Well, I have really screwed up big! I was messing around with a new blog this evening and decided I did not need it, so I went to delete it and accidentally deleted my entire travel blog! Luckily, Grandma Baker has been printing them off and still has a copy of all the ones that I have lost. I am not going to have her send them to me here, because I do not have time to retype them all, but at least I have not lost them for good which is good news. I am sorry if you have not been following until recently and will be missing a huge chunk. Also, one of the posts that got deleted was my new address:
Justin Baker
105 Inverness House
Lomas St.
University of Wolverhampton
West Midlands
WV1 1QU
Sorry for the inconvenience, but please keep checking back for updates.
Cheers,
Justin
Monday, April 23, 2007
Well the EuroTrip is offically over...
Well, as many of you know, EuroTrip '07 has ended. We actually arrived back in Wolverhampton on last Sunday, but with all the craziness of coming home (and getting a new laptop!) as well as catching up with friends. I am just now finding the time/sanity to sit down and write. You may have also noticed that I did not write after Switzerland and this was due to lack of time and computers in the cities after. So I will just start from there and work my way though the rest of our trip. Sound good? No? To bad...
After an amazing time in Switzerland we made our way to Florence, Italy. It was really amazing to take the train from the Swiss Alps to the Tuscan country and watch the scenery change in front of us. Unfortunately I think I watched a little to closely, because when we I arrived in Florence I was sick! I will spare you all the details, but let me just say that we had to make a few "unexpected" stops on the way to the hostel. However, I finally made it to the hostel and was temporarily feeling better. The hostel we stayed at was definitely an experience. Upon walking into the hostel, we were greeted by about 10 people who were lounging around with the owner, Marco. Marco was nuts for lack of a better word. He was about 30 and his only calling in life was to open a hostel, which with out his business partner I am not sure could have happened. I was clear that Marco was the "customer relations" (maybe in more ways than one) and his partner was the brains. But I must say that this hostel is what made Florence memorable for us. We met and spent much of the 3 days with the people from the hostel and really felt like we knew them when we left. After spending the first day and a half in bed (I think I had I touch of food poisoning) we finally began to see the city. We started on Easter Sunday morning by going with a bunch of the people from the hostel to a tradition in Florence where they have fireworks exploding off this giant cart in front of the Duomo, the beautiful cathedral. We spend the rest of the day wandering the city and fighting our way through the crowds of tourists. I must say now, that this city had more tourist than anywhere we have gone, but Easter weekend is also one of the busiest times for Florence. That night we went t dinner with a bunch of the other Americans we had met and had a great (and cheap!) Italian meal.
As for much of our Florence trip, we woke up Monday with no set plans. We lounged around the hostel for a bit and had a coffee with Marco and the other hostellers. We then headed out to the city again to continue our wandering through the endless leather markets and street vendors. I must say that this is one of the first cities that sold some really nice stuff on the street for cheap. All the leather was Italian and very nice for VERY cheap. After a morning a walking to went back to hostel to meet up with everybody before dinner and to do some much needed laundry. This is when the hostel showed its true craziness… We walked in to find one of the staff piercing the nipples of one of the guys from California and the lip of the other and one girl’s ear in front of the whole hostel. (Note. She was a professional!) It was one of the absolute craziest moments of our trip! That night Marco made reservations for everybody in the hostel to go to dinner at really nice, authentic Tuscan restaurant. It was a bit pricey, but worth every penny for the experience and the food! We sat at a table with about 15 people and ordered a family style meal that consisted of bread, pasta, wine and tabletop grills piled full of all kinds of fresh Tuscan meats. It was AMAZING! It was so nice to have great grilled food, which I had not had since leaving the States.
