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EUROPE - 2000 -
2001
LONDON, UK
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA
ZAGREB, DUBROVNIK, SPLIT, CROATIA
LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA
-----Original
Message-----
From: Michael Schliefke
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 7:59 PM
Subject: Techno nights
Hez everybody- So far things have been grand. London was more than I
ever expected of that town, and I could definetly picture mzself
becoming an expatriate American living there some day. I managed to
make the most of mz time there bz sleeping off the long, long plane
ride (delazed an hour and a half because of a froyen pipe), and then
just picked up and went exploring. Saw most of what makes london
tick including the British Musuem and a tremendous show at the
Portrait Gallerz of 101 portraits of the 20th centurz. (although it
included a painting bz Gershwin and included 3 Freuds in the show as
well), was disapointed bz the general lack of a thrill that I
imagined Piccadillz Circus to be and also was amazed at the real use
of all those double decker buses. But London was just the prelude,
and because I took the slow train to Heathrow, I had to pull an OJ
and fly through the airport to catch my flight to Budapest. Within
five minutes of checking into my hostel, I was out the door again
with an AMerican who's lived in Poland the past 8 zears and one
who's lived in Turkez the past two to a club with a techno scene.
The club was a total hole in the ground, somewhere in Pest, with a
very zoung crowd. Apparently, the American from Poland is the
equivilant of ęDavid Hasselhoff in the Polish techno scene, AND
plentz of German beer flowed through the veins. There were a few
drunken encounters, but nothing that went too far. I'm sipping on
some sarkanz sor right now, and the stuff tastes worse than enz
domestic beer produced in the US. Apparentlz,. Hungarians cannot
brew beer. Today I managed to walk through most of Pest and checked
out the Art Museum. I think tomorrow I'm heading to Buda and seeing
the castle. When I saw it from across the river todaz I was
completely overwlemed. Budapest is kinda like a dirtier Prague in
some wazs, with incredibly narrow roads surrounded bz art nouvea
buildings with incredibly ornate architecutre. You can tell the
money or tourists haven't flowed into this town like it has Prague.
New Year plans are lining up as I type. Within the hour we're
heading to a club for the night. Things haven't slowed down and are
still revving up and I think next stop will be a quiet break from
this intensity. More later. Happy new year from the Magyar Republic
if you don't hear from me before then. Oh zeah, the weather has been
great so far. Michael S.
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Schliefke
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2000 7:30 PM
Subject: Magzar Muillenbieum
I am completely drunk tright now. Just four hours until new magyar
millenium. I think this one will br br big. Lots of prospects.
TaŽked to a Crotaian fgrial TONGITH WITH A ZUG O SLAV GRIL IN THE
Same conversatiopn. Ralk about diplomatic powers,. that's whatę I'm
about. Sorrz fpr thre mispeŽllings I'll catch u› Žlater- Michael-
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Schliefke
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 10:22 AM
Subject: Dobry den from Bratislava
Well everybody, the new year has come and gone and I made it out of
the twentieth century with all limbs intact, but I did wake up with
some unexplained scrapes on my left hand and a really, really sore
right knee. I left Budapest yesterday, taking a slow train up the
Danube to the SLovak border, and arriving into town after dark. THe
city is completely polluted, with waves of oil clouds almost
circling your nose. It's got a lot of that Communist Soviet charm
(big concrete buildings, dirt, pollution) that almost made me hop on
the next train to Vienna, but I headed into town and was pleasantly
surprised by the Stare Mestro - the ancient (1100 years) old part of
town with cobblestone streets, etc, and some incredibly old city
walls and torn up churches. The streets were often dark and
deserted, but there is always some church lit up to break up the
dark skyline. The best things about Bratislava is the huge amount of
coopl bars and coffee houses to hang out in. Despite the pollution,
the old part of town is really sweet. So far this morning the town
seems a lot nicer and I've spent some quality time on Michalska
ulica, named after the Greatest Name in the world. I stayed at a
pension hotel last night - it was luxury to the max - my own shower,
toilet, tv, bed and chair for 19 bucks, right by the Old Town. I
took a long, long warm shower washing off the remnants of my wild
New Year's Eve. So much happened in Budapest there is no way I'll be
able to tell you all about it now, but I'll give youy some
highlights. Hungarians are a reserved lot, and a week of jokes about
how pathetic our pickup line attempts at the clubs got us through
the week laughing. Once, Josh, the American lving in Istanbul and I
were talking to two girls at a club for about 10-15 minutes, when
all of a sudden the girls said Bye and left. That was a crushing
defeat, made me feel like Napoleon at Waterloo. I went out to techno
clubs for four straiught nights, spending NEw YEar's Eve on the
streets watching fireworks over the PArliament building from the
Margaret Bridge. I was the life of the hostel on New YEar's Eve,
drinking my Czech vodka (what I told customs officials I had when I
smuggled in the absinthe last year) out of bottles of sprite, and I
met a Yugoslav couple, and started talking with them. I t was
awesome talking to them but I made sure I learned how to say Croatia
in Yugoslavian. It's Hrvaska, and that was the line I used when the
hot Croat girl came into the kitchen. Her eyes lit up and said,
Americanski!! We talked for quite a bit and we're going to hook up
when I get to Zagreb, which will probably be next week sometime.
