Egypt Euro Trip Slide Show

Frankfurt to Chicago

Once again I have waited 3 weeks to update my blog. Dont worry though, the places I went too were only Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Rome, Florence, Cinque Terra, Gimmelwald, Grindelwald, and Interlaken!

Today I am flying home to Chicago and diving right into major culture shock in my own country. I am excited to finally be coming home, I am ready to see my family, friends, and Calvin, my dog. My trip in Europe has been such a learning experience. I have gone through 3 months of being with people that have completly opposite views as me and came out understanding their point of view better, but have also grown stronger and confident in my beliefs.

There should be a big update in a few days of the last few destinations of my trip, my thoughts during the trip, and the transition back in to American culture.

Final Destinations: Gimmelwald, Interlaken, Grindelwald, and Frankfurt

The train ride from Cinque Terra included many interchanges and about 11 hours of traveling. I finally arrived at Gimmelwald at about 6pm. I was a little nervous that the hostel was shut down since there were not many lights on, but fortuently they were not. When I got in to the hostel a guy named Brian was there that was there last time I was there, I also met a guy named Dan from Minnesota.

My plan for this couple of days was to do nothing except eat, play pool, and chill with the other hostelers. I had brought up a lot of food from Interlaken, so I was set for a couple of days. The first two days I spent read books and talking to Dan and Brian. Later on a group of 7 guys from Westmont in California came up to the Mountain Hostel. They wanted to do a hike to the ice caves, they wanted me to come since I had done it before. I decided to go, it took us about 2 hours to get there. It was a lot more challenging than the time before because of all of the snow covering the trail. At one point we were following the stream and jumping from rock to rock above the water. I decided to get to the other side, when I jump I landed on a pile of snow I thought was a rock and splashed down into the water. I tried to get out immediately, but I could not get any grip. It kind of looked like I was on an exercise machine where you pump your legs and arms, but don't go anywhere. I thought for a little while that I would have to go back to the hostel to dry my feet, but I had good socks on that kept my feet warm even though my feet were wet. My time in Gimmelwald was probably my favorite place in Europe. I loved the beauty of the outdoors, the relaxed feeling, and the people I met there.

I would have stayed at the Mountain Hostel the rest of my trip, but they were closing down for the season, so I headed to Grindelwald. I thought Grindelwald would be great. I had read that they had a 15 km sledding course and some great places to go skiing. I figured there would be some places to ski because people were skiing in a town next to Gimmelwald named Murren, but there was not snow there yet. That was quite frustrating because the hostel was $42 and there was nothing there that I wanted to do. Since I didn't get to go skiing I met a German and we went to the local gym and went swimming and afterwards watched the girls skate at the ice rink in the same building. I wasn't going to stay here more than one night since there was nothing to do, so I headed to Interlaken the next day.

In Interlaken I bought a few Christmas presents for my family, which I cannot disclose yet since is has not come yet, but I think they were pretty good ideas. When I got there I ran in to an Australian that I had met before in Florence. He was a fun guy full of energy. It seemed like everyone was in the same mood because we all ended up watching 3 movies in one day. We watched Blazing Saddles, Snatch, and V for Vendetta. After one day in Interlaken I headed up to Frankfurt.

In Frankfurt I was planning to stay at the Stay and Learn, but they were filled, so I ended up at one that was about a 45 minute walk away. I was frustrated at first, but in the end it was worth it. The hostel had a great dinner for only 5 euros. The next morning I walked to train station and caught a train to the airport. I bought a few magazines and was headed back to the US.

Rome, Florence, Cinque Terra

When I got on the train to Rome I met a few girls from the east coast. They were studying in Amsterdam for the semester. I was in a different couchette, but stayed in theirs for a while to play cards and exchange traveling stories. I didn't get to see them in the morning since get got off at Florence and I was still asleep.

In Rome I stayed at the Hostel Beautiful #2. It had great reviews online, but turned out to be a little over rated. I didn't stay there long I soon headed to see the sites. I first went to the Collosium. It was big, but not as big as I thought it would. I guess maybe because I was comparing it to the Auburn Collosium which holds almost 90,000 people. Also I thought that the entire thing was made out of stone, but a lot of it is made out of brick. When I was getting ready to leave two guys approached me and told me they were staying at the same hostel as me. One was from Poland and the other was from California. We stayed at the Collosium for a little bit long and then headed to see some other sights. Only about 300 yards from the Collosium there was a site of Ancient Roman buildings that were almost completely collapsed, but still very interesting. We then headed up to modern area and decided to get some lunch. We were looking for a traditional Italian place, but could not find a good one and ended up settling for a fast food pizza place. It was decent food, but not special. Later on we were walking around and ran in to the Trevi fountain that was incredible and one of my favorite sites on this trip. At teh base there is a giant pool that catches the water and above there are marble cliffs where the giant men and women are resting in front of a Roman building.

