Jeff's European Adventure: 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

London Pictures

The last photo album of my trip

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2286113&id=9217262&l=2f96ce8908

France Pictures

Switzerland Pictures

Interlaken
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2284417&id=9217262&l=32e6e4c64a

Lausanne
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2284481&id=9217262&l=2aec6fdd46

Roc d'Orsay
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2284485&id=9217262&l=ddc77ef3f2

Austria Pictures

Salzburg
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2284182&id=9217262&l=8a9b278740

Vienna
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2284227&id=9217262&l=8591372033

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Germany Pictures

Sweden Pictures

Stockholm:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2283021&id=9217262&l=46e9886f71

Norway Pictures

Here are the two albums from Norway.

Oslo:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282738&id=9217262&l=df781d6b37

Fjords:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282768&id=9217262&l=cf083f5471

Denmark Pictures

I've started to edit and post my pictures on facebook. If you are my friend on there, surf on over to my profile. If you are not on facebook, I think I can link to the albums from here. Here are my three Denmark albums.

Copenhagen
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2281905&id=9217262&l=71c19db7f9

Aero
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2282049&id=9217262&l=3102aeebbd

Fredericksborg Castle
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2283373&id=9217262&l=d84a0e7375

My final full day in London and in Europe started with the famous Tower of London. I started off with a tour by one of the Tower's beefeaters. Hilarious and informative, the Beefeater (or Yeoman Warder) was all you could expect and definitely lived up to expectations. I learned a few things about the Beefeaters. First, the Beefeaters live within the walls of the Tower of London. Second, every Beefeater was a Sergeant Major and served in Her Majesty's forces for at least 22 years.

After the hour or so long tour, I walked around the wall of the Tower complex and visited several different towers, including the famous Bloody Tower. I also visited the crown jewels, which were by far the most impressive I had seen in Europe. Especially impressive was the sceptre with the Cross. It is impressive because it contains the Cullinan I diamond or the Great Star of Africa, which weighs over 530 carats. The Cullinan I is one of several diamonds cut from the larger Cullinan diamond, the largest diamond ever found, weighing in at over 3000 carats.

After seeing the Crown Jewels, I went on a tour of the White Tower, the original part of the Tower of London that was built by William the Conqueror. The highlight here was the Norman chapel, frequented by William.

After spending several hours at the Tower, I hurried over to St. Paul's Cathedral. And no, to answer any questions, there was no woman out front selling bird seed. I actually liked St. Paul's better than Westminster Abbey. It was less cluttered and more beautiful. The Dome was the highlight. Buried in the crypt below were Admiral Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, the British heroes of the Napoleonic Wars. The best part of the visit was the trek up to the top of St. Paul's. The stairs are in several phases, each more narrow than the next. The first bit takes you up into the dome still inside the church. Here, you can whisper on one side and hear it on the other side. The ushers used this feature to great effect in reprimanding guests all over the dome who were violating the church rules when they didn't think an usher was near them! The next portion took you up to the base of the dome on the outside. At one point, you could look down at the exact center of the dome and they had cutaway part of the floor and you could see the bottom of the cathedral. The final part of the trek was up a spiral staircase to the top of the cathedral, with breathtaking views.

It was at the top of the cathedral that I displayed some travel savvy I had acquired. One of the main problems of traveling alone is that there is no one to take pictures of you in scenic spots. And trying to take pictures of yourself with your arm extended is hit or miss. So, what I looked for was (1) other people by themselves attempting to do the arm extension thing or (2) couples trying to take pictures of themselves together. Once the target was acquired, I would offer to take their picture. Once the picture was done and they were satisfied with the picture, I extended my camera and asked for reciprocity. Works like a charm.

My last bit of London was a quick look into Tate Modern for their one Monet and then onto a pub for a dinner of fish and chips. Then, it was off to dodge raindrops to get back to my hostel to pack for my flight the next morning!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Programming Note

After nearly seven weeks on the road, I have made it home. I have one more post on my last day in London and probably a wrap up post that I'll post over the next couple of days. And, of course, there are pictures to sort through!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Day #45: More London

I started off the day with a hop on/hop off double decker bus tour. Sounds nice, right? Well, maybe I just got the wrong company, but it was merely mediocre. It featured a insert your headphone into the language of your choice for commentary and didn't have the best route. I think we passed the Marble Arch at least six times. Oh well.

Also on the overrated side was the Changing of the Guard. Holy crap, I think every single tourist in London was there. Probably because instead of the usual gloom and rain, the weather was glorious today. Also, this was the first time that my guide book by Rick Steves let me down. He said the best place to view the action was from the fountain in the middle of the square in front of Buckingham palace. After going through the ceremony, I think a better location is near a side road. The actual changing of the guard is a non-event. Outside of the bands performing (a selection of ABBA music and music from Phantom that I recognized from the previous night), all the real fun takes place when they all make their entrance.

So, all in all, the morning was somewhat disappointing. Thankfully, as bad as the morning was, the afternoon more than made up for it. I think it is not secret that I am a tennis fan. And of all the tennis tournaments, Wimbledon is my favorite. I can remember waking up at 5am in the morning in Alaska in order to watch Pete Sampras power his way to victory on Centre Court. Even the summer I was at Boy Scout camp with no access to TV, I would eagerly await the morning newspaper to see how the competition had gone the previous day.

So it was with great delight that I was able to make a visit to Wimbledon. In another let down from my guide book, Rick Steves did not mention a thing about Wimbledon, so I was unsure what to expect when I got there. Much to my delight, not only was there a museum, but they also gave guided tours of the grounds! Our tour included Court #1, the media room, several side courts, and ended in Centre Court. I was in heaven! Of course, I made a trip to the gift shop where I showed remarkable restraint, for the most part. . .

My final stop of the day was at the Globe Theatre. Totally remade almost exactly how it was done when Shakespeare was still play-writing, it now hosts productions of his work. The show I was going to see was Love's Labour's Lost. It is one of his works that is geared for a contemporaneous audience, with numerous turns of phrase I think only a London in the 1590s. Nonetheless, it was extremely witty and the cast did a marvelous job with this comedy, hitting all the right notes. It was a great performance.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Day #44: London

Today dawned cloudy and rainy. Oh well, I am in London after all... I started the day by queuing up, as the Brits would say, at the half price ticket booth. London is famous for its theatre, so I wanted to see a show while I was in town. I had never seen the Phantom of the Opera, so it seemed like a good show to get tickets to.

After securing my front row, center stage ticket to the Phantom, I walked around the heart of historic London, ending up at Westminster Abbey. Here's a picture of it.

I had heard how many famous British people had been buried here, but even I was surprised at the names. Elizabeth I was a big one, along with GeoffreyChaucer and, my personal favorite, George Frederich Handel. And that's just the beginning! After touring through Westminster, I met a friend of mine, Fiona, who was a student at Governor's School in 2006 for lunch. She's doing a semester abroad in London and it was good to catch up with her.

After lunch, I trudged through the rain to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. The Imperial War Museum has preserved the underground complex that Churchill ran the war from. Its an impressive group of rooms showing the sparsity and tight quarters the British had to endure during the Blitz and the later V2 rocket assault.

