Ken Curtis' blog «

Thu 31/07/08 15:10

I don’t have a lot to talk about tonight, for some reason it’s just be a day… not a good day, not a bad one either.

This morning I had plans to go to some islands around venice. My idea was to start fairly early so I could see them and get back in time to get some rest. So I took off with my cameras and everything else that I thought I would need, except a map. Yeah, you probably guessed it. I got lost. I mean lost in the way that only dumb people get lost. I kept thinking that if I go this direction, that I would get here… the problem was, was that “here” wasn’t where I needed to be. I went down dead ends, backtracked, turned another direction and eventually got so lost that when I finally realized where I was, I was on the far side of the island, about a 45 minute ride in the boat bus. I think I can honestly say that I covered the whole island… I guess in sightseeing standards I did a good job though.

I had one of those days tonight.

Wed 30/07/08 16:53

So now I’m in Venice sitting in the dining room of my hostel waiting for dinner. I was a little shocked that they gave dinner, but hey, I’ll take it. Venice is beautiful, I’ve run out of adjectives that can describe some of the places that I’ve seen on this trip. Just when I start to think that nothing can impress me anymore, I come to Venice and wow, what a city. I heard that there isn’t much to do around here from some of the guest staying in the hostel, some are actually complaining about it, but since this is my first day I don’t have that problem.

The weather was really hot today, I didn’t check the actual temperature, but my guess would be around the mid 90s, and humid. The weather is similar to Dubai, but in Dubai we have air conditioning that the Venetians haven’t worked on getting.

The city is really stunning, the architecture is not that much better than any of the other cities that I’ve been to, but like everyone knows, there aren’t streets in the typical sense, there are canals that take the place of the streets. Now, I know everyone knows that, but if you haven’t been here it may not really sink in, I mean there you don’t have to wait to cross a street, there are no horns honking, no car or truck noises at all. It is really cool when you realize it, because at first I didn’t give it a second thought. It wasn’t until later on when I realized how nice it was without cars around.

Today I spent the day just moving around the city, first I just walked around, and then later I took a bus (boat) that goes around the city. It was expensive for a bus ticket, but I felt that it was more of a sightseeing cruise than anything else. There is so much that I could talk about but pictures say so much more.

Mon 28/07/08 07:25

I got to Prague this morning at about 6, by train. This was the first time that I did a train by myself, and it was the first time that I’ve ever had just a seat and not a sleeper. I didn’t think that it would be a big deal, I mean I’ve been on buses and planes that you sat in a seat for long periods of time. I was wrong, the major difference is that you don’t sit on a seat, you sit on a bench, that faces another bench…so leg room is dictated by the person your facing, I had a man with big feet.:) It wasn’t that bad though, and I made it to Prague in one piece. Except for getting some bad advice from some Americans, I would have made it to my hostel in no time, but I ended up going about ten blocks (with two packs) until I asked someone else, and they told me that I needed to go back the way I came. It turned out where I asked the Americans I was about a half a block away from my hostel.

Okay, it seems that I say this every time that the city I show up to is remarkable or beautiful, and Prague is no exception… Prague is beautiful. Just like the other cities there are two, one new and one old. The old part of Prague has some great old architecture pressed close to each other, overlooking very narrow cobblestone streets. I think I getting a little overwhelmed by all the old buildings in the cities that I’ve seen, the ornate facades, the beautiful feeling of times gone by, because although I’ve taken about a hundred pics this morning, but unlike some of the other places I’ve been I’m not stunned anymore.

I went to Charles Bridge… I don’t have any of the facts on it, but it’s a bridge that is something like four-hundred years old. It has thirty religious sculptures lining the sides, and for now it seems like it’s only used as a tourist destination. Venders and tour groups pack the span of the bridge, and the view of the river below is great… In fact nearly every view in Prague is great. If you have anywhere open around you, you can see a castle on the top of a hill/small mountain. As I wound my way through the narrow streets up to the castle, I got some awesome views of the old part of the city. I didn’t go into the castle itself, just the courtyard and some of the buildings that surround it. I kind of hung out with a tour group for a few minutes to hear some of the stories.

I get to check into my room in a few minutes so after I do that, and get cleaned up I think I’ll head out again.

This is added images from the nights walk-a-bout.

Sun 27/07/08 01:45

It’s about 830 in the morning and everything just feels right. You ever have that feeling, the sun is warm, you have a coffee, and you’re doing whatever it is that you want to do, for me that’s adding to my journal. I’m sitting out on the balcony of my hostel with a coffee and relaxing, and just got through talking to a girl that lived in California for 12 years, and now lives in Germany… I don’t think it could get any better… that’s not true, it can always be better. I guess she and her girlfriend will be on the same train as I am tonight to Prague. The people in my room are all from Dublin and all of them are really friendly… it’s too bad that I don’t have longer here, I know that I would have fun. Not that I didn’t have fun, but it would have been better if I went out with more people.

