EuroSchlep

2006-08-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

2006-07-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it. My last post from Europe.

It´s hard to sum up an experience like this, but all I can say is that it was not what I expected. I didn't expect it to be so thorough and extensive. I never expected to see 18 countries in 32 days and I never expected that each place was going to be so different.

Now, my only challenge is to find a way to take all that I've done and turn it into some kind of meaningful nugget of wisdom for me to use and possibly share.

To me, the lesson of my trip is this - people everywhere are just trying to live well. It´s the bottom line of life everywhere. Regardless of our differences and our arguments, it´s all always part of some earnest attempt to lift our selves up out of our current situation (even if its a pretty good situation) and make life better for us and (generally) those around us.

Europe is spinning back into control after about a century of all kinds of change - political, economic, sexual, intellectual.. its just happening so fast. Old bastions like Paris and London are no longer the lone standards of a European experience. New, emerging capitols and life centers like Ljubljana and Riga are throwing themselves headlong into progress and romantic old towns like Krakow and Budapest are churning out a new generation of dynamic youth that is going to play a larger role in the next 50 years than, perhaps, America played over the last 50.

As Thomas Friedman taught me this month, the world is being flattened. European borders aren't so much borders any more but out dated barriers to societies that are now easier to transverse than the one between the US and Canada. The music and rhythm coming from Berlin, Prague, Stockholm, Amsterdam, and the like are regulating the pace of the world and it would be unwise to move to any other beat.

What´s the use of sentimentalizing the past? Locking up an old town behind towering walls and pretending to hold on to a romanticized history is nothing more than a tourist trap. It doesn't reflect the real, emergent European community - a community that is much more interesting than the period costumed marketplace salespeople hawking the same junk at every corner.For me, that means that the most exciting places in Europe are the ones that have just one eye on their past and another keenly on the future. As to this measurement, there is no more dynamic and significant city in Europe than Berlin. Visit Berlin because it is there that you will see the world spinning at a faster pace with watchful caution over its painful past and the mythical free hand of economics driving its future.

As for the many random readers who I have picked up along the way, who have been looking to me for travel advice and some kind of European insight, all I can offer is three pieces of practical advice. One, spend as much time as possible out side of old towns. Two, plan on taking a lot of buses. Three, go alone.

For everyone else, I just want to finish by admitting that this entire trip was undertaken in folly. How could I possibly swallow the enormity of Europe in a month? 18 countries in 32 days?! What was I thinking!?! When it comes time for you to do your own euroschlepping, which I hope that you do, just take a single zone (I´d recommend traveling from Berlin to Krakow to Budapest to Croatia), and milk it for all its worth.

I´ll probably post one or two last retrospective pieces about my favorite photos and some detailed hints on where to, and where not to visit. And maybe I´ll resurrect the blog some time down the road for a future trip to South America, Asia, or the Middle East, but for now, from the Euro Youth Hostel in Munich, the time has come to retire my euroschlep travelogue. I leave the continent at 11:40am tomorrow to dive head on to my post college life.

It´s been real.

-Adam

2006-07-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam, Belgium, and Back Again

I'm writing to you now from a Sex Shop / Internet Cafe. I am pretty sure that this is my first time in a sex shop / anything. Just to make the novelty of this whole experience more novel, the proprietors seem to prefer "The Greatest Love of All" as their soundtrack of choice. Very touching.

Well, I am in this sex shop/ internet cafe in Amsterdam because I am not, as I planned, on a night train to Munich. My plan was to take a train to Amsterdam and then get a reservation for a night train to Munich so that I would arrive early enough tomorrow to really enjoy my last full day in Europe. My train from Brussels, however, was over an hour late (how does that happen?), meaning that by the time I arrived here, the train was sold out. I'm stuck in Amsterdam for one last night and so I am making the most of it.

Let me back up a bit. I left Amsterdam yesterday morning and spent the day in Brugges, Belgium. Brugges was beautiful. When I first arrived, I wasn't too impressed with the town. Lots of old austere, Harvard-like brick buildings and pretty squares, but nothing that jumped out and said that this place deserved to be the most touristed sight in Belgium.

Over the course of the day, however, the town began to win me over. I started my day at the De Halve Maan Brewery, enjoying some excellent beer and a very interesting brewery tour. I walked around some more, ate a delicious dinner in Simonstevenplain, and wandered for the rest of the afternoon through two of the town's most two beautiful parks.

At about 5pm, the town shut down. This was a bit odd because outside all the locked up shops were hordes of tourists looking for something to do and something to buy. It seemed like a strange business move to lock out all of these people from the shops. Was this town run by orthodox Jews? Did the shopkeepers need to hurry home for shabbat dinner or something? Me, and the rest of the non-shomer shabbos tourists scratched our heads and commented to each other about this, and none of us could figure out what was going on.

Nevertheless, when the sun began to set, the hidden awesomeness of the town came out. During the day, I guess, the sun was too bright and white washed much of the towns more detailed and hidden details. When the sun went down, all of these details, colors, enclaves, and animals (!) popped out to say hello. They seemed to scream "take a picture of me!" and so I did. I took many of them and I'll be sure to post them as soon as possible.

Just as I was discovering the towns charm, it was time for me to head back to the station to meet my train to Brussels. I arrived in Brussels at about 9pm and wandered around, looking for my hostel (the Sleep Well), but not able to find it. In my clueless staggering, I discovered a few great things about the town. First of all, its the most modern, America-like place I've been to in Europe. The buildings, the shops, the people - I might as well been marching down Broadway or any other major American street, except for the funny languages coming out of the passers-by.

The second thing I noticed was the fact that it was, apparently, a Belgian national holiday. This explained the premature bedtime for all the shops in Brugges. All the townspeople, in both Brussels and Brugges, were closing down early so they could go meet up at the central squares and parks of the town to watch the night's festivities. Huge fireworks displays and massive gatherings filled up the Belgian skies and streets late into the night and provided for an amusing soundtrack of explosions to keep me awake way into the night. I woke up early this morning, after yet another sweaty, un-airconditioned nights sleep, and took the three hours I had available to me to enjoy the town in the most fulfilling way possible. How did I accomplish this? I went on a Belgian Waffle tour.

Let's Go, my trusty European guide book, had on one of its pages a quick little tour, around much of the towns most famous sights, of some of the best and most delicious waffles spots. This was a great tour. Not only did I get to eat some delicious native cuisine, but I got to walk by the towns famed squares and (as Let's Go characterized) Brussels "most giggled at landmark," the Mannequin Pis - a little statue of a little boy peeing.

The only problem with my short day in Brussels was that it rained. Yes, it rained. For the first time in my month of traveling, I had to face the realities of European climates. It rained and it rained hard. It rained non-stop from the moment I woke up to the moment I got to the station, clearing up enough for me to watch the sunny skyline from a train speeding away.

Before I hit Amsterdam, I made a quick stop at the Brussels airport to drop off my parents phone which I had been using for the last two weeks. Now, I am back to my old phone until I leave on Monday. If you need the number, just send me an email (some of you may even have the number in earlier emails I sent from a few weeks ago).

Anyhow, I got to Amsterdam and faced the aforementioned disappointment of missing my train ride out. Making the most of it, I set out to find a place to stay for the night. It's Saturday night and Amsterdam is packed. Finding a place wasn't easy. I searched for about an hour, inquiring at hotels and hostels alike and finding, time after time, that if there was a vacant room at all, that it would cost me upwards of €100. Finally, in the red-light district I stumbled across a humble little place with a room with three beds. Me, and the two other random, room-less guys I meet in the lobby decided to split the rooms €150 cost three ways and try our luck.

I dumped off my stuff and roamed the streets looking for a good dinner (to reward myself for finding such a good, last minute hostel deal) and to maybe, if I was lucky, find Brendan and Tracy Walsh. I didn't find them (or not yet, at least) but I did find a great dinner spot at an Argentinian restaurant called Gaucho. I had probably the best stake of my life on a cleaner avenue of the other wise lurid red light district and watched all of the people walking by, keeping an eye open for any Walsh that happened to be heading my way.

Now I'm at the Sex Shop / Internet Cafe and I'm getting ready to head back to my room. I have a train at 7am tomorrow (gasp!) and hopefully I'll be in Munich early enough to make the most out of my last day of Euroschlepping.

