This weekend trip has been mostly stress-free, which is partly how I define a successful vacation. I feel like I've seen most of what Dresden has to offer, and anything that remains will give me a reason to come back. To start off with, yes, we went to the Lebowski bar, and there are several pictures of it here. They do indeed have the movie showing - I assume that it's on repeat, since we didn't really stay there long enough to make sure. The decor is also Lebowski-inspired: the art, including framed objects and wall murals, all either show scenes from the movie or props that could easily have shown up there. They even have bowling shoes hanging from the ventilation piping above the bar. It's pretty small - longer than it is wide, by ... read more

Well, it finally happened, and knowing that it was coming didn't make it any easier. I'll keep you in suspense, for now. I've been in Jena for 2 days now, and it's been a good break from the normal touristy thing. The main thing is I've been able to spend it with good (old) friends. They're not old, but we've known each other for a while. Erica lives here and teaches at the university while finishing her doctorate. I've spent the night on her couch for two nights, and she has been a gracious host, as always. Katie came up from Bamberg last night, and we went out to a nice East German tavern before walking around downtown at night and ending up enjoying reminiscing in Erica's office before coming back to Erica's place and laughing ... read more

Although I never intended to stop here when I planned this trip, or when I changed my plans to avoid air travel 4 weeks ago, I'm glad I did. My first visit to Bratislava - 6 years ago - was a whirlwind that left a general impression but little substance. I now have that substance, and for that I am grateful. Bratislava is not a huge town for sightseeing - most of what you'll want to see and remember is in the Old Town, which you can meander through and be done with in about an hour. I did that on Friday, my first afternoon in town. To get past all that, I wanted to use the bus and tram system, and while it's easy to use in theory, it didn't quite work out that way ... read more

I left America 5 weeks ago, and in 6 weeks from right now, I'll be on a flight over the Atlantic heading home. Since I wrote my paper today, I didn't do much in the way of sightseeing or cultural experiences. But a couple of things happened, and I thought I would share them here on my last night in Hungary. First off, my paper is ... done! Well, almost. This was the rough draft of an 8-10 page paper, and I have 8 full pages, so I'm satisfied. The more I do at this stage, the less I have to do later, right? I'm going to go back in and put in the citations and such tonight, but what a load off. Smooth sightseeing from here! So, remember when I wrote yesterday that my night ... read more

As this trip progresses, I'm more and more thankful that I changed things up and decided to stay on the ground. That being said, I still plan on visiting Portugal and making my way back to Ireland, which are the two places that I'd planned on going, but my plans changed. Since I deviated from that planned itinerary, though, I have found myself surprised by how much I like the places I've been. Imagine if I hadn't done that... First off, leaving Zagreb was kinda weird. This was my first true rail experience in Eastern Europe, and though I knew what to expect, it never fully prepared me for what happened. I was lucky to find some people to share it with. First off, my "train" turned into train-bus-train-bus-train-metro. The guy at the Zagreb train station ... read more