Well, for those of you who have been following me along for the past 4 months, this will be my final post since I am leaving to come home in 2 days. I am in England right now, about 30 minutes outside of Londond staying with a friend from High School. I am just enjoying a relaxing day today at her flat, which is just what I need! Tomorrow, I am heading into London for the day for one last time.
Overall this has been an amazing 4 months. I have seen so much and experienced so much. I have meet some great people along the way, both travelers and locals, who have enhanced the experience and added so much to it! I have learned tons about myself and other countries as well and am so glad that I did this. This was by far, the best decision I have ever made and I encourage everyone to travel. For those of you who are not sure about doing it on their own, you could do it! Here is a quick overview of the final count on some things:
Countries I visited: 19
Cities I visited: 73
Currencies used: 9 (thank goodness for the Euro or it would have been tons more!)
Languages I can say "Thank You" in: 16 (if you want to hear them all you can ask me at home)
Number of Books read: Way too many to count
Not a bad total if I do say so myself. Here were a few of my favorites:
Favorite countries overall: Portugal, Croatia, and Italy
Favorite Cities: Krakow (Poland), Rothenburg (Germany), and I really liked the islands of
Santorini and Naxos (Greece) These are very small islands so I clasify them as a city
Favorite food: Greece (no questions asked!)
There are uch to many favorite experiences to recount. Here are a few things I learned along the way:
No matter what country you are in, there is always a McDonalds.
People really do want to try and help you for the most part.
ALWAYS ask for directions if unsure, then ask again ( I can't stress that enough).
Also ALWAYS ask where the bus/train goes.
If things don't go according to plan (when there is one), Oh well.
Have numerous back up plans.
There is always somewhere to sleep, maybe not where you intended, but somewhere.
The longest I can go without a shower is 3 days before I start feeling incrediably icky.
Flip flops were one of the best things that I could have brought with me.
It is alright to be completely clueless sometimes, there are always others who are feeling and
looking the same way.
I am much more outgoing at times than I think I can be.
It is definately alright to yell at guys in public for no apparent reason if they are bugging you.
The list could go on, but that is jsut a few of the things I learned. It has been great here. Exciting, thrilling, amazing and wonderful. Thanks to all of you who followed along and hopefully I was able to keep you entertained a bit. Look for more travels to come in the future!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Saying Goodbye to Germany
My last couple of days in Germany were split between the towns of Trier and Koln. I first went to Trier for a night where I stayed at a great hostel. It is run by this woman named Hille who lives upstairs on the third floor. When I arrived, I was greeted by her meduim sized dog who came bounding down the stairs with her and also her cat who stays pretty much down in the common room. It as nice cause it makes you feel as though you are in a bit more of a home environment.
While in Trier, I went to check out the town and was very excited about it. It is the place north of the Alps that has the most Roman ruins. There was first this unbelievable gat there built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries that is still standing. That was pretty remarkable to see. I next went to the ampitheater they have there and that was huge! It was built to hold 20,000 people and walking into the middle of it on the sand you jsut feel like you are tiny incomparision to the size of the sides where all of the audience would be sitting. Underneath, you can go down below and it is really creepy because it is dark and dank and it is damp too. Needless to say, that was not my favorite part. Next stop, was outside some old Roman Baths there that are still standing. All of these places were built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries and it is sometimes hard to comprehend how old some of the things are over here because there is nothing like that in the States.
After Trier, my final stop was in the city of Koln. This was a pretty big city, about a millon people living there. When I walked out of the train station I was greeted by their huge cathedral, the cities claim to fame. It is litterally towering over the exit. I think that it is the biggest one in Europe. I headed there the next day to check it out and was quit impressed. There are many carinals buried there beneath the ground level. It had a ton of beautiful stained glass windows as well that were pretty amazing. It also had this huge organ, as most do that was pretty impressive. It is not the most ornate one that I have seen, but it is really spectacular still.
Next stop in the city was at the Chocolate Museum there. That was a lot of fun. The company that runs this museum is the overall company that owns Lindt and Kinder CHocolate companies. YOu walk in and are hit immediately with the smell of chocolate all the way through. There is a lot of reading at first, but it is really interesting because it tells all about the Cacao bean and the history of chocolate basically. After that, you go into an area where they actually produce some of the chocolate and get to see how it is done. I haven't see anything like that before so that was pretty fascinating also. I watched and felt like a little kid. There was a huge chocolate fountain at one end of the room and the aroma was unbelievable! They dipped some wafers in the melted chocolate and you get to sample it. It shows you how they make chocolate with moulds, truffles, and plain chocolates. It was really informative cause I haven't seen anything like that before. I browsed around in the gift shop and that was huge, filled with every kind of chocolate confection you could imagine!
I walked around a bit, but unfortunately was not feeling all that well I think because of my walking around in the rain a few days earlier, so I went back to my hostel early and enjoyed a nap to try and sleep off the cold!
While in Trier, I went to check out the town and was very excited about it. It is the place north of the Alps that has the most Roman ruins. There was first this unbelievable gat there built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries that is still standing. That was pretty remarkable to see. I next went to the ampitheater they have there and that was huge! It was built to hold 20,000 people and walking into the middle of it on the sand you jsut feel like you are tiny incomparision to the size of the sides where all of the audience would be sitting. Underneath, you can go down below and it is really creepy because it is dark and dank and it is damp too. Needless to say, that was not my favorite part. Next stop, was outside some old Roman Baths there that are still standing. All of these places were built in the 2nd or 3rd centuries and it is sometimes hard to comprehend how old some of the things are over here because there is nothing like that in the States.
After Trier, my final stop was in the city of Koln. This was a pretty big city, about a millon people living there. When I walked out of the train station I was greeted by their huge cathedral, the cities claim to fame. It is litterally towering over the exit. I think that it is the biggest one in Europe. I headed there the next day to check it out and was quit impressed. There are many carinals buried there beneath the ground level. It had a ton of beautiful stained glass windows as well that were pretty amazing. It also had this huge organ, as most do that was pretty impressive. It is not the most ornate one that I have seen, but it is really spectacular still.
Next stop in the city was at the Chocolate Museum there. That was a lot of fun. The company that runs this museum is the overall company that owns Lindt and Kinder CHocolate companies. YOu walk in and are hit immediately with the smell of chocolate all the way through. There is a lot of reading at first, but it is really interesting because it tells all about the Cacao bean and the history of chocolate basically. After that, you go into an area where they actually produce some of the chocolate and get to see how it is done. I haven't see anything like that before so that was pretty fascinating also. I watched and felt like a little kid. There was a huge chocolate fountain at one end of the room and the aroma was unbelievable! They dipped some wafers in the melted chocolate and you get to sample it. It shows you how they make chocolate with moulds, truffles, and plain chocolates. It was really informative cause I haven't seen anything like that before. I browsed around in the gift shop and that was huge, filled with every kind of chocolate confection you could imagine!
I walked around a bit, but unfortunately was not feeling all that well I think because of my walking around in the rain a few days earlier, so I went back to my hostel early and enjoyed a nap to try and sleep off the cold!
Wurzburg & Heidelburg, Germany
Well, my time on the Romantic Road ended by staying in the town of Wurzburg. I did not get to see quite as much of the town as I had hoped to due to the weather. Now, here is a little pop quiz for everyone. What is worse than cold weather?...Snow. What is worse than snow?...Rain. Why is rain worse you might ask, because snow you can just brush off while rain drencheds you. And what is worse than rain?...Rain with wind because it comes at you from all angles and there is nothing you can do to keep dry. And that is exactly what I got. Of course, it probably did not help that I have managed to lose 2 brand spanking new umbrellas over here (don't ask me how cause I still have not quit figured that one out yet) and I refuse to by another! So I headed out in the rain on my one day there to explore a bit. The one place that I really wanted to see there was the Residenz and luckily this as all indoors. The Reidenz is another Unesco World Heritage site with the biggest ceiling fresco in the world. You are greeted upon walking through the door of the massive palace first by this huge staircase and on the other side of it is a huge ballroom of sorts. The ballroom has a beautiful ceiling fresco of angels covering the whole thing. YOu kinda feel as though you are in heaven because it is very ornate with all of the gold decorations as well. Then you walk up the stiarcare and the entire thing has this huge fresco above it that is just massive. I stood there staring at it for a good 15 minutes before finally moving on to see the rest. The palace was impressive, but the ceiling frescos were by far the highlight.
After that, I decided that I has had enough of the wind and rain, so I grabbed a train to my next stop, Heidelberg. This little town is not very big but it is so cute. There is one main street running down the sent of it and it seems as though the rest of the town is built around that. The main street is a pedestrian street lined with tons of shops and such. There were also a buch of Christmas markets going on there and that was tons of fun to look at too. The highlight of this town is this old Renaissance Castle perched up on a hill overlooking the town. It is really romantic looking because it is partially destroyed and in ruins yet other parts are still standing quite well. It is made of this dark red colored brick and so that helps to make it look very unique. I hiked up there and poked around for a while before going into the Pharmacy Museum located in the castle. This was quite fascinating to see how the current practice of pharmacy as we know it came into existance. I really enjoyed it!
I was only supposed to be here for one night but I ended up staying for 2 because I was so tired from moving so much and I liked it, so I figured that I would enjoy one more day. I spent my second day there jsut walking around and taking in the shops, sights, and sounds of the Christmas markets. They really are not something done for tourists, but instead for the residents. It is one of those traditions that all families go every year and just enjoy them because that is what you do at Christmas time over here. You go, often at night with the whole family, grab some great food that is really not good for you, and drink you hot wine while mingling with fellow friends you run into there and taking in the shopping booths or kids enjoy the few rides there are. It is nice to see because you don't very often see family stuff so much like this in the States. Instead it is parents frantically running around trying to do all the shopping instead of spending the time with their families. I thoroughly enjoyed them all!
After that, I decided that I has had enough of the wind and rain, so I grabbed a train to my next stop, Heidelberg. This little town is not very big but it is so cute. There is one main street running down the sent of it and it seems as though the rest of the town is built around that. The main street is a pedestrian street lined with tons of shops and such. There were also a buch of Christmas markets going on there and that was tons of fun to look at too. The highlight of this town is this old Renaissance Castle perched up on a hill overlooking the town. It is really romantic looking because it is partially destroyed and in ruins yet other parts are still standing quite well. It is made of this dark red colored brick and so that helps to make it look very unique. I hiked up there and poked around for a while before going into the Pharmacy Museum located in the castle. This was quite fascinating to see how the current practice of pharmacy as we know it came into existance. I really enjoyed it!
I was only supposed to be here for one night but I ended up staying for 2 because I was so tired from moving so much and I liked it, so I figured that I would enjoy one more day. I spent my second day there jsut walking around and taking in the shops, sights, and sounds of the Christmas markets. They really are not something done for tourists, but instead for the residents. It is one of those traditions that all families go every year and just enjoy them because that is what you do at Christmas time over here. You go, often at night with the whole family, grab some great food that is really not good for you, and drink you hot wine while mingling with fellow friends you run into there and taking in the shopping booths or kids enjoy the few rides there are. It is nice to see because you don't very often see family stuff so much like this in the States. Instead it is parents frantically running around trying to do all the shopping instead of spending the time with their families. I thoroughly enjoyed them all!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Spirit of Christmas along the Romantic Road
Boy, if I was not in the mood for Christmas, I sure am now! I have spent the last few days going through a bunch of small German towns up the Romantic Road and it has been wonderful. I think this has actually been one of my favorite parts so far. The Romantic Road is this route in the South Western part of Germany that is comprised of all these really old, well preserved little towns. It used to be a very important trade route back in the day before the current big cities were formed. The first town is actually the town of Fussen that I wrote about in the last post so I will start with the next town I went to. I did not get to see them all so I had to pick a few.
First stop of the day was Landsberg. It is this great little town that has a main street in the shape of a Y with shops running along both sides. It is all decked out in Christmas decorations right now and so that just added to the charm of it. It is built along the edge of a river and even as an old wheel that turns in the water (I cant think of what they are called right now). I spent a couple of hours walking around there and then it was off to the next stop of Augsburg.
Augsburg is one of the biggest towns along the Romantic Road with a population of approximately 400,000. It was not my favorite town that I saw but I still liked it. I walked around and saw a good portion of the old downtown, which was luckily right by the train station. There were tons of old buildings and an old church that dominated the main square. In the main square, there was this great Christmas market going on with tons of decorations, a few rides, and booths selling food and Christmas items. Every town seems to have one of these right now for the Christmas season and they had just opened. It was past lunchtime when I was there so I decided to find some food. My nose led me to something called Schupfnudeln. Now, what is that you might ask? That is a GREAT question to which I am still not sure. It is this thing that has something in it that is the texture of gnocchi and roughly the size and shape of my pinky finger. It also has what appears to be maybe saurekraut or onions in is and it is all made in a huge wok. Whatever it is, it is good! After a brief lunch, it was off to catch my final train of the day to my resting place for the night in Rothenburg (pronounced like Row-ten-burg, thats important for my next paragraph).
Now, when I went to get my ticket at the train station, I pronounced it phonetically as it is spelled. They came back with the schedule to me and almost sent me to another town of Ravensburg (go figure that sounds like Rothenburg is spelled). I spelled it out for them and they corrected me on my pronunciation. Once I arrived, I found the place where I was staying and was off to explore.
This was by far the best town on the way. It is really small with only about 12,000 people and is very well preserved. It is the epitiomy of your cute small German town. It has walls surrounding the city and you can walk along them. There are also a few old churches and other old buildings as well. The whole town has cobbled streets that just add to its charm and all of the buildings and houses look like they are straight out of the 16th century. The whole town is decorated with Christmas right now and there is a huge Christmas market going on in the Main Square. I walked around that and it was definately THE place to be on Saturday night. It seemed like the entire town was out there! The whole town has tons of Christmas stores that are open all year round. It has the biggest store of the German Christmas Ornament maker Kohl Wolfarsten (I know I mispelled that but I dont have the spelling right in front of me). When I found it, I decided to go in and check it out. It was incredibly unbelievable. It was the first time since I was a kid that it brought back that feeling of magic at Christmas and I felt like a kid at Disneyland who cant stop looking at all the attractions and everything around them. The whole stop is set up like this little village with different rooms and themes in the rooms. The first display you see is this whole small village made up of miniature houses with stuffed animals who are decorating them for Christmas and the whole thing is automated. Then you pass through room after room of decorations and such. There is a room that is made up of all these little houses a little higher than my head and you go in to see the various decorations. Another room has a huge tree right in the center that is 2 stories tall, completely decked out in decorations, and rotates. It is a massive store and not one square inch of it has not been decorated. That includes the ceiling which has garlands, ornaments, and lights strung all over it. It truly looks like Christmas exploded in there. Now, some of you know how much I love to touch things in stores, ESPECIALLY when there are shiny or bright, so it took all of my self control not to touch everything for fear that I might break something, but it was so tempting!
The town was just great and I loved it. All of the train rides throughout the region were beautiful and covered with small towns along the way, rivers, and green fields with some trees. The weather was cold, but not snowy, so walking around with all the Christmas decorations it really began to feel like Christmas!
First stop of the day was Landsberg. It is this great little town that has a main street in the shape of a Y with shops running along both sides. It is all decked out in Christmas decorations right now and so that just added to the charm of it. It is built along the edge of a river and even as an old wheel that turns in the water (I cant think of what they are called right now). I spent a couple of hours walking around there and then it was off to the next stop of Augsburg.
Augsburg is one of the biggest towns along the Romantic Road with a population of approximately 400,000. It was not my favorite town that I saw but I still liked it. I walked around and saw a good portion of the old downtown, which was luckily right by the train station. There were tons of old buildings and an old church that dominated the main square. In the main square, there was this great Christmas market going on with tons of decorations, a few rides, and booths selling food and Christmas items. Every town seems to have one of these right now for the Christmas season and they had just opened. It was past lunchtime when I was there so I decided to find some food. My nose led me to something called Schupfnudeln. Now, what is that you might ask? That is a GREAT question to which I am still not sure. It is this thing that has something in it that is the texture of gnocchi and roughly the size and shape of my pinky finger. It also has what appears to be maybe saurekraut or onions in is and it is all made in a huge wok. Whatever it is, it is good! After a brief lunch, it was off to catch my final train of the day to my resting place for the night in Rothenburg (pronounced like Row-ten-burg, thats important for my next paragraph).
