Prague Through Berlin

I have had a surprisingly hard time finding time, for writing. Mostly, it is a combo of lack of accessable computers and doing stuff with friends. That should be at least calmed down a bit as I don't anticipate seeing anyone I know till I get to London next month. Maybe I'll have better access to computers, but I doubt it.
To get on with the trip, not really much in the way of cool stories happened in Prague; a lot happened in Munich; and Berlin was pleasant, though different than expected.

Lots of Flying Butts in Poland

I am of course speaking of the only thing I retained from my college art history course, flying buttresses. Being that there are a shit load of massive, 5+ story, churches here, there are a ton of flying butts. Flying butts are not anything impressive either, but appear to just be a waste of time and money. Then, again, that's what the church loved more than anything back in the day and still does to some degree today. That may be the name of the post cause I like playing on words, but I don't care about churches so I wasn't going around looking at them and really, it won't be a focus of this post.

Book Reviews: Tandia, The Valkeries

Tandia, by Bryce Courtenay -This is the follow up book to The Power of One, and it is equal to the first. I really liked this book and if you remember, I was complaining about the ending to the first saying that it lacked the closure that was built throughout the book. This one starts right where the other left off. Peekay, the Tadpole Angel, is headed for Oxford to learn law and bring it back to South Africa to try to change things during the time of Apartheid. At some point he realizes that the law taught in England won't really apply to this system. However, he goes about trying anyway. There is a new introduced named Tandia. She is a colored girl who really has a shitty life. First, she is a child of an Indian man who is slightly connected to Peekay from many years back. He cheated on his wife with the black help and this is where Tandia comes from. She is raped after her father dies mysteriously, and almost killed by the police to cover it up. She ends up living a whore house and the madam takes an interest in her intelligence, and beauty. She sends her to school, and eventually Tandia gets a law degree. However, it's not all fun and games. The villian of the story continues to be a force of brutality and terror in her life. This ends up leading Peekay and her together.
However, the book doesn't lose sight that Peekay, who ends up realizing his dream of being welter weight champion of the world, is the driving force with a destiny to unite all of Africa. This is why I'm divided on the end. The end of the book does, but doesn't, fulfill his destiny. You are lead to believe in these superstitions and medicine men and other supernatural things. Even Peekay, who is reluctant to believe that he is suppose to be the one to bring peace accepts much of these things in the end. However, we never find out how he does. That being said, the end still could be fulfilling his destiny, it just seems like it should be a little more than it was. It can still be a good ending, but I wanted more and I didn't like certain things about it. Anyway, I still highly recommend this book.
The Valkeries, by Paulo Coelho - this is the same guy that wrote The Alchemest, which is a huge seller. I haven't read that one, and would be willing to give it a chance even after reading this rubbish. This is supposed to be a mostly true account (according to the author) of a trip he took earlier in his life to the desert. He goes there to see his guardian angel. I didn't really know what this book was about before reading it and since I didn't have to buy it and recognised the author, I figured I'd give it a whirl. It appears to be one of those books that is really trying to be spiritual in a how to way, like the Celestine Prophecy. However, this guy who is supposed to be a magus (think new age wizard), is super Christian. None of it really makes sense together since the riturals and things contradict Christianity. Anyway, he writes as if you not believing every word makes you an idiot. But most of it is totally crazy bullshit, even for me whom just underwent many spiritual awakenings and am open to a lot of things now. But this is over the top even for me. Could the book be ok if the guy wasn't trying to say it was all real? Perhaps, but only because you wouldn't have to going, "god this guy is full of shit." Anyways, I wouldn't recommend this book unless you believe in what the bible says about all those crazy angel wars and levels of spirits and what not word for word.

Well Then, I'm Happy to Tell You That God Loves You

This post is Croatia to Vienna, so it'll be long...


Croatia is lovely, but really, it's kinda dull. It's expensive (min of around €40 a day), and while nice, it lacks anything really special to hook you. It's got nice, clean beaches in warm Mediterranean clear water; it's got walled cities and intact fortresses; it's got mountains; it's got somewhat interesting cultural things. But so do other countries around it that are much cheaper. Originally, I was going to spend a bit more time, but the cost really put a damper on that and I only stayed about 5 days.