Octoberfest extras...

So I did learn and help make sauerkraut...very cool.
Also I mentioned my pointer fingers being injured but did not explain, so let me paint you all a picture.  At the end of my work I had earplugs, double gloves on, chemistry goggles on and my fingers were swollen to twice their normal size.  They are currently back to normal. It took about 3 weeks.  I think I spent too much time with potatoes and my body was trying to make my hands look like them.
I still love all things potato!

Weekend in Köln (Cologne), Germany

On my way to Gießen (Giessen) I was able to stop over in Köln for a couple days before my next workaway stay.  My cousin Jake had an exchange student -Nina--living with him at UCSB last year and got me the connection! Thanks Jake!!  It was so nice just to sit on a couch and hang out and rejuvinate before my next workstay.  The first night I got in and just read an english book she had --just imagine if 'Spencer' was a teenager and kept a journal--while she was in class.  Then she and I watched episodes of 'The Big Bang Theory' and snacked on chocolates!! That is her favorite series and now it is mine as well--hillarious!! The next day we wandered around Köln and she showed me the sights.  The Köln cathedral is massive  and gothic, you feel so tiny inside.  We walked around the shops and walked by the Rhine river .  The weather was great partly cloudy and windy but still sunny enough.  Our lunch was Currywurst and pomme frites (french fries)--currywurst is the new thing in Germany these stands are everywhere, its a sausage with curry spices in it and it even came with some curry ketchup which is super tasty, and oh ya the fries came with mayo!  Afterwards she showed me the University and we walked through this beautiful green space.  That evening we went out for drinks and I practiced my German drink ordering skills which weren't great but got the job done.  Later on we went to her favorite local dance club 'The Rose' which played only alternative music--it was awesome!! Packed club all dancing to the Strokes, Franz Ferdinand and tons others--so much fun!!  The next morning I left for the train station ---YOU ROCK NINA!!! CHEERS!!

