Greetings from Cinque Terra, Italy! I've put a lot of miles in since my last update. The best of those miles was between Naples and Florence when the train goes 300 kph (roughly 186 mph). Pretty awesome especially with Naples in the rearview mirror.
My first stop after Rome was in Sorrento, Italy. Sorrento is a coastal town on the Mediterranean Sea. There aren't really any beaches here, because the majority of the town sits atop high cliffs over the water. The views are amazing, and I can see Naples, Mount Vesuvius, and Pompeii across the bay. I picked Sorrento mainly because I wanted to visit Pompeii, and I did not want to stay in Naples. Naples is a pretty disgusting place. There's constant trash strikes, tons of gypsies, and pretty much everyone ignores all laws. You would think that as a libertarian it would be a dream come true. Not so.
Ever since I studied Pompeii in school I have wanted to go. For those unaware, Pompeii was a town that was buried almost 2,000 years ago by volcanic ash and pumice from a massive eruption at Mount Vesuvius. The initial eruption "rained" 2-3 meters of ash on the city in a matter of hours, and killed people either by collapsing their homes on them or through asphyxiation from the toxic fumes. After everyone died, Vesuvius further buried the town under another 3 meters of ash and pumice. For you English measurements people, that's roughly 18 feet of ash! The result was that Pompeii went undiscovered for centuries, and when it finally was discovered, everything was well preserved because of all that ash. Enough of the history lesson. Pompeii was a huge city and I greatly underestimated the size of it when I first arrived. The coolest thing about Pompeii is that since everything is so well preserved, your imagination runs wild thinking about the daily activities of ancient Pompeiians. My favorite sites within Pompeii were the amphitheater (seating capacity of 20,000), the restaurant (where Pompeiians would gather for food and socializing), the theater, and the brothel; with it's colorful "artwork."
I left Sorrento the day after Pompeii for Lucca, Italy. Lucca is in the heart of Tuscany and Italian wine country. Aside from world renowned wine, the city features 3 sets of city walls which aren't only really cool, but also help keep traffic to minimum. After being in Rome, that was a pleasant surprise. The city center features cool shopping, tight, picturesque Italian streets, and cafés. The old city walls have been turned into walking paths and parks which provide a great opportunity to rent a bike and ride around them; which I took full advantage of. Overall, Lucca was nice, relaxing, laid back, and far less touristy than most other places in Tuscany.
After leaving Lucca, I made my way to Monterosso, Italy which is in an area known as Cinque Terra. Cinque Terra, a UNESCO site, is made up of five (duh) cities on the northwestern Italian coast with unrivaled views, unbelievable hiking, and no cars (walking is the only method of transportation). My friends and I stayed at an agriturismo where the farm produces grapes for wine, olives for oil, lemons for lemoncello, and various other fruits. Upon arrival, we quickly noticed that our accommodations had no heat. That's not uncommon in Europe, but we knew it was going to be cold the 3 nights we were there. Luckily, we had a fire place so my buddy Brad and I quickly focused our attention on starting a fire (mostly because all real men love playing with fire). Starting this fire was a headache. First, we had no matches and no lighter so we resorted to lighting magazines (and later cardboard) on fire using the gas stove in the kitchen and running through the dining room to the fireplace. Second, we had no way of knowing whether or not the flue was open, so after filling the room with smoke several times, we learned that smoke in the room means the flue is closed. Third, we had limited wood so we found ourselves hiking through the farm looking for wood (I wish I could tell you we Paul Bunyaned a tree but we found wood pretty easily). Even though it was a headache at the time, it was a pretty hilarious adventure I'm retrospect.
Our first full day in Cinque Terra, we decided to hike the trail from Monterosso to Reggiomare. It's about a five hour hike or so we thought. Only one of the four trails we had to take was officially open due to heavy rain. The first two trails we took were in good shape, but halfway through the third leg, we got stuck because the mountain had washed out creating a landslide. It was a big disappointment to me to have hiked roughly 4/5 of the way only to get stuck at the end, but it was still a fun, beautiful, and tiresomely good time!
Our final day in Cinque Terra was Thanksgiving! Even though I couldn't be home with my family, there's far worse places to spend the holiday then Monterosso. My friends and I had decided previously that we were going to try our hardest to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal. This was not an easy task. We were able to find potatoes, green beans, desert, and even substitute chestnuts (which we roasted on the fire of course) with relative ease, but finding turkey was turning out to be a huge problem. We had no oven and Cinque Terra has tiny grocery stores, so we were getting close to abandoning hope in this wild turkey chase and settling for a turkey substitute or an Italian Thanksgiving meal of pasta. As luck would have it, there was a market going on in town Thursday morning and of all things, there was a guy who had 3 precooked turkeys waiting when we arrived. It was like manna from Heaven. We quickly snatched it up along with a few other things and later that evening we all enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Cinque Terra was amazing and now my favorite place I've been on the trip. Lucca was worth a days time and Pompeii as well.
Ching ching!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
11/19/2010 Update
Greetings from Sorrento, Italy. I know...I hate me too.
Rome is ginormous! There's so many people and tons of things to do. More so than any other city I've been to so far, Rome is a place where you could spend months and still not see everything. Rather than talk about everything I did and bore you, it's best to hit the highlights.
Roman Forum: Out of everything I did, the Roman Forum was my favorite. The Roman Forum was the heart of the Roman Empire and contained all of the most important political, legal, and religious buildings. The Forum has a seemingly endless amount of ruins and things to see. I felt like I was a kid again, using my imagination to picture how life in Rome would have been. Many of the buildings are in poor shape, but in my opinion that only adds to the splendor of the Forum. Inside the Forum, my favorite parts were the Basilica of Maxentius, the Arch of Titus, the Curia, the Farnese Gardens, and the Aqueduct. I'd tell you about all of them, but in the interest of not boring you, I'll let you do your own research if you're so inclined.
Coliseum: Every sports fan should see the Coliseum before they die. It's the ultimate arena. The coliseum was started in 72 AD by Emperor Vespasia and finished in 80 AD by Emperor Titus. Historians aren't sure exactly how many people it seated, but the consensus is between 40,000 and 70,000 people. That's impressive by today's standards, let alone 2,000 years ago. Everyone knows about the gladiators, slaves, lions, etc, but it's become popular belief amongst historians that the coliseum was flooded and naval battles would be staged inside. Truly incredible to think of the carnage, the bloodshed, and the unbelievable feats that occurred inside.
The Vatican: Not being Catholic, I didn't really think I would appreciate the Vatican as much as I did; however, as soon as you walk into the plaza, and look up at Saint Peter's Basilica, you get a real appreciation for the history of The Vatican. At the Vatican, I visited the Vatican Museum (where the Sistine Chapel is), Saint Peter's Basilica, and Old Bridge gelato (best gelato I've had in Rome). The Museum was pretty incredible. There's so much to see besides the Sistine Chapel, but I must say that the Chapel is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. To think that Michelangelo laid on his back and painted Creation, The Fall of Man, the Return of Christ, and more over a 4 year period is phenomenal. I can't even sit in one place for 4 minutes let alone 4 years! Saint Peter's Basilica is also an unbelievable work of art. I didn't have a true appreciation for the scale of it until I got inside and looked down the cavernous interior; all the while fighting off the urge to yell "ricola"! The thing that made my visit to the Basilica extra special was that mass was going on when I was there which was a cool experience hearing the echos of the priest throughout the building.
Borghese Museum: The Borghese Museum is one of the most famous museums in all of Italy. The museum is pretty small, but houses many great works of art. The best parts of the museum are the half dozen famous statues that call the Borghese home. My favorite was Apollo chasing Daphne. I know I won't get this story 100% right, but basically Apollo is chasing Daphne because he got shot with an arrow by Eros thats incites love and falls for the nymph Daphne; however, Daphne was shot by an arrow that incites hate. Since Daphne doesn't love Apollo back, she begs her father to disguise her so Apollo will leave her alone. Daphne's father intervenes and turns her into a tree. This will sound ridiculous, but if you look at the statue long enough, you can easily piece together the story. It's an awesome piece of art. My other favorites were David preparing to slay Goliath, the Paolina Borghese, and Pluto's rape of Proserpina. On all of these sculptures, the detail is so intricate and amazingly lifelike.
Old Bridge Gelato: Right next to the Vatican. Huge portions, great flavors, and cheap. Enough said!
Various other cool sights I saw were the Trevi Fountain, Capital Museums, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trastevere, and a random pyramid. The Spanish Steps are completely overrated.
All in all, Rome is awesome. The history is unmatched anywhere I've ever been before. The Roman Empire was the greatest civilization in the history of the world (in this author's opinion), and it's been interesting traveling through Europe and seeing Roman influence almost everywhere. It was nice to finally see the place where it all came together.
Ching ching!
Rome is ginormous! There's so many people and tons of things to do. More so than any other city I've been to so far, Rome is a place where you could spend months and still not see everything. Rather than talk about everything I did and bore you, it's best to hit the highlights.
Roman Forum: Out of everything I did, the Roman Forum was my favorite. The Roman Forum was the heart of the Roman Empire and contained all of the most important political, legal, and religious buildings. The Forum has a seemingly endless amount of ruins and things to see. I felt like I was a kid again, using my imagination to picture how life in Rome would have been. Many of the buildings are in poor shape, but in my opinion that only adds to the splendor of the Forum. Inside the Forum, my favorite parts were the Basilica of Maxentius, the Arch of Titus, the Curia, the Farnese Gardens, and the Aqueduct. I'd tell you about all of them, but in the interest of not boring you, I'll let you do your own research if you're so inclined.
Coliseum: Every sports fan should see the Coliseum before they die. It's the ultimate arena. The coliseum was started in 72 AD by Emperor Vespasia and finished in 80 AD by Emperor Titus. Historians aren't sure exactly how many people it seated, but the consensus is between 40,000 and 70,000 people. That's impressive by today's standards, let alone 2,000 years ago. Everyone knows about the gladiators, slaves, lions, etc, but it's become popular belief amongst historians that the coliseum was flooded and naval battles would be staged inside. Truly incredible to think of the carnage, the bloodshed, and the unbelievable feats that occurred inside.
The Vatican: Not being Catholic, I didn't really think I would appreciate the Vatican as much as I did; however, as soon as you walk into the plaza, and look up at Saint Peter's Basilica, you get a real appreciation for the history of The Vatican. At the Vatican, I visited the Vatican Museum (where the Sistine Chapel is), Saint Peter's Basilica, and Old Bridge gelato (best gelato I've had in Rome). The Museum was pretty incredible. There's so much to see besides the Sistine Chapel, but I must say that the Chapel is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. To think that Michelangelo laid on his back and painted Creation, The Fall of Man, the Return of Christ, and more over a 4 year period is phenomenal. I can't even sit in one place for 4 minutes let alone 4 years! Saint Peter's Basilica is also an unbelievable work of art. I didn't have a true appreciation for the scale of it until I got inside and looked down the cavernous interior; all the while fighting off the urge to yell "ricola"! The thing that made my visit to the Basilica extra special was that mass was going on when I was there which was a cool experience hearing the echos of the priest throughout the building.
Borghese Museum: The Borghese Museum is one of the most famous museums in all of Italy. The museum is pretty small, but houses many great works of art. The best parts of the museum are the half dozen famous statues that call the Borghese home. My favorite was Apollo chasing Daphne. I know I won't get this story 100% right, but basically Apollo is chasing Daphne because he got shot with an arrow by Eros thats incites love and falls for the nymph Daphne; however, Daphne was shot by an arrow that incites hate. Since Daphne doesn't love Apollo back, she begs her father to disguise her so Apollo will leave her alone. Daphne's father intervenes and turns her into a tree. This will sound ridiculous, but if you look at the statue long enough, you can easily piece together the story. It's an awesome piece of art. My other favorites were David preparing to slay Goliath, the Paolina Borghese, and Pluto's rape of Proserpina. On all of these sculptures, the detail is so intricate and amazingly lifelike.
Old Bridge Gelato: Right next to the Vatican. Huge portions, great flavors, and cheap. Enough said!
Various other cool sights I saw were the Trevi Fountain, Capital Museums, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trastevere, and a random pyramid. The Spanish Steps are completely overrated.
All in all, Rome is awesome. The history is unmatched anywhere I've ever been before. The Roman Empire was the greatest civilization in the history of the world (in this author's opinion), and it's been interesting traveling through Europe and seeing Roman influence almost everywhere. It was nice to finally see the place where it all came together.
Ching ching!
11/13/2010 Update
Greetings from Rome, Italy! I'm here for 5 days and I'm hopeful Rome will live up to my expectations. If it doesn't, the weather can't possibly be any worse here than it has my last 3 weeks of travel, so that's a plus.
