Oh my gosh we skipped Germany! Ken and I are currently in Nice, France after 3+ weeks in Germany, a visit to Strasbourg, and a quick jaunt to Luxembourg, and we didn’t blog once! Have no fear; we took notes, and many many mental pictures.
We both LOVED Germany. I feel that it’s not so necessary to go into detail about every day we spent there, but to explain how the trip is progressing and twisting and changing, all for the better. We visited Berlin for 4 days and 4 nights and after about half a day it became evident that this was not enough time. The culture there is so diverse and the city so huge and changing at every turn it is impossible to really see everything without at least a week, but probably more. I admit fully to my ignorance about the Berlin Wall and the divide of East and West Germany prior to this trip. We took a FANTASTIC and free tour around the city (did I say FANTASTIC?) and we barely stepped out of East Berlin! The stories we heard from our guide were so unbelievable, and yet when you stand and stare at an expanse of wall that runs down the middle of a city street you can’t help but shake your head. And now, to look at the way the city has bounced back and embraces its history you just want to shake the hand of every German you meet. (A quick note to mention that we LOVED the Germans we met, but more about this in a moment.) The most fascinating concept we learned about Germany, that we still haven’t quite grasped (but frankly, Germans struggle with it as well), is the concept of living with your past and honouring the history without being drowned by it. We stayed in hostels, with local residents, did tours and went to museums and memorials and they all state the same thing. How do we honour the victims of WWII and the inhabitants whose lives were torn apart by the few decades in history where Germany was the enemy whilst realizing that we, the survivors, were not the culprits? Until the 2006 FIFA world cup help in Germany, it was entirely uncommon to see a person flying their German flag with pride for fear of being called a Nationalist. It totally puts into perspective the confusion Canadians feel over being proud. I think of the history lessons we learn about Canadians during the two major wars and we sounds like downright heroes. Imagine that the Germans are taught they were all monsters.
Germany is very advanced in many ways and the most evident of this was the total acceptance for art in all forms. We visited a bombed out WWII building which has been taken over by squatters, but not the way we Canadians see squatters, these people make it their life’s passion to create art for people and to live simply. They create beautiful murals and take old broken cars and paint them, they grow gardens down ravines long since forgotten. ‘Tachales’ is the name of the squat and if you want a bonfire in the middle of a big city, or an outdoor bar, or a club, or a room full or stunningly provocative art, this is the place to visit. We actually went first during a pub-crawl and enjoyed the space first as partygoers, and then again a few days later during the day to visit the quieter artists studios. I could have spend a whole day meandering through this building and I only wish there had been a dance performance or a theatre show during our visit.
Munich was great and made even better by the two wonderful women we stayed with. Joanna and Beate are an older gay couple who by the end of our four-day stay became more than just hosts, they became friends. There are many exciting things about Munich itself but this city was made all the more exciting because we loved even the quiet moments drinking coffee and watching ‘Bones’ their favourite TV show. I have to mention that Hoffbrau House, the oldest and most famous beer hall in Munich absolutely lives up to its fame. 1 litre of beer is about 7euro and let me tell you, for a smaller woman one is enough; too bad I didn’t stop there. I have added a photo of Ken below that we like to call ‘The Bet,’ you can ask him what the terms of the bet were but I warn you he is sworn to secrecy.
Another day that must be mentioned is the day we went to Dachau concentration camp. We spent 6 hours wandering through the grounds and the museum and by the end of the day I was so sick to my stomach it took the entire 40 minute tram ride home to regain some feeling of normalcy. And even now as we sit on trains or take warm showers I think of some of the quotes I read, personal accounts of either survivors of final postcards thrown desperately from trains as it entered the grounds of this horror. The most frightening part of the visit was that the whole camp is surrounded by a suburb. People went about their daily lives whilst people were dying and being tortured right outside their windows. I absolutely recognize the fear factor that reigned through the people during this time, but I can’t imagine living with this knowledge. The guilt must have eaten away at them. It was on one hand very hard to imagine that at one time 32 000 people were imprisoned here. The camp was built to house 6000. While we visited the site, we would often go an hour at a time without seeing another person. And yet you feel the presence so deeply in your bones that there are ghosts living in the earth you can’t stop shivering. We took only 3 photos whilst in Dachau. We wanted to show people want we saw if only so you can all feel a fraction of what we did, without glorifying in any way the memorial site.
After Munich we went to Heidelburg where it snowed and created a picture perfect day to play on the grounds of a castle. We loved this beautiful village. The winding streets going up up up the side of a mountain and through narrow cobbled alleys. We took a ‘hike’ up philosopher’s walk and across the old bridge. This was particularly treacherous due to very wet snow and a very dense fog.