Until we meet again...

-Adam

2006-07-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

I'm in Amsterdam. I arrived here this morning after yet another night train. This was my sixth night train ride. I think I'm done with them for good.

On the way to the night train in Basel last night, I had the pleasure of sitting with a young Swiss/Italian family - a mother and two kids (Undina and Erasmo). This kids were adorable. They were fascinated with me and the fact that I spoke English. They kept asking me to say things and different words, but they could only speak Italian and German and I couldn't speak either. Adorable.

I arrived this morning and immediately found my way online to cancel my hostel reservation. I had heard rumors (that were confirmed by online review after online review), that the hostel that I picked was awful. Bed bugs, bad plumbing, rude staff, etc. So, I found another place but the check-in wasn't until 1pm, so I headed out into town in the meantime.

I stared exploring downtown. I walked through the main thoroughfare and the day-time version of the red-light district and then headed over to the Rembrandt Museum. The museum was nice, but its main draw is that it is in the house that Rembrandt himself lived and worked in. Considering that the entire house has been vastly reorganized and reconstructed, the value of it being his own place was largely diluted. "This is a easel very similar to the one that he may have used" and "this is the view that he would have looked through in the morning." I sighed and headed onwards.

My next destination was much more satisfying. I went to the Heineken Experience. Hardly a museum, this place is a beer wonderland! They have a full on Disneyland-like tour that takes you through the glory of the Dutch beer company and how our whole world would be a much sadder place with out the smiling green bottles to greet us at every bar. There is even a great, full motion simulator ride that takes you through the "adventure" of being a bottle in the bottling plant. One of the highlights of the museum is the fact that throughout the tour, they give you three beers! Considering that I had hardly slept and had yet to eat since arriving, I left the museum with more than a little buzz and probably spent more money at the gift shop than I otherwise would have.

After leaving, and eating a delicious tandoori chicken sandwich, I moved on to the Van Gogh Museum - another great exhibit. Still a little tipsy, I also probably spent more money at this gift shop than I otherwise would have, but loved it just the same.

I then hopped on a tram toward the Anne Frank House Museum. Just a quick aside about European tramways - many European towns without underground subways have these above ground tramways. They all seem to be made by the same company and are all ridiculously easy to use with out paying. If there are any European tramway officials out there reading this, you may want to find another way of having people pay for these things because as it is, I don't think anyone thinks twice about hopping on for free. Anyways, I got to the Anne Frank Museum, but I was turned off by the extra long line so I decided to head back to the hotel, check in, and leave the Museum for later.I went back to the hotel with the intention of reorganizing my bag, showering and then hitting the town again, but as soon as my butt hit the bed, my head shortly followed and I found myself four hours later, a little sweaty from the un-air conditioned room, but very well rested. I crawled out of bed, changed my underwear (I still ha vent showered since Croatia - ewww, I know), and made my way back to the Anne Frank Museum.

On the way over, I discovered that changing my underwear only exacerbated a small problem that I had earlier in the day. Basically - and I'm sorry to my grandparents and who ever else reading this that would rather not know - my grundle hurts. I walked bow-legged all the way to the museum, taking much needed breaks every block and a half.Finally, I arrived at the museum, payed the entrance fee and was mesmerized by what is truly a masterful exhibit. Now, I have never read the famed diary, but I can only imagine that the imagery created in her writing makes for a very moving book. Seeing the real place, the real rooms where her and her family stayed and hid, and learning about the incredible people who sheltered her family was deeply emotional.

At one point toward the end of the exhibit, when I was in the room full of quotes from former world leaders and celebrities talking about how important Anne's story is, I broke down and cried. I wasn't expecting it, especially in such a unusual room in the museum and in such a public place, but it happened and just overwhelmed me.

Maybe it was after a month of solitary travel that just lead me to break down, or maybe it was that, for most of this trip, I have been following the foot steps of countless holocaust victims, including my grandfather's, fleeing the Nazi's. Whatever it was, it was unexpected but very welcome. Needless to say, the museum is a must see.

After the museum, I sat outside along the canals in a perfect late afternoon rest. A injured little pigeon was flailing its way through the water below me and caught the attention of several other people (also freshly emerging from the Anne Frank House, I presume). This little broken bird with a broken wing caused quite a scene. A boat came up to it and rescued it from the water and brought it ashore. The crowed erupted in applause for what was probably the most bizarre experience in this birds life. A strange little scene, for sure, but I guess after witnessing the lack of humanity in the Anne Frank Museum, people want to be as kind as possible - even to pigeons.

After that exciting rescue operation, I moved on to dinner. I ate at a great soul food restaurant. Soul food in Amsterdam, you scoff? Well, after all, it is the original Harlem. I ate, then I found my way over to the nearest McDonald's for an Amsterdam specialty - McFlurry's made with Rolo. Yes, it is just as delicious as it sounds!Now that night had fallen, it was time to go (with every other American tourist in the country, it seemed) to the famed Red Light District for some seedy after hours amusement. The highlight of my time there was my visit to the Sex Museum which has a fascinating array of pornographic pictures and sexy artifacts to stimulate all different parts of your brain.

I then walked through the more adventurous streets of Amsterdam, complete with women offering themselves from first story windows and "coffee shops" that serve all kinds of addictive products, except for actual coffee. I chose not to participate in either of these offerings (a disappointment to my grandparents, I'm sure), and then left the Red Light District with a yawn and a shrug.Now I'm back at the hostel, about to get ready for bed (again). I will defiantly take a shower before I hit the sack, I promise.

Tomorrow morning, I'm taking a train to Brugges where I will stay the night and then head, the next day to Brussels and Luxembourg before catching yet another overnight train (this will be the last one, for sure) to Munich for my last few days of Euroschlepping.

It's been quite an adventure and it really just keeps getting better and better.

-Adam

2006-07-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday

I woke up on a bus traveling from Dubrovnik to Slovenia. I spent the morning playing around in Ljubljana and then caught an early afternoon train to Venice. Venice was spectacular. I literally walked around the whole city. I ate some great food and saw some beautiful buildings. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived in town, most of the museums had closed, so I decided to just appreciate the al fresco elements of the city. I climbed (well, 'rode' actually) to the top of the campanile in San Marco's Square. I got some beautiful pictures and had a great time.

While waiting for my next overnight train outside the Venice train station, a group of 20 somethings from a tour came up and sat all around me. I was eaves dropping on their conversations and listened to a few of them talk about how cute their tour guide was. Well, when the tour guide arrived, I was very shocked to see that their tour guide looked remarkably familiar. He was, as I shortly realized, the same tour guide that my cousin Robyn had on her trip to Italy just two weeks ago. Small world, huh? And in case you're wondering, I think he's only so-so attractive.

The night train to Zurich was intensely hot - in the bad sort of way. Luckily, I had the lowest bunk this time so that by the middle of the night, at least the bottom part of the room had cooled down. Note to future travelers - if you ever take a night train in Europe, try before hand to ensure that your bed is on the bottom level. I shared my room with 4 young Koreans, who all had the exact same skill level in English, were on nearly identical trips, and did not know eachother at all. After California, Korea seems to be home country of choice on this trip.

Today

This morning, I woke up in Zurich. It seems like a nice town and it has a great train station, but other than paying 3 Swiss Francs to use the bathroom and another 30 or so to buy a shirt, I didn't get to see much of the town. I hopped onto another train to Interlaken and spent the day here truly taking in the Alpine splendor.

See for yourself!

So, yeah, I went paragliding. Its kinda like skydiving. Its kinda like base jumping. Its kinda like hang gliding. Its paragliding! and it was incredible. Its hard to tell from these photos but we were very high up - as high as 1000 meters from the city (Interlaken) below. We did sharp corkscrew turns, rapid freefalls, and all kinds of things that are just making me woosey just reminiscing about. It was a great time.

I'm hopping on a night train in a little bit from here to Basel and then from Basel to Amsterdam. That's going to be great too.

I can't believe that I'll be home in just a few days. See you all then.

