17 April
Had a smooth check-out with M. Bride (literally, so long as there were no holes in the wall and no furniture broken, I was good to go...all that scrubbing and dusting for nothing!). Alan and I hopped the train to Paris, laden with luggage, dropped our big stuff off at Alan's mom's old office building, and chilled in Luxembourg Gardens before getting on the train to Amsterdam. Our hostel--Aivengo Hostel--seemed pretty shady at first...very dark, one big dorm room and not a whole lot of security. But it did have free internet, hot showers, and helpful staff, not to mention free coffee and a microwave. We walked around town a bit--it's small, was nice to be able to get around easily by foot. Our hotel was right next to the redlight district--kinda awkward, but ok it's Amsterdam. We stopped by a jazz bar, enjoyed the music, but didn't enjoy the smoke, so went to get pizza for dinner.
They have some of the tiniest cars EVER here. Seriously small. And the bikers have more right of way than pedestrians. We saw some people doubling up on bikes, with the passenger going side-saddle. Pretty sweet. Wish I'd brought a coat, it's not that warm here.
18 April
Favorite thing we did today might just be the Van Gogh museum, which was unexpectedly enjoyable for me. Before going here, I really only thought of good old Vincent as the guy who cut his own ear off (and painted some pretty cool paintings, of course). Who knew he was an idealist?! His reputation doesn't do him justice. He seems to have been one of those people that wanted to change the world...at first he wanted to do that through religion by becoming a priest, and then he decided to do it through art. He never felt like his art was good enough, never reached his personal goals. Maybe that's what drove him crazy. In any case, I need to do some Van Gogh reading...
We spent the lunch hour at the Concertgebouw; there was a free chamber music concert, contrabass and piano. And WHAT a contrabass. This guy ended his solo and the whole room just gasped. A-mazing.
After lunch, we hit the Rijksmuseum--National museum in Amsterdam--full of Dutch painters, obviously. A lot of seascapes, makes sense with their location. Also a nice Delft collection. Afterwards, we stretched out and chilled for a bit on the lawn in front of the Van Gogh museum...nice to enjoy the sun a bit.
Note: If you are in Amsterdam (perhaps in other cities in the Netherlands), FIND ORANGE JUICE. This particular stuff is in a big glass bottle, has orange particles still in it, and is next to similar bottles of kiwi juice, strawberry juice, etc. It will change your life.
After our OJ epiphany, we went to the Anne Frank museum. Wow. I read her diary back in the day, like when I was 13, and remember feeling such a connection with her because we had the same birthday. Of course it was tragic to realize that she died so young, and to realize that this wasn't a novel, it was her real life. But to go to the house where she stayed, cooped up, for several years, to see the staircase that covered their hiding spot, it was chilling. Still can't quite deal with the irony; her big dream was to be a published author someday.
19 April
Well we had our first panic moment today, almost missed the train to Berlin. All's well that ends well however, and we are here. The scenery on the train was gorgeous--lakes, cattails (reminds me of home), forest, some mountains. Once in Berlin, we easily found our hostel. They're super friendly, and our apartment (!) is, to use a British phrase, pretty swish. Bookcases, couch, armchair, bed, dining table and chairs, a porch...not to mention the full kitchen (with shower, which admittedly is a little awkward, especially if the other room is in use, which it was). Despite being pretty tired, we went to Mao Thai for dinner, and o was it worth it! Verrrry tasty.
20 April
Started today off with the musical instrument museum--some CRAZY lookin things here. They had reproductions of J.S. Bach's harpsichords, a huuuge organ, various pianos, clavichords, harps, recorders, violins, etc. etc. There was some sort of tour going on, where the leader was doing demonstrations on the various instruments. Too bad I don't understand German.
Next up was the Gemaldegalerie, which had paintings from the Middle Ages onward. Then to the Neue Nationalmuseum, which housed various modern/contemporary works. Walked along Unter der Linden, through the Brandenburg Gate, ending at Museum Island, where I hit the Altes Museum and the Egyptian Museum. Then I hit the museum wall, and retreated to a cafe for coffee.
Walking back to the hostel, we ran into the Staatsoper, which was holding a ballet performance of "Die Bajadere." Curious, we inquired, found out we could get tickets for 12 euros, and so we stayed for it!
