bye bye europe

im leaving in just over six hours for vienna and then a quick transfer at about 0645 to munich. im going to have to hustle to make that train. once back in munich i want to go see a castle. my flight leaves 0710 wednesday. i plan to stick my stuff in a locker and just stay up until i go to the airport at about 315, it's a 45 minute train from the center of munich.

bye europe! hello america! and my family!

ALERT ACHTUNG LOOK HEY OVER HERE

I've uploaded a few pictures because I am very nearly out of space for pictures. I just need room for a few more.. They are all from today. My cake, the main market in Budapest, a bridge, a tram up to the palace, St. Ivan's Basilica, me at the opera house (where I'm going at 7), the restaurant where I ate last night called Menza.


http://picasaweb.google.com/agbergan/Yer08?authkey=1sf-TMr6YtA#

Like a farmer's market, I guess.

I love the main market here in Budapest! Cheap and fun to browse. Good place to stop and dry off on a wet day like today.

pest

I had a short day of sight seeing on the eastern side of the Danube, the side that is Pest. The weather today was beautiful despite the know-nothing's weather people's forecasts. Beautiful, original buildings. World War II didn't destroy Budapest or Hungary as a whole, the way that it hit Poland or most of Europe. Tomorrow my plan is to soak in the baths and go to the opera.

For dinner tonight I had Hungarian stuffed cabbage. The Poles make a stuffed cabbage dish call golubki. These two dishes are almost identical. Cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and minced meat and then (I think) steamed. In Poland I had golubki with a tomato sauce. Tonight it was covered/surrounded in a spicy sour kraut that was delicious. With a piece of bread, that saucekraut, and the stuffed cabbage...one of my new favorites!

Buda and Pest

even though i shared my compartment with one fellow i did sleep pretty well all night. got here to budapest around 915 am. the weather was better than expected. last night the forecasts covering the rest of my trip had the highest temperature as 48 F and lots of rain and snow. partially cloudy when i got here and not too cold. probably near 48 F.

taking a timeout at the hostel before i head out. need to find an atm and get some hungarian forints. about 200 to the dollar.

good day.

6 days, 7 nights

left. spent all my zloty's, only a fraction left. 77 groszy. in exactly 2.5 hours the train is supposed to be pulling out for budapest. hopefully i'll end up getting my very own couchette compartment. my guess is that that is doubtful though. if that happens ill wake up in hungary rested. if not, ill have come off of a night of clutching my belongings and darting my eyes.

the shock of the concentration camps has mostly worn off. i don't know if that's a good thing. i mean i don't want to live in that shell shocked kind of disgust and realization of evil. those images and truths will always be with me and that is probably enough. never forget.

ok, one more night in warsaw. i need the rest that offers.

hell

Auschwitz and its satellite camps and all concentration camps were people doing exactly what the devil wanted them to do. They were a pre-hell, but for those who didn't deserve it. No one maybe deserves that kind of treatment other than those who treat others that way. They people who did those things were ultimately self-absorbed. It is a lot to think about. I had a psychologically hard day.

I am in Warsaw now. Probably just for one night and then Budapest.

slight change

I am staying one more night in Krakow with my couchsurfing host Dominika. Being here has been a blast. Dominika, Mathieu, and Matik have been so kind and accomodating for four nights now. And with another couchsurfer!

So, tomorrow Auschwitz and down the line back to Munich as I said in my last post.

I still miss everyone a lot but I am trying to lay myself in the Lord's hands and take it moment by moment and it is helping so much.

15.11.08

Great day in Krakow, wandered and it was sunny. I am much more at peace today than yesterday.

Thank you so much uncle Art and Aunt Corky for contacting your French friends for me. I have a plan now.

Tomorrow Auschwitz and after a train to Warsaw. Next night and day in Warsaw then a night train to Budapest. Several days there and then a train to Munich. I will spend Three nights there and then will be coming home.

Again thank you Uncle Art for your understanding and help. See you in about 10 days.

krakow

I made it to Poland on a night train. In a six bunk couchette where I was blessed enough to be the only one. Locked myself in and slept well all chka chka's and knocks considered. I am couch surfing here with a Polish student named Dominika and her two room mates whom I still have not met. I miss my family very much.

Praha

Well I am now in the capital of the Czech Republic. After a long day of travel and a bit of an ordeal. My mother knows about my trouble. I got lost in a not so wonderful part of Prague and finally found my hostel after two hours and just prior to dark. The maps are a little confusing about how the street that I needed to find connects to two other streets.

Today I am able to shed a little more light on why I got so lost. When I exited the train station I believed that I knew exactly which way I needed to go. It turns out that I was exactly right, but at the time my confidence led to a u-turn. That about face led to a tourist help type of agency/shop where I asked a young man if he knew where Husitska street was. He looked up directions for me and told me if I hopped on the tram just across the street that I would be there in one stop. Too bad he looked up and gave me directions to Husinekcha street.

Tuesday turned out better. I visited Prague Castle and St. Vitus's cathedral. In the castle I took in an exhibit about Czech-o-Slovak units in the Russian and French armies from 1914 to 1920. Then I walked back here and then walked to an authentic Czech restaurant for dinner. Quite good.

Tomorrow night I am taking a night train to Krakow, Poland. There I will be couchsurfing. I hope the surf is good.

With all caution, Adam ausfarht.

up to 7.11.08

Well I am finallz getting to a computer. I am typing on a german keyboard that has changed the y and z and a number of other things. Munich is very nice, not as cold as Gene led me to expect (yet). It has been overcast the whole time but probably around 50 degrees F with no rain. I have walked around for about 1.5 days, I have blisters, but i am having a great time. However I didnt realize how far from home I really am until last night.

speaking of night, I figured out that excluding two, two hours naps i was awake for 44 hours. that includes the two hours of sleep i got on tuesday night before i left for the airport, or flughof. Im picking up a tiny bit of German, you may be proud Gene! I think that I have seen a significant portion of the city. Ill be leaving sometime Sunday night or early Mondaz morning.

If you are a german delivery man or construction worker, you get to wear neon, bright blue, or some kind of very bright pants. sometimes with reflector stripes on them. I like the fact that they do construction or road repairs without the kind of precautions that the letigious nature of the united states demands.

With those prolific thoughts, Adam ausfarht.

11/6

Leave tomorrow morning from SFO.
Arrive Munich, Germany at night 11/6.
Three days there.

The day I leave is a dark day for the United States.

Just realized this morning that I'll be stopping over in Chicago briefly tomorrow afternoon. Obama hometown. His "victory" party is supposed to attract up to 1 million people. If he loses, well, just please let him lose.

That packing feeling.

Sitting here with a steaming cup of joe and having the feeling one gets when packing is imminent. The feeling one gets when you know you must pack and pack soon and you are so very worried that you will forget something crucial. Tickets, chargers, briefs, liquid in clear 3.4oz bottles. It's a long list even to pack light. I must do it and I will today. I'm just praying I don't forget something I can't replace cheaply on my trip.

Czech my luggage.

My mom made this for me. I had the silly thought in my head to try making myself a bag from some material I had. She ended up making the entire bag and it is awesome. Practically professional. It has plenty of pockets, zip top, black watch plaid accents, and it is exactly what I pictured.