Reflection

So my trip is done. I'm back in the states... back at my job (until I start grad school). It's a little sad, yes. I mean, I just had the time of my life. I had an incredible experience that was exciting, adventurous, changing, evolving, compelling, ...and fulfilling. I did so much. I:

• saw some of the greatest art ever created
• found the ruins of some of the oldest civilizations on Earth
• hiked some of the most beautiful coastline in the world
• watched the sunset over the Italian Mediterranean
• ate the best pizza in the world
• floated down a raging river
• saw the effects of some of the most oppressive governments to date
• watched the Eiffel Tower light up at night
• traveled under the English Channel
• tasted some of the best wine in the world
• had a plate broken over my head
• watched the sun set at 11:30pm
• saw how blue the Mediterranean actually is
• got scammed
• stood in the same place as Socrates
• ate a Hamburger in Hamburg
• gave everything in my pocket to a homeless man
• stared at the most beautiful ceiling in the world
• drank in the capital of every country I visited
• went smile for smile with the Mona Lisa
• walked up to the top of a mountain
• watched a woman smoke a cigar (just ask me about this one)
• saw no less than 2500 paintings of the passion or cruxifiction

But the best part of my trip was all the people I met. I can't even try to remember every name, but it was great. Every new place, every day even, offered the thrill and opportunity of someone new to meet and something new to discover.

After such an amazing experience, should I be content to return to a "normal" life? I mean, consider for a moment your typical middle class nine-to-fiver. He spends almost his entire day making money to fund the moments he's not working (now and in the future). Now he loves his job, but he's still trapped in it. He has to go everyday even if amazing experiences are out there to be had. He's given up that freedom, he's submitted to the system in order to gain a little security in his future. ...I've just experienced the exact opposite of that.

Washington Dulles Airport

My return trip itinerary has left a six hour gap between connecting flights, submersing me once again in the portion of American culture that is the C and D terminal of Washington Dulles International Airport. It's something of a wierd culture shock. I miss Europe.

Getting off the plane, we, with a number of other flights, were herded through the bottle neck of baggage claim, customs, and TSA inspection where angry, frustrated travellers, worried that they'd miss their next flight, started yelling (in English!!!) at others who were cutting the mass of bags and people otherwise called a line. I turned and asked one of them when their flight was and then let them cut in front of me being that they might indeed miss it. I don't think it helped the guy to calm down much, but his wife seemed happier.

The fact that I had forgotten American culture simultaneously put the biggest smile on my face and a huge weight on my heart. My habits are still probably undoubtedly American, but I can see how Europeans must see us. I'm not used to seeing anyone else using a laptop or not getting stares for using one myself. I look around and see so many people talking on a cell phone... constantly. Many are carrying (fast or junk) food or huge cups of soft drinks while they're walking. It's all seems so post-modern and soulless. I smiled because I got away from it for two months... because I gained a better perspective on it. Most Europeans have cell phones, but only a few in a crowd will be using theirs at any one time. And I never saw one walking somewhere while eating or drinking (plenty of tourists do, though, myself included). As far as I noticed, they always sat down for their snacks, drinks, and meals.

But that's all the superficial crap. What really bothers me about being back here is the vibe that comes from everyone here. It's a subtle "I'm not going to let you screw me over by getting in my way" feeling everyone seems to have. I didn't witness that kind of anxiety in Europe. There's the same uncaring oblivion towards anyone the European didn't know but no fear that vulnerability shown today would come back to bite him tomorrow. I'm amazed I lived like that...

Amsterdam

What can I say about Amsterdam... the stories are all true. Whatever bliss you seek... you'll find it here. The atmosphere is very relaxed, though. I find most backpackers smoke all day then drink all night only to get up in the morning and do it all over again (with the occasional sex show thrown in there).

Since I don't smoke, though, I explored the city during the daytime. I could go on about The Van Gogh Museum, The Anne Frank House, or the calm, peaceful life the locals enjoy (they don't partake in the otherwise commonplace vice fulfilling activities offered here), but no one wants hear about that...

The Red Light District. It a strange and mysterious sight. The streets are lined with sex shops, video stores, neon signs, and opened windows with (moderately attractive) half naked women beckoning visitors to come inside. I've never seen so many uncomfortable, insecure guys walking the streets either. The most hilarious is the group of English men, probably hear on "holiday", who mask their discomfort with bravado, loud conversation, and a fake strut. But back to the topic at hand...

