Frankfurt

After Venice I flew to Frankfurt to visit Vicky from Frankfurt, whom I met in Tofo Mozambique. She studies business, plays professional basketball and is easy going. Frankfurt is a big German financial city. It is a modern, buzzling city, that tries to find a middle ground between its past and future. The weather is even a bit more moody than Switzerland.
I arrived late at night and rang her doorbell at 4 o'clock in the morning after figuring out the public transport system. She had vacation from school, but worked part time in a small cafe. I got to know her friends and we went out together. Since I also love to play basketball - but at that point haven't played in years - we were eager to face off. Both desperately wanted to win. At a critical stage of the game I made a flagrant foul and later on deserved to loose. She is very fast and has a very decent jump shot.

We talked a lot and visited parks and so on. I even helped paint an apartment of a friend of hers, that was moving to a new location. That was the first time I did anything productive in several years.
At the last day of my stay, we went to a water park nearby and had a splash. The concept of a water park is something that should only be found, far away from the Sea.
After a about a week I flew on to Sarajevo to follow the sun. Thanks to Vicky and maybe see you in India soon.

Venice

One of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. The Renaissance architecture is overwhelming and behind every corner. Traffic is limited to boats, that are also noisy, but less annoying then cars. The famous center along the Canale Grande is truly amazing, but tourists (probably myself included) are a pain in the ass. Whole cruise ships send their passengers into the city, while the crew most likely sighs in relief once they are on their own.

The Italians have made this once famous trade link into a little Disney Land. But if you walk a bit out of the city's heart you'll find real Italians that actually live there, instead of commuting daily from the mainland. They hang their clothes into the narrow alleys, shop at a tiny, local shop and use the vaporetto to get around. The city is clustered with museums and churches of which I visited quiet a few. But the amazing part in my view is the absence of cars. There is no city worldwide of that size, with so few cars - as far as I know. And since I truly hate cars, it was quite an experience. 

There are also other islands worth visiting. Murano is the center of the ancient tradition of blowing glass into all different shapes. Unlike the industrial version that we got used to, every glass is unique. But the colorization is usually kitsch. Isoala di San Michele is the Island of the dead. The whole Island is a cemetery. Walls surround it to make sure, sea water doesn't bring back the dead. Since sea levels are rising the Italians are building levees to save their future. Land prises are as high as water levels. Venice already now regularly suffers from corrosion of building foundations. Sea waters intrudes the canalization and affects air quality. Another Island I visited is Lido. There is a beach and it had a bit of a vibe like I assume Californian beach towns to be like. But there is nothing special about the place since cars are allowed. The Island I slept on was Guidecca. It has wonderful views of the city, ships passing by and sunsets.

In general I strongly recommend this city, but avoid the money hungry, back stabbing restaurants, use the vaporetto, and get ready to walk.

Bled

In the north of Slovenia, merged into the mountains of the Julian Alps lies the little town called Bled. It is just next to the glacial lake, which has a small island in the middle with a castle on top. Most surrounding hills are covered with forests, which invite people to hike and get lost in the seemingly endless nature. Wild bears, dears and elderly naked hiking couples still roam the area. Of which I have seen the later two.

I stayed in this lovely town for one week and hiked on about 5 days and partied in the Irish pub every night. It is a meeting place for ill behaving locals and drunk tourists who want to let loose in an atmosphere of a smelly toilet.

I took some fairly risky hikes that took me to the edges of cliffs and civilization. But the most memorable one is a touristy gorge north of down with a nice wooden walkway constantly switching sides. The water is as clear as possible and the nature mostly left to its own. A place that reminded me of Lanquin in Guatemala or the Kuang Si waterfalls in Laos.
I met a rather uninteresting Israeli women in one of the hostels and had to switch to another one in order to avoid her.
After that I was of to Venice. I decided that the best way to get there must be from the capitol city Ljubljana, but once I arrived there I had to learn that I have to take a train back to Bled and a bit further to catch a train that would take me to Gorizio, from where I could get all the way to Venezia Santa Lucia. When I got the news in Ljubljana that I lost 4 hours of my life I saw a fist fight in the open street between apparent good friends and ate a kebab.