Now, when I went to get my ticket at the train station, I pronounced it phonetically as it is spelled. They came back with the schedule to me and almost sent me to another town of Ravensburg (go figure that sounds like Rothenburg is spelled). I spelled it out for them and they corrected me on my pronunciation. Once I arrived, I found the place where I was staying and was off to explore.
This was by far the best town on the way. It is really small with only about 12,000 people and is very well preserved. It is the epitiomy of your cute small German town. It has walls surrounding the city and you can walk along them. There are also a few old churches and other old buildings as well. The whole town has cobbled streets that just add to its charm and all of the buildings and houses look like they are straight out of the 16th century. The whole town is decorated with Christmas right now and there is a huge Christmas market going on in the Main Square. I walked around that and it was definately THE place to be on Saturday night. It seemed like the entire town was out there! The whole town has tons of Christmas stores that are open all year round. It has the biggest store of the German Christmas Ornament maker Kohl Wolfarsten (I know I mispelled that but I dont have the spelling right in front of me). When I found it, I decided to go in and check it out. It was incredibly unbelievable. It was the first time since I was a kid that it brought back that feeling of magic at Christmas and I felt like a kid at Disneyland who cant stop looking at all the attractions and everything around them. The whole stop is set up like this little village with different rooms and themes in the rooms. The first display you see is this whole small village made up of miniature houses with stuffed animals who are decorating them for Christmas and the whole thing is automated. Then you pass through room after room of decorations and such. There is a room that is made up of all these little houses a little higher than my head and you go in to see the various decorations. Another room has a huge tree right in the center that is 2 stories tall, completely decked out in decorations, and rotates. It is a massive store and not one square inch of it has not been decorated. That includes the ceiling which has garlands, ornaments, and lights strung all over it. It truly looks like Christmas exploded in there. Now, some of you know how much I love to touch things in stores, ESPECIALLY when there are shiny or bright, so it took all of my self control not to touch everything for fear that I might break something, but it was so tempting!
The town was just great and I loved it. All of the train rides throughout the region were beautiful and covered with small towns along the way, rivers, and green fields with some trees. The weather was cold, but not snowy, so walking around with all the Christmas decorations it really began to feel like Christmas!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The heart of Bavaria in Munich, Germany
After spending some time in Prague, it was back to Germany to do more of the Southern portion of the country. First stop on the itinerary in that neck of the woods was Munich. I arrived there a night before I expected to because when I was in Prague and went to purchase my bus ticket, they informed me that they did not have buses to Munich that day, only on certain days of the week. Now, after nearly 4 months of travel AND having been in this predicament before, you would think I would learn my lesson and learn to ask those things, but Nooooooo, I still assume that if I ask for times, they will tell me whether or not they are daily or only certain days (which of course they dont cause that is an entirely different question). Luckily the hostel I was booked in for the next following 2 nights was big so it had room for me to be in there a night early.
My first day there, I basically did a walking tour around Munich. I went and saw the old part of town, which had some great old buildings and landmarks. One of them is the Glockenspell, this huge clock attached to the old town hall that does this little show thing everyday at 11 and noon. Immedialtey accross the street from it is a 6 story bookstore with glass windows in the front, so I went in there and watched it from the 5th story. That was pretty neat because I could see everyone down below and I had an excellent view! The whole town was getting ready for Christmas, so there were lots of decorations being put up and the Christmas market was getting set up also. I headed over to the regular outdoor market where I love to walk around and take in all the hustle and buslte of people buying their produce, meat, cheese and other assorted items. It smelled of evergreens there cause all of the florists had tons of wreaths that were fresh and fresh tree clippings for sale. There were some museums there, but at this point, I have been to a ton of museums and they werent ones that really grabbed my attention, so I decided to take a little trip over to the BMW headquarters and tour around that instead. They have a museum that is opening in 2008, but for now, you can walk around in the huge showroom and look at the displays and exhibits on everything having to do with how the cars work and a lot of stuff that I didnt understand. It was pretty incredible though to see how big the plant is and this show room is really state of the art. I was impressed by it!
I had to call it an early day cause I was not feeling well and did not want to come down with something so close to the end of my trip, so I went back to my hostel around 3 that afternoon to sleep it off. The city itself is just pulsating with energy in this new meets old kind of way. It feels very modern, yet it is filled with histroy and it is a little creepy to think that this was the head of Hitlers Third Reich and that the first concentration camp was built just 16 km outside of the city. I choose not to go cause Auschweity was enough for me for now.
The next day, I headed to the cute town of Fussen 2 hours away. I went there to see two famous castles located there. The first was impressive, but not as much as the second. I am not even going to try and spell them, cause as many of you know, I have the spelling skills of about a 7 year old and I would just butcher them. The second one though was quite a sight. It is supposedly "Sleeping Beautys Castle" because the castle at Disneyland was based on this and I can see why. The way it was built was really interesting and even more so when you walk inside. Some of the areas felt like I was walking on a Disney ride. It was comissioned by King Ludwig II in the middle of the 1800s and was under construction for 17 years but was never finished. He was declared insane and work ceased on it when he died. As you walk through it, you really can see his state of mind come out in some of the features.
The room I was in in my hostel was lots of fun too which always makes it nice. It was me, 6 other Aussies, and one french girl. 3 of the Aussies went out for a drink and the other 3 stayed in. I was busy doing some much needed laundry and they were absorbed in a card game of some sort. They got the french girl to play, but she spoke about 6 words of English and they spoke about 6 words of French, so they were explaining the rules through lots of hand gestures and sign language and SHE ended up winning. It was pretty funny to watch!
My first day there, I basically did a walking tour around Munich. I went and saw the old part of town, which had some great old buildings and landmarks. One of them is the Glockenspell, this huge clock attached to the old town hall that does this little show thing everyday at 11 and noon. Immedialtey accross the street from it is a 6 story bookstore with glass windows in the front, so I went in there and watched it from the 5th story. That was pretty neat because I could see everyone down below and I had an excellent view! The whole town was getting ready for Christmas, so there were lots of decorations being put up and the Christmas market was getting set up also. I headed over to the regular outdoor market where I love to walk around and take in all the hustle and buslte of people buying their produce, meat, cheese and other assorted items. It smelled of evergreens there cause all of the florists had tons of wreaths that were fresh and fresh tree clippings for sale. There were some museums there, but at this point, I have been to a ton of museums and they werent ones that really grabbed my attention, so I decided to take a little trip over to the BMW headquarters and tour around that instead. They have a museum that is opening in 2008, but for now, you can walk around in the huge showroom and look at the displays and exhibits on everything having to do with how the cars work and a lot of stuff that I didnt understand. It was pretty incredible though to see how big the plant is and this show room is really state of the art. I was impressed by it!
I had to call it an early day cause I was not feeling well and did not want to come down with something so close to the end of my trip, so I went back to my hostel around 3 that afternoon to sleep it off. The city itself is just pulsating with energy in this new meets old kind of way. It feels very modern, yet it is filled with histroy and it is a little creepy to think that this was the head of Hitlers Third Reich and that the first concentration camp was built just 16 km outside of the city. I choose not to go cause Auschweity was enough for me for now.
The next day, I headed to the cute town of Fussen 2 hours away. I went there to see two famous castles located there. The first was impressive, but not as much as the second. I am not even going to try and spell them, cause as many of you know, I have the spelling skills of about a 7 year old and I would just butcher them. The second one though was quite a sight. It is supposedly "Sleeping Beautys Castle" because the castle at Disneyland was based on this and I can see why. The way it was built was really interesting and even more so when you walk inside. Some of the areas felt like I was walking on a Disney ride. It was comissioned by King Ludwig II in the middle of the 1800s and was under construction for 17 years but was never finished. He was declared insane and work ceased on it when he died. As you walk through it, you really can see his state of mind come out in some of the features.
The room I was in in my hostel was lots of fun too which always makes it nice. It was me, 6 other Aussies, and one french girl. 3 of the Aussies went out for a drink and the other 3 stayed in. I was busy doing some much needed laundry and they were absorbed in a card game of some sort. They got the french girl to play, but she spoke about 6 words of English and they spoke about 6 words of French, so they were explaining the rules through lots of hand gestures and sign language and SHE ended up winning. It was pretty funny to watch!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Czechin' out Czech Republic
My current stop on the travel route has been the Czech Republic. My first place that I headed was to this little town called Cesky Krumluv. It is really small, only about 14,000 people live there and the whole thing is a Unesco World Heritage site so that means that the entire town is protected. I got there and after having a bit of trouble finding my hostel, finally found it. Since I only had one night, I headed out almost immediately to begin my exploring. First stop was the castle. Since it is the off season, the inside of it is no longer open for tours, but all of the grounds are open for everyone to walk around for free, and free is ALWAYS good! So I walked around the grounds and looked out at the town sitting below it. It is situated high up on a hill as most of the castles are here and overlooks the entire small town. The town is situated among an old river that snakes through the town in the shape of an S. From the castle there is a great view of the river, the old town square, and the huge church. I headed next to look at the town church and then walked around in the old town around the town square. They were setting up a small Christmas market in the square and had a bunch of dercorations up which made it super cute. The town has a lot of old looking buildings that are different colors and shapes and they look straight out of the 1600's.
I then headed to Prague the next day where I met up with my roomie Tina, her mom, and her grandma. Our first full day inPrague, we headed out to the old town square there where the huge astronomical clock towers above dominating the view. At each hour, the clock chimes and the 12 apostles wave at onlookers down below from 2 windows that open up. There is also an old town hall and it looked like a cathedral maybe. Close to this area was the old Jewish Quarter of Josephev. In this quarter there are a few old synagogues and the old Jewish Cemetary. We decided to go to the old synagogue and the Old Jewish cemetary. The synagogue had the names of 80,000 jews from Czech who died in the Holocaust written on the walls of the synagogue and they took up tons of room. It was very interesting to see them all printed out and to think of how much room all the names from people who died in the Holocaust would take up. There was also a display there of some creative art that they did with the kids in the ghettos and concentration camps, kinda like early art therapy. The cemetary was right outside of this synagogue and was really eary looking. It was the only place for Jews to be buried for a long time so there are litterally graves upon graves upon graves. The cemetary is a small plateau with all of the headstones leaning in various directions because of the way it has become over the years. After this, we began getting snowed on and it snowed on and off all afternoon, at times hard and at times soft, so we decided to do some shopping. That took up a good chunk of the afternoon.
The next day, we headed up to Prague Castle, perched up on a hill overlooking the city. It was a beautiful view of the city from up top. You could see everything! We went inside to see the Old Royal Chambers while we were there. There was also this amazing cathedral that had numerous stained glass windows that were just amazing works of art. There were so many vibrant colors dipicting different scenes on them. There was also a bascilica we went to that was very old and we still have yet to figure out what exactly is the difference between a bascilica and a cathedral. Finally, we strolled through the Golden Lane there. That is the name of this old section inside of the castle that has a bunch of old little houses that have been converted into shops. The houses are so cute though that they look like a picture book or story book house all up and down the lane! We decided that everyone must have been short because we had to duck to get in all the doorways and we are not that tall! After that, we did a bit more browsing around town, looked at the little Christmas market, and called it an early night.
The weather here in Czech has been COLD!!!! We were all bundled up and the wind has been going too some so it makes it really chilly. It doesn't help when you are by a river either cause that makes it all the chillier!
I then headed to Prague the next day where I met up with my roomie Tina, her mom, and her grandma. Our first full day inPrague, we headed out to the old town square there where the huge astronomical clock towers above dominating the view. At each hour, the clock chimes and the 12 apostles wave at onlookers down below from 2 windows that open up. There is also an old town hall and it looked like a cathedral maybe. Close to this area was the old Jewish Quarter of Josephev. In this quarter there are a few old synagogues and the old Jewish Cemetary. We decided to go to the old synagogue and the Old Jewish cemetary. The synagogue had the names of 80,000 jews from Czech who died in the Holocaust written on the walls of the synagogue and they took up tons of room. It was very interesting to see them all printed out and to think of how much room all the names from people who died in the Holocaust would take up. There was also a display there of some creative art that they did with the kids in the ghettos and concentration camps, kinda like early art therapy. The cemetary was right outside of this synagogue and was really eary looking. It was the only place for Jews to be buried for a long time so there are litterally graves upon graves upon graves. The cemetary is a small plateau with all of the headstones leaning in various directions because of the way it has become over the years. After this, we began getting snowed on and it snowed on and off all afternoon, at times hard and at times soft, so we decided to do some shopping. That took up a good chunk of the afternoon.
The next day, we headed up to Prague Castle, perched up on a hill overlooking the city. It was a beautiful view of the city from up top. You could see everything! We went inside to see the Old Royal Chambers while we were there. There was also this amazing cathedral that had numerous stained glass windows that were just amazing works of art. There were so many vibrant colors dipicting different scenes on them. There was also a bascilica we went to that was very old and we still have yet to figure out what exactly is the difference between a bascilica and a cathedral. Finally, we strolled through the Golden Lane there. That is the name of this old section inside of the castle that has a bunch of old little houses that have been converted into shops. The houses are so cute though that they look like a picture book or story book house all up and down the lane! We decided that everyone must have been short because we had to duck to get in all the doorways and we are not that tall! After that, we did a bit more browsing around town, looked at the little Christmas market, and called it an early night.
The weather here in Czech has been COLD!!!! We were all bundled up and the wind has been going too some so it makes it really chilly. It doesn't help when you are by a river either cause that makes it all the chillier!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Winter Wonderland
So I have been in Krakow, Poland for the past 4 nights and it has been COLD!!! I think there was a snow storm maybe a day or two before I arrived because there was lots of fresh snow on the ground. As soon as I stepped off the train at 7 that night to head towards my hostel, I got hit with an icy blast of air in the face that definately woke me up! The weather here has been in the teens the entire time I have been here, but yesterday and today it has been a bit warmer and the sun has actually be shining.
My first full day here, I headed out to brave the cold and went to Warwel Hill. It is this huge castle right on the edge of the old town that sits up on the hill overlooking the city. There are state rooms, a treasury, an armory, and a huge cathedral up in it that looks like a mini Westminster Abbey. It used to be where the Polish royalty lived. It was really impressive to see. The inside was not quite as ornate as some other castles I have been in, but it was interesting because it is a mish mash of different arquitecture styles of baroc, renaisance, and I think the other was new renaisance. That took me much longer than I expected so by the time I was done, it was only about 3:30pm, but by that time the temperature is beginning to drop and darkness is setting in because it gets dark here so early.
The hostel I was staying at was really great because it is a smaller one. There are only about 40 beds in it and it has a great kitchen and hangout room which makes it extremelly conducive to meeting people. It was a great group of people here while I was here and we were all here for pretty much the same amount of time, so I got to know a bunch of them.
The following day, 5 of us from the hostel headed out to see Auschweitz and Birkineau, the concentration camps. That was very interesting. It is one of those things that you hate to say is good, but it was extremelly informative to actually see it. We went on a guided tour and so as we went through, the guide explained to us about the history of the camp, the daily life here, what the living conditions were, and tons of other information. We went into see some of the barracks and some of the punishments cells. Then some of the barracks had been converted into places to house some of the finds from the camp when it was liberated. There were litterally rooms filled with shoes, clothes, suitcases, brushes and combs, prostetic legs and canes, jewish prayer shawls, and pots and pans. There was also an entire room filled with human hair that had been shaved off of the prisoners that had not been sold yet because the Nazis would sell the hair for money. Now, some of you know that I have a real bad aversion to hair that is not attacted to the head so walking into a room where behind glass, there is a huge half of the room filled with hair in a massive pile taller than I was is litterally like my worst night mare come true. We also saw some photos from the camp that were taken either while it was running or right as it was being liberated. Then at the end of the Aucshweitz tour, we were taken through the only gas chamber there that is still standing and then into the creamatorium. That was a bit creepy because we were walking through a room where thousands of people had been systematically murdered. Once we were done with the first part of the tour, we headed over to Birkineau, the other part of the camp a fe miles away to see that. It is just massive and so cold there because it is this huge field with really nothing surrounding it. The barracks were made of old horse stables so they were only wood and when we went in one it was pretty much the same temperature outside as inside. Being here in the winter made you appreciate it a bit more I think because you could get a better feel of what it would have been like to be so cold there. The average life span of the prisoner there was only about 4 months because of starvation and exhaustion. It was quite intense to see. It is sad to think how depraved we can be as humans and how cruel we can be to others. Even being there, you still cant even begin to grasp what it must have been like.
