THE SUN DOES SHINE IN NORWAY

For my last travel weekend Vanessa and I went to Norway. We had some flight drama getting there. Ryanair was supposed to fly us into an airport about two hours outside of Norway but, because of snow and ice on the runway, they dropped us off at the actual Oslo airport. We had a much easier time getting to our hostel.

When we arrived there was this beautiful soft snow falling lightly on our heads and on the ground. We spent maybe a half an hour walking around in the dark just watching the snow fall.

Oslo isn't the most tourist friendly city, especially in the winter. The Cathedral was under renovation and completely covered in scaffolding and tarps. The Parliament building is closed to tourists and the National Theatre shoos you out if you try to explore. We did go to the Munch Museum, but were rather disappointed because they only had a small exhibition and weren't displaying any of his most famous works.

We did get to see the Viking Ship Museum! That was really cool. I just wanted to climb in the boats and pretend to pillage and plunder. We we awoke on Sunday we were surprised to find that the sun was actually shining! As you might know, in the winter Norway has very little sunlight (the opposite is true in the summertime). At this time of year in Oslo, the sun rises around 9am and sets by 3pm. Usually, because of overcast, the sun isn't visible at any point throughout the day. We got lucky, however, and were kissed by the sun on Sunday.

The real drama happened on the way home, though. We made our 3:30pm bus to the airport, arriving around 5 o'clock to make our 7 o'clock flight. It was at this point, after the hour forty-five bus ride from Oslo, that Vanessa realized she'd forgotten her passport at the Hostel. Long story short, she went back and got the earliest flight to Amsterdam out of Oslo on Monday morning. She said she'd be fine and convinced me it wouldn't be worth the extra hundreds of Euros for me to not take the flight that night. But, all turned out well and she made it back in time to do her scene in acting.

Here are some pictures from Oslo.

Well, that's it. I'm sitting here in a packed room. We leave for London tomorrow afternoon and then it's back to Arizona on Friday. It's been an amazing semester. Really, this experience has affected my life in ways that just going to college wouldn't have. If you have kept up with my irregular posting habits throughout, I thank you. I know some of them were too long and some were too short, but in the end I hope you are okay with it.

And while it's been a magical experience, I cannot wait to be home.

ITALIA

After London, Noel, Zach, Ben and I had made plans to go to Italy. When we first booked the trip we merely booked flights from London into Venice and back to the Castle from Milan. This was early on in the semester and we decided to decide later exactly how we'd spend our time in Italy. Well, many weekends of travel passed, and when it came down to actually booking our Hostels (and trains because my Eurail had expired), we decided ease of travel was the best choice. So we booked two nights in Venice, two nights in Florence and a night in Bergamo (close to the airport) so it wouldn't be stressful catching our flight home.

Venice is really magical. In the same way as Trogir, I could literally point my camera anywhere and get a good picture. We spent all day Wednesday just walking around the city. We went inside the San Marco Basilica, which was one of my favorite churches so far. It was dark and had less ornamentation on the walls and ceilings. It was a neat difference from a lot of the other churches I've seen this trip. Venice is wonderfully small and there's plenty to eat. In the afternoon we found a little shop that sold wine for two Euros per liter so each of us got one. That was a fun night.

On Thursday we did more walking around, saw a monastery and a few more churches and then had to make our train. Because we were travelling during dinner time, we decided to postpone our Thanksgiving celbration until Friday.

We arrived in Florence relatively late and went straight to our hostel. We discovered that our hostel was, in our case, an apartment. That, in and of itself, made Florence. It rained all day Friday ,but since we had our apartment, it was wonderful to just stay in and read. It's amazing what a difference a table can make to a city's experience. That night, as planned, we made a Thanksgiving feast. We bought handmade pasta , homemade sauce and two liters of wine from a little shop near our apartment. We bought bread from the baker and sausage from the butcher. We added some wonderful cheese, an onion, a tomato, some garlic and a little salad and got five hours worth of cooking, eating and drinking. For not being home, I'd say it was a rather successful Thanksgiving.

