The next day they invited everyone over that spoke some sort of English and we had a 'little' party.. and I got to sleep on a couch. I was planning on leaving the next day, but.. well, they decided to take me out and show me a real techo-club and.. well, I could stay on the couch again. But it ended up some people weren't feeling too well from the night before so we decided to load up on beer again and spend the evening together again. (Beer in Germany is 1DM (or 75c) for 1/2 liter from the supermarket. And 7.50 CND for a 1/2 liter of vodka) That night I met Deiter who was really into hip-hop. I said I wasn't that into it, so he decided that the next night I should go to this Hip-Hop festival. And thusly it was arranged that I should stay on a couch for another night. The next day I got up, went and saw "There's something about Mary" in German (Verrückt nach Mary - or literaly "Crazy about Mary"), then got some authentic German ice-cream and then headed to the hip-hop festival. This ended up being sort of a club in some old brick building that seemed to date back before the war, under some train tracks. They had guys outside doing graffiti and inside they had breakdancing competitions and some rap groups doing live performances.

So, I plan on leaving the next night... Well, I spent the day bumming around the malls and then went to see Gasometer: a big tower (100m) that used to house gas. It had been turned into a museam which had an exhibit on Christo. This is some strange artist who has some maniacle fasination with wrapping buildings, include the Reichstag. Afterwards we headed back to get the train, but we were late... so..... I stayed another night. Which brings us to today. Today was the first day of German classes, so I spent the day ... at school! (Who would of thought - Take a trip to Germany and end up going to school). First class was English then math, Philosophy and finally Biology.

So, plans are I should be on a night train to Munich tonight and get there tommorrow morning. I've spent pretty much a week in small town Germany sleeping on couches and ... well, drinking cheap beer. From Munich I plan to head to Milan, Italy and then to Rome... but, with the way things are going, I'll be in Argentina by the end of next week....

Alright.... Picture time *yaaaa*

Here's some of the people in Mulheim in their natural habitat.

Here's a pretty standard view of Berlin - Most of the city seems to look like this.

Here's the three girls from Australia I met in Belgium

Here's a picture of one of the last standing peices of The Wall in Berlin

Amsterdam was everything it's made out to be. We got up early the next day and headed straight to the Heinleken brewrey. $1.50 for the tour and it finishes off with you in their beer hall and they give you all the beer you can drink for a 30 mins or so. We staggered out of there, went to the Van Gogh museum and got our culture for the day. That night we headed to the Red Light district where I got to see a real-live drug bust (o0o0o... Ahhh). The next day we saw the Anne Frank museum and then the girls headed out their seperate ways (Two to London, one to Munich) and I stuck around for another day and then took a night train to Berlin.

Berlin looks pretty much like a typical 'American' city. Wide streets and new buildings. There are cranes all over the place putting up new buildings. I've wandered around a few places in the city and am planning on doing a walking tour with a group tommorrow morning. They're cheap and the tour gives you a lot of information about the history of the city. I *was* going to do it this morning.... But there were these other Australian girls (You really gotta watch out for those Aussie girls.. )and an American guy and, well, they taught me this new drinking game... So much for an early day...

I'm probably going to stay in Berlin for a few more days and then look at going to Prague. I'm not sure of the Visa requirements to get there, and I'll have to check that out.

Once again, no pictures. A lot of places aren't too big on letting you use diskettes... Maybe next time :)..

So far, SOME of the people I´ve met include an australian and his mom. She could read latin and he was a fan of Roman history - I went to the roman museam with them getting translations of roman engravings on one side, aénd details of why the Romans were in france and the politics behind it on the other. I met a girl from Quebec who had spent the last year 1/2 travelling around Europe without any money. She ended up in Spain with $100 and didn´t want to leave Europe - so she´s been working at restraunts or picking grapes ever since to keep travelling - She was on her way to Turkey. I met a Lithuainian from former USSR. He had been in the Russian special forced and fought in the Afganistan war. He was probably a little older than me and was still pretty much "shell shocked". He told a bunch of us some pretty horrific stories. Now he drives trucks across russia, drinks Budwiser, smokes American cigarettes, and listens to country music. At one point I was at a table with a guy from S. Africa who spoke French and broken english, a girl from Qubec who spoke only French, an Australian who spoke only English, Two girls from Spain - one spoke spanish and portugeese, the other spanish, english and french, and there was a guy from Poland who - at the age of 18, left to see Europe - landed in Italy and went to the information desk to find a place to stay. She asked if he spoke english, nope. Italian, nope. French, nope. German, nope. Spanish, nope. And so he was stuck. Today, he speaks Italian, French, English, and Polish fluently. He also can get by on Spanish and German. I was on the train with a guy who was born in Argentina, and lives near Amsterdam - He speaks broken English, and fluent french, dutch and spanish. I feel pretty pathetic with only english and a little french ( Tho, my french is getting a LOT better very quickly :) )

I`m currently in Brussles in Belgium. Home of beer, chocolate and a statue of a little boy peeing. Probably going to stay here for a day or two then take a train to Amsterdam. I`m meeting a bunch of people there. Ends up were all sorta going the same direction...

Okay lets see if I can get some pictures for you guys...

This is the TGV train in France - These things go 300 KMPH

This is the beach at Biarritz. Bikini tops and beer optional...

This is the view of St. Jean Pied du Port

This is a basic street in St. Jean, in the old town

This is My typical french meal

This is a typical cathedral - this one is in Bayeux.

This you may of seen pictures of - tho not exactly like this one...

This is a more typical shot..

This is what the subway station is like inside Paris

But so is this

This is another pix of St. Jean..

Okay - well, I guess that´s it for now... Till next time....

Anyhow, Last time I planned to go to Bayeux, which I did that night (And I missed my train trying to get there - fortunatly I managed to catch another one... ) I got to Bayeux and had to walk about 1km to get to the hostel I was staying at. It was about 9:00 at this point and dark, and I'm walking down these little narrow streets in this little town and I turn a corner and run into this cathedral that looks like something right out of Disneyland. All light up at night and everything - it was really cool.. I grabbed a few pictures and kept heading for my hostel. The hostel, called 'The Family Home', was in this OLD house and I had to go up these old stone spiral stairs to get to my room. (I found you can tell the 'genuine' old stairs from the re-done ones ; The old ones 'sag' in the middle quite a bit - I'd guess the house, or at least the stairs, were 150-200 years old.. ). The hostel was about 2/3s of the price of one I had in Paris, I had the room to myself, there was this cool window you could open up and look out into the street (with the classic french style window panes). It was great. I had a loaf of french bread (Un pain complit) some cheese and a bottle of wine I picked up in Paris which I had for kind of a late dinner. After Paris, I was in heven here :)

The next day I went to check out the 'Bayeux Tapestry'. It's a 70m long tapestry that was made in 1067. It shows the story of how William The Conquerer, a Norman duke, got to be the English King.

Next I went to see the Cathedral and then spent the rest of the day just wandering around town. The next day I went to the WWII museum. It was mostly just newpaper clippings from the Normandy invasion which were interesting... for the first 20 minutes... but you could of spent 2 days in there just reading stuff they had. They also had a bunch of old military stuff including military suplies, some propoganda they distributed around and weapons and things, which was pretty interesting.

It was still kind of cold out and so I decided to find some place warm to go. Which is where I am now. It's a small town called 'Biarritz' right near the spanish/french border on the north side. Apparently some of the best surfing in Europe - and I don't doubt it. The hostels are filled with surfers... So, I've been sitting on the beach, or eating crepes in the restraunts down by the beach with Anthony, a friend from Nice, Fance. He's down here surfing (like everyone else)..

I was actually staying a little north of here in a city called 'Anglet', but last night, while I was happliy sitting around watching TV, someone decided to start a fire in the kitchen. I guess it was the gas stove that started it because they couldn't put it out. Nothing big, but they had to call the fire department and evacuate everyone. So, I grabbed my stuff and god some great pictures of the french fire fighters :). The fire burned one of the walls, some of the ceiling, and of course the stove was dead - so no breakfast. They gave us all 1/2 our money back, and I came here today.

