Fasching in Heidelberg

It was late and we didn't have a place to stay in KA so we decided to go to Heidelberg. It's a cute small town north of KA which was on our way north anyways. In the hostel I stayed I met Ailen. We went for a walk the following day having lunch at the university mensa where we met Karl. After talking with him for a while he said that he could give us a small tour of the town, he said that he had an hour free, that hour turned into five! We went to the church tower which has magnificent views of the old town. The castle is on a nearby hill and it's amazing! There is a gate and legend has it that the guy who built it did it in one night for his beloved. The thing is that is only an arch. Nothing on either side and it's in the middle of a courtyard. I guess he meant that the gate was the gate to his heart? Yeah, I know. I'm a hopeless romantic OR a I have a bit of imagination.

It was the last day of fasching (carnival) so there was a big parade in one of the main streets. People told me that I should've gone to Koln which has a bigger carnival but in fact big celebrations are not my cup of tea so this small fasching parade was awesome! There were people screaming all kinds of things in German. I saw a group of German kids singing so I started to lalalalal. The girl sang that she wanted a photo. With me! So we posed and when she was hugging me she grabbed my ass! It was not the last time that kind of thing happened that afternoon. Later I had my ass grabbed this time by two girls, one in each side. While walking we saw some boxes so we used them as a swiss cheese costume. We danced for a girl busking and she said something like "I've been doing this for a quite a while now but I have never had two chunks of cheese dancing for me". Karl left and Ailen drew whiskers on her face. The cheese was chasing the mouse all over the streets! We sure made some people laugh.

 

Cheaper TGV to Karlsruhe

The distance between Berlin and Karlsruhe is about 700km. A lot but it's just about a hundred more than Utrecht - Berlin BUT you have to change motorways a few times and that what makes things tricky.

To sum things up I made a mistake and we ended up in the wrong place. By the time I figured out where we are it was late and we had to spend the night inside the restaurant of the petrol station. Last time I did this was with Ania two years ago when we were going from Zurich to Utrecht.

Following morning we went into a McCrap in a small town outside Nurnberg and from there we went to the place to hitch from Nurnberg towards Stuttgart. In the afternoon, after all day hitchhiking we were on our way to Stuttgart. The driver spoke Spanish left us in front of the Hauptbahnhof. We were tired, hungry and I didn't know where to go to start HHing to Karlsruhe so we took the train. We say on the timetable that there was a train leaving in a few minutes so we got inside. It was the fucking TGV! We knew that our tickets weren't for that train... when we got controlled I showed my best smile to the woman (she said that we had to pay the difference) and told her that we just saw on the timetable "Karlsruhe" and jumped in. I guess my charms worked because she said that next time if we had doubts we should ask at the ticket office. I will, I promise. I honestly thought I was never going to ride the TGV, I did at 240 kph!!!

Finally I was in KA. I met with Dimana. Last time I saw her was in Colombia before my birthday, where the temperature was like 250C... KA was a bit colder.

The next day I met with my good friend Sandra. When I first met her in 2009 I waited a bit more than 2 years to meet again. Since that time, less than 1 year, we've met three times so far. I like it! Let's make it more often!

A lot of people told me that there is nothing to do in KA and to be honest I wouldn't know. I didn't stay that long to really have an opinion about it which gives me an excuse to go back. That and to finally see Sandra's home town of course!

Karlsruhe means something like "Karl's resting place" and I think he's even buried inside a pyramid in Marktplatz. Fun fact: that pyramid is the northernmost pyramid in the world and there is someone buried inside!

We had to leave KA because we didn't have a place to stay so we headed to Heidelberg.

 

Berlin. Again.

I've lost count how many times I have been to Berlin. I just remember that my first time was at the end of summer 2010. Yet I have been so many times I always discover something new, new places and meet new people.

I'm not very keen about staying in hostels (even if it's free) because most of the people that stay there are not in my frequency. I mean they travel in a different way I do. I'm not judging in any way. I just don't like it. Let me make one thing clear thought: working in one is different. Why? It's hard to explain but I will try. When you're working in a hostel you are there to make guests feel at home. Not that you are forced but I was doing it because is one of the best jobs I've ever had. Staying is different, you go there and you are on the other side of the reception desk. At least for me it's easier to talk to people while working rather than go sit in the common room as a guest.

