From Dresden, I took a train and then a ferry along the Elbe to Rathen, where I stayed in the attic of Bacharach, an old castle-transformed-into HI hostel, and hiked through the elevated trails at Basteigebiet. I highly recommend this route. There are more photos below.... read more

Touring German cities is often problematic - it's unfair to focus on a city's complicity with horrific crimes from a half century before, or its being the centerpiece of the Cold War, but in the case of Berlin, the past oozes to the surface whether you like it or not. There's the playground built above Hitler's bunker to dissuade Neo-Nazis from making it in a shrine. The border of the Wall unexpectedly appears underfoot, even when you're not looking for Checkpoint Charlie. The Brandenburg Gate looks like a Hollywood backdrop with the bustling traffic swirling around the wide strasses. The TV tower that the Russians built looms over the city and bullet holes still dot the dilapidated buildings on the eastern side. All this while the hundreds of cranes slowly sanitize the past. There are more ... read more

Marnie the Aussie drove me across the country from Dingle to Dublin, which only took about four hours, and every person we passed waved to us. I was pretentious enough to want to visit the tower from the beginning of Joyce's Ulysses but got more enjoyment from drinking a Guiness next to a painting of him after the brewery tour. A whole section of Dublin smells like hops on certain days. Dublin is like most other European financial hubs - really good for sightseeing, lacking in other cultural experiences; with all the wonderful options on the west coast, I'd limit my time here.... read more

The ferry to Ireland left me in Cork, and when I asked the bus driver there how long it would be to Killarney, he said 1-2 hours. I didn't appreciate his Irish humor as I glared at him from my seat 7 hours later, after a pleasant journey, doubling as a school bus along the way and a 14 year old girl sitting on my lap and asking me to explain the Monica Lewinsky scandal to her, eventually arriving at my hostel in Killarney with enough time before dusk for some quick photos of the green, empty landscape, hoping that when developed they'd capture the beauty somehow. I rented a bike the next day and circumnavigated Lake Muckross, which was flat and pleasant, exploring ruins along the way.... read more

It was quite expensive there before the Euro, at least compared to the south of Europe, so I had a hard time enjoying myself when going out to eat, but the ambience along the river, the cohesiveness of the architecture, and the checklist sights were all pretty fabulous. I always say I'll go back there when I'm older and can really afford to enjoy it.... read more