We also visited Cologne and Dresden. It got colder and colder each day. But have no fear! Our hosts in Cologne were lovely and gave us a free pass to a day spa. Seriously, sometimes I can’t believe the kindness of strangers. They asked us one night what our plans were for the next day and we told them we would go to a nearby town to enjoy a spa our guidebook had mentioned. But, when we researched this online we found that in the short time we were in Cologne the spa was under renovation. (Seriously, this whole continent is under construction!) After a short discussion in German they told us they have a pass that their work refills whenever they finish the money on it. So, the next day we walked through a very COLD town to a beautiful spa. It was a little strange at first, as we discovered the people of Germany don’t care if you are male or female in the change room, so OK, off came the clothes and freely we walked through the spa wearing nothing but the gifts God gave us. The sauna is our new best friend. We lay in a room of 90°C where a man performed a relaxation and detoxification ritual using peppermint and other herbed oils. It was fabulous. I swear my skin was breathing for the first time in a month. And then, when you can’t handle the heat for one more minute you step outside, yes outside, on the snowy terrace and let your skin steam off. Bliss.
Dresden was awesome because we stayed with a student who is very active in couch surfing. We had a horrendous day of traveling across the country. A snowstorm which hit the south of Germany (and much of the UK as we later found out) kicked the crap out of the DeutchesBahn network leaving us stuck on a train from Frankfurt to Dresden standing in the little accordion section between two cars with all our bags and not an inch of space. Needless to say, by the time we arrived at the Couchsurfing monthly meeting at Café-100 we needed a beer- badly. We had a great time exploring the city that was completely destroyed overnight by a bomb-raid in WWII and then rebuilt to look like a Medieval town as it did pre-war. We saw the church that was rebuilt, the Baroque ‘playground’ the old palace and many other beautiful sites. Though nothing quite sticks out like the piece-de-resistance that we went to Dresden just to see: Oh yes! The 2, 010 pound fruitcake that they wheel through the streets of the town to the famous Christmas market to be cut up and served to the locals. So weird but hey PROST! We had a blast in Dresden and I personally was not ready to leave. We had one moment in particular that was really special- our host made us homemade sushi. Ken has wanted to try this for a long time and I resisted because I thought it was way too hard, but it turns out its rather easy and I would gladly do it again. I’ll make an adventurous eater out of him yet!
So yeah, every day gets crazier and crazier. Seriously, I didn’t even melt down on our horrible travel day. I just laughed and knocked the cap off my bottle of beer and took a swig. I mean really, am I not the luckiest person right now? And I actually do feel it. I smile all the time. I generally thought of myself as a happy person before this but every day the dreams of where I would like my life to go become more and more concrete as I see things that I NEVER expected to see. And so, to dream the impossible dream, becomes, if not for an mere instant, to live the impossible life.
One magical moment
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Chocolate, beer and waffles. And a little boy who pees.
Yikes! This is what happens when you are having fun. You don’t write any blog posts. But I have to say. The times are getting good. Brussels was a wild and wacky experience. We arrived midday to stay with a couchsurfer who had agreed to host us for 3 nights. He was having a party with a bunch of other people, mostly couch surfers and we had a wicked Moroccan meal then it was off to French class. I know, random right? Well this guy is really active within couchsurfing and he hosts these French conversation practice classes. Everyone just meets at a bar and the only rule is that you must speak French. It was awesome! I was totally in my element, and they considered me in the expert category… awesome. Plus I learned a great sentence to annoy my mother with: “Ca ne ma rien de la foutre.”
That night we were just hanging out at homebase and in pops another surfer! Now there were four of us. We ended up talking till 2 am with a Belgian guy, a Bosnian girl and a German girl.
Day one in Brussels found us getting a tour with our host, we saw the beautiful Gothic town hall and Grand Place, the Arc de Triomph ( I know…. I thought it was in Paris too, turns out, there are a few.) The Mannequin Pis. Did you know they dress him in little costumes? I tried my first Belgian waffle. Oh My God. I now know why they are famous. North American waffles do NOT compare. We saw the European union headquarters, the palace of justice, all the famous museums. It was all pretty excellent. I must say, Brussels is pretty dirty. Especially the central station. And there are a lot of homeless people. There was one guy in the underground system who I saw a bunch of times with three dogs and a rabbit. No seriously, a rabbit. Sheesh. On our tour we ended up picking up ANOTHER surfer from central station. She was an American girl who is working in Turkey. Later that night as we were all sitting around reading, chatting, planning the next stages of our travel, yet ANOTHER surfer arrived. One girl had left earlier that day so now we had 5 surfers. The whole heard of us went out for a beer late in the evening and it was seriously like a bunch of sheep following the sheppard.
Day two we went walking around some more. We ended up at the Magritte museum. I’m not especially versed in art but the surrealist style this guy used was pretty exciting. They also had a bunch of quotes of his on the walls. Ma favourite read:
“Tout ce que je sais de l’espoir que je met dans l’amour, c’est qu’il n’appartient qu’a une femme de lui donner une realite.”
We bid adieu to Brussels quite early day 3 and spent an afternoon in Ghent. A quaint medieval town that had a castle called the Gravensteen (the count’s castle). It was excellent exploring the building, the views of the city were gorgeous, and the information regarding the history of the town, dating back to the 12th century. It of course had other purposes since, a prison, a courthouse, apparently even a cotton factory. Now it’s an awesome museum with a lot of history of torture, complete with guillotine.
