Seasickness in Venezia (5.8 - 8.8.2008)

Is there a more beautiful city in Europe than Venice?
Could be, but it is certainly pretty high up on the list.

The only thing that makes it annoying are the millions of tourists that conquer the city and the unbelievably high prices for everything. So rather walk the city on a rainy day in winter if you don't want to fall over Japanese tourist groups.

For living in Venice people need (besides A LOT of money) PATIENCE. Just because there are no cars or scooters, so you have to walk the way from your house to the boat and the boat buses take about an hour to go around the main island. But is also is the most quiet city I have ever seen (especially in Italy). That might be the reason why there are so many old people who look very happy and peaceful. And instead of impressing your girl with a fancy car, you pick her up at her nearest dock with your sport boat with self-installed speakers. Life in Venice is just different- more quiet and with a non-stop fantastic view.

Our hostel was located on Guidecca Island, south of the main island with incredible view (as you can see on the left, my bed was just next to the sea). The hostel again had separate dorms for 12 people each. But the very big hostels have the disadvantage that they have a rather unfriendly atmosphere and people stay more on their own. This one did also host families and a lot of adults. Breakfast was a big disappointment as well as it consisted of a bun, one piece of butter, one jam, one hot drink and nothing else and nothing more, unless you pay for it. Not even enough to fill me up and certainly not enough for Tim.

We spent the days walking through the city, admiring the big ass yachts, trying to avoid the masses of other tourists, trying to find cheap food or Internet (NOT possible). But we had to admit that our energy level was pretty low. While we still could walk for 6 hours in Paris, we were tired after only 2 in Venice. So it was kind of nice, that the boat trips took so long, as we could relax and enjoy the sea breeze. Unfortunatly I got seasick by it. Not really sick, but the ground was moving for me even hours later and I had problems to keep my balance.

In the evening we wanted to cook cheap food and as there was not kitchen we just got the cooker out and cooked in front of the hostel next to the water (which was forbidden - STRICTLY forbidden in fact).

As we wanted to play cards again we needed more people and Tim convinced two Spanish guys to join us - again from Bilbao. Seems to be the home of cool people =). So we spent two evenings with our new friends playing cards, smoking and making fire (Yes, Tim the Firedevil).

Another highlight in Venice is the City's cemetary. I don't know if that is typical for Catholic or Italian graveyards, but I have never seen something like that. The graves were arranged in the walls like bookshelves. I felt a bit like in Ikea storage room. "Go to aisle 34, shelve 73 no. 6- that is were you find grandpa". And the fact that every grave carries a photograph of the deceased was pretty alienating for me. A good experience, but I prefer the way it is done here.

The supermarket was also extraordinary, because it had pretty loud dance music on. So what we did was to dance in the supermarket aisle and taking a video of it. That was big fun!

Another lesson learned and nice experience for me: The old Italian people always look very grumpy and critical at you when you pass by. But when you start smiling at them, they smile back. An old lady even waved at me out of her window - how nice =)

Venice is famous for glass art, which is why they sell beutiful and useful stuff as well as crappy and useless stuff to tourists and everybody who needs it. We went to the glass museum, which was pretty much a disappointment as it only showed a collection of vases from different times and nothing really about how it is made or the differnet techniques.

So, we say bye bye Italy!

Franzi

Roma (2.8 - 5.8.2008)

(This post is reserved for Tim, who is waiting for a proper Internet connection).

The most famous penis of Italy or Florence (31.07. - 02.08.2008)

Before I will decribe our stay in Florence, there is the need to write about another unpleasent experience with train companies.

THE TRAIN STORY - THE ITALIAN PART:

When we wanted to reserve a train from Milan to Florence, I asked the man at the counter whether we can take the train at 10:50 with our interrail ticket. And he said - in bad English - "yes yes, going to Napoli, no reservation". Then he sold Mandy a ticket for 19€ only and everybody was happy - for the time being. Before getting onto the train I wondered why this one was not going to Napoli, but did not worry about it. BIG MISTAKE

When the conductor came to check our tickets he said, that we had to reserve this train as this was a special high speed train. We protested that we asked beforehand and got wrong information, but he did not care about that and insisted on payment. 15€ for the reservation + fucking 8€ for doing it on the train and not before. DAMN 23€ penalty for trusting somebody at the station!!! An Italian woman on the seat next to us advised us never to truat a single person in Italy. Ask at least 3 or 4 people and get it in writing. Lesson learned! What proably happened was, that the man at the counter spoke too bad English to know the difference between 10:50 and 10:55 as there was a regional train at that time (to Napoli).

Well, mood ruined so far. In Florence we were a bit lucky then as we met a guy from the campsite at the station who could offer us discount at the campsite so that the night did cost us only 10,50€. But the campsite was again not very nice. First of all again rock solid ground with stones, pretty uneven. And second, there was no free space for our rather long tent. As the first attempt to put it up failed. Tim went hunting for another spot and found one in between the caravans where already other people with big tents had moved to. That was at least even ground.

Afterwards we went into town where we bought our first Italian ice cream.......Awesome, fantastic, incredible, amazing,.....just the best I ever tasted, although expensive. We visited a big square with a lot of dramatic and naked statues, walked to the big cathedral - the Duomo of Firenze and saw that Florence is really famous for leather products. We crossed a market which was full of belts, handbags, wallets and jackets - all made from fantastic leather in every colour. So I made a memo to myself "Come back to Florence when you are rich and go shopping". But now, that was not part of the budget. Instead I bought a new cheap camping cooker for 14€.

While looking for the famous old pharmacy Matthias (the Swiss snowsports instructor) told us about, we passed by a nice and small pub where we took a break to have some pints of Heineken and Murphy's. There Tim tried out new hairstyles. Then there were some guys with a guitar at the table next to us. Tim asked for the guitar and played a little bit. They were so amazed by this that they took pictures and videos of him. As we had not eaten for a while we were all pretty tipsy after two pints. Then we went to the supermarket to buy ingredients for our dinner - and a bottle of Sambuca!

