Brno

I started my time in Brno on a scout trip with my host Vitja and his scout group. We went hiking in Pálava up to the ruins of the "Maiden Castle", so named because they buried maidens in the castle walls to add protection. Didn't seem to help. Anyway, so I spent two days with this group of 20 kids age 7 to 11. It was such a cool experience, made possible by the Couch Surfing Project (more info here). It was so much fun interacting with kids I couldn't really talk to, but we still managed to communicate. Some things don't require much communication, like when we played football. I discovered that little boys are all the same wherever they grow up and whatever language they speak. They like to pretend that sticks are guns, they like to climb up on stuff (like castle ruins), they enjoy games involving pushing each other around, and sometimes they get scared in the middle of a dark night. (You'll have to ask me about Phillip sometime.) They like singing camp songs and playing games, and they get in trouble and don't think it's fair. That trip took all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday, so I decided to extend my stay one more day to actually see Brno.

One of my first stops was to the monastery where Gregor Mendel worked out the basic laws of genetics. That's the foundation of the green house where he grew a lot of his plants. That was really cool being there where such great science had taken place. It was Monday, which means most museums are closed, but I didn't need a museum. I know what he did, it was just really cool to be there where he had done it. The rest of the day was spent visiting a bunch of churches (pretty much the only things open on Mondays) and, of course, the castle on the hill. The Spilberk is an interesting castle in that it is constructed of brick. That building is a good example of the feel I got for Brno, simple, yet impressive.

Like Bratislava, the Czech Republic is cheap for Americans to travel through. For lunch, I went to a pretty nice restaurant, had this amazing chicken with ham, cheese, and a peach, a side of potatoes, and this amazing honey almond cake for dessert. It was fantastic and ran me 260 Czech crowns, about $13. I've started to think that maybe I'll take advantage of the low prices here opposite the way people sell it. Instead of travelling cheaply though the Czech Republic, I think I'll just spend the same I have been elsewhere, and live like a king for two weeks. A homeless king, but a king nonetheless. For the perfect ending to my day, I went over to Vitya's parents' house for dinner and had Apple strůdel made by his grandma. Awesome.

Wien

The above picture is of a cake. That's just how fancy Wien can be. In case you were wondering, it's pronounced veen. It took me like three days to remember whether it was veen or vine, so I try not to call it Vienna anymore or I'll get confused again. Wien is an amazing place. Lots of history here. My guide book describes it as a head without a body, and I think that sums it up pretty well. I've gone to over half a dozen museums with these huge expansive collections (like having something like 400 of the 700 known minerals) that show just how huge and powerful the Austrian empire and the Holy Roman Empire before it really were. I think maybe the most impressive thing so far was seeing the 10th century crown of the Holy Roman Emperors. Really amazing. That and the unicorn horn in the next room.

Today, I took a little hike through the hills northwest of Wien. Really pretty woods and vineyards. I took a bus all the way to the top, ate my picnic lunch, then hiked most all the way down. I ended up in the neighborhood of Nussberg and at Beethoven's house. Those are the kinds of things you don't just happen upon wandering around St. Jo. I've realized that I like museums, but I love nature more, so I'm going to keep looking for places like this in the cities I visit.

As I've been getting used to traveling alone, visiting these huge museums and seeing these incredible sights, I realized a positive and negative to touring alone. First the negative, I miss not having anyone to talk to all day. I find myself talking to myself just to use my mouth sometimes. The positive, no one notices when I fart.

Bratislava

After spending a couple days in Wien, and at the suggestion of Darko, my first host here, I took a day trip to Bratislava, the capitol of Slovakia. I'm really glad I made this trip. It rained the whole day, I got soaked to the bone, and it was awesome. The church pictured above is St. Martin's and it's beautiful. That gets hard to say since I've seen so many churches, but this was a really great church. Plus, you get to go down into the crypt, and that was really neat. Bratislava is actually quite a small city. I started out on one side, and was looking for the tourist info center, by the time I stopped to ask a stranger for directions, I had crossed the entire city! I had a little trouble finding my way around, I think mostly because I was hesitant to pull out my map in the rain, and then the rain made it hard to see stuff too. But I figured it out eventually and saw some really cool stuff. The lady at the info center pointed me to this authentic Slovakian restaurant, called Slovak Pub conveniently enough. When the waitress asked me what I wanted, I asked for an authentic Slovakian dish. The guys at the next table over are like, "Get the halusky. You can't say you've been to Slovakia unless you've had halusky." So I got the halusky. They say it's a potato dish, but I've never had potatoes like that. They were kind of mushy-chewy, like they'd been boiled in milk or something, then covered in melted goat cheese, and topped in bacon cubes. And by bacon cubes, I mean fried chunks of fat and gristle. Now, if that doesn't sound appetizing yet, just try to get through the whole plate. No seriously, it was pretty good, but I really should have stopped halfway. Other than seeing the sights, the great thing about visiting Bratislava is that it's cheap. That hearty meal, plus a Sprite and a 17% tip (large for Europe) ran me 140 Slovak crowns, which comes out to just under $5. Awesome. The round trip ticket out there, which includes a day pass on their public transit, came to 14 Euros. Really a steal of a deal. So this was kind of the typical American "checking another country off the list" kind of a stop, but it was really nice and a different experience from the others I've had here.

