Tuesday, September 21, 2010

London; The End of the Road


A little late with this blog entry; was running a fever of 103 last night for a little post-travel system shock, but back to normal now.

So, London. The final stop. So many things to do, so little time. Fortunately, I was staying in a pretty good location (a couple blocks off London Bridge), and I think I hit most of the highlights. And I spent A LOT of time in the West End - great seats for waaaaay cheap (e.g., £25 for 3rd row center at "Avenue Q")

A recap:

Day 1: Walked along the Thames to the Tower Bridge and crossed over to see the Tower of London. Wandered down the river on that side to St Paul's, then went over to Leicester and got tickets for Avenue Q (excellent as expected). Explored the squares (Piccadilly, Covent Garden, Trafalgar) and ate some dinner at busy local pub while waiting for the show to start.

Henry VIII's armor - as you can see, he was a pretty big guy
Day 2: Hit the south-west today. Crossed Westminster Bridge to see Big Ben and the palace, then off to Buckingham Palace to watching the Changing of the Guard (dodged the crowds by spending most of the time watching the new guard inspection/rehearsal). Walked up to Trafalgar and toured through the National Museum, then down again a bit to see 10 Downing St and the Palace of the Horse Guards. Saw the superb "Blood Brothers" in the evening (starts slow, and the slanted stage seemed to give the actors a bit of trouble).

Behold the freakishly tall guard
Day 3: Neglected to mention last night was the night when the hostel bar closing time was insufficient, and I got dragged out to an after-hours bar by a Kiwi and a Canadian (alright, maybe the Kiwi and I dragged the Canadian out - details, details...). So today was a little...slower...

Walked the OTHER way along the south of the Thames, saw the Globe and the Tate Modern (still trying with the modern art...). Picked up some advance tickets, then went back to the hostel for a nap. Overslept and arrived late for my dinner engagement with old high-school friend Bill and his fiancee Ania for some tasty Indian food. (sadly, forgot my camera - no pictures, but I should be seeing them again in the near future...)

Not from day 3, but this entry clearly needs a Big Ben somewhere...as do the ladies! Amiright? (Also obligatory: Big Ben-related penis joke)
Day 4: Saw the British Museum and the British Library. I'll give a special shout-out to the British Library, because I think it gets overlooked a lot. It's an actual library, but with two rooms of the "Treasures of the British Library". This includes 2 of the 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta, the oldest extant copy of Beowulf, a Gutenberg Bible, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff.

Double-feature at the West End today - saw a matinée of Billy Elliot (great staging - would have been a lot better if the audience wasn't completely lame) and Chicago in the evening (very polished).

Oh, and I happened to walking north from the Victoria Palace Theater after seeing Billy Elliot and passed by Buckingham palace and there was a bit of a crowd. I asked a policeman if there was something going on, and he kinda looked at me funny and asked me if I read the paper. I guess it was a circus or something; there was a guy in some funny robes riding in a clown car.


London pictures

Just about wrapped up with the blog now - I think one more wrap-up entry in the few days and it will be time to close the book on a great vacation.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Athens




Athens was probably the peak of the poor planning section of the trip; "vacation from vacation" means I don't have to think, right?

I thought I had given myself 2 days in Athens, but my flight left later than I thought on the last day, so it was more like 3 days. This is far too much time for the city, so I figured I'd take a day trip out somewhere nearby as well after seeing the city highlights on the first day. This did not work out so well.

Hydra: ferry is too expensive
Delphi: Missed the bus on day 2 and it returned too late on day 3
The beach: Weather turned as I was prepping to go
Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon: I actually got on the bus for this one before I sensibly realized the general unreliability of Greek transport posed a strong risk of missing my plane. Good thing, too, as there was a transit strike that day, and the airport train was shut down.

My face after planning failures
Anyway, I spent a fair bit of time lounging in the city, drinking, and sleeping in. A good time was had.


Athens pictures

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Mykonos

Little Venice
In retrospect, Mykonos may not have been the best destination choice. If I had to do it over again, I'd probably use a little more time to try to get out of the Cyclades; there's a bit of sense of "more of the same" with the landscape after Santorini (generally considered the most beautiful).

That said, I don't regret going to Mykonos; there's a bit less to see from the tourist perspective on the island, but the beaches are quite nice, so that's what I spent my days doing.


