Dominik’s Blog

Wow — what a beautiful city. The entire city is set on water, and there are no cars on its island. Canals with gonodolas pass underneath ornate bridges whilst people walk by above. The weather is nothing short of perfect, dry warmth with continual sunshine and a complete lack of clouds. Italy also boasts of so many beautiful girls (long dark flowing hair, incredible figures, delicate faces and a style all of their own) that I am simply awestruck. The food is awesome as well. There’s not much need for knowledge of Italian as English is pretty well understood everywhere, as Venice’s primary trade is probably tourism.

I still can’t get over how many beautiful girls this city has… Wow.

Well, my time in London has alas come to an end. I truly enjoyed the city, however. Today was a long day (getting up at 6 am!) but I got to see Stonehenge, Bath and Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. Got very blessed with the weather, nice sunshine all around and I haven’t had a drop of rain in all the time I’ve been in London.

Heading out bright and early tomorrow for Venice… we’ll see if wifi will be there and how pricey it’ll be. I finally found some free wifi in London thanks to some anonymous apartment tenant’s unsecured wifi network near the Masala Zone restaurant (yes, it is such good indian food i went back for more) but my laptop’s batteries were low from being used all day so I didn’t get much use out of it. :P

I considered getting around to supposed free wifi spots (according to Intel’s little hotspot locator) but then realized the price of the Underground ticket would probably be more than 30 minutes at the hotel’s for-pay wifi I’m in. Everything is pricier in London and it’s really deceiving because prices are about 2x the states but they’re listed in pounds, so it seems reasonable until you realize 1 quid = 2 dollars. E.g. 2.80 for a sandwich is hmm ok, then you realize dang, 5.60… same with everything else.

Looking forward to the azure skies of Italy, over and out for now.

Oh, and the final photo rampage total for me for London… 1260. Whee.

Posted a few days old entry below… finding (inexpensive) wireless has been a challenge… I finally bit the bullet and shelled out the cash :-( At least it’s fast.

London has been great. This city is really alive and I’ve gotten really lucky with the weather — think sunshine and not the standard London rain. Subsequently I’ve sort of gone on a picture … for lack of a better word … orgy. Hovering around 800 photos since arrival. Got to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, Big Ben, the BT Tower and lot of other things. It’s been crazy but a fun crazy. Heading out to Oxford tomorrow to check out the campus and JRR Tolkien’s favorite pub, where he hung with CS Lewis & co. Then Stonehedge and Italy on Thursday.

The forecast looks like the good weather will hold up, so I’m counting myself quite blessed. Also, there is no shortage of beautiful stylishly dressed girls in London either — and for some reason there are a lot of Poles — 2-3 times a day (or more) I walk by people speaking Polish…

Over and out for now.

I flew out of Geneva in the afternoon, sad to say goodbye to such a wonderful city but looking forward to the wonders of London and England. The flight was pleasant, if short, with perhaps the most novel thing of my easyJet experience being that I – and everyone else – could sit wherever we pleased on the plane. It was egalitarian in a non-communist way, as I was able to select a nice roomy aisle seat (in fact, the emergency exit row actually has a little more legroom, so I sat there and put up with the repeated reminders from the flight attendants to read the safety instructions and to be prepared to open the door in an emergency).

I landed in London Gatwick, which is actually a long way (30 minute high speed train ride) out of London proper, but it is a convenient and high-tech 8 pound train ride into the station. Therein, I was greeted by the local Starbucks, within which I was gladdened to see the menus once again in English (the French Starbucks experience was … strange, in that the Grande was Large and there was no Venti, but the British have barista speak down pat). After a nice iced chai, I took the tube (i.e. the metro, the Underground) to the place where I’m staying. Rapid unpacking, relaxation in air conditioning (it was a sweltering hot day, and the Underground was incredibly crowded and even hotter – this was compensated by the myriad of hot girls aboard as well ;) led to wandering into the city and seeing Big Ben and the ilk thereabouts, followed by a brisk walk across town to SoHo and the best Indian restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life, a.k.a. Masala Zone on Marshall Street. The food – all of it – was absolutely amazing and the price was also incredible. If you are ever in London and want to get great Indian food, go there. Not to mention the atmosphere was vibrant, with a young clientele, friendly staff and a pulsing energy to the whole place. I was also glad to actually be able to understand a menu again, seeing English and English alone was strangely comforting – as was being able to fluently order without resorting to a miming game of point and gesture.

That ended the day on a high note, and now I am typing this up and going to rest, looking forward to more adventure tomorrow. My initial vibes of London are very positive – I’ve been in London three times or so before, but never for very long and never having ventured very far from the airports, so in some sense this is my first time being a tourist here. It feels like a very international, vibrant city with a strong pulse of life, and it feels more open than Paris did, though perhaps less cozy. It’s very different from Paris, New York or Boston. Plus the accents everyone has are just cool… there was a couple next table over at Masala zone that had a guy that looked and sounded like Hugh Grant… very cool. One could, of course, argue, that I’m the one with the American accent and everyone speaks proper Queen’s English… But anyway, over and out – going to back post this since I’m not in the mood to pay 4 pounds (~$8) for 30 minutes of web access. I miss America’s (relatively) plentiful free wireless. But otherwise, I’m quite enthused with London.

So… how does one get comments on blog entries?

I’ve looked back at my entries that get comments vs. those that do and I haven’t found any obvious identifying differences. Even when I ask for feedback I don’t always get it and sometimes when I don’t ask for it, it comes in a deluge.

What in an entry makes you want to comment on it?