On Saturday we visited the Duomo, saw Michaelangelo's David and explored the city's original walled fortress (which, upon exiting, we saw was labeled "No Tourists"). With a train to Bergamo and a flight to Weeze, we found ourselves home in time for dinner on Sunday. Cheers to a successful travel break.

LONDON AND STRATFORD

This was my second trip to London and it was even better this time. I went the first time with the parents and the sister (and don't worry, that's not the reason why it was so much better this time round). When I went with my family we had such a limited amount of time that we didn't really get the chance to see London.

With the school I was required to take some walking and museum tours. I got to see the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern, Westminster Abbey, the Joan Soane house, and visit Shakespeare's birthplace Stratford upon Avon.

London is AMAZING about museums and I got to see some really wonderful things. I won't go into detail about each one, but if you have any questions about what I saw in any of them I'd be glad you let you know.

The most exciting part of our stay in London was the County Hotel. It just had this wonderful ambiance and the most friendly staff and the walls were peeling and the carpet smelled like dog food and the porter (to whom we had to give our keys before leaving the hotel) was kind of a monster who sometimes wouldn't give you your key back. I highly recommend it.

But, yeah. London wasn't too rainy and wasn't too cold and I really really enjoyed my second stay there. Now I'm off to dinner.

ALMOST DONE (PRAGUE)

So, these past few weeks have really flown by. I just looked back on the blog and realized how many weeks it's really been. We've got: Prague, London and Stratford, Venice and Florence, and (most recently) Oslo.

Prague was an amazing city. Before this trip I hadn't thought of going there but, once I'd heard people talking about it, I had to go. We went on a tour of the city (it was a little rainy, but that made it more Prague-y) and our guide was just jolly. He told us that Prague is so interesting architecturally because it has historically been much poorer that many other European cities. This forced architects, in redesigning or updating a building, to make small cheap changes, usually to the facade of buildings. That would explain a medieval building with Renaissance stylings. Later on we went on the most amazing "Haunted Prague" tour. It was free because we had gone on the other tour so we decided why not. Our tour guide was so wonderfully unenthusiastic and was so blatant about her lack of desire to be there. We had trouble keeping ourselves together.

On night two we tried to see an opera or a dance, but nothing was playing so we went to the biggest club in Europe. That's right, five stories of skeezy dancing. It was fun, but it was loud and didn't live up to our Haunted tour. No exciting train stories on this trip, just a long long day on a train.

AS PROMISED

Venice and Florence.

More text to come later.

PHOTOS FROM LONDON

Our second travel break was one to London (I also took a day trip to Stratford Upon Avon, where Shakespeare grew up).  I'm sorry, again, that I'm not posting, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words!

Here are 44,000 words worth of pictures.

APOLOGY

I'm sorry I'm doing such a bad job keeping things updated.  Things got pretty crazy right before we left on our last travel break so I didn't have time post about Prague.  Then we went on our travel break and we went to England and then I continued on to Venice and Florence.  Then, I got back and now finals are upon me and papers and research are keeping my time filled up!

I finally put some laundry in (ten days of travel really puts a damper on your underwear supply) and uploaded my Prague pictures.

There will be more later, I promise.  But for now, here are the Prague pictures.

Don't hate.

IT DOESN'T RAIN IN DUBLIN

This past weekend Noel, Zach, Ben and I went to Dublin, Ireland.  This was the second time I've flown to a destination, Croatia being the first, and the first time I've flown out of the nearest airport-- Dusseldorf Weeze.  The airport is right over the German border and at around five in the morning on Friday we had a taxi pick us up at the Castle and take us the twenty-ish minutes to the airport.  

This, in itself, started off the trip amazingly.  Having a car pick you up from where you live and take you to an airport where you simply have to get on a plane is multitudes easier than waiting for the bus, taking the bus to the train station, waiting for the train, taking the regional train to the big train station, then waiting (sometimes hours) for another train, and taking that train to your final destination (and this last stretch is sometimes interrupted with waiting for transfers).  Needless to say, the taxi/plane combo was a wonderful start to a wonderful weekend.

