Damocles - Douglas Moser

I am a 30-year-old writer from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania in the USA who is going to Europe for three months this summer with a college friend. To save money, I'm living cheap and bartending in State College.

We leave May 14. We're planning to hit most of Western Europe this summer, staring in Ireland, then going east through Northern Europe, but missing Scandinavia, until we get to Prague, then we're heading west again through Southern Europe. We're trying to make it to Portugal before heading back to Dublin to fly back home Aug. 13. And yes, the rubber chicken is coming with us.

I've been to Europe before, but haven't been there in 10 years. I visited Ireland and the UK for three weeks right after graduating high school in 1996, then studied in London for a semester in college in the spring of 1998. While there, I was on the Continent for the first time, going to Amsterdam and Paris.

Summer '08

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Joined on: April 4th 2008
Last Login: June 23rd 2009

Blog Entries: 11
Photos: 22

TB Code: [blogger=67800]
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Damocles, order by Date newest first.

By Damocles
June 30th 2008

Nice is sometimes nice Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Nice

The train ride from Porto was delayed by laundry. The hostel would wash for you, but the dryers in much of Europe suck. We gave our dirty stuff to the desk the night before we were to head for Lisbon/Madread/Barcelona, feeling safe because we didn't have to leave the hostel for our train until 4 pm. After much prodding Wednesday afternoon, we finally got a folded load of wet laundry back and missed our train to Lisbon. We were more irritated than actually set off course because the trains run from Porto frequently, and we didn't have to catch our overnight [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
June 29th 2008

I didn't have a camera this morning, so here's 1,000 words. Europe » France » Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur » Nice

The beach is a mat of pebbles spreading for two miles in a grand broad arc, Nice's stony embrace of the Mediterranean. The sea fondled the shore with gentle sloshing caresses under a gray early morning sky. No one was on the beach, save one man in a white t-shirt and brown shorts fishing off the end of a curved, jumbled jetty. I crept out onto the jetty and found a flat rock facing east toward blue shadow mountains whose tops followed the waves of an invisible conductor's baton. A dull red haze hung above the highest and nearest peak, surrounded [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
June 25th 2008

Twistings in Porto, and twistings in plans Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto

Sandeman
This suspicious looking fellow is the best logo I've ever seen.

After finally escaping the fiendish clutches of Lagos -- and our own demented devices -- we landed in Porto, Porgual's second-largest city. It lies in the north of the country, on the Douro River near the Atlantic Ocean. It's an ancient city set on a number of hills overlooking its river. Most famously, the city is home to a number of port wine cellars, notably Sandeman's. Not particularly a fan of port, but Sandeman's is cool because it's logo, which is over 200 years old, is a shady looking character in a cape and large-brimmed hat. Our intentions on coming north [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
June 18th 2008

Laid low, and almost out, in Lagos Europe » Portugal » Algarve » Lagos

Cliffs
Enormous and beautiful cliffs lined the main beach in Lagos. There were several small caves you could easily climb through that yielded smaller, more secluded beaches for several kilometers up the coa... [more]

Yeah, so much for staying here for three or four days. We've been here for almost three weeks now, but after some serious beach, serious sun and serious partying, it's time to move on. Jay and I were very close to finding jobs here and staying until the middle of July. Eventually, though, we decided to keep moving, see most of what we came here to see, and come back next May for jobs. Lagos is a small city overrun by Australians and Canadians. Americans, Kiwis and Brits make cameo appearances. The old part of the city, where we spent almost [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
June 1st 2008

Portgual, the other white meat. Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Lisbon
Much of the old part of the city, where we stayed, has narrow streets of black and white basalt stone lined with buildings standing shoulder to shoulder.

Following our disasters in Madrid, Jay and I fled to Salamanca Thursday to get the earliest train to Lisbon. We thought an overnight train from Madrid would cost more, so we took the free ride to Salamanca, stayed in the train station -- after having the great fortune of replacing Pacman the Sacman -- and grabbed a 5 am train to Lisboa. The train was one of the shadiest shitboxes I have ever seen in my life. It was probably 40 years old and had the old-fashioned cabins with sliding doors. There were sleeper rooms, but that was definitely extra. We [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
May 29th 2008

Madread Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Salamanca

By the way, check back on previous entries for pictures when I get them developed. If they'll put them on CD instead of prints, I'll add them to the right blog. We had a great time in Barcelona. The hostel, despite the initial boar encounter, was great, set in what I think was a wildlife reserve on the edge of the city. It was a three-building compound on the top of the hill in the woods. They served olive loaf sandwiches and warm milk for breakfast, which I wasn't expecting, but we could buy a huge hot Spanish meal for €6 [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
May 24th 2008

The Best Little Boar House in Barcelona, or, Dos Días de Damocles Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona

Wild boar
This fine looking sow was our welcome wagon to Barcelona.

We got the 4 p.m. high speed train (called a TGV train) out of Brussels to Lyon Wednesday. I didn't think our pass would cover the entire cost of the high speed trains, but luckily I was wrong. Don't mind making a happy mistake once in a while. The only thing we had to pay was a €3 reservation fee for each ticket. It was overbooked, though, and only one ticket had a seat number. The other was for what amounted to standing-room-only in between cars. Jay lost the coin toss and got stuck there. Next time, I think he wants [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
May 22nd 2008

Mussels in Brussels Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels

Stadhuis
This is one angle from the Grand Place in Brussels.

So far, the itinerary is holding up. After a night in Cork, Ireland, Jay and I headed back to Dublin Monday evening. Cork is a nice little city, also building and feeling the boost of the recent boom. As a result of the newfound prosperity, the island is also experiencing a tourism boom. When we got off the train late Sunday afternoon, Jay and I met five raucous Welshmen, who sang an impressive version of John Denver's "Country Roads" when Jay told them he lived in West Virginia. They were with a man from Surry, England, who works for oil companies [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
May 17th 2008

Your face has landed Europe » Ireland » County Dublin » Dublin

Leprechaun
This man checked our passport in Dublin Airport.

After a long but uneventful flight, Jay and I landed in Dublin Thursday morning on schedule. Neither of us slept much, so we were exhausted. We took a bus from the airport to the city and wandered around for a couple hours looking for a hostel Jay stayed in several years ago. After asking directions and walking a few miles (don't ask how many kilometres that is because I don't know), we found it. The hostel, called the Avalon, is in a gorgeous old brownstone building on Auinger Street, about half a mile south of the River Liffey. The area is [View Full Entry]

By Damocles
May 13th 2008

And we're out.... North America » United States » West Virginia

Martinsburg
This is Martinsburg, WV.

I skipped out of Huntingdon early Saturday afternoon for Martinsburg, WV. My apartment is clean and shut down, I saw most of the people I had on my list (of course it was a last minute whirlwind tour) and PanThar is carefully stowed with Mom for the summer. Jay's parents gave us their beautiful house to have a going away party. I wouldn't have recommended that, but they're generous people. They made us a great spread of food -- barbecue, tuna salad, pasta salad, chips, burgers, dogs, beer, etc. -- then fled for an overnight stay at a hotel. They told [View Full Entry]

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Damocles - Douglas Moser

Summer '08

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