But the highlight was the Churchill Museum, taking his life from beginning to end it shed a lot of light on the man who was uniquely prepared to lead Britain through World War 2. It has a lot of great multimedia exhibits, including several excerpts from his greatest speeches. It also filled in a lotof background on Churchill I did not know. For example, Churchill was elected to Parliament in 1900 and served nearly continuously as an MP until shortly before his death in 1965. During that time, he switched parties twice, from Conservative to Liberal in 1904 and back again in 1920. Perceived a a rabble rousing crank in the 1930s with his constant warnings about Hitler, Churchill finally had the people's attention when the Nazis invaded Poland. The rest, as they say, is history.

Here's one of my favorite bits of Churchill memorabilia on display in the Museum. It is a sign from his last re-election campaign in 1959. No words are needed, the profile says it all.

I spent so much time in the Churchill Museum, I had just enough time to dash into the National Gallery to see a handful of Rembrandts, a Vermeer, and a smattering of Monets before it closed.

Then, after dinner, it was time for the theatre! As I mentioned above, this was my first time to see the Phantom of the Opera and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Its an entertaining plot and the music is pretty good too.

After that long full day, it was all I could do to ride the Tube back to my hostel and collapse into bed!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Day #43: A Tale of Two Cities

This is going to be a short post since the lady only gave me a 30 minute internet time card, when I clearly asked for an hour. But anyway, I started off the morning in Paris. And after an ordeal at La Poste, mailing some things off, I hopped onto the Eurostar train to London. (Its a long story, you'll have to ask me about it later. Suffice it to say that while I loved Paris, I did not love the French way of doing things.)

After checking into my hostel and buying a Tube pass, I was off to my first stop: the British Museum. And since King's Cross Station is on the way, I just had to stop by to see Platform 9 3/4. The people at the station seemed pretty good natured about their fame and have even sunk a cart halfway into the wall.

When I finally got to the British Museum, it was simply amazing. From the Rosetta Stone to the winged lions of Assyria to the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon to Cleopatra's mummy, the British Museum really is the world's attic, in terms of the cool stuff they have. If I had to do college all over again, I might be a Classics major. I get pretty geekily excited about these things.

I finished off the evening by having dinner with Kaitlin, a friend of mine from UNC days. She's in London getting her master's in museum studies, so it was good to reconnect with her. After the long day, it was time to turn in!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Day #42: Rheims and Epernay

Today the road trips continued, starting out with a trip to the Rheims cathedral. This cathedral is probably the most politically significant cathedral for the French people. It started back in the 5th century, when the Frank king Clovis was baptized in a predecessor church. Every since then, French kings have wanted to put them in the same line as Clovis by having their coronations done in the Cathedral. The most signficant coronation was that of Charles VII, who was somewhat relcutantly led to the cathedral by a more confident Joan of Arc.

Unfortunately, the cathedral does not have much of its ancient stained glass in it, as it was hit hard during World War I (the battle of Verdun was fought not far from Rheims). But it did have a set of three stained glass windows under the South rose window that chronicled the making of champagne (as Rheims is in the champagne region of France, more on that later). My favorite panel was one showing them in the vats, mashing the grapes

But the most interesting stained glass window was a recent addition. In the nave, the church got local artist Marc Chagall to design three stained glass windows. Though modern, they somehow fit in amongst the ancient setting.

After Rheims, I took a train over to Epernay, where champagne was invented. The local story is that when Dom Perignon (the Benedictine monk) stumbled across champagne after undergoing the double fermentation process, he went running through the monestary shouting, "Brothers, come quickly, I am drinking stars!" Nice story, but as with all nice stories, you doubt that it is true.

Today, Epernay is home to the Moet et Chandon house, which is probably the biggest and most well-known champagne producer. I was there to go on a tour of their champagne caves and enjoy a little tasting. The reason that French champagne is so prestigious, according to our tour guide, is that the region is uniquely suited to growing and storing the grapes. Not only is the soil and climate perfect, but the chalk rock that is ubiqitous in the area is perfect for keeping the champagne bottles fermenting in a humid, yet cool environment. To prove her point, our tour guide invited us to touch the walls. To my surprise, they were cold and clammy! Our tour guide explained the various steps in making champagne and it was very informative. And, of course, at the end, we got to taste two types of Moet et Chandon champagne. It was pretty good. Not a bad way to end my time in France. Tomorrow, onto London!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Day #41: Versailles/Chartres

After three straight days in Paris, it was time to bust out for a day trip.

I started out by taking a suburban commuter train to Versailles, home of the Sun King. (Louis XIV gave himself the nickname the Sun King because he supposedly brought light and warmth to everything in his presence.) Louis ruled France for over 70 years and during those seven decades, decided that Paris wasn't working out for him. So he took his Dad's hunting palace and decided to make a few changes. Actually, many changes. Then, he brought all of the nobles to Versailles with him. That way, he could keep them amused while he otherwise ran the country. Smart.

The one word I would use to describe Versailles is opulence. Everything is expensively done and then lavished with gold. The house is on a grand scale and in the richest fashion imaginable. Of all the rooms in Versailles, the Hall of Mirrors best exemplifies this. Built overlooking the gardens, the mirrors are placed directly opposite the windows so the gardens are reflected back. Pretty cool. While I didn't think anything could top the Antiquarium in Munich (see Day #?), the Hall of Mirrors wins hands down.

After touring Versailles, I caught a train to Chartres, home of the famous cathedral. Originally a Romanesque church, the previous cathedral burned down in the late 12th century. But the signature attraction of the cathedral, the Veil of Mary, was spared. It's a miracle! Donations came puring in and the present Gothic cathedral was then erected, on a much grander scale than before.

The cathedral dominates the small town (the cathedral was built more for pilgrims than local inhabitants) and has an amazing display of stained glass.

Now, being a conscientious visitor and this being Sunday, I checked the schedule to see if my visit would interrupt any services that were being held. The schedule clearly indicated that there would be no mass between the one held at 11am and then vespers at 5:30. As it was 2, I felt safe in continuing my visit. Well, the schedule was wrong. About 3pm, the cathedral doors were thrown open and people came streaming in, all wearing some time of colored crepe paper tied around their necks. Apparently, there was some sort of special mass being held.

Relying on the old adage, "in for a penny, in for a pound" I took a seat in the last row and observed the proceedings. It was Sunday after all. It was the first mass I had ever been to. Since it was in French, I missed most of it, but the music and choir were quite beautiful. And the incense was . . . interesting.

At the end, I stood up behind my pew (it being the last row remember) to see the processional come down the aisle. As it approached the end, the acolyte carrying the cross turned around to the priest behind him and whispered, "Turnez a droite?" The next paragraph was my thought process from there:

That's funny. The poor kid had to ask where he was going. Let's see, turnez a droite. The only perfect quiz score you got in three semesters of French class at UNC was the week we did directions, I should be able to figure this out. Turnez = turning, that was easy enough. And gauche is left, so droite must be right. Putting it all together, that means the procession is turning right. Hey, not bad Watters, you still have some of it together. Wait. That means they are not going out the door. Wait. I'm right. Crap, they're going to turn right into where I am. I better move!

And so I scampered out of the way to avoid getting run over by the processional.

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful. I caught a train back to Paris and had dined at a local brasserie near my hostel where I had roast duck breast, mashed potatoes, bread, and a glass of Bordeaux. Ah, life is good.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Day #40: Even More Paris!

