When Life Hands You Lemons... Crash The Dirt Bike.

Two weeks ago I went dirt biking out at Five Mile near Tooele. It was quite the experience. Of note was the long ride that Danny and I took early in the morning, which involved riding up into some hills on some crazy hill climbs.

Later in the day I felt especially confident so I tried my skills at a step-up. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it is exactly as it sounds. It involves a step, which in this case was only two feet off of the ground, with a small kicker a meter in front of the step, off which one would ride and clear the step. The danger lies in not clearing it, as you could imagine... I cleared it, and my bike cleared it, but those two objects weren't necessarily conjoined... I banged myself up pretty bad, but worse off was my bike, which had this huge dent in it's exhaust.

If you thought that that was enough, later on I was jumping off this big hill climb. It was beautiful. With no effort you'd cruise up the 20ft hill in 3rd gear and it would just glide you over the rise at the top of the hill, where you'd land softly on the down slope. Not very dangerous, and I had done it at least a dozen times before deciding on trying it that "one more time" before heading back to the truck. I gave it a bit more juice this time, and soared beautifully, but at a bad angle. I landed on the side of a slope to the left of me, and before I realized what happened, I was in pain and sprawled out (and pinned under the bike).

The terrible news was that I bent my handle bars. I felt awful about it for weeks.

Why am I telling you this now after two weeks? Well yesterday was a particularly stressful day, so I took the bike up into the hills above alpine. While going along a very simple trail, the bike spun out on some loose sand and I crashed... again. Although it hurt again, I had some glorious fortune- it bent the handle bars back. Now, how wonderful is that? I guess I could relate this to some life lesson about the silver lining in the storm, but I don't really want to. All I care about is that my bike is okay. Which should be obvious, as I am typing this at 2 am a whole day and a half later!

Moo!..

Check out http://www.panoramio.com/user/534104.

Don't forget to leave comments.

Life, It Rents Us...

I've been listening to Modest Mouse nearly non-stop for over 7 years (the mish being the one break), which isn't a bad thing of course, but I've decided I need a new challenge... Thus I've challenged myself not to listen to any MM for the next month of July, in which time I'll hopefully learn of new bands. It is unlikely that I'll find anything better, but at least I'll be able to say I tried. If you have any suggestions, let me know... So far I'm diggin Interpol's "evil" and Pinback's "Bbtone".

Bow down... There's a pastor in the room...

Recently someone got married in my extended family. I'm not too aware on the detail of said marriage, and when I say extended, I mean really extended. What was so significant about the event was that the individual who performed the ordinance happened to be a sibling of either the bride or groom, and he had only recently joined an internet church and became a pastor in order to perform the ceremony. I think that's clever. If you are going to do it in that type of setting, and you want to have the ceremony performed by someone significant to you, then sure, have your brother do it.
.
My mom told me about this, and as my sister is getting married soon also, she suggested that I do the same, and conduct the wedding myself. Of course she was kidding... I remeber two BYU students who, perplexed by the strict religious rules on how to organize an event in Provo, decided to join an internet church as pastors in order to make their party a religiously-promoted activity. They were both expelled by the honor code. So I guess joining another church is bad, even if you aren't taking it seriously.
.
But, I'm not taking it serious, I'm just curious. I'm searching through the internet right now just to know what it takes to be an "cyber" pastor. So far it's been rather interesting. The first church I found was the "Internet Church of Christ", with a less than appealing web site featuring midi music (something that I haven't heard in years). The next is Cyber-Church.com, which respectfully considers itself as merely "your church away from home", but it's google description is, "One of the first online ministries dating to the early days of the Internet." I nearly keeled over laughing. So many non-cyber christian sects argue over who was organized first, as that is the pure determinant of truth. For example, on my mission I ran into some Coptic Christians in Vienna, who claimed that their right to absolute truth lay in the fact that they were organized by the apostle Mark, long before Peter started up* the Roman Catholic church. But then the Greek Orthodox church argues that John started their church also before Peter as well, so I really don't know what to believe. Basically, the older you are, the more right you are, i suppose. I guess this type of reasoning has spilled over to the cyber world as well. I guess they must be the "only true internet church".
.
*=questionable
.
But I will say this... I think it is good that there are such organizations, no matter how many. Eventhough I strongly believe tha longevity shouldn't be a determinant of truth, they still promote a faith in Christ which is very important.
.
But here are some other churches, that you should consider when making that big "which online church shall I join?" decision:
.
"The First Online Church of Bob" (as if there is a second?) Google description: An online ministry dedicated to Slack and the liberation of your mind from the control of the Conspiracy.
.
"St. Pixels" (oh good, Father Pixels made it as a saint!) G.D.: Welcome to St Pixels, the online church in 3D where you can meet others, talk about serious and not-so-serious stuff, discuss what you do and don't believe, ...
.
"Duke Street Church Online" G.D.: Richmond. Service details and weekly activities for all ages, including homelessness and international student ministries, a church football team, ... (they must have miss-typed that one)
.
"Universal Ministries" G.D.: Become ordained online for free. You can now perform weddings.
.
BINGO!

Finally, I'm an adult... I have my own Costco card.

Solely out of a sense of obligation, I ought to recap the last final days of my great European adventure. And here it is. I spent the rest of the time in Vienna, seeing sights, and then I went hiking in Kitzbühel, Austria. The night before I flew home I found myself in Munich, where I took some fun night shots of the town and watched the Champions League Final. I hate AC Milan, by the way. Fitingly, the last place I found myself before coming home was Odeon's Platz in Munich, which happens to be my favorite part of Munich, which city happens to be my favorite in Europe, and which also happens to be full of lots of sentiment, as it was the locaton of my first street-preach, nearly five years previously. Yes, it made a nice bookend for my whole trip.
.

But, I'm home now and ready to get on with the rest of my life. In other words, I got my own Costco card and I'm finally an adult. Life isn't quite the busy and stressful time that I expected it to be-- I'm living at home and I spend much of my time with some of my best friends... the Anchors of ESPN's Sportscenter. I have packets to do, but they're not too strenuous, and I've been looking for a job, but I'm incredibly picky about what job I want, and I haven't been successful in finding one. Sad... Utah has an unemployment rate of 3-4%, and I can't find what I want. Economists usually attribute that percentage group as the people in between jobs anyway, so I must be the only non-employed indiviual with absolutely no job prospects in the State of Utah. Okay, that's a exaggeration, but it's still sad.

.

But don't you think for one moment that I haven't kept myself busy. I'm sometimes the best at finding something useless to keep myself efficient. Wait, "efficient" is another exaggeration. We'll just stick with "busy". It's called Google Earth, and for all of you geeks/stalkers who use this often, you'll really like this.

.

During my trip I took over 2100 photos. Of those, I picked my favorite 333, then added in all of my other favorite photos of either myself or of things I've taken. It came to a total of over 500 pics. Then, using the Google Earth software and the Panoramio web site, I created an "overlay" that shows all the actual photos at the places where they were taken. So, here's how it works. Do it if you have no time on your hands, and if you have an unusual interest in my vacation. But I assure everyone that it wouldn't be a complete waste of your time.

.

Download Google Earth if you haven't already. Once you've got it running and you've aquainted yourself with the controls enough, download the overlay. Downloading is quick, it sometimes takes a while for the pictures to load, though. But no matter. Once you have the overlay down and enabled (it usualy is enabled automatically), you'll then be able to see a small thumbnail over the spots where the photo was taken.

.

For example. Once you have the program and the overlay running, type in "Piazza San Pietro Vatican", and this is what you'll see:
..
See the thumbnails, if you click on them then you'll get a larger, full resolution photo. I thought this would be an easier way to show all of my pictures to those who requested it, but as it turns out, this was incredibly time consuming as I had to type in the exact coordinates of each photo i the system. But if I'm the only one who gets any value out of it, so be it...

.

Just a reminder, the thumbnails sometimes take a few seconds to load up. Oh, and as a suggestion on where to look, check out Munich, Nice, Peillon (France), Milan, Venice, Ljubljana, Split, Dubrovnik, Florence, Rome, Bad Gastein, Zell am See (Austria), Vienna, Kitzbuehel (Austria). Anywhere else you look will be of photos from other trips to Europe, photos taken at home, and my mission. Knock yourself out... It is simply fantastic. I promise.

I like it "Prickelnd"...