Since we arrived in Dublin around eight in the morning, we stored our bags at our hostel, ate a little breakfast, and started our tour.  We began at Trinity College with a short, guided tour of the campus and then entry into their library which houses the Book of Kells.  This book is a very, very old book which includes the four gospels of the New Testament and was created by monks in the 9th century.  I had hyped it up in my mind to be this huge colorful book with pages barely staying together and possessing an aura of historic mystery.  It was cool and all, but I was kind of underwhelmed.  Sort of just and old book with fancy font.  It was neat to hear about the process of making the book, though.  Apparently the monks were so particular about the inks they used that only a certain red ink, found in a beetle off the coast of Arabia that had to be pregnant to extract the proper color, would do.  It was because of their selectiveness that the vibrancy of the color in the book has lasted so long.

Then, we walked to the Guinness factory, stopping for lunch and some wheatgrass.  Oh yeah, BTDUBBS there's a ROBEKS in Dublin. Who knew?  It came as a surprise to me.  My travel mates hadn't ever tried wheatgrass and we were all feeling a little tired (due to the 4am wake up) so we stopped in for a pick-me-up and burped grass for the rest of the day.  

After my first Irish Irish pub experience, we arrived at the Guinness factory.  I learned all about the process of making Guinness and then conducted my own taste test (a pint is included in the tour price).  It's thick.  I think I have to be in a special mood to drink Guinness.  Anyway, I got my Guinness experience.

That night we stopped by Temple Bar (a district with pubs, street performers, etc.) but were too tired to really "go out."  We were satisfied with watching a guy who had reversed the steering on a bicycle charge 5 EUR per attempt to ride the bike a few meters.  No one had any luck.

Saturday began with some well needed sleeping in.  Once we were up and about we got some doner kababs (cheap and yummy!) and went to the writers museum.  If Dublin can claim anything, it's good writers.  

We proceeded on a long walk to the Kilmainham Gaol, which is a long abandoned prison that apparently offers wonderful tours.  We arrived at four-thirty in the afternoon and learned that it closed at four.  So, we crossed the street and visited the Modern Art Museum.  The current installment is titled "Exquisite Corpses" which was a game originated by Surrealists in France where something (art, poetry) is constructed from several contributors without the knowledge of what the others contribute.  It was a lovely exhibit.

This is getting long, sorry.  

 

Saturday night I had tentatively planned to see Ibsen's Hedda Gabler but we walked passed a movie theater and decided the 9 EUR ticket price to see Burn After Reading was a better choice than the 34 EUR ticket price for Ms. Gabler.  It's a hilarious film.  You should see it.

After having some nice Guinness beef stew, we slept, got up early to be at the airport by seven, took a cab from the airport back the Castle, and were home in time for lunch.  Free food makes any trip.

Pictures.

OH! I almost forgot. It didn't rain once (besides BARELY a sprinkle on Friday night) during our trip in Dublin.  Take that weather forecast. 

BECAUSE IF OBAMA DOESN'T WIN, I MIGHT NOT COME BACK

SWITZERLAND IS BEAUTIFUL

Two weekends ago I took a trip by myself to Grindelwald, Switzerland.  I was able to relax and enjoy this massive beauty all for myself.  

It began with an overnight train from Dusseldorf, Germany.  We were awoken with one hiccup when Catherine (I took the train with four other Castle Dwellers who were also going to Switzerland) almost had her purse stolen by an evil little French man.  I woke up to Catherine yelling expletives and a pointy-faced French guy sheepishly cowering, "Je m'excuse! Je m'excuse! Je cherche ma copine! Je cherche ma copine!" ("Excuse me! Excuse me! I'm looking for my friend! I'm looking for my friend!")  Catherine responded with a ferocious point toward the door and an even I-mean-business-ier "Get the (insert... well, you know) out of here!"  Apparently she had awoken to her purse being guided out of its net on the wall by a slimey set of fingers.

