So this is it...

The plug gets pulled in 40 minutes. Our rooms are shining, our floors are mopped, our bags are packed, and we're ready to go.
In a week.
Confused?
We're going to Vienna tomorrow, and will be there until Sunday. Then we zip back through here, grab our things, and hurry up to Brussels to catch a train through the Chunnel to London. We'll do some really quick sight seeing in London, sort of a "this is what we'll pay more attention to whenever we get to come here again", then it's off to the airport to come home and see all you nice people again.
I'll be blogging the whole time, of course. You just won't get it until after Christmas.
So thanks for all the reading you've done, I hope you've enjoyed most of it. Sorry for the abundance of grammar errors, they'll be eliminated when I have time to edit this thing in the Spring. Oh, and the missing sections about Paris will make it on here someday. Maybe.
Finally, don't think this is goodbye. I'm going to be adding pictures, cleaning up code, and generally making this site better over the course of the next few months. Come by every so often and see what I'm up to. I might even link you to my personal blog ;D.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

Our Luck Catches Up with Us at the Berlin Airport

I’m sitting in the Berlin Schoenefeld airport while I type this, listening to the whir of a rotating poster-thing as it tells me to take a plane from here to Vienna, buy a watch from DKNY, and watch the Discovery Channel. A ride just started a happy little jingle somewhere in the distance. Tiff’s across the room talking on the phone, a lone airport employee is looking bored while he guards the gate, and a guy in the corner is good and asleep already.
Here directly I think I’ll be following his example.
Tiff and I are lucky to have gotten here ok with the way our luck has been running. Today started with an unsuccessful trip to the Olympic Stadium. We got there, but all we could do was stand in the parking lot and look at the massive series of arches and wires that cover a walkway around the entire complex. A glassed over part in the distance covered something in a seashell-like way, and the tennis courts were visible just past the walkway. There was probably other stuff nearby too, I just wasn’t paying much attention.
Slightly let down from that we hopped the Metro out to Plato’s old school. Or so we thought. When we got there we found a nice little residential district with all kinds of things named Plato’s this-that-or-the-other, but no sign of ancient anything. The oldest building there was the big 19th or early 20th century church.
Tiff’s leg’s been bothering her since she banged it on a rock yesterday. She hit it right on an old fracture, and she’s afraid she’s messed it up. I hope she didn’t, but hoping doesn’t fix much. So we took things slow, and rode as many Metro lines as possible. We wandered around in search of a couple more Christmas presents, also an unsuccessful venture, then gave up and reclaimed our things. A quick bite was followed by a hour-long bus ride to the airport, a lot of waiting, and then a relatively smooth flight on Ryan Air’s puddle jumper.
So here I sit.
For the next 6 hours I’ll be playing video games, reading, walking around in small circles, and watching Tiff sleep. I might nap some too, but I think I’ll save it for the 6 hour train ride. We’ll see how I feel later on.

A nice day, despite Jonie Michell

Jonie Michell is screeching about California on BBC. It’s funny, that place is further away to me than this, than most of Europe, but it’s in my own borders. Honestly, though, it ranks up there with Amsterdam. Sure, I might get there eventually, but I won’t cry if I don’t.
Today has been lazy and laid back. We slept as late as possible to still get breakfast. Then we rode a bus up to the beach and slowly worked our way down it. When the sun set, we came home. That was it.
It’s great for that to be it.
I need more days like this.

More Memories Made in Athens

Today, as promised, we saw the rest of ancient Athens, some churches, and a few museums. Tiff’s pulling out maps and brochures trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. We were supposed to see Olympus, but it turned out to be farther than we thought and it looks like the best we’d be able to do would be a peek out the train. Getting up at the crack of dawn and spending a whole day to peek out the window at a mountain, even Mt. Olympus, is just a little much for us. So we’re going to the beach tomorrow instead.
The Ancient Agora held much more than just a few old foundations. The Temple of Hephastos is the world’s most complete ancient temple. It stands mostly whole, and was used by the Muslims and the Christians (not jointly, obviously) up until around WWI. After the war it was finally converted to a museum.
The weather is still beautiful, and the Ancient Agora was the perfect place for lunch. Tiff and I ate our sandwiches and watched the dogs and people wander the Agora. That may sound like a strange way to describe it, but it seems like there’s as many dogs in this city as people. Strays in general, actually. Cats haunt every ruin along with the dogs. It’s probably a real problem for the city, but they are at least friendly creatures, and most of the public seems to feed them well. It’s probably better than the ones in tiny cages at the pet shops.
After the Agoras we climbed around the Acropolis again, looking for the prison Socrates was kept in. It’s amazing we missed it last time we were in the area, but we did. The great huge building was carved right into the side of the hill, and had originally been several stories tall. The notches for the wood were still there, along with stairs and the rooms they carved out. It’s a sturdy structure, and is one of the few sites they hid precious works in during WWII.
That’s really just a little sample of all the random knowledge accumulated here. Sharing all of it would take much more of the night than I have, though. Heck, it’d take days. So I’ll hold it as close as I can, and hopefully get it all to paper someday.