Getting pretty drunk while waiting for the bus and continuing in the bus, we decided NOT to go to Pisa the next day and rather get really pissed and sleep long the next day. During the surprisingly long bus ride that we spent drinking, Mandy and I heard nature calling and so we had to get off the bus one stop ealier to find a bush. Was fun anyway =)

At the campsite I prepared pasta with peas and tomate sauce - We had lost the glass with peppers in the bus. Probably when Tim dropped it and everything including the bottles rolled through the bus. Even before finishing dinner Tim was so tired he just fell asleep. But the drunken Hippie and me were in a party mood. So we took a drink and followed the sound of music coming from close the campsite. This led us to the bar "Fló" where they denied entry to a guy with a metal shirt while Mandy with no shirt at all (yeah, well with Bikini) was welcome. So, I don't think I have to describe this place in more detail. Our mission was to get free drinks from stupid guys. However, Italians are VERY direct and expect to get you into their beds even without buying you a drink. While Mandy got her beer from a poor alleged South African guy I was offered a Fendi wallet, if I would offer a place in my tent in return.....NO THANKS I love my 8€ wallet too much.

The next morning we spend some hours recovering from the alcohol and washed our clothes for 3.50€. Later we went back to town where we ended up in an Internet cafe and in the pub again. Mandy calculated her finances and decided to come to Rome with us. Later we also found the old pharmacy which was really cool. We walked on to the castle where a festival took place that evening. But as we were 3 hours too early for the rock concert we returned to the campsite to cook. Afterwards I was too tired to go to town again and went to sleep. Tim and Mandy spent some more time doing her first two dreads.

Next morning: Off to Rome!!

Franzi

Pow-wows and Blackouts! (Milan, 28.-31. July 2008)

Today, 3 country’s (France, Switzerland and Italy), 3 city’s (Lyon, Geneva and Milan), 9 hours of travel from which 7 in the train, Through the beautiful scenery of the alps, the lake of Geneva. Shortly,an exhausting but stunning ride!

Around 11 am we left Lyon, the train took us to Geneva where we needed to switch trains and had a break of 2 hours. We took our backpacks and walked straight down to the magnificent lake of Geneva which. After a break a small walk and the hunt for food! Well the food was not the problem, there were plenty shops. But those Swiss people still use their own money! That was why one of the hotels starter was 110, not euro`s but Swiss Francs. So without food we got on the train to Milan. The train took us straight through the beautiful alps, along the lake of Geneva. In the train we met Matthias, a ski instructor with 2 houses and a broken hip! He told us the tragic storey (supported with video footage of the accident).

After Matthias left us in the train on the first stop in Italy we sat in the train for a couple of hours till we arrived, FINALLY arrived in the city of Milan. Finally I say, because ater 7 hours in the train even the mountains of the alps, the stunning lakes, the beautiful skies and the beautiful building we passes are just one of 1000 things you pass and even they get boring!

After our arrival our stomachs guided us to the nearest Pizzaria. Our first ITALIAN pizza in Italy, surprisingly a Chinese guy opened the door and set us down on a table. After a wonderful pizza, a giant beer and a final tiramisu we headed off to our hostel, Hostel Pierro Rosso. The hostel was located in the red light district of Milan and and offcourse, that sounds promising! After we kinda figured out how the public transport works (which is always a big happening in a new city) we arrived in the darkness of the night at the tubestation close to the hostel. After a short walk, sightseeing some of the lady`s of the night and checking in we sat down for a game of blackjack in the garden of the hostel. After a couple of games we went to bed, well.. WE. Franzi went upstairs LEFT and I went downstairs RIGHT! Male and female dorms were separated. Our first confrontation with the Prison Rules of the hostel.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and headed off to the city of Milan. First stop, Duomo, a giant cathedral (which already start to get boring because is another one of all the cathedrals we’ve seen so far). But this cathedral didn’t have a massive tower, well let’s say, didn’t have one massive tower because the whole roof was covered in beatifull decorated towers and ornaments!

NOTE FOR ALL READERS: Whenever you go to Milan and are wondering around on the square in front of the Duomo and you get stopped by a friendly guy who tell you you are beautifull and whishes you all the luck in the world and gives you a bracelet! Don’t worry about being robbed, worry about the fact that you look like a tourist and you are about to be ripped off! Because that’s what happened to us, we got the bracelet, the best wishes they ask for a donation (donation is a gift, a choice of amount and even of whether you want to give this guy money or not), the guy asked for 5 euro for a fucking piece of string! Franzi got away with 20 cents, I got away with 70 cents but again! Better no luck and compliments then being ripped of for a piece of string!

Back to business! After the duomo square we went looking for the tourist office and the office of my former boss Claudio Silvestrin, because in the time I worked there they told me about a second office in Milan just off Duomo Square, Piazza Diaz, on that square we looked around for the office but only found a kitchen company. The sales man told me the office had moved to another place in Milan and gave is the address. We headed off to the castle and walked around through the park. Later on we visited Claudio in his new office and after a short walk thought the office, a short talk about the future we went back to the hostel to chill out, have a shower and go for some food. That night when we came back from a good dinner I went to my room and heard music coming out of my door. In the room were 2 Spanish guys with guitar. Not just 2 random guys but 2 pretty skilled musicians. After a chat I invited them to join us for a game of cards. Which turned out to be a giant Pow-wow ( as my fellow hippy Mandy) calles it. The second confrontation with the prison rules came that night! We got kicked out the garden of the hostel for making too much noise). But that didn’t stop the party! We went to a grassfield in the middle of a parking lot next to the hostel where we sat down, the two Spanish guys, a couple of singers, a freestyle rapper and lots of other people contributing to the hippyness, had some French weed, went to get some more beer with Mandy. Mandy who became my favourite hippy in 5 minutes, the whole attitude was cool and laid back. The rest of the night we talked, sung, smoked and drunk togheter on this grassfield in the middle of a parking lot. One word to describe this? UNFORGETTABLE! That night I went to bed happy, happy about new friends, happy about being in love, happy about meeting good people! Because meeting good people makes you forget!

The next morning after another breakfast we figured out we’d kinda seen most of Milan. So we went to the park again, went to a aquarium and to a museum, we took it really really really easy that day. But that night we had a pow-wow again, again lots of beer, a couple of new musicians (including me! Because the Spanish guys gave me a kazoo) also a Mexican guy with a percussion box, the American freestyler and a American jack Johnson singer! One massive group of young travelers enjoiing the music and the warm summer nights of Milan!

The day after after saying goodbye to our Spanish friend we (Franzi, Mandy, Max and me) went to Como, a half an hour train ride from Milan. Franzi’s travel book suggested to go to the lake and it was worth it! A giant lake in the surrounded by mountains, a waterplane airport in the middle, nice architecture are one of the ingredients we used for making a wonderful day! After a feast lunch (with watermelon, beer, baguette with pesto, tomato and mozzarella) we went for a walk, after we digested the food we went for a peddleboat ride on the lake (which was absolutely worth the money). Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Max because his holiday ended in Como and he had to go back to Milan to catch a bus.

