Around the World in 110 Days!

Hi everyone!

Okay, here are some updates.

So I arrived in Vienna last Wednesday later in the evening. Immediately the next morning, I asked the hostel staff to help me buy a ticket for a ball called the Galanacht des Sports 2006 that was happening on Friday. Christian on the staff said this looks like a special event for famous Austrian sports people and therefore must not be open to the public. So, he called them up and told them I was from a sports agency in the US! They said they would call back in a half hour to let me know if I could go.

Well, I didn’t hear anything and the staff tried to call that (Thursday) evening, but there was no answer. I was losing hope, but asked them to again call the ball people that Friday morning. Well, someone answered and said to call the press person. So, Christian (from the hostel staff) called the press person and got me on the list! There would be a card for me at the press table, but I would not have a table to sit at.

Now that I had entry, I now had to rent a suit for that evening and find shoes. I managed to find a rental place down the street who fitted the sleeves and pant legs to exactly the right length. I was to come back a little before 6pm to pick it up before they closed. They referred me to a shopping street where I could possibly find some shoes. I lucked out and managed to find some cheap 25 euro shoes and was able to get back in time to pick up my suit.

The next test of course was actually getting into the ball. My story was I was from a sports agency in the US just starting out, so I didn’t really know anything yet. I arrived around 10pm as I was not sure what time it started. When I arrived, the people I first spoke to where unsure if I should be there. But when they found the person in charge, I mentioned my name, and she said, “Oh, John Dorfman!” and I was in! They actually did have a seat for me at a table of Austrian journalists taking pictures of the event.

From there, I was served two courses and there was entertainment (a band playing with the singer changing into different costumes, some sort of recognition ceremony (everything was in german), and some professional ballroom dancers demonstrated salsa). I was trying to not talk much so as not to blow my cover. This was fairly easy as Austrian journalists seem to be fairly quiet plus I could not speak german. After these events, we moved into the hall where they had a dessert table and a cocktail lounge.

At about 1 or 2 in the morning after people had been drinking for a while, people started to dance a little (more drunken dancing than ballroom dancing), so it was really not a ball in the traditional sense. I asked a couple of people to dance at this point, but they politely refused (not sure if they knew how to dance).

Still, at the end of the night, it was amazing that I had gotten into this event being surrounded by famous Austrian sports people. Of course, I had no idea who they were. Here is a pic outside the place the ball was in (there are the remains of the Tag des Sports 2006 event in the picture)

Not to worry about not being at a real ball though since I extended my stay here until this Sunday and am going to the Ball der Wiener Symphoniker this Friday! I can use my same suit and shoes.

Also, in other news, I am instead going to Seoul, South Korea instead of Bangkok since the peaceful coup there scares me. Besides, South Korea is supposed to be big into video games!

Um, lets see, here are some pics of stuff around Vienna.

Also, here is a video of all the bears.

So, that is most of what I have done so far. I have also watched a couple of American movies (in english) as I was missing those. Tonight I see a Mozart concert in period costume and will probably go salsa dancing. Also, I got a new better camera, so there should be more night pictures in the future.

Okay, hope everyone is well. Cheers!

Okay, so more detail on the Fes medina tour. As I went through, I stopped at a couple of museum, saw the old palace (Fes used to be capital of Morocco. France moved it to Rabat during the protectorate years and Rabat still remains the capital). I was also taken into various shops where they would give a presentation and then sales pressure. Basically, they would say there is no obligation to buy and then try hard to sell me. Although the sales pressure was annoying, they did do some amazing things. I saw a man using a chisel to carve intricate patterns into bronze serving dishes with no construction lines or a pattern. It was all done from the mind and each was unique! I saw the same thing with embroidery. A woman was sewing an embroidery with no pattern or guide lines and it looked great and was reversable!

I also saw a traditional Berber herb and spice shop where I bought some cinnamon and a carpet store. The carpet store owner showed me his client book which showed various US persons that had bought these carpets and then would sell them at a higher price in the US. He suggested I do the same thing. Tempting, but no deal. But I do have his business card if I ever change my mind.