My Octoberfest

Even though I did not make it to Munich I still got the chance to sit around a big wood table and drink tall beers with Germans, German farmers that is...
After Ute my host picked me up at the train station she drove me to the farm located in Weitsche about 20 minutes away.  This is a tiny village in northwest Germany between Hanover and Berlin. All I wanted to do when I got there was to eat some dinner and shower and go to bed. But that was not the case... 
The first monday of the month my hosts Ute and Marcel have the entire village over for drinks to talk about farming and whatnot.  When I got to the house they showed me to my fantastically beautiful apartment that I would have all to myself and I dropped off my luggage and went back over to the main house for dinner.  Dinner was a slice of homemade bread with a liver/sausage spread. Then I was ushered to the main table with 8 German farmers (yup that was the entire village)around it drinking beer.  I was given a beer, which was home brewed by Ute and was introduced to everyone at the table and by the time the last person said their name I couldn't remember anyones.  I just sat there with my beer and tried to follow the conversation...it went something like this- wah wah wah blah blah yada yada yada but with a German accent of course.  My main concern was to not look too loopy at the table and make it through with out falling asleep.   One hour in and I am nursing my beer when Elisabeth a horse farmer (exact translation) comes in with a bottle of Kalishnakov vodka, yes Kalishnakov, and shot glasses are passed out.  Now I am hoping just not to throw up again.  I tried saying no then only a little but she had just become a grandmother and this was the sort of thing you could not get out of.  So we all held up our glasses and toasted 'To the baby's pee'!! That was the translation they gave me when I asked;)  We toasted a couple more times and after my second beer people finally decided it was time to go.  During this time I had noticed that the farmers were making tally marks on their coasters of the beers they had had and at the end of the night they all paid up--€1.50 (thats euros) each to Marcel and Ute-I couldn't believe it--I started wondering if I had any money in my pocket and when I didn't (Czech crowns don't count) I asked my host if I needed to pay right now if I should run back to my luggage they said no it was ok and not to worry about it-whew! what a relief!   I finally could go to bed and asked what time I should be up in the morning...7:30am for breakfast...My apartment had a living room, full kitchen, upstairs loft bedroom and a tv/vcr/dvd player and a stereo!! I could not believe it --it was so nice!! I went over to the stereo to check out the cds and found some were in English, so as I unpacked and got settled I got to rock out to Foreigner and Cheaptrick!!
Boy it was hard to get up in the morning...but I was back in their dinning room at 7:30am for breakfast
which was a coffee and a slice of bread with jam and or meat spread then off to the garden for potato harvesting.  I harvested around 100 kilos of potatoes that day.   Big ones, little ones, ones that looked like fingers and purple ones, so many potatoes.  My first day I was working in the garden from 8am until 2...no breaks --wasn't sure what to do.Towards one o'clock I am just wondering where my hosts are and if they even do lunch in this country?! Was it ever going to come?...Finally after 2 one of their sons came to call me into lunch---which thankfully was a tasty hot meal and not bread.  After lunch I was so tired and since thank goodness my 5 hours were up I went back to my place and just passed out on the couch listening to more 80's music.  It is dark and I am hungry again and wondering what time dinner might be and what do I do if it doesn't happen.  I had one piece of chocolate with me and the kitchen in my apt was empty save for chamomile tea and a bowl of sugar and a mini fridge of their home brew beers which seemed definitely not for me to drink.  So 5 cups of tea a one chocolate piece later I am starting to get a bit desperate.  20:30 (8:30pm) and I get a knock on my door that dinner is ready-YIPPPEE!!! Dinner was a slice or two of cold bread with jam and meatspread...
On the third day of this I asked if it was a standard German tradition to have only one big meal of the day and they said yes.  Great, that explains America's weight problem...all those hot meals...;( I dreamed of IN'N OUTthat night.
And so it goes and so it went for 3 and a half weeks.    Not a lot of conversation happened...they would speak in German at the table and and English to me only if I asked a question.  They had another visiter from Gambia (West Africa) Mulawi, who was 27 and spoke a little English and not much German, but a fair amount of Spanish.  But he was quiet at the table except for a few comments in Spanish.    So we just sat in silence waiting for the meal to be over and we were allowed to leave the table. 
The weather was pretty chilly around the 40'sF during the day and 30 degrees F at night.  I got in a few 3mile runs with some fantastic looks of shock from the locals as I would run past in my soccer shorts and i-pod beenie.  But mostly I just watched movies and read after my hours of work were done--Ute had a great collection of fantasy and sci-fi books and a fair amount were in English.  I got hooked on the Seeker series but unfortunetly she only had the first 3 in English which I blew through in about 6 days and the rest were in German so I am looking forward to an American library when I get home so I can finish the series. 
The nearest towns were about 10k away and me and Mulawi biked out there.  The ride was crazy because there was not really a speed limit and it was a country road with no lanes and no shoulder.  So we froze a bit on the ride but once we got to Luchow the town we had a great time. We walked around and went into the supermarkets and just looked at all the cool stuff.  When we were walking he asked me how old I was and then when I told him he asked if I had any kids or was married.  When I said no but I that I had a dog he thought that was hilarious!  He treated me to a box of chocolate covered biscuits and an espresso before we biked back.  He kept riding in the middle of the road and would not get over when cars were coming...he was gaurding me from the cars and then when sometimes I was just not paying attention or whatever and would ride in the gravel or grass slope area he asked me if I wanted him to ride on that side so I would not fall down--very sweet but I thought he was going to be squished in the road.
The end of the second week was the time for making apple juice.  It was really cool to see how it was done, but so cold.  We set up the contraption in a barn attached to the main house.  The contraption consists of a metal table with a apple pulverizer on one side and a press on the other with a huge bin underneath that the apple pulp would fall into.  The press was made up of wooden frames and a thick meshed cloth and you would place the mesh cloth in a frame and add apple pulp and fold up the corners and then repeat with the other frames until you were stacked all the way up and then you would ues a jack and squeeze the juice from the frames that would then drain out a tube and into a bucket.  We pasturized the juice as well in big pots.  It smelled wonderfull and I got to drink a lot of fresh juice. 
My towards the end of my stay one of the local farmers needed workers to sort rocks from his potatoes as they were being harvested.  He was paying 5€ an hour and at first Malawi was only asked but since I was in the room I said I would be up for some paid work.  The farmer, Vulker, picked up me and Malawi the next day it did not rain in the morning which was a few days later.  I worked about 4 hours in the morning already and my host said it was fine that I could go with Vulker but that I would be hungry since I could not take a lunch with me but that he would do a hot meal for dinner instead for us when we got back.  I had no idea about the work required, I even thought it would be inside.  We drove to a field where we got on the back of a harvester pulled by a tractor.  We were on either side of a huge conveyor belt.  Our job was to pull off the stones as my employer calls them, as fast as we could as the belt moved by and dump the rocks in a shoot to a waste bin below.  I was given yellow kitchen gloves and we set off.  Imagine the 'I LOVE LUCY' episode at the chocolate factory but with rocks and potatoes on a very bumpy orange harvester.  It was crazy! The belt was moving so fast and there were so many rocks.  And they were pretty rocks, bright reds, yellows and oranges.  They said they were fire stones, I think flint.  I would sometimes get so distracted looking at the rocks that I would forget to pick them up when they were in front of me so I had to lean farther down the belt to get the ones I missed.  It was so cold just standing there without moving your body save for your hands and arms.  Those kitchen gloves were not helping and before long I could not feel my hands.  Then it started to hail on us, we all stopped and ran for shelter under the tractor until it passed then went back to work.  The best part of the day was when 2 hours into it Vulker's wife Ulka showed up with hot caraffes of tea and sandwiches and even pastry!!! I did not have to go without lunch! We worked until 6pm when it got dark and even got to finish off the tea and food left from lunch on our way home--wonderful.  The next day I noticed my pointer fingers were swollen and hurt to touch them, I thought I had just bashed them on the rocks a bit since they were frozen all day-boy was I wrong.  I worked for Vulker for a total of 5 days 6-7 hours each day, ate great food and saw a lot of rocks and potatoes--it was cold and hard but great!  He also invited me to dinner to cook for me a local traditional meal.  Ulka served boiled peeled potatoes, cooked cabbabe, meatballs wrapped in cabbage leaves and gravy with a German white wine.  We had a great time and conversation.  The next night on my last day of work and my last night there he took me back to his house so I could experience his favorite German meal, potato pancakes with applesauce on top sprinkled with sugar--they were amazing.
Ulka even drove me to the train station the next morning!! THANK YOU VULKER & ULKA!!
Cheers!
check out some pics...Pictures of Germany

Space Aliens, Terry and buses! oh my!

