TravelStream™ news feed for member lynnster on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lynnster en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 05 Jun 2006 10:47:56 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148715660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148715660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148715660/tpod.html Mon, 05 Jun 2006 10:47:56 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Vienna, Austria

I arrived in Vienna at about 8:45am or so. And I will admit it, I smelled. I had washed a few things in Venice but had left the rest of my dirty clothes in my suitcase, thinking "I´ll wash stuff in Vienna." Thing is... all of those dirty clothes decided to intermingle in a bad way inside of my suitcase. And then I was stuck inside of a small train couchette without much ventilation. Realizing this, I opened a window in the morning to freshen the air, but not long enough before the train conductor opened the door to bring my morning coffee. The look on his face was... ummm... in retrospect kind of funny. His face kind of pushed to the side in a way I didn´t know was possible. It was like his nose was trying to run away. Of course, he probably just figured I was French. ;)When I got off of the train, my friend Burgi was waiting for me. The first thing she said was, "Oh my GOD. You are TAN! This is not normal for you." And a little while later she added, "And you were right... you do kind of smell."Here´s the story of Burgi and I for those of you who don´t know... we were pen pals. I think we started in 1982, when I was selected to stay with her family on an exchange. The thing is, we were notified late that they had a family for me and I had already gotten a job for the summer (as a dog groomer... yes a dog groomer). Also, I knew that my mother couldn´t really afford to send me to Europe. So I couldn´t go but I wrote Burgi to apologize.From that we became pen-friends. Burgi lived on her family´s dairy farm in Trofaiach, Austria (near Leoben in Styria, which is lower Austria) and I lived in the land of California surfers... Del Mar, California. She may as well have lived on Mars for all I knew of Austria, and most of her knowledge of America was all pop-culture references (still is sometimes! Ha!). Anyhow, we wrote for a while, we both still have the letters somewhere, and they are very embarrassing and funny. (Case in point: I wrote an entire letter about Michael Jackson´s hair catching on fire.) After a while of writing her I began to feel horribly guilty though, because I kept promising her I would visit someday but I knew I didn´t have any money and that most of my family didn´t travel. So I stopped writing her after I graduated high school... but not before sending her a picture of my prom. Thing is, she didn´t know what a prom was. So she got a picture of me in an off-white dress with a guy in a tuxedo, and she sees that we changed addresses after high school... well Burgi added it all up and when I stopped writing her, she figured that I got married. Which, as you all know, I did not.Flash forward to 1990 and I decide to go backpacking through Europe with my friend Scot. I had no CLUE what I was doing, but Rick Steves told me it was easy and I believed him. So I wrote Burgi at her parent´s farm to say that I might finally be able to meet her.During the time we had stopped writing, Burgi became more and more interested in America and so she had come to Philadelphia as an au pair (nanny) for a while, and then was hired as a flight attendant for Lauda Air in Vienna. So her mom forwarded the letter to her in Vienna and she wrote me back saying she was looking forward to meeting me.When it came time to leave for Europe, Scot bailed on me. So I ended up going by myself and just by chance ended up sitting on the plane next to girls that went to my high school (what are the odds?). Started in England, and when I first saw cars on the other side of the road I immediately freaked out, chanting to the girls I was with "What the Hell am I doing? I am in a foreign country! I am not this brave. This is NUTS!" But then within a few days I was in Bath, England having a great time and getting snooker lessons from my friend Ashley (Hi Ashley!). I finally arrived in Vienna a few weeks later with a girl I´d met from Kiel Germany (you never REALLY travel alone...) and Burgi met us at the same train station she met me at this time. In between that first visit and this one, I have been here two other times and she has visited me a few as well. And we´ve talked on the phone a lot and é-mailed. For many years, she has been the first person to call me on my birthday. (Now most of my guilt towards Burgi comes from the fact that she´s so good but I never remember to call her on HER birthday... so I have it plugged into my computer and hopefully I will remember it next year.)So that´s the story. Once every five years or so, my Austrian pen-friend and I live together for 1-2 weeks. We have cultural differences and very different natures as people so there are always ups and downs for the first week as we get used to eachother´s quirks again, but we alway get to the other side of it and before I leave we both remember why we´re still friends after 25 years. Damn, that´s a long time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1149518160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1149518160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1149518160/tpod.html Mon, 05 Jun 2006 10:46:32 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Vienna, Austria

