My references can sometimes be pretty obscure. Curious how many people will get that one.
It's Day 4 in Bulgaria. Landed here with a mild fever after two straight days on trains, so it's been a bit of an adjustment - hence the delayed update. I think this one will cover Amsterdam and Munich, since most of the Amsterdam pictures are just a photo dump anyway. I'll point out a handful in particular, but I have captions on those that need them and the rest just kind of exist.
I got to Amsterdam fairly late in the evening, late enough that the train station was fairly quiet. Got some food (apparently kebab is a type of food, not just an individual dish, and that's something I learned in Amsterdam), struggled to figure out how to exit the station (turned out to be way easier than I thought, but I just hadn't KNOWN how), and got a taxi to my hotel. For the uninitiated, a capsule hotel is a format used in high-density areas to keep costs low by basically squeezing every possible inch out of the building's square footage. Shared bathroom, shared shower (gender-separated in both cases, though there was, I think, a bathroom that wasn't). Really cool design though; the place had a modern aesthetic that, while it sometimes lead to confusing choices like a sink with a faucet so short it barely even reached the basin, was still rather hip. An interesting contrast, really, to the general older style and vibe of the whole city, which has been maintained and built up in roughly the same architectural style. I think. I didn't get out very far, so it's possible that more distant areas, suburbs, etc might have more contemporary building approaches.
An amusing story about the food, though. As the caption says, this was from "The Doner Company," which I later saw was kind of a fast food chain-type place. I'd never had it before, and found it quite tasty, particularly as probably the first real food I'd had that day. The worker at the counter came over at one point and asked how it was. I expressed how much I was enjoying it, and I think I caught a slight eyeroll, as if his thought was "how do you find this good, stupid tourist?" Not in a malicious way, but clearly not proud of the product the place was selling. I found it funny.
My main stop in Amsterdam, however, was actually to get some vaccines I needed for my travels. Three in particular were offered at a clinic in Amsterdam. Yellow Fever, Meningitis, and Typhoid. These cost 260, 190, and 180 in the US respectively. The three together in Amsterdam was only about $216, making it not much more expensive to detour for the day and get them here, even after hotel. US healthcare, folks. Gotta love it.
After that appointment, I wandered around a bit before heading back and resting up. Munich was next, with another photo dump. I was a little surprised to find Munich so colorful - it's the kind of vibrancy I'd expected in The Netherlands, honestly. Not complaining, though - the architecture and style were all pretty gorgeous (my hotel room, on the other hand, was spartan but not unpleasant). I was also intrigued by what was being staged there; a musical adaptation of Pretty Woman is apparently also going up, which is also...a choice. Guess they're digging into that nostalgia.
A day of wandering Munich preceded the real 'fun' of this whole section of my adventure - a two-day haul from Munich to Plovdiv, where I currently am. I'm going to save that for a future post, as it looks like I haven't uploaded my pictures yet. Plus I haven't yet modified my workspace adequately and typing for too long is still hard on my back and shoulders. A new chair and a desk upgrade are about 4 days out, and will likely be a normal part of my nomad adventure - get to a new place, buy stuff that the host gets to deal with when I move out so that I can work effectively. So until then, I'm trying to moderate my time at my computer so I have a functional body for actual work.
I may have said before, but I'll repeat: I honestly don't recommend this journey. I mean, if you can make a day or two to stop in each place, and a few along the way, it's been fun and interesting. But full-day train trips every other day or so for nearly a week, and especially a two-day marathon, are draining and stressful. I wouldn't do anything differently if I had it all to plan again except maybe a day in Craiova or something to recover/break up the blitz, because I am on a timetable of sorts with having to make income still - and every day I'm 'on the road,' I'm mostly unable to work. It's been a real stretch and I'm super glad I did it, and I'm super glad it's done and I won't have anything similar in the foreseeable future (trips between here and Turkey are a day at most, Turkey into Georgia a day or so, and the train across Kazakhstan I think is maybe a day and a half at most). I'm glad to be stopped for a while where I can actually learn my way around, find things I like, and get a kitchen/cooking pattern of some kind down so I'm not eating out all the time.
Once again, I'm not sure how to end one of--
Thought I left a comment. Your dad has read it too and hopefully will post as well. Glad for the updates. Sounds like alot of things are right and you are accomplishing some goals. I know that the US and Russia are the countries that probably concern them selves least with regard to making tight efficient spaces. Not quite like our areas even in our home.
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