Europe Trip - Copenhagen, Denmark

I'm in Denmark now but I took a long roundabout way to get here. When I first arrived in Paris I tried calling Aude in Brest, France to visit her and her family. I got no answer after several tries so I decided, "What the Hell!" and jumped the next train. Brest is located far out the northern peninsula of France and it was quite a long train ride that took most of the day. Arriving in town, I called Aude from the station. Damn! She already had relatives staying and told me to come to Brest on the 21st and she would meet me at the station. I didn't tell her on the phone that I was already in town, I just hopped the night train back to Paris.


Back in Paris in the morning I decided to head to Denmark. On the train to Hamburg, Germany I started chatting with someone who I thought was an American. He turned out to be Roberto from Brazil but he had a very American accent from his time as an exchange student. It turned out he and his friend, Marcio, were going to Copenhagen as well. We decided to travel together after going to get pizza and beer in Hamburg while we were waiting for the night train. The night train was very crowded and we got very little sleep in the little compartment jammed with people. The only interesting part was when the train was loaded onto a ferry to cross into Denmark.


We arrived in Copenhagen yesterday morning and met four more Brazilians. We all got a room together at the Jorgenson Hostel and then went walking around the city. There are lots of beautiful women here. We went and checked out the old port of Nyhavn with its colorful houses along the large canal full of boats. It was a fun place, crowded with people. When it got dark, we went to the Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park in center of the city next to the Town Hall Square. It is full of bright lights and fun carnival rides.


Today we went to Kastellet, a old medieval fortification in the shape of a pentagram, and checked out the nearby statue of the Little Mermaid put there in 1913. We explored more of Copenhagen today. I think this is one of my favorite cities so far. There are a lot of entertainers working on the streets and are fun to watch. Denmark is famous for their Amber and there are tons of shops selling it here.


Tonight, I called Jurgen in Germany, we planned to meet up next Wednesday at his house in Koblenz. If it is sunny, I am going to the beach tomorrow.


p.s. I was hoping to ride one of the free yellow bikes while here in Copenhagen. The city tried an experiment earlier this summer by placing yellow bikes in special racks that anyone can borrow. You put in a 20 kroner piece which you get back when the bike is returned but the racks were always empty whenever I checked. The locals told me they disappeared right away and are almost never returned.

Europe Trip - London, England

I just stayed three nights in England. After another night of little sleep on the ferry across the English Channel, we arrived in London around 8am on Sunday. We took a train out to stay at Teresa and Irbe's house in Wimbledon. Teresa is the sister of our good friend, Matt, who moved to London with her French husband.


We arrived in town at the same time as the end of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. We watched the finals on TV and it was cool to listen to the crowd cheer outside the window from the nearby stadium along with the action on the television set. Pete Sampras won. We were pretty shocked to learn that you have to pay taxes to own a TV in England. Later that night after a nice dinner of pasta and home-made pesto, we walked with Teresa and Irbe to a nearby pub for some beers.


On the 10th, Greg and I went all over London and saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Picadilly's Circus, Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. We were quite surprised when we got charged by some attendant in Hyde Park for sitting in a couple of chairs for a moment to rest. It was really hot & humid today, especially in the London Underground. The Tube was like a sauna.


Greg left yesterday morning to get back to his job in San Diego and now I am traveling by myself for another month. Since it was the first day of the trip by myself, I mostly relaxed and hung out at the parks and at the crowded Picadilly's Circus. To escape the heat, I went to the theater to see "A Perfect World". It was pretty good. I also visited a book store to buy a couple of books by Terry Pratchett to read on long train rides. I got my first haircut on this trip. I had been waiting to get to England so I could explain how I wanted it cut in English.


Right now I am on the 9:23am Eurostar train that goes under the English Channel through the Chunnel to Paris. I left early this morning from Teresa and Irbe's house. They were great hosts. It was nice to sleep in a normal bed for a change and catch up on my laundry. They also lent me a nice camera to use for the rest of my trip. Greg and I had been buying disposable cameras with no flash since ours was stolen in Spain.

p.s. The listed prices for everything seemed cheap here in the UK until we remembered to take the exchange rate into account.

Europe Trip - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Greg and I had a nice breakfast at the castle hostel before we left. It was all you can eat. After arriving in Koblenz by boat, we took a train to Amsterdam where we arrived around 7pm last night and met up with Wendy and Carey at the station.


