Benches and balconies

I woke up in the morning with what seemed to be the beginnings of a plan.  I knew that I wanted to get to Verona, but honestly I am not even sure why. I just really wanted to see Verona!! So I hopped on a train with a girl I met at the picnic last night, marni, and we headed east together.  

Now... This is where the story gets a little sketchy... See, I had done my research on Verona only to find that there were no hostels in the city. All I could find were very Vexpensive b&bs, and even those were impossible to get to without a car.  This didn't make any sense at all in my mind. Verona is a big tourist city!! There MUST  be a place for backpackers to go... Right? To be on the safe side I checked out a hostel in the city of bologna that I could take a train to if there was nowhere to stay in Verona. 

So I bravely hopped off the train, and said goodbye to marni and made my way to the old city. On the way, I met a young Ecuadorean girl who was studying in Germany and visiting italy.  Anna and I decided to stick together and see the sights for the day. We eventually found a tourist office, that explained that there are two hostels in the city (yes!)... But the one i needed was about a 30 minute walk away.  No problem!  So we started our hike up to the hostel on the other side of the city.  Of course what we didn't factor in was all of our picture taking, sight seeing time.  So by the time we were actually headed to the hostel, it was quite late. The woman at the tourist center had warned us that one hostel was full already, but she didn't know about the other.  This meant, unfortunately that if this hostel had no rooms left, I would not be able to make the train to bologna, and had no other prospects of a room...

While we were in Latvia, Aunt Silvya and Valerie teased me a little about my lack on planning... And I told them that if worse came to worst I could always sleep on a park bench!! Of course, that notion is much funnier when you aren't actually faced with not knowing where you will be sleeping that night... 

Needless to say, my stress level was high.

To get to the hostel we had to cross the river and practically climb a mountain. Oh, and did I mention that it's hot here?? I went from rainy and cold to melt-you-like-butter heat.  So we were dripping and winded when we finally made it to the hostel.  

I have been blessed with what we call "wiersema luck"... And things usually work out for us! Luckily the hostel had plenty of space, AND it was by far one of the coolest hostels I have stayed in yet.  It used to be a monastery, and it's atop a hill that overlooks the entire city.  There is a beautiful garden with ruins and statues, and even a chapel on the grounds.  I nearly started to cry, from relief of having a bed, and the absolute beauty from out my window.  

That evening I met a wonderful woman from Canada who was probably in her early 70's also staying at the hostel.  Her name was Irene, and I could barely understand her her Russian accent was so thick. (we never got around to finding out how she got to Canada...). But anyway she was feeling a bit lonely so I invited her to switch to our room.  She had so many stories to tell, of where she'd been, and who she'd met... And she told me that she still stays in hostels just because that is the best place to meet people.  Isn't that cool?? Anyway, she was staying in Verona until the opera started (I'll talk about that later) and then also planning on heading to croatia, so we briefly discussed traveling together.  I don't think the timing will work out, but she's a really wonderful woman!  

Although right now she is snoring in the bunk below me...

Anyway, i have fallen in love with Verona!  I am so excited to explore this beautiful city...

Milan madness

So in an epic jump across Europe, I took a plane from Riga Latvia all the way to Milan Italy.  Now, unfortunately, this isn't one that the cheap airlines do, or at least it wasn't any cheaper than a normal airline, so for the first time since coming to Europe, I flew a normal airline.  And it was heaven.  I'd forgotten just how much you give up when you fly cheap... It didn't help that I was given the exit row window seat... It was like a sign from the universe that I was to make the most of every moment of this extraordinarily comfortable flight.  Ah... Bliss!  So I stretched out my legs, and ate my complimentary sandwich and cookie and even had the audacity to ask for a second one.  Yesssss!

When we landed in Milan my first impression was just the noise and smell. I was once again back in a great big city.  I took the metro to my hostel outside the city center, and realized quickly that it was much farther than the advertisements had suggested... But thankfully the Milan public transportation system is reasonably easy to follow, and cheap.  

I made it to the hostel without getting lost even once (seriously this must be a record). The reception area and common room all looked very clean and friendly, which I expected considering the price I payed... Unfortunately all the hostels in Milan were overpriced and not highly rated.  But all seemed fine, until I got upstairs to my bed... I have never seen a mattress so dirty... Iiiick!!  AND the place had the audacity to charge extra for linens! Grr. 

Anyway, I really didn't have any sort of a plan past Milan... So I wasn't sure how long I'd stay there.  I decided to go into the city to check it out, and see how I felt.  So I started with what milan is most famous for, shopping.  Now, since I am incredibly short on space, there's really nothing I can buy.. So this got boring pretty fast.  So I went to where I am a little more passionate... The history stuff.  

Milan's duomo is by far it's most famous structure, and I have no trouble seeing why.  It's built in the center of the city in a huge white stone square.  When you come up out of the metro you are absolutely blinded by the reflection of light off of everything. Whenyour eyes adjust, your breath is taken away by the shear size and majesty of then church in front of you.  Tall, very thin spires each up everywhere, all intricately carved. 

 It's almost so beautiful that you don't notice the fifty or so guys looking for gawking tourists to sell stuff to... Or aka pickpocket. (oh yeah, these guys have us tourists ALL figured out!) 