Vienna is warm and humid, and it is getting worse. But boy do I love this littl' town.
.
But I'm getting ahead of myself... We need to first look back to Saturday and my bike ride. You have to hear about this:
.
By my estimate, due to the recent rain all through the week, the snow line was probably at about 1900 meters. I searched all different trail maps until I found the perfect trail. It was called "Breiter Kopf", that being the name of the peak I would ride my bike up to. It is found in upper Salzburger land, as the end of a chaian of mountains that overlook Zeller See and seperates Pungau from the Zell am See/Saarfelden area. Breiter Kopf is 1851 meters, I think, which would mean that there would be no snow. Good for hiking or biking.
.
After deciding on Breiter Kopf, I woke up early on Saturday and took the early train to Zell am See. I quickly rented a bike at the local Intersport and jumped back on the train to Gries. It was from here that I began one of the most grueling yet rewarding bike rides I've ever taken (which isn't very significant seeing how my list of grueling bike rides is very short). I started out (at ~700 meters) up a canyon road below Breiter Kopf. This road then began a number of switchbacks up the mountain until it would reach the top. I quickly realized that I wasn't the type to be able to make it the whole distance, so admitedly, much of the first 800 meter ascent involved me pushing, rather than biking. But no matter, I just call it hiking.
.
At 1531 meters I took a quick break at the hütte (family-run inn, they are all over the alps) for a small lunch. This may sound a little gross, but it is a German favorite... two franks, a thin slice of bread, and some spicy mustard. Mmmm. I could already tell at this point that It was to be a fantastic bike ride, as the view was indescribable, and I wasn't even at the top yet.
.
At this point, it got real rough. The map said the train kept going up the mountain, a gain of 300 meters in elevation over a ca. 500 meter distance. It also said that this was a bike trail... That was a lie. The trail nearly disappeared, and all it was was a barely noticable path of matted-down grass goining up the hill side. Much to steep and rocky to ride a bike, and I was so upset and disappointed that I had come so far and not make it to the top, that I decided to lift the bike over my head and carry it the last strech. I know. Pretty manly, huh? I'm so hard-core. Everyone should know. I'm one freakin' hard "a".
.
Bugs kept biting my ankles, and I thought I was going to cry. Fortunately, the bike they gave me was pretty light; had it been one of the Miller bicycles, I wouldn't have even tried. I got to the top at about 12:10, and sure enough, the view was beautiful. Seeing how early it was, and that I didn't have to have the bike back until 5, I decided to take the bike further- up to Hundstein (2100 meters) and down the other side into Saarfelden.
.
Well, a long story short, I got to the base of Hundstein, but there I met a big biking group who said that the snow was getting too deep to make it up to the top on bikes. So, I had to turn around and take it back down into Zell am See to return it, but not before I got some beautiful pictures taken.
.
I got down the mountain in about an hour, if even that. It involved going through your ideal Austrian countryside, with cows, chalets, and all. I reached Zell am See, rode around the lake to the Intersport, dropped off my bike and headed home. Overall, the trip was a success, and it was a relief to actually get high up into the mountains, after such a rainy week.
.
Sunday was the day for train rides and seeing old mission areas. I decided to go to church in Klagenfurt, as it was relatively closer to Bad Gastein than the other two areas I served in (Leoben, Vienna). I arrived in Klagenfurt about 2 1/2 hours before meetings started, so I took a walk around town before anyone was really out on the streets. The city is a lot different during the spring/summer than what I experienced (fall/winter). But nevertheless, it is still small enough to fully experience within a half an hour, so I spent a lot of time just reading down by the canal that leads to Wörthersee.
.
Church began, and I intentionally didn't introduce myself to anyone in the ward as a former missionary of that ward, because I knew full well that no one would ever remember me. I spoke with the previous bishop, the current bishop, and a number of other people who I knew, and it was strange that I actually knew them, but they had no clue who I was. In any case, I still loved that ward, and I especially enjoyed the meetings on Sunday. During sacrament meeting one of the missionaries leaned over to me and asked me how my German was coming along, 3 years after serving. I told him, and this is the truth, that the funny thing is is that I understood Kärntnerisch (the local dialect of Klagenfurt) better than as a returned missionary 3 years later, than as an actual missionary. I can't speak as well as I did then, but strangely enough this is the case, as well as with hearing and understanding correct, high German. I can't explain it either, considering that I haven't worked that hard on my language skills since then, but they seem to be improving. But maybe it just happened to be extra easy by chance last sunday. I can't explain it.
.
Here is a little side note: right now I'm in this internet cafe in Vienna right now, and both the amount of cigarette smokers and lack of air conditioning is making this blog entry quite a painful experience to endure. Oh, and I'm really tired, as if you couldn't tell. But I'm still gonna get this done. I've decided that smoking sucks. get it?
.
nevermind.
.
So, I get to Vienna. The city of my dreams, or at least that is what Jose Carreras says. My hostel is a nice place close to West bahnhof (west train station, for all you non-aryan types). I can't remember what I did last night. I don't think I did anything special. Today I got up early and began a day of visiting both must-see-but-never-did-as-missionary sights and did-as-missionary-but-want-to-do-again-out-of-sentimental-reasons sights. My first stop was one of the prior types- Schloss Schönbrunn. It is a palace, and according to Rick Steves, who I think I'll never respect again, Schönbrunn competes with Versailles in France as the best palace in Europe. I can't compare the two, because I've never been to Versailles, but Schönbrunn was nice. I guess if your are the big palace type, then you'd love it, but you are probably the fanny pack type, so I say, "enjoy the palace, you tourist". Schönbrunn is pretty, but how can you enjoy places like that when you know that it is so superficial and maintained for tourists only? yeah, exactly.
.
Anyway, I checked it off of my list of things I have to see while in Vienna, and then went down the Wienzeile down to Naschmarkt. This was really cool. Naschmarkt is an open-air market area, where you can get anything from exotic spices to fake armani sunglasses. What is also unique is the whole area it is located in. The Wienzeilen are one of my favorite places in Vienna. The buildings all along these streets, and thus along the Naschmarkt, are of the Viennese Baroque type, and some of them are even rather famous and beautiful. Of one note is the Majolikahaus, which is one of Vienna's best examples of modern architecture. I've never been much of a fan of modern architecture, only because I find it too impractical. But the Majolikahaus, and in general the work done by Otto Wagner, is to my taste and I enjoy it thoroghly.
.
Rick Steves did make one suggestion though, and that was to visit the Cafe Sperl, which is close to Naschmarkt and the Wienzeilen. The cafe was built in 1880, and it has maintained the same image as it had then. So the cafe has a really nice old-fashioned look, and it was a great place to get some of that world class Apfel Strudel. Very tasty. No liquor this time.
.
I had to head back to the hostel to get another memory card. Thus far I've taken over 1900 pictures on this trip to Europe. Can you believe that? My roommate is from Denmark, and he seems like a pretty cool guy. He recently worked for 5 months as a bartender at a ski resort in Voralberg, Austria, and he is now just traveling around Europe. He was at the hostel when I came back from Naschmarkt. I guess he is really bored so he wanted to hang out with me. Too bad I'm way too introverted to hang out with a stranger. It is not that I'm shy, I just don't like the effort involved in forcing conversations and a good time with someone I don't know while traveling. If it is someone I already know and enjoy being with, then I'd rather travel with them. But with strangers you meet along the way is a bad idea. Take Michael in Croatia, for example. I told the Dane that I had plans to meet a friend that night, which was true, as I was planning on visitng Dragan, my old croatian investigator. So I left the Dane hanging. I felt bad, but I just didn't want to get into that whole, "so what do you want to do" conversation. I hope you understand what I mean.
.
I knew he wouldn't have wanted to go to the Military history musem, and that is where I went next. This is an interesting exhibit, but the big attraction is the car that Archduke Prince Ferdinand was assasinated. A real treat was the uniform that he was wearing as well. You could see the tears and blood stains in his uniform. Fascinating.
.
I then went to Herb's. It is the best Schnitzel place in Vienna. With Wiener Schnitzel at €5,20, it doesn't get much better than that. It is also one of those sentimental sights that I chose to visit. It was fantastic.
.
I then tried to visit Dragan, but to no avail. He wasn't home, but I was still able to perceive that he still lives at the same place as he did 4 years ago. That is a good sign. I'll try to find to missionaries tomorrow to give them his address, or just leave the info with the mission office in Munich. He should be baptized if he isn't already.
.
Okay, I can't type anymore. It is too much in this room and I'm really tired. GOOD NIGHT!