-Adam

2006-07-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Right now, I'm writing to you from a little internet terminal in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ljubljana - which is apparently pronounced "Lube-you-lah-nah" - is the biggest, most beautiful European capital that you've never heard of. Before this trip, I hadn't heard of it either, but I keep coming across people who swear by it, so Ive decided to give it 6 hours to impress me. So, far its off to a good start. I mean, their internet cafes are open at 5am, what could be better.

Wait, let me back up a bit. Last time we spoke, I was about to depart Zagreb, Croatia for Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik was destined to be the highlight of my trip. That now famous picture that I posted of the old city kinda grabbed hold of my imagination and didn't let go. Even though it was a pain to get to, and an even bigger pain to leave from, I made sure that I did it because, well, its just too sexy of a place not to visit.

I wasn't disappointed. Dubrovnik is beautiful, and bigger than I expected. When I arrived, I got approached by a ton of hungry looking people with "room available" signs. I bargained with a few of the people and settled on a room, my own room with my own bathroom, right in the middle of the city with a great view for about 150 Croatian kuna. that's about 25 bucks.

Backing up even more, when i got off the train in Zagreb (which is a surprisingly beautiful city if you take the time to explore it), I meet a nice couple from the bay area - Brett and Natasha. Both psych grad students, and both very friendly, we hit it off right away. We decided to get lunch together and, since we had about 10 hours till our bus to Dubrovnik left, we also decided to explore the city together. Several hours, and several beers later, we found our way back to the bus station and left for the coast.

On the bus, we also met a group 5 twenty-year-olds from Ireland. They were awesome. we passed the time playing car games (I thoroughly destroyed one of them at the movie game), and telling jokes. My trip to Dubrovnik was looking to be a great time indeed.

We got to town and all decided to go our separate ways to our own hotels and rooms, and to meet up in the middle of the city at 2:30pm. i went back to my place, got all settled in, took a short nap, and then, at 2ish, got up to find my way to old town. I waited for a bus for about 30 minutes. Nothing came. After a few minutes, I decided to stick out my thumb and hoped to hitch a ride, but the only car that pulled over was doing so to ask me for directions that I could not give because a) i don't know anything about Dubrovnik and b) i don't speak Croatian.

After a while, I went back inside my place and asked the landlords son for a ride. He said yes, but that he could only take me to the central bus station and not all the way to old town because he was heading the other direction. Fine, that worked for me as long as i could catch a bus from there readily.

At the bus station, sure enough, a bus arrived in no time. i hopped on, paid my fare and got ready for old town! WOOO Dubrovnik! Unfortunately, I got on the bus going the wrong way. It started off going away from old town, but i thought, sure, its okay, it probably runs in a big circle and will get to old town eventually. Well, it didn't. Eventually, after about 30 minutes, i was the only person left on the bus. The driver laughed at me and told me that he had come to the end of his line and that a new driver would be there soon to take the bus back to old town in 20 minutes.

At this point I was already an hour and a half late in meeting Brett, Natasha, and the Irish, but i had no choice so i waited and waited and eventually the new driver got me back, across town, past the central bus station (hmm, that looks familiar) and towards old town.

Not wanting to mess up again, i got off the bus one stop early. somehow thinking that this would save me time, i was slow to realize that this one stop early thing equalled about a mile of unnecessary walking.

Finally, I pulled into the spectacular old town nearly 2 and a half hours late. needless to say, my crew had given up on me. i looked all over town for them, but we never found each other. I think that this was the reason why i ultimately decided not to stay in Dubrovnik. things were looking up so much that when I arrived and all of my contacts fell apart, I was ready to move on.

And move on I did. Yesterday, I hopped on a bus to Ljubljana, where I am now. I'm spending the morning here and then, in the afternoon, I'm taking a train to Venice, Italy where I will spend the rest of the day. Tonight, Ill take a train to Brig, Switzerland and spend the night there.

As you can see, I like moving more than I like staying still. I've got a big day ahead of me and McDonald's just opened so I'm going to go look into that.

Thanks for all the emails everyone, keep them coming. Ill be back next week!

-Adam

2006-07-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Im in Zagreb, Croatia. Ill be in Dubrovnik by the time you all go to sleep tonight.

JOYGASM!

-adam

2006-07-14T02:29:00.000-07:00

Budapest, Hungary - Hill Hostel

Its freaking hot in Budapest. I haven't showered since yesterday morning and I'm yet to find a place with air conditioning. But, other than that, it seems like a great place. I am cutting my time here a little short and I cut Vienna out of my trip all together because I want to make some room to do some other stuff next week. So, Ill be leaving here for Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia, in the morning. And from Slovenia, I'll head to Croatia and (MAYBE) Bosnia.

I took an overnight train last night from Krakow to Budapest. It was a nice ride except for the fact that I was on the middle bunk in the rear of my cabin. What this meant - as anyone who has slept in the middle bunk of the rear of a overnight train cabin can testify to - is that to accommodate the sweaty other people in the bunk, I had to sleep all night with the window blowing only on me. Gently cooling down the rest of the cabin, but slowly giving my body away to frostbite.

In the middle of the night, after a few hours of my wind beaten sleep, I got up and went to the conductor and asked if he knew where or if I could buy a bottle of water. He told me that he would sell me one for 5 euros (!). I was desperate and so I gave in. When I got back to my bed and opened the bottle, however, not only was the water carbonated, but it was already open. Ewww.

Anyways, I actually slept really well on the train and I got to meet some great people. I found a great cheap room in town in a big hostel and I'm ready to do Budapest.

The last thing I want to share with you is that I have a new cell phone. Since I don't know who is reading this blog, I'm not going to post it here, but if you would like to call me, please send me an email and I'll get one back to you with my number as soon as possible. My email address is AdamLGerber@gmail.com.

I love everyone.

-Adam

2006-07-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

Grand Hotel - Krakow, Poland

So while waiting in Poland to meet Robyn, I accidentally ran into my parents who decided to tour parts of Europe too. I saw them across a plaza. We kind of pretended not to see each other at first, but doing that always makes it more awkward when you finally do have to talk to them. So I went over, said hello and continued on my way. They looked like they were doing well.

Okay, I'm kidding. Apparently, a lot of you who read this blog know that my parents were planning on surprising me. And it was quite the surprise. I was with Robyn and we decided to go to a restaurant where my parents planned to meet us. And it wasn't just them. My grandfather and aunt are here too!

There they all were, just waiting for me to freak out. It was overwhelming at first, seeing as how I haven't been with anyone familiar in a few weeks, but I was so glad to see them. The past few weeks, traveling alone, have been tough for an American lad who's used to talking to random people. So now I have everyone to tell my stories to. I sure hope they'll care to hear.

We had an excellent dinner and spent all of the next day (today) exploring the area around Krakow. Today started with a tour of grandpa's memories of Krakow - the town where he was born. We saw the streets that he used to play on, the home of his grandparents, and the house where he grew up, and the window through which he first saw the Nazi troops march into Krakow.

Thankfully, the topless man who now lives in grandpa's childhood apartment let us into his place to see the old home. Unfortunately, the unit has been divided and renovated so many times over the years that it made it difficult for grandpa to piece together the lay out. The effect was still powerful, though. This was the place where all of the innocence of his childhood ended. We saw the spaces where he must have hidden in from the violent Nazi storm troopers. We stood in the spot where grandpa witnessed the most vivid and unimaginable scene of his holocaust memory.

Before this, Krakow to me was a place in a black and white photo. It was distant and it was faded and it was cold. It was a bias that I think we are all vulnerable to. But its real. Its vivid and colorful. And, in a sickening way, it makes the holocaust seem all the more revolting.

From Krakow, we headed out to Bochnia, a small town about an hour outside of Krakow that is the home to a mass grave in which grandpa's mother and father are buried. In a failed escape from the Bochnia ghetto, grandpa's parents and 9 others were killed by Nazi's and buried unceremoniously in an ancient Jewish cemetery in the town. A decade or two later, grandpa and his sister returned and erected a headstone to commemorate the lives of his parents and the senselessness of their death.

The cemetery was overgrown with plants and weeds. Vines grew over the tallest headstones and insects swarmed through the grasses. A Polish man, old and alone, watched over and cared for the cobwebbed cemetery. What did he do during the war? Why does he care so deeply about this place? The mass grave has been entombed with a large, enclosed crypt or sorts, freckled with headstones by all of the different surviving family members or all those connected to the mass murder of this one group of fleeing and frightened human beings.

