Mike D Goes to Europe!

On Tuesday, I made a one-day stop in the town of Rothenberg ob der Tauber, a town which has been remarkably well-preserved since medieval times. I teamed up with a fellow Rick Steves traveller who I met in one of the many stations in which I had to change trains, Christine from San Francisco. We walked around the ludicrously picturesque town for a while, toured the extensive Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum, had a typical German dinner (schnitzel, schnitzel and more schnitzel), then took the entertaining and informative Night Watchman’s Walking Tour.

Every third shop in this town seems to sell the “local specialty,” Schneeballen (German for “snowballs”), which is a delicious-looking pastry about the size and shape of a baseball that comes in a variety of flavors. The key phrase here is “delicious-looking.” It turns out they’re kind of ho-hum. I don’t know why they seem to be so excited about them.

This town also has the biggest Christmas store I have ever seen. Open year-round, they also have a Christmas museum upstairs.

Does the picture below look familiar? If you can’t place it, look up at the top of the page.

Update: here are some photos from this part of my trip:
Rothenburg - General
Medieval Crime Museum

I’ve been off the grid since I got to Germany. There’s no internet access in these little towns, and barely any cell service. But now that I’m connected again, here’s what I’ve been up to…

I have been visiting the Rhine river valley, staying in the town of Bacharach. If Bruges is “like a fairytale,” this place ups the storybook ante, with a whole town full of half-timbered gingerbread houses. Despite Germany’s reputation for beer-drinking, this region is known for its local wine, mostly of the Riesling variety. This stretch of the Rhine is dotted with a dozen or more medieval castles. I visited what are thought to be two of the best.

Marksburg is the best-preserved castle in the region. It was originally built around 1200-ish and was never destroyed, while many others nearby have been partially destroyed and subsequently reconstructed. One of the highlights was the restroom off the banquet hall. It’s a small room that juts out of the exterior castle wall on the third story of the building. “Flushing” meant that it just fell on the ground outside the castle.

Burg Rheinfels is a ruined castle, overlooking the town of St. Goar. Let me just back up for a moment and say that trains in Germany are apparently late all the frickin’ time. But only the train you’re on is late. The one you’re trying to connect with is on time. Thus far, I have missed two and will likely miss another on my way to my next destination.

That said, I missed the train that I wanted to take to St. Goar. The next one got me to the station about 8 minutes before the castle was due to close. The walk from the train station to the castle: 15 minutes. Knowing that it would be tight, I ran up the hill to the castle and arrived about 1 minute after closing. I pleaded my case to the woman at the ticket booth, who allowed me to go in for “5 minutes.” 20 minutes of furious picture-taking later, I came back to the exit and found it shut and abandoned by all staff and fellow patrons. After a momentary panic over the idea that I might be spending the night amongst the ruins, I figured out how to open the gate from the inside. After exiting, I realized that I had dropped my camera case somewhere inside. Luckily, while I was able to open the gate from the inside, I had not been able to get it closed again from the outside, so I went back in and found the case. Quite a day’s adventure.

Update: here are some photos from this part of my trip:
Rhine River Valley - General
Marksburg Castle
Rheinfels Castle

As foretold in the previous post, it was time for me to take a little break from trying to see every sight in Europe and relax a little. Amsterdam was a good place to do so. My hotel was in what seems to be one of the best neighborhoods in the city, the Jordaan. It’s full of old houses, picturesque canals, and lots of cozy cafes and pubs. By contrast, the city center, radiating out from Dam Square, is one giant tourist ghetto. The Jordaan feels like the place where the locals hang out.

Speaking of tourists, the Red Light District is unbelievably crowded with gawkers. I even saw several elderly couples wandering around taking pictures.

I did do a little sightseeing. I went to the Anne Frank house, which was very humbling. I also took a boat tour through the city’s canals and around the harbor. But that was about it.

The people were very friendly. I had a great dinner, sitting at the bar, at a neighborhood joint called Vlaming Eten en Drinken. The two bartender/waitresses were very chatty and eager to discuss LA.

I would love to go back to Amsterdam some time. There are more sights to see, but moreover, it’s a great place to hang out and have a beer. And a pancake!

