cook. Wifi is free and on all floors as well, though as always there are pay computers in the front you can use.

Overall I highly recommend this hostel for amenities and cleanliness, but the location is a little far for one day stays or those who love hardcore nightlife.

Review of Salzburg Yoho Hostel:

Location: 5
Staff: 4
Comfort Level: 5
Amenities: 4 1/2
Fellow Hostelers: 5

Overall: 5

This is one of the "Europe's Famous Hostels" group, and for good reason. Clean, well located and with generally decent prices for rooms it suits most every need. I give it a 5 for the showers alone, though if you try to shower early in the morning you'll run into the age old problem of never enough showers. So we shower at night or the afternoon when no one is around. The womens showers were renovated a few weeks before we got there, and let me tell you they are probably the BEST showers we've seen traveling. Ever.
The amenities gets a hit because the guest kitchen is a joke, open from 11am to 5pm and so tiny you can't turn around comfortably it makes a mockery of the word "kitchenette." If you're a hardcore self-feeder and don't want to spend 3-8 euro on breakfast and dinner respectively then you might rethink this one. However, the free wifi is actually free and accessible all hours on all floors. You have to pay for computer time if you don't have a laptop or mobile device, though, so be warned.
Everything, as with most European hostels, costs. Everything. There was even graffiti about that downstairs in the basement/laundry room, which was hilarious. There were years of graffiti on the walls from all corners of the world in many languages (though Australians are the most obnoxious of the ones we found). We added our marks as well, continuing a great tradition. We ought to buy sharpies to graffiti with, though, we busted two ballpoints writing on the wall.
The laundry costs 2 euro for the small washer and 2 euro for the dryer, so we had to halve our respective loads to fit three people's stuff into the wash. But they smells wonderful after the wash :) You put down a 5 euro deposit for linen, which you get back if you check out on time (10 am), and the same for a towel if you need one, though you pay them an nonrefundable .50 cent to use it.
The bar downstairs boasts cheap drinks, but there are so many beer gartens and restaurants around with better deal and drinks, according to what we saw and the input from the hostelers we talked to.
The beds were classic bunks that squeaked and shook with every movement, and the mattresses were original 70's we think, but they just got new mattresses the night before we left, and they're doing more renovations so they might get new beds too. Crap pillows, and the sheets were two heavily starched flat sheets.
The security lockers and door security were really pretty good though, you had to have the keycard to your bed number to open the corresponding locker. The only thing to remember was that the lockers didn't lock on their own and if you don't lock it manually before you leave, your "security" is compromised. We had no issues, nor had we heard of anyone having issues, but it's a good thing to note. Luggage drop is just the open downstairs area where bags can be piled for a morning; we brought a cable lock long enough to fit through all three bag handles and locked it around a bar in the staircase, just to be safe.

I would say that for a long stay, this is a great place but for the kitchen, for a one night stay it would be just about perfect.

Switzerland; Glacier express June 8th(ish?)

