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In an attempt to escape the cold I bolted south to Italy (also I’ve covered a lot since I last wrote so I’ll leave the details to the pictures…). After Stuttgart and another beautiful day of riding back roads through Germany, I arrived in Zurich, Switzerland. There is a hostel in the city of Zurich as well as one about 25 KM outside the city down the coastline of the Zurichsee (Lake Zurich). I opted for the one outside the city to mix it up. The ride down the coast was unbelievable. It’s a large lake that looks a bit like a half filled bowl as it is surrounded by parts of the Swiss Alps. The hillsides escaping the water and stretching toward the sky are littered with beautiful homes and small towns. The night stay there was peaceful and uneventful other than a long chat with the gal working at the hostel who was giving me some tips on places to see. The plan was to go to Bern in the morning, however a majority of Switzerland was to get snow the next day which would have left me stuck for a while so I speed up plans to head to Italy. The next day I went from Zurich (actually Richterswil) to Milan, crossing the Swiss Alps. The landscapes were too grand for words. Exiting the Alps looking down on to Lugano was something I wish I could have captured a photo of, but there was no place to stop on the road. Then the day came to an anticlimax as I entered Italy and the outskirts of Milan. I was stuck on highways, paying tolls and getting my first dose of Italian drivers. Highways around the world look the same and this part of Italy is very flat. The parts surrounding Milan are very ordinary and traffic was more or less a free-for-all. The hostel was also mediocre (which took a couple hours to find). But after I settled and went by foot to Milan’s city center my attitude changed. It was quite beautiful and my first dose of Italy the way I know it from TV, movies, etc. The next day was another anticlimax as the weather was cold and windy. It was mostly white-knuckle highway driving leaving Milan and heading to Genoa. But once the roads escaped the plains and started winding their way into the mountainous coastline things improved. Although Genoa traffic was even worse, enhanced by the chaotic roads that wind every which way from the coastline up the mountain-side into the city. After sometime searching for the hostel, I settled in and took the evening to relax as the day’s ride was exhausting. I left the next morning with the intent of passing through the Cinque Terre on the way to Florence. I ended up parking the motorcycle in Monterosso (the western most town of the Cinque Terre) and took a train to the eastern most town and made the 9 KM walk back. The views were amazing and the towns were small and vibrant. The walk took longer than expected as it was around 7 PM before I left Monterosso. So I changed plans and headed towards Pisa to find a hostel and snaps some pictures of the leaning tower. I ended up getting pictures (at about 2 AM) but couldn’t find a hostel so I camped out in a park and got about an hour of sleep. I then made my way inland towards Florence, trying to find all the smallest back roads as I cut through Tuscany. I was riding for around 5 hours and it was movie-like. But lack of sleep was catching up so I made my way into Florence (and again chaotic traffic) and had yet another hide-and-seek event finding the hostel. I settled in around late afternoon and crashed for the night. The next day I went out to explore Florence with Danny, a friend I met at the hostel who is from Brazil. Lines at the museums were long but the city was beautiful and we opted for one museum. I intended to leave the next day (which was yesterday) but ended up staying to see some more things. It was another great day but when I woke up this morning I noticed it was raining so I’m now stuck here for another night. I guess being stuck in Florence isn’t really all that bad…

After last writing in Frankfurt I took care of some last minute preparations and decided to start traveling south as it is still quite cold in Germany. I set my sights on Stuttgart, home of the Porsche and Mercedes Museums, which is ~200KM south of Frankfurt. I mapped out a route with the help of Google to avoid highways and take (hopefully scenic) country roads. It was not at all disappointing as the majority of the road I traveled wound up, down and around hills and forests and followed the Neckar River, with the occasional chance to castle-spot. I made quite a few stops, double-checking my German road atlas to ensure I was on route so the journey took a couple more hours than expected. I arrived in Stuttgart around rush hour and the traffic was brutal, plus I got quite lost, but after a while I (luckily) managed to find the hostel in Stuttgart. There I met Peter, a guy from Austria, who was visiting Stuttgart for the weekend. Turns out they had some big museum event going on last night where all the museums where open until 2 AM and you could buy a ticket to enter all venues for 14 euros. So I tagged along with Peter, who had planned out which museums he was going to visit and how to navigate to each. We had similar taste, Porsche Museum, Mercedes Museum, a model train museum and the Planetarium (plus a few others which we didn’t have time for). We made it to the Porsche, Mercedes and Train Museum but missed the last time spot at the Planetarium. It was a long but fun night. Today, the plan is to continue south and eventually make my way through Switzerland and into Italy. The original plan before coming to Europe was to head Northwest from Frankfurt to Amsterdam, through Brussels and along the northern coast of Europe, west into Spain and Portugal, then around the southern coast. Basically a counter-clockwise direction, but it is too cold to ride in the northern parts. So as of now it is straight south into Italy, then follow the western coastline down into Sicily and then back around to follow the eastern coastline back north, making stops from here as I go at Zurich, Bern, then cross the Swiss Alps to Italy into Milan, Genoa, through the Cinque Terre, to Florence, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Catania, Bari and Venice. From there, I’m thinking eastern Europe and the haul down to Athens, back up through eastern Europe, cutting west to Vienna, Prague, up to Warsaw, back to Germany (do what I missed because it was too cold), up to Denmark, cross the bridge to Sweden, then back down to Amsterdam, Brussels, to Paris, northern France, Spain, into Portugal, then the southern parts of those same three before heading almost due north to catch a ferry to the UK. At least that is the plan…

