One month to go...

Or maybe even less, depending on how you look at it.  I'm scheduled to arrive in the U.S. on May 1st.  NYC and nearby areas for two weeks and then it's on to my final stop, Seattle, on May 15th -  3 days shy of an entire year of travel.  Again, I'm getting ahead of myself.  I guess I can't help it.  The closer it comes, the more surreal it seems.  I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy my time on the road while I still have it.
On that note, today I'm in Belgium.  I made a brief stop in London for 2 days, then bused on over to Brussels to stay with one of my best friends (from when I was an exchange student in Brazil) for a week or so.  Interestingly enough, the bus you take across the chunnel is loaded onto a train.  I didn't realize they did that.  Also interesting was how much security and trouble they gave us in crossing the border between England and France.  Actually, as far as most border crossings go, I suppose it was fairly standard.  They checked our passports, made us get off the bus and pass all our bags through an X-ray machine - but for an EU border, the process was quite the pain.  I guess I got a bit spoiled in going between all the other countries within the EU that didn't even bother looking at my passport once.  Apparently, England is a bit notorious for being a bit more strict than the other countries of the EU.  So in all fairness, France returns the favor when they have people entering their country from England.  I think there is a bit of sour relationship along the chunnel border though, my friend informed me that England put small electric fences along the ground to prevent rats coming through the chunnel into England.  haha.

Before the border crossing by bus, I also experienced a very mild interrogation upon arriving at Heathrow Airport in London.  Little did I know, you're supposed to have "proof" of a return flight or ticket of your departure from England.  Having a "World Ticket" with 16 stops means I haven't physically carried a single ticket on me this entire trip.  It's all electronic.  The woman believed me, but she ended up asking me a million other questions to see what my story was and how legitimate I seemed.  In short I ended up telling her about my research, where all I had travelled to, and even how much money I had left.  By the end I was thinking she was about to ask me for my phone number or hand in marriage - after all, who wouldn't want to be with a world traveller with X amount of money left who knows all about the effects of Wind Turbines on Breeding Grassland birds?! - but no, that didn't happen.  Your loss Riddler. 

My brief stint in London was on purpose.  I've already seen a decent amount of London on a previous trip, so I felt no great urge to lose so much money to the British Pound.  Although the exchange rate is MUCH better than it was last time I visited.  Sometimes lady luck pays me a visit on this trip.  Such was the case in London because the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  2 days in London in the first half of April - 20 degrees C and nary a cloud in the sky.  I spent nearly an entire day smelling the flowers and enjoying the sunshine in Hyde Park.  Doesn't get much better than that.  It was very weird being in London.  Hearing English everywhere I went, being able to comfortably communicate with everyone (ordering food, asking for directions), watching the news, etc. etc.  It has been a loooong time since I've been in place like that.  

Cherry Blossoms in Hyde Park,
London

So Belgium huh?  What can I say?  More Beer, more chocolate, and the proud inventors of fries!  Why they hell we call them "French" is beyond me.  But maybe you don't - maybe you switched to "Freedom Fries" when that was all the rave.  I think that rave lasted about the time length it took to report the story of people wanting to call it "Freedom Fries."  In actuality, I've been doing fairly normal activities again, so I can't enlighten you with crazy tales of adventure and debauchery.  Staying with my friend and his girlfriend, going to a movie tonight, eating lunch with his entire family tomorrow, playing video games, uploading 40 million new photos on facebook (actually didn't take as long as I expected), walking their dog, seeing the city, blah blah blah.  We have planned one fairly exciting activity however.  On Sunday we'll be going to the Beach to race in these little cars that have sails attached to them.  I have no idea what they are actually called, but imagine a little go-kart type thing where you're almost lying down - attached to it is a sail.  The things can actually get going quite fast - should be fun, and definitely a different experience.

