Madrid

Well I’m pooped. I think I’ve hit the proverbial wall, and it couldn’t have come at a better time as I’ll be heading to the airport in about 7 hours. Here are some numbers relating to this trip:

17- Number of cities that I dined in.
13/8- Number of cities/countries I slept in.
65 – Approximate hours spent in trains
27 – Approximate times I’ve listened to Blink 182’s Enema of the State

I don’t think I realized how fast I was moving/seeing stuff until I hung out with those Korean girls and they kept complaining that I run instead of walk. Indeed, I have gone very quickly, but that’s the way I like it.

You'll notice the title is no play on words, nor is there music. One might guess that this is because I'm tired and lazy. Although partly true, it is also sort of an artistic expression as my trip comes to its end. Sort of like on "24" when the ticking numbers don't make any noise after the finale.

Back to the trip... I slept in yesterday since I finally had a nice room to stay in and this is supposed to be a vacation. I know Madrid is huge and I could spend days here, but I decided to head straightaway to Segovia, a small town to the north. I had seen pictures and heard it was a settlement that predated even the Romans, so I had to go. I was very pleased. Here’s a picture of the meal I had right next to a 2,000 year old aqueduct (I think coke should pay me for this pic):



The Romans were incredible, I was amazed by the buildings in Rome, but it just blows my mind that even in these small cities on the outskirts of the empire, they still built these magnificent structures. I haven’t been to Pont du Gard in France, but I will definitely go someday. The rest of the town was really cool and there’s a castle on the edge of the hill that looked like the one at the Magic Kingdom. I know the castle at Neuschwanstein (sp?) is the real inspiration, but this one ain’t bad:



Here's a pic of the cathedral there, quite impressive and supposedly the last gothic cathedral built in Europe:



I returned to Madrid at about 5:30 and headed to the Prado museum to take advantage of the free admission on Sundays between 6 and 8, nice! It was a cool museum, but I think I’m just not an art guy. I think they’re very nice pieces, but I don’t know what’s good and what’s not. I was proud of myself for recognizing a Caravaggio before knowing that it was indeed his work. I liked his stuff that I had seen in Rome. I think it was Velazquez (or was it Goya?) who painted a lot of the kings and queens of Spain on horseback. I learned on my Paris tour that if the horse’s left leg is raised, that means the person died a natural death. If its right leg is raised, the person was murdered. And if both legs are in the air, the person died in battle. But, my guide also said some incorrect things, so although I’m not sure if that is true, it was consistent with the paintings at the Prado, so I thought that was kind of cool.

Today I did one of those tourist buses again, which at this point in my fatigue is exactly what I needed. I got off quite a few times to check out the sites, but I was happy just sitting there, listening to the commentary. I was excited to see another PwC office though:



Madrid is a very nice city, lots of trees and very clean. I really enjoyed my break in the large park they have (Retiro, I think), where I dozed a little and ate a sandwich. I did a tour of the Royal Palace:



And just walked around the main parts of the city, admiring the architecture. I think I need to read up on Spain’s history, I’m not sure why I never found interest in it before. I didn’t even know Toledo was the capital up until right before the Spanish Armada. You can probably tell by my lack of jokes and rather bland commentary that I’m exhausted, it is no reflection on the city as Madrid is great, we can talk more when I get home, I’m just tired.

Thanks again for following and adding your comments, it’s been an incredible trip, but I’m excited to come back to the states. I made my last Euro withdrawal the other day, which I believe coincided with the Euro’s all time high against the dollar, I apologize for that. Once I exchange my Euros back to dollars, watch for a dollar rally, oil to tumble, and the economy to rebound.

Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda

Aahhhh...I'm not gonna lie, I'm getting pretty tired. This has been the most incredible trip I've ever been on, but it is starting to take its toll. I don't like to toot my own horn often, but considering I made the train/accomodation travel plans in about 4 days, and then the rest of the trip over 2.5 weeks, that ain't bad. I'm now in Madrid, in an air conditioned hotel and I love it.

