Thinking out loud.

That name probably doesn’t ring any bells for you I would guess. Well perhaps the German name of the scene of the most extensive experiment in genocide in the history of humankind does…. Oswiecim is the actual Polish name of Auschwitz. That is where I spent this morning exploring, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau as well as the Jewish ghettos here in Krakow (the setting of Schindler’s List). It was certainly an interesting, yet horrifying, morning.

I began at Auschwitz and was surprised at the location near the town, in a nice bit of trees, and the like. Really not at all what I expected and at first not nearly as impactful as the Killing Fields outside Phnom Pehn in Cambodia, the other site of mass genocide I have visited. Then, after wondering through the barraks, the death wall, etc. I arrived at the crematorium which was also the site of the first test of using Cyclon B as a gas chamber agent for mass murder. All the sudden I was just about sick… 850 Poles and Soviet POWs were murdered in cold blood and then burned to ash in the very room I stood in.

Then it was on to Birkenau (Auschwitz II). All the sudden I actually felt the very of essence of the ex-Nazi concentration and death camp all over and inside. Out at Birkenau, it is stark and barren with nothing but a few ruined buildings and the standing chimneys left where the hundreds and hundreds of wooden barraks once stood. Much more what I expected, it was surreal. The ruined buildings were the remains of the gas chambers and crematriums used to mass murder somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million innocent people.

The train tracks run right through the middle of Birkenau and the gas chamber was not 10 yards of the track. A train of Nazi prisoner would arrive here carrying a thousand or more people. 15% were selected who looked like strong laborers for work and the others were told they had to be bathed before being introduced into the barraks. All of these people were moved into a confined room with fake shower heads on the wall to keep chaos from breaking. The door was locked, the Cyclon B was turned on, and 15 minutes later the chamber was a crypt of thousands of dead bodies. All because they weren’t within the chosen race. Often there weren’t even people picked to labor, just one entire train load of people offloaded directly into a gas chamber and terminated. What the HELL is wrong with mankind? Why would we ever feel this is an appropriate course of action?

In certain circles back home it has become fashionable to put swastica patches on your clothing, and the next person I see with one I am seriously gonna tell how sick they are. Hitler and his ilk were clearly evil to the very most core of the word. And while the Nazis were in a class of their own, what I think is worse is it seems to me we didn’t even hardly learn anything from it as a human race. The same kind of genocide went on since then in Cambodia, Somolia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Iraq, and even as we speak in Zimbabwe and Darfur. I may just be in a rant at the minute but what ON EARTH is the point of having a group like the United Nations if these kinds of things (the very most agregious of crimes ever known to man) are still aloud to happen? What else could they possibly have to attend to that is more important? I don’t get something. We will one day live in a world where borders, cultures, religions, ethnicity, etc. is not a means for hatrid… hope it comes soon.Â

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Are there any great/famous chess players from Hungary? Because if so, I figured out how they practice. I was kickin back today in one of the thermal baths here in Budapest (quite a famous thing in Budapest), and was watching some Hungarian dudes playing chess (they play on like these chessboard stands in the middle of the pool) when one of them saw the games had peaked my interest. The bloak asked where I was from and I told him the states. He says… “awwww, US very smart” and invites me over for a game against the guy who was champion of the day at that point. The champ was this guy probably 55, with a horrible half bald/half ponytail haircut missing a whole bunch of teeth, but real nice. Now not that I am good (in fact I would categorize it more like barely proficient enough to not look like a complete idiot), but this guy ravaged me in probably under a dozen moves, never taking more than 10 seconds to make any of them. Haha… lets just say I did not represent the American flag well at that little gathering.

OH MY GOSH, so much has gone down since last time (sorry for the delay, Grandma even emailed me with a check-in message It is so nice to feel loved, haha). I am in Budapest, Hungary at this point although almost ready to head out again. I was left with a bittersweet (or actually, sweetbitter) taste of Slovakia upon leaving. Sweet because I traveled out of the city to a town called Devin to check out Devin Castle, which was SUPER cool. Very historical, cool looking, the whole bit. Bitter because on my way out of town I managed to turn a 50 cent bus ride into a 30 dollar bus ride by getting a ticket for not having my bus ticket properly validated. It sucked for sure, but I deserved it I guess, haha. In my defense, learning to use six different major metro public transport systems in two weeks aint all that friggin easy!! I hope that guy gets a ticket on the Denver Light Rail one day, HAHA (not that anyone actually uses that thing).

