Assorted pictures: Checzh Republic - Erfurt - In the village

''Checzh'' it out... eh?
Cheb sieht so schön aus!
From up in his tower the hunchback only wished he could live among the city people dwelling under the warm red rooves.
To the battlements! Man the Cannons! Don't look down!
OhH! and you thought the all-seeing eye on the all-mighty dollar watching you was creepy!
LARGER than life in Cheb

Erfurt - Capital of Thüringen... note those tiny little buildings... looks like and accordian ...doesn't it?

Loose hay. This is the real thing. None of this squished together stuff.

Checzhing In - Part two

We drove from Sachsen Anhalt into Thuringen, then into Bavaria, and then to Sachsen. We passed hills, fields, and forests, and forests and fields on hills. In Sachsen we drove down through an area that knifes into the Checzh Republic. It's a really thrilling feeling to be traveling off to some new unknown place and even border check points are exciting places... well at least, I think so, unless of course... they're the type of places with men with huge guns wearing ugly faces. I prepared to present my passport and we pulled up in front of the window. The blond girl and whoever else was hanging out inside the guard house didn't seem to concerned about us and we actually had to ask her to stamp my passport. She went somewhere back in the office and appeared with the stamp which she banged down on one of the pages, closed my passport, pressing it back together with her hands. At the first gas station we saw (which was a shell station, yes apparently they even have shell in the CR) we stopped and changed some money. 1 euro (worth about 1.40-1.50 cad.) got us 26 krona (The Checzh currency) so 20 Euros was over 500 krona. Previously, I'd never used money so badly inflated.... it was really fun to have these bills of such denomination in my hands. What was further amusing was the fact that the one of the further gas stations after the first one past the border was offering more krona per euro. Those dudes right past the border sure know their location. From the highway I saw the selling stands of the Asian people that are near the border with that busy look of all their wares for sale. At these places there are no prices. You simply ask the price, and then see how low you can bargain the price down. They sell pirated dvd's and music, clothes, cheaper cigarettes, knives, food...etc.. We pulled in front of one of the stands and parked. As soon as I walked out to the first stand an Asian girl waved a pack of open cigarettes in the air at me asking ''zigaretten??'' ....'' nein danke,''
Among the dvd collection was the new pirates of the Caribbean movie ... not on store shelves yet ( mind you filmed in a movie theater.... ) ... this is what you call a ' film of a film... or second hand'. At one point one of the people manning a stand told me he had more and procured a key which he then proceeded to use to unlock a door to the back of the stand. Inside was a whole room of dvd's and cd's!!!!It was Insane. Man, are their more of these rooms?? And if so , what's in them?? Black market Russian Nukes from the 60's??? The whole place was an interesting experience for me, but man it must be all mafia work or something.... lol. Another thing people do, which I saw, was bring gas cans from Germany and fill up with Checzh gas as it's not as pricey as German gas and so naturally you can also buy gas cans at this ''price-debating-market''. In fact, it seemed like there were a lot of people from Germany In the area after the border. As for the rest of the afternoon, we spent in a town called Cheb. This town looks a little scratchy on the outside, but the more central part is fantastic with nice cobble stone streets, old buildings, a partially ruined castle, and old monastery of sorts, and fantastic old church with an inside so massive that it might be called cavernous. When I went to the grocery store to purchase perhaps 8 euros worth of stuff it cost over 180 krona!! Really, quite amusing actually to pay such a huge number... I handed the lady at the ''Checzh-out'' a 200!! All in all I think this afternoon trip to the Checzh Rep. was really actually ONE OF the most fun and interesting things within this trip to date.
We excited the Checzh republic without problems, and once again had to ask the border police (this time German) to stamp my passport. Aber ya, dieses kurzes reise hat richtig spaß gemacht!!