Monmarte was originally named after the Mount of Mars (as in the Roman god, not the candy bar). Now, it is referred to as the Mount of Martyrs. As legend has it, the bishop of Paris, St. Dennis, was beheaded by locals who weren't going along with the whole Christianity thing. Not one to let his enemies have the last word, St. Dennis grabbed his head and hiked up the hill outside of Paris before dying. Locals were amazed and Christianity was in.

Today, the high hill overlooking Paris is home to the Sacre Coeur basilica . . . and about 10,000 panhandlers/schiesters/janksters, each of whom hit me up for money. One guy even grabbed my hand in an attempt to put a freindship bracelet on it. I had to pry his fingers off of me. Needless to say, I was not in a friendly mood. Here's a picture of the basilica.

After touring through the basilica, I headed off to the heart of Paris's shopping district. (Fun trivia fact, the department store was invented in France.) I went to one that was jam packed with eight floors of merchandise. Well, I say eight floors. The top floor was the sixth floor, but it also featured a 0 floor and a -1 floor, so I'm sticking with eight.

I actually ended up buying something on my shopping trip. I was strolling along the Rue de Lafeyette when I saw a small games shop. I fell in love with a chess set, so I bought it! Now, the tricky part is getting it back home.

Unwilling to cart it around for the rest of the day, I returned to my hostel to drop it off. Walking on the way back, I passed a lady handing out free razors. How could I refuse such a sign? I took my free razor, spent one euro on some cheap shaving cream, and shaved for the first time in six weeks. I felt much better afterward (and strangely colder). Here's a before picture:

After dropping off the chess set, I continued on to the Orangerie Museum. The Orangerie houses some guy's private collection that he donated when he kicked the can (as best as I could tell) and housed works by such artists as Cezanne, Renoir, Matisse, and Picasso. But the museum's main attraction by far is its collection of eight large canvasses of Monet's water lillies. Housed in two, egg-shaped white rooms, the paintings are hung (four to a room) for an almost 360 degree water lilly view. A piped in selection of light classical music completed the mood. I probably could have remained their enraptured by the oversized canvasses for hours. As it was, I stayed an hour before the museum closed and security kicked me out.

My last stop of the day (after stopping for a nice croque monsieur at a local brasserie) was the Eiffel Tower. As impressive as it is by day, it is even moreso at night. Paris is the so-called City of Night. Well, if a view of the city at night from the top of the Eiffel Tower is any indication, the name is well-dserved. Even the Eiffel Tower itself gets into the action. At the top of every hour it is dark, thousands of light bulbs flash on and off and the Tower puts on a spectacular light show. This is one tourist attraction that did not disappoint!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Day #39: More Paris

The idea today was to start at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, wind my way through the Latin Quarter, then visit the Saint Chappelle Cathedral. After dinner, it would be on to the Louvre.

That was the plan, but when I arrived at Notre Dame, it was cloudy. Now, I may not know much about European cathedrals, but I do know that stained glass + clouds does not equal breathtaking. So I detoured for a bit, hoping that the clouds would lift and the sun would come out.

I detoured to visit the Cluny Museum in the Latin quarter. Officially called the National Museum of the Middle Ages, the Cluny Museum is only semi-interesting except for its one big showpiece: a series of unicorn tapestries. Woven in the late 15th century, these six tapestries show a woman, a lion, and a unicorn and symbolize the five senses (plus something else, scholars are apparently divided on the meaning of the sixth). My favorite was the one that symbolized sight.

After spending a good hour in the Cluny Museum to see that my faith had been justified and the clouds had lifted. So on to the Cathedral of Notre Dame! The Cathedral's reputation is well deserved and the rose windows are breathtaking.

Next, I went walking through the Latin Quarter. As the home of the Sorbonne, this neighborhood got its name from the fact that students came from all over Europe to study and the only language they had in common was the language of learning: Latin. Once a place that showed the old city of Paris, it is now overrun with tacky tourist shops and Asian restaurants.

Crossing back over the river, I next went to see the Cathedral of Saint Chappelle. Built to house the reputed crown of thorns from Jesus' crucifixion, the Cathedral is more famous now for its breath-taking stained glass window display. I walked up only to see that it was closed for lunch. No problem, I just popped next door to the Conciergerie, Paris's most famous still-standing prison. I say still-standing because the Bastille does not exist anymore. The Conciergerie was where the Revolutinary Authorities held people before efforting them off to the guillotine. Its most famous prisoner was Marie Antoinette.

After the Conciergerie, I went back to the Saint Chappelle, only to find a long line. Apparently, the church is right next to the Palais de Justice (which houses the French Supreme Court and the Paris criminal courts), so all tourists had to go through a metal detector. 45 minutes later (thankfully, I had a book to read), I went through the metal detector and was in! Excited, I mounted the stairs to the upper chapel . . . only to be terribly disappointed. Apparently, the famous stained glass windows were undergoing a restoration, so some of the windows were covered up. Don't get me wrong, the remaining windows were amazing, but when almost all of the main windows behind the altar are covered up, its not quite the same.

My last stop of the day was the Louvre. Conveniently open at night on Fridays, this cut out some of the crowds. The museum offers two big highlights: the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.

The Venus de Milo did not disappoint. Elegantly carved and well-displayed, it left me enthralled. And I usually am not a big statue person.

The Mona Lisa, on the other hand, was a little disappointing. It is behind glass and we were roped off from getting within 15 feet of it, so it was hard to get a good luck at the nuances of the painting. I much preferred another Da Vinvi painting they showed of Saint Anne, with Virgin and child.

My final stop at the Louvre, after a swing through the Egyptian section, was to see the famous Lace Maker by Vermeer. Only to find out that it has been loaned out to a museum in Kyoto. They did have the Astronomer by Vermeer nearby, but it was still disappointing.

Overall, the Louvre underwhelmed me. Maybe it is because their art displays did not jibe with what I like in art, but still, I think I like the Orsay Museum better.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Day #38: Paris!

After running to catch the train from Bayeux (and after a fast march down to the train station to make it just when the train was scheduled to leave, I discovered it was 5 minutes late. Sigh.), I checked into my hostel in Paris and started my examination of the city.

I started at the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. One thing I didn't realize was how big the arch was. It is enormous! And the traffic circle, well, let's just say that if you thought the Waco traffic circle was bad, just wait until you meet this bad boy. Another thing I did not realize was that you could climb stairs up to the top of the Arc. So I did! Talk about a view! You could see pretty much all of Paris spread out beneath you. Pretty cool. (Of course, I'm sure that Eiffel Tower will be even better...).

After coming down, I strolled down the Champs Elysees, enjoying the scenery and the other tourists. It is quite a street! I took the Rue de Franklin Roosevelt down to the French Army Museum and Napoleon's Tomb. Napoleon is buried in an Army hospital. If you think that sounds unglamorous, think again. It is an Army hospital built by Louis XIV, the Sun King, who did not do anything second class. The building is quite impressive as is Napoleon's crypt.

After looking at Napoleon's Tomb, it was time for dinner. I stopped off at a cafe and enjoyed a traditional Parisian menu, where you have several options over three different courses. I had a first course of a walnut salad, a second course of roast chicken with french fries, and a dessert course of chocolate cake in a cream sauce. Tres bien!

