Ciao K - time to catch up... Siofok and the Balaton lake where just a blur - nothing to write home about, except the fact that there was good German beer everywhere! The night train to Venice was a different story alltogether: My old theory proved right again that the smaller and less important a nation, the more it tries to overcompensate at its border crossings. Getting out of Hungary took over half an hour but getting into Croatia was quite the communist experience - all passports and tickets collected, everybody corraled into their compartments where we had to sit (not stand or lay down), and no fewer than six (6!) dudes checking the passports. That's in good old communist fashion just half the story - next came the proverbial customs bitches, sniffing through backpacks and suitcases as if economic refugees where hiding there (of course, they would all try to get off the train in Croatia and not in Italy). Repeat at the Croatia-Slovenija border crossing. Long story short... those are two stamps in my passport that were earned the hard way! Venice the next day (with little sleep the night before and at super-hot and humid weather) was nothing I could enjoy too much - out of control tourism there, even for this seasoned traveller. So nothing but catching the next train to Florence... what a relief! Beautiful sights, an awesome hostel in the mountains, and quite the rewarding day trips to Siena and Pisa. No, I was two days early for the Palio but, yes, I did shell out the 15 Euros to climb atop the Leaning Tower. Had two more days to kill so I decided to check out La Spezia and the Rivera at Cinque Terre... what a must-see coast line!!! I am amazed that I almost missed it - hiked from Monterossa al Mare to Vernazza today, then a quick train hop to Riomaggiore, and the sunset walk along the cliffs an the Via dell'Amore to Manarola. Maybe some diving tomorrow, then the night train to Naples. The tan is kicking in!

Yehe Kermit... Time is flying; it's become increasingly difficult to keep you up to date on everything. I'll try! So, Vienna was my last blip... went on to Budapest - what a blast from the past! A beautiful city but considering it was the eastern place closest to the west during the iron curtain times it's amazing to see it now, seemingly stuck in the old times. Awesome sights, though, and wonderful people - not to mention the Roman and Turkish baths everywhere... I spent every single one of my afternoons in the city there! Left Friday for my whirlwind trip to Paris over the weekend. As amazing as ever - walked the Champ de Mars at night to marvel at the strobe-illuminated Tour Eiffel, hiked all the way up to the Etoile to the Arc de Triomphe, along the Champs Elysees to the Place de la Concorde, and then cooled off my feet in the ponds aroud the Pyramide de Louvre. Next day I finally managed, in my third attempt over the past 11 years, to get on top of the roof of the Tour Montparnasse... what a view! Kind of a weird feeling - it's so similar to the WTC rooftop platform, albeit a little lower, but nevertheless. Night time at Notre Dame, then hiking from Pigalle up to Sacre Coeur. Yesterday back via Zuerich to Budapest and then on by train to lake Balaton. Enjoying the beaches (and the super-low prices) today... will catch an overnighter to be in Venice 14 hours later. Next: Florence, Pisa, Sienna, Naples, Pompeji, Vesuv, Capri, Brindisi... then by ferry to Patras/Greece on August 21/22.

Gruezi Kermit! Getting way too much culture and history right now - first beautiful Prague, now fancy Vienna. What a life!!! I even managed to get some working out squeezed in between beers and desserts galore - I climbed the tower of the St. Stephan's Dome yesterday and enjoyed a marvellous view over the old downtown roofs. Thanks to Torschtel-Borschtel's old Deutsche Bank connection I even organized a quick lunch caffee with the one and only Mr. Froemmer, who now resides here and in Berlin. It's ridiculously hot right now (36C-97F) with quite high humidity but I shouldn't complain... Maybe I will take a break tomorrow afternoon and join the masses sporting some Speedos in the sunshine and swimming in the Donau river. Monday it's Budapest!

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...