Today I went to the Leopold Museum and the Art History Museum. The first was filled with a lot of Austrian Impressionist work. The latter is filled with everything else imaginable. They have one of the best classical painting exhibitions and even though I have seen it before it still overwhelmed me. My favorites are the Titian and the Rubens I think. The irony of the day was walking through the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sections... especially since during my time in Egypt I was often told, "There <i>would be a sarcophagus here, but it´s in the Vienna museum. Sorry." Anyhow, it kind of felt full circle to see mummies again... and I tried my best to remember everything I learned about the 30 dynasties that I had drilled into my brain for two weeks. Made me think... I would definitely like to go back to Egypt and learn more. Tonight Burgi leaves for a flight to Beijing and she won´t be back until Wednesday night. In the meantime, I leave on Wednesday morning so today is going to be our goodbye. Hopefully we´ll see eachother again in less than five years...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148374020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148374020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148374020/tpod.html Sat, 03 Jun 2006 08:29:10 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Venice, Italy

For those of you who have never been to Venice, I'll try to give you an idea of what it's like. First off, it's an island. There are no cars anywhere on the main island, so instead all transit is done by boats on the canals that weave throughout. Besides the gondolas carrying tourists along the canals, it is a working city where people live, so boats are also how the restaurants get their supplies delivered, how the construction companies transport their building materials, etc. So the canals are in essence a set of freeways and side streets.I am happy to say that this is the first time I've been to Venice where I didn't get lost. I learned my lesson though... I know I can always find Piazza San Marco so I booked a hotel semi-near it, and then memorized the path from the Piazza to the hotel.My new travel buddy Lisa had never been to Venice and I hadn't been in about 10 years so we explored a lot of it. We walked all over, and I finally mastered the Vaporetto (the public transit boats) so we tried to get our money's worth on the 3 Day transit passes we bought. We ate a LOT of gelato along the way. Two scoops on a cone, a minimum of 2x a day. Why? Because even though I'm usually not an ice cream person... gelato is so freaking good that passing it by becomes impossible at times. Unfortunately, I think some of that weight I lost in Turkey and Egypt has started sneaking it's way back after the carbs, wine, and gelato of Italy. Oh well. At least I've earned every pound.Our hotel was not on a canal and I was happy about that since sometimes the canals get a little... ummm... smelly. Fact is, the canal water is green and pretty disgusting. It's kind of a sewer system, and hundreds of years ago it carried the plague. (Anybody ever read Thomas Mann's Death in Venice? It's features a cholera outbreak. Not really a feel-good book.) Anyhow, the city floods about 100 times a year, and the Piazza San Marco is the low point of the island so that's usually the first to go. On our first night there, the water was coming up from the grates and flooded out the entire front of the Basilica and parts of the Piazza. This is very common.Even though our hotel was not on a canal, it was very close to one of the canals that the gondolas frequent. So from the room you could hear the accordionists and opera singers seranading their passengers. We decided not to get a gondola ride because they cost around $200 nowadays. And plus, it started to sprinkle a bit on our last night, which kinda makes a boat ride a little less appealing.I'll be uploading my photos from Austria, but I took quite a few. I know that for some of you, Venice is a dream that you may never see so I tried to capture the feel of it. Sooooo, there are a lot of photos of gondoliers and people being covered in pigeons in the Piazza San Marco. I also used my video to capture a few things that you will really like... the gondolier musicians, a group of italians breaking into an impromptu song, and a street musician playing Swan Lake on water glasses. I'll try to get those up soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148548620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148548620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148548620/tpod.html Sat, 03 Jun 2006 03:33:26 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Cinque Terra, Italy

I really like Monterossa a lot, and am glad there was nothing available in Vernazza. It's a very sweet place to hang out. Very mellow.On this day we spent 7 hours mostly hiking to and from the five Cinque Terra towns. It was a lot of exercise... but fortunately there are many wine bars along the way. :)Anyhow, I'll write more about this stuff from Vienna, ok?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148294460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148294460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148294460/tpod.html Fri, 02 Jun 2006 02:56:19 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Venice, Italy

