So I posted my first half of my own Travel Commandments when I was in Australia and now after four more months of travel I feel it's time to add more to the list! So without further introduction, here are the rest of my commandments.
1. Always travel with an umbrella. Now I believe I wrote this one down actually when I was in Australia and despite my having just the absolute sunniest summer possible in Europe (barely 10 days of rain in more than 100 days and most were just light sprinkles!) this commandment stays on the list. I was complimented when I was in New Zealand at Cathedral Cove for having an umbrella by an older couple also hiking on the trail. They were caught off guard and looked worse for the wear even with rain coats on. A rain coat is nice and I love mine and am happy I have it, but it can't do what an umbrella can which is keeping your book bag, pants, and shoes dry! Staying dry while it is raining all around you enables you to much more easily enjoy the day when you have to be outside in the crummy weather. I found it so much easier to still have a smile on my face while playing tourist. Watching so many people caught without umbrellas in Croatia and Germany looking just miserable made me incredbly thankful that I had kept umbrella on my packing list (while things like running shoes/clothes got cut).
2. Ask for your waiter's name if he/she is not wearing a name tag. This goes for always I would say, but as a solo traveler I think it's even more important. It's hard to remember back that many months, but I recall the first couple of meals I had to take alone (few and far between though on this trip thanks to CS!) did make me feel a little insecure. Surrounded by couples, groups of friends, and families also on vacations, it was easy to feel like I didn't belong, but when I was repeatedly the only one getting attentive service (customer service outside of the US just doesn't seem to exist!) because I would call the waiter/waitress by name, my presence felt validated. The perks are great too... Far easier to ask for the coveted wifi password while I see others struggle with their own smartphones (intimidated to copy me using the waitress's name), special access to changing rooms when I want to put my bathing suit on, and a far friendlier someone to snap a photo for me.
3. Offer to take others' photos and they will (very likely) take yours. Maybe this is obvious, but I was proud when I discovered this one. It's rather easy to tell when two people are looking to have their picture taken together be it on a bridge, in front of a monument, or at the beach and as a solo traveler my heart goes out to them too. So I am always at the ready to volunteer and offer to take their photo before they ask and nine times out of ten they always respond in kind.
4. Use the bathroom whenever it is free. Even if you don't have to go. Just at least try. I think this was first told to me by the bus driver to Milford Sound in New Zealand (he had a funny line about "as your mom used to say, at least try"), but so many months in Europe, the home of paid public toilets, has really cemented this advice. It's hard to put a price on what you're willing to pay when you have to go, so try to avoid putting ourself in that position. Free = go!
5. Learn a bit of the language. Please, thank you, where is?, etc. at a minimum. While it's very true that you can get by without this in Europe, I think out of respect this commandment still holds. I know I made an honest effort despite my inability to learn and retain other languages, but to my own amusement, no matter how much Portuguese, French, Italian, German, etc I would learn, time after time when I walked into a shop or store, my mind went blank and "Hola!" would be what came to mind first. Fortunately, I always seemed to have just enough time to filter that and say the right thing, but the thought still consistently came to mind first and always made me smile to myself.
6. Use an alarm clock on the trains!! I have found I never really know how tired I am until I sit down and then drowsiness sets in. I usually don't ever fall asleep but a few times I have for short snoozes. It's usually actually my fear of missing my stop that keeps me from giving in to sleep because I don't actually like to or want to set my cell phone alarm out of a desire to be polite to other guests. However, this is still a commandment because I didn't set an alarm on my very first train ride in Croatia, which was a night train in fact, and I almost missed my stop the next morning!
7. Carry disposable face wipes....and a travel toothbrush and toothpaste... and hand sanitizer or soap on your body or carry-on. Basically, just always be prepared during travel. Unless of course you don't mind feeling a bit gross for extended periods of time. I know I mind, and being able to brush my teeth on long flights or easily wash my face after waking up after taking a night train makes my travel days much more comfortable. And the soap/hand sanitizer should go without saying. I truly saw the grossest port-a-potties known to mankind at the Roskilde Festival and actually it was critical to carry your own TP with you around that festival too. Carrying the thin, small flakes of soap (are they sheafs or leafs? super thin like a sheet of paper) saved me in train waterclosets and just gross bathrooms in general.
8. Carry coins! As you may know most of Europe uses coins for the €1 and €2 denominations and plenty of places only take coins (think metro ticket machines and luggage lockers) and you just don't know when the change machines won't like your 10 euro bill or anyone else's as I found out in Berlin or when they might just be flat out broken! (And while I wrote this commandment before I returned to Paris last week, following my own advice would have prevented me from falling victim to a scam artist in the Paris metro :(
9. The immediate follow up though is to remember that you cannot ever exchange coin currency. As far as I know, no banks or exchange teller anywhere will accept them.... Bills only. So before leaving each country be sure to spend that coin....use it or lose it!
10. Pack lighter than you think you can. And then pack even lighter :) Cotton clothes are bad! They are too heavy and can take too long to air dry. Make your packing list and check it twice - don't skimp on the important things, but trust me, pack light. You'll thank me later :)
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Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
8 Things I'm Most Looking Forward To When I Get Home
So I started this post awhile ago and since then a sort of spin-off one has also formed of "All the Things I Miss"... There is definitely some overlap, but for now here are the 8 things I am most looking forward to when I come home in less than one week!!
1. Family. I would be a bad daughter and sister if this wasn't number one. Visiting my younger sister at school in less than two weeks and then also hopefully driving down to DC to visit my older sister, Rachel, for a long weekend are making it hard to stay present here in Europe when such long anticipated reunions are on the horizon. Plans are also in the works for a nice, looooong, extended visit at my brother and sister-in-law's house in Monterey where I also can't wait to permanently become my niece, Marin's, favorite aunt.
2. A kitchen (almost) all to my own where I can stock the fridge and cabinets full of my favorites. Not being able to always cook what or when I wanted to for the last six months ignited this yearning inside me to cook everything in a way I never thought I could or would want to. It's a feeling and desire I never had before, but I've got lists and recipes of new foods to try and I'm roaring to go!
3. Nachos. Ok, so for any of you who thought I was talking about fancy culinary dishes with the last one, well who are you kidding? I've missed nachos soooooo much! Yes, there will be some new Vietnamese dishes and Thai curries and French and Danish desserts and my own homemade pizza, but good ol' nachos smothered in guacamole will be cutting to the front of the line.