Grandpa told us the story of their lives and their death and then read to them a letter, a last love letter from a son to his mother and father, in Yiddish. He spoke to them in a language that I could not understand, but I did understand. I understood everything he said. I knew that when he was telling his mommy and daddy about how proud they would be of the world that now exists, of the life that he has created for himself, and the family that has come together around him - I understood. It was in Yiddish, but it was eternal. I can never forget it.

Next, after recovering from what was possibly the most meaningful Jewish and family experience of my life, we headed to the Wieliczka Salt Mine - a 700 year old (you guessed it) salt mine out side of Krakow. It was very interesting and a great break from the heat, but I think that I - and the rest of my family - were still a little stunned by the realness of the day's earlier sights.

As if today weren't enough, tomorrow we are going to Auschwitz. Another big, heavy, wonderful day is in store for us. I am so lucky, not just to have family here, but to have my grand father here to show me the sights and truly give me a deep experience. I only wish grandma and Jenica could be here to join us too.

Another heavy post, I know. I'm leaving my family tomorrow and will be back on the euroschlep circuit in no time so I'll return to my old form then. But, for now, this stuff is just too important not to write about.

-Adam

2006-07-11T02:23:00.000-07:00

Grand Hotel - Krakow, Poland - 11:51am

I'm in Krakow. I don't really know what to do now that I'm here because I think that I am supposed to wait for Robyn to arrive. I don't know when she arrives though. That's okay because I am really enjoying the high ceiling luxury of this hotel.

This is the first hotel I have stayed in - and its a good one. After sharing rooms with smelly strangers and having to wear flip flops in the shower, I have loved spending this morning prancing around naked in my room. I've even showered twice!

My trip to Krakow didn't go exactly as planned. I left Klaipeda at 10am for Marijampole, Lithuania to catch a bus from there to Warsaw, and then from Warsaw, a train to Krakow. Unfortunately, the bus coming in to pick me up in Marijampole was a bit late and we didn't arrive in Warsaw until after I had missed the last train to Krakow.

The bus ride was pretty miserable. I'm letting the wonders of chemistry hold back any of my cold symptoms, but my nose was still snivily and my eyes watery throughout most of the ride. Also, it rained terribly around the Poland/Lithuania border, causing the bus to leak right on top of my head. Little drips of water found their way into the open pages of my book in my little corner seat in the back row of the bus. It was such a sad sight that it made me laugh.

At least I got to enjoy three movies on the bus ride. The Tailor of Panama, Daddy Day Care, and The Dukes of Hazzard. Yes, three movies, all mercifully dubbed over into Polish. The only one I paid any attention to was Daddy Day Care, which had English subtitles but they were too far away to read. I did laugh aloud at one point when one of the guys in the movie gets kicked in the balls. That was the highlight of my trip. Also, Eddie Murphy's face with Chaim Topol's voice is a logical disconnect like no other.

I got to Warsaw, purchased a ticket to Krakow, and waited several hours for my bus to arrive. Since I had finished my last book, Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Everything," and I was also done with Thomas Friedman's "The World Is Flat", I picked up an abandoned, English language copy of "The Bonfire of the Vanities", which, if i remember correctly, is one of my dad's favorite books. I started it and I so far love it.

On the bus I met David, and his sickly brother Daniel. David and Daniel were on their way from Warsaw to a small town south of Krakow to see a specialist doctor to help Daniel with his severe allergies. David, the older brother, spoke English pretty well, and we talked nearly the entire way to Krakow.

I arrived here at about 5am, took a taxi to the hotel, and promptly engaged in the aforementioned nudity and bathing. I slept till 11 and am now just waiting for Robyn to arrive.

This town looks like its going to be a great one to explore. So, Robyn, hurry up and get here.

-euroschlep

2006-07-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

Old Town Hostel - Klaipeda, Lithuania - 11:40 pm

My nose is runny and my eyes feel all swollen and my throat is a bit scratchy. These are not good things.

On the flip side, I'm in Klaipeda (pronounced: K'lie-peh-dah) which is pretty nice. Well, actually, its not so nice. Maybe it is nice and I just haven't had a chance to really see the real essence of it yet. Nah, it's not that great. As you can see, I'm a little uncertain about how I feel about this place - and this whole country.

My mom and dad are on some sort of romantic getaway right now and I can't reach them. I haven't spoken with them since my camera and other stuff was taken. And now that I'm a little under the weather, I really just want to talk to them. So, mom and dad (or anyone who is in touch with them, please relay this message) - call me.

Lithuania isn't a nice place for a vacation - that is for sure. At least not yet. Maybe give it another 5 to 10 years and you'll have another Prague here or something like that, but for right now, its great appeal is in its authenticity and its knocked around ruggedness. I have a greater sense of what it must be like to live in Lithuania than I have picked up in any other country. I think that this is because most other major, developed cities have a well defined 'Old City' that serves as a great separator between tourists and citizens.

Lithuania is one big, giant, gangling old city. They even bill the old city of Vilnius as the largest old city in Europe. Well, no shit - it's the entire city. Over-traveled places like Stockholm and Prague have practically put up walls around their old cities as if to say to tourists, "Come on in! You're gonna love our adorably authentic market place!" That same wall, to the locals, says "Beware, senior citizen tour groups have invaded!" - the locals wisely keep their distance.

Lithuania has no such walls.

Anyhow, when I arrived in Klaipeda a few hours ago, I immediately set out to find the famous Sand Dunes of the Curonian Spit. I saw the spit, but I never made it to the sand dunes. I got on a ferry to the spit (which only cost about 15 cents, by the way) but apparently it was to the wrong part of it. Disenchanted, I ferried back to the city and found soulice in a trusty old beer and a hearty dinner.

At my dinner, I was randomly joined a German couple - a fascinating German couple. The husband, a former German Parliament member, and his wife, a current German Parliament member, told me all about their experiences with German politics since the reunification. Its interesting stuff that I have gone into much greater detail in my personal journal, but just suffice it to say, I've never before meet people with such a dedication to the ideal of "freedom." It was more than a little inspiring. Here was a intelligent, politically active couple that has had their entire professional life based in the reality of freedom and the denial of freedom. Interesting stuff.

Sigh, I can see that this is a pretty uneventful post, so I'll just end it with a quick, funny story from last night. Right after I finished writing my entry last night, I went to my room and got ready for bed. While putting my stuff together for the morning, I heard a strange sound - a sound just like the sound that an angry deaf person would make when trying to speak. I jumped up and turned around and, to my ample surprise, there was a half naked, deaf man standing behind me with a less than amused look on his face.

After a few moments, I finally realized that this guy was deaf and that his very agitated state was not conducive to helping resolve the situation and letting me get to bed. I grabbed a pen and paper and walked with him out to the hall. He grabbed the paper and immediately scribbled his frustrations at me. This guy, apparent, had set his "Lonely Planet - Eastern Europe" book down on my bed some time in the morning. When he returned to the room later that night, it was no longer there. Then, when my shuffling around in the room woke him up (I still don't completely understand that one), he seized the opportunity to confront me for my apparent theft. Among other things he wrote to me in his initial angry opus was the fact that it isn't nice to pick on deaf people and that I am rather "cheeky." Seriously, he called me "cheeky."

The thing is, when I got to the room, the bed was totally cleaned off and none of his stuff was there. I have no idea what happened to his book but I do hope that some day, he and his book are gloriously reunited. But seriously, you haven't lived until you've been called cheeky by a fuming, deaf guy.

I need nyquil. Goodnight.

-euroschlep

ps: I bought a replacement camera, so pictures will start rolling in again soon.

2006-07-08T15:57:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I have quite a few readers. And, considering the news that I shared with you two posts below this one, I think that I may have found a way to combine the two to subsidize parts of this trip.

Therefore, I present to you, 'Ads by Google' - an innocuous little advertisement that will appear at the top of my blog for now on. I hope that it doesn't bother you all too much and - if you are feeling generous - spend some time clicking on the links. Tell your friends. Have them tell their friends. Heck, spend day and night just clicking the links! Every click gives me money - which is good. And who knows, you may discover a page that shows you something cool.