After that we too a train up the mountain and walked there for an hour, till we got picked up by an old busdriver, we didn’t have to pay and he took us all the way to the top. From where we had a stunning view over Como and the Alps. After chilling out for a while on the mountain we walked back and took the train to Milan, where we had dinner and a short music night which ended in a massive thunderstorm. Hail of about 1,5 cm, massive amount of rain flooded the street in a wink, me and mandy found shelter in a busstop where we met a lady of the night who laughed about us being barefooted. We danced in the rain and returned to the hostel soaked. in the hostel we met 3 english chicks with a crazy plan. Let us all get a burnmark, hehe… we sat down and all burned ourselves with the 4 points of a fork. Crazy!!! But memory forever!
Now I’m tired and am off to bed…

Tomorrow is Sziget!!!Franzi is getting ill and she can use some support!!! POST SOME COMMENTS!!!

Barcelona: The Crazy Calabria House (22.07. - 26.07.2008)

After the cooker desaster we calmed down a bit, when we arrived in Barcelona. I was very scared that the guesthouse/hostel would turn out to be the next catastrophe as the directions on the booking were a bit confusing. The lady at the tourist office had circled the street on the map....but the bitch had circled the wrong end....it was a long street.....and we therefore made a long loop way. How lucky that it was only 29°C....

Finally we reached the address and were standing in front of a house. Normal residential house. No sign saying guesthouse or hostel or anything. Ringing the bell of the flat no. 2-1 nobody answered. Clueless we stood there, wondering what to do when a Spanish guy came up ansking "Are you looking for the apartments?" I showed him our booking with the address and he was like "No, that is a street further. Come I show you". We followed him - what else to do? He left us in front of a HOTEL, fancy hotel. We were like "Nice try, but do we look like we can afford that??" We walked in anyway to ask where to go. She didn't know, so I used their phone to call the number on the booking. A man answered and told us he would be there in 10 min and we should wait in front of the house. We were getting worried that we would get robbed by a gang the second we got in there, but than this small, young, nice-faced Indian guy walked up to us. A handshake for him. Two kisses for me (he likes the Spanish way of greeting).


Upstairs we were surprised to find a big apartment with 5 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living room and the most amazing OPEN laundry room. Open to the inner courtyard. Very funny. So we had a spacious double bedroom in a shared flat for three nights. Very cool!!!



Our housmates were Ben and Irene from London (you rock guys!!!), two american girls for the first night, a Hungarian couple, two more London Girls and two Australians for the last two nights. Very very cool!!!



Everybody who arrived there was as confused as we were. And our Indian friend had more apartments, like 5 altogether, but everybody arrived at the one we were - totally confused! Everytime the doorbell rang we opened and had to explain to people that we are not the receptionists, but just living there and that they have to call the landlord to be brought to their room. That became particularly difficult when people did not speak good English, as our Indian guy spoke with a strong Indian accent. Was big fun anyway as we met cool people everyday, who had to leave us again after 10-30min., which sometimes was a pity.



The first afternoon we walked through the city and had a look a Gaudí's buildings, which I find very amazing and beautiful. Then we walked down Las Ramblas and to the food market there where you can see "all the colours in the world" (Hobbelman, 2008) and all the smells in the world probably. I almost had to throw up when walking by the sheep heads and the fish stands.

We saw a guy on the street who offered to write lover letters, first for 2€ but that was crossed out and free now. He was American and said he likes to form peoples feelings into words.Then we walked to the harbour and the beach. Afterwards our feet were hurting so much we took the metro back home.

On the second day we walked around the palace and Olympic area. Afterwards we went to the Internet Café to write for you guys and then to the station to book our tickets to Lyon. We had to pick a number, which was more than 100 ahead of the current number. So we went to McDo and had proper Spanish burger ;-).

After more then an hour we made it to the counter, where the lady told us in almost non-existent English that she can only book trains until the French border and nothing afterwards. We were like "WHAT? We booked Dutch and French trains in Germany, Spanish trains in France, Why the fuck can't you book a French train for us???" We just couldn't believe it. Don't Spanish people ever travel abroad with a train. Does everybody get out at the border to book a new train???? We found out later that even a travel agency in Spain can't book foreign trains. Unbelievable. We were so angry we waited for nothing, that we just left - still hoping to find an international counter. There was one which had a big "Eurail" Sign in front, so we thought "they must be able to help us". Waiting there for another 15min. the guy, who did not speak English, told us he is only for information not for reservations. WHAT??? Ok, my temper reached an end and we left the station to go to park Güell.

In the evening we cooked nice pasta and played Blackjack with Irene and Ben, which was incredible fun!


The next day we went to the MACBA – the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona. There were some very interesting exhibitions with paintings, installations and photographs. Then we went to the Sagrada Familia. First we were very hungry and went looking for some food. Although we were not very hopeful to find budget food close to Barcelona’s main attraction, we passed by a Snack Bar which looked very dodgy with litter on the floor and interior design from the 70’s. We were sure hardly any tourist ever enters this place. Accordingly people looked at us with mistrust. But we got nice bocadillos with meat for 2 euros. For dessert we had traditional Spanish Churros (very good, try it if you can).

As Tim had been inside the Sagrada before and said it was worth going inside at least once, I paid the ticket price of 10 € and went inside alone, while he was waiting outside in the shadow. A very impressive building, though mainly a big construction site. I really hope I live long enough to see it when it is finished. So hurry up dear construction workers!! GoGoGo!!

Afterwards we decided to go back to the station to reserve the train to Montpellier, so that we get at least to France and can continue from there. We took another number, waited another hour during which we watched the Skaters in front of the station. Finally at the counter, the lady (who did hardly speak English) told us that the train to Montpellier was booked out – both the next day and the day after. NICE!!! As an alternative she offered to take regional trains to Cebère and then change to a train to Montpellier.

On the way back we decided that we were not really in the mood to hop onto a regional train the next morning and that Barcelona was too good to leave. So we wanted to ask our landlord if we can stay a night longer. On the way back we saw that the fountains of the palace were lit up and there was a fountain show with music, so we stood there and watched it for a while.

In the hostel we had Pasta for the third time and then went into town with Irene and Ben to find the Harlem Jazz Club. Walking through the Gothic quarter we were offered all kind of drugs and cheap beer. When we arrived in the club and bought beer and coke for a ridiculously high price the live band stopped playing. Was worth it….maybe not ;-). Then we decided to buy some of the beers for 1€ on the street and sat down on a square to watch the local alcoholics posse. Very funny! Then we decided to go back to play more Blackjack. On the Plaza Cataluna we were offered Hash again and Tim said I have a tenner. Then the guy went to a bush, took out a rather big chunk of “Chocolate”. Very dodgy, but was good stuff.
In the hostel we called our Indian friend to ask whether we can stay longer and he said that is alright.

