It wasn't all that bad in Baden-Baden

When last I blogged, I was about to go to the Spanish Riding School. It was OK as far as tours go. The group seemed to be filled with real 'horse' people so they were full of horsey questions. During the stable part of the tour everyone was bummed cuz we couldn't pet the horses and they were less than a foot away. I gotta say that for a stable it sure did smell nice. Those particular stables are cleaned about once an hour! Well, I wasn't gonna let a little bit of equine hygiene spoil my day which is why after my tour there I went on a tour related to The Third Man. Anyone know the movie? Remember the final chase scene and where it takes place? There are four different attractions throughout Vienna related to the film. One is the movie itself which plays weekly at the little theatre whose name I will put in here when I find it. The other is The Third Man Museum (not opened when I was there). The third is the Third Man Walking Tour available on Mondays. I wasn't there on Monday and the final attraction, the one the was opened when I was there was a tour of the facilities where the final scenes were filmed. I'm talking about, yes, the sewers of Vienna. They are quite proud of the advancements they have made in waste treatment since 1948 and use the movie as the hook to get folks like me to visit (and pay for the priviledge to do so). They even throw in a bit of Third Man trivia. And that was my finale in Vienna.



Onward to Baden-Baden via the night train. The idea of taking the night train is that you don't spend daytime touring hours just riding the train. Instead you sleep through the night and wake up at a new touring sight. Yeah, the seasoned traveler might do that. I'm not sure I slept much and arrived in Baden-Baden at 6:00am and it was raining. It's not a very big place. The train station is all above ground. I didn't think anyplace else would be opened at that time of morning so I just hung out in the coffee shop until I figured it would be OK to see if I could dump my stuff off at the hostel while I figured out the town. Around 7, I hopped on the bus to the hostel bus stop and then walked up the hill to the hostel. Most of the time, check-in is later in the day but they usually have a luggage storage room available for incoming guests. I asked and I was able to check-in. Woo Hoo, that was cool! I was so ready to have some fresh clothes especially since sleeping in my clothes on the train. So I was able to shower and unpack and get really prepped for the day. At the point I did have an appreciation for the overnight train trip.



Baden-Baden is a spa town. It's kinda like Bath, England but has been doing it longer. If you are into Roman history and archeology, visit Bath, England. If you want the Roman Bath spa treatment visit Baden-Baden. After walking around in the cold and rain for the last few hours, I headed to one of the spas. I just wanted to soak in the warm water. It was still a bit pricey for a swim but it was waaaay less expensive than Bath and there are several different temperatures. I think you're supposed to go through in some kind of order regarding the temps. I didn't do that. For just a few extra €s, I coulda had the soap brush and massage treatment AND that would still have been less than the dip in lukewarm water in Bath. The other spa in Baden-Baden has a 17 step-3 hour treatment that takes you through all the pools with various body scrubs and treatments along the way. That'll be next time.

So that was day one in B-B. Day two was gonna be a visit to the tower and then the castle ruins but I couldn't see either the tower or the castle ruins through the rain and fog so I bagged that and just wandered around town and had lunch at a seafood place that about 5 steps above the Skippers fast food place. The was some excitement when I returned to the hostel but the language barrier defeated me and I never found out what was going on but the cops were involved and one guy was really, really upset about something. All was quiet for the most part after that until the high school girls arrived. It was quite giggly for a loooonnngggg time. Fortunately, I had a 6 bed dorm room to myself for the entire stay.

I'm in a new country today-Switzerland and it snowed last night and I'm almost out of time so I'll tell you how unusual snow is even this close to the Alps at this time of year next time.

More from Salzburg

The Sound of Music tour lasted about 4 hours. A good bit of it was riding on bus through the Austrian countryside, the guide talked a bit about what's what and the Sound of Music soundtrack was playing in the background where appropriate. I imagine at the height of the summer tourist season, it's quite the sing-a-long. Our group, only about 10 or so, were more subdued, though during the Do-Re-Mi song you could here a few voices added to the soundtrack. A gal from Australia told me that every night the guest house she was staying at plays the S.O.M. DVD at 8 PM. I wonder if it's a Salzburg requirement that all boarding places do that because oddly enough, so does the hostel I was staying at! There was quite the crowd. You could tell those who had done the tour already. Lots of pointing when scenes at bus stop locations came up.

The next day, I toured the fortress in the heart of the old part of the city. The Abbey is just below the fortress but the only way to get in to the Abbey is to take the vows so I passed on that one. I did stop by Mozart's birthplace. Stopped by, didn't go in. I did go in to the Mirabel gardens. Lots of the Do-Re-Mi scenes were filmed there.

From Salzburg, a few hour train ride brought me to Vienna. Everywhere here it's known as Wien. I wanted to attend a Mozart live music performance here in one of the great performance halls but they were all sold out &/or out of my price range. At least that's what I thought. I went to the box office and then the tourist info offices to get tickets and the only ones they offered me for sale were the ones beyond my budget. I at least wanted to see inside the one of the performance places so earlier today I took the guided tour of the Vienna State Opera House. Part of the building is original, c 1860, and part is rebuilt from WWII. Still quite impressive though the old part is more lavish in the decoration. At the end of the tour the guide told us how to get tickets for as low as 3 Euros! I am bummed. I'm leaving today before any performances but I'd paid for a standing place. Really, woulda! Well, the trip's not over. I'm going to be in the north of Italy later. Maybe I can get over here again.

