A few random things..

In Cesky Krumlov there was apparently some sketchy stuff going down. The hostel offered a rafting pub crawl that basically started at noon, they shoved you off in the water with booze and let you loose for 6 hours. I guess there are bars on the way that you can stop at but without a guide I can't imagine how anyone would know where to stop.

So, like every other place on this trip there were a group of people that decided to go on this pub crawl. I'm not sure how they do it. These people seriously hop from one town in Europe to the next drunk and spend most of their trip pissed or recovering. When I showed up at the hostel the next morning (i was staying elsewhere) I saw a girl with this huge eye patch, a guy with his arm in a sling and about 10 really hung over people. Our bus broke down on the way out of town and the guide told us we could go back to Cesky for a few hours til it got fixed and a huge grown erupted from the back of the bus. "Fuck Cesky!" I heard. Of course I was even more curious about the drama so I asked another girl on the bus.

Turns out they got wasted, "commandeered" a boat (their words) and trespassed on private property. 3 of the guys got arrested and ended up in jail. The guy with the broken arm fell at one point and broke it up near his elbow. I don't think he went to the hospital until Vienna. The girl with the eye patch had remarked to her boyfriend that she wanted to go home and he picked her up, slung her on his shoulder and promptly dropped her head first into the ground. She had to have a bunch of stitches and her face was all slashed up. Awesome. Apparently the hostel owner had to go to the police station and the hospital to pay bail and hospital bills since no one had enough $ on them to cover it. They all paid him the next morning.

This is one example for why I'm pretty glad I'm not staying in the recommended hostels at most of the places. The people on the tour that want to party usually stay there and getting mixed up in some of that mess would not be very awesome. I guess drama is everywhere! I understand doing stupid stuff when you're drunk but stealing a boat? c'mon that's shitty.

In my own unfun news I received a call from my landlord at 4am my time telling me that my bike lock was cut and someone stole my bike off my stoop. I've filed a police report, downloaded Skype to call some local bike shops and am scouring craigslist but I'm not too hopeful. When I get back I'll check around my neighborhood in the hopes that someone started to ride it and decided to ditch it. *fingers crossed* The number of bike thefts in Portland is so high - it's a real bummer when someone decides it would be real nice to CUT through a bike lock and steal someones bike. Since I've lived in this apartment I've had my car broken into, rock gear stolen and now a bike. What I really need is to get paid a little bit more so I can afford a new apartment with a little more space and pay my student loans and other bills. Having a 1 bdrm place again would be really awesome. I would love to have a backyard to shape into a cute garden too but I'll take a little more space first! My kitties would love it too.

Speaking of which Don sent me a cute picture of them all sleeping on his bed. They were all sleeping in exactly the same spots that they sleep when they are on my bed. Maybe it's a bit strange that I find that so endearing but I think it's pretty adorable that they all have their little "spots" that make them feel comfortable. I'm so thankful that he's taken such great care of the little ones. I miss their fuzzyness!

Despite the drama and the setbacks I'm having a great time and would love to stay longer. The thought of being back at work during normal work hours in a little over a week makes me feel a bit anxious. I don't thrive on working 9-5. A little non-traditional lifestyle and career would be really nice! Tomorrow I head to Salzburg! Vienna was nice but I was a bit sunburnt today so I only walked around for a few hours. Everything is really expensive here. The cost of things seems amplified even more because I've spent the past two weeks in Berlin, Dresden and the Czech Republic. I keep thinking about Dresden actually. The people, food and atmosphere was really great. It felt small but had a lot of the big city perks. I also got the green vibe from all the compost, recycling and the farm in the middle of a street block. It has its eccentricities and also a very beautiful old town. I think it was the most like Portland except with a much richer history. I sure miss that tasty Indian food.

brrr!!

Everyone back home has been talking about the sunshine and warm weather. Well, it's 45 degrees here (4pm!) and I'm wearing a turtleneck, jacket and knitted handwarmers and a hat almost every day. I didn't know it was going to be so cold over here, isn't it May?

The Neustadt side of Dresden is like a bigger version of SE Portland. This is the first place I've seen that composts and recycles everything. Also there are a bunch of themed bars: one plays the Big Lebowski over and over again and is appropriately named, Lebowski, another is a big tiki bar, and there are gay bars, a cellar bar, and well, you name it... they probably have it here. In the middle of these 4 streets between the attached houses/apartments/bars there is a farm with chickens, goats, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and more. I biked through it today but it is closed from the 13th-16th so it looks like I'll miss going in.

There is a really tasty bagel shop where the owner made me veggie sandwich on a rosemary bagel with some amazing rosemary cheese. Last night I had a huge bowl of vegan soup at the indian place across the street for 3 euros. Food is cheap here and delicious. I have food from the market but I will save it for Prague as I am looking forward to another bowl of tasty indian soup for tonight.

I spent a good part of the day biking around on a free bike my hostel loans out. It was a weathered nice bike and I chose it because it looked like the local bikes. I rode around for a bit in the rain and decided to head over to the deutsche hygeine museum and had a good time there sending out vague ecards to people saying Greetings from the Deutsche Hygeine Museum. Haha. It does not really have much to do with hygeine although it is the study of man and reminds me a bit of OMSI but with a bit more outgoing and "risky" exhibits. Like the birthing video that everyone had to watch in 7th grade but a bit more graphic. And also life sized replica's of human bodies. I think it's silly how we (Americans) shield children from seeing these things when they are young. It is nice to see other countries so open and not ashamed or embarrassed to explain these things to their children. It reminds me of things I have explained to Anise and how upset Corban got when he found out I talked to her about those things. Children have questions and most of the time it's best to answer them rather than them learn through gossip or who knows what. Also, if you make something available and don't regard it as taboo the child won't see it that way. Children naturally are curious and if they think something is taboo to talk about they will do it. I find that it is the same way here with alcohol.

The more I am away the more I realize something my friend Dave pointed out a bit after I left is right. Americans are too cautious. We shield ourselves from so many things and we're scared of accidents, terrorists, falling ill, life! If it seems that a European is having a good time it's because they aren't freaking scared of life like we are.

Dresden's attitude is great. I am able to find and love a lot of little things about each city I am visiting. I take a few pictures here and there but I'm finding that my desire to post a ton of pictures of museums, historical buildings, bridges, churches and buildings is dwindling. I remember the architecture. I remember the bridges and the shops. But most of what I want to remember is the culture and the people. Those are things that cannot really be captured by photographs.