chriswelch.com

Ode to Fanta
Oh Fanta, you taste so sweet
Oh Fanta, you orange treat
How I love your bubbly ways
How I could imbibe you for days
Won't you take me home with you
So I could taste like orange too?

Okay, I'll say it again — "I love Fanta", and I felt inspired by my lucious lady in the 1-litre bottle sitting in front of me. To me, she is always half full :P

I'm spending my last 2 hours or so with you because, sadly, I will not have cheap Internet access for over a week, until I get to Barcelona.

I want to talk a little about the specifics of travelling on a shoestring budget, over vast distances. First, I've realized that it is absolutely necessary to build in slack time in your trip. Having the ability to add a day as needed is like a gift from above — especially when you have a mound of smelly socks yelling at you. Four flexi-days at the outset of the trip was definitly a great decision.

Next, let's talk about itineraries. With about 24 stops at the beginning of my trip (I'm not going to count them but feel free), I've shaved off three, killing the Loire River Valley, the French Riveria and Salzburg. As you begin to get a feel for your particular trip, which has a lot to do with you as a person and how you're feeling, you're able to anticipate what you won't like, and move the days to where you think they will be best spent. I now have 6 flexi-days to spend working on my tan in Italy, listening to jazz in Prague, or hiking in Switzerland.

And for the love of God, listen to Rick when he tells you something, and always leave right at the climax of your stay in one place. Just like in literature, after the climax is the falling action, and trust me when I say you don't want to hang around for the falling action. I mean, wouldn't it be nice to climax for 70 days straight?

Rick is the man, so listen to him when he says Madrid is only worth 2 days and not 3. You do have to plan your own trip, though. Rick suggested 5 days in London, et al., and knowing I would love England, I stayed for 8, although I should have left on day 7. C'est la vie. Remember, get out while the gettin's good, and you'll maximize your trip's fun factor.

Finally, let's talk about money. I have a number of very good books listing accomodations all over Europe, and I have to tell you that unless you're camping around Europe with 3 of your friends, US$30/day is impossible. With the exchange rate as it is, you'll have only a few euros for food and sightseeing after you pay for a hostel or basic hotel bed. So right now, my per day goal is €46/day or US$53/day. Here's how it breaks down:

• €100 for 10 weeks worth of presents for friends and family
• €100 for 10 weeks worth of phone cards (and yes they add up when you have to rebuy them in each country)
• €20/day for lodging
• €22/day for food, additional transportation, and sight-seeing (very pricey and adds up quickly)

So from now on I'll be withdrawing €320/week from the bank (I'm not using credit cards anymore since no one accepts them anyway) no more than every 7 days to force myself to stay on budget. Today, I did a little tally of what I've spent so far, and I'm about €2/day over-budget, so my next 3 withdrawls will only be €300 to get myself back inline.

If US$53/day sounds a little steep for you, you can take the cheap food option, which basically means you buy groceries for 2 meals a day and skip breakfast (which most do anyways). While grocery shopping is definitly necessary (for picnics in the park or to fight a cruched budget), I figure that while I'm in Europe I want to experience every part of the culture including the food, and for me it's worth it to shell out the extra money.

Alright, slackers... you probably wanna get back to your Jerry Springer, comfy sofas, and otherwise McLives, so I'll let you go, but check back soon and we'll chat again.

Bye Bye!

Okay, this is gunna have to be fast and furious — so sorry in advance for the tyipos... I missed my bus this morning to Ronda (just a day trip so no worries) so I have a free day in hot and festive Sevilla, Spain. I saw a flamenco show last night, and it was just about the coolest thing I've done on this whole trip. One of the dancer's feet were moving so fast there were actually sparks flying.

I love Seville. This is the nicest city I've been to, as of yet. Although, while downtown is such a great place to linger, outer neighborhoods of Seville, are sort of ramshackle and lacking character. It's like the rest of the city was just thrown up, and as such, all the tall apartment buildings are really quite ugly. Not unsafe, mind you, but just ugly.

For all the complaining I do about Rochester and Binghamton, I found myself comparing my favorite European city so far to them. I have always loved Binghamton, and Rochester, my adopted hometown, is also very habitable, I guess the problem with both of them is that they're so dead. Sevilla, and all the other cities I've been to have this vibrancy that I can't describe.