Nice and relaxing. I hit a half-dozen beaches or so during my stay. Fokos is probably the best beach if you want something quieter, and Super Paradise was probably the best beach overall, and the best nude beach I've seen in Europe. Skip Paradise beach, it's horribly overcrowded. 

I did do a bit of exploring of the island as well, but it's a desolate wasteland once you leave the towns.

East Mykonos

Not too much drinking actually; just didn't run into that many people I wanted to go drinking with. Made up for it in Athens, though; details coming soon.


Mykonos pictures

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Island-hopping in Greece: Santorini




From Amsterdam, I flew to Santorini via Athens. The Athens airport is a little weird - I guess they don't have enough terminals, because I was loaded and unloaded from planes via bus. Not something you expect to see at a major airport.

But I arrived successfully in Santorini and managed to find a cab to my hotel (bus service on the island is very sporadic). Met up with the Fabrice, who'd been in the islands for a few days already and went out to a pub overlooking the caldera run by an ex-pat.


Next day, we hiked up the caldera edge to Ia on the northern end of the island. For those who don't know, Santorini is the largest remnant of a volcano that erupted about 4000 years ago (and probably wiped out the nearby Cretan civilization). It's a crescent that, with the smaller islands of Thirassia and Aspronisi, encircles the bay of the volcano caldera. There's also a couple of small barren islands in the center of the caldera that are still being fed by the volcano - they grow by about half a meter a year (IIRC). All of which makes for a pretty nice view.

From Ia, we took a small sunset cruise across the bay. The cruise takes you over to Thirassia, then to the hot springs in the caldera center (though "tepid lagoon" might be a better description), and back around near to Ia to watch the sun set over the water.



On the final day, we rented some ATVs (the rental guy decided we were unqualified for scooters) and explored the rest of the island. We went over to the eastern coast to hit some beaches; Santorini isn't known for nice beaches - Voulvoulos beach was pretty bad, but the town of Kamari has a nice black sand beach. From Kamari, drove up the mountain to see the ruins of Ancient Thira, but were denied - in a fine example of Greek industriousness, they close at 2:30 in the afternoon.



From there, drove back inland through Pyrgos (taking in the view from the castle on the hill), then out to the southern point of the crescent. Stopped by the clear waters of the Red Beach on the way back - it's a black sand beach also, but backed by a red cliff - and then returned to Fira for dinner with our new Italian friend Giovanni. Giovanni doesn't speak English, but he does speak French, so Fabrice generally has to interpret.


And now, after some indecision abut destinations, I've headed off to Mykonos on the ferry.

Santorini pictures
I'll update the album with Fabrice's photos when I receive them.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Amsterdam and Haarlem; A Farewell to Trains

My railpass expired 1 minute ago. I've grown a bit attached to it; it's paid my way through 16 countries, and has seen some wear and tear. I think I'll hang onto it as a memento of the trip.

I've spent the last 2 days in Amsterdam (with a little side trip to Holland). Didn't take that many pictures; partly due to traveling around by bike (reducing spontaneous photos), and partly because I feel like Amsterdam doesn't have that many things begging to be photographed; you just experience the city as a whole.

I'll be a little more explicit with the narrative here (especially as my guides are in the other room and the photos are consequently poorly captioned for the time being). I hit the big museums on day 1; Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, and the Anne Frank house. Rijksmuseum is well laid out, and the Van Gogh has a nice set of Villon etchings in addition to the normal collection. Also biked around most of the city during the day. Wandered around through the red light district in the evening - there's a lot of windows open on a busy Saturday night.

Took a little side trip to Haarlem today (the happiest city in Europe), and went to the Amsterdam history museum. Also saw Boom Chicago's improv show; highly recommended - crowd was solid even on a Sunday evening.

Haarlem is so nice to live in that the Illuminati moved their world domination headquarters there
Into the air and off to Greece tomorrow...

Netherlands pictures

Friday, September 3, 2010

Bruges


Me and Brendan Gleeson

I left Copenhagen on a fast night train to Amsterdam; fast being 16 hours through Cologne. Slow night trains go through Berlin. Given that Bruges is 4 hours from Amsterdam by train (a tough journey for a day trip), I decided to just continue the long train journey immediately and spend the next night in Bruges.

It's true, Bruges is pretty fookin sweet - when the largest/wealthiest city of the 14th century has its harbor silt up and disappears from the world scene for a few centuries , it stays well preserved. And the beer:


Magnificent. The Germans talk considerable smack about the "chemicals" Belgians put in their beer; all I know is, those chemicals are DELICIOUS. Had a fine night out drinking with a couple other guys in the hostel.