My last weekend in Czech went a bit wonky.  Saturday was my host's Mike's 36th birthday and it was space alien themed as a surprise for Mike.  Caroline and Rosie and Esther (from Wales) made him a fantastic space man suit out of old boxes and and foil from chocolate bars and used bottle caps for knobs.  All the other workawayers attempted costumes from things lying around and a goodwill clothing bag.  Mike spent all day in the kitchen cooking up a mean curry and other Indian food dishes for the guests.  Around 5pm we all went downstairs and surprised Mike with his birthday suit and our crazy outfits.  It was a blast with great food and a super bon fire in the back yard.  And as things usually go at a party towards the end there was almost a fight... but people maintained and everyone made it to their beds or couches in one piece. 
The next morning I hitched a ride on Terry the RV camper that the Australian workawayers had driven from Scotland. Andrew and Matt were on there way to John's place for some work and a stay before they headed up to France so I navigated them there.  We had a good afternoon and even got in a tour of a ridiculously old church dating back to the 400's?(is that right John?).  I decided to stay the night for another great meal and good company with John and Matt and Andrew and some clean clothes as well-thanks again John for sending me off with with no wrinkles;).  I caught the 6:30 am bus from Bechyne which was packed and I stood crammed in the middle and then proceeded to get completly bus sick and almost lost the contents of my stomach, the worst part was that I couldn't even fight my way off the bus or even towards a door and if I could have and gotten off I am pretty sure the bus would not have waited and would have just left me... By the time I got into Prague and staggered to the train station I was pasty and my hair was all sticking up.  I bought a coffe to try to settle my stomach from a stand called COFFEE JOY...it was an experience...it was such a lovely cup with foam and hot milk and a sprinkle of cinnamen, the girl who made it was so nice and it was such a pleasant moment compared to the recent hours of hell on the bus I almost cried.
I then got on my train which stopped somewhere in Germany for over an hour due to some sort of "defectus".  I made it to Berlin and changed trains to Salzwedel where my new host Ute picked me up at 6:30pm.  Oh my what a day!

On a side note...internet cafes are so hard to come by out in the middle of the country and in FTVs(freakin tiny villages) so I most heartedly apologize for lagging in my blogging. I think of you all all of the time well except when I am sleeping and then most of the time you make appearences in my dreams then too.  Please go to the attached link to check out the photos since getting them uploaded to my blog is not working right now...
love you
photos of the first part of my trip

One Enchanted Evening and a Day

So I finally got my castle fix thanks to Mr. John Davey!!  The Thursday before I would leave the Czech Republic for Germany Caroline and I were asked to have dinner at John's place.  He actually lives inside a real castle!!! And since there is a zero tolerance policy when it comes to drinking and driving in the CR we spent the night as well...IN A CASTLE!!!  John lives in the town of Bechyně which is about 30 minutes away.  We had a lovely drive out with him pointing and identifying points of interest along the way--it was beautiful.  He took us the back way in so we could get a good look at the castle before we went in.  It was a castle out of a storybook...picture this... tiny sleepy village right next to a curving river that wraps itself around a big craggy hill with a castle on top!! The castle walls are right on the edge of the clif.  The castle moat is empty of water and now has deer that look like goats grazing in it.  When we got up to the town we parked and met his wife Ilena who runs the tourist information office and gift shop.  Then we made our way to the castle doors which are remote controlled--very cool.  Just before the doors we passed by an old building that John pointed out to us--it used to be the first post office of the Austro-Hungarian Empire--freakin awesome!
John's place is a great 2 room house built right into the castle wall with 4 foot thick walls and windows that look down the cliffside to the river and village below.  He cooked us a wonderful dinner with Caroline and I prepping and peeling veggies.  Dinner was chicken alla John (chicken breasts with crumpled chips and cheese on top), bean pot, sweet potato mash with pineapple and walnuts --super tasty.  An Irish friend of his from Prague joined us as well for dinner.We had such a lovely time, good food, wine and good conversation and bad jokes;)  After dinner Caroline and I got to retire to our own little cottage for the night just down the wall from John's to sleep.  Waking up in the morning and looking out the window was great. I took a morning walk around the grounds and up to the main castle.  Finally my first castle in the Czech Republic but not my last.  Little did we know that John had a whole day of sightseeing for us before we went back to our workaway stay.  So John, Pete ( Irish friend), Caroline and I got into his station wagon and set out to see some castles since John thought it was ridiculous that we had not seen any yet well only 1 now.  He took us to the castle that is a copy of the Windsor Castle in England... This wealthy Czech guy went to the real Windsor Palace in England liked it to much he went home and built himself one.  The door knockers to the main castle gates are Ghengis Khan's head with a raven boring it's beak into it right between the eyes.  Apparently the conquering hordes made it all the way to the CR and some of the soldiers stayed and there is some Mongolian heritage in the Czech people.  The next castle we saw was one that was used as a hunting lodge and the last castle we saw was Cesky Krumlov and it was the best one.  The castle sits up on top of a hill with the town below complely wrapped up in a river with only bridge access.  The castle has a huge covered walk way to a riding arena and barns because the king did not want to be cold and have to walk outside and ride outside in the winter time.  The castle moat is empty of water and instead houses 2 European Brown Bears.  The story goes that way back when, a traveling Russian circus came to town and the town's people of Cesky Krumlov were upset by their treatment of the dancing bear, so upset that they did not let the circus keep their bear but took it when the circus left town.  And since they had no better place to keep the bear they put it in the moat.  But the bear got lonely so the town got another one to keep it company and they have been breeding bears ever since.  We wandered the town up and down tiny cobbled lanes and had honey cake and coffee in the Golden Cafe just off the main square.  After we got back into the car and drove through Cesky Budivice the home of the original Budviser beer and even passed by the brewery. The route that we took to the castles and back passed right by a nuclear power plant, so close you could see the water running down the cooling tanks...it was unreal. Pete drove Caroline and me back to our farm and back to reality in the evening.  Thanks John for such a splendid fairytale evening and day in the CR, I will always remember it!!