I suppose I glossed over another part of my trip - and that was my 5 day stint in Munich.  I really don't have the most time to write about it and it's all kind of a blur at the moment, but I will say that the NeuSchwanstein Castle (2 hours by train, west of Munich) was simply stunning and everything I hoped it would be.  It makes sense that Walt Disney chose to design his castle after this one, as it was truly impressive.  I got to hike around a large part of it and with each new height it got better and better.  You can kind of see what I mean with the picture below.

NeuSchwanstein Castle, Germany

Dinner time is nearly upon me here in Belgium.  Hope everyone who reads this is doing well.

Another two weeks gone, another blog update to give. Today's message is brought to you from Vienna, Austria. In the past three weeks (roughly), I've covered quite a bit of ground and have seen a number of different countries and cities. Unless you really want to hear more some nitty-gritty details from particular places, I'm only going to highlight a couple different moments. Since flying into Frankfurt, I've bused to Hamburg, took a car-ride share to Dresden, trained to Berlin (and back to Dresden), bused to Prague (Czech Republic), and finally bused to my current location, Vienna. One of Europe's hallmarks (in my opinion) is being able to see so many different places so easily. Everything is relatively close. However, this means travelling lately has been a little more "intense" than what I've grown accustomed to. It's not all THAT stressful, more so tiring. I like to think of it as one last hurrah before finally going home (which is scary close).




Opera House in Dresden, Germany



The other Hallmark of Europe, (again, in my opinion) is history, and boy do they have a lot of it. I wouldn't even know where to begin... the Hapsburg's in Vienna, WWII stuff in Berlin, the golden city of Prague - the history and significance of so many different places - I was eager to discover everything initially, but now all the information is simply overwhelming. My brain feels like mashed potatoes, pulverized to a fine paste. Feel kind of stupid for carelessly walking around and simply observing an old historic looking building and leaving it at that. Haha, seems like a crime, but I just can't help it after a while because there is just too much. So when the photos eventually come out on facebook, I apologize in advance for the lack of labels and descriptions. Of all the neat cities and historic places I've seen though, I must comment on one in particular that I found to be quite unique. In a small Czech town called Kutna Hora, there is a very creepy and interesting sight, most commonly called "the bone church." True to its unofficial name, the inside of the church is decorated with the remains of approximately 40,000 humans! From chandeliers and crests, to pyramids of skulls, the place left me with very mixed feelings. Obviously eerie and creepy, but in a way, also extremely fascinating. The reason behind such a scene goes somewhat like this (in other words, not an exact account, but you'll get the basic idea). A person (may have been the pastor or person in the church) had gone to Israel and brought back some soil to the church. After bringing it back, everyone now considered the ground where he had put the soil extremely holy/sacred. Any person who was anyone now wanted to be buried there, and they often had to pay high prices to do so.

Bone Church in Kutna Hora,
Czech Republic

With enough time, too many people were buried there and there were more bones than they knew what to do with - so the church gave permission to some guy (I leave this as a general statement because I don't remember if he was actually affiliated with the church or not and I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment) to do what he wanted with the bones. As any normal person would obviously do, the guy cleans the bones and decks out the entire church with them. In terms of strange and bizarre, this place takes the cake. Although, I have to admit, I have never been to a Ripley's believe it or not wax museum.

OK, so there's a little sight seeing history. What else have I been doing? Visiting friends and staying in homes! Home cooked meals, my own bed/couch, and free laundry whenever I desire. Truly, I have been very spoiled lately. For the record, I still have some practices that are rather "traveller" oriented. I still only shave with water, a pair of jeans typically lasts for at least 5 days before I change them, and one string of floss is often reused for at least 5 days as well. All of that was true except for the last part. C'mon, I do some things basic, but I'm not entirely uncivilized...yet. Spending time with friends is incredible because I get to do a lot of things that I wouldn't normally be able to do on my own, or more correctly, that I wouldn't know to do. In the small town outside of Dresden (Eastern Germany) where my friends lived, we spent an entire day at the local spa/sauna, another day we watched a local soccer match, and another afternoon we went for a lovely stroll around the countryside on some bicycles. Now you see why it's a little hard to recount what I've been doing. Not extremely exotic or out of the ordinary, but never-the-less still different to some degree as this is still a foreign country with different ways of living. I'm a huge fan of the German breakfast - which commonly requires one to go to the local bakery to pick up some fresh baked goods. Oh man, I'm a sucker for baked goods. And although I can do without the room temperature beer, I must admit, prices in Germany on most grocery goods and beer are quite cheap. Plus, as long as I'm willing to practice a little bit of patience, the room temperature beer problem can easily be solved with a little modern thing called a refrigerator. I know, I was amazed to discover that they have them here as well!