Sorry for the commercialism, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

-euroschlep

2006-07-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

And just for those of you who are a bit geographically slow, here is a little map (i love maps) of where I've been and where I am going.

Places that I have already been to are in RED
Places that I am planning on going to are in GREEN

Goodnight.

-es

2006-07-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

Vilna Hostel Computer Room - 1:45am

There is the good news and there is the bad news...

The good news is that I am continuing to have a great time despite the bad news, which will I'll get to in a second. Right after the bad news happened, I met two great girls from England - Laura and Jane - who were on my bus to Lithuania. The three of us have hit it off very well and we spent pretty much the whole day together. Tomorrow, we're going to explore Vilnius together before taking a train to the coast and spending the night there. Then, Monday morning, the three of us are going to head to Warsaw where we will part ways.

Thanks to my amazing powers of mimicry (which are probably better described as 'unintentional' and 'annoying' rather than 'amazing') I think I've even begun to pick up a little bit of an English lilt. See, there I go again. If you could here me typing right now, I'd be doing it in an English accent.

And here comes the bad news...

Today, while sitting outside of the bus station waiting for my 4pm bus from Riga to Vilnius, I was robbed. Earlier that day, I had purchased a small souvenir for one of my more regular readers. I was using the bag it came in as a sort of carrying case for my maps of Old Town Riga, my ipod, my camera, and the little gift.

Luckily, just moments before it disappeared, I took the ipod out of the bag and put it into my travelers wallet. If only my camera (Jenica's camera, actually) were so lucky.

There is nothing quite like getting up to walk to your bus, reaching down into your pocket, thinking that something might be missing, figuring out that it's something important, and then realizing that what ever it was, it's now gone forever.

Not only is my camera gone, a valuable loss for sure, but so are many of my most important pictures. Now, no one will ever get to see my photo collection of curious European street signs, what Carlos looked like, or some of my classic late-night train ride self-portraits. I feel like these memories have been, quite literally, ripped away from me. I wont remember these things myself in a few years from now. The memories are going to be completely gone soon.

It was literally at that same moment of loss, however, that I met Laura and Jane. And, its also funny that as soon as I lost my camera, I was meet with a series of great photo opportunities that will never be - like the unexpected encounter I had with an ostrich earlier today. Maybe Laura and Jane can take some great photos of Lithuania for me and send them to me so I can at least remember my time in this country.

Alright, that's all for now. Next update wont be till Poland, I assume.

See you there.

-euroschlep

2006-07-08T02:53:00.000-07:00

So right now I am in Riga, Latvia. It's a nice place, but its old town is pretty much exactly like every other old town I've been to - winding streets, historical buildings, lots of tourists... you get the idea.

Also, I've noticed that a lot of the cafes in this town are called J'nica (pronounced: Jenica). For those of you who don't know, my sister's name is Jenica. Did my parents name her after a Latvian coffee shop?

Anyhow, I'm going to wander around here a bit more and hit the road (to Lithuania) a bit earlier than I expected. My first stop is going to be Klaipeda, a sea side town, and then in tomorrow morning, I'll head to Kalnius and Vilnius to do some ancient Gerber hunting.

Then, of course and at last, it will be time to meet Robyn in Krakow. I can't wait to see a family member (or at least someone I know). I'm seriously going to verbally vomit all over her. I have so much to say and so much to just talk about that I doubt that she'll even get a word in at all. I'm in a part of Europe that gets very little American tourists (when I tell people where I'm from, the usual response is raised eyebrows), so its tough (but often very funny) to try to make conversation.

Anyways, before I go, I just want to ask that whom ever it is who is writing these great limericks, to keep doing it. In a way, I don't even want to know who you are, so wait until I get back home to tell me. But, in the meantime, keep them coming. I love reading them.

-euroschlep

2006-07-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

From: a random coffee shop in Helsinki

Just like last Friday, when my plans suddenly changed, this Friday (today) has brought a different kind of change to my plans - the involuntary kind.

I woke up, a little groggy from yesterday's Estonian Beer Festival in Tallinn, and made my way to the train station to catch my 7:40am train to St. Petersburg. I was a little concerned going into the train because I knew that I didn't have all the right paperwork with me, but I was hoping, unwisely, that it wouldn't be an issue until I got to Russia.

In a way, I'm happy that the issues came up on the Finland side of the border because who knows what kind of trouble I would have gotten into, arriving in St. Petersburg with out a proper visa and invitation in hand. Not to far before the border of the two countries, I was ejected (their word) from the train and sent back to Helsinki to find the Russian Embassy and figure out my visa stuff there.

The Russian Embassy, a winning institution whose hours are from 9am to 12pm, was totally useless. By the time I made it there, I had lost any time to do all the running around I needed to do to get my visa notarized in time. The Embassy closed, and with it, all possibility of me going to Russia any time in the next few days.

But its all okay because, yesterday, when I was subconsciously considering the possibility of not going to Russia, I came up with a pretty good contingency plan. In a few hours, I am going to head back to Tallinn and from there hop a train (or, more likely, a bus) to Riga, Latvia. I'll spend the day tomorrow exploring Riga and then head, over night, to the capital of Lithuania - Vilnius. This will take me through Sunday night. Monday, Ill get up early, go to the (beautiful) coast of Lithuania, before trudging onward to the Polish border, and from there to Krakow in time to meet Robyn on Tuesday.

While Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius are not St.Petersburg, I do think that this is a pretty good contingency plan. Last time, my last minute itinerary changes gave me the incredible, once in a lifetime experience in Norway. Maybe this little Baltic jaunt will do the same.

-euroschlep

Re: read and review

2006-07-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

Longhand Entry

Suomenlinna
Helsinki, Finland
July 5 - 4:03

There must be only a handful of perfect spots in the world. Luckily, in the last few days, I've happily happened upon several of them. I'm sitting in a sunny spot between a cluster of shady trees along side the Suomonlinna Church on the Finnish island of the same name off the coast of Helsinki. This is the story about how I got here...

From where we last left off, I had another half day until I had to get on the boat to Finland. I spent the day, after an expensive mishap with the storage lockers at the central station, roaming around the modern part of downtown Stockholm and visiting another great museum - the Moderna Museet. At 4ish, I hurried over to the ship terminal for Silja Lines and got on to, what I was very pleased to discover, a full on cruise ship!

Complete with buffets, bars, a casino, a tacky evening show, duty free shops, and a spa, this was much more than I expected from a Eurail pass! And whats more, no ticket agent or customs official ever asked for my ticket or ticket number, meaning that I never had a day of travel marked off my pass. So, in essence, it was a free cruise! (sorry for all the exclamation points, but its been a great couple of days!)

I shared the room with a very talkative German, originally from Russia, named Andre who felt inclined to tell me all about his friend who moved to New Jersey and shortly thereafter had twins. Great things happen in America, I suppose. I spent much of the cruise walking the ship, eating, loosing 30€ gambling, reading yet another Bill Bryson book, and altogether having a great, solitary sort of night.

This brings up another interesting part of this whole trip experience. Why do I call home so often? Why do I hop online every chance I get? Why do I spend my free time writing in this silly journal? Is it because I want someone to share my experience with or that I want to better document my time here? I think that its because, when it comes down to it, I just want someone to listen to me talk for a while. I notice it in the other solo travelers I meet too. It's like, when I meet another solo traveler, its almost a competition to see who can talk more. Maybe I just need this alone time to learn how to listen more, or at least, learn how to be quiet every so often.

It's like, right now, I'm sitting on a spectacular hilltop on Suomanlinna (which I will get to in a second), on a beautiful afternoon and all I want to do is call my parents - just to talk. Anyways, the flip side to all of this solitude is that I have great flexibility on this trip and I have meet incredible people - both things that wouldn't exist if I had even one other euroschlepper by my side. This greatly outweighs the cons, but sometimes, on days like today, I just want someone to talk at.

Alright, enough of that. Back to business...

The cruise was great. Much more than I expected. I arrived in Helsinki - a city that apparently saves up all its beautiful people and scenery for most of the year and lets it all out spectacularly for a few months in the summer - at noon-ish. I found my way to my hostel which is literally in the Helsinki Olympic Park. So far, I have only met one of my 10 roommates, a great guy from Mexico City named Carlos.