Fancy a cup of tea?

That's the question that pops up around the house every 45-60 minutes.  Who ever asks prepares all the cups to everyone's personal specifications and calls tea time.  I know what your thinking but yes work does get accomplished, quite a bit actually;).  Everyone seems to work harder knowing tea time is almost there.   So the second weekend of my CR (Czech Republic) stay was 3 day holiday weekend which I did not take properly into account when I decided to go away for the weekend to see 3 cities in one go.   Bratislava, Vienna, and Budapest I thought looked rather close together on a map so figured why not! I was planning on going to Bratislava for Friday night and staying there since it is cheaper in Slovakia then off to Vienna for the day on Saturday then on to Budapest for Saturday night and then come home late Sunday to CR.  In theory it was a fantastic plan...but in reality proved ridiculous. All I can say is make sure you have your bus ticket purchased in advance on holiday weekends in the CR.  Holiday weekend equals everyone in the CR goes somewhere on a bus!  I was completely relaxed about the whole thing thinking of course this Eastern Europe we will just buy tickets from the driver and everything will work out, (Caroline from Texas went with me) boy did we realize our mistake a little late, more like 5 hours late.
So the journey begins...
We started our trip earlier then expected on Friday around 13:00 hrs (1pm) due to a ride that was available to us from John ( the contractor for the house) who not only gave us a ride but treated Caroline and me to a coffee and cake in Tabor before we left.  He also left us his number in case of emergencies;).  THANKS JOHN!! We caught the bus in Tabor bought our tickets from the driver to Bratislava as easy as getting a second beer at a Czech establishment.  People in the CR don't wait in lines they mob to the front and push and shove their way in.  I am a line person by years of training of "wait your turn"--damn public school education!;)--but I finally got into the mind set of ramming our way onto the bus otherwise we would have had to stand for about an hour of our 3 1/2 hr leg to Brno before we got a seat on our way to our next bus connection to Bratislava.  We got to Brno and went to our bus platform number to wait.  And wait we did.  After the time our bus should have arrived and we were all still waiting we heard an announcement that mentioned our bus, it had been delayed an hour-luckily we were standing next to a university student from Slovakia who spoke a little English who translated for us.  Our bus finally arrived but since we did not have a ticket and it was already full we could not board. The next bus would not come till after 11pm and it was already after 8pm.  We tried asking the information person but she kept telling us the platform number not when the bus would come or how to get a ticket...we could not find the ticket window.  But we did find an internet cafe just off of the bus platform run by brothers who mostly spoke I think Thai...had some Czech and even less English... but they were so nice they insisted on walking us to the ticket window once they figured out what we wanted since we could not figure out how to buy bus tickets on line.  Caroline went off with one brother while I tried to pay for our internet time.  I found them when they were walking back with the news that the ticket office closed at 7pm.  One of the brothers was so concerned he kept asking people for us and checking bus schedules to make sure we were at the right platform and to tell us what time the bus would come.  We were having a hard time understanding each other and he would hand us his cell phone so we could text in Czech or English what we wanted so our accents and mispronunciations wouldn't get in the way!
We had some time to kill while we waited for our bus so we ventured off into Brno and right near the bus terminal there was a huge mall so we walked through the shops and went to an Interspar market to get food for dinner to bring back to the bus terminal.  We ate our sandwich and chips and waited and waited the whole time a drunk old Slovakian man tried to communicate with us, he knew no English but tried every other language including Russian and a little Spanish, we kept saying no we don't understand and look straight ahead or close our eyes and try to sleep through it but he would tap our shoulder just to make sure we were listening to him.  It was like he had a 5 min memory, every 5 mins or so he would seem ignorant to the fact that we did not understand.  After awhile I would make up words to go with his dialogue in my head.  AHHHH!! he just kept talking!  Finally the couple next to us told us that the bus we were waiting for was probably full as well and we should try the train station since it was close by and even gave us a map.  So off we went to find the train station.  On the departure board at the train station the next train leaving to Bratislava was at 3:30am--crap! So we walked back to the bus station to just see if we could squeeze on the last bus...which we couldn't so we walked back again to the train station which had closed the main doors for the night.  At that point the only thing I had been looking forward to was sleeping in a well lit train station without a chatterbox drunk Slovakian next to me.  It took us awhile but we found the late night ticket agent thank God, below ground near the subway entrance and bought our tickets for the 3:30 am train and promptly went out side to a "non-stop" store with a window and bought the cheapest box wine we could find around $3 US and split it between ourselves--and mind you it was still only Friday!