Greg, Wendy and I decided the best way to see Amsterdam in the short time we had was to stay awake and walk the city all night. We put our luggage in a locker and took Carey to the hostel. She was really tired and wanted to get a good night's sleep before her and Wendy's flight home the next day.

Amsterdam is a very wild and raunchy city. Every few paces we would get propositioned for every type of drug imaginable. Lots of beggars as well. Our first stop was the Sex Museum. It was pretty entertaining and Greg and Wendy had a good laugh when I was unexpectedly goosed by special chair that I had sat down in. I jumped pretty high.


Our next stop was the "Grasshopper". It is right across the canal from Centraal Station. The first two floors of the building is a bar but in the basement is the dealer who sells pot. We bought a gram of majiuana and rolled ourselves some joints. It was pretty good and I got nicely high. We ended up chatting with a friendly group at the next table and sharing each others joints. It was Wendy's first time and she got a little sick but recovered nicely. The room was pretty low-lit and smoky. You could probably get high just sitting in there and breathing.

The rest of the night we spent wandering around the city and visiting the Red Light District. The girls in the lighted windows looked pretty haggard. I can't see anybody wanting to pay for that! We ended up in a gay bar for awhile by accident. Heh! The pink neon should have tipped us off but we were pretty tired and out of it.


This morning after saying goodbye to Wendy and Carey at the train station, Greg and I walked down to visit the Heineken Brewery. Doh! It was closed but we did bump into the same beggar who had asked us for money twice before during our night-time walk. This time he started to ask for money, noticed that it was us, and said with disgust, "Oh, It's you again!" and walked away. We had a good laugh about that.


We are about to catch a night ferry across the English Channel to London. We have been here in Oostende, Belgium for awhile now after catching a morning train from Amsterdam. Greg and I are exhausted after being awake for more than 36 hours so far but we walked around a little and had pasta for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Europe Trip - Rhein River, Germany

Greg and I met a nice Swiss girl named Muriel Fiechter on the train to Germany. We talked for a long time and she asked for our addresses because she wants to write us when we get back home. (Update: We ended up writing back and forth for about two years. She was very cool and she sent me lots of Swiss Chocolate.)


We got into Mainz, Germany around 10pm last night, too late to change our money into Deutsche Marks so we hopped a night train to Nurnburg and back. In Nurnburg we made a quick call to our friend, Scott, back in California. I think we woke him up at a bad hour. He was pretty grumpy. Heh!


We arrived back in Mainz around 7:30 this morning. The German girl at the tourist information office was the prettiest girl I have seen on this entire trip so far. Whoa! At 10am we took a trip down the Rhein River on a boat. I was relaxing on the sundeck working on my tan and checking out the castle ruins on the way.


We got off at a small river-town called Bacharach where we are staying for the night. The hostel is in a small 12th century castle up on the hill, Burg Stahleck. Great view of the river, but it was a very tiring hike to get up to it with our heavy packs. We took a short nap to catch up on sleep because we didn't get much on the train last night.


We just went and explored the little town. It is pretty quaint, filled with small shops and surrounded by vineyards. We bought some pretzels and I smoked my very first cigarette. Bleah! Everywhere we have been in Europe, we frequently get asked if we have any cigarettes. I recently bought a pack of Marlboro's so I don't have to keep saying no. Now that I have them, no one has asked for any. Heh!


Tomorrow we take the boat further north up the river to Koblenz, where we get a train to Amsterdam.

Europe Trip - Interlaken, Switzerland

The train from Salzberg to Zurich was the most scenic train ride so far even though it was raining. High mountains on either sides with countless waterfalls streaming down the sides. We had to switch trains to reach Bern and then another to reach Interlaken, Switzerland on the afternoon of the 3rd. As you can probably tell from the name, it is a town that sits between two lakes at the base of the Jungfrau mountain region.


We stayed at Balmer's Herbage, a hostel which is a big hangout for Americans. The first night we had to stay in their large tent set up in a nearby field. I had my first big scare when I almost lost one of my contact lenses that night. Several helpful people where on their hands and knees helping me seach for it. I was so happy when a girl found it unharmed. Phew!


