Last Days

Well, today was my last full day in Europe. Went to the beach again. I got heaps sun burnt. Not fun for a full day of travelling. I leave on a bus tonight at 10:30 from Barcelona and get into Columbus at 10 PM tomorrow. About 30 hours travelling time in total. Oh well. It's been a good run. See you all soon.

Barcelona

This city is crazy. Went out last night with the hostel I am staying in. Left the hostel at 11, bars at 1, club didnt even start playing music until 2. Some of the girls here got back at 6. This city can't possibly ever accomplish anything. People only ever come out at night. Some one suggested that the people that live here are all vampires, which would make sense.

Other than that it is really pretty. The beaches are lovely, went yesterday. It's really warm. The architecture is amazing.

In Bruges.

I seriously based my decision on coming to Bruges from watching the movie. But, I am so glad I did. This town is gorgeous! I love it so much. I even blew off Brussles to stay here an extra day and a half. I took a canal ride, have been trying every beer--each beer has its own glass--and eating choclate and waffles.

Today, I rented a bike and rode to Holland. 36 kilometers round trip. My tush is a little sore for sure. But it was really pretty. There are heaps of windmills and bridges. Really scenic.

Amsterdam...Still

I didn't know I wasn't suppose to take pictures in the Anne Frank house so I did, and then found out afterword. It was really small, as you would expect, for 8 people to be living in. But right in the middle of the city. The walls still had the posters she had hung, so weird.

I also went to the Van Gogh museum here. They had lots of his sketches and letters as well. So great to see so much of it all at once.

Amsterdam

Well, here I am in Amsterdam. My hostel has a smoking section where they provide you bongs, rolling paper, what have you. And at least 2 of the kids in my room have tried shrooms here. Basically the whole city smells like a giant joint.

There are strips of women just standing in windows in the red light district. It's a little intense really.

The food is good. The fries are amazing. You can get them with sate or the town favorite, heaps of mayo. I get both. It's amazing.

Bristol

I'm staying in Bristol right now. Couchsurfing with a really nice Spanish girl. This town reminds me a lot of Columbus. Some really pretty bits. Some really dodgy.
But, it does have a lot of interesting things to see for a city of its size.

I've been loading up on what will be the last of English food for me for a while. Irn Bru which I hated when I came here and now will miss dearly as we can't get it in the states. Gregg's is a deli that does a thai chicken salad. I've been eating 3 a week.

There is a really famous graffiti artist from Bristol. Banksy. I've seen a couple of his things. The pic I posted didn't turn out, but the place is all wired up. I think they are trying to preserve them now as he's made a couple of books of artwork and is pretty famous to the city.

LONDON

Just left London yesterday. I was staying with 5 English.Scottish kids. They were the nicest couchsurfers ever. They made me almost every meal. Did heaps with me, like take me to the Tate Modern. And this girl Ali let me use her camera because mine broke, until I could buy a new one.

They were the first group of English kids who were really intrigued by America. Only one had been, and so they asked me all sorts of questions about schools and tv and food. It was really fun.

I liked London much more this time than I did the other times I went. It seemed prettier, smaller even. More quaint. It's no Edinburgh, but it was nice. Except, the air quality is horrible. Way worse than New York. I think it has to be built up from like all the years people have been living there. But, seriously, when I went to blow my nose, all I saw was black.

'mericans

Oh man, these past few weeks, I have made up for all the Americans I haven't been meeting on this trip.
Kyle and MacGregor were from Seattle. My camera has broke so I don't have any pictures of them. But they were covered in tatoos 24 & 25 and the first boys on the trip that I couldn't keep up with in drinking. They were pretty well versed in drinking skills. They work in a restaurant in Seattle. We hung out for a few days doing the normal toury things, they went to Spain and then came back today before they leave tomorrow. We went to the castle, my friend Alison got the 4 of us in for FREE-normally like 15 bucks-- and then they said they had to buy some whiskey fot the place they work. $1,000 worth of whiskey. The shop guy helping them was so excited. And it was really fun just watching them spend all the money. And we got some free samples of whiskey. They are nice. People I would actually be interested in seeing again in the states.