4. Wegmans. I know you know I know I don't need to say anything more :) but multiple trips are in order to help accomplish numbers two and three above.
5. A keyboard. Enough of this iPad touch screen finger-pecking silliness. Seriously.
6. Fresh air. Be gone all you European smokers. I'm tired of washing my hair before going out at night and coming home only to stink up my pillow case with smoky smelling hair.
7. My running shoes. I cannot wait to actually regularly exercise again. Mom/Linda, please remid me of this if you see me lazing about on the third day I'm back. I will also need help getting my bike down in the garage. I truly cannot wait!
8. My yoga mat. This sort of belonged as number one, but got cut down, but it certainly is no number eight. Sort of a tie at number one especially since Jackson Road is actually going to be very quiet when I first arrive. (So Linda is really the only one who will get to enjoy my cooking :)
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1. Family. I would be a bad daughter and sister if this wasn't number one. Visiting my younger sister at school in less than two weeks and then also hopefully driving down to DC to visit my older sister, Rachel, for a long weekend are making it hard to stay present here in Europe when such long anticipated reunions are on the horizon. Plans are also in the works for a nice, looooong, extended visit at my brother and sister-in-law's house in Monterey where I also can't wait to permanently become my niece, Marin's, favorite aunt.
2. A kitchen (almost) all to my own where I can stock the fridge and cabinets full of my favorites. Not being able to always cook what or when I wanted to for the last six months ignited this yearning inside me to cook everything in a way I never thought I could or would want to. It's a feeling and desire I never had before, but I've got lists and recipes of new foods to try and I'm roaring to go!
3. Nachos. Ok, so for any of you who thought I was talking about fancy culinary dishes with the last one, well who are you kidding? I've missed nachos soooooo much! Yes, there will be some new Vietnamese dishes and Thai curries and French and Danish desserts and my own homemade pizza, but good ol' nachos smothered in guacamole will be cutting to the front of the line.
4. Wegmans. I know you know I know I don't need to say anything more :) but multiple trips are in order to help accomplish numbers two and three above.
5. A keyboard. Enough of this iPad touch screen finger-pecking silliness. Seriously.
6. Fresh air. Be gone all you European smokers. I'm tired of washing my hair before going out at night and coming home only to stink up my pillow case with smoky smelling hair.
7. My running shoes. I cannot wait to actually regularly exercise again. Mom/Linda, please remid me of this if you see me lazing about on the third day I'm back. I will also need help getting my bike down in the garage. I truly cannot wait!
8. My yoga mat. This sort of belonged as number one, but got cut down, but it certainly is no number eight. Sort of a tie at number one especially since Jackson Road is actually going to be very quiet when I first arrive. (So Linda is really the only one who will get to enjoy my cooking :)
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Saturday, August 18, 2012
Graz
Choosing it over Salzburg, I made a day trip to Graz during my stay in Vienna. I'm horribly behind with my posts (coincidentally, I made this trip on June 18, and today is August 18 as I write this! Eeek!) so I am doing this as picture and caption format.
Graz's historic center is also apparently a UNESCO site. (I think I will count all the ones I have seen and put the tally on my resume. They can be the "accomplishments" of my travel for my next employer to see :)
Their Kunsthaus (awesomely designed art museum) was closed on Mondays!! :(
Mur Island (Murinsel or Island in the Mur River) was built to celebrate Graz's selection as the cultural hub of the EU one year.
The city has an awesome hill which is home to the Schlossberg fortress and a park. You can either take the stairs up or walk through the Schlossberg cave railway tunnel. We went up via the nice and cool tunnel and down the stairs. A very wide choice in the heat!
Gorgeous views from the top and a perfect spot to rest!
Discovered an awesome and delicious vegan buffet place for lunch - Manngolds! I wanted to try a little bit of everything, though this is honestly still maybe only 20% of their offerings!
I don't have any photos of Paul my tour guide, but he was a cool guy who has re-invigorated me to search extra hard to find a European company in the US to work for next in order to receive European-esque vacation benefits. (He interned with Siemens in the US). He also inspired me to come back one day for the nightlife in Graz. I guess given its high student population it can get off the hook! :)
There are actually clubs built into the tunnel system in the hill!
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Graz's historic center is also apparently a UNESCO site. (I think I will count all the ones I have seen and put the tally on my resume. They can be the "accomplishments" of my travel for my next employer to see :)
Their Kunsthaus (awesomely designed art museum) was closed on Mondays!! :(
Mur Island (Murinsel or Island in the Mur River) was built to celebrate Graz's selection as the cultural hub of the EU one year.
The city has an awesome hill which is home to the Schlossberg fortress and a park. You can either take the stairs up or walk through the Schlossberg cave railway tunnel. We went up via the nice and cool tunnel and down the stairs. A very wide choice in the heat!
Gorgeous views from the top and a perfect spot to rest!
Discovered an awesome and delicious vegan buffet place for lunch - Manngolds! I wanted to try a little bit of everything, though this is honestly still maybe only 20% of their offerings!
I don't have any photos of Paul my tour guide, but he was a cool guy who has re-invigorated me to search extra hard to find a European company in the US to work for next in order to receive European-esque vacation benefits. (He interned with Siemens in the US). He also inspired me to come back one day for the nightlife in Graz. I guess given its high student population it can get off the hook! :)
There are actually clubs built into the tunnel system in the hill!
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Vienna
The insanely beautiful weather and wonderful good fortune continued in Vienna. I had a simply gorgeous time in this very, very livable city. I've since been many other awesome cities, but the beauty, comfort, and high livability quotient of Vienna left a strong impression that remains in my mind. I arrived into what would be my first taste of European train stations. The Vienna train station felt like a super clean and brand new mall compared to the train stations of Croatia and Hungary. (I suppose those now are more reminiscent of a World War I era movie set.) But I bypassed all the shopping (back on the more expensive Euro here) and made my way to my host, Christian's place.
As I said my good fortune continued and I am sure I found the best host in all of Vienna! I felt right at home on my giant shiatsu mat able to practice yoga any time of day.
