Read From the Beginning
I believe that most of you are aware that Jordan and I are making a mad dash across Europe. I assume this because most of the people who read this blog are related to us, and therefore somewhat privy to our plans. In the cases when we have plans, of course.
When we were face to face with the Europe map we couldn't really help but go everywhere, and so we scheduled about four nights everywhere. Three nights in some of the places we're stopping in towards the end, and five nights in Paris, because well, it's Paris. However, we scheduled a whopping seven nights in Belgium. Because while Paris may be Paris, Belgium invented the french fry.
French fries are probably my favorite food. And when I realized that they are in fact not even French, it became obvious that we should go to their home country and pay some proper respects.
Belgium it turns out is a very nice place for reasons beyond french fries (I continue to call them french fries because even though we were in Belgium eating them and trying hard not to call them French, it's really impossible not to). They have:
- the world's greatest town square, where you can drink the best hot chocolate
- our favorite cathedral so far
- a medieval town, much of which was built 150 years ago to encourage tourism (which was a great success)
- a room in their royal palace that is covered with millions of beetle wings.
Also they have waffles. I had always thought that a Belgian Waffle was just a waffle made in a waffle-maker with deeper grooves. It turns out a Belgian Waffle is, in fact, the most delicious waffle you have ever eaten.
Also, they created the Smurfs.
What more could you want?
Where the letters are big
And the cars are small
Where there are windmills
And bikes
And houseboats
And people who will give you the time
The pancakes are delicious
And the picnics are too
And there is always a nice view
Despite the fact that it ended within my lifetime, it's quite hard for me to imagine the craziness of the Cold War. And it's not like I haven't experienced its after effects, traveling through Vietnam's once ravaged countryside and trying to imagine a worse place to have a war. I know there are terrains that are perhaps as unhospitable as the jungles of Vietnam, but of all the people I've met, I would definitely not want to fight against the Vietnamese. Or living in Korea and visiting the line that splits the North from the South; one of the last real remnants from the Cold War, a country so cut off from the rest of the world I can't imagine what life is like up there despite the fact that I lived amongst their brothers and sisters for two years.
And it's that experience that helps me imagine what I would have experienced if I had been in a position to understand what the fall of the Iron Curtain meant when I was four. I know if I woke up tomorrow and someone informed me that there had been a bloodless revolution overnight and the North Korean regime had fallen, I'd be shocked. And yet, North Korea is only one small country and despite it's posturing, I loose no sleep from fear of them blowing something up, even when I lived a few hundred miles from its border.
So when I visit places like the border between East and West Berlin I remember my trip to the DMZ between North and South Korea and imagine it bigger. And it's amazing what twenty years can do to something that seems so permanent, because unless I had Jordan spouting stories and facts at me about European history as we walk along its streets, I'd really have no idea. The biggest dilemma I faced while staying in (formerly) East Berlin was which bag of Haribo to buy.
You may be wondering what else there is to do in Berlin besides ponder an invisible line. It turns out there is lots to do. This is what I did:
Shared a victory jump with Victory Column.
Posed with my umbrella.
Photo taken right before I took a bite out the chocolate Brandenburg Gate.
Tried to decide what Haribo flavor is most delicious. Decided they all were and bought them all. True Sauter!
Stood by a hippo.
Petted a goat.
Looked at a panda.
Kissed a fish.
Enjoyed dinner with a revolving view.
Visited giant historical building rebuilt inside a museum.
And drank a beer.
It was really cold the first day we were in Prague. See:
I am wearing all the clothes in my bag.
Also, sometimes the ceilings are rather low.
It's a colorful city with walls of grafitti
And rainbows sometimes too.
They have a house that dances
And the costumes of their palace guards were created by a Hollywood designer.
And they really have a lot of great views.
We ate schnitzel.
And croissants.
This is the best sundae I've ever eaten. The magic ingredient (along with 4 kinds of ice cream and strawberries) was plain yogurt. Which is secretly perhaps the best ice cream topping.
This is coffee. I did not drink it. There is a traitor amongst us who sometimes acts like he likes coffee.
Vienna also has lots of nice architecture. I will prove this to you by posing with it.
After all that, somebody needed a bit more than a cup of coffee.
I feel that making a joke about being hungry in Hungary is pretty lame, but I really can't seem to help myself. So here are some pictures of me eating in Budapest.
Nestea is really delicious.
So is cake.
This is a giant plate of delicious meat. It's not as giant as the plate of meat we once had in Korea, but this one had really delicious potatoes too.
This is a castle that they built in 1898 for the World's Fair out of cardboard, and then everyone liked it so much they built it for real. This is a great tip we've picked up while traveling. People like to go to Europe for all their cute, old buildings, however a lot of them seem to have been built about 100 years ago, but no one really knows this, and everyone loves them anyway. So if you build something that looks old, in 100 years people will think it's really old.
This is an entrance to the world's oldest metro. It looks a lot like a normal metro, but older.
This is the ceiling of the basilica, which was finished in 1905. See what I mean?
This is me and the Parliament. I believe this building is actually old.
You can see it better here. Actually, I take back what I said because I googled it and it was completed in 1904. Could have fooled me. I thought it had been there forever.
For our anniversary Jordan got a new toy which let's him take pictures at night. I'm always up for a good pose.
One of the most unifying things as we traveled across Europe this summer was the takeover of the Smurf movie. Everywhere we looked we could see blue. The weirdest thing about it, was despite Smurf being a made-up word, most countries seemed to enjoy making up their own word for small, blue creatures.
English:
French:
Dutch:
German:
Czech:
Hungarian:
Croatian/Serbian:
Bulgarian:
Czech totally wins.
They seemed to know it too, because in Prague they had so much love for their smous that they filled their old square with a giant blue ball and people, do you see them, dressed accordingly.
Most of days during our two months in Europe were cool, even cold at some points. This was good because I've become somewhat incapable of withstanding heat, particularily if the sun is out. If I'm honest, I don't even really like the sun. I mean I like it fine when it's far away, but I don't really appreciate when the Earth tilts and it comes closer and tries to burn the brain right out of your head. This is why in Zagreb I behaved mostly like a vampire and refused to go outside during the day and instead hid inside where the sun could not find me.
A picture I did not take because you'll notice the sun has bleached the sky with it's intensity:
Instead, I come out at dusk when the sky is nicer:
Things get even better when the sky is black:
If you must go outside during the day, head for the cathedral to cool off. I have been known to attend a church service just to sit in the cool air.
Also, Tangerine Schwepps can be delicious and cool:
And I've even been known to eat salad when the mercury on the thermometer gets high enough:
We arrived to Sarajevo after a long and very hot train ride. The train ride was long enough and hot enough to make me doubt my true desires to visit such a place. I didn't know much about it. Our planning process for this trip consisted mostly of finding the biggest cities and going to them. Then, Jordan snuck a few obscure places in because he likes the road less traveled. I prefer the road to be air conditioned.
However, sometimes a little sweat is in fact worth it (don't tell Jordan I said so), because if you were to ask, "Of all the places you visited, where would you most like to live?" Sarajevo would likely be my answer.
Sarajevo, it turns out, is something like a Superhome, hiding in the mountains of the Baltic. I dubbed it Superhome the first morning we were walking around because it reminded me of many places I think of as home. It remineded me most strongly of La Paz, since the city sits in a valley and sprawls upward and at night the lights glisten from the hills.
Also, the minarets popping up all over the place reminded me of all the wonderful time I've spent in Jordan (with Jordan).
And the European flair reminds me of the home I didn't really know, but have overly romanticized in my head, in Slovenia.
The hostel we stayed at, despite claiming to be up a small hill, was in fact most of the way up the side of the mountain. However, the hike was really worth it when you got to look out this window whenever you wanted.
We even had a pleasant time eating with the locals some mysterious food, which turned out to be sausages.
Yum, is it dinnertime yet?
Also, Sarajevo had the most delicious water we encountered. Always really cold and they had fancy fountains all over town to get a drink (also lots of misters).
Overall, definitely a highlight of our trip.