Nearly Speechless

Today was a tour of classical Athens at its finest. We spent the entire day crawling all over the ruins. We saw the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus, and a dozen others I can’t even begin to name. It was wonderful. The ancient world is being slowly rebuilt here in a series of restorations, which meant that parts of the ruins weren’t very accessible, but I imagine it’ll be spectacular to see things like the ancients saw them.
I hope to God, though, that they don’t destroy any of the originals in the process.
Come to think of it, I really don’t know much about the restoration process here. I’d be really interested to see how they’re going about a lot of it. Without Internet access, I can’t find anything out. Maybe I’ll research some later.
We also saw quite a few nice Byzantine Churches, including one saved by a Bavarian King. That particular church was going to get ploughed so the 18th (or 19th?) Century Greeks could build a road, but King Louis I of Bayern liked it so much that he sent Greece quite a large sum of cash to leave it standing. And so it does, to this very day.
We spent some time poking around that dark interior while the dour faces of the saints looked on. It was imposing, despite its small size. Gothic churches are always associated with long, dark shadows, but they’re really fortresses of light compared to the old Byzantine buildings.
It’s probably terrible of me to go on about a church not even half the size of James Avenue (my home church that seats 200, maybe) when I summed the entirety of Ancient Athens up in a few lines. But what can I say? You can’t describe these things. You just sort of know them. You see them your entire life. You know ancient Athens, it’s in every textbook, all over TV, even in our bible! Standing on the hill where Paul preached was remarkable, but seeing what has happened to the message over the past 2000 years is just fascinating. And here, at the self-proclaimed border between the East and West, the difference is even more distinct. But you’ll probably hear more about that tomorrow. In addition to a few more Byzantine churches, we’ll also be passing the synagogue and a mosque.
So yes, the cradle of modern civilization has left me at a loss of words.

Idiocy is International

“If the US Government chooses who heads UNICEF for the coming years than I fear for Global Child Survival in the future”
-Richard Lansid (whose name I may have spelled wrong), editor of a European Medical Magazine and random commentator on CNN.
Tiff had just finished commenting on how the current UNICEF president seems to think that money can solve all the medical problems in the world, including AIDs. I think she may have been exaggerating a little, but the Prez certainly seemed convinced that by ending all wars and ending poverty all the children of the world would be better. I don’t know, leaders like that tend to get all fired up when they’re allowed to make speeches. Their representative seems a lot more level-headed.
I have nothing against UNICEF, I’m thrilled that we have organizations like them, but people like Richard from the magazine really aggravate me. The great evil US could never know how to address all the global problems of children. After all, how could someone from that rich country possibly find a way to convince all the other people in that rich country to part with their money and pour it into helping children in need?
Half the people over here think we’re a bunch of warmongers, another quarter of them think we’ve got our heads on the wrong end. Thank God there’s about a quarter left that has the brains to realize we’re more than what gets poured over the airwaves.
He sounded French.
It doesn’t matter. Idiocy is international.

