Winding Down

Well, here it goes, my last few days in Poland. So, after getting rained on every day down in southern Poland, and being stuck inside for nearly the whole time, I decided to escape to Krakow, my home away from home for nearly a year. Immediately, I ran into rain, and lots of it, as the bus rolled into the bus station in Krakow. I was convinced that I was cursed, bringing rain everywhere I went. In fact, the Wisla River, the main river flowing through the city, had inundated nearly all of the walking and biking paths around it, and nearly flooded a few bridges too! I am sure that the population of Krakow is probably glad that I am gone now, hoping to see the sun again.

So the last few days were mostly about catching up with old friends. It was exactly what I needed after 10 days of rain and isolation. I don’t want to go into all the details here, but it was just like old times; well, mostly. It is so great seeing people and friends that I said goodbye to a few years ago, not knowing if I would ever see them again! It is also awesome renewing and mending old friendships along the way. I feel very lucky to have a great group of friends, and staying in touch with them has always been important to me. The growth of friendships is also something I believe strongly in. Good friendships always have the potential to be great, but they just require a little more effort. I know a few of my friendships have grown stronger these last few days, and I am extremely happy about that.

I spent one day riding a rental bike out to the outskirts of the city, where my friends and I had a nice little picnic in the grounds of a monastery overlooking the flooded river. It was a beautiful day, and sort of caught me off guard, punishing me for not wearing sunscreen. On the way back, my tire decided to go flat, so I was forced to ride a few miles back on a semi-flat tire, with the last mile or so on a completely flat tire. I'm sure I looked a little strange riding down the cobblestone streets with my rear tire barely hanging on the back rim. Let's just say that I wanted to get my money's worth out of that bike.

I also was able to experience my first Polish barbecue. Can you guess what was served? Yep, kielbasa! Now, the previous three weeks, I was so excited to get to Germany, Austria, and Poland so that I could eat loads of sausage. Well, after eating at least one or two sausages each day for the last 10 days, my sausage craving flew the coup and it was replaced with a general disgust of sausage. In fact, I wouldn't mind if I didn't see another kielbasa for several months, or maybe even until I get back to Poland! However, the barbecue was great and we had some other tasty food, including some grilled mushrooms with cheese that temporarily found their way to the floor, but were quickly recovered and disposed of properly, in our stomachs! It was a blast just hanging out with my friends, eating some good food, and drinking Desperados (nothing like drinking a Mexican drink in Poland, where vodka is king; however, due to some past encounters with the vicious V, I decided to refrain).

My last night in Krakow, I decided to stay at the hostel where I pretty much lived every weekend during my first 6 months in Poland. The same girl who worked there 2.5 years ago that I befriended was still working, and she immediately recognized my voice from another room and ran out to give me a hug. It was great seeing her and we sat down and chatted for nearly 45 minutes, catching up on each other’s lives. She then arranged for me to have my own private room, even with 4 beds in it, and a new mattress to also be put on my bed. After all this was taken care of, she told me that it was not going to cost me a single penny—that as long as she works there, all my stays will be free! Wow, another example of friends reaching out and showing how much our friendship means to them. Everyone loves feeling appreciated, and I am certainly no different.

That last night, I was even able to go out with some friends to a Thai restaurant, of all places. We sampled some good cuisine, visited a lot, and I even had the chance to receive a free massage from one of the Asian ladies there! I figured that it would do some good to loosen up all those muscles, before being stuck in airplanes for nearly all of the next day. Wow do I hate travel days!

This time, walking through Market Square on the way to the train station at the break of dawn the morning of my departure, I stopped and just looked around again, letting it take hold of me. To think, 2.5 years ago, during the same walk to the train station, I did the exact same thing, not knowing whether I would ever return to the place where some of the most important events in my life had taken place. I hoped I would, but I also knew that sometimes life has different plans. This time, however, when I said goodbye to Krakow, while still being sad, it was different. I know I’ll return one day, and probably fairly soon. Krakow has worked its magic on me once again, with the help of some great friends there. I guess the only question is, when will Krakow call me back? Hmm, I can’t wait to find out. Do zobaczenia Krakow and friends. Dziekuje bardzo for everything. You really are amazing!