Yesterday, we took a train up into the high alps to the village of Grindelwald for a daytrip. It was a beautiful sunny day and the views of all the surounding mountain peaks was amazing. We took a long hike to reach the glacier that sits between the two mountains peaks of Shreckhorn and Wetterhorn. I felt like I was walking in a movie set as we passed farms, cottages, miniature forests and sparkling streams.


It was a long hike but we reached the long, steep wooden stairs that lead up the cliff face to the glacier. At the top, there was a great view of the valley we had just hiked up but the coolest part was inside the icecave of the glacier. The outside of the glacier almost blended in with the grey rock face around it but with a blueish tinge to it. Inside the cave it was like being in a beautiful blue crystal tunnel. The tunnel wound far back into the glacier to rooms filled with statues carved out of the glacier ice. This was the highlight of my trip so far.


Back in Interlaken that night, we stayed in the main hostel instead of the tent and I had Cheese Fondue for the first time for dinner. Since it was the Fourth of July, the hostel had a big bonfire in the woods nearby to celebrate. Lots of people.


This morning we took a ferry ride on Lake Brienzersee and saw a large waterfall. It was cold out on the lake. I am writing this on the train to Mainz, Germany which is alongside the Rhine River. Greg and I split up with Wendy and Carey after Interlaken but we will meet up with them again in Amsterdam.


p.s. Switzerland is very expensive. It costs 10 dollars for a Big Mac, fries and a Coke. Minimum wage in Switzerland is 12 francs/hr. = 11 dollars/hr.

Europe Trip - Salzburg, Austria

I love the trains here in Europe. It is a great way to travel, in the little compartments with bench seats that face each other. It makes it very easy to meet new people and strike up interesting conversations. On our night train we were able to pull the seats together for a convenient bed and get some good sleep.


We have been in Salzburg for two days. Yesterday, we hiked up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress on the hill yesterday. You can see the entire city from the watchtower with great views of the surrounding countryside and mountains. We went on a nice tour of the castle and saw some pretty chilling torture instruments. It was ruled by archbishops in the past and has never been captured by enemy forces.


Our hostel was close by the base of the fortress. I played some volleyball with some French Canadians staying there as well. They sucked! Heh! The cute girl who invited me to play was very nice. Too bad, I don't speak French. After a huge dinner, Greg and I bought a bottle of wine and walked across the river with Wendy and hung out at a park, playing cards and on the playground equipment.


Today we went to see the Watergardens at Hellbrunn. We got pretty wet. They filmed the movie "Sound of Music" here in Hellbrunn and Salzburg but I have never seen it. Afterwards, Carey and I explored more of the city. We stopped and had this really delicious sausage with cheese in the center. It came with a tasty roll and some really hot mustard. I am going to have to get that again before we leave.


I played some more volleyball tonight. It is my favorite sport to play.

p.s. This postcard cost 9 schillings which is about 1 dollar.

Europe Trip - Venice, Italy

Getting to Venice by train is very interesting as it leaves the Italian mainland behind and crosses the lagoon on a long causeway. I was struck by the first amazing view of the city as we left the front entrance of the station onto a broad terrace leading down to the Grand Canal with the domed church of San Simon Piccolo on the other side. We took a waterbus and checked into the Ostello Venezia which is a nice hostel right on the edge of the Canale della Giudecca.


Traveling around a city by the "vaporetto" is so different and very cool. Every type of boat can be spotted cruising by, garbage boats, delivery boats, construction boats and police boats. We went to the Piazza San Marco and climbed to the top of the bell tower, the Campanile di San Marco. It had a great view of the city surrounded by water on all sides. The piazza below was swarming with pigeons. If you jump into the air and stamp your feet when you land, a flock will take flight around you. Pretty cool.


After that we went exploring further into the city, checking out the canals and visiting the "Bridge of Sighs". A little kid in front of us almost fell into one of the canals while riding a toy car. His father grabbed him right before he fell in. There was an interesting leaning tower near a square where we stopped for a hot salami pizza. We found Italians to be very friendly on this trip but the exception was in Venice. The waiter was one of the only friendly Venetians we met. Maybe they are tired of dealing with so many tourists here.


Today, we took a water ferry across the Lagoon from Venice to Lido and walked across the narrow slip of land to the beach on the Adriatic Sea. The water was very warm with no waves and we stayed till five before heading back.