Took a tour of the De Haave Maan Brewery (the only remaining active Bruges brewery, IIRC), went on a cruise down the canals, and basically wandered around for a while.

Oh, and I did see a dwarf, but she didn't appear particularly racist or under the influence of horse tranquilizers.

Weather back to grey after sunny days up north, unfortunately.

Bruges pictures

Amsterdam

I'm going to do a real entry once I've spent more than an hour in the city, but here's some quick observations before I forget them:

  • Hosteling is difficult and expensive. Maybe I'm here at a busy time, but I had trouble reserving at many places a week in advance (unheard of anywhere else I've been; in fact, I reserved here with a larger lead time than anywhere else). Not only is the hostel expensive, they're nitpicky with fees; Internet access is 3 Euros an hour(!). It's not like I'm the center, either; I'm out in Zeeburg.
  • There's some sort of Magic: The Gathering tournament in town - the hostel is filled with nerdy guys playing cards.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Scandanavia


Two months since I arrived in Paris - how time flies...

I had just enough time remaining for a brief foray into the northern hinterlands of Europe, but I didn't think I'd have time to make it up here at all during initial planning; so it's kind of a bonus.


Copenhagen

Copenhagen is a bike city - lots of cyclists throughout Europe, but Copenhagen is the first city where I feel like you need to have well-honed cycle crowd navigation etiquette (i.e., managing merging and intersecting groups of cyclists).

Copenhagen parking lot
Rush hour in Copenhagen
Came in on the night train from Berlin, and spent the day doing a long walk about town (did not end up cycling, though). Ended up covering most of the city center, with a side-trip into Christiania, the semi-self-governing neighborhood that's all about being one with the World and EvErything living and Dead.

Too bad I don't have any photos of the giant red "No Photos" signs inside


Copenhagen pictures

I covered pretty much what I wanted to see in Copenhagen on the first day, so I decided to take a little side trip to Sweden on day 2 (it's 30 minutes away by train). Plus, my night train arrived in Lund, not Copenhagen (short connecting train after), and I accidentally possessed myself of some Swedish currency - good excuse to cut it down a bit.


Malmo

Malmo is an industrious, pleasant city with lots of modern parks and housing - it's also kind of boring and sterile. Probably a great place to raise kids or something. Fine for a couple hours, though, and I get to say I visited Sweden.

It's got a big tower, too.
Malmo pictures

Monday, August 30, 2010

Germany

I was hoping to do separate entries for Western Germany and Berlin, but let's just wrap it up at once and get up to date. Weather has been pretty uniformly terrible, btw.


Rothenburg

From Munich, I went northwest to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the best preserved medieval town in Germany. Basically, I just wandered about the town, taking pictures:


Yar! We're so medieval, we drink out of feet!
Let me take care of that "head wound" for you...

Rothenburg pictures

From there I headed even further northwest to:


The Rhine Valley

I arrived in Bacharach, spent the night, wandered around the town and castle, took a boat downriver to St Goar, wandered around that castle, then took a train to Berlin.

Of course, it's all very pretty (see the pictures for more):


but the most memorable moment was probably wandering the old mine tunnels in Rheinfels castle above St. Goar. Not recommended for the claustrophobic - they set you up with a candle and a book of matches, and you can freely wander the large and largely-unmarked maze of 3 foot high passages under the castle.

Yes, the flash is on.
Also, the Rhine Valley apparently switches from warm, bright, and sunny to freezing cold torrential rainfall (and back)every hour or so. I woke up to sun and left to sun, but there were 8 distinct episodes of rain periodically disrupting that.

Rhine Valley pictures


Berlin




Berlin is enormous and most of it still feels like a time warp from the 80s - not just all the old communist buildings but clothing too(maybe Berliners are ahead of the curve on retro New Wave).

I spent most of my time in East Berlin (West Berlin is boring). Got a nice early start with my 4:30am arrival. Lots of museums and monuments to see in a giant city in 2 days. Made it through pretty well, I think; now to Copenhagen!


Berlin pictures

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Bavaria

I'm watching the Rhine flow by and waiting for my ferry to arrive - good time to catch up on some blogging!