The last week or so I have been staying in the same guesthouse that I stayed at for most of my time here two years ago. Unfortunately there is a lot of construction going on in the little town surrounding the pension, so the construction crews are staying in all the rooms around town. I was lucky to get a room in the same house as before, but I have to stay in a different room. I am a little sad that I couldn’t stay in the same room that I had called home two years ago, but I still have a lot to be thankful for. It has been just like old times being here. I met the family that owns the house and their son, who is now married and has a two-month old daughter. It was great to see them again. We smiled and gave each other hugs. When they started spurting out sentences in Polish to me like I had learned a lot more of their language in the past two years, all I could do was smile and say that I didn’t understand and that I was sorry. They smiled and there was a lot of signaling and hand waving after that. It was a lot of fun. They looked exactly the same as the last time I saw them. I wonder, did they think that I looked any different? I hope they don’t think I look older now! That does make me curious…….
After getting settled in my place in southern Poland, I started to crave getting back into the mountains to see what had changed, what had stayed the same, and what had ceased to be. I met my biologist friends, who fixed me breakfast in their little cabin, told me all about some of the new developments in the area, and all the projects they are currently working on. They must be the busiest people I know, but they like it like that and I know it must be easier when you are doing work that you truly believe in. I hope that is how I’ll be someday.
The weather has really been lousy here. Rain is the rule right now in Europe, or, at least wherever I am. After being stuck inside for 4 or 5 days with daily deluges, I finally caught a break in the weather and was able to sneak out for a hike in my old stomping grounds. It was so amazing to get back up into the mountains that I loved so much and became so intimate with. I swear I can hike most of those trails blindfolded, of course except for all the downed logs that litter the trail every spring. The clouds threatened rain all day, and they even penetrated the forest to create a mysterious landscape, but it never dampened my mood. These mountains were home to my favorite wolf pack in the area, the Grapa pack. When I left, the Grapa pack was only made up of two wolves, a male and a female. They had been unsuccessful in raising pups for two years, but were still keeping the pack alive. I really connected with them and loved hiking in their mountains, hoping to catch a glimpse of them or see some sign of them. However, during my talks with the biologists the other day, they sadly informed me that they have not observed any sign of the Grapas for over a year. There has been a lot of cutting in the forests there and bark beetles have devastated huge stands of trees all over. They suspect the worst, that the Grapas did not survive. That was very hard for me to hear. I absolutely loved the Grapas. I connected with them more than with any other pack in the region. Maybe it was because they were only two, living in the area with probably the most forestry going on and the most intrusions by people. They were surviving against the odds, not receiving the attention that other packs in southern Poland were getting, but persevering nonetheless. I don’t know—maybe somehow I saw myself in those wolves. When I heard that they were no longer in the area, I felt tears coming on. However, there is a chance that they found a better area to move to, where they aren’t disturbed as much and where they can raise pups. It is a decent possibility, and that is what I choose to believe. That’s what I have to believe, since the alternative is just too heartbreaking for me.
Well, back to the hike. It wasn’t too cold, but not warm either. However, it was so nice to retrace some of my steps. I remembered most of the trail, and memories came back to me in certain areas, such as where I once found a few groups of wolf scats in one day, and then where the biologists and I spent a few hours during one night scoping out a badger den (I really froze that night and it was a little miserable for me, especially since I had to lie on rocks, staying still, and never ended up seeing anything). I was also able to find this little cabin located out in the middle of the forest, completely away from any trails, that I had stumbled upon one hike a few years ago, and liked so much that I returned to it often. I always thought that if I ended up living in Poland, I would fix it up and live there, with an incredible deck and view of the entire valley. It hadn’t been used for several years, but it would have been fun fixing it up again, bringing back a little history while making new history.
After 6 hours of hiking, my feet and legs could definitely feel it. I was completely wet and muddy from my knees down, and cleaning my shoes and pants took me at least 45 minutes, but that little rush of adrenaline, excitement, and gratitude that I used to feel after a day of hiking completely overwhelmed me again. I really love this place!
So after a decent day of weather, it returned to being rainy and ugly. I know some of you might like the rain (I do too every now and then), but nobody likes this. As of right now, it has been raining hard, non-stop for something like 80 hours. I have been stuck inside the whole time, drinking tons of coffee and tea, doing a bunch of reading and writing, and just glimpsing out the window every now and then, hoping to find that the sun is finally breaking through. Well, no such luck thus far. I didn’t know southern Poland was turning into a rainforest. I heard some reports that there is massive flooding all around me, but I am oblivious to it all because I am stuck inside. If I had some decent raingear with me, I think that at this point, I would just say screw it and go out for a hike. I don’t mind getting wet, but when you only have two pairs of clothes with you and it takes 2-3 days for clothes to dry here, you might understand my dilemma. I am also finally getting over some crazy mutant cold that my cousin so nicely decided to leave behind for me, and so now that I am feeling better, I really want to be outside. Well, now I must trust that the mountains I love are still there, despite not being able to see them, and suspecting that they might have washed away at this point. Argh, I hate this rain!