We are having dinner at the hostel and later tonight we are taking a night train to Munich, then hopping a train to Salzburg in the early morning. We are leaving Venice earlier than we want to because there is no room in the hostel for the girls for another night.

Europe Trip - Florence, Italy

Greg and I arrived in Florence today about 3pm. We were able to see allot of the city, visiting the crowded Duomo and the famous bridge, the Ponte Vecchio. We also went to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's statue of David. It was much bigger than I thought it would be. Another cool statue was the Rape of Sabine. Afterwards, we had a really nice dinner at a small little restaurant for only 14,000 lire.


While staying at the hostel in Rome, I was given a unused Florence bus ticket from a Mexican who had just arrived from there. I stamped the ticket in the machine when I jumped on the bus here and everything was fine until an inspector came on the bus at the next stop and started checking tickets. He didn't seem to like mine and asked for my passport. I don't understand Italian so I had no clue what the exact problem was but he wrote down my passport number and gave me a yellow citation. I don't know what it says so I am just going to ignore it. (Shrug)


The hostel here is surrounded by vineyards and has the appearance of a large country mansion with nice courtyards to hang out with fellow travelers. Greg and I were given a smaller two person room with its own bathroom which was also very nice.


There are thousands of fireflies dancing around tonight. We are leaving for Venice tomorrow to meet up with Wendy and Carey who went to Milan instead of here.

p.s. We keep having the same problem when we buy bottles of water. We keep accidentally buying carbonated water which we don't like. It is hard to tell by the label and even when we try to ask we still get the wrong one sometimes. Oh Well.

Europe Trip - Rome, Italy

Well, we just did Rome in a day. We started out at the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums near our hostel. The Sistine Chapel was smaller than I expected but the Vatican museums were very extensive and the best I have seen so far. Afterward we took the subway to see the Coliseum and the Ancient Roman Forum.


Outside the Coliseum we saw the strangest sight, a man grabbed a Gypsy women by the front of her shawl and started slapping her back and forth across the face while screaming. Her small children were yelling and grabbing at the man for several long seconds before she finally pulled his wallet out her clothes and handed it back. He was lucky his friend had spotted the women pickpocketing him. After getting our backpack swiped in Barcelona, I wasn't too concerned about the rough way he had gotten his wallet back.


On the walk from the Forum to Trevi's Fountain (after tossing a coin into the 2nd tier) we stopped for pizza and calzones. The lira here stretches much further with our $30 dollar a day budget and we are getting allot to eat. We then went and saw the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Very Cool! Wendy and Carey kept complaining about getting felt up when ever we were in a crowded area. We ended up back at St. Peter's Basilica and waited in a line to check out the inside.


It was a very long day and it was nice to just hang out on the steps of the hostel and talk to the other travelers when we got back. Ostello della Gioventu Foro Italico is the largest, loudest and craziest hostel we have stayed at on this trip. Down in the game room, the ping-pong players are insanely good. They were fun to watch.

p.s. It was hotter than Hell in Rome! I tried to keep cool by sticking my hand in every fountain we passed.

Europe Trip - Genoa, Italy

We arrived in Genoa, Italy on Saturday. There was big parade for the patron saint of the city. It had big wooden crosses that were 15 feet high and really heavy. A man would carry one in a harness with his hands behind his back and supporting it with his head only. Fireboats were spraying water in high arcs in the harbor.


We met up with Wendy and Carey, the two girls from Colorado we met in Bordeaux and walked around the city. We tried the Italian Gelato and were blown away. Wow!! I also had Pesto for the first time for dinner. I guess it was created here.


On Sunday we all visited the house of Christopher Columbus and took a train to Cinque Terra for the day. They are five little towns on the Italian Riviera. We hiked from the first town of Monterosso al Mare to the second of Vernazza on a trail that wound through vineyards and along the cliffs over the Mediterranean. The water was so clear. It was amazing.


We had a big pizza for dinner and I saw fireflies for the first time as we walked up the hill to our hostel. Pretty Cool!


p.s. We could see the entire Genoan harbor from our hostel on the mountain side. Great view and the nicest place that we have stayed at so far.

Europe Trip - Nice, France

We left Barcelona on Wednesday for Nice and had a really fun 8 hour stopover in Montpellier, France. There was a big music festival with thousands of people crowding the streets with bands on practically every corner. We had a great time untill we boarded our night train after midnight.


