Initial Images

I took over 1000 images while on my last vacation. Yesterday i did a first pass through them and came up with 600+ potentials. Here is a montage of the initial selection. In case you are interested, here is a montage of all the trip photos.

James Burke

A short conversation about this photo led me to design this shirt. I doubt i will ever print it.

Just Another 9 to 5 day

Yes, Wednesday was just another 9 to 5 day, except that in this case it was 9pm Tuesday until 5pm Wednesday, and that after working 8am-6pm on Tuesday. I get home Wednesday, sleep for a couple hours, eat, then find new problems and work again from 10pm until a little after midnight. In a 40 hour period, i put in 32 hours of work, a new record for me (though i think i also did a straight 30 hours of work once).

It's so good to be back from vacation, where i stayed up for 40 hours straight just sitting in airports and train stations. Which reminds me, i meant to write a couple follow up trip posts but haven't had the time, due to work. Maybe tomorrow.

Notice the lack of a plane at my gate. It is 16 minutes past the time my flight was supposed to leave and they have yet to make an announcement about what is going on.

US Airways sucks - even the Serbian train system is much better than this.

The mess at Philly. This airport made Lima's processing look good.

But friends i have seen the perfection of airport terminals and its name is Munich Airport Terminal 2. More on that later.

Missing in Action

Things i miss:
- my bike.
- /etc.
- my computers.

Things i don't miss:
- work.
- hearing the English language.


(note: "things i don't miss" may reflect that i still get enough of those while on vacation)

Wrapping Things Up

Almost by chance, I happened to meet Kirsten in Zurich and spent some good time with her in CH, exploring a bit of Bern and Zurich, the buildings, the birds, the drug addicts, the food, the art bears, etc, etc.

I took the nighttrain to Vienna, met a nice Norwegian family in my train compartment, and slept as best i could in the closed quarters, only getting lightly hit in the face a couple times.

Now am in Vienna exploring the internet cafes. Net access is quite expensive in Zurich - 5 francs for 30 minutes, but in Vienna i found a place that is 3€ for 1 hour, first hour free if you buy a drink. Still more expensive than Rome, but work will reimburse me, yes?

I have no map or tourbook of Vienna, but spent a couple minutes exploring some stuff online. It is doubtful that i will see any of the popular sites, but i enjoy exploring the other sides of things anyways.

And yes, if i see some little guy selling bad paintings on the street, i'll be sure to buy one.

I wonder how many times that joke has been made.

Old New Buildings

Of all the coincidental occurences, a friend i made the last time i was in Rome happens to now intern at my father's old work - the WFP, which is headquartered in Rome. I asked her if i could see her office (surely a strange request) because the offices had moved since my father worked there, and she obliged. She gave very good directions and once i arrived, showed through the new office buidling that she describes as "spiky", a very accurate description for an angular, 3-winged triangle building with a facade consisting of long poles reminiscent of cactus leaves.

Thanks, Dunja!

Changes

Looking for a birthday present for my niece, i tried to find a toy store i remembered in EUR. Unfortunately i could not find the store; it seems a McDonald's has replaced it.

When we lived there, EUR had 1 McDonald's. Now it has at least 3, each less than a 10 minutes walk from the other.

Bella Roma, un'Altro Volta

I've been waiting to have some good penne all'arrabiatta again.

Was a 21 hour trip by boat and train from Bar to Bari, but felt longer since i had to leave the hotel 10 hours before the boat left.

Did i mention anything about Montenegro? It already seems like a separate country than Serbia, even though technically they are still the same (option to separate comes due next year). Quite a lot of beach-goers, of course. The landscape is qutie nice on the (very lengthy) train ride down, nice mountain landscape towards the latter quarter of the trip.

One note about Serbia & Montenegro - they definitely aren't tourist places, or at least i couldn't find any tourist shoppes in Belgrade or Bar. I wanted to buy the typical tourist t-shirt from one of the places, but all i found in Bar was a shirt with a patch sewn onto it. Perhaps there aren't yet enough tourists to have a tourist shoppe? Someone could corner the market right now.

My stomach is tired of growling, so i am off to find a plate of pasta, and see if that one pub still offers good Guinness.

Quick Bit

Made it to Bar, Montenegro. The trainride down was over 9 hours long; i hear it is 45 minutes by plane. On the plane i met a couple folks who spoke some English (at least they knew more English than i know Serbian) and i got to converse for the first time in a week and a half (aside from online, that is). A choice quote from Oliver, the musician: "While we were bombed, i played basketball. When they bomb the bridges, we put festival and i sing music on the other bridges. When the rockets went across the sky, we get on the buildings and cheer and clap for our soldiers."

On the topic of the rocket's red glare, i also got to see fireworks Friday night in Belgrade. No, i mean real fireworks, not NATO fireworks. I don't think they were celebrating the U.S. (or Canadian) independence day, i think they were related to some festival going on.

The best independence day fireworks i ever saw occured a few years ago, while i was driving out west. I was 10-20 miles east of Denver, CO, heading towards the city. Though mile-high, the city lies nestled on a plateau before the Rockies really begin. It was around 10pm and four separate communities were having simultaneous firework shows. Each show was separated by maybe 10 miles, so to me it looked like the whole horizon was having one very big show. All firework shows should be that encompassing.

More Random Thoughts on Beograd

Belgrade isn't really a tourist town. I had to search to find places that sold postcards, and only found them at the Zoo and the Aviation Musuem. That museum was quite nice - all the other F-16's and F-117's i've seen have been intact, not shot down. The museum has much more than the shot down planes and missiles, there are also airplanes dating from the beginnings of aviation, WWI, WWII, and modern plans. Most are even in quite good condition.

Still, it is good to see the shot down planes and missiles, then come back to the city and see the blown up buildings.

In the northern part of the city, on top a hill, is a large castle, the Kalmegdan, which is probably the most popular tourist attraction - it is the only thing a local could tell me to see when i asked about the city. It is quite a fair-sized castle with good views of the rest of the city. Inside there are some war machines from WWI and WWII - some small tanks and artillery. Part of the castle has been rennovated into a zoo, with the castle walls serving as parts of the walls for some animals, like the bears and tigers. Among the many birds they have caged are some snakes (python, boa, anaconda ("there's snakes out there this big??")), bears, wolves and dogs, like the German Shephard and Pit Bull. Those dogs didn't look too happy.

Beograd also has a nice cable-stayed bridge . I walked around for hours trying to get a nice shot of it and only got soaking wet and a half-decent photograph. I've spent a good deal of time walking around, partially because i've been lost, partially because i've let myself get lost, and all because i wanted to see what the cty was like.

Now i have to go catch a train to a city in Montenegro, from which i will hopefully be able to get a ferry across to Italy. I'm not yet too confident on how that will turn out.

Oh, in case you watch the news, those bombings took place about 150 miles away, and i don't plan on going close to there.

Any Vegans Still Alive in Belgrade?

A note to any vegans thinking of traveling to Belgrade - don't bother trying to eat. You are better off taking up smoking and drinking lots of beer; these vices will help stave off hunger. Belgrade is one of those places where vegetable soup comes with more meat than vegetables.

You could just buy fruits and bread in the grocery stores, but i don't trust those either. Better to drink and smoke.