On Thanksgiving, one of the girls and I headed to this little town about 2 hours away from Krakow called Zakopane. It is the quintesential ski town. There are only about 30,000 people who live there and we walked up and down the main street. It has tons of little shops on it and is lined with these way cute lamp posts all along it. There was tons of snow on the ground and the arquitecture was very mountainesce with snow on the roof. All along there were also women with these little carts selling tons of types of cheese in cylander shapes with designs on them. We thought they were bread so we almost bought one to snack on but turns out it was cheese. Good thing we found out what it was first! We then took the furnicular up to the top of one of the ski mountains and had this amazing panoramic view of the mountains in front of us and could look down on the town below. Oh, it was just breathtaking! There were also horse drawn sleds which was so cute! I have never actually seen a horse drawn sled and it reminded us of the song Jingle Bells!
Then once we got back to town, we decided that we needed to go out to eat and have a Polish Thanksgiving because she was from the states too. We went to this little restaurant that our hostel recommended around the corner and it was fantastic! She had this chicken fillet thing and I had this great goulash in a bread bowl. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving even though it was a bit different than usual.
Today, I had a great day of simply walking around and enjoying the town. I cruised around the old Jewish quarter first and that was really great. It has tons of culture and and lots of old buildings to see. There are also two cemetaries, one old one and one new one. The old one is attached to this old synagogue so I went in to see both of them. The synagogue was really interesting because that was the first one that I have been to and it was really small. After that, I went to the new Jewish cemetary and that was crazy. I have never seen so many graves that were next to each other and on top of each other in such a small area. It was nuts! I saw the huge cathedral here to in the middle of the old market square and that was jsut beautiful and ornate as many of them are here.
The whole town of Krakow is just so cute and beautiful. It is an old city with tons of charm and culture and I am a huge fan. I am so glad that I decided to come even if it has been freezing here! So much for no snow this winter!
My first full day here, I headed out to brave the cold and went to Warwel Hill. It is this huge castle right on the edge of the old town that sits up on the hill overlooking the city. There are state rooms, a treasury, an armory, and a huge cathedral up in it that looks like a mini Westminster Abbey. It used to be where the Polish royalty lived. It was really impressive to see. The inside was not quite as ornate as some other castles I have been in, but it was interesting because it is a mish mash of different arquitecture styles of baroc, renaisance, and I think the other was new renaisance. That took me much longer than I expected so by the time I was done, it was only about 3:30pm, but by that time the temperature is beginning to drop and darkness is setting in because it gets dark here so early.
The hostel I was staying at was really great because it is a smaller one. There are only about 40 beds in it and it has a great kitchen and hangout room which makes it extremelly conducive to meeting people. It was a great group of people here while I was here and we were all here for pretty much the same amount of time, so I got to know a bunch of them.
The following day, 5 of us from the hostel headed out to see Auschweitz and Birkineau, the concentration camps. That was very interesting. It is one of those things that you hate to say is good, but it was extremelly informative to actually see it. We went on a guided tour and so as we went through, the guide explained to us about the history of the camp, the daily life here, what the living conditions were, and tons of other information. We went into see some of the barracks and some of the punishments cells. Then some of the barracks had been converted into places to house some of the finds from the camp when it was liberated. There were litterally rooms filled with shoes, clothes, suitcases, brushes and combs, prostetic legs and canes, jewish prayer shawls, and pots and pans. There was also an entire room filled with human hair that had been shaved off of the prisoners that had not been sold yet because the Nazis would sell the hair for money. Now, some of you know that I have a real bad aversion to hair that is not attacted to the head so walking into a room where behind glass, there is a huge half of the room filled with hair in a massive pile taller than I was is litterally like my worst night mare come true. We also saw some photos from the camp that were taken either while it was running or right as it was being liberated. Then at the end of the Aucshweitz tour, we were taken through the only gas chamber there that is still standing and then into the creamatorium. That was a bit creepy because we were walking through a room where thousands of people had been systematically murdered. Once we were done with the first part of the tour, we headed over to Birkineau, the other part of the camp a fe miles away to see that. It is just massive and so cold there because it is this huge field with really nothing surrounding it. The barracks were made of old horse stables so they were only wood and when we went in one it was pretty much the same temperature outside as inside. Being here in the winter made you appreciate it a bit more I think because you could get a better feel of what it would have been like to be so cold there. The average life span of the prisoner there was only about 4 months because of starvation and exhaustion. It was quite intense to see. It is sad to think how depraved we can be as humans and how cruel we can be to others. Even being there, you still cant even begin to grasp what it must have been like.
On Thanksgiving, one of the girls and I headed to this little town about 2 hours away from Krakow called Zakopane. It is the quintesential ski town. There are only about 30,000 people who live there and we walked up and down the main street. It has tons of little shops on it and is lined with these way cute lamp posts all along it. There was tons of snow on the ground and the arquitecture was very mountainesce with snow on the roof. All along there were also women with these little carts selling tons of types of cheese in cylander shapes with designs on them. We thought they were bread so we almost bought one to snack on but turns out it was cheese. Good thing we found out what it was first! We then took the furnicular up to the top of one of the ski mountains and had this amazing panoramic view of the mountains in front of us and could look down on the town below. Oh, it was just breathtaking! There were also horse drawn sleds which was so cute! I have never actually seen a horse drawn sled and it reminded us of the song Jingle Bells!
Then once we got back to town, we decided that we needed to go out to eat and have a Polish Thanksgiving because she was from the states too. We went to this little restaurant that our hostel recommended around the corner and it was fantastic! She had this chicken fillet thing and I had this great goulash in a bread bowl. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving even though it was a bit different than usual.
Today, I had a great day of simply walking around and enjoying the town. I cruised around the old Jewish quarter first and that was really great. It has tons of culture and and lots of old buildings to see. There are also two cemetaries, one old one and one new one. The old one is attached to this old synagogue so I went in to see both of them. The synagogue was really interesting because that was the first one that I have been to and it was really small. After that, I went to the new Jewish cemetary and that was crazy. I have never seen so many graves that were next to each other and on top of each other in such a small area. It was nuts! I saw the huge cathedral here to in the middle of the old market square and that was jsut beautiful and ornate as many of them are here.
The whole town of Krakow is just so cute and beautiful. It is an old city with tons of charm and culture and I am a huge fan. I am so glad that I decided to come even if it has been freezing here! So much for no snow this winter!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Berlin, Germany
Well, I ended up spending one less day in Berlin than I had expected cause of the way the trains worked out, but I still got to see everything that I wanted to. My first stop was at Alexandreplatz, a huge plaza that has now been redone and is home to many different stores. In the plaza is this World Time Clock. It is pretty neat to see. It tells you the time that it currently is in Berlin and it also tells you the time for anywhere in the world. All you have to do is look at it and find a city that is in your time zone and you can see the time there. It really is a great idea! I then went to see this huge tower thing that I forget what it is called but it is very famous there. It has kinda become a symbol of the city. After that I headed over to the cathedral dome. That was absolutely amazing to see because it is extremely ornate and from the top you could see a panaramic view of the entire city. I wandered around inside and then on the way out, you have to go through the crypt of royalty to get out. That was a bit creepy, especially since it is underground, so I didn't spend too long there, especially considering my issues with dead bodies and such. After that I went over to the Pergamonium Museum. That was phenominal! It is this museum dedicated all to ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and Islamic art. There are parts of the Babylonian Gate, A huge part of a temple that has been reconstructed from fragments from the Acropolis in Athens, and a ton of art from Islam. I LOVED it and spent a good few hours in there seeing everything.
The next day I headed off to a very touristy district where I saw the Brandenbourg Tor, it is this huge gate like the Arch de Triompe in Paris. At the end of that street is this huge Golden Angel on a way high pedastal that I had to see since I love angels. While I was there, I also saw the Parliament Building that is this interesting mixture of old arquitecture and this huge glass dome. I wanted to go inside to go up the dome, but the line was too long, so I just took some pictures and went on my way. I went next to see a part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing and has been integrated into this outdoor exhibit telling about the Gestapo and the SS that used to be housed on that site. It was fascinating ro read about and also very sobering to realize what actually went on there. It explained a bit about the wall as well and why that part of it was left standing. There are other fragments that have been left standing and are painted with messages and types of graffiti, but they are great ot see as well. Then I was off to Check Point Charlie where you used to have to go through to get from onside to the other. It really was not that big it reminded me of any one of the borders I have ever been through. It is now a big tourist site with a guard standing there holding a US flag because it is when you are leaving the American Sector of it when it was divided. They even have people who will stamp your passport for you there if you want, which is kinda funny I think. My last stop for the day was at the huge Sony Center which is this completely modern center that has shops, restaurants, and shows.
I had a very full 2 days because that was all I had, but it was good. It is a huge city and so a lot to cover on foot. There were no interesting stories here though for me to share, just average run of the mill stuff.
The next day I headed off to a very touristy district where I saw the Brandenbourg Tor, it is this huge gate like the Arch de Triompe in Paris. At the end of that street is this huge Golden Angel on a way high pedastal that I had to see since I love angels. While I was there, I also saw the Parliament Building that is this interesting mixture of old arquitecture and this huge glass dome. I wanted to go inside to go up the dome, but the line was too long, so I just took some pictures and went on my way. I went next to see a part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing and has been integrated into this outdoor exhibit telling about the Gestapo and the SS that used to be housed on that site. It was fascinating ro read about and also very sobering to realize what actually went on there. It explained a bit about the wall as well and why that part of it was left standing. There are other fragments that have been left standing and are painted with messages and types of graffiti, but they are great ot see as well. Then I was off to Check Point Charlie where you used to have to go through to get from onside to the other. It really was not that big it reminded me of any one of the borders I have ever been through. It is now a big tourist site with a guard standing there holding a US flag because it is when you are leaving the American Sector of it when it was divided. They even have people who will stamp your passport for you there if you want, which is kinda funny I think. My last stop for the day was at the huge Sony Center which is this completely modern center that has shops, restaurants, and shows.
I had a very full 2 days because that was all I had, but it was good. It is a huge city and so a lot to cover on foot. There were no interesting stories here though for me to share, just average run of the mill stuff.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Dank U Wel...
And once again, that is the extent of my Dutch, but I like how they say Thank you in Amsterdam cause they do it in this kinda sing-song way. Anyway, I spent the last 3 days in Amsterdam and it is truly unlike any other place I have ever seen or experienced.
My time there began by arriving around 8 at night. Now normally, I try and stay in hostels that are right by the train station when I know I will be getting there in the dark, but in this case, those hostels were litterally double the price of the one where I stayed, so I went with the cheaper. Unfortunately, what should have been a quick ride on the tram ended up being a quick ride immediately followed by getting lost for about and hour because the directions were not clear. Luckily, I saw a guard at the Van Gogh Museum who spoke English and did now know where the street I was looking for was, but he had this handy little Blackberry with portable navigation, so he looked up the street for me, pointed me in the right direction, and sent me on my way to the hostel.
My hostel was quite interesting because it was the smallest room I have been in yet. There were 8 of us in there and, once again, it was me and 7 guys. Guys always seem to be messy when traveling, so there was really not much room to walk in our room and it was so small that if I reached my arm straight out to my side, I could touch my neighbor in the bunk accross from me. Tight quarters, but what could I expect for a hostel half the price of the others? I met some interesting people there. One of which greeted me my second morning there with a good morning. I was not facing him so all he could see was the raty main of unbrushed brown hair and my pjs. I turned around and before I could say good morning back, he follows up that greeting with a "Damn, you are prettier than I expected." I had to laugh, say thank you, and good morning back cause that was by far the most original greeting I have gotten in the morning in a while. He was a nice guy though. He showed me around for a few hours and then we split up cause he wanted to do some different things than I did.
I went to a few great museums there. First, I saw the Van Gogh Museum. It had about 200 paintings of his and some other great paintings by other artists also. It was awesome and I just wandered in there for a few hours. Next, I saw the Rjiskmuseum, which has a collection valued in the billions supposedly. They are doing some major renovations so there are only about 200 works on display right now but a lot by Vermeer and Rembrandt, including his famous Night Watch. The last museum I went to was the Anne Frank House. That was really good to see because it tells her story and also weaves in the story of the Holocaust as well. The foundation there promotes tolerance and had a great exhibition on freedom of choice that made you think. I like those kind of exhibitions. There were a ton more museums, but those were the only ones I went to.
I spent a lot of time just walking around too and taking in the city. The other thing that I did was head to the flower market where you can buy any type of flower bulb in the world you wanted to. I bought a few tulip bulbs and some calla lily bulbs that I have never seen. The city of Amsterdam is a very original place. It has a very unique perspective on their whole outlook. It is this contrasting city with these huge old buildings built around 5 canals and right in the middle of this modern, bustling city is the infamous red light district housed in some of these buildings where every other shop has skantily clad women there in the windows and the police right down the street to make sure all is well. Many of the buildings here are straight out of the 1700s and you can almost imagine what it would have looked like back then with horses and carriages lining the streets instead of buses and bikes. A cafe there is actually a pub or bar. A coffee shop is where you go if you want to get pot (which is technically not legal here, but tolerated up to 5 grams). A smart shop, which looks like a drug store, is litterally that selling variuos products for the consummer. I still did not manage to figure out where you go to if you just want a cup of hot chocolate or coffee like a normal cafe. In the midst of all this people here have a very laid back attitude and are very friendly. Their progressive thinking extends to the environment a lot where almost everyone has bikes or walks. There are very few cars making it a quieter city center with much less pollution and traffic. There are non of the parking problems and traffic jams of the US, instead there is a great system of buses, trams, and metros to get around if you do not have a bike. As in most European countries, when you go to the store, you better bring your own bags or you get charged more in an attempt to keep people from wasting bags and it works. It is a great city that is so different and unique. It is one of those places that everyone should see for themselves.
My time there began by arriving around 8 at night. Now normally, I try and stay in hostels that are right by the train station when I know I will be getting there in the dark, but in this case, those hostels were litterally double the price of the one where I stayed, so I went with the cheaper. Unfortunately, what should have been a quick ride on the tram ended up being a quick ride immediately followed by getting lost for about and hour because the directions were not clear. Luckily, I saw a guard at the Van Gogh Museum who spoke English and did now know where the street I was looking for was, but he had this handy little Blackberry with portable navigation, so he looked up the street for me, pointed me in the right direction, and sent me on my way to the hostel.
My hostel was quite interesting because it was the smallest room I have been in yet. There were 8 of us in there and, once again, it was me and 7 guys. Guys always seem to be messy when traveling, so there was really not much room to walk in our room and it was so small that if I reached my arm straight out to my side, I could touch my neighbor in the bunk accross from me. Tight quarters, but what could I expect for a hostel half the price of the others? I met some interesting people there. One of which greeted me my second morning there with a good morning. I was not facing him so all he could see was the raty main of unbrushed brown hair and my pjs. I turned around and before I could say good morning back, he follows up that greeting with a "Damn, you are prettier than I expected." I had to laugh, say thank you, and good morning back cause that was by far the most original greeting I have gotten in the morning in a while. He was a nice guy though. He showed me around for a few hours and then we split up cause he wanted to do some different things than I did.
I went to a few great museums there. First, I saw the Van Gogh Museum. It had about 200 paintings of his and some other great paintings by other artists also. It was awesome and I just wandered in there for a few hours. Next, I saw the Rjiskmuseum, which has a collection valued in the billions supposedly. They are doing some major renovations so there are only about 200 works on display right now but a lot by Vermeer and Rembrandt, including his famous Night Watch. The last museum I went to was the Anne Frank House. That was really good to see because it tells her story and also weaves in the story of the Holocaust as well. The foundation there promotes tolerance and had a great exhibition on freedom of choice that made you think. I like those kind of exhibitions. There were a ton more museums, but those were the only ones I went to.