Anyway, upon entering the church, I had my breathe sucked away from me again!  Now remember... I have been in A LOT of churches on this trip. Most of them gothic and pretty and old... Just like this one.  They get old fast.  However, this one struck me by surprise.  The dome was SO high and huge, that I felt as tiny as an ant.  It seemed like the roof was defying physics itself... Nothing should be able to stand this tall with so little support!  But here it is, hundreds of years later, still standing strong.  I felt so awe struck in this church, I didn't want to leave!  My neck ached from looking up for so long.., but it didn't matter.  It was so worth the vertigo.

After leaving the duomo, i wandered the center of Milan for a while.  Other than some pretty awesome street performers, I realized quickly that this city wasn't where I wanted to stay.  It was much too industrial and fashion centered... So I headed back to the hostel to make a plan.

At the hostel, I started talking to a young woman, and quickly found one of the best friends I have made on this trip. Elisa is a Brazilian living in Portugal, trying to make it as an opera singer.  She was in Milan auditioning for the conservatory there!! We hit it off right away, but as soon as we were able to start talking music, we were two peas in a pod! Elisa is one of the most high spirited people I have ever met. She says what she thinks, and often says it loudly :). 

As we were chatting, we found out that the receptionist was from Spain, and started talking to her as well. Seriously, thank goodness for English!  She invited us along to a picnic that some of her friends were hosting in a local park, so of course we agreed.  This ended up being more of a gigantic park party than a picnic!! Everyone brought tons of food, and more and mor people started showing up.  I don't think I have heard that many languages being spoken in one place anywhere else on my trip.  It was so cool! Plus the park was absolutely gorgeous... Fountains and monuments... A few Roman ruins... No biggy. 

Pretty soon, the guitars came out, and we had an absolute jam fest.  People were singing and dancing, and just having a wonderful time!  When I finally left, I'm pretty sure there was about to be a dance off between a guy from Italy and a girl from Spain. Oh man.

It was a perfect way to end my stay in milan.  I decided to keep moving forward... Although I still didn't really know where... But that's for the next blog!

Latvia: now, and in ten years

We started the day with the MOST fabulous breakfast!  We had these amazingly light Latvian pancakes with maple syrup... Mmm. I absolutely must get that recipe!  They were similar to German palatshinken, but even more tasty.  

Then we got back on the train to Riga!  Of course now that we knew where we were going, it seemed to take no time at all and we were back to our home away from home, the Metropoli hotel.  We took the day to do some last minute souvenir shopping and sight seeing. But when we were all shopped out, we decided to take a cruise of the canal system.  

The boat pickup we found was under a shopping mall in a concrete stairwell that screamed "drug deal gone wrong" to me... And I was feeling a little skeptical.  But after not much time at all, a very jolly looking wooden boat came to pick us up.  There was an informational tour going on in the back, but it was in a language other than English or German... So we were out of luck!  But the boat ride itself was really very entertaining all on its own. We knew enough of the city by then to be able to figure out where we were and what we were seeing.  For much of the ride we were out in a much larger river, which meant much larger waves. The driver seemed very unconcerned as he ate his lunch and drove us through some fairly large swells... All i can say is thank goodness none of us were prone to sea-sickness!!

At the end of the ride, things calmed down and we wound our way through some beautiful parks that surround the canal.  Really, Riga is a phenomenal city.  Aunt Silvya brought up the point that this city really hasn't been out from under occupation for that long... It is really just beginning to recover what it once was and to define itself as an independent city.  I would love to come back in maybe 10 years to see what kind of progress it has made!! I have a feeling that Latvia is going to become one of those destination spots, just like France or Italy.  

So we had one more night together, before heading to the airport the next morning.  We had a very long and silent ride back with a very surly and large Latvian man... But he gave us a smile as we left! So I think we got to him :)

I have to finish by saying thank you to Silvya and Valerie for allowing me to join them on this amazing adventure!! I probably never would have had the opportunity or the guts to go to latvia on my own.  They listened to all of my stories, and allowed me to be a total chatty cathy!! It was so wonderful to spend some quality time with people I love, when I am so far away from home.  What a blessing!!  We had tons of laughs and made wonderful memories... I'll miss them as I continue my trip!! But I am so glad I was able to meet up with them :). 

Jūrmala

Our third day we took a train to Jūrmala, which is a long stretch of beach not too far outside of Riga.  Once there, we found our hotel, which was a small and cozy bed and breakfast sort of place, we dropped off our stuff, and headed straight to the beach!  Now, the Baltic sea was beautiful, but certainly not warm enough for swimming! I can say that I stuck my toes in, but thats about it.  We had a lovey afternoon of relaxing in the sand and sun.  Later we had a nice lunch on the beach of calamari... Yum!!! 

We took some time to walk around the town we were staying in, and guess what?! We saw even more knitted socks, linen, and of course, amber. But it was such a beautiful afternoon that the walk was lovely.  

After the walk we went back to the hotel to check into our room... Mama's hotel was very quaint and cozy, but also a little weird... There was puffy padding all over the walls, mixed with zebra print furniture, and even a fake garden growing upside down out of the bathroom ceiling.  But our actual bedroom was the strangest of all.  Because we were on the top floor we were directly under the roof, which angled down into the floor directly above the bed... That means that everything you tried to get in or out of bed you got a nice WACK to the head!  Also, the same puffy, princess padding was used all over the doors... It made me feel like I was in one of those solitary confinement rooms, but made for a girly girl.  But despite the strange aspects it had a lot of charm, and was certainly unique.  There was even a lovely roof terrace to spend time on, which we all did before dinner.