Another amazing food item (especially in Germany) that some may be surprised to hear about is Donner and Kebabs. The Turkish population in Germany is actually quite large and everywhere you go, there is a Donner place. According to several people, more kebabs are consumed than hamburgers in Germany. Alright! Go Germany! Haha, and in a bit of irony, I find the kebabs to be better here than the ones I had in Turkey. They tend to have more sauces on them here - obviously they've adapted them a bit to the local taste and what Germans enjoy. Maybe a little bit like Tex-Mex and places like Taco Bell. I think it's a little apparent that I'm hungry at the moment because I don't know if I've ever written so much about food in any of my blog posts. Let's move onto something else.

Astronomical Clock in Prague

During the course of this blog, I've had 2 posts relating to my reflections and how I think I've changed as time has progressed on this trip. Recently, I was asked by a friend how I thought I had changed. Even though I had these 2 "reflection" posts, I couldn't easily answer the question. It's like I needed to do a new mental reevaluation. I think this time, I thought of the question in more permanent terms. I've changed, and learned a lot on this trip, but are any of these changes measurable or visible? Do I actually seem different to myself, and will some of you, family and friends, feel I am slightly different in some fashion or form once I see you again? My experiences have effected my way of thinking and doing some things, but does this directly translate to my behaviours and sense of personality? These were all questions that raced through my head. I don't think I have an effective answer for any of them right now. Whether good or bad, most ways I act, think, or behave are almost always influenced by my previous experiences and exposures. Because of this, I know that this trip has changed me in a particular way - the question is, will these past experiences be apparent in my actions, behavior, and being? I'm not 100% certain there is any way to distinct such a fine point of "being" to the time span of a year, but I think it is safe to say that this has been a very influential part of my life. I like to think of "me" (who I am) as some sort of amorphous blob constantly changing shape - kind of like Flubber (ya, I didn't think I'd ever incorporate a reference to flubber in one of my blog posts either). Sometimes change comes about slowly and is nearly undetected, sometimes it's as quick as the accidental F-bomb you dropped in front of someone you shouldn't have, either way, it's happening. I'll be curious to try and figure out just how much this trip has changed me and my life once I get back - for once I'm back in familiar territory, with familiar situations and people, well....then I think I will have a much better idea.

 Quick update on future plans for those that care to know: Vienna for 2 or 3 more days, day trip to Budapest, 2-4 days in Munich (and possibly Salzburg), back to Frankfurt on the 10th to fly to London. ETA on return back to the U.S. - May 1st.

Mayor's Crib in Vienna, Austria

It's that time of month again...

Well who am I kidding?  I already have March's Speedo picture ready.  No sense in teasing you and not releasing it until the very end of the month.  I almost got one while dog-sledding, but decided the Iron Will look was too expensive.  $200 for a 2 hour ride.  No thank you.



March
Ice-fishing in Rovaniemi, Finland
OK, I admit, I only caught 4 of the
fish in this photo. And none
of them were big enough to eat.





The Hunt for FireFox

Old habits die hard, at least they do when it comes to trying to keep this blog semi-updated. According to my last update, I was headed to Finland. Well Finland came and went in a matter of a blink of an eye. OK, so the blink was pretty long, 12 days to be exact - but still don't quite know where the time went. Today, I find myself in the Frankfurt Airport - waiting to catch a night bus to the city of Hamburg. But I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit. Let's discuss Finland.




