Not Wasting A Minute

From Where We Left Off...

schmodude — Wed, 9 Nov 2016 13:13:00 GMT

About two years have passed from where we left off and much has happened. My last post had me running through the morning grind from my friend’s place in Wilhelmsburg to the airport back to the US. I left saying I would be traveling the US on my return and do some new posts at that time. I held up half of that promise. The traveling did happen, but I didn’t write anything about it until now.

A few weeks after returning, I headed to the West (and faaaar West) Coast to catch up with some friends in San Diego and Hawaii. My time in San Diego was spent relaxing and exploring the town. It is a pretty nice place (Spoiler: I ended up move there a year later). Hawaii was awesome. I got to hang with my college buddy Hale and all his buddies from the base. We did a fair bit of hiking and even caught a UofH football game (they got crushed). I’m glad I got to take a few extra weeks and see those folks.

When I returned to Ohio, it was time to pour all of my knowledge and effort into a thesis for graduate school. The next five months consisted of grad school for 12-18 hours a day…every day, but I graduated and got to commiserate with some great friends along the way.

There was about a week of celebration time before I flew back out to San Diego to do apartment hunting. Remember that job offer I received while sitting at Matt’s couch at his Schonholzer Staβe apartment eating pizza and drinking beer? Yes, the one from (Sept 15, 2014). Well, I accepted it with the stipulation that I get assigned to the San Diego office. My future roommate (a coworker from my time in Pittsburgh) happened to be in San Diego for work at the time. Together with our friendly real estate agent, we found a decent place to live (thanks Jessuh!). I moved on Independence Day weekend after several weeks training in Pittsburgh.

Since the move, trips to Tijuana, Vegas, Seattle (twice), Sequoia, Flagstaff, Denver, Montreal (Matt lives there now), and others have occurred, surgeries have happened, some friends have died, some friends (including my sister!) have married, some friends have been locked up, and other friends have decided to join me on my next trip. A hell of a lot has happened in the blank space between this post and the last.

Why am I even bothering posting again? It’s time for a new adventure with an old friend. Stevie, my long time friend (20+ years), and I are headed to Japan for a few weeks. We leave at the end of the week. If I have time during the trip, I plan on updating this site again (likely time delayed).

Back Home For Now

schmodude — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 23:50:00 GMT

I woke up around 6:30 and packed up all of my stuff. Everybody else in the apartment was still asleep when I left at 7:00. I sent a message to them on my way to the train station. It was best to let them sleep after being awake all weekend. I jumped on the train to the airport via the Hbf. It was absolutely PACKED because it was rush hour. I was squeezed up against the doors and fell out at every stop to let people off the train. After the switch at the Hbf it became a little more comfortable.

About the time I was getting through security at the airport, Simon woke up and we started messaging a little bit. I reminded him of the American breakfast leftovers in his fridge. My first flight was back to Copenhagen ( I was flying SAS). Then I went to Washington D.C. before my final flight to Columbus. I was glad to see my phone still worked when I hit the USA. My father picked me up from the airport and we went back to my parent’s house.

It was a fun trip and I am by no mean done travelling. In fact, I plan on travelling around the US in a few weeks.

I recommend travelling to anybody that asks.

After a few quick calculations here are some statistics from during my travels:

Walked over 1000 miles

Flew 12,749 miles (over halfway around the world!)

963 miles via bus

27 miles via boat

370 miles via rideshare

1,190 miles via train, streetcar and tram

Met up with 2 old friends and 4 family members

Visited 12 countries that spoke that spoke 14 different languages

Lowest Elevation of 21 feet below sea level (250 if tunnels are included)

Highest Latitude: 64N

It is time for me to relax and figure out where I am going to put all of the stuff I have (see post from August 11). More posts will be coming in a few weeks time

Below the Elbe

schmodude — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 23:47:00 GMT

I woke up in the morning to find out that Simon and Sarah were still out at the club. Steffen was around, so I hung out with him and talked about a few good electronic dj’s while he used his impressive dj setup to spin some tunes. I sent a text to Simon to let him know I was making breakfast and went off to start the French toast. Just as Steffen and I had finished eating a piece of French toast, Simon and Sarah got home. I threw a few more toasts in the skillet while they took a quick cat nap on the couch.

