My Monster Euro-Trip.

[The Storm Queen]

Over here, the sun's shining and no flood to worry about.

Thought I'd give you an update, James.

Same applies to most of Southern Germany and Berlin. The worst is already over

Ok, so, super weirdness... have been seriously hit on by teenagers 4 times in last day and a half. Not like crushing on me or w/e like you get, but full out no beating around the bush, let's get naked, hit on.

At least one is still in HS ( gymnasium, they call it)...WTF? It happens, but four in under 2 days?

Am having seriously bad night, will explain more later, but am a bit freaked right now. I know European woman are definitely more equal opp. with sexual advances, but girls?!?

As a German myself I can guess that for them it was probably also the first big holidays without family/parents, in a place where nobody knows them...so they might have been more open than they would usually be.

Ironically, I remember it the other way around. When I have first been to the U.S. two years ago with two friends we were pretty surprised when many men and women simply assumed we were up for an one night stand mostly just by virtue of being European.

[Alex.]

James - Verve is a really bad place. Though if you're into that sort of thing, may I recommend ZOO Bar round the corner?

[James Arryn]

yeah, AC is pretty much the only thing that keeps us going on weird-hot periods of the year.

still, getting to work and back home and going around town can't really be classified as a pleasant experience.

Ok, I can deal with extreme heat so long as it's not while sleeping. Toronto gets surprisingly hot and especially humid in the summer. it's the latter that kills you, I find.

[James Arryn]

I am an hour away from Munich so we could meet up there or - if you have a day to spare - you can visit me in Regensburg. It is a lovely city with lots of medival architecture.

Regensburg or Augsburg has always been on the list for at least a day trip, so there's that decided. :)

I hope you don't have a rivalry with Augsburg. Heard they were both lovely/well preserved. But if you do, yeah, Augsburg sucks.

[James Arryn]

Same applies to most of Southern Germany and Berlin. The worst is already over

As a German myself I can guess that for them it was probably also the first big holidays without family/parents, in a place where nobody knows them...so they might have been more open than they would usually be.

Ironically, I remember it the other way around. When I have first been to the U.S. two years ago with two friends we were pretty surprised when many men and women simply assumed we were up for an one night stand mostly just by virtue of being European.

Yeah, I'm over it. dunno why I was so freaked, tbh. It was partly frustration with myself for not being able to gauge ages...was a weakness as a bartender...I think. Your explanation makes a lot of sense, but again I have to hold myself to blame for talking about it as a Euro-thing. One was from L.A. and another Australia, so another swing and miss on my part. Not my best night.

[James Arryn]

James - Verve is a really bad place. Though if you're into that sort of thing, may I recommend ZOO Bar round the corner?

Gone, baby, gone. It had a lot of posers, but I did make one friend from Denmark. Which country coupled with Australia accounts for like 75% of the people I am meeting, not sure why.

[James Arryn]

I used to live in Europe, speak German and am available for hire as a tour guide if you want to pay my way and take me with you :P

lol, I'll consider it.

[deleted01]

James, just saw in the London thread you'll be back in London in 'Septemberish' :laugh: Any idea when? I'll be there until mid-September, will probably go back to uni around the 14th, so we should organise a meet-up. Might be worth sticking a thread up in the BwB bit, see if more people will be around :D

[Theda Baratheon]

I'll be back in Cardiff, Wales around August; depends if I've got a job by then and can afford it (probably not), but perhaps I could make it to London for a bit.

In Cornwall until then.

[James Arryn]

I have never ventured into the BwB. I fearfully imagine secret handshakes, sudden pop quizzes that establish your degree of welcome/coolness, and lots of body paint.

But for your sake, I will give it a try. If I come out of it sans handshake, welcome, coolness or clothing, you will be blamed. Just a head's up. Remind me again in a few days, if you can. Bushed now, gotta be up early to pack.

But, otherwise, I would love to hook up with you. (and others) when September comes around. I may be coming in via Scotland, Northern Eng. and Dublin, and I HAVE to see Oxford, but it would be...grand. Or lovely. Words British men can get away with.

[deleted01]

:lol: I shall be there to give you said handshake so you do not feel cheated.

[baxus]

Ok, I can deal with extreme heat so long as it's not while sleeping. Toronto gets surprisingly hot and especially humid in the summer. it's the latter that kills you, I find.

at the moment i'm living in a rented apartment in new part of belgrade.

the bedroom has a rather big window, but opens to another room because owners decided to turn a balcony into another room.

as a result, it's not very pleasant to sleep there in this kind of heat, so i'm thinking of sleeping in the living room for a while.

ac would be of more use than, too.

