Welcome back!

It's hard to believe that I'm back in my apartment here in Philly. Perhaps it's even harder to believe that I actually went to work today. And maybe it's even harder yet for you to believe that you exist.

So the question that everyone is asking is as follows: what will this guy write about now that he's back? Well, let's see, should I tell you what I eat for lunch every day, or how many paces it takes to walk from my apartment to work, or the definition of shart? Ladies and gentlemen, the official party line is at this point -- on the initial question that is -- I don't know.

But I will give you this tidbit of information, which I have no doubt will excite you to no end: I have several (and by "several" I mean many) photos of my time in Egypt and Germany; a select few of these photos will be uploaded to this fine website in order to spice up the monotony of my endless blabbering (which for some reason you continue to read => LMA-OH!).

Anyway, to all those whom I saw today, thanks so much for so warmly welcoming me back. It really does feel good to be back. It's like they (?) say: there's no place like home!

Germany's Capital City

I arrived in Berlin shortly after 12 noon on Monday. Because there was a line at the tourist office, I decided that I could figure out everything on my own, and I just walked right out of Berlin Central Station.

When I walked out I saw some taller buildings not too far off, so I headed in that direction. Fortunately I walked directly to the Reichstag (Germany's Parliament building). From there I discovered I was within easy walking distance of Brandenburg Gate. This, in turn, put me right on the end of Unter den Linden, Berlin's notable boulevard -- their version of Paris' Champs Elyses or Philly's Benjamin Franklin Parkway (don't you love my Philly references?).

Unter den Linden marks the address of several key landmarks in Berlin; those that I visited were The National Library, Humboldt University, and the Memorial to Victims of War and Tyranny. I also think I saw the Zeughaus and/or the National Opera, but without a tour guide I wasn't certain what I was looking at.

From there, I followed street signs to Alexanderplatz, which is (roughly) Berlin's version of Times Square. Around that time I picked the pace as it started to drizzle, and I had no umbrella. I headed toward Friedrichstrasse, a street that showcased a mixture of modern buildings and historic facades. Before arriving there, though, I fortuitously came upon Gendarmenmarkt, a square bounded by two cathedrals and a concert building; it was very picturesque. Anyhow, I soon reached Friedrichstrasse, which then led me directly to Checkpoint Charlie, the infamous pass -- through the Berlin Wall -- connecting communist East Berlin with democratic West Berlin. The famous sign is still there, along with the actual gatehouse with a wall of sandbags piled in front.

The location of Checkpoint Charlie put me in a good position to walk several more city blocks to the Topography of Terror, an outdoor exhibit in progress, which included a substantially preserved and sizeable portion of the former Berlin Wall. Seeing that really touched me and got me thinking, to think that a wall could really separate two different worlds, to think that families had been separated for years without any contact whatsoever, to think that real people died trying to cross that wall in search of freedom, and to think that some elements of our current society can somehow believe that a wall can be and should be built along our southern border.

Leaving that behind, and continuing on my trek, I went to Potsdamer Platz, a central and major intersection near the city's few high-rise buildings, which exemplified a futuristic style of architecture. After taking a coffee break in a nice place right there, I headed below ground to look at a transit map in order to figure out how to get to Potsdam, a small city outside of Berlin, where I could visit one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites: Sanssouci Park. Somehow I accomplished all of this, and was still able to make it back to Berlin Central Station to catch a 7:48pm train all the way back to Essen.

It was a long day, but totally worth it. Berlin is a beautiful city, one that I would love to visit again, hopefully with a friend or friends or with a loved one.

Off to Berlin...

It's now late Sunday night, and I returned from my afternoon trip to Amsterdam just a couple of hours ago. Now I'm planning my day tomorrow: a day trip by myself to Berlin.

Amsterdam was, despite the uncomfortably cold weather and intermittent light rain, a beautiful city. The way that Amsterdam's sidewalks, shops and restaurants line the city's canals is really cool. Thinking about Philly, I have hopes that the Delaware River waterfront can be developed in a similar (in concept at least) way. In Amsterdam, we stepped into several souvenir shops and walked through the red light district, where - in a purely aesthetic sense - the girls were actually not bad-looking at all.

But speaking of girls, and I mean the everyday, decent types, I was very impressed with the girls I saw in Amsterdam. Maybe it was just the mix of different types: the tall, blonde, Dutch girls, the really hot brown-skinned girls from (or the descendants of parents from) the former Dutch colonies, and the beautiful-eyed and tantalizingly unattainable girls from the Middle East and Arab world. I tell ya, wham-bam, thank you ma'am, Amsterdam was damn hot, man!