That night it was off ot Elseghem. A tiny village in the Belgian countryside where we met some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever encountered. We were some of the first Canadians to meet Ken’s distant Belgian relatives. They served us a beautiful meal, we got along really well, learning about life in Belgium. The conversation was often quite funny because they speak Flemish (a dialect of Dutch) and we know very little. Dank u well. We spent a perfect day walking around farm country (yay sheep!), meeting 2nd cousins twice removed, eating waffles and cheese, and drinking beer made by monks. We also took a trip to Ypres and saw Tyne Cott cemetery, the largest commonwealth cemetery in the world. It commemorates the soldiers who fought during the first world war, notably the battle of Passchedale. I found this absolutely breathtaking. 12, 000 gravestones. 35, 000 names of men missing in action. New Zealand seeing it’s greatest loss in the history of the country, nearly 1/6 of the population. My great grandfather fought in this battle and survived and I must say, Flanders Fields is probably the most powerful place I’ve ever visited. In the town of Ypres there is an arch that leads into the city centre that has many more names of fallen soldiers and every day at 8pm they do the Last Post. They have performed this ritual every single day since 1928. I shivered throughout the trumpet playing and looked around at over 200 people gathered. This apparently is a wonderfully normal occurrence. I felt down to my very core the truth of the words: “Never Forget”
Early the next morning it was travel time again this time GERMANY! We took a wonderfully long train from Elseghem to Brussels, Brussels to Cologne and the Cologne to Berlin. I think for most this would see annoying and long. It was long, but traveling is something we are really enjoying. It offers us time to sit, view the countryside, sleep, read, listen to music. Little things that we used to take for granted but are now quite special. Plus, first class all the way baby! Plus, on this day Ken and I celebrated 4 years together. Happy Anniversary!
That night we were just hanging out at homebase and in pops another surfer! Now there were four of us. We ended up talking till 2 am with a Belgian guy, a Bosnian girl and a German girl.
Day one in Brussels found us getting a tour with our host, we saw the beautiful Gothic town hall and Grand Place, the Arc de Triomph ( I know…. I thought it was in Paris too, turns out, there are a few.) The Mannequin Pis. Did you know they dress him in little costumes? I tried my first Belgian waffle. Oh My God. I now know why they are famous. North American waffles do NOT compare. We saw the European union headquarters, the palace of justice, all the famous museums. It was all pretty excellent. I must say, Brussels is pretty dirty. Especially the central station. And there are a lot of homeless people. There was one guy in the underground system who I saw a bunch of times with three dogs and a rabbit. No seriously, a rabbit. Sheesh. On our tour we ended up picking up ANOTHER surfer from central station. She was an American girl who is working in Turkey. Later that night as we were all sitting around reading, chatting, planning the next stages of our travel, yet ANOTHER surfer arrived. One girl had left earlier that day so now we had 5 surfers. The whole heard of us went out for a beer late in the evening and it was seriously like a bunch of sheep following the sheppard.
Day two we went walking around some more. We ended up at the Magritte museum. I’m not especially versed in art but the surrealist style this guy used was pretty exciting. They also had a bunch of quotes of his on the walls. Ma favourite read:
“Tout ce que je sais de l’espoir que je met dans l’amour, c’est qu’il n’appartient qu’a une femme de lui donner une realite.”
We bid adieu to Brussels quite early day 3 and spent an afternoon in Ghent. A quaint medieval town that had a castle called the Gravensteen (the count’s castle). It was excellent exploring the building, the views of the city were gorgeous, and the information regarding the history of the town, dating back to the 12th century. It of course had other purposes since, a prison, a courthouse, apparently even a cotton factory. Now it’s an awesome museum with a lot of history of torture, complete with guillotine.
That night it was off ot Elseghem. A tiny village in the Belgian countryside where we met some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever encountered. We were some of the first Canadians to meet Ken’s distant Belgian relatives. They served us a beautiful meal, we got along really well, learning about life in Belgium. The conversation was often quite funny because they speak Flemish (a dialect of Dutch) and we know very little. Dank u well. We spent a perfect day walking around farm country (yay sheep!), meeting 2nd cousins twice removed, eating waffles and cheese, and drinking beer made by monks. We also took a trip to Ypres and saw Tyne Cott cemetery, the largest commonwealth cemetery in the world. It commemorates the soldiers who fought during the first world war, notably the battle of Passchedale. I found this absolutely breathtaking. 12, 000 gravestones. 35, 000 names of men missing in action. New Zealand seeing it’s greatest loss in the history of the country, nearly 1/6 of the population. My great grandfather fought in this battle and survived and I must say, Flanders Fields is probably the most powerful place I’ve ever visited. In the town of Ypres there is an arch that leads into the city centre that has many more names of fallen soldiers and every day at 8pm they do the Last Post. They have performed this ritual every single day since 1928. I shivered throughout the trumpet playing and looked around at over 200 people gathered. This apparently is a wonderfully normal occurrence. I felt down to my very core the truth of the words: “Never Forget”
Early the next morning it was travel time again this time GERMANY! We took a wonderfully long train from Elseghem to Brussels, Brussels to Cologne and the Cologne to Berlin. I think for most this would see annoying and long. It was long, but traveling is something we are really enjoying. It offers us time to sit, view the countryside, sleep, read, listen to music. Little things that we used to take for granted but are now quite special. Plus, first class all the way baby! Plus, on this day Ken and I celebrated 4 years together. Happy Anniversary!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Night out and the capital
In Brugge, we stayed at a relatively alright hostel. First night was ok, meal was overpriced and lame, beer was cheap. Got some sleep, made it in time for breakfast but it sucked. We were at the hostel after midnight and wanted to go out and be social. We looked up a local bar in our travel guide and headed out. We had a few cocktails, met a local bartender then returned home around 2AM.