On my first afternoon, Christian and I hit up the Naschmarkt for picnic food and headed to the Schonbrunn Palace and Gardens to enjoy the sunny weather. Though I haven't yet been to Versailles, I've got to say I'm sure it is very similar. Über-wealthy royalty needed to escape the city and they would have been "unsafe" taking a stroll on a public street or garden, so they had to build their own massive garden about half the size of Central Park. It was very beautiful for sure and today holds a zoo and small open air amphitheater for concerts.
Christian helped me create "plans of attack" and possible walking routes for each day and I found the city very, very walkable. Everything was so close! And actually when I wanted to move from one end to the other the subway was more convenient than ever because, I kid you not, the subway comes every 2 to 4 minutes! It runs incredibly often! (Christian informed me that people who work in Vienna pay an extra two euros a month as a subway tax... Not so bad really for amazing public transportation!)
I visited St Stephen's Cathedral (whose stones came from the Bosnian quarry of my hitchhiking ride in Croatia!) while mass was in session (in German!) actually and unfotunately on that Sunday no tours were offered in English. This was a bit of a bummer because I had hoped to be able to walk on the roof! But it was still beautiful especially in its fairly central location within the historic (another UNESCO site) Vienna city.
I have to mention that horse drawn carriages are ubiquitous in the center of Vienna, which actually became a nuisance to me. Vienna's Grabenstrasse boasts some of the most expensive stores in Vienna (Versace, Hermes, you name it) but it just stinks of manure! Carriages pass by every couple of minutes and I couldn't help but think about the poor people who were expecting a pleasant ride and instead had to plug their noses due to the smell!
I walked around the city exploring and just taking in the sights. I visited Hofburg Palace (home of the Hapsburg Empererors), Parliament, Stadt Park, St Charles in Karlplatz, Albertinaplatz, the Opera House, Museums Quartier, St Peters church, Karntner Strasse - their super busy pedestrian only road, and City Hall (the site of their Pride event just the day before - major clean up as underway still!). And one early evening I met up with another CSer who had wanted to surf with me in Tampa the week after I left in March. But it was neat to get to still meet and she showed me an awesome part of Vienna along the Danu Canal (an offshoot of the Danube River) where lots of "beach bars" are located - they import sand!
Crazy bike rack near Museums Quartier, but I think it was too cool that it intimidated people from using it and they all opted to use the more boring and traditional option in the background.
City Hall with its leftovers from the Pride Parade the day before.
Famous Viennese Cake Shop (this is not a dress, but a cake!)
And I made plans to come back on other days to see an Opera and the morning exercise of the Lipizzaner horses at the Spanish riding school. The Opera House and other classical music venues throughout the city offer very cheap standing room tickets. At the Stadtopera, they offer for sale on the day of the performances both a 3 euro ticket (off to the side nosebleed seats) or a 4 euro ticket for almost-up-front and center standing room "seats". At the time I didn't know the difference between the two but when it was my turn in line and I was asked to choose a ticket knowing only the prices, I opted for the 4 euro ticket because, hey, it was only one euro more. And I made the right choice! The location was sweet! And they use this unique system with scarves to save your place so that you can still hang out by the bar or mingle outside before the performance but still save your primo spot. I caught Elektra and thankfully (1) it was one of the shorter operas and (2) there was a translation provided so I could follow along. Next time I would love to catch a ballet performance at the opera house... I was just two days too early.
On my last morning I re-visited the Spanish Riding School, which is actually within the Hofburg Palace complex, and enjoyed their morning exercise. I honestly don't know anything about their training, practice, exercise schedule (I could have taken a tour that day and found out though I bet), but I was amazed that if this was their exercise for the day that each horse only got 20 minutes with their trainer. Perhaps this was just more for show, but I would think there must be a lot more behind the scenes practicing going on. No photos were allowed, but this wasn't my first (or last) time breaking that rule.
Two memorable food experiences came out of Vienna, a city known more for its non-vegetarian cuisine. First, was a falafel place Christian recommended called Maschu. It was out of this world. (They do boast a slogan 'best falafel in the world', but I would even elevate that claim!). The sauces were delicious...sort of a sweet-mango-salsa slaw and they add pesto to their falafel turning them almost bright green! Just amazing! So I naturally had to go back again on my last day too!
The second "dish" was a dessert, surprise surprise. A massive ice cream sundae covered in fruit. In fact it had probably two-thirds of its volume and weight coming from the fruit rather than the ice cream. The deliciousness of this sundae has since inspired many home made versions over the past two months. Almost to die for! Fruit is sooo in season every where I travel here in Europe. Peaches, plums, and so many other versions of plums I have been introduced to in Portugal and France.
Clearly didn't want to have to share it!
Oh, and had to take a photo of Dino's, where we went one night for drinks. I never knew it was a classic American bar name, but Dino's lives on. Though, this place was far more classy, lacking a dance floor, and had about 100 cocktails to choose from. Tough decisions...
Miscellaneous notes.....
Austria might still be leading the pack with some of my favorite trains on their OBB (pronounced "oo baybay") national rail system. The trains were very new, über-clean, plenty fast, and it didn't hurt that in first class I got a KitKat bar each time a ticket agent came by!
According to Christian, politics here just go back and forth and nothing ever changes because people don't stick around long enough. My education regarding the EU continued as well. The EU, which formed around 1990, has really no teeth and enforcement capabilities for all of the laws and rules it creates. Even Germany and France, the two largest members with the most influence, regularly break the rules on national debt limits and the only punishment is a fine from the EU which is quite a counter effective punishment. According to Christian, there are too many sensitive issues that the EU doesn't end up doing anything about and ends up just being a giant sinkhole for money with all of its inefficiencies. Of course, the EU was created for good reason following the Cold War, as a means to try to prevent another World War. Its first goal was to equalize economies and bring everyone to the same level, but every country has too much debt so phase one of the EU still isn't complete.
Austria has a strong economy and has survived the recession fine. However it has only 8 million people compared to Germany's approx 80 million, so it retains a very small voice in the EU. (2.5 million live in Vienna)
Per Christian, my generation and the X or Y generation prior to mine have bucked the institution of marriage in Austria and are no longer entering into marriages. Two of his close friends and his brother have kids, but are not married to their partners. He says this has now become incredibly common.
In my opinion, it is easy to tell a German accent from an Austrian one. Austrian accents are much softer sounding - nowhere near as harsh as the German.