Tommorrow I'm planning on going to a small walled city called 'St Jean Pied du Port'. It was a big stop for people traveling to Santiago de Compostela, which was a huge pilgimage point during the middle ages. From there I was going to go to Spain, but it's *SO* hot, even here (29 today) and it's supposed to be 35 in Madrid, I'm going to go to Belgium next I think. Belgium, Netherlands (as Holland is 'properly' called, I've been told) and Germany. Then back to Spain, then to Italy.... or at least that's my plan at the moment...

Anyhow. Time's up.. Gotta run. I'll try to get some pics up as soon as I can ...

Later..

So, I didnt manage to see the St. James cathedral. I spent all day at the tower of London. It was a really amazing place where they used to execute people. You could see the spot where they cut off Lady Jane Greys head off, and then climb the tower to where they had kept her husband. You could look out the window and see the spot where he would off seen her executed and on the wall was carved "jane" and his initials with the date in 1500s. I stayed in another hostel just near there and met a guy from Dublin who was trying to find work in London, and an Australian who was just finishing off a 5 month trip around Asia. We had a beer (2 pounds, about $7) and the next day I took a bus to Canterbury. Cantenbury is a real touristy town, but it has this amazing cathedral. It's claim to fame is it's where a archbishop (I forgot his name :/) was killed by King Henry IIs knights in 1180 when they mistook King Henry when he said he wanted to get rid of the king. They took you and showed you where the knight killed him (they have an small altar there) and then to the dark and dimly lit crypt where the body of the archibishop was kept. About 500 years later Henry VII looted the church at the point when he split from the church of Rome and formed the Church of England.

Next I got a bus to Folkstone. It's a little city I was told to go to by my manager at work. She was born there. Normally people go from Dover -> Calis to get to France, but you can also take a ferry from Folkestone to Boulonge. I got to see 'REAL' british countryside, complete with rolling hills, sheep and old farm houses. The city itself was quaint and had a bunch of old cobblestone streets. I was there for 3 hours and then caught the ferry. You think Bc Ferries is expensive? 25 ponds ($60) for a 50 minute ride. That's walk on.

So then to France.. Which is really exactly the same as Britain, except I don't have to be paranoid everytime I cross the street, and I have to try to remember the French I learnt in school. Unfortunatly, they didn't teach us "Youth Hostel" or "Bank Machine" on Sesame street. But I'm slowly learning all the stuff I need to know. Boulonge wasn't in my travel guide, but it was a nice small town with lots of little things to see. There was an old castle and a newer (1800) cathedreal, but the crypts in the cathedral dated back to when the romans occupied it. There was also a castle that had been used for quite awhile, including by Napolean. They had a little museaum with letter he wrote and stuff. Also, during WWII some unknown citizen of the city snuck the Canadian army into the castle via secret tunnels. The Canadians suprised the Nazi's from behind and liberated the city. Back at the hostel, I met a Spaniard named Roberto and we went out and bought some stuff at the supermarket and made spagetti and got a cheap bottle of wine (about $1.75 for a 1 liter bottle - It's $2.25 for a 1 liter bottle of coke... ) Then we went out to one of the 'cafes' which are really more or less bars. You pay different price for the beer depending on where you sit. Standing at the bar is cheapest, then sitting inside, and it's most expensive sitting outside. It costs $7 for a beer there, but it was pretty upscale, tourist part of town.

The next morning we found out why the wine is so cheap - You more or less pay for it the next morning as well.

Roberto was heading to Scotland. I gave him a list of things to see in London, and he gave me his phone number for his place in Spain. He told me he'll show me how Spaniard drink. At $2/pint of beer and $1.50 for a shot of vodka or even Absenth, I can imagine.

