So it's all over. I'm home. Four days late and with tonsillitis, but I made it in one ragged piece. Our last night in London, we met up with 88 from Portugal and his friends and slept in, almost missing our flight...except that our flight turned out not to exist. Zoom cancelled it and our travel agency neglected to tell us, so we spent two nights in Gatwick airport (three for Kaje) and two extra nights wasting time in London, very dejected and disappointed. I had finally made peace with going home, and missing my time in Victoria and spending extra time in a cripplingly expensive city was a pretty rotten end...to a fantastic trip.
So here it is:
In 102 days, I visited 29 cities/towns in 16 countries.
I slept in 42 beds; on 4 buses, 2 ferries, and 3 trains; in 2 airports and 1 train station; in a treehouse and in a cave.
I got stung by a wasp, bitten by many bedbugs, got food poisoning, and had an eye infection.
I had to beg for money on two separate occasions.
I lit my hair on fire, broke my glasses, lost my bank card, and dropped my camera off a one-storey balcony.
My travel companion got robbed and we were forced to separate for a month.
I got yelled at by a Portugeuse Surf Nazi, a Finnish albino, and an old Portugeuse woman.
I went to prison.
I am now home, unemployed, ill, and massively in debt.
IT WAS SO WORTH IT.
Until next time (i.e. until I can drag myself out of debt and go on my next adventure)...
European Chelsea
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Sunday, December 03, 2006
One More for the Road
OMG. I am writing my last on-the-road blog. This is it, folks. Except for the emotional jetlagged email I will no doubt write when I get home. I am in disbelief.
Last I wrote we were in Prague. Trying to like beer. Never did succeed in that regard, but I did drink a total of I believe 7 beer on this trip. Pretty good, I think. Kaje liked to pour some of mine into hers when I was turned away though, and I would turn back and be pleased to discover that I had yet to choke down less than I had thought...So how much beer I actually consumed, I couldn´t really say. Anyway, Prague was good. We met a couple young American student photographers in our hostel and went out with them. We started at Banditos, the Mexican bar across the street where we ate like seventy-four meals and had many cocktails, one of which had a bunch of absinthe in it. Crazy and very potent stuff. Then we went to an underground bar called Kenny´s Music Island, owned by an illegal Nigerian immigrant named Kenny who sold weed over the counter. Yeah, you read that right, and no, weed is not legal in Prague. I think I have said all that I wanted to say about Prague. To sum up: I loved it. Almost as much as Paris. It is a close second.
After Prague, we went to Berlin, although only for a day, which was not enough for a city with that much going on. We did a free walking tour with a yelling kiwi guy with a spitting problem...not so pleasant in places like Parisser Platz. He was a really good guide though, and took us to all the highlights. Berlin has so much history, obviously, with Hitler and all that, and the Berlin partition during the Cold War. The Holocaust Memorial was really cool to see--it just opened after 7 years of construction and red tape. I´ll post a picture of that and everything else in my last emotional jetlagged post...All in all, Berlin: cool city.
OK, where to next? Seriously, it feels like we have been everywhere in the last month. Right, Amsterdam. On our way to Amsterdam, we made the mistake of not paying attention to which train car we were getting onto. Unfortunately, our train split somewhere along the way and we were on the wrong half of it. But German people are really nice, and three different incredibly helpful German people helped us make our train, wihch we had to run for...like, fast, with our packs on. First time we have had to do that, surprisingly, since we come close to missing every single train we take.
So Amsterdam was great. Yada yada yada. Crazy. I nearly got hit by a tram...like, really really close. I had to leap out of the way because it was ringing its bell. Kaje was on the other side and thought I was a goner.
Does this blog feel as scattered and random to you as it does to me? That´s what happens when you do a mad dash through a whole bunch of big cities. It is hard to keep straight and very hard to write a cohesive and coherent blog about. So this is what you are getting instead.