My first stop upon leaving Belgium was Luxembourg. I decided not to spend the night there and instead stay in Stuttgart since it was much cheaper. This left me with only 2 hours to see the city. As I mentioned before about Bremen, you can't possibly do a city justice in only a few hours, but I figure seeing a place, even if only for a few hours, is better than not seeing it. Luxembourg is the richest country in the world (based on PPP). I expected to see a pretty glamorous city when I got off the train, but the buildings and especially the landscape far exceeded my expectations. The city is fairly modern and the architecture was similar to that of downtown Brussels; modern, sleek, glass buildings. What I didn't expect when I walked from the train station towards the city centre was the Pétrusse Valley. The Valley felt like a mini Grand Canyon (very mini), but full of trees, parks, the Pétrusse and Alzette rivers, and Grund (the valley neighborhoods). It was pretty impressive. The bridge also provided a great view of the Fortress Luxembourg, Luxembourg's other claim to fame. Cool place even if it was only for a few hours.
After Luxembourg I made my way to Stuttgart for the night. Nothing interesting happened outside of having my own room, because of a mistake that was made when booking my room. No complaints here. I like a good night's sleep.
After Stuttgart, I went to Interlaken, Switzerland. I was pretty excited about the train ride, because you slowly wind your way through the Alps. While the entire train ride was phenomenal, the best part of the trip was the short journey from Spiez to Interlaken. The train zig zags through the mountains and around Thun lake, which separates the two towns. The views are spectacular. Words can't describe how unbelievable it is. Once I finally arrived in Interlaken, it was pretty late, so I didn't have much time to do anything but wander through the town. Interlaken is stereotypical Switzerland; Swiss watches and Swiss army knives are everywhere. Not much else; just watches and knives.
My second day in Interlaken was by far the worst weather day of my trip. It poured down rain all day. I wasn't going to let that "dampen" my spirits though as I was determined to climb one of the many surrounding mountains. I settled on Harder Mountain, but as I started my trek, I began to wonder if this was a really bad idea given the elements. Eh...you only live once, right! I made it about 2/3 to the top before the conditions became unbearable. I was pretty disappointed I didn't reach the top, but the views were still amazing! Even in the pouring rain, I found myself trying to comprehend if what I was looking at was indeed real. It was truly incredible! The rest of the day I spent inside, warm and dry...and with CNBC on, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the room.
The next morning, I had a 2:00 pm train to catch from Spiez to Rome. The weather was gorgeous, so rather than lounge around the hostel until it was time to catch the train, I left Interlaken early so I could spend a few hours in Spiez. Spiez is on the shore of Thun lake (Interlaken sits between Thun and Brienz lake) and I figured it would be a good spot to get lunch. I'm glad I came to Spiez, because it's just as breathtaking as Interlaken. Everything in town centers around the harbor, looking at the lake, and in every direction you look there are towering mountains. I grabbed a sandwich, found a bench at the harbor, and spent the next 2 hours doing nothing but enjoying the view and soaking up the sun.
Interlaken (and Spiez) are remarkable. With perhaps the exception of Füssen (hard to say which one I liked better), I've not been to a more scenic place on my trip (and there's much more to do here than in Füssen). If you're in Europe, it's a must see.
Ching Ching!
My first stop upon leaving Belgium was Luxembourg. I decided not to spend the night there and instead stay in Stuttgart since it was much cheaper. This left me with only 2 hours to see the city. As I mentioned before about Bremen, you can't possibly do a city justice in only a few hours, but I figure seeing a place, even if only for a few hours, is better than not seeing it. Luxembourg is the richest country in the world (based on PPP). I expected to see a pretty glamorous city when I got off the train, but the buildings and especially the landscape far exceeded my expectations. The city is fairly modern and the architecture was similar to that of downtown Brussels; modern, sleek, glass buildings. What I didn't expect when I walked from the train station towards the city centre was the Pétrusse Valley. The Valley felt like a mini Grand Canyon (very mini), but full of trees, parks, the Pétrusse and Alzette rivers, and Grund (the valley neighborhoods). It was pretty impressive. The bridge also provided a great view of the Fortress Luxembourg, Luxembourg's other claim to fame. Cool place even if it was only for a few hours.
After Luxembourg I made my way to Stuttgart for the night. Nothing interesting happened outside of having my own room, because of a mistake that was made when booking my room. No complaints here. I like a good night's sleep.
After Stuttgart, I went to Interlaken, Switzerland. I was pretty excited about the train ride, because you slowly wind your way through the Alps. While the entire train ride was phenomenal, the best part of the trip was the short journey from Spiez to Interlaken. The train zig zags through the mountains and around Thun lake, which separates the two towns. The views are spectacular. Words can't describe how unbelievable it is. Once I finally arrived in Interlaken, it was pretty late, so I didn't have much time to do anything but wander through the town. Interlaken is stereotypical Switzerland; Swiss watches and Swiss army knives are everywhere. Not much else; just watches and knives.
My second day in Interlaken was by far the worst weather day of my trip. It poured down rain all day. I wasn't going to let that "dampen" my spirits though as I was determined to climb one of the many surrounding mountains. I settled on Harder Mountain, but as I started my trek, I began to wonder if this was a really bad idea given the elements. Eh...you only live once, right! I made it about 2/3 to the top before the conditions became unbearable. I was pretty disappointed I didn't reach the top, but the views were still amazing! Even in the pouring rain, I found myself trying to comprehend if what I was looking at was indeed real. It was truly incredible! The rest of the day I spent inside, warm and dry...and with CNBC on, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the room.
The next morning, I had a 2:00 pm train to catch from Spiez to Rome. The weather was gorgeous, so rather than lounge around the hostel until it was time to catch the train, I left Interlaken early so I could spend a few hours in Spiez. Spiez is on the shore of Thun lake (Interlaken sits between Thun and Brienz lake) and I figured it would be a good spot to get lunch. I'm glad I came to Spiez, because it's just as breathtaking as Interlaken. Everything in town centers around the harbor, looking at the lake, and in every direction you look there are towering mountains. I grabbed a sandwich, found a bench at the harbor, and spent the next 2 hours doing nothing but enjoying the view and soaking up the sun.
Interlaken (and Spiez) are remarkable. With perhaps the exception of Füssen (hard to say which one I liked better), I've not been to a more scenic place on my trip (and there's much more to do here than in Füssen). If you're in Europe, it's a must see.
Ching Ching!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
11/9/2010 Update
Greetings from Interlaken, Switzerland! Had a few days between touring Belgium and meeting up with friends in Italy, so I decided to stop in Switzerland on my way south. I know...it's a rough life!
My stops in Belgium were Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels.
Bruges is a small town in northwestern Belgium that is a popular tourist destination because of the great medieval architecture (the city center is a UNESCO world heritage sight). Aside from the architecture, there's plenty of cool things to do and see. While there, I visited a few churches. One church has a Michelangelo sculpture which is believed to be the only Michelangelo sculpture to exist outside of Italy. Another church I visited claims to have blood from Jesus that has been preserved over the years. It's one of the holiest relics of the catholic church and comes equipped with it's own version of knight Templar guardians. I'n living the Da Vinci code! Aside from churches, I stopped in at the local De Halve Maan brewery to take the tour and sample some local beer. It was the best brewery tour I've been on and the hoppy aroma alone was enough to make your knees wobble. There's a really cool French fry museum as well (Bruges is the home of the french fry...go figure), but I ran out of time before I could make it there. Bruges was such a cool little town that I will definitely add it to my list of places I want to return to one day.
Ghent was a day trip I made from Brussels. It's only a 30 minute train ride and unfortunately that was the best part. Ghent isn't necessarily a boring or bad place to visit, but it felt like a poor man's Bruges. The city looked really run down, there was construction everywhere, and it was lacking in cool medieval architecture. Old Ghent wasn't bad. There was a cool old castle, Castle of Counts, with a terror and weapons museum. There was a neat church that had an uncompleted tower. Saint Bavo's Cathedral was one of the better churches I have seen so far on the trip with a pretty famous altar known as The Mystic Lamb. Anyway, probably could have found a better way to spend my day...like drinking Duvel! Oh well, it happens.
Brussels was my final Belgian visit. I arrived in Brussels on a Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the hostel had free Internet. I inspected the Internet and discovered what I feared; a pretty strong filter on viewable content. Immediately I tried to formulate a plan on how I could stream the OSU-Baylor football game. After searching various live streaming sites, I found one that worked and I was able to watch most of the game which was exciting. I hadn't seen a game since the TU game in September. I warned you all, I'm a football addict.
Besides football Brussels was full of things to do. Some of the highlights were as follows.
I found perhaps the biggest street market in existence outside of Asia. It's hard to describe how huge it was (TWSS). I spent an hour just walking around and I still didn't see everything that was there. There were clothes, shoes, kebaps, waffles, electronics, perfumes, batteries, bathing products, fruits, vegetables, flowers, pastries, power tools, and more. My favorite part was the tobacco vendor who was selling "Cuban" cigars. Perhaps they were real, but Cuban cigars at a street market in Brussels didn't make much sense to me. I was tempted to buy them just to find out (I did some subsequent research and apparently fake Cubans are quite popular in Europe).
I took a chance on a local's tip on another place I visited. Parking garage 58! Yes, I visited a parking garage when I was in Brussels. I was told by some locals that if you go to the top of the parking garage you have a panoramic view of the city. I'm a sucker for local tips, so I decided to check it out. I found the garage, took the stairs to the top (because I'm an idiot), and 10 floors later I found an awesome view of the city. You can literally see everything from up there. It was raining pretty hard so I wasn't able to take many pictures, but it turned out to be a great spot and a great tip!
Another fun stop was the atomium and surrounding area. The atomium was built for the World Exhibition of 1958, and is composed of 9 spherical metal balls that represent an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. You can enter the atomium and move from metal ball to metal ball via escalators, but the best view is from the outside looking in (or at in this case). This thing looks crazy from the outside! Much cooler then what I expected when I first heard about it. The atomium resides in Heysel park which has now claimed the title from the English Gardens as best park of my trip. This park is HUGE! There's hills, lots of trees, a carnival, a big restaurant area, a movie theater, and a sweet looking miniature museum that I unfortunately didn't have time to visit. Awesome area!
Belgium was awesome and probably my 3rd favorite stop behind Prague and Berlin. While I had a great time, I must confess that my true motivation for a visit was the beer. There are hundreds upon hundreds of beers brewed in Belgium. Every different method of brewing is used. Every different type of ingredient is used. And wow they are strong! While there's many beers in Belgium, the ones I was most interested in were the Trappist beers. Trappist beers are brewed by Trappist monks and out of the 171 Trappist monasteries in the world, only 7 brew beer; 6 of which are in Belgium. Some, such as Chimay, are widely available and popular in the US. Others, such as Westvleteren, are nearly impossible to get. Google it. It's seriously not easy to get especially since I don't have a car. Anyway, I was able to find 5 of the 7 beers, so of course I bought one of each and now they will trek with me through Europe awaiting the opportunity to quench my thirst.
Until next time, stay thirsty my friends!
Prost!
My stops in Belgium were Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels.
Bruges is a small town in northwestern Belgium that is a popular tourist destination because of the great medieval architecture (the city center is a UNESCO world heritage sight). Aside from the architecture, there's plenty of cool things to do and see. While there, I visited a few churches. One church has a Michelangelo sculpture which is believed to be the only Michelangelo sculpture to exist outside of Italy. Another church I visited claims to have blood from Jesus that has been preserved over the years. It's one of the holiest relics of the catholic church and comes equipped with it's own version of knight Templar guardians. I'n living the Da Vinci code! Aside from churches, I stopped in at the local De Halve Maan brewery to take the tour and sample some local beer. It was the best brewery tour I've been on and the hoppy aroma alone was enough to make your knees wobble. There's a really cool French fry museum as well (Bruges is the home of the french fry...go figure), but I ran out of time before I could make it there. Bruges was such a cool little town that I will definitely add it to my list of places I want to return to one day.
Ghent was a day trip I made from Brussels. It's only a 30 minute train ride and unfortunately that was the best part. Ghent isn't necessarily a boring or bad place to visit, but it felt like a poor man's Bruges. The city looked really run down, there was construction everywhere, and it was lacking in cool medieval architecture. Old Ghent wasn't bad. There was a cool old castle, Castle of Counts, with a terror and weapons museum. There was a neat church that had an uncompleted tower. Saint Bavo's Cathedral was one of the better churches I have seen so far on the trip with a pretty famous altar known as The Mystic Lamb. Anyway, probably could have found a better way to spend my day...like drinking Duvel! Oh well, it happens.
Brussels was my final Belgian visit. I arrived in Brussels on a Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the hostel had free Internet. I inspected the Internet and discovered what I feared; a pretty strong filter on viewable content. Immediately I tried to formulate a plan on how I could stream the OSU-Baylor football game. After searching various live streaming sites, I found one that worked and I was able to watch most of the game which was exciting. I hadn't seen a game since the TU game in September. I warned you all, I'm a football addict.
Besides football Brussels was full of things to do. Some of the highlights were as follows.
I found perhaps the biggest street market in existence outside of Asia. It's hard to describe how huge it was (TWSS). I spent an hour just walking around and I still didn't see everything that was there. There were clothes, shoes, kebaps, waffles, electronics, perfumes, batteries, bathing products, fruits, vegetables, flowers, pastries, power tools, and more. My favorite part was the tobacco vendor who was selling "Cuban" cigars. Perhaps they were real, but Cuban cigars at a street market in Brussels didn't make much sense to me. I was tempted to buy them just to find out (I did some subsequent research and apparently fake Cubans are quite popular in Europe).