Back "Home"

So after a two year hiatus, I arrived in Krakow, and about 40 minutes before landing, the pilot came on the intercom and said that it was 20 degrees Celsius (like 68 degrees F) and partly cloudy in Krakow. Well, after getting there, it was raining like a damn tropical storm. I should have known. Anyway, it was cool just being able to walk straight to the train that takes you to the city center, while all the other tourists were trying to figure out where to go. I must admit, that felt good! So while on the train to the city center, I met a lady from Scotland, and also a girl from Italy, who were both really lost and confused and needed to get to a few hotels. Luckily, I still remembered where everything was and all the streets (amazing), so I offered to escort them to their hotels, which I did in the downpour, and they were both very nice and very grateful. I remember when I first arrived in Krakow, at like midnight and all the tourist offices at the airport were closed, the train wasn’t running, so I had to call a taxi and then have the taxi driver use his mobile to call Renia, and then have her give him directions on how to get to her flat. It was really funny, but I was definitely lost at that time and received some help, and now it was my time to return the favor to another stranger. Isn’t that how life works?

Walking down the streets I knew so well, past the Slowackiego Theater and into Market Square, was very surreal. All these memories flooded my mind like a raging river. I am sure that I had a huge smile on my face the whole walk, but I just couldn’t help it. After escorting the ladies to their hotels, I walked back to Market Square, and then tried my first spoken Polish words in almost two years, when I asked for a telephone card so that I could use the public telephone. Luckily, I was able to do this without too much of a problem. After calling two of my friends who offered to let me stay at their place for as long as I needed (really, really nice!), I had a few hours to kill. I was a little hungry, so I went to the little place just across the street from the American Embassy, where I once had some unbelievable soup. So just like old times, I ordered the Zurek, this awesome Polish soup, the perfect remedy for a cold and a rainy day. I sat out on the covered patio, listening to rain drops pound the cobblestones, enjoying Polish food again, watching people walk by, practicing my Polish with the nice, patient waiter, and reminiscing. What a feeling! I love Poland!

I stopped by the Dominican Church and attended a mass there —another huge, important memory of my time in Poland. It was so good to be back. After wandering around a little while longer, I finally met my friends and we went out for a few drinks and caught up. It was incredible seeing these friends that I said goodbye to two years ago, hoping that I would get a chance to see them again, but not exactly sure if that would happen. I am so happy that we did get this second chance to visit.

I stayed at their place for one night, after a long day of travel, and then caught a bus to southern Poland, where I would spend the next week and change working hard on my thesis and revisiting with friends and wolves down there.

It was raining like absolute mad during the bus ride, and I couldn’t help but be a little discouraged. However, when getting closer to Bielsko-Biala, the landscape started looking familiar and I again had a huge smile on my face. As we passed billboards and other signs, I started to recognize some of my old Polish vocabulary words, and it was really exciting! I would never be able to come up with those words on my own, but after reading them, they totally came back to me and almost transformed me back into time.

We got to the bus station, and I was able to catch a really quick minibus to Lipowa, which was cake and I got out and looked at the mountains that were my home for so long. It was an absolutely incredible feeling! I mean, how many times do we go back to someplace and it isn’t quite the same as the first time. Well, I can say that this was just like the first time, and I was immediately filled with adrenaline and my heart rate picked up ever so slightly.

