This will be my last entry. And actually I'm kinda mostly writing it so the map on this website will make a full circle back to Berlin. I actually haven't really even gone back to Berlin, I'm actually in Dresden. There were two main reasons for this. The most important was to catch up with Genaro and Yavus from my German class that I took way back at the start of this trip (a class that really only ended up being worth it because of the friends I made). The other reason was a bottle opener.

Other than being in Madrid waiting for my new laptop, Dresden in the one single place I've spent the most time. Over two weeks in total. Yet I had forgotten to get a bottle opener. I remember looking at some, but couldn't make a decision and ended up leaving without getting one. That had to be rectified. And on the topic of bottle openers, that now makes 53. Kinda odd that it worked out so close to be one per week. And actually I bought two in Venice (the only place I think I've done that), so if it wasn't for that it would be one per week. I also try not to think about how much I've spent on these things. Just for a bit of a laugh I might throw some bottle openers statistics out here. By country I have;

Germany, Spain, Italy + Vatican 9

Portugal 4

Belgium 3

Slovakia, France, Austria, Morocco, Netherlands, Sweden 2

Czech Republic, Hungary, Monaco, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Gibraltar 1,

So there you have it. Germany, Spain and Italy are quite well represented. Not all that surprising really. I spent a lot of time in Spain and quite a bit in Germany and as for Italy, well every city I went to is really quite large in tourism terms so there was always something to get a bottle opener of.

It was yesterday that I caught up with the guys. Unfortunately they're quite busy with exams and stuff so we only got to hang out for an afternoon, but it was great to catch up. We went back to "our place" which was a cafe we went to once. I think it might have been the first place we all had lunch together (along with Patricia and Christina). Quite amazing that I remembered exactly where it was, but really after about an hour of just wandering around Dresden (on the way to my hostel) so much just came back. I remembered most of the streets I was walking down, I even remember places we had bought some ice cream, and the time we sat down on the river with some beers, and the stadt festival which took place. It was hard to believe all that was a year ago.

For the most part here in Dresden I've just been chill'n. Kinda just coasting until I fly home. I'm done. Cooked. Finished. It's been great but now I'm just looking forward to going home. No longer living out of a backpack. No longer having to move places every few days to a week. Having my own bed. How long until I'm bored out of my mind when I get home though I wonder. I think one thing I've learned from this trip is that there really is such thing as too much of a good thing. I don't think I'd do something like this for a year again. It's just too long. Everything starts to become diluted. I think a shorter trip and then going home to have time to digest everything and get sick of home before travelling again would be the way to go. Or at the very least breaking up the travel by spending time in one place to work (which is how I think most people actually do it when travelling for this long).