Hamburg

Hamburg wasn't exactly exciting but it was a nice change because I didn't really want to do anything. I have felt like I have been rushing to see as much of Europe as possible because that, really, is why I am here. However, this is not the attitude to take if you don't want to burn out.

Anyway, after Oktoberfest I took a much deserved day off and had a nice nap and read my book, which happened to be Ghandi's autobiography, I have since finished it.

The following day I wandered about Hamburg, according to my guide book Hamburg doesn't have a museum or large art gallery, it was wrong on both accounts but I found out too late. This was fine because I didn't really want to go to either anyway. It was quite a nice day the sun shown for part of the day at least. I was able to see the monument to Bismark though I am not sure who this is but the name sounds familiar. The city is surrounded on three sides by water, two lakes and a river if I am not mistaken, I probably am because I read that 36 to 48 hours ago and I have been remembering a lot of new information and forgetting a lot as well. The town hall in Hamburg was called Rathuis and apparently it is quite the spectacule inside but I missed the tour by a few minutes and I wasn't prepared to wait another hour for the next tour because it was near the end of my day and I wanted to go back to the hostel, kick up my feet and have a beer.

I am now in Copenhagen after a long day of travelling. I had orignalled planned to be in Arhus tonight but I had booked a hotel not a hostel and I wasn't prepared to spend 150 euros for two nights accomodation. So I came to Copenhagen earlier than expected but I will be spending 5 days in Copenhagen so I will get to see a lot.

Oktoberfest

I wanted to go to Oktoberfest but there are absolutley no accomadations in or around Munich, which is where Oktoberfest is held every year. So I spent a day travelling around on the train, I took a train from Koblenz to Mainz which was a lovely trip along the Rhine. There were a few fortifications on the moutains along the Rhine and quaint villages along the river side, it was very scenic. I eventually wound up in Dusseldorf where I was catching a night train to Munich. I had a few hours to kill in Dusseldorf so I walked around, it was a nice city nothing really particular struck me about this city. It did have a interesting statue of Neptune killing some sort of fish. All in all, I had a fine time in Dusseldorf, I would probably have more to say if I spent more time there. Finally, the night train to Munich came and I was off.

It is not restful to sleep on a train, much like an airplane.

I made it to Munich and a spent some time looking around. There is a cathedral there with domes, instead of spires, on the two towers which was the fashion when it was built in the 1400's. It was cool because you could go up to the top of one of the towers and have a wonderful few of Munich, you could see Oktoberfest from there. I also saw the Residence and the Residence's Treasury. The Residence was the residence of the royal family of Bavaria, this family ruled Bavaria for more than 800 consecutive years, I don't know how long this place has been their residence. It is what you expect of a royal living quarters, very opulent as all the tours describe it. However, almost everything in the Residence has been reconstructed because it was destroyed during World War 2, some of the furniture and paintings had survived. I would have been impressed if I had to go to the Court there.

Then I made it to Oktoberfest, which is essentially a carnival with a lot of beer. I walked through some of the beer tents and there were a lot of people drinking and being drunk and it was only 4 in the afternoon. It was a cold, rainy day so I thought the crowds wouldn't be that large but I guess the rain just pushed them into the beer tents, it was standing room only if you were lucky enough to get in. After wandering through a few beer tents I bought a few beers and stood and watched, thats what you do when you can't sit down. There are large bands playing German folk music in each tent and in most there are people dancing around in their lederhosen, everyone wears lederhosen. I had a few beers and I stumbled upon some canadians, and luckily for me there were meeting some other canadians at a table they had acquired, so I joined them. It was a rowdy time full of litre beer stiens and pretzels. It is hard to go into detail because how do you describe beer drinking anymore throughly. There were by far more Germans there than I expected. I thought this was an international festival and there would be representation from all over the world, this was not the case and it is really a German celebration, originally for the marriage of their King but it soon became about beer. I should probably spend more time there before I make broad claims about the festival. It was a particularly fun time.

I had to leave relatively early, though I had spent four and a half hours there, because I had to catch the night train to Hamburg otherwise I would end up sleeping somewhere in the streets of Munich.

I slept like a log on the train.

Luxembourg

After I had my fill with Brussels I decided to move on to Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a small country and the city, also called Luxembourg, is relatively small as well; I walked around the Old town in about 30 mintues. The city does extend beyhond the old portion but it is mainly residential. Luxembourg, the city, is very interesting. I was able to go to a museum dedicated entirely to the history of the city.

The legend of Luxembourg is that a King was walking along the river when he spotted the most beautful princess he had ever seen. The King approached the princess and requested her hand in marriage, as was appropriate in those days. The princess agreed but with one condition that one day a week would be her's alone and the King could not know what she was doing or enquiry to her whereabouts or she would disappear. The King agreed and they lived happily for many years and the King built the city of Luxembourg in her honor. However, on one of the princesses personal days the King had to know what she was doing; so he snuck to her room and looked through the keyhole. And to his surprise she was a mermaid, go figure. When the King saw what she was he let out a moan that gave him away and the princess disappeared forever. Some still look for the princess along the river banks. This story is all well and good but apparently it wasn't created until the middle of the 19th century, and in France, and was only later used by Luxembourg.