Fussen

Fussen is a nice little town on the foot of the Alps, even though most people only come for one reason:
A tour guide told me about a woman who stormed off, furious that the Germans had copied the Disney castle
I arrived in Fussen after a long ride up around the mountains from Interlake, and spent the day visiting the castles (yes, there's more than one) and doing a little biking around the area.


Munich

Munich, a much larger city, draws people for a great variety of reasons...

like drinking, more drinking, and also drinking.

As a dedicated cultural tourist, I spent my first day in Munich in a drunken haze. I arrived in the early morning (Munich was really my first city with no semblance of a guidebook whatsoever), walked around the city with a young tour group (very good tour, btw), went drinking with the tour guides after that, kept drinking and pub hopping on into the evening...

Anyway, there's a bit of a gap there in photographs from the introduction of 6+ liters of beer to my system to it completing its passage through around midday the next day, when I was nicely recovered and went out to see a bit more of the city, including the Deutches museum (enormous) and the Olympic park.


On the final day in Munich, I went out to Schloss Nymphenburg and Dachau. Not a lot of pictures from here either, but for different reasons; walking through the gas chamber and crematorium is a moving experience and I didn't feel much like taking pictures after this one:
"Showers"

I'm heading off for Berlin this evening - should hopefully have the time to post about traveling through Western Germany there.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Switzerland


A bit more detail this time. Spent pretty much every day hiking - pretty worn out after this segment of the trip. I think I covered the bulk of the valley, though.

Day 1: The North Face trail

Arrived in the afternoon and wanted to get back in time to say hello to Sue, so I hiked this short, nearby trail. Some nice views and a good introduction to the area.

Day 1 pictures (repost)

Day 2: Summit of the Schilthorn

Took the gondola up in the morning and got the beautiful, high-altitude view of the region. Lots of low level clouds today, but the mountain peaks were clear, fortunately. Hiked down from the peak and south around the mountain, climbed along the Wasenegg ridge, then back up and around to Rotstockhutte. Had loads of time left (more than I needed to get back the way I wanted), so I got some hiking recommendations from the proprietor.

Ended up climbed the bluff overlooking the hut (called "pride rock" by a fellow hosteler, really Poganggen I think), which was a bit of effort due to the lack of trail and the ankle-breaking moss-covered furrowed rock underfoot. Also climbed Sefininfurgge, the pass to the next valley. Ridiculously steep trail made almost entirely out of slick mud - not sure how I avoided falling on my ass.

The cows in the section of the valley are particularly unfriendly - I was charged once by a bull (hid behind a nearby rock) and had some foot-stomping aggression from others. Cows are dangerous.

Day 2 pictures

Day 3: Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg

Took my first trip up the other side of the valley today. Transportation in the valley is rididulously expensive - just to get to and from hiking spots on the other side (not that far away) runs me like 50 francs a day (with railpass discounts - Swiss conveniently refuse to fully honor the pass above Interlaken).

From Lauterbrunnen - train to Wengen, gondola up to Mannlichen, then hiked along the ridge to Kleine Scheidegg. From there, I hiked up to Eigergletscher - the last train stop before it goes through the mountain on the way to the top. I did not go up: waaaaaay too expensive (~150 francs or so), was kinda cloudy at high altitude today, and the damn thing doesn't even go all the way up - it goes to the ridge between Jungfrau and Monch.

Climbed down along the plateau back to Wengen, and as soon as there was no turning back, it started POURING. I had my raincoat of course, but it was woefully inadequate - I still got pretty soaked. Spent much of the walk back with an older guy from Hamburg who insisted I use one of his walking sticks because it wasn't safe to hike otherwise. Made it out alive though, with only an ugly little blister the worse for wear - not bad for 4 solid days of high-speed hiking in tennis shoes. They might actually help - I've been by far the fastest hiker on the trails every day, and beating the pace times by a solid margin - the Swiss are in awe.

Day 3 pictures

Day 4: Schynige Platte to First

Was originally intending to leave this morning, but liked the look of the ridge hiking the previous day and decided to take one more. By far the longest hike - got up at 6 to make sure I wouldn't miss the final gondola down; ended up getting to First with hours to spare and hiked on to Grosse Sheidegg, though.

The ridge from Schynige Platte runs between Brienzersee and Grindelwald valley (other side from Mannlichen) - nice circumnavigation as Grosse Scheidegg is about 180 degrees around from Schynige Platte (leaving 90 degrees for the previous day's ridge and 90 degrees from the Jungfrau range).

