Pictures - Got them up

Italy after Easter:
http://www2.snapfish.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=396468021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk

Luzern:
http://www2.snapfish.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=392230021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk

Innsruck:
http://www2.snapfish.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=396469021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk

Salzburg:
http://www2.snapfish.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=396470021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk

Munich:
http://www2.snapfish.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=396641021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk

Dresden:
http://www2.snapfish.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=396642021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk

Munich

Munich far surpassed any of my expectations. Jamie, you were right, the Hofbrau Biergarten was awesome. So I shall start from the beginning. I arrived around noon and went to the main square (Marien Platz) for a free 3 hour walking tour of the city. Our guide was from Munich but lived in Canada and just got back to Munich. She was cool but I met 2 other canadians on the tour who were just a little off. I'm not sure what it is about canadians but they can be really freaking weird! anyway, I learned a whole bunch about Munich and how Hitler started all his stuff there. On the tour, I met a woman from just outside Cape Town (near the Robertson Vineyard) and we landed up walking around more of Munich for another 4 hours. We then decided to go back to the our respective hostels before meeting up again to go to the Hofbrau House. Whilst in my 40 bed dorm room, I met 2 girls who were american and invited them to come along with us. The four of us had great beer. I also ordered a sausage which I didn't know what it was because the entire menu was in german. Turns out, it was a white sausage that came in a pot of hot water with a pretzel on top and served with sweet mustard. Kinda strange but good. We met this big german who was wearing the traditional clothing. He loved Obama and told me I was most welcome in Bavaria. He was very touchy but the reason was because he had drank 15 liters of beer! I have great pictures of this but I won't be able to post them until May. The next day, I went to Dachau concentration camp and did a tour there. It was an excellent tour and I learned a lot but it was also very heavy. Probably the toughest part was when I walked into the gas chamber. It felt really creepy so I walked out pretty quick. They claim that it was never used. Dachau was a concentration (work) camp whereas Auschwitz, where I am going in just over a week, was an extermination camp. After the tour, the 2 american girls, and this Aussie guy I met in salzburg and I went to the Augustiner-Keller BierGarten. It was ok but nothing like the Hofbrau so we went back there. We started drinking around 4 and didn't stop until midnight. I drank I think around 5 or 6 liters. I also took a Liter Glass which I probably shouldn't have but it's a good souvenir. Around 10pm, 2 more americans sat down at our table. They were older than us and were there for work. They live in LA and work in the movie business. We all got drunk and then when it came time for us to pay, one of them picked up the entire tab. We all offered him money but he was a really nice guy so I got completely hammered for free. Like I mentioned in Seville, I HIGHLY recommend this form of travel! Today I took a train to visit a friend in Dresden, Germany. It is the city that got completely destroyed by the Allies during WW2. He's going to take me around the city and then I m off to Berlin tomorrow to start the 11 day Contiki tour where I go to Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow and Warsaw. I do have some great pictures but I won' be able to post them until may 6th when I get back to england. Sorry but such is the case. Keep it real homies.

Luzern, Innsbruck, and Salzburg

I took the train from florence to Luzern. Honestly, there isn´t much to do there. It was nice and there is a famous statue of a lion for the fallen swiss soldiers in some french war but other than that, just the alps. the only other guy in my room was chinese and although he was nice, he also explained to me how easterners are "grander" than westerners. He also had the stereotypical attire and a really big camera on which he took a whole bunch of random photos that "easterners" tend to do.

Innsbruck was fun. It´s such a small town but nice. However, once again, not much to do there. I went into a big church (Dom St. Jakob), saw the golden roof which jamie can tell you about if you care to know more, and went hiking, which was the best part. I think I walked up in total about 1000 meters to this little cafe on the hill. Going up and down took me just about 3 hours and it was nice. I think Innsbruck is a great place for winter sports and summer sports but not much in the way of spring and autumn.

Salzburg has been the best. I first arrived and went to the Residence of Mozart. They also had a special exhibition on how he and Joseph Hayden (another famous composer older than Mozart) were friends/colleagues. After that, I walked around the "Alstadt" (Old Town) and then went up to the fortress on the hill overlooking the city. Instead of going in, I decided to keep on walking and did another hike there. I landed up sitting on a bench looking at the alps in the distance and another part of Salzburg in the foreground. Very nice views. That evening, I met an Argentinian girl and a guy from New Zealand (a Kiwi). We went to a classical concert put on by the college students of music here. It was good...I´m better. Then we went to the Augustiner Bier Garden. We each had 2 liters of beer, a bratwurst, mustard and a roll. Yesterday, I got up and watched a little of the Sound of Music then went walking around. I went to Berchtesgaden (across the German border) to see Hitler´s Eagle´s nest. Unfortunately, it was closed until the summer so I walked around the town for a bit and went back to Salzburg. I walked around a bit more then met a few of my roommates: a guy from England, a guy from Australia, and a guy from New York who lived in Australia until he was 5, then moved to England. He was a mix of all 3 of us. We then proceeded to drink a lot at the Hostel and the Augustiner. Honestly, I can´t remember when I´ve laughed that much. The whole night was hilarious. Now I´m off to Munich. Will post again on Friday