I also had the chance to go to the national museum and it was incredible, I highly recommend it. They have exhibits for both prehistory, tools, pottery and even 8000 year old human remains and protohistory, bronze and iron ages. There is also an extensive Roman exhibit. All the pieces in the musuem were discovered in Luxembourg. In the roman exhibit there was a giagantic mosaic floor, it was stunning the size of the floor given that they used tiles that are a centimeter by a centimeter. Also, the museum it self was quite the spectical. It was built into the ground and the walls are glass and you can see the rock they dug into.

The city itself is very interesting, it was original built on the Bock, which is a plateau surrounded on three sides by valleys. It was quite difficult to walk around the perimeter but in the centre it was quite flat.

I highly recommend Luxembourg.

Top Photo: A view of one of the 3 valleys surrounding Luxembourg
Bottom Photo: A glimpse into every-day city life

Brussels & Han-sur-Lesse

Photo: The streets of Brussels are lined with Gothic architecture.



I had a fun time in Brussels. I was able to see the fine art museum here, and they have a fine collection of art indeed. Though they don't have any of those famous pieces that we see so often. Also, to my surprise they were having an exhibition on none other than Peter Paul Rubens. I didn't go to the exhibition but I did enjoy the art in the rest of the museum. I ate Belgian chocolate, and waffles, and both were above anything I have had before. In the case of the waffle, it was the best waffle I have eaten from a street vendor. Brussels is quite a bit hill-ier than any of the other cities I have been too, though being in Luxembourg it was not at all hilly, more on Luxembourg later. As for Brussels, I didn't do much else besides the museum and walk around the city. The city is quite nice and there is a lovely park near the centre. It was also the hardest to find my way around at first, they certainly didn't have a plan when they built this city.


I did a day trip to Han-sur-Lesse to see the caves that they have there. The caves were as I expected, dark, damp and a little creepy. They had a pretty cool light show about half way through that played off of the natural formations of the rocks. However, I was quite disappointed to learn that, at this time of year, they only offers tours in Dutch or French. I chose Dutch because they went into the cave first. I can only expected that what was being said was both interesting and educational. I tried to take photos but it was dark and I am not very good with a camera.

Photo: a massive stalactite column in the Han-sur-Lesse grotto

Antwerp & Ghent

Top photo: interior of "Cathedral of Our Lady" in Antwerp, featuring work by Rubens
Bottom Photo: exterior of "Cathedral of Our Lady"

So I spent a couple of days in Antwerp. It is quite the fashion centre. Every designer I have ever heard of is represented here and hundreds more that I haven't heard of. I saw Belgium's largest, and most splendid, cathedral, it was quite the sight. The amount of money and effort required to build such things is incredible. It took them over two hundred years to build the cathederal as it is now, not to mention the vast amount of art that goes into the inside. It was also the first time I had seen classic works of art and they are very impressive in person. You don't really get a sense of size and scale when you see the paintings in a book or on a television show. I am excited to see some of the more impressive european art collections in Paris, London and Rome. Also, in Antwerp, I went to Rubenshuis which was the home and studio of Peter Paul Rubens; who, if you don't know is northern europe's most famous baroque artist. Even though the house is quite ornate the rooms are really quite small. They didn't have many of Rubens paintings, which is not surprising considering it was his house, what they did have was Rubens collection of art. Which included busts of Roman philosophers brought from Italy, paintings done by his contemporaries in Antwerp and quite a few from his students. They also had his bed, which was very small but they slept in a half-seated position, and some of his clothes.

It was interesting to understand that after a painter becomes a master he pretty much stops painting. What happens is the master, whom has serveral assistants and one apprentice, creates an oil sketch of the painting he wishes to have created. An oil sketch is a drawing but instead of a pencil they use oil paint to create the effect of a painting with less work. The assistant then does most of the work of creating the painting and the master comes in at the end to provide the finishing touches, this gives the painting the masters touch or signature. In this way, masters were able to produce many more pieces of art then they otherwise could have.

I then spent half a day in Ghent, which I did on my way to Brussels, though Ghent is not on the way to Brussels per se. Ghent is a very small, and still, very medieval. I went to another cathedral there, while impressive it wasn't on the same scale as the one in Antwerp. It did have a treasury, which contained serveral chalices, a few very old music books and many candal stands. My main focus in Ghent was an 800 year old castle in the middle of the city. It was fairly small, as castles go, but it did have a torture museum and a weapons museum. It is absolutely insane the things they did to extract confessions. For instance, the would put a collar around your neck that had a lot of spikes pressed against your neck then tie ropes from the collar to the walls and then you would stand there until you confessed. Or, they would have you straddling, what looks like a dog house, and tie weights to your legs. I certaintly would rather confess to a crime I didn't commit then have my thumbs screwed, and then shattered with a hammer. The weapons were also interesting there was one sword that was taller that I am and there were a few guns, if you can call them that, from the 16th century.

