Krakow, Poland

January 3rd, 2009 Night 1:

My nights sleep on the train was okay at best but you really can't expect that much from a constantly moving bed. We got off at 9:26am, 4 minutes early, and walked to our hostel. It's in a great location. Lots of monuments and churches around. The architecture is efficient or extravagant, no in between. we left our bags at the hostel because we couldn't check in and went to a pub/cafe/restaurant place. I ordered a cola and meat perogies. Best perogies I have ever tasted. I tried Mike's spinach perogies, Pat's scrambled eggs, and Alex's Beef/Sour crout/ and Kielbasa, all awesome. The food on this trip is definitely been one of the best parts so far.
We also went to see a cathedral(St. Mary's Basilica), 6 zlotys, so 2 dollars. Almost worth it, huge, and everything was coated in gold. There was also an outdoor market which was cool but we didn't stay long because it was so cold outside. This is the coldest it's been; colder than Oslo, and that doesn't make sense.



Then we fed birds which was awesome. They were pigeons and I felt like I was 5 years old again. At one point I had around 10 pigeons climbing on me, and I also threw lots of seed at Pat so they swarmed him. Totally worth it.


Night 1 - Part 2

So, I'm drunk. After trying to go to Prozak unsuccessfully (it was closed) we ended up back at Alter Ego where we sat at the bar for two hours. Had 4 drinks, finished them off real fast. Zywieck was the first beer, Strong was the second, Warja, and a "hot beer", which Mike wrote down the recipe, it was amazing and I want it again....maybe tomorrow night. Before that we went to a restaurant that was called Bobci something. That means grandma in Polska, so...that's cool. Had perogies and cola light for the second time in one day - Even better this time, stuffed to the rafters, I was. We then went back to the market to kill time before Prozak opened (You know how that went) and that was cool once more, Pat brought a chess set and was looking for a ring, but the one he tried on didn't fit him. Sad Day.


When we got back to the Hostel, literally 100 feet from the bar (awesome) we went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for tomorrow. Earlier we had gone to a grocery store and bought bread, jelly, peanut butter, and nutella. So, we made some straight up PB and J's for tomorrow. We were told by someone who lives in Poland while in Stockholm to bring our own lunch to Auschwitz because the food isn't worth it. So, in the kitchen we made our sammys to the tunes of Polish progressive rock, Alex and I rocked our while doing so because we drank a bit faster than Mike and Pat. Alex actually just took a good night shot of Bacardi melon that pat bought back in Copenhagen. Funny SoB that kid...man...is.

We are waking up at 7am tomorrow to catch an early mini bus to Auschwitz. The fact that tomorrow might be one of the emotionally draining days of my life had barely sunk in yet. I want my eyes opened. I want to lose all faith in humanity tomorrow. I was to not believe, I want to not consider, true human kindness to be true. I want to be changed, for better or worse, I want this experience to change me forever. We shall see.

Berlin, Germany

Night 1 - 11:18PM

Tonight we decided to take it easy and get our barrings/sleep. 11:30pm to 9:30am to be exact. We found a free 3.5 hour tour to go on tomorrow, hopefully seeing sights like the Berlin wall remains and check point charlie. Tonight we got to our hostel, was a bit expensive but there is a plasma screen downstairs along with a game room and a bar with a "winter garden". I guess it's just an indoor place to drink and smoke. So we did.




I got a large beer, 3 euro or so. Pretty good, not as good as the one from Stockholm but better than most American beers. It was called the Berliner. Then we did some of the usual, check the Internet, Pat played billiards, and watched Family Guy in German. After that we sung some karaoke with random people who barely spoke English, which was terrible and hilarious. Now we are upstairs figuring out exactly what to see/do tomorrow other than the tour and getting ready for sleep.



We ate at a Thai place tonight. I got sweet and sour chicken with pineapple, yellow peppers, white rice, and a cola. It was about 10 euro total but I paid 20 Euro to pay back all of the guys because I owe them all money. I'm trying to spend less money but to no avail.


Sleeper Train from Berlin to Krakow - 9:25pm


Remember that whole money thing? Well, I paid for dinner tonight. I know. I have no idea, but to justify a bit I consider this an even with Alex, maybe half of what I owe Mike and 10 Euro off the 50 I owe Pat. It's a start.