Now the fun begins! I’ve spent all week in Frankfurt trying to locate a good deal on a quality used motorcycle, then buy, register, plate and insure it. Sunday I spent scoping out the town as everything was closed and sending out emails to private sellers in the area who have motorcycles listed on www.mobile.de, also got new travel insurance through AAA ($500 deductible with $500,000 of coverage, including extreme activities for only $140!!!). Monday started early and fruitless at the Honda dealership asking questions and trying to find used motorcycles, but found out that for what I wanted to spend it would be hard to find one from a dealer because of overhead. So I made a pit-stop by the T-Mobile store and grabbed a pre-paid phone and started making calls on a few nice looking bikes. I found a white BWM F 650 with only 20,000 KM and in great condition and luckily the owners son spoke English. Bad thing was the motorcycle was in a town called Aschaffenburg, about 50 KM away. So I set a date for the next day to take a look at the bike and in the mean time made a stop by the registration office to see what all documents n’ things they needed as well as went to a motorcycle shop to check on proper riding gear (I’m leaving out the part where I was running from ATM to ATM pulling out 200 euros at a time as that was the maximum allowed, before the bank shutoff my card, then had them extend the withdraw limit and pulled out 1500 euros from one ATM which felt a bit gangster). Tuesday I made the train journey to Aschaffenburg, where Spinnler was kind enough to pick me up. I went to their house, met his father, saw the bike, it was as good as they described, then bought it, 2100 euros. Although the bike had to stay with them until I could get it registered, plated and insured. When I got back to Frankfurt, riding the high of the purchase, I went out for a few beers then realized it was St. Patty’s Day so it ended up being quite a night. The next day, not exactly feeling my best, I went by the Zulassungsstelle (vehicle registration office) and dropped off the needed documents then back to the gear shop to get the needed equipment to ride safe and comfortable. So then today was the big day, I got up early and picked up the plates and insurance then made my way to Aschaffenburg, got a quick motorcycle lesson, putted around the town for a couple hours getting comfortable then made the 50 KM journey back to Frankfurt. I got pretty lost on the way back which was a nice test of skill, but it all ended well. From my experience so far I can say stop-and-go traffic sucks on a motorcycle and the highway isn’t too bad. I had one nice empty winding road that went through a small forest on the way back and that was dyn-O-mite! I added another day to my stay here so I have time to come up with an initial travel plan, pick up some last minute items (perhaps a GPS) and get an ADAC membership (the German version of AAA which gives me roadside assistance anywhere in Europe + UK). I’ll probably stop by the airport as well to get my tax refund for items purchased in Germany, about 115 euros back (Germany sales tax is 19%).

Its been a marathon since last writing before leaving Sapporo, Japan. I took an overnight train which left Sapporo at 10 PM, arrived in Aomori at ~5:30 AM, switched to a local train to make a small jump to Hachinohe arriving around 6 AM, where I could then catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo, arriving at 10 AM. The overnight train was freaking old and I was in an upright seat that did a bit of reclining. I didn’t sleep but a little through the night, then once I made it to Tokyo realized I had no plan for the day so I continued to Nagoya, another 2 hours by bullet train, had to back track to Toyohashi, then caught a local train to Toyokawa where I met up with Noriyuki for an encore. We went out and had some okonomiyaki, something on my to-do list before I left Japan. With some time to spare after dinner we went out for a couple drinks then it was back to Tokyo. The plan was to get back to Tokyo in time to catch the train to the airport, which is 67 KM from Tokyo, and sleep at the airport. Well I missed the train and pulled an all-nighter hanging out at Tokyo Station and wondering around Tokyo until the trains started again around 6 AM. The weather was bad yesterday and while on the train to the airport, they stopped all lines that ran above ground due to strong wind gusts. There was a lot of scrambling and running around looking for alternative options to get to the airport, but ultimately ended up back on the original train and made it to the airport with an hour until departure. The flight to Frankfurt was 12 hours with an 8 hour time shift and I had done absolutely no research about Frankfurt, where I was going to stay, etc. So I arrived in Frankfurt nearly in a coma and managed to scrape together some resources and figured around the (simple) transport system around Frankfurt, located a hostel and dragged myself there without too much trouble. I did some much needed laundry and had a nice sleep, now to make a plan for Europe! (I’ll upload some pictures later)