After breakfast, Simon, Sarah, Steffen and I went to the train station and rented a few bikes to go around the city. We took a nice ride around the old industrial part of Hamburg (I’ve been told it will all soon be nice new apartments) south of the Elbe. Then we arrived at the Old Elbe Tunnel (aka St. Pauli Elbtunnel) which was a tunnel for cars that went under the river Elbe. A giant elevator took vehicles down to the tunnel and back up. It connected the docks on one side of the river with the industrial sector on the south side of the river and was built in 1911. Nowadays, motor vehicle traffic is restricted to particular times of the day during the week. The remaining time is open to pedestrians. It was a really unique tunnel (check out some pictures on the internet). It was especially fun because we were on a boat on the Elbe the day before we cycled under the Elbe.

On the other side of the tunnel we rode up to Reeperbahn and grabbed a kebab from The Döner Company, rode through the Herbertstraße corridor and arrived at a park by the river (Park Fiction). We ate our döner and had a drink while we watched the river. It started to get dark and we decided it was time to head back and biking was probably not the best idea (Simon and Sarah still hadn’t slept much). We dropped the bikes at the S-bahn station and went back to the apartment. The rest of the night was spent hanging out and watching Sons of Anarchy.

On the Elbe

schmodude — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 23:44:00 GMT

In the morning I found Simon and Sarah still awake and watching Sons of Anarchy in the other room. I’ve decided young Germans do not sleep on the weekends. It was time for me to make American breakfast for the apartment, so Simon and I took inventory of what ingredients he had and went off to the store. I was going to make pancakes and French toast for the next two mornings. It was easy to find the basics like flour and sugar in the store. However, it is quite difficult to find maple syrup in Germany. We had to settle with “Canadian style sugar syrup” which was a little bit less maple flavored than I expected.

Back at the apartment I whipped up some bacon and pancakes while everybody got ready for the day. After being fueled up, Simon, Sarah and I headed into the city to the Hamburg Landungsbrücken to catch a ferry. We cruised along the Elbe River for a little over a half an hour until we arrived at Finkenwerder. The ferry was fun to see the bridges and parts of the city from the water. It was a nice day too!

From the dock we took a short bus ride to our destination, the Airbus factory in Finkenwerder. This is the facility where the final pieces of the plane are assembled and the aircraft is painted. Then they are flown from the on-site airport to ensure everything is working properly. Just on the side of the airfield is a lookout platform that is open to the public. We went and had a drink while we watched the facility operate from the platform. After some time, it started to rain a little (read: heavily), so we caught the bus back to the ferry and took the train back to Wilhelmsburg.

After dropping some things off at Simon’s, we went over to his friend Meik’s apartment. We had met the other night. We hung out with a bunch of his friends for a few hours. Our original purpose for visiting was to pick up a blanket for me to use while I slept, but it was fun to hang out with Simon’s friends. Also, I booked spontaneously booked my flight back home for Monday morning while sitting on Meik’s couch. We eventually left with a blanket in tow. At the train station back to Simon’s we grabbed a kebab and a few drinks for later. About an hour later, the people that were at Meik’s apartment came over and hung out. There was a popular DJ performing later in the night at the bar we were at on Friday. However, he did not start until 4 or 5 AM. I tried my hardest, but around 3:00 AM I was dozing off on the couch and told everybody to go on without me.

Once More for Hamburg

schmodude — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 23:05:00 GMT

Today I woke up and caught the shuttle bus to the Split airport. The airport is nice and it is very small. Instead of having a bus to take us from the terminal to the plane, they just had us walk out on the tarmac to the plane. My final destination was Hamburg to meet up with my friend Simon. However, my flights took me through Zurich and Cologne before getting to the airport in Hamburg. After arriving ahead of schedule, it took about an hour to receive my checked bag due to some problems with the ground crew. When I got my bag, I jumped onto a train to the hauptbahnhof where I transferred to get to the borough of Wilhelmsburg .

Simon and Sarah, Simon’s girlfriend, picked me up at the train station where we walked back to Simon’s apartment. There was a birthday party for Steffen, Simon’s roommate, happening back at the apartment. I got to relax and meet a lot of their friends. I had even bought a large beer at the train station to give to Steffen for his birthday.

Everything involving young people and fun in Germany continues until the next morning. Therefore, around one or two in the morning, the party changed locations to a club/bar between Reeperbahn and St. Pauli. The music was pretty good, and we stayed for an hour or so. Since it was a Friday, most people were getting tired from being at work in the morning. We left the club and after sitting by the river a little while took the train back to the apartment. At the apartment we hung out a little while until it was time to get some sleep.

