Oh The Places We’ll Go

After my insanely hectic day of drinking and debauchery with the Preston boys in Krakow, the 6am wakeup call wasn’t the greatest way to start the next day.  Stomach still full of beer and head still reeling from the lack of sleep, I woke up and promptly gathered my belongings before saying goodbye to the boys still awake from just getting back to the hostel.  I headed out of Tutti Frutti hostel, camera in hand this time, and made the same walk over to the train station before plopping down in my seat and relaxing for the 7 hour train ride to Prague.

Now, I had completely messed up my travel plans by missing the train the day before.  When I had called the hostel in Prague, Sir Toby’s hostel, I was reminded that per their cancellation policy I may be charged a fee for missing a night of my stay.  I tried to explain that I would be willing to add a night to my stay, so still have it be 3 nights but delayed by 1 day, but I don’t think the guy understood me.  I couldn’t be bothered to try explaining it to him again so I ended up settling for the 2 night stay, knowing that I needed to jam in as MUCH sightseeing as I possibly could while I had a full day in the city.

The train ride went by really quickly and before I knew it we were crossing the Czech Republic border and crossing into Prague.  Once I got into Prague proper and off the train, I followed the directions to jump onto the metro and then a tram to get to the hostel in the outskirts of Prague.  There are a few different districts in Prague: Old Town, New Town, the Castle district, etc.  The best located hostels are mainly in Old and New Town, but mine was across the river, a 15 minute tram to all of the major locations in the city.  Sucked, but it was cheaper than anything else so it was good for the price.  I, being the complete twat that I am, misread the hostel number so I wandered around for a good 10 minutes dazed and confused before I figured out I needed building 34, not 24.  I am an idiot.  Once I got into the hostel I got the full speech about how great the hostel was, the location being great, etc etc.  No, you just have to say that.  If you weren’t getting paid to say so, you’d say what everyone else was thinking- God, I wish we were in the center of town.

I didn’t really do much the first night in Prague.  Call it exhaustion or whatever, but most of my first night in Prague was spent reading and flicking through photos, taking a shower and then falling asleep early thanks to the no sleep all nighter the night before.

My only real day in Prague was spent wandering around the city aimlessly, seeing as much as I could without wearing myself out.  I saw the big castle, but didn’t pay to get in… couldn’t be bothered to pay.  The gardens right next to the castle are amazingly beautiful, probably my favorite part of the whole city.  There are tons of flowers and beautiful trees lining this massive park overlooking the entire city.  The architecture in Prague is exquisite.  All of the moldings on all the buildings are very old fashioned and intricate.  You know someone must’ve spent a lot of time building every single one of the buildings you’re looking at.  And, luckily, Prague wasn’t hit during WWII bombings so everything is still in tact from pre-WWII.  Lots of other cities weren’t nearly as lucky.  After I wandered around the Castle District for a while I made my way down the massive hill and onto the big, famous bridge in Prague which was absolutely PACKED with tourists and people trying to sell things.  I hate really crowded and touristy places so I jetted out of there as soon as humanly possible.  I need my space, so walk faster and stop pausing in the middle of the freaking walkway and let me get by already.

Old Town was really really cool, including the Jewish district with all of the old synagogues and buildings.  Again, didn’t go inside any of them.  Everything costs money and I had none, plus I didn’t care enough to make the effort to go inside.  The main square in Old Town was, as everything else is, packed with tourists.  I fucking hate tourists, and I’m one of them.  Go figure.  At this point I was absolutely exhausted from walking around the entire city, so I made my way back to the hostel and pulled up a chair outside with my huge pint, intending to get some writing down in my journal which, up to that point, I had completely neglected to write anything down in.

But you know what they say, plans never go like you think they will.  After I got outside to start writing, I was quickly met by a large group of German guys on vacation in Prague for the weekend.  Turns out they’re all on a basketball team together back in Southwest Germany, so I was impressing them with my Warriors knowledge and they were all following the Bulls/Celtics series.  Of course they’re all Bulls fans- children of the 90s, the only team on TV regularly was the Bulls thanks to the god himself, Michael Jordan.  Most of them spoke English really well, including the main guy I was talking to who was an English teacher.  He had absolutely NO accent, and if I hadn’t known better I would’ve thought he was American.  The thing that gave him away, as it gives most Europeans away, was the fact that he smoked his cigarette all the way down to the filter.  Americans leave a little bit off the end instead of smoking it all the way down.  The German guy was telling me during WWII some German spies were caught by Americans for this very reason- they had done everything right except for when they started smoking, the Americans knew they must be Europeans.

It was around this time that myself and the group of German lads wandered into the all but fun territory of discussing the Holocaust and WWII… me, American and them, German.  Can you say… awkward?  I don’t know how I manage to wander into these situations but somehow I always find myself tredging into the uneven waters of conversation about things to people whom I shouldn’t be discussing it with.  Ugh.  Anyways, it actually wasn’t that bad of a conversation, minus the part where one of the guys jokingly said someone I knew could have killed his grandpa (one of two who died in WWII).  Awkward, but he laughed about it morbidly as conversation passed.