The next day we chilled out and went to the beach again, were Tim went for a swim while I read a little more Bukowski. The constant sound on the beach was “Cervezacocacolaaguabeercolalightcervezafantaagua” or “Massage” or “HennaTattoo”. Which was pretty annoying after a while so we walked through town a little bit and returned early to have some nice frozen pizza.

In the evening we played Blackjack again, drank, had a smoke. Our Indian landlord arrived and when Tim asked whether he wants us to pay the room or not, he just smiled. So we were hopeful, that he liked us enough to let us stay for free (he got beer and a smoke from us). But then he stayed and stayed while we played cards, so Tim asked again and he nodded. Damn it! I reckon it is not an Indian habit to ask people for money.

We left Barcelona in the early morning, a bit sad to leave our nice English friends behind. Barcelona was certainly a highlight!

Sorry Guys!

Hey!
Sorry, we have been lazy updating recently. The major problem is that Internet in Italy was fucking expensive. Minimum of 3,50€ per hour. In Venice we found one hour for 7€ - SEVEN EUROS FOR ONE HOUR!!!!!! I can buy a month of flatrate for that price!!!!
Now in Austria, we are trying to catch up! But we are alive, almost healthy and still happy!
:-)

Keep on commenting!
Tim and Franzi

Lyon - between the worst and the best. New hope for the human race! (26.07.08-27.07.08 - but less than 14 hours)

As we extended our stay in Barcelona we had to change our plans a little bit. At first, we thought we could stay somewhere on the cote azur for the night, but as we had to be in Milan the next day, Lyon still seemed to be the best place to stop.

The never ending train ride brought us first to Cebere where everybody got out and had to wait at the ticket counter (because of the inability of Spain to book foreign trains again). A nice and competent French woman then told us in the queue that we could go to Montpellier and get a train to Lyon from there. Which we actually did. In Montpellier we had the amaaaazing and unique experience not to have any queue at all. We could just go to the counter. AND....Surprise!....the man was nice, spoke English and could really book a train for us to Lyon. How nice! I called the campsite in Lyon, where I was told they had a free space and were open until 11pm.

We arrived in Lyon at around 8 pm and decided to store our luggage and walk through the town for a while before going to the campsite. We just made the mistake to store the luggage before informing us where we were. Because we were very far outside the centre so we needed 10 tickets to get to town, get back to the luggage, get to the bus station, get to the campsite and back (or a least that was the plan). FUCKING HELL. At least metro tickets are cheap in France.

First nice surprise in Lyon was then that somebody gave us a metro ticket for free. Second surprise was that Lyon metro stations play nice music. Third suprise was that Lyon metro drives without driver....GHOST TRAIN! Was a bit scary, but also very cool as you have big windows in the front and back and it feels like you are in a video game flying through a tube =). Loved it!

In Lyon centre it started to rain a bit (not too bad). We walked up the mountain a bit, for a good overall view and passed by some nice squares and fountains. But it was a bit of speed-sightseeing, as we only had two hours before we needed to go to the campsite. Although I think that Lyon was not very special and rather dead. No people on the street. My travel "bible" said Lyon was the city with the highest number of restaurants per inhabitant, which we can confirm. There were loads them. Still we had a problem to find cheap food. Rather an issue for Mr.-always-hungry-Hobbelman than for me ;-).

Back to the luggage, back into the metro to go to the bus station (from where the bus to the campsite was supposed to leave). I was VERY tired by then. And when Tim immediately started talking to some guys with a tent and backpacks I was almost hacked off that he always sees a like-minded backpacker in everybody. But it turned out that Tim's active mouth can be a lifesaver, because the guys (who were not backpacking, but just bought their equipment) told us that it was pretty far to the campsite and that the busses probably are not running late in the evening. While the letters FUCKING HELL formed in our heads and left us clueless about how to get there, a long-haired guy turned around and said "If the bus is not going there anymore, I can take you there with my car". A bit stunned we asked "Really? Is that on your way home?" And he said "Yes, no problem". INCREDIBLE!

At the busstop we found out, that the last one left at 8 pm. It was already 10:10pm. So the guy (I think his name was Florian, not too sure anymore) and his girlfriend Marion took us to their apartment- by foot, because that was around the corner of the busstop. So it was not on the way to the campsite. They still wanted to drive us there. UNBELIEVABLY NICE! We went upstairs to look up the address in the Internet. I took the elevator, which was so narrow that after I walked in with the backpack, I could neither move nor press the button and had to wait for somebody upstairs to open the door so I could walk out backwards. That was SCARY!

Florian was a heavy metal fan who played in a band and they had both been to WACKEN (Europes biggest metal festival, which is very close to where I live, for all who don't know that). The world can be so small! He drove a white big car with enough space for music instruments - and for two big backpacks! The way to the campsite took about 15 min. and when we got there about quarter to 11pm everything at the reception was dark. Second of shock! But then the lights got on and we were let in.

We had booked our train for the next day for 9am and as the bus took 30 min (and not 10, which my book had said) we would have to leave at around 8. But the guy told us that the reception does not open before 8:30 and we were not able to pay now, as he did not have any access to the cash box. FUCKING HELL! Clueless again, Florian offered to leave his own ID here and come back the next day to pay for us. . . . . . . . . . we were speechless and couldn't stop smiling stupidly for the rest of the day. We gave them the money plus some euros extra for petrol. The only thing we really regretted was not having the time to meet them the next day to go for a drink together.

Having set up the tent in the rain - in the territory of slugs, as we were told by the dutch guy, (I had one in my shoe....aaaahhh)- I had a look at the bus timetable to see which one to take. And then I noticed it was Sunday the next day....which meant "NO busses before 8:15". Calculating the time from 8:15 to 9:04 again and again we concluded we would never make that in time. So we slept one hour more and went to the station without hurry. We had two spare metro tickets now, which we gave as a present to somebody else. We made a new reservation for 11:04 (again 10€- FUCK), got food - finally- and took the train to Geneve.

Lyon itself wasn't very special and sooo many things went wrong, but meeting those two generous, altruistic and nice people made the whole thing an unforgettable experience. The world is not lost as long as there are people like Florian and Marion. THANK YOU!!!!

