ok, I went back and raided the email/travelogues that I sent out on my last trip and pulled a few selections here with pictures to match the stories when I had them. Hope it's the kind of stuff you're looking for.
August 14, 2002
Arrived here in London around 1ish and was in town and had my bags dropped off at the hostel by 3. A later start than I had hoped, but I have managed to make good work of the day.
(did you doubt me? ;-) ) Although I hadn't eaten a thing since the little date cake masquerading as "continental breakfast" on the plane, I managed to hoof it through a good part of the downtown. Went to the British Library and saw important stuff like the Gutenburg Bible, Leonardo Da Vinci's diaries, Shakespeare's first folio, original copies of stuff by Austen, Chaucer, et al and oh yeah...a little document called the Magna Carta. Then it was off to Leicester Square to try to find the way to the National Portrait Gallery. I spent a nice half hour communing with kings, queens, heads of state, and other people important enough to have their proverbial photograph or painting taken. Queen Elizabeth I had 3 pictures at different ages...oddly enough she still sports the same ugly hairdo and atrocious white makeup in all of them. hmmm.
After this, beginning to feel a bit faint from lack of food and water and all the walking, I did a sensible thing and...kept going. haha. Wandered over to Trafalgar Square and mingled with the summer crowds...some Indian band was playing, children splashing and swimming in the fountains, doves perched on the heads of stern-looking statues, red double-decker buses careening around the corners. Catching site of Big Ben down the road and through the trees, I decided what the hell, might as well totally kill my poor virgin-to-travel feet and walk some more. So I strolled down Whitehall and took a few pics of the Parliament and the clock and all. Hopped a bus and sat on the upper deck for the way home and I am still proud of myself for figuring out which bus went where and getting one that went straight to my hostel.
One falafel later, I am feeling a bit better and may go back to face my hostel room. I dropped by earlier to change bags and found that I have a few guys in my room that are playing their stereo...and quite frankly their music tastes suck bigtime. So this may conflict with my need for an early bedtime. :/ We shall see. I'm tired enough that I may sleep through it.
August 20, 2002
So we will fast forward to yesterday evening when I arrived at Stansted Airport to catch my very cheap Ryanair flight to Oslo, Norway.
The plane was delayed, but of course no one saw fit to announce that until it was past the time it was scheduled to depart. An anxious crowd of Norwegians stood by, clutching their duty-free purchases (everything is so expensive there, they usually bring in stuff like cigarettes and alcohol) and wondering when the information would come to us. The airline reps finally showed up and announced that everyone should take a seat because the plane would not be going for a while yet and the sullen looks and murmered Norske grumblings brought a "do you understand?" from the rep. To which I had to laugh and mutter, "gee, no I don't speak a word of English" in turn making the guy beside me chuckle and from there we struck up a conversation. He was from the Oslo area, in town visiting his girlfriend, and we chatted about this and that and when we got on the plane (this being the budget airline) we chose to sit together and talked throughout the entire flight. Everything from the EU to American politics and the part we play in the international community to Norwegian history, the Vikings, soccer, the time he spent in Africa, and how hard it is to learn Swahili, etc. As it turns out, the airport we were scheduled to arrive in is the one way way way outside Oslo....a good hour and a half drive in fact and we landed right around 11pm. He had a car and offered me a ride into town, so of course I took it.
My first impressions of Norway were mostly dark highway roads, lots of tunnels, and learning a bit of Norwegian grammar from my companion. Side note, he reminded me of Crocodile Dundee. haha. Just a different accent. Annnnyways, nice man that he was, he also let me use his cell phone to call my friend in Oslo where I would be staying with and he dropped me off right in front of the apartment. Ah the kindness of strangers. And come to think of it, we never even exchanged names.
It was wonderful to see my friend Odd (yes, that's his name and it's quite normal-sounding in Norwegian) whom I hadn't seen since we worked together on student newspaper in college. We sat up and talked till about 3 in the morning, again lots of politics and whatnot as he actually works in the majority political party in Norway. Great stuff.
