Fuckin too much has happened to do justice to it, but we saw Rome and frankly Barcelona is cooler and more laid back, despite the fact that more Italians spoke English to us.
The Colloseum, Vatican and Ancient CIty were predictably awesome, including the Sistine Chapel and a huge collection of art and sculptures from the founding of the Roman empire and before.
Pompei was also cool, although my taking a dump at the bathroom there was possibly the worst public restroom experience of my life (no toilet seat, nothing to hold on to, no soap...)
These tiny sentences of course do no justice to the majesty of any of it, and that is something that some of you may just have to wait until I type up my complete journals, which have been keeping track of all day to day activities.
I unfortunately left my camera with Justine when we parted ways (another interesting story), so I have no pictures of the beautiful boat ride from Brindisi to Athens, or all the wild and crazy people I met (i have the e-mails to prove it though, and all I can say is...damn, I love making friends in foreigin countries).
And now I am in Athens at my hostel Hotel Lozanni, which you can find on google earth by simply putting in its address, which you can also find by googling because I have somebody waiting to use the computer so I must go!
Kalinichta,
Jadon
P.S. There are several pidgeons whom I am sure I could punch did I feel like it.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Barcelona to Rome
Our final train ride to Barcelona took us on our first night train (we just got off our second this morning arriving in Rome) and it was an interesting experience. We met more awesome people who helped us with language and told us a little about themselves and their and others' culture, including Diego from Austria (Ich gesprecht Deutsch mit er), Fareed from Dubai originally from Iran (who genuinely loves the United States more than I do and speaks better English than many Americans) and one of Justine's cabin mates who helped us with our French as the train went through France to reach Barcelona.
Arriving there, wescorned our packrat mentality after dragging our unnecessarily overpacked luggage across Barcelona to her hotel (we eventually called a cab when we were very close, the cab driver refused our attempts to pay him; he was the first of two awesome cab drivers we met, the second of which brought back my guitar that was left in the backseat).
The good news is the hotel was full, and she got upgraded to a four-star hotel with a pool on the roof, where I met girls from Australia whom I partied with the following night, along with New Zealanders and Norwegians (I had a great conversation with the Norwegians, and jammed with one of the New Zealanders who proceeded to rap over a "Hotel California"-like riff he taught me...
It was possibly more gangster than a large percentage of the shit I have heard coming from actual gangsters.
Anyway, among the things we did and ate in Spain:
Swam in the Mediterranean (narrowly avoided jellyfish!)
Met a guy at the beach who invited us to go to Egypt with him; I might do it, he is a cool guy from California who has a Business degree but is opting to see the world and occupy himself doing things like teaching scuba-diving to tourists in Guam (he assured us the jellyfish in the Mediterranean are harmless and it is the ones you can't see you need to worry about).
Saw a good portion of nicely rounded and toned naked female upper bnodies on display at the beach, although sadly the majority had their tops on
Saw the Arc de Triumph
Explored a museum complex including a geology, zoology and murder investigation museum, the last of which invites you to investigate a murder that has been set up for the purpose of your analysis using all sorts of forensic tools to identify the culprit (Justine and I were both wrong, although I still maintain that my chosen suspect had the largest motive).
Ate Pizza that used a mild salsa instead of tomato paste with mozzarrella and green olives; delicious!
Ate Salmon and squid rings at a boardwalk restaraunt after our last trip to the Mediterranean
Saw a giant phallic building that was lit up in blue and red
Ran through a torrential downpour with thunder crashing and lightning flashing to get to the foot of that building, which unfortunately was not open to tourists (I was hoping we could get drinks!)
We instead ordered French Fries and "Uno Cerveza" at a tiny little bar near our hotel which had a jukebox that we played Frank Sinatra, the Beatles and Jethro Tull on, respectively
Accidenttally ran into a Harley Davidson festival near the Expo Center and at the foot of Barcelona's gorgeous historic art museum which rises like a palace on the hill above the center
---
And after riding four trains at about four hours each (seven hours and forty-five minutes for the night train which we departed this morning) we are now in Rome.
We met interesting people on these trains as well; I met a couple Danish girls who gave me some useful information on what to see in Denmark and a couple of Italian gentlemen, one of whom taught us a little Italian using Deutsch, since it was the only language either of us understood very well.
