Back in New York Now You can check some photos here.

Hope to have more journeys this summer.  ¶ 4:41 PM 1 comments

  The Jewish Ghetto (is there any other kind of ghetto?) This morning, with a bit of a hangover, I went to visit the old Jewish Quarter of Warsaw. The entire area has been paved over with row apartment buildings. There is a trail of small monuments to mark the area, it's very clear that not many people want to remember the more than half a million Jews who were sent to concentration camps from this tiny area.

Apparently there is a Jewish museum opening in the area in 2006, and if I ever make it back, I'm intrigued to see what it ends up being.

Also visited the Warsaw Uprising memorial - which was absolutely breathtaking.

I'm leaving Genny's in a few minutes to go to the airport to Milan. Spending one night there, then back to the states on Thursday - just in time for the NCAA tourney. GO CUSE  ¶ 2:03 PM 0 comments

  Slumber Party So last night we went out to a club near Genny's dorm. Genny and Ian left early as they were tired and I stayed and bought drinks for a bunch of strangers because the drinks were so cheap.

I went back to my room around 2, and at 3:30 the door flies open and Genny and Ian come in. Genny's roommate had stayed later at the club, got hammered and came home throwing up. In the bedroom.

So I made the rules very clear. They were to be quiet and observe a line down the middle of the other bed in my room. If that line were crossed, Ian was going to have to come sleep in my bed. A very scary threat to him. Meanwhile, the kids and I talked for a few, with me telling them to shut up and go to bed every ten minutes.

I didn't sleep much, but it was fun  ¶ 10:54 AM 0 comments

  Back to College I'm living in a dorm now, and it is quite an experience. Kids smoking in the hall at all hours, knocking on doors, and blasting their music. Quite an experience!

Yesterday, Ian and I went around town to the Old Town and Novy Swiat (Polish 5th Avenue) shopping and looking around. Then we stopped at a bar for a few and had a couple beers. Poor kid got drunk off of 2 beers. Last night we took all of Genny's classmates to this Italian restaurant in the Old Town, then stopped at a casino on the way back to the dorms.

Today we got up around 10 and went back to the Old Town to finally act like tourists. We went to the Warsaw History museum and walked around. There were a couple of high school tour groups there and the girls couldn't stop giggling when Ian and I walked through. I want to believe that it was because we were so cute, but it's probably because we looked like goofy Americans.

LAter we met Genny and her friend Jess for some coffee at a bar near the Centrum.

Just got done napping, now we're going to go out for dinner then go clubbing tonight.  ¶ 6:38 PM 0 comments

  Good news - 3 hours without snow Had a busy day yesterday.

Genny and I left for the Old Town around Noon. We walked around for a little while and had lunch at an Italian restaurant. After lunch we continued walking around the small area that is the old town. This part of town (as much of Warsaw) had been leveled during the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, the entire area had been rebuilt from photos that people had. In order to rebuild the area, college age kids had been required to work for a year or two before leaving for school or going to work. Pretty remarkable.

We also lucked out in that there were like 3 hours of sun and it didn't start snowing until after 3 yesterday. you know you're in a cold city when you see people cleaning snow off of roofs in the middle of a snow storm. After the Old Town, we took a trolley to the main street and had some coffee, then we walked about 2 miles towards her house. Not the nicest walk ever, but I really love walking through a foreign city and taking it all in, rather than sticking to the proscribed routes for tourists.

After dinner, we picked up Genny's boyfriend, Ian, at the airport. We then went out for a little while at the bar downstairs in the dorms (you read that right). I didn't get to sleep until after midnight, which was an accomplishment.

Today, I'm going to lunch with Genny and Ian then, when Genny goes to class, I an and I are going to look around at some of the bazaars and stores.  ¶ 10:28 AM 0 comments

  Settling in So I'm in my room in Warsaw now. I got into town yesterday at noon and Genny was there to greet me. Unfortunately, my suitcase wasn't. It had decided to visit Milan.

Given that my room in Genny's dorm wasn't available for me last night, we decided to stay at a hotel. The room was pretty nice and the shower was great. We slept from like 8 to 8 and I woke up feeling pretty groggy, but at least my bag had arrived at the hotel by then.

Today we moved into my room at Genny's dorm then went out for lunch and walked around the city central for a little while. Warsaw (first impression) seems like a nice city, reminds me of Budapest but a little cozier. The architecture is very clearly soviet. I think I'm going to visit the old city tomorrow with Genny, and see some museums later in the week.

