It's all over?

Apparently after August 11th, I fell off the face of the Earth. Sorry about that. As most of you know, the infamous Eurotrip has now come to an end, and Bernard and I are safely back in Canada (and/or the United States). So, here is the last ever note on the debauchery that was ET 2007.

After Krakow we went to Vienna for a couple of days, and overall had a pretty chill time. The city itself was pretty cool, and owing to the fact we were down the street from another hostel, had a great time with the backpackers there. Highlights include running into two great Aussies that we had met in Prague, taking over Wombar and starting a dance party, and me getting free shots of Lord knows what. On our last night there, we had people from Canada, US, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Australia, all heading out to party. Backpacking at its finest! Last Vienna note: eat at SATO restaurant...best omelettes ever!

Post-Vienna, it was time to tackle Eastern Europe - by far what I was looking forward to the most. We took a little jaunt east to Bratislava, Slovakia, just an hour away, and were spoiled by all the good food and drink that came at a very low price. $3 gets you a full Slovak meal and a pint of beer. Come on! Eurotrip was right...with a nickel, I buy my own hotel!

We then went onto Budapest in Hungary, and stayed at this great place called Backpackers Guesthouse. If you ever go to Budapest...stay there. This place is unreal. It's really just a house turned into a hostel...but somehow, there are 70 people staying in it at one time? Very chill, free shisha/hookah pipe, awesome courtyard, and good people. The outdoor clubs were one thing I would bring back to Vancouver - the atmosphere is unlike anything else! On one of the days we were there, we shelled out for a Caving trip, and climbed, crawled and slid our way through these amazing caves. One of the coolest things I've ever done, by far! I got through the Winnie the Pooh hole - photos will be more helpful. We said goodbye to Budapest and made our way down to Croatia, and it's here where we met some really memorable people, and ones that I would spend the 22nd birthday with!

Split, Croatia! Two of my favourite words. Got into town and made our way to Hostel Adriatic, which happened to be owned by an ex-Vancouverite...that was 21 years old. Say what? The girl was amazing! The hostel was amazing too, probably one of the best I've stayed at, and Split was great times. Met up with Jacob and Niels (of Backpackers Guesthouse) and then met a ton of Irish kids that were staying in our hostel as well. Had a great night out including an amazing seafood dinner, drinks at a lounge and then partying at Bacvice, right on the beach. Decided to stay an extra night in Split so that we could go on the Booze Cruise, put on by two hostels in Split. You pre-drink at a cool lounge, then get on a boat and are carted off to this crazy island, where they have some concrete cliffs setup for jumping and swimming. Then you get back on the boat to the mainland. We started at 3pm. I told them it was my birthday. Oh dear. I love Split.

Rather than spend more time in Croatia, we made our way through two of the coolest countries ever, Bosnia (Sarajevo) and Serbia (Belgrade). Torn apart by war and conflict, the people there had experienced lots and it was cool to see. In Sarajevo, we wined and dined at Park Princessa, this amazing restaurant on a mountain overlooking the entire city. Beautiful. In Belgrade, we met some great people at our hostel, and went out to the splavs, which were a bunch of restaurants, cafes and clubs all on rafts floating on the river. It was so cool! During the day we checked out some killer sights and even saw some bomb sites from the 94 air raids. 30 days. Unbelievable. Then, it was time to make our way to Istanbul to see Didem!

We went through Bulgaria (as it was the least painful way to do it) and it's quite likely our entire journey through Sofia was quicker than the journey through the Turkish border. Good Lord. In total, we had to make our way through four border checkpoints. The first was a quick passport check to make sure we weren't crazy people. Then we traveled probably 5 minutes and were then told to get off the bus and show our passport again. At this point we had to get a Visa and the guy tried to rip us off. Jerk. Then we got back on the bus and had to show our passports AGAIN. For real. THEN, finally, we stop at the duty-free (1L of Absolut, 1L of gin and 1L of Jameson 12 year old whiskey...30 EUR aka 40 CAD...oh dear). Now, we think we're home free and then our bus pulls into this random area and we have to take our stuff off the bus and open them for inspection.

Wow. Turkey is intense. But we get through just fine, have a nice little metro/ferry ride to the Asia side of Budapest, and we meet up with Didem! She takes us to her house aka a ridiculous oasis, and our trip in Instanbul is on!

Turkey is unbelievably beautiful. I was expecting a country that had no infrastructure, lots of conflict, and was a little dirty...very much like Morocco I suppose. But it so wasn't like that! Beautiful scenery (lots of coastline), amazing sights and really great people! And while the Muslim thing might have been an issue in Morocco, it wasn't in Istanbul so that was kind of nice.

Got the full Turkish experience with Didem - shisha, every kind of amazing Turkish food imaginable, and some serious clubs. Everything is on the water, and class. Although...not too much fun when drinks are 30 YTL (10 CAD...ish) but that's what the pre-game is for. Lots of fun, met a lot of cool people through Didem, and we were definitely really sad when we had to leave for Mykonos.

But knowing Bernard and I, there is no way that we could get anywhere (flying) without some drama...we arrive for our international flight 40 minutes before takeoff. Ooops. First words when we get to the desk - "we were waiting for you". Ahhh well, we made it on the flight, got two meals (haha we are beasts) and landed on some amazing Greek soil!

Mykonos...Paradise Beach...absolutely amazing. Blue skies, water, white sand...so much fun! We stayed right on the beach and really had no reason to leave it - a little strip mall, lots of restaurant-type deals, and tons of beachfront clubs, including Club Paradise. We end up spending Saturday night in Mykonos, and who should grace the presence of Club Paradise but...BOY GEORGE?! haha we nearly DIED when we saw the posters. We had an afternoon at Club Tropicana which is this huge open air beach bar, and where dancing on tables is kind of expected. Bernard was nursing possibly the largest night+hangover combination I have ever seen (you're a star) so we spent the day on the beach, and finally ended the night at Tropicana. Early wake-up to get to the ferries on time (7am, snap) and as we arrive at the ferry terminal, we meet these two guys who are pissed that they spent the night at the ferry and then missed their boat...ahh the pain of missing the boat. Literally.

We made friends, and turns out the guys are from Coquitlam! Had a great ferry ride with those kids talking about Vancouver in general...it made me really miss home. Turns out they might be transferring to SFU soon, so that was pretty cool. Definitely had to keep in touch with them. We arrived in Athens after some serious waves for the last two hours of the trip (I've never seen so many people run to the bathroom in such a short amount of time) - we must've been hitting 10-15 foot swells.