I've made it halfway through Plato's Republic. It's a feet unto itself that I'm reading fiction, but I guess because of the non-fiction nature of the subject matter I rather enjoy it. I could totally get into philosophy based off this... but it can get heavy. I guess I don't agree with everything in the book, but hey, I guess discourse is the nature of philosophy. One of the things that I've really discovered about philosophy, or at least Plato's philosophy, is that for the most part it's one big mathematical logic proof. "If this is true then that is true then this and this and these are true also." Very interesting. I owe Matt and my econ. prof. Jeff Wagner a round for giving my that peer-pressure shove I needed to actually invest the time.

The nature of cities in Europe is much different than in America. In comparison, Sevilla and Rochester. The two cities (proper) have the same population, but Rochester and so many other cities have this insane suburban area, whereas Sevilla (and I'm looking at a map right behind the computer moniter) has this rough line that can be drawn in a circle around the city where there are no more streets (or at least dramatically less). I would be willing to consider, and will do so, that this is a reason why Seville and all the other European cities (large and small) have a very vibrant city center (or centro ciudad en espanol).

Bath, UK is also another good example, where the city's total population is 80,000, about that of Binghamton/Johnson City, but there is, again, a very dense residential area within the city itself, and then only agricultural development outside of city proper. I would also be willing to guess that gas prices and the lack of good public transportation in these two European cities are to a great extent a reason for the dense development, wheras in America, where the gas is 4x less, urban sprawl can more economically be acheived. Okay, enough of this... I have so many ideas for my city in SimCity 4.

10 minutes left, and I have to tell you about Lagos. The beaches there were absolutely amazing. I totally didn't want to leave, it was so gorgeous. The only thing I did while there was hang out on the beach, read, and chill. So relaxing. The cool water provided a welcome break from the heat, which today at nearly 100F is stifling.

Lisbon was great, too. (On a side note, it has a near exact replica of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, and considers San Francisco to be its sister city — which is not hard to believe since it also has trollys, hills, and lots of row housing.) I will definitly have to come back to Spain and Portugal, and just remember to skip Madrid... well okay, maybe just spend a day.

Time to head out. Tomorrow the White Hills town of Arcos, and then off to Barcelona and Italy. Ciao... I miss you all and don't forget to write!!!!

I hate to do this, but I have to admit that my trip's been burning me out. Not in a physical, but in an emotional sense. Let me explain:

I took this trip so that I could have my first big adventure. I wanted to have my train ticket, my credit card, and my bag, and head off down the road. But at some point I let Rick Steves be my personal and sole tour guide, and soon I felt like I was taking Rick Steve's tour of Europe and not my own. Like some kind of self-guided trip of Europe, but having all the flexibility of those abhorant group buses.

I guess the fact of the matter is that I hate seeing all these "must-see" churches and museums that are starting to all look the same and mean little to me. Seriously, after 7 gothic churches, how much different are they, and more importantly, what do they add to my trip if churches don't do much for me? Don't get me wrong. I loved the Lourve and British National Gallery, but should I spend 6 hours in the British Museum to say that I "did" the British Museum, when only the first 3 hours interested me? And does the 700-year old church in Toledo merit €9 and an hour of my time when it had little to distinguish itself?

Yesterday, I went to a museum for the architect Antoni Gaudi (all of these photos that look whacked-out are actually Guadi's buildings here in Barcelona) and thought it was absolutely amazing. While Rick gave it a good 2-out-of-3, for me that was a must see. And I've visited 1-out-of-3's that were far more important to me.

And one sunny day in Seville, it came to me — Rick Steves is not me and I'm not Rick Steves. We have different personal tastes and the fact is, some of the stuff in Rick's books are ranked so well only because they are "must-sees" — but must I see them?

So for the last fews days, realizing this, I have been reading through Rick's still excellent, well-researched material (and I still swear by him), realizing now that he is only a guide, then setting the book aside, getting out my map, and playing the day by ear. I don't care so much if I don't see every sight wherever I go, as long as I'm enjoying what I'm doing. Whether that means shopping for new tees in the wierd shop down the street, or reading Plato on the cliffs of Arcos.

