Picture dump

Mountain (The Eiger)

Imposing Rock Cliff

Other Big Rocks

Man Fighting Horse 1 (Wien)

Man Fighting Horse 2 (Wien)

Praha

The Production of a new Tom Cruise Movie that I stumbled on in Berlin

Juxtaposition

Reichtstag German Parliament.

4000 Vertival Feet, Venice at Sunrise, Wiener Schnizel, Superstardom, and Photos Pending a Computer with USB

It has been about a week since the flood experience, though it feels substantially longer. In that time I've managed to stumble my way through four countries and seem to have survived it unscathed.

After leaving Interlaken I traveled to Grindelwald at the base of the Eiger. The clouds finally broke allowing for a gental stroll the gradually turned in to seven hour round trip hike to Kleine Scheidegg almost a mile higher than where I started. My legs suffered for the next two days, but the views were well worth it.

After Grindelwald I took a long train to Venice, which is very beautiful and so forth. It's also a maddening maze of narrow unnamed streets. I would probably have gotten lost without my astounding sense of direction that automatically took me in a circle back to my hostel even though that not where I was trying to go (Autopilot).

Then I took the really long train to Vienna, where I ate Wiener Schnitzel. Aside from gastronomical pursuits I visited the Kustgeschichte Museum, which was amazing. The Egyptian, Greek, and Roman exhibits were especially interesting.

Danach I hopped over to Prague, where the man at the reception desk had a good laugh apparently because Peter Novotny is a famous Czech movie star. I assured him that I was Peter Novotney and not Peter Novotny.

Now I'm in Berlin and tired of writing.

Goodnight.

Catching up to the Past

Prohibitory Internet rates aboard the 'River Ambassador' (0,75 €/Min) prevented me from posting from quite some time. Now I've located free internet.

The River Ambassador

After a successful rendezvous with my parents at Mooring Place Rijerkade, Amterdam we set sail down the Rhine River towards Köln. The passengers on board consisted of roughly; 90% old people, 5% really old people, 2% parents but not yet grandparents, 1% Younger Kids, 1% People more or less my age, 1% whiny 18 year old girls who continuously complained that there wasn't a party in the streets on a Monday night ("I thought Europe was supposed to be out of control"). Aside from that minor annoyance wI was pampered with 4 course meals and a proper shower every day for an entire week. Most days we stopped in a city or castle locale along the Rhine, where we were taken on guided tours. The continuous theme was the destruction caused by various European wars, with the 30 Years War, Napoleon, and WWII being the most frequent culprits. At the end of the week we disembarked at Basel and bussed to Luzern.

Switzerland - Part One (The Good Part) ((Forshadowing!))

Luzern is pleasantly placed on a lake surrounded by mountains. My Family and I took a boat ride around the lake, took a cog rail to the summit of Mount Pilatus, hiked around for a few hours and then descended via Gondola. The day was sunny, warm, and made me like Switzerland.

The next day a light rain began, my Family departed for home, and I hopped on the train to Interlaken.

Interlaken

Interlaken is a small town tucked between two lakes with mountains surrounding. The imposing Eiger, Jungfrau and company lay to the South, but I have yet to see them*. A break in the rain allowed my hostelmates and I to travel to Grindelwald and hike up the foot of the Eiger. The accent went well, but rain accompanied us the entire decent. By the time I returned I was soaked through 3 layers of clothes, but at least we had made it back to the safe and dry hostel, Right?

The Flood

Wrong.

At around 10:30 we were informed that the river adjacent to our hostel was rising and threatening to flood. We were evacuated to the local emergency evacuation center/bomb shelter under a school in the back of a Swiss man's Jeep. Standard Swiss Army blankets and cots kept us the night.

Bunks that are not made for people over 6'

Room 15 Members weathering the storm

* I wrote most of this yesterday when I was stuck in a cafe, wet and cold. Now things are drier and looking up. I can even see part of a mountain.