After I managed to squeeze out of that conversation, I was invited on a pub crawl through Prague that 2 English boys were going on, and their lady friend was going to meet up with them later.  The girl and I, along with the German boys, decided to go out on the town ourselves instead of paying for the pub crawl, maybe deciding to meet up with the English lads later.  We wandered down to the Old Town and through the square trying to find a pub without much success.  I don’t know how that happened… we were probably just looking in all the wrong places, but it seriously took forever just to find a place for a drink.  Did I mention, by the way, that the German guys were absolutely MASSIVE?  Seriously, I should’ve guessed when they said basketball players but Jesus.  One of them was 6’6” and towered over me like the boogeyman.  It’s hard for me to find someone that I find intimidatingly tall, but this guy fit the profile.

The bar was boring.  I’ll just say it outright.  It’s hard to find the great banter and chat that happened in Krakow, and all of the German guys while nice were really reserved and quiet.  It’s hard to keep up your energy when the people you’re with have no energy themselves.  The girl I came with had the unfortunate task of talking to the ONE guy who spoke NO English, a 20 year old with a 15 year old girlfriend.  Can you say pedophile?  Geez.  After 2 pints, I was done for the night.  I knew I wasn’t about to make it the full night with the guys so the girl and I said bye and went to the tram stop to catch a night tram back to the hostel.  Of course, on the way we picked up these delicious sausages and I managed to spill mustard onto my brand new GAP shirt.  My life sucks.

I got a decent night’s sleep that night, no thanks to the crazy Polish guys making all kinds of noise getting in and then waking up at some insane hour as they headed out to do some sightseeing.  I hate crazy loud European men.  Almost as much as I hate babies crying within enclosed spaces, but that still takes the cake.  I woke up the next morning ready to get the fuck out of Prague and head to Vienna, since Prague had been nothing but bore and disappointment.  After my bags were packed I headed to the train station and waited around before hopping on the train into Vienna.  I’m sure Prague is capable of being a really great and amazing time out, but with 2 nights and the most boring hostel on the face of the planet, I managed to meet no one memorable AND get in to sleep early both nights in a row.  What a let down.

I left Berlin at some insane hour on the 26th of April and headed out to Krakow, one of the two most recognizable cities in Poland (the other being Warsaw).  I wasn’t sure what to expect when I left Berlin.  I had heard so much about how amazing Berlin was and only left disappointed.  I had no money to go out and experience the nightlife of Berlin, which I hear is absolutely legendary, so much of what I saw was only what I walked around and got to see during the day.  Too much walking, too hot, and just the constant reminder that I am not at all prepared for summer.  Scotland has fucked up my internal weather tolerance, so anything above ‘mild’ is too much to handle.  Besides that, the hostel I stayed in, as much as it was immaculate, was boring and boring and I don’t mix well.  I couldn’t name you a single person I met in Berlin other than a Canadian couple from Regina in Saskatchewan, and the only reason I remember where they’re from is because supposedly people from Regina say they’re from ‘The Vag’… if you get the euphemism.  I’ll let you think about it.

Anyways, about Krakow.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about this long train ride alone on a singular train for 9 hours.  I got to the main train station in Berlin and hopped on the train with plenty of time to spare before it even left (my OCD about being early for trains/planes), and found my seat really easily with the little reservation card sitting above it.  Everything was going fine until some CRAZY woman, younger with pants that didn’t fit her quite right, looked at me in the seat and just went, “You are in my seat”.  After I explained to her that I had a reservation too, she just went, “Well I don’t really give a shit, I paid for this seat and this is my seat”.  Psycho woman.  OBVIOUSLY the woman sitting in front of you is in your seat, not me, if you just looked at the fucking numbers above you.  Of course I didn’t say any of this- I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes… it all got figured out anyways.  All I could think was Jesus, someone needs to calm down and have a drink… people are too high strung to just think and relax about things.  Why the constant need to freak out?

Once things calmed down, the first hour or two on the train I was daydreaming and thinking about plans.  It’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re just beside yourself thinking about things.  One of the things I learned to love traveling by myself was the pleasure of my own company.  You don’t NEED someone around constantly to really enjoy yourself.  Sometimes it’s nice just to sit back and relax.  After I got bored of just sitting around, and especially after I realized no creepy people would be sitting anywhere near me, I got out my iPod, listened to some music, read a book, and when all else fails what do you do?  Wander to the drink car.  As I got there, I realized, woops, I haven’t eaten yet today.  I should probably do that sometime.  Just as I ordered a sandwich I saw a woman pick up the most DELICIOUS looking soup I had ever seen and I just went, I need one of those.  Sandwich and soup in hand, I had the best (and cheapest) train meal of my life.  The soup, as I later found out, was goulash which is the GREATEST kind of soup in the history of the world.  Lots of meat, lots of potatoes, and pure deliciousness.