Probably the nicest day so far - sunny and very few clouds. And I suffered animal attack today - a dog calmly walking along with his owner suddenly lunged to the side and took a chunk out of my ass - maybe I should shower more. A little bruised but I haven't seen any blood.

Day 4 pictures


Coming soon - Fussen and Bavarian castles...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Salzburg and the Berner Oberland; The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Raindrops

Salzburg




Salzburg is a solid example of a classic Austrian city. Quite touristy, everything is Sound of Music or Mozart related. The Mozart stuff is a little less photogenic (museums and text), but I've labeled some of the Sound of Music highlights in the photos. Even took a Sound of Music tour, which is much better than it sounds - you get to go out and see a some of the more far-flung sights in the area, which are nice even without the movie tie-ins.

Salzburg photos

Switzerland




Quick hits as I need to get up early:

  • Long way in going through the mountains - over 12 hours from Salzburg to hostel arrival
  • Switzerland is super expensive
  • Hiked the North face trail - nice views and a waterfall
  • Lots of Americans in the hostel, and lots of Seattle-ites - at least 5 people in 4 separate groups. One of whom I knew ahead of time and managed to just overlap with:

Monday, August 16, 2010

Budapest and Prague or Wrapping up Eastern Europe


Budapest



Budapest is a big crazy city, and it doesn't help when I take relatively poor notes. I'm going through and recaptioning pictures periodically, though.

Things settled down a bit after the first day, and I managed to find my way around and do things successfully. Took a day to tour the massive Parliament, the Opera House, St Stephen's Basilica, the House of Terror (Nazis AND Soviets found the same building convenient for opressing the people), Heroes Square, Vajdahunyad Vára and spent the evening soaking in the Széchényi baths.

Next day I went to the Great Synagoge, the Great Market Hall, and bussed out to the suburbs to see Memento Park.



Then off to Prague - contrary to what my guidebook tells me, there is no real night train (despite the 7+ hour journey), so I lost a day for this. Plus, the train goes through Slovakia, which is apparantly, NOT on my railpass, so I had to cough up for a ticket to pass through the country. Joy.

Budapest pictures

Prague



Arrived late in the day in Prague - too late to really do any sightseeing. So I went out for a hearty Czech dinner (split a table/conversation with a friendly local business man), and ran into some traveling students (French and Spanish) after I got back, and decided to go out drinking and clubbing. The big 5-story club (Karlovy Lazny) is okay but overrated - found a nice smaller place late in the evening/morning playing some good music. "Don't Stop Me Now" is an even better song at 3:30 in the morning.

Woke up at 8 after a couple hours of sleep, postponed sightseeing a few hours to recover from previous evenings festivities, then went and explored the south-east side of the river - most of the Old and New towns. Went out for some manly food:



and a bit more manly drinking than I really wanted to after the previous evening's festivities, due to being trapped by torrential downpour. Managed to go to sleep at a more reasonable hour.

Final day in prague was spent west over the Charles Bridge, viewing the Little Quarter and the Castle hill. Have just arrived in Salzburg after a long trip on an evening train. No night train again, so this time I cut an evening instead of a morning/day. Just one day in Salzburg, then off on an actual night train into the heart of the Alps, the Berner Oberland.

Prague pictures part 1
Prague pictures part 2

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Vienna and arrival in Budapest

Crown of Rudolph II
Vienna is a very organized city. Everything is on time, it's the only metro I've encountered in Europe which doesn't smell at least faintly of urine, and everything is just clean and precise. For that delightful reason, my photos hopefully for a more coherent narrative on their own than they have previously.

August 9:

Wandered through the Old City, with notable stops at for the Imperial Crypt and the Hofsburg Palace and Treasury. I had never heard of Empress Sisi before arriving in Vienna, but I am certainly well aware of her existence now.

Palace entrance presided over by the Labours of Hercules and the Coffee of Clooney
Spent the evening in front of city hall, where there's a big open air film (of classical music, dance, or opera) and a substantial food court on summer nights.


Vienna Day 1

August 10:

I'm about palaced out after Vienna. Stopped (briefly) by the Belvedere and the Schonbrunn today, and the Kunsthisorsomethingreallylongblahblahces museum. I love that the Vienna museums often let you take pictures - I captured some of my favorites.