I was planning on going to Bayeux. The point where the Allies landed in WWII. I was hoping to get away from all the churches, museams and castles for a bit, and take it easy there. It invoved going through Paris by train then changing to another train and out to Bayeux. BUT, I forgotten it was Sunday at this point. The early train didn't run that day, and I had to wait till the afternoon. Finnaly it got there and I ended up in paris at 6:00. The next train to Bayeux wasn't until 8:40, which would put me in town at 11:30. That could be bad - I hadn't arranged for a hostel and had no idea how late they stayed open there. (Most of them close around midnight... ) I really didn't want to stay in Paris. I was still pretty run down from London, and the whole point of Bayeux was to take it easy for 2-3 days. Also, I'd used up one of my 15 days on my train pass - for a trip from Boulonge to Paris was only 2 hours or so and I could of bought the ticket for about $30. Which is way less than one of the 15 days is worth on my ticket. To top it off it was raining in Paris. And I don't mean West Coast drizzle. It was pouring. Buckets. Wind blowing, sheets of water comming down, rivers running the street. I set of to the nearest hostel - it was full. Back to the station, I ALMOST went to Bayeux, but at the last minute decided to find another hostel. Figured out how to use the subway and got to another hostel - Full. But I got directions to another one 'nearby'. Another hour, and I was lost. Stumbled through some of my old french, and got directions and a map. Another hostel and managed to get a room. It was almost 10:30 by this point, I was soaking wet, most of my stuff was wet.

Paris isn't exactly leaving a great impression.

So, now I'm planning on checking out a few things in Paris that are free (The Eifel tower and maybe the Cathedreal Notre Dame) and then going to Bayeux tonight (using ANOTHER day on the rail pass) or maybe i'll stay in Paris..... Not sure yet.

Some quick Pictures (I hope you guys apprecitate this almost spending $15.. Any donations????? :) )

Cantenbury Cathedral
Tower of London, and raven
My hostel in Cantenbury
Inside the Cathedral
A standard French street
The castle in Boulonge Okay... There we go.. I may try to update again in a few days if I can find some cheaper internet.. Otherwise It'll be about a week :) Later...

The next morning I got up and headed into town and walked around following my guide. Went and checked out a bunch of places like the theater district, Buckingham Palace (really boring big boxy building they wanted you to pay £10 to see the inside of ) Big Ben the Thames river. Spent almost 3 hours in Westminster Abbey. It's a HUGE 600 year old church where they've buried a bunch of the royalty of England (Queen Elizabeth, Richard II,III, Henry V, etc.) and famous people (Darwin, Chaucer, etc.). They wouldn't let you take pictured inside tho..

It was getting late by that point. . I ran back and saw Piccadilly circus again by night. It was much cooler then. Wandered through the Theater district and checked out the London nightlife, and then went back to the hostel.

Today I'm planning on seeing Tower of London and St. James Cathedral. Then I'm going to stay one more night and head to Cantenbury and Dover. Stay there a night and then head to France by ferry the next morning.

Not sure when I'll find another internet connection, but I'll try to update soon!

Oh, BTW: It hasn't really stopped raining here. Feels like home, really :)

Things I've forgotten: Calculator and towel. DOH!

The next day I'll take a bus to Dover and then take a ferry (much cheaper than the chunnel) to France. Not sure exactly where yet, but I'm sure I'll figure that out..... :)

Just a reminder to all you peoples out there: I didn't write down anyone's e-mail address. If you E-mail me then I can add your email into my address book. :)

The parliment buildings
The view from Mt. Washington

Also, I got my ticket confirmed today. The offical date of departure is Sunday, Sept 12th at 8:20pm.

I'll be landing at Heathrow airport in London. Originally I wanted to avoid landing in London because then I have to pay for the Chunnel to France, which will cost about $100. *BUT* it ends up I can't buy a 1 way ticket to France; they won't let me in. So either a return ticket to France, which is $200 more, or a 1-way ticket to London and paying chunnel to France.

I'm going to be in Victoria this weekend (Friday Sept 3rd) for anyone that wants to hook up. Probably going to set up something at the Sticky Wicket or something of the sort. E-mail me if you're interested...

Only 13 more days......

The general chaos of work...
More chaos. (That's my desk WAY in the corner)
My desk!
People working hard.
Monitoring stations. These keep track of all the networks across Canada...

That's all for now...