Well. Nothing like a strained tendon in one's foot to allow for some catching up on a blog. But I'll get that to that later.
Holy Kershmoly! Talk about falling behind! Sheesh. Ok. Well, for my sake, as well as yours, I will not be giving a very detailed account of the past month and a bit, so you can breathe your sigh of relief now. Instead, I am going to try to give the bare minimum highlights. However, I do tend to ramble, so we shall see how well this will actually work out.
BERLIN:
• did a tour of the street art around Berlin; very interesting, and got some insights into the challenges and life of street artists.
• did a historical tour of Berlin including Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, the site of Hitler's bunker, and the Brandenburg Gate. This was by far the best tour I have ever been on. The tour guide, Sylvia, was incredibly animated and brought the history and stories alive in such a way that I often felt like I wanted to take a picture of what she was talking about, then realized of course that the things weren't actually there. Incredible.
• watched a hilarious improv comedy show that reminded me a little of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" Very well done and very entertaining.
• did a tour of Potsdam which is a place full of palaces and such buildings. Very beautiful and intricate architecture, but unfortunately we had a tour guide who was less than enjoyable. "Terrible Tour Terry" we called him. He was old, bitter, and insulted us throughout the day. We were the only two on the tour and it was also about a nine hour tour. But now every tour, no matter what the quality, seems great in comparison, so that's good.
• took a tour of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Very powerful and sobering experience. Hard stuff to hear about, but so important to remember so that nothing like it ever happens again.
PRAGUE:
• didn't see very much--we were only there for the night, but we did catch a fantastic concert which was held in a grand stairwell of the National Museum. It was a little string group and a piano. They played some Vivaldi, Mozart, and Brahmes, among others. It was so perfect.
VIENNA:
• Did a bus tour of the main historical sites.
• tried to go to the National Art Gallery, and accidentally went to some Art Academy instead, which turned out to be very very beautiful as well. (It's always nice happening upon interesting things.)
• went to the actual National Art Gallery, which was very beautiful.
• went to the Sigmund Freud museum which is held in his old apartment/psychiatry office. Very interesting.
• had to battle a crazy wind and rain storm upon leaving the art gallery and then went and had a Vienna hotdog because Vienna is spelled Wien in German therefore the origin of "wieners." However, the hotdog vendor was a little more than suggestive in putting the hotdog in the bun, which was rather uncalled for if I do say so myself.
• went to a beautiful concert which involved a small orchestra, two opera singers, and two ballet dancers. It was so lovely. And they played the Viennese Waltz, which was great.
KLAGENFURT:
• stayed at the apartment of the brother of a friend of ours.
• toured around the lake and surrounding area which was spectacular. The sun was shining and the water sparkling and the mountains surrounding the entire area reminded me of home.
MUNICH:
• did a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp, which was apparently the one that all the following concentration camps were modeled after. Again, very powerful.
• tried to catch a tour of the historical sites in Munich but missed it. Instead, we happened upon the celebrations for the announcement of the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, of which Munich was a candidate. It was very crowded, but very exciting. Sadly for Munich, South Korea won.
• met a guy at our hostel who was from Calagry. We all got along really well, and so went and had a picnic by the river.
• We wanted to see the Neuschwanstein Castle just outside of Munich, which is what the Disney castle is based on. Chris, the guy from Calgary, had just been to that area and so showed us to the town where he had stayed which looked over to the castle. We went and laid by and swam in the lake there and then made our way up to the castle. It was all really beautiful.
LUCERNE:
• made a little stopover here on the way to Interlaken.
• very pretty city, went for drinks beside the river and then took a train to a little town near Lucerne where my great grandfather hailed from. We even saw the house where he used to live. Very cool. Also in that little town, Eschenbach, restaurants don't open until 6:00pm, as we found out, so if you ever find yourself there at around 4:30pm and are perhaps a little hungry, the only apparent option is a drink at the pub.
INTERLAKEN:
• went up the gondola of one the mountains there.
• went for fondue in order to get the real Swiss experience. Wanted râclette, but they didn't have it:(
• had hoped to do some hang-gliding or sky-diving, since Interlaken is known for its thrill-seeking activities, but it was too expensive. Backpacking on a budget doesn't really allow for $300-fifteen-minute experiences.
LAUSANNE:
• decided on a whim to go to Lausanne, without booking anything first.
• saw the train station, found out the city was hosting a big jazz festival as well as a big gymnastics competition, and therefore no room in the entire city for three cheap travelers (Chris was still with us at this point). So we left. So much for spontaneity.
LYON:
• stayed in a cheap hotel (extra cheap since there were three of us splitting the cost)
• didn't do anything. It seemed like a nice city though. We got some take-out pizza which was good, but they gave us spring rolls instead of the chicken wings which we had ordered. Oh well. They were good spring rolls at least.
