The maze that is Venice

I don't know how you can't get lost in this city. And it didn't help that the directions to my hostel were, "go straight for 20 minutes and it'll be the door with stairs going into the water directly in front, can't miss it." Not the greatest directions considering that describes half of Venice.

And I just wanted to let you know, you jinxed me. I did find a bedbug as I entered my dorm room. It oozed of fresh blood as I squished it. I had to google imaged bedbug after as I've never seen one before and wasn't sure. It turns out in the lifecycle of bedbugs, I had just killed a full grown adult. Too much research and too many graphic images...so wasn't looking forward to sleeping that night. First time I used my sleeping bag, and thankfully no bites in the morning.

Venice was somewhat touristy considering there were 5 large cruise ships in port. And I believe it was the off season too. But Venice was still very attractive and a romantic city at that (I should know I'm from Seattle...come on "Sleepless in Seattle". Didn't do me any good as I explored the city with another bloke.

Sunset in Venice.

Gondolas and overlooking the canals.

View from the 2 minute 0.50 euro gondola ride across the canal.  Much better than the standard 30 minute 80 euro ride.

You can really tell they love soccer in Italy when they have signs like these...

I`m really there!

Budapest...possibly my new favorite?

Wow what a beautiful city (sorry I apologize for having a limited vocabulary especially when it comes to descriptive adjectives). I find it difficult to concisely portray a city within a couple sentences or even paragraphs, but I still try.

While I was in Budapest the weather was pleasant albeit a little chilly with gusty winds. Had to buy a sweatshirt to survive the Budapest nights. My original plan was to chase the sun so I'd have a lighter pack on my shoulders, but the sun was too fast (or I was too slow). And I was told most people overpack when backpacking, but I think I took their advice a little too closely :)

Great view of the city.

3rd largest Parliament

Budapest has great traditional hearty food and they definitely enjoy meat, so not the place for vegetarians. Luckily I'm a carnivore so I had no problem. Only issue was I struggled to push forward and stay active after each meal. Food coma every time.

Heart attack waiting to happen. Basically a donut, garlic sauce, sour cream, and cheese.  Yea that`s how they roll in Budapest.

Beef stew with pasta. So yummy.

And the Turkish Baths...heavenly. Need I say more. Just wished I had more than 2 hours to enjoy all the pools and saunas. I did come out looking like a wrinkled prune though...a glowing, fully relaxed, and stress free prune.

Inspiration for the Walt Disney castle.

Deja Vu in Vienna

So I did it again.  Somehow my Vienna pictures got deleted so all I have are the food pics from my Iphone.  I was having an Asian craving so I had Pho and Teriyaki….so money.  Miss the food back home...wish I found a Korean BBQ joint. I knew the food would be good though because Vienna has the most Asians I’ve seen in all the cities I’ve visited.  And I started to realize, a lot of the cities are starting to look the same.  Building, building, cathedral, castle, building...

So good on a chilly day. Hit the spot for me.

Sashimi was surprisingly really good.  I love salmon.  Reminds me of home and Musashi.

The best so far...Prague

Prague was awesome!  The city was amazing with beautiful architecture and the people were so friendly.  For example when I went to buy some fruit, I didn't have enough Czech Koruna so the guy lowered the price and threw in some bananas for kicks.  And everywhere I went I received student discount even though I told them I wasn't in school.  They just said, "you look young enough".  And you definitely can't beat 1 euro beers.

Sooo good. This is the kind of food I can eat everyday.

Ugliest building in Prague but probably the best.

View from the top. Pretty amazing.

Amazing weather in Krakow

Poland and I started off on the wrong foot, it was all my fault.  I wasn't aware that Poland wasn't part of the Eurorail Pass system.  I assumed they were, so I ended up having to buy a ticket on the train once I passed over.  I was living the good life in plush 1st class, then I got booted to 2nd class which isn't bad compared to normal Polish trains.  Thankfully, the tickets were cheap. 

1st Class...so comfortable.

Polish Train

Downtown Krakow

Traditional Polish food.  Reminded me of country fried steak, but instead of steak...potato.  Still yummy.

A couple nights in Berlin

I didn't realize how huge Berlin is.  It's around the size of NY, probably bigger.  I almost found out how large it was the hard way too.  I was planning on walking to the Tanzanian embassy to get my visa but thankfully the cross streets weren't on my map, so I took the tube instead.  The embassy ended up being in the heart of the burbs in a residential neighborhood.  10 stops and and around 25 minutes later I arrived.  That would have been a long walk!  I still managed to do around 10-15 miles a day with so much to see:  the Brandenburger Gate, Berliner Dom, Reichstag, and let's not forget the Berlin Wall Monument.

This is for you Jennifer - a picture of my hostel bed

Note: If you ever want to lose weight and a waist I recommend backpacking for an extended time.  So much exercise and not as filling food, I probably lost 15 lbs and 2 notches off my belt already!

Also if the Irish say lets go out for ONE drink, don't believe them...they're very persuasive.

Is it possible?

So I sat down today and figured out my next month in Europe.  13 cities in 30 days, is it possible?  The tight deadline is required if I plan to climb Mount Kilimanjaro before the rainy season.  I even had to cut out Istanbul, Turkey and Greece which I was looking forward to (Turkish baths).  Need to make sacrifices sometimes.

1.      Berlin, Germany

2.      Krakow, Poland (Auschwitz)

3.      Prague, Czech Republic

4.      Vienna, Austria

5.      Budapest, Hungry

6.      Venice, Italy

7.      Rome, Italy

8.      To be determined city, Switzerland – recommendations would be gladly appreciated

9.      Paris, France

10.  To be determined city, France – see above

11.   Madrid, Spain

12.  Valencia, Spain

13.  To be determined city, Portugal – see above