9 hours later on a train, a dead iPod later and another book finished, I arrived in Krakow with no local currency and no clue how to get out of the train station.  I’m not retarded or anything.  The Krakow train station is really close to the local mall, oddly VERY similar to an American shopping mall, so instead of exiting the station onto the street I somehow ended up smack dab in the middle of a mall.  With a huge backpack.  And no makeup on.  And looking like absolute ass.  Great… welcome to Poland?  People must’ve thought I was insane.  I finally figured out how to escape from the mall, found a currency exchange that was open at night, and eventually figured out how to get to Tutti Frutti hostel.  3 guys were standing outside having a smoke as I got to the hostel and greeted me with a friendly hello, but I was too preoccupied with my heavy bag and need to brush my teeth to even think of replying with anything but a ‘hey’.  I got inside, checked in, found my bed and put the sheets on, and headed out into the living room where the guys with their mate who I hadn’t yet met, making up the terrible foursome, were sat having a chat around the table.  As I would later learn, I was about to get to know these guys very well.  Dan, James, Alex and Adam are all friends from back home in Melbourne (Australia for those who don’t know geography) traveling around Europe together and wreaking havoc upon the planet.  2 people in my room were also from Australia.  Tess, who was originally from Australia but had been living in London for the last 10 months, and Johnny, her boyfriend who was technically Kiwi but had lived in Melbourne before moving to London with Tess.  They were all a really nice bunch.  I’m sure at first meeting I must’ve seemed so boring and dead… I was just exhausted.  The chat in me had completely disappeared, and though everyone was going out that night (post-consuming a vodka gun?  don’t ask… haha), I just couldn’t be bothered.  Too exhausted, too dead inside.  Give me a bed and I’m happy.

The next day I decided to be a good little tourist and wander around Krakow for a bit.  As it turns out- who knew- Krakow is BEAUTIFUL.  The entire Old Town is lined by a park with trees everywhere cascading across the sidewalks and little benches set up everywhere.  I was there in ideal travel time, April, so it wasn’t crowded and the weather was absolute perfection.  I got around to the main square, the Jewish quarter, the castle and the river that goes through the city, snapping pictures and being a good little tourist before heading back to the hostel to relax and pick up my new book (The Pillars of the Earth).  It was only then that I realized why Polish people are so crazy for Pope John Paul II.  He was Polish.  From Krakow.  Woops, forgot about that.  I guess he used to be the head cardinal and got his start in Krakow or something?  He’s kind of a big deal.  Anyways, as I was dipping into my book I ran into a guy who, go figure, is from Sacramento.  As in grew up 20 minutes away from where my parents live.  Cue “It’s a Small World” right now.  We got to chatting, he’s a Republican studying in Durham doing all different kinds of graduate work, and as we were chatting I got conned into going on the inaugural pub crawl through Krakow.  Thank god I did because Jesus did I have a good time.

It was at this time I got to know all the Australians better, including Kane, another Australian from Brisbane.  All the pubs we went to were really cool, laid back pubs.  Plus, the beer is INSANELY cheap in Poland (like everything else is), and cheap and I mix very very well together.  Lots of Polish beer drinking ensued, lots of bar hopping and meeting people.  I even met the nicest Australian girl who dragged me to the club with her and we got to chatting away about traveling alone and meeting people.  Gosh, I wish I remembered her name or got her email or something.  She even bought me a drink (in a non-sexual, friendly kind of way).  Once we got to the final destination and I had wandered around the club, the girl and I sat down at a table with the anti-social French people on the pub crawl with us, whose names I never learned… as they are French, anti-social and didn’t introduce themselves.  As I was chatting away to the cute French boy, trying to get him to understand what the words “chick magnet” went, he interrupted me and just went “My friend is drinking your beer.”

“What?”

“My friend is drinking your beer.”

I turn around and, to my horror discover that yes, the French bastard is guzzling away at my brand spanking new and free, mind you, thanks to the nice Australian girl, beer and all of its deliciousness is slowly disappating into this asshole’s mouth.  I grabbed the cup from him and just said, “Listen buddy, I don’t know who you are or where you come from but where I come from, you drink my beer, I chop off your penis.  Understood?”

I think he got the point.

An hour later, dancing with crazy French people (in a French accent- “Come, we dance Rock N’ Roll!) to the YMCA and other really really bad 80’s and 90’s pop songs, I got my kiss from the cute Frenchie and got on my way back to Tutti Frutti to crash on the bunk bed and get ready for the emotional day that was coming my way the next day- my day to Auschwitz.

