Collar popped and hat tilted at 10 degrees, the cloud formation sauntered up to the awkward Bratislava and shoved his Slovakian-self 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 complain about. That's how rotten mcterrible it was. Sunday marked the day I entered the border of Hungary. This was incredibly important to me as it makes up the most identifiable part [View Full Entry]

---

---

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 inevitably lead to minor confusion at the train terminal and making it to our hostel for the evening. I have made for an incredibly awkward looking fellow. Having been given an incredible metabolism, al [View Full Entry]

---

---

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 <<le petite dejeuner>>. That translates to "little lunch". And in hostels, it was always exactly that... maybe some stale bread (depending on the place) and some room temperature milk to soak your day old Wheaties in. Dortmund put that to shame with [View Full Entry]

---

---

I don´t 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 I´d encountered in France. I knew I´d 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 help a poor American boy with his pronunciation. Below are examples of my progression so far between languages... my german spelling probably needs work... [View Full Entry]

---

---

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 for my <<chambre>>... when she really meant it was the <<mot de passe>> for the front entrance.) I was off to go [View Full Entry]

---

---

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 the streets to keep from being accosted is one of the main gripes. Watching out for swarms of children no matter the arrodissment [View Full Entry]

---

---

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 picking out words I knew than I have with the french. One of the Aussies most definitely had the mannerisms and lifestyle of his eucalyptus-munching bretheren. He'd sleep most [View Full Entry]

---

---

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 just rode until the end of the line. It's a 6 hour ride here from Bordeaux. (Having me entering Marseille at 11 pm) And!!! Sketchier people in Marseilles than the other two. So there goes my int [View Full Entry]

---

---

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 to find I would've had a host for every night here! (I failed to check it when I posted last) Anyhow, I sent a message to Daniel, who'd okay'd [View Full Entry]

---

---

Pardon me for errors... the keyboard is hard to navigate. The a,q,w,m 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 far! As we made our ascent I decided to check on the scenery I'd be missing out on for so long. However the Puget Sound never awoke to say it's goodbyes. It merely rolled over in its bed of rock and covered [View Full Entry]

---

---