Central Europe at last!

So there was I, this supposed intrepid tourist, on a mission to see all that needs to be seen in high cultural and low cultural Europe, and perhaps everything in between. From my previous trip to Paris when I was a wee 10 years old, my best memory is of the Arc de Triomph. So how did I miss it the first time through this year, and more importantly, what could I do about it?

How about hopping a train to Paris and then driving around the damn thing twice?

That is a picture I took from the driver's seat of a car I was driving, on Champs D'Elysses. You know, the most famous road in the world, just about. And despite the critics out there of my driving, I made it through the circle around AdT, one of the trickiest anywhere, with minimal problemage.

Anyway, no need to go into details, but let's just say I took myself on a driving tour of the city, with able guidance from shotgun. And then I walked to...

The Pompidou. That's in Paris. The French, they're much more laid back about their art. (The two of you who get this should be laughing hysterically, the rest should find "Modern Art" by Art Brut.) Sadly no pieces by Matisse to run at.

And one more Paris shot:

The Fountain of St. Michel. Notice the color coordination between shoes and jacket.

Anyway, after the extra day in Paris, I rode on an overnight train to Narbonne, a seemingly tiny city near the French Riviera, and then transferred onto a train to Barcelona. I have now traveled overnight on 4 trains, each of them with a different setup. The best was probably Milan to Barcelona, with 4 sleepers that came out of the wall and were real comfy like. The couchette from Lausanne to Rome was ok when I had a bed on top, the couchs on the bottom were a little too narrow even for me. The sleeperette from Barca to Paris consisted of a chair that reclined really far...surprisingly it worked. Paris to Narbonne was most nerve-racking because A) I was in a coach with 5 other guys, and at least 3 looked like they'd take your money so much as they look at you, and B) I had to make sure to not miss my stop. While the conductor did pop his head in 10 minutes before arrival at Narbonne, I do declare that I had already woken up. My body clock is a charm.

The flight from Barcelona to Prague was more of a hassle. Apparently flying cheap means flying cheap: the lines were a mess, the plane went off an hour and a half late, any drink beyond the first you had to pay for, etc. On the plus side, they let me bring both bags on (I've relearned my lesson), and conveniently missed my 5.9 euro French toothpaste in the scanner (as well as my 9 euro French deodorant...yes, I've been using French deodorant).

Got into Prague, walked around it at night, when it is most beautiful. Something about the colors and the lights, it is all really pretty, and I have pictures, but they're not showing up. So maybe that's a sign to save a full Prague post for tomorrow night when I'm planning to stay up until the 6 am train to Vienna Friday morning, free with my railpass. Cuz that's how I roll.

Dan

Notes from The Garden of Earthly Desires

Before any writing (and well before any pictures, since Ben hasn't sent them to me yet - fortunately I'm better writing than looking) here are some key Madrillan stats:

3:15 am - Average bed time over 3 nights in Madrid...and that's considered early 'round these parts
3 - Number of art museums visited (and appreciated) in Madrid
0 - Number of museums visited before Madrid
1 - Loads of laundry completed
2 - Number of times a bouncer rejected me from a club for wearing shorts
1 - Number of times we talked them into letting me in anyway.
2 of 3 - Number of times we have dined in Madrid with girls from Cat's Hostel
0 of 1 - Number of times I actually successfully asked a girl to dinner. Similarly...
0 of 1 - Number of times I received a positive response to "¿Quieres Bailar?" However...
2 - Number of pretty Argentinian girls met and...
1 - Pairs of Spanish styled double kisses received from said girls.
Key Spanish foods sampled - Blood sausage (not so bad), croquetas (wow, they're aMAZing!), tortilla (haven't really had a good one yet), churros con chocolato (again, as good as it sounds), and paella (solid, spicy, interesting). Gazpacho tomorrow.