Rainy Freiburg

After our awesome time in Innsbruck, I traveled to Freiburg, a little university city tucked in the Swiss-German border area, with my good friend Katharina. Katharina goes to university there, so knows her way around, and also provided a place to stay and some great company after Tyler had left from Innsbruck to head back to the U.S. I really, really loved Freiburg. The city is a fun city with tons of students, loads of cafes and bars, and a cozy little character that I found a little in Innsbruck, but not as much as in Freiburg. In fact, if I could take the mountains surrounding Innsbruck and the small, university feel of Freiburg, and then combine them, that would be one hell of a little place. Unfortunately, I can’t do that, so I am stuck taking the good with the bad. Anyway, pretty much the only lousy thing about Freiburg was the weather during my time there. I thought the saying went “April showers bring May flowers.” Apparently whoever wrote that wasn’t with me in Europe during May. There are a few flowers, but a whole hell of a lot of showers. It rained almost nonstop while I was in Freiburg, making sightseeing a little difficult, but with Katharina’s constant pushing to get me to see the city, we persevered and managed to actually do quite a bit. We were wet the entire time, and also sick (I am totally blaming Ty for leaving us his cold), but still had a great time and enjoyed the constant teasing and jabbing that had continued from Innsbruck.
One weird thing that we saw during the few days I was in Freiburg was a sort of medieval game going on in the park. It is very difficult to describe this spectacle, mostly because we still have no idea what the hell was going on. If desired, I have a video of it that I can send to those who want to try to decipher this strange game. Just let me know. Anyway, we saw 5 or 6 guys hitting each other with jousting sticks, balls and chains, and other crazy weapons, while trying to steal some sort of wooden object and place it on another wooden object. I know that is a horrible description and probably does not help at all, but that is about the best I can do. Even right now, I am kind of at a loss for words. Those of you who know me also know that that is rarely the case. Anyway, trust me.
Instead of some of the usual visits to museums and churches that I normally do when I go to a new city, we only saw one church in Freiburg. However, it was really amazing, especially the size of it for such a small city. If they really tried, they could probably fit most of the people of the city in that thing. We also just enjoyed walking around, especially when the sun actually came out for a few hours, and I took a lot of pleasure in sampling some of the local sausage dishes. I don’t know why, but I remember before when I was in Germany and Poland, I was damn near addicted to sausage. Well, apparently that addiction is still alive and well, since I was always subtly hinting to Katharina that we needed to find a sausage place to eat not only lunch at, but also breakfast and dinner. Okay, a sausage with a coffee is kind of pushing it. I admit it, but not by much. Well, those Freiburgers (people from Freiburg, although they probably call themselves something else; I just couldn’t resist, especially after all this talk about sausage) do indeed make a mean sausage. What will I do when I get back to the States? I sense a catastrophe on my hands!
Well, after a lot of rain, a lot of relaxation time, and a lot of quality time with one of my best friends, it finally came time to leave Freiburg. It was hard for me. After not having traveled with anybody before, and then having my cousin and then Katharina with me for the last 3 weeks, now I am venturing back out on my usual road of solo travel. It will be a little different this time, as now I have something to compare it to. I must admit that I know I will be a little lonely. Those long bus and train rides won’t be the same for sure. I won’t have someone to constantly tease, to push me to the limits of my German pronunciation ability, and to get me sick. Hmm, well I guess there are advantages too. In either case, I am going to a place that is like a second home to me, so my loneliness will only be from not having someone around, but not from being in a strange place with no one I know around to help me. Poland is calling, and I am ready to answer. Two years of waiting will be over in about 4 hours of train rides and 2 hours of flying. Isn’t life grand?