Saturday early our train pulled into the station and a bunch of rowdy hockey fans unloaded off the train and we fought to get on and get a seat and no our train ticket did not come with a seat and I still have yet to buy one that does.  The train was packed and we were stuck in the walkway sitting on the ground. Imagine the Harry Potter train but communistic and the floor of the walk way like a frat house bathroom and you'll get a feel for our situation.  We made it to Bratislava feeling like and looking well you can guess what.  We did have reservations at a hostel for Friday night and we hoped we could get our remaining 4hrs of sleep left before checkout.  We caught a tram which you had to pay for by the amount of minutes your ride would take?! We found the hostile closer to 8am and they were nice and said why don't we just sleep on the couches in the lounge which we did until 11 then staggered out to Tesco to get some breakfast and a bathroom ( we could't find one at the hostel).  We went back to the train station and bought tickets for the late afternoon train to Budapest, we were definitely over Bratislava and wanted to just get out of there.  We felt so much better with a ticket in our hands we then went off to explore the city.  Or maybe our 3hr nap and some food perked us up a bit. But I am glad we did, I really enjoyed Bratislava. Beautiful city, tiny I think we walked the entire thing with our luggage in about 5hrs.  The Danube was impressive to see.  As we walked around we stumbled upon the Royal Palace and the back gardens which a lot of people were out playing Bocce on.  The sun was out it was in the upper 60s and everywhere we went we say people who were taking their wedding photos.  We saw somewhere between 15-20 brides and grooms.  We stopped at a cafe for a late lunch and had a great beer which was reccomended to us by John, the Zlaty' Bazant (Golden Phesant) Slovakia's main beer.  It was wonderful and so were the pizza rolls ( they were out of most everything else on the menu).  The food and drink will probably never taste as good again under different circumstances and I hope not to be in those circumstances again:).
We made it to Budapest just at sunset. It was beautiful the countryside and our first glimpses of the city.  We located our hostel and finally got a shower and went out to a cafe for drinks.  Caroline had a cacique which was a bit wonky tasting and I fought with the waitress to bring me mojito with whiskey instead of rum which was extremely difficult to understand she just kept telling me no rum is in the drink not whiskey...but in the end I got my drink.  Latin American style drinks and food are big in Eastern Europe but all it does is make me dream of home with more authentic tasting food.  We ended the night at a Burger King since nothing else was open that late where some drunk guy ordering at the counter ate some of my fries while my tray waited for the burger.  And no it does not taste like Burger King at home.
The next day we were hoping to get some cheap shopping in and some sights before we caught the bus back-we stupidly were going to try busses again.

I love Budapest! It was so nice to be in a city with cars and things to do.  The old bulidings and views down each street were awesome.  The feel of the city improved both of our moods we were glad we had made the journey and at least our end destination.  I wanted to go to a local coffee shop for breakfast more than anything and as we walked we kept noticing most everything was closed.  We ended up at a Costa's Coffee (Italian chain-still good).  As we were scouting the map for our destinations the realization hits me that it is Sunday and most everything will be closed.  No shopping at street markets, hardly any restaurants open, crapbags!! Still determined not to have this trip be a bust or at least ignoring the fact we spent most of our time in transport we set out.  We walked to the river Danube and across a stone lion guarded bridge to the Buda side of the city, we had spent the night in the Pest side. We went up so many stairs and paths winding through trees to get high up the hill to where the Buda castle was.  All along the way were statues and churches and cobblestone streets. 