I took a chance on a local's tip on another place I visited. Parking garage 58! Yes, I visited a parking garage when I was in Brussels. I was told by some locals that if you go to the top of the parking garage you have a panoramic view of the city. I'm a sucker for local tips, so I decided to check it out. I found the garage, took the stairs to the top (because I'm an idiot), and 10 floors later I found an awesome view of the city. You can literally see everything from up there. It was raining pretty hard so I wasn't able to take many pictures, but it turned out to be a great spot and a great tip!
Another fun stop was the atomium and surrounding area. The atomium was built for the World Exhibition of 1958, and is composed of 9 spherical metal balls that represent an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. You can enter the atomium and move from metal ball to metal ball via escalators, but the best view is from the outside looking in (or at in this case). This thing looks crazy from the outside! Much cooler then what I expected when I first heard about it. The atomium resides in Heysel park which has now claimed the title from the English Gardens as best park of my trip. This park is HUGE! There's hills, lots of trees, a carnival, a big restaurant area, a movie theater, and a sweet looking miniature museum that I unfortunately didn't have time to visit. Awesome area!
Belgium was awesome and probably my 3rd favorite stop behind Prague and Berlin. While I had a great time, I must confess that my true motivation for a visit was the beer. There are hundreds upon hundreds of beers brewed in Belgium. Every different method of brewing is used. Every different type of ingredient is used. And wow they are strong! While there's many beers in Belgium, the ones I was most interested in were the Trappist beers. Trappist beers are brewed by Trappist monks and out of the 171 Trappist monasteries in the world, only 7 brew beer; 6 of which are in Belgium. Some, such as Chimay, are widely available and popular in the US. Others, such as Westvleteren, are nearly impossible to get. Google it. It's seriously not easy to get especially since I don't have a car. Anyway, I was able to find 5 of the 7 beers, so of course I bought one of each and now they will trek with me through Europe awaiting the opportunity to quench my thirst.
Until next time, stay thirsty my friends!
Prost!
11/4/2010 Update
Greetings from Bruges, Belgium! Many happenings have occurred since my last update like missing Audrey and Julie's Hallowscreen party. Sad times. Perhaps next year I can bust out my Wilson costume.
My first stop since my last update was in Bremen, Germany. As I mentioned before, I really only stopped there because it was halfway between Arhus and Amsterdam. It's hard to judge a city when you only spend 8 or so waking hours in it, but Bremen was awesome for the brief time I was there. As I mentioned a few posts back, I try to walk from the train station to my hostel/hotel whenever feasible, because it gives me a good feel for the city. I'm glad I did in Bremen because had I not I probably would never have seen the festival that was going on. I have no idea what the festival was for or even what it was called. I would call it mini-Oktoberfest, but there were far more unattractive people and mullets so really it was more like the Tulsa State Fair then Oktoberfest (no hate...I live there too!). It was great walking around, people watching, and eating WAY too much. In the span of an hour, I downed a giant ham steak sandwich, a currywurst (think bratwurst with curry sauce), and a giant ice cream cone. Pretty sure my stomach didn't like that too much. Bremen seemed charming even without the festival, but since I spent the majority of my time there, I have to say my love of Bremen mostly stems from reliving my Oktoberfest days.
My next stop after Bremen was Amsterdam. Amsterdam is well known for a lot of things: The Red Light District, canals, flowers, cafés (where they don't sell coffee), Anne Frank's house, the Van Gogh museum, Heineken, and more. I don't remember much from Amsterdam from my visit as a kid, but what I envisioned couldn't have been further from the truth. When conjuring up images of Amsterdam in my head, I thought back to my visit to Las Vegas one New Years and envisioned people smoking weed everywhere. Not the case. Most of the smoking takes place in the cafés, so it's pretty tame. The Red Light District is what one would expect. Solicitations and graphic sexuality are abound.
Overall, I found Amsterdam to be lacking. The Van Gogh museum was far too expensive to warrant going when I've been to London already and have a Paris stop planned for the future. Van Gogh is a great artist, but I'd rather save my money for The Louvre. The Heineken brewery tour was €15 and I like Heineken but not $21 worth. I went to a few parks, but they weren't anything special. At least I had cool roommates to hang out with while I was there.
Aside from the aforementioned disappointments, the Anne Frank House/Museum was excellent. One of the best stops I have made so far. It's hard to compare it to my experience at Sachsenhausen, but I found the house to be a different kind of sad. While there are 3rd party accounts of what occurred in the concentrations camps and even first hand stories from survivors, there's nothing like Anne Frank's day-to-day "live" account of the persecution of the Jews. When walking through the Secret Annex, it's as if you are back in the 1940's and the story is unfolding in front of your eyes. Add to that a 12-16 year old girl with a remarkable talent for expressing her thoughts and unbelievable awareness of the situation unfolding and it only intensifies the experience. Truly a remarkable place with unimaginable sadness and heroics.
Since I didn't find much to do in Amsterdam besides the Anne Frank House, I decided on my last day to take a day trip to Delft and The Hague, both in The Netherlands. Delft is a quaint little town that produces world renowned porcelain and flatware. The designs are incredible! Delft proved to be a fun place to escape the big city. After Delft, I stopped in The Hague on my way back to Amsterdam. The Hague is the capital of The Netherlands and has plenty of interesting shopping, architecture, restaurants, and an excellent China Town. It was worth a few hours of my time to see the city and hit a few of the important sights.
On to Belgium!
Prost!
My first stop since my last update was in Bremen, Germany. As I mentioned before, I really only stopped there because it was halfway between Arhus and Amsterdam. It's hard to judge a city when you only spend 8 or so waking hours in it, but Bremen was awesome for the brief time I was there. As I mentioned a few posts back, I try to walk from the train station to my hostel/hotel whenever feasible, because it gives me a good feel for the city. I'm glad I did in Bremen because had I not I probably would never have seen the festival that was going on. I have no idea what the festival was for or even what it was called. I would call it mini-Oktoberfest, but there were far more unattractive people and mullets so really it was more like the Tulsa State Fair then Oktoberfest (no hate...I live there too!). It was great walking around, people watching, and eating WAY too much. In the span of an hour, I downed a giant ham steak sandwich, a currywurst (think bratwurst with curry sauce), and a giant ice cream cone. Pretty sure my stomach didn't like that too much. Bremen seemed charming even without the festival, but since I spent the majority of my time there, I have to say my love of Bremen mostly stems from reliving my Oktoberfest days.
My next stop after Bremen was Amsterdam. Amsterdam is well known for a lot of things: The Red Light District, canals, flowers, cafés (where they don't sell coffee), Anne Frank's house, the Van Gogh museum, Heineken, and more. I don't remember much from Amsterdam from my visit as a kid, but what I envisioned couldn't have been further from the truth. When conjuring up images of Amsterdam in my head, I thought back to my visit to Las Vegas one New Years and envisioned people smoking weed everywhere. Not the case. Most of the smoking takes place in the cafés, so it's pretty tame. The Red Light District is what one would expect. Solicitations and graphic sexuality are abound.
Overall, I found Amsterdam to be lacking. The Van Gogh museum was far too expensive to warrant going when I've been to London already and have a Paris stop planned for the future. Van Gogh is a great artist, but I'd rather save my money for The Louvre. The Heineken brewery tour was €15 and I like Heineken but not $21 worth. I went to a few parks, but they weren't anything special. At least I had cool roommates to hang out with while I was there.
Aside from the aforementioned disappointments, the Anne Frank House/Museum was excellent. One of the best stops I have made so far. It's hard to compare it to my experience at Sachsenhausen, but I found the house to be a different kind of sad. While there are 3rd party accounts of what occurred in the concentrations camps and even first hand stories from survivors, there's nothing like Anne Frank's day-to-day "live" account of the persecution of the Jews. When walking through the Secret Annex, it's as if you are back in the 1940's and the story is unfolding in front of your eyes. Add to that a 12-16 year old girl with a remarkable talent for expressing her thoughts and unbelievable awareness of the situation unfolding and it only intensifies the experience. Truly a remarkable place with unimaginable sadness and heroics.
Since I didn't find much to do in Amsterdam besides the Anne Frank House, I decided on my last day to take a day trip to Delft and The Hague, both in The Netherlands. Delft is a quaint little town that produces world renowned porcelain and flatware. The designs are incredible! Delft proved to be a fun place to escape the big city. After Delft, I stopped in The Hague on my way back to Amsterdam. The Hague is the capital of The Netherlands and has plenty of interesting shopping, architecture, restaurants, and an excellent China Town. It was worth a few hours of my time to see the city and hit a few of the important sights.
On to Belgium!
Prost!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
10/31/2010 Update
Greetings from Bremen, Germany! Why Bremen? Because it's roughly half way between Arhus and Amsterdam and there's a Hilton here. I have a bunch of Hilton points via traveling and a credit card, so it's nice to stay in a free room every now and then especially when the choice of hostels is limited. Other than a Hilton being here I know nothing about the place.
My stay in Arhus was great! I suppose if I wanted to be technical, I'd say my stay in Solbjerg was nice. Arhus is the second largest city in Denmark and the economic center of the Jutland. In other words, there's a fair amount of stuff to do here; however before my adventures in Arhus started, I took half a day in Odense to see the town.
Odense is a relatively small town, but the largest city on the island of Funen. It's mostly known for two things: 1) being the halfway point between the Jutland and Copenhagen and 2) being the home of Hans Christian Andersen. As Mozart is to Salzburg, H.C. Andersen is to Odense. My main objective while there was to see the H.C. Andersen Museum. The museum was very well done, and detailed his life thoroughly. The most interesting thing to me about H.C. Andersen was how many of the most famous fairy-tales were penned by him. The list is pretty astonishing and of the few stories I can recall from childhood most were written by him. Not bad for a guy who grew in complete disfunction.
Odense
After Odense I made my way to Kolding to meet up with Marlene and drive to Solbjerg. The only instructions each of us had from Thomas was to be at the train station at 4:34 pm. OK. Done deal. Now what does she look like... Marlene and I had met once in Tulsa 4 years ago, and I'm ashamed to admit I don't remember much about her appearance (and I realized that that was probably a reciprocated admission). Once at the train station, I walked around for 5 minutes or so looking for a person who had the same facial expression as...well...me. You know the face. I call it the "what am I looking for" face. After a few minutes, a girl walked in the door and after a few of the aforementioned stares at each other, I knew I had the right person.
After finding each other, we drove back to her and Thomas's house, and on the way home we even got to stop at the Danish equivalent of Wal-Mart. The neighborhood they live in is fairly new and reminds me a little bit of American suburbia. They live close to a lake which has some spectacular views. Interestingly enough the Danish government won't let people build on the shore in an effort to preserve the environment. Their house is beautiful and fits what I envision the Danish Modern motif to be. Once home, Marlene and Thomas cooked dinner (which was very good) and we sat and talked about life, family, soccer, and much more.
Day two in Arhus consisted of driving to Arhus proper and seeing the city. Before going into town, Thomas took me on a tour of the hill-country outside of town. The Queen has a summer home in the area, there's a really nice beach, dense forests, and a deer sanctuary where people can hand feed deer. They would never survive at home. After my tour, we went into town. Arhus was nice. I really liked the cafés and canal area of town. After walking around and shopping for a bit, Thomas and Marlene took me to eat a traditional Danish meal; smørrebrød. Smørrebrød for lack of a better word is an open faced sandwich. We ordered a sampler plate and I really liked the fried halibut and roast beef, but I think I could've done without the liver paste (think liver flavored cream cheese). At least I manned up and tried it though! Also with lunch we had raw halibut which was excellent. This presents a problem though, because I hate sushi, so now I'm confused about what it is about sushi that I don't like. I'm sushially confused! After lunch we drove to the north side of Arhus to see some castle ruins. The castle was built on an island and joined to land via a manmade causeway. The ruins were really neat and it was fun hiking around and exploring. The castle posed a formidable defense, but as my tour guides pointed out the castle was so well fortified that the enemy figured out if they just sieged the castle, which was easy to do since there is only one way in and out, eventually the defenders would run out of food and water. Oops! After the castle, we went back home to eat dinner. I'm glad I told Marlene I liked Thai food, because...wow! That was probably the best Thai food I've ever had. No exaggeration. Marlene is an unbelievable cook. If her legal career doesn't pan out, I hope she opens a restaurant.
Deer Park
Castle
Smørrebrød
Thomas and Marlene were great hosts. After staying with them, I'm hoping some of their hospitality rubbed off on me. I had a great time with them and the Bjerg's in Kolding. Makes it hard to leave Denmark, but more great adventures lie ahead. After Bremen I have stops scheduled in Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Luxembourg, Italy, and Paris. I'm pumped!
Go pokes! 7-1!
Until next time...
Prost!