I’m thinking it has to do something with provocation/empathy/controversy. “Blah blah I explored Paris” isn’t as comment-creating as “Certain French waiters are arrogant, in that they try to tell me how to eat my 12 euro melon.” Regarding the sentence I just quoted, it is actually a true story that happened to me…

I was in a restaurant in Paris and I ordered a ‘melon.’ I wondered if it is was a honeydew, watermelon or cantaloupe, so I asked ‘what sort of melon is this?’ The waiter replied, “It’s a melon melon.” Exasperated, I try to work around the question and ask what color the melon is. The reply: “It’s a melon-colored melon.” It’s 12 euros on the menu, so the price is pretty steep (~$15) but I’m like, hey, it has to be good if it is that expensive, even if the waiter can’t describe it. Fifteen minutes later, here comes my melon. Half a cantaloupe, sliced, on a plate. That’s it. I attempt to use my knife to slice it into slices, but the waiter stops me. Theatrically picking up my spoon, he motions over the melon, as if scooping it up. Feeling insulted both at the treatment and the price, I proceed to slice the melon anyway and eat it. The next morning, I wake up with a horrible stomachache, probably because my stomach refused to believe I paid 12 euro for half a cantaloupe only to get lectured on how to eat it…

So ends my stay in Geneva. It was definitely a great time, and we were blessed with beautiful weather (quite literally continual sunshine). The land of watches and chocolate is quite varied, whether its beautiful mountains (hiking in them is fun!) or its placid lakes, or its quaint yet character-filled stone-cobbled streets that roll up and down hills lined with shops peddling delectable goods, Switzerland is — as the ubiquitous T-shirts here say, “small but beautiful.”

Now on to England.

It is an interesting situation — to be traveling in a foreign country without speaking the language. This is the situation I find myself in France and Switzerland. I’ve never formally studied French and don’t speak much of it aside from Bonjour, merci and Au revoir. I’m also far from good at pronouncing French, as there are a whole host of rules that I don’t know about what isn’t pronounced and what is, and so on. Attempts have been made to remedy my non-knowledge, but progress thus far has been unsatisfactory and not always understandable, thus, for practical purposes, I don’t speak French.

Fortunately for me, I have French-speaking friends to travel with, and also, most of the tourist-interacting populace in both countries know English or know someone who knows English. Example: I am typing this after ordering a hot chocolate in this nice Chocolate Bar in downtown Geneva. After I ordered (wisely pointing to the menu at what I wanted in an almost classical tourist move) I was asked something in French. I didn’t quite make it out, as it came at the traditional breakneck speed that locals everywhere seem to speak the native tongue from the perspective of those that speak it not, but judging by the hand gestures that went along with it, I guessed it had something to do with sitting down. I replied in English — but alas, that English was not understood, thus hailing another waitress over who did speak more English and translated the entire exchange for the both of us. I still find it interesting that almost everywhere, one is expected to sit down to take even the smallest of drinks (save for buying a bottle of something from the local tabac or convience store). The culture, both in FR and CH, is substatially more relaxed than its American equivalent. One could grow used to, and even enjoy, such priority on proper time for consumption and relaxation.

My adventures in French speaking countries will soon be drawing to a close, as I fly out to London on Friday, where all I’ll have to contend with is the difference in accents. A week there will lead to nearly two weeks in Rome, after which will conclude my European travels for this summer. One thing I am taking out of this is a new appreciation for Fodor’s guides — I must get one for Boston next Fall and take a few weekends during the school year to pretend to be a tourist in my own city, complete with camera and tour guide, dining and photographing a relaxed Saturday away.

Well, my stay in Paris has come to an end. Fortunately I managed to find free wireless in the most unlikely of places — the middle of a park next to the oldest church in Paris. As I type this, there’s a couple making out on the park bench across from me. They’re pretty passionate about it too. Very Paris.

All the touristy deeds have been done and checked off the checklist, so to speak. 587 photos is the final count. Going back to Geneva now, with fun memories of a beautiful city on the Seine.

note: backposted — the wireless gave out right before i could post thismovie samples view dildotall movie walkingmovie crashers wedding quotesrated x preview moviemovie xxx searchgirls movies younggirl zoo moviesadult mpegs movie Map

Exploring Paris the past few days after one day in Geneva (I’ll be back there after two more days in Paris). Very nice city — but there’s a serious lack of wireless hotspots, let alone free wireless (something I got used to in Kazoo and Boston)…

Taken 383 photos in Paris thus far :)

Oh. There’s lots of dark haired/blue-eyed girls here too — more than I’ve ever seen anywhere else. And everyone is thin. But I don’t have the guts (or the mastery of French) to take photos of any of the especially cute girls I’ve seen… I just sort of look on admiringly and know that there are beautiful girls out there. It’s so nice to be on the other side of the world from MIT :)

I mean seriously, what am I gonna say? “Hi, I think you’re beautiful… I thought you should know? May I take a picture?” It’s not like I’m going to be around Paris for very long. What do you do when you’re traveling and see an attractive girl? Smile and walk on? I don’t really see any other options, and I’m not into creeping stalking people stuff… even though my zoom lens is pretty powerful :P (I was on the roof of the Modern Art Museum in Paris with my camera and zoomed in on people — including catching a couple kissing. But it’s not like kissing is rare in Paris… kissing is just rare for Dominik). In good time, in good time, I guess.

Waiting for my connecting flight at Zurich.

Cute, the wireless internet here _claims_ to be fee-only, but I can navigate around the page that asks me for a credit card number. Either that, or I’m not understanding the German properly…

Wow, Switzerland is a pretty amazing country. I got a good view of it from the plane, flying in — patched green lands, rolling hills, tall stately forests and hundred of white brown-roofed homes, all very Swiss. One thought going through my mind — I’m not in America anymore… Another thought: wow, this is a beautiful country.movie bjdick suck moviescript website moviesex granny moviesclip samples movie xxxanal movies pornmovies ever scariestanother not teen soundtrack movie Map