Carlos, also 22, is a college student from what I expect to be a very wealthy family. He doesn't work, but has developed a habit of taking each summer as a chance to travel around the world alone. This summer, his focus is Scandinavia. We both agreed that Helsinki seemed like a one day only sort of place and so he and I made plans to leave the city tomorrow and head for Tallinn, Estonia.

I keep thinking about how funny it sounds... I'm running away on a last minute trip with a wealthy young Mexican named Carlos. I feel like a desperate housewife.

Any how, I set out into town (without Carlos) and walked down the city's famous Esplanadi - a city park/promenade - to the lively Kauppator, the town out door marketplace. Between all the live music, happy looking family, fashionable youngsters, and sunshine, I had a pretty fantastic time. I enjoyed a grotesquely un-kosher lunch in the marketplace and then hopped a boat to the fortress Island where I am now sitting.

This fortress was built by the Swedes in the 1700s to protect against a possible, and inevitable, Russian attack. The fortress switched hands several times over the centuries before finally settling with the Finns in the 1970s. Its a Unesco World Heritage site, its got dungeons, beautiful buildings, stunning vistas, and a butt load of history. I love it.

Anyways, I'm going to make my way down to a famous pizza place that's buried somewhere in the dungeons below . See you after Estonia!

-euroschlep

2006-07-03T17:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've spent way too long trying to get all of my photos online for everyone to see, and now that they are all loaded, I'm too tired to go through and put them on this site.

Instead, I'll give you a few highlights and you can browse through the rest of my pictures from Germany and the Czech Republic (including some fun videos) at the following link.

http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i75/Euroschlep/Germany%20-%20Czech%20Republic/

-euroschlep

The line of people heading to the Fan Fest (and thats just in the subway station!)

The Jewish Cemetary in Prague

A cool synogogue in Prague

The Munich Fan Fest from inside the stadium

Doug and Merideth - the Marylanders that I spent most of my first day with.

2006-07-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'm writing to you all right now from Galma Stan - the old town of Stockholm. This is a great city and I have had as close to a perfect day here as I could have hoped.

I have grown to like sleeping on trains and buses over the past weekend, so I actually had a tough time falling asleep last night. Once I fell asleep, however, I had some very bizarre dreams. For the sake of decency, and the innocence of some of my younger readers, I'll just let you know that it had something to do with Katrina, the Norwegian concession stand girl, the Swedish World Cup soccer team, and several different varieties of herring. I'll let your imaginations do the rest.

Thanks to an early call from a friend, however, my pleasant dreams came to a premature conclusion (thanks, Daniel). But it was defiantly for the better, because by the time I got out of the hostel, it was already late enough. I took the tunnelbana (the subway) to the central station and walked my way down Drottingatan, a major shopping street, to Galma Stan, the old town.

Galma Stan reminds me of all the things I loved about Prague without most of the things that I didn't love. It has the same windy, hypnotising streets of Prague, and the same substantial feel of history, without the thin gloss of a economy entirely sustained by tourism. Stockholm is spotted with the occasional tourist trap, but I couldn't escape the feeling that the local Swedes were drawing as much pleasure from the sunny summer's day as I was. In Prague, tourists seemed to grossly outnumber locals. Prague seems like a place where people visit. Stockholm seems like a place where people live.

In traditional euroschlep fashion, I kind of just lunged myself into the middle of old town to see what I could find. The first thing I found, which was also the first highlight of my day, was the excellent Nobel Museum. In the last week, I have seen my fare share of museums and I've developed a bit of a good sense for measuring one when I see it. The Pergamon in Berlin is a good museum. The Jewish Museum is a bad museum. The Nobel Museum is a great museum.

They had a great exhibit on Albert Einstein that focused, in what I thought was a cool approach, on his relationship to the Nobel Foundation. He was one of the most nominated people in the Prize's history and the museum did a great job of showing why, year after year, he was declined the award. When he finally won, it wasn't even for his famous theory of relativity (which I don't understand), but for a theory of his on light photons. Interesting stuff.

After the Nobel Museum, I tossed myself in the general direction of the Stadshuset - the Stockholm City Hall. This was another great tour (and highlight #2). First of all, the tour outlined the eccentric behavior of its architect, which is pretty visible in the buildings crazy design.

The building is great because on the one hand, its very impressive but on the other hand, its also very ugly. Second of all, the building had a beautiful terrace that served as a peaceful and private shore of Lake Mälaren. Even more so, this secluded corner was being used as a nude sunbathing spot for some of Sweden's most beautiful girls. Unfortunatly, half way through the tour, my camera ran out of power, otherwise I'd most definatly have some interesting photos to share with you.

After I got my fare share of staring, I moved on back through town to Nybrovikin, a charming inlet with boats to take me wherever in Stockholm that I wanted to go. I chose a short little trip to Djurgarden, the city's incredible municipal park, to see (highlight #3) the Vasa Museum.

The museum has a fully restored Swedish war ship from the 17th century that had sunk in the Stockholm harbor on its maiden voyage just a few hundred feet from its launch point. This is a real treasure. The entire ship was preserved, for hundreds of years, under tons of silt in the saline-free Baltic water. Twenty years ago, the ship was found, surfaced, and totally restored. And if the ship were not enough of a reason to get excited, the museum built around the ship, a temperature and moisture controlled facility, is an sight to see in itself.

I walked around the Djurgarden and its amusement park for most of the rest of the afternoon, enjoying the sunshine and Swedish pastries. I hopped another boat back to Galma Stan to grab dinner at Järntorgspumpen, great Italian restaurant.

Now my perfect Stockholm day has come to an end. I'm going to head back home, consider doing some laundry (and then decide not to), and go to bed a happy man.

Tomorrow, after checking out a modern art museum that was closed today, I will leave for Helsinki, Finland. I had considered a side trip up to the Arctic circle, but I think I am going to have to play it a little more conservatively for the next few days. After all, I want to save up my energy for St. Petersburg this weekend.

See you in Finland.

-Euroschlep

2006-07-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

And here are some of my Norwegian highlights...

In my overnight train from Copenhagen to Oslo

Fully prepared for my Norwegian advenutre at the top of the Flam Railway

A corny music and dance show infront of an incredible waterfall on the Flam Railway

Yes, it is really that beautiful.

I miss it already.

More typical Norwegian amazingness...

I want to live here (summers only, please)

Somewhere around midnight on my overnight train from Lavik to Trondheim

2006-07-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

Longhand Post
Bus from Lavik to Trondheim
11:23pm July 1st

"My goal is to see all of Norway in a whirlwind, 24-hour tour."
"Oh my! You really are from Los Angeles"

Plans change and then plans change again, but so far only for the better.This last minute adventure to Norway has proven to be quite a success. I've managed to continue moving non-stop for 24 hours now. I haven't showered since Friday morning, or slept in a bed since Thursday night.

I keep going in and out of long, hand hewn tunnels, so I'll have to keep this short. I started today in Oslo, which seemed nice enough, but I had a schedule to stick to so I pushed on right through to the world-famous Flam Expressway which I greatly enjoyed. I spent most of the ride with a group of women from Seattle.

At Flam, after having a great talk with Madge (see the quote at the top), a pharmacist-turned-naturopathic doctor from Seattle (it seems to be the hometown of the day), I boarded a crowded ferry to Balestrand where I was to spend the night.

The fjords are beautiful, wonderful, impressive, big, everything that you would expect them to be. I don't really have the energy to go on about their sweeping slopes and plunging cliffs just now, but just trust me that this puts sights like Alaska to shame (!).

Moments before I was to disembark at Balestrand, my wanderlust got the best of me and I chose to venture on, further with the ship until it returned to its port at Bergen. A little disappointed that I would be retracing my steps to get back to Oslo, before heading off to Stockholm, but happy to keep moving, I carried onwards.

On the ship, I met Katrina, a Norwegian college student who works the concessions on the ferry. She sympathized with my desire for adventure and helped me find a way to push north, rather than south. At the last possible minute, she advised me to get off the boat in Lavik, a very small fjord town, and arranged for me to take a bus ride, an 11-hour bus ride, to Trondheim, a university town in the north. I took her advice and am now writing to you (or I was writing until I got to town and found internet) from the bus.