Lastly, I saw the leather shop where, they have been making the leather in the same pits for the last 700 years. It did not smell pleasant. Here is a pic.

After Fes, I headed back to Casablanca for one night to make sure that I caught my flight out to Vienna the next day (which I did). Here is a look from mz hotel room balcony into the streets of Casablanca.

Now, just some general info on Morocco. Here is an interesting fact, according to Lonely Planet, wives no longer have to legally obey their husbands since 2004. So before that, wives WERE legally bound to obey the husband. *chill* Also, Morocco is experiencing brain drain. People who can afford it send their children to France for education. The children tend to not come back. I actually met a Moroccoan girl (who was very nice) in Barcelona on her way to France. I asked her if she was going to return to Morocco, and she said maybe after she worked a little in another country. So the Lonely Planet could be referring to her.

Lastly, I just have to say that I did meet some very nice Moroccans who pointed me in the right direction, etc, but this was definitely offset by the faux guides, the dirtiness of the cities, and the constant sales pressure (cause I was a theoretically rich foreigner I believe).

Okay that is it for now! I shall give my report on Vienna later (already went to ball, sort of)!

Hi everyone,

Well, I made it through Morocco. It was stressful, not that fun, but educational. Here is the whole story.

So, I arrived in Casablanca via plane from Barcelona and took a train to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, where I stayed for three days. I checked into a hotel that I had reserved using the little french that I know. The first day after I checked into my hotel, I heard sort of a pop. I look out the window and a power wire on the hotel behind me has split apart and burst into fire. Fortunately, while I was trying to decide how I was going to tell someone about this, it burned itself out. Later that day, I saw someone climb a ladder and fix it. Here is just a general view outside the window of my hotel window in Rabat.

The hotel room itself was nice. It even had a TV with french and arabic programming. I managed to see Smallville in French.

During most of the time, I ended up walking around town a bit and also visited some Roman and Arabic ruins during my stay. Here are some pics.

I also encountered a faux guide (someone that badgers you to allow them to give you a tour). Basically, this guy (ran into him twice) tried to figure out what nationality I was to better speak to me. He could never figure out if I was french or english cause I said non merci and no thank you a couple of times. He then proceeded to offer a tour to various places, then marajuana (sp?). When I kept saying no thank you and walking away, he left and said $&%& off both times. Bastard. Anyway, even though being a faux guide in Morocco now is illegal to get more tourism, some people still do it because of the 20% unemployment rate.

After three days, I caught a train to Fes, the city with the largest intact medina (medival Islamic city) in the world. The first night, I stayed at a hotel cause the youth hostel was not open. My second and third day, I stayed in the youth hostel which was wonderful as there were international people to talk to. During my stay in Fes, I took a tour of the medina which was huge. Here are some pics.

Okay, have to go right now, but will finish this up in part 2!

So, I am getting ready to leave Barcelona. I have a 6:30 am flight tomorrow to fly to Casablanca. And I managed to book my hotel in Rabat (first stop in Morocco) and Casablanca. I will book Fes (second stop) today.

Anyway, here is my summary for Barcelona!

So, the first day or two, I was just dealing with logistics. Relaxing, updating the blog. Figuring out how to use my most annoying phone to call Morocco. The first night, I did go to a pub crawl the Sant Jordi hostel arranges every night. In Barcelona, people party until 7 in the morning. This particular crawl, we were at a pub / discotheque until 3am. When that closed, we moved onto another club just opening. At that point, I had had enough of losing my hearing, so I went back to the hostel at 3:30 am. I will note though that a couple of Belgians at the hostel did party 4 or 5 nights in a row to 5, 6 or 7am in the morning. I do not know how they do it.

On Friday, I believe, I went to see Gaudi´s Sagrada Familia (a church).

