6/30/08 1:29- I love riding trains in German speaking areas because they always wish you a gute fahrt! Why thank you! Yes, I did just turn 27.
I think there are few things in life more enjoyable than passing through the Austrian Alps in first class (zweitzer klasse is für idioten!), listening to one of Mozart's symphonies. I just left Bludenz and will arrive in Salzburg at 5:30, but I'm looking forward to going through Innsbruck and other Austrian towns along the way. This morning I left at 6:30 so I could go to Luzern before continuing on to Zurich. Yes, I know, going to Zurich via Bern is quicker, but I wanted to see Luzern quite badly and I wasn't disappointed. Here are some pics:
I love pain au chocolat, which is basically a chocolate filled croissant, but I found this place that took it one step further: chocolate filled croissants with nuts on top. Wow. I then picked up some lunch for the train ride: fresh bread and appenzeller cheese, an apple, and some Torino chocolate to wash it all down. By the way, I found some Suchard Double Creme at the hostel in Lauterbrunnen, but only one bar. I didn't find any in Geneva, so none will be sent home since I'm only mortal and devoured the Double Creme last night during the EuroCup. Anyways, Luzern was great, very charming.
2:10- I'm obviously listening to a lot of Mozart off my iPod. Listen to the Lacrymosa part of his Requiem. While you listen, think of the major events of your life or of someone important to you:
If you do it without getting choked up or even goosebumps then you have no soul. I think the Requiem, Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, and Everyday by Carly Comando are the 3 saddest songs I know.
As if my iPod's shuffle is mocking me, I'm now listening to 'Big Girls Dont Cry', well played.
9:30- I'm at a local internet cafe because the wireless doesnt work at the hostel, uggg! Tonight is the first night that I'll be sharing a room with strangers...great. Tomorrow I'll do Dad's tour of Salzburg but probably won't write about it until Vienna, we'll see.
So I'm posting twice from Salzburg because of the stupid internet in Switzerland. Here's the music:
6/28/08 1:34pm- I'm sitting at the Interlaken Ost Station waiting for the train to Lauterbrunnen, where I'll stay the next two nights. The train ride here, as you can tell from the title of this post, was fantastic. We went along Lake Geneva, up through Valais and across to Spiez. I got out in Spiez for lunch at the local Migros and this was the view from my seat:
The photo doesn't even do it justice, it was incredible. The train from Spiez to Interlaken was equally impressive. the music was chosen because it conjures up thoughts of grandeur and amazement. I wouldn't be surprised to see a T-Rex come around the corner any second now, or Julie Andrews, although I'm not sure which would scare me more.
6/29/08 5:55pm- The good fahrts just keep on coming. I arrived at the Jungfrau camping hostel, located almost directly under a waterfall (Ben, I'm sure you know) at about 2:30 yesterday. I checked in and got my own little cabin, which is probably about 7 feet by 10 feet, perfect. The wireless internet isn't working here, so I'll have to post this from Salzburg. I headed out right away and went to Trummelbach falls. Here's some photos from the valley floor (cue Jurassic Park music):
Here's the Jungfrau:
The Jungfrau- Forbidding, aloof, terrifying. The mountain with the... if you dont know the joke already, then continuing would just make it awkward.
And of Trummelbach falls:
You didn't think that just because I'm by myself, I'd pass up golden opportunities like this one, did you?
After that, I hiked up to a cable car that took me to Gimmelwald, as shown here:
From there, I hiked up to Mürren, where I was originally going to stay. The day could not have been more beautiful. I found a restaurant that overlooked the valley and ate some sausage and rosti:
Then I took cable cars back down to the valley floor and walked home. I was basically smiling the entire time, I just couldn't get over it. It's like Saint Peter's Basilica, in that you just have to be there to understand how big and impressive it is. Any testimony that I lacked in a divine creator from my many drives across Nevada has been compensated for by the beauty of this valley.
This morning, I woke up at 6:30 and took a train back down to Interlaken, where I met the canyoning tour. I met a guy from the University of Florida and two girls from SDSU and we kinda stuck together. I must say I dig canyoning. For me, it's just the way I live my life. I grip it and I rip it. I live it with a lot of flair. I live it on the edge, where I gotta be.