For the music, I thought I'd put in my own video, which I'll discuss later:



So I got to Granada, and my hostel was in the Albaicin district, which was the old Arab quarter of the town. For those that don't know, Granada is located in the very south of Spain in a region that was controlled by the Moops until 1492, when the reconquest of Spain was completed. It was really cool to see the Arabic influences on the buildings. The Albaicin area is on a hill next to the Alhambra, with spectacular views, narrow streets, and white buildings. I'm not going to be able to post too many pictures on here, but I have a lot that I will need to show you at some point. Here's a couple from the area I stayed in:


Typical street


View from my area, unbelievable

The hostel's rooms were extremely small. Mine was about the size of my room at Rainwater Ct, but there were 6 of us. There were two Korean girls and an American girl that I made friends with and we went out that first night. I had only heard of Flamenco briefly on So You Think You Can Dance, but I guess it originates in this area. So we walked around to find an authentic place and went to this cave, essentially, which was the home of this gypsy/Spanish family that does Flamenco dancing every night. This was a really cool experience. One guy plays the guitar, others clap, and another guy will often sing some sort of arabic scat, if you will. I guess it sort of originates from the Muslim call to prayer and it does indeed sound like that. In the video above, the guy isn't doing it, but it's hilarious to watch, because he's kinda yelling at the dancer. Plus, the guy kinda looks like Paul Giamatti, so that made it even funnier.

So, while some of you were watching SYTYCD, I was watching real flamenco in a gypsy cave in the hills above Granada:


Do I hear my male readers swooning? Oh excuse me, that was me.

The next day I went to the Al Hambra. The Korean girls came again, even though their English was quite poor. They thought I looked like Brad Pitt, which was hilarious because I look absolutely nothing like him. I'm not trying to be modest either, I simply don't look like him. The reason I mention it is because I think Asians see white people sort of like we sometimes see them in that we think they all look the same (tried to word that delicately and failed). Another funny thing happened that Becca would like...remind me to tell you later.

Back to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is the Anti-Jeff. Those that know me are probably aware that I like to do the bare minimum. In school I always aimed for a 89.5% so I could get that A-. Not to say I'm lazy, I just think I'm efficient. Anyway, the Alhambra is the complete opposite of me, but as Paula Abdul taught us, opposites attract and indeed, I fell in love with the Alhambra. Francisco De Icaza said, "There is nothing in life so cruel as being blind in Granada," I couldn't agree more. I can certainly understand why Reagan decided to invade this place in 1984. Pictures do not do it justice, but I'll throw a few on here anyway:





You just need to see the detail close up, it is incredible, and it just goes on and on. Just as Hemingway made the running of the bulls famous, I guess Washington Irving made the Alhambra famous when he stayed there for awhile and wrote stories about it. In fact, the audio guide was some of his journal entries or something about the place. It was interesting but the way he'd describe things seemed kind of pretentious after awhile.

The views of the valley were great, here's a picture from the Alhambra of the area where I stayed:



At night, we went to a restaurant and had tapas. I don't know what the big deal is with tapas, they're just small plates of snacking food.

Today, I obviously came to Madrid, but decided to stop in Seville for a few hours as it looked like a cool town. I only had about 3 hours and wanted to see the cathedral, which is the largest roman catholic cathedral in the world. But Jeff, you say, what about St. Peter's? Ah, but that is a basilica not a cathedral. But Jeff, what's the difference? No more questions.

It was huge inside, very much like St. Peters, only Gothic instead of Baroque. The tower, which I climbed, was originally a minaret for the mosque that the church took over and expanded in the 14th and 15th centuries. Here's a pic where you can tell this to be true:



The streets of Seville were really neat, I liked the overhanging things between the buildings to provide more shade.



It kinda reminded me of an Arabic town, even though I've never been to one but I've seen Aladdin a few times. It has been really hot, i think over 100 degrees (41 C today).

I looked unsuccessfully for a place to get my haircut. Well, I just wanted to take a picture of it, I'll let you figure out why. Oh well.

Ok, time to get some rest before my final two days. I probably won't post again until I'm back in America. Thanks again for following along, traveling alone is great a lot of the time, but there's also those moments when you want to share the experience with others, so this has been a nice medium.

The Smell of Punic Air

Another song with Queen, I got permission from EMI though Laura, I asked where you were and they said they just wake you up for the staff meetings.



I’m currently sitting on the tracks somewhere outside of Cordoba and will be more than 5 minutes late to Seville, so this portion of the trip will be refunded. Since I have a railpass, I assume they’ll only give me the supplement I paid, but still, that’s 24 euros, so I’ll take it. Hopefully we’re not too late, otherwise I’ll miss my train to Granada.

I left Pamplona around 7 and got to Barcelona by noon, spending an hour in Zaragoza. I didn’t really know what to expect from Barcelona but I had heard a lot of good things. Barcelona is said to have been founded by Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, a Carthaginian general whom I’ve found great interest in during my life. Hannibal is the one who led his army (famous for including elephants) over the Alps and into Italy during the early 200s BC (or I guess it’d be late 200s, it was like 220-205 BC), starting the Second Punic War. Although I’ve been to Italy, it was cool to think that Hannibal probably spent time there recruiting some mercenaries before heading onto Massalia and then the Alps.

