Monday, November 24, 2008

Outdoor Markets

Colorful and lively are a couple of ways to describe the markets in Europe. Virtually all the outdoor markets I visited had contrasting assortments of junk to jewels from artisan cheeses, dried fruit (dried coconut was my favorite), homemade wines, clothes, jewelry, exotic herbs TO fish heads on shaved ice, chickens hanging by their feet, fresh lard sold by the kilo, and some other things I thought were worth sharing.

Need a passport?Ukrainian passports found at one special market in Odessa.


Westerstraat market is one of Amsterdam's biggest open air markets. It had plenty of interesting finds. This historic market dating back to the 16th century is where major protests against the Nazis took place. Often the products found here are from local shops that recently went bankrupt. I found...

This classic:



A disturbing discovery:




Ironically, it was next to a statue of three figures bound to each other, a poignant tribute to the protest during the deportation of Jews.

Sleeping Cart on an Eastern European Train

Click here: Odessa, Ukraine

From Odessa, Ukraine

More Pictures from Munich: Click Here

Olympiapark, Munich
From Munich, Germany II

From Munich, Germany II

Inside of the statue of Bavaria
From Munich, Germany II

From Munich, Germany II

From Munich, Germany II


World's longest foosball table at the soccerfive arena in Olympiapark
From Munich, Germany II


BMW Museum
From Munich, Germany II

From Munich, Germany II

Click here Pictures of Ljubljana and Postojna Cave

From New Album 11/22/08 9:56 PM
Lbubljana, the capital city of Slovenia was full of canals and cafes. The city itself had many universities most everything catered to young professionals and students. I was tired when I arrived, but the liveliness of the city kept me energized. A rally for a social democratic group was being held in the city's center. The campaigns were for the Slovenian Presidential election. The opening band sounded like U2. All the local teenagers were singing along to the words. I wasn't into them.
From New Album 11/22/08 9:56 PM

From New Album 11/22/08 9:56 PM

From New Album 11/22/08 9:56 PM

I met another solo female traveler from Wilmington, NC. Megan had just finished her master's degree in Valencia and was traveling for a couple weeks. We paled around for several days in Slovenia and took a day trip to see the Postojna caves. The caves had dazzling formations of calcite, stalactites and stalagmites in an array of different shapes and colors from spaghetti hanging stalagmites to bright green calcite. It had been a warm day outside, but inside the caves the temperature dropped to 40 below. The deeper regions of the 20 kilometers of chambers and passages were stunning and bitter cold.
From New Album 11/22/08 9:56 PM
From New Album 11/22/08 9:56 PM