06/24 Paris, France

It was a relief to be back on a dry train.  When we reached Paris we found it almost impossible to find ourselves a friendly word from the locals.  It was like the Parisians were trained at youth to be rude to foreigners.  Their rudeness came so easily it must have been a mandatory subject in their schools.  …

11/01 Crete, Greece

A bunch of us from the night before had agreed to gather for a late breakfast and had earmarked today as a moped day.  We all kinda wandered up at the same time around lunch.  Brad and his sweetheart, Elspeth and Dave were all I managed to convince that it would be a worthwhile experience.  Elspeth had never been on a moped before but wasn’t shy about taking on new challenges.  During her learning phase either Dave or I would tag along side.   …

10/12 Napes Italy

When I woke up I notice that my knife was unchaperoned, sitting all by itself.  Most likely it was pushed away by me while I slept.  There were two elderly gentlemen sitting alongside the same bench staring at me and the knife.  I had gotten less than an hour of sleep and was still very tired and in need of a shower.  I followed those two gentlemen back into the heart of Naples.   …

07/09 Northern Finland

There were about eight of us on a train traveling from Sweden across the Arctic Circle into Finland.  When we reached a painted line across the tracks, the train stopped and they ushered us out for a celebration.  When the speeches were over, they actually gave each of us a certificate validating our crossing, woopty-do.  It was a nice opportunity to stretch our legs, until we came to learn that this leg stretching exercise would continue for another few hours.  …

11/19 Lindos, Rhoads Greece

I planned on taking a bus over to the ruins in Lindos but Jenni wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t too motivated to go anywhere.  “I’ll see you tonight” I told her.  The thought of missing something changed her mind and she decided to come along anyway.  It was a nice sunny day with a cool breeze.  A gorgeous little white washed village lodged under a Roman acropolis.   …

05/23 Londond, England

Over these last few days, I don’t think there has been a single street or ally way we didn’t accustom ourselves to.  Most pubs we stopped in for a pint, maybe even two.  About midday I ended up lying out in the middle of Hyde Park, looking up through the trees, day dreaming under the blue sky.  It was another gorgeous day.  …

08/09 Burn, Switzerland

Jim joined the hostel attitude.  He didn’t want to go anywhere, see anything, he just wanted to stick around the hostel and wash his clothes, so I sought out on my own.  I checked out Albert Einstein’s home and then the modern art museum.  “One man’s treasure is another man’s trash”.  I love art but sometimes.  I wandered the market and the local stops searching for Christmas gifts, but ended up buying chocolates to satisfy my taste buds instead.  …

08/02 Salzburg, Austria

As we approached Salzburg the clouds parted and the sun came peaking through, signaling that a good day was ahead of us.  In one of the travel guides there was an interesting youth hostel alongside a casino.  I knew from my last visit to Salzburg, that the hostel had to be on the cliff overlooking the old city.  Once our train arrived we headed straight toward a phone and contacted the hostel to see if rooms were available.  Good news but we had to be quick because they did not take reservations.  …

05/30 Stonehenge, England

Like a string of pearls, one complaint began to lead into another.  One minute it’s the weather, next minute it’s the price of food, carrying too much shit and then it was his feet.  “I’m not walking any further, maybe I’ll just fly home”, confronted Jim.  I reminded him that I was not his mother and if he thought I wanted to hear this shit, he had bigger problems than just his feet.  “Nobody’s putting a gun to your head and you don’t need my permission to make choices”.  I explained that I was not budgeted for repeating every other step and had a plan of what I wanted to see and experience and sometimes those things aren’t at the end of a train line.  “I’m committed to go forward and if you find it in your best interest to detour, I’m more than willing to meet you anywhere else on the map”.  “There’s no rule that says we have to do everything together”.  I provided an example of picking up women.  “I expect this to happen along the way and when we reach that fork in the road I’m sure you’re not going to be wanting me hanging around as a third wheel or vice versa.  We’ll just meet up someplace down the road”.  I tried to be a good person and attempt to avoid confrontations but traveling together has a tendency to bring these things to the surface.  Conflicts start and end with words.

Surely I dreamt today, or did I see. I wandered in this forest thoughtlessly
the clever boy that I once knew; with pebbles white and bread crumbs too
left no trail and lost my way, where all my pictures were thrown away

Through the forest, in the middle of a glade, forever nagging to persuade
no plank or bridge was placed in sight, only fists clinched as if to fight
the wind, the wind has caused me harm; you pulled too many false alarms.

10/18 Cefalu, Italy

The storm passed through very quickly.  When the sun rose I gathered up my things and without even saying goodbye I headed down the volcano like I was escaping.  I had just come out of a sulfur cloud, was coated in mud and must have smelled like shit.  I sure felt like shit.  When I finally made it back down to the residence below they too were cover in mud.  I’m glad somebody could laugh at this.  The first two people I saw were in the process of shoveling themselves out of the mud.   …

06/26 Copenhagen, Denmark

We rose early and spent the entire day wandering the pedestrian streets and central squares popping in and out of small cafes and trendy boutiques.  That’s right, trendy boutiques.  The young ladies that gather in these places are quite attractive.  Carlsberg and then followed the tree-lined avenues to the harbor.
…

11/30 Ushisar, Turkey

We had planned on seeing Urgup and the Goreme Valley and headed out into the streets in search for the tourist office.  It was still very cold but it was like a reversed microwave, my bones were colder than my skin.  We located what we believed was the tourist office but there were no brochures or posters to confirm that we had found the right place.  Everybody inside was huddled around a small stove trying to keep warm.  They explained there were no buses or organized tours this late in the year and suggested we find ourselves a taxi driver.  …

05/20 London, England

The clouds had parted and the wings of our plane began to dry.  The very first thing I noticed was that “I wasn’t in Kansas anymore”.  Gatwick Airport had green pastures on both sides of the runway.  Unconcerned cows looked up at our passing plane.  This was a total contrast to the cement landscape we left behind in LA. …

07/14 Stockholm, Sweden

Eventually the crowds gathered and like sheep we were herded onto the boat.  I managed to weasel my way through the gridlock to the sunny side of the ship, found myself a deck chair and began to relax under the sun.  There was a young lady who had the same idea and took the liberty to pull her chair up next to mine and start up a conversation.  Honestly I was more interested in her bathing suit than the conversation.  From here the view was spectacular.  Thousands of white sails littered the horizon and the many islands looked as if God scattered them from his own hand.  …