The "Irish boys" as we have begun to call them arrived at the hostel at 2AM and really wanted to party. Without getting into details it was a long, noisy and frustrating night. We complained and they upgraded us for free to a private single room.
The Irish boys would have been awesome guys to party with on a regular night but not when you are trying to sleep.
The last nght in Brugge we made a point to return home early, buy some beer, have a nap, wake up and party on the town. So we did. We got as dressed up as we could as two backpackers could. Next door was a large party, club style with a DJ. It was the epidemy of Euro-trash; extremely young, Justin Bieber look-a-likes each with their own sideways cap, hooded sweater over the hat and earphones. The girls apparently love it. Along with a few goons sleeping in the corner of the very loud club, the youngsters were getting groovy with each other, I swear I saw two of them stroking each others umbilical cords.
We took a choo-choo to Brussels and it was very relaxing. Trains rock. I was hoping that the ticket wouldnt get punched and we could use it again on a later date. I could easily change and 11 into a 14 or 17. But the guy came and foiled my whole plan. Were living with a couchsurfer, moving on to my relatives place later in the week and then on to Berlin. We reserved a ticket. Without our pass the journey would have cost us $456 Euro's. Again, first class all the way.
We booked a hotel in Paris for three nights over Christmas. Felt god to get that done. Now we just have to worry about where to spend New Years. Also, we have begun looking at Workaway, which is a program that allows you to live and eat in exchange for a few hours work each day. Could be cool. Who Knows.
The "Irish boys" as we have begun to call them arrived at the hostel at 2AM and really wanted to party. Without getting into details it was a long, noisy and frustrating night. We complained and they upgraded us for free to a private single room.
The Irish boys would have been awesome guys to party with on a regular night but not when you are trying to sleep.
The last nght in Brugge we made a point to return home early, buy some beer, have a nap, wake up and party on the town. So we did. We got as dressed up as we could as two backpackers could. Next door was a large party, club style with a DJ. It was the epidemy of Euro-trash; extremely young, Justin Bieber look-a-likes each with their own sideways cap, hooded sweater over the hat and earphones. The girls apparently love it. Along with a few goons sleeping in the corner of the very loud club, the youngsters were getting groovy with each other, I swear I saw two of them stroking each others umbilical cords.
We took a choo-choo to Brussels and it was very relaxing. Trains rock. I was hoping that the ticket wouldnt get punched and we could use it again on a later date. I could easily change and 11 into a 14 or 17. But the guy came and foiled my whole plan. Were living with a couchsurfer, moving on to my relatives place later in the week and then on to Berlin. We reserved a ticket. Without our pass the journey would have cost us $456 Euro's. Again, first class all the way.
We booked a hotel in Paris for three nights over Christmas. Felt god to get that done. Now we just have to worry about where to spend New Years. Also, we have begun looking at Workaway, which is a program that allows you to live and eat in exchange for a few hours work each day. Could be cool. Who Knows.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Getting good.
Well, we just arrived in Brugge (In Brugge?) and we’re in love. With the city, and more and more with each other. Amsterdam was, well weird. And Rotterdam was a whirlwind. Delft was just wet. Ok- backtrack. So we went to Amsterdam and stayed in the scariest hostel ever. Neither of us had ever been in a hostel before but for 10euro a night, we got what we paid for. We arrived after getting lost a bunch of times and getting misdirected by some local cops- to a girl screaming at the reception guys who eventually called the cops on her. Then, no idea if it was intentional or not but we almost got swindled by the guy at reception for 10euro. Ken who had his sharp wit about him caught it and got me my money back. I was like… is this hostel life? Cuz I’m not cut out for this!
We’ve been so paranoid about money and pickpockets the trip has been almost a bit stressful so far. It’s like we’re trying to survive without ever eating and we are trying not to look like tourists even when with big backpacks on our backs, we obviously look like tourists. I finally had to say to Ken- you know most countries like tourists, as long as we don’t cause a traffic jam or anything I think it’s ok. We’re so Canadian! Scared to be impolite, or annoying… when in reality here the culture is a lot more shall we call it- blunt. People say what they feel, with no filter.