A nice day to relax

schmodude — Thu, 9 Oct 2014 21:17:00 GMT

Today I woke up and went to the pharmacy in the morning to get something for my cough. Then I went for some breakfast bacon and eggs on the Riva with Cameron and Nicole. Afterward we went back to the hostel and played some chess while the stuff from the pharmacy kicked in. Cameron was feeling a little under the weather still and decided to hang out at the hostel while Nicole and I went exploring a bit more of the town. We stopped for some coffee and enjoyed the nice weather a while.

Next we went to the central bus station to check the time for Cameron and Nicole’s bus to Serbia and my shuttle bus to the airport. After figuring out then busses we went back to meet up with Cameron for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Figa, and it was delicious. All of the pasta they had was handmade. Even their roasted veggies were good. After dinner we went back to the hostel to hang out with everybody. Nicole and Cameron caught the night bus to Belgrade and I hung out with some Canadians at the hostel for the night.

Croatian Independence Day

schmodude — Wed, 8 Oct 2014 21:44:00 GMT

I had a nasty cough when I woke up this morning. I must have caught whatever Cameron had earlier. In the morning I tried to run down to the pharmacy for some cold medicine. That is how I found out the 8^th of October is a national holiday in Croatia (Croatian Independence Day) and everything that is not a café or tourist retail store is closed. I had to suck it up and make some tea back at the hostel. One of the hostel workers was nice enough to dip into the hostel supply of cough drops for me. Unfortunately only one remained so I had to enjoy it.

After Nicole and Cameron woke we went to a café called Mosquito for some coffee. Then we walked along the Riva by the sea. It was a nice day and people were out enjoying their day off. Up on a cliff by a large park was stumbled onto a very nice local pizza hangout. The pizza was some of the best I’ve had. Next we walked down toward the beach and had a drink by the water. It started to get a little chilly as the sun went down, so we went back to change. A few locals had suggested Rakija to us when they saw I was sick on the holiday, so we decided to give it a go. A local place called Ghetto did not live up to its name. The place was really nice with friendly people and a great spot to get a drink before dinner.

Our dinner was at a place called Fife (Pronounced Fi-Fa like the soccer organization). The food was great but came in large portions. Were we to go back again, we would have ordered one meal for the three of us. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped at Charlie’s Bar again. It was much nicer this time as it was less crowded and nobody was smoking inside. Then it was time to head back and sleep.

Climbing things in Split

schmodude — Tue, 7 Oct 2014 21:41:00 GMT

In the morning Nicole, Cameron and I went down to the Riva walkway by the sea and had some breakfast at a nice café. I had a large Greek salad that was nice and refreshing since I was wearing jeans in the warm sun. After eating we went to a street market so Cameron and I could buy shorts. Neither of us had brought any because we were in colder climates the whole time prior. I was able to negotiate my prices down quite a bit from the listed price on some shorts and sunglasses. It felt pretty good to get a better deal and it felt really good to change into shorts.

Next we climbed the St. Dominus’s Bell Tower in Old Town. It is the same bell tower we ate in front of the other night. Nicole and Cameron are both afraid of heights so it was a little extra fun to watch them climb the open air stairs to the top. The view was quite nice and gave a nice overview of the city. After climbing down we went to explore the basements of the palace. The place is huge. This basement runs under a lot of the old town and is larger than many other palaces. The TV series Game of Thrones shoots in it from time to time. After the basement we got some chocolates and climbed a large hill next to the city. It had an even better view of the whole city and makes sense why everybody had recommended it so highly. On the way back into town we stopped for some seafood at a decent restaurant. The calamari I had was excellent. At the hostel we all fell asleep sitting in the common room. The combination of the two climbs and the large meal knocked us out. By the time we woke, it was a little late to go do anything else in the city.

Gotta Split!

schmodude — Mon, 6 Oct 2014 21:29:00 GMT

I woke up for check out and some coffee this morning. It was time to head to the coastal city of Split. Cameron and Nicole were also headed to Split, so we meet up at the bus station and found our way. The bus ride was about 6 hours long, but went through some great scenery. Every time I woke up from napping, it was hard to sleep because I was staring out the window. We arrived in Split just at sunset and none of us had a hostel booked. Two Australians from the bus ride brought us over to where they were staying for the week. We poked our heads around for a few minutes before using the free wifi to book a different hostel down the road in Old Town.

Old Town is the old royal palace district in Split. It is the oldest remaining palace from the Roman Empire that remains in the world and it is incredible. The entire area sits right next to a promenade by the Mediterranean Sea. I knew nothing about Split before I arrived, but I’m glad I decided to go. Our hostel was hidden around some small twisting streets (single file alley where your arms scrape both walls). Everybody at the hostel was nice, but the place is pretty simple. After check in we went down to one of the many hidden squares in Old Town for a meal at the base of a bell tower.