Dinner was delicious but simple, although it was dampened by the news of the terrible fires back at home... As the evening progressed we heard more and more about the largest fire Colorado has seen in years... And it's been almost impossible to control! Here's to praying that some of this wet weather that has been following me goes in that direction, and that everyone stays safe!!

Rain rain go away, you're ruining our shopping day!

Second day in Riga and we were woken up by the rain!! It seems to be following me everywhere I go... But we are troopers and couldn't let a little water ruin our fun.  So we got up for breakfast...

Breakfast was a little more unusual here than I have been coming across.  Of course they have the typical toast and jam or cheese and meat, musli, and yogurt, but here they also included a variety of pickled herrings and some very runny eggs, which is apparently how they are preferred here.  I personally found it much too early in the morning for pickled fish, and I was hesitant about the eggs. However, there were brownies served as well, which was unusual, but delicious!!

Most of the day was spent trying to get out of the rain by going into shops.  Latvia is famous for a few things, mostly knitted goods, linen, and of course amber. I have never seen so much amber in my life... Every single shop had rows and rows of it.  Everything from necklaces to earrings to decorations, chess boards... All made of amber.  Now, don't get me wrong, I think that amber is a beautiful stone, however there is only so much of it a person can handle... I was getting to the point that if I saw another piece of amber I was just going to go off of my rocker...  I wouldnt be surprised if I dreamed of being eaten alive by some sort of amber monster or something, oy!!

But the upside of these shopping excursions was my renewed passion for knitting and crocheting! It's so amazing all of the wonderful things you can do. Watch out friends, Christmas presents may be my attempts at knitting things... 

Riga

This morning I was woken by a nice sharp kick to the shin by a security guard at about 4am.  Thanks SOOOO much for that, really! I needed to be up anyway.  So I was up and ready to roll and got on my early flight to Latvia to meet aunt Silvya!! 

Have I explained my Ryanair flight process already? Well... I'll explain again. Ryanair is an extremely cheap airline, as long as you follow all their rules. One toe out of line and it's fines out the wazoo. So they charge an extra 15€ to check a bag, but it's free to carry on... If you can fit it into the dreaded measuring box... And well... Mine doesnt. At least, not when it's full. So, I have developed a system. I wear my jeans and sweater... As well as my pajamas, and a few other shirts. Then I stick my toiletries in the pockets of my rain jacket and wear that too. That way, when my pack goes in it fits quite nicely! I may look a little funny... But hey! You don't know me :) And I always get a chuckle or two out of the staff. So anyway, once on board i strip all the extra layers and they go back into the bag. Take that, Ryanair!!

Alright, so I made it to Riga and had no trouble getting into the city. Man am I getting good at bus systems, I'll tell you what! ;) So I got there much earlier than I was expecting to, and had some time to explore the city after I found the hotel. (I just want to note the irony that I went directly from my worst sleeping place to the nicest overnight... You've got to love traveling!). I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting Riga to look like... But it certainly wasn't this! Riga is a beautiful old city that was obviously a real jewel at one point in time.  You can definitely still see some marks of the war and occupation in the city, but they are starting to rebuild and recover, and it's absolutely wonderful!!

A few hours later I met up with aunt Silvya and her sister Valerie at the hotel. Our hotel is the oldest in Riga called the metropoli hotel, and it's beautiful!  It's right in the old city, and a perfect location next to the opera house and the freedom statue.  It was so wonderful to see familiar faces!!! I honestly have loved traveling alone, you meet so many wonderful people, but it sure is nice and refreshing to meet up with people you love.  

Anyways, so first things first, went to an open air museum outside the city center. These three brave souls traveled WAY outside the city on very unfamiliar public transportation... Oh my... But we made it alright!! The museum itself was spectacular. The idea was to show different styles of housing and living in Latvia through history, and it's set in a picture perfect forested park. You can walk through the buildings which are all time period furnished, as well as watch people working and crafting things as they would have.  And of course, for those shopping inclined folks like my two companions, you can buy all of these hand made crafts. 

Aunt Silvya bought one item in particular that has a story I want to remember, which was a little wooden woven Easter egg.  In Latvia, these are given to children as "rabbit eggs" and they are told that if they sit very still and quietly with the egg, that it will hatch a real rabbit! :) I love learning about the little cultural details like that, maybe it's something I'll teach to the children in my life! :)

Planes, Trains, and... Charleroi

So today felt unbelievably eventful... Although now that I think about it I really didn't DO much of anything.  I started the day in Amsterdam, and left a little later than planned... (surprise surprise...) So I missed the train I was planning on taking, and had to grab one an hour later.  Other than that it all went smoothly.  The train conductor kind of took pity on me I think, and actually wrote out directions for getting to the bus station from Brussels to Charleroi airport (yet another itty bitty Ryanair airport to find..)

I wandered around Brussels for a few hours, although I found there wasn't too much to see, although I'd love to explore more of Belgium someday.

My biggest problem, right off the bat, was the language. I took like 5 years of french in high school, so you'd think I would be able to communicate, right? Wrong. German has entirely taken over my brain. And because German was much more helpful to me than English in the Dutch speaking countries, I just felt all sorts of language confused!! It took about 15 minutes of hard thinking for me to stop thinking"Sprechen Sie Englisch?"and switch to "Parlais-vous Anglais?" I almost jumped for joy when I remembered that simple phrase.. Uh oh. 

