salzburg

i spent about two days in salzburg.

and took two day trips to the salzkammergut lakes district.
i went to dachstein ice caves.
spent a day in halstatt.

no pictures yet. i have an hour before my train to munich

german alpine mountains-

on marienbruke (mary`s bridge)

Cologne germany

central station

brugges- chocolate

breezy morning in madrid

I am doing much better now. I would say i am about at an 80% recovery. I have increased mobility in my leg again. The wound hasn't completely healed yet. Ive been told it ll be about another week before I'm back to normal.

But I'm in good shape to walk and carry luggage. I'm doing last minute hostel and museum reservations today.

I leave for Venice, Italy on Monday morning and will take the night train out to Salzburg, Austria.

Its amazing how quickly you can go from country to country. Last week, I had breakfast in Munich, Germany. I spent the afternoon in Paris, France and took the night train to Madrid, Spain.

Strudel-Croissant-Bocadillo de tortilla y papa. and coffee!!!

Ive drank a lot of coffee in Europe. i might just bleed coffee . I'm looking forward to Italian espresso.

The weather in central Europe is going to be shitty next week. Cold and rainy. But i came prepared.

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I changed my return flight to Los Angeles. I now return Sept. 14th. it will be about a 14 hour flight. Something i was dreading before arriving in Europe, but now after taking the 13 hour night trains and such, it doesn't seen like a big deal anymore.
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Tour de France ends tomorrow... Go Andy Schleck

update

stitches came out today. but since wound was pretty deep i still have a while before im back to normal. but at least im much better that i was a week ago..

i can walk a bit better. i became used to walking all retarded that trying to walk normally feels awkward.

one day at a time. but im well enough to start traveling again.
no hiking for a while. no more biking at all . no heavy backpack.

but im better. im alive and well. my parents and family here in spain were supportive of me and cheered me up throughout the past week.

i return to travel on monday the 26th. flight to salzburg austria by way of venice for a few hours.

salzburg and halstatt in austria
munich and rothenburg in germany
interlaken in the swiss alps
avignon and paris in france
london and bath in great britain
edingburg in scotland
dublin and wicklow in ireland
back to madrid.
return to barcelona for more gaudi architecture
valencia for la tomatina
segovia for roasted suckling pig
Alicante for lying on the beach
Sevilla
granada

ive decided to stay two more weeks...to make up for the time i lost due to this accident
in which ill go to
rome, florence, pisa, and the cinque terra italian riviera in Italy

phew! im tired just typing .

then its back to LA!

thankful for the family

Tour De France-Prolouge,Rotterdam and Brussels

Le Grand Depart
Rotterdam, Holland
Individual Time trials July 3

Rotterdam is the largest port city in Europe. It was about an hour train ride from Amsterdam. Quite the opposite as Amsterdam as its modern with sky scrapers and shipping docks. The day of the prolouge started out hot and muggy. I arrived about 6 hours before the trials started. I hung out on the Erasmus bridge to take advantage of what little breeze there was. But when it got too crowded i took a metro to another spot on the route. It was good things i did.

Erasmus Bridge

About an hour before the trials started it began to rain. it began to pour. I had my rain coat and i stood under the metro bridge so i stayed pretty dry. I spent the next four hours cheering every rider with two guys from Spain who were sharing the same dry spot as me.

Stage 1: Rotterdam to Bruxelles

I spent two hours this day in the sun. Waiting for the ten seconds of "action", I stood in the mist of wind blown fountain water. After the riders passed I cut off of the banners lining the streets as a souvenir.

Stage 2: Bruxelles- Spa

I took the 430 am train from Amsterdam to Bruxelles (brussels, belgium) so id have enough time to catch the start of the next stage. At this point i was hooked on watching the tour. I wish i could have gone to more. But that shall have to be another trip.

The peleton departed from the Grand Palace.

Amsterdam

Walking out of the train station.

Massive bike parking garage.

The Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam opened in 2007. The Dutch`s "right to information" dedicated to a freely educated populace.

Public Artwork construction at central station

My hostel was in the Jordaan district.

I ate great shish kibab down the street from my hostel. Who knew I`d see tons more doner kebab places in Europe.
The view from the Hostel on Bloemstratt.

Prinsengracht near Westerkerk

Netherlands defeat Brazil july 2 world cup match

Original Wall paper postings on Anne Franks bedroom wall

My hostelmates Santiago and Rocio from Chile joined me on a Dutch Country side bike ride.

MJ on the streeta of Amsterdam

back in madrid

I have been away from a computer for a while. I havent responded to your texts or emails. I apologize.

here`s why. About a week ago i had a bike accident in fussen germany. i needed stitches on my leg and had every appendage bandaged up for some scrape or cut. Long story short, i returned to Madrid to recover and quite frankly to not feel alone.

I am very grateful to the german family who helped me until an ambulance came. I am grateful the doctor in Fussen and the doctor i saw later in Munich spoke enough english to communicate with.

The day of the accident i was very sad. Honestly i was scared. I am 27 and should be able to handle a situation like this but all i wanted were my parents. As i lay on my hostel bed amongst strangers i quickly realized just how far away from home i really was. Up until that point, even with the language barriers i never really felt homesick.

i cried on the phone with my mom. I was scared my trip had ended. Im stressed about the hospital bill. I am worried how long i will need to recover. Will i be able to do what i came here to do.

I have never been so happy to hear my parents voices over the phone.
Despite all that happened, i was lucky i just limped away with cuts and bruises and stitches. i could have broken bones or hit my head.

Stitches should come out this week. wounds are itching which is a good sign and i hope to be traveling again by the end of the month. sadly i dont think ill be able to bike for a while and i wont make it to some cities. I hope that i will be able to hike though.

but enough if what i cant do and more of what i can do....

which is finally post pictures

Brugges

leaving amsterdam

ive been in amsterdam for 4days now.

sorry no pictures.

but its been fun. but im ready to move on.
Made friends with my roomate rocio and her bf santiago from Chile.
We rode bikes through city into country side. it was fun.

ive been to 2 stages of tour de france. going to belgium tomorrow.

library closes in 5 minutes!!!