After dinner we met up with some Irish and German travelers at the hostel and went to a local bar called Charlie’s Bar. It was small and cramped and filled with smoke. Not the biggest fan. It started to rain a little so we headed back to the hostel and chilled in the common room for the rest of the night.

Rakija in Zagreb

schmodude — Sun, 5 Oct 2014 21:27:00 GMT

Cameron was feeling little better in the morning and all three of use went back to the same square. There was an antique market happening because it was Sunday. So many vendors were selling things related to the rocky history of Croatia. It was a fun spot to browse for a bit. Then we went down toward the city center and found a sandwich at an outdoor restaurant while we planned the rest of our day. We decided to walk up to the viewpoint area again and look at an old church followed by a unique museum called “The Museum of Broken Relationships.” The church was cool, but the museum was sappy at some times. It is a museum I will not be seeing in any other city though.

Then we walked along the viewpoint wall and found a café for a drink to soak up the view. Since Cameron had not been around to try the Croatian drink of Rakija, we decided to take a short walk down the hill to my hostel and try it again. My favorite bartender, Barbara, was working all day again and hung out with us while we tried a few different flavors. Next we tried to go to a grocery store to cook dinner, but nothing is open on Sundays in Europe. Instead we settled for some food from a street bakery and went back to Cameron and Nicole’s hostel. We hung out with Igor for a little while before we started playing a card game called Gloom. It was fun but a little dark. Later I caught the last tram back to my hostel.

Exploring Zagreb

schmodude — Sat, 4 Oct 2014 21:15:00 GMT

I had ordered breakfast for my first morning at the hostel when I checked in. For it I got to try two HUGE Croatia spiral meat or veggie pie things called Börek. They were both great, but I could only eat one. I had to wake up a little early in order to catch the last few minutes of breakfast. The bartender (Barbara) was nice enough to keep it open for a few minutes longer just for me. Although being full I went and took a nap before showering and leaving the hostel.

Cameron was still sick and I was meeting Nicole at the restaurant from the night before to get some coffee. The square had turned into a food market since it was a Saturday and it was a nice spot to people watch while we planned the day. Using one of the placemat maps we decided to follow the recommendations. There were a few nice buildings and parks on the map that we visited on our way all the way out of the city to a large park. Our waiter had told us of a Croatian music festival happening that weekend featuring local music and activities. It was pretty cool. There were tents set up for all the different parts of Croatia and neighboring large cities such as Vienna and Budapest. We found our way to the Budapest tent for some goulash and sausage rolls while a local string quartet played some music. After a few hours we decided to take a bus back into the city. My hostel gave me a coupon for the hostel bar to get a free drink of the Croatian drink called Rakija, so we decided to go back and give it a try.

Barbara, the bartender, gave us both one on the house and joined us too! It is some interesting stuff that comes in all sorts of flavors. After hanging out with Barbara for a while, she told us to go climb the viewpoint down the way to see the city. We did and ate some popcorn while enjoying the great view. After a little more wandering we went back to the hostel for a drink and to thank Barbara. The Swanky Hostel’s hostel bar is very interestingly decorated. Since the entire hostel was an old textile factory, everything in the hostel has been reused. All the lights and tables were something else at some point in their life. It was fun to sit and look at everything. Better than most normal bars. After a while, it was time to get some sleep

Leaving Budapest for Zagreb

schmodude — Fri, 3 Oct 2014 21:12:00 GMT

I woke up this morning a little early to go buy train tickets to Croatia with Nicole. She and her friend, Cameron, happened to be travelling to Croatia on the same day, so we decided to travel together (there is only the one train to Croatia each day). I forgot how chilly it can be at 8:00 in the morning. I was not a fan. However, we did get our tickets booked for later in the day. After a little nap and packing up, all three of us went to a Thai restaurant. The chicken curry was good.

Next it was time for the long and awful train to Croatia. The train was a little old and had few amenities, but that wasn’t the issue. It was barely moving the entire time. People could probably run faster than this train at some points. Then at the border we were thoroughly inspected by customs officials. Luckily, the train stopped at the first city in Croatia and everybody had to change to a different train to Zagreb. The next train was normal train speed and much more comfortable. Comparatively, it was great! Of the 7 hour travel time, 4 were spent on the short journey from Budapest to the border, 1 at the border and 2 from the border all the way to Zagreb. It was very apparent that Eastern Europe had been severed from other parts of the world not too long ago.