I've always felt that if you can take a picture of something, it's not extreme enough, so I dont have any. Well, they had a guy taking some but you had to pay 48 francs for them...and I never look good wearing a helmet, so I passed. The two girls bought pics, so if I'm in one of theirs, I assume I'll be tagged on Facebook, we'll see.
It was so fun though. You can see in the video below what we did, it was basically that. My favorite was the one where you jump out to the side, land on a rock, and slide down. We also got to hang out at this one rock and do flips and stuff off of it. The slides were cool too, it was amazing how everything was natural. The water was freezing, obviously, but the day was warm and it felt great.
UPDATE- When I took a shower that night (dont worry, this will be the only time I talk about my showers, i hope), I noticed a large bruise on my hip, but other than that, no injuries so that's good considering they get 'a lot of dislocated shoulders' and my shoulder is prone to that.
12:15 - Wow, good thing I'll be typing this up or else you'd be deciphering my writing through the sweat droplets on this page. I am quite sure I just set the record for a mile run inside Charles DeGaulle airport. My first flight (I'll get to that in a second) was to arrive at 11am, with this flight to Geneva leaving at noon. However, we didn't land until 11:20 and by the time we got to the gate and got out (I was in the back) it was 11:40. So, within the first 12 hours of my trip, it's already a good idea I did this alone. I was running at a very unsustainable pace but I didn't want to look weak in front of the French, so I kept going all out. I'm being serious, I really got the energy to run b/c of that thought. I'm sure there were a couple old people who, when seeing me run, had flashbacks to operation overlord...or not. Also, the 15 minutes of sleep I got on the plane didn't help. There were two stops along the way in the airport, one to check passports and another to check bags. For passports, the line was very long and would've taken at least 30 minutes, but I sweet talked some cute french girls into letting me get in front. By sweet talk, I mean panting and mumbling something in french, pointing to my ticket. And by cute french girls, I mean some 50-year old roundabouts, if you will. At the x-ray area, I foolishly took off my shoes, which I guess isn't required, but the security people seemed to enjoy it. Anyway, I made it, just barely.
The first flight started out bad, there was turbulence and the plane had NO personal entertainment screens for each seat like Virgin Atlantic. This turned out to be good as it forced me to talk to the Polish girl next to me, and we ended up talking for almost the entire flight about everything from Chopin to Polish dogs (although she'd never been to Costco...the horror!). She's an Au Pair in San Francisco but was heading home for a couple weeks. Other than that, the flight was uneventful and like I said, I didn't really get much sleep.
6:56 pm Why am I not staying more than one night in Geneva? This city is great and I was originally going to skip it altogether. Good thing I didn't as my bags weren't as nimble as I, so they have yet to arrive. No biggie, in fact that's better b/c I didn't have to lug them to the hotel. After checking in, I went down to the lake and ate a Kebab. They closed the Burger King, but I don't care, Kebabs are great. Everyone I've talked to so far has been incredibly nice and kept speaking in French even after hearing my accent. It's amazing how differently people treat you when you're not a missionary. Don't get me wrong, people who knew us treated us like demi-gods, but strangers were often very cautious. Everyone at the stores, the post office (sent 70 bucks worth of chocolate home, I'll distribute it when I get back), and train station have gone out of there way to help me. I know where things are, but I still enjoy people telling me, I like playing the naive tourist.
I walked around the old town, stopping at the cathedral where John Calvin preached, leading to the protestant group named after him, the Lutherans (I think Luther was his nickname). I love sitting in cathedrals, the architecture just blows my mind given the period of their construction. At the risk of sounding like George Costanza, I kinda wish I would’ve studied architecture in college. After the old town (or Olde Towne?), I headed to Meyrin where I lived at the beginning of my mission. It’s a dump, but there are a lot of memories there. I guess they were mostly bad ones, but that’s where I met Nick, so I guess it was worth it, for his sake, not mine.
9:30pm Now I’m at Starbucks getting ready to post this, I’ll head to bed right after. Here are some photos from the day:
Kebab by the Lake? Heaven.
The Jet D'eau was right beneath the ball moments before this picture, they turned it off to spite me. Anyway, the ball is there for the EuroCup.
I know, this is the typical setup for a missionary photo, but I still couldn't resist.
My first missionary residence.