Fun in Innsbruck

So the highlight of our trip so far has been our time in Innsbruck, hanging out with my friends (or sisters, depending on whom I am talking to) Katharina and Ann. After an absolutely horrendous day of travel, combining bus, airport shuttle, train, and damn near any other mode of transport you can think of, excluding rowboat of course, we finally arrived at the Innsbruck train station just before midnight. Luckily, Ann and Katharina were waiting there with open arms, although I was secretly hoping for some sausages too, as I was really starving. Ty and I had grabbed a fabulous bratwurst and Bavarian beer in the Munich train station while waiting for our connecting train, just like good Germans do. However, I immediately knew that I needed a second sausage, but the train had already taken off and I was left with hoping for a sausage greeting in Innsbruck. Seeing Ann and Katharina though was so great and we immediately fell back into our old selves, although Ann has definitely become wittier since I last saw her. Ty and I enjoyed exchanging little wordy jabs back and forth with both Katharina and Ann our entire time in Innsbruck, adding a lot of humor and laughter to our Innsbruck days.
We stayed in a cozy little hostel called the Glockenhaus. I really didn’t know what that meant, but after a full night of church bells ringing right outside our window, Katharina explained that “Glockenhaus” meant “bell house” and it all made perfect sense. Ty and I thoroughly enjoyed our floral duvets and wanted to bring them home with us, but they were a little bulky and wouldn’t pack down very easily, and since those grouches at the budget airlines around here are just looking for an excuse to hurl extra charges at us, we figured we wouldn’t give them that satisfaction.
Innsbruck is the fourth city that has hosted the Winter Olympics that I have visited. It is a charming city with big mountains surrounding it and cobblestone streets running through its interior. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t show us the most beautiful sides of Innsbruck while we were there, but the rain made sure we stayed clean and that we had our raincoats with us at all times. However, it is a small city that is walkable and bikeable, two of my most important characteristics of cities I like.
During our stay in Innsbruck, we were able to attend a theology class with Ann, which I thought was extremely interesting. A lecture about evolution, intelligent design, and the Catholic idea of creation sparked my motivation to chime in and maybe stir some things up, but cooler heads prevailed and I was relegated to my courtside seat. We were also able to take a gondola up one of the mountains above Innsbruck, but with our luck, the weather was terrible and we might as well have been up in the snowy Himalayas rather than the mountains above Innsbruck in the spring. It was still amazing though and reignited my passion for getting outdoors and climbing as high as possible when I get back to SLC.
One really interesting thing for me in Innsbruck was this statue of Jesus on the cross that was on one of the main bridges in the city. Unlike other crucifix statues, this one was unique in one special way—this Jesus looked like a Native American to me! I really don’t know how to describe this, but he just did! The facial features, the slightly braided hair, Jesus was Native American all the way, probably from the Nez Perce tribe if I had to guess. He was also completely naked, something you also don’t see in an everyday Jesus. In any case, as soon as I started to refer to this statue as the “Native American Jesus,” I was reminded of the song “My Own Personal Jesus,” started pounding my feet with the beat, and then found myself sounding the beat and singing that song with my own words every time we passed within the vicinity of this statue. It was something that I really enjoyed, and I think Ty and Ann did too, but Katharina wanted to strangle me, especially when I proceeded to dance around the statue singing and whooping about. I thought it was incredibly funny.
Ty and I kept the mood light as we were constantly showing off our mastery of the German language by announcing every word we saw, everywhere, with the kind of accent and gusto that you can never achieve with Rosetta Stone. We had several compliments about our German, but none of them were nice. We were pretty sure that they were just jealous and wondered how we had learned so much so quickly. However, when we finally encountered a word with 22 letters in it (the whole English alphabet only has 26 letters!), we had finally met our match. It was quite fun, and even Katharina, our fellow German friend, was laughing deep down inside, although she was reluctant to show it. From now on, my friends in Innsbruck will know me as “The Kaiser.”
Another interesting day brought us through a neighborhood near the train station, and a drunk lady, who we later referred to as “the squatter,” spreading her cheeks between two cars and going the bathroom right in front of us as we were walking down the sidewalk. Needless to say, we double-checked every parking space after that before proceeding with our cheery walks through Innsbruck, just to make sure we weren’t about to come up on anything unexpected. The Squatter seemed to be lurking around every corner.
Innsbruck had a variety of characters who impacted our lives for a few minutes in one way or another. Besides the Squatter, we also ran into a man we dubbed “Armageddon” or “Apocalypse” because of the fact that he was ranting in German, or Austrian, or whatever, that the end of the world was at hand. The fact that we were speedily walking away from him on the opposite side of the bridge did not stop him from pursuing us for a few blocks before chasing after the next victim. Maybe he finally hooked up with the Squatter. They could have been a match made in, well, someplace. The walks through Innsbruck at night were always interesting, completely safe, but full of surprises.
A night of hanging out and baking cookies occupied our last few hours in Innsbruck. The normal banter back and forth between the guys and girls continued in the kitchen, up to the point that when it came time to say goodbye, we weren’t quite sure what to do. The jokes and laughter the last few days had finally ceased, and it was a feeling that I definitely didn’t like, but that had to come. Our time in Innsbruck was amazing and just what I had hoped for. Although the weather was a little ugly at times, the time spent with friends there was very uplifting and particularly special for me.
Ty grabbed a flight back to the U.S. the next day, putting an end to this European trip for him. However, I have a feeling that he’ll be back, and if I am lucky, maybe I can join him again. I decided to travel up to Freiburg, Germany with Katharina. There should be many more great times to come, but Innsbruck will definitely be a highlight of this trip.

Viva Barcelona

Barcelona was our third stop on this European tour. Barcelona has the reputation of being one of the coolest cities in Europe, so we wanted to check it out. After a long day of traveling from Bruges, we finally made it to the center of Barcelona. We walked down La Rambla, the main avenue running down the Barcelona city center, with tons of cool shops lining both sides of the streets, a walkway of palm trees running down the middle, and lots of people walking and people-watching everywhere you look. The temperature was warm, probably in the upper 70s, which felt really good. The activity around this area, late into the night, reminds me a little of San Gil in Colombia, or even Medellin. It is just a fun atmosphere with people hanging out in Plaza Reial all night long, eating, drinking, and having a good time. It actually makes me want to be back in Colombia.