Italy - Finito

I have now passed about the halfway point in my trip. Everything has been great so far. I've really enjoyed every city but my favorite is still Cape Town. This past weekend, I surprised my english family and showed up for Easter with my Italian family. We arrived in the wee hours of the morning on saturday and just went to bed. Saturday, we woke up and watched some rugby. Then my uncle, 3 cousins and myself went to a pub to have a few beers, biltong (like jerkey) and watch the liverpool vs. blackburn soccer match. liverpool won 2-0 and my english family was happy. Personally, I don't really care who wins but it's fun to watch the games. That evening, I cooked fajitas for the entire family and it was a really chill dinner. I spent the night at my grandmother's place and the following day, we returned to my aunt and uncle's house. I honestly can't remember what we did on sunday afternoon, I think probably just watched more rugby and cricket. However, that evening, we all went out for Indian food. I, of course, ordered a lamb vindaloo as I had been craving a good one ever since Birmingham with my cousin, michelle. I tasted a little bite and decided it was not spicy enough. So I called the waiter over and asked for them to kick it up a level. They most certainly did! I was perspiring and tearing quite a bit and my family was thouroughly enjoying watching me suffer. Much to their surprise however, I was also really enjoying myself. It was spicy as all hell but so damn good at the same time. The only problem was the following day, it put me intheloo with a little ring of fire going on...plus, everything tasted so bland. That night, all the cousins went out for a drink at a pub and then we went to bed. We celebrated Easter on monday with a bar-b-q consisting of 3 legs of lab (2 normal and 1 curry flavor), 2 types of potatoes and a myriad of vegetables. The weather was great too. In Dallas, the sun is not a rare occurance, but in England, they were acting like God himself was smiling down on everyone. We all went outside, threw the rugby ball around and talked about a bunch of stuff including the meaning of the words: clever, smart and intelligent. I said smart and intelligent are innate and clever is when you do something intelligent. They disagreed so I said America perfected the english language and we're the best. Now I'm back in Florence until Friday and then I leave for central europe for the next 3 weeks. I start in Lucerne (Switzerland) then to Innsbruck and Salzburg (Austria) then Munich, Dresden and Berlin (Germany). From Berlin, I take a 12 day guided tour which I will talk about closer to the date.

P.S. Pictures are up (see below)

Pictures

Here's the next group of photos:

France and Belgium: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=323094021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
Holland: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=323095021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
Italy: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=323096021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish
England (Easter weekend): http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=323097021/a=159650618_159650618/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

Earthquakes and Beyond!

Apparently, a few people have been asking if I am ok seeing as there was an earthquake in central Italy. Everything is cool in Florence. We did feel the tremors but nothing major. It happened near a town 60 miles north of Rome called L'Aquila (The Eagle). I think there are over 220 confirmed fatalities so it's a pretty bad situation. On a lighter note, the races on sunday were awesome. I've decided that I want an orange Porsche GT3 RSR. Unfortunately, my cousin tells me they are not street legal. So I guess I'll have to settle for a GT3 RS. Here's a picture of what it looks like: http://www.autoweek.com/files/specials/2006_paris/porsche/gt3/images/01.jpg.

Last night, we went to a vegetarian restaurant where I ate a purley vegan dish. It tasted exactly as one would imagine: like balls (so i've been told by my brother, Jamie). It actually was ok but really, I do prefer a Texas steak to that vegan crap. Today, Irene and I went to L'Academia (The Academy) and saw Michelangelo's David. It is enormous but Irene made a comment that I rather agree with. The statue itself is massive. However, David's dingus is minute in comparison. Maybe sex was not on his mind but I like to think the Europeans had and continue to have small weeners. Any thoughts/comments? Tonight, we are going to watch Tommaso play in his biggest soccer match of the year. Should be fun.

Since I got here, I have been taking Italian lessons. Many people told me that I would have no problem seeing as it is so similar to Spanish. While the structure and forms are the same, most of the words are very different and if they're not different, they're so similar it's difficult to remember which one goes with the correct language. In spite of this, I am progressing well. I can understand quite a bit now and can speak slowly...very slowly but it's mostly all correct. If I had another month or two, I think I'd be able to converse with semi-ease. That's it for now.

P.S. Jordan, thanks for your concern, you sissy!

Florence - Week 1

I landed in Florence this past Monday and have had a great time thus far. My cousin, Irene, took me to a piano recital given by one of her friends who appears to even be better than me! On Tuesday, I pretty much relaxed and regained my energy from Amsterdam. Andi, I finished that book you gave me about Spain. It was very good and almost better to read it after I had visited all those places previously. I went to the Bargello museum which is known for it's multitude of statues and the following day, I went to the Uffizi museum which was also good. Last night we went to another piano concert but with professionals this time. It was 2 pianists playing 2 pianos and occasionally, 1 piano. So I have to talk about the food. I honestly can't remember when I have eaten this much. Everything is local because the people in Florence don't really import anything. I've had pizza, pasta, gelato (pistacchio, hazelnut, vanilla cream, vanilla with bits of real chocolate, and tiramisu to start off my time here), and many other italian foods including ''Stacacca'' bread which is not actually called that but it's what Jamie and I came up with last time we were here because it sounds better. Luckily, there's a gym across the road from my family's place so I'm not turning into a complete fatass. Today, Irene and her boyfriend, Lorenzo, are taking me to Siena for a few hours and then coming back to Florence for an ''authentic and rustic'' florentine dinner. Tomorrow, I'm going to watch Porsches race around an F1 track. I've tried getting the pictures to work but the computers here don't seem to allow it. Thus I will put them up whenever I can.