My second day here, I asked the desk at my hostel where I could see a good (possibly artistic) sex show. I was told to go to Casa Rossa. I found about four buildings along one street with that name, and stopped in front of one of them. I tried to get as much information from the guy who subsequently accosted me, eventually agreeing to see the show, which I thought was in the building in front of which I was standing. So I gave the guy my money, and he says, "Ok, follow me..." he takes me three blocks up the street, across the canal, back down another block, and into some unlabelled building. He hands my receipt to the ticket office guy and tells me to go up the stairs... I get up there to find a tiny theater and a woman performing a striptease that ends in an interesting use of a lit candle. The curtains closed and reopened with a couple dressed in hooded robes. They slowly disrobe to reveal that... they're not so attractive... and, furthermore, they continue with their show with absolutely no emotion on their faces whatsoever (also a condition the first woman had). The guy especially seemed to have a certain difficulty staying interested. After about ten minutes, the curtains closed again (thank god), and a voice came over a loud speaker saying, "We'll be back in half an hour with the same three shows." ...Yeah, so this, at least, explained the emotionlessness, and, apparently, I missed the first ten minute show. Needless to say... I got a little ripped off. I didn't stick around to see it again...

My last night here (my last night in Europe) was a little better, though. A group of us, after having a few beers and playing pool at the hostel, decided to go to the Bananen Bar. It wasn't until we got there, though, that we found, for a little extra, it included the show at The Casa Rossa, which was actually seven shows over about two hours. I'm going to leave out the details in case children stumble across this, but I'll just say one involved volunteers and a banana and another a cigar. After that, we went back to the Bananen Bar, which served us free drinks for an hour from naked bartendresses, who would, for an extra tip, perform some entertainment activities, one of which involved the same banana trick. So I have to wonder who came up with that one first... but, needless to say, it was a fun night and a decent way to end the trip of a lifetime...

P.S. Picture taking is something of a no-no in Amsterdam... so don't expect much from my pics server

Happy 4th

Hey guys... Happy 4th of July to everyone in the states... They don't have any celebrations for the date over here, but Amsterdam is more or less one big party all the time. Still missing the classic American barbeque... but it's definitely worth it. Only two days left.... :-(

Amsterdam: My first day

Well I've made it to my final stop, the drug and sex capital of the world that is Amsterdam. The second I stepped off the train, I was immediately hit with the smell of marijuana, and I knew where I was. It's a good city... especially if you smoke a little gaunge..... Breathe, mom... just breathe. I haven't touched the stuff... I went straight for the E.... haha.

I visited the Heineken museum and recorded this little cinematic masterpiece for everyone... it was a lot like the Guiness Storehouse in Dublin, except here they try to make it more interactive with multimedia shows and hydraulic seating. It's just kind of stupid, but they give you three drinks (of heineken) along the way. So it's not all bad.

The night train here kind of dicked me over for really going out since I got almost no sleep on it. I had to crash early, but not before hanging out in the bar at my hostel and having a more or less routine conversation with a girl from New Zealand, Adrian. I felt bad that she was dissappointed that I just wanted to crash at like midnight when she was all set to go out.

Copenhagen

I met a girl from Germany, named Vilsa, on the train ride here. She was headed to a music festival somewhere in Denmark, which sounded a lot like a Woodstock type of thing. Some how we got on a discussion on America's supersized culture, of which I feel like I have a bit more of a perspective. It was an interesting train ride to say the least. Another thing I was also wondering how the train was going to cross whatever body of water separates the island on which Copenhagen is from mainland Europe. I figured there was a bridge... but I was wrong. The train actually drove on to a ferry. and then drove off when the ferry reached the other side.

I also met a guy, Burt, an architect also headed to Copenhagen. So we joined forces to find a hostel. The one we found turned out to be a shithole. Apparently, the US doesn't allow beds to be as closely packed into a room as we found there (according to the architect). So I would imagine running a hostel in the US wouldn't be very profitable.

My guidebook didn't do a great job of describing all the sites I saw here. I walked around a saw quite a few of them, but I only went up to the top of the Rundetarn (Round Tower) to see the city. The more my trip has progressed the less I've been motivated to really go to any museums or galleries... only because they all seem to be the same. There was an art gallery here that was supposed to have works by Munch, which I did want to check out just to see if they had The Scream, but the place seemed to be under construction and I couldn't find the entrance if it was indeed open.