We woke up to 3 alarms this morning around 9:30am and went downstairs to get the buffet breakfast and checkout. The breakfast was 6 Euro and there was orange juice, ham, some other meat type objects, plus yogurt and oats. The yogurt was fantastic and was the best part of the meal. After that was done we headed out to find the free tour we looked up the night before. The girl who led the tour was Scottish and named Natasha. The tour guides work on tips alone so they have to make it good, and it was.

It started off in Pariserplatz Square in front of the Brandenburg gate. The gate is massive with many columns and a statue with Victoria riding on a chariot on the top. We heard the story of it (the statue), how it was stolen by Napoleon then taken back and how it was renamed Victoria to symbolize victory over France, and how its head now looks straight at the French Embassy in Berlin as if to say, "Yeah, whats up assholes, we beat you." Then we saw the outside of the German Parliament. Also very big, columns, big dome, glorious, you know the deal. Then we went to a holocaust memorial called "the memorial to the martyred Jews of Europe." It was made up of many rectangular blocks of different sizes. It was interesting because everyone got quiet and it was very claustrophobic in the middle.

We then went and stood above the bunker where Hitler killed himself. Apparently people who live in the apartments behind it have their dogs shit on the ground over it. Take that Hitler. We also saw the neonazi book burning site. Oddly enough I had read something about it earlier and turned to Alex and said earlier in the day, "This is just the beginning. Wherever they burn books, people will eventually be burned." Then not 5 minutes later the tour guide read a plaque that said the same thing. It was impressive. The memorial was a transparent square in the middle of the courtyard that you can look down into and see empty bookshelves.


After that we ventured over the checkpoint Charlie which was the main American checkpoint during WW2. Then we stopped to get cappuccinos and Pastries. People in Europe love that shit AND their espresso doesn't taste horrible. F you Starbucks. Anyways...

Somewhere in there we also saw the biggest piece of the lasting Berlin Wall. It wasn't that impressive in stature, but it was definitely worth it to see. I have wanted to see the actual wall ever since I went on a field trip with one of my history classes to the JFK museum and saw a piece of it encased in glass. All throughout the city you can follow cobble stone lines on the street that represent where the Berlin wall used to be. It was over 60 Km in length, which is just crazy. It was such a recent part of history and it effected so many lives. Very hard to believe. Also went to Museum Island where we saw the Berliner Dome, which again was huge (more huge than usual) and really beautiful. We also saw some cathedrals, some Catholic (French Huguenots) and some Protestant (for most North Germans.)

We tipped the women 20 Euro at the end and she deserved every penny...or Euro...yeah. Everything we even thought we wanted to see was on the tour. Berlin is a city thriving after such a harsh past, and an inspiration to all who see it. This I believe.





After the tour we got food at this German place where no one spoke English, which was cool. We caught on to how to order and such. I had a beer, can't remember the name of it but it was decent and 3 Euro. To eat I got some beef thing with gravy and red cabbage put on a ball of potato/rice. When you put all that on the fork together it was great. We had a sausage/kraut appetizer that was really amazing as well. Germans know how to make kraut better than anyone. Ever. After that we went back to our hostel, drank some espresso and talked to a guy from DC who was traveling on business with his male friend from Sweden. (not gay) We talked mostly about language barriers, how the English language was horrible to talk and write with, and about women from many different countries. We then ventured to the train station (took the S-Bahn) which is like a subway. Waited there for 40 minutes and then got on the sleeper train.

The room in the train is about 6 feet by 6 feet with 4 beds. The beds are in a bunk fashion. We got sheets for them which decently look clean. Our backpacks fit in the aisle and overhead storage, so in short, it's cramped but its doable. The beds are big enough for Alex to stretch completely out and he is 6'2, so they work fine. We should be waking up around 8:15am tomorrow to make sure we get off at Krakow because it's not the last stop, so if we sleep through we are not going to end up in Krakow.

I'm really excited to see Auschwitz and that is all I'll say about it now, and I'll have more on it when I see it. The tour guide told the group today that everyone on this earth should see a concentration camp during their lifetime just so they can experience just a fraction of the horror that occurred there. Okay, going to sleep now. Night. - 11:14pm



ONWARD TO KRAKOW!

Copenhagen, Denmark

Written on Train to Berlin Coming from Copenhagen January 1st, 2009 - 7:40AM


So, people in Copenhagen are fucking crazy.

The city doesn't buy their own fireworks because it's inhabitants all bring them and set them off themselves. Complete Mayhem.