My hostel was really close to the train station, which was great, and it was nice and clean. After grabbing a bite to eat, I headed out on foot to explore. For some reason I felt like walking, so I probably ended up walking over 10 miles that afternoon (in flip flops), including up and down Montjuic. First though, I headed to Plaza Espanya and up to the Royal Palace of Palau, the pit stop on my race around the world! (this was one of the locations for Amazing Race):



If I remember correctly, they showed the contestants huffing a puffing as they reached that point, but there are escalators people. I would have owned that show. Behind the building is the Olympic Stadium (1992) and grounds, which were pretty cool.



Further up there was a castle overlooking the entire city on one side and Mediterranean on the other.

The architecture of the city is very beautiful. The second day I got a pass on the Bus Turistic that goes all around the city to the major sites and has audio explaining everything. It’s an open top bus and was really nice to see all the buildings. Antoni Gaudi, an architect from Barcelona who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, designed many of the buildings and the main cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. In fact, it isn’t finished yet, even though construction began in 1882. Completion is anticipated in the year 2026. He also designed the Park Guell, on another hill overlooking the city. In all his works, it seems like he has a ‘melting’ theme, here are some pictures:


Sagrada Familia


Park Guell



Barcelona is a major port, and I saw the Brilliance of the Seas docked there yesterday. In fact, I spoke with a guy who was on the ship, they just returned from a 12 night cruise with stops in Nice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Ephesus (may have missed one). I was thinking, how cool would it be for a family reunion to go to Pamplona, run with the bulls in the morning, and then take a train to Barcelona to start a cruise like that? What a sight to see us all running down the narrow streets, I think everyone’s true colors would come out in that situation.

Back to Barcelona, they have a main touristy street called La Rambla with a lot of street vendors and performers. On the first night, I found a restaurant and sat outside, eating seafood paella (of course) and people watched. The second night I attended a concert in the very old Esglesia Santa Maria del Pi, named after a nun from the 11th century, who miraculously recited pi to the 1000th decimal during easter mass. The concert was only two people playing Spanish guitars (is there a difference?) and it was really cool. The selling point for me was that they would play, amongst other things, pieces from Bizet’s Carmen, which I like. They were very good and it was quite enjoyable.

Barcelona is a very cool town, it just seems hip. The beaches are great too and they have a very famous soccer team, if I spoke Spanish, I’d consider living here for awhile.


Christopher Columbus monument

As I pass through Spain, I gotta say, it ain’t no Switzerland. It’s dry and very flat (at least in the middle). The occasional medieval town gives it some charm though. And whatever it lacks in landscapes it makes up for in its women, at least its train stewardesses. As I head into the more hilly south, I’ll agree with mom that it is very reminiscent of California, especially since they also have the Sierra Nevadas and they speak Spanish.

NON TRAVEL COMMENTARY: I’d just like to take this moment to vent about a few things European. First of all, everyone smokes, a lot. I think I’m allergic to it because I start sneezing and have a runny nose when I’m around smokers. I’m curious why Americans don’t smoke as much, they have those death warnings on the boxes here too, and it seems that Americans are always labeled as the unhealthy ones.

Second, the youth have absolutely no sense of style. Well, I’ll say the girls dress well, but the guys wear the weirdest clothes. And, most of them have that long, straight, brushed over the face hairdo, like a male version of Zac Efron. I mean, maybe that’s the style now, but I think they look ridiculous.

Finally, man capris. I remember this epidemic last time I was here and feared its infiltration into the US. Now, I admit I have worn and still wear some things that I thought I never would, things that quite frankly were influenced by women. I’m talking about a purple shirt, a pink tie, or argyle sweater. But I am sorry, there is no way on Earth I will ever be caught dead in man capris. Please don’t let this spread to the US.

The Sun Also Rises

I hope everyone was expecting this song:



All I can say is wow, and I mean that about everything that has happened. First, when I arrived, I had no idea how to get to my hotel so I took the wrong bus and soon realized I was headed in the opposite direction. It was very frustrating not speaking Spanish, but I eventually found my hotel. I then walked to the part of the city where all the action is, and it was pretty crazy. Pamplona during St. Festin time makes a frat house look like a church. It was cool that everyone was wearing white with red scarves, it was a blood's dreamland. I had to fit in, so I bought a scarf, which I've been wearing ever since.

