"Ich bin ein Berliner" und "Brennt Paris!?"

    I fully wrote out a blog post for Berlin like 6 days ago, but didn't post it because I didn't upload any photos, then it just never happened.  So again, I hate making these posts long, but I did a lot in Berlin and Paris the last few days.  And if you don't know the quotes from the title of this post, go look them up!  Good history in them both.

    Everyone I had met around the world told me that the best city in Europe was Berlin - the city, the history, the people, the art, etc.  I was worried I was over-hyping it, but I wasn't, because it actually is the best.  I was there for 4 nights, but the only really touristy thing I did was go on a bike tour of the city, which was awesome to see the sites along with some background history, and because my guide reminded me of Wayne from Wayne's World at every stop.  Wayne and a girl from Prague (who by the way was a foreign exchange student at Westwood High School in Austin a few years ago!) marked on my map local food joints and hangouts that they recommended, mostly off the beaten path and void of tourists.

Main gate in Berlin: statue on top used to symbolize Peace, but now it symbolizes Victory

East side of the Berlin wall has planned street art

West side is covered in random graffiti

    So that's what I did - I chased dots on my map, ate tons of street food, drank tons of coffee and Club Mate (a sweet tea drink that local hipsters drank), and just enjoyed myself and the city.  I found some real hidden gems: an amazing park to slackline and throw the frisbee at, a beautiful river to sit and read at, and several petanque courts nearby where I sat and watched the locals play their strange game.  I can say with confidence that when I apply for jobs, I'll shoot a few over to companies in Berlin.

The river had lots of people sitting and reading

Really chill park at sunset

This is pretty much the essence of Berlin

    It was in Berlin that I noticed a striking change in the hostel demographic.  Simply put, more Americans.  People are getting out of school and it's Western Europe, so most of the travelers I meet now are with a couple of friends and only here for one or two weeks.  Before, especially in Asia, everyone was traveling for at least 2 months (usually 4-12) and either by themselves or with a boy/girlfriend.  I loved talking with these world travelers with completely different mindsets and lifestyles, and now that it's phasing out, I'm starting to realize how much of a blessing all that was.  Of course, there are still some great people to be met and plenty of things to learn from them, but it's just different.  And most people have been to Europe and spent a few weeks or months here and there, so the novelty and coolness of being in crazy places is pretty much over too.  Kind of a bummer, but everything is still fun and exciting, just in a different way.

    While I was writing part of this post in Berlin, a guy came up to me and said, "excuse me, are you Bonnie Prince Billy?"  I said, "what?"  He thought I looked like some musician that goes by Bonnie Prince Billy.  When I googled him, I realized he was right.  

    And like that, I was pulling away from Berlin on a night train to Paris.  Berlin marked the start of the touristy part of my trip, but Paris marked the start of my journey with friends, a welcome change.  First of all, I stayed for four nights with Preston Plachy and Ryan Bressler, who are both working for Fat Tire Bike Tours, at their flat that was 5 minutes from Moulin Rouge.  The first day, I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and did a night cruise down the river with Preston and his tour group.  Good start.  The next day I met up with a friend from TAMS who also went to UT, graduated in December, and took a world trip, just like me.  We were even in Queenstown, NZ at the same time and no idea until months later.  After that, I met up with Preston, Ryan, Ryan's Friendwood friend Emily, and a handful of other Fat Tire people at the park in front of the Eiffel Tower.  We showed up with some baguette, some cheese, and some wine at around 5:30 PM and, next thing you know, we were rushing to catch the last metro train at 12:30 AM.  We literally sat around talking and eating bread/cheese for 7 hours.  It was glorious.

My favorite, based on 1 Samuel 16:6-14

Chillin with the Texas crew (except for the girl on the far right)

    As if that wasn't enough, the next day I met up with two Parisians, Thomas and Adamine, who I had met in Nepal about a month or two ago.  We hopped the fence to a closed park and busted out more baguette and more cheese, but this time Adamine brought some slammin quiche and cake.  We sat there and watched the sun set down the road until security kicked us out a while later.  I got back a bit late, which in turned caused me to oversleep, destroying my plants to pick up Lauren Schoger and Elena Esparza from the airport.  After 5 or 6 hours, they made it to their hostel and we finally met up, which was actually pretty fast considering they had no clue where the hostel was and had no map.  I was proud of them.  We ate lunch, went to the Eiffel Tower, and like clockwork, bought some baguette and some cheese and took it back to Preston/Ryan's to avoid the rain.

