swiss thief

it is back to reality here in birmingham. the european adventure is over, but it was amazing.
i met dad in zermatt switzerland, i was supposed to meet him at the train station to help carry all the bags...but i fell asleep. i felt pretty bad about not meeting him at the station after he travelled a grand total of 26 hours to get there, but on the other hand, i was extremely well rested.
the next day we hit the slopes, zermatt is amazing. it is a total ski town, but not in the north american intrawest style. all the hotels were small and privately owned. there was no need to make the houses look authentic like the condos at tremblant try to do, because this place was the real thing. the skiing was unbeatable. bluebird skies both days, no lineups, hardpack in the morning then the snow became alot softer getting into the afternoon. we skied 2 days (i rented some armada ar6's for any skiers out there) and really worked our legs. 2 days of heavy skiing in the alps for 2 guys who haven't been on snow this year was damn impressive, well, we were impressed with ourselves anyways.
before i go on about the rest of switzerland, let me say that the swiss have pretty much got it figured out. they chose not to join the european union, they kept the swiss franc instead of kneeling down to the euro, cities are spotless, people often speak 3-4 languages fluently. everything from cars, stores, neighbourhoods, trains, food to the incredible landscape seemed perfect and thoroughly planned. basically, the swiss know whats up.
from zermatt we used our train passes to get to lucern, which is located pretty centrally and took approx 2 hours to get to (actually you could get almost anywhere in 2 hours, the entire country is about the same size as wales or west virginia) the little town of meiringen was where we stayed for one night, if you read sherlock holmes you'll have read the last book where he an moriarty fight next to a waterfall and then fall off to their deaths, this waterfall is a real place and we trekked up the side of a mountain to bask in sir arthur conan doyle's glory. next came the tourist haven of interlaken which we stayed in for a total of 2 hours, souveniers weren't the reason we came to switzerland. bern was up next and was a near favorite for me, the old city was built around 1200 give or take a hundred years, and the street plan hasn't changed, everything is incredibly old. we stayed down the street from where our good friend albert einstein lived for a few years and visited his museum. apperently he was a smart guy, although i wouldn't have minded going head to head with him.
geneva was my favorite swiss city, bigger, faster paced, home of the UN, home of the olympic commitee, parks, awsome waterfront, a mix of old and new...it was wicked. you could almost feel the money entering your lungs when took a breath in this city...rich rich rich. ferrari, bentley, mercedes, bmw, you name the car and this city had more than you could imagine. the UN HQ was a great place, situated right on the lake, huge botanical gardens, and a massive square full of fountains. i saw kofi, we talked politics for the afternoon, great guy all around.
so, after many weeks of trains, backpacks, and hotels it was time to get back birmingham. i was ready to sit down, relax and have my feet massaged.
however, on my second or third day back, my laptop was stolen from my room as i was sleeping. it was 3am and i had put the computer on a chair next to my bed. i woke up to the sight of a dark figure in my window with my laptop in his hands. i started shouting, but he was on his way out of my window by the time i woke up. i ran outside, but the guy was long gone. i imagine that if i wasn't so incredibly angry i might have seen the humour in my situation, running around half asleep and half naked in the middle of the night. so, i got to talk to the police about 10 minutes later (super fast response time), and was told that my neighbourhood is the second most dangerous in england after some scumhole in london. great.
i figured i was safe enough to sleep with my window open, but apperently not.
anyways, ill post some pics soon, i only took a few thousand. they may take a while to sift through.