Ljubljana

A quarter of million people live in the the capitol city of Slovenia. It has a medieval heart with some new additions of Roman and Soviet Architecture. But the most obvious attraction is the castle on top of the cities hill.

The Ljubljanica river slopes through the city center and trees on both side make it a beautiful sight. Tourists and locals alike love to sit down in cafes along it.

While waiting for a train, I witnessed  a funny scene. In the morning I saw two guys and one girl sitting in a cafe drinking beer. Obviously they have been drinking all night and now sat along side with working people that ate breakfast. They were playing their own music, drinking more beer and the girl was kissing one fellow like a dog would eat a big chunk of meat. It was apparent that everyone else in the cafe was disturbed and annoyed. The scene went on for some time until the two guys got into a loud argument culminating in bottles thrown, screams and punches. The waiter tried to kick them out, but one guy was already on top of the other one and gave him punches into the face. The girl disappeared. The winner of the fight also walked of, leaving the looser with blood in the face next to the breakfast eating folks. One cigarette later the winner showed up again and walked towards the looser. He helped him up and they shook hands and walked off.

Zagreb

From Budapest I took a bus to the border because I was convinced that it would be cheaper if I would split up the journey at the border. When I arrived I had to note that there was no bus to Zagreb and only one train a day. It was the same one I avoided in Budapest. After waiting 5 hours at a miserable train station I got into the train. Because the train lines were occasionally suspended we had to switch into a bus midway.

Zagreb is the capitol of Croatia and has a bit more than one million people. Trams go throughout the city and are easy to use. Supermarkets have many products including 2 liter plastic beer bottles. I found a nice place to stay and walked extensively throughout the city center and beyond. There is some nice architecture to be found and shady parks. Very civilized place.

At the border between Hungary and Croatia I was hassled by the border police because my Passport was ripped on the page of the picture. She let me through, but told me very clearly that she could have denied me access easily.

That's why I went to the Swiss embassy and got a new temporary Passport. It set me back 100 CHF, but it was worth it because in the old Passport there were only 4 out of 38 pages empty.

After 4 days of fooling around town I went on to Slovenia to kill some time because I had some spare time until I had to catch my flight from Venice to Frankfurt.

Bratislava

After two hours of walking around to find a hostel that made any sense, I found a bed. I needed to do laundry and I was sweaty. I didn't like Bratislava much and decided that I am going the next morning. Eastern European cities in general look pretty similar and I missed exotic places. And that's when I made the decision of leaving Europe earlier than initially planned. Turkey for the next 4 weeks was what I called the "Promised Land". But I still had two promises to keep. Meeting Victoria in Germany and meeting my brothers in Kosovo.

I took a short stroll around the city in the evening and one by accident in the morning and wanted to by a bus ride to Zagreb. But there were no direct buses. Option one was to go back to expensive Vienna and look for a train or bus, the other option was going over Budapest. I choose the lather and slept one night in Budapest.  

Enns

In the city were Josef Fritzl raped his daughter throughout her youth locked up in the basement I was picked up by Christina. A girl I met in Mombasa a year before. She just finished her education and had vacation. So we had a lot of time to spend together. We often went out with her dog Evan. The weather during the week I was there was terrible at best and we weren't able to go out a lot. Her parents lived close by and I got the rather unexpected privilege to go to her moms place almost daily.

She was nice and was happy to host me. Her other daughter had a little baby. I usually never play with babies, but Mathilda was agreeable.

Next to watching TV and drinking beer we also made some day trips. Once we went to the city of Linz which looks like you would expect a city like Linz to look like. Old town, a modern district, the Donau and cleanliness. In the city center we visited a temporary art exhibition which was sophisticated.The Hoehenrausch 2.0 takes place on the roof tops of a whole street block. We also visited some friends of her, but because during my whole stay there was terribly loud music playing I didn't understand them. Austrian German can be thick as well.

On another occasion we went to Steyr, beautiful little university town with two merging rivers. There we met a friend of hers who we ate lunch with. He is my hero, because he quit his job just an hour ago, because of a loud dispute between him and the boss.

We also went to Christinas parents country house which was beautiful. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but that is exactly the reason why it seems like in a pristine state. Just next to the house we saw some dears.

I had a really nice stay and thank you Christina.