Next was Paris. Kaje almost peed her pants when she saw the Eiffel Tower. We met up with Aaron from Vienna and went to the Eiffel-Tower-Picture-Taking-Spot and took 7,509 pictures. I am not kidding. I am fairly sure that we have an entire GB of photos of the Eiffel Tower by itself. With and without lights. Day at night. Kaje in front of it. Me in front of it. Me and Kaje in front of it. Standing, squatting, sitting, lying down, standing on our heads. It was ridiculous. In fact, there was a couple parked at this spot (this place had Park ´n Pash written all over it) and they were laughing at us. We spent three and a half days in Paris, and I reckon about two of those were at the Eiffel Tower. We did manage to do some other things in Paris. Kaje went off and did some Paris things that I had done before and I just wandered around and enjoyed Paris. This place means a lot to me, I think because it is where I had my (shamelessly quoting Oprah) AHA moment on my last trip--where Alyson left me and I decided to stay, etc. Love this place. We went to a photo exhibit of Robert Doisneau´s photos (the guy who took the famous photo of the couple kissing...not the war one, but the one where the guy is dipping the girl) and it was great. Anyway, to sum up, Paris: fantastic. Still my favorite city.
Our next stop was unplanned before the trip. We wanted to see the German Christmas Markets and by the time we got to Berlin, they weren´t open yet. So we decided to stop by Cologne on our way to Frankfurt, to fly out. Cologne is where our friend Tobs lives. In order to explain why we decided to go to Cologne over every other place in Germany, you have to understand why we love Tobs so much. In order to explain that, we have to have our first...blog...REWIND...back to Rome...
OK, one of our final nights in Rome, we got moved to our third room in that hostel and met our new roommates, including Tobias from Germany and Emily from Australia. There were two other guys too but they were never around when we were, so we hadn´t met them. So one night, after several nights out until 3, 4, and 5am, we decided to spend a night in and catch up on our sleep. We went to be at 11 and passed out...then, in the middle of the night, I wake up (bottom bunk) to see a big, big man standing next to our bed, and Kaje (top bunk) having a little hissy. Turns out, Kaje woke up to find this big Frankenstein-sized man with his hand in her bed, sliding it towards her. So she (naturally) says really loudly, ¨Who are you? WHO ARE YOU?¨I thought this was a really funny thing to say to a guy who may or may not be trying to accost you, like ¨Who passes there? Identify thyself!¨ kind of thing, so I started to laugh. The Frankenstein´s Monster man disappears into the bathroom for a bit, then comes back into the room and is asleep in seconds. So Kaje is freaking out and she has woken up Em and Tobs and we all laugh and then Frankenstein starts snoring. Like, you have never heard snoring like this before in your life. Like, this guy needs an entire respiratory tract replacement because his is failing miserably. It was disgusting and loud and it kept the four of us up all night, from four until they left at eight. It was one of the worst but one of the funniest nights in a hostel on this trip, because we spent the whole night laughing. Kaje at one point called us ¨roomies¨and Tobs just loved this and used the word like every fifth word--imagine Arnold Schwartenegger saying ¨Roooooooomies¨ in his accent and you will appreciate how funny this is. So this night bonded us and we spent the next day with our little brother Tobs (he´s 19) and he uses the most awkward English phrases but is so happy and enthusiastic all the time, he is great. He sounds like he uses his German-English dictionary/thesaurus for everything and just picks the wrong words sometimes. He is good times, probably the most endearing person we have met on this trip.
So, naturally, we had to go see him. He and his younger brother Christian (Kiki to us), who is 18 but acts like he is about 43, came and met us at the train station in Cologne and took us around. We went to the Christmas markets, drank some gluvine (hot red wine...delicious) and ate traditional German food (enormous sausages) and drank beer (yuck) and laughed at our ¨Running gags¨(what Tobs calls our inside jokes). Then we went to Dortmund, a nearby city, where the boys live, and stayed at their house, which was so nice. Their parents were incredibly sweet and his mom drove us to the train station early in the morning to catch our train to the airport in Frankfurt. We stayed in a real house with a real family and rode in a real car. It was so nice, and made me realize that I might be OK with going home at this point.
