Europe (Wheee!)

Hello everyone! Sorry for the immediate lack of blogging related acitivities, if you've been DYING to here about Sis and I's amazing adventures. I hope to sate your salivating hunger for bad english, mispellings, and probably horrible recollections. So with that said I will continue with the adventure.

Amsterdam: Great city, great people, great transportation system, great place for rich people.

Stuff is expensive in Amsterdam, and not just the drugs! Well, we didn't do that many drugs (only the normal one, which isn't really a drug anyway), but the couple of times we did inhale it was a little bit hazy to say the least. A beer costs almost 8 US dollars and food was relatively the same high price, so we ate our free breakfast in the hostel that was full of field tripping students and got the heck out and did some walking. Luckily breakfast is basically eating a loaf of bread, literally, so we had carb load that would usually last us until the night time. We did a lot of walking, some more walking and then we walked a little more, and then we rented a bike for a couple of hours! Anyone who may decide to go to Amsterdam in the future, just rent a bike right away and get used to riding it like you have the ultimate right of way, which you actually do. The first steps when Holly and I got off the train were almost right into a biker who didn't even slow a bit. We learn good (for you Colfaxians) so we got off of the bike path that we thought was a sidewalk and decided to use the foot path, which may in some instances turn into a bike, tram, car and foot path. I developed a set of eyes in the back of my head and a ear for the honks and bike rings and tram horns but I must have been distracted at one point when Holly pulled me out of the way of a tram that I didn't quite hear coming(that was on day 2) and it was a little embarrasing to say the least. Anyway riding the bike was a great experience. First we rode through Vondel Park, which is as nice as any park I've rode a bike through and smoked a joint in(did I just type that?). Then we proceeded to the Rijks Museum where Rembrandt and many of his contemporaries were on display. The paintings were all excellent, except this one that looked like a 12 year old did it, but even it had its charm. "Nightwatch" is Rembrandt's most famous painting and it was there and it was huge and stunning. I forgot the name of the guy i liked the most, I think it was Vondel or something,(sorry mom). He painted his subjects looking like they were having a good time and quick with a smile. After the museum we went about 10 km south of Amsterdam into the farmlands following the Amstel river. It was just like all the pictures you've seen, if you've seen them, with green fields and wind mills and picturesque farm houses. Occasionally a car would wiz by and make me crap my pants but other than that it was amazing. Amsterdam itself is a maze of sorts, and there were only a couple of instances where we found dead ends or had to turn around after being told we were going in the totally wrong direction (Holly's fault), but it is a beautiful maze of continuous buildings and canals with the sporadic church or monument, or big buildings thrown in here and there. All of them are older than the founding fathers and they look a lot better presently as well. There is so much to see and do that it was all too much so I gave in to sitting under canopies and drinking beer. It is much easier on the feet, if you can ignore the wallet gouging. Well that is about the extent of my typing for one city. What! you may say? Are you Mad? What about the most important cultural institution in possibly the world? THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT. The red light district is pretty boring and full of stoners and every once in a while you walk down a street where a woman knocks on a window and winks and smiles and if you have a desire to visit with her more it is not frowned upon. That is about the extent of it for me. (What you the reader may not realize is that I just had to run out of the internet cafe into the darkest bathroom I've ever been in and take a horrible crap using a technique very new to me involving a hole, two foot pedestals and a bucket of water. All of this is very hard to comprehend when the hot sweats are telling you it is time now! After it was all over I realized I went backwards, pood on the rim and one foot pedestal a little bit and then tried to wash my butt using a little pitcher. It was awesome! I didn't think i got it(my ass) clean well enough so I used some kleenex I had and then cleaned up the toilet like a gentleman should. Well, that was my first adventure in pooing and it happened right in the midst of a good blog session so I guess you guys can count yourself fortunate that it was so fresh in my mind!) Well enough of Amsterdam, (and a little slice of Kolkata), if I think of anything more I will just have to add it to some other section and ruin the continuity of this fine piece of literature.

Berlin: Nice town!