This afternoon I'm heading to Vienna, hoping to catch a night train
to Ljubljana , Slovenia tonight, otherwise I'll stay a night there.
More later, take it easy Michael S.
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Schliefke
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2001 5:05 PM
Subject: Heaven sent
I had to spend the night in Vienna last night, unbearable I know,
but that s how life goes sometime. Stayed at an Australian hostel
run by Aussies. It had a loud disco, pool tables, and Czech Budvar
beer. Somehow, I woke up after all that to catch the 8.04 train
outta town and into Zagreb. The train ride made me think there was
some divine intervention going on by getting my ass to Wien in such
a crazy fashion. I was amazed at how beautiful and untouched most of
the Austrian countryside was as the train snaked down through
Austria s own parts of the Alps towards the Slovenia border. I didnt
plan to head through Vienna at all, but if I missed this train ride,
or caught the afternoon 4.04 I would have missed out big time. Im
not a big nature freak in any stretch of the imagination, but the
scenery blew me away. That was until we hit Slovenia, which has to
be one of the most beautiful places on the planet. The Julian Alps
extend through Slovenia, and there were small tiny towns that just
dont make a whole lot of sense how people can live like that. The
mountaintops were covered in fog, with tiny church steeples peaking
out above the clouds thousands of feet over the 15 houses below.
Also,there was a green, green river with ducks and fish the train
followed to the Croat border. I was literally stunned to see how
unreal everything was. And for all of the people (Betty and Karen
included) who make it a point to eat watery spaghetti on a gondola
while catching a whiff of that Venitian stank, if you jump on a
train four hours east your mind would be blown away. But enjoy the
crap if you like it. Zagreb so far is beyond anything I could
imagine. I think it could very well be the best place I have ever
visited, ever, and the women have a crisp, clean and sophisticated
sense of style here that is hard to put into words. The city is
totally clean, with no residue of the war that ended 5 years ago,
and there is a beat and pace to the city that is just right. Craots
are totally friendly and happy too. I dont know if I can get enough
of this town. Looks like Im going to be here for a while, but I
still have to see Ljubljana, Split and Dubrovnik. Its gonna be a
wild ride...
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Schliefke
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 10:28 AM
Subject: Hrvatska
I'm not sure if anyone got my last email from Zagreb, the computer
acted kinda funny as I sent it out, so perhaps it got lost in the
mail. I still think that Zagreb was one of truest delights I've ever
had the pleasure of coming across. The city was clean, beautiuful,
not too large, and had a buzz throughout its streets. I learned how
to bribe Croatian police, watched some American TV shows late night
with Croat subtitles (South Park and Everybody loves Raymond, a
weird, weird duo), and sampled some fine Croat beer. I also walked
about 6 miles up to Medvedgrad Castle one day on a whim, climbing a
giant hill overlooking Zagreb - the view was stunning. I spent my
last few hours at a nice lake just south of the city with Iva and it
was bright sunshine with temps in the mid 60s. I flew down to
Dubrovnik on Croatia Airlines and the flight was smooth, and the
process completely lacking all the screwups and hassle of flight in
America. When I got to >Dubrovnik, I accepted the room rental offer
from an old lady at the bus station. As we got to the front door, I
noticed a pistol on the round table on the front patio, about three
feet from me. I didn't quite know what to do, so I decided I would
wait and stare at it for a few moments. Just as the Rosicivia
unlocked the door, I realiyed the gun was a toy. Dubrovnik is
perhaps the most amazing place I've ever seen. Basically, its a 1300
year old city jetting into the Adriatic Sea (clear, warm and blue
waters) completely surrounded by 25 foot high city walls that you
can walk on (it takes about an hour and a half). There are not many
hand rails, so some of the stairs make your heart pound, but the
views are unparalleled. The builidngs inside the walls are all
covered in Italian style red roofs, and you lose perspective of
everything so fast looking at the stone walls and the red roofs it
makes you feel like you are in a living pre-Renaissance painting
before perspective was used. The main street is made of marble, and
through the years the floor has been polished to a shine from wear.
