Blog or Bust

Hello all! I am in Dubrovnik, which is beautiful, but soon I'll be going to some surrounding villages in search of my grandmother Eva's family. Let's see what happens! The view from in front of my apartment building

To fill you in on Bucharest, it was really fun to stay in a hostel. I met all sorts of people, and there were books to read, games to play, and instruments in strum (a guitar). I made friends with an Italian guy and a Czech girl on Thursday evening and Friday morning, respectively. The three of us explored the city together on Friday, going to the Palace of the Parliament (built by the last communist leader of Romanian, the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon), a fantastic concert hall, a restaurant with a student discount (wish they had those in the states), an entertaining city tour, and dinner with live music. Simon (the Italian man) had a car and was going to drive Lenka (the Czech woman) to the train station that evening. I volunteered to join them to navigate just in case. But dinner went longer than expected, so I took the bull by the horns (partially because I was the only one with data) and we got Lenka to the train station in 30 minutes with a half hour be...

Welcome to the fourth rendition of Blog On the Go (BOG). I have only had one chance to even contemplate writing a post because I have been constantly moving and talking for the last three days, more so than usual. It was fantastic to see Viorel again. He was very gracious to show me around the city and different places where he goes in town. Every meal was delicious (maybe the company and ambiance made everything taste better). I did many things in town too: going up to the Brașov Hollywood-style sign in a cable car, listening to an organ concert, and visiting Bran Castle (which possibly inspired Dracula). I got to have dinner with Viorel's family one night, and that was very special too. I now visit one of the Romanian royalty's castles on the way to Bucharest!

Hello! I got up, as Wilson would say, at f***ing 4 o'clock today to catch the train, bus, plane, and shuttle to get me to Viorel's place in maybe an hour (we are hitting rush hour now). Everything was very smooth. Other than almost going to the wrong part of Stockholm to catch the bus, I had no trouble finding where I should be. All the WizzAir people were fairly pleasant, and I slept for most of the flight. On the shuttle, I met a woman who just finished her Masters in Germany and is from Toronto but has family in Brașov. She has incredible language skills. So, now I go through the Transylvanian mountains in stop-and-go traffic. Some things you can't leave in Seattle. Some things unite us all.

Welcome to the second edition of "Blog on the Go". Let's get through today, shall we? First, I did my laundry and met a very nice neighbor who works for an employment-matching company. We shared a laundry room. Then, Elizabeth (on the phone) and I finalized most of the transportation until we fly out of Frankfurt. A lot of trains. :) Eventually, I left the apartment. After lunch (slightly disappointing Swedish meatballs), I went to the open-air museum/zoo to find out they were about to close. The gardens were open, but the historical buildings would be closed. But I walked around the park and in beautiful gardens and forests nearby, which I think was almost as good. Then, I had some nice Indian food (the naan was a standout). Now, I'm heading back to the apartment to pack and try to get 6 hours of sleep in before I head to the airport. Go team!

This is the first of my new series: Blog on the Go. This is where I post things while I am doing other things, trying with attempted grace to multitask through train rides, strolling, etc. We begin with a jewel of a day because I went both to the Vasa Museum and a Viking restaurant in Gamla Stan (old town). The very first thing I experienced in Vasa was... people cutting me in line - but after that, Swedish meatballs! I discovered that they fairly consistent from restaurant to restaurant. I love the style, gravy, and sides, so I cannot complain. Then, I went into the actual museum and there was SO much to see. But the most fantastic part of the visit was no doubt seeing the gigantic warship from 1628 in person. I can only imagine how it would have looked fully painted in reds and golds. The ship capsized after traveling 1300 meters (less than a half hour) because it was built too narrow (12m) for its height (52m) as well as its poor above-to-below-water-level ratio. So it tipped with a...

Yesterday: relaxed in the park and saw Dirty Dancing at the Outdoor Cinema. I talked with a couple people from nearby Stockholm who are also avid travelers. I learned that in Sweden it's pretty common to take multiple gap years to work and travel, which is what they were doing. I had some unfortunate meals: one for the restaurant and one because of the dish I chose, but I barreled through and slept in today to recover. Now I'm off to the Vasa Museum.

Hi! Today, I went to the Tyresta National Park about an hour and a half from the city. Stunning and might go back. In the evening, it was an outdoor cinema in Japanese with Swedish subtitles (interesting international experience, didn't understand much). Missed dinner getting snacks and chairs for the movie, so I just had some mini-sandwiches on some big crackers (essentially) with Munster cheese and peanut butter. Brief today, so I can get on a slightly earlier schedule. :) First entering the National Park All the moss you could wish for! Bonus picture:

That sums up my day: went out in the rain to eventually go inside an underground museum near the oldest park in the city to look at the Stockholm medieval history. After looking at bones, old weapons, and recreated faces for several hours, I left and walked around town for a bit. On the way to the Nobel Prize Museum, I found a "music and history" event in one of the main old churches in the city, and I thought it sounded interesting so I went for it. It ended up basically being a show in the church put on by the church staff. The show wasn't the highest quality, but it was done with sincerity and was fairly informative. One fun fact: the church is called "Big Church" (but in Swedish) because in protest of the King and his search for power a painting was created that depicted the church as being huge compared to the castle. Then, I wanted to go somewhere less mainstream than in the super touristy old town, so I walked just a few blocks and went to a nice, quieter...