Behind me on the bus is a nice Norwegian man with uncertain, but otherwise excellent English. He helped point out some incredibly beautiful sites. At one point, I complimented him on how nice I feel the people in his country are. He thanked me and then asked if all Americans are trained to say that. Apparently, flattery isnt popular in Norway.

Now, I've experienced Norway by train, ferry, and bus. Not to bad for a 24-hour whirlwind adventure. See you in Stockholm.

-Euroschlep

2006-06-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

I just spent a wonderful day in wonderful Copenhagen and now I'm in a hurry to get out of here a day early.

While pondering the meaning of life and stuff like that at the Little Mermaid statue, it suddenly dawned on me that this trip would be a little disappointing if I never took a little risk and stepped off my planned itinerary. Then, taking the initiative inspired by Adrian, a friendly young Norwegian I met in Hamburg, I decided to cancel my reservation for tonight's hostel in Copenhagen and tomorrow's in Stockholm and instead try my luck in Norway.

Now I'm at the train station, waiting for my bus to pick me up so I can go back to my hostel to gather my stuff and then circle back here for my overnight train to Oslo.

I decided that I've had enough cities for one week, so I'm going to push right though Oslo and then take the early morning train, from there, to Bergen - the gateway to the Western Fjords of Norway.

I'm not ditching Copenhagen because I don't like it. In fact, I love it. I have had a great day here and I have spent several hours, inspired by the quirky Danes, writing in my journal on the bridges of the city's canals. But Copenhagen has been a breaking point in my trip. I'm done with the heavy, historical stuff (for now) and I'm eager for something more alive and exciting. I think that the edge of the world may just provide that for me.

2006-06-29T12:33:00.008-07:00

I.am.in.Copenhagen.now.and.suprise.suprise.the.spacebar.doesnt.work!
I.did.run.into.gilad.gurantz.randomly.enough.
It.was.nice.to.see.a.friendly.face.
I'll.update.more.when.I.find.a.functioning.keyboard.

-Euroschlep

2006-06-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Now that I am in my third city, Berlin, and am pretty well into my European adventure, I've begun to notice a few trends and themes that I'd like to share with you.

First of all, there is no such thing as a good European keyboard. I have traveled hundreds of miles and used about a half dozen computers and I am yet to find one that doesn't either have the 'Y' and the 'Z' in swithced places, the 'O' doesn't work, or is so dirty that my fingers stick to the buttons whenever i push down on them. C'mon, Europe, get with the program.

In every other way, however, European cities (well, the three I've seen, at least) are pretty on top of their game when it comes to other stuff, especially public transportation - a civic improvement that I am always in favor of. Berlin, for example, has a huge (the 'hugest', in fact) new central station. What a great way to be introduced to a city! It's like, I step off the train and the shinny, gold plated public transport hubs say to me, "Willkommen, Adam! We've been expecting you. We hope your stay is wundabar!"

Also, the people who choose to travel around Europe by themselves, and I don't only mean me, are quite possibly the greatest people on the planet. From Rita, the recent Northwestern grad (and my first post-graduation face book friend), to Chris, the York university atheist, I have been lucky to meet such amazing people. The people traveling in pairs have been pretty cool too. Andy Butz, the Portland sociology professor, and his nice wife and I had a great talk the entire way from Prague to Berlin. And the two girls from Missouri, Jackie and her friend (Megan, I think), and I had a awesome time exploring Berlins incredible nightlife and bar scene (if you come to Berlin, you have to check out Zapata). The problem comes in when there are more than two people. Groups of three or more have a way of making a tight circle with me, always, on the the outside. I figure that, for now on, ill stick to the twosomes and fellow solo-travelers.

The final trend that I've noticed is that all of the little lessons I'm learning, be it having to do with how I get to know a new place to how I feel about some of European history's heavier events, usually have something to do with knowledge and how it is either revealed or concealed. The pattern is beginning to become clear to me that time after time, world and religious leaders make their fatal flaw when they decide to with hold some secret knowledge of the world from the people of that some subordinate chooses to keep some important knowledge secret from his superior. In short, I'm getting the sense that if it is knowledge I have, then set it free.

Anyhow, I hope you can tell that this trip has been immensely meaningful for me, even though I am only a 100 hours or so into it. Between the constant discovery of new places and the consist ant supply of meaningful conversations with new strangers, I feel that I should be able to sail through the rest of this schlep undeterred.

Thanks for reading.

-Euroschlep

2006-06-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hey again. I just reread my last post and I see that its full of spelling errors (darm foreign keyboards!)

Anyways, i just also wanted to let yu know that if you want a post card, you're going to have to email me or comment me with your address because otherwise I dont have a way of finding you.

Thats it. Bye

2006-06-26T04:27:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION EUROSCHLEP FANS:
I AM ALIVE!

Hey everyone, sorry for the long delay with this first European dispatch. My trip got off to quite a running start from the moment I landed in Munich Saturday morning. I am now in Prague and have just a few minutes to fill y'all in on the incredible experiences I have had in just 3 days.

First of all, the flights were excruciating. Luckily, on my flight from Toronto to Munich, I sat next to a very nice woman from Nova Scotia who thought that I was the funniest person on the planet. She was also very attractive, which made the flight a more pleasant experience.

MUNICH

I landed in Munich at 10am their time. It took a good 30 minutes to get my bearings, and then I headed to my hostel. On the train from the airport to the hostel, I had a quick stop at the hauptbahnhof, the central station of Munich, and was greeted by an impressively rowdy crowd, complete with face paint and public intoxication in honor of that days World Cup game. I wish that these computers had USB ports so I could up load the photos, but if you search online, I'm sure that you can find pictures of the day's craziness. Every world cup game day is crazy in Europe, but a game in Germany, in a city where the game is played, is an even more impressive sight to behold. Add to that the fact that the game was Sweden vs. Germany and you have an explosive, once in a lifetime event!

Anyways, I made my way to the hostel and discovered that I couldn't check in till 2pm. I sat down in the lobby and met the two American kids sitting next to me - Manny and Chris. Manny and Chris happened to be from Thusand Oaks of all places! We got to talking and decided that the three of us should head out together to a thing called the "Fan Fest" to watch the soon to start game.

The fan fest, as we were abut to discover, is an enormous celebration and game viewing at the Munchen Olympiazentrum - the sight of the '72 Munich Olympics. I have never expirenceed any thing quite like this. Until the Fan Fest, I'd say that the most crowded place I had ever been was Disneyland on New Years Eve 2000, but this had that beat by a long shot. Mix in copious amounts of beer and my world cup afternoon turned out to be the experience of a lifetime.

Then the game started. Aside from this being the most crowded experience, it was also the loudest. The entire city erupted in a massive jolt of adrenaline when Germany scored their first goal 2 minutes into the game. 10 minutes later, Germany scored their second goal and sealed their lead that Sweden would never be able to shrink. Moments later, a furious Swede got ejected from the game and the German crowd nearly lost control of themselves in pure excitement. This was a amazing sight to see.

After the game, Manny, Chris and I made our way back to the hostel where it was time for me t take a much needed nap. I woke up a few hours later, stumbled my way over to the hostel's rooftop bar, purchased a pint, sat down, and struck up a conversation with a goofy kid named Doug from Maryland. Doug and his attractive cousin Meredith, 17 and 18 respectively, and I hit it off right away. We sat their until 2 in the morning, talking, drinking, and hanging out until 2am when Manny and Christ stumbled into the bar after spending what seemed to be a wild night at the victory celebration parties around town. Since they were too drunk to talk to, Doug, Meredith and I headed ut for a late night snack.

We found a McDonald's and feasted on a 20 piece chicken mcnugget meal. It was the mst delicious McDonald's meal I had ever eaten (an opinion that was fueled in part by my mild state of intoxication and having not eaten since the airplane breakfast that morning). We stumbled back t the hotel, exchanged contact info and said our goodbyes. I made my way to bed and slept a very deep, and very needed sleep.

PRAGUE

I woke up the next morning and found my way back t the Hauptbahnhof to catch my train to Nuremburg, and frm there to Prague. The train to Nuremburg was very nice and was a good introduction to what I expect to be many hours on trains this trip. The train from Nuremburg to Prague, however, proved to be a more challenging experience. It was hot and humid on the train, which combined with its 5+ hour travel time made it a nearly unbearable experience.