I ended the day with browsing through the Orsay Museum. The Orsay (open late for Thursdays!) is best known for its collection of Impressionist paintings that is housed in a refurbished train station! As Claude Monet is one of my favorite painters, I was in hog heaven! It is a great museum and the paintings are absolutely amazing.

After the Orsay Museum, I had just enough strength to drag myself back to my hostel and fall asleep. Tomorrow: the Notre Dame cathedral and the Louvre!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Day #37: D-Day Beaches

To land my D-Day tour, I basically contacted the name of every tour listed in my guidebook to see if anyone had room. Thankfully, I heard back from the Caen Memorial Museum, which offers a guided tour of its museum in the morning, lunch at its restaurant, and then a tour of D-Day sights in the afternoon. It was a great tour that I enjoyed very much, but had one significant flaw. It did not cover St. Mere Eglise. St. Mere Eglise is famous as being the inland village the 82nd jumped on D-Day, with a couple of the paratroopers getting caught on the steeple of the town church.

I was especially disappointed because, as some of you know, my Dad has been in the 82nd on a couple of different occasions and Fort Bragg is as much of a hometown as I currently have. (As a side-note, the residential neighborhoods on Ft. Bragg are named after places where the 82nd saw action and I can vividly remember many of them: St. Mere Eglise, Cherborg, Nijmegen, etc.). So that was a disappointment. But, as the French say, c'est la vie.

That being said, I had a great tour with a very knowledgeable tour guide, Sandrine, so I can't complain too much. The Caen Memorial Museum is well done and actually starts in 1918. The goal is to put WWII into a larger context. One thing I was surprised at was how harsh the museum was at the French leaders in the inter-war period. One especially telling item was an excerpt from a French magazine declaring that the completely impracticable and out-dated French Army uniforms made the French Army the best dressed army in the world. As Sandrine put it, as if that mattered any!

The highlight of the museum was an exhibition on the lives of soldiers before and after D-Day, as told in their own words. The museum had acquired a large number of letters from soldiers on the front from both sides of the battle. Also impressive was the 20 minute video on the D-Day landing that included 80% original footage. (The rest was supplement from the Longest Day.)

After a good lunch, it was off to see the D-Day sights.

Our first stop was Arromanches, sight of an artificial harbor. Allied war planners had discovered from earlier operations that it would be difficult to try a frontal assault on a port city. So they decided to make their own. Built starting right after D-Day, the artificial port provided the Allied forces with supplies and remained in operation several months until the Allies took Antwerp. Here's what's left.

Our next stop was the Longues-sur-Mer gun battery. Hitler, fearing an attack, fortified the Atlantic seaboard from Norway to Spain with coastal defenses to make the so-called "Atlantic Wall". Gun batteries, like this one, were a big part of the wall. This particular gun battery was undamaged by the bombing before D-Day and fired onto Gold and Omaha beaches.

Our third stop was the American Military Cemetery. Overlooking Omaha Beach, the cemetery is immaculately groomed and poignantly laid out in the shape of a cross. In the years after the war, families of the fallen soldiers were given the option to leave their loved one in the military cemetery or to bring them home. 60% opted to bring them home and of the 40% that were left on the continent where they fell about 9,500 soldiers have their final resting place in this cemetery.

Our fourth stop was Omaha beach itself. Omaha was the most open of the five D-Day beaches, but had a series of hills that overlooked it. The Germans were nestled down in these hills and is a big reason why Omaha was the bloodiest of the five beaches. It was hard to imagine the clear, sunny beach full of obstacles, charging soldiers, and gun fights. It all seemed very peaceful.

The final stop was at Point du Hoc. Point du Hoc was a strategic target due to the German gun battery that was capable of reaching both Omaha and Utah beaches. The problem is that there was no easy access point to it. It is on a cliff and the Germans had heavily mined the area behind it, leaving an attack up the cliffs the only way to go. Approximately 225 Rangers scaled the cliffs, took the position, and then held off the Germans for two days until reinforcements came from Omaha Beach. The site today is left as it was on that day and is quite moving. Unfortunately, it is hard to get a good look at the cliffs since they are deteriorating due to erosion, but fear not. A team of soil scientists from Texas A&M are on the job figuring out to reinforce the cliff.

It was quite sobering to look over the wind swept countryside and imagine the task those Rangers had. Looking at the sight, a song sprung into my head. When I was younger, Dad had bought a CD produced by the 82nd Airborne Chorus and played it for us regularly. One particular song was the Ballad of the Green Beret. Even though not exactly on point, as the green beret signifies special forces, not Rangers, I think it still fits.

Here are the lyrics in their entirety.

Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret

Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men we'll test today
But only three win the Green Beret

Trained to live, off nature's land
Trained in combat, hand to hand
Men who fight by night and day
Courage deep, from the Green Beret

Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men we'll test today
But only three win the Green Beret

Back at home a young wife waits
Her Green Beret has met his fate
He has died for those oppressed
Leaving her this last request

Put silver wings on my son's chest
Make him one of America's best
He'll be a man they'll test one day
Have him win the Green Beret

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Day #36: Bayeux

After a long day of traveling to Bayeux, it was time to explore two of the oldest sights I have visited.

I started out the day by taking a shuttle from Bayeux to the famed Mont St. Michel. Created in the 10th century when a bishop had a series of dream from the archangel Michael, it has been occupied by monks ever since. Mont St. Michel is built on an island, with a church crowning the top. It is accessible by a 2 km causeway from the mainland, but at low tide you can walk across the mudflats (as several school groups did). There is only road leading up to the church and abbey at the top and it is packed with souvenir stands and restaurants. Lest you think it is modern commercialism run amock and destroying a historic sight, locals have been preying on pilgrims (and now tourists) ever since it opened up.

The day I visited Mont saint Michel was especially meaningful as September 29th is St. Michael's Day. And St. Michael, as my father (who was in the 82nd Airborne knows) is the patron saint of paratroopers. So the French Army celebrated the day by performing a jump exercise on the fields just across from the Mont saint Michel. It was a wonderful sight to see stick after stick of paratroopers jump out with the church on the island as a backdrop.

After the ride back to Bayeux, I had enough time to visit the Bayeux tapestry. It commemorates the triumph of William the Conqueror over Harold in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Started not long after the battle, the almost 1000 year old tapestry (which is actually an embroidery) was intended to hang in the Bayeux Cathedral as a pictoral lesson for all of the illiterate peasants.

What struck me about the tapestry was that only te last half or so dealt with the battle. The first half deals with the strength of WIlliam's claim to be king. The focal point of the tapestry is a scene depicting Harold swearing on Bayeux's holy relics not to contest Edward the Confessor's selection of William. Not long after that, we see that Edward died and Harold promptly declares himself the king. So, in essence, the Bayeux tapestry is a 70 meter paean to keeping your word. Who'da thunk it?

Monday, September 28, 2009

Day #35: On the Road again...

After a good week high up in the Swiss Alps, I am on the road again. Currently, I am in Lausanne en route to Bayeux in Normandy. My re-entry to the travel world has not been without some bumps.

First, Bayeux doesn't really have a youth hostel, so I've been forced to try and book a hotel or B&B. This is a problem since apparently Bayeux is popular this time of year.