Finally, you can bring dogs on the subway in Vienna. This was very shocking to me at first, but have now seen it throughout the continent. You can also take strollers on escalators! Again, this was shocking to me at first, but I have now seen it countless times. The shock has worn off as I realize Americans really must just be rather brainwashed into being overly cautious in our very litigious and heavy-parenting-focused society.
This rock along the Danube River perfectly represents my feelings on the city as well!
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Saturday, August 11, 2012
A mass update to RJ from the last month
Hi guys!
Well I have just less than one month left in Europe and I have such mixed feelings about it. There are so many things I miss about the US and home (Olympics coverage in English for one!), but it will be so sad to leave this continent that has treated me so so sooo well for the summer.
Here's what I've been up to since I last wrote....
I rounded out Germany with visits to Dresden, Munich and Cologne. I must say that Dresden was the first city I visited that I had to say was one I could have skipped and not missed. A bit lackluster to say the least, though it had been recommended to me. Munich was terrific and I frequented a number of beer gardens and continued to have luck finding the "Radler" beer which is a beer and lemon mix. I also took a day to visit the Dachau concentration camp which was very somber and influenced my mood enough that I couldn't find the energy or desire any longer to get off the train that evening in Heidelberg (a city I had planned to visit) in favor of continuing on to Cologne to reunite with a friend a day early. Cologne had a much greater vibrancy than I knew about - full of European tourists, bachelor/bachelorette parties, weddings, dancing in the streets, you name it! I was also there for the start of their Gay Pride WEEK (not just a day in Cologne). Two highlights were the chocolate museum and climbing the Cologne Cathedral and reaching the tippy top just as it started to thunder, lightning, and rain cats and dogs. It was a truly electric feeling being at the top of the spiral with wind and rain spray coming in and hearing the howling weather at that elevation.
I extended my time in Cologne not feeling up for the long train rides all the way to and from Stockholm which would leave only enough remaining time to spend barely 48 hours there, so instead I made the much shorter trip to Malmö, Sweden. And I'm really glad I did because now I know Stockholm is DEFINITELY worth visiting on a future trip, probably paired with Finland and Norway. I immediately liked the feeling of Malmö - even in the train station. In Swedish design, form does follow function and the city just felt very livable... And clean! Though it was misting a very light rain that morning or maybe because it WAS misting, I just loved the feeling in the air there! I did a little shopping, visited design museums, and had the best - I do mean absolute best - cinnamon bun ever. (It was so incredibly soft and melt -in-your-mouth despite no longer being warm from the oven.... Just soooo fresh - no need for preservatives I suppose... They are eaten right up!)
Then it was time for Copenhagen, one of the expected highlights of my trip, and it sure did deliver! I enjoyed reuniting for three nights in the city with two of my favorite former surfers. Denmark isn't the sunniest country but my good fortune continued and I experienced brilliant sunshine. Not only that, but sunset there was at around 10:30pm or so, so the days were very long. It was weird how it affected my eating habits because I would expect dinner around 10pm given the daylight, but all the restaurants would be closed (Scandinavia does not share the late dinner hour with France, Spain, and Italy!)
On the Thursday morning, the three of us headed to a town outside the city to meet up with more of their friends for four days of camping at the Roskilde Music Festival. Holy smokes, it was an amazing festival!! I was able to see so many of my favorite groups - Bon Iver, M83, Santigold, Daughter, First Aid Kit, the Shins, and soooo soooo many new bands to me that were thrilling to see on both giant and smaller, more intimate stages. (This is one of the largest music festivals in the world and has 8 stages!) I was up dancing til sunrise with acts like Paul Kalkbrenner and Pretty Lights, though there, sunrise only means 4am because the sun rises so early!!
(photo borrowed from Roskilde!)
I next had to get on the road to make it to another music festival the following weekend in Portugal so I just had a couple two night stopovers in Paris & Zaragoza, Spain to drop in for much-too-short reunions with other friends. I honestly ended up not doing much besides resting, reading, laundry, and just a bit of sightseeing because I actually came down with a bit of a cold Sunday night/Monday morning after too much dancing and not enough sleep. But I nipped it in the bud and I was back in action in plenty of time for Portugal!
Watching the Eifel tower light show from a distance (didn't get to see it in 2007)
The view from my "bedroom" in Paris in the 5th arrondissement.
I arrived in Lisbon to be greeted by the most perfect weather (Spain had been almost unbearably hot and Paris had been a bit cloudy) and I was psyched for the Optimus Alive Festival. Now I had to be selective with what festivals to visit this summer for a number of reasons - cost, conflicting dates, location conflicts with my route, and the fact that many of the festivals have a good deal of overlap of performers who are all on tour in Europe for the summer. So for example, even with my selectivity I still knew that both The Cure and Santigold would be at both. Another upcoming festival, Pukkelpop in Belgium, which was recommended to me, has another four or five overlapping repeats so I decided not to go. However, Optimus Alive was a must-see for me with Radiohead, Florence & the Machine, and Mumford and Sons. And the repeating of artists wasn't a bad thing. Having watched Santigold at Roskilde from about 30 "rows" back, I knew that for one of her songs she asks for dancers from the audience to come up on stage so I made sure the second time around to be close enough and it worked! I hopped up on stage with about 25-30 others and got to shake it on stage!
I stayed in Portugal for 10 days in order to be able to see a friend who would be returning the next weekend from a business trip so in between the weekends I hit up as many beaches as I could find. I ended up falling in love with the country! I rented a car in order to be able to reach some more distant and remote beaches in the south of the country (another highlight was driving manual for the first time in over 6 years on the crazy hills of Lisbon and other towns! Brand new experience for me!) I discovered a number of stunning, stunning beaches and also checked off sleeping under the stars from my bucket list! I rounded out my time with plenty of yoga, trying snails for the first time, copious amounts of ice cream and fruit sundaes, watching the sun set each night, experiencing Lisbon's great nightlife, and exploring the famous town/area of Sintra. I have to give Portugal a two thumbs and ten sandy toes up!
I made an unfortunately short stop in Barcelona next in order to visit another former surfer of mine. He was one who actually visited me twice in Tampa so I definitely had to pay him a visit! After consulting my guidebook I realized that I had already visited the 6 or 7 main sites/attractions in the city on a previous trip in 2007 and there did not seem to be much else to do that merited precedence over spending my one and a half days at the beach. So I got to spend my time guilt-free at the beach enjoying their summertime drink tinto de verano (pretty similar to sangria)! And there's a chance I could make it back once more before flying home, so we'll see!
