Hello Fellow Fish,
While I was in Prague, I met a fellow traveler who would
turn out to be a great travel companion. Katie was American, and had been
living in Prague for a little over a year. Since I was leaving, we decided to
take a imptromptu trip, to anywhere. So on my last day, I packed up all my
worldly possessions, and headed to the bus terminal. We looked at the board of
possible destinations, and many of them were full or only had one seat
available. We tried a few different companies, and were getting discouraged
that we might not be able to leave that day when after a long pause, the bus
man said, “How about Paris? Departing tonight at 11pm?” Yup. Its important to
note that it was about 10am at that point, so there was a lot of time to kill.
Since my time in Prague was coming to a close, I spent my
last day doing the things I always said I would, but figured I’d get around to
another time. Such as going to see the famous Prague Castle, trying an Indian
restaurant I’d passed every day but never went in to, and walking around areas
that I thought seemed interesting. In my down time, I reached out to any and
all my contacts in Paris, and tried to find a Couch Surfing host. As luck would
have it, I got a place within an hour! All that was left to do was wait for the
bus.
Selfie overlooking Prague |
PARIS
The whole trip got off to a rough start. Our bus was delayed
by about an hour and a half. While we waited for the bus, I casually told
Katie, that it can be a good to have all important things in one place like a
carry on bag. Things like passports, money, credit cards, etc. She nodded in
agreement and we kept on waiting. When the delayed bus finally arrived at 12:30am,
everyone was tired and fed up with waiting. So I get a place in line, and check
our bags under the bus. I look back and see Katie, now frantically, unloading
all the contents of her backpack on to the ground in search of her passport,
which was needed to board the bus. After about 10 more minutes go by, the bus is
ready to leave, we’re getting death stares from the passengers and driver for
holding everyone up and I see Katie’s eyes start to well with tears as her
panic turned to terror as hope of her finding her passport quickly faded. In my
mind, I start thinking of possible courses of action. If she can’t find it, do
I stay back with her? Or do I go ahead without her? I was in a true dilemma. I
finally suggest that we look in her bag (which I had checked under the bus) and
sure enough, it was there. Crisis averted.
There were a lot of complaining patrons on the overnight,
but considering some of the bus rides I had been on, this one was not so bad. We
arrived in Paris and met our Couch Surfing hosts Marine and Raphael. Two
incredibly generous and fun-loving Parisians, that went above and beyond the
usual call of a CS Host. As soon as we got settled in our room in their
apartment, they took us on a Seine (the river that runs through Paris) river
boat and we got to take in all of Paris’s greatest landmarks right away. This
would be a huge help for getting an idea of where things in the city were as we
would spend the next few days wandering the streets of Paris. After seeing the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame,
Place du Concorde, etc. our hosts took us to a very French picnic with their
friends. I felt that I was getting a real French experience being around all their
friends just eating cheese, French bread, various meats, and wine. Lots of
wine.
The more I drank, the more my 9 Years of French education started to come back. My speaking was probably elementary, but I was following conversations better than I ever thought I would.
Le Louvre |
Notre Dame |
Backside of Notre Dame |
Tour d'Eiffel |
L'Arc du Triumphe |
National Academy of Music |
We were fortunate enough to be in Paris for Bastille Day (14
Julliet/French Independence Day). After stopping at the Louvre and seeing some
more of what Paris had to offer, we went to watch fireworks at the Eiffel
Tower. While we waited for the show to start, we got some beers to drink at a
bench, and that slowly ended up becoming just a big backpacker party. It went
from Katie and me, to a group of about 9-10 people just having a great time on
the sidewalk in Paris.
The gang |
Fireworks and Eiffel Tower-Bastille Day |
In Paris, I was able to have a reunion with an APU friend,
Paul. It had been 4 years since Paul and I last saw one another and we picked
up right where we left off. For long time readers of this blog, you know that
APU provided the breeding ground for all my great friends located around the
world.
Our CouchSurfing Hosts |
On our last day, we said our good byes and booked tickets to
our next spontaneous destination, which turned out to be Berlin.
BERLIN
The bus ride to Berlin was terrible. Even by my standards.
If at all possible, try to avoid taking Eurolines.