Not your everyday road sign

 My time in Finland was split between the Capital, Helsinki, and a city to the north called Rovaniemi. Rovaniemi sits almost directly on the Arctic Circle - my interest in going was to try and see the Northern Lights. Of my 6 days in Rovaniemi, my journey north proved unsuccessful in this regard, but as always, was very rewarding and incredible in other ways. Interesting fact for the day is the word for "Northern Lights" in Finnish is translated as "foxfire" or more appropriately, FireFox. The traditional story is that a fox runs along the top of snow-capped hills in the night and its mystical tail brushes snow into the night sky creating the dazzling aurora borealis. Pretty interesting - one thing is for sure, now the symbol for the internet browser "Firefox" makes a lot more sense. I suppose it could be a coincidence that it looks rather flame like - but I like to imagine it's part of the Northern Lights.

May be kind of difficult to see, but there is a man
in yellow walking on the frozen ice
to the right of the ship. 

Even though mid-March and October are supposed to be the best opportunities to see the aurora, there's still a large part of luck involved, especially if you don't go far enough North. Technically the lights can be seen as far south as Helsinki on certain occasions of spectacular solar activity and the like, but this type of occurrence is not very common at all. Rovaniemi stands a decent chance, but it wasn't meant to be. 2 nights I was there had moderate activity, but both of those nights ended up being cloudy. Rats. My life goal of seeing the Northern Lights remains, but the excuse to go on a trip to try again makes me content. I did what I could. : )



Old Medieval part of Tallinn, Estonia

 Aside from not seeing the Northern Lights, I got to do quite a few "authentic" Finnish activities. Thanks to a little website called "couchsurfing.org" I was able to stay with real Finnish people (yes, REAL) in their homes. For my 12 days in Finland, I was hosted by a total of 4 different people - think of the website as a hospitality group that welcomes travellers into their homes (at request) so that you can exchange in cultural experiences and really get to know a place more intimately (there's quite a bit more to it sometimes, but that is it in a nutshell). Thanks to my incredible hosts I got to experience ice-fishing, cross country skiing, Finnish Sauna, Finnish cuisine, good old fashioned sausage roasting over a fire in the middle of the snow, and much more. Really, I could rave about couchsurfing all day, but I think it would be more appropriate to rave about the people ON couchsurfing that welcomed me into their homes and treated me like I had lived there all along.
There are quite a few things I found to be quite intriguing about Finland - in order to save on time (and because I'm lazy), I'll list some of them in bullet form.

-In Finnish, there's no future tense, nor is there any word for "please"
-The longest word in Finnish is about 28 letters. And no, it's not supercalafradgulas
-I was told by a couple different Finnish people that speaking English can be a little tiring at times. The reason is because they said they have to move their mouth quite a bit more in the pronunciation and in a very different way from Finnish. I think of all the people I've talked to who speak different languages, this is the first time I've heard such a statement. I'm not saying it's not true (how the hell would I know anyway? I don't speak Finnish) - I just thought it was quite interesting that such a difference occurred. It is pretty interesting hearing Finnish though; it is a very monotonic (not sure if that's a word) language and when you watch people speak sometimes it doesn't even look like their mouths move. From what I could tell, I kind of got an idea what they were talking about when they said speaking English required a bit more "physical" work.
- The game "Angry Birds" is Finnish. Personally, I've never played the game so I really don't understand all the hype - but for those that do, it's probably important that you know this. If Nokia didn't put Finland on the map for you, Angry Birds should! Haha, there's much more to Finland though than having the shallow understandings of two of their well known products.
-Coming from Oregon and not having to deal with very much snow or cold, the lifestyle here is amusingly different in very logical ways. People have what I like to think of as "ice-sleds" they use to get around. A sled with handle bars that you push along like a skateboard. Hilarious to see young and elderly alike using them.
-In certain areas, it is not uncommon for people go to work on skis (at least in Rovaniemi they did). And new routes or shortcuts are made once the rivers, lakes, or harbors freeze up.
-It's extremely bizarre being on cruise boat heading to Estonia and looking further away on the landscape to see people walking or using snowmobiles on the frozen ice. Haha, also, the crunching sound of ice sheets running up against the boat is a little unnerving as well. Can't help but think, "this does not seem like a good idea." Obviously, they know what they're doing though.
-No "he/she" in Finnish.
-And finally, Conan O'Brien is extremely popular here. Haha, I'm not a regular Conan viewer, so I had no idea. Read up about some of the things he's done on his show about Finland, it's fairly amusing - especially when it comes to trying influencing their last presidential election.