We got very lucky on the train in between these two, which required reservations that we didn't have!
---
Rome is Beautiful, to no one's surprise I am sure. Today we saw the colloseum, which I toured then played my guitar in ode to a few of the tragedies and heros I imagined thye games spawned (Justine got me on video singing about a hippo; this relates to the Colloseum because Hippos were sometimes brought in for men to fight!). After touring the colloseum Justine bought twenty postcard for €1 and we walked around the old town and the ruins some more, including the former residence of Augustus.
And now, we will eat Dinner at a nearby African restaurant! My stomach has been a little irritated the last couple days, so I am going to try and stick to vegetables for tonight.
arrivederci, au revoir, adios, tschuss and Good bye!
Arriving there, wescorned our packrat mentality after dragging our unnecessarily overpacked luggage across Barcelona to her hotel (we eventually called a cab when we were very close, the cab driver refused our attempts to pay him; he was the first of two awesome cab drivers we met, the second of which brought back my guitar that was left in the backseat).
The good news is the hotel was full, and she got upgraded to a four-star hotel with a pool on the roof, where I met girls from Australia whom I partied with the following night, along with New Zealanders and Norwegians (I had a great conversation with the Norwegians, and jammed with one of the New Zealanders who proceeded to rap over a "Hotel California"-like riff he taught me...
It was possibly more gangster than a large percentage of the shit I have heard coming from actual gangsters.
Anyway, among the things we did and ate in Spain:
Swam in the Mediterranean (narrowly avoided jellyfish!)
Met a guy at the beach who invited us to go to Egypt with him; I might do it, he is a cool guy from California who has a Business degree but is opting to see the world and occupy himself doing things like teaching scuba-diving to tourists in Guam (he assured us the jellyfish in the Mediterranean are harmless and it is the ones you can't see you need to worry about).
Saw a good portion of nicely rounded and toned naked female upper bnodies on display at the beach, although sadly the majority had their tops on
Saw the Arc de Triumph
Explored a museum complex including a geology, zoology and murder investigation museum, the last of which invites you to investigate a murder that has been set up for the purpose of your analysis using all sorts of forensic tools to identify the culprit (Justine and I were both wrong, although I still maintain that my chosen suspect had the largest motive).
Ate Pizza that used a mild salsa instead of tomato paste with mozzarrella and green olives; delicious!
Ate Salmon and squid rings at a boardwalk restaraunt after our last trip to the Mediterranean
Saw a giant phallic building that was lit up in blue and red
Ran through a torrential downpour with thunder crashing and lightning flashing to get to the foot of that building, which unfortunately was not open to tourists (I was hoping we could get drinks!)
We instead ordered French Fries and "Uno Cerveza" at a tiny little bar near our hotel which had a jukebox that we played Frank Sinatra, the Beatles and Jethro Tull on, respectively
Accidenttally ran into a Harley Davidson festival near the Expo Center and at the foot of Barcelona's gorgeous historic art museum which rises like a palace on the hill above the center
---
And after riding four trains at about four hours each (seven hours and forty-five minutes for the night train which we departed this morning) we are now in Rome.
We met interesting people on these trains as well; I met a couple Danish girls who gave me some useful information on what to see in Denmark and a couple of Italian gentlemen, one of whom taught us a little Italian using Deutsch, since it was the only language either of us understood very well.
We got very lucky on the train in between these two, which required reservations that we didn't have!
---
Rome is Beautiful, to no one's surprise I am sure. Today we saw the colloseum, which I toured then played my guitar in ode to a few of the tragedies and heros I imagined thye games spawned (Justine got me on video singing about a hippo; this relates to the Colloseum because Hippos were sometimes brought in for men to fight!). After touring the colloseum Justine bought twenty postcard for €1 and we walked around the old town and the ruins some more, including the former residence of Augustus.
And now, we will eat Dinner at a nearby African restaurant! My stomach has been a little irritated the last couple days, so I am going to try and stick to vegetables for tonight.
arrivederci, au revoir, adios, tschuss and Good bye!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Cheap internet means I will come back and upload photos when I can!
only 1 Euro an hour at this little Asian/Spanish owned internet hub, compared to 2 Euro for an hour at the train station in Hannover and 2 Euro for ten minutes at the hotel!