My time in Barcelona was so short because I wanted to have as much time as possible visiting another friend in St Tropez on the French Riviera. This was a very long awaited reunion as Jenny was one of my very first couch surfers in Tampa! We got to enjoy three days together and I think I can safely say that even with a month left to go, this visit and destination is going to remain high in my top 3 favorite places of Europe...easily. It was a great time full of beaches, nightlife, quaint hillside and coastal towns, beautiful drives through countryside vineyards, bottles and bottles of Rosé, and amazing food. Two meals in particular need mentioning because each in and of itself are highlights on my trip. First, I had the best pizza of my life here and now having also already been to Naples and eaten at L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele, the oldest pizzeria in the world heralded as the best, I can say that my pizza in St Tropez was not just better, but the best. I don't want to give away their secrets, but it starts with using pesto sauce instead of marinara pizza sauce. I can't wait to make it myself when I get back! The second meal was an extravagant feast in town. Jenny's parents own one of the most famous restaurants in St Tropez and with a little bit of notice they reserved us a table for the evening. We ate and ate and ate certainly the best Vietnamese and Thai fusion cuisine I've ever had and topped it off with some flaming desserts! Then on my last day we hit up some of the other nearby cities of the Riviera - Cannes, Nice, and Monaco - for another unforgettable day of fun! Needless to say, it was really, really tough to say goodbye!
Italy was my next destination and it was full of so many highlights of its own! I visited Bologna, Venice, Florence, Pisa (for only 2 hours!), Cavriglia along with a multitude of other tiny Tuscan towns, Rome and Naples. Unfortunately I don't think the day time high temperature was ever lower than 93 degrees for my 13 days there and it more often happened to be closer to 97 and 99 degrees, but the amazing thing was that I loved Italy despite the hot, hot heat! I must say that in a do-over I would omit Bologna (I couldn't really eat Bolognese sauce after all) and Pisa offered absolutely no shade on an incredibly hot day, but still it was all part of the Italian experience. Florence was perhaps the most giant surprise given how much I loved it. So much to see and do and then finish the night off in one of the dozens of piazzas with a bottle of wine. I was really looking forward to Tuscany and as expected, it was gorgeous, but I discovered that even if I may like red wine, I don't much care for it in 97 degree heat, so we didn't do nearly as many tastings as I thought we would. It was still amazing zipping around the hills in our rental Smart car!
In light of the heat, it turns out my mere four nights/three days in Rome were just the right amount of time - though I know I will be back! Arriving on Friday night from Tuscany I received just the best introduction to the city when my host gave me an incredible night time tour of the city by scooter complete with a bottle of cold *white* wine to share. Italy really shuts down for the month of August I learned with everyone taking vacation and so the streets were quiet except for a few pockets of activity here and there, but seeing all, and I do mean ALL, of the sites (Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Forum, Circus Maximus, Vatican, Tiber River and fountain after fountain and piazza after piazza) in the stillness of the warm, summer night all lit up affirmed that August is still a fine time to visit. (And made this girl who took Latin in high school squeal with excitement!) With such an introduction, the only way to follow it up was a day at the beach and not just any beach, but I will declare the beach in Sabaudia (about 95 km southeast) the best beach I have been to in all of Europe. It was just perfect! Perfect temperature, perfect sand (no rocks or shells finally!), perfect color and clarity, and my favorite part was its shallowness so you had to actually walk out about 150 meters before your belly button even got wet! The beach stretches for miles and sits in a sort of crook below a giant mountain in a national park...spectacular and definitely worth the long drive..which wasn't so bad in a convertible :) With a day at the beach and a nighttime tour already under my belt I could revisit the sites over the next two days more enjoyably! Sistine Chapel and Colosseum...check, check off my bucket list!
My last stop was Naples and I could ramble on for double the length with how much I loved my time there staying with a friend of my brother's, but I'll keep it short and say it was just divine! Napoleons love their fireworks and wine ...and pizza! and I partook in all of it! We also visited Pompeii and made the super scenic Amalfi Coast drive (truly the best -- definite highlight among all of Europe!) Another delight of mine was being able to mail home about a fifth of my bag's weight and offload some things I can do without for the end of my trip at U.S. domestic postage rates from the Navy base there! (hint, hint.. y'all have some postcards coming!) I lifted my bag the next morning and it felt as light as a feather... almost :) Just divine!
Mount Vesuvius behind us!
I'm in Lucerne now and just smitten with how picturesque the city is. It sits along a lake and river surrounded by mountains and two nights in a row I have watched the mountain tops turn pink at sunset with reflections of the Alps showing in the panoramic apartment windows everywhere I look!
Here's what I have left to do before boarding my flight in Madrid:
-Geneva and Zurich & hiking in the Alps with a former surfer
-A bit of time in Lyon, Strasbourg, and Lille, France
-Brussels, Ghent & Bruges in Belgium
-Amsterdam and possibly also Rotterdam
-Almost a full week in Paris and a weekend in the countryside outside of Orléans
-Marrakech, Morroco - I have a hotel booked right in the Medina!
-Seville, Granada, and Madrid!
And for tradition's sake... the low lights!!
1. The trains. I know I mentioned these earlier, but now I have a few funny stories to share. I actually counted and so far I have taken 58 trains (not including the suburban line trains in cities like Berlin, Munich, Copenhagen, etc which are also included in my train pass) throughout Europe. So it finally happened on my trip from Barcelona to St Tropez that I boarded the wrong train at one of my connecting stations. I can laugh now, but when I learned of this on board the train I was very distressed. I knew at that late point in the day that my options to correct my mistake could be few and far between as trains start running far less frequently and St Raphael (the nearest station to Jenny) is a very under-serviced station to begin with. But I found an angel on the train who helped me re-route my train schedule and I only ended up taking 5 trains that day instead of the original 3. It could have been much worse! The second story came on my most recent train journey from Naples to Lucerne. Seat reservations are required on many of the popular or high speed trains in Europe and these typically must be made at the train stations (headache!), but the Italian train company allows you to make them online. However, in my hurry in making them the night before in Naples I goofed and made reservations for September 8th (8-9-12) instead of for August 9th (9-8-12) goofing up the European date convention. I thought it was an honest mistake when the train conductor pointed it out to me once we were already underway and didn't see what the big problem was since the price was the same and around me in first class was 75% empty. However, he saw it differently and not only was he insisting that I pay the reservation fee again, but that I needed to pay a higher, 18 euro fee, for doing it while on board the train. Needless to say, I was not happy. I had made the same goof with my second reservation of the day from Milan to Lucerne, but fortunately those employees neither noticed or cared. So I know I have certainly seen major benefits to taking the trains (I think my pass paid for itself by train ride number 30), but I suppose as with any form of travel there are hiccups and surprises. I ended up missing what should have been an easy connection in Barcelona en route to Lisbon because of the craziness that is the Barcelona train station. It felt more like an airport than a train station with its security scanners (unseen up to that point anywhere else in Europe), access control points, longer than long lines to board the trains, and segmented platforms that made it very hard to navigate. I do not look forward to going back there... ever!