And now I'm running out of things to type about. My current agenda has me travelling around Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria for the next 4 weeks. While I enjoyed Finland, I must say that it'll be nice to be able to find a beer for less than 5 Euros and not spending 10 mins. getting dressed or undressed from 10 layers of clothes every time I go in doors will also be pleasant. : ) After reading this over, it's a rather "bland" or boring update in my opinion - nothing too personalized, but hey, maybe you learned a thing or two about Finland.

Sunrise on the cruise ship heading towards Estonia.
The only part that is land is the part that is clearly so.
The rest is frozen sheets of ice. 

The Fires of February!

February's Speedo Shot
Eternal flames of "chimaera" near
Olympos, Turkey

Reflections - Part 2

In a moment, sitting on a pebble beach in Olympos, Turkey eating some bread and cheese, basking in the afternoon sun, and listening to the waves lap the edge of the beach, I said aloud - "I could get used to this." Not worrying about a thing, completely free, content and at peace with my surroundings. A life where I am nearly able to do just about whatever tickles my fancy. In that moment, I also realized my previous statement, "I could get used to this" was erroneous. The more correct statement is, "I AM used to this!" My friend that recently travelled with me made me realize some of the ways I've changed along this journey. On a related note of being "used" to things - I'm definitely more calloused to some of the amazing things around me. What I mean by that is I'm not as dumbfounded by new and exotic things I see as I once was, especially compared to the beginning of my journey. One day, I was surprised to see a shower, toilet, and sink all together within the space of a closet - now I don't blink an eye at it. These type of small things...I feel I've soaked a lot them of up already - and if I don't see the EXACT same thing, I typically run into some variation that makes me say, "hmmm, that reminds me of what I saw in X place." Not all that often anymore do I find myself thinking that I've never seen anything like it. The small things are one matter, but the large things (iconic and world renowned sights, etc) are another. Yes, sometimes they are fairly repetitive in nature and don't astound me in a way they probably could have had it been one of the 1st places I'd seen. Churches, Roman ruins, Temples - these are becoming fairly common, BUT despite the calloused nature of my journey, I still find my myself pinching myself and asking "am I really here? Am I really doing this?" It's hard to believe sometimes.

The fact of the matter is that what I'm doing now is no longer "travel" - Now, I consider it a lifestyle. Yes, I'm travelling, but it is now something more than that. I'm not running around seeking and doing as much as possible (at least most of the time). It has gone way beyond that. While sights and activities give me a particular path/itinerary to follow, I now feel that those things are often times secondary and only a small part of what makes this journey and lifestyle so amazing. The old adage "life's a journey, not a destination" is more true than I ever comprehended - it's particularly easy to understand while actually travelling. Today I find myself appreciating other things in a deeper way. The people I meet is one of the largest parts of this experience that I've truly gained a humble respect and appreciation for. People, their stories, their lives - from the locals to other travellers, both friendly, nice people and rude and impatient- ALL of these people have shaped the way I've experienced the things I've "seen" and "done." I can show pictures of temples and Chimaera fires of Olympos, maybe these don't quite do them justice all the time, but surely, there is no good way to share with you the feelings, emotions, and thoughts I had while experiencing it with person X, Y, and Z. Until actually meeting people face to face, it is extremely difficult to explain to another person what someone is like. It's not impossible, it just isn't very easy. If you think about it, the things you see and the sights you visit are often times a very small portion of your total time when you travel somewhere. You spend so much more time doing so many other things - getting to your hotel, having a meal at a bar, talking to other people for recommendations of where to go next, trying to find a bathroom, getting lost, trying to find someone who speaks English to point you in the right direction, etc, etc. In this regard, there's much more to take in than just the sights you set out to see. Out of all these activities, the people you're with or that you meet will almost always be the thing you remember most, for good or bad. : )