Wow, what a surprising choice...
Also took a tour of the Opera house, unfortunately in the off-season. The primo box seats apparently go for less than 200 Euros, which is pretty sweet (except during the annual Opera House Ball, where they go for about 27,000 Euros)

Vienna Day 2

Budapest:

Budapest is not well organized. Budapest is sprawling, dirty, crowded, and noisy - this may be turn out to be the real "most foreign" experience. But cheap - I have an apartment to myself for 22 Euros a night. This far east, the sun is setting early too; around 7:30, I think.

I haven't done too much yet - I walked around castle hill in the afternoon after arriving, but I've already got a number of interesting notes:

  • Arriving at the train station, I picked up my map at the rail station TI and was going for the metro, but the TI tells me to take the bus, it will be faster. This is a terrible lie; the bus goes nowhere near my destination, and drops me off across town on the outskirts of Buda, where I have to overpay a taxi driver to bring me back. Good start.
  • Germans need to learn to queue. I was waiting behind one woman to get ice cream, and these little old German ladies from a tour group come up behind me, and start elbowing me out of the way and ordering themselves. It's not like I can respond in kind...
  • Was walking and got greeted by a normal-looking local guy sitting on a bench with his girlfriend. I assume it's because I'm wearing my Messi jersey (which tends to elicit comments). We make introductions and chat for a bit before he makes it clear that the girl is not his girlfriend, but the prosititute he's pimping, and her services would be available to me for a very low rate. I politely thanked him and continued on my way.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Venice

Venice is pretty magnificent in person. I cam in knowing what to expect, but the ambience of the city is still pretty overwhelming. The omnipresence of canals does really give it a unique feel. Lots of fun to wander around aimlessly (interesting buildings literally everywhere on the island) or idle around in a vaporetti (buy the unlimited pass).

And good weather for my final stop on the Mediterranean. :)

Things seen in Venice:

  • Church and island of San Giorgio Maggiore. The church kind of on an island by itself, nice views of the city. Convenient too, as I'm staying on the long island of Giudecca next door.

  • Piazza San Marco and the surrounding buildings (Doge's Palace, Campanile, St Mark's Basilica, and the Correr Museum). The center of Venice containing most of the important stuff. The scale of the Doge's palace interiors are impressive (and amusing in the context of the tiny island containing it), especially the council chamber with Tintoretto's Paradise, the largest oil painting in existence.

  • The Grand Canal and bridges - naturally
  • The Peggy Guggenheim - not that big, but lots of impressive names; Dali, Pollock, Magritte, Picasso, Rothko...
  • The Frari church and Scuola San Rocco - lots of Venetian masterworks in their original context
Now off to Vienna and a some Eastern European highlights....

Friday, August 6, 2010

Zagreb and Slovenia; Or, Torrential Rains in Northern Yugoslavia

New blog post while I sit in the hostel common area, waiting for my night train to depart. Fatigue plus rain equals low on energy. Too bad the only train to Venice leaves at 2:30 in the morning. Seriously? It's like 4 hours away - how are there not more trains? Probably should have taken the bus - oh well. Weather should pick up in Italy, though. :)

August 4: Zagreb

Zagreb is an interesting city. I only stayed briefly, exploring the the old city around Gradec, but one thing that stood out was the nice tram system running through town. Pedestrian / vehicle interaction is very casual - trams, cars, and people weaving through the same space at low speeds.

And, of course, arriving in Zagreb was the first time I had to deal with serious inclement weather.

Good stuff in the Naive Art Museum too

Zagreb pictures

August 5: Lake Bled

I was a little sad I didn't get to see Lake Bled in full majesty - the cloud cover hid much of the mountainous surroundings. Good thing I'm going to Switzerland in a week or two.



Lake Bled pictures

August 6: Ljubljana

Ljubljana is a fun little city. Feels a lot like an Alpine village, but with Mediterranean flair. It's also a college town, which lends some extra energy. The city is filled with street cafes that don't serve food, that seem to have a constant stream of occupants nursing drinks and smoking.

The food is not too expensive but somewhat uninspiring; had myself a few bureks from street stands during the day.


Oh, and when it rains, horrible demon winds rush through the city in random directions, rendering umbrellas laughable.

Ljubljana pictures

And if you want to browse through ALL the pictures so far:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ben.g.johnson?authkey=Gv1sRgCIaA8_zdl5jMlgE

I'll repost the link periodically.