That first night we went hunting for food and got a ham and cheese sandwich and some nachos for way too much money. Then, off to the ‘coffee shops’ we made it to The Bulldog and asked to see the menu. The guy was nice, obviously used to people asking for some explanation, and we took part is a little piece of Netherlands tradition- Fred. Fred came ready rolled and HUGE! by my standards. We smoked and sat for a while in the heart of Amsterdam, adjusting to this strange reality. (Dad, breathe… you only live once). On the walk back to the hostel, the inevitable philosophical conversation started… Fred will do that to you. See, Ken is having a bit of a hard time with this whole trip. He misses home. He’s a creature of comfort. I think we both had an idea in our heads of the ‘woo hoo! TRAVEL’ adventure mentality. But in reality, that’s not who we are. Don’t get me wrong, I had my meltdown. Tears, yelling, the whole bit. Be he has to reevaluate this trip pretty often. He’s lonely. I tell him I’m here for him. I try to get peppy and do the usual ‘Kalene’ thing, and try to fix it. But of course, this is the journey we are on. I can’t fix it. He has to decide for himself that this CAN be fun and adventurous, as long as we stick true to ourselves.
Day two in Amstedam was much better. We found our new hostel, a bit far but nice, clean and huge. We already knew we would meet some good people. We went off exploring and found Anne Frank house. It’s pretty unbelievable. That girl was wise well beyond her years. The house is so tall and narrow the stairs are downright scary. We both loved the experience of seeing everything. They even have some posters of Anne’s favourite actors and musicians of the time on the wall, preserved on the original wallpaper. Otto Frank, Anne’s father and the only remaining relative after the war, actually cut down the wallpaper to preserve it . He worked for two years to make Anne’s dream of publishing a book about a family who lives out the war in hiding come true.
The next day we went to the sex museum (can we say tourist trap?) and that night we went on a pub crawl in the red light district. Another oddity of Amsterdam. It was really strange to see girls sitting or standing in these little glass cubicles trying to attract men. And then to see someone either enter of exit the little rooms, wow. Just plain weird to me. And, it costs these girls a FORTUNE to rent the spaces. Often 150euro for an 8 hour shift. They charge abound 70 euro per guy… just for the basics (use your imagination people).
Sunday we had to check out and we went on a free, 3 hour guided tour of the city. It was AWESOME. The guide was really well informed and gave tons of insight into the history, current lifestyle and curiosities of the city (for example, she explained that the buildings pay taxes based on the width of the house… hmm). Next, we went to meet our next couchsurfing host Rik at his place and got to know him. He is a really nice Dutch guy who is a cop. He let us stay at his place the next morning and let ourselves out when we were ready to get going which was awesome.
We had a nice couple relaxing days in Amsterdam after that went to a bar to listen to a Canadian friend Tavo’s band and then Tuesday we bid Amsterdam adieu and were off to Rotterdam!
Rotterdam is totally different than Amsterdam. It’s big, built up and modern. I mean really modern. The whole town was bombed flat during the war and so everything had to be rebuilt within the last 50 years. They love their modern art so there are some great funny sculptures around. The most famous is a huge Christmas gnome holding a really weird object. He has been nicknamed, yup- the buttplug gnome. So funny. We basically toured the whole city, which is quite small but has some fun stuff. It seemed like summer would’ve been a bustling port city (it’s the 2nd largest port in the world after Shanghai). I was absolutely frozen stiff when we got to Rotterdam so off we went to the shopping district (yippee!) to buy me a coat.
Here, we stayed with an amazing Aussie couple from Melbourne named Mandy and Andrew who really showed us an awesome time. They live right in the middle of the city in an old apartment that has no fence on the roof! It was so scary up there because the wind is INSANE in the Netherlands. But we got a really excellent view of the whole city and even saw the bridge where the Tour De France started last July. Pretty excellent. We hit up some great restaurants and had way too much beer (I couldn’t keep up!) But may I just say, Turkish food, pretty yummy.
You might think after 7 days in The Netherlands this would be enough, but nope. We had to hit up Delft before we left. It’s a small little town near the Hague where that classic blue and white pottery stuff comes from. I really enjoyed it and we stopped at 11:11am next to the old church to have a moment of silence for Remembrance Day. I was actually really surprised because everyone in London wore poppies but in The Netherlands I didn’t see a single one. It was however beautiful listening to the bells, which chimed for the whole 11th hour (except for one minute at 11:11). We got absolutely sopping wet so we cut the visit short and we decided it was high time that we headed off to BRUGGE! However, not before we realized that our train passes got us into the 1st class lounge. Um, SCORE! We got free coffee and a nice, clean, FREE bathroom. Plus we took pop for the train ride.
The train was actually wonderfully relaxing. We also got first class seats which didn’t mean much this time but for the girl who is used to saying ‘give me the cheapest thing you got’ it was pretty fun none-the-less.
