TravisWall.net

It has been requested that I send a long, boring message detailing my recent travels. So I hereby present you with a long, boring message. Please don’t hate me.

On Julie’s recommendation, I headed to San Sebastian after Barcelona. It was a wonderful town and it felt nice to have a break from the hectic frenzy of the major cities. One thing about Spain…it’s open late. It sleeps late. It goes out late. A lot of the dining establishments don’t even open until 9pm or so. Then everyone is out wandering the streets, casually going for tapas, dinner, etc. until very, very late. It’s very lively. I think there should be one in Canada. I had a good hostel (run by someone resembling a Spanish Bruce Willis with a penchant for practical jokes). It’s sort of a beach town and I’d considered surfing, but it was far too expensive, so I spent a couple of hours doing a sort of bodysurfing instead, getting tossed around by great big waves. This was done very close to the shore, resulting in a sort of sand/rock equivalent of road rash, being repeatedly driven into the ground, but fun all the same. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to Julie, I highly recommend it.

After flailing about for a couple of days, trying to figure out how to reach Florence from my new, northern location, I settled on taking a bus to a nearby town and from there taking a last-minute flight to Rome. That’s right, Rome. So I got up at the crack of dawn to catch a bus (which I missed, having not realized the vast amount of land I would need to cover from my hostel all the way to the bus station), and caught the next.

Rome is hot. Very hot. I would go so far as to say unnecessarily hot. I would go into the Good Morning Vietnam monologue, but I’m sure you’ve heard it before. I spent only a couple of days in Rome, which were less positive than they could have been. This was due in large part, of course, by the resurgence of my arch nemesis: the sun. For some time, the sun and I had reached an agreement; it would shine during the day and I would operate mainly at night. This worked quite well until I started travelling and have since been met with a feeling akin to that of an ant under a magnifying glass. My hostel was unpleasantly night-clubesque, though an interesting experience all the same. My stay essentially consisted of me wandering downtown, getting very sick from the sun/heat and finally spending several hours lugging an increasingly hefty backpack around a train station, during a rail-strike, while trying to find someone who knew what train would actually be able to take me to Florence. What I did see was quite amazing, and the history dates so far back it’s incredible to see these places still there. Unfortunately, I became bedridden before I had a chance to explore the Vatican. Rome will need to be revisited. Perhaps in the winter. With a companion.

Anyway, I did get finally get to Florence. Florence was wonderful–perhaps one of my favourite cities. It’s a gorgeous place and there’s so much art and beauty everywhere. Due to accommodation shortages, I ended up staying in a camping area near the edge of town which overlooked the center of the city. One night, I observed what is undoubtedly the most spectacular display of fireworks I’ve seen, illuminating the Florence skyline.

In Venice, I stayed in a camping area again. I did not explore any galleries, etc, save for one cathedral in the center of town. There are over 400 bridges there. I have no idea how people find their way around–the streets are very labyrinthine. The city was quite touristy, but pretty all the same. One day, it began raining very hard and I stood and watched as the water surrounding the buildings crashed and waved as though it might wash us all away.

Despite the massiveness of the city and large population, Vienna was regarded as very quiet and safe. In fact, it seemed perplexingly well-behaved. I had hoped to see an opera while visiting Vienna as standing tickets are quite cheap; however, it had just recently shut down for the summer. I did spend some time traipsing through Freud’s old study, saw where Bram Stoker wrote a fair bit of Dracula, even caught some live Rocky Horror numbers. I went out to the giant ferris wheel (I’ve completely forgotten the name) one night with a couple of people from my hostel. The wheel itself was not entirely breathtaking, but the surrounding amusement park–both active and almost deserted–was a wonderful sight. There’s something very surreal and eerie about an abandoned amusement park. Driverless bumper cars, empty rollercoasters, ticket-takers resembling mannequins insides their neon booths. Frozen in time and full of ghosts.

By the time I reached the Old Town area of Prague and saw hordes of tourists flooding through rows of chain stores, souvenir shops and Czech hot dog stands, I realized I was very tired. After seeing so many worldclass galleries, etc in such a short space of time, one needs a break to process and digest. I have made a point of not seeing the National Gallery. I did, however, stumble upon a photo gallery by Jan Saudek which was quite superb and enjoyable and a nice surprise. Had I more time in the Czech Republic, I would make an excursion to one of the nearby towns which are less visited and likely more authentic, though I need to move on due to my recently developed deadline. Still, I enjoy Prague. My hostel is located outside of the city center, away from the high-traffic areas and it’s nice to wander around in. The restaurants are nice and inexpensive and the trams run quite regularly. The beautiful architecture lives up to its reputation as some of the most untouched in Europe.

I came upon the most amazing club in Prague. It’s designed as a sort of Mad Maxian, post-apocalyptic, industrial place. Words cannot do it justice. While I was there, I saw a band with a funk/psychedelic electric sitar rigged through a wah-wah and a rack mount, backed by an incredibly solid drum/bass duo. This was followed by a DJ/African percussion duo which was also quite good. On the lower level, another performance area saw another group playing. The average quality of music at public performances here is very high. Anyway, if you happen to find yourself in Prague, it’s called the Cross Club. Bring clean clothes because you may soil yourself upon arriving. I’m serious. Bring clean clothes.

That’s all I’m going to bother writing about. You’ve read this far; go have a rest or something. I hope you’ve been somewhat entertained. Just be glad I’m not going to make you sit through pictures.