I started by emailing a hotel recommended by my travel guide. I want to stay two nights in Bayeux. One day for touring the Bayeux Tapestry and Mont saint Michel and one day for a D-Day beaches tour. However, the hotel could only accomodate me for one night. As I would much prefer to stay both nights in the same place, I emailed another hotel that was recommended. I waited for three days, nothing. Then I emailed another place which responded they had room for only my second night.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I sent reservation requests to the original hotel for the first night and this latest hotel for the second night. I also sent the name of the second hotel to complete my reservation for my D-Day Tour. I thought I was done. Maybe not the cleanest foray into a city I had accomplished, but still, I thought I was done.

Key word there being thought.

Come to find out that the second hotel had given away the room in the meantime. Even more than that, what I thought was a tentative reservation for the D-Day tour turned out to be no reservation at all until I provided them the name of my accomodations and the tour had become full in the meantime. Nuts.

So I'm currently trying to work out several options I hope will come to fruition. I think, at worst, I will rent a car, tour the D-Day sights myself, and sleep in the car! (Don't worry Mom, I'm only kind of kidding...)

Friday, September 18, 2009

Announcement

For the next week or so, I will be at L'Abri, which is a type of Christian study center. They have only limited access to the internet and I won't be doing anything too touristy, so I doubt there will be much of anything to post about. So don't be surprised if nothing is posted this next week.

After which, I will be rested and ready to go for my last two weeks, so expect the hijinks to continue then.

Day #25: Lausanne

After holding my eyes open with tooth picks, I finally went to bed at 9pm. I know, lame. I woke up at 6am and caught to 7am train from Interlaken to Lausanne. Switzerland has a number of scenic rail routs and my train was on the Golden Pass route. It was a relatively quiet ride and, after the third stop, I had an entire car to myself to enjoy the mountainside scenery.

After I arrived in Lausanne, I dropped my bag off at my hostel and immediately boarded a boat to cruise on Lake Geneva. The cruise ended at Chateau de Chillon, a remarkably well preserved castle that dates back to 1150 A.D. Other than the fact it was still standing right on the lake where it was originally built, the castle was otherwise pretty boring.

I then hiked a mile to the village of Montreaux where I caught a boat back to Lausanne and enjoyed the sunset over lake. All in all, a pretty relaxing day.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Day #24: Swiss Alps

I'm not going lie, I'm pretty exhausted right now. So this will be a short post.

I started this morning at 5:30, caught the 6:35 train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, then another train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen. Waited 15 minutes in Wengen for the next train from Lauterbrunnen which was bringing the camera I left on the ticket counter. Then, I caught the 8am gondola to Mannelich.

From Mannelich, I hiked an hour and a half to Kleine Shaddegg. From that city, I caught a train to Jungfraujoch, the highest train station in Europe at just under 15,000 feet. From there, I hiked across a glacier, had lunch, hiked back across the glacier. Then I caught the train back to Kleine Shaddegg and hiked 2.5 hours down to Grimmevald. Then, I caught a train to Interlaken and arrived back at my hostel at 7:15pm. Whew. The hiking was glorious and the heavy clouds parted for two hours, long enough for me to get some great pictures.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Day #22: Vienna

I kicked off the morning by engaging in the most Vienese of traditions, I had a cup of coffee and read a newspaper in a coffee shop. Granted, it was a cappacino and an English language paper, but the effect was the same. Tradition has it that when the Ottoman Turks were driven back and retreated, they did so in haste, leaving their encampments and supplies behind them. The Austrian troops went to investigate and found sacks of this strange black bean. Voila, a tradition was born.

After I finished my cup of coffee, I went off to another Austrian tradition, the Lippizanner stallions. The performances are sold out long in advance, but in between performances, they have practice sessions that the public can watch. While all they did was trot around for the most part and only once or twice did we see an actual trick, but it was still cool watching them work out. And the facility has chandeliers, so it was not half bad itself.

On an interesting note, we were strictly warned several times not to take pictures or film any of the practice. Which we all observed . . . as long as there was an attendant in the immediate vicinity. I mean, come on, I am watching the famous stallions and you eect me to not take a picture to show people back home?

After the stallions, I lost myself for several hours in the Art museum. The Vienna Art Museum has two main floors. The first floor is full of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art. It is an amazing collection and made me wish I had been a Classics major in college. The second floor, not to be outdone, had an impressive collection of both Northern and Southern European renaissance era art. While I tend to like more Italian artists, I do love me some Rembrandt and Vermeer, both of which were represented.

My two favorite paintings were both quite different from each other. The first is a picture by Raphael entitled "Madonna of the Meadow." It is quite beautiful in its symetry and depicition of Mary.

The other painting was by a Dutch artist. It was portraying a village in winter. What I found most fascinating about it was that the artist had depicted a snowstorm by covering his painting in small white dots. I thought it made for the most enchanting effect.

Finally, I ended my sight-seeing by hiking up the 343 steps to the top of St. Stephen's cathedral. It was quite of a disappointment as the top was a small room with only a few windows, but the view was still pretty terrific.

After I huffed down the stairs, I got my bags from the hostel and made my way to take the night train to Zurich for my trip through Switzerland.

Day #23 Interlaken

I know, I skipped a day. I will have more to say about my last day in Vienna a little bit later. But first, here are some pictures of what I did today.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Day #21: Vienna

After waking up early and checking out, I caught the 7:08am train to Vienna. Arriving at 10:30, I dropped my bag off at a hostel before catching a U-bahn (subway) train downtown.

Starting off at the Vienna State Opera building, I did a self-guided tour narrated by my traveling companion, my Rick Steves guidebook. I did a loop around the old town, going past the big cathedral, the main shopping street, a few monuments and memorials, and ended up at the Hofburg palace.

I did make one detour at Cafe Sacher. A little explanation is needed for this detour to make sense. Back when we lived in Alaska, my mom was a secret shopper for a grocery store chain call Carrs. She was given a store to go to and to send in an evaluation of the store based on several different criteria (friendliness of personnel, cleanliness of store, etc.). I always tagged along, so that she could ask the questions and then I could unobstrusively catch the nametag of the employee she was talking to. At the store that was Mom's main store, we always stopped by the bakery and always ordered the same thing (after asking for a sample!): a sacher torte. It is a chocolate torte with a layer of apricot filling in the middle. It might not sound good, but it was delicious! After we moved away, I have been unable to find a place that sells it. So, it was a big deal when I discovered it was invented in Vienna and I would be able to have one. And yes, it was (almost) as delicious as I remembered it.

That led to an afternoon of touring through the imperial palace. Remember that up until World War I, Austria was the seat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that stretched over much of eastern Europe. It was a real powerhouse thanks to the deft marrying off of members of the Hapsburg family. So this was a pretty big and fancy palace.

The palace consisted of three different museums: the royal dish museum, the Sisi museum, and the Imperial apartments. I'll give a little bit about each.

The dish museum, unsurprisingly, consisted of many of the dishes the royal family used. Interestingly, up until the 18th century, proper noble families dined on silver plates and saved porcelain for soup and dessert. Then, tastes changed and porcelain became acceptable for all courses of the meal. Also, there is a particular way that the napkins are folded on the plates. But it is only done for formal state dinners (when hosting a monarch or head of state) and only two people know exactly how it is done.

