http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Lafayette-Balch/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Lafayette Balch en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:49:39 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:49:39 +0000 I figured that if I were to go to a completely unfamilar place with a different alphabet I may as well make friends before getting on the train. It so happens Liam this scottish fellow was that very person. Safety in numbers and all that. Ended up having him tag along back to the hostel and fortunately he'd brought some cyrillic translations or I'd have been that much more disoriented. L http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Serbia/West/Belgrade/blog-427364.html THE DAY I WENT VENICIAN BLIND TuesdaySince I've posted twice today I would catch up with the bit about Milan before catching this one.Turns out Venice is a pretty awesome city to walk around in. And it would have behooved me to buy a map.... it is waaaay too easy to get lost scooting around those narrow windy passageways. Although had I not been lost 92 of the time I wouldn't have found a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Central-Croatia/Zagreb/blog-426478.html Albums listened to during the creation of this postPinback Autumn of the SeraphsDeath From Above 1979 You're a Woman I'm a MachineNOTE This was typed up several days ago and marks August 1st 3rdWe will find this episode to be all filler no killer. Merely an insight to the slight plight I had to smite overnight. Which long story short was nothing more than a moderate case of dehydra http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lombardy/Milan/blog-426290.html At the moment I'm feeling quite under the weather at a hostel in Milan. Which... as you will find out is annoying on sooo very many levels. But we must go in order. Please bear with the writing style as my periatal lobe feels as if it's shifted enough to attempt dismount through my ear drum.Where oh where did I leave off Oh yes my final night in Dublin. Long story short the phrase dr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Languedoc-Roussillon/Carcassonne/blog-424675.html The flight from New York to Dublin was absolutely incredible. The sun had been tuckered out from trying to penetrate the clouds. Consequently it decided to retire for the evening. In doing so it cast out the most vibrant pinks and oranges against the clouds below. My perceptions of sunsets were entirely shattered that very moment. The shards reflecting back even greater intensity in every pa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-423575.html ON LAST WEEK'S EPISODEWhen we last left our protagonist Andrew had just been recouperating from a several day trek cross country by Greyhound. Where as it so happened he lost nearly every item he'd accumulated on his epic quest for the freedom of mankind. Or some such....The times were tough in the subsequent days weeks and DARE I SAY MONTHS It had been go go go let's figure out how to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Juneau/blog-423110.html The Time BreakdownP PlaneT TrainG Greyhound0 Day From gt To Time Traveled Between LocationsP 101 Seattle gt Utah 2.5hrsP 101 Utah gt Paris 10hrsT 102 Paris gt Bordeaux 4hrsT 105 Bordeaux gt Arcachon 50minsT 107 Arcachon gt Bordeaux 50minsT 107 Bordeaux gt Marseille 6hrs 10minsT 1010 Marseille gt Nmes 1hr 20minsT 1010 Nmes gt Als http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Steilacoom/blog-346905.html I am appreciating New York eversomuchmore than I had imagined I would. I assume it's the particular company I have. For one Nari and Zoe have been on top of it in the entertainment field. It's good to slip into the cozy and worn friendshoeps like this. The breakdown of my own solo exploration is nothing less than typical tourism. I am content with this simply because as being from the US I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-347823.html I am back on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. But before all of you ladies start fainting at my closely looming presence I must inform you I am not on the left coast. I arrived in The Big Apple sometime today. Reality says 1 p.m. my body says it was 7 p.m. That's what I get for going back in time.Yesterday.... was it yesterday Yesterday I was still in Budapest after having spent the w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-346770.html One of my favorite bands Minus the Bear is currently undergoing a tour of the United States. According to the press release in November they're only selling their new EP Acoustics on this tour and online. Meaning.... I ain't gonna get a physical copy because I can't go to their shows to buy in person.This can be remedied though Their final show of this tour is next weekNov 22 Seattle http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-329070.html Collar popped and hat tilted at 10 degrees the cloud formation sauntered up to the awkward Bratislava and shoved his Slovakianself into a locker. In other words the place was gray and miserable for the few crummy days spent there. Between incompetent staff at the two hostels we stayed at and lack of any real city center it wasn't worth it. And there isn't anything very interesting to even c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-344378.html After spending several consecutive hours mimicking the afterlife of most sardines we transferred to our final train. We then penetrated the outer forces of the Czech Republic with the clickaclack one most often hears during those modes of travel. Katie and I entered Prague by nightfall. As it was a very impromptu move on our part I hadn't the time to learn any Czech. Now this would inevitabl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/South-Bohemian-Region/Cesky-Krumlov/blog-340362.html Much has happened in the week I've been apart from you folks. I would also suggest that nothing has happened. Depends on what you find interesting in the following.Last you read I was to leave Dortmund that night so I could be at Essen early. Instead I decided to stay at a hostel. In France they call breakfast ltltle petite dejeunergtgt. That translates to little lunch. And in h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Frankfurt/blog-339717.html I dont think I mentioned previously that I did a crash course in German when I was in Paris. I had looked up most of the common words and phrases on the internet. I did this based off what Id encountered in France. I knew Id need numbers the word for night the days of the week etcetera. One of the hostels I stayed at fortunately had some lovely German ladies that were more than happy to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/North-Rhine-Westphalia/Dortmund/blog-336927.html It's roughly 5 km or 3.2 miles to the hostel I stayed at for the evening my first night in Nancy. It was the first legitimate one I've been to thusfar. A stand alone building in the middle of a giant field near some schools. It even had Chateau in the name Anyhow after much duress in trying to figure out where my room was located the lady wrote a four digit number down and told me it was f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/North-Rhine-Westphalia/Dortmund/blog-335421.html I am entirely glad to be out of Paris. It was the most expensive and least rewarding place so far. Perhaps I came at the wrong time of year. Perhaps I needed to come at it differently. Perhaps it needs to grow a soul. Whatever the case I can most definitely say I'm not a fan and have no intention of ever returning. The fact that I spent most of my time staring straight forward as I walked th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lorraine/Nancy/blog-335067.html We left off somewhere around the time I was still in Marseille and had just booked a room in a hostel with an Australian and a brit from Cambridge n'est pas Well it just so happens that another Australian joined the party and I must say that when two Aussies get together their blatherings become a mesh of indiscernable noise. They were speaking english alright yet I had as much trouble with http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Languedoc-Roussillon/N-mes/blog-333514.html I made it into Marseille last night. I hadn't orginally planned on visiting but the train stations in Toulouse and Carcassonne had exceptionally sketchy characters running amok. It was already growing late as it was and I didn't need another panicky Mousafa incident. So I'll see the awesome Carcassonne castles another time. Gorgeous when lit up at night though rest assured. Basically I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d-Azur/Marseille/blog-332206.html I'm back in Bordeaux from over the weekend. Most of this post will be about Arcachon so there you have my reason for putting that as my location. And because you folks are so deeply patient I'm adding in a video.I had planned to leave Saturday morning from Bordeaux to Arcachon due to the clearing of skies and wanting to beat the incoming rainfall. In checking my Couchsurfing account I came t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Arcachon/blog-331849.html Pardon me for errors... the keyboard is hard to navigate. The aqwm and several punctuation marks are in odd places and I have to shift key for making periods and a special FRENCH ONLY shift key to make certain common punctuation marks otherwise common in english.I stumbled on this internet cafe by mistake Only one I've seen so farAs we made our ascent I decided to check on the scenery I'd http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Aquitaine/Bordeaux/blog-330443.html