Athens was beautiful. Lots of fun to see the amazing ruins in the city, and eat some delicious food. Oh my. We also stumbled across a brand new pair of Raybans, still in their case and in their protective cloth...some poor soul lost them on the road to the Acropolis. Tragic. P.S. guess what? I have a new pair of Raybans...

To keep you up to date on the timeline, we were in Athens until August 28th. And we all know what was on August 29th...LA TOMATINA!! The only problem was, with the fires and the fact that everyone is flying in and out of Greece for holidays, finding a flight was unbearably difficult. We managed to find a connection to Valencia through Frankfurt. We had to fly first class (oh yeah) from Athens to Frankfurt, then catch a RyanAir flight to Valencia. Perfect. Not a problem. Wrongo. We get on our Olympic Airlines (yes, it's a real airline), first class flight to Frankfurt, and after a 30 min delay on the tarmac (just a tech difficulty, no big deal) we get word an hour later that we can't leave, nor can we fly this plane. What?! Now we are missing our flight from Frankfurt to Valencia, and have wasted money on this flight to get to Frankfurt when we don't even want to be there. Perfect. Time to bitch.

We get our money back on the Olympic flight (thankfully) but now are stuck in the Athens airport with a flight from Frankfurt to Valencia that we cannot use...oh man.

We know two things. 1 - we want to get the hell out of Athens that day. 2 - we don't want to lose the Ryan Air flight. So, we got on the phone with Ryan Air and attempted to change our flight. Problem 1 - Ryan Air does not fly to Greece. At all. So we still had to get out of Greece. Success! Easy Jet flight to Milan, and from Milan to Dublin on Ryan Air. Perfect! Wait...the Easy Jet flight only has 1 seat available. Are...you...kidding. We went at this for about an hour, with the Ryan Air lady on the phone...

Bernard: 'do you fly to this location?'
Ryan Air Lady: 'no sir, we don't. you've already asked me that'
Jess: 'keep stalling Bernard!!' *frantic online search for flights at the same time

The ending to this story is possibly the funniest part...we end up getting on the EasyJet flight because another seat opened up, but only 5 hours later. We are awesome!?

So now, we have a foolproof flight to Milan, and then from Milan we connect to get to Dublin. But the stress didn't end there. We arrive at one of three Milan airports, and our outgoing flight to Dublin leaves from the airport that is 100 km away. Beautiful. We hash out a master plan. We need to catch two buses - one from Airport1 to the city center, then from the city center to Airport2.

Bernard: 'just go see when the bus leaves'
Jess: 'i can't, if i leave i can't come back to get my stuff'
Bernard: 'okay i'll grab it for you'
Jess: *outside, seeing Bernard* THE BUS LEAVES RIGHT NOW!!
Bernard: *sprinting with two 20 kg packs on his back...you trooper*

We make the first bus. But unless the bus cuts some time off the route, we are not making our connecting bus, and will have to take a 50-75 EUR cab ride to Airport2. As we pull into the city center, we see that our bus to Airport2 is still there! Yes! We can make it...wait, the driver is shutting the carriage doors...no, you can't leave when we're this close!

Bernard: 'okay, i'll get your bag, run for that fu**in bus'
Jess: *sprinting through Italian people thinking I'm insane
Driver: oh...did you want to get on this bus?
Jess: *gasp* YES *gasp* my friend is coming right now
Driver: 'well...I don't see him...are you sure he's coming?'
Jess: 'yes, please, just let me buy two tickets'
Driver: 'he has one minute'

Bernard is at this point about 20-30 metres away, and this driver is serious about leaving in one minute. Bernard again, rolls around the corner with two 20 kg packs on his back...SPRINTING. It was one hell of a scene. I can't even handle it. He is the only reason we made that bus to Airport2.

After that, it was fine. Made it to Dublin and made another friend with a guy from Wisconsin.

Dublin was amazing!! Such a beautiful little city, with such friendly people and such a great atmosphere. Tons of pubs (obviously) and even some clubs. We stayed at Avalon House, which was interesting, but good times nonetheless. We frequented our favourite pub there, the Hairy Lemon (this obnoxious green and yellow building) with one of the best servers I've ever had. Discovered a tasty beer called Smithwicks (pronounce it Smiddicks or you'll never hear the end of it) and I fell in love with Ireland.

Decided to do a pub crawl that night and met our crawl leader Emma, this crazy Aussie girl who took us around to pubs and got us smashed. Fun group for sure on the Crawl! Found out she was going west to Galway at some point but didn't make note of it.

Bernie and I decided to try and conquer Dublin the next day, so we did most of the sights, and found...TIM HORTON'S DONUTS. No for real. We did. It was unbelievable. The sign said 'so fresh, they must be Canadian'. It was unreal.

We decided to do a day trip out to Galway, this town on the west coast, and what a beautiful place. We did a bus/walking tour and had an unbelievable time. The Irish hillsides are so gorgeous!! We start partying at our hostel when who do we see, the guy Patrick that we met at the Dublin Airport. What a crazy scene. We head out that night with some people from our hostel, and who do we see...EMMA! She is on the street with her friend and I pretty much tackle her. What a girl. We have a great night partying it up and it's a great way to end our little trip in Galway.

Last night in Dublin, we head to the Guinness and Jameson factories, and drink the day away. Head out to an awesome little pub, end it with some curry fries and hamburgers, and we are prepping for the flight to London in the morning...boo.

Make our way to Heathrow, which I've never been in, and find the bus that will take us to Gatwick for our *sigh* flight home. We make sure to take as long as possible, stalling, trying anything not to go to Gatwick. But we end up on the bus and get there in record time (damn). We check in for our flight, and play the waiting game. We eat an overpriced meal (oh London), use some overpriced Internet (oh London), and make use of the ever-prevalant duty free (oh Bernard). A litre of C. Morgan, two cans of Coke, and we're ready to get on our flight. Same Italian crew working the flight, but they are much less outgoing so Bernard and I take matters into our own hands and have a good flight home.

We are slightly delayed though and thus land on Canadian soil at 7:30pm on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007. We get off the flight...and that's it. The Euro Trip is officially over. Happy? Sad? A lot of both. It was a great time, and the best three months of my life!

EXPLORATION CAN ONLY LEAD TO DISCOVERY

Krakow!

