The best time of the year to visit Croatia, at least for me, is sometime in May. The crowds aren’t too thick, the weather is just right and not too hot for this Seattle guy.

Definitely not too bad. I went to Split at the last minute to take advantage of a long weekend. The picture above was not at all the image of Croatia that I had in my mind when somebody on Twitter suggested I visit there for the weekend. One hour after Googling “Split, Croatia” and seeing some of the results on Google Images, I had my ticket and hotel booked within the hour.

I arrived in Split on Saturday morning and even before I landed, I knew I had made the right choice for a relaxing weekend.

I quickly realized after landing in Croatia that I would need some shades after having lost mine a couple weeks earlier. After finding the hotel (not the easiest task given the streets of Split), checking in and procuring some shades, I started simply wandering the streets of Split. I easily found myself basking under the blue skies both under cover and right on some stairs leading into the Adriatic Sea.

And that was really all I ended up doing on my first day. I was pretty tired from all that sun (oh woe is me) and passed out early in the evening only to wake up around 9pm and find someplace to settle down for some fresh octopus.

Day 2 was more of the same with the exception that I got up early intending to go for a run and ended up hiking through a park, finding churches set into cliffsides and relaxing on a beach.

I settled down into an afternoon pizza, relaxed some more and then checked out a sweet concert by the coast. The band, Kries, was very unique and the bagpipes were the most authentic ones I had ever seen.

The last day was mostly souvenir shopping, checking out the cathedral and the tower next to. Now I’m not usually prone to a fear of heights, but this rickety stairway up the tower definitely made me happy once I was back on solid ground.

You can check out more pictures of my Split, Croatia trip on Flickr.

I’m nearing the end of my first six weeks in Germany, and I’ve really enjoyed it so far.

I feel like I should be better versed in German, but I’m quite satisfied with the simple ability to walk into a restaurant, order and pay in German (both in language and custom) and be able to understand most of what is said. I’m familiar with greetings, some common phrases, and know my numbers relatively well.

That’s the easy stuff, though. It’s predictable. It’s the same. And I’ve probably done it about sixty times in the past six weeks. Not to mention that the locals are fairly patient if you’re willing to make a fool out of yourself and speak a language you are only picking up in bits and pieces.

It’s those little things, though, that make life just a little bit easier when you’re in a foreign country and missing your usual support system. It’s the ability to interact with people, if only on a basic level, that makes each little bit of German I learn that much more enjoyable.

The weekends are also very enjoyable here. Sundays are a day of rest when most stores are closed and families take walks through the countryside and spend time together. I recently went walking around the town where I’m staying on a brisk (50°F) Sunday and masses of children on their bikes were congregating outside the ice cream shop, families were enjoying the sun, and it seemed as if everybody in the town was walking down main street and enjoying the day. I’ve spent my time here doing some fun side projects, venturing through the countryside to castles, and walking around aimlessly like everybody else.

I’m looking forward to being back home for a little, but I will definitely look forward to coming back to Germany. (And that has nothing to do with Black Hat Amsterdam when I get back…no really. ;))

A few interesting tips for eating out

• Tipping is not required, but acceptable and appreciated in moderation.
• It is common for the bill to be broken up among dinner guests. When you pay, regardless of whether you tip, you tell the server how much you want to pay, not how much change you want.
• You also have to ask for the bill when you’re ready. German etiquette is to let you sit and chat for as long as you like without interrupting you. While it can be a little frustrating for us impatient Americans, it is nice to be able to enjoy a three-hour lunch with drinks, cappuccino, good friends and good conversation.
• Many bathrooms in Germany have an entrance fee, particularly at tourist attractions, roadside stops, or in the evenings. Sometimes there is an automated machine, but more often there is an attendant sitting outside. €0,50 is the standard fee.
• The bathroom is most often located in the basement

One humorous story of how I’ve made a fool of myself before I leave to relax for my last evening here.