Looking to save money on marketing costs, Meyrin Fitness decided to use the logo of the building's former tenant, Michel's Kama Sutra Center. I remember this place from when I was a missionary, but tried to stay above such jokes and didn't take a picture. I've since recovered.
I’ll post again on Sunday night, if I’m still alive from canyoning.
Eurail pass: check. Passport: check. Purell hand sanitizer: check. This should be my last post before Europe, barring a shocker on The Bachelorette tonight that would require commenting. I will usually write my entries on the train, and then post them when I get to an internet connection. As some trips may be long, or internet may be hard to come by, I may have multiple entries in one post. Also, I hope to have music with each entry for you to listen to while you read. I'll just post a YouTube video, but don't watch it, it's just there for the music. Of course, my choices will be applicable to the areas I'm visiting. I'm still not sure what to do for Amsterdam as I don't know any Dutch composers, anyone?
In case you forgot when I will be where, check my Exodus post below. My only amendment thus far is that I'll be in Geneva on Friday, not Murren since I'll be exhausted and probably not up for the train ride on the same day as a 12 hour flight. Anyway, my next post will be from Europe!!!
Oh, I almost forgot, here's the music for this post:
PS- I found my old In-N-Out shirt, the one I wore when I worked there. Tomorrow I'll go get a paper hat and wear the whole combo (with white pants, red apron) for the running of the bulls. I'll still fit in with the colors, but add a little California flare to the mix. Sort of reminiscent of the scene in Space Balls when all sorts of people are running for the escape hatches before the ship explodes.
Ok, so we all remember Miss South Carolina and her stirring call for better geography education in the United States. In the annals of history, I expect it to be alongside Roosevelt's address to congress about Pearl Harbor or Reagan's Tear Down This Wall speech. In case you forgot, here it is:
I grew up in Fremont and went to school with a lot of Asians. I don't think it'd be insensitive to say that Asian children are often very advanced in academics. I think I was fairly bright as a child, yet I was overshadowed by the intelligence of my oriental friends. But I had a secret weapon: Geography. In my fifth grade class we had a challenge to learn all the state capitals. I distinctly remember spending an entire weekend going through our encyclopedias and memorizing the capitals of the US and most of the world (including South Africa and the Iraq).
In class, we had a competition where two students would have their backs to a map. The teacher would call out a capital, and we would turn around and the first person to find it would win. The championship came down to Pannyun Yiu and yours truly. Pannyun was a math whiz, she won all the spelling bees, and per Facebook, graduated from Stanford and got her medical degree from UCSF. Nonetheless, with my knowledge of the exact location of Pierre, South Dakota (basically in the middle), I won the competition.
And so, I throw down the gauntlet at your feet. I've been playing this geography game and believe my score of 619K is untouchable. Well, there's been a lot of people that have beaten it, but no one I know, so here it is. The map is kinda small, but it's really fun if you like geography. If you don't, go try out for the next Miss Teen USA.
I hope to have only 1, if any, more posts before I leave, as the trip is the point of this blog. Just bear with me for a little longer, and then you can bare with me as I visit European beaches.
Today I'd like to talk to you about a serious topic. There's been a little joking around on this blog, and that's all well and good, but it's time we quit screwing around and get personal. Now those who know me are aware that I don't open up very much, I don't share my feelings, I don't just let my emotions be seen. But I think in order to connect with my audience, I need to do just that. So, let's talk about something that is really important to me, something that's always been in my life, and something my family taught me about from a very young age. It helped me through my most harrowing moments of my life, and enabled me to see the bigger picture, to know I have a purpose. Of course, I'm talking about chocolate.
Growing up, I enjoyed chocolate quite a bit, from the chocolate in Snickers and Cookies, to plain old Hershey bars. However, going to Switzerland and tasting the real chocolate of this world was not unlike a farm boy seeing the big city lights for the first time. M&M's slogan used to be, and perhaps still is, "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand." What an abomination this is to chocolate! That's like Ruth's Chris Steakhouse advertising it's Filets Mignons by saying "You'll Need a Really Sharp Knife to Cut our Meat". A simple test of a chocolate's worth is how quickly it melts in your fingers. Keep in mind, I'm not talking about dark chocolate, that's a whole different blog entry. Also, if you were to break off a piece, the chocolate bar should bend, any snapping or breaking action should not be tolerated.