Update: here are some photos from this part of my trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/therealmiked/sets/72157608744323627/

Waffles, chocolate and beer! What more could a man ask for? I scheduled only one day for myself in Bruges but I wish I could have stayed longer (Dave, you were right). One could easily spend two or three days here. Since I only had the one day, I saw it at a fast pace, but Bruges fosters a relaxing atmosphere. It’s a good place to just sit on a bench by a canal and soak up the scenery.

And there’s plenty of scenery to soak up. Bruges is essentially a preserved medieval town, although some of it has been built in the last two centuries to look medieval. There are 17 churches and over 100 cafes and pubs. Those of you who have seen the film, “In Bruges,” will be familiar with the bell tower, which is the tallest and most central building in the town. What they don’t mention in the film is that the climb to the top involves some 400 steps up a spiral staircase that’s too narrow for more than one person. The view from the top is impressive, although it’s very windy and when the bells ring (every 15 minutes during the day), it’s really loud.

Other highlights included taking a boat tour through the towns network of canals, touring the local De Halve Mann brewery (where they make the delicious Brugse Zot), the Church of Our Lady, where they have the only Michaelangelo statue to leave Italy during the artist’s lifetime (there are now some in the Louvre), two homemade chocolate shops, a delicious waffle with strawberries and cream, and a variety of Belgian beers served at a pub built in 1515.

This morning, before I left town, I visited one more sight, which is also featured in “In Bruges,” the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Here, they have a relic which is said to contain some of Jesus Christ’s blood. Not wine that they pretend is his blood - the real stuff. Normally they keep this relic in the treasury upstairs, where you can pay to go see it locked up in a display case across the room. But By pure luck on my part, it just so happens that they take it out on Friday mornings and let people TOUCH IT! They made this announcement (in several languages) just after I came in, but no one was going up to touch it. So I went first. Now I’m not a religious person, but it was a fairly incredible experience to lay hands on a vial that just might contain Jesus’ blood, in a basilica built in the Middle Ages specifically to house it.

Belgium is also well-known for it’s mussels and fries. Hence, the photo of my dinner below.

I’m a bit worn out from all the running around, so I think I’m going to take a break from trying to see everything and just relax a bit at my next destination: Amsterdam.

Update: here are some photos from this part of my trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/therealmiked/sets/72157608744270429/

So, I’m pretty much at the halfway point of my vacation. I have seen a lot of amazing things and walked many miles to see them. Even in good, comfortable shoes, my dogs would be barkin’ at this point. However, the one pair of shoes that I brought with me to Europe, the waterproof ones that were stylish enough for most any occasion, which I purchased explicitly for this trip, could be called many things, but comfortable is not one of them.

After a week in Europe, I have a bruise on the top of my left foot where the shoe’s seem has been digging into it like a clamp. The other foot has a blister on the little toe about as big as the toe itself. If you’ve ever read Steve Martin’s short story, “Cruel Shoes,” you’ve got the idea. I bought some gel pads in Paris, but they were no match for my Ecco Track IV Hydromax instruments of torture.

There comes a time when you have to make adjustments to your game plan, or you may soon find yourself in a no-win situation. For me, that time was Wednesday morning, October 22nd. My new Parisian friend, Anne-Cecile, directed me to the Vieux Campeur (sort of a French REI), where I purchased a comfy new pair of Columbia Sportswear walking shoes. They may not look so nice at a restaurant, but screw it - comfort is the absolute top priority. The tops of these shoes feel like my feet are tucked under a snuggly down comforter.

Of course, the bottoms of my feet still hurt after a day’s trecking around, but I think that is just normal pain - not the cruel and unusual pain I was subjected to before.

If you’re wondering what I did with the old shoes, I left them on the sidewalk in Paris in case some nice homeless person who hates their feet wants them. Maybe I should have attached a note of warning. Oh well. They’ll figure it out.

I am attaching pics of my vanquished foes and my new allies.