Let's Lighten It Up a Bit... Said the Sun Over Austria

I finally got my train out of Selzthal. Things started to brighten up. I traveled on a strech of rail line running through northern Styria to Bischofshofen. While looking out of the window, it occured to me that the last time I was on this same line was 3 years and 13 days previously, as I traveled from Leoben to Munich on May 4th, 2004. I happened to be so sentimental due to the fact that it was my last train ride of my mission... A fact that remained unrealized by me until I was sitting at President Wirthlin's dinner table in Munich and his saying, "It looks like this is your last meal", and my awareness of an ending mission suddenly hit me like a bag of bricks. Up to that point I was trunky, but you don't really ever think it'll actually happen. I didn't eat dinner. I felt sick. It was that stark of an self-awakening!
.
I remember that last train ride vividly, it cost me the rest of my M.S.F. (74 euro) I had a package of Keks and was reading the first "schwarz" purchase of my mission: Shiller's "Wilhelm Tell". It was a jump start on the returned missionary life. Funny enough it was rainy on that trip too, but as said, yesterday when leaving Selzthal, it cleared up, and I saw the Nieder Tauern mountains for my first time. Amazing. Every where you look you see only three colors: Green fields, trees and hills, White snow-capped peaks, and blue skies. I guess you could say that the clouds lifted and I remembered why it was I came to Austria in the first place. Simply spectac.
.
I got home, wrote on the blog (see previous entry), ordered my usual at the local doener place (the turks now know me well, thank you kebap shop). Did some reading, went to bed.
.
Let's see... if I'm following this correctly, that was Wednesday, and today is Friday. Check me on that, I could be wrong.
.
Thursday, I did laundry and went on a hike. The rain had returned, and I got soaked, again. The hike was close to Bad Gastein, and probably would have been an adventure, had the clouds lifted. But, it was fun anyways. Bad Gastiein is located at the top of the Gasteiner Tal, or Gasteiner Valley, and branching off above the city is a canyon streching a few kilometers back towards Hohe Tauern National Park. It is called Koetschach Tal. It is similar to the hike that Jenny and I went on in the Berner Oberland in Switzerland a number of years ago, with the hanging waterfalls in a narrow canyon. Except the waterfalls weren't as cool. They don't "hang" enough to my taste.
.
At the top of Koetschach I stopped at the inn to have some hot chocolate and apple struedel. It tasted funny, and I now think it had a liquored cream on it. It just had that "warm tingle" in it. But it's okay, ignorance is a valid defense, right? I would have asked the waiter, but he kinda scared me with his ultra-short lederhosen. Beware those types.
.
I ended up back at my hostel just reading and watching Arrested Development on my Ipod. One of them was the episode where the family is supposed to show up in George Sr.'s court hearing and act like a loving family. Of course, only Job and Lucille show up. Buster comes in a little later with the mariachi band, which was originally intended to woo Job's Venezuelan girlfriend, but that didn't pan out and according to Buster, he had them for the whole evening. I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Then Judge Ping comes in, the lawyer says, "oh no! we've got Ping!", and the first thing Judge Ping says is, "I'd like to remind you that cameras are not allowed in the court room". At which point the camera that is filming the show pans down and hides behind the seats. I've really missed that show.
.
Anyway. Friday. Good ol' Friday. I love Fridays. It looked bad this morning, the weather that is, and I didn't want a third hike in the rain, so I jumped on a train, and went to... Innsbruck! During which train ride, I finished "The Sun Also Rises", which was a bit hard to swallow while reading, but now that I've digested it and thought about it after, it is really a clever book. The way Hemingway writes is so simple yet enertaining. And you can't just superficially read through it like you could "The Agony and the Ecstasy", because you'll miss the funniest and most salient parts of the book.
.
During the train ride, irony struck again. It cleared up right about the time I went through Saalfelden, Austria, which I might say, is spectacular. I got to Innsbruck, and as it were, it was the hotest and sunniest day I've had since being in Austria again. I ran through the city and saw the sights. Innsbruck is small without any significant buildings, but it has a very nice Baroque, Viennese look to it. I tried to go up one of the touristy but valuable ski lifts to a view point high above the city, but luck would have it, it was under maintenance. I went to the bookstore and bought some more books and maps, which have proved to be very valuable on this trip. Mom, I think I found something that you'd like. I'll show you when I get home. It is very Austrian.
.
I got on the train to head back to Bad Gastein early. I needed to get back to get ready for tomorrow. The weather is forecasted to be hot and sunny. Fantastic. I'm renting a bike in Zell am See, and biking up to the top of Breiter Kopf at 1800 meters. It'll be rough, but I'm really excited for it. Finally I'm getting into the hills...
.
I just ate Wiener Schitzel at a Mexican Restaurant here in town, and as you can guess, it is more Austrian than Mexican, despite the sombrero lamps. I hope to add to the blog tomorrow night, but don't plan on it. In which case, if I don't, I'll be on a train all sunday going to old areas, so don't expect anything until Monday. But I'll try what I can to send a simple email, perhaps.
.
I love you all! If you are family. Don't get excited, Jeff.

Wow... That Struedel Sure Does Tingle.

Hope you all are sitting, because this is going to be another action-packed blog post...
.
The last I left you on this pleasant journey was in Rome, last Saturday night. I had just spent the day looking at the old Roman sights, of which you can read in the previous blog entry.
.
Sunday was fun. I got up early to take the metro and a bus to what I thought was the english ward in Rome. Turns out, there is no english ward, so I sat through another sacrament meeting in a foreign language. But it's not like I pay attention anyway. The ward was small, hardly enough to call it a ward, and the majority of the people there were Amis on vacation. The missies handed out headsets and translated for us. We should have just done it in English and translated into Italian, then there would have been enough headsets.
.
I then left for the Vatican. Their church is a lot prettier. Upon arriving at St. Peter's I jumped into a long line, which I thought was the line going to the pope's apartment, where he is scheduled to speak (every sunday at noon, except summer, and when he is on vacation, and when he happens to be in S. America, as was the case on this Sunday). I guess I was mistaken, because this line ended up taking me into St. Peter's Basillica itself, but it is not like I could have been able to tell anyways, Europeans are the worst at organizing themsleves into lines. You'd think that the idea of standing in line is standing one behind the other... but no, not to these Euros... Bunching-up is the name of the game, which is a lot funner on hot, sunny, sweaty days.
.
The basillica was beautiful. Belissimo. I think that means beautiful in Italian. I took as many pictures as I could. It helps to have a shutter-speed adjustment and a good tripod. I get a kick at the people using a flash inside a cathedral, who use it over and over, expecting it to suddenly start working. If you've ever taken a photo in a cathedral, especially a gothic cathedral, you know what I'm talking about.
.
I can already tell that this is going to be a long blog, just by how I am pointing out every single detail and thought of the Vatican...
.
Anyway, I saw the Pieta, very nice. Jenny told me how Michelangelo sculpted her to look really young, which I saw. I wonder why he did that. I went out of the basillica, felt bad for the poor swiss guards who, 1, have to wear those silly uniforms, and 2, are constantly under attack by tourists and their cameras. I started to take pictures too, not of the guards, but of the tourists. I can't really explain why I thought this was so funny, but some tourists don't even try to avoid the tourist stereotypes, such as hawaiian shirts, matching-clothed tour groups, and fanny packs. I took some really funny pics.
.
I next walked over into central Rome. Saw the Pantheon. Spectacular. The dome is as wide as it is high, and the interior is the best preserved Roman interior in existance. This is due to the Christians who converted it into a cathedral and thus protected the interior, but nevertheless it looks a lot and feels like it would have during the height of Rome. The dome itself is interesting. It is actually two domes, with one inside the other, supporting eachother. I again took some nice pictures. I would upload them, but I haven't been able to find a computer that'll let me upload them onto.
.
Later that night after returning to the hostel, I headed back into the city to see the sights at night time. Rick Steves suggests this, but I thought it was more a long walk. I think Rick is overrated. I'm not going to buy his books anymore.
.
Slept, woke up early, took the metro back to the vatican. I arrived at the vatican museum 45 minutes early so that I would be first in line to enter, but I wasn't the only one thinking of this, and I ended up having to wait an hour and a half. But I finally made it. The vatican museum was fun, and the rooms leading throughout are fascinating, but I skipped much of the exhibits and pieces of art work, as there didn't seem to be anything notable or worthwhile. I hope I don't get home and find out that I was wrong! I mainly went to the museum to see two things: Raphael's "School of Athens" and the Sistine Chapel. The Chapel was great, although it seemed a lot smaller than I expected it. All of the art work inside is great, but the roof was spectacular. Michelanelo painted it so well that it look as if the figures were actually leaning out of the roof, giving it a depth and real-life quality to it.
.
Here's a tip if you are ever in Rome. If you are going to see St. Peter's Basillica and the Vatican Museum, which you should, go to the Vatican Museum first, as when you finish at the Museum, it sends you right into the Basillica. That way you don't have to wait in that bunched-up line. Just a little FYI.
.
Later that night I was going to take the night train to Austria. I thought I would just spend the rest of the day in Rome, but, I have this really needy sister... She wanted a watercolor of the Ponte Vecchio, from Florence. So, I actually had to take a train to Florence that day, and buy her a watercolor. That's right... buy. As if she couldn't paint it herself! ha ha...
.
But, I have a Eurorail pass and that makes it especially easy to do things like this, and I really didn't have much left to do in Rome, at least nothing that really interested me, so I was more than happy to head to Florence. I sent Robyn a quick message saying that I was coming, and she fortunately met me at the train station to help me pick out the perfect watercolor. We walked down to the Arno and looked at our options, and she was able to pick out the bad ones until we found the perfect watercolor. I like it at least. Jenny, you'll see it when we are both back in Alpine.
.
I took the train back to Rome, because they wouldn't let me board the night train any where else but Rome, even though the train passed through Florence. I thought that was strange. I talked with some Austrians in our cabin for about two hours, despite being as tired as I was, and at about 11 pm we went to sleep.
.
I was awoken by the schaffner at the Italian-Austrian border becuase my stop was coming up. Fortunately I didn't have any troubles crossing the border this time. I changed trains in Villach at 4 am. My next train took me north, but I fell asleep and missed my stop and had to wait in some podunk little town for another train to take me to my destination- Bad Gastein. I finally got there, and although I should have stayed in town and taken care of a few things, such as laundry, I was anxious to get to the mountains and do some hiking. After checking in, I took the next train to Bishofshofen. It started to rain. I ate some Pizza. it kept raining. I took the train to Zell am See. Took the train to Mittersill. It was starting to rain even harder. I took the Bus to Krimml. It was only a short hike to the waterfall, but as I started, it started to pour. I reached the falls with the front of my whole body wet, but the back of my legs were sheltered by my backpack. These walls were so big, that as I turned around to leave, the rest of my body got soaked due to the the mist coming from the falls. Very cool, but very cold. I got on the bus just completely soaked. The end of the day resulted in me getting back to my hostel at 8 pm. I was tired, cold and wet. On that day alone, I traveled on 11 different trains or buses.
.
On Wednesday, yesterday, I traveled on another 6. I got up early to head into Salzburg. I desperately needed some hiking and normal political maps to get my bearings, and I was about to finish "The Agony and the Ecstasy", so I needed to stock up on some new books. It was raining anyways and so my hopes of getting in any hiking seeemed shot again. So this seemed like the perfect activity for the day. As luck would have it, as soon as I got to Salzburg, everthing cleared up and it was bright and sunny. Pech gehabt!
.
Salzburg was fun. The city is nesled in between a number of mountains with the river running through, and I had the same thoughts being there as I did the last time I was there (over three years ago)- I thought it was paradise. Salzburg is fantastic, for those of you who are considering going.
.
The city itself is nice, it has some pretty decent cathedrals. But it is a small town trying to milk as much as it can out of it's Mozart heritage. I don't think that is justified. He was born there, but he didn't compose anything special while there. I think they should give Vienna that credit. But I guess they milk that too for the toursits so I guess it is all good. Poor Beethoven and Haydn. They did a lot in Vienna too and no one cares about them! Oh the humanity!
.
I bought my maps, and a Hemingway and a Forester. I'm reading the Hemingway first- "The Sun also Rises".
.
After Salzburg, I had to fulfil wish of my younger self. Once mom bought me a puzzle of this lake with a church on the shore with a big mountain behind it. I found out years later that it is in Halstatt Austria, not far from Salzburg. I promised myself that I would one day go there. So I did.
.
I ended up a few hours later in Selztal, Styria (still Austria) and I did one of the dumbest things I have ever done. I missed a train, but it was ugly. I was standing on the correct train platform at the correct time and was staring at the correct train that I was to board. But for some reason I just stood there and thought to myself. "I wish this train would leave and get out of the way, my train is supposed to be here any minute". I don't even need to tell you what happened. It's is a small town, and trains don't come frequently, so I ended up sitting there for two hours kicking myself and waiting for the next train.
.
There is more to this, I have to report on the rest of the day and what happened today, but I'm out of euros, and I have to go. I'll continue this later!
.
Servus!