Checzhing In (Part 1)

She was blond, young, and wore a gun on her hip. No this isn't Hollywood people, that was the Chezch border police. What was I doing at the checzh border you may ask? It's really quite simple. Collecting passport stamps. Such pretty ink designs - Well actually there was a better reason than collecting stamps for the sake of collecting passport stamps... though that could be an pleasant pastime... collecting passport stamps... My more logical reason was actually because I was nearing the end of a 90 day period permit free to dwell in several of several European countries in a certain agreement. I actually was finding it amusing that I only acquired a stamp in Amsterdam and got no stamp, questions, or dirty looks in Berlin.... It was like, ''heh! I just walked in here... and how do they even know I'm still here.... who cares if I stay longer than 90 days without getting one of these permit thingies?'' I was ignorant enough not to realize that that one stamp in Amsterdam is my entrance stamp to this entire area and so it wasn't not necessary to double stamp me in Berlin. Most wonderfully, the sister of the mother of the family where I'm dwelling right now happens to have for a sister a bundesgrenzshutz employee! That would be the German border police. Think, Federal border security when you read bundes-grenz-shutz ... those Germans and their compound words. Anyway, nothing like hearing the word on the street from the horse's mouth.... The verdict was: By leaving this area of countries in this agreement, receiving a stamp on the way out, and one on the way back in you are clear for another 90 days... or ... at least that's the idea. Where is the closest country not in this agreement??? Checzh Republic. Yes, formally Checzhoslovakia, behind the iron curtain, now divorced from Slovakia, and is now the place with the cheaper gasoline and perhaps not so many laws as Germany.

We set off from Germany cruising down the autobahn heading towards the Czech border.
Out of One Bundesland (Provence) and into another... by forests, hills, and fields.

More to come ( and pictures too )

Posts

Notice: Unfortunately until now the ability to leave comments belonged only to registered Blogger users. But rejoice with me. I have now changed the setting and would love to hear from you!

'Drumrollllllllll'

Ahh, wow, Internet two days in a row! Just in transition today. After the folk and world music festival I have a place to stay from a nice couple for two nights before getting a ride to my next farm. A relatively private location up and over a hill with a good nature feel out of sight of the town and with a long driveway. Today I'm just taking it easy, walking the streets, taking photos and whatnot. Earlier I happened to go by one of the churches at the right time. The organist was practicing and I was able to sit within and absorb the beautiful frequencies that filled the fantastic baroque and Gothic church. Last night when I went to sleep it wasn't really cold but I awoke in the morning sometime to the sound of rain pounding on the roof and to the feel of the cool air which had filled in for the nicer stuff the previous evening. The sleeping arrangements are in the top of a shed which has been made into a sleeping place with several mats spread out on the floor, but it isn't all sealed off and I was silly enough to not ask for a blanket. The occupants of the other 4 mats who I saw after climbing the ladder up to the loft were covered up and probably lost somewhere in dreams. But hey , all for the experience. The place is currently undergoing repair inside and out and several families dwell in a long timber frame building which has the lawn all torn away leaving just dirt. Seeing the beautiful forested Thüringen hills in the morning from my mat was absolutely wonderful though. Some are somewhat mist shrouded and the sky has been somewhat of threatening grey. Now I'm enjoying the Internet cafe and just before coming here I purchased some baking from a bakery. Ah I love it. Streusel and something appleish that's folded over. Ahh, there's something good about just spending some exploring time by yourself!

Rudolstadt

This weekend I have been at a huge folk music festival in the town of Rudolstadt in Thüringen. From blues to Armenian music, to Austrian drinking songs, to hiphopish music!
In this town between the large forest covered Thüringen hills dwell 25 thousand people. But come festival time the number is swelled by perhaps around another 60,000 visitors! Vendors hit the streets, bratwurst, streusel, musical instruments, and more!I was able to stay with the family I wwoofed with in their camping trailer on a street and now here I am near the end of it all just chilling in an Internet cafe! Lots of people, lots of music, and man, that bratwurst is tasty!

http://www.tff-rudolstadt.de/english/index.htm Here is some info!