21 April
Today's train ride was smooth as butter. We made it to Prague after an amazing journey through some beautiful countryside. Once in Prague, however, I definitely felt a difference between the Czech Republic and the other European countries we'd been to. For starters, we had to change currency to Czech koruna. Also, English wasn't as widespread as I thought it would be. After some seeerious hand-gesturing, we did get the right tram to our hostel, aptly named "Heaven." No, that's not because it's the Ritz for 20 euros a night...rather, because it is so close to the sky, or because after climbing so many stairs, you're on your way there after cardiac arrest. But it did have a superb view.
We rested up a little, then got into town. Note: If you're going to take public transportation in Prague and are getting one-way passes, get your return pass at the same time as your first one. You can't buy them on the trams, not all stops have ticket machines, and in any case, we didn't have coins for 160 Cz. We managed eventually though, and found Old Town, which is gorgeous. Was around dusk, so the sky was full of pinks, purples, blues. We ate at a fast-food Mexican place, not half bad. Then went to Charles Bridge for a good view across the Vltava River to the castle.
22 April
Had some deeelicious muffins for breakfast, then headed up to the castle complex. It's the largest castle, IN THE WORLD. We saw St. Vitus's Cathedral, which is inside the complex, was stunning. The stained glass is fairly art deco, some of it, so stood out from all those other stained glass experiences we'd had. Had a mediocre lunch at the castle cafe, then on to the Contemporary and Modern Art Museum, full of Klimpt, Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso, Munch, and others. We had dinner at a cubist restaurant, the Grand Café Orient. Pretty snazzy, as you can imagine, the furniture and decor in general all had a cubist flair.
23 April
Today's train hardly deserves the name. Instead of making two simple connections, things got ridiculously complicated. We left Prague by train, thinking we'd connect in Ceske Budejovice, a town in the Czech Republic. Nooo, the conductor sees our destination, Vienna, and goes: "Ah. Vienna. Change. Bus." ???? Well we do as the man says, get off the train in this tiny little village, board some buses that must be left over from the war era, and slowly pull out of the train station. I'm sitting there thinking, "This thing is definitely gonna break down." And then we pull over to the side of the road... The driver gets out, shakes his head, gets back in, and after a few tries, gets the buggy to start up again. We make it to a service station, where he gets a watering can and fills up the radiator. Aaaand we're on our way. We make it to some other train station, where we do catch our train to Ceske Budejovice, and from there JUST make our connection to Linz, Austria. From there, we catch yet another train to Vienna. The scenery was again stunning.
Once in Vienna, we got to the hostel (Blue Corridor Hostel), checked in, rested up. It's in a good location, within walking distance of the shopping district, museums, some good cheap restaurants. Also plenty of hot water for the showers, which was a nice change after the lukewarm deal in Prague. We went to dinner at a traditional Austrian food type place, then I couldn't help but play a round of pool at the local pool hall. It has been way too long.
24 April
Breakfast was at the cafe around the corner, had a Viennese coffee...had to, really! Then we were off to the Leopold Museum...need to take a look into Egger-Lienz, he had some very nice Tyrolean landscapes. Bonus, they had a Herman Hesse exhibit! Paintings, manuscripts, even some of his music lyrics. Makes me want to learn German...need to be able to read his stuff in the original. Next stop, the Kunst Historisches Museum, which housed Greek, Roman, and Egyptian collections, as well as paintings. Had lunch at the museum cafe, then tried to make it to the Natural History Museum, but was closed...argh, Monday. Walked through town, stopped at a cathedral, then made a dash to the Belvedere. Alan headed for their art exhibit; I beelined for the Botanical Gardens. Met up an hour or so later, headed to a beer garden (the real thing), where we ate some of the best apple streudel EVER.
25 April
Got up at 4:30am for our 6:30 train, gaah. But it went smoothly, the train was nice (first class is goooood). I neeeed to watch "The Sound of Music" again. We went through the Alps on our way to Venice, and I was just awestruck. Each turn in the track led to a more stunning panorama. Alan prolly wanted to move seats, every two seconds I was poking him and gesturing idiotically at yet another snow-covered peak. We passed a little walled town on the Italian side, Venzone, that I need to find the history of. I dunno, something about it just made me strain to catch the name of this tiny, probably insignificant little town.