In the meantime, a mention of other Vienna stuff. The Spanish Riding School (aka The Royal Lippanzers) is located here. I was able to see a morning training session and in little while, I'm going for th grand tour of the school.

Ever hear of a movie called 'The Third Man'. Filmed here. I saw the film. Plays here regularly at a little theater not to far from the hostel. As the Vienna International Film Festival is going on right now there's a bit more buzz about that movie than normal so I might take one of the tours related to that as well.

Two quick notes: The bathroom (WC) in the Subway Mall at the Opera House plays opera music and most of the other public toilets have black lights in the stalls. I can only speak for the women's side of things but there ya go! At least, there I went.

Rodgers and Hammerstein theme park

Let's start at the very beginning. . .OK, there's going to be a lot of those kind of references. Get used to it. I was in Salzburg-40% of the tourists are there because of Mozart and the other 60% are there because of The Sound of Music. I'm sure some go there to ski but not in October. I arrived about mid-day and after having my first sort of nasty experience with the language barrier (a bus driver in a bad mood and probably tired of dealing with tourists), I made it to the hostel-a big one, too! They even sort of have their own tourist info office at the reception desk so I booked myself on the Sound of Music tour for that afternoon. For many years they have hosted a tour because all of Austria knows the story of the Trapp Family Singers except the Austrians know the real story. Until y2K, most Austrians had never seen the musical version of the famous family. They have two movies of their own that are much older, in black and white and neither has Julie Andrews or Christopher Plummer. The tour covers ground that is where the real family lived &/or did stuff and also some of the filming locations. A few of those locations coincide-The Abbey is the one that comes to mind. Like most Hollywood films, geography is altered in editing. The mountain where Maria twirls in the opening credits is about 10 miles from the Abbey. Quite a run to do from the time she hears the bells (which you can't actually hear from up there) until the nuns finish their latin hymn and she dashes into the courtyard!

Well, now that I''ve located this internet cafe I'll post again tomorrow to finish up Salzburg and start Vienna where I am right. I'm going to catch yet another tour. See ya!

What's all the fuss about Fussen?

(Put the two little dots over the u, will ya?) So we've established the Fussen (Put the two little dots over the u, will ya?) is kinda chic. Pricey boutiques and the kind of stuff the folks who can afford to come to Fussen (Put the two little dots over the u, will ya?) to ski will want to buy. But, of course, this place is open in summer as well but instead of skiing the visitors come for the scenery, the castles, the fall colors AND they still go to the ski mountain because some of those people who like to strap strips of wood and/or fiberglass to their feet in the winter and slide down mountains also like to strap strips of nylon to their backs and jump off these same mountains! Yep, the ski area next to Fussen (Put the two little dots over the u, will ya?) is also a hang-glider and para-glider launching site. The day I was there it was very, very beautiful weather and the pilots were lined up about 14 deep to run off this particular site. I've been with my brother to a couple of launch sites but even the fly-in at Owen's Valley didn't have the activity here. I don't know how regulated the sport is in the states these days but here it's watched very carefully. They have air traffic controllers! Seriously. Two guys at the top were watching and inspecting every person who stepped up to launch. There were far more para-gliders than hang-gliders. I rode the gondola up to watch a few take-offs then rode back down to watch some of the flights and landings. I never did find out where the hang-gliders landed but the para-gliders landed about 100 yards from the gondola. As soon as they landed they'd pack up and ride back up to the top.

Before I went to see all that activity, I visited the two castles nearby. Neither are castles in the fortification sense but in more of a palace sense. The first one 'Hohenschwangau' was the family hunting lodge of the royal family of Bavaria when the area was a kingdom. Nice digs. One entire floor for him and one entire floor for her and the rest for the kids (2 boys) and maybe entertaining. They always hoped Richard Wagner would stop by especially one of the sons, Ludwig, because his place, Neuschwanstein, the other castle just across the valley was decorated with Wagner composition inspired works-Swans, murals telling the story of Tristram (or is it Tristan?) and Isolde. I forget how many rooms in the castle but waaaay more than a bachelor needed but that didn't stop him from building other castles though. He did live in Newschwanstein even though he never saw it finished. The people made out like he was wacko nutso, had him committed and he died a mysterious death. His debt made the recent mortgage fiascos look like an IOU to the paperboy. It was while I was waiting my turn to tour Ludwig's digs that I saw the flying things.

And now I'm in Munich. Big city. Yesterday was the citybus tour, a ride by viewing of what's worth viewing. I saw the outside of a lot of places I didn't get to go into. Then it was a bit of strolling around and getting lost, getting found and then back to the hostel. Today, I did a walking tour of the city with a real live guide. It touched on some of the same places as the bus tour but A) we went into some of them and 2) we got a bit more detail/history of what we were looking at and last) the walking tour is FREE. Besides all of that, the walking tour actually talks a a bit about WW II. (The bus tour makes mention of once in a one hour tour of the city that is the birthplace of the Nazi party.) The guide pointed out three memorials that have been placed in either very inconspicuous places or in very inconspicious ways in the city. No guide books mention these memorials. There are more than those three but to find these kind of reminders in Munich, you have to really want to find them. This walking tour was free but the same tour company also takes groups out to Dachau. I chose not to do that particular tour. I don't deal well with those kind of exhibits (I can't even look at a coffee table book of the Vietnam Memorial Wall without getting distraught.)