So now that we're clear: Madrid has been rather interesting. Socially, it's vacation time for the city and everybody still is out really late, far later than I can take, really, especially with no Code Red over here. The scene we visited was based around bars till 2 and then clubs. Fine enough, though my voice is sore from yelling a conversation with a Venezualan Spaniard.
Culturally, there isn't as much obvious architectural dazzlement as in the other 3 cities, but Madrid has three big things going for it: You can walk everywhere, it's the cheapest city yet, and we actually spent time here. Who knew that a 3-night, 4-day stay meant you could spend time seeing things? The Prado was impressive with some great paintings (including a Hieronymous Bosch piece whence this entry heading comes from...possibly the best painting ever to my novice eye), the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza held its own despite having a completely unpronouncable name, and the Reina Sofia had the most consistently great gallery, with highlights being the Dali room, the Picasso exhibit, and the Goya painting "May 3rd", on loan from the Prado. Honestly, this may be the first time I've ever gone to art museums and enjoyed a good amount of my time spent there. So hooray for art.
Our time in Madrid has been the highlight of the trip for me so far, but that could be partially attributed to the time spent here. Barcelona is faster-paced and we raised our intensity, blitzing through it for 22 hours straight. It's possible I'll get to see a museum or two there when I return Monday night or Tuesday morning, and then it has a chance to rise again.
It should be noted that Cat's Hostel helps the experience in Madrid greatly. A laidback and friendly, internationally based English speaking crowd, decent staff, decent free breakfast, and a bar to start the night off in: it's a good mix of most of the right ingredients. There may be a post or two more on hostel life once I have time to reevaulate, but it's hard to imagine anybody beating Cat's.
Meanwhile, my time here is getting cut short a tad, as tomorrow I take an overnight to Paris to retrieve my backpack. Hopefully by Monday night I'll be in full-fighting form and lounging in Barcelona, getting kicked off the streets for playing guitar again or some such deal. This portion of the trip with Ben has certainly been a success, if with a few bumps, but now the adventure takes it up a notch, sort of like track 2 on a John Cusacl-planned mixtape. And when I get my bag, I'll get my camera, and you can all see how ridiculous I look in Europe. It'll be fun, promise.

Barcelona seemed tired last night...

So while waiting to leave for our morning train to Madrid, a verbal recap of the cities:

Paris - Representative color: Brown with a blue tinge
Ben and I took the RER into the city at about 3, getting off right in front of the Notre Dame. Our first walking tour commenced, taking us east along the River Seine until we got to the Eiffel Tower, where we decided to climb to the top. The open air staircase for the first two floors was significantly less intimidating this time. But intimidating enough. And it rained sideways on the 3rd floor.
We descended, walked the park at the foot of the tower and then caught the metro to get to St. Michel. Meeting our Parisian friends at the fountain, we walked/drove around the Latin Quarter until finding a nice place to eat. French Onion Soup (though, shockingly, the menu omitted the French from the listing...), steak tartare, and heavenly chocolate mousse. A meal to cherish for the rest of the trip, I´d say.
Day 2 was abridged by concerns over my bag and then the discovery that our planned overnight train to Rome was sold out. We booked through Lausanne instead, meaning we had to leave 2 and a half hours earlier. Which meant we could check out the Palais de Bercy and then walk around the Yitzhak Rabin Gardens and then go back to the station. Of course, we didn´t have any of our stuff, having left it with our friends thinking we´d meet up before our later train...so we sweated it out before they found us in the train station 5 minutes before departure. We proceeded to hustle to the train, where we were literally the last ones aboard (Ben specifically, heavy red bag in tow). Highlight of the trip, clearly.
Our first train ride was a pleasant evening jaunt through pretty French and Swiss countryside, meanwhile sitting in the nearly empty cart next to the bar, keeping us fresh as we entered...
Lausanne - We were in town for about 2 hours. Walked down to Lake Geneva (coining the hope for humanity phrase ¨Finding the Lake¨), bought dinner, ate, played some guitar, walked back up. Seemed like a nice enough town, and who knew Switzerland still has their own currency (ironically, the Swiss franc)?
Rome - Representative color - a burnt orange/tan, sort of the color of the Colosseum but a bit brighter. Also, the Tiber River was green.
Very touristy city, but with good reason. My Italian needs much much work, but we got by more than bene without it. We managed the Fountain of Trevi, the Pantheon, the Ancient City, and the Spanish Steps in our 27 hours there, and walked around an entire country. Unintentionally. We thought it was faster that way.
Anyway, everything lived up to its billing and obviously the city deserved more time. But we did have a fun Monday night, which leads to a how to:
How to go out on Rome for 11 euros and feel full and happy:
First, go to hostel company bar, where a drink brings free pizza. Show up late so instead of a drink-per-slice policy, you get a whole tray of low-quality, lukewarm sicilian sliced pizza. They´re still carbs, and lots of them. Meanwhile order Cokes, drawing dirty looks from the Australian bartender, while talking with a Canadian mother-daughter touring combo (completely platonic conversation, don´t worry) and a Norwegian dude who looks your age but is actually 32 and in Rome because he´s having girl trouble at home and needed to get away for a week. Good man.
After filling up and spending five euros on coke, ask bartender where the action is, find out it´s at Campo Del Fuori. Then listen to him tell you not to put gum in the glasses, which you weren´t doing.
Catch a bus with traveling companion and new Norwegian buddy from the nearby Train station to Campo Del Fuori (the good old 40), quickly finding out that we don´t know how to pay, and then that no one really cares. Free bus ride takes you a little past your goal, but you instead turn to Piazza Navone, remember a bar that serves a free shot with each drink. Order a half liter of red wine and then gently nurse the drink over an hour and a half time while ignoring your shot, meanwhile conversing with the Brazilian bartender. Then ask him to send over one of the attractive waitresses, so as to ¨practicare il tuo italiano.¨Struggle pleasantly to have a conversation.
After the bar, pay il conto (the bill), with the wine costing only 4 instead of 6 euros. bonus. Get 2 scoops of gelato (chocolate and nutella) for 2 euros and head back towards Campo Del Fuori before deciding to head back to the hostel. All buses go to the train station, so the wait is short and the ride is again free. And end scene.
Milan - We spent about an hour here, but the gnocchi patate con bolognese deserves a mention. The cramped train ride here does not, except for meeting a Turkish girl whose favorite Dostoevsky book is Crime and Punishment, which she read at the age of 12, marking the end of her childhood. Yikes. I impressed her by saying her name, Budjo (As I guess) correctly on the first time.
Barcelona - Color - sort of a sea green.
Marathon day here in the Catalan ciudad. We get in, dump our bags off at our fratty hostel, walk around the main street (La Rambla), had a local specialty - churros con chocolata, or fried dough dipped in really thick hot chocolate, as good as it sounds - then down to the beach, a topless beach - all rumors about topless beaches showing the wrong kinds of tops were confirmed, by the way - where I got to dip my feet in the Mediterranean. Another body of water off the list. Anyway, back to the hostel to check in, then a metro up to LÉixample, the modernist strip, featuring the architectural works of Antoni Gaudi (as did most of the city). Crazy buildings, including the famed La Segreda Familia, a wee bit ambitious church that is unfinished, followed. Then we trekked up to the Park Guell, also a Gaudi staple with an amusement park looking entrance and much marching up to the top for a beautiful view of the city. It was most tranquil.

Then we marched back down the hill and took a metro over to Montjuic (named because it´s somehow built on an ancient Jewish cemetery, I need to read deeper into this), where there was La placa de espanya, featuring a great Palace, very eastern in design of domes and colors. We then walked around the Olympic torch tower, took in a few minutes of a summer league baseball game, and then scaled the mountain in the quest for another gorgeous view, this time from the southwest of the city rather than the north. We made it on time for the sunset, standing on walls of the well-situated old castle. A return to the hostel followed.

Late dinner even by Barcelonan standards (meaning 11 pm local time rather than 10) and then it was off to various night time scenes. While Barcelona was actually tamer than advertised for the most part (there were people chanting when I started writing this post at 5 am), we managed to get yelled at by the police twice for playing guitar outside. Meanwhile a bum came up and talked to Ben, filling him in on his life story, and prostitutes aggressively solicited clients (though Ben informed me that their act was legal, apparently unlike ours). Two warnings from two different cops is a sign to call it quits, so now we head to the train station for sleep and a ride to Madrid meanwhile.

