It has come to my attention that some people may be confused as to why I remain so quiet about my travels. True, I have my blog, but I am usually mum about what I’ve seen when face to face with a living breathing American friend. Well, the issue is linked to my very weird psyche. To examine this further, I shall present three made-up scenarios wherein I have a dialogue with my friends about my travels, the first is my view, the second is what I presume to be the reality (for what can we do but presume), and finally, the best we can achieve in this scenario.
Scenario one, my view of how I act
Friend 1 and 2 chat jovially about something very interesting
Alice bursts in, novelty sunglasses and Hawaiian shirt in tow.
Alice: “HEY GUYS, THAT’S NOT HOW WE DO IT IN EUROPE/ASIA/AFRICA/ANTARCTICA/MARS”
Friend 1 and 2 are surprised, but willing to listen to the interesting and varied cultures of the world.
Friend: “Oh, how nice. Please do tell us what it’s like in those places you mentioned”
Alice: “OH YOU GUYS ARE SO IGNORANT OF CULTURES, LOL I’M SO MUCH BETTER THEN YOU”
Friend 1 and 2 begin getting slightly annoyed because of this accusation. Alice continues, in a very loud voice,
“AND YOU KNOW WHAT GUYS, I RODE A ELEPHANT/TOUCHED ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S CORPSE/TOOK A BALLOON OVER THE EIFFEL TOWER/MET WITH OIL SHEIKS, WHAT BORING THINGS DID YOU GUYS DO?”
Friend 1 and 2 leave.
Alice continues jabbering like a baboon.
Now the scenario of what probably would be happening in reality
Friend 1 and 2 talk happily
Alice: “Oh, that’s really cool. Um, I mean, if you want to know, there’s um, a way they, er, do it in, um, Africa. I means, if you want to know.”
Friend 1: “Oh how interesting, please inform us!”
Alice: “Well, um, you see”
Friend 1: Go on
Alice: “I…”
Friend 1 and 2 wait expectantly.
Alice: “OH GOD I’M SO SORRY!”
Friend 1 and 2 exchange glances and continue their conversation as Alice continues mumbling apologizes.
Finally, what I envision would be how my travel discussion would go in a perfect world.
Alice, Friend 1 and Friend 2 are all around a table, drinking tea and talking jovially.
Friend 1: “Yes, yes, Quite, quite. Alice, didn’t you say they did that in Malaysia?”
Alice: “Why yes good sir, indeed. And they also balanced umbrellas on their noses, can you fancy that?”
Friend 1: “Oh how wonderfully exotic and exciting. Would you like to hear about how my day went here?”
Alice: “Yes, please, I would find that most invigorating!
Friend 2: “I also am contributing to this conversation!”
Preferably this last scenario will also have us all in top hats and monocles.
As for why I’m so quiet on my blog… laziness. Pure, unadulterated laziness. But hopefully the writing bug has bit again and I’ll be back on my feet in no time!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Trial and Error
I’ll start this post by acknowledging that youth hostels in Europe are usually not the best, but easy enough to survive for a few nights. Our hostel in Nuremberg was almost impeccably average – something that seems to be required to be a successful youth hostel. The only issue was what some of you may have heard about by now – the haunting specter of a woman who wandered into occupied rooms on our last night and stared menacingly at the occupants. It was an exciting night.
So, with that out of the way – Nuremberg! Nuremberg quickly won my heart by being a walled city with a lot of bridges and a few rivers, not to mention a castle. Sound familiar? Inside the city there are very square blocks filled with shops that are easy to get lost in. In fact, the city is small and the layout simplistic, yet with all the narrow streets and unexpected turns, it feels a bit like a maze.
Still, getting lost was itself quite fun, and there are a number of beautiful statues and buildings to see wedged in between the river and roads. Closer to the wall is the monument, the Way of Human Rights, consisting of a long road which starts at a white marble archway. On the road there are 27 concrete pillars with quotes about human rights on them in German and one other language. Deeper within the city are a couple of beautiful churches, though one is made less beautiful by the depiction of the Judensau – an anti-Semitic medieval sculpture depicting a few Jewish merchants suckling from a pig. The church is not interested in removing it, but instead prefers to use it as an educational opportunity.
While I was there, the city was preparing for “The Blue Night,” a music festival. In one of the squares, I was lucky enough to see the makings of a water show on one of the stages. Nearby, there was a fountain where some tourists were trying to move a metal ring stuck inside, an activity which seems to promise good luck.
Of all the museums--and there are quite a few--one of the more interesting is the German National Museum, where you can find nearly anything for anyone. For people interested in history, of course, there are the usual artifacts that litter museums; however, there are also exhibitions on German villages in the 1800’s. Art enthusiasts will find that the museum goes above and beyond expectations, providing guests not only with numerous galleries, but also having a great variety of artifacts, both religious to secular, spanning the 15th century through the 20th. Even music lovers will, to their delight, find a large exhibition on musical instruments.
Moving out of guidebook mode, the highlight of the trip, for me, was visiting the original sight of the Nuremberg trials. History is not my forte, and to my shame I probably would know little of politics in general, international or otherwise, but seeing how the Allied powers handled the war crime trials was fascinating. Did you know that the Russian judge tried to get a death sentence for each of the people put on trial, regardless of guilt? In a quick, perhaps ignorant aside, this part of the trip was where we started to see the subtle overtones of Communism and the USSR. Before the courthouse, we went to the Zeppelin field, where Hitler made many of his speeches. It was quite an exciting feeling (for better or worse) to be able to stand where he stood.
I'll close with the following bit of trivia: even before we reached Nuremberg, we took in one easily-overlooked remnant of National Socialism, namely, the Nazi Burger King. I repeat, NAZI. BURGER. KING. Let that sink in for a moment. Alright, good. The building, which now hosts a very capitalist American fast food business, was once a very functional building for the Nazi Party. This can be seen not only by the odd architecture (does a Burger King need 10 foot iron doors at the side?), but also by the shadow of a removed eagle.
Pictures will be added to this post soon. Special thanks to James H for editing.
So, with that out of the way – Nuremberg! Nuremberg quickly won my heart by being a walled city with a lot of bridges and a few rivers, not to mention a castle. Sound familiar? Inside the city there are very square blocks filled with shops that are easy to get lost in. In fact, the city is small and the layout simplistic, yet with all the narrow streets and unexpected turns, it feels a bit like a maze.
Still, getting lost was itself quite fun, and there are a number of beautiful statues and buildings to see wedged in between the river and roads. Closer to the wall is the monument, the Way of Human Rights, consisting of a long road which starts at a white marble archway. On the road there are 27 concrete pillars with quotes about human rights on them in German and one other language. Deeper within the city are a couple of beautiful churches, though one is made less beautiful by the depiction of the Judensau – an anti-Semitic medieval sculpture depicting a few Jewish merchants suckling from a pig. The church is not interested in removing it, but instead prefers to use it as an educational opportunity.
While I was there, the city was preparing for “The Blue Night,” a music festival. In one of the squares, I was lucky enough to see the makings of a water show on one of the stages. Nearby, there was a fountain where some tourists were trying to move a metal ring stuck inside, an activity which seems to promise good luck.
Of all the museums--and there are quite a few--one of the more interesting is the German National Museum, where you can find nearly anything for anyone. For people interested in history, of course, there are the usual artifacts that litter museums; however, there are also exhibitions on German villages in the 1800’s. Art enthusiasts will find that the museum goes above and beyond expectations, providing guests not only with numerous galleries, but also having a great variety of artifacts, both religious to secular, spanning the 15th century through the 20th. Even music lovers will, to their delight, find a large exhibition on musical instruments.
Moving out of guidebook mode, the highlight of the trip, for me, was visiting the original sight of the Nuremberg trials. History is not my forte, and to my shame I probably would know little of politics in general, international or otherwise, but seeing how the Allied powers handled the war crime trials was fascinating. Did you know that the Russian judge tried to get a death sentence for each of the people put on trial, regardless of guilt? In a quick, perhaps ignorant aside, this part of the trip was where we started to see the subtle overtones of Communism and the USSR. Before the courthouse, we went to the Zeppelin field, where Hitler made many of his speeches. It was quite an exciting feeling (for better or worse) to be able to stand where he stood.
I'll close with the following bit of trivia: even before we reached Nuremberg, we took in one easily-overlooked remnant of National Socialism, namely, the Nazi Burger King. I repeat, NAZI. BURGER. KING. Let that sink in for a moment. Alright, good. The building, which now hosts a very capitalist American fast food business, was once a very functional building for the Nazi Party. This can be seen not only by the odd architecture (does a Burger King need 10 foot iron doors at the side?), but also by the shadow of a removed eagle.
Pictures will be added to this post soon. Special thanks to James H for editing.
Monday, May 23, 2011
München Land
It has been a good week since our group of rag-tag students land in the Munich airport, and took a 1phour ride into the countryside, officially starting our adventures in German. Our bus ride tempted us with looks at the Munich Mercedes dealer through the window, and a few quick peeks at some of the landmarks before whisking us away to Kochel, a serene Bavarian village nestled nicely in the countryside, surrounded by beautiful lakes and tall mountains that disappear and re-appear in the morning fog.
Our first day was wisely spent allowing us to explore Kochel, though many people stayed behind to catch up on sleep (to this day I’m not completely adjusted to the time change). Jetlagged, cranky, and not fresh, but determined, myself and a few other students walked around the small park surrounding our hostel to get a nice view of the lakes and the random waterpark we found along our journey.
Most of our time in Munich consisted to us listening half-awake to a variety of important Germans, including a few members of the Bavarian parliament, a few holocaust survivors, Rabbis, and even a tour guide or two for good measure.
Dachau struck me as a very odd place, perhaps because of the clear blue sky, or the grass rowing inside the camp, or the fact that there was a bustling residential area right outside the walls. It just felt off. Many of the buildings had been torn down before the memorial site had been established, so very little of the actual camp remained. It sort of felt like Germany had tried to sweep the Dachau concentration camp under the rung.
A quick review for those following: this trip is based on a class for Drew on German Jewish identifies, which, of course, strongly involves that eternally interesting yet taboo subject, the Holocaust. Germans have been given the stereotype of both trying to redeem themselves, and yet secretly be proud of what occurred. In Munich, neither seems true, in fact, the lack of signage on the beer hall putsch or the inability to see Hitler’s old office suggests that Munich wants to get over what happened so many years ago, and would quite like the rest of the world to as well, thank you very much. If I may dip into controversy a bit (as I do like to do), I suppose I can’t blame them – I haven’t seen many monuments to the victims of slavery in America, one of the things that is quickly drawn in comparison to the Holocaust, it seems.
Scampering away from that subject before I say anything too abysmally stupid, I will move on to the general feel of Munich. I admit, the promise of going to Berlin after Nuremberg and Munich is like promising a dog a big juicy steak after kibble. At least to the uneducated like myself, it seemed that Munich would seem boring in comparison to Berlin. I was quickly proven wrong. Munich did not tickle my fancy car-wise, god knows I can’t even change my own oil yet (for shame!), let alone tell the difference between a tailpipe and a turbine. Oh dear, I’ve said something stupid. Quick, back to Munich.
Munich is beautiful I swear, I would have balked before at even hearing the idea of a mustard-yellow colored church, but here it fits, though it is placed rather ominously next to the government building where Hitler started a famous putsch. There are monuments dotted around the city dedicated to survivors, however, you do need to try to find some of them, as they are not well marked. My own personal feelings about the city might be marred by my previous city travels, as I tend to enjoy cities next to water more then not, so expect a lengthier and perhaps more exuberant report from our next stop, Nuremberg!
Our first day was wisely spent allowing us to explore Kochel, though many people stayed behind to catch up on sleep (to this day I’m not completely adjusted to the time change). Jetlagged, cranky, and not fresh, but determined, myself and a few other students walked around the small park surrounding our hostel to get a nice view of the lakes and the random waterpark we found along our journey.
Most of our time in Munich consisted to us listening half-awake to a variety of important Germans, including a few members of the Bavarian parliament, a few holocaust survivors, Rabbis, and even a tour guide or two for good measure.
Dachau struck me as a very odd place, perhaps because of the clear blue sky, or the grass rowing inside the camp, or the fact that there was a bustling residential area right outside the walls. It just felt off. Many of the buildings had been torn down before the memorial site had been established, so very little of the actual camp remained. It sort of felt like Germany had tried to sweep the Dachau concentration camp under the rung.
A quick review for those following: this trip is based on a class for Drew on German Jewish identifies, which, of course, strongly involves that eternally interesting yet taboo subject, the Holocaust. Germans have been given the stereotype of both trying to redeem themselves, and yet secretly be proud of what occurred. In Munich, neither seems true, in fact, the lack of signage on the beer hall putsch or the inability to see Hitler’s old office suggests that Munich wants to get over what happened so many years ago, and would quite like the rest of the world to as well, thank you very much. If I may dip into controversy a bit (as I do like to do), I suppose I can’t blame them – I haven’t seen many monuments to the victims of slavery in America, one of the things that is quickly drawn in comparison to the Holocaust, it seems.
Scampering away from that subject before I say anything too abysmally stupid, I will move on to the general feel of Munich. I admit, the promise of going to Berlin after Nuremberg and Munich is like promising a dog a big juicy steak after kibble. At least to the uneducated like myself, it seemed that Munich would seem boring in comparison to Berlin. I was quickly proven wrong. Munich did not tickle my fancy car-wise, god knows I can’t even change my own oil yet (for shame!), let alone tell the difference between a tailpipe and a turbine. Oh dear, I’ve said something stupid. Quick, back to Munich.
Munich is beautiful I swear, I would have balked before at even hearing the idea of a mustard-yellow colored church, but here it fits, though it is placed rather ominously next to the government building where Hitler started a famous putsch. There are monuments dotted around the city dedicated to survivors, however, you do need to try to find some of them, as they are not well marked. My own personal feelings about the city might be marred by my previous city travels, as I tend to enjoy cities next to water more then not, so expect a lengthier and perhaps more exuberant report from our next stop, Nuremberg!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Photos from Amsterdam
Here's some Amsterdam photos. Blog posts for Paris, Cheltenham, and Hogmanay should show up in the following weeks.
In the following pictures you will see monuments, mouth watering food, beautiful streets, and maybe one or tow more interesting things.
In the following pictures you will see monuments, mouth watering food, beautiful streets, and maybe one or tow more interesting things.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
I am a captalist! Or Paris part Une
See those new ads? Yes, I sold out. And apparently, have an ego.
But that aside, I never really finished describing my journey through Europe. After Amsterdam i went to... Paris, the city of lights and cheap romance movies. And ... everyone was nice. I don't speak a lick of French, and as you can tell by my many grammar mistakes on the blog (one day if I'm rich and famous, I'll get an editor), I'm not so great with English either. However, just a polite introduction with, "Excuse-moi, madame/monsieur, parle-vous Angles" opened quite a few doors. Peppering my speech with "Bonjour", "Excusez-moi", and "Merci" also helped, though it would have made me look incredibly pretentious anywhere else. I suppose it's my own fault to expect that people wouldn't take pity on me - unfashionable American with a terrible french accent who needs to hold out a map and ask for directions every 2 blocks. It may have been negligence to let me wander around without help, lost as I was.
Paris was actually one of the hardest places to traverse, due to the non-linear roads, way roads seemed to disappear, odd formations and turns, and of course, a fresh snow storm. I can brag I saw Paris in the snow... but that's also why i didn't see as much of it as I wanted to.
My first day involved spending way too much time at the Paris opera. For just 9 euros, I wandered the public areas to my heart's delight. I was a bit disappointed as a Phantom of the Opera phan that box 5 was not one of the boxes open to the public, but that made sense for two good reasons: 1) it was the last box on the right, so you'd get a pretty bad view of the theater during tours and 2) overzealous phans would probably do stupid things. I definitely would have. And while the theater was glorious, the foyer and galas were the most spectacular. On your way up the stairs,you were surrounded by golden statues and exquisite paintings of Greek gods. There were long halls with marvelous views of Paris outside, and incredibly beautiful paintings on the ceilings. I hadn't even been to the Louvre yet, and i was already blown away by Paris's art.
Next, of course, the Louvre. Well, actually, next was me getting lost in the mall under the Louvre. That'll be our next installment. Until then, enjoy some pictures.
But that aside, I never really finished describing my journey through Europe. After Amsterdam i went to... Paris, the city of lights and cheap romance movies. And ... everyone was nice. I don't speak a lick of French, and as you can tell by my many grammar mistakes on the blog (one day if I'm rich and famous, I'll get an editor), I'm not so great with English either. However, just a polite introduction with, "Excuse-moi, madame/monsieur, parle-vous Angles" opened quite a few doors. Peppering my speech with "Bonjour", "Excusez-moi", and "Merci" also helped, though it would have made me look incredibly pretentious anywhere else. I suppose it's my own fault to expect that people wouldn't take pity on me - unfashionable American with a terrible french accent who needs to hold out a map and ask for directions every 2 blocks. It may have been negligence to let me wander around without help, lost as I was.
Paris was actually one of the hardest places to traverse, due to the non-linear roads, way roads seemed to disappear, odd formations and turns, and of course, a fresh snow storm. I can brag I saw Paris in the snow... but that's also why i didn't see as much of it as I wanted to.
My first day involved spending way too much time at the Paris opera. For just 9 euros, I wandered the public areas to my heart's delight. I was a bit disappointed as a Phantom of the Opera phan that box 5 was not one of the boxes open to the public, but that made sense for two good reasons: 1) it was the last box on the right, so you'd get a pretty bad view of the theater during tours and 2) overzealous phans would probably do stupid things. I definitely would have. And while the theater was glorious, the foyer and galas were the most spectacular. On your way up the stairs,you were surrounded by golden statues and exquisite paintings of Greek gods. There were long halls with marvelous views of Paris outside, and incredibly beautiful paintings on the ceilings. I hadn't even been to the Louvre yet, and i was already blown away by Paris's art.
Next, of course, the Louvre. Well, actually, next was me getting lost in the mall under the Louvre. That'll be our next installment. Until then, enjoy some pictures.
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