I am Alive and in London

What I've been waiting for.

Yes, I'm alive....and IN LONDON!!!

While in Verona and Monteux internet was more expensive and harder to find than I would have liked, and Paris was just too amazing to take the time out of the day to sit in front of a computer.

However, I took the time on our bus rides to journal and I haven't stopped taking pictures, so the following many posts will pick up right from where I left off in Salzburg. Enjoy catching up!

Ice in the Alps

9-8-08

"So Shawn, what did you do today?"

"Ohhh, nothing too exciting. Just hiked into a cave in the Alps outside of Salzburg and saw the largest ice cavern in the world. "

Typical European awesomeness.

For a tour we jumped on at the last minute, this excursion was one of the most awe inspiring sights I have ever seen in my life. From first stepping foot into Salzburg and gazing at the incredible landscape around me, I've wanted to see these

magnificent ranges around me up close and personal. I got to do that today. Not only see did I see them up close but I penetrated their exterior and hiked a kilometer into an ice cave. 

Every year when spring hits, the snow from the Alps melts into this cave. Cold winds enter into the cave and immediately freeze the layer of water seeping into the mountain to create layer upon layer of ice each year, until thousands of years worth of ice cover this mammoth cave. 

A short bus ride, a hike, a cable car ride up, and another short hike later, we were at the mouth of the cave. An extremely knowledgeable tour guide took us through the cave which gave the tour an added educational value which I always appreciate. But honestly, I was hiking into the Alps, which was enough for me. I didn't need to learn a thing and I would have been fine. But an education is always a bonus! 

Unfortunately, low light conditions led to poor pictures, but I'll post what I can as to share what I have experienced today. However, what made today (and most every day on this tour so far) great are the people I'm spending my days with. I knew one guy going into this tour, Chad, and the rest are basically complete strangers with the exception of getting to know them electronically via email. Now, I feel like I've known most of them for a lifetime. We are all in the same boat of willing to try new things, have new and exciting experiences, and go where, deep down, we may be afraid to go. But we're all doing it together, and while some may want

to go to Ice Caves, others an art gallery, and still others go on The Sound of Music Tour, at the end of the day we meet up and grab a pint together and share our days adventures. Which is exactly what we did tonight.

After a much needed nap (those caves were just overstimulating), weall headed to Shamrock, an Irish pub in Salzburg. We celebrated our day and anticipated the day ahead.

 Tomorrow sounds like it will entail a castle tour, some sinful art, and headlining the day is a symphony orchestra concert. I'm getting my sleep so tomorrow I can kick Salzburg's ass.  

We Got Cooler in Austria

9-8-08

We had a quaint little walking tour of Salzburg today. This pleasant old man took us around, we couldn't hear him half the time. The other half of the time we just sat in awe of the city around us. On the way back, however, a small group of us did a wee bit of window shopping, which eventually lead to real shopping. Now, Meredith, Kallie, Jim and myself are much more European, and hence, much more awesome.

Oh, and while walking we saw a baby. It had a wiener in one hand and a truck in the other. Instead of enjoying the wiener, this child ate the truck. What does this say about this little one's future?

A Rainy Salzburg Afternoon

9-7-2008

Currently, I am enjoying The Sound of Music for the first time in the International Youth Hostel in Salzburg. There's a room of about 20 of us watching the nightly 8pm showing. It's quite magical watching everyone get enthralled by this overly quoted/sung movie. Today was basically getting settled here. A group of us took a rainy walk around Salzburg, but tomorrow we'll be doing more walking. So for now, I'm going to try and not sing along to the rest of this film.

On to Salzburg

9-7-2008

This morning we had our last breakfast at the Euro Youth Hostel. I’m going to miss that warm milk on my bland flakes every morning. But I’m sure the hostel in Austria will be just as classy.  Currently, I’m back on the bus after a stop at Dachau where we saw the ruins of a Nazi Concentration Camp….I’m pausing, hesitating rather, to find the words to describe that experience and they just aren’t coming to me.

I’m glad I saw it. But at the same time I feel odd and strange that I felt I had to see it, that anyone has to see it. As if the stories and accounts of that dark time aren’t bone chilling enough.

Do we need to see with our own eyes before we will believe? Or even worse, do we need to see and experience in order to feel?

We will never forget. That phrase has come to encompass a lot of meaning in recent years and has almost turned cliché. So while I’m glad these pieces of history exsist, a part of me wants it gone… 

Until Salsburg.

Another Day in Munich

9-6-2008

Not going to lie, after last night (see previous post) this morning was a little rough. However, that didn’t stop me from tagging along with the group to visit Nymphenburg Castle.  It is a beautiful royal summer home with a massive pathed garden that made me wish I would have taken my running shoes along.  

That was a relatively short tour and later in the day, a group of us journeyed out to the Englischer Garten, a park that dwarfs Central Park in New York. After getting off at the wrong U-ban stop and asking a kind old lady to lead us to where we needed to go, we made our way into this beautiful piece of real estate. Right in the middle of the park is, not surprisingly, a beer garden full of Germans and tourists enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon. In a Chinese pagoda a live polka band towered over the gardens and filled the park with a grand German drinking accompaniment. 