Krakow is one of the coolest cities ever! Another Berlin-esque place, where there is lots of history but also lots of nightlife. Great combination.

It was great as soon as we arrived. We found our hostel, which had just recently opened and whose main goal was to give backpackers everything they want in one hostel (which is really uncommon, trust me). Since it was called Mundo, meaning world, every room in the hotel was themed after a country. We stayed in the India room and it had all these cool decorations - wicker furniture, wall hangings, rich paint tones, dark wood bunks - a giant leap from the sterile hostels we normally stay in. We had free internet, laundry, bike rentals, a home-cooked breakfast by the lady that owns the hostel - it was fantastic.

Bernard and I made our way out to this club called Prozzak, and had a great night. Seriously bringing back this drink I had involving vodka, Coke and grapefruit juice. For real. Try it. Met two Irish girls that introduced me to this drink involving apple juice and vodka, but in the end it tastes like apple pie. Dangerous. You Polaks know what I'm talking about. Zubrowska vodka, you will be the death of me. Also ran into a bunch of rowdy English boys in Krakow on a stag. Everyone in Great Britain takes off to a party city and host these unbelievable stags that last like a week. They know how to do it. Because of them, it's illegal to drink in public in Krakow (which for Europe is obscene!). They happened to be staying at the same hotel as the Irish girls, which was all pretty swank.

The next morning saw Bernard and I do a bike tour of Krakow to take in all the sights (look at us being touristy and not just killing our livers, what a novel concept). Probably one of the coolest groups of people we met since Munich (legendary). There was this one girl Yvonne, which was a crazy story. She said she was Canadian, then from Vancouver (cool), then said she went to SFU and THEN said she was in Kinesiology. How nuts is that?! I meet someone from my faculty in freakin' Poland. Yeah. Right. It gets even better, boys and girls! She is best friends with one of my good friends, and went to high school with my coworker of the last two years. WTF.

Also met an awesome guy named Jason, who served in Iraq for the American Army. Regardless of your stance on the war, etc. some of the stories he told me were unbelievable. We spent most of the bike tour just talking about random things - one of the coolest people I've ever met, definitely. He breaks every stereotype of an American soldier I've ever encountered (not to say they should exist, but you know). Made plans to meet up with most of our bike tour at another club later that night.

Ended up at Frantic, this really awesome club. It had a few rooms, but spun mostly hip-hop and R&B and techno. Great mix actually. Totally had the underground cave thing going for it, which is what a lot of places in Krakow are like. Met with Yvonne and Jason and a bunch of Aussies from the tour, and had a great time. The night ended with Yvonne and I going to the only open convenience store in Krakow near our hostel, and us buying bread, cheese and meat, and smoked salmon...? The pictures are there to prove it, but I still don't know what the hell we were thinking.

We ended our trip in Krakow with the only thing you should do while you're there - a tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau. There isn't much to say about these two places, except that it is definitely worth it to go. Not that it is expensive in the first place, but just trust me, don't do Krakow without doing A-B. Possibly one of the most depressing and frustrating things I've seen, but in an enlightening way. Kind of makes you wonder why such atrocities even occurred in this world, but that's a whole new ballgame. The grounds themselves are so well-preserved (what was left after the Nazi retreat, anyways) and so the atmosphere is heavy with history. On a lighter note, getting home was the biggest pain in the ass! The museum itself has a bus schedule and a map of where the buses leave for Krakow, and so we narrowly miss the last bus, and queue up for the next with a bunch of other people. Apparently queues don't really exist in Poland, as the next bus arrived, almost full, and people started climbing in the back doors, front doors, you name it. Half the people were standing all the way back to Krakow, which was almost 1.5 hours. Nutters. We finally got smart and found the origin of the bus route (we're genius) and so we were the ones sitting while the rest of the people clamored to get onto our bus. Sweet, sweet revenge.

A night train to Vienna and we were out of Eastern Europe for a bit.

Berlin

After Prague we made our way back to Germany to experience all that Berlin had to offer. We were anticipating three very full days - tons of sights to take in during the day, and tons of nightlife to take in during the night. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Berlin has to be one of the coolest cities. The whole Berlin Wall thing is still so evident (we stayed in East Berlin, and it was a world of difference compared to the West). Lots of history that I never actually knew about, but it gave me a newfound appreciation for it all. As always, we did a free bike tour (haha we are so cheap!) and our guide was really cool. Told us all we needed to know about the history of Berlin in about 4 hours. More on that later.

We stayed in this crazy hostel called the Generator - 900 beds, not a big deal. This place was unbelievably huge. We were in a dorm with four Italians, one German and one Romanian (and a partridge in a pear tree). The minute we got to Berlin, we literally had dinner and were approached about a pub crawl - of course we jumped all over that. Met some very cool people along the way, and reunited with some of the boys we met in Interlaken (and saw again in Prague!). Events included free shots everywhere, 1 EUR shots of Jaeger (trouble...) and yours truly not spending a single dime all night - absolute mayhem. We ended up at this pretty cool club called Matrix, and stumbled home eventually.

The next morning I was missing my partner in crime (haha longggg story), so I decided to trek out with this guy Nick from Australia, who was also staying in the hostel. Did that cool bike tour again, and met some very cool people from Cali. By the time I got home, I found Bernard (yes!) and we then proceeded to meet up with Nick, this guy Adam from London and this cool chica Tatiana from Brazil. After searching for this one club for awhile, we ended up at this lounge with one of the best DJs I've heard in a long time, wish I could've gotten some audio on it. Anyone who can mix Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake and still keep people on the dance floor is in my good books. Add another sunrise to my list of accomplishments after this night (oh dear).

On the last day we had in Berlin, we took in some pretty crazy sights. Checkpoint Charlie told stories of ridiculous escape attempts over the wall and the history behind it all. I then checked out this museum (I know, who goes to museums) that had a lookout onto the next block, which had an entire section of the Berlin wall preserved, death strip and all. It was all very surreal thinking that this object kept people separated for so long - I can't imagine the fact that anyone actually traversed the whole thing. It was a perfect pre-cursor for the East Side Gallery, which is a section of the wall decorated by artists and graffiti artists alike. Some very cool interpretations going on there.

Another night out in Berlin and all of a sudden we were leaving for Krakow the next morning.

Berlin: a true test of a backpacker's ability to get ripped and still get up at a reasonable time to see the sights the next day. Good lord.

