Sunday, August 17, 2008

Nair and the Love Parade 2008


Meet Nair, a 20 something friend from the Netherlands who happens to be the most out going person that I've met yet. As you can see in the backround of the picture, the Love Parade is a pretty crazy place where all sorts come together for some techo music fun as well as some other less legal activities. We really enjoyed dancing to a thump, thump, thump that you could feel in your lungs for about 8 hours or so. It rained most of the day but that didn't seem to deter the 1,000,000 drunk or almost drunk Germans that came together

The Torrential Storm


"We can't help the weather", is the conclusion that one makes on a trip of this sort. We are outside everyday which leaves us at the mercy of the Gods when it comes to drizzle and what not. A few days hence while we were enjoying the landscape and citizens of Poland, we found ourselves in a pickle. We'd been attempting to get a ride for the past four hours but the flow of cars was meager at most. Our boredom even drove us to playing apple baseball and exercising our skills of left-handed-two-apple juggling. As the day and our nerves became late and raw, we noticed a darkening sky. Not 30 seconds after the initial gigantic drop fell we were being pumeled with peanut m+m sized water bullets. Surprisingly our screams didn't rouse the locals to action as we scrambled to the nearest shelter which happened to be a tiny, dirty, bridge covering a little stream. As the hours wore on so the stream became a swollen little river. First, we had to move our stuff, then our feet, then stand up, and finally press ourselves against the wall. At this moment we noticed that many of our little gastropod friends were in more dire straights then we. Snails were everywhere at the water edge trying to get away from the rising waters. We decided that it was our duty to save approx: 83 snails. Within 20 minutes of this fateful act we recieved the ride that we had been dreaming of. Glory glory hallelujah

Belarus aka White Russia



Brad having served part of his mission in Belarus, never thought that he would find two of their youth tramping through Europe as we are. This country is run by a dictator and because of its stringent travelling regulations its citizens don't often see the outside world. This is a very nostalgic moment for Brad on the trip.