One fun thing to do in a strange city is to take the subway to a random stop, and try to find your way back to the city. That's what I did in Prague yesterday. Instead of actually walking around the city, I took the red line right to the end, and wound up in some post-industrial-soviet-block-apartment-building neighbourhood where some store signs were mysteriously in English. I can't for the life of me imagine a large expat population living on the outskirts of Prague, but hearing diners play old country-western songs is changing my opinion.

We did get lost. It's difficult to find the way when we were outside of our tourist map area. We just kept on asking how to get to "centrum" since that seems to be the only word we can communicate to the locals. Eventually we walked down this winding path that we thought led to nowhere, and it did. But we crossed a baseball field, hopped a fence, walked by a man-made white water course, and finally came upon a bridge to civilization.

There's this giant metronome in Prague that's supposed to represent how the Czech people always managed to keep their culture even under many many occupations (German, Soviet, etc). But it was stopped yesterday. I guess the struggle is over.

I'm in Munich now, and it's really early in the morning. I am in desperate need of sleep, but I can't check into my room until 2 pm, so I have to wander around town for a while.

on Grunau:

• Some locals wear lederhosen on a regular basis
• Some locals get drunk at 10 in the morning and run into glass doors
• Trying to carry a two way conversation when neither party speaks the other's language does not bode well
• Grilled fish is oh so good
• Circle of Death is evil

on Cesky Krumlov:

• Rainy days are meant to be spent indoors
• Teaming up with other hostelers to make a feast of 2 roasted chickens, steamed vegetables, and mashed potatoes is wonderful
• Bars in dungeons are cool
• Dead bird art displays in dungeons are creepy
• Rich people in the 13th century knew how to live
• Making friends and leaving them so quickly is hard on the soul

on Prague:

• Beautiful city, but haven't had time to explore
• Stuff in the Czech is cheap
• Sedlec Ossuary (bone church) is macabre
• Four pyramids made of human bones with skulls staring out at you is disturbing
• Canadians are everywhere
• So are Australians

I spent the past couple of days in a little town called Grunau. It's just south of the Austrian city of Linz. It's the first time I've been to a hostel with so few guests, but then again, it is the off season. It's supposed to be super busy here in the winter. The town is beautiful. The first afternoon there I hiked along the river to a waterfall. The water is so cold and clear, and tastes so good. The second day I biked 40 km and hiked another 10 around this lake called Almsee with two Americans Frank and Liam. Scenery was wonderful - mountains, rivers, lakes, clear sky. The only trouble with the hostel is that everything is kept on tab, so you don't really know how much you've spent until the end. I met this Aussie who's been there for a week because he couldn't settle his tab after two days, and had to call his mom to send him more money.

Then I came to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech with another American, Shayna. This town is absolute picturesque. It's UNESCO protected, and brings you back to 16th century Europe. There's a castle built in the 13th century on top of a hill that overlooks the whole city. It's even better at night, because there are no tourists walking the castle grounds, and you really get a sense of how beautiful it is. Last night I had a "feast" at a local restaurant, and my main course was only 100 Kr, or about $4 US. I think I'm going to stay here another day, and then head off to Prague.

My aussie roommate Fiona told me today that you can mail beer coasters as postcards. So if I find any coasters with one side blank, I'll give it a try.

I spent last night hanging out with my Australian roomies Peter, Karla and Fiona at the hostel pub. Apparently I met Peter and Karla at the thermal spa in Budapest. It's funny how small the world is (on a side note, I also passed by 2 other people whom I met on the subway in Budapest, also staying at Wombat's). I really like this hostel's atmosphere, and I booked a night in Munich for the beer fest, so I'll be there on the 27th. It's almost ridiculous how expensive it is (29 euros for one night), but considering all the other places have been booked up since June, I feel pretty lucky.

Today I wandered about the central cemetery. They have memorial tombs for Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, and a memorial for Mozart, although he is buried somewhere else. It's a huge cemetery, and a lot of the headstones are big and decorated. I guess only rich people get buried there.

I'm going to take it easy tonight since I have to catch a train to Grunau tomorrow morning.