2. So I know I mentioned that Florence & the Machine would be at the Optimus Alive festival and as my favorite artist I was incredibly excited to get to see her again. So it came as a giant blow to me when I learned two days prior to her show that she had pulled a muscle in her throat singing at another festival and doctors had told her to take a week off canceling her performance in Lisbon. When I learned the news in Zaragoza I felt the wind just totally die in my sails that morning. I had felt I had been racing across the continent to get to see her enduring long train rides and ordeals, but I had to just briefly grieve this loss and move on. Still, it was one of the biggest bummers of the trip.
3. The next one is a silly one, but I had been bug bite free since Athens where I got four bites on my face while sleeping one night. But the bugs, specifically I am told the Tiger Mosquitoes from Africa, finally found me in Barcelona and have continued to feast on me throughout all of Italy and here too now in Switzerland. I've been bitten in some of my most hated spots too - between my toes and on my palms and wrists and again on my face under my eye in addition to everywhere else on my body! I guess missing the bug bites will not be one of the advantages to missing out on Tampa in the summer after all!
4. And this last one is anything but silly as I have very sincere sadness in missing the Summer Olympics this year. It was a totally conscious decision to omit the games in London from my itinerary this summer, but I had done so thinking that I would still be able to watch the Olympics in at least a somewhat similar fashion to how I normally would in the US. So I was disappointed to learn that Italy doesn't really care about the Olympics. Bars were almost never showing the games and when I found them on in my hotel rooms on tiny TV screens it was always only for the events that Italy was competing in - like fencing. So I went the first 9 days or so only getting to watch one swimming race and it actually turned out to be one that Michael Phelps was competing in (the freestyle relay I think), but I had no idea he was ever even in the pool because the Italian coverage only showed the French team celebrating afterwards. They didn't care about Michael Phelps :) So it was a complete joy to me to find in Naples that AFN, the Armed Forces Network, broadcasts full NBC coverage in ENGLISH of course and I could finally watch a little bit! By this time, swimming and gymnastics were over, but it was nice just to see team USA on the screen finally :)
So I know this was a long one...did you make it to the end? :) I apologize for how long it's been since my last update, but blame it on the iPad... it really is awful for typing. I have found it is much more enjoyable and easy on my arms and wrists to listen to podcasts on the train then to stay current on my correspondence. I'm sorry!! Only one month left until I have a real keyboard again!
I hope you all have a great weekend and of course happy birthday to Linda! Wish I could be there to celebrate!
Miss you all!
Annie
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Well I have just less than one month left in Europe and I have such mixed feelings about it. There are so many things I miss about the US and home (Olympics coverage in English for one!), but it will be so sad to leave this continent that has treated me so so sooo well for the summer.
Here's what I've been up to since I last wrote....
I rounded out Germany with visits to Dresden, Munich and Cologne. I must say that Dresden was the first city I visited that I had to say was one I could have skipped and not missed. A bit lackluster to say the least, though it had been recommended to me. Munich was terrific and I frequented a number of beer gardens and continued to have luck finding the "Radler" beer which is a beer and lemon mix. I also took a day to visit the Dachau concentration camp which was very somber and influenced my mood enough that I couldn't find the energy or desire any longer to get off the train that evening in Heidelberg (a city I had planned to visit) in favor of continuing on to Cologne to reunite with a friend a day early. Cologne had a much greater vibrancy than I knew about - full of European tourists, bachelor/bachelorette parties, weddings, dancing in the streets, you name it! I was also there for the start of their Gay Pride WEEK (not just a day in Cologne). Two highlights were the chocolate museum and climbing the Cologne Cathedral and reaching the tippy top just as it started to thunder, lightning, and rain cats and dogs. It was a truly electric feeling being at the top of the spiral with wind and rain spray coming in and hearing the howling weather at that elevation.
I extended my time in Cologne not feeling up for the long train rides all the way to and from Stockholm which would leave only enough remaining time to spend barely 48 hours there, so instead I made the much shorter trip to Malmö, Sweden. And I'm really glad I did because now I know Stockholm is DEFINITELY worth visiting on a future trip, probably paired with Finland and Norway. I immediately liked the feeling of Malmö - even in the train station. In Swedish design, form does follow function and the city just felt very livable... And clean! Though it was misting a very light rain that morning or maybe because it WAS misting, I just loved the feeling in the air there! I did a little shopping, visited design museums, and had the best - I do mean absolute best - cinnamon bun ever. (It was so incredibly soft and melt -in-your-mouth despite no longer being warm from the oven.... Just soooo fresh - no need for preservatives I suppose... They are eaten right up!)
Then it was time for Copenhagen, one of the expected highlights of my trip, and it sure did deliver! I enjoyed reuniting for three nights in the city with two of my favorite former surfers. Denmark isn't the sunniest country but my good fortune continued and I experienced brilliant sunshine. Not only that, but sunset there was at around 10:30pm or so, so the days were very long. It was weird how it affected my eating habits because I would expect dinner around 10pm given the daylight, but all the restaurants would be closed (Scandinavia does not share the late dinner hour with France, Spain, and Italy!)
On the Thursday morning, the three of us headed to a town outside the city to meet up with more of their friends for four days of camping at the Roskilde Music Festival. Holy smokes, it was an amazing festival!! I was able to see so many of my favorite groups - Bon Iver, M83, Santigold, Daughter, First Aid Kit, the Shins, and soooo soooo many new bands to me that were thrilling to see on both giant and smaller, more intimate stages. (This is one of the largest music festivals in the world and has 8 stages!) I was up dancing til sunrise with acts like Paul Kalkbrenner and Pretty Lights, though there, sunrise only means 4am because the sun rises so early!!