[The Storm Queen]

Regensburg or Augsburg has always been on the list for at least a day trip, so there's that decided. :)

I hope you don't have a rivalry with Augsburg. Heard they were both lovely/well preserved. But if you do, yeah, Augsburg sucks.

Germany historically does not have a tradition as a strong central state so we have lots of distinct regional and even local idenitities, and of course, rivalries. However, there is no such thing with Augsburg, it is actually a really lovely city, in my teens I used to have a summer job there.

Munich is also nice, but the rest of Bavaria tends to find its residents a bit snobbish which imho is not completly off the mark.

PM me if your visit is drawing closer, we can also offer you a place on our couch for one or two nights.

[Adz of CCAA]

Did I read Cologne in your first post??? :D

Hope you haven't been here yet! :eek:

Feel free to contact me if when you'll be here. :)

I'm a native citizen of Cologne and would be very happy to meet you! :)

[Xasthur]

I'm from Munich, and i kinda have a love-hate relationship with this city, but if you want I can show you the cooler places or tell you where they are. There is actually a lot to see offside the tourist traps. For example, just go into the Hofbräuhaus for a few photo shots, it's packed with asians 24/7 and is overpriced and just not that great. There are cooler beerhalls here. Munich residence is impressive if you are interested in that, and try to lay down in the English Garden with an Augustiner Beer at least once. There are some cool clubs if you are into that kind of stuff.

Oh, and the Deutsches Museum is a must-have in Munich. German engineering ftw.

Besides that, should check out Neuschwanstein because it's kinda like a must-have even though it's so cliche. In Burghausen you can check out the longest castle in the world and in Salzburg there is the oldest cable car in the world which you can ride uphill to Salzburg fortress. And if you like the dreary stuff there is the concentration camp Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp. Everything is located under 1:30h from Munich.

Oh, and if you are in Barcelona, go check out Montserrat. And in South France Carcassone.

[James Arryn]

Okay, been a hectic few days.

No sleep Wed. night due to celebrations.

Overnight bus ride an adventure. Crowded, guy in front of me smelled like bad fish lying in an unflushed bog, and snored. Had to get off bus 3 times, once for hour and a half. The bus driver struck most of us as odd, and struck a few other vehicles in a more literal sense. Several other close calls as he routinely ran lights, cut off various vehicles, including a semi carrying road repair vehicles, and would make himself known to us thusly: (heavy Spanish accent)

(speaker cuts in) "Okay, so, we not go now, okay? You go shopping, walking, ok? Toilet also, ok?"(speaker cuts out.)

***low key discussion among passengers as to meaning of message.***

(Speaker cuts in) "Okay? Okay? Also, cigarettes. Ok? You go shopping, toilet, cigarettes, ok?" (Speaker cuts out)

***somewhat louder debate as to whether previous was a suggestion, order, shopping list or some bizarre new National Express customer fitness regime.***

(Speaker cuts in) "Ok? I forget, 10 minutes only! Okay?" (speaker cuts out)

British musician across aisle from me "I just don't feel his heart is in the job."

Much hilarity.

So, anyways, waiting to board originally, made friends with this cool girl from the Congo by way of Manchester and Orleans, and though I ducked out of sitting with her in the ultimately futile hope for sleep, she would wait for me each time we got off, and we'd chat. On the ferry, though, weird experience. Guys would just openly look her up and down like she was meat, and others would look at me like I was doing something wrong sitting and talking with her. Never seen that before. She just shrugged it off, but I was annoyed. Fucknuts.

But when we got off in Paris...over an hour llate, due to collisions and other road adventures, she waited for me again and was showing me where to go, and I pulled over to reconcile my bus bag into my suitcase, with a vending machine next to me. I am looking down at my stuff and I hear a voice raised seemingly far away, and I look up to see the back of the girl running down the stairs head of us, only her suitcases are still next to me. I start asking everyone in any language I could think of what happened, but everyone else is as confused as myself. I was just trying to figure out how to go after her without leaving my bag open and all of our stuff very vulnerable when she comes back, looking pissed.

What had happened was that one guy asked her to help him with the vending machine, and when she turned another grabbed her purse and ran. She didn't see that happen, but saw a man running with a red bag, and with reflexes I can only admire, instantly put 2 and 2 together and was off after him like a shot. When she chased him far enough yelling and attracting attention, he dropped the bag and kept on going. Wow.