Yesterday on the boat I struck up a conversation with a girl named Lisa who is traveling alone as well. Talk about having the opposite job from me, the children's book designer, Lisa is an undercover narcotics police officer from Oklahoma. She's been on the road for about 3 weeks to my 5. I noticed her watching Eurovision the night before, but I was still in anti-social mode because of my ear so I didn't say anything to her. I really just haven't been in the mood to travel with anyone up until now. But yesterday I was feeling more myself and in the mood to be social so we started talking. And so it turns out I now have a new travel buddy, and she's a lot of fun. And fortunately I'm actually in the <i>mood to have a travel buddy (we both are) so it's perfect timing. Last night we had dinner together on the boat and polished off a bottle of Greek wine, and this morning we both got up early to watch as we cruised into the port of Venice, which was beautiful.It's funny, I've only been to Venice twice before, but after five weeks of traveling through unfamiliar lands (to me) it's SO nice to be in a familiar place. I feel like I'm home, even though I'm far from it. I didn't have to try to remember how to say thank you or hello or anything, I remember enough Italian that it's automatic and it's so nice to not have to think about it.Since Venice is a labyrinth, we are pretty much just spending the day getting lost and exploring... eating pizza and gelato, drinking wine and cappuccino... venturing into shops all over... exploring churches along the way. Just a nice relaxing time. Tonight we'll hopefully find a nice little restaurant to overeat and drink too much wine in. Because what else would one want to do on a night in Venice?Tomorrow we'll probably go to the Basilica and check out the view from the Campanile. There was a very long line today so we put it off.Anyhow, while at first I was disappointed to miss Croatia, right now I'm very glad I came to Venice. As the ship cruised past the Piazza San Marco, I realized that right now this is exactly where I'm in the mood to be. And I'm glad I ran into Lisa because it's a great place to have a partner in crime.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148021880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148021880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148021880/tpod.html Fri, 02 Jun 2006 02:30:46 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Athens, Greece

Maybe it's because I knew to stay near the Plaka (Old Town), but honestly Athens is much more pleasant than I'd been expecting. I may change my mind by tomorrow but so far I'm enjoying it.Anyhow, I spent most of my morning uploading photos so now I'll go see the town and the Acropolis. In the meantime, enjoy the photos!*************A few random thoughts... (I'll add to this later)People in Athens REALLY REALLY like to shop. I mean, REALLY.Athens is HUGE. From the Acropolis, you can see buildings on every single side, all the way to the horizon. They've done a very nice job of trying to section off some nice pedestrian streets for people to hang out and sit in cafes and whatnot, though. I've walked for almost four hours today and I really did enjoy it. The worst part was walking up to the Acropolis, but that's just because it was hot and I ran out of water like an idiot.Speaking of walking up to the Acropolis... my friend Lisa warned me to wear good shoes which I did (I hiked every temple and tomb in Egypt, so I have footwear covered)... but honestly I wish I had a euro for every Asian lady I have seen on this holiday that's nearly bit the dust because she decided to don her fancy shoes to climb ruins. Any time I see a group of Asian tourists I just look down at their footwear and inevitably there are a handful of ladies in wedges or heels or something far too delicate to be scaling mountainsides. These poor ladies are tumbling all over the ruins of the world, people... and it's not a good thing. I think maybe we should take up a collection and buy the tourist women of Asia some good Easy Spirits or something. Are you with me!?I don't have a photo, but Greek sailor uniforms? Are DEFINITELY the gayest military outfits ever designed by man. Seriously.********************Ok, so on a serious note now... I said I wouldn't censor this journal so I should probably keep my word. Which means that I'm going to have to put some deep thinking on here for a minute. I try to stick to the fun travel stuff, but one of the things about long travels is that they bring out all aspects of humanity in you, and often teach you lessons you never expected to be given when you innocently locked up your apartment and headed for the airport.Soooo, I'll spend a few moments to talk about some things that I haven't really been comfortable discussing until now. I was really just trying to sort through my thoughts privately for a while, but now that the cat's a bit out of the bag and I'm seeing some improvement, I can talk about it a bit more. Like I said before, I really wanted this travelogue to be about the joys of travel, and frankly that wasn't just for your sakes it was for my own too... because