I think I didn't explain anything but I know there is a difference. If I have the option between staying in a hostel (for free) or staying with friends/CS/BW, of course I would choose the latter. Let's leave it like that.

I met Annika in Tallinn and we met again in Berlin for a few days while she was on holidays. I have to admit that she had me dancing (twice so far) without me being drunk. Actually I've danced sober three times already; first time was with Karolina back in Tallinn. I also met with Laura. I met her in 2011 when I was living here. We got lost looking for Kreuzberg!

The world is a very small place because I was going to meet Hannan and coincidentally she was staying in a hostel just around the corner from the hostel I was staying. We were thinking about hitchhiking together to the UK but well, that is not going to happen.

It was a pitty that I couldn't meet with Filiz this time. It was awesome to hitch with her and can't wait to do it again...soon!!

Kocham Cię Polska

I think I will never say that I will never go back to a place except if I really want to go back. When I left Poland in 2011 after spending the spring in Krakow I told myself that I was never going back. This is my 4th or 5th time in Warszawa... and actually Poland along with Belgium are the countries to where I have been the most times.

So here I was again in Warszawa. I didn't CSed, rather I would say I stayed with friends. A few weeks prior to coming I met Karolina and Ula in Tallinn when they stayed at the Alur for a few days and we immediatelly hit it off. They were nice enough to not laugh at my non-existent Polish.

We were supposed to arrive saturday but due to last shift's schedule (and another pretty factor) I left saturday, meaning I would arrive sunday very early in the morning. BUT arriving at 6 in the morning meant that we would have all day to walk around or I at least I thought so. I think I can say I know WAW pretty well by now. I knew everywhere Karolina was taking us but it wasn't a matter of that but it was all about the company. It was a funny and lazy sunday after all.

I've told my friend Ania countless of times that I was coming to Poznan and she later told me (with reason) that not until I come knocking at the door she wouldn't believe  I was there. Fair enough... knock, knock.

The last time I saw her was when I was living in Tallinn back in summer 2011, a year and half later I was meeting her again and Antonio her boyfriend, the "tiny" Italian ;-)

I had a lot of time for myself in Poznan due to Ania's exam season, Anto's thesis and Justin's bronchitis but it was alright, I like to be myself. I wrote in the local CS forum if anyone wanted to meet with me and I was surprised at all the SMS I received! I spent a lovely afternoon walking around town, learning about it. Paulina gave me a little tour, she's a history student so she knew a lot about the town.

2 nights for Poznan is definitely not enough and for sure it's not even close to be enough time to spend with friends. For that reason, Ania & Anto, I promise that I will go back!

After this last time in Poland I realized that for sure is one of my favorite countries, maybe because of the nice people I've met and keep meeting.  Maybe the fact that I had a couple of polish girlfriends has something to do with it, maybe the fact that is one of the easiest countries I've ever hitched, maybe because the people I've met were really nice to me. Maybe all of the above.

For all that... Kocham Cię Polska i do zobaczenia później.

Hasta la vista... Tallinn

Found this quote written inside a book the other day:

"here I am.
life has taken an interesting curve.
my past known.
my future unknown...

the present, is up to me."

Is this life trying to play a joke on me, again? Because I had quite an interesting, intense and most of all, lovely last week in Tallinn.

My life has taken a sudden and interesting curve. I mean I'm happy but I'm not going to get carried away. It's time to take things slowly, to swim with the tide, to go with the flow. Once again Tallinn and its lovely people welcomed me. Once again working at the Alur (and its new for me staff) welcomed me again. Once againn I met awesome people and sadly once again I'm leaving.

I wrote before that one of the least things I noticed that changed in Tallinn is the weather. A lot has changed but I realized that it was me who mainly changed. Last year I wrote this about Tallinn: "(...) but chances are that I'm going to end up there drinking my life away." I'm happy to tell you that this in fact didn't happen. Maybe a few weeks ago I was drinking but then things happened and I stopped. I actually didn't drink my last night in Tallinn.

Tallinn has joined the list of places that apparently I can't be too far away from. The list includes Praha, Krakow and Belgium. So for this I won't say good-bye but hasta la vista... Tallinn.