But the day is young.

About 15 minutes later, after supercool hero chick had kindly bought me a Metro ticket with her own without saying a word, she and a Mexican guy from the bus and i are on the Metro still talking about the theft attempt, standing around our bags when I feel like someone pinches my ass. I grab back and as I do a woman who had been standing behind me cuts past and jumps off train just as the doors are closing. My back pocket button has been opened, and my passport is partway out of my pocket, though my credit cards are too deep for her to have gotten, I think. I am in disbelief for a while, and had my passport not been half-picked, I think I might have assumed I was imagining things and my button had somehow come open on it's own. But the others were already asking what happened because of her sudden exit, and I THINK I know who her spotter was...there had been a guy staring at me for a while.

So, welcome to Paris.

But since those first few moments, people have been freakishly kind...lovely old guy thought I was looking for food, offered to feed me himself, and when he found I was actually looking for Internet, promptly walked over to traffic cops and demanded they assist me. when I went to the McD's where wifi is free, I asked the girl where the toilet was, and she smilingly gave me 3 free tokens, for no reason. Another girl upstairs got in trouble with her boss when, 5 minutes after I got there, the wifi cut out ( off from 12-5) and she, probably seeing me about to weep, snuck me into staff room to use theirs. Hope to god she wasn't fired...seemed touch and go when I left, but I tried to explain my situation and her kindness...not sure. :(

I then got monstrously lost, wandered about Alesia region with my bags for a few hours dying of exhaustion and sweat, but along the way several people were incredibly kind. One guy walked me blocks out of his way, a woman unlocked the office she had just closed to check google maps on her ordinateur, and on and on.

Do not know I have ever been as tired as I was when, at 2:30 (4.5 hours ate) and without having ever found wifi to let my friend know what was happening, I arrive finally at elusive address, though my crazed laughter is cut short when I see a note with my name. Apologies, but friend had had to leave for class, which he could not miss as he had borrowed a book for classmate. Back by 5. Local cafe is cool with extended sit-ins.

His address is more of a refined alley, and while crouching there in a daze, the hot jogger I had exchanged a glance with years earlier in the day during the course of my perambulations comes running up to the next door, takes off earphones, gives a double take, realizes there is no way I am stalking her with luggage, and comes over to say hi. We get talking about my brutal day, and she says I can wait at hers. Nice place, she gives me a coffee and has a shower, and tells me I can grab one too if it would help...I am covered in dried sweat salt, btw. I pass due to difficulty showering while not standing, but have a cool time, and we go to cafe for a drink before friend gets home. They had never met, and he did not know I spoke French, or gotten the explanatory e-mail I sent from hers, so his reaction when he arrives was hilarious.

Anyways, completely beat, will write more later and respond to kindnesses posted above. Am a day removed from hell, but didn't go to bed until late that night...local live music fest somehow kept me vertical until late into my 4th day w/o sleep, and 6 or so hours I got not nearly enough.

Salut from Paris!

[deleted01]

Moral of the story: never keep anything in your back pockets. Ever.

[James Arryn]

:lol: I shall be there to give you said handshake so you do not feel cheated.

Drac, keep the handshake warm (?), I will be there when I recover. I leave for Milan on Monday, so will try tomorrow...hoping for a downtime day.

[James Arryn]

at the moment i'm living in a rented apartment in new part of belgrade.

the bedroom has a rather big window, but opens to another room because owners decided to turn a balcony into another room.

as a result, it's not very pleasant to sleep there in this kind of heat, so i'm thinking of sleeping in the living room for a while.

ac would be of more use than, too.

Sounds cool, though. As in interesting, not un-warm. If you had seen me sweating a river yesterday, you might uninvited. I have a blue shirt whose sleeves now have white bands of salt decorating them.

[James Arryn]

Germany historically does not have a tradition as a strong central state so we have lots of distinct regional and even local idenitities, and of course, rivalries. However, there is no such thing with Augsburg, it is actually a really lovely city, in my teens I used to have a summer job there.

Munich is also nice, but the rest of Bavaria tends to find its residents a bit snobbish which imho is not completly off the mark.

PM me if your visit is drawing closer, we can also offer you a place on our couch for one or two nights.

I will, I look forward to it, and greatly appreciate couch offer!

I am not sure I would be able to identify Bavarian snobbery, so hopefully that won't get in my way. I hear beautiful things about it, though. Can you see the Alps from Munich?