there were times where I needed this outlet to remind myself of the same thing. There have been a few times where this travelogue has really been a bit of a lifesaver for my spirit and has helped me to channel my positive energy when I needed it, which has been a wonderful gift for me. So it's an added bonus that people have actually been reading it and enjoying it... but the gift to me has really been that I've had the outlet to create this for you. ***And before I go on... for anyone who is talking to my mother (Alex, Nicole, etc.), PLEASE downplay what I'm about to say when you talk to her because I AM FINE. I have even called her, so she suspects nothing of this. Last thing that anyone needs is for her to have a stroke or heart attack from worry... so PLEASE don't give her a reason. Once again, I AM FINE. Thanks.***So here goes... the fact is that yesterday, for the first time since May 6, little bits of hearing started coming back into my left ear. Prior to that, all I've had has been tinnitis and the loud sound of my heartbeat. (The really good part being that I HAVE a heartbeat to hear!) Anyhow, the medicine the Turkish doctor gave me after the initial injury didn't work AT ALL, and apparently the Greek doctor's treatment is starting to take a bit of effect, which is a huge relief. Today I'm hearing even more, but it basically sounds like a very badly blown stereo speaker. It's like a weird drug trip. I can't even explain how it sounds... but the point is that it actually SOUNDS!!! That I'm improving makes me incredibly thrilled, even though I know I have a way to go. After having no change for a while, at least I'm finally experiencing some progress, and it gives me hope that every day it might improve even more. That would be so nice! I have come to terms with my hearing loss over the years so that's not even the issue for me... the issue is that while I love Vienna and my friend Burgi, I really don't want to live there forever. I would like to be allowed to fly safely home at some point. And until my ear is healed, I can't board a plane.All of that aside, I can say that while it has not been the most fun thing to go through, I have really learned a lot from this experience as a human being. I'd say the biggest lesson I've learned from this trip on a whole is about appreciating things I take for granted. In Egypt, I began to truly understand for the first time all of the rights and freedoms we take completely for granted as Americans. Things I've just never thought twice about before are forbidden in some countries, and experiencing that firsthand just blew my mind. And this ear thing has really taught me about appreciating our senses. It's not until they go away that you realize how incredible they are to have. Another thing I've been reminded of on this trip is just how incredibly kind people are to strangers when they want to be. I knew this from other travels, but it's nice to see that no matter how cynical you may become, this fact stays the same and is proven time and time again. People are generally incredibly good in this world, despite how it may seem sometimes on tv.I can tell you this, if you want to travel alone and be given a reason to really look inside of yourself and see what you are made of, try going half deaf on the road. If you think that a language barrier is tough, try having a language barrier AND deafness. What I've discovered... is that while at times my lack of hearing has turned me more introverted than I might normally have been (For a while there, I got very quiet because I got tired of being known as "The Girl With The Ear Problem." It actually made me a bit of a mini-celebrity in the town of Pamukkale. Not a lot going on in Pamukkale.), at times it's also brought people closer to me. Since May 6, I have had handfuls of examples of this. People can just be shockingly giving sometimes and it never ceases to inspire me when that happens organically.I will give you an example. During my bus ride from Cappadocia to Pamukkale, I took some medicine and an older Islamic lady across the aisle was watching me carefully. She saw the cotton in my ear and pointed to her ear, basically asking if that was why I was taking the medicine. I nodded and she smiled so sympathetically that it almost broke my heart just seeing the expression on her face. For the rest of the trip, she offered me half of her food and drink (she had brought it with her). Then every hour or so, she would lean across the aisle, tap me and point to her ear and say, "You? Ok?" which was about as much english as she knew. To be honest, it's moments like that which really remind you of how much we all have in common as people, and that sometimes language isn't even necessary. Religion doesn't matter. Nationality makes no difference. For an entire bus ride, this woman mothered me as if I was her own child. And it's moments like that which comfort you to know that no matter what, you'll end up fine and that the world isn't a scary place to be out in. No matter where you go, there are good and bad people. And to be honest, there are many more good than bad. And since that's not what the evening news likes to tell us, it's a wonderful thing to be reminded of when you get away from the television and actually explore what reality holds for you. I didn't have to go deaf to know this, but maybe deafness forced me to hear it a little louder.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1149088620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1149088620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1149088620/tpod.html Wed, 31 May 2006 11:31:12 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Vienna, Austria