Nürnberg

I stopped in Nürnberg on my way to Wien (Vienna) last Saturday. It was a cool little place, but I think the best part were two of these guys, three Nürnberg sausages on a roll for 2 Euros. That was lunch and dinner. Good stuff. They are supposedly the smallest sausages in Germany. I'm not entirely sure about that but they were good. As for the rest of the city, kind of touristy. The castle was cool, but not anything better than what I'd seen in Würzburg. I ran into the missionaries there street contacting. They were fun to talk to. I told the one sister I was wanting to learn German, and she replies, "Why would you want to do that?!" Then her companion pipes in, "Just ignore her. She just got here. Learning German is great." I didn't make it out to all the Nazi stuff there, which is kind of extensive, but a ways from the train station, and I didn't have that long to spend there. It was a good stop, and I saw some cool stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone making a 2 week visit.

Würzburg

I survived the 8 1/2 hour flight to Frankfurt, sat next to an American girl on the train who was nice enough to wake me up when we got to Würzburg (she was getting off there too), and then managed to party all night with my host Bernhard and his friend Jens. Today, I went out by myself and saw the Festung Marionberg and the Residenz (far backgound barely visible on the left and background above), both huge amazing buildings with enormous grounds. I think I could live in a castle if I had a yard that big. It was pretty awesome.

While Bernhard and I were out wondering the city yesterday afternoon, he asked me what about the city made me feel like I was in a foreign country, other than eveyone speaking a foriegn language and the signs all being in German. I thought it was an interesting question, so I'll share with you all what I came up with:
Small Cars - not just that there are the tiny smart cars, but there are hardly any SUVs or big trucks.
Curved Streets - not just that some of them curve, all of them do, and intersections are rarely 90 degrees. Bernhard told me there is one german city like that, Manheim, built by the Americans after WWII, with streets all square like in the States, but as he put it, you wouldn't want to live there, ehhh.
People Walking - all over.
Public Squares - I love these. One here has a farmer's market that is awesome.
Statues - everywhere, in obscure corners, on roofs, on bridges, in fountains...
Plus the general mixing of old and new. Nothing in the US is more than 200, maybe 250 years old. Here you have buildings from the 1300's, mixed with ones from the 1700's, next to ones from 1999.

So that's what makes me feel like I'm in a foriegn country. That, and I can't understand anything people say.

Last preparations

So I made it through my pre-vacation. I drove 4500 miles in two weeks (well, 15 days), saw both sets of grandparents, three sets of aunts and uncles, two cousins, six sets of brothers and sisters-in-law, and 16 nieces and nephews. I listened to one session of conference, a dozen podcasts, and many hours of great rock and roll. And honestly, I'm tired, but not as much as I thought I would be. I'm really glad I made this trip. It was really great getting to see everyone and talk about my next great adventure.

I've still got quite the to-do list for tomorrow and Wednesday morning to be ready for my next travels. Taking care of banking stuff, laundry, packing, and mowing the bush atop my head. Sorry Tim, I appreciate you cutting my hair, you did what I asked for, but I realized mom's right, my hair just can't do what I was wanting from it. So I think I'm going to the inch or two long style for the next foreseeable future. That will also make traveling much easier.

I have couch surfing hosts lined up for the first couple weeks. There's an Austrian holiday the last day I was planning on staying in Vienna, so I'm either going to have to find a church member who'll put me up, sleep in the train station, or leave Vienna earlier than planned. Or I guess I could suck it up and stay in a hostel. So I've got a couple unplanned days, I'm sure that won't be the only time this happens, but it's things like this that make me really excited about this trip. It's going to be one great adventure.

Pre-vacation

So I've been traveling for over a week now, with just over a week left before I fly to Germany. I've visited both sets of grandparents, three sets of aunts and uncles, two brothers, and my mom. Tomorrow, I drive from Provo to MO, where I'll stay the night with dad before he flies out to join mom and Tim on Thursday. Then it's about a day with each of the remaining brothers, from Kansas City to Kentucky, and back, before turning in the rental car on Monday morning. It's probably a bit too much, but it'll be my last chance to visit most of them at their homes for a while. The long drives aren't that bad yet. I might have something different to say tomorrow night after making the long haul. But tomorrow is the longest day, so at least it'll be over.

I've been working on finding CouchSurfing hosts in all the cities I plan on staying in while traveling before Christmas. I still have a way to go, but at least I've started contacting hosts for the first week or so. I finally today pinned down a tentative travel plan. There will be some changing I know because I don't have the date for the research meeting in Mainz on my future project, but I think I've got it set up to easily move things back and fit it in. So it's coming up, and I'm getting pretty excited. I gotta go and finish getting ready.

I'm having trouble uploading a picture. Hopefully, I'll get that going in the future.