Brugge is stunning. We are both really excited to be here. Belgian beer! Belgian waffles! Belgian Chocolate! I’m in! We have a hostel here for three nights which is highly rated so we’ll see. I’m just excited to see the Medieval stuff. It’s all been rebuilt here but I’m still excited.
I feel like I’m settling in to this moment to moment business ok. I still sometimes get caught up in the advice people have given us and I forget to look at the things I actually want to do or see, or how I feel like things should be done. We were given so much advice, which I know was all done with good intention, but it’s proving to be downright annoying. (Yes dad, I am cold and wet. No, the couchsurfing thing isn’t always perfect. Yes I do wish I had a smaller bag sometimes. No my shoes are NOT waterproof). The thing is, no matter what happens, we will fuck up. We will not see or do everything, and there will always be someone who thinks we could’ve ‘done it better’ but right now whenever I get those moments (however fleeting) where I feel like ‘wow’ I’m in fucking BRUGGE. I can’t explain the power that comes with that. And no matter how we live our lives no one gets those moments all the time. You just bide your time until next one comes and you can pump your fist and say ‘FUCK YEAH! I’m THERE!’
We’ve been so paranoid about money and pickpockets the trip has been almost a bit stressful so far. It’s like we’re trying to survive without ever eating and we are trying not to look like tourists even when with big backpacks on our backs, we obviously look like tourists. I finally had to say to Ken- you know most countries like tourists, as long as we don’t cause a traffic jam or anything I think it’s ok. We’re so Canadian! Scared to be impolite, or annoying… when in reality here the culture is a lot more shall we call it- blunt. People say what they feel, with no filter.
That first night we went hunting for food and got a ham and cheese sandwich and some nachos for way too much money. Then, off to the ‘coffee shops’ we made it to The Bulldog and asked to see the menu. The guy was nice, obviously used to people asking for some explanation, and we took part is a little piece of Netherlands tradition- Fred. Fred came ready rolled and HUGE! by my standards. We smoked and sat for a while in the heart of Amsterdam, adjusting to this strange reality. (Dad, breathe… you only live once). On the walk back to the hostel, the inevitable philosophical conversation started… Fred will do that to you. See, Ken is having a bit of a hard time with this whole trip. He misses home. He’s a creature of comfort. I think we both had an idea in our heads of the ‘woo hoo! TRAVEL’ adventure mentality. But in reality, that’s not who we are. Don’t get me wrong, I had my meltdown. Tears, yelling, the whole bit. Be he has to reevaluate this trip pretty often. He’s lonely. I tell him I’m here for him. I try to get peppy and do the usual ‘Kalene’ thing, and try to fix it. But of course, this is the journey we are on. I can’t fix it. He has to decide for himself that this CAN be fun and adventurous, as long as we stick true to ourselves.
Day two in Amstedam was much better. We found our new hostel, a bit far but nice, clean and huge. We already knew we would meet some good people. We went off exploring and found Anne Frank house. It’s pretty unbelievable. That girl was wise well beyond her years. The house is so tall and narrow the stairs are downright scary. We both loved the experience of seeing everything. They even have some posters of Anne’s favourite actors and musicians of the time on the wall, preserved on the original wallpaper. Otto Frank, Anne’s father and the only remaining relative after the war, actually cut down the wallpaper to preserve it . He worked for two years to make Anne’s dream of publishing a book about a family who lives out the war in hiding come true.
The next day we went to the sex museum (can we say tourist trap?) and that night we went on a pub crawl in the red light district. Another oddity of Amsterdam. It was really strange to see girls sitting or standing in these little glass cubicles trying to attract men. And then to see someone either enter of exit the little rooms, wow. Just plain weird to me. And, it costs these girls a FORTUNE to rent the spaces. Often 150euro for an 8 hour shift. They charge abound 70 euro per guy… just for the basics (use your imagination people).
Sunday we had to check out and we went on a free, 3 hour guided tour of the city. It was AWESOME. The guide was really well informed and gave tons of insight into the history, current lifestyle and curiosities of the city (for example, she explained that the buildings pay taxes based on the width of the house… hmm). Next, we went to meet our next couchsurfing host Rik at his place and got to know him. He is a really nice Dutch guy who is a cop. He let us stay at his place the next morning and let ourselves out when we were ready to get going which was awesome.
We had a nice couple relaxing days in Amsterdam after that went to a bar to listen to a Canadian friend Tavo’s band and then Tuesday we bid Amsterdam adieu and were off to Rotterdam!
Rotterdam is totally different than Amsterdam. It’s big, built up and modern. I mean really modern. The whole town was bombed flat during the war and so everything had to be rebuilt within the last 50 years. They love their modern art so there are some great funny sculptures around. The most famous is a huge Christmas gnome holding a really weird object. He has been nicknamed, yup- the buttplug gnome. So funny. We basically toured the whole city, which is quite small but has some fun stuff. It seemed like summer would’ve been a bustling port city (it’s the 2nd largest port in the world after Shanghai). I was absolutely frozen stiff when we got to Rotterdam so off we went to the shopping district (yippee!) to buy me a coat.