Before the New Years celebrations we walked the town a bit. We went to Tycho brahe's Astronomy museum/observatory. That was 15kr or so and really high up. View was almost worth it. Then we walked the Strogut some more which is a road of shops, so that was also cool. We took pictures of some places including the city hall, which as usual was really big. More to come on that building later.



We ate at McDonalds, which is the 2nd night of fast food in a row. We are aiming for cheap. We gad to go there specifically though because everywhere else was closed and soon we started to figure out why.

The Sun started going down at 3pm as per usual and we went back to the hostel to drink a bit. I bought a 4 pack of Heineken and downed it quick while watching TV and smoking inside. After a quick nap we headed down to the square in front of the city hall. Thousands of people then gathered and started to set off fireworks there. Hours before and hours after 12am people were shooting them off. At buildings, cars, and other people which turned out to be not cool. We found somewhere relatively safe to stand and stood till around 12:10am. We took lots of pictures then decided to head back to the hostel and go to sleep to be ready for our 7:40am train to Berlin.

Overall the Hostel was okay, the people were nice and they gave us cookies and champagne for the new year celebrations. There was free internet and I talked to Ma a little bit. You could smoke in the rooms which was weird though.



This morning went smoothly, got up, walked down the street where people were still setting off fireworks. Went to the train to Berlin and got right on. Very nice train or at least the best so far. I am impressed with the seats and their comfyness level. We got some meatball sandwiches once it started moving which were good but I am concerned about the gaseous effects. I also ordered a water, but little did I know that normal European bottled water is carbonated. Mike told me that after I took the first sip. Thanks Mike. It was/is horrible.

Then around 9:45am I heard something about a boat over the loudspeaker. I thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. Mike, Alex and Pat were all also sleeping at the time as well. Then about 10 minutes later I heard something in English about a boat again and getting off the train. I sprang from my seat to see what was the matter. Turns out the train goes on to a ferry like boat and travels 40 minutes across the water. We were not aware of this and were quite frightened. We went upstairs on the boat and had a cig then went to the duty free shop and talked about how a bunch of Germans just put Alex on a boat. (he is of Jewish heritage, hence funny) I still cannot fathom that no one told us were going to be on a god damn boat. Mike didn't even know, so it made no sense. (he knows everything) After 40 minutes of drinking cola light (diet coke is called that in Europe, makes more sense) and eating chocolate we got back on the train and entered Germany. (I used parentheses in this paragraph a lot.)

First thing I noticed was the abundance of Wind Turbines. Hundreds of them in one field. The more I see Europe doing right the more I realized America does not have high enough standards for itself.

Carlsberg's Non-Confident Advertising in Copenhagen

Train: Stockholm to Copenhagen

Written 6:50AM - December 31st


No problem waking up this morning. Apparently Alex and Mike couldn't sleep so the decided to go get Kebabs at 3:30am and saw a bloody fight. Like two guys beating the crap out of each other, blood, and giant Swedish Police kinda fight.

Pat slept a few hours and I got a solid 6 hours of sleep. Woke up around 4:50am pretty refreshed, probably woke up initially because Alex and Mike were telling Pat about the fight at a very high volume but that's fine cause it is an amazing story.



Alex and I scurried out of the hotel as to not be caught because we weren't supposed to stay in the 2 person room. We got to the train station and immediately procured cappuccinos (picture from a Stockholm cafe but they are almost all the same wherever you got them including 6am in the train station) while Pat and Mike made sammies at the hotel. They are so cute. We found out the Eurail passes were worth it today as well. This ticket alone would have been 900 Krone and we only had to pay 120Kr for the reservation and that was it. After all that we went to the train and I finished my Lucky (Last Cig in the pack for future reference) We are on an X2000, which is a far nicer/faster train than the last one. This SHOULD be about a 5.5 hour train ride. Our hostel is only 2 blocks from the train station which is a nice change. We have a list of things we want to see before assumed New Years celebrations.

Alex said yesterday he expects to be perpetually tired over the next three weeks and I think he is right. I am currently awake because of the insanely strong cappuccino but I have this general malaise over me. You just have to fight through it and base movement on hopeful adrenaline secretions and caffeine. I'll sleep when I'm dead.