When In Rome... Don't Forget To Try The Doener Burrito.

Florence was incredible, for more than one reason...
.
I loved the city and the museums. I think that it was much more significant after reading "The Agony and the Ecstasy", which I'm still working on. Conveniently I'm at the part where Cardinal Riario invites Michelangelo to Rome, and today happened to be the day I went to Rome. Coincidence? I don't think so. I'm basically Michelangelo reencarnate. I'm really talented.
.
The remainding time spent in Florence was mainly spent with Robyn. I took dozens of pics of the Ponte Vecchio for you to paint, Jenny. Only some of them turned out okay though. But I'm sure you can do something nice with them.
.
Last night was lasagne and pie and even more sugar, and this morning was eggs and the Bargello and even more sugar. Clever, huh?.. Jeepers! My train left florence at 11:30 am, and I arrived in Rome an 1.5 hours later, and as quickly took the Metro to the old Roman sights.
.
Cost of Colosseum entrance: 11 euro
Cost of National Musem entrance: 9 euro
Cost of Vatican Museum entrance: 12 euro
.
Unkowingly planning my trip to Rome on the one weekend of the year where are entrance fees are cancelled: priceless.
.
Lucky huh? I saw the Colosseum, Palatine hill, the Forum, Capitol hill, Palazzo dei Conservatory, Piazza Venezia, Trajan's Column, and St. Peter in Chains (including Michelangelo's Moses) all for free. I especially wanted to see Mich's Moses, as I remeber from Latin class why Moses has horns, and I just wanted to see it myself. So far I've been a fan of a lot of Michelangelo's works. But other than that, Rome is nearly close to what I expected, as everything I've seen thus far is what I've seen in pictures. I'll be standing in the Colosseum, and think, "yep, just like I've seen it in books". Of course it is different standing here in person, but I just feel the need for something new and exciting.
.
The St. Peter in Chains cathedral was great and one of the few exceptions. Apparently one of their relics is the actual chains that Peter was bound with. Supposedly... Just like Trier has Jesus' golden robe. But very cool anyway.
.
I then walked home, and while doing so I found a fantastic Doener shop. Just like the ones in Germany. They had the option of a doener in a flour tortilla. Very tasty, very highly recommended.
.
Tomorrow is church way out in the middle of nowhere, followed by a trip to the vatican to see the pope. Hang with ol' Ratzinger. I then plan on seeing the Pantheon, which according to Michael (see previous blog entry) has a hole in the top because the architect miscalculated... hmmm.
.
I'm going to bed now. It's in a nice Hostel just a short walk away from the Rome Termini.
.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

Bon Giourno... I like that Gelato.

So, in Florence there is this Gelato shop that has this chocolate flavor with 70% cocoa concentration. Delicious.
.
Here's a recap from everything since day two in Dubrovnik:
.
The bus to Montenegro didn't work out. I didn't mind paying the 180 kunas (30 bucks) and traveling round trip in the bus for 4 hours to see Kotor, Montenegro, but the ticket office at the bus station in Dubrovnik discouraged it, as I would only get an hour and a half in Kotor before having to take the bus home. Looking back, I still wish I would have gone. The plan B spent in Dubrovnik was okay, but not very fun. I tried to push for something fun anyways, but it didn't go so well.
.
I first took a short boat ride to the nearest Island to Dubrovnik, Lokrum. I thought it would be interesting as it had a once-monestary-turned-Hapsburg Palace on the island, but that turned out to be a disappointment. This turned out to be a bad sign for the other islands that I would go to the next day, as they all turned out to be more or less tourist traps. I hate toursit traps.
.
I returned to Dubrovnik, ate lunch, and then went to a beach near my hostel. Again a disappointment, as this beach happened to be rocky and dirty. I really wished I had gone to Kotor anyway.
.
But, the day wasn't a complete failure, as I decided to return late to the old town, not knowing what I would do. I ended up taking some really cool b/w photos after dark, which in a city such as Dubrovnik, turned out these really cool old fashioned photos. The Dubrovnik old town is not at all modern, so any picture you take, as long as tourists are out of the way, looks very much like it would have a century ago.
.
I went home and went to bed, and got up early to take my bags to a locker at the bus station and get aboard a ferry to go on a mini-cruise of the adriatic. For the most part this resulted in another tourist trap, as the islands we went to were really lacking any uniqueness to them. The boat was full of old Frenchies and Brits, who got drunk and listened to their Euro awful euro music. I listened to my Ipod the entire time, and I guess that my disgust over the music was obvious as I made these two German kids laugh and ask me whether I hated their music. yes.
.
But, the last island did include the first nice beach I had been to thus far, so I didn't have to worry about cutting myself on any rocks while swimming again. But all in all, I was anxious and happy when we headed back to Dubrovnik.
.
I then had a stroke of fortune, as the boat ran out of gas. We had to make an emergency stop in Dubrovnik's new port, which played well for me because I was able to escape and go next door to my destination--the bus station. I picked up my bags and made it to my bus in just enough time to go to the airport. It was on to the fatherland. I arrived in Stuttgart late and checked into my hostel at about 1 am.
.
Mmmm. Stuttgart... Leberkaese and Krapfen... I spent the day taking care of the necessities, as I preped for Italy. I tried to see the doctor, but he was on vacation (go figure-socialism), so I settled for a pharmacy in town that gave me some antibiotics for the cut I got while swimming in Split. It's a few days later now and I'm surprised how quickly that healed up the wound, as It was still open a week after I cut it. No worries about an infection now. I also bought an external hard drive for all of my pictures and did some laundry.
.
At the laundromat I must have been in a particularly good mood, as I chose to start up a conversation with a guy who was also doing his laundry. I saw he had a suitcase full of clothes, so I asked him if he was traveling also. oops. bad move. I was really embarassed when he said he was on vacation... 365 days a year. Socialism, remeber?.. High unemployment and homelessness... But he turned out to be really nice and we talked for quite a while.
.
I was in Pisa later that night. Beautiful plane ride. It was a short trip so the plane didn't even hit it's max. flying elevation, and you could see the terrain and cities all below. I saw the alps in Switzerland, Lake Como, Milan, and all of Tuscany, and I could even see the leaning tower of Pisa as the plane came in for a landing. That was all of Pisa I would see, however, as I immediately jumped on a train to Florence...
.
It was late again trying to find my hostel, but once finding it, I went straight to sleep and got up early to see the city of Michelangelo and the Medici.
.
I met Robyn at the Duomo at eleven a.m., and she invited me to follow them on a tour of Renaissance Florence. The tour was honestly boring, probably because Robyn and I couldn't pay attention. Afterwards we went to lunch, had some Gelato, went to the Boboli gardens, had some Gelato, went to dinner, had some Gelato, and then finished the night taking some cool night pics again along the Arno. Very fun indeed.
.
So that leads me to today, which was full of walking around Florence. I didn't make any museum reservations like Rick suggests (Rick Steves, that is). So I woke up early and went to the Uffizi an hour before it opened. I was first in line, but for some reason, they opened two hours late, so I stood for three hours! Finally I was let in. The Uffizi was great, and I saw the "birth of Venus", but I admit that a lot of the art there was over my head and I didn't know what to look for in the museum. Just like the Louvre in Paris, I saw what I wanted and skimmed through the rest and was out of the building in no time.
.
It was a different story at the Accademia. I waited for an hour in that line, but the marginal benefit of line-waiting at the Accademia is much higher than at the Uffizi, because the David was awesome! I had Irving Stone's book "the Agony and Ecstasy" with me, so I read through the chapters about the David. It was all very fascinating and I loved the emotion and movement that Michelangelo was able to express in David's body and face. I think it is easily the best piece of sculpture that I've seen yet.
.
I then hit a number of different sights, including the Medici chapels and Sante Croce. Sante Croce has the tombs of Michelangelo, Rossini, Machiavelli, and Galileo, which was a treat, and I sat down in the Pazzi chapel and fell asleep. I was really tired.
.
So, that leads me to now. I only have three minutes left, so I have to end anyway. I'm about to meet Robyn, probably for some more Gelato, then it is the Borgello tomorrow and off to Rome.
.
Arrivederci.