I was heading out to dinner with four friends and three of us entered the restaurant while the fourth parked. Thinking I would exercise my newfound counting skills, I looked up as the waitress came over and tried to indicate we would need four menus by saying “vier” while holding up four fingers. She replied in German, to which I replied with a resounding “ja” even though I had no idea what she said. Next thing I know, four beers showed up at the table.

I really can’t complain, but I’ve since learned the word for menu…grin

So imagine you’re cruising along somewhere in the middle of nowhere Germany. You pulled some directions down from Google Maps, but the problem is that it’s not always obvious where to go. When you don’t know the language and have the town names look the same to you, it’s very easy to get turned around. Combine that with the lack of directional assistance on signs in Germany and distinct lack of knowledge about the geography, I had a little fun today.

I was going to meet a couple of friends at a castle for lunch, and then head over to the town of Rothenburg, which I’ve blogged about before. The only difference this time was the stop for lunch that was, a bit off the beaten track.

Comfortably conquering the backroads before, I copied down the directions from Google and headed out. Two wrong turns that I was able to correct a half-hour into the trip and I was starting to lose my confidence. Although I had written down the names of several towns I was to head through, none of their exact names were showing on town signs as I cruised through the countryside.

Finally admitting I was thoroughly lost, I made a pivotal decision to head towards something that sound right (note, however, that I was wrong) and headed on my way. I had tried to enable data access on my phone so I could use Google Maps, but I couldn’t get an EDGE connection where I was. Finally, my friends called to tell me that the castle restaurant was closed and we were going to meet in Rothenburg. I quickly corrected myself via a useful Info-station with a map (not driving a rental so there was no map in the car :-\) and found my way.

This is why navigation units are so useful in Germany - roads twist and turn through various little towns and it’s very easy to miss a turn.

For the visually inclined, here’s a link to a map of the route I should have taken:

And the route I did take:

You can see, of course, right around Neuhof an der Zenn where I should have taken a right turn and instead continued on my way. I remember that exact moment thinking, this doesn’t seem right… Perhaps I should listen to my intuition more often.

Well I’m back off to Germany again. I’ve been super-busy (and sick, blech) so I haven’t had much time to do things like call my family lately (sorry) or be of much use otherwise. Hopefully I’ll have some time to catch up once I get to Germany.

Until then, auf wiedersehen!

Sometimes you visit a place and feel instantly at home. You wander the streets within two days of arriving and already feel as if you know where you are and where you’re going and can get wherever you want to go.

This was Amsterdam for me.

I dropped in on a Wednesday night with absolutely no idea of what to expect from the city of the famed Red Light District and “coffee shops”. Nor had I even looked at a map of the city.

Cobble-stone streets and bicyclist after bicyclist whizzing by on the left and trams whizzing by on the right is the first image that pops to mind. I had about a day of wandering the city where I just felt my senses buffeted from all angles. The shock of open prostitution and the smell of legalized “soft drugs” combined with the tight streets where you must dodge bikers, cars and trains left me in a bit of a dazed state. After a canal boat tour and wandering around the city for a good couple hours, however, I regained my senses and started to feel at ease. The city feels a bit hectic at its heart, but once you allow yourself to relax everything seems copacetic.

Being fairly small and flat - Amsterdam is a walking and biking kind of city. Arriving on the train, I was amazed to see the gigantic bicycle parking structures but seeing as how the majority of the population utilize bikes to get around the city, it makes sense. I quickly learned that the bike lanes are almost as wide as some of the streets and there is no forgiveness for the inattentive tourist that does not pay attention to the bikers.

Amsterdam is a city for the explorer. It is a city for the person that relishes in finding the tiny, obscured alley that leads to a completely different world than the road you just stepped off of. The city is jam-packed, and as such every twist and turn affords a new surprise, a new smell, a new site. Amsterdam is also not for the weak at heart. Prostitution is legal. The Red Light District is real and marked on the tourist map. Drug dealers whisper different vices into your ear as you slide past them in the red-hued darkness at night. Various smells of other more recreational, legal drugs drift past your nostrils as you walk the streets. No, Amsterdam is not for those lacking a sense of adventure.