Took a while for me to get out today (as you can see from my previous blog post), but I had Swedish meatballs at a restaurant in the old town of Stockholm. I walked through the streets for a while and I watched a "Bollywood musical" that was part of the Kultur festival the city is putting on this week. It was very flashy and very surface-level storytelling, getting a lot of "ahhs"'s from the audience when the lovers reunited. Had some really good samosas at a food truck and then a roundabout walk home to explore a little more of the modern parts of Stockholm. More tomorrow... And before I go, pictures! Watch me play some catch-up. At Tivoli (yes, that is fire at the top of the entrance) Coming to Tivoli this fall (???, small world) Copenhagen Stockholm!

Hello! It has been quite a while. Let me update you briefly. I stayed in Bremen for almost a week and stayed with some friends I made in the artist community there. The three students I stayed with were either finishing or just finished their degrees in graphic design. We cooked together, listened to music together, and talked until early morning many of the nights. They had a whole spare room for me, and funnily enough, it was full of musical instruments (cool). Then, my goal was to get up to Stockholm to spend a week there. I then decided to stop in Copenhagen for a night because I could take the high-speed train from there straight to Stockholm. There was also a Flixbus that went straight from Bremen to Copenhagen. In Copenhagen, I went to the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world: Tivoli Gardens. I rode one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the world called "The Roller Coaster" (but in Swedish), and it was really fun. A man physically rides with the ...

Hallo! I am now in Bremen. I had an exciting day in Duesseldorf and in transit yesterday, trying to find the best route through town to see some important buildings. Hannah wrote out a great plan for me, but I accidentally left it just inside the apartment door before I locked myself out. I eventually met Hannah where she and her mom works (a very nice furniture store, by the way), and Hannah told me a lot about the town as we went back in the direction of the apartment. We stopped by frozen yogurt, which she was happy to hear I thought was delicious. They had a lot of fresh fruits (as well as sweeter things) to put on the yogurt, and the yogurt was actually yogurt and not basically ice cream as it is in the U.S. They just had one flavor of yogurt, just a plain base, and it was really good. Also, it made the decision-making process easier. :) We walked through a market, by the town hall, through the bar area ("the longest bar in Germany" because there are so many bars next to...

I know I just wrote to you that I had my first day in Brussels... well now I'm back in Germany, in Dusseldorf. I am visiting a friend from UW. I am ready for some rest after almost 11 hours of traveling (with a couple hours of sightseeing in there: including walking on the Rhine, exploring Brussel's Grand Place, and eating Belgian chocolates sitting on the front of the city hall). Yesterday, I stayed at a bar for several hours, listening to a jazz pianist and then playing the piano with an Englishman and a Frenchman. I got drinks on the house! Afterwards, there was a delicious Moroccan place just two doors down that happened to be open until 12am. I can still imagine the butter seeping out of the baked potato now... Today, I explored Brussels in the morning, which was when I was in the Grand Place (the central square of the city and eating chocolates there. I also saw the statue called "Manneken Pis" of a boy peeing, which makes the fountain. But my personal favorit...

I arrived in Belgium after getting scrunched in a Bla Bla car in the backseat with two other guys. My inner knee muscles are sore, and that's never happened before. I walked around the neighborhood, which included a walk almost to the center of the city since it is so close. A delicious dinner with lamb ribs, wine, and mousse set a high bar for Brussels. Throwback to China? Dinner Basically a creme brulee pastry Almost sunset Here comes a full day tomorrow!

I spent this evening in Strasbourg, and it was really fun. I got to know the city pretty well for exploring for seven hours. I spent the rest of my Swiss Francs at a Starbucks, caught a Flixbus at noon, walked through town to get into my Airbnb apartment, ate dinner in a hipster French bar, listened to some traditional music from this area, walked down the canal, and watched a light show projected on the Notre Dame in Strasbourg. My first favorite moment was offering to take a picture of a family of four, and then being asked my another person if she could take a picture of the five of us. My second was seeing a man chilling on the side of the street with his dog staring at him. With only a small glance, he just handed the dog a chunk of his sandwich and kept munching. Now, Brussels for two days in a very central Airbnb with a journalist and then off to visit a peer from UW in Duesseldorf! Pictures to come when they are finished uploading!

Got out a little late today because I was planning for the trip. I almost have the upcoming week figured out with a draft for the rest of the time. I walked around the Old Town, spent some time out of the 90 degree weather in the cool Grossmuenster cathedral, and had dinner in a picturesque location on the canal. Also, I had my last class-related meeting today that I can foresee. Did my laundry and am getting ready to go to Strasbourg, France tomorrow. Salut!

Hi! As I have finished my class and have my last class-related meeting planned for tomorrow, I am settling into my break and trying to set up a ritual of typing up an overview of my day each evening (or some regular interval). Today I did several hours of planning for my trip. I am trying to decide how much of it I should book in advance, but no matter what it's good to make sure that my ideas are plausible given transportation, hostel/Airbnb availability, etc. For the middle of the day, I went to the Wildnispark Zurich Langenburg, a wildlife reserve that tries to keep their animals in open spaces. It is part of the government park system, I believe. It also has a larger section about a half hour further from the city that is larger and does not include any animals, per-say. Just nature and whatever happens to be there. It was nice to see the animals though. Two highlights were watching the horses interact and neigh with each other, and seeing a baby moose and his mother. Near the ...