Actually, this is how I feel about it...Hopefully those of you who are readers understand this feeling...
It is like when you are reading a really really great book and you get near the end and you don´t want it to end because then it will be over and you might not find another book this good for a long while. But then, you are near the end and you want to finish it, just to be done and see how it all turns out.
That is how I feel about the trip ending. We are on the home stretch. Less than a week to go, in the Canary Islands on what is meant to be a sunny beach rest period , except that it is cloudy and chilly (we had one great day...hopefully there will be more). We are both pretty burnt out, but trying to enjoy every last minute until our flight on Saturday...
Unbelievable.
Can´t wait to see you all!
Love,
Chels
Last I wrote we were in Prague. Trying to like beer. Never did succeed in that regard, but I did drink a total of I believe 7 beer on this trip. Pretty good, I think. Kaje liked to pour some of mine into hers when I was turned away though, and I would turn back and be pleased to discover that I had yet to choke down less than I had thought...So how much beer I actually consumed, I couldn´t really say. Anyway, Prague was good. We met a couple young American student photographers in our hostel and went out with them. We started at Banditos, the Mexican bar across the street where we ate like seventy-four meals and had many cocktails, one of which had a bunch of absinthe in it. Crazy and very potent stuff. Then we went to an underground bar called Kenny´s Music Island, owned by an illegal Nigerian immigrant named Kenny who sold weed over the counter. Yeah, you read that right, and no, weed is not legal in Prague. I think I have said all that I wanted to say about Prague. To sum up: I loved it. Almost as much as Paris. It is a close second.
After Prague, we went to Berlin, although only for a day, which was not enough for a city with that much going on. We did a free walking tour with a yelling kiwi guy with a spitting problem...not so pleasant in places like Parisser Platz. He was a really good guide though, and took us to all the highlights. Berlin has so much history, obviously, with Hitler and all that, and the Berlin partition during the Cold War. The Holocaust Memorial was really cool to see--it just opened after 7 years of construction and red tape. I´ll post a picture of that and everything else in my last emotional jetlagged post...All in all, Berlin: cool city.
OK, where to next? Seriously, it feels like we have been everywhere in the last month. Right, Amsterdam. On our way to Amsterdam, we made the mistake of not paying attention to which train car we were getting onto. Unfortunately, our train split somewhere along the way and we were on the wrong half of it. But German people are really nice, and three different incredibly helpful German people helped us make our train, wihch we had to run for...like, fast, with our packs on. First time we have had to do that, surprisingly, since we come close to missing every single train we take.
So Amsterdam was great. Yada yada yada. Crazy. I nearly got hit by a tram...like, really really close. I had to leap out of the way because it was ringing its bell. Kaje was on the other side and thought I was a goner.
Does this blog feel as scattered and random to you as it does to me? That´s what happens when you do a mad dash through a whole bunch of big cities. It is hard to keep straight and very hard to write a cohesive and coherent blog about. So this is what you are getting instead.
Next was Paris. Kaje almost peed her pants when she saw the Eiffel Tower. We met up with Aaron from Vienna and went to the Eiffel-Tower-Picture-Taking-Spot and took 7,509 pictures. I am not kidding. I am fairly sure that we have an entire GB of photos of the Eiffel Tower by itself. With and without lights. Day at night. Kaje in front of it. Me in front of it. Me and Kaje in front of it. Standing, squatting, sitting, lying down, standing on our heads. It was ridiculous. In fact, there was a couple parked at this spot (this place had Park ´n Pash written all over it) and they were laughing at us. We spent three and a half days in Paris, and I reckon about two of those were at the Eiffel Tower. We did manage to do some other things in Paris. Kaje went off and did some Paris things that I had done before and I just wandered around and enjoyed Paris. This place means a lot to me, I think because it is where I had my (shamelessly quoting Oprah) AHA moment on my last trip--where Alyson left me and I decided to stay, etc. Love this place. We went to a photo exhibit of Robert Doisneau´s photos (the guy who took the famous photo of the couple kissing...not the war one, but the one where the guy is dipping the girl) and it was great. Anyway, to sum up, Paris: fantastic. Still my favorite city.
