Well here it goes, the attempt to post a summary of my travels so far. It has only been 10 days, yet much has happened. My preconceived notions and I started the trip in Frankfurt, Germany. A 08:18* train to Vienna. 7 hours to sit and anticipate the adventures that were immediatly before me. The train ride passed quickly enough. Listening to music and reading passed the time tolerably.

Vienna passed in a blur. We were only there for 2 days and in our inexperience we blitzed through it the first day. We left nothing exciting for the second day and spent it sitting around waiting for our bus to leave.

Next step and 3 hour bus ride to Budapest. A little wiser we disscussed our options for seeing the city to spread it out over the 3.5 days we were there. The feel of Budapest as a city is very cool. A bit run down and sort of rough around the edges. We spent some time just wandering and taking photos. My brother bought a new SLR camera in Hong Kong before he came to Europe so of course we are playing with that. We got many amazing night shots over 2 nights. On our last afternoon we decided to check out a teehouse that had been recomended by our Hostel staff. It was probably the most amazing teehouse I have ever been to or ever will go to. It was set out like a treehouse with different level platforms and cushions to sit or lounge on. I had an amazing pot of rooi chai tea.

Next stop, Pecs. Don't even try and pronounce it, you'll be way off. It is located in southern Hungary. We scheduled 3 nights and 2 days here. It is a small city, kind of inbetween a small town and a city. Quite nice but nothing too special. We wandered around taking pictures and did a hike to a hill with a TV tower on it. It was good to get out of the city and be walking on something other than concrete or cobblestones.

Our second day we went out to a small wine town in the area to do wine tasting. Noone spoke english and a few could speak some German. We found that once we were out of Budapest we used German more than English. The trouble is I am not fluent and neither are they. So it can be hard to communicate.

Now the attempt to leave the Pecs and get to Zagreb, Croatia, is where things got a bit interesting. I looked online to see when a train is leaving for Zagreb and see there is one at 12:40. So we plan for that and pack up and go early to the station to have some buffer time. We have found things are signed wrong or nto at all half the time. The lady at the ticket counter tells us first of all that there is no train at that time. Then seems to change it to no you can't take it. It was apparently too slow or something. Well finally we decided to wait and took the 16:00 one. So more sitting around waiting. We left our stuff at the hostel and then when it was time to get it the guy had gone out and was late returning. So we almost ran to the station, which is a good 20 min walk away. So made the train. Sat for 3 hours in a smoke filled train car the belonged in the 70's. Got off at the right station to change at the border and waited an hour. We got through passport control with little trouble, besides the fact that they stared at my passport for a full 3 minutes and looked suspiciously at my German Visa. Then we got on the train which was marked Zagreb. This confused us as we thought we had to change at another station in a short time. So we decided to stay on the train. This was a mistake as the train we were on did not leave the station for about 30 minutes. It did take us to Zagreb, just took longer.

So now I am in Croatia. We shall see what it is like here.


*24 hour time will be used.

A small view of why football (soccer) is so popular in Europe has been granted to me. Since the beginning of Euro 2008 I have gone to watch the German football team play. Ironically enough the place I go to is an Australian pub. The cheering and jeering is mixed with chants of Deutsch-land! Deutsch-land! I have caught myself getting into the spirit of the competition. My groan of despair intermingles with the others or my smile stretches to the limit when the Germans put the ball in the opposing teams net. I have to smile secretly to myself while squeezing through the throng of singing Germans at the end of the game as I unlock my bike to go home. I am reminded constantly on the way home of the outcome of the game with cars honking and people parading singing up the streets. Even in the comparative quiet of my room the noise reaches me.

Two days into a trip in or around the Rhine valley in Germany have given me some new insights and adventures. This has so far been a much needed trip. The freedom of a car has allowed us to get out of the cities and explore some of the countryside. The 45 minute walk through the forest that ends in a gigantic castle or simply sitting on a tree stump to watch the sunset. In some ways so familiar and in others completely foreign. One turn of the path and it seems to me I am in Canada just hiking through the forest then the path reveals behind the bend a great wall of stone making up part of a castle that has been standing since before any Europeans set foot on Canadian soil and it hits me that what I once thought of as strange and exciting is now reasonable normal.

As I was taking a picture of my friend when I happened to step with sandaled feet into a patch of stinging nettles. The burning itch was one that I am well acquainted with from my childhood. I can go half way around the world but some things will never change. I never look close enough to the plants I am waling through to be able to avoid the nettles!

This chance to get out of the city has impressed on me how much I miss Canada sometimes and the freedom I experience there but to also reassure me that though I am so far away and may not completely understand the culture and language I am in, there is much that is the same and that I can appreciate. This is my life now and I am going to experience it one hundred percent.

The relaxing days of wandering through somewhat over done tourist towns to eating a picnic lunch and having a good chat with a friend are a nice change from the constant concrete and glass that I am surround with in the big city. The open fields that appear suddenly after climbing up fifteen percent grade hills or trees that create a world all of their own with the muted light dancing through the leaves. Wandering through the small towns and having people greet us with a hello. Trying to make myself understood to the friendly ladies who run bed and breakfasts and speak almost no english. These experiences contrast sharply with those in the city and make me appreciate them all the more.