Shanghai

I arrived 9 hours delayed to Shanghai due to "fog." Turns out, it was actually just the worst pollution day in recorded history of pollution for Shanghai. The reading on that day was higher than the scale had previously considered a maximum. Above 500. Here's a  very unnerving screengrab from a few days later, when the pollution levels had subsided considerably.  That said, the consensus is even at 167, we're squarely in the unhealthy zone! Me at the bund. With my breathing apparatus. 

Mari and I were really thrilled to be wearing these masks on our Shanghai Adventures.

Shopping for eyewear in Shanghai. I went with these:

Club 88 in Shanghai. Best people watching ever.

This is the view from Mari's apartment on the day I arrived (pollution-acalypse)

Same view, less pollution.

The Bund at Night from Captain's Bar:

Delicious Fried Pork Pastry. (And is was Kosher!)

This guy made me very happy.

This Maglev Train Goes Very Fast:

Me and my Baijiu shot

Hong Kong

Going out to the BIg Buddha was a ton of fun, check out the lady being carried up all those steps by her obviously brownie-points-deficient partner. The Epic Meal @ Lung King Heen

Walking around Hong Kong I saw stuff like this all the time. It made me hungry:

I love the sweater this dude is rocking on the Metro. He digs that G-Funk.

Yeah, fish sausage. What?:

This was the magazine they had for me when I showed up solo to the 3 Michelin starred Lung King Heen. Kudos to them for trying to think about my lack of conversation partner. But, they may have missed the mark by making the magazine about what it's like to own a personal jet. Yeah, I'm not the target audience of that place.

Obligatory tourist shot of me at the Peak. Kind of awesome:

India (Chandrashila Hike)

One of the things that pushed me out of my comfort zone the most on this trip thus far was my trek in the Himalaya. It wasn't all that long (4 Days), or all that high (about 4100m), but it definitely was a big push into things I'm less-than-totally-comfortable-with. Like, you know. Camping. And being really cold. Anyways, it was really rewarding and totally gorgeous. Here's a little about the place I was: Chandrashila is summit of the Tungnath . It literally means "Moon Rock". It is located at a height of about 4,000 metres above sea level

Here are some photos I snagged throughout the journey. Shout out to my trekking partner, Mia - she was a great thought and hiking partner during the four days.

The road we needed to use to get up to the trek start had been washed out in some pretty terrible landslides that happened back in June. Entire parts of town and road had been washed away:

This is where I camped on night one (also where that leopard was hanging out):

Some pics of the "Jungle" we trekked through to get to our second camping site:

I was pretty stoked to be out there:

I think this pretty much sums up what most of the scenery looked like on the way to the top: Being the city-slicker that I am, things like campfires truly impressed me. Here's a couple of pics of that plus our awesome guide Rohit, doing his survivorman thing:

We got to a point that the clouds kind of sunk into the mountains around us, it was kind of gorgeous:

Temple near the top of Chandrashila:

Mia and I early on summit day:

The ride back to Rishikesh looked like this the whole time (Bliss):

This is how I looked on the last day of the trek right after waking up, in the freezing cold and not having showered for a few days (I was thrilled with life I swear):

India (Rishikesh/Uttarakhand)

One of my first and longest lasting impressions of Rishikesh is how beautiful the sun hits the Ganga in that valley: White Water Rafting on the Mother Ganga:

On my first night at Seventh Heaven, I got invited to an Indian Wedding (As did everyone else in town, from what I can gather):

Pics from our kite-making and kite-flying event with the orphans from Ramana's Garden:

Right before gashing my foot attempting to "demonstrate" proper kite-flying technique. Lucy was amused, as she often is:

Vini (and Dennis!), my excellent Yoga Teacher during my time in Rishikesh, during the Orphan event:

My Friends @ Seventh Heaven. Enjoying one of our many meals and chats. Quite the Group:The Ram Jula Bridge looked crowded like this most of the time (see if you can spot the Elvis impersonator)

India (Rajasthan)

So, it's taken me forever to write about India. And that's probably for the best. Well maybe not for the best that I effectively took a month off of updating the blog and documenting what I'd been up, but I think it's been good to let the Indian experience settle in my brain and heart a little before summing it up. I don't think I'll even try to do a full-on "this is what India was like" blog post. That is probably impossible. India was a lot of things. It was busy, it was dirty, it was crowded, it was delicious, it was challenging, it was beautiful, it was sad, it was really happy. It's a complicated place and I am thrilled I went there. The first thing I learned about India was that it is freaking huge. My initial hopes of doing a Big Tour of the country really were dashed pretty much out of the date. I was there about 6 weeks and that just isn't enough time to see "everything." There is a quote from this documentary about backpacking that I love: "India is where itineraries go to die." This is SPOT ON. The time in India broke down into Rajasthan, Rishikesh/Uttarakhand and Other.

The Rajasthan tour was tremendously productive, we saw a bunch of cities in a relatively short period of time. Something that wouldn't have been possible without our driver, Mohan.

Here's the top photos from my time in Rajasthan.

Red Fort in Delhi

Awesome door at the Fort in Jodhpur

Atop a Haveli in Nawalgarh

Amber Fort in Jaipur

Every Indian took photos with themselves in Mirrors at this Fort in Bikaner.

All Indians also took this photo:

Rat Temple (As gross as it sounds)

Awesome dude at Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur 

Jain Temple in Ranakpur

Cool Monkeys outside Jain Temple (Ranakpur)

Our excellent Rajasthan (and later Rishikesh) Travel Buddy Lucy in Jaipur

Crazy huge and heavy silver  water containers

Diwali in Udaipur

Jain Temple in Ranakpur

Jordan Part 3: Wadi Rum

Things I loved about Wadi Rum:

1. Totally Unique and bizarre, beautiful landscape
2. The Rum Stars Beduoin Camp where we stayed
3. The group that was on our jeep
4. Hearing Akmed (the owner of the camp/guide) talk about life as a Beduoin and how that is changing because of technology and tourism. (Over alot of sugary tea of course)
5. The feeling of isolation you get being out there.
6. Climbing up the rocks! They're so sticky it makes walking up these rock so easy and getting to interesting viewpoints really fun and accessible.
7. Facing my fear of heights and climbing up to the arch and walking along the ledge to get the photo below

     

