In the middle of nowhere

Gosia has kindly hinted that it is time for me to post again. It has been about a week since my last post and not a whole lot has happened, at least not much I really want to blog about.

I spent two great days with my grandparents. Papa tells some funny jokes and good stories (both of which are even better the tenth time you hear them... in a day). We were lazy and talked all day and then went to the Moose club for happy hour the first day and the American Legion on the second (they LOVE their happy hour).

Most of our time, those two days, was spent trying to escape the heat wave by not moving. If you don't move, you don't notice how you're sticking to the furniture.

I'm going to skip over my trip from Buffalo to home because it's largely uninteresting and I want to get to the part where I woke up my nephew out of his very peaceful sleep, just so I could see him vacuum. I'm not kidding. I am selfish enough to wake a sleeping child for my own entertainment.

He was cranky till he got a sippy cup full of milk. That perked him right up, and the fun began. He's 18 months old and he actually likes vacuuming (my mom's dustbuster is the perfect size)! You have to turn it on for him, but once he gets started it's hard to tear him away. My sister is so lucky! House cleaners are not cheap, and she's got one for free! Okay, so he's not free, he's freaking expensive, but he's damn cute.

He also does other things like "big man" where he does the muscle flexing thing and makes a sound like he's crapping his pants (it's supposed to be more of a grunt, but it's funnier his way), and, like all kids, he likes to play with his food. Watching him suck on a piece of peanut butter sandwich and then spit it out was probably the most disgusting thing I've seen in a while, but I guess he's allowed.

He does have some behaviors which make me wonder a little though, like how he head butts people. My brother kindly calls it nudging, but either way, it's something we're pretty sure he learned from my sister's dog (who died before I got home). When it comes to dogs in general, he's a little "different". He barks back at them and greets them with a kiss before laying his head on them. He's just a touch "feral" as my brother says.

Aside from my evening with the nephew, I didn't do a whole lot until the weekend. Friday and Saturday was like Becca boot camp. On Friday, I went on a short, but very hilly bike ride. Saturday morning, I decided to suffer through some Tai Bo, which is a registered trademark (just want to be safe), and then go on a little walk with my dad.

I should preface by saying that I called him to go for a walk. He chose the route though, and man did I suffer. He said it would be six miles each way, when we got there the map said seven, but in reality it was closer to nine (especially with our off-trail walking added in). So 18 miles, which (for those of you who work with kilometers) is more than a marathon at 28.8 km. It was fun, walking all the way up to Dresden for icecream, but my legs have never been so sore from a hike! The worst thing was I was already tired half way through. We still had to go all the way back. My dad, of course, whizzed along (as if I wasn't already feeling out of shape).

In the end, it was a really cool hike, and we got to see a lot of run down mills and wonder about how important they were once upon a time. My dad told me the names of lots of things I wish I could remember and helped me improve my poison ivy identification skills. We found fossils and crayfish in the creek and I let minnows eat off my feet. Actually, I yelped every time they did it, even though it didn't hurt. We saw lots of bugs, two turtles, a blue heron and a baby toad. Good stuff! Afterwards, we ate Chinese and went home.

I slept well.

Today was spent eating and playing volleyball mainly. My brother had a picnic with his friends and their families. So, I went, exhausted myself and here I am. I'm ready for some of that relaxation stuff again.

Riga was more than we hoped for.

Riga was a relief from the moment we got in to the train station. There were people everywhere!

The first challenge, however, was already upon us. I had the address for the hostel, and knew that it was only a short distance away, but couldn't remember the exact directions. I knew we had to turn right, but after that, I couldn't remember. So, we decided to ask somebody, "Do you speak English? Francais peut-etre? Espanol?"

It might have worked out well, but Dan decided to ask a blind man! I kid you not. The man had dark glasses, one of those foldable sticks and a woman was leading him by the arm. Dan later informed me that he didn't realize he was blind, he thought he was just a little retarded or something. So, I ask you, blind or retarded, would you have followed the man around? Well, we did, but only for a block (and I think mainly because Dan felt bad for having asked the man in the first place). Then we sort of ditched them on a corner and went right. We found the street, but then when the wrong way down it. In the end it took us about 15 minutes to get to a hotel that was 5 minutes away. I'd say that's not too bad.

The hostel, was another small challenge as the owner tried to give us a six bed dorm instead of the double that I had reserved. I was irritated, but luckily it was Dan who really complained. I mentioned that we were supposed to have a double bed and the man said he would go and see if one was available. Of course, there was, and we moved in there to a big bed and a television.

We relaxed a bit and then ventured out in search of food. We found an Indian restaurant, but not in time. I had already become a raving bitch. Dan dealt with it remarkably well and we enjoyed the rest of the evening walking around the old town of Riga on very full stomachs.

The next day was spent in much the same way, walking. We spent the morning walking around Europe's biggest market, and let me tell you, it's HUGE! There were stands outside, but even the indoor part was the biggest I've ever seen. The stands sold things like black bread and black bread and honey and more honey and fruit and smoked fish and more smoked fish and loads more smoked fish and some cheese. I think you get the picture. Variety isn't necessarily the spice of life for everybody!

After the market tour, we decided to head for the beach. A half hour train ride (and some guessing which way to go) later, we arrived. Unfortunately, I don't think either of us had a really accurate idea of what it was going to be like. The beach was nice (overcast skies meant there weren't too many people out and about) but the sea was like an infinite sandbar. Dan must have walked out at least 50 meters before it was deep enough for him to swim, and due to the rivers that had outlets nearby, the water wasn't salty! What kind of sea is that? We actually enjoyed ourselves, but didn't stay too long.

On our way back to the station we took a stroll along the "strip" of the town and marveled at how American their little fair seemed (there were rides and vendors). They even had a group of Peruvians dressed up as American Indians playing flutes and things. It was funny.

That evening was also spent walking around and eating, and eventually we went to bed, knowing that the next day, the trip would be over.

The trip back to the states began painfully with a 4 a.m. wake up call. I was convinced that it was a long haired man who opened our door, but it was apparently the woman at the desk who was trying to wake us up. Where else in the world would they actually come in to your room to wake you up?!

We made it to the airport long before necessary and diddled around till our flight was about to leave. We made it to Prague bright and early and waited a painful four hours for our connecting flight. We struggled to sleep on the way to Newark and succeeded in turns. We ate horrible food and watched a pretty bad movie and a measly nine hours later we arrived! Dan was off to his brother's and I had one more flight up to Buffalo. Twenty-six hours after waking up, I arrived at my final destination.

That was two days ago, and I'm still recovering.

Vilnius to Riga

We will never take an overnight bus again!

I have never been on a bus that smelled so strongly of stinky feet and sweaty people before; it was awful. It was smelly, and uncomfortable (with an intermittent snorer directly behind us and a whining little German girl in the back) so neither of us slept more than 2 hours. And the sandwiches Dan bought us for dinner were so dry that, in asking for water, a dust storm of crumbs blew out of my mouth. So, we ate candy bars instead, and for the rest of the night we twisted and turned and wished we had tried for the train.

Upon arrival, we couldn't have been more disappointed. We hadn't booked any lodging because we thought that, like in Poland, there might be people offering cheap hostels in the station. Well, we were wrong. So the search began for acceptable accommodation. We knew the prices were high there, so we did our best to get the most for our money. I'm not sure we did too well, but we did try. Going from one overpriced hostel to another, we met a French priest who helped me carry my bag (a blessing, ironically, not in disguise).

The priest was there with a group of girl scouts (in the U.S. I believe they're non-denominational, but French girl scouts are apparently linked to the Catholic church). They had spent three days in the countryside, where running water and electricity are scarce by his accounts, and several days in Vilnius. He warned us that the town had very little to offer apart from a few pretty churches and lots of fancy cars.

He couldn't have come closer to the truth. We checked in to a guest house and slept for a few hours before heading out to discover the old town of Vilnius. In our quest for something akin to lunch, we found a blyni restaurant. In retrospect, that may have been the highlight of our stay there.

We spent a good part of the afternoon walking around, noticing the fancy cars (there was actually a hummer there!) and pretty churches. It was not at all what we expected. Nothing looked all that old, and the town seemed overrun by foreigners (tourists, businessmen and diplomats). We stopped at a cafe for a little while, but it turned into a long while when an old Norwegian man started talking to Dan about American politics and social programs.

He did a lot of criticizing for a man who moved is business from Norway, which is highly taxed, to Lithuania, where labor and costs were much cheaper. He did, however, emphasize how much he LOVED the United States, regardless of that fact that there is no universal health care.

He also told us about his trip around the world when he was just 15, and explained why he didn't like Arabs. He had a really bad experience in Yemen, but he didn't go into a lot of detail, so neither will I. The man liked to talk, so we didn't manage to slip away until his mistress arrived.

Aside from the Norwegian and a couple of pretty churches, Vilnius proved uninteresting. So, we were more than happy to part for Riga the next morning, and the five hour train ride turned out to be about as interesting as our day in Vilnius.

We boarded the train and found our seats (right next to a grumpy Belarusian woman and her granddaughter). We couldn't help but marvel over the use of space on the train; where there were two seats with a table, the table flipped over to make the two seats into a bed, and another bed flipped down from the ceiling!

So, for five hours, while Dan went around making friends with people, and I slept and read.

Warsaw, Poland

We took an "express" train from Krakow to Warsaw on Monday morning. Interestingly, "express" does not mean that the train does not stop, but rather that nobody gets on or off. We boarded around noon and set off through countryside that I could have easily mistaken for parts of western New York. Well, almost. I did see a really large, glass encased statue of Jesus in sombody's front yard, which I probably wouldn't find just anywhere in the U.S.

On the train we met some Canadians who were doing more or less the same trip as us through Eastern Europe, with the exception that they went to Budapest first. They seemed like really nice folks, but not great travellers. Their suitcases were so large that they wouldn't fit through the train's hallway. For a moment I considered myself a light packer! They also got off at the wrong station in Warsaw, but it's hard to say if it was intentional or not.

We arrived at Warsaw Centralna where we had arranged to meet Gosia, but like an idiot, I didn't ask where! I don't speak polish and it turns out that not so many polish people actually speak English or want to. Needless to say, their signs were rarely written in a language I know, so it took a bit of work to buy a phone card, figure out that the first phone I tried just wasn't working and eventually get Gosia on the line. It took us about 30 minutes to actually find each other there. Boy, was I glad to see her face!

She got us to the taxis where we were refused by the first for having too much luggage, but the second one grudgingly took us. In a few minutes we got to the place we would call home for the next two nights.

Time flew by as we chatted, watched british comedy (that I actually found funny!) and saw very little of the city. It turns out I wasn't very interested in seeing Warsaw (and neither was Dan). We saw the old town, but knowing that everything had been bombed and then reconstructed it felt more like walking through a Disney park (pretty as it was) than an old city. Frankly, though, I was here to see a friend so that's what I did.

So now it's time to go. Dan and I opted for the 9 hour bus rather than the 24 hour train (which goes through minsk and might, consequentially pose some visa problems) to Vilnius. It's impossible to "look forward to" a bus, but we are looking forward to Lithuania. Here's hoping it lives up to our expectations!

Prague to Poland

Post number two coming to you from Krakow, Poland. I love this town. It's really cute. It's small with the potential for boredom, but we've only been here one day and we're leaving in a couple of hours to go to Warsaw.

Prague lasted too long. Dan and I both wish we had left earlier, but things got in the way and we had some trouble deciding where we wanted to go. On the upside, on Friday night, we got to see a really bad poetry reading by a really awkward guy who wrote mildly amusing poems. There were probably 12 to 15 people there and we were the only ones laughing.

On Saturday, we rode bikes for an hour and a half and made a really sorry attempt to ride up to the castle. Uphill is difficult, uphill on cobblestone is next to impossible. So we stopped at a cafe for some desperately needed water and then rode back into town. I was exhausted and sore and more than happy to give the bike back, but Dan and I decided that we should do that in pretty much every town from now on. It's a great way to see a lot with very little time.

Saturday night, we caught the train to Krakow. It was a two person cabin like the train we took to Paris, but with a commie touch. There was no air-conditioning and no shower and no little toiletries, but there was water and a sink and a big window with a sign above it (in Czech, French, German, Italian and Russian) asking people not to hang out the window. It was small, but surprisingly comfortable except for the fact that just as we were leaving the person in charge of our car asked us to please double lock our door for the evening. He also informed us that we would be woken up around two in the morning for the border crossing. At least I knew in advance that my evening would not exactly be restful. We did get some sleep, though, and I was ready for the day when we arrived at 6 a.m. (When I was trying to convince Dan that it wouldn't be horrible to arrive that early, I told him it would be cool to see the sun rise. Needless to say, I didn't realize that the sun rises in Krakow at 5 a.m.!)

We found our hostel and left our bags (because we couldn't check in until one o'clock) and headed to the center of town for breakfast and bikes. I did all I could to prevent Dan from wandering off to some grassy patch to sleep, and we finally made it to a terrace in the main square for tea.

After tea we wandered over to the bike rental shop and picked up our bikes from an old polish man. I think we were lucky that he spoke one of our three languages, because it turns out that not that many people speak English here. We went for a long ride along the river and saw some interesting things. It was nice not to ride on too much cobble stone because our bums were still sore from the previous day in Prague!

We checked in to the hostel, showered and tried unsuccessfully to nap (nobody told us it would be hot in Poland!!), then we headed back into town for lunch. We found a place that only made perogies and had a delicious lunch despite the fact that two nasty girls had stolen our terrace table and tried to cut in line (it was a self-service place).

The rest of the afternoon was spent riding around to various neighborhoods and watching Dan scale a climbing wall. We had dinner, returned the bikes and went back to the hostel to crash. The day had been wonderful and sleep was quickly upon us.

So, now it's Monday, and we're off to Warsaw to see Gosia. I haven't seen her in over a year and I couldn't be more excited!!

When fascists cry...

I didn't think I was the blogging type till last night. I met my first fascist ever, yesterday, and he cried!! So, now I must blog. It makes sense, trust me.

At the moment I'm in Prague. I left Madrid almost two weeks ago now (after three long years!), and have been traveling a bit. We took the overnight train to Paris, which could have been lousy, but we had a private cabin with a shower! And from Paris we shipped out to meet Dan's family in the suburbs. Actually, it was more of a small town, but not far from the city.

We stayed for a week in the tower of a medieval farm. And, as always, the Mason family entertained. We ate and ate and ate some more, rubbed elbows with some very musical folks, drank lots of wine, played music with plastic spoons, went for a walk that we all thought might never end, played petanque and scrabble and had a generally good time relaxing. Unfortunately, the week was soon over and we returned to Paris on Bastille day.

We spent the weekend in Paris eating and drinking and socializing some more. We were, sucked in and it was over far too quickly. We hopped a flight to Prague and we've been walking the city since.

There are a few too many tourists, but it's charming all the same. We thought about leaving two days ago, but haven't managed to tear ourselves away. The people are nice, the food is good and if you can stay away from the main squares it's all pretty cheap.

Getting to the inspiration for this blog, we met up with a Czech friend of a friend of Dan's mom. It sounds complicated and it sort of was. We met him for lunch yesterday and chatted a bit awkwardly for two hours. He explained why he didn't like paying taxes that helped people other than himself (because he worked hard, of course) and why it was better to hire part-time employees for his business (because you could pay them much less and they didn't ask for vacation and other silly benefits) and why women should be paid less than men (if you know me you know that I am not a feminist, but even I was slightly offended) and that he actually liked Bush's foreign policy (he is the only foreigner I've ever met to think Bush is a jewel). We tried, gently, to persuade him that fascism was not the answer, but I don't think he was convinced.

In spite of our differences, he invited us to come to his house for an obviously impromptu barbecue (read on for an explanation). We said sure, we'd be happy to go, and then debated whether or not that was a good choice after leaving the bar. It had been a little awkward and we wondered if it might get worse.

We met him at the train station and just barely made the 25 minute train to his house. When we arrived we were greeted by his very pregnant girlfriend who looked like she was trying way too hard to be happy. Then she said she had to go into the city for a meeting and confusion set in. There was clearly major tension between Evil (that is his real name) and his girlfriend so when he left us with his other friend, David (a very nice musician), we figured the evening might not end up as planned. An hour or so later, when Evil returned, he informed us that he was having some serious problems and that it was a bad time for a barbecue. And, since he was crying, we decided not to complain.

We walked back to the train station with his friend and waited 45 minutes with the bugs for the train. (I had never seen so many gnats on a train!) Finally, after a painfully silent (and itchy) ride, and arriving in the center far to late to eat, we stopped at a late night supermarket and wandered home with food that just couldn't compare to the barbecued steak we'd hoped for.