End of July - Beautiful, Beautiful Prague

Prague is one of those cities that floors you the second you get to it, and we got in at 11:30pm off a nasty ass train. Pretty impressive, I'm telling you, after all that happened to us on the train. Somehow, on a train with ten or so compartments, the air conditioning stops working, and lucky for us, it is absolutely pouring rain so opening the windows isn't an option. Delicious. The train was so full that people were sitting on the floor...I'm glad we had seats.

We end up meeting this American guy Kevin and a German guy on the train, the latter being a German businessman that travels every weekend. Turns out the American is from Bellingham (what!?) and that all Germans think that Bavarian beer is actually the worst. Cool bits of information there, I guess.

We (Kevin, Bernard and I) are all on our way to Praha, and at some point we stop at a German train station (where lots of people get off) and they start removing the cart we're in from the rest of the train. Hmm...that's good, right? We luckily get onto the rest of the train that is actually leaving that station, and otherwise have a decent trip to Praha. Long, but decent.

Our hostel more than made up for it when we got there! Plus Prague, I'm telling you guys...amazing place. It had a pool, sauna, huge bar and restaurant, free internet, breakfast, ensuite bathrooms even in the dorms, kitchen, its own market...it was sheer insanity. My favourite part might very well have been the fact that they had a Girl Zone, where they gave you fluffy towels, hair dryers and big cosmetic mirrors to get ready in front of. Straight up awesome. We had a quiet night drinking overpriced beer in the bar (1 EUR for 0.5L of beer, just awful) since we were so beat.

The next morning was crazy - we go to breakfast and who do we see but Lucia and Frank, of the Munich crew. Just happened to end up at our hostel. We spent the day doing this sick walking tour (Paul's Walking Tour, if you're ever in Prague) with an awesome guide named Mikael. For the rest of you Canadians, we had a heated yet hilarious debate as to why Canadians are so much better than the Czechs at ice hockey...it was glorious. Went to this bar called the Cross Club, which is made entirely of car parts...for serious. It was kind of obscene, and the crowd was pretty rough but it was a fun time. An air-conditioning appreciation session took place, but otherwise it was pretty uneventful. Kind of wish I got an audio clip of the music they were playing in the club, kind of like untz, untz, untz. For four hours. Great times.

Other random encounters with the people in our hostel, including drinking beer in the pool and sauna with one of the staff members, who later invited us all to her massive house in the city to party it up. Sick times in Prague.

Off to Berlin, where the liver keeps getting tested, more on that later!

Oops...Morocco and Madrid!

Missed a few posts, sorry about that. After Lagos we were attempting to make our way to Morocco, so we figured we would bus to Sevilla, bus to Algeciras, and then leave on a ferry from there. Problem was getting to Sevilla was so not happening. We tried to leave on a Sunday and every bus was booked. All the trains made us backtrack about 18 hours, so that wasn't a option. What now? Hitchhike of course!

We parked ourselves in front of a gas station and had a few close calls but no dice. Apparently hitchhiking isn't so easy in Portugal. We got screwed over by too few seats various times, and then once by a large tent that took up the backseat. That was the closest call, and it was at the end of the day too so it was pretty crushing.

We decided to give up and just sit at a cafe until we were tired, then sleep in the bus station until our bus left at 5:30am the next morning. Actually a pretty cool move on our part. The cafe we were at was actually hosting some dance party so all of these old, Portuguese locals came out for some traditional dancing. I got picked up by an old Portuguese man (jealous?) and we had a lot of fun until he tried to serenade me in French. Sal enjoyed that one. All in all, a good time.

Our sleep in the station was eventful. A bus was leaving at around 1am, and when the security guard woke us up, thinking we were on that bus, he told us to get a hotel room! If it wasn't at 1am, it would have been a lot funnier. Anyways, it was all well and good, we just slept and got on our bus.

Made our way to Algeciras, and decided to get on a 6pm ferry. Turns out we picked the shitty ferry company that was always delayed, so the port lady was nice enough to tell us to get a refund and catch the 7pm with a reliable company. Best call ever. The 6pm ferry wouldn't have left until 8:30pm. We met some crazy American girls along the way who were getting hassled with their reservations, but we all got to Tangier in the end, and then proceeded to get the hell out of there.

Caught a night train to Marrakech, but there was only one couchette left, so we let Bernard have it since he was sick. The other four of us piled into an empty cart and were ready for a nice long sleep. No dice. First stop, a family of four crams into our cart with us! Damn, why did we not pretend to sleep?! It was the most uncomfortable 10 hour train ride ever. It was hot, and it was a Moroccan train. Bad news.

Marrakech however was kind of cool. The air is so dirty there though that it made me sick. We stayed in a great hotel, and really, the only cool things about Marrakech are the souks (marketplace), freshly squeezed orange juice (3 dirham, or about 30 EUR cents, or about 50 CAD cents!), and these great food stands. We made great friends with food stand 25, so if you are ever in the marketplace, eat there! Tariq, Abdul and Mustaffa (Borat) would be happy to serve you. We sat there for hours eating great food and drinking unlimited sweet mint tea, which is amazing!

After Marrakech, we caught a cheap, cheap, CHEAP flight to Madrid, where we parted ways with Sally boy. Beginning of a new era - Bernard and I actually traveling alone. No friends, no family. So stoked.

Madrid was pretty cool, after we found a hostel to stay in. Everything was unusually booked, and later we found out it was because the International Deaf Convention was happening in the city. Great! We conquered the Madrid sights in a day, and found ourselves out a Madrid club into the early morning. I love how Spain parties. It's free entry until 2 or 3am most times, which in Canada is like going to the bar at 9pm. So a normal time to hit the bars is 3 or 4am...LOVE IT!

Then, as you all know, we made our way to Switzerland. Hoping to get to Interlaken to meet Kristina, we tried to book tickets in Madrid. No dice. Madrid doesn't sell international train tickets. What? So messed. So we had to go to Barcelona and hope for tickets.

Poor choice. Not only had we backtracked (something B and I said we'd never do), but we found out the direct train was going to cost 46 EUR, but those seats were taken, so we had to pay 71 EUR for a sleeper. Hell no! We took four separate trains in our stealthy ways, and paid 5 EUR to get to Interlaken. I loves it.

This goes sort of before La Suisse post, so continue on for more Tang stories!

Newest post will be from Prague or Berlin! Later!

Munich = Beer.

