Motorcycle Diaries

What do you do when you have a lot of time and not so much money? Why, backpack around Central Europe aboard a 50 cc scooter, of course! If you don't mind the occasional run-in with the French Gendarmerie, guerilla camping, or not bathing for a couple of days, I highly recommend it to everyone. I still have my youthful license for a little stupidity!

Okay, I will bore you guys with pictures!


Our little engine that could!


Thr Rathaus (Town Hall) in München. That's the famous tower where the marionettes dance when the clock strikes at 12:30 p.m.


Neuschwanstein Castle in Füßen, built by Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria. This is the template that all Disneyland Castles follow.


Thomas: Stupid for thinking that our little engine that could can withstand the Alps. Me: The girl stupid enough to go 2500 meters (my highest ever!) with him. Yes, I did everything one should properly do in the Alps, which is to drink fresh unpasteurized milk, yodel, and belt out the entire Sound of Music soundtrack.



"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean."

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She's become the Santa Claus for the love-sick and love lorn. Thousands of people stick love notes and write letters to 'Juliet' in Verona, asking for advise. I highly recommend Verona to everybody. Leslie will go crazy and Gigi will go gaga over the shopping district, which is paved with marble! Verona is more romantic at night. By day, it is full of tourists. Night or day, the city still impresses.


Venice was disappointing. And exhausting. And expensive.


Our little engine went kaput on us. If you're stuck with engine trouble in the middle of nowhere in Northern Italy, during a two-week long national holiday, Moto Casini in Montagnana, Italy is there for ya! Here we are with Corinne and her little sister, Athena, the daughters of the guy fixing our scooter, Stefano. Athena reminds me so much of my niece!


Genova. The city with the weirdest layout ever. Have you guys ever seen the movie The Fifth Element? It's like the way New York was envisioned in the movie. Genova is like a maze.


Basking in the sun, Italian Riviera. I don't know what the big fuss over the Mediterranean is about. Its cold. The beaches in Italy and Nice, France are rocky. The beaches in the Philippines are ten thousand times better.


Monte Carlo, Monaco. Be ready to drop quite a few $$ because even the food is pricy.


Nice at night. Taken atop Mt. Boron.


Another impressive shopping district. Cannes, France.


The French part of the Alps have the most dazzlingly bizzare rock formations. The Earth's handiwork is quite impressive.


Lyon, France. It's a great city to visit, with a lot of very interesting museums.


Like this one, the Lumiere Museum, the house of the Lumiere brothers, who created the Cinematograph. The exhibits of the very first films ever shown is very interesting.


The European Parliament, Strasbourg, France.


Jose Rizal Street in Wilhelmsfeld, where the house he stayed in while he was studying in Heidelberg still stands. A must see for every patriotic Filipino. Rizal is well known here, and you can even ask about him in the local Tourist Center. There's a mini Rizal Park here, and even a chapter of the Knights of Rizal! Rizal always makes one proud to be Filipino! Rizal walked every day for several kilometers to get to University, where he studied opthalmology. A walk in the brisk German mountain weather is no joke. Especially since Wilhemsfeld, which lies in the outskirts of Heidelberg, is a mountain village. So basically, Rizal literally climbed a mountain everyday for three months.


Köln Cathedral.


Thomas with Thomas, whom he met in Bali. Bali/Köln Thomas welcomed us into his home for a welcome respite from camping and tents. His girlfriend is a realy sweet girl. Sorry Les, but we forgot to take pictures of Martin. We were really beat when we got to Mainz.



And back to enjoying hot showers, warm food, and a soft bed in Jena. There is no place like home!

To Italy on a Moped

The beauty of youth is, for those who have it, even if we don't have the money to do the things we want, We are unencumbered by the comforts of money. And we have the audacity to find a solution for everything.

Norway on a Bicycle? Not quite. Three weeks off. We will visit the people we've encountered in Asia, and tour the European countryside. See you in three weeks!

The Tale of Paul and Susan

"They rarely make good movies about long-term couples, and for good reason: our lives are boring."

--David Sedaris, The End of the Affair


A few days before their first anniversary, as Paul and Susan were setting into bed, Paul turned to Susan and asked, "Why don't you write about sex in your blog anymore?"

Turning the blankets, just so in the way she liked it, she gave Paul a funny look and asked. "Why should I write about sex?"

"I mean, why don't you write very often about sex anymore?" Paul rolls out his arm, an open invitation for Susan to lay her head on the comforting crook.

Susan chews on this tidbit, and answers, "Because I no longer have sex with strange boys in strange cars anymore."

"But you can still write about us!"

"Hmm, but what we have is ours. Its private, and I want to keep it that way."

"Oh." A long pause.

"Maybe you can create characters," he suggests.

"What?"

"You know, so people won't think its you. Maybe you can introduce them as your friends, Thomas and Cathy. Then you can write stories about them. And then you can say, Thomas and Cathy did that. Thomas and Cathy had anal sex and told you about it. Things like that."

"But I will never have anal sex! Why are you so obsessed about it? Maybe you're gay!"

"Nyahaha! Sooner or later it is going to be mine! It's the only place that I will be the first!"

"Whatever! That's nonsense!"

"Just a suggestion," he shrugs.

Funny isn't it, Susan thinks as she drifts to sleep, that she is having more sex than she has ever had in her life, yet she rarely speaks about it in her poor blog. And she dreams of that day, one year ago, when she and him first lay together on a bed, now thousands of miles away, and the moment few hours later she asked her to be her boyfriend, and he said yes.