Pleasantly Surprised

Today hasn’t been what I expected it to be. First off, Tiff made me walk everywhere. In retrospect, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but when I saw the Metro yesterday I was really excited about being able to ride everywhere. Not so.
It’s good for me, she says. It’s part of the European fitness plan (Be broke, eat less, walk more. More walking = more eating). Whatever.
We walked up to the Tourist Information office first this morning. Actually, we walked up to the Metro stop near it and asked a nice girl handing out flyers where we could find the TI. She sent us to the Metro Information (which is close, for someone who speaks very little English), and they sent us up to the right office.
There, a woman blessedly fluent in English gave us a large pile of information. While I tried to puzzle out how to stuff the two maps, book, papers, and everything else into my backpack she gave Tiffany a really nice folder and mousepad. Greece wins the award for the best TI we’ve been to yet.
The rest of the day was equally pleasant. We walked a lot, of course, but saw a good bit too. The national garden was a nice stop while we planned our day, then we headed up to the National Archeological Museum. That took ever bit of the two-and-a-half hours we gave it, and probably could have used a little more. It has artifacts from Neolithic times up to the rise of Constantine. The prehistoric exhibit was one of the best I’ve seen anywhere, and the statue of Zeus/Poseidon (the jury’s still out on who it actually is) was frighteningly powerful looking. Wandering through all the statues of old Athens, it’s easy to see why the early Christians were so bothered by them (besides the religious reasons), and yet why they were so hard to get out of the minds of the masses. Ending with Constantine, the first Christian emperor, really brought that idea forward as well.
Every year donkeys and mules kill more people than plane crashes. Thank you National Geographic for that bizarre message imbedded in a commercial in which this nice old lady is crushed by a donkey kicking over a cartload of melons.
The rest of the day was still nice, but not as exciting. We walked halfway across the city to check on a train to Thessalonica (and thus by Olympus), then wandered around the tourist shops for a couple of hours. They run all up by the old city, so we saw a good bit of the ruins by night too. I tried to get a couple of pictures, but Tiff’s camera and I don’t get along well after dark. We went through a little Greek folk art museum in the tourist district that was as impressive for its architecture as it was for its art. It was originally the home of some woman who seemed to be historically important, but we didn’t know who she was and none of the Greek signs were of any help.
It’s all Greek to me, after all.
Sorry, I had to.
I can’t mention all the souvenirs we bought since several of my readers will be receiving them for Christmas presents, but we got great deals on them. One woman couldn’t make Tiffany the deal she wanted on a T-shirt, so she told us to come back in a half hour (once the manager left) and gave it to us then. She was a sly little lady who was tired of looking at the Olympic stuff and wanted it out of her store while people would still pay something for it.
The Mcdonald’s here is blessedly cheap again. That’s not really been the case in all the rest of Europe. We stopped at the one near our hotel on the way back and I got a “Greek-Mac” (a Big Mac in a pita). It was quite tasty.
So yes, I like Athens. I might even love Athens. I’m in the cradle of civilization here, and it’s amazing to look at artifacts from the same time as our earliest Native American artifacts.
I liked the Cyclandic man best. This flat-faced statue is older than most of the records our bible is based on. I think the actual date for this fellow is around 2500BC, but I might be wrong. Anyway, his straight-arrow stance, and simple form represent (to me, anyway) an early split from realism to a more artistic endeavor. There’s something of a mystery around him, and the more I observed the various statues built this way, the more fascinated I was. I bought a small replica that’s challenging me with the same flat-faced stare now. Also of interest was the Golden Mask of Agamemnon, which dates from the 16th century, which is 300 years before Agamemnon. But Schlieman, who discovered it, named it that and the name has stuck.
Don’t go to this museum if you’re bothered by death-monuments. Everything there is from a grave or a temple, and the graves outnumber the worship objects by a good bit.
We’re watching the Green Mile. It’s really nice getting movies in English here too, even if they do have all the Greek squiggles across the bottom. And even if I have seen this movie several times, it’s still good. Stephen King’s still got it, even if it’s not absolute terror he’s decided to evoke any more.
So, yes, Athens is good. Tomorrow we’re doing more of the truly touristy things. I can’t wait.

Don't Let the Goats Eat Your Shoes

We’re in Athens now, at the Ionis Hotel. It’s a nice place in a commercial neighborhood right off the metro. Not to expensive, but cheap enough to make it much more attractive than the hostels.
Our Easyjet puddle-jumper wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, we had to walk out across the blacktop to board it, and maybe most of the crew looked like they were camp councilors, but we got a good price. Even if we did have to sit on the back of the air-bus.
It was hard leaving Regensburg behind again. That city’s gotten to be really cozy for us both, and it’s nice having friends to be around again.
It sounds like we’re going all over tomorrow in an attempt to get adjusted to this city. Kyser, one of my suitemates’ friends who also happens to be half Greek, gave us a little strange advice before setting out. (1) “Get a guide.” We’re ignoring that one. We have the guidebook, and we don’t have the money for a guide. (2) “Go see Mt. Olympus. Go up it if you can.” We can’t, but we are going to climb a little of it. (3) “Don’t let the goats eat your shoes.”
Really, how can you respond to that one?

Off to Athens

That's right, we're leaving for the capital of the Empire Rome used to want to be (before they realized they were better at it). I'm looking forward to it, but can't chat much because our train leaves soon.
See you all in a week!

Not much left

There's not really much left to say. I'll tell you about Paris whenever I get some free time on the computer. That's not likely to be any time soon, since Tiff's in a little of a panic about some of the finer details of our trip (like where to sleep). We're trying to get that done right now, and taking in a little of the Regensburg Christmas time whenever planning gets too stressful. Last night was spent at the Nuernburg Christmas Market and the Regensburg one. Nuernburg's too packed, a literal shoulder to shoulder press, and everything was made in China anyway. Regensburg's is much nicer.
After tomorrow the next update won't be until Dec 15th. The 15th will most likely be the last one I make before coming home because after that we check out of our rooms and I kiss my internet goodbye.
Once home, as I've mentioned before, I'll continue to sort pictures, I'll probably spell check and edit some of my more muddled posts, and I'll just keep fixing things up. If I get really zealous I might even make different templates for different pages. We'll see.
I've got plenty more plans, too, but that's all they are right now. The primary thing at this moment is getting to Athens, getting to Vienna, and getting home.