Relating back to people and experiences, sights and attractions - I've come to realize how important and how incredible taking a slower pace really is. At first, sitting inside a hostel all day reading, watching T.V., etc. while in a foreign country sounds like heresy. One could easily do that home! Why on Earth wouldn't you be out experiencing and seeing as much as possible while in said foreign country?! Well, the answer is 2 fold. First off, I quickly realized that "days off" from travelling are extremely vital to both my mental and physical capabilities. Often times, people go on a 2 week holiday. They see and do as MUCH as possible and by the time they get home, they need a vacation from vacation. Obviously going full speed ahead for a year isn't possible. Taking "break days" seemed wrong at first. Now, it's one of the things I enjoy the most. Having as much freedom and length of time to travel as I do, I've slowly been able to take control and acknowledge the idea of being able to do whatever I want with my time with confidence, enthusiasm, and excitement. Having this peace of mind with time and freedom is like nothing I've ever experienced before in my life. (Quick note: this feeling isn't a constant or EVERYDAY. Trust me, this lifestyle still takes A LOT of work sometimes and can be quite scary and stressful to miraculous and unbelievable. If you've travelled to a foreign country, you probably understand what I'm trying to get at here to some degree - even if you haven't travlled to a foreign country, maybe you do as well)

The 2nd part relating to taking days off....slowing down, taking a breath, and taking in your surroundings always opens new doors to new experiences. Don't always go running after the "local" experience. Yes, this works in its own way too - but in my experience, sometimes it's best to relax and let things come to you. In Amman, I spent close to a full week at a hostel doing practically nothing but planning other parts of my trip, eating at some restaurants, and catching up on messages. In the process of this week I made great friends with the owner and a couple other workers at the hostel. One night, the owner took me out for a coffee and dessert with her employees. Later, we toured a Turkish bath for free and even saw the shop where her husband worked. Not only did I get to see a "local" area of town I probably would not have discovered on my own, but more importantly, I met some incredible people who showed me incredible hospitality and friendship that energizes me and enlivens me in a way that makes me want to pay it forward to someone else.

Staying still - I know it was good for me, but only until recently was I able to articulate this aspect of why it can be so incredible. Maybe I don't always get a "local" experience like many travellers often talk about and desire, but rest assured, I almost always meet someone new who teaches me something about life, themselves, and myself - even if I don't find them to be very agreeable with my temperament : ) Point is, stop and smell the roses, you'd be amazed what can happen if you just give it a chance.

Eating Turkey, and having it too!

             Helllllllllooooooooo readers! Little surprise fact for you today. If I had got someone pregnant the day I left, I would have a baby by today (in theory). That's right folks! Today is my 9 month anniversary of being on this Magellan-esk excursion! Break out the party balloons and celebrate while you still can, because I'll be home in a little less than 3 months. Comparatively, that's not all that much longer if you really think about it. Sigh - everyday I ask myself where the time went, but I suppose most everyone asks themselves the same thing when looking at the past.



Hagia Sofia, Istanbul

 Speaking of past, let's talk about mine as it relates to the last time I wrote something on this blog. Break out your maps of Turkey (or look it up on google maps), because I'm taking you on a magic carpet ride around the country. For 10 days, I toured around Turkey with a friend from my former glory days in Graduate school. Starting off in Istanbul for 2 days, we saw amazing sites (to name only a few of the many) such as the Hagia Sofia, The Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, and the Basilica Cistern. Of all these places, I was most impressed by the Hagia Sofia. Originally built as a Christian church (some 3 odd times), it was later converted into an Islamic Mosque. Today it is neither. Now, it's a "museum" or more appropriately, an incredible site that can now charge you an entrance fee seeing as it is no longer used for religious purposes. Either way, the iconic site is one of the many reminders of the amazing history in Istanbul and this area of the world. From the Byzantines, Ottomans, Romans, etc. the area has undergone quite a few changes in the last couple 1,000's of years. Similar to Israel (perhaps with less religious importance), Turkey's history, especially surrounding Istanbul, is enough to knock your socks off and delight your senses.

Area around Goreme, Turkey

After 2 days in Istanbul, hop on a bus to Goreme (a small town in a central area of Turkey known as Cappadocia)! Before arriving there, Turkey's buses deserve some worthy time in the spotlight of my blog. Maybe I'm easily impressed, maybe I'm conditioned to the "break-down" and "chicken" buses of SE Asia -I can't exactly say...but in my humble opinion, phenomenal is the only way to describe the buses here. Each seat has a t.v. monitor in the back of it, they serve you tea, coffee, pop, or juice every other 3 hours, and almost all of the buses have wifi on them! The only thing still lacking was a bus company that discriminated against crying babies. Goreme though is a small town surrounded by chimney rocks, sometimes called fairy chimneys, that closely resemble the landscape of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Only these ones are 10x cooler because historically many of them were carved out and used as homes and most often as churches. The scene looks like something out of a fantasy. In winter, the area can get pretty dang cold at night (but from what the weather looks like for where I'll be going in Finland, it doesn't even scratch the surface of "cold"). With snow partially covering the ground, clear blue skies, and small patches of green grass or other forbs, the scene was breathtaking. My friend and I hiked around on our own for a good portion of one day - we explored inside some of the carved out dwellings, really hard to describe. I feel like I've exhausted and/or overused all the adjectives to describe all these places.

Remnant Pigeon cages

One cool thing about these homes is that they had a pigeon room where they kept them in cages - the more pigeons you had, the greater your stock in getting a wife. Apparently some people still keep pigeons, but I'm unsure whether or not they use them in a similar fashion. (by the way, pigeons are not just used as messengers, they're also bred and treated as a delicacy). One other major highlight of Goreme was a hot air balloon ride! If hiking around such a spectacular place wasn't enough to make you wet your pants (and then have it freeze - quite miserable), the hot air balloon ride would definitely put you over the edge. Seeing the whole place at sunrise with about 30 other hot air balloons in the sky - you would think you were in a dream (although on average I only remember 1 a year, so maybe that's not quite a valid statement coming from me).

Area of Goreme from the Sky!

I hope you didn't put your maps away yet, because we still have quite a few places to go! Now, find Antalya, on the south coast of Turkey - go a tad bit west along the coast and find "Olympos" - a small beach town along the Mediterranean back dropped by mountains marking the end of the Lycian way. A completely different landscape, equally stunning. This area, besides being gorgeous, also had some Roman ruins and natural fires spewing from the Earth. Sounds absurd, but it's very much the truth. For 1,000's of years the fires, called the "chimaera" have been burning. An eternal flame (although there are several), fueled by natural gas (largely methane) leaks out of the Earth. Another magical place, especially at night. Also, to keep the education lesson going, the Chimaera was a mythical monster with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a serpent that breathed fire - if you were a nerd and played video games like Final Fantasy you probably already knew this. : )

 Travertines of Pamukkale, Turkey

After Olympos, we journeyed to Ephesus (west coast of Turkey), a place with some very well preserved Roman ruins in addition to being the place where Paul wrote Ephesians (some of his post-it notes are still preserved in a museum there). I have to be completely honest here, if you've seen 3 Roman ruin sites you'll probably feel as if you've seen them all. Roman cities were all pretty much designed in a very similar fashion, so after 3 of them, you get the general idea. A Cardio Maximus (main avenue typically running North-South), Agora (large open market place), Amphitheater and waaaaa-la! You have a Roman site you can charge tourists to come visit! OK, so there's more to it than that, but for the commoner such as myself with no expertise in archaeology or Roman History this is pretty much what you can expect. In addition to the ruins of Ephesus, the area is also home to a rather surprising gem. THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS! 1 of the 7 ancient wonders of the world!!!!! Haha, it's pretty hilarious, because all that stands today is 1 pillar with a stork nest resting on top of it. Amazingly enough, they did not charge an admittance fee to see this ancient wonder (or what was once wonder).

