Yowza Kermit! Resurfaced from the dive'n'fun vacation on Malta today. Very sweet - I finally finished my PADI Advanced Open Diver and even did some deep, wreck and night diving. Tickled an octopus or two, visited Comino and Gozo (the latter being the famous island of Calypso, if you're somewhat familiar with mythodology), and generally tried to suffer the least bit possible by evading the 40 degrees Celsius heat by spending as much time as possible at/in the swim-up bar. Charge it to the room!!! Drove like a mad man during our all-day 4-wheel safari on Gozo and begun tuning my sleep rhythm to the Mediterranean beat again - dinner at 10 pm, night clubs after 12:30 am. One more day recharging batteries at mom's and then I am off InterRail-ing for a month with an added extra 2-3 weeks of island hopping in Greece at the end. Life is rough but somebody's got to live it... :)

K... just a quickie today... Tons of fun in Anklam, Berlin and Dresden - time flies; another week went by just like that. Now it's the "making mama happy project" - a week with her in the Mediterranean sunshine of Malta. Later gator!

Love Rules Mr. Kermit... Some minor detail I forgot to mention: I'm sure "Harry The Swimming Pool Car Racer" will be pissed off at me but I will make certain to party twice as hard just for him - it's the Love Parade this weekend in Berlin!!! Should be fun to finally see Westbam and DJ Motte again after many years on the road for me. Will go to Columbiafritz to see Paul van Dyk the first night; that should be something awesome. Post-parade party probably at the Casino with Marusha... woohoo!

Ciao K - I've added some Bella Italia to the mix (had to do it after the politicians started chickening out and cancelled their own trips). Good news first: The back is not back yet at 100% but it seems to get much better every day. Still have to be careful and still feeling some weakness but much much less pain... woohoo! I promise to begin with my diet and to do exercises now (really!). *** Now for bella Italia... I have solved the 3-zones-30-days InterRail riddle again and will milk the system in perfectionist fashion: Prague and Budapest as planned - but the trick is to play my Madrid residency card, which enables me to go for free through Germany and also into Vienna (ooops, YES - I've also added Vienna to the mix... it was on the way). After the weekend adventure (in many ways) that Paris will be I will continue on via the Balaton and Rijeka to Venice, Florence and Pisa before heading way south to Napoli and the island of Capri. From there it will be on to Bari or Brindisi to catch a ferry to Patras and Greece. The InterRail will run out by the time I will get to Athens (end of August)... so just enough time (2-3 weeks) to do some island hopping - likely Santorini and Mykonos and some smaller stuff. *** Also close to finishing up the details on my apartment in Buenos Aires... people, start making your travel plans!

>>>>> Current: Europe, Germany, Friedland (lounging at mama's and seeing old friends)

>>>>> Next: Europe, Germany, Dresden... 07/14/2003-07/17/2003
(you know, the Matthias-Ulf-Katy thing)

>>>>> Planned: (* denotes a fix date)
* 07/18/2003-07/25/2003 > Malta
(vacationing with mama, diving in the Mediterranean Sea)
* 07/26/2003-07/27/2003 > Germany: Friedland
(eating and sleeping at mama's - home sweet home!)
* 07/28/2003-07/31/2003 > Chech Republic: Prague
(checking out places of the past)
* 07/31/2003-08/03/2003 > Austria: Vienna
(it just happens to be on the way)
* 08/03/2003-08/07/2003 > Hungary: Budapest
(ever heard of Roman baths? "Brazil 2 - Germany 0" just might get a heart attack...)
* 08/08/2003-08/10/2003 > France: Paris
(too late for "La Tour" mais toujours... what rhymes again?)
+ 08/11/2003-08/27/2003 > Croatia, Italy and Greece
(this is the hard-core InterRail part via Rijeka, Florence, Pisa, Naples, Capri, Brindisi, Bari, Patras, Athens - and maybe even Istanbul)
+ 08/28/2003-09/08/2003 > Greek islands
(well... more Ouzo and I might get some idea where the hell that might be)
* 09/09/2003-09/10/2003 > Germany: Munich
(that's called a decompression stop)
* 09/10/2003-09/24/2003 > Spain: Madrid
(la vida, la noche, las latinas - the good old days again)
* 09/24/2003-09/27/2003 > Germany: Munich
(Oktoberfest!!!)
* 09/28/2003-12/18/2003 > Argentina: Buenos Aires
(and a bazillion miles traveling around Brazil)
* 12/18/2003-12/25/2003 > Germany: Friedland
(yeah, birthday and xmas at mama's!)