The next day the guy from California, a Canadian named Lisa, and me headed to the Sistine Chapel which had to be entered through the Vatican Museum. Lisa could not go in since she had ran out of time and had to catch her train. When we got in we had to go through many halls of artwork and Roman history before we got to the actual chapel. When we finally got there it was incredible, though I wish there was more light in it to show the beauty better. You could see all of the different stories from the Bible including the creation, resurrection, and the heavens. After this we headed back to the Trevi fountain to hang out. California wanted to sit near the fountain and journal I just chilled out and read from Lord of the Rings.

The food in Italy was not as good as I had expected it to be. I was expecting to have the best food that ever have. I am not sure that I got a good perspective of what Italian food really is though, since I was in the tourist area and never really ventured into true Italian culture. California, Lisa, and I did go to an Italian restaurant that was highly recommended and quite expensive, but even there we were still disappointed. I thought that I had better Italian food at Maggiano's.

The next day I was off to Florence. I stayed at a hostel called the Archi Rossi. It was a nice place expect seemed a little strict, every time you entered you had to show you had your room key. The first place I went to was the Statue of David. It was impressive much larger than I had expected. I never thought that I would be that interested in it, but the size, detail and life likeness were incredible. Later on back at the hostel I found a guy and a couple of girls from Australia. We ended up going to a bar that served a drink and buffett for only 9 euros. The next day I headed out for a walk and ran into a marathon, I ended up watching the top runners come in. It was a lot smaller than the ones like Chicago, Boston, or New York. I only stayed in Florence for a day and then headed to Cinque Terra.

I headed to Cinque Terra with a guy I had met in Florence from Colorado. On the way there we had a stop over at Pisa. We only had an hour before our next train left, so we made a quick trip to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We only had a few minutes there, since it was about 20 minutes away and almost missed our train because it took longer than expected to get back. We finally made it to Cinque Terra. I got the idea to go there from a friend from Portland. Cinque Terra is a series of 5 coastal villages that are strung along high trip covered coastal cliffs. There really isn't a good way to describe this place, it was really beautiful. The buildings were all colored pastels and you could see almost every one when you were near the water because the steep incline they are on. There wasn't much to do at this place but do hikes and watch the sunset. The morning of the next day I did a hike from the first village all the way down to the last one. This took about 4 hours, and consisted of winding trails along cliffs that overlooked the ocean. The best places were high on these mountains because you could look out along the ocean and see all of the villages, the ocean, small islands, and green mountains. Besides hiking we just would cook dinner and get some beer from the local store and hang out.

After Cinque Terra I headed back to Gimmelwald Switzerland to relax for a while before going back to the States.

Frankfrut, Prague, Budapest, Vienna

After a few days of relaxing in Frankfurt I headed to Prague for some Pilsner Urquell and a Mozart concert.

Prague was great, though I wish people had not told me much about it before I went. Everyone told me how great it was, so I ended building an image of the city before I got there. Most of the information I had been told about it was the flowing cheap beer, the old city with the high castle walls, and the excited and lively environment. When I got there the beer was very cheap, beautiful city layout and buildings, and great people at the hostels, though different from my imagination.

The night I got into Prague, Praha in Czech, I took a walk around the city to get a quick overview of it. I saw some of the major cathedrals, the castle, and the main tourist sites.

The next day I decided to do a free tour of the city, which actually means you tip the guide at the end of the tour. The guide was well informed though very monotone. I think her boring tone was due to the eastern European culture versus a bored life. She took us to main clock in the city square, which is similar to a cucu clock (spelling?) with little wooden men coming out of the doors and other men dancing. We didn't get to see it though, since the time that this happens is sparatic because it was made while they thought the earth was flat and the center of the universe, so they did not use hours. We ended the tour at the communist museum, where she talked a lot about the communist regime, which was scary about the terror that went on.

During the tour I had met some people from the US, Canada, and Australia, so afterwards we got a traditional Czech meal and then went to the castle on the other side of the river. The castle was great, but we all had a hard time enjoying it since, it was raining and cold outside. Afterwards, some of us then headed to the communist museum, which turned out to be closed for only this one night. Instead we met back up with the full group and headed to a pub on the outskirts of the city because we would find cheaper beer and food. It was a quite interesting place that we found because the paintings on the walls were a combination of explicit sexual situations and horor scenes. It was cheap though and we had a good time laughing at the difficulty of ordering food in English to a Czech speaking waiter. After this I headed back to the hostel for some sleep.

The next morning I met the group from the day before at the train station to go to the bone cathedral about 75 km outside of the city. The cathedral was very interesting. It had originally been a normal cathedral, but after the black plague they were running out of places to bury people because there were so many bones in the ground. One of the monks or priests started to make artwork out of the bones and eventually made 6 giant piles of bones. The total number of people used came too about 40,000. I thought it was interesting to think about how these were all living people at one point and how they probably had pets and children and spoke just the way that I do. I expressed part of this thought to the group expecting a response of interest, but received more of a response of that I had grim and morbid thoughts. After the bone museum we went to a local pub restraunt for lunch, which was very cheap about $8. Soon we were headed back to downtown Prague.

