I'm in Munich, just arrived from Prague. I'm at a polished hostel again right outside the train station, and on each side of it are two corporte hostels. In a 40-bed dorm, divided into sections, at 19 euro/nite, it's the best deal I've found in the West. 'Course, the east is cheaper. Music here is rather annoying tho and too loud for the style.

I've been juggling my apartment arrangements with Ethan thru email since Florence, and eventually mom took over, thanks! That should be all set, so when I get back, I will need to pack (ughhh... been doing that everyday for 2 months) and knock off the rest of Tolstoy. Oh, and see friends and family. So I have to plan pretty tight when I get home, unlike on the road.

As for my travels, it's been interesting, again, I'v created random situations for myself. I loved Austria: Salzburg was cheap, teh restaurants we're too expensive and there were street vendors (with cheap meat!). I just want to chill out the first day, so I see a large garden on the map, and wander over there to read. It was a nice park, with plenty of statues (all these places I've been love statues).

Anyway, I find a little incline and sit down. I try to read, but next to me are three girls speaking English with odd accents, trashing American politics. I go over to say hello, and where from: 2 Finland, other Calgary living in Scotland. They were surfing the same couch. I asked them about CS, and want to see what it was like, what they did. They invited me to the grocery store, so I tagged along with them or the nite. We went back to this guy's flat, build against a cliff below the castle. A perfect place for couchsurfing: nice room arragement (incl. bathroom - separate shower and toilet), huge couch, and a decent kitchen. There was also another girl was staying there, from Minnesota. They were cooking pasta, but I wanted local food, so the local directed me down the street where I had an amazing meal. I didn't finish, and I always finish after eating out, that's how deceptively large the portion was. It was miniature gnocchi, baked with cheese and spices and maybe bacon. Oh man, it was like my perfect meal. And the perfect drink I also found here: There's this beer called Radler (Biker's Brew) which is half beer half sparking lemonade. It is delicious.

Anyway, went back and the CS people were smoking shisha, so we just chilled out. Seems three of them were into body art, including modification: tatoos, piercings, implants... wierd stuff like that. None of the girls were very attractive, but they were odd. The host was a DJ, and showed me some cool tunes. The girls said they didn't do too much touristy stuff, but the host did take them to a brewery. It was a wierd nite.

Next day I wandered around town and went to the castle. I took the funicular up, luckily, since it was a huge climb. It was a museum... nice views of the city, but not too much else. Lots of Mozart and Sound of Music promotion around town (to be expected). The cathedral there was pretty too. Oter interesting notes: a guy from England in the hostel had a Celtics hat; there was a parking garage carved into the cliff under the castle.

But off to Prague that nite, literally. Only train was at 4:40 (morning), so slept a little in the train station, then grabbed my own cabin for the ride to Prague (empty train). Arrived Prague at noon and spent a while trying to figure out how to navigate teh city. Very confusing, not just convoluted, but in Czech. Found a coffee shop with Internet, and looked up hostels, and how to get to them. With a map navigating the city was difficult enough, but I found one in the subway. The public trans was still poorly marked. Finally found a hostel which would take me, and had decided to stay one nite at each of four recommended hostels. This first was a uaint old place with a cool cellar bar. Just crashed there after trying to find a bed all day. Went to eat a traditional Czech dish, just in time, since the restaurants close early, at 10 pm. It was roast duck, bread dumplings and purple cabbage. Interesting, and decently good.

Back at the hostel, I hung out at the bar, met some random Brits, an Aussie, and a few 'Mercans. Brits had absinthe: burns your throat, kinda a nice feeling. Pedophile and other very offensive jokes were told. At some point the Commonwealthers were trying to talk like Americans but we just laughed at them. They were too slow, too polite, and too precise. It was probably the most chill of the nites in Prague.

Posting now, rest of Prague later.

On another note, I'm so sick of the "where have you been" uestion. I'm starting to hate lists (is that good?): at least ones that are the same... there are only so many places in the world, and even fewer that people go. I don't mind "where are you from", cuz that helps me with accents, and tells about the person. Tho it is a rather pathetic opening line, much like Hello-Name. Neither can go anywhere without effort. Anyway,my trip is not a list of city-hopping, like others, and such a uestion is a "watsup" They don't really want a full answer, nor is anything really going to done with it anyway. The only time it's interesting is if they have a diffeent sort of itinerary than most. I don't think I'll answer the uestion at home, I'll just give a card to read.

Also, Americans are annoying, I understand what that one girl was talking about. Obviously arrogant, but that doesn't bother me so much, and the Brits have their own pretentiouness, too. Amers are overbearing, loud, and not too engaging, at least the ones you see (fratboys and dumbtourists)... I hope I don't come off that way, but as I've been guessed as English, Aussie, Canadian, Scottish, Irish, and only a couple times been called out as American, I ?think I'm safe.