Here, we stayed with an amazing Aussie couple from Melbourne named Mandy and Andrew who really showed us an awesome time. They live right in the middle of the city in an old apartment that has no fence on the roof! It was so scary up there because the wind is INSANE in the Netherlands. But we got a really excellent view of the whole city and even saw the bridge where the Tour De France started last July. Pretty excellent. We hit up some great restaurants and had way too much beer (I couldn’t keep up!) But may I just say, Turkish food, pretty yummy.
You might think after 7 days in The Netherlands this would be enough, but nope. We had to hit up Delft before we left. It’s a small little town near the Hague where that classic blue and white pottery stuff comes from. I really enjoyed it and we stopped at 11:11am next to the old church to have a moment of silence for Remembrance Day. I was actually really surprised because everyone in London wore poppies but in The Netherlands I didn’t see a single one. It was however beautiful listening to the bells, which chimed for the whole 11th hour (except for one minute at 11:11). We got absolutely sopping wet so we cut the visit short and we decided it was high time that we headed off to BRUGGE! However, not before we realized that our train passes got us into the 1st class lounge. Um, SCORE! We got free coffee and a nice, clean, FREE bathroom. Plus we took pop for the train ride.
The train was actually wonderfully relaxing. We also got first class seats which didn’t mean much this time but for the girl who is used to saying ‘give me the cheapest thing you got’ it was pretty fun none-the-less.
Brugge is stunning. We are both really excited to be here. Belgian beer! Belgian waffles! Belgian Chocolate! I’m in! We have a hostel here for three nights which is highly rated so we’ll see. I’m just excited to see the Medieval stuff. It’s all been rebuilt here but I’m still excited.
I feel like I’m settling in to this moment to moment business ok. I still sometimes get caught up in the advice people have given us and I forget to look at the things I actually want to do or see, or how I feel like things should be done. We were given so much advice, which I know was all done with good intention, but it’s proving to be downright annoying. (Yes dad, I am cold and wet. No, the couchsurfing thing isn’t always perfect. Yes I do wish I had a smaller bag sometimes. No my shoes are NOT waterproof). The thing is, no matter what happens, we will fuck up. We will not see or do everything, and there will always be someone who thinks we could’ve ‘done it better’ but right now whenever I get those moments (however fleeting) where I feel like ‘wow’ I’m in fucking BRUGGE. I can’t explain the power that comes with that. And no matter how we live our lives no one gets those moments all the time. You just bide your time until next one comes and you can pump your fist and say ‘FUCK YEAH! I’m THERE!’
Friday, November 5, 2010
Going Dutch
Well, it’s not starting as we expected. Not a bad trip, just harder than we thought. It’s all part of the challenge and I think we are both already appreciating how easy life really was for us. We planned this trip for about 5 months. We did research on almost a daily basis and yet we are here now and we feel as though we hardly did any. We are members of a networking site called ‘couchsurfing’ and we expected that finding hosts would be well maybe not easy, but at least somewhat reliable. This is not exactly the case. We are finding that we cannot seem to get answers from most people and those we get are almost all ‘sorry- not available.’ We did stay with a nice couple in England who were very gracious, but we couldn’t relax. I think we also underestimated what it would feel like to be in some strangers home. This lack of answers left us with no accommodation for the coming weekend which is apparently quite busy in Amsterdam. So, we had to suck up the cost of one of the only remaining hostels we could find. Gulp.
On a side note, we did do and see some amazing things. On our first night on a total whim we ended up doing one of the most special things we had ever done. Yes, I realize that most special sounds weird but forget about correcting my (ken’s) grammar and keep reading, it gets good. We were exploring the parliament area. As expected Westminster Abbey cost more than a few pounds…unless you attend a sermon, so we did. We sat in the middle of one of the most glorious historical churches in the world. We are each not particularly religious but this was an opportunity not easily passed up. We were both so moved at the experience. It was quite special and definitely the highlight so far.
A close second would have to be the tower of London, which as the name does not suggest is not a tower at all. Maybe it was centuries ago when the tallest thing in the city was a tree. Nowadays, it is dwarfed by the skyline of downtown London. We each paid a small fortune and explored the castle where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, and a few princes disappeared amidst a conspiracy involving the monarchy. Look it up yourself!
We bought a travel guide which we follow and have found cheap food, cheaper drinks, and other useful tips on hostels, trains, planes and automobiles. We are now in Stansted airport terminal awaiting our flight to Amsterdam and our real European trip to begin. So far we have been spoiled by the fact that everywhere we went was English speaking….well almost. The locals sometimes mumble their way through explaining directions for us. But we’re grateful anyway. The past two days have been about adjusting to this new phase in our lives which has been good, albeit bumpy. Starting tonight when we land in Amsterdam, we are working on the adventure!
