Pictures!

Ok guys. I´m at a hostel in Barcelona with an unexpectedly sweet internet situation.

...Except that I can only use it for 20 minutes at a time. [edit: this post actually took me like 5 of these 20 minute sessions and it was terribly frustrating and now I'm actually in Prague finishing it up... AND I didn´t manage to get the Patrick Swayze picture posted. Sorry!] So I´m gonna throw up some choice pictures from various parts of my trip, without much commentary [edit: internet is free in Prague so I've added a bit more commentary]. Enjoy!

Hike outside of Jena, Germany, with Brock and Pavlick (not pictured). Pavlick was our gracious host in Jena, our first real stop in Europe. And before we leave this continent, we´re going back there for one more night. You know what that means... more MarioKart! Ah, sweet sweet European nintendo.
You know, I probably should have chosen a different picture - you know, one that shows you what Jena looks like and not just a bunch of stupid leaves and Brocks. Can't change it now though, so I guess you suckers are stuck with it.
Jena though, it's very pretty from up in these mountains. The high point, literally and figuratively, of the hike was an old watchtower, maybe 100, 150 feet teall. [the rest of this paragraph was deleted at Brock's request. What could have been here??]


Bikeride in Jemelle, Belgium. This is the part of Belgium where they speak French. My negotiation for bike rental went something like this:

Me: ¨Je voudrais louer des velos.¨ (I practiced)
Him: ¨I am speaking French. You cannot understand me.¨
Me: ¨Oho! Think again sir. I took 2 years of that language in Middle School.¨
Him: ¨Very well. Let us work out the details of this transaction¨
Me: ¨What?¨
Him: ¨DE - TAILS¨
Me: ¨This is what French sounds like?¨
Him: ¨Pay 20€. Give me Passport. I give bikes.¨
Me: ¨Oh. Okay. Au revoir!¨

The castle on the top of the hill in Vianden, Luxembourg. Check out that sweet foreground object that I included because that´s what I do when I try to be artistical!

[PHOTO MISSING]

Signed printout of Patrick Swayze (!) in the fancy picture room in the above castle. The printout came from the movie "George and the Dragon," where Swayze had a supporting role, playing some kind of idiot. Let me tell you, he really looked the part in this picture.
Other pictures in the picture room included Luxembourg royalty from years past, and the first lady of China.

That´s not a window! (I´m playing the fool) This is at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which contains a lot of modern art and is awesome. My favorites were ¨One Minute Sculptures¨ by Erwin Wurm. They're just a bunch of silly photographs and I was hoping to find them on the internets and show you to them but I can't. I suppose you'll just have to go to Paris.

Here´s Brock and some statue in the Louvre. We´re pretty sure this is what she was doing before her arms got knocked off.


Here are two from a series of me looking stupid and pointing at things. That bottom painting was right across from the Mona Lisa. In fact, in that photograph, I can probably see the Mona Lisa with my peripheral vision. Ooh and Aah if you like.


That´s Oviedo. Where Katy lives. Pretty, no? In this picture, we are quite near to a giant Jesus statue, perhaps 65 times the size of a normal Jesus. But as you can see, Jesus plays no role in this picture. Unless you consider that he, as his own father, created that sky and those mountains and all things. But then, that means Jesus is in every picture ever taken of everything, which kind of cheapens REAL Jesus pictures. Quite a predicament you're in, Jesus.

It's HAY-zoos en Español. Is it weird that Spanish speaking people name their kids Jesus? Seems a bit, um, presumptuous, might be the word. I mean, I know a lot of people have biblical names (Dan and myself included), but I don't think my parents were going, "hmm, let's name one of our kids after a surviving tribe of Israel and another after a lost Tribe."

Hear that Dan? Your tribe wandered and died! Go Tribe of Benjamin!

On the other hand, I think when people decide to name their kid Jesus, they are indeed thinking "yea, we'll call him Jesus, just like Jesus Christ our Lord. This'll rock." I guess the same goes for Muslims naming their kids Mohammed. You can't draw the guy but you can name your kid after him? It seems strange to me.


This is called [i will insert town name here], Spain, where they have this amazing sculpture thingy, and you stand in the center of it and it echoes the sounds of the nearby waves. Really, it just sounds like you have a derder up to your ear (ask me about derders if you don´t know), but it´s still cool.

Alright, I hope you liked these pictures because I doubt you'll be seeing any more before I get back. Good night.