Eventually I stopped and had some delicious hot chocolate ice cream thing... And a waffle of course, before I headed out to the bus station.  The first bus was jam packed full, so i kinda held back to see if another one would come. As I waited, more people started to show up for the bus. A bunch of taxi drivers started coming up to folks saying "sorry, no bus today, it is broken. Only taxi" and I thought... Well that's strange, I just saw the bus not ten minutes ago! Me being blonde, it took a minute for me to get what was going on and to start warning folks that it was a scam.  Sure enough, when the bus came those guys were no where to be seen!

Eventually I made it out to the airport. Now... This is the part where those of you who are a little nervous about my traveling style might want to stop reading.  See my flight wasn't until early the next morning, so I decided to sleep in the airport rather than book a hostel or hotel in Brussels and get up SUPER early the next morning.  So I got myself comfortable and scoped out the best place for sleeping... Then got reeeeaaal bored. I think I sat in one spot for like 5 hours... Oy. I read, and talked to folks, and people watched. But it was dull.  I did however meet one girl about my age from Lithuania who was also sleeping in the airport. So we found a nice corner together and set up camp for the night... But seriously, no worries!! This is a totally legitimate thing to do... There's a website and everything! 

Beds are overrated.  There's nothing like good ol' concrete and artificial lighting to give you some beauty sleep... I'm sure it'll be an interesting night!

Anne Frank House

My last day was spent seeing the last bits of the city that I had missed, as well as visiting the Anne Frank house.  This was something I had heard mixed reviews about... But finally decided that it was worth the time.  I spent probably two hours in line... In the pouring rain... To get in.   And it really was worth it. The way the museum is set up, you enter from the warehouse where Otto Frank's business was run... And you watch videos and read quotes and see artifacts that tell their story.   The most amazing part though is as you work your way up into the house... You actually crawl through the hidden passage way that kept this group of people safe for so long...you see the tiny spaces that were available, and you hear every creak that would have given the family away if they dared move during the day.  

The end of the museum is an interview with Anne's father, about his reactions when reading her diary, as well as the loss of his children... It's very moving. I just wanted to call my folks to tell them I love them.  As you exit the main exhibition there is a huge interactive exhibit on present day anti semitism movements as well as current issues of free speech.  I loved that they were able to use Anne's passion for free speech in a more modern day setting... Showing how many issues we still must overcome.  Overall a really great day.

In the evening, I met some great gals who all wanted a chill night in, so we consumed massive amounts of chocolate and watched a chick flick.  It was nice to have a rejuvenating night  :)

Amsterdam day 2

I was definitely feeling a little lonely this morning... As I haven't had a lot of luck finding someone to buddy up with here.  There are a lot of great people, no doubt, it just seems like everyone has their own agenda.   I am loving the independence of traveling on my own, but also missing having the stability of someone I know along with me. But it's certainly forcing me to be more outgoing! The hostel settings make it easy to strike up conversations with other travelers... It's just taking some getting used to!

Anyway, this morning I decided to go the more "touristy" route and go on a canal tour.  It was so much fun! :) The entire city is accessible by canal, so we basically got to see the whole city from the water. It was soooo beautiful! And it gave me a much better feel for the layout of the city as a whole.  

So after a few hours on the water I decided to walk the city.  There was a hop on hop off bus tour that you could take on the back of my map, so I decided to just walk it... And take detours as needed. The city has these beautiful cobblestone streets that are super narrow, and the houses follow suite. They are tall and skinny and smushed together.  Some of them look like they would be falling down if it wasn't for the houses next to them holding them up.  And you can't go more than a block or two without running into a canal.  But once I got the basic idea of the city it wasn't hard to navigate at all.

The bike system in Amsterdam is incredible!  Rows and rows of mountains of bikes are parked everywhere... And that doesn't include the tons of people in the streets riding them.  Everyone, rain or shine rides those bikes everywhere!  In fact, I discovered that it was often much more difficult to find walking paths than bike paths as I wandered.  

Somewhere along the way I dropped my map... And after a moment of panic, I realized that this was something I should have been doing all along... And I allowed myself to get a little lost. That's when i really started to look at the roses... Oh! They were so so so spectacular. All different colors and sizes... And they were EVERYWHERE.  They call Amsterdam the tulip city... But from what I saw that should be changed to roses.  So amazingly beautiful.  I got to entirely redefine the phrase "stop and smell the roses".

I walked that city to death... Saw museums and churches and monuments galore. My favorite find however, was vondel park.  This HUGE park had statues and ponds and biking/walking paths, and trees, and birds.... It was an absolute paradise. The city sounds seem to melt away as soon as you go in... In fact, it felt a little like central park, but even more peaceful.  

When my feet wouldn't carry me anymore, I stopped for a gelato and just people watched.  I got the energy to get back to central station and take the metro back to the hostel.  When I got back it was still light out... But after 10pm!! I had forgotten how late it has to be to be dark here in the summer time... What a weird feeling.

Exhausting day. My feet hurt, and my shoes are falling apart already... But so worth it! 

Red light district

I wasn't sure what to do with my evening... Since I hadn't met anyone and wasn't feeling particularly comfortable with going out on my own.  Just when I was ready to curl up with a book and go to bed, a mother and two daughters from Canada started to chat with me. Soon, another girl from malaysia joined the conversation and we all decided that we would go check out the Amsterdam night life together. Now... I can be very awkward in situations like this... And was not sure what to expect... But it was weird. That's pretty much the best way to describe it.