This guy's power stance was at least a foot wider just before this picture, but it's still awesome

Adamine, Thomas, and myself

Get used to seeing these 3

    In summary: Berlin = bike and chill with Club Mate, Paris = friends and baguette with cheese.  There's not enough space here to talk about the super sketchy art gallery in Berlin, the 7 people in the 6 person sleeper cabin to Paris, the asian tourists at the Louvre, or the joy I felt just kickin it with people I knew and that knew me, but you get the picture.  It was a pretty good last week, one I'm very thankful for.

    Oh and I've had a lot of haters be all like "you really complained a lot about Nepal."  Well, that's because Nepal sucked.  But in all seriousness, the hike was truly amazing, the people I got to know were incredibly genuine and kind, and the small villages were so beautiful and a world of difference from the main cities.  So, I liked Nepal, but hated Kathmandu, and most of that was because I spent too much time there, kept getting sick, and it was the first time I really felt lonely and longed for somebody to be there to be with me.  But, that time in Kathmandu really did serve to humble me and God was definitely growing me through it.  I hated Kathmandu, but at the same time I'm super thankful for and cherish what God did there.

    I'm currently in Belgium with my uncle: tomorrow we take a day trip to Bruges, the next day I'm couchsurfing in Cologne, Germany, then meet back up with Lauren and Elena in Munich.  Going to be a pretty sweet next few days.

Bratislava, Vienna, and Prague

    I'm three countries behind on this blog, but like I always say, "sometimes you gotta be three countries behind on your blog."

    After Budapest, I went to Bratislava, Slovakia.  I had heard that the city was so so, but I like it a lot - Budapest was a big city, but Bratislava was much smaller and slower.  I happened to arrive in time to see Slovakia knock out Canada in the first round of the World Championship of hockey, and I stood there giving my approval.  These people were jacked up on hockey and singing the anthem everywhere.  Later that night I watched the USA lose to Finland in the last 8 seconds of the game, which sucked.  The worst part was that the pub across the street had tons of Finnish fans in it, but their TV had a 5 second delay from ours, and the seconds between me seeing the nail in the coffin and waiting for the impending celebration were pretty rough.  I walked out saying, "yeah well screw hockey anyways."

Line outside of US Embassy in Bratislava.  There was an old man handing out Oreos - a taste of freedom.

What was probably a beautiful public part at some point

    I had also heard that you could pretty much see everything in one day, and that part was true.  So on my second day there, I took a day trip to Vienna, Austria, which I also heard was doable in one day and "lacked personality."  Wrong.  Vienna might have been the most beautiful city I've seen so far.  I've seen some beautiful cathedrals and castles and museums in the last few weeks, but the ones in Vienna were nicer, more abundant, and right next to each other, which made for some beautiful views.  It was also a super bike friendly city, which of course attracted a fair amount of hipsters.  Everything in the city was at least twice as expensive as it would be in Bratislava, so I was glad I took a day trip, but I do wish I had some more time to see everything.

Don't know what this was, but it was beautiful

A small diagram of Minas Morgul

I wish my camera had a wider perspective

I watched some guys making a skating video, then get kicked out

    Usually I would have just stayed in Vienna and had to change very little, but I've started to feel the European travel season pressure.  I now book all my hostels at least a week in advance, whereas I used to not know what country I would be in until 2 days before.  I was locked into some good hostels in Prague (and already paid), so off I went.  There was a huge house/dance/trance music part called Sensation the first night I was there.  I planned to go, but changed my mind right before - it cost a lot, I would've had to buy and wear white clothes to get in, it didn't seem like fun to go alone, and I got ripped off by a money exchange place and lost the desire to go.  Instead, I went to an Irish pub to watch the Bayern München vs Chelsea soccer game, which was a lot of fun despite Robben and Sweinsteiger blowing it for Bayern.

Prague's astronomical clock

Powder Tower - used to hold gun powder

    The next day, I went on a walking tour with some Americans I had met at the hostel.  The tour was led by a Dutch guy named Tijo and he gave a good presentation of the city, complete with all the little known facts and interesting history.  We headed back to the hostel to relax and get ready for the cooking class that our hostel was having.  Our group joined with a group of Americans and Canadians who have been studying abroad in Germany for the last year, and together we made goulash with dumplings and marble cake.  It was really good, but while we were eating, my Uruguayan friends from over a week ago came in and were all, "JAAAAAMMMESSS!"  I sprang up and hugged them - they had seen my bag in the room and weren't surprised to see me, and I was so happy they were there.