I found one of the castles 2 labrinths and went down to check it out.  I paid my $9 bucks and got to wander in the dark of the rooms and halways dug under Buda castle.  There were some lights but not that often, I actually ran my face into a castiron fence as I was looking at a stone cross with a distant light on it trying to get closer so I could see what it was just missing my eyeball.  In one room they had a wine fountain with according to the sign fine Hungarian wine being pumped through it to represent the power of the Hungarian Empire during the Renaisaince but with a disclamer saying they do not reccomend one drinking it.
We ended the day at a Hungarian pub and since we ate at Burger King the night before we ordered the Gulash.  Bit of advice, if the server scoffs at your selection you should change it before it is too late.  We had overpriced boiled meat of some kind in a watered down broth that might have been tomato in a past life.  I did try an Hungarian schnapps though, after reading the discription I just had to try it.  " Quince Schnapps (Birs Pa'linka) Do you still remember your grandmother's Quince jelly? Through a mouthful of livener made of a downy fruit you may find your way to the past..." So I tryed 2 centiliters and it was packed full of memories that I did not have!  It was late afternoon so we went back to the hostel to get our stuff and headed to the bus station to buy our ticket, we thought we would be early this time not to miss the ticket agent, and for some braindead reason we thought we would walk the 4 miles or so to the bus terminal instead of the subway all in the name of saving money.  The walk was bad and the neighborhoods we went through even worse and it was getting dark.  Speed walking took on a whole new meaning.  We get to the bus station and find only one window open and we try to buy a ticket for the bus that the internet told us was running and it turns out that bus only runs Tuesday through Friday and it does not definitely run on Sunday's.  No busses run to Prague on Sunday.  We just walked for nothing.  Stinking internet! This time we take the subway to the train station.  We go up to the counter to buy a ticket, everyone we have come accross so far in Hungary has been able to speak English, the ticket agent however does not.  She shows us, me a ticket.  I read it it says 230ft. This is my Zoolander moment.   I think ok one ticket takes me 230 feet.  Hungary must do this instead of minutes spent on the train.   I am trying to show the lady on a map where I want to go beacuse I can't figure out how many feet that is and I don't know how many tickets I will need for my trip.  For a good 2 minutes I am discussing in hand movements this concept.  It finally dawns on me that the abbrviation of ft stands for Forints the Hungarian currency and I only need to pay her the amount and get on the subway.  Ahhh the joys of traveling and realizing how much brain power you lose along the way.  We go to the train station in lightning speed and all the while we are asking eachother why did we not think to take the subway before this?  Get to train station and the first train out of there to CR leaves at 5:30am Monday morning.  We find an internet cafe get directions to a hostel a very nice hostel behind the Astoria hotel which we take the subway to, try to decompress and sleep for 4hours and get up and do it all again.  Train from Budapest to Prague then Prague to Tabor where we are met by Mike our host who picks us up on his way to get groceries for the house.  When we get back first thing we here is "Fancy a cup of tea?  It was so nice to be back!

Castle? Where?

Everyone keeps telling me that there are castles and lakes everywhere in the Czech Republic and I am completely stoked because I love castles and lakes or really any cool remotely old stone structure and any body of water to go swimming in.  My first week here and I had yet to see a castle or recognize one...It was now becoming a mission to see one.  My hosts have an old red VW Polo and as I was the only one who could drive a stick I was given the car for Sunday afternoon to go drive to 3 castles that were nearby with Caroline the girl from Texas.  Oh yeah we were also given a map with lots of different colored roads which I will come back to later.  So off we went driving around the Bohemian countryside with our headlights on because that is the law looking for castles and lakes.  First off driving around in a foreign country with not really the slightest clue if you are going the right way let alone what the speed limit is and feeling like you are going way too fast because your speedometer is in kms--freakin fantastic!!!  It turns out some of those roads on the map are just trails or dirt paths. I ended up on some farmers fields a couple times. We kept driving around this one town the size of a four way stop sign eventually taking every road possible trying to find the 'Pink Castle' (hey at least I had a color to look for;))-while doing this great driving feat we kept buzzing a family loading up a tractor-the first time they looked a little curious after the 4th time they were laughing at us... we stopped to ask for directions and the Grandpa, older daughter and grandkids all pushed there heads in the window on top of Caroline looking at the map and then pointing in about 3 different directions and speaking in Czech which neither of us could understand--we nodded and smiled and then drove off to find a ligitimate road and we agreed to give up the castle search.  Instead we went to a cave and found it without incident!!! We bought our tickets and walked into the earth with our English translation paper of the tour guides' talk.  The cave has been kept in its original condition since the 1800's with all its decorations-which were 'hey I think that rock looks like a devil or hey that would really look like a dragon if we put red glass eyes onto it, and my favorite -this rock looks like a witch especially if we bring in some quartz rocks and put a light underneath it!'  It was so dark in the cave we could not really read our translation so we just bumped into things and tried not to fall down steep slippery stairs.  My favorite part was when they lead us into a cavern turned all the lights off and played organ Dracula music for no apparent reason other than to give the tour guide a laugh.  We made it home with out getting lost but all in all a great day for finding zippo castles!!

Mind the Ovaries

So apparently it is a widely held belief in the Czech Republic that if you are a person with ovaries you should not do any hard labor or lift things that are a bit heavy so as not to damage your baby making ability. This whole concept gets a little awkward especially when you are a workawayer and that is precisely your job that is when you are not mushroom hunting, cooking or cleaning. So I have spent my time at the old mill making wood piles, using a table saw until it was tired but the supply of wood was not and making sure dessert appears after dinner-lots of brownies and flourless chocolate cake making!

Where I am at is a house that used to be next to barns and a mill but the mill is not functioning and some of the barns are falling down. Mike and Nicola are a lovely British couple that bought the place and are renovating it. We have one working hot/cold water tap in the bathroom and a shower (yay!) The house is over 100 years old and is beautiful but right now it is still a work in progress. There are 8 of us all together, a girl from Texas, 2 Australian guys, and 2 girls from the UK along with our hosts.

The house is situated right on the road between 2 small towns. Last week it was Esther's 24th birthday so we walked the 3k into Cernovice to go to a bar. It was a great walk right in the road with all the stars out. The bar was super tiny and as we walked in Nirvana's 'Smells like teen spirit' was blaring out of the jukebox. Beers were 18 Czech crowns, that is about a $1-so it was a very economical night:). It was also my 1 year anniversary of my ankle surgery!!!

