The bar at the hostel here in Munich is crackin' every night and Wesley and I have been able to watch a lot of March Madness games in the late evenings along with the various other folks we've met here.

Last night we were sitting at the bar watching the game when we were joined by two women. Our friend Ian from California immediately took to Naomi, a New Zealander, and I took to Natasha, a beautiful girl from Australia. This girl was a dream.

We talked for a couple hours and I learned that Natasha is actually half Swedish (which explained her features -- long blonde hair, perfect smile, blue eyes). She's basing out of London while traveling Europe, and most recently returned from Egypt. We bought each other a few drinks, played pool, talked more, etc. We agreed we should meet for drinks the next night, too.

Game on. Advantage: Paolo.

We closed the bar along with Ian and Naomi, and the girls thought that we should head out to a club. Unfortunately, it was damn near 2:30 a.m. and no clubs were open considering the time. Regardless the girls wanted to walk, which was fine.

Now at some point between leaving the bar and heading toward the main square, Natasha changed. We were all freezing our asses off by the time we were halfway across town, and it was only then that we convinced the girls that nothing was open and we ought to turn around. We trekked back toward the hostel, and along the way Natasha realized that she dropped her phone somewhere along the way. She then insisted that we turn back to walk across town again to search for the phone at 3 a.m. The rest of us agreed this was ridiculous, which caused Natasha to throw a tantrum. Naomi moved in to calm her down, which only provoked Natasha and they nearly got in a physical fight.

Ian and I regrouped during the catfight. I was babysitting by this point and Ian expressed his thanks because he was still getting along well with Naomi and realized I was taking one for the team. Americans stick together, I replied.

I walked ahead to look for the phone. Natasha caught up with me and thanked me for staying out to help her find the phone, which we did eventually track down after another half hour of walking. However, the phone only gave her brief satisfaction before she called another friend to bitch about Naomi turning on her.

At 4 a.m. and with Natasha on the phone and Ian and Naomi behind me, I walked ahead. I was tired and cold. Stick a fork in me. I was done.

Advantage: Munich.

Natasha caught up with me just before arriving at the hostel. She asked if we would still meet the next night. It'd been more than an hour since I actually looked into her big, blue eyes. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, and she whipped her long blonde hair back over her shoulders.

I decided this dream was over.

"Nope."

Hi friends and family,

Yesterday Wesley and I embarked on "The Sound of Music" tour to embrace the cheesy tourist ploy as well as get out into the Austrian countryside. Our guide was totally tacky but funny and spoke in an accent that sounds like Canadians on "South Park." Yes, we did listen to "The Sound of Music" soundtrack on the bus and stopped at all of the allegedly important film locations. It was good fun.

Wesley: "If we're ever at a party and 'The Sound of Music' was playing, we'd totally be able to impress everyone with our knowledge."
Me: "That would never happen, but hypothetically you're right."

After the tour we went to an awesome beer hall at St. Augustine in Old Town Salzburg. The monks at the church actually brew the beer on site. Screw after-service pancakes. This is the way to go!

We woke up to snow in Salzburg this morning and hopped on a train to Munich. I read in the paper that Obama made a big speech about race, which seems to have been received positively.

Just as soon as we arrived at the hostel, Wombat's, we were off on a free tour of the city. We walked everywhere in three hours and our guide plugged all the Third Reich movement history. We were snowed upon the entire tour, which gave a nice Winter Wonderland vibe, but we also froze our asses off, so it was a give and take.

We're going to be staying in Berlin for the remainder of the trip because there's heavy snow in Switzerland and we just are not prepared for that (Note to self: Go to warm destination next). We're supposed to have light snow in Berlin, too, but at least the temperature is a bit more moderate. Plus, there's so much to see and so much beer to drink here. Picture me with a liter of beer in a stein.

Cheers,
Paolo

My thoughts are with Courtney, Jeff (Brother Bear), their father Stu and the rest of the Creighton family during this time of mourning. They unexpectedly lost Rita, Courtney and Jeff's mother, on Sunday.

Read about Rita here.

Please keep them in your prayers.

Hi all,

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, so Wesley and I arrived into a sketchy part of Budapest after we were robbed, but landed at a very nice hostel on the other side of Pest (Budapest is actually two cities (Buda and Pest). We spent most of the morning exploring and the city grew on us. We were most impressed by the Parliament building, which is sort of like the White House there, and we caught part of Easter mass at the local main Christian church.

We left Budapest after a night for Vienna, which is a lovely city, too. It was a whirlwind though, because we had fewer than 24 hours there before catching the train to Salzburg. This pace is hectic but rewarding.

Salzburg reminds me a lot of Switzerland -- green and quaint. This is the birthplace of Mozart and where "The Sound of Music" was filmed. In fact, at our hostel, they play "The Sound of Music" once a day. We're taking a guided tour tomorrow during the day and will further explore the pubs and clubs tomorrow night before we catch a train to Munich.
___

We met a Russian man at the hostel in Vienna and got into a conversation with him about his global travels, which include most of Europe, Dubai, New Zealand and Australia. He said he knew we were Americans because we were so friendly and introduced ourselves. He said every American he has met from in his travels has been delightful and so on. This was a nice change because most of the people we've met (usually on by train or hostel) has asked:

1. Clinton or Obama?
2. (Regardless of answer to Number 1) Good. Anyone is better than Bush.

I hadn't realized that the world was so focused on the US elections, because frankly I don't know who the main political leader is in most major countries, but we've been told time and time again about how drastically US economy and policy affects European counterparts. Everyone here has their own strong opinions about Clinton, Obama and McCain.

A middle-aged German man: "Obama could be the next Kennedy."

A 20-something Irish girl: "I'm Clinton all the way. She's got the experience."

We've had some insightful, often intoxicated discussions on the matter.

In Budapest now. Gotta be quick because Internet is $ here. We got robbed on the night train last night and lost cash and iPods. Still have all of our IDs and credit cards, but a huge bummer. We're only spending one night in Budapest because it's kinda on the sketchy side. Will hop back online when we get into Vienna.

Paolo will accept gift certificates to Best Buy for his birthday to replace said stolen iPod.