Now everyone is going to be biased to their favorite chocolate, and that's fine, but this entry isn't about biases, it's about the truth, and here are the 3 most delicious chocolates in the entire world:
1. Torino Baton au chocolat au lait fourre-praline - A somewhat ostentatious name, I know, but I seriously get emotional thinking about this one. I feel as if no mortal language is worthy of describing this type of perfection. I knew a lady in Biel, Switzerland, who had been married to a member of the Bloch family, and she often provided us missionaries with our fix. I served for 6 months in that city during winter, perhaps seeing the sun twice during my stay. It was sooooo worth it. I'd commit to solitary confinement for the rest of my life with the promise of this chocolate.
2. Favarger Aveline - When you grow up near Milpitas, CA, as well as the Bay itself, you can often catch a whiff of something putridly pungent when outside. So, as I walked the streets of Versoix, Switzerland at the commencement of my mission, the smell from the Favarger Chocolate factory was such an extreme opposite, my knees would literally buckle. The high walls of the factory added to the mystery, like it was Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and I was just steps away from the Oompa Loompas themselves. The best kind, Aveline, has little slivers of almonds in it, adding to the flavor and providing a nice texture.
3. Suchard Double Crème - Cream is good, when it is 'Crème' it is better, and when you double that? It's over. This one was nearly outlawed in my mission due to its…how do I put this nicely…enlarging effect on sister missionaries. We were even told that we could eat but one chocolate bar a week. I admit I did not follow this rule, but as it helped me stay on my mission, I think it was a worthy violation.
So, in about 9 days I'll be loading a box with these at some store in Geneva, like a crazed supermarket sweep contestant. Requests can be sent to my email if you have it, or if you don't, just contact someone who does. Also, the 500th visitor to this site (currently sitting at about 150) will get a box of chocolate on me!! A little incentive to keep coming back. :)
I was thinking about my trip and how Nancy mentioned a comparison to Odysseus and his trip back from the Trojan Wars. I think that may be fitting (would the Sirens be the red light district in Amsterdam?), but I'd also like to think of myself as Jason Bourne. I always wanted to be a spy in Europe, having my funds and directions deposited in a bank lockbox and sitting in cafes watching my target. The only problem would be that if I were ever caught and tortured, I'd squeal about as quickly as you could scratch a chalkboard or dangle the extra hair from a brush over my head ("okay okay!! I'll talk…you animals!!").
In preparation to become Bourne, I was researching where my trains would pass through in case I were ambushed and needed to know where to go. I was looking at my trip from Interlaken to Salzburg, and noticed that I'll be stopping in Vaduz, Liechtenstein!!! Needless to say, as I put exclamation points, I'm very excited about this. I'll have about 3 minutes in Liechtenstein, so I'll be getting off the train and doing something that I can talk about later. Maybe I'll 'lose' something there, like a pair of socks so I can tell people at a cocktail party, "hahaha, I laugh because that reminds me of this one time…oh, this was classic…I was in Liechtenstein and I lost a pair of socks!" You see, if people hear you've lost socks in places, they'll think you spent a lot of time there, certainly more than 3 minutes. If they ask what the country is like, you nod your head a little, looking off in the distance, and whisper, "Amazing." Finally, if they end up asking how long you were there, just say, "I spent a month there one night." A little ambiguous humor to break up the conversation. Yes, I know, I'm a poor man's Richard King.
Also, I booked an activity in Interlaken that I'm having some reservations about (that was an unintentional, yet brilliant pun if I do say so myself). It's called canyoning, and although I think it looks awesome, it is extremely dangerous. Now, I don't fear being mortally wounded, I just don't want it to happen this early in the trip, that'll be saved for my bovine friends in Iberia. Anyway, here's a video from YouTube showing what'll be done (skip the first minute of intro):
So I see the video and book the tour for like $150. There'll be only 4 of us, with I believe 2 guides, so it should be cool, but then I read this article:
"The police said it would take "days or weeks" until all the victims were identified. "Most of the fatalities suffered injuries to the head and the canyonists were all wearing identical protective gear - so dental records will have to be used for identification."