But right now I have other things on my mind, like shipping home a good portion of this stuff that my packrat materialistic mind so naively insisted on bringing!
A quick update *PART1
Took the train from Deutschland to Switzerland, Switzerland trough France and Spain to Barcelona on the southeast coast. Could not have made the trains and accomplished all that I accomplished without the help of all the people I met, and a little luck!
After our four hour train ride to the edge of Germany to go to Switzerland, our train was late so we were not able to make our next train, but because of the help of a very nice German and another very nice Swiss lady, we were abe to find the necessary schedules to take another train to our night train, which we COULD NOT MISS, and we made it with ten minutes to spare because of their help!
Before getting on this connectin train to the night train, I decided to get my Eurorail pass validated since I neglected to do it previously (I didn't realize Eurorail needed to be validated, let alone in person), but to my chagrin found that there was a DMV/like number system, and there was no way I would make my train.
Again, I was helped twice by very nice people--the first time I was given a ticket that was two far away, but I was later given another ticket that just in the nick of time got my pass validated! This was a very good thing, because while the first ticket checker on the train from Hannover did not check to see if my pass was validated (while I very carefully projected an energy of inoccuousness and a right to be there) the second one did, and I would have been forced to buy another ticket had it not been validated.
Met a very interesting young guy on the train to Switzerland who was originally from Italy and actually tooks some notes on his account of Italy's history. Interesting quote//politicians can be "bought for a bag of spaghetti." Another Italian on the train heard this conversation and became very offeneded, and they started arguing in Italian, but the guy on the train said that he was "From Northern Italy" where what he was referring to is less ubiquitous.
But right now I have other things on my mind, like shipping home a good portion of this stuff that my packrat materialistic mind so naively insisted on bringing!
A quick update *PART1
Took the train from Deutschland to Switzerland, Switzerland trough France and Spain to Barcelona on the southeast coast. Could not have made the trains and accomplished all that I accomplished without the help of all the people I met, and a little luck!
After our four hour train ride to the edge of Germany to go to Switzerland, our train was late so we were not able to make our next train, but because of the help of a very nice German and another very nice Swiss lady, we were abe to find the necessary schedules to take another train to our night train, which we COULD NOT MISS, and we made it with ten minutes to spare because of their help!
Before getting on this connectin train to the night train, I decided to get my Eurorail pass validated since I neglected to do it previously (I didn't realize Eurorail needed to be validated, let alone in person), but to my chagrin found that there was a DMV/like number system, and there was no way I would make my train.
Again, I was helped twice by very nice people--the first time I was given a ticket that was two far away, but I was later given another ticket that just in the nick of time got my pass validated! This was a very good thing, because while the first ticket checker on the train from Hannover did not check to see if my pass was validated (while I very carefully projected an energy of inoccuousness and a right to be there) the second one did, and I would have been forced to buy another ticket had it not been validated.
Met a very interesting young guy on the train to Switzerland who was originally from Italy and actually tooks some notes on his account of Italy's history. Interesting quote//politicians can be "bought for a bag of spaghetti." Another Italian on the train heard this conversation and became very offeneded, and they started arguing in Italian, but the guy on the train said that he was "From Northern Italy" where what he was referring to is less ubiquitous.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Leaving Hannover, arriving in Barcelona at 9:01 a.m.
This post has to be quick, but I arrive in Barcelona on the 10th, and will take four trains including a night train to get there!
I still ahve to update my deutschland timelin, Ich Weiß (I know)!
I will connec with all ya'll very soon, next internet chance I get (Unicorn's hotel has, among other places). I plan to stay with her for part of the trip then at a hostel for another part, so we will be close together for the next ten days.
Viel liebe (much love)!
I still ahve to update my deutschland timelin, Ich Weiß (I know)!
I will connec with all ya'll very soon, next internet chance I get (Unicorn's hotel has, among other places). I plan to stay with her for part of the trip then at a hostel for another part, so we will be close together for the next ten days.
Viel liebe (much love)!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Mein letzter tag in Deutschland!
