Vienna highlights

Spacey airport in Abu Dhabi...
So that I don´t want to spend a fortune at internet cafes, I´ll try and post some highlights from each place... Apple Strudel!
Klimt and Schiele in every museum!
Nice buildings!

Tonight we´re off to watch the opera on a screen outside surrounded by a food festival. Tomorrow is Czesky Krumlov...

There you have it! As you can see, after a few hectic and sleepless days, I have officially left Japan. I arrived in Taipei at 9:30 this morning, and will depart for Vienna at 9:30 pm. I was planning on leaving the airport to do some sightseeing, but since it takes a while to get to the city, and because I could hardly see straight when I got here, I decided to park it at the airport. Woo! Actually I think it's just what I needed. The airport is quiet and comfortable and has some nice cafes. Not to mention free internet! And the most gloriously smooth rolly carts I have ever experienced, in all my travels. I can hang on to it with only my pinky finger and it dances along beside me.

So it's too bad I don't get to see Taiwan, but I've learned many things about it just from spending time in the airport. For example, they enjoy tea and Bon Jovi. (I got to listen to his greatest hits while I napped on some chairs.)

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to post anything else from the last month of action in Japan. It's a shame too, because it was a good month. An overwhelming one, but a good one.

I will try to put up some pictures once in a while from the road when I have the chance, though posts may be sparse. For the record, here's a brief itinerary:

Vienna, Prague, Teplice, Krakow, Tatras Mountains, Bratislava, Budapest, Croatia, Slovenia, Scotland, Italy, New York, HOME.

I feel like the luckiest person on the planet right now.

Leave me comments. It will make me happy.

Ciao!

I will try to post a smattering of photos of the events of the Last Days. It will probably be random and unsatisfying. Random end of days event number one:

KIMONO WEARING!!

My favorite ladies decided they wanted to play dress up and took me to a photo studio to get these pictures, usually intended to be used as arranged marriage promo photos. Fingers crossed!

This is the one that's supposed to score me a mate.

Or perhaps this one? Check out the umbrella wielding prowess, fellas!

I was carefully put into place and told to freeze.

Half the preparation time was alotted to getting my hair into this pseudo-beehive. The hair ladies spend the entire hour wondering loudly to each other why a foreigner was planning to get outfitted in a kimono. Notice Tomiko peeking in the corner.

.

Next came the several layers of undergarments

Tomiko wrestles me into my kimono. Her massive skills are evident in this impressive bow.

I had a marriage offer by cellphone as soon as I was suited up.

My Laydeez. They put me in front so my head looks gigantic. Guys like big heads, right?

This is it. It’s 12:06 am, July 16th, and after two years, I’m leaving Japan in ten days.

It’s hitting like they said culture shock would but never did. Dizzy waves of awe and confusion and excitement and sadness and resignation punch me in the face at unexpected intervals.

I find it dangerous to use such numbering systems; if I had counted out the last 100 days, each would have been spent mourning what was to come without experiencing every day. I'll try to remember this as I enjoy these last ones with the people who have meant so much to me for the most recent significant chunk of my life.

I can’t summarize what it feels like to be leaving this life. But it was good. Ahhh, it was good.