Our last day in Florence was Tuesday, but we had most of the day, because our train to Munich was an overnight train and did not leave until about 10pm. We woke up early to get in line for the Academia, an art museum that is home to the famous Michelangelo statue of “David”. We stood in line for about 1 hour to pay 9.50 euro and enter the single crappiest museum I have ever paid to enter. This was a museum that was solely focused on the statue, which was most certainly impressive, but it is no excuse to let the rest of the museum fall apart. There were places where painted used to hang, and clearly their purpose was to cove the holes and chips in the wall. It was really sad to see how poorly it was maintained. Not to mention the artwork (other than David) was really depressing and ugly medieval art, when they still did not know how to paint with any perspective. Basically, what paintings would look like if I was blindfolded and handed a paintbrush. After, being half trampled by tourist trying to get a picture of David’s bum or wee-wee and feeling ripped off, we headed back to the hostel to regain our composure. We decided we needed some lunch then get the hell out of Florence and see a little bit of the Tuscan countryside. We first stopped at the city market, which is a HUGE indoor farmers’ market and supposedly the largest in Europe. It was amazing to just walk through because all the butchers and shops were freshly preparing their goods and everybody in there was a local. We decided that it was about time for lunch and that some fresh food sounded wonderful. We quickly found a small deli counter that had a small sign advertising sandwiches, but we realized that was all we understood, but luckily a nice Italian woman noticed the despair in our faces and helped us order. We ended up getting an entire lunch with all fresh Tuscan foods and local bottle of wine. So we headed to the closest park to enjoy our amazing lunch and relax in the sun. After lunch we caught the first bus out of town to a small village, Viesole. It was cute little town that offered great views of the countryside and Florence. After a nice walk around the out skirts of town, we headed back to Florence to make some dinner and enjoy our last evening with the friends we had made before heading to the train station.
That night we made our way to the train station to catch our first experience of sleeping on a train. Let me just say that I feel the need to describe this experience in some detail, because there is no question that we have NOTHING like this in the states. So we boarded the train to find our sleeping compartment, which was a 6 person “couchette”…should have been called a 6-person sweatbox. It consisted of two sets of bunk beds stacked three high with enough floor space to stand sideways with no hope of turning around and enough body heat to roast a turkey or a old lady... like the one in our car with enough BO for 15 people. However, we did get some minimal sleep and arrived in Munich at about 6:30 Wednesday morning.
Although it was very early, it was so amazing to go to sleep in one place/culture and wake up in a completely different one. After waking up a bit, we made our way to our hostel. Although we could not get into our room until 3, we were able to drop our packs, take a much need shower, and get a free breakfast. Surprisingly, by the time we finished breakfast I was feeling very good and ready to hit the city. We decided we would start by taking a tour of Dachau, a huge Nazis concentration camp outside the city. Although it was free to visit, we decided the tour might be a better experience and a little more time efficient. We met up with the tour guide who was an Irishman living in Munich and was an awesome person to talk to. After standing with him for about 10 minutes he told us he would not be able to take us because he needed a minimum of 5 people. However, instead of just leaving us, he offered to show us some famous (and relatively unmarked) around Munich then if we still wanted to go tomorrow he would take us even if it were only us. What a great deal! We spent about 2 hours following him to all the famous Nazis sites that had not been destroyed, including Hitler’s office, which is now a music and dance school…a little ironic. It was really amazing to see these sites and hear an outsider’s perspective on why they are so under marked. After he left us, we made our way to the English Gardens, a huge park in the city. We wandered around a bit until we found our first of the many Munich landmarks…a beer garden! We quickly found a table to eat our lunch and drink our amazing beer and people watch. We then headed back to the hostel to get into our room and take a quick nap. That night we wandered a bit in the Old Town and found a, just another, beer garden to have some dinner. I had bratwurst and sauerkraut…amazing!
The next morning we headed back to meet our tour guide to go out to Dachau. After about a 10-minute train ride, we arrived in the town of Dachau and caught a short bus ride to the camp. I am really at lose of words for what this experience was like, because nothing I say can do it justice. Just try to imagine walking through the same gates as tens of thousands of people, but the only difference was that they were forced to walk through and most did not ever come back out. I honestly feel that every single person should have to visit a camp, because it does not just move you, it changes you. I knew what happened in these camps, but until you see it, it means nothing. Seeing the ovens that thousands of bodies were burned in and the places where they slept just made me sick to my stomach. I wish I could say more about it, but I just don’t know what else to say. It is something I will never forget.
After arriving back in Munich we wandered a bit until making our way to beer hall recommended by our guide, because we were looking for some inexpensive authentic food. We arrived at the Augustiner Brewery, which is one of the most famous beers in Munich and was a great place filled with locals. We had a great dinner and some great beer before getting on another night train to Prague.
When we arrived in Prague, we were about 90 minutes late, which was not really a big deal, but got us off to a rough start. We finally found our hostel, which was more like a five star hotel, but I was not complaining. Although we were in Prague for 3 days, we spent most of the time wandering and people watching. It is a great city to spend just taking random streets and popping into small shops. It was really a beautiful city though. One thing about Prague that I have never experienced anywhere else is the phenomenon of the beer being cheaper than a bottle of water. I am not kidding, a 0.5L of beer was about 25 Cz (about $1.25) and 0.5L bottle of water was about 40 Cz (about $2.00). Our second night in Prague was wonderful, because we found a hole in the wall Czech restaurant that served great authentic Czech cuisine. The last day in Prague was a great day to end our trip. As we were wandering the city after a morning of museums, we found our self back in Old Town Square, where we had spend a lot of our time. As we turned a corner, we noticed a bunch of people looking at something and some huge lighting. As we got closer, we realized it was a movie set with Adrian Brody (the guy from The Pianist). Since everybody was getting yelled at to keep walking, we decided to sit and have a coffee at the café right beside where they were filming…front row seats! Overall, Prague was a great city with a lot amazing views and great for just walking, unlike some of the other ultra touristy cities.
Well, after looking back on our trip it is hard to believe it is over! I had some of the greatest experiences I have ever had and met people from all over the world. I was not sure how I would feel at the end of this trip, but I can now say I feel like I could have kept going for several more weeks and cannot wait to do it again. It is a very humbling and amazing way to see the world and changes you in ways you could have never imagined. It is an amazing thing to see the world as a traveler rather than a tourist. I have a left this trip learning one thing, it would be that is a very very small world and no matter where you are there is always something to learn.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. I know it is insanely long, but I could have easily written this much for every city. Thank you so much for your support during my trip and my time in England. I have also posted my pictures from this trip and some other day trips that had not been posted due to a lack of a computer. They can be found at the “NEW Pictures Website”. Please feel free to comment on this post or shoot me an email. Thanks again for patience and support!
Cheers,
Justin
After an amazing time in Switzerland we made our way to Florence, Italy. It was really amazing to take the train from the Swiss Alps to the Tuscan country and watch the scenery change in front of us. Unfortunately I think I watched a little to closely, because when we I arrived in Florence I was sick! I will spare you all the details, but let me just say that we had to make a few "unexpected" stops on the way to the hostel. However, I finally made it to the hostel and was temporarily feeling better. The hostel we stayed at was definitely an experience. Upon walking into the hostel, we were greeted by about 10 people who were lounging around with the owner, Marco. Marco was nuts for lack of a better word. He was about 30 and his only calling in life was to open a hostel, which with out his business partner I am not sure could have happened. I was clear that Marco was the "customer relations" (maybe in more ways than one) and his partner was the brains. But I must say that this hostel is what made Florence memorable for us. We met and spent much of the 3 days with the people from the hostel and really felt like we knew them when we left. After spending the first day and a half in bed (I think I had I touch of food poisoning) we finally began to see the city. We started on Easter Sunday morning by going with a bunch of the people from the hostel to a tradition in Florence where they have fireworks exploding off this giant cart in front of the Duomo, the beautiful cathedral. We spend the rest of the day wandering the city and fighting our way through the crowds of tourists. I must say now, that this city had more tourist than anywhere we have gone, but Easter weekend is also one of the busiest times for Florence. That night we went t dinner with a bunch of the other Americans we had met and had a great (and cheap!) Italian meal.