After the tour, I went to lunch with the tour group to enjoy a real Bavarian stew. The real draw for this lunch was the 1/2 liter of beer included. I tried the non beer fizzy apple drink. The stew was filling. I left most of the fizzy apple drink in the bottle. I then went letterboxing and scored 1 for 1! I tried to get to the Olympic Village/Museum but sans a guide, I didn't get there. Next trip, I guess. The Olympic Village is very close to the BMW museum as well!

Next time from Austria where the hills are alive. . .!

The V E R Y P R E C I S E S P E A K E R

Nuremberg-I should go there and spend more time there. I only had an overnight stay scheduled there. The free internet was not all that great as the computer kept locking up, shutting down and was just generally slow. However, trying to get done the little bit I did manage to post from there was sort of fun. This hostel was NOT a YHA and the non YHA hostels (This one is called Lette 'im Sleep and my room "number" was Vive la Trance) certainly seem to attract a much different kind of traveling person. I did have an all female dorm room so this was not at all like the first half of my London experience. The computer was in the common room which was right next to the self-catering kitchen. While I was typing away a group of Iranian business men, suits and all, were have a very lively discussion and a Japanese gentleman was preparing a really, really good smelling dinner. A few other folks were coming and going and eventually an English language speaker was addressing the Iranian men. What was odd was the way the guy was speaking. He enunciated each word as if it was the only word he was going to say. At first I thought he was only doing this to be clear as he spoke to the ESL people in the room and in fact, as he explained to them (I'm just eavesdropping on this whole thing but I kinda can't help it. The guy is RIGHT THERE), he was a linguist. He was just making conversation, asking them where they were from and what brought them to Nuremberg. Stuff like that but always in that very precise diction. Eventually, they left and that left me and the linguist. He doesn't just speak that way to ESL people.

I left Nuremberg behind with only the little bit of history I gleaned from a former resident who happened to be at the hostel (Yes, it was the linguist!) and traveled on to Rothenburg (Please pronounce this as RRRotenburg). Here's a great Medieval town. They were doing tourism before anybody knew what it was but it's not all the kitch. See, they were very near a major trade crossroads way back and managed to pull a kind of Wall Drug Emporium thing and got folks to come in off the major highway to spend their visitor galleons or whatever. Good times went bad including the 30 Year's War and the place sort of just froze in time until the late 1800s but even then they recognized that it was the 'old' that was 'new'. I did a couple walking tours, climbed the tower, visited the Christmas store (the store is free. The museum costs.) I did the Historical Vaults and the Medieval Crime Museum. I also walked most of the old city wall. During one of the tours, I got to chatting with a family from Missouri. At the end of the tour they invited me to join them for dinner. We went Italian in Germany! It was great. It was nice to be able to have a conversation and the P_______s were (and still are) really nice and fun folks. They invited me along to a the English Language puppet show. For me, the highlights were two of the musical numbers 'Ma nama na' and 'Caberet'! We also did the Night Watchman Tour together the following evening and then went straight to Hell! (Hell is the name of a bar right around the corner from where the tour ended).

Yep, I'd recommend Rothenburg to anyone touring the corner of the world and I'd recommend the P___________s from Missouri as traveling companions as well. Thanks, you guys!

After Rothenburg and after four-count 'em-four trains later, I arrived in Fussen (put two little dots on the u, will ya). I didn't get to visit the tourist info center when I arrived even though I made a bee line to it when I got off the train. It's Saturday or rather Samstag and they closed early. Bummer, cuz they're not open tomorrow at all. Well, I'm not totally lost without the TI. I still have my Rick Steve's Guide and the only thing I really wanted to see here is the big castle which is open tomorrow although it doesn't look like much else is and to tell you the truth, that's a good thing because Fussen (put two little dots on the u, will ya) has a certain charm of its own. It's not really that Old World Charm. It's more like Sun Valley Idaho Charm if you know what I mean. Very boutique-y. AND the mountains are RIGHT THERE! Is my geography correct and I'm seeing my first Alp? Woo Hoo!

Timing. It's all in the timing

Hi there! I didn't think it had been five days since I last signed on. Part of that is because the last time I signed on to the blog, I spent the time on the other blog. But get this, for the first time I'm in a hostel with. . .TA-DAH! Free Internet!!! Sadly I'm only here for one night but I'll try to catch up before someone else wants to use the computer. So Friday was my arrival day in Bruge and I think I covered that. Saturday I did the town starting with a visit to the Post Office and the a walk up up up up up up the Belfry, all 366 steps. I see a trend developing here. Anyone know how many steps up the Eiffle Tower? Then there were the tours-the town hall and adjacent cathedral, the Groeing Museum and that name is spelled wrong. I now have a very fond impression of The Primitives and someone has asked to use the computer so I will go now and come back later...

Ok, I'm back and I was admiring The Primitives. Actually, some of the paintings reminded of the style of the art work in MAD magazine! I also visited a hospital museum and The Church of Our Lady because inside was one of the few Michaelangelo's works outside of Italy. I know that because of all the research I did before going to the church which amount to seeing that particular fact printed on at least 37 different pieces of tourist propaganda scattered throughout the town.