I only spent two days and one night here before getting on the night train out. I didn't go out to check out the nightlife here too much, and I didn't really care too much. Either I'm starting to feel like I've been there and done that.... or I'm just saving it all up for Amsterdam...

Christiania (Copenhagen)

What drew me to Copenhagen was a part of it I wanted to see called Christiania. At some point, a Danish king created a military fort along the shore here, which had been abandoned until some time in the late 1960's or early 1970's when some hippies and political activists broke in and began squatting in the buildings. They've stayed long enough for squatter laws to now apply to them. There they created a sort of hippie commune, which they consider to be their own territory. Up until last year, the main "street" (path), called Pusher street, openly sold marijuana and, I think, other drugs. But a police raid last year shut that activity down. In walking down the street today, I, nonetheless, got no less than four offers to be sold some hash.

Strangely, though, I felt a little uneasy walking through the area. Where with every city, there are a certain set of basic rules on which I can rely, I wasn't sure if those applied here. More than that I wasn't sure if the rules I live by would make me unacceptable here. Walking around for awhile, though, the people here seemed to look at me with the same insecurity, as if I found them unacceptable. Is it the same everywhere? Are we afraid that other people won't accept how we choose to live?

Hamburg

Time is winding down for my trip. I only have a week left before my flight back to the states. It's so sad. It's been a good ride so far, and the best is yet to come. Not in Hamburg, though. There's really nothing here. And, you know, I had hoped to escape American culture a little while I was over here. Seeing McDonald's was expected, Starbucks... understandable, but this...

...unacceptable. I wanted to burn down the building... I had my shirt... but not a book of matches... haha.

I knew Walmart was all over the world, but I figured they were in heavy suburban areas where there's more space for the typical Walmart sprawl building. With only a week left in two months, I stumble over it... in Hamburg of all places too....

But since it's here... it still had the lowest prices I could find of any store in the area... so I bought a coke, and was reminded of the IBM mainframe cluster in Arkansas through my transaction is still probably being processed. Then I went to go eat a Hamburger... now it's off to Copenhagen.

Berlin

I have no idea how best to describe Berlin. Unlike the cities that I've recently visited, such as Rome, Athens, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, etc., whose architecture and history date back to medieval times, Berlin has been the crossing point for the major historical events of the last century... events from which it is still trying to recover. There are beautiful buildings that date back much earlier, but many for damaged or destroyed by Allied bombing and left to rot in East Berlin. They only begun restoration in the last fifteen years. This, though, provided me with the unique opportunity to have a very real experience of the events of the last century.

I don't usually join walking tours because I feel like I can do a better and more efficient job of seeing everything myself, but I heard Brewer's Walking Tours was exceptionally good, and my tour guide for which was currently majoring in recent German history. He showed us all the major historical sites, but, for most of them, he had to use the phrase "damaged by bombs in WWII," a phrase which I haven't heard in any other city... including London. Most of the tour and most of the old city of Berlin were in Communist controlled East Berlin (part of East Germany), and the government chose not to repair any of the damage from WWII (except if it was an apartment building). So work has only been started in the last decade.

The most memorable sites were those where events of the last century occurred. For instance, in 1933 the Reichstag here was the site of a fire that was blamed on a crazy communist arsenist who tried to start the fire with a book of matches and his shirt and somehow managed to get flames to shoot out of the opposite end of the building. The next day the majority Nazi party convinced the Kaiser or whoever to suspend the constitution and to give emergency powers to the chancellor of parliament to counter the Communist threat. (Does anyone else hear the plot to Star Wars here?). And we can all guess who that guy was.

That guy spent the last six weeks of his life in a bunker marked by this unassuming parking lot. The white post in the back is roughly the spot of the crater where his body was burned by a couple of barrels of petro. Personally, I'm glad there's nothing marking this spot. It's further fitting that the marble from his huge palace lines the subway station through which we walked and is used in the Soviet War Memorial.

By far the greatest effect on Berlin, though, was The Berlin Wall. I was amazed to find out that the wall went up in all of four hours, not to protect the East from the West, but to keep the working class in the East. It completely divided family and friends. All to try to show that Communism was better. The Cold War here seemed so much like a fashion show... just bullshit postering on either side.