Who knew that finding a hostel in Vienna would be so tough? I showed up yesterday afternoon, and went to Wombat's, which was what everyone in Budapest suggested, and they had no beds (note that Wombats is a HUGE hostel). Also full were the next 4 hostels. I ended up spending 4 € just calling a list of hostels given to me by the receptionist at Wombat's, and finally found one across the city that had room. After a long metro ride, and asking countless people for directions, I finally found the place. It's inside the bell tower of an adjoining church. My room was on the 7th floor, and 150 steps up. It was far away from the action, so I just took it easy, and went to bed early. The church bells rang at 8 am this morning.

I also tried to cook spaghetti last night. It was super cheap. The whole meal costed me less than 2 €, although the sauce I got tasted more like chili than tomatos. Today I finally moved into Wombat's, and will be there tomorrow night too before I head off to Grünau.

Wombat's also just opened (as in yesterday) a hostel in Munich, so I may try to book a room there for one night, and go to Oktoberfest. That would be wild.

In Budapest, my last night there, we (me, an American named after Tanner from the Bad News Bears, another American from Eugene named Mary, a French student Francoise, and an Irish couple Rob and Aoifa - pronounced "eefa") went to a couple of little know underground bars. They weren't literally under the ground, but they were hidden. In the area behind our hostel, there is a whole area that's slated for destruction. Most of these used to be apartments, and now are empty. There are a few bars that are now set up in the courtyards of these buildings, and they are quite a different scene. First of all, there are no signs anywhere, and we were given this little map that showed where the bars were. At the door, there's usually only 1 or 2 men standing out front, they hush at you if you speak too loud, and you can't tell at all that there's actually a bar inside. But once you go through the doors, you enter this huge courtyard, with graffitied walls, picnic tables, and old sofas for seats. The ambiance is very chill, and quite different from other bars I've been to.

I spoiled myself today, and spent the day at the spa. No, that sounds too feminin. I spent the day at thermal baths. I got a massage first, then headed off to the Gellert Baths. Little did I know, they had separate baths for men and women, so I spent the next hour staring at naked old men. Fearing that I didn't get the full thermal bath experience, I then took the metro to the Szechenyi Baths, which was way more touristy, and had mixed pools (with swimwear, of course). After spending the obligatory 2 hours, I headed back to the hostel and had some Ramen, the staple diet of travellers, that and gyros.

The last two days I've been walking around Budapest with this dude from St. Albert (sorry Christine, he didn't know you). We went to the castle hill the first day, and walked around the Royal Palace. Apparently we just missed a wine festival, but you can still see the remnants on the ground as the cleaning crew carried on. There was also Matthius Church, which had some exquisite neo-gothic decor. One confused bus later, we climbed up a hill to the Citadella. There were some monuments, a fort, and some more monuments. But the best part was the fantastic views of the city. You can see all the way down the Danube, and take in all the buildings around the city.

The second day, keeping to my true "not-do-anything-until-after-noon" nature, we visited the House of Terror. It documents the atrocities of the Arrow Cross Party (in affliation with the Nazis) and the Soviet Communists during their rules. It's definitely worth the visit, if only for the education value. We also checked out St. Stephen's Bascilica. It was gigantic, with a huge climbable dome, but I was too tired.

Tomorrow I'm off to Vienna. I'm thinking of Vienna-Grunau-Cesky Krumlov-Prague. If I have an extra day or so, I may venture into Munich for Oktoberfest.

I woke up early today, and it was hell, but more on that later. After getting lost in the Tube, mistaking West Ham for West Hampsted, I finally caught the train to Luton, and got on my flight. The weird thing about easyJet is that they don't assign seats, so people kind of queue up, and just scramble for their favourite seats.

I got to Budapest, and had to wait a while at the airport until the minibus took me to the hostel (the Red Bus II). Unfortunately, due to some human error, I didn't have a bed, even though I made a reservation yesterday. So the owner was nice enough to drive me to another less known hostel. It's actually pretty great here. The Astoria City Hostel is in a great central location in Pest, inside a classy old building, with free breakfast, internet, and linen, all for about $15 USD a day. This is a great relief after spending so much money in England.