I spent a lot of time just walking around too and taking in the city. The other thing that I did was head to the flower market where you can buy any type of flower bulb in the world you wanted to. I bought a few tulip bulbs and some calla lily bulbs that I have never seen. The city of Amsterdam is a very original place. It has a very unique perspective on their whole outlook. It is this contrasting city with these huge old buildings built around 5 canals and right in the middle of this modern, bustling city is the infamous red light district housed in some of these buildings where every other shop has skantily clad women there in the windows and the police right down the street to make sure all is well. Many of the buildings here are straight out of the 1700s and you can almost imagine what it would have looked like back then with horses and carriages lining the streets instead of buses and bikes. A cafe there is actually a pub or bar. A coffee shop is where you go if you want to get pot (which is technically not legal here, but tolerated up to 5 grams). A smart shop, which looks like a drug store, is litterally that selling variuos products for the consummer. I still did not manage to figure out where you go to if you just want a cup of hot chocolate or coffee like a normal cafe. In the midst of all this people here have a very laid back attitude and are very friendly. Their progressive thinking extends to the environment a lot where almost everyone has bikes or walks. There are very few cars making it a quieter city center with much less pollution and traffic. There are non of the parking problems and traffic jams of the US, instead there is a great system of buses, trams, and metros to get around if you do not have a bike. As in most European countries, when you go to the store, you better bring your own bags or you get charged more in an attempt to keep people from wasting bags and it works. It is a great city that is so different and unique. It is one of those places that everyone should see for themselves.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Little Mermaid!!!!
Well, I split up my time in Copenhagen, Denmark into 2 parts. I spent 1 night and a full day there before I headed off to Sweden and Norway and then I spent another 2 nights and days there upon returning. Now, some of you may or may not know that my 2 favorite Disney movies of all time are Oliver and Company and The Little Mermaid. One of the things that Copenhagen is most famous for is having the original statute of the Little Mermaid there. You can bet that I went to see and it was super stoked! It was definately my favorite thing that I got to see. Ok, so it was not the most impressive statute there, but it was still great nontheless.
Now that was not all I did though. I went and strolled around and looked at a bunch of sculptures that were great. The city had a lot of them in one area. There is an active army area there that is open to the public to walk around the grounds because there are some beautiful grassy areas and parks that overlook a peaceful river and parts of the city. I took a stroll around this area and took it all in. After this, I headed over to the Danish Resistance Museum to see how Denmark cooped with the Nazis during WWII. This was a fascinating museum to see how it affected this country and what they did during that time. It was a wealth of information and taught me a lot about history that I needed to brush up on.
The city had tons of stuff to see. I went to look at the palace, but only from the outside and also this old castle that was built in the 17th century there. It really looks like one of those castles that you would imagine in a story or something. There were only a few rooms open due to renovations, but it was great to see still.
I really wanted to go to Tivoli Gardens, which is this amusment park that is like 180 years old or something. It is very famous, but unfortunately it was closed for the winter and only opens for a month or so around Christmas time. I was jsut missing when they were going to be opening it for the Christmas season, but I was content to see the lights that they had on there. It is right downtown and you can see into it from the street so I could see how it was all decked out for Christmas.
The city has a couple major waterways in it that used to be used for trade when it was originally built. There is this great old part of town that is very pedestrian friendly and it filled with variuos businesses and shops. There are also some huge buildings with huge neon lite signs that are like any big modern city. I went up one of the towers in the Old City that has a spiral walkway all the way up it. It is quite unique to any type of arquitecture because normally a tower has stairs all the way up, not a spiralling walkway. When I reached the top, I was greeted with a great view over all of Copenhagen and just about froze up there cause of the icy, cold wind.
I decided to treat myself to a movie one night because it has been months since I have been to the show. So I headed over to the show and picked out one that I am not sure of the name of in English, but I think it was new. It was shown in the English version with Danish subtitles so I could understand all that was said. When I purchased my ticket, the girl asked me where I wanted to sit. I gave her a dumbfounded look cause I did not know what she meant. Apparently there, you have to choose your seat and they actually print it on the ticket. I told her that I would take whatever she thought was good. So she set me up with one right in the middle. It is different than we have where you just walk in and sit whereever.
Copenhagen was a great city and I really liked it, although, I could have dealt with a bit warmer weather!
Now that was not all I did though. I went and strolled around and looked at a bunch of sculptures that were great. The city had a lot of them in one area. There is an active army area there that is open to the public to walk around the grounds because there are some beautiful grassy areas and parks that overlook a peaceful river and parts of the city. I took a stroll around this area and took it all in. After this, I headed over to the Danish Resistance Museum to see how Denmark cooped with the Nazis during WWII. This was a fascinating museum to see how it affected this country and what they did during that time. It was a wealth of information and taught me a lot about history that I needed to brush up on.
The city had tons of stuff to see. I went to look at the palace, but only from the outside and also this old castle that was built in the 17th century there. It really looks like one of those castles that you would imagine in a story or something. There were only a few rooms open due to renovations, but it was great to see still.
I really wanted to go to Tivoli Gardens, which is this amusment park that is like 180 years old or something. It is very famous, but unfortunately it was closed for the winter and only opens for a month or so around Christmas time. I was jsut missing when they were going to be opening it for the Christmas season, but I was content to see the lights that they had on there. It is right downtown and you can see into it from the street so I could see how it was all decked out for Christmas.
The city has a couple major waterways in it that used to be used for trade when it was originally built. There is this great old part of town that is very pedestrian friendly and it filled with variuos businesses and shops. There are also some huge buildings with huge neon lite signs that are like any big modern city. I went up one of the towers in the Old City that has a spiral walkway all the way up it. It is quite unique to any type of arquitecture because normally a tower has stairs all the way up, not a spiralling walkway. When I reached the top, I was greeted with a great view over all of Copenhagen and just about froze up there cause of the icy, cold wind.
I decided to treat myself to a movie one night because it has been months since I have been to the show. So I headed over to the show and picked out one that I am not sure of the name of in English, but I think it was new. It was shown in the English version with Danish subtitles so I could understand all that was said. When I purchased my ticket, the girl asked me where I wanted to sit. I gave her a dumbfounded look cause I did not know what she meant. Apparently there, you have to choose your seat and they actually print it on the ticket. I told her that I would take whatever she thought was good. So she set me up with one right in the middle. It is different than we have where you just walk in and sit whereever.
Copenhagen was a great city and I really liked it, although, I could have dealt with a bit warmer weather!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Norway in a Nutshell
My time in Norway ended up being a bit briefer than I had anticipated, but it was good non the less. It began by arriving from Stockholm on the overnight train. I dumped my bags in a locker and then hopped on another train to Bergen almost immediately. The train ride from Oslo to Bergen is supposed to be extremelly beautiful and amazing, so I took off on the 7 hour ride to see the scenery. It winds up into the mountains and you have some amazing views of the fjords that Norway is famous for. I was going to get off halfway and take another train down into one of the fjords and also a boat before continuing on my way, but it was very snowy and I decided to just enjoy the ride instead. The scenery conists of tons of mountains and at this time of year they are covered in snow. There are a bunch of lakes as well and some evergreeens also. I really enjoyed the ride. I got to Bergen around 4 in the afternoon and had just enough time to walk around a bit before catching the overnight train back to Oslo.
Once I arrived back in Olso, I was going to go and find a hostel. I did not book anything because the site that I usually use for booking did not have anything listed other than a really expensive hotel and I figured I would just be fine to show up at one of the hostels listed in my book and be able to get a room, especially since it is low season now that has never been a problem. So I grabbed my bag out of the locker and headed off to the nearest big hostel. Once I got there, they informed me that they were full and only had a private single room available that was really expensive. They recommended 2 other hostels so I called them and they were also full. It surprised me so I figured I would go with Plan B instead, which consisted of taking the overnight ferry back to Copenhagen, Denmark that night instead of the following night, so I headed off to the ferry station. Now let me draw you a little mental map. The train station where I originally began would be the middle point on a line. About 15 or 20 minutes walk towards one end would be where the hostel I went to was. About 15 or 20 minutes walk to the other end from the train station would be where the ferry dock was. So I trapsed from the train station, to one end of the line and then to the other to get to the ferry dock with my backpack on my back, which only seems to get heavier as the weeks go on instead of lighter. Go figure! So anyway, I head to the ferry dock and see about getting a ticket. They I asked for jsut deck passage, which is basically you pay to get on the ship and you sleep where ever you can find room like the floor, lounges, couches, if you are lucky, whereever. It is the cheapest way to go. The woman informs me that they only have private rooms available for the equivalent of over 300 dollars. They do not offer deck passage (of course they would not because it is NOrway and the most expensive country in Europe). So I say no thank you and head on my way. Now my Plan C is always that you can jsut sleep at the train station or airports, but last time I did this we all got kicked out around 1am so we ended up sleeping outside the train station on the concret instead in Venice. Luckily I made some friends with some Ausies so the 3 of us hudled up together under their sleeping bag to keep warm and it was much warmer there than here. I quickly decided against Plan C because with temperatures hovering around 0 at night here, I would have litterally forzen to death if I got kicked out, so on to Plan D. This consisted of taking a train back sometime today to Copenhagen. The woman at the desk informed me though that there is only 1 train per day that goes and the one for that day is full so she could only offer me it for the following day. That pretty much put me back at square one with not being able to leave until the next day and having no where to sleep. I almost did it and then Plan E quickly popped into my head. I headed to the bus station to check on buses and HALLELUJAH there was one that left that night and was an overnight ride to Copenhagen and was not that expensive and there was room. I could have kissed the guy when he told me that (do not worry, I did not, but I coulda I was so excited). I quickly slapped down the money, threw my stuff in a locker for the day and headed out because I had exactly 12 hours to explore the city before my bu left. Dad, arent you glad I have so many backup plans???
My first stop in Oslo was the famous Froggen Park where down the main center walkway are a bunch of sculptures. The sculptures are extremely interesting because there are some of children, adults, elderly, and they are all in different poses and all of them are nude. I walked all through there just looking at them and taking some pictures. They are done quite well and are quite the eyeful to see. Next stop was over to an old fort on the edge of town. The fort is this huge old complex that contains the old palace, church, armory and many other buildings. I wanted to go into the palace and church, but unfornately they were closed. So I walked around a bit and then I headed off to a museum I wanted to see.
I cannot remember the name of the museum, but it explores issues of conflict and tension and nobel peace prize winners. The exhibition they had going on was on Freedom of Expression and how far is too far. It was an great exhibition using interviews of people and also film, music and writings to explore this idea. After that exhibition, I headed upstairs where it looks at some of the nobel peace prize winners and what they have done and contributed to receive the prize. It was truly amazing to see all that has been done and all that these people have accomplished. It almost brought me to tears because so often we think that we are only one person in the world so what can we do, yet you get enough one people together and you have a whole movement. There are other permanent displays as well that examine the idea of peace in various regions of the world. It was a fabulous musuem and I think my favorite one I have seen so far. I spent over 3 hours in there and it is really not that big.
Once I arrived back in Olso, I was going to go and find a hostel. I did not book anything because the site that I usually use for booking did not have anything listed other than a really expensive hotel and I figured I would just be fine to show up at one of the hostels listed in my book and be able to get a room, especially since it is low season now that has never been a problem. So I grabbed my bag out of the locker and headed off to the nearest big hostel. Once I got there, they informed me that they were full and only had a private single room available that was really expensive. They recommended 2 other hostels so I called them and they were also full. It surprised me so I figured I would go with Plan B instead, which consisted of taking the overnight ferry back to Copenhagen, Denmark that night instead of the following night, so I headed off to the ferry station. Now let me draw you a little mental map. The train station where I originally began would be the middle point on a line. About 15 or 20 minutes walk towards one end would be where the hostel I went to was. About 15 or 20 minutes walk to the other end from the train station would be where the ferry dock was. So I trapsed from the train station, to one end of the line and then to the other to get to the ferry dock with my backpack on my back, which only seems to get heavier as the weeks go on instead of lighter. Go figure! So anyway, I head to the ferry dock and see about getting a ticket. They I asked for jsut deck passage, which is basically you pay to get on the ship and you sleep where ever you can find room like the floor, lounges, couches, if you are lucky, whereever. It is the cheapest way to go. The woman informs me that they only have private rooms available for the equivalent of over 300 dollars. They do not offer deck passage (of course they would not because it is NOrway and the most expensive country in Europe). So I say no thank you and head on my way. Now my Plan C is always that you can jsut sleep at the train station or airports, but last time I did this we all got kicked out around 1am so we ended up sleeping outside the train station on the concret instead in Venice. Luckily I made some friends with some Ausies so the 3 of us hudled up together under their sleeping bag to keep warm and it was much warmer there than here. I quickly decided against Plan C because with temperatures hovering around 0 at night here, I would have litterally forzen to death if I got kicked out, so on to Plan D. This consisted of taking a train back sometime today to Copenhagen. The woman at the desk informed me though that there is only 1 train per day that goes and the one for that day is full so she could only offer me it for the following day. That pretty much put me back at square one with not being able to leave until the next day and having no where to sleep. I almost did it and then Plan E quickly popped into my head. I headed to the bus station to check on buses and HALLELUJAH there was one that left that night and was an overnight ride to Copenhagen and was not that expensive and there was room. I could have kissed the guy when he told me that (do not worry, I did not, but I coulda I was so excited). I quickly slapped down the money, threw my stuff in a locker for the day and headed out because I had exactly 12 hours to explore the city before my bu left. Dad, arent you glad I have so many backup plans???
My first stop in Oslo was the famous Froggen Park where down the main center walkway are a bunch of sculptures. The sculptures are extremely interesting because there are some of children, adults, elderly, and they are all in different poses and all of them are nude. I walked all through there just looking at them and taking some pictures. They are done quite well and are quite the eyeful to see. Next stop was over to an old fort on the edge of town. The fort is this huge old complex that contains the old palace, church, armory and many other buildings. I wanted to go into the palace and church, but unfornately they were closed. So I walked around a bit and then I headed off to a museum I wanted to see.
I cannot remember the name of the museum, but it explores issues of conflict and tension and nobel peace prize winners. The exhibition they had going on was on Freedom of Expression and how far is too far. It was an great exhibition using interviews of people and also film, music and writings to explore this idea. After that exhibition, I headed upstairs where it looks at some of the nobel peace prize winners and what they have done and contributed to receive the prize. It was truly amazing to see all that has been done and all that these people have accomplished. It almost brought me to tears because so often we think that we are only one person in the world so what can we do, yet you get enough one people together and you have a whole movement. There are other permanent displays as well that examine the idea of peace in various regions of the world. It was a fabulous musuem and I think my favorite one I have seen so far. I spent over 3 hours in there and it is really not that big.
Stockholm, Sweden
After finishing up with Switzerland, I headed up to the far north to see the Scandinavean countries a bit. I stopped in Denmark, but I am going to write about that in a later blog because I began and ended my time there. So, I will begin with Stockholm. The hostel that I stayed at there was different than any of the other hostels that I have stayed at because it is actually 2 old ships that are anchored in the harbor that they have converted into a hostel. It was pretty neat to see the way they did this and it made it very cozy inside.
In Stockholm, I went first to see Skansten. This is one of the biggest attractions there. It is on one of the islands that make up the city and what they have done is brought a bunch of old historical buildings to the site and preserved them there. The buildings range in date from the 13th century all the way up to the 20th century. You pay an addmission fee to get into the park and then you can walk around and see all of the different buildings. Usually during the high tourist season, they are all open with people there to explain about them, but since it is low season now, only a few were open so I was content to just walk through and read the descriptions of them that are posted. There are a huge variety of buildings such as windmills, various types of farms, manor houses, schools, gardens, some different businesses like a general store, a blacksmith, a glass blower, a baker, and many other buildings. It was truly remarkable how they have this place arranged and all of the buildings preserved in one area. It was pretty quiet there since it was low season, so I just walked around and enjoyed the buildings while snacking on a piece of fresh made bread from the baker there. This was by far, my favorite part of Stockholm.