I had reserved a spot on a tour to Auschwitz mainly for one reason- I was getting too lazy to actually go somewhere and figure out the different trains/busses/smoke signals I would need to send to get there.  Give me a tour with a ‘board here’ and personal tour of the place and I’m happy.  I’m too lazy to you know, read.  Who reads anyways?  (Obviously, as a Lit. major… reading not necessary… haha).  Anyways, I didn’t do much other than eat to make my stomach stop hating me and read to get my mind right before getting to the tour at 2pm to head to Auschwitz.  Actually, before I was at Auschwitz, I shamefully headed to a McDonalds (don’t judge me) to get food and met an older Baton Rouge couple who had just come from Auschwitz.  They told me they were scared of Polish food and just stuck to good ol’ McD’s.  It was after this that I decided I couldn’t eat American food traveling around anymore… I don’t want to end up like this crazy Louisiana couple.

On to Auschwitz.  The tour left Krakow at around 2 and on the bus they show you this really really graphic video of the original liberation videos from a Soviet camera crew who were the first to get to Auschwitz and document its liberation.  It’s got all different kinds of information about what the people were like when they got there, the different people who had been experimented on, and for me the worst part- the autopsying videos of little children who had been experimented on or starved to death.  I ended up turning my head away for half of it… I couldn’t handle it.  As we got closer to the city of Oscweim (? I don’t remember how to spell it), the tour guide asked if anyone in the coach was British, to which he stated that Gordon Brown (the Prime Minister) was at Auschwitz at the moment, and that we had to go to Birkenau first before heading to Auschwitz I.  Damn you Gordon Brown, fucking up all of the plans.

Birkenau is ENORMOUS.  We couldn’t go and see the wooden barracks, thank you Gordon Brown, or use the bathrooms (bombs in the toilets possibility, of course…), so we were stuck with the brick buildings and the ash pool near the ruins of the old crematoriums.  You could just see from the vastness of the space how many people must’ve been kept at this camp, especially considering over 1,000 people used to be in each barracks.  Yes, 1000 people.  The Nazis destroyed most of the buildings before the Soviets got there so there are only half a dozen or so of the wood buildings and half a dozen brick buildings, but the foundations of the old barracks are left in tact.  As we left Birkenau I got a long distance glance at Gordon Brown and the press following him around.  All this bullshit for one stupid man, go figure.

Auschwitz I is a lot smaller and, dare I say it, nicer than Birkenau.  Take away the ‘Work Will Set You Free’ sign, the death signs and the fact that people (a lot of them) died here, it could actually be… nice?  At least there are trees around and green during the spring.  The buildings almost look like council flats.  Crazy.  Inside the buildings are a lot of what you see at any Holocaust Museum.  Piles of hair, shoes, glasses, pots and pans, etc.  The tour guide was milking the emotion a little bit too much.  Plus she said “Ladies and Gentlemen” enough times to make someone go insane.  The worst part of the whole thing was going inside the crematorium, officially the most depressing place I have ever been in, and from the moment I stepped inside I just went, “Alright, that’s enough… now get me the FUCK out of here”.  Being in there with a bunch of Hacidic Jews didn’t help the situation much.  Loads of emotional Jewish people surrounding me in Auschwitz… ugh.  Too depressing.

Sometime around 6 I hopped back on the coach and got to chatting with Brenna and Anita, who was from Milpitas in the Bay Area, who were both on Fulbright living in Europe for a while.  I had never heard of Fulbright before and I guess it’s all a pretty big deal?  Who knew.  Anyways, we all got to chatting and, dare I say it, laughing, as we left Auschwitz and headed back for Krakow.  Is that wrong, to laugh post-Auschwitz?  I don’t really know, but all I did know was that I was too depressed to continue feeling like shit so the laughing/joking was a good pick me up.  As we got to chatting I got invited to dinner by the Krakow-resident Anita with Brenna and their friend Stephanie.  We got into the Old Town and met Stephanie at the statue of the sideways head (yes, you read that right) and headed to this absolutely delicious Italian food place right next to the square.  I had forgotten how nice it was to meet new people in places.  After my draught through Berlin and Copenhagen, Krakow was starting to make things look up.  Dinner was really delicious and fun.  Lots of joking, chatting, gaining good travel advice, etc.  Just good girl chat.  I even got invited to hang out at the pub after but I had a 6am train to catch the next morning, so I had to pass.

Once I got back to the hostel I had to pack my bag (in the dark) since it was almost midnight and most people were asleep.  I plugged my phone in to charge, set out clothes for the morning, and slipped away to sleep until I awoke to a light turning on, a bang, and really loud people talking in CRAZY accents wandering through the room.  Catherine, meet the Preston boys.  They were all chatting about kebabs and where they had been all night, and just when I thought it was all over, another one wandered in.  Great.  Sure enough I had to wake up 30 minutes later so I just said screw it and woke up early.  I got up, grabbed my iPod from the side table and the guys were sorry about waking me.  I said not to worry about it, I had to wake up in 20 minutes anyways so it wasn’t a big deal.  One of the guys was complaining about how he couldn’t sleep so I chucked him a pair of earplugs and his friend, who I later learned was Craig, told me in his drunken state that I had beautiful eyes.  I got my bag together, told the boys I had to leave, and was nicely ushered out of the hostel as I made my way to the train station to wait for my train to arrive.  As I waited for the train I had remembered that I didn’t recall packing my camera in my backpack, and after realizing it wasn’t in my entire pack (and it wouldn’t have been in the big bag), my horror came over me.  I left it somewhere.  I got on the train with 15 minutes before it left, called the hostel and was overcome with relief when the receptionist told me someone had brought it to the counter earlier the night before.  Thank GOD.  I had to miss the train, though, and there were only 2 trains a day to Prague.  1 that I was about to miss, and one at night.  Shit, I have to call the hostel in Prague.  I got back to the hostel in Krakow as the light was coming up at 6am (too early, yes I know), called Prague and said I was taking the night train instead, and the receptionist was so nice as to set up a bed for me on the couch so I could fall back asleep.  Nice, eh?