Dental records!?!? That's an aka for it wasn't pretty. At least with the bulls my funeral can still be an open casket, just not open shirt as I was originally planning. Anyways, I look forward to posting about it afterwards, and if not, I'm the one with the big underbite.
Ok, I promise not all my titles will be books from the Bible, but so far they've been fitting. Exactly two weeks from now, I'll be learning how to fasten my seatbelt on Air France flight 83 with nonstop service to Paris. From there, I will catch a connecting flight to Geneva, arriving at about 1 pm local time. I've designed this trip in order to go places I've never been. I loved Italy and England, and I know there are plenty of places in those countries that I could still discover, but I wanted to mix it up a little more than that. Concerning the Middle East, Allison…intriguing but I think I'd like to go there with a friend so if there's an attempted kidnapping, I have someone to outrun.
So here it is:
June 27th- Arrive in Geneva, eat Burger King by the lake (sentimental value in this) Take afternoon train to Murren:
June 28th- Murren June 29th- Murren (find place to watch Eurocup finale with locals) June 30th- Train to Salzburg. This will be long but I'm excited as it goes through the Swiss and Austrian alps (with a stop in Innsbruck) and the train has extended windows over the roof for better viewing. July 1- Salzburg (staying at a hostel that shows Sound of Music everyday at 10:30am) July 2- Train to Vienna July 3- Vienna July 4- Train to Budapest (I'll only have an afternoon and evening here, but it's jam packed with a city tour, statue park where old communist relics were dumped, and a Danube river cruise at night while listening to classical music)
July 5- Train to Prague July 6- Prague July 7- Train to Berlin July 8- Berlin July 9- Train to Amsterdam July 10- Amsterdam (I'm staying at a dive here by the red light district, should be interesting) July 11- Train to Paris (Will do the Friday night rollerblading through Paris with thousands of others) July 12- Paris July 13- Train to Pamplona July 14- Pamplona (Running of the Bulls, will buy white pants and red scarf the day before, that'll be me with the big hair:)
July 15- Train to Barcelona July 16- Barcelona July 17-Train to Granada July 18- Granada (One of the places I'm most excited for)
July 19- Train to Madrid July 20- Madrid July 21- Madrid/Segovia (google it, looks like a really cool town):
July 22- Flight to SFO
So it seems like half my time will be spent in a train, and indeed half my days will consist of some time in a train, but most of the rides are less than 4 hours, so it's really just the morning. Plus, I love taking trains and looking out the window. I know I've been to Paris before, but I had to stop by there for the rollerblading. Each Friday night, 10-15K people meet at the Montparnasse train station and rollerblade around the city. I'm very excited to do this, and there's a possibility they'll let us go down the Champs-Elysees, which happens every few months. Also, I need to get a Kebab and speak some French, so voila.
I know these are places that most of you haven't been to, but when I ask for suggestions, that doesn't necessarily mean you've done it and want me to try it. It could also mean something you would like to vicariously do through me.
I've always enjoyed using the following line when talking to people, "Oh, that reminds me of the time I was [verb]ing in [place]." So, if you can think of a cool activity, let me know. Something like, "Oh, that reminds of the time I was eating at this cafe in Prague..." Not bad eh?
There are so many ways to start this blog, from "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." or "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a [European trip]" or perhaps "A few miles north of Soledad…" (all applicable on many different levels). In any case, here it is, the long-awaited* blog of Jeff. I was originally hoping that this blog would contain pictures of my kids and cute little stories about their bodily functions, but hey, I was also hoping that bastard Brad Womack from The Bachelor would have asked DeAnna to marry him but we all know how that ended!!! Sorry, I got carried away there for a second. So, here I am, no kids and a little money that I could either invest responsibly or blow on a trip to Europe. Contrary to what many would think, I am choosing the latter, and here you will find the result.
Given the fact that I don't drink, solicit prostitutes, or enjoy streaking (at least not often), my trip might not be that interesting (did I mention I'm an accountant?). This is then compounded by the fact that I'll be traveling alone. Now, some of you may be thinking as you read this, "Wow, alone?? What a loser!!" or maybe "Why would I ever read about a guy traveling by himself in Europe" or perhaps "Man, this guys is really really ridiculously good looking*", but to all of you I say…Well yes, you're right (especially those in group 3), but let's face it, you're bored at work or the kids are napping and no one else has updated their blog so you're stuck here. Plus, I'm sure people made fun of Thoreau when he went to live by himself, but who's laughing now??? I'd like to think of this blog as my own "Walden", and perhaps in a hundred years, high school students will be required to read this blog and forced to write some report on it (and they'll subsequently, as this author can attest, forget everything except the title), we can only hope.