This was another place where signs are posted everywhere to prevent picture taking... And we watched a guy's camera get tossed in the canal by a Danish giant for trying to sneak one.  These people mean business.

The girls stand behind glass doors with red lights (duh)  in their bikinis or sexy outfits. Some of them get really into it and will beckon to the people on the streets, while others just look bored. They text, or knit, or... Whatever. There were women of all shapes, and sizes, colors, and fantasies. And there are hundreds of people walking by like this is the most normal thing in the world. So. Weird. Oy. 

Night train nightmares

So... I don't think I am a fan of night trains. I mean, I like trains... And I like sleep... So you'd really think they would go well together, but they don't. This time going from Copenhagen to Amsterdam was a full 16 hours, and I didn't book a couchette.  Instead, I went with the reclining chair... Which in itself really wouldn't have been too bad. The problem was, that the compartment started out reasonably empty... Just me and another guy. But as the night continued all the seats filled up which meant you actually couldn't recline or put your feet up at all. Sad day!! 

The last train was so hot I thought I might die... Well this one was so cold I thought I would freeze to death! I spent most of the night with my feet pulled up to my chest in this chair just trying to retain as much of my own body heat as possible.  A rain jacket doesn't make much of a blanket... ;) 

Anyway, I was able to stretch out from about 2am on, and got some good sleep in.  And we pulled into Amsterdam with me wide awake and ready for the day!

The first thing I noticed about Amsterdam was the color.  It was even more green than Copenhagen had been and had tons of graffiti everywhere! But it was cool, funky graffiti that added a lot of spice to the station. 

Next thing I noticed, I have to give my father credit for.  There are so many types of birds here!! There were herons and storks and grouse and hawks and swans and geese and a huge assortment of ducks... It was so fun to be able to recognize at least a few!  Ok dad- here's my test to see if you are reading these blogs... (just kidding) I fell in love with these duck-like birds that were all over the canals that were totally black except for white beaks and white that continued up their foreheads. Anyone know what they are? 

Ok enough of my bird rant...  I got to my hostel which was quite a good distance outside the city center.  This was a last minute hostel choice and I wasn't sure how I was feeling about it... It was an all girls hostel called "hostelle".  And oh MY was it girly!! I'm talking... Cheetah print pillows, hello kitty bathrooms, chandeliers,  and chick flicks in massive piles. And no offense guys... But it was the cleanest hostel I have ever seen ;)

After settling in for a bit, I headed back into town.  The public transportation system in Amsterdam is really great. Everything goes through the central station, so no matter where you are, you know that you can get back to a home base.  (Really convenient when you're lost...) So I made it to the Van Gogh museum in plenty of time.  This was the most fabulous art exhibit ever!! They have some of the most famous of his works, something like 200 total paintings from him...which doesn't begin to cover his drawings as well as art from his inspirations and contemporaries.  My favorite section was a detail of his life through his paintings.  They started with his first painting and early years and went through his entire life up to his suicide and the painting said to be his last.   You don't usually get to see that much of one artist's work, and even if you do, they aren't usually chronological.  This was so cool!  You could really see his styles and techniques change as well as the influences of time periods. So awesome. I seriously could have stayed in there forever.  

When I finally did leave, the sun was shining and I had a lovely stroll around that area before heading back to the hostel for the evening.

Goodbye Copenhagen, hello Amsterdam!

On my final morning I took time to go see the National Museum located right around the corner from the hostel.  It was extremely thorough and extremely well done, and totally free!! There was an entire floor documenting Danish history from the 16 hundreds to present and free tours of each wing. I could have stayed in there forever! However, I realized that outside th sun was shining (finally) and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the sun. 

So I walked to Christianhavn, which is the southern part of the city.  Now, this is something very unique to Copenhagen and I'm glad I took the time to see it.  Christiania is a very small section in the southern part of christianhavn that is an independent colony.  I think it was some time in the 70s that a group of people (hippies) wanted to start a community outside the government of Denmark- mostly because of welfare issues I think. But anyway, these people were very successful and it is now an extremely colorful section of town, with lots of hand crafted things, cool designed houses, and of course, it is most famous for "pusher street" and the large quantities of pot.  To be totally honest it reminded me just a little bit of boulder... 

I was a little nervous going in, simply because I wasn't sure what to expect, and didn't have anyone with me. And the signs covering the entrance didn't help ease my concern... There are signs everywhere telling you that photos are strictly forbidden of all people, places, and things within Christiania. Sketchy!! But once inside everything is actually very nice. People leave you alone unless you ask to buy things, or try to take pictures.  It was a very interesting experience for sure... And I'm not sure I would personally choose to live there... But I think it's cool that this group of people really took government into their own hands when they were unhappy, and got major results!

After an afternoon of more wandering, I made it back to the train station to catch my night train to amsterdam... But that's for another blog.

Copenhagen day 2

The newness of this trip is giving me tons of adrenaline, and I was easily up and ready to go before 8.  The rest of the city, it seems, was not quite so enthusiastic. When I realized that nothing was open, and not a soul was out, I went back to the hostel and people watched for a while until the city came to life.  

