I have returned after my month of travels to the windy city and I believe it has taken me a full week to recover. My stomach was pretty upset with me for all the strange things I was feeding it and not happy to even go back to my regular diet here in the states.
Annnnyyyway, enough about that. London was delightful! Ireland was gorgeous! Poland was crazy! What? You want more details than that? Ok, ok
So one of my favorite things about traveling around Europe (I have many favorite things about traveling around Europe) is all the legends / stories they tell about their land and tourist attractions.
For instance, Smok the Dragon that once lived under Wawel Castle in Krakow that liked to feast on young virgins. Or the great Irish Giant Finn McCool who supposedly built the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland to fight the Scottish Giant, Benandonner. Finn McCool did not realize until after the causeway was built that Benandonner was much larger than himself. His wife therefore dressed Finn as a baby so that when Benandonner came over to fight he was afraid because if the baby was that big, then the father must be very large indeed. Benandonner tore apart the causeway on his way back over to Scotland. According to scientists, the thousands of hexagon shaped rocks are the result of an ancient volcanic eruption - not as interesting as the giants in my opinion.
Another favorite part of traveling are all the street performers. I can do without the moving statues, but the musicians I enjoy. I have included a video of my favorite - I love these boys; it is a video from the Temple Bar area in Dublin. Another favorite was a puppeteer in the Zakapone mountains in Poland and some break dancers in Krakow.
Oh! And the lack of clothing accepted by the Polish people! Whilst climbing some gorgeous mountains in Poland we saw several people hardly dressed, but my favorite was a pretty large woman walking about the mountain sporting only a bra for her top - not a sports bra, mind you. I also went to a waterpark in the mountains with my newly wed in Poland friend, Courtney and my travel buddy / roomie Tanya. Can you say Speedos? I know this is not only a Poland thing, but my American eyes are not used to seeing that much of well, you know, out in public places with children around.
Well this was a less cohesive blog than what I usually provide, but that's what you get after a month or random adventures in Europe. There are just too many stories to tell. I will try to tell a few more in future blogs because believe me, there are some crazy stories. Basically I am so happy that I was unemployed and could spend a month traveling, I really can't think of much else I enjoy more. I'm hoping the post-trip depression I always get doesn't set in too quickly.