As with most hip things, I have come to the blogging world quite late. I just barely got a Facebook account and didn't have a cell phone until I was 21 (I thought they'd be a fad…who knew?!?!) So here I am at a pivotal time in my life and on the cusp of a journey across Europe.
First things first, a little introduction: Although I imagine the only ones reading this will be my mom, a couple sisters, and those poor souls who google "pasty white skinny guys", I will tell you about myself, since this is my blog and my rules. I was born in Hayward and raised in Fremont, CA. I have 4 sisters, 1 brother, and currently live in Mountain View, CA. I served an LDS mission to Geneva, Switzerland, which will serve as the launching site of this trip. I graduated summa cum ignominious from BYU in Accounting, yet still got a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Jose.
I can't imagine there are many people out there that get equally excited for a Tupac song as a Tchaikovsky piano concerto. Or watch college football religiously yet enjoy Gossip Girl, which I suppose is just as vicious. Someone who can play a Chopin Nocturne on the piano, and hit a grand slam in his city's softball league. Yes, I suppose I'd like to think of myself as somewhat of a renaissance man, minus the homosexuality.
A couple more interesting facts about me: I love the world, and not in some greeny tree hugger way, or philanthropic/Bono way, but in the geography/maps/scenery way. I know almost every capital of the world, including Srinagar (capital of Kashmir, as I have officially recognized them as a country now, I'm trying to get ahead of the game on this one). I love traveling anywhere and imagining the historical events that occurred there. Whether it be the beaches of Normandy, the Forum in Rome, or the BART station in Union City, I love to feel the history of those places. So that is why I can do this trip alone, my imagination will keep me company. Side note on that, I've always thought the difference between a crazy and a normal person is the crazy one verbalizes their thoughts…discuss.
I was living in France when the Euros (currency, not people) were first distributed. My mission companion and I got to the bank very early on the day they were released. There were a lot of people there, eager to get their first bag of Euros. Although we were not at the front of the line (I hope you enjoyed that unnecessarily long shower Elder Collins!), we were still towards the front and got our bags quickly. I noticed the vast majority of people wouldn't even break the seal as it would be a collector's item someday. Those who did just poked around at the coins cautiously, like they were some sort of mystical treasure. As soon as I got mine it hit me, "I will buy as many Euros as possible as I predict the dollar will eventually drop dramatically due to trade deficits and other economic factors!!!" Oh no wait, that's what would have happened to an inspired missionary, my reaction was, "I will be the first person to win a coin toss with a Euro!" And so, my companion and I squared off, first designating what the heads would be (the side with the number), and the result was a Jeff win. Although I have no certificate, I believe I'm the first winner of a coin toss with a Euro, as I can't imagine that was the first thought of any other European at 8 in the morning, but this is debatable (editor's note: actually it's not).
Never one to limit my resume's bullet points, I quickly thought of another first. As we headed back to the apartment with our booty (I can't believe it's taken me even this long to use that word in my blog), I saw a homeless man playing some sort of self constructed stringed instrument in the metro station (say that 10 times, fast). I reached into my bag and dropped a Euro into his hat. He was rather perplexed by the odd looking coinage, but I think it was a slow morning for him, so he'd take anything. Thusly, I'm also the first person to give a Euro to a bum, as I highly doubt anyone else did the same, since most would not even open their bag, and come on, they're French.
To get back to the point of this blog, I will be leaving for Europe on the 26th of June. I'll post the itinerary in a few days, and would love to get feedback on things to do in the cities. I'll have all the logistics planned to the minute, but the daily activities will be open to your help, so please let me know, even if you stumbled upon this blog and don't know me. Also, if you want a souvenir, let me know, although this does require knowing me (but not in the biblical sense).
Ok, so this is starting to get a bit long and in order not scare my sparse readers away, I will end. And for those of you looking for the skinny pasty white guy, enjoy:
*Author reserves the right to take liberties with others' opinions of him and his blog, they may or may not be factual.