Here are a couple of pics of other parts of Barcelona:

Flamenco dancing

Let’s see,what else. Did not make salsa dancing, the one night I was going, the club was doing lambada and was not giving lessons. This did not please the people that I dragged along with no dance experience.

Petty theft seems fairly common. Noone got my stuff, but these two girls saw two people quietly stealing something from under someone’s chair at the beach. And I heard stories of several other people that I met before Barcelona who knew someone or themselves had something stolen.

It was warm (about 85 deg F or 25 deg C I think) and humid when I got there. A bit too hot for me. It was also polluted, but Barcelona is a large city (5 million which is entire metro area).

Okay, that is it! I am writing this from Rabat right now and will be going to Fes tomorrow.

Hope y’all are doing well.

Hey everyone!

Okay, so I had a great time in Edinburgh! I figured out what was wrong with my blog software now so I can post pics again (adding another plugin broke my picture plugin).

So, when I arrived, I stayed at this great hostel called Castle Rock Hostel. It has a medieval castle like decor and is right next to Edinburgh castle.
On Thursday morning, I took a 10 am free walking tour offered by the hostel that had many crazy stories. Here is one of them. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written here and is based on a man with the last name of Brody (cannot remember his first name). This man was a very upstanding person during the day, but secretly, he was making copy of people´s keys (I think he was a locksmith). At night, he would then steal from them. No one could figure who was doing it. Brody himself offered a 300 pound reward for the culprit (of course it was him).

All this money still was not supporting Mr. Brody´s night life of gambling and prostitution. So he found two accomplices to rob the customs office. He promised each of his accomplices 100 pounds. They killed the guard and broke open the safe only to find 12 pounds. The accomplices then wanted none of it, and turned in Mr. Brody. Mr. Brody was sentenced to hanging and was theoretically hung.

However, there were rumors that Mr. Brody may have escaped as he had help design part of the gallows. Eventually, people exhumed his casket only to find nothing inside! So perhaps he escaped indeed.

On Friday morning, I left for a bus tour through Macbackpackers through the highlands to the Isle of Skye on the northwestern part of Scotland. On the way, I saw sheep

and here are the start of the highlands.

other things that I say along the way were:

military barracks

old church:

Loch Ness! I saw Nessie, but just could not get a picture. The lock is about 24 miles long, but probably only a 1/2 mile wide.

ruined castle:

So the tour (there were 29 of us about) stopped at a hostel on the Isle of Skye Friday night, and then we toured the island on Saturday by bus.

Here is a pic from the top of a ¨mountain that we climbed.

another one.

Here is a 360 video of the top.

Here is a New Zealander I met on the tour further down this mountain.

We went onto an area that was a ¨fairy castle¨

Here is a pic of Terry, an Aussie at the top of the fairy castle.

Here is a pic of Terry´s wife, Pam, in front of the Eilean Donan Castle door.

We saw this castle again (when I took these pics on the way back from Isle of Skye on Sunday). Here is a view of the hole castle.

Bagpipe player

Hairy coo (cow) from the highlands!

Here is a pic of the tour guide, Jenny. She was a wonderful guide and had great stories.

Here is a view of Edinburgh from partway up Arthur´s Seat. You can see Edinburgh Castle near the center.

Here is a quick video. Max and Sabrina ( they were on the tour ) can be seen in the video.

At top of Arthur´s Seat, as you can see, it is really, really windy.

And lastly, here is Edinburgh castle!

So, thoughts on Edinburgh.

- The city is beautiful due to its hills, castles and ancient buildings. It is somewhat in stark contrast to flat Dublin.
- Volvic water seems pretty strong here as well!
- Bagpipe players are cool.
- I want to visit the lost valley were highland clans used to hide each other´s cows ( or coos should I say? )
- Scottish speech is quite fun. They use a lot of wees, cheeky, and aye. Example sentence: Aye, I finally got the cheeky hairy coo into its wee barn.

Okay, I will give blog entries for Barcelona in the near future! Cheers everyone!