The World By Road

I am always looking into what other adventurers and people attempting the seemingly impossible are doing and from time to time, come across some great projects. Actually, this project was forwarded to me by a friend and once I took a look, had to share it with the rest of you. The project is called Earthrace, and it is composed of a crew of individuals attempting to race a powerboat around the world in under 65 days breaking the current world record. The project is also unique in that the boat they are using is powered completely by renewable energy sources and is one of the only World Powerboat Authority approved craft to use alternative fuels. They seem to have a good website and when they leave in September, you will be able to track their progress, read their blogs and watch video of the race. Also, if you happen to live in one of the 60 port cities listed, the team is planning a before and after world tour to highlight the race, sponsors, and educate others on renewable energy and positive maritime initiatives. Earthrace is another ambitious project that consists of both adventure and education. Good luck to the guys on the water from the guys on the road.

Shop has a great dog – Mogulee. She is not named after the character in the Jungle Book, but after a ski slope with lots of fun bumps in it. I have lived with Mogs for the last 7 years since she was a puppy and have helped to take care of her, so I almost feel like she is my dog as well. We get a lot of questions about what we are going to do with her when we leave. It is going to be tough not bringing her along, but something tells me she will thank us for not dragging her around in the back of a car for two years. We are fortunate enough to have Shop’s sister and other immediate family members in the area who are more than willing to take care of Mogs while we are gone, thus preventing us from having to take her out back like Olde Yeller. Only kidding…

I was thinking about taking care of dogs the other day and the wheels got cranking when I saw an advertisement for a dog walking business. Now don’t get me wrong, Kudos’ to the people who have the entrepreneurial mindset to fill a gap where there is a need, but the fact that there is a need in this area kind of bugs me. Have we gotten to the point that we don’t even have time in our busy lives to walk the dog? That is pretty F’d up if you ask me. The purpose of getting a dog I think is for mutual companionship. People enjoy the time they spend with their pets and the pets enjoy the time they spend with their owners. What is the point of getting a pet if you are never around to enjoy it, and vice versa? Then again, maybe people are buying pets for the wrong reasons these days too – look at me, I can fit my dog in my purse! Pets are similar to children and people who have kids make time for them right?  Oh wait, that is also seems to be a problem in our modern society. Some may think I am a hypocrite for even bringing this up given that we will be leaving Mogs behind for a couple of years, and that I’m making a big deal out of nothing here. I guess if you look at it from the flip side of things, at least the owners are thinking about their dog by paying someone else to take care of it. However, something tells me if Steve and I got in the habit of paying other people to walk Mogs around, she wouldn’t like it nearly as much as when one of the two of us takes her out. I can at least take comfort in the fact that she will be with family and have her two brothers Ollie and Oscar to play with.

After 10 days, my mom had enough of my Dad and I, so she headed back to the States. My Dad had planned on staying with me the remainder of my trip and we were getting along well enough and it was going to be good to spending some time with him. We had a rail pass and were close enough to the Czech border that I wanted to jump over to Prague for a few days. I had heard many great things about Prague, and of course, wanted to check it out for myself. My Dad was content with staying in Germany, but I managed to convince him to jump on the night train (had to get a Guns n Roses reference in there)  with me for the 6 hour ride east to Prague. Once you get off the train, you realize that you are definitely in a different country. The sights are different, the smells are different, the people are different and the language is different. Just when I was getting comfortable understanding and communicating in German, I have to go and confuse my brain by introducing the Czech language to it.

We met a nice girl at the train station who after some bartering, agreed to rent an apartment to us for the bargain price of about 40 U.S. a night. The apartment was on the outside of the town center, but was only 10 minutes away on the subway. We found our way to the right stop and right away realized that we were entering a whole new world – Eastern Europe. The Czech Republic has only been a country for a dozen or so years and before that, was in the grip of the Iron Curtain and this was well evidenced by the soviet era apartment blocs that greeted us on the surface. Finding the place was a little bit of a chore and after about 30 minutes of walking up and down the block and unsuccessfully asking people in english and german (who spoke little of either)  if they knew the address I was seeking, I found a bike messenger who pointed us right direction. The apartment was actually quite nice and located on the 15th floor of a the building which offered good views of the 20 story apartment bloc right outside of our window. After relaxing a bit from the train ride and the expedition to find the flat, we grabbed the subway and headed back into the heart of Prague.

