sooo, i haven't updated in a LOOOOONG time. this i do know, but i've been traveling almost constantly for the past few days (forgive me if there's weird typos in this, the keyboard is SCREWED up), and when i finally was somewhere for a few nights (luxembourg), internet was all but non-existant. so, here's there rundown of the past oh, week or so. was in lagos, portugual.. then the night train to bayonne, france... then a night train to luxembourg... then a train here to frankfurt, where i've met up with my uncle george for about the next week or so... now we're waiting for a night train to prague.. PHEW! thats practically from one tip of the continent to the other, in the matter of a few days. and thanks to my wonderful railpass, it cost me all of about €10. here's a bit of a summary of some of the highlights since i last wrote...
LAGOS, PORTUGUAL - had SOOO much fun there, and met sooo many tons of wonderful people. the place where we were staying was just great, and fostered a family atmosphere between the peoples staying there because of the shared kitchen and shared terrace where we would sit and chat and eat until it was time to go out. a TON of australians there, 3 of the best people i met there were from sydney, a couple of girls from the states, a couple of guys from the states and canada.. really too many to list them all. it was as relaxing as i could have imagined sitting on the beach, basically taking a vacation from my vacation. and the nightlife was something else. always something going on, and we were always going out as a big group which was scads of fun. aaaah, memories. ALMOST was convinced to stay there at least another night, but sadly i had a train reservation and a tour de france to catch. they refer to lagos as a black hole, i almost got sucked in, but in the end am glad that i left...
BAYONNE, FRANCE - 6 hour train ride from lagos to lisbon, meet a couple of kids from canada and kansas on the train ride, almost convince the girl to come with me all the way to france. haha.. it was nice to have company on the train though, although i was completely exhausted from having gone out the night before and having to be up EARLY. say goodbye to those temporary friends (its like fight club, seeeriously), and hop on a train for a lovely 16 hour jaunt across portugual and spain, to the very southwest tip of france.. a little town called bayonne, where the tour would be coming through.
arrive around 11am, no lockers so i carry my bag EVERYWHERE, all one million kilos of it or whatever. basically just walk around soaking it all in, there's people everywhere, and they're readying the street for the when the race comes through at about 4. i set up camp about 200 meters from the finish line, at about noon or so.. meet a couple from virginia, who explain the happenings thus far in the tour, as i have been sitting on a beach, even MORE further disconnected from reality than i had been previously. sounds like an exciting tour. i liken the whole experience to pamplona, minus all of the booze. 5 hours of waiting, for 5 seconds of excitement. but hands down, it was worth it. after the parade of cars that precede the bikers, the winner came, a whopping minute and a half ahead of the main group (the peloton). the buildup and the excitement leading up to the moment the peloton came into sight is indescribable. again, i compare it to seeing the bulls. your heart is racing, the crowd is cheering and crowding forward and snapping photos (i was in the front, standing on my backpack.. HA!). its amazing. like i said, absolutely worth all the travel and waiting and carrying that it took to get to that point.
from there, sitting in the train station writing in my ever-behind journal, until my night train at midnight, bound for luxembourg...
LUXEMBOURG CITY, LUXEMBOURG - after a long hike to change stations in paris, i arrive in luxembourg around 10 the next morning. i'm GROSS. haven't showered in a while, night trains will do that to ya. first thing i do is hoof it (a loooong ways) to the hostel, hurray, they have room. and i SHOWER. then, essentially for the next two full days, i just wonder around this wonderful city. its GEORGOUS. simply stunning. built on top of a fortress, a walled city of sorts, you find yourself stopping every 10 feet or so to take another spectacular picture. its the capital city of a freaking country, and yet you can walk from one side to the other. WOW. oh, and i saw EMILE, our bus from the choir tour. i tried to track down JEAN-PAUL, our bus driver, but with no luck. and i ate a lion bar. aaah, memories of the choir trip...
FRANKFURT, GERMANY - and now, after a 6am train, i have met up with george, looked around at all there is to do really in frankfurt, and am excited to head to prague. not excited about the train ride really, another night of sleeping in a chair, but once we get there, its hotels for the next week, and i couldn't be happier. oh, and we're gonna rent a bmw or a mercedes (not a pepecar mercedes, a REAL ONE), and take it out on the autobahn. woohoo!
soo, with that thought of us driving 100+ mph, i will leave you... i'll try not to let it go so long until the next time...