My stay in Arhus was great! I suppose if I wanted to be technical, I'd say my stay in Solbjerg was nice. Arhus is the second largest city in Denmark and the economic center of the Jutland. In other words, there's a fair amount of stuff to do here; however before my adventures in Arhus started, I took half a day in Odense to see the town.
Odense is a relatively small town, but the largest city on the island of Funen. It's mostly known for two things: 1) being the halfway point between the Jutland and Copenhagen and 2) being the home of Hans Christian Andersen. As Mozart is to Salzburg, H.C. Andersen is to Odense. My main objective while there was to see the H.C. Andersen Museum. The museum was very well done, and detailed his life thoroughly. The most interesting thing to me about H.C. Andersen was how many of the most famous fairy-tales were penned by him. The list is pretty astonishing and of the few stories I can recall from childhood most were written by him. Not bad for a guy who grew in complete disfunction.
Odense
After Odense I made my way to Kolding to meet up with Marlene and drive to Solbjerg. The only instructions each of us had from Thomas was to be at the train station at 4:34 pm. OK. Done deal. Now what does she look like... Marlene and I had met once in Tulsa 4 years ago, and I'm ashamed to admit I don't remember much about her appearance (and I realized that that was probably a reciprocated admission). Once at the train station, I walked around for 5 minutes or so looking for a person who had the same facial expression as...well...me. You know the face. I call it the "what am I looking for" face. After a few minutes, a girl walked in the door and after a few of the aforementioned stares at each other, I knew I had the right person.
After finding each other, we drove back to her and Thomas's house, and on the way home we even got to stop at the Danish equivalent of Wal-Mart. The neighborhood they live in is fairly new and reminds me a little bit of American suburbia. They live close to a lake which has some spectacular views. Interestingly enough the Danish government won't let people build on the shore in an effort to preserve the environment. Their house is beautiful and fits what I envision the Danish Modern motif to be. Once home, Marlene and Thomas cooked dinner (which was very good) and we sat and talked about life, family, soccer, and much more.
Day two in Arhus consisted of driving to Arhus proper and seeing the city. Before going into town, Thomas took me on a tour of the hill-country outside of town. The Queen has a summer home in the area, there's a really nice beach, dense forests, and a deer sanctuary where people can hand feed deer. They would never survive at home. After my tour, we went into town. Arhus was nice. I really liked the cafés and canal area of town. After walking around and shopping for a bit, Thomas and Marlene took me to eat a traditional Danish meal; smørrebrød. Smørrebrød for lack of a better word is an open faced sandwich. We ordered a sampler plate and I really liked the fried halibut and roast beef, but I think I could've done without the liver paste (think liver flavored cream cheese). At least I manned up and tried it though! Also with lunch we had raw halibut which was excellent. This presents a problem though, because I hate sushi, so now I'm confused about what it is about sushi that I don't like. I'm sushially confused! After lunch we drove to the north side of Arhus to see some castle ruins. The castle was built on an island and joined to land via a manmade causeway. The ruins were really neat and it was fun hiking around and exploring. The castle posed a formidable defense, but as my tour guides pointed out the castle was so well fortified that the enemy figured out if they just sieged the castle, which was easy to do since there is only one way in and out, eventually the defenders would run out of food and water. Oops! After the castle, we went back home to eat dinner. I'm glad I told Marlene I liked Thai food, because...wow! That was probably the best Thai food I've ever had. No exaggeration. Marlene is an unbelievable cook. If her legal career doesn't pan out, I hope she opens a restaurant.
Deer Park
Thomas and Marlene were great hosts. After staying with them, I'm hoping some of their hospitality rubbed off on me. I had a great time with them and the Bjerg's in Kolding. Makes it hard to leave Denmark, but more great adventures lie ahead. After Bremen I have stops scheduled in Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Luxembourg, Italy, and Paris. I'm pumped!
Go pokes! 7-1!
Until next time...
Prost!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
10/29/2010 Update
Greetings from Arhus, Denmark! It's good to still be in the motherland. Arhus is the second largest city in Denmark and the largest city of the Jutland. I'm here visiting one the Bjerg's sons, Thomas, and his girlfriend, Marlene, who just built a house here. Being the real estate magnet that I am, I had to come see it.
In between stops in Kolding and Arhus, I visited Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, one of the world's most expensive cities! It's absolutely outrageous how expensive things are here. $4 for a slice of pizza, $6 for a beer (during happy hour), and so on. I thought London was expensive, but Copenhagen takes it to another level. Good thing I'm only here for 3 days, because I couldn't afford much more.
I've been to Copenhagen before when I was a kid, but outside of Tivoli, The Little Mermaid, and the City Hall square, I don't remember much about it. To my dismay Tivoli is closed or a few weeks as they get ready for Christmas season, and The Little Mermaid swam away to China for the year, so I won't be seeing 2 of the biggest sights in town. While I'm bummed, it's not the end of the world since I have seen them before.
I arrived around 11 in the morning my first day in Copenhagen. I immediately went to a hostel I knew about, because I didn't have a reservation. Luckily, no problems and lots of room. After checking in, I got money (no Euro in Denmark) and a map. I followed a self-guided walking tour that took me to City Hall square, down Strøget Street which is the major shopping avenue, through Christiansborg Palace, and over to Christinhavn. Christianshavn is one of many island around Copenhagen and home to an area called Christiania; which I visited. Christiania started in 1971 as a group of squatters who moved into abandoned barracks the government was considering tearing down. Over time, the area transformed into a self-governing community within the city. In Christiania the people don't pay taxes, ignore laws, partake in rampant drug dealing/use, and by and large live everywhere: abandoned buildings, shacks, tents, etc. It's interesting because it's a huge underground economy yet in functions somewhat normally with stores (that primarily deal weed rather than bread and cheese), parks with kids, an information center, health center, town hall, post office, and more. I would not consider it a safe place by any means, but if you mind your own business and act like you've been there before, people won't bother you. Absolutely no photography though and do not go at night. It's interesting that the government has chosen to leave these people alone rather than fight them; a controversial decision amongst Danes.
Christiania
My second day in Copenhagen was filled with rain, rain, and more rain. Even though it was chilly and wet I decided to suck it up and see as much as possible. My first stop was the royal residences at Amalienborg. Pretty standard for royalty, but I did think it was cool that you get so close to the buildings. My next stop was the Museum of Danish Resistance. During World War II, the Danes chose a stance of neutrality before ultimately being invaded by the Germans. The Danes chose to accept German occupation rather than fight, because they were severely outnumbered and this would minimize casualties. After the invasion, the Germans felt it was better to leave the current government in place so long as they could control it and the people they represent. This worked OK for a time until the Danish saw no end to the occupation, and began fighting back by helping British intelligence, blowing up factories that were producing German armament, destroying rail lines, etc. It was a very good museum. Following the Resistance Museum, I went to the Danish Museum of Art and Design. It was like being in IKEA. I didn't stay long. Good thing it is free on Wednesdays. After leaving, I walked through Kastellet, an old fort, on my way to The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid is one of the most famous sculptures in the world, but as I mentioned earlier it's gone for the year so I took a picture of the rock it normally sits on. My final stop for the day was the Old Stock Exchange which in the past housed stock exchange operations for Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
On my last day in Copenhagen, I set out to accomplish the few remaining things on my list. I failed miserably. I had intended to go to the Carlsberg Brewery, but decided early in the day that I could skip it and hit the Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam instead. My first stop was a walk through the King's Gardens which is adjacent to the Rosenborg Castle. They were nice, but the English Gardens in Munich they were not. Next stop, the Rosenborg Castle. The Rosenborg Castle was built by King Christian IV in the 1600's as a summer home. It is large and filled with all kinds of gaudy objects, but most importantly it houses the crown jewels. The crown jewels were pretty spectacular. I'm pretty sure if Little Wayne visited, bling bling would simply not cover it (sorry old people, pop culture reference). From there, I crossed the street to Denmark's National Gallery. I was told there was a free section of the gallery, but I wasn't told was how crappy the free section was. Literally it was the worst museum/art exhibit I have seen on my trip so far. I walked up to the information desk and asked for my money back, but the attendant didn't think that was very funny. Afterwards, I walked through the adjacent botanical gardens which I must say was a pleasant surprise. I've only been through a few on my trip, but these were the best so far. I really liked that EVERY flora and fauna was labeled. My last stop for the day was the National Museum. This was my 2nd huge failure of the day besides missing Carlsberg. I had not accounted for how massive the museum was. I also figured on a British Museum style layout where things are poorly organized, but I was wrong on that too. It was an excellent museum (and free) and had detailed explanations of Danish history from 9000 BC to present day. I easily could've spent the entire day there. Afterwards I stopped by McDonald's for a $14 "value" meal to use their free wifi and plan my day tomorrow. I have to get out of here. Copenhagen is so expensive.
Copenhagen
Rosenborg Castle
My next update will be in another country so for the final time...
Sköål!
In between stops in Kolding and Arhus, I visited Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, one of the world's most expensive cities! It's absolutely outrageous how expensive things are here. $4 for a slice of pizza, $6 for a beer (during happy hour), and so on. I thought London was expensive, but Copenhagen takes it to another level. Good thing I'm only here for 3 days, because I couldn't afford much more.
I've been to Copenhagen before when I was a kid, but outside of Tivoli, The Little Mermaid, and the City Hall square, I don't remember much about it. To my dismay Tivoli is closed or a few weeks as they get ready for Christmas season, and The Little Mermaid swam away to China for the year, so I won't be seeing 2 of the biggest sights in town. While I'm bummed, it's not the end of the world since I have seen them before.
I arrived around 11 in the morning my first day in Copenhagen. I immediately went to a hostel I knew about, because I didn't have a reservation. Luckily, no problems and lots of room. After checking in, I got money (no Euro in Denmark) and a map. I followed a self-guided walking tour that took me to City Hall square, down Strøget Street which is the major shopping avenue, through Christiansborg Palace, and over to Christinhavn. Christianshavn is one of many island around Copenhagen and home to an area called Christiania; which I visited. Christiania started in 1971 as a group of squatters who moved into abandoned barracks the government was considering tearing down. Over time, the area transformed into a self-governing community within the city. In Christiania the people don't pay taxes, ignore laws, partake in rampant drug dealing/use, and by and large live everywhere: abandoned buildings, shacks, tents, etc. It's interesting because it's a huge underground economy yet in functions somewhat normally with stores (that primarily deal weed rather than bread and cheese), parks with kids, an information center, health center, town hall, post office, and more. I would not consider it a safe place by any means, but if you mind your own business and act like you've been there before, people won't bother you. Absolutely no photography though and do not go at night. It's interesting that the government has chosen to leave these people alone rather than fight them; a controversial decision amongst Danes.
Christiania
My second day in Copenhagen was filled with rain, rain, and more rain. Even though it was chilly and wet I decided to suck it up and see as much as possible. My first stop was the royal residences at Amalienborg. Pretty standard for royalty, but I did think it was cool that you get so close to the buildings. My next stop was the Museum of Danish Resistance. During World War II, the Danes chose a stance of neutrality before ultimately being invaded by the Germans. The Danes chose to accept German occupation rather than fight, because they were severely outnumbered and this would minimize casualties. After the invasion, the Germans felt it was better to leave the current government in place so long as they could control it and the people they represent. This worked OK for a time until the Danish saw no end to the occupation, and began fighting back by helping British intelligence, blowing up factories that were producing German armament, destroying rail lines, etc. It was a very good museum. Following the Resistance Museum, I went to the Danish Museum of Art and Design. It was like being in IKEA. I didn't stay long. Good thing it is free on Wednesdays. After leaving, I walked through Kastellet, an old fort, on my way to The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid is one of the most famous sculptures in the world, but as I mentioned earlier it's gone for the year so I took a picture of the rock it normally sits on. My final stop for the day was the Old Stock Exchange which in the past housed stock exchange operations for Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
On my last day in Copenhagen, I set out to accomplish the few remaining things on my list. I failed miserably. I had intended to go to the Carlsberg Brewery, but decided early in the day that I could skip it and hit the Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam instead. My first stop was a walk through the King's Gardens which is adjacent to the Rosenborg Castle. They were nice, but the English Gardens in Munich they were not. Next stop, the Rosenborg Castle. The Rosenborg Castle was built by King Christian IV in the 1600's as a summer home. It is large and filled with all kinds of gaudy objects, but most importantly it houses the crown jewels. The crown jewels were pretty spectacular. I'm pretty sure if Little Wayne visited, bling bling would simply not cover it (sorry old people, pop culture reference). From there, I crossed the street to Denmark's National Gallery. I was told there was a free section of the gallery, but I wasn't told was how crappy the free section was. Literally it was the worst museum/art exhibit I have seen on my trip so far. I walked up to the information desk and asked for my money back, but the attendant didn't think that was very funny. Afterwards, I walked through the adjacent botanical gardens which I must say was a pleasant surprise. I've only been through a few on my trip, but these were the best so far. I really liked that EVERY flora and fauna was labeled. My last stop for the day was the National Museum. This was my 2nd huge failure of the day besides missing Carlsberg. I had not accounted for how massive the museum was. I also figured on a British Museum style layout where things are poorly organized, but I was wrong on that too. It was an excellent museum (and free) and had detailed explanations of Danish history from 9000 BC to present day. I easily could've spent the entire day there. Afterwards I stopped by McDonald's for a $14 "value" meal to use their free wifi and plan my day tomorrow. I have to get out of here. Copenhagen is so expensive.
