right on bro!

I’m back. There were a couple of semi-scary incidents on the way back:

On the SmartWings flight from Prague to Paris, we were about to land (we were like maybe 100 feet above the runway), and then suddenly the plane took off again. Everyone was like, WTF. The plane circled around and then landed. No explanation.

The next morning, the terminal at Charles de Gaulle was cleared for awhile. I heard an announcement saying “There’s an unattended bag, please pick it up if it’s yours,” and then suddenly police were telling everybody to clear the area. It lasted for about 20 minutes and then we were allowed to proceed through security.

But, it’s all good. I’m glad I went on the trip, and I’m also glad to be back.

Time to get my New Life started….

General, Travels in Europe 2005

Don’t groan - you knew that was coming.

So, I was originally going to say that Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen, but I’ll revise it some: The Stare Mesto (old town) area of Prague is one of the most beautiful areas of a city I’ve ever seen, and I would highly recommend it as one of the places that everyone needs to visit in their lifetime.

Accomodations: I didn’t book any hostels prior to coming here, and everything was taken up all week in the city centre, so I ended up booking another hotel a bit out of the city. This is probably the weirdest hotel I’ve ever been in. When I first took the train out here, I was like “oh shit” - this area is your stereotypical depressing Eastern European high-rise suburb (Jon, remember the Soviet Bloc apartment building we looked at?) However, everyone’s trying very hard here to make it seem like a four-star hotel, and, apart from the actual hotel looking like a Travelodge, it’s actually pretty okay. I’m cool with it as a place to stay though.

As far as Prague goes….I’ve pretty much given up on museums for the rest of my trip. Yesterday I went to the Museum of Communism (which was pretty rad), and today I went to the Jewish Quarter (peeking through a hole in the wall to see the cemetery where they buried people 12 layers deep), but that’s about it. I have little desire to see Czech art, so I spent the past two days just walking around the city, and stopping to drink coffee or beer. Here are my notes:

• Beer in restaurants cost as much as soda. And it’s good stuff, too - Pilsner Urquell or Budweiser (the OG Budweiser, not the American version). Like, $2 for a big glass.
• Czech food is pretty good, but I think I’ve eaten enough sausages and dumplings to last a lifetime.
• There are casinos here. Lots of them. And they’re all really small. Like, they’ll have a dozen slot machines, a roulette table, and three blackjack tables. I didn’t gamble at all.
• The Metro (subway) stations here are rad. Each one is decorated differently, some with reflective bulbs, and some with a simulated wood look.
• The fish sandwich at McDonald’s is called the Fish Mac here.

That’s about it. Tomorrow I’m going back to Paris to catch my flight back home. I don’t think I’ll update this blog until I get home. So this is pretty much the end of my adventures. Hope you enjoyed reading about ‘em.

General, Travels in Europe 2005

Finished off Berlin last night by going to Kompaktorama, a dance club night hosted by the German techno label Kompakt (which is most of the dance music you hear when you’re riding in the Prius). First off - the night doesn’t really get started in Germany until midnight. Second - it was located in this crazy-ass abandoned East German building in the middle of a scary-looking industrial complex. I thought I was going to get shanked as I walked away from Ostbanhof, then past the meat warehouse, then over the dirt track, and finally to the building, by myself and with no street lighting. But I made it there and back, and it turned out to be okay.

So, today I’m writing from an Internet cafe in Prague in the Czech Republic. To be honest, I’m feeling a little exhausted from jamming around, so last night I decided that I would change things up a bit. I went first-class today on the train. Actually, second-class train travel here is perfectly fine - it’s way better than coach class on airplanes, it hasn’t been crowded at all so you’re not smashed in with a zillion other fools, and you have a good view out of the window. But since it wasn’t much more on this particular trip, I thought I’d try it. It was okay. The seats were bigger, there were less of them, and some guy came around and brought me a beer (not free). It was worth the try though.

The second change I made was: I’m staying in a hotel tonight, not a hostel. I know that’s anti-social, but well, I’m going to be anti-social for at least one night. Peace and quiet, my own bathroom, and CNN on the TV - I have a new appreciation for these things.

Well, that’s about it for now. Gotta do some research, then I’ll probably have a beer at a bar and go back to the room and enjoy the luxury. Happy Easter everybody.

General, Travels in Europe 2005

I´ve been in Berlin for a day now. I am staying at a hostel in the Mitte (central) area, near the TV tower in the former East German side, typing from one of the Internet terminals here.

Even though I´ve lost my cell phone, Berlin has been a solid bust - it´s modern and clean (at least most parts), and everyone I´ve encountered here has been super friendly. I spent the day walking around Mitte. First off was the Checkpoint Charlie museum, where a sign proclaims that their visitor list has included, amongst others, Roger Moore and Sylvester Stallone. Well, hell, if it´s good enough for them, it´s good enough for me.

After that, it was up to Potsdamer Platz, of which the architecture was simply amazing. Then, the Holocaust Memorial, Brandenburg Tor (there´s a Starbucks there now), and the Reichstag.

For dinner, I went to the Prater beer garden. The garden itself was closed but the restaurant was open, so I had hefeweizen, some sort of sausage, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut. It was like, ten times better than the Red Lion, which is already good in itself.