Pictures with the next update, and I may have my backpack by then too.
Buenas noches,
Dan

Hola from Barca

Just a quick update before we go out (possibly all night). We have veni vidi vicied our way through Paris, Rome, and today Barcelona, with a surprise detour in Lausanne. My feet are killing and my back is sore, but that´s kind of the point. I still do not have my backpack (with clothes, shoes, railpasses, and camera therein), we were the last ones on the train from Paris, and we´ve made friends from Norway, Canada, Chile, and Turkey. So there are stories to tell, and thanks to Ben, pictures to show. I´ll be doing it soon enough in Madrid, where we arrive tomorrow.

Buenas Noche,
Dan

We have arrived here safe and sound...

My backpack has not. Yet.

NYC was lovely, from the fast visa service to an ordered car to take me to JFK. The delay in the runway before takeoff at the airport, however, is probably why my backpack is stuck in London. It should get here today or tomorrow, and considering I leave tomorrow night and need my railpass contained therein, it better.

In any case, Ben and I met, Olga picked us up, and now we are resting and awaiting lunch before tackling Paris (and its toothpaste prices). And no big worry about the bag, I have the three most important pieces to the Europe trip; my companion, my wallet/passport, and my guitar.

2 quick shower-related France observations:
1. Separate toilet and shower rooms: I had forgotten about these, but a nice touch.

2. No matter where the shower, it takes me a good 5 minutes to figure out how to turn it on and off, each. Nothing like squatting in the bath fiddling with every piece on the faucet except the right one. (How's that as an image?)

What's the going price of Toothpaste in Paris?

Well, about 8 days on the dot before the flight from JFK to everybody's favorite airport, Heathrow (and from there on to Paris). I still don't have an actual visa, but I am only one flight, a bunch of train reservations, and a few more hostel reservations (if I go through with them) from having my trip set up. So rather than work on that, I'm writing this list of which cities I most anticipate seeing, in descending order.

14. Milan - Nothing against Milan, I'm just there for 2 and a half hours tops. And the ticket from there to Barcelona is nigh ridiculous ($131 after railpass? Damnit)

13. Bratislava - I think this is going to be a cool little city, again, part of the low ranking is the product of my schedule, with just short of 21 hours in the city. And no, indie kids, I'm not going just because the Beirut album has a song called "Bratislava". That's only half of it. Maybe 75 %.

12. Warsaw - This should be interesting, but it gets dwarfed by Krakow, by most reports, and, again, I'm there for less than a full day.

11. Vilnius - "There's nothing to see there," our Polish coach/tour guide famously declared last year. "Frank Zappa statue!" I belatedly counter. And there's supposedly the biggest old town in eastern europe, and a nice Jewish quarter besides.

10. Tallinn - Assuming I go, this is a very cute little town and I'd love to visit the Alexander Nevsky Church again, being one of the coolest places I've ever been too. But there are other factors here as well...

9. Paris - Honestly, this would have been lower, but the prospect of a few warm faces and the genesis for our trip bumps it up quite a bit. I suppose its history, past as the cultural center of the world, and neat monuments don't hurt.

8. Barcelona - Should be gorgeous, and warm, and near the sea, and cheaper than Italy, and we'll actually be able to converse in the national language (or Ben will). Sounds good enough from my vantage point.

7. Madrid - Now combine the warmth and the cheapness and the conversing with the fact that we're actually going to have enough time here. I mean, 4 and a half days as I reckon it, sounds like we can go in depth with things.

6. Vienna - I still need to get some tips and do my research, but this has to be pretty cool, right? And I'm actually really intrigued by the hostel I'm booked at, Ruthensteiner. Musical instruments for use, eh?

5. Rome - Colosseum, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon. That will be an ambitious day.

4. Krakow - This is widely known as the gem of Poland but still hasn't quite reached Budapest/Prague levels of trendiness. Sounds great for a contrarian, indie snob like myself. And I hear there's a really nice museum there.

3. Budapest - Probably would have been below Vienna, but then I got a thorough guideline for what I need to do in the city, including outdoor spas. Delicious.

2. Prague - I've never heard a bad thing about Prague. I guess the fact the narrow streets influenced Kafka is a mixed thing, but still, I'm sure it's not all that bad.

1. Moscow - I'm spending two and a half months there, I better be looking forward to it, right?

Possibly one more first-person heavy post before I fly to Europe. And really, the journey starts on the good old Fung-Wah Wednesday to NYC.

-- Dan