The Glacier Express is a panoramic train through the Swiss alps. It costs about 110 euro/ 120 franks, and it starts in Zermott or Briggs and winds it's way to St. Martin (??) or Davos, a tiny nowhereville. The ride is roughly 7 hours, and if you don't get a car where the heating is broken, then you'll have a pleasant view out of the fully panoramic windows. If, like us, your car has no air conditioning, you will fry like a piece of bacon. Air said I turned into a little shrimp, small and bright pink. She was a lobster, bright red from the sun, and C was... we couldn't decide because he was grumpy from being so sick and the heat wasn't helping. We sat in hell for about four hours, and were ecstatic to get off the train at the stops along the way.
We ate lunch outside while they changed engines (the grade becomes too steep at times and they have to have special engines to get the train up the mountains, which means fairly frequent stops for changes) and enjoyed the scenery. Lunch was fresh bread torn from a loaf, appples and water. it felt like true mountaineering style, and was probably the best lunch we've had in terms of place and enjoyment.
There were, as I said, several stops, and we got off to not only breathe but to take some spectuacular photos of the countryside. After the last stopover where the St Mrtinez group had to switch trains, we switched compartments to an empty one with air, and it was still hot, but bearable. The sun beats down in a non-stop heating on one side of the train, so we moved to the shaded side and just relaxed into happier boiled seafood. When we got of in Davos it turned out to be one of those tiny nowherevilles that is only busy in high skiing season, so there was nothing open after 5-6pm and nowhere to go when our train left at 9pm.
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Now, we were coming out off Briggs, remember, and none of us had really slept at all since Milan, and we were really trying to stay awake for the 7 hour ride through the alps, and by the time we got to Davos were just absolutely ready to get somewhere and sleep. We had some caffeine, played some hackeysack and tried to relax a bit while we waited for the train. We had two changeovers before the sleeper rail, so we couldn't even really think of more than nodding a little on the connectors. The sleeper went from 11:30 to 4:30, when it got to Salzburg, and we were so tired that when we finally found an empty compartment, we all just pulled the couches out (in the daytime these compartments seat 6, at night they pull out into 3 couch-beds) and passed out, only waking for the ticket lady.
We made it out of the train on time and found ourself waiting till it was a little lighter out, and then set off for the hostel knowing full well we couldn't check in until after 11. We figured we would drop the bags and if we had to go find food and a park to sleep in for a while. The guy was nice though, and pointed out that the lounge was empty and would be relatively quiet from 5:30 to about 7, we could try to catch a quick nap if we wanted. So we did. We dropped the bags at the luggage drop, carried our small packs and laid out on the most uncomfortable benches I've ever encountered. We legitimately passed out until after 9, backs and necks and shoulders on fire, we endured the laughs and comments. It was the best, worst sleep we'd had, and it was fantastic.

I'm going to post the backlog with dates in the title, so that you'll be able to follow it more or less chronologically. I had the chance to sit down and write (finally) for a few hours so I did, there's a good 8-10 posts coming up!

Our trip from Gaeta to Formia was by car, C's grandfather drove us (and we made it in one piece with very little heart failure on the passenger's part) to the station to save us time and money, which was much appreciated. We got from Formia to Rome in time for T's train to Fiumoncino, but getting there at 8:30 meant that our train to Milan, leaving at 12:30, was oh so far off. We bought a brioche and sat at the table of a station cafe, for the entire four hours. We got on the train and oh boy was it full up. Our compartment (they seat six) had an older couple and a younger woman, and then the three of us, packs full to bursting. We sat on that train, vaguely dozing at times, reading or watching videos at others, for 7 hours. Not as bad as some trains I've had, it was certainly not the worst though.
We got into Milan about 7:15, and found our hostel after some interesting subway adventures. Having to go up and down a lot of stairs with the back pack and the baby-front pack while it was practically 80 underground was nauseating. After we settled in we made dinner and started more research on our trains and hostels for Switzerland, Austria, and Prague. After much annoyance and debate, we finally had a plan and went to a late sleep. We got to sleep in to ten am, an important fact to note here.
We left Milan around 5 and got to Brig, Switzerland at 7ish. C was looking worse, his stomach was really nasty and he was green, and so Air and I went in search of a grocery that might be open to get some stuff for him, bland food, and some drinks and food for the next two days. We found nothing, but our first experience of the Alps was absolutely breathtaking. We wandered for an hour, and then we came back to C, who was watching the bags. There was a little shop in the station where we got our stuff, and we hunkered down, ready to sleep in shifts.
I should describe our setup: The were benches, all the metal type with holes and as uncomfortable as all get out, and we took the two farthest to the left. The ticket office was across from us, and what is apparently the only vending machine in Brig was diagonal and only like 10 feet away. Now, C took one bench, and Air and I took the other. Our bags were placed behind the bench in a little hollow of the window, like a bay window only with one pane and high up, so it was the perfect spot to keep our stuff contained and safe. Air and I played games and watched tv shows on the Acer (named Gimli) and let C sleep. Neither of us was too tired, but we knew that 14 hours was a long time to be awake, so we decided to make "tea." I use the term lightly here... What we had was three tea bags, frizzante water (accidentally purchased instead of normale) and three packets of honey. The bottle was 2 liters, we poured half of that into another water bottle, and we stuck the three tea bags into the big bottle, tied together to keep them from getting lost. The carbonation kept the teabags from sinking, but they did steep, and we left them for about and hour, hour and a half, before we tested the waters, so to speak. We ended up having to cut a hole into the side to pour out of, and we used a nutella cup to split it. Added one honey packet (there was about three cups worth of tea, so we rationed) and took the ultimate test: I had the first sip and it was horrid. But, in the spirit of caffeine, hydration, and not wasting anything, we drank the vile stuff, every drop.
The night was otherwise uneventful; we mostly played Peggle and watched stuff, no one bothered us except one to ask for cigarettes, but she left us alone when we said we didn't have any. The last train left at 12:30, the next train came at 4:30. Yet the station never closes, so there were travelers, like us, stuck waiting, or teens with nothing better to do on a Friday than to hang out at the only open place in town. It seemed like everyone who came to the station came for two reasons, not only to get somewhere but to use the vending machine!
About 5 C woke up long enough for Air and I to force him to take watch while we snatched some downtime. Air couldn't sleep, but I passed out until 6, when the cleaner came around loudly. So, from then until our train at ten, we just kind of passed the time between us by walking; we watched the sunrise come up over the alps, and the city come to life. It was well worth the long wait.