Perhaps a few of my favorite experiences. Restaurant Savini, located just steps from the hotel I stayed at, is a fantastic Italian restaurant. Stepping in flooded my mind with memories and good friends, who I then text messaged a quick hello from Amsterdam. I ate here one other time in my short stay and it was well worth it.

Cafe Pacifico - the first restaurant in Amsterdam to sell Mexican cuisine. Despite the absolutely terrible service (”That’s where our waiter was, flirting with girls at the bar.”), the food was excellent and living on a regular diet of beer and bratwurst the past week, a much appreciated change.

The beer tasting cafe I stumbled upon while wandering the city, called Cafe Gollem. Although I didn’t get a chance to step inside, the signs outside had me hooked at the mention of 200+ beers, 95% of which were Belgian. A cozy joint in the style of what are called Amsterdam “brown” bars, I could easily see losing myself in there several nights a week.

The church I took refuge in when it started raining - note that I am biased because I love church and cathedral architecture so I will sit in a church and just stare at the structures.

The “Welcome to Detroit” sign in the center of town that mysteriously disappeared when I took others to show it the next day.

Finally, Begijnhof. A courtyard located just off the center plaza in Amsterdam that offers an amazing barrier to the hectic pace of the city. Quiet, surround by typical Amsterdam-style homes, with a church in the middle that was unfortunately closed to the public because of a concert.

There are more photos up on my Flickr page of the trip: .

It was a fun trip, even with the additional train adventures. ;o)

Well I just arrived in Amsterdam and already, “window shopping” has taken on a whole new meaning. I had absolutely no clue what to expect of the city, but even the 15-minute walk from the station has confirmed pretty much everything I’d heard about it.

My cohort in crime and I walked out of the train station just before midnight with nary an idea of where to go. After extracting some money from the ATM and printing out a shady-looking map, we headed across the street dodging construction workers (again, midnight) and motorized bicycles zooming down the bicycle lane that’s so dedicated it’s actually just a mini street next to the regular one (which isn’t so big itself). We continued walking, trying to determine where we were but street signs seem to be rather sparse. Eventually we felt we had walked too far and, succumbing to our better male senses, walked into a random hotel and asked for directions. The guy at the front desk pulled up Google Maps and showed us where we had to go. About 8 head shops and 2 “red light” shops later, we were at our hotel.

Brief commentary - Until you see a scantily clad group of women standing in windows basically selling themselves in person…it just doesn’t seem real. Now I’ve been around this world for a while and even the sight of those women as I was walking by made me blush like a little kid. In any case…

We’re settled into the hotel now, after a fun ride up from where I’ve been staying in Germany…despite a three-hour delay. Meh. But luckily we missed our connection in Frankfurt (we think we should have just stayed on the train, but as neither of us understand much German…) and hung out in the airport for an hour and a half. I say luckily because the original train we were supposed to be on broke down and the passengers had to get toted back to the next one that we ended up having to catch.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family. For only the second time in my life, I am spending Thanksgiving away from home. The first time was when I was visiting a friend in Venice and the reason this time has to do with a combination of seeing my family back in October, and my recent travel to and from Germany. I got back from Germany Monday, am here in Seattle for Turkey Day, and then I leave again for Germany on Monday for a good couple weeks.

Germany was, simply put, awesome. Knowing absolutely no German was a bit of challenge, but most Germans actually know enough English to help me along so it wasn’t really too much of a problem. I would go through phases of confidence, however. Like the second day I was there and I had looked up a few German phrases on about.com and headed out into the streets saying “Morgen!” to passerby and anybody else I had a chance to. Unfortunately, with such confidence comes the assumption from others that I was able to actually speak German. And when they would reply to me as such, I just kind of stared back at them with a big dumb American expression on my face. Oh well.