I am learing quite a bit on this trip. ;)

Den Haag & Rotterdam

Photo: The Hague International Court

When I left Amsterdam it was clear and sunny
and it was going to be a beautiful day. However,
when I reached Den Hague (Den Hague is mixing
Dutch and English) it was greay and wet. Den
Haag is the seat of government in the Netherlands
but Amsterdam is the capital of the nation. I dont
know how that works exactly. I was quite excited to
see the government buildings because I expected them
to be extremely old and ornate. This, however was
not the case. The government buildings are brand new
and, in their own right, quite architecturally
stunning, but not what I was expecting. I walked
around Den Haag for an hour or so but it was
getting continuously colder and wetter, so I
stopped for a brunch. I don't know if it is me but
European cites are extremely quite before 12pm.
I continued to walk but the rain broke my spirit
and I moved on to Rotterdam.

Although it was still raining in Rotterdam it
wasn't nearly as torrential.Rotterdam is quite
a modern city and has one of the largest ports in the
world. Apparently, Rotterdam was completely
destroyed during World War II and was rebuilt.
There wasn't much to see in Rotterdam on a Monday,
all the museums are closed. They do have a museumpark
which is not really a park,but a few museums
close together. I only spent one night in Rotterdam and
the morning I was to leave I decide to go to the
Euromast, which is essential a lookout tower.
When I left the hostel, it was quite a nice day,
at least the sun was shining but when I got to
the Euromast it was raining hard and the wind
was quite ferocious. I tried to wait it out on the
Euromast, I waited 30 minutes, but it didn't
look like it was going to subside so I left.
Quite literally 10 minutes later it was beautifully
sunny again, I guess I was not meant to see
Rotterdam from 150 meters in the air.
After my disappointing trip to the Euromast
I moved on to Antwerp.

Next on the itinerary is Antwerp, where I will be
spending two nights, then on to Brussels for
2 or 3 nights. I hope to see Ghent or Bruges and
Han-sur-Lesse while I am in Belgium.

After a few nights of partying in Amsterdam, I decided to take it easy by doing a little outing to a couple of smaller towns in the Netherlands.

My first stop was Eindhoven, which is about an hour and a half train ride from Amsterdam. It had plenty of old medieval churches, and plenty of amazingly unique architecture. I wandered around for two hours, taking in the sights and also pictures. I arrived at 8:30 am and it was particularly quiet, but this can be explained as it was Sunday morning. I enjoyed myself there, but it was very similar to Amsterdam, without the canals or the people.

My next stop was going to be Maastricht but the trained labelled Maastricht ended in Heerlen and I was forced to get of. This turned out alright as there was a smaller, commuter train that went from Heerlen to Maastricht. I enjoyed my time far more in Maastricht then in Eindhoven. Maastricht is a quaint and quiet european city. It has cobbled streets, tiny alleys and more street side cafes than you can shake a stick at. The churches there are incredible, however even Eindhoven had some spectacular churches. There was one statue outside a church that held a torch that was actually on fire, I don't know what the statue was for (everything being in dutch) but I am sure it was to warn people against something. There were also old Roman ruins in Maasticht but they are a bit out of town thus quite hard to get to by foot. I did, however, see the ruins from the train but as it was a high speed train and there isn't much left from roman times anyway, it was hard to get an idea of what they might be from. I slept on the way back to Amsterdam.

I am going to Den Hague tomorrow, the seat of Dutch government and I will be spending the night in Rotterdam.

See ya round the bend.

First Few Days

So here I am in Amsterdam. This is my first time travelling abroad and it is a very interesting, and exciting, experience. It all started with the flight which was fine, as 10 hour flights go. I did get to watch 3 movies which helped the time pass much faster. I walked from the train station to the hostel that I am staying at, and as is customary I got lost but I found my way eventually and what I estimate to only have been an hour and a half detour around Amsterdam.

Hostels are what everyone says they are, dirty but with a certain charm. I am staying at the Hans Brinker hostel and I am enjoying my stay thoroughly. The bed is comfy and that's all that really matters because the only thing you really do at a hostel is sleep. This hostel does have a bar and if you go sit and have a pint you will be talking to someone you have never meet before within 20 minutes. So far the most interesting thing has been the people I have met.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. The history here is in every building which is something I have never really seen. I have walked around Amsterdam for two days now and I think I have seen most of it. It is very difficult to take pictures here because everything is so close together and there are, surprisingly, a lot of trees; though I have only seen grass once and it was a small plot in front of a Rembrandt statue.

I would recommend Amsterdam to anyone looking for a beautiful place to see, or if they are looking for a really good party. I still haven't decided where I am going next but I need to decide soon, I am thinking Belgium.

Talk to ya soon.

First Post

I am leaving for Europe on Wednesday, Sept 12th and I will be returning on Tuesday, Nov 6th. I will be flying into Amsterdam and from there I have no idea where I am going; though I hope to visit relatives in England and Denmark. I have a Eurail Global pass which allows me to travel to 18 countries and I hope to visit as many as time will allow.

Instead of sending postcards, and emails, to keep people updated about where I've been I have created this blog to document my trip around Europe. I will try to update it whenever I can though I will be quite busy having fun so you will need to forgive me if I don't post regularly.