As for much of our Florence trip, we woke up Monday with no set plans. We lounged around the hostel for a bit and had a coffee with Marco and the other hostellers. We then headed out to the city again to continue our wandering through the endless leather markets and street vendors. I must say that this is one of the first cities that sold some really nice stuff on the street for cheap. All the leather was Italian and very nice for VERY cheap. After a morning a walking to went back to hostel to meet up with everybody before dinner and to do some much needed laundry. This is when the hostel showed its true craziness… We walked in to find one of the staff piercing the nipples of one of the guys from California and the lip of the other and one girl’s ear in front of the whole hostel. (Note. She was a professional!) It was one of the absolute craziest moments of our trip! That night Marco made reservations for everybody in the hostel to go to dinner at really nice, authentic Tuscan restaurant. It was a bit pricey, but worth every penny for the experience and the food! We sat at a table with about 15 people and ordered a family style meal that consisted of bread, pasta, wine and tabletop grills piled full of all kinds of fresh Tuscan meats. It was AMAZING! It was so nice to have great grilled food, which I had not had since leaving the States.
Our last day in Florence was Tuesday, but we had most of the day, because our train to Munich was an overnight train and did not leave until about 10pm. We woke up early to get in line for the Academia, an art museum that is home to the famous Michelangelo statue of “David”. We stood in line for about 1 hour to pay 9.50 euro and enter the single crappiest museum I have ever paid to enter. This was a museum that was solely focused on the statue, which was most certainly impressive, but it is no excuse to let the rest of the museum fall apart. There were places where painted used to hang, and clearly their purpose was to cove the holes and chips in the wall. It was really sad to see how poorly it was maintained. Not to mention the artwork (other than David) was really depressing and ugly medieval art, when they still did not know how to paint with any perspective. Basically, what paintings would look like if I was blindfolded and handed a paintbrush. After, being half trampled by tourist trying to get a picture of David’s bum or wee-wee and feeling ripped off, we headed back to the hostel to regain our composure. We decided we needed some lunch then get the hell out of Florence and see a little bit of the Tuscan countryside. We first stopped at the city market, which is a HUGE indoor farmers’ market and supposedly the largest in Europe. It was amazing to just walk through because all the butchers and shops were freshly preparing their goods and everybody in there was a local. We decided that it was about time for lunch and that some fresh food sounded wonderful. We quickly found a small deli counter that had a small sign advertising sandwiches, but we realized that was all we understood, but luckily a nice Italian woman noticed the despair in our faces and helped us order. We ended up getting an entire lunch with all fresh Tuscan foods and local bottle of wine. So we headed to the closest park to enjoy our amazing lunch and relax in the sun. After lunch we caught the first bus out of town to a small village, Viesole. It was cute little town that offered great views of the countryside and Florence. After a nice walk around the out skirts of town, we headed back to Florence to make some dinner and enjoy our last evening with the friends we had made before heading to the train station.
That night we made our way to the train station to catch our first experience of sleeping on a train. Let me just say that I feel the need to describe this experience in some detail, because there is no question that we have NOTHING like this in the states. So we boarded the train to find our sleeping compartment, which was a 6 person “couchette”…should have been called a 6-person sweatbox. It consisted of two sets of bunk beds stacked three high with enough floor space to stand sideways with no hope of turning around and enough body heat to roast a turkey or a old lady... like the one in our car with enough BO for 15 people. However, we did get some minimal sleep and arrived in Munich at about 6:30 Wednesday morning.