Franzey & Timmey

Madrid 19.-22. July 2008

Leaving San Sebastián early, we got onto the train for a non-stop 5 hour ride to Madrid. It was amazing to see the landscape change on the way. While still very green and not much different from northern European vegetation in the north, it changed to rather dry and rocky with palm trees and cactuses.



A major problem with train rides is that the airconditoning inside is always to cold. Therefore, the shock when we got out in Madrid was tremendous. We were hit by 35ºC hot air. My friend Barbara picked us up with the car and told us that this weekend was supposed to be the hottest of the whole year with up to 40ºC. NICE! Luckily she lives in a house with a pool in the garden – that was in fact very nice! So we chilled out for some time, had tasty lunch in the garden, went for a swim,....even more holiday feeling.

In the evening we had traditional Pealla, which we picked up at a restaurant. I had to experience that my taste in food developed the older I got, as I really disliked Paella at the age of 16 and now found it was pretty good food. We also had traditional self-made Sangria. As the evening was already traditionally Spanish Barbaras parents took the chance to teach Tim the most elementary words in Spanisch: Cerveza, Caña, Cojones, Coño, Joder, Hijo de Puta and De Puta Madre. You really don’t need more to get around in Spain ;-)

Later that evening we met some friends of Barbara in the city center – and again typically Spanish – arrived too late. We went for a couple of drinks and chilled out in a really cool bar. However, Madrid has a curfew at 3 am for bars so our options were to go home or to pay entry in a club. As budget backpackers we were both tired and unwilling to spend money on anything except food, drinks, beds or train reservations.

The next day we wanted to avoid the heat by spending some hours in museums. We went to town by car which turned out to be a problem as Tim did not really fit into the car anymore after Barbara pressed some button which made the seat jump up and stay there. So we had to go convertible, which was nice anyway. After spending some time looking for a parking space (hopeless mission), we were too late for the modern art museum. But we found a nice and reasonably priced snack bar which made up for the disappointment. Afterwards we visited the Prado museum, which is free after 5pm on Sundays (and we really like the word FREE). Passing by the masterpieces of Goya and Co. we had a discussion about classic versus modern art during which 3 different opinions stood out, which seemed to be fixed and incompatible. But anyway we all felt very educated and arty afterwards, I suppose.

We spent the late afternoon and evening in Retiro Park, which was relaxing and entertaining due to all the differnt performers and musicians. For dinner we had a reservation at the new IN-Pizza restaurant “Pizza Jardin”. Indeed a very well designed place with good prices, although too cold, again due to airco. Another disadvantage was that we were served by the grumpiest and ill-humoured waitress on the whole planet. She appeared to be allergic to smiles, customers, work and life in general. I was looking at the menu, deciding what to drink when she suddenly turned around and left. Then she took away the plates while Barbara was still eating. We made up a couple of theories what had might have ruined her day so completely. Among the best were that her boyfriend just left her being pregnant, shagging her best friend and that she just got fired. Even considering a complaint, Tim decided to try it the nice way and drew a big smiley on a piece of paper with “SMILE” written underneath it. He went over to her and showed her the paper. And she did actually smile, very surprised. But the mood and the service were still not much better afterwards and we were charged two things we didn’t order on our bill. Well, it was worth trying.

The next day we chilled out for a while and then did some hours of planning and booking (very stressful and always a source of conflicting interests, but we made a lot of progress there). After a nice Tres Cantos ice cream we went back to town and visited the main tourist attractions: puerta del sol, plaza españa, gran vía, plaza mayor, palacio real. That was all very nice. New for Tim and good to see again for me. In the evening we wanted to eat some typical Tapas, but it was impossible to find a table outside. The one place we went to first was out of our budget, so we just had the cheapest thing on the menu, Tortilla for 4€, which pissed the waitress off very badly (for reason unknown). My theory is, she wanted to get the title of the most grumpy waitress, but the other one was still way better ;-). At another place we had three different tapas to share, which was so Spanish and very tasty.

Then our three days in Madrid were already over, which is a pity as Barbara made our stay like being in a luxury hotel and we felt really relaxed afterwards. Muchas Gracias!

Franzi

The final add on to the madrid story!
Security in Madrid:

During the peak of Madrid rush hour on the morning of Thursday, 11 March 2004, ten explosions occurred aboard four commuter trains (cercanías). All the affected trains were traveling on the same line and in the same direction between Alcala and the Atocha station in Madrid. It was later reported that thirteen improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had been placed on the trains. Offcourse every one of you readers read this story but on the 22 July, not a normal one by the way, on a beautiful morning on the 22 of July the true story and the drag of this terrible event was suddenly clear to us. Wether it was the ETA or Al-Qaeda who claimed the bombings, I know it were the most violent group of the whole world... Early morning, Madrid station... After a stressy hunt for parking space we kinda ran into Madrid station, luckily we had the tickets and could go straight through to the train...
OR NOT!!!
security check and I had nothing to worry about, because i forgot my bomb somewhere on the way (hehe bit scared of writing this, might get arrested of placing terroristic threat on the internet). But the security guys (those wonderful people who keep our BELOVED EUROPE safe) thought something was wrong in my bag, and in spanish they tried to explain me something which offcouse I didn't get. We needed to ask Barbara to translate the possible threat I caused... GUESS WHAT!!!
It wasn't about the 3 knives I carry with me, it wasn't about the flamable liquid I carry with me... Me, a dreadded, tall, friendlyfaced, in shorts and flipflops with a giant backpack traveller was not allowed to bring my cooker. My cheap way to make FOOD (no bombs), my kilo extra I carried around for the last couple of weeks to be able to cook on sziget! I hope after their rough working day.the people of the security there felt that they did a good job! felt that they kept the world safe from people which are planning to damage the trust in all the other people... People with beards around the world, muslim people or any person who is caught by the drag of terror! I know how you feel! Lets leave our cookers at home, and go camping without them. that much safer for us, the environment and offcourse...your fellow travellers!!!

An agry and pissed of traveller!

San Sebastián 17.-19. July 2008

The train ride to San Sebastián was the most ridiculous of all. From Bordeaux we went to Hayenne where we had one hour of waiting time, which wasn’t too bad as we were hungry and we could have nice baguettes close to the station. But the next train was a TGV to Irún which took 5 MIN. in total!!! Well, good that we needed to reserve seats there (1,50 €), otherwise we would actually have had to be standing next to the door....wait...oh right....that’s what we actually did. In Irún we had two more hours to wait, which we used for a quick stop at the Internet café to top up Tim’s phone and for our first Spanish beer which I ordered in Spanish – yeah! After Tim’s first language lesson, we got back on the train (after a security check with luggage scanning – thanks to terrorism) for another 15 minutes. Crossing borders is a difficult thing, especially when it comes to the Spanish/French border – we will make that experience later again.