Well, I´ve been in Vienna for 4 days. I know I haven´t updated until now so I´m going to go back and try to write something interesting for the days I have been here so far.When my friend Burgi is working next week I will be getting out on my own and exploring Vienna with my camera, so then I will have more interesting things to tell you about Vienna as a city. This is my fourth time here but every time I come I have different thoughts about it, it really is an interesting place. Anyhow, it´s actually fine that I haven´t been touring much yet since right now I still have my camera full of photos from Greece and Italy. I need to buy a card reader for Burgi´s computer so that I can upload the images here because hers doesn´t work for my camera. And in the meantime I have actually been avoiding taking photos until I can upload the old ones. Now, this lack of Vienna photos may sound tragic... but honestly, unless you truly want to see photos with captions like "In this photo, Lynn helps Burgi put together Ikea furniture," or "Lynn reading a book," or "Burgi eating Weinershnitzel," it´s really not that big of a loss. Trust me.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148460120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148460120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148460120/tpod.html Sun, 28 May 2006 05:00:44 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Cinque Terra, Italy

When I got to Venice I was really in the mood for it. Likewise, as I left Venice I was really in the mood for it.It's a nice place, yes. But it is touristy and for that reason, they do tend to overcharge for things. It really has gotten too expensive. And... as with most "larger" cities, some of the people tend to get a little, ummmm, bitchy. They just aren't as relaxed and happy as in the smaller, more mellow villages. When I first walked into the hotel in Venice to get our room, the guy at the hotel's reception desk, Massimo, was very pissy (to say the least). I had paid a deposit on a room, but my reservation said one person and there were two of us. You would've thought I had brought a family of ten with me the way Massimo grunted and looked at me with disgust. Thing is, I know that most of the time they give a double bed or two twins whether you paid for a single or a double though, and I knew from doing research online that having two people was only slightly more expensive than a single. So I didn't see the issue. He was VERY angry about this inconvenience to him, though. Lisa and I just looked at eachother with raised eyebrows while he stewed.Finally I said, "Is this a problem? Because if so I will go to another hotel." He said it was no problem, but the room wasn't ready yet. So we left our things there and came back later.When we got our room, it had 3 twin beds in it, two were pushed together like a double. I began to wonder, since I didn't ask for another bed. I had a feeling he was going to try to charge more but I knew it shouldn't be THAT much more so I just let that thought slide.Flash forward to check out time when good ol' pissy Massimo hands us a bill for about 550 euros for two nights. He basically tried to double the room rate. I stood still and calmly said "Ok. Now. Wait a minute... that is even more than it said the price would be for two people online." He started telling me that the reservation was for one person so we owe the extra money. I said, "I would be happy to pay a little more than the other rate, but this is far too much for two people." He kept saying, "Reservation! One person!" and jabbing his finger on the counter menacingly. I responded, "Yes, but you said was no problem. We didn't ask for the extra bed." He then insisted that two people couldn't sleep in the room without the third bed. (Huh?) "Look at reservation!" He kept pointing and shoving the paper saying "one person" in front of me as though it was prime evidence in a trial, and he was a prosecutor making his final argument that would prove once and for all that I was the murderer. I mean really, he was just going nuts.Trying to be calm I said, "There was mistake, yes. We do agree. But this is too much money to charge for two people." He said, "Not hotel's mistake!" Again, I politely agreed with a strained smile, saying, "No, it was not the hotel's mistake. I did not say it was." I understood that there was another person, but he was trying to overcharge us after the fact and by far too much... it just wasn't cool. So then he screamed, "Not hotel's mistake! But hotel always pays!" Since they didn't need to add an extra bed and wasn't losing any money because I was agreeing to pay more than the single rate for a single room, that didn't make any sense.At this point a crowd of stunned people had gathered behind us. As Lisa and I were doing our best to calmly bring the conversation into a positive direction that wouldn't leave anyone feeling screwed, Massimo totally lost it. "SHAATTTA UPPA!!!!" He screamed at me.I stood there for a second in total shock, because in my life I have never