photoblog » Europe 06

Day 14: home again

pete — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 23:25:59 +0000

plane is too early to do much today, so packed up and had breakfast and hopped on the train to the airport. Stopover in iceland, did a bunch of shopping at duty free, back to the city, met a really nice man from jordan on the BART.. forced myself to stay up late to get re-adjusted to the time.. lost my camera charger at the hostel in berlin, they are sending it..

Day 13: all of London

pete — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 23:25:15 +0000

today woke up earlyish and tried to make the 10am changing of the guard.. it wasn’t the big one with music and whatnot, but just the regular shift change.. started to pour rain again.. so I jumped on the tour bus and got around to all the sights.. couldn’t take very good photos because the rain on the window.. but there’s a couple spots I am going to try revisiting this afternoon.. the rain seems to be clearing off and I actually saw the sun for about 20 seconds!!!!

went to the tower of london and happened to be there as the regent or something like that of the tower was retiring.. will have to go find out who exactly he was later.. but they had this big ceremony in the downpour with all these guards and officials and whatnot. verry fancy, verry wet.

Up to camden market, back down to big ben etc., then tate modern art museum which was great, free, and open late!

Day 12: rainy

pete — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 23:22:38 +0000

took most of the day trying to find my bank.. and walking around in the rain.. no internet at my hostel so I am in a pay use cafe.. and I’m starting to feel a cold coming on.. wishing I was in my nice comfy bed back in berlin.. or san francisco I guess would be ok too..

my shoes finally gave out.. both have cracked open on the souls and my feet got soaking wet before I made it to anything of interest.. so spent 2 hours trying to find a pair of shoes that fit me.. seemed like every pair I picked out were not in my size.. then I had to go back to the hostel to drop off the old ones and get dry socks.. now most of the museums are closed and its getting dark.. lame.. treated myself to a nice dinner and a movie, that cheered me up. stopped raining after the movie and on the way home lots of people were handing out club flyers, so I popped in to check a couple out and ended up staying till 3am… good dancing and good vibe.

Day 11: London

pete — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 23:22:04 +0000

rough time so far in london

the tube was backed up, and I got lost on my way to the hostel so I showed up late for check in. luckily there was still a guy there.. but it took me like 5-10 minutes to find reception.. no signs saying it was on the 3rd floor.. retarded.

its got to be the worst place I’ve stayed the whole trip.. crappy little rooms, and facilities are all run down, I have a private which I got by getting a double and paying for the second bed, but the pillowcases are sewn to the sheets and the beds are not long enough for me.. so rough night sleep so unconfortable.. mid way through someone walked right into my room.. I had the door deadboalted!!! didn’t make me feel safe, but when I complained at the desk they said they gave the person the key cause they were locked out and they gave them the wrong one or something.. so it was just a mistake.. but still didn’t ease my nerves any..

Day 11: Berlin

pete — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 23:21:35 +0000

got up and went out to the bauhaus archive museum, then to a bunch of shops and galleries near neue synagogue that were closed yesterday, and a bunch of shops near my hostel. found some awesome stuff, really good morning. its starting to rain and I have to go over and catch my plane to london.

Day 10: German Unity Day

pete — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 23:20:53 +0000

so oct 3 is german unity day, a national holiday celebrating the re-unification of east and west germany. Many things are closed other than it seems most restaraunts, a couple galleries, and museums. I spent the day walking around to some galleries, went to check point charlie, and then to the east side gallery, which is a section of the wall that has been preserved and turned into a public art forum. over the years it has sort of been grafitied and eroded, so the most impressive works remaining are the current graffiti. but there were some remniants of the origonal murials painted on it. I also walked around a couple neighborhoods and photographed graffiti… did my laundry.. etc.. saw so many shops I wish I could have gone in, and gallerys that were closed…

Day 9: Berlin

pete — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 23:20:06 +0000

Day 8: Berlin

pete — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 23:12:14 +0000

made it to berlin safe and sound… had a rough day, a little hungover from the oktoberfest, but mostly in one piece.. happy to have a single room and a nice hot shower. great neighborhood (prenzlauer berg) so many cafes and whatnot everyone was out having late night dinners, had some thai at like 11pm and the place was full! almost every place I walked by had a dozen people in it. looks like people tip here and I think I was verry generous to the thai people because they said thanks and bye like 20 times before I got out the door.

Day 7: More wiesn

pete — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 23:11:33 +0000

Went on the ferris wheel, hung out till late, and met a ton of crazy folks, and made it a proper evening at oktoberfest.

Day 7: Munich

pete — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 23:06:42 +0000

today I walked around other parts of munich, and got a train tix to berlin for tomorrow. I have not found good internet here, I can not post photos from my palm for some reason, the wifi blocks me, and the internet stations don’t have usb so I can’t transfer that way either.. also the kezboard has the y and the z transposed.. and ä is ‘ and so fowarth.. crayz.