Let me back track just a tad to the old lady. This woman is a prime example of the selfless kindness most Europeans posses. I asked this lady to point us in the direction of the Englischer Garten. Instead, she walks us a good kilometer out of her way to get us on the street we needed to be on. Perhaps she realized none of us spoke German so she couldn’t explain directions. However, even if that is the case, she could have waved us off and went on her merry way. But she took the time to get us where we needed to go.  Kind people please me.

 Anywho, moving on with the story: We grabbed a beer and just chilled in the park for a few hours, getting to know each other and seeing some peculiar sights. Afterward, we made our way once again to the Haufbrauhouse and enjoyed a light dinner, and a few liters. The walk back from there was rather leisurely as we took in the sites. I stopped with a fellow traveler to listen to what I think was probably the most talented busking group I’ve ever seen perform.

The "Beer Challenge"

9-5-2008

Because Germany is the only place that does beer better than Wisconsin, we all decided that a pub crawl of some sort was in order. A few students did the Euro Youth Hostel pub crawl and from what I hear, it was a crazy good time. I along with the rest

of the students went on a “Beer Challenge” tour that was once again led by the Sandeman’s New Europe tour company. This time we were with Ian. After stopping by a convenience store to grab a traveler (a beer to take with you as your walk/go on the subway), he took us around to some of the happiest places on earth, starting with the Haufbrauhaus.

 

This massive beer hall features a live polka band every day/night and liter steins that women wearing traditional drindls, carry out by the dozen. I don’t know how these tiny girls do it. Chances are if I took one of them on in an arm wrestling match, I’d be crying my way home.  They scury in between hundreds of picnic tables trying to dodge gauking tourist while they carry what is probably the equivalent of a small child in each hand. At the Haufbrauhaus, we learned a traditional drinking song that the band plays every half an hour or so. When they do, the entire hall bellows in unison:

                             "Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemutlichkeit"

                             "Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemutlichkeit"

Following the Haubrauhaus we ventured to Munich’s beer garden, a well-lit, fenced in park with picnic tables inside and 6,000 people drinking beer.  The atmosphere here as well as in the Haufbrauhaus is incredibly warm and welcoming. People of every age, race, gender, truly enjoying each other’s company, and of course, the beer.

Our night of learning the true art of beer drinking came to an end at the Euro Youth Hostel.  For some, the night was over, for others, i.e. me and a couple friends, the night was still young and Munich was still to be explored.

We ventured to a club called Seasons. The €8 cover charge should have been the first sign that this place was going to be ridiculous. Inside it was your classic “I-paid-way-to-much-for-this-drink-because-I-can-afford-to” kind of place. Psychedelic lights, bimbo dancers on the speakers, and plush leather couches lining the walls. The DJ was decent and we danced until our legs we about to give out. On our way back to the Hostel we stopped a Euro McDonalds (had to just once) to cure our drunken munchies.

At the hostel bar were a few other students who also didn’t think the night was over. We grabbed more beer with them and before too long they too wanted Euro McDonalds. So off we went for a second time and honestly I wasn’t complaining.

A Day in Munich

9-5-08

Following my running ridiculousness, we went on a walking tour of Munich with a brilliant tour guide named Travis. Very knowledgeable, personable, and an entrancing story telling.  He's part of a tour company called Sandman's New Europe.

If you ever find yourself in a European city where they run tours, do yourself a favor and learn something from them.

The city is surprisingly easy to walk and possesses an old world charm. I've learned that about 70% of it is actually a reconstruction of the city before it was devastated in World War II. One can only imagine what this place must have looked like before the Allied Forces bombed it to hell. We visited one cathedral that is actually centuries old without being reconstructed, as the Allies were ordered not to destroy it, since it's twin towers were used as a bombing maker. 

That little tid bit of knowledge is just a sliver of the knowledge I've gained about this great city, mostly thanks to Travis. His stories gave life to historic pieces of Munich that we would have missed or taken for granted such as the devils footprint in the cathedral. And he gave us trivial facts that we never would have known, such as the pope's beer of choice. He taught us about maypoles, Mary's statue in Marienplatz, beer gardens, the Hofbrauhaus, and probably more that I will recall as I galavant around Munich. The point being, while Munich is the beer capitol of the world and I am consuming my fair share of the delicious beverage, there is much more to this Bavarian city.  

A Morning to Remember

9-5-2008 

I think I’m good to go. It’s the first morning of the European tour and I’ve already done the stupidest things I can do (*knock on wood*).  So the way I see it I’ve got it all out of my system:

After a long night of getting to know the UWSP group and the locals at the Euro Youth Hostel Pub, I awoke this morning still a tad intoxicated. That doesn’t bother me. What did is when I looked at my iPod to see why the alarm didn’t wake me, only to realize it was 1:30 in the afternoon! I look at the bunk below me and one of my roommates  gone and the other is still passed out. I wake up the one still sleeping, tell him how late it is, and we both spend five minutes saying, “wft, we missed the tour. Where’s Chad? How did we sleep so late? Are we seriously still this drunk?”

