Matts Meanderings

It all starts in Überlingen. Terribly exciting place, it is (not), but the map said it was a scenic place, so we went there. Its a smallish town on the shore of Lake Constance (big lake on the border with Switzerland, where the Rheine starts). Only problem was, the the hostel was full of school kids. And i mean full. (Apparently, the German hostel thing is really big, as school kids dont go on camps - they go to hostels... its really odd...). Didn't really do all that much there, other than a lot of relaxing, and sitting by the lakeside, and reading the newspaper... Fun. The other thing was that there were no other backpackers there, so it was a bit strange.

Did see a couple of cool things there though - saw a bunch of old men playing chess in the park, with really big chess pieces. Was quite interesting - sat and watched them for more than an hour. I think I could've beaten a few of them . Other than that, there was an after school care centre, where they had lots of outdoor activities, like (butter) knife making, including the hammering of red-hot metal, and other kids making (and painting) wooden roof tiles, and (i think) they were making a mud brick house as well. All in all, it was quite bizzare. The kids were having a ball though, so thats all that matters.

I was going to do all of Germany in one post (cos there's not all that much to say, really), but i might do it as separate posts, just to make it easier to read...

Oh, the other thing that sort of happened here was that I got itchy, and dotted - all over the arms. Very strange; I couldn't figure out why. It was either a bed bugs (in Venice), or an allergic reaction to something (probably washing powder). So, there was lots of anguish and itching to be done. Managed to dig up some cream, but it wasn't helping the best. Really annoying. Took about a week and a half to go - not what i wanted while travelling .

Ok... I just finished booking my next flight - I'm flying to Athens on monday morning (at an unearthly 6.30am - have to get up at about 4 to get there ).

Anyway, I'm off to meet up with Amy - a chick I met in Rome (who was travelling by herself, and was looking for a travelling buddy), and we're going to wander around Greece for a while, check out the Greek islands, then duck over to the south of Italy, hopefully check out Sicily, and Sardinia (maybe even Corsica), and then up to Venice (again (to pick up Lauren - someone I haven't met yet ), then over to France, a quick duck over to Spain (Barcelona), then up through France, ending in Paris.

Well, thats the plan at least. I'm pretty sure it'll work out alright. If all else fails, I'll just wander around for a bit by myself.

Anyway, on a side note, I'm a bit sick at the moment - woke up yesterday with a blocked & runny nose... (isn't it supposed to be one or the other?). Probably too many late nights again - but then again, I'm sleeping in pretty late, so it should counter out. I dunno - all too confusing... Thats another thing - went and played badminton tonight - first time ever. Didn't do too bad - but its been a bit too long since i've done any serious cardiac excercise, so it was a bit painful. Definitely going to hurt tomorrow... Oh, and then I decided it would be fun to run home, just to top it off... . Insane? I think so too...

Other than that, went shopping today, bought lots of stuff that I'd been meaning to buy for a while (still cant find the zip-off cargo pants that i'm after), and got my haircut - so at least I look a little bit more presentable now .

Hmm... Must write some more blog entries, so that when i head off, I'm at least nearly up to date... (Matrix is on telly at the moment, so i'm not concentrating too much here ).