The first weekend I was here we were taken into Tabor the closest big city (not that big-but there is a castle) for dinner out. I had a huge plate sized potato pancake with chunks of ham and a pile of sauerkraut on top-yummy. The next day for lunch we ate at a Cuban Vampire themed restaurant.... and I had pork ribs with a sweet and sour glaze...totally bizarre!

Ahoj!!

So I made it toPrague...I flew Ryanair which has weight requirements...so I am wearing 2 pants and 5 shirts and have an umbrella shoved in my sock among other things shoved in my socks...and a sweater and my sleeper hoody which had close to 10 pounds crammed into the pockets...I made weight--thank goodness for a short flight!  I get to Prague and go into the bathroom to repack my luggage so I can walk and proceed to not be able to find my wallet with money I needed to exchange--you know when you look through something a bazzilion times and cant find it but it should be there...that was me for about 2hours...almost freaking out.  But I got into the city center of Old Prague absolutely beautiful and old with castlesk features and really cool buildings everywhere.  I spent 1hour and a 1/2 SIGHTSEEING with luggage before I wondered down the right tiny street that my hostel was located on.  And of course I found my wallet in that one pocket I did not check a thousand times!   I then got cleaned up, actually put on a dress and went out to buy a bus ticket for the next day and then relaxed awhile before I met Michal-a PHD student that stayed with my Aunt back in California.  I met him at 8:30pm and we went to dinner--boy do they drink their beer and eat their pork!!  I had a flatened pork chop stuffed with a cube of bacon and dried plums very tasty washed down by mugs of Pilzen.  Michal was fantastic to meet me --he had just flown in from Istanbul earlier that evening.  Great time practicing my Czech and learing a bit about the cultureand history of Prague--like where the Czech bank was located;).
The next day I got the bus to Ta'bor and attempted to get the connecting one to Vlceves...second time was the charm.  I kept asking if it was the right bus and the driver kept saying no! no! then the town name...I was so sure it was the correct bus but he was yelling NO NO that I did not get on.  So I was stuck for another 2 hours at the terminal...apparently ANO! means yes yes!! I finally went somewhere where No does mean yes!!! So went to a restaurant and had a snack and of course a Pilzen because that is what you do and caught the next bus and found my first workaway hosts!
The first evening I got there we went mushrooming with George the cat-a lovely small rusty tabby that walked with us the entire way!
more later...

Valkommen to Sweden!

Ahh Stockholm one of my favorite cities.  I wandered out of the airport without finding customs and bumped into my friend Ulrika who I was staying with and was told there is no customs.  I stayed with Ulrika and Ralf, friends I had met in Santa Rosa through Leigh a friend of mine.  They had a great apartment on the 6th floor with views of the city and lots of clock towers and churchs.  The first night I got in they walked me around Stockholm so I could get a feel for the city and where to go.  The next day I slept in which I had not been able to do since I started my travels, and had a nice coffee and read my book outside. I then spent the rest of the day walking all around Stockholm, they have such beautiful parks and buildings.  That evening Ralf got a ticket for me to watch his futbol team play at the Stockholm Olympic staduim a few blocks from their place!  Lots of songs, chants with a predominitely male chorus (not a lot of women at the game).  There was even a stopage of play due to fans on the field and retaliation for a player from the other side flipping off our teams fans!! Fantastic game--I got to be decked out in Djardin blue with a jersey and a scarf with great seats...but we stood the whole time --very intense match which in the end we did lose...next time! The team mascot is a rabbit with an iron pot on its head!

The next day I went to the Vaser museum--all about a extraordinary ship that was commissioned by a king which promptly sunk on its first voyage due to too many cannons.  It was salvaged and put into a museum. Then I went to the Swedish culture museum and looked at folk art, wedding dresses, furniture and Sami (Lapland) culture.  All this was followed with a wonderful classic Swedish meal of veal meatballs the size of your fist with fresh ligonberrys and mashed potatoes-- so yummy! After dinner we went to the south end of Stockholm to a bar on the 25th floor with all glass windows and looked out into all the lights of Stockholm with a tasty cosmo martini in hand-absolutely wonderful night. We ended the night at a bar that looked exactly like the Cheers bar and talked politics and culture differences into the night!!!
The next morning early Ralf guided me to my bus terminal for my airport tranport onto Prague---thank you so much Ralf and Ulrika!!
See you in my next city!

Velkomen to Norway!

So the land of my ancestors, well some of them anyways:) Bergen was wonderful beautiful town, colorful houses and a great layout.  Oslo I liked less but then I was only there for a tiny bit and not too keen on wandering around the streets at night when I arrived.