Copenhagen
Rosenborg Castle
My next update will be in another country so for the final time...
Sköål!
10/26/2010 Update
Greetings from Copenhagen, Denmark. It's good to be back in the motherland! I've spent the last 2 days in Kolding, Denmark visiting the Bjerg's who are family friends. It's been 4 years since I have seen them and it was nice seeing them and catching up on the last 4 years of life.
Kolding is probably the smallest town I have been to so far (aside from Iceland) on my trip. It's actually really nice to go somewhere and not be surrounded by hundreds of things to do. After the Bjerg's picked me up at the train station, they fed me and we went to see a Beatles exhibit at Koldinghus, the local castle. The exhibit was really well done and they had tons of pictures and memorabilia that I never knew existed. Afterwards, we went back to their house (the Bjerg's not the Beatles) and Hanna made dinner. I haven't had some good home-cooking (like an OU football game in Norman) in weeks, and it was delicious. After dinner, I left with Jacob, the youngest son, to go watch a movie with some of his friends. They chose The New Daughter which would've been a decent movie had it not been for a completely bizarre and therefore terrible ending. Word of advice movie producers, if you are going to give a guy a shotgun and 3 cartridges of ammo, make sure he empties every one of those shells into something evil!
Overlooking Kolding
My second day in Kolding was filled with complete laziness. I literally did not go outside all day. It was great. I got to use the computer to check email and read up on the news. Hanna helped me with a load of laundry which desperately needed to be done. It was nice to relax. Thomas, the oldest son, came to dinner after work and it was nice being able to see the whole family (except for his girlfriend, Marlene, who was sick that day) while I was there. After dinner we sat around and talked for several hours about everything from the oil and gas business to politics (Danish and American). I normally dislike talking about American politics while abroad; however, it was actually nice talking to the Bjerg's about it, because they are extremely well informed on the issues and have actually lived in the US so they have a good understanding of American capitalism and the American political system. By the end of the night I'm pretty sure we solved the plight of 6+ billion people.
My trip to Kolding was great. It was nice to take a break for a few days to sit and relax. I look forward to returning some time in the future.
Sköål!
Kolding is probably the smallest town I have been to so far (aside from Iceland) on my trip. It's actually really nice to go somewhere and not be surrounded by hundreds of things to do. After the Bjerg's picked me up at the train station, they fed me and we went to see a Beatles exhibit at Koldinghus, the local castle. The exhibit was really well done and they had tons of pictures and memorabilia that I never knew existed. Afterwards, we went back to their house (the Bjerg's not the Beatles) and Hanna made dinner. I haven't had some good home-cooking (like an OU football game in Norman) in weeks, and it was delicious. After dinner, I left with Jacob, the youngest son, to go watch a movie with some of his friends. They chose The New Daughter which would've been a decent movie had it not been for a completely bizarre and therefore terrible ending. Word of advice movie producers, if you are going to give a guy a shotgun and 3 cartridges of ammo, make sure he empties every one of those shells into something evil!
Overlooking Kolding
My second day in Kolding was filled with complete laziness. I literally did not go outside all day. It was great. I got to use the computer to check email and read up on the news. Hanna helped me with a load of laundry which desperately needed to be done. It was nice to relax. Thomas, the oldest son, came to dinner after work and it was nice being able to see the whole family (except for his girlfriend, Marlene, who was sick that day) while I was there. After dinner we sat around and talked for several hours about everything from the oil and gas business to politics (Danish and American). I normally dislike talking about American politics while abroad; however, it was actually nice talking to the Bjerg's about it, because they are extremely well informed on the issues and have actually lived in the US so they have a good understanding of American capitalism and the American political system. By the end of the night I'm pretty sure we solved the plight of 6+ billion people.
My trip to Kolding was great. It was nice to take a break for a few days to sit and relax. I look forward to returning some time in the future.
Sköål!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
10/24/2010 Update
Greetings from Kolding, Denmark. I'm here visiting family friends and it's nice to see familiar faces! Since my last update I spent 5 days in Berlin.
Berlin is amazing in many ways. Berlin is the cradle of history for the past 100 years and there are so many important, pivotal, and tragic events that occurred here it's hard to know where to start once you arrive in the city.
My first day in Berlin was interesting. It was raining pretty hard outside, so I decided to do laundry rather than go out in the elements. While doing laundry, I met a girl from San Jose, California named Judith. We chatted for a while and ate dinner together. While eating dinner, we met another guy named Daniel (who as it turns out I have a mutual friend with who lives in Tulsa) who is from New York and has traveled all over the world. It was fun hearing about all the places they've been and talking about all of my stops along my journey. It's always interesting to compare notes when you've been to the same places to see what you may have missed. Anyway, after talking for a bit we headed upstairs to the hostel bar to get a beer during happy hour and we ran into a group of 33 Danes traveling together on a school trip, a Lithuanian, 2 girls on fall break from a tiny island called Sylt in Germany, a handful of Australians, and more. It was cool to meet people from so many different places. It was like our own mini United Nations.
My second day in Berlin I met up with Judith and Daniel again and we went to the Olympic Stadium where the 1936 Olympics were held. The 1936 Olympics were highly controversial because of Hitler's outward aggression towards "inferior" races. Many countries considered boycotting the Olympics, but in the end only the Soviet Union did not participate. Jesse Owens won 5 gold medals which infuriated Hitler. The stadium was very cool. Hitler wanted to use the stadium to showcase Germany to the world. Originally it seated 110,000 spectators and the design was very innovative for its time. After the Olympic Stadium, Daniel and I went to the Berlin Zoo. The zoo is world renowned for it's diversity of species, large number of animals, and it's giant panda named Bao Bao which is the longest living giant panda in captivity. The zoo was fun but I wish the weather had been better because many of the animals stayed inside. After the zoo, we met back up with Judith, grabbed some dinner, and walked to the Brandenburg gate and the Reichstag. Every year in Berlin, the city puts on an event called the Festival of Lights where the major sights all around town are lit up at night. It's dumb luck that I happened to be here while it is going on but it's really pretty cool. One of the funnier moments of my trip so dar occurred when Daniel, who had bought a pizza to go from our dinner stop, was contemplating with Judith and I how to sneak the pizza through security at the Reichstag. Well it ended up not being a big deal, but instead of worrying about security we should have been worried about the 20 or so hungry Italians who were on the elevator with us. As soon as they smelled the pizza they started chanting, "pizza, pizza" but we defended our turf with a few dirty looks. To finish the night, we met back up with our Danish friends from the night before and chatted.
Olympic Stadium
For my third day in Berlin, Judith and I (more so me than her) decided to go to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was a very eery feeling being in a place where thousands of people were exterminated with disturbing precision and planning. I won't go into details since I can't really explain the feeling without being graphic, but it really makes you think about life and how some people can be so evil. After Sachsenhausen, Judith and I went our separate ways. One of my Danish friends was celebrating his 19th birthday so I decide to go out with him and his school. I don't know if it's because they were 19 or because they were Danish (probably both) but they really like to party and they really like for everyone else to know that they like to party. One of the Danish birthday songs involves playing fake drums using the table. I don't think the rest of the bar thoroughly enjoyed this song as much as we did.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
I woke up the next day and decided that after 3 days it was finally time to hit the major sights I had really come to Berlin for. First, I went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous crossing point from East Berlin to West Berlin when the country was divided. Furthermore, Checkpoint Charlie was also a focal point of tension between the Russians and Americans during the height of the Cold War. The museum itself was very impressive. Started by a Berliner after World War 2, one man essentially built the entire museum into what it is today; which is very large. My favorite parts of the museum were the exhibits dedicated to the escape attempts of many East Berliners and the Ronald Reagan exhibit. Ronald Reagan had an unbelievable ability to communicate (without a TelePrompter)! After Checkpoint Charlie, I headed to an exhibit/museum called Topography of Terror. Topography of Terror resides at the former spot of the Nazi headquarters and the museum is dedicated to reminding the world of the tragedies that occurred under Nazi leadership. It was an excellent exhibit. The most shocking thing to me about the Nazi regime was that a large portion of Nazi leadership was never brought to justice. After authorizing the murder of 10 million people, a lot of these people walked away free with no accountability for their actions. It's sickening. After the Topography of Terror museum I went to see the Berlin wall which is conveniently located right next door. There's only a few large sections of the wall remaining in the city so it was cool to see it.
Checkpoint Charlie
I decided to make my final day in Berlin relaxing. I started the morning early and went to a big street market called Wintergartenplatz. Tons of food, warm clothes, flowers, and some junk. Next I walked through Tiergarten; Berlin's famous park. The park is the old imperial hunting grounds for the various royal families who controlled Berlin over the years. It turned out to be a great park. Not as cool as the English Gardens in Munich but close. After the gardens I walked around an area known as Potsdammer Platz which is a big shopping area in Berlin. Berlin malls are interesting, because they have a distinct American feel to them. In the mall I finally found an English section in a bookstore. I finished reading the book I brought with me a few weeks ago and have been craving new reading material ever since. I purchased Andrew Ross Sorkin's book Too Big To Fail for those who are curious. Upon leaving the mall I walked to the Holocaust Memorial. The memorial is a bunch of free standing pillars of varying heights that is allegedly (when you shown up there is no explanation on what you are looking at) supposed to represent the persecution of Jews throughout history culminating with the events of the Holocaust. I hate to be critical of it, but by leaving the memorial up to interpretation, it honestly was more like a giant playground for kids than a memorial dedicated to the killing of 6 million innocent. On my way back to the hostel I walked by the US embassy. Later that night, I found a bar that I thought might have the OSU-Nebraska game on, but they were showing the LSU-Auburn game instead. In retrospect, that's probably a good thing.
Holocaust Memorial
If you made it through all of that, good work! Berlin was amazing and a must see especially for Americans visiting Germany. Stay thirsty my friends.
Sköål!
Berlin is amazing in many ways. Berlin is the cradle of history for the past 100 years and there are so many important, pivotal, and tragic events that occurred here it's hard to know where to start once you arrive in the city.
My first day in Berlin was interesting. It was raining pretty hard outside, so I decided to do laundry rather than go out in the elements. While doing laundry, I met a girl from San Jose, California named Judith. We chatted for a while and ate dinner together. While eating dinner, we met another guy named Daniel (who as it turns out I have a mutual friend with who lives in Tulsa) who is from New York and has traveled all over the world. It was fun hearing about all the places they've been and talking about all of my stops along my journey. It's always interesting to compare notes when you've been to the same places to see what you may have missed. Anyway, after talking for a bit we headed upstairs to the hostel bar to get a beer during happy hour and we ran into a group of 33 Danes traveling together on a school trip, a Lithuanian, 2 girls on fall break from a tiny island called Sylt in Germany, a handful of Australians, and more. It was cool to meet people from so many different places. It was like our own mini United Nations.
My second day in Berlin I met up with Judith and Daniel again and we went to the Olympic Stadium where the 1936 Olympics were held. The 1936 Olympics were highly controversial because of Hitler's outward aggression towards "inferior" races. Many countries considered boycotting the Olympics, but in the end only the Soviet Union did not participate. Jesse Owens won 5 gold medals which infuriated Hitler. The stadium was very cool. Hitler wanted to use the stadium to showcase Germany to the world. Originally it seated 110,000 spectators and the design was very innovative for its time. After the Olympic Stadium, Daniel and I went to the Berlin Zoo. The zoo is world renowned for it's diversity of species, large number of animals, and it's giant panda named Bao Bao which is the longest living giant panda in captivity. The zoo was fun but I wish the weather had been better because many of the animals stayed inside. After the zoo, we met back up with Judith, grabbed some dinner, and walked to the Brandenburg gate and the Reichstag. Every year in Berlin, the city puts on an event called the Festival of Lights where the major sights all around town are lit up at night. It's dumb luck that I happened to be here while it is going on but it's really pretty cool. One of the funnier moments of my trip so dar occurred when Daniel, who had bought a pizza to go from our dinner stop, was contemplating with Judith and I how to sneak the pizza through security at the Reichstag. Well it ended up not being a big deal, but instead of worrying about security we should have been worried about the 20 or so hungry Italians who were on the elevator with us. As soon as they smelled the pizza they started chanting, "pizza, pizza" but we defended our turf with a few dirty looks. To finish the night, we met back up with our Danish friends from the night before and chatted.