Imitating a statue that the picture taker didn't think should be visible in the picture

Sebastian on the right and Elli next to him

    I spent the rest of the night with the Uruguayans, Elli and Sebastian, a Chilean guy, and two of the American girls I had been with that afternoon (they spoke Spanish as well).  We sat around from like 8 to midnight, talking about Spanish and South America, drinking mate and coffee, listening to Argentinian and Chilean music, and just having fun.  Elli has been teaching Sebastian English and me Spanish, getting me ready for when I go to Spain in a few weeks!  The whole day had been good, but hanging out with everyone that night was the most fun I'd had in a long time.

    The next day, I ate breakfast at the hostel with that same crew, then we all went our separate ways to explore the city.  I went to the castle side of the town and saw my favorite castle-church so far.  These churches are so big that it's impossible to take it all in, so you kind of have to find small things that you really like.  My favorite parts are the statues that poke out from the tops of the walls (I think they're a kind of gutter drain) - a very small and intricate part of a giant building, but I find them interesting.  This one had the best too - lions, dragons, demons, people, dogs, and all kinds of other animals.  I was stunned when I found a lobster, which was kind of hidden on the back side of the church next to another building.  I was happy to find something small that most people never see, even though it's the main attraction of the city.  It's small things like that that make site seeing fun.

Prague castle cathedral

Creepy gutter drains

Lobster gem

    I enjoyed my time in Prague, but mainly because of the people.  I didn't see much of the city, sticking to the downtown area, so it seemed way too touristy to me, and I came in with high expectations.  I even went to the Czech Beer Festival, but was pretty disappointed by it as well.  Then again, I did go on a Monday night (tonight, yes tonight).  Prague was nice, but I would rather go back to Ljubljana, Vienna, or Zagreb before going back to Prague.

    I'm in Berlin, Germany now (East Berlin, to be exact), but I hate making these posts really long, so this is a good stopping point.  

Hrvatska and Hungary

    My next stop after Slovenia was Zagreb, the capital of the country we call Croatia, but they call Hrvatska.  I don't know why the words are so different.  But I had a pretty uneventful stay - I explored the town, ate some good food, saw some of the best graffiti I've ever seen, and chilled at the parks.  Zagreb is much more of a city that any other place I've been to in Europe, but the parks at the heart of the city are beautiful and full of teenagers making out.  The last night, I got dinner with an Australian mine worker, an English biker going around the world for 3 years, a freelance travel writer from Florida, and an English girl who was touring Europe with some company promoting some kind of cleansing diet.  That's the best thing about hostels - the people you meet.

The start of a half mile of street art on a wall.

Bears in a pool of pencils.  Obviously.

First thing you see off the train, and one of the best parks in the city.

Me, freelance writer, restaurant owner, cleansing diet girl, biking guy, and Aussie miner (left to right)

Playing with mirrors in the train with Uruguayans

This was actually in Slovenia, but the dude was killin it.

    But today is the 100th day of my travels.  I left February 4th and started day 1 of my trip on February 6th, forever losing a day thanks to the international dateline.  However many days I've actually been gone, I consider this to be day 100.  So, I wanted to make a list of some superlatives and statistics!

Total flight time:  49 hours

Total intercity bus/boat/train time (rough estimate):  133 hours

Colds:  2

Food poisoning:  4 or 5

Staph:  1

Pancakes (REAL pancakes, not crepes):  11 (6 from McDonalds)

Books:  12  (Hyperion Cantos 1-3, Weavers of Saramyr, Chronicles of Narnia 1-6, A Clockwork Orange, and Cat's Cradle)

Texans met: 1

Country with best food:  Malaysia

Country with worst food:  Nepal or New Zealand

Best coffee shop:  Kapai in Wellington, NZ or Vudu Cafe in Queenstown, NZ

Most frequented restaurant:  Chicken Mamas, Tonsai, Thailand

Best meal:  pancakes, eggs florentine, eggs benedict, and bottomless coffee at Mike's Restaurant, Pokhara, Nepal

Best beer:  Export Gold from NZ or Rauchbier from Bamberg

Best new food:  chicken tikka masala with nan bread

Best new drink:  lime juice or 100 Plus, both from Singapore

Weirdest food:  goat skin, Kathmandu, Nepal or cow tongue sausage, Bamberg, Germany

