Trip to Naples

I had a work trip to Naples, Italy, and we stayed over the weekend. It was one of the best trips we had. Bruce and Annie, our friends from Korea, were excellent hosts, and they showed us Pompeii and Herculaneum.




I had nightmares about this floating head painting.



Ash people from Pompeii:




Bruce and Annie


See more Italy Photos here

Oktoberfest!

I'm glad we went, but it was too crowded. One of the highlights was our visit to a flea circus. We saw fleas pulling a cart and kicking a soccer ball. Kristie thought it was magnets. I thought they were highly-trained insects. Aslan thinks they are freeloaders in her fur. Perhaps we are all right.





People love Munich, but I thought it was OK. We spend the day walking around, but nothing was especially unique. I was ready to leave after two days there.

It was our first experience in a youth hostel. While Wombats was clean and friendly, it still was a youth hostel. I opened our room door to find a completely naked man walking down the hall. I saw him a few hours later, still naked. The man and the numerous signs about being sure to vomit into a toilet are good reasons to avoid youth hostels in the future.

I guess it could have been worse; I could have been that naked man.

Funny Food

There was nothing funny about either of these Belgium eateries. We hardly cracked a smile. False advertising.

Strasbourg and Colmar

See our pictures of this trip here

Skateboarding to Alsace

We're in Strasbourg again after our Dublin trip was canceled. I'm waiting for Kristie outside the statue tunnel watching skateboarders. They certainly are tenacious with their practice. Falling after each attempt, thy try again. When they make that triple ollie (I don't even know what this is), they work hard to hide that smile of accomplishment.

Some of the guys are just too old to spend their Saturday doing this. I believe that if you are still riding a skateboard in your late twenties, you need to examine your life.

Two young men sit down, light cigarettes, and proudly show each other scars. Two more play Twister on the painted concrete game board (that really seems out of place). The rest skate and ollie their way past hordes of tourists trying to cross the bridge o Petite Francaise.