Yesterday we went to the beach in Antibes, which is a short train ride from Nice on the French Riviera. Antibes had a nice sandy beach which was nice compared to the cobblestone beaches we found in Nice. It was very hot and sunny and I was able to work on my tan.


Greg and I got a bit lost looking for the beach. We were navigating the narrow streets and found a long rock wall blocking our access to the sea. We spotted a pretty girl in a bikini walking by and we decided to follow her thinking she would be able to lead us to a beach. We were right.


Today we visited Cannes and Monte-Carlo. It was raining & cold so we didn't get to see that much. In Monte-Carlo, we took the poor man's tour by hopping onto the city bus and riding the circular route through the tiny principality. The alternating hot and cold weather we have been having has given me a mild sore throat. Hopefully it won't last long.

p.s. It is pretty weird sleeping with the paper sheets they give us at the Espace Magdan, our hostel in Nice.

Europe Trip - Barcelona, Spain

This is our second day in Barcelona. It was a long train ride with standing room only, but the views of the countryside as we crossed over the Pyrenees into Spain made up for it. We are staying at the Pension Fernando, right off of Las Ramblas, the tree-lined main street. I have wanted to come to this city since watching the 1992 Olympics.


It was beautiful today, so we went to the beach. It was my first time at a beach with topless women so I tried hard not to stare. Lots of boobs.

We had our backpack ripped off. We were sitting resting on some steps and Greg had the pack sitting between his legs when a guy came over from our left asking for a cigarette. He chatted with us for a minute, distracting us while his friend snuck up from the right and snagged the bag. We didn't notice it was missing for a few minutes after he left and then we ran around looking for him. Greg was really pissed. The backpack had the camera with allot of cool pictures in it, my sunglasses, and my walkman. The worse loss for me was all the pictures we took in Tours, Bordeaux and here in Spain.

Europe Trip - Bordeaux, France

We went to the huge sand dune, La Dune de Playa, in Arcachon about an hour's train ride from the city of Bordeaux. It was amazing and 117 meters tall at its peak. We took some cool pictures from the top as we took turns making huge leaps down the sand faces.

    When we got back to Bordeaux, we went bar-hopping with two girls we met from Colorado and two French girls that are students here. They were fun. We ended up staying out until the sun started to rise in the morning. It started to rain on Sunday so we just slept most of the day to catch more sleep as we are still very jet-lagged. We stayed at the Maison de Estudiants which is student housing during the school year but rents rooms to travelers during the summer when most of the students are gone. I tried speaking some French at a nearby store with my phrase book but totally failed. Heh! p.s. It was 10 dollars for a tiny pitcher of beer.

Europe Trip - Tours, France

We took an early morning TGV from Paris full of screaming school kids. The TGV is the very fast bullet train here in France. It was a very smooth ride but I would get startled every time another train would shoot by on the second track at full speed while I was admiring the countryside.


We are staying in a nice little place called Mon Hotel about a block away from the Saint-Gatien Cathedrale. Greg and I were so tired from two nights of no sleep that we didn't care that our room only had one bed. We passed out on the bed and slept past noon. Tours is very nice and full of young people. I think that is because this is a college town. I wish I could speak French.

We had some great coffee at a cafe and ended up seeing "Dumb and Dumber" dubbed into French at a theater. It was still funny.

Europe Trip - Paris, France

I bought this postcard in a little shop in an alley outside of Notre-Dame. Right now it is 2 am in the morning and I am sitting in the waiting room of a very cold train station. My friend, Greg, and I are going to the city of Tours in the morning because Paris is very expensive. Earlier we had been hanging out in the warmer locker room, but the French Police came in, looked at our passports and then kicked us out of there.


We flew here from LAX with Air France and they had the best airline food I have ever had. I like the baskets of rolls that they pass around with the meals.


We walked from Notre-Dame to the skyscraper at Gare Montparnasse, then over to the Eiffel Tower, and then finally to the Arc of Triompe. They have some interesting portable pay toilets in the streets I have never seen before. They have an electric door and are self-cleaning after each use. Weird!


I knew France was known for their topless beaches but I was surprised to see the amount of nudity displayed on signs and posters around Paris. It is a rather interesting difference from America.