The hostel had given me a city map with a self guided city walking tour, and I thought I would make a day out of it! So I set off, and before I knew it, I had given up on following the exact route, and instead went to all the buildings that looked interesting.  It turns out that this is a quality that practically every building in Copenhagen possesses, and i found it tough to choose which direction to turn.  This also means that I was paying hardly any attention to where I was going, and got lost quite frequently. 

I saw tons of churches as well as palaces, and made a special trip to Amalienburg to where the current queen lives, and watched the changing of the guards.  I made it all the way out to the port where the famous little mermaid statue lives... And decided I am not quite sure why she is so famous... Especially when I found other Hans C Andersen statues that I though were much more impressive. But still, it was a very nice walk :). Eventually i made it back to the center of the city and saw the city hall and the famous Tiroli amusement park. Tons of fun!  Seriously, the only thing that could have made this city any more beautiful would be a nice dose of sunshine!  Everything is so green and lush, and the flowers are beautiful. It's just an absolutely lovely city!

That evening, I met some girls traveling through Scandinavia together who had just arrived. We were all suffering from cold fingers and toes, so we took the opportunity to find some hot cocoa. Possibly the best choice I made all day!! We found this little coffee shop that sold steamed milk with bars of chocolate on sticks, milk, dark, and white, that you stir into your hot milk to get cocoa... Oh so delicious! Mmm...

That night we all just stayed and hung out at the hostel, and ended up meeting up with a bunch of guys who were also staying in our room.  A few hours later, we had all become fast friends and were playing one of the most competitive games of spoons I have ever been a part of.  It was deadly. We had to eventually switch to rummy just to keep everyone from injury! 

Copenhagen!

I finally made it to my hostel in Copenhagen, after a few unexpected delays... Ryanair outsmarted me and sent me to an airport that was significantly farther from copenhagen than I realized... And being Sunday, the normal bus system didn't run, so I found myself taking a few different trains and busses, but it gave me a chance to see a lot more of the Denmark countryside, and i made it eventually! 

The hostel was really quite cool... With beanbags and comfy couches, neon walls with random decorations all over. You know...jackalope skulls, packman displays, and classic oldies blasting over the radio. It was just a great place to take a breather from traveling and the cold.  

I got there late enough in the evening that there wasn't a whole lot of time to explore, so I just got a recommendation for a dinner place. I quickly discovered that no one, even the Dutch, like Danish food! So, I instead went to an all vegetarian place and had an awesome dinner of all sorts of salads, veggie, pasta, beet, carrot, potato... And delicious hot stuff, like eggplant parm, and falafel and tons of sauces. It was a huge buffet, and I took my time making sure I had enough room to try a little of everything.

Lovely evening... Although I want more than anything to be dry and warm... It seems like no matter how long I let things sit out, it is just damp.  Forever. I am so ready for sunshine! But it's still looking like a beautiful city, even in the rain.

Say what?!?

After a long and tiring day I wasn't feeling too in the mood for company... And in fact I was feeling a little bit like just curling up in bed.  But something compelled me to start up a conversation with two polish women in the room with me. It was Kate and Kate, one of them my age and the other a little older.  The younger woman spoke polish, and a little English.  The other, i found out, spoke polish and a little German.  So with a little translation help we all decided to get dinner together.  We went to an itty bitty place out of the eyes of the tourists that was completely in polish.  (you'd be surprised how hard that was to find!) I couldn't understand the menu so I asked the Kates to order for me... And ended up with 4 huge dishes all for me. Oy! The amazing thing was that this feast was only 15 zlotty, or about 5 Euro! I had a spicy goulash soup, and a pork roast with peaches and cheese (sounds weird but it was delicious!), a salad that was somewhere in between a lettuce, potato, and pasta salad, and pierogi again, but this time they were filled with a strawberry dessert!! The adventure though was trying to communicate with each other.  We would try to ask each other questions just like in a normal meal... But we had to wait for someone else to translate, and hope that person actually knew the words in one language or another! Amazingly, this worked out really well.  I discovered that young Kate is the same age as I am and also an only child. She is currently studying cosmetology in her home town (that took some pantomiming to understand...) Older Kate was living in krakow to study polish language and literature.  This whole experience was really uplifting to me. It made me feel like humanity does have a fighting chance to communicate :)

Later that night, the older kate left us and young kate and I were stuck trying to translate... Which was much more difficult.  We ended up using google translate on the iPad to get most of what we were saying across. Eventually, I understood that she wanted to go to a fireworks show on the river! As we were about to leave, a few canadians i had met earlier walked in... And low and behold, the guy spoke fluent Polski! Phew! So they came with us down to the river... And I had one of the strangest experiences of my life. Not only was this a fireworks display, it was a celebration of their nation's symbol, the dragon.  They did a huge boat display with gigantic fighting balloon dragons... There were giant jelly fish, and all sorts of nasty looking creatures of the deep.  They had the most epic music playing in the background, like we were watching a fight to the death. And occasionally they would shoot off a big bunch of fireworks.   Kate was absolutely enthralled, and she explained that this type of very dramatic show is very stylistically polish, and was a night she will always remember.  I certainly can't argue with her there... But it was really a lot of fun, and kind of cool to see this very polish celebration without the influence of tourists.  

A successful end to a very long day.

Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps

One of the main reasons that I chose to go to Poland was because of the strong historical connections to WWII. For some reason, this point of history is very important to me. I have learned about a lot of horrific things
done by the human race, but the systematic killing of over six million people has always, and will always stab at my heart more than the rest. So I chose to visit the places that are now most famous for these "war crimes".  It is not something I would recommend... however it is something I wish I could insist that everyone go to once in their lives.