For my third day in Berlin, Judith and I (more so me than her) decided to go to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was a very eery feeling being in a place where thousands of people were exterminated with disturbing precision and planning. I won't go into details since I can't really explain the feeling without being graphic, but it really makes you think about life and how some people can be so evil. After Sachsenhausen, Judith and I went our separate ways. One of my Danish friends was celebrating his 19th birthday so I decide to go out with him and his school. I don't know if it's because they were 19 or because they were Danish (probably both) but they really like to party and they really like for everyone else to know that they like to party. One of the Danish birthday songs involves playing fake drums using the table. I don't think the rest of the bar thoroughly enjoyed this song as much as we did.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
I woke up the next day and decided that after 3 days it was finally time to hit the major sights I had really come to Berlin for. First, I went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Checkpoint Charlie was the most famous crossing point from East Berlin to West Berlin when the country was divided. Furthermore, Checkpoint Charlie was also a focal point of tension between the Russians and Americans during the height of the Cold War. The museum itself was very impressive. Started by a Berliner after World War 2, one man essentially built the entire museum into what it is today; which is very large. My favorite parts of the museum were the exhibits dedicated to the escape attempts of many East Berliners and the Ronald Reagan exhibit. Ronald Reagan had an unbelievable ability to communicate (without a TelePrompter)! After Checkpoint Charlie, I headed to an exhibit/museum called Topography of Terror. Topography of Terror resides at the former spot of the Nazi headquarters and the museum is dedicated to reminding the world of the tragedies that occurred under Nazi leadership. It was an excellent exhibit. The most shocking thing to me about the Nazi regime was that a large portion of Nazi leadership was never brought to justice. After authorizing the murder of 10 million people, a lot of these people walked away free with no accountability for their actions. It's sickening. After the Topography of Terror museum I went to see the Berlin wall which is conveniently located right next door. There's only a few large sections of the wall remaining in the city so it was cool to see it.
Checkpoint Charlie
I decided to make my final day in Berlin relaxing. I started the morning early and went to a big street market called Wintergartenplatz. Tons of food, warm clothes, flowers, and some junk. Next I walked through Tiergarten; Berlin's famous park. The park is the old imperial hunting grounds for the various royal families who controlled Berlin over the years. It turned out to be a great park. Not as cool as the English Gardens in Munich but close. After the gardens I walked around an area known as Potsdammer Platz which is a big shopping area in Berlin. Berlin malls are interesting, because they have a distinct American feel to them. In the mall I finally found an English section in a bookstore. I finished reading the book I brought with me a few weeks ago and have been craving new reading material ever since. I purchased Andrew Ross Sorkin's book Too Big To Fail for those who are curious. Upon leaving the mall I walked to the Holocaust Memorial. The memorial is a bunch of free standing pillars of varying heights that is allegedly (when you shown up there is no explanation on what you are looking at) supposed to represent the persecution of Jews throughout history culminating with the events of the Holocaust. I hate to be critical of it, but by leaving the memorial up to interpretation, it honestly was more like a giant playground for kids than a memorial dedicated to the killing of 6 million innocent. On my way back to the hostel I walked by the US embassy. Later that night, I found a bar that I thought might have the OSU-Nebraska game on, but they were showing the LSU-Auburn game instead. In retrospect, that's probably a good thing.
If you made it through all of that, good work! Berlin was amazing and a must see especially for Americans visiting Germany. Stay thirsty my friends.
Sköål!
10/19/2010 Update
Greetings from Berlin, Germany! Berlin wasn't on my original itinerary, but after talking to people I decided to incorporate a stop into my schedule. Before I reached Berlin though, I made a few other stops.
My first stop after spending a night in Munich was in Stuttgart, Germany. I didn't really know much about Stuttgart when going there except that it's the German version of Detroit...that is if Detroit didn't have rampant unemployment, crooked mayors, and a former Iraqi dictator with keys to the city (I only wish I was making that up). In other words, Stuttgart is home to Mercedes and Porsche. I only had one day in Stuttgart and I had planned on touring one of the two museums. At the urging of my father, I chose the Porsche Museum. Good choice. Porsche began exporting cars to America in 1950 due to a lack of demand in post-war Germany. This being 2010, it's the 60th anniversary of Porsche which means that all US citizens get half off admission and there is a special exhibit entitled "60 years in America". I don't really know much about cars so for me the museum was more educational than entertaining. Some of the highlights were a cross-section of a Porsche car, a spherical fuel tank creates by the racing team that eliminated the need for a fuel pump, Porsche's history at the 24 hours of Le Mans, and a fully stocked Porsche showroom. It was a great museum and great advice from my dad to go there.
Orange Power Porsche
According to the theory of downforce, when this Porsche 956 reaches a speed of 321.4 km/h, it could theoretically drive on ceilings.
The other interesting thing going on in Stuttgart right now is something called Stuttgart 21 (I'm not sure what the 21 stands for). Basically it's a €4b bill up for vote to renovate the main train station. This has been big news in Germany for a while now because of protests and clashes between the two sides. I had to see for myself what all of the hoopla was about so being a Saturday I figured if I walked down the main strip I would eventually run into the protestors and supporters. Sure enough I did and sure enough the crazies were out in full force. My favorite crazy person was a guy wearing a bandana who had a live parrot sitting on his head as he walked through the crowd. There seemed to be more supporters than detractors so I'll be curious to see if the bill passes or not.
My next stop was in Cologne, Germany for 2 days. I didn't really know much about Cologne but I didn't want to spend 8 days in Germany before going to Denmark so I picked going there at random. Cologne was nice. It's roughly the size of Tulsa with roughly the same amount of things to do. There's a massive cathedral when you exit the train station that has easily been the biggest cathedral I have seen so far. The inside was pretty drab but the exterior was excellent. I went up to an observation deck that's 100 meters above ground which was pretty cool. I wanted to sample the local brew, Kölsch beer, so I teamed up with a Brazilian and an Englishman and hit the town. Little did I know that Cologne's other similarity to Tulsa was an aversion to the sale of alcohol on Sunday. We did find a nice little joint (presumably the only one open) to get a few brews and talked with a friendly German local who filled us in on everything from Kölsch beer to what not to do in Las Vegas (which was pretty entertaining). All in all, a fun time with fun people in Cologne.
Panorama Cologne
Prost!
My first stop after spending a night in Munich was in Stuttgart, Germany. I didn't really know much about Stuttgart when going there except that it's the German version of Detroit...that is if Detroit didn't have rampant unemployment, crooked mayors, and a former Iraqi dictator with keys to the city (I only wish I was making that up). In other words, Stuttgart is home to Mercedes and Porsche. I only had one day in Stuttgart and I had planned on touring one of the two museums. At the urging of my father, I chose the Porsche Museum. Good choice. Porsche began exporting cars to America in 1950 due to a lack of demand in post-war Germany. This being 2010, it's the 60th anniversary of Porsche which means that all US citizens get half off admission and there is a special exhibit entitled "60 years in America". I don't really know much about cars so for me the museum was more educational than entertaining. Some of the highlights were a cross-section of a Porsche car, a spherical fuel tank creates by the racing team that eliminated the need for a fuel pump, Porsche's history at the 24 hours of Le Mans, and a fully stocked Porsche showroom. It was a great museum and great advice from my dad to go there.
Orange Power Porsche
According to the theory of downforce, when this Porsche 956 reaches a speed of 321.4 km/h, it could theoretically drive on ceilings.
The other interesting thing going on in Stuttgart right now is something called Stuttgart 21 (I'm not sure what the 21 stands for). Basically it's a €4b bill up for vote to renovate the main train station. This has been big news in Germany for a while now because of protests and clashes between the two sides. I had to see for myself what all of the hoopla was about so being a Saturday I figured if I walked down the main strip I would eventually run into the protestors and supporters. Sure enough I did and sure enough the crazies were out in full force. My favorite crazy person was a guy wearing a bandana who had a live parrot sitting on his head as he walked through the crowd. There seemed to be more supporters than detractors so I'll be curious to see if the bill passes or not.
My next stop was in Cologne, Germany for 2 days. I didn't really know much about Cologne but I didn't want to spend 8 days in Germany before going to Denmark so I picked going there at random. Cologne was nice. It's roughly the size of Tulsa with roughly the same amount of things to do. There's a massive cathedral when you exit the train station that has easily been the biggest cathedral I have seen so far. The inside was pretty drab but the exterior was excellent. I went up to an observation deck that's 100 meters above ground which was pretty cool. I wanted to sample the local brew, Kölsch beer, so I teamed up with a Brazilian and an Englishman and hit the town. Little did I know that Cologne's other similarity to Tulsa was an aversion to the sale of alcohol on Sunday. We did find a nice little joint (presumably the only one open) to get a few brews and talked with a friendly German local who filled us in on everything from Kölsch beer to what not to do in Las Vegas (which was pretty entertaining). All in all, a fun time with fun people in Cologne.
Panorama Cologne
Prost!
10/15/2010 Update
Greetings from Munich, Germany...again. I'm only passing through this time on my way to Stuttgart, home of Porsche. I kind of wanted to experience Munich without Oktoberfest to see how different it is and it's a good halfway point between Prague and Stuttgart to spend the night.
Prague is easily my favorite place so far. My original intention was to spend 3 days here. Well...3 turned into 6. The city is in immaculate condition. Prague was one of the only cities in Europe to escape World War II without being bombed. Furthermore, when they finally gained their independence from the Soviets, not a single shot was fired. The byproduct of that is a city that has largely retained it's character when the city was built centuries ago.
There's lot of fun things to do in Prague but my favorite has been hiking all of the hills that surround the city. There's many and each one affords a different perspective on the city. There's also a "treat" at the top of every hill whether it be a castle, botanical gardens, a fort, etc. This is important because it gives me an excuse to rest and not look like an out-of-shape 27 year old. The hills are also nice because the leaves have started to change color here so you get to see some cool landscape that you would otherwise not see by hanging out in the city.
Overlooking Prague
Prague Botanical Gardens
While in Prague, I also took a day trip to a little town roughly an hour east of Prague called Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora was a silver mining town back in the day. To appease the various gods the miners believed in (christian, pagan and others) they built some of the most impressive churches (one of which I got kicked out of trying to sneak into) I've seen so far. No expense was spared. There's also a really creepy church in a town not far from Kutna Hora called Sedlec which has a church that is completely decorated with human bones. It's a mystery why the church was decorated this way but seeing a chandelier made out of femurs and skulls is beyond weird.
The Bone Church
The hostel I'm staying at has been my favorite so far. The bar has live music several nights a week and more importantly has a big screen TV where I can watch FOOTBALL (real football...not soccer)! I've been suffering withdrawals for 4 weeks now so it was nice to finally watch a game (the Chiefs lost to the Colts FYI). If this weekend were the OSU-Nebraska game, I would definitely stay to ensure a place to watch the game. Yes, I'm that dedicated to the cause. Unfortunately, me and football is like crack to a drug addict. Now I feel like every place I stay should have a big screen TV for me to watch games!
In case you were wondering how I am faring on a personal level...I'm great! I decided to take a sabbatical (a mutual sabbatical) from my friends that I've been traveling with and go visit Berlin and spend some time with family friends in Denmark. I reckon I've lost quite a bit of weight, but I've not seen a working scale in a month so who knows how much. Aside from a brief bout of sickness in Munich I feel good. I've had Mexican food 3 times. I've snapped 926 pictures so far.
And my list of favorites so far:
Favorite place: Prague
Favorite currency: Icelandic Krona
Favorite museum: Imperial War Museum - London
Favorite activity: Hiking to Gullfoss waterfall - Iceland
Favorite picture taken: Schonnberg Palace - Vienna
Favorite Beer: Spaten Oktoberfest
Until we meet again!
Prost!
Prague is easily my favorite place so far. My original intention was to spend 3 days here. Well...3 turned into 6. The city is in immaculate condition. Prague was one of the only cities in Europe to escape World War II without being bombed. Furthermore, when they finally gained their independence from the Soviets, not a single shot was fired. The byproduct of that is a city that has largely retained it's character when the city was built centuries ago.
There's lot of fun things to do in Prague but my favorite has been hiking all of the hills that surround the city. There's many and each one affords a different perspective on the city. There's also a "treat" at the top of every hill whether it be a castle, botanical gardens, a fort, etc. This is important because it gives me an excuse to rest and not look like an out-of-shape 27 year old. The hills are also nice because the leaves have started to change color here so you get to see some cool landscape that you would otherwise not see by hanging out in the city.
Overlooking Prague
Prague Botanical Gardens
While in Prague, I also took a day trip to a little town roughly an hour east of Prague called Kutna Hora. Kutna Hora was a silver mining town back in the day. To appease the various gods the miners believed in (christian, pagan and others) they built some of the most impressive churches (one of which I got kicked out of trying to sneak into) I've seen so far. No expense was spared. There's also a really creepy church in a town not far from Kutna Hora called Sedlec which has a church that is completely decorated with human bones. It's a mystery why the church was decorated this way but seeing a chandelier made out of femurs and skulls is beyond weird.
The Bone Church
The hostel I'm staying at has been my favorite so far. The bar has live music several nights a week and more importantly has a big screen TV where I can watch FOOTBALL (real football...not soccer)! I've been suffering withdrawals for 4 weeks now so it was nice to finally watch a game (the Chiefs lost to the Colts FYI). If this weekend were the OSU-Nebraska game, I would definitely stay to ensure a place to watch the game. Yes, I'm that dedicated to the cause. Unfortunately, me and football is like crack to a drug addict. Now I feel like every place I stay should have a big screen TV for me to watch games!