Spending a couple days in each city we go to is not the best way to really discover a place, but my overall impression of Berlin was positive and left me wanting more. The hostel we stayed at was an immediate improvement over Amsterdams. First off the people in our room speak english and like to drink beer. They had a bar up on the top floor that let you look out over a small part of the city and a ping pong table as well. I played beer pong with some Aussie guys (Australians are everywhere in Europe) and we went to a pub and had some beers and shouted at each other over some sort of polka new wave dance music and had a great time. The next morning was not so fun but Holly and I pushed through and did a walkaboot. The transportation system is excellent in Berlin as well with trains and busses going everywhere for a pretty good price. We went to a market and walked around and got a bratwurst that was exactly like the dream I had of bratwursts tasting. Its great too because the sausage sticks out of the fist size bun about 4 inches on each side. They know how to do a dog over there. We walked through tiergarten which is a giant park in central berlin and took photos of statues and things that looked interesting, as well as some things that are probably totally boring. After walking for a few hours we took a free bike tour of Berlin, which they don't tell you until after you pay (only a deposit) that it lasts for four hours. This turned out great though because our guide was humorous and very well informed and full of passion for the city and her job. She was English and most of her humor was wasted on Holly and I while the spaniards watched with blank faces and the two brazilian girls were talking and doing little model shoots, which got kind of annoying as I was envisioning it taking five hours to do the tour. However in the end all was well and we saw many things and I am very glad we did it. Berlin is a beautiful city and everyonce in a while it smells like a sewer, but that is a very small thing in the big picture. I would definitely go back to berlin and see the stuff that we superficially saw on our tour and eat about 40 bratwurst.

Praha, or Prague: You like party time!

Praha is the best city in my mind so far and apparently the same goes for everyone else in the world. I finally felt totally comfortable whipping my camera out anywhere and anytime because there were usually 100 other people around me doing the same thing. The city is beautiful, fun, and most importantly cheap. After getting lost on the tram instantly (really Holly's fault) we didn't have a clue where to go and nobody else did either. This is after we were initially getting on the tram and Holly was on the steps and I was outside. There was a beeping sound like some kind of warning and the door started shutting, usually if you put your arm or head in the door it will reopen. Not so in Praha. I tried with my arms but the door was very strong and it beat me. Holly waved and smiled as I wathced her disappear to some unknown destination. The only thing I thought to do was start walking and walk I did. In the end, Holly got off at the next stop and I met her there and then we got lost some more. Eventually we found our hostel, got our key and proceeded to find that our door had been kicked in the previous night. Great for the pshyhe in a new place. We told the manager and he said aussies and that was all we had to hear. Well luckily they had two other beds, but in separate rooms and Holly and I spent our first nights apart. Yeahh! Just kidding Holly. We then went walking, a major theme of our trip so far, and saw much of the city. Amazing architechture everywhere and a real feal of a medevial city. We went to a beer garden in a park that looked over the city, had a couple beers and then walked some more. We ate in maybe one of the best restaurants in the world just a two minute walk from our hostel. That may be a bit of an exaggeration to the food connoisuer but if you grew up in my family you would agree. The first night I had a chicken breast with a roqquefort cheese sauce, tomato and onion salad, and big ol beer for like 10 bucks. Wooo Hooo! I fell in love with the city at this point, and with the restaurant as well never cheating on her the whole time we were there. That night we went out with more Aussies and a couple of Kiwis and had a great time at a club that had car parts and all sorts of lights and pshycidelic stuff whirring around. The music was great and I probably lost about a gallon of sweat dancing. We walked most of the way home at about 4 in the morning and then took cab for the last quater mile. We proceeded to sleep till noon. We ate fried cheese at our restaurant with beer and then went walking again. We went to the top of what is called the Petrin tower that overlooks Praha and then walked to the caslte and the Cathederal of St. Vitus. The inside and outside of the church is impressive to say the least. The cavernous interior with statues and stained glass windows and sculptures made of two tons a pure silver are astounding to see. I really can't describe what it looks like when you first walk in and see massive columns supporting a ceiling many feet above. I'd say around a hundred feet up but I could be wrong. The outside is even more amazing in my opinion with all the details and carvings and imposing architecture. It really is one of the most incredible buildings I've seen in my life. We then walked all the way back to our hostel after vowing not to and went to the restaurant again. Had a great beer called Kozel, kind of a nutbrown ale, and a "beer plate" that consisted of delicious cheeses, pickles, and sausages. I was in heaven. I then had a pork chop stuffed with cheese and peppers and mushrooms and it did not fail to excite as well. The most amazing part is that it cost less than 30 bucks for the both of us for everything. I can't say enough about this town except that I know I am coming back. Next stop on the tour: Amsterdam airport; for a long time. This was a slow torture for us having left Praha at the ungodly hour of 4:30 in the morning, arriving shortly later in Amsterdam. We had plans initally to go into Amsterdam one last time and give her the good ol what for, but no sleep and cheapness won over and we stayed in the airport sleeping in uncomfortable chairs and wandering around for 11 hours. Lame-o's. Well when we finally thought it couldn't get any worse, we went to Egypt.