MARSEILLE:
• a beautiful coastal town in Southern France. It was exactly what I pictured when I thought of Southern France: palm trees, beaches, pink/golden sun, white rocky outcroppings off the shore, a few hills in the distance. Amazing.
• went with a group of people we met from the hostel and tried to find a beach that had been recommended to some of the people we were with.
• didn't find it. Swam in a little harbour instead. Ominous clouds came around, but it was still warm.
• tried again to find the beach. Success! It was a lovely little cove among the white rocky hills, sheltered from the intense wind, and accompanied by the incredible blue water. The weather was much better. Blue skies, hot sun. Laid on the soft white sand and got sunburnt.
• took a day trip to Italy. Yup. A day trip. Fourteen hours of training altogether for one hour at the Salvi harp factory. Surprisingly, it was worth it. The factory was fascinating, the guide was vey sweet and he let me try out one of their harps. Now this was not just any ordinary harp. This was an exquisite, gold faced (real gold), Salvi orchestral harp that cost $60, 000! Needless to say, I was a little intimidated and also incredibly surprised and therefore could barely remember any of my pieces. Still an amazing experience, though.
AIX-EN-PROVENCE:
• found out that I'd left my camera in Marseille
• walked around most of the day trying to find a phone card to organize picking up my camera
• went to pick it up, accidentally took a train going the opposite direction
• had to wait three hours for the next train back to Aix-en-Provence in a lovely little town
• sat at a nice café there and relaxed
• finally got back to Aix then took a train to Marseille
• picked up my camera
• went for crêpes topped with fruit and sorbet once we got back to Aix which were incredibly delicious
BARCELONA:
• walked down the bustling merchant street of Las Ramblas and bought a great hair clip, which I later lost on the way to a train.
• did an evening walking tour and learned a little bit about the Catalan culture and how Barcelona is actually in Catalonia, not Spain.
• saw Gaudi's Cathedral and was blown away by the intricacies of the architecture. It is by far the most amazing cathedral I have ever seen. I also really liked the reasons behind Gaudi's ideas, such as the numerous grand pillars representing trees in a forest. He also used a vast amount of natural light which was really beautiful. Apparently he was very inspired by nature. The Cathedral is not actually finished yet, and they are still building it according to Gaudi's plans that he left for them. It's expected to be done in 2020.
• saw some more of Gaudi's works in a beautiful park
• walked down to the water and along the beach as the sun was setting.
BORDEAUX:
• thought we would have longer here, but due to train schedules we only had the evening.
• stayed in a cheap hotel, and went for dinner at a lovely little Italian restaurant downtown.
• walked along the river.
• caught a 6:00am train to go to Normandy
CAEN:
• stayed in a cheap hotel (was cheaper than the hostels)
• went high heel shopping, didn't buy anything
• walked around Caen's château
• went for a day trip up to Juno beach which is where my grandpa came up on just a few days after D-Day. It was crazy to imagine what it would have been like disembarking the boats on D-Day. Such a deadly task. I couldn't help but think of Saving Private Ryan and the opening scene where the soldiers are getting off the boat and are mowed down as they tried to make their way up the beach. Did a tour of the grounds and learned about that deadly day.
VIMY:
• did a tour of the trenches. Crazy to think of what the conditions would have been like back then.
• walked to the memorial which is massive and beautiful. It stands on the top of the ridge which is what the Canadians captured. Apparently, one of the German commanders once said that if Vimy Ridge was ever captured, it would mean the end of the war. Sure enough, shortly after the ridge was taken, the war was declared over.
• the memorial has thousands of names of soldiers who were never found, including my Great-Grandpa, whose name we saw and sat beside. He was a Corporal who fought in the disastrous battle of the Somme.
BRUSSELS:
• turns out the Belgians are very friendly. We asked for help from someone at the train station and she went above and beyond to make sure we knew where we were going and to ensure we would be ok.
• checked into a cheap hotel (no room at the hostel) which was very nice
• went out with two people, Vlad and Shireen, from Australia who we met at the hotel
• Vlad wanted to go to a gay bar, so we started there, then met some Belgians and went to a Belgian bar for some Belgian beer (and absinthe later on). Definitely an interesting night.
BRUGES:
• did a day trip from Brussels
• despite Bruges being notorious for its rain, the weather was actually spectacular: sunshine and blue skies!
• walked around the beautiful cobblestone streets which were occupied by tourists, horse-drawn carriages, and locals.
• bought some Belgian waffles (incredible!)
• tried some Belgian chocolates (best truffles ever)
• took in a free harp concert
• sat in the main square by a fountain and ate baguette for dinner
PARIS:
• had some ice cream by the river as the sun was setting
• did some walking tours of the main sites: Notre Dame, the Left Bank, the Opera House, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, etc. Very good tours; were tip-based tours and were all done by born and raised Parisians
• had some delicious breads and pastries which I will miss greatly when I leave Europe.
Well that will be all for now. You will have to wait for the next batch of blogs which will be all about UK adventures (and also about my foot injury) so stay tuned!
