Category Archives: 2007 europe

2007 Europe Trip – Pictures!


DSC02643.JPG
Originally uploaded by sipp

Come on over to Flickr and check out the pics I uploaded!

Some highlights:

1. Dubrovnik, Croatia (The last episode of the Amazing Race featured it, if you watch that) – the old town walls and the orange-tiled roofs. Hard to believe such a beautiful place was under siege for 7 months in 1991. Most of the orange tiles are replacements; one photo shows a map with black dots that note where all the damage was.

2. Mostar, Bosnia – An interesting town – a river literally runs through it – both the physical part of the city and the ethnic lines: Catholic Croats on one side, Bosniak Muslims on the other. The original bridge (Stari Most) was built in the 16th century, and destroyed during the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina in 1993. It was fully rebuilt and opened in 2004, and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Also – many of the buildings were still in ruins – and even if they were not ruins, the facades were marked with pockmarks from shrapnel/shelling; not to mention the figurative scars on the people that survived the other despicable events of the war…It was an amazing place to be.

3. Ljubljana, Slovenia – the graffiti – and the horse steak….(before and after photos). lol.

4. Venice, Italy – there are a TON of pictures of Venice. St Mark’s Square was gorgeous. And you’ll see many from the Rialto fish market. Too bad I couldn’t pipe in the smell. For someone that does NOT eat fish – it was an assault on the senses (though, I am sure it is much, much worse in summer) – but it was fascinating, a good lesson in Marine Biology…

http://www.flickr.com/gp/45291083@N00/ZsKF1b

Update coming…

Yeah yeah I know. I have heard it from many of you.

Never, ever, ever, buy a Sony digital camera. Especially one of those little ones (specifically the model DSC-T10). It was great to start with and still takes wonderful macro shots; however, mine has already been in for warranty repairs once and after that it just wasn’t the same. This is part of the reason why I have dreaded putting up my photos – they looked fine on the camera LCD – but after getting them on my computer, some look like crap. They’re not horrible but they could be better.

I already upgraded to a Canon G9. The best part is, I got it for free! :)

-sip

2007 euro: itinerary

A smart (solo) traveler always leaves this behind, so here it is…

  • Fri, Oct 5: Fly to Dubrovnik (Croatia) via Philly & Dublin (USAirways & Aer Lingus)
  • Sat, Oct 6: Arrive in Dubrovnik, 18:45 local time – staying who knows where…?
  • Sun, Oct 7: Staying @ Sesame Inn, 4 nights
  • …putzing around Dubrovnik and heading to Mostar and Kotor on day trips…
  • Thu, Oct 11: Fly from Dubrovnik to Zagreb (Croatia) – depart 15:50 local time; Croatia Airlines OU665. Staying at Fulir Hostel in Zagreb. Will definitely be looking forward to a nice hostel…
  • Sat, Oct 13: Train from Zagreb to Ljubljana (Slovenia) – takes 2.5 hours. Staying at Hostel Celica in Ljubljana. Two nights in a prison cell.
  • …maybe a day trip out into the lakes or the Julian Alps…
  • Mon, Oct 15: Train from Ljubljana to Venice (Italy) – takes 3.5 hours. Staying at Albergo San Samuel in Venice.
  • …eating lots of gelato, looking and lots of art, hopefully not getting sh*t on by pigeons…did you know that the city puts pigeon birth control in the feed?
  • Thu, Oct 18: Fly from Venice-Treviso to Frankfurt-Hahn (Germany) – depart 18:05 local time; RyanAir 8093. Fritz picking me up at @ airport. Staying with the Germans!
  • …practice German, maybe tool around Cologne, Ja, ich esse wurst und ich trinke bier!
  • Mon, Oct 22: Train from Koblenz to Frankfurt, catch flight back to the states (USAirways Frankfurt-Charlotte direct).
  • Tue, Oct 23: Back to the real world…

2007: the heart of the adriatic…

hi all,

this is for those of you that want to keep up with me while i’m away :) yeah it’s nice to have a journal but they can be a pain in the ass to carry around and i’m more of a computer geek by trade anyway. i usually try to hit the internet cafe every couple of days as it’s my only way to get news/weather and know what is going on in the rest of the world.

i’m off the evening of Friday October 5th, and my return flight is for Monday October 22nd. in between, i’ll have a couple other plane flights and some trains, and heck, maybe a bus or two, to catch as i make my way from southern croatia over to venice, italy and then up to the mosel/rhein area in germany. yes i am trying to get a day trip into bosnia and one into montenegro. PEOPLE: these countries are not at war; if you check your history books, it ended in 1995.

bosnia – mostar is the town i am interested in, as it’s just over the border: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostar
montenegro – the newest country in europe, thinking about kotor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotor