karpase

Now that I'm back home, I can summarize this little Lufthansa love story the way I always like to do, with numbers: 36 hours later than planned 1200 Euros richer (I hope, apparently in Israel it takes up to 14 business days for the money) and 1 upgrade to business class (what an experience) No more travels any time soon, the semester is starting tomorrow, but I think I've had enough travel (until next summer).... read more

So, I'm spending another night in Frankfurt, and making another 400 euros. I spent the day just wandering around Frankfurt, following some tourist map (more or less). You can look at the pictures, but to be honest, Frankfurt is pretty boring. Tomorrow's flights are overbooked as well, but I think it's time to come home (unless they make me an offer I can't refuse). ... read more

Funny story - I got to the airport yesterday night, all happy and willing to come back to Israel. At check in, I was informed that the flight is overbooked, and if I am willing to stay, I will get 400 euros, a hotel room for the night, and will fly the next morning. So about 10 people from the flight did this, and got to the airport in the morning. We proceeded directly to the gate, since we had a boarding pass already. When I handed my pass to the guy at the gate he asked if I am willing to stay until the night, and get another 400 euros. At first I thought I finally found a German with a sense of humor, but alas, I was wrong. So here I am in Frankfurt, ... read more

Today I went for a walk around in the old city in Freiburg, and after that I went with my hosts to the Black Forest. I climbed the munster (the big cathedral here), and happened to be inside the bell tower at exactly 10:00. When the bells started ringing, it was pretty loud. Then we went for a walk around town, and went up the Schlossberg - the hill overlooking most of Freiburg. After that we went for a drive in the black forest (the weather is pretty bad now, so we didn't go for a hike), and we even stopped in a nice place, and had some black forest cake. And now - pictures.... read more

I arrived in Freiburg this afternoon, and was met by my local hosts. We went and had a nice lunch, and then I took a long deserved nap (after not sleeping most of the night). The hotel is a little strange - there is a shower in the room, but no toilet. I've had worse in South America, but it is an interesting concept. Freiburg itself is a very nice town, with some impressive buildings, and the surrounding area looks pretty nice as well from what I saw on the train. I will write again in a few more days, and add some pictures of Freiburg as well. ... read more

We arrived in Saloniki after 3 hours on 2 planes, and about 6 hours waiting in airports. The hotel seems pretty nice, and we met some other people from the conference, and had lunch with them. Not much else to write about, everything is fine. ... read more

I got back home yesterday, and am slowly getting over my jet lag. However, I still owe everyone some Vegas stories, so here goes: We stayed at the stratosphere hotel, which is the tallest building west of the Mississippi. On the roof they have 3 short rides. The coolest one spins you around off the edge of the building, high above Las Vegas, which was really cool. We also some some stand-up comedians, including Dana Carvey (Garth from Wayne's World) who was pretty funny. Generally, we had a good time in Vegas. After Vegas we went to LA, and since we had some time to kill, we went for a walk around Beverley Hills. We saw a woman walking her dog in a baby stroller. So weird. So this is the last entry for this trip ... read more

Today we went to the Grand Canyon. The first thing that comes to mind when you see the Grand Canyon is: yep, it's really big. And it is. Really big. So anyway, we drove around the north rim (where relatively very few people come), and took some short hikes, and had a nice time. The motel we're staying in tonight is in a town called Kanab, Utah, also known as little Hollywood, because a ton of old westerns were made here. In fact, the motel has an old barn, which was converted to a movies theater, where they show an old western every night at 20:00. Tomorrow we're going to Las Vegas, via the Coral Pink Sand Dunes state park. Don't expect too many updates from Vegas, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas (and ... read more