And maybe that's what Rick's first book was all about in the first place, and at some point I forgot the whole idea of travelling through the back door. Or maybe it's a lesson that needed to be learned through experience. Whatever it is, it's made all the difference.

(* Next update will likely be from Rome in 5 days. And don't forget about my birthday coming up on 7/14)

As promised I'm writing from Rome, and what a city it is. It's 4:00 and I'm just getting back from my 21st birthday fun. I'm going to take advantage of this free Internet service at the hostel and write, since I leave tomorrow for Tuscany, which will likely not be Internet friendly. There won't be much as my eyes are bleary and my mind tired.

After finally meeting up with Jorge and Carlos, I had some traveling companions that were really worthwhile, again. We went from Barcelona, to Cinque Terra, Pisa, Florence, and Rome. It was definitly a crazy time, and those two guys are great. Along the way we also picked up Nick (from Iowa), Margit Iren, and Malen (from Norway). While Rome is filled with history and culture, it really is a dirty friggen city!!! I mean talk about urban grime — this is dirt at its dirtiest.

After being pleasently distracted for the last few days, I'll be enjoying some good nights' rest in Tuscany and Umbra, until what will undoubtedly be an excellent time in Prauge, etc. (with Venice thrown in there somewhere along the line)

As far as the birthday celebration itinerary was concerned I opted out of the booze-induced haze for a pleasent night's walk around Rome with Margit Iren (sorry, Jorge, Nick, Darren, and Malen), and some violent American video games at the local Vatican arcade. ("Stick'em up Pope")

Okay, my eyes are really foggy so I have to get some shut-eye... I am on vacation after all ;)

Sorry boys and girls. I've been the busiest guy ever. I apologize. So y'all prolly wanna know about my trip, right? So I won't delay you any longer. Let's begin at Cinque Terre (pron. chinkwa terrah).

Barcelona was a great city, but for a little riviera fun, Jorge, Carlos and I are proceeded to the nearest beach in Cinque Terre. Truly an amazing region, this hometown of pesto was everything I would have hoped and more. Cliff diving into blue-green oceans, hiking across amazing ridges and valleys, and spending dusk sitting on the rocky shore of Vernezza as the warm breeze gently blew over the deep blue sea, was all part of our time there.

After a relaxing 2 days, we moved on to Pisa, which although home to a few amazing monuments of architecture, and mis-engineering, was easily done in a hour, and preferably on a day not quite as hot. That day we moved on to Florence (Firenze) and spent a day and a half lingering thourgh some of the greatest art and architeture of the modern era. The home of gelato, we had a 3 stop "gelato crawl", each of us eating about 8 scoops in total, all with musicians playing in the streets. What a great night. I highly recommend Florence to any traveller to Italy. Beautiful in its own right, it's a great city to explore.

I'm running low on time again, so I'll be brief. Rome, a great city, was filled with lots of ruins. I love Roman history, but there was much lacking as there was very sparse information given to help shed some background on what you were looking at... well it was there but it cost an arm and a leg. Not a very helpful strategy. Other then the people that I met, one of the highlights of the trip was a free 3 hour concert in one of the squares by Alanis Morriesette and Craid David. That was absolutly amazing and the crowd was so energized — how could you not be when you're at a free concert in Rome? To be honest though, Rome was a dirty place and was looking forward to moving on.

Onward to Orvieto, I spent a relaxing day and a half strolling the narrow streets and parks of this ancient fortified hill town. Much like Toledo, this city was a great counter to the bustle of metropolitan Rome. Orvieto had great handmade crafts, and provided an ample oppurtunity to do some gift shopping.

Now in Venice, I took the day and a half, and was delinquent on my sight-seeing obligations. I basically spent the time on a gondala, vaporetti (municpal transportation) and at the beach. This is a great city, beautiful, and dispite its insane tourism, a place I will defintly return to.

So you're caught up and I'm to Vienna for a day before heading to Prauge. I don't know quite what to expect of Vienna but I'm being open-minded. I haven't heard good things.

I miss you all.

Saying goodbye for the last time is a tragic event. In Japanese culture, they believe that beauty lives in the moment. Like the cutting of a flower, or the passing of a loved one, they find beauty in the experience rather than the objects. (Perhaps this is why they take so many pictures, but it still doesn't explain why they can't use their cameras!)