As for Budapest, FABULOUS. I have checked it all out… Castle Hill, the Danube, thermal baths, museums, cafes, street markets, on and on. This is a fantastic city. It has the old world look and feel still, but is totally pulsing with life. Where Bratislava is sleepily awakening from Communist rule, Budapest is on the express train outta there. Which brought me to an interesting observation I think when compared with my travels on the great continent of Asia.

I think I can judge the growth rate of an emerging market economy, with no prior background knowledge, after traveling there for just two to three days. “How in the world could he think he could possibly do this?” you ask. Well, based solely on the quality of the tourist scams there (only works in emerging economies where they can still get away with tourist scams). Those places where I find creative and interesting scams run on tourists, I find that in general the people are highly entreprenurial, capitalistic, and hungry to get their big slice of the worlds wealth pie. Look at Slovakia (in Europe) and Laos (in Asia) for example… poor, poor attempts at scamming tourists. Totally uncreative, poorly thought through, the whole bit. Both are sleepy, ex-commi economies where people still dont seem to realize you can get whatever you want in the world without the government taking it. Next example, Budapest. Not bad, yet needs work. The main scam here works like this… a guy is walking down the street, pretty girl walks up and acts like a tourist, gets him to go to “her” bar to buy her a drink, guy doesnt check drink prices acting all macho, bill comes, drinks are OUTRAGEOUS, billed is served by thugs, girl disappears, guy ends up with 200+ euros worth of beer and doesnt even get a good buzz. Pretty good but a bit tired. After playing along just a bit to see if the scam plays out as noted after being propositioned myself last night, I sat at a nearby sidewalk cafe and watched the girls ply their trade for an hour or two. After about a dozen attempts, sure enough, some dude fell for it. A Brit, on a guided tour, out by himself at night. Hahaha, poor guy. I stopped him, explained the gig, and made a friend (who then offered to pay me which I refused in lieu of a free beer ). So… like I said not bad, works occassionally obviously, but a bit tired. Now back to Asia. The unsuspecting tourist can pretty easily get their flippin SOCKS scammed off in Thailand, China, or Cambodia!!! What does this say to me? Watch out world, the SE Asian economies are a comin!!!

I am off to Krakow, Poland on the sleeper train tonight and onto Prague in a few days. Cheers!!

So perhaps one of my most favoritist things about international travel is the… FOOD!! (You thought I was gonna say girls huh?) Well, I made a discovery and I think I’m in love. In Austria, there are these stands on the street that have like these massive kebobs of beef and chicken rotating on a spit that they cut meat off of to make a sandwich. The beef one is stupendous! They cut the beef off in thin slices, put it on a toasted roll with some lettuce and tomatoe (I got mine without lettuce of course), and then pour this white sauce that tastes like that white sauce they put on Greek food and shake two kinds of seasoning on it. I don’t have any idea what the sauce and seasoning are but DAMN… that is one good sandwich. I ate like three of them in two days. Even better, the sandwich along with a bottle of peach iced tea is only three euro. It is the ticket… best street food I’ve had west of Thailand.

Also, the other food over here is great. German food… how can you go wrong? Sausages, sauerkraut, and boiled potatoes with a German beer. Mmm mmm mmm, deeeelish. Unfortunately I have to call Weiner schnitzel in Austria a bit overrated but Game Goulash, a specialty in Slovenia, over dumplings more than makes up for it. Slovenians think their wine is amazing, which it is not, but again there is the compensating factor that it is a dollar glass for most kinds.

Man, I’m hungry now. I gotta go dig up something Slovakian to eat! Ciao

I have arrived this afternoon in Bratislava, which is the capital Slovakia (that is four already this trip mom), and hit up the ATM for some new cash since they don’t use the euro here. When I arrived at my hostel I found myself digging through my pockets for my freshly attained Slovakian Krona for five minutes because I already have such a mess of currency. I currently have in my wallet US dollars, euros, Krona, Slovenia Tollar, and Croatian Kuna. What exactly happened to this one continent, one currency thing? Funny thing is that I think I’m done with euros for the possibly. Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic all have seperate currencies also. Perhaps I’m missing something here.