Two of the coolest things we saw in Barcelona were the Barcelona Cathedral and La Sagrada Familia. First, the Barcelona Cathedral was an impressive sight. It is a huge cathedral with several individual chapels inside it. Nothing really stood out about it, but it was still incredible to see. La Sagrada Familia however, was something that I will always remember. Designed by Antonio Gaudi, and started by Gaudi and still in the process of construction, it stands as an amazing mix of ideas and creativity. It was started in 1882, which is very recent for nearly any of the grand cathedrals of Europe. Its architecture, however, is very unique. This cathedral is one of my favorites, mostly because of how different it really is. Gaudi took many of his ideas from nature—the interior columns shaped like giant tree trunks, even with knots in them, the canopy of leaves serving as the ceiling, and the numerous different kinds of animals sculpted all over both the exterior and interior of the church. Gaudi, like myself, thought that nature showed us how to be perfect, and he just too the time and made the effort to learn some of its lessons. He wanted the cathedral to be a place where people could feel that they were worshipping in nature, not a dark house or old church. He wanted different kinds of people all to feel at home in his cathedral, and this really appealed to me. The outer designs, with one side featuring the passion story of Jesus, with much sadness and sorrow, to the other side showing the nativity story, with all of its joy and promise. The shapes and sculptures of the cathedral are not the well-defined, finely carved out ones that you will find on other grand cathedrals, but more sketched ideas and visions that let our imaginations fill in the gaps. It is one of the coolest and most impressive things I have ever seen, and it is amazing to think that it is still being constructed, and is planned to finish in about 20 more years. All present designs are based on Gaudi’s own notes and designs that he left behind after he died, with his idea of the grandest cathedral in the world still alive and breathing in Barcelona.

It really is amazing the amount of renovation and construction going on throughout Europe right now. It seems that with every major museum, cathedral, or other attraction we see, there is just as much if not more scaffolding associated with it. There is a great absence of quality photo opportunities of these sights right now because of the cranes, scaffolding, junk piles, and everything else that comes along with construction and renovation. It is too bad, but I guess that just forces us to use our imaginations. The scaffolding construction though is very impressive, but I wouldn’t want to be one of those guys working 300 feet up and dangling off a ledge, trying to touch up a little statue that was created 800 years ago.

The rest of our time in Barcelona was spent relaxing. We went down to the beach to get some sun, but found that the beach wasn’t much of a beach and the wind was a little strong. It was a little overcast, so we didn’t get much sun, but it was still interesting to see.

Our last night in Barcelona was spent hanging out with some of the local Catalonians. Okay, I will explain this because it is a little complicated. So think of Catalonia as a part of Spain that doesn’t really want to be a part of Spain. Most of the people think of themselves first as Catalonians, and second as Spanish. There is a building movement to create a Catalonian country, since the language is different (Catalonian is a mix of Spanish, French, and Italian, but it is difficult to understand for me, and even difficult in some cases for native Spanish people), the culture is very different, and there is a very distinct area of the country that this is confined to. A river (I forgot the name) is the southern border of this region, and the Catalonian influence stretches all the way into southern France. In fact, and I did not know this, there are even a few small villages in Sicily, Italy that are Catalonian, where Catalonian is the main language and Italian is secondary. That was very cool to discover. Okay, back to our last night in Barcelona. So we went down to the waterfront and saw a free concert with several rock bands from throughout Spain. After having fun listening to some good music, we joined some friends and went into a few local bars, far away from the tourist areas of town. We sampled leche de pantera (“Panther’s milk”), which is a sweet alcoholic drink that is rather tasty in my opinion. After a few bottles of that, along with two large servings of cabrales cheese (a locally made cheese that is very strong, but also incredibly delicious, especially when combined with alcohol!), we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. Despite having to catch an early bus the next morning to start a full day of traveling to Innsbruck, we managed to extend the night until after 3 in the morning, and then somehow wrestle ourselves out of bed and basically into the bus to the airport. It was a great day and exactly what I was hoping for, some time away from the tourist scene and getting into the authentic Barcelona experience, while learning some about the culture too. Well, adios Barcelona, but Germany and Austria are calling now.

Bruges, Belgium

Stop #2 on our quick European tour was Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is considered to be the Venice of the North, and historically, was one of the most powerful and busiest cities in Europe, due to the large ports that used to connect the city to the sea. Bruges did immediately remind me of Venice, with its cobblestone streets, scarcity of vehicles, and tons of canals everywhere you look, kind of creating this surreal feeling of perpetual confusion as to where you actually are, but at the same time, producing an environment so pleasing and relaxing that you really don’t care that you’re lost. Most of the local people here in Bruges ride their bikes everywhere, especially since the city is so small that you can virtually get from any one place to another within 10 minutes on a bike, not having to worry about finding a parking place. Unlike Amsterdam, Bruges seems much more bike-friendly, as there are no confusing bike lane lines running all over the streets, there is very little vehicle traffic, and trams are not constantly trying to run you over from several different directions at once.

Sitting in the Market Square, drinking our first Belgian beer in Belgium, we watched local kids race around the giant statues in the square on their bikes, narrowly missing tourists and grinning with delight. The noise and constant movement of Amsterdam seems very far away from the casual, serene atmosphere we found here.
We met a very friendly couple who offered us a place to stay, and then also gave us a quick tour of the city. We were able to see a few places that tourists typically don’t get to see, which was really cool. After our quick little tour, we sat down with them in a local pub and sampled our first Belgian beer and pub experience. The variety of beer here is truly astounding, and as someone who does not know a lot about beer in the first place, I was a little overwhelmed. Luckily, the locals helped offer their advice to us whenever they could.

