SpaceAndTime

Well, two weeks in and I am settled into life in Bogota. Sorry about the lack of accents but I use a Spanish keyboard for email but can't easily switch in Chrome with other apps. Anyway, I like Chapinero and it's ease to move around the city. I will have to get some more photos but I never take my phone since it doesn't work without local cell service so I always forget to take it for just photos. Anyway, some of the things I like are the local feel of residents here, reasonable food and stores. There is a lot of graffiti, but interestingly, the shop owners hire artists to paint over this. Most of the storefronts are just metal security frontages, so painting them actually makes sense. From what I see, good art won't ... read more

After a long flight layover day back from Croatia, I met Tim in Munich for some Octoberfest and some exploring in Munich. I have to say Octoberfest was a one time thing for me as it was really expensive food and beer and really more of a Bavarian cultural thing that was kind of hard to penetrate. People generally reserve these tables way in advance and a large group is what is best to take this in. Still it was nice to see a lot of drunk people in really nice clothes. Walking a lot of Munich with its really clean streets, the one jewel I would say you have to see is the Duetches Museum. It is an incredible collection of technology items that takes you through the history of innovation really. Maybe not everyone's ... read more

Nice little inland trip to this city. Great place to buy gifts. You can park near the old town (however, some locals try to collect parking fees where they are not authorized, so park away from them). Had a few beers at Johnie's place (see photos). There are divers that jump off the local bridge here that provide some good entertainment. Also, if you are in to seeing the effects of war, you can see many bombed out buildings here which should always be a reminder to all of us the after effects. ... read more

I did a tour North of Split to Zadar which is a beautiful ride. Spent a night in Vodarice which is a lower end resort town. I spent two nights in a small village near the airport between Trogir and Split. I recommend this hotel Villa Zarco as it was really clean and had direct access to swim in the sea. I also had great dinner at the only restaurant near here that you don't need to drive to. An overview of all of Croatia is mountains coming up against the Adriatic and over a tousand Islands where always one seems to be in view no matter where you are. I would say it is defintely worth seeing. However, I do think places like Hawaii are really beatiful as well since you get sand and waves ... read more

Well, I arrived at the pinnacle of the Habsburg Empire. Vienna is definitely more New York big city stuff. The buildings are older, but it was hit during the war, so there was rebuilding also. The base of operations here is the Ring which goes around all the Museums and famous sights. I pretty much decided that seeing the museums was where I wanted to spend some time here. After all, the kings and queens were here and they had the "stuff". I have to highly recommend the National Museum. The collection of antiquities in there is unmatched to anything I have seen before. All major museums will have classical and Egyption works, but all this stuff was incredible quality, like no missing ears or noses on sculptures. The stuff looked more like a few hundred ... read more