If anyone (besides my biggest bro') has seen the movie "In Brugges. . .", do you remember the scene on a bridge over the canal and there is dog in a window. The dog is still there and still hangs out that window.

The hostel at Brugge was fair. I'd've love to stay and see more of the city but I was not sad to leave the hostel. Part of the reason may have been that I felt a cold coming on. I've been taking what measures I can to keep it at bay without having access to my normal remedies-Nyquil, Hawaiian Punch, Chicken Soup and sleep. I couldn't have asked for a better place to suppress a cold than the hostel at Haarlem, The Nederlands! It was quiet, warm and comfy. I arrived on Sunday too late to find any kind of drug store (no 7-11 type places) so I just had a nice dinner at the hostel, hot tea with honey and lemon and went to bed. I didn't feel too bad on Monday but wanted to play it safe so I only did a short uninspired walking tour of Haarlem itself. I did the best I could at getting the necessary cold meds. Even though it was all over the counter stuff, it's all behind the counter and you have to know what you want to be able to ask for it. There was just enough of a language barrier that I couldn't get everything I wanted especially since they simply would not sell me aspirin if they were going to sell me anything else. I made do and figured I'd just go elsewhere to get the aspirin.

The next day the cold still hadn't taken a solid hold so I chanced a quick visit to Amsterdam. I'll tell you now, I did not give this city it's due. I went to the visitor center first and picked up a city map. The map lists 52 museums and sites. Some of the sites are generic tourist sites like Madam Tussaud's and the Amsterdam Dungeon. I say generic because of the few major iconic cities I have had the pleasure of visiting they've each got a Madam Tussaud's and Dungeon. If you ratchet up the culture and redeeming social value and Amsterdam offers the Film Museum and the Theatre Museum. Take it up bit more (a lot more) and you've got the Van Gogh Museum and The Rembrandt House. Looking at the historical importance of Amsterdam, there's the Anne Frank House and the Joods (Jewish) Historical Museum. I didn't go to any of them. I also did not go to the Bible Museum, the Sex Museum, the Erotic Museum, the Hash, Marijuana Hemp Museum, The Heineken Experience or the Torture Museum either! I did ride a canal boat, though. :-/
OK, so I blew it as far as Amsterdam is concerned. All the more reason to come back, eh? Well, I was and still am pushing this cold back because if this turns into the kind of cough I usually get at the end of a cold, it actually could end this adventure. So today was a good kind of day to help with the rest aspect of treating a cold. I was all day on trains. Haarlem to Amsterdam to Frankfurt to Nuremburg. Good connections the whole way. Arrived in Nuremburg in time for a nice Chicken Curry dinner-good for clearing the sinuses. A hot shower, finish up this log and it's time for bed. I've made some more notes than are here now and I'll include them at some point. So as the farmer said "That'll do, Pig" (What movie?)

If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium!

OK, it's actually Friday but I wasn't gonna hang around London until next Tuesday but it is Belgium. I didn't get out of London the way I wanted to-bus to Dover, boat to Ostend, short train to Bruge. Evidently, there really isn't any boat from Dover to Ostend and the only boat that goes to Ostend doesn't allow foot passengers so that was bad. But I did manage to get a seat on the Eurostar train that goes throught the chunnel. That was good but it cost a bunch of LBS that was bad but it was almost the exact amount of LBS I had left so that was good and that train ride took me all the way to Brussels and my Eurailpass got me the rest of the way so it probable worked out about the same cost wise but only took 3 1/2 hours instead of most of the day if not more than a day because of bad connections the other way.

My first stop off the train was at the TI center. It's right there in the station. I asked what's free for the tourist and what do the locals eat. Walking is free and the food. . .wait for it. . .besides chocolate. . .fries (they're really Belgian not French!) and beer! Ya gotta love this place, eh? Today, I did a mini - bus tour to get the lay of the land and sampled the local cuisine ;-) Bruge is the Venice of the North. Lots of canals and very gothic buildings including a reliquary (is that spelled right?) containing the (supposed) actual blood of Jesus Christ. Bicycling is a BIG deal in these parts and I'm not talking about $1000 bikes and folks in spandex, helmets and shoes that make you walk funny. The bikes are several steps above the free ones that that guy tried fixing up and leaving all over Portland to encourage biking and they are everywhere! An entire parking lot at the train station is there just for bikes. One tourist brochure provides tips on how to act like a local-Step1: Try to run over tourists with your bike. We do.

Well, I'm back to expensive internet so only look for updates every few days or so.

Hasta la bye-bye for now.

Cheers, London

My last day and night in London. Didn't do much today in the town as I spent most opf the day prepping for the next continent. I was up early to get to the Cambodian embassy to get my passport with the new visa so I'm now legal to enter all the countries I'm planning to visit. After that, I just spent the day in the park going through my guide books, the YHA book and the new pocket traveler's atlas I just bought trying to better plan out the next three months. The way it is right now, I'm gonna wind up in Greece way too early but I think I might not try to nail it down too tightly just yet. I want to leave some wiggle room in case I like Paris more than I thought I would or maybe I decide that I do want to visit a town or two in Eastern Europe. Right now, there are no visits to that region on the schedule. According to the guide books that area probably the best bargain these days. Not a lot of the countries are using the Euro but that's what ATMs are for. One of my current roommates is from Slovenia and I here Bulgaria is really impressive. Of course the deciding factors in a lot of this comes down to A) Does the train go to that place? and B) Is there a YHA there? The exchange rate is a little better Euro to $ than the £ to the $, so I've decide if where I want to go doesn't have a YHA hostel, then I'm going to upgrade to either a B&B or a real hotel room. No more cut rate hostels! . . .maybe.