Viva La France...

So, last night I saw on TV that Sarkozy won. That is very good news. Good job France.
.
I was going to go to Montenegro today, but the bus schedules do not really work, so I ended up spending the day in Dubrovnik. I am very disappointed, especially because the weather suddenly improved today. But, I am sure this city can offer enough things to do. I may just spend a couple hours on the beach--do some reading and what not.
.
Yesterday was incredible. I saw the whole old city. This city was once one the most powerful cities on the Mediterranean, and the entire old town is enclosed within a massive network of walls and fortifications. I spent an hour and a half just walking the walls last night and took some great pictures. I used a whole gigabyte of pictures, and I am quickly running out of space to save my photos. I will have to think of another way to save space.

Improv Towards Dubrov...

I arrived late in Ljubljana, and immediately proceeded to find Jeff's train. I found it, but it was missing one thing... Jeff. This posed a few problems, as Jeff had our hostel reservation info among other things (the ability to speak Slovene), so I quickly found a hostel in town to spend the night.
.
I didn't see Jeff until the next day. As I was on the computer checking to see if he had emailed me, I hear a knock at the window, and a tired Jeff was starring in at me. Apparently his flight to London was delayed, which made him miss his flight to Klagenfurt, which forced him to reroute to Salzburg, where he had a restless night taking a very early train to Ljubljana. But, I was happy to see him, although it didn't seem that he was enjoying things very much.
.
He went to bed, and I saw the town. Ljubljana is small, but it is definitely unique. The city has had a number of different influences on itself as Ljub belonged to different empires at different times. Much of the architecture, I am told, is venetian, although to me, the structure and look of the city looks very Viennese and Austrian. The talk of the city is the architecture designed by "Slovenia's favorite son", Joze Pleznick (triple bridge, dragon bridge, etc.) If Pleznick is Slovenia's favorite, I guess France Preseren is in second place. He wrote the national anthem (a drinking song) and many other poems about a 4 year old girl, with whom he was infatuated. Something to be proud of. If it sounds like I know a lot about Ljubljana, you're right... I know everything. In other words, that's all there is to know.
.
But I still enjoyed the city, and the surrounding country of Slovenia is beautiful. To me, it surprisingly looked more Austrian than the Mediterranean feel that I expected. Jeff and I got up early the next day to take the train (which we later found out was a bus) to Rijeka, Croatia. It was on this bus that we met Michael, and later regretted it. Michael is a tall, skinny man from Dublin, and apparently he must have had a very successful and lucrative gardening business, because Michael spends all of his time traveling around the world. His list of countries seen is impressive, covering every continent and more countries than I'm sure he could count. Michael started up conversation with us, noticing that we were also backpacking, and he didn't stop talking...

.
We informed him that we were taking a car from Rijeka to Split, and he asked if he could share it with us. Don't be worried mom, he seemed perfectly safe. We agreed, half thinking that we shouldn't, but agreeing nevertheless. And shortly after arriving in Rijeka, we found our car and began down the coast of Croatia.
.
The weather was not as we had hoped for and much of the time was rainy and overcast. This ruined our hopes of a beautiful drive down the coast, which took forever. And Michael kept talking...
.
Six hours later, we arrived in Split. I won't go into too much detail about what he was talking about because I don't like even thinking about it. Michael was full of conspiracy theories and anti-bush sensational thinking. At one point he claimed that 25% of American youth lived in poverty. I only wished that was the worst thing he said. My favorite comment of his was that 19% of optimists live longer while suffering a deadly disease. Jeff and I had the same thoughts as "occasional pessimists". If 19% lived longer due to their optimism, then 81% of optimists' optimism was disappointed! ha ha...
.
On arrival in Split, I was tired of driving and I expected Michael to just go on his way, which was the deal. I was also on a short fuse because Split was huge and a driving nightmare, and I couldn't find a parking spot. Once we did find one and exited the car, Michael left his bags in the car and started to follow us. I said rather bluntly, "don't you want your bags?", implying, "this is the last stop, you psycho". I would've done it with more tact, but it was obvious that I wanted him to leave.
.
He took his bags, but kept following us, still talking. Jeff and I found our rented apartment, which was going to be a four bed room, but the landlady had it reserved for only us two. But, Michael invited himself to stay in the room, which we again, also regretted. Fortunately we were able to escape him and get some dinner, which involved our first sight of the city.
.
Split is incredible. It originally was the location of Diocletian's palace, who was a roman emperor that persecuted the Christians. He also was the emperor that split Rome into four different kingdoms, which later led to the fall of the empire. He wasn't very popular, and when he died, protests of celebration reportedly erupted throughout Rome.
.
We ate well, thanks to Rick Steves' suggestions. We returned to the apartment, to continue listening to Michael talk. It was getting late, and I was really tired, and I was not ready to hear all of it. Among the things he said, and this made Jeff and I really upset and we showed it, were:
1. If a woman gets raped it is her fault.
2. David Koresh and Timothy McVeigh were justified in what they did.
3. Ireland didn't need America's help in WWII, because they would have sided with the nazis. This led to:
4. The holocaust was the Jews' fault.
.
I can't remember everything else, but he was full of it. Talk to Jeff to confirm, as he took notes. Basically, this guy is clearly a psychopath.
.
We were really upset, and we yelled at him, and it led Jeff and I to be really nervous. We both waited for him to fall asleep first. Jeff told me the next morning that he woke up to Michael rumaging around in his bag in the middle of the night for something, and Jeff stayed awake for two hours just watching him and making sure that he wasn't going to kill us. I told Jeff that I slept with my knife in my grip. We both were pretty worried.
.
Michael left the next morning! Hurray! and we immediately locked the doors. Relieved that he was gone, we went out to see the city. We hoped for sunny weather to see the beaches or head out to some islands, but it was still rainy and overcast, so we were forced to stay in town. But it wasn't bad. Diocletian's palace remains very well preserved, considering. He built a Mausoleum for himself and a temple to Jupiter (who he thought he was, Jupiter) in the center of town, and they still remain... but with a certain touch. Diocletian had two Christian bishops killed while he was in Split, and so once Diocletian was dead and the Christians were in power, they converted his Mausoleum into a cathedral with two altars over the coffins of the two bishops. Who knows what happened to Diocletian's tomb. The temple of Jupiter was also changed, obviously, but into the Baptistry of St. John. This building I like the most. It was simple and hard to find, but it included the most-well preserved half-barrell roof of it's kind. It was very cool.
.
We finished some laundry got some good sleep, and then the weather improved enough to see the beaches. I went swimming, I'm skinny I know, and I slipped and cut up my legs and feet pretty bad. But all was patched up with the first aid kit from the rental car. I hope they don't charge me for that. We mostly relaxed on Saturday while waiting for Jeff's flight, and at 3 o'clock I dropped him off at the airport and I began my drive, alone this time, to Dubrovnik.
.
Up to this point, Croatia was fun and interesting. With this drive to Dubrovnik, it became absolutely amazing. It is indescribably beautiful here. The drive is along the only road to Dubrovnik, which is a narrow road curving along the different bays of Croatia's Dalmatian coast. The water reminds me of Koh Phi Phi, as it is clean and crystal blue, and every view was picture-worthy. The road at some points was carved right into the mountains overlooking the sea. One road in particular was built right into these high cliffs, probably about 300 m above the sea level. It was a two-lane highway, and there was construction, and with this being eastern Europe, the road conditions were not that great and they lacked any type of structure to block the edge. Oh, and I was driving a Hyundai. Very dangerous. But I don't know if I would have done any different had I known the conditions ahead of time. The view was fantastic, despite the fact that I had little time to look!
.
The road took me through Bosnia, and four hours after driving I arrived in Dubrovnik. My hostel is the Villa Miclia; I was upgraded to my own private room for free, very nice. Next door is the beach. This city is amazing as well, and there is a lot more to say, but I'd rather go out and see it rather than stay in this cafe typing! It's Sunday, but I'm probably the only Mormon for miles. I once heard that there was a missionary couple in Serbia, and I know that there were elders in Split, but they're gone now. I think the closest branch is across the Adriatic in Italy-- so that means no church.
.
Today I'm just seeing the town and taking it easy. Tomorrow I'm taking the bus to Montenegro. I heard that a short bus ride away is the Adriatic's only Fjord. That'll be interesting. Tuesday I'll take a ferry to a nearby archipelago, and then catch my flight late to Stuttgart.
.
Ok, I'm done typing.