Prague is without a doubt a beautiful city. The architecture is amazing and the skyline is dotted with ancient churches, cathedrals, castles and the palace on top of the hill just west of the river is quite a magnificent site to be sure. Unfortunately, Prague has become quite the tourist trap. Maybe it was the time of year I happened to be there, but I have never seen so many people walking the streets in one city at one time. Las Vegas on News Years Eve would not even come close in terms of how many people were out and about. The streets of Prague, especially in Old Town are pretty narrow and it was literally shoulder to shoulder in some spots. Additionally, in the handful of years or so since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the people of Prague have become quite good capitalists. It costs money to do and see everything. Many of the churches and cathedrals in Germany are open to the public free of charge, although they do like you to make a contribution. This was not the case in Prague. Any building that was of any historical or architectural significance had a viewing fee associated with it. It even cost money to walk down a historic street lined with 16th century shops, which of course were selling various things, and every corner seemed to have a cheesy souvenir shop on it.  Don’t get me wrong, Prague is a  magnificent and picturesque place, but somehow, the whole vibe of the place kind of made me feel like I was in Disneyland. They even lit up the more dominant buildings at night just to complete the effect. I was a little disappointed at the taste left in my mouth, so there was nothing else left to do but wash it down with some good Czech beer. However, we did manage to find a few cool places off the well-beaten path. We explored and old wall that was built several hundred years ago just for the sake of giving people something to do and we toured the Prague Technical Museum which completely thrilled my dad to no end. After a few days in Prague, I felt like I had seen enough, (although I will never get tired of seeing all of the beautiful women the Czech Republic has to offer!) so it was off to the train station and back to Germany.

For more pics of my trip, visit the following link.

I actually managed to recover from my Iron-debacle pretty quickly. The next day I was feeling good and my stomach was pretty much back to normal. After hanging out for another day in the Hilpoltstein area, My parents and I headed down to the Munich area for some sights and suds. For anyone who has driven on the highway (autobahn) in Germany, you know what I am talking about when I say you have to constantly check in your rearview mirrors for fast approaching vehicles. As you may or may not know, there are long stretches of the autobahn where there is no posted speed limit. As a result, if you are not flying down the road at 130 mph, you had better keep your ass in the right-hand lane. Even passing people requires some careful analysis and good depth perception. You may look in the mirror to see that no one is behind you and it is clear to pass and as soon as you move out, someone has caught up to you and is about to crawl into your tailpipe. The funny thing is, there are a fair share of supercars out there (Ferrari’s, Porsche’s etc.) but the people that you really have to keep your eyes out for are the people going down the road at 120 mph in their grocery grabbin’ mini vans.

About an hour south of where we were staying in Hilpoltstein and just outside of Munich is the town of Dachau. Dachau was home to one of the first concentration camps built by the Nazis. Given that you have to be exposed to the good, bad and the ugly to experience all a location has to offer, we decided to stop by and take a look at the camp grounds. The Germans have done an excellent job of maintaining the camp in its original condition. This was done on purpose, so you feel the full power that a place like this has to offer. They have also put together a very impressive collection of photos, artifacts and audio/video presentations chronicling the life of a "resident" at the camp. In the grand scheme of things, not that many people lost their lives at Dachau. Only 30,000 people were killed here over the course of its operation before being liberated by American troops in April 1945. Most of the inhabitants of the Dachau camp died from being put to hard labor, or as a result of medical experiments conducted by Nazi doctors. There were ovens built within the camp perimiter, however, according to witnesses, the ovens were not used to exterminate people, just as a means of disposing of the bodies of those who had perished there. Still, 30,000 people is a staggering number, and Dachau was the model from which the Nazis built subsequent death camps.  Walking around the large grounds of the Dachau camp gives you a very uneasy feeling. Not too many people are talking and an unsettling silence looms over the entire site even though over 1,000 people are present learning more about the horror that occurred here.  Again, words and pictures really can’t describe what you feel walking around a place like the Dachau concentration camp. It is one of those places that you have to experience in person in order to get a true understanding and comprehension of the magnitude of one of the darker moments in human history.

After spending quite a bit of time touring the grounds of Dachau (we literally had to sprint for the gate or risk spending a night there) we headed down to Munich. After unwinding from the experience of viewing the concentration camp and the site where thousands of people died, we decided to head into the heart of town to grab some food and get consumed by the rage that is the World Cup. Munich is famous for its beer halls and one of the most famous is the Hofbrauhaus. People have been drinking beer at the Hofbrauhaus since 1592 and it is home to some great beer, traditional Bavarian music and more Korean tourists that you would ever expect. My parents don’t really drink that much and I don’t think my mom has had a beer in nearly 20 years, but since we were at the Hofbrauhaus, I made her get an original haus beer ( I did end up finishing about half of it for her, but I give her an A for effort). After throwing down a few liter beers and some wurst, it was off into the hordes of French and Portuguese football fans that had descended on Munich. We were lucky enough to be in town for the semifinal match and the whole area was crazy. Fans were dressed in country colors, beer in hand walking around pretty much everywhere singing one of the many national fight songs of their respective squads. Based on my experience of the whole night, I think a lot of people would have liked to see Portugal win, but it was not in the cards for them as France put on a good show, although they would go on to loose to Italy in the finals. Munich was a great place and I definitely want the chance to go back and enjoy more of the beer halls that I did not get to see.

For more pics of my trip, visit the following link.