A Surprise Return

Right now I'm supposed to be sitting in Barcelona, but I'm in my cozy room in Regensburg instead. We rolled into the Frankfort airport on time only to get told by a rather amused employee that Ryanair flew out of the other Frankfort airport. Frankfort Han is 100km away, and only reachable by car or bus. The next bus left 45 minutes before our plane, and got there a half hour after we were supposed to be in the air.
So I spent the next hour asleep on our luggage while Tiff worked her travel-agent magic and called everyone to complain. We're getting the taxes back on our tickets, which is good because they were bought in a "tax-only" sale. We lost a whopping nickel each in this little venture.
And a trip to Barcelona.
But her ankle's hurt (more about that in previous posts), she's been feverish, and we're both tired. A few days to lay around Regensburg may be just what we need.
It was great to get back here and talk to all my flatmates/friends again. We had dinner with Karen and chatted all about our trip. Back in my flat Virginia, a friend of sophie's whose name is pronounced "Vir-gin-eee", was quite interested in my thoughts on Paris. Luckily, I enjoyed it. I praised the Louvre for a few minutes, and chattered about the city as a whole. Franz looked quite amused at the conversation, and they both got a good laugh out of my pronounciation. I curled up with Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code. I want to note there that I'm not some fanatic retracing all his hints and tips to discover the "truth" of Opus Dei or any other secret societies. I'm not even really fond of the writing, to be honest. He spins a good adventure, but relies too heavily on the "cut-scene" ending for chapters, switching back and forth to build tension. The whole book is very tense, which is both its strength and weakness. It moves too fast for the reader to reflect.
But that's just initial impressions. He is an adventure writer, after all. This isn't his character's thesis, it's a detective story. So I guess I'll just ride along and think about the holes in the "code" later.
I'll try and hold off more of my opinions on it for now.
There's a bunch of backlogged posts that I'm updating now. After the 7th I probably won't get another chance to upload things until the 14th or 15th, then not again until around the 21st or maybe even after christmas. Being on the road means no internet, and while I still blog as often as possible, I can't get it to you w/o net. Internet cafe's here typically don't have disk drives or allow private computers, so unless I cough up the 5-10 Euros for an hour on a computer, I have no way to write things there either. Half the time thier lousy machines don't like blogger anyway. So be patient, enjoy major reading whenever I'm around. Pics are going to be all up after Christmas probably, and I'll be making some New Years Resolutions for next year's blog.
It's good to be back online.

Warmer Weather, Please

Today wasn’t as stressful as I’d feared it would be. Typing is warming my quite frozen fingers up slowly, just so I can freeze them again on the way to the train. It’s not as cold here as I make it sound. Today’s high seems to have been around 40 and the low a little below freezing. But it froze me today. I’m just a warm-climate creature, I guess.
Tiff’s better adapted, she’s been teasing me about it. I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about being in Kleine Scheidegg as she was, but I don’t throw myself down mountains strapped to thin boards either. It was nice up there, quite cold (around 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit), but pretty. I took tons of pictures, as always. I was just much more fond of the peak while viewing it out the window of the cute little cog-rail train we took up there.
Both of us expected a little more to be in Kleine Scheidegg or Grindelwald. Most everything was either closed or trying to sell us Swiss army knives. We’ve got plenty of those already. And we’re curious about the story behind the naming of Grindelwald, but nobody up there could explain it to us.
So we wandered around for a while, bemoaned the fact that they wanted around $100 each to get to the top of Mt. Jungfrau, and eventually rode back down into town. Once here we hiked out to the only ruin we hadn’t seen yet, Weissenau. Weissenau was a fortification to protect the water and the mountain pass. Emperor Barbarossa built it in the 11th or 12th century. He’s not to be confused with Germany’s hero Barbarossa, who came up with the idea of Grossdeutschland in the 19th century. Anyway, it had a fortified harbor at one time, and looked quite secure. Today the turret’s still there, along with most of the walls, and you can climb up to the top and look out over the lake and harbor. Pretty fun.
Now we’re in the back of Hotel AlpLodge getting our things together for the night train to Paris. Switzerland has been fun, but I’m glad we’re off to slightly warmer climates.