In San Sebastian we were staying at Tim’s former work colleague Itziar, who was working until 8 pm so we used the time to reserve our trains to Madrid and Barcelona – another brave act of me, reserving the seats in Spanish. Tim’s first impression of Spain was that people are very loud, which I cannot deny. Equipped with a city map and some advise from the tourist office lady we walked to the BEACH. San Sebastian is not only small enough that you can easily cross is walking, but it is located on a beautiful bay, surrounded by two green mountains in between which you find two wide and long beaches and impressive rocks. It was so nice and we got a proper holiday feeling there – finally! Despite that, it wasn’t too touristic and not very expensive.

Itziar offered us her bedroom and moved for two nights to her sister’room. She was so nice and even gave us her keys so we could come and go whenever we wanted. Her cat Inuyasha was very curious about the two strangers and explored our backpacks carefully. We went into town at night, where we solved the mystery about the “Pinchos” that we read about in our travel “Bible”. Small snacks spread all over the bar which people just take and the bar staff knows in the end how many you have to pay. In the harbour there was a festival for the fishermen with live music. We drank Kalimotxo (red wine with coke). For Tim the first time (didn’t like it) and for me a reminder of the good old Madrid times (just liked it because of the good memories). We continued along the beautiful beautiful beach promenade to an alternative, left-wing, socialist, basement bar which hosted an open mic night where Itziar’s step brother was playing. There was actually a guy with a Wacken Festival T-Shirt J. The world is too small. The people playing there were by the majority pretty good, although some things didn’t really fit (the guy singing some “yeahs” and “uuhs” in between the lyrics) and the small groupie-like girls clapping the wrong rhythm. Was great fun!

The next day we bought ice cream and went to the beach and along the sea until Itziar met us during her lunch break. She and Tim went swimming while I was working hard to make my pale skin look a bit brown. I did not really know in which direction to look, because everywhere there were topless women or naked old men, which were hard to avoid. So I decided to lean back and close my eyes. An option which Tim did not have when he was introduced to Itziar’s work colleagues on the way to the shower....all gorgeous and sexy women, TOPLESS, which he had to kiss on both cheeks :-D. He said he behaved very cool, although that was something we was neither used to nor prepared for. A situation which can actually happen in a beach city where people just spend there siesta on the beach. Another peculiar moment was when we went through the streets and a man with a surfboard and surf suit came running out of the house for his daily evening wave ride.

Afterwards we climbed the mountain with the giant Jesus and had an amazing view. Back down we had to admit that we were way to sunburned to continue walking in the sun and went back to the flat to write for the blog. In the evening we met some of Itziar’s friends for a drink and some more bocadillos. We also went to a square which hosted the concert of some speed metal band (very funny). San Sebastián is a very political city as there is the on-going discussion about the independence of the Basque Country, but this give it an interesting atmosphere. Very tired again, we went to bed early.
San Sebastián is definitely a place to go!

Franzi

Sweaty Bordeaux

Bonjour Bonjour,

Early midday me and Franzi arrived in Bordeaux. It was just 3 hours by train but both of us were knackered from the heat. Although the train company in france seems to like the fridge settings they adapt in trains, I guess they are afraid me might melt and ruin the seats. In Bordeaux we went to the FAMOUS tourist office, where we asked for a hostel. There was exactly ONE hostel in whole of that BLOODY city so we, Franzi and me and our babies (the backpacks) started the walk though the desert of Bordeaux, well URBAN DESERT. It was so incredibly hot and so humid. The water you drunk immeadiately left your body as sweat (still a bit confused in which stage they add the salt to that water to make it SWEAT). Enough about sweat...After a 10 minute walk we arrive completely soaked at the hostel where we noticed a sign on the door. THE SIGN OF DOOM... HOSTEL FULLY BOOKED... Exhausted and pissed off we walked in anyways and asked if there still were rooms available. They lady asked if we had a reservation. I was instantly soaked from sweat again! When I said we don´t have a reservation she said no problem we have a spare room. The room was a double room, ensuite bathroom for 21€ per night. The room was not what I hoped for but better than the campsite in Paris. We got settled, I made some lunch (those damn baguettes all the time), franzi washed her clothes, I improvised a washing line in the room and that was it. Home for the coming night!
If I try to describe Bordeaux in 1 line I guess it is the black swan in a bunch of white swans. You just have to see the beauty of it. The grey buildings with the almost spanish looking shutters, small balconies, some filled with flowers to bring some happiness into the street.

Bordeaux had a long shopping street which led to a main square, a square marked by a massive sculpture/fountain... from there we walked on to the Museum of Contemporary Art where we found a bunch of crazy things. After the museum we walked along the river Garrone to the city centre to find a good spot to eat. Well.. We found one. Restaurant Ottoman is a Turkish-French restaurant with a french menu. Why I mention the menu?! Well if you cannot understand what you are ordering, surprises are guaranteed. Franzi was the lucky one, she ordered a Mediterranean salad with salmon. It did have salmon, but that wasn´t everything, it also had squids, squid rings, mussels and lots of other fishy things. SURPRISE... The rest of the dinner was absolutely amazing!!! During the main course Franzi noticed all the different music coming from different bars... But we kept hearing Celine Dion's My heart will go on... After some time we figuered out this was coming from our restaurant and the song kept repeating all the time. I asked the waiter:"You really like this song, do you?" He blushed, turned around and switched the music. With the bill we got loads of candy, I gave hime a smiley on a piece of paper! After dinner, we walked back HOME! After a couple of beers, some writing and more beers I crashed into bed to wake up the next morning to leave Bordeaux again. After a MESSY breakfast we packed our stuff, went in to town for a quick video and got in the train to San Sebastian...Keep on Commenting!

Proost,
Franzi and Tim

Bonjour Baguettes de La Paris aveç un Paraplu de la Merde?! Got it?

Bienvenue a Paris,

After a 3 hour train ride from amsterdam to paris (with a massive hangover from the night before). We arrived in Paris, Paris du Nord!

We went straight to the tourist office where we asked for a metro map, daytickets for the public transport and some other stuff... From there we went to the ticket office to book our trains to Bordeaux and San Sebastian... It was hot in the station and we had to que, NICE... but all part of the fun!