I also went to the National Museum where I again saw so many great works of art. It was an interesting museum because they had an area of it that was completely made up of furniture from the early 20th century to the end of it and they explained how different types of art are reflected in the way furniture was made. It was really neat to see because I have never thought of applying something such as postmodernism to furniture. There was also a great exhibition going on there by Rossin that I browsed through and I saw yet more paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrant, Monet, Cezanne and more. It was fabulous.
Around town, there is this old section that has tons of shops and old alleyways and walkways because it was built a hundreds of years ago. This section has old buildings and it looks as if it would have back then, just iwth the addition of cars. Close to this section, there are the old palaces which I opted not to go in because I have seen so many at this poin that I really did not feel I needed to see more.
The weather there was extremely cold (so much for my not being in snow this winter) and windy at points, but it was bearable. The city has a very modern part to it as well with skyscrapers and huge office buildings all consentrated downtown around a big shopping area. This was fun to walk down too.
In Stockholm, I went first to see Skansten. This is one of the biggest attractions there. It is on one of the islands that make up the city and what they have done is brought a bunch of old historical buildings to the site and preserved them there. The buildings range in date from the 13th century all the way up to the 20th century. You pay an addmission fee to get into the park and then you can walk around and see all of the different buildings. Usually during the high tourist season, they are all open with people there to explain about them, but since it is low season now, only a few were open so I was content to just walk through and read the descriptions of them that are posted. There are a huge variety of buildings such as windmills, various types of farms, manor houses, schools, gardens, some different businesses like a general store, a blacksmith, a glass blower, a baker, and many other buildings. It was truly remarkable how they have this place arranged and all of the buildings preserved in one area. It was pretty quiet there since it was low season, so I just walked around and enjoyed the buildings while snacking on a piece of fresh made bread from the baker there. This was by far, my favorite part of Stockholm.
I also went to the National Museum where I again saw so many great works of art. It was an interesting museum because they had an area of it that was completely made up of furniture from the early 20th century to the end of it and they explained how different types of art are reflected in the way furniture was made. It was really neat to see because I have never thought of applying something such as postmodernism to furniture. There was also a great exhibition going on there by Rossin that I browsed through and I saw yet more paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrant, Monet, Cezanne and more. It was fabulous.
Around town, there is this old section that has tons of shops and old alleyways and walkways because it was built a hundreds of years ago. This section has old buildings and it looks as if it would have back then, just iwth the addition of cars. Close to this section, there are the old palaces which I opted not to go in because I have seen so many at this poin that I really did not feel I needed to see more.
The weather there was extremely cold (so much for my not being in snow this winter) and windy at points, but it was bearable. The city has a very modern part to it as well with skyscrapers and huge office buildings all consentrated downtown around a big shopping area. This was fun to walk down too.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Glorious Swiss Alps
After my time in Bern, I headed over to the town of Interlaken at the base of the Swiss Alps. I arrived there just in time to check in and walk around the town some. The town itself is not too big, there are only about 15000 people who live there total. It tends to be touristy because it is the perfect place to explore the region from. It was beautiful there though. I walked around and sat in a park for a while in the middle of town and watched the parasailers land in the park right next to the 10 cows who grazed there daily. In the background was the huge Swiss alps.
The next day, I took the train up into the mountains to actually get a closer view of them and to explore some of the small little villages up there. The first town was pretty small and somewhat touristy, but it had a great grocery store that was perfect to grab some breakfast at. Next I headed up to the highest little resort area before you have to pay a huge amount to go up to what is considered the "top of Europe." I settled for the view from the resort area because it was absolutely breathtaking. I sat in the restaurant out there enjoying the Swiss sunshine and the amazing view of these three huge mountains in front of me sipping my hot chocolate and having some "traditional Swiss dessert" that I was not quite sure what it was going to be when i ordered it, but it turned out to be these two huge merengue cookies with cream and ice cream.
After that little snack, I walked down the other side on one of the easy hiking trails to the next town. It was the most amazing time because it was litterally me and nature with the Alps right there. After about 2 hours, I reached this great little town that is completely car free and is linked with other areas only by railway. I hopped on the train to go to the next town and from there, I caught the bus up to the cable car station that links some other towns in the mountains with the world down below the mountains. I got off at the first town, because it was the cheapest and because it was recommened by my handy Rick Steves book (thanks again Tina). It was this great little town that is basically a farm village with no cars and I think more animals than actual people. The whole thing smells like you would imagine a farm to, but it was the most breathtaking town because the houses were very much the little Swiss log cabins you envision. There was mountains right there at your backdoor and it was so quiet and peaceful there. Once I was done exploring for the day, I headed back into town where I happily reached my hostel and slept very well that night with wonderful dreams of the Swiss Alps at night!
I stayed there 3 days because after being on the road for such a long time, it is nice to be somewhere longer than 2 nights every once in a while. I spent my last day as a very mundane day that began with laundry. Now, normally I am not a big fan of laundry, but sometimes washing machines can be few and far in between and I had not washed my clothes in a washing machine in about a month and handwashing just does not have the same effect. I was very excited to find a self service laundromate right down the street so I headed there, did some laundry and got my clean clothes. Next, I just strolled around town and grabbed a sandwich to eat at the park with my wonderful view of the alps before I headed home and planned out my last month here in Europe.
For anyone wondering, here is my count so far for Europe
Countries I have been to: 11
Cities I have been to: 52
Currencies I have used: 4
Languages I can say "Thank you" in: 10
Not bad for 3 months!
The next day, I took the train up into the mountains to actually get a closer view of them and to explore some of the small little villages up there. The first town was pretty small and somewhat touristy, but it had a great grocery store that was perfect to grab some breakfast at. Next I headed up to the highest little resort area before you have to pay a huge amount to go up to what is considered the "top of Europe." I settled for the view from the resort area because it was absolutely breathtaking. I sat in the restaurant out there enjoying the Swiss sunshine and the amazing view of these three huge mountains in front of me sipping my hot chocolate and having some "traditional Swiss dessert" that I was not quite sure what it was going to be when i ordered it, but it turned out to be these two huge merengue cookies with cream and ice cream.
After that little snack, I walked down the other side on one of the easy hiking trails to the next town. It was the most amazing time because it was litterally me and nature with the Alps right there. After about 2 hours, I reached this great little town that is completely car free and is linked with other areas only by railway. I hopped on the train to go to the next town and from there, I caught the bus up to the cable car station that links some other towns in the mountains with the world down below the mountains. I got off at the first town, because it was the cheapest and because it was recommened by my handy Rick Steves book (thanks again Tina). It was this great little town that is basically a farm village with no cars and I think more animals than actual people. The whole thing smells like you would imagine a farm to, but it was the most breathtaking town because the houses were very much the little Swiss log cabins you envision. There was mountains right there at your backdoor and it was so quiet and peaceful there. Once I was done exploring for the day, I headed back into town where I happily reached my hostel and slept very well that night with wonderful dreams of the Swiss Alps at night!
I stayed there 3 days because after being on the road for such a long time, it is nice to be somewhere longer than 2 nights every once in a while. I spent my last day as a very mundane day that began with laundry. Now, normally I am not a big fan of laundry, but sometimes washing machines can be few and far in between and I had not washed my clothes in a washing machine in about a month and handwashing just does not have the same effect. I was very excited to find a self service laundromate right down the street so I headed there, did some laundry and got my clean clothes. Next, I just strolled around town and grabbed a sandwich to eat at the park with my wonderful view of the alps before I headed home and planned out my last month here in Europe.
For anyone wondering, here is my count so far for Europe
Countries I have been to: 11
Cities I have been to: 52
Currencies I have used: 4
Languages I can say "Thank you" in: 10
Not bad for 3 months!
Lots of Swiss towns in a few short days
While, my time in Switzerland was great cause I got to see many different towns. I stopped in Zurich for the afternoon on my way into Bern. Zurich is an interesting city because it is this crazy busy huge city and right in the middle of it is this really old town that is hundreds of years old with the winding streets and old buildings with buisinesses. I walked around the city and saw the beautiful rivers that run through it and then walked to two churches there. One of them had these extremely beautiful stained glass windows by Chagrall. I wish we could have taken pictures! After that, I cruised around the old town and checked out some of the buildings and stores. By this time, it was time for a little afternoon snack and I wanted to try this cafe my guidebook recommended, so I headed off in search of that. This cafe was beautiful with silk flowers all over for decorations and boquets of them draped from the ceilings, Christmas trees decorated with ornate ornaments, little sparkly white lights all over and so many beautiful ribons and decorations. I got a hot chocolate and apple strudel and enjoyed the ambiance.
That night, I headed off to the capital of Switzerland, Bern for 2 days. Bern is a beautiful city with a great old town as well pearched up above this river that runs right next to the city. There are a bunch of trees all throughout the city and because it is fall, they are all of the beautiful colors of yellows, reds, and oranges. There are some beautiful old buildings there are well that I saw and thoroughly enjoyed walking around the town.
I went to the city of Lucerne as well for part of one day and also to Fribourgh. Both of them are just beautiful old cities that have rivers running right through the middle of them. There are old churches and buisinesses and they just have a great feel about them because they are modern while at the same time being old. It is an interesting contrast to see.
The scenery in this country has been beautiful on the train rides because there are rolling hills and mountains all over. On the trains, we passed many little towns with farms along the way that had a variety of animals grazing in the front yards. There was also numerous trees that were a whole rainbow of colors covering the hillsides as we went that really were quite beautiful to look at. Normally I read or sleep on trains, but in this case, had my eyes out the windows the entire time!
That night, I headed off to the capital of Switzerland, Bern for 2 days. Bern is a beautiful city with a great old town as well pearched up above this river that runs right next to the city. There are a bunch of trees all throughout the city and because it is fall, they are all of the beautiful colors of yellows, reds, and oranges. There are some beautiful old buildings there are well that I saw and thoroughly enjoyed walking around the town.
I went to the city of Lucerne as well for part of one day and also to Fribourgh. Both of them are just beautiful old cities that have rivers running right through the middle of them. There are old churches and buisinesses and they just have a great feel about them because they are modern while at the same time being old. It is an interesting contrast to see.
The scenery in this country has been beautiful on the train rides because there are rolling hills and mountains all over. On the trains, we passed many little towns with farms along the way that had a variety of animals grazing in the front yards. There was also numerous trees that were a whole rainbow of colors covering the hillsides as we went that really were quite beautiful to look at. Normally I read or sleep on trains, but in this case, had my eyes out the windows the entire time!
Back to Austria
Well, after my brief stint back in Italy, I headed back to Austria to finish up that country. Innsbruck is this town that is fairly modern, with this great old city right in the middle of it. Anywhere you walk in town where you are not overshadowed by buildings, you are surrounded by these glorious mountains in the background that are covered in snow. I walked around town and checked it out. It was one of those towns where I just basically explored instead of actually going into anything. The Swarkstika (I know I spelled that wrong, but its the crystal company that is really famous) has there headquarters here and this museum that is supposed to be amazing, but unfortunately it was closed for renovations for 2 months, so I settled for going into their store in the city. That was amazing cause they had a whole display downstairs and tons of items on display in the store.
The city itself is an olld city so there are many winding streets throughout it and tons of little stores with cute storefront windows. There are also some great Christmas stores there just filled with displays and ornaments that are so beautiful. There are also tons of people roasting chestnuts (just like the song) and selling them. I had to try some and they were awesome! I also went to a little cafe there one ady because it was cold out and I ordered a hot chocolate. This hot chocolate was the best one I have ever had in my life! They brought out this big cup of hot milk, a small soft chocolate bar, some cream (it is basically like whip cream except not as sweet) and some sugar and YOU make your own hot chocolate just to your taste! It was absolutely amazing and I sat there sipping my chocolate and reading for a good hour and a half before leaving!
The city itself is an olld city so there are many winding streets throughout it and tons of little stores with cute storefront windows. There are also some great Christmas stores there just filled with displays and ornaments that are so beautiful. There are also tons of people roasting chestnuts (just like the song) and selling them. I had to try some and they were awesome! I also went to a little cafe there one ady because it was cold out and I ordered a hot chocolate. This hot chocolate was the best one I have ever had in my life! They brought out this big cup of hot milk, a small soft chocolate bar, some cream (it is basically like whip cream except not as sweet) and some sugar and YOU make your own hot chocolate just to your taste! It was absolutely amazing and I sat there sipping my chocolate and reading for a good hour and a half before leaving!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Back to Italy for a bit of Venice
Well, I headed back to Italy to see Venice because it was closer to see it while I was in this neck of the woods instead of seeing it when I was in Italy before. I spent 2 days there wandering around the city and had a great time. It was pretty neat to see because there are all of thes canals running through the city to connect the different islands. Bridges cross all of the canals at different points and it really does look like the pictures that you see of it.
Everyone that I talked to before I went to Venice said that they got lost in the city even with a map. Because of that, I decided that I was just not gonna use a map and wander around to see what I see. That was the best decision that I made because I ended up seeing everything and getting into some areas that were definately off of the tourist track and there was no one there but the people who lived there. The islands at times feel like a big maze cause you wander for a while and then suddenly it just dead ends and you have to turn around and go back.
While there, I of course had to see St. Marks Square and the cathedral. The square was covered in more pigeons than I have ever seen in my entire life and they are aggressive things. I wanted to kick some of them when they landed on me. The cathedral is beautiful, both inside and out. It is quite a work of art. I went to this section behind the alter that you have to pay to get into to see this alter piece that is behind it. That thing is stunning! It is this huge intricate work of gold and precious stones inlaid in it. I have never seen anything like it!
Other than that, my time was spent just wandering and enjoying Venice. I checked out a few of the touristy shopping streets and looked at all of the various things they were selling. I also wandered around and just sat and enjoyed the view overlooking some of the canals with the gondolas and the water taxis. There was also this guy I watched for a while who had a bunch of wine glasses he was playing by wetting his fingers and holding it over the glasses. It was pretty amazing cause he was playing pieces by Mozart and such. I was impressed!
Everyone that I talked to before I went to Venice said that they got lost in the city even with a map. Because of that, I decided that I was just not gonna use a map and wander around to see what I see. That was the best decision that I made because I ended up seeing everything and getting into some areas that were definately off of the tourist track and there was no one there but the people who lived there. The islands at times feel like a big maze cause you wander for a while and then suddenly it just dead ends and you have to turn around and go back.
While there, I of course had to see St. Marks Square and the cathedral. The square was covered in more pigeons than I have ever seen in my entire life and they are aggressive things. I wanted to kick some of them when they landed on me. The cathedral is beautiful, both inside and out. It is quite a work of art. I went to this section behind the alter that you have to pay to get into to see this alter piece that is behind it. That thing is stunning! It is this huge intricate work of gold and precious stones inlaid in it. I have never seen anything like it!
Other than that, my time was spent just wandering and enjoying Venice. I checked out a few of the touristy shopping streets and looked at all of the various things they were selling. I also wandered around and just sat and enjoyed the view overlooking some of the canals with the gondolas and the water taxis. There was also this guy I watched for a while who had a bunch of wine glasses he was playing by wetting his fingers and holding it over the glasses. It was pretty amazing cause he was playing pieces by Mozart and such. I was impressed!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Slovenia
While, I am currently in Slovenia. It has been great! I began my time here in the little town of Ptuj. It is a tiny little medivel town in the eastern part of Slovenia. My journey there began by getting off the train at the wrong train station in the freezing cold rain in this tiny little town. I realized it once I got off, so I had to wait an hour until the next train came to take me on my way, but there was no where to wait inside, so I had to wait in the cold. Once my train came and I got to my destination, I made my way to the hostel. I thought that there was only one in town and just about died when they told me it was full. Luckily, there is one other hostel so they called over and got me a bed for 2 nights. That was good cause I had my own room and a great kitchen with tv. That is always a plus!
I explored the town the next day (in the rain). I walked all through the streets, went up to the castle and just browsed in some shops. It is this great old town, surrounded by trees and fields. I had a great time wandering around and chatting with people. They were all very friendly and even if they could not speak English, they wanted to try and communicate.
Next, I headed off to the capital, Ljbuljbiana. It is the capital, but it feels more like a small town. It is built around a river and many of the buildings are old. The arquitecture here is just great and there are so many landmarks right in the city center. The city is guarded by a huge castle up on the hill overlooking the city. I went up and explored it, walked along the river and checked out the sights.