That doesn't look much like a library...It looks like a converted church.

Venice is cool, I guess. But the one thing I wanted to see I couldn't find, and that is the library in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". There are so many churches here that I don't know which one it was. Or if I have even seen it yet. What a waste of a trip.
.
JK!
.
I met Carrie at her hotel early yesterday and after checking out of my hostel, we proceeded to Gare Nice Ville. Our stop was Peillon, a small town about 20 minutes from Nice. Despite what people say, and I think this stereotype spawned from Parisians--not the French in whole, but the French are very helpful people. Carrie and I were nearly lost before Jaques-like frenchman and his three-legged dog showed us the way.
.
We arrived at the Peillon village at about 8 am. For being an amazing medieval-looking city on top of the hill (about 700 meters above sea level?), we were surprised to find that it was all residential for the most part. In fact, people were just waking up. The houses were packed close together with hardly any room to move between them, but we made our way to the church at the peak of town.
.
Before making our way over the nearby mountain to our next village, we found a restaurant near Peillon were we had breakfast. It was here that Carrie took upon herself the "Roxanne" alter-ego (inspired by Bernard La Vique), and order us breakfast. It was just as one would imagine from the perfect breakfast, and the fact that we had it at such a locale, made it even better.
.
I was only disappointed that my "Anton aus Tirol" alter-persona didn't get it's chance to shine, as there were no German-speaking opportunities.
.
After an hour climb to the top of the mountain, or hill, we found ourselves looking down on Peille. Just as beautiful as Peillon, Peille is a little larger, with some impressive churches in town. The trail turned into a road that was carved into the cliff face, which led us to Peille.
.
It took us forever to get back to the train at the base of Peille, but once arriving, and having a very one-sided conversation with the upstairs neighbor of the train station, we ended in Nice with our legs very tired.
.
The next stop was the Matisse museum, but according to the taxi driver, it was closed. Plan B was the Chagall museum, but according to the museum front desk, my backpack was too big to be allowed inside. So I split from my sister and her friends, and caught the next train leaving for Milan.
.
I made some friends on the train. An italian family (one mother, three young kids) traveling home to Milan shared my cabin. I knew we had really hit things off when mom offered me some candy, which she latter told me that was a reward for having dealt with her rowdy kids. When leaving, she pointed to the book I trying to read, "the Agony and the Ecstasy", and she said, "the train ride was the agony, now that we are gone it is the Ecstasy". But she must have overlooked the fact that I was going to Milan, and that isn't quite enough reason to be ecstatic.
.
Because I left Nice late, and didn't get to bed in Milan until 12:30 a.m. The hostel manager had a strange look on his face as I both checked-in and checked-out during his shift--I had to catch a train early, so I only slept for 4.5 hours.
.
It's May-day in Italy, and if you think the Italian labor force had enough breaks, they shut down the Milan transportation system. I still found my way to Venice, and have been here for about 6 hours. Venice is beautiful, and a lot more than I expected; but, it is still very crowded and touristy. The museums are way overpriced, and anything free has a two-hour waiting line, and this was supposed to be the off-season.
.
If I have bad grammar, I do sincerely apologize. I also feel that most of this is uninteresting. But you'll just have to take it as it is!
.
Tonight is Ljubljana, where I'll meet Jeff. It is his call from then what we'll do, but we'll be in Dalmatia later in the week.

Uploading... Uploading... Uploading...

Well, today was quite the time. I got to Nice last night, and my first impressions of the city were not favorable at all. I thought it was an area were tourists caused the sights, not the other way around. What I mean is, you'll go to a lot of places in Europe expecting genuine stuff, and all you find is something created for the tourists to visit. Thus I say, what causes what?

.

What I wrote in the last post about my train ride was expressing just this. Tende and the other cities along the train route to Nice were absolutely beautiful, no other tourists were around, and for this reason I can safely claim that these cities cause the tourist (me). They didn't build these cities to cause my arrival. I hope you see what I mean.

.

But after today, I still think that Nice is very much oriented towards it's tourists, but I do believe that there are significant and yet genuine things to see in the city, not just casinos and street performers. Let me put it this way-- I took so many pictures today that I had to come get on the computer to upload my pics and make room for more. This computer is ur-old and it is taking forever, so I thought I'd write on my blog. (my Ipod is has a hard drive 7 times larger than this computer)

.

I got up early, went into town and wrote some emails. I treated myself to my favorite french treat: pain au chocolat. Mmmm. After chatting with Jared and Whitney, I left to go to church. The Nice ward was a lot further than I had thought, but I began in hopes of making it to sacrament meeting. While heading off in the direction, I came across a semi-marathon, as they called it. Probably a half marathon. Tons of people. Some people were really struggling.

.

I got to church just in time for sacrament. It was a nice ward, and the ami missionaries were very friendly and introduced me to people. But I obviously didn't understand a word of french, which kinda made the whole meeting dry. But I did get the sacrament and I did understand a few words like jour and Joseph Smith.

.

Afterwards, I left with not really knowing where to go. But my map said that there was a monestary about a block away with a view of the city, so I thought I should go check it out. It was amazing. It was high up on the hill overlooking Nice with these incredible gardens and next door was the matisse museum and some roman ruins. The whole place was really chill and it was out of the way from all of the tourists. One unique thing was this cemetary with a ton of mosoleums. It looked like some warehouse floor with all of these tombs packed in right together with very little room to walk. Some of them looked really egyptian like as well. It was interesting.

.

I then walked back to town, and towards Vieux Nice, which is the high ground at the south of the Nice beach. This is by far the coolest part of town with narrow streets full of art shops and gelatos, and with some really cool plazas and churches. The benefit of traveling in Italy and France is that they remained relatively untouched during the war. That is, Germany was smoked. Nothing was left standing. The allies found out that Hitler really liked Nuernberg, so they leveled 80% of the city in one night. You can tell this while you're there too. The famous buildings have been rebuilt, but the other ones were replaced with modern ones. Vienna (Austria) for example has a sign on a lot of their apartment buildings stating when the building was destroyed and rebuilt.

.

But Italy and France, at least the parts that I've been to, have remained overall pretty old. There are a few modern buildings that are here and there, but for the most part they have relatively held on to the more older stuff.

.

In any case, this part of Nice is beautiful the hill overlooking this section of town has some great spots to take pictures of the whole beach and sea. They had some artificial waterfalls at the top (created for the tourists-- more causation) that provided a cool extended shutter shot. I certainly enjoyed the day so far.

.

I don't have much more to look forward for tonight. Just doing some laundry. But I may jump in the meditterranean, if I get the chance.