Hey there, sports fans. Sorry I haven’t written in a few days. I have either been ludicrously busy seeing stuff or completely exhausted from being ludicrously busy seeing stuff. Since I last wrote, I have been to the Louvre, Montmartre, the Orsay gallery (note the photo below of me and my pal Vinny), Saint-Chapelle (really old church which, if I read the French brochure correctly, is a monument to comedian Dave Chapelle), the Conciergerie (prison where Marie-Antoinette was held before she was executed), some house in the burbs where a bunch of guys named Louis all used to live (see photo of me strolling through the small garden they have out back), the Arc de Triomphe (just like being in Vegas, only not as hot), and countless cafes and restaurants where the locals were surprisingly friendly. Most of the time.

Oh, and I also saw some big cool pointy building. Didn’t catch the name, but I’m including a picture.

Overall, Paris was pretty damned impressive. Despite my list above, I didn’t get a chance to see everything I wanted to see. But that’s okay. I intend to come back.

Update: here are some photos from this part of my trip:
Paris - General
The Louvre
Versailles

I arrived in Paris yesterday afternoon and I’ve barely stopped moving since I got here. After a quick (and delicious) lunch at a cafe near my hotel, I went out and saw Notre Dame, then walked around Ile St. Louis and the Latin Quarter.

My good friend Dave Schulz was kind enough to connect me with his Parisian friend Anne-Cécile. I met her and a few of her friends for an English-style tea at her apartment, which is not far from my hotel. After tea, her friends left, and she and I went for a long walk all over the city center, bringing along feisty Austin, the Jack Russell she is taking care of for a friend. We walked for a good three hours and saw so many places that I can’t possibly remember them all.

A lot of tourist destinations can be a bit anticlimactic. You go, you take a picture, you check it off your list, and you wonder what the big deal is. There is nothing anticlimactic about Paris. The place is like one giant museum. Everywhere you go, there is something beautiful and historic. I think you could live here your whole life and never see it all.

Update: here are some photos from this part of my trip:
Paris - General
Notre Dame

I’m a little behind with the entries because I have been trying to cram 4 days of sightseeing into a day and a half. Here are the highlights of my time in Provence…

Stayed in Arles. This time of year, it’s pretty empty, as Summer is the real tourist season. The lighting at night is flourescent and, on my hotel’s street, pink. That and the lack of people makes it a bit creepy at night. There is an excellent coliseum here (see photo), built by the Romans around fortysomething AD. They still use it for “bull games” (humane bull fighting). There’s also an awesome medieval church (St. Trophime) and a lot of stuff related to Van Gogh, who lived here for many years, but none of his actual paintings.

Today I day-tripped to the Pont du Gard which is a big section of a Roman aquaduct, built from 38 - 52 AD (see photo). I had an interesting adventure on the way back…

The Pont du Gard is not a real easy place to get to. I had to take two trains and two buses to get there. Upon trying to return, the bus stop was at a roundabout some 300 yards from the site’s entrance. In waiting for the bus, I was joined by an 18-ish year-old girl from Montreal, whom I had seen on the bus on the way there and around the park. We chatted briefly in a combination of broken French and broken English. Eventually (15 minutes late), the bus stopped on the opposite side of the roundabout. We waved at him and hurried to cross to the other side but he just shrugged his shoulders and drove off. Dick.

Since the next bus on the schedule was not for another 3 hours, we resolved to go back to the Pont du Gard parking lot and try to bum a ride. After a few minutes, a group of 3, clearly American, girls in their early 30’s, came walking out and I successfully negotiated passage to Avignon for my young quebecoise cohort and myself. Avignon’s not Nimes, but they have a train station, so good enough. The ladies in question, Candice, Liz, and the other one (can’t remember her name), were from Chicago, and were very kind to help us out. Thank you, ladies!

After that, got a train back to Nimes, where I was determined to see more sites. My new friend was headed that way as well, so she joined me for my quick and dirty tour of the town. I won’t go into the siteseeing details here but it was my overall impression that Nimes was a more pleasant town to see and hang out in than Arles. If I were to come back, I would want to stay there.

Around 6:00-ish, my new friend (Catherine) and I parted ways as I headed back to Arles. It was interesting and enjoyable partnership, brought on by shared hardship and a desire for two lone travellers to have a companion, if only for a few hours.

Perhaps it could be said that one has not truly travelled until they have been lost in a foreign country. It takes some resolve and resourcefulness to find your way out of such a pickle. In this case, I took advantage of a nearby hub of tourist activity, which is probably a sound general strategy. But I feel it was something of a defining moment. Hopefully future defining moments will be less stressful. But the stress is probably what makes them defining. C’est la vie.

Update: here are my photos from this part of the trip:
Arles
Pont du Gard
Nimes

So, yesterday was the longest travel day on my agenda. I left Vernazza at 10:30 and arrived in Nice at around 16:30 (or 4:30 PM for you Americans). Unfortunately, that killed most of a day for me. After settling in, I got back on the train to go to nearby Antibes for the evening, as mentioned in my previous post. That train ride was an interesting experience. Rather than the inter-city trains I had taken so far, this was more of a commuter train and it was an entirely different crowd (i.e. I was the only foreigner). On the way back, the train station was closed which, needless to say, was something of a concern. Luckily, I noticed a small sign indicating how to get directly to the platform at night. It was a bit nerveracking sitting out there in the dark with a few questionable characters, but the train did eventually come and I did make it back to Nice.

Today, I started out by visiting the Chagall museum, which was interesting, if a bit small.

In the afternoon, I walked along the Promenade des Anglais at the sea shore (see photo below), and explored the old city.

Since I arrived in France, I have surprised myself with my knowledge of the French language. I have managed to speak it almost exclusively, except when the conversation goes a little deeper and my limited vocabulary is exhausted. I even got stopped by some sort of petition-toting activist who clearly did not know that I wasn’t French (as soon as I told him, he apologized and went away). So I guess I’m doing a decent job of blending in.

Ended up having dinner at a restaurant full of English-speakers again. I’m afraid Rick Steves has a few too many avid readers, as several copies of his guidebooks could be seen on the tables there. Everywhere I go, I run into these people. I guess I’m one of them. It’s like a club. We should have a secret handshake or something.

I sat between a couple from Ireland and another from Scotland, all good folks. The adjoining tables were chock full o’ yanks. Out of all these people, I was the only one speaking French to the waiters (which clearly makes me a better person).

Tomorrow, on to Provence.

Update: here are the photos from this part of the trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/therealmiked/sets/72157608736735176/

Hello, dear readers. I write this post from a restaurant in the Juan-Les-Pins area of Antibes, in the French riviera. At the moment, I am “benefitting” from having consumed most of a bottle of local wine by myself, so if I slur as I write this, you have only yourselves to blame for not coming with me on this trip and sharing the burden.

But enough about France. Let’s backtrack. Yesterday, I went on a hike through the five towns of the Cinque Terre. Or at least, I started to (hang on - there’s a common theme here). I started at the Eastern-most village of Riomaggiore, and met a couple from the Twin Cities - David and Gloria - on the trail with whom (even drunk, my grammar is exemplary) I had chatted briefly at the train station earlier. We ended up joining up on our walk and, as we approached the third town, Corniglia, it was noted that this town was known for its local wine (here comes the theme). It was about lunch time, so we decided we should stop and chow down and sample some of the local product. Around this time, we randomly ran into the previously mentioned Gary from Albany, who joined us as well.

Long story short - there’s a damn good reason that they’re known for their wine there. The food was excellent as well. Unfortunately, we were unable to hike to the last two towns, for wine-related reasons. But it was a really fun day nonetheless.

After a nap and an ensuing late-afternoon hangover, I met the previously mentioned Finnish girls, Kerttu and Elina, for dinner. We also ran into a couple of guys from Salt Lake City with whom we had all been talking the night before. As with the night before, we had a very fun night of eating, drinking, and stimulating international conversation. Between Gary, David and Gloria, and Kerttu and Elina, I am really fortunate to have found such good travel buddies while on the road. Here’s hoping there are more where that came from.

Oh yeah, the title of this post! I came to Europe trying to experience local life and meet local people. So far, I have pretty much only met other tourists. But so what. I’m having a great time and meeting great people. It’s hard to complain about that.

I’m including a view of Vernazza from the harbor’s walkable breakwater. Next post will be tres francais.

Update: here are the photos from this part of the trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/therealmiked/sets/72157608739311887/