The Sisi museum chronicled the life and times of Empress Elizabeth, who lived in the late 19th century. Elizabeth, or Sisi as she was called from childhood, was renowned for her beauty, her 20 inch waist, and ankle length hair. She hated court life and withdrew from it after her 30th birthday. She eventually became estranged from her husband and died after being stabbed by an Italian anarchist. This has led to some people calling her a fore runner to Princess Diana.

Finally, the imperial apartments showed how the Emperor and Empress lived. It was, of course, remarkably ornate and beautiful. But my favorite set of rooms was a back set of servants quarters that had floor to ceiling wall paintings of tropical scenes. You really felt you were on a beach!

After that, it was off to the royal treasury to see an impressive collection of crowns and jewels, which were spectacular.

Finally, I ended my evening with the opera! While tickets had long since been sold out, they sell standing room tickets 80 minutes before the show starts. I was able to get a ticket and was in the cheap seats up at the top of the opera. I did not know what they were going to show before I went, so it was a real treat when it turned out to be Mozart's the Magic Flute, one of his most successful operas. It was a little tiring to stand all that time, but they had a railing to lean on and the performance was well worth it.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Day #20: Salzburg

Apparently, the dirty little secret about Salzburg is that the reason it is so beautiful is because it rains so much. A local told me that they have had two days of rain for ever day of not rain (as she put it) so far this year. But it takes a lot more than a little precipitation to derail my plans!

The day started out with the Sound of Music tour! A number of tour companies had sketched together the various sights that Hollywood used to film the Sound of Music and made it into a guided tour. While I had booked my tour online, I never received a confirmation email and my follow up email to the office remained unanswered. I showed up at the appointed time anyway hoping for the best, and thankfully it was just their fault for not sending a confirmation email.

We launched off on our tour by seeing the Von Trapp house. Well, actually, for the movie, they used two different houses (one for the front and one for the back), neither of which was the Von Trapp's actual house. This house is also where they filmed the lake scene where all the children and Maria fell into the water. Apparently, the actress that played Gretal hated the water and they were afraid of her drowning, so they had to put scuba divers in the water under the boat!

Other stops included the church where Maria and the captain got married, the famous gazebo (an important part for me after the duet I had in the Free Speech Musical), the hills where Maria ran through, the convent, the trees where the children were playing in, and various other bit scenes. On the way back to Salzburg (after a struedel break!), our guide popped in the movie soundtrack and we do, re, mi'd our way back to town.

The tour took most of the morning, so it was afternoon by the time I got to the next stop on my itinerary: Mozart's house. Mozart lived in Salzburg for much of the young part of his life. Of course, much of that time was spent touring Europe with his father and sister, wowing the courts and nobles of various European capitals with his prodigious talent. Maybe some of that trotting around Europe had an effect, because the museum mentioned how much Mozart disliked Salzburg and how he couldn't wait to get out! Which is especially ironic because if you go to Salzburg today, you can't swing a stick without touching some sort of Mozart paraphinelia. The town does not seem to mind Mozart's sentiments, they will profit off his memory nonetheless. Ah capitalism.

After Mozart's House, it was a quick hike up to the Hofburg fortress that overlooks the city of Salzburg. The views were spectacular although the castle itself was not all that great, compared to some of the ones I've seen. As with Neuschwanstein, you could get to the top with a little train, but I opted for the hike!

I finished the day with a Mozart Dinner Concert. One restrauant has a deal set up where you sit in a Baroque style room, have a three course meal featuring dishes that were popular in Mozart's day, and in between courses, you get a sample of Mozart's work from a string quartet and two opera singers. The performances were outstanding and the dinner was great. I especially enjoyed the intriguing cream soup with lemon flavoring and a dumpling. The maitre d sat me at a table with five Brits and two Aussies. They were great dinner companions and we had a lively conversation in between performances.

At one point, they were talking about BBC tv shows and then realized I was clueless. So one bloke from England told me, "You know the best show America's put on? Frasier." The rest of the table heartily agreed. I knew there was a reason I liked these people! One woman said how her favorite character was Eddie and I was able to put to use my vast Frasier knowledge and tell her that Eddie received the most fan mail out of any actor on the show!

Well, after a day like that, I was just able to drag myself into my bed and fall asleep! But not for too long, I had to catch an early morning train to Vienna the next day.

Day #19: Dachau

Well, it wasn't a trip I was especially keen on taking. Concentration camps are never fun to go visit. But you feel compelled to go. As if you still can't comprehen how man could be so cruel as to slaughter his fellow man unless you see the place where it happened. That, and several other reasons, was why I spent a half day tour out to Dachau Concentration Camp.

Aushwitz and several others beat out Dachau in terms of sheer numbers of people murdered within their camps, but Dachau is important for a variety of other reasons, as I soon learned. Dachau was one of the first concentration camps opened in 1933, not long after Hitler assumed dictatorial powers. And what I did not know is that it was not intended as an extermination camp per se. The Nazis placed Dachau at the site of an old munitions factory and used the "prisoners" to help the war effort. The idea was to work them relentlessly under such inhumane conditions, that the workers would eventually die. You see in the gate to Dachau, the phrase "Freedom through Work." Considering the conditions they put people through, that phrase is both haunting and chilling.

Beyond being one of the first camps, Dachau became the blueprint for how other camps were structured and run. The second commandant of Dachau experimented with a numbe rof different methods of punishment and camp structure. He eventually "perfected" a cruelly efficient system and for his reward he was appointed the Inspector General of the concentration camp system and exported his "Dachau method" to other camps. That method proved so ingrained that when the German generals complained that the amount of deaths were hindering the production of war materials, the camp commandants couldn't change. Instead, they fudged the numbers of deaths to make it look better for them.

After leaving Dachau, I went back to Munich and caught a train to Salzburg. After I arrived and dropped my bag off at the hostel, I had enough time to do a quick self-guided tour of Salzburg's old town center. Salzburg is a beautiful city that has a river running right through the center of it. I'll have more on Salzburg in tomorrow's post!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Day #18: Neuschwanstein Castle

On Day #18, I left Munich for an all day tour of the castles of Mad King Ludwig II. Anti-social to the extreme, he was not happy with his family castle and set out an ambitious building program. He started construction on three different castles, all outside of the Bavarian capital of Munich. He finished one and mostly finished the other two before he was forced off the throne and then found dead two days later under mysterious circumstances.

We left Munich on a two level tour bus and made our way to the first castle, Lindehof castle. Carefully tucked away at the base of a mountain, Lindehof castle was on the small side (as castles go), with only two floors and about 20 or so rooms.

This was a favorite of Ludwig and he spent a great majority of his time here after he finished it. My favorite part was the cool gardens and fountain he had out front.

After that, we bundled back into the bus for a quick side trip to the small scenic town of Oberammergau, where they are known for putting on a Passion play once every decade for the past 400 or so years. (They originally started the play as a thanksgiving for sparing them from the Bubonic plague.)