Our second day in Bruges was filled with a little more sightseeing, but at a very relaxing pace. Bruges is small enough that you can just saunter through the streets, not racing around to see every little museum and church that is on the tourist walk. Our first stop was the Chapel of the Holy Blood, where some blood from the second Crusade was brought back and is kept in a chalice behind one of the altars in this church. The church itself is very beautiful, and although it no not a huge church, I found it to be among the finest churches I have seen. Below the chapel is another little basilica, carved into stone walls. It is a dark, older chapel in the ground, but was very nice and reminded me a lot of the underground chapel in the hospital in Sienna, Italy—probably my favorite church I’ve seen, period. The simplicity of it is the most impressive thing I think. There are no fancy paintings or stained glass windows. There is a silence there, but also something powerful that cannot be explained. It is hard to describe, but it is one of those things that you can only feel, but not put into words.

After the Chapel of the Holy Blood, we visited the Church of Our Lady, the largest brick building in the world. It is a huge church, with the centerpiece being a sculpture by Michelangelo, the Madonna with Child. It is one of Michelangelo’s few pieces that can be found outside of Italy. Like everything of Michelangelo’s that I’ve seen, this was incredibly impressive and another example of just what a genius the man really was. The church itself was also amazing, probably ranking as one of my favorites as well. After trying to experience a little more of Belgium through an authentic hot chocolate and chocolate Belgian waffle (that was a little too much chocolate in one meal for me, but absolutely delicious), we took a canal ride through Bruges. It was very relaxing and provided us with a different perspective of the city. We also visited a few windmills, bought some food at a market and had a picnic in a small square, and bought two big blocks of chocolate at the Chocolate Line store, rated as one, if not the best, chocolate stores in the world. However, because we bought this chocolate in blocks because it is cheaper that way, we had forgotten that we had nothing to cut them with, finally resorting to smashing the bag against the ground numerous times to try to break the block into pieces. As you can imagine, our success varied.

Later in the day, we met Lies, a really cute, friendly girl who grew up in Bruges and works as a psychoanalytical nurse. We spent the night drinking champagne, beer, and red wine (I know, quite the combination) and talking about random topics. It was a lot of fun and another good opportunity to hear about what life is like in Bruges. I hope she wasn't trying to get into my head too much. If so, she might need to drink a little more!
The best part about Bruges, besides spending the time with the friendly people we met, was just getting lost in the maze of cobblestone streets that is Bruges. In that way, it was exactly like Venice. I would love to return to Bruges a little later in life, when I have a little more money to spend (hopefully that time will come one day), and sample the fantastic cuisine and more of the mouthwatering chocolate that really sets Bruges apart from most places. Until that time comes, I will have a lot of fond memories of this place to keep me company.

Back to Europe-- Amsterdam

So after a few years away from Europe, the time has finally arrived for me to find my way back. I have a lot of friends over there that I have been waiting to see, and I am also excited to see a few places I have never been before. This trip will also be a little different because I will be traveling with someone for the first time, at least for the first few weeks, my cousin Tyler.

After a long day of flying, we finally arrived in Amsterdam, our first stop along the way.

It really is a bike city here. It seems like everyone is on a bike and that there are as many bike lanes as there are car lanes. You do have to really pay attention when walking around though, and the complex system of bike lanes seems to put pedestrians in the constant crossfire of schoolgirls riding by, middle-aged men bringing groceries home on the back of their bikes, and the leisurely recreationists just out enjoying the sun. Within our first few hours, both my cousin and I had narrowly missed being taken out by enthusiastic Dutch cyclists.

We visited Rijksmuseum, the National Museum, where we were treated to 15 or so paintings by the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt. His play with light and dark in his images is still very awesome to see and brings a realism to his paintings that I haven’t found in the works of too many other artists. After the museum, both Tyler and I felt as if we were about to collapse from exhaustion, having basically been awake for the last 27 hours, with only 3-4 hours of sleep separating us from 72 sleepless hours.

After a resuscitating 3-4 hour nap, we almost felt normal again and decided to head out to see Amsterdam at night, and that meant one thing—the Red Light District. Okay, so up until this point, Amsterdam seemed to be pretty typical of a lot of European cities—many old alleys and streets full of little shops and eateries, tons of people walking the streets all the time, and old buildings and fantastic architecture dominating the skyline. Well, the Red Light District definitely separated Amsterdam from the rest of the European cities I have visited, in one way or another. Nowhere else have I seen half-naked girls sitting and standing in shop windows, (illuminated by red lights of course) smiling at passersby and inviting them to come in for a visit. Sex was selling all over the place, with erotic shops and boutiques, as well as strip clubs and places advertising live peep shows lining both sides of the old canalways. In fact, there was even your typical Erotic Museum and Sex Museum, both of which were strictly for educating the public on the history of both eroticism and sex. I personally did not have the opportunity to sample these two museums, but I am sure that the displays were quite interesting, and the interactive movies were even more entertaining.