While I could have done without the almost having my Eurail stolen (we had given them to Catherine to store in her purse) and the not being able to sleep for fear of someone else sneaking into our compartment, I'm kind of glad it happened.  What night train experience is complete without some kind of sketchy activity?  At least I have a story to tell.

Subsequent to all of that excitement, I took a lovely train ride to the mountain resort of Grindelwald and proceeded to enjoy my next two days there.  Since I arrived midday on Friday, I took a short gondola ride to a point called Pfingstegg and hiked back down to Grindelwald.  While on the mountain I read some Steinbeck and spent some needed time just listening to music.

My original plan for Saturday was to take a train up to Jungfraujoch, which is the highest railway station in Europe situated at 3454 meters (more than 11,000 feet).  When I found out that my discount off of the full price of the ticket would be upwards of 100 Euro, I decided to find something else to do.  I ended up taking another, longer, gondola from Grindelwald to First (a location at 2168 meters, 7100 feet) and hiking from there.   I decided to hike to Schwarzhorn, the highest peak in the Jungfrau Region reachable by foot.  It reaches 2928 meters, which is about 9600 feet.  Do the math.  It took me (with breaks for breathing and lunch and without any proper hiking gear i.e. I was wearing my topsiders) four and a half hours to hike up to Schwarzhorn and back down to First.  

The views, though, were breathtaking.  And to be honest, the hike was empowering.  On my way down I would continually look back up in amazement at from where I had just come.  Had you told me I would be hiking to there before I arrived (I wasn't sure to which peak I was hiking in the beginning), I would have told you that you were crazy.

But, take a look at the views for yourself.

I made it home with no real incidents and the realization that traveling alone (when the destination is safe) is actually a wonderful thing.

BARCELONA PICTURES

I forgot to post the link for my Spain pictures.

Here it is!

BARTH-A-LONA

After Croatia, Noel, Chris, Zach, Ben and I continued on to Barcelona.  If there's one thing I got out of Barcelona, it's that the party never stops in Barcelona (oh, and also that Sangria is really strange tasting -- so, two things, then).

Our first night in Barcelona we kept pretty low key.  We got food from the grocery store (SO MUCH MORE AFFORDABLE) and went to this one bar with people from our hostel.  We had to rejuvenate from Croatia's amazing-ness.

Day two (Thursday) we started off by visiting La Sagrada Familia.  This is probably the most famous site in Barcelona.  It is a church designed by Antoni Gaudi that has been under construction since 1882.  It's magnificent.  To see a cathedral in the process of construction lasting more than 200 years (and it is still only about 60% done today) made me aware of how people from the past might have experienced the formation of great religious buildings.  In a sense, it inspires religion.  To think that something this magnificent probably won't be finished in your lifetime is an intimidating thought.  It makes belief in an afterlife appealing based merely on the possibility to see the completed structure.  At least, that's what came to mind when I was there.

From afar (see the cranes?)

Inside. Unbelievable.

Sculpture work on one of the entrances.  All of his designs are inspired from nature -- the designs, patterns and relationships found in plants.

Then, we made our way out to Parc Guell -- a part of which was also designed and inspired by Gaudi.  It was kind of like a magic playland, only built out of seriousness.  His architecture is unlike any I've ever seen.

Parc Guell.

Me and a fountain!

More trippy park.

We had dinner on the beach (TAPAS AND PAELLA YUMMM) and went to a bar later in the evening.  We discovered that you don't go out to eat until 10pm, bars don't open until midnight or one, and clubs don't close until 5am.  With work the next day, the party would never stop.

And now, a story.

Before planning our trip to Barcelona, Zach had wanted to see a band called Of Montreal play live (they're touring Europe).  He found out they'd be playing in Barcelona when we went so, as everyone enjoys a concert, we all got tickets (cheap -- only 13 Euro).  When we got to Barcelona, though, we found out when the concert started -- 3am.  So, after visiting the Picasso museum (which was wonderful, he when through so many transitions in his artistic career -- it was great to see) we headed back to our hostel to nap (7pm to midnight) before waking up, dressing up, and going to the concert.

It was well worth it, though.  The show was amazing.

Zach said we should.