After we got the tickets we were on our way to the prommising campsite! We took the tube to station )·"($/)"(·/$ the Maillot (Note to myself: )·"($/)"(·/$ is not a french word). From where we had to take the bus to the campsite! The bus was crowded and the packs were heavy, the ultimate reason for sweat álá all over the place.

NOTE TO EVERYBODY, if you ever heard people talk about a CHEF´S ASS and you didn´t get it?? Here is the explanation! A chef´s ass comes from the magical world of cooking. Basically a chef´s ass is an irritation of the anus and surrounding skin caused by sweat! Sweat contains above a large amount of water a certain level of salt which can couse irritation!
I though i´d share this wisdom with you readers!

Anyways, when we hopped off the bus we soon saw a sign Boix du Boulogne (campsite) and offcourse we followed that sign (together with 2 liverpool people we´ve met in the bus). We walked, and walked and the temperature was a bit unbearable...after a 20 minute walk we arrived at the campsite. Compleately soaked, and pissed off because we followed the route for cars, the rout for pedestrians was like 2 minutes but with no signs! But later we found out, we weren´t the only one who made that mistake! (The signage kinda suited the campsite!)

At arrival we checked in (everything looked pretty good) and were told we could pick every free spot on the campsite (they gave us a map and the campsite looked quite big) but after a small hot walk we found out the map was almost 1 to 1 scale and most of the free spots were taken, people we sleeping on a grassy hill, they put their tents on a slope of 4/5 degrees which must be good for you nightly bloodflow!! anyways, we just couldn´t find a good spot, but after some searching we at least found shading! YES ONLY SHADING!

Because most of the time you expect some grass on a campsite! This one had nice sharp small stone and a rocksolid floor. Putting up my tent costed us loads of effort and we had to slam the picks in the floor with a stone (next time when I go backpacking I´ll definately bring a hammer).

When we finally got settled me and Franzi went to the supermarket to get the ingredients for a feast meal!!! We prepared Tasty from-the-bag pasta cooked in lovely tap water, some pesto from a jar and as final touch (the creme de la creme) vegetables from a can! Well... offcourse you´ll think i´m going crazy but the meal actually taste like thatwhen you are really really hungry!!! TRY IT!

After our delicous meal we headed off, off to beautiful paris which was absolutely packed with people because of the birthday of the country whis was celebrated in the morning with a massive military parade and in the evening closed with MASSIVE fireworks! The eiffeltower and the grass lane in front of it was already scary busy 4 hours before the fire works, there was a giant stage and they were still constructing stuff (which later showed as part of the fireworks). After a walk to kill some time, a nice meal at the busiest MC DONALDS i´ve ever seen (yes,we do like culture but sometimes we need a BURGER!) we ended up finding ourselves in the middle of a giant crowd on one of the bridges over the river Seine. We we´re waiting for the fire works to start!

When the lights of the massive eiffel tower shut down and the light was lit by a single red flare the tension and exitement started to build up! It´s hard to describe fireworks in text but i´ll try and will add some pictures to help my story reach you guys!

Colors of the endless firework explosions were colors i´d never seen in fireworks. Bright green, Real pink, Golder than Gold! Pure White! Those colors lightened and brightened up the streets of paris, the crowd and the sky. All those people were suddenly quite, some ooooooooohs and wow´s and offcourse you have the special europeans (THE ENGLISH) who like to be different and shout a bit! The climax of the fireworks display kept building and building! A couple of times the eiffeltower created a OOOOOOOOOOH in the crowd after a loud explosing with bright white light the eiffeltower lit up in 1000nds of flickering lights.

After an hour of standing on one spot and lights you noticed the darkness of the sky and that told you it was time to go to bed!

The next morning after a hot shower we went straight to the louvre by metro. After a breakfast we walked on the the Notre Dame. In my whole life ( hehe 22 years young) I´ve been to paris 5 or 6 times, but I was shocked by the change, everything looked a lot smaller. Maybe because I became a bit of a giant in those 22 years, who knows! After the notre dame we walked on to Centre Pompidou where we ate some fruits, checked out an internet café and took the metro to the sacre coeur... From the sacre coeur we walked on to Montmartre where we found a local piano bar, The walls were filled with notes, student cards, photos... I left a note-> IK-VIND-JE-LIEF!

Next up, the cemetary where james (jim) morrisson is burried. That cemetary was one of the biggest and most impressive graveyards I´ve ever seen. endles small lanes of graves and tombs, lots of trees, flowers and memories people left. Strangely this graveyard was not scary, this graveyard was peaceful and actually a nice place to be (considering the location). I liked the rumor that people smoke a joint at the grave of jim morrisson! I don´t really know what I have to think of that but I do think it´s grieving with style!

After the visit to the cemitary we went back to the campsite to check out the restaurant there. We sat down at a table and very promissing we got the menu and ordered some drinks. But offcourse on a international campsite you write the menu in france because they work in france and don´t care about the international amount of visitors on the campsite.

Anyways, we ordered our food, I ordered chicken (well in french i though i ordered chicken) franzi and froggy ordered steak. 20 minutes later our food arrived, but without cutlery... we waited a while and started to laugh about this shitty place, everywhere we looked people got up to get salt, pepper, cutlery of whatever the staff forgot to bring... A boy from another table brought us some cutlery from their table. Another lady gave us mustard and mayonaise from their camper... I gave her flowers and a candle... Anyways, when we got our cutlery, the food was cold and definately not enough for what we had to pay for. About the paying... we had to wait 20 mins for our bill... Later that night we had a drink with the mayonaise-mustard people and I think all 3 of us when to bed drunk...

Next day we left to Bordeaux!

Amsterdam (12.-14. July 2008)

In the train to Amsterdam we met the first other Interrailers already. They are everywhere, but you only really notice it when you are carrying a big pack yourself.

As we could not stay at Tims friend, he called a campsite to ask for free space. As there was plenty, we took a bus to campsite Vliegenbos, which cost us 41€ for two nights thanks to the "only 2 people fee", the "tourist fee" and the "only two nights fee"....why don't they make it one price straight away? The campsite ground was pretty hard, but at least there was grass on it. The toilets and shower rooms all had blue lights, which I think is either supposed to be cool or against druggies. On the other hand they did not put much emphasis on toilet seats, soap or toilet paper (which is why one of our first ways took us to a supermarket to buy this important good). Tim actually wasted some of it later on, because during one of his "private conference" somebody opened the door, which shocked him so much he dropped the roll into the toilet :-D.