New Year's is still up in the air - maybe Whistler Blackcomb (Canada: Vancouver, BC) or Hong Kong. Arrival in Australia (most likely Sydney as my launching pad to the South Pacific) no later than January 4, 2004.

Hola Senor Frog... lot's of stuff has happened. Went diving last Wednesday with Axel. First fresh-water dive and pretty cold at that (full dual wet suits with hood, booties and gloves). It was pretty nice, except for the fact that I fucked up my back again. Arranged some belt weights on the floor before the dive and felt a pretty good pinch in the back. Lots of pain that evening and the next two days; now we're back at no-movement-no-pain but move-wrong-and-lots-of-pain. Trying to do some exercises; we'll see if everything relaxes over time. Already have organized Hermes to pick up my luggage here so I won't have to haul it all over the train stations tomorrow. *** Munich was pretty cool - nice Augustinerbrau visit with Jochen and some more Oktoberfest scouting for the 09/24-28 weekend. *** Got the tix for South America; into EZE September 28/29, out of there December 18. Gonna plan Florianopolis and Rio later while there. Tix from BUD to PAR and on to ATH are more of an ordeal - still plenty of work to do for the European Union. I'll figure something out. At least I can still go InterRail in Greece after August 10. *** Oh, and I think I've added a full two weeks in Madrid, September 10-24.

Yo K - here's the current list of reasonably fix travel destinations for the immediate time ahead:

> Current location: Europe, Germany/Switzerland, Konstanz

* 07/03/2003-07/04/2003 > Germany: Munich
..........(Oktoberfest scouting with Jochen)
* 07/05/2003-07/07/2003 > Germany: Konstanz
..........(maybe more Bodensee diving, babysitting, bars with Axel & crew)
* 07/08/2003-07/13/2003 > Germany: Friedland
..........(eating and sleeping at mama's - home sweet home!)
* 07/14/2003-07/17/2003 > Germany: Dresden
..........(looking for the other Matthias and Ulf, driving Katy nuts)
* 07/18/2003-07/25/2003 > Malta
..........(vacationing with mama, diving in the Mediterranean Sea - www.visitmalta.com)
* 07/26/2003-07/27/2003 > Germany: Friedland
..........(eating and sleeping at mama's - home sweet home!)
* 07/28/2003-08/07/2003 > Chech Republic: Prague, Hungary: Budapest
..........(checking out places of the past)
* 08/08/2003-08/10/2003 > France: Paris
..........(meeting friends in town)
* 08/11/2003-09/03/2003 > Greece: Athens and the islands
..........(island hopping, sailing, the good life)
* 09/04/2003-09/23/2003 > Spain: Madrid
..........(la vida, la noche, las latinas - the good old days again)
* 09/24/2003-09/27/2003 > Germany: Munich
..........(Oktoberfest!!!)
* 09/28/2003-... off to South America

Life is rough, folks, but somebody's got to live it... I am gladly sacrificing myself.

Hallihallo K... got my lucky ass shipped out of the U.S. of A. in style - OneWorld thought I deserved a sweet ride in first and business class, so I succumbed to the temptations of Veuve Clicquot and the likes instead of sleeping my way to freedom. Anyway, Axel picked me up at ZRH to fly me into Konstanz Autobahn-style and we enjoyed a fabulous German brekkie on their balcony over the downtown city roofs. It's hot as hell right now and a fair amount of time is spent swimming in the Bodensee and its adjacent channels and rivers. Checked out Axel's workplace at Hyperstone - very nice but nothing beats the feeling of knowing that I won't have to hang at a desk for the next year or so. Just booked my Bundesbahn tix to see joekrausolini in Munich for two days July 3-4, and another short trip from Neubrandenburg to Dresden July 14-17 to see Ulf, Matthias and Katy. Mom has already booked tix to Malta for a week of fun and diving beginning July 18. What a stress... vacation, vacation, vacation! ;-) hehehe...