Deutsch must also somehow translate into drunk, because that's all we've been here in Munich! We stayed at this hostel called Jaeger's, and it was full of Jaegermeister and cheap beer. Oh dear. We were in a 40 person dorm that was actually way cleaner than some of the other dumps we've stayed in, which was my first indicator that it was going to be a great couple of days here. Our first stop was a brewhouse (brauhaus), one of the best in Munich for food, Weisses Bierhaus. Amazing! We sat down outside and this cool girl asked if she could share our table because it was so busy. We all enjoyed some half-liters of wheat beer (weiss beer) which was so dangerously delicious. If you're ever in Munich, get the Weiss Kristall beer...awesome! Also made our way through the Hofbrauhaus, which was sheer insanity. Liter beers splashing all over, as this traditional German band rips it up. Loves it.

We made friends with these two crazy Norwegians from our dorm room, who had met a bunch of Americans and Swedes on a bike tour, so we all headed out to this wicked place called Kultfabrik. Along the way we somehow picked up this weird Jordanian businessman, but Team Scandinadian (Swedes, Norwegians, Canadians...oh yeah) ditched him on the Americans. Anyways, Kultfabrik is basically Munich's club district, but the best part is that there are 25 clubs/bars/lounges all in one place! Again, something every city should have. It was Granville Street but with way more variety, and no cover at most of the places. A different vibe in every place. We walked out of the clubs and into a cab and the sun was definitely coming up - oh Munich! Had this really intense American girl tell us how the weird Jordanian guy changed her life or something...kind of weird, but we were all ready for bed anyways so we just left.

We had made plans to go see the Neuschwanstein castle at 9am, but would have had to stay up for another day in order to make it back for the free bike tour at 4pm. 0/1 on the Castle (more on that later). The bike tour was absolute craziness! This American/German guy decided to start up this company, where he provides free bike tours of the city, and even gives you the bike. We stopped at all the major landmarks, got some cool history on Hitler and Munich, and got taken to the second largest beer garden in Munich, which seated 9500 people. The Chinese Tower garden (in English Gardens...like a Central Park) was an awesome place, where beer flowed like water. Some chugging contests took place, and Bernard being the awesome drinker he is, demolished everyone and got praised left and right for his insane ability to chug. One of his finer moments which I'm sure you will hear about endlessly (kidding!). We'll hopefully get the video up soon, it was a pretty sick chug. Nisha if you're reading this...I want to see you two go head to head still! Also in the English Gardens is a place called the Nudist Meadows...you can guess what goes down there. Nekked sunbathers everywhere, and apparently there are two regulars they call Tripod and RoboCock. Hilarious stories, probably not meant for everyone's ears, so I'll tell you if you want to hear about it.

We all left the biergarten slightly tipsy, and got told that the German police don't take too kindly to PUI (pedalling under the influence). And it's for real! You can get fined for bicycling drunk. Ash, you'd better watch yourself here! Anyways, our bike tour was crazy packed - we had Canadians (Otown, Tdot, MISSION!), Americans, Aussies. Great fun. Most of us were staying at the same hostel so we all hit a pub crawl afterwards and got freakishly ripped. I don't think anyone made it to the last bar. Great fun with some great kids.

Signing off from Germany for a bit. Off to Prague (Praha) then into Berlin, then eastern europe. So excited!

Lots of love!

La Suisse!

We made it out of the Swiss Alps alive. Interlaken was one of the best places I've been to so far - just a small town surrounded by beautiful mountains and cool people. We stayed at this crazy hostel called Balmer's, one of the most famous in the area, and it was awesome.

On the last night we even met up with Kristina, although it took like five tries! Sorry about that Pulkks. But it was so worth it! For you C.D. Howers...we had a little TIWA rendition, that's RIGHT! Look out for those wicked photos.

Bernie and I made our way to Zurich which was also a great place. We had heard some poor reviews on the place, but in the end found more to do than we had time for. When we arrived at our hostel we met this crazy girl named June who had run into some boy drama and was looking to escape it in Switzerland. Hung out with her for the duration of our trip, and tackled Zurich in one huge day. Got some free bikes (best idea ever) and hauled around the city, and biked up to this (very high) lookout point. Finished the day with a lake cruise that was somehow free. I love free days!

Overall Switzerland was a wicked place. Don't know if it was the weather I liked or if it was just because it was different...but it was awesome. Now we're off into Germany. Oh, Deutschland. Beer, pretzels, and wurst is pretty much what I'm expecting.

Team BernieTang-InterKech Post......

Hey from Switzerland! Since the last post, we've been to two continents and five countries! Damn, we get around.

Took a long ass evening train to Barcelona from Pamplona in all of our nasty outfits, and ended up having the best train ride ever. Turns out the bar cart was in the one beside us, and one casual beer amongst two friends turned into several shotgunned beer and shots of vodka, sambuca and whiskey. Oh my! The train ride went by blazingly fast, needless to say. Barcelona was a great time though. About 8 of us crammed into one 4-person apartment so it was nice and cheap. Took in all the sights Barcelona had to offer - Gaudi architecture, beaches, Olympic Village, La Rambla - and also checked out the nightlife. Bernard, Troy and Anthony got attacked by very, very aggressive prostitutes which was entertainment in itself. Dollar beer on the streets, coka and hash, and various other adventures went down. Also had to say goodbye to two very cool people, Anthony and Amber, as they were on their way to Greece then back to Canada. Sal and I also said our goodbye to Troy and Bernard, who are going back to Pamplona for round 2 with the bulls. Kim and Carol were also leaving for Canada, so we were down to just a few of us.

Sal and I took off to Lisboa to check out Portugal, with hopeful plans to meet up with B and T in Lagos, in one piece! Took in the party scene in the Bairro Alto in Lisbon, which was surprisingly fun. Headed down to Lagos which was a total resort town - bars, beaches and Australians. Great time, and we scored a wicked apartment in the center of the city for 15 EUR each. Wouldn't do Lagos again, but it was definitely fun while it lasted. If anyone goes, check out the Shaker Bar on Rua 25 de Abril - best mojitos in town and a happy hour that lasts half the day. Bernie and Troy made it to Lagos, albeit with a nasty flu from dirty Pamplona, so Troy's trip didn't end on the greatest note.

From Portugal it was off to Morocco. Tune in next time, same bat time, same bat channel!

Lots of love from Team BernieTang-InterKech (the explanation for which will have to wait until the next riveting post...)

July 6th-7th - San Fermin!