The UCMB is leaving tomorrow, I hope and know the people within the band will have fun. I never missed a performance physically - once or twice I was not mentally "there" but my body was. Feels weird, but I regret nothing. I have only been on this trip for 5 days and it's already one of the coolest things I have ever done. Everyone should experience different cultures, it rips the world you know wide open, which is scary but amazing at the same time. You never know what to expect and that is why it is an adventure. I can't believe tonight is the start of 2009. 2008 went so fast which is sad but 20 more days of Europe then I'm thrown into 2nd Junior year semester. Sounds like fun to me.


And now one more picture to prepare you for the Copenhagen Blog:

Stockholm, Sweden

Written on 30/12 (That's how they mark it in Europe)

I am currently sitting in the Frey Hotel in Stockholm. We could not get our sleeper train tonight because of the Holiday. (Not Told, Sorta Pissed) So we have a 6:20am train booked for tomorrow. We were originally just going to sleep in the train station but then Pat offered to pay for a hotel for the night, and I personally am cool with it. No, but really, I don't have to sleep in a train station so that is awesome. (Below is a picture of Central Station)


Yesterday we got in to Stockholm and left Central Station (really big and awesome) Stockholm is much bigger than I thought it was going to be, apparently it is the biggest city in Scandinavia.

We got to our hostel by way of the T. We bought a 24 hour pass for trains and buses which was a very good deal. The hostel was pretty good, free internet and the room was nice.

We had two major goals for the first day, go eat reindeer and go to the Absolut Ice Bar. We left the hostel and went to find a cafe that sells reindeer. We took a T to Old Town which was really cool. It has very old buildings, obviously, and small quaint streets. It was sort of like walking through history, but cooler. So we went into this restaurant that was too fancy for us but whatever. Alex and I got some great beer and Pat got wine because again, he's on Vacation!



Reindeer was delicious, pricey, and totally worth it cause let us be honest here, I ate a god damn reindeer. Blitzen is my bitch.

Then we headed over to the Ice Bar. We had to make reservations earlier, but still worth it. The place was completely made of ice including the cups that were more like shot glasses with expensive liquid. We all had to put on Parkas to walk inside the actual bar area. The inside of the bar had to be kept at -5 degrees Celsius at all times.





After that we went back to the hostel and met some people in the common room. We drank a bit (Absolut oddly enough) We met some girls from Vienna who were cool as well. I might marry one of them, so that is pretty sweet. Eventually after some walking around trying to find and open bar we ditched the girls and came back to go to sleep. (Tiny bit drunk) We set our alarms for 8am but that didn't happen. We all slept till 9:50am or so, packed up and then checked out. At this point we were still going to sleep in the train station so we kept our backpacks at the hostel to hold. We then hopped on a bus to the Vasa Museum. I honestly had no idea where we were going and my head hurt a bit from the night before so when we walked in I was in for a surprise. I was looking down at the ground as per usual and then I heard "woah" and looked up to see the biggest Scandinavian war ship that is inside a building I had ever seen. Apparently it was in the water for 20 minutes then sunk which I find to be hilarious. They got it out from the sea bed sometime in the 1960's and now it is a museum. We saw a short movie about it which was very Museumish, no real actors, just pictures and that slow zoom they do on all of them with the booming voice over. We then went back and saw the ship from every angle possible. No pictures came out well of the real version so Google it or something. I'll just post this one of Alex and Mike talking with a wooden dude.

Then we headed to 7/11. I bought an apple and some citrus stuff. That was lunch. Then we went through town on our way to see Stockholm City Hall. On the way we saw a 37 meter tall glass obelisk. No biggie. Tall, Glass, Lit up, pretty straight forward. I'll post a picture of how it looked at night cause it looks cooler.





Lots of Spires in Stockholm as well, they really like spires. Then we got to the city hall, which apparently took 8 million bricks to make. It might been one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It is right on the water which makes for fantastic picture opportunities.









After that we walked back to the Hostel to get our bags. While we were there we saw the Austrian girls and said goodbye. We might call them while in Austria. Maybe. (Didn't Happen) Then we went to the train station and we figured out we should not sleep there. (score) Alex and I checked out bags at the station because we only got a 2 person room. Now we're just watching TV and getting to sleep early for our train to Copenhagen and the new year.

PS: The sun went down at 2:30pm today.

PPS: I stole the pen I am currently using.