I have to start out by saying that this blog was particularly difficult for me to write. Taking the time to really reflect on this experience was probably harder than the tour itself.

We first started at Auschwitz, the more famous of the two, but surprisingly not the one in most of the documentaries and movies.  My first thought, one that was echoed throughout the entire day, was simply how beautiful it was. Poland countryside was spacious and green with  beautiful trees and flowers, it was not the desolate god-forsaken land that my mind pictured- this kind of a place is not where murders happen. I still don't know if that beauty made it easier or more difficult to digest what I was seeing... It certainly made it less intense, however I felt like it was almost unfair to the memory of these people, as if their tragedy was somehow less valid in this pretty place.

The tour led us through block upon block, each having been renovated to teach about a different aspect of the camps. Some were more focused on life of workers in the concentration camps, while others were more focused on numbers and geography. But every building started out with a hallway lined with the photographs of men and women who had died working in Auschwitz.  Rows upon rows of eyes watching you... It had the effect of making me feel almost guilty to be alive.  All of the exhibits were very well done, but some were just factual, and others more emotional.  One room that I will never be able to forget was simply a huge mountain of human hair.  It was probably twice my height and stretched all the way across a very large room.  You could see individual people's hair... In braids, in clumps, blonde, brown... You see, the Nazis were not wasteful with anything but life.  Anything that could be used would be, and the camps were instructed to shave all the hair off of prisoners, both women and men, as well as off of the bodies of dead Jews. It was then cleaned and stored for later use.

See that is how this regime became so efficient.  Everything was done with extremely cold calculations.  They knew approximately how many slaves would  die each day, and so how many more workers would need to be deported to take their places. They knew how many bodies they could burn in a day, and exactly how much poison to use in the gas chambers as to not be wasteful.  The only time emotion was involved was when it was used to terrify the prisoners into submission...

It absolutely makes me sick. I cannot tell you how many times I had to fight back to urge to be physically sick as we saw these places. 

I walked through the original death chambers, and through the cremitorium... And my next thought was, "we are tourists being led through this like sheep, just like those people were herded here with no idea what was to come." .

Burkinau was much much more difficult for me to cope with.  Auschwitz was originally a polish military base, so the bunkers there were made of brick and quite sturdy.  Auschwitz II- Berkinau was constructed by prisoners when no more of them could fit in the first camp,  so it was constructed quickly and with very few materials... Which meant much worse living conditions and quicker death.  

My breaking point was in that bunker, where visitors have graffitied the walls almost everywhere. One particularly large marking was a very obvious swastika.  A part of me just wanted to die right there.  We have not come far as a society when you realize there are still people out there who will honor that sign, even in a place where the fear and horror of its meaning is still palpable.  

The worst part though, was walking the road toward the crematoriums.  We have all seen the pictures, and heard the talks, but it is something entirely different when you are standing there where these innocent lives were sorted for death and life like cattle.  Then we walked the same road that they did towards the forests, behind which was death.  Now, weeping willow trees spread their leaves through what was once a high voltage electric fence, sort of pacifying the long stretch of road. Of course, the nazis destroyed all three crematoriums and the gas chamber at Berkinau when they realized they were about to lose the war.  Now, all that stands there are the ruins and a memorial in all different languages honoring the lives that were lost, and praying that their lives not be lost in vain- that we remember.  

When I look around our world today, I see a lot of beautiful things... But I also see that we are beginning to forget.  Look at the middle east for example, or north Korea!  How many people must die before we are forced to turn  more than a blind eye? Now... I am not saying that as a 19 year old, white, privileged female that I know how to fix a very complicated world issue.  I have never studied politics and I know little about world affairs. But I AM claiming that as a member of the human race, we need to start
learning from our mistakes, and watching out for each other as fellow man kind

Pigeons, or rats with wings?

Yesterday was so eventful that it has to be broken up into multiple blogs, and here comes number 1! The hostel I have been staying at in here is called Cracow hostel. It's in the historical main square right above a cafe,so you really can't ask for a better location! However, this also means that it was reasonably noisy. On top of the expected night life noises, we also had a snorer and a snoozer. The snorer came in at about 1am and passed out in the wrong bed... Which just so happened to be right above mine. That battle ended with a pillow over my head and an iPod to fall asleep. The snoozer...oh this just erked me! The snoozer had an alarm that started going off at about 2am... And rather than turning it off, she chose to hit the snooze button ever 10 minutes for HOURS. When I left the room at about 8 that stupid thing went off for about the hundredth time... But I am getting ahead of myself! Sometime in the morning I was able to fall into a nice deep sleep that was undisturbed by the two noisy offenders. When I suddenly wake up to the sound of rustling and clicking... All I can think is, what NOW? So I do the best I can to fall back asleep. I don't know how long I was asleep, but the next thing I know, the clicking has gotten louder and seems to be coming from under my head... I wake up fast and look around. The window has been thrown wide open in the night by someone, and a flock of pigeons has now made my hostel room their home. Now... I don't think of myself as too cowardly about most things... But there is just something about pigeons that just freaks me out!! When they are outside I can walk around them or just give them a nice spook to maintain my sense of control... But there is always a "healthy" level of fear. But this, inside, with me, OH MY GOSH THERE IS ONE UNDER MY BED!!!! So, I didthe only logical thing I could think of... I threw a sock at one of them. Bad choice. The whole group went up in flight and panick... So I now have freaked out flying pigeons trying to escape out of the only closed window in the room. Thwack! Now everyone else is awake too. In an act of bravery, I jumped out of bed to tried to herd these rats with wings to the window that they could actually get out of. When the last one flew out the window with a coo, I shut the window tight and turned around. I don't know if the speechlessness was because of language barriers or the scenario, but the 10 or so of us just looked at each other and laughed. At that moment my alarm went off and I got ready to actually start this wild day...