I need to actually get moving, it’s going to be a big day, but all I want to do is sit here and soak up some of the ambience. Okay, I’m going to go for now. It may be a couple of days before I can update my blog again… but maybe it will be just a couple of hours, who knows.

Here are some pics from my last day in Krakow, including the trip to the salt mines… I thought about adding a new entry, but I don’t have much to say about this part of the day, and if I want I can add text later to this entry.

Sat 26/07/08 15:27

I finally made it out of Riga, and with my debit card and still in one piece. I don’t know if I’m being unfair to Riga or not, but although it was pretty, it was the worst place I’ve stayed since I’ve been on the road. Now that I wrote that, it does sound unfair… but it is true. :) Too many beggars, mean people, rules, and too expensive. I didn’t even mention the beggar that told Maris that he was going to wait for him so he could kick his ass, or one of the guys that was staying in one of my rooms that was charged 20 lats for a drink that he didn’t order… on top of 20 lats for the one that he did ($100 for two drinks), or the cops giving me a hard time for sitting on the grass in the park, or even the guy that was smoking a cigarette so I went where he was to smoke one too, then he yells at me to move, because I can’t smoke there, or the other things that made me dislike the town.

Now I’m in Krakow and to be honest, this is heaven. I almost want to say it’s the best place that I’ve been, but Irkukst and St. Petersburg were probably just as good in their own ways, if not better. The hostel is great, the food is the best, and the city is totally beautiful.

This was from my first trip to the square, and you can probably imagine how it must be with sound and looking all around. There was lots of activity and lots of great old buildings. The difference between Krakow and some of the other towns that I’ve been to is that the city still looks old. Most of the other cities are restoring and remodeling the buildings, making them look brand new. This makes them look good, but not as original as the buildings here in Krakow.

I went and got my ticket to Prague after I took the above pics. I wanted to make sure that I could get a seat tomorrow. With the amount of time that I spent at Riga, I only have a night here in Krakow, and probably only a night in Prague.

Tonight there was a music festival going on, so I went and found a table at one of the cafes that surround the square to listen/watch. I can’t tell you how perfect it was. It could have been better if I was with some people, but what can you do??? Sometimes things just don’t work out. :( Maybe in Prague.

Tomorrow, if I can get up in time I’m going to head to the salt mines. They’ve got some salt mines that supposedly have a city in them, along with sculptures and a cathedral… that’s all I know about it, but I had two different people tell me that I need to see it. I wanted to see the concentration camp, Auschwitz (can’t spell the name), but I thought I already know a lot about it, and don’t know anything about the salt mines. Did I mention how glad I am to be out of Riga?

Sat 26/07/08 14:22

I guess this is a catchup day. As I write it’s Saturday evening, the 26th and I’m getting ready to go to bed.

So yesterday I was in Riga… Riga, a name that will forever mean “wasted time” in my world. The last day I checked out of my hostel and decided to take another walking trip. I walked around for it seemed like forever until I got this idea to start taking pictures of graffiti. I’ve always liked street art, and there was some good work around Riga. I’ll include some of them in my pics. Anyway, it was pretty much a wasted day, since my bus to Warsaw didn’t leave until 6:30.

I also started taking pics of older buildings. You know the abandoned buildings that cities really don’t want you to see.

One of the things that I thought was unusual was that the “FA(t)” at the top of the one photo must be a tag (the artist’s mark) because I saw exactly the same tag about 40 miles away. Unless there is some other reason why I would see the same word, done in the exact same style, this artist gets around.

About 5 I went back to the hostel and got my backpack… and my debit card was there. I don’t know why I didn’t trust my bank, but I didn’t think it would show up for weeks. I can honestly say that Wells Fargo is the best bank ever… ever.

So the bus trip was to take me to warsaw, but I found out from this Russian girl that I could go to Krakow if I just stay on the bus… and pay extra of course:) Russian women are so awesome. :) It’s funny that the ticket lady told me that I couldn’t. So I left about 6:30 for Krakow. Normally I wouldn’t be this detailed, but the trip to Krakow took me through Latvia, Lithuania, Warsaw, and finally to Krakow. That’s a lot of area to cover, and it was an interesting trip. There were two things that really stood out to me. The first is how geographically the area is to Oregon (my original home) and second, how totally americanized Poland has become. Before you get to any town in Poland, you get billboards for hotels, restaurants, and every thing else. Then when you get to the outskirts, you start seeing strip-malls, and McDonalds. It was quite depressing from my perspective.

We went through Villinus in Lithuania, I wish we couldn’t have stopped for a little while, because it really looked like a great place from what I could see.

My name is Ken

July 31

Venice

Prague

Just starting out

I’m in Krakow

I’m writing this a day late