Next installment: The Glacier Express and the rest of the journey to Salzburg.

Whew! What a lot to catch up on, we've hopped two countries since last I posted!

Right now we're in Salzburg, Austria, at Yoho Hostel, but I'll get to that later.

Let us speak of our last days in Gaeta. June first, two days before we left, we went to the beach again. it was bright and sunny and absolutely wonderful, but since it had rained a lot the night beforehand, the waves were huge. Like over 7 feet crests, red flag conditions. We had a fantastic time body surfing, though it was cold in there. Unrelenting undertow made it a tiring experience, so after an hour or so we decided to lay out and dry off the sunny way (yes mom, I wore sun screen.) We went home for leftovers, but went out for pizza that night with Mariana, C's Grandfather's niece (I think she is C's grandfather's sister's daughter...what a mouthful!) at a place called Ciro's. A truly wonderful pizza place, we sat outside by the bay, just off the Yacht club, in a tent that kept the chilly bay breeze away. Air had a pizza with egg on it, which was delicious (I stole a bite) and C and T had Margharita pizzas; I had sliced salame on mine. The pizza was huge, and C, Air, and myself ate every bit of ours. C ate the last half of T's, because she eats very little at a time. I was full to bursting about 3/4s of the way, but upon the challenge of finisheing, I ate the rest. And then we had a sampling of cakes, Limoncello afterwards and a nice walk to round it out. The morning after I was still full, and feeling a bit sick for it, unfortunately.
We went to the fresh market, held every Wednesday in Gaeta, to buy travel food. Peaches, apricots, cherries, whole salamis (which are hanging from Air's pack), some cheese and two bags of rolls for sandwiches. We also got gifted the leftover meatballs for our sandwiches on the first train. We had 6 balls of buffalo mozzarella (in milk, which is heavy to carry!) and two bottles of homemade wine to take with us. We ate all the fresh stuff over the two days of travel (because we had nowhere to store it, wanted to not be carrying it anymore, and were hungry despite C not eating anything but the bread after Milan) but have only gone through most of one salami.
June 2nd is for the Italians what July 4th is for us Americans. So most every shop was closed, and there were hundreds of people just milling around town waiting for the grand procession. We didn't stay to watch the procession because we had dinner waiting for us, but the fireworks went off at midnight, so it might have taken longer than we thought anyways.
We had a fabulous time in Gaeta, and I would heartily recommend visiting, especially in the off season between May-June and Sept-Oct.