Vienna

The first time in the first world since 14 months. The Golden Apple as the Ottoman empire called it has been the center of the world from 1867 until 1918. The city has a population of 1.7 million people and is rich in Baroque architecture. The St. Stephansdorm is at the center surrounded by the old town. Subways, trams, buses and river boats make it easy to get around. But since they are costly I walked to most of the places. The first time during my journey I visited a country where people more or less speak my language.

The hostel kind of sucked and was expensive (20 Euro). The commercialisation has visibly reached every part of life and people seem busy earning money or are spending it most of the time. Shops line every street. Vienna also attracts many foreigners from Asia or Africa.

The United Nations have a branch on a Island of the Donau. The IAEA is based here. I tried to get in, but I was to late.

The main attraction though is the splendid architecture throughout the city center. Roman, Baroque, Renaissance and modern buildings seem to coexist very neatly. Vienna generally seems to translate into modern times with a lot of ease.

Last day I was off to a town called Enns in Austria's middle to visit somebody I got to know in Mombasa. The 1 hour train set me back 20 Euro...

Budapest

The mighty city of Budapest has a rich history that reached its peak during the Austro/Hungarian empire. I was dropped in the suburbs, but the efficient subway takes you to the city center. I got welcomed in the hostel by some dodgy looking, but very friendly people and a free bottle of wine and other goodies. I took two very long strolls through the city and marvelled at the Hungarian Parliament, Castle Hill, the wide Danube, the Great Market, the Jewish District and more broadly the city's architecture.

The Hungarian language is not related to any other language in the world. Oddly only Finnish has some similarities. But people speak well English or German as a second language. Thus they cater their international tourists very well.

Buda and Pest separated by the Danube river. Many luxuries river boats go all the way from Germany to the Black Sea. After 2 nights I left towards Vienna, but 2 weeks later I came back for one more night as a stopover.

Cluj

After a short ride I arrived in Cluj Napoca. Soon I found out that there was the Transylvania Film Festival that will start the next day. It lasts for 12 days and features low budget movies from throughout the world. There were playing maybe 20 different movies in one day in the many cinemas/ rooms with projector in the university city. I decided to take a holiday from the holiday and do something else than the usual stuff. In the 12 days I watched about 40 different movies and documentaries.

There were many students out in the streets and good concerts and parties in the evenings. Cinema culture during the day and concerts in the evening. I got to know many people who were travelling, but also very polite Romanians. The attitude of the locals is different from the capitol, most evident in the amount of smiles you get.

I got to know a delightful lady which is studying psychology in Cluj and we met every evening to go out. Sadly she was in the middle of exams, but I still very much enjoyed her company. She made me feel like a teenager again. We went to several concerts together which were very different from what mainstream culture in Switzerland has to offer. Once we went to a gig of the Turkish band called "Babazula". The energy of the singer sweating, singing and playing some odd looking guitar was overwhelming.

Some other time we went to the "Hungarian Theater" where a friend of her was performing in art mix between video, live classical music with a DJ mixing in the beats. Probably should be best observed with some kind of influence. Truly great stuff.

Apart from others I met one other guy that sticks out. He was claiming to be from Jordan and now being a fashion designer in London. He was gay and unorthodoxly dressed so it made sense. He slept in our hostel without checking in, he had a tab at my favoured bar that he never paid, so the poor student behind the bar had to work a day without salary, he burrowed 800 USD from a South Korean (apparently the SK was not aware of how much he actually gave to this guy) and many more free cigarettes and beers while going out. Eventually the South Korean got suspicious and confronted him outside a club, where the "fashion designer" was arguing with some locals about a separate money issue. Afterwards he claimed that he doesn't have any money left and the South Korean snapped and hit him several times and found 400 USD in his pocket. The police later on explained that he is a famous Roma, who goes from city to city and scamming people. Not even the Romanians noticed that he was Romanian. I am sightly impressed by his performance that lasted several days involving about a dozen people.

Finally my camera broke again (this time the lens) and I bought my 6th camera of my trip. Then I was on to Hungary.