Prague

I had a pretty bad day when I first got here. The train ride was fine. Being a Saturday, though, I was worried about finding a hostel. I got into the train station, bought a phone card, and starting calling hostels. I was referred to a hostel by a guy I met in Bratislava, but it was full... as was the first few and closest to the city center hostels from my guidebook. Finally, the fourth hostel I called had a single room open, which they would reserve for me for the next few minutes until I walked there from the train station. I walked outside trying to match up the streets with those around the train station on my map. This was further complicated by the fact that Prague sparsely labels its streets. After walking around for fifteen minutes without finding any streets that matched up, a man finally came up to me to help, who informed me that I was, in fact, at a different train station and that I needed to get on the subway to get into the center of town. I got the hostel about an hour after I had called them to find that my room had been given away. And this is about the time it started raining...

Expecting to be forced to sleep at the train station, I walked back to the station at which I thought I had arrived. I found a accomodation booking office, who luckily was able to book me a room at a hostel fairly close to the city center. I've stayed at worse hostels, but I wasn't a huge fan of the communal showers they had there. It was fairly late when I finally arrived, and, since it didn't seem like I would really meet anyone at the hostel, I went to a pub crawl that had an advertisement there. The rain and an apparent Hell's Angels gathering in the city were the apparent causes for the reason that I was the only person on the crawl. In spite of that, I still had a good time on the crawl with my two guides. I met more locals than I would have if there had been other backpackers there.

I woke up the next morning to find that it was raining again (still). So for the first time on my whole trip, I used my raincoat. The cloud cover gave the city a very Eastern European feel, which, combined with the cobble stone streets and old buildings everywhere, made for a great experience despite getting all wet. I abstained from visiting any museums here because they seemed too much like tourist traps. The city itself is a open museum, though. It was great just walking through it all.

I went back to my hostel after finishing my meandering, self-guided Mission: Impossible tour to change rooms (they switched everyone around everyday or something). They put me in a room with four girls (how lucky for them) who had just got there that day. They asked me to join them for a different pub crawl they were going on, which I did since I had nothing better to do. We only visited three bars (the more historical ones) but got dinner with it too. It was geared more for older people (who were on the tour with us), meaning it finished early. So the younger ones of us went to a few more bars after. But, of course, I had the grudging responsibility of walking the four girls home at the end of the night... haha.

My Own Movie Tour

Women pay some company in Salzburg to take them up outside the city so they can twirl around like Julie Andrews on the same hill she did in The Sound of Music, but I can't find anyone here in Prague to let me jump out of an aquarium restaurant that I've just blown up with a piece of gum as the water comes crashing down behind me and I go running off into the night. So, after seeing most of the sights in Prague, I decided to walk around and try to find as much of the scenery from Mission: Impossible as I could.

The easiest was the Charles Bridge, where Jon Voight's character staged his own death and fell into the river. I came across this in my normal sight seeing, but I wasn't sure if this or another bridge was used in the movie at the time.

At the western end of the bridge are these stairs, which Tom Cruise went running up to help Jon Voight and from where he supposedly watched the car explode in this square.

This is the square at the base of the stairs. It seems like they might have used another square and edited the movie to make us think it was right next to the bridge, but this one is close to the small amount of scenery I could see around the car.

Literally just to the left of the above square is the bank of the river with this door where "The package is in the open." I think they used different doors for the movie, though.

Walking to the left of the above door, I found the river embankment where the drunk couple was stumbling and I think where we're meant to believe what's-her-name and that-guy got stabbed, but I didn't see the big wooden gate from which they were hanging. So maybe that was filmed elsewhere.

From right about here is where they placed the camera to film Tom Cruise running away from the water spilling out of the Aquarium he just blew up with the gum. They also filmed him walking to the restaurant with St Nicholas' Church in the background (the white church on the left in the picture). The actual restaurant doesn't exist in this square, though, but we're made to think it does (I was disappointed). The square is actually the Old Town Square of Prague, with the astrological clock tower to the left of the picture and the statue and another church off to the right.

Lastly, the email from Max in the movie explicitly states the corner of Prikope and Nekazanka. Fortunately for me, this corner actually exists and is the scenery they used for that scene in the movie. "Can I trouble you for a match?"

I think I actually enjoyed stumbling across all these spots on my own rather than having a set tour that would just point them out (not that anyone would actually go on a tour for Mission: Impossible). It was fun just being looking and thinking "Oh my god, I remember that scene."

Bratislava

I looked into opening my own hotel here. Turns out that it costs a little more than a nickel. The train ride here took me through the very eastern European, Communist, concrete block apartment buildings in the massive suburban sprawl around the city. I didn't find a old man sponge bathing himself or a dog guarding a human hand for food, though. So that scene from Eurotrip could be accurate (aside from the twenty year lag in pop culture).

