Since this is my first big trip (and since I am more than a little nervous about Russia and want to make sure I enter and leave the country properly on time), the first half of my trip is pretty well planned out...plane tickets purchased, reservations on the credit card. The second half...well, let's just say I hope I've gotten the hang of hosteling by then...

My current itinerary is:

When	Where	What
25 May	Departure!	LAX - Heathrow - Hamburg
26-27 May	Hamburg / Lamstedt	Checking out the ol' homestead... Debbie tells me it stinks like pigs. Breathe deep the nostalgic aroma! Seriously, I am jazzed about seeing the house where my dad grew up. Stinky or no.
28-31 May	Berlin	What can I say... I promised Amy. Last time I was in Berlin was in '90 (met the Garretts at McDonalds - you know that's a memory to cherish, meeting your next-door neighbors in a historic city at the Mickey-Ds *cue epic music*). Anyway, last time I was there the wall had just come down (actually large chunks of it were still standing). I'd like to see how things have changed. Like I bet there's no wall, and more McDonalds.
1-9 June	Gdansk	More than one person now has disdainfully asked me WHY I want to go to Poland. First, Gdansk is not only the city that my Oma and Opa lived in, it is the city they dearly loved. Second, Czeslaw Milsoz and Chopin both belong to Poland. It's the country that disappeared and came back... the first true (if tragic) attempts at democracy while us sauerkrauts were still fiefdom-ing. Birthplace of Solidarity. And the third reason is too long to explain here, but has to do with a picture of Danzig I had during college 12 years ago that I suddenly found after the break-up. You know how things call your name? Gdansk is calling (and it won't shut up, either!!)
10 June - 1 July 3 weeks (count them)	Saint Petersburg	Akhmatova!! Marina Tsatayeva!! History, history, poetry, poetry. (I'm overcome). Seriously, this is probably the part of the trip I am the most nervous and totally excited about. I took a Russian class and can now say hello, good evening, where is the toliet, and here is my passport. (I think that probably more useful phrases would be "Stop, thief", "No, you can't have my money", and "What's in this soup?"....but oh well.) I am going to be in Saint Petersburg, home of my favorite poets, during White Nights when the sun barely sets and they have festivals. I guess I've read so much Akhmatova than just seeing the Neva...her Neva...will be a high.
1 July - 16 July ?	Krakow? Prague? Budapest? Vienna?	Okay, after all these grand plans, here's where it falls apart. I don't really know what I'll be doing during the last three weeks of my trip. I have to make it back to Muenchen to see Sandra and fly home. I definitely want to see Prague because of Jaroslav Seifert (more on him and the other poets later). Other than that....anything goes!
? 17 July - 19 July	Ingolstadt / Munich	Visiting Sandra and her family (and new baby Ludwig!) for a few days.
20 July	Return Home	Munich - Heathrow - LAX