Of Montreal.

We slept for a few hours, checked out, went to train station (this is Saturday morning), had to take the 2pm train to Madrid, arrived after 7pm, and had barely enough energy to get dinner before crashing.  Then, we got to wake up around 3:30am on Sunday to catch our flight back.  Sunday is kind of a blur.

Madrid. Yep, that's it.

So, while Madrid doesn't really count, Barcelona was certainly an experience.  All I remember upon arriving back at the castle is being tired.  Very, very tired.

CROATIA'S WHERE IT'S AT.

Over the course of my "studies" here at Kasteel Well, the entire student population takes two required travel breaks with faculty members.  The first of these breaks was to Croatia.

We left on Thursday, October 9th and flew into Split (which is about a third of the way up the coast).  For the first two nights we stayed in a Hotel near Trogir which is about half an hour from Split.  On Friday we ventured into the picturesque city of Trogir, which was added to UNESCO's list of historic places in 1997.  Much of the original architecture of the city, dating back from Venetian to Roman influence, still remains intact inside the city walls.  I could literally point my camera anywhere and get a good picture.

Togir.

Trogir's bell tower.

Dilapidated monastery in Trogir.

On Saturday morning we visited the Roman ruins at Salona outside of Split before driving down the Dalmatian Coast to Dubrovnik (very southern tip of Croatia).  We made a stop in Split (to see the ruins of the Palace of Diocletian -- phenomenal) before continuing down.  The drive itself was spectacular.  Views of various islands in the Adriatic Sea as the sun was setting was unlike anything I've ever seen.  As you can see from the map, Bosnia gets a little bit of coast and while there we made a pit stop (everything was ridiculously cheap).

Ruins of a colosseum-like structure in Salona.

Part of the Diocletian ruins in Split.

More.

A view from Bosnia.

We arrived in Dubrovnik on Saturday night. The next three days would blow my mind.  

Sunday we took a walking tour of the city, getting an overview of all of the buildings.  We also went up onto the city's ancient walls, taking a tour from above.  Dulcia (Director of the program) was my tour guide and she's magical.  I wish everyone got to meet her.  In the afternoon we were left to do whatever and found a perfect bar on the cliffs to take a dip in the Adriatic.

Outside the city walls of Dubrovnik.

Fortress detached from Dubrovnik (I didn't get to visit, though I heard it was amazing).

View from atop the walls.

Monday included a tour of a monastery, a look into several of the churches of old Dubrovnik, and an abbreviated tour of the Rector's Palace (the rector was like a governor for Dubrovnik and the surrounding area when it was its own sovereign state).

Tuesday was da bomb, though.  Several of us had to stay in Dubrovnik an extra night (the academic program finished on Tuesday, marking the beginning of the Independent Travel Break) because our planes or boats didn't leave until Wednesday.  So, twelve of us got together and rented a boat for the afternoon.  We got five hours on the boat, time at two different islands, and dinner all for 200 Kuna (about 40 Euros).  God bless the exchange rate.  It was an amazing afternoon.

Dubrovnik from the sea.

Island #2.

Sun setting over the Adriatic.

That night, five of us (who were continuing on to Barcelona for the Travel Break together) spent the night in a homey little hostel situated up quite a hill.  The bed springs were poking through, but Marie was so sweet that there wasn't anything to complain about.  Wednesday we got driven to the airport (this drive was more nerve-racking than it was amazingly beautiful -- Petra's sister isn't afraid to pass on windy, mountainy roads going well over the speed limit) and took our flight to Barcelona.  See the next installment.

As a general note, I reread what I've written about Croatia and it doesn't even come close to doing it justice.  And while pictures honestly can't either, they're probably able to give you a better idea of its beauty.  Here they are:

Trogir/Salona

Split/Ride to Dubrovnik (Bosnia)

Dubrovnik

BELGIUM

I know, it's been awhile.  I have a lot to catch you up on.

During the first weekend in October I took a trip to the lovely Belgian cities of Brussels and Bruges.  Chris and I arrived in Brussels in the afternoon, checked into our hostel, and took the train to Bruges (about an hour) to meet Vanessa and her parents for dinner.