seen a hotel employee be such an ass. I kind of froze, thinking, "Did he REALLY just tell me to shut up? Did that really just happen?" And admittedly, there are two things that set me off. One is when someone calls me stupid. The other is when I am told to shut up, especially when I am trying to be nice. That "If you don´t be nice to me I am going to have to open up a can of whoop ass on you" expression came across my face, and Lisa saw it. (Fortunately, Lisa finds the sight of me getting angry just as entertaining as my friends do...) Anyhow, I tried to calm down a bit as Massimo raised his hands in the air and proceeded to charge us the original single room rate (although I wasn´t even asking for that), all the while yelling expletives in Italian about us. I believe "Fucking Tourists" was included in the tirade.We then said something else, and Massimo turned and screamed, "I am TRYING to work on the computer. DO YOU NOT WANT ME TO WORK!?" Yep, he was really a very pissy man.So, moral of the story, we got out of the hotel without spending extra money but I was pretty much shaking as I walked out of there... I really had to control myself. That guy was just a miserable human being, that's really all there was to it. Some people are.Now Massimo has turned into a good joke between Lisa and I though. We do wonderful impressions of him. "SHATTTTTAAAA UPPPPPPAAA! I am trying to drink my wine. DO YOU NOT WANTA ME TO DRINK MY WINE!!!????"Anyhow, we took the train to the Cinque Terra but didn't arrive until almost midnight. There were no rooms available in Vernazza so we ended up meeting a really nice man named Luigi who gave us a private room for the night in Monterossa, the next town over. Luigi was incredibly kind and hospitable, and not only was his room cheap, he found us an even cheaper room for the next night. PLUS he and his wife own a wine shop in town and they have given us many free tastings... we had a lot of fun.Moral of the story here? The incredibly kindness of Luigi has more than made up for Massimo's assholery.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148225940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148225940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148225940/tpod.html Sun, 21 May 2006 04:31:05 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Floating somewhere between Corfu and Venice, Italy

So last night was the Eurovision Final. Did you kids stay up to watch it? 'Cuz I did. And with 24 finalists, it went on A LONG LONG time. First each song is played out in the most overproduced way they can think of (the production of the show really reminds me of the opening ceremony of the Olympics) and then each country's citizens are given ten minutes to call in and vote. They can ONLY vote for countries OTHER than their own. Then the votes are tallied and one by one the hosts of the show (who were flown onstage from wires in the beginning of the evening and had about 5 costume changes throughout) take video calls from a delegate from each country, announcing the tallied votes. If you thought the American Idol finale was dragged out, you ain't seen nuthin'...Mind you, it would've probably been more pleasant if halfway through the ship's television lounge hadn't been inundated by chain-smoking, incredibly pushy, geriatric Greek ladies who tried to push my chair and table aside to get the best view of the television. I was relaxing there and watching the show for an hour, but when they showed up it was as though nobody else existed so I ended up with them yelling through me to eachother and puffing cigarette smoke in my face. I discovered that it's hard to watch tv when my eyes are rolling completely into the back of my head in an attempt to keep myself from slapping old ladies around. I kept wishing they spoke english so I could stand up and scream, "Enough, people! Do you realize that there are other people on this boat? Damn! Quit pushing my chair, quit screaming in my ear, quit being obnoxious and let me watch this stupid television show that I don't care about, will you!?" Ah, but instead I sat quietly.So a lot of the songs last night were in English. I actually preferred the ones that weren't because they showed more of their own cultures. Sometimes, when someone from Denmark writes a song in English, it's like if I wrote a song in German. It's not their native tongue so they keep the lyrics simple... and, by default, often stupid. If I wrote a song in German, it would probably say things like "Hello. I would like a coffee with milk and sugar. Yes, that is my suitcase. I would like a room please. I love you."Anyhow, the Danish song was about a guy who can't do the twist. Yes, as in Chubby Checker circa 1960s. So enough said... not really cutting edge lyrics. Lithuania cracked me up because they chose to submit a song to Eurovision with lyrics that went "We are the winners of Eurovision!"