Seeing as how I didn’t know German, I eventually started ignoring most signage. This became a problem when I wanted to eat breakfast at the hotel I was staying at. I was actually staying in a co-workers apartment as he was out of the country, so I wasn’t familiar with the hotel. Little did I realize that even though the room I was staying in was located in one building, the actual hotel was down the street. This wouldn’t have been so bad were it not for the fact that the building I was staying in was also a hotel. But when I walked down to their front desk to drop off my laundry, the poor girl was quite confused. I eventually showed me room key and she grinned and said she would take care of it for me. Not really understanding what had just happened, I walked across the hallway and sat down for breakfast. The girl, again looking confused, came up to me and told me that I could have a much nicer breakfast if I went to the hotel I was actually staying at. *oops*

The weekend before I came home, I went to Dresden to take part in an Expat Blogger Meetup. This was really fun as I got to spend time in Dresden, a fantastic city, with several Americans that were already pretty familiar with Germany. One of the other Expats even grew up in Connecticut originally! Dresden, and all of Europe, is so full of history I feel I could wander around aimlessly for quite a long time. Driving on the autobahn was also fun - it’s nice to be amongst other drivers that are considerate and know the rules of the road.

I’m off to a turkey here in Seattle for now. Feel free to check out my Dresden trip on Flickr.

My August is going to be interesting. Here’s what it’s looking like.

• Vegas, baby…Vegas. 10 days. And then if I make it back home from Vegas
• My parents are coming to town, yay! Part of the reason is the
• Arthur Murray Summer Showcase
• RNast comes to town and we both attempt to summit Mt. Rainier

That being said, if you’ll be in Vegas for either Black Hat or DefCon let me know as you should stop by the booth and say hi and pick up an invite for the Saturday night party.

Also, if anybody else wants to come visit me in lovely Sea-town you better hurry as the summer is almost over!

So…does anybody want a Damon for Christmas this year?  Home is kind of far away and I’m entertaining the idea of spending Christmas in a foreign land this year…so if anybody has the need for a Damon in their Christmas plans, just let me know. :o)  All I need is a place to sleep - I am otherwise self-sufficient!

Have I mentioned before how much I hate United? Oh yes, I HAVE! Well I had another wonderful experience recently. I showed up at the airport only to find my flight delayed 4 hours. 4 HOURS! That and nearly every other flight on United’s boards were delayed. There were people getting on an 8pm flight that had been in the airport since 9am that morning. I’m sure most of Southwest’s flights were on time… I don’t know what it is about United that they can’t operate their airline in Chicago without having major delays nearly every time I fly them.

Let me also take this opportunity to berate the TSA. Look, I know that there was that big scheme with liquids, but your ridiculous restrictions are only accomplishing what the terrorists have set out to do - make air travel completely impractical for the normal person. Whereas I used to be able to walk into the airport and just carry-on all my bags with my toiletry bag, I now have to check my lip balm. *sigh* So now, instead of being able to arrive at the airport at a convenient time, I have to arrive two hours early to make it through the lines, that I otherwise happily avoided by being a good passenger and packing light. Then, instead of just hopping off the flight and grabbing my rental car, I have to go down to the baggage claim and wait another 40 minutes for your slow-ass employees to get the bags off the plane. You’re really making this inconvenient. And Bruce Schneier agrees the restrictions are ridiculous as well. And when will this silly restriction end? Doesn’t look like anytime soon… And today, a United airlines jet was diverted because somebody found a blackberry onboard. Excuse me? Somebody leaves a blackberry in the seat pocket (that would never happen) and the jet gets diverted!? This is a bad path we’re going down. All the better when I finally get my teleportation machine working and stop frying those poor rat’s brains…reconstructing brain matter is just SO difficult.

Update: p.s. One little way to get your liquids or gels through if you desperately need them and they’re not too big…put them in your pocket. Most liquids come in plastic containers and won’t be picked up as you walk through the x-ray machine. Wow…that restriction sure is effective.