I had expressed interest in going to a Mozart concert, two other people in the group decided to come. I thought it was a little inappropriate to go to such a cultured event in jeans and ragged unwashed shirt, but it turned out that most of the people were tourists and were just as poorly dressed as I was. This was great the players consisted of 5 violinists, 1 bass, and 1 smaller version of the chello. The music they played was a variety of Mozart, Bach, and I think Verdi. I enjoyed this concert and would be interested in attending another probably one composed by Beethoven.

In the evening we went to a pub for a few beers and a small dinner. Little occurred here except good conversation and fun times.

The next day I was heading to Budapest at 11:30, but missed my train by only 1 minute, so I had to wait until 4:30 for the next train. I decided to walk around Prague a little more to get some energy out before a long train ride. I didn't see much on this walk and had a hard time finding a bathroom, but I did have a good salad at the local pizza place with a Stella Artois.

At this point I was in Budapest (11/16-18/2007) and planning on going to their famous bath houses and their other major sites. The night I got there was a little frustrating, no money, bad map, and in an eastern European city. I got off the train and needed to find a cash machine to get money to pay for the hostel. I assumed that there would be one right in the train station, but that turned out to be untrue. There was a main street that looked like it would be a good place to find money, the first ATM that I came too was out of order. Luckily, right down the road there was another one where I was able to get plenty of Hungarian Forints. I then stared heading to the hostel.

A girl I met in Prague could not stop talking about a hostel called the Loft, so I really wanted to stay at this location, but they turned out to be full. I ended up at a hostel that I can no longer recall the name of, but it worked out well. A kind man ran the place and I think he just turned his apartment into a hostel. Even though this was not a typical hostel the man's hospitality made up for it.

The day after I arrived I slept in late until about 11 and then checked my email for a little while and then headed on a walk. I did a couple hour walk which lead me to the river, where the major buildings are, I saw the Parliament building, a cathedral, and a few other important buildings. I was quite tired during this walk, I think from all the traveling I had been doing the past 2 months, so I decided to take a break at a local restaurant. It was a really interesting place. They specialized in pancakes, but not like the ones in the US, they were more like crepes, but they could be either salty or sweet. I ended up ordering one that was filled with broccoli, cream sauce, and chicken, along with onion soup, and a diet Coke. This place was especially interesting, since you could go to the second level which overlooked the river where all the governmental buildings were located. After I finished eating I sat around for a while just thinking about things I would like to do in life and business ideas I would like to pursue.

When I left I started heading to the famous Budapest bath houses. I was moving at a tired pace and the walk passed the hostel, which I had to resist the temptation of going to. Fortuently I choose to live life to the fullest and head to the baths. When I got to the baths I bought a pretzel, which looked delicious, but turned out to be pretty weak. I paid 2400 Forints for the baths, I think that is about $16. After I changed to my swim suit I walked to the 3 baths which each were the size of a common lap pool. They kind of looked like a cup of hot water because there was so much steam coming off the them, they use thermal hot springs to heat the pools, so they are warm year round. It was a little awkward at first because I was by myself and there were hundreds of people which also included many couples committing pda. When I switched pools I met an Australian couple, that turned out to be fun. I only hung out with them for a little while and then headed back to the hostel.

The next day I was invited to go to a flea market with a few people. It was a long walk, but I was hoping it would be worth it. When we finally got there it was a big let down. Almost immediately it started raining and like American flea markets everything was crap. At least because of the rain the other people I went there with also wanted to leave, so I did not have to stay long. In the evening I walked over to the hostel that a girl had recommended to me earlier to make a reservation and see what was going on. I heard it had a got social scene, but was a little let down.

Next, I was off to Vienna Austria to catch up on the history of Arnold.

I arrived in Vienna in the evening and decided to stay at the Wombat hostel. It was a little more expensive than other places, but it was close to the train station and very convenient. I met a guy that was probably 35 or 40 from Australia that I hung out with for the night. We headed down to the bar in the hostel because we received a free drink coupon when we checked in. It turned out to be really weird. The people at the bar kind of reminded me of the people that were in the marching band in high school. They were all slightly different than other people I met other places. At one point when I was talking to the Australian guy a group of three guys danced up to us and asked us if we wanted to dance and the Australian said to me, "That is not a monagetwa I'll get involved with". I think that story best describes this place. In the morning I walked around the city. Vienna had a beautiful Christmas market, great Parliament building, and a few nice cathedrals. One my walk I was trying to find a cafe to have a cup of coffee, but could not find a nice enough one.

At night I caught a night train to Rome.