So my flight from London to Bergen was good-seeing London at night all lit up was amazing especially all the glowing soccer fields everywhere.  When I arrived to Bergen airport I called the number for my couchsurfing.com contact but no answer so left a message to say I was on my way.  I was to meet him at the tourist center in the center of Bergen.  So I got there mind you it is 12:30am on a Thursday, but I was not alone as all of Bergens' bar scene had emptied out and were stumbling home while I made 2 more phone calls and waited to see if anyone showed.  Sitting in front of a dark tourist center waiting to see if my contact arrives I look to my right and see a Louisiana cajun restaurant which deffinitely reassured me that everything was going to work out. A nice cab driver showed me how to get to his address so walked a few blocks but when I got to his building of course his name was not listed...needless to say I found a "budget" hotel around 2am...ahhh good times but it was not raining and Bergen at night was beautiful.
Next morning I found a YMCA Hostel which was fantastic and met a nice old French man who shared his crab,lobster, salmon and smoked whale with me as a late lunch. And as I could not speak French and he could not speak English he drug me out in search of a "libreria" which of course turned out to be a bookstore not a Bibliotec...so we walked and walked in the rain all over Bergen to buy a French English dictionary;).  We finally found it which by that time I was cold and soggy. On our way back to the hostel we passed by an outdoor bar with a guy playing the guitar and singing--Neil Young's Harvest Moon in Norwegian!!
That night I went out to explore the nightlife with an Australian, an Israli and a German--we went to the Garage a bar where Nirvana played once and then to another bar with a great D.J. and danced the rest of the night.

In the morning ( way too early) I caught the train to Oslo...7hrs later I found my Oslo Hostel.  The Norwegian country is wonderful, Aspen, birch, pine trees everywhere with tons of lakes and inlets and of course my favorite the wood planked cabins painted dark with a light color trim everywhere.  I am coming back for sure.

In the morning before my early afternoon flight I went to see the Kon Tiki museum and the Viking Ship Muesum!!! They were great! It was sooo cool to be right in front of the original Kon Tiki when I had bulit a smaller version in High School!!!

Love you all

London--"Mind the Gap"

Ahh the Underground-what a fantastic transportation device! I have used it to get to most every destination even when walking might take the same time...why walk when you have a daypass? I have only been in London for 3 days and 2 nights but I feel like I have used my time well.

The Recap...
British customs guy bent on putting the American in her place...wanted my itinerary printed out for the following 6months!? but still letting me into the country-just wanted me to feel what the US does to their citizens...yikes! I finnaly arrived at my hostel at the St. Paul's old Boys Choir 3hrs after I landed, so with a tiger's milk bar for dinner I went to bed.
Day 1
Walked through and enjoyed a lawn chair in the beautiful St. James Garden! This place is by far my favorite place in all of London.  It was the hottest and sunniest day and everyone was out enjoying the sun!
I saw...

Piccadilly Circle, Tower of London, Tower of London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral....so many things I can't even remember the names...statues, churches.
The people here dress so well, suit and ties and the women are in dresses and skirts, well the ones with jobs are;)
I finished my day up with a great dinner at the 'Old London' Pub.  Fish and Chips with a London's Pride ale.

Picture a plate of chips topped with a fried fish fillet with a side of tartar sauce and minted mushy peas. mmm!  All for under £10! When I got back to the hostel I went into the T.V. room and watched the second half of Predator vs Allien all the while a Swedish girl helped explain the nuances and what was going on and why she loves these movies-;)  Her favorite one is the Predator with Arnold-crazy!

Day 2

Walked over Millenium bridge and went to the Globe theater!! Wow!! I love Shakespeare!! 'As you like it was playing but they were sold out already for the night show...next time I will have to book online.  I then took the train to Salisbury to catch a bus to see Stonehenge.

Salisbury was beautiful! They have a huge cathedral in town and the downtown has tiny streets with lots of shops to wander through.  On the way to Stonehenge I stopped to check out Old Sarum which was the original city way back in the day -it is a round city, 2 circles of moats then a castle in the middle with defense walls around the moats.  The city was moved to Salisbury due to lack of water and not much use by the King.

Stonehenge was amazing.  I have seen so many pictures to be there in person was surreal.  I thought the stones were bigger then they were from all the pictures but otherwise it is much better in person to wander around it and to see the country that surrounds it.  All around it are burial mounds and open plains, which used to be a forrested area when the stones where errected.

Today Day 3

My last day in London!  I went and took a ride on the London Eye-the huge ferris wheel! I pre-bought my ticket at the hostel and wandered down- it took maybe 5 minutes to get on-it was beautiful! The view from the pod I was in was wonderful-I could see Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey just to name a few and the River Thames!

I fly to Bergen, Norway tonight!

Cheers for now!

P.S.-Just imagine hearing "mind the gap" in a British voice about a zillion times while riding the underground-refering to the space between the platform and the subway door.

NYC

So I am in Brooklyn at Maggie's place snacking on olives before we go to dinner at the WILD GINGER-best vegan food in NYC!!! I have 1 more day in the city before I fly to London...
Recap of the past two days...
Dinner at Tartine (great French restaurant in the west village)
Walk through the Highline (old subway line converted to a park)
I tripped and fell crossing the street and smashed my finger into a lamp pole on the way to a bar-East of 8th where I stuffed my finger in a rocks glass while sipping a vodka and soda.
Then went to the ER at St Vincents.  Spent 5hours chatting with a chatty transsexual about make-up, hair and guys while waiting for an x-ray.  I broke it which was good because at 3am on a work night Sara would have been really mad if it was just a bruise;)
Made dinner with my sister, sister's boyfriend and cousin and played Trivial Pursuit which Maggie and I won!!
Today we all hung out in Sheep's Meadow enjoying the sun and heat.


I'll see you in my next city.
Love to all