I keep forgetting where I am..

Hello. I am in Austria. I keep forgetting where I am lately though. I have been moving placesto often in the past couple months that it is really getting weird when I try to think of where I am and it takes a moment. But yea.. I am in Vienna, Austria. I had heard it was a boring place from a lot of people before coming here, and at first, I kind of believed them. Yesterday I kind of just wandered around the city and it really wasn't that stimulating. But today, a full 180. I had one of the best days I have had in a while. I slept in, then went to the Vienna Zoo and walked around this part of town that looked like it had Christmas decorations up and it made me so excited and warm inside. The Zoo though, easily my favorite zoo I have been to in the world. It was enormous and in the middle of this amazing museum park. It was really a sight. I fell in love. The season really added to the beauty of it too. All the trees had the autumn leaves and where going bare. The ground was littered with the bright, fallen leaves and the zoo had a very old, classic style. It is what you imagine a zoo to look like when you are a child. But along with it's classic style, this zoo had one of the best varieties of animals and fish. They had an incredible snake collection too; everything from Cobras to Vipers and massive Anacondas. I have seen a zoo or two in my day and this one really was the best. It even beat out the one in Bali and I loved that one. That one did have the animal petting and stuff, but this one just wowed me so much. It had a lot of pastel coloring and unique rod-iron fencing. It really felt like you were so close to a lot of the animals too. In fact, one of the most intense things happened today that serious blew me away. First off, last night I dreamed about having a pet white tiger and we were best friends and we hung out the whole dream and it kept giving me hugs and playing with me. It was a great dream. So today I really wanted to sit and spend some time watching tigers. I was watching these two massive Bengal tigers in the indoor exhibit and there was basically just an inch thick single pane glass thing between you and the tigers. The tigers were just laying down kind of looking around, not too interested in the viewers. Then this little kid, about 2 years old walks up in front of me and presses herself up on the glass. Both tigers instantly lock onto her in a very eerie way. And suddenly the large male just locks on and starts to get in full attack mode. The baby is just laughing and bouncing uo and down touching the glass, having a blast, while this tiger is just licking its chops (literally). I was drop jawed.. and started snapping pictures hoping that something awesome was about to happen. So this tiger starts to get up slowly, locked onto the baby and slowly starts crouching over towards the glass, back arched up and head low. I was getting so wound up, it was so tense in the little room. Everyone is staring at this baby and the tiger and then the tiger lunged from about 5 feet away, claws out, mouth open right into the glass. It made the craziest BOOOM. The tiger didnt even seem fazed, it just popped back up and started biting at the glass like a maniac, slobbering and steaming up the window. Then it kind of regrouped and walked back a little, still eying the child and lunged again from a different angle. I saw it coming and tried to video it but my camera wouln't go into video mode! I was so bummed. But I managed to snap off about 15 pictures. After this attempt the tiger sat there and kept trying to break the glass to get to this baby. It was going up on its hind legs and smashing its paws and face into the window. It was incredible. And all the while the little baby is laughing and putting its hand up on the glass, inches from the incredible jaws of the tiger. I got this picture of the baby putting its hand right on the nose of the tiger as its attempting to maul her through the glass. It was truly an amazing sight. So fun to watch. I was laughing pretty hard about it too, and people were looking at me like I was disturbed. But it really was that nuts that you had to laugh about it. I have never seen anything like that in person. The other tigers were not nearly as exciting after that event. I also watched a lion gnaw on a giant femur bone, that was pretty sweet to watch. Big cats are so cool. Mike Tyson used to have a pet white tiger. After my wonderful time at the zoo I walked through the rest of the awesome park went to the top of this pretty hill and overlooked all of Vienna and that was incredible too. It was a day of beautiful things. Being at the zoo today really made me so happy. I love animals and I am pretty sure I get along better with them more than most humans. Oh yea! There was also this room in the zoo, where you had to walk through like 3 things of separated big rubber flaps and you ended up in this dark room... the room was filled with bats flying around! It was so rad. No glass, just bats flying all around you, bumping into you and going nuts. It was another incredible experience. I'm not usually that big of a fan of bats, but I don't hate them. That was pretty cool though. There must have been a sign saying what was in there though and I must have missed it, because I was the only one in there. Super cool though. That zoo was awesome. Also they had flying squirrels. I had a blast watching those little guys. Though, while I was leaving the zoo I was nearly attacked by an Austrian squirrel! They are crazy little guys! They come right up to you and they are so funny looking. They are all brown and have little point ears and just go nuts. If you stop and look like you have food they come right up to you. At first I was so into it offered the little guy a leaf as a good gesture, and he went for it and I thought he was going to fly up my arm and bite my jugular. I got a picture of it. It scared me. I may or may not have screamed. I couldn't stop laughing about it after. Those Austrian squirrels.. dangerous.

I should talk about other stuff besides the zoo and animals I guess.. Before Austria I was in Slovenia as I stated. Ljubljana was a really pretty place. I didn't really have any expectations but when I arrived I kind of ended up in the bad part of town and was like oh no... I have 4 days here... The walls around the place where I stayed were littered with graffiti and I was not sure as to what was going on. I also didn't arrive there till 2 am. So that was weird. But The next day, started walking around and got out of the weird hostel area and found the city center. It was beautiful. Really cool and peaceful. Unfortunately the first day I was there was the only clear day.. the rest of the time I was there rained very very heavily. I still went out and explored the city but I couldn't take pictured because I didn't want to ruin my camera. Slovenia was cool though. Some very pretty girls there as well. And most everyone speaks english. Which is good because Slovenian is the most intense language. I could not understand a flippin word! I met some girls out one night from there and tried to get them to teach me some words but I could not pronounce anything for the life of me. They were getting a kick out of me trying to read Slovenian too. Funny stuff. It was a good time. I met this French guy too who's family owned a Winery in France and he was out traveling around getting more educated on the wines of the world. He was a cool man. Good guy to keep in contact with. There are a ton of other great things to see in Slovenia, such as like really cool caves and sceneries, but the weather did not permit me to go see such things. Next time. I don't think I will make it to Poland this trip anyway so I will have to come back. I also wont be making it to Iceland which I really wanted to do.. So I will have to come back.. Norway and Finland too... Theres so much to see still. Once I have more money.

I am off to Prague tomorrow and I am pretty excited about that. There is this amazingly cool Cathedral that I want to see there. It is pretty much the only one I am really excited about. Its called Sedlec-Ossuary. Look it up. It looks awesome.

But then, the most exciting, my best friend, Ted, from home is coming to Berlin to meet me to travel with me for my last 20 days!!!! I am so fired up about that. So stoked. It is going to be a blast. He has never been to Europe so it will be a great experience for him I hope. So excited about it.

So yep, bye bye.

Venizia.

Hello all. I am currently in Venice, soon to be boarding a train to Slovenia. Pretty excited about it. I don't know anything about Slovenia, or even what there is to do there. I heard its cheap though and after Italy that seems like a dream. I love Venice though. The place is much more captivating and awesome than Rome to me. Genova and Milan were actually both cooler than Rome I though. When I got there the guy at the hostel was like nearly upset that I was only spending a day and half in Rome. SO he wrote out all the places I needed to go and all this junk. I mean the guy was great, and really seemed to care about everything there and really took the time to try to help me make the most out of my stay. So I appreciated that. I don't know how long he thought I was going stay at each attraction there, because I felt like a day and half was plenty. I didn't bother going into any of the things though. I didn't see any sense in that. And I didn't really care. Call me uncultured or whatever, but I would much rather see some beautiful landscape or something like Venice than some old buildings. I am sure it will upset people that I refer to Rome in such as way, seeing as so many people were soo fond of it. Whatever. The big fountain there was pretty impressive though (can't even remember the name of it, and I don't care enough to google it). But in all truth, it just kinda reminded me of Caesars Palace in Vegas.. minus the fun and gambling. You can drink in the streets though in Rome, but apparently its super frowned upon. I am so annoyed by that. It really rubs me the wrong way when people look at you like a jerk when you are just having a casual road-beer and doing some sightseeing. They really give you dirty looks. I just laugh it off though. I accidently poured a beer in a womans shoe today though.. she was not stoked. It was a totally accident and I said sorry, but she wasn't having it. I was trying to get my sandwich out of a bag and happened to tilt my hand funny while doing so and yea poured a little bit out just as this woman was walking by in her heels and she got a little wet. I don't think it helped that I laughed at first. Oh well. I think the people of Venice will be very relieved when I am gone. I have had fun though. Back to Rome though; I went out the first evening with this guy from Canada who was in my same room and doing the same 2 day deal in Rome. We went out on the town and tried to find a pub semi-early in the evening and I ended up making good with this girl who owned a pizza place there and finagled myself some free pizza. We hung out for a bit and she showed me this cool cheap bar in the town that smelled like old dirty babies and hot fish. It was hard to stay inside the place. But it was pretty funny trying to put my finger on the smell. That was fun though. I now know I should marry a girl that owns a pizza place, or some sort of food place, or maybe a chef. Not a bartender though. Maybe a bartender. We'll see. Anywho, the day after that, the canadian and I headed down to check out the Colosseum. But before we got there I needed a bit of the "hair of the dog." So we get off the metro and wander around the outskirts of the area looking for a drink. Some indian guy pops out of nowhere and he starts yelling prices at me for drinks. We agree on a negotiated price and and Allan (the Canadian) and I grab a seat outside. I am facing the restaurant and I keep looking at this poster and it looked like a bunch of guys in diapers with girls around them. I couldn't see it too well so I asked Allan if he could.. he tells me no its a bunch of men in tighty-whiteys... and those aren't girls, they are guys in drag. We kinda look at eachother and he says, "I think we're at a gay bar." I look at him, look at the poster, look next to the poster at a rainbow sticker then look up to a giant rainbow banner, then look at the name of the bar.. "Coming Out," with a logo to two men's silhouettes overlapping. Instant embarrassment and uncontrollable laugher came over us like a tsunami. We started looking around and just couldn't stop watching people watch us. Just two dudes havin a beer at a gay bar. It was ridiculous and hilarious. Needless to say we did not stay for another round. The Colosseum was pretty cool. Walked around it once and checked the Forum out for a bit. But yea, I was over it pretty fast. To get in was like 15 euros and a 3 hour wait or something. Yea right. I don't even spend 15 euros on the days meals. To get into the Vatican is also like 15-20 euros and if you don't reserve online you can wait for like 4+ hours. I went there, checked out St. Peter's square and then fell asleep in the marble. Had a nice little nap in the sun. That was a highlight of the day. You forget sometimes how amazing naps are. Short naps. The ones where you wake up at like 11 when you crashed at 5 are no good. Their good if you're in a party place actually. Not if you are in Venice or somewhere quiet like this. Rome is alright though. If you're into that whole thing I am sure you can spend a lot more time there. I felt 2 days was plenty. Venice I think 3 days was plenty too. This place is a maze though. You need one whole day to just find where your staying. Not really. But it is confusing at times. It reminded me of the movie the Labyrinth with David Bowie. One of my favorite movies still. So epic. David Bowie + Jim Henson.. dream team. I wonder if Jim Henson has an autobiography? Im reading Bruce Lee's biography right now and it's pretty good. Pretty funny because apparently he was kind of a show off and jerk at times. One lady that's interviewed in the book says something like 'I was told not to say bad things about some one so I am not going to say much about Bruce...' then she briefly talks about how he was a jerk and disrespectful. I laughed. In his movies he portrays himself as the confident "good guy," but I guess he was a bit of a loose cannon and had a bit of a stutter. He still is pretty rad though. Anyway, traveling is good, I will stop talking about Bruce Lee.. I am excited for Slovenia. I was supposed to go to Croatia after but I don't have the time unfortunately. I think that will be a place I will come back too though. Croatia and Greece. For sure. After Slovenia I am going to Austria then Czech Republic. Excited for both those too. I set it up so that I can spend halloween in Progue. I feel like that will be a good time. Not sure what I will do for a costume though. I'm sure I can throw a little outfit together though.

Anyways I am off. I have a bit more time in Venice and I might go grab food or get lost again.. This place is so awesome how there is water everywhere. They don't have a metro.. they have water-busses. The Taxi's are water taxi boats and instead of like horse carriage rides they have the Gondola deal. They are funny to see. I really want to see one tip over or some one fall out. I know thats rude of me but I feel like the laugh from that would be a good. Everyone said Venice smelled bad though? I disagree. It is like a very mild harbor smell. Go to Vietnam or China and then talk to me about weird/bad smells. I haven't had to pull my shirt over my face once here, or get the feeling that your eyes are going to water because of random rancid smells. I do miss asia though. So fun and so different. They way you stand out there is so funny. I stand out here too actually, but everyone thinks I am homeless. I was eating some grocery store food and imbibing some orange juice a few nights ago on a street corner (because I was too hungry/thirsty to walk back to the hostel) and I realized after a few minutes that I looked like a full blown hobo. Long dirty hair, a beard, asian fireman hat, windbreaker with a sweater under it, torn jeans, and old destroyed converse eating random vegetables and such out of a plastic bag... The normal Italian citizens would not even look at me, or walk near me. The only people that acknowledged me where real homeless people and they would say Ciao. One bum told me Bon Apetito, and I was stoked. I think he was giving me props for getting food. This whole thing was also in Milan, where there is a lot of wealth. So I don't think they take kindly to bums. I thought it was funny when some woman would walk like really close to the street just to not walk near me. Like I was going to jump up from my meal and rob them or whatever. I wasn't even drinking booze! Oh well. It was a good laugh for me. Being a bum wouldn't be fun though. Alright. Goodbye.

Italia!

Greetin's. I am currently in Genoa, Italy, where my great grand pappy came from many moons ago. The place is pretty awesome. I am sure it was not like this when he was here, and I can only imagine what it looked like back then. Genoa, or Genova, has the largest aquarium in Italy in it. Needless to say that was actually the first thing I did when I got here and truthfully, it did not disappoint. They had a Nile Crocodile! It was a baby one, but still awesome. The aquarium had an amazing shark tank, dolphins and tons of other great features. They had a tropical reef set up with a giant sea-turtle as well. That was great. Made me miss Hawaii a lot, again. That was actually the second aquarium I went to this week. Before getting to Genoa, I was Milan and went to Italy's oldest aquarium. It was built in 1908. Obviously it had been renovated, because I am pretty sure they didn't have giant glass tunnel aquariums back then. I am curious as to what they first had in that aquarium in 1908.. a star fish, a lobster maybe, some dirty harbor fish? It was a neat place though, and free. I quite liked Milan actually. I had heard a bit of negative stuff about it before going there, but didn't really take it into mind, and I am glad I didn't. It is a pretty cool place to just get lost and wander around. The busses are pretty fun to just cruise around on too. For 3 euros you can get a 24 hour bus/metro pass and so you can just give yourself a cheap tour and hop off whenever you see something that looks cool. I am pretty happy that I have gotten over my hatred for busses. It seems like just yesterday I was in New Zealand trying to deal with bus schedules and hating it. Now its like I don't even have to think about. I can just go places and figure it out in a couple minutes. Pretty stoked on that. Now if only we had better public transportation in California. I doubt that will ever happen though because everyone likes to show off their cars and wouldn't want to stoop so low as to use public busses. It is pretty nice not having to drive at all. Where ever you need to go, you can always find a way there in Europe. Its incredible. It seems like the last possible thing you do is take a cab. In places in Portugal cabs were ok, they were cheap, and they did not always have as intricate of a public transport system as most other places. That was actually more Peniche. Porto and Lisbon had great public transportation. Porto was a great place. I really liked it there. It is where Port wine comes from, and there is a place next to the river that just has about 10 or so winery places where you can taste all sorts and ages of Port. It was pretty cool, and some of them were really tasty. I felt guilty asking for a refill. I don't know wine tasting etiquette, so I wasn't sure if you could do refills. They would try to push other ones on you, telling you all about it, and all this mumbo jumbo, pretty much just trying to get you to buy a bottle. I think thats the point of wine tasting, its not just about drinking as many different wines as you can. I remember I was in one place having a good time, and this spanish man came in with his wife and probably spent a couple thousand on wine. He would get all fussy if they poured more that like a thimbles about in each glass. Maybe he was a light weight. Didn't look like it though. He was there for a while and they were bringing out way better looking stuff than they were giving me. More than a few bottles I saw there were like 600+ euros. They were from like the 1940's and such. They wouldn't let me sample those. The oldest I had was a '72 LBV I think. I can't remember what LBV stands for, but I hope my terminology impresses you. Its like Late Bottled Vintage I think? I can think of 100 things LBV stands for but that one seems correct. Kinda sounds like a disease. Anyway, yea, Porto was cool. I met some amazing people from Germany there as well at the hostel I was at. They were so funny. I love Germans. We were sitting outside in the backyard part of this hostel and just listening to them talk german made me smile and then we all started telling jokes and turned into a giant laugh fest. My face hurt from laughing so much. They were great people. I love meeting people like that, they made that place fun. There was this guy from Korea staying there as well that really wanted to hang out too, but he spoke like zero english. He just made funny noises. He brought out his crazy camera and a little portable printer and started snapping pictures of everyone hanging out and just having fun. He would then connect his camera to this little printer and print out the ones he liked on like 2x3 inch polaroid type prints. It was awesome. He gave me one and the Germans all laughed at it because they said you could see the confusion in my face. It's true. I was very confused. The guy was really drunk when he came out and started making noises and taking pictures. He kept handing out pictures and saying "ahhhhhhh bes pizza," which I think actually meant "best picture." A few of the germans were staying in the same room I was in, and we kept telling each other best pizza the next day. Porto is good though, I highly suggest it if you are thinking of going to Portugal. The bridges there are incredible, and the board walk to the beach is beautiful. I had a nice exploration of that whole area. Felt amazing when I found myself at the beach looking at the sea. No way I was going in that water though. Looked so cold. So, anywho, Italy is good. You eat a lot of pizza here. And it is all amazing. Actually, if you order a pepperoni pizza in Italy, it is not what you get in the states (or anywhere else in the world that I have found actually). A pepperoni pizza here is just a cheese pizza covered in peppers. The first time I got it I thought they just botched my order and ate it anyways. The second time I was just like crap, I really wanted a pepperoni pizza (a normal one). But I learned that you must order a Salame Piccante pizza to get that. I had a greta one for breakfast today actually. I think 3 of the 4 days I have been here I have had pizza for breakfast actually. I feel like its a great way to start the day. Getting some good carbs, some dairy, some aged meat, some tomato, maybe some other veggies if you order wrong. In my mind it is perfect. The Italians are classic though. I can see how I am a bit of Italian decent. The hand gestures and motions for one. They are very animated here. Sometimes a bit spacey though. Which some could say is me a bit. But almost everyday someone will walk into you it seems like. Not on purpose, just because they weren't paying attention. It was ridiculous in the aquarium. It was like bumper cars. Put a bunch of Italians in a dark place with nice things to look at.. theres bound to be collisions. A small child walked directly into the side of my leg while I was watching the sharks. I could feel his little head just smash right into my thigh. I looked down and was just as confused as he was. Good people though. Can't get mad at them, because as soon as they start talking you cant help but smile. Well, I am off. Hope you enjoyed this little blog. Toodles.

Obligado

Greetings. I felt bad about my lack of blogging today on my long bus ride from Peniche to Porto, so I figured I would do one just for fun. As I just said, I am now in Porto, which is about 6 hours away from Peniche. Funny enough though, there is not a logical bus route for getting to Porto from Peniche. I had to take a bus two hours south to get on a 4 hour bus up north... why couldn't it just have been a trip two hours north? I am not genius, but that makes no sense to me. Peniche was great. They didn't hold the men's portion of the surf contest till today though of course, so I didn't get to see any of that. I did get to see the womens though, and it was discouraging that those girls surf so much better than me. I did get to do a bit of surfing in Peniche. I borrowed a board from a surf shop and had to rent a wetsuit, which turned out to be neon green or yellow (couldn't figure out which one, but regardless it was very bright) all down the back. It was my first time back in the water in about 5 months or so, and let me tell you, I sucked and felt so awkward. I was so pumped on getting in the water though. It was a punchy little beach break and only about 2-3 feet. It was howling off shore though and after about 30 minutes started to rain. At one point it was raining so hard that you could not see the waves coming. It was actually pretty cool, but impossible to paddle in. Paddling for a wave during that time period was insane. The off shore wind made the thumbnail size rain drops feel like nickels hitting you in the face. I was with this Argentinean guy who was so funny too, he was body boarding and got one barrel and was so fired up. I got no barrels and actually went over the falls on a 1 foot wave. I could really notice the difference in my body though when I was paddling. All my surfing muscles are so weak and my gut doesn't really help either. Pizza and cheeseburgers are not fitness foods I guess. There was so beautiful sights in Peniche. I walked this beach there every day and it was great. So beautiful and peaceful. Places like that make me miss home a lot. In the cities there is so much going on thats captivates your mind, but when you are alone walking on a big empty beach, your brain just starts running at a very high frequency. I loved it though, kept thinking how cool it was that I was on a beach in Portugal. Oh yea, after surfing, it was still raining and I had to return the board I borrowed, so I figured I would just keep the neon wetsuit on and not bother getting all my other stuff wet (because it was in Fernandos nifty backpack). So I run back, end up finding another little peak down the way as I was running and went out for a wave there for a bit, then return the board. I ran back along the beach, and found a sandal along the way, which I figured would be good to use so I could protect at least one foot incase I were to encounter broken glass again. Once I started getting into town I got the weirdest looks. Soaking wet in the rain, neon wetsuit, and one blue/turquoise sandal. It didn't bother me really, but I thought for sure there was going to be a car crash because people were just staring at me as they drove with the strangest expressions on their face. The hot shower after that adventure was the best I've had in a long time though. Something about a nice hot shower after a cold surf that just makes my soul happy. I did get to actually see some of the pro's though. I went to some surf party last night and partied a little. I was so tired though from being that active the past few days that I actually ordered a cappuccino in the bar. The bartender laughed at me. I think that was the first one I have ever had. I only got to drink about half of it. The other half got spilled on me while walking through the crazy crowd. That wasn't too enjoyable. Scolding hot drink on my hands and tummy. Usually I just burn my tongue when I try to drink hot things. The drink didn't work though and by 4am I was about to fall asleep standing up. I got some really weird looks for that one too actually. Everyone else had beer and I was drinking a cappuccino in a little white cup with a saucer... People probably thought there was something very wrong with me. Oh well.

I forgot to also mention the highlight of Lisbon in my last blog too! I can't believe I left it out. I went to this amazing aquarium there that was very similar to the one in Japan that I loved. This one didn't have whale sharks or tiger sharks, but it did have barracudas and bull sharks and tons of other cool stuff. It had penguins, and you could get so close to the little guys. That would be the coolest pet. Taking it on walks and stuff. Take it to a pool party and watch the little guy have a blast. I could picture myself watching a movie with it under my arm, feeding it sardines. I should research this. I am not talking like the huge penguins, I mean like the small ones, that are only about 1-2 feet tall. I would be too scared of the big one. Oh well, that aquarium was awesome though. I was very excited when I heard they had one.

Well, I am done. Hope you enjoyed a little bit of story time. Adios.

Lo Siento Buds

Hello, sorry for not blogging (again) but I have been having a blast. I think the last blog I did was in Barcelona? I forgot to look before I started this one, and this early in the blog I should just stop and check but I am lazy. I walked a lot today and slept for like 3 hours again last night (not complaining, just clarifying). Anyway, I am now in Peniche in Portugal. And first and foremost, the waves are absolutely firing. It is incredible. The Ripcurl Pro contest is starting too in the next couple days and they already have the thing set up and a bunch of the guys were out today shredding. I ran into Pat Gudauskas, a friend from home actually who surfs on the tour and that was really funny and random. It was nice to talk to someone from home. But yea, I have no board or wetsuit so I am going on a mission to find a decent 5'11 to rent. They rent longboards from the hostel I'm at but it is not a longboard wave.. look up the wave Supertubes in Peniche.

So, since Barcelona, since I think thats when I last blogged, I went to Madrid, Spain, for a bit then took the overnight train to Lisbon, Portugal and now just arrived in Peniche. Madrid was cool. Funny to think Brian was there for so long. I couldn't do that. I met up with a friend from Hawaii there and that was fun. My friend, Alana, moved there to teach english, and she took time out of her schedule to show me around a bit. I was surprised how warm it was still. I couldn't imagine being there in August when its like 110+ degrees outside. The Tapas there are pretty solid too. I'd never really had them before, and the chorizo there is darn tasty. We made Tapas one night and got a bunch of real good cheeses and some ham and chorizo with a baguette. Very tasty. But the rest of the food there isn't too amazing. Actually theres something called the Chocolate con Churro. That is pretty amazing. Its like a churro you get from the fair, but without sugar on it and you dip it in a giant cup of melted chocolate. That was a dream actually, my mouth is watering thinking about it. Alana introduced me to that gem.

As I said, from there I went to Lisbon and that was amazing. Didn't know anything about the place and just kinda went and it ended up being a blast. I really liked it there. My liver might not have, but the rest of me did. The city is unlike anything I have ever seen. Very hilly and old. Feels like you have gone back in time. It has a certain feel to it, something special and unique definitely. At least for me. I was staying in the old town part too, right on the river, pretty much smack dab in the middle of it all. I partied with some funny characters there. One of the only hostels where I have stayed in a night or two just to party. This polish guy that was older, made me laugh so much. He was classic, and good guy. This other kid that was there was from egypt and was such a character. Probably about 5 feet tall and seriously the only way I can describe him is just a character. Just one of those people. The thing that cracked me up the most probably was one morning I woke up and he was already up and bouncing around and telling me how he trains for "park-core." Park-core, from what I know, is people doing like gymnastics in urban areas, jumping off stuff and running around like ninjas kinda. So hes telling me this and explaining to me about his training and then starts running around this little outside area that is about the size of a typical living room. There is a small grass area and some stairs going up to a deck and some benches. Akmed starts getting super wound up and just starts doing some of his training. He starts running around the yard area like a wild man, climbing up the stairs all weird, and then starts going summer-salts on the grass. I was drinking my tea and just so overtaken by what was happening, and then just couldnt stop laughing. I didn't know if it was real or not. But it was. And it was hilarious. I don't think he meant it to be hilarious, but I almost cried from laughing. Overall though, Lisbon was a great time and very nice.

From there I hopped on a bus up here, and walked around all afternoon and watched the surf, salivating at the barrels, and then now I am here. So I am going to go eat some food, try not to have too many drinks, and yea, see what happens. Love you all. Adios.