Heading to the Ukraine

Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find: One forty-five caliber automatic Two boxes of ammunition Four days’ concentrated emergency rations One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible One hundred dollars in rubles One hundred dollars in gold Nine packs of…

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Wrocław 2.0 – Gross-Rosen

I woke up early (by accident) and caught a ride to the bus station with Natalia again. The goal was to take a bus to Strzegom then take another bus from there that goes past the Gross-Rosen concentration camp (KL Gross-Rosen). Finding the bus was a bit more confusing this time as Strzegom didn’t appear…

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Wrocław 2.0 – Kaplica Czaszek

After arriving in Wrocław, meeting up with Natalia, and being cooked a wonderful dinner, we crafted plans for how I would get to Kudowa-Zdrój the next day to see the Czermna Kaplica Czaszek – an ossuary in Poland that is quite near the Czech border. The trip was a bit opportunistic – I liked the…

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Chernobyl Prophylactic

While in Leipzig I stopped by Sergej’s parent’s place a few times – the previous two trips I stayed there and we get along pretty well – although with me not speaking Russian, Ukrainian, or Germany and neither of his parents speaking English or French we have to use Sergej as a translator. I realized…

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Germany

I met Sergej a few years ago when he was a roommate of mine in Canada. Back in his hometown of Leipzig, I’ve visited him twice before – in 2010 and 2011. Since he’s pretty fun to hang out and since Leipzig in a neat city to visit, I like stopping by to visit Sergej…

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Switzerland

Popping off the overnight train from Amsterdam, I purchased a SIM card for my phone at the hauptbahnhof in Zurich, called Andrea, and headed off to meet her. Andrea and I met each other on Whistler Mountain in Jasper three years ago then tagged along with each other on Indian Ridge – which can be…

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Amsterdam

I’m now aboard the CityNightLine between Amsterdam and Zurich (part of the train branches off and heads to Munich somewhere along the route). I had a decent deal on the ride at 71.50 Euro including the credit card processing fee, and it seems fairly nice – although I am slightly longer than my bunk and…

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France #3 – Paris Catacombes

After dropping off the car, I headed to Les Catacombes de Paris! Disappointed on Tuesday, I made sure to craft plans that would have me see the resting place for over six million Parisians. The ossuary was cool – and quite a bit different than the Sedlec ossuary I saw last year in the Czech…

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France #2 – Vimy, Beaumont-Hamel, Normandy Beaches

Picking up the car Wednesday morning and realizing I would be well over the mileage limit for two days, I rented an additional do to give some flexibility; I then headed to Arras, picked up Vanessa, and visited the Vimy then the Beaumont-Hamel memorials. The Vimy monument is quite impressive; and perhaps also interesting that…

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The France #1 – Paris

The France posts will be a multi-part posted as I get time to throw the pictures up. They definitely compromise the Coles Notes version! — On Sunday I arrived in Paris, getting off the Ryanair bus at Port Maillot. Deciding to walk was an interesting idea since I had little idea of the direction in…

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