(photo borrowed from Roskilde!)
I next had to get on the road to make it to another music festival the following weekend in Portugal so I just had a couple two night stopovers in Paris & Zaragoza, Spain to drop in for much-too-short reunions with other friends. I honestly ended up not doing much besides resting, reading, laundry, and just a bit of sightseeing because I actually came down with a bit of a cold Sunday night/Monday morning after too much dancing and not enough sleep. But I nipped it in the bud and I was back in action in plenty of time for Portugal!
Watching the Eifel tower light show from a distance (didn't get to see it in 2007)
The view from my "bedroom" in Paris in the 5th arrondissement.
I arrived in Lisbon to be greeted by the most perfect weather (Spain had been almost unbearably hot and Paris had been a bit cloudy) and I was psyched for the Optimus Alive Festival. Now I had to be selective with what festivals to visit this summer for a number of reasons - cost, conflicting dates, location conflicts with my route, and the fact that many of the festivals have a good deal of overlap of performers who are all on tour in Europe for the summer. So for example, even with my selectivity I still knew that both The Cure and Santigold would be at both. Another upcoming festival, Pukkelpop in Belgium, which was recommended to me, has another four or five overlapping repeats so I decided not to go. However, Optimus Alive was a must-see for me with Radiohead, Florence & the Machine, and Mumford and Sons. And the repeating of artists wasn't a bad thing. Having watched Santigold at Roskilde from about 30 "rows" back, I knew that for one of her songs she asks for dancers from the audience to come up on stage so I made sure the second time around to be close enough and it worked! I hopped up on stage with about 25-30 others and got to shake it on stage!
I stayed in Portugal for 10 days in order to be able to see a friend who would be returning the next weekend from a business trip so in between the weekends I hit up as many beaches as I could find. I ended up falling in love with the country! I rented a car in order to be able to reach some more distant and remote beaches in the south of the country (another highlight was driving manual for the first time in over 6 years on the crazy hills of Lisbon and other towns! Brand new experience for me!) I discovered a number of stunning, stunning beaches and also checked off sleeping under the stars from my bucket list! I rounded out my time with plenty of yoga, trying snails for the first time, copious amounts of ice cream and fruit sundaes, watching the sun set each night, experiencing Lisbon's great nightlife, and exploring the famous town/area of Sintra. I have to give Portugal a two thumbs and ten sandy toes up!
I made an unfortunately short stop in Barcelona next in order to visit another former surfer of mine. He was one who actually visited me twice in Tampa so I definitely had to pay him a visit! After consulting my guidebook I realized that I had already visited the 6 or 7 main sites/attractions in the city on a previous trip in 2007 and there did not seem to be much else to do that merited precedence over spending my one and a half days at the beach. So I got to spend my time guilt-free at the beach enjoying their summertime drink tinto de verano (pretty similar to sangria)! And there's a chance I could make it back once more before flying home, so we'll see!
My time in Barcelona was so short because I wanted to have as much time as possible visiting another friend in St Tropez on the French Riviera. This was a very long awaited reunion as Jenny was one of my very first couch surfers in Tampa! We got to enjoy three days together and I think I can safely say that even with a month left to go, this visit and destination is going to remain high in my top 3 favorite places of Europe...easily. It was a great time full of beaches, nightlife, quaint hillside and coastal towns, beautiful drives through countryside vineyards, bottles and bottles of Rosé, and amazing food. Two meals in particular need mentioning because each in and of itself are highlights on my trip. First, I had the best pizza of my life here and now having also already been to Naples and eaten at L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele, the oldest pizzeria in the world heralded as the best, I can say that my pizza in St Tropez was not just better, but the best. I don't want to give away their secrets, but it starts with using pesto sauce instead of marinara pizza sauce. I can't wait to make it myself when I get back! The second meal was an extravagant feast in town. Jenny's parents own one of the most famous restaurants in St Tropez and with a little bit of notice they reserved us a table for the evening. We ate and ate and ate certainly the best Vietnamese and Thai fusion cuisine I've ever had and topped it off with some flaming desserts! Then on my last day we hit up some of the other nearby cities of the Riviera - Cannes, Nice, and Monaco - for another unforgettable day of fun! Needless to say, it was really, really tough to say goodbye!
Italy was my next destination and it was full of so many highlights of its own! I visited Bologna, Venice, Florence, Pisa (for only 2 hours!), Cavriglia along with a multitude of other tiny Tuscan towns, Rome and Naples. Unfortunately I don't think the day time high temperature was ever lower than 93 degrees for my 13 days there and it more often happened to be closer to 97 and 99 degrees, but the amazing thing was that I loved Italy despite the hot, hot heat! I must say that in a do-over I would omit Bologna (I couldn't really eat Bolognese sauce after all) and Pisa offered absolutely no shade on an incredibly hot day, but still it was all part of the Italian experience. Florence was perhaps the most giant surprise given how much I loved it. So much to see and do and then finish the night off in one of the dozens of piazzas with a bottle of wine. I was really looking forward to Tuscany and as expected, it was gorgeous, but I discovered that even if I may like red wine, I don't much care for it in 97 degree heat, so we didn't do nearly as many tastings as I thought we would. It was still amazing zipping around the hills in our rental Smart car!
In light of the heat, it turns out my mere four nights/three days in Rome were just the right amount of time - though I know I will be back! Arriving on Friday night from Tuscany I received just the best introduction to the city when my host gave me an incredible night time tour of the city by scooter complete with a bottle of cold *white* wine to share. Italy really shuts down for the month of August I learned with everyone taking vacation and so the streets were quiet except for a few pockets of activity here and there, but seeing all, and I do mean ALL, of the sites (Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Forum, Circus Maximus, Vatican, Tiber River and fountain after fountain and piazza after piazza) in the stillness of the warm, summer night all lit up affirmed that August is still a fine time to visit. (And made this girl who took Latin in high school squeal with excitement!) With such an introduction, the only way to follow it up was a day at the beach and not just any beach, but I will declare the beach in Sabaudia (about 95 km southeast) the best beach I have been to in all of Europe. It was just perfect! Perfect temperature, perfect sand (no rocks or shells finally!), perfect color and clarity, and my favorite part was its shallowness so you had to actually walk out about 150 meters before your belly button even got wet! The beach stretches for miles and sits in a sort of crook below a giant mountain in a national park...spectacular and definitely worth the long drive..which wasn't so bad in a convertible :) With a day at the beach and a nighttime tour already under my belt I could revisit the sites over the next two days more enjoyably! Sistine Chapel and Colosseum...check, check off my bucket list!
