Split & Hvar, Croatia

Bryan has survived a visit to Croatia, barely, as you'll read below. Really, its amazing anyone makes it to old age, especially boys/young men. Here's the latest (all written from iPhone):

"These beaches are nice but I think the sandy beaches of Florida are better. The rocks just make it fairly uncomfortable and there are sea urchins everywhere. But the water is extremely blue and the views aren't bad, plus you can go nude. (Huh?)

After an entertaining day on the party island, I had with two friends from Krakow I'm back in Split at a hostel for 4 days. Yesterday I got into Hvar around 2pm and was picked up in the harbor by my friends who rented a boat. Not before they did donuts in the middle of the crowded harbor banging on a tambourine. But the interesting thing that happened was later on in the day. I was on a different boat at the time and they were following us in theirs. One of the guys decided to do donuts when the other wasn't hanging on. He flys out of be boat and his foot got all cut up on the propeller. It was the most blood I've ever seen, 2 deep cuts along the outside of his foot. After a trip to the hospital filled with tourists who have drunkenly injured themselves, he had six stitches, he got pretty lucky I guess.


They flew back home this morning, as was their plan not because of injury. This hostel in Split is fairly quiet so far which is nice it's been an exhausting couple weeks."

... to say the least. Glad to hear the guy is going to be okay. Egads. Good times.

Meanwhile, Don and I are in Florida where it is absolutely perfect. Hurricane Debbie is gone, surf's up, and weather is beautiful. We both worked today so didn't get to the beach till late afternoon, but the long days make it possible to still enjoy it into the early evening. Carolyn joins us tomorrow night - Yay!

Vienna

Had a nice, long talk with Bryan tonight. He is in Vienna after recently leaving Krakow. Said you could spend a week in Vienna, there's so much to see and do. On Wednesday, he went to Auschwitz, which he said was difficult to describe. He explained what he saw and how  he walked the route of others from the train depot to the gas chambers - a direct route. Horrifying and stunning. And hard to believe it all occurred so recently, when so much of what you see in Europe is hundreds if not thousands of years old, and this was just two generations before him.

He is not finished with eastern Europe but may take a western jaunt to Luxembourg to meet up with his college roommate, Nick, for a few days. Then he plans to rail back across the continent to see parts of Hungary, and the former Yugoslavia countries. But no set plan.

Bryan sent Carolyn a text today: 

"At a bar in Vienna I thought this was your name at first look."

Kind of freaky because is does look like Carolyn's handwriting!

It was so good to hear Bryan's voice. He sounds content. He is enjoying his gadabout. Two & a half weeks into it he has figured out the best way to do things - from meeting people to doing laundry.

Team England in Krakow

"The England team is staying in Krakow in a hotel just across the square from my hostel. I saw them going on the bus yesterday to fly to their game today. Here's a pic of Gerrard."

Steven Gerrard - Captain

Krakow

"I'm enjoying my first night in Poland. Hanging out with a couple of English guys at the fan park tomorrow."

Hey, we're happy for every little tidbit we get but I won't be combining his notes into a novel.

Prague - "Still kickin"

"One more night in Prague then the next night I'm  taking the night train to Krakow. Here's a picture of the big screen in the main square with the England-Sweden game on."

Prague

Bryan is loving Prague. He said he booked 4 nights at a hostel for less than the cost of 1 night in Amsterdam. Damn!

Others might send a photo of the castle, but we get the trash can with Toilet fees. 

"Found this outside of the castle in Prague" 

Looks like it costs about 67 cents to go to the bathroom outside the castle. Let's assume we're not looking at the toilet. If so, I'd hold it.

Hamburg

More from Bryan. He said wifi service was poor so couldn't send photos. I'm just happy to hear from him! 

"Got into hamburg yesterday afternoon not much for wifi access here but I found a tiny bit of service. I think I'm only staying for one more night then I'm taking a train to Prague to meet a friend from school who emailed me yesterday saying he was there."

Amsterdam

Heard from Bryan today re Amsterdam:

"It's really fun however my roommates aren't as fun as in Brussels and Paris so I've kinda been doing stuff more on my own. I still think its my favorite place despite that though. I love the bike riding aspect of it. You'll see families going out to dinner but instead of in a car they're on bikes. I spent yesterday walking through the main tourist traps' Today I'm resting and watching soccer at a bar since Holland is playing in ten mins. Tomorrow I'm renting a bike and going to the further away sights, then on Monday I plan to do the museums since it will be considerably less busy.