Finally, it was on to the main castle, Neuschwanstein. Ludwig had this castle built not from an architect's drawing, but rather from a painter's. He had a painter conceptualize what he thought a king's castle should be and then went from there. Ludwig had it mostly completed and lived in it for only about 100 days until he died. We did a tour of the interior, which was impressive, at least the parts that were finished. He had a huge Wagner fetish and had a cave and grotto built into his castle since that was a feature in one of Wagner's operas.

Although, the tour bus could only take us up to the base of the mountain the castle sat on. We had to use on of three ways to get up to the top: (1) pay two euros and take the bus that came every 20 minutes, (2) pay six euros and take a horse drawn carriage up, or (3) pay nothing and hike the mile up at a steep angle.

I think by now you all know which option I picked. My vacations, as some of you well know, have a tendency of turning into fat camps. By that, I mean I walk everywhere to see sights and think nothing of launching up a steep hike for a good view. And when you throw in my natural thriftiness, the choice was practically pre-ordained. So, when I made the hike up (our guide told us it would take 45 minutes, I made it in 20) to the castle, I had time to kill. Then, i found out you could hike up even higher to a bridge for a great view of the castle. It was hard work, but I think you can see from the pictures that was well worth it. While it was a little cloudy and rainy, you could still see the castle quite clearly.

One interesting thing about Neuschwanstein castle is that it supposedly is the basis for the castle at Walt Disney World. What do you think?

We were warned to be at the bus by 5pm so we can get back to Munich. In the abundance of caution, I got back at 4:50pm. Well, it turns out other people were not so cautious. Out of a bus of 70 some odd people, 6 people were late. We waited until 5:20 and then, in the face of a mini-passenger revolt led by a Brazilian who had to catch a train, we left them behind. I hope they had a way of getting back to Munich!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Day #17: Munich

There was a lot in store to see of Munich, and due to my schedule, I had to pack in all of what I wanted to see in Munich into one day. (The next two days were reserved for side trips.) So I started the day on a whirlwind walking tour. Advertised as a totally free tour, all you did was show up and tip the guide at the end, if you felt so inclined.

We started off in the Marienplatz, which is the home of the famous Munich Glockenspiel. Recently tabbed as the second most overrated tourist attraction in Europe, the glockenspiel pretty much lived up to that billing. After a five minute interlude of bells, the glockenspiel sprung into action. One the top part, a Bavarian knight defeated an Austrian knight. And on the bottom part, several coopers twirled around in a dance. Not much to see.

The rest of the tour was more entertaining, showing off much of the reconstructed old city, 90% of which was destroyed in World War II. Highlights included the old royal district, now an über pricey shopping district.

There was one lowlight for me though. When trying to pitch his company's other (for pay) tours, he mentioned the most important one was Dachau, the concentration camp tour. He said it was important because learning the past helps prevent making the same mistakes again. In fact, he said that after going on the Dachau tour, he was struck by how much it resembled Guantanamo Bay. In fact, he further informed us, in his opinion, Gitmo fit every part of a definition of a concentration camp. I did not feel like it be productive to argue with him right in the middle of Munich and thus derail the tour, but I did take his little diatribe into account when tip time came around... (As Michael Jordan once famously said when someone tried to urge him to be more politically active, Republicans buy shoes too.)

That tour took up most of the morning, and then it was off to the Residenz palace, home to the Wittlebach family that ruled Bavaria for over 700 years. First, they were dukes. Then after a few hundred years, they were made electors in the Holy Roman Empire. Finally, Napoleon made one a king in the 1800s. Point being, these people had money and power and their house showed it. Most impressive was the Antiquarium, a long dining hall that is lavishly decorated with busts of Roman emperors on the sides. (Hence the room name, antiques = antiquarium. It does not signify that any pet fish are involved as I was mistakenly thought as first!)

Finally, the evening was capped off by a tour of a brewery and Munich's most famous beer hall, Hofbrauhaus (Originally, the king's own private beer label and beer hall). Not bad for a day's worth of sightseeing.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Day #16: Rothenburg/Nuremberg

On Day #16, I started out the day by walking the wall. Rothenburg still has most of its original fortifications still up with an inner rampart you can walk. But part of the town and its wall in World War II. What the city did to rebuild was issue a call for donations. In return for a certain amount, a person could "adopt" a portion of the wall and get a brick on the wall in their honor. It was cool to see the town from a different perspective in the early morning light and seeing the bricks with people's names and places from them.

After walking the wall, I spent the rest of my time spending my money. Rothenburg is the king of quaint German souveniers and I loaded up. One shop in particular, the Friese-Shop, was quite kind to me. In addition to the 10% discount I got for having a Rick Steves book, I got my 19% value added tax refunded for immediately shipping everything, which they were happy to do for me at cost. So, all told, it cost 10 euros to ship presents for my parents, brother, and sister back to America. Not bad.

After shopping, I caught a train to Nuremberg for a quick day trip. Unfortunately, the Nuremberg courtrooms were closed for renovation, but there was still plenty to occupy me. Nuremberg was a kind of spiritual headquarters for the Nazi Party. It is where they held their yearly party rallies up until they started World War II. Each rally had a theme theat the Nazis used to communicate their message through, i.e. one year was the Rally for Unity and Strength Ironically enough, the theme for that year was slated to be a Rally for Peace, but then they invaded Poland instead.

Nuremberg was thus accorded a special place in the world of Adolph Hitler. It was slated to be one of five Führer cities that were to showcase Nazism. But Nuremberg is the only place where they built anything and even then, not much was even started, much less completed. The city is still the best place to see Nazi architecture as envisioned by Hitler and his favorite architect, Albert Speer.

Original plans for Nuremburg included a stadium that would hold 400,000 spectators and several party buildings. What we have today is the fully completed Zeppelin grounds where Hitler delivered his fiery speeches to the party faithful and the half-built Congress Hall built to house meetings of party diginitaries.

It is in one wing of Congress Hall where Germany has built a museum, documenting Nuremberg's place in Nazi folklore and tracing Hitler's rise to power, including original footage from party rallies and the propoganda film, Triumph of the Will. It was quite well done and sobering to take in. I will try to come back and post some pictures when I get to.

Nazi architecture is austere and monolithic, designed to show all who is in power. The buildings were designed to last 1000 years, which is how long Hitler imagined his Third Reich would last. Interestingly enough, the background of the podium at the Zeppelin Field was designed to look like the Pergammon Altar I saw in Berlin.

After spending several hours at the museum and wandering around the Rally Ground complex, I caught a train to Munich and used the rest of the evening to settle into my hostel.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Announcement

I'll have my daily post up in a couple hours, but I want to say that I'm scaling back my trip a little. Two weeks over here has taught me that ten weeks is way too long to be on a trip by yourself. Especially when you are me and have a maniacal fix on seeing every sight possible before I drive myself to exhaustion. Had I stayed on the road all ten weeks, I can only imagine that I'd turn into some sort of anti-social Gollum-like creature, clutching my RIck Steves guidebook calling it my precious...

So, I changed my flight and will now be going back to my parent's place in DC on October 10th instead of November 1st. That gives me approximately seven weeks on the road instead of the original ten.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Day# 15: Rothenburg

After a nice breakfast at the B&B I was staying at, I spent most of the next five hours on a train. Here's the route:

From Bacharach, I took a regional line to Mainz. From Mainz, I hopped a bigger train to Frankfurt's main train station. In Frankfurt, I ran several tracks over to catch my connection to Steinach. From Steinach, I caught the shuttle train to Rothenburg. Whoo.