More and More

First of all, my mom didn't come like she was suppose to. In fact, about the time she was suppose to be getting on the plane I called to find out she's not coming. To be honest, I am a little sick of making new plans, but as this was not part of my plans, new plans here we go again...when I have any idea what I am doing, hopefully tomorrow as I am suppose to be going to France on Satuday, I'll let you know.

In the mean time...I have some more pictures from the festival so you can get a better idea of what was going on...

OK. This first picture is of the royal mile. That is the road that leads from the queens palace up to the castle. It's where all the tartan shops are basically. During festival, they close it off to traffic and they allow street performers to do their thing and people flyering for shows(oh my god, can't get 5 feet without being asked if you are interested in a show). They also allow shows to have 15 minute previews to sell themselves. Unlike normal street performers, these people have to pay to be there. There might be 3 or 4 big acts going on at any given time with all these people. Crowds of a few hundred gather. Anyway, it's kinda impossible to walk, but it is crazy fun.


One of the performers was called "The Space Cowboy." He was my favorite. Mostly because I got to be his assistant for a show. I threw him knives. And he cut a squash out of my hand with a double edged sword. Kinda awesome. As you can see, one of his talents is also swallowing that double edged sword. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for sword swallowing. 17 swords at once. He used hoses to stretch out his throat. Kinda gross. His other big trick was juggling knives. Blindfolded. On top of a 9 foot high unicycle.

This picture is from a show called "Late N Live." It starts everyday at 1 am. You know when everyone, even the comedians performing are nice and drunk. This particular picture was something they did every night(this night being the last, therefore the most fun) called Scotland v. The Rest of the World where they picked people from said countries and saw home many pushups they could do with people on their backs, adding one more person each time.
This night I volunteered for something--not knowing what it was, only knowing it got me on stage in front of a few hundred people. I got the most money out of the audience for a charity, I won a plastic leg and the audience sang "Jolene" to me. Epic.


Finally, this is Mary. She is Australian and was in town for most of the festival. Basically she was my partner for all sort of debauchery. She's wearing a highland cow hat here. One of the best girls I have ever met.

I actually stole this picture from someone else's blog.

This is the mosque kitchen. One of my favorite places to eat here. It's an actual mosque that serves proper curry like churches back home sell noodles. And, it's amazing. Roughly 3£ for a huge bowl of rice and dal. 1£ for amazing nan(warm bread kinda like pita).

What I love about this place, is that the immigrant population is totally different than in the states. And while in the states all the people live in one area together, here while they are larger groups living in one area, everyone is just pretty evenly spread out. The mosque is next to the casino which is next to the church which is next to the bagel shop, next to the bar.

I'm meeting my friends at the mosque in like 15 minutes. Chicken curry for dinner. Any time I miss Mexican food, I just get a curry knowing that when I get home, it will be tough to get it like this again.

Brass Monkey

There is a bar here called "Brass Monkey." It is the most brilliant idea ever. And my long term goal is to now open a bar just like this in America.

The concept is pretty basic really. There is a huge room that is just a sofa. One huge padded room. Every day at 3:00 they show a movie. Which is great for bums like me with nothing to do now that festival is over. They make fresh soup every day and serve it with some bread or a sandwich and a drink for 3 lb ($5). They have movies from American Beauty to Monty Python. And at night, it's also a really cool place. Decent beer. Comfy sofas in the other rooms. Free Wifi.

Basically, I'm in love.

Madness

This past month has been complete madness. The Edinburgh Fringe festival is the world's largest arts festival. The streets have literally exploded. literally the shows go all night, the latest show starting at 1 am, ending at 5. bars close at 5am new ones open at 6am. food venues open 24-7.

In the past 21 days I have seen over 25 standup comedians, dance groups, plays and sketch comedy shows. I have seen a play about a South African with JRA, a pirate musical, a woman who asked the audience to throw raw meat on her, beatboxers with djs who perform in sync with acrobats, tv stars, bands, comedy in caves, men juggeling knives blinfolded on unicycles...I mean you name it, I have seen it here.