Newark Airport/Oslo Norway

Written on 12/28/08 - Newark Airport/Oslo, Norway

So...Pat lost his wallet, we all panicked, then I ate Sarku, so overall it's okay so far. Alex's parents had to come back through the toll to give Pat his wallet back, he said he would pay them back for it, but he probably wont. 2 hour wait on the plane for something to be fixed, a valve that doesn't have anything to do with the plane actually flying, we are all angry. 7 hour flight, some dinner, sleeping that hurts my neck, getting off the plane and seeing the frost bitten terrain makes it all worth it. I'm still looking for dwarfs and trolls because I'm convinced this place is Midgard.
On a train, cost us 150 krones, f my a. Alex bought a pack of cigs for 80 krone, f his a. Scandinavia is expensive. This train is amazing. First class here is luxury and convenience class here is like America's first class. 19 minute ride from the airport to Oslo Central. "I already broke something." Oslo's rest rooms are weird. The stalls are their own rooms and the urinals are like solo cups. They recycle the paper in the dispenser and I didn't know that so I owned it hardcore by ripping it out. You live and you learn.

Night of December 28th in Oslo

Went to a fortress type thing for the first adventure in Europe, trespassed on a plot of cannons, saw a tank, no biggie.







After the fortress Alex, Mike, and Pat went ice skating. I watched and took pictures because I decided I was not going to pay for my own certain death. Mike says the skates were his problem for not doing so well, I disagree. Alex turned pro almost immediately, he's going to Olympics fo sho. Then as we were giving the skates back Pat hit on a 16 year old girl "by accident", and it was hilarious for all. He says she was "eye f'in" him apparently so I think he should be in some sort of "eye f'in" prison.
Then we hit up the royal palace, pat got yelled at for standing near the guards gun, and we all know what a sceevy bastard that Patrick Brennan is so we left immediately. Fantastic building though, Ionic Columns Alex says, I agree.

Went to TGI Fridays for dinner because no where else was open due to it being a Sunday evening in Oslo. I got some sort of chicken pasta (129 Krone) and a Pepsi (39 Krone) for the caffeine, but it does not seem to be working as it is 6:32pm Oslo time and we are already back at the hostel and tired enough to go to sleep. I'm going to force myself to go to sleep at 10pm since we are waking up at 6:20am to catch a 7:25 train at central station. So if I can force 8 hours of sleep out of me and not 12 that would do much better for my circadian rhythm and make this time change (+6 hours) easier.
Norway does not have English TV channels, which is disappointing, but it is still fun to make up what I think all these blond haired people are saying.
Alex and Pat just took a shower in this hostel and to work it, it seems you need a masters in mechanical engineering.
At this point if I had to shortly describe Oslo I would say it is small, quaint, but modern simultaneously. Many old buildings still stand and have been very well preserved. More details on all of this day tomorrow while I'm on a 6 hour train to Stockholm, Sweden. Super sweet.
PS- Best hostel so far...yeah...good sheets, American plugs, TV, bathroom with rocket shower, 4 bunked beds, the works. I get top, sad day. Also, it's warm in here. That = Awesome. My fingers thank me quite a bit. Mom's gloves she got me are doing well and helping a lot. OH also - foreign cigs, smooth but no flavor, overall pretty good.

December 29th - Train from Oslo to Stockholm - 8:20AM

Continued Oslo thoughts: I have to figure out what the name of that fortress was, it's a long word that is hard to pronounce, like everything in Norway. Amazing view of the harbor at the top.

Some smooth jazz flute was playing while we were there which was incredibly appropriate. Before that we accidentally trespassed on a plot of cannons. The guard started talking to Norwegian to us and we had to say our not patented "No, only English." Almost everyone younger than 30 speaks English as well which is nice. Most of it is kinda broken but that's better than anything I would try in another language. That guards exact English words were, "oh, no entry, you can not be here." Got her message across. Mike took a picture of me throwing the Nixon over the harbor, that is dedicated to the UCMB bass line, sucks I can't be in Toronto with them at the bowl game but I had to choose the trip of a lifetime over anything.