Finally, right before leaving, I went to the Sex Museum. You'd think it would be exciting, and although I would still suggest it to anyone visiting the city, I ultimately say that it wasn't that big of a deal. There were just lots of photos of naked people, photos of them having sex and getting freaky and shit, and funny exhibits of movable mannequins undressing or moaning or squirting in your direction. But hey, for 3 Euros, it was still worth the price.

Anyway, that's all for now folks. I've gotta get a few hours of sleep now before waking up to get a 7:24am train from Essen to arrive at 11:08am in Berlin. I've already done some research online so as to know what to see (since I'm going solo). I'll return back to Essen late tomorrow night for one last rest before waking up super early on Tuesday for the return trip back to my final destination: the double-deuce and Spruce, of course.

Damn, man, I'm goin' to Amsterdam

Saturday night in Dusseldorf was good. Five of us went: Roland and his brother Alex, Roland's friends Ayman and Auggie, and me. Roland drove the family Mercedes for the half-hour ride from Essen to Dusseldorf, the main part of it on the famed German Autobahn. We hit our top speed of 220 kph, which converts to somewhere around 135 mph. And I guess as a testament to German engineering, I guessed out loud that we were only doing around 90 mph, then Alex pointed to the speedometer; man was that a smooth 135!

When we got there, the guys wanted to get some food, so we went to Subway. Inside there was a television with MTV on, so we watched some Jackass. From there we went to get ice cream at McDonald's. When we walked out of there, I joked with Ayman that I would return home to tell all my friends that I went to Dusseldorf to hang out at Subway and Mickey D's. He laughed, but I was ready to hit some true German bars.

We went to a few places that really showcased the stereotypical German pub/club environment: a lot of 80s music, mostly American but some German, to which the DJ would turn the volume down during the chorus so the whole place could sing it out loud, and this was nearly every song. The one song I remember was "Eye of the Tiger" because it reminded me of course of Rocky, which in turn reminded me of Phila.

After bouncing around to a few places we ended up at O'Reilly's Irish Pub, where they had karaoke (very popular here).

Well, after driving back from Dusseldorf, we stopped off to walk through Essen's small red light district. It was very interesting for me to see these women just sitting or standing in the windows of these places.

We got home at 3:30 in the morning, I had just enough energy to check online to see that Temple won the A-10 championship (which made me very happy), then I went to bed. I woke up this morning just before noon, which means that I'm totally refueled to push hard for the rest of my time here in Deutschland.

Well, time to go. Two of Roland's other friends just came by, and they are our ride to Amsterdam (about a 2 hour ride west of here). I'll be sure to take lots of photos. Alrightie then, check ya later!

Crunken dork in Dusseldorf

Or something like that. With an hour and a half nap just accomplished, I've quickly upped the ante, and decided that I simply must go out on a Saturday night (oooh! oooh!, it's Saturday, sticky icky icky icky). This means that we will go to Dusseldorf. Have fun tonight back in the Two One Fifth! And your humble ambassador will do likewise here.

Note bene: I saw the Bochum - Stuttgart match earlier today, which ended 1-1. Details to follow retroactively. But it's time to get proactive now, ya dig?

Go Temple in the A-10!

Alright homies! How you doin'? For all y'all that ain't keepin' up, Temple is in the A-10 final in a rematch tonight against who else but our cross-town rivals, St. Joe's. And if you've really been out of the loop click here for my run-down of the last game between the two, when Temple edged out St. Joe's in a one-point thriller at the Palestra. Temple's got strong support over here across the big pond, and we'll all be happy when they claim the A-10 title and thus secure a bid to the big dance. Go Temple!

In other news, there are riots in Tibet. And in other news, I am in Essen, Germany now, after a four and a half hour flight from Cairo to Cologne, then a two hour plus train ride on the slow, local "S" train from Cologne to Essen. But here I am, stinking it up after playing basketball and then soccer (do I have to say football?) here in the neighborhood. The shower is calling me, but I figured I'd stop in for a quick cameo.

The only final update to my time in Egypt was my visit yesterday evening at the Khan El-Khalili bazaar. As soon as I got out of the cab I was approached by a guy who told me to call him "Bob", I laughed at that one, but told him that I would play along.

Anyway the rest of that story is pretty good, but I'll have to fill it out later, since I have to hurry now if I want to go to a European football match. I hope the weather is getting nicer now in Philly. And without further ado, I'm off for a much-needed shower.

I'll leave you simply with a photo of me in Cairo's nicest and by far largest shopping mall, City Stars, in front of one of its most recognizable tenants; as one of the last photos taken before we went to the airport just a couple hours later, you would say it's a bit paradoxical, wouldn't you?

Gutentag!

Traveling somewhere without knowing the language can be frustrating. But it can also be quite comical.