I walked to the course, sort of a dry run, to see where the good and bad spots were. I found a good one near the beginning where I'd have room to run off to the side. I then headed back to the hotel to get more sleep than most these people get all week. I got up at 6:30 the next morning. You have to be in the course before 7:30 and the bulls are released at 8. I met a couple Americans that I hung out with until 8. They were really nice, both doctors, one from Manhattan Beach, and the other from Orange County. They were actually OBGYNs, so their skills would be sort of useless if I were to get gored. We kinda stuck together and made a plan. As 8 o'clock approached, I started wondering what the heck I was doing there. Then at 8, I heard the shotgun signaling the opening of the corral. At this point, you're supposed to pray to St. Festin. I prayed to him and every other deity I could think of, just to be sure. Then a second firing moments later meant the bulls were on the run.

Now, I know there are tons of people and the likelihood of getting hurt is low, and it might not look that scary on TV. But when you look down the street and see 6 1200 pound bulls with sharp horns charging at you, I don't care how many people there are, it is mortifying. Plus, I learned that on the last day they run the biggest and fastest bulls...great. I had a good vantage point as I was near the end of the first long street. I watched them coming and the people scurrying to the sides. I didn't want to risk much so I started running when they were about 100 feet away. I ran probably 200 feet, into a more open area and slid quickly to the side. The beasts stormed by, but a good 10 feet from where I was standing. These dudes are big, holy smokes, what were we thinking?

After they pass, most people chase after them, so in my adrenaline rush, I followed them down the path and into the bull ring. All the participants then jump around and celebrate in the ring. I thought that was it, so I was just taking in the whole atmosphere when I realized they let another bull loose in the ring. There are no doors either, so you're kinda stuck unless you can climb over the fence. I was like...uh...i don't remember hearing about this part. The bull they let loose is a smaller one, and the tips of its horns are covered in something so it can't gore you. I didn't stay too long though, and soon climbed the fence.

It was an incredible experience and really just cool to be a part of. If anyone wants to go in coming years, I'd be more than happy to accompany you. I read that if you have cameras, you can get kicked out, so I didn't bring mine. I was kind of bummed, because a lot of people had them and they weren't kicked out. The doctors had cameras too, so they took a picture of me and will hopefully email it to me, but I'm relying on their memory of my email address, so we'll see.

Afterwards, I went back to the hotel and took a long nap. I also got tickets to the bullfight, which were rather expensive, but it's just something you have to do. It started at 6:30, but I got there early to watch them set up:


The lighting is bad, but oh well.

They watered down the infield like in baseball, and the last guy off swept away his tracks, like he was coming out of a sandtrap in golf. The crowds were fun and rowdy, it was a great atmosphere. For some reason, I didn't know they actually kill the bull, I guess I just thought they dodged it for awhile, but I was very wrong. I also didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition, so I guess I'm just dumb. It was pretty gruesome, I have video of one killing but won't post it on here.

The concierge at the hotel who got me the tickets was kind enough to explain that I should have a sandwich, because after the 3rd bull is killed, everyone gets out sandwiches and eats them. Sure enough, this was the case and I was prepared. Here are some more pics of the fighting:


This is at the beginning


Note that the matador's hat has been thrown in the ring.


Do I hear swooning from my female readers?

It was just cool being in the arena, it was like Roman times and we were cheering on the gladiator.

I wasn't too sure about Pamplona when I got here, but I couldn't be happier with my decision to come. It would have been more fun with others, but I still had a great time. All I can say is wow to this day, seeing those bulls run up that street at me will be one of those images forever ingrained in my memory, thank you Pamplona.

Foux du fa fa

Yes, I know this revolutionary etude was written for the attempted Polish revolution and not the French Revolution, but I like it, and I'm pretty sure Chopin wrote it in Paris, so deal with it:



Paris is such a great city, it's hard to compare it to the others, it's like it is in the BCS, along with London, Rome, and New York, so I can't make any comparison to the other cities I visited, although I must say Prague is the next BCS buster. If you're going to Europe for the first time, Paris is a must, plain and simple. I know some people hate it, but that's usually because they went once and something bad happened so they associate it with that. Also, I think it makes a big difference if you speak French, I've found the locals to be extremely cordial, but probably a lot of that has to do with my French.

In Amsterdam, everyone speaks English, literally, I think the animals even take commands in two languages, but in Paris that's definitely not the case. If weed is what you smell upon arriving in Amsterdam, then BO would be the scent you get in Paris, at least in the metro, ugh... I got to my hotel at about 3, located in the south part of Paris, near the Montparnasse train station. The neighborhood is really cool, not touristy at all. I love how there are stores for everything, like a bread store, a meat store, fish store, fruit store, just lining the street. When I went out to get breakfast the next morning, I felt like singing the Beauty and the Best intro as I walked down the street, "There goes the baker with his tray as always!"

Jumping back to Friday...I went to the place where I had hoped to rent rollerblades but nothing was there. I asked the guy working at the flower shop next door and he said they closed 4 years ago...great. At that point (~5pm) I started to think all was lost since I didn't know where another store was and figured they'd all close at 5:30 or 6 anyway. He directed me to an internet cafe, fortunately right down the street, and I looked up another place near the Eiffel Tower. I went there and got my blades, very exciting. I rollerbladed back to my hotel and was pretty tired. I started having second thoughts about the 15 mile trek I was about to do. Nevertheless, I went to the meeting spot at 10pm and joined about 3-4K others. They say 10K do it but I doubt that ever happens. It's a holiday weekend though so maybe that's why we were relatively few in number. When we started, I couldn't stop smiling, it was just hilarious and crazy at the same time. We had a police escort and went down the major boulevards of Paris. There were often people lining the streets taking pictures and cheering us on. Here's me at the beginning, still with lots of energy:



We would stop every few miles so that we weren't too long and wouldn't tie up too much traffic. These breaks were annoying at first but adored by the end. They say you should be an experienced rollerblader to do it and this is very true. I'm in pretty good shape, certainly no Eric Rawlings (Iron Man) but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone in worse shape than me. Your cardio abilities are more important than your skating skills, although there are times when that helps. We were going down a hill, probably about 30 mph (which is pretty dang fast on blades) and I had about 30 people all around me, I was in the middle of a rollerblading peloton, it was awesome, we were all hunched over, no more than a foot between each person. If someone fell, it would have been disastrous, but fortunately that didn't happen (in my group at least).

The coolest part had to be rollerblading around the Place de la Bastille where, almost exactly 219 years earlier (on July 14), a mob of Parisians, not unlike ourselves (although probably on skates instead of rollerblades), stormed the jail that was there and then went to Versailles, starting the French Revolution and leading to the beheadings of many thousands of people, including the King and Queen. Fortunately, we didn't head to Versailles, as I was starting to get exhausted. Here's me towards the end, by Notre Dame:



Afterwards, my feet/ankles were destroyed with blisters and such. It was so worth it though, I had an excellent time.

I got up the next morning and had a delicious breakfast of croissants and pain au chocolat. I then went to the catacombs of Paris. During the late 1700s, they were running out of room to bury people. There were lots of bodies just rotting above ground, spreading disease and obviously smelling quite badly (even worse than usual). So, they decided to relocate a lot of the dead people to an old quarry in the southern part of Paris. They also arranged the bones in a rather artistic way. Here are some pics:




It was huge, the pics are just a very small part of the entire thing. It was cool to think when some of those people lived and how they were just normal everday Jos, or Jeans.

I grabbed lunch and ate in front of the Notre Dame. As an aspiring architect, I love Notre Dame, not because of any engineering feat, but because it has flying buttresses, and it's fun to say that.



Also, people watching is very underrated. I love watching different cultures take pictures. Americans are always bubbly and take funny or goofy pictures, whereas Asians are always rather stoic in their pictures, it just looks awkward.

I did one of those free tours again even though I know about most of the sites. I learned some new things but will have to double check if they are indeed true as the guide made some very obvious errors. She mentioned something about Charlemage doing something in 975, but as we all know from my post "Put Another Shrimp on the Barbie," he dined at that restaurant in Salzburg in the early 800s. Then she mentioned the Allies landing in Normandy in August of '44...it was June 6th. The kicker was at the Place de la Conchorde where she was talking about the beheadings during the Revolution and said Cardianl Richelieu was executed here...he died a relatively peaceful death about 150 years before the Parisians skated to the Bastille. So, I left the tour (it was almost over anyway) without paying a tip.

I think on my next trip to Europe I'm going to tour more of rural France, I love the food and talking to the locals. I'm about an hour from Pamplona, and I'll admit I'm a little nervous about the bull run tomorrow. Not because I could get gored, but because I'm not sure where to go exactly and don't speak the language. So, hopefully I'll at least get to see it and possibly get in.