The historic city center is actually quite different from the communist influence that sprawls out from it. Consisting of mostly pedestrian cobble stone streets, the center has cafes, bars, museums, churches, and landmarks. The most prominent of them is the Bratislava Castle perched above the historic center. The best part about this town, though, is that it is, except for us few backpackers, practically devoid of tourists. The castle was deserted while I was strolling through its courtyards, and the streets and cafes were full of locals. I hope the word doesn't get out of this place. Nothing can suck the culture out of any place better than massive amounts of tourists, especially tour groups.

After seeing all the sights here, I went back to my hostel to find one of the best atmospheres of any hostel at which I've stayed. The few of us English speaking backpackers pretty much all gathered in the back garden of the hostel for a few beers before the mass of us went out to see what nightlife Bratislava had to offer. Aside from having many of the hottest women I've seen in all of Europe, there were some decent bars including the Irish Pub there and the dance club on which we ended up on a boat in the Danube. It was a lot of fun.

Budapest: Day 2

We went up to the Terror Museum here in Budapest yesterday, which exhibits the atrocities committed by the Hungarian government while under Nazi and Communist control. It was a little disturbing. We locked Alex in the tiny, shoulder width solitary confiment cube in the basement for ten minutes for a few moments of humor. By far the most disturbing thing was the wall listing pictures and names of every officer responsible for what happened over that time. It's the ultimate punishment, but I can't imagine anyone whose life's work was that...

We spent the rest of the day at the Thermal Baths across the Danube in Buda (Budapest is devided into Buda on one side and Pest on the other side of the river). Housed in some beautfiul architecture are several swimming pools and these heated pools for each sex. The outdoor pool had a wave machine for body surfing too. All in all it was very relaxing, but I saw way too much cock. Why are fat, old men the first to disrobe all the time? The place did offer these loine cloth type things, which looked like a g string from behind. So it didn't really help much.Luckily, we met a few girls at the hostel bar last night to balance out the day.

Budapest

I met a girl on the train to here yesterday telling me that I have to visit all the eastern European countries, including Serbia (hers), the next time I come over here. I would have done that this time if it was on my Eurail pass, but what can I do. I'm told told that Poland is an interesting (and cheap) place to visit. We'll see what I have time for.

I met two guys getting off the train, Rob and Alex, who were eventually headed to the same hostel as me. Alex was just starting his trip over here. I felt bad watching him confront the language barrier for the first time when we went out last night, a situation to which I've become accustomed now. It definitely makes things more difficult.... not impossible, though. Communication is 93% nonverbal. Hungary has some good nightlife, and the cover charge was only 50 cents (US).

The most helpful thing I've found here so far, though, is the WiFi hotspot in range of my hostel room. I've been disappointed with the quality of my blog here. I've only been able to post summaries of my stays lately rather than anecdotal stories. I guess those will have to wait until I get home.

Vienna

This is one of those cities that you hear about, one of the big cities of Europe, but you're not quite sure what's there to see or do. Some group of boys from here is suppose to sing decently, but what is there beyond that? I set out to find out.

I couldn't have asked for a better couple of days here (look at that sky). I first got here on Sunday to find a calm, peaceful atmosphere among some absolutely spectacular architecture. At some point in time, the city decided to tear down its outer walls and construct streets and public transportation to encircle the city that they call "The Ring" and inside of or around which lie many of the sites. I walked most of the day to see them all but wasn't really compelled to visit the museums here.

The calm, peaceful air about the city all but vanished on Monday, giving way to a busy, hectic capital city. I headed first for the palace above (you're looking at the back of it) and found a montrous property with this gorgeous garden behind it, complete with a maze and labrynth. I then went and found some famous ferris wheel, but I forget why it's famous at the moment.

The nightlife here is pretty much like that of any other place to which I've been, but a lot of us ended up just staying and drinking at Wombat's (where I stayed). I'm allowed to have one or two boring nights... haha

Vienna is definitely known for its opera, though. I had the opportunity to go see an opera called Werther, about a man, Werther, and a woman who fall in love after a few hours, but the woman is engaged to another guy who she promised her dying mother she would marry. It was a more contemporary opera but still very moving. My problem was that I couldn't get passed the fact that no woman would be attracted to a guy who started telling her he was in love with her after a few hours.