My last stop was Naples and I could ramble on for double the length with how much I loved my time there staying with a friend of my brother's, but I'll keep it short and say it was just divine! Napoleons love their fireworks and wine ...and pizza! and I partook in all of it! We also visited Pompeii and made the super scenic Amalfi Coast drive (truly the best -- definite highlight among all of Europe!) Another delight of mine was being able to mail home about a fifth of my bag's weight and offload some things I can do without for the end of my trip at U.S. domestic postage rates from the Navy base there! (hint, hint.. y'all have some postcards coming!) I lifted my bag the next morning and it felt as light as a feather... almost :) Just divine!
Mount Vesuvius behind us!
I'm in Lucerne now and just smitten with how picturesque the city is. It sits along a lake and river surrounded by mountains and two nights in a row I have watched the mountain tops turn pink at sunset with reflections of the Alps showing in the panoramic apartment windows everywhere I look!
Here's what I have left to do before boarding my flight in Madrid:
-Geneva and Zurich & hiking in the Alps with a former surfer
-A bit of time in Lyon, Strasbourg, and Lille, France
-Brussels, Ghent & Bruges in Belgium
-Amsterdam and possibly also Rotterdam
-Almost a full week in Paris and a weekend in the countryside outside of Orléans
-Marrakech, Morroco - I have a hotel booked right in the Medina!
-Seville, Granada, and Madrid!
And for tradition's sake... the low lights!!
1. The trains. I know I mentioned these earlier, but now I have a few funny stories to share. I actually counted and so far I have taken 58 trains (not including the suburban line trains in cities like Berlin, Munich, Copenhagen, etc which are also included in my train pass) throughout Europe. So it finally happened on my trip from Barcelona to St Tropez that I boarded the wrong train at one of my connecting stations. I can laugh now, but when I learned of this on board the train I was very distressed. I knew at that late point in the day that my options to correct my mistake could be few and far between as trains start running far less frequently and St Raphael (the nearest station to Jenny) is a very under-serviced station to begin with. But I found an angel on the train who helped me re-route my train schedule and I only ended up taking 5 trains that day instead of the original 3. It could have been much worse! The second story came on my most recent train journey from Naples to Lucerne. Seat reservations are required on many of the popular or high speed trains in Europe and these typically must be made at the train stations (headache!), but the Italian train company allows you to make them online. However, in my hurry in making them the night before in Naples I goofed and made reservations for September 8th (8-9-12) instead of for August 9th (9-8-12) goofing up the European date convention. I thought it was an honest mistake when the train conductor pointed it out to me once we were already underway and didn't see what the big problem was since the price was the same and around me in first class was 75% empty. However, he saw it differently and not only was he insisting that I pay the reservation fee again, but that I needed to pay a higher, 18 euro fee, for doing it while on board the train. Needless to say, I was not happy. I had made the same goof with my second reservation of the day from Milan to Lucerne, but fortunately those employees neither noticed or cared. So I know I have certainly seen major benefits to taking the trains (I think my pass paid for itself by train ride number 30), but I suppose as with any form of travel there are hiccups and surprises. I ended up missing what should have been an easy connection in Barcelona en route to Lisbon because of the craziness that is the Barcelona train station. It felt more like an airport than a train station with its security scanners (unseen up to that point anywhere else in Europe), access control points, longer than long lines to board the trains, and segmented platforms that made it very hard to navigate. I do not look forward to going back there... ever!
2. So I know I mentioned that Florence & the Machine would be at the Optimus Alive festival and as my favorite artist I was incredibly excited to get to see her again. So it came as a giant blow to me when I learned two days prior to her show that she had pulled a muscle in her throat singing at another festival and doctors had told her to take a week off canceling her performance in Lisbon. When I learned the news in Zaragoza I felt the wind just totally die in my sails that morning. I had felt I had been racing across the continent to get to see her enduring long train rides and ordeals, but I had to just briefly grieve this loss and move on. Still, it was one of the biggest bummers of the trip.
3. The next one is a silly one, but I had been bug bite free since Athens where I got four bites on my face while sleeping one night. But the bugs, specifically I am told the Tiger Mosquitoes from Africa, finally found me in Barcelona and have continued to feast on me throughout all of Italy and here too now in Switzerland. I've been bitten in some of my most hated spots too - between my toes and on my palms and wrists and again on my face under my eye in addition to everywhere else on my body! I guess missing the bug bites will not be one of the advantages to missing out on Tampa in the summer after all!
4. And this last one is anything but silly as I have very sincere sadness in missing the Summer Olympics this year. It was a totally conscious decision to omit the games in London from my itinerary this summer, but I had done so thinking that I would still be able to watch the Olympics in at least a somewhat similar fashion to how I normally would in the US. So I was disappointed to learn that Italy doesn't really care about the Olympics. Bars were almost never showing the games and when I found them on in my hotel rooms on tiny TV screens it was always only for the events that Italy was competing in - like fencing. So I went the first 9 days or so only getting to watch one swimming race and it actually turned out to be one that Michael Phelps was competing in (the freestyle relay I think), but I had no idea he was ever even in the pool because the Italian coverage only showed the French team celebrating afterwards. They didn't care about Michael Phelps :) So it was a complete joy to me to find in Naples that AFN, the Armed Forces Network, broadcasts full NBC coverage in ENGLISH of course and I could finally watch a little bit! By this time, swimming and gymnastics were over, but it was nice just to see team USA on the screen finally :)
So I know this was a long one...did you make it to the end? :) I apologize for how long it's been since my last update, but blame it on the iPad... it really is awful for typing. I have found it is much more enjoyable and easy on my arms and wrists to listen to podcasts on the train then to stay current on my correspondence. I'm sorry!! Only one month left until I have a real keyboard again!
I hope you all have a great weekend and of course happy birthday to Linda! Wish I could be there to celebrate!
Miss you all!
Annie
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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