Jordan Part 2: Petra

Petra lived up to my expectations and then some. I loved hiking through the park and challenging myself with some pretty scary (for me) walks on ledges at pretty severe heights. The history there is also just beautiful to explore and experience. It's a magical place. I caught myself smiling for no reason the entire time we were there. Two days was a good amount of time but we could have easily spent some more time. The highlight was definitely entering Petra from behind and hiking up the mountain that the Monastery is on. Tremendous way to see the park. Beyond that, it often felt like we had the place to ourselves, the exact opposite of what I expected going in. Check out the photos below. Good Stuff:  

Jordan: Amman & Jerash

Some great things happened in Jordan. Really, some quite special moments. I'll be posting photo blogs of the two real highlights of the trip, Petra and Wadi Rum. But I wanted to have a post that highlighted my first few days in country. Some interesting stuff happened while I was in Amman: particularly, there was the struggle to find the bar that Litsy claimed was near the Jordan Tower Hotel. Jimmy (great Aussie who was staying in my dorm) and I walked in circles looking for beer. This proved fruitless, but was fun to remember exactly how stubborn I could be about trying to find things once I'd started. Anyways we spent way too much time looking for a place for beer. Turns out we needed to make our way to rainbow street in search of elusive beer (this being a Muslim country, beer isn't easy to come by).

Well, the context of the streets it happened to be pointing us down. We happened upon one particularly dark alley with a fair amount of distressed buildings around it and just one dude down at the end. Oh, by the way the end really wasn't clear in terms of what exactly it was. It just stopped being lit up and up a hill there was no way of knowing if the street continued or if this was a no-thru street. Anyways, as we approach this guy on the street on the too-dark road, walking up the hill. I notice that he has pulled out a knife and is brandishing it and he began kind of strangely hollering at Jimmy and I. This made us both rather uncomfortable. We walk in a long oval kind of around him. At this moment we noticed that there was a Jordanian approaching us from behind who had picked up speed. Right then, I was pretty concerned. I wasn't sure if the two dudes knew eachother, and most pressingly there was a guy jabbering at me in Arabic while playing with his switchblade on a pitch black street my first day in Amman. NOT a good look. Anyways, the guy behind us ended up being even more freaked out than Jimmy and I, and we escaped unscathed. But, it was a quick way to get the heart pumping and a good lesson about listening to Google Maps over some common sense in new places.

That night ended up pretty hysterically, we found beer at the Book Shop Cafe, which was really a great place to spend some time (although the beers were unbelievably expensive). Another interesting facet to the evening ended up being that the cafe, unbeknownst to us, converted into a hangout for gay Jordanians on Thursdays. So we spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out if we were in the right spot. Turns out we had a blast and were. But it also was a gay bar. Something, I didn't quite expect to be so easy to find in the center of Amman. Pretty interesting. 

Overall, I ended up loving Amman after at first being a little overwhelmed with the congestion and noise-pollution. The food was fantastic and the company was excellent.

The next day, we went to Jerash which really was a treat. Roman ruins from at least 100AD that were preserved really well and were just  remnants of a sprawling city. Easily the best ruins I've seen from Antiquity.

Here are some Jerash pics:

Croatia: A rainy, delicious and fun couple of weeks

So, I'm pretty behind in updating the blog about where I've been and what I've been up to. I'm going to surmise that this has everything to do with having too much fun. There's definitely been plenty of that since the last few entries. I've also just tried to update random things I want to remember later, more in real-time as opposed to holding everything back for a long summary post. Either way, I like to keep at least one post that has the highlights of every stop on the trip. Without further ado, here is the one about Croatia: Croatia was the first place I had zero plans of visiting at the outset of the trip that  I ended up visiting. That has mostly to do with the Indian Visa Problems I'd managed to get into and a decent level of discomfort with being without my passport in Israel for a month. That along with hanging out with two of my favorite people in the world (Sarah and Litsy) lead me to Zagreb. I spent about two weeks in Croatia and it was a pretty rejuvenating time, I had the luxuries of being home (well, Sarah's home) and basically ate pastry, drank wine, saw a tiny amount of the coast and sipped a ton of lattes in Zagreb. Pretty excellent if a little waist-expanding.

My Highlights:

1. Hanging out with Sarah and Litsy in Zagreb.
2. Definitely spending time with Sarah in her home for the first time in eight years or so. IT's like we're officially friends again now that I've dined at her place. And crashed there for a couple of weeks!
3. Hiking around Plitvice Lakes National Park - pretty much the most stunning park I've ever been to.
4. Cafe Culture in Zagreb - Loved sipping lattes and getting made fun of for ordering huge,milky, half-caffeinated coffees all over town. I think my favorite place was Diva's (supplies!) or Kim's.
5. Making the best of some terrible weather along the coast in Rovinj and Rijeka - The weather was cold and rainy, but I managed to drink enough wine, make enough cured meat sandwiches and eat enough pastry to have fun out there in Istra with Lits.

The Croatia Photo Stream:

This is the boat we never got to ride that tour's the Fjord near Rovinj in Istra.

My favorite Bathroom sign of the trip thus far

Zagraeb involved a lot of lattes, here is one of my fave's from Diva Cafe (where they were very amused by my coffee order)

Chilling at Sarah's with Monty and Klio 

Random Zagreb street art

This was on the wall at a really cool dive bar we went to one of our last nights in Zagreb, I couldn't tell what the dude what doing and if this head was attached to a sewing machine or if he was carrying it.

Sarah showing me what life in Saudi was like some of the time

Gorgeous Plitvice Lakes National Park

Excellent food abounded in Zagreb these are from Didvo, but I also loved Trilogio

Some Cuban Heritage on Display in Zagreb

Budapest Highlights & Photo Stream

I spent a lovely weekend in Budapest before heading to Croatia. I had visited Budapest back during the Eurotrip in 2005 after graduate school and had loved it then. I definitely had that same feeling this second time around. It was a great way to spend a long weekend. Quick Highlights:

1. Amazing Dinner at  Borkonyha WineKitchen
2. Hungarian Cooking Class with Alicja - We made Hortobágyi palacsinta (Crepes with with savory meat, in this case it was Chicken Paprikas [They love them some Paprika in Hungary]) & Apple Cake - Delish. Also memorable was the homemade Apricot Jam we got to try and the market tour before the class.
3. Checking out the Ruin Pub Szimpla and The Beer Garden in our Neighborhood.

Market Tour Before the Class (Check out that sausage!)

Not sure why they had these cascading russian dolls things of ex and current presidents but they did.

  

We almost had breakfast at New York Cafe - but, they were charging like thirty bucks for continental breakfast, so we snagged this photo and ran out the back!!

Dinner at Borkonyha (This included my favorite bottle of wine of the whole trip)

Hungarian Cooking Class

A pic of Szimpla Kert (The Ruin Pub)

Israel

First Interaction with a local, while attempting to buy deli meat/cheese before Kippur:"This place is a disaster….I mean this market, not the country….Well, both, kind of"

My time in Israel was tremendous. There were tons of things that I enjoyed about it but like so often on this trip, it boiled down to the people. I got to meet two great friends of Alexis that i've heard so much about over the years and who were able to share snippets of their lives in Tel Aviv with me. I got to experience Israel with Alexis, which is something we've talked about doing for a long time. And I met new people, who's company I enjoyed and who added to the experiences I've accumulated on the trip.

My first full day in Tel Aviv two things became completely clear to me: First, this place was hot and humid compared to Finland. Second, Yom Kippur was about to start and everyone was making preparations for it. These preparations felt a lot like hurrricane shopping back home, so I wasn't completely caught off guard, but it did bring it with it an unmistakeable sense of impending isolation/dread which was weird. I'll say this though, the frenetic grocery shopping pre-Kipuur is something I'll never forget.

My apartment in Tel Aviv was not glamorous but it was definitely in a part of the city that I really enjoyed, and it made strolling around town really fantastic and an easy base of operations for exploring the northern part of the city - and bus connections to the South were easy enough.

Overall, my take on Israel in two not-long-enough weeks there was that it's a special place, its a place that has created a culture that is really different than anything I'm used to in terms of secular/religious/cultural interactions and impact to daily life.

Most importantly to m though, it was really important to see something that is so important to so many people (Jerusalem) and have some in-person context for The Holy Land. I think its cliche to say that being there and talking with people that are actually living the conflict makes a huge difference. But it does. And, even more importantly I think that being there helped usher in new images to associate with Israel that aren't the ones constantly associated with the country in the media back home. I now have what I believe is a more real point of reference for the country and something to counter-balance the reports of instability.

Israel left me with a desire for more Israel, which I think is a great sign - and I see myself returning in the not-to-distant future. Anyways, I enjoyed myself -  it was a great combination of cultural experiences, nature experiences, nightlife experiences, and relaxing. Kind of amazing.

My Israeli Top Ten (12):

1. Hiking into the Makhtesh Ramon Crater - I hadn't done any hiking like this before in my life. But, making my way down to the center of the Mahktesh all alone in the middle of the day in the center of the Negev was unforgettable. The feeling of solitude and nature's grandeur was pretty epic. This is a highlight of the entire trip for sure.
2. Running up to the top of the Mount of Olives - I did this run on my last day in Jerusalem before heading to Hungary. I didn't want to accomplish much except run up to the top of the Mount and check out the view of the Dome on the Rock. Well, the run ended up being pretty demanding ( about 1 hour and 40 minutes with many long uphill climbs) and I got to see all kinds of neighborhoods I wouldn't have experienced otherwise. But, the highlight was definitely the view from the top of the Mount, overlooking the entire old city and having just worked hard to get myself up what felt like infinite stairs. It was special. Also special because it went undocumented, since I was running I had no phone or camera to capture this view.
3. The Western Wall during a special prayer service for Sukot - On the first day I was in Jerusalem I made my way down to the Western Wall and stumbled upon what I later found out was one of the largest and most important prayer services at the wall during the entire year (or so my tour guide told me). The important thing is that the entire plaza  was overrun with devout Jewish folks following the prayers of an apparently very high rabbi. The energy I felt during this service was incredible. It was truly moving, even though  I had no idea what these cats were saying.
4. Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv - This was something that could have been a pain to deal with but really just ended up being a highlight of the trip and helped provide some cultural context around the place for me. I got to shop with Israelis as they prepped for the shutting down of the city and I got to ride bike with kids all day on Saturday on the streets of Tel Aviv. These kids were running around like the owned the city able to ride on all the major arteries of the city (Allenby, Dizengoff, King George, etc)
5. Meeting Alexis' Israelis - It was great to meet Liron and Anat in Tel Aviv. They were great at showing us around and sharing some of their insights on the country and city and I truly enjoyed my time with both of them.
6. Floating in the Dead Sea - This is a thing I didn't think I would care all that much about, but man was it weird and fun.
7. Food - I ate very well in Israel, which is probably not surprising. But, it will go down as one of my top memories of the time there. I think the highlights were my Falafel at Hakosem, The Sabich from the Sabich stand on Frishman and Dizengoff, The Shakshuka at Didoo and of course our Arab Meal in Old Jaffa. (I actually might try to sneak in some more Sabich during my 12 hours in Tel Aviv next week.)
8. Strolling Divengoff - I loved this part of town where our apartment was and just taking in the neighborhood made me smile daily.
9. The Snake Trail climb to Masada - This got a little dicey. It was hot as heck (we decided to start climbing close to 8AM, when apparently the smart time to go UP is closer to five am or four thirty am). Anyways, it was crazy hot, and the hike was crazy intense. At some points, I think Alexis and I might have been concerned for our health. But I felt insane accomplishment making it to the top of the Mountain and the views out to the Dead Sea were tremendous.
10. My interrogation upon trying to leave the country to Hungary - Having to explain that i was coming back to Israel, to go to Jordan, but needed to leave to resolve my Indian Visa Problems in Croatia was not something the security personnel could understand.So this took a good forty minutes of chatting and trying not to freak out to resolve. (I got sent to a special line) (Travel Bonus Points: The dude I was talking to for about an hour or two before security and I were planning on having a post-security drink. He quickly distanced himself from me once this started: "I have no idea who this person is.")
11. Waiting in line for the Temple Mount with the very-not-accepting of other religions religious Jew - This guy was intense, and made me tremendously uncomfortable with his anti-muslim rhetoric and general strangeness. But, I do think it made me realize some very unpleasant realities regarding the distance that some folks have from being able to reconcile the difficult task of dividing up the Holy Land Real Estate.
12. Tel Aviv Beaches - I hung out at the beach a fair amount and I loved every minute of it. Aside from feeling a little less fit than acceptable for the Tel Aviv Beach Crowd, it was splendid.

The Israel Photo Stream: 

Be A New Orleanian Wherever You Are:

Amazing Falafel

First and Best Shakshuka

Carmel Market:

Arab Dinner in Old Jaffa:

Floating Away in The Dead Sea

Tel Aviv Beaches Sunset

Glorious Sabich

The Hike in The Makhtesh Ramon

I never got used to seeing all these kids with Assault weapons on public transport:

Great Head Gear @ The Western Wall

One of the many places that can apparently be called the first church in Christianity

Rooftop View of Dome on the Rock

The Tour Guide made me take this one:

Dome on the Rock

Mosaic of the World in Jerusalem

Final Sentiment:

Sweden: Herring for Breakfast, Sauna to Pass the Time and Connecting with New & Old Friends

It's been way too long since I've updated here - I think I've been having too much fun in Israel to really keep up with things, and I might have od'd on posting there with a barrage of content back when I was in Finland. Anyways, in an effort to stay current. I'm forcing myself to finish this Sweden entry before my shared Taxi leaves Jerusalem in 40 minutes. ON TO THE SWEDEN POST: Sweden was an excellent seven days. I actually can't believe that it was only seven days given how much it felt I connected with my New Swedish Friends and I re-connect with my Old Swedish Friends from Nicaragua.  Furthermore, I probably ate enough Herring for two weeks not one. But all-in-all, I think it's just a sign of a great experience that the time flew; but it feels in retrospect that I accomplished and experienced so much in that short burst of time.

I spent the first couple of days recovering in Stockholm from some terrible sleeps in Paris (remember the creeper in my dorm!?) and Dusseldorf. But I did manage to do a fair amount of walking through the city (and eating legit Swedish Meatballs @ Pelikan). In particular, I think the Djurgarden Island and park surrounding Skansen were a really amazing way to spend most of a day. After Stockholm, I proceeded south to Gothenburg to meet Anders and Mallin. Two amazing Swedes who took me in for five days and shared many excellent meals with me and showed me a little bit of Sweden that I couldn't have ever seen on my own. Pretty excellent to have locals host you, but much like Oostende, the level of effort that Anders and Mallin put in really increased my overall level of enjoyment of the time I was there - they showed me cool stuff and made me feel at home. Pretty amazing.

Adding to the fun in Gothenburg was that I got to re-connect with Emma and David, a brother and sister that Alexis and I met in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua a couple of years ago. We shared a great night of long conversation and many beers in Nica. I look back on that evening with a ton of fondness (the next morning, less so).  Hanging out with them again reminded me of exactly why we had such a splendid time back in Central America. I hope we get to do it again in the not to distant future - and hopefully Alexis can make an appearance. The three of us along with Mallin and Anders spent an evening grilling out in the park in Gothenburg and then hanging out at the apartment till the wee hours. Excellent stuff.

After Gothenburg, we went to a lake house near Karlstad, where we basically did nothing but sauna, grill, nap, jog, grill, snack, sauna for three days. AND IT WAS GLORIOUS. The lake is beautiful (check out the new header image for the blog- its sunset from the first night over the lake) and the company was fantastic. My first real sauna experience was incredible. I couldn't get enough. (Although when it was up to about 105 degrees Celsius, there were moments, that I could have had enough) Beyond that, the night sky above the lake was tremendous, like not many places I've seen given the little to no light pollution in the area. And of course, seeing the stars from that far north was a new experience for me. Swimming in the semi-freezing lake (for this tropical dude) after sauna is something I'll never forget and truly enjoyed. Amazing times.

After the lake house I hit up Stockholm again for it's photography gallery and a slight bit of exploring.

All-in-all, the Sweden leg was tremendous, rejuvenating, fun and special to me. Loved it. Reminded me how great people and new experiences are what its all about for me. Oh, and the weather was like perfection, apparently this is not common in September in Sweden (something Anders didn't mention in our communication before I decided to head there) but, I can't say how lucky I felt to have so many days of gorgeous weather. Good Stuff.

Here's the photo story of my time in Sweden:

The view from the Lake House near Karlstad

Me in Djurgarden

Beautiful Day in Stockholm during my walk through Djurgarden (apparently this is not common September weather in Sweden)

Guards at the Royal Palace in Stockholm (I was hoping he had to remain completely still like the ones in Buckingham Palace - but alas, he moved a whole bunch - That said I liked his outfit and booth!)

A great looking alley in the old city of Stockholm (Gamla Stan)

Saw this poster around town - not sure what it is about, but that guy does in fact look like he might be satan.

Protest during the Obama Visit (perfect timing on my behalf being there at the same time)

My first taste of pickled herring (LOVE)

Anders and the sign he used to find me at the train station, what you can't see is how he told me I'd know who he was - a t-shirt that said "Fuck it dude, let's go bowling," the first of many Big Lebowski moments throughout my time with Anders (including of course white russians)

:

Overlooking the Islands off the coast of Gothenburg, not the best lighting, but a beautiful place I needed to document

Me with Emma and David!

 

Some of the Grilling we did at the Lake House

Mallin, Anders and I before I headed back to Stockholm

What did the Italian say to the American and the Irishman in Paris?

I arrived in Paris after a somewhat terrible travel day - leaving Oostende was easy enough (aside from saying goodbye to my tremendous hosts), but there had been some trouble on the tracks in the South of Belgium so it created a bit of a clusterfuck in trying to get to Paris. It involved taking an extra bus between train stations and changing trains one more time than originally expected and arriving in Paris about 2 hours later than I had hoped. Further agitating my zen on this day, was that the trip involved the worst bacon cheeseburger known to man in Lille, France. I know what you're thinking, how the F can something with bacon and cheese be terrible. I agree, that's nonsense and contrary to at least thirteen articles I've read in Science and The New England Journal of Medicine. But, I'll further admit that this burger was purchased at a VERY chain-restaurant-looking Irish Pub which was the only eating establishment in the train station there. I know. I did it to myself. But, seriously, how did they fuck it up - not even the bacon tasted good. And there was terrible bread. I WAS IN FRANCE AND THE BREAD WAS TERRIBLE. OK, I didn't realize that this meal had impacted me so.

Anyways, moving on. Right, I'm in Paris. How was that?

Finding my hostel was also quite the adventure. I am admittedly not great at getting around in places, and I'm pretty bad at getting a feel for which direction is which. Moreover, I'm especially bad at being able to discern places I've only just experienced for the first time. So basically, I think all corners look similar and I kind of forget which direction I am pointed in about five seconds after orienting myself in that direction. Quality characteristics for this whole trip around the world thing, I KNOW.  But, one thing I'm tremendously great at is reading maps. I can with serious confidence point at maps and points on these maps and decide which direction on the map needs to be traveled to successfully accomplish the task of hitting up wherever I need to go. Well, I've come to realize that with those three characterics combined, I'm probably worse off than if I couldn't read a map. Because the second I read my map, I'm tremendously confident of the plan of attack, but since all new buildings and streets look the same to me and because I really can't remember or understand which cardinal direction I'm heading after starting to walk, I'm just a dude who's really convinced he's going somewhere that is aimlessly wandering.

And so it went upon my arrival in the Bellevue neighborhood where my hostel was located. I had read that this hostel was potentially difficult to get to, but I had confidence in my map reading capabilities. That confidence was misplaced. I walked around aimlessly and asking Parisians about how to get to my hostel for about an hour. WITH ALL MY STUFF STRAPPED TO MY BODY. Turns out I'm carrying around 31 Kilos, which I think is like 68 pounds. Which actually didn't sound like too much to me before I've been having to carry it around all the time in three bags, my primary one being a non-trekking backpack that really isn't designed to be easy on the back and shoulders when carried as a backpack. The other two also just don't really fit comfortably on my shoulders when carrying the big duffel as a backpack. Long story long, I walked around with my awkward collection of not very functional luggage strapped to me for an hour but finally found the hostel. The first words out of the kiwi reception lady: "Can I offer you a glass of water, you look like you need it." Indeed, woman, indeed. I was drenched and looking pretty uncomfortable, and really the only thoughts in my head were: I hope I'm not on the fifth floor of a walk-up and god is it time for a beer yet.

Anyways, it worked out and I wasn't on the fifth floor, and there was no one in my room for the night yet. This I thought was a huge score (I had flashes of my time alone in the dorm in Brussels - this was not how it turned out, more on the roomie situation later). I cleaned up and hit the courtyard for a beer.

Within seconds I met Giovanni, an Italian guy living in Poland for work and actually in Paris for work as well, but staying at a hostel because he can't fathom being in a flat or hotel for over an entire week. "I'm Italian, I come from a huge family, If there aren't ten people in the room when I go to sleep, I feel lonely." Dude was full of these types of Gio-philosphy that I found hilarious and fun. We quickly were hitting it off and another hostel mate joined us. James from Belfast. Another great guy who ended up being a great companion for a weekend in Paris. Turns out the best language for all of us to understand each other in was Spanish, which I could not have been more amused by.

The three of us sat around drank beers, chatted and just enjoyed hanging out for a while then we went out to explore our neighborhood and get some grub. We stumbled upon a street that was lined with cafes bursting at the seams with Parisians. It was great there were NOT a lot of tourists were around. And we sat at Trippette and proceeded to have an excellent meal (I tried steak tartar from Giovanni's plate and hated it but, he seemed to love it) We joined a table of young french folks out for drinks on a Friday night.

My Dinner at Tripette:

We ended up staying at this cafe till closing time and got to chat with the locals a ton and really just have fun getting to know one another. It was one of my favorite nights out in memory. It ended pretty late with some dancing to rather good techno music. (Random aside: Giovanni had just come from four days at "the techno festival" - i never got clarity on which one or where, but I think many of his maxims and interesting stories started out with, "when at the techno festival, [insert life lesson in a great Italian accent here] - amusing.).

Saturday I woke up too early for being out till four am and hit up a GREAT street art tour. Turns out the neighborhood I was staying in was actually the epicenter for street art in Paris. It ended up being a great way to spend the day and I loved it. I snagged some cool pics with the good camera to be shared later. Saturday night I hung out with Giovanni and James a bit at the hostel and then headed down to the center to check out the tour at night (I Know, I Know - pretty touristy, but it's cool, terrible light show and al) Then hit up the Latin Quarter and basically walked for three hours. Tremendous good fun.

Saturday night I returned to the hostel room to find my really strange dorm mate in the same position she had been in early afternoon and the night before at four am. This woman was one weird cat. It was clear to me upon retiring to the dorm room that she hadn't left the room in well over 36 hours. Beyond that, in the afternoon she had monopolized the bathroom for about 4 hours. And every time I came back to the room to see if I could get in there. All I could here was either the shower being turned off and on repeatedly or the toilet being flushed incessantly. Over, and over, and over again. Then, when she was sitting not the bed not doing anything other than staring at the wall, she would scratch her skin in strange ways, blow on that patch of skin, and then rub it with her hand. She did this for hours. And all over her arms. Just on and on and on again. I'm convinced now she had some form of OCD but, although I really felt sorry for her, I couldn't help but be TREMENDOUSLY uncomfortable sharing space with her.  There was another girl in our room from Argentina and she also was creeped out, and informed me that the scratching woman had asked her for money twice. Disturbing. Oh and she slept on newspapers spread out on top of the sheets provided by the hostel.

Inspite of the strangeness going on in my room, Sunday was an amazing day of travel in Paris. Giovanni, James and I went to the museum of modern art in the morning (the louvre line was about 3 hours at 9:15AM). This was a ton of fun, as Giovanni has a ton of opinions about art and is kind of amusing to just hear talk. So I think the three of us really enjoyed walking around checking out strange modern art and reacting to it. It was lots of fun. After that we checked out a market to buy some food for lunch. We had a delicious picnic of fresh breads and cheeses. Quite nice. Later that afternoon I went to Montmarte for the first time and fell completely in love. Next time in Paris, I'm definitely staying there and hanging out in that neighborhood more.

The later afternoon was spent at the Centre Pompidou. This was a blast - the building itself it tremendously strange with tubing running all over the exterior of it. It was pretty busy cause if was free on that Sunday. But still very enjoyable. I am decidedly a fan of contemporary art - it's just so much fun to wonder what the fuck these people are thinking when they make these things. Excellent way to spend some time. After that we returned to the hostel for happy hour with some other travelers which ended in some drinking and snacking in the park above Bellevue. Pretty great way to close my time in Paris.

Centre Pompidou:

Next day was a travel day to Dusseldorf and aside from some light worry I would miss my train, was pretty uneventful. Much like Oostende, Paris was unplanned but ended up being a highlight of the trip thus far. Too much fun was had.

It feels like I'm on a roll.

Some of my favorite pics from the street art tour:

Making New Friends in Oostende

This was definitely the highlight of the solo portion of the trip thus far. And it was all a happy little accident. I had been looking for a couch to surf in Brugge and had gotten pretty lucky with Eli. But the best thing that came out of looking for a place in Brugge was getting a note from Billy in Oostende saying they had room for me and that I should come surf for a couple of days. I hadn't really planned on going to the coast and I definitely knew nothing about Oostende. But, one read of Billy's profile and a recent couch surfing review had me convinced I would have a good time and meet excellent people. My expectations were met and exceeded tremendously.

Billy and Rob are a lovely couple who have been together for 13 years, and last year went to America and couch surfed through NYC, Baltimore, Philly, and DC. They enjoyed their surfing experiences and have been opening their home up for surfers since returning to Oostende.

I cannot not tell you how great their accommodations were and how much both Billy and Rob worked to make my time in Oostende fun, comfortable, authentic and delicious!

I got in with very low expectations given that I hadn't planned on going there and that I was meeting a couple of randoms that I was going to spend the next two days with. Well, from moment one I knew it was the right call for me. I loved the drive out to their neighborhood, which is like a ten minute drive from the city centre (maybe 20 or so minutes on the bike, which is what we used to get around mostly). The neighborhood looked like a place where normal people might live, and I loved that. I think having had been in mostly touristy places and huge city centers. It felt so welcoming to go to a place that seemed like it could belong to a family member or friend.

From the get go, I was extremely comfortable with both Billy and Rob, Billy has a little more free time than Rob, so he was more of my guide through Oostende during the days there than Rob, given that Rob was working to prepare for the start of the coming school year.

We spent that first day exploring the neighborhood by foot with Zeita (their really cool dog),and then Rob made a homemade Belgian dish for us for dinner (An endive and ham casserole - there was burnt crispy cheese involved!)

That night we went out for several delicious beers at their local beer bar, I was exposed to a bunch of Flemish beers I hadn't tried in Brussels and chatted with Billy and Rob about all kinds of things, to include Belgian politics and my various top pizza experiences in life. Great night!

Next day Billy and I spent the ENTIRE day on bikes exploring some of his favorite spots along the coast and throughout the town. We shared a pannini at the beach club with an amazing view of the ocean. We toured the neighboring towns by bike and drove our bikes up to but not through the nude beach a couple of towns over. It was one of my most fun travel days in the most simple but truly enjoyable way. This was a great guy showing me some of the coolest spots he's discovered in his home, totally perfect. Billy also is just one of the sweetest people on the planet, so spending so much time together chatting was really cool.

I think one of the best things about the experience was how much BIlly enjoys finding the beauty in almost all things, particularly architecture. So, he was constantly pointing out really interesting features of buildings or sculptures that were tremendously unique and beautiful. It seems silly, but this really added to my experience, making me notice and think more than I would have otherwise about the functionality and form of various stuff throughout the day.

Twas great.

That second night I helped prep some of the dinner that Rob would cook for us and it was so much fun to help out in the kitchen, there was a real sense of being part of the family as I washed endives and peeled mushrooms with Billy. And of course, it was just more quality time cracking jokes and connecting with my host.

In the end, I ended up changing my original plans to go to Paris on Thursday and stayed an extra night. Billy had said they've love it if I stayed and my initial reaction was OF COURSE. I was having a ball and Paris would still be there on Friday. Staying the extra day rocked. I got a great workout in, in the lovely and HUGE park down the street from their house. Did some trip planning caught up with some friends and then went out for Zeita walk and returned to the BEAUTIFUL and enchanting Mariah Hendrick park in the city center.

I couldn't have asked for a better three days. I think it was a real turning point in the trip, there was a level of comfort and zen-ness that I achieved in Oostende that hadn't really been around yet. So, I'm really thankful for the experience and my great hosts for helping to facilitate that.

I also think the seven miles of running while getting lost in the beautiful Belgian country-side didn't hurt, but the burppees I tried to do after those miles did. Side note:  I fear returning to my cross fit routine, I'm thinking I've set myself back some since leaving New Orleans.

In some ways the really simple things like using a bike to get around mostly, and cooking some, and being made to feel real welcome in Billy and Rob's home really were a rejuvenating experience. It might have also been the crazy delicious fries I had on my last night in Oostende. (Side-note: The Belgians fry up some meat mixture that is very comparable to a Cuban croquetta, it was kind of amazing).

I was sad to say good bye to Billy and Rob, but Paris beckoned, and I needed to give them back some of their space. All-in-all, Oostende was a huge win.

Some of my favorite pics in Oostende:

Loving life in Maria Hendrika Park

Oostende by Night

Billy and I out for beers

Billy and Rob's 2nd Car Kermit

Crossing on the ferry to the other side of town

Some of my favorite beers from Oostende

  

A reminder of New Orleans (Sadly no Abita or Po Boys)

Oostende was full of interesting sculpures, this one was right up on the coast and apparently kind of hated by those that lived behind it.

Endive and Ham Casserole from my first night, prepared by Rob

Brugge: Couch Surfing, Medieval Beauty, and Drinking with Australians

"In Bruges" is a movie I probably should have seen before ending up in Brugge. I remember trying to see it years ago, but passing out as I tend to do and never really finishing it. Anyways, I was asked no less than fifty times in two days about this film and about how its beautiful and fun, etc, etc. Anyways no I haven't seen the movie. Brugge was my first time couch surfing. And I was a little anxious about that. The small things that make your life easier about a hostel or hotel really became clear to me as I was on my way to Brugge. A-number-one, I didn't have a website to look to see where or how to get to Eli's place. I didn't have a name of a hotel to ask someone about if I got lost. Etc, etc.

Of course, Eli provided me with easy enough directions and I got to his place without incident. It was really easy and the concerns about getting there and how it would be to couch surf ended up being just that, only concerns (as it often is the case, actually,  always the case).

