Milan

So here's the deal, my trips coming to an end and I really want to get to Spain. In Naples I decided to go to Barcelona. Only problem with that is that the trip from Naples to Barcelona is right around 24 hours. So, I'm breaking it up by making one day stops in a bunch of places in between. I should be in Spain in around two days. After around three days in Barcelona I'll take one last tourist-y stop in Paris before I chill in London with a friend of mine for two days to get my affairs in order before I fly out.
One of my stops was Milan. I've never really had much interest in going to Milan, but I valued my day there. I think value isn't the correct term actually. It's more like I was appreciative to have found a park with a tree I could sit under and read. I managed to finish the book Orange is the New Black while snacking (Gorging myself) on some bread, meat, and cheeses I had bought at a supermarket.

Pretty great TV show too. 

I did end up walking into the city to see what it was like, but to be honest, I  wasn't really in the tourism mood. I spent most of my time getting lost in an attempt to find something cool. It worked I guess. I manged to find the main square and see the large cathedral. I genuinely think that in order to enjoy Milan to it's fullest, you should have more money than the average 20 something backpacker. 

 The hostel I stayed in was the worst one I have yet had the pleasure of staying in. The bathroom was constantly wet, the room smelled like people no matter what you did, and around midnight on my first night two old Italian guys started yelling at each other in my room. Speaking of those charming old men, one of them had a bed right next to mine. As dormitory space confinements dictated in this case, there was only around a foot between me and this large scary stereotype. 

I think to draw a fitting close to my time in Milan, I'll  leave you with this. 

I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred

WE CAN DO IT JAJAJA!!!

Okay, I am very close to having 3000 unique views on my blog. If I were to get the extra 400 by the time I leave Europe, I might do something crazy (Cough jump into the snow in a bathing suit cough cough) to celebrate.

In order to drum up views, here, have some cat pictures or something.

This guy is from the 1960's NASA niiiccceeeee

Look up Mitchell and Webb. Rick and Morty is also good. I have nothing else. This is kind of a lame post. 

Budapest

So, after Vienna I decided I needed to get a little farther east again. Budapest sounded good. I know exactly nothing about Hungary which naturally made me incredibly prepared to go there. All in all, I think Budapest was pretty neat, but not in the way that 1950's children would use the term. I use it more in the ironic angst-y millennial way. That's not to say it wasn't a great city. I imagine in the summer sipping a coffee at a sidewalk cafe with some friends would be great. Not to mention Budapest is known for it's wonderful baths. However, what this great city retained in amenities, it seemed to lack in...Charm? I am having a hard time coming up with a sufficient way of describing the way the city felt. My feelings totally could have been swayed by the fact that during my stay Budapest was blanketed in a fog that made seeing any meaningful distance impossible. I do think that the soviet vibe got to me.

It was also cold. I've become accustomed to nice weather. Budapest was cold enough to warrant a full zip up on my jacket.

Also, the kebab options were laughable and expensive. A Hungarian gyro is small and expensive compared to a German doner. I'll add a visual to give some sustenance to my rant.

Look at how sad this Gyro is. It's so small the person holding it is pinching it with their fingers. Hardly any meat, and it probably cost four euro for that little snack. It's like the first person to try and make a decent kebab in Budapest threw away the German Kebabheitsgebot totally. That simple fact is barbarism in it's most simple form. The men in charge of this blatant crime against humanity should be tried with the full extent of the law. 

Look at this beautiful marvel of culinary genius. It's so big it takes up the entire take away box. The craftsman that introduced this tender child to the world didn't care at all about how Instagram worthy a picture of it looked. It's ugly and gets the job done, which can be said about most things German. Tomato? That crap is for hippies and would interfere with the maximum kebab meat capacity. Total price? Probably the same or slightly cheaper than the Hungarian gyro. 

Now that the rant is over, I'll display some pictures of my time in Hungary. 

Called the Chain bridge. It's the most ornate of  the bridges connecting one side of Budapest to the other.  

Hungarian statue of liberty. Not as majestic as the American one, but you do have to climb up a mountain to see it. 

City skyline. I thought the way the city flowed was really tantalizing. It gave off a feeling I would attribute to San Francisco, even though I've never been there. 

Howdy Strangers!

Man...It's been five days. It doesn't feel like the last time I posted was five days ago.

I have to apologize for not posting more often lately. I would like to say it's because I haven't had time, but the truth is that I haven't felt up to it. I'm lazy, it just happens.

Anyway, since Vienna, I have been in Budapest, Salzburg, and I have just arrived in Venice.
Budapest was wonderful. I think it would be a great place to hang out with friends and drink an excessive amount of coffee. The architecture is out of this world. It really is a great place to be, not an eyesore anywhere, and if I'm correct, I believe part or all of Budapest is recognized by UNESCO for being a great example of 1800's urban planning. That makes sense, Budapest made me feel like what I imagine San Francisco would feel like. San Fran seems like it also is a good example of 1800's vibe. Don't quote me on that though, I've never been there.