Running of the Bulls! We took off early in the morning to make it to Pamplona for the opening festivities on the 6th, and it was an unbelievable time. We met two more Canadians on the train, Jaeson and Coady, who made our Canadian contingent even that much bigger (10 of us all together)! We arrived to a sea of red and white - everyone, and we mean everyone, was in the traditional San Fermin clothing. White pants/tops, red waist sashes, and red scarfs around the wrist or neck. Toddlers, elderly people, drunk young people - the entire town was ready!

The festival opens with the rocket launch, but what we weren't prepared for was the launch of liquor into the air at the strike of 12. Sangria, wine, champagne corks, beer, cocoa powder, ketchup, mustard...clearly our white clothes weren't white for long. Sketchy and I decided to head right into the thick of things while everyone else hung out in the shade on the side...some unbelievable videos when I get time to post them.

We mostly just wandered the city, taking the festival in. There are lots of cool things that happen during San Fermin. Locals run around to the balconies singing a song so that they'll get water poured on them, and usually we tourists get in the crossfire. There's also this ritual called the Fountain Jump, where brave (read: drunk) people climb this fountain, and jump not into the water, but into the arms of their friends, who are hopefully ready to catch them below. It was absolute mayhem. Bottles, food and drinks were being thrown on the people climbing, and we saw one girl go head first, and it's not likely that her friends caught her. Sort of a stupid thing to do, but entertaining nonetheless. We lost Bernard and Troy briefly in the madness (we need to leash them up...) but found them a couple of hours later.

After celebrating for awhile, we decided to try to catch a bullfight, since San Fermin has one on every day of the festival. We arrived at 6:00pm, only to find out it was sold out and it started at 6:30pm. Old Spanish men were trying to scalp tickets for 40, 50 EUR, but we eventually found a guy selling at face value for 10 EUR. Problem was, there was 10 of us, 8 who wanted to see a fight, so we looked for some more. At some point we only had 5 tickets, but the two guys that sold them to us snuck us in because he knew the ticket taker at the door. We were in the Plaza del Toros, now we only had to get into the actual bullfight!

We walked to every admission gate, but each one turned our guys away. Finally, on one of the lowest levels (10 rows from the ring), some guy miraculously lets us in with only 5 tickets, and we have some of the best seats in the house! It was a pretty cool experience. The bullfights themselves are cruel and unnecessary, but the showmanship and the level to which the locals appreciate the fight is what was interesting for me. We learned a lot about the rituals as well from the locals in front of us - they even fed us food and drinks!

The partying lasted well into the night, until we finally tried to lay it down in a park in Pamplona. Was cold, wet and uncomfortable, but a cool experience nonetheless. The boys tried to run at 7am but got caught in a riot and were pushed away from the running line, so it wasn't successful at all. Bernard cut his finger to top it all off, too!

Oh well, onto Barcelona we go!! We've got our Canadian contingent still together, so there will be good times had for sure! We'll be glad to leave this crazy town though, that is for sure!

July - France (Pt. 2), Monaco, Spain (Pt. 1)

Getting further west! From Cinque Terre we hauled ass to Nice, France for a night just to break up the travel. We are gearing up for Festival de San Fermin in Pamplona, aka Running of the Bulls, and making our way West!

Nice was alright, although Bernardus realized he had forgotten his passport folder on the train with all his important documents inside, as well as the photocopies of my credit cards, etc. so we both had some running around to do in order to cancel all the stuff. It sucks, I didn't even lose my shit!

But we still made decent use of the day. Checked out the waterfront and the promenade but saw no one famous. The beach wasn't all that nice, it was actually quite rocky. Decided to hop a train to Monaco and see the rich and famous, but all we got were four-storey yachts, some high end shops, and nice cars. Oh wait, what else is there in Monaco? Monaco was pretty cool though - everyone lives in luxury. We couldn't hold Kim off for much longer, and she got her Gucci watch in Monaco of all places. Balla, shot calla! Had some French Old Country Buffet style food (Flunch) before catching our obnoxiously long night train from Nice to San Sebastian, Spain.

On the train the Canadians dominated! We had one girl from Vancouver, and two guys (Zeev and Jesse) from Vancouver/Manitoba to spend the trip with, so it was pretty fun. We slept most of the way, and when we woke up, we had traveled across France and halfway across Spain...I love what happens when we travel by night!

As we get into the San Seb station, we see Anthony and Amber, who got there the night before. They decided to follow our whole route all the way to Barcelona, so we had two more buddies on our trip. We stayed in the house of some little old Basque lady, with five beds crammed into one, but we only planned on sleeping there anyways. The Basque are definitely very patriotic, so we made a point of learning some Basque words.

San Sebastian is all about beaches! We stayed there most of the time, except for one morning where we decided to hike to the highest point in the city to see the church and the Jesus statue. Amazing views! We literally sat up there soaking it all in for about 30 minutes. That's a long time to stare at nothing. We also made plans to meet up with Sketchy (Ryan, UofC) one of my friends from conferences, and we actually met up with him too! 2/2! We all hit up a 4th of July party that was all you can drink and all you can eat, right on the beach. We got enough Sangria to feed a small country, and all for free. When we were done with our free drinks, we decided to move onto our 1.50EUR bottles of wine, affectionately known as cooking wine to the locals. Too funny. Slammed a few bottles on the beach then inside to dance to more bad American music. Met some cool people there though, these two girls Ashley and Katie, one of which gave Troy the coldest shoulder ever...

We're off to Pamplona tomorrow morning for nearly 36 hours of partying and sleeping in parks (if possible). If we make it out alive, you'll hear from me!

June 30th - Cinque Terre does Canada Day!

We arrived in lovely Cinque Terre on the afternoon of the 30th and I was floored by the view (would be helpful if I could toss a picture up, but no dice). Imagine five fishing villages, where all the houses are built on top of each other and can barely stand up, with some of the best seafood and views I've had all trip. We found Troy as soon as we got there (yay, Dirty!), but of course, rather than taking the 2 minute walk through the tunnel through the mountain to our hostel, we decided (and by we I mean Bernard) to hike up to the top of the town, and all the way around. Good times with our 15 kg packs! But it was worth it in the end. Our 'dorm' hostel ended up being a four-floor, four bedroom flat with full kitchen, terrace, and ocean view. Say what?! We definitely lucked out! We stayed in the smallest and least touristy town of the five, called Riomaggiore, and although it didn't really have a beach, it had some nice smooth rocks and clean, fun water to swim in. Took in a little sun on the rocks, and met up with Reena and Puneet. We just told Kim to watch for two brown girls, and she actually found them!