My days have looked something like this...I wake up around 11, eat...breakfast? make it to town around two. find a few shows-- my friend alison has been really good about making me see new things. watch shows and street performers until like 6 or so...eat, regroup and start going out with friends at about 9 or so. normally there is some falafel, kebab meal thing around 4 am and then i crawl home :)

this has been such a fun month!

Homeish

That was the most uneventful border crossing of all time. "Jolene, what do you do?" "I'm a dance teacher." "Great. Enjoy your holiday." That was it, I got bus fair and headed out.
I stayed over the weekend with a friend here and then Monday, I got to Lauren and Alex's place.
I am really happy to be settled again. I do really love it here.
I have been drinking heaps of tea and buying heaps of clothes, because, well the shopping is just better here. They have rain boots with horses.
The fringe festival starts here in about a week and runs the whole month of august bringing in people from everywhere. It's the largest arts festival in Europe and has fireworks, a military tattoo, free comedy, dance and theatre...i'm pumped.

Oh, Edinburgh

Well here I am again. Heading back to Scotland. In preperation this time I have a ticket out, that was something they didn't like last time...the one way ticket. I have a bank statement, all sorts of things. But, I am still really scared they aren't going to let me back in. But, yes with any luck, the next post will be from Edinburgh again.
I will be there for festival taking over Lauren and Alex's place while they are back in the good ole U.S. of A. Stay until September when my mother--she has her ticket so it is def happening--is coming to Edinburgh and together we are going to Paris and Rome.
I am looking into trips to Egypt, found some pretty cheap just need to make sure I can get immunized over here and that will take me through mid October.
I don't know why I publish these plans. They are sure to change. But today...
Anyway, wish me luck getting back in to the UK.

Australians

When I got off the train in Bratislava, I was walking with no particular sense of where I was going. I heard some Australian guys talking and asked them to which hostel they were headed. I myself, had yet to book one figuring I would just get one when I arrived. So they told me to go to their hostel and see if it had an openings first. When we got there, it didn't though. The guys suggested an extra bed in their room, like a cot, which was really nice so I didn't have to wonder around town.
The first night in Bratislava we wondered all over town playing new drinking games at each pub. They ate every possible combo of late night/drunk food. Kebab. Pizza. Hot Dogs. You name it, at least one of them had it.
The next night they said they wanted to go to a place that hadn't been open the night before, a club with a slide. But, it was still closed so we smoked shisha and drank mojitos, all night.
Today we went to a pool and a movie and walked all over town together.
These guys were so polite, always looking out for me. Made sure that I walked through door ways first and holding the door open for me. They were very generous, buying rounds and not keeping track and just being lovely. They made Bratislava so fun for me.

Fuck Ukraine

I was on a train, heading for Ukraine and I started talking to some girls on the train with me, telling them what I was doing and where I was going next. One of the girls asked me who I was going to see my boyfriend or family and when I told here that I was just traveling by myself the look on her was as if I had just slapped her. She and three other people in the train cabin spent the next twenty minutes telling me how I would be robbed, raped and then brutally murdered if I went to Ukraine by myself. I was sufficiently scared. Enough that I got off the train and spent the next two days in Poland's equivalent of Richwood, Ohio.
Anywho, I am back in Krakow now. I have a private room for some regrouping time and with any luck will be heading to Bratislava, Slovakia tomorrow.

Auchwitz

I went to Auschwitz today. Death place of over 1 million Poles, Jews, Gypsies, Gays and Children.
I don't even know what to say about it except that it was a completely sobering and very profound visit.
I was worried about some sort of exploitation of the victims but was told that the camp was opened and even completely maintained at first by the victims. I imagine that they don't ever want people to forget what happened to them.
The most personal thing on display was hair. Both on arrival and after being executed, the prisoners hair was cut and sold to make textile products. After the camp was liberated 7 tons (14,000 lbs) were discovered and 2 tons were on display.

Poland=The New America

Poland is more like America than any other country I have been to in Europe.
There is more farm ground here than the rest of the EU.
The people only speak one language.
Potatoes are a main ingredient in everything.
The malls here have Sephora, which I have yet to see anywhere else in the EU. Actually, I went to the mall today here and it looks exactly like a brand new mall back home. They also have a lot of American products here not carried anywhere else.

