the end.

Istanbul was brilliant. It's only fault that it took 20 minutes to take five steps. At first, that was really really intimating. absolutely, everyone wanted to talk to me. apple tea? turkish tea? buy carpet? they just wanted to sit around and talk and talk and drink tea and sell me carpets and then ask me to go out with them that evening. so between 3 and 5 i'd go back to the hostel worn out and complain to the turkish bartender who would laugh at me. but man, the city was gorgeous! and so different from the rest of europe. the architecture, the people. quite the welcome change because i gradually traveled through europe so things gradually shifted, which meant that i didnt notice as much. haga sofia and the blue mosque were monsterous. so much huger and architecturally different than the churches like notre dame. and the grand bazaar was crazy. everyone calling for you, trying to get you in there shop. there would be a strip of vendors like where you from? want to buy a carpet? let me help you spend your money. i'd ignore all of them. and the guy on the corner of the strip would be like it's crazy, isnt it. i'd agree. and then he'd ask me to look at his shop. i'd walk away. everything in that bazaar was so overpriced and they knew you were a tourist, so they'd have a completely different set of prices. although, bargaining was entirely reasonable. but there was so much to look at! the stuff they were selling, the people, the vendors, the buildings. one day, i walked to the top of a hill. and decided on the way back, i didnt want to go down the main strip and went down the side of the hill. the real people lived there. twisty, turny, wiendy streets. a few antique shops where i tried to buy a camera, but since i stink at bargaining, i couldnt do it. oh, i wanted that vintage camera though. it was the kind that was medium-format and you looked down to see the view finder, instead of holding it up to your eye. no one really called to me either to come into their store too. they just gave me a funny look like you're not a turk, what are you doing here? At the spice market was fabulous. the colors, smells, people. one guy saw me taking photos and told me to take photos of his shop. at first i resisted, because i dont like getting stuck. but turns out the shop sold perfumes in these pretty glass bottles as well as spices and tea. so there was a lot to look at, and i got some yummy apple tea. i decided taht instead of taking a train (honestly, i was tired of them) to greece, i decided to take a bus to a ferry in an attempt to island hop. the hostel travel agency booked me a bus to a town where i would need to find the shorter bus ride to cesme on the coast, and the booked me a ferry to chios, where i'd have to figure out where i was going from there. on the first bus, i met two peace corp vollenteers who worked in uganda where they didnt feel as if they were really helping the people. more that the government was using the money mroe than them. i slept most of the way, where i woke up at about midnight and the bus was on a ferry. the three of us werent really sure how that happened, but were glad for the break because while the bus stopped and it seemed to be possible to get off and use the restroom, we werent really sure. and definately didnt want the bus to leave us. i arrived at my stop in the pouring rain and talked to three people to find the correct place to buy a ticket to cesme. when i got on the bus, another girl was there and the busdriver told me to sit by her even though the bus was completely empty. odd. i slept most the way. the guy kept asking me where i wanted to be dropped off in cesme (or at least i think so) in turkish. of course, i had no idea. i just kept saying 'ferry'. luckily, the girl next to me knew a bit of english and was from cesme so she arranged for me to be dropped off close to the port. without her, i'd be rather lost. the day was beautiful... until it rained. so i ducked into a resteraunt where i was imediatly served tea. turkish hospitality. and ate a huge dinner that took me an hour and a half to finish. i was going to island hop, but when i talked to a travel agent, they told me that i would have to go to athens, and then take another ferry. i figured that was silly and wouldnt save me any on money, so i booked just the ferry to athens. on the ferry out of cesme, i met a lebanese-american woman who went to lebanon every year, and hated to fly, so she took a lot of boats and trains, and she talked and talked and talked. she wanted to go to santorini with me, but it was 30 euros one way, so i declined the offer and told her to have fun. by taking the night bus and the night ferry, i actually saved money on accomodation, but definately smelled worse for it. and since i got into athens real early in the morning and couldnt actually check in until 1pm, i continued to smell. but i saw the acropolis and the theater of dinosis and the acient agora. the ancient agora was definately my favorite since it was a huge space where you could just wander through out the ruins. it was rather unbelievable that they were so old. the acropolis was covered in scaffolding. i met three guys from seattle at the hostel(one was an industrial designer, one worked for starbucks) and we attempted to go to the port because they liked water and were under the impression they could swim. we got off a metro stop early and decided to walk. but we didnt know how long the walk would be. the beaches were disgusting. but two of the guys decided to go swimming. of course they forgot their suits. and so after they got out, proceeded to strip down and throw their boxers out. after a while, we realized that the port was real real real far away, and decided to take a cab. the cab was so cheap! but the cabbie misunderstood us and took us NOT to the port but rather one stop away from the hostel. that night, i met a guy named sam. and i told him i liked him already since my cat was named sam. my last night in athens, i stayed up really late so i wouldnt miss my flight. really though, i just slept for an hour and then woke up again. it was a bit painful. at the metro station, i met a family from virginia who were very enthusiastic that i knew where i was going - i was just following the signs that said 'airport'. they were nice and the wife jsut talked and talked and talked the whole way there, which was about an hour. i figure that she was in need of female company since she was with her husband and son. at the london airport, my flight was delayed three hours, so i missed my flight at jfk to columbus. british airlines rebooked my ticket and bought me a hotel to stay in. very posh in comparison to the hostels. double beds. tv in english. shower that i didnt have to wear flip flops in. and food that i couldnt afford otherwise. it was fantastic. and now i'm back in ohio.