My main observation of this place is everyone seems to be extremely happy and friendly as long as you give bike riders the right of way as a pedestrian. And it's like the exact opposite of Brussels as far as diversity goes. The game is about to start it should be on espn if you are at home today."

In an earlier email he said he's waiting for better weather before taking and sending photos.

Mulch delivery

"Wow, this sure beats my indoor litter box."

Brussels

After a day in Paris, the hostels Bryan wanted were booked so he took off for Brussels, a city he has never been to before. He spent last night there and is staying there tonight. Tomorrow he heads for Amsterdam for a few days. Here's an edited account and some photos of past two days:

"Ya Brussels is pretty awesome I really enjoyed the past two days here. The public transportation is really good. The whole city is extremely diverse.

Grand Place - Brussels

Grand Place - Brussels

It's almost midnight here so I'm going to bed, I'm catching a train to Amsterdam tomorrow. I'll be there for three night until Tuesday morning, but that may change if i like it there." 

And if he runs out of money, he can sleep on these cool park benches!

Great to hear from you Bry. Thanks for the photos.

Carolyn's internship

Carolyn's summer internship with Verizon started on Monday. Today began with an early breakfast and meeting for the interns. Verizon has done a great job so far of engaging all the students. The event was filmed with video and photos later appearing online, including this one:

Carolyn - Vz summer intern

Newark to mid-Atlantic to Halifax to Paris

We woke up this morning thinking maybe, possibly, hopefully we might have a text from Bryan indicating that he had landed in Paris. No text. Don had been tracking the flight through an app and saw that Bryan's plane was sitting in Halifax. Halifax!? There's no Pont Neuf in Halifax.

Later, while at work, Don sent me a link to the flight map/status. Notice the dipsy doodle back to Halifax:

Just before I was to head home from work, I got an email from Don that he and Bryan had facetimed and that all was well. He had finally landed, just a mere 8 hours late, and he was sitting in a pub near his hostel that had free wifi. Funny thing is that he had already checked into the hostel and found he will be rooming with 3 guys. Then he noticed all 3 had Canadian flag patches on their packs. Cool! The journey begins.

Oh yes, the reason that they doubled back to Halifax was that a woman on their flight was ill. We hope she is okay.

Toronto & Mississauga weekend

We spent the Memorial Day long weekend up north with family, friends, and Animae people. We stayed near the airport and there happened to be an Animae convention. We were surrounded by people dressed up as cartoon characters - actually pretty creative, but a tad odd too... okay, very odd. (To each his own.)

First stop, of course, was to see my Mom and Dad. We had a good visit and delicious dinner compliments of Chef Helen upon our arrival. It is always nice to see the amazing gardens all around my parent's condo. On our walk around the grounds we decided to help some unsuspecting golfer with his putt - I'm sure he appreciated the audience:

Mom & Dad

We were able to celebrate my mom's birthday a week early and help her to eat her dessert:

Birthday dinner with Mom and Billy Miner pie @ The Keg

When we weren't with H&B, we were tourists around Toronto, visiting the ACC, Yonge St., the old Maple Leaf Gardens (now a Loblaws), the Beach for breakfast and a boardwalk stroll, the Distillery and the Eaton Centre. Have to say that we missed a bit of excitement (thank goodness) with a flood in Union Station occurring a few days after we left, and a shooting in the Eaton Centre a week later exactly where we bought a few things at Sport Chek. Bryan and Carolyn watched a Toronto FC game at the BMO Field one night while Don and I visited with his ole Nestle gang at a backyard party in Oakville.

A few more photos:

Artsy photo of the ACC (current home of the Maple Leafs)
with CN Tower reflection

Red dot marks Maple Leaf Gardens centre ice in aisle 25 at Loblaws!
With lots of memorabilia they have done a great job of using the space.

More travel news: Just 1 hour ago Bryan boarded a plane bound for Paris, his first stop on a 7-week gadabout Europe armed with a EuroRail Pass and a hostel app. I'll post some of his news and photos as (if) they come in. We wish him a fun, safe, eye-opening adventure!