Although it was very early, it was so amazing to go to sleep in one place/culture and wake up in a completely different one. After waking up a bit, we made our way to our hostel. Although we could not get into our room until 3, we were able to drop our packs, take a much need shower, and get a free breakfast. Surprisingly, by the time we finished breakfast I was feeling very good and ready to hit the city. We decided we would start by taking a tour of Dachau, a huge Nazis concentration camp outside the city. Although it was free to visit, we decided the tour might be a better experience and a little more time efficient. We met up with the tour guide who was an Irishman living in Munich and was an awesome person to talk to. After standing with him for about 10 minutes he told us he would not be able to take us because he needed a minimum of 5 people. However, instead of just leaving us, he offered to show us some famous (and relatively unmarked) around Munich then if we still wanted to go tomorrow he would take us even if it were only us. What a great deal! We spent about 2 hours following him to all the famous Nazis sites that had not been destroyed, including Hitler’s office, which is now a music and dance school…a little ironic. It was really amazing to see these sites and hear an outsider’s perspective on why they are so under marked. After he left us, we made our way to the English Gardens, a huge park in the city. We wandered around a bit until we found our first of the many Munich landmarks…a beer garden! We quickly found a table to eat our lunch and drink our amazing beer and people watch. We then headed back to the hostel to get into our room and take a quick nap. That night we wandered a bit in the Old Town and found a, just another, beer garden to have some dinner. I had bratwurst and sauerkraut…amazing!
The next morning we headed back to meet our tour guide to go out to Dachau. After about a 10-minute train ride, we arrived in the town of Dachau and caught a short bus ride to the camp. I am really at lose of words for what this experience was like, because nothing I say can do it justice. Just try to imagine walking through the same gates as tens of thousands of people, but the only difference was that they were forced to walk through and most did not ever come back out. I honestly feel that every single person should have to visit a camp, because it does not just move you, it changes you. I knew what happened in these camps, but until you see it, it means nothing. Seeing the ovens that thousands of bodies were burned in and the places where they slept just made me sick to my stomach. I wish I could say more about it, but I just don’t know what else to say. It is something I will never forget.
After arriving back in Munich we wandered a bit until making our way to beer hall recommended by our guide, because we were looking for some inexpensive authentic food. We arrived at the Augustiner Brewery, which is one of the most famous beers in Munich and was a great place filled with locals. We had a great dinner and some great beer before getting on another night train to Prague.
When we arrived in Prague, we were about 90 minutes late, which was not really a big deal, but got us off to a rough start. We finally found our hostel, which was more like a five star hotel, but I was not complaining. Although we were in Prague for 3 days, we spent most of the time wandering and people watching. It is a great city to spend just taking random streets and popping into small shops. It was really a beautiful city though. One thing about Prague that I have never experienced anywhere else is the phenomenon of the beer being cheaper than a bottle of water. I am not kidding, a 0.5L of beer was about 25 Cz (about $1.25) and 0.5L bottle of water was about 40 Cz (about $2.00). Our second night in Prague was wonderful, because we found a hole in the wall Czech restaurant that served great authentic Czech cuisine. The last day in Prague was a great day to end our trip. As we were wandering the city after a morning of museums, we found our self back in Old Town Square, where we had spend a lot of our time. As we turned a corner, we noticed a bunch of people looking at something and some huge lighting. As we got closer, we realized it was a movie set with Adrian Brody (the guy from The Pianist). Since everybody was getting yelled at to keep walking, we decided to sit and have a coffee at the café right beside where they were filming…front row seats! Overall, Prague was a great city with a lot amazing views and great for just walking, unlike some of the other ultra touristy cities.
Well, after looking back on our trip it is hard to believe it is over! I had some of the greatest experiences I have ever had and met people from all over the world. I was not sure how I would feel at the end of this trip, but I can now say I feel like I could have kept going for several more weeks and cannot wait to do it again. It is a very humbling and amazing way to see the world and changes you in ways you could have never imagined. It is an amazing thing to see the world as a traveler rather than a tourist. I have a left this trip learning one thing, it would be that is a very very small world and no matter where you are there is always something to learn.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. I know it is insanely long, but I could have easily written this much for every city. Thank you so much for your support during my trip and my time in England. I have also posted my pictures from this trip and some other day trips that had not been posted due to a lack of a computer. They can be found at the “NEW Pictures Website”. Please feel free to comment on this post or shoot me an email. Thanks again for patience and support!
Cheers,
Justin
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