I woke up, again, to crazy Preston boys asking me why I was still around, and after I explained about the missing camera fiasco they insisted on inviting me out with them.  As it turns out, they were with a stag party group for their mate’s pre-wedding bash and their plan was, quite simply, to get absolutely pissed every day while they were there.  Sounds good to me.  I told them I would meet up with them in a bit, that I needed a shower and a hair straightening, but I would meet up with them for a pint or two before heading off to my night train to Prague.  After I got myself together I met up with the boys at a pub in the square in Krakow and was quickly convinced (and had my room paid for) by the Preston boys, who wanted to take me out with them for the rest of the night for some pint-drinking Manchester United-watching debauchery.  You had me at pint-drinking, boys.  For the next god-knows-how-many hours I had a good time being the crazy, sassy California girl who says “huh” too much, got bought EVERY SINGLE ONE of my pints and didn’t drop a single dime of zloty the entire day.  I love English boys.  Got to squeeze in some football watching with big Manchester United fans and show off my footie knowledge, which always goes well with the boys.  I ended up wandering around with two of the boys after splitting from the rest of the crowd, and after a drunken and hilarious bed hopping musical chairs (nothing too exciting but nothing that I can post on here), I got to sleep around 3am and two hours later was on the train to Prague.  Hungover and tired, one thing was certain- Krakow is the bees knees, that’s for damn sure.

I survived Denmark and made it safely and soundly to Berlin without a hitch.  My last day in Copenhagen went by pretty quickly.  I went to go and see the little mermaid statue which is out in the middle of NOWHERE and took FOREVER to walk to, but it was worth seeing.  Heck, it was the ONLY touristy thing to see while in Denmark.

My train left way too early for my taste out of Copenhagen, into Hamburg and then a quick train change before hopping on my way into Berlin.  By the time I got into Berlin I was absolutely EXHAUSTED.  I tried explaining to my Brazilian roommate that I needed a siesta and she didnt understand.  Oh well.  Anyways, my first day/night here in Berlin was pretty much spent sleeping, waking up for random people wandering into the room, and falling back asleep.  What can I say, I am the life of the party eh?  The hostel I am staying in here is great… completely immaculate and especially clean.

My first real day spent here in Berlin was spent walking around and doing all the touristy things I could think of doing.  I walked over to the Reichstag, saw the Brandenburg Gate or whatever its called, and had myself a delicious brat from a street vendor.  It was ah-mazing.  The underground here takes a while to get used to.  There is the S-Bahn, above ground trains, and the U-Bahn, a normal underground, but the maps for both of them are intertwined with each other so its hard to tell where one stops and the other begins.

Yesterday was probably my only real sight-seeing museum walking day.  I went to the East Wall, which is the longest stretch of Berlin Wall left, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Jewish Museum (to make Erica happy).  Everything was so freakin expensive yesterday!!  The stupid underground and s bahn, all of the different trains and shit everywhere.  I, being the idiot I am, didnt buy the all day train pass so I kept having to buy new tickets.  Ugh.  Its not like I paid much for the museums or actually looking at anything… just the transport costs so much.  Lots of WWII history stuff, which is right up my alley, lying around Berlin.  I could go into museums and read about Hitler and Stalin, the history of the wall, etc. for hours and hours.  Its things like old paintings and sculptures that put me to sleep.

Right now I am preparing to go to Krakow in Poland.  I have my train reservation all set and ready to go… just have an insanely early wake-up call ahead of me!  Not excited about that.  Auschwitz is the big thing coming my way in Poland.  Should be depressing.  I tried walking around Berlin earlier today and it was so hot I couldnt hack it.  I had already seen what I had planned to walk and see today so I just couldnt be bothered.  I am stuck in this hostel reading up on the places I am going next instead.  I think the schedule is going to be Krakow-Prague-Vienna-Salzburg-Munich-Switzerland somewhere-Frankfurt to fly out.  I think I am halfway through my traveling, which is a little crazy if you ask me, but it is going by pretty fast.  Just exhausting and making me anti-social.

I know this is a bit of a crappy post and everything, but this keyboard is driving me insane since the z and the y are in opposite places from each other on German keyboards.  I cant handle it.  I promise to give a more thorough explanation of everything in my next post.