Before I leave the UK, let me say that I really tried to do the food locally. Here's the thing-I'm not eating much differently here than I do at home which is to say I'm not dining out. Now some of the hostels have kitchens available and the kitchens are stocked with all the necessary pots, pans, dishes and cutlery and the like but no staples are available. So even cooking in is very close to how I eat at home-boxed, canned or frozen nuked to perfection for that well balanced meal. On those occassions when I purchased a meal that does not involve cellophane, I gotta say, I wasn't too impressed. Most of the things I've tried are not really flavorful. It's all kind of bland. Again, I'm not eating in 4 star places so they might be different. I don't eat at 4 star places at home either so I wouldn't be able to make a fair comparision anyway. Oh, I have had fish and chips a couple of times. They're OK.

I pretty much like all breakfast foods. A full English breakfast consists of eggs, bacon and sausage, grilled tomatoes, grill mushrooms and baked beans. The scrambled eggs are usually the institutional kind, the sausages (I really like sausage) don't seem to have any spices in them and are kind of mealy, the bacon is OK. It's usually more like tiny ham steaks. I skipped the tomatoes and mushrooms because I don't eat 'em at home. The baked beans? I like 'em. I eat 'em. I just never thought of having them for breakfast before.

I tried for a while to avoid the fast food places that I recognized but the cafes and sidewalk vendors were starting to add up and I just didn't like them try as I might. I'm sure the more savvy travelers will find the right places to eat to sample real & good English food but last night I went to a pretty good sushi place that I think is actually a chain (YO! Sushi) and tonight I'm going to either an Indian restaurant that has an all you can eat buffet or to the Pizza Factory.

I'm going to start over on my pledge eat locally when I get to the continent. The first country I'm visiting-Belgium, home of Godiva chocolate! :-) I think I'll do well there!

I think that's it from Jolly ol' England. I'm sure I missed visiting your favorite spot. Let's hope there's a next time.

Mind the gap - part 2

"Mind the gap" refers to the PA announcement made as you get on and off the 'tube'. I've been riding that alot lately. Mostly it's a lady's voice and is added to the end of each station call "This is Paddington Station. Mind the gap as you alight" The other day it was a guy and I think the recording was stuck because the only things he said was "Mindthegapmindthegapmindthegap. . ."

As I sit here updating today's activities I will start with PHOTOS! Some of them are uploading as we speak. I thought it would be a much faster process and I was gonna get them all loaded into Photo Bucket or some similar place then I was gonna edit them and put them all in fun little folders but I've been here for almost 45 minutes and it's still on 2 of 16. I have no idea which 16 because I was in the middle of selecting them and it just started up loading. I saw how slow it was going so I stopped. I'm not entirely sure they'll get to cyber space today but I am making progress.

Today was a walk in the park-literally. Walking thru Hyde Park in the morning is great ("You know how I love the Park, Bitterman."---What movie?) especially for a dog person because most of London is out walking their dogs at that time. The hostel is straight across the park (actually it's Kensington Gardens but it's close enough) from The Albert Memorial, The Royal Albert Hall and the begining of Exhibition Road. Just down Exhibition Road is the Victoria and Albert Museum (free admission) which is right across the street from The Natural History Museum (free admission) which is next door to The Science Museum (free admission) and all of these are just a few blocks down Brompton Place from Harrods (free admission but possible hundreds to get out!). I made it to two of those attractions. Harrods was NOT one of them. I'm so proud of me! It's actually not hard to not shop knowing that whatever I get today, I've got to carry around for the next six months or pay 3x the price to ship it home. I spent the morning in the V&A. What can I say about the things I saw that more well verse scholars of the arts haven't said. Well done. My favorite part was this huge area called the Cast Courts. It contains life sized replicas of pieces of places like the Parthenon and the Apprentice's Pillar in Roslyn Chapel. Before I found the Cast Courts though I started out in a hall of sculpture, moved through the paintings and the jewellery exhibit, British 1600 thru 1900 and so on and on . . .and on. . .and on. It's a really big place. When I thought it was about lunch time, I tried to find a way out and that's when I came on to the Cast Courts. Lunch time came and went. Finally, fun though it was, I was getting that glazed eye feeling and I was hungry to boot. It was a bit later than I thought so lunch was quick because I still wanted to get to the Natural History Museum. That one was pretty cool, too. Uh, I mean, well done as well. It's got dinosaurs. What more can I say?

Walking back was an option even though my dogs were tired but even though it was close to rush hour on the tube, I gave it a go anyway. I must have been just ahead of the rush, not only was it not overcrowded, I got a seat.

A check of the photo stuff reveals a bust. No pictures today unless I can't get the ones I managed to get at far as the desktop off the desktop. In that case you may see them splashed all over but I doubt it. Well that's it for this entry. I'm gonna go work on the photo stuff.

Mind the gap

this is going to be quick because I used up most of time alloted time today trying to get my photos uploaded so I won't be subjecting everyone to a 500+ slide show when I get back! (That's only about 2.5 photos a day, folks!) but it still isn't working.

Sleeping quarters-waay better. One Slovenian, one Aussie, one French, and the other two weren't around much. Visited the Homeguard Cavalry museum and the Tower of London. It rained but not much.

That's it for today-Oh, I have my first two days in Belgium arranged

The Frat House

Remember the frat house atmosphere I spoke of. Well, it was in my dorm room last night. The previously mentioned Aussie couples had left. One Aussie couple had replace them but when I got back last night, there were packs galore throughout the room. I'm usually the first one bedded down for the night and last night was no different. In fact I think I was really asleep when 'the boys' got in. One of them try to whisper something to the effect that someone was asleep but to no avail. I didn't bother introducing myself or trying to join in the conversation. I thought my best defense was to play 'possum. Joining the conversation would never have been an option anyway. For one thing, even though I had been spending more than a little time with the Aussies, I didn't catch a lot of what these guys were saying and frankly, I wasn't really trying to because the parts I did understand, well, these were 20 something guys, a few drinks in 'em (they really didn't seem drunk), away from home. . .use your imagination. I didn't need to! At last, in the middle of one descriptive escapade, snoring could be heard from one of the bunks. This stunned the speaker for a moment but then seemed to have had a sedative effect on the others because everyone shut up and for the first time I was glad to have had a snorer in the room. About 15 minutes after they all had passed out, the other Aussie couple, Darcy and whatshisname, came in quite as mice. They were cool but I wish they had bee there when the boys showed up. Darcy's presence might have shut 'em up a bit. Lucky for me, I was leaving in the morning so I beat feet out of there quick as I could this morning. I've still got to hang around London for a few more days until I get my passport back but when I booked that place they were booked for part of the time I wanted to stay. The new place is a single sex dorm room so it worked out well, finally.

Once I got the sleeping arrangements made my day was free so I headed back to Buckingham Palace to at last see the Changing of the Guard. It was as big a deal as I thought it would be but there's a brass band concert during the pomp and ceremony. Today's selection included the Star Wars theme. Honest! A real fun part of the event was the conversation I had with the Dutch woman standing next to me. She's traveled here quite a bit and was probably one of the best tourist info points I've found in London! I have been trying to get info on getting across the channel. I don't want to take the Chunnel. A)it's pricey B) they recently had a fire and are not up to full capacity C)it doesn't take me to Belgium and D)I like boats better. The Dutch lady was the first one to give me info on catching the ferry!

The rest of the day was a long stroll through and picnic in Hyde Park because as rainy as yesterday was-that's how sunny it was today!

This is pretty cheap internet so I might be able to go daily until I leave London so maybe more tomorrow!

about the roommates

Up til this point -this being London-I've been staying in hostels that are part of the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) but as I said, they are really pricey here in Londinium so I opted for digs I found via an internet search. It's actually more what I thought all of the hostels were going to be like so I've gotten spoiled by the ones I've been in so far. This one has pretty much all youth while at the YHAs there seems to be a good mix. I've also always been in same sex dorms. Things are different here in the big city. I was the first one in and it appeared I had a 6 bed room to myself. That has happened on occassion. It was not to be. I got back to the room after touristy stuff and the was someone in the shower. I thought about announcing my presence just it case the room had become a mixed gender habitat. I didn't and it was. No worries everyone was decent and the new roommate turned out to be half of a couple from Australia and they were really decent people in all senses of the word. Really neat folks-Trent and Dominica. He's a social worker, she's a dentist and they were on a one year work visa in the UK but can only do temp work and such but it's enough to provide and allow some extra to go off on week long trips now and again. They had actually been sharing a rental house with some other folks but the owner up and sold the place and they couldn't get into their new place for a few days so they crashed at the hostel. The next night we were joined by a couple more Aussies so we then we had a full house. Things were more of less mellow in our dorm room but the rest of the place leaned more towards a frat house atmosphere. I still have a few more days here but I'll be very glad to get back to YHA facilities as soon as I can!

That's the sleeping arrangements. When I'm not in the room (which is as much as possible!), I'm wandering the streets of London sort of. I wander with a semi-sense of direction but I can't seem to get oriented or maybe I've just forgotten how to read a map completely. The subways are pretty easy to figure out cuz they pretty much just go straight. I think I've covered Wednesday-that was my first day here. Thursday was the day to start my visa search. I still need two for later in my trip. I located the embassies I needed on my map. I went to the Vietnam embassy first cuz they were just across the park from the hostel. It was gonna take about a week to get the visa but I paid the extra $ (it ouched a lot to do that) to get same day service on that one because I knew the other was gonna take at least that long, too and I can't stay in London that long. So I had the first visa done before noon and then it was a scramble to get to the Cambodian embassy before they closed. The embassies are only open for a few hours in the morning to take visa applications. I made just in time to get in, fill out the application and pay my fee. They wanted a week to process, too and I was prepared to wait that long this time. I left my passport there and spent the rest of the day exploring the area around the hostel. I could eat out in an Indian or Chinese restaurant every day for lunch and dinner and never eat at the same place twice! Not a fish and chips place to be seen. There's a Greek place, too. Sadly, I haven't tried any of them yet. Eating out is just not in my London budget. I'll try one of them before I leave. Saturday was a blast. I found the Globe Theater which looked like it was going to be tricky because most of the London highlights seem to have their own Tube stop but the Globe isn't really near any stops buy seeing as how it is right on the Thames is made reckoning pretty easy, even for me. I knew I wanted to try to get to at least one play while I was here. I mean that'd be like going to New York and not going to Broadway (OK, I did go to New York and did not go to Broadway but I had been to a Broadway show before). Anyway, I went to the Globe to take the theatre tour. That didn't cover as much as I expected (I had hoped to see backstage) but the tour guide was really good so that made it OK. What made it more than OK was that when I stopped by the box office I was able to get a 'groundlings' ticket for that day's matinee of The Merry Wives of Windsor! Wow-a Shakespeare comedy as it was meant to be seen for only £5! It was a hoot. I felt like I was in a Tom Stoppard movie! (ie-Shakespear in Love). That's actually why I wanted to see that theater so much.