Every journey starts with a step...

So I have proven myself to be a most unreliable blogger... And I apologize! I really do hope that one day I'll have time to go through and document some of the amazing experiences I had in Vienna. It absolutely baffles my mind that I am now talking about this semester in the past tense... Is there any way time flew that fast?!? And now here I am starting a whole new adventure on my own. I can't begin to find the words to explain what an overwhelming myriad of emotions are flowing through me right now! I am about to explore practically an entire continent, and I am doing it mostly alone. There is no use in pretending that I am not a little terrified... But I am also so filled with this sense of curiosity and adventure. Everything I am discovering feels so new and full of wonder! Whoo- sorry I let my cheesy side get the best of me there for a minute... Anyway, I think I will start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start...) Man I just can't help myself tonight! Something in this polish air... Oh yeah, did I mention I'm in krakow? ;) but I will get to that in a bit... Let's start with last night. I left my parents after a wonderful week of traveling with them around most of western Austria. Hopefully more blogs will come on that topic. I was feeling a little rushed because I had plans to meet up with some friends before officially heading out... So as per usual I was running late. In some ways I am glad I had a little distraction from saying goodbye to my folks... Even with the rushed goodbye I couldn't help but get a little choked up. It may be a little Corny, but I really do feel like this semester and this trip has been a major turning point in my life. Saying goodbye to my mom and dad last night felt like I was really taking the responsibility on to my shoulders of being a real independent adult. Whoa. So I shouldered my pack and went on my way! I met Abby and Luke in the ubahn station and we got smoothies and shared some last laughs. I have been so blessed by the amazing people that have come into my life, even if it is only for a short time. At 22:30 I boarded my night train and found my sleeper and waved to my dear friends until they were out of sight, just like the movies ;). Now... This is where the story really gets started. I found my car and discovered itty bitty bunk beds, 3 high, and I took my pick. Well there was mistake number one. See they are apparently very concerned that you sleep in the correct bunk... So when they came around collecting tickets at about 1am, I was the source of many tisks tuts and sighs. My second mistake was not requesting a cabin with females. (which apparently you can do). I ended up with all guys... Who snored and farted all night long. No joke. I thought I was going to kill someone. Also, adrenaline from my trip, very uncomfortable beds, nervousness about waking up in time, and extreme heat kept me from sleeping much anyway. BUT, on the plus side I was able to make a friend almost the instant I set foot on the train. Stefan is from Canada taking a year off to travel, and he is about my age! We ended up grabbing breakfast together when we made it to krakow since it was too early for either of us to actually check in to our hostels. The reason I mention this is because I find the idea of traveling alone both scary and a little lonely... But I have already been making friends left and right. I think we may be going on the same tour to Auschwitz together tomorrow as well... My other new friend is a slightly strange story... He is probably 40 something and a Russian documentary film director named Vlad. He had the entire hostel in absolute hysterics this morning with his sunshiny attitude... Oh so many steriotypes broken... He is here to pitch a movie idea about these doctors in Serbia who work on a boat and move from village to village... Or something like that! :P I love meeting people and hearing their stories. It's amazing what the simple question "so where are you from?" can start! And all of this before 11 o' clock! So anyway! It was pouring rain when we arrived and hasn't stopped since really... Blegh! But I decided to disregard the wet and go on a free walking tour of the city. Our tour guide was a lot of fun and I feel like I actually got a really good feel of the town- plus a lot of great history and folklore. I also met a girl named Tammi from Australia (she may also be going on the tour tomorrow). AND, talk about a small world, I met an older couple visiting here to hike and bird watch, and they are from Colorado! Honestly that was the last demograpc I expected to see in Poland of all places. After the walking tour I was cold and soaked to the bone, so I headed back to the hostel. I got all checked inand then went for a late lunch/early dinner. I found a little place that served Pierogi, which are little polish dumplings filled with all sorts of deliciousness! Some are meat, some veggies, and then there are Russian ones (Ruskie) which are filled with a potatoe and cheese mixture... SO GOOD. It warmed me right up and made my tummy super happy. I know this post is getting super long so I will try to wrap it up... Krakow as a city is not really what I imagined it would be... Much of the old town is in need of restoration, which in some ways gives it a very REAL feeling, if that makes any sense. I think one of my biggest culture shift issues so far is feeling so completely useless at the language. And it's not like I will be here long enough to learn much other than maybe hello. Dzien dobry (jen do-bri) for those of you who were wondering :) So I keep reverting back to German... But in this case I think English may actually be more helpful. Oy! Tomorrow I visit two different concentration camps and get to see a little of the countryside. I'm trying to prepare myself for a pretty intense day. I'm taking the night to just get my life organized and get ready for the insanity of the next six weeks! Sometimes you gotta risk it to get the biscuit!