A Room... or Maybe a Train Cabin... With a View

Late friday night I got aboard a night train leaving from Munich to Milan. The idea was that I'd sleep the whole way and then be awake and refreshed when arriving in Milan. Afterwards I'd jump on a direct train to Nice, France, where I'd meet my sister tomorrow.
.
Oh what an adventure this was.
.
So, I get to my train early, being always prepared as I am. I got all comfy on the bottom rack in a room of six beds (three stacked on each side, hardly no room in the middle). Shortly thereafter, right before the train leaves, a chinese couple and two German ladies took their places in the cabin. After a long day of walking in Munich, I quickly fell asleep to be awakened a half an hour later by the Schaffner, who had come to check our tickets and passports. As he was explaining when the sixth guest would be arriving, he mentioned that we would be traveling through Ulm, Germany.
.
I love Ulm, I used to live in Ulm. But this was very very bad news. I only wanted to go to Milan... Munich to Milan directly is simple. You just go straight through Austria. But Stuttgart is toward France! Now, you may ask why this is important, when the train will end in Milan anyway. Well, for those of you who have ever used an Eurailpass, there are only certain countries that you are allowed to travel in. My pass includes Germany France Austria Italy Croatia and Slovenia. But what is the missing piece? Well, it's a little neutral country called Switzerland. And as it turned out, Ulm to Milan goes through Switzerland. I told this to the Schaffner, and he immediately said, "well, it looks like you'll be kicked out in Basel." I asked him when, he said, "probably at around 2:30 am.
.
Basel is the armpit of Switzerland, and it is a very difficult place to be if you're trying to get to Milan. Especially no fun at 2:30 am. Well, needless to say I didn't sleep well with thoughts that I might be kicked out in a few hours, and not knowing what to do.
.
I eventually did fall asleep, and I awoke to a police office knocking at our cabin door. I immediately recognized that it was light outside... It looks like I made it. Here's how... Americans are really cool. I got through just because I'm an Ami. I don't know why, but I think it's because they are afraid of me and my army. I don't know.
.
So there I was in Italy. The first thing I did was get robbed. I love Italians. It was at 7 am too. Not exactly prime crime time. I guess I stand out pretty easy as a toursit, and as dumb as I am, I allowed this forty-year old woman help me buy a metro ticket. Yeah, she bought me a day pass but kept the change. I yelled at her, but all I could get back was about eighty cents. She got away with an Euro. I think she tried to tell me that it was a reimbursement for her assistance, but I say, "give it back, you thief"... Italy got the best of me.
.
The next problem was the status of that next train I wanted to take to Nice. I went to make a reservation, but apparently all trains that were heading to Nice were booked, and I was out of luck. Well, I quickly checked out the city, the duomo (went to the roof--very cool), and I was really impressed with the Galleria. It was impressive just how big and spacious everything is. I wanted to see Da Vinci's "Last Supper", but apparently you have to make an appointment a month in advance, so I missed out on that.
.
I then had to decide how to get to Nice. This is when I did something very atypical of me. I started a train journey not knowing ahead of time if it would take me where I want. I guess one good thing about me being in Europe is that it is breaking me out of my "O.C.D." shell. I jumped on a train to Torino, as it was towards the western part of Italy and somewhat in the direction of Nice, and I was hoping that there would be a train going from there to Cumeo then to Nice. I was in luck for once, as when arriving in Torino, a very helpful english-speaking Trenitalia employee gave me the times and connections to Nice.
.
It worked. I led me on one of the most beautiful train rides I have ever had. After leaving Cumeo, the train (slowly) heads up into the italian alps towards the french border, and it weaves it's way through mountain valley's and long tunnels. Everything was so green and the area looked so real, not like the heavy tourist areas that I'd been to for the past four days. I took a number of pics from the train window. They're amazing and I'll upload them as soon as I get the chance.
.
It was during this time on the train that I got some reading done as well. I finished "A room with a view" by E.M. Forster. This book has easily found itself on my favs list. I highly suggest it. One of the thoughts conveyed in the book was about different types of people in respect to what type of tourists they are. This stood out, as coincidentally, i'm a tourist too. But basically, Forster claims that one type of tourist leaves home without actually ever leaving, that is, they go to these exotic places and experience things that they could have seen at home. Forster puts it so, that these types buy trinkets that they could easily find cheaper in London. I find that funny. Then there are the other types who go to learn something or be enriched by something, and although I admit that sometimes I'll visit a city just to say that I've been there, I also like to say that I'm the type that goes places to really experience something. I don't know. It'll likely not be at Friesole but I hope to see something unique. Take the train from Cumeo to Nice for example, and you'll find someplace completely exotic to the world. It may not mean much to say, "I've been to Trende", but it seems more significant of a place than Olympia park in Munich or something like that.
.
I don't know. Those are just my thoughts.

Trying to stay awake...

So, I fly out in the morning, and in an effort to keep myself awake, I've decided to take some pictures. Here's one I just did. It is by far the best bulb shot I've taken, although it is a little overexposed. Check it out:

Look closely, but you can see the center of the stars is staying constant, which you might have guessed is the North Star. The trees also look like trees at noon, although this was taken at 1 am. The biggest problem is the light coming from the SW of the picture, which is the lights of Draper. They're crowding out the star trails, but I feel it was a successful shot nevertheless.

How to write a Resume... or a Haiku

I just read a resume from a 23 year old guy, who listed awards he got at school when he was 15. I thought it was interesting.
.
I recently bought a new camera and I love it. But it not everything about the purchase is peachy. It's like buying a wallet. Why buy a wallet when the actual purchase involves using the money that would go in it? I really had a problem with this when I was young and only paid with cash, and I guess I still have issues doing it eventhough I'm using my debit card. I know that's weird, but there is someting in my genetic make-up that won't let me do it. I guess it's similar with my camera. I buy it to use it, but it cost me so much that I stress using it in fears that I'll break it. Do you see the problem with that?
.
My mom isn't impressed with the camera purchase. When she asked me what the difference was between it and my old one, the first thing I mistakenly said was, "it has a clock". Well, it does much more than that, but that's all she remembers.
.
I just read a little more of that resume. He also says that on his LDS mission he was a "System administrator for computer, communication, and audio/visual equipment". I think that means that he was in charge of setting up the projector at the Christmas Zone Conference.
.
The other night I attended a Poetry/Journal Reading. It was hilarious, my only regret was forgetting some of my favorite stories. Now I'm determined to write up the stories into a Haiku format for the next reading. I'll be the star of the show. Now I just need to know what a Haiku is.

Tom's European Vacation...

Well, I'm finished. I've got it all planed. And it goes something like this:

4/25- Fly to Munich
4/26- Arrive in Munich, eat some wurst.
4/27- Night Train to Milan
4/28- Train to Nice
4/29- Completely avoiding the beach/toursits, goin' hikin' in the French Alps. Oh, and church.
4/30- Dinner with Carrie, night train to Venice
5/1- Train to Ljubljana (Slovenia), meet Jeff.
5/2- Either Bled or Maribor. It's Jeff's call.
5/3- Train to Rijeka (Croatia). Jeff and I rent a car and drive to Split.
5/5- Jeff flies to Ghana, I rent another car and drive to Dubrovnik (through Bosnia).
5/8- Rent a car, or take a bus to Montenegro. Who knows what I'll do there, but it all looks beautiful. Drop the car off at Dubrovnik airport, fly to Stuttgart.
5/9- Fly to Pisa, take train to Florence.
5/10- Museums, churches, river, re-enact 5 lira murder at Palazzo Vecchio.
5/11- Bike to Friesole.
5/12- Church in Florence, train to Rome. Vatican, sistine chapel, etc.
5/13- Another day in Rome, Pantheon, Capitoline hill, Colloseum, museums, etc.
5/14- More Rome, night train to Bad Gastein, Austria.
5/15-Visit the falls in Krimml.
5/16- Day trip to Salzburg, Eagle's Nest.
5/17- Hiking in Bad Gastein.
5/18- Visit the Grossglockner, Heiligenblut.
5/19- Glacier hunting
5/20- Train to Klagenfurt, go to church (I doubt anyone will recognize me, despite the fact that I was such a spiritual missionary), train to Leoben, schnitzel at Peters', train to Vienna.
5/21- Vienna, city of my dreams (die Stadt meiner Traueme). Lippizaner, Hofburg, Kaisermuehlen, Herbs', Opera (?).
5/22- Vienna, visit Dragan, Karls Platz, what else does Rick Steves suggest?
5/23- back to the alps, Hallstatt, Gesauese would be nice. Munich that night.
5/24- Fly home, probably smelling real bad.

That's It... Ich Packe Aus!

The big issue on BYU campus recently is the upcoming visit of Dick Cheney to commencement. Of importance is the fact that his invitation was extended by the school's board of trustees, and the First Presidency.
.
This has led a number of BYU students to whine about his visit, and protests are being planned for his arrival.
.