Best hostel:  Kang Traveler's Lodge, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Worst hostel:  Pushpa Guesthouse, Pokhara, Nepal

Best experience:  ice climbing, Fox Glacier, NZ

Worst experience:  food poisoning in Kathmandu, Nepal

Most weight gained in:  Malaysia

Most weight lost in:  Nepal

Best scenery:  Lake Bled, Slovenia or Fox Glacier, NZ

Best hosts:  The Reeds and Abby in Singapore

Most annoying voice:  Thai women

Best souvenir:  badass laser in Bangkok, Thailand

Dirtiest city:  Kathmandu, Nepal

Country I was most ready to leave:  Nepal

Country I wanted to stay longer in:  Thailand

Country I wish I had visited:  Israel or Turkey

Best city to move to:  Wellington, NZ

Worst city to move to:  Kathmandu, Nepal

Worst hair style:  mullet-dreads (typical of Spaniards)

Cutest girls:  Croatia (I'm not even kidding)

Biggest bro culture:  New Zealand, hands down

    Even if nobody reads or cares about that list, it was fun for me to look back on the last 100 days and think about the highs and lows.  It reminds me of one of my favorite parts of a book by Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son:

"I have a friend who is so deeply connected with God that he can see joy where I expect only sadness.  He travels much and meets countless people.  When he returns home, I always expect him to tell me about the difficult economic situation of the countries he visited, about the great injustices he heard about, and the pain he has seen.  But even though he is very aware of the great upheaval of the world, he seldom speaks of it.  When he shares his experiences, he tells about the hidden joys he has discovered.  He tells about a man, a woman, or a child who brought him hope and peace.  He tells about little groups of people who are faithful to each other in the midst of all the turmoil.  He tells about the small wonders of God...  He keeps saying; “I saw something very small and very beautiful, something that gave me much joy.”"

    There have been countless small and beautiful things, but 3 have really stood out.  I saw the first one the first day I left home, in the LAX airport: a family gathered around a son and praying over him, no doubt before he left on a long journey.  It made me stop in my tracks and reminded me of what a great God we have.  The second was seen over the course of four days while I stayed with the Reeds and spent time with Abby and her friends in Singapore.  Seeing a community of believers in action, halfway across the world, gave me a lot of joy and a lot of hope.  The third was a couple reading the bible over breakfast in Pokhara, Nepal.  I was nearby and it was clear that they were reading about the Faith of the Centurion, and just hearing that girl read those words renewed my spirit on the spot.  That, and I was eating the best pancakes I'd had in the last 100 days that morning.

    I've seen a lot of things that were very small and very beautiful, and I thank God for them, but those are pretty much the only three times I've seen people seeking the Lord in the last 100 days.  Like Nouwen's friend, I've seen a lot of pain and upheaval in the world, but just a hint of Jesus has changed how I look back on it.  

    Anyways, now I'm in Budapest, Hungary, staying with a girl that I met through Couch Surfing.  It's a really, really beautiful city and it's the first city in a long time that I've noticed a strong hipster scene. It's pretty dirty, but the architecture and buildings well make up for it.  It's been a pretty uneventful stay - my host is busy most the day and I explored most of the downtown area the last two days, and that's about it.  

Big church on a big hill

Parliament building

Cool bridge over the Danube

One of my favorite sculptures I've ever seen!  The back is a bunch of square, rusted iron pillars.

Don't know the name of this, but beautiful.

This kid was killin it too.

Parliament building from the front.

Huge basilica.

Tomorrow I leave for Bratislava, Slovakia and will stay there 2 nights, with a day trip to Vienna.  Then Prague after that!  Since travel season has started, all the good/cheap hostels get booked up quickly for the weekends, so we'll see what happens...  This post was way longer than I meant it to be.  

Slovenija

    I was a bit apprehensive of the night train to Ljubljana, Slovenia, but everything turned out to be fine - I even had a 6 person cabin to myself.  The girl in the cabin next door, however, was freaking out and about to have a breakdown.  She was all bent out of shape because she didn't know which bed was hers, even though she had the cabin to herself too.  Being the only other person to speak English on the train, she came to me whenever anything happened.  Naturally, I locked my door and closed the curtains.

