I haven’t taken a picture of anything particularly noteworthy since Sunday so these photos will be unrelated to my story.

On every Monday, a laundromat a few tram stops away from my dormitory plays a Czech film. This laundromat is pretty neat actually; it has a room for bands to practice in, a foosball table, a full bar and some board games and stuff. Anywho, I’ve been going to see these Czech films and they are extremely awesome. I highly recommend Rebelove which is a pretty cool musical made in 2001. It has totally balling cinematography too if you’re into that kinda thing. I also just watched Kolja which starred this guy who I believe is the Czech Republic’s answer to Sean Connery. Watch out though, Czech cinema WILL leave you depressed. That’s their style.

Photo number 1 is a continuation of the funny faces post. This light fixture was installed in the side of a castle which further increases it’s awesome factor.Photo 2 is an extremely confusing label on the side of some tonic water.

This Saturday it was the birthday of my Slovenian friend Ksenija. Since we live in an international dorm, there are people from all over the world present at her birthday party. As a result there was singing of ‘Happy Birthday’ at this party in more languages than there are blemishes upon George Bush’s reputation. It was very awesome. Also it turns out that it’s a Slovenian birthday custom that instead of having drinks bought for the birthday recipient, the person in question buys drinks for everyone at their party. I am really digging learning the small international tweaks on customs that I am used to back in Canada.

Here is a picture of Ksenija (right) and Nina (left) that I pulled off of Facebook. I don’t feel too bad about this because I am pretty sure that it was me who took the photo with Ksenija’s camera. If that is not the case I apologize to whomever’s intellectual property I just stole.Saturday was certainly an interesting day as beyond Ksenija’s birthday, I also got to tour some pretty awesome looking caves that were first explored somewhere at the beginning of the 20th century. There was also some water in some of the tunnels and so we got to boat around in the network of caverns. Having to duck out of the way of overhangs as we zipped by in our vessel was pretty fun too. The low light made it rather difficult to take many good photos but here is one of the few that even came close to turning out.After the caves we then went to a traditional Czech brewery. This company has been in the same building since it’s founding in 1620 and is extremely traditional in the way it brews. I chatted with the brewmaster and was surprised to learn that they fermented their alcohol in a room that is around 3 degrees which is much lower than the temperature Ryan and I generally ferment at. I assume it improves the quality of the alcohol but takes much more time. I then also got to pour my own beer right out of their maturation chambers which is pretty much a highlight of my life. Fun fact: this brewery brews 3 batches per day and each batch is enough for 33,000 half litre beers. That is nearly 50,000 bottles for you fellas back in Canada.

I have noticed that there are very few discernibly homeless people in the parts of Europe I have traveled in thus far. I have several theories about why this may be. It may be that the way the social class system works lowers the predisposition towards being homeless. Another theory is that governments may be more likely to provide low income housing. Alternatively, there may be stronger government policies against the homeless that force people to be less conspicuous or to move out of cities. Perhaps people are more likely to help out each other on a personal level as well. It may be simply the cities I have been to that this is the case for or maybe its just the specific areas that I have been around. Or maybe it’s because Europe is totally awesome. I’m not sure.

Another interesting thing to note is that despite the (presumably) lowered homeless population, there are still just as many people asking for money, they just do not dress in the stereotypical manner of the homeless.

Pictured is one of the few European homeless people I have seen. He was sitting on a street corner in Amsterdam and something about him just bums me out.This next picture is the polar opposite of the one above. This was a fellow dancing in front of a giant statue. What was awesome about this guy was he was dancing along to a Michael Jackson song while lip syncing. I figure he actually looks more like Michael Jackson than Michael Jackson did by the end of his life. For another picture of this guy’s dance moves click here.

The incredible diversity of  Europe never ceases to astound me. In less than the amount of time to drive to the next city in many parts of Canada, you can travel through several countries. This weekend was an excellent example. Friday night I go out for a few drinks with friends. Saturday morning I turn on my computer and a skype message pops up inquiring whether I would like to go to Bratslava that afternoon. For those of you who do not know, Bratslava is the pretty ballin’ capital of Slovakia. I honestly never thought I would be in the situation where I would be able to make a decision to go to another country on a complete whim without any semblance of planning. We round up a crew and head off not really knowing where exactly we were going. We nearly missed our train despite being at the station nearly an hour early, but we managed to hop on with seconds to spare. Through a miscommunication with a German conductor we then almost get off somewhere on the south boarder of the Czech Republic but realize our mistake when we realize we are in the middle of a farm instead of an actual train station.