While eating at Fridays we had to take a crash course in dollar to Kroner currency exchange. The lowest amount you can take out of a Oslo ATM is 200Kr and that have 100 and 200 dollar bills. They also have a 5, 10, 20, and 50Kr cent pieces. Their money looks harder to counterfeit, dually noted. Pat ordered a full rack of ribs and wine, but it's okay because he is on vacation. Also, something that I found to be odd is that in most of Europe you do not have to tip at restaurants because the waiters are paid normal wages. That was weird for me the first few times. Back at the hostel I used the interweb for a few moments, 1Kr per minute. Went on facebook and changed my status to something like, not dead and in Oslo, and wrote on mom's wall to let her know the same thing. I went to go pay the woman at the front desk, she said it was 5Kr, but I didn't have cash on me so she said it was a late Christmas present. She did that, a nice stranger on this train gave me a new pen when I lost mine under the seat, and he deduced that Alex and I were American and spoke English to us immediately. People are nice in Norway.
The sun is just coming up around 8:30am because we are so far north. All the landscape between towns are just long stretches of snow covered pine trees.
We ended up finding a station on the TV last night that had some English speaking shows. Nothing special, a dog training show and a not funny British talk show, but nonetheless it was nice to hear some straight English. We fell asleep around 9pm which was earlier than I wanted. My sleep cycle is not yet right as was proven to me last night when I woke up at 2am and was wide awake. I didn't have a watch on to check the time so I assumed it was 5 or so and kept looking out the window at the skyline waiting for the sun. Little did I know that the sun was not going to come up until 9am in Norway during the winter. I didn't learn that it was early until Alex got up to hit up the little boys room and told me it was now 2:45am. That made me sad inside. Alex was having the same problem I was and woke up momentarily after I did. Eventually I went back to sleep and woke up to the alarm.
This morning was pretty straight forward. Checked out of the hostel around 6:30am. The guy at the desk was very nice like everyone else is. They gave us breakfast to go, but it is not like American breakfast. We received 4 pieces of bread each and then an assortment of salted butter, liver paste (not bad), peach jam, and caviar to put on it. Filling enough to be good and not bad tasting. Walking through the streets of Oslo in the early morning was really cool. Transportation was still running but other than that there was not a lot of people around. Pat, Alex, and I lit a cig and strut through the streets like Kings with giant backpacks. There was no wait at the train station because we reserved seats the night before. 10 minutes or so and we were on this train. We are split up between the cars. Alex and I are on car 14 while Pat and Mike are on 15. They have nicer seats and people to talk too, but our seats are still pretty nice and more secluded. After we left Oslo Station Alex and I ventured to car 13 because it had the coffee cart. Alex paid for me which was nice (he was the only one with Kroner on him.) One coffee was 15 kroner each which was not bad at all, cream and sugar, but a bit small. Traveling through the cars is scary and Alex summed it up well when he looked back at me and said, "Is this right?!" I said I didn't know and to keep moving.
The train is supposed to arrive around 1:30pm in Sweden. I am currently realizing how fast the pace of our trip is. There is not a lot of time to wonder what I'm doing next since I'm probably already doing it.
9:15am - Entered Sweden, have to travel across the entire country. Joy. (map that shows both cities to give some perspective of the train ride) All the train announcements are in Norwegian...or Swedish, I have no idea. No one seems to be concerned or bracing for death so I am assuming they are normal announcements. I have never really experienced being a language minority, and it is interesting to say the least. I feel bad because it is so normal for people to know more than one language. This pink haired girl came on the train before it left and was apparently asking what car she was on. I said I only spoke English, then she proceeded to struggle to find the right English words, "Is this the first car?" I have a feeling she wanted to know something else but didn't know to say it. That sure does suck, not speaking a language and trying to procure information must be pure torture.

Preface

Yesterday I, Ryan Brady, got back from the Europe trip of a lifetime. I went with three of my friends, Mike, Alex, and Pat. We all met during our high school years and on a whim Mike planned a trip to Europe while he was studying abroad last year in Italy. Us 3 jumped at the opportunity and the 7 months of planning and prep began.

Some things to know while reading this, I wrote it how I believe I would converse the words, so that will be the basic style. Some of it is very detailed while other parts of it is just a basic overview of what we did that day. A lot of the time I was writing this it was late at night before we went to sleep so bare with me. On paper it ended up being 55 pages with large hand writing.

I will be writing it on the blog in sections broken up by cities and separating the days in those cities within the post. It will make sense more when read it.

Most of what is on the blogger will be direct quote from the writing, if there is any outside commentary it will be noted.

Here is the list of cities in order starting on December 27th 2008 and ending on January 19th 2009: Oslo,Norway ~ Stockholm,Sweden ~ Copenhagen, Denmark (New Years)~ Berlin, Germany~Krakow, Poland~ Budapest, Hungary~ Vienna, Austria~ Munich, Germany~Amsterdam, Netherlands~ Dublin, Ireland

Enjoy.