The Traveling Tales of Jimmy Pronto

10:55 am: Go and See it
I just got back from Auschwitz. There are words to describe it, but they don't quite do it justice. Go and see what was done and what remains.

The plaque in Birkenau, where the international monument to the Holocaust is, reads as follows:

For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity where the nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly jews from various countries of Europe. Auschwitz-Birkenau. 1940-1945

Go and see it.

09:28 am: Polish fun
Ok, this is becoming a tradition now: for the second time that I've been sent to Europe by the army, my luggage has been lost in Frankfurt. It's a bit of a pain. However, it turns out I'm a super-genius as I packed a change of clothes in my carry on bag.

Krakow is neat. There's more churches here than in Rome (or so it would seem). The city itself is pretty neat and it reminds me of Zagreb. Which is neat, because the languages are pretty similar.

This is the best birthday present the army has ever given me.

06:03 pm: Above the world
Sitting on a roof, I read. The oak tree at my back filters the sunlight and the wind. The creak of the house, swaying in the breeze, creates a backdrop for the robin's song. The noises of the city blend seamlessly with the noises of the world, all of which are distant echoes in my ears, my thoughts bounds in the novel in my hands. Spring has sprung, I am returned, and all is well. Eventually I must decent from the tree-fort, return to the world below and remember all of my worries and woes. For now, sitting on the peaked roof and feeling the air caress me and the sun warm me, I am above all of that. I am happy.

06:05 pm: To je to
One week ago last Friday I stood out on my balcony at 3 in the morning in my boxers and waved good bye to 3 people.

Last Friday I stood outside in my pajamas and said good bye to 4 more.

Today I saw all of the Canadian assets leave on a service flight.

In 2 days I leave here for good. In 4 days I'm home.

And that pretty much says all there is to say about that.

09:41 am: Plitvicka Jezera
Well, with limited time remaining here (oooo... that felt so good just to say that...) I obviously need to start photo-dumping stuff. So, here's a photo-dump of Plitvicka Jezera: a waterfall filled national park in Croatia and about 40 mins from here.

( Enjoy! )

10:55 pm: Family=Awesome
So, I did a quick walk around Copenhagen, but it turns out walking in cold, wet, windy weather is just the same here as it is back home. It also sucks just as much. The main difference though is that everything is closed because they haven't had weather like this in about 30 years. To us, it's (what's normally) the beginning of January weather. To them... trains don't run on time, planes are canceled, people are advised not to go out driving because of the dangerous road conditions.

I did get to meet my family here though. Right now I'm staying at my 3rd cousins place with her son (her great-grandfather and my great-grandfather were brothers). It's been really nice. I got to meet another cousin that I last saw when I was 6, along with my second cousin once removed (3rd cousins mother). Tomorrow the one that visited when I was six is taking me out to see some of the sights of Copenhagen with his fiance. After that, it'll be a night in a hotel then back to work. Yea work... Well, I guess the money for this vacation has to come from somewhere.

08:39 pm: Welcome to the Homeland
Well, I've made it to Copenhagen without issue and even managed to contact my cousin. She said she'll pick me up at the train station tomorrow afternoon, which is good, because I have no idea how to get to her.

Weird thing here though, the country is apparently paralyzed with snow. Flights have been canceled, trains aren't running on schedule, it's a mess.... and there's about a foot and a half of snow on the ground. Seriously. It's like -2. I love it. Seeing the snow reminded me of home (I never thought I'd miss seeing snow if February, but, now I know I do). So, with luck I'll be able to visit some family tomorrow, which should be... awesome.

09:29 am: Time to leave
Well, looks like I'm done here in Greece. Two days ago I went to Delphi and say the temple of Apollo, then yesterday I went to Mycenae and saw where the decision to launch 1000 ships for a single woman came from. Afterwords, I went to Epidaurus and got to see, and experience, the theater there. You stand in the middle, and you can be heard all around. Your whispers, tearing of paper, striking a match, all of it. It's kinda surreal.

Today, however, I leave this country for yet another. I'm off to Copenhagen for a few days. I'll try to meet up with some distant family, but I don't know if they'll be around (I fired off an email but have yet to receive a response). Ah well, at the very least I'll get to see Denmark, which should be good.

05:48 am: Athens
This entry was written at 1958 on th 20th of February

Well, the flights went fine yesterday. Got to Paris without issue, though there were several children on the plane to make for an interesting flight. Them "meal" was a decent snack. My connecting flight was delayed for about an hour so I had plenty of time before I took off for Athens. The flight over was actually really nice though. I got put next to the emergency exit, so I had a tonne of leg room, and the in-flight meal was delicious. They even had real utensils to cut the meat with! We landed around 11:30pm though, so that sucked. To top it off, I couldn't get any money from the cash machine (I was worried Visa had done something stupid, but it turns out it was just the machine) so I only had 50 euros for the cab ride. Normally, that should have done it, but it cost 60. Fortunately the cabbie was fine with just 50, which turned out to be good since I ended up having to ask the reception the next day where a cash machine was (there were none in any stores near by, nor in the hotel lobby).

So today I went for a stroll. I saw, and climbed, the Acropolis. I got to see the Theater of Dyonisus, the Ancient Angora, the Roman Angora, the Temple of Zeus, the Odeon, Hadrian's Arch and his Library, and the Tower of the Winds. It was pretty cool. Shame that everything seems to shut down around 3:00 though.

For tonight, I think I'm going to see if I can catch a walking tour of Athens by night, or maybe I'll just hit up a bar. Tomorrow I'm planning on getting up early and going to Delphi.

03:59 pm: The Final Days
This entry was written at 0958 on the 19th of February

Well, I'm now back to traveling solo. I'm currently sitting in the Dublin airport enjoying an overpriced muffin and washing it down with overpriced orange juice, but I've got about 4 hours to kill, so I might as well get something to eat. Nic just went through security and his flight should leave in about an hour and a half, so we parted ways just before they metal detectors.

We went to the Guinness brewery yesterday. It was... amazing. We learned some stuff, saw some things, and drank some Guinness. It was delicious. What's more, the end of the tour is in a bar with windows all around, and they provide you with a map so you can see all the sights of Dublin while drinking. These people are my heroes. Afterwords we wend out for an early supper and pretty much called it quits after that. We drank a tonne of Guinness and that much in you just makes you tired.

So, that brings me to today. Nic is heading home to Ottawa and I'm off to Athens.

Oh, and I apologize to those of you who know Nic because you're about to endure weeks of stories and a tonnes of pictures from our time here. They will, of course, be equaled by the weeks of stories and tonnes of picture that I will have when I get back.