We got to Venice, took a boat to our hostel, which was on a separate island (Lido). Apparently it's like the seaside resort island of Venice. The hotel was on the main street, which meant it was easy to find, but noisy. Questionable security, as well...nobody seemed to stick around the front desk, but it was one of those hotels where you leave the key. They told us to just leave it on the desk. No thanks.
We boated over to Piazza San Marco, looked at the Palazzo Ducale from the outside, the Piazza, the Basilica...we'll visit tomorrow. Walked by Rialto Bridge, then found a restaurant for pizza and profiteroles. Yum! Then back on the boat and to bed.
26 April
Started off with pastries, then hit the Palazzo Ducale...verry extravagant. You know when they've got the "Golden Staircase," they're gonna by ritzy. Took out some sandwiches for lunch, then went to the Basilica, again sickeningly extravagant. They had an altar completely covered in gold and jewels...just wondering how many meals could be purchased if that were plucked and melted down.
On to THE Guggenheim (the original), we saw a Rothko that made us do a double-take. Every Rothko I've seen has always ALWAYS been a square, and maybe another square inside it. This one was like, he took a risk! There were
figures in it......weirded out. Afterwards, we stopped for ice tea, did some writing of postcards, some reading. I went for a little walk, sat on the Grand Canal, read some more. We met up for dinner at another pizzeria (can't get enough of this stuff). Boated back, to bed.
27 April
Back on the boat, we got to the train station, stocked up on croissants, sandwiches, and fruit for the voyage, and then took our place on the train. In Rome, we got our bus to the hostel (BellaRoma), is nice enough. Verrrry clean, smells like detergent. They had free internet, decent showers. ATM and restaurants were nearby. Went to a little restaurant called Ternosecco, got pasta for a change, along with fried mozzerella AND chocolate mousse AND capuccino. Oooo dear. Back at the hostel, we planned our day for tomorrow (it's gonna be an early one...Vatican lines get long early), and then it was lights out.
28 April
Up at 6:15, we were in the Vatican line by 7:30. Doors opened at 9:00, and we still didn't get through the doors until 9:45. Was funny, all you think of is, wow I'm going to see the Sistine Chapel. And then you enter some other gallery, which is actually quite stunning, but not the Sistine Chapel. Every time you exit a room, you hold your breath and wonder if this is it, but no. Some of them were very neat, though...the Gallery of Maps was pretty breathtaking...the ceiling glowed gold with all the paintings, and the walls were covered with extraordinary maps of Italy. The Room of Constantine was also nifty...designs tell the story of Constantine seeing a cross in the sky, vowing to become Christian if he won the battle on the following day, and then depicts the battle, his victory, his coronation as a Christian king... Just cool to see a story that you know being illustrated like that. The Sistine Chapel...it's darker than I thought it would be. And quiet. They have guards in there shushing people every couple minutes...no photography, no talking...they have a hard job of keeping us tourists in line, I think.
In the Vatican complex, we also saw the Etruscan collection, and then on to St. Peter's Basilica. HUGE. This church is a giant. Latin inscriptions running along the top of the walls. We went up the dome...scary how much empty space you're hanging over while going up these stairwells. Even though we were walking up regular staircases, the walls were curving in because obviously we are in a dome, that's what they do. Just was eerie.
We stopped to recuperate at a cafe, then made a dash for the Pantheon, which we did get into. Raphael's tomb was there. Walked back toward the hostel, ended up eating at the same restaurant as last night...the waiter remembered us, kept trying to get us interested in whisky for our after dinner drink...we weren't any more interested than the previous night.
29 April
Dropped our luggage off at the train station...we've got a night train tonight. Then we hit the Museo Nationale, lots of Roman sculptures, coins, frescos, paintings. Stopped at a cafe, then went for the big one. The Colosseum. Amazing how old this thing is, yet how similar it looks to a modern day stadium. Those Romans knew what they were doing. Next up, Palatine Hill...where the word "palace" comes from. Not much more than ruins now, but it had to be pretty snazzy back in the day. They had orange trees, roses here and there. Wandered from there to the Roman Forums...they seemed to be under excavation still...to think, I stopped considering archaeology back in 5th grade because I figured they'd find everything by the time I grew up. Dang.
We made a wild dash to the Borghese Gallery, but we get there only to find out you have to book ahead of time, and that in any case it was full until Thursday! Collapse on lawn to recuperate.