I honestly don't know if any of this is even real anymore. I also
ran into some American sailors from the Destroyer Porter (same size
ship as the Cole) and got some football scores and swapped stories
with them. I sent postcards to the KC folks involved, but the first
sailor I met and I exchanged stories about someone (and someplace)
we all know and love. I still can't believe I was in Dubrovnik at an
outdoor cafe inside the city walls talking about this stuff. I also
was mistaken for a sailor by some of the local restuarantuers, and I
got a free bottle of wine and about 5 complimentary drinks at a
restuarant. I spent about 6 hours eating and drinking there, talking
to a sweet Zagreb girl (aren't they all?) and topped it off with
some delicious crepes after plenty of local brew. Today its raining,
but already (11:23) its slowed down to a crawl, so maybe it'll hold
off for another walk around the city walls. Looks like tomorrow I'm
headed to Split for about four days or so, and then up to Ljubljana,
Slovenia. I may stop in Pecs, Hungary on the way back, but I'll play
it by ear. More later, Michael S.
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Schliefke
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 2:15 PM
Subject: warm glowing warming glow
I've taken a few moments away from my busy schedule today of
deciding which outdoor cafe to drink beer from and look out across
the sea into the Adriatic Sea and bask in the warm glow of the
sweet, hot sun to tell you I am in Split now. My last night in
Dubrovnik was highlighted by a full throttle lunar eclipse, which I
watched from an outdoor cafe in the old city, and I watched the moon
slowly disappear into a reddish brown shape throughout the night
while watching the women go by. The bus ride into Split was a 4 1/2
hour affair puncutated by a beautiful view of the Croatian coast and
frequent local stops for homeless people needing to get from one
city to another. The bus also supplied music the whole time, ranging
from Croatian equilivants of Englebert Humperdinck crooning Croat
hits from the past 4 decades (maybe more!!) to the techno eurotrash
that is overwelmingly commonplace, to some Croat versions of
American hits that sounded too much like the soundtrack accompyaning
Jabba the Hutt's palace to take seriously. Two hits stuck out - a
version of Shania Twain's 'Feel Like a Woman' that was sung by a man
and a version of the disco tune whose chorus is something along the
lines of this - 'I'm your fetus, I'm your fire, Your sole desire' -
OK, so I never figured those lyrics out in English, but the images
rattling around in my head were intense. The Croatian coast is
dotted with islands, and depending who you talk to, there are either
1,080 up to 1,200 of them, and they almost act like a mountain range
just off the coast. >The hills and mountains facing the sea reminded
me somewhat of the northern California coast. Split is Croatia's
second largest city and it has a haphazard, relaxed electric feel to
it. It has a main street lined with cafes facing the sea with a 1700
year old Roman palace behind it. There are some knockouts out and
about too, although I suspect most of the beauties are studying in
Zagreb right now. I've found a couple disco hotspots to head to
tonight and tomorrow, and tomorrow I'm heading up the coast a little
bit to Trogir and Solin to see some old Christian burial ground from
the 3rd century when Catholicism was a legit rock n roll religion
outlawed by the state. Well, time to build the buzz back up.
-----Original
Message-----
From: Michael Schliefke
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 6:32 PM
Subject: last nights on earth
Everyone After an email blackout from Slovenia
, I,m back in Budapest and back
online. Ljubljana
was an
incredible town. It was absolutely clean, beautifully desinged, and
had a swank feel that was at the same time relaxed and laid back but
had an air of great thinking to everything. After seeing the modern
art Slovenes make, perhap too much thinking. Every little bit of
their art was explained in great, great detail almost telling the
people exactly everything they should get out of the whole deal. I
saw one guy.s photos I really liked, and had a laugh or two at the
expense of some bad conceptiual art. I also got the distinct feel
that Slovenes believe their society is largely ignored and
underappreciated throughout the world, and to an extent its probably
true, but the hell with thinking about that crap all the time.
Slovenes also are a reserved lot, but unlike the Germans, they seem
to have a soul and the few that I met were quite wild. Slovene women
have a quiet beauty to them, and I talked to/danced with the most
beautiful set of blue eyes I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.
I aLso met up with an australian working in slovenia, and we hit the
bar scene hard. One night he brought along a young aussie co/worker,
a drop dead look alike for rollergirl from boogie nights. I
sometimes wonder what having a charmed life is like. I also made
side trips to Lake Bled and to the Postoncaj Caverns. both hour long
bus trips were amazing, Slovenia has one of the most beautiful
countrysides I have ever seen. Lake Bled was at the bottom of the
Julian Alps, which are visible from any street facing north in
Ljubljana. It also had a castle overlooking the lake that was a
straight 600 foot incline from the shore. Right now the Hungarian
version of Who wants to be a millionaire is on, this guy is running
out of lifelines and I dont think he.s winning the 40,000,000 forint
top prize. divide that by around 280 to get dollars, he just settled
for 800,000 forints. in my wallet right now I have 12,000, and
thebuzzer just went, times up for the stiff regis fill in. and time
is almost up for me in europe too, tomorrow will be my last full day
running thorugh town, and then its off to celebrate the departure of
a bad prez and the insuguraton of another at 35000 feet. Take care
and godspeed. I think I heard some prez say that once. Michael S.
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