It was very surreal walking through these streets, and then realizing how different that it was from good old Utah! Well, I guess my cousin couldn’t ever have as much culture shock as he must have experienced there. It was very interesting even for me. The prevalence of cafes is also astounding, especially considering that every one also promotes itself as a “smoke club” where you can buy marijuana and smoke it there. I’m sure that if you are a pothead, Amsterdam would be close to Nirvana for you, but since I don’t think I exactly fall into that category, it was just very interesting to see and didn’t really affect me in any way. Oh, that is except for the ever-present smell of weed permeating every street and alley. At times, I almost felt that I was getting high just by being there. That feeling definitely started to wear on me after a day or two.

After a decent night’s sleep finally, we took a guided tour around the city, which ended up being very entertaining and informative at the same time. We learned about the history of the city, from its founding, to its development through the Dutch East Indies Company, and then the occupation of the city by Nazi forces during the second World War. Some of the most interesting things to see were how some of the buildings built around the canals were slouching into crooked positions because of the fact that their foundations were sinking in the swamp-like ground below them. The famous Febo chain of stores was something different. Here you can purchase on-the-spot hot snacks, sandwiches, and anything else that you might want when you have the munchies after passing the time in one of the cafés. However, the difference is that you buy them out of coin-operated vending machines. Neither my cousin nor myself dared to try the aforementioned snacks, for fear a good portion of our trip would be spent on the toilet. We also learned that one of the favorite pastimes of drunken Amsterdamers is to try to find bicycles that aren’t locked up (there are over 85,000 bicycles stolen within the city limits each year!) and to throw them into one of the several canals in the city, trying to see which ones create the biggest splashes. In fact, this is even occasionally done with those little Smartcars, since you can almost literally give them a heave and they will roll along, right down into the canal. Hmm, I know that wouldn’t be funny for the owner, but I would kind of like to see that.

It is still remarkable to me how many close encounters with cyclists I see daily. It seems like the locals on the bike are playing some game that rewards them for mowing down tourists. They are pretty good at at least scaring us with their kamikaze riding. And scooters being able to zoom down the bike lane? Horrible idea! Having someone cruising at 25 miles per hour basically along the sidewalk is just asking for trouble.

One highlight of our trip to Amsterdam was our visit to Ann Frank’s house. This was a little weird because the exterior is all surrounded by metal and glass, almost like it is in a cage. No pictures were allowed inside, unfortunately. The fact that the family hid in that space for 2 years is downright amazing and something I can’t even imagine. Perfectly covered by a bookcase, the hiding rooms were much bigger than I thought they would be, but still, a very crammed, little place that would drive anyone crazy. The experience was very cool, and I especially liked this large photo of Otto Frank, Ann’s father, looking back into the attic 5 or 6 years after Ann had died in Auschwitz. What a powerful photo, with his mind seemingly transformed back in time to the hardest difficulties he would ever face. The experience definitely sparked my interest to read Ann Frank’s Diary, which I learned is the second-most translated book in the world, just after the Holy Bible.

Another highlight of mine was seeing the incredible number of famous Dutch tulips present in the city. I love tulips and it was great being able to see bright red and gold tulips all over the place. I am sure that if I had a girlfriend here, she would be drowning in tulips every week, just because I couldn’t help myself.

So here are my final thoughts of Amsterdam, before heading off to Bruges on a train tomorrow. Amsterdam is unlike any other city I have been to before. The fact that prostitution and marijuana are legal here creates an environment I would almost compare to Las Vegas. If these were things I enjoyed, I would probably think that this place was amazing. However, I generally find that the types of people Amsterdam attracts are the kinds of people I would rather not mingle with too much. The canals and bike-friendly environment of Amsterdam are really cool and it would probably be a pretty cool place after you get out of the tourist areas, but we didn’t have enough time to really explore the city like I wanted. I think that Amsterdam is just so hyped up that you can’t help but to have very high expectations of this place. I know I did. However, when I compare it to many of the other cities I have visited throughout Europe, I find that there are several other cities in which I would rather spend my time. It was nice seeing the city that is so famous, or maybe infamous, around the world, but now it is time to go see another city that I suspect will be a little more to my liking- Bruges, Belgium.