I am in Krakow now. So far it looks nice. The couchsurfer I am staying with left a key for me and is coming in sometime tomorrow. It's nice to have a little free time. My last host bought me some chocolate and I discovered that all chocolate in Poland tastes mildly of coffee but is also extremely wonderful.
I have also learned how to buy salami here, which makes me very happy.

And finally, I think they tried to kick me off the train today. The contoller kept shaking his head at me and made me go talk to someone else, who also didn't speak english. I just kept shaking my head back saying, "I'm sorry. English?" Someone in Wraclow told me I could get through all of Eastern Europe for free by crying, showing an empty wallet and pretending like I have no idea what's going on...haha, no in the end they just let me sit down again. I think I bought a ticket for a fast train and got on a slow one.

Wroclaw: Get this, pronounced Broats Claw

There is a place here where you pay based on how much your food weighs. It's half price after 8 pm. I haven't spent more than 4 american dollars on a meal since I have been in Poland. On average, my budget is like $8 a day, getting coffee and beer and food out. It's awesome.
Wraclow is prettier and bigger then Poznan. I have been walking around the city all day and keep finding new and nicer things to look at. It's weird though, there is the huge market square with insanely old looking buildings and then right next to it is a huge mall with an all glass exterior. The whole city is like that, old against new.
I have yet to meet an American in Poland. I heard some Canadians talking about Manatoba, but that's as close as it comes. And instead of asking if I speak English when I shake my head in confusion, they offer Russian first.

Poznan: Pronounced Pots-nan

Poznan:
The city center is gorgeous. Big clock tower, lots of churches around.
I had some polish food: Cabbage, Pork and Boiled Potatoes.

This has to be one of the best stories yet though. Pawel, my host asks if I want to try some Polish beer. After we buy it, it goes in my bag. We pass a guy being questioned by police, he says it's because the guy is drinking and it is illegal on Polish streets.
We get to the river, he says it's ok to drink here, no one comes here, you can see police from miles away.
I put down my empty can and wouldn't you know it...undercover police. My thought process is something like "I'm being deported. No one can speak English here. They are going to detain me."
I don't know if Pawel said it was his or they just couldn't give me a ticket because I wasn't Polish. They did look at my ID though. Anyway, Pawel got a ticket, I got nothing.
Have a place lined up for Wraclow, pretty excited to get to a bigger city.
Oh, and I love and miss you all very much.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I write to you from Poznan, Poland.
Today, Caroline made me pancakes for breakfast. They were served with macademia nut honey.
I then got my haircut. It's a lot cooler, a little shorter and a little bit more like a mullet again :)
I took a train from Berlin to Poznan where I am staying with a young guy with dred locks and his sister. I am looking forward to days and days of perogies.

Sauerkraut

Today I ate Sauerkraut. I normally hate the stuff, but here it is quite nice.
I was planning on going to Hitler's Bunker, but turns out the Russians turned it into a parking lot.

Happy Fourth

I met some American's in a toy shop today. I wished them a happy fourth. It made my day.

Today's activities included breakfast, open market, toy shop where they had miniature everything--like miniature sewing machines, miniature food trays, toilet paper, instruments, delicious cup cakes with milk, and saute over fries at a dutch restaurant. Ya, so mostly food. But nice food.

I also wanted to briefly comment on how nice Berlin's trains are. I think they are twice as wide as New York Metro and the train stations are quite clean. The chairs are all cushioned and covered in cloth, so the seats are comfortable. They also have a tram and bus system so I am pretty sure you would never need to walk any where, but we still did walk a lot.

Berlin: Round 2

Well, here I am. Back in Germany. I woke up from my 1.5 nap at 3:30 this morning to catch my flight from Edinburgh to Berlin. I met 5 guys from Ohio--they attend Miami--in the airport who were also on my flight. The Ohio love made my day. I caught all the right trains and made it to my destination without getting lost.