Rothenburg (and I wish I could post the pictures but the terminal is locked up, precluding access to the USB port) is a medieval walled town. Sacked several times during the 30 Years War in the 17th century, it basically has not changed since then. I spent most of the afternoon wandering around in the town, taking in the sights.

One museum to note is the Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum. It has a fascinating collection of torture devices and other instruments used as punishment through the years. My favorite were the shame masks, the ornaments of which were customized to reflect the crime you committed. The Museum also had an impressive arrray of ancient seals, papal indulgences, and other legal documents of old.

My evening ended with the Nightwatchmen's Tour. Dressed to look the part, our guide led us on a tour of Rothenburg at dusk, seamlessly intertwining historical facts with a witty turn of phrase. In a sign of the times, at the end of tour, the Nightwatchman hawked his dvd that was available for sale at all major tourist stores!

After the tour, I went back to my hostel and met a couple of Americans who had just come from Munich. I was able to pick their brain for suggestions on what to do, so I feel like I've got a good idea about how to tackle that town.

Well, that's all for today! Hope everything is going well with yall. As always, emails and/or comments are appreciated.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Day #14: Köln and the Rhine River

Monday dawned bright and clear and it was off to see Köln's main attraction, its amazing Gothic cathedral. Construction started in the 13th century, but after the Reformation and moving trade routes, funds dried up and building halted. The cathedral wasn't completely finished until the late 19th century. The cathedral is famous not only for its size, but also for housing the bones of the Magi. The bodies were "discovered" in Jerusalem by Helen, mother of Constantine the Great in the 300s. From there, the relics lasted almost 1000 years in Milan, until Barbarrosa of Germany invaded Italy and the Archbishop of Köln transferred (to use the tour guide's word for it) the bones to Köln.

After the cathedral tour, it was off to catch a train down the Rhine River to tour Rheinfells Castle. Built high above the river and the scenic town of St. Goar, Rheinfells Castle protected this stretch of the river for hundreds of years, until the French Revolutionary Army came through and partially destroyed it. Still, what is left is an impressive sight.

After traipsing through the castle, I caught a boat for a cruise down the Rhine. The scenery, idyllic villages, and numerous castles (built to extract tolls from river floating commerce) all combined to let the river live up to its knickname of the "Romantic Rhine."

My boat tour ended in the town of Bacharach where I stayed the night at a small B&B. After a delicious meal of jaegerschnitzel, I headed for an evening stroll. Bacharach is world famous as a wine making town, especially for its Reisling wine. So, I at the end of my walk, I ended up at a wine garded. There, I shared a table with a retired Swedish couple. We had a great conversation (well, the wife spoke English well and translated for her husband). One interesting item she mentioned was that more and more Swedish people were buying private health insurance. It turns out that the waiting list for the government provided health care was too long, so they are turning to private sources. I thought it was interesting given the health care debate back home.

Day #13: Leaving Berlin

Today I leave Berlin, so first item of business is to find a place to drop off my backpack. I figure the best place is the main train station. I guess because the Berlin train station is so big and important, they don't have luggage lockers. Instead, they have a bag check where your luggage first has to go through an x-ray machine. Pretty high tech.

The reason I had to check my bag was my first stop of the morning was the Reichstag, and they don't allow large pieces of luggage. The Rechistag was built in the late 19th century and was rebuilt after World War II. The Rechistag building does have one modern addtion: a glass dome on top over the plenary session of the Bundestag (Germany's version of the House of Represenatives). The neat thing is that you can take an elevator up to the glass dome and walk up in, giving you great views of the city. UInsurprisingly, this is a popular attraction so I had to get their early before the crods arrived. I got there around 9am, but still had to wait about 30 minutes to get through security and up into the dome. The view was well worth it. Here's the dome:

From there, it was on to Gemäldegalerie, Berlin's museum for 14th-18th century art. The heart of the collection is 16 paintings by Rembrandt. Here's a self-portrait he did of himself as a young man.

From there, it was back to the train station to collect my bag and hope a train to Köln (or Cologne). The train ride was uneventful, but made more interesting by a young German soil scientist who sat across from me. She was on her way to a soil science convention in Bonn and was kind enough to point out interesting sights out the window.

When I got to Cologne, I checked into the hostel. After check-in, I heard someone say, "I like your shirt!" (I was wearing a long sleeved Carolina shirt). Turns out, there was another UNC grad at the hostel! Ellen graduated last December and was on her way to an orientation for the Fulbright Scholars. Small world!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Real Day #12: Still Berlin

So I noticed my day numbering system has been a little off. Oh well, I will try to put my days in the correct order from now on.

I awoke and took a train to meet up with a walking tour. I had to scramble to find an ATM since I only had 10 euros on me and the price was advertised as 15 euros. I finally found one, fot my money, and made it to assembly place just before they left. After an unadvertised student discount, my walking tour cost me . . . 10 euros. Sigh.

I thought that the price was a little high for a walking tour, but I went along with it as my guidebook gave this particular company its highest rating. The walk was billed as "Discover Berlin," containing all of Berlin's essentials. And boy did it ever. I originally thought the tour would last two hours, but it instead lasted 4.5 hours! At two euros per hour for all of Berlin's essentials, I felt like I had underpaid!

Our tour was led by an energetic Scot named Kenny. We kicked off the main part of the tour at Museum Island, where the kaiser and his family had their own private art gallery and cathedral. From there, we hit all the big sights: where the Nazis had the book burnings, Checkpoint Charlie, what's left of the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, and the Reichstag.

I did commit a little faux pas on the tour though. While at Brandenburg Gate, Kenny pointed out the historic Hotel Adlon and listed many of the famous people who had stayed there: President Bush, then Senator Barack Obama, Madonna, etc. And then, in a burst of realization and enthusiasm, I blurted out, "Isn't that where Michael jackson dangled his kid?" "Yes, Jeff," Kenny replied, "thanks for ruining the punchline." Whoops.

After the tour was over, I returned to Museum Island to visit the two famous antiquities museums. The Altes Gallery had an impressive display of Greek and Roman artifacts, including several statues and a plethora of amphoras. But the highlight was an Egyptian piece, the bust of Quen Nefertiti. Used by the royal builder for all of her likenesses in public buildings, the bust is a model. Nefertiti is called the most beautiful woman in Berlin and after a close look, I might have to agree!

The next stop was the Pergamon Museum, named for its most famous piece, the Pergamon alter. Built to commemorate a Pergamese (sp?) military victory, the altar is surrounded by a tremendous freize that depicts the Greek gods in battle against the giant children of the earth goddess Gaia. While only 1/3 of the freize survived, they managed to put together some pretty good streches of it, including this one of a victorious Athena.

The Pergamon Museum also includes the Ischtar Gate of babylonian fame. Built by King Nebukadnezzar, I'm told the gate is mentioned in the Bible.

The last stop of the day was the Museum of the House at Checkpoint Charlie. While the museum did have some interesting displas of ways people used to get over the wall, it was cluttered and unorganized and I would not recommend it. Signs announced they were renovating, so maybe it well be more clear after that. Of course, it was late after a long day of sight-sightseeing, so I'm sure that affected my judgment of it as well!