I'm here in Warsaw until Wednesday then I spend one night in Milan before heading home. Genny's boyfriend, Ian, is getting in tomorrow night at midnight so I'll have someone to run around with.  ¶ 2:34 PM 0 comments

  Back on the road Visting Genny in Warsaw. Got woken up on my flight:

'just had a really fat woman behind me nearly rip the back off of my chair as she tried to stand behind me. Then she says, 'sorry, it's just the chairs go so far back'. She might as well have said, 'sorry I'm so fat that I can't fit out'. '  ¶ 2:33 PM 0 comments

  In London Woke up nice and late today.

Got up for some coffee and went to Jason and Sara's private park for some sun, reading and writing. Very relaxing.

After Sara returned from her workout, we walked through Hyde Park and went to Lo Sputino for lunch and walked around my old hood. Even visited the Elbow Room, where I used to work.

There were two people who I used to work with who were there. They were not nearly as excited to see me, as I was to see them and the bar. I guess that's what happens when you work at a bar and somebody who used to work there 4 years ago comes back to visit when on vacation.

The place was still awesome and it was cool to see that Sara thought so also.

Jason and Sara are now out rollerblading and when they return, we'll go to dinner.  ¶ 6:41 PM 0 comments

  Lille to London Spent today travelling to London and I am exhausted.

Got up a little after 9 today and went exploring Lille and I loved it. After wandering around for 3 hours I jumped on a train to Calais at 2 PM.

I arrived in Calais around 3:30 PM. Took a bus to the port and got on a Ferry that left a little after 5 PM. Arrived in Dover around 6PM (gained an hour) and took a bus to the train, which got me in to London at 9PM.

That's right, 8 hours of travelling. Seeing the English Channel was cool, but I understand now why more people don't make that voyage. The Eurostar would have taken a little over an hour.

Good to hang out with Sara and Jason catching up for a couple of hours and I'll be seeing them for the rest of the week.

Off to bed in a couple...  ¶ 11:42 PM 0 comments

  Reading List Just an idea of what I've consumed so far on this trip, might post more full posts over at the Angry Chicken for 'What's the Matter with Kansas':

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Joe Trippi - Good book, nothing earth-shattering for me but a good job of pulling together Joe's general thoughts. Trippi goes a bit overboard in expressing his vision - but any movement needs a visionary. If you feel that you don't completely know why or how the Dean campaign happened, read this book.

Bringing Down the House - Don't have the book in front of me so I don't know the author offhand. Good fun book about how a team of MIT students shook the gambling world by counting blackjack.

What's the Matter With Kansas (How Conservatives won the Heart of America), Thomas Frank - Very compelling book about how the Republicans have manipulated the social issues to obscure the fact that they are against the 'average' American. Some great thoughts, some views too extreme for me. That said, I will be recommending this book to some people I know.

Stranger than Fiction (True Stories), Chuck Palahniuk - Palahniuk was the author of Fight Club and one of my favorite writers, and he NEVER disappoints. Not the best thing he's written (that would be Survivor), but compelling nonetheless.

I also listened to the Art of War by Sun Tzu on my iPod. It was interesting, but I probably would have gotten more out of it if the reader hadn't been Joe Mantegna. I kept thinking it was being read by Fat Tony.  ¶ 11:38 PM 0 comments

  Recapping last night in Lille Not sure what's up with the photos, probably some trick that ofoto runs. Anyway, you can now see my photo album HERE.

Went out for a decent dinner last night in Lille. And let me just say that the French made me feel completely welcomed. I always hear these horror stories about French rudeness/haughtiness but my run-ins with this sort of attitude has been extremely rare in France. People repeatedly asked me where I was from and waited patiently as I tried to speak in French, while they knew english.

That said, after dinner I walked home to my hotel. As I walked I noticed dozens of homeless people sitting on the streets with their dogs. While none of them started with me, and they left me alone when I asked. However, I felt unsafe for one of the first times ever in Europe. Or more to the point, I felt like I would be unsafe if I went back out from the hotel (now after 10PM). Remember, I'm a big bad New Yorker, or at least, I know what to be aware of in my surroundings. This time it struck me that where I was from actually made me less safe, rather than more. Maybe my New York-sense was what saved me from a bad situation. Or maybe I was being a punk.

So I went back to the Hotel and actually saw a great movie, Tadpole - with Sigourney Weaver, John Ritter and some young kid. Also saw 8 Mile dubbed in French. Fun!

  ¶ 11:15 PM 0 comments

  Apparently photos aren't loading You may need to right_click on the photos to get them to load, I'll figure it out when Ihave time.  ¶ 6:09 PM 1 comments

  Lille In France now. It was a really short 90 minute trip from Brugge. It's so nice not to be beholden to everyone to speak english again, though my french has been less than stellar.