As we went through the western Pyrenees, I was surprised at how green and lush it was. I had always imagined the Pyrenees (since I do that a lot) as being arid, but it was very beautiful. My aunt Nancy is going on a trip through there later this year and should enjoy it quite a bit. The red tiled roofs of the villages were a nice contrast to the green landscape. Perhaps it is drier towards the east, but along the coast it is gorgeous.

I had a nice conversation with a Frenchman from Bordeaux on the last train. We talked a lot about politics, including the upcoming US elections and Sarkozy. At the end he said it's too bad that French people always think Americans are all like Bush, and that if they're all like me, the French would like Americans more. Of course, I had to explain how we don't all have chiseled abs and stunning features, but we're good people. Yes, I am kidding, just in case you don't know me and take that last part seriously. As long as I'm clarifying things, please note that the czech and checking thing is not true (from my Prague post), I made that up (but pretty clever still I think), but the rest of that defenestration is true, or at least I wasn't intentionally telling falsehoods.

Ok, I'm in Pamplona, got my red scarf, Ole!!!

Dikes 'n Bikes

7/11/08 12:50 pm - For the music, I couldn't find anything classical so this is obviously a joke. There are explicit lyrics so you might want to skip it. I think only like 3 people would get it anyway, but my jokes are rarely for the masses.



I just left the Brussels train station about 20 minutes ago and am now slicing through the Ardennes at a pace that would make Hitler blush. The top speed of this Thalys train is said to be 180 mph, although we're probably only doing 150 mph thanks to the rather rotund American tourists a few rows ahead of me. I love these fast trains though, you have to experience it to realize just how fast it is. I'm traveling backwards though since seats are assigned, so instead of pretending like I'm running 150 mph, I pretend like I'm moonwalking that fast, which is even cooler.

Let's talk about Amsterdam. I'm not exaggerating, the second I stepped out of the train station, I got a huge whiff of weed. I imagine it was rather coincidental as that wasnt always the case, but still, it was funny.

I didn't get there until 7pm; it was raining and didnt stop raining til I left basically, which was rather annoying, so I didn't take many photos. I didn't get a bike either but there were still tons in the streets, hence the title. Amsterdam is pretty confusing since all the buildings and canals look the same. I went out the first night to just wander and I got lost, which is very unlike me. I usually know generally where I am but I had no clue this time, plus there was no sun to even give me cardinal directions. I eventually found the Rijksmuseum and found my way back. I stayed at a crappy hotel since all the hostels were booked. I had my own room and bathroom but I think I actually prefer hostels since there are people to talk to.

The next day I did another one of those 'free' tours, which was good except for the rain. We saw a lot of cool buildings and the guide was informative, yet rather weird. Here are some pics:






Of course he took us by the red light district and 'coffee' houses, which were obviously interesting to say the least. I can say that I resisted all temptation in both places. At the coffee house I just ate some brownies and they were delicious. I bought a lot and will bring them home in my bags for everyone. After the tour I went to the Van Gogh museum. It was either that or the Rijksmuseum and since I'm no art connoisseur I went to the one with a shorter line. I actually liked it a lot, I didn't know Van Gogh didn't decide to be an artist until he was 27, which happens to be my age. I was feeling a connection with him until I read about how he shot himself 10 years later, so maybe not. I got to see the Sunflowers painting, amongst many others, but my favorite was the wheatfield and crows one:



Afterwards I just wandered around, Amsterdam is pretty cool, but probably more fun for those more open to other things, if you will. Also, the weather kind of made it hard, but still a cool city.

From Prussia with Love

I feel bad snubbing Bach for my Germany post, but technically Germany didn't exist when he was alive, and he wasn't from Prussia, so I have to go with another favorite and predictable choice:



Going to Berlin after Prague is much like going on a date with a valedictorian after a night out with the head cheerleader (not that I've experienced either). Sure, you have a great conversation with the valedictorian, but you just can't stop thinking about last night. But Berlin has been a great learning experience and a great city for those interested in history.

When I got here, the walk to my hostel was quite long, I passed a river or creek and noticed some bricks on the ground after it, running parallel to the river. I later learned that's where the wall used to be. I had absolutely no clean clothes left so I went to do laundry right away. I wouldn't mention this except for the fact that there was this old guy at the laundromat that must've been out of clean clothes as well. He was walking around in just his tighty whities and sandals, it was hilarious.