-Catherine

I left Bruges yesterday to head to Denmark but had a fantastic time while I was there.

Bruges is a medieval town so most of their big sights were built hundreds and hundreds of years ago.  Its not like there are a lot of THINGS to see, per-se, since I felt like most of the museums and things would be a throw away, but the atmosphere was wonderful.  Tons of little local shops lining the streets and as many chocolate shops as I have ever seen in my entire life!  Plus, tons of pubs and things for the delicious Belgian beers (another thing the Belgian people are known for).  All in all, a very pretty very cute little town.

After I got into Bruges I settled down and just hung out my first day.  It was incredibly rainy and overcast so I didnt feel much like going anywhere or doing anything.  Plus I figured with a cold walking around in the freezing ass rain would be unwise.  Wouldnt you agree?  Instead I chilled around the hostel and fell asleep.  The second day I ended up meeting a few nice Canadian girls who I got to chatting with and hung out with for a while.  I took a walk around town and had some food.  Eventually I got to chatting with an Aussie, Zoe, who was also staying in my room and the four of us ended up sitting around having a good chat about traveling, seeing sights, and Bruges in general.  We got together and decided to go out for a beer, come back and watch In Bruges, a very funny black comedy with Colin Farrell.  Once we got to walking around Bruges, as it turns out its not a very happening place.  Haha.  Note the sarcasm: of course Bruges is a dead city.  It was built a billion freakin years ago!  Anyways, we finally found the ONE hangout spot for young people in the city and hung out there for a while.  You can smoke in pubs in Bruges so of course everything STANK of cigarettes, including us after we left.  We headed to another pub full of Italian guys and travelers, which was fun and relaxing with good music.  Afterwards we all went back to the hostel and I ended up watching In Bruges alone since everyone else fell asleep.  Party poopers.  The movie was great- go out and rent it tonight.  Very funny and Colin Farrell is especially funny in it.  Plus theres a lot of comedy about Bruges and all the sights they were at IIII went to!

My last day in Bruges I went and did all of my touristy stuff.  There was actually only one touristy thing that I did the whole time I was there, but it was incredibly physically exhausting.  I climbed their fame clock tower- all 366 feet worth of stairs to the very freakin top to get the best view of the city.  JESUS that climb was exhausting.  Not only was it so many stairs, but they were incredibly steep AND windy with little room for passing people on the way down.  I was afraid of falling the entire time I was climbing up.  There are too many people coming up and going down at the same time it gets a little cramped.  Once you’re at the top, though, its all worth it.  The view is amazing and you can see EVERYTHING.  Thank god I waited for the good weather to climb to the top!  Going on the overcast day would have sucked.  The only other mission I had in Bruges was to have hot chocolate, and boy was it delicious.  Very chocolatey, but they give you a water shot for afterwards so it all works out fine.  At first I was like, why are they giving me water for this hot chocolate, but after you drink it you understand.  My night that night was spent doing laundry and falling asleep really early since I had to wake up the next morning at the ass crack of dawn.

Of course some ASSHOLE was yelling outside at 3 in the morning so my already early wakeup call was interrupted and made even freaking earlier by some dumb girl who forgot her key into the hostel.  Ugh, not happy about that.  I was already awake by 5am for my wakeup, got my pre-packed bag together and headed towards the train station for my full day of traveling.  I hopped on 3 different Intercity trains before I got into Koln in Germany.  From Koln I went into Hamburg to catch a train to Copenhagen.  Like I said, lots of trains.  The first leg of traveling went down without a problem.  The trains to Koln were on time and comfortable, relaxing, all of the above.  I managed not even to use my iPod for the entire 4 hours of train travel into Koln, which I think is pretty impressive.

The problems started from Koln into Hamburg after the train was late.  I only had 10 minutes in between the train into Hamburg and the train OUT to Copenhagen, so the train being late was VERY stressful.  The one out of Hamburg was the last one, so I could NOT miss it.  THEN, some creepy European guy got on the train and sat across the aisle from me on the train and after 3 hours of IGNORING him he proceeded to FLASH ME as I left the train.  Yes, you read that right, and I was traumatized.  I mean, I guess in retrospect its pretty funny, but if you knew where my head was at at that time, it was anything but funny when it happened.  Here I am, traveling alone about to miss my train in a country where I do not know anyone OR speak the language and some CREEP is off sexually assaulting me or whatever.  Not cool and made me even MORE freaked out about that stupid train to Denmark.  Thankfully they held the train in Hamburg for transfers SO I didnt miss the train into Denmark.  Phew!  The trip over was really easy and relaxed, plus included a ferry boat which they drive the train onto?  I still have no idea how they did it but they did, and it was pretty cool. 