I got in at 4 and got a room directly across from a beautiful cathedral. I went out to explore and promptly got caught in a storm.

This is a gorgeous city and I plan to explore more fully tomorrow. Assuming I rise early enough, I will then train it up to Calais and take a ferry back to England.

Time for dinner  ¶ 5:52 PM 0 comments

  Brugge Please check out some of my older entries as I've finally been able to upload photos for a few of them

Today is Monday and I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Brugge. Brugge is a small town in Northern Brussels.



Antwerp Station

Backtracking to Saturday night, I ate at a place in Antwerp where I had some awesome mussels. I then went and asked the clerk at my hotel that standby of traveling: 'So where do the kids hangout?'. I followed his directions and went to the Grote Markt area. Which was pretty lively. However, jetlag was settling in and one beer at the bar was sufficient before turning around and heading back to the room. Once in bed, I found it impossible to sleep. I was literally in bed till 4:30 when I fell asleep.

Yesterday, I woke up at 7:30 (on three and a half hours sleep) and got up to explore Antwerp in daylight. Yesterday being the last Sunday of the Summer in Belgium, Antwerp was having a festival. I think the theme had something to do with body and mind. I wandered around and also came upon the Grote Markt (great market) during the day. Everything you can imagine was on sale - including pets. It was really weird seeing pet birds being sold 10 feet away from birds for dinner.

I left Antwerp around mid-day and went to Brugge. Only an hour and a half ride by train. I checked into a youth hostel around 2 pm and was told I needed to wait for my room. I sat down at the bar with a couple of Canadian kids and one of them is a political junkie like myself and we engaged in a conversation over a couple of beers. I then went out and explored town for a little while berfore coming back to the room and napping for 3 hours. Dinner...bed...  ¶ 9:27 AM 0 comments

  Brussels to Antwerp Despite sleeping away half the day in Brussels; I've actually had a very busy day.

I headed down to the station to find a schedule and found out that trains left to Antwerp at least once an hour; giving me flexibility. From there I decided to walk and find the city center. After wandering for a bit, I found myself in front of the palace of Justice where an elevator lifted me up to the center of the old city. Explored for a couple of hours and I ended up visiting the Royal Museum of Fine Art and looking at some awesome Rubens. After that I went to the Royal Park for a bit and read.



Royal Park

One general thought that kept running through my mind was how nice the Belgian innocence must be. And by that I meant the innocence of feeling safe - both fro, terrorists and degenerates. I was able to walk right up to the door of the palace without passing a single guard. The Palace of Justice didn't have a single guard and it's windows were made of glass without any bars - just didn't seem safe enough to ,e as an American.

After that, I returned to the train station and got on board a train to Antwerp, where ,y French is now useless - but most people speak English.

As a side note : if there are inexplicable commas and qs in my writings, it is because the q and a are flipped as are the m and comma on these keyboards. You also can't type a number without using the shift key. Go figure!  ¶ 5:31 PM 1 comments

  Sitting in a internet lounge in Brussels Next to a pair of young twins who keep leaning over my shoulder to read what I'm doing.

Got in on the Eurostar from London around 8pm last night and took a room. I had a quick dinner and went to bed for 12 hours. Can not remember the last time that happened.

Probably headed to Antwerp later today. Crossing my fingers for better weather.

One funny story about the importance of changing currency before entering a country:
The bathroom on the Eurostar was clogged so I was counting on using the bathroom the minute I got off the train. However, once I arrived at the bathroom, I found out that the bathroom cost 30 cents. Long story short, took me 15 minutes to find the only ATM in the stationand barely avert an emergency.  ¶ 10:02 AM 0 comments

  Anyone ever been to Gander, New Foundland? Well, I have.


Screen on the plane in Gander

The trip is off to an inauspicious start.

After taking a sleeping pill and trying to fall asleep in Continental's absurdly uncomfortable seats, I began to settle in. About 3 hours into the flight my dreams were disturbed by: "Is there a doctor on board?" over the PA.

Some time later I was woken again by: "Folks, this is your captain speaking. Please buckle up as we're going to be making an emergency evacuation of a sick passenger."

Apparently some woman thought she was having a heart attack and so they evacuated her in Gander. Can you imagine what sort of medical care they have there?

Anyway, I arrived in London 3 hours late. Sara was graciously waiting for me. We just grabbed a quick lunch and soon I'm off.

Due to the delay, I have already altered my schedule. I will be taking the Eurostar in an hour to Brussels... More later  ¶ 2:37 PM 3 comments