zywiec

It took forever to get to Zywiec. My first train was late, so I ran around Katowice looking for the correct one. I found the right platform and there was a train leaving, so I assumed that was the one I wanted... I almost went to Prague. My actually train though kept stopping for 30 minutes at a time for whatever reason. I got to the town later than expected. But I got there, thinking "what now". I was in a city I knew absolutely nothing about and wasnt sure what I was doing there in the first place. I went left. Bought a map. Found a sign for the town center. It was almost a km away, but I didnt know how to take buses at all, so I walked. There was a gigantic park and some older buildings. One had a museum. The cathedral in town was built in the 1500s, but the outside wasnt too exciting. I went in and everything was gold-gilted with lots of statues. It also smelt like old people. I eventually reached the town square and saw the town hall which is an amazingly pink building. Honestly, i think that is a little bit of an odd color for a town hall. pink doesnt bring to mind prestige or anything like that. I started heading to the library since i wasnt sure where excatly I was starting, and figured that the library would have research about its residents. I found the tourist information office first. A polish woman pointed out a few cemetaries that i could visit, but told me the best way would be to go to the cemetaries office which was near the cathedral so i wouldnt be wandering so much. I couldnt find the office, and went back. So she called for me and it seems that the offices were closed for the day. just my luck. but i gave her my email so that she could call on another day for me. she said that she wanted to "help solve the mystery". but what mystery was it, i wasn't sure. she also said that i should get more information on my family. i'm actuallly not too sure if there is any more information on my family. but i headed to the further cemetary. there was a funeral going on. even though i had visited a cemetary in warsaw on all soul's day, i forgot how cemetaries in poland worked. the cemetaries are not grassy fields in which you only have to avoid the headstones. but rather, the graves are raised, so you have to avoid all the marble. and they are very very close together. and this cemetary just so happened to be on a hill so with the rain and the mud, it was slippery and dirty. and naturally, there were candles and flowers everywhere from last week's holiday. needless to say, i did not find my great great grandparents graves. before catching my train, i gave in and had a cheeseburger. i'm not sure why, but poles dont believe in grilling burgers and hot dogs, they nuke them. the woman in the resteraunt found it a novelty that i was american. although, she kept asking if i spoke italian, so i'm not sure she exactly understood.

warsaw is like cleveland

so not too too much more happened in prague. i extended my stay since i liked the people there. and the 7 germans bought weapons so that they could become even more scarier. switchblades, brass knuckles, a wand thing, masks that covered their whole faces except the eyes. the other people in my room didnt like it either. after prague, i went to olomouc, czech republic for a few days based upon the recomendations of a guy i met in amsterdam. it was really nice except that i got sick. i didnt do too much except go eat with an aussie a lot. i also tried cherry beer. and i think that beer cannot be beer with fruit in it (sorry jess). it was gross. the couple that ran the hostel were really friendly and were in absolute love with their city. and the hostel felt like a home. so, naturally, i feel rather bad that i didnt do anything except eat a little bit.

warsaw is cool because it really reminds me of cleveland. well, actuallly the park by my aunt dorothy's that is a bit raised from street level and has a lot of trees and a playground that i used to play in. but the trees shed yellow leaves in the fall and there are heaps of trees, but no low branches to run into. warsaw is like that. although with in about seven seconds of being intown, i went the wrong way on the bus and ended up at the airport. so i took a taxi since i didnt even know where the buses parked. the taxi driver didnt speak any english. but after he dropped me off, i was about to go the wrong way to get to the entrance (it was in the back of the building), and he stopped me from getting lost again. poles are friendly. the second day that i was in town, i decided to walk to the polish poster museum. bad idea. i should never again attempt to walk to a place that is nearly off my map. i didnt make it and took the bus that i should have taken there, home. i also noticed that many many many places were closed that day. i had absolutely no idea why. when i got off the bus, i was hungry from all the walking. so i stopped at the only place open, a bar and had tea and made new friends from all over the world. americans, canadians, albanians, british... one woman worked at the us embassay and absolutely loved me. she claimed that because of me, there is hope in america's future. which, actually, i seem to be getting a lot. havent quite figured out why though... i also learned that it was all saints day and the next was all souls day. which were the days that all the poles dont go to work and light candles on family members graves and remember them. so the next day, on my way to the poster museum, i happened to stop at a cemetary. and people were still doing it. in front of the cemetary, there were vendors selling candles and flowers. and inside the cemetary, there were little old ladies in their sunday best. and so many candles! with all the candles, you kind of feel bad for the ones with only a handful of candles on their graves. the polish poster museum was a little disappointing though because the exhibit was on japanese designers. which is all and good, but i was really excited to see polish designs. oh well.

in krakow, i ran into a guy that i had met in berlin. i walked in, and was like, HEY! I KNOW YOU! apparently, after berlin, he came to krakow, and never left... it's been two weeks. i slept in though this morning and just barely made breakfast. i started to talking to some irish blokes, they seemed nice and asked if i wanted to go "girl carting"... which i eventually figured out that i misunderstood and they were going go carting. sounds more pleasant than girl carting for sure. so i agreed, only to learn that it was a stag party. so there were 20 irish blokes and myself. definiatley fun, just a wee bit intimidating. i was the "young lass". and i couldnt touch the pedals of the go cart, which was annoying because the silly thing kept going out of control for me around the curves.