Sharm El Sheik

So instead of Croatia, we ended up taking an all-inclusive six day trip to the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheik, located in the Sinai desert, technically part of Asia.

It was a fun experience, but totally bizarre. I was thoroughly molested by mosquitos, but we got to enjoy a week of 30+ degree weather.

We signed up for a 3 day SCUBA certification program called PADI, where we received our Open Water Diver 1 license. The scuba diving there was fantastic. We saw, among other things, a blue-spotted sting ray and a gigantic great morray eel. The eel had to have been at least 7 feet long, and its head was about two feet from top to bottom.

Now we've returned to Horni Valdorf, and we had one casualty on the trip home: the Trabant died about 3 towns away from Valdorf, and our neighbor Tomash, who found the Trabant for us, towed us home. The alternator is kaput, so we're handing the keys over to Tomash for good.

Tomorrow we'll be bussing to Paris, where we will stay for a couple of days. We'll catch our flight to Dublin on the 13th, and the final chapter of our journey shall begin.

Best regards to those back home!

Prague tomorrow, from there Croatia for sure.

Parents!: I need you to send my online banking number to me. I know the password and the branch, but I can't remember the number of the account. This is the only way I know how to reach you guys for sure. Its not an emergency or anything.

Fear and Loathing in Cesky Krumlov

Our troupe has been sick for about the last three days. I came down with the stomach flu first, then Adam and now Lukas is bedridden. Adam is well again, I'm still on the slow mend. It's been an ordeal.

Our present itinerary is as follows: Back to Valdorf tomorrow morning, then off to Prague within about a week. In mid-November we were planning to fly from Frankfurt to Dublin, but now we're considering flying from Paris, and returning to mainland Europe after we're had our fill of Ireland. We would fly from Paris so that when we flew back the Trabant would be ready and waiting for us there. We could then head to Spain if the mood takes us, having driven most of the way there. Barcelona, maybe.

Love to everyone back home and in New York

Cesky Krumlov!

We've headed out of Horni Valdorf. We drove Southeast to Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republics second-most interesting place. We're staying the night in Hostel Merlin, only CDN$12.50 a night! Hot damn! To top it off, we're in our own separate room with three beds, and upstairs there's free internet.

The city reminds me of Rome. Crowded architecture, peppered with old cathedrals, there ornate steeples towering above the residential appartment complexes. Food is more expensive here in the city, but that's relatively speaking. We just went to a Bohemian restaurant and dinner cost me 6.50 Canadian.

Pictures should be up tomorrow, I've run out of time and this computer is slow as all get-out.

Yesterday was a good day. We headed to Domazlice, the closest decently-sized town, with our neighbor Johnny in the evening and played pool at a nice sportsbar. Then we headed to Jazz Rock, and from there we sprung to the local Discotheque. Czech dancing is different from Canadian dancing in that it is more individual and bizarre than the Canadian variety. The night ended pretty early.

But now we're getting pretty antsy here in Valdorf; things are slow. Its becoming too easy to sleep in until 12 and leave for Domazlice and returning without getting much accomplished. We're planning a road-trip within the next couple of days.

Pictures will appear sooner rather than later!

Our shared travel blog is at alf69.livejournal.com

Not sure why I neglected to link until now. There are pictures there!

So we returned to Munchen for more oktoberfest. It was even better than the first day. I somehow got in to a club, Subtsanz, where our friends Andy and Jan were chilling, and it was great fun.

Got to go back to Czecho now, I'll update within a few days.

Update

Today we are going to try to get the trabant insured. Yes, it is in fact made out of 'fiber-rag' as Lukas has dubbed it; the car's body is made out of old rags somehow compressed together through East-German ingenuity. It doesn't get soggy in the rain, mind you.

The puppy's name is now Shaggy.

I've been designated chef for the trip. Somehow, my very limited experience with food surpasses that of my shipmates. It'll be a good learning experience, I suppose.

Mike is leaving tuesday morning (tomorrow). He's taking the computer with him, so I'll have to update in town from now on.

Love to everyone back home!
-Fin