Egypt: Cheaty, sweaty, with the occasional moment of brilliance.

One thing about Egypt that I think I have learned is that you must go there once to prepare yourself to enjoy it the next time, if you can muster the courage to go the next time. The first thing you notice when you get into a car and start being driven around is that there are some serious traffic violations occurring frequently. Our driver then pointed out that the only rule in Egyptian driving is "there are no rules." This was entertaining some what and it didn't seem very deadly at the time since it was late at night. When we arrived at our hostel, our new travel guide introduced himself, being the same person running the hostel. We had trouble communicating to say the least and we ended up paying 400 english pounds that we thought got us through the stay with some extras. We had a driver for taking us to Giza and Sakkara and then to the Egyptian museum. We started early and we got a little glimpse of Cairo in the light. This is the most massive city I have ever seen. 20 million people crammed into a part of the nile valley with beautiful mosques, and buildings, to the most scary looking slums that you counldn't pay me to walk through. Everything is dirty and trash is everywhere, such a contrast to europe that it is hard to describe without seeing, and smelling it. Anyway, we have had no contact with anyone really and the first thing we do is go to bargain for camel rides. Holly is better at haggling at this point in the trip as is obviuos when i am ready to accept a price of 90 dollars US and Holly won't take more than 60. Well we were both wrong we found out later because it should have been 30 each. I am such a sucker. But I am learning the art form and now I only pay about 150% above actual cost. Well anyway, the camel ride was good, Giza was amazing, the sphinx was full of tourists(i guess thats us too) and it was great to get off the camel and back into a moving car that has wind blowing. It is hot in Egypt if you didn't know, and i found that a moving car is just as good as A/C. A moving car it was. Really moving. Our driver zipped us around in a most expedient fashion and was really a nice guy. After a hash joint that I refused but he rolled for me anyway the trip got a little more mellow. We then went to Sakkara which is the oldest of the pyramids, i think, and walked around in the desert heat for a little over an hour. From Sakkara you can look around and glimpse many more pyramid sites off in the distance and imagine the magnificence of what it must have looked like in its prime. A sea of green trees and farmlands surrounded by a harsh and unforgiving desert with monuments erected to the dead at vast intervals and of amazing size and scope. I think now that if I could go back and feast my eyes on one site, it may be standing atop a tower in the center of the green swath and looking at the mighty monuments in their original white brilliance surrounding me. Now back the the future to a white knuckle car ride in Cairo traffic. I should have gotten video of it but I was afraid of promoting even scarier driving. Dad, you would have pooed your pants, and mom you would have missed a lot of sightseeing:). But we were moving and at this point heat exhaustion had driven us to skip the Egyptian museum and go back to the hostel and nap. I forgot to mention that during september, the muslims have ramadan, which means no eating or drinking or smoking from sunrise to sunset. This means at night there are a billion people in the streets looking to have some food. No alcohol is permitted to be sold during ramadan so beer was not an escape option. We went out looking for food and every place was the same kind of scary looking place. We eventally let one of the guys offering us chairs to give us some and ordered some food and drink. It wasn't bad, the haggling was minimal and we came away fairly satisfied. That still didn't make me want to keep going and exploring as the vibe was fairly weird and we were in the middle of something we didn't quite understand. Anyway we had to catch a train that night to go to Luxor. Luxor is like Sayulita compared to Puerto Vallarta for those who have experienced it themselves. It is a breath of fresh air. Luxor is a smaller city with a small city feel. It is not hectic and the "vibe" I had in Cairo is not present at all. Our hostel was great the people were nice and we had Germans as company. From my short experience sometimes it isn't the travel itself but just meeting others who are visiting, and hearing their stories that is the most fun. We met some really great people in Luxor and saw some beautiful things and got haggled minimally. A great last impression, I thought. We still had the train ride back to Cairo, which takes about 12-14 hours. All was good on the train back until I had a cigarette and met two young egyptians who claimed me as a pet. They were nice young men merely curious and not being very fluent in english, and me not being very fluent in
arabic had the same converstation over and over for about 2 hours or more with uncomfortable silences in between. Good time to smoke cigarettes. Well, after parting ways with the newfound friends it was off to the airport for the most incredble experience of my life: waiting in lines that everyone disregards and being in a check-in line with people who have literally 10 peices of luggage, some in boxes that smell like fruit and some that holly swears had firewood in them. People are just cramming like there is a million dollar prize waiting at the end and it takes about two hours just in the check in line. Immediatlely swear off ever returning to egypt. They are building a brand new airport so i can't say that my oath never to return is a solid one. After it was all over, and i was gone, I look back and think of all the bakeesh (tips) people asked for after doing anything (like pointing) and largely recieved and how I still had a lot of Egyptian pounds that nobody in the world seems to want to exchange and think of how I will probably have to come back just to spend them, but this time I am prepared and ready for the assault.