When we got to Bruges, it was pouring.  And as Murphy would have it, I left my umbrella in Brussels.  Here Chris and I are, roaming around the quaint brick streets of Bruges trying to keep our map dry as we look for the center of town.  And, what do we hear but an emphatic, "NO WAY!" from across the street.  Noel, who was supposed to be half way to Bordeaux at this point, is standing opposite us, soaked to bone.  Apparently, he hadn't been able to get a train to Paris and decided to go to Bruges on a whim instead of returning to the Castle.  Then, he found us.

Somehow (after asking at a bar), we made it Vanessa's hotel a mere seven minutes late (but don't quote me on that, my memory is a little cloudy from being so wet).  Chris, Noel, Dana (who was staying with Vanessa and her parents), Vanessa and I killed a little bit of time at a bar before going out to a little Italian place for dinner.  It was wonderful to be treated to a nice meal (THANKS VANESSA'S MOM AND DAD) and to sit and enjoy everyone as we continued to dry off.  

Then, Noel, Chris and I wondered back to the train station (only getting a little lost) and made it back to Brussels before midnight.  We decided we'd should at least try to sneak Noel into our room (we had so much valuable floor space that would have gone to waste) and found ourselves to be successful.

Saturday we explored Brussels a little more, visited a Flea Market, stopped into a wonderful children's toy store, enjoyed a Belgian waffle, stumbled upon an installation art exhibit, strolled through the Parc van Brussel, saw the Palais Royal, bought tickets for a play, ran around the coolest playground situated on an island between two major roads, had trouble (and fun) trying to understand what was going on during L'Aiglon, went to Delirium Bar with over 2000 beers on tap, and had a good late night walk back to our hostel. 

Sunday was simple. Train station, train, home, homework.

Since it was raining in Bruges when we went, I'm going to try and get back during the week sometime.  I hear it's perfectly picturesque.  

Some PICTURES!

Soon to come: Croatia and Spain.

ALSO...

I have a working internet phone now, through Skype.  

My number is: (623) 242-2534

If you call and I'm online, it will ring.  If I'm not online, it will go to voicemail and you can leave me a message and I will get back to you!

BERLIN BERLIN!

So, last weekend Vanessa, Audrey and I went to Berlin.

This was our first experience using our Eurail passes, and my first experience with international train travel.  What is so great about the Eurail is that you don't need to book anything in advance.  You find the trains you want and get on them.  It takes a little getting used to, but once you've done it, it makes so much sense.  Without booking anything in advance, however, if someone has booked a specific seat (our train to Berlin was quite full) you're stuck without a seat.  For a good two hours I sat on the floor in between cars.  

1st class travel accommodations 

We made it!

We arrived midday Friday and we decided it best to go to our hostel (so we'd know where it was) and then we'd explore from there.  Going from the train station to the Amstel House gave us a very... interesting picture of Berlin.  From out hostel we went through the Tiergarten to the Siegessaule (victory column) and went back to have dinner in the garden (Falafels from a hole in the wall near our hostel, so good!).

Siegessaule

Gathering that we weren't in the best part of town, we decided it would be best to get back to our hostel before dark.  This we did, enjoying a few glasses of wine before getting to bed early.  

A wee bit clinical, ya?

It wasn't until late Saturday night when we found out that the Amstel House is located promptly in the "ghetto."  We knew it must have been something to this effect as we walked from our hostel to the meeting point of our tour Saturday morning.  Berlin got prettier and prettier.  

Brandenburg Gate

We met our tour in Pariser Platz, just beyond the Brandenburg Gate (outside the Starbucks).  From there we toured Pariser Platz, got a history lesson at the Brandenburg Gate, viewed the Reichstag from afar, took in the Holocaust Memorial, stood on top of Hitler's bunker (where he committed suicide), awed at the enormity of the Lufwaffe building (later, when East Berlin was under Soviet rule, the Ministry of Ministries), walked past the Topography of Terror (an outdoor exhibit featuring information on the Nazi party and its infrastructure), stood on both sides of the Berlin Wall, saw Checkpoint Charlie, stopped for lunch at Schlotzsky's, photographed the Gendarmen Markt (supposedly the most beautiful square in Berlin), peered down into the Book Burning Memorial, were moved by the statue of Kathe Kollwitz, and finished at Museum Island.  For ten euro (Mary, our tour guide, worked for tips only) it was a great tour.