We arrived in Zagreb and walked around town for a bit with our bags. I was staying at a different hostel than Nicole and Cameron because of availability during booking. Luckily, we accidentally walked by my hostel and I got to drop off my bags. Then all three of us went to dinner at a square down the street. The sandwiches at this shop were great and the menu for other times of the day looked even better. Our waiter was a younger guy and gave us all sorts of great suggestions to check out in Zagreb. The placemats at the restaurant were all different themed maps of Zagreb, so he just circled them for us to take. Next we went to drop off check in Cameron and Nicole. They were staying in a hostel a little bit farther in the suburbs, but it was really nice. The owner (Igor) is a great guy. Cameron was feeling a bit sick still, so Nicole and I left him to recover while we went out for a drink on our waiter’s recommendation. The pub was a small place with a large outdoor seating area and great prices. Next we went to check out the bar at my hostel, but unfortunately it was just after closing time. At that point, it was time for some sleep because the travel had done in everybody.

Boat Party!

schmodude — Thu, 2 Oct 2014 21:09:00 GMT

Today I woke up and chilled at the hostel while catching up on emails. I finally got to take a shower and wash off all of the cave dust from last night. Also, I made myself a nice egg breakfast at the hostel. In the afternoon Greyson and I found a hip food truck to have a local burger and beer--pretty tasty for the price.

A group of us (Greyson, Frank, Cameron and Nicole) decided to book a time to try an “Exit Room.” These are life size puzzle games where you are locked in a room and have and hours to use all the clues to escape. It was Alice in Wonderland themed and definitely worth the time. We made it out of the room with just under two minutes to spare. On the way back to the hostel we stopped at a craft brew shop called “Only Good Beer” that my friend Frank (from the train from the airport) had recommended. Frank is a really good judge of a city because all of his recommendations were spot on the mark. (Thanks Frank!)

Back at the hostel the event for the evening was a river boat party. The boat goes up and down the Danube with great view of all the historic buildings on the waterfront. Also everybody gets their own bottle of champagne to pop together on the boat. It was a fun time. After the river cruise, the boat docked up on an old converted warship. The boat had been turned into a music venue/club/bar on the different decks. It had better music than expected. After a while on the music boat I took a tram back to the hostel to catch some sleep.

Crawling around underground

schmodude — Wed, 1 Oct 2014 23:00:00 GMT

Today I woke up and figured out what my next country was going to be. I think it is Croatia. Then I played some chess with a different Alex from the hostel and arranged a time to go caving in the evening. There are some large caves in the hills of Buda that are difficult to get through with the tight spaces. A group of 8 of us from the hostel went to that in the evening. That took most of the time for the day and we got back to the hostel around 9:00 in the evening. We had to shake ourselves off and go to the event for the evening which was a local bar pub crawl. After the caving I didn’t drink much, but it was fun. The bars sold things from casks hanging from the ceiling and meters of beer. It was fun to watch people attempt drinking the entire meter without spilling it all over.

Baths

schmodude — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 22:54:00 GMT

Today I had to switch hostels to the Carpe Noctem (original) hostel down the street. It is much smaller (25 people) and doesn’t accept groups. It was recommended to me by my friend Peter (whom I met in Copenhagen). The hostel is at the top of a 5 floor walk up apartment building and after the beer bike, my legs were not happy about the stairs and my backpack. Most people were still asleep by the time I arrived, but I dropped my bags and made my way to City Park. I was meeting Dave and Shannon to go to the bath houses. The baths were in beautiful buildings (check it out on google for a good picture)

Most of the day was spent in the baths. On our way out we ran into the rest of the group from the beer bike in the baths. They had just woken up and were also a little sore. Everybody thought the baths were a good idea it seems. I headed back to my hostel and met the people there. I went to get some Hungarian food with Frank (Not the one from the flight) and Greyson from the hostel. The goulash and roasted duck we ate was delicious. There are mandatory events at this hostel to break the ice between all the solo travelers. Every single event has some sort of ridiculous factor to it. It was gender swap pub crawl night with our hostel and 3 sister hostels in town. So the guys had to dress as girls and girls as guys. It got pretty silly, but successfully broke the ice with everybody in the hostels. The entire night was pretty funny.

Biking Budapest

schmodude — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 22:50:00 GMT

I woke up in my hostel and was enjoying a cup of coffee in the hostel common room when a group of 4 Aussies walked into the hostel to check in. We stared at each other out of recognition from some point in the past couple weeks. It turns out these were the guys I was hanging out with in the hostel in Stockholm! We had a laugh about it and two of them plus Alex and I went to go see some sights around town.

