europeblog

I have a number of friends who have gone travelling and then taken the time to write about what happened and what they saw.

This is more difficult than it sounds, because often there isn’t much spare time in a hectic holiday schedule. The contiki bus doesn’t wait for you to finish your blog entry. Sometimes when you have the spare time you also have the most vicious hangover in the world. Then consider the paucity of usable and inexpensive internet access (if you would ever like some simple reasons for why not to use MS windows, then use a public computer), the hot and cramped conditions inside an internet cafe, the grimy keyboards with all the keys in the wrong place. These are not the right places to get writers’ block, when the € meter is ticking down.

Perhaps there is a computer at the hostel. If it works at all, usually they charge an extortionate amount to use it. Amazingly, internet access through WiFi is usually free! This is one of the great injustices. It simply rewards the antisocial nerds who bring a laptop with them on holiday¹ and use it to download Dodgeball II with bittorrent and send virtual drinks to their old school mates on facebook.

Anyway the lack of time and good internet facilities are two of the reasons I never blogged while on tour. However the following authors have beaten the odds and managed to type something in before the time ran out at the internet cafe, and most of it is quite good, probably better than anything you will read here.

Selina Peng went on exchange to Montreal, toured Europe, and visited the subcontinent. She has two blogs: selinastrip and Selina’s Travel Blog. Both blogs are action packed and hilarious.

Stu, Adam, and Mish went to Europe, did a contiki tour or two. A little bit sparse but I suppose this is because they needed quality time to appreciate the sights and culture, etc. Stu and Adam went soft and quit early leaving Mish holding the flame. The result of this is a couple entries of Michelle’s irresistibly innocent prose. Top stuff!

An anonymous friend of mine kept this blog while living in Chicago. This author knows how to holiday properly.

Daniel Hutchinson has written prolifically about his time on student exchange in Montreal, holidaying in Europe, around America, New Zealand. This sparkling travelblog is in my opinion the standout. It’s well written, his confident style is amusing, there are great stories, and lots and lots of photos.

Finally, Kev Leong documented his Europe travels in the way only Kevin can. The poses are gold, and if you don’t have time to read all the text, maybe just look at the Ibiza and Karps entries. Worth a look.

You can find these links on the side of the main page of my blog. So if nothing interesting’s happening here, give them a click. If you have a travel blog and I haven’t mentioned it, please drop a comment and I’ll link it in.

1. OK I admit to using a laptop in the Berlin hostel [↩]

19/10/2007

10/11/2007

Thought I would write a weather post. You would think this is scraping the bottom of the barrel for material but honestly there’s more to come. There was some snow three weeks ago but that was more slush than snowflakes. Yesterday it snowed properly for the first time this season.

Today is a national holiday in Poland. Around here it’s not common to see flags flying. However today and yesterday people have put flags out everywhere. Our apartment block scored a flag.

Yesterday I went to Hala Targowa to buy a birthday present for a friend. It’s a lovely old building by the canal next to the university. Inside on the floor are fruit & veg markets, florists, butchers, etc. Then there is a mezanine level around the walls of the building with clothes shops, shops for household items, a stationery shop, gift shops, and other random things. To go shopping there is far more relaxing and interesting than any “shopping mall” but of course you can’t really buy all the things you need there.

Today it started snowing in the morning then continued for most of the afternoon. This was classic snow, coming down thick with nice big flakes. When it finished there was about an inch of snow on the ground.

This is a picture of the church near our flat. The architecture style is called post-Egyptian Vegas ecclesiastical. At night they switch on the lights on one of the crosses.

Went out with Magda last night to RURA to hear some jazz.

On this evening Christoph Titz and his band were playing. I hadn’t heard of them before so we had a little listen on MySpace. I have to say I was a little bit apprehensive about the electronic samples and drum loops, and the trumpet sound not quite fitting in with them, thinking OK this might be a little boring or too avante garde.

But happily my doubts we unfounded and it sounded excellent. Perhaps the performance was marred by technical details. For example they repeatedly asked the sound guy for more monitor volume, the microphone didn’t work when he wanted it to, and during the middle of a particularly captivating space dream vibe soundscape, the dude sitting next to me spilt his drink all over the floor and the people sitting in front of us.

Another source of distraction was this shiny white Powerbook:

When on his break during the song Christoph started fiddling with it to change the volume or programme or whatever he was doing. But there is a little MIDI keyboard next to it with keys, buttons, and knobs, so I thought they could have set up that to control everything. Also in the rig is some Roland keyboard with two MIDI cables coming out of it (so perhaps using softsynths on the powermac), and a nice big board, sounded like a Yamaha DX7.

The solos were great, in particular the dummer soloed like a crazy man, but there was no bass solo. I was disappointed by that because he looked a little bit like Charles Mingus.

After the band finished and walked off stage, it took the crowd a little while to cry for more. The RURA crowd seemed a little bit more reserved and quieter than other jazz club audiences I have been in. Perhaps they weren’t rowdy because it was so packed down there that no-one could get to the bar. After the fabulous and well received encore we ascended the staircase out of the basement and into the smokey top bar, put on coats, then stepped out into the wind-chilled night and walked home.

Hello and welcome to europeblog, the imaginatively named successor to the popular and well regarded¹ Americablog.

I am writing this from Wrocław, Poland, where I now live. I got here from London on a bicycle, so I intend to say a few words about that and maybe put a few photos for those of you who can’t read. My main occupation while I’m here is learning the Polish language, working on free software for the GNOME project, looking around, and having a little fun. So hopefully this will provide some interesting material for a couple of blog entries.

Some of you may have been promised numerous detailed travel stories, posted frequently, in a timely fashion. Obviously I didn’t keep this promise — since the day I left Perth (12^th July 2007), there have been 0 blog entries. However the drought has been broken by this post and you can be assurred that a chunky stream of posts will spew forth from this day on.

If you are able to write a literate and well thought out comment then please feel free to do so. Otherwise, your inane ramblings, streams of conscienceness, anonymous slaggings, or other attempts at humour are also welcome in the comments box. I might even buy you a virtual drink on Facebook in return.

Until next time,

Rodney

1. amongst my direct family [↩]