I have little time as I am at the school and about to leave to view Hannover's baroque gardens with Justine, Heidi, Anna and Herr Neuber, but here is a quick update and to do list!
Last night I drank with Robin's Grandparents and listened to old American, German and other Jazz on vinyl and listened to stories from both of them. They can all hold their liquor, even Helga, Robin's Oma!
And now we are about to depart, so ich muss meinen tee austrinken und gehen! My timeline will be presented and updated with a sampling of photos after I make my Jugendherbergen reservations tonight!
Last night I drank with Robin's Grandparents and listened to old American, German and other Jazz on vinyl and listened to stories from both of them. They can all hold their liquor, even Helga, Robin's Oma!
And now we are about to depart, so ich muss meinen tee austrinken und gehen! My timeline will be presented and updated with a sampling of photos after I make my Jugendherbergen reservations tonight!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Lifecycle
I walked to die flühmarkt (open air market) in Rinteln this morning; it was a good thirty-forty minute walk and meditated a little on a park bench, enjoying the crowd making crowd noises all around me, the sounds of biciyle wheels turning, the occasional breeze against my face that was so appreciated as the very warm sun shined on me, leavng my upper back damp with sweat.
Here is a poem about the changes that I fel coming, want to come, and am actively encouraging inside me.
Oh the phoenix must die to rise
The words that created the fires inside
mark an inevitable end
Not of this man but of everything that created him...
and only the essence can remain
the best and the most meaningful aspects of him
the sun is marked with a cross
like the story of Jesus is promised to rise again
Every time I go down,
I must rise again
There is nothing that can stop me
Except for the man writing these words
These words
These words
These words
(These words)~I am nothing if not something that we call nothing
(These words)~Paradox is a word heavily used in theory
(These words)~But get too scientific and you risk losing it
(These words)~My god is not a quantifiable entity so keep searching but the best way is to
Just breathe
°°°
Here is a poem about the changes that I fel coming, want to come, and am actively encouraging inside me.
Oh the phoenix must die to rise
The words that created the fires inside
mark an inevitable end
Not of this man but of everything that created him...
and only the essence can remain
the best and the most meaningful aspects of him
the sun is marked with a cross
like the story of Jesus is promised to rise again
Every time I go down,
I must rise again
There is nothing that can stop me
Except for the man writing these words
These words
These words
These words
(These words)~I am nothing if not something that we call nothing
(These words)~Paradox is a word heavily used in theory
(These words)~But get too scientific and you risk losing it
(These words)~My god is not a quantifiable entity so keep searching but the best way is to
Just breathe
°°°
Friday, July 4, 2008
The timeline
So I just watched Judas Priest live on dvd at the urging of my host Robin's father Heiner, who promised that after he got off the phone we would jam. Before this, I watched him rock out on several songs, and it was radcore. As he is ina cover band that plays mostly American rock songs, I knew several, such as "Wherever I may Roam," "Enter Sandman" and "Seek and Destroy" By Metallica, "American Idiot" and "Basket Case" by Green Day, and "Smells like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. He is an excellent guitar player.
He is still on the phone, so I am going to use this time to give you a timeline so you can have a rough idea of where I have been and what I have done since That long ago blog entry from the Friday night welcome party.
...
Change of plans: He is still on the phone und ich habe eine kopfschmerzen, so I am going to lie down. My next words will house the timeline.
He is still on the phone, so I am going to use this time to give you a timeline so you can have a rough idea of where I have been and what I have done since That long ago blog entry from the Friday night welcome party.
...
Change of plans: He is still on the phone und ich habe eine kopfschmerzen, so I am going to lie down. My next words will house the timeline.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
A quick update
I have visite many towns, and have been keeping a written record of my travels, but every time I sit down with the intention of chronicling them in very great detail, it does not work very well because I am so worn out from what I have been doing.
I am writing this to let you know that despite my lack of updates, I am sitll breathing and hope to spare some time to really delve into each day soon as I will have som free time.
Otherwise, I love you all and hope that your lives are going well! I WILL UPDATE SOON!
I am writing this to let you know that despite my lack of updates, I am sitll breathing and hope to spare some time to really delve into each day soon as I will have som free time.
Otherwise, I love you all and hope that your lives are going well! I WILL UPDATE SOON!
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