I set off in the late morning to take a tour through the Sapporo Brewery Museum, which was the original location of the Sapporo Brewery. The current brewery is a 40 train ride away. I took a Japanese only tour so most everything went over my head, but I did get to see some great Sapporo beer memorabilia and some of the original beer advertisements. It’s funny to see that even in the mid 1900s how similar their beer ads were to American beer ads. I also sampled 6 of the beers they brew, which are all decent. The regular Sapporo beer was my favorite. After which I went to the Beer Garden which is their restaurant, known for fresh lamb. I gave a small portion of that a go as well. The bring the meat to you raw and you cook it at the table. The plan afterward was to head to an onsen, but because of the time if I did the onsen I would miss the fish market and possibly miss out on the best sushi and sashimi in all Japan. I opted for sushi and it didn’t disappoint, plus I met some great people working at the sushi bar and we all shared a laugh over my lack of proper sushi eating etiquette. I’ll be catching the overnight train back to Tokyo at 10 PM and after a few train hops around 5 and 6 AM, it’s back to the shinkansen and arrival in Tokyo around 10 AM.

So most of yesterday was spent on a train traveling to Sapporo. Even from Morioka, which on a map is about half the distance in total I needed to travel, it was about 8 hours. Mainly because after Hachinohe there is no more Shinkansen, only local trains which travel at less than half the speed. Although the scenery was beautiful which made the journey well worth it. I located the hostel I planned to stay with no problems and then after getting situated salvaged what was left of the evening and scoped out the Sapporo nightlife. To my surprise, even though it is freaking cold here, the girls are still wearing miniskirts and despite the ice covered sidewalks everywhere, they are still wearing stiletto boots. Meanwhile, the hostel closes from midnight until 6 am, otherwise known as curfew, which I missed so was forced to find some bars open until 6 am until I could return to the hostel. Luckily I meet some awesome local people at the first place I tried and then we all went to another bar after the first closed. It started to snow around 4 am and hasn’t stopped since. Due to lack of sleep I was catching z’s into the afternoon, then got out and took some amazing night 360 panoramics of the city of Sapporo from the TV tower and scoped out a bit more of the downtown area, although the cold, wind and snow make it a bit hard to stay outside for too long. Tomorrow I’ll be checking out the Sapporo brewery as well as sampling apparently some of the best sushi (and best value) in Japan from the Nijo Fish Market, and if there is time perhaps a dip in an onsen, before finally taking the overnight train back to Tokyo.

There was a lot I didn’t see yesterday in Kyoto, so I set out this morning to take in a few more sights. I hired another bike and went to a core heritage area in Kyoto and followed a recommended walking tour in the guide book, which passes a few temples and great streets, full of shops and such. To my surprise it was absolutely packed, even for Monday, along a majority of the walk. After a few hours on that walk I grabbed the bike and set out for the opposite side of Kyoto, passing directly through the downtown, to see the Kinkaku-ji (Golden Temple), arguably the main temple attraction in Kyoto. It was also absolutely packed but I got some great shots and a couple nice panoramics. After which I hauled it back to the hostel to grab my bag and drop off the bike then made my way to Kyoto Station. Since around 4 pm I’ve been hoping trains attempting to make my way as far as I can to Sapporo before the trains stop at midnight. I ended up making it as far as Morioka and am shacked up at a cheap business hotel, which on average runs about 20 bucks more than the typical hostel price. I’ll make sure to abuse the free breakfast to get that extra 20 bucks worth.

So night two in Osaka was a blast. I went back to the bar Bhalo Basa where I met some Japanese businessmen who ended up buying me tequila and jager shots all night. At 5 AM, when they closed, I went with Sami, the owner and Ako to a nightclub which stays open until noon. We stayed until 8:30 AM before I had to throw in the towel. I think needless to say that crippled my day a bit. I grabbed a quick breakfast of rice, raw egg and miso soup before sneaking in a couple hours of sleep. All in all I managed to make a day of it, hopped on the shinkansen to Kyoto (only a 30 minute ride or so) and went up Kyoto Tower and got a nice 360 panoramic of the city. I was incredibly unimpressed, but as I spent more time roaming the city and near the temples my opinion quickly changed. I took it easy last night and caught up on some much needed sleep.