europe, the epic continent

europe,
what a wicked place. i am in lyon, france right now but let me do a recap to explain how it is that i came to arrive here:
starting with italy. so far it is my favorite country, hands down. just getting there was an adventure in itself, joe missed his plane to venice and proceeded to lose us until we found him in florence. casie and i made it from london to venice no problem, until we arrived downtown looking for our hostel (thats where hostels should be). we asked the airport shuttle bus-driver, and he told us with suprise in his eyes that our hostel was about 45 mins outside of venice (not really in venice at all). we got really really lucky when he told us that the bus depot that he was going to was only 500m down the road from our destination. 500m seems like a short distance, but when it is midnight in the middle of nowhere, walking 500m down a highway with crazy italian drivers flying past you...it seems alot longer.
venice is an incredible city, the number of canals, bridges and gondolas blew me away within 5 mins of being inside the city. the buildings are jammed together, the streets are winding and unpredictable. i found every street to be a suprise, some open up onto squares with incredible architecture, others take a turn to picture perfect canals. great city.
from venice we hopped a train south to florence. we stayed at martina's house in vinci, as in leonardo's birthplace. it was great to have a knowledgable tourguide in a city like florence, without her we would not have experienced like we did. i saw some italian nightlife, which kicks of with dinner on the dancefloor around 11:00, then people start dancing on the tables signaling that it is time to get the dancefloor cleared (a very "straight to the point" way of doing things). the place we went to was one of the more exclusive clubs in florence (i was only allowed in because martina had some sort of connection) and the 10 euro minimum price tag on drinks definately proved it.
after the night was over we were fined 200 euros because i lifted the gate at a parking garage on the way out, it may have been my idea but everybody in the car encouraged me. we were pulled over by the police halfway home as well, and martina dropped her i.d. so it was lucky to get out of that one unscathed.
the next day we got the royal tour, saw some amazing gardens, beautiful squares, michelangelo's david is everywhere, tons of history to take in. pictures will say more about the city than i can, so, wait for those.
the next day i saw the leaning tower of pisa...it really leans, it isn't some european joke that being played on us north americans after all. following pisa i caught a football match and getting there was nearly as fun as the game. i drove a vespa. i always thought that people who drove vespas were losers, but i take it back, they are ridiculously fun to drive and before long i was weaving through traffic like a local. (i did crash into the wall exiting the garage, but lets not talk about that). Empoli vs. Ascoli was the match-up, empoli won with a resounding 4-1 score. the fans go absolutely wild, the chants are continuous and the flags never stop waving. great experience. after that i caught my first sunset on the mediterranian, it turned out to be the best day yet.
rome. so much history and stuff to see that it hurts my head just thinking about it. colosseum, vatican city, fontana di trevi, the spanish steps, ancient ruins, you name it and i saw it. i walked my face off and completely exhausted myself, but it was totally worth it. i almost got robbed as well, this guy came up to joe and i on an empty street and forcefully tried to shake my hand proclaiming "i am your friend, shake shake, i am your friend" i think he was trying to trip me with his legs too. i am a smart cookie and realized he wanted my wallet and not my friendship so i told him to get lost. he began to do the same to joe, but joe wasn't having any of it and started to run, i guess this guy really wanted to make a new friend and started to run right along after him. eventually he got tired, so, we still had our wallets but no new friend. i will laugh whenever i picture joe getting chased down the street.
barcelona was next on the itinerary following rome. the hostel was directly on the beach, but a bit filthy. pluses and minuses i guess. barcelona was meant to be the relaxation portion of the trip and it didn't dissapoint. i took it sooo easy, walking along the beach, leisurely exploring the city and the amazing parks it has. this architect named gaudi totally shaped the style of this city, most of his work is outlandish, strange and makes you stare. i bet he was a cool guy.
we went to a bar called dow jones one night, it had screens all over the bar listing the drinks and their prices. that was normal enough, but get this, the prices went up and down just like the stock market and at select times during the night the market would CRASH! this meant all drinks dropped to 1 euro and a huge rush at the bar followed. they also showed the senators vs the penguins which was wicked. i met up with shideh and saw the olympic park and market with her. i switched hostels and stayed with her at a christian hostel, much much nicer. give it up for g-o-d. she stayed in barcelona a bit longer but gave me keys to her apartment in lyon. so i'm living the life here, sleeping in her bed, eating all her food and generally making her apartment alot dirtier than it was before i arrived. i hope shideh hasn't got into the habit of reading this...
so that explains my journey thus far, it has been great. soon dad will be coming over and i will meet him in zermatt, i can't wait. there should be some great spring skiing and lots of switzerland to see.
if you have read this far, you are truly dedicated.
talk to you in the fuuuture.