Caroline and Max are so great. I am so happy to see them again. When I arrived they gave me some iced mint tea, we went and got bagels, Caroline scheduled me an appointment to get my hair cut and we got the beer I loved the most here last time, raspberry flavored. So treaty.
We rode past the remains of the Berlin wall again and ate some German pasta/potato combo for dinner. Oh, and Caroline baked a cake.

Nice People

These are some of the people I have made friends with whilst I was here.


Ruari...Somehow, Ruari has been to Ada more than I have. He worked there like three summers in a row and by chance was friends with some of my friends. He was the one who took me to Arthur's Seat and introduced me to some fun new spots.




Alison....has a car. And she showed me all of Scotland in it. Alison is Scotland. With her I played highland games, drank irn bru and tea, saw sheep in the road and ate haggis. She has traveled every where and has become completely invaluable.














Lauren...Midwest Love. Lauren is married to Alex who I couchsurfed with last summer. Lauren was my go to girl and pretty much kept me occuppied like 70% of the time I was here.















Rob...kiwi. Fellow couchsurfer. We met while playing frisbee. He lives with three spanish people and introduced me to a plethera of drinking games. He also cooked for me. Which makes him a winner.















And Luis....Luis and I met on one of Alison's adventures. Spanish and more full of life than, like, anyone. He took me salsa dancing and pretty much made my life. He dipped me. Like proper, movie dancing dips.

Berlin Again

I bought a ticket for Berlin today. So, I am officially leaving the UK on Friday morning. I made friends last year that I am staying with again. I will probably just be there a day or two. I loved Berlin and I loved these people so much last year. I am super excited to see them both again. And I owed them 5 Euro. Anyway, from there I will be heading to Poland and about. Now that I am doing more exciting stuff, hopefully I will be updating here a little more. It's bitter sweet. I love Edinburgh...and I feel really safe here. But, this will be good...and exciting...

Cricket

Yesterday was the longest day of the year, so a group of us went to the Meadows. It looked like it was going to be really nice and warm, but it wasn't. I shouldn't be surprised at this point.

The Meadows was deserted and that gave us lots of room to play cricket. I have never seen a cricket match. I know absolutely nothing about it. So they explained the rules to me...
1)you must wear white. It's the most important rule.
2)Someone else does the laundry after you play.
That's all they gave me.

It's something like baseball. You hit a ball with a bat and there is a pitcher, outfielders and a catcher. You run except you just run back and forth, short sprints--i like the satisfaction of actually running to different places you get in baseball--so you slide a lot.

Let me tell you, I missed my calling as a cricket player. I hit the ball every time. Seriously. I can't imagine a real cricket match though because by the time we were done after like an hour I was bored and tired. And those things go on for like 5 days apparently.

Highland Games...ish

The couchsurfers gathered this weekend.
We had a pub crawl, tours of the town,
music night and...highland games.
Normally these are played by strapping
men wearing kilts and throwing
proper trees and massive stones.
We played games like three legged
race, but whatever it was fun. We did
also do stone throwing and tree hurtling...
which has a proper name,
that I can't recall. Anyway, it was
pretty fun and the pictures are ridiculous.

Keep in mind, the goal of the tossing the
caper, i think that's what the tree thing
is called, is to get it to turn over at least
once. And if you can't tell by the picture,
mine got all of 6 inches away from me.

Perthshire

Alison, the couchsurfer who showed me around on Tuesday invited me to join her and her Aussie girlfriends on a road trip--a girls day. She wanted to show them some of the highlands and has adopted me as her little sister and wanted to bring me too. We started as Scotland's smallest whiskey distillery. It was really adorable. They showed us where the barley comes in, how they distill it, which part of the alcohol they actually use. And they gave us a glass of whiskey for the tour, nice way to start the day. Then we went to the falls of Bruar and ate lunch there. After lunch we went to a few small stops...a few lochs and little paths. Out last stop before really getting into the hills--where the roads are single stone lanes and the sheep really do just stand in the middle of the road--was Queen's View. Queen Victoria visited and decided it was gorgeous. And it is. Maybe one of the prettiest views I have ever seen. We drove through the hills, stopped and had tea and scones, saw lots of castles, high land cows--here spelled coos--saw the grave of Rob Roy, the palace where Mary Queen of Scots was born and the oldest living thing in Europe, a tree called the Ewe, over 5,000 years old. We had dinner at a little chip shop and I ate haggis. I kind of knew it was made of gross stuff but I didn't let Alison tell me till I had digested it a little. It's sheep heart, liver and lungs with onions and stuff. It was good, a cross between hash and sausage. I'm never eating it again though.
Anyway, it was 12 full hours start to finish and a great tour. We went places that buses can't go because the roads are so small and saw some things that no one could have shown me unless they had lived her 34 years.