Our next stop was unplanned before the trip. We wanted to see the German Christmas Markets and by the time we got to Berlin, they weren´t open yet. So we decided to stop by Cologne on our way to Frankfurt, to fly out. Cologne is where our friend Tobs lives. In order to explain why we decided to go to Cologne over every other place in Germany, you have to understand why we love Tobs so much. In order to explain that, we have to have our first...blog...REWIND...back to Rome...
OK, one of our final nights in Rome, we got moved to our third room in that hostel and met our new roommates, including Tobias from Germany and Emily from Australia. There were two other guys too but they were never around when we were, so we hadn´t met them. So one night, after several nights out until 3, 4, and 5am, we decided to spend a night in and catch up on our sleep. We went to be at 11 and passed out...then, in the middle of the night, I wake up (bottom bunk) to see a big, big man standing next to our bed, and Kaje (top bunk) having a little hissy. Turns out, Kaje woke up to find this big Frankenstein-sized man with his hand in her bed, sliding it towards her. So she (naturally) says really loudly, ¨Who are you? WHO ARE YOU?¨I thought this was a really funny thing to say to a guy who may or may not be trying to accost you, like ¨Who passes there? Identify thyself!¨ kind of thing, so I started to laugh. The Frankenstein´s Monster man disappears into the bathroom for a bit, then comes back into the room and is asleep in seconds. So Kaje is freaking out and she has woken up Em and Tobs and we all laugh and then Frankenstein starts snoring. Like, you have never heard snoring like this before in your life. Like, this guy needs an entire respiratory tract replacement because his is failing miserably. It was disgusting and loud and it kept the four of us up all night, from four until they left at eight. It was one of the worst but one of the funniest nights in a hostel on this trip, because we spent the whole night laughing. Kaje at one point called us ¨roomies¨and Tobs just loved this and used the word like every fifth word--imagine Arnold Schwartenegger saying ¨Roooooooomies¨ in his accent and you will appreciate how funny this is. So this night bonded us and we spent the next day with our little brother Tobs (he´s 19) and he uses the most awkward English phrases but is so happy and enthusiastic all the time, he is great. He sounds like he uses his German-English dictionary/thesaurus for everything and just picks the wrong words sometimes. He is good times, probably the most endearing person we have met on this trip.
So, naturally, we had to go see him. He and his younger brother Christian (Kiki to us), who is 18 but acts like he is about 43, came and met us at the train station in Cologne and took us around. We went to the Christmas markets, drank some gluvine (hot red wine...delicious) and ate traditional German food (enormous sausages) and drank beer (yuck) and laughed at our ¨Running gags¨(what Tobs calls our inside jokes). Then we went to Dortmund, a nearby city, where the boys live, and stayed at their house, which was so nice. Their parents were incredibly sweet and his mom drove us to the train station early in the morning to catch our train to the airport in Frankfurt. We stayed in a real house with a real family and rode in a real car. It was so nice, and made me realize that I might be OK with going home at this point.
Actually, this is how I feel about it...Hopefully those of you who are readers understand this feeling...
It is like when you are reading a really really great book and you get near the end and you don´t want it to end because then it will be over and you might not find another book this good for a long while. But then, you are near the end and you want to finish it, just to be done and see how it all turns out.
That is how I feel about the trip ending. We are on the home stretch. Less than a week to go, in the Canary Islands on what is meant to be a sunny beach rest period , except that it is cloudy and chilly (we had one great day...hopefully there will be more). We are both pretty burnt out, but trying to enjoy every last minute until our flight on Saturday...
Unbelievable.
Can´t wait to see you all!
Love,
Chels
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)