The next day, I went with 3 other people from my hostel and we rented a car and went and checked out the Lake town of Bled. It was really beautiful, but unfortunately it was raining that day which made it a bit hard to enjoy completely. After that, we headed to the town of Postonja to see some caves that were supposed to be amazing. After getting lost for about 2 hours, we made our way there, just in time for the last tour of the day. It reminded me of the ride, Thunder Mountain at Disneyland cause you descend into the cave on a train and then you get off and walk around, then you get taken out on a train again. It was absolutely beautiful! There were all these stalagtites and stalagmites in the cave with these great formations. Upon getting back to town, we went to the best restaurant for dinner with such yummy salads that the guys who works at our hostel recommended. It was amazing! We loved it!
I explored the town the next day (in the rain). I walked all through the streets, went up to the castle and just browsed in some shops. It is this great old town, surrounded by trees and fields. I had a great time wandering around and chatting with people. They were all very friendly and even if they could not speak English, they wanted to try and communicate.
Next, I headed off to the capital, Ljbuljbiana. It is the capital, but it feels more like a small town. It is built around a river and many of the buildings are old. The arquitecture here is just great and there are so many landmarks right in the city center. The city is guarded by a huge castle up on the hill overlooking the city. I went up and explored it, walked along the river and checked out the sights.
The next day, I went with 3 other people from my hostel and we rented a car and went and checked out the Lake town of Bled. It was really beautiful, but unfortunately it was raining that day which made it a bit hard to enjoy completely. After that, we headed to the town of Postonja to see some caves that were supposed to be amazing. After getting lost for about 2 hours, we made our way there, just in time for the last tour of the day. It reminded me of the ride, Thunder Mountain at Disneyland cause you descend into the cave on a train and then you get off and walk around, then you get taken out on a train again. It was absolutely beautiful! There were all these stalagtites and stalagmites in the cave with these great formations. Upon getting back to town, we went to the best restaurant for dinner with such yummy salads that the guys who works at our hostel recommended. It was amazing! We loved it!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Vienna
Well, I spent 3 nights in Vienna. I only planned on spending 2 but there was just too much to see here and not enough time, so I decided that I needed a full two days instead of just 1 1/2. I first found a hostel to stay at cause I had not booked one. Once I did that I spent the next couple of days exploring. There is some great arquitecture in this city and I walked all around the center of the city to see it. There is an old palace, the old town hall, the parliament, some old churches, the state opera and the old opera, and this one section called museum quarter that has some good arquitecture and a ton of museums. None of which I went to though, instead I decided to visit some different ones. It was a beautiful city with lots of trees and parks that I would have loved to sat in and enjoyed had it not been so cold.
While I was there I also went to another palace a bit outside of the center that was set onthis huge plot of land. The whoel thing was beautiful and ornate as ever. I cannot imagine how much money must have been sunk into it at the time to build it. I went in and did a tour and most of the time spent with my mouth open and gapping at what I was looking at. Then afterwards I went and strolled around the extensive gardens there that were just huge. There was even a zoo on them! There was also a maye like the ones they used to have at Sea World made out of bushes, but I decided not to go into it cause it cost extra.
I went to the Sisi Museum there too which told the story of the empress Elizabeth and also lets you go in and see the royal dinnerware collection. That was a sight to behold. There were just rooms and rooms filled with so many beautiful peices for serving and eating on I could not believe it. I also had to go to the Freud Museum. Ok, so his theories are out there mostly nowdays, but he is pretty much the father of psychoanalysis and we still discuss him in my field of Social Work, so I felt it only appropraite to go. It was actually really intersting and I really enjoyed it a lot. It is in his house there and was begun with the support of his youngest daughter Anna. The only bad part about it was that someone stole my nice little compact umbrella out of my coat pocket while I was there so I am now umbrellaless:( Luckily, my coat that I just purchased is water proof with a hood and is fleece lined. I bought my clothes just int he nick of time before the coldness hit!
I also went into 2 of the art museums there, the Albertina and the Belvadere. The Albertina had a great collection that they were just given on permanent loan and the Belvadere had a special exhibition going on at the time with a ton of great paintings. I again got to see some magnificent works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Chagrall, Pollack, Cezanne, Signac, Matisse, and so many more I could keep going on for a while. I loved them. I think that I could soak up the art in some of these museums and not tire of them. A few of the peices I just sat and stared at for a while in awe of the painters. They were quite a sight!
While I was there I also went to another palace a bit outside of the center that was set onthis huge plot of land. The whoel thing was beautiful and ornate as ever. I cannot imagine how much money must have been sunk into it at the time to build it. I went in and did a tour and most of the time spent with my mouth open and gapping at what I was looking at. Then afterwards I went and strolled around the extensive gardens there that were just huge. There was even a zoo on them! There was also a maye like the ones they used to have at Sea World made out of bushes, but I decided not to go into it cause it cost extra.
I went to the Sisi Museum there too which told the story of the empress Elizabeth and also lets you go in and see the royal dinnerware collection. That was a sight to behold. There were just rooms and rooms filled with so many beautiful peices for serving and eating on I could not believe it. I also had to go to the Freud Museum. Ok, so his theories are out there mostly nowdays, but he is pretty much the father of psychoanalysis and we still discuss him in my field of Social Work, so I felt it only appropraite to go. It was actually really intersting and I really enjoyed it a lot. It is in his house there and was begun with the support of his youngest daughter Anna. The only bad part about it was that someone stole my nice little compact umbrella out of my coat pocket while I was there so I am now umbrellaless:( Luckily, my coat that I just purchased is water proof with a hood and is fleece lined. I bought my clothes just int he nick of time before the coldness hit!
I also went into 2 of the art museums there, the Albertina and the Belvadere. The Albertina had a great collection that they were just given on permanent loan and the Belvadere had a special exhibition going on at the time with a ton of great paintings. I again got to see some magnificent works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Chagrall, Pollack, Cezanne, Signac, Matisse, and so many more I could keep going on for a while. I loved them. I think that I could soak up the art in some of these museums and not tire of them. A few of the peices I just sat and stared at for a while in awe of the painters. They were quite a sight!
The Storybook Town of Hallstatt
After I had finished in Salzburg, my next stop on my travels was in the tiny town of Hallstatt in the Lake District of Austria. When you arrive there the train station is actually accross the lake from the town, so you have to catch a ferry over there. I had bought my winter clothes just in time cause it was raining and freezing there.
The town is a tiny little town. There are only 1,100 residents. It is built right up between the water and the mountain so there really is no room for it to grow. It is really cute though. It reminds me of one of those small east coast towns that you would see in a movie in the fall cause all of the leaves were changning colors here too. There is exactly 1 hostel in the town, 1 bank, 2 churches, 1 grocery store, about 5 restaurants, and 1 main square. It was real cute.
I dropped my stuff off and headed off to the Salt mines that it is famous for. They are the oldest continuously mined salt mines in the world, being in operation for 7,000 years. You have to take up a furnicular that is all glass so you can see all of the trees below you as you are headed up. Once I got there, I had to walk up about 20 minutes in the rain, but it was really pretty cause there was a stream running alongside the path surrounded by all of these trees. It felt a bit like I was in a forest.
In the mine it is guided tours and I really had a great time. You have to put on this miners outfit and mine was bright green. Having that over my winter clothes I looked like a big green marshmellow. Then we set off on the tour. They took us through levels 6 and 7 of the mine of which there are 12. They explain about the history of the mine, what is still going on there and the legend of the Salt Man who was found there. He was this perfectly preseved body found in the 1700s there. We also got to do down these 2 hige wood slides the way the miners used to go before they got high tech and built lifts. That was great! They took our pictures and recorded our speeds of which mine was 28 something kilometers per hour (do not ask me what that is in mph cause I am not good with the whole conversion to our screwy system from the metric system).
After that, I headed into town and explored it. There were a few little shops, a main square, a waterfall that drops off in the back of the town, and a couple of restaurants. Since I was freezing and it was 2 in the afternoon, I decided it was time for a warm up and lunch, so I found myself a cafe and got some hot chocolate and this dumpling salad thing. Then after I had warmed up, I headed over the see the Catholic church there. This churches claim to fame is that the cemetary is so small there that they were running out of room in the past so they started digging up the graves hundreds of years ago and made this house where they painted the skulls with designs and placed them in there with the persons name and birth and death date. It was a little creepy cause there were so many of them stacked up in this little house, but they do not do that anymore. The last person placed int here was in 1983 and that was only by special request. I was surprised though cause the graves there in the cemetary were really pretty. Nothing like our graves here in the US. They all had really pretty and different markers, a lot of which were wrought iron designs and each plot had tons of different flowers actually planted on it so that they grew year round. That was kinda good to see.
Later that day, I meet up with some people from my last hostel and we went to the only hostel in town at 4, when it opened, to get a room. There were 6 of us and luckily they had room for us cause it is the off season. It was kinda funny though cause all of them were from Japan and China and spoke extremely broken English so we did a lot of communicating with hand gestures and acting things out if I was not understanding them or they were not understanding me. That is always fun!
The town is a tiny little town. There are only 1,100 residents. It is built right up between the water and the mountain so there really is no room for it to grow. It is really cute though. It reminds me of one of those small east coast towns that you would see in a movie in the fall cause all of the leaves were changning colors here too. There is exactly 1 hostel in the town, 1 bank, 2 churches, 1 grocery store, about 5 restaurants, and 1 main square. It was real cute.
I dropped my stuff off and headed off to the Salt mines that it is famous for. They are the oldest continuously mined salt mines in the world, being in operation for 7,000 years. You have to take up a furnicular that is all glass so you can see all of the trees below you as you are headed up. Once I got there, I had to walk up about 20 minutes in the rain, but it was really pretty cause there was a stream running alongside the path surrounded by all of these trees. It felt a bit like I was in a forest.
In the mine it is guided tours and I really had a great time. You have to put on this miners outfit and mine was bright green. Having that over my winter clothes I looked like a big green marshmellow. Then we set off on the tour. They took us through levels 6 and 7 of the mine of which there are 12. They explain about the history of the mine, what is still going on there and the legend of the Salt Man who was found there. He was this perfectly preseved body found in the 1700s there. We also got to do down these 2 hige wood slides the way the miners used to go before they got high tech and built lifts. That was great! They took our pictures and recorded our speeds of which mine was 28 something kilometers per hour (do not ask me what that is in mph cause I am not good with the whole conversion to our screwy system from the metric system).
After that, I headed into town and explored it. There were a few little shops, a main square, a waterfall that drops off in the back of the town, and a couple of restaurants. Since I was freezing and it was 2 in the afternoon, I decided it was time for a warm up and lunch, so I found myself a cafe and got some hot chocolate and this dumpling salad thing. Then after I had warmed up, I headed over the see the Catholic church there. This churches claim to fame is that the cemetary is so small there that they were running out of room in the past so they started digging up the graves hundreds of years ago and made this house where they painted the skulls with designs and placed them in there with the persons name and birth and death date. It was a little creepy cause there were so many of them stacked up in this little house, but they do not do that anymore. The last person placed int here was in 1983 and that was only by special request. I was surprised though cause the graves there in the cemetary were really pretty. Nothing like our graves here in the US. They all had really pretty and different markers, a lot of which were wrought iron designs and each plot had tons of different flowers actually planted on it so that they grew year round. That was kinda good to see.
Later that day, I meet up with some people from my last hostel and we went to the only hostel in town at 4, when it opened, to get a room. There were 6 of us and luckily they had room for us cause it is the off season. It was kinda funny though cause all of them were from Japan and China and spoke extremely broken English so we did a lot of communicating with hand gestures and acting things out if I was not understanding them or they were not understanding me. That is always fun!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music!
Just imagine that I am singing to all of you in that beautiful voice that I don't have! After my long night of travel I arrived in Salzburg, Austria. Let me tell you that city is all about the Sound of Music because some of it was filmed around there and Mozart because he was born there and lived there until he was 24. I found my hostel, dumped my bags, and headed out for the day.
Instead of exploring Salzburg first, I went to the little town of Werfen about 50 minutes outside of there. The train ride was beautiful and snaked through the hills and small towns along the way as well as showing some beautiful trees too. I went there because the largest accessible ice caves in the world to the public are there and I wanted to see them. I headed up there and you have to hike up about 20 minutes, take a furnicular up (like a cable car hanging from a wire) and then hike up another 20 minutes to the entrance of the caves. It was beautiful to be that high up and be able to look down and see everything. By the time I got to the top, I was hot! That was very short lived though because it is icy cold in the caves and very dark. They take you on a guided tour and explain about how the ice forms, the discovery of the caves, and some of the history. It was extremely dark so they gave us all these lamps with fire in them to light the way. That was very brave of them to trust us with fire I thought! As we walked around in there, there were points that the guide would light this string thing and place it on the ice to light up some of the ice and the sculptures that have naturally formed and they were jsut breathtaking! I was so glad that I decided to do that (even though I was not a big fan of the cold).
The next day I spent exploring the town of Salzburg after I did a bit of shopping. For those of you who do not know yet, I have decided to stay here a month longer until December 12. SÃnce I was not planning on staying that long I came completey unprepared for winter. Luckily, I found this discount shop (kinda like Ross) where I purchased a couple of long sleeve tops, a fleece lined jacket, and another zip up fleece, all for very cheap!
After my bit of shopping, Salzburg was beckoning. I headed towards the Schloss Mirabell first to get the "classic Slazburg view." You can see it in Sound of Music if you watch it cause there is a scene filmed there. It is this huge garden with a perfectly manicured lawn with intricate designs in it made of flowers. There is also a rose garden there with tons of benches and trees that is great for just sitting. In the background you can see some of the big roofs and domes of old Salzburg. It was beautiful.
I crossed the river and headed into the old town where I wandered through the streets with their very elaborate signs that hang outside of the shops. It felt like Christmas because it was cold and there are Christmas shops all over the place there. I saw a beautiful old church, a couple of the fountains and monuments in the town, and then I walked up to the fortress high on the hill. There I saw some of the state rooms, a museum they have there, and some other interesting things on disply (like torture chamber stuff which I probably didnot need to see). The weather was cool and crisp. The leaves were a beautiful red, yellow, and gold. There was a bit of a breeze making it the perfect autumn day. The town reminds me a bit of Solvang for those of you who have been there. It was quite cute!
Instead of exploring Salzburg first, I went to the little town of Werfen about 50 minutes outside of there. The train ride was beautiful and snaked through the hills and small towns along the way as well as showing some beautiful trees too. I went there because the largest accessible ice caves in the world to the public are there and I wanted to see them. I headed up there and you have to hike up about 20 minutes, take a furnicular up (like a cable car hanging from a wire) and then hike up another 20 minutes to the entrance of the caves. It was beautiful to be that high up and be able to look down and see everything. By the time I got to the top, I was hot! That was very short lived though because it is icy cold in the caves and very dark. They take you on a guided tour and explain about how the ice forms, the discovery of the caves, and some of the history. It was extremely dark so they gave us all these lamps with fire in them to light the way. That was very brave of them to trust us with fire I thought! As we walked around in there, there were points that the guide would light this string thing and place it on the ice to light up some of the ice and the sculptures that have naturally formed and they were jsut breathtaking! I was so glad that I decided to do that (even though I was not a big fan of the cold).
The next day I spent exploring the town of Salzburg after I did a bit of shopping. For those of you who do not know yet, I have decided to stay here a month longer until December 12. SÃnce I was not planning on staying that long I came completey unprepared for winter. Luckily, I found this discount shop (kinda like Ross) where I purchased a couple of long sleeve tops, a fleece lined jacket, and another zip up fleece, all for very cheap!
After my bit of shopping, Salzburg was beckoning. I headed towards the Schloss Mirabell first to get the "classic Slazburg view." You can see it in Sound of Music if you watch it cause there is a scene filmed there. It is this huge garden with a perfectly manicured lawn with intricate designs in it made of flowers. There is also a rose garden there with tons of benches and trees that is great for just sitting. In the background you can see some of the big roofs and domes of old Salzburg. It was beautiful.
