judylay
Judy Lay Joined: February 25th 2006
Logged in: December 23rd 2008
Logged in: December 23rd 2008
Travel Blog Posts
Ever since starting my travels with my Mother, it's been a struggle to log in and blog. She thinks it's a waste of time, waste of money, what's there to say, who's reading anyway, yada yada, and I get her ueber disapproving looks whenever I mention that I want to go internet. Fine, whatever, we are almost to the end anyway. I will write some more when I get home and post some last lovely photos, even though we all know that it just ain't the same to be doing a travelblog from home. Laters, Judy... read more
On the Jura Train
This was started a loooong time ago. * * * For the past 3 days I was in a little teeny tiny Swiss village called Le Bémont, in the Jura Canton, near the French border. According to wikipedia (German edition) Le Bémont has 346 inhabitants, soon to be 347, since the lady who runs the hostel is hugely pregnant and ready to pop! But she was so nice. To get to Le Bémont was a bit of a trek. I first arrived in Basel via Germany, then too a regional train to Glovelier, then transfer onto the 'Jura Train', and then push a button on the train so the conductor would make the stop. The whole thing was so quient! The Jura train is only one track (maybe there is a name for this) and the ... read more
Mushroom Soup
Wierzynek 1364 This is the name of the oldest restaurant in Krakow. It's a really nice looking place on the main square and I would say that the prices are not extremely highend for Poland but rather mid-range Bay Area eating out prices. Here is where the students who had signed up with PROLOG got their free "welcome dinner". Mother and I went there last night for dinner, just to see what it's like, and to be able to say, hey we ate at the oldest restaurant in Krakow! :-p 1364 is supposedly the year when it first began. They have a website, if you google it, you can see the history lesson they dish out for yourself. I ordered what amounted to a cream of mushroom soup, and a Polish style (prepared) pike. Mother ... read more
Along the way to Zakopane
Went to Zakopane with Mother. 2+ hours to get there. In the winter, Zakopane is supposedly the skiing capital of Poland. I had 2 chances to go to Zakopane with my class. The first chance I passed on because I was totally wiped out from a whole week fo Polish lessons, and just the weekend before I had been on the 20+ bus ride in from Estonia.. Not in the mood to travel far. Then I hear from the folks who had gone that it wasn't exactly enjoyable, more like a forced march up the side of the mountain and then a treacherous retreat from its icy slopes. Some older lady with the wrong shoes ended up sliding on her ass down the hill. No thanks. I don't like frostbite on my delicate parts. So that's ... read more
Lux Trainstation
Luxemburg. Boy, I am so far behind with the blogging. I went there over 3 weeks ago! And here's my usual line... My original plan was: When I was still in Germany and planning my trip to Lux, I thought hm, it's not that big, looks like 20 miles across, wouldn't it be cool if I WALK my way across the whole country??!! How many people can say they've walked across a whole country? Well, ok, my friend Ryan who walked from Florida to California, but he doens't count, he's probably crazy. So with that in mind, I figured 3 days should be enough for me to walk across the country and when I get to the other end I can just catch a bus to come back. Pretty good idea, eh? Then... My revised plan ... read more
Heeeeere's Mother!
3 days in Dublin, Ireland. I haven't updated this blog in forever, mostly due to the lack of proper internet connectivity. Right now I am back in Krakow, in my favorite internet cafe, and I am going to attempt to catch up on the blogging. So. Should I start with the complaining or write about something fun? Ok, something neutral, more like a comment. Being in Dublin Ireland after 3 months of traveling in non-English speaking has been REALLY strange for me. I hear English on the streets when just a week before folks were speaking German, and before that Polish, Estonian, Finnish... I see signs in the streets in English and there's a teeny tiny split second when I am turning the words around in my head trying to figure out the "English meaning". This ... read more
Muenster Ferry
I am alive and well. Long time no hear. And thus the trend continues, that I shall bad mouth a town-city as soon as I arrive in it. Basel. It's big, it's expensive. Good thing I have ditched the habit of converting everything into Polish zlotys. Today I had a drink that came in a bottle, approx 3 dl -- wasn't freshly squeezed, wasn't some exotic berry, wasn't even organic, for 4.50 Francs. That comes out to about 4 bucks. That's like 15 zlotys! (ok, I did the conversion just this one time) And it wasnt even in the airport! I pretty much have to take out a mortage to eat a decent meal in this town. So here's the story I have with Basel. I arrived here around noon today thinking I can find a ... read more
Getting ready to depart from Bonn
A chapter is closing! From the next 2 weeks I will more or less be doing the 'backpacker' thing and without a forsure bed to sleep in every night Oy. Not exactly looking forward to it. I changed my plans again about going to München. It's sort of a lame story so I don't want to talk about it. Yes, as if talking about getting locked in my room isn't lame... Where am I sleeping tonight? Most likely in the Köln airport. Where will I be sleeping tomorrow night? Most likely in Luxemburg. How am I getting to Lux? Haven't figured that part out yet. But keine Panik. I've got this crazy idea that Lux is a really cool country, if only people knew! Ok, so the main reason I'm going there is because it borders ... read more
Mz next job -- writing zour name on a grain of rice!
Saturdaz night I was all settled into bed and readz to sleep around 11p. But then I thought, I should reallz finish up the postcards and send them out; I onlz have one more week left here. So I got out of bed, went over to mz closet, unlocked it, and looked (verz quicklz) for those postcards. I didn't see them (didn't have mz glasses) so I shut the closet door behind me. All would be well at this point had I not left mz kezs INSIDE of the closet, and it self locked as I closed it. There was a tinz moment of disbelief, like, did I reallz leave mz kezs in there, zeah, I think I did, cuy i needed the kezs to unlock the door, and now that the door's closed, I'm not ... read more
Calculator I.1
I wanted to do something fun today so this morning I headed into Bonn. My original plan was to go to the Bonn Botanical Garden, check out the veggie/fruit markt, and maybe see about ...um... buying another jacket. Something not as cheap as 7.9 Euros, but something perhaps a bit more substantial and that I can alternate with the one that I have worn 7 days in a row now. I arrived in Bonn and found out from the Tourist Information lady -- who was hinting that I really take the Japanse or the Korean pamphletes because they would be easier for me than English... -- that the Garden was closed on Saturdays. And I had found out from my friend/host Andreas that the Garden is free on all days except Sunday (tomorrow), so looks like ... read more