Between the time I purchased my ticket and went to the play there was a few hours to kill and I walked just up (down?) the river a bit to go to the Tate Modern. Here's the thing, as pricey as London is, all the museums are free. I wandered around and did the best I could. I tried to like what I saw (and there were some pieces I could look out for awhile) but my art appreciation has its limit. It's my failing, I'll own that. I mean this little trip is kind of about expanding those aspects of me. I had never seen a real Jackson Pollack before and there I was, standing just a few feet away. It was one of those that I liked looking at for a while even if it was only because it was a name I recognized. Of course it was a very long work so you had to look at for a while just to see all of it, too. Ok ok, I'm showing my ignorance here. The play was the thing and that concluded that days activities.

The next day was a whole day of free stuff (that still wound up somehow using up the daily budget!). First there was the British Museum-a massive collection of anything any Brit has ever had anything to do with since the beginning of time. I used one of the audio guides with an accompanying map to lead me to the highlights. Bear in mind, they indicated on the map these highlights. Of the first 18 highlights I chose to look at (highlights selected from over 6 million objects), 4 had been removed for various reasons and 2 were in rooms not opened for some other reason! Not a good batting average but what are you gonna do in the off season? It portends a lot of my trip, I suppose. Well, the Rosetta Stone was still there. The even have a replica of it in another room that you can pose with. I did. Egyptian, Roman, Greek, and Iron age artifacts-most of it from all over the world, some of it from Brittania-If a Brit had anything to do with the discovery if was in there. I was there for a little over three hours. I might even go back. From there it's just a stone's throw to the Cartoon Museum. They call 'em cartoons, we (Americans) call 'em comics or the funnies. The museum covered the whole history of cartooning starting way back with political satire and editoral cartoons in the early days of the press right up to today. The only ones that were familiar to me was Andy Kapp and Fred Basset. The next museum was the John Sloane museum. Sloane was an architect and possible (and obsessive compulsive collector). I went here because two gals from Liverpool I met in one of the hostels talked about this place but they made it sound like the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia. Mutter has a collection of specimens used in medical research way back in the day (yes, I'm being vague because I'm not sure what day). The Sloan house has mostly architectural related objects but it's the sheer quantity that is amazing. There's one room of just paintings but ever there the quantity is actually surprising because the paintings are actually hanging on walls that are hinged and will swing open to display more paintings hanging on the other side and behind the swinging part. Every available horizontal space is used to display something; every window opens out onto a courtyard filled with columns or vases or monuments. The place is so packed, you are not allowed to carry any purses, packs or bags with you because you will knock something over and it will be a chain reaction. This apparently was a lesson learned by the museum some time back!

I was pretty much museumed after that. I'm not sure where my funds went since everything was free but a little bit of breakfast here, a snack there, a quick lunch-it's adds up. And I've started making my wardrobe alterations in preparation for the winter on the continent. I wanted to wait until I got there but it was either some new clothes or do laundry!

And now it's today-Sunday. I'm able to spend so much time today because I'm actually at an internet cafe in the middle of a shopping mall just a few blocks from the hostel. It's one of the least expensive one of these I've come across although it has a minimum of a two hour session so I thought I'd go for. It's a rainy day out and I was out in it for a good part of the day. My original plan was to follow the Rick Steve's tour guide suggestion and take one of the sightseeing buses that ends its route at Buckingham Palace right before the changing of the guard. I decided to nix the bus tour because I think I'm going to get to all the places I want to see by the tube and the the tour would have shot my budget for the whole day! So what I did instead-I went to Mass. Now, that would make Mom happy except for the fact that I went to Mass (actually just Matins) because you can get in Westminster Abbey for free for worship services. Otherwise it costs £12. Of course, you can't stroll around, take pictures and there are no docents to answer questions but you still get to see inside, there's a free music performance and a chance at salvation. Two out of three ain't bad and it only cost 23p (that's all the change I had in my pocket when the collection plate was passed) plus it was a place to get in out of the rain for 35 minutes. And I was out of services in time to walk up to Buckingham Palace to catch the changing of the guard--had the ceremony actually taken place today. It didn't. I'be been to England twice in about 32 years. Neither time did I get to see that particular ceremony. I might give that another shot, too. However, my visit to the palace wasn't a total bust as I went down the street to visit the Royal Mews. This is the place in charge of tranporations for the royals whenever they travel in an official capacity. Lots of occassions require horse and carriage so I saw a couple of Clevelands and a couple of Greys and lots of ornate carriages including a multi-tonned gold plated coronation carriage! Oh, one of the three Rolls are there, too.