Today I rented a bike from the hostel and spent most the day roaming around Kyoto looking at a couple temples, Nanzen-ji and Shimogamo-jinja. Shimogamo-jinga was my main goal as it is particularly known for marriage. The reason why I was seeking a temple known for marriage is I missed two weddings since traveling, one was my cousin Darren Maas’s wedding the other was my good friend Aaron Stumpf’s wedding, which happened to be today. I wanted to do something special and as well as traditionally Japanese so I had asked Ako in Osaka and she told me to go to Shimogamo-jinga and to buy an ema. An ema is a small wooden plaque which you write wishes and prayers on and then hang them at the shrine. So after some much needed help from a very nice (and patient) Japanese girl working at the temple I located the particular shrine which bestows the blessing of happy marriage (Aioisha is the name), bought a couple of the nicest and biggest emas they had, wrote my wishes for both couples, washed my hands and mouth (tradition before bowing), hung them at the Aioisha shrine and gave a bow.

Belated congrats to Darren and Kristen and congrats to Aaron and JC!

After that which I made my way back to the hostel, grabbed a nice bowl of ramen noodles from a local shop with a couple guys from the hostel, Marco and Yosuke and then Yosuke brought myself, Marco and Matt to an area known for geisha bars. After unsuccessfully trying to go to one, I later found out from Noriyuki that the cost for an evening of drinking at a geisha bar would run about $2000 US.

I lucked out with another smooth arrival into Osaka, Japan. Without much trouble I found the capsule hotel where I planned to stay and got checked in. These capsule hotels are definitely a different kind of thing, but pretty awesome. for 2800 Yen a night you get a key and capsule number. The key is for a locker to put your stuff and in the locker there are pajama/robes you can put on and then just lounge around the inn. All the facilities are shared and there is a large bath house and sauna in the basement, a huge lounge with recliners and a bunch of TVs, massage chairs, an eatery upstairs, etc. So I guess the idea is to leave all your stuff in the locker, put on the robes and just hang out. It is a coed place but I’ve seen only Japanese men for the most part. It reminds me of a budget country club. Then when you get tired you go up to the floor with the capsules, which line the walls of the capsule rooms like honeycomb, find your number and crawl into your tube.

I gave the bath house and sauna a go for a couple hours and then when I was putting my things back into a locker, I met a Brazilian guy who was also a backpacker. We chatted for about 5 minutes then made plans to met up for a night out in Osaka. We ended up hanging at the capsule hotel for a while, swapping stories and experiences over a few vending machine beers, then roamed around the southern area of Osaka for a while, doing our best to have Japanese conversations with random people using our 10 Japanese word vocabulary. After walking lively alley after alley, we walked into an Indian bar/restraunt. Andre, the guy from Brazil, wasn’t feeling too well so he went back and I stayed and ended up meeting the owner, staff and the 3 patrons at the bar. The place is called Bhalo Basa and the owner, Sami, is from Bangladesh but has lived in Japan for 16 years now. He and Ako, one of the staff, were incredibly friendly and we all had a nice chat into the wee hours of the morning. The food was amazing too! And just an interesting bit of info, bhalo means good and basa means house, but when put together it means love. Sami chose the name because he loves his good house (bar).

The weather was bad today, all rain. So I sought out an indoor activity and gave the aquarium a go, as it is supposedly one of the largest tanks in the world. It was a good time and the jelly fish were unbelievable. After words I took a ride on the observation wheel which gets up to 120 meters or so and gives great views of Osaka, but not when it’s cloudy. The couple pictures I have of Osaka from a top the wheel only show the main areas of Osaka in very faint shadows amongst the background of clouds. Still a good ride though. Night #2 in Osaka is just around the corner.

It is very sobering to walk through the Peace Park and Museum in Hiroshima. There’s an overwhelming feeling of wanting to take the good from the situation, as everything is now named Peace this and Peace that, but there is, in my opinion, a shadow cast by the fact that people around the world still feud, countries war and people lose their lives because of it. Maybe if everyone would have experienced the bombing and aftermath first hand things would be different. On a much lighter note, while walking through the Peace Memorial I met Abdullah, a guy from Germany (with a Turkish name) who has been living in Japan for about 5 months doing an internship to complete his university degree. We swapped some stories and views from our travels over lunch which made for a more optimistic ending to the Hiroshima A-Bomb History experience. He recommended a great capsule hotel in Osaka so I’ll give that a go for my 2 days there.