In the afternoon we went to town where I had to try a Dutch speciality called "Kroket". It looks disgusting and you don't wanna know what is in there, but it was quite tasty.

We walked through the red light district, which can basically be described as Bar, Coffeeshop, Boobies, Pub, Ass, Sexshop, more Boobies, Bar, Coffeeshop, Shaking ass, Pub, Sexshop..... it was fun, although I don't really like how the women stand behind their windows selling there body as a damn product. All you can fuck.

Coffeeshops right now face the ridicolous problem of the smoking ban. It is in fact not allowed to smoke tobacco in a coffeeshop, but you can smoke dope in there pure. Seriously, why the hell does the smoking ban apply to a place which major purpose IS smoking and everybody is there to smoke????

Then I contacted Froggy (the australian) and found out that Tim gave him the wrong dates, so Froggy would only have one evening with us in Amsterdam. After some time where both me and Froggy were a bit pissed off, Tim decided to invite Froggy to Paris and contribute to his ticket. Very generous offer, which brought back peace :-)

The next morning Tim cooked nice tea on the cooker and we walked into town to rent some bikes. Then we cruised with our Granny bikes three hours through Amsterdam, which is SUICIDAL, but great FUN. Amsterdam is perfect for cycling and the best way to get around. We met Froggy afterwards in a bar where our beer cost 6€. That was because there where half-naked Gogo-Dancers, which I only recognised afterwards. Back to the red light district then and a Chill-Out in the Coffeeshop, where Froggy had to experience that he and holland dope are not good friends. But hey, who can actually say that he or she laid down on a pavement in the centre of Amsterdam?

In need of more food (Tim can seriously eat all day long) we tried Frikandel and more Kroket. Frikandel is actually a mix of leftovers from slaughter, although it looks much better and tastes better than Kroket.

Then we went to meet Tim's auntie Bobbie Rossini Hobbelman, who is the former bass player of a famous Dutch rock band (Claw boys claw) and who has an apartment on top of Amsterdam. Increcible view!!! So we chilled out ther in the sun on the roof, drinking beer and wine and just enjoying ourselves. She is sooo cool.

On the way back to the campsite Tim and I shared a brownie. Froggy came with us to sqeeze into our tent. Bobbie gave him some plastic bags and old newspapers to build a mat :-D.
Having some beers and a smoke in the tent I went on a trip on my own....to the big cave and the desert and the beach being a mermaid. Big fun!

Not big fun, though, was waking up again at 4 am to catch our 6:26 train to Paris. Hungover, tired and weak we were all pretty grumpy. But more about that later on...

Franzi

Hannover (10.-12. July 2008)

Hey everybody,
already in San Sebastian I find the time (and free Internet - yeah!) to write about our first real destination on the trip: Hannover. By the way, this is because Tim is so sunburned from hanging out at the beach and my shoulders could need a rest as well, so we spend some time inside. Also known as a siesta tarde.

OK, back to the 10th of July. For leaving from Seestermuehe we had the options of either leaving at 9:30 or at 11:30 to have somebody bring us to the station. Everybody knowing me or having made the experience how hard it is to pack a backpack for the coming 6 weeks will know that we left at 11:30 :-) The major problems were actually that I changed the password of my brothers laptop during the party....very late during the party. So yes, I had NO FUCKING idea what was the password and needed to consult Nils to solve that problem. The other problem was my new MP3 player who wanted to be bitchy and decided not to work and came up with a new confusing default message everytime - solved after a while as well. So I don't have to live without music. Good!!!

Our backpacks are 18 kg and 22kg in weight...so after the trip we will almost be qualified to become governor of California ;-)
We arrived in Wennigsen at 4pm where Svenja was waiting for us with an amazing pasta casserole (THANK YOU). In the evening we went for a the cocktail bar Heaven in Hannovers city centre where we met Eltje. Tim drank an Orgasm, but the effect was a bit disappointing. Being hungry we passed on to the great king of all burgers, where Walid joined us. And I am sure the toilet attendant is the nicest person in the whole station. At night we had the pleasure of experiencing an impressive thunderstorm.

The next day Svenja had the fantastic idea to go to town by bikes. At first it was still raining, which wasn't much fun, but the sun came out by the time we reached the Maschsee and the rest of the day was good. We cycled almost all of Hannover and I had the feeling I saw more in this one day than during the 2 1/2 years I lived there. After having coffee with my former teacher Frau Dr. Henning, chilling out in the woods of the Eilenriede (where Tim found a mountain to use the mountain bike) and cycling to the Herrenhaeuser Gardens (which were closed) we went for a Barbecue at Svenja's friend (tasty). In the evening we went to Schuetzenfest where we met Eltje, Walid and Mariana and sat down for having beer and Luettje Lage. For all non-locals, Luettje Lage is a drinking habit of Lower Saxony where you have to hold a small glass of weak, dark beer and a shot of Korn (32%) in your hand and drink them together. Tim needed some demonstration first, but turned out to be a natural.

After watching nice fireworks and celebrating Walid's birthday, we needed to head back to catch the last train. After another amazing breakfast, we took the train at 10:40 to Amsterdam. Our interrail ticket was acutally valid from that day on, which means one month to Sziget.
We thank Svenja very much for being such a nice host and a good start for the trip.

Franzi

Updates coming up!

Dear All,

Being on the road, on the rail basicly and not having acces to a computer ( the Atari in my backpack broke ;) ) makes it hard to update frequently, But we are doing very very well... Story updates coming up in a few days...

For now,

Graçias and Besos ( i´m learning spanish here)

Monday 7 July 2008

Dear all,

Already 4 days here in lovely Germany, and time for a little story...

Franzi and me were sitting in the living room sorting this blog thing out when Franzi's mom walked in. She asked us if we want to see the surgery of a horse. Franzi's dad is vetenarian and specialized in horses! We walked up to the clinic which is like 2 minutes from the house.

And the scene there was unbelievable, the horse was hanging upside-down suspended with a cable (four feet in the air) to the roof. The most UN-NATURAL position a horse can be i guess... But i forgot to ask the horse :P

From the back Franzi's dad looked like a super hero in plastic clothes, and from the front one of the main characters in a horror movie (* i hope you don't need details to understand what I mean!). When the wound was cleaned, stiched and cleaned again the horse (* still in the same position) got raised up and moved to the next room... I'd never seen a flying horse, and If that wasn't it... It was still UPSIDE DOWN....

so to all biologists.. come to Seester Mühe to see the Upside down flying horse!

Thanks for letting me share this with ya'all!

See ya soon!