So… first off, I feel terrible for what happened to Gene. I am so glad to hear that it appears everything is OK. I guess there is not a lot I can do for him but say I am thinkin about him and if he’s in Europe… or Washington D.C. or wherever else it is I am next three months (everywhere but home I think) that I am happy to drive!!

Back to Europe. My time in Vienna wrapped up beautifully with a fantastic St. Pattys Day evening with a bunch new friends I met there (a German, an Austrian, two from Down Under, and a couple of Florida Gators). All of us travelling alone except the other two from the US. I have decided that someday I must make it back to Vienna in the summer to lay around in the gardens at the Schonbrunn palace when everything is green pretty.

Bratislava is a nice change pace for a guy like me who enjoys seeing the diversity in life. It is clear when you arrive in Bratislava (only an hour or two train ride from Vienna) that you have left the high-society Hapsburg culture to an ex-communist place trying to revive itself. I doubt any of you have seen the movie Eurotrip (not exactly the American Pie types generally), but if you have, the exchange rate aint quite as good as in the movie.

Well I’m off to see the sites of Bratislava. I still haven’t managed to get photos downloaded anywhere yet but I’m working on it.

Wow everybody, thanks for all the comments… I am totally shocked to see so many people dropping a line. That is supercool. After careful deliberation, I have decided that Rick must come next time, offering to buy beer and all, haha

I did have a casualty tho… my cell phone fell out of my bag and broke. So, I am somewhat incommunicado with the Western world. I did get a prepaid European cell tho I have not yet figured out what the number is to call it. I guess email is the best communication anyway.

So I think I figured out at least part of the reason I came to Europe… to go to Vienna, Austria. I am happy to say that I did not miss my train stop yesterday morning and have been hangin out in Vienna since. This is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen and I think it would be even better in the summertime! Schonbrun Palace is worth the visit on its own. Again, I am totally feelin the cafe culture here but has led me to noticing one thing I really don´t like here. Vienna is know for its great coffee and its famous coffee houses along the streets. Some of the “kaufeehuases” are really cool and all and if I drank coffee, I am sure I would think it is delicious… but what I have seen three of right in old town Vienna?? Yup, STARBUCKS. Somebody has gotta put a stop to that.

People here, like Munich, are much cooler I think than in Slovenia and Croatia. Maybe I just notice because there are more English speakers but I find them much more hospitable. Hung out last night with a German, two Canadian girls, and a guy from D.C. I like the diverse company.

So since people are reading this, I have to come up with some more creative stuff write. Which, I will do next time probably from Bratislava, Slovakia which is the next stop I have decided. Ciao!

I forgot to mention quickly in my last post that I talked to Mike and Clark via IM just now. Clark was right to say that is pretty cool we could talk so easily for free, so far apart. I love that! Anyway, I agree with him and am nominating him for a transfer… some fantastic beach somewhere with a Wi-Fi connection Clark could work from should do.

In the meantime, I wanted to mention that it would be great if anyone is actually reading the dribble I post if they would leave comments! Talk you all later.

Well after careful reflection the last day or so, I have determined that I have some rare sleeping disorder. I spent a good part of yesterday on gorgeous train ride from Germany down into Slovenia which crossed through Salzburg, Austria and much of the Austrian Alps. It was really pretty, and I love riding the train, but there was a small problem. I totally fell asleep and missed my stop which was supposed to be Ljubjlan, Slovenia. Even funnier is the fact not only did I end up in the wrong city, it was entirely the wrong country! Haha. So guess what mom… I get to add another capital to my list as I was in Zagreb, Croatia for long enough to go out and eat dinner and such before catching a late train back up to Ljubjlan. That now makes four countries visited since leaving home. Point being, I have had this ongoing problem with sleeping on various modes of transport ever since I was a little kid.

On the bright side (not that there was actually any dark side), I have rather enjoyed Slovenia. I can’t honestly decide how much though. Ljubljan is a cool city generally, very arsty culture. It makes it a prime location for the attraction of ‘hippy’ travelers. I met a few last night, they were pretty fun, dread locks and all. The Hostel I stayed at was a great refelection of the artsy culture also… It was an old prison that was converted into a hostel. My room was an ex-prison cell all decorated up with a cool round bed and everything! It was the most expensive night of lodging though so far at 30 euro.

