Copenhagen and Gothenburg

Three days ago I was in Copenhagen for two days. The hostel I stayed at was great. In the morning they had a breakfast buffet, that I would gorge myself at so that I would not have to eat until dinner. This did not work as well as I had hoped, by lunch time I was hungry again. Most of the first day consisted of walking around the city. I saw some interesting architecture, but nothing that stood out. The second day in Copenhagen was much better. I met up with a guy named Dave from New York who went to Tulane University. We went to Carlsburg brewery, largest brewer in Europe, for a tour. We were annoyed that the guide book said the tour was free when it actually wasn't, but it turned out alright since the beer we drank was more expensive than the ticket. That afternoon we headed up to Helsingburg to go visit the castle from Hamlet. This place was beautiful, it was right along the coast and you could see Sweden on the other side of the sea. The castle was also the location of were Hans Christian Anderson wrote most of his fairytales. As we were heading back to Copenhagen we stopped by a grocery store to buy meat and cheese for sandwhiches.

After Copenhagen I was planning on going to northern Denmark to a small town called Skagen. It is known for it sandy beaches and dunes. I was excited for this retreat from the big towns, but it did not work out since I could not get incontact with the hostels there. I ended up looking for hostels in Stockholm, but to no avail. The next morning I booked a hostel in Gothenburg, Sweden and headed there about an hour later. Gothenburg was just a big new city, so there was not much history or interesting buildings. Instead most of the building were built in the seventies, so it was rather ugly. I did get to walk around for a while and see what the people there do. I really did not feel any different than Chicago.

Transfering to Europe

Since the last update I have left Sharm, went to Dahab, to Petra (Jordan), flown to Frankfurt Germany, chilled out in Cologne, drank beer at Munichs Oktoberfest, seen Hitler's Cathedral of Lights in Nuremburg, and am now exploring Berlin.

Luke and I had a great time in Dahab. Dahab is located right along the Red Sea, it has a rocky shore and a mountains less than 100 meters away. We stayed at a great place called Bishbishi for onlz 8 dollars a night and it included airconditioning, great breakfast, and our own shower. This was so refreshing from the rest of Egypt. Most of out time was spent exploring and buying gifts for the ladies in our lives, though one day we did spend for ourselves. We went to a place called the Blue Hole which is a 300 meter deep hole right along the shore of the Red Sea. The snorkeling here was incrediable. When looking down the hole you see all of its walls covered with coral and sea life. There were fish absolutelz everywhere. That night we went on a hike up Mount Sinai to where Moses received the ten commandments. This was very touristy, but we go to see some incredible things.

The next day we went to Petra in Jordan. Our purpose was to see a city that was carved into the side of a mountain and to see were a true Indian Jones film was made. This was probably my favorite part of the trip so far. When we arrived they had us walk down a winding narrow canyon. We walked this for about 1.5 mile and at the end it opened up to a 300 feet talk building carved into the side of a mountain. After this it was time to start heading back to Cairo.

After leaving Petra at 3pm we finally arrived at Cairo around 10 pm. We had 6 hours until we departed to Frankfurt where Luke would head to Chicago and I would stay. When I got to Frankfurt I walked around the city, but just felt like I was in Chicago because it was so modern. I headed to the hostel I was planning on staying at, but they were full. I tried another one but no luck. I finallz decided Frankfurt was not worth it and headed to Cologne.

I arrived at Cologne at about 4pm. As I was wandering as a lost tourist with my head down in my map looking for the location of my hostel I looked up and was at the base of the Dome, Germany's largest cathedral. It was absolutely amazing, 450 feet tall. When you going inside it seems like the isle to the front stretches on for miles and the stained glass windows are spectacular. You donøt realize how tall it is until you climb to the top of the tower that has to be 600 steps. I thought I was in good shape until I had to stop half way up. There wasn't much in Cologne besides the Dome, but I did have a great time with some of the people from the hostel when we went out to a pub that served wooden kegs of beer instead of stiens.

After 2 days in Cologne I head to Munich for the famous Octoberfest. As soon at I got to my hostels I met my hostel mates that were from Germany and they invited me to a soccer game with Munich playing St. Pauli. It was quite impressive because there were so many people there for a 2nd division game with no significant purpose. Though it was great it was not comparable to an Auburn Alabama game. The next day I headed to Octoberfest which runs for 2 weeks, I was there for the opening of the festival. They open it with a great parade of beautiful german women and giant trailers of oak kegs being pulled by 4 to 6 clydales. Once inside you must rush to the beer tents to find a seat or else there is no way to get beer for the day. I ended up tagging along with two Canadians to the Paulsner tent where we got a few beers for 10 dollars a piece. At the end of the day it was time to head to Nuremburg.

Nuremburg caught my interest because of its history. It is where Hitler came to power. You probably have seen the pictures of the giant military parades Hitler did in a field and the speaches he gave infront of a building with stone pillars. That location is in Nuremburg. After the field I headed to the museum of socialist history. It mostly covered Hitler's rise to power, but I was surprised by the lack of information on the concentration camps and the Allied forces attacking Germany. I guess that it is a wound to German pride and they prefer to ignore it.

After Nuremburg, I headed to Berlin. The train ride took about 5 hours, but it was comfortable so I did not mind. The company New Berlin gives free walking tours of the city and their guides are great, but they do ask for tips at the end of the day. The girl Jessica was so enthusiastic about Berlins history. She took us to the Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie, the Brandenburg Gates, the Reichstag, and also the locations of where Hitler commited suicide. Before seeing these sights all of the information is the high school history books were just facts and statistics of death, but by walking through these locations you realize the reality of all that happened to the people of East Berlin. Latter on I went to Check Point Charlie Museum. This museum covered informtion about life in East Berlin while the wall was still up. It covered how certain people escaped; one guy escaped by inventing the first underwater propulsion system for a single individual. Since Berlin was the last city I was visiting in Germany my last night I decided to have some authentic German food. I ordered a platter of different meats, sourkrut, and potatoes. It seems like everything they eat contains some sort of sausage and sourkrut.

Next stop Copenhagen!

Egypt

We arrived in Egypt last week and have done so much already. So far we have been to Cairo, Alexandria (northern part), and Shama al Sheik(eastern part). Our time here has been great and with many adventures.

Cairo was overwhelming when we first arrived. There were people everywhere running across the streets in front of cars and as you walk down the street tons of people are trying to sell you souvenirs you don't want. I guess this should be expected in a city of 18 million people. I expected people to try to steal from me or be dishonest, but I have not found any of that so far. Though it was overwhelming at first as we talked to the Egyptian people more we found that though they are poor and have a much different lifestyle from ours they are very kind and happy.

During our time in Cairo we saw the Pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian Museum, the Citadel ( a large mosque), and also attended a call to prayer at a mosque. The pictures that I was shown of the Pyramids when growing up do not do justice to their size. Each of the stones that were used to build it are 4 feet tall and they are stacked probably 200 stones high. The museum showed King Tut's tomb and all of his clothes and jewelery. He was a very extravagant man. He must of had hundreds of pounds of gold. When in Egypt you should never use a mosque as a land mark, there are hundreds of them. They are beautiful and have incredible paintings on the ceilings. When I go to Europe it will be interesting to compare them to the cathedrals.

Our time in Alexandria was a more relaxing time. When we arrived we went to a fort along the Mediterranean build by Alexander the Great. Soon we got hot and jumped in the sea with some local boys. After talking to them for an hour a friend of theirs offered to take us around the city for the day. The man took us too the beaches which were nice, but covered with trash. Later on we bought freshly caught fish and had them cooked. We took the fish and a some pitas to the Mediterranean shore and smoked hookah (an middle eastern tobacco smoked through a water pipe).

Currently we are in Shama al Sheik with Luke's friend Rami, and Rami's friends Shereef, Mu hammed, an Ahmed. We all quickly became friends. Our days here are spent diving at the corals reefs and trying to get the a better feeling of Egyptian culture.