This trip was for two months in the spring of 2009, hitchhiking about 6000km all over Europe in a crazy spirograph itinerary. I went to only a few places I hadn`t been before, but it was a revelation to return to Paris for a week. I had a great time thanks to all my friends there. I had a great time everywhere thanks to my friends!
I decided to go easy on the pix so everything would fit on one page. The first eight photos are from Istanbul. The first ones here for the Hotel Kent--"kent" means "town" in Turkish.
|
This tastes better than it looks, especially the pomegranite and pistachio.
|
In the Egyptian Bazaar
|
This boy is dressed like this because he is about to be circumcised. I think I would need more than a frilly cape to get through it.
|
Cabbage Pow! I don't know what these pills were for, so I took a few handfuls. My skin became green and scaly. HA!
|
Standing grill bratwurst vendor in Berlin. This has to be a much tougher job than it looks.
|
Munich politician. I wish I had stolen this poster.
|
Hitchhiking in Hungary. I have seen better signs in Hungary with more indecipherable town names, but this is the best I could come up with on this trip.
|
Covered Trabant in Zalaegerszeg. I have long thought about importing a Trabant to USA. I could never make it street-legal, but maybe I could modify it as a golf cart or something.
|
This is hitchhiking back to Hungary from Romania after visiting my dentist. I dozed off and my driver got so lost we had to take this ferry to cross the Tisza River far from Szeged.
|
Anti-EU poster in Budapest.
"It is also possible to say no"
|
I took this in a Budapest train station and I thought right after doing so I would get yelled at by the guy on the right, but he asked if I wanted to play.
|
Freedom Bridge spanning the Danube. Budapest has nine or ten bridges crossing the Danube. Further down the river in Belgrade, Serbia, a similar-sized town, there are only three. Paris, not much bigger, has 37 bridges across the Seine!
|
|
|
Novi Sad, Serbia eatery. I impulsively decided to spend a few days in Serbia for no reason at all. I hitchhiked down from Budapest, taking the American flag off my backpack for this stretch. I didn't expect everyone to be so forgiving about the Balkan war. The government hasn't forgotten; the buildings below that we bombed during the war stand just as they were when hit.
|
Hitching was pretty easy, I was happy to discover. I did get a ride from a very sleepy driver, but nothing fatal came of it.
|
Good meating!
|
|
This Belgrade flea market was one of the scummiest I have ever seen, and I am normally totally unfazed by filth. The better action was on the fringe outside. I bought some t-shirts and Yugoslav communist youth paraphenalia.
|
BIG fan of the Cyrillic alphabet
|
"Zvrk" sounds so much cooler than onion rings.
|
I did manage to go to this World Cup soccer qualifier between Serbia and Austria. $8 a ticket.
|
I then hitchhiked from Serbia through Croatia back to Hungary. At the Croatian border they stamped my passport twice, which didn't go over well later in the day when I tried to leave the country.
|
|
|
near Dortmund, Germany. I don't understand this. It is English, right?
|
Big shoes in Holland
|
Hitching to Paris from Belgium. Notice the technique: hiding the flip flops behind the bag, back straight, alluring smile and general fantastic form. I really should write a book.
|
|
I visited the Rochu family whereupon two amazing things passed before my eyes and ears. One was a visit to a charcuterie where I witnessed Veritable Jesus salami being sold, possibly the greatest name ever for a consumable, and then when Caroline and Fabrice's two and a half year old son, Matthieu, tasted some food and announced that it needed a little more salt.
I saw all kinds of incongruent things in Paris, such as below:
|
"We're not just closed, we are exceptionally closed. Deal with it!"
|
|
The essence of Paris
|
ahhh, sooooo romantic!
|
|
|
to kentfoster.com