Berlin Eastside Gallery-art on the old Berlin Wall |
Unfortunately, Berlin would be the last stop for my travel
companion and me. She needed to go back to Prague for work, and I had the road
calling. So I went to the bus station and got my next spontaneous destination:
Amsterdam.
I arrived in the early hours on a Sunday. The metro is
closed on Sundays as it turns out. The sun had yet to come up and the streets
were empty but for the handful of taxis hounding the group of us who had just
disembarked the bus. I had all my worldly possessions on my back and in my
hand, and asked how much a ride into the town center would be. Their response
wasn’t to my liking, so I ask how far it was and they said about 4-5 kilometers
and pointed me in the right direction. So I decide to walk. After an hour or
so, I start to come across some of the canals for which this city is famous. I
wander the streets trying to find someplace that is open for business with no
luck. Eventually, I happen upon the Red Light district, which seemed to be just
ushering out its last customers as the sun came up. After some time, I make my
way to one of the many “Coffee shops” (I use quotes here because coffee shops
are also the weed shops), and order myself a coffee. Much to the surprise of
the attendant who says Americans are always really excited to have the hemp
menu to peruse and order from. Not for me.
I find out my Couch Surfing host won’t be back until about
10pm. Which means I had an entire day to spend carrying around all my things.
In the town center, I go to all the hotels and hostels, finally one believes my
story that I’m checking in with a group and was early, so they let me park my
bags there for the day.
Once I was rid of my bags, I spent the day wandering the
streets. The city slowly started to wake up and the streets would soon be full
of bikes, tourists, and buses all going about their daily routines. I try to
contact a few of my friends who are Dutch, but none of them were in town. So I
ended up making a new friend, a girl who worked at a cheese shop and was nice
enough to give me some free samples and advice on things to do around town. She
even offered to let me stay at her house, which I stored as a back up plan in
case my regular host didn’t pan out. During my wanderings, I come across the
original Heineken Brewery. I go inside, and see that they are charging 26 Euro
for a ticket. Pffffffff yeah right. I seize an opportunity when one of the
ticket checkers turns her back for a second and cruise right in. I made my way
through the museum and history of the company and even got 2 free beers at the
end.
That night, I went to meet my host Kwinten, who turned out
to be awesome. He was about my age and had an internship with a private equity
firm. He spoke near perfect English, just like the rest of the country, and we
ended up having a lot in common. He introduced me to his two Spanish roommates
who were a real hoot n’ holler. My next few days with them would be a ton of
fun, with BBQs in the park and small get togethers at their house where the
neighbors upstairs would throw tomatoes at us to get us to be quiet.
It was sad having to leave Amsterdam after such a short
time, but I had flight arrangements that couldn’t be changed. Kwinten was nice
enough to walk me to the bus terminal that would take me to the airport to head
back to the USA. After a brief stop in…
COPENHAGEN
My flight landed in Copenhagen and I hastily made my way
straight for the door. I only had a few hours in the city and I wanted to make
the most of them. I took the metro a couple stops and was greeted by my good
friend and former travel companion through South East Asia, FIE!
It was raining when I got there, but Fie and her boyfriend
Nikolai still took me to all the cool places around the city. We spent a good
deal of time in Christiania and the surrounding areas, eating pastries and
drinking beer. The best part was being able to catch up with an old friend who
I was seeing outside of the “Backpacker bubble” in her home environment.
Unfortunately, I had to get back to the airport only after a
few hours. So we said our good byes once again and I made my way to the
airport.
CONCLUDING EUROPE
I was very nervous leaving Europe because I had overstayed
my visa by about 4-5 months. My fellow football coach, Taylor, got held up as
he tried to leave, they detained him, took his passport, he missed his flight,
had to book another one out of his own pocket, and was banned from the EU for 6
months, because he also overstayed his visa.
I tentatively approached the window, in which they check
your passport to get in to the international terminal of the airport. The kind
man thumbs through all 50+ extra pages of my passport. I watch his face go from
amusement to bewilderment as he searches for my EU Stamp, to check the date.
After a minute or two, he sees the line growing behind me, he shrugs his
shoulders, shakes his head and stamps me through saying only, “ you’ve sure
have been a lot of places…”
“Yes I have, sir.”
Until Next time,
2Na
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