Queen's View
Sheep in the Road Tea and Scones

My Legs Are Tired

I climbed so many hills today. A really nice couchsurfer from Edinburgh was taking some french kids around Edinburgh to hills in her car so they could see them all in one day...oh my god, my legs are tired. We did one hill in the city and then drove for about 20 minutes to an area called the Pentlands. We did one walk by a reservoir that ended in an underground home kept intact from 200 AD. Crazy. Then we went to a higher hill--and by hill I mean like over 1,500 feet high-- and climbed up to the top. The view was amazing, however, on the journey up I encouraged the group to go what looked like the shorter route...we walked like straight up. When we got down and looked at the map, we realized it was not a path at all. Oh well.

We ate lunch in a village where Robert Louis Stevenson vacationed. We went to a few other places, little towns and the church where this girls parents were married. Top 5 day in Edinburgh.

And I woke up before 10 AM today!


view from the
top of hill 2
















View from the
top of hill 3

Paolo Nutini

Paolo Nutini is a scottish singer who released his new album yesterday and gave a free cd release here and in his home town of Glasgow. I had his last cd which was ok. But, the couchsurfer I stayed with in Glasgow loved this guy and we listened to his new stuff which I really like. My friend Lauren and I went to the cd release. When we were waiting outside some one offered us free wristbands for a meet and greet after the concert. Scotland has been the place for me and concerts. Anyway, the show was good and, ya, I got to meet him.

Picnics

The weather here has been stupendous the last few days--75 degrees, little bits of wind. It's really nice because you aren't limited to just a few hours either, it feels like midafternoon from like 10am-8pm, because again...the sun pretty much never goes down here. Anyway, all this nice weather and the scots accumulate in the meadows...the central park of edinburgh. One huge field split into 4 sections including an amazing playground (with a zip line), running paths, eating options and lots of shade and sun--this is the meadows. There are lots of blankets with kids playing chess and drinking wine or beer--I think open container laws exist in Edinburgh but I have never seen anyone's beer taken away. People are playing frisbee, soccer, practicing tight rope walking. People here are so friendly to begin with but everyone gets so giddy in the sun, the meadows turns into a huge commune and every one belongs to it. Some people invited Lauren and I to join their tight rope walking gang even.

Mountain Climbers

Yesterday I climbed Arthur's Seat. This huge volcanic rock just to the east of the city. It's about 850 feet but the incline is insane. The view was magical. But, once I reached the top I was more scared that the winds were going to blow me off than anything. This is a very windy city.

By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Wonderful Sea

I walked to the beach the other day. Portobello beach. It's exactly three miles from my flat taking the scenic route. The normal route that I run is 1.5 miles but that's just to the ship yard, this is the beach. As the temperature has not gone above 65 degrees since I have been here, I don't know that people actually "go" to the beach here, but it was really beautiful for a walk. These pictures were taken at about 9:30 pm. The sun sets here like...never.

Good and Bad Scottish Digs

"It's fizzy. It's ginger." -- That's their slogan.

It's disgusting. And people drink it here more than water. I haven't met a Scottish person yet who doesn't love the stuff. And I haven't met a foreigner who does. It tastes of bubble gum.















On the other hand...Jaffa Cakes. Oh my
god. I didn't even like the orange and chocolate combo before today. I just ate 6 of these.
By the way, that is the best part of living here, particularly without a car. I eat any and everything I want because I walk like three hours a day minimum.
Anyway, delicious. Spongy, sort of an
orange jam in the middle and covered in chocolate.