Ate dinner at this great place at the base of our flat, and had some of the best seafood ever at a great price. Walked down the main drag to find some '1.85EUR' specials, and were blessed with 3.35EUR 1.5L specials! haha we are so classy! We actually got to meet three pretty cool guys from Ohio, Chad, Tyler and Ben, who had just come from Rome as well. They were also perusing the 3.35EUR specials.

Met Reena's friend Ben (who was totally crushing on her) from Cali who told us the pier was the place to be. Couldn't have been more right! There is where we met a key character in the Eurotrip...Anthony! Anthony from Regina moved to Cali for dentistry school moving to Kelowna of all places! He was the first to tell us that Canada Day was while we were in Cinque Terre, so we knew we had to rip it up. The advertising started right then and there for the party. But before the night of the 1st, we had to party for the night of the 30th, and did we ever. Met tons of people on the pier, and although bed didn't happen until 4am, the hike through all five villages is apparently happening at 9am? Oh dear...

9am on the 1st. Happy Canada Day! Not so happy campers ready to hike though - I think we were all sweating wine...! But we sucked it up and it was so worth it. Riomaggiore (#1) through the tunnel of love to Manarola (#2) for a quick gelato stop, then onto Corniglia (#3), which was far from #2 but a pretty cool place. You had to tae 370 steps up to the actual town, but we had to go through the town anyways so there wasn't any real choice on that one. Walked through some vineyards past Guvano Beach (nude beach down some steep incline), onto Vernazza (#4) which was at an unheard of elevation (at least it felt like it). Stopped for some pizza and a refresher, as we'd been hiking about 4 hours at this point. Then we plugged onto Monterosso (#5), where we got to soak in some beach and swim time. Of all the towns, Riomaggiore still seemed the nicest, and Monterosso still the most touristy. Happy with our choice.

Had to wait an hour for the ferry, but took it through all the villages back to our own, which was a cool way to spend the evening, and definitely got us even more amped for Canada Day festivities. We told a ton of people on the hike that there was a party in Village #1 for Canada Day, and the response was either hell yeah I'll come, or I've already heard about it! Word is spreading!!

****CANADA DAY****

Festivities were awesome! People came from as far away as Monterosso to party with us, and we had at least 100 people there to celebrate. Americans, Israelis, Spanish, Canadians, you name it, they were there. Everyone was partying hard, and Anthony, Troy and I got the anthem going a few times, and probably woke half the town up. Though it might not be the same as CDay back in TB or Van, it was definitely a wicked experience. Oh, Canada! Our home and native land!

Rest of June - Belgium, France (Pt. 1), Italy

***Bernie Mac put up photos, so check it out at bernieblogsthrougheurope.blogspot.com***

Okay...so it's been a long time since I've been able to update the blog and/or email you all, so I apologize! I can barely keep up with my own life, let alone all the great things that are happening with you all.

Since Koln, Germany, I've made my way through 5 countries and roughly 15 towns or cities. We're motoring! After Koln we made our way to this beautiful little place called Bruges in Belgium, just outside of Brussels. It was a quaint little place that is only surviving today because of tourism. We stayed at this crazy hostel with chain-pull showers and 30 Belgian beers in stock. Met a lot of great people, and we saw plenty in the couple of days we were there. If you ever make your way there, ask Melissa at De Snuffel about the alligators in the river that eat the sewer rats.

We made our way to the wonderful city of Paris and probably walked 40km in the days we were there...we saw almost everything Paris had to offer in one day, and even caught the Eiffel tower lit up at night. We managed to find the only open hotel in Paris (for dirt cheap) that weekend, as it was the first day of summer, and every year Paris celebrates with la Fete de Musique. Over 3000 musicians and bands hold impromptu concerts around the city, so everywhere we went there was live music. It was a fantastic experience, and pretty wicked that it only happens one day a year. Many more stories to tell, but hopefully they will be in my blog soon.

Attempted to get to Milan from Paris but the trains were booked, so we made a wonderful yet unforgettable detour through Lyon. Absolutely amazing, and quite possibly the best food I had had all trip, and for the best price. Quite an amazing church on the hilltops in Lyon, that we hiked (read: took the funicular) to, which gave us a panoramic view of the entire city. We also ended up staying in a 3 star hotel for 70 EUR altogether...and with four people, you can imagine how cheap it was. A great little rest before moving on with the rest of our trip. Off to Milano! Or is it?

Before we left Paris, we attempted to figure out our route to Milan, since our direct train wasn't available. The SNCF lady tells us that we can connect via Torino and get into Milan. Perfect. We've got times and dates, we're ready to roll. As we leave Lyon, we arrive to buy our tickets for the train...but reservations are closed. What? Train reservations don't close. Train? Oh no, it's actually a bus. Perfect. You can't buy tickets for the buses unless you arrive at least 30 minutes before, and having waited in the line and speaking to a representative that can't speak English, we had 15 minutes to get to the bus and plead to get on. Hello grade 9-12 french class! I manage to use broken French to speak to the conductor to get us on. Sure he says, but for 30 EUR each. No, no, it's free with our pass. No, it's not. Sure enough, we go into the station and we speak again to the broken french crew, and we get on for free, and don't even have to get a reservation. We're on our way! Schonberger and her french class really saved us there. Kind of cool to be able to use another language!

Milan was cool, lots of shopping and trying to get Kim to stop shopping (to no real avail). Milan didn't have too many sights, so it was a fairly relaxing couple of days, with some shopping in the middle.

Made our way down to Rome, where we spent 5 days and 4 nights taking it all in. Some very impressive sights, although Rome is unbelievably touristy. Not to say that we weren't tourists, but I don't know if we saw any locals at all! We were staying right in the middle of Rome though, and for once did not have to take a Metro or a bus to get anywhere. Tackled the Old City in one day (Colosseo, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, St. Peter's Basilica in Vincoli) which was nice but not as cool as I thought it would be. The next day we tackled the Vatican, and it was a good thing because the next two days it would have been closed! St. Peter's Square is amazing, with colossal stone structures everywhere and some pretty cool architecture. The Vatican was overall decently impressive, although the Sistine Chapel wasn't all it was cracked up to be. As soon as you walk in, the guards tell you no photos...then you look up and there are about 300 people all with their cameras out and snapping pictures. Guess they don't care that much! The artwork itself was nice to look at, but not necessarily worth all the hassle. The Basilica on the other hand was downright amazing. Every direction you turned, you were faced with some amazing sculture or piece of artwork. The alter was fantastic as well.