Overall, Ljubljan is cool but not in my top ten list of coolest cities I don’t think. The culture makes the streetside cafes and nightlife awesome (very midafternoon ‘cafe’ culture indeed)!! However, the same artsy culture has led to the government tolerating a large amount of graffiti around the city. The hippies who come think it is awesome, and I find some that is pretty cool, but most of it just looks like graffiti to me actually. Anyway, I have decided to move on from Slovenia I think. From here it is back to Austria, Vienna to be exact. Everyone I know over 30 says it is the coolest city in this part of the world so I am excited (in case you’re wondering, everyone under 30 says Prague is). I am off… I think I’m going to burn a CD of photos soon so perhaps I will have some pics to share next time.

Gotta wake up for my stop this time… HAHA, byeeee

I am feeling quite historical today I think. Last night I sat and drank beer in the worlds most famous beer hall (Munich is the beer capital of the world and the home of Oktoberfest)which also happens to be the place where Hitler gave his first speech (Hitler was Bavarian and Munich is the capital of Bavaria). Shortly after I was taking in a museum where I watched the clip of Reagan in Germany demanding “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!!” I was really quite taken back by the whole thing, like I think the whole world was since the wall fell and and the reunification of Germany occured. What is an even more amazing reunification perhaps though is my reunification with my bag!!! That’s right, couple days late but it’s here and I am loving my first clean pair of pants in four days.

This whole lost bag thing kept me here in Munich a half day longer than I had in mind but that’s OK I guess. I just bought a train ticket outta here though that leaves in about two hours. I’m riding from here, through Salzburg Austria (famous for the Sound of Music) and down to Ljublana in Slovenia. This is the part of the trip where I’m taking some scenery in the alps. I think you should all get a map out and look for Slovenia so that I feel like I have a bit of a geography lesson here.

As I prepare to leave Munich I reflect on the city and have determined that I really like it a lot. The only other foreign country in the world I have been to where I felt the people were aas hospitable as the Germans you meet in Munich beer halls is Thailand. I also met some cool people to travel with here. In fact, I met two girls that were real cool and came within just of a hair of getting on a plane with them from here down to Egypt to see the pyramids and such but decided I better save for another day. I also met a real cool guy from England last night who is travelling in Germany doing research for a biography he is writing on Kalishnakov (the dude who invented the AK-47). Gotta remember to check amazon.com for that one in a year or so. I also met a group of folks (one Serbian, one Spaniard, a Russian , and an Italian) who actually work on mobile technologies under the direction of the German equivalent of NASA. Cool stuff heh?

I am finding I really like travelling alone as it almost forces you to meet new people. And obviously, many thus far have been quite interesting. Not bad I think considering this is the morning of my third day in Europe.

Therefore, I Travel

Somebody thinks I´m in Germany and scrambled all the keys around!!! This is HARD! Haha…. anyhow, I made it as I,m writing from the Euro Youth Hostel in Munich! I flew to Frankfurt with only one problem. YEP, you guessed it, my bag is gone and the airline has no idea where it is. Come fly the friendly skys right?

It is snowing pretty good so I,m glad I brought my fleece rather than putting it in my luggage. I really hope they find it the next day or so cuz I was only planning to stay here two nights then leave Germany. Not gonna let it get me down tho, I´ll just have to make due… what doesn´t kill you only makes you stronger right? Particularly when you are 10,000 miles away from home for nearly a month with nothing but the clothes on your back

Well, not much else to report yet. Train ride down here to Munich was gorgeous although I was jet lagged a bit. That´s it for now race fans, I´m out. I sooooo deserve some of that world famous Munich beer right now. Catch you next time around.

AHHHH… I can’t believe I got everything done today! I got everything at work in order, sorted out lingering problems at the store, mailed in my taxes, applied for hunting licenses, did laundry, finished packing, and on and on and on. EXTREMELY productive day today but I am done and ready to fly to Germany tomorrow morning. My friend Newel at work would totally say I took the ball to the hoop today, haha!! Keep a look out friends, the next post will be from somewhere on “The Continent” as rich folk say.