Then one of the lovely ladies on our tour comes to our door and informs us that it is actually 8:30 in the morning and that we simply didn’t change our clocks.

Sadly, that’s not the stupidest part. Realizing that it was still early, I decided it was time for a run around Munich. Two minutes into my run I come to the following realizations:

            I’m still ridiculously intoxicated

            I can’t see, as I didn’t put my contacts in

            I have no clue what street our hostel is on

            I don’t speak German

Needless to say, I made it back and I’m alive. You live, you learn.

A First Night in Munich

9-5-2008 (wee early hours)

Seeing as it is rather early in the morning on a Thursday night / Friday morning, I’m going to make this quick. In a nutshell, one of my roommates was too young to hold his alcohol and the other roommate got him to bed. By the time I was ready to go to bed, they were both passed out. So I had to go to the front desk and ask for a €5 Euro room card in order to get into my own room.

Prior to the binge drinking we had dinner at an amazingly authentic German restaurant. Amazing mushroom soup, salads with cauliflower, green beans, and sour coleslaw mixed in, and the main course consisted what we eventually somewhat agreed was pork with a dumpling-like ball.  I loved every bite, however the salt content of everything was a bit overwhelming after a few bites. For dessert, lime jello with a vanilla pudding on top. All of that, plus a liter of Munich’s finest brew definitely filled me up.  Until tomorrow!! 

On the Bus

9-4-2008

I hate looking at things in a racial perspective, but little Indian children have the widest, cutest eyes I have ever seen in my life.  I only say this because I spent close to 6 hours staring at a little child who ran up and down the aisle for the majority of our 8 hours in the air. Even a newborn, who just happen to be three rows in front of me, have extremely wide eyes for his/her tiny head. I’m guessing that my new position as an uncle has me noticing small children more, opposed to just ignoring them if they are prior to the age of 8.

Can’t really complain about the flight too much. Either I slept much more than I usually do on a plane, or the flight just caught some great headwinds. As mentioned in my previous post, nothing on this damn plane worked, but meh.
 

Now we are all on a 3-4 bus ride headed from Frankfurt to Munich.  Apart from the signs in German, the amount of Audi’s, Mercedes and Smartcars, and the nuclear power plan we just passed, Germany looks ridiculously close to Wisconsin. 

Always a Way to Get Robbed

"don't make me a target" - spoon

Killing Flight Time

9-3-2008

This precious old lady sitting next to me  speaks only German. I speak only English. Every so often we mutter something to one another, point or gesture in a certain way, and then end our interaction by both saying ‘jah.’ I wish I spoke German….

Oh and Air India is the most ghetto airlines I’ve ever flown.  Every seat has a television, however, only half of them work and my knees are holding up the tray table that is holding my laptop. As long as we make it to Frankfurt, I’ll be happy.  

Let It Begin

Seeing as how I will not always be able to get on the internet everywhere I go, I will be writing as I go and posting it when I can. So pay no attention to the time stamp, rather, the day I wrote the entry will begin each post. Enjoy savoring Europe!

9-3-2008

If I’m going to have to pay for wi-fi in every airport throughout this journey, I’m going to be severely upset. But I better get over it fast, because chances are every airport, train station, or hostel will try to charge me this $9.95 a month fee which I suppose is sweet if you’re a business man doing most of your work in airport terminals.  However, I am a poor college student who just paid $5.25 for a Miller Light and will probably be going back for another in a few minutes.

So far, pretty sweet. Lovely people and looks like lots of good times ahead. Next time I write will be from Frankfurt, Germany. Prost!

Where has All the Summer Gone?

Like when I was 4 and I asked my mom where my pet goldfish went and she said, "to the hospital in the toilet." I don't think summer went to the hospital, but at times I feel like it may have gone down the toilet. It isn't until I really stop to think about how I filled my days and hours that I realize, I've done a wide array of activities this summer.

Besides the 8 pounds of a new family member that entered life last Thursday (see previous entry), here's what summer has entailed for me by laundry list:

• The Bellin Run - always a great way to start summer, finished a minute slower than in 2007...too much drinking and not enough running this past year
• Shuffleboard at Elbow - this is symbolic of all the random nights of socializing at local Stevens Point establishments
• Receiving the MacBook - life changing...period
• Bakken Wedding - the day of the wedding while the lady folk got ready, the guys took a limo bus from Appleton to Gbs to visit the Packer Hall of Fame, and I learned to play uke for the wedding
• Brilliant Home Cooking - when I was able to get some time with roommate Jenny, we made delectable dishes
• Fourth of July - celebrating freedom in all sorts of ways (video to come)
• 90fm Display Case - if ever in the Comm. Building on the UWSP campus, check out the amazing display case designed and created by yours truly
• Moving Out - always tugs at the heart strings, but this move out was fun as well
• Burning Stuff - no better way to put away the past than by burning crappy hats
• Goodbye with Good Friends - the best ones have fun and can dish out good advice
• Camp Twin Lakes - one month of summer camp as opposed to 3 like most summers, however that one month rivals many summers for the best I've ever had

Schnikies, there was a lot, and that's just the stuff I have pictures for and can remember. NOW, I leave for Europe in less than 24 hours.