Sighisoara

I arrived in the afternoon, I supposed to leave in the morning, but I had to wait 4 hours at the train station. The waiting part is a pattern in Europe. Especially if you don't have a smart phone. Sighisoara is a small town with an elevated old town. I was the only guest in the Burg Hostel and enjoyed the privacy. To walk around the old part you need about 3 hours. The church and the cemetery at top offer the best views. The narrow streets of the old town have some nice angles and are overgrown by bushes. Many American tourists were there during my stay. I also had a lengthy chat with a Romanian Film Artist who is making a video for tourism about Sighisoara. He comes here at least every second day to take some new shots. Apparently he wishes to go to Hungary where salaries are slightly higher. Sadly for him the EU has not yet granted Schengen status to Romania. People often speak German and the town is very relaxed. The food is very good.

Brasov

To be found in the south of the Carpathian mountains. Hilly, green landscape gives you the feeling of being on the countryside. It is in the Transylvania region. The duke Dracula used to live in castle near by. It is just rubble nowadays. But a different castle is now promoted as the original residence of Dracula. The cute little Bran castle gives the impression of being in a fairy tail.

Even though it is just a small village they have a 3D cinema that plays the same Dracula movie 24/7. Later on I visited with a Japanese cannabis farmer the Rasnov fortress. As a structure not impressive, but the location on top of a steep hill makes it special.

Brasov itself has no castle, but a nice old town with various defences and gates. Bears come down from the hills every evening to feast from the garbage residents leave in their containers outside their homes.

Bucharest

Another very soviet style city. Here they built the second biggest house in the world. Only second to - surprisingly non soviet - the Pentagon. It is used as the Parliament and Chaucescus home. He ruled here after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The road in front of the Parliament is exactly one meter longer than the Champs de Ellises - not a coincidence. 

Bucharest is not really popular throughout Romania. The revolution that brought down the dictator, didn't start here, but further west. Huge buildings dominate and a make up the impression tourists take with them. I went out with a Bulgarian couple - the guy turned out to be a Racist who sympathies with Adolf Hitler. I couldn't help him because he would not even listen to his embarrassed girlfriend. So I helped myself by ordering more liquids. 

Beautiful monasteries and golden roofed churches are to be found behind the main avenues.

I didn't enjoy my stay here too much and left after 2 days with the train to Brasov.

Chisinau

Moldova is not famous, nore is Chisinau. This is for a good reason. Moldavians are not allowed to travel to the Schengen countries. The only places in the neighbourhood where it is easy to get in is Turkey, Ukraine and Belarus. Not the usual tourist destinations. Moldova is isolated and offers little job opportunities. I got the impression that there is a common feeling of depression - of have given up. There are two big obstacles for them to enter the EU: They have a reputation of illegal activities such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, money laundering and a generally corrupt society.

Second: The breakaway region of Transnistria is effectively a separate country within the borders of Moldova. Transnistria is strongly pro Russian. They have suspended all trains with exception of a daily train to Moscow. With a dispute like that looming they wont get any approval by the EU. 

I established that they are not proud people, with one exception. The Soviets have build vast tunnels, which would function as a bunker for the elite during war. High ceiling salon await the visitor. The entrance door is camouflaged and looks like Batman's Cave. Nowadays it is a vast wine cellar. I tried a wine supposedly from 1987. It was very sweet and not so good. I stayed at a hostel near the MALLdova. The staff spoke good English and all spend some time in the US because they have won a National English contest. But now that they are back they shouldnt be around tourists telling stories of  other countries all time. Its not healthy.

I met the funniest Japanese person till date and had a lot of fun drinking wine with ang getting on the Buchaerst bus together.

The city consist of two main roads - make that one - that is lined with a few too big buildings and exchange booths. No hustle, no bustle.

Odessa

The market is a busy sprawl with a slightly concerning odor. Some sort of Feta cheese seems to be their main product. Odessa seems to be a place where life quality is still high. Even though prices have apparently sharply risen in recent years.

The background of the James Bond movie "From Russia with love" always sounded appealing to me. I arrived after a smooth night train from Kiev. 

I checked into "Babushka Grand Hostel" which turned out be very wise. The manager is from California and is on the run from the US Government. He used to supply famous people in California with electronic equipment - for example Clint Eastwood. He got caught leaving the US with 800000 USD in a suitcase. His assets (several million) in a Swiss bank got frozen recently after a successful request by the US Government. He now has less money than backpackers, but is quite happy with his situation in the Ukraine. Is girlfriend is 25. He is now suing the US Government because they are withholding his money.