... very cheeky there, Lithuania. And Germany TOTALLY surprised me with their entry, Texas Lightning... which was a Dixie Chicks meets Bob Wills kind of catchy country thing. The last thing I expected from the Germans was American country, and I was shocked. They were really quite good, and I did not hear a single hint of oompa band in the whole tune. I would've NEVER guessed they were from Germany had I not known.But of all of the overproduced, sappy tunes about love bringing people together, mostly sung by overly pretty people... the winner was Finland. And the thing is... they deserved it. Because their representative, Lordi, dressed up like freaky monsters who are one step from devouring the entire Kiss Army alive... and they sang a catchy heavy metal ditty called Hard Rock Hallelujah. To quote Lordi himself, <i>"Mr. Lordi is the monster of monsters. He leads a group of five monsters from different ages and different dimensions. We have an alien, we have an Egyptian mummy. On the musical side, we are a rock band, a heavy rock band, playing melodic 80s hard rock." So there ya go. In comparison, most of the other Eurovision contestants were just users of a great deal of hair gel.Honestly, their performance made me laugh out loud, I was actually quite impressed (and I'm not a big fan of 80s hard rock!). Add this to Finland's recent adoption of Conan O'Brien as their native son, I have now completely become enamored with Finland's sense of the absurd. I really have to admire that kind of wackiness. I think I have to go to Finland someday.On the flip side, while I am not sure exactly where Moldova is... judging from what I saw last night, the people there kind of scare me. Yes, even the pretty ones. There is just something kind of wrong with them, but I am not sure what. I don't think I'll be going to Moldava. Especially since I don't know where it is. (Yes I know I could google search it, but I don't want to. So there.)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148139420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148139420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lynnster/ottomantour06/1148139420/tpod.html Sun, 21 May 2006 01:26:06 -0400 From Egypt to Vienna in a million steps and 7 weeks... wish me luck!

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Athens to Patra, Greece

Tonight in Athens, are the Eurovision Song Contest Finals. Think American Idol for singer/songwriters, but without Paula Abdul slurring through it, and the competition spans countries across the world instead of just one. Actually, the contest has been going since 1955 so it's not a new thing but thanks to Idol competitions becoming hip, it's become a far larger event in the past few years. And since it's being held here in Athens, there are posters for it everywhere. The first Eurovision competition in 1956 had seven countries in the contest. Each participant was allowed to submit two songs in the language they wanted but the performance was limited to 3½ minutes. The winner was chosen by a jury consisting of two delegates from each country who could award between 1 and 10 points.<i>I had to change the next paragraph because after watching the show I realized that I said a few things wrong due to a misunderstanding of a conversation I had with someone. That's what happens when you're half deaf.)Anyhow, tonight are the Finals here, and there will be 24 countries with a representative competing to be the Grand Poobah of Singers/Songwriters. Greece is being represented too, by the very blonde and very flashy Anna. There are t-shirts all over the country with her photo on them. People are pretty obsessed, to make an understatement. I have seen a lot of scalpers trying to sell Finals tickets near the Athens Flea Market... seems it's a biiiig deal. I don't know about the rest of the finalists... but after watching so many Turkish music videos lately I'm pretty sure that there will be a wind machine on hand to blow in the Turkish contestant's face as he sings. Because as I have mentioned previously, Turks like to be filmed singing into wind whenever possible.Soooo, if you would like to watch the competition along with the rest of Europe, fret not my friend... THERE IS A WEBCAST! Just click on the first link and it'll tell you how to stream the show to your computer. Not that I actually think you care, but if you'd like to see what people on the other side of the world are obsessed about, here's your chance.************I have a 7pm bus to leave Athens and head for Patras and then tonight I'm taking a ferry to Venice. I wasn't planning to go there, but I'm far from complaining. I love Venice, although it is one of the only places on earth that completely disorients my entire sense of direction. Honestly, I get lost there every time I go. This will be attempt number three for me to navigate the place & I've pretty much given up. I know I'll get lost and find myself walking in circles through canals again. Some things just don't change. And really, it doesn't matter as I'd rather be lost in Venice than in Lodi or Jamul or (insert name of less glamorous place here). Wouldn't you?************Regarding my ear, I'm hearing more sounds every day. But as I said, it's like a broken speaker or a radio station that's not tuned right. So I'm actually missing the days of peaceful tinnitis because what I'm hearing mostly are treble noises today, mostly just the high pitched stuff and no low notes. I am looking forward to this phase of the healing process to be over soon so that I can hear <i>pretty things in my left ear again. Instead I'm just trying to stay in quiet places so I don't have to listen, or I'm plugging my left ear with my finger when I need to. Because in Athens, quiet places aren't exactly easy to find. I'll be on a cruise soon though, and that will be a little quieter.
]]>