Weinerstitzel Wanderings

Guten tag from Germany! I am sitting in an internet cafe in Frankfurt, the best internet prices we have found overseas at 3 euros for an hour. Thanks to everyone for the comments left on my site over the last few weeks... I have not been able to get back to most of you, but believe me I read them and appreciate your comments:

Karissa : i wish i had gotten some French lessons from you as well. you did offer i just never had the time to do it. I have to say though that the late night cram session at the airport did WONDERS and I now have a pretty decent working vocabulary in French. Being forced to learn helps a lot!! p.s. I have a few sugarpackets for you! yay!

Dr. J : I almost brought my laptop with me on vacation... thank god I didn't because I couldn't have dealt with the extra weight on my back, but the PDA thing is a great suggestion and I too would recommend that for future trekkers. Maybe i'll have one for next summer???

Evan :: would you believe that the only restaurants I visited in France were Eastern? We had Indian, Vietnamese, & Japanese. The rest of the time we lived on baguettes, delicious French cheese, and miscellaneous toppings. I didn't have one dessert out in France! Isn't that a damn shame? Also... I forgot to buy myself a France pin - magnet for my collection. Honestly, by the time we left Paris, I was thrilled to leave. Next time, I visit somewhere less expensive!!!

Germany? What can I say? I don't speak a word of German. Nothing. Luckily, most Germans we have encountered say that they only speak a little English then speak wonderfully. The hostel is giant, clean, and has hot hot wonderful showers. This alone is enough to make me love Germany. The quality toliet paper and icy cold airport water helped as well. Add that to the man in the tourist booth who knew EXACTLY where we wanted to go.. and you have a virtual nirvana...

at least until we wandered into 'little paris' tonight... god, France, won't you leave me alone???

I am, however, dying for an icy cold drink that doesn't cost 20 million dollars... and I refuse, REFUSE, i tell you, to add any monez to the McDonald's machine. I will have to cave, I believe, since 1 euro is about the cheapest cold drink around. Right now I have to go and find a place to crash tomorrow night... until next time... gute nacht!

p.s. one final note? Walmart has invaded Germany! Someone call Batman! And hurry!

fair paris

I am in Paris, land of the crazy keyboards, i would love to write a bunch but the internet costs too much and the typing is slow: i love this city: i love bread pain; wine vin; cheese frommage; and getting drunk on streets corners and speaking bad but getting better french: i saw jim morrisons grave today: super:

i hate this lack of punctuation but i am lucky to hit the right keys: my french is getting better every day; impressive since i started from scratch: i bet i can say at least 50 words; maybe 100:

the louvre was amazing: better was the discovery of the bridge zhere the local youths hang out to drink wine; smoke cigarettes::: that; mon amie; is exactly the culture i was seeking with this journey

we are living in a youth hostel that costs 15 euros a night:: cheap cheap cheap: we walk until our feet explode then pass out in our bunk beds at night: today we venture to le tour eiffel; to see the eyesore that so distracts the city: it is gaudy and awful at night; i am afraid; not as lovely as i thought it would be

La Vida Es Dulce en Espana

Greetings from Spain! I'm sitting at a rather low class computer with fast internet in the back of a restaurant called The Orange Kiwi in Empuribrava, Spain, in the Costa Brava region. The music is mellow, the dinner hour starts at 7, and the Mediteranean Ocean is right in front of my eyes.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful in Spain, from scorching hot the first day, resulting in a wicked sunburn before I even made it to our campsite to a lovely 70ish degrees today. The nights are chilly, which means I'm wearing a thermal shirt and snuggling with Mr. International at night (oh well! hah!) but the days are the perfect temperature for cruising around on my rented bicycle and exploring the town.

The area is very touristy but this is okay because it means the locals are used to bad Spanish. The people here are very nice and make an effort to speak slowly so that I can understand then. Renting the bikes was done entirely in Spanish and early this morning I went to the bank for small change and was able to get exactly what I wanted with very little trouble.

This part of Spain is simply gorgeous, the sea stretches blue before my eyes, literally a mere 600 feet from the door of my bungalow. The beaches are white sand loveliness peppered with (oooh la la!) topless sunbathers... did I join the crowd? I'll leave that up to your imagination, mis amigos. Haha!

We haven't done much sightseeing.. just being here is enough for me, I love exploring the town and having a bike makes it easy for me to travel independently while Mr. International snoozes or sucks down las cervasas. The sangria here is delicious and cheap... The beach provides hours of entertainment in of itself (though I did get a wicked sunburn) and palm trees fill my vision. All in all, I'm having a lovely time.

Thanks for everyone's comments on the last entry: Karissa - I will you some sugarpackets, Lou, I didn't get to do the Jack the Ripper tour but thanks for the suggestion, and Dr. J - the idea for literary tease originally came from me wanting to provide writing on the web as well as sell the herbal tea blends that I make for my friends. So you aren't that far off the mark! and, Evan, I'll think of you in fair Paris!

Love,

moira

p.s. please leave comments but dont' be sad if I dont' get back to you right away. Internet is expensive as hell *at $2 for 15 minutes being the best price I've found, other than the freebie surfing I scored today.... I will, however, read my emails every chance I get and it's nice to hear from people at home. Hope everyone's summer is going well!!!

Attack of the London Pigeons

I see London, I see France, I see... well, let's not talk about that, shall we? Here I am in London, sitting at an internet cafe unable to restrain myself from smiling with glee at the red double deckers rumbling past. I don't even mind that the London Bridge is in Arizona and that the Queen wasn't home when we went past... we'll have our meeting yet, oh yes... er...

I spent a few minutes feeding pigeons by the Thames, refusing to stop until a crowd of 13 pigeons had gathered, worshipping at my feet, and then a little boy scared them all swooping and squawking away. It seemed a perfect time to move on.

You have to pay 20p to go to the bathroom but this afternoon we discovered the trick of going into McDonalds, of all places, for a free toliet experience. We, of course, did not eat there. Oh, and for the corporation haters out there... Starbucks is everywhere in England as well as at home... argh!

We are staying right in the heart of London at St. Christopher's Village a MASSIVE youth hostel that cost £28.80 for two nights (That's about $50.. for London, that ain't bad, kids!) Our dorm is a fourteen person room with these awful bright yellow sheets. The hallways smell a bit like body odour (<-- note the British spelling) covered with Lysol, but our room included free coffee or tea between 6 - 9 at the local internet cafe, as well as a free breakfast in the morning. Sweet!

So far, we haven't been doing too bad with the money spending, but I still have, what, 8 weeks of travelling left? So we'll see what tune I'm singing a few weeks from now. For day, we packed sandwiches so the only money we've spent is on the tour bus (which is valid for tomorrow as well) & the room.

London is rainy and miserable and I have a cold. However, sweet milky tea seems to cure all yer ills and I feel a lot better now inside the hot internet cafe than I did swaddled in an ugly white poncho sitting on top of a double decker tour bus holding onto my hat so it didn't blow away.

I've got a TON of gorgeous pictures that I will post as soon as I'm able (probly not until July) and I'm having a simply lovely time, despite the cold wet rain and the sniffles that keep sneaking up on me. A few more doses of this godawful treacle cough syrup (yuck! yuck! and double yuck! this stuff is worse than NyQuil) and I should be feeling dandy.

Tomorrow, we are hitting up the Tate Modern Art Gallery, the National Gallery, and the British Museum. In the afternoon, we will be wandering gleefully around Hyde Park until about 6 when we embark on a spooooky ghost tour of the pubs of London. Sweet! More when I am able... until then... I remain Moira. International Superstar. Or something.