Woke up around 9ish this morning with the intent to catch the 11:11 train to Stavanger where I am supposed to stay with some more college friends (being friends with the Norwegian gang in college does pay off when you travel). Odd and I had breakfast, some incredible bread with some sort of spread and ham to top it off...I was informed that this was more typical for Norwegians although if I wanted I could have cereal like an American. Of course I wasn't about to. When in Rome and all that.
We walked around a little of Oslo, Odd showing me the sites and then he left me on the main street as he had to go to work and I had to catch my train. And then I think the time gods decided to make the clock run faster than usual and I ended up running through the train station, needing to get my railpass stamped before I could get on. Of course, there was a line and by the time I got to the counter and got things squared away and went tearing out, the train had pulled away. doh! Which wouldn't be too bad if I was in some place like Geneva or Paris, where trains run every few minutes, but this route only goes a few times a day. So I get to kill another four hours until the next train which will put me in Stavanger at the lovely time of 11pm. ugh.
At first I was pretty frustrated and upset as this does wreck my plans for the day, but my philosophy is to treat life and especially travel as an adventure. Today my adventure will be exploring Oslo on my own for the next few hours and seeing how to navigate Stavanger at the late hours of the night.
Oct. 16, 2002
What a difference 24 hours makes. Yesterday evening I was having a nice dinner with Leon (one of the nice Dutch guys I met last week, Vorsprung on the U2 forum) and tonite I am in Prague. And tomorrow it's Vienna. Talk about whirlwind.
Last night was good fun. Leon and I only had two hours to spend, but we managed to find some good food and I got to see the bustling metropolis of Hengelo. ummm, well it was pretty quiet, but it has all these ugly new buildings...which Leon informed me was my fault. See, apparently we bombed that city by mistake in WWII. After liberating it. Ooooops. Well, I apologized.
I had the good fortune, upon getting on my night train to Berlin, to have a conductor who decided to put me in my very own compartment. Normally, I would have had to share with five other people (couchettes...tiny bunk beds stacked pretty much on top of each other) but there was space, so I had all the privacy you can in a train. woohoo! So, I actually did get some rest. I woke around 6am and got off in Berlin at the station commonly known as Zoo Station.
Actually, the only reason I got off there, instead of waiting till the other big station in the city was because that little old band of mine (you know who by now) recorded a song with that name, related to that station, so I simply had to stop in and check it out for posterity's sake. After grabbing some breakfast, I hopped on the train to Prague.
As we were pulling out of the station, I got a stunning view down one of the major boulevards...one that has a pillar in the centre with a statue of an angel on top (u2 fans who've
seen the video for Stay will know what I am talking about). Anyways, the early morning sky shone pink behind it, the water on the street glistened, and even though it was only a few seconds, I think that is going to be the image of Berlin that I take away with me. Beautiful.
The train ride was long and pretty boring. Above five hours of sitting. The border guard that checked my passport was nice and hey, I even got a stamp!! Been a while since that has happened. He told me quite cheerfully and in a strong accent to "have a nice day in Czech Republic!" So I have tried to do so.
Actually, upon arriving at the station, I had a pretty crap first few hours in Prague. The station itself is old and ugly...I think it must be a holdover from the Soviet era. The tram I was supposed to take to my hostel was discontinued but I couldn't read any of the signs to find where to take the next one. When I figured out where to take the tram, I got on the one going the wrong direction. Yep, twasn't a red-letter day for me. But at last I made it here and dropped my stuff quickly to rush back into the downtown to "see" Prague in the few hours of daylight left.
And wow, is there ever a lot to see. This city has the most consistently beauuuutiful architecture I have ever seen, I think. The river is still high from the flooding (in fact, my hostel is right at the river's edge) but one can get around everywhere. Old spires on castles and churches, baroque styling on most of the old town houses, this place could easily suck up weeks of time. I know I will put it on my "to come back to" list.
smilies quite endearing. Carry on. 
Its a beautiful place though with very friendly people.