Salzburg was pretty much just a pit stop to break up the longer journey from Budapest to Venice. I've been to Salzburg before. It was a welcome break however. I would bet money that there is no better way to wake up in the morning than breathing in pure Alpine air. I think a small part of me died this morning when I boarded my train. I have left German speaking territory for the foreseeable future. Germany and to a lesser extent the other German speaking countries are like my second home. Everything there is normal. I GET it there.

Venice seems nice so far. I got here later in the day so I haven't done anything yet really. I did throw out my back, so that's nice. I think the farther I get into the trip the worse the injuries I'll receive.

I'll make sure to take a lot of pictures tomorrow! Until then!

Heh heh...I saw a lot of Wieners.

Yeah, I know. The title is a bad joke. If you don't understand it, the German word for Vienna is Wien, so a person from Vienna is a Wiener.
I went to Vienna with the full intention of seeing all of the things that I had not seen the first time I had been there. The first day was pretty good, I went for a really long walk just to check out some of the city, try to find things to see. I was at this cool park and saw this majestic golden statue of Strauss that I wanted to take a picture of. Turns out I had left my camera at the hostel. I have no pictures of my first day now, sweet. On the second day, the fog was so thick that any pictures that I would have taken wouldn't have been very good. On top of that, my right knee started throbbing and my mobility was restricted pretty badly.
I spent most of the rest of my time in Vienna sitting at my hostel trying to heal enough to be able to carry my bag and travel. I'm actually pretty sad about this. At least I've been there before.

Next time, right?

Lotta stuff

Early on in my travels I met a guy that told me that I need a trip theme song. I've put some serious thought into it, and have narrowed it down to one probable contender; Len's "Steal My Sunshine". It makes me happy, for some reason I feel it's great music to listen to while riding trains. The closest runner up is a little embarrassing as it's author is someone that I have shown outspoken hatred for in the past. It's Justin Bieber's  "What do you mean".

Steal My Sunshine

I'm not sorry, this song is gold for some reason

Okay, on to real business. Or at least the stuff that people actually care about. I don't think I'll talk too much, maybe just as comments to the pictures. 

This is a picture of my host family on Christmas eve. From right to left it's David (My former exchange partner/good friend), Simon (David's brother), Sina (David's brother's girlfriend), Hannah (David's sister), Franzi (David's other sister), and David's mom. These guys are the best. David's whole family treats me like I'm one of them and made me have the best first Christmas away from home in the history of  mankind. 

David hated this picture. Sorry bro.

The town that David lives in is called Wollrode. It's really, really small. So small that it's technically part of the larger town nearby. That larger town y is also basically part of a city close to it called Kassel. The city of Kassel is great, but it was largely destroyed in World War two so most of it is pretty new. This picture is of another small town in the area called Melsungen. The entire downtown is made up of these ancient fachwerk houses that you don't see in large cities anymore. 

My Christmas present from David's family was tickets to the circus Flik Flak. I had never been to a real circus before so I was a little nervous to what I would experience. I mean, come on, clowns are absolutely terrifying. This circus was modern in every way. The "clown" guy was actually just this weird Swiss dude that flew kites indoors. Overall, I was incredibly happy that they would think of me enough to give me such a gift. 

I got a little homesick so we decided to go to a hockey game. I will admit that it made me die a little inside every time someone said ice hockey instead of just hockey, but I managed to maneuver through the night without strangling someone with a fan scarf.  

Between every period a sizable chunk of the stadium would go out to this small, ventilated area outdoors and chain smoke. You can't really see it well in this photo but the smoke was so thick it obscured the far end of the hallway.  

European sports fans are crazy. It was extremely loud. There was a drum. There was alcohol. I hope I painted you an accurate picture. 

Back from break....

So first off I would like to apologize for not posting more in this past week. The holidays have been crazy busy here. I went to three Christmases, and have been hanging out with friends pretty constantly.
I don't have any pictures to share at the moment, the guy who took them for me hasn't sent them to me yet. When I do have them, I promise I'll make a long, detailed, mostly pictures blog post that satisfies all who read it.
In the past week and a half I've done a lot. Christmas was awesome actually. David's (My former exchange partner) family has been very accommodating. I didn't know how they would take to having an American teenager in the midst of their festivities but they loved having me.

I am now in Munich. Getting back into hostel life was almost as natural as riding a bike. Although now that I have tasted ambrosia (living in an actual house) living in a dorm with random strangers has lost some of it's charm.

Anyway, I'll make another post today with pictures later.

Stay beautiful friends.