Miscellaneous notes:

There are a lot of Dunkin´ Donuts here.

The German that I studied in high school and college is helping. I managed to ask for directions to the bathroom in Potsdamer Platz, and I understood the response. So, wherever you are, Frau Babcock, thanks.

For Steve Huang: I ate some apfelkuchen today. It was pretty good.

General, Travels in Europe 2005

If you are reading this from Berlin because you found my mobile phone, please e-mail me at michael@rightonbro.com. Thank you!

General, Travels in Europe 2005

I’m in Amsterdam. It’s okay. I’m staying in a hostel right on the edge of the Red Light District, which is kind of…well, sensory overload. All of the stuff about weed & prostitution is in spades - you can’t walk down the street without passing a coffeeshop emitting the smell of weed smoke, or a porn shop with dildos and DVDs in the windows, or chicks in the windows. After two days of just being around that stuff, I feel like I’m in Vegas on the fourth day.

Yesterday I went to the Rijksmuseum, which was all about the Golden Age of Dutch history (the Golden Age being defined as a period of constantly being at war with other nations, and trading slaves), pottery, and Rembrandt. They had old-school weapons there which were pretty cool.

I also went to the Van Gogh museum, which and checked out the Rembrandt/Caravaggio exhibit. The exhibit is posturing a comparison between the two painters, putting their paintings side by side. I’m not quite sure I get the significance, because the two neither met in real life nor viewed each other’s paintings, but it was pretty interesting anyway. The rest of the Van Gogh museum was pretty cool as well.

After that I just walked around a bunch, then went back to a backpacker bar near the hostel and drank a bunch of beer with the other backpackers.

I think I’m ready to move on. Headed to Berlin tomorrow morning.

General, Travels in Europe 2005

I am at a convenience store/Internet cafe in Brussels, Belgium, waiting for the train to my next destination. Internet rental is pretty cheap here - about two dollars per hour. The keyboards here are arranged differently and typing is slow.

I had a pretty quiet weekend. On Friday I took the Thalys train from the Disneyland station, through the beautiful French and Belgian countryside, and arrived at the Gare du Midi station in Brussels in about 90 minutes. It took me awhile to figure out how to take the tram to my hotel, but I finally got there.

The center of Brussels is dope - narrow cobblestone streets lined with shops, restaurants, and bars, and people everywhere. The hotel I was at was right on Grand Place, a giant town square bordered by amazingly tall old buildings. It wasn´t exactly the Four Seasons but you can´t beat the location.

I slowly figured out that the transit pass I bought was not useful, as you can walk anywhere in the center easily. Spent the weekend pretty much exploring and museum-hopping - the Musical Instrument Museum, the Comic Strip Museum, and the Beer Museum. The MIM was awesome - walking around listening to samples of musical instruments from throughout the world - but the beer museum was a letdown. It basically was an exhibit of the equipment you´d see at a Gordon Biersch, and a film on brewing that I didn´t understand because it was in French. But you get a free glass of beer at the end, which was kinda cool.

Speaking of beer - the beer here rules. Stella Artois, Duvel, Tongolo Double Blonde, and Chimay, and on average it´s about four bucks a glass.

That´s about it for now. I´m headed to the train station for my next city. Lates!

General, Travels in Europe 2005

Obligatory Eiffel shot:

Photo of people talking photos of Venus de Milo (my actual shot of the statue came out too blurry to post, oops):

Also there’s some sort of warning about Montez in the train stations:

General, Travels in Europe 2005

Yesterday - Musee d’Orsay. The second floor was closed but I pretty much got my fill of French impressionism for quite awhile (although I liked the the pre-impressionist stuff better). Also the Rodin Museum - not really down with metal sculpture but I guess since I was here I had to see the Thinker.

Today we went to Versailles. We toured the State Apartments and the Hall of Mirrors. It was, well, big, and gaudy. Charles Le Brun spent three years painting the ceilings. That’s essentially three years spent looking up. He must have had one hell of a crick in his neck afterwards. Afterwards I walked around the estate to the Grand Trianon and toured Napoleon I’s old apartments, and walked around the Grand Canal. It was finally sunny and warm out today so it was a good walk.

I don’t think uploading pictures is going to happen, although I’ll try to post one or two tonight.

Tomorrow morning my family flies back to the States, and I take off for my next destination. Stay tuned.

General, Travels in Europe 2005

Still here in the outskirts of Paris. On Monday we went to the Louvre, which was absolutely fantastic, the Picasso museum, and the Arc de Triomphe. I walked up the stairs to the top of the Arc - it’s really nice up there, you can see all around Paris.

Yesterday we didn’t go into Paris because of the labor strikes, so me, my brother, and his wife went to the local mall at Val d’Europe, which had an aquarium. I took videos of the fish swimming. The downtime also allowed me to plan some more stuff for the next two weeks, which is good.

Brian: I did run into some gypsies here. Young girls come up to you and ask, “Do you speak English?” and when you say yes, they show you a small index card that has a message on it asking for money. I was like, “No, Brian said for me to beware of you,” and then I walked away. Seems to be working so far.

Gotta run. It’s morning and we need to leave for the train station…

General, Travels in Europe 2005