In case you were wondering how I am faring on a personal level...I'm great! I decided to take a sabbatical (a mutual sabbatical) from my friends that I've been traveling with and go visit Berlin and spend some time with family friends in Denmark. I reckon I've lost quite a bit of weight, but I've not seen a working scale in a month so who knows how much. Aside from a brief bout of sickness in Munich I feel good. I've had Mexican food 3 times. I've snapped 926 pictures so far.
And my list of favorites so far:
Favorite place: Prague
Favorite currency: Icelandic Krona
Favorite museum: Imperial War Museum - London
Favorite activity: Hiking to Gullfoss waterfall - Iceland
Favorite picture taken: Schonnberg Palace - Vienna
Favorite Beer: Spaten Oktoberfest
Until we meet again!
Prost!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
10/09/2010 Update
Greetings from Prague, Czech Republic! Another long train ride and another opportunity to blog. I've heard Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The train ride in from Vienna certainly didn't disappoint.
After leaving Salzburg I made my way to Vienna. Vienna is the capital of Austria and home to roughly 1/2 of the Austrian population. I decided to walk from the train station to the hostel I stayed since it was only about 4 kilometers. I like doing this because it gives me a better feel for the city and it's a good way to stretch my legs after a long train ride. Little did I know, I would spend an hour walking through the ghetto. My hostel, while next to a big shopping area, was certainly not in one of the nicer areas of town. I made it in one piece but for a while there I was beginning to wonder what I had got myself into.
My second day in Vienna I went to the Schonnberg Palace which is absolutely massive. The Hapsburg's who headed the monarchy for centuries lived there. Going through the palace wasn't terribly interesting but the history lesson that came attached was. I learned more about the Austrians than I ever wanted to know. The palace also affords some spectacular views of the city. Again, I wish I had a computer so I could share those views with you.
Schonnberg Palace
I found Austria by and large to be disappointing. Perhaps my expectations were far too inflated, but I feel I accomplished all there was to do in a few short days.
While in Vienna I decided to take a spontaneous day trip to Budapest, Hungary. Budapest was an interesting place with few tourists (which was awesome). You can clearly tell that the country suffered from years of communist occupation. I accidentally wandered by the police station at one point and it was riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel damage. The city is really two separate cities, Buda and Pest, conjoined by a bridge (first thing you need to know about Europe is that every city which borders a river has a famous bridge). The Buda side is full of hills while the Pest side is flat. There is a big castle on the Buda side that I climbed to and it gave a great perspective of the city.
Budapest
While there, I also had time to wander into the Terror Museum. The museum documents life under Nazi and Soviet occupation. It was really interesting. I think many people are unaware of the effects the Cold War had on countries like Hungary. While the US chose a hands off approach to the occupation (for lack of a better word) of it's post-war territories, the Soviets effectively enslaved millions of people in the race against the US in space, nuclear armament, etc. It's hard to imagine that only 20 years ago Hungarians lived most days in fear. Just another example of why I'm fortunate to live in the country I do.
Terror Museum
Perhaps the strangest thing I have seen on the trip so far also occurred in Budapest. While walking along the streets, there were huge piles of garbage that people had throw out (I think for renovation projects) and there would be tons of people rummaging through them. After a pile had been rummaged through, people would stand guard by their new found treasure until they could haul it away. It was truly bizarre.
So while Austria was a disappointment I give Hungary 2 thumbs up and definitely want to go back and visit again.
Until next time!
Prost!
After leaving Salzburg I made my way to Vienna. Vienna is the capital of Austria and home to roughly 1/2 of the Austrian population. I decided to walk from the train station to the hostel I stayed since it was only about 4 kilometers. I like doing this because it gives me a better feel for the city and it's a good way to stretch my legs after a long train ride. Little did I know, I would spend an hour walking through the ghetto. My hostel, while next to a big shopping area, was certainly not in one of the nicer areas of town. I made it in one piece but for a while there I was beginning to wonder what I had got myself into.
My second day in Vienna I went to the Schonnberg Palace which is absolutely massive. The Hapsburg's who headed the monarchy for centuries lived there. Going through the palace wasn't terribly interesting but the history lesson that came attached was. I learned more about the Austrians than I ever wanted to know. The palace also affords some spectacular views of the city. Again, I wish I had a computer so I could share those views with you.
Schonnberg Palace
I found Austria by and large to be disappointing. Perhaps my expectations were far too inflated, but I feel I accomplished all there was to do in a few short days.
While in Vienna I decided to take a spontaneous day trip to Budapest, Hungary. Budapest was an interesting place with few tourists (which was awesome). You can clearly tell that the country suffered from years of communist occupation. I accidentally wandered by the police station at one point and it was riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel damage. The city is really two separate cities, Buda and Pest, conjoined by a bridge (first thing you need to know about Europe is that every city which borders a river has a famous bridge). The Buda side is full of hills while the Pest side is flat. There is a big castle on the Buda side that I climbed to and it gave a great perspective of the city.
Budapest
While there, I also had time to wander into the Terror Museum. The museum documents life under Nazi and Soviet occupation. It was really interesting. I think many people are unaware of the effects the Cold War had on countries like Hungary. While the US chose a hands off approach to the occupation (for lack of a better word) of it's post-war territories, the Soviets effectively enslaved millions of people in the race against the US in space, nuclear armament, etc. It's hard to imagine that only 20 years ago Hungarians lived most days in fear. Just another example of why I'm fortunate to live in the country I do.
Terror Museum
Perhaps the strangest thing I have seen on the trip so far also occurred in Budapest. While walking along the streets, there were huge piles of garbage that people had throw out (I think for renovation projects) and there would be tons of people rummaging through them. After a pile had been rummaged through, people would stand guard by their new found treasure until they could haul it away. It was truly bizarre.
So while Austria was a disappointment I give Hungary 2 thumbs up and definitely want to go back and visit again.
Until next time!
Prost!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
10/06/2010 Update
Greetings from Salzburg Austria, birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salzburg is a fun little town that would be way better if it weren't for all the touristy stuff. As I told some friends in an email, it's the former home of Mozart and the current home of everyone trying to make money off of Mozart. Mozart chocolate balls, Mozart cafés, Mozart coffee, etc. It's everywhere. Come here sometime and you'll see what I mean. I've been pretty disappointed because I like Mozart, but the abundance of cheesy gag gifts cheapens the name.
Again, much has happened since my last update. Hard to believe it, but I've been gone 24 days already. We left London on September 30th for Munich. Leaving London turned out to be a bloody hassle. We had booked tickets months in advance for our journey from London to Paris in order to catch our train to Munich. Without going into all the details, Rail Europe, whom we purchased our tickets from, inexplicably "auto-cancelled" our tickets (yeah...I have no idea what auto-cancel means either) the day after we left Tulsa. They didn't refund our money, they had no explanation of what happened, and they didn't help us at all in leaving London. Luckily we were able to negotiate with the rail line themselves and were able to get to Paris a few hours late and for a few dollars more. The joys of traveling abroad!
Saint Pancras Train Station
We arrived in Munich early in the morning of October 1st via an overnight train. Not the most comfortable ride for a tall guy, but it could've been far worse. We went to Oktoberfest straight from the train station. We made our way to the Spaten tent, drank a few liters of beer, talked to random people and had a blast. Oktoberfest is like nothing I've ever seen. Oktoberfest starts before you arrive in Munich. I've never seen so many drunk people riding the train and chugging beers at 10 am. People were passed out in the train station from the night before (I think), fights were popping up everywhere, and add in shoulder to shoulder traffic throughout the entire park. It was pretty intense and despite the craziness it's worth checking out for a day.
Spaten Oktoberfest w/ a Pretzel
Aside from Oktoberfest, Munich is gorgeous. The parks are impressive and a must see. The city center was neat too, but I'm not a huge shopper of Gucci and Prada bags so I didn't really spend much time there. It's one of my parent's favorite cities and I can definitely see why.
On October 3rd I made my way to Füssen, home of a Ludwig II castle that Walt Disney modeled the Sleeping Beauty castle after. Wow! Good choice by Walt, because the castle is unbelievable. I really wish I could post pictures. The castle sits on a cliff several hundred meters up and overlooks the city of Füssen and a huge reservoir. The only thing that could've made it better is snow which the Bavarian Alps get plenty of during the winter.
Ludwig II Castle
I've felt pretty bad the last few days. Got some kind of virus which is "bugging" me pretty bad. Sleep is a precious resource on this trip, and I haven't had much the last 3 days. I hate stating the obvious, but I'm ready to feel 100% again.
Hope everyone in the states is doing well. If you are reading this blog regularly and want to know about my latest adventures right when I post them, use the "subscribe" link on the top right hand side of the page and you'll be emailed whenever I post. It would make me feel more popular too. :)
Prost!
Again, much has happened since my last update. Hard to believe it, but I've been gone 24 days already. We left London on September 30th for Munich. Leaving London turned out to be a bloody hassle. We had booked tickets months in advance for our journey from London to Paris in order to catch our train to Munich. Without going into all the details, Rail Europe, whom we purchased our tickets from, inexplicably "auto-cancelled" our tickets (yeah...I have no idea what auto-cancel means either) the day after we left Tulsa. They didn't refund our money, they had no explanation of what happened, and they didn't help us at all in leaving London. Luckily we were able to negotiate with the rail line themselves and were able to get to Paris a few hours late and for a few dollars more. The joys of traveling abroad!
Saint Pancras Train Station
We arrived in Munich early in the morning of October 1st via an overnight train. Not the most comfortable ride for a tall guy, but it could've been far worse. We went to Oktoberfest straight from the train station. We made our way to the Spaten tent, drank a few liters of beer, talked to random people and had a blast. Oktoberfest is like nothing I've ever seen. Oktoberfest starts before you arrive in Munich. I've never seen so many drunk people riding the train and chugging beers at 10 am. People were passed out in the train station from the night before (I think), fights were popping up everywhere, and add in shoulder to shoulder traffic throughout the entire park. It was pretty intense and despite the craziness it's worth checking out for a day.
Spaten Oktoberfest w/ a Pretzel
Aside from Oktoberfest, Munich is gorgeous. The parks are impressive and a must see. The city center was neat too, but I'm not a huge shopper of Gucci and Prada bags so I didn't really spend much time there. It's one of my parent's favorite cities and I can definitely see why.
On October 3rd I made my way to Füssen, home of a Ludwig II castle that Walt Disney modeled the Sleeping Beauty castle after. Wow! Good choice by Walt, because the castle is unbelievable. I really wish I could post pictures. The castle sits on a cliff several hundred meters up and overlooks the city of Füssen and a huge reservoir. The only thing that could've made it better is snow which the Bavarian Alps get plenty of during the winter.
Ludwig II Castle
I've felt pretty bad the last few days. Got some kind of virus which is "bugging" me pretty bad. Sleep is a precious resource on this trip, and I haven't had much the last 3 days. I hate stating the obvious, but I'm ready to feel 100% again.
Hope everyone in the states is doing well. If you are reading this blog regularly and want to know about my latest adventures right when I post them, use the "subscribe" link on the top right hand side of the page and you'll be emailed whenever I post. It would make me feel more popular too. :)
Prost!
Monday, September 27, 2010
9/27/2010 Update
Greetings from London!
Lots has happened since my last update. Most notably, my travel companions' computer bit the dust so blog updates now have to be done via iPhone. Luckily I have 1 1/2 hours each day of commute time to and from our lodging outside London (in Leatherhead) to the city center to do some typing.
Since my last update, lots has happened. Iceland was awesome. If ever there was a place invented as "man-land" Iceland would be it. The terrain is rugged to say the least. If gravity didn't exist there, one would feel like you're on the moon. The combination of lava rocks and moss would even confuse the Apollo astronauts into thinking they were in orbit. A sample of some of the things I did were; hiked up a glacier, went off-roading in a Toyota Yaris (shh...don't tell Hertz), walked on black sand beaches, ate a hamburger with an over hard egg on top, swam in hot springs (after a 3 kilometer hike), waterfalls, waterfalls, and more waterfalls, plus so much more. If you're into nature, Iceland is a must for your itinerary.
Hanging out at the base of Eyjafjallajokull volcano
On September 22nd, we left Keflavik, Iceland and arrived at London's Heathrow airport. Years ago, I learned a valuable lesson in Mexico...don't screw around with border guards. As I deplaned, I got all my documentation together to enter England. I stepped up to the counter and that's when the interrogation began. You see, when you enter a country as a visitor, governments want to know that you will leave at some point. The problem with my open ended schedule is that I do not have any documents showing how and when I will be leaving the UK. The immigration officer fired off question after question at me trying to figure out what I was doing. Apparently quitting a well paying job to travel the world is a foreign (pun intended) concept to these people. After a heavy dose of Cobb charm, the immigration lady finally stamped my passport (albeit angrily) and let me into the UK. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous for a few minutes that my trip was over before it began!