The train into Copenhagen was an hour late, which sucked, and I couldn´t transfer my money into Danish Krones until today, but I found the hostel easily enough so that was good.  It’s more of a HOTEL than anything else since it has over a thousand beds, but I am the only one in my room.  Cool and not cool at the same time since I get this big room all to myself, but I havent met anyone the whole time I have been here.  I fell asleep as soon as I got into Denmark yesterday and all day today I have been just walking around checking out the sights.  I am going to the movies to see Monsters vs. Aliens in about a half an hour, my big trip for the day, but all by myself.  They assign seats at the movies here, btw.  How weird is that??  She asked me where I wanted to sit and was so confused I just looked at her like she was crazy.  Plus the money here is all funky.  The coins have holes through the middle of them, which I thought was very amusing.  I guess no one else does… I told a guy ‘these coins have holes’ and he goes ‘yeah- theyre supposed to be like that’.  Haha.  He mustve thought I was an idiot or something.  Oh well.

Most Danes speak English which is nice and easy… I get around pretty well here.  Loads of shopping and even 7-11s!!  I couldnt believe my eyes!  AND THEY HAVE SLURPEES!  My life is complete.  Plus, they use the network 3 here, which is my phone network, so my Skype works on my phone here.  I officially love Denmark, even if that is the only reason it is cool. 

Tomorrow is my sight seeing day, which basically includes the mermaid statue and something to do with H.C. Andersen, who is like the only famous Danish figure from history and everything is named after him, including the address of the hostel I am staying in.

If anyone has Skype they can call before the morning of the 22nd and I will be able to chat, so do it then!  Otherwise the Skype wont work again until I get into Austria, I believe, since 3 is also in Austria. 

Will update more tomorrow since I found this amazing little internet cafe here.  Plus, I probably will have nothing else to do with myself! 

-Catherine

I’m finally back in Europe after a missed flight to Belgium strayed my travel plans awry.  Originally I had planned on going to Amsterdam and Bruges before heading back to Cali to surprise Alicia for her 18th birthday, BUT all those plans got messed up thanks to Ryanair and their stupid flight checkin rules!  Bastards.  Never misread your flight departure time when it comes to flying Ryanair.  If you miss your flight, you are S.O.L.

Anyways, California was fun.  Baseball, eating foods that I’ve missed, seeing family and friends and everything.  Relaxing the first few days, then getting lazy, then scrambling at the VERY (and I mean VERY) last minute to get my last paper done.  It got done an hour before I left for the airport… so hectic but finished.  Of course, during the course of writing my paper I decided to go and get all ill and everything.  Lightheaded, woozy, unable to focus.  Not what you need with an entire day’s staying in airports and planes ahead of you.

I caught my flight from Sac to Seattle on Southwest and hopped on a flight from Seattle to Amsterdam on Northwest.  Northwest is a pretty decent airline.  The guy gave me the emergency exit row, so I had extra leg room, and there was no one sitting next to me so big bonus there.  Plus, thanks to my fantastic mother, I had the perfect bribing treat HOPING for someone nice to give me the bump up to first class but no such luck.  Instead I had to settle for Strawberry Shortcake.  Boo Hoo, right?  The flight was pretty long but at least I had the cool pop up TV thingy with movies and everything on it to keep me company.  I didn’t have to use my iPod once, which was great.  It was hard watching the movies for too long since my head kept getting fuzzy and the medicine I had with me wasn’t doing much good.  Lots of coughing, sneezing, wheezing, bathroom runs, fluids that I don’t want to talk about, etc.  All in all, flight could have been better minus the flu.

I got into Amsterdam bright and early on Monday morning and quickly departed my plane to exchange my currency over to Euros, get my bag, get to my hostel and SLEEP.  Amsterdam is a great place, I’ve decided, for people just starting out a backpacking trip.  It’s really English friendly, everyone speaks a good amount of English and no one has trouble understanding what you’re saying.  No culture shock, good times.  One snag hit my plans right away, however, when I got through customs and into baggage claim when I realized my bag wasn’t on the carousel.  What the heck?  I went up to the Northwest baggage counter, the lady told me to wait 15 minutes to see if it comes, and then come back.  When I got back to the counter she held out a ‘missing baggage’ form for me (AHHHH!!!!!  NOOOOO!!!!) and where to deliver my HUGE backpack to with ALL of my clothing.  Then, all of a sudden by some miracle of GOD, some saint from the luggage dungeon radio’d up and said he saw a bag matching my description, and sure enough…. it was MINE!  Woo hoo!

I got on my way from the airport into the city, which was an easy hop on the train.  3 euros, super cheap and easy.  Got into Amsterdam, hopped in a cab since I couldn’t be bothered carrying my HUGE bag without directions to the hostel, and arrived at the Heart of Amsterdam hostel for checkin.  Of course, I was too early and had to wait until the room was clean.  I managed to read my entire Steve Martin Stand-Up book while waiting for the room, walk around town a little bit, and get back with time to spare.  Finally when the room was done, I collapsed on my bed and fell into a deep deep sleep. The hostel was nice enough.  A few sketchy people here and there, but a perfectly good locker to keep my stuff safe so I wasn’t too worried about it.  Plus, TV with CNN and MTV (in English) AND Comedy Central!?  Why leave the hostel?