This has led me to ask myself, what the big deal is all about. Wouldn't it be great to have such a powerful and successful individual speak at commencement exercises? Despite what feelings you have for him, don't you think he can provide insight that no one else can offer?
.
But why exactly do people hate him? When asking others and monitoring blogs, I find that two reasons persist: the war in Iraq, and his shooting of a friend last year.
.
First of all, the shooting incident was an accident. Anything else would be criminal, and he would have been arrested. But the idiots on blogs like to accuse him of intentionally doing so. Yeah, really likely.
.
Secondly, what's so wrong with the war in Iraq? Now, before you get all WMD and Abu Ghraib on me, please be open-minded enough to think this through reasonably.
.
In what case would the Iraq war be a justifiable venture? Thinking hypothetically and comparing the costs of the war to the benefits, I would suggest first listing its benefits.
.
First of all, the war is beneficial because it creates the possibilities of less terrorism and greater democracy in the middle east. You may not agree that this is being actualized, but you have to agree that the possibility is there.
.
Also, Saddam is out of power. Remember him? Unless you are the pro-genocide type, you'll probably agree that this is a good thing.
.
Finally, it is beneficial to be there because the consequences of leaving would be worse that it is now. If you think Iraq is chaotic now, imagine the chaos of an all out war between Sunnis and Shi'ites, where genocide is likely to occur again.
.
So, the benefits of the Iraq war are a higher possibility of less terrorism, possible democracy, and the avoidance of genocide. All good things.
.
Now, let's look at its costs. Now this is what really gets me fired up. Obviously it is expensive, but I'm tired of hearing that it is more expensive than Vietnam.
.

According to the Institue for Policy Studies, an obviously biased think-tank, the Iraq war could reach a total cost of 757 billion dollars from war's beginning to now. Vietnam cost 600 billion in today's dollars.
.
In respect to fatalities, the Iraq war has cost the U.S. 3,257 lives. That is terrible, but I wonder why they don't compare that finding to the Vietnam war?....
.
When considering costs, the list could go on, but these two factors are the most significant when considering American interests.
.
But how significant are the numbers?
.
First of all, Vietnam cost more to the U.S. economy than the Iraq war. Look at the relative costs… 757 billion dollars (the cost of Iraq) over 4 years amounts to only a cost of 1.5% of GDP per year.
.
Vietnam, using 1969 dollars, cost an average of 1.4% of GDP per year, for 9 years. That is the same amount per year, but for more than twice as many years. Although the dollar amount may be less, the real cost was much, much, much higher.
.
Look for yourself. You can find the estimated cost data from http://www.ips-dc.org/iraq/quagmire/#us, and you can find GDP data from http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/. Make sure you discount the 600 billion today's dollars cost of the vietnam war to 1969 dollars by factoring in inflation.
.
What about loss of life?
.
Yes, 3,257 American lives lost is terrible, and it is 3,257 lives too many. But, how many American lives were lost in Vietnam? 58,209!
.
So, essentially, even though this does not justify the Iraq war alone, we can't accept the thought that it is costing us more than Iraq. That is all biased media.
.
So, let's measure the costs against the benefits. First, costs: 1.5% of GDP per year, and 3,257 total American lives lost. Secondly, benefits: greater possibility of peace in the middle east. No dictator in power, like Saddam. Weakening of terrorists' strengths (how much do you think the war is costing them?). Democracy. Less likelihood of another 9/11.
.
I personally feel that the costs do not outweigh the benefits. Thanks to people like Cheney, we're winning the war due to the fact that we are gaining more out of Iraq than losing.

Californians...

I saw this article today... hahaha:
.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17791351/
.
With emphasis on:
.
Sherrie Watson has lived in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, since she was 16 and is quite fed up with Californians.
“They complain how cold it is. And they just moved here because it is cheaper and to ’get away,’ but then they keep saying things like, ‘We did it in California this way, so why don’t you change?’

A few thoughts from today...

Day's Highlight: I presented an Econometrics paper in class, and afterwards my Econ professor shook my hand and told me I did a swell job. This was a first. I've never been happier. Maybe this means I'll be passing the class.
.
Day's Suspicions: I think my ex is following me, and I think my roommate tries to hide his phone calls with a girl by closing the door to his room.
.
Day's Irritation: Those people who complain that Cheney is speaking at BYU commencement. Grow Up.
.
Day's Wastes of Time: Majohngg, again, and Germ 596R.

Mahjongg... My Arch-Nemesis

I didn't know how to spell Nemesis, so I looked in the dictionary...
.

Mahjongg is my Arch-nemesis, as in definitions #1 and #4. A year ago I found out that Mahjongg was on addicting games, and I thought I was pretty good enough to beat it on the hardest level setting: "Ninja". Well, it's been a year, and I've still not beat it. And today, I think it was just teasing me:

If you know how to play Mahjongg, you'll understand.

.

Give it a try on "Ninja" at addictinggames.com/mahjongg.html

.

So, there's a big road trip to Moab next month. Call me if you'd like to come. It is during the reading days, when people typically shouldn't be busy.

Labelling is Good... It Rids Us of Misunderstandings

I happily support any organization that acts in a charitable way. One of which is the hunger banquet that is taking place this weekend at BYU. I'm very impressed with the people that I know and see who actively participate in helping the needy. But, as I was walking to school today, I happened to walk past a group of these participants who were advertising tonight's banquet. As seen, they have constructed a theoretical model of a homeless man's abode, by using crates and large carboard boxes. Even one participant was sleeping under a number of newspapers... Just don't let the homeless know, they might be offended by such stereotypes... :)

.

But what I found funny was what they had spray painted on the side of one of the boxes:
.

.

So, apparently, whoever constructed this must have felt that it wasn't obvious that they were acting as "the poor", so they had to paint "POOR" on the side of their home. This was a great way to avoid any misunderstanding on my part.

.

To follow in their example, I think I'll go to Home Depot today to buy some paint. I plan on painting "College Students" on the side of my apartment.

We May Have Lost The Battle... But We Probably Won't Win The War...

As mentioned previously, my goal for the next couple months was to win one of my indoor soccer league games... Well, tonight we had our second game... and an event it was...
.
This time we came much better prepared. We added a few members to the team to help out, and we all had already played on the turf once, thus we knew what to expect. Confidently, my team was ready out onto the field.
.
I, on the other hand, was nervous. I don't know quite why, but I imagine that it was because I really wanted to win, and whenever I want something very badly, I tend to get nervous and screw everything up.
.
Before the game, we had the chance to loosen up on the field. I maybe loosened myself up too much, because I became a little irrational. Someone had popped the ball up in front of the goal, and I decided to try my never-before-seen-nor-attempted bicycle kick. I was in the process of lifting up my leg, when I relized that O.C. (the nickname I chose for my roommate), acting as goalie, was running to catch the ball. Well, I tried to abort, but such a feat is difficult to back out of, as you can imagine, and O.C. ended up crashing into my left knee. I then followed by crashing onto the ground in pain, and began to limp off, dropping a few minor curses. After I decided that walking was futile, I laid myself out flat on the turf, and realize that this might be a bit more serious than just a simple bang-up.
.
You see, while working at a local restaurant 2 years ago, I had a large tray lifted over my head, while climbing some stairs to reach the party I was serving. On about the second to last step, I felt an indescribable jolt of pain from the very same knee. My table heard my moan and saw my limp, asked what was wrong, and then still tipped me badly. And I didn't even drop the tray! How's that for appreciation?!
.
Ever since then, I've still felt the pain. Partly for the bad tip, and even more for the bad knee. I still feel it whenever climbing up a large staircase. The knee that is, not the tip. But usually I can avoid the pain by running up the stairs, strangely enough.
.
So, there I was, with what was becoming a worse knee than had been just a bad knee before. But I streched it out, shook out the pain a little, and kept going. By this time the game had been going for a few minutes.
.
The team captain then called me out for a sub. I ran, a little awkwardly, to our goal where the opposing team was making an attempt at goal. Shortly after ariving at the scene, and stressing that I had only been on the field for maybe, i don't know, 3 seconds?, and I suddenly got a face full of soccer ball, given to me well-intended by my other teammate. Now, this wasn't just a simple grazing of my cheek, it was a right-on-target bullseye. I don't remember too much what happened to that, but I do remember my captain calling me back in after 3 seconds with, "Sub, Tom, sub!" and I know I had to recalibrate a bit before getting further into the game. Unfortunately, I lost my left contact, which typically would be a mere inconvenience, but when playing a sport that requires a great deal of depth-perception, I was even more handicapped.
.
So, I played out the rest of the game, with a limp and one eye squinted. My vision was so poor, I often couldn't connect with the ball, and kicked high when the ball rolled underneath me. It was embarassing, but I still wanted to give my team my best.
.
We lost 6-1, despite the good effort showed by my teammates. But honestly, I left very upset, with my knee still aching.
.
I did regardless have one bright thought, when considering my knee. David Beckham just hurt his knee earlier this week. Maybe this is a confimation that David and I really have a connection, and I am destined to be a soccer star? Sounds reasonable to me...
.
But we have a game monday, and I plan, knee-willing, to go running everyday (except sun., of course) to improve my skills.
.
One other thing. So apparently, O.C. believes that the population of Shanghai, China is greater than the population of the U.S. According to Wikipedia, he's wrong, fyi.