Where in the World is Markmen Radtkiego?

Tomorrow morning I’m leaving for Konstanz, Germany. It’s a resort town in the very south of the country. It’s on a lake which is shared with Switzerland (and, I think, Austria). I’m going to spend a few days hanging out at the beach, and then it’s on the Switzerland. I’ll probably finish my book by then, so I’m accepting suggestions for future reading. Something set in one of the countries I have yet to visit (Switzerland, Italy or London) would be preferred.

I had the option of taking a slow night train (sleeping cars, holla) or a fast train during the daytime. I kind of wish I had chosen the night train, but, oh well.

Here are some thoughts I’ve had on Amsterdam:
1) It combines Old World charm with New World sin.
2) Maps are useless. The best way to learn the city is by landmarks. Leave your hotel or hostel and travel in a spiral outwards from there. Don’t be afraid to backtrack, because you won’t learn it the first time. The city’s roads don’t map to Cartesian geometry, and can only be understood as points on a sphere.

Just a quick post to let my fans know that the chaos in London today hasn’t affected the sinfulness of this wicked city. I am alive and well, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled for Osama. It’s really terrible that this would happen the day after they got the Olympic bid and just before the G8 meets. It will be interesting to see if Bush uses this to derail the attempts at Africa reforms in favor of stronger “anti-terror” measures. If anything, this should serve to remind us that terrorism is a tactic and not a movement, and it’s important for us to eliminate the causes of terrorism (such as poverty, lack of education and oppression) instead of dealing with the effects of it (anti-Western sentiment). I can only wonder what may have happened had New York won the bid.

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Yesterday was my first Forth of July in a foreign country. The weather was lousy all day, intermittant heavy rain. I spent the day going between bars and my hotel room. I can't remember, off the top of my head, ... [Continue reading this entry]