I crossed the river and headed into the old town where I wandered through the streets with their very elaborate signs that hang outside of the shops. It felt like Christmas because it was cold and there are Christmas shops all over the place there. I saw a beautiful old church, a couple of the fountains and monuments in the town, and then I walked up to the fortress high on the hill. There I saw some of the state rooms, a museum they have there, and some other interesting things on disply (like torture chamber stuff which I probably didnot need to see). The weather was cool and crisp. The leaves were a beautiful red, yellow, and gold. There was a bit of a breeze making it the perfect autumn day. The town reminds me a bit of Solvang for those of you who have been there. It was quite cute!
Friday, October 19, 2007
2 train rides and Zagreb
Mt time in Croatia ended with a bit of a travel day. I took a train ride from the coast of the country into the capital of Zagreb where I had to catch a train later that night for Austria. The ride was beautiful. The country itself is just a stunning country filled with lush green hills and fields. We passed through some very small towns with farms and meadows dotting the landscape.
I arrived in Zagreb around 2 that afternoon and had until 9 that night to do some sightseeing so I dumped my stuff in a locker and headed off to explore for the day. I went and saw a couple of very ornate and beautiful churches along with the old town. It is a very pretty city with lots of tree lined streets and parks. It is fall so all of the leaves are changing colors and the air was cool and crisp.
I boarded my train that night at nine and it was supposed to arrive in Salzburg at 4am. I was tired and ready for a bit of sleep. I parked myself in a 6 person compartment which was only filled with 2 other people and we headed off. I closed my eyes and about 30 minutes later, they were asking for our tickets (which is understandable since they have to check our tickets). I then closed my eyes again when a few minutes later we were aroused by the police needing to see passports (ok, again understandable because we were leaving the country, and I did get another stamp which always fun). After that was done I closed my eyes and was just beginning to doze off when once again we were aroused by the police needing passports, only this time it was the Slovenian police (so I guess it was understandable because we were entering their country and yet again I got another stamp). As I closed my eyes again hoping for some sleep, one of the guys in my compartment starts talking very loud on the cell phone and then begins slurping yourgurt from a container when he is done cause he has no spoon, completely oblivious to the fact that 2 of us are trying to sleep. Finally, he quits and I get some shut eye for what feels like about 2 minutes before I am awakened again because we are stopped in the capital of Slovenia. At this point, another guy gets into our cabin and decides to get chatty at midnight. I was trying to be polite (my patience was wearing very thin at this point because tiredness was looming), but finally just closed my eyes and he eventually quit talking. I closed my eyes when not even an hour later, the police are waking us up AGAIN for passports (my understanding with them was almost gone at this point and we did not even get a stamp!). As I shut my eyes again, we were then aroused by the train people about 30 minutes later needing to see tickets again ( iwas frustrated at this point and just wanted sleep). Finally, they left us along long enough for me to get about 2 hours of sleep before I woke up to my alarm clock blaring in my ear. I had stuck it in my purse and this was serving as my pillow for the night as well. It was 4am and we should have been arriving at our stop soon.
When we stop, there were a few of us who were getting off in Salzburg, but the sign did not say Salzburg so we were very confused. We got off to find out what was going on (keep in mind I am tired and have not slept more than 2 hours the whole night and it is cold out) when I see this guy on the inside motioning me to come back in. I go back and he is explaining to me (in German) that something is broke and needs repaired on the tracks I am assuming so he says we have to go around and it will take 2 hours longer and we will arrive in Salzburg at 7am. We comunicate in hand gestures a few words of broken English and acting it out. I say alright. Then I go and tell some other people who were getting off with me so they know what is going on, there was 1 guy and a family there. The dad of the family looked very skeptical and did not believe me so he asks the other guy to go talk to this guy since they both speak German and the other guy was bilingual. So he comes with me to talk to him. The guy explained the same thing to him that he did to me. So the guy kinda laughs and looks at me and says that we have to wait. I laughed and told him I got that. Then I said for for a few hours until 7 right? And he says yup, then he heads off to tell the family. I almost wanted to go with him so I could gloat cause I was thinking to myself, I may not speak the same language as people but I sure know how to communicate jsut fine with them. I grabbed another hour and a half of sleep before being awakened just before we entered Slazburg. Needless to say, it was not the most restful night ever!
I arrived in Zagreb around 2 that afternoon and had until 9 that night to do some sightseeing so I dumped my stuff in a locker and headed off to explore for the day. I went and saw a couple of very ornate and beautiful churches along with the old town. It is a very pretty city with lots of tree lined streets and parks. It is fall so all of the leaves are changing colors and the air was cool and crisp.
I boarded my train that night at nine and it was supposed to arrive in Salzburg at 4am. I was tired and ready for a bit of sleep. I parked myself in a 6 person compartment which was only filled with 2 other people and we headed off. I closed my eyes and about 30 minutes later, they were asking for our tickets (which is understandable since they have to check our tickets). I then closed my eyes again when a few minutes later we were aroused by the police needing to see passports (ok, again understandable because we were leaving the country, and I did get another stamp which always fun). After that was done I closed my eyes and was just beginning to doze off when once again we were aroused by the police needing passports, only this time it was the Slovenian police (so I guess it was understandable because we were entering their country and yet again I got another stamp). As I closed my eyes again hoping for some sleep, one of the guys in my compartment starts talking very loud on the cell phone and then begins slurping yourgurt from a container when he is done cause he has no spoon, completely oblivious to the fact that 2 of us are trying to sleep. Finally, he quits and I get some shut eye for what feels like about 2 minutes before I am awakened again because we are stopped in the capital of Slovenia. At this point, another guy gets into our cabin and decides to get chatty at midnight. I was trying to be polite (my patience was wearing very thin at this point because tiredness was looming), but finally just closed my eyes and he eventually quit talking. I closed my eyes when not even an hour later, the police are waking us up AGAIN for passports (my understanding with them was almost gone at this point and we did not even get a stamp!). As I shut my eyes again, we were then aroused by the train people about 30 minutes later needing to see tickets again ( iwas frustrated at this point and just wanted sleep). Finally, they left us along long enough for me to get about 2 hours of sleep before I woke up to my alarm clock blaring in my ear. I had stuck it in my purse and this was serving as my pillow for the night as well. It was 4am and we should have been arriving at our stop soon.
When we stop, there were a few of us who were getting off in Salzburg, but the sign did not say Salzburg so we were very confused. We got off to find out what was going on (keep in mind I am tired and have not slept more than 2 hours the whole night and it is cold out) when I see this guy on the inside motioning me to come back in. I go back and he is explaining to me (in German) that something is broke and needs repaired on the tracks I am assuming so he says we have to go around and it will take 2 hours longer and we will arrive in Salzburg at 7am. We comunicate in hand gestures a few words of broken English and acting it out. I say alright. Then I go and tell some other people who were getting off with me so they know what is going on, there was 1 guy and a family there. The dad of the family looked very skeptical and did not believe me so he asks the other guy to go talk to this guy since they both speak German and the other guy was bilingual. So he comes with me to talk to him. The guy explained the same thing to him that he did to me. So the guy kinda laughs and looks at me and says that we have to wait. I laughed and told him I got that. Then I said for for a few hours until 7 right? And he says yup, then he heads off to tell the family. I almost wanted to go with him so I could gloat cause I was thinking to myself, I may not speak the same language as people but I sure know how to communicate jsut fine with them. I grabbed another hour and a half of sleep before being awakened just before we entered Slazburg. Needless to say, it was not the most restful night ever!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Hvala...
And that is the extent of the Croatian that I can speak. It means "thank you." I caught an early Katamaran for the town of Split on the Adriatic Coast of Croatia. I had a full 2 days here and enjoyed every minute. I got here pretty early, around 8:30 in the morning and found my hostel. Luckily, they let me check in early and imagine my surprise when not only do we have big rooms there with only 3 to 4 people in them, but each room has a computer with FREE internet and a tv and dvd player. Such a luxury when you have been doing budget traveling to have those things! The guy who runs this place has about 500 dvds so it is like having a movie store in the hostel. We have definately taken advantage of it here and enjoyed some tv and dvds with some quiet nights in just all of us hanging out since it is a smaller hostel.
I did however actually get out and see the city. This is another city that is a UNESCO World Heritage sight with a great old town. The old town is composed of Diocleatans Palace that is very impressive. The arcitecture all around the city is old and has a great feel to it. There are tons of little shops with back alleyways winding and above the shops are apartments where people live and you can see lines of clothes hanging out to dry everyday. It is built right on the water where there is a port for all of the ferries and ships to come into. Along the water there is a palm tree lined promenade that is great for strolling down and tons of benches for sitting and observing the bustling cafe scene there. On Saturday, it appeared as though every family were out walking about. The weather here was beautiful. It is autumn so it was sunny out with just a slight breeze in the air. It was very cool and crisp weather, the kind where you can put on pants and a long sleeve shirt and it is the perfect temperature. When sitting in the sun, it just warms you up and feels great!
One of my favorite things was going to the crazy busy fruit and veggie market on Saturday. Everyone was out buying their food for the week and I went to grab some fixings for dinner. There was a ton of people there and tons of great looking fruit and veggies. Additionally, people were selling flowers, cheese, meats, fish, dried fruit, nuts, and a whole assortment of of other things. I had fun finding my stuff and getting it as I usually do at the local farmers markets that are all around here. It was great!
I did however actually get out and see the city. This is another city that is a UNESCO World Heritage sight with a great old town. The old town is composed of Diocleatans Palace that is very impressive. The arcitecture all around the city is old and has a great feel to it. There are tons of little shops with back alleyways winding and above the shops are apartments where people live and you can see lines of clothes hanging out to dry everyday. It is built right on the water where there is a port for all of the ferries and ships to come into. Along the water there is a palm tree lined promenade that is great for strolling down and tons of benches for sitting and observing the bustling cafe scene there. On Saturday, it appeared as though every family were out walking about. The weather here was beautiful. It is autumn so it was sunny out with just a slight breeze in the air. It was very cool and crisp weather, the kind where you can put on pants and a long sleeve shirt and it is the perfect temperature. When sitting in the sun, it just warms you up and feels great!
One of my favorite things was going to the crazy busy fruit and veggie market on Saturday. Everyone was out buying their food for the week and I went to grab some fixings for dinner. There was a ton of people there and tons of great looking fruit and veggies. Additionally, people were selling flowers, cheese, meats, fish, dried fruit, nuts, and a whole assortment of of other things. I had fun finding my stuff and getting it as I usually do at the local farmers markets that are all around here. It was great!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Island Paradises in Croatia
I have spent the last few days on some of the islands off the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia and they have been absolutely stunning. I took a bus from Dubrovnik to Korcula Island. Yes, you heard me right, a bus. The bus went through some beautiful country and I saw tons of green, lush hills covered in trees and small towns. Upon arriving at the port, the whole bus gets on a car ferry and then they take us over to the island where they dropped us off at the main town on the island: Korcula town. I got off of the bus and was immediately swamped with people asking all of us if we wanted rooms to rent. I was planning on going to the hostel, but I did not have reservations since it is the down seaon right now. I headed to a tourist info place to grab a map of town to find my way there. When I got there, I was informed that the hostel had closed 2 weeks ago and there are no other hostels in the town since it is so small. That left me with not many options. The agency keeps a list of people who rent rooms out in their houses because this is extremely common to do in Croatia, so they called up a woman who came to get me and took me to her house. It was really nice and I was the only one there cause the other rooms were not being rented out, so it was a nice break from sharing a room with 2-10 people.
The next day was a bit cloudy and rainy, so I mainly just checked out old town. The old town was a walled city that has one main street running down the center with small streets all off of the main street. There are some high, old towers there that used to be defensive towers for the town. I spent the day walking around and looking at all of the little alleyways, watching the numerous stray cats around the city, and checking out the water front. Although it was not very warm, I decided that I needed to go for a swim because this is my last country with beaches, so I threw on my bathing suit and headed into the water. I was the only one in and once I got used to it, it really was not cold. I was carefully dodging the numerous amounts of sea urchins so that I would not end up with a war wound on my feet. I basically jumped in and headed straight out to where I could not touch the ground to avoid the spiky litttle guys.
After spending 2 nights there, I caught an extremely early (as in 6am) katamaran for Hvar Island. I arrived at my hostel, threw my stuff down and went exploring the town for the day. Unforntunately my first day there was rainy and overcast as well due to it being fall weather and all, but it gave me a good opportunity to explore the small little town. Because it is considered low season now, the towns have really died down in the amounts of tourists there are, especially in Croatia because it is not as touristy as some of the other countries. The island was ruled by Venice for a while so there is this great Venetian Fortress up on the hill overlooking the town that I walked up to. There are some great views of the city and many other small islands nearby. The fortress has a prison in it that I went down into that was somewhat dark and creapy (glad I wasn't in there). I checked out the rest of the small town that day and did some reading and writing. The town is very little with not much to see.
The next day, we woke up to beautiful weather which was perfect for my last day on the islands. I headed out, found a beach (which in Croatia is not sand, but instead a flat rock), and did some tanning and swimming. The coast in this country is amazing because the water is unlike anything I have ever seen. It is so clear, but also teal and azure at the same time. When I was smimming in it, I could see straight down to the bottom, including all the rocks and fish which had to be atleast 20-30 feet below me. The coast is super lush with trees and plants all over the place and it is just the epitmoy of an island paradise, especially when you are the only one there for the entire day with the exception of a few boats going by. The country is truly a beautiful sight to behold that words cannot describe and pictures are not even going to begin to do justice to. That day was my perfect ending to my time in the islands.
The next day was a bit cloudy and rainy, so I mainly just checked out old town. The old town was a walled city that has one main street running down the center with small streets all off of the main street. There are some high, old towers there that used to be defensive towers for the town. I spent the day walking around and looking at all of the little alleyways, watching the numerous stray cats around the city, and checking out the water front. Although it was not very warm, I decided that I needed to go for a swim because this is my last country with beaches, so I threw on my bathing suit and headed into the water. I was the only one in and once I got used to it, it really was not cold. I was carefully dodging the numerous amounts of sea urchins so that I would not end up with a war wound on my feet. I basically jumped in and headed straight out to where I could not touch the ground to avoid the spiky litttle guys.
After spending 2 nights there, I caught an extremely early (as in 6am) katamaran for Hvar Island. I arrived at my hostel, threw my stuff down and went exploring the town for the day. Unforntunately my first day there was rainy and overcast as well due to it being fall weather and all, but it gave me a good opportunity to explore the small little town. Because it is considered low season now, the towns have really died down in the amounts of tourists there are, especially in Croatia because it is not as touristy as some of the other countries. The island was ruled by Venice for a while so there is this great Venetian Fortress up on the hill overlooking the town that I walked up to. There are some great views of the city and many other small islands nearby. The fortress has a prison in it that I went down into that was somewhat dark and creapy (glad I wasn't in there). I checked out the rest of the small town that day and did some reading and writing. The town is very little with not much to see.
The next day, we woke up to beautiful weather which was perfect for my last day on the islands. I headed out, found a beach (which in Croatia is not sand, but instead a flat rock), and did some tanning and swimming. The coast in this country is amazing because the water is unlike anything I have ever seen. It is so clear, but also teal and azure at the same time. When I was smimming in it, I could see straight down to the bottom, including all the rocks and fish which had to be atleast 20-30 feet below me. The coast is super lush with trees and plants all over the place and it is just the epitmoy of an island paradise, especially when you are the only one there for the entire day with the exception of a few boats going by. The country is truly a beautiful sight to behold that words cannot describe and pictures are not even going to begin to do justice to. That day was my perfect ending to my time in the islands.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
3 Long Days of Travel Before Arriving in Croatia
Apparently from Greece, there is no easy way to get to Croatia. You either have to spend an obscene amount of time on a train, or an obscene amount of time on ferries, so I opted for the ferry option. I took 3 overnight ferries in a row to get from the Greek Isles, back to the mainland of Greece, then to Italy, then over to Dubrovnik, Croatia. All of them were overnight ferries so it was 3 long nights with not the best sleep, but I survived.