After that, I walked to the Brandenburg Gate and took some pics, here's one:



The next day I did a free tour (guides paid on tips) and it was great, I highly recommend it (NewEurope free tours). We started at the Brandenburg Gate, saw the Reichstag, Holocaust Memorial:



Berlin Wall:



(Am I the first Ostler to touch it?)

Hitler's Bunker:



Just a parking lot now, which is cool. The site of death of one of the most influential (obviously in a bad way) men to ever live and now it's just an ugly parking lot. Take that gingerballs.

The luftwaffe HQ, Checkpoint Charlie:



The site of the book burnings, some buildings built by Frederick the Great, and my personal favorite, the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out the window (second floor, er third for americans):



Needless to say, the tour had it all. Like I said in my opening post, it was cool to imagine the events that happened there. Like the Soviets closing in on Hitler's bunker or Indiana Jones being near those book burnings. I loved it all and found the last 100 years of history in Berlin fascinating.

Feeling smart, I went to the Pergamon Museum where they have a Babylon exhibit. Unfortunately, it was for the civilization and not Babylon 5, so I felt a little awkward in my space suit. It was very cool though and they had lots of artifacts and reconstructed entire buildings inside the museum. The coolest thing I saw, perhaps on this entire trip, was the Ishtar Gate, which I had seen in history books and stuff before but had no idea it was here. I couldn't take a picture, but here's one from the web:



As many of you know (except Ben), this was one of the gates of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar. To think of all the people that walked through that gate was just incredible. Amongst many others, thousands of Jews would've walked through this gate when Jerusalem was captured not long after 600 BC. I was reading about the economy of Babylon and how they recorded all their business transactions in cuneiform. It was an accountant's dream!!

What a great day and what better way to cap off this feast of knowledge then by watching Hancock at the main cinema complex. It was showing at the recently constructed Potsdam Platz, which also has PwC's offices that I just stumbled upon. Movies are actually pretty cheap (5.5 euro) and you have assigned seats! Anyway, great city, if this is the valedictorian and Prague was the cheerleader, I can't wait to see what Amsterdam will be...

Czech Please

Ok, I'm in Berlin now where I got to walk past the Berlin wall to get to my hostel (I'm on the east side now!). Here's the music (crank it up):



If you didn't get that joke, then listen to the more natural choice, and equally good:



7/6/07 9:28pm - Well I wasn't going to start writing this til tomorrow in the train, but a summer storm rolled in this evening so I have nothing else to do. Fortunately, it didn't start raining until I got back from seeing everything. Like I said, Prague is incredible. I know it's kind of a trendy pick, but there's a reason everyone likes it. Let me just shut up and let the video show what I'm talking about:



Cool, right? My hostel is right on the river, a nice 10 minute walk from the St. Charles Bridge:



You might remember some of this stuff from the 1st Mission Impossible or, more embarrassingly, Chasing Liberty. After getting settled I went for a walk and snapped the photo in the last post, as well as many others. Tell me that's not awesome, I love that picture. I walked all around and was just blown away. I went back to the hostel and hung out with my roomies, two guys from New Zealand. They were cool, I even asked if they had penguins in their hometown (Flight of the Conchords reference). They said, 'oh yis, my cat would chase the pinguins out of our backyard.' For some reason I thought that was hilarious. I got 8 hours of sleep, which was awesome and a first on the trip. I went to the Old Town Square (filmed in video) and climbed the tower:



Then I went to a museum of medieval art from Bohemia, which was really interesting. After that, I headed up to Prague Castle, which you see on the hill:



St. Vitus cathedral is the biggest church in the Czech Republic. The grounds include the President's offices and the Old Royal Palace:



You could say I'd been waiting to see this site ever since I got an illustrative book on the most significant battles in history. In the early 1600s, the Hapsburgs had two governors here who were Catholic. One day, some unhappy protestant nobles came to the palace and performed a defenestration. Note 'fenestra' or window in the word, as it means 'to throw out the window.' It was actually a Czech custom to do this with underperforming politicians. Sometimes the victim met his death, but often not, which I imagine would provide for an awkward situation at the next day's meetings. In this case, the governors did not die (landed in horse manure), but the act pissed off the Hapsburgs and Catholics and sparked the 30 Years War. The Battle of White Mountain was the one hilighted in the book I had and resulted in the Protestants being expelled from Prague. The 30 Years War is often thought of as the first world war, which is also interesting b/c the real WWI started by Archduke Ferdinand being killed and the 30 Years War started by an Archduke Ferdinand's governors being attacked. Lesson? Don't mess with anyone named Ferdinand.