This morning, after getting out of bed and getting dressed, I went downstairs to see who was around and to see if I could have a bite to eat for breakfast. I went into the kitchen to clean out the glass that I had used last night. I noticed that there was a pot of coffee brewing. After a minute, a man who I had not yet met came into the kitchen. Later I found out that he is the father of Roland's younger brother. What I did find out right away was that his English was only slightly better than my German. And so began a morning filled with lots of hand gestures, pointing, thumbs-up's, and awkward chuckling at misperceived and misunderstood jokes.

Since Roland is working until mid-afternoon, I'll have some time to go exploring. In a short while, I'll take a walk down the street to downtown Essen. So I can expect some more language-based comedy. After breakfast, though, I asked Michael (Roland's younger brother's father) if there was a German-English dictionary around the house; we found one, which I'll certainly be carrying with me on my walk soon.

So I'm feeling refreshed now. I was in bed and asleep by 10pm last night (I couldn't help thinking that it was 4pm back in tha Illadelph at that time). I woke up this morning probably somewhere around 7am, and eventually got out of bed at 8am. I'm hoping that this was enough to re-wire my Circadian rhythm and ward-off any further effects of jet lag. Based on all expectations, the trip to and throughout Egypt will require a good deal of endurance; a solid rest is the foundation for all of what is to come.

Roland and I leave Essen for the Cologne airport later this afternoon, probably around 3 or 4pm. Our flight for Cairo departs at 8:10pm and we'll arrive in Cairo at 1:25am. As I mentioned in my last post, we'll take the first bus out of the city en route to Marsa Matruh, a seaport on the Mediterranean. As such, my next post will very likely be written from Egypt.

Y para terminar este cuentecito, les envio a mis primos y a mis amigos en Costa Rica un gran saludo muy tico: PURA VIDA, MAE!!! Ustedes estan conmigo como siempre, les llevo una parte de ustedes en mi corazon con cada pasito pa'delante!

Willkommen in Deutschland

Five world cities in one day: Philadelphia, New York, Munich, Cologne, and Essen. It's now 7:30pm local time and I'm sitting in my friend Roland's house in Essen.

A couple interesting observations to confirm my arrival in Germany. First, while sitting at the gate in Munich airport, reading my book while awaiting my connecting flight to Cologne, I looked up casually to see a woman sitting across from me reading a newspaper. What struck my attention was the photo of a naked blonde woman right there on the front page of the newspaper. That's about the time I decided that German women are nice-looking.

The second observation to confirm my arrival in Germany came shortly afterward, when I was actually on that flight from Munich to Cologne. As the plane took-off from the runway and began its ascent, I looked out from my window seat toward the airport below. In the distance I noticed a long range of snow-capped mountains: the German Alps.

After landing in Cologne and picking-up my backpack from baggage claim, I walked out the door to exit the airport; I saw a girl standing there, so I approached her and asked if she was Roland's friend Tania. Fortunately for me she said yes. And so began my day in Cologne and my first lessons in basic, elementary German. It wasn't a problem, though, because Tania spoke English pretty well. We caught a train to Cologne central station.

As soon as one walks out of the train station, one is standing face-to-face with Cologne Cathedral (Dom). From what Tania told me, it is the highest cathedral in Germany if not in all of Europe. So of course we climbed to the very top; Tania did this, impressively, with high heels. [later I will upload photos of our climb].

As the afternoon wore on, my jet lag began to kick-in pretty hardcore. Although I closed my eyes and even slept a bit on the flight from JFK, there was no escaping the fact that I was walking the streets of Cologne at around the time I should have been just getting out of bed back at the double-deuce and Spruce. Later in the day we went to this great little coffeehouse called Starbucks so that I could try to get a caffeine boost; it didn't really work.

At 3:50 in the afternoon, Tania sent me off on the hour-long train ride from Cologne central station to Essen so that I could finally meet-up with my friend Roland. Although I knew I was risking appearing as an arrogant tourist, once I boarded the train I immediately stretched out, put my feet up on the seat before me, and quickly fell asleep. The alarm clock on my old-school digital Casio wristwatch woke me up in time to get off at the Essen train station.

And now, for the rest of the evening, I've been catching up with Roland and discussing our plans for the coming days. As soon as we reach Cairo we'll catch the first bus out of town en route to a small town near the Egyptian-Libyan border, close to the Mediterranean coast; this will be a 15-hour journey and Roland warns me that it will be very uncomfortable. From there, we'll then travel south to Siwa, an oasis in the middle of nowhere, also known as the Sahara desert; that's where we'll be camping.

Needless to say, some incredible experiences await me. I look forward to seeing the millions of stars under the clear desert sky. It will be good to feel so alive.