We climbed up the Citadel in Buda and went to the castle. At the castle we paid for some tourist archery for a buck or two. Then we walked down around the river and looked at the parliament building before heading to the hostel. Checking in with the other guys we then went to get some early dinner at WC-43.

That night we were planning on doing a beer bicycle that could hold 14 people. I sent a message to my Canadian friends from Prague (Dave and Shannon) for them to join us since they were also in Budapest. 12 people from the hostel converged onto the meeting point at 6:00 for the beer bicycle. We searched for Dave and Shannon, but couldn’t find them and left the meeting place. About one block away we peddled past them and they ran to jump on the bike. Perfect timing! The beer bike was so much fun! We peddled all around the city looking at the sights and listening to music. There was even a disco ball and beer tap for everybody to use. Two hours of biking later our tour ended. Dave, Shannon and I went to a ruins bar while the others decided to go to the hostel’s open mic night. The ruin bar was pretty cool and shortly after exploring it I went back to the hostel.

Zurich and Budapest

schmodude — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 22:46:00 GMT

I woke up and checked out of my hostel before boarding a train back to Zurich. Since I didn’t get to spend much time Zurich the other day, I wanted to check it out more before my plane left. I’m glad I did. There were some great sights I had missed in Zurich. I climbed up to a park that is on top of old ramparts. I could see the town hall and parts of the river from the top.

Closer to my flight, I headed to the airport. In the duty free shop I bought a nice new Swiss army knife since I could not find mine before I moved out of Pittsburgh in August. After all of my delays from Prague I decided to fly Swiss Air to Budapest. The timing and service was prompt and friendly.

When I landed in Budapest, I met an American that is now a professor in Budapest and he helped me navigate my way through the metro and bus lines to the center of the city. Thanks Frank! I made my way to Carpe Noctem Vitae to check in for the evening. The hostel looked a little sketchy on the first floor due to some construction work. However, none of the construction involved the hostel since it is on the top two floors of the building only. The hostel was pretty fun. All of the staff goes by nicknames assigned by the other staff. One guy is called Tables, but he signs his name by drawing two little tables on the page. I met a guy checking in (Alex from New York) and we grabbed a burger and beer for dinner. Then the hostel took us to one of their sister hostels for the evening for some drinks and music. It was fun.

Lucerne

schmodude — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 22:41:00 GMT

I caught a train to Lucerne (Luzern) today. The landscape along the hour ride was filled with lakes and mountains. I got to the hostel and dropped off my bags before heading off to see the town. The lake was awesome and full of sailboats. I sat on a bench by the lake for almost an hour before following the trail around the lake. Then I wandered around the city a bit more. It is not a very large place, so I saw most of the city in a few hours. I stopped by the Dying Lion Monument and the Lucerne water tower during my walks. I turned in fairly early as it started to drip rain a little.

Delayed Travels

schmodude — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 22:12:00 GMT

I enjoyed the nice breakfast again and then I caught a bus to the airport. My flight to Zurich bounced my through Hamburg on the way. My first flight was delayed. Also my second flight was delayed. It wasn’t enjoyable. I finally arrived in Zurich around 9:30 at night (9 hours of travel for those counting). I checked into my hostel and explored the city a little before finding something cheap to eat. The cheapest I could get was a $9 kebab from a street vendor. Good thing I’m only in Switzerland for two days!

Sight-Sleeping

schmodude — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 22:06:00 GMT

I woke up at 6:15 this morning to go sightseeing. Last night I told Dave and Shannon of my plan to wake up early and catch some of the more crowded sections of town while they were empty and the sun was coming up. They decided to join and I was a little surprised to see them in the lobby at 6:30 to catch the tram with me. We made our way to Charles Bridge (the one with all the statues on it) just after sunrise. It was empty and we got to see anything we wanted. The same went for the Old Town Hall and a few various market squares. In under two hours we saw all the major sights and were on a tram back to the hostel. Dave and I realized breakfast had just started and went to eat while Shannon left to get some sleep.

Breakfast did not go so well. It mostly consisted of Dave and I staring at our coffee and not saying anything out of tiredness. An hour or two later the coffee hadn’t helped so it was time to get a nice nap. That helped quite a bit. I hung around the hostel for a little bit until the hostel trivia night started. It was fun and full of wacky questions. We played some cards after trivia. Then I got some sleep.