One of the days, I had an entire day to kill in the city of Bari, Italy. This is not a tourist destination really. Usually the only people who go there are catching ferries so they do not stay long. I had the day so I walked around town. The city itself is not much different from other cities, except there is this great old town close to the port that I stummbled upon. It was built in the days before cars, so there are only some scooters in there. All of the buildings are high apartment like buildings with different families that live in them. There is clotheslines with clothes drying drapped between the buildings and the balconies are filled with women either chatting amongst themselves from balcony to balcony or yelling down to people below. All the old men sit around outside of their houses on the street just chatting there are tons of little family owned stores on the ground level. It totally made my Italy experience. I wandered around there for a good couple of hours and felt like I was in an Italian movie or something.
Upon arriving in Dubrovnik, it was a bit cloudy and rainy. I was attempting to find my hostel in the old town, but was wearing flip flops and all of the streets have these really slippery stones they are made out of so I was shuffling along and almost fell numerous times.
Dubrovnik is a beautiful old city surrounded entirely by walls. It was built hundreds of years ago and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. There are no cars or anything in the old town because they do not fit on the streets. I walked all around the walls and you can see a great view of the ocean and look down on the entire town. I felt like I was in Peter Pan when they are flying over London. It looked like that. The towns has one main street, with all of these tiny streets and alleys built off of it and there are lots of stairs too. There is an old Palace there, a couple very ornate churches and one of the oldest pharmacies that is still functioning in Europe. It has been in operation since the 1300s.
Yesterday, I took a day trip to a small island about 15 minutes off of the coast of Dubrovnik. I saw an old Monastary that is in ruins there, an old fort, and also some amazing plant life. It is extremely lush and green here in Croatia and that is very evident on the island. I found some rocks on the back of the island and perched myself there for the remainder of the day and swam and tanned. The water felt so refreshing and amazing. It is so clear and blue and the sky was just beautiful after a day of rain.
I love this city and have really enjoyed it. The best part is at night and early in the morning when all of the tour buses leave and it is quiet.
One of the days, I had an entire day to kill in the city of Bari, Italy. This is not a tourist destination really. Usually the only people who go there are catching ferries so they do not stay long. I had the day so I walked around town. The city itself is not much different from other cities, except there is this great old town close to the port that I stummbled upon. It was built in the days before cars, so there are only some scooters in there. All of the buildings are high apartment like buildings with different families that live in them. There is clotheslines with clothes drying drapped between the buildings and the balconies are filled with women either chatting amongst themselves from balcony to balcony or yelling down to people below. All the old men sit around outside of their houses on the street just chatting there are tons of little family owned stores on the ground level. It totally made my Italy experience. I wandered around there for a good couple of hours and felt like I was in an Italian movie or something.
Upon arriving in Dubrovnik, it was a bit cloudy and rainy. I was attempting to find my hostel in the old town, but was wearing flip flops and all of the streets have these really slippery stones they are made out of so I was shuffling along and almost fell numerous times.
Dubrovnik is a beautiful old city surrounded entirely by walls. It was built hundreds of years ago and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. There are no cars or anything in the old town because they do not fit on the streets. I walked all around the walls and you can see a great view of the ocean and look down on the entire town. I felt like I was in Peter Pan when they are flying over London. It looked like that. The towns has one main street, with all of these tiny streets and alleys built off of it and there are lots of stairs too. There is an old Palace there, a couple very ornate churches and one of the oldest pharmacies that is still functioning in Europe. It has been in operation since the 1300s.
Yesterday, I took a day trip to a small island about 15 minutes off of the coast of Dubrovnik. I saw an old Monastary that is in ruins there, an old fort, and also some amazing plant life. It is extremely lush and green here in Croatia and that is very evident on the island. I found some rocks on the back of the island and perched myself there for the remainder of the day and swam and tanned. The water felt so refreshing and amazing. It is so clear and blue and the sky was just beautiful after a day of rain.
I love this city and have really enjoyed it. The best part is at night and early in the morning when all of the tour buses leave and it is quiet.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
The Greek Isles of Santorini and Naxos
I left Athens and traveled first to the island of Santorini with 3 of the people I had met in Naxos. Upom arrival there, we got checked into our hotel, changed into bathing suits, and immediately headed for the beach. We decided the best way to see the island would be to rent some scooters. One of the guys with us had driven 2 wheel vespas before, so him and I got one of those and shared. All I had to do was hold onto the back and navigate. The other 2 girls we were with got a 4 wheel dirt bike that is completely safe, but a bit slow. We headed down to a Red beach that was jsut amazing! The cliffs look like the red cliffs of Sedona and the sand is the exact same way. The water there was absolutely stunning! It was so extremely clear with this beautiful turquoise and teal color. I could not believe that swimming out to where I was treading water, I could still see clear down to the bottom. The water was so refreshing and nice, but very salty.
After that, we headed up to a lighthouse on one of the cliffs and checked out the view before heading up to the monastary that is the highest point on the island. From there, we watched the sunset over the water and could view the entire island. Because it is a volcanic island, it is a bit barren, but there are grape vines growing all over for wine. The buildings in the towns are whitewashed and the roofs are all blue. Many of the towns are perched up above the cliff with amazing views of the water down below.
We headed into the main town on the island which is Fira to grab some dinner. We went to this Greek restaurant recommended by 2 of our guidebooks and our server was definately the highlight of the meal. He was so stinking sarchastic with us and asked us a bunch of questions but as soon as we would ask a question, he would not really answer and then walk away. It was great! We had to wait for a table, so the guy with us went in and the server stopped him and asked "What are you doing?" He tells him "I am going to check out the menu (which is written on a chalkboard at the back of the restaurant completely in Greek)." The server just looks at the him and tells him he can't understand the menu. Mathias, the guy with us, says he speaks Greek (which he does not cause he is from Brazil). Our server jsut laughed at him and gave him such attitude after that. The meal was awesome though. I had this amazing stuffed zucchini that was so yummy.
The next day, we got the scooters again and headed off to explore the northern part of the island. We went to the very tip down to this one beach that did not have many people in it. From there we hiked to some rocks a bit out. We jumped in the water and swam out about 50 meters to the rock island there. After climbing up, we climbed up it some, about 3 stories, to where they have this old platform you can jump off of. After contemplating because we did not want to plunge 3 stories straight into rock and we could not tell exactly how far it was to the bottom, another couple came up there and the husband had jumped off before. He went off and then, I went after him. It was sooooooo much fun and amazing to have that freefalling feeling and then plunging straight into the blue water down below. I loved it. The second time I did it, I had been laying on the rocks on the island so I was dry and that felt so refreshing it was great!
We went up to another little town to watch the sunset that night on the horizon and it is just a beautiful sight to see. The town we were in there, was definately touristy but nice. The scooters were great because we could just zip from town to town. It was also nice because it felt so good to ride into the wind with no one else on the road and your hair streaming out behind you.
The next day, the 3 of us girls headed on to the island of Naxos, while the guy we were with headed back to the mainland. Our ferry was delayed 4 hours due to weather so by the time we boarded it was crowded. We met this great Greek woman from Naxos on board who was embroidering the whole time a beautiful and intricate pattern. As we arrived in Naxos, she got really chatty with us (in Greek) and between hand gestures and stuff, we communicated.
We got picked up at the port by the place we were staying at along with another couple in their 20's. The hostel is run by a family so we went with the dad who is in his 70's. We got there and he had us come in and put our stuff in the main room while he showed the other couple their room. Then he motioned for us to follow him up to our room. He tells us "You put your stuff down. Then you come down and we drink. I looked at the people I was with and we were not too sure about that. He was so sweet though and gave us some fresh olives, fresh tomatoes, fresh cheese, and some red wine. All of which was homemade from his own garden. It was amazing.
The next day, all 5 of us who arrived together rented a car because they were so cheap to see the whole island. We headed off and explored all of the little towns scattered throughout. Some of them, you really felt as though you were stepping back 400 years. They are so quiet and life just goes on as it normally does. I bought a small painting and had to bust out a few pages I had torn out of a book on how to communicate with people because this person did not speak one word of English, and the only thing I know in Greek is thank you. We did just fine though. The best part is that many of these small towns have men just cruising around on donkeys in the street and I loved it!
The drive was very pretty and we saw the amazing island. It felt very quiet and surreal almost. It was more of an authenic Greek than Santorini was. There were some beaches we came accross that were completely deserted and very picturesce. We kinda felt like we were in a Greek movie cause we were the only car on the road and we could not pick up any English radio stations so we were listening to our Greek music the whole time. That was fun. Then, in the middle of the road, goats and pigs will just cruise accross it that are wild so you just have to stop and wait. It is great!
The food here had been amazing and so far has been my favorite. We have had mosaka, which is kinda like lasagnia without noodles, gyros, stuffed tomatoes, stuffed peppers, eggplant dip, stuffed grape leaves, greek salad, baklava, fennel and cheese dishes, aubergiene dishes, there has been so many good ones, words cannot even begin to describe them.
Today, we explored the older part of the town we are staying in. There are these winding alleyways with houses that are hundreds of years old that families still live in. It is a sight to see. There is something about this island that is so peaceful and nice.
Today, I am off to begin working my waz towards Croatia. I have to take 3 ferries and spend the next 3 nights on ferries so that will be fun! Stay posted for more to come...
After that, we headed up to a lighthouse on one of the cliffs and checked out the view before heading up to the monastary that is the highest point on the island. From there, we watched the sunset over the water and could view the entire island. Because it is a volcanic island, it is a bit barren, but there are grape vines growing all over for wine. The buildings in the towns are whitewashed and the roofs are all blue. Many of the towns are perched up above the cliff with amazing views of the water down below.
We headed into the main town on the island which is Fira to grab some dinner. We went to this Greek restaurant recommended by 2 of our guidebooks and our server was definately the highlight of the meal. He was so stinking sarchastic with us and asked us a bunch of questions but as soon as we would ask a question, he would not really answer and then walk away. It was great! We had to wait for a table, so the guy with us went in and the server stopped him and asked "What are you doing?" He tells him "I am going to check out the menu (which is written on a chalkboard at the back of the restaurant completely in Greek)." The server just looks at the him and tells him he can't understand the menu. Mathias, the guy with us, says he speaks Greek (which he does not cause he is from Brazil). Our server jsut laughed at him and gave him such attitude after that. The meal was awesome though. I had this amazing stuffed zucchini that was so yummy.
The next day, we got the scooters again and headed off to explore the northern part of the island. We went to the very tip down to this one beach that did not have many people in it. From there we hiked to some rocks a bit out. We jumped in the water and swam out about 50 meters to the rock island there. After climbing up, we climbed up it some, about 3 stories, to where they have this old platform you can jump off of. After contemplating because we did not want to plunge 3 stories straight into rock and we could not tell exactly how far it was to the bottom, another couple came up there and the husband had jumped off before. He went off and then, I went after him. It was sooooooo much fun and amazing to have that freefalling feeling and then plunging straight into the blue water down below. I loved it. The second time I did it, I had been laying on the rocks on the island so I was dry and that felt so refreshing it was great!
We went up to another little town to watch the sunset that night on the horizon and it is just a beautiful sight to see. The town we were in there, was definately touristy but nice. The scooters were great because we could just zip from town to town. It was also nice because it felt so good to ride into the wind with no one else on the road and your hair streaming out behind you.
The next day, the 3 of us girls headed on to the island of Naxos, while the guy we were with headed back to the mainland. Our ferry was delayed 4 hours due to weather so by the time we boarded it was crowded. We met this great Greek woman from Naxos on board who was embroidering the whole time a beautiful and intricate pattern. As we arrived in Naxos, she got really chatty with us (in Greek) and between hand gestures and stuff, we communicated.
We got picked up at the port by the place we were staying at along with another couple in their 20's. The hostel is run by a family so we went with the dad who is in his 70's. We got there and he had us come in and put our stuff in the main room while he showed the other couple their room. Then he motioned for us to follow him up to our room. He tells us "You put your stuff down. Then you come down and we drink. I looked at the people I was with and we were not too sure about that. He was so sweet though and gave us some fresh olives, fresh tomatoes, fresh cheese, and some red wine. All of which was homemade from his own garden. It was amazing.
The next day, all 5 of us who arrived together rented a car because they were so cheap to see the whole island. We headed off and explored all of the little towns scattered throughout. Some of them, you really felt as though you were stepping back 400 years. They are so quiet and life just goes on as it normally does. I bought a small painting and had to bust out a few pages I had torn out of a book on how to communicate with people because this person did not speak one word of English, and the only thing I know in Greek is thank you. We did just fine though. The best part is that many of these small towns have men just cruising around on donkeys in the street and I loved it!
The drive was very pretty and we saw the amazing island. It felt very quiet and surreal almost. It was more of an authenic Greek than Santorini was. There were some beaches we came accross that were completely deserted and very picturesce. We kinda felt like we were in a Greek movie cause we were the only car on the road and we could not pick up any English radio stations so we were listening to our Greek music the whole time. That was fun. Then, in the middle of the road, goats and pigs will just cruise accross it that are wild so you just have to stop and wait. It is great!
The food here had been amazing and so far has been my favorite. We have had mosaka, which is kinda like lasagnia without noodles, gyros, stuffed tomatoes, stuffed peppers, eggplant dip, stuffed grape leaves, greek salad, baklava, fennel and cheese dishes, aubergiene dishes, there has been so many good ones, words cannot even begin to describe them.
Today, we explored the older part of the town we are staying in. There are these winding alleyways with houses that are hundreds of years old that families still live in. It is a sight to see. There is something about this island that is so peaceful and nice.
Today, I am off to begin working my waz towards Croatia. I have to take 3 ferries and spend the next 3 nights on ferries so that will be fun! Stay posted for more to come...
Monday, October 1, 2007
Athens, Greece
Well after my 2 extremely long days of travel, I arrived in Athens with the group of people I met on the ferry on our way over here. My first full day there, I headed up to the Acropolis to see the sights andall of the ancient ruins that are around there. I walked up and imagine my suprise when I happen to be there on the one day a year when everything is free! That is great news for us budget travelers cause we saved 12 euros! The acropolis was pretty amazing to see especially the Partheon. Unfortunately, a lot of the sights there were having to be rebuilt, but it was still amazing to see. I spent a few hours up there and then headed back into town to walk around.
I met up that night with the group of people from before and we went to grab some dinnner at this really cheap gyro place we found that had great food, but only if you take it to go is it so cheap. We wanted to sit somewhere, so we walked to this one section of town where we could "dine with a view of the Acropolis" at night. Since Athens did not have that many benches around, we just plopped ourselves on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk. We kinda looked like vagabonds, but it worked well.
The next day I went to the National Archeological Museum to see an amazing amount of artifacts from Greek culture. There were beautiful statutes and bronze work and gold work. I was truly a sight to see. The whole city of Athens was interesting because it is this completely modern city, built around what is supposedly the beginning of civilization set high up on a hill over looking the city.
In the afternoon, I headed over to the national gardens, which is this completely lush green park bythe parliament building where it is nice,quiet, and relaxing among all of the loud huslte and buslte of the city. There was also some great shopping in Greece, so I went on the hunt that afternoon for a skirt. Instead, I ended up with 2 skirts, but I figured it was alright.
I only had 2 days in Athens, but that seemed to be enough and next I am off to island hop in the Greek Isles.
I met up that night with the group of people from before and we went to grab some dinnner at this really cheap gyro place we found that had great food, but only if you take it to go is it so cheap. We wanted to sit somewhere, so we walked to this one section of town where we could "dine with a view of the Acropolis" at night. Since Athens did not have that many benches around, we just plopped ourselves on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk. We kinda looked like vagabonds, but it worked well.
The next day I went to the National Archeological Museum to see an amazing amount of artifacts from Greek culture. There were beautiful statutes and bronze work and gold work. I was truly a sight to see. The whole city of Athens was interesting because it is this completely modern city, built around what is supposedly the beginning of civilization set high up on a hill over looking the city.
In the afternoon, I headed over to the national gardens, which is this completely lush green park bythe parliament building where it is nice,quiet, and relaxing among all of the loud huslte and buslte of the city. There was also some great shopping in Greece, so I went on the hunt that afternoon for a skirt. Instead, I ended up with 2 skirts, but I figured it was alright.
I only had 2 days in Athens, but that seemed to be enough and next I am off to island hop in the Greek Isles.
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