Of course I left the hostel.  Duh.  Not on Monday since I was so exhausted, but I got to walking around on Tuesday and did my museum tour.  I hit up the van Gogh museum and the Rjkmuseum (however you spell it).  JESUS these places are expensive.  I miss Greece- everything free with a student card.  Can’t I pass for 12 anymore?  Probably not.  These 2 museums were kind of a throwaway to speak the honest to god truth.  van Gogh’s was cool because it was… van Gogh but the Rjkmuseum whatever was a total rip off.  Both together were THIRTY euros.  Gimme a break.  After the museums I headed back to the hostel, got some food, and walked around Amsterdam a little bit more.

As it turns out, as much as Amsterdam is known for weed and prostitution (and believe me, there’s lots of it), who knew it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL?  Loads of canals running all throughout the city lit with the sparkly lights along the bridges.  People walking around everywhere, little boats tutting along the canals.  Very picturesque.  There are bikes EVERYWHERE so it reminded me a bit of UCSB.  You have to be on the lookout for crazy people on bikes, especially when you have your earbuds in.

The hostel I stayed at was in the Red Light District, which I thought was pretty funny.  Most people in Amsterdam are high or selling weed, so you come kind of immune to the smell after a while.  I was too sick to do anything of that nature (plus it’s just not my cup of tea in the first place so I came out of Amsterdam compeltely clean).  All of my roommates were completely stoned the entire time, laughing at this crazy Chilean guy in our room.  Quite an amusing sight.  As for the District itself, there’s lots of very graphic posters up everywhere.  Did you know you can go and see a Live Sex Show?  It IS exactly what it sounds like.  Plus walking around the district you see a good amount of very scantily clad women in these little windows up for ‘display’, if you catch my drift.  If you like what you see then well, you know.  During the daytime these window women are lagoon creatures, shall we say.  They belong in small closets, shoved away for no one to see ever again.  Nighttime girls are alright looking.  At least attractive, but you know they’ve gotta have some crazy diseases.

Lots of my time, I’m sorry to say, was spent sleeping, sneezing and coughing in Amsterdam so I didn’t get to go out and socialize much OR do anything crazy.  I just couldn’t be bothered and WAS bothered too much my the nose/head combination going on.  I got out a couple of nights just to walk around the city and it was absolutely perfect.  Great weather for a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, checking out the crazy people in the porno windows, avoiding pimps and people trying to sell you drugs.  All perfectly legal (scarily enough).  It’s not really scary though, funnily enough.  People don’t stalk you (like they do in other countries).  They ask once and leave alone.

Traveling this time around is a little bit funny.  You can immediately tell the difference because it’s so much quieter and feels so much more LONELY.  Still good but sometimes I wish I had someone to crack jokes with and make stupid observations with.  I’m a lot calmer and figure things out much quicker when I’m just doing them by myself though, so that’s good.  No Thomas to beg for the Rick Steves book.  It’s in my hands… all the time.  No questions asked.  I’m a little proud of myself though.  I’ve managed to find everything on my own AND, my biggest challenge, lift my bag into the overhead thingy on the trains!!  I couldn’t believe I did it, but I did!  Suck it, Thomas.  Who’s the heavy lifter now?

My only other sight seeing adventure in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank House, which was my mission for today.  Funnily enough I was thinking about not going and then decided I was being an idiot- of course I have to go.  The line was HUGE to get into the house but it was well worth it.  So creepy, the actual journal is in there, the bookcase you see in all the pictures, all the rooms they were living in, all these videos from people who knew the family and everything.  It’s crazy to see everything in person AND to see how many people the story has affected.  It’s translated into just about every language.  There’s this quote in the museum from Nelson Mandela saying that when he was in prison loads of people used to read the diary as a source of inspiration.  Nelson freakin Mandela.  There’s a letter in the museum from Elanor Roosevelt too, crazily enough.  Long line but definitely worth it.  One of the best museums I’ve been to in Europe.  But don’t go when there are CRAZY ANNOYING kids running around… they’ll ruin it for you.  Trust me.

After the Anne Frank museum this morning I hopped on a train to Antwerp and from Antwerp into Bruges.  The train ride through the Dutch countryside was BEAUTIFUL.  Just like you think it would be.  Tulips, little windmills, canals, these weird teeny houses lining the canals and the tug boats and everything.  I saw an entire FIELD of crazy coordinated lines of tulips in their designated colors.  Absolutely amazing.  Once you’re into Belgium though, the architecture changes a lot.  I can’t really describe just yet since I haven’t been in Belgium long, but when I figure it out I’ll let you know.  I literally JUST got in but from what I can tell it looks like a really cute place.  Not too much to do, which sounds perfect for me.  I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to get to Denmark next, my next planned adventure, so that’s my mission for tomorrow.  I may have to end up staying an extra day here depending on train schedules and everything.  I haven’t really figured it all out or anything.

I hope that’s a good enough starting off point for this leg of my blog.  One country/city down, many more to go!

-Catherine