But unlike the Japanese, America's romantics, thanks to great 18th century Trancendentalists like Henry David Thoreau, find God in their surroundings, and appreciate beauty in the place. Think of mountain summits or candle-lit dinners and you'll appreciate the difference. Hiking 9,000ft in the Alps, Americans like myself can't help but feel their chests swell.

But in the moment when the goodbye's are over, not only do you see the past, as in death, but you see yourself in time without that other person, and the real meaning of goodbye becomes overwhelming. The power of goodbye lasts in the moment when the passion is no longer there and only the dull sense of loss remains.

No mom, I'm not dead. Sorta like when I didn't call you for two days cause I went on a trip for the weekend, and when I got back, the state troopers were looking for mem, and my RA thought I was dead. God bless moms, I guess. At least someone will make sure to know your still breathing. Still haven't gotten any cookies in the mail from you though. I've been in college for 3 years now. I think it's about time :P

So after two weeks of relative silence, I think you all would like an update. Sorry, I wasn't around much. I was unavoidably detained.

I think the best part of backpacking (and yes, we're called "backpackers" and are loved almost as much as George Dubbya) is the people that you get to meet. No, they're not all great. In fact, some of them down right suck, BUT it is a great learning experience, and great practice for life. Every now and then though, you get to happen upon a few people that are really great. Nothing specifically, of course, which would break the rules of my blog, BUT every rut in the road is soon followed by a collect $200 sign.

So I've spent a good deal of time in both Germany and rural Switzerland over the course of the last two weeks, so I will briefly give an overview of my thoughts on each. First, I will start with Switzerland, which is a great country, and is very picturesque in the Berner Oberland where I visited. But when I mean rural I mean rural. No, it's not uncommon to have cows in the gondolas, and yes, their favorite past time is passing time. Talk about the slow life... this is it.

A great thing about the Swiss, too, is that they're really in love with their country. I think every nation has to have a "We're So Great" days, and what the Berner Oberland lacks in sophistication, money, and population, they make up for in enthusiasm. I was there for August 1st (our July 4th, as the saying goes), and they were dancing playing, and shooting off fire works in every conceivable way. Even though most of the people used "konechiwa" or "hi" as a greeting, the real Swiss stood out for sure.

Moving quickly onto Germany... if you're German and you're wondering if you've got high cholesterol, you do. They're breakfast of sausages, cheese, bread and coffee, makes Buddha feel healthy. Talk about filling. I think I've eatten MEALS with a combined weight less than one German breakfast.

To their credit though, I'm amazed how this country, with such resources, is rebuilding one of the most important cities in the world basically from the ground up in only the short decade+ since the Berlin Wall fell. Not only am I impressed with the German's desire to forge ahead to become a world power, but also is taking such resposibilty for it's past, where countries like Austria (Hitler... oh, were we part of that?) and Hungary (Hitler... what's a Hitler?) have sorely not. Looking past the cranes of Berlin's rising skyline, you'll see a city dotted with momuments determined to let no one forget what tyranny causes, and certainly sheds some light to why the Germans were so against war in Iraq.

The most powerful example is the lone statue in an empty building of a shrouded woman holding her dead son, as a statement against the evils of tyranny and militarism.

Oops, I must be heading off to Denmark, but I will keep you all better informed as I finish off my last 10 days in Europe. Dum dum dum....

Man, I've been bummin'. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't taken a shower in 3 days (No, I'm not proud of it. No, I don't smell like a homeless guy.). I really just wanna get back home. If it wasn't for my plane reservation, I'd be leaving after Oslo. Thank God for the reservation. I'll stick with it though, and get through. It's just one of those inevitable lows that happen. Some things help. Like today I found an American food store and bought Doritos. I don't eat them at home but it was food for the soul.

I've been on this Scandanavian learning spree. In the last couple of days, I've spent more than 10 hours in 4 different museums learning about everything from ancient Dane commerce, to Swedish building styles since 1300. One cool museum explained how this one Swedish ship that sunk 20 minutes after it was set on her maiden voyage was resuced after 300 years in the bottom of Stockholm Harbor (or "haven" as they say in Sverge).

I did almost miss my train to Stockholm yesterday. That kind of sucked. I was sitting there reading my magazine (the latest edition of Business 2.0), thinking that my train would leave in a half-hour, when I got the sudden urge to double check the time on the train. Realizing that the train left at 23:10 and it was now 23:11, I hauled my bottom to the train platform, and the train was just being closed off for departure. Fortunatly, my charming good looks (and a 500DKr bill) got me safetly on board. (just kidding, it was actually 1000DKr)

Stockholm, and Scandanavia in general, is an extraordinary place, and I'm loving it more than I would have thought. It's a culture that believes in citizens taking care of each other. Just today, walking to this fine Internet establishment, I saw a 50-somethings woman take away a man's beer who was more than a little inebriated. As he yelled and threatened to attack her, she stood motionless, looking the man strainght in the eye, holding his crumpled beer can in her outreached arm. It was a powerful expression of citizens who will take a stand for the quality of their community. Think you'll see that in NYC?

And I have to declare the Scandanavians the undisputed winner of good looking people. Talk about a race with a good gene pool. I don't know if I can agree with the tall, blonde, and beautiful, stereotype — well, at least not the tall part. But I can say that there are some of the best looking men and women I've seen in all of Europe. Men with perfect wavy hair and strong-built bodies, and women with figures even Venus would envy. Mom and Dad, why couldn't you have been Scandanavians?

To be fair to the rest of the world, though, not everyone is beautiful. In fact, some Nords have this wierd facial shape that's sort of elongated, with this strange Michael Jackson nose. And there's no facial hair. I don't think I've seen one Nord with facial hair this entire trip. Sorta makes me feel special. "Hey, look at that guy eating Doritos with the brown hair and stubble! Hey freak, what'd your mom put in your brown cheese as a kid?" (brown cheese is a popular breakfast and dinner food)

Okay, enough about that, I'm gettign sleepy and have some errands to run... counting down the 8 days till I return home...

First, I'm in Bergen, Norway (no idea if its related to Bergen County, NJ). After a day of Fjord Fun, I'm killing time by staying in touch.

I got short changed and didn't notice for the first time. The Norwegian train conductor gave me change for 100NKr, when I gave him 200NKr, costing me about $12. Then later on, a different guy tried to pull the same stunt, but I was wise to this evil plot, and twarted his dasterdly deed.

While in Scandanavia, I'm noticing an increasing amount of Japanese people (probably, cause they're the only country in the world with a similar cost of living). But as much as I love Japanese lifestyle, I have to say that they are the most annoying travellers on the planet. They're good natured, and in some respect the most appreciative travellers I've seen, but in they're zeal, they piss everyone else off. For example, a energetic group of middle-aged Japanese men, rushed over to an exhibit I was looking at regarding the task of raising a vessel from the ocean, and in the process, shoved me quite out of the way.

Did I mention how they take pictures of everything (and always with flash I might add)? Or that they travel in these ungodly sized groups that have a tendency to stop in the middle of the sidewalk, block ticket lines, and crowd exits? It's quite frustrating, but even though they never seem to know when the next train is leaving (or where they need to go), they are certainly among the friendliest people I've met.

While sitting on trains, I've managed to finish Plato's The Republic. What a good book. While I don't know if I agree with everything, it is at the least thought provking, and will provide food for thought for weeks and months to come. Speaking of thinking, I've finally appreciated the beauty of carrying a small pocket notebook and pen. Other than being able to log the random "Need milk from the store" and "Don't forget to pet the cat" thoughts that pop into my head, I find that keeping the notebook makes me think more. It's amazing how much time is wasted in a day for the brain. By taking a notebook, I can actually make use of the time by jotting down ideas and thoughts, and it has the pleasent side-effect of stimulating my thoughts for the rest of the free time in my day. Soon I will finally realize my dream of being an evil genius!!! MUW HAW HAW HAW!!!!!

To date I have 60 some pages of notes, scribbles, diagrams, code, philosophy, economics, etc, scratched in my two little journals, and will be able to make use of them in the future. This is definitly a habit I will carry with me when I get back and highly recommend it for any thinking person.