I think the thing I'll remember most about my couch surfing experience in Brugge is my initial reaction to two things. Firstly, the toilet was located OUTSIDE. It was a private little alley next to the kitchen, and you couldn't enter or leave through there or anything, but it was outside. I was like WTF, an out house? Additionally, I could tell instantly that I was deathly allergic to the attic in which I would be staying. I hadn't really even thought about that before looking into couches that I could stay on. But I learned that day.

Eli didn't have pets so it wasn't that kind of allergy, but it was a really old building and the attic was not finished and parts of it were open and so there was just a lot of stuff going on up there. Anyways, after carrying what I've decided is WAY too much shit up his tiny stair case to the attic I was pretty convinced that this couch surfing thing would be a very limited experiment on this trip. Thank god for the elephant strength allergy meds I brought along with me. :-D

So I went to Brugge because it's beautiful, and it didn't disappoint. The city is almost comically gorgeous, and it being famous for that combined with it being a bank holiday in the UK, meant LOTS of tourists. Specifically a type of loud and fat English person that made fart jokes loudly in small restaurants (this happened twice). It made things a little strange. But I enjoyed my time there.

I think my favorite  things that happened in Brugge are the following:

1. Climbing to the top of the Belfur: this was creepy as hell, it doesn't compare to the bell tower that I climbed in Sibieu in terms of sheer potential to kill me, this one was way sturdier. But it was a crazy intense climb and SUPER claustrophobic. But the view from the top was killer and I felt accomplished. After an hour and change in line for this I was happy I'd done it.
2. Drinking with Australian Chris: This was a lot of fun and unexpected. Chris is a teacher working in Italy leading bike tours and all around a super smart and fun drinking companion. I enjoyed the beers and conversation, perfect travel drinking night. Although, I presumed my time in New Orleans had prepared me to enter the world of Australian Travel Drinking again after some years away from the game. And really, it hasn't, I cried uncle twice and eventually had to just dart out to make it home at a reasonable hour.
3. Brugge at Night: It doesn't disappoint. It's gorgeous and romantic and creepy and less crowded. Really Beautiful.
4. Jerusalem Church:  A copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It was beautiful and totally weird to find in Belgium

Overall, great experience, glad it was only two days, and a decent introduction to couch surfing.

Some more photos:

My attic in Bruge

Delicious croque monsieur from De Stoepa

Epic Nutella/Banana Waffle From

Loved the sign for this restaurant

This is not a blog post about Brussels

Brussels was a much needed slow-paced easily digested in five days filled with some simple joys and a fair amount of rest. Italy had left me tuckered out, so I got to Brussels and quickly enjoyed the fact that I had some quality alone time in my 3-bed dorm room, as there were no other guests for the first couple of nights. Quite pleasant, particularly since I was planning on some R&R. I think the things that will standout to me about Brussels are its tri-lingualness and the beer. I don't think I have gotten lost in a city more often than in Brussels (there was that time in Amsterdam, but seriously all those streets look the same, but I was only there a few days, whereas one would think in the five days in Brussels I could have figured some of that out), I'm going to blame the street signs that had the street names in two languages, neither of which I understood.

Anyways, this made me think about living life in more than one language. Something my hometown can kind of relate to, although I would argue the average person back home isn't a master of both languages. The Belgian folks seems to own French, Dutch, English AND German. It's kind of shocking coming from such a mono-lingual country. Obviously, with the Belgian heritage being split between its Flemish and French influences, along with the need for English and the proximity to Germany and it being the capital of Europe. This all makes sense. But still, most American's struggle with the one language. Kind of Impressive.

I think my beer experience in Belgium is by far the most interest one I've had in the history of my beer drinking. (This is a long time)

There are zillions of beers to choose from and tons of information available about each of the breweries and various styles. And honestly, it's all a little overwhelming. The top beers that I had here are the following:

1. Cantillon Kriek (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/388/1632)
2. Orval Trappist Ale (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37/129)
3. Band of Brothers (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16320/81303)
4. Rulles Blonde (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4663/10026)
5. Westvleteren Trappist Ale ( http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/313/1545)

The best thing about beer tasting here is how serious everyone is about their recommendations and their thoughts about what you could like. Also, Belgian Beer culture is redid, Folks were having beers at all hours. Eight AM, 10 AM, 2PM, 2AM - it didn't matter people were drinking beer. Lovely.

Other Great Stuff from Brussels:

1. The Magritte Museum - I think the Magritte museum was one of my top travel museum experiences and has pushed me to learn a little more about art, and specifically surrealism, I kind of dug what those fuckers were saying. Actually, I just think Magritte was a really cool cat, love his approach to life, even though it seemed to have bordered on Nihilism. Magritte seemed to want to create things that were inherently conflicted and counter-intuitive (This is not a pipe) but then scoffed at the idea that someone would psycho-analyze what that all meant.
2. Yoga at Sampoorna Yoga Studio - I did a bunch of much-needed and centering yoga here. The instructors were excellent and I had the most chill time. It was all gravy. Except for one class when I went to after tasting quite a few Belgian Beers the night before; I think my body was like in toxin-ridding mode, and as such I was by far the sweatiest person in the class and possibly in the entirety of the city of Brussels. The instructor gave me a few "are you ok?" looks. Kinda embarrassing.
3. Drinking Afore-mentioned Beers at Moeder Lambik - I met a great couple currently residing in the UK, Emily and Burt. Emily happened to be a beer geek and led me on an excellent beer safari. She also wants to hire me for some clean energy thing she does. Who knows, but either way a great way to spend some time and great company to have during that time.
4. Mini-Europe - Strangest little tourist trap I've ever been to - 1/20 scale recreations of the top tourist attractions and cultural landmarks from the entire continent of Europe. It was actually a lot of fun to stomp through it, but not really the most authentic travel experience I've ever had. Mad-kitsch factor.
5. LOTS of Doner Kebap - I really couldn't stomach more frittes after the first couple of days. And I hadn't had Doner in ages, and wow was there LOTS of delicious doner had here. I got myself a nice little teaser for my time in the Middle East.
6. Weirdo Flea Market on the other side of the tracks - the flea market was like hipster heaven and I had to leave the centre to get down there and it felt like I was walking around with the people. BONUS - cool African cultural masks and whatnot stores all over this area that I got to explore after the fact.
7. Meal and Beer at the Greedy Glutton / Nuet Nigenough (Which kind of sounds like not enough) - i got here on a rainy afternoon and just sat and watched Brussels go by with a bunch of delicious cheeses, an amazing Broccoli Soup and probably the best frittes I'd eaten in Belgium up to this point. Pretty great.