Life in London has been great so far. The people are much friendlier then what I thought they would be and the girls are way better looking than the one's in Iceland. I really like it here which is odd because I really don't like big cities that much. I think conquering the vast train, bus, and underground (aka subway) system has helped. I've accomplished a lot in the last few days, but my favorites so far have been the Tate Modern Museum and the Imperial War Museum.
The Tate Modern is a converted power plant. The museum has works by Jackson Pollock (a personal favorite), Picasso, Warhol and more. Claude Monet's Waterlillies is also located there. There was also a large amount of "crap" there, but I suppose that's what you get at a museum with the word modern in it. There was also a lot of kid friendly interactive stuff at the museum which was hilarious to me, because I can't imagine any sane parent subjecting their child to Jackson Pollock.
Monet's Waterlillies
The Imperial War Museum is my favorite part of the trip so far. I spent roughly 6 hours there going through the exhibits. The museum effectively documents every war the UK, and transversely the US sans the Falklands war and a few others, has been involved in since World War I. Words cannot describe the level of detail involved. The centerpiece of the museum is the holocaust exhibit. I've been to several holocaust museums/exhibits and by and large I don't like them. The atrocities that occurred in places like Auschwitz make my stomach turn. The Imperial War Museum had the largest holocaust exhibit I've seen by far and if you're ever in London and want to know more, it's worth the price of admission (free).
Imperial War Museum
I have 2 more days in London before heading to Munich for Oktoberfest. All in all, the trip has been awesome so far. I wish I could post some more pictures but without a computer, it's not possible, so until we meet again, mind the gap!
Cheers!
Lots has happened since my last update. Most notably, my travel companions' computer bit the dust so blog updates now have to be done via iPhone. Luckily I have 1 1/2 hours each day of commute time to and from our lodging outside London (in Leatherhead) to the city center to do some typing.
Since my last update, lots has happened. Iceland was awesome. If ever there was a place invented as "man-land" Iceland would be it. The terrain is rugged to say the least. If gravity didn't exist there, one would feel like you're on the moon. The combination of lava rocks and moss would even confuse the Apollo astronauts into thinking they were in orbit. A sample of some of the things I did were; hiked up a glacier, went off-roading in a Toyota Yaris (shh...don't tell Hertz), walked on black sand beaches, ate a hamburger with an over hard egg on top, swam in hot springs (after a 3 kilometer hike), waterfalls, waterfalls, and more waterfalls, plus so much more. If you're into nature, Iceland is a must for your itinerary.
Hanging out at the base of Eyjafjallajokull volcano
On September 22nd, we left Keflavik, Iceland and arrived at London's Heathrow airport. Years ago, I learned a valuable lesson in Mexico...don't screw around with border guards. As I deplaned, I got all my documentation together to enter England. I stepped up to the counter and that's when the interrogation began. You see, when you enter a country as a visitor, governments want to know that you will leave at some point. The problem with my open ended schedule is that I do not have any documents showing how and when I will be leaving the UK. The immigration officer fired off question after question at me trying to figure out what I was doing. Apparently quitting a well paying job to travel the world is a foreign (pun intended) concept to these people. After a heavy dose of Cobb charm, the immigration lady finally stamped my passport (albeit angrily) and let me into the UK. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous for a few minutes that my trip was over before it began!
Life in London has been great so far. The people are much friendlier then what I thought they would be and the girls are way better looking than the one's in Iceland. I really like it here which is odd because I really don't like big cities that much. I think conquering the vast train, bus, and underground (aka subway) system has helped. I've accomplished a lot in the last few days, but my favorites so far have been the Tate Modern Museum and the Imperial War Museum.
The Tate Modern is a converted power plant. The museum has works by Jackson Pollock (a personal favorite), Picasso, Warhol and more. Claude Monet's Waterlillies is also located there. There was also a large amount of "crap" there, but I suppose that's what you get at a museum with the word modern in it. There was also a lot of kid friendly interactive stuff at the museum which was hilarious to me, because I can't imagine any sane parent subjecting their child to Jackson Pollock.
Monet's Waterlillies
The Imperial War Museum is my favorite part of the trip so far. I spent roughly 6 hours there going through the exhibits. The museum effectively documents every war the UK, and transversely the US sans the Falklands war and a few others, has been involved in since World War I. Words cannot describe the level of detail involved. The centerpiece of the museum is the holocaust exhibit. I've been to several holocaust museums/exhibits and by and large I don't like them. The atrocities that occurred in places like Auschwitz make my stomach turn. The Imperial War Museum had the largest holocaust exhibit I've seen by far and if you're ever in London and want to know more, it's worth the price of admission (free).
Imperial War Museum
I have 2 more days in London before heading to Munich for Oktoberfest. All in all, the trip has been awesome so far. I wish I could post some more pictures but without a computer, it's not possible, so until we meet again, mind the gap!
Cheers!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
9/18/2010 Update
Greetings from Hvolsvoller, Iceland! I'm blogging tonight from a farm that is located at the base of Eyjafjallajokull. Don't worry...I can't pronounce it either. You might remember it as the volcano that erupted causing mass hysteria in Iceland and massive headaches in European airspace this summer. I'm hoping that won't happen again. They have guesthouses at the farm where my travel companions and I am staying. It's quaint and amazing.
Iceland has been great so far. The population of the entire island is about 300,000 so it has a nice small town feel to it. I spent most of my first 2 here days in Reykjavik taking in the sites before heading to the farm today. There are many experiences to share but my two favorites happened at the thermal pools.
Iceland is a volcanic island and their greatest natural resource is geothermal energy. High pressure steam fields underground allow the power companies to tap into these fields, harness the energy, and use it for heating. Heating swimming pools is particularly easy via this method; therefore, Reykjavik and other communities have popular community pools. The locals come to talk about politics, discuss current events and apparently embrace their inner nudist. Everyone must shower before going in the pools. Little did we know, this happens w/o clothing and w/o anything to hide you from...EVERYONE! It was shocking to say the least and if you know anything about how Brad and I operate, we have a problem with reading and following along so neither of us participated and both of us proceeded to get a verbal lashing from "mop" guy...who's only apparent job is to sop up water left by stupid Americans who don't read the pool rules.
Also at the pool was a giant water slide. I love me a good water slide. I also love causing a good scene. I decided it would be an awesome idea to scream like a little girl the entire way down said slide. Little did I know, but apparently the slide acts like a giant megaphone because EVERYONE in the park heard me. It was my first great "scene causing incident" of the trip and I'm glad I got to share it with the people of Reykjavik.
Below are some pictures so far from the trip.
Mink Whale I ate for lunch one day at SeaBarons in Reykjavik.
The group in front of Hallgrimskirkja.
The group at Gullfoss waterfall.
Oh ya, I won 5500 kr at the casino. Me 1. Iceland Casinos 0.
Iceland has been great so far. The population of the entire island is about 300,000 so it has a nice small town feel to it. I spent most of my first 2 here days in Reykjavik taking in the sites before heading to the farm today. There are many experiences to share but my two favorites happened at the thermal pools.
Iceland is a volcanic island and their greatest natural resource is geothermal energy. High pressure steam fields underground allow the power companies to tap into these fields, harness the energy, and use it for heating. Heating swimming pools is particularly easy via this method; therefore, Reykjavik and other communities have popular community pools. The locals come to talk about politics, discuss current events and apparently embrace their inner nudist. Everyone must shower before going in the pools. Little did we know, this happens w/o clothing and w/o anything to hide you from...EVERYONE! It was shocking to say the least and if you know anything about how Brad and I operate, we have a problem with reading and following along so neither of us participated and both of us proceeded to get a verbal lashing from "mop" guy...who's only apparent job is to sop up water left by stupid Americans who don't read the pool rules.
Also at the pool was a giant water slide. I love me a good water slide. I also love causing a good scene. I decided it would be an awesome idea to scream like a little girl the entire way down said slide. Little did I know, but apparently the slide acts like a giant megaphone because EVERYONE in the park heard me. It was my first great "scene causing incident" of the trip and I'm glad I got to share it with the people of Reykjavik.
Below are some pictures so far from the trip.
Mink Whale I ate for lunch one day at SeaBarons in Reykjavik.
The group in front of Hallgrimskirkja.
The group at Gullfoss waterfall.
Oh ya, I won 5500 kr at the casino. Me 1. Iceland Casinos 0.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
9/9/2010 Update
It's 4 days until I leave and there are still a lot of things to be done before I can depart. I've got a house (not mine...it's for a project I've been working on) that is supposed to close on September 15th and I finally got all of the closings documents signed today. Now all I need is to find a mailbox for the buyer and it should be good to go. On August 30th I had 48 items on my "to do" list. To date, I've accomplished 27. This is pretty typical of the way I operate. I thrive under pressure. It'll get done.
I've had a lot of time to think these past few months. It's a byproduct of trying to save money for the trip by not leaving the house. One thing in particular has occured to me in the last week. I am REALLY going to miss OSU football.
I love everything about gameday in Stillwater. The game, tailgating, throwing the football around, friends, family, cookie eating contests with Austin, the post-game show, Sunday morning post-ops with Mike Holder, etc. Even when I lived in California, I would always listen to and/or watch the games. This is going to be the first time in my 27 years of life where I will not be able to do so...and that includes the 0-10-1 season! It's going to suck. That may sound trite to a lot of people but Stillwater/OSU is part of my DNA. It doesn't mean football is the most important thing to me. Far from it in fact. It simply means that the atmosphere and the environment mean a lot to me especially when you consider the people I get to experience it with each week. I've decided that a good consolation to me missing my first football season since birth would be a BCS bowl so make it happen Pokes!
Hopefully the next time I update I'll have some pictures to post.
Cheers!
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” - John Steinbeck
I've had a lot of time to think these past few months. It's a byproduct of trying to save money for the trip by not leaving the house. One thing in particular has occured to me in the last week. I am REALLY going to miss OSU football.
I love everything about gameday in Stillwater. The game, tailgating, throwing the football around, friends, family, cookie eating contests with Austin, the post-game show, Sunday morning post-ops with Mike Holder, etc. Even when I lived in California, I would always listen to and/or watch the games. This is going to be the first time in my 27 years of life where I will not be able to do so...and that includes the 0-10-1 season! It's going to suck. That may sound trite to a lot of people but Stillwater/OSU is part of my DNA. It doesn't mean football is the most important thing to me. Far from it in fact. It simply means that the atmosphere and the environment mean a lot to me especially when you consider the people I get to experience it with each week. I've decided that a good consolation to me missing my first football season since birth would be a BCS bowl so make it happen Pokes!
Hopefully the next time I update I'll have some pictures to post.
Cheers!
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” - John Steinbeck
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Greetings World
Welcome family, friends, and world! On September 13, I begin what will become the greatest voyage of my life. For 160 days, I've decided to leave everything (not quite everything...nudity is frowned upon in many cultures) behind and trek the globe. There's many reasons for doing so which I'll talk about later in the soapbox section of this post. As one would expect, when I tell people I am leaving for that length of time, I get a myriad of reactions. There's people who are really excited for me and wish they could do the same. There's people who think I've lost my mind and that I'm an idiot. Then there's all the people in between. In all honesty, I respect and agree with virtually all of the reactions I get. That's why I've dedicated this trip to exciting intentional idiocy...I may be an idiot but at least I'll have fun doing it and I'll be doing it on purpose.
Without exception, the question I always get from people is why. Why am I going and more importantly why now?
That's a complex question but I believe I've contemplated it enough to arrive at a somewhat simple answer. I'm the byproduct of incredible luck. I was born into a great family, inherently advantaged through wealth, living in the greatest country in the world, with everything I could ever dream of doing at my fingertips. Furthermore, I've come equipped with a business gene that allows me to prosper in a manner hugely disproportionate to others who contribute far more to society's well-being than myself.
Armed with these "weapons" I want to experience the world beyond my bubble. Travel is the greatest way for me to achieve this. Who knows where this experience will lead me, but I believe when I look back on this it I'll be a more well-rounded person.
This blog will be an extension of my trip. I intend to update it as frequently as possible in the hopes of keeping friends and family aware of my whereabouts as well as providing a glimpse into how the rest of the world lives.
Cheers!
"Half the fun of travel is the esthetic of lostness."
Without exception, the question I always get from people is why. Why am I going and more importantly why now?
That's a complex question but I believe I've contemplated it enough to arrive at a somewhat simple answer. I'm the byproduct of incredible luck. I was born into a great family, inherently advantaged through wealth, living in the greatest country in the world, with everything I could ever dream of doing at my fingertips. Furthermore, I've come equipped with a business gene that allows me to prosper in a manner hugely disproportionate to others who contribute far more to society's well-being than myself.
Armed with these "weapons" I want to experience the world beyond my bubble. Travel is the greatest way for me to achieve this. Who knows where this experience will lead me, but I believe when I look back on this it I'll be a more well-rounded person.
This blog will be an extension of my trip. I intend to update it as frequently as possible in the hopes of keeping friends and family aware of my whereabouts as well as providing a glimpse into how the rest of the world lives.
Cheers!
"Half the fun of travel is the esthetic of lostness."
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