Ate at a pizzeria which was mediocre...should've gone back to our standby. But we did get BIG gelatos at a place down the street, so that was good. Made it back to the train station with not as much time as we'd have liked...waited in an unreasonably slow line to retrieve our luggage, then ran ran ran to the train.
12 hours in a 2nd class full 6-seater compartment, overnight. Not exactly the best of all sleeping arrangements. But we made it, and pulled into Nice in late morning. So that would put us at...
30 April
The hostel was near the station...our room wasn't ready yet, so we left our bags and headed to get fruit and OJ, which we ate on the steps of a church. In the trend of eating, we headed to the Virgin Megastore Cafe for Earl Greys. Hoping we'd have a room, we headed back, waited a little bit longer, and then were able to crash. Room was very nice: shower, fridge, microwave, sink. Toilet down the hall, beach towels available. We set out for the beach, picked up some sandwiches along the way, but don't ya know...the one day we have rain, it's the beach day. And rain it did, DOWNPOUR. We ate sandwiches under some official-type building's porch. Dashed between bouts of rain to the Contemporary Art Museum, which turned out to be closed. By that time, the rain was done and we wandered up to the chateau area, where there were nice panoramas of the city and bay. Harhar they had a huuuge jungle gym type thing...couldn't help it, I'm a sucker for climbing. It did say for ages 7 and up. :)
We made it to the beach, went to a cafe with nice wicker beach beds. Decided it was time to bite the bullet and go in the water, so we tried making our way across a swift-moving stream to get to a swimable-looking part of the bay. Not in the plan was me losing one of my flipflops down the river. By the time I get out, struggling not to lose the other flipflop or my bag, the other one is floating out to sea. This is not good, you DO NOT want to be barefoot in France: broken glass, dog excrement... Alan came to the rescue and swam out to save it, to the applaud of myself and a verrrrry amused French family that stood on the beach, watching the whole event. We chilled on the beach, I got in the water myself a bit. We walked along the Quai des Anglais, then back to the hostel. Showered, went to the Indian restaurant next door for dinner.
1 May
We got lunch at Flunch (cafeteria-style restaurant), and then went back to the hotel for our bags. Made the train with plenty of time. We were on a TGV, nice!! Arrived in Paris, got to the hotel (Hotel Richard), do NOT stay here EVER. Unless you are seriously desperate. Room smelled like...feces...it was not clean. You could definitely make eye contact with the neighbors across the square, but shutting the window was out of the question...not gonna suffocate with the merde. We went out ASAP for dinner...Chinese.
2 May
Picked up my hefty luggage, and then we (Alan) carted it back to the hostel. We headed to the Latin Quarter for lunch, I got a tasty
salade paysanne and Alan went for the ravioli. Afterwards, we went to see
Spiderman III...totally came out earlier here than it does in the States. Harharhar. It was pretty amusing to watch it with a French audience...every time Spiderman started crying (which happened quite a bit), I mean...I was kinda feelin his pain, a little teary-eyed myself...but the French were laughing their heads off. I don't get it.
We walked to the Pompidou Center, took a look from the outside (gonna have to save going in for the next time I'm in France), then went on the the Place des Vosges...which is where Victor Hugo's house is. We had a nice dinner there, then headed back to the hostel, got packed, and headed to bed.
3 May
We got breakfast at a cafe around the corner, then battled the metro to Gare du Nord. Alan came all the way up to the airport with me on the RER. They've installed a new tram sort of deal between the RER station and the terminals, which was nice...no buses. Checked my luggage, got tickets, and then we snagged a drink in the cafe before saying so-longs. :(
Ride was smooth to Chicago, but it was weird arriving in the States. The security
seems very stepped up...no phones until you're out of immigration/customs, the Homeland Security warnings every two seconds, etc. But people were super-friendly and not at all the where-are-your-papers type I was imagining. Casual, I'd even say. My immigration officer was telling me about her friend who taught English in Hong Kong...the people who were announcing plane boardings were bellowing into the microphone "Are we boarding Kalamazoo or what?!"
The wait in Chicago was interminable. Six hours of clock-watching. I ate at Chili's and was actually glad to wait in the (unjustifiably) long line, just for something to do.
Got on the flight for Canton, it was a whole of 50 minutes long, love it! They've remodelled the airport...it's still too small to be confusing, but looks nice! Mom and Dad were there, it was so good to see them. We didn't have to wait too long for luggage, and then made the 15 minute drive home!