We crammed as much crap into Kalene’s larger/less cool backpack so we could use the other one as a carry on. It was a tight fit (giggity!) but we managed to save a few pounds on luggage check in (Ken and Kalene pat themselves on the back).
So on our way to Amsterdam.... bring on all things Dutch!
On a side note, we did do and see some amazing things. On our first night on a total whim we ended up doing one of the most special things we had ever done. Yes, I realize that most special sounds weird but forget about correcting my (ken’s) grammar and keep reading, it gets good. We were exploring the parliament area. As expected Westminster Abbey cost more than a few pounds…unless you attend a sermon, so we did. We sat in the middle of one of the most glorious historical churches in the world. We are each not particularly religious but this was an opportunity not easily passed up. We were both so moved at the experience. It was quite special and definitely the highlight so far.
A close second would have to be the tower of London, which as the name does not suggest is not a tower at all. Maybe it was centuries ago when the tallest thing in the city was a tree. Nowadays, it is dwarfed by the skyline of downtown London. We each paid a small fortune and explored the castle where Anne Boleyn was beheaded, and a few princes disappeared amidst a conspiracy involving the monarchy. Look it up yourself!
We bought a travel guide which we follow and have found cheap food, cheaper drinks, and other useful tips on hostels, trains, planes and automobiles. We are now in Stansted airport terminal awaiting our flight to Amsterdam and our real European trip to begin. So far we have been spoiled by the fact that everywhere we went was English speaking….well almost. The locals sometimes mumble their way through explaining directions for us. But we’re grateful anyway. The past two days have been about adjusting to this new phase in our lives which has been good, albeit bumpy. Starting tonight when we land in Amsterdam, we are working on the adventure!
We crammed as much crap into Kalene’s larger/less cool backpack so we could use the other one as a carry on. It was a tight fit (giggity!) but we managed to save a few pounds on luggage check in (Ken and Kalene pat themselves on the back).
So on our way to Amsterdam.... bring on all things Dutch!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Getting there
Ken's post:
So we're almost ready to go. Things done: plane ticket booked, family notified, train ticket bought, apartment gone, working VISA's for U.K completed, jobs quit, travel insurance purchased, loads of cash saved, first two days at a London hostel paid for, Flight from London to Amsterdam booked. Things to do: finish working, move out of apartment, have goodbye party with friends and Matt Smith, exchange Canadian moneys into English moneys and European moneys, reassure Kalene that everything will be O.K and ask her to do the same for me, get to airport, get on aeroplane, order cocktail, cheers Kalene.
So we're almost ready to go. Things done: plane ticket booked, family notified, train ticket bought, apartment gone, working VISA's for U.K completed, jobs quit, travel insurance purchased, loads of cash saved, first two days at a London hostel paid for, Flight from London to Amsterdam booked. Things to do: finish working, move out of apartment, have goodbye party with friends and Matt Smith, exchange Canadian moneys into English moneys and European moneys, reassure Kalene that everything will be O.K and ask her to do the same for me, get to airport, get on aeroplane, order cocktail, cheers Kalene.
Stuff
Kalene's post:
So I’m 25 and recently I took stock of my life. My best friend got married and I too am in a serious relationship. This brought about a million questions on whether I was ready to get married, whether I was with the person I was meant to spend my life with, how, if we wanted to tie the know we could afford it, and how we could go about making all these decisions with integrity. My partner and I Ken are very very happy together. I mean sure we argue now and then but truly all the little things I wanted from a man he provides, he actually does surprise me on a daily basis. He loves doing little tasks with me like grocery shopping for an amazing dinner at home, drinking a glass of wine in the tub, and snuggling, lots of snuggling. So why not marry him? Because as I tried to prepare myself to walk my best friend into adulthood I was terrified at the thought of never experiencing some of the crazy frivolity that always seems to elude me but that I crave so desperately.
I’ve always done things the right way. I stand a little left of centre while doing it but I still follow the rules of whatever game I’m playing. I don’t want to end up broke, and miserable but couldn’t I end of broke and happy? I went to high school and got good grades, I grtaduated with a 92% average, no awards though cuz 92% is nothing special when you go to a special school. I went to University and got into a programme of 16 people. Highly sought after and highly respected. I learned a lot, but where my classmates have made connections to last them a lifetime, I left with very organized lessons and nowhere to turn. I worked at a catering company where within a year I was at the top of the food chain making 24$ an hour (quite good for a 22 year old girl in Toronto with an acting degree). Now I’m stuck making that same wage, stuck in Toronto which I’m beginning to hate and feeling like saving for a wedding is about he most exciting prospect I can muster.
Well fuck that. About a month after the wedding Ken and I got to talking, we’d been getting better at saving and were actually making some headway in our financial lives for once. He seemed to have turned a corner and now he wants adventure too. So the planning began. We decided to go to Europe. We bought a ticket and we will be gone as long as it takes to figure out the game plan for the next chapter. This is the prologue for hat I hope turns into a novel of hilarious wisdom… thought at the time I think it will be just hilarious.
So: 3-2-1…. PLAY.
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