Defenestration was no longer practiced after the war, although it wasn't completely abandoned by the Czechs. Hockey, one of the main sports of the country, often has players throwing or hitting their opponents against the rink's windows, so to speak. This isn't called defenestration, but checking, or czeching, in honor of the people who made it popular.

Back on track...I walked a lot, taking over 100 pictures during the day. I went to a park with a smaller version of the Eiffel tower. It had a great view of the city and I enjoyed a czech sausage. Here's a pic of just a random street. I liked how the buildings had arched bottoms such that the sidewalks were covered. I'm sure there is a technical term for this, but my architectural knowledge is indeed that of George Costanza and not Art Vandelay:



7/7/08 11:15am - So the rain stopped and I went for another walk to the Old Town and St. Charles bridge at about 10:30. I need a nicer camera, one that works at night. I thought this one was good though:



I can't recommend a trip to this city enough and wish I could've stayed longer. It's pretty cheap too, at least compared to the Euro countries. I'm excited to go to Berlin though, just because they speak a language I kind of understand. Plus, I know several phrases like 'Das ist gut' and 'Mein Vater ist David Hasselhof,' both of which should get me on the good side of most Germans. I just gotta be careful not to mention the war. (Fawlty Towers reference)

One last thing, did anyone get that mozarthaus and animalhaus joke? Tom Hulce played Mozart in Amadeus, and he was also in Animal House. I guess it wasn't that funny anyway, oh well.

I swear I'm done after this, here's a pic of a cool building right next to the hostel, it's nickname is the Fred and Ginger building:

Czech this out

I'll do a full post after I leave, but I just got back from walking around and took some awesome pics. Unfortunately my camera isn't that great, but I tried my best. The sunset was gorgeous. Prague is INCREDIBLE, it is officially my favorite city now. There, I said it.

Buda < Pest

I'm in Prague now, here's my entry for yesterday, written on the train this morning:



7/5/07 - 11:04AM - Wow, that was a quick stop, but still fun. As many of you know, Buda and Pest were, until the 19th century two different cities on opposite sides of the Danube. I stayed in Pest, just up the street from the really cool Parlaiment building:



It was kinda scary going to a country whose language I knew nothing about. With German, at least I knew the very basics, but I didn't even know 'thank you' in Hungarian. One thing I learned though was that not only do they say 'hello', they say it both upon greeting and leaving. Also, the 'S' is pronounced 'sh' but 'sz' is our normal s so Budapest is Budapesht. A lot of borrowed english words obviously need that sz, like busz and szex (I stayed near a seedy area).

Anyway, after getting settled, I headed out at 1 to accomplish an ambitious agenda in less than a day. I started by getting food and wanted something authentic. The hostel owner recommended a nearby restaurant that had goulash for about 6 bucks. Wow. I had my reservations about goulash, maybe because it sounds like goulags or ghouls, I don't know, but this was very delicious. It's basically a big bowl of soup with potatoes, meat, and some veggies, but it was soooo good. I highly recommend that Sarah, who enjoys making new/experimental stuff, try to find a traditional Hungarian goulash, I'd fly to Denver for a bowl.

I then walked to the main area of the city, explored, then took a bus to Statue Park. Again, as many of you know/remember, after the Soviets liberated Hungary from the Nazis, they didn't leave. Communist leaders were put into place and statues were erected (standard commy affaire). After communism fell, many of thesee statues were put in this park. It was very cool, certainly something that'd make any John Birch Society cardholder shiver. This statue previously stood on a hill over Budapest:



The whole design of the park was symbolic, too. The front gate was big and nice, but nothing was behind it really, pomp with no circumstance, much like communism. Here's another one (I'd do more but the internet is really slow here):



I really enjoyed the visit and although I had already learned communism doesn't work thanks to Sid Meier's Civiliation computer games, the thought was certainly reinforced by the exhibits of Statue Park.

Back in the city, I walked around again and got dinner at McDonald's and ate it by the river. I know, it's McDonald's but I'm trying to not spend so much. The fries were really good though. I was told later by a guide that when the first McDonald's opened after the fall of communism, people thought you needed a passport to get in, they didn't really know what it was.

At 8, I did a night tour, there were only 3 of us and the guide, so that was cool. We walked all around and then took a cruise on the Danube. The city is very modern, helped by the fact that most of it was destroyed by WWII or the 1956 revolution. They call it the Paris of the East, but I don't know if I'd go that far, but certainly the nicest formerly communist city I've ever been to. Here's a couple pics from the tour: