Ok, so I said good bye to Christian and his beautiful, but expensive country, and hopped on the trains to Switzerland; An even more beautiful and expensive country. I know people warned me about the cost of Western Europe, but it never really sunk until now. Everything really does cost something, even to go to the washroom. Which, I bet most people knew, but I didn't.
The train rides from Copenhagen to Zurich, Switzerland was great. It was a long 20 hour Journey, but I stopped and looked around a bit in Germany and slept mostly on the night train. I only had a seat on the train, but later on I managed to sneak to back and find empty sleeping cabin.
I met up with Simon in Zurich and we drove an hour and a half to his home town. I was truly in awww for much of the drive, because the landscape was incredible with its green grass and its many valleys. The small village where Simon is from has so many farms and it definitely reminded me of home and of, actually, Pioneer Camp .... If only I had a horse to ride the trails on ... Oh man!
English in Switzerland is known and spoken much less then in Denmark. They mostly speak German here (or I guess "Swiss German"), and not many know much English. The odd case they might be able to understand a bit of English, but do not really speak it. It wasn't too much of a problem though, because Simon translated everything, he made it easy. It was awesome to go have him here to show me his home because I really got to experience the true culture and traditions of Switzerland. As you problem know Switzerland is big on their cheeses. They have this special meal called "Raclette", which is kind of like fondue but with much more cheese and more of a meal.
Besides the high prices and the big language barrier, Switzerland is definitely the most beautiful and the nicest place I've seen so far. If you come to Europe, you must come here, and you must see the country side ... the true Switzerland.
After the 4 days spent in Watwill, Switzerland (Simon's home village) and experiencing the culture from a local perspective, Simon and I hopped on the Train to Prague, Czech Republic. A 15 hour ride where we became equals: we were both tourists in unfamiliar place within an unfamiliar culture. This really felt like the start to the "Euro-trip", as it was the first time planning became essential; the first time in a European hostel and the first time asking the locals to point out the way.
We arrived in Prague in the morning and we were not too tired because we somehow managed to get a fair bit of sleep in the awkward style train seats. The second we stepped foot onto the arrival platform at the train station, we were approached by a slick-haired Czech sales men who made numerous attempts to try to get us to stay at his hostel for the night. Although he made some attracting offers to us, we decided to stick with our original plan and stayed in this other hostel we found in your guide book. After checking in we spent the rest of that day and a part of the next day checking out the city. We saw the Old Royal Castle and a couple of the huge Cathedrals, and also checked out this one famous building called the Dancing House. It is one of Prague's more modern architectural master pieces' that was designed by a Canadian architecture (it was quite Unique). We also saw the city at a few high points, and the view was pretty spectacular. It made for some great photos. Besides the scenery, another thing Simon and I enjoyed the most was the people here. Even though there was a big language barrier the people were very easy to talk to and converse with. Life seemed less busy and more laid back here than it did in Switzerland and in Denmark.
We left Prague last night and are now headed to Greece where we are going to spend a good deal of our time. With 3o hour trip on 3 different trains, it's certainly going to be a crazy journey.
I've been travelling for over two weeks now, yet it feels like it is just starting.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
First Post
The first entry to my first blog.... I finally got to it.
Ok, I am here, 21 hours later. It was quite a long trip. I think the worst part of the long journey was not knowing how long it actually was before doing it. I looked at my plane ticket on the way to the airport and couldn't believe it said it was a 21 hour trip. But I made it.
First destination: Copenhagen. I have been to in Copenhagen for the last week visiting my friend, Christian. It is quite beautiful here. As I suspected, it is very compact and classic looking... I presume most of Europe is like this. The most beautiful architecture is in the Churches and Parliament buildings. You can tell so much detail went into these building and so much work to keep them maintained. I attended service in one of the Cathedrals on Good Friday and although I did not understand what was being said, I enjoyed just being there and experiencing the atmosphere.
Even more interesting than the buildings are the Danish bathrooms. The home bathrooms here, just to go you show how much the European's strive to conserve their space. Christian's bathroom, like others Danish bathrooms, has the toilet, sink, and shower crammed into the size of a small closet. The sink is practically just above the toilet and the shower nozzle is just above the sink. You can do all your business in just one spot..... pretty efficient isn't it? It’s a little awkward at first trying to have a shower, but you soon you learn the tricks to it.
It wasn’t just Christian’s bathroom I had issues with during my first few days, I also was a bit confused with the restaurant restrooms. The door either says “Damer” (for the ladies) or “Herr” (for the guys).... need I say more? A few times now I went up to the door that says “Herr”, and subconsciously thought ‘that can’t be it” and chose the other door. I got a few concerned looks for this, but I’ve learned now.... I think.
Christian has been a great host here as he has shown me much about his culture and country. So far I went to a Danish castle in Helsinger which was the castle that Shakespeare used in Hamlet. Then we went to this place in the middle of Copenhagen called Christiania, which Christian describes as the hippy part of Copenhagen. Christian and I went there last week and it is kind of its own little village that seem to be pretty popular. Weed is definitely common in that area, but it wasn't the only thing it had to offer. There are a few clothing stores, restaurants and houses within it. Weed is still illegal there, but the cops can never catch anyone because there is only one entrance from the street into it. So if the cops come in, there are watch people there that get on their radio to warn everyone in the area to scurry away. It was an interesting place, kind of neat actually.
On the weekend we had a big Easter dinner with many Christian friends from school. This was so fun, except I was definitely the outsider there. Everyone talking and chanting in Danish made it tough to connect with what was going on. I was told to bring this Danish drink called Aquavits, which is a Danish alcohol that tastes like crap, lol. Even the Danish guys thought it was horrible, but it apparently is a tradition to have it on Easter. It was tradition for these people to eat lots of eggs on Easter, drink aquavits, and sing and chant lots.
The Next day we went to Lego Land, which was the only place I really knew to see while I was here. It was about 4 hours away fr0m Copenhagen so we decided to make it a 2 day event. Lego Land was not very big, but you could certainly see the work they put into this place. Everything really was made out of Lego (well not everything, but most things). All in all, Lego Land was nice, but it was too expensive and it really had that touristy feel to it, which I don't like so much. The best part of the trip wasn't Lego land; it was camping the night before and seeing the country side. Because we were trying save money, we decided to pitch a tent in this random spot near the city where Lego land was. It turned out to be right by the ocean, and it was quiet. Once you go from a busy and loud city like Copenhagen to quiet place in the country, you certainly notice a difference .. It was peaceful there. I think I will try and camp more often.
All in all, over the past week and a bit, I think I most enjoyed the spontaneity in the days. I’ve liked not planning. I bet that'll change though.
Ok, I am here, 21 hours later. It was quite a long trip. I think the worst part of the long journey was not knowing how long it actually was before doing it. I looked at my plane ticket on the way to the airport and couldn't believe it said it was a 21 hour trip. But I made it.
First destination: Copenhagen. I have been to in Copenhagen for the last week visiting my friend, Christian. It is quite beautiful here. As I suspected, it is very compact and classic looking... I presume most of Europe is like this. The most beautiful architecture is in the Churches and Parliament buildings. You can tell so much detail went into these building and so much work to keep them maintained. I attended service in one of the Cathedrals on Good Friday and although I did not understand what was being said, I enjoyed just being there and experiencing the atmosphere.
Even more interesting than the buildings are the Danish bathrooms. The home bathrooms here, just to go you show how much the European's strive to conserve their space. Christian's bathroom, like others Danish bathrooms, has the toilet, sink, and shower crammed into the size of a small closet. The sink is practically just above the toilet and the shower nozzle is just above the sink. You can do all your business in just one spot..... pretty efficient isn't it? It’s a little awkward at first trying to have a shower, but you soon you learn the tricks to it.
It wasn’t just Christian’s bathroom I had issues with during my first few days, I also was a bit confused with the restaurant restrooms. The door either says “Damer” (for the ladies) or “Herr” (for the guys).... need I say more? A few times now I went up to the door that says “Herr”, and subconsciously thought ‘that can’t be it” and chose the other door. I got a few concerned looks for this, but I’ve learned now.... I think.
Christian has been a great host here as he has shown me much about his culture and country. So far I went to a Danish castle in Helsinger which was the castle that Shakespeare used in Hamlet. Then we went to this place in the middle of Copenhagen called Christiania, which Christian describes as the hippy part of Copenhagen. Christian and I went there last week and it is kind of its own little village that seem to be pretty popular. Weed is definitely common in that area, but it wasn't the only thing it had to offer. There are a few clothing stores, restaurants and houses within it. Weed is still illegal there, but the cops can never catch anyone because there is only one entrance from the street into it. So if the cops come in, there are watch people there that get on their radio to warn everyone in the area to scurry away. It was an interesting place, kind of neat actually.
On the weekend we had a big Easter dinner with many Christian friends from school. This was so fun, except I was definitely the outsider there. Everyone talking and chanting in Danish made it tough to connect with what was going on. I was told to bring this Danish drink called Aquavits, which is a Danish alcohol that tastes like crap, lol. Even the Danish guys thought it was horrible, but it apparently is a tradition to have it on Easter. It was tradition for these people to eat lots of eggs on Easter, drink aquavits, and sing and chant lots.
The Next day we went to Lego Land, which was the only place I really knew to see while I was here. It was about 4 hours away fr0m Copenhagen so we decided to make it a 2 day event. Lego Land was not very big, but you could certainly see the work they put into this place. Everything really was made out of Lego (well not everything, but most things). All in all, Lego Land was nice, but it was too expensive and it really had that touristy feel to it, which I don't like so much. The best part of the trip wasn't Lego land; it was camping the night before and seeing the country side. Because we were trying save money, we decided to pitch a tent in this random spot near the city where Lego land was. It turned out to be right by the ocean, and it was quiet. Once you go from a busy and loud city like Copenhagen to quiet place in the country, you certainly notice a difference .. It was peaceful there. I think I will try and camp more often.
All in all, over the past week and a bit, I think I most enjoyed the spontaneity in the days. I’ve liked not planning. I bet that'll change though.
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