The Holocaust Memorial. This truly was one of my favorite parts of Berlin.  The designer of the memorial purposefully designed it to be without specific purpose.  This forced you to have your own, specific response.  These concrete slabs had little height near the outskirts of the memorial (giving them a very tomb-like appearance) and then grew as the ground below you gradually sank.  Once inside, they became walls.  I highly recommend visiting.

After that we walked through Potsdamer Platz and then spent some time at the Topography of Terror.  We hopped on the U-Bahn and had dinner at a wonderful little German restaurant/bar on Oranienburger Strasse.  And why stop then?  We still had the entire night ahead of us!

The same company that did our free tour also does what they call a "Pub Crawl" each night.  We met them outside the S-Bahn station on Oraneinburger Strasse and went first to a crazy outdoor/indoor club called Zapata.  The names of the next three clubs are escaping me, but we had a great time dancing the night away in Berlin.  

The crazy fire man at Zapata.

Sunday we set the bar low, deciding to get breakfast, tour the Reichstag, and see the East Gallery.  Then, we popped on a train (with a slight hiccup in Koln) and went home.  

The new dome atop the Reichstag.

A piece of the East Side Gallery.

I only wish I'd had more than one weekend in Berlin.  Here are some more pictures.

AMSTERDAM ON A BEAUTIFUL DAY

So, last weekend almost everyone at the Castle went to Amsterdam.  It's about two hours away (total travel time via bus and train) and since this past weekend was our first travel weekend Amsterdam seemed to be the default destination.  And we all got lucky.

The weather for all three days was absolutely beautiful.  It wasn't under 60 degrees in the daytime and the sun was out.  I think Amsterdam would have been a very different city with overcast.  

If you've never been, you should try to get to it.  It is a relatively small city, in both physical size and population, reminding us Emersonians frequently of Boston.  Wonderful brick streets and two to three story buildings surround you that are, in some cases, 400 to 500 years old.  Obviously, the canals offered a striking difference from our home during the school months, also giving the city much of its distinct character.  

We arrived in the evening on Friday, without a map and with only a general idea of where our hotel was.  We were supposed to meet the group that had left before us at hour hotel at 8pm.  It was 8:30.  Luckily, Chris and Vanessa were waiting (jumping and waving their arms, really) for us at the tram stop that was right outside our Hotel.  

From there we walked around, looking for someplace relatively cheap to eat, and stumbled upon this "Dutch looking" restaurant and bar.  We ordered a round of beers (letting the waiter pick out a "good beer") and I ordered this chicken kabob that ended up having peanut sauce on it.  The beer was fantastic (Maredsous) and was served in this huge, ceramic goblet that made us feel like kings at a feast.  From there, we simply walked around Amsterdam at night.  We found the public urinals.  We found the center of gay nightlife.  We found the redlight district.  And after a successful night, we found our way home.

Saturday was, again, full of walking.  After exploring more of the city in the daylight, I met up with Noel and Audrey and we toured the Anne Frank house.  To be honest, it was a little strange.  It might have had more of an impact were I in middle school and had I just learned about the holocaust or read her diary for the first time.  When I went, I couldn't help but consider the commercialization of a tragic place and story.  It was interesting, nonetheless.  

From there we met up with the rest of the group for dinner, then visited a couple of our favorite bars from the previous night.  A clean bed seems the only solution for exhaustion (thank god our Hotel provided us with sheets, I hear that isn't alway the case).

On Sunday morning we visited the Van Gogh museum.  It's unequaled to see the texture, vibrancy, and color of those paintings in person.  Reproductions don't do them justice.  There was also a small exhibit on the "Druksel prints" of Werkman.  These I liked a lot.