It was still early by the time I was out of the Mews but I didn't fancy doing too much more out in the rain so that's how I ended up in this mall. There's a movie theatre here. I took in a show and now I'm here and this is as caught up as I've been! Wooo Hooo. Sorry to drag you through so much in one sitting.

Looking ahead a bit, I have four more days in London and then I'm on the continent beginning Friday evening. I'm getting as eager about that part as I was about the beginning of the trip!

Hasta la bye-bye for now.

A month all ready?

Wow! I don't believe I've been on the road a month. Well, admittedly, there's been a day or two here and there where it seems like it's been longer but when I look at the calendar I really can't believe the time has gone by. Right now I'm in London. My last full day in Edinburgh was a pretty good one though at the start I thought it was going to be kinda miserable-y like because it was raining, windy and way cooler than any temperature I had experienced up to that point. I was setting myself up for it to start beginning to get wintery but Scotland had a grand surprise in store for me. I started out from the hostel that morning in the windy drizzle and headed to Calton Hill on the east end of the city. There are several monuments up there including one called Edinburgh's Folly which is a never completed replica of the Parthenon. Another monument was shrouded in scaffolding and the third wasn't opened yet (I keep getting up too early!). But that's OK because it was the statue honor Admiral Horatio Nelson. It looks like an inverted telescope, has 143 steps to the viewing platform at the almost top and a ship's mast at the very. Just before 1 o'clock every afternoon except Christmas Day and a another day here and there throughout the year, a ball is hoisted to the top of the mast and drops at exactly 1 PM so that all the ships at sea can adjust their chronometers or whatevers. Since you can see the monument from all most every place in town, I didn't feel the need to stick around. I made my way down the hill to the Royal Mile and headed up towards the castle. I stopped at the Camera Obscura touristy place and played around in there for a bit -kinda rekindled my interest in b&w photography! Then I stormed the castle! Well, me and a few dozen other tourists who didn't seem to mind the wind and the rain. It was a bit pricey to get in and I hesitated because so far Scottish castles hadn't done much for me. But it was my last day in Edinburgh so I went for it. I was a little disappointed that the live tours were not happening because of the weather so I went for the audio guide and heard (and then forgot) all kinds of historical facts about the castle which is really hugh and actually a pretty cool place to hang out in. Lots of cannons including Mons Meg, a hugh beast AND a modern day cannon that is fired at 1 PM each day to accompany the ball dropping at the Nelson Monument. This procedure has been going on for a very long time. Yes, that info was on the audio guide and yes I forgot when it started but it was way way back and they update the gun now and again. Anyway, I was there for the firing. There's no pagentry to it and the gun's not as loud as I thought it would be but apparently there are three reactions you can expect to see around Edinburgh when it happens-the tourists at the castle applaud (I did), the tourists not at the castle jump and the locals check their watches.

I wish I could remember and then share all the interesting facts about the castle but that ain't gonna happen. I do remember that although that sight has been a castle site for a long time the present castle isn't the first one built there. Remember Robert the Bruce and his exploits at Stirling Castle? Yeah, Bob was at Edinburgh, too. The oldest building in Edinburgh is within the castle. Mary's Chapel. A popular place for weddings it is as it only holds 20 people. It was built by on of the James' for his Mom, Mary (I think). I visited the basement area of one of the buildings which was used as a military prison for various wars throughout the ages including the American Revolution. A few of the original doors of the cells have been preserved and among the graffiti scratched on the doors there's an American Flag.

I also saw the Scottish Crown Jewels which they call The Honours. Along with The Honours (A crown, sword and sceptor) was The Stone of Destiny. That's a story all by itself but basically every monarch Scotland's every had has stood upon this stone at his/her coronation. At some point the stone was even placed under the throne of the English Monarch.

My last bit of Scottish tourism was to dash across the George IV Bridge in the morning before I caught the train to London. I went down there to take a quick snap shot of the Elephant Cafe. The claim to fame of that little place, aside from now being fully licensed to sell alcohol (it says that in the window), is that it is the 'birthplace' of Harry Potter. It says that in the window also, right above the bit about the alcohol.

So now I'm in foggy London and lucky for me the fog isn't. It is getting a bit cooler and I'm having to make adjustment to my wardrobe but I sort of figured this would happen. I was hoping to get by until I got over to Europe 'cuz things are a wee bit cheaper but I decided I'd rather be a little poorer than do laundry today! I arrive on the 1st and that was pretty much all I did on the day. It took a while to find the hostel and I was all done by the time I got there. It's not a YHA and the culture is a bit different at this one. It looked like mostly 20 something Germans, mostly males. London is probable the most expensive place I'm going to be in and I have to be here about 10 days while I get a few more visas for later on in the trip so I went on line to find a better deal than the YHA. The YHAs in London are about 26£-that's $52 folks! The one I found is only £17/night for a mixed 6 bed dorm. Yes, I was concerned about the mixed part, too but . . .time's up!