Decided to chill at our hotel with some bottles of cheap wine (1.85 EUR specials...haha) on our terrace. We ended up staying beside two Icelanders (Andri, and don't remember) who gave us the lowdown on Reykjevik, and somehow we agreed to an Iceland 2008 trip? We've got his info if we actually follow through.

Our last night in Rome actually fell on the Festival of St. Peter (San Pietro) so very little was open, but it was fun to just kick it around and eat gelato like it was nobody's business. I'm very ready to get the hell out of Rome though and onto greener pastures.

Alright, the Tour of Italy continues on as we make our way to La Spezia (Cinque Terre), where we'll be meeting up with Reena and her sister Puneet. Good times!!

June 17th - Köln, Germany

We somehow ended up in Cologne!? Well sort of deliberately. We heard most of Belgium was sort of lame, so we decided to trek to Cologne and see some Germany (so that Kim and Carol could go there). The train was excellent, a new ICE train, but of course, with the fact we were so new to train travel, we ended up sitting in someone's reserved seats. Oh well. Too bad the guy was a bastard, putting his bare feet up on the seat beside you, etc. Disgusting. Good thing it was short though.

Any issues we had there were quickly consumed by the fact that our hostel is great! Our room looks straight out of an IKEA catalogue, even down to the power bars and curtain rods. It's hilarious. Super clean, super cheap, and so close to the station and all attractions.

Over these past two days, we've checked out the Dom (amazing, absolutely amazing), Altstadt (Old City), shopping, Kölsch beer (local to the area), bockwurst and of course the Rhine, including the chocolate museum alongside it. We got some tips from Julia on what to eat and where to go, and turns out our hostel was close to all suggestions.

Tomorrow we are off to Brugges and Brussels for some Belgian fun. Waffles, mussels and beer, OH MY!

P.S. thanks again Julia for the good tips on food...it was awesome.

Lots of love!

June 14th - Amsterdam, Netherlands (Hoeeeeeeeee-down!)

Amsterdam! One of those places where you've got to wonder, is it everything it's cracked up to be? I thought it was. It was a great time!

After a quick and seamless flight, we got to our hostel (Hans Brinker Budget Hotel...oh yeah) which was actually awesome. It had a bar, club, free internet, and clean rooms, which is all someone can really ask for. And it was pretty cheap, and located in a great part of town.

Our first night was spent chillin in the hotel bar, eating some dinner, when all of a sudden...Bernard and I hear 'Yeeee-haaaaaaaa!' followed by 'Hoeeeeeeee-downnnnnnn!!'. We nearly messed ourselves. Could it be? Canadian Engineers? No! English field hockey players from Portsmouth, UK! They know that game? Their whole university does, not just the Engineers. Needless to say, Bernardus and I taught them the Canadian rules, and like always, they got smashed. So did we. Cheap pints of Heineken flowed faster than water at that place.

The next day was good times again, with lots of touristy stuff. Only after a very good breakfast though. Eggs, bread, cheese, meat and NUTELLA! Well, the Dutch version, but it was just as good. And free, what a deal. The Anne Frank house and the Heineken brewery were on the menu for today, and both were pretty awesome. At the end of the Heineken tour, we got two free small drinks, but being Bernard and myself, we ended up behind the bar with several more pints and full control over the music system. We had that bar going! Pictures definitely to come. That night, we hit the infamous Red Light District, which is just as messed up as people think it is, but still cool to see. My sources tell me services go for 50 EUR for 15 minutes, just in case you were wondering (and I know you were, pervert).

The last day of our trip was spent on bikes getting around the only way the Dutch know how. Everyone rides a bike! We trekked through Vondelpark, through their markets, and into their coffeeshops. Amsterdam is one of those places where you just want to keep on staying sometimes...dank u Amsterdaam!

June 12th - London, England

London! The first leg of our trip began in London with a fairly eventful flight. Bernard and I would have been plenty early for our flight, except for the fact that Bernard forgot his jacket and the power bar (for charging stuff) so we had to make a couple of stops before the airport. Turns out they weren't signs of (bad) things to come.

We stopped at the duty free in the airport, and got some Bacardi. Hey, you've gotta get through a 12 hour flight somehow, right? We met up with Reena and Puneet in the waiting area, until they had to board, and when we got on our flight, we ended up sitting next to the best guy ever. Phil Hersee, who is apparently this amazing and very well-known photographer, was in the aisle next to me, and we had a great time. He told us stories of his work, and we drank rum and coke with him. We had a full bar setup - beer, rum and coke, and beer nuts. What more could you ask for?

Even the flight crew was awesome. They worked for some Italian airline (no idea how they ended up flying our flight) and they were all awesome. When we were looking for a place to mix our drink, Bernardus went to the cabin crew area, and took care of it. As the Italian crew would say: 'oh, rum-a and coke-a!'. It was fantastic.

As soon as we landed in London, it was a quick train ride into the city and a much longer walk to our hostel, given the fact that I forgot to print out our itinerary and the address of this hostel. Ooops! After some walking (down a pretty street, mind you...) we made it to our hostel and found Kim and Carol.

Eventually, we took in all we could in our short stay in London. All the sights were covered on a pretty wicked walking tour (that was free). We met some great people on the tour and we spent the night in a Canadian pub in London, called, get this, The Maple Leaf. We had bets down on what kind of beer they would serve. For anyone that's curious, it was Sleeman's Honey Brown, Labatt's (haha, just Labatt's. Cambie anyone? What kind of Labatt's? Doesn't matter?), MGD in bottles, and MOOSEHEAD! It was quality times with quality people from all over the world - Australia, Chicago, Calgary - and a great way to wrap up London.

Off we go to Amsterdam via EasyJet...if I make it out alive, I'll be sure to drop a note. Thanks for all the emails coming my way, it's great to hear from all of you. Sunburnt bums and all.

Lots of love!

Alive and well.

Made it to London just fine, and had a great flight. Can't talk for long, but we saw the Queen today. It was pretty dope.

Talk later.

Bernard did it, so I did...

Game on! Europe is upon us, and we (apparently) plan to blog our way through it. Should be a good time. These will hopefully find their way into Facebook soon.

My blog: tang-does-europe.blogspot.com

Bernard's blog: bernieblogsthrougheurope.blogspot.com


We'll see you on the other side of the pond!

All the best!