After that, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to the train station.  We were home and in bed (wink wink) by nine o'clock.  

Here are some pictures.

VARIOUS ADVENTURES THROUGH AND AROUND WELL

Classes have started here at Kasteel Well and I suppose I'm getting into the swing of things.  This post might be a little anticlimactic because I haven't had time to really go anywhere yet (look for a post at the beginning of next week-- we're going to Amsterdam this weekend).  But, I'm going to try posting a facebook photo album to see if everyone can view the pictures.  That way, I won't have to upload them twice.  

The following album covers the "boat tour" of the River Maas (a river that runs through Well), which was included as a part of our orientation activities, Vanessa and I's ride to Bergen (a town about 5 km from here), and just a couple more random pictures from around the castle.  

I hope you enjoy.

Castle Upload 1

A NIGHT'S RIDE FROM VENLO

Saturday night, three of us decided it would be a little bit of an adventure and a whole lot of fun to ride our bikes to the nearby city of Venlo and take the bus back to Well.  Venlo is about 25 kilometers from Well (15-16 miles) and is, from what I can gather, the closest "city."  

A few minutes into the ride, I remembered that I hadn't really ridden a bike in years.  Decades, perhaps.  It was a beautiful ride, though.  The Dutch countryside is so green and unlike anything I am used to.  Also, the terrain has several identifying features: flat.  

Also also, the trees are planted in rows.  So many straight lines of trees.  

It was in Venlo that we discovered that bikes are NOT allowed on the busses.  This meant a 25 km ride back to the Castle in the dark.  At least the light on Noel's bike worked.

On our way back we rode through this quaint little town called Arcen.  Arcen is all brick and has, from what we hear, the best ice cream in Holland.  We had stopped to check our lights, or something, when a pack of Dutch girls came around the corner singing.  It was then that I saw the little ice cream shop and shortly after when we were instructed by the girls to get ice cream with them.  

The ice cream was fantastic.  I had (I think) Cookies n' Cream and Chocolate in a waffle cone.  We sat outside, in the crisp night air, eating wonderful ice cream and learning "Dutch" from these girls.  It was one of the girl's birthday, and the owner of the shop came out singing variations of "The Happy Birthday Song" including, "Hanky Panky Shanghai."  I wouldn't ask.

Long story short, we all made it back in one piece.  And with sore butts.  

I MADE IT.

So, without too much hassle, I have arrived here in the Netherlands.  The Castle is beautiful.  

Here are some pictures of the view from my little bitty window.

        

Yes, that's a moat.

Luckily, I was able to get a single room (there are only a few at the castle).  This is where I'll be living for the next three months.  

        

That's my little tiny window. 

Well, we're doing orientation today and I have to go.  I'm going to try to rent a bike for the semester.  I hear that's one of the easiest and most efficient ways to get around.  

PS, My phone thing isn't currently working.  If you leave me messages, I CAN still get them, but I can't call anyone (as of right now).  So, email me, or leave me messages!  (602) 449-8416

WHERE I'LL BE

Come Friday, I will (if all goes according to plan) be in the city of Well in The Netherlands.

The Netherlands is highlighted in yellow below--

Below is a province map of The Netherlands.  Amsterdam is located in the Noord-Holland province and Well is located about two hours south east in the Limburg province.  Well is almost on the German border.

Hopefully, after spending months there, I'll be more acquainted with European geography and will have more to say.  But, for now, that's all.

PRE-EUROPE

I'm actually writing this post before my departure for Europe, early on Thursday morning.  My room continues to be a mess and my bags continue to lie on my bedroom floor, menacingly unpacked.  

I hope that this blog will provide those interested in my travels abroad with a way to quickly and easily access any updates I might have.  Also, it's going to be approximately one thousand times easier than emailing everyone individually.  I plan to post pictures, perhaps video, and any anecdotes that I find even slightly entertaining.  

Also, let me know that you're reading.  I'll be more likely to post more often if I have tangible evidence that my efforts aren't completely in vain.