The night life in Odessa is extraordinary and most people at the hostel were cool. In one club we got in trouble with the Russian Mafia. A Scottish friend decided to go on stage after he took off his clothes. We got shown to the door.

Occasionally cruise ships stop in the still busy Black Sea port and the tourist descend into the city. The city itself is ok - the parks are run down. But it has a lot of charm. At the seaside Ukrainians go sunbathing and occasionally into the still rather cold water.

Kiev

The capitol of the Ukraine is very much Russian. A statue called by expats the "iron tits" is a huge structure dominating the skyline. It is the main feature of whole park dedicated to mother Russia. Propaganda music is played over loudspeakers. Soviet weaponry is permanently displayed - everything from MIGS, tanks, helicopters and so on. Dotted all over the place are monuments that commemorate the Workers Partys struggle.
The main square in the heart of the city is were the non successful orange revolution took place. People are sunbathing happily after the rather harsh winters that besiege Kiev annually. Women show up in the shortest skirts possible and let there tits hang out. Almost no fat women are visible. The constant beauty is a bid intimidating and eventually annoying. President Janukovic once famously invited investors attending the WEF in Davos that they should come to Kiev during summer and fall in love with the women and country.

I walked to much, because I underestimated the size of the city. There countless places worth visiting. Mostly because of the size. But there are also monasteries with sarcophagus, countless gold roofed churches, Ladas passing by and good vistas over the surrounding area since Kiev is slightly elevated.
I also visited the Tschernobyl museum. I rather small shrine to commemorate the poor guys who had to clean the mess. The aftermath is still swallowing 5% of there annual GDP. I wanted to visit Tschernobyl, but the prices are over a hundred dollars.
Kiev is good fun - it is different: its a small time warp.

Lviv

After a horrible night bus from Krakow with 4 hours of waiting at the boarder. I arrived at a place that was far from being a city. First I got barked at by a vicious looking street dog. Then I found out that nobody speaks English. Everything is written in Cyrillic, so I also couldn't read anything. Eventually I found a bus that supposed to go the center. After walking from the center to the real center I found an ATM and a hostel. Then I slept a few hours and took a look at the city. Even though the western part of the Ukraine is very much in favour of Western European culture, the city looks Russian. There are some tourists, but they are on the sidelines. No EU money has not flown in yet and this is visible. The city it self is far from being a bijou with a few exceptions.
The part I liked the most was the cemetery. Overgrown by the forest lie countless gravestones from the past centuries. Some gravestones are very elaborate while others are wooden. Ukrainian nationalists got furious, when the government decided to start repairing works on the cemetery, because many supposedly Soviet heros are buried here.

Also just a few days before I arrived, the pro Russian government celebrated Victory Day. A holiday in honor of the Nazi defeat at the hand of the Soviets. But Ukrainian Nationalists complain that at that point in history the misery didn't stop. There were clashes and the Russian consul was not able to reach the monument. It was in the international newspapers.
I met very cool people in the hostel and went out every night. A delicious pizza costs 1.5 USD and a beer 0,5 USD. The national dish is Borscht. The main ingredient is beetroot and a oily bouillon. Some varieties are very good.
The clubs are cool a mostly full. We had a lot of fun and ordered vodka by the bottle.
I also visited my first opera in my life - Verdi. It was all subtitled in Ukrainian, so I couldn't follow, but it was still a cool experience.
After several really happy days I took the night bus to Kiev.

Zakopane

2 hours south of Krakow lies the skiing area of Poland. Apparently it would be very cheap to spend a winter holiday there. I arrived in mid summer. Hiking was the objective. There are very green, hilly fields and dense forests. Bears still roam the area. The Carpathian mountains are part of the Alps and reach all the way to Romania.

There were a respectable amount of tourists, but mostly of the older breed. I met up with the owner (Slavek) of the hostel (Ars hostel) in Krakow and some guests I met the previous night. We took a bus close to the Slovak boarder and hiked up along a river to see some lakes at the top. Snowy mountains made me feel nostalgic about the Swiss mountains. We got drunk at the top and hiked back down. In the evening I was very exhausted.

