Stockholm

My couchsurfing host fell through for Sweden so I was left high and dry to find my own way around and my own place to stay.  It really wasnt a problem.  I walked around the old city (Gamla Stan) until I found a hostel.  I lucked out in finding a good one.

I really dont have a whole lot to say about Stockholm because everything I experienced is from my own perception and I dont know many facts about what I saw.  The princess got married and there was a huge festival to go along with it called "Love 2010."

Here is a panorama I took of the Stockholm skyline:

 
It is about 16 MegaPixels big so you should be able to see quite a bit if you download the picture or enlarge it.  The cluster of light colored buildings on the right is Gamla Stan, the old town.

Munich

I didn't plan anything for Munich other than where I was going to sleep.  In my mind Munich is just another big city where I can go to churches and museums.  This is why I prefer to couchsurf.

The night I got to Munich was Germany's first game in the World Cup.  At the Olympiastadium, where the Olympics were held 40 years ago, there was a jumbo-tron set up and thousands of screaming Germans.  Valery (My host), some of her friends, and I went to the stadium to watch the game.  Germany won 4-0.  I also got the Germany flag painted on my face ... when in Rome.

Me, Franzi, and Mario (Valery is taking the picture)

Me and Valery 

Valery lives really close to where the Oktoberfest takes place so I made a point to walk over there.  It isn't very pretty.  There is a big church at one end and a big statue at the other.

Apparently, every Monday there is something called "Blade Night."  At Blade Night there are thousands of people on rollerblades with a police escort riding through the streets of Munich.  Unfortunatly, they canceled Blade Night right before it was supposed to start.  We had already ridden around a bit before so we werent too upset.

I also saw churches and museums and I put those pictures on facebook.  They arent terribly exciting.

Also, the nice camera I was using was stolen at Stansted Airport so there are fewer and lower quality pictures from here on.

Memmingen

Memmingen is a very small town. Very, very small. I am surprised that they built an airport here.

I am staying with a local musician and actor named Martin.  His girlfriend, Stephie, is here as well but she normally lives in Munich.  Martin lives in the oldest house in town.  It is about 500 years old.

The first day I was here, after I dropped Whitney off with David, Martin and I went swimming with his friend from the theater where he works.  I ended up falling asleep under a tree.  The days of not sleeping while traveling with Whitney finally caught up with me.

The next day there was a city party.  It is a sort of founders day celebration.  There was beer, good food and brass bands.  After that we went to an old abandoned airfield where we rode longboard skateboards.  I dont have any pictures of that ... which is good because it was pretty embarrassing

That afternoon we went to a premier of a play at the theater Martin works at.  The girl we went swimming with before was the lead.  It was all in German so I didnt understand much of the dialog but the story was simple enough that I could follow it.

Today, the girl from swimming and the play is driving with me to Munich where I am meeting my next couchsurfing host.

London

This is a place holder until I have time to actually write and go through the pictures from London

Dublin

I am sitting in the common room at our hostel in Dublin with our French Canadian friends, Beatrice and Melissa.

Last night we went down to the Temple Bar for dinner with the Canadians.  We met a family from New Jersey and had a great time talking about travel  and trying to get through some language barriers.

Whitney was very tired after dinner and went straight to bed. I stayed up and watched Irish tv (a show with weird puppets) and helped Melissa practice her English.  Beatrice ended up going out with our waiter for a few hours.

Today we are going to take a bus tour around Dublin.  The New Jersey family was leaving town and had 4 extra passes to the hop-on-hop-off bus tours so they gave them to us.


Pictures coming soon. The internet here is too slow to upload them

Traveling Lite

Im doing a bit of my pre-packing for my trip.  I am leaving on Monday but I have something to do every day until then so I wont be back at my apartment  ... so this has to get done now.

Here is a little inspiration:

This is my backpack. This is the only baggage I am bringing.

This is the large part of what I am putting in that bag.  I haven't done any compression packing on the clothes yet so it will fit in a much smaller space in the bag when I do.  The blue towel (upper middle) is a camping towel that dries super fast, weighs nothing and packs small. It's like drying off with a Sham-wow. The black in the upper right is a cycling jacket that has all the same properties as the towel but it keeps me warm.

I have a hat because I can't sleep in the airport when it is bright, so I put it over my face.  I am also wearing my barefoot shoes.

The folder has my passport and all the confirmations for my trains and flights. This information is duplicated in my iPod and the black notebook.  Everything else is just there to feed my techno-addiction