Sunset at Pamukkale

Last stop...Pamukkale (east of Ephesus)! Pamukkale is another geological treat for the eyes. Pamukkale means "cotton castle" in Turkish and the small town is known for its hot springs and travertines, calcium carbonate terraces left behind by the flowing water of the hot springs. Besides having to take our shoes off to walk across the carbonate so as not to dirty or damage the site, the entire place was incredible. Sunset here was one of the best I've ever witnessed because as you looked out towards the sun across the water filled terraces it appeared as if you were looking across an infinity pool that dropped off the edge of the Earth - not only that, but the sun reflected off all the terraced pools making for an even more dramatic scene.

After 10 days, 6 nights in different hostels (nearly) every night, 4 nights buses, and very little sleep, my friend and I explored a huge part of Turkey in a very short amount of time. In 10 days, I managed to fire off about 1,300 pictures. I have quite a bit of sorting to do. After coming back to Istanbul, I now find myself relaxing and catching up on e-mails, while also trying to plan out some of the remainder or my trip. Essentially, I have 2 whole weeks to relax and catch my breath. To many, this may sound like a crime to sit in one place and and really have nothing planned....I can assure you, it is one of the greatest things possible to do while travelling/being on vacation. More on this later.

Spice Guys - they're
a big deal in Istanbul

Before I sign off on this post, I feel like telling a more personalized story. In the Bazaars here, the shop owners are very creative and fun in trying to get potential customers into their shops or at minimum to stop and chat for a little while. It can be annoying at times, but if in the right mood, it can also be very entertaining. Besides reminding me of the opening scene in Aladdin ("sugar dates! sugar dates!"), they'll yell out greetings in several different languages to see which one you will respond to - "Hello, how are you?" Konnichiwa! Hola! - they run through the whole gambit - from there they always ask where you are from or what you are looking for. If you say you're just looking, many will respond "sure, I'm just selling, no problem" or maybe they'll say "of course, I'm here to help you spend your money." My personal favorite, which I did not get to witness, was my friend who had a some guy serenade her with a song that went something along the lines of "OOOOOOOO-MMMMMM-GGGGGG! OHHHHH MY GOOOOOODNESS, you are sooooooo beautiful!" Hahaha, if only I could have been there. The other best experience was inside the Spice Bazaar. If you bother having a free tea and talking with some of the shop owners you'll get some great explanations about the spices and teas. I'll save you the trouble and tell you what they all do. Every other tea or spice does one of three things - helps with digestion, a cold, or makes you smarter. If you really want to have some fun though, start asking questions like, "I'm looking for a tea that will make my toenails grow faster, do you have that?" Or, "which tea do I need to buy to get a unibrow like yours?!" OK, so I didn't ask that last one - but try having fun with it and more often than not the guys will laugh and happily offer you one of the more expensive teas, informing you that it ALSO helps your toe nails grow faster. Of course it does.

Before I sign off, I must inform you about one other thing. Get to Istanbul as fast as you can because from the 21st to the 27th - Domino's Pizza (Located directly below my room at my current hostel) is having a promotion of a lifetime. Buy 1 medium pizza, get 3 free!!!!! I'll be on a pizza diet very soon, and probably a little bit past that because I have quite a bit of spare room in my bag with more on the way as I'll more than likely be wearing all my clothes at once while attempting to survive in Finland. Current Temperatures in Rovaniemi, Finland (place where I will be going to in order to try and see the Northern Lights) is -35 Celsius. Pray for my fingers, toes, and nose.