Kolkata: Land of beeps, and dirty streets.

Kolkata is a vast city with a lot of cars, motorcycles, and buses all trying to go down a one way street with people walking down them and guys pulling carts with people in them. It is the nosiest street walking I have ever done and I guess I am going to have to get used to inhaling vast amounts of exhaust if I want to do any walking. Poverty is the norm here and people will sleep just about anywhere, and throw their trash just about everywhere as well. I guess we are in Central Kolkata, which is one of the dirtier spots. Holly and I have been wandering around in our little section of the city for the last two days and we had our first beer since leaving Prague. It was delicious to say the least. One reason it tasted so good was the black market aspect of it. Drinking alcohol is not an acceptable thing to be seen doing in public, but the people turn a blind eye if you go and drink in a designated pub, which so far are not very common. The people here are very nice and the only people I have come to despise so far are the taxi drivers. Apparently there is a laminated card that they pull out at the end of a trip and tell you that it means you have to pay double the fare that the meter displays. This seems like a pretty good scam and it has worked on us both times, once when we didn't even move. 20 rupees isn't enough to get bent out of shape for so it makes it a little easier to pay something like that. When we first got to Kolkata though we got ripped off more than double for our cab ride and again we learned the hard lesson. People here start drooling when they see a white person approaching because they know we'll pay about twice the normal price no matter how hard you try to bargain. Well, enough whining. Today we went and saw a bridge that looks like many other suspension bridges but it is listed as a tourist attraction. Note to self: internet pictures are a good thing to investigate before going somewhere. On the positive side we ended up going by the Victoria Memorial and Indian museum and had a pretty decent time there. The park surrounding the memorial building is a hotspot for young couples to sit on park benches and snuggle and they were snuggling everywhere. Also a hotspot for young men seeking other young men apparently. I'm not sure how it is viewed culturally in India but it seemed to be widely accepted there. So with that I decided what the heck and got me a little indian boyfriend for the night. Ha ha. Seriously though, Holly and I are like two space aliens walking among the inhabitants of a strange planet. People stare and whisper a little bit and it gets kind of weird sometimes, but i'm getting used to it. Everyonce in a while someone will come and talk to us and they are very nice and inviting people who really don't see that many outsiders I guess. Overall, we have probably seen about 20 foreigners that look like us so I guess it is uncommon in Kolkata. After the memorial we decided to try to walk back to our hotel and we did well until we went down this street with a huge market. It was really more of an alley packed with people and little shops and motorcycles and bikes and occasionally a car. It stretched forever and we ended up walking through a bit of a residential alley where the people probably hadn't seen whitey in a long time, according to the faces we saw. Anyway, that market led us astray and we got lost and wandered around the streets for a while. All the streets in Kolkata look the same, and it seems like the people who live here don't know much outside of their own area, which is understandable. We ended up getting a cab that drove us for about 2 minutes and we recognized where we were and got out. Holly got out the wrong side and bashed the taxi door into the car next to us as we tried to make the dash out of the cab because we were only going to pay him 2/3 rds of what he asked. The face she got from the driver of the car was priceless. Nothing happened and neither driver chased us so I think we have a new strategy in taxi taking. I must remember to wear shoes though for the really fast escape. Kolkatonions overall are very nice people and I don't ever get my weird "vibes" here, which makes me feel good of course, and they are usually having a smile for us. We are leaving on a 14 hour train ride tonight (9/30) and I am really stoked about that. Can you read the sarcasm? Well, will most likely write from Kathmandu where we will be meeting el madre for the big hike. Until we come back to fly out, sayonara Kolkata. Oh yeah, the food here is awesome.