Last night we went to the School Disco. Benny and I scoured London's second hand stores to find the right outfit. I've never seen so many people in school uniforms before. It was pure eye candy. Even on the Tube. It's too bad that I couldn't bring a camera. I made use of my cameraphone, but the quality is fairly poor. We didn't get home until about 4 or 5 in the morning, after missing our stop on the bus because we dozed off.

A big thanks to Ambrose for letting me, a complete stranger, crash at his flat, and for suggesting that we go to this School Disco party.

So my whole flight plans got delayed by Hurricane Frances. First the plane from San Juan to Miami was 45 minutes late taking off (and the landing at MIA was quite the bumpy ride), then my Virgin flight to London was delayed by 5 hours, which meant that I spent a total of more than 8 hours at the Miami International Airport. It was a very ghetto airport with dim lighting and water leaking everywhere.

Once I arrived in London, I played some phone tag with Benny over which BK we were supposed to meet at in Victoria Station (there are apparently two, a fact we were both ignorant of). Then we ventured out to get our rental car and drove 5 hours to St. Austell (in Cornwall), while narrowly avoiding a near-death experience as Benny drove on the wrong side of the street late at night.

We did a lot of hiking on Tuesday. We drove out to a little hillside town called Megavissey, and hiked along a coastal path for 5 hours. We were originally heading in the direction of Fowey, but didn't make it there. The scenery was exceptional along the path. The gentle rolling hills of the English countryside neighbouring the waves of the ocean crashing against the steep cliffside made for a spectacular hike.

The next day we visited a castle. It was called St. Michael's Mount. It's out on a little island just off the coast, but when the tide is low, there is a causeway that rises out of the ocean and people can walk to the castle. We had to take a small ferry boat, since the water line was too high. Later that day we drove to Land's End. Out there, it's quite literally the end of the land. Again the trails are hugging the sharp cliffs that drop vertically into the churning Atlantic below. The wind was very strong, and there were times when I feared it would blow me over the edge.

We headed back to London on Thursday. But before we set out, we paid a visit to the Eden Project, a giant complex with 2 biomes full of plants from all over the world. There were a lot of plants there.

Thursday night we went to see Benny's friend Ambrose play at a gig. British emo rock is very different from what we're used to in North America. Death Cab they're definitely not. But they were very energetic, and into their music, which puts on a good show. The last band, however, was way too stiff, and it seemed like they were posing rather than singing.

Today we walked around the Tate Modern museum, and bought some clothes for a party that if we go to, you'll all be jealous of. So I'll keep it on the downlow until we actually do it.

Sunday I fly out to Budapest and begin my solo trek.

And in London.

Because of it, all the flights out of Miami are cancelled, and may still be for tomorrow, which mean I may get delayed by who knows how long. That and the fact that it cost so much to call the US from here is really putting a hamper into my travel planning.

Sitting in an air conditioned (shortform airco, not a/c) room, watching Canada skating it out with the US in the Hockey World Cup beside people who cheered for the goals and awwed for the missed chances made me feel like I was back in Canada. Except when you walk outside, and a wall of heat hits you like a dull bag of fine grained sand sifted from the golden beaches of the island.

I rented a car yesterday, and have been driving around the island today. It is bigger than I thought. The car actually broke down at Orient Bay, and I had to walk into some French woman's house and borrow her phone to call the rental company. Adjacent to Orient Bay is Club Orient, which is a fully nude beach. I didn't notice this fact until it hit me that nearly no one had any thread of clothing on. It's a shame that everyone was old and wrinkly.

I love sitting at the Sunset Beach Bar, drinking a $1 beer, and watching the planes land. Jon, his housemate Jamie and I stood behind a 747 as it took off. The blast didn't blow us away, but the hot jet exhaust combined with the sand and grit being blown into my flapping hair and timid skin was a bit painful.

Last night we went to a bar called Bamboo Bernie's. All the bars here are outside. It's so wonderful, drinking an ice cold beer and watching the night surf lit by the moonlight breaking over the rocks jutting out just beneath us. The sea breeze, the smell of seaweed, the tiki lamps setting the ambiance. It's a good life.