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.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
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!
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