From Brussels it was on to Brugge.

Other Brussels Fun:

Dude outside of my dorm room one random morning

First Taste of Frittes

Manneken Pis

Italy: On pizza, beauty, tension and ruins...

Losing your baggage is quite the experience, I'm sure its happened to tons of people but this was my first time and it was pretty terrible. I don't think I did myself any favors by arriving being a little under the weather and having had like a total of five minutes to pack and think about packing and even think about the trip before leaving Miami. I worked until Wednesday at like six pm, and still took a work call Thursday with a flight looming in the horizon of the evening. So, the reality was I was not in my zen place before leaving. And that is my bad. I guess in four months when I have more money than I would otherwise have had, I'll look back and feel good about that. Anyways, we had no stuff for three days. And really the stuff wasn't the problem.  It was the inability to do any planning, and kind of not being sure if you had to be on call for the potential delivery of your stuff, or just being on top of the luggage handlers to see if there was any new information. Net, net, I am glad it happened, I think I had to deal with some nonsense early on and rock my confidence, in order to get my head right for the real challenges that are coming my way (India, I'm looking at you!) That said, I'm not going to glamorize these days and be like best travel experience ever! Not exactly.

It all worked out and I've learned a little bit about how I would plan for travel in the future.

So what did we do while the bags were being found or re-lost or whatever was actually happening there? Well we ate a lot of pizza and walked around Naples with one sick Iggy and an increasingly irritable Montero-contingent of the party. Mission one was to find something delicious to eat. And I think we did a pretty excellent job at that. Our Airbnb hosts glowingly endorsed a place around the corner called Pizzeria Oliva and we were not disappointed. So that was pretty excellent. Mission two was to get some clean drawers. This was more of a hurdle than one would suspect, there ended up being a flea-market type thing on the corner of the neighborhood we were staying where we were able to find some of the least comfortable tightest underwear I've ever had the displeasure of wearing. BUT, they were in fact clean. So that was good. Day two in Napoli was spent trying to find complementary clothes that could be worn while our luggage was re-lost, never found, etc.

All I wanted was a pair of shorts. This apparently was too tall an order. Not one place in the whole of Naples was still selling shorts. IT WAS NINETY DEGREES out. Which is wild to me. And just felt oh-so-un-American. I have money and a desire. How could I not get what we wanted or expected. Simple, silly American, in August we sell for the Fall. FML. So, on the clearance rack at the Adidas on via dei Umberto 1 there was one pair of shorts that were probably two sizes too big for me. But purchased they were, and worn they got. Phil on the other hand could not find anything that fit EXCEPT at the rock-bottom price of 120 euro in some deisgner boutique. Did I mention this all took about seven hours, and that I was clammy from my cold/flu/itis/contagion-virus and wearing the afore-mentioned suffocating Italian underwear (size XL, which might be a size S in the states). So this did not have any of us too please. All the while receiving no information about our baggage.

So the next day we thought we'd start our real tour of Napoli - other than the pizza, by which on the second day we were three stops deep on the tour. We slept in thankfully and got on a tour bus, about an hour in we received the news (well I called and tried to speak to a human at FCO for about an hour while on the tour to get the news) that our bags would be arriving back at FCO at five pm that day. They would deliver then after that. I asked: "When should we expect them in Napoli?" Lost Baggage Dudette: "Maybe three days time." (In a cheery voice)

So, we drove back to Roma and retrieved our luggage. I won't get into it , but there was a momentary scare where I could not see our bags in the lost luggage room. It was terrifying. Peggy had to sniff a bunch of anti-bacterial lotion just to make it through those tense moments.

So, that was that.

What have been the highlights thus far:

1. Quality time with Peggy and Phillip - I said this the last time we were in Italy and when we did our California road trip. But, its trip like these that really make me happy to have people like them in my life. Also, we should do more stuff together back home. Just, lovely.
2. Renting a Boat on the Amalfi Coast - This was pure bliss. I could not think of a better way to spend four hours
3. Pizza in Naples - I came here for the best pizza I'd ever had. I was not disappointed. Chewy, burnt, thin, amazing tomatoes, and the best buffala mozz I'd ever tried. True Perfection.
4. Wandering around and jogging in Roma - this continues to be a city that brings me joy in unexpected ways, I just love being here, and jogging in the centro storico or Villa Borhese just can't be topped. Unless it was shared.
5. The drive to Sorrento - this is not a drive for the faint of heart, or for those looking to get someplace quick in August. It was congested and it was slow and it was kinda scary. But, lord, it was beautiful
6. Dinner at Il Buco - Amazing service. The best scallops I'd ever had, and a bread basket for days.  Yes, please.
7. Hiking to Capri-town with Phil - This was an unexpected grueling workout in the peak of the day's heat. But when we got there. We were sweaty and accomplished. Also, we got to be kind of alone in Capri, which otherwise would have been pretty difficult.
8. Blue Grotto - Again, Capri is oversold and full of tourist. But, this experience was like nothing I'd done before. Well worth the wait and super weird, and of course bursting with Italian flair/culture/character personified by our boat operators.
9. Pompeii - Pretty epic. It could use some improved signage. But seeing frescos of ancient Romans doing it, made over 2000 years ago. Don't mind if I do. Also hearing the Italian tour guides having to mis-pronounce "Double Phallus" and make innuendo / double entendres in their thick accents was maybe some of the funniest shit I've ever heard.
10. The safety warning on the ferry to Capri - There was an entire section of the overview that dealt with how women should handle an emergency if they were wearing HIGH HEELs. I can only presume this is something that is only concern for beach bound or hike bound tourists in Italy. Kind of hilarious.

I left my family at the airport in Roma yesterday and put the pin on the Italy portion of the journey - It was a great time, I turned 32, and I ate my face off. I faced some travel inconveniences. But, I'm still here on the other side, excited about what the world is going to bring me over the course of the next 8 months.

Ciao.

Some parting images:

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