Bratslava was pretty incredible. Beautiful architecture and a pretty awesome castle were highlights, as was a very cool Americanized classic rock tribute band playing in a Jack Daniels themed bar. I got to touch a little part of Canada when we happened to walk down the street where the Embassy was situated and we all got the fun experience of trying to fit 11 people into 8 hostel beds.

Pictured: 1) Some pretty sweet kicks & MetalCamp wristband of Nina the Slovanian, 2) The group of us being extremely touristy 3) The most violent looking church I have ever lain eyes upon.

I know it is neither Wednesday nor Sunday but I just realized that all of the light switches in my room look like faces. These two are my favorites. I think the first one looks a little bit like the guy from Party Cat.

Prelude: a while back I did a photoshoot for a friend of mine named Sarah Koury. I mentioned it briefly in this post but I never really explained it. The lowdown is that a bunch of people submit a photo of themselves dressed up in 1960s time period attire and send them into AMC – the company that produces the television show Mad Men. These photos are collected and then people vote on the best ones. The person who get the most votes wins a spot on the show for an episode or so. You should all click here and vote for Sarah. That would be very neat of you. Voting is closed, thanks for everyone who helped out!

In European news, I have safely arrived at my home for the next several months. Orientation has been really interesting and I have met people from countries that I know absolutely nothing about. It both surprised and humbled me as I used to consider myself a reasonably globally centered fellow but I am trying to rectify the problem by learning as much as possible about everyone’s motherlands before my head gets packed full of real courses. Note of advice to anyone traveling around this area: Czech people do not appreciate their country being referred to as Eastern European. Just sayin.

Before arriving in Brno, I was checking out the Netherlands – predominantly Amsterdam. From the Van Gough museum and Anne Frank’s house to the red light district and the multitude of Coffee Shops scattered throughout the city, Amsterdam is certainly a diverse city. Today’s photos are from some sort of bike rental business in the city. I’m not sure exactly what the logistics of renting a bike from here was, as trying to organize locks in labyrinth like this seems nigh-on impossible, but there were constantly people grabbing them and biking off so I suppose they figured something out. The first photo is a failed attempt to capture how many bicycles are actually stored here. It really didn’t turn out and I don’t much care for it as a photo but I included it in full resolution so you can give it a click if you want to try to count them all. The other two photos are just areas of this mess that I thought looked interesting.

If you know much about European history, you are aware that a lot of people have died in Paris. A lot. So much that eventually they ran out of room to bury people. To rectify this problem, someone had the great idea to dig up a bunch of the dead people and put their bones in a network of tunnels underneath the city. The designer surely must have been an artist as it was decided that all the bones would be put into decorative patterns and displays. He also must have been a businessman because the catacombs quickly became a paid travel destination. I learned about these around a year ago and ever since I have been absolutely stoked to go see them. Last week I finally entered the passages and it was out of control. I highly recommend trying this out if you ever are near Paris.

I once again apologize for the delay folks. I imagine that once I get settled into my room in the Czech Republic I will finally start to become reliable in my posting. Until then you will just have to be patient. Also I am very sorry for the lack of picture but I don’t have internet access on my computer. Pictured is Sarah Koury, a theater student kicking it retro for a Mad-Men themed photoshoot.

I am currently situated in Paris, without internet access on the lappy so here is a photo I have had laying around online for a while. It is from a totally balling ski and snowboard trick comp set up in the middle of UVic during the summer. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Victoria, we generally do not even get snow during the winter. No story for now because I am off to see the Eiffel tower all lit up during the evening. Have a good week everybody

Disclaimer: So much has happened since I wrote this post. It blows all of this out of the water. However, I feel that simply because I wrote this at some point, I simply must post it so here we are. Also sorry about the late posting, the only internet I had access to cost a lot so I had to use it sparingly. In other news, I saw the Swiss Alps for the first time yesterday and they are totally awesome. Didn’t get any sweet shots yet but needless to say, they live up to the hype. My favorite part about them is that they remind me of the Rocky Mountains in BC where I grew up. They may actually be even better though because there is also a great deal of flat land between the mountains. I will describe this further when I am not so tired. I feel I am not doing them justice.

Pre-written post: The shuttle from where Air Canada put me up for the night was canceled. Already low on funds I made the decision to attempt to walk to the Airport. This was a mistake. Not only did I not have any idea how to get to the airport, I quickly realized that it was hotter than the fires of a midevil witch-burning outside. Walking to the closest highway, I chose a direction and started my 38+ degree hike. Eventually I came to a sign informing me that I was going only slightly in the right direction. I had to run across several highways and fields, climb two fences and get accosted by a security guard for being ‘indecent’.

To add insult to injury, while I was just getting to the airport, my sunglasses fell off my head. Screw it.