But the next day I did a hike by myself. I took a cable car to a ridge, where many schoolchildren were enjoying some sort of entertainment park. After I got out of the mess and found a beautiful landscape with views of the valley and the mountains. The houses are usually new and kept in the traditional chalet style of the alps. In the evening I went back to Krakow to catch my night bus to the Ukraine.

Krakow

Krakow was the center of Polish academic, cultural and artistic life. Today it is an economic center and a major tourist hub throughout Europe. It once hosted a significant Jewish population, that was more or less protected by the rulers of Krakow over the centuries. Of course WWII changed everything. The Nazi took over and built walls around the Jewish district. They were forced to work in German ammunition factories and were living under miserable, overcrowded conditions. They starved to death or died of diseases. The lucky ones that survived ended up in the infamous concentration camp Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was the biggest death camp during the 2nd World War. I toured the remaining compound and got a good impression about how things must have been like. The most surprising part for me was the immoral efficiency how the camp was run. The whole place had the character of a factory. New arrivals that were not considered fit for working went straight away to the gas chambers. They were let in the believe that they were about to get a shower. Everybody had to strip naked. Afterwards they were let into the gas chamber. Gas containers were dropped from the ceiling and 20 minutes later everyone was dead. The panic must have been horrific. One gas chamber had the capacity for 2000 people. The bodies were burned nearby in cremation compound. The ashes were used as fertilizer. The Nazis had big plans about expanding the ever growing camp shortly before the Soviets arrived.

The people that were seen fit to work lived in small barracks. They were overcrowded and had no heating during the winter. Diseases were rampant. The workers hardly ever got food and usually only lasted 3 months under the harsh conditions. Their hair was cut at the beginning and waved into clothes. All personal belongings were collected and donated to German citizens. Gold teeth were extracted and melted.

The most pervert thing was that the camp, was insured by the Allianz Bank.

In Krakow I visited the Schindler Factory. The good face of the German occupation. He protected his workers from exploitation, put his own life into danger to help the needy. He saved many people from the concentration camp.

Krakow city is a beautiful, relaxed urban sprawl. The main attraction is the Wawel castle, which overlooks the river Vistula. It is home to many sarcophagus of past rulers. Definitely one of the best castles in Europe.

I went out every night and enjoyed some good and surprisingly cheap parties.

Wroclaw

Also known as Breslau, Wroclaw is the 4th largest city in Poland and has the typical history of Eastern European countries: Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, counter Reformation, Napoleonic Wars, WWI, WWII, Communism, Liberation and EU/NATO.

The old city is elliptical shaped and has walls or the river Oder around it. Some small river islands in the north are home to various churches, cathedrals and monasteries. The city is pretty vibrant and is never really sleeping. I went out with some Spanish Erasmus student who I met at the hostel. They were getting drunk on the cheap liqueur they bought at the shop. They had no money in their wallet while leaving - only a condom and a lot of hopes. All Erasmus students have no money, but the Spanish are the worst. Even though they get 300 euro each month from their government.

Polish discotheques have two faces. The girls look very nice and feel like on a catwalk while dancing. The men are either getting drunk or are already passed out. It must be hard for Polish girls. I was dancing until the early morning.

The true jewel of Wroclaw is the main square. The Town Hall is among the best in Europe. The city was badly damaged during WWII, but they have really recovered well. The EU is poring in a lot of money and is trying to turn the student city into a industrial hub.

Poznan

Poznan, a city in western Poland is the place where I heard first about Osama bin Ladens death, while eating cornflakes. The main square was to big for the developers of the past, so they built the Town Hall (Renaissance style with baroque tower) and several other buildings into the middle of the square. Not very odd for Poland, but it seems wrong. While I was there the Polish People celebrated there Independence day. There was a small fair on the main square and a military parade with old uniforms. All the schoolchildren were forced to take part and were visibly bored.

I walked around till exhaustion. I visited an old wooden church, the cemetery, monuments about past wars, Lake Malta and Ostrow Tumski. A small island considered the birth place of the Polish culture. The cathedral dates back to the 10th century. Pope John Paul is celebrated everywhere and by anyone. The Polish people think of him as the new face of Poland after the dark years of Communism.

Further more also the Champions League final and the Polish cup final took place during my time there. I missed the first half of Barcelona against Manchester because Warsaw and Poznan went into overtime.