    I arrived in Ljubljana at 6 AM and my couch surfing host, Feri Hajós, was there waiting for me and we went to his flat just 10 minutes away. Feri will be reading this blog, but I don't need to alter anything that I would have posted - this dude put me up for 3 nights, took me around the city, showed me the best local cuisine and restaurants, and was a really good hang. The first day we just walked around in the rain and saw the major sites downtown. Ljubljana is a city of 300,000 people, a beautiful downtown with castle, river, and churches, and has a lot of beautiful architecture by Jože Plečnik. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here, so we grabbed a slammin local meal and went back to his flat to relax. After exploring town, we played video games, watched ridiculous Bollywood clips, and saw the Avengers. Not bad.

Ljubljana's river

I don't even know what this was, but it was good.

In front of Dragon Bridge, by Plečnik

Ljubljana had tons of graffiti - trains, buildings, ground, everything.

    The next day I took a day trip to Bled, Slovenia, only 40 minutes away by train.  This place was incredible: perfect weather, beautiful mountains and lake, church island in the center, and a huge castle overlooking it all.  I rented a bike to go around the lake and just went slow to enjoy myself.  The castle had a small museum in it that was really lame, but the outside courtyard and views were unreal.  On the island, there are 99 steps leading up to the church, and it's a tradition for couples who get married there for the groom to carry the bride up all 99 steps in complete silence.  At the castle, which would be a killer spot for a wedding reception, I overheard an American guy say, "my daughter wants a destination wedding, and I'm trying to get here to pick Bled.  Not many people will want to come to Slovenia for a wedding!"  Typical father of the bride.  

Castle and a different church

Church island and castle

Overview of lake

Bled Castle

    For my last full day in Ljubljana, Feri and I took his bikes and went along a beautiful bike trail that follows what used to be a giant barbed wire fence, put in place by Fascist Italy during WWII.  We visited a church outside of town, went up to the castle that overlooks the city, and took the rest of the day slow.  At night, we went to a food trailer that Feri went to a lot on college: Hot'Horse.  First time eating a horse burger, and it was actually really, really good.  I'm really, really glad I stayed with Feri.  I got to see so much more of the city than I would have on my own, and enjoyed each part more too.  

Church designed by Plečnik

Feri in front of a manion's lawns

Late night horseburger stop

    But, as Jay-Z once said, it's on to the next one.  In the morning, I said goodbye to Feri and took a train to Piran, Slovenia, another beautiful Slovenian town, this time on the Adriatic coast.  I spent the rest of the day walking around, drinking coffe, eating ice cream, being a tourist, and watching the sunset.  I planned on going to Pula, Croatia, but the train and bus system to get to and from there seems like a pain (sorry Feri!).  So I guess my next stop will be Zagreb, Croatia!  But then again, Venice is only 2 or 3 hours away from Piran... who knows.

Piran town center

Overlooking the town center

At the tip of the peninsula, you have a 300 degree view of the ocean

    I've blogged a lot about things I've done lately, but not much about what it's been like.  The last few days in Kathmandu, Nepal were the lowest point of this trip - I was tired, sick, and quite lonely.  Like Paul said though, "when I am weak, then I am strong," and God really showed up in those times.  It was one of the furthest, but hardest, steps I've taken towards that godly solitude I had talked up months before, and it was good.  Like I said, it was really hard, but it was even more good.  And it's not like it's a one time struggle.  Every few days or so, I either think, "what the hell am I doing..." or "this would be better if I was sharing it with somebody..."  While I was in Bled, with all the romantic traditions and churches and couples walking around the lake, I sat on a bench, eating pizza by myself, and just thought, "man, screw. this."  I had a good laugh at that, and you have to take it all in stride; but still, it's hard to forget that I'm alone.  

    On the train back from Bled, I met an American couple that had been traveling Europe for 6 weeks.  I sat and talked with them, and they mentioned they went to a cat museum in Amsterdam.  Let that sink in.  A cat museum.  So I said, "there's no way in hell you could get me to go to that.  I hate cats."  This girl looked like she might've had a heart murmur when I said that, but I wasn't shook and I wasn't going to back down.  I hate cats.  I don't know if they forgot, or maybe the concept was lost to them, but they proceeded to talk about her half dozen cats for the rest of the train ride, until I got off.  I don't know how long they talked about cats after I left, but I know how much more of it I wanted to listen to.  All that to say, there are worse things than being alone, and it's things like that (rather, it's people like her) that make you thankful for your situation.