My saving grace on the ride was a incredible experience with a Czech woman named Vera Holtz. Vera is a 60 year old grandmother with interesting mixed background and a bag full of food to share with me. Vera and I spoke the entire time - our conversations covered an incredibly diverse array of topics like the first and second world war, the current state of Czech politics, my personal and Jewish background, our favorite foods, and the peculiarities of the Czech, German, and English Languages. I am only expanding on this because the conversation was even more remarkable since she spoke only German and Czech and I spoke neither.

We talked engagingly for hours by making animated hand gestures and writing wrds down on paper and hoping that the there would recgnize a common root. We seriously bonded in spite of the language barrier. This was the type f international experience that I never expected to have on this trip, but I imagine that I'll keep my time with Vera closer to me personals, than any of the other relationships I will make n this trip.

Vera and I parted ways in Prague and I staggered around the city, which is the easiest and mst enjoyable city in the world to get lost in. I fund my hotel and purchased a calling card, since my phone doesn't work in the Czech Republic, to call Mike Rome and Mike Shapiro. We met up at the KFC at Wenceslas Sq and preceded to have an amazing extravagant meal at a charming Czech restaurant. One f the greatest aspects of Prague is its remarkable inexpensive restaurants. Our meal, complete with appetizer, steaks (and Shapiro's ridiculous Pork Knuckle), drinks, and deserts cst us n more than 30 US dollars!

We watched a bit of the game (Netherlands v Portugal) had some beers and passed ut intheir apartment. We woke up this morning at 7ish and said our goodbyes. They took ff t the airport for what I expect to be a wild few days in Barcelona and I turned and decided to take an early look at Prague before the rest of the tourists woke up.

I saw a lot of the main sights. Charles Bridge, The Jewish cemetery, the Astronomical Clock, Kafka's Birthplace, the Estates Theatre (where Mozart premiered Dn Giovanni in 1787), etc...
The best part abut Prague, as I have discovered, is just getting lost in its fantasy like, labyrinth streets. by 11, I had made my way back t the hotel and crawled into bed for a mid day siesta.

Nw its time for me to take off again and check out the rest f Prague's sights. The Prague castle, the Communist Museum, the Old New synagogue.... Unfortunately, my camera is out of power and I cant seem to find an appropriate adapter for this country. I have taken many great photos already and yu will just have to wait fr an update from Berlin in the next few days fr a picture-y pst.

I am having the time of my life. I have meet the mst amaing people,seen the mst amazing sights, eaten the most amazing food, and consumed the most amazing beer and I'm only about 50 hours into Europe!

Anyways, I should get running, I've still got so much t see

See you in Berlin!

-Eurschlep

2006-06-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

30 hours till departure...

It's late Wednesday night and I am all set to go. The bag isn't 'packed' yet, but everything is in order for my imminent departure.

I am currently flirting via email with some Russian hostel clerk named Evgenija who, I can only imagine, is a leggy former soviet who has a sexy, but mysterious past. This Evgenija , as I am likely mistaken, has fallen enamoured with my self-assured American prose and is blushing adorably as she hangs on to my every email.

Here is a sampling of our coy exchanges:
Evgenija: "Unfortunately there are no rooms avsailable [her spelling] in this hostel, but we could suggest you an alternative accommodation. Please advise?"
Adam: "I am sorry to hear that there are no rooms available at your hostel, but doesn't my booking reference number (#2091036462) confirm that I do have a room? If not, I understand"
Evgenija: "Oh Adam. I can tell by your self assured American prose that you are quite an understanding fellow. I just wish that there was a way for me, a leggy former soviet, to make your stay more accommodating" (her emphasis, not mine)
Adam: "Well, I think we can think of something..."
Evgenija: [adorable blushing ensues]

Oh Evgenija, your foreign ways are so alluring. Of course, Evgenija is probably a weather beaten granny with NFL caliber thighs, but the woman of my fantasy is much more charming.

In other news, I'm collecting a list of gifts that my friends want me to bring back for them. So far, here are the placed orders. Ryan wants a WWII German war helmet complete with flashy hood ordainment-like spike on the top. And if the flight attendants wont let me wear it on the plane ride home, an original language copy of either the Communist Manifesto or Mien Kampf will have to do. Oh Ryan. Arielle, thankfully, has requested a easy to find world cup t-shirt - an adult small, of course.

Other gifts that I'm considering finding include a old German jazz recording of some classic musician like Miles Davis or something like that and maybe some old Yiddish cantorial recordings for my musically inclined friends.

Requests and suggestions are always welcome.

My next update probably won't be until I land, Saturday morning, in Munich. So, for the last time stateside, this is Euroschlep wishing y'all a pleasant July and I'll see you when I get back.

-Euroschlep

2006-06-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

It is with a heavy heart that I mourn the loss of Dubrovnik from my Europe itinerary.

We had a nice run together, Dubrovnik and I. Countless times have I shown you off to my friends and family. I've talked with out end of your beaches, your walls, and your undetonated land mines. You started off as a possible side jaunt on my trip, but slowly became the main attraction.

And like all great vacation fantasies, you were taken from me before our plans could come to fruition. I was enticed in by your cheap inbound airfares, but like Odysseus and his Sirens, I was pulled in with little option to leave. Only my foresight has prevented me from pouring countless dollars into your excursion and countless hours finding my way back to my planned route.

At least we'll have the dream.
I'll miss you, Dubrovnik. I truly will.

Mournfully,
-EuroSchlep

2006-06-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

There have been some changes to my itinerary.

Now that I know that cousin Robyn will be in Europe, I'm going to cut off a city or two so she and I can visit Poland together. After all, doesn't Krakow seem like a family/togetherness sort of place?

Anyways, for all of you EuroSchlep-o-philes, he is my newest country order and fancy map.
Note #1: Red lines are land routes, orange lines are flights
Note #2: Belgium, Luxembourg, and Holland are off the list for now :(

Munich
Prague (with M.Shaprio and M.Rome)
Berlin
Copenhagen
Stockholm
Helsinki - by boat
St. Petersburg
Helsinki
Krakow - by plane
Vienna
Bratislava
Budapest
Dubrovnik - by plane
Venice (by boat)
Switzerland
Munich
San Diego

Basically, I have opened myself up to a couple of new things and have limited myself from some others. While I'll no longer have the chance to visit Anne Frank's House, I'll have the once in a lifetime opportunity to rest on the shores of Europe's most beautiful town before the rest of the world discovers it.

In other news, I have made two major steps toward graduation. I am now in possession of a graduation cap and gown (!) and I have officially taken care of that pesky foreign language requirement (phew!).

My last final is tomorrow. It's for Nutrition 10. The end is in sight...

-EuroSchlep

ps: take of in 9 days

2006-06-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for books to read while I'm wandering around the planet.

Right now, I have only a few books on my list and they are the heavy historical types. Lenin's Tomb for the Soviet leg of the trip and either Survival in Auschwitz or The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich for the Nazi leg.

Needless to say, I could probably use a good piece of light reading for the trip as well. I'd like it to be some how connected to the places I'm visiting (or with travel in general), but I'm down for anything that's not to heavy to lug around.

They don't even need to be good - just topical and lightweight.

2006-06-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

europe to-do list:

contact heshy 'bout poland
russian visa
get a belt!
graduate
socks and underwear
sandals
photocopy tour books
world cup tickets?

-adam

ps: this is where you get to comment on what else you think i might need
ps2: 15 days

2006-06-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Welcome to my travel blog.

I'm Adam, and as of June 17, I'll be a graduate of the University of California - Davis. On June 23, I'll be heading east for one month on a whirlwind search for the finest beer halls and tastiest matza balls on the bloc - the former soviet bloc, that is.

My itinerary is loose, but will likely contain the following: Munich, Nuremburg, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Venice, Slovenia, then back to Munich.

Basically, it's gonna look a little something like this picture. Click on it to see a better version of it.

Hopefully, I'll make my way back to the Munich Airport in time to catch my flight and return to the states in time to start my new job in San Diego.

It's gonna be jam-packed. It's gonna be full of disappointments and surprises. It's gonna be informative at times, boring at others. And, you get to ready every rollicking detail of it right here at EuroSchlep.

So, stay tuned. Take off in 16 days.