Home.

Trip over. Feelings are mixed about this.

Coming "home" in the broad sense of returning to friends, family, and familiarity, is always a meaningful thing. But ending something special like the previous 23 days is tough.

Thank you all who kept tabs on me. I tried to keep things fairly lighthearted...I know not everyone likes to read long, heart-revealing paragraphs on a blogsite. Can't wait to share more of my experience with those of you interested.


A final pic...my last food in Europe...Apple Strudel and espresso in Vienna. Delightful.

Nearing the end...

Venice: Wonderful time there, capped off by maybe the high point of my trip, an unlikely encounter with someone I met earlier in the trip. It was an unbelievable and deeply meaningful occurance. Make me tell this story later.

A couple pics from Venice...

This is in San Marco square, the heart of the city, and gorgeous in its size and architecture.

A shot of one of Venice´s many "roads."

Salzburg: arrived yesterday...a charming little city, surrounded by hills, beautiful gardens, cathedrals, a hilltop castle, beautiful buildings and streets and squares, and a church bell that resounds throughout the city every fifteen minutes.

One of the hills in Salzburg to which I hiked today. Any guesses what this is all about? A not-so-subtle hint: "The hills are alive/with the sound of Boswell" (Ah-ah-ah-ah...)

Venice. Yikes.

Ciao from Venice.

Apologies for no pictures, can't on this computer. So I'll be brief, since no one likes long rambling without images.

This place is surreal. It is gorgeous, confusing, so rich in history, a labyrinth of a city that is best explored by getting lost. And not all who wander are lost, as some famous guy once said. My motto for the trip.

Switzerland was great, very relaxing. Luzern was especially lovely. It was hard to leave the Buckleys, my new friends, with their great hospitality, warmth, and generosity. I was spoiled.

By the way, Mr. Buckley, thanks for the tip (my readers will notice a strange post below this one). Now stay the hell out of my email and blog accounts from now on. :) Hugs and kisses to you.

Hope you all are well. More to come later.

A little lesson from your Zurich friends

Being able to hang out with Matt over the weekend in Zurich was, well, awesome. But we have one bit of advice:

log out of your google/blogger accounts before leaving someone's house.

You never know what they'll do.

Sincerely,

Coy and Kacey

Castles and bongs

Trip continues to be great, every day containing meaningful sites or interactions. It's Monday evening, and I'm now in Zurich, staying with friends of a buddy of mine from Seminary. Zurich is a funny blend of very new/modern and very old. This is the most relaxed I've been all trip...went on a bike ride and relaxed by a beautiful lake yesterday. Today, wandered the city, checked out some Protestant Reformation-related sites (walked through Zwingli's old church).

Here are a couple new pics:




Pic One: This is a couple days ago, back in Germany. This scene was one of the most spectacular I've ever glimpsed...taken from a bridge high above a raging creek, surrounded by mountains, forest, and a village in the distance. This castle is actually relatively new (as far as castles go), built in the late 19th century by crazy king Ludwig in Bavaria. Crazy, really...but maybe "cool" crazy...he built a cave inside of his castle. I mean, one section of the castle is a cave.




Pic Two: My first experience smoking hooka (spelling?), with friends in Zurich. A bong yes, weed no...some sort of fruity flavored tobacco. The best part was that a group of us were passing it around, taking hits...actually kind of a cool, communal experience. Anybody think I could convince my future congregation to "pass the pipe" during a worship service as a corporate act of unity?

some pictures

here are some pics from the last few days...not sure how the layout will look, but you can probably figure out which caption goes with what. I left Prague on Wednesday (hard to do), and have been in munich for a couple days now.

1st pic...me and a group of guys in munich...they were playing ping pong in the park, and i boldly, or maybe obnoxiously, asked to play the winner...two and a half hours later, they had welcomed me into their community, a group that meets here every day, weather pending, to hang out...they shared their beer, travel wisdom, life advice, and we even had some good discussions about etymology, the bible, and psychology...and i got owned by the old Indian guy at ping pong 5 games to zero



2nd pic...me and new friends at the most famous beer hall in munich...live band, crowded, the place feels like an old church turned pub...and the portions--yikes! a one-liter glass, and i helped Mercedes (from argentina) finish hers. needless to say, i left a bit tipsy. (fortunately i become lighthearted, not an a-hole, when i have a bit of alcohol in me)






3rd pic...Dachau concentration camp, outside of munich. Wow. This was one of the most meaningful and moving parts of my trip thus far. This is a shot of the wall, and tower where SS guards would snipe at those trying to escape.









4th pic...Come with me if you want to live. strange door in strange garden in prague, with dripstone wall that looks like vines and has faces and creatures scuplted into the wall...never seen anything like it.

5th pic...main hall of one of the oldest and largest castles in europe. they used to joust in this room.

6th pic...streets of Prague.

I'm in love.

Oh my. So I'm in Prague, been here for about 1 1/2 days, after leaving beautiful Vienna, which I loved...beautiful scenery, cool museums, and good times with some people I met...everything from a late night bike ride through the city to dialogue about the goodness of prostitution organizations. (Some people have interesting opinions...I suppose that makes for good discussion, right?)

But Prague...wow. I can't post pictures on this computer or I would. I am enchanted by this city. It has such a mystique to it, so old, beautiful, mysterious. I'm smitten with it. Actually, I wanted to announce that I will be marrying Prague.

Please don't misunderstand me. I don't want to get married IN Prague, nor did I meet a girl here that I intend to marry. Nope. ACTUALLY marrying the city. Arrangements have been made. We (the city of Prague and I) have set a date, have ordered the rings, and are in marital counseling with a priest. Invitations should go out in 4-6 weeks.

Greetings from beautiful Vienna!

This picture is from Vienna. The woman I'm dancing with was kind of in her own world at this outdoor concert I went to my first night here. Everybody was giggling at her, for good reason I guess....she was pretty amusing. But she didn't care. So after a few minutes of this I went and joined her, and let loose...that's right, the "Thriller" and the "Worm" to name a few of my "go-to" dance moves. :) Then others started joining, and after the song was over and we had exchanged bows, she stopped for a breather, and people started asking her for her autograph. Good times. I was glad my joining could help change her status from wierdo to "cool novelty." Tom (from Slovokia, studying in Vienna) took the picture. He came up to me and asked me a question about the concert earlier (in German), and after a couple of hours we had talked about everthing from communism (memories of it still very near for his family) to religion/spirituality to Beyonce (not sure how we got to her). And he gave me a carton of green tea (never drank the